about me

Be Bold: feeling the insta-worthy pressure

confidence, Personal Experience

Be bold

Is the theme of today’s blog but today I am feeling beige not bold. I feel like I have taken on too much with this challenge. Its not that I don’t have enough time to write it just that I feel like my writing and content is suffering.

Taking on too much is not going to improve my blog it is just going to make it messy.

 I love interior design I do. But I feel like all the images I am putting up are just not good enough. The lights not right and I don’t have any time to fix that.

The writing of the blog is easy but the planning that goes into it and trust me there is a lot of planning.

So, I am not going to stop I am just going to write about what I really care about which isn’t my lovely slightly disheveled house at the moment.

We all know that I am completely obsessed with skincare. Cant stop wont stop. I really love it and I am my skincare regime has turned me into a crazy pharmaceutical scientist. This morning I put all my bottle I was using on the sink. A bit of this, a bit of that. Is that a scientist or a Witch? I don’t mind either comparison.

The wedding was the reason that I started the blog

My running which hasn’t been happening because I just got too freakin lazy! I have run once this week so I am okay with that but I need to start running for 6 miles soon!

Instagram is just so disheartening. I don’t understand what their point of view is any more. My friend told me that she felt like giving up/ disheartened because other account similar to hers where doing amazing and her beautiful account wants. So I gave her some advice and forgot to listen to myself. So I am going to stop.

It’s all too much

Facebook is just a waste of space, I don’t know why they mess with that either. I don’t know many friends who are still active on it. Some one needs to come up with a new Instagram idea where they don’t introduce a new algorithm every 5 minutes. I would join in a heartbeat.

So this blog is about being bold and my house is packed full of boldness. However the boldest thing about my home is me! Yes, I am saying it.

So I need to just be me and stop trying to juggle so many balls in the air.

At the moment my home will never be instaworthy for this 30 day challenge. I am going to work on being in a little Insta community and to be truthful I already have it with some of the girls I talk to on Insta.

So it’s back to me!

My happy place

interior design

Oh I have a few happy places.

My bed

So this was an easy one for me. I love sleeping. It’s my favourite thing to do is to put my pjs on. Wash my face and hop into bed. My bed is gorgeous and I love it. It’s slightly bigger than a king but not quite a super king.

Our bedroom

Our room is painted a lovely green it’s much softer in person and we need to give it the once over. We may even go darker. To me a bedroom is all about sleep and being cozy. I nice light bright bedroom feels fresh and lovely but it’s not somewhere I want to retreat to at the end of long day!

Me and Gav are not tiny people but this bed is big enough for us. I love a cushion but on our bed we just have our pillows and if Gav doesn’t through them out then I can sneak some larger grey cushions I bought from next. They are great reading cushions but we definitely don’t sleep in them.

Greys and greens

My blanket is a mermaid one I bought two years ago that I like to snuggle in when I read!

The prints above the bed re from Somerset house film 4 prints. The one in the left is the last Samurai by our favourite artist Joe Wilson we have a lot of his prints around the house. Gav has a ghost buster print which I don’t live as much but it’s his side so I don’t mind.

We found that we love prints especially film prints and Joe Wilson’s eye for detail is amazing!

The bedding is a mix of Sainsburies and Jigsaw. I struggled for ages trying to find green bedding I liked. I love palm prints but didn’t want anything too trend led. Then I discovered that I have always loved grey and white bedding so stuck with that. The Jigsaw bedding is also reversible so we can have light grey in summer and dark grey in winter. We love it!

Oh so I need another challenge do I? Interior blog challenge

Dreaming, Organising, Planning

So I have seen this account @mybousethismonth and those that run it and it is beautiful. Truly stunning all of them. I don’t even care if I don’t win I just want to try this challenge and see if anyone likes my style man!

Dream challenge really!

So this is it. Some of them are easy some of them will be tricky but it will get me writing everyday. Will get me inspired everyday and get me thinking about how my house looks.

Yes I know I have a lot on my plate but I loved the other blog challenge and now I can share it here.

Yes I also know that this maybe doesn’t help my blog that much because I don’t have a niche or a them that I stick to. But I write because I love it not because it’s a chore!

So join me if you want to. There will be a brief intro on my Instagram after all it is supposed to be a photo not a blog but I thought why not hu?

Join me if you want to!

Looking after me, skincare update

Advice, Beauty, confidence, skincare

My mum is proud of me because I know more about skincare or at least the latest skincare since getting engaged.

I have become a little obsessed with my skincare, I have mentioned that before. I don’t wear a lot of makeup. But I have started buying a wee bit more.

We went to SpaceNK on Kings road and I am so happy we did, there was a lot of staff ready to help and we did a sweep around the store trying the sample and planning the next purchases for my Nydulge card.

I can’t wait for payday I am out of B hydra and the CFirma serum. Or I could just buy the Elizabeth Arden serum oh I still don’t know.

Skin type: I have

  • Combination skin
  • Oily tzone
  • Large pores
  • Millia
  • Blocked pores
  • Broken veins
  • Dry patches on my eyelids

How sexy do I sound! You probably think that it’s strange that I don’t wear makeup. If I go out at night then I put eye makeup, a red lips and a wee bit of blusher. I have a Lancôme tinted moisturiser with SPF. Which doesn’t smother my skin.

So with all these issue I now have skincare staples.

Morning

After reading drunk elephants skincare routine from the littles I have learned that after cleansing at night I don’t really need to cleanse in the morning as I was my face in the shower. So afterwards I just use a vitamin serum and a moisturiser. Then after that has set into my skin I use an SPF.

At night

I cleanse my face. Then I use a serum and then a retinol and sometimes a moisturiser or a night oil if I think my skin needs it. I cant get along with sheet masks. Maybe I am the ones I am using the wrong ones but I don’t really understand them. I use a face mask once a week I would use it more but I don’t want flakey skin to add to all my other issues!

I do like to mix and match

My favourite products are

  • Elemis Rose balm cleanser
  • Indee Lee Toner
  • The Ordinary Matryxal 10% +HA
    Drunk Elephant Whip moisturiser
    Alpha H retinol
    Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Oil
    Elemis night moisturiser
    Drunk Elephant BHydra
    Drunk Elephant C-Firma
    Drunk Elephant Babyfacial
    La Roche Posay Anthelios SPF 50+

I own a lot more products but these are my favourites.

I will go into more detail on what the products do for my skin in a later blog and will try not to repeat myself. If you want any information about Drunk Elephant click here but Baby Facial isn’t there because I hadn’t bought it yet. Plus it deserves its own blog, I love it so much.

My mum is proud of me because I care about what goes on my skin. I am worried about my makeup on my wedding day. I understand that preparation is key.

So I am looking after it now.

Confession time

Organising, Planning

Day29, a confession, 30 day blog challenge.

I have Destiny child Confession song going through my head.

Confessions

I have a few.

I never thought I would complete this challenge after all this is a goal I set for myself. I wanted to do it and I know that after the wedding I will do it again because I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will just need to find a different set of challenges to complete.

I know I said at the beginning that I never complete things but I mean like never!

This is actually an achievement for me.

Writing

I didn’t write all my blogs on the day. A few I wrote on one day and then went through them and corrected a few mistakes. I think that my grammar in general on this challenge is poor and I need to work on that.

Do I feel like I cheated?

Nope.

I still got them out every single day, I worked on them every day.

The trickiest part was the photographs. Sometimes it was easy picking them. Sometimes it was difficult and I had to travel through my photos and find them.

When I couldn’t do that I set up a mini studio in my dining room table. Bought some props and took the photos.

It was work but I enjoyed it! I had to plan it, if I had winged it then you wouldn’t have had a blog every day!

Organisation is key

I think this is going to be another short blog and I don’t really like them when they are too short. But we all have a few confessions to make.

Brief confessions

  • Gav I ate all the french chocolate
  • Manny I took you for granted
  • Trainers I don’t use you enough
  • I like to buy fitness clothes and sit on the couch
  • Gav I ate all the sour cherries
  • I wish I had more time before the wedding
  • I am glad of where I am

Most embarrassing moment

Personal Experience, Travel

Day 28, most embarrassing moment, 30 day blog challenge

Most embarrassing moment!

Well, there has been a few!!!!

Okay I need to take you on a little trip to an incredibly beautiful city Krakow. We had arrived and spent two days wondering the city. Heaven.

Mulled wine!

We went to lunch and had steak I think. All the food in Poland was exceptional. We had a few vodkas. Trying out the homemade flavours. Then we went to the market and tried the mulled wine. Also yummy.

Vodka

Then we went to Krakows oldest vodka bar. We did a few rounds pretty sure we had 10 shots on the table at one point. This place was cool and tiny it had 2 tables inside. A cute little bar and then to get to the toilet you had to climb up ladder type stairs to get to the top.

I was tipsy when I left

Then we went to another bar. Again we had to climp up ladders to get to our seat. Gavin asked me to get a round in.

I was drunk.

Too drunk, I needed air.

Only I didn’t go back to the bar afterwards. Instead I went back to the market place. Crawled under a stall and asked the Polish man to show me how to make a nail.

Forge a nail!

Yes this drunken Brit talked the old polish man into forging a nail. I was dressed in my fancy green skirt. Unfortunately I still had Gavins wallet on me which I promptly lost.

No idea

This is the bit I don’t remember.

Getting home. Gavin was out looking for me and when he had searched everywhere he decided to head home. I also had the key to the apartment.

Gav found me, singing to myself outside of the apartment trying to get in. He said that when he asked me where I had been I just smiled and said I made a nail. Then we walked up all those stairs and I passed out.

So I woke the next day feeling pretty okay considering I had drunk a lot of vodka. But then I had had over ten hours to sleep it off.

So embarrassed

What happened next is what was embarrassing firstly I couldn’t really remember what had happened except that I made a nail, but secondly Gavin suggested that I had stolen a nail from one of the many crucifixion statues.

I had no idea and I was horrified.

We also had no money except a few euros and technology.

It turned out I did make the nail. I remember clearly chatting away to that man and his whole family. Thinking of it now is horrifies me.

Gavin was amazing. He didn’t yell but he did make me promise never to wander of ever again.

He still doesn’t let me take his wallet in case I don’t come back. So this is the nail.

It’s a beauty.

The irony is that we traveled hand luggage only. So we had to leave the nail there!

It was a very expensive nail!

And maybe my most embarrassing moment!

I blame the good vodka.

What’s in your closet: Marie Kondo made me do it!

Uncategorised, wardrobe

Blog 27, what’s in your closet, 30 day blog challenge.

I have two, I have a traditional oak wardrobe that we bought with the house and a rail in my room that I abuse with far too many clothes.

Kon Marie

Last year I Marie Kondo my wardrobe. I read her book and couldn’t wait to get back home so I could start sorting through everything. I got my bin liners and charity bags ready for a good old sort through.

I dragged everything down stairs and began sorting through. I found it fairly easy except when it came to gym clothes and work clothes.

Paint stained clothes

I teach kids art which means my work wardrobe gets flicked with acrylic paint and my shirts get stained with ink. So even though I love some of my work clothes they don’t necessarily spark joy.

Reading further I understood that if it’s practical and used I am allowed to keep them.

I donated sentimental stuff, expensive cashmere jumpers that were far too small for me, chucked silk Jigsaw shirts that had holes in them. I also boxed a few items of beautiful clothes that I will never wear but my niece may like them when she is older.

We have a large wardrobe in our bedroom that even when it is empty is far to heavy for me to move. Trust me I tried. They don’t make wardrobes like they used too! Gav Has most of his clothes and suits in there.

We have two draws under the bed, one for sports, snow boarding and gym gear and the other is for holiday items such as swimsuits and coverups etc.

We still have too many clothes and Gav is a bigger hoarder than I am!

I won’t be showing you my actual wardrobe that will be in another blog but you get the gist.

I love print and pattern all year round! Tomorrow I am having a bit of a clear out.

This blog has inspired me to sort it again. Put away some winter pieces and arrange it a wee bit better.