Life lately

Hey All

Christmas is all done for another year and into 2015 already. I can’t believe our blog is going to be three very soon.  The past few months I’ve struggled to git in as much blogging as I’d like. I still love to blog but with a more demanding job and lot more uni work and life in general I seem to be down to once a week now. Massive thanks to L for keeping me going. It feels like ages since I’ve done a life update so I thought I’d share my Christmas time with you all. I hope everyone had an amazing one.

My holidays started by heading to the other half’s office for their annual beer brewing competition. Everyone in the office either brews their own beer, cider or larger or infuses a spirit. They then have an evening trying them all out and voting. It’s fair to say some people have this brewing stuff down. There was an amazing apple pie infusion. Others were not so tasty. One called goblin sweat was the first thing I had handed to me. Not tasty. It was such a fun evening and I love how social his work are.

I then headed home to my family for a week. We started the festive period with heading out for a few cocktails with my parents. A few espresso martinis later and I was certainly happy to be home. Home seemed to fly by. I swear my parents save up jobs until I’m home to help them out. My Christmas eve started off as normal with an early morning (urgh 5.30!!!) trip to the local supermarkets to get all the food. I’m impressed I even got a perfect winged liner when I had to get up and ready in 15 minutes! My dad and I then headed to our local outlet village to get presents. I usually grabbed myself something pretty, but no this year I bought waterproof trousers. My other half is changing me into this practical person!

Christmas day was spent with the family, lots of prosecco, kerplunk and frozen! It was a really good one. I do love Christmas time with the family. A day with everyone happy is always good. Before heading back to Cardiff I ended up spending the weekend with the other halfs family. His parents live near the coast so we took advantage of the lush weather and went walking along the beach! I love the beach in winter time when it’s a sunny day!

Unfortunately I had to work some of the bit in between Christmas and New Year. L made it a bit better for me with a trip to yo sushi after work one day and a naughty trip to Debenheams, hello urban decay liner set and completing a MAC eyeshadow quad. I have no will power.

New years eve isn’t something I’m a fan of so until the day before I had no plans. In the end I decided to go to a house party. We did dinner drinks and ended up chatting till 3am. It was just what I wanted I hate a big fussy new year!

This weekend I introduced L to paintballing for the first time. We headed down on Saturday to our local paintballing centre. It was pretty much raining all day so I wasn’t convinced how good it would be. In the end I think it added to it. All us ladies were getting stuck in and going for it. Much to the shock of the guy taking us out, he didn’t seem to understand women may chose to do paintballing too and be as good as the guys. The rain made all the set ups mudding so we were all slipping and sliding all over the place. It’s safe to say I have some pretty epic bruises! This was to celebrate my OHs birthday. After we headed back for a house party and were introduced to cards against humanity. We ended up having such a funny night and didn’t get to bed till 4.30am! Being in work right now is not a happy place when I’m so tired haha!

Hope you all had a great festive time!

Love M

xxx

Things I've Learnt This Week

The last week has been full of crazy fun and games. It's been my first time off at Christmas since I've been working (that's ten years FYI) and I can tell you, it's been filled with food, fun and so much more!

Sticking with this new post series into 2015 here's what I've learnt this week:

1) Paintballing is SO MUCH FUN!! - I've never been before and after seeing M's bruises from when she went a few years ago....I was a little apprehensive about being a big baby and not pushing through the sharp pains of the paint balls splattering all over me. However it was so much fun that the bruises were so worth it, even in the torrential rain and with very steamed up goggles it was such a laugh and I'd jump at the chance to go again - maybe with better weather next time though!

2) Being outdoors is a new favourite thing - During my time off I've been on copious walks to the beach, started my running plan back up again, climbed a mountain with my dad - and I really do mean having to climb at some points! - topped off with paintballing above, I've had so much fun outdoors that I cannot wait for drier weather to do more. As long as it's dry there really is no excuse to be outside and fresh air can work wonders for you mentally and physically. Get your new gym gear on and go for a run!

3) Clearing and Cleaning is mandatory for going back to work - I've sorted through some clothes and shoes for charity and will be spending the rest of my day cleaning my room, washing my make up brushes with my new bottle of Dr Bronner's Citrus soap (post coming soon!) and eventually hoovering my car - courtesy of those trips outdoors. Having a quick browse on twitter tells me most people are doing the same thing, at least we can be feeling pretty smug about things later on this evening eh?? I'll be rewarding myself with a facial and my onesie before getting stuck into some tv I've got recorded.

4) David Attenborough Documentaries will never grow old - My brother was awesome and bought me the Blu Ray of the Africa documentary from 2013's series. It was amazing watching the giraffes fight over territory - though extremely scary and shocking - and so heartbreaking watching the elephant mother grieve for her dead calf due to the drought. Even though I've seen them before I felt like I was watching them all over again and I think I will have to make a bit of a collection of BluRays after this!

5) Cardiff Vintage Fair - Have just found out that this is back again on January 25th for any of you South Wales readers. I had so much fun browsing and rummaging through the vintage delights with my mum last time that we've already booked the whole day ready for round 2. It seems I'm a bit of a coat and bag fiend (I've bought at least 4 coats and 3 bags this season alone) so I think my mum will have to keep a few tabs on me and my spending this time. I'm also hoping there will be more home items for a browse; I'm always dreaming of moving out soon!

6) I'm a Beer Pong Genius - true fact! I have never played beer pong before New Year's Eve but after spending my evening at a friend's house playing games and what not I have made a massive discovery. It's not quite time to quit my job and all, but I might have found my secret talent in life.... I don't even like beer!

What have you been up to the last week or so? Have you learnt anything new about yourself?

L xxx

2015

Morning lovelies!

I've been thinking quite a lot about what I'd like to change and complete in the next year. Previously I've done the whole lose weight/drink more water/save money kind of thing and to be honest, it doesn't really work for me. It also makes me feel like I've kind of pressurised myself into completing tasks within a time frame and that can be difficult.

This year instead of resolutions I'm going to make a list of things I'd like to improve and change about my life and my outlook on life. This year I'm all about happiness and positivity, and being as stress free as possible. This isn't a 'new year, new me' post, it's a 'new year, improved me' plan for the next 12 months.

1) Debts. I've been trying to pay off my debts for a long time now, each time I progress something else seems to happen to my car that sets me back or I have something else to pay for, Christmas being a big example! I'm a maximum of 2 more months from paying off all my debt and having all of my money just for me. My credit card has been paid off and its just a few more hundred that I owe my parents. I've NO IDEA what I'm going to do with my money when I don't have any debt, but that's so much fun I just can't even think about it!

2) Keep going. With everything. This is mostly in relation to my food and fitness habits; I eat super healthy anyway and go to the gym/exercise up to 5 times a week. I'd love to keep this up as adding more just isn't feasible, but I'd like to run more and build my distance back up ready for Tough Mudder in August and I'd like to lift more and really strengthen my upper body. I know I can do it, and I know I can improve on my current fitness state but I need to work harder during my sessions and push through the pain.

This is also in relation to my career, I've finally got a job that I can barely keep up with, there's so much to learn and I'm really enjoying it. Sometimes it is overwhelming and I feel like I've got so much extra reading to do to catch up but I know that in the end I'll get there, I just need to continue what I'm already doing.

3) Diary. I had two diaries for Christmas, one I will be using for work as I get the impression that I will be doing a lot of travelling and juggling, in which case organisation is going to be key! As for the other diary....I couldn't decide at first what to do with it. I think though, it will be best used as a food and fitness diary. I don't plan to record every meal as it won't be feasible but at times when I feel I need to cut back I will log it for a week or two to see where I'm going wrong. I'd also like to keep a log of my progress in the gym and running; noting down my distances or weights each time i progress will give me an idea of where I can improve and when I feel like I've not done enough can reassure myself that I have progressed! 

I also plan on filling it with quotes from Pinterest or Instagram as it will be worth it to look back when I need motivation.

4) Hobbies. I used to be really creative; I took art at GCSE and loved it but it was never something that i could continue on with after that. I've recently got back into a few things such as papercutting and I really want this to continue into 2015. I want to draw and paint more, I want to bake and get more creative with meals in the kitchen, and I want to read more. There is always more that I want to do but reading 1 book per month is something that could be achievable so I will be making a conscious effort to do this. I'd also love to make a scrapbook for my memories like friends' weddings and festivals. Creative time is definitely worth investing your time in, not only for something away from computer and phone screens but something that you can have to show for your hard work.

I think we could all do with a bit of a digital detox couldn't we?

5) Quality not Quantity. This is entirely shopping based; I need to stop getting caught up in hype. There's not a skin product nor a make up product that I currently don't own, before I purchase any more i need to continue to work my way through my ridiculous stash. I've got so much moisturiser it's a tad insane so no more buying until I've run out. As far as clothes are concerned I have really enjoyed my recent trips to vintage fairs and also buying higher end products. I'm fed up of buying clothes that don't last so from now on I will be avoiding Primark etc for work clothes as they just don't last for me. Fashion items are fine but I need good quality stuff that fits and is comfortable enough as well as looking the part for work. Besides I love the thought if there being a story behind an item of clothing don't you??

6) Happiness. Last but not least, the most important point of them all. This year needs to be a much happier year, I need to stress less and just go with life and see what happens. I'm not one to plan too much and I think this is the best way to be but I also worry about the future and what will happen so I just need to accept that things will work out how they are supposed to and I should just enjoy myself in the mean time.

It goes without saying that I would love to end the year with a house of my own, a set of rock hard abs and have travelled a number of places across the globe but that may just be a bit too unrealistic; or maybe it is attainable if I work hard enough?

Who knows! I'm looking forward to being given the opportunity to start another year again with a new mindset and just embrace it all.

As for the blog I will be changing the type of posts and the way I write them from now on. Previously beauty was number one in my life and dedicating this blog to that was the obvious choice; now I've got enough beauty products to last a lifetime and I spend far more of my time reading about new gym and fitness techniques than I do the latest hype products and this doesn't reflect at all. 

Send me your book recommendations, send me posts on your hobbies and pastimes that don't involve more time spent on a computer screen, send me fitness ideas or running tips; I want them all as this year is going to be AWESOME.

L xxx

NARS Virtual Domination Blush Palette

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