OOTD & FOTD as well as a 10 Mile Midnight Walk!

Hope everyone’s had a fab weekend enjoying this beautiful weather? I definitely have had a busy one! Yesterday I began my day quite early, I belong to our local rowing club so was up and out first thing for a row out in the bay. It was a beautiful morning but very wavy!

After getting my exercise fix I was off to meet a couple of friends who I have known for years, one of them lives in Bristol and had come down to visit for the weekend. We went for lunch along the harbour which included a few Bellini’s, why did I not know how good they are before this day?!

We then ventured to the beach for a good ice cream and a paddle. I had a fab afternoon with the girls, there’s nothing like good friends to put a massive smile on your face and there were definitely lots of giggles!

 

DRESS: River Island- £35 - find it HERE

 

I bought this fab midi dress from River Island last week after seeing fellow blogger Hayley over at Tea Party beauty post a pic of it up on twitter. I fell in love with it at first sight! This heat wave wove recently been enjoying has highlighted that I have limited summer friendly clothing. I normally wear jeans and tees but I’ve been melting so I’ve been looking for some nice summer dresses. This is easier said than done! At 5ft2” I have trouble with maxis as they are waaaaay too long, and dresses that are supposed to rest just above your knee rest under mine and look a bit daft! However I think the Midi dress may be my saving grace!

I love the colour and print of this dress and its lightweight and loose fitting. Perfect for this weather with a pair of sandals. I’m also looking forward to wearing it in cooler weather with a pair of black ankle boots and a denim shirt on top.

Peace Necklace - Old - Miss Selfridge

Quartz Necklace - Delilah Dust - Find it HERE

 

The jewellery is two necklaces I’ve layered together. I do this quite a lot, for this look I have a peace necklace from Miss Selfridge, I do like their grungy jewellery range. The quartz necklace is from Delilah Dust. I fully recommend you all taking a look at their website, they do some gorgeous handmade pieces and I know own quite a few!

For my make up I decided to go for a natural look. I didn’t wear any base or foundation as I don’t really tend to in the summer. I’d rather let my (limited) tan shine through and give my skin a bit of a break. Therefore I just concentrated on the lips and eyes.

 

EYES: MAC Eye Shadow in Tempting, Topshop Precision Eyeliner in Black, Benefit They’re Real Mascara

LIPS: Topshop Lip Bullet in Joyride

 

I then headed home, but no rest was allowed I was soon off again for the Midnight Walk in aid of Weldmar Hospice which is a local charity that provides specialist palliative care. They do an amazing job and locally I don’t know anyone who hasn’t had or known someone they love or care about being taken under their wing and making sure those last few days are comfortable and supportive as possible for the whole family.

 

Myself and a group of friends walked the 10 miles and it was a truly incredible experience. We were all given a t-shirt and some flashing bunny ears, visually it looked magical with over 900 walkers. I was truly inspired by some real heroes walking it whilst fighting their own battles with cancer and other illnesses. Words can’t explain how amazing it was!

After getting home at around 5am I have spent most of today lazing on the sofa chilling and writing blog posts for the upcoming weeks. My feet are most definitely aching today and I have a gigantic blister on the heel of my foot, together I’m now walking a bit like a duck!

Overall I’ve had such a fantastic weekend, and am feeling really blessed by my fab friends and family!

Motivational Monday #18

Wow it’s been a few weeks since I’ve done one of these and what a few weeks it’s been! I’ve been on holiday to Egypt which was fantastic. Followed by a weekend in London seeing Olly Murrs and Robbie Williams, also incredible! I will do a post this week on both of these. Following this was my return to work which has been super busy and stressful so I’m afraid my blog took a back seat last week.

I’m determined to not let the stress of work and day to day life get me down this week. So for today’s Monday Motivation I chose the following:

 

It reminds me to smile and to remain positive, not to let other people affect my moods or let their opinions or views alter mine. So this week I am going to put on my invisible armour a big fat smile and charge on as positively as I can! I’m also a huge believer that smiles are catching, I love it when someone smiles at me unexpectedly. A simple smile to a stranger can make their day. It’s such a small gesture that costs nothing.

So dear readers, if you do one thing this week, smile!

Happy Monday!

Book Club: Brooklyn Girls by Gemma Burgess

The Blurb

Jobless. Clueless. Topless on Facebook.

Welcome to New York City.

Pia Keller is not living the dream. Unemployed, unemployable and broke, post-Uni life in a Brooklyn townhouse with her four best friends suddenly isn't so easy.

And that's before heartbreaks, hipsters, all-nighters, one-nighters, food trucks, screw-ups, loan sharks and jail-time make things a whole lot more complicated...

Who knew adulthood would be so damn grown-up?

The Review

I was lucky enough to receive a review copy of this book just as I was about to head off on my holiday to Egypt, so I took it with me as a bit of pool side reading. I ended up being rubbish company for my friend as the first day of our holiday was spent with me being completely engrossed in this book!

It took me a couple of chapters to get into the swing of it, but Gemma’s writing style is brilliant with a fab sense of humour, the characters just jumped off the page. This book is going to be one of five, telling the story of a group of early twenty something’s who live together in, you guessed it,  Brooklyn.

This book really sums up that journey into the ’real world’ and trying to find your feet as an adult. I found it very realistic and the girls all had issues I think we can all relate to.

Pia was very matter of fact and up front. I found it a really refreshing read, Gemma uses modern language and at first this took me a little get used to but I really liked this way of writing once I got used to it. It's an honest depiction of twenty-two-year-old girls and what they get up to behind closed doors, and doesn't censor itself when it comes to such things as one night stands and recreational drug use. It’s not a fluffy girly read.

I found it refreshing that romance wasn’t at the forefront of this novel and it focused on friendships, primarily with Pia’s housemates. The story shows the combination of a group of five girls all with very different personalities. You get a great feel for the different friendships Pia has with each of them and how they all support each other. It celebrated friendships, through the good times and the bad times. I can’t wait to read more about them as the series continues

The novel also looks at food trucks, I won’t say too much as I don’t want to give too much of the story away. However my friend who I was holidaying with also read this book straight after id finished. It led to great debates over food trucks and how we need food trucks and especially healthy one in the south west!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and definitely recommend it! I can’t wait to see what the rest of the series brings.  

DIY: T-shirt Embellishment

I like my T-shirts loose and slouchy. The current styles tend to be very fitted which when you’ve got a few squidgy areas you don’t want enhanced it’s not a great look! I was recently given this cool Jaws T-shirt by a friend. It’s from H&M and is part of their men’s range. I know for some lovely ladies out there that’s a bit of a no no. But I figured if I can make it a bit individual and its comfy then who cares! So I got out my sewing kits and did this.....

 

Items Needed:

 

A T-shirt

Cotton and Needle

Various sized and shaped Studs (You can purchase these super cheaply on eBay)

Pliers

 

What to Do....

1.       I began by playing with the sleeves. I folded them up and put some stitches in to keep them in place. I think this takes away the men’s looking sleeve and makes its look a bit more feminine.

2.       I had some square studs and framed the picture putting them in a design in the bottom corners. To use the studs you push them into place and then use the pliers to bend the edges into place. It is really easy to do!

3.       I also have some star studs which I have wanted to use for a while so I placed them within the word ‘jaws’ and thought it would also be fun to put them in the sharks teeth!

 

I’m really pleased with the final look and have loads of complements on my tee! Have you done something similar?

Barry M Gelly Nail Paint in Pomegranate

 

If you’re a regular reader of my blog you will know that I have tried Barry M’s Gelly Nail Paint in Greenberry before and you can check out that review HERE. I love the Greenberry and felt I ought to give another colour a try, deciding on Pomegranate. This is a dark pink/reddish colour which I really like. I have to admit I am a huge fan of these Gelly Nail Paints. They are long wearing, hard to chip and have a gorgeous shine which you don’t tend to get with other nail varnishes. Highly recommend giving this range a try!

Food: Mediterranean Vegetables and Pasta Salad

 

I am not a great cook AT ALL. I will quite happily put my hands up and declare that now! However I have a few very simple recipes up my sleeve so when i have visitors over I’m not completely stuffed! This is definitely one of those recipes. It’s great for this time of year, as a dish to take to a BBQ or as part of a lunch.

Ingredients:

·         Pasta Tubes

·         Green Pesto

·         White Wine Vinegar

·         Courgettes

·         Red, Green and Yellow Pepper

What to do...

1.       Cook the pasta, when done rinse it with cold water to stop the cooking process and prevent it from sticking together.

2.       Keep a small bit of the boiling water and add a dash of white wine vinegar and a couple of spoonfuls of green pesto. I’ve not put measurements above as this can be done to your personal taste.  Mix it together over the hob and then gentle pour over the pasta.

3.       Cut all the peppers and courgettes into strips and I personally then put them on my griddle pan and grill them. You could also roast them.

4.       When the veggies are slightly browned I then pour them into the pasta and stir.

Then Voila! You can either serve whilst warm or keep in the fridge until ready to serve.

For now we are young...

I love the song ‘In the Aeroplane Over the Sea’ by Neutral Milk Hotel. Check it out in the clip below....

 

I think the reason I love it is because of the lyrics, especially these ones below. I really want them as a tattoo but am yet to decide where or how they will look like. I think for me they are so poignant as they remind me to take a moment and appreciate things. I think we can all be guilty sometimes, of living in such a fast paced world and not taking time out to fully take in what amazing things surround us.

 

 

I love it how sometimes songs really hit a nerve, are there any songs or lyrics that do that to you?