Life Lately...

This was the view from my morning run a few days ago, how beautiful is where I live? I can’t imagine not living near the sea, its keeps me calm and has a kind of magic about it.

So there been some radio silence over on this little space on the internet lately as there has been so much going on in my real life world I’ve had to have an impromptu mini blogging break. So where have I been, I hear you ask! Well I’ve turned 31... yikes... I am officially properly in my 30’s now and its terrifying! Its made me reflect ALOT on where I am and where I want to be. I’ve spent the past year in some weird anxious place where life has kind of been flying by me. I’ve felt lost and unconfident and I’ve just been treading water. Its not been awful but its not been fun either. I kind of thought that by the time I was in my 30s I would be all grown up and settled down by now. You know the whole married with babies and a white picket fence shebang by now. Nope, I’m learning that I’m pretty crap at adulting.

Anyways the tides are turning, I’ve finally moved out of the parentals loft, what was meant to be 6 months turned in to 2 years... so now I’ve moved in to a friends spare room and I have actual windows, can stand up without bashing my head and I have actual walls where I can hang things – luxury! Its feels good and has been nice to have a bit of change. Moving house made me realise how fiercely independent I am and how terrible I am at accepting help! So many lovely people offered to give me a hand and I turned them down, I have in my head that I don’t want to bother folks and that I can look after myself. How could I forget how stressful moving is?! So I did it single handed and told myself off a lot for it! My new aim this year is to let people in and accept help, team work makes the dream work and all that!

This weekend I also purchased a new car, like I said lots of new changes going on very here! My poor bashed up Honda civic has had its day and is unlikely to pass its MOT which is die next week so the times come to part ways with it. So I’ve gone for a ridiculously cute black KA Sport which should be with me by the end of the week. I’m so excited!!

So that’s a brief low down on my life lately! I’m excited to have a bit more time coming up and to get back to blogging more regularly!

8 Reasons Why I am a Shit Blogger...

**Dramatic blog post title alert**. So I’ve been blogging for around 4 years now, which to be frank is quite possibly the longest I’ve stuck with anything. I really do enjoy love blogging, however I am well aware that I am not your typical blogger and definitely don’t fit in the ‘in blogging crowd’, and here is why....

1.     I don’t have any white walls or floors in my house, or any fresh flowers (feel free to send me some!). My house is messy. There is dust and everything! My floors are cheap brown wooden laminate – just in case you wanted to know?!

2.     I’m not sat on twitter 24/7 – I’m so out of the loop with the latest twitter dramz. I forget when chats are happening and can very easily forget to check my twitter account for a few days, ok, ok... weeks.

3.     I don’t own all the latest beauty products to do all the latest up to date reviews – how the hell do people afford to do this?!

4.     I hate having my photos lf my myself on my blog – I cringe a bit m the inside when I do put the  up.

5.     I forget to blog regularly, when people chat about their blog schedules I’m like WTF?! If I can get my act together to blog more than once a week I give myself an actual high five.

6.     I spend an unhealthy amount of time in my PJ’s and when I am like all properly dressed I md to have a standard jeans, tee and converse look that would get pretty boring if I were to venture into talking about fashion over here.

7.     I don’t own a marble table, faux marble table cover or a marble pot... I don’t own anything marble, genuine or fake.

8.     Bloglovin followers. Twitter analytics. Bounce rate. GFC followers. ALL THE NUMBERS. I am clueless, I have no idea what half of it means!

Oh 2016, you beast...

Oh 2016, you fucker. Before you think I’m going to start on about all the celebrity losses we’ve had this year, fear not, that’s not where I’m going with this at all. I’m sat here in my pyjamas lamenting over the end of this year and what I want from life in general for the next one.

I feel like 2016 has been a bit of a blurgh kind of year, I wanted to say it won’t be one that stands out for anything in particular but after speaking to my sister who is pretty frank with me, it ain’t all been bad. The year started pretty awesomely with my 30^th birthday (I’m still horrified that I’m 30), I went with a big group of friends to Dublin for the weekend and it was such a blast! Full of Irish dancing, Guinness and laughs. I also met a man this summer and got my dream job in September which I am loving. However my mum has been seriously ill which has been stressful and had a big knock on to my own health. I’ve been poorly for about 3 months with my thyroid and have zero energy and motivation which has been horrendous as isn’t me at all.

Over all I feel that this year has been hard and a little stagnant and ive been pretty lost. So 2017, I’m coming for you, I want to make you a year that I remember for all the right reasons, that I laugh till I wet myself on a regular basis, that I spend time in the moment, that I appreciate all the small things. I feel that I have been ploughing through life lately with no real reason other than to get through the day. I want to stop and enjoy life and that’s the plan for 2017. Nothing big just being grateful for all the good things in lif

The Glasses Shop // New Specs

2016 has been the year I’ve had to bite the bullet and accept that I needed glasses (insert horrified face emoji here). I think a mix of using screens more and turning 30 has hit my poor blinkers and I’ve gone from having pretty ace eyesight to squinting whenever I try and read something!! If I didn’t cave and get glasses I would have needed a severe amount of Botox to get rid of the lines from trying to focus!

Anyway around the same time I decided to embrace being a speccy four eyes I received an email from the lovely folk at The Glasses Shop asking if I would like to chose a pair from their range and I just jumped at the chance!

The Glasses Shop has a huge range of glasses and sunglasses at pretty cheap prices! I was a little nervous about ordering prescription glasses online but the whole process was pretty easy. I decided to go for the Horace Wayfarer glasses in Tortoise shell which sells for $34.95. I just filled in my info and let them know my prescription for each eye.

I was really surprised they arrived really quickly from America and they are great! They are really good quality and very stylish. I think there fun and slightly quirky too. Very me! I am a little in love with them!

Have you ever ordered prescription glasses online before? I would definitely be doing this in the future! I felt a bit rushed when I was choosing at the opticians and there wasn’t much choice. This way meant I could take my time and find the perfect pair!

#BloggerSecretSanta

What feels like ages now, I signed for Char over at T Rexes and Tiaras #BloggersSecretSanta. I love a secret Santa, I find it so fun becoming a bit of a social media spy (I was going to say stalker but that makes me sound a little nuts!!) and figuring out what they may or may not like. I was given Hazel who blogs at World of Joy. Her blog is beautiful so would deffo recommend heading over there to take a peek! I decided to treat her to a little pamper package which you can check out on her blog here.

My own #BloggersSecretSanta parcel arrived this morning and it is so perfect!! I was this stunning Gin necklace – if you pop by here regularly you will know I am a huge Gin lover and my Santa got it so right! My awesome Santa was Alex at Eat Play Pixels and I would like to say a massive Thank You her! I love the necklace and am pretty sure its going to be one of my key accessories this holiday season!

Dorset Etsy Team Christmas Fair

I was going to write this post a few weeks ago but life got in the way! Decembers always super hectic for me and even with the best intentions I have been shocking at getting shit done! I am so behind its unreal! So I had a little debate with myself as to whether it was too late to write about this but to hell with it, I had a great day at this and wanted to share it with you all!

What am I waffling on about this time? Well let me tell you... As you may or may not be aware, I have my own Etsy Shop and a few weeks ago I attend the Dorset Etsy teams Christmas fair which was held in Wimborne and supported by Etsy Made Local. I had a stand for my shop Pearl Divine and had a blast. It was the first Dorset Team event I have attended and I was blown away by how friendly and lovely the other team members/stall holders were.

I was a bit nervous to begin with as wasn’t sure what to expect but I had such a great day and cant wait to sign up for next years event already! The event as a whole was a huge success with 70 stalls and with over 2000 people through the doors! The quality of produce available was immense and I feel really proud to be part of the team. There was so many talented stall holders and you can check out the full list of them here. I Would definitely recommend having a browse!

P.S as a bit of a thank you and as I’m super feeling in the holiday spirit I’m offering 20% off EVERYTHING in my Pearl Divine shop until the 31^st January 2017. Just use the code ‘ THANKYOU20 ‘ at the checkout! Go on you know you want to treat yourself....

Getting into the Christmas Spirit!

The one week countdown to Christmas begins!! Wahoo!! Love this time of year and I’m especially looking forward to the next week as I have lots of Christmas catch ups coming up! So this past week just gone I’ve been really trying to get in the Christmas spirit, so I thought id share with you what I’ve been doing to get in the Christmas mood...

First up, one of my awesome friends is an amazing artist and crafter and put on a wreath making class. It was two hours full of moth, holly and mulled wine. A ridiculously fun evening! I’ve never made a home made wreath before and am so happy with what I ended up with.

Every year I get Xmas themed nails and I love them! I usually go for bright and tacky but this year I wanted something a big more classy so went for black nails with white nail art and its perfect. Its understated and has a vintage feel.

I have a bit of a tradition lf making home made Gin which I then hand out as a present to various people This year I went for strawberry flavoured Gin and I’m really pleased with the results, it  is yummy! After a few months of brewing and agitating it, this week I was time to decent not bottles ready to hand out for Christmas.

We also finally put up our Christmas tree!! I went for a gold theme and It looks great, even if I do say so myself. I just had to share this photo, how cute do my puppies look framing the tree!!