Jenny Colgan Giveaway

 Now, before you start getting excited I'd just like to clarify I'm not giving away the actual woman here, just one of her books.  So if your looking for an author to take home with you then this is not the place to be.  If however you would like to own a copy of Jenny Colgan's "Rosie Hopkin's Sweet Shop of Dreams", then you my friend are in luck, and you should carry on reading....

This was my reading material whilst on holiday, and I could have asked for none better!

(Here is the proof)

As with all of Jenny Colgan's books, it a bit of a romantic comedy and always has a happy ending (not that way you sicko... haha).

So for your chance to win a copy please follow these simple rules:
1. Become a follower.
2. Leave a comment with your email address

And it's a simple as that!

There is one copy and the winner will be chosen at random using my, ahem, borrowed random selector Excel program from work... (all very technical) and the giveaway will finish at 7pm Thursday 1st November!

UK entries only, sorry!

Good luck :)

Weekly Wish

This month I've realised that Christmas is getting close and I haven't bought anything so really I need to get out there and start buying some prezzies.  However, this now means there is less money to spend on myself.. ridiculous, do these people just expect me to go around in rags until then?!? Ok, so maybe I already have too many clothes anyway, but this whole less money thing has lead me to have a bit of an idea for buying clothes this month.

My aim is to not buy anything... in the shops (except for charity shops and Primark, they don't count ok, don't make me stay away from them too, nooooooooooooooo)!

Yup, I'm gonna try and find it cheaper online, whether its with dicount codes, off new websites I would have never thought of looking at before or using the power of EBAY, I will be trying to get as much for my money as is physically possible, and don't worry, I'll make sure I let everyone know about these wonderful little bargains!

So this brings me nicely on to my second weekly wish:

I spotted this little number whilst looking for some amazing clothes for amazing prices.

Jumper, Chiara Fashion

The website is Chiara Fashion and you find visit it yourself here.  Everything is super cheap and looks awesome, I will most definitely be stopping by there for bargains, I hope to order this jumper as soon as I get paid, and I'll let you know what its like! 

I really do love a good peter pan collar, and to find one on a gorgeous coloured jumper means that this is definitely a must for my wardrobe! 

Bish Bash Bosh,

Show me the money I'll show you the shoes

Never one to shy away from an opportunity to look at some lovely shoes on t'internet, and as a result possibly bag myself some cash to spend on said shoes, I decided to enter Terri Lowe's Barratts Competition.

You can find all the details you need here.

So basically I had to decide what shoes/boots/general foot coverings I would chose given seventy whole pounds to spend!  Once again, what a hard life this is :)

I had a look and I know exactly how I would spend it, I would splash the cash on these little beauties:

1: Ballerina with Bow Trim, £5.00, Barratts

2: Heeled Chelsea Ankle Boot, £30.00, Barratts

3: Buckle Fastening Ankle Boot, £32.00, Barratts

Given any of these shoes would be brilliant, but having all 3 for seventy pounds, well, it's pee your pants exciting*! I really really want a pair of chelsea boots and at £30 quid it turns out I can have them, oh yes!!!

I also love the brown ankle boot which I know will go very very well with a few select outfits if I do say so myself! I have a pair of boots like this in black, but having seen these I realise I must now have them in brown...   must... have.... them....

And finally, I was gonna stop at just the two boots, but realising I still had some money left over I thought I'd have a little look to see if I could get anything for under a tenner, I wasn't hopeful to be honest!  But low and behold, the good people of Barratts have plenty of beautiful ballet shoes for under a tenner, so naturally I had to squeeze in another pair.  Obviously I chose these little beauties because who can resist a bit of leopard print, not me for sure!!!

And that my friends is seventy squid well spent!

I love getting as much for my money as possible, and I was surprised to find how cheap all the shoes were, what a bargain!  I am now a Barratts convert, anywhere that does good cheap shoes is alright by me!

Also I would like to add that having now seen Terri Lowe's blog I'm a bit of a fan, I'm obviously easily influenced by pretty pictures and cool hair, and I'm a wee bit jealous of her blog.... I'm not sucking up here Terri, I'm just making a casual statement and letting other people know that they should visit your blog which they can do here.

You can also visit Barratts website to pick your own shoes here. Le me know what your think and which ones you would pick.

*I may be cracking on a bit now at the grand old age of 26 but I do not suffer from incontinence, I am merely trying to convey my happiness about the shoes.

Until next time, Brap brap,

Mmmmminty Holiday Nails

Once again I hve been getting busy with my bent out old paper clip (it's serving me well) to create some lovely holiday nails...

Maybe I have too much time on my hands...

But anyway, here is my delightful effort at mint green polka dot holiday nails:

The base colour is Barry M Mint Green and I used a cream nail polish (sorbet) for the polka dots. (The cream nail polish is Tesco own brand nail polish and costs 99p, what a bargain, and it lasts well and looks slick, thanks Tesco!)

Boosh,

Sharm el Chic ;)

Well it never rains, it pours...

Up until two weeks ago I hadn't been on holiday for over a year, but since then I have been down to Cornwall for a long weekend with Gary and just arrived back from Sharm El Sheikh with my sister Rhian.  What a hard life :)

So I'm back, we arrived back late evening to some wind rain and cold weather, what a greeting from my homeland :( But all the same, sometimes its nice to go, but nice to come back too, even if the weather is rubbish, but at least now I can put my nice winter coats to good use... theres got to be a brightside to everything...right?!?

Well after 4 days, 4 nights, 1 hotel, 2 pools, 2 books, some hot weather, good food and a few drinks, I have come back with 0 tan and 1 cold... how in gods name did that happen?  Only I could go to Egypt and catch a cold... cool as hell!!!

Here a just a few photos from our trip, we didn't do much else than soak up the sunshine and had one boat trip to see some wee little fishies, but it was amazing to just get away from it all:


 Leaving the cold behind and making our way through the clouds:

(I love this pic, whenevr I'm excited about going on hols from now on I'm gonna stare at this picture to get me even more excited)

Our Hotel:

(Our hotel was the Nubian Village in Nabq Bay, it was really nice and I'd come back here)

 Our mini excursion:

(Loads of fish, loads of coral, loads of fun)

Posing (not just nice but necessary):

I'd definitely visit Egypt again to visit the pyramids and to use it as a base to visit Petra in Jordan, a perfect location to visit some more of the sever=n modern wonders of the world!  Plus, with sunshine in October, who can resist going for a visit!

However, a word of warning, as I'm sure you've already heard the men are a tad sleazy (not all of them, but its the odd few who ruin it for everybody), I wouldn't recommend going as just two girls again, we didn't leave the resort really, but I wouldn't exactly have felt comfortable wandering round the streets as just us pair... this is all due to culture, it's not exactly the norm for women to go around in next to nothing over there so they think that when we turn up in our holiday wear its a bit of a free for all.... Anywho, I'm just giving my opinion...

Oh well, back to reality, and back to work, boo hoo :(

Until next time, stay sexy!

A Little Something That Made Me Smile

I started this blog about one month ago after having a look at a couple of blogs and thinking 'I could give that a go, put my weird brain and sarcastic remarks to good use', and so I did, and this is what has been born out of that one little thought...

But I never expected to already have 20 lovely people follow what I'm doing have loads of amazing comments and now have someone nominate me for a Liebster Award.

This lovely someone is Lizzie Beth from Look to Find, and she has very kindly nominated me for this award, and to prove it, here it is:

Thank you very much Lizzie Beth (Look To Find) for nominating me for this award and for brightening what was otherwise a fairly dull day at the office. Yes, I may look slightly mental smiling to myself at my desk, but I don't care :)

And here my little lovelies is the vital statistics on the Liebster award:

The Liebster Blog Award is given to upcoming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome and here are the rules:

- Each person must post 11 things about themselves

- Answer the questions set for you then create 11 questions for the people your nominated bloggers

- Choose up to 11 people and link them in your post

- Go to their page and tell them

So, here for your reading please are 11 facts about me:

11. I have 1 sister, Rhian, who is two years younger than me, despite the fact that apparently we look it, we are not twins, otherwise this would have been the longest labour in history!

22. I was born on the 31^st August in the night, which means I was the youngest in my year; had I been born a few minutes later I would have been in the next school year, which would have meant I’d have led a completely different life, different friends etc… The mind boggles

33. I have a cat called Peggy who only has one tooth and cannot meow….

44. My favourite film is Beetlejuice, I dread to think how many times I have watched it

55. When I was little I always wanted to be a vet, but after spending a week at a vetinary surgery on work experience I realized a place where you would have to put animals down was not the place for me, as an animal lover, to spend the rest of my days.

66. I studied Mathematics at university.  Knowing what I know now I would have taken a different course, I still have no idea what course this would have been mind

77. I really want a Newfoundland dog, but practicality wise, until I have a bigger house, I’ll have to wait for one of these gorgeous animals 

88. The first record I ever owned was by Cyndi Lauper, I still love her now!

99. My favourite food in Indian, I think I could eat curry everyday!

110. One of my aims in life is to visit the seven wonders of the world, I’ve seen Chichen Itza, one down six more to go.

111. I am very excited for Christmas this year, I can’t wait to put a tree up in my very own house for the first time ever :)

And now, in keeping with the rules of the competition (we should always follow the rules), here are the answers to Miss Lizzie Beths questions:

1. If you were given £1000, how would you spend it?

I would put it towards a holiday to China. Oooorrrrr…. Have a massive shopping spree up in London, depends on how shallow I was feeling

2. Which Disney character do you most identify with?

Cinderella, because I know how she felt with the ugly sisters… only joking Rhian :)

3. What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

“You can only do your best”, which my mam always used to say to me before every exam I took; it would annoy me at the time, but it does make sense.

4. Gold or silver?

Gold, always gold!!

5. Who is your favourite author and why?

Lesley Pearce.  Every book follows the life of a different person and tells their story right the way through.  I love how you feel like you really know the character and watch them grow as you read through the book.  Please check her books out, you will love them!

6. If you could change one thing about your life at the moment what would you change?

My job, I would be working for myself, I have no idea what exactly my business would be, but the most important thing is that it would be mine!

7. Something you've learnt recently...

It doesn’t matter where we go in the world, people will always ask if me and my sister are twins…

8. If you could have one super power what would it be and why?

To freeze time.  I used to be a massive Charmed fan, and I loved Pipers power of freezing time, it would just mean that everything in life would go on your command when your ready.

9. If you could give one tip to your former self when you started blogging what would it be?

Believe, there are plenty of really nice people out there who actually want to read your ramblings…

10. What was the first blog you ever read?

Ever So Juliet. I love this blog, it’s always got a really good happy vibe about it.  There is nothing pretentious about this blog, and that’s why I love it and always keep up to date with her goings on.  Please check out the blog here.  You’re guaranteed to love it.

11.What/Where is your happy place?

When we were little we never went abroad, but instead spent our holidays here in the UK.  My favourite place to go back to every year was Weymouth, and I still love it now :)

And so we reach, what is arguably the most important part, my nominated bloggers:

Drum roll please…

Rachelle at Inspired by the retired

Eleanor at Unrealistic Fiasco

Mili at Call Me Maybe Call Me Maeby

Sophie at Teacup toast

Felicity at That bird

 

Yes, I have read these lovely peoples blogs and enjoyed them so much I just knew that they well deserved their place here!

Finally, here are my questions to you:

1. Do you have any secret talents?

2. What is your biggest pet peeve?

3. If you could visit anywhere in the world where would it be?

4. What did you always want to be when you grew up?

5. Beauty or brains? If you could only have one, which would it be?

6. Do you believe in fate? Why?

7. What is the one thing you cannot live without?

8. Do you have any tattoos? If so how many and what are they of?

9. What is your favourite song of all time?

10. Have you ever met anyone famous? Who?

11. Favourite blog?

I really hope you enjoy answering them as much as I have enjoyed answering mine!

Thanks again Lizzie Beth (Look to Find)!

Stay Cool,

Weekly Wish

So this is a feature I've decided to introduce as a bit of a challenge for myself.

I usually pretty much want several different items of clothing, or whatever else catches my eye, every week, so I thought it might be quite good if I could pick just the one thing, and maybe, if I've been a good girl, maybe sometimes I will buy it for myself...  Although not always, especially seeing as sometimes my wants are a tiny bit expensive.. Case in point...

Weekly want:

A VW Camper Van

Oh yes, I've always wanted one, it's my dream car, and having visited Cornwall and seeing almost a billion of them *, it really makes me want one more...

Oh well a girl can dream , maybe one day...

* This is an exaggeration (obviously)

Peace,

Leaving on a Jet Plane

So today I am going on yet another holiday, obviously, for me, just one isn't enough, so I'm off to Egypt with my little sis Rhian (I say little, shes 24).

In preparation for this I scoured my wardrobe to find something comfortable yet fashionable to wear on the plane.  I'd like to think I succeeded, but please let me know what you think!

I'd also like to add that all these items were all mega cheap:
Leggings - Miss Selfridge (£7.00 sale)
Top - New Look (£7.00 sale)
Jacket - Primark (£15.00? old)
Shoes - Primark (£2.50)

Adios amigos, I'll be back in a few days, until then, stay cool!

Queen of Hearts

So whilst sitting in our caravan bored, I decided to have a little go at painting my nails.  I really needed something to hide my cracking nails (and I don't mean in the good way), as for some reason they just keep splitting.  If you have any tips on how to stop this, please please please let me know!!

Yup, so anyway, I decided why not see if I could do a teeny tiny little pattern on my nails, and here it is:

Yeah yeah, so it's nothing special, but I was impressed (I'm easily impressed), and it gives my otherwise plain nails just something a little bit different.
Basically, its a base coat of Barry M's Blue Moon, and then just 5 different nail polishes I had lying around (mainly Barry M) for the hearts.  I don't have any fancy nail pens (yet...) so I made good use of what was lying around, and in this case it was a bent out paper clip.  Oh thats right, office stationary really can be exciting... yup, just take your time and dip the paper clip end into the nail varnish and build up the shape with a series of small dots.

And there ladies and gentlemen is my very technical description of my nail art.

Stay sexy,

A Long Way to go for a Cornish Pasty

This weekend me and my boyfriend Gary travelled down to Cornwall for our Sun holiday (minus the sun).

We've been here before but I loved it so much we decided to go there again this year, and as it is just so pretty, it didn't disappoint. 
After travelling down on Friday we headed to our deluxe accommodation for the weekend at Holywell Bay caravan park.  Ah how I love the good old caravan, there's nothing like staying somewhere where it is actually colder inside than it is out...
Over the weekend we visited Newquay, Perranporth, Truro and St Ives; and sampled all the local cuisines, Cornish Pasty, Chinese takeaway, Indian and Dominoes, as you can see, all very local dishes!  I have to say that I absolutely love St Ives, with its tiny little streets and cute cottages, it's my dream place, and given the chance, (and the loads of money it costs to buy a house there, oh and my family, job etc...) I'd be down there like a shot!

So overall, a lovely weekend away, but I won't bore you with the details of us walking around the towns and what we watched on out tiny tele, but will instead enlighten you with what I learnt this weekend:

Things I have learnt this weekend:

1. We don't have to be at home in Wales to have a dance off
2. When lying awake in the middle of the night in a caravan, birds landing and walking around on the roof do not sound like birds, especially at this time of night where rational thought is just not present.  Yup, it scared the bejeezus out of me!
3. I love my disco pants more than I originally thought, it is borderline obsession and I am considering seeking help for this.
4. Bad drainage in a shower = bath!
5. 99% of people in Cornwall own a VW camper/van. Fact!*
6. Pulling up high waist disco pants even further is not a good idea, for future reference, looking like you need to get them surgically removed is not a good idea!
7. Grass + rain = mud.
    Mud + Brogues = mess.  
Now there really is some useful maths, 3 years in university has not gone to waste!
8. Did I mention I really like disco pants?!?

*This is not a fact, it's not even remotely a statistic, it is in fact just utter rubbish...

Stay cool,

DUO Style Challenge

Good Day,

Oh, so you want me to spend time planning an outfit to go with a pair of gorgeous boots, gosh, life is so hard sometimes....:)

So here we go, tough times lay ahead...

tick tock tick tock....

After hours of searching about to match an outfit to do justice to some sexy boots I think I may finally have cracked it...

 Boots - Duo Boots

Dress - Topshop

Jacket - River Island

Necklace - River Island

Ring - ASOS

Nail Varnish - Barry M

Watch - ASOS

Handbag - Duo Boots

Hat - Topshop

I love the whole roller hat look, it just gives everything such a cool twist, so how could I resist combining this with a gorgeous pair of high heel boots! A winning combination I;m sure you'll agree.

Of course you would be arrested for just wearing these two items, so I've decided to add some clothes and accessories to save our modesty!

 This season I'm loving the whole maroon thing, so I've taken advantage of this with this stunning dress! Combined with a biker jacket and some to-die-for accessories (especially the watch - I love a good watch), I think this look is perfect for any occasion.  I know I would certainly love to wear it all the time - you'd literally have to peel it off me in the end (eww ha ha)!

Oh and lets not forget that all ladies need a lovely handbag to put in their lady things, I can think of none better than this Duo Boots bag (oh yes!).

You can visit Duo Boots website here

And that dear readers is my dream outfit for Duo Boots, along with my ummm, interesting commentary...

How to get a life - Thanks Cherry :)

Last night I was casually minding my own business watching some television as you do and there one BBC Three was my favourite show – Cherry Healey’s how to get a life.

Ok, so it’s been on before and I’m sure you’ve watched it before, but for those of you that haven’t please give it a look.

The premise of the show revolves around a different topic every week.  This week it was Work and Play, exploring the lives of people who are the extremes of both ends of the work hard/play hard scale.  She met a man who works 20 hour days (WHAT!!! I know – impossible I hear you cry), a mum that has four jobs, and a group of 3 girls who get paid to party.  See your hooked already aren’t you!

It really does make for interesting viewing and its Cherry Healey’s presenting style that gives it a really cool edge.  But everything I’m saying really doesn’t do the show justice, please find out for yourself, I promise you won’t be disappointed!

So please watch it!

You can watch Cherry Healey’s How to Get a Life Here

Whilst we are on the topic of Cherry Healey, I would like to say that she is a bit of a source of fashion inspiration, I love her clothes her look, her hair… Ok, a bit overboard there, need to stop myself at this point…  Yup, she’s cool!

 
You can visit Cherry’s site here.