Monday 27 January 2014

I'm back!

Sorry I haven't posted properly for a while, the last week or so has been completely crazy! 

- I've had coursework due in for today so I was super happy to finally be rid of it and get some form of a life back! This weekend, I replanned and wrote my final draft and I barely went on my phone or computer which is really odd for me as I'm usually glued to it. It definitely helped though as I handed in my essay this morning completed and with all of the little extras my teacher says it needs! I've never been happier to get rid of a piece of work, I just hope it's good enough now!
- Over the last week, nothing has happened that is blog worthy apart from having a blood test done last week and having lots of driving lessons which is loads of fun! I'm really enjoying driving and I hope that I can actually pass when I have my test in early March! 
- I've been reading the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes and it's amazing! I love the original stories and I think Arthur Conan Doyle is a genius. I can't wait to read more once I have time!
- Even though I love Classical literature, I actually miss doing the art module in Classic civilisation because literature is so difficult!
- I haven't painted my nails in about two weeks and it feels so weird but my nails are stronger!
- I haven't been wearing lipstick for the last week either and I bought another today, I remember why I love them so much! I can't wait to show you!
I promise I'll post more now my coursework it out of the way! 
Jess xx

Tuesday 21 January 2014

The Sailboat.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.


Sunday 19 January 2014

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug review

Last night, I met up with an friend who I haven't seen for quite a while and we intended to go bowling but it was a Saturday night which meant all 4 bowling alleys around my area were completely full! Instead, we decided to go to the cinema! I've wanted to see the second Hobbit film since I watched the first one and it was such luck that the only film on at the time we arrived was The Desolation of Smaug!
All of my college friends seem to have seen it so I was really excited to finally watch it after their great feedback of it! 
I really loved the first one and this one also didn't disappoint! It was so exciting and I jumped at quite a few bits...I hate spiders so anyone who has seen it will know why I found one bit nearly impossible to watch, even through my fingers! 
I have never seen the Lord of the Rings films (I know...I'm disgraceful.) so this is the first experience with this world that I've had and I might just have to watch them now! 
It was much more action filled than An Unexpected Journey and I loved the fight scenes and even though some of the CGI was painfully obvious and made it look like something out of Skyrim or an updated Zelda game, it was still really enjoyable! 
I think one of my favourite parts of the film was the barrel ride as it was so funny and brilliantly done, I can imagine somewhere doing a theme park ride based on it sometime soon! 
I was amazed by the detail the sets had, Lake-town, Erebor and Rivendell were gorgeous and so intricate, you can imaging them being real places out in the middle of nowhere! 
As characters go, I loved Tauriel (who fought better than all of the men in this film together), Stephen Fry as Lake-town's Master (greedy and hilarious) and Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch portrays him brilliantly, making him perfectly imposing and threatening). I thought Martin Freeman as Bilbo was also great, I think he's completely perfect for the role!
I'm not very good at film reviews without giving loads away, so I hope this was okay! 
I recommend this film completely, it's great and it really enjoyable!
Jess xx

Saturday 18 January 2014

Instagram snapshots #2.

I haven't been on the internet very much this week so I don't have a This Week's Favourites post, unless you wanted me listing my favourite stationary that I've been using for my homework! Instead, I'm going to do another Instagram snapshots post because I've started taking more photos!

Good start to Friday morning!

Haven't had one of these in so long!

Pretty bottle and yummy drink!

Doing Aeneid notes, why must there be so much to write down?!
Going to need several sheets just for this book/chapter...

Good start to the day! Favourite pastry and favourite mug!
You can follow me on Instagram on here of you like these posts! I might make this a weekly/biweekly thing...they're fun to make! 
Jess xx

Friday 17 January 2014

The Liebster Award #2!

The lovely Amée has nominated me for the Liebster Award again! It was only a month since I did my last post so it's nice to have another set of questions to answer! Thank you Amée!


The Rules
You need to link back to the nominator 
State 11 Facts about yourself
Answer the 11 questions given to you 
Nominate 11 new bloggers with less than 200 followers 
And give those nominated 11 new questions

11 facts about me
1. I absolutely love driving and I have my test on 5th March so hopefully it goes well!
2. I wish I could wear heels more, I love the look of them but my college is really hilly so I can't wear them a lot!
3. I love learning new things and will go out of my way to read new books about topics I find interesting!
4. I'm currently reading the Sherlock Holmes collection and it's amazing - book reviews to come shortly!
5. I love sleep. I will happily sleep for 12 hours if I can!
6. When I do homework, I will always get into my lounge trousers because they're so comfy!
7. I love Classical literature (Roman and Greek) and I really want to buy more, not just the books I do in Classic Civilisation!
8. I prefer sweets over chocolate.
9. However, I do still love chocolate and dark chocolate is my favourite.
10. I actually like Shakespeare unlike most people my age. 
11. I love History and aside from ancient Roman and Greek, the Tudor, Victorian and Medieval periods are my favourites.

My questions from Amée.

What is your favourite make and shade of Lipstick?
A firm blogger favourite - Rimmel Kate Matte Lipstick in 107 is my favourite lipstick by far but I really love my two MAC lipsticks; Viva Glam IV and Dark Deed.
If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?
If I had the money to spend, either New York or Paris.
What is the worst beauty product you have ever tried out?
I don't think I've ever bought anything that I've really disliked...the Body Collection maxi lipstick in Vixen wasn't great though as it was an odd shade.
Who are your favourite bloggers?
Carly
Lauren
Kerry
Jemma
Hannah
Sophie
What one item of clothing could you never live without?
I love all of my clothes...but currently it would be my panda dress from H! by Henry Holland or my burgundy slouchy, chunky knit jumper from Crew.
What is your favourite candle scent?
I'm not allowed candles at home as mum doesn't like the scent, but when I go to the Yankee candle shop in Reading, I always love the spiced christmas scents, vanilla and fruity smells.  
Twitter or Instagram?
Instagram. Twitter is good for saying when I've written a new blog post and talking to some people but Instagram is a bit more fun and personal as you see people's lives which I love! Pictures are so much fun!
What is your all time favourite song?
I don't really have a favourite song, but when I read the question, the first to pop in my head was Eet by Regina Spektor so I'll go with that! The music video is also one of the most brilliant things ever. I love typewriters so it's perfect.
If you were a superhero what powers would you want?
Teleportation without a doubt. Free travel is hard to come by these days and going overseas would be so much easier, you could pop home every day and sleep in your own bed, you would only have to spend money on shopping!
What is your favourite accent?
I've always loved Irish accents!
What shop are the majority of your clothes from?
I would have to say Crew I think. I have lots from other shops, but I own the most from Crew easily. Factory/Warehouse sales are the best things known to man and they do some cracking ones!

I was also nominated by the gorgeous Olivia so here are her questions!

1. What are 3 things on your wishlist for this month?
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, a replacement BadGal Lash mascara from Benefit as I think mine is running out and some more time to relax/get my english coursework finished!
2. What is your favourite social media?

Blogger if that counts? To be honest, I love them all but I use them for different reason - Tumblr is generally great, Instagram is fun to scroll through, Facebook is good for chatting, Twitter is good for news and Pinterest is good for outfit ideas and recipes!
3. Have you broken one of your New Years' resolutions? If so, which one?

I actually haven't for once! I haven't started revising yet technically, but I wasn't going to anyway so that doesn't count.
4. On which site do you do the most of your online shopping?

I don't shop online as I don't have a card of any sort!
5. What beauty product can you not live without?

Mascara and Lipstick. I also really need moisturiser to keep my face looking as good as it can without covering up my red patches!
6. What is your best quality?

I'm good at understanding when my friends need space and I'm good at giving advice. I guess I'm quite sympathetic and empathetic!
7. What is your dream job?

An Archaeologist, museum worker, journalist, blogger or a mix of them all!
8. If you had a time machine, would you travel to the past or the future?

The past - I love History and going back to see events in real life would be extraordinary. I would definitely have to pinch some dresses from the 50s!
9. You're at a dinner party with 5 of your chosen celebs (dead or alive). Who is there?

Oh gosh...Marilyn Monroe (she was great and has an amazing story), Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Watson, Tom Hiddleston and Benedict Cumberbatch. All perfect and amazing! 
10. If you could travel to anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Already answered above!
11. Why did you start blogging?

I love writing and Adorkable by Sarra Manning inspired me enough to start a blog! I'm so glad I did because it's definitely become a part of me now! 

Thank you for these questions! 

My nominees
Barbs
Alexi
Lucy
Emily
Rhiannon
Otilia
Menna
Kristen

My questions!
1. Which is your favourite season?
2. What do you want to accomplish this year?
3. What topic do you like to blog about the most?
4. Favourite social media?
5. Would you rather visit a museum/art gallery or go to a gig/concert?
6. What book are you enjoying lately?
7. What do you love about blogging?
8. What are your top 3 TV shows?
9. What is your favourite album?
10. Which post are you the most proud of?
11. One thing you couldn't live without?

Jess xx

Wednesday 15 January 2014

Skincare routine!

I've been wanting to do a post on skincare for a while but I've always had loads of other ideas that have taken priority so when Gaby came up with this as the topic for the second 2014 Blogger Challenge post, I was so happy! 
I don't actually do much for skincare but what I do seems to work so I stick to it!
I'm usually quite busy so I don't really have a set routine for when I do any skincare which is probably quite bad! However, when I actually do it, I use Neutrogena visibly clear 2 in 1 wash and mask and Neutrogena visibly clear oil free moisturiser. I use the wash/mask when I'm in the shower but never really outside of then because I don't usually have time. I then put on the moisturiser morning, evening and after a shower.
I have quite bad red patches by my nose which is also where the most dry skin is (and my forehead) and this seems to make the red patches better and make my skin less dry. Most other creams and lotions have just made it worse so I'm quite glad that I found a system that actually works pretty well!


When I have extra time at the weekend, it's also nice to treat myself a bit and I use the mask aspect of the wash/mask which is left on for a bit longer. This also helps my skin and makes it so much softer and smoother - I love it! I also like to use Waitrose's own brand rice, honey and tamanu shower milk by Umi (in store brand) at the weekend as it smells amazing and leaves my skin feeling super soft which I love!
I don't really do much skincare stuff and don't eat anything specifically to make my skin better, but I drink lots during the day and always make sure I take off all of my make up which probably helps!
Jess xx

Read my first Blogger Challenge post here.

P.S. I also reached 60 followers on GFC and 300 on Twitter! Thank you guys so much!! xx


Monday 13 January 2014

100 followers!

I just got a comment from Lauren telling me that I've reached 100 followers on Bloglovin'!!!
I'm honestly so happy right now, thank you! When I started this blog, I never thought anyone would read it, let alone actually follow me! I'm honestly so grateful for all of you as you make blogging so much more fun, every comment, follow and view makes me super happy because whatever I'm saying is getting out there and is being read! I love talking to you guys and it's so nice to see what you have to say about what I'm writing about!
Jess xx
P.S. Did anyone else watch Sherlock last night?! I'm SO HAPPY with how they did that episode, definitely the best one of this series! They better not leave us waiting for series 4 for very long or I might explode!

Sunday 12 January 2014

Lazy Sunday

Now I'm back, the first week back at college went by so quickly and now it feels as if I never left! Overall, it's been a good start back, with lessons feeling quite relaxed and not a lot of homework being given out. 
I've been re-doing my coursework today which has been quite hard as it's my final draft. Whatever I give in next time will be the piece that is marked for my final grade. Last year we got a few drafts that allowed us all to get good grades but this year it's quite scary having to get it all right pretty much on the first go! Hopefully it all goes alright!
Jess xx
P.S. I'm almost at 100 followers on Bloglovin', thank you!

Saturday 11 January 2014

This week's favourites!


"I can’t stand moral absolutism. You know, there’s always that guy who wants to point out that Martin Luther King cheated on his wife— as if he obviously couldn’t have been a great person if he did something like that. Or someone will bring out an inspirational quote, and get you to agree, and then inform you that Hitler said it. As if a good thought couldn’t come from Hitler. Moral absolutism keeps us from learning from the past. It’s easy to say: ‘Hitler was a demon. Nazis were all bad seeds.’ That’s simple. It’s much harder to say: ‘Is that humanity? Is that me?’"
If you haven't seen this, check it out NOW. Brandon captures the most amazing images and stories of people from all walks of life and it's amazing to see the variety of people living in just one city in one country. I love people watching and I often wonder about the lives of the people around me so this blog is so interesting to me and I know you'll find it interesting too!

2. NCIS Season 11
This is my favourite show probably ever. England get it ages after the US which is rather annoying as I end up seeing quite a few spoilers as the episodes air over in America. It's a US crime drama about a team at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in Washington DC. As well as having a case each episode, there are also underlying plots that are so clever and well thought out, they may as well have happened. The characters are also brilliant and you end up loving them all - I've cried on multiple occasions when someone has died because the writers are so fantastic that they make everyone on the show seem less like characters and like real people which doesn't always happen on shows like these.
The new season started yesterday with all guns blazing and I'm so excited for the rest of the series, even though I know that one of my favourite characters leaves, I'm quite excited to see what happens!
Another perk is that American shows always have more episodes per season so it doesn't finish as quickly!
In America, this show is aired on CBS, and in the UK, Fox. I highly recommend it - there are always re runs, you just have to look for them!

3. wornontv.net
Do you always wonder where that one dress or jumper comes from on a TV show? This is possibly the best website in existence for you. If you're a fan of American TV shows, this website will be your holy grail. Some brilliant person has gone through almost 70 shows and found where the clothes come from and given links. The list includes Doctor Who (only English show on here, sorry!), Agents of SHIELD, Rizzoli and Isles, Once Upon a Time, Mad Men, Pretty Little Liars, Arrow, New Girl, Elementary and The Carrie Diaries so it has a wide range of different shows and pieces that they've found! Obviously they don't have all of them, but it's exciting to see which pieces they do have and where they're from! I know a few pieces I've looked at in some episodes of Agents of SHIELD have popped up on there so it's great!

4. Costa's gingerbread latte
Now that Christmas is over, the festive drinks are gone too. Luckily, Costa still do their gingerbread latte all year round which makes me very happy because it's my absolute favourite as it doesn't make me feel ill unlike Starbucks coffees.

This post ended up being majorly American orientated, sorry!
If you have anything you think I should check out for next week, leave suggestions in the comments!
Jess xx

Thursday 9 January 2014

Instagram snapshots #1.

I don't use instagram as much as most people and only really put one or two pictures up a week, if that. As I've been doing stuff though, I've actually been using it quite a bit over the last week or so as it's been close to Christmas so I thought I would share some of my photos that haven't already featured here!

Essie's Muchi Muchi
Off to college!
Homemade meringue!
(Shaped this one myself, I was so proud!)
Chocolate mousse and salted caramel bauble!
Passed my theory! 1 step closer to driving!
I found vintage Ferragamo shoes in an antiques shop for £8.50! So sad that they were too thin for my feet :(

I hope you guys enjoyed this, I might keep doing these when I've posted more on instagram! 
You can follow me here
Jess xx

Wednesday 8 January 2014

The writer and the philosopher.

Lately, I've been feeling like I should be doing homework and work which I haven't actually got any that I can do properly and it's causing me to put more unneeded pressure on myself. Does anyone else feel like this sometimes? 
Today I used my free to do some extra research work for my most recent English Lit and Classics lessons which was quite fun, I got to research about The Knight's Tale by Chaucer and then researched Friedrich Nietzsche for Classics! 
We're studying War in English which is covering Ancient Greece (a modern re-working of the Iliad) to World War 2 (The Ghost Road) so it's a really interesting module! I've always meant to look into the works of Chaucer as he is widely known as the Father of English Literature and the best poet of Medieval times so it's quite exciting getting to learn about him and his works! So far he seems pretty interesting and once I get time, I fully intend to read The Knight's tale in full as the story seems to be really interesting! 
We're reading the Iliad and the Aeneid in Classics so to introduce us to the topic, my teacher is doing some lessons that introduce the Greek and Roman concepts of Heroism which is also really interesting as it's quite different from modern times and they actually greatly differ from each other! It's quite philosophy based at the moment so it can be slightly hard to understand sometimes as I don't study it, but once it's all explained, I'm finding it all amazing! I was considering philosophy for AS level but I didn't want another essay subject, I regret that decision quite a bit sometimes! My teacher mentioned Nietzsche and as I'd heard of him before from when I studied The History Boys at GCSE (also another fantastic piece of work, I highly recommend the written play and the production) so I decided to research him which has been super interesting but sometimes a bit complicated as I've been clicking on links trying to understand concepts left, right and centre! 
I love this sort of researching work as I feel more like I'm becoming independent and closer to University work, I'm honestly so excited for September now, I just hope I get in! 
Jess xx

Tuesday 7 January 2014

Why I blog.

When I was younger, I always used to attempt to keep a diary but always ended up getting too paranoid that people would see it, start feeling silly for writing it in the first place or forget about it and then give it up. This blog is the longest I've kept a continuous stream of writing going for and I'm quite proud of it if I'm perfectly honest! I never in my wildest imagination believed that I would get anywhere with this blog, that I would give up after a week like my diaries, or just sit here and have no one read it. I've been writing for a year and a half and have over 10, 500 views and 55 followers so it's come so much further than I was expecting it to!

I can't really put my finger on why I love blogging or why I even blog in the first place, but these are some things I think probably help! 

I love writing.
The obvious one. I know several friends who tried blogging after my constant raving about it, wrote a couple of posts and then gave up. I understand that writing isn't for everyone but it did confuse me how they could start something and not want to continue it. 
I've always been quite creative, mainly taking arts and humanities subjects rather than science subjects at school and college and I've always loved writing, a poem of mine that I wrote as an extra piece of work for a year 9 English class was kept by my head of year and I was asked if I had copied it from Roger McGough! Over the years, the amount of creative writing I've been able to do in my classes has decreased to none which is quite disappointing, but that is why I love this blog so much, because it lets me write about whatever I want, in whatever style I want, when I want. It is still writing and it improves my individual style but without having to write pages of essays instead. 
If my current ideal job of working in Archaeology or History doesn't work out, then I want to become a journalist because I think my writing style suits the chatty but slightly formal tone of that line of work. 

The freedom.
Kind of leading on from the last point, I love thinking of this blog as having an online diary, and even though I know people I know read it (hi guys!), it feels nicer to just write and then send it off into the world wide web. A blog gives so much more freedom about what to write than a diary does because of that very fact. Other people read it and just talking about every day life can get rather boring, which is probably why I eventually gave up writing diaries in the first place! Blogging gives you that freedom unknown to other forms of writing as you have no barriers or restrictions unless you put them on yourself. One day, I could be talking about a book I've just read, a tv show I watched or a film I went to see, and the next, I could be doing a post like this, reviewing a make up product or having a little rant! There's no way of knowing because I just write what comes to mind that day. I thought this post up on the train home from college, there isn't really any planning that goes into these things, most posts are pretty much spontaneous! 
Some bloggers label themselves which I find limits what you can talk about. If I had to, mine would be considered a lifestyle blog as I will write about everything and anything!

The people you meet.
I've told you before that I met Kate from blogging and since then, I've spoken to lots of other lovely bloggers who are all amazing and super friendly! The blogging community is amazing and being involved in the 2014 Blogger challenge has made me become more involved in it which I'm really happy with, the girls that are participating are great! I get quite a few comments on my posts nowadays and each and every one makes me smile, I love replying and starting up a conversation with them, you never know what you could have in common!

Long story short, I'm so happy that I started blogging and I know that I'm going to continue for as long as I can, it's definitely become a part of me now! 
Jess xx

Monday 6 January 2014

First day back!

It was my first day back at college today which, to be honest, I was quite excited about as the modules I'm going to be learning about this term are really interesting! The only problem was that I didn't sleep very well so I was working off four hours sleep instead of the eight or nine I've been used to over the holidays. My last lesson was cancelled so I only had to be in until midday so it was a nice, relaxing morning to get me back into the swing of college!

The second episode of Sherlock was on yesterday which was amazing! I'm not sure how I feel about the direction Mark Gatiss is going with the plot this series - I like how the relationships are being built up and how much character development is happening but I almost feel as if the focus has been shifted to that which is detracting from the actual point of the show; a crime solving drama. I think they might be using this series to build the bridge between the old ways and the new (with Mary) and instead of jumping head-first back into the crime solving as it was before Reichenbach, they're showing the effect the last two years have had on the characters which I really like. I think that the new episodes work well, but knowing that there is only one episode left until an unknown length wait for the next series makes it more difficult to accept the more dragged out episodes and has me hoping that this last episode on Sunday will bring Sherlock back to its crime-solving glory. 
Jess xx
P.S. Thank you to those of you that have filled out my survey, it's really great seeing what you guys think I can improve on! If you have any other suggestions that don't fit within the survey then feel free to pop them in the comments! You can fill out the survey here.

I've had this stuck in my head for the last few days, it's so sweet! The way they look at each other is just adorable. 


Sunday 5 January 2014

Survey!

I've been blogging for about a year and a half now and as it's the start of the new year, I thought I would create a survey that you guys could answer, telling me what I could do differently and improve on my blog! 
You can fill it out for free HERE.
There are only four questions so I would really appreciate it if you could take some time to answer it so I can make my blog better!
Jess xx

Saturday 4 January 2014

This week's favourites!

Last week's favourites were replaced by a 2013 favourites post but I'm back again this week!

I don't have many internet favourites as I've mainly been doing homework and reading so this will be a general rather than link favourites! 

1.  How to Fall in Love - Cecelia Ahern
She has just two weeks. Two weeks to teach him how to fall in love – with his own life. Adam Basil and Christine Rose are thrown together late one night, when Christine is crossing the Ha'penny Bridge in Dublin. Adam is there, poised, threatening to jump. Adam is desperate – but Christine makes a crazy deal with him. His 35th birthday is looming and she bets him that before then she can show him life is worth living. Despite her determination, Christine knows what a dangerous promise she's made. Against the ticking of the clock, the two of them embark on wild escapades, grand romantic gestures and some unlikely late-night outings. Slowly, Christine thinks Adam is starting to fall back in love with his life. But is that all that's happening… ?

This is possibly one of my favourite books that I've read to date. As I said in my favourites of 2013 post, it only took me three days to read. I know I've already technically used this book, but it was within this week!

2. The Croods


A film about cavemen, what's not to love?! It's a hilarious, sweet film about a family and stepping out of your comfort zone. Once again, Dreamworks pull it out of the bag with this film. 

3. The Lover's Dictionary - David Levithan 
How does one talk about love? We are all beginners when it comes to love, from those tentative first dates to learning how to live with, or without, someone. But how does one describe love? How does one chart its delights and pleasures, its depths and desolations? Do we even have the right words to describe something that can be both utterly mundane and completely transcendent, pulling us out of our everyday lives and making us feel a part of something greater than ourselves? David Levithan's The Lover's Dictionary starts where we all once started – with the alphabet. Constructing the story of a relationship as a dictionary, Levithan explores the intimacies and workings of love through his nameless narrator, to paint a moving portrait of love through everyday words. Cleverly using the confines of language to provide an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of being part of a couple, Levithan gives us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time.

I bought this with an Amazon voucher I used for my kindle and read it within an hour. It's short but beautifully written and gives a simplistic insight into a couple's life that would otherwise be lost if it were any more detailed. The words used to start each snippet struck me as very interesting as they showed the stages of the relationship and how the narrator was feeling at the time. It's such a simple idea but David managed to turn it into something beautiful and completely unique. 

4. I write like
This is another quiz type thing where you copy and paste a section of writing that you have written and it tells you which author you write like! When I did this, I got Neil Gaiman which made me very happy as I love him! There is also a newsletter that you can sign up to and they send you a downloadable book about short story writing! Tell me who you get if you do the quiz!

I know this is quite short but most things have been mentioned in other posts so there isn't any point putting lots of repeated things here (Cecelia Ahern's book being an exception, it was too good to miss off this list!) and boring you all! 
Jess xx

Bad day.

(I need somewhere to rant so don't bother reading this if you don't want to.)
You know where you get those days where everything seems to go wrong and you just want to curl up in a ball and hide away from the world? I've been having one of those days. Big time.
This holiday, I wasn't set much homework aside from reading, but what I did get was quite large and takes quite a bit of time up. 
I was given a project to complete with a friend in Classics and we split the work up between the two of us as it was easier to complete most of the work individually but had planned to come together once we couldn't do any more without talking about it. 
To start the day off, I ended up oversleeping again as I've not been sleeping very well the last few nights anyway so it's starting to catch up on me. This meant that I was already behind by a few hours and didn't get to work until about 11.30/12. I had almost finished my part of the document when I accidentally managed to reload the page (on a Mac, this can be done really easily by swiping left to right) when looking at a picture I was using. As it's an online document with no automatic saving features, I lost everything I'd done over the last four hours. I had one last page of my booklet to complete (I had done 10 others today) so I've been pretty upset for the last hour or so. 
I know it doesn't seem like much and I can just re do it but it really annoys me how I got so close to finishing and I ruined it in a second. It also really upsets me because I feel like I've let my friend down as we were going to meet up today once it was all finished so I've ruined the chance of us being able to meet up and get the very last part done.
I really needed to do something to clear my mind a bit so I decided to write a little post on here as writing always makes me calmer and happier. 
Jess xx

Friday 3 January 2014

Adventure day with Imie!

Today, after absolutely ages of not seeing each other, I met up with my friend Imie and went for a shopping trip in Reading! She's currently at Uni so it's obviously been very difficult to meet up so this was a great time to catch up as we were both free for once!
We started off by having lunch at my favourite restaurant (if you can call it that...), Handmade Burger Co. where we proceeded to chat about life and take sneaky photos of each other, ending with each of us having a photo where we look pretty bored/unimpressed while we were caught off guard! 

I was looking at my phone...not asleep!

Imie concentrating on her drink...and still looking crazily pretty, it's just not fair!
I love the restaurant because it's like a fancy Nandos - quieter, better quality food and an insane selection of different toppings and types of burger! It only ended up being £10 each as well which was great, student cards are the best thing to happen to this world!
We then ended up going to House of Fraser and Imie ended up getting her first MAC lipstick and lipliner which brings my tally of people I've persuaded to buy one in the last month to three - I'm quite impressed with myself. After a look in Waterstones, New Look and Zara, we stopped off at Superdrug where I bought a base coat nail polish and Imie got some more make up - see her review post here
After a final stop off at Boots and a trip to Starbucks, we headed home. 
I had a great day and I can't wait to meet up with her again - I love seeing old friends that I'm still close with even after ages! 
Jess xx

P.S. Some of my older readers (pre-2014 Challenge) will recognise the dress - I featured it in my Things I've had my eye on recently post back in October! I bought it before I went to see Catching Fire the other day and I'm so so happy with it, it fits perfectly and it's a perfect dress for the colder months as it isn't too short and the sleeves and high neckline give an extra covering most dresses don't! It's from H! by Henry Holland at Debenhams for £38. I'll do a full-body shot when I have the time!

Fire Is Catching.

On Wednesday, me and a secondary school friend went shopping and saw Catching Fire in Reading. I'd read all three books within 4 days of buying them, just before the first film came out so I really love the series and couldn't wait to see what they did with the second film after the overall disappointing Hunger Games film compared to the books. 
I was so impressed! They stuck so closely to the book and almost cried at some bits! I thought the casting was down to a tee and I loved Sam Claflin and Jena Malone as Finnick and Johanna. I loved where they ended it too, I can't wait for Mockingjay parts 1 and 2 - if they stick with the same director, I know it will be amazing!
I completely recommend this film, the last Hunger Games film (not as good but still pretty good if you detach it from the books!) and of course the books!
Jess xx

Thursday 2 January 2014

2013 vs 2014.

I know my Blogger challenge post is meant to be a substitution for resolutions/goals, but I find that it's always nice to have them written down somewhere so I thought I'd share mine from last year (2013 resolutions) and come up with some new ones!

2013

Revise work from the beginning - I sucked at this last year and it hasn't really changed if I'm honest. I just need to revise earlier.

Read more - Time is a problem for me. I work a lot and spend the rest of my time blogging. I did manage to read a few books just for the fun of it this year and I loved them all! I also read a few books surrounding my subjects which were good!

Take more photos - I fulfilled this when I went to Sicily with college but apart from that, I didn't get many chances to just take photos with friends. I've taken lots more photos for my blog though if that counts!

Don't get as easily distracted - I've been getting better at forcing myself to work but when I'm not motivated, I'm in trouble.

Be confident in myself - I'm so much happier than I was last year about the way I look and just myself in general. I feel like I know my style and what suits me better now so bring on 2014!

Talk to people more - I've spoken to some more people and made some good friends so I think I accomplished this!

Make an effort with friends - I met up with my friends quite a bit this year but still not as much as I would have liked. However, to get decent grades and get into Uni, work comes first (which they know) so I'm quite happy with the amount I did see people!

Blog more! - I blogged more because I had a full year instead of five months of blogging this year, but I added up the number of posts, and I did the exact same amount August - December which I find really creepy!


2014

Revise earlier - As I said above, I need to start revising earlier. Last year I assumed that I could fit all of my revision into less than a month which ended pretty badly. This year I'm going to start revising much earlier so I have time to revise it all more than once (I hope!) or at least have a firm understanding in what I've done.

Take better control over my health - I've mentioned before that I'm diabetic and sometimes it seems to become completely out of control. I also think that I need to start being more healthy so this year, I'm going to try and keep record of my diabetes and eat better and possibly try and exercise more when I get time. 

Be more organised - I bought a weekly planner last year and even though it was great to start with, I neglected it a bit in the last months of using it which is rubbish because it helped me keep on top of work and I even wrote blog ideas down! It was seriously useful and as my life is set to only get busier, I think it will be great to start organising my time and sticking to my plans using it. I also need to make sure all of my work is organised so I can fin everything I need to revise easier. 

Improve my blogging - My blogging has been so patchy but as I now have more followers and viewers than I've ever had, I really want to try and improve my blogging pattern, style and just generally how and what I blog about! I'll obviously still do the same sorts of posts because I love writing about nearly everything, but I'm going to try and be more organised, maybe write a post every other day or so? I'll have to try things out and see how they go! I'll also need to see how I can fit blogging in between my homework and revision too. 

Focus - Even if it means forcing myself to sit at a desk and write or read anything, I need to focus on my work more, no matter how much motivation I'm lacking. This year will be the most important for me so slacking really isn't an option. 

I feel like 2013 has gone by so fast and I'm sad to see it go as it's been amazing - I've made better friendships with some people, found confidence (or at least the start of it) in myself and been much happier than other years. Hopefully 2014 will be just as good to me and I'm excited for it to start!
Jess xx

Wednesday 1 January 2014

New Years Inspiration

This is the first post of the 2014 Blogger Challenge and it's a great topic to start off with! 

Instead of writing new years resolutions on your blog, share a quote or a picture that inspires you and you think will inspire others in the New Year.

I find quotes and pictures that inspire me every day so I thought I'd share a few inspirational things rather than just one!













I hope you all have a fantastic year and some of these quotes inspire you or at least make you smile!
Jess xx