A Day out in London

Mark came up to see me straight after I got back from Sicily and we went to London for the day which was amazing! He stayed over 3 nights which was lovely! We just stayed in on Thursday which was nice and relaxed `very good after walking around for a week straight!)
On Friday we decided to go in to London which was super exciting because I haven't been for ages! I love London so it was really nice to go to loads of different places (thank you travel card!) and see parts of London I haven't properly seen before. We went to Covent Garden first and looked around a few shops which was nice; I really like it there and I really want to go back again! I finally got to go to a Kate Spade shop! It was honestly so amazing. The shop was so cute and quirky and the displays were adorable! I'll do an extra blog about it with pictures of the shop because it was so amazing! I found an absolutely gorgeous top down from £105 to £42 and Mark was just incredible and bought it for me because he's completely perfect! It has stripes and bows on it; two of my favourite things so how could I resist?!
We then went to Portobello road/Notting Hill to have a look at the market and it was so nice! It wasn't too busy so we got to look around the stalls properly! We also stumbled across the Hummingbird bakery, which I'd heard about before from Carrie Hope Fletcher (ItsWayPastMyBedTime on YouTube!) so it made me really happy to be able to try them! I got a red velvet cupcake because I've heard so much about them! The cakes were quite expensive but so worth it, mine was really tasty! It was a really pretty shop and the cakes were pretty too!

How cute are these cupcakes?!

I loved this picture on the wall!

We returned to Covent Garden because we had seen all of the market and we stumbled across a sweet shop called SugarSin that was the cutest thing ever! We got some little pots of sweets that are really nice! I got fruit chews, got my brother berry chews and Mark got Banoffee jelly beans! I'll put the pictures on the same blog post as the Kate Spade shop pictures because it was equally cute!

Kate Spade top, Hummingbird bakery cupcakes (red velvet and chocolate caramel),
Fruit sweets from SugarSin and a Hummingbird bakery brownie
- from Instagram

Jess xx

Sun, Sea and Sand in Sicily!

I've just come back from a week long trip to Sicily with my college - doing Ancient history and Classics = good trips to hot places! I haven't been on many plane journeys and I only remember one (yay Durham....) so it was quite exciting and scary to be going on a trip that was longer than an hour. It wasn't as bad as I had expected because everyone on the trip was sitting together so it was fun as we could talk to each other without annoying other passengers! On the way there, there was a 2 year old that wouldn't stop crying and screaming which was in the row in front of me. It was the single most annoying thing I've ever had to put up with.
The one thing I do love about flying is the duty free. You can buy things for cheaper so stuff that's a bit pricey is actually more affordable! After having my Benefit 'Laugh with me LeeLee' perfume for a while, I was super excited to see a benefit stall at duty free and I ended up searching through all of the different products until I found one that I fell in love with completely.

Cutest palette ever with the nicest colours!
The design is adorable!

The 3 eyeshadows are nice and subtle colours, very wearable!
Very handy mirror too! 

The kit contains 3 eyeshadows, creaseless cream eyeshadow,
bo-ing concealer, eye bright, bad gal lash mascara and 3 types of brush.

It also comes with a how-to booklet with added tricks!
It's so helpful and makes it easier to use!

Being someone who doesn't wear a lot of make up, this palette is perfect because it's subtle but looks amazing! The amount of powders and creams in the pack is overwhelming at the start but once you get your head around what goes where, it's so simple! I love it so much, it's really easy to apply and the booklet is super handy.

In Sicily, we visited lots of temples,  amphitheatres, a Roman town and other ancient buildings. We also went to the beach a lot which isn't usually my sort of thing, but it was nice to just relax at the beach after a long day of walking! Annoyingly nearly all of my pictures are still on my camera so I'll do an extra picture post when I put them on to my computer eventually! I have a couple of pictures from my phone of some of the beaches though!

This was taken from a beachside restaurant with the nicest pizza ever!

I didn't go on the beach here because it was too hot but the view was amazing! 

The weather was so nice out in Sicily, it was really hot but it was a different heat than it is in England so now I'm back it doesn't feel too hot!
On the last day, we got to look around Catania, a really nice town that looked how you would imagine Italy. We saw another amphitheatre that was right in the centre of the town and then we went shopping! United Colors (they spell it like that...it still annoys me...) of Benetton had a massive sale on so me and a couple of friends went for a browse and I found a really gorgeous top!

I have a weakness for stripes but at €21, how could I resist?!

I also have an addiction with spots...so at the airport back to England, I bought a spotty red scarf! It was €12.50 so it was amazing! It's such a nice, light material and it's actually really big when fully stretched out! I'm reminded of Minnie Mouse; it's a shame that the weather isn't cold enough to wear it at the moment though!

Minnie mouse scarf!

It was a really great trip and I got to spend time with some of my favourite people from college and get closer to others so it's been a great start to summer so far! 

Jess xx

The Dress

I was browsing twitter a few months or so ago and I stumbled upon a link to a website called Polka dot polly. I had a browse through and I instantly fell in love.
It's a Mother/Daughter company based in the UK who make custom made 50s style dresses, skirts and now blouses in a wide variety of styles and fabrics. They're absolutely amazing and when I found the website, I found myself searching through for potential patterns and styles of dress. After pestering mum to have a look at the website, we eventually found a pattern and style that we both liked and bought it!
It took about 3 weeks to get here and by that time I was revising for my exams so it was such a nice mid-exam present to arrive!
The dress is such a good quality and is made amazingly well, and considering the dresses are custom made, they are a really good price!!!
I've worn it a few times now but because of lovely typical British weather, I haven't been able to as much as I would like. It's so comfortable, and the length (I got the skirt to be 23", the shortest length) is perfect at just above the knee. I also chose a full circle skirt which is super cute.

Picture from the Polkadotpolly facebook page - how gorgeous is this?! I love it so much!

I've been wanting a swing dress for so long and now I actually have one, it's so perfect and better than I imagined! I'm in love with it because it's so amazing an I'm definitely going to save up and buy another at some point in the future!
Jess xx

The Perfect Weekend.

This weekend made me realise that there's nothing that I love more than cuddling in bed playing pacman at 11pm with someone you care a lot about.

This weekend, as the title says, was really quite perfect. I went to see my close friend (&now boyfriend - yay!) down in Dorchester Friday-Sunday and it was really great! 

Friday was a relaxed day because it took 2 and a half hours by train to get down there which took up quite a bit of the day and included a stupid delay at my station so we had to go to the next station on which was quite stressful! From there everything was fine though; I got to Reading without any problems, got my coffee and some other bits & bobs and managed to balance 2 rather large bags, a coffee and a train ticket whilst walking through a barrier. I feel quite proud of myself for achieving this really! When I got there we decided what to do on Saturday and decided on the cinema so to prepare, we watched Despicable Me on DVD (plus all the extras - the minions are so so funny!). It must be one of my favourite films EVER. It's adorable and the minions and little girls are just hilarious and amazing! 

On Saturday we went to Weymouth which was really nice - it's a really pretty seaside town with lots of shops....me + shops = lots of shopping, and that's exactly what happened! I ended up getting some gorgeous black and white polka dot sandal wedges from Debenhams in the sale for £17.50 and they're just amazing! I'm going to take them on my trip to Sicily next week and gove them a good run out! They're so cute and comfortable too, I love them!

The perfect pair of wedges

I still can't believe they were only £17.50!

I was telling Mark about a perfume I've heard a lot about from other blogs and what not and how it smelled amazing. I went to the loo and I came back and he'd bought it for me as a present! He's really so adorable and it's amazing! (Just as a side note - we've been unofficial for about a month and a half, it's not like he's buying me amazing presents after a day of dating, don't worry!) The perfume is Laugh with me LeeLee by Benefit and it really is the most gorgeous and delicate summery floral smell. They describe it as a woody floral smell in the booklet and that's pretty much spot on I think! It's pretty and subtle so it's really good for an every day wear instead of a special occasion perfume. It also comes in the cutest packaging as well, I'm in love completely! It's so cute! The bottle is also amazing too!

If you haven't tried this out then do, it's really amazing! 

I also went to New Look and bought a couple of strappy tops for Sicily because they'll be good to wear in the super hot weather! I got a white one and a pink one and they're both so nice! 

We saw Despicable Me 2 in the cinema and it's honestly one of the funniest films I've ever seen. It matches and possibly even beats the first one which is pretty impressive! The little minion clips during the first part of the credits were also just as funny, I just can't get enough of those yellow guys! The purple minions were hilarious too! It's definitely one of my favourite non-Disney films though, so brilliant! 

We went to Dorchester centre on the Sunday and it was so lovely. There was a market which was really nice to look around and I ended up buying 8 books!!! I spent £8.50 on them put together instead of on only one so I'm pretty happy! I regret not getting more though because I overlooked some books because I thought mum had them but it turned out that she didn't so yeah...silly on my part really! I'm really excited to read the books I did get though! I've either heard really good things about the books, the authors or I thought they sounded interesting so I'm rather excited to give them a read! At least I won't be short of reading material on the Sicily trip! If you've read any of the books then tell me what they're like in the comments below!

I can't wait to start this pile! They all look so good! 

We also had a really lovely and romantic lunch at Carluccio's which was pretty perfect! I've decided I like Mark's neck of the woods rather a lot... His house is in the middle of nowhere and in a proper village like out of TV shows but it isn't completely remote because there are some pretty nice and rather big towns quite close by which is really nice! It makes where I live feel like the middle of a busy city! It's a shame we live so far apart because it's so lovely spending time with him and it's rather special and fun when we're together. He's one of those people I just click with and can have a great time with so yeah, pretty perfect if you ask me!
Jess xx

Cinema connoisseur

-I've just been on a week long holiday in Sicily and I didn't have time to post this before, sorry!-

In the last month, I've been to the cinema 5 times. That's more times than I usually go in a year! My noticeboard is covered in cinema tickets now and I love it! 

I saw The Great Gatsby with English last month which was just amazing - I loved it so much and thought it was so well done! Some things that were missed from the book annoyed me but mostly, it was a really good film! 

Next was Pompeii live which was a bit of a disaster. Our ancient history class should have been going to see the adult version that actually explained the exhibition being displayed in the British museum at the moment, but instead we went to the later version by accident and ended up in the children's version which was a glorified geography and year 4 history lesson combined with presenters as horrible and patronising as the people off Cbeebies and Newsround. It was painful to sit through mostly but it was more bearable because of our class' running commentary which was quite funny at points! When artefacts from the exhibition were shown, there weren't many, it was actually interesting so I can't wait to go at the end of August; it's going to be amazing to actually see it in person because it looks really fantastic!

The cinema in town where I go to college is a little old style, independent cinema that hosts free film nights for students once every month, and June's film was Monsters university! It was so great and funny and I loved it so much!! It was fun seeing monsters from the first film who are scarers and what they were like at Uni and also it was pretty cool to see why Randal turned out to be evil! Honestly such an amazing film, everyone must watch it! 

I then went to see Man of Steel with a friend at the same cinema that weekend and even though I'm not a huge superman fan, it was actually such a good film and I really loved it! It's directed by the guy who did 300 so I was expecting the worst so it was a really nice surprise that I ended up enjoying it! 

The last one was this last weekend (now actually about 3 weeks ago...sorry) when I saw Despicable Me 2 with Mark. I saw it in 3D and because I wear glasses it was slightly awkward at times when trying to keep them up, but it was such a good film! It was funny and sweet and I just loved every second! The minions and Agnes are still my favourites - I swear I'm more like Agnes than any of the other girls which is scary because she's only 6! That really says something about me I think....! The end credit minion mini clips were also amazing as per usual so if you watch it, don't leave the second it finishes because it's really funny! 

Mostly, the films I've seen have been fantastic and I've not seen any of them for the full price! (Thank you student card/college discounts...) All of the films are well worth the full amount though! 

Jess xx

The University Chronicles: The beginning!

This month, I've been over the whole country looking at Universities! I've only been to 4 and I've been to Devon, Berkshire (not really difficult as I live here...), the Midlands and County Durham. I've been to one of the most southern counties and one of the most northern, it's crazy but quite awesome because I get to see places I've never been before! Looking around Unis is so exciting but scary because it's another completely different step in life which is another step towards independence and 'real life'.

I've already said about Exeter and I'll say now that it's kept as the solid top choice of mine since! 

We went to look at Birmingham next and it was so nice! It was really pretty and the course was fantastic! The only let down was the accommodation, which was no where near as nice as Exeter but actually more expensive. 

Reading was the next on the list! I originally wasn't too sure about it because it's the closest big town to me and I've been there too many times to count so one of my main points for wanting to go to Uni (going away from home and exploring somewhere new) had already been smashed. However, we got there and it was really nice! The archaeology and ancient history buildings were lovely, the staff were enthusiastic and friendly and the course was really really nice! The accommodation blew the other two out of the water by miles, Birmingham by quite a bit more than Exeter still, though! The rooms were bigger, cheaper, cleaner and had so much more storage space! Reading is definitely second choice so far, I was pleasantly surprised! 

Me and dad went to Durham last Monday and I can honestly say it was one of the most disappointing experiences of my life. The accommodation was horrific, the course was no where near the standard of the other three unis, the teachers made it seem like a priveledge to be accepted rather than them being enthusiastic about the course and wanting people to get in and it had a general air of snobiness about it. I've never hated somewhere so much in my life. It was a real shame though because the actual place was lovely, the university however, wasn't. I don't understand how it has the reputation is does really; the course wasn't worth the grades they were asking for and it just didn't seem like a nice place! I think it also doesn't help that I prefer campus unis and Durham is the only non-campus Uni I've seen. I've decided to not bother applying there and look for somewhere else to look instead. Definitely not somewhere I would want to spend 3 years of my life.
I have to wait until September to visit UCL and Bristol so it's not over yet! I'm pretty confident that Exeter will be my firm choice and Reading will be insurance choice though, they're both fantastic unis.
Jess xx

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Jess xx