Ins and Outs

Haven't done one of these for a while so here goes....

INS
* The Hunger Games trilogy- literally couldn't put 1+2 down, love the complex heroine
* The current offerings from Primark and Topshop
* Laura Mercier Illuminating Tinted Moisturiser (again) - beautiful coverage and finish
* DIY - actually a bit obsessed atm
* MAC lipliner in Spice
* Braided hair ideas on Pinterest
* The weather
* Coffee
* The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - woah aaaamazingly well written albeit boring at first
* Liz Earle skincare - a favourite every time I write these
* Finding new, very inspiring, creative blogs
* Collection 2000 Shimmer Shades - bought both palettes, loving them atm
* Yankee Candle in Willow Breeze
* Naked Palette - neglected it in favour of Sleek Storm but have recently re-ignited the love
* Backstreet Boys - no, this is not a joke
* Rimmel lipstick 'Just so'
* Origins 'Never a dull moment' face scrub
* Fresh orange juice - been drinking it every day, so yum
* Green Tea with Spearmint - tried it for the first time a few weeks ago and loving it!
* iPhone camera
* Cocktails with the girls

OUTS
* Being broke when there are so many things I want need to buy
* Lacking motivation to f*cking finish Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred once and for all
* Dry skin, my eczema has flared up ridiculously this past month
* The fact that no matter what I do, my eyebrows will never look symmetrical/normal/groomed/human/nice


What are your ins and outs of the moment?

Love, Emma xo
Currently Listening To: Takin' Back My Love - Enrique Iglesias ft. Ciara

115 Things in 315 Days

So I was browsing through a few blogs and came across this challenge called "101 things in 1001 days".
Immediately inspired, helped by the fact that I feel like I am stuck in a rut with my life at the moment, I decided to take it upon myself to do something very similar. I've changed it slightly to suit me better and have made it "115 things in 315 days" - simply because there are 315 days left for this year, and I work best under pressure - lets be honest, if I know I have 2+years to do things, I just won't do them.

So here's my grand To Do List and I will be updating it as I go along and if you like, you can keep up with me and read the page I'll dedicate it to. I've set myself some rather ambitious tasks but also some simple ones, all in an effort to make sure I constantly have something to be doing. Being stuck in a lifestyle rut can get thoroughly depressing and sometimes simple things like a list really can do the trick and make me excited to wake up everyday. Hopefully by the end of this year I will have crossed off most of them - wish me luck!!
If you do/have done this please leave a comment and link me back to it - I'd be so interested in other peoples' lists!! 



TO DO LIST - things I want to achieve by the end of this year...

Start Date: Monday 20th February 2012
End Date: Monday 31st December 2012

In Progress
Completed 

001. Get a full driving licence
002. Try and survive 1 whole month without eating pasta
003. Build up a little book of quotes I like, instead of writing them on scraggly bits of paper and losing them
004. Figure out what my favourite wine is
005. Successfully put my duvet cover into bed quilt without asking for help
006. Get back into reading properly - aim to read at least 1 new book every week
007. Keep my dressing table completely clutter free for 1 month
008. Go for a long walk and get lost somewhere in central London
009. Get closure from this one thing that has seriously bothered me for over a year
010. Go away on at least two holidays
011. Get properly, regularly involved in some form of voluntary or charity work
012. Stick to a regular hair mask routine
013. Cook a full three course meal for guests from scratch
014. Go to a coffee shop and write
015. Memorise the whole Hanuman Chalisa - for some reason I can only remember the first half
016.Text someone who's not family/girl friend with "Just texting to say I miss you" and mean it
017. Start and finish the photo frame project for the wall behind my bookcase (+ two frames on the case)
018. Have a picnic in Hyde Park over summer with sandwiches, cheese, strawberries and champagne
019. Complete the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred
020. Save £500 
021. Buy a camera
022. Do a facebook 'friend' purge
023. Start a little DIY box to collect materials and tools
024. Find a bar that becomes 'our' bar with my friends
025. Stick to a regular body exfoliating regime
026. Bring to life the decor idea I have for the left side of my room
027. Do Come Dine With Me with my friends
028. Go and see The Lion King in the theatre
029. Go on a media fast for a weekend when I am at home (no tv + internet)
030. To turn my creative craft/diy ideas into reality rather than just thinking and doing nothing about them
031. Wear jeans and a t-shirt
032. Own a MAC eyeshadow and lipstick
033. Write a handwritten letter to an author who has inspired/motivated me
034. Sort out my drawers and file all my paperwork at least twice a month
035. Compliment a total stranger
036. Wake up at 7am everyday for 21 days to see if the '21 days makes a habit' thing is true
037. Visit a market and find unique, vintage things for my room
038. Find an eye cream that works for me (trying Origins Gin-Zing)
039. Make a handmade card for someone
040. Be a healthy size 8
041. Give all the old magazines I have (2 duffel bags worth) to a hospital ward (gave it to a local salon)
042. Kiss in the rain
043. Be a tourist for a weekend in my own city
044. Go to sleep before midnight everyday for a week
045. Start a course for laser hair removal
046. Buy my first recipe book and use it
047. Get my laptop fixed
048. Try the MoroccanOil Treatment
049. Accompany my dad on his daily walks everyday for at least 2weeks
050. Sell the clothes I couldn't be bothered to return to ASOS on time - shameful I know
051. Successfully make Indian tea for different amounts of people without asking for measurement help
052. Find the perfect night cream/serum/treatment for my skin (trying Kiehls Midnight Recovery serum)
053. Get a full time graduate job in my chosen field
054. Buy a subscription to Glamour magazine
055. Have my hair professionally blow-dried for an event
056. Drink two tall glasses of milk every day for a month (I hate it but have a severe calcium deficiency)
057. Get out of the country for just a weekend
058. Have a night in with girlfriends and invent, experiment and make our own cocktails
059. Press flowers and make something with it - home decor frame, a card, etc
060. Try and make one, completely new dish a week - dessert, appetiser or snack
061. Patch up things with some old friends and keep in touch better with some who live far away
062. Have tea at the Ritz
063. Drink a 8 glasses of water every day for 5 months to really see the difference it makes
064. Treat my mum to a spa treatment
065. Buy and read a self-help book
066. Watch Avatar
067. Bake an edible, yummy, cake
068. Find an SLS free shampoo that works for me and never buy one with SLS again
069. Swiffer my room floor everyday for a month
070. Give someone a handmade present
071. Still be writing this blog regularly
072. Treat myself to a pedicure (never had one in the UK before!)
073. Decorate each room of the house with atleast one DIY item and blog about them
074. Have a Harry Potter movie marathon
075. Do 50 sit-ups everyday for 2 months
076. Stitch/Knit/Sew/Crochet something
077. Not forget to pray every day
078. Indulge in one day of complete junk food a month - from breakfast to dinner
079. Blend and drink a fresh fruit/green monster drink everyday for a month
080. Buy/own an expensive piece of jewellery
081. Try out 15 new restaurants (1/15) (Wahaca)
082. Think of ideas for/and find storage for my bags and coats
083. Brush my teeth before bed every night for 1 month
084. Make a scrapbook
085. Find shallow enough make-up storage organisers to fit my drawers
086. Say thanks before a meal everyday for 1 month
087. Fill a jar with pennies
088. Go a day without eating salt, at all
089. Eat a proper breakfast every day for one month
090. Invest in a good hair dryer and a curling wand
091. Stop biting my nails
092. Own the full Friends box-set
093. Get a full body and head massage
094. Visit the British Library and get lost in it
095. Ride my bike for a day somewhere pretty
096. Help a stranger
097. Meet a blog friend in real life
098. Be disciplined with taking my medicine, vitamins and supplements
099. Read a biography of a famous (but not z-list trashy) person
100. Print out some of the photos saved on my laptop and organise them into photo albums
101. Drink tea without sugar for a month
102. Write my blog url on my twitter and make it open for my friends to see
103. Invite my 3yr old family friend over and spend a day doing creative things with her
104. Treat myself to a set of sexy lingerie and wear it on a non-special, non-occasion day just for myself
105. Get off one train/bus stop early and walk the rest of the way at least 5 times
106. Bake pretty cupcakes with pretty icing and pretty decorations
107. Go to a Zumba or Pilates class (and see what the hype is about)
108. Teach myself how to speak French fluently - not the University/A-Level pointless grammar crap
109. Read a 'proper' newspaper OR watch the news everyday for 1 month
110. Go to a beach at least once this year
111. Do a full body detox/cleanse, like the maple syrup, lemon and cayenne pepper one
112. Go a whole week without drinking anything but water - no juice, caffeine, hot drink, alcohol
113. Write a new blog post everyday for two weeks
114. Not be a wimp and say yes when a perfectly nice guy asks me out on a date
115. Figure out what my favourite flower is and make sure it's significance has meaning


If you decide to do this challenge please feel free to drop me an email or a comment and link me to it!! 
Wish me luck! 


Love, Emma xo
Currently Listening To: Rolling in the Deep - Adele

Ins and Outs

INS
* Going up to my old uni with my girlfriends this weekend to celebrate the end of One World Week
* Reeses mini cups
* Cupcakes and Cashmere blog - I've been reading it for about 2years now- still so inspiring - link
* Yankee Candle in Cherry Vanilla - makes me want to eat my room 
* Curling up on a sofa with a cup of tea and a magazine. Leisurely, fuss-free and thoroughly relaxing
* Dry roasted salted peanuts nomnomnom
* Taking it upon myself to decorate the room in my house that we use a Temple - looks so pretty
* The iPhone battery pack case I got for Christmas - actual life-saver
* Jamie Oliver's 30minute meals - perfect for dumb cooks like me
* My H&M booties - link
* The Body Shop's Mango Body Butter - not going to lie, I smell rather scrumptious.
* Laura Mercier illuminating tinted moisturiser


OUTS
* My iPhone's battery life - my 3gs was so good but the 4s battery life is driving me crazy
* Valentines Day/Doomsday commercialised crap everywhere (even when I wasn't single this would annoy me)
* All the horrible murder/crime stories that the Daily Mail posts every day
* Driving lessons. Started learning in '06, gave up 'cos failed 3times, now been forced into it again - blah
* Boys
* The fact that recently every day seems to be a 'bad hair day'
* Space of 3days 2 necklaces fell and smashed & 2 barely-used high-end lipsticks snapped in half - wtf?!
* Job applications and processes - depressing stuff

Love, Emma xo
Currently Listening To: We Found Love - BoysWithADream

l o v e

Havent done one of these for a while...so here you go....a few of my recent fave things:
(All the pictures and things are mine, they have been edited on instagram because it just makes everything look so much cooler) 

TOP ROW L-R: Fruit bowl which is now used to showcase a few pretty things; new Mulberry Tillie Wallet
MIDDLE ROW L-R: Candle Holder and two pretty candles; Chanel Illusion D'Ombre eyeshadow in Illusoire
BOTTOM ROW L-R: A plate of warm cheesy spicey comfort pasta; Candle holder and tea-light candles from Ikea

Love, Emma xo
Currently Listening To: Breathless - Shane Ward

My Year in Photos and TAG Top 11 for 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So, we arrived at the end of another year. WHAT A BLOODY YEAR IT'S BEEN! For me atleast, it has been SUCH a crazy, crazy, craaaaazy rollercoaster of a year. Some very important things have happened in my life this year, for example, graduating from university! Some very important milestones happened in my personal life too - I've lost friends this year and I've made new ones, I've learnt things from different people and in turn have learnt a lot about myself. I learnt some very hard but helpful lessons. My year started off truly horribly, and has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ever since - there have been some great highs and also some horrible, horrible lows. I've probably cried more this year than I ever have in my whole life ha but I've also made some incredible memories this year that I know will always remain with me.
All in all, crazy, pretty much sums it up. I am extremely scared about what 2012 will bring for me, but I'm also excited and feeling quite ready to enter it. I wish you all the best of luck in the coming year and I wish you all love.

I thought it might be interesting for you (or not) and fun for me to map my year out in photos. Whilst looking through facebook and other albums I have to admit I got rather emotional - especially looking at the university photos!

(Please click on the photos to see them bigger and clearer)

Second term of final year had begun! Celebrated lots of 21st birthdays, went out as much as possible before exam period!

WOO EXAMS ARE OVER! This collage sums up my last few weeks over university ever! LOTS of going out, my friends' joint occupation themed birthday - I was an F1 racer, my university's Summer Party which was SUCH a good day, my graduation ball which which was a fun night despite having to pull my dress up every 2minutes, and just generally going out every night to make the most of our last days! Made some incredible memories from the last few weeks alone!  

This one makes me SO nostalgic - this was straight after uni was officially over - girls holiday in Barcelona!! I want to go back SO BAD! Was one of the best holidays of my life with my best friends! Some of the boys from our uni also ended up coming which was interesting to say the least haha! We stayed in a beautiful hotel, ate lots of tapas, lay on the beach and burnt, swam in a dirty sea, attempted a bit of hungover sight-seeing and got absolutely lashed (for free!) every night! Magical.

I graduated in July from the University of Warwick with a 2:1 in History yaay! I then jetted off to America and spent some amazing quality time with my cousins and went to 5 different states over 2months! Highlights were going to the Harry Potter Theme Park in Orlando and Vegas! Incredible, incredible summer.

After my amazing summer of fun I have done nothing exciting sadly! Celebrated Diwali, lost my baking virginity, had a pyjama party and played pictionary for my 22nd birthday to truly celebrate how old and boring I now am, went up to visit my uni because I just can't stay away and had a very fun family Christmas! 

The pictures are only small snippets of my year..obviously a lot more happened in between these time collages but these are some of the highlights of my year. I hope you enjoyed seeing them!

TAG - TOP 11 FOR 2011

I was tagged by the beautiful Tali from The Gloss Goss to do this who I'm sure you all already know - if you don't then make sure you click the link and check her amazing blog out! So let's begin...

TOP 11 PRODUCTS FOR 2011

* Chanel Vitalumiere Foundation

* Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish 

* Lush Glogg shower gel 

* Cover Girl Lashblast Mascara 

* Lady Million perfume

* Rimmel lipstick in Just So 

* Benefit Boi-ing concealer

* Origins Never a Dull Moment Face Polish

* Sleek Storm Palette

* Real Techniques by Samantha Chapman brushes 

* Nars Laguna bronzer

TOP 11 BEAUTY/FASHION BLOGS *links*

* The Gloss Goss

* Little Miss Rosh

* 15 Steps and a Beauty Blog

* Sincerely Jules

* Huda Beauty

* Vivianna Does Makeup 

* Zoella

* See Jane

* Dulce Candy

* Lovely Pepa

* Cupcakes and Cashmere

TOP 11 YOUTUBE SONGS/VIDEOS *links*

* Criminal Penguins - BBC Wildlife - so funny how animals have such personalities too! 

* Pitbull - Give Me Everything ft. Ne-Yo - whenever me and my friends here this it immediately takes us back to our last weeks of uni and Barcelona

* Drake - Marvin's Room - reminds of summer and an unfortunate series of events 

* Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai (Female) - one of my many 'revision songs'

* Champion - Chipmunk ft. Chris Brown - song that got me through researching my dissertation!  

* Gone - Nelly ft. Kelly Rowland - reminds me of personal things from the year

* Five Year Old Makeup Guru - my friends said my kid would be like this!

* Polite Bear Waves Hello - LOVE this! So cute I want one!

* Lioness flirting with Lion - the commentary is so funny/animal personalities continue to amuse me!

* JoJo - Marvin's Room - usually hate covers but her's really did something whenever I heard it

* Enrique Ft. Ludacris - Tonight I'm F*cking You - listened to this on repeat for months!

I hope you all had a fantastic New Years Eve, I definitely did! Happy New Year to you all!!!

Love, Emma xo
Currently Listening To: Marvin's Room - Drake

Ins and Outs

So despite being on blogging hiatus I have mentally been listing my Ins and Outs and although I have forgotten a lot of them, these are a few recent thoughts!

INS
* Christmas time in London reminds me why I love this city so much
* Selfridges window display
* Bumping into Rupert Grint (aka Ron Weasley) in a side street in London
* Lush's shower gel in Glogg
* Red lipstick
* Family time (and playing lots of Pictionary!)
* Yankee Candles in Kitchen Spice and Christmas Cupcake
* My new champagne coloured bed duvet and pillow covers
* Sleek Pout Polish in Pink Cadillac
* Starbucks Ginger Latte with extra ginger (yes, i do ask for it)
* Tea
* Downton Abbey and Made in Chelsea's Christmas Specials
* Liz Earle skincare
* Body Butters
* Eating lots of yummy fat food


OUTS
* Pushy tourists on Oxford St and Regent St
* Dry skin
* Being jobless
* That all of my friends are out of the country :( 
* Couples who obnoxiously engage in PDA in the middle of the street *barf*
* That we didn't have a white christmas!
* The fact that I seem to suffer from a permanent case of I-have-no-clothes syndrome 
* Regretting eating the yummy fat food when all my clothes look horrible on me 

Ins and Outs

Loveee reading these kind of posts so thought I'd translate my mental "love this, hate this" list into writing!

IN
* chunky oversized jumpers/knitwear
* hot water and lemon - so soothing!
* almond oil for my hair
* birthday loving - flowers and presents and warm wishes
* spicy cheetos
* finding my sweet valley university book series in the attic - collected them OVER 10years ago!
* cinnamon scented candles
* made in chelsea
* chanel illusion d'ombre eyeshadow in illusoire
* autumn/winter - my two fav seasons

OUT
* unproductive, waste days
* that time of the month feeling
* summery nail polish colours
* bumping into horrible ex boyfriend who you haven't seen since january and being so shocked that all the mentally planned scenarios in which you act very cool and collected and unbothered, suspiciously and inconveniently disappear, leaving me standing rather frozen with my mouth hanging open - attractive.

Thought I'd leave with this picture of two gorgeous birthday bouquets I received from two v.special people

Love Emma xo
Currently Listening To: Beauty and the Beast

l o v e