I am so happy to have a spare bit of time to myself to write a post. It has been a while now! Sadly, I forgot my charger for my camera when I came home for Christmas so I'm afraid these pics are just from my phone- sorry!

With Christmas quickly approaching, I wanted to bring some of that festiveness to my blog :)

Last weekend, Tom and I decided to make some iced Christmas cookies to share with friends. We used this recipe, which is ironically called Easter Biscuits but never mind..it worked! We left out the cinnamon and currants though and just stuck to vanilla essence (so actually we forgot to put that in but I recommend adding a drop or two!). 

For more festive bakes, have a look at the melting snowmen I made last year! 

Both are the sort of biscuits you made in primary school and they bring back so many childhood memories making (and eating) them.

I drove home for Christmas on Thursday and walked in to my bedroom to find my parents had got me a brand new bed, bedding and fairy lights as an early birthday present. My mum also got me a little Christmas tree which I am in love with!! 

The bedding is from Asda, who apparently have a fair few festive designs out at the moment. I love how it's Christmassy without being too tacky. Just a nice subtle nod that says "yes, it's winter." 

The fairy lights that you can just about see are little pine cones, made from silver and white glass! They're so cute!

Finally, I just wanted to mention a little something I treated myself to; the Soap and Glory Box! You get 9 full size products for £30 which I think is an absolute steal when you think how much the products are individually. I got one last year and I still have some left over - it really is fab! 

You can find the link for it here.

What have you been up to over the festive build up? Let me know in the comments below or send me links to any Christmassy posts! I'd love a read!

little life happenings

1. Tidy space, tidy mind...I've always been a bit like that. My room looks much better now that I've cleared up my dressing table a bit :) Got to do a bit of spring cleaning when it's April don't you!

2. I'm terrible at hair but I had a little experiment with it and I think it looks half decent for once :) I'm loving braided hairstyles at the moment! Just need to keep practicing!

3. I love that my mum's a teacher because it means she gets long holidays over Easter too - perfect for nipping out for quick coffee breaks! This peanut butter blondie was to die for - anyone got a recipe?

4. I recently bought Cameron Diaz's Body Book, mainly because I love how down to earth and funny she is whenever I see her interviewed. That bubbly personality definitely comes across in her book :) She covers all things health - a lot of it is quite basic if you've studied physiology, but it's a fun read with pretty illustrations. I got mine new on Amazon here for much cheaper than it's selling for in the shops!

5. One of my new year's resolutions was to read more. Okay, so haven't been doing great with this one (in fact with any of them!) but I have reading phases and I'm currently in one. The other night, it started to rain as I was reading in bed and it was absolute bliss!!

6. I bought myself these flowers the other week when I was down in the dumps. They were only £1.50 in Tesco and they are still going strong!

7. I always crave fresh fruit as it starts to get warmer...okay so yeah, it's still freezing out there but the days are getting lighter and longer...proper Spring is definitely on its way.

8. This Fairy Dust candle from Lily Flame smells gorgeous! It's my favourite candle at the moment. It has such a subtle pretty fragrance that freshens up the room!

9. I go for afternoon tea too much, I do realise this, but I can't think of a better way for a girly catch up and this time it was at a cute little tea room which had bunting and all other kinds of pretty decor!

10. Mum made these delicious hot cross buns for the Easter weekend and they tasted as good as they look! Glazed with apricot jam mmm...

11. Mum also made this spectacular pavlova, filled with passion fruit and limoncello cream and topped with fresh mango chunks..to make it healthy.....

12. Did you know Ferrero rocher did easter bunnies?! I didn't and I can't wait to try this one. I also got this cute little white chocolate house which is filled to the top with lots of tasty sweets! They both look very pretty in my room but I don't think they'll last long!

13. My aunty got me this beautiful card with little birds in that have bendy wires attached to them so you can wrap them around the house :)

14-15. I perched some on my bed..

16. ..and this pretty pink fella on my dressing table mirror

Christmas Gifts

This was me trying out my new camera more than anything, but here's a few things I was spoilt with on Christmas :) I'm so grateful for everything I got!

Essie nail varnish in 'Tea and Crumpets' and 'Bahama Mama.' I've got Tea and Crumpets on now, it's the light pink one which is the type of colour I love to wear for everyday, mainly because it's nice and subtle and matches most outfits and I'm terrible at painting nails, so when they're done, I like to try and keep a varnish on for as long as possible!!

My brother and his girlfriend got me this beautiful Fiorelli bag! I love the colours and as well as being pretty, it's got lots of practical pockets and zips inside. 

I have a photo of me holding this exact same bear in a shop a few posts back and my mum surprised me with her on Christmas day!

 Emily is a Silver Tag bear. Every so often they release a collection of a few bears and make only 1,500 of each. I love how they have tags with their names on, a little message and telling you which number they are. It makes them feel that bit more special! She's soooo soft, I've been carrying her around like a young child since I got her, just to snuggle and watch TV with..

Well you can never go wrong with a Yankee Candle. This one smells delicious - I could eat it! I've got so many candles (but you can never have too many!) at the moment but I light them literally every night when I go to bed and read. So relaxing!

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and that the celebrations keep going till New Year! I'm already starting to think about what I want to achieve in 2015!

Recent Purchases

 It was my birthday a few days ago, which meant I had a little extra spending money. 

I actually got the framed owl picture from my best friend, but it's that cute that I just had to include it in this post! I'd eyed it up when we were out shopping months ago, it's so sweet that she remembered!

So surprise surprise, I'm an owl fan - wouldn't guess would you!? haha. With my room all white, pale pink and blue, I thought this white owl mug would sit perfectly on my chest of drawers when I spotted it in John Lewis. It's also the perfect size for a hot chocolate with the full works! You can buy the mug here for £5! I also really like this one!

Candles are also up there in my favourite things and I've wanted this Lily Flame Fairy Dust candle for a while now. It smells absolutely gorgeous and girly and is presented very nicely in its jar! You can buy it here for £12. I did spend a while umming and ahhhing over the Neom Tranquility candle. It literally smells like a spa! But it was just too much out of my price range. Ever had it?

The day after my birthday, I had a Topshop Personal Shopper experience which I highly recommend!! (I'll blog about it soon) This is the coat I got from it, which I would have never picked up myself but I just love how smart it looks on and it's very soft :) Perfect for wearing over any party outfits over the festive season and I also think the light blue colour will be great in Spring!

The Festive Bug

I'm sorry but it's happened. I went home for the weekend and I caught the festive bug! As soon as I arrived at the station my mum whisked me off to a cute cafe which had a little shop with loads of Christmas decorations and I felt like I was coming home for Christmas, not just the short stay I was actually there for. I even started my Christmas shopping on Sunday...you know, have to avoid those queues in December :) It is still very early but here's some of the festive pictures taken from the weekend. Don't look if you're not ready for Christmas excitement yet!!

Anything that looks like it's made of gingerbread is a winner in my eyes!

This little fella' reminded me of Monty off the John Lewis advert, he's so cute with his little basket!

This is probably one of the nicest bears I've ever seen!

We like to play dress up haha :)

I'd love to have a big extravagant ball to wear something like this to!

Home Away from Home

I mentioned in the last couple posts that I'm now back at Uni and settling back into things :) My room at Uni is a very different style to my room at home but I do love it nearly just as much. 

I found this bedding in the sale at Debenhams last year and the colour scheme basically stemmed from that. I'm soooo fussy about stuff matching in my room - people think I'm ridiculous at times..

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil

These little cuties are also from Debenhams! I hope I've put them in the right order!

I absolutely have to have scented candles in my room! They're a must for bed time reading, making the room extra cosy and snug :) This one was only a pound from Ikea - it didn't have a scent written on it, but pictures of pebbles which reminded me of a spa. I also like to have fresh flowers in my room but I'm a poor student so these fake ones will have to do for now - also from Ikea.

Have you worked out I like owl things yet?!

If you've got any blog posts about your uni room, please put a link in the comments. I like being nosey and getting ideas!

My Little Work Space

I'm writing this whilst sitting in my pyjamas, cuppa in hand (Yorkshire of course!) and trying to recover from the dreaded fresher's flu! Yep, I'm back at Uni and have had one of the most fun and crazy weeks of my life going out with my friends and meeting new ones! Of course this has meant I haven't had much time to blog but since I have a couple hours this Sunday morning whilst my house mates are in bed recovering from last night's antics, I thought I'd share my little desk set up with you as lectures start again tomorrow!

I think it's so important to have somewhere pleasant to sit and do work because work is hard enough as it is, so why not make it as nice as possible?! As you can see there are plenty owls on there..I brought my owl chalk board with me from home as it's great for writing little reminders on or 'feel good' quotes for the harder times.

My fairy lights were only a few pounds from primark and make my room so cosy in the evening if I'm just writing emails or doing something a bit more relaxing than writing up uni notes!

The desk actually came with the house and has a magnetic white board on it. It's so handy...I'm sure it'll be plastered with all sorts of reminders and things I must learn in the near future.

If anyone else has done a post on their uni room, I'd love to see so please comment below! I do like a good nosey :)

Little Bits in My Room

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been working on my room over the Summer. I still want to get a new double bed but it is pretty much there now..although I'm sure I'll keep finding things that would fit in nicely.

My Bargain Find!

I had a stool under my dressing table before which wasn't new and had a few make up stains on it so I was keeping an eye out for a replacement. I'd been looking at chairs similar to this one online but they cost hundreds of pounds! Well I came across this little gem at a country show for only £25!!! I couldn't believe it. The women selling it buy old chairs and do them up as a hobby so this is also a one of a kind piece! I love the Cath Kidston Style floral pattern of it and the colour of the wood matches the rest of the furniture in my room - bonus!

I love burning candles in my room when I curl up with a book in bed. The smells and lighting are so relaxing! I really have to stop myself buying too many, especially if they're Yankee and in the sale eeeek!

My Space

 I've been having a bit of a room re-vamp this summer and it's almost there - just need a new bed! I love the crisp white walls and pastel floral patterns! It really has brightened what was a dull room! I didn't buy any new furniture as a lick of paint can really go a long way...and if not then we can call it 'shabby chic' ey!
I'm trying very hard to keep it all tidy (tidy room, tidy mind!!)

This cute little fairy hangs from my chandelier right over my bed - I like little bits and bobs like that hanging in my room!

This is one of many owls I have in my collection haha. I always change the message on it, usually to something uplifting and optimistic! I had to change this before taking the photo because I was recording my weight on it - not something I want on the internet!

Don't you just love re-discovering a song you used to love but had forgotten about?! Billy Myers' Kiss the Rain came on in a pub where I was having dinner and I couldn't wait to get home and play it over and over and over....until I ruin it for the next few years!!

Finishing Touches

I recently redecorated my room as I wanted a change and something to keep me busy over the summer. Over the last year or so I've found a love for shopping for homeware and furniture - this confirms I must nearly be a proper adult now!!

I decided to paint the walls white which has really brightened the room (and also gives my parents a bit more freedom to do what they want with my room when I eventually move out!) So because of this, I have had to introduce colour with little ornaments, candles and pictures.

I absolutely love these button shaped trinket boxes. One is full of spare buttons and a mini sewing kit and I'm not sure what to put in the other one yet (probably some kind of  rubbish useful bits.) I found them in Dunelm Mill which is becoming one of my favourite shops. If you've ever seen the film Coraline then you'll know why these trinket boxes remind me of it.

I've actually had the button picture for years, it was a gift from my mum but I think it fits in well next to my button boxes. I keep meaning to have a go at making one of these myself!

Okay, so this last one isn't exactly bringing any colour but I spotted this lamp in my local garden centre before I'd even started decorating my room. I love the detail of the base and its overall simplicity.

I also have owls all over my room - bit of an addict!