I've wanted to write this post for months but just never got round to it. I hope you find some new favourites from this great bunch!

Milkbubbletea

Becky's lifestyle blog is full of pretty pink pastel photography and her room gives me major bedroom envy! I've found so many pretty items through reading Becky's posts as well as my 'go to' foundation.This is the blog that inspired me to write my own blog!

The Londoner

Rosie's photos are incredible! I love her mouthwatering recipes and restaurant reviews. Her photos are so big, I just want to grab the food from the screen. Her posts about the Maldives were amongst some of my favourites - she's been to some incredible places! Rosie's witty puns always have me smiling whilst reading.

Hearting

If you like making your nails look pretty, then Ioanna's blog is for you! She has a real mix of posts - her reviews of beauty products tend to be my favourite but I do love blogs with a bit of variety. I've followed Ioanna since the beginning and have loved watching her blog and photography grow.

Tealight Sky

This summer I'm going to try and attempt as many of Tashiana's recipes as possible - they really are something else! As well as being a great baker and photographer, Tasha is a comical writer! It's hard to find blogs with a good individual writing style, but this is one of those special gems!

Little Miss Katy

Katy and I share a love of food and I relate to so much of what she says! Her blog has a real mix of posts which appears to be a common factor amongst all these fab blogs I've listed! I love a good restaurant review and seeing what people ordered - just nosey like that.

The Love Cats inc.

If I'm looking for a decent beauty product, Helen's blog is where I'll head to. I've come to trust her opinions and recommendations. She also writes a lot of useful 'tips and tricks' posts which I've learnt a lot from. 

So there they all are, in no particular order! What are your favourite blogs?

300 Followers Cake Celebration and giveaway!

It may not seem like much to some, but reaching the 300 followers milestone is a big deal for me. Back in August when I wrote my first blog post, I genuinely didn't think that anyone would read ALF, so I really do appreciate all your follows and comments! Especially when the same people come back and comment time and time again...it doesn't go unnoticed trust me!

When Baker Days asked me if I'd like to review one of their cakes, I saw this as a great opportunity to celebrate my little milestone and also as a way to say thank you to you lot (more on that later!)

I got a letterbox cake which means you don't have to be in to receive the package, making it such a lovely surprise to come home to! I mean, who wouldn't want cake through their letterbox!? But they also do lots of various sizes and cupcakes too, all of which you can personalise either using their designs or adding your own photos!

I sent my blog banner to them and said what I wanted written on the cake and left them to make it look good and I'm so so impressed with how pretty it looks! They really did make an effort to make it fit in with my blog :) 

I wasn't expecting the cute cake tin, balloon, candles and card either! I would LOVE to receive this for my birthday or any other special event, it's like moonpig but better because you can eat what you're sent! 

I'm not a huge fan of icing usually but this actually tastes amazing! Very fresh and light. I can't believe the cake stayed so perfect despite my housemate saying the postman fired it through the letterbox!

Here I cut a slice for you...

Okay, sadly sharing of food through a screen isn't possible...but what you can do is enter my giveaway* below for a chance to win your very own letterbox cake! :) I'm a big food lover so to me, this is the best way I can say thank you to you all for reading my blog and making my day with your comments!

*UK entries only - sorry!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's grazing season!!

I'm sure most of you have heard of Graze before, but I'm nosey and love posts like this where you can see what people got in their boxes! As it's near exams ( read up on some revision tips here ) I have decided to start treating myself to a weekly box to make revision a little less horrible!

If you haven't heard of Graze, then basically then send you parcels of yummyness as often or as little as you like! You can view all their products online and choose to bin anything you don't like or tailor it to your diet requirements...I went for a 'Light Box' this time which means there's a calorie limit on what they send me!

I thought the box design was so cute and perfect for Spring :) a lovely touch!

This time round I got the herby bread basket which I've had before but I cannot get enough of the rice crackers! If anyone knows where I can buy bags of these please comment below - I'm hooked!

Hot cross yum took me right back to the Easter holidays when my mum made some cracking homemade cross buns (see photo in this post). The honey almonds are something else I'd like to buy in bag fulls!

Scandinavian forest - a mixture of dried fruits and berries :) great to nibble at when you're studying and they make you feel healthy as well as tasting great.

Of course, the first thing I tried was the banoffee dippers with toffee sauce! They were amazing and I love how you can enjoy them guilt-free as there's so little calories in them and of course, they're wholegrain which basically means you can eat as much as you like right?

Have a look at their website and look through all the boxes they have to offer. They do chocolate boxes, flapjack ones and recently have started new bigger sharing boxes!

If you'd like to try Graze then you can get your 1st, 5th and 10th box free using this code:

EMMAR336P

You can unsubcribe at any time very easily so you could just get your free box and cancel if it's not for you....that was my plan, but 4 years later, I'm still subscribed!

Happy Grazing! 

Surviving Exams - some revision tips

It's here. The dreaded exam season. You get your exams done after Christmas and then before you know it, you're crying at your desk again...but it doesn't have to be that way! Here's a few little tips to help!

1. Buy some new stationary! I don't know what it is about new coloured pens or an unused notepad that suddenly makes me WANT to actually work! I usually pop to my local Ryman's or Staples when I lose motivation.

2. Change your environment. Sometimes being stuck in the same room all day every day can send you a little doolali. I've started doing some days in the library just to get out the house and change my surroundings.

3. Plan some time off. It's horrible having the feeling of guilt hanging over you when you're not studying and it means you're not properly relaxing. Decide on when you're having your time off and actually switch off when you do without feeling guilty. You'll be much more productive when you do start studying again. At the moment, I'm keeping Sundays as my day off :)

4. Eat something. It's no good trying to learn when you're feeling light headed! I find bananas and apples make great guilt-free snacks...but if you're studying a particularly horrific topic then just crack open the biscuits..you deserve them!

5. Get some Zzzzzs...I won't ever be one of those people that stays up all night studying. I just cannot do it and value my sleep too much. And so should you. When you sleep, all the stuff you have learnt during the day has time to be stored in your mind and allows your brain to rejuvenate, ready for your next study session!

6. Have a break! It's usually better to concentrate really well for 40-50 minutes and take 10 minute breaks in between that to force yourself to stare at your work for hours and hours on end. Focus on a particular area of your work and then once you've got it, take a little break. Even just the time it takes to make another cuppa should be enough of a breather.

7. Put your phone away. The amount of times I decide to 'quickly read a text' and then before I know it, I've been on instagram, liking away at photos for a good 15  minutes!! If you're a bit of a phone addict, just check it whilst you're making that cup of tea (see previous tip)

8. Shift things to suit you. Speaking to friends, some find they work much better in the afternoon/evening, whereas I am definitely more of a morning person. For that reason I tend to do harder work in the morning and 'lighter' topics in the afternoon. Decide when you work best and use that for more challenging pieces of work.

9. JUST DO IT! I know how easy and tempting it is to procrastinate...I'm guilty of it too but don't you feel so much better when you know you've been productive and have earned your time off. Try and remember that feeling..no one likes feeling guilty. Picture results day and how good you'll feel that your hard work has paid off!

Reading back, a lot of these tips are pretty well known and that's for a reason :)

Good luck to all of you that have exams/coursework deadlines coming up, you can do it!!