18th Birthday wishlist!

Topshop Lipstick in Rio Rio

Ralph Lauren Big Pony Number 4

PRVDNCE T shirt

Leopard Print Vans Rucksack

Topshop Indigo Joni Jeans

White and Red Air Max 1

Fujifilm Finepix S2980

It's my 18th birthday in 14 days (as of 29th December) and I'm so excited! I've been more excited to turn 18 than I have been about Christmas which could be considered pretty selfish haha. I think it's because a lot of my close friends are already 18 and a lot of people I'd like to become closer to - I feel I'll be able to distance myself from bad friends and become closer to nicer people if I see them more, ergo, the sooner I'm 18 and can socalise with them more, my life will improve. I think that's realistically far too simplistic an answer to actually happen but it's a thought which is keeping me positive so I'll ignore my doubts at the moment! My dad bought me Mabel (my Mini One) back in October as an early 18th birthday present so I'm not really expecting too much however he has said he'll get me a few things (along with other family members and my rich nan) so I've started making a list anyway of a few bits and pieces. No doubt this list will grow over the next two weeks but it's a good start I like to think! 

Boxing day sales haul

I've been meaning to do a Christmas haul post but after uploading all the photos my camera crashed and the photos were all deleted! I think I might try again either tonight or Sunday with a proper haul post. Yesterday though I went to the sales! I didn't really get that much because I'm going to Milton Keynes again tomorrow with my sister and dad for some more sales spending - fingers crossed I keep all my limbs through the crowds - it was ridiculously busy today. I ended up only spending less than a tenner because of vouchers and stuff but here's what I bought.

Air Max lookalikes - £8 New Look

Velvet underwear set - £6 Primark

Black disco pants - £28 Topshop

Cute pants - £2 each Topshop

(the colours really aren't appreciated in this photo) Aqua clutch bag - £8 New Look

The back is thick black velvet so I thought it deserved its own photo!

2 True Eyebrow pencil - £1.99 Superdrug

(My book taste has taken a turn for the worst lately) 3 for £5 books - The Works

Floral bralet (potential NYE top) - £3 Primark

Have you bought anything special in the sales so far?!

Manchester 19/12/2013!

So Thursday was my much anticipated trip to Manchester to see Abby! I met Abby 5 years ago in Corfu on holiday and we've actually kept in contact that entire time, despite only meeting up three times (all in the last year actually). After a few stressful (and hastily conducted) sharp turns, thanks to my satnav, I arrived at Leighton Buzzard station before transferring to Milton Keynes and from then on it was a direct train to Manchester! I nearly went from Leagrave which is my closest train station but that meant changing about 5 times, which I'm not cool with. I get so stressed with finding the right platforms, having to deal with delayed trains etc, I thought it would be a smarter idea to drive to a different station, and it was!
I met Abby at the station and first thing we did? We got our ears pierced! I'd wanted either my helix or rook pierced for a while so there was a spontaneous visit to Holier Than Thou  for our new piercings, which thankfully didn't hurt that much.

Next thing we did was go to Afflecks which is this mini shopping emporium tucked away in Manchester. From an outside view it looks just like a couple of shops but when you go inside it stretches waay back with loads of different shops - there were shops dedicated to beanies, vintage shops, posters, and the cutest coffee shop we found, which we decided to go for a drink in.

Freshly pierced ear!

Next thing was a shopping trip where I bought things I don't especially need but will definitely find uses for! Saying that, the leopard jumper in my last post was bought on this trip, along with a Hawaiian-esque baseball shirt which I may wear this afternoon when I go to Milton Keynes. We went for lunch and covered pretty much all of Manchester's shopping centre!
There were a lot of Christmas markets there too which we decided to have a look round. Abby had been there previously which meant we didn't actually get lost (which I'm sure we would have if I'd been in charge) and they were really cute! I bought my mum a 'zebra' print chocolate giant marshmallow just as a small present and my sister a chocolate iPhone! I thought it was quite fitting considering she's just got an iPhone 5 and I am so, so certain she's gonna break/smash it sometime soon. Ah well, we'll see.

"please do not feed the tree with your hands. It is vegetarian"

I love Manchester and I'm definitely planning on going back up either next month or in February! Apparently the night life there is great too which is something I'm up for as soon as I'm 18 (22 days and counting down) Despite my aching legs by the end of the day, Manchester was such a good day out!

#OOTD4 // this week

Six days since I've posted, and wow oh wow have they been a busy six days!

I'm so in love with my new shoes

Except they look like duck shoes from the front, what happened there?!

Jumper - Primark

Necklace - Topshop

Jeans - Joni; Topshop

Boots - Primark

This time last week I got my phone upgraded. I had an iPhone 4 and pretty much would have been happy to get a 4S. I wasn't fussed about the 5, or the 5C/5S. In my eyes, an iPhone is an iPhone and I just think that the 5 (etc) looks like a rollerpinned version of the 4 *shrugs* so really I would have been happy with another 4 - I'm pretty sure my dad's bank balance would have been happier with this too! The only difference I've seen between the 4 and the 5 is that the 5 has finger print recognition for unlocking your phone, handy when you're driving (I joke) but aside that, it doesn't have any major changes. The fingerprint aspect is great but I found out it only works by a wire connection, and considering my previous experience with Apple products breaking, safe to say my hopes are not high.

Throughout the rest of the week I've had a bit of variety,to say in the least. Saturday was shopping in Brent Cross and then my friend Sarah's birthday meal which resulted in food poisoning, hence the lack of posts recently! It was good in one (very, very limited) sense as I have lost a few pounds but for the agony I was in for a few days I think I would have just preferred some very heavy duty dieting.
Wednesday I was invited to Bournemouth University's department activity day which was great - I hadn't visited the campus before, despite going to Bournemouth loads of times, so I was slightly apprehensive. As it turned out the course/campus/lecturers were all so interesting and engaging, so I'm really happy I've applied there. I've had to discount two of my applications already due to location issues but I now have three firm choices (theoretically speaking of course) to apply to which calms me down somewhat.
Thursday I was in Manchester for a visit to see my friend Abby - more on this in a follow up post!
Finally today was the last day of College before Christmas which was pretty stressful. Our English coursework was due in and after being told different stuff by different teachers, I ended up pleading my way into a study centre at 11:40 (end of lesson time/when the study centre was shutting) and quickly printing and handing it in - so happy I finished the rest of it off this morning before the due date!

New theme/new coat!

I'm pretty sure there's a name for having to change your theme this often. Or at least a disorder, or something along those lines. I don't even have a particular reason for changing it (again) except for the fact I was bored of my old one and didn't think it was especially fitting for my personality and/or blog contents.

In other news, I finally bought the Topshop coat I wanted! It may have been slightly late in the day for buying a winter coat (seeing as we're now halfway through December and all) but considering what the weather was like back in February, I'm hoping it'll get its wear.
From what I've seen so far, the coat was a great investment buy. Originally it was £79 and my plan was to get my dad to buy it for me (alas, he wouldn't) so along came payday and a last minute trip to Brent Cross shopping centre and there was my coat! Reduced to £55 as well, or £49.50 with student discount. I'm always weighing up the odds of having to show my student card (I genuinely resemble a hamster in my picture) vs getting discounted clothes. Usually, the discount wins but if there's a really attractive cashier sometimes I'll just spend the extra few pounds. I'm fully ignoring how shallow that sounds as well!

I rarely buy winter coats because I'm usually just in my denim/jersey jacket. Purely because it's denim and black, meaning that I can wear it with virtually everything. When I'm wearing denim skirts or jeans I just take off the denim outerpart and wear a black hoodie. Sorted. Now of course I can wear my amazing new coat, which I'm really looking forward to.
My issue last year with my Topshop coat was the lining; the coat was made of wool and so the insides of the sleeves were itchy as hell. This time though they're lined better, although I guess usually the point of wearing a coat is layered over something else rather than bare arms!
Another great thing about this coat? I can buy it in a size 10! When I buy clothes I'm always a size 12 (except in stretchy stuff or when there's no size 12s in stock) and I was paranoid of having to buy a 14 in the coat so I could actually wear stuff under it without looking like a polar bear. This coat is oversized by design but I found the 12 came up huge, even with layers on underneath, so I ended up opting for a 10! A reduced coat and a boost of self esteem; Topshop have really impressed me this time!
I tried it on in the Oxford Street branch a month or so ago and a lovely girl working in there told me the colour/cut really suited me. Whether she was working on commission or was genuinely being nice we'll never know, but it made me happy.
So, I now have a new theme and a new coat, it's been a productive day!

Topshop inspired Christmas meal outfit

Leggings

T Shirt

Necklace

Silk Bomber

Lipstick

Heels

Bag

Me and my friend Paige managed to miss our (very informal) Christmas do at work today because not only was there so much traffic, but my money for my parking ticket wouldn't work in the machine (I blame the machine) which meant I had to hunt around in my bag/car/Paige's bag etc until we found another 10p. Pheeew. I do have an 18th birthday meal to go to this weekend though which should be great! 

Trashy TV fascinations

Come Dine With Me, Wife Swap, Friends, you name it, I've watched it. I've had Sky+ in my room for about 3 years now and I used to go weeks without watching any TV, all the while feeling guilty about my mum paying for it without me using it!

Ironically, it's only been since I've been employed (albeit more recently, not 2 years ago) that I've started watching more TV. It definitely feels like I'm making up for lost time. It's great at the moment because for our English coursework we have to write/analyse a transcript, so what did I do? Come Dine With Me! Such a great excuse to watch more TV and combine it with (apparent) learning.

I'm actually watching friends while writing this as well as getting ready for work - no one can say I can't multi task! These are some of my favourites at the moment, what with coursework and my job it's difficult to find time to watch a lot of TV which is where my Sky+ comes in handy. 

The ever traditional Friends. Perfect if you've only got half an hour to kill (or less if you're watching on Sky+) and need something light and cheerful.

I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who likes Skins series 5-6 as well as the rest of them (Except 7 of course) I used to be fully obsessed with Skins when I got the boxset and now I'm rewatching it gradually.

Come Dine With Me is on every morning on some weird channel at 8:55AM, which says it all really. Whenever I have long breaks I come home, make my lunch and watch CDWM. It's great as long as I'm not eating anything really uninteresting when the food on CDWM looks so much more appetizing!

I really want to buy the boxset for this - I haven't actually watched it yet but I've heard so much about it - I just wish I could find it available in the UK! If anyone has any links they want to give me then that would be much appreciated

Anyone got any recommendations of programmes I should watch? As it's Christmas and my birthday soon (32 days!!!!) present ideas (yes, for myself) would be great!

"Ever since I was a young girl..."

It sounds like the first line of a personal statement, and I'm semi embarrassed to say that it actually features in mine. I've pretty much considered myself a design nerd since I asked for PSPPX2 for my, what? 12th birthday? Something like that. Back when photo editing software was £100 or so, rather than £700 (no hinting towards anything in particular *COUGH* Photoshop *COUGH* Indesign.. ahem.
For my media studies coursework this year we have the option of either creating a movie trailer or designing a digipak for a CD. My group were so excited to start the trailer (as you'll have read from previous posts) until we saw how easy it is to get an A through the digipak route. I'm not even exaggerating when I say one of the A grade pieces was a bunch of selfies with some clipart on top of it. Depressing, right?
As much as I was so excited to get started on our movie trailer, I'm so determined to get an A or an A* overall in media which means I need to grab all the marks through coursework, which I have so much more control over. The digipak can be done in my own time as well as in college and I know I can get a good mark in it - I've used the video editing software a fair few times but I've been using Photoshop/PSP since I was 12. Point made? I think so.
We only got told about the options officially this morning and I've been excited to start planning ever since. I'm starting my research for the digipak soon but for now I've just been messing around on Photoshop with effects for 20 minutes or so. These are all photos I've manipulated (albeit not much) that I've taken in the past year or so. It's actually really nice looking through them as they bring back so many memories.
My aim is to take loads more photos and come to a conclusion for a theme (these photos hold no theme whatsoever and consequently don't work together at all). I love photo editing and I'm actually really excited to start my coursework which is a refreshing change.

This is a photo I used for previous coursework which I multiplied etc 

My guitar ft Jens

CHVMISTRY is my favourite song by my favourite band - might have to steal it for the digipak band name hmmm

So I lied when I said they were all taken this year. This was taken last year in Turkey

Pretty sure this was taken in April in Fuerteventura while we were on a coach

This is a nice juxtaposed photo from Magaluf Beach taken over summer. Very contrasting to stereotypes haha!

This was also taken looking down onto Magaluf Beach. If I were to turn around, you would see nothing but clubs/bars

This is a wall following the previous picture - I got the frame size wrong and flipped it so it's now the floor

This was taken from my recent trip to Great Yarmouth for Channel 4's 4Talent day

Previously posted but I still love it - Great Yarmouth arcades!