Find Happiness In Your Week xox - 23rd June 2014

This week has been pretty tough for a lot of people I love. It's been one of those weeks that makes you look at things completely differently and think twice about your priorities. Successful careers, great jobs, beautiful shoes - they're all amazing but they're not the most important. They don't compare to the things that we often overlook the most, like having cuddles with your mum after three months, or laughing hysterically with your best friends or watching 101 Dalmatians on VHS whilst eating donuts.

1. The sunset on Monday evening. Watched from the window of the London to Manchester train! Tried to take a snap but I've definitely not mastered photography on a moving train...

2. SLEEP. Crawling into my bed at home on Monday night. Sleeping for FOURTEEN hours!

3. Waking up starving, going downstairs and finding this homemade pie sitting on the table. Could my mum love the living-in-the-countryside cliché more?! But more importantly, how early is too early for pie?

4. Watching 101 Dalmatians and looking up to see this little rascal peeping up at me from behind the sofa. 

5. Finding and reading old love letters and telegrams from my grandad to my grandma during WW2. It was the most surreal thing and all very Jane Austen-esque. They both died before I was born and because I had never known them, I never thought too much about it. But reading the letters now, I saw them as more than my dad's parents, or my grandparents I never knew; I saw them as people, young and in love and missing each other every day. Finding things out about family you never even knew has this strange power to make you feel emotions, buried deep inside you that you didn't even know you had. I felt sad for them, especially knowing that my grandad had died not long afterwards, but at the same time happy, that I had an insight into who they were, how they met and how much they loved each other. 

6. Finding a pair of my mum's white culottes from about thirty years ago...and sneaking them back to Brighton!

7. Laughing in shock and horror of my new name and wondering if Starbucks will EVER give up on this whole name-on-cup thing...

8. Waking up on the morning I left Manchester and having a coffee with my mum - the only person I know who loves coffee more than me. Sounds so simple and ordinary, but after the previous few days, meant more to me than ever! 

9. Getting into bed with Shill the night I got back to Brighton and realising that having a bed to yourself is nice for a few days, but doesn't compare to having your own human radiator.

xox

18 Signs You're Growing Up

1. Drinking wine at home in the evenings and waving goodbye to the days of only drinking to get drunk. 

2.  Feeling as though your day has a massive gaping hole if it doesn't involve 234559595 cups of coffee or copious amounts of tea. 

3. 'I haven't had caffeine today' being a legitimate excuse for JUST ABOUT ANYTHING.

4. Kids. Wondering when and how many children you will have but at the same time seriously questioning your own fertility.

5. Wondering how you will ever afford a house filled with Laura Ashley and Cath Kidston decor, but not spending too much time worrying about it and hoping things will turn out for the best.

6. Worrying about when your metabolism will inevitably slow down, then having a 'fat week' and thinking it may have already happened.

7. A hangover from one night out is suddenly on the same level to how you felt after a week in Kavos.

8. Reading this poster with keen interest...

9. Crying over bills and checking your meter to make sure they're right. Knowing they are, but being convinced you're being conned out of £50 :(

10. Wondering how you ever went out seven nights in a row...or two...

11. Feeling nearly ready to learn about grown up things like mortgages and different kinds of bank accounts...nearly.

12. Saying YOLO and pretending to be a carefree teenager once more, but then worrying about it later.

13. Seeing your mum and dad as people rather than just parents and realising that they were once just like you but without Instagram and Twitter.

14. Realising your mum was always right...about EVERYTHING.

15. Still not sure how it's possible to be right about everything but hoping one day you can confuse your kids by having that super power too.

16. Suddenly wanting to bake cakes all the time and become the ultimate domestic goddess with Cath Kidston aprons and Nigella cookery books.

17. Seeing babies and thinking 'aw cute' instead of 'eugh gross'.

18. Knowing that despite all this, you're not grown up yet, which means you still have an excuse.

xox

The ex expiry date

My friend told me yesterday she was going out for lunch with her ex-boyfriend of a year. I gave her that wide-eyed, half-smirk oh really?! look you give your friends when for a moment, you know them better than they know themselves and you know that what they are about to do will potentially blow up in their faces. 

They didn't end well. But she told me they were just friends now and that it would be like going out for lunch with me, or with one of the other girls. He's not really an ex-boyfriend anymore. It's been three years, it doesn't count.

But...he's seen you naked - is all that I could say.

Sure, 80% of my brain knew (just as well as she did) that by believing he was just a friend now, she was only justifying a situation which I could tell she knew wasn't a good idea, but just couldn't resist. Yet, the other part allowed her words to sink in and I couldn't help but wonder if this was possible.  Do ex's really have an expiry date? You can't re-write history and you can't ignore what you had with someone.

When you're friends with someone, and then you start a relationship, if it ends it almost feels worse - you kind of feel like you lost your friend and wonder whether you should have ever turned the friendship into a relationship in the first place. He had seen her naked, but that's obviously just the half of it. When you've had a serious relationship with someone, can you ever go back to what you had before?

In fact it was this exact analogy that my high school chemistry teacher used to explain the changes between liquids and solids. Kind of. When you bake a cake, you move from liquid to solid - mixture to sponge. You can't reverse it. But when you make an ice lolly, lowering the temperature makes the liquid freeze and voila - ice lolly. Warm it up again and you're back to a liquid. No complications. But when it comes to relationships, can we have our cake and eat it too?

I couldn't blame her, what girl hasn't been in this kind of difficult situation? If you haven't, your lucky. But in my opinion, this kind of re-union will go one way or another. You'll either remember all the things you loved about them - and despite your best efforts, everything will come flooding back. Or, you'll remember all the things you hated about them and sadly will realise what you couldn't put up with in a befriend, you don't want in a friend either. Is there such a thing as an ex expiry date, or is it merely a case of time and how many years it takes to forget the annoying habits, stupid games and ultimately, the reasons why you broke up in the first place. 

Find happiness in your week xox - 15th June 2014

Summer is here and there are so many beautiful things all around us. They're so easy to miss that sometimes we forget the small things in life which are the most precious and we focus on the negatives, the things we haven't done or the things we don't have. This week has been hectic and draining, the dreaded cold making its way round work finally caught up with me and for most of the week I felt as though someone had taken a shovel to my head! In the midst of feeling sorry for myself, I nearly forgot all the things that actually made me happy this week. Why is it we place so much on the negatives and not the positives?! Today marks the beginning of Summer and like #100happydays, I'm going to concentrate on the positives. Here's 15 things that made me happy this week ❤︎

1. Celebrating Father's Day! Big love to all the Daddys out there!

2. Beautiful flowers from our boy who came home from his year abroad in the Netherlands.

3. My first full day at Brighton beach with my gurl since finishing Uni! Naturally came home with the classic English sunburn...but the strawberry Daiquiri definitely helped ;)

4. Being a proud girlfriend when Shill led his first real advertising campaign at work!

5. Annie and the Mannequins new in collection (and free delivery on ASOS Marketplace).

6. Paying the final fee towards the LSJ three-day writing course and getting excited! AND making plans with the girls in London for afterwards. 2 weeks!

7. Me and Shill having our first duvet day in weeks since working full time, with chocolate digestives and endless cups of tea! Oh, and football *sulky face*. Speaking of digestives, the advert where the puppies come out of the McVities wrapper...
















8. Getting an unexpected email from my dissertation tutor who told me I had achieved a first! Such a lovely surprise! What a babe she is!

9. Walking to work and seeing an elderly couple holding hands in the park. Wondering how long they had been in love, the things they must have seen and been through and the memories they must have made together. I wondered how many times they had been there for each other, laughed together and cried together and I realised how special it is to find someone who you truly love and cherish every day.

10. Mango. On my cereal, on its own, with frozen yoghurt, wherever and whenever!

11. A new nail varnish! Bourjois So laque glossy 03 BC Beige.

12. Booking train tickets home to Manchester! 

13. Watching the episode of SATC where Carrie has her book signing. One of my favourite quotes about Mr. Big...

Like that freckle on my face that he once told me he loved. I could do my best to cover it during the day, but at night, after I washed the city off my face, there it was…a tiny brown dot near the tip of my lip. And I wondered how something so small could suddenly seem so big.

14. This arriving. Definitely the best silver shampoo for getting rid of brassy yellow tones. Highly recommend girliessss.

15. FaceTime audio call with my amazing girl Geo who's currently training in MIAMI! Missing her beautiful face and couldn't be more proud of all the things she's achieved!

How's your week been? xox

FESTIVALS AND BUM BAGS

Festivals - a weekend of music, mates, overpriced food, sneaking drinks into the arena, wellies, crisp sandwiches, tents, mud, face paint, floral headbands (or floral anything), porta-loos and not washing for three days. Oh and the ESSENTIAL - bum bags (or fanny pack - your choice!)

Where else can you keep your money and phone where you can see it?! Nothing can ruin a festival like a stolen phone and an empty purse!

Who says you have to use your dad's plain black leather one that your mum dug out of the loft? Why not show off your festival style, here are my favourite bum bags for this Summer!


Roses and Chain Bum Bag by Jaded London, £28 available at Topshop

Cracked PU Bumbag, Topshop £25

Neon Jewel Bumbag by Jaded London, £28 available at Topshop

Bracelet Print Bumbag by Jaded London, £28 available at Topshop

Zoe Bumbag, Monki £12

Annie Studded Panel Bumbag, Boohoo £12

Vintage Renewal Bumbag in Black and Purple, Urban Outfitters £15

Vintage Renewal Holographic Bumbag, Urban Outfitters £28

Black Leopard Print Bumbag, River Island £20

Black Neon Trim Bumbag, New Look £9.99

Monochrome Aztec Panel Bumbag, New Look £9.99

Peri Tassel Bumbag, Accessorize £25

10 favourite summer ear piercings

Back in the school days, Summer was the only time to get your ears pierced, so why change that now? Here are my 10 favourite styles for piercing inspo.

xox

Company collab with Anna Lou xox

I couldn't have been more excited when I heard about a collaboration between two of my favourites - Company magazine and Anna Lou of London - a jewellery brand which focuses on beautiful, quirky and unique British designs.

With Summer comes festivals and Anna Lou have teamed up with Company to produce satin silk festival bracelets, available in grey, brown and olive green. They look especially amazing teamed up with big dial watches and other minimal bracelets. I'm officially in love. The only problem I'm having is which one to buy?! 

Check them out below and visit Anna Lou to purchase. 

P.S. to win one for free enter Company's competition - take an instagram snap of your festival style and use the hashtag, #companyxannalou xox