10 Things #2

So back to the drawing board on what I have been enjoying these previous days that have really stood out to me and may also give you ideas on what has stood out for you! 

 (Stolen this image off of Tumblr - thought it fitted the festive season).

1. So far, my favourite Christmas film that I am constantly watching on a regular is Muppet Christmas Carol - I know, it has become a guilty pleasure!

2. I seem to be finding myself going out wearing these boots constantly and it is so easy to wear these for day and night time events!

3. Whenever I am home, I am always drinking a Christmas tea, which I hope will be back next year as I am going to miss the cinnamony goodness! (Please?)

4. Coming back from University means I have to do the classic meet-up dates with friends, who I haven't seen in so long... and where is the best place to meet? Wagamama's.

5. Of course a perfume that smells so fresh is needed when you are constantly being bombarded with the smell of mince pies and roasted potatoes. So what better fragrance to use than a Clinique one? It is so simple, yet smells so beautiful! 

6. Lately, I have been missing the fun moments of just jotting down events and things I have done during the day etc. So I decided to purchase a journal that may help me just write down anything random that comes to my mind! - (These ones seemed the cutest and I first saw them in UO).

7. To go along with this new desire to write randomly again, I thought I may as well get more inks for my very old primary school classic... the fountain pen. I feel like everyone in my class had one of these, obviously cheap ones! I never realised that you could purchase inks in 1000s of different colours!

8. The song thats making me feel nostalgic is the one from the first Scooby-Doo film on the island! You will remember it once you have listened to it - trust me.

9. Everyone needs a pair of adorable socks to keep them warm in Winter, (or just to chill in and have a laugh to yourself whenever you look at them).

10. The funniest film I have watched recently is one I came across on Netflix. So if you are up for a laugh and you think you're unlucky - watch this.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year! :) 

Kew Garden Christmas Lights

The best way to feel like it is truly Christmas is by visiting the Kew Gardens Christmas event! I have never felt so happy to walk about a garden filled with bright colors and lights glittering. The peacock displayed above was in a bright, dazzling blue, and the pictures cannot even do justice to what you really see - so I apologize for the bad photos! 

Something even more dazzling was the massive, almost curtain-like, display of lights changing colors and fading on and off. It was so mesmerizing and magical, and the music played amongst each display really fit every single lighting effect! Magical! 

I would highly recommend visiting the lighting display of you are anywhere in the UK and looking for something to do with family! Made me feel like a child in Disneyland all over again! 

It's a shame the event only goes on until the beginning of January, but on certain days you can get tickets at the entrance. Thankfully they are so friendly you're guaranteed to see this incredible trail of lights, whilst also passing stands where you can melt your own marshmallows and sip mulled wine, (or hot chocolate), - yum!

Travel Fund

    (Found this cool jar idea on Pinterest)

So I am finally starting to save for a holiday! Not sure what or where, but it's a start, right? I realised that I have way too many coins just lying around, (mostly 1 or 2p coins), but I never know where to put them! I got to a stage where I opened up my purse and it was a guarantee that a waterfall of coppers would fall on to the floor and I'd end up losing half the money. I eventually bought a jar and within only a few days, filled it with many coppers that I have found lying around in my bedroom! I'm starting to think that I might be able to afford a good holiday this year, and hopefully this jar will inspire loads more people to do the same, (rather than losing the coins like I did)! :) 

Getting Festive

It's time to start welcoming the Christmas spirit into our lives rather than shying away and pretending you're the new Scrooge! To me, Christmas is the best time of the year, where it's acceptable to stuff your face and watch hundreds of childish films with no judgement - my favorite is The Grinch! 

I can't think of anything more exciting than the over the top Christmas lights hanging in the streets whilst people shower their homes in colorful epileptic flashing lights! I feel like every year you HAVE to buy more baubles for the tree - even if you know your tree may topple over from the mass weight of them all. My tree still has decorations on it that I made back when I was 5 years old, which always makes me laugh whenever I get out the pasta made bauble! 

But the food is the most important part of the day and there is always room for a gingerbread house... Even if it just sits in the room for decoration. :)

Christmas Wrapping Ideas

The time has come, where I always struggle every year to think of a better way to wrap presents and make them look like I actually put in some creative effort! This year I finally decided to actually TRY and do something different compared to my usual wrap it quickly last minute and pray that the paper doesn't unstick itself.

My attempt at making it look Christmassy was better than usual. I decided to use simple brown paper as it makes the red stand out more from the ribbon and bells! The paper you can pretty much get at any stores, but the bells I purchased from here. I simply just cut each individual bell off the garland and tied it with the ribbon I used for the presents!

This was a present given to me by my friend, but I thought the wrapping was so well thought out that I had to use it as an example of another effective way of wrapping a present! It was so simple and cute with tissue paper wrapped around each individual present. Sadly I have no idea where she had purchased the tissue paper or bag, but WHSmith does a similar tissue paper.

There are probably so many other neater or more creative ways of wrapping, which I may eventually get round to trying out myself, but these are quite fun and creative ways of doing presents this year with minimal effort and it doesn't cost much to do! So for anyone, who is either running out of time or money (similar to me), then here is your answer! :)

10 Things #1

I feel like I want to do a regular '10 Things' post so that I can show what is going on in my life and what has caught my eye in the past week that I think is worthy of sharing with everyone! So regularly every week I hope to be doing a post similar to this!

Found this quote the other day and it made me giggle!

1. I love this song right now! It makes me feel so happy when I am walking to my lectures or seminars and keeps me in an upbeat mood.

2. Cannot live without my old trusty pair of Converse that really are beginning to show that they are worn daily, (oops).

3. As it is winter and Christmas is just around the corner, I think we are all in need of a snuggly fur, (fake of course), blanket to drink wrap around us while we drink hot chocolate? 

4. I am seeing soo many pictures of people skiing right now and I am feeling jealous! I wish I was back on the slopes at this incredible place on the Alps!

5. I found a book that took my fancy. It is from Urban Outfitters - I swear they have the best books selling at that store! 

6. My skin is slowly suffering the the university diet of absolute rubbish, so thankfully this product is slowly fixing that - and it smells of fresh oranges!

7. Being further North for uni made me realise how thankful I am that my mum bought me a new coat for the winter. It's managed to keep out most of the cold wind! 

8. A creative video, because why not? 

9. Definitely needing this breakfast next week I think!

10. I was running a lot last week trying to get out of the rain and realised Spotify kept changing my song... did anyone else know about the 'running' feature? It is pretty cool! 

Jamie Oliver's Italian Restaurant

This place can never do wrong on its meals at the Bluewater branch!

The Italian nachos - basically fried ravioli with mozzarella stuffed inside it, (delicious)! Considering I didn't think you could really fry pasta with a tasty outcome, I was pretty impressed! 

The main reason I chose this dish is purely because the pasta looked like tentacles! I don't think you can ever really leave this restaurant feeling hungry after the massive portions handed to you of such amazing food. 

And to top of my meal, I ended it with raspberry frozen yoghurt!

Would highly recommend visiting this restaurant if you ever are near to one! The one I always go to is at Bluewater and it's always so welcoming and friendly and the food comes quickly so you're never left starving on the side! :) 

Health Kick

My attempt at being healthy after the shocking uni diet is going well so far! After living off daily meals consisting purely of pasta, cheese or chicken, I'm officially needing some fruit and vegetables!

I absolutely love smoothie bowls lately, and top it with berries and seeds! This one contains frozen mixed berries with passionfruit and mango yoghurt and some blackberry frozen yoghurt!

For lunch I've been mainly eating Covent Garden soups. This one is a lentil and smoked bacon soup with toasted pitta break on the side! 

I'm hoping it'll make me feel more awakened and healthy after living off the basics for the past 3 months - here's hoping!