You Are a Butterfly You Just Can't See Your Wings

Does the butterfly know its beauty or is it unable to see its own wings? Forced to wander around looking at the bright and colourful wings of other butterflies feeling insignificant in comparison?

Aren't we all similar in this aspect quick to see the beauty and positives in others but unable to see these qualities in ourselves. Looking at qualities we admire and wishing we had more -more confidence, more beauty, more brains.

We all have low moments, moments of self-doubt, of comparison, of wishing for more and of questioning.

Of late I have had far too many of these thoughts, life has thrown many hurdles my way and I got tired of jumping them. I found myself becoming someone I didn't recognise someone full of doubts, low self confidence and who constantly compares their life to others.

Thinking Ahead

I know we all hate to hear it but Christmas is looming, there are only 13 weekends left until the big day. Madness I know! I hate to be the bearer of this news but around now is the time I start thinking of gifts and presents.

I know I'm a planner, I over-organise, and I'm always looking for new places to buy gifts from- I strive to find the perfect presents.

A Week in Dublin

Back at the beginning of April I visited Dublin for a week with a friend, this was the first time either of us had ever been to Ireland and we planned to make the most of it.

We booked a sweet little Airbnb room just up from St Stephens park giving us a short walk into the centre every morning through the park. St Stephens park had beautiful arrangements of flowers and I can imagine sitting in there while it's sunny with a good book is a fantasic way to relax.

Prague: The Charles Bridge

While in Prague one of the sights that you have to go see if the Charles Bridge, it is a stunning piece of architecture. While pretty much all of the architecture in Prague is stunning this bridge can not be beat in terms of beauty and history! The bridge crosses the Vlatava river in between the new town and the old town.

Hoo Farm Animal Experience

Last Sunday I had a fantastic day at Hoo Farm. I'd bought my step mom an animal experience off of wowcher and we had finally got around to using it. 

We got to meet Duma the Serval, Specsavers the owl, the two red foxes and a boa constrictor.

It was a wonderful day the guide was very knowledgeable and good with the animals and it was amazing how close we got to these wonderful creatures.

Travel: Prague Astronomical Clock

 Back in February I visited the beautiful city of Prague! As everyone has said time and time before it truly is a fairytale city!

There are beautiful buildings and architecture everywhere that you look, no two buildings are the same.

There are so many different sights to see and behold and the one that I was most looking forward to was the Astronomical Clock.

All the photos I had seen of this prior to going were stunning and when in person it looked even more fairytale-esque.

To Be Read April 2017

As it was my birthday the other week I decided to have a small book haul! Its been a while since I have bought new fiction, the majority of the time now I just borrow books to read from my workplace. However they don't always have all the titles that I want.

Therefore it was time for a haul of sorts!

These are the books that are currently on my to be read list:

An Evening in Liverpool

I'm not one for being spontaneous, if I make plans it's usually weeks in advance of the event with every detail mapped out carefully.

The other week I broke this trend me and my friend decided to go and see Against the Current live in Liverpool the week before the event. We spontaneously booked the tickets and I agreed to drive even though I have never driven to Liverpool before in my life.

Travel: Nice

I visited Nice in October and I have delayed making a full post about my trip because to begin with the experience was down right awful.

This was not due to the city itself or any of the sights, rather the hotel that we were staying at to begin with. On the day we arrived the first evening we went out for food someone went into our room and stole from my friend. (I thankfully had all of my valuables on me).

L'Oréal Pure Clay Glow Mask Review

I was lucky enough for Christmas to get my hands one of the L'Oreal Pure Clay Masks. I opted for the glow mask for two reasons one I want to have nice bright non-tired skin and two out of the three this one smelled the nicest!

Glamglow Mini Haul

This is a very belated post but on Black Friday (yes that long ago) I had a small haul on the Glamglow UK website. I did not know they had a UK website so I jumped at a chance to give these a try.

For those of you that don't know GlamGlow have a load of different face masks on sale to suit your skins needs.

Lush: Shoot for the Stars Bathbomb

I'm back again with another Lush bathbomb review. I know what your thinking are all your posts for January going to be Lush related and the answer is.....maybe.

I was very fortunate to be bought for Christmas the Northern Lights gift box and included in this was the Shoot for the Stars bathbomb.

Lush: The Comforter Bubble Bar

Another day and another Lush post this time on The Comforter Bubble Bar.

While in Birmingham shopping over Christmas me and my friend went and had a look and a sniff around Lush.

I came across the Comforter and it has the most wonderful scent of blackcurrant.

This is one of Lush's bubble bars which is not the same as their bath bombs. Something I did not realise till dropping it in the bath and realising it was not doing much of anything. (I'm a bubble bar newbie ok).

Hello 2017

Today is the first day of the new year (where did 2016 go seriously!?) I thought I would share with you all my goals for the coming year.

1. Travel more - I've already got two holidays in the works one being Prague and the other being Iceland. I'm super excited to see more sights and explore new places.

How My 2016 Went

2016 has flown by and we're all getting ready to welcome in a new year.

So I thought I would share with you all what 2016 was like for me.

There were some amazing highs I visited New York for the first time it's been at the top of my bucket list since I was around 13.
This holiday was fantastic and despite me getting ill the day before going I powered through and honestly I loved it. The sights were everything I'd imagined and more. My favourite had to be the Empire State Building at night it was stunning!

I started a distance learning degree with my work. Progression and all that once I complete this job will have a Bachelor of Science. I've finished two modules so far and have achieved solid 2:1 marks in both. Wasn't sure how I was going to fare with uni work but turns out I'm managing it rather well.

Blogmas #23/24: Christmas Eve

So I missed another Blogmas yesterday 2 out of 25 isn't bad right?

Christmas eve is finally here and to be honest it doesn't feel like tomorrow is going to be christmas where on earth has this year gone!?

I've spent my Christmas eve at the Birmingham Christmas market with family. 

Lots of food has been eat and mulled wine has been drunk. 

It was all very festive with the cute style stalls on display. As I've said previously I do love a good Christmas market.

The rest if this evening will be spent relaxing and possibly watching Elf aka the best Christmas film!!

This post is short and sweet as the mulled wine has made me a tad dozy.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas eve!

Thanks for Reading!

Blogmas #21 Winter Lipstick Choices

Winter Lipstick Choices

It's almost Christmas where has the time gone and how have I managed to post for Blogmas nearly every day madness! I thought I would quit after the first week.

Todays Blogmas post for you all is on my winter lipstick choices, if you read my blog or follow me on Twitter you will know that I am a massive lipstick fan. I own far too many with some of them being similar shades (what can I say I'm a sucker for a dark red.)

Blogmas #19 Chocolate Covered Peppermint Creams

As you saw from my last Blogmas post I baked some festive peppermint cakes, if you have not seen this post you can check that out here.

After icing and decorating these cakes I had ALOT of leftover icing which seemed such a waste to throw away.

I remembered once making peppermint creams out of some icing and thought why not give it a go with the leftovers. So to the runny icing I added in more and more icing sugar and mixed until the icing formed almost a dough. I then made this into circles and placed them on a plate in the fridge to harden for at least 3 hours.

Blogmas #18 Festive Cupcakes

Today's Blogmas is some more festive baking! I love a bit of cake baking and decorating.

I found some mini candy canes and knew I wanted to put them on some cakes. These are my interpretation of peppermint cupcakes.

The ingredients you need for this are:

- 4 ounces butter

- 4 ounces caster sugar

- 2 eggs

- 4 ounces self raising flour

- Icing sugar

- mini candy canes for decoration

- Peppermint flavouring
- Red food colouring

Blogmas #15/16: Christmas Traditions

So I missed a day of Blogmas! This was due to many reasons and unforseen circumstances that I just did not get a post written or have any time in the day to get it done. If I was a more organised person this post would have been written well in advance and ready to just press publish. Alas I like to leave things to the last minute and rush through them.

This post will count as day 15 and day 16 to keep the number order going.