Friday 31 October 2014

October Goals Update + November Goals

November Goals
So when I post this, I will have completed Blogtober and will have posted every single day for the past month! It has been hard at times to keep up with this, especially the past week or so when I haven't had any scheduled posts and have had to write on the day I posted, but I did it and I am so proud. I have learned a lot about myself and my blog, plus what I want it to become. I have set myself some new goals for my blog and now have higher and more defined aspirations for what I want my blog to be and I am so excited!
To wrap up Blogtober, I have an October Goals Update and November Goals for you.

Thursday 30 October 2014

Get to Know Me More!

Get to Know Me
As some of you may already know, I love doing Q&A posts as they pose great questions for the writer and some interesting reads for the audience. Saying that, I found an old website containing a few different tags for bloggers and loved the look of the 20 Questions Tag!

Wednesday 29 October 2014

NaNo Update

Nyx
Can you believe that November is only three days away? Three days! Where has the time gone? I honestly still feel like it is the 15th October, who knows where the past two weeks have disappeared?
So, since I am competing in National Novel Writing Month next month, a challenge to write 50,000 words in the month of November, I thought I would update you all on my novel.

Tuesday 28 October 2014

One Lovely Blog Award

one-blog-lovely-award
I was nominated by Fleur from Beautyminati yesterday for the One Lovely Blog Award which has truly warmed my heart. I write what I write because I enjoy to do so and the fact that there are people out there who read it and who also enjoy it is an incredibly lovely feeling and inspires me to continue to write!

Monday 27 October 2014

Body Shop/Make-up Haul, October 2014

I feel like I have been posting quite a few haul posts recently, and no doubt there will be another one soon as Boots have an advantage card event on this Thursday, but I thought I would show you some of my recent Body Shop purchases. I went for a look around last week while I waited for my boyfriend to finish work and I ended up buying some makeup and FINALLY getting a Body Shop loyalty card! I have been to the Body Shop quite a lot recently but have always put off actually getting the loyalty card as there is an initial £5 cost, however I probably would have saved more than the £5 in discount bonuses if I had got the card a few months ago.

Sunday 26 October 2014

Silent Sunday #1

Saturday 25 October 2014

My Top Book Quotes #1

Top Book Quotes
Initially, I had wanted this post to contain all of my favourite book quotes. However, when it came to actually writing this post, I realised that would take me a very long time and it would be an incredibly long post! That being said, I have broken it down and only included my favourite quotes from a sprinkling of my favourite books during this first part of the series of posts. Enjoy!

Friday 24 October 2014

10 Things That Scare Me Most

Halloween is only a couple of days away and what better time of the year to write about things that scare me? Here are the top ten things that scare me.

Thursday 23 October 2014

Disney Rewards!

It’s no secret that I am a major Disney fan. Most of my friends and work colleagues know this fact about me but I have found that not a lot of people know about one of the best Disney schemes out there: Disney Movie Rewards.
Disney Movie Rewards, Free DVDs

Wednesday 22 October 2014

100 Days of Happiness, 21-30


It's been another 10 days already? Where is the time going?! Don't forget to check out my 2 other 100 Days of Happiness posts!

Tuesday 21 October 2014

Best Halloween Makeup

Halloween is vastly approaching and while I'm not actually going out on or around Halloween, I still love makeup, especially costume makeup, so I have gathered a few of my favourite Halloween makeup looks.

Monday 20 October 2014

My Perfect Day

Image from bluepueblo.tumblr.com, original source unknown
Image from bluepueblo.tumblr.com, original source unknown
I have always had a great imagination and I have always yearned for happiness and that ‘perfect’ life, so here is my idea of a perfect day.

Sunday 19 October 2014

My Favourite Song

Favourite Song
I wanted to share with you all one of my most recent favourite songs. I have been listening to it quite a lot over the past couple of months and I still love it just as much now.

Saturday 18 October 2014

Book Review: Boys Don't Cry

I read Noughts and Crosses years and years ago and I loved the book. I actually bought them a couple of years ago but haven’t gotten round to reading them again yet (I’m a bit of a compulsive book buyer…) so when I saw Boys Don’t Cry on the Kindle store by the same author as the Noughts and Crosses books, I knew I had to buy it straight away.
IMG_0178

Friday 17 October 2014

18 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Turned 18

18 Things
I am a very reflective person and as I am sure most people would agree, there are a lot of life lessons I have learnt recently that I wish I knew when I was a teenager. I tend to mark the year I turned 18 as being the point where I started to really change as I left school and got a full-time job so here are the 18 things I wish I could tell my pre-18 year old self.

Thursday 16 October 2014

Review: L'Oreal Sublime Mousse

Two weeks ago, I bit the bullet and picked up a box dye from Boots. It wasn’t the first time I have dyed my hair, but it was a much redder colour than I have ever gone before and I was doing it myself
Since I was doing it myself, I knew I wanted either a mousse or a mask (I didn’t trust myself to use a bottle!) so I ended up getting the L’Oreal Sublime Mousse dye in the shade 565 Hot Brown (£6.99).
L'Oreal Sublime Mousse

Wednesday 15 October 2014

October 2014 Goals Update

October Goals
I refuse to believe it is October 15th already. When did that happen?! Still, here is how I am getting on with this month's goals.

Tuesday 14 October 2014

My Most Influential Person

Image: hellogiggles.com
Image: hellogiggles.com
I love reading about influential people. One day, I would love to positively impact someone’s life and have them quote me as being an incredibly influential person in their life so I thought I would share with you the most influential person I know.
My grandmother.

Monday 13 October 2014

Makeup Haul, September 2014


I have to be honest: I have had some of these items for a few weeks now and I am only just getting around to doing a haul post about them. It was my one-year anniversary with my boyfriend at the end of September and typically, I used that as an excuse to buy makeup!

Sunday 12 October 2014

100 Days of Happiness, 11-20

100 Days

Saturday 11 October 2014

Beauty Items I Can't Live Without

I love applying makeup and experimenting with all of the different products I (and Boots) have so I felt like I would write a post about the most important beauty products in my life that I can’t live without.

Friday 10 October 2014

Project Confidence: Accepting What You Can't Change

Image: weheartit.com
Image: weheartit.com
Recently I had a few weeks off work, during which I started to feel quite a bit better about myself in terms of my personality and confidence levels. However, since going back I have found that I have been comparing myself to others quite a bit which is never a good thing.
For the longest time, I have always wanted to be a certain type of person and it has only been recently that I have actually started to actively do something about it. That being said, I have realised that changes I want to make can be classified into three different categories.

Thursday 9 October 2014

Paperbacks vs eBooks

Books
I am a bookaholic. There, I said it!
I have loved reading since before I can remember. It is the perfect way to escape to another world where you can forget all of your own problems and completely lose yourself in someone else’s life. When I was younger, you could always find me with my head in a book, usually a different one each week. Unfortunately, as I grew up, reading became less important me. I thought that schoolwork was the most important thing in life and while it is very important, I didn’t have a good balance between my personal and school life so I stopped reading.
However, recently, I have been putting more effort into reading and am currently reading my 24th book this year. One of the reasons I am enjoying reading more recently is due to quite a controversial topic among book-lovers: the e-reader. 

Wednesday 8 October 2014

How to be a Gentleman

Gentleman
Source: thenextweb.com
In today’s day and age being a gentleman isn’t a high priority for most men. Most men are more interested in having “swag” and being “cool” among others their age, however I believe there are still some guys who want to be that perfect gentleman, so here is my perspective about what it takes to be a gentleman. Most of my points have ended up being about the dating phase of a relationship, though I think a lot of the points can be transferred to those who are already in an established relationship.

Tuesday 7 October 2014

Would You Rather: Beauty Edition


I love these type of posts! When I first saw the Would You Rather Beauty questions I knew that I had to answer the questions as some of them are quite interesting, so here are my answers.

Monday 6 October 2014

Moving Tips


As you may or may not know, I moved back in with my parents last month after half a year of living in a flat with my boyfriend. My boyfriend and I both moved in with my family in order to save for a mortgage as, living in the flat with extortionate rent rates, council tax and bills, we were unable to put anything into savings.
While our move wasn’t a complete train wreck, I have definitely learnt from our mistakes! My experiences might not be applicable to everyone but I thought I would share my top tips for moving.

Sunday 5 October 2014

Most Embarrassing Moment

Embarrassing moment
When I think “most embarrassing story” I tend to draw a blank. It’s not because I don’t have any embarrassing stories, it’s more that I tend to laugh at myself so situations aren’t as embarrassing. I’m sure we’ve all waved back at someone who was waving behind us or tripped and fell in public so I am not counting these situations. I actually can’t remember many other embarrassing stories (I’ve probably blocked them out from sheer humiliation) however, there are a couple that spring to mind but one of them stands out as being my most embarrassing moment, hands down.
A couple of months ago, I was in the bathroom with my friend. We were washing our hands before going on break and when I was in the middle of drying my hands, the phone rang! Since it was the work phone, I had to answer it despite my wet hands. It turned out to be one of the managers asking a question about some stock, which I answered quickly. Eager to get off the phone and dry my hands (and a little bit on autopilot), the conversation wrapped up and he thanked me for helping him. My response?
"OK, thanks, love you, bye."
Yes, you read that right. Love you. I said I loved one of my bosses.
My mate asked who that was and when I told her it was one of the managers, she burst out laughing. Luckily, the manager that I had confessed my love for either didn't hear me say it or he had the decency not to mention it since he never asked me about it. I thank my lucky stars every day that he didn't...
My friend still hasn't let me live it down though.
It’s not such a major embarrassing story (sorry to disappoint), but like I said I think I have blocked out the most embarrassing stories to avoid living the humiliation.
What is your most embarrassing story? Don’t leave me hanging here, guys!
- Taisie ♥

Saturday 4 October 2014

Book Review: Eeny Meeny

After taking so long to read a Clash of Kings a few months ago, I decided I wanted to have a break from big books and read a few easier, smaller books. I read Sleeping Arrangements and decided to follow it up with a bit of a more mature, weighty book so I picked up Eeny Meeny by M.J. Arlidge. The blurb talks about how pairs of victims are abducted, imprisoned and then forced to sacrifice either their life or their conscience. Since I love horror films and mysteries, I knew this book would be a great read for me and as it happens, it only took me three days to finish reading so I thought I would share my opinions on the book.

Friday 3 October 2014

10 Annoyances of Social Media

Social Media
Over the past few decades, our world has evolved into such a technological one that it is rare to find a 15 year old without a phone. The introduction and subsequent decreasing costs of smart phones means it is easier to access the internet when out and about, instead of having to use the dial-up internet on the one computer in your house.
In most circumstances, having phones can be a blessing. Not only are they useful for phoning the police or an ambulance should an emergency arise, they are also useful when you’re trying to remember that actress’s name from that TV show you haven’t watched in years (hello, Google).
However, the easy accessibility of the internet on smart phones has led to an increase in the number of social media sites and accounts. Social media sites are a bit of a bittersweet invention. While they are useful for keeping in touch with old friends, broadcasting a message and meeting new friends (with caution), I find that there are many disadvantages with using social media and here are my top ten annoyances.

Thursday 2 October 2014

100 Days of Happiness, 1-10

100 Days
Can you believe that it has been 10 days since I set my 100-Day Resolutions? 10 days already! It just seems so unbelievable how fast that time has gone. Saying that, I have decided to post every 10 days about my 100 Days of Happiness. I hope you enjoy :)

Wednesday 1 October 2014

To Uni or not to Uni?

IMG_0204-1.JPG
Source: Wikipedia


If you had asked me when I was a child what I wanted to be when I was older, I wouldn’t have known what to respond with. If you had asked me when I was a teenager, I wouldn’t have known. If you ask me now, I still don’t know.
I feel as though most of the blogs that I go on have something to do with going back to university, whether it be tips for Freshers, organisation hacks or studying techniques and since I am 20 years old and haven’t been to university, nor am I deferring a place, I sometimes feel a bit left out.
I absolutely adore education; I love learning and studying and filling my brain with the intricate details about how the world works, so why aren’t I at university?

I’ll let you into a little secret: I actually applied for medicine when I was 18. I went to two interviews (despite receiving invitations to three) and had three rejections before I pulled out and decided to have a gap year. I got a job and had every intention of going to university the following year, but I felt so worn down by sixth form that I simply wanted a break from education so ended up not applying for university again.
I absolutely detested my time at sixth form. The school itself wasn’t a bad school it just really wasn’t what I was after and as a result, I ended up hating my time there which I feel impacted my results negatively and meant that I was unable to have the best sixth form experience possible.
I had been very unsure about making the decision to have a gap year as education was my life but I decided that, ultimately, it was the best decision for me.
As it stands, my friends are now entering their third year of university and pretty soon, they will be graduating with a degree and getting the jobs that they love (I think I’ll be deactivating my personal Facebook in May/June when that happens!).
While I love science, writing and learning, I don’t know what degree I would want, if any. Most of the time I console myself by thinking about how lucky I am that I don’t have a £30,000 debt and an unused degree, but sometimes it doesn’t feel enough.
The job I am in isn’t where I see my future but the truth is, I don’t know in which job I do see my future. I want to be able to provide a decent life for my family and not constantly worry about money, which I doubt will happen in my current job even if I progress up the career ladder.
Being honest, I have to say that that makes me want to find a degree I like so I can get a job I enjoy to provide a good life for my family. However, at the same time, saving for a mortgage and seeing my pregnant sister start her family make me want to settle down now. Can I really put that on hold to go to university? Can I afford not to?
99% of the time I am strong enough to realise that it was right of me to avoid following the norm and going to university when that wouldn’t have been right for me but the fact that I don’t know where my path leads - if anywhere - does make me question whether it was the best decision at times. I used to have my life planned out for me on a map - high school, sixth form, university, job, husband, child - but now that that has been completely demolished, there are times when I feel completely at a loss of what to do next. I have time on my side - after all I’m only 20 years old - but I have already been in my job for three years now and if I don’t do something to change it, pretty soon I will be celebrating my five year anniversary, and then my ten year anniversary and then my twenty year anniversary with the same company.
So what about you? Did you go to university? Do you use your degree or did you never need one?
- Taisie ♥


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