What I've Been Wearing On My Nails #45

ELF - Dark Navy & Poundland - Chit Chat / Barry M - Lavender Glitter Top Coat & Lap Of Honour / Leighton Denny - Star Dust / M&S - Chrome & Treasure Chest

This post is so over-due, I apologise. These are all my festive nails for the Christmas period, but don't worry, you can still rock glitter in January!

Chit Chat was an absolute bargain of a nail polish, I picked it up a year or so ago in Primark & it's one of my favourite glitter top coats. It's got so many different colours in it, it gets a lot of attention for a £1 polish!

If anyone asked me to pick my favourite combination of a glitter top coat & base colour, these 2 Barry M polishes would be coming in at number 1. I love how they look together.

These were my Christmas Day nails. We had our Christmas work party a few days before & as I was undecided on what to wear (I eventually chose a black jumpsuit) I thought sliver would be a perfect option, it just goes with everything! This polish was actually one of the gifts from the M&S beauty advent calendar & it couldn't have come at a more perfect time.

& finally my New Year's nails. I thought I'd mix it up with a bit of gold. These 2 beautiful polishes were a gift from Auntie Jules for Christmas & I love them! They go so perfectly together & looked fab on New Years with an all black outfit. Not sure why I decided to go all black this year but there we go..

What have you been wearing on your nails this month? January's selection has actually been a bit boring. I've been trying to give my nails a bit of a rest this month as I find wearing glitter & removing it can damage them quite a lot, so I've just been going for a few basic base coats.

Hope you're having a lovely week : D

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Life Lately #142

Hi lovelies,

My birthday seems like so long ago, but also like it was yesterday. I managed to pack so much into my 5 days off, it felt like I was constantly on the go!

I started my celebrations off with an evening meal at my Grandparents' last Friday. We had a catchup over a roast dinner.

On Saturday, James & I went to brunch with Allan & Maria at our local pub. They have only recently started doing breakfasts & after James & I tested it out a few weeks ago, we brought Allan & Maria to try it out. I had a full English last time we went, but tried the pancakes this time & they were so delicious. Definitely will be going back again!

Our friend Tom came down to stay for the weekend on Saturday evening & we spent the evening playing games & eating pizza!

Sunday morning I'd organised a brunch with my girlies at Sunmers Pond. I won't go into too much detail as the service wasn't great, but the food was lovely. We had a walk around the pond before coming back to the cafe for cake & tea. I was thoroughly spoilt by the girlies & although we won't be going back there in a hurry, it was a lovely morning.

In the afternoon, we went to see The Greatest Showman. It was absolutely fantastic, I can't reccomend it enough. We've had the soundtrack on repeat since we saw it!

On Monday, James, Tom & I went to Brighton for the day. Tom had only visited Brighton once before, so it was nice to show him Churchill Square & The Lanes. It was pouring all day, so even though we didn't get to venture onto the pier, we briefly saw the sea from afar! I treated myself to the most beautiful coat from Pull & Bear, which I'm sure will be appearing on my Instagram in the next few weeks, as I've literally not taken it off since buying it!

& Tuesday was my actual birthday & I spent the day at my favourite place, West Wittering Beach. I wrote a full blog post about this place just over a year ago & why it's so special to me. It really was a no-brainer when Mum asked what I wanted to do on my birthday! It was extremely cold, but not too windy & it just started spitting with rain when we were driving home. We met so many adorable dogs & had birthday cake & tea when we got home.

& finally I wanted to mention one of my lovely birthday presents that I've become obsessed with, The Bullet Journal. I'm going to do a full post on this once I've properly finished organizing mine, but if your not sure what this journal is all about, just have a search on Pinterest & you'll find loads of examples!

& finally finally! I wanted to say a massive thankyou to everyone that wished me Happy Birthday. I had such an amazing week, filled with cake, presents & the best company! Roll on 28!

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27

Honestly, where has this past year gone?! 

I remember sitting down & writing my 26 blog post like it was yesterday, but in fact it was 365 days ago..

2017 was overall, a pretty good year. Let's start with the most life changing event..

Moving Out

I mentioned in last year's post James & I would hopefully be in a house by the time I'm writing this post this year & sure enough, we are now living together, in our own little flat! We moved in on 13th April, just before Easter, complete with all our furniture we'd had in storage for months. We started viewing some properties around the end of February & found our flat a few weeks later. We must have viewed around 5 flats before finding our current one & it couldn't have been in a better location. It's a 10 minute walk to work & town, while still being near friends & family. The only thing we aren't happy about is the parking. Unfortuntely, when we moved in we were told we would have 1 allocated parking space, with access to visitors spaces for our 2nd car. This was infact not the case as residents aren't permitted to use visitor spaces, which has resorted to us parking our 2nd car a few roads away. Not ideal when I'm finishing work at 8.30pm & have to walk in the dark. I tweeted a week or so ago that something extremely exciting had happened that day & our news was we found a new place to rent! James & I will be moving into a house, with 2 parking spaces, garden & 2nd bedroom in April! We are so excited & are counting down the days till we move. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love our little flat & will be extremely sad to move out, but we're definitely ready for a bit more space. 

James

So James has accomplished alot this year & I couldn't be more proud of him. Firstly, workwise; he started a new job in February at a local kennels & after a couple of months moved up to assistant manager, before starting a new job at the beginning of November as a kennel co-ordinator. He's absolutely loving the role & has a brilliant team of staff behind him. Secondly, we celebrated our 5 year anniversary at the beginning of December. We went to Kingston-Upon-Thames & had a 3-course dinner at the beautiful Warren House. I know we've been together a long time now, but we are still learning & growing together as a couple & it's so nice to know he's had my back this year, through the good times & the bad.

Holidays

So as well as visiting Kingston for our anniversary, James & I went on holiday for 3 nights to Wales to visit his friend Tom & explore the local area. We stayed in Tenby, which was the most beauitful little town, with a few tourist shops & cafes, right next to the beach. I've honestly never felt so relaxed as I did walking along that beach. We also managed to go to The New Forest in September & we stayed in the cutest little lodge. We also visited Bournemouth & Poole while we were there & I fell in love with Bournemouth beach. I really think I have a thing for coastal destinations! & finally I went to Lanzarote with two of my best friends in August. I can't describe to you how amazing that holiday was. Sun, sea, food & my best girlies, what more can you ask for?

Events

So many wonderful things happened this year; Gemma & Ollie welcomed baby Alice into the world, James & I went to see Craig David which was our first concert together, I went to Maria's hen do & then attended Allan & Maria's wedding, we watched the Sidemen Football Match in Charlton, I held my annual Summer BBQ, Connie the convertible came into my life, James & I visited the Harry Potter Studios, we went banger racing, I had my hair cut into a short bob, my Grandad celebrated his 90th birthday, I bought our first Christmas tree & decorated our flat for our first proper Christmas together & of course all the other amazing things I've mentioned above.

Blog

& that finally leads me on to my blog. We've had a few ups & downs this year.. it's the first time I've ever properly felt like blogging was a chore. When we moved in April, I found I just had no time for anything. My life literally became work, cleaning & visiting friends & family, with no time to actually sit down & type. I also didn't really want to. I found myself blogging just because I didn't want to break the habit. I also value my Life Lately posts so much as it means I can write posts like these & look back over the previous year, so I knew pushing myself to keep doing them would be worth it in the end. Over the last few months though, I've felt a bit more connected with my writing & hopefully that can progress over the next year.

So that's it lovelies, on Tuesday I turn 27 & I'm actually ok with that. Ask me again in 3 years time & I'll probably be running for the hills.. but for now.. did someone say chocolate cake & prosecco.. ;D

25 / 26

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Life Lately #141

It feels like Christmas was so long ago! Especially as James has his birthday so soon afterwards (1st Jan) & we celebrated the New Year & we're now planning my birthday! It all goes by so quick.

On 23rd December, we had our yearly friends Christmas do at Elisa & Jamie's. This year, instead of everyone bringing a dish individually, they cooked the entire meal themselves! Complete with this amazing cocktail to start. We swapped Secret Santa presents & ate waaay too much food! I always love going to this every year, they really are the greatest group of friends a girl could ask for.

Christmas is always a bit of a whirlwind for us. We travel to family every day, starting with James' mum & partner Barrie for Christmas Eve. We travelled down as soon as I finished work at 6pm for an evening of food, games & presents. They had 2 french families staying for Christmas Day, so we had tons of food & drink! I managed to make my way through a whole bottle of champagne! We left just after midnight & headed back to our flat.

What made this year extra special was we woke up on Christmas Day in our own place. I've absolutely loved decorating & making the space our own this year. We bought a Christmas tree at the beginning of December & it was lovely to add presents underneath throughout the month. We opened our presents to each other early Christmas Day before heading to my Grandparents' for lunch.

We always have a full roast dinner at lunch time on Christmas Day & this year was no exception. My family completely spoiled us this year!

& finally Boxing Day was spent at James' Dad & Maria's house with extended family. We ate way too much again & played lots of games. I'm so rubbish at most games, I usually end up last! Hahaha, but it's fun none the less.

We celebrated James' 24th birthday last weekend, starting with a meal at my parents' on Friday & we went to Globalls in Brighton for the afternoon on Sunday & played 2 rounds of golf. If you've never heard of Globalls, have a look at some of the pictures on their website! It's such a brilliant concept & really inexpensive. I actually won the 1st round & came 2nd overall, so not bad at all!

We then went out for dinner at our local chinese, which put on a special New Years Eve menu. It was brilliant for trying dishes you'd never normally order. Complete with a glass of champagne, it went down a treat! We then headed back to Allan & Maria's for fireworks to see in the New Year.

On New Year's Day / James' actual birthday, we spent the day with family. We visited Allan & Maria for the afternoon, then headed to Valerie's for dinner & games.

James got given a new board game for Christmas called Labyrinth from Alex & Charl & I'm obsessed with it! We played it on James' birthday & every night since! Like I say, I'm not brilliant at games, but this one is so much fun.

& finally, now the week of celebrations has come to an end, last Tuesday, we went to see Pitch Perfect 3 at the cinema & it was hilarious. Quite a far-fetched storyline though.. let me know if you've seen it & thought the same!

How has January been for you so far lovelies? Do you have any resolutions?

Hope you all had a wonderful New Year!

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