Mama's magic brownies

If ever I needed a little pick-me-up or a sugar hit

it would be my mums delicious chocolate brownies to do that job perfectly.

Theyre soft but hold their shape, but gooey and melt in your mouth!

They have chocolate chunks and no nuts, I don't like nuts in desserts, the chunks of white are white chocolate!

The best part is that they last for ages because one is delicious and two brownies are nearly too rich, so one a day will see you through!

They came in this super cute polka dot tin too!

The tin is heart shaped yayyy

-This would be the point where I share the recipe, but I don't know it!

Happy Halloween Home made brownies!

Japanese Exchange

In the spirit of learning new languages, I've volunteered to take part in a japanese exchange- so even though my japanese language knowledge is limited solely to 'Konichiwa' - I hope that's spelt right haha!
So bascially I've been put in touch with two japanese students who are here until christmas. It's all about helping them to practice their conversational english so perhaps it's better that I can't speak japanese as it would be easier to resort back to that when they don't understand words.

I took the japanese students back to my university room as they were curious to see what the student rooms look like, the first words when they walked into my room were 'whoah so much hello kitty'

I did laugh, but they told me it's for smaller girls normally, not adults!

Ah well

This is the outfit I put together for the meeting, I wanted to look friendly!
From the bottom up:

Black ankle boots from New Look

Faded jeans from Joe Browns

Plaid shirt from Forever 21

Black top underneth from Primark

Leather studded Jacket from Internationale

Feather earring from Etsy

Makeup combination frmo Naked Palette- Urban Decay
 

Mandarin lesson #1

Things that I didn't realise would be so darn difficult:

Budgeting

Liquid black eyeliner

Learning CHINESE

this post is just about the last one, mandarin is darn difficult. I do a little bit every day to try and keep it fresh but i'm struggling with the basic things like writing the correct characters, some of the characters are difficult and seem so darn fiddly!

Or I will look at a character and know what it is in English, but not how it sounds in chinese! Which is not so helpful for when you want to speak to people, and only useful for reading.

Anywho- here's a little chinese lesson for you, who says you don't learn anything here!?

 

Zhōng means middle and guó means jade but when you put them together they mean China! How funny is that??
so...
China sounds like Zhōng guó

Yīng means wise but when added to guó means United Kingdom, so kind of like 'wise country'

it sounds like Yīng guó

and the last country of the day is America
Mĕi
means pretty, and added to guó means America- the literal translation is the pretty country!

it sounds like this Mĕi guó

cute!

Soups up!

So it's getting cold and you need something warm and delicious and comforting like a bowl of hearty ol' soup! Right?

Here's how the soup goes down:

1.Melt a cube of butter in a big saucepan, then add one chopped onion, one small chopped potato, 1 carrot chopped, 1/2 a red pepper chopped and 2 cloves of garlic chopped for two whole minutes while you stir it all around.

2.Then add a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes, a tablespoon of tomato puree, 2 and a half mugs of water, and a stock cube and let it all boil baby!

3.Once it's boiled, take it back down to simmering for ten minutes, then add a mug of uncooked pasta, and keep simmering for 5 or 6 more minutes.

4. serve up, eat up, enjoy!

Add crusty bread with butter for more deliciousness, my bread was just boring old bread unfortuantely

50 shades of... well not a lot really

So I'm a little, well maybe a lot late on this summer read bandwagon as it's now basically winter, but what can I say? I've been busy and it wasn't until I moved away from home and everyone around me is talking about 50 shades of grey that I decided maybe there was more to it than it first seemed.

So, one poor roomates trilogy is going through it's paces like no book should, they've been passed successively down a line of seven of us and there's a motivation to keep reading as the person in the queue behind you wants you to simply hurry up so that they can read your book.

Yes, this is what really happens in a girls flat.

So I'm reading, and not a lot is happening, I keep reading and not a lot else happens... keep reading and nope... still nothing.

Some people (I live with some of these people) are infatuated with Mr Grey

I am waiting to fall in love with this mythical character and I haven't and if it hasn't happened yet I don't think it ever will.

He just seems clumsy more than mysterious

and emo more than intellectual which leads me onto another gripe with this book. There seems to be a whole lot of telling the audience that this is what this character is like, but no showing us.

We are told that Mr Grey is wonderfully intelligent and succesful and incredible, but nothing he does or says demonstrates a particularly superior intelligence, nor the skills to be successful in business. Instead we assume that he is because the author tells us that he is, and actually all he seems to do relating to work is to answer the phone coldly saying "Grey" give a one word answer, then hang up. His work seems to resemble a secretary directing calls to the appropriate departments not an entrepreneurial machine.

The realtionship, is the other part of the book that we are supposed to fall in love with, but it seems very self indulgent on Greys part, and unhealthy on Ana's behalf. It's not the kind of relationship a couple should strive for, it's laced with flaws that mean that kind of relationship would not be strong and so full of trust like the book claims, because unfortunately we are humans who have basic needs in a relationship to feel wanted, accepted like we can trust, be happy, be confident, supported and loved.

Perhaps that's the appeal, it's an impossible relationship that has got readers obsessed, something that would never work in real life, so the more that people can't have it- the more people want it?

I know, I know it sounds like I'm slandering this book to the ground, and perhaps I'm misinformed, perhaps the other two books that follow suddenly make this first book make sense, and it all clicks into place, and then the infatuation begins...maybe

But I don't know if i can bring myself to pick up the next book. I wonder if perhaps I am opposed to books that need another book to 'make sense' - a book by itself should be a stand-alone great story in it's own right.

Another part of me is sad that women have gone crazy over a book of this genre, and that we've not all read in a wave of womenkind an empowering or inspirational story that has shaped how we act and changed our thinking to kinder, happier and more loving.

Falling down the rabbit hole...

If I could describe my early halloween night in one word it would be...cold

My goodness I was frozen to the bone, and I wore a cardigan!
I wasn't aware it would be so much walking around from place to place (although I did wear flats thank goodness)

Oh England, why are you so cold and wintery and dark and raining on our fun??

On a brighter note...

I went dressed as Alice in wonderland... it was a recycled costume but oh well, I hopes no one would remember and they didn't seem to.

For makeup I'm wearing my wonderful, new, miraculous, magical and mesmerising Urban Decay Vice palette-uh

I'm wearing Desperation all over the lid, Black market in the crease (blended of course as it's a jet black) Provocateur on the inner corner and a dap with my finger of Armor in the middle of the lid, I love armor it's super duper glittery and halloween-y!!!

I was going for a grey, worn-in look, I didn't want my makeup to look fresh so that the look wasn't so soft and a little more sinister.

What are you wearing for halloween!?

They had sold out of Pumpkin costumes... I was saad

What mood?

You know those situations when you're in a complete rut with your music that everything that comes on shuffle you immediately change, all the songs that you do like you don't feel like listening to and the other 90% of your music you don't listen to anymore but can't be bothered to get rid of?

Me too

It's annoying because you don't know where to look for good music and new artists, Youtube is a big ol' mish mash of gambling, afterall you can't tell what a song sounds like by looking at a photograph. Until now, I introduce to you.... Stereomood.com

Songs are organised by folks like you and me into playlists that represent moods or activities, like a playlist for studying, reading, lazy afternoons, sunshine, sleeping, angry, sad, romantic, baking and driving (that is the complete tip of the iceberg in terms of playlists) and you simply click one, and there is an endless list of compiled songs that jsut play, one after the other. You will probably have hardly heard any of them before in your life. Sometimes they are incredible covers of popular songs, or hidden gems of music that you would never hear in mainstream music charts.

It really is amazing how right the playlists always are, and how accurate the compilation of them is in reflecting the mood. My favourite songs ever I found on Stereomood, you don't get sick of them because they are not played on the radio or music channels all day long.

Plus if you really like a song it links you to the purchase link on itunes, but its not like Spotify where it limits you to listen to a song a certain amount of times, nor do you have to download a single thing, nor do you have to sit through awful adverts. Just simply good music

You will probably get into the habit of opening up stereomood before you open up itunes in the future to listen to music.

I hope you learned a little something, I'm currently on the 'Piano' playlist, I find it easier to blog with wordless music!

Get DRESSED!

It is my favourite type of party when the party calls for a costume, it's so much more fun than wearing regular clothes!
I know I've done a few blog posts before on costumes but new and more amazing ones seem to emerge before I get a chance to blog about them!

This year I am leaning towards going as a pumpkin for the halloween parties, I think that would be really fun! Not a too scary pumpkin though.. I don't want to get nightmares!

Heres the little mini collection of costumes from last year, this is my kind of 'novelty' section of my wardrobe, you can see a little peek of Spongebob, a sailor and Alice in Wonderland...

Here are the ones that I'm drooling over this year, why do all the best ones come from American websites?!

Care Bear cheer bear! All dressed in candyfloss pink deliciousness! It's so pretty and cute, not scary at all.. I'm not a fan of scary costumes and gross masks

Look at this cute Mad Hatter one, it's nicer than the other ones that I've seen because it is so much brighter! The tea cup detailing on the neckerchief and cutie bootie covers are something that I would just wear out on any normal day

It's pocohontas! I love all the fringing and I can imagine the suede-touch feeling of the dress, I love wearing feathrs and beads and shoes with fringing, although this pocohontas has gone for more of an Ugg-type ensemble, but I think i'm a little too pale to look like an exotic poconhatas -sigh-

The Bubblegum Princess costume has a special place in my heart because who doesn't want bubblegum pink hair? And it's from the cartoon Adventure time which I watched my very first epsiode of this week. It's a show for kids but it has the same kind of appeal as Spongebob Squarepants where it can hold an audience of (child like) adults with it's randomness and brightness and the fact that nothing in it seems to make much sense at all. It's shown on Cartoon Network!

　

So there you have it, my costume round up for this Halloween season, I will of course update with my personal costume round up when I've decided!

Urban Decay Vice Palette- Am I dreaming?!

Today has been so unexpectedly wonderful, I was given the Urban Decay Vice palette as a belated birthday gift, I am simply ecstatic- I thought the slow moving open lid was a pipe dream with a £40 price tag I couldn't justify the spend around Christmas, but now it's stacked up so beautifully with my other palettes looking all neat and perfect. It came wrapped in an Urban Decay ribbon that I didn't even want to remove, but I was too tempted by the glorious colours inside.

This is what the inside looks like, i've done a little close up of every row so that you can get a better idea of the finish of the colours, there's a real mix of shimmer and matte.

I was immediately drawn to Chaos, that gorgeous, bright blue. I toned it down by blending it with Occupy as it was only the daytime. I simply love Noise, I've never seen or swatched a pink so spectacularly vivid.

So far my favourite browbone colours are Anonymous and Laced

As usual the brush is a bit mehh.. it's okay, but trying to get colour out of the pan with the brush makes it spray and sprinkle everywhere because the fibres of the brush are not tightly packed together.

The huge mirror is a great feature, you can apply your whole face of makeup using it.

While I of course love my Naked Palette and it is very much a 'desert island' beauty product something about the Vice is a little bit more jazzy, it has all the neautrals to do a million and one brown and grey looks, but it has the dazzle of the glitters which means that the pallete will see you through the mundane to the exceptional kind of occassions, that's my two cents

Lets go to the movies: The woman in black

Okay, so this is kind of an oldie now as it's not even in the cinema anymore, but I only just saw it today and this is probably my absolute limit on a film that leans towards the horror genre but I can just cope with it although I did believe that the Woman in Black was waiting for me behind every door that I have opened since watching it.
Anywho onto the film, so the main guy is Harry Potter... I mean Daniel Radcliffe, and he plays as a widower lawyer with a young son, and he goes on work to visit a quiet village where he has to deal with legal documents in a classic haunted house, we're takling high ceilings, cobwebs, creepy paintings and dark corridoors.
The whole time you're on edge and I find films like that physically exhausting!
THere appears to be some kind of curse on the house where the same recurring bad event (I won't specify what) happens when someone sees the woman in black.
So Harry Potter has a good crack at breaking the curse and in the last few moments of the film you find out if he was successful or not.

A sum up-
This film is jumpy and eerie and is best watched with the lights on and a friend or two
I didn't know the story at all and it was a pleasant surprise
If you hate creepy kids toys or creepy kids in films then avoid
No matter how much you may want him to, Harry doesn't cast a spell to make all the bad things go away

Vampy Vogue

For my birthday I was given this months issue of Vogue which is totally fun and a complete luxury, I have stacks of Vogues back in my bedroom at home from years ago, I was always so tempted to cut them up and put them into scrapbooks and such but always resisted because I wanted them to be as pristine as possible while still being able to actually read them.

This is the first issue I'd had to call my own in a long while and I was struck by the cover, while Vogue is primarily all about the clothes, the makeup on Kristen Stewart (Who to me will always be Bella Swan regardless of any other role she may play in any other film) was what caught my attention.

Striking is one word for it, tired would be another.

I just don't see why she seems to get a kick out of looking tired.

I loev copper looks as much as anyone, hell I've got several pallettes full of bronzes and copper eyeshadows and I'm not criticising the artistry, it's just all very vampy, even the high dracula collar on her dress and the blood stained lips.

I don't know, I find it all very irritating...

I don't want to make this some long and negative blog post because I raelly do like the vampy look, maybe not every single day, but blood red lips and copper tone eyes are one sure way to up the seriousness on your look, remember when using bright red lipstick to line the lips first to keep it looking crisp and neat.

Oh my Robin Hood!

I made a little trip to the museum of courts and justice. It was a little scary and spoke a lot about death, the death penalty and hanging people for their crimes, in that sense it was slightly morbid...

There were other fun rbight parts though specifically designed for kids which I actually liked the most, I got to dress up in little Maid Marian hat and there were jester hats too.

Maybe the funnest or happiest part was where you could take a leaf and stick it to the wall and on the leaf write what Robin Hood meant to you.

There were a whole array of ideas but most of them linked back to justice, but I just lvoed how fun and textured the wall looked with all the elaves with the ideas on them.

The Robin Hood statue however, gave me the creeps!

Knitted outfit of the day

 This is my outfit today! My first real 'wintery' outfit even though everything here is old, except the jacket- but I thought i'd share it with you anyway.
On my top I'm wearing a Black vest top from Primark and over the top a navy blue bell-sleeved jumper that's about a year old from Joe Browns, I like it because of the white detailing on the bottom of it.
Around my neck is a scarf from Topman that is super old, but the print on it kind of matches the print on the bottom of the jumper
My jacket was in the sale at Internacionale for £34, I like it because it has studs on the collar, it's kind of edgy and cute

 On my bottom half I'm wearing some grey striped shorts that were originally from Topshop but I got them from Ebay, then some thick grey knitted leggings underneth from TK Maxx, you can't see below the knee but I added my charcoal legwarmers and had them poking out from some plain black, low heeled ankle boots from New look

Wintery knits woo-hoo!

My new laundry helper

Hooray for clothes airers!

If you've read my blog before, you may have seen that last week was a clothes drying-disaster, really really bad.

I did two big laods of washing only to realise I had nowhere to dry anything, I ended up hooking everything over every available surface and having to sleep in that, which I'm fairly certain is bad for your lungs, it can't be good to sleep with a bunch of damp clothes drying surely.

Anywho, you best believe I was online the next morning making sure the same shenanigan wouldn't happen again, and I found this little beauty for the sweet ol' price of £9.99 including postage and packaging off ebay, plus it was brand new! It folds up next to my laundry bag all neatly too

 

Damp clothes BE GONE

There's a new laundry hero in town!

How I drink much more water

I have always been a water drinker, I remember when I was around eight years old my mum just stopped buying juice, the kind that you dilute with water, I was so confused, I always drank orange flvoured water and only drank plain old water when I completely had to and was really really thirsty and that's all there was to offer.

I remember drinking glasses of water feeling very sombre that my beloved juice that was leave my tongue bursting with citrusy tastes had been replaced with dull-old water that tasted of nothing and didn't make me want to drink more and more of it, then somewhere between finding water the dullest thing ever and being thirsty enough to have no choice it is a full on habit to drink water and now I drink nothing else. I've tried to drink glasses of juice again but I find them so sweet that my tongue stings!

Since all I drink is water I like to think I've become quite the water conisseur (haha) and I really CAN tell the difference in tastes between bottled and tap water (my friend did a blind water tasting expierment on me when I was aroudn 12 years old because she didn't believe me) I also CAN tell the difference between brands of bottled water and in my personal opinion mineral water is a little icky.. spring water is where it is at. My favourite is Evian (Incase you were wondering) Anywho, I've got a little side tracked...

Sine I moved out from home buying my own bottled water was becoming a bit of an expense that seems kind of silly when water comes from the tap (I just don't like the taste of most tap waters) After a little research, Amazon presented me with the Bobble water bottle. You unscrew the top, fill it up with water straight from the tap, screw on the top with the inbuilt filter and then the bottle filters as you drink.

I love this! The water tastes fresh, all the time and every time. The filter lasts you for about 2 months (or until it doesn't taste crisp and fresh anymore I guess) and I fill mine up at least 4 times a day, I take it to the gym, lessons, to my bed it's so practical. The only thing you have the change is the filter, the bottle stays with you for the long haul

I have the 500ml size, they do a litre size too but I think 500ml is more practical for carrying it around in bags.

Top tips:
-Don't squeeze the bottle too hard or you can damage it permanently

-Don't freak out about the black particles that may be floating in the water, they are compeltely harmless carbon particles that the filter filters out anyway

-The filters come in different colours if pink isn't your thing!

Playing monopoly til' my eyeballs drop out

Monopoly is one of those games that always seems like a great idea, then the sheer length of the game dawns on you and it's not such a good idea anymore... especially when there's eight of you playing!

You can make a whole hot chocolate between go's

I was not doing so well, I only managed to get one pink property, one orange and the waterworks. What I really wanted was the greens or blues, those are where the big bucks are!!!

When you have that many players you realise how few properties the board actually has to offer and not one of us had a full set because what were the odds of us landing on three off the same property before anyone else?

Slim, teeny tiny

So after about three hours we all decided to count up our money and call it a night for which I was thankful, my eyeballs felt like they were drying up in their sockets I wanted sleep so bad!

One very fun thing was the board we were playing on, it was the special 'millenium' edition which of course is 12 years out of date now, but the little palying pieces are all fun and trying to be modern- there was a phone piece but it looked like a very old phone! I was the bicycle piece that was just a super streamline looking bicycle and nothing more modern than that!
But, look how fun the board looks, like it has rainbows bouncing off it or something!

How not to dry your washing

So I'm used to at home, hanging out my washed clothes on the line, and then the lovely British weather will either rain on them some more or the winds will whip them into shape and then they are dry

There's no such luck here, where I should have (note the key word here is should) purchased a clothes airer, but what did I do instead?

Two loads of washing, my lights and colours- waited the half hour for them to wash, came back down to collect them from the machines and then as I pry my drenched bed sheets from the washing machine I realise the error of my ways...

Where on earth will I dry all of this?

My poor friends clothes airer was already full as she'd done a wash with me and it was 11pm or so at night, so what creative, amazing, other-worldy solution did I come up with?

None,

None other than hanging every sheet, sock and shirt from any available hook, handle or cupboard door. My room looked like a neater(!) version of Primark and it gave off that same claustrophic feeling too, I really hate sleeping in a messy room and I ended up having to sleep surrounded by this:

Domestic goddess reporting for duty!

Staying awake Sunday nights

Who says that I don't know how to have a crazy time on the weekend?

Well.. me, I'm sat on my maybe 4th or 5th hot chocolate of the evening trying to stay awake to get my work finished for Monday morning. I'm not a coffee drinker (coffee breath makes me gag) and I want to make my teeth brighter not browner!

Things that are good about tonight:

I'm not the only one working around the kitchen table

We are all taking turns to play a classical music 'study' song to lighten the mood

I have hot chocolate WITH marshmallows

It's raining while I'm INSIDE

Things that are not so good:

I had to run OUTSIDE in the rain to pick up a longed for library book I had reserved

I've drunk so much hot chocolate I just feel full up and need a nap

I'm concentrating more on being a study DJ than studying

Who even understands what any of the chapter in this book says anyway??

Dumpling Delight!

Dumplings are a huge indulgent food that my nan makes, I love love love them, being away from home and all I decided to recreate that comfort food and it was a surprising success and super duper easy
The recipe itself is called a lamb cobbler, but essentially it's a case of making a spaghetti bolognase sauce, if you don't know where to start with that my recipe here will help you out
http://alexiaesque.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/got-15-minutes.html

Then, take a mug of self raising flower and half a mug of water and add the water slowly to the flour until its a kind of gloopy but wet texture, but dry enough to hold it's own shape.

Spread the bolognase type mixture into a baking dish and pull off lumps of dough and roll into balls, this recipe makes about 6 dumplings in total. Lightly coat the dumplings with egg, or much less waste use milk so that they go a pretty golden colour, and put them in the oven at 200 degrees celicus for 25 mins- 30 mins
and then you get lovely fluffy dumplings!

I'm pretty certain this is the simplest way to make dumplings, if you want to get fancy you can add herbs and spice and all things nice!

Your skin loves vodka

This is my tip top cleansing trick that uses vodka

Important notes:

This is obviously only appropriate for those who are the age of or above the legal drinking age in their country otherwise purchasing alcohol is illegal
This is not an oppertunity to raid your parents drink cabinet and claim that it's for the benefit of good health
I am recommeding vodka as a skin cleanser only, never ever as a drink

Step 1:
Wash your face as normal with a regular face wash (now is a good time to exfoliate too to really get into those pores

Step 2:
Drench a flannel in hot water (not so hot that it will burn you) then place it flat on your face so that the heat can open your pores up for 30 seconds-1 minute

-Now is a good time to have a go at those pesky blocked pores on your nose

Step 3:
Take a cotton pad and dampen it with vodka (about as much as you would use when coating a cotton pad in nail polish remover)

Step 4:
Wipe away the remaining grub that you thought wasn't even there! And admire the grime that would have been sitting on your skin as you slept

 

The vodka works just like any astringent, it even has the smell of one! Aswell as getting rid of the last traces of muck, it closes up the pores again to stop them being wide open and filled up with more gunk

Step 5:
Moisturise as normal, happy days! Happy skin!

Top tip: If you like this trick, but don't like the look of an ugly vodka bottle in your bathroom cabinet, pour it into an empty astringent bottle if possible, or one of those empty travel cosmetic containers for when you only want to take some of your product on holiday

Fancy washes away!

I like fancy nights as much as the next person, but if there's one thing better than getting all made up with makeup and clothes and heels and sparkles, it's getting 'dolled down' (I made that phrase up, it's meant to be the opposite of being 'dolled up')
That feeling when your hair is clean of all product
Your face is stripped of all makeup and oils and lotions
Your skin is fresh and washed and smells of shower gel
You're in comfy clothes, wrapped in clean bed sheets and ready for bed!

Well that's how I am now!

I think I look distinctively happier in one picture over the other, although maybe a whole lot more frazzled!

You smell good!

A good judgement of my 'essential' fragrances are the ones that sit on my desk in my new room away from home. I have other perfumes, but I couldn't take them all, so I have a small handful now which I can now confirm must be my favourites!

So here's what they are:

The purple heart lying on my desk is Loverdose by Diesel. I had a free sample of it and used that until it ran dry. I was then given a full sized bottle for my birthday so you can imagine my excitement! It's a scent I would certainly call a 'night' fragrance because it's quite heavy and rich- but I'm not really someone who changes up my scents that often nor do I have the resources to! But if you are, that's a little FYI- but I tend to wear it all day just because I love it so much. The smell is floral, but not light floral like roses, and it's also sweet. The bottle is so lvoely it's like having a precious gem on my desk! And it has a black spike in the midle of it which is interesting (after taking this picture I then realised that the bottle is meant to sit on it's side and does so nicely, rather than flat on it's back like a beached whale..haha)

The tall pink bottle is a Victoria Secret Fragrance Mist in red plum and freesia. This is really light as a fragrance and while I love it, it doesn't have much staying power so when you go out in the evening it's maybe better to overdose on this one so that it will stay on for a little longer. Is is super super sweet, probably the sweetest fragrance Victoria Secret do in their Body Mists as that is why I chose it! I love sweetie scents.

Then I have Burberry Baby Touch, which is a super light fragrance and to sum it up it smells like babies- but not smelly babies, kind of like that clean baby scent... I hope I don't sound like a creep that goes around sniffing babies! It smells mostly of vanilla and sweetness and the packaging is cute as the base is curved so rocks like a baby toy or something.

The next two are not perfumes but 'mists' the green bottle is good for stress relief, so I spray it on my clothes before exams or on my pillow the night before a nervous day. It smells really lovely as it's mint, mint is one of my favourite fragrances! The purple bottle is only meant for your linen and is meant to help you get to sleep- I havent used it yet because I hardly have problems getting to sleep, I need a zingy spray to help me wake up!

Flower girls.. awhh

Here's a little update on the latest with my sisters wedding and it's to do with the cutests members of the wedding party- the flower girls.

we've done some browsing over the past few months for flower girls dresses off the rail but my sister knew that above all she wanted the dress to be cute and childish looking, not like a minature adult dress. This included a cute ribbon/bow or flowers and little cap sleeves. Surprisingly most flower girl dresses seem to have no sleeves at all, to find one with little cap sleeves was unusual or they were usually first holy communion dresses.

Then I came across this pretty dress in a pattern book and it captured my imagination, I love the pretty little ruffle flowers and sleeve type and on the back it has a cute little ribbon too!

I took a picture of it and sent it to my sister who agreed that it was the prettiest flower girl dress we had ever seen, so I got the paper pattern and now this is the dress-to-be... but not in pink!

Isn't it so lovable?

It was a child Vogue pattern and it had 40% off so cost the sweet price of £4.95!

Fancy Night!

Last night I went out on a 'fancy night' where there was a strict dress code, I was really exicted because everything had to be a little bit classy, that meant no denim knickers...I mean shorts, no slouchy slouch and everything nice and dressy dress! Men have to wear collars, nice trousers and smart shoes too and if you don't comply you say bye-bye! Also, you have to buy tickets beforehand- you can't just show up and go on in! This is what I settled on wearing:

My dress is from Forever21 and I bought it in the January sale, I got it even cheaper because it had a hole by the zip, but i wore a black skirt underneth and pulled it up to where the hole is so you couldn't even see it. One of these days I'll sew it up.

I opted for black ribbed tights that are kind of opaque to keep it classy!

My shoes are a fabric pair of plain black heels new from ebay, and my jacket that I wore is my trusty H and M (but actually from a charity shop) black jacket that I always wear on nights out!

Hooray for fancy pants!

Lets go to the movies: Looper

I was persuaded that going to the cinema to see Looper (not Taken 2, that I really wanted to see) was a good idea.

Here's my movie lowdown:

The concept of the film is time travel- it's set 30-ish years in the future and time travel has been invented but was immediately made illegal. So the only people that do time travel are gangster-type people who send people to the past where a gun waits to kill them, because it's much easier to hide a body then rather than in the modern day where technology is all tip-top.

So why is it called Looper?

Crime bosses turn to time travel to send their targets to the past to be killed using "loopers" When crime bosses want to end a looper's contract, they send his older version back to be killed by his younger self, referred to as 'closing the loop'

Then alongside all this a section of the population have been given some magical coin floating powers that seems kind of irrelevant for a long time
If it sounds a bit weird, it's because it is! It's been referred to as the new 'Matix' but to be honest, I didn't really like that movie...

To sum up it's a lot of guns (a lot) a lot of death (a lot a lot) and a lot of time travel and concentrating so that you don't miss something important!

 

This is their 'concentration' face

I hope I havent put you off, I think it just either is your sort of film or it isn't.. and this sort of isn't!