Boxing Day Sales!

Hello everyone!

As I said in my Christmas 2014 post, here is what I've picked up in the Boxing Day sales. Some things were in the sale but a few weren't.... naughty. I also spent a wod of cash in Ikea on bedroom furniture on Boxing Day so my bank account is looking pretty sorry for itself. No more shopping for me. Hope you enjoy reading.....

The first thing I bought, which might become a tradition, is this Smashbox On the Rocks palette. I had been eyeing it up before Christmas but I knew it would be discounted in the sales. Last year I got the Wondervision palette which is beaut. This was about £32 down from £50.

Next, I saw this awesome deal from the Boots No.7 brand. It's three of the stick highlight/blush/bronzers for £15 and I bought them with my remaining Boots points so I technically got them for free..... Little gems.

Lastly for makeup, I bought 3 more of the Maybelline Colour Drama crayons. I have the shades Minimalist and In with Coral already and since I love them so much I bought three more colours that I like. These are, Keep it Classy, Fuchsia Desire and Light it Up.

From Topshop I bought this metallic blue cami top. It was £12 and I got my sister's student discount, I just couldn't pass up such an awesome deal and I'm sure I'll have an opportunity to wear it at some point. I also bought a jumper for my Mum's birthday in the sale and that was £18.. forgot to take a pic though. Bad Blogger. 

From Dorothy Perkins I bought this burgundy blazer for work. Ideally, I wanted a black one but this is the exact style I wanted, slouchy but formal? Is that even a thing? I didn't want a fitted one is what I'm saying. This was £20 and it will definitely get lots of wear. 

Next, I bought some bits for my new room. From Debenhams I bought this Orange Blossom candle and it just smells divine. It's such a nice scent but I can't describe it other than really fresh with a hint of fruit. This was £7.50. 

This reminds me of something I'd find in TKMaxx for a significantly cheaper price. It's an Indian style glass jar and I've put all my Maybelline Colour Drama pencils in it on my desk. It was £5 which isn't too bad because it does look very pretty :)

Last but not least, new room equals new bedding, right? 

My room is all white with little bits of silver and black decoration so I thought pure white bedding was only fitting. I saw the duvet cover in TKMaxx after searching high and low for something within my price range (how expensive is bedding?!) and at £25 I think I got a pretty good deal as it's 100% cotton. I almost bought another one too with silver embroidery around the edge but £50 on bedding in one day was too much for me to handle. 

I did buy the grey fitted bottom sheet in Primark's sale for £3.50 which was a steal. I also bought the green and white throw from Primark for £4!! What a bargain! 

And that's everything I picked up in the sales,  didn't do to bad really I could have bought a lot more, there were some really nice cups in Debenhams which I wanted but resisted. 

So I hope you enjoyed reading this and looking at the pictures. Have you picked up any good deals in the sales? Link me to your posts in the comments! 

See you next time, 

Leanne x

Christmas 2014!

Hello everyone! 

How are we all? Did you have a nice Christmas? I finally moved into my new room just before Christmas Day and so far I love it... I'll write a room tour post soon! Today I thought I'd show you the prezzies I received this year from my family and friends and in the next post I'll share what I bought in the Boxing Day sales! Hope you enjoy....

My main present this year is this GHD hairdryer and straighteners set, it's the rose gold edition and they are so beautiful. I had an incline that I was getting a new hairdryer because my sister seems to have claimed my old one but I didn't think I would be getting the straighteners too. I've already used the hairdryer and it's really really good! 

Everybody meet Boo! I couldn't believe my Mum bought me a Furby hahhaa it makes me laugh that the box says for ages 6+ and I'm 21... 

I absolutely love her, she's so adorable, I remember having a Furby when I was an appropriate age to have one and they're so much more advanced now, you can shower them and feed them with an App on your phone. It's so cool. 

Boo is from the Crystal series and she's just so pretty, her fur is made of my favourite colours and her eyes are all iridescent. So far, she hasn't woke me up in the night which I'm thankful for although if you leave her for a few hours without any attention she gets ill and cries :( 

Next, I got a new outfit which was intended for NYE I think but since I'm not going out this year, I'll save it for my birthday (me and my friends are going out in Liverpool!). I got this lacy white top from H&M and the faux leather high waisted pants are from Topshop, I can't wait to wear them!

Lastly from my parents, is this Mandarin Cranberry Yankee Candle which smells gorgeous... it's funny because I bought my mum the Fireside Treats scent so it was like a candle exchange loll. I've also just unpacked all my boxes into my new room and now I'm over run with candles, I've had to be creative with my candle storage hahah.

I got a few bath sets from family members and friends. First is this Body Shop Set from my Aunty. She and her husband and my cousin came to visit us and see the new house from Scotland so it was really nice to see them, they only visit once a year. 

This is the Mango scented set and it comes with a shower gel, hand cream, body butter and scrubber. I've heard that The Body Shop's hand creams are really nice to I'm excited to try that.  

From my cousin, I got a Radox shower gel set. I'm always up for some shower gel... I use tonnes of it in the shower and the bag will be really useful for carting all my belongings to Liverpool, woo!

I also got a Fatface gift set from one of my friends, I've never heard of the cosmetics Fatface before (unless it's from the clothes shop Fatface?) but the body spray smells gorgeous! 

From my other Aunty, I got a thick knitted scarf which is so pretty and will definitely be keeping me warm on my walks to work in the new year. And they must have co-ordinated because my Nana bought me a white Ugg hat with, not one, but two bobbles... oh yeah.

Finally, we did a Secret Santa at work and a lovely person bought me a cute diary, journal and address book trio and some Frozen gel pens. This is such a cute gift and it bugs me that I don't know who bought it because I can't say thank you to them. But I really do love this gift!

***

I had a really lovely Christmas this year and I'm so grateful for everything that was bought for me and I'm happy with all the presents I gave to people too. I also got some new PJs but as I am currently wearing them no picture was taken hahah and my new bedroom was pretty much a very large prezzie too <3

Anyway, I don't want to make this too wordy. You can look forward to my Boxing Day sales haul which will be up tomorrow if not later today. I'll be writing a room tour post, a resolutions post and there will probably be something birthday related in the new year.

If you're going out tomorrow to see 2015 in... I hope you have a lovely night and that the taxi drivers don't charge you too much ;) And take care!

See you in the next one, 

Leanne x

2014 Resolutions Progress | December

Hello everyone!

It's that time of the year again... Resolutions progress. Incase you're recently new to my blog, in January I wrote a post telling you my seven New Years Resolutions and I said that I would update you with my progress throughout the year, quarterly. So you can see January's post, April's post and August's post if you'd like, this will be the final instalment for 2014. Let me know if you'd like to see the same thing in 2015... I've quite enjoyed seeing the progress and actually remembering my resolutions.

1. Vlog more

This is probably the one I have least achieved so I may carry it over to next year (possibly). However, I do have a rather large up and coming vlog which will be up late December / early January showing the loft conversion being done. It has been a work in progress over the last two months so it will be a mammoth to edit, I'm sure.

2. Gain 100 followers on the blog.

I think I reached this back in April and I'm so proud! As I've said before, thank you so much for following, reading and commenting on my posts, I read absolutely everything and I try to reply and follow everyone back (when GFC will allow me to that is).

3. Get a job.

That is pretty blunt isn't it? Haha. I mentioned in August that I had just got a job as a TA in a secondary school and I was so pleased yet very nervous. Since then, I've completed almost a full term and I absolutely LOVE it. In October I also got a promotion so I'm now a level 3 TA specialising in Literacy and English as an additional language. I get to plan and carry out my own lessons and I just couldn't be happier with my job at the moment. I also went on a First Aid course which I passed and I've made some lovely new friends. Wins all around.

4. Decorate my room.

I did decorate my room. Since then I have moved house, lost my beautiful room, and gained a loft bedroom. The new room is tantalisingly close to being finished and it will be so gorgeous when it's done. I shall do some kind of room tour for you all :D

Here, you can see part one and part two of my loft conversion if you'd like to :)

5. Do more things that don't involve shopping.

Erm... I don't have much time for shopping these days and yet I still haven't managed to save any money. It's madness. I don't know where it all goes. I manage to spend in a month what I used to have to live off for four months whilst at uni. It blows my mind. I've told myself that I have to save up in the new year though ;) We shall see.....

6. Be more positive.

I think I have achieved this goal without even knowing or trying. This year has been bloody shit I'm not going to lie. Lots of crap has happened in a pretty short space of time so when something little happens now that used to get me right down in the dumps, it just doesn't bother me any more. It would have to be something epicly awful to make me feel as miserable as I used to feel sometimes.

Don't get me wrong, I still have days when I'm not brill but I don't do half as much moping about feeling sorry for myself as I used to and that's an achievement isn't it?

I think I mostly have being busy to thank for the progress I've made where positivity is concerned, I literally don't have the time to mope around anymore haha.

7. Make more effort.

I've achieved this definitely more towards the end of 2014. I wanted to make more effort on myself, with my friends and just life in general. Well guys I even got my toe nails gelled last Thursday... that's effort. I had my hair re-styled early this year which you can see here. And I've just booked to go to Liverpool with my friends for my 22nd birthday :D I'm so so excited. I still need to work on this goal and continue to make lots of effort throughout 2015 :)

***

As 2014 is drawing to a close now, overall, I'm extremely pleased with how far I've come with these resolutions. I think I've improved on every single one of them, some more than others, but still there has been improvement.

 If I had to pick the one I'm most happy with, I'd have to say my job because it seemed, at the time, the least imaginable. As I said in Jan, I'd never even had a job before and I just feared the process of it. However, it has changed me so much and it's really made me grow up a lot. I thought I'd struggle to find employment but I was lucky.

 I'm also absolutely thrilled with my new room which my Dad has worked so hard on over the last few months, I can't thank him enough.

Anyway, this has been a ramble ramble and if you're still here, thank you so much for reading and let me know in the comments how you've got on this year with your resolutions?

See you next time,
Leanne x

Home Renovation - Loft Conversion Pt.2

Hello everyone!

If you didn't catch Pt.1 of the loft conversion, you can see that HERE. In that post you saw as far as the floor being put down and in this post you're going to see how far we've come over the last 4-ish weeks. 

After the floor was put down, the frames of the walls were invented. Also, the slats for the flat part of the ceiling were put in. 

You can see in the picture above where the walls of my room will be and the smaller room to the right will eventually be a bathroom. I took this picture on what will be the landing at the top of the stairs. 

The doors will be significantly shorter than normal doors because, ya know, it's a loft. It'll be cute. The walls took about a week to put up all together. Because everything's a funny shape and uneven it seemed to be taking ages at the time. 

After the frame was up, the two end walls were insulated and plaster boarded. The roomed seemed so much warmer just from the two end walls being covered. That orange stuff it awesome. 

Then the side walls were insulated and the room resembled a space craft for a few days. We used Super Quilt which was pretty pricy but apparently the best thing to use. It took three rolls to insulate the bedroom and the landing, the bathroom hasn't been insulated yet.

In addition to the Super Quilt, we had to use special silver tape to blend all the edges and remove any possible places that air could escape. 

Then the insulation had to be battened before it could be plaster boarded because you have to leave an air gap. 

As you can see, all the wires have been put in too. I'm having spot lights in the ceiling because the head hight isn't like a normal room so we didn't want to have lights hanging down. I also have two double plug sockets on the back wall and two double sockets on the left side wall. The right wall is going to be wardrobes so that didn't need any plugs. 

In the video above (if it works, that is) you can see the finished plaster board. I didn't take any pictures of it finished so I hope this will do.  The white walls made the room look so much bigger and lighter and it was nice to finally see what the actual size of the room was going to be.

The pictures above show what the top of the stairs looks like. The bathroom still hasn't been insulated or plaster boarded but work will commence on that after these two rooms have been finished. 

My dad tried his hand a plastering after looking at prices to have a plasterer in. It's so expensive to hire a professional so he gave it a go himself. 

As I'm writing this the walls haven't dried so I shall report back in Pt. 3 how it turns out. So far it looks really good and any uneven bits can just be filled in. 

I'm so happy to be tantalisingly close to moving into the room. Hopefully in my Christmas holidays (I work in a school) I shall be moving in :D

Allow me to make a list of remaining loft jobs: 

Skirting boards

Door frames

Doors

Painting 

Wallpapering (one wall)

Putting on the plug sockets and light fittings

Carpet

Buying furniture

Bannister for the stairs

Plastering the landing

Decorating the landing

Starting on the new bathroom

Keep your eyes peeled for part 3...

Thanks for watching, 

Leanne x

Thoughts of the day

• TODAY I bought the Boots No.7 light up mirror with my Boots points. So proud of my little early Christmas present to myself. Thanks a bunch Boots! The mirror was on half price so it was £19.99 which I would have payed anyway because I've wanted one for ages but even so it's nice to get something for free! 

• I was going to tell you to check out my guest post on The Busy Bee's blog for blogmass but for some reason only invited readers can access the blog so I don't know what's happening there.... 

• I bought and wrapped lots and lots of Christmas presents today, I also wrote out my cards so I feel relieved that that's over and done with! Stupidly I forgot to take pictures of the presents first so I can't write gift guides :( I'll show you after they've been opened though.

17th Birthday Presents?

Hello everyone!

Slightly misleading title, I know, but I couldn't think of anything better haha. It was my sister's birthday last Wednesday so I thought it would be nice to show you what I bought her. I tried to pick things she'd mentioned the most so I knew that she wanted them. 

First off, I booked tickets for Hunger Games Mockingjay Pt.1. She loves this series and I like to watch the films too so that will be nice! 

Also, look at the beautiful wrapping paper. It's from Clintons and it was an eye watering £1.50 per sheet but it's so damn pretty and the left over pieces I've saved for a possible future craft project. 

Whilst in Clintons I saw some Jonathan Adler stationary which was all 20% off and I couldn't resist picking some bits up. The big red fox is a giant eraser, there is a fox notepad and a set of patterned pencils. All the items were adorable and I really had to reign myself in. I'm a stationary fiend. 

Next, I bought The Sims 3 Generations expansion pack from Amazon. Sophie is obsessed with Sims and she really wanted this version because you can apparently buy a push chair for the baby Sims? I'm hoping that The Sims 4 is out on Mac before Christmas because I'm counting on buying it for her haha.

Last but not least I knew she wanted some white-on-white Vans. This is the only kind of shoe she will wear so I knew she would get use out of them. Although I don't think they'll be white for long throughout the winter... 

Now it's time to think about Christmas presents! :D

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet?

Thanks for reading, 

Leanne x

Thoughts of the day

• Anyone watching/just watched Despicable Me of ITV2? I am!

• I bought myself the Amor Amor Forbidden Kiss perfume from Debenhams in the sale. It was £30 for 100ml! I've been wearing it for work because all my other perfumes are boxed away still. It's gorgeous! What's your favourite perfume?

• I'm off shopping tomorrow so I'm hoping to get some Christmas shopping done.Still got no idea what I'm buying for people though.

• I was contacted by a lovely blogger called Bethany from The Busy Bee asking whether I'd like to write some guest posts over Blogmas on her blog. So I'm writing a Christmassy nail post and a DIY/Craft post too! Should be exciting :D

• THIS artist has drawn some of the Disney princesses in human form... how beautiful are they? 

Home Renovation - Loft Conversion Pt.1

Hello everyone!

How are you? Long time no speak aha. I know, I've been terrible lately at blogging but I do have a post for you today which may explain why...

Loft converting. Converting a loft.

I don't know about you, but I was under the impression that you tidy up a bit, put a floor down, whip some walls up and bob's your uncle. Two weeks, tops. I was so wrong. Turns out, it's much more time consuming and complicated than that. 

We've just come to the end of week 4 and I have been recording videos and taking pictures of the whole progress so I thought it would be interesting to show you where we're currently at. 

The first few pictures look like slow progress, kinda looks like nothing changes but you have to start with all the uninteresting, boring things like rearranging the current wiring, moving downstairs walls into different positions, etc. You feel like you're working your ass off all day and nothing is changing when, actually, a lot is. 

I can take about zero amount of credit for all the work you're about to see. I work all day so I don't get to spend much time helping. It's been down to my Dad who has plodded on with this project all by himself. 

Enjoy....

Panorama shot of the loft almost at the start. Before taking this picture all that orange insulation you can see rolled up at the back was laid out on the floor and there were remnants of the old owner's belongings still up there e.g. old curtains and deckchair cushions. There were also REALLY big tiles of dodgy insulation dotted about. No idea what it was made out of but they were sharp and heavy. They went on the tip. 

Overall, the loft was in pretty good condition. It was fairly clean (for a loft)... minimal spiders... just a bit messy.

Once the insulation had been removed, all the wiring for the house had to be dropped down below the beams. This took ages and has been moved several times since, too.

As you can see, some lazy plumber fitted a gas pipe right through the middle of the room so that had to be removed and reinstalled around the side. 

Next, there was a wall separating the living room from the kitchen downstairs which was knocked down and rebuilt giving the hallway several more inches in width to fit in some stairs. This took quite a while. And I stupidly forgot to take pictures so it looks like I've missed a chunk out. 

Here is my beautiful new flooring! Look at how good it looks. 

This definitely took the longest because all the beams had to be strengthened before the floor could be  put down as it was squishy when you walked. That took days and days of time consuming and awkward work. It was worth it though because the floor is really sturdy now which is ideal for all the junk I plan to put up there hahaha.

Here are the stairs! They're not as wide as normal stairs but other than that they're just as you would expect. My Dad ordered these off eBay from the seller TKStairs LINK HERE. These were around £200 and made to measure. They are excellent. Would recommend. 

Jumping forward quickly again, here is the structure of the first wall. I know it doesn't look straight but it is, once plaster board is on, you won't see that the horizontal pieces aren't straight, their purpose it just to hold screws.

Then the slats you can see at the top went in, this will make the ceiling flat rather than a ^ shape. 

This wall is the gable end and is next to be made into a wall! 

I've just been informed that we are over the half way mark now, however there is a lot still to be done. Allow me to make a list: internal walls to separate my room with the new bathroom and landing, wiring up new lights and plug sockets, insulating, plaster boarding, plastering, skirting boards, coving, decorating, carpets, fitting a new bathroom, fitting a banister. The list grows daily. I hope you will look forward to seeing part two of my loft conversion!

Wish us luck!

Thanks for reading and bearing with my lack of posts :)

See you next time, 

Leanne x

Thoughts of the day

• I went shopping today to buy some stuff for tea and I bought a cabbage instead of a lettuce :(

• 6 weeks until I break up for Christmas! 

• Started my new position at work on Monday and I'm enjoying it so far (touch wood).

• It's my sister's 17th birthday on Wednesday and I've bought her some lovely presents! I might write a post but just incase I don't, I've got her tickets to see Mockingjay Pt.1, white on white vans, Sims 3 Generations and some adorable stationary bits from Clintons. So excited for her to open them!

• Anyone started their christmas shopping? I haven't.. I need to get a move on I think.