Smash!

I've totally been neglecting my crafty stuff recently. Although, being so busy at uni, I havent really had much choice! Aside from my Christmas crafts, and a scarf I knitted, I havent really done anything crafty since the summer!

I thought maybe the K&Co Smash book would get me back into doing scrapbook kinda stuff, so I ordered the lovely pink journal, along with a few wee bits to go along with it. I got it in the middle of November when I was superbusy with uni, but its on my Christmas holiday to-do list to get started on it, so I hope to get some pages done this week and next. (obviously neglecting my essay thats due in less than 2 weeks haha!).

Do you Smash? I'd love to see some other peoples Smash pages :o)

xoxo

A Very Merry Christmas (Long Post Alert!!)

Cannot believe that we are almost into January.  I seem to start every blog post with a statement of disbelief about how fast time is passing by -you would think I should be used to it by now, ya know, got my head around the fact that time keeps ticking on.

The past few weeks (or indeed months) have been so busy, I was looking forward to finishing placement so I could have a wee rest, but obviously as soon as uni was done with, I had to start getting organised for Christmas. Between Christmas DIY's and buying pressies, wrapping, food shopping, making visits to family etc etc, there wasn't really much time for rest.

However now Christmas is past, and we are in that strange week between Christmas and new years, when you're never really sure what day it is, and you eat your meals at funny times, i'm really really enjoying being able to relax and spend time with my boy (and my new Kindle that my boy got me for Christmas!). I need to keep reminding myself that I have lots of reading to be catching up on, as well as a 4000 word essay on Inclusion, which is due the week I go back to uni, but I think i'll leave that til next week (i'll still have a full week to do it).

I have taken lots of Christmassy pics of my decorations and tree etc on the DSLR, but unfortunately when my dad returned the camera to me, he didnt return the cable to connect it to the computer, so we're stuck with my iphone pics. ( I used to like my iphone pics for blogging but looking back on older posts, the ones with the proper camera pics really stand out so much better).

The Christmas Tree was first to go up...

 And Roberts pressies for me were the first to go under it!

 I loved watching Christmas movies with only the lights from the tree, so cosy!

Christmas night out with uni pals...

My wreath! Inspiration from here!

Banner for my fireplace.. Inspiration from here..

Pressies all wrapped up and under the tree 

Only 2 sleeps to go!!!

I FINALLY got round to making something on my sewing machine - Stockings all ready for Santa!

Santa (okay, my friend Nicola) gave me a Krispy Kreme donut. You might not understand why this is blog worthy, but we don't get them here in Scotland (only in England over here) so when I can get my hands on one its a happy happy day (and I wonder why i'm a chubster!)

Christmas Eve antics in the pub with members of JLS and Justin Bieber. (not really, but you guessed that, right?)

And then it was Chriiiiiistmas!!!

This year was a bit different from previous years, for both good and bad reasons.  This was my first Christmas that I have spent with my boy (last year we were dating but not actually together on Christmas Day), and even better, our first Christmas waking up together in our wee flat. Despite having a monster hangover, I loved waking up on Christmas with him and opening our pressies by our lovely tree!

We visited Roberts family for a short while in the afternoon, then headed over to my parents to have dinner and spend the evening with them. This part felt a little strange for me, as normally there is about 8 or 9 of us, as we normally spend Christmas day with my Aunt and Uncle and their kids. Sadly this year my auntie has been very ill, and only got out of hospital on the 23rd, so she was far too weak to travel to ours, or to host us at her house. I spoke to my Auntie on the phone though, and she sounded like she'd had a nice day and my uncle had taken care of a lovely Christmas dinner for them, so I was comforted by this. Despite my Aunt being in hospital for such a long time, she still managed to buy us a lovely Christmas present - a kitchen mixer which i TOTALLY need!

I say this every Christmas, but I got really spoiled this year - all the usual treats like smelly stuff, jammies, slippers, LOADS of chocolate and sweets, DVD's. Robert bought me a Kindle, which I'm so in love with (I read a whole book on boxing day because I didnt want to put it down!), my parents gave me vouchers to go shopping, and Roberts parents got me a cosy loungewear DKNY set with hoodie and leggings (they know I love my naps and I think they thought this would be appropriate haha).

I didnt take pictures of all my pressies but here's a couple of my favourites..

The biscuits in this tin are SO divine - it says white choc chip cookies but its so much like White choc chip shortbread, absolutely delicious. 

We haven't any plans for New Years as yet... hopefully we can make some fun plans! 

Did you all have a wonderful Christmas? I hope so! Any exciting ideas for New Years Eve?? 

Hope you all have fun! 

xoxo

Uhhh hello?

Anyone still here?? It's been a bit of a ghost town around here lately, life has really taken over and all of a sudden I realise it's been 4 months since I blogged!

I started my post grad in Primary teaching at the end of August and since then life has just been hectic! I knew it was gonna be a busy year, but srsly, the workload is mental. This is my most regular view...



And sometimes even a little bit of this .....



I've had the time broken up between being at uni and being on placement in school, and each come with massive demands. When we're in uni the recommended reading is never ending, and when on placement, every bit of teaching has to be planned, recorded, evaluated and analysed so the paperwork is never ending. I swear I've gone through at least 5 trees the amount of printer paper I've had to use!

Because I've been so busy, life hasn't been particularly exciting although we have had a few things going on, such as Halloween












Robert and I also celebrated our first year together. It seems unreal how much life has changed in a year. Little over a year ago I was single, living with my parents, working in a job I hated and dreaming of training to be a teacher. Then I met Robert and its turned my world upside down, in a good way! Since i met him i applied to and got into uni, so i was able to leave my stupid job. We have our own lovely little home, and although things aren't always easy (what with living off 1 income and the constant stress uni puts on me) it's been the happiest year of my life, and I honestly can't imagine life without my amazing boy. He does so so much for me, supports me in everything I do and I honestly think he's the best thing that ever happened to me. Isn't he cute?? (I took this pic when we were at the open air cinema in August and I think he looks so adorable with my scarf wrapped round his face!)




I have only 9 days left in school, and although I'm enjoying it, and I really will miss my lovely wee class, I'm really really looking forward to the Christmas holidays. We finish up school on 9th December, then have 1 tutorial in uni for handing in our placement files, and then we are off for 4 weeks!!! Although, I do have a massive list of reading to catch up on from before placement, as well as a 4000 word assignment to do for the week we go back, it will be nice to have some free time and relax for a bit. (and not have to be up and out of the house before the sun has even come up!!)

So I've been rambling a bit... I hate posts like this, so much time has passed that there's to much to say but it's hard to include it all without rambling on. So il leave it at that...hopefully I won't leave it so long next time!!

Buh bye... Have a great weekend friends :)

Xox

Goals For August!

Cannot believe it's august already. Totally crazy fast year! Although it does seem like ages ago that I started my countdown to leaving my job and starting uni, but at the same time it's gone so fast. Does that make sense? Probably not, but never mind.

So some big changes happening in August... As I said, I'm leaving my job in just 8 days time, to go back to uni. As much as I cannot wait to leave that place knowing I'll never have to go back again, it's gonna be so weird, and a little bit sad, seeing as its been my life for the past 3 years!

Then I have 2 weeks off, then back to uni to train to be a teacher! I'm only there for 1 year so it's a pretty intense course, so I'm feeling a little bit of nervousness along with my excitement!!

Anyway... I'm blethering. Here are my goals for august :)









Finish The Time Travellers Wife.

Read 1984 plus at least one other book.

Finish and pass on 2 circle journals.

Make/alter at least 2 things for the flat.

Find chunky scarf pattern.

Go back on diet (plan to start on 29th, for various reasons)

Get car light fixed.

Update my 30 before 30 list- set some mini targets.

Blog at least twice a week.

Finish unpacking all my clothes that are still in bags.

And lastly,

Have a super fun "staycation" with Robert :)


Have you set yourself any fun goals for August? Link me up, I like to see what everyone else is up to!

Summer movie fun...

I am SO excited.... This morning I booked tickets for an outdoor movie showing!!

Now, living in Scotland, things like this don't happen very often, and the only outdoor movie thing I've heard of local to me was a Halloween drive in type thing. I missed it last year and I was hoping they organised the same event this year, when I got an email from my bank (RBS) about these summer movie shows in Pollock Park (which happens to be 5 mins from my new flat).

Its just a 2 night event, so as soon as I got the email I snapped up tickets! The movie they'll be showing is Super8, which I was hoping to see anyway! Win win!




It's not until 26th august, but I'm SO excited already!!

Our happy little home!

Robert is away out this evening to play football, and although I'm supposed to be making a meal plan and writing a to do list, I decided I'd skive off for a little while and take some pics of the flat to share.

I'm so in love with this place already, even before I've added any of my own little touches or done any crafty diy's to make it pretty. It has beautiful high ceilings and cornicing, as well as a lovely bay window and original wooden floorboards. I fell in love with it the minute we walked in for the viewing 2 weeks ago!

Here is our lovely living room...







A closer view of the amazing fireplace (I'm already making plans for how I'm going to decorate the fireplace at Christmas time haha)....







Here is a view from the hall into the living room and bedroom







And here is the bedroom...(ignore the boxes and stuff, not completely finished unpacking those..)












The kitchen... (half of it anyway, the other half is a little messy hehe!)







Isn't it gorgeous!? I love the fact that the hall and bedroom are both yellow, I've been really obsessed with anything yellow lately!

The high ceilings and tall windows in every room make it feel so bright and big, so it feels really spacious considering it's only a 1 bedroom flat. The natural light we get is awesome, and the glow we get in the living-room around sunset is so cozy.

Here's a pic I took on Friday night of the glow from the sunset warming up the room..







The area nearby is really lovely, and we luckily have a pub that serves strongbow approx 10 seconds walk from the front door!

Heres a pic i took today of our view from the front windows. It does help that the weather was stunning today!!







You can probably understand why I'm so happy right now! Hehe!

I hope you all had a great weekend, I'm off now to cuddle up on the couch and enjoy the sunset while i wait for my boy to come home. Oh, and I'm going to tuck into this.... Yum!!







Byyye!!! xoxo

Happy birthday to meee!

Hello! Yesterday was my birthday... I'm now in my last year of my twenties... Scary thought!!




It was a busy day because not only was it my birthday but also moving day!

In between moving and unpacking though, we managed to enjoy a few ciders in the sun, and then by about 7pm we finished up for the day (and managed to have the place looking surprisingly tidy considering how many bags and boxes we moved in with!).

Robert nipped out and got us some Chinese for dinner, and we snuggled up on the couch for the evening with champagne and wine. The view from our flat is really pretty and with it being such a lovely day, the sunset was simply beautiful! Wish I had a decent picture, might try take one later.







Robert felt bad because we didn't go out anywhere to celebrate my birthday, but to be honest, moving into my new home with my love, and having a lovely cozy night at home was the best birthday celebration I could imagine.

I think we are going to be very happy here :)

June - In pictures

Well hello there! Well didnt June (and most of July) just fly by?? I've had loads on, between festivals, birthdays and house hunting. As well as work and all the usual goings on. Busy Busy! 

Just gonna do a quick recap of June in pictures... coz I have some newer and exciting stuff I want to share! 

Start of June was Roberts birthday. We got dressed up and went into town to the comedy club, was a really fun night. I havent any pictures of Robert though, as he hates having his picture taken. I wore my yummy coral dress that Robert bought me a few months ago to cheer me up :o) 

 His pressies.... 

Star Wars print from this Etsy shop, in a frame from Ikea

A couple of little handmade bits...

a mini foosball table... (in the process of being built)

and this awesome tache card from Marks and Spencer :D 

Later that weekend we went to the West End Festival where we enjoyed a few beverages, and saw one of Roberts friends bands, Selective Service. 

The following weekend I packed up all this stuff....

and went here.....

 for this.... 

 Next up was my beloved Glastonbury.... 

It was pretty muddy... (pic from 2009, but it was even worse than this!) 

This is me and "Ryan Giggs" on route....

No road trip is complete without pork pies....

I was feeling a bit blue after I came home, because the next Glastonbury Festival doesnt take place until 2013, and because I'll be a qualified teacher by then, I wont be able to go :( 

I've become quite obsessed with colourful nails recently... I cant stop buying nail polishes!! 

 And here's a little pic just for the LOL's. Least appealing lingerie advert ever? 

Back into July now... lots of excitement going on - Robert and I finally found a flat we love, and we started moving some stuff in this afternoon, and move in officially tomorrow! I cant believe tonight will be the last night we'll have to spend apart! And it just so happens that tomorrow is my birthday!!! Best birthday present I could have asked for <3 

Pics of our flat coming soon...

Hope you're all having a lovely summer! 

Jilly xoxo