Dear Diary...

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Things have been pretty text-heavy around here lately, I don't really care though.

It's January and I've felt much more like writing things than taking photographs, plus, literally my whole weekend was stolen by house-hunting, with no fruits of that labour to show.

I even made a 100 mile round-trip to look at a house we were considering (maybe) being interested in 'off-plan' but, and this is despite the fact it was 3 bedrooms (and a house), it was super-pokey and might even have been smaller than our current little (rented, horrible + cold) flat.

I'm not saying we're in a slump after less than two weeks of trying, but to not find anything that's even worth a think is kind of disheartening.

Oh well, there are a few slightly more fun things to look forward to in the coming weeks and I might get at least some of my weekend back this week. I mean I actually thought this house-hunting thing would be fun but after the third or fourth call to a different estate agent about some other house I'm not sure about it, I kind of lose steam before I've even really got fired up. *phew

#LushChristmas in Reading.

I was so excited to receive an invite to Lush Reading's 'Lush Christmas' event last Wednesday.




Showcasing a preview of a mixture of both Halloween and Christmas products, it was a kind of surreal evening sat around a table in Lush Reading's party room (which displays some perfect visual merchandising) smelling all the delights that Lush has to offer this season.

Smiling on Sunday :: Six

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It's been a little while since I've done one of these posts but I've just been so short of time recently. Now things are looking a little more settled in my new job and we've found a better way to walk and drive in in the mornings, it feels like everything is slotting a little more neatly in to place - even if only temporarily.

I must admit, a half-hour drive followed by a mile-and-a-half walk isn't my dream commute but it does the job at freshening me up in the mornings and it's a pretty easy thing to add to my 'fitness regime' (lol).

So, after the mega-high brought by last weekend and aside from a bit of secondhand family-related stress, everything is alright.

IRL:

• Celebrating our friend's engagement - It was so sneaky for Stacy and Pip to keep something like that a secret from us but I guess, knowing that we were going to see them and being able to tell us in person made it all the more special. I know... I'll stop blabbering on about it now but being the first of anything is quite a big deal, especially in such a close group of friends and I'm just so excited about it!
• Finding a new, shorter, less boring walk to work - Sometimes it's the little things but the new walk I've been taking to and from the car this week has been so much better. The old route was one road through a council estate, this one, yeah, it's not amazing but there's a cute woodland surrounded by fields filled with horses and cows. Not a bad way to start the day at all
• Trying to be a better friend - While everything in my life right now isn't completely perfect, catching up with a couple of my oldest girlfriends and hearing that they haven't been having the best time made me feel like it was time to just be a bit more available than I have been. It's lame to say but it's hard to keep track of so many people when they're all over the place doing different things with different time tables. It's easy to get caught up in something else or just your 'own stuff' and even if just occasionally, it's pretty good to be there for someone

Must-Try Recipes:

• Toasted Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies - After discovering the delights of Ben's Cookies and finding out that actually, with the right recipe, I can make some pretty killer cookies myself, I'm into trying out a few more recipes, especially ones with contrasting flavours. Also, I recently discovered that toasted almonds might be one of the best things ever, put them in a chicken salad a few weeks ago. Try it, it will change your life
• Bacon & Egg Shengjian Bao Pan-Fried Steamed Buns - There's a stall at the Giant Market in Oxford on Wednesdays and Thursdays that does baos for £1.80. Baos are one of my favourites at dim sum but even my mum buys them frozen rather than making them. Still, it would be neat to give them a go and they don't seem too difficult
• Peach Dumplings - 2 out of 3 sweet recipes? I swear I'm not a sweet tooth, but these peach dumplings just sound like something really special. They get bonus points for being pretty quick and simple too, this will be high up on my list of things to try out in the next few weeks

Lovely Links:

• John Malkovich Recreating Iconic Photographs - I was a little annoyed when I saw this reported in the Metro that they only focused on his celebrity portrait recreations. As a Photography graduate it was much more fun to see his portraits of 'classic art school photos', the Diane Arbus one really tickled my funny bone
• Messy 3D Typography by Allison Supron - Letters made out of cheese, you say? There's something I can devote some attention to
• Lauren's Thoughts on Packing in the 9-5 - Still feeling like I'm in a bit of a transitional period myself, Lauren's post about what it's like to run away to The Dolomites and leave a 'stable career' was pretty poignant. If it's one thing I wish it's that I could be little braver. It's the danger of comparison that can be so detrimental to so many aspects of your life too so I find her sense of adventure incredibly admirable

Hope you have a fantastic Sunday, I'll be heading back to Surrey to spend the afternoon with my mum, lunch is involved ♥

Why Don't You Do Photography?

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With a new job comes the obvious questions – where will you be working? who's it for? what's it doing?

I find it a little difficult having done a creative degree that I still have to justify myself despite a few years working real, grown up jobs now.

My last job was in online retail and I used pretty much every skill I had going, including those learnt on my degree - there was a bit of studio and lifestyle photography involved - and that's great, jobs like that are hard to come by. With that being said, it doesn't mean there won't be a time to move on.
It was time to move on, the future of the company wasn't heading in a direction I wanted to join them in so I grabbed what I could at the time.

My new role as a 'Digital Marketing Executive' will hopefully help me add to the Marketing skill set that I want to build upon, while still allowing me to pursue the design aspects I was furthering in my old role. There probably won't be any Photography involved whatsoever, and I'm okay with that.

I guess when I left University I had idealistic views of freelancing or picture researching, then I also wanted to move out... I didn't really have the confidence to do those things back then and I'm probably much better now but at the moment, Photography is my way to de-stress and unwind.

Obviously I'll never say never and Photography is always going to be important to me, but my degree taught me so much more than how to take pretty pictures. Maybe, now realising at 25 that I'm more interested in Creative Marketing and Social Media makes me wonder whether it was the right degree to do but I will always maintain that 18 year olds don't know anything and certainly don't think about seven years down the line. It was right for me at the time and a degree is not a be all and end all of anything.

I think my 'career' has just ended up where it is by chance and while I hope I'll always be able to stay creative, I still feel kind of weird about justifying myself while making this new transition. Truthfully, if someone said I could take photographs of my cat all day, I'd jump at the chance but I can't see that being a readily available opportunity. Right now I'm genuinely just all good with 'doing me' and going wherever the next couple of years takes me. I want a mortgage and that grown up stuff, you know?

Smiling on Sunday :: Five.

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This week has been one that's been full of second-hand stress but also excitement at the prospect of new beginnings and an(other) upcoming mini-break.

I'm not sure I know how to feel about finishing up my first proper grown-up job knowing that it's something that I wanted for such a long time. I'm really grateful for the opportunities they gave me and for the people I've met who have become friends. While I do feel sad about the state that it's in and leaving, I know it's the right time for me and it marks the beginning of something different.

I think it has been kind of difficult to find things to smile about this week because I've spent so much time feeling generally stressed and annoyed but there's something to be said about finding the good in bad situations.

IRL:

• Making plans for Northern Ireland - It's been pretty fun to pick and choose where we're going for our upcoming trip, naturally Pinterest has been a great help. I'm especially excited about a proper day in Belfast, as well as getting to spend some more time with some of Moon's extended family and maybe even go on my first ever fishing trip!
• Moving on to pastures new - As I said above, overall I'm not sure how to feel about it but I feel very excited about the progress that it all symbolises, maybe this time next year I'll be a real grown up
• Visits from friends - Even though we didn't manage to get even close to getting the whole 'gang' together last weekend, I do feel pretty blessed to have the friends that I do. As a self-confessed actual moody cat, I sometimes feel amazed that I've been able to maintain these friendships. It probably has a lot to do with what a great guy Moon is but I'm quite thankful for that too so...

Must-Try Recipes:

• Mexican Street Corn Croquettes - This is one I'm going to force myself to make before the day is done. I've been a bit obsessed with corn since my birthday dinner at La Bodega Negra and have wanted to try corn fritters for ages. This is the most hassle-free recipe I've found, does look like I'll be sourcing some panko breadcrumbs today though
• Blackberry Pie Bars - September is blackberry season and while I've not managed to find any brambles yet, you can bet I'm on the look out. Picking fruit is all well and good but foraging is all the more fun if you have a neat recipe to back it up
• Melty Ham, Brie and Peach Toastie - There aren't many words I can find for this one and I know it's not really a recipe but if you can ever go wrong with anything related to melted cheese I'd like to hear about it

Lovely Links:

• Clare's post about losing weight was a pretty brave one and I really feel for her both generally and because I had a similar kind of healthy-living epiphany at the beginning of the year
• Bee from Vivatramp's How to Get Out of a Reading Slump tips were really good. Having got back into the reading swing of things over the summer, it's nice to see that there are other people out there who slack in the book department sometimes too. After reading academically (yes, we do that on Photography degrees too) for such a long time up until I went away to Portugal it had been such a long while since I'd read book after book like I used to. Admittedly I put off reading my last book for quite some time but I'm hoping to be on to the next one once we're on the plane to Ireland
• How wonderful is Film4's re-brand? I must admit that I do skip over Film4 as a channel a bit because... well, films with adverts doesn't appeal but as a full-time film appreciator, their upcoming 16 shorts are really intriguing. Not only do they look stunning, they'll be full of cinematic references and the photo-nerd in me almost can't handle the fact they'll mostly be edited in-camera - can't wait!
• Emily Blincoe was featured on Mashable this week. I have followed her Instagram for a while now, I think I found her through one of The Dainty Squid's Friday Favourites posts, but I thought it was about time I shared her with you. Her work is just so satisfying to look at, I hear she's working with brands like Target now too which is so awesome
  

:: Have you entered my giveaway to win tickets to the Royal Berkshire County Show on the 20th September? ::

Blind Bloggers :: Drinking in the Dark

This heatwave is really something, I'm actually feeling a little guilty for complaining about being so warm when I'd been grumbling so much about how miserable it was before. It got to the point last Saturday where I had to spend most of the day having a lie down, not the way to make the most of any time off.

You can imagine given this severe over-sensitivity to all things weather-related that an invitation to take part in Lola Lo Reading's cocktail-tasting event last Friday was a welcome one... and you'd be right.



[c/o Phil Maclean Photography]

I was a little nervous about going to my first ever 'blogging event', particularly when going solo - this was my own choice given that I know me and I'd just stick to who ever I brought (Moon) rather than mixing, but it wasn't that kind of event and as it was quite a small group, I didn't find it too hard to make a bit of small-talk in between tasting.

Not being any sort of clubber any more, other than last year's work Christmas party, I've not really sampled Reading's night life the whole time we've lived in the area, it is very different going to a nightclub before its usual opening hours though. We were instructed that we would be sampling a variety of cocktails from the menu and be quizzed on our bartending knowledge - did I mention that we'd be blindfolded too?



I suppose the idea was that being blindfolded meant our other senses might be heightened and we'd experience a new sensation of taste while sampling. I'm a little sad to say you've not backed a winning horse and I very much came last in the quiz. My palette skills goes as far as 'if it's tasty, I'll have some more, please'.

I was actually pretty happy with some of the answers I did guess correctly though, and while they can probably forget their Digga Digga Doo cocktail, a concoction of rum and chilli (actual chilli, seeds and all!), there were quite a few cocktails that I tasted that I did enjoy. They also used a few ingredients that I was happy to see, including my all-time favourite, Passoa, and Chambord, a blackcurrant liqueur I discovered after our friend, Long, bought it for us as a house-warming gift (because it looks like a holy hand grenade).




My favourites were probably the Pornstar Martini and the Flamingo, because, at least by my book, you can't really go wrong with anything sugary and fruity.



The Flamingo actually marks a new season for Lola Lo, as well as being a brand new cocktail in a specially commissioned flamingo mug, 10p of each sale will be going to The Flamingo Foundation, a charity that provide valuable educations, health and community projects in both the UK and worldwide.



These lampshades were dreamy ♥



Taking a couple of hours to sample some cocktails on a Friday evening was a nice way to round up the working week and even though I didn't win any prizes or get to take any of those neat cocktail vases mugs home, Lola Lo is definitely a place I'd consider for another evening of cocktails, this time full-size ones.

Smiling on Sunday.

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It's been what feels like an absolute age since I've shared anything other than my weekends on here, I did have grand plans to do a bit more with this little space of mine but sitting at a computer all day makes me want to get as far away as possible from a screen once I get home and have time to do what I enjoy. It's a shame but I guess it's just how it goes and I've been seeing it more and more as the blogs I follow grow up with me.

Still, I like having this as a creative outlet and the Internet is a fun place to hang out on occasion so even if this doesn't become a regular thing, I thought it would be good to share a bit of love and some fun things I've found recently.


Books getting turned into films before they've even been published is something that doesn't really sit well with me. Don't get me wrong, I love films but usually enjoy the book counterpart better when it comes down to it. A trailer for a book is the neatest idea though and something people should consider more often. The Meaning of Maggie by Megan Jean Sovern is definitely on my to-read list, what can I say, I'm a sucker for good design and that cover and trailer just got me.


I love this sea bass bag from Don Fisher, it even has a boney fishy lining.


Cereal Magazine has been on my list of 'must subscribe' magazines for a little over a year now. I still haven't got around to it, but love reading their blog so much. With my current severe case of wanderlust and plans to actually, finally book a trip to Iceland for November, their photographs are really making me feel inspired.


Fritha from Tigerlily Quinn got engaged last week and her engagement story is lovely. It's a two-parter and I was on tenterhooks after reading the first half. I'm not quite at that stage where I feel ready to go through anything similar but I can't help but feel a little mushy.


I'm determined that once we move from our little flat here in Newbury that most of the furnishings will be nice, neutral wood. I think this make up station from iSkelter is a good place to start.


It's certainly wedding season, and like I said, I can't help feel mushy but this wedding shot by Rachel Thurston looks kind of perfect, right down to the homemade mini golf.


Must admit that I'm a little over the whole 'abandon porn' thing, but Kaylah from The Dainty Squid has always done it so well and this abandoned amusement park does look like a great place to do a bit of exploring.
Other links:

• 43 Things That Will Actually Make You Feel Old - Buzzfeed - home incessant lists - always one for making you remember you were once a 90's kid
• This Article of Cast Members Reminiscing About 'The Life Aquatic' - Most things Bill Murray have my full attention
• These Wise Words sooth my anxiety
• Theron's (of Maddie on Things fame) website makes my whole heart sing. His Instagram is pretty dreamy too, full of sweet portraits of Maddie and the fun they have on their adventures

I hope that you enjoy the rest of your Sunday and that Monday isn't too hard on you. ♥

Spontaneously Unspontaneous.

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When I was contacted by lastminute.com to take part in their 'Spontaneity Champion' Campaign, I must admit that while I was quite excited, I was also left feeling pretty stumped.

Firstly, I never really get fun emails like that so that was nice, and secondly I'm really not all that spontaneous - I like nights in watching bad films with massive mugs of tea and most aspects of routine are pretty satisfying to me. Spontaneity to me is all about running off and not really caring much, but I think I always care - then again, the way I've settled down to my cosy boring life is probably one of the more spontaneous things I've done...

Once Moon got his first 'proper' job after we finished Uni, he had to move out - it was in Andover and as close as that is for nipping back to Dorking for a weekend, to commute over an hour every day is a bit much. So he basically plucked Newbury out of thin air as somewhere that wasn't too small, was cheap for rent (not the case anymore) and was close to bigger towns for jobs for me and places to go.
Aside from a few internships, I still hadn't had a job out of university yet but he asked me to come with him and with the savings I had left and my mum's blessing, that's exactly what I did. I guess part of it was because I couldn't really be doing with the long-distance thing again and the other part of it was a real need for independence again. It was a little scary, once we moved in I spent a lot of time on my own watching 'Real Housewives of Orange County' but I soon landed a job at the local cinema a few weeks later and have been able to look after myself ever since. It's not quite running off to Paris to be a painter but all of that happened in the space of just a month which seems crazy to me now!

Post-uni days you're probably not going to find me out on the tiles and I don't really have the money (the balls) to just up and leave my stable job for travelling around the world - even though I still hope to dip into that at some point - I'm currently thinking about mortgages so I don't know what that says...

But I guess spontaneity comes in lots of different forms and taking the plunge to move out of my mum's house and make my own home is one of biggest decisions I've made and 18 months later, I'm definitely glad I did.

Alone Time.

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I've spent all day by myself, and that's not really a bad thing, you know?

As I waved Moon off this morning for a trip down to Devon to visit his Gran, I actually felt a little excited at the prospect of having the little flat to myself for the whole day and night, this has never happened before.

I actually usually hate it when we're apart - especially if I'm alone. I get nervous about doing basic things that otherwise wouldn't be a problem and spending the night in the flat as I have done a couple of times before has not been great. I love having the bed to myself, I'm a starfish sleeper, but not having Moon there does make the bed feel a little empty - tonight, I'm embracing it, I even changed the sheets to mark the occasion, it's going to be the best sleep!

The thing is, we're actually kind of always together. I don't care about that at all, I love Moon, he's my best friend, he's kind and funny and everyone should have somebody like him in their life, but some time apart can only refresh that feeling.

With a list of chores to do and a few things I wanted to sort out it's actually not so bad not having someone to distract you. I relish in getting on with things and ticking things off my to-do list, and I almost forget that I don't mind being alone really.

More important than enjoying my own company, Moon being away means I can choose when to have the TV on (it's an almost constant battle), what to watch and most important of all, when to eat – it's 8:35pm and I'm only just starting to think about what to have for dinner. I don't care about compromise, because obviously it's not always a compromise, we enjoy each others company and have a lot of things in common, I doubt we would have been together for seven years if we hadn't, but it's pretty brilliant to just do things my way all day. I hope I remember this next time so I don't get so anxious about it just being me and the cat for a bit.

30 Ways to Save Some £££s

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I've been meaning to upload this for a little while... I know I say this a lot but this last year and a half has been crazy, I've gone from being ridiculously unemployed to the point where I wasn't even entitled to JSA anymore because I'd been on it to long. I was living at home, being bored in a spiral of job hunting and now I'm in my own little flat, with a proper grown up job. I think, although I'm pretty bad at it, saving money will always be at the back of my mind, there's always nice things I want to do and I don't really want to worry about them. It's because of this mentality that I was pretty excited to see Money Super Market's '30 Ways to Save £1' Challenge, in honour of the £1 coin's 30th Anniversary, of course - very weird that it's only 7 years older than me!

I love a good list, so here's my list of 30 ways to save yourself some pennies.

Home Things:

1. Upcycle Your Furniture: Sometimes you don't need to buy completely new things and just a lick of paint will do - Furniture can be expensive, paint, less so and it goes a long way. We painted a few things that we were gifted when we moved to our new flat and it really gave them a new lease of life.
   [Rainbow Clothes Chest.] [Duck Egg Bathroom Box.]
2. Sample Pots of Paint: Following on from 'upcycling', I guess paint can be pretty pricey too - Wilkinson do really good-sixed sample pots for just £1, which is perfect for smaller items like mirrors and shelves.
3. Cold Water for Plants: I'm nicking this one from my Gran a little bit, but why not collect your water in containers while waiting for it to heat up when washing up, then use that water for your plants. It's just going down the drain otherwise, and this way thirsty plants get a drink and you're not wasting water.
4. Grow Your Own: We've not had a whole lot of success growing our own so far, but we did get a metric ton of broad beans last year so I guess that means they're pretty easy to grow. I'd say the cost of getting things started is definitely worth it once you're saving money on fruit and veg, which by the way is hella expensive - no wonder there are issues with obesity when it's cheaper to buy a 6-pack of crisps than it is to buy a bag of salad.
5. Save up Cards and Paper: If you can get some nice ones, cards are perfect for recycling into gift tags and using again. Same goes for wrapping paper, you can even use it again for a second go at wrapping a gift.
6. Sew Yourself Some Homewares: Cushions can be upwards of £30 in some places, if you spent the same money on the materials you'd probably be able to make at least 4 cushions. You don't even need a fancy machine, cushions are easiest to make and just require some pins and a sewing needle. Of course they're much quicker to make with a sewing machine but it's a pretty relaxing way to spend an afternoon and it gives you a little more freedom with the design.
7. Cook in bulk: Cook things like stews in larger bulk and freeze them, great for days you can't be bothered to cook and want something quick, making it much easier to resist the call of takeaways.
8. Internet for Two: When taking out your internet in a long term shared home, be sure to only take it out in one name, that way you can cancel it each year and take it out in another name - new customers often get the best deals and prices go up after a certain period of time so it's a no-brainer.
9. Wrap Up: Having the heating on costs money, we got a major shock when our winter bill came through a couple of weeks ago - just cosy up in a blanket and big jumpers, it's just as easy to get warm.

Out & About:

1. Bring a Drink: If you know you're going to be out all day, why not fill up a spare plastic bottle with water (or whatever else you fancy) so you don't need to buy a drink, that way you get to save money that you didn't need to spend and you can stay hydrated.
2. Go for a Walk:
Enjoy the great outdoors, it's free, you don't need anything and it's an easy way to have a relaxing day out, you might even get to see some neat wildlife.

Second Guess:

I've started to make a habit of reconsidering things when out on a spree and asking myself whether I really need something - more often than not, I don't, so I end up not buying it, easy way to save money really, just not spending it...

Vouchercloud: Offering discounts for shops and restaurants, sometimes offering money off or 2 for 1 and all for free - you can either print off vouchers from the website or download an app onto you phone.

Online:

1. Cashback Websites: In my opinion QuidCo is one of the best things to happen to online shopping in a long time. All you need to do is sign up and then they give you money back on your online purchases from companies like New Look, ASOS and even Domino's, sure it's only a few pennies at a time, but it soon adds up and without it, you wouldn't get anything back so it's pretty solid.
2. Use Your Nectar Card on eBay: As I use Quidco for Cashback, I don't really use my Nectar card in the same way (although you can, so there's a bonus one if you don't want Quidco), but it's really easy to earn points when buying things from eBay, just attach your card and each time you win an auction or buy something, you'll get a point for every pound and the points eventually equate to money you can spend!
3. Price Comparison Sites are OK: ...but always go to the companies directly once you've had your quote. My car insurance was in the thousands when I was looking on comparison sites so I looked at the 'cheapest' site and entered my details there, and it already brought it down by £300, I'd recommend ringing them in the case of car insurance too as doing that saved me a further £100.
4. Unsubscribe:
Pesky emails from companies like Dorothy Perkins and ASOS are great for offers, not great for your purse. If you unsubscribe from these emails it's less likely that you'll know about the offers and be less likely get sucked in by 'great deals'.

Shopping:

1. Poundshops for Cleaning Products: I'm a little against Poundshops because sometimes they're not always offering the best deals and you just think it's good because it's 'only £1', but cleaning products can be upwards of that elsewhere unless they're on offer so it really can be a bargain, particularly if you're after brand names.
2. Make a List: ... and stick to it! Definitely worth the effort when food shopping, that way you'll only be buying what you need rather than picking up all the impulse-buys supermarkets are designed to make you buy.
3. Share your BOGOFs: Not really a big fan of Buy-One-Get-One-Free offers, sometimes it's fine, like when it comes to cosmetics offers but with food it can be a bit annoying and you end up with way more than you need. Why not split the cost with a friend, that way you get the item for half the price and you have the amount you need rather than too much.
4. Avoid 3 for 2 Offers: Again, this is more about food and sometimes it's fine if it's assorted items but just be careful. You could have lots of things end up being wasted when you could have been satisfied with just the one - you're spending more money buying three anyway, even if you're saving at the same time.
5. Buy Loose Fruit & Veg: (If you're not growing your own, obviously) - Don't be taken in by £1 bags of fruit and vegetables, I've found it's often much cheaper to weigh it myself. It also comes back (again) to not wasting it, by being able to choose what you want, you can judge how much you'll actually need, a much better alternative to a bag of mouldy, rotten carrots.
6. Buy a Whole Chicken: Individual cuts of meat are expensive, especially when you can get the whole thing for less than or the same price. If you're willing to DIY (bit grim, I always get Moon to do it), you'll more than likely have more than you need if you use it for meals like curries or stir-fries.
7. Pay in Cash: I feel like that way it feels like real money, cards are great for convenience but with cash you know exactly how much you're spending - we started a food kitty this month so we know exactly what we're spending and once it's gone, it's gone.

Taking Advantage:

1. Get a Railcard: It can cost £27.50 for me to travel back to New Malden on the train, with my trusty railcard it's only £13.50, saving me £14. At £28 a year, it seems like a lot, but if I make that journey twice it's like it's paid for itself. And that's just the 16-25 Railcard, there are railcards for everyone, so it's worth investigating.
2. Use Points Cards: Earning points on your Boots Advantage card or Nectar card is free so the little effort it is to scan it could help out with the weekly food shop or make up. It does take a while, I think the most I've had on my nectar card was £20 but it meant that that week we didn't have to actually part with any cash.
3. Have a Clear-Out: Selling things on eBay is a great way to make a little bit of extra cash as well as have a de-clutter, if it's something you haven't used in the last year, you may as well get rid of it. Carboots are great for this, selling a few items for 50p soon adds up. eBay even offer free listings weekends and days, where it won't cost you anything to add items. I usually take photos in bulk and upload everything on these days.
4. Get your Favourite Beauty Products on Offer: ...but only if the offer's good and you think you'll use the products. There is an expiration date on make up so it's best not to leave it sitting around, but if it's an essential that you use all the time, then the offer will definitely be worth it.
5. Squirrel Away: Set up a direct debit between your current account and a savings account, be sure that it transfers out on pay day, so you'll never see it but you'll know that you're building up a little nest egg.
6. Orange Wednesdays: Bit of an obvious one, but why not, cinema tickets are crazy prices so go with a friend and split the cost of one ticket.

Tail-end.

It would appear that I can't keep away from Bristol, twice in one month - apparently this is what the convenience of having a car has done to me. Coinciding with a visit from my sister and a need to pop to Ikea, we chose to pop to Bristol for the day. Here are some photos from then, and a Sunday afternoon spent carbooting. They're a bit of a mish-mash but I wanted to share them all the same.






Pretty excited to pop back to Bristol for the Gromit Showcase in July.

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Oh hey, Friday, what took you so long? I'm off to Ireland tomorrow for the Bank Holiday Weekend, which is a little odd because it feels like another country because you have to go on a plane but not for very long. We're visting Moon's dad and Moon's showing me the sights. I've got a lot of ties to Ireland so I've been before but never to this area, I'm excited to be by the sea, but I know it's going to be chilly, I sure hope we see some sunshine.

I'm going to use the extra time off to do a bit of designing but I'm looking forward to a bit of touristy stuff even if we're only there briefly.