Motel Rocks Nail Art Competition.

Hello, I've made it through to the finalist's stage of the Motel Rocks Nail Art Competition! It's so exciting and would be so awesome if you could head over to the Facebook page and like my entry because it would be great to win.

I promise I'll post something interesting soon, but I've been so busy job hunting, driving and house hunting that I've not really had anything interesting to show you or to talk about. I was down in Newbury this afternoon looking at places, we saw some game changers as we were pretty dead-set on the one we're viewing tomorrow, we've got to act quickly so it's all quite intense.

I picked up some great fabric in Fabric Land today as I plan on making my own version of Elsie from A Beautiful Mess' plush fox as well as some other things. I also bought some paint to revamp an old chest, I'm in a really DIYing/crafty mood, that might give me something fun to show you.

I hope you had as good a start to your week as I have.x

All your tubing needs.

This is an afternoon well spent, not the finished product as that's a surprise between me and the company I did it for. Basically, Purple Door at the University of Portsmouth have found me a position as a Creative Lead within a Marketing company, pre-interview prep was essentially showing them what I could to on Indesign using a short brief they provided.

The brief was to create a postcard to go at a till in a builders merchant advertising a particular brand of copper tube for plumbing and heating contractors with the main incentive that if they 'like' the brand on Facebook, they can then enter a photo competition and be in the running for winning an iPad.

Here's hoping this is enough to impress them, I'm quite happy with it, obviously I had to do a bit of Google-image trawling but hopefully they'll see past that. Coincidently, earlier today I walked passed a builder's merchants, and they did in fact have post cards at the till, I've tried to make mine as different as possible. From what I saw available, they were mainly straight-forward text so I think that part was pretty successful. Thanks to some help from Moon I've got something a bit less 'obvious' than my initial idea.

Fingers crossed it was worth it. I'm so hungry now.

Pretty Polish.

My nails are super-short at the moment, so I haven't got around to trying any of these out yet, but they only arrived yesterday. Were you as excited as I was to see Models Own had launched three new colours to add to their Beetlejuice collection. I only have one of the 'old' ones, but they are much more suited to autumn/winter and these new colours are much more spring/summer. There is currently a mixed box set of six including polishes from each collection available for just £20 on the website.

It was mainly Indian Ocean that caught my eye this time around, the bottle makes it seem slightly mother-of-pearly, I hope it looks as nice on.

Models Own have a great deal on their website that means if you buy five, you can save £7. As a lot of my polishes are turning gloopy and I'm a bit low on Models Own, I thought the release of the new Beetlejuices was a good excuse.

L-R: Top Turquoise, Edamame, Lilac Dream, Soda Pop Pink and Indian Ocean



I was perhaps left a little disappointed with how the order was presented, my very first Models Own order came in such lovely packaging and these were just wrapped in a bubble wrap and posted off in a jiffy bag. I wouldn't mind but given that it's £2.95 and the package is only small it tends to feel like a bit of a let down. They did arrive really quickly though, so I think it's just that I hate paying for P&P.

I'm sure all these colours will be to high MO standard though, I'm most looking forward to Lilac Dream, I think. I just need my nails to grow that little bit more...

Did you pick up any of the new Beetlejuice collection, what do you think?

No, no, urgh.

I so currently feel like this, life would definitely be easier if I were a cat.
I don't think that I wish for that many unattainable things in my life. I just want somewhere nice to live and to be happy and able to go wherever I want, whenever I want. If only it were five years ago, when things were a bit better for graduates, and not so impossible.




Moon and I went house hunting in Newbury today, and most of the day was like this:

It seems like everything at the moment involves some kind of chase, house hunting is even worse than job hunting because they totally out and out reject you, literally on the basis of nothing and even when you haven't seen a property. But the likelihood of things moving forward from the point we're currently at is seeming less and less realistic, so maybe April won't be as big a month as I thought.

I'm already nervous so this news hasn't really added much to my general disposition, I'm just a bit cross and feel like an idiot for just thinking that maybe things wouldn't actually be so difficult for once. < / urgh >

Tuesday Tabs #10

Wow, this is the tenth one I've done of these, that equates to over ten elapsed weeks of unemployment, which is definitely, the best!

I have found myself getting excited about these posts though, which is maybe a bit odd. It means that Chrome won't be over-crowded for a few days, as well as the fact that everything will be consolidated in one place, especially as LinkedWithin is amazing. I've found myself going way back on my blog and finding things that are encouraging regarding my writing ability and sometimes the way I think, and it makes me feel positive. I only wish I could be as optimistic as I was back in January - I applied for over ten jobs yesterday and not one has had the courtesy of getting back to me, apart from OUP and that was only an automated one...

I think that once we get to Newbury, even if I can get some temp work I will at least feel a bit more secure. We're going down there tomorrow to look at places, I tried to arrange more viewings but everything is either not available yet or gone, it's so frustrating. I'm sure everything will be alright I'm just being a grump.

My driving is going quite well, I had a god lesson this morning and I think if I just remain at this level I should be able to pass, which is obviously super-useful. I don't have much else exciting planned for the week apart from more driving and the standard pub quiz. Russell Howard was very funny last night, The Lyric Theatre is a lovely venue. He had good support acts too, which were basically just his mates, he literally is a stand-up guy.

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Tears I Cried Ceramic Tile, £24.59, Rob Ryan
If I'm ever able to buy a house and am doing up the bathroom or kitchen, I will buy one of these tiles to put in with the normal ones, they're so pretty. I think they would look great like that, I can't think how else you would show it off, unless it was just propped up somewhere, and I'm tired of things being propped up.


'This egg will be enough' Egg Cup, £10.35, Rob Ryan
To me, Rob Ryan has this incredible knack for making really ridiculously soppy and romantic pieces without them actually being all that soppy and romantic. I just need a lot of Rob Ryan stuff, it's all so good and makes me happy and reminds me how important love is. *(vom)*


Soul Cal Deluxe 7/8th Daisy Trousers, £32, Republic
I spotted these on Gem Fatale's post for Republic's 'Wear It Your Way' blog and I think they'll be brilliant for spring. They're so pretty, I don't normally even look in Republic either but I'm encouraged to nose around a little bit more.


House of Holland Colour Block Dress with Navy Zip-Off Leather Collar, £370, ASOS
Perhaps a little steep, but I can dream can't I? I think I'm too into collars right now, and button dresses don't really work on me, but it's so pretty. The colours match a couple of colours from my latest Models Own order.


Underground Minnie Creepers, £85, Lazy Oaf
By the time I discovered these last time they were available, they had well and truly sold out. I noticed they had cropped up again on the Lazy Oaf website and I'm going to try and keep my finger on the pulse a bit and snap them up. They're so awesome and different from standard creepers, I'm trying to be a bit more classic but I can tell I will probably never tire of these shoes, so...


Pamela Mann Heart Suspender Tights, £9, Motel
Not dead into Motel because it's one of those shops that I always think is for super-skinny people and I am definitely not one of those, but I thought these were cute anyway.


Steve Madden Multi-Colour Peep Toe Boots, £74.99, New Look
I would never wear these, but it really doesn't even matter.


Good Ol' Daisy Dress, $84,99, Modcloth
Another daisy-print thing, lovely, lovely, lovely! Such a pretty design too as well as the fabric, although the colour is quite 'me' too. ♥


Koi To The World Dress, $159.99, Modcloth
Fifties loveliness ♥


Lemon Amour Dress, $419.99, Modcloth
If I had this dress, I wouldn't be able to justify getting any other dress,probably forever, but this is so beautiful and I would wear it all the time. Plus yellow is one of my top five colours. :3


ASOS Pineapple Bag, £30, ASOS


Would love to shoot something like this, it's so laid back and nice.

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Link Love: ♥

Fat Mum Slim's Photo A Day April — Why not? Perhaps more fun than those silly challenges, and the fact I can compare work is also really motivating. The themes are so broad they can be interpreted any way. I think a lot will be happening to me in April and I'm really looking forward to taking part.

Photography: 10 Things Not to Do — A great list of tips again from Elsie at A Beautiful Mess. One of the things that makes her blog so engaging is the photos but it was great of her to outline the pitfalls. It was pretty encouraging that I found myself agreeing with most of it. Sometimes I find myself being a bit critical of others, but I prefer things to be done properly otherwise what's the point of being able to share so much with so many?

Motels' £25 Dresses — I'm seeing on a lot of blogs that Motel is releasing loads of neat prints right now. It's a little expensive for me plus I'd never be able to squeeze myself into any of their pretty skinny jeans (guaranteed if I did, they'd be too long anyway). These dresses though, could be wearable, and they have quite a purse-friendly price tag too so I don't know, pretty sure bodycon is not my friend though...

Hipster Branding — Amazing typography/graphic Tumblr, because Hipsters love simple fonts and grey.

Goodnight Little Spoon's 100 Ideas - Week Eleven

Customisable Bread Bowl Breakfast — These look incredible and need to get in my tummy.

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Can't work out if this is shorter or longer than usual, flows a bit better than last week anyway.
Have a happy Tuesday! ♥