What's in my Bag #2

It's been awhile since I did my last What's in my bag post, and I thought I'd do another one when I was bored the other day. However, it's been about two weeks now since I did it, but oh well better late than never! Here is the second 'What's in my Bag' post! Obviously not that much as changed in four months so most of the stuff is the same, but also new. Also this is the second post of the day since I've not really been posting for awhile and I felt like it.

 I got this bag in Tesco a few years ago for £10 and it pretty much holds my life, I can fit everything into there, all the random stuff I "need", food and spare change of clothes/uniform. Its really good value for money I think, depsite the fact that the zip on the top fell off, but I think that's more a reflection on how I use things than on how well made the bag is. It has loads of pockets and I've had a few compliments on it. It may not look like much but its my number one favourite bag that I usually use in Winter.

 In my bag I have:
A diary notebook I'm not sure what to use for yet, food diary, budget book etc
The first Hunger Games book, but I've now read all of them
A turquoise sharpie pen
My nintendo DS plus case
My purse from Accessorize
Dry Shampoo, Tesco body spray and hand cream
Benefit powder
My phone
Painkillers and strepsils
Soap and Glory Perfume
My work lanyard
My H&M makeup case, its so pretty!
Umbrella from Primark, it has owls!
Hello Kitty hairbrush
Paperchase Diary with a random pen with that which holds all my receipts and other bits of paper
Spare batteries
A Nutri-Grain Bar, chocolate bar and a fork (for work)
A Hello Kitty bag in a bag for shopping
A War Horse postcard I got for my mum
A Tax Disc thing for my car which I should put on now before I forget (I have a few days though)
Car keys
A glove which houses my camera, lost my camera case so this has to do for now
A can of fanta
A very warm hat!
And a pair of gloves for my hands, not my camera, since its so cold out :(

Inside my make up bag is pretty much the same as last time.

Bag is from H&M, I love anything with birds on it
Bourjois Paris blusher
Germaline since I'm always ending up with cuts
Burts Bees lipbalm which has been in the wash a few times
Nouvea Lashes Noir Mascara I got from the December Glossy Box
Barry M lipstick, not sure what shade but bright red
Free liquid eyeliner from a magazine, I'm going to be so sad when it runs out
Nivea lipbalm
Accessorize eyeliner but I swapped the lip for one with a sharpner
Tweezers from Tesco?
Soap and Glory Bright Here, Bright Now instant-radiance energy balm
and Vaseline, just in case my two lipbalms are not enough!

How I spent the Chinese New Year

Happy year of the Dragon! I like celebrating Chinese New Years even if its just small things like giving my friends fortune cookies. I wanted to light paper lanterns and make rice balls (onigiri) this year and its also part of my day zero list.

I've made onigiri once before so this was only my second attempt, they were a bit too salty for me so next time I'll use less. I made the onigiri in the first picture and my boyfriend made the all sesame seed ones, I'll try to experiment more with animals next time, I think they're cute. We of course had fortunes cookies, and there's a picture fortune cookie on my dress to see the pattern of my dress, it has cats on it. My fortune for the year "Your big opportunity may be right where you are now" makes me feel better about where I am in life as its been something I've been worrying about it for awhile.

Originally I wanted to wear a red outfit, but I don't have that many red clothes, so I wore a black cat dress from New Look and a red belt, I also had a red tassel bag and wore my flowery brogues which I realise now didn't really go. I didn't get a full outfit shot as we were in a bit of a rush to see a film afterwards and set off chinese paper lanterns before we watched it. We had one each and did them together but his burnt and we had to chuck it away. We got it right by the time it was my lantern and I didn't manage to get a photo of it closer as it went up since I was afraid of it accidentally burning while I got my camera ready lol, you had to hold onto the lantern for ages till it was hot enough to float into the air. We went down to the beach to set them off. It was freezing! But also fun as we were doing it, and we made a wish as it went up. A random guy was watching us which was weird, but it was very pretty seeing the lantern floating into the air so I don't blame him. I wish I could see hundreds of lanterns in the sky, like in the film Tangled! I know there are festivals like that so maybe one day.

I think the beach is so pretty at night, we weren't on the sand as it was wet and dark, but you could see all the lights reflected in the water, which I couldn't capture on my camera. We also went by the marina which is also very pretty and relaxing at night and an evil looking swan was swimming around, he even swum up to me to have his picture taken! After that we went to watch a preview of The Descendants which is a really good film, so all together it a very fun night! :D

The Golden Globe Dresses

I watched the Golden Globes the other day, not live but I watched it the next day. I don't usually watch awards shows but I do like to see what everyone was wearing. Here are five of my favourite dresses (click on the pictures for links).

Emma stone in Lavine, its such a pretty dress. I love, love, love the two purples and the fabric and how it drapes at the end. I also like the belt, I wish I had it but maybe not style it with the dress, but I like how it toughens up the floaty girl dress.

Mila Kunis in Christian Dior and Shailene Woodley in Marchesa. I love black dresses and love Milas one one with what I think is a unique top half and a lovely long flowing draping bottom half. Very elegant. I've never heard of Shailene Woodley but love her dress. It reminds me of the outfits ice skaters wear, but, well, longer! It's sparkly and also reminds me of a snow flake, a very beautiful wintery dress.

Piper Perabo wearing Theyskens Theory. Apparently a lot of people didn't like this, but I kinda think its amazing. It's like a modern day fairy tale dress. A bit too see through on the top, and maybe some more detailing would have been better but I love how big and fairy tale like it is, very cute.

And lastly here's Evan Rachel Wood, wearing a fishtail style Gucci dress. It's like she's a mermaid and I love mermaids, (Ariels one of my favourite Disney princesses). I like all the greens, and the different textures and from all the pictures, I think you can tell I liked all the updos! Normally I'd prefer long curly hair, but for awards I think updos are very elegant. 

Link Love #2

This weeks Link Love is mostly about little things I've found which I thought were cool or interesting, things I want to try out for myself. All the pictures link back to the source, I'm not sure if I've mentioned that in the past Link Love post. I like making these posts since I tend to keep every window open of things I like for a long, long time! (Which leads to bad laptop habits! Oops) Or I save everything under my bookmarks bar which is crazy, I attempted to organise it a few months back whilst procrastinating from doing uni work and it didn't really work out! Anyway onto the inspiration!

These paper flowers are pretty darn cool. They're made from post it notes and the instructions look simple enough to do so I want to give this a go! As soon as I find my post it notes!

Since I've failed with one of my resolutions about to-do lists, I saw this (from the wall street journal, I was just googling lists, yes I know I'm sad) and thought it was very interesting, and its also a list of seven things! I haven't attempted anymore lists since I know right now I'll just fail them all, so hopefully following most or all of this advice will work for me.

Galadarlings list of 100 things to do when you're upset. The photo links to the post, but is taken from her most recent outfit post which you should also go check out. Oh and check out the rest of her blog while you're at it, very inspiring. 

A very good list of things to do to improve your blog. I've done some but not all and I think its a good idea to check out whether you've been blogging for a week or five years. 

How cute is that illustration? Well, click on it to type out sentences using llama font, where you'll find really cute llamas making letters with their bodies, its kinda adorable *squee* And thats it for this week's inspiration post!

Wish List #1

Just a few little things I wish I have.

// Colourful masking tape // A cute calender // See through clock necklace // 

// A Diana Camera //  A cute little fox necklace //

Sleepy

Lately I've had no energy to do anything, except lie in bed or watch films or read. I've had a swollen eye, some painful headaches and a stomach ache in the past few days too. I'm finding it hard to go to sleep at night, and therefore hard to wake up in the morning. I need to break this new habit quickly or else I'll go crazy! Mind you I'm closing work tomorrow and the day after so looks like my sleeping habits won't get fixed anytime soon.

I'm currently watching the 2008 TV version of Sense & Sensibility, I think I can't help but love how everything seems hopeless and then it all works out in the end. From memory the above scene's sad and it takes so long for them to get together! I prefer happier endings over sad ones, but when there is a unhappy ending you remember more, whether in a book or a film. It can make you angry or sad, and I just finished reading the Eragon books, and there wasn't a happily ever after for the "couples" of the book so I need me some romance! Anyway I'm off to watch Edward Ferrars sweep Elinor Dashwood off her feet, sorta...

Link Love

I've been inspired by so many different things on the internet that I decided I'd try to do a weekly post on it, called 'Link Love' getting the idea from various bloggers. Lately I've been inspired by the style of these bloggers and peoples lookbooks. Some I've followed for awhile, some are new but you should check out their blogs/lookbooks. I'm new to the whole lookbook thing and don't even have an account, I'm sorta in over my head kind of thing with that. Anyway I hope every has had a lovely Sunday, I've been chilling out, gathering pictures for this and updating my very old and abandoned Spotify account. I'm now obssessed with it and it only took me a few years!

Being Little 

I love her style of wearing skirts with cute tops, I'm looking for a skirt like one of these to try out since I usually wear dresses but would like to start wearing skirts again. 

 The Dainty Squid
I am so jealous of her hair! I'd love to dye my hair a crazy colour but I don't have the confidence to pull it off just yet. I also love the dress and the colour of that coat, so pretty. 

Wish Wish Wish

Her style is really elegant, I want all her clothes!

Lost in the Haze

I love polka dots, and how cute is that hat? I don't tend to wear hats unless its winter but I want to try in the future.

Mimis Lookbook
I want that skirt and cardigan now! Also the shoes, and the jumper... oh thats the whole outfit is it?

Rhiannon L's Lookbook

 Just look at those dresses and the shoes, and the hair! I'm half heatedly growing my hair dye out, but I am tempted to dye it back to dark brown again now.

Weekly to-do list

Well following my resolutions post, here is a list of seven things I have to do by or before the 7th of January.

Book a Hair appointment 

Book a Doctors appointment

Book a Dentist appointment

Throw away old underwear, socks, etc that are worn out

Watch Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Swap a bag I bought for a different colour (Went but they didn't have the colour)

Go for coffee/hot chocolate with the girls

As you can see, I've put off booking appointments since I hate doing it and hate going. I got loads of new underwear for Christmas so to make room for it I need to get rid of the old horrible stuff and then some fun things. Now I'm off to work!

UPDATE: Well... I failed at that! It didn't help that I started this half way through the week where I spent most of it away from home, so I'll have to add them onto this weeks list which I'll post another time, but I know its a work in progress.

Resolutions for 2012

This is a little doodle list of new year resolutions which I thought was really cute, and everything I want to work on as well, who doesn't right? I've already written a list, and was going to take a picture but my handwriting sucks, so I'll just have to write my official resolutions below, I always do ten, no more, no less, just a habit I can't break if I do them. Here are my 2012 resolutions, a day late.

Exercise

I want to start exercising more, I'm fine once I start but its the starting I find difficult and then I don't do anything for ages. I need it to become a habit. I want to reach my goal weight and tone up. I've joined a gym for the first time, I'm just waiting for it to open. I'm also going to take advantage of the giant field and running track right next to my house when the school isn't using it.

Eat Healthier

Not go on a diet exactly, but I need to stop eating so much crap, and try my hand at healthier things. I basically survive on carbs and dairy, I'm so picky, it's easier to eat junk food. I'm going to try and eat healthy cereal/brown toast in the mornings, drink less fizzy drinks and more water, pack lunch for work so I don't buy pot noodles, write a food diary etc.

Be smarter about money

I was so used to having student loans, grants and pay checks I didn't really think about how much I was spending or what on, except in the first year when I lived on campus and had to budget. Now I am living pay check to pay check because I keep buying stupid stuff that I don't need. So... I'm going to write down everything I buy, work out a budget, save etc and hopefully be wiser about my spending habits.

Declutter my room

This is a big one, I have too much stuff in my tiny little bedroom. I'm 21 years old and I hoard things, and can't throw anything away. This means there is no room in my room! I need to go through my wardrobe and sort out clothes, shoes, accessories etc. Instead of buying new things all the time, I should shop my wardrobe more since there is no room for anything else. I need to have a giant spring clean of everything! 

Make weekly 'To-do' lists

Make a list of seven things (one for each day or I can double up) I have to do each week. This is just to get me into the habit of doing things I put off for ages. These can be chores, tasks, projects, new things, old things, things I do anyway but there has to be seven and I have to do them each week. 

Work on my blog

I've had a few over the years and gave up on them, but I quite like this, and I'm finding loads of new inspiring blogs each day which make me want to have an inspiring blog. I don't really think it is right now, I don't know what it is, and its not really consistent but I will work on improving it.

Create

I want to be more creative, make visual diaries, paint the night sky with pastels, sew little rabbit dolls, bake cupcakes, paint, draw, write, make.

Get a new job

That is relevant to what I want my career to be. I want to work with children, so right now I'm looking for teaching assistant jobs or to be a Learning Support Assistant, anything. I've been applying for a few months now, so I'll have to start volunteering again. If I can't, apply for a full time job somewhere else, I'm part time at the moment and don't want to work there full time. 

Look after my body

Create a beauty routine, have the odd home made spa day here and there, take care of my skin properly, get hair cuts regularly instead of every six months or so etc

Stop biting my nails

It's a horrible habit that needs to stop. I have done it before, and then stress took over and all my hard work went away, I miss those days of long pretty nails. I see all this nail art everywhere and my nails are too short to do it. I bite my nails when I watch films without realising it, or when I'm really upset, anxious or stressed out. I bite them so short sometimes it hurts and my fingertips are really sensitive. 

Well there you are, my little list. Some are cliched, like lose weight, exercise etc, and others aren't like stop biting my nails and write weekly to-do lists, but I think I can do these. I'll keep on trying if I fail, because I have all year to try!