To read is to live a thousand lives

Ever since I learnt to read when I was very tiny, I've always had my head stuck in a book and at least five on the go at once. It's probably my favourite pastime A) because I can do it in bed, minimal effort required and B) because I can live out so many different lives just by turning some pages and reading some words. I don't just love reading either, writing is one of my biggest passions and so often reading become research for me. 

That being said, I thought that I could make a biweekly feature of a sort of favourite books post, which isn't necessarily my favourite books of the moment, although I'm sure they will creep in there, but books that I have enjoyed throughout the years and have either read once and loved, or come back to time and time again. And trust me, this will be going for a while. I have a lot of favourite books. 

This time I have chosen to feature:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: a classic, a much loved favourite, and a timeless book. I'm a sucker for any kind of romance, and I absolutely adore books by the Bronte sisters. Definitely worth a read if you don't mind making a bit of an effort to understand the older style English!

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks: I was given this for my birthday a couple years back, had never heard of the book or the author, but thought I'd give it a go anyway, and I could not put it down. I found the first part hard to get into and read, but once I got into it I fell immediately in love. I'm a big fan of a weepy book, and a big fan of historical fiction whether that be set in the sixteenth century or the twentieth century, and this book definitely provides. Highly, highly recommend giving it a go. (Plus the two-part TV series features Eddie Redmayne, so that's worth a watch even if you don't read the book!)

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell: being a bit of a fangirl myself, I knew I had to read this book when I saw the title. I loved it a lot, I thought it was a really excellent book and an easy read. I fell in love with the characters and the plot, and I cannot wait to pick this one up and read it again in the near future.

Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern: formerly known as Where Rainbows End, I have to admit I did pick this one up after I saw the trailer for the film and fell in love, though I haven't watched it yet. I'm a big fan of Cecelia Ahern anyway, so I knew this would be good, but I love it. I really do. It made me laugh, it made me weep a little, it frustrated me, it made me feel so many things and I got so involved in the characters lives. Excellently written, superb book, well worth a read. Probably a good holiday book, this one.

That's my four for this time, more to come in a couple weeks! If you want me to make a post reviewing any of these books in proper detail with a synopsis and everything, just leave a comment and I will indeed do so! In fact, if you want a review on any book just bung a comment down below and I will review it if I've read the book, and if I haven't I'll get it, read it, and purchase it!

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Everyday Makeup Routine!

Now, I'm pretty sure the whole world and his wife has done some kind of everyday makeup post, but I am obviously a sheep, so here is mine! As you are probably aware of by now, I am quite possibly the laziest person on the planet, and as much as I love doing my makeup and making myself look like an acceptable human being, it's often not worth the extra half an hour in bed. I do love my nest! But recently I played around with what I had, and worked out a makeup routine that literally takes me about five minutes, if that, and looks lovely and me look way better.

I am quite lucky in that I have fairly clear skin without much work or thousands of products shoved onto it, and though I do have the occasional rogue spot or blackhead outbreak, I can generally control it easily. This means I don't actually need to wear foundation for a pretty flawless base, which makes my makeup routine 3x faster and I only use around five products, and sometimes a lipstick or lipgloss. Obviously, depending on how much time I have and the state of my skin this routine varies, and I will put foundation on, or take the time to fill in my brows, but that's only if I'm going out or something special is happening.

All I do in the mornings is put my concealer (currently I am using the FIT Me Maybelline concealer in shade 15: fair) on the bags under my eyes and any blemishes that I have, and blend with the Real Techniques contour brush. I then dust my elf translucent matte powder (cost me £3.95 and is the best powder I have ever used) over the top to reduce the shine on my horrifically oily skin, and then brush my MAC blusher in shade well dressed over my cheeks and around my jawline, et voila, my base is done! All I do then is occasionally line my eyes with my Benefit They're Real Push up Liner, and I always wear mascaras. I tend to stick to Maybelline mascaras, and am using mostly the Maybelline Colossal Go Extreme Mascara in Leather Black, and sometimes I use it in combination with the Maybelline Big Eyes Mascara. I love love love both of these mascaras, and the teeny tiny brush that comes on the Big Eyes mascara is so useful on my bottom lashes, and the bigger brush does a good job of separating my lashes.

Then I throw my powder brush and powder compact into whatever bag I'm using, occasionally add a slick of lipgloss or lipstick and I'm good to go! Looking human with minimal effort.

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Favourite Cities: Berlin Edition

Back in December, just before Christmas, I was given the opportunity to visit Berlin with my college on a history trip, and obviously jumped at the chance. It was billed as a trip to allow us to get to grips with more German history and help us with our A2 coursework, though of course we all saw it as a chance to eat tonnes of bratwurst, drink far too much beer, visit some amazing markets, and maybe do a little bit of history!

The Reichstag - where the German parliament meets. We got to tour here on the last evening and it was incredible.

I had the most incredible time in Berlin. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be, which was nice in some ways but I was somewhat hoping for snow! Alas, we got a small bit on the last day, but that was our lot. Lack of snow aside, we managed to cram so much into the four days that we were there for that we were all utterly exhausted when we got home on the Sunday. I love trips like this, exploring new cities and meeting new people. All the people on the trip attended college and did history, but I knew only two of them. But by the end of the trip I'd made the most magical group of amazing friends and I love love love them all. Our room slept eight, and we all bonded over the lack of boundaries! I was my usual majestic clumsy self, and frequently left the shower door open for people to walk in on me! Smooth as f, I know.

Moving swiftly past the embarrassing moments, the city itself is amazing. We stayed in the east, and visited so many places steeped in history, but I wish we'd stayed longer, there was still so much more to see.

The Brandenburg Gate

Highlights of the trip included:

Walking tour around the city: on our very first day, running on about 30 hours of no sleep after working early the day before and travelling through the night, the leader of the trip lovingly decided to take us on a tour of some of the sights, and of course we got lost! It was a great introduction to the city though, and we saw the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, Angela Merkel's offices, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the place where Hitler's bunker was and where he shot himself in the last days of the Third Reich, the book burning memorial in Bebelplatz, several Christmas markets, Potsdamer Platz and then we came back to the hostel and all I saw for a few hours was the inside of my eyelids!

Alexanderplatz: this was the place where we came to go to the big Christmas markets! I am a massive lover of a good market, and Christmas markets are my all time fave because you can wrap up against the cold and it's all magical and festive and ooo I just love them. And of course, no one does a Christmas market like the Germans do! We ate plenty of bratwurst (sausage in a roll), drank strong, spicy mulled wine, ooohed and aaaahed over all the pretty things, ate crepes and waffles and other delightful things, and just had a really splendid time. Much recommended.

Museums: Yes, I know museums are meant to be dreadfully boring and dull, but these museums broke the stereotype! We visited two in one day. The first was the DDR museum, or the museum that showcased what life was like post 1949 in Soviet controlled East Germany, which was actually much cooler than it sounds because it was an interactive museum, with plenty of things to touch and fiddle with and loads of original artifacts to look at and play around with. Did a thoroughly good job of keeping a bunch of rowdy teenagers occupied. In the afternoon we visited the German Resistance museum, which was very interesting. There wasn't much of a German resistance, but learning about the little that there was was very interesting. For example, I didn't know how close two people came to assassinating Hitler before he came into power, but they very nearly succeeded.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Sachsenhausen concentration camp: I believe Sachsenhausen was one of the first concentration camps set up, just outside Berlin in Oranienburg, primarily used for political prisoners. There's not much I can say about this, other than it was one of the most overwhelming, sobering experiences of my life, and reduced nearly everyone in the group to tears by the time we'd reached the foundations of the gas chambers and cremation ovens. It's one thing to learn about the holocaust, and another to go to a place where the horrors took place. There's a feeling in the place that will never leave, and it should never be forgotten. 

Berlin Wall Memorial: most people know about the Berlin wall, I imagine, and it was pretty amazing to see the parts that are still standing, marking the border between East and West. On one part there is some incredible artwork that we saw from the bus, and I didn't get a picture of.

1936 Olympic Stadium: I've never been to any Olympic stadium, so that in itself was pretty cool, and seeing the names of the victors engraved on the stone of the stadium was somewhat weird, but really amazing. The whole place has a rather somber feel about it, and it's hard to imagine what it would have been like there during the games, at the beginning of Hitler's reign of terror. We also got snow whilst we were here, and like the children we are immediately started to play in it! Great fun.

The site of Hitlers bunker. There's nothing there save a sign to tell you what it is, it's just mud, grass, and a small car park

Hofbrauhaus: in other words, a German beer hall! No trip to Germany would be complete without a trip to a beer hall, and we had such an amazing evening here! The service was impeccable, and I had the most amazing potato soup. The beer was cracking, the oompah band were amazing, and the whole group was up dancing, much to the entertainment of the Germans. If you're ever in Germany I highly recommend going to a beer hall, it's a completely different experience to one of our beloved English pubs but totally, totally amazing.

Reichstag: on our last evening, we went to a pizza restaurant (good old fashioned German cuisine?) and then on to a tour of the Reichstag. This is where the German parliament still meets, and we were led around the buildings to see some of the offices, the great hall where the parties meet, the northern corridor where some of the Red Army graffiti has been preserved from 1945 and then on to the massive dome at the top, which gave us the most incredible views across the city, and I feel in love.

Quiz night!: Of course, no trip would be complete without the good old fashioned pub quiz. There were 39 of us on the trip, and we all met in the rooftop bar of the hostel, split into teams, grabbed yet more beer and enjoyed several rounds of a quiz. Quiz's are made at least 500 times better with the addition of beer, and thanks to the varied knowledge in my group, we won! A fantastic way to round off our trip.

The book burning memorial, to commemorate the night around 20,000 books were burnt during Hitler's regime

Stalin's tower: basically a big middle finger to the west

A building covered in the scars and bulletholes of WWII

Waffle sticks!

So much beer consumed.

Inside the 1936 Olympic Stadium

Please excuse the rather crappy picture quality, the only camera I had with me was my phone!

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Drugstore lipgloss review!

So a couple weeks ago I went and had a small splurge in Superdrug and Boots, something I haven't done for a while but I utterly adore. I've been looking for some new lipglosses for a while, as sometimes I don't want the coverage of a lipstick but I do want a hint of colour on my lips. So I picked up four different lipglosses, and two lip lacquers, and thought a little review might be fun!

The lipglosses:

Barry M Lip Gloss Wand in shade 11 (£4.49 - Boots): This lipgloss smells UH-MAZING. Seriously, if you have one or you spot one, open it and smell it, it will change your life (disclaimer, it probably won't, but it does smell incredible). The shade is a solid pinky orange in the tube, but comes out quite sheer on the lips, so is ideal as an everyday shade for natural lips, or over lipstick for high shine. The applicator is yer bog standard doe foot, and glides on the lips v. nicely and is not all that sticky (essential in windy weather). Recommended just for the smell.

Seventeen Lip Lustre in shade Kiss The Stars (£3.99 - Boots): Seriously though, isn't Kiss The Stars just the cutest name for a product ever?! I genuinely picked up this shade just for the name, but it is a very pretty pinky purply colour with the prettiest iridescent sparkles. Again, it has a doe foot applicator and slides on pretty smoothly, the only downside is the lipgloss isn't long lasting like it promises, and is pretty sticky :( But the colour in the tube is beautiful, and I shall be displaying this one happily.

Collection Lock N Hold in shade Beat Box (£2.99 - Boots): Cheap and cheerful, I am a massive fan of Collection for little beauty staples, like eyeshadows and I love their brow kit. For the price it is, this lipgloss is pretty good. It's a sparkly pink colour that is very sheer on the lips, and would again be good over lipstick to provide that all important shimmer. Again, it's not as long lasting as it promises to be, but for just under 3 quid it's pretty good just to chuck in a handbag, and it's not a massive deal if it goes missing (as so many of my things are prone to do).

Tanya Burr Lipgloss in shade Chic (£6.99 - Superdrug): I swear to you this smells even better than the Barry M one. Seriously, it was probably the first thing I noticed, and then proceeded to make every one of my friends smell it to make sure I wasn't imagining things. It literally smells so good, and smell probably isn't high on the list of priorities when selecting a lipgloss, but it definitely should be. The colour is a basic, staple nude that applies easily with a normal lip brush applicator. I like this because the first coat is pretty sheer, but you can build up the coverage until a more nude lip is achieved. Very pretty for a natural everyday look. Love, love, love.

Rimmel London Apocalips Lip Lacquer in shades Luna and the matte Atomic Rose (Boots - £6.49): Now these aren't strictly lip glosses and give more of a lipstick finish, but I picked them up a while ago on the recommendation of a friend, and wanted to include them in this post. I did pick the shades based on the name because I ordered them online (all the product names are solar systemy which I think is pretty cool) and maybe that's why I don't get along with these two, but I'm definitely not a very big fan. I don't like the smell (here we are again) which is quite chemically and weird in my opinion, and they don't last very long on the lips (or well, my lips.) The coverage of the colour is good and solid, and the matte shade is actually matte, but I don't like the feel of them on my lips. The matte shade feels quite chalky, and they both feel...unsubstantial, I guess is the right word. I'm not sure, I just am not a great fan of the feel. They don't feel like lipgloss or lipstick, so maybe it's just fear of the unknown. I don't know. Luna is a corally shade, and Atomic Rose is more pinky, and maybe it's just not the right time of year for them. I'll keep persevering, see where we get. 

Left column: Tanya Burr Lipgloss, Collection Lock N Hold, Barry M Lip Gloss Wand. Right column: Seventeen Lip Lustre, Rimmel London Apocalips Luna, Rimmel London Apocalips Atomic Rose

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Aquarium Antics!

A couple Sunday's ago now, I took my little sister to the National Marine Aquarium down in Plymouth as a special 'big sister-little sister' day out. We (not as often as I'd like) have these days, mornings, afternoons, evenings, whatevers together to spend quality one on one sister time, but we don't often venture outside our hometown of Exeter, usually choosing to go shopping or to the cinema, which is fun but samey. Coincidentally, our sister days often collide with the release of a new Disney film...

Colouring pencils and a colouring book are of course vital for on train entertainment

The train journey down to Plymouth is such a beautiful one, all down the Devon coast

Spending time together with my little sister like this is just so precious, half the time I'm so busy I barely get to see her, so to catch up and chat is just the best honestly, and we had such an amazing time exploring the aquarium and doing a spot of shopping and caramel milkshake drinking in Plymouth. The aquarium is such a good one, full of pretty fishes and sharks and all sorts of interesting sea type things. I'm horrifically scared of boats and all things ocean usually, but I did love the aquarium, it felt a little like being in a different world. And Plymouth itself is always pretty great for shopping. Good day all round.

We prepared very thoroughly for our little excursion: an essential when you're taking a ten year old out for the day. She loves to have a little bit of independence, so I packed her a colouring book, some colouring pencils, headphones, iPad (with BBC iplayer programmes downloaded), a snack, a drink and some little girl essentials (lipgloss, small body spray etc) in her Cath Kidston backpack, and packed lunch, more drinks and the camera, along with my purse, hand cream etc into my larger backpack. Thus we were set up for our trip and ready to catch the train for a day of adventure, and what a day it was! (I didn't even get lost, which for someone who can get lost in her own village was a pretty impressive feat). We spent a good couple hours exploring the aquarium, before lunch on the hoe overlooking the sea, watching out for the ferries (we saw none). It was freezing, but great fun. Then we headed back into the city centre to Drakes Circus, tried on plenty of insanely high heels, and stopped at our new favourite coffee shop The Coffee Bean for the best caramel milkshakes. Finally it was back to the train and back home for a Sunday roast! I utterly adore days like this, and shall probably blog about them in the future, as and when we have more sister days together.

Lunch overlooking the sea from the hoe

Aforementioned best caramel milkshakes (and cheeky slice of millionaire's shortbread) at The Coffee Bean

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Dinner Dates

One of my most favourite things in the whole wide world to do is eat (totally contradicting my last post, but totally true). And the only thing better than buying enough food to feed the whole country and eating it in bed whilst watching Netflix is to go to nice restaurants with friends and eat and socialise. Best of both worlds if you ask me. In the past week, I've been out for lunch twice with the same person, and they were probably the highlights of my week.

Oreo milkshake from Ruby's - not as good as Byron Burgers, but still pretty heavenly

Going for lunch is just my favourite way to catch up with a friend or bunch of friends. It's relaxed and pretty informal, and if you haven't seen the friend in a while, eating your food also gives you a pretty good excuse for any awkward silence that may arise (though we all hope and pray that never happens!) It also gives you something to look at if you, like me, hate looking people in the eye when you're talking to them. Not to mention, you get to eat food. So much food. Going for lunch with the friend I went with last week is my favourite because we could both probably partake in an eating for England competition and come out victorious. Happy days.

Sweet potato fries from Ruby's are some of the most glorious things I have ever put in my mouth (cheeky)

It's also an amazing way to discover cool new restaurants (valuable information that could come in handy if you ever find yourself having to find somewhere to eat with other friends/one of them boy type peoples/a potential female date/a cow/whatever your preference may be) and awesome new food. I'm probably the worlds pickiest eater, but at restaurants you can all order different dishes and try different things and I always end up surprising myself. I don't know, I just love restaurants and eating and food, so it's just an all round great thing in my humble opinion.

All day unlimited breakfast at Brody's more like the day I died and went to heaven

What about you? Have you discovered any cool new restaurants lately? I also love the chance to explore my home town a bit more, venture to corners I wouldn't usually bother exploring, spend time just kicking back and relaxing. Ooo I just love the whole experience. Alas, on the morrow I am implementing many changes to my life which mean that oreo milkshakes and all day breakfasts will be a thing of the past, but I'm looking forward to finding new restaurants and dishes that excite me as much as unlimited hash browns, but are better for my body! If you lot have any suggestions for places to visit/dishes to try I would welcome the valuable information!

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Change is positive?

I will always be the first to admit that I don't like change. I am very much a girl set in her ways. I am a home bird who doesn't cope very well being away from home, I have certain mugs I like to use, and every day pretty much has the same routine. I don't often step outside my comfort zone, definitely not as much as I probably should in order to push myself as a person, and even my makeup routine follows the same routine with the same steps.

But lately I've been thinking a lot about change. I spoke about it in my blog post yesterday, that this year is going to be a year of massive change. I'll be leaving home and making the giant leap that is university and becoming a responsible adult, and I have no idea how I'm going to cope. But I've also been thinking about change in another, very important aspect of my life.

There is no hiding the fact that I am fat. Chubby, curvaceous, plump, rounded, a bit of junk in the trunk, however you want to describe it there is no way I can pretend that I'm not. I used to do a lot of dance and be a lot more toned and slimmer than I am now, but since stopping the nine classes a week I was doing, I haven't actually much changed my diet, and slowly but surely the pounds have crept on and my clothes are becoming tight. I can just about fit into a UK size 14 still, but in order to have to not buy a whole new wardrobe, I need to make some change.

And so 2015 is going to become the year of change.

Image credit: quote.land

I've been reading a lot of healthy eating blogs lately, and watching a lot of videos in the same vein, and for possibly the first time I am somewhat motivated to make this change in my life and get healthier. My goal isn't to become really skinny, because that's probably not going to happen. I wasn't built to be skinny, like some people are, and that's okay. It's okay to be different. What isn't okay in my book, is to be as overweight as I am, with the health problems that are associated with it. I've watched various family members deal with weight related health issues, and I don't want that life.

This is also the first time that I've been motivated to lose the weight in a healthy and sensible way, which is for me a Big Deal, and the feelings I've experienced before I may make a blog post on someday, if anyone would be interested.

But I can't do this alone. I've not got the greatest willpower in the world, and whilst this isn't going to become a total fitness/weight loss/healthy eating blog, I do need somewhere where I can post my progress, share recipes and tips, and somewhere where I can be accountable and actually make this change, rather than trying for a few days and giving up.

So here's to change, and all the positive benefits that may come with it! What changes, if any, are you making in your life this year?

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Bloglovin!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

So in order for people to easily follow me (hah) and mostly for me to easily follow people, I have most definitely jumped on the Bloglovin bandwagon way after most people are probably over it, but there we go. I'm late to pretty much everything in life, things are not going to change on this blog, not for no man! Anyway, my Bloglovin link is there if you wish to follow, I will provide tea and cake if you do like a proper hostess.

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