2015 round-up

Check out last years round-up.

So much has happened this year! The biggest thing that I did was to go travelling around Europe for six weeks with my sister Amy, where we visited eight different countries. I also went off to Reading festival on my own in the summer. In November I'd been working in my retail job for a year, and ended up handing my notice in two weeks later. I got a temporary job as a grotto elf, where I got to entertain children and talk about Christmas all day. And finally I turned 24.

Here are my highlights in pictures:

Jan: My sister's graduation; Feb: Spent a few days in London; March: girly weekend with my uni friends; April: weekend in Cardiff with my school friends; April-June: Europe; August: Reading festival; Oct: Met Carrie Fletcher at Cheltenham Lit Fest; Nov: Road trip to Salisbury to deliver a Christmas shoe box; Dec: Worked as an elf and spent my 24th birthday ice skating.

J :)

Meet Ivy Snowflake

This is Ivy, a young elf who has always dreamed of leaving Lapland and travelling the world, just like the humans she watches on TV. This year she's finally got her wish of adventuring into the unknown by earning a spot on Santa's pre-Christmas visit team. 

So Ivy, what elf can you tell me about yourself?
My favourite thing to do is ice-skating. There's nothing better than gliding across the frozen lake back home when there's snow falling. I also love a good snowball fight with my younger siblings. I've got 8 sisters, all younger than me. Elves tend to have bigger families than humans.

How did you get picked to be on Santa's team?
I actually applied the previous year and was unsuccessful so I was working in a factory that makes Christmas cards. Back in August I received a phone call from one of Santa's personal assistants asking if I'd come to an interview. Of course it was an offer I couldn't refuse. After the interview and a bit of paper work, I was invited to a training day and got to meet Santa. It was very exciting.




What does the job involve?
I talk to the children whilst they are waiting to see Santa, and then take them through. I also take a picture of the children with Santa, so they can remember their visit. 

Autumn is coming | BEDS 3

The nights are drawing in, the cold is approaching, and summer is coming to a close. But fear not, Autumn is on the way and there's a lot to be excited about.

Big, baggy, woolly jumpers - there's nothing better than curling up in a baggy jumper on a cold evening in front of the TV.

Hot chocolate - it's always a good time for hot chocolate, but Autumn makes it feel that extra bit special.

Vegetarian cosmetics brands | BEDS 2

(Disclaimer: the information provided here is meant as a starting point. It's important you do your own research into these brands and products before deciding if they meet your personal standards and beliefs. Companies regularly change their polices, practices and ingredients so it's important you keep up to date on whether they continue to meet your own ethical standards)

But how are cosmetics vegetarian if you don't eat them?

Many times I've been looked at like I'm an alien when I don't use something with the excuse 'it's not vegetarian'. However for a lot of people, being a vegetarian is more of a lifestyle than a diet. As we grow up we decide for ourselves where our morals and beliefs lie, and where the line between right and wrong is. This is different for everyone and for me I don't eat meat or it's derivatives, I don't wear fur or leather and I also use vegetarian cosmetics.

So what are vegetarian cosmetics?

I accept cosmetics as vegetarian if they say on the packet 'suitable for vegetarians' or if it is stated on the company's website. I also make sure that the company doesn't test on animals. These days there is an increasing availability of vegetarian products, many of which are very affordable, here are some of the brands I've come across.

BEDS 1 (Blog every day in September)

I watch a lot of Youtubers and one thing that's fun to do is VEDA (Vlog every day in August), as well as the other variants for each month. It's a way of putting up a bit of content each day and ends up with random creative videos that would have never otherwise been put up. Dodie Clark has just completed VEDA on her second channel doddlevloggle and you should definitely check it out because she is so lovely and talented.

Today I was looking over my blog, which I haven't posted on in months, and thought about how I wanted to get into writing more posts again. When suddenly it struck me, why don't I try posting every day for a month. Then I realised the abbreviation would be BEDS and thought what a great idea. So here it is, my first installment of BEDS.

Seeing as it's already a day into September, I won't have completed 30 BEDS by the end of the month. My aim is to do at least 20, so stick around and we'll see what I come up with!

J :)

A room with a view - Interlaken

Day 10 continued - Monday 4th May

Switzerland is absolutely beautiful. The views from the train as we approached Interlaken were stunning. All around were mountains, bright green grass, and a very blue lake. The rain had been left behind in Paris and was replaced by sunshine; I instantly fell in love with the place.

Paris in the rain

Day 7 continued - Friday 1st May

We got off the train in Paris and it was raining. Luckily our hostel was just a minute down the road from the train station. Yet somehow Amy and I still managed to go the wrong way, walking about a mile in the opposite direction. We turned back and this time when we were outside the train station we spotted the sign for St. Christopher's Inn, where we'd booked to stay three nights.

It was a weird feeling arriving in Paris, it's somewhere that I've seen on TV and read about so many times, often portrayed as a magical place where fairy tales happen. And to finally be there in person kind of felt like meeting a celebrity. Does that make any sense?

Blundering through Belgium and kissing frogs

Day 5 - Wednesday 29th April

Wednesday morning Amy and I packed up our bags again and said 'doei' (bye in Dutch) to Amsterdam. Well after we'd had some more pancakes from All Stars anyway.

The three hour train journey to Brussels flew by as I spent most of it reading 'The Miniaturist', which is set in 17th century Amsterdam, ' on my Kindle.

We managed to find our hostel without too much hastle and were surprised at how big our room was. The hostel itself looks like an old school.

We do not sleep on King's Day

Day 2 - Sunday 26th April

We started off our second day with a search for some pancakes that ended at All Stars restaurant and bar. We ordered pancakes with chocolate sauce and a glass of orange juice each. The pancakes that arrived were massive and very delicious.

Next we had a walk around and headed to the Anne Frank house. We queued for two hours in the cold rain and wind to get in, but it was worth it. It was really interesting to learn about Anne, her family and friends, and her situation. The house just looks like a museum so it was hard to see what it would have been like living there but I'd still recommend it to anyone visiting Amsterdam. Afterwards we had some hot chocolate in the cafe there to warm us up.

We ate a late lunch/ early tea by the Prinsengracht canal and took some pictures of the area before heading back towards the centre.

Every year people in The Netherlands celebrate King's (or Queens) Day, which is a national holiday in honour of the King's birthday. This year was the first King's Day for the current monarch and was held on Monday 27th April. The festivities start the night before on what is known as King's Night. It's common for people to dress up in orange so me and Amy brought orange 'me in Amsterdam' tops and crown head boppers to wear.

Arriving in Amsterdam

Day 1 - Saturday 25th April

Early Saturday morning Amy (you can find her blog here) and I finally set off on our European adventure! By half eight in the morning we'd arrived safely in Amsterdam after a short flight from Bristol Airport. After some breakfast at the airport, we found some brightly dressed dancers with the letters 'SPRING' near the exit and they we handing out daffodils to everyone. It was a lovely start to our adventure. Once we were outside, we saw one of the famous 'Iamsterdam' signs so of course we had to take some pictures and a selfie or two!

The airport is also a train station so we got our tickets to Amsterdam Central and hopped on a train. After picking up some leaflets from the information centre we started to have a wander around. It was quite a workout considering we had six weeks of stuff on our backs. We had some yummy food at and Argentinian restaurant called Cau, then attempted to find our hotel. We got a bit confused but eventually we found it.

Tiger is having some adventures too, here he is next to the wheel in Dam Square. Behind the wheel you can see the palace, and Madame Tussauds is to the left.

Raahh - Tiger found a big scary friend to hang out with.

J :)

Planning my European adventure

A week today I'll be setting off on an adventure around Europe for about six and a half weeks!

Me and my sister Amy have had this trip in mind for the last year, however we've only started making plans recently, we don't even know the exact date we're coming home yet. We plan to fly out to Amsterdam and fly home from Italy, possibly Sicily. Whist we're there, we'll get around by train using our Interrail passes and other public transport. There's still a lot we've got to figure out over the next week, but here's what we've got planned so far.

Initial Itinerary

Saturday 25th April - Arrive in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (this also happens to be our parents anniversary)

Sunday 26th April - Visit Anne Frank's house

Monday 27th April - Celebrate Kings day - this is a national holiday in the Netherlands that celebrates the Kings birthday and everyone dresses in orange.

Tuesday 28th April - Visit Utrecht for the day

Fields of green - Style haul #2

When I was a kid, about 90% of the clothes I wore were green, because that's my favourite colour and my parents always let wear whatever I wanted. So in most of the family pictures I'm dressed head to toe in green! Below you can see a few examples.

Left: green flowery dress with pink Barbie arm-pads that match the (out of shot) Barbie roller blades. Right: emerald green cardigan.

Now that I'm an adult (how did that happen?) I like to wear a whole range of colours. However I've noticed that the items I've bought recently are all green. I also painted my bedroom mint green a few months ago, which my younger self would approve of.

2014 round-up

A lot has happened since my last post: I graduated from Coventry University with a first in Business Maths, got a job in retail and turned 23!

Here are my highlights from 2014:

I submitted my dissertation, saw McBusted live (picture source), finished university, went to Download festival, did the Cotswold Care Flying Colours Run, redecorated my bedroom, got a retail job, officially graduated and turned 23!

J :)