100 Facts About Me

So in my 25 Things To Do This Summer post (and also my 101 in 1001 list) I stated I wanted to write 100 facts about me and publish that on the blog. This is something that I have struggled with as 100 things is quite a lot! Today’s post is going to be those 100 things. I’m keeping the introduction brief as this is going to be quite a long post, here goes.

1. I have never fallen over whilst ice skating. One time I collided with my friend and thought we would both fall but I stayed upright and he managed to do some sort of flip and land on his feet. I wish we’d caught it on camera.
2. I love my Dwarf Hamster, Humbug, more than anything. He’s got the cutest little face and I just love him.
3. I dressed up as a ghost every year for Halloween when I was small, I painted my face white, wore a white cardigan and white skirt. I carried a white teddy too. Once someone asked if I was a snow queen and I was so upset.
4. I love musicals. I want to see all the ones I can in London at the West End. Wicked will always hold a special place in my heart as the first (and so far only) one I’ve seen there.
5. My favourite colours are blue and grey, as you can probably tell from my blog colour theme. When I have my own flat/house, these colours will be the theme of my living room. Probably with grey running through the whole flat/house with a different colour accompanying it in each different room.
6. My dream job is to be a child psychologist but I’ve really messed that up for myself so I really don’t know what I want from my future.
7. People that say ‘brought’ when they mean ‘bought’ and ‘women’ when they mean ‘woman’ will literally be the death of me. I cannot deal with it. Also people (Jordan) who say ‘renember’ no, just no.
   
8. If I could spend my life in one place, it would be a tropical beach somewhere looking out to sea with a book in one hand and cocktail in the other. I blame my holiday to Thassos, Greece for this.
9. I want to travel everywhere I can. I want to see the beaches of as many different countries as I can.
10. My favourite food is a cheese toastie. But only with brown bread and only if I make it myself. I’m a very fussy eater and have some sort of fear(?) of eating a ham sandwich on white bread. I can’t think of anything worse.
11. I hate being on my own, however, I often feel like I can’t get things done with people around.
12. My favourite part about baking is the icing.
13. I have an obsessive personality. I get really into something and do it constantly until I find something else to obsess over. At the minute my obsession is fresh orange juice and lemonade.
14. I’m also obsessing over youtube at the moment. I’m contemplating starting a channel to go alongside my blog but I don’t think I will ever do it.
15. Shopping for home stuff is my favourite thing. I love candles and decorative items.
16. I’m terrified of the dark. Also going past windows at night.
17. I feel a bit sick when people let animals on their beds.
18. My favourite job at work is sweeping the floor. I also really enjoy mopping (but I don’t do this at work). I shouldn’t really sweep the floor either as it’s the cleaner’s job, not mine, but sometimes I just can’t help it.
    
19. French films are my favourite films.
20. I think Lie To Me is my favourite TV show. Everyone should watch it.
21. I don’t like feeling ‘restricted’ when I’m sleeping. If the duvet is tucked somewhere you can bet anything I will pull it free. This annoys Jordan as it means he can never be cosy.
22. I love pick n mix. The gummy worms are my favourites.
23. I’m not religious at all. I have been baptized catholic though but I have no belief in it whatsoever.
24. I love everything about Christmas. I love Christmas shopping and buying things for people and I love wearing big jumpers and my leggings and slippers. The actual day has lost a lot of its magic now I’m older though.
25. I can’t wait to have my own children and see the magic of Christmas through them.
26. I can cook a pretty mean risotto, but that’s about all I can cook.
27. I have one older brother (23), one younger sister (18) and a younger brother (14) all who you can see in this post.
28. The word svelte makes me laugh, how do you even pronounce that? What does it even mean?
29. One distinct memory from my childhood is being at the park with my cousins and one of them saving ‘what do you want to be when you grow up’ and my answer was ‘a tree climber’ and his response was ‘what, even when you’re all grown up, like 17, you want to climb trees?’. It still makes me laugh that we thought being 17 years old was ‘all grown up’.
30. I still have the first ‘proper book’ I was given as a child. My Nana bought it for me as a ‘now you can read’ present. I have it here at University with me.
31. I had chicken pox really badly when I was three years old. I couldn’t walk because they were all over the soles of my feet. They were also down my throat. I have scars all over my body from where they were.
32. I had pneumonia when I was 2 and spent time in hospital. This is the reason I caught chicken pox so bad because my immune system hadn’t fully recovered.
33. I hate mashed potato, and always have. When I was small my dad was feeding me in my highchair and I spat mashed potato all over him. He was not impressed and I still hate mash.
34. I love bingo, although I’m too scared to shout if I win. I won once and didn’t shout and won another time and shouted so quietly they weren’t sure if anyone had called or not.
35. I can never understand people who only sleep with one pillow. I have three and sometimes feel like I need more.
36. My P.E shorts in school were aged 3-4 and were the same pair from when I was 3 to when I was 11.
37. My work trousers I wear now are actually the black school trousers I’ve been wearing since I was 12.
38. My three best friends are all way taller than me.
39. I read 8 books in 10 days when I was on holiday in Greece. I haven’t read much since that though which needs to change.
40. I love wearing dresses but I only have one casual one because everything is always the wrong length! Make more petite clothes please!
41. I do not enjoy Game of Thrones. Much to the disappointment of everyone I speak to.
42. I get VERY grumpy when I’m tired. You can usually tell it’s time for me to go to bed because full sentence replies will just stop. It’s one word or its nothing.
43. I cannot speak in front of a group of people. If I have to, I lose the ability to read properly and stutter so anything I’m saying is just not understandable anyway. It’s quite painful to watch actually.
44. I hate loud noises.
45. I was the first girl born from my Mums side of the family. I have one older brother (mentioned above) and three older male cousins.
46. When I wear my pyjamas I feel tiny.
47. Looking back on school, most of my memories are from Maths. In terms of the social aspect, it was my favourite class.
48. At GCSE I achieved nine B’s, one A and one C and I was (and still am) disappointed in this.
49. My due date was my Dads 40^th birthday, but I was born 25 days late on the 27^th June 1993.
50. I drink all my drinks through a straw, unless they are bottled.
51. I hate Halloween. I don’t like people in costume. They freak me out. Especially clowns, why are they even a thing?
52. I have a juicer so I can make fresh homemade juice. My favourite combination is watermelon, mango and granny smith apples. Yum!
53. My current dream is to move to Brighton. I really don’t know why.
54. My lucky number is 27 although I can’t actually remember a time it has ever been lucky for me.
55. I love clothes shopping, but rarely find anything I actually like.
56. I own two pairs of jeans, one needs badly replacing and the other one are too light to wear at the minute. Jeans never fit me properly.
57. I can’t swim.
58. I love hot chocolate, but only smart price hot chocolate and only if I’ve made it myself and have a ripple to dip in.
59. I love horse riding but I’ve only been three times.
60. I love lists.
61. I have about 20 notebooks I’ve collected but I can’t bring myself to write in them and ‘spoil’ them. I may have a slight addiction to pretty notebooks.
62. I only ever drink coffee when I’m at my parents’ house.
63. When I was in primary school we had a Harry Potter themed fancy dress disco. My brother went as the Nimbus 2000 and I went as the Golden Snitch.  To make my costume my mum bought a balloon you could blow up to three feet and paper mache’d it, and then painted it gold. We stitched gold strings into the sleeves of a long sleeved black top so that when I put my arms out they looked like wings. I won first place but no one knew what I was.
64. Also fancy dress related. At another fancy dress disco, this time Christmas themed, my sister went as a candle, I went as a chocolate coin and my little brother went as a door with a wreath on. Apparently this year my mum had bought us all really normal costumes (santa, angel, reindeer) but the day before the disco we decided we didn’t want to wear those and spent the evening making new costumes.
65. When I went to see Man of Steel in the cinema, I fell asleep three times. It really was a boring and predictable film!
66. I don’t tan, but I genuinely feel like my life would be better if I did.
67. I have a lot of freckles thanks to my recent holiday. I really hate them.
68. One day when I was about 16 I said ‘I’ve never been in an ambulance’. Literally just the next day, I had a fit and was taken to hospital in an ambulance alongside my little brother who had cut his arm open so badly he needed stitches. My parents thought I was messing around because I hate blood. The blood and the fit were unrelated.
69. I’ve already named my future children.
70. I don’t like ice cream, but I buy white chocolate magnums so I can eat the chocolate and then throw the ice cream away.
71. I love going to theme parks but I hate rides that go upside down. The only one I can tolerate is Air at Alton Towers and this is only because my feet are secure and not dangling.
72. Play fights will always turn aggressive. If you tickle me, I will get mad and I am not responsible for your injuries.
73. So far it has taken me three days to get this far in the list.
74. People who write ‘collage’ when they mean ‘college’ really annoy me.
75. I love perfumes but I only own two as I don’t have the money to buy more at the minute! The two I have are Dot by Marc Jacobs and Flirty Alice by Vivienne Westwood.
76. I cry every time I watch Don’t Tell The Bride. Every. Single. Time.
77. I desperately want to own an iMac desktop computer. But the only reason for this is because they just look so pretty and neat!
78. The exclamation mark (!) is my favourite piece of punctuation.
79. I don’t like going in lifts (or elevators, whatever you call them). Especially if they are glass. No thank you.
80. I don’t like being stuck in the house all day. If I have the day off and I do nothing with it, I might as well be at work!
81. I really love tennis. But I can’t play properly, I just like running around the court hitting the ball to each other.
82. The weather really affects my mood. If I wake up and it’s sunny, I want to get all dressed up in nice clothes and go out for the day, whereas if it’s raining I want to stay in my pyjamas and watch TV in bed.
83. I visited Disneyland Paris when I was 14/15 with my family for one weekend in January. It was freezing cold but I really loved it. Even though I spent a lot of the time queueing for rides I wouldn’t get on. I want to go back in the warm and actually get on the rollercoasters!
84. In my life I have had ballet, irish dancing, drumming, violin and basketball lessons and quit them all!
85. I really wish I’d carried on with ballet though; I’d love to be able to dance!
86. Billy Elliot is one of my all-time favourite films.
87. I can’t paint my own toe nails. My sister does them for me when I go home to visit.
88. I have only just started using Twitter this year. Before that, I didn’t really understand it.
89. I always wanted to be a majorette and used to try and spin things like drumsticks through my fingers the same way majorettes did in parades.
90. When I was little, I used to LOVE Westlife. My favourite was Shane, however I DID NOT like Mark and used to scratch his face out of photos and posters of them. It’s a little psychotic for a small child to do that really now that I think about it.
91. I was named after Laura Ingalls. The girl behind Little House on the Prairie. My mum denies this and says I was named after my auntie, who is called Julie. I see through you mother.
92. I can’t always work out the time on a 24 hour clock. If the clock says 20:23 and you ask me the time I will say ‘twenty twenty three’ and you’ll have to figure it out by yourself.
93. I want a triple helix piercing but I think my ears stick out too much for it to look pretty.
94. When I was at home from school ill I used to watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and wish I could have all the cool things in my house.
95. I really dislike Jim Carrey.
96. I also don’t find stupid humour funny.
97. When I was in year three I got 149 out of 150 in a spelling test because I wrote ‘though’ instead of ‘through’. I think this will haunt me forever.
98. I can’t sleep all night if I have an alarm set for the morning. I wake up regularly through the night panicking that I may have missed my alarm. I prefer to just not set one and risk it because at least that way I know I will have some sleep.
99. I hate being late.
100. When I was little we bought the house next door to ours to knock through and make our house bigger. I got a new bedroom and my mum asked what colour I wanted it painting. I said blue but wasn’t allowed because it was a ‘boy colour’ so my room was painted pink and purple. I hate pink.

There we go! 100 facts about me. I can’t actually believe how long this took me. I spent three days writing this list and it was so difficult! I hope you learnt something new and interesting. If you have written a similar post please send me the link on twitter (@xx_laurabeth) as I love reading them!

OPI Miss You-niverse NOTD

As I stated in my October Blogging Goals post, I want to start posting NOTD (nails of the day) post's every Monday. Today I am wearing Miss You-niverse by OPI which is a lovely deep purple colour, The photo's above show one coat and no top coat. This polish is super shiny and very opaque! The colour went on very smooth with a slight dragging at the cuticles (please ignore how messy they are, I need to work on clean up). This is a lovely colour for Autumn and one I think will get a lot of use!

What's on your nail's today? Do you like OPI? Which colours should I buy next?

My 5 Favourite Posts

I thought I would do something a little bit different today and do a round-up of 5 of my favourite posts that I have written. I think I have seen some people do this on their own blogs and I have definitely seen people do 'monthly round-ups' similar to this! However, I do not post nearly enough to make this a monthly feature so I thought I would just cover what I have blogged so far! 

First up we have my 101 in 1001 post! This is one of my all time favourites (and yours too according to Google Analytics). I love a good list and after seeing Becky Bedbug write her posts I couldn't not write a list of my own! So far I have crossed off a few things but I am hoping to cross off a lot more soon!

Next we have the photo's I took on my holiday to Thassos, July 2014. This post is on here because I am super proud of the photo's I took whilst I was there, especially my dragonfly photo, but you'll have to go read the post to see that one!

I really enjoyed taking part in the campaign to raise money for the Alzheimer's Society as it is a charity very close to my heart and something I feel needs more attention! I wrote a post about My Favourite Memories to help raise awareness and money for the charity! A couple of other bloggers joined in too and wrote their own post. There's still time if you want to join in yourself!

The next post is also charity related and one I feel definitely does not have enough attention or awareness! The name is Post Pals and you can find out more about the charity from my original post but basically it's a way to send gifts and letters to children with disabilities and illnesses. It's such a lovely cause and one I fully support!

Last of all is actually the first post I wrote when I restarted my blog! The Self Love Tag was one I really enjoyed writing and I am all about self love and being confident in yourself. This was a lovely tag to do and really made me think about ways to love myself and what makes me happy!

Which posts have been your favourite to write? And read? I'd love to read them so leave a link in the comment section below! Do you like round-up post's like these? 

October Blogging Goals

Like everyone says at the start of a new month, I actually cannot believe we are in October already! Although it seems ages away since I went on holiday, it doesn’t seem two minutes since I was writing my September blogging goals and that was a whole month ago! This month is the month I start my Christmas shopping, with only 3 days to go till the big day I want to feel more in control of my money and more prepared this year. Anyway, onto the main purpose of today’s post, how did I get on with last month’s goals and what are my goals for this month.

September Goals

• Post two posts a week – I posted 5 posts last month so not quite 2 posts a week but I am happy with that. I felt very on top of things in the first week or two and then blogging slipped to the back of my mind due to FYP and Dissertation related stress.
• Post two day trip posts – This one failed. I did however go on one day trip to Milton Keynes and I took some photo’s so expect a post relating to this!
• Post two more wish lists – Again, another fail but this is because I haven’t been wishing for anything (other than a holiday) as I have had a bit more money this month and anything I have wanted I have just bought myself. I need to learn some restraint!
• Finish my university mini-series – I feel like this is finished as much as it can be as the timing of the posts wasn’t fantastic on my part. I have posted three posts which you can find here, here and here if you fancy a read!
• Comment on more blogs – This has been a success! I have commented on a lot more blogs than I normally do and have found a lot more blogs I love through doing so.

So all in all, I failed two goals and succeeded on two and feel okay about one. I’m taking that as a success. With these things in mind, my goals for the month ahead are:

October Goals

• Post two day trip posts – I will write up my Milton Keynes post and publish that and I am also hoping to visit another new place so this month so I will write that up too.
• Post a NOTD (nails of the day) post every Monday – I know I will always have Monday’s off work so this is the perfect time to paint my nails and also is a start of the week pick me up. Is there anything better than freshly painted nails?
• Finish my 100 Facts About Me list and publish it! – This post is part of my 101 in 1001 and has been in my drafts for the past two months. All I need is to add more images and then it can go live!
• Comment on more blogs – This is probably going to be a goal for every month as it feels great to give comments and I know it’s lovely to receive them, so with this goal I am hoping to spread some positivity through the blogging world.

Those are my goals for October. You may notice I haven’t specified a ‘post X times a week’ goal this month as I get too focussed on the numbers and feel bad about my blog when I do not meet this goal. The whole point of making these goals is to improve my blog each month and feel happier with where it is going and if I am feeling negative about certain goals then it is not helping.

What are your goals this month? Let me know in the comments section below!

10 Things To Do This Autumn

I’ve noticed the season seems to have changed to Autumn over night! Leaves have turned brown/orange/yellow and have fallen off the trees and the air definitely seems to have more of a chill to it than last month. With this in mind, I have decided to create a 10 things to do this autumn list, similar to the one I published for summer. I’m giving myself until the 1^st December to complete this list as December signals winter to me! This season I am only planning 10 as I have started my third year at university and have a lot of work to be done before Christmas. Some of these things you will have seen featured in my 101 in 1001 list. So here goes! 

1. Go to the park to feed the ducks
2. Write 1000 words of my dissertation
3. Visit three new places (and take my camera)
4. Get my hair cut
5. Write three letters to children from the Post Pals website (read my post about this here)
6. Order my provisional driving license
7. Book my Christmas holiday!
8. Make popcorn in a pan and watch a movie
9. Carve a pumpkin
10. Learn to cook chilli

So these are the ten things I hope to accomplish this autumn. The list doesn’t seem too long and definitely feels doable to me. I’ll report back in December to see how I got on! Do you have a list of things to do this autumn? Let me know in the comments section below! 

University Tips - Packing for University

I started a little mini-series in August focussed around going to university. So far I have published a movinginto halls of residence tips post and the second post was a money saving atuniversity post. Today I am posting a checklist of what to pack! It’s moving in weekend this weekend for my university but I know some start later so hopefully I’ll still be able to help a few people out! These are going to be things you may have forgotten, not the usual list of pots and pans! 

• Calendar – This is overlooked but is something you will definitely need. You can write all your deadlines, important lectures, doctors’ appointments etc all on here so everything is in one place.
• Books/DVDs – Take with you all your feel good films and your favourite books, also new ones you have to read! These are great conversation starters with your new flatmates; they may even have the same film as you! They are also good for times you may feel a little bit homesick as you can just pop on a film or read a book and feel better again.
• Decorative items – These will help you make your new room feel like a home, somewhere you want to spend your time. I cannot stress enough how important it is to feel ‘at home’ at university. It will help you out so much in all areas of your university life if you have somewhere you feel relaxed and able to unwind. I personally didn’t unpack for a couple of months and once I did I felt so much better about being there!
• Door stop – Chances are, your bedroom door will not stay open on its own. With this in mind a door stop will be your best friend. It’s so important to have your door open, especially in the first week so that people from your flat are able to pop their heads round and say hi!
• Camera – A small digital camera comes in really handy anyway, but especially at university as you want to capture all the memories. They are also great to take on unexpected days out. I take my camera everywhere with me!
• Fairy lights – There doesn’t really need to be an explanation for this one does there? Fairy lights make EVERYTHING cosy and cute!
• Extension leads – This one is a bit boring but there is never enough plug sockets! Surge protected ones are best so that your electrical items are protected.
• External hard drive – You can get these pretty cheap these days and they are definitely something worth thinking about. You need to be backing up your work, excuses like ‘my laptop broke’ the day before the deadline won’t cut it at university. If you haven’t got at least two copies, you haven’t done the work!

This is just a small amount of the things you should be taking with you. I know I took so much more than this and filled a campervan with all my boxes! If you have any other things you think I have forgotten (aside from pots, pans, clothes, and other obvious things) leave them in the comments section below!

NYC Sidewalkers NOTD

Just a quick post today to show you what's on my nails. This is one coat of NYC Sidewalkers and it is opaque enough to cover my nails. Two coats would work for a stronger colour or longer nails. Grey is my favourite colour all year round but there's just something about Autumn that makes Grey perfect for your nails!

What colour is on your nails? Do you love grey nails? Let me know in the comments section below!

25 Things To Do This Summer REVISED

So, the start of September signals the end of summer to me, although I personally felt summer had ended way back at the start of August this year. I think this was due to my holiday at the start of July and then feeling like I was running out of time until university started again. But now I know I’m running out of time and I don’t really know how to feel about it. But anyway, today I will be re-posting my 25 things to dothis summer list and crossing out the ones I accomplished.

1) Finish writing my diary of my holiday to Thassos and create a scrapbook to go with it.

2) Have a girl’s night with my friends either in town or at my house when I move in.

3) Go to Alton Towers with Jordan, Shan and Sam

4) Get my hair cut

5) Spend the day with my mum

6) Have a games night with Jordan

7) Make a list of 100 facts about me (and publish here) The post is in my drafts waiting for photo's.

8) Go swimming

9) Visit Wales for the day and explore a new place

10) Revisit Warwick Castle on a sunny day and take better photo’s

11) Have a weekend away (maybe York?)

12) Spend a day baking and decorating buns!

13)Buy a slow cooker

14) Go for a picnic in the park

15) Feed the ducks

16) Go shopping in London

17) Read at least 10 books

18) Buy a play pen for my Russian Dwarf Hamster Humbug

19) Go on a few bike rides with Jordan

20) Plan/book our New Year’s holiday

21) Plan/book our Christmas shopping trip to Liverpool

22) Learn to cook something new

23) Hold a giveaway on my blog

24) Start my savings again

25) Organise my new bedroom!

So out of 25 I managed to complete 4 things. That is really not very good at all. I have had well over a month to complete this list and I know it isn’t a serious list that I had to religiously stick to, but seeing how little I managed to do compared to what I wanted to achieve has made me think I have wasted my summer a little bit. I have been working quite a lot recently so that could explain it and I haven’t had very much money to live off but I could have easily organised my new bedroom or had a games night as both those things are free.

Did you manage to do everything you wanted to this summer? Did you make a list of things you wanted to do? If you did, leave a link below and let me know how you got on!

September Blogging Goals

Today is the first day of September and with a new month comes new goals for the blog. I will revisit last month’s goals to see how I got on and then make new goals based on this and what I want to achieve this month.

August’s Goals

• Post 2 outfit of the day’s (OOTD) – I have not managed to accomplish this at all. The plan was to take outfit photos in the garden, but after moving to the new house I saw that the garden wasn’t how I remembered it to be. This goal could have been achieved by simply taking photos inside the house so this is marked as a fail.
• Post two posts a week – I managed 5 posts in total in August (including the original goals post) and managed to post twice in just one week out of four. This was also a fail but I think I really tried at this one so I’m not too unhappy about it.
• Post three day trip posts – I have not been on any day trips this month so had nothing to post about. Hopefully that will change in September though so this will be an ongoing goal.
• Post more nail art – I haven’t even painted my nails in the last month due to working 6 day weeks with food so this was a no go really. I still love nail art and do want to post more on my blog however this was a fail this month.

Looking back over these goals the only one I feel I even partly achieved was posting two posts a week and even then, I didn’t do as well as I thought I would. I had a lot of ideas for my blog throughout August (including my university mini-series), however somehow I did not find the time to update my blog or accomplish all that I wanted to.

With all this in mind, here are my goals for September:
September Goals

• Post two posts a week – I feel that this is something I will be able to achieve with a little forward planning and good use of the schedule button!
• Post two day trip posts – As we just discussed, this one was a bit of a fail last month so I’ve lowered the goal slightly and will start planning trips soon.
• Post two more wish lists – Wish lists are some of my all-time favourite posts to read and I just love creating them myself. As part of my 101 in 1001 list I stated I wanted to post 10 more wish lists to my blog and September is the month to get this started.
• Finish my university mini-series – This may seem a little late but I know some universities don’t start until October and I have a few posts in mind I want to get published. Part One can be found here and Part Two here
• Comment on more blogs – This is something that has always been a goal. When I receive comments on my blog it makes me feel as if this has all been worthwhile and I’m sure other people feel the same so with that in mind, I aim to comment on 10 blogs this month.

This has been quite a long post this time but let’s see how I get on this month. I have one more goal than last month but I feel these may be more achievable. Do you set goals? What are your goals for September, both in blogging and other aspects of your life? Let me know in the comments section!

Saving Money at Unversity Top Tips

Following on from the University Mini Series I started last week I am back with a new post all about saving money as a student. This is super important as once the money is gone, it’s gone and overdrafts are scary things! So the tips are as follows:

1) Smart price is your new best friend.

2) Freeze your bread if you aren’t likely to use a whole loaf in one week, or buy a smaller loaf. This saves on throwing out mouldy food. 

3) Buy fruit and veg from markets or veg stalls. Buying from these places is not only good for local businesses but also better for you as the fruit is a lot cheaper.

4) Learn to cook. One thing I learnt to make is homemade chips in the oven. One large potato from a market can cost as little as 20p and can make enough chips for 1-2 people.

          

5) When buying fabric softener, pour three quarters of it into a separate bottle and fill the original bottle with water. This works exactly the same as the original fabric softener it just lasts 4 times as long

6) Buy a money box you can’t get into! I bought a money box you can only open with a tin opener and started putting loose change in there after I’d been to town or shopping and it started filling up pretty quickly. I had over £60 in just a couple of months. This is a great way of saving for when your bank balance is looking dismal.

7) Student discount. Need I say more?

The next few tips are more along the lines of earning extra money rather than saving money but it all helps in the long run to try keep you out of your overdraft.

1) Aside from watching your pennies the best advice I have for saving money (or earning more shall I say) is a part time job. Get involved with the Student Ambassadors scheme at your university or apply for jobs working within the students union. These pay more than regular jobs and often the work is more flexible so you can avoid clashing with work with lectures.  

2) If you are doing an English/creative writing/journalism degree or if you enjoy writing, look up iTrigga. This is a company that hire you to work from home writing short advertising articles on different products. I am unsure of the pay but I imagine it is all good experience that is relevant to your course and will help to keep you earning money. It may also give you an idea of the career you want to pursue in the future. You have to send off a sample of your written work to the company to see if it meets their standards and then based on that they will employ you.

3) Install Qmee to your browser. If you search a lot through google this is a great one for you. You search as normal and sometimes an advert will appear in the sidebar of your search results with an amount next to it (i.e 6p). If this is relevant to your needs click this and 6p will be added to your Qmee piggy bank. There is no minimal amount you can withdraw from Qmee and it can be withdrawn straight to your paypal account. This is a great tool to use as you are saving as you go, albeit very small amounts but it all adds up in the end.

I hope this was helpful to you, it’s a little different to last week’s post but also very useful to know! If you have any further tips to add please leave them in the comments box!

University Tips - Moving into Halls of Residence

This is the start of a University series on my blog. I will be posting about what to take, tips for moving into halls and tips for moving into a house. I will add in anything I feel is important to know!

I have been at Staffordshire University for three years now and in September I will be entering my fourth. The reason I’ve been there so long is because I had what is known as a ‘false start’. This is where you apply to study one course but find it isn’t for you and switch to another course. I completed one year of an Early Childhood Studies degree and then switched to Film Production Technology. I have lived in halls and in a house so I have experience with both

If you are starting university in September then my advice for you is as follows:

Join the Facebook groups for your chosen university/accomodation – post an introductory post to who you are, what you will be studying and where you will be living! This is a great way to find people from the same area/course/halls as you and an excellent way of making friends.

Talk to as many people as you can before you go! – This is something that really helped me before I moved in. I found all my flatmates and spoke to them loads before moving in so once we all got there it felt like we’d known each other ages and all slotted together to form a group. I also spoke to people from my course which meant I recognised some faces when I attended the welcome week activities for my course!

Bring some things to decorate your room. – I think this is essential. You need to make your bedroom into a place you want to be and somewhere you feel comfortable. I didn’t unpack my things for about a month when I first moved in and I hated being in my bedroom, it wasn’t comforting and it just meant I had a rough few weeks. Once I had unpacked I felt much more comfortable and more accepting of the fact that this is where I will be living for the next 9 months.

Don’t visit home before Christmas. – This one’s a little bit tricky I suppose but I would recommend not going home until Christmas. This is because the first three months are crucial for making bonds with people and finding your feet living away from home. If you go home every weekend you are likely to miss out on a lot of activities within the friendship group and you also won’t feel as independent.

Make sure attend lectures (and actually pay attention). – This one sounds so obvious but it’s something that a surprising amount of people don’t do. It’s all well and good to go out partying every night and hang out with your friends until the early hours but if that mean’s missing your 9am lecture, is it worth it in the long run? Make notes and re-read them a few days later to see if you still understand. This is your future and you need to work for it. First year doesn’t count towards your overall grade but it is still very important as it covers all the basics you need to know for the rest of your degree.

I do have a lot more to say on this subject but I will save it for now. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask! I am happy to help, it’s a very exciting time in your life so be prepared for a truly great 3 years!

The Liebster Award

This is actually the second time I have been nominated for this award but I deleted the original post when I restarted my blog earlier this year. I was really happy to be nominated again, this time by the lovely Hera from Hello Hera.

The rules this time round seem to differ slightly to the original one I was tagged in but I will adhere to the rules stated in Hera’s post. 

So here are the rules:

1) Post the award on your blog

2) Thank the blogger who awarded you and provide a link to their blog

3) Write 11 random facts about yourself

4) Nominate 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers

5) Answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who presented you with the award

6) Ask 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer.

It all seems very focussed on the number 11! So let’s get started.

11 Random Facts About Me

1) I used to be left handed before I was hospitalised with pneumonia when I was two years old, the doctors assumed I preferred my right hand and placed the splint and drip on my left hand. I had to learn to use my right hand for everything during my stay and now I am right handed. Weird!

2) Following my recent holiday to Greece (June 2014, photo’s here) I seem to have caught the travel bug and after never having flown before, I now want to fly everywhere and visit everywhere!

3) I study Film Production Technology and Staffordshire University and I think I regret this decision a lot. Not the decision to go to university, just the decision of which course to study. Choose wisely!

4) I rarely wear make-up (except mascara, eye liner and lipstick on a night out) and I desperately want to change this. I just need someone to help me pick products and shades that suit me, and then show me how to apply it!

5) I am the second child of 4 children and would say I am the most spoilt, not by my parents necessarily but by everyone in my life. I’m not complaining though!

6) I am allergic to cats but I wouldn’t like them anyway even if I wasn’t. I am not an animal lover at all. Except for one special little bug in my life, my hamster (I think there’s a question about pets below so more on him later).

7) I once scored 100% on an essay I wrote the night before the deadline and thought for sure I’d failed.

8) I am far better at written assignments than practical ones which is why the third year of my degree scares me as, although there is a lot of writing involved, there is a LOT of practical work to go with it which I am just no good at.

9) I am still quite new to the blogging world and would love some blogging friends in my area! I live in Stafford, Staffordshire so anyone from around there send me a tweet!

10) I have recently become obsessed with youtube and spend most of the day watching vlogs, hauls and my favourites get ready with me videos!

11) (This writing facts about myself is really hard…) I have naturally ginger hair but much prefer it when it’s dyed purple. However, I have had to stop dying my hair in an effort to grow it to a much longer length. It’s a very slow process!

That was very tough! All my facts are quite long winded too, sorry guys! Now onto the questions Hera asked.

Hera's Questions 

What was the last thing you ate? – the last thing I ate was a homemade cupcake I made yesterday. My boyfriend brought it up to me whilst I was having a lie down due to a migraine, the little cutie.

Long nails or short nails? – I love the look of long nails more so than short but every time my nails grow long the snap off at work. I would say middle length nails are best though!

What time is it right now? – The time is 00.56am Friday 15^th August (although by the time this goes live it will be a very different time altogether!)

When was the last time you went on holiday and where? – Ooo I didn’t realise this would be a question! The last time I went on holiday was June 22d 2014 when I went to Thassos, Greece for two weeks and spent my 21^st birthday there too. Just my luck to spend my birthday in a country that doesn’t celebrate birthday’s though.

Favourite Disney film? – Has to be Cinderella doesn’t it! I used to watch it every single day when I was younger, and also played one of the ugly sisters in an assembly in primary school.

Any pets? – Yes! Just the one, my lovely little Russian Dwarf Hamster Humbug! I love him so much, he’s just the cutest!

How long have you been blogging for? – Well, I have been blogging in total for over a year now but I recently decided my nail blog just wasn’t enough to fill my interests so I deleted everything and started again with the blog I’m writing now. I feel so much happier now that I am not contained to just one niche and I am able to write all the things I want to.

How long was your longest break from blogging? Hours? Days? Etc. – My longest break has to be a few months as I was stuck with where I wanted my blog to go. I didn’t want to start a new blog and lose interest again if it didn’t work out how I wanted so I took a few months to sort out where I wanted it to go before starting up again.

What colour is your hair? – Natural redhead.

Favourite scent/smell? – Ooo, this is a tough one! My Flirty Alice perfume is one of my favourite smells but then my boyfriend’s Hugo Boss aftershave is pretty nice too! And the smell of Christmas, the wrapping paper, new things, food. I think its Christmas. Christmas is my favourite smell!

Your biggest achievement? – That’s a tough one! I really don’t know this one at all. Nothing is coming to my mind as something I have achieved but I’m sure there’s lots of things! I can’t answer this one, sorry!

My questions to those I am about to nominate are:

1) How long have you been blogging?

2) Who was your inspiration for starting a blog/what was the reason you started blogging?

3) Where in the world would you most like to visit?

4) Do you have any pets?

5) What is your favourite colour?

6) What was your most favourite blog post you have ever written?

7) (This one isn't really a question but I thought I would stick it in anyway) Check out my Favourite Memories for Alzheimers post and write one of your own!

8) How many siblings do you have?

9) Do your friends and family know about your blog?

10) If you could guest post on any blog, which would it be and why?

11) What is your favourite food?

These were all very random questions but just go with it! Next up are my nominees. I haven’t actually got 11 people to nominate, I have 4 so if you want to take part then go ahead and say I nominated you!

S.H.A.Random

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