Weekly Digest

STARTING UNI...AGAIN

This week was probably the strangest of my life. I never ever expected to feel so overwhelmed and frightened and nervous in the city that's been my home for 22 years; but that's how I felt on Tuesday finding my way through Leeds University campus.

Luckily I had nothing to worry about, I've so far managed to find everything okay, I feel ready to work, and I even made friends (I hope) and that fear has now partially transformed into excitement for the coming year.

In honour of my being about to embark upon 12 months of very hard work I celebrated today by not getting out of bed until 11am, only leaving the house to buy food and the comfiest pair of sweatpants in the known world, and then taking a 4-hour nap.

Sweatpants - F&F at Tesco

Real-time update: I'm still in bed watching the X Factor right now.

Only partially, I'm obviously still absolutely terrified - more on that in a post next week.

Also this is what I wore on my first day: 

Scarf - H&M

Blazer - ASOS

Top - American Apparel

Lips - Kate Moss for Rimmel

RECOMMENDATIONS

Over the past week some really exciting and interesting posts have come out of the blogging community. Here are some I'd really recommend you take a look at:

Tales of an 'ugly' beauty blogger by Zoe London: http://www.zoelondon.me/2014/09/tales-of-ugly-beauty-blogger.html

Zoe tackled something here that I don't think anyone talks about enough in the beauty community, the problem of looking different in an industry which appears obsessed with 'classic' beauty. This is well worth a read for anyone who has ever felt they just don't look the 'right' way to fit in, wherever that may be.

5 things I'm not allowed to say by Scarphelia: http://www.scarphelia.com/2014/09/5-things-im-not-allowed-to-say-30-days-7.html

This article is so on point I'm not even going to try and summarise it; I was just nodding the entire way through.

Things to keep in mind by Milk Bubble Tea: http://milkbubbletea.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/things-to-keep-in-mind.html

A really nice, uplifting Sunday evening read which made me feel a lot better after an exhausting week. 

Lots of love, see you soon! 

xx

History 101: The French Revolution, The Best Bits

Dr Guillotin was actually the guy who located and accessed the tennis court for the third estate to meet and agree the monumental Tennis Court Oath, but that's not what he's most famous for. Honestly, invent one device that's used to chop 40,000 people's heads off and that's all anyone bangs on about.

Everyone was really ugly, apparently. Jean Paul Marat is described as having 'burning, haggard eyes' amd a 'toadlike mouth', Robespierre's features were 'repulsive' and was even described by his revolutionary counterpart Danton as having 'the face of a cat who tasted vinegar'. Camille Desmoulins on the other hand was at least 'ugly with an energetic ugliness', so at least he was putting some effort into it.

During the French Revolution, slavery was officially abolished in 1794, following a revolt and defeat of the French army on the island of San Domingo. It was then reinstated by Napoleon in the French colonies in 1802; but at least they tried.

The grave diggers on duty when Marie Antoinette was beheaded were so slow to bury her that a woman had time to sculpt a model of her head out of wax. That woman was Madame Marie Tussaud.

The Marquis de Sade was there, and his experience was a mixed bag to say the least. He was arrested twice and everything he wrote during his first internment was lost during the storming of the Bastille. The second time he was interred, he was marked as 'absent' on the day he was due to be executed and the next day the Jacobin government was overthrown. He was then put into an asylum, but his room had a four poster bed and he was allowed to build a theatre within the asylum to put on plays and operas.

During the time following the Storming of the Bastille people were so afraid that of the backlash of the Ancien Regime that sometimes panic erupted when villages in the countryside mistook the sunset for another burning village in the distance. 

A Week In Ireland

If you saw my last post you'll know that I spent a week in Ireland with my lovely friend Jenny and her family. It was the most relaxing week I've had in a very long time, I didn't think it was possible for me to sleep in until 9am but I managed it nearly every day! We were in County Wexford, out in a little cottage in the country and also very close to the sea. All of our surroundings were beautiful and I even got to go out fishing on the open sea. I couldn't recommend Ireland more highly as a destination for a break and hopefully I'll be back soon to explore some of its cities!

Here are some photos from my trip : 

See you soon with a more interesting and much longer post!

xx

Ireland: What I'm Taking

When you read this, I'll be in Ireland!

There will be no Weekly Digest this week as I'm away but I'll do this and an 'Ireland Digest' when I get home. I'm away for 7 days, and as I'm travelling on my own I wanted to keep my luggage fairly light and compact. Saying that, the cabin baggage allowance was only 7kg in a very small case, and considering we'll probably be spending a lot of time outside but also in the city, restaurants etc, that definitely wasn't enough for me! I booked a 15kg checked bag and now I can use my 7kg cabin allowance to it's full capacity.

Here's what I'm taking in my cabin and checked luggage: 

A book, notebook, pen, purse, iPod, cosmetic bag with tablets and hairbrush etc, handcream, lipgloss, lip balm and of course, my passport and boarding pass.

And here's what's in the red cosmetic bag on the left:

Vaseline roll-on deoderant (no aerosols allowed!), Clinique face wash, cleanser and moisturiser, Umberto Giannini Overnight Beauty Hair Balm, Marc Jacobs Honey body lotion and body wash, John Freida Sheer Blonde Shampoo.

I've also got boring things like a razor, hairbrush, a toothbrush, some decanted conditioner (Touch of Silver Daily Conditioner) and a very old, half-full pot of Lush's Ultrabland cleanser.

And finally, this is what I'll be wearing on the day I fly: 

Velveteen trousers - American Apparel

Shirt - American Apparel

Jumper - Hearts & Bows @ Ark

Boots - Next

Hopefully this might have been helpful for any of you that are travelling soon! There will be plenty of photos of what I wore whilst I was there so you'll get to see what I packed in my suitcase when I get back!

Lots of love!

xx

Weekly Digest

This week was a very busy one, for good reasons and pretty boring ones. I was working a lot, and the university have started emailing me pretty much daily with a long list of things I need to get sorted before I start there in just two weeks. I also have mock tutorials for next year's freshers to organise, On top of that I've had very exciting trip to Ireland to arrange and pack for; I'm spending a week with my gorgeous friend Jenny and her family near Cork, where I will do lots of walking and hopefully take lots of photos. I do have some posts planned whilst I'm away so if Blogger can manage to schedule them properly there should be one on Sunday and on Thursday too.

On the subject of photos I've also been very lucky to inherit my parents old camera as they've recently upgraded. So hopefully the photos on this blog will significantly improve very soon! 

WHAT I WORE 

Sunday BBQ

Jumper - Refectory @ TK Maxx

Shirt - River Island

Date Night

Shirt, Jeans & Belt - American Apparel

On our date night we went to see As Above, So Below and I have to say I was a bit sceptical, but I can't resist a horror film. Overall, I enjoyed it, I like the fact it wasn't just set in a creaky family home with a basement; it definitely made me want to visit the Paris catacombs. I did feel that maybe they tried to do too much and you lost out on character and especially back story/context because of that. Not my favourite film of the year so far, but definitely worth a watch if you're looking for something a bit different to the run of the mill supernatural horror.

Lots of love, see you next week! 

xx