{ADVENTURE AWAITS//VISITING FRIENDS}

Whilst many of my friends packed up their bags and headed to university last September , there was a couple of us that were left at home in a seemingly, all of a sudden very quiet town. Now, I’m not gonna complain because I am a lover of home comforts and lazy days but being a bit of a social butterfly, I must admit I’m going slightly deranged being away from all my bestest friends stuck in the quiet old town of Tunbridge Wells. Luckily, my best friend Jo has been my absolute saviour and when we can, we get together and laugh for hours, be it at the gym, the pub, the restaurant or having a duvet day at home. But alas, the end is nigh and we are both finishing our final terms in a matter of a few weeks, meaning only one thing - ROAD TRIP. So the plan is to reclaim back all those nights out that we missed out on over the year with our chumettes by visiting them all at university! It’ll be the best way to welcome in the summer and celebrate FREEDOM. Let the journey begin, adventure awaits!….in two weeks.

{100 DAYS TO THE OLYMPICS}

So today they announced that there was only one hundred days until the grand Olympics arrive in London town and frankly, I am down right excited. Fortunately, I was one of the lucky ones to receive a ticket to the event, winning tickets to Men’s Semi Final Diving which I can’t wait for. I used to dive a fair amount when I was younger so it’ll be amazing to see the pros at work and fingers crossed see the cutie that is Tom Daley. It will be incredible to see the Olympic village too, and see all the hard work they’ve been putting in for the Olympics. I know some people are pretty negative about the Olympics, and a recent study on the radio said the further away from London people are, the less excited they are about it, but I think its a real privilege. I feel over the past couple of years, I’ve really become proud to be british, and I think a whole part of this is how we club together and act as a real community when events come around the corner, be it Royal Weddings, Jubilees or the Olympics. It makes people get together in celebration of being British, celebrating all that is great about our powerful little country and all that it has to offer. People can moan this and that about Britain, but at the end of the day I wouldn’t have it any other way. Fair enough, rain, drizzle and cold do dominate the British weather scene quite a bit but really, I quite like it. Of course I love the sun, but I think if it was as boiling hot as on holiday, we’d still be complaining all the time! It’s an infamous British trait and always will be. So all in all, I am thrilled the Olympics is heading our way so soon and I am more than ready to get in the spirit of it all and celebrate our country, the beautiful and brilliant old Blighty.

{100 days to go}

{fingers crossed I'll be seeing this cutie in the semi-finals}

{NEW FAVOURITE CAFE//FINCH HOUSE}

Today I went to meet up with some friends for coffee before everyone starts to go their separate way, heading back to universities all over the country. So instead of going for the usual Caffe Nero, we decided to try out this new place near where we live called ‘Finch House’. It hasn’t been there long at all and it looked so lovely from the outside and inside too. We bagged ourselves a window seat and I began the long process of deciding what to have. Being a pretty indecisive person, I’d say it took me a good ten minutes to decide. Yes, you heard right, ten minutes. But oh was the long decision time worth it, I decided on a little Steak and Ale Pie which was absolutely delish. Others had a hot chocolate and a Banana and Malteaser milkshake which both tasted divine also. Overall it was a lovely little place, somewhere which was a bit different to the norm which was nice. I will definitely be returning there for future coffees and catch ups.

{EDF//NEW ADVERT 2012}

I literally cannot begin to explain how much I love this advert, it brings a little bit of joy to my life every time I watch it. I always find myself subconsciously bobbing along with the little orange thing whilst simultaneously wearing a bit fat cheesy grin on my face. Aside from the fact it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, it’s actually really good advertising, it gets people talking and makes people enjoy watching the video so much they actively seek it out to watch it again (i.e. Me). One things for sure, if I had to pay for gas and energy I know where I’d be heading! Well, only on the pretences that I’m given one of those little orange things. Obviously. 

{Chocolate Egg Nests}

Easter is just round the corner, so I decided to make some lovely little chocolate nests. The best thing about these is they don’t need to be cooked so mishaps are kept to a minimum! 

225g Plain Chocolate // 2 tbsp Golden Syrup // 50g Butter // Shredded Wheat (broken down) // Mini Chocolate Eggs

1. Line a 12 hole fairy cake tin with cupcake cases.

2. Melt the chocolate in a bowl set above a pan of gently simmering water. Make sure the water does not touch the base of the bowl. Stir the mixture until smooth.

3. Stir the broken up pieces of shredded wheat into the chocolate and just keep adding more and more until there is no excess chocolate and all of the shredded wheat is covered. 

4. Spoon this mixture into the cupcake cases and push the mini eggs into the centre of the nest. I managed to get these teeny tiny eggs from Asda but you can use standard size mini eggs too. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

{Heart Shaped Shortbread with Sprinkles}

For the Biscuits:

225g Plain Flour // 150g Butter, diced // 75g Caster Sugar

For the Topping:

Icing Sugar + water // Sprinkles of your choice

1. Preheat the oven to 180°c (350°F) Gas Mark 4.

2. Rub the flour and the butter together in a large bowl until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and bring the whole mixture together to form a stiff dough. At first it might seem like its not coming together, but just keep working at it. The heat of your hands will melt the butter and bring it together to form a dough.

3. Roll out the dough on a floured work surface to a thickness of 5mm and use your heart cutters to cut out your shape. Carefully lift from work surface with a palette knife and place on a baking tray evenly spread apart. 

4. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes until pale golden. Allow to cool on the sheet for a minute or two and then lift off carefully onto a baking tray.

5. Once fully cooled, mix up the icing sugar, the quantity being of your choice, ensuring it is of a double cream style consistency. You can then half dip the small hearts into the icing sugar and lay on a baking sheet, sprinkling on the topping of your choice on top of the icing sugar. For the larger hearts, its easiest to use the back of a spoon to spread the icing across half of the heart and do the same as before.

..and there you have it, lots of yummy little biscuits that are great for any occasion!

{ZOELLA//TOPSHOP MAKE UP//LIPSTICK}

{Topshop Lipstick in Ooh La La and Infrared}

I recently subscribed to a youtube channel by someone called Zoella and on the channel and her blog she talks about her love of Topshop lipsticks. Zoella mainly reviews make up and skincare products and fortunately, she has a very similar skin tone and hair colour to me and therefore most things she uses would suit me too. So after having a peek at the lipsticks she has in her collection, I headed to Topshop to have a look for myself. They had so many gorgeous colours to choose from, but one that mainly caught my eye was ‘Infrared’. This is a colour that Zoe raves about on her blog and it really did live up to its name. Its basically an orange lipstick with blue undertones, which sounds a little more daunting than it actually is, but it’s just a really lovely colour and suits olive skin really well. I think it will be so useful, especially in summer and I really like that its a pop of colour but its not entirely matte, it has a little shine to it which means its easy to wear in the day as well as in the evening. The other colour that I got is called ‘Ooh La La’, which is like a candy floss pink I’d say, and being a sucker for anything pink and sweet this just won me round instantly. Again it was the same style as the other one but perhaps more of a noticeable colour, bit more out there I’d say. Overall I was very impressed, having seen how lovely Zoe looked in the videos it has inspired me to wear more lipstick and to bring some more colour into my day to day make up routine. You can find her Youtube channel here http://www.youtube.com/user/zoella280390 and her blog here http://schoee.blogspot.co.uk/

{BEN HOWARD//LIVE}

Above is his video for Watch Listen Tell

After having his album on repeat constantly for at least a month, I finally got to go see Ben Howard live. Wow. That is all I can say, he was incredible and although I doubted it was possible, even better live. The crowd were so into it which was great, and during an amazing rendition of ‘Old Pine’ with a crazy instrumental section, he managed to get everyone off their seats dancing, clapping and singing along. It was euphoric and a brilliant carefree moment that left me wanting more. I would love to see Ben Howard again if I had the chance, and hope his success just keeps on coming.