Happy New Year!

Hey Guys!

Welcome to 2015, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are recovering well from your last night antics. Now every year you see all over social media people talking about "new year new me!" and about their resolutions which induces many eyerolls but personally I don't see it as the detriment people make it out to be. Yes you should constantly strive to improve yourself and yes life doesn't change in the space of a few minutes, but if it puts the motivation back into people I'm all for it!

The previous year without a doubt has been a hard one for me that I'm so happy to see the back of. I've had to come to terms with a lot of things mainly health related, I've had to switch jobs, I had to temporarily abandon my studies because of how ill I'd become and I've learnt a valuable lesson that people may not always be who they first seem. In contrast this year is going to be huge for me and I'm already accepting of the fact it's not going to be easy either, I'm finally starting a new chapter of my life and moving away from the town and people I've grown to love with all my heart. I'll be honest I've not been overly thrilled by this concept and previously have been filled with dread if I dare think about it for too long as I'm such a homebody. But hey, I guess we all have to do it at some point or another.

So much love for this picture - Source LoadingArtist.com

So in true cliche blogger fashion I'm going to make some new years resolutions and then next year I can look over them and see how many I've actually achieved and how many I've forgotten about and will inevitably end up on this list next year!

• Finally fly the nest and move out to university to pursue my passion. If you've been with me for a while you'll be aware that I had to postpone going to university for personal reasons but this year I want to change that and become a fine ass scientist.
  
• Be more open about my health. For the past five years i've been very private about my health issues and in ways embarrassed about it. This year I want to be more open about it with people and accept that if it's something I've go to live with then it's going to make my life so much easier if I just explain to people why I might have to leave early etc. People are more understanding than I give them credit for.
  
• Lose weight. Cliche resolution that needs no explanation, get rid of the christmas podge for good!
  
• Worry less. I'm a super anxious person and I don't deal well with people not liking me and have a tendency to fret over the smallest of details. This year I want to take a step back, let life happen and not get myself in a state about things that won't matter in a few weeks time.
  
• Do things that scare me. From being ill I've managed to convince myself that I can't do things that are perfectly normal and my social life's really taken a hit from it. So this year I'm going to force myself out of my comfort zone and reclaim my life.

That's all I've got for you today guys, what are your new years resolutions are are you against the idea and think goals shouldn't depend on the first day of a new year and roll your eyes at claims that "this year will be better". Either way I hope 2015 is full of wonderful things for every single one of you.

Love & TubTubs

Lush Review - Phoenix Rising & Lord of Misrule

Hey Guys!

If you follow me on twitter or instagram you will know that recently I had a bit of a splurge in Lush, spent far too much money, but now have the nicest smelling room in the world! Now I have far to many products to put into one post so I'm going to do a few separate posts over the coming weeks to review and share all of this amazingness with you lovely lot!

So the first product I'm going to talk about is a staple favourite of mine from Lush's permanent collection and that is the Phoenix Rising bath bomb. I would definitely say that I'm more of a bubble bar than a bath bomb person but this is an exception to the rule and something I will continue to buy until the end of it's days (which I solemnly hope isn't until after mine). This product is a beautiful metallic purple colour with a dusting of gold over it and once in the bath fizzles into a wonderful deep purple before fading into an as equally beautiful green colour.

The thing that completely wins me over with this product though is the scent of it! It's scented with cinnamon which gives off a perfect warming spicy scent that you only tend to find in Lush's Christmas products. This is a complete winner for me as I tend to stock up hugely on the Christmas products and it's nice that there is at least one staple spicy sent within the permanent collection to keep me ticking over once my christmas stash runs out. This bath bomb currently retails at £3.35 which is middle of the range for lush bath products and I think you could definitely get two baths out of this were you to chop it in half.

Final verdict 5/5, completely adore this product and will repurchase at every opportunity!

The second product was a limited edition product for Halloween and goes by the name of "Lord of Misrule", First impressions of this product are that it's huge, it's so much bigger than i expected it to be and you could probably get three baths out of it should you figure out a way to cut it, alas it's very solid in texture so cutting it could be a difficult and hazardous task. It's light green in colour with flecks of pinks and yellows throughout and when thrown into the bath gives of a beautiful unexpected rich ruby colour.

According to Lush's website it's scented with patchouli (had to give this one a google, it's a herb) and black pepper oil. I had someone pick this product up for me as I'd read this description online and thought it sounded right up my street. In my opinion it's not as spicy and peppery as I was expecting but instead has more of a fresh smell (I'm assuming that's the patchouli) combined with the smell of a lush store (even if you've never been inside a Lush store there's no getting away from the distinctive smell that invades your nostrils as you pass one). All that being said I do like this product, the scent isn't too heavy and the colours are breathtaking, it retails for roughly £4.35 (had to currency convert from the US site). However, as I said earlier it is one of the biggest bath bombs I've seen from lush and therefore I would say is worth the money.

Final verdict 4/5, not what I expected but still beautiful, smells divine, though I really wish it was easier to break up!

So that's all I have for you guys today, let me know which products you'd like me to review next and what are your favourite lush products? Until next time!

Love & TubTubs

Weightloss Wednesday : Week One - I Want Biscuits!

Hey Guys!

So today marks the first week of my weightloss journey and it's been a tad unconventional to say the least, had some really good days and some not so great days so here's to hoping it's all balanced out! By that I mean events such as Saturday when I was unfortunately taken into A&E which resulted in me not eating anything but a chicken sandwich all day due to not being able to hold down food. However, Friday I gave into my cravings and ended up having a curry with my family so definitely a week of highs and lows, not the best start to my journey but a start none the less.

As with the start of any diet my cravings have been through the roof lately! For some reason I have developed a strong affinity for tea and biscuits which I've only managed to control by either having to put calories aside then exhibit expert self control by only having one or two, or not allowing myself to leave my room once I've reached my calorie goal for the day. Smooth. I've also gotten the stomach pains and nausea from hell due to the change in my eating habits but I'm hoping that should settle down within a week or so and I'll start to feel less like I'm at deaths door.

So here's the part you actually want to know, how much weight have I lost since last Wednesday? Well I'm happy to report that despite the discrepancies I've actually managed to lose 4lbs this week!? Now my goal is 2lbs a week but as some of you may know you tend to lose more weight the first week of a diet due to water weight and things like that. I realised after publishing last weeks post that I actually didn't give any sort of indication to numerical goals at all after deciding not to publish my weight... which was stupid. So my current goal is to lose 25lbs at around two pounds a week, which means I should hit that goal by the 11th of February if all goes to plan. However with Christmas just around the corner I'm not expecting that to be the case and will try not to be too hard on myself if it takes that little bit longer.

Now I've also been thinking as to how I can make these posts a little bit more interesting and ways to further convince myself to keep going, so I've decided to start setting weekly goals to try and keep myself motivated. Now I'm not a gym bunny nor do I have the healthiest of lifestyles (obviously or there would be no need for Weightloss Wednesdays) so these goals are very much start small, dream big. However, they will hopefully keep me going in the right direction! This week my goal is to walk 10,000 steps a day which I'll be keeping track of using one of my favorite apps (review coming soon!).

So that's all I have to fill you in on this week guys, four pounds down and only twenty one to go...because that doesn't sound daunting at all! One final thing I would like to say is I have enabled Google+ followers meaning if you use Youtube, Blogger or any other google owned site you can now follow me using that account. So please do go give the icon a click as it's looking all lonely at the moment, thank you for reading and I'll talk to you all soon!

Love & TubTubs

Nailene Ultra Quick

Hey Guys!

So recently I was in London and whilst shopping in Camden I picked up some of the elegant touch false nails. For those of you familiar with this brand you will know that some of their nails come with adhesive tabs as opposed to the traditional nail glue for mess free application. Personally I prefer to adhere my nails using glue, so I also picked up a bottle of the nailene "ultra quick", which as I will come to explain now I thoroughly regret.

Tonight's blog post was going to be a nail of the day featuring some Halloween nails, unfortunately when I got home after sorting which nails would fit my minuscule hands I went to apply them, and no glue would come out of the bottle. Now I'm not a particularly strong person so I waited until my dad came home so he could get the glue out for me (because dad's can do everything right?). No such luck, after a solid half hour of squeezing and even biting the tube until both sides of the bottle touched no glue was coming out.

This leaves me with two possible conclusions. Either the nail glue had dried up during the manufacturing process due to a fault in the packaging -or- there was no glue in there to begin with. Whatever the reason I'm not a happy bunny. I would like to put emphasis on that this was a bottle straight out of the cardboard packaging and not something that I've had out on the side, I even took a picture of it in it's packaging earlier today because I wanted to review how well it worked as a nail glue which you can see above!

Now I know a lot of people use nailene myself included and have had really good experiences with it in the past and I'm in no way bashing the quality of the glue itself. However, this is only the second bottle I've ever bought and when 50% of purchases don't actually contain the product you paid for, you're going to be a bit pissed. This glue retails for about £4 which I believe is a perfectly reasonable price, should you actually receive the product. After looking at other reviews on amazon it's also been brought to my attention I'm not the only person to have this problem so please do leave a comment and let me know if you've had a similar experience. I'm waiting for payday to come around again so I can pick up some more glue and finally get these nail pictures out to you guys because they are beautiful beyond belief so don't panic I haven't given up on that front.

On that note if anyone has any nail glue recommendations do leave them in the comments below and I'll talk to you guys next time!

Love and TubTubs

Weightloss Wednesdays : A Confession

Hey Guys!

So as the title indicates I have a bit of a confession for you all. As some of you will know the start of last year I went on a weight loss mission and was successful in losing 35lbs and dropping down to a UK size 10. Recently following stress, comfort eating and a few to many nights out I have managed to gain back 25lbs which I am not overly pleased about (to put it mildly) so here begins my mission to re-lose the weight, and to keep me motivated I'm going to check in weekly with you guys!

For those of you who are new here and don't know me (and were likely lured in by the promise of pug pictures) hello! Quick rundown of what you've missed! I'm 5"4 so any extra weight I gain is not carried well, I'm currently a size 12/14 (previously a size 14/16), I gain weight in weird places (who has rib fat anyway!?) and I have a strong affinity for baked goods and my bed. Any questions?

Taken just before hitting the -30lbs mark in Spring

I made the realisation this needed to occur whilst struggling to get the zip done up on the dress I bought for Christmas (and having to face the reality this wasn't just a "shitty primark sizing" problem), And therefore I decided to weigh myself, then promptly wished I hadn't. Now originally I was planning to put my weight and measurements on this blog so you guys could keep tabs on my progress but as we all well know the internet is full of trolls so why add fuel to the fire. Sorry to disappoint guys it's just not something I feel comfortable doing at this moment in time.

As with any plan of action I need some goals, and as great as be a size 8 with wonderful boobs would be it's not the most obtainable of things for me to aspire too. I think my focus on this journey is to get back into size 10 clothes, by that I mean comfortably and not in a way that gives the impression of a sausage about to burst out of it's skin. I also want to be healthier as a general rule and not collapse into a gasping heap after climbing three flights of stairs to my labs or have stomach pains for days after eating something I probably shouldn't have. As to how I'm going to attempt this momentous task? I'm a student, I can't justify gym memberships and quick portable meals are a staple part of my existence so just as last time I'm going to put the focus back on just eating better foods, exercising more and generally stop having the approach of a hobbit when it comes to food.

Although the main idea of weight loss Wednesdays are for me to update you guys on my progress over the coming weeks I also want to throw in a few extra bits on the weeks that are a bit barren. I've already got reviews of the app and books that helped me lose weight in the first place but if there's anything else you guys want to hear about leave a comment and I'll give it a go! You're the ones supporting me by reading this so the least I can do is try and make things interesting!

Thanks for reading and I'll catch up with you all soon

Love and TubTubs

The Five Golden Rules Of Moshing

Hey Guys!

So I was inspired to write this post by my recent voyage to Reading Festival and the horror that was the crowds. In an effort for less people to have to experience the hell I did I thought I would enlighten those of you who weren't already aware with what we shall refer to as “mosh etiquette”. Moshing is a great way to blow off some stream and get the crowd going and I am definitely pro-moshing and never understand why certain venues try to ban it. However, as we know there is always that one asshat that feels the need to ruin everything for everyone else. So carry on reading if you don’t want to be “that guy” and let me explain to you five ways of not moshing like a complete knob! It's better to know now then to have a big pissed of metal head pick you up and kick you out.

Source: Editorial.bandwagon.sg

Rule 1: Pushing, shoving and even shouldering is acceptable. Kicking, punching and “hardcore dancing" are not. People get into pits to have a good time not to brutally beat up other members of the crowd. Don’t be an ass.

Rule 2: If there is someone stood on the edge of the pit who clearly doesn’t want to get involved (normally easily identifiable by the look of horror on their face and if female inappropriate footwear). Don’t pull them in! If you’re that guy that thinks it’s funny to throw scared thirteen year olds into pits, stop. Don’t be an ass.

Rule 3: As it so happens every now and then people will lose things in the pits, namely shoes, phones, wallets and dignity. If you find something that isn't yours hold it up and let the respective owner reclaim it. Don’t use the pits as an excuse to pick up a free iPhone or some extra booze money. Don’t be an ass

Rule 4: Every now and then some poor unfortunate soul will get pulled into a pit, if you see this person, get them out. It’s good mosh etiquette and good karma, don’t leave them panicking in the middle and even more so don’t make it harder for them to get out. Don’t be an ass

Rule 5: This one is a bit of a combination of rules three and four, in this kind of environment people are going to end up on the floor. If you weren't aware of that I would highly recommend reconsidering your choice of activity. However, as you may gather the floor isn't an ideal place to be and being trampled by a crowd of people isn't anyone's idea of fun. So if you see a fallen soldier on the floor, help them up. It might not be the most gentle of processes but at lend a hand if you can and even more importantly don't deliberately trample them or kick them when they're down. Don't be an ass.

So there you have it guy’s five basic tips to ensure you are not an ass! As light-hearted as this post is guys there is truth too it so keep this tips in mind when you make your venture into the wonderful world of live music. I might even make a follow up post for the non-moshers so keep your eyes out for that one!

Love & TubTubs

Reading Festival Rant 2014

Hey Guys

So every summer I throw myself into the world of festivals and this year was no different with me attending both Sonisphire and Reading Festival. When it comes to music I tend to gravitate towards the alternative scene however this still ranges over a large spectrum from glam rock to heavy metal so festivals such as Sonisphire, Download and Bloodstock are the obvious choices every summer. However, with me being local to Reading Festival I decided to go with a friend that had a spare ticket and even though the line up wasn't exactly to my taste there were a select few good bands and the idea of partying in a field for three days solid is always an appealing one. Hey what could go wrong right?



Source: http://www.readingfestival.com

 

Oh how wrong I was. Don't get me wrong I will be fair to Reading and say that some of the reasons I didn't enjoy my time there were down to poor decisions on my part and it did have some high points which I will get onto later but first let me get my little rant out of the way. Firstly the staff that were working for Reading Festival were definitely only there for the free entry, never in my life have I met more unhelpful staff who were constantly giving me wrong advice or not knowing answers to things they really should of. Now I'm not sure if this was down to poor briefing on the festivals part, or laziness on the members of staffs part but I picked up very quickly that if you wanted any helpful advice to look for staff members that looked like they really didn't want to be there. Another point I'd like to make is the amount of hiccups that occurred with bands sets over the weekend from the power going out during paramores set to bands having to stop mid-song because their instruments weren't tuned properly. I totally accept that things like this may happen here and there with such a huge event but it happened with 50% of the bands I saw and by Sunday was really starting to grate on me.

Another point that I really want to make is the crowds at Reading, now as I said before I tend to gravitate towards heavier music which means I'm no stranger to rough crowds, mosh pits and many drunk people in a small area. That said the crowds at Reading were nothing like I'd ever experienced before, even with the more mellow bands that I saw there were people starting pits left right and centre which is fine by me. However, these were not standard mosh pits these were people out to try and hurt everyone around them; kicking, punching even biting I saw it all and don't even get me started on the amount of young girls I saw being dragged into these pits that clearly wanted nothing to do with it and were scared shitless. Eventually I decided I'd had enough of being kicked in the head and went to leave the crowd which was a challenge in itself as it appears no one is willing to help you in anyway and you end up having to turn into an asshole yourself and push people out of the way to get yourself out. I guess mosh etiquette is wasted here and I'm just spoilt by the kindness of metal crowds, and they say we're the rough bunch!

A final point I would like to add to round off my Reading rant 2014 is that this assholery didn't end at the crowds and I received regular abuse walking around site, this hit an all time high when I group of guys decided to grab me and harass me on my way back to my tent on my own. I must say out of every music event I've ever been to Reading is definitely where I felt the least safe, and it takes a lot to unnerve me. Now these were the main points that really made the festival a total write off for me, sure there were other things that did annoy me over the weekend but I will credit that to me already not feeling great about things due to the above points and also some poor decisions on my part.

With my rant out the way I'm going to say that although I completely stick to my view that Reading 2014 was the worst festival I've ever attended it did have some high points which I will cover in my next blog post to prevent this turning into an essay. Hell it feels so weird to write a negative review on something but I really needed to vent my frustration about a wasted £200! So I'll talk to you guys very soon with a much happier outlook on things and even a few festival pictures thrown in there for good measure!

Love & TubTubs 

I Have Returned!

Hey Guys!

Long-time no see right? I'm sorry I've been popping up then vanishing again but let’s not focus on that and just be happy we're all here together at last. Awh. So today is September first which marks the start of a new academic year here in England, this means that students all over the country will be flying the nest and heading off to university to start the rest of their lives. Me? I'm staying put for another year to figure out exactly what I want to do with my life and generally pull my shit together before I have to take on any real responsibilities. 

That means today marks the first day of what is going to be one of the most stressful years of my life, not going to university until 2015 means I now must start the challenge of finding new friends, finding myself and getting to grips with the joys of being an adult (and can openers) and I wish to share it with you lovely lot!

The face behind the blog! Nice to meet you!

Not going to university doesn't mean however that I’ll be sat on my ass playing hayday and eating popcorn for an entire year, oh no. That will only make up 30% of my life. This year will also consist of me continuing my life as a student in an attempt to bump up my UCAS points, saving some money, traveling and more importantly to you lot, blogging! For the foreseeable future I want to document my life for you all sharing everything from study advice to reviews and how to’s. Pugs to Products. Music to Moomins…You get the idea.

With all that said and done it’s lovely to meet you all let me introduce myself, my name's Alexi, student and pug mother, preparing to grab life by the balls in what is looking to be a very interesting year. Go introduce yourselves down in the comments and I’ll speak to you all very soon.

Love and TubTubs

Because Sometimes Life Takes A Detour

Long time no speak eh? Don't worry i'll get the hang of this blogging crap one day...maybe. Anyhow my sudden inspiration to write another post stems from my chain of unfortunate events because to be perfectly honest this week has been crap! My trip to Wales to see my tribe was canceled due to a lovely infection in my toe, my "long term" partner and me broke up and just to top it off I got on the scales the other day and erm cried...Brilliant.

So as you can imagine I've not been in the best of moods as of late, in total honesty I've been in the worst mood, many pints of ice cream have been consumed and far to many hours have been spent in bed bawling my eyes out. But as the saying goes every cloud has a silver lining and this week has been so valuable in the sense of showing me what I still have left, in ways I feel blessed to have people in my life that are so compassionate and willing to take time to help me get my feet back on the ground. Within this I've received some fabulous advice and pick me ups which I want to share on here for me to refer to when I feel like my world is falling apart because lets be honest, I get into that mindset far to often!

"Don't worry about it too much, life does go on, even without our loved ones - Relationships come and go all the time at this point in our lives, it sucks but if you think about it, they weren't the one for you if things do go wrong and one day, you'll meet a person who makes you feel like you're living a lifelong dream."

"You're gonna pull through this even stronger and resilient than before. You're a kind, intelligent and beautiful person and you deserve to be happy. Whether that's with or without someone by your side, you're never alone because you have so many friends and a supportive family by your side."

"The only person you can rely on for your own happiness is you"

So there we have it future Alexi, life goes on, you've been through a lot of crap and whatever you're going through is just another thing to add to the list of things you've overcome in your life.

Now I'm off to go and write another post on the wonderful events that occurred before this week of dismay occored to cheer myself and this blog right up!

Love & TubTubs

Alexi 

"I had these memories all around me, so I wouldn't feel alone

Some may be from showing up, others are from growing up

Sometimes I was so messed up and didn't have a clue"

- Rose Tattoo

21/05/14 - Sam's 18th & Chemistry Coffee

Hey Guys!

Had a sudden bout of inspiration to pick up the iPad and start blogging again courtesy of my lovely Norwegian friend Kine (I seem to be picking up a regular stream of Norwegians now days, lovely bunch, maybe I can build up a fleet!). So the last month of my life has been mostly dedicated to revising my butt off for my final A-level exams however, (plot twist) I've decided to stay put in my home town for the extra year which means next year I'll have the joys of sitting these exams all over again just hopefully with less stress and reduced weight gain. I have many reasons to stay put for the extra year one of the main ones being a string of poor decisions in the previous past two years has meant the stress of moving to uni may cause permanent damage to my sanity, but I can't help but feel that topic should be a whole blog post in itself so I digress!

BBQ extraordinaries right here!

Because this seemed like a good idea at the time!

The birthday boy (pre-chunder)

The best people ever!

Aside from having my head stuck in a textbook and drinking unhealthy amounts of red bull I have actually had a few decent nights out the latest of which being the 18th birthday celebrations of one of my oldest friends Sam. We had a simple BBQ in his back garden followed by a night I don't overly remember down the pub but honestly it was a much needed night full of old friends I'd not had the chance to catch up with since starting my A-Levels. Highlights of the evening included Issac setting the BBQ on fire and Fluffy having the fabulous idea to put it out with a cider causing a mild explosion, Sam vomiting all over the pub carpet in true 18th style & spending £35 on shots that no body really liked haha. I do remember also rounding off the evening with a nice open mic session of "Fast Car" which is a beautiful song that made me very emotional (that said I am one of those drunks...Owp).

As you can imagine the next morning was hell and not made any more comfortable by having four hours of chemistry. As luck would have it though my chemistry teacher sensed my livers distress and got me coffee, best teacher award over here! So although short but sweet I'm going to depart from this post seeing as if my teacher's nice enough to fetch me coffee the least I can do is actually pass one of his exams so I'm off to drink more red bull and cry over thermodynamics. See you soon!

Love & TubTubs

Alexi

♫"And I, I had a feeling like I belong. And I, I had a feeling I can be someone" ♫

2013 Round Up!

Hey guys! So I've mentioned it a million times before but sometimes I like to use my blog as a diary to help me keep track of what I'm doing with my life. So today I'm going to share a roundup of my life in 2013 with you lovely lot. It's been a really big year to me and I've been through a lot of highs and lows, but I've come out the other side okay and I'm super excited to see what the new year has to offer! So without further ado lets get started, apologies in advance as I can tell this is going to be super long!

January
January was a blank slate for me and I really do think I made the most out of it, I started my weight loss journey very successfully and this is also when I decided to step out of my comfort zone and start talking to new people. This was the start of many wonderful friendships with amazing people from all over the world that I honestly feel blessed to have met, at the same time though a few long standing friendships fizzled out. I stand by my belief that this was no one's fault and sometimes people grow apart especially once you've left school and are starting to build your own identities and even though I'm no longer friends with these girls I wish them all the luck in the world with what they wish to do in life.

February

February was the month where my relationships with my new friends flourished and I really started to find my feet and come out of my shell. I attended social gatherings and really started to put myself out there I grew as a person and it also marks the first year I celebrated my birthday with more then three people. I've always been too scared to have parties because I worry that no one would show up but I'm super happy I did because it was the best birthday I've had to date!

Best birthday to date <3

March

March was a very male orientated month unfortunately filled with many bad decisions. It marked the end of my two year relationship which although hard at the time I came to terms with and am happy to report that we're still on good terms and there was no bloodshed. I also decided to meet up with someone I met on Facebook, he turned out to be both real and not a rapist which is always a good sign however it was a short lived friendship and I will completely take the blame for that one. I'm willing to admit that I hurt a fair few people in that month and it's definitely a time I'm not proud of, on a happier note now amends have been made and I've learnt a lot from these experiences, every cloud has a silver lining.

April & May

I'm afraid I have very little to report for April & May, I entered a new relationship which was a big mistake on my part. Emotionally I wasn't ready for it and needless to say it was short lived but we'll get into that a little further on. It was also this month that I broke up with a little thing called Physics, I made the decision to drop physics due to falling so far behind due to poor health and I'm happy I did because I could then put all the energy I had into my other studies and I feel really grateful to be in a teaching environment where the staff care about my well being and let me make that decision. My health really did affect me during this time period and stopped me doing very much of anything hence the lack of any sort of blogging substance...sorry!

June
June marked two very big things this year. The first thing was Download festival 2013, now I don't normally put festivals and gigs down as "big things" but this was different. Not only did I manage to overcome my medical issues to go in the first place but I met Ville Valo which is a complete dream come true for me and I'm still in awe that it happened. The second thing was the start of my exams, but after meeting Ville nothing was going to get me down and I went full speed ahead into my exams

Me & Ville. Please ignore my trying not to die face :')

July

July was a very up and down month for me. Right in the middle of my exams I was dumped which really damaged my moods and my grades. However, thanks to my wonderful friends and family I really turned the month around, finished my exams and went on to have a wonderful summer. I had plans almost every single day and I was making the most of spending time with my friends before they flew home for good. It was a summer of relaxing and creating memories that I'll honestly cherish for a lifetime.

August
August really was just a continuation of July, I had to say goodbye to some really good friends but I also made new ones, I went abroad for the first time in four years and just enjoyed life and all it has to offer. The end of August marked the dreaded results day, upon opening my envelope I didn't receive the grades I'd wanted but after crying in the toilets for a hour I spoke to my teachers got a plan of action together and came to terms with it pretty quickly if I'm honest. Looking back on it, my results weren't even too bad, I "passed and was able to progress into my second year so all wasn't lost!

Leaving party for my girls <3

September

September was a really hard month for me, as I said at the start the year was full of highs and lows and I think this month was the worst of the year. Going back to sixth form was hard because I was walking into the common room and my group of friends was now a fifth of the size and that took a while to adjust too. The hardest part of the month and possibly my year was the loss of a friend of six years, I won't go into to much detail as this is at the end of the day the Internet, but my best friend turned out to be someone I didn't know who was manipulative and decided to put poor life decisions before our friendship. I was betrayed and completely crushed and sadly this does still effect me though I have come to terms with it much better recently.

October

October was proof to me that things do get better, it marks the month I reconnected with my current boyfriend (remember the Facebook guy from March?) who not only makes me happy for the obvious boyfriend-ey reasons but has taught me a lot about myself, life in general...and pronunciation! I grew closer to my remaining friends, however also had to deal with my closest friend moving to the other side of the country which although hard I dealt with so much better than expected. This was the real game changing month for me, things headed up from here and I can only hope that this new outlook stays with me because it's making life wonderful!
 

November & December

November and December I've merged together for two reasons. One, I've been blogging so anything of interest that's happened during this period you will already know about and two, this post is stupidly long. In short things are looking up, I've gained a new perspective and I'm trying more things. I've learnt to be satisfied with the person I am and I feel that despite everything that happened this year I came out of it all in the best way possible.

Wow this is probably the longest post I've ever written, leave me a comment if you actually got to the bottom of this, seriously I'm interested! So there we have it, my 2013! I know it's a little vague in some places but I do have to keep in mind that this is the Internet, I really wanted to put this up not only for my benefit but also to show how much things can turn around in the space of a few months so if things were hard for you last year chin up and keep moving forward! Until next time...

Love & TubTubs

Happy New Year!

Hey guys! I hope all you fabulous sexy people had a wonderful 2013 and brought in the New Year in style, and by in style I mean either going to awesome parties or sitting at home eating pizza as either is acceptable in my book. I was going to do a nice outfit post of what I wore yesterday because I was in love with my outfit, nails and make-up however due to the amount of time it took me to get my fake eyelashes on my face I didn't have the time...and was still half hour late to my friends house. So I'm going to run a quick Google search in an attempt to find said dress so you all can admire it seeing as it's probably the best thing I brought in 2013, me and my damn tartan eh?

Dress by Wal-G

So 2013 was actually a huge year for me, probably the most game changing of my life if I'm honest and want to get all dramatic with you. So much so I think I'm going to write a seperate blog post on it, not going to say when that will be up though because I have a feeling that's going to involve a lot of editing to get right and not give out too much about other people. Hmm!

So are any of you guys making New Year's Resolutions? Last year I decided to start losing weight and I actually managed it and dropped two dress sizes & two stone hurrah! So this year I decided to make a few more to give myself a push in the right direction

• Get down to my final goal weight
• Get more motivated with my studies and put that extra bit of effort in
• Stress less and stop worrying about things I can't change
• Say yes to more things and embrace new opertunities
• Look after myself and try to get my health back on track

That last one I added on just as I'm typing this up because the reason this post isn't up on new years is due to the fact that I got taken into hospital again on New Years Day with suspected appendicitis, thankfully it wasn't that but we're still at a loss as to what it actually is so I'm hoping all will be figured out soon! I hope you all have a wonderful 2014 let me know your goals for the year bellow!

Love & TubTubs

Merry Christmas!

Hey guys, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the new year! I'm currently typing this from my wonderful new iPad mini courtesy of my lovely parents this holiday because once again I am sick (I swear my immune system has decided to go on holiday over Christmas). That said though I'm probably going to have to format this from my laptop anyway because the blogger app is appalling, sort it out Apple! (...please?)

Grumbling and sickness aside I had a really wonderful Christmas period, from the 22nd up until Christmas Eve I was in London with my boyfriend forcing my Christmas pixie ways upon him and just having our own little Christmas from our hotel room. For those of you who don't know I'm in a long distance relationship so being able to see someone so special this time of year really meant a lot to me (cue the eye rolls) and besides all the couplely crap he brought me Moomins which is always a huge plus!

The original plan was to visit winter wonderland but due to the horrific storm that hit the UK it was canceled, so not to put a damper on our spirits we headed into Covent Garden for a nose about before walking over to Picadilly just lapping up the Christmas spirit and having a cheeky pit stop in M&M world, which may I add A. Smells divine and B. Is bloody massive! As the night went on the storm got worse and worse so we headed back to our hotel and ordered in a pizza and played vanguard until two in the morning, because you know that's clearly the mature thing to do! The following day I also had my very first Wagamama's! This is a huge thing for me because I'm such a picky eater and I don't like trying new things but I will say it was utterly delicious, our waiter was a darling and I was full for the rest of the day which was a Christmas miracle in and of itself!

 

After a battle getting home on Christmas Eve thanks to many canceled trains I woke up Christmas morning to a lovely present opening session with my family which is always lovely with everyone in that happy sleepy state and Tub's shredding the discarded wrapping paper on the floor. In true Christmas spirit me and my little brother then proceeded to take millions of Christmas selfies, he is definitely taking after me with the camera whoring! My nan then came over and we had Christmas dinner, my dad brought a XL turkey for five people...yes it is now two days later and we're still living off it and will continue to do so for the rest of the year by the looks of things! After putting ourselves into food coma we settled down in the living room for bad TV and a game of Cluedo, who did it you may ask? We will never know, Tub's kept taking off with the pieces, so much so that professor plum no longer has a face. My dog is a tyrant!

So there's my Christmas in a nutshell, I really hope you all had a great Christmas too by the looks of all the blog posts I've seen it sure looks like it! If you were one of the unfortunate families that lost power due to the storm over Christmas I really hope you still made the most of it and are celebrating hard now the power has returned. So if any of you guys have done a Christmas post link me in the comments so I can give it a nose, if not let me know how it was or even better write one! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Love & TubTubs

Lush Review - Mask of Magnaminty

Hey guys! So I'm not sure how many of you have drifted over from my old blog but I did indeed have a temporary blog whilst I was fighting blogger for the AMP domain. So only having a few posts on that site I decided to move the few I had back over! Just thought I'd explain to those of you thinking this sounded familiar or those of you wondering why the writing style is slightly different. So without further ado lets get into a good ol' fashioned Lush review!

Mask of Magnaminty is one of Lush's better known skincare products from the permanent line and with everyone raving about it I thought I'd try it out myself.
 

The first thing I noticed when I opened the lid was the scent of it. I knew it was going to smell minty but it wasn't what I was expecting at all, I don't know if I had to high expectations on the scent but I was expecting it to smell like a packet of Polos, or maybe even slightly like toothpaste, instead the scent just reminded me of mint chewing gum that's started to lose it's flavor, a bit of a disappointment. I really do like the color of this mask and the consistency was really good and it spread over the skin easily without losing any product drown the drain. I also found I didn't have to use a lot, after doing an application on my face, my mum's and even my brother's there was only a dent in the product. You can definitely feel it working as it has a slight tingly feeling on the skin but I found it's not uncomfortable or painful just a little odd if you're someone who doesn't use face masks much (such as my brother).

When it came to washing it off i found this mask didn't stick in my eyebrows and came off in a matter of minutes. I have combination and acne prone skin, and once I'd dried my face and moisturized I can say my face was noticeably softer, didn't worsen my dry patches like I feared and did tackle my oily patches well, but to be honest with you that's all I can say for it. I found it didn't really do anything in clearing up any spots on my face even the morning after they were still there with no change at all which was a disappointment as the product description claims it's for getting rid of spots and blemishes.

So my final thoughts on this are that this mask are that it's doesn't really do much for the skin visibly as far as sorting out blemishes goes, it does however improve the texture of the skin. Everyone seems to have a different opinion on which skin type this mask would suit and mine is that people with oily or combination skin would benefit most from this mask. I'm yet to try it on my chest or back but I feel like it may be better for that rather then the face due to how little of the product you use up, though I do wish I'd gotten the smaller tub but with the long shelf life I'm sure I'll find a use for it.

RRP - £4.95 - 125g / £8.75 - 315g

Overall Rating - 5/10

Love & TubTubs

Deck The Halls!

Hey guys! So about a week ago me and my family all got together to put the Christmas decorations up which was really lovely considering we're all really busy people and the holidays are the only time in the year we actually get to do things together. So I thought I'd get you in the festive spirit by showing you some of the fruits of our labor!

Of course there had to be a cheeky Moomin thrown in there, what else would you expect from me!? This year was also the first year we got a real tree rather than the slightly naff artificial one that's been in the attic for god knows how long. I can also assure you that we did put more decorations than lights on the tree but all the pictures of the fancy bits and bobs came out blurry. Major fail on my part!

Something I love doing at Christmas time to add a super cozy feel to my space is to wrap fairy lights around things like the headboard of my bed or my curtain rail. Another thing that is not only beautiful to look at but smell delicious are scented candles, my favorite two this year are both by Yankee Candle and are "Cranberrys Ice" and "Candy Apple Wreath". Anything with a spicy scent to it is also a huge winner in my books!

Let me know in the comments your favorite ways to decorate at Christmas time or if you've got any pictures of your decorations on your blog leave me a link I'd love to have a look! Winter is the perfect time to make your space cozy and comforting after all with the days getting shorter and a weather taking a turn for the worst chances are you'll be spending a lot of time indoors so lets all make the most of it!

Love & TubTubs

 

The Festive Season Best & Worst

Hey guys! So I'm having a bit of an issue with technology at the moment,my laptop is slowly but surely falling apart on me and a few days ago the USB drives gave out...yes all four of them. So with this predicament I can't upload pictures from my camera to my laptop and have to do it on a friends computer. Then stick them on Google drive to upload them, and it's all a bit of a hassle so here is my question for you lot! Would you prefer me to use stock pictures for the next couple of posts I have up or hang on the extra few days so I can use original pictures? Let me know in the comments!

So not wanting to leave you all post-less whilst I sort out my camera struggles I thought I would sum up my best and worst things about the festive season. I know it's not the most exciting of things in the world but I didn't want you all to think I'd abandoned you again and it also means I don't need any new pictures (see some great initiative going on there!) and for those wondering why I'm being so pessimistic with the worst side of it, I need to appease my scrooges who I know are still lurking ;).

The Best

• No matter where you go town centers are always covered in lights and look magical
• Snow makes your skin look so much better in pictures
• Students get time off so it's the perfect opertunity to catch up with friends
• Shops have really awesome novel things in them at really low prices
• Pugs in jumpers...need more be said
• There is a perfectly reasonable excuse to stop dieting and eat everything in sight
• Presents! ...Let's be honest I'd be a lier if I didn't put this on here
• The little Christmas markets that pop up everywhere
• Christmas songs in every shop (I know that one is debatable but I love it!)
• Working in retail and having to wear a santa hat as part of your uniform
  

Some cheeky snaps from last years snowfall

The Worst

• The total havoc the weather plays on your skin, chapped lips anyone?
• When public transport grinds to a halt because of the weather
• Mince pies...ew
• The ridiculous amount of stress that is caused from last minute shopping
• Bloating...god damn tins of sweets
• Looming January exams
• Children who think it's okay to lob balls of ice at you...Just no. 

Okay so there's my best and worst lists, do you agree with any of the above & if you were to add one more thing to each list what would they be? Let me know in the comments! I'm sorry this post is a bit of a naff one but I figured that's better then leaving you with nothing, i'll get the camera malarkey sorted soon pinky promise! And besides...cute pug pictures make up for all right?

Love & TubTubs