2016 Resolutions Check-Up

1. Blog at least once a week
I'm pretty sure I've stuck to this one! I'm not 100% regular with my blog posts now university is back in swing and until February 26th Jordan is here so I'll be a little more focused on spending time with him than blogging. BUT I'm happy with myself on this one, I'm pretty sure I've put up more posts than weeks have passed since January 1st and that's a win for me!

2. Read 52 books
So this wasn't a book-per-week as such, as I know I'll have busier weeks than others. It's a little difficult to know how this one is going to go until I get closer to the end of the year but I have read at least 5 books so far this year. We are about 6 or 7 weeks into the year so if I was going to measure this as a book-a-week I'm a little bit behind, but hopefully I'll be able to pick this up over the summer while I'm not in university!

                                                   3. Eat better
I'm not sure how well I've eaten for the last two months, but for the last week I've definitely been doing really well with this one. Since Jordan's been here we've been making an effort to make ourselves proper meals each night. So far we've made tuna pasta bake; stuffed peppers; a rice, cucumber, pepper and prawn concoction; and one Wagamamas (for Valentine's Day). So we've been eating pretty damn well and I hope to keep this up for the rest of his stay and hopefully once he's gone back home too.




4. Keep my surroundings tidy
This isn't something I find particularly easy, as I make a lot of mess when getting ready in the mornings but my surrounding have definitely been tidier in the new year. I've made more of an effort to conduct '10 minute tidy' sessions in the evening where I just spend 10 minutes putting things away, doing my dishes and generally straightening the place up.

5. Keep organised/plan more
I don't feel like this is one I've stuck to. I haven't been planning blog posts recently, more just writing when I have time/feel like it. I haven't been keeping a to do list every day, but at the same time I haven't felt like I've needed one. This may be an area I need to start paying more attention to.

6. Hydrate - Keep track of my water intake
So I definitely haven't been keeping track of my water intake but I do believe I have been drinking more water. I have off days where I don't drink very much but as a whole I believe this has improved since last year. So although I probably should be drinking a little bit more often, there is definitely improvement here which I am happy about!

7.  Go to bed/wake up earlier
Umm... Remember when I said I couldn't see this one happening? Well it's not gone entirely to plan. I do go to bed earlier more often, because I have three 9am starts a week now, which I will not make it too if I don't go to bed at a decent time. However, I still go to bed quite late when I have a late start the next day, and I have found myself not getting up until gone 11/12 o'clock sometimes which always makes me feel crap! But i again I feel like there's been slight improvement here and that's good enough for me!

8. Check up on my progress every month/few months
WOOHOO! This one's off to a good start! Looking back I think checking up every month would be a bit pointless. Maybe every 2 months will be better, we'll see.

News Day: Tinder Pick-Up Lines

So the other day I wrote the copy for a story that we were assigned for News Day. If you don't know what News Day is, it's basically a thing we do on my university course every Wednesday where we get given news stories and we have to produce them ready to be published that day.

On this particular day we got given the big Valentines story and our main angle was terrible pick-up lines. So for the video we went out and asked random students what the worst pick-up line they'd ever had on Tinder was, and for the copy we decided to take it a step further.

We decided to see what sort of pick-up line's we could get from Tinder users.

It was a really fun story and I'm pretty proud of the work I put into the copy so I thought I'd share it here. Enjoy!

"At the loneliest time of the year singles all over the UK are downloading dating apps in an attempt to find their perfect Valentine.

Tinder is buzzing at this time of year with eager singles all looking for love, and where there’s dating apps, there’s terrible pick-up lines. So today we decided to download the Tinder app ourselves to see what all the fuss is about, so here’s the best and worst messages we received from the men of Southampton.

We received some that were punny!
“I don’t want to be too cheesy but we would be grate together x”
“If you were a vegetable you would be a cute-cumber”
“Are you a fish? Because you’re quite a catch?”
“If you were a fruit, you’d be a fineapple ;)”
“We’re not socks, but I think we’d make a great pair”

Some that were cheesy!
Them: “Do you take sugar with your tea?
Us: “Nope!”
Them: “That’s because you’re sweet enough” – We’re definitely curious as to what this one would have said if we did take sugar!

Some that fell a little flat!
“Is your name *insert crude sexual innuendo*”
“Did you read Dr Seuss as a kid? Because green eggs and DAMN!”

Some that got right to the point!
“Movie in or movie out?”
“I’m going to lay it on the line straight away… do you want to come over and ****?”

And then there were some that just made no sense at all!
“Are you Vincent? Because I could use your Kompany” – We asked multiple people about this one, but no one seemed to be able to figure it out!

What do you think of these pick up lines? Would they work on you?"

How Much is My Face Worth?

I can't remember where I first found this idea (it was probably Bloglovin) but I thought it was a really interesting premise.

So today, I will be looking at all the products I use on my face and adding up how much they cost to see how much my face is worth!

Skin Care
It's only recently that I've started using proper skin care products, I used to to just wash my face and be done with it. But recently I started noticing that my face was getting a little dry and so I went out and bought a serum and moisturiser which I now use every day. I'm not sure if skin care is supposed to count in this but I thought I'd include it anyways because I'm curious!

1. Clean & Clear® Advantage® Clear & Soothe Foaming Wash - £4.70 (Boots)
I absolutely love foaming face washes, and I use this twice a day, morning and evening to cleanse my face.

2. L'Oreal Skin Perfection Advanced Correcting Serum - £16.99 (Superdrug)
A little more on the pricy side, but I absolutely love this and it's not as if you need to use a lot of it. I use a pea sized amount twice a day after I've washed my face. I really do feel like this has helped my skin, I haven't had as many blemishes since using this and my skin just feels healthy overall. Whether this is purely due to the serum or if it's a mixture of that and moisturiser I don't know, but I do know I am going to continue using this for the foreseeable future!

3. Simple Kind to Skin Protect Light Moisturiser SPF 15 - £3.29 (Superdrug)
I use this moisturiser in the mornings, after the serum to hydrate my skin and protect against any damage from UV rays during the day. Since using this I have definitely seen an improvement in my skin, any patches of dry skin disappeared in about a week of using this.

4. Simple Kind to Skin Hydrating Light Moisturiser - £2.65 (Superdrug)
I currently use this moisturiser in the evenings, as I will not be going outside and my skin won't be affected by UV rays.

Skin Care Total: £27.63

Make-Up
All of these products have been a tried and tested part of my make-up routine for a long time now. This is basically all I ever wear in terms of make-up, the only thing that changes is the colour of lipstick. I'm not going to go into lengthy explanations of these like I did with skin care as I think we can all guess what each of these is used for.

Everyday Make-Up
Lipstick: Mac Frost Meltdown

1. Rimmel Hide The Blemish Concealer in Ivory 1 - £3.99 (Superdrug)

2. L'Oreal Paris Infallible Matte Foundation Porcelain 10 - £7.99 (Superdrug)

3. Bourjois Little Round Pot Blusher Rose Ambre 74 - £7.99 (Superdrug)

4. Rimmel Clear Complexion Powder Transparent 21 - £3.99 (Superdrug)

5. Rimmel Scandal'Eyes Mascara Extreme Black 3 - £6.99 (Superdrug)

6. Mac Lipstick Satin Mocha - £15.50 (Mac)

Make-Up Total: £46.45

Skin Care + Make-Up Total: £74.08

Okay, I'm actually pretty shocked by that. In a way it's not that much, most of the products I use are under £10 with the odd more expensive item thrown into the mix, but when it's all added up, that is actually quite a lot of money that I spend on my face.

The investment is worth it in my opinion though, after all I only have one face so I might as well look after it! Plus, doing my make-up is something I really enjoy and it's not as if I have to keep buying these products every month (if i did the more expensive items would definitely have to go, which would make me incredibly sad).

I don't really know how I would lose my make-up bag, but this had definitely made me realise that losing all of my make-up and skin care products is not an option! And these are only the ones I use every day, I'd hate to think of how much all my make-up added together would cost.

However, at the same time I don't feel like I need to cut down on the amount I spend on make-up as the products I have are ones I have accumulated over quite a long period of time.

I really enjoyed this post, definitely a bit of an eye-opener!

(All prices listed are the current price at the time of this blog post going live, some of the items were reduced and may have gone back up to full price.)

January Favourites

January has been the month of a very intense photography assignment, lots of time spent with Jordan, lots of shopping, starting my second term of university and did I mention LAZER TEAM!? NO? Well I will!

Let's dive right into the favourites.

Make-Up and Beauty

Mac Retro Matte - Ruby Woo: As Mac's most popular red lipstick. I thought this would be a perfect choice for my first red Mac purchase. I have no complaints, everyone knows I love Mac lipsticks and this is no exception.

Mac Matte - So Chaud: I seem to have a complex which involved being unable to only buy one lipstick at a time, so at the same time as I picked up Ruby Woo, I also picked up this one! It's more of an orangey-red and looks so lovely on! I find it makes me look older in a way, so it's definitely a shade for more formal occasions.

Fashion

Accessorize Bag: I can't even remember how long I had my old Accessorize bag for, all I know is that I loved it but the strap started to look very worn and gross from the heavy use. So! I decided it was time to invest in a new one. I travelled to Accesorize Cardiff on multiple occasions looking for a replacement and luckily, I found the perfect one during the January sales! Down from £50 to £25.

Books

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon: I haven't quite finished this book yet, but I started it in January and I already love it, it's a very interesting book and the way it's written is a major part of it's appeal. I would recommend this to anyone over the age of 15 due to mild swearing.

Movies

Lazer Team: Anyone who knows me, knows I have been waiting for this movie ever since RT released the crowd-funding for it. I was so, so happy with this film. It was exactly what I expected and I was so happy that even though it was a great large-scale production piece, it still felt like Rooster Teeth.

TV

Chuck: I have no idea why I started re-watching Chuck this month, I think it's because Jordan and I only watch How I Met Your Mother together, so when I got back to uni I had nothing to watch. I highly recommend this series, it's absolutely hilarious and it's finished now so it's the perfect Netflix binge-watch.

January Wrap-Up

THIS IS WHERE I GIVE AN OVERVIEW ALL THE BOOKS I READ IN JANUARY!

1. A Court of Thorns and Roses- Sarah J Maas
Finished at 1:30am 1st January 2016

To read my thoughts on this book go here: A Court of Thorns and Roses | Review

2. City of Ashes - Cassandra Clare
Finished at 1:45am 12th January 2016

I didn't write a review on this one, and that is because this is the second book in the series and I didn't write a review on the first book and I felt like because I didn't write a review on the first book, writing a review on the second book wouldn't really make much sense. Does that make sense?

I did enjoy this book though, much more than I enjoyed the first in the series. I found it a lot easier to read, it made more sense in my mind and I liked the plot a lot more, there was a lot more excitement here. I am very intrigued as to what the rest of the series has to offer because I have only heard good things so I'm expecting it to just get better from here.

3. Keep Your Friends Close by Paula Daly

Finished at 1:15am 22nd January 2016

To read my thoughts on this book go here: Keep Your Friends Close | Review

I didn't read as many books as I would have liked to this month, I totally failed at #RYBSAT and I realised I have a habit of finishing books at 1 o'clock in the morning.

BUT, I have started The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time and To All The Boys I've loved Before, so it's only a matter of time before I finish those... hopefully.

January | Overview

So we have reached the 1st of February 2016. I feel like January didn't even happen, it's gone by so unbelievably fast.

This month was a busy and varied one. I began the year relaxing with my loved ones and spending valuable quality time with them. Then things got extremely busy with two heavy photography deadlines which took up a lot of my time! But I got through it and had both assignments handed by January 13th.

I did a lot of shopping early in the month, and bought a lot of books, I think I finished a total of 3 books this month, and although I wanted to finish at least 4, I am still proud of myself as I have actually started another 2 and my reading has been pretty consistent (although I have been in a little bit of a rut since starting uni again).

I got to spend a lot of time with Jordan which I am extremely grateful for! We managed to watch a LOT of How I Met Your Mother, and we had quite a few days/nights out together.

One of those nights out included the LAZER TEAM PREMIER!! Which I have been waiting for for so freaking long! We both enjoyed it so, so much and I couldn't be happier that I got to experience it for the first time with him!

I also watched a LOT of TV this month and I don't know if I'm proud or disgusted by it... I started watching Chuck, Making a Murderer and The Vampire Diaries (none of which I have finished yet though so I guess that makes it okay!)

However, right now I am back at university and starting all of my new modules for this term; Writing Development, Video and Media Law. All of which have been very enjoyable so far (apart from the 9am starts).

And that has been my January, nothing spectacular really but enjoyable nonetheless.

Time really needs to slow down though because the months are going by way too quickly for my liking.

A lot of you reading this won't be familiar with Rooster Teeth or the great loss that the community suffered a year ago today but I just wanted to take a moment to honour the day that saw a huge community come together in mourning and support.

A year ago today Monty Oum sadly passed after an allergic reaction left him in a coma. 

Monty was such an inspiring person, he worked so hard and had such a successful future ahead of him. He inspired everyone to dream big and to not stop working your butt off until your dreams came true. 

Today's post is in memory of Monty, an amazing person who was taken from his loved ones way too young. 

"We all die, the goal isn't to live forever. The goal is to create something that will." - Monty Oum (1981-2015)

#KeepMovingForward