Bits and Bobs.

First of all I have some news. I'M GOING TO BE A BIG SISTER AGAIN! For the fourth time! Which means I'm officially the team leader and my little sister is now going to be the forgotten middle child and our new baby brother or sister is going to be picked on and spoilt in equal measures. My two brothers I just leave to their own devices. I'm so excited! I'm not a big fan of kids if I'm honest but I am a big fan of dressing kids up in baby vans, converse and UGG boots which as the eldest is my responsibility to do. And I'm definitely taking it to Disneyland as soon as it's old enough to hold it's head up so I can put a set of Minnie or Mickey ears on it's tiny head :D

In celebration of family here are two pictures of me and little sister:

 She was and still is my all time favourite thing but when we were little we were either the best of friends or absolutely hating each other, similar to most sisters I expect! I still have scars from when she used to scratch me in fights and once she threw an entire glass of apple juice all over me during an argument! We're totally different in some aspects but completely the same in others, I'd say she's a lot louder than me and has lots of friends (although not all that great) whereas I'm more introverted and have a close circle of friends I've known all my life. We don't look the same, don't dress the same and we approach problems completely differently. We also have had completely different upbringings despite living in the same house, my parents were incredibly strict with me but by the time she got to my age (she's five years younger) there were no rules in our house, her parents had gone their separate ways and I'd moved to another city when she was still in high school. Our sense of humour is exactly the same though and whenever we're together we always end up crying with laughter. And that's really all I want in a sister! Everyone in my family is hilarious so I'll be bitterly disappointed if the new addition is boring.

In other news...

 I went to a place called 'Iron Bridge' which is an old villlage set in Victorian times and you haven to change your money into ha'pennies and farthings at the bank before you go in. Everyone's dressed in Victorian clothes and you can get your picture taken dressed up and there's an old funfair and you can basically just pretend to be living in Victorian times for the day. There's a school and a bakery and a sweet shop and a dress makers and a pharmacy. I've been loads of times and finished the whole thing in about an hour. A good day out though if you've got little ones.

You can tell Winter's on its way! I came home from a hard day at work and my sister had set up chairs in the shed and got her duvet and started the chiminea out so I popped on my UGG's and pj's, got some wine and chocolate puddings and we stayed out there chatting into the night. It was great!

I've also been doing some shopping...

I'd completely emptied out this pot of 'Clinique Anti-gravity Firming Lift Cream'

So I went in to get some more and it had been discontinued! I was heartbroken as since the day I'd started using it my skin was the best it had ever ever been and every day it just glowed. I tried some of their new products out, uhhmed and ahhed and eventually went for this:

I've only used it once so far but it sunk straight into my skin leaving it feeling a bit dry and lacking and it was also more of a gel than a cream so it felt too lightweight. I think companies think because people with oily skin probably don't want a heavy cream in case it clogs pores they think stripping it back will help but no. At £42 I'm hoping it'll grow on me but I've been well informed from my Nanna that 'Clinique' are always changing their formulas, she has the best skin ever though and uses 'Clinique' so I'm loath to try anything but them.

My up and coming purchase will be this 'Dior BB cream' at £30.

I got given a tester of it when I bought a 'Dior' lipstick  and didn't bother trying it out until I was having a good skin day and didn't want to put any foundation on so reached for this. I've had lots of compliments on my glowing complexion ever since! The only thing is do I really need a BB cream? I have a moisturiser, I wear sun screen and I use a light foundation anyway that seems to do the job. Me being me though I'm very certain this will be on my dressing table fairly soon. It's matte when you first put it on but does sink into your skin nicely and doesn't stick to any dry patches like foundation can do plus it has sunscreen built into it which my 'Armarni' foundation doesn't. I think I'd still put a sunscreen on under this anyway though. They also do a snow one which is factor 50 but it's only sold at Selfridges, people are raving about it on makeup alley so I think I need to go get some samples before I make my mind up.

My last purchase was a hat. My love for hats is bordering on an obsession. I have two that I've never even taken the tags off! I just think it shows pure confidence in your style if you wear a hat and gives your outfit something extra. I especially love bobble hats, you just can't go wrong with one! They're especially good if like me you have curly hair which tends to frizz or curl whenever you're walking somewhere as it keeps everything under control.

This is my new hat. It's charcoal and kind of army style but not and it was £17 from 'Accessorize'. I used to work there for about four years and I know you just can't beat them when it comes to winter hats. I actually spotted this one online and went hunting and it was pretty much meant to be as it was the only hat that fitted my tiny pea head!

Here's a run down of my personal faves...

I think this is the one I wish I could wear more often but it's very 'fashion' and draws a lot of attention which I find uncomfortable. It was from 'Urban Outfitters' and I think it was £28 which is a lot for a hat but I fell in love and all rules went out of the window. I always feel like JLo in it which is only ever a good thing.

This is the hat that I never wear! It's also from 'Urban Outfitters' and I tried it on several times, then went back for it the next day and it was gone only to be replaced with a green version. I ordered it online only for it to sell out before they could dispatch mine so it became my mission from then on to find it. I went on ebay, sent emails to head office, made the sales assistants go in search for it in another store and checked the website for fresh information religiously every day. Finally one long night at my desk I checked again and there was one in stock so I immediately bought it. I took it to Greece with me in my suitcase...never wore it! It got severely squished and now just sits on top of a lampshade in my room looking pretty. I know one day I'll wear it, maybe in Milan or Marbella sipping a cocktail on my private yacht.

This is my absolute all time favourite hat. It was from 'FatFace' and I think it was around £25 and I got it for a trip to Prague when I knew it was going to be absolutely freezing. This hat is so me and I always feel at my best when I'm wearing it. I stopped wearing it last year because the wool had come away a bit and there was a slight hole appearing and I was terrified of it getting bigger until I wore it to my best friends house one day in the middle of winter and left it hanging up with my coat. When I went to leave there was no hole in the hat. Turns out her mum Susie had spotted the hole and sewn it up for me, now I can't even tell where the hole was! There is no one who looks as good as me in a bobble hat and that is a promise!

I've also been trying to wear my hair natural and curly more often because a) it suits me and b) i'm wrecking my hair with dye and straighteners and it's not okay. The things I hate about curly hair though is how unpredictable it can be, the fact it makes me feel about 12 again and how you have to have soaking wet hair for about half the day before it starts to take shape and you don't really know what it's going to end up like. In short it's too high maintenance for me and I only leave it natural when I'm running too late to blowdry it. It's kind of going okay at the moment though probably because all the straightening has loosened the curls a bit.

Now it's getting colder again I've started wearing my usual uniform of jeans, tshirts, jumpers and UGG boots. Fashion has left the building and now it is time to get practical. I went down to 'H&M', grabbed some tshirts and have been slowly wearing one a day ever since. I really do prefer jeans a tshirt to any other outfit on the planet though so I'd be happy with that. Occasionally my inner fashion queen comes out and kicks me into shape and makes me dress up a bit but I always revert back to jeans and a tshirt.

My best friend is exactly the same. We've had a tradition where once a week she comes round and we sit in my conservatory, her with a cup of tea and me with a cider and we watch reality tv or whatever box set we're currently into (Girls season one just finished) for around five hours. She always brings me a homemade snack (last time it was peanut butter cookies) and we put the fire on and the fairy lights and relax. When we first started doing this we'd both make an effort to at least look presentable, now she'll come round and we're both in yoga pants and an oversized hoody with glasses on and our hair in pineapples. It's when I feel my most happiest :)

And finally it's been over two weeks and I've had one text from my mother telling me she was taking a boat out to an island from Havana and would be back soon. That was four days ago! 

Bella

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