University Ramblings Pt. 2

Meeeeeeeeeeeep. 

I swear every post starts with me apologising about how I haven't written in ages but things have been busy!! Since I last wrote, I quit my job and moved to London for University, BIG TIMES!!

Its been almost a month now and I've wanted to write for a while but didn't want to add any pressure to myself or summarise anything as Freshers is an extremely important time to settle in and literally start a whole new life. It's weird.. I can pretty honestly say that I feel very settled in my life up here now but am absolutely sure that this is just the tip of the iceberg. 

I know a few people who have already gone home a few times (from home and from London) but I almost felt kinda guilty that I have absolutely no desire to do so. I mean, it does sound kinda harsh but my mentality for myself at least is that if you go home before you fully settle yourself in the place you're now living, you'll only end up unsettling yourself and leave feeling even more homesick. I dunno. I always got extremely homesick as a child and I can't pretend that I don't miss my Mum, Dad, friends and my especially my Cat(!!) but there has to be a time where you move on and there has to be a definite end. I'm not saying an end as in I'm never going home, but an end of the old and the beginning of your new life.

Its almost 2am and I have suddenly become very nocturnal, even though I have a lecture in under 8 hours :(((( but I did realise I felt ever so slightly homesick. Granted it literally was the teeniest tiniest bit but I remembered a memory stick I have. For Christmas two years ago my brother made me & my mum a half an hour film of our last Christmas as a family all together before everyone buggered off to different parts of the world and I just sat in my kitchen and watched it. It honestly made me so happy and I think I realised why I'm so okay with this whole move.

Sometimes you subconsciously say goodbye to something before you physically say it, like I now believe that I'm not so homesick, because home for me is with all my absolutely mad as hatters family and when we are all together.. no matter where that be.. it feels like home. So to not be with them is just the start of your own very exciting and amazing story with them as your constant support and happy place.

Either way, life stays still for no one and it would be an extremely boring thing if it did, so onwards and upwards! I'm trying to do one thing every day that scares me, getting a tube at rush hour is a bloody good place to start *insert panic attack!* but what I guess I'm really trying to say is now is the time to start living (alright lydia, sounding like an absolute gandhi wannabe) and making the most of every opportunity given to you.

Well, its lucky I warned everyone how much I ramble in the title. But if you've just started uni or even if you're just starting to live outside of your comfort zone, let me know! 

ELLE X

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July Update, France & University Ramblings.

I haven't written a post in such a long time but trust me.. There's method to my madness!

In the time I haven't been on blogger I have been super duper busy with a brand spankin new job.. And Being the perfectionist that I am a half arsed rushed or tired post would just not do! Oh and when I say new.. It's been around 5 months but nevertheless, I am now a receptionist for a local (and a bit bloody lovely) little hotel I live near called The Berry Head Hotel. Working full time has been so mad coming from full time education, like adulthood has slapped me in the face to say hello! Luckily, I am a massive fan of the job so I don't mind the occasional slap.. (I'm not sure if my analogies are getting better or worse..) 

In this time I have been massively umm'ing and ahhh'ing on the whole University situation as I have become extremely comfortable earning money regularly and being able to get myself in a nice little routine. I love who I work with, love talking to the residents and even have to wear a suit to work but recently I've decided, you should absolutely never get comfortable! Not at 19 anyway. This is the kind of job I could see myself doing for a long time as I love it, but what do I do in 10 years time? I've had this comfortable life and maybe now I get bored.. And I'm 29 with two kids and haven't even had my bloody uni freshers!! So last week I did something that was extremely UNcomfortable and made the decision I would 100% be going to university and moving to London this September. This would mean leaving my lovely job and I'm gonna be honest, living with something like anxiety makes it extremely hard to make these kind of decisions off the cuff and doing things out of your comfort zone.. University is always a big decision anyway for most people but the prospect of completely changing my life in just a couple of months really put me on edge but some things you have to do in order to progress. And at the moment, in myself and in my situation I really felt like I wasn't progressing in anything other than my job and that's kinda scary at my age.

I was also given a week off work on a Friday due to start on the Monday so I decided to book myself a little holiday to France to see my family. YAY SPONTANEITY. I had the most amazing week just chilling with my family and really getting to know everyone and spending quality time which was lovely as it's not very often I get to see my aunty, uncle and cousins. It felt like a bit of a celebration for me aswell because unfortunately, my uncle was diagnosed with Cancer last year but has been given the all clear some months back so to see everyone happy and healthy was an absolute blessing in itself. This trip was actually another push to go to university as my cousin, Liam got his BAC results back from his studies and he's a bit like me.. Not very academic but is a much more practical based learner and to be honest we weren't sure he was going to get it as he missed a YEAR and had like 30 points to catch up on (don't ask me about the French education system!) but he bloody got it! And my other cousin Amy, the maths whizz of the family also got in so they will be studying in Toulouse in September.

 

Unfortunately though, spontaneity doesn't alllllllways work for anxiety sufferers as I did end up having a very public panic attack at my departure gates to come home thanks to the very unhelpful and unsympathetic French man checking my passport who completely did not seem to grasp the illness which is something I'm not really a fan talking about and a negative I don't want to go into in this post. Saying that, I would really like to thank the lady who helped me so much and defended me during this when I though I wasn't going to be able to board as I probably wouldn't have got on without you! I never got her name but if somehow this post gets to her PLEASE let me thank you, you were such an amazing help!!

I think that's about everything for the moment, I feel like it's been forever since I've done a style/beauty post but now I'm back in the swing of things they are coming very soon! There is also some exciting news on it's way so keep your eyes peeled! 

Lydia 

x

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My Weekend In London.

**WARNING: Do not read if you're hungry, this post contains extreme food porn.**

Recently, I have been getting stupidly excited at the prospect of Uni in September. Up until, maybe, February I was extremely nervous to pack up and go to London.. Which was a little scary as for so long it's been something I've wanted to do. BUT something must have clicked in me and suddenly I cannot wait to get out there! 

Living in such a small town like I do, the thought of going to a big city can be so so overwhelming. I knew my mum had a meeting up here so I decided to go to London with her this weekend, stay with my sister and look at possible accommodation. Here are some pictures of my time and to give a glimpse on why I am so in love with London. 

Firstly, ever since my trip to LA I have been craving tacos and apparently Paddigton station has a taco place called Barburrito. I died of excitement and bought 3. 

(Attempting to eat the Tacos didn't go to well in all the excitement.) 

The next day I saw one of my old friends, Harry and we went for a walk around London and he showed me Greenwich and where he goes to uni. We then went to Pizza Express and had a wine fuelled lunch. (Could really get used to London living!)

Later on in the evening, my sister, mum and I went to Frankie and Benny's on Greenwich waterfront which was beaut and ate yet again MORE food. Below is the picture of the literally, nicest apple pie I have ever consumed. (Obviously after I pick out all the apple cause I don't like fruit, weeeeeird I know. Don't ask) 

The next day, we went to look at my future uni accommodation, and I might have taken pictures.. But I guess you'll all have to just wait until I've moved I'm for that! 

Hope you all enjoyed a bit of a different post today as I'm getting back into the swing of the things on here. 

Can you suggest anywhere in London? Taco places?! Questions? Thoughts? Let me know! 

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My Favourite Autumn/Winter Lipstick.

Anyone who knows me will know, I am a complete sucker for a good matte lipstick. I find that with the shape of my lips and my skin tone that it looks almost a million times better than lipstick with a shine. One of the other reasons being is that they are long wearing and you can eat, drink, carry on with your day without having to constantly re apply. 

I am always on the look out for a new lipstick and my friend, Liv came into work with this gorgeous red lipstick on and didn't have to apply any more for the rest of the evening, that's when I knew I wanted it. When she told me it was Bourjois I was completely shocked, because although I have seen the brand for years I have never tried it, or even heard any reviews. 

I have been a bit of a lipstick snob over the past year or so, doting over my favourite YSL matte lipstick but nevertheless, I gave it a go and absolutely love it. I am constantly wearing this shade as it is absolutely perfect for the Autumn/Winter Seasons. The colour is very strong and pretty. I have heard some people have trouble applying using the little fluffy brush provided (I've forgotten the name, sorry) and I find it works better on some days than others. what I tend to do is line the lips first, then apply using the lip brush provided then use one of my lip brushes to finish it. But, however, it is the sort of lipstick you can just put on and go.

I am so happy with this and all of the other 8 shades are equally beautiful, so these will definitely be my new obsession. I cannot stress how well they stay on (and stain). AND Superdrug are currently doing an offer that brings them to only £5 so go get some, get every one! 

                               Boujior Velvet Rouge Edition - Superdrug £8.99

                                                      Shade 08 Grand Cru

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BACK (for good) and July 4th in LA

Soooooo I'm definitely in LA right now. It's been a ridiculous amount of time since my last post and I am completely aware but it's been so frantically busy this past few months, so here's a bit on an update: I've finished college, it's now summer, I'm now 18, I've had a conditional offer from London Met University to study Fashion Marketing and journalism, I've quit my job and am living in LA for the summer. Quite a bit really which I'm sure as the posts continue I will go in more detail and fill more gaps, but I promise to stop slacking and neglecting this blog, I have no excuses to not write anymore, so here's where I am now - July 6th. Two days after my first and very legendary 4th of July. As you most likely know, I'm British, which means 4th July isn't something we celebrate, so I was very excited to find out I would be in Los Angeles for this momentous occasion. For the two weeks that I've been here, almost daily I was asking my brothers (and all of their friends) what we were going to end up doing and no one had any solid plans, and it was going to be, very much going with the flow. The morning of the 4th came and we were invited to our friends apartment downstairs for mimosas (Champagne and orange - or as the British say, Bucks Fizz) and Crepes, which was an offer I couldn't refuse! Only issue was, I had absolutely no idea to wear so was running round the apartment finding an outfit that could take me through the day but still looked presentable! Eventually, I went for a simple Topshop vest top and a pair of ripped Levi shorts. Later I added my Topshop kimono that could dress it up if I felt I needed it.

I had absolutely no idea how his day was going to go, so I went downstairs and was greeted by lots of smiley faces and American flags! More people arrived for the breakfast and more invitations for parties for the day and with that. it very quickly turned into day drinking fuelled beer pong (with the classic red cups of course.) The drinks got more and more potent and we decided to go to the first of 3 possible parties. We had an awesome group and had a really fun car trip to the first party, in West Hollywood. I had absolutely no idea where we were going and was a little tipsy so it was all very exciting. The first party we arrived to was on a rooftop, it was awesome. There was a massive stand with the American flag, lots of beer, music and of course, beautiful people. We didn't spend too long here as we were running on a tight schedule for the day and everyone seemed to knew everyone.. Apart from us. But it was really fun to be in the atmosphere of a rooftop party in a completely foreign place, with a really awesome group of people, not the kinda thing I get the opportunity to do often in England!

After about an hour and a half, we decided to take off and try the next party. Another car trip (and a slightly drunken service station stop) we arrived somewhere near Venice beach. It didn't immediately seem like anything special from the outside, but once we got up the stairs of the complex we heard music, people talking and this seemed a liiiiiittle more what I was used to. There were two apartments next to each other that were hoasting a joint party so people just went in and out as they pleased. Everyone was extremely friendly and within minutes of being there I was kidnapped for people to make me drinks and see where I came from. It was really fun to have people obsess over the way I talk and visa versa! I then made to play beer pong for the second time in my life, and also that day. Things got very competitive and it may have ended up being Brits vs Yanks and of course, we won.. Twice!! So, I can imagine that being a little embarrassing for the Americans on there Independence Day. It was all clean fun though and I met some really lovely and most of all, interesting people there! Sadly, after our second game.. We had to go to the final party. We said goodbye to everyone, took some selfies, swapped some Facebooks and left. It was such a lovely, friendly atmosphere at this one and showed the realness(?) of friends being proud of where they're from and enjoying their lives. 

Our last party didn't go so smoothly, we had to drive to a place called Marina Del Rey for this boat party, the issue was.. There was a couple hundred others trying to do the same thing! We cut it a little fine as everyone decided before the last place, I HAD to try an "In and Out Burger" I had no idea what this was but went with it. We arrived in this chain and there was so. Maaaaaany. People! Honestly the drive through was ram packed and so was the restaurant, but I completely get why.. It was incredible! So after this debacle of food and traffic (and a lot of walking) we arrived at the final destination, and what a beautiful destination it was! It was a lovely warm evening and there was a lovely, chilled group of friends that met us on the pontoon right next to the boat, it was a completely different atmosphere to what I was expecting but was equally as fun. We sat, talked, drank and ate. Perfect! 

It was really lovely to see how people celebrate this events differently but most of all, the unity that it gives Americans. A chance to celebrate all that's good and do exactly as you please. I can honestly say I had one of the best days of my life, not for any reason other than the experiences it gave me. It teaches you that they don't always have to be mountain sized experiences but to appreciate the small things and not waste a minute. So kudos to you America, you gave me an incredible day and hopefully it won't be my last 4th July! 

Xxx

P.s I know I haven't really done any fashion or beauty posts yet but it is all definitely in the works, promise!

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