August.

Where the HECK did September come from?! After having a pretty hectic month, i'm quite looking forward to a slightly calmer one where the only exciting thing to be happening is going back to University and Freshers Week, (which after being away on placement for a year I am really looking forward to).

So the first week of August saw me flying to Disneyland Paris with my sister, Sophie and her brother, Danny. Read about Day 1 here, Day 2 here and 3 here.

Then there was the rest of my birthday week. Laserzone, birthday meal, Thorpe Park, Manchester and a well needed lazy day. You can read about all of that here!

Then came a pretty normal week at work doing the usual grafting. Not long after, my Mum, Dad, Emma, Auntie Alex, Uncle Simon and cousins Anya, Natasha and Katrina along with my Gramps John went to the villa that we visit in Mallorca every year. This left me with a free house, so naturally, the alcohol began to flow. I had 2 friends from work, Tom & Nathan (the only ones that could make it) round to my house and i'll be honest, it's very surprising how messy it can get when there's just 3 of you. The night consisted of multiple games of Ring of Fire, Shot Roulette and sitting on my shed roof playing 'Never Have I Ever'.

We learned way too much about each other and if we ever played again it would be way too soon.

A few days later, my boyfriend James and I flew out to meet the rest of my fam in Mallorca for just over a week. Revisiting the villa always feels like going home and I can honestly say it's one of my most favourite places in the world. On our second day we went on a yacht trip and this is when we all (including James) discovered that he is incredibly seasick. We also discovered a natural/man made pool next to the ocean. We all had such an amazing holiday (as always) and yet again i'm sat writing this with some serious after holiday blues. But I still have Rome to look forward to in a few months!

So here's to finding out what September brings!

Paris, Day 3. Disneyland.

Our day started at 7am yet again. We were up bright and early to grab some breakfast and check out of the hotel. It took me and my sister a solid 10 minutes to figure out how to work the lockers in the luggage room, but once we had it all locked away, off we went for another day in the Disney Parks.
To kick start the day we went for another ride on Space Mountain and then went to Thunder Mountain as the queue the day before was a ridiculous 90 minutes. On our way out of the main park, we noticed that Winnie the Pooh barely had a line to go and meet him. Guess what happened next?

Pooh bear!

We then ventured off to the Walt Disney Studios park for the rest of the day.

Ft. Emma

It was interesting to see some behind the scenes of Disney. The first ride we made our way to was the Hollywood Tower. A few friends have told me about this one in the past and they said you can't go to Disneyland and miss it out. The weather was hitting the high twenties, and we were waiting for the Tower for at least an hour in the scorching heat. Eventually, we were at the front of the queue and excitedly anticipating what was to happen next. I must have looked like an easy target because the staff there kept making me jump. The ride was brilliantly hilarious. I mean, just look at our picture:

Beautiful.

We then went on our second favourite ride of the holiday: Rock n' Rollercoaster. This one is a little like Space Mountain: underground, lots of loops and twists and turns. However with one exception, it blasts Aerosmith right next to you. Me and Emma were singing "DUDE LOOK LIKE A LADY" in between screams the whole way round. It's fair to say that at this point, my voice was pretty worse for wear and I was starting to sound like Marge Simpson. After a quick ice cream and a drink, we went to the last ride of the holiday: Crush's Coaster. By now our feet were hurting, we were extremely exhausted and we were very thirsty. We queued for this ride for over an hour. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, we were finally on the ride and had a blast. Sadly, it was now time to make our way back to the hotel for our transfer to the airport and leave Disneyland behind.

Bye bye Disney!

We all had such an amazing time and were extremely sad to leave. It's somewhere you can really bring out your inner child and not feel judged for it and anyone that knows me knows that I don't exactly act my age. Emma, Sophie, Danny and I are already making plans to back again next summer. Even though it felt like all we did was queue and wait and travel for three days, it was one of the most amazing trips i've been on, and I can't wait to go back.

Ps. There is no way me and Emma could have survived the week on our own, so thanks for gatecrashing Sophie & Danny. We would never have made it back to Cheesy.

Until next time, Disneyland.

Paris, Day 2. Disneyland.

Despite having such a late night the night before, we were up bright and early and downstairs for 8am for breakfast. After plenty of croissants and pain au chocolats we hopped onto the shuttle bus and made our way to the Disney parks for the first time.

We arrived a little early, so in the middle of our childish Disney excitement, we went into a big Disney shop just outside of the gate.

(Headbands make me look bald so pls excuse)

I spent WAY too much, and I didn't regret it one bit. We spent at least an hour in the shop - there's so much to look at! I just wanted to buy everything.

Ready to go!

At 10am, we went into the Disneyland Park and first of all went into the Buzz Lightyear ride where you had to shoot the Evil Emperor Zurg (I won of course). Then we went to Space Mountain. Which soon after became our favourite ride. We went on it 3 times throughout the 2 days and each time managed to be at the front.

Say cheese!

We then went for a wander through the park and then walked through the castle

So pretty!

Because we were already acting like we were 5 years old, we decided to go on the Merry-Go Round.

Quick selfie

It was then that Sophie spotted Tigger just around a corner with only a short queue to meet him. As we were walking around the building to where she saw him, we realised that Eeyore was stood with him. Anyone who knows me could guess that at this point I was freaking out big time (Eeyore is my all time fave). So naturally we joined the queue and we all got hugs from the loveable characters.

They were so cuddly!

We then made our way to other rides such as Pirates of the Caribbean (which has absolutely nothing to do with the film disappointingly), Star Tours and Indiana Jones.

Then it was time for the parade! The song is forever stuck in my head but it just reminds me of how amazing it was. Being there, you kind of forget your age and who you're with, making you morph into this 5 year old version of yourself. I tell myself this to convince myself it was okay to scream.

I took way too many pictures.

By this point it was well into the evening so we walked to Planet Hollywood where we had reserved a table for dinner. The guys who served us in there were so lovely and welcoming - we definitely want to go there again. After another mooch around the shops after we had eaten, it was time to go sit by the castle in the main park for the firework and light display.
It
was
INSANE.

AAAAAAH!

They projected pictures and short clips of the Disney movies onto the castle and it was so clever how it all fit together and it looked like the characters were really there.

When the display finished it was midnight, so we went straight back to the hotel knowing we had to pack ready for home the next day. As Sophie and Daniel had a double bed and a bunk bed in their room, we all decided to have a little sleepover, and when we had all finished packing at 2am, Emma and I ventured off to their room.
Neither of us got to sleep until 3am, despite knowing we were up at 7 again the next day.

Make sure you check back tomorrow for our third and final day!

Paris, Day 1. The Eiffel Tower.

For my 21st birthday, I decided instead of a present I wanted to go to Disneyland Paris with my sister. After my parents surprisingly agreed for me to take my younger sister out of the country, we just grew more and more excited. A couple months before we were due to go, my best friend Sophie texted me to ask if her and her brother Daniel could gatecrash and come with us. It was the best idea Emma and I could think of and before you know it, off we went.

I'll skip through the whole fandango of travelling there with the boring security checks and baggage claim, so i'll just show you a picture of us on the plane with the strange man that was sat next to me.

Plane selfie!

Once we had checked in to our hotel, we decided to go on a little adventure to the Eiffel Tower considering our Park tickets were only valid for 2 out of our 3 days. This started with having a small dilemma at the train station; we had bought our tickets and knew what stop to get off at, but all of the signs were in French and we had no idea what side of the station to get on the train! After a lot of confusion and slow conversations with the French Information people, we managed to get on the right train, only the line terminated 1 stop before where we needed to get off.

A DOUBLE DECKER TRAIN PEOPLE

So it was back to stressing out. After leaving the tube station, we knew we were in the main city of Paris, but had absolutely no idea where. We figured that we were bound to see the tower from somewhere - it's huge! We were stood staring at a city map for what seemed like hours to try and navigate ourselves there. In the end I got a little fed up and flagged down a taxi (I was totally feeling like Blair or Serena when they go to Paris in Gossip Girl at that moment). 1 taxi ride later, and we were there.

Here we are!

Once we were there, the phones and cameras were out and millions of photos were taken. After seeing it in real life, i've realised that photographs really don't do it justice. It's so much bigger and so much more beautiful when you're really there. Especially when it's lit up at night! We had a little mooch around and bought a few souvenirs and some food, then decided it was time to get in line to go up the tower. The queue was horrendously long but eventually we got to the front.

So pretty!

Going up the lift made me nervous. I'm not brilliant with heights, yet I still always want to look down, and that was a bad idea. We went straight up to the second tier (unfortunately the top had closed by this point). The view was incredible. We saw the Arc de Triumph and Notre Dame and you can literally see for miles, I just couldn't stop looking out into the city.

The view from the first tier!

It was 11pm when we decided to leave and make our way back to the tube station. We got a taxi back and went down about 5 escalators into a completely deserted station. It looked apocalyptic. Exhausted from an extremely long day, we got on the train and began to relax knowing we would be back in our beds within 2 hours. That was when we realised that the last train stop was 3 stops before ours back in Disneyland. Time to panic again. When we got off at some station called 'Torcy', we saw that there were other passengers waiting for another train too. Knowing that we weren't completely alone and in the comfort that there was another British family on the platform, we sat and waited 20 minutes for the next train.

Eventually, the train came, and before long we were back in Disneyland and getting onto the shuttle bus straight back to the hotel. It was 2am when we were back in our rooms, and after such a long day travelling, we all crashed pretty much straight away.

That's the end of day one! Check here again tomorrow for day two.

Birthday Week.

So anyone in and around my radar will have caught wind that I turned 21 last week. I mean it was pretty difficult not to notice, the celebrations lasted over a week. Here's an overview of everything I got up to!

Monday 3rd August
We're going to Disneyland! Me, Emma, my best friend Sophie and her brother Daniel went to celebrate mine and Sophie's 21sts. After we had checked into the hotel we went on an adventure to the Eiffel Tower and got slightly lost in the process. Still, it was a brilliant start to my birthday week.

Tuesday 4th August
Our first day in the Disneyland Parks! We were in the main Disneyland Park from 9:30am until midnight. It was a LONG day! Our favourite ride was Space Mountain (we went on 3 times) and the parade was INSANE! That night we went for dinner at Planet Hollywood and went to watch the evening firework and light show at the castle.

Wednesday 5th August
After spending the day in the Walt Disney Studios Park, meeting Winnie the Pooh and queuing for over an hour for Crush's Coaster, we eventually had to make our way back home. I'll be writing about all 3 days in Paris in much more detail soon so watch this space!

Thursday 6th August
IT'S MY BIRTHDAY BITCHES. My birthday started in the wee early hours - arriving at Leeds Train Station after an awesome 3 days in Paris. I have already claimed this day as everyone's favourite day of the year, and there was only 1 way I wanted to spend it - LaserZone! I invited my whole family to Xscape and we played 2 hilarious games. We were split up into a blue and yellow team. In the second game some kids and their Dad joined in and may I just say, they were absolute little bastards. So we all ganged up and annihilated them. Afterwards, we all freshened up and went to Franco's Restaurant for some good nosh. At the meal I opened a few more prezzies and suffered the annual embarrassment of being sung to with a birthday cake. When we got home, I finally got to open my boyfriend, James' present, after he'd been raving about it for weeks. He's taking me to Rome and we're staying in the Princess Hotel - perfect!

Friday 7th August
James and I finally got some use out of our Merlin Passes and went to Thorpe Park for the day. We managed to go on all of the big rides; Swarm, Saw, Nemesis Inferno and Stealth (Colossus was closed). I had a great time and it was funny to see the Nemesis Inferno after it was featured on The Inbetweeners, but I honestly don't understand the massive hype that the park gets. If you're ever torn between the two, definitely go with Alton Towers. Plus when I went to the little girls' room, there was an employee sat in a cubicle with the doors open hugging her knees and crying. Then she got up and acted like nothing had happened...

Saturday 8th August
By this point in the week, I was extremely exhausted (each night in Disneyland, including the night before, I only had 5 hours sleep). I took my cousin/goddaughter to Manchester, to visit the LEGOland Discovery Centre. It was a really fun day out and we got to visit the Sealife Centre too then nipped into a few shops, including the Disney Store (you can never have too much Disney in one week). By the time I got home and into bed, I pretty much crashed immediately.

Sunday 9th August
Finally a lazy day! I had such an amazing week but it all finally caught up with me, so naturally I had a well needed PJ day. I also had a bit of a clear out and managed to fill 2 bin bags full of stuff I don't need any more. Out with the old and in with the new!

I had such a good week and I owe it all to the one and only Momma Pip. She's put up with my constant diva moments about wanting everything to be perfect and it so was. I love you Mum.

July.

Where the hell did July go?! I can't believe it's August tomorrow already. This year is just flying by.

My best pal Thomas did a June round up last month, and I liked the idea so I decided to copy him like I always do.

The month started off brilliantly. In the first week, I got a new car, was voted Employee of the Quarter at work and I finished my placement year for University.

On July 4th I went to a leaving do for one of the guys at work. My memories are limited but from what I can remember, there were countless arguments about Ring of Fire, I fell asleep on a balcony which felt like it was going to fall off, Tom can laugh at himself in a mirror for a stupid amount of time and Sarah is incredibly light.



My sister left for Finland on the 11th to go represent Team GB at a worldwide gymnastics event called Gymnaestrada. Here she is with her GB squad and some of the German team (she's the one on the far right).

Needless to say i'm insanely proud of her for this. From what she's told me it sounded like an amazing experience and she met people from countries all around the world.









The biggest event in July for me was my 21st. My birthday is in August but a lot of people are usually on holiday around that time (I know, how inconsiderate). So we went the whole nine yards; booked a venue, DJ, Photo Booth, caterer and I even booked a minibus to take me and my friends to the party after we had some Prosecco at my house. In a nutshell I had an amazing night that I spent with the best people. It consisted of arguments about how many claps to do in the dance to 'Saturday Night', my Grandma prancing around in a silly hat introducing herself to literally everyone, being pushed down a slide and having Sambuca and Tequila being forced down my throat. Ugh. If you want to read more about it - here's my previous blog post!

Over the weekend of my party, one of my best friends, Mary just kind of temporarily moved into my house. I don't see her a lot so when I do she's not allowed to leave! We spent the day after my party with one of my other besties, Kelsey, cuddled up in duvets watching Disney movies and eating Dominoes. Very luckily work had given me the 3 days after my party off, so they were naturally all spent lounging around not doing much.

The month ahead is looking pretty jam-packed so I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Twenty One.

On Saturday I celebrated my 21st birthday. My real birthday is 6th August, but being an August baby comes at a terrible price...
NO ONE IS EVER HERE.
I've always had my parties in July or September because the majority of my friends and family are usually on holiday when my birthday comes around (I know, how inconsiderate of them).

The day started with meeting my best friend Mary, and going to get my hair and nails done. Before this, I wasn't feeling particularly excited. I always feel slightly anxious before putting on a party, and this was the biggest one I had ever thrown. However after visiting the hairdressers the excitement began to build and Mary and I went home to begin with the drinking and getting ready, which is when Charlotte, another bezzie of mine, joined us. 

Kelsey arrived shortly after (another bezzie) and not long after that we were all ready to go so we made our way downstairs for Prosecco and strawberries.

Quick pic before we all get on the minibus with Mary, Jagger, Jess, Emma, Charlotte, Rachel, Kelsey and Foxy. The minibus driver was a bit miserable, and every time we asked him to turn the music up he would, but then he would very slyly turn it down soon after. What a dick.

My mum had been at the venue earlier on to decorate, so this was the first time I saw it all decorated. There were black, silver and purple balloons and a big silver 21. Of course, there were baby pictures of me stuck everywhere.

Once we were there I also got to see my cake (which was insane), and not long after I was on the meet and greet. My shoes were absolutely killing me, and after i'd made sure they lasted as long as possible, I made the swift change to flip flops.

I had a Photo Booth! Many silly pictures were taken and everyone seemed to love it.

I had such an amazing night consisting of arguments with Tom about how many claps you do in the dance to Saturday Night, laughing at my Grandma introducing herself to literally everyone and then doing the Macarena to Cha Cha Slide, dancing to as many songs as possible and getting pushed down a slide. I'm grateful to everyone who came and wanted to celebrate with me. The only problem is it went way too fast!

And Nathan was there so that was great.

What's in my bag?

I've been a bit stuck for a while thinking what I can blog about. My best friend Tom suggested I do a "What's In My Bag" post - so here it is!

To start off, I got my bag from H&M. I can't remember the exact price but it was around £25. I absolutely love it and use it pretty much every day now. It has press studs at either side of the bag so you can minimise it if you're wanting something smaller. Without the studs, it's pretty huge, and my bag needs to be to carry around all of my rubbish!

My purse, River Island. Pretty much every single purse i've owned has been from there. I love them. I always need a pretty big purse to fit in my millions of loyalty cards. It's very rarely thick with money #studentprobs.

My Filofax. I keep my entire life in here and i'd be completely lost and frequently late to work without it.

My Soap & Glory goodies. I can't go anywhere without these guys. Hand Maid is my favourite out of these; it smells so good!

Moleskine Notebook. Everyone needs one of these. Sometimes when i'm out and about i'll suddenly get a good idea for a blog post or some good moves for dancing and I need to jot them down before I forget. I've got a memory like a sieve so it happens often.

Just like any other bookworm, it's essential that I have a book in my bag just in case. Right now it's 'The Bees' by Laline Paull. I'm reading pretty frequently at the moment and my average is about 1 book every 2 weeks.

Glasses. Prescription and sun. Yep, I joined the OAP club and picked up my first pair of glasses about 2 months ago. I'm only supposed to wear them for driving, reading, computers etc, but I feel pretty comfortable wearing them now so they're on 90% of the time. Unfortunately, my sunglasses aren't Ray Bans. I used to have some, hence the case, but last year, I knelt on them and they broke…

I simply can't go anywhere without these. When I need to choreograph a dance, I listen to the song repeatedly for a few days. It makes me absolutely hate the song but it gets the creative juices flowing!

Pencil case. Packed with highlighters, Bic biros, pencils and a rubber. Not the most exciting item in there but hey ho.










Then there's all the rubbish at the bottom like receipts, loose change, various bus tickets, lip balm, broken pens, tissues, and every so often the odd LEGO brick (absolutely no idea how they even get in there).

June favourites

I can't believe it's July already! Where is the year going?! Here's a quick look at some of my favourite cosmetic buys this month, each one i've been using pretty regularly and I would recommend every single one of them.

Maybelline 24 Hour Superstay Lip Colour Lipstick in Timeless Rose £8.99 Boots

I'm in love with this colour. The conditioning balm plumps my lips and makes a nice base for the colour, making it easy to clean off at the end of the day but also keeps it in place when you need it!

Sleek Contour Palette in Light £6.49 Boots

I'm obsessed with make up videos - especially contouring. I've been using bronzer for a while and it can look too shimmery and orange. I love the Sleek eyeshadow palettes and when I saw this in a store in town, I needed to give it a go, and I wasn't disappointed!

Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water £2.79 Boots 

I've only recently started to use Micellar Water. Up until now it's just been facewipes and facewash until a friend nearly had a breakdown when she found out what I was using. "Facewipes strip your skin of their natural oils!", "They're so bad for you!", "You NEED to use Micellar Water!".

So here I am giving it a go. It takes my make up off so easy and my skin hasn't been this clear in so long! I am loving it!

Benefit Total Moisture Facial Cream £29.50 Boots

This has become a pretty regular participant of my evening skin routine. After i've cleaned my face I put a small dollop on my cheeks and massage it around my face, then in the morning my face feels as soft as a baby's bottom!

Toni & Guy Casual Sea Salt Texturising Spray 200ml £4.99 Superdrug

This is brilliant if you're having one of those 'you want to look good but you're too tired and lazy to do anything about it' days. All it takes it a couple sprays onto my hair, a quick brush through and i'm good to go. This is one of my favourite looks at the moment. I've always been a fan of sea salt waves - they make me feel like i'm on holiday! With this one, I feel that the best results come when you've used it on wet hair.

MAC Studio Fix Fluid SPF15 30ml Foundation £21.50 Harvey Nichols

Once you go MAC, you never go back. It took a while to find the perfect shade (they have a lot to choose from!), but after I used it for the first time, I was amazed! Only a small dollop (1 pump) was needed for enough coverage on my face, and it looks flawless! My favourite thing about it is the fact that it feels like i'm not wearing any foundation at all.

(I'm pretty surprised there's no Soap & Glory in here, doesn't mean I love them any less!)