On The 2nd Day of #Fitmas My Mother Gave To Me...

... a huge bag of fruit and veg from Aldi including every single thing I can't stand normally and will refuse to eat...
I guess I just ruined the fun of that Christmas Carol.
But it's time to embrace the healthy food.

Yesterday I joined the #FITMAS army in our mission to get healthy before Christmas.
Corinne has organised Fitmas, and you can go over to her blog to find out all about it!
{Just want to say a big thanks to you, Corinne, for getting us all inspired}

I have started in full swing with a kick up the butt from a three day detox.
Up until I started Uni I was SO fussy with my eating.. I still am fussy now just nowhere near as bad.
I wouldn't have touched any of this 'healthy shit' but by putting it into a juice it makes it nicer to eat and is a great way to get some healthy-ness into your body.

I've made it through 2 days now but my god is it hard! I'm glad I didn't chose to do 5 or 7 days!
I'm sitting here dreaming of a Miller and Carter steak...

These are my fruit and veg for the day!

I had a smoothie and a juice; 'Turbo with a Kick!' and 'Minty Sunshine'

Both of which are Jason Vale recipes, I've blogged about him before but if you're into all this healthy food loving stuff, apparently he's some kind of healthy guru...

Minty Sunshine

2 Oranges, 3 Carrots, 4 Sprigs of Mint and 2 slices of Ginger

I doubled this to make enough for the whole day,

Just whizz it through the juicer!

Turbo... with a Kick!

2 Apples, 1/2 Celery Stick, 2 Handfuls Spinach, 2-3cm Cucumber,

1/2 Peeled Lime, 1/4 Pineapple, 1 slice Ginger and 1/4 Avocado.

Juice everything accept the avocado and then blend that in separately.

I doubled this too as you have 2 smoothies and 2 juices a day.

Both of these drinks were lovely, the minty sunshine has always been a personal favourite...
although I have to say I am missing solid food!
Roll on Thursday, I've never been excited for porridge before.

And I had cute New Look cups to get me through! 

I also bought 9 BAR's and Nākd. bars as a push through the times when I get hungry.

Amazingly I haven't needed them yet, I'll give a review when I try them!

For today's exercise I started the Couch to 5K programme unfortunately in the rain - you can download the 'Get Running' app on iTunes.
It slowly builds you up from interval training to running 5K in 9 weeks, which is too long for Fitmas but at least I'm starting now and hopefully come January I will be able to do it.

I wore my new running trainers, which I bought from the Missguided 'Active' range as I wanted something more supportive than my tatty old converse I used to do exercise in and I thought I'd try them out before I spent more money on more expensive ones.
Missguided sell these Active trainers in two different colours; Grey Contrast and Neon Pink Contrast.
Both are priced at £20.

As an honest review, they didn't hurt my feet and supported them well but they let in so much water my feet were absolutely drenched and soggy - that's not cool and didn't make the experience very enjoyable.
They also didn't look as nice as more expensive brands of trainers as they didn't fit the ends of my feet properly and were slightly baggy!
I am going to continue using them so I can decide if I like them more, only time will tell if they were worth trying...


Are you trying Fitmas?


May x

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Manicure Monday

I bought a scarf a few weekends ago in the leadup to autumn and I absolutely love it so much but there has been no time for me to wear it because it's been so mild, but today... FINALLY... it has turned slightly colder and I finally had the chance to wear it!

and with every good accessory should come a matching manicure... right?

{You can view all my other nail art on my blog dedicated entirely to nails; The Nailphile}

As with every manicure monday I needed inspiration from somewhere.

This is the scarf from my Autumn Haul, which I got from New Look. It's so big and thick and cosy, it's going to be perfect this winter.

Yellow and Blue Check Scarf - £14.99

As you can see the colours are slightly different, my nails are slightly brighter than the scarf but I wanted to make them pop a little bit more. 

I even finally managed to find a mustard nail varnish for this when I've been looking for one for so long!

This manicure was created entirely in Barry M Gelly Colours; Mustard, Blackberry and Chilli.

Chilli is actually a lovely colour just on it's own and I'm wearing it on the other hand (I didn't have time to do both hands for this manicure!) It is more of a burnt orange colour than a red like it comes out in these images.

So, I know this isn't the most perfect manicure - but I can see myself improving!
What do you all think?

May x

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Monochrome Series #1

"Black and White is abstract; colour is not. Looking at a black and white photograph, you are already looking at a strange world." Joel Sternfeld

I recently found a little blog; Captured in the Lens by Stephanie. She has just started her own Monochrome Series which I loved the concept of so I have decided to give it a go myself.
I took a walk through the park (and got lost!) this week, and although I only had my iPhone with me I decided to get a few snaps to start off my series.

These photos are all pretty simple, nothing amazing and just edited with the amazing iPhone app, Afterlight but obviously not as good quality as it would have been with my camera!

I was also amazed about the fact that there was daisies out - it's November! 

Definitely a mild autumn.

What was nice about using my iPhone was not lugging round my massive camera, was much easier with a lighter phone than a big heavy canon hanging round my neck!

How do you feel about the monochrome series?

Anyone wanting to join!?

May x

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Autumn Walk 2.0

As the autumn slowly dwindles out, the nights get shorter and the air gets colder and in creeps winter...
along with laryngitis and a chest infection for lucky old me.
Despite the fact that the air is very damp and extremely bad for my chest right now, I couldn't help but need the fresh air so I took myself for a little walk again to get myself out of the house and to hopefully get a few snaps of the last dribs and drabs of the autumn scenery.

I wasn't feeling completely up to taking photographs, but what I did really enjoy was making friends with the cutest little horse.
This one I felt particularly bad for, tied up and left in the cold...
He was so friendly he followed me as far as he could and then nuzzled my leg for me to pat him on the head. 
I'm normally very wary of horses, but this one was lovely.

{It was bordering on impossible to get a photo of him wanting to be stroked because I only bought my 50mm lens out with me and he kept fidgeting every time the camera made a noise!}

I found myself a little rock to sit on while watching the horses.

There was noone around and it was so peaceful - it's something I recommend everyone to do once in a while. I even turned off my camera for a while and just watched them gallop around.

Just go for a walk alone and gain back some of your sanity.

I sat myself on a little path when this one came over to see me, and as I previously said I have always been wary of horses but I thought;

'Oh! The other one was so nice I shouldn't be scared - I'll go in for a stroke as he's come to see me!'.

WRONG.

It tried to bite me, little shit! And then happily trotted off to the other horse in the distance.

And this is the last picture I took, I kept the autumnal colours to match the rest of the images from this blogpost but actually on my instagram I prefer the brown hue. This is now my cover photo on facebook because I think it's so cute - it's like they're having a little chat!

And then, they ran and they ran straight towards me but I was back against a bush so I panicked..
So, here's me genuinely scared of the evil horse that bit me and one that is now charging at me,
but apparently finding it funny! (It is funny now)

Hope you've all had a lovely day and with the end of autumn and winter approaching you haven't been given any dreaded illness'!

May   x

I Accidentally, On Purpose, Bought Christmas Decorations... In November

Don't get me wrong, I'm a full believer in Christmas is in DECEMBER - and having Christmas shoved in my face from November 1st definitely gets on my nerves, BUT...
I simply couldn't resist today. 
And I feel like decorations are different, I won't be putting them up yet - I've just got them in advance so the tree can look better.

Each of these were only £1 each from the one and only, Hobbycraft.
I've always loved it in there and every time I go in for one thing and end up buying almost everything...
I only went in for Fimo and a box for my Secret Santa!

I saw this cat and said "My mum's gonna kill me if I buy Christmas Decorations already", but the temptation was too much and I bought it anyway. And then 3 more... and I'm still thinking about all the others that I could buy, but the little Christmas Kitty couldn't be lonely!

Both of these were my second two favourites - there seems to be a theme of badgers around me recently! I love the gingerbread man, but I am not a massive fan of the bow, so there may be a bit of DIY and me changing that or I might even try and make my own felt decorations!

And I thought the Polar Bear, although not the best decoration, was really cute and christmassy which is why I bought him too. For some reason I can't find the others on the website but you can buy the polar bear! 

I am also eyeing up the Penguin, The Reindeer, the Christmas Pudding and the Small Deer.

AND! To finish off my early Christmas blog post, on my hour walk home I got myself a Costa Hot Chocolate.

Unlike Starbucks they actually have Christmas Cups;

STARBUCKS ARE SO RIDICULOUS, OMG, THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS, NO CHRISTMAS CUPS, THE WORLD IS GOING TO END!!!

*eyeroll*

Do people not realise there are more important things in the world than the design of a cardboard cup?

But look, it's a little penguin, how cute!

But now I'm back to anti-christmas mode, as it is still November. 

*excuse my french, but I feel this*

Is anyone else in awkwardly early Christmas mode?

What have you bought so far?!

May x

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Manicure Monday

Oh no! I got home from Centerparcs late today, sit down to relax and watch The Hunt (which is absolutely amazing, by the way!) and then I suddenly realised I hadn't done any Manicure Monday nails!
Well, I tried to quickly do some and despite the fact that they're not the best they're done now...
and it must be Monday still somewhere in the world, right!?

I used so many random polishes that I can't possibly name them all as I don't even know what half of them are,

but the blue background is Barry M Gelly Nail Paint - Huckleburry (402)

I don't know why it happens, and it's really very annoying, but the quality of the picture is terrible and actually - they look better in real life, which never normally happens for me.

I attempted these for Nail Pornography's weekly competition; Nails of the Week.

Each week the girls choose a theme and you can create nails and submit your photo for the vote which commences on a Thursday at 11:59pm - and the winner is crowned on Saturday.

This week's theme is Woodland Creatures.

This links to my nail blog, which you should go and have a look at and give me some *constructive* advice if you haven't had a look already!

I was going to do Squirrels after my weekend away in Centerparcs - which I might redo anyway - but I thought the badger was cute and fitting, as we re-nicknamed my boyfriend badger after our weekend away.

I got the inspiration for my nails from this image on Pinterest but unfortunately the link to the blog doesn't work so I can't credit the illustrator of this gorgeous picture!

I know I could've done so much better but, time is ticking and I'm almost out of Monday!
I'll update you soon, hopefully with new and better nails for the competition!

But now it's 01:50am here and I need to get myself some beauty sleep!

What do you think of the design?

May x

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Charity Shop Books

I know of many people who will go to charity shops religiously while shopping to see what they can find; Jimmy Choo, Levi Jeans, Rayban Sunnies.

They may be last seasons but who doesn't love a bargain on designer?

Well, I don't. I cannot bear the thought of digging through hundreds of rails and piles of old toot just incase I find something that may possibly be worth it because the fact is, it seems very unlikely I will actually find anything. I'm not really a big designer person myself and I'm quite happy with my High Street clothes.

However! I recently went into a charity shop to give in a bag of old clothes and saw at the back a massive section of books which caught my eye. After I handed the bag to the lady I went to have a little browse. Hundreds of books from any genre you can imagine, and almost all of them for £1!

Well, I really can't go wrong can I! 
Especially as part of my Day Zero Project is to read 50 books...

Unfortunately I am one to judge a book by it's cover, despite the popular quote, but this time I thought - I'm gonna spin the stand and grab whichever 3 I land on first. So here they are...

Bernadine Kennedy - Old Scores (RRP £5.99)

Cecelia Ahern - P.S I Love You (RRP £7.99)

Xandra Bingley - Bertie, May and Mrs. Fish (RRP £6.99)

I was excited when I grabbed P.S I Love You, I absolutely adore the film and it makes me cry every time but it really is beautiful and I'd love to see whether the film or the book is better.

As for the other two, well, I've never heard of either - or the writers.

One is a life abuse story and the other is from the war - I feel like a middle aged woman! But as I said, I need to stop judging books by the covers! Has anyone else read these?

I will update with reviews whenever I read them!

And the best thing about it is that I can take them back for charity afterwards so they can continue to make money for the British Heart Foundation.

Does anyone else use charity shops for books?

May x

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Autumn Haul and Vodka Treats...

Autumn is here. It's cold, it's damp, it's foggy... and I have no warm clothes.

So I've thrown out half of my old wardrobe that's tatty and unworn and I'm starting again.

Every time I shop, New Look is my go to shop. Their prices are affordable and their clothes are always fantastic quality and it is where everything is from in the haul except the vodka and the nail varnishes.

Rust High Neck Jumper | Mustard Boxy Jumper | Burgundy Leather Look Skirt
Yellow and Blue Check Scarf | Salty Caramel Popcorn Vodka

Essie 'Tassel Shaker' | Essie 'Not Just a Pretty Face'

I've gone for the classic autumn colours here; orange, brown, mustard, burgundy... It's my favourite time of year as far as clothes are concerned because it's cold enough to cover up but not too cold that I can't still wear tights and skirts.

This is a close up of the scarf and necklace that I bought.
The necklace was to match the leather skirt, pictured above, but I can't find it on the internet any more, despite the fact it is still in stores.
And scarves are my kryptonite... I can't resist a cute one and they always make a cute autumn outfit look even better!

Oddka Vodka is fairly new in supermarkets here, so when I bought this I was excited because it sounds so unique.

I haven't tried it yet but I'm planning on making cocktails with it, so keep your eyes peeled for some great autumn cocktail treats!

This skirt is my new favourite item in my wardrobe. It can be worn both day and night and the colour matches almost anything.

The glitter Essie is from a brand new Luxe Effects range and will be in an upcoming blogpost for a manicure I will be doing.

The earrings from this image I bought purely for the pair in the middle - and then a friend complimented them and asked if they were from Pandora... WINNING!

No, they're £3.99 from New Look!

I also got these totally amazing Harry Potter socks from Primark, I couldn't resist! 
For only £2.50, why not let your inner Harry Potter geek out!?

What are your autumn staples?

May x

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Day Zero Project: Graduate Uni

I have been a bit slack on my Day Zero Project and to be quite honest I think I was way too ambitious with what I thought I was going to achieve in 1001 days. However, I am going to keep it up as more of a bucket list and tick things off as I go...

One that I am now able to tick off is that I have finally graduated;
I now have a BA Honours Degree in Photography!

As many of you who read my blog will know, I absolutely HATED University and I honestly wish that I had never gone and had gone travelling instead... but if that were the case I wouldn't have the friends that I have now so for that I am grateful.

When I started at Anglia Ruskin in 2012 I was on crutches after having my hip replaced, so for my graduation I decided that wearing heels was a must to show how far I had come. I absolutely loved the heels that I bought but on the day, the worst nightmare happened, they broke! I'm so glad that it happened after I had walked on the stage as I was already so nervous about it!

As a family, we had a lovely day at the graduation and then went for a few drinks in Revolutions (showing them the student life!) and then we went for a lovely meal in The Cambridge Chop House - which by my standards was definitely a 5* and was absolutely amazing, I definitely recommend it to anyone who will be visiting Cambridge!

So, I finally did it - I am finally a graduate and now I have to grow up in the real world...

Or, I think, fly off around the world!

I'm excited for what's to come.

May x

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Autumn Walk 1.0

I finally bought myself a polaroid and today I went out for a walk in the beautiful orange and gold countryside in my home town to practise with it... It's safe to say the practise is definitely needed. The Instax210 is a beautiful looking polaroid, very big and the wide angle photos make it more versatile.

 But I really struggled with the lighting in the photos and these were actually taken an hour before sunset so there was plenty of light but the camera still kept forcing the flash, making it seem like a late night walk rather than an early evening one.

I love pictures of autumn and although these aren't terrible photos, they weren't anything like I wanted.

I wish these would've come out in the golden colours that I could actually see.

I think I'll have to go out again into the countryside but with my digital camera next time,

and save polaroid practise for another time!

But at least I finally have one!

May x

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Silent Sunday #1