Week Review: 15th March 2014

It's been such a hectic week this week, what with all the dissertation work I've been focusing on (not that any of that boring-ness will be reflected in this post!) so I haven't had a whole lot of blogging time but fear not! A face mask review post is on it's way to you shortly!

But for now here's a look back at what I've been up to (minus the uni work) this week:

// Ed's Easy Diner // We climbed a mountain // Roche //
// Pizza on top of a mountain // The view // Dublin Planning //
// Comfiest leggings // Forgotten photo from London Zoo // Cancer Research //

Ok so Saturday was definitely my busiest day this week. Started off with a trip to Ed's Easy Diner with my mum and brother, which was great (not just because of the American food) but because we rarely spend time as a family anymore and I've honestly missed it. Then I went to Newport to see Roche and since it was such a sunny day we decided to climb (that's probably a bit of an exaggeration) walk up Twmbarlwm Mountain. Roche packed pizza to have at the top (now that's my kind of picnic!) and the view was honestly amazing. We were so high up we could see the entire city and over to Bristol; even if, at the time, I wondered whether the climb was worth it! I'm so unfit it's unreal, let's blame the asthma I had when I was a child to make myself feel better for my complete lack of being able to breathe on the way up...
Then the rest of my week consisted of planning mine and Roche's trip to Dublin, which my Dad ever-so-kindly paid for as my birthday present from him. We're going from 2nd-4th of April, which doesn't sound long but we have 3 full days there and are definitely planning to make the most of it. Definitely going to squeeze in a trip to Dublin Zoo while we're there (I'm becoming zoo-obsessed...). I also ordered some check leggings from Topshop which came a few days ago and I am loving them! I live and die in leggings but these are without doubt the comfiest pair I've owned and I don't think my photo does them justice so I'll leave the link to them at the bottom of this post.
Finally, as I'm sure you've seen on your Facebook feed or on the news, women in the UK have been posting "no-makeup selfies" in order to raise awareness of breast cancer and get people donating. I don't know about your newsfeeds but there was a lot of negativity going around with them. People posting asking others to stop "clogging up" their newsfeeds with makeup-less photos and angrily saying it has nothing to do with breast cancer. Whether it makes sense or not those "no-makeup selfies" have raised £2million (and counting!) which is an incredible achievement that hopefully silenced those who labelled it as "pointless".
Now I think it's a great idea and I wish I had the confidence to post a makeup-less selfie but, as an Alopecia sufferer, I find it incredibly difficult to bare all of my "facial-baldness". So no I didn't post a selfie but I did donate and I hope everyone continues to do so because it is a great cause.

I'd love to hear your "no-makeup selfie" stories or if you have any tips or ideas for places to visit in Dublin they would be much appreciated too!

And anyone who's interested in those leggings:
Topshop Check Leggings (£25)

Top Apps: Sleepbot

Again, a different type of post to what I usually do and, don't worry, I will get back to reviewing beauty products! There are two main reasons why I've taken a break from beauty reviews and they are: 1) since starting to write my dissertation my skincare routine has taken a bit of a back seat (tragic I know!) and 2) my dwindling student budget hasn't allowed me to buy anything new in a long time. That being said I have my eye on a few Origins products so keep your eyes peeled for those reviews!

Anyway onto this post! I was going to do just one post of my favourite apps I've been discovering over the last few months but I just had too much to say about each one (shocker!) so thought each deserved their own individual time to shine. 

Starting with Sleepbot:

I've been using this app for about two weeks now and I actually really like it. Now don't get me wrong it's not life-changing but from a nosey point of view it is quite interesting information to know. I initially sought out a sleep tracker because, for a while now, it seems like no matter how much sleep I get I am always, always tired. I started to wonder why that was and thought maybe seeing what goes on in my sleep will give me some answers and it pretty much did. 

Sleepbot works by keeping your phone or tablet on your bed with you while you sleep. There are three things it is designed to track and you can choose which settings to turn on depending on what you want to know. These settings are "motion tracker" which measures your movements during the night, "sound tracker" which record the audio in your room and "smart alarm" which uses your movements within a 30 minute period of your set alarm time to determine when you're at your lightest stage of sleep, making waking up easier.                                 

Just set an alarm, choose what you'd like to track and tell Sleepbot that you're going to sleep, simple!

Both tracking results are recorded and displayed on a graph, which spikes when you move or when there is noise. I always have the motion tracker on because I thought that might be where my sleeping issues come from. I was right. Most nights the graph shows just how restless I am, showing increased movement every 15-20 minutes; no wonder I wake up shattered! I haven't tried the sound tracker yet purely for wimpy reasons; I'm honestly half expecting it to playback some form of ghost activity which may be silly but I'm convinced my house is haunted and I'd rather not confirm that!

Bad nights' sleep (top) compared to a good night's sleep (bottom)

The app also give you a chance to rate your sleep out of 5 stars and write a short comment on it, whether that's a note about a dream/nightmare you had or just to sum up how you think you slept.

Rating system

All your sleep data is recorded, making it easy for you to go back and check previous nights'/weeks' sleep. Other information it gives you includes how much sleep you owe yourself in terms of getting 8 hours of sleep a night, how long you're asleep for (also shown in graph form) and what your average sleep time is.

All of your recorded nights' sleep archived

The number of hours sleep you have during the week plotted on one easy to read graph

This app is only available on android but I know my housemate has a pretty good one on her iPhone (don't we sound like a fun house!) that also tells you at what stages you were in light, deep and REM sleep so that could be interesting too!

All in all it's a great app that can show you some really interesting things about your sleep pattern. It's free so you really have nothing to lose and it's sort of addictive! I've become quite excited about checking my sleep in the morning (it's not like I experienced the real thing or anything...). Sad I know but I'd definitely recommend it!

Anyone else tried a sleep tracker app? I'd love to know your thoughts!

Let's Catch Up!

Ok so as I said in my last post, I've been Blogger AWOL for 2 months so I thought I'd do a catch up post of everything that's got on in that time. It seems like an absolute blur looking back on it and trying to remember what I've been up to; what would I do without Instagram to remind me?!

End of December 2013:

// White Christmas with Gramp // Millie versus reindeer decorations // Fajita Night //
// Christmas Eve cinema trip with Mum // Christmas PJs tradition // Presents from Boyf //
// One of the Xmas presents to Boyf // Dexter & Uni Work // Presents from me to me //

I was lacking the festive spirit so my Gramp decided to put on White Christmas which, I know, is a classic but I'd never seen it. Adding to the Christmas spirit, my Nan came back with light up reindeer and sleigh for their back garden which my dog in no way appreciated; she didn't know what they were or why they were in her favourite carpet spot but she wanted them gone! Not really in-keeping with the "Christmas tone" of this part of the post but Roche and I decided to have a Fajita night which is definitely something that needs to be done more often! Then onto Christmas Eve, which is full of traditions in my family, starting with mine and my Mum's annual Christmas Eve trip to the cinema which this year involved Saving Mr Banks. I honestly can't rave about this film enough, it's just an all-round great family film full of the Disney magic I'd been missing. Christmas Eve ended how it always did, with Christmas Eve PJs, this year's being a reindeer vest and red shorts set from Boohoo. Christmas Day was full of the usual family festivities and the new addition of driving over to Roche's in the evening to do our own little Christmas. He knows me so well getting all of my favourite things; pug make-up bag and calendar, Nirvana T-Shirt and of course Batiste dry shampoo (where would I be without it!). I bought him something the big kid deep down inside of him (ok really not that deep down...) had been mentioning for months in the run up to Christmas; Lord of the Rings Lego including Gollum figurine to remind him of me (long story short: I used to get called Gollum in high school because the resemblance was uncanny). Finally, no rest for the wicked, uni work doesn't stop just because it's the last couple of days of the year but I couldn't face doing it without my beloved Dexter and buying myself some presents as a reward for trying to be a good uni student!

January 2014:

// Millie's Vets trip // My first opticians visit // My usual view //

// Cinema Trip: American Hustle // Puppy-sitting // Ruby Tuesdays // 

// Night out // Hangover Day // High School teacher on Pointless //

January absolutely flew by! So to start from the beginning (leaving out New Years which was awful), Millie does not in any way like the vets, I don't blame her, I'm probably the same when I go to the doctors but she was properly shaking and hiding under chairs and, being the mean owner that I am, I just couldn't resist taking a picture! I also, at almost 21, had my very first eye test. Probably something that was long overdue but it turns out I have good vision and no need for glasses! Summing up my usual view in photo three, Roche and football, can't say I'm in any way a football fan but I am a fan of Roche so if keeping him happy means watching men run round in shorts then it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. We also went to see American Hustle which I was kind of expecting more from considering how huge the cast was. That being said I did really enjoy it but it was one of those films where it ended and I wasn't sure what to make of it. I then got to do something I absolutely love doing; puppy-sitting! Anyone who knows me knows I'm near-enough obsessed with puppies and dogs in general and I cannot be held responsible for the "aww" noises and baby speech that leave my mouth when a puppy crosses my path so I jumped at the chance of looking after Roche's dad's puppy Jake. Little tinker. Then there was some Ruby Tuesdays action (love, love, love!) and a night out for no other reason than we all needed to de-stress and I had a new dress, which is from Missguided and has accelerated my love of tartan. With every night out, brings a hangover day which involved not really moving from the sofa for 90% of the day. Finally a total surprise while flicking through channels, I spotted my high school geography/form teacher, who has to be said was my favourite (if we're allowed to show favouritism). Needless to say he did not do very well, which was gutting because judging by Facebook we were all rooting for him! Genuinely lovely man, even when we used to wind him up a treat.

February 2014:

// Another night out // Sudden realisations // London Zoo //
// Valentine's Day // Want an adventure // Cinema trip: Lego Movie //

// Russell Howard's Wonderbox // Babysitting the Dweebs // Birthday celebrations //

And finally, February! Another birthday night out with (mostly) my favourite people to celebrate some people completing Dry January. Following that I realised that uni will be over forever in a few months and, since I've had the absolute best years of my life so far, it's the scariest thought having to leave this place and these people. I had a sudden realisation that everything is going to change (I'm not good at change!) and I have no idea what I want to do with my life. It's an adventure I suppose! Speaking of adventures, Roche booked us a trip to London Zoo for my birthday because I absolutely love zoos and the nearest one to me is Bristol which, I hate to say it, has gone downhill in recent years. Onto my first ever Valentine's Day! I know it's all commercialised and you should show you love your partners every day not just one day a year but it was my first one and no one's ever bought me roses before so safe to say I got caught up in the Valentine's moment. Also with the pressures of dissertation writing, even more recently, I've just fantasized about dropping everything, hopping on a train and exploring somewhere I've never been before. I'll do it one day, I love adventures. Yet another cinema trip to see The Lego Movie, which I didn't think would be my thing, but I surprised myself by LOVING it! I recommend it, it's just a happy film. Last week I went to see Russell Howard live and it was just the pick-me-up a needed, I was crying with laughter throughout the whole thing, he did not disappoint! Then this weekend Roche and I were puppy-sitting the troublemaking Spaniel Jake again which I will honestly never get tired of. And finally, it marked a week until London Zoo and my 21st birthday, expect a blog post!

Apologies!

Just a quick post to apologise for my blogging absence the last 2 months!

Pretty sure I briefly mentioned in a previous post that I had some health issues that got in the way of my blogging time (if only because I couldn't think of anything else!), then it was Christmas and New Year and before I knew it I was back in uni working non-stop on my dissertation! Which brings us to today. 

Juggling third year, dissertation work and a blog was never going to be easy and it was a battle won by the dissertation. Although I'm nowhere near finished with that, I'm going to start making time for my blog again because I miss writing (well writing things that are in no way uni related!).
So I've got quite a few blog post ideas up my sleeve that will hopefully be up over the next month or so; some of them will be in-keeping with previous posts I've done and others will be slightly different to what I usually do but hopefully a good different!

Apologies again and watch this space!

Week Review #7: 15th December 2013

// Revision & Johnny English // Nan & Gramp's 50th Anniversary // Stole Boyf's Cap //
// Starbucks // Knackered Boyf // New Scarf //
// The Hobbit // Puppy Williams // Mum's Christmas Tree //

Sorry for the late week review (again!). Been having some health issues lately so blogging took a bit of a back seat. Last weekend was spent revising for an exam I had Monday but I couldn't resist watching Johhny English while it was on TV! Sunday I had my Nan and Gramp's 50th Wedding Anniversary meal to go to. It was so nice to be around the family because, since I've been at uni, I've spent any time with them. Considering I'm in my third year of uni that's a lot of time I've missed! One thing I will miss over Christmas is the hot chocolate in the uni Starbucks, they spare no expense on the cream! You get an absolute mountain and don't get charged for it. The last week of term is always hectic and the fact that we had 3 assignments in that week really did take it's toll on Roche, flaking out under the Christmas tree! Although he did manage to get me an early Christmas present in the form of a Topman scarf which I love; he couldn't have me being cold! (Or just got sick of me complaining about how cold I am...). Then Friday night we went to go see The Hobbit which was amazing! And featured a pug cameo which made my day. Pugs are taking over the world I tell you! Then this weekend I spent at my mum's with my dog following me round acting like my shadow (I've missed being stalked by her...) and we put up the Christmas tree! Still don't feel Christmassy though, despite typing this at my Nan's house, which resembles Santa's grotto, while watching White Christmas. It has to kick in at some point surely?!

Week Review #6: 8th December 2013

//Train Essentials // Train Selfie // Liverpool was Christmassy //
// Roche // Star Wars Purchase // Costa //
// Liver Building // Dinosaurs at the Museum // Roche Again //

A very much overdue week review! So last week I went to Liverpool for a few days with my boyfriend to do some more sightseeing and Christmas shopping in a city that we both love. We got to do a lot more this time round and it definitely seemed less rushed. On the Wednesday we just wandered round and hit the shops because the 4 hour train journey killed us off; who knew you could get so tired from just sitting on a train for 4 hours?! I didn't buy a whole lot but I did pick up a Star Wars top that's got the characters as they would be in the 70s if they were in their school year book. Then just had a chilled evening of food and drinks. After the last couple of weeks of uni it was definitely a welcome break, just to relax away from Cardiff and spend some quality time together because, despite being on the course and seeing each other every day in uni because of that, it felt like we'd hardly actually spent any time together (weird).

// Couldn't resist train selfies! //

// Chilled evening with the pub and a wander round looking at festive things //

Thursday was when the real sightseeing happened. We got up early to make the most of our day because we had to get the train back at 5pm. Started with yet more shopping (how could we resist?!) then we walked down to see the Liver building, think we must have taken a photo of it from every single possible angle between us!

// Morning of shopping! //

// Liver Building // Museum of Liverpool //

From there we saw the Museum of Liverpool and thought what better way to learn more about the city than find out about its history which was actually really interesting. After that we took a wander down to Albert Dock, which I can imagine looks so pretty at night, where we stopped for a much needed Costa! There's a definite Beatles vibe in a lot of the places we saw around the city (understandably) yet this time we didn't manage to actually do any of the Beatles tours or go to the Cavern Club which I reeeally wanted to do.

// Costa // Dinosaurs! // Ancient Greece // Roche //

But hey ho there's always next time! Finally we had a bit of time to kill before our train so we went to the World Museum (two museums in one day, how cultured do we think we are?!). Couldn't resist going to see the dinosaurs first, we're suckers for anything prehistoric so standing infront of a dinosaur skeleton for five minutes was enough to turn us back into excited children on a school trip. There was also a little aquarium in there and I loved the Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Greek exhibitions (yes, Disney's Hercules songs were playing in my head the whole time I was in that one!). 

Then we had the looong train journey back which, after all that walking the last two days, I found it very difficult to stay awake in. Next time I'd love to visit the Cavern Club since we missed it this time round and I'd definitely want to do the Sightseeing Bus, not only to save my little legs, but because I like knowing all the inside information the tour guides tell you.

All in all a much needed few days!

What do you consider as being "Grown Up"?

Bit of a different post today and, don't worry, I will get back to doing reviews (I've already got an Origins one lined up so watch this space!). This is more of a life/growing up post. I'm at the stage in my life now where I'm in my final year of uni and need to think about what I'm going to do with the rest of my life (as dramatic as that sounds!). I have no idea what job I want to do or where I want to live etc and it's sort of scary.

Lately all I can think about is "settling down", now I don't mean that in a marriage and kids kind of way, I just mean that lately I've been desperate to make a permanent home for myself. The last 18 months, what with living in student accommodation and my Mum moving house several times, I've lived in 4 different houses and I just want a stable place to get settled in. The typical things I think of on, near enough, a daily basis is "I want a cute little cosy house filled with 'Emma things' and I want a puppy"; sounding like a 6 year old at the end there Emma...

But there's even been the most random thoughts in my head, for example, I was in Asda with my Mum earlier and I looked at a coffee machine and my head went "aww I can't wait to have my own kitchen so I can put a coffee machine in it". I'm not even much of a coffee drinker but clearly my head thinks my older self will be. Honestly I could probably buy one now for my student house but it just doesn't feel the same. It's like some switch in my head has decided I need to start thinking about being an adult (which at 20 years old I guess I am anyway) even if I still feel like the most childish individual.

I think what I'm really trying to say is that I feel like I'm on the brink of being thrown into the "real world" and whatever I'm perceiving as being "things adults have and do" are things I'm craving. Apparently to me having a puppy and a coffee machine means I'm an adult! For example one of my uni friends who, had always despised coffee, had just started buying it on her way into uni and for lectures. I asked her why and she said "well I don't know, it's just feels like something I should be doing, all the lecturers turn up with coffee".

So it just made me wonder, what do you guys consider "grown up"? Is it drinking coffee or wine? Investing in a million cushions to smother your future sofa in? I'd love to know your opinions!

Week Review #5: 24th November 2013

Star Wars Trilogy // Uni Night Out // Uni Presentation
Liverpool Countdown // New Boots // Doctors
Breakfast with Mum // I'm a Sucker for Sugar // ASOS Order

How am I on my 5th week review already?! This week seems a bit of a blur to me and, if I wasn't so snap-happy with the camera on my phone, I'd probably have no idea what had happened this week. The main reason is that on Thursday I had to do a presentation (I'll talk more about that in a minute) and it's all I was able to think (and stress) about for the first half of the week.

Anyway, the beginning is always the best place to start so on Monday I had a surprise present from my Dad in the form of the original Star Wars trilogy. Then Monday night me and the Uni Gang went to Glam (in my opinion the best nightclub in Cardiff) to "dance the night away". Those nights are probably one of the things I'm going to miss most when uni is over, I'm far too attached to these guys!
Tuesday I spent creating my uni presentation, which I'd been putting off because I panicked every time I looked at it. Wednesday marked 7 days until me and Roche get to escape Cardiff for a few days to do some shopping and sightseeing in Liverpool (I'll no doubt do a post about that next week!).
Thursday was a busy day! My new boots came in the post, just in time for me to make my way to the doctors (which I seem to be living at atm) and then at 2pm I had my presentation. Anyone who knows me knows I'm the worst public speaker. I get beyond nervous and have panic attacks and in high school it was a well-known fact, by teachers and pupils alike, that if a presentation was set I would be conveniently ill that day. It sort of became a running joke in high school but this uni presentation wasn't one I could dodge. I had to basically do a presentation about what my dissertation is about and how I'm going to do it. I spent the whole time waiting for my turn staring at the door wanting to run straight for it. My uni supervisor even said "Every time I looked at you you were looking at the door, I thought you were going to leave" I simply replied "I was". But I got myself through it and decided to reward myself with an ASOS order as soon as I got home!
Saturday morning I met up with my Mum for breakfast and a wander round the shops and I honestly need to do that more because I really do miss her now that I don't live with her anymore. She also treated me to some Galaxy drinks and when I got home I saw my ASOS order there waiting for me.

Here's the outfit in full:

(Excuse the odd socks!)

And here's the status my boyfriend did after we got out of the presentation room (being lovely as always...):