Home Sweet Home

Hooray! A week of deadlines is over and us uni students have been set free to roam back home. I arrived here on Friday, totally ready for fluffy slippers (or in this case, giraffe slippers, see below), cuddles with my pooch and a whole lot of Christmas movies- just what the doctor ordered. 

It'll be another week until my friends get to return home as we're all studying in different cities, but I can't wait to catch up and have a few drinks. Mum has decorated the house with twinkling lights, baubles, wreaths and pinecones and the whole place smells of advent candles, laundry and home cooked food.

Here are the giraffe slippers. They belong to my sister but Mylo and I have claimed them as our own. He's been like a little shadow to me since I got back and I love it. Every morning I wake up and he's either already in my bed, or sniffing and scratching at the door waiting to be let in. Just the other day I had my dog, my nephew and my sister all in my bed before I'd even had chance to stretch!

Josh has been working in Preston where he stayed at my house (I've just realised I never had the chance to show you all my city home) three days a week instead of commuting. One of the only things I'll miss while I'm staying at home is the three days a week cuddles and comforts of having him around.

We do live in the same town though, so it's not like we're completely separated and I'm looking forward to seeing him on Christmas day. The photo's above were from our trip to the amazing Hotel Gotham in Manchester. Every year he's harder and harder to buy for because I've used up all my good gift ideas already! It's so much easier to buy for myself haha, damn you saaaaales!

So other than filling my days with blogging, dog walking, drawing and resting I'm looking forward to baking some gingerbread cookies and our annual christmas cake 'contest'. We're a creative family and every year we have a bake-off with my auntie, so expect to see some foodie photos in an upcoming post! Last year my friends and I just spent Christmas eve in a pub, typical British adult-stuff.

Mylo pup is enjoying the outdoors though the garden has been a little soggy from the downpour lately, unfortunately this means he has to wear his cosy red coat (one of his worst enemies), I can almost hear the scatter of his paws as I write about it. We had some pretty bad flooding in towns nearby- luckily our patch of land was unaffected. Ahoy!

If anyone needs me between now and January, I'll most likely be on the sofa with a cup of tea. Pass us your red coat Mylo, it's a bit chilly in here.

What are your plans for the holidays? Have you decorated your home yet?

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Why it's Okay to Not be Okay! | Blogmas

A lot of us blame ourselves for our anxieties, we apologise for feeling sad or mopey and hide it in fear of not being fun to be around but this is just what we tell ourselves. We sit and wonder why we don't feel okay, we're taught that there always has to be a reason and you have to tackle it or there's something wrong with you- this isn't always true! None of us are a stranger to the feeling that is sadness, or anger. Or even just not being okay in general.

We try to fight it, pretend we're okay, make excuses but all of these things are just covering up what's lying underneath and will inevitably make an appearance later on- if you didn't know already, it's okay not to be okay!

Sometimes you can just feel sad, or alone, or empty and not know why. Do you know what the best thing to do in these situations is? Feel it.

Cry, scream, take yourself on a walk, write it all down in a blog post or journal, just feel it! Don't cover it up. If you deal with it in the now and you won't feel worse later on. Better yet, tell someone about it. No matter how big or little it is, there will always be someone out there willing to hear you out. If you just want someone to eat ice cream and watch re-runs of Friends with then there's probably someone out there waiting for you too. You don't have to pretend for anybody.

Be as honest with yourself as you would want a friend to be with you. Sometimes things get a little too much and we need a day off, a day away from e-mails and wearing a mask. Just let yourself feel mopey. It's okay not to be okay, it's okay to have a day off and watch every Home Alone consecutively under a fuzzy blanket and it's definitely okay to indulge yourself a little because you deserve it. Eventually, you'll start to feel better after getting all of this bad energy out of your system and you'll begin to feel motivated, happier all without any explanation why.

Everybody has down days. You're not alone in these feelings, ever, and you will feel better.

And if all else fails, resort to watching cute animal videos on YouTube. (always)

What are your thoughts on this? Do you have healthy ways of dealing with things? I'd love to know!

If you really don't feel okay and need some help, click here for a list of UK helplines.

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Jewellery | DDxBSxRR Collection

2015 seems to have been an excellent year for Regal Rose. Among new releases, back in June the amazing Hannah Sykes collaborated with Regal Rose to make this beautiful line of jewellery. Lately, with winter settling in and layers upon layers of clothes, I've found it a super nice touch to adorn my hands and ears with rings and chains galore. 

The piece I chose (the range has five amazing pieces in total) was Bodhi. Bodhi means enlightenment, illumination and clarification. Inspired by buddhism and art culture in eastern Asia, each design is 14k gold plated and sterling silver. Which means no nasty infections and a delicate yet tough piece of jewellery! It arrived in a gorgeous drawstring black bag with the collaboration logo printed in gold foil.

Since the age of 14 I've had my nose pierced and used to only ever wear studs, until I became more comfortable with rings. Now I feel naked if I leave the house without one in!

After years of wearing nose rings I know that they can become brittle from shaping and snap- unfortunately, I wore this once and the nose ring snapped.

However, I sent an e-mail over to Drop Dead explaining the issue and was greeted by a fast response, friendly phone call and a new Bodhi for free in the post the next day. Due to hygiene issues they couldn't take the old one back (which I really don't mind!), so I've used the pendant and swapped the ring for a dangly hook. I could also put it onto a necklace if I wish.

My new Bodhi arrived and has been safe and sound ever since. Maybe I was rough with it or maybe it was just a brittle one-off, either way I absolutely adore it and would love to get my hands on the rest of the collection, Ananda necklace in particular! 

I'd say the price is reasonable considering they're gold plated and comfortable to wear, but if you're thinking of ordering this please check the gauge (0.6) to see if it matches your current piercing size. 

Definitely hoping to see more from DDxBSxRR, maybe they'll collab again soon! What's your favourite piece of the collection?

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Jewellery | DDxBSxRR Collection

2015 seems to have been an excellent year for Regal Rose. Among new releases, back in June the amazing Hannah Sykes collaborated with Regal Rose to make this beautiful line of jewellery. Lately, with winter settling in and layers upon layers of clothes, I've found it a super nice touch to adorn my hands and ears with rings and chains galore. 

The piece I chose (the range has five amazing pieces in total) was Bodhi. Bodhi means enlightenment, illumination and clarification. Inspired by buddhism and art culture in eastern Asia, each design is 14k gold plated and sterling silver. Which means no nasty infections and a delicate yet tough piece of jewellery! It arrived in a gorgeous drawstring black bag with the collaboration logo printed in gold foil.

Since the age of 14 I've had my nose pierced and used to only ever wear studs, until I became more comfortable with rings. Now I feel naked if I leave the house without one in!

After years of wearing nose rings I know that they can become brittle from shaping and snap- unfortunately, I wore this once and the nose ring snapped.

However, I sent an e-mail over to Drop Dead explaining the issue and was greeted by a fast response, friendly phone call and a new Bodhi for free in the post the next day. Due to hygiene issues they couldn't take the old one back (which I really don't mind!), so I've used the pendant and swapped the ring for a dangly hook. I could also put it onto a necklace if I wish.

My new Bodhi arrived and has been safe and sound ever since. Maybe I was rough with it or maybe it was just a brittle one-off, either way I absolutely adore it and would love to get my hands on the rest of the collection, Ananda necklace in particular! 

I'd say the price is reasonable considering they're gold plated and comfortable to wear, but if you're thinking of ordering this please check the gauge (0.6) to see if it matches your current piercing size. 

Definitely hoping to see more from DDxBSxRR, maybe they'll collab again soon! What's your favourite piece of the collection?

You can follow me on Bloglovin' | Twitter