Hello June!

After a nice couple of days off from blogging, I feel pretty refreshed. Now the only thing that's standing in my way is my camera's memory card, or lack of it. What can I say? I'm a slow unpacker. I blame the commute.

A little present Topher got me a couple of weeks ago

There's a lot of lovely things for me to look forward to this month:

• Blognix - so excited! And I'm looking forward to properly visiting Birmingham for the first time.
• The London to Brighton Trek - though slightly bricking it now - please sponsor, we're getting close to target!
• My 26th birthday - The first time I'll ever be working on my birthday but I plan on looking on the bright side as:
• Lady Dinah's Cat Cafe - I'll be having afternoon tea there on the weekend after my birthday for a treat. I seriously can't wait! Cats and tea!
• Hopefully a heatwave? Or is that asking too much?

In the last few weeks I've been thinking about my career and where I want to go in life. I think I've come to something of a conclusion so will be using this month to do some more research and hopefully begin pursuing it. We shall see.

What are your plans for June?

2014 Goals

Happy New Year everyone! 

I hope you're all not feeling too fragile after last night. Me and the bf had a quiet night in and enjoyed the fireworks that we could see all around our building. Magical. 

So, now that it's 2014 its goal making time!

1. Keep going with Slimming World and get to my target weight. 

I'm loving Slimming World so far and can already see a big difference with clothes fitting better. I can get into my old dresses I used to wear when I started this blog 2 years ago, and even better I've now started fitting into size 12 clothes! This is huge since it's been 5 years since I could fit in a 12. 

 I've been enjoying cooking the recipes and am hoping to feature a few of them on here. It doesn't matter if you're on the plan or not - they are still damn tasty. So this year I just want to get to my target weight and stay there. Full steam ahead!

2. Make a life in London.

We've been in London for about 3 or 4 months now and it's been great so far. I just want to get some roots. So this year I want to explore the city, make friends and have fun. It would be great to be a part of the blogging community down here and I also want to get more of a permanent home. 

So to make this happen I'm going to make an effort to go to events and chat with other bloggers, find a nice place to live and plan lots of days out for the bf and I. 

3. 365 project

I've been wanting to do this for the last couple of years but have never got past January. So this year is going to be the year. I want to take a photo a day for the next year and make it into a calendar. Kind of like this one below from A Beautiful Mess, only with days instead of months. 

Source

4. Do at least one outfit post a month

I need to get more confident with this kind of thing. I made a few baby steps last year by actually showing my face a few times. This year I want to do some outfit photos where you can see my whole body and I'm not holding the camera like below!

Unfortunately, that means I may have to pass the camera over to the bf...who is rather famous for his out of focus, fingers covering the lens and lucky if you get the whole subject in the frame shots, ha ha. We'll have to see about that!

5. Work hard on my blog and shop. 

I'll be the first to admit that I lost my mojo last year, especially in the middle of the year. But 2014 when it all gets back on track. In order to make this happen, I've joined Rosalilium's Big Blogging Bootcamp e-course and really have hope that this will get me into gear for the new year (yep, that was a rhyme and no I'm not sorry). 

As for Random Quirks, I've got my creative juices flowing (not as messy as it sounds!) and have plenty of ideas for new products. I want to make this the best year yet by going back to basics and focusing what I'm best at. 

6. Save some money

Moving is expensive. Though I know I'm lucky to have savings at all, I was pretty upset that I had to dip into them so much last year. Now that both me and the bf are working, we've figured out a plan to put some money aside each month for savings and also for a holiday fund. We're tired of being so budgeted when we go on holiday and look forward to having one where we don't have to scrape so much. 

As for the savings, they've always had house deposit written all over it. It'll take a few years but I'm determined to get there. Maybe by the time I'm 30. That gives me 4 and a half years. So by the end of this year I want to have saved a good chunk. Lets do it!

And those are my goals for 2014. Doable I think.

What are your 2014 goals? Link me up!

India - The highlights

Some of my favourite photos from India. Warning: Picture heavy!

All photos taken by myself or my dad (with the exception of the photo of me and my dad - thanks mum!)

These were narrowed down from literally 2000 photos my dad and I took between us! 

Do you take a ridiculous amount of photos on holiday?

Outfit Post: Hello Sailor!

Rather than jumping straight into a catch-up post, I have decided to ease you in with an outfit post. Which I have to add is my first outfit post on my new (yes I'm still calling it new) camera!

I'm currently on holiday in Jordan visiting my family so I have to dress modestly and yet still keep cool as it is friggin hot here!

Blouse: Love culture - bought in USA

Maxi skirt: Next

Belt: My mum's (I always forget something when I pack!)

Earrings: Forever 21

I am in love with this blouse. I bought it while I was in Florida earlier this year. It's perfect for just throwing on with skinny jeans or tucking into a skirt. Plus the print is so kitsch. Now that it's gotten warmer, I dress it up for work. This maxi skirt is also a work and casual staple for me. I had been wanting to find a pleated maxi skirt for so long and this one is even more versatile since it has the shorter skirt underneath. The best thing about it is that the under skirt isn't too short for me. The majority of the maxi's I've seen in this style have a ridiculously short underskirt which isn't my cup of tea at all. 

As for my nails, I actually did them the night before we flew over here. I couldn't decide on spots or stripes so I did a little of both. It turned out pretty well - especially the stripes. This colour is such a nice shade. You can't really tell in the photo but it's like a champagne colour. And even better for my impatient nature with nails - it dried in an instant. I really need to start writing down the nail polishes I use when I do these posts. I left this bottle at home I think, so if you happen to be curious what shade it is, I will gladly tell you when I return to England. 

Anyway, there's plenty of fun posts coming up as I've been having quite the vintage adventure while I've been here in Amman. Plus I'll have to do a quick catch-up in photos as well. 

How has the past couple of weeks been for you?

So far, this is the oldest I've ever been

Good morning all. Another year has gone and today is my birthday. The big 24. The mid twenties, it's all down hill from here (yeah right), 6 years until the big 3-0 and all that jazz. 

Now that I'm a responsible adult I've taken the day off work to do something sensible and grown up.

The Harry Potter Studio Tour! 

I'm such a child. 

I've been a massive fan of HP since I read the first book at age 11 (you know now how long ago that was) so it was fitting to go to the studio tour for my birthday.

My bf, Claire, Emma (bf's sis) and myself will be on a train in a few short hours playing flux and HP russian roulette (I've got Bertie Botts!). I can't wait. I'm taking my good camera and will be taking LOADS of photos. I've painted my nails in preparation and will be wearing my Harry Potter t-shirt that I painted myself (pics to come tomorrow). Excite!

Since I'm now 24 (25 next, eek), I've decided to make a 25 before 25 list. I do love my lists. I would show it to you but it's only 11 before 25 at the moment. Any suggestions? 

I'd better go get ready anyway, lots to do. It's actually sunny here - it's never rained on my birthday so hopefully this won't be the year even though it's been looking that way! Hope you all have a great day, I know I will :) 

We're going to the zoo zoo zoo

So, I'll give you a quick warning, this post is photo heavy. A pick of the best photos from my trip to Chester zoo last Sunday:

Got a couple of stares for taking this photo but I thought it was cute. 

There is a butterfly house where you can actually walk among hundreds of butterflies. Very difficult to get photos but it was definitely worth it. 

This guy was playing peek-a-boo with us, then gave us a bit of a staring competition while he was chewing on something.

Doesn't he look like he's scowling? Ha ha, serious model poser giraffe. 

Meet Whitney, she was very kind to sit and let me take her picture while the rest of her friends went mental around her. 

Lemur's hugging! So cute!

I didn't realise this guy's eyes could move around independently of each other. Kinda freaky but very cool when I took a shot of him face on. 

This was worth the clicking for 6 or 7 mins trying to get the right shot of this bird chucking grapes in the air and catching them in his mouth. 

I love the colours of this snake!

Poser!

Isn't this the cutest ball of fluff you've ever seen?

This is the tiniest monkey ever!

I had a great day and this was the first time I'd been to a zoo since I was a child. Hope you like the photos. 

Have you ever been to the zoo?