Spoils Of A Good Sale!

Oh My Gosh! Do I love a car boot sale! 100% addicted to them. Hook Road Arena Car Boot is the place to be on a Sunday morning for a bargain and the good weather this weekend brought out a whole lot of store owners and their wonderful products!

And I, being a willing customer, took full advantage!

I got this stunning set of classic books for only £2 (for all of them)!!

This is a stunning dress, already fits but will look better when I slim into a little more. 

This top is originally from the TU collection. It was in lovely condition and for the very reasonable price of £1, how could I refuse? 

Need to slim into this. It's quite tight, but I love it. The pattern is lovely and I can wear it all year round. 

LOVE LOVE LOVE this! It's a size 12 but because of the material and the cut I can already get into it. It'll look better when I actually am a size 12 not a 14/16, but it was a such a beautiful pattern that I couldn't leave it hanging on the rack. 

RochaJohnRocha for £2? Yes please! Perfect for school.

CANNOT WAIT until this fits! It's a size 14 but it's so fitted that it won't fit until I've dropped some more weight. It's stunning, I really want to wear it to a social dance at some point - hopefully I'll be thin enough to get into it soon. 

Maxi dress for the beach! Love the summer! I got another maxi dress too which has a stunning, dark aztec pattern on it but I was wearing it when I took all these photos and forgot to take a selfie. Will post it in my OOTD series soon. 

My favourite buy of the day was my bean bag chair which is actually the comfiest thing I have ever sat on! It has become my new blog chair!

This dress it stunning! It's a floor length purple lace dress with lace sleeves and an open back. Obly problem is, it's a 14 petite so me and my sister are going to be have to do some alterations to it when I'm thin enough to actually look good in it. The skirt needs lengthening and we are going to take some of the sunder skirt out so that it's a little less formal. It'll be perfect for summer parties! 

As well as all this I got a beautiful ring, 4 stunning canvases to hang in my new house (when I finally buy it) and some hanging lanterns for my bedroom. All for the grand total of £29, what can I say?! A massive success at the car boot! 

UPDATED 23/05/15 - The BBC 100 Book List Challenge

Blog will be updated as and when I finish the next book on the list.

23/05/15 - I am about half way through The Hobbit already! I am really enjoying it, finding it hard to put down to be honest. I'm really enjoying how closely the films stuck to the book. The story is so intricate and detailed that it would have been silly for the films to have strayed away from that. Cannot wait to read the rest of it.

05/05/15 - So, I finished the last book in the Narnia series tonight. I did not see the ending coming at all! I don't want to spoil it as I would really recommend that people go and read the series. They are brilliant... but the ending... WOW! I was nearly crying on the train home. As I've found with some of C. S. Lewis' installments in the series, the story takes a long time to get going. I mean, in 172 pages I'd say the first 90 are slow. There is a lot of setting the scene and explaining how events unfolded. It's all necessary but the pace is fairly perfunctory. However, I hit page 100 and literally couldn't put the book down until it was over.

For a children's series, I'd say there were parts that were a little dark, especially in the last book but I think that they are definitely books that young teenagers would cope with and should read! They are easy to read in the sense of vocab and print size. Contextually again, they are accessible. Lewis is a true genius at writing tales that have no deeper meaning if you don't want them too. But if you are obvservant enough, or of that inclination to see the deeper message in Lewis' writing.... it slaps you in the face in places. The last few chapters of The Last Battle especially. Anyone who's been to Sunday school will see the correlation and it is done beautifully. As a Christian, it was a really relevant portrayal of the coming of Christ and how He rules all. It was done so subtly and so softly that you don't feel overwhelmed but it is stunningly obvious what Lewis is trying to convey.

A brilliant piece of writing! I will definitely be holding onto the series to read to my children.

Now onto The Hobbit!

24/04/15 - I can't believe I haven't already put this on my blog. I'd sort of forgotten about it and then today, it just arrived in my head. It's another blog post that I can update and people can join in/follow my progress through the challenge.

The BBC has put together a list of 100 books.... well actually it's a few more than a hundred as some series count as 1. They reckon that the majority of people will only read 6 of the 100. So at the beginning of 2015 I set out to work my through the list.

I started with the Narnia series and then plan to move onto The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings.

So far I have finished six of the seven books from The Chronicles of Narnia.

I finished the first two in the a few days after New Year. I just stayed at home and read, trying to avoid the rubbish weather before heading back to work for a new term.

 

It took me a long time to get through The Horse and His Boy but I really enjoyed it once the story picked up. It just took a while to keep going. 

Loved this one! Zipped through it in a few days. I love re-reading these stories as an adult. The messages that come through them are so clear and speak in new ways reading them 10 years on from the first time I went through the series, 

This is probably my favourite story in the whole series. The adventure at sea, discovery of new lands, finding the ends of the earth. It takes me in hook, line and sinker. Fantastic writing. 

Just like The Horse and His Boy, I struggled with this one originally. It was such a strange concept and a lot of book seemed to have been read before any of the action really got going but the concept in the end was great and I liked how it started to tie all the characters in together before the culmination in the final book where they all reappear. I had not read this volume of the series before so it was a great discovery of a book I did not already have vague memories of.

I am still reading The Last Battle which is the final installment of C S Lewis' series. So far, it is really good. About half way through. Will update as and when I finish it.  

#100happydays Week 5 - Days 29 to 35

Another week come and gone! Can't believe we are in the 30s already! 

Day 29) Bank Holiday Monday. Loads of fun and photos taken at RHS Wisley Gardens. You can read my full days excitement and see more photos in my two blog posts from the day. Post 1. Post 2. 

Day 20) Finished the next book on my reading list! Onto The Hobbit now! Follow my progress on my BBC 100 Booklist blog post.

Day 31) More colouring! Lovely time chilling out.

Day 32) Spent the evening sorting out my room - didn't quite get to the end of the challenge but well on the way. Hopefully will find some time this week to finish it all off so that everything is back in it's proper place. 

Day 33) FRIDAY! Alcohol and movie. That is all!

Day 34) Had a really lovely catch up with Ella, a friend from my 6th Form. Always great to have a good chin wag and then had a social dance with Belinda and Mr. R. So much fun, so much dancing... so much water in wine glasses! 

Day 35) FANTASTIC DAY! First of all I went to car boot sale - my first and one of many! Check in with my blog later this week for a write up of my first awesome experience of the car boot phenomenon. Then it was off to London to see my lovely Lizzie, a dear friend from uni. We had the hugest pizzas for small-ish prices and ice cream made with liquid nitrogen and chinchin labs in Camben town. Check out there website here for there address and more details on what they do. Their ice cream is incredible. We ate it whilst watching a narrow boat called 'Muttley' and another boat go up a lock. It was all very chilled out and I feel like Lizzie and I have put the worlds to right a little bit during our afternoon of catching up. 

So there we go! Another 7 happy days! Only 65 to go until the challenge is done for another year!

Check in soon
M xx

Relaxation At It's Best!

This week I was away with my school. A group of 7 staff took 79 8 and 9 year olds away for 3 days to an outdoor activities centre. It was brilliant. The kids had a blast, there were so many activities for them to do, including lazar quest, aeroball (basketball on a trampoline), nightline (a blindfolded obstacle course) and a zip wire! I got to join in too which was wicked. But it's safe to say that we were all exhausted by the end of it. There was home sickness, freezing cold evenings, carb loading.... the food was lovely but it was fairly beige all round...... and I managed to get a sun tan whilst on my travels in Kent - bonus.

With two very early mornings due to excited children I didn't get much sleep at all and was SO looking forward to getting into my bath and then bed when I got home on Wednesday. We rocked back up to school for pick up at about 2:30pm and I then had to get through 2 and 1/2 hours of after school club before Mum came to pick me up. It was a struggle and there were points where I felt like I might just fall asleep whilst looking after the children but I managed.

When I got home it was food time, defrosted lasagne is so good! No cooking required - just a microwave. Nice and quick and then I jumped in the bath.

Now, I became a bath lover at university during my third year. We had a massive bath and I took full advantage of it during dissertation. It is a love that has continued to grow since then. In my opinion, the perfect bath consists of a few vital things and some which you are able to mix and match at your leisure.

Here is my approach to the perfect relaxation in the bath:

1) Bubble Bath

There is no need to buy the fanciest possible bubble bath to be able to relax. I buy whatever I can get cheap. The Mrs Frosty above was a gift from one of my Rainbows but it works a treat. The only reason I bought Imperial Leather is that Sainsbury's were selling it for £1 a bottle!! As long as it bubbles and it smells good, it'll do the job! 

If you're feeling really plush, or you just want a proper treat you could always go all out and have a bath bomb! Something I have done many a time! Got to love a Lush bath bomb!

What a beautiful sight!!

2) Background Ambiance

This can be a number of things depending on what sort mood you are in. Sometimes I'll stick on a musical soundtrack and have a good sing a long in the bath, other times - if I'm really tired and just want to zone out - I'll stick on some instrumental stuff that soothes me and takes on a little day dreamy journey. 

My all time favourite bath soundtrack is the soundtrack from the film The Holiday. It is just perfect for shutting the world out in your bubbly haven. 

3) Entertainment

Again, this can take different forms depending on what you are wanting to get out of your bath experience. There are times when I am far too tired to even contemplate reading in the bath so I just put a movie or a TV show on. Netflix is a God send in the bath. Recently, however, I have been going through a My Family phase. For those of you who don't know. My Family is a British Comedy Sitcom that follows the Harper family and their crazy antics. It's excellent 'easy' viewing for when you don't have a lot of brain power left.

However, when you haven't just got back from a week with 80 screaming children, you may want to indulge in some reading - something I am very fond of. There is no book too frivolous or too heavy for a bath session. I read whatever I fancy... all sorts. Anything to escape out of normal life to an alternate reality.

4) Beverage

Not a necessity but sometimes it is lovely to have something to sip whilst you relax. Sometimes I go for a soothing hot chocolate but more often than not.... it's wine that wins out. At uni especially, wine in the bath after a library session was the way forward for me!

5) Candles  

Again, these are not vital to your bath experience but if you really want to take some time out of life. Run your bath, get your music going and turn the lights out. Light some tea lights and just switch your mind off in the comfortable glow as you soak beneath the bubbles..... or let a bath bomb fizz around your toes.

My bath consisted of bubbles, My Family and a Mary Kay Satin Lips treatment as the week had destroyed my lips. I do love a bath!!

Why not give it a try? Run yourself a bath this weekend and indulge in some relaxation time all to yourself! 

Enjoy!

Check in soon 

M xx