My Weekend and Next Weekend Plans!

Hi guys! 

As you all know tomorrow it's back to the daily grind so it's highly likely that I won't be posting every day, or at least not twice a day as it has been recently. Anyway, I did a post similar to this one about a week ago, have a look at that here if you fancy a peek, and it was good fun to write particularly as a great deal of writing wasn't really needed. So, I decided to do another and add on a few of my plans for next weekend, I hope you all enjoy it. 

This weekend has been really slow for me and I haven't been up to much as all, the majority of my family came down with some sort of cold this weekend so I was in charge of looking after them, I was planning to go shopping with my friend Aymie however that was put on hold because of my carer duties. So when I wasn't busy with the family I did some online shopping and bought a ton of clothes from  ASOS, Yours Clothing, Debenhams, Simply Be and Schuh which hopefully I'll be scheduling a blog post on at some point in the near future. I've spent a lot of my time reading some of the many books I got for my birthday and Christmas which again I hope to review a few of. Yesterday I was given a bit of time to relax and decided I should take my Christmas decorations down, that was a painful experience given how much I love Christmas. I swear they're going up in October this year. 

Also because I'm getting into blogging much more I had the pleasure of meting and speaking to a few really, really lovely bloggers who I plan on mentioning at the end of this post. 

Today has been a little bit boring, so far I've done some housework, blogged a little and done some reading, I suffer from PCO/S and I have good days and bad days, to day is a bad day, it often drains me of energy much quicker than on a good day and the pain definitely isn't a bonus of the condition so I've decided that tonight is going to be full of relaxing and pampering before I'm back at college tomorrow. Face masks, hot bath, gallons of tea and my favourite book series is what's needed for tonight methinks. 

So thats it for what I've been up to this weekend, pretty dull I know but I'm hoping next week will be much better. I'm planning on going to IKEA, LUSH Cosmetics and the metro centre for bait of retail therapy with a friend, I'm also planning on going to Waterstones and getting myself to many books that I won't be able to fit them all in my car! That's if my bank account allows ha. Anyway, thank you all for reading and I hope everyone has a lovely night and a better week! Below you'll find a list of the wonderful bloggers mentioned earlier in the post. :)

- http://www.underlandtowonderland.com This blog is absolutely wonderful and it's quickly become one of my favourites, Danielle is also a lovely person and she recently mentioned this blog in a post of her own, thanks again for that!

- http://mejusttalkingtoyou.wordpress.com Again this is another fabulous blog run by a fabulous lady, Tamara is so nice and she's also helping myself and Aymie organise a bloggers meet up in Newcastle round February time - more info on that soon by the way. 

- Finally I couldn't mention some of my favourite bloggers without including Aymie Louise http://aymielouise.blogspot.co.uk  Aymie is a natural at blogging and her blog is varied and diverse, she's also really easy to talk to and welcomes interaction with other bloggers as I do. 

Each blog mentioned above is brilliant and more than worth a look, I'd recommend reading these blogs to anyone!

Love Katherine. X

Back to College Essentials

The bag I use for college!

Oh dear. The day I, and probably millions of other people around the UK, have been dreading is so close now; the day everyone goes back to school, work and college. Tomorrow everything goes back to normal, the christmas decorations will be down, no more relaxing or resting, just work and college for me. I've been dreading it ever since I broke up from college 3 weeks ago and despite the fact that I'm not dreading it half as much as I did going back to Sixth Form I still think holidays should be longer. Anyway, I thought I'd do a post on Back to College Essentials, this is going to be similar to a 'What's in My Bag' and an 'Essentials' post. You'll get to see what I drag around to college with me and maybe get some tips as to what you all might need to take too.Let's get started then. 

Firstly, I think it's absolutely vital that when going back to college or starting college, work, school or whatever, that you have a good quality bag, many people I know take only small ones and other bags to keep the less important stuff in. I've never seen the point in this and I like to take a biggish bag that can cary all of my things around in it. The first picture (above, left) is the bag I currently use and it was £10 from Atmosphere in a sale last summer. It's really sturdy and big enough that if I want to I could also fit in some lunch or a big book.

The image to the right shows what I keep inside my bag that I absolutely must take to college on a daily basis. As you can probably guess I study Health and Social Care and I need to take two books with me, one being a content filled book with information on each unit inside it and the other being a Study Skills Guide that we use for the Personal and Professional Development unit. I also have a large A4 multi-coloured lever arch folder that I've used for 2 years, I used it in my final year of Sixth Form but now it's breaking a little so I'm in dire need of a new one. Inside this I keep dividers for each unit, an absurd amount of plastic pockets and any and al work I've done so far. I also keep an A4 refill paper pad in there too for any notes I take in class. I bought the folder, dividers, pockets and refill pad from Rymans. I also have a Cath Kidston skinny pencil case in which I keep 4 black ball point pens, a blue, red, green, purple and pink ball point pen for any marking I need to do as my tutor often asks for assistance when marking or tutoring students. I have green, yellow and pink Sharpie highlighters for anything I need to remember or... well, highlight. I always carry a stapler and spare staples as well as a hole punch, you can never find one when you need one. Finally, I carry my 32GB Mass Storage USB with me at all times because I work a lot on computers and all of my assignments are written on personal and college computers, therefore i regularly transfer information via the USB. I got the USB from PC world, they're usually £10-15 depending on the store you go to however this was given to me as a gift as I was good friends with the guy who worked there. That is everything "college related" that's in my bag.

The Picture on the left is a few of the there things I like to keep in there also. I have my purse from Next, impulse body spray from Superdrug, some chewing gum, my iPod, an inhaler because I'm asthmatic and a little notebook for scribbling any quick notes I may need. I also take a few other things like my glasses case and lens cleaner as I can not ever function with dirty glasses, often I take a book to read in my free hours and when needed I take lady products, make up, a hairbrush and sometimes I take my own lunch. That is literally everything I can think that I ever take to college with me that I would consider essentials. 

Thanks for reading all and I hope you all have a good first day back whatever you're going back to!

Love Katherine. X

My All Time Favourite TV Shows

I'm more of a bookworm that I am a TV or movie buff however I do have several favourite TV shows that I don't think I'd be able to live without! i really like doing posts such as "my favourites" and "top 10" just because it gives me a change to really think through what I like and enjoy. So for any of those interested here is my top 19 favourite TV shows of all time, in no particular order. 

American Horror Story - Murder House up to Freak Show

I LOVE this show! I actually only started watching it early last year and it took me a while to get into it, mainly because I started with Murder House and I honestly thought that was the most boring season of AHS. I actually caught about 10 minutes of the final episode of season 2 Asylum when it first premiered int the UK and I instantly knew that show wasn't for me... oh how wrong I was! This show throws so many curve balls that you never know where the plot will go next, it's so twisted and dark it's unlike any other show out there. Plus Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson are gorgeous! Jessica Lange is amazing and the cast very rarely changes. i actually enjoy this show so much I've gotten a "Normal People Scare Me" T-shirt for christmas. 

Sherlock

Sherlock is probably one of the best TV shows of the 21st Century. The way Arthur Conan Doyle's original work has been brought into this day and age is really ingenious and I can honestly say there are never any holes in the plot that you can see. Benedict Cumberbatch's performance as the sociopathic detective is flawless and completely loveable, Martin Freeman is adept at making the audience feel John Watson's emotions the way any good actor should. Neither actor are bad to look at either. I also own an "I am Sher-locked" hoodie.

Doctor Who
Doctor Who? If you've never seen it you really really need to! Everyone has heard of the travelling, lovely time lord from Gallifrey and I'm sure those of you who watch it have your own personal favourite Doctor out of them all. Sometimes this show can get a little bit confusing with the plot lines thanks to Moffat's writing, unfortunately I am neither a fan or even interested in the episodes written my Stephen Moffat and the show in my opinion is slowly disintegrating. However it will always be open of my all time favourite TV shows regardless of writing. I have several TARDIS relaxed merchandise and even a sonic screwdriver. David Tennant's Doctor of course. 

South Park

This show is extremely funny to me, partly because of the songs the show puts out, like "Taco Flavoured Kisses" and "Kyle's Mom", and also because it's so outrageous and offensive that I just can't find it unfunny. There have been countless times where the show could've offended me but they do it in such a way that they're making it obvious that offending you is their goal. I love this show and the characters are fab!

Family Guy

Family Guy is one of my favourites purely because of Stewie, the baby is hilarious and obviously doesn't give a money's what people think, despite his vanity and plans for world domination. The characters in this show are really diverse and each one has their own back story that you learn in various episodes; again this programme can be really offensive but it's too funny and stupid to be taken seriously. 

Friends

Friends is on this list because it's a classic and it never ever fails to make me laugh, regardless of how bad a day I've had. The humour is just in plain sight and everyone can find one character they relate to quite obviously. I'm Monica because of my little OCD things i do every now and again. I also grew up watching this programme and that makes it that little bit more special if you've watched it from being young up until they day it ended. 

Vicar of Dibley

Finally, The Vicar of Dibley is my all time favourite TV show. My religion is a big part of my life and Dawn French is one of my biggest role models, I love everything she's done, her books are wonderful and her acting in the show is just outstanding. She plays the role of the dry humoured, confident vicar perfectly and many of the jokes are relatable. For once a programme featuring religion that doesn't present it in a negative light, just another bonus.

Let me know some of your favourite TV shows in the comments section below.


Love Katherine. X

The Beauty Tag

Hi Everyone!

One of my new years resolutions that wasn't mentioned on my resolutions post (find that here) was to make sure I post more fashion and beauty type things. I haven't really been doing many of those but, that's mainly because, I was really stuck for ideas as to what to write for them. Now after brainstorming last night because I couldn't sleep I thought a good way to kickstart the beauty aspect of my blog would be to do the beauty tag! I'll only be answering 20 questions but there will be a few more posts similar to this one coming up for beauty and fashion; enjoy!

How often do you wear makeup?

I wear make up when I'm going out, usually to an event or a meal or whatever is going on. I wear a little when I go to college or to the shops but I don't go all out with it, I never ever wear make up in the house unless I'm just messing around with new looks.

Would you leave the house without make up?

Oh yeah definitely, if you can go out without make up and still feel beautiful and confident I would say the self esteem might need some work, then again I know some people love make up that much they they wear it all the time and that's totally fine, it's all about preference.

What do you use in terms of skin care? 

At the moment I'm using Simple kind to skin purifying cleansing lotion which is fantastic! it keeps my skin smooth and clear and it's also helped balance out my skin tone. I also use the kind to skin facial cleansing wipes they just help to again keep my skin smooth and I use them predominantly at night. I use Clerasil blackhead clearing scrub also because I have issues with blackheads sometimes and this just helps keep them at bay. Finally I use the Olay double action day and night creams. 

What type of skin do you have, oily, dry or combination?

I have combination skin usually however there are certain days where my skin can get really oily and always in the winter it gets very dry. On the whole though it's definitely combination skin.

Do you ever have any spot breakouts because of wearing make up?

Nope, I don't usually have a problem with spots as my skin is relatively clear minus a few uneven skin tones and such, when I do have a breakout it usually comes from issues to do with waxing. If I do have a breakout though I will avoid make up just to be sure it does't make it worse.

Do you avoid certain ingredients in cosmetics such as paragons or sulfate?

Actually yes. I'm allergic to a LOT of non-organic make up so when I buy things I have to make sure they're organic or my whole face will start to burn and I get red splotches, which I then cover up with make up that defeats the whole point haha.

What foundation do you use and what coverage do you prefer?

Just now, I'm using Rimmel London Match Perfection foundation with SPF 18 in Ivory. It's long lasting and gives a great smooth and radiant look. I also use Garnier BB cream skin perfecter and Rimmel London Stay Matte pressed powder.

Do you use a base or primer for you face/eyes?

I do, I use the Make Up Academy Pro Base Primer.

Pencil or liquid eyeliner?

Liquid eyeliner is my favourite, I very rarely wear eyeliner but when I do I much prefer liquid. I just really need to work on my application technique...

Do you wear false lashes?

NO, I have pretty long eyelashes anyway so I just usually apply a clear mascara and a brown mascara on top of that to make them look slightly more prominent and natural. i really can't stand falsies and think they look daft although that's just my personal opinion. 

What're you using on your lips at the moment?

Oh so many different lipsticks! I love lipsticks and I use two Mac lipsticks that I can not remember the name of and two lipsticks from... Primark! The Primark lipsticks smell lovely and they go on really well and stay for over 12 hours!

Do you prefer lipgloss or lipstick?

I like the look of lipgloss but I prefer lipstick so I tend to cheat and apply my lipstick and put a tiny, thin layer of vaseline over he top just to give it a bit of gloss and get the best of both worlds. 

What're you using on your eyes at the moment?

I'm not using any particular brand only at the moment I'm using a mix of brands and the colours tend to be 3 different types blended together. I mainly use browns and golds for everyday make up looks. 

What is your go to mascara?

My current mascara is Natural Collection clear waterproof mascara, from Boots as a first coat then Essence Get Big Lashes Volume Boost Waterproof mascara as a second coat. 

Do you prefer blush or bronzer?

My skintone is a light olive so I tend to avoid colours like pinks, reds and so on for my face and eyes. I love bronzer and I use that all year round, it gives a really lovely warm look to my face in winter and a tanned look in summer. 

What type or look do you go for, heavy and bold or light and natural?

That depends on the occasion, last year for halloween I had a silver and deep grey smokey eye look but that was for a party. For every day I tend to go very light and neutral, colours like light browns, light berries, sometimes I do like bold looks on my eyes such as deep blue, purples or silvers. Usually though would have to say light and natural.

How often do you shop for make up? Do you pick up items one at a time or but lots of goodies? When it comes to my spending habits i'm very tight fisted and hate spending my money. That being said when I do get started on shopping it's very difficult to stop me. I buy in bulk so I shop for make up whenever something vital to my collection runs out and I but loads of goodies at once. 

Have you ever considered taking a make up class?

Oh definitely! I would absolutely love to, I've considered taking a night class in hair and beauty at my college. I think it's really worth looking into as I'd love to know how to do a really professional looking smokey eye.

Who is your beauty guru?

I wouldn't say I had one in particular as I love so many! My main two would be Sami Maria (BeautyCrush) and Tess Christine, they both tend to go for the same type of looks which I adore but I sometimes have to change the colours they use as they're either to light or too dark for my skin tone so I mix it up by looking at videos by Bethany Mota and Pixiwoo.

What do you think the best thing about make up is?

The best thing about make up is that if I'm feeling low or my skin looks awful I know I have my make up on hand to cover it up and make myself feel a bit better. Make up hides a multitude of sins.

Thanks for reading all.

A collection of my make up

Love Katherine. X

What's On My iPod? Top 25!

My lovely iPod Classic

I've been really looking forward to making this post for a good few days now, I'm very music orientated so any chance to post about something music related is a chance not to be overlooked, in my opinion. I love listening to music and that's usually what I'm doing if I haven't got my nose in a book, I also sing myself which I adore and I must admit I'm very good at (nothing like blowing your own trumpet, eh?). I'd probably say I've got a pretty eclectic taste in music really, I'm always open to new artists and genres but I really can not stand heavy metal or death metal, I prefer County or Easy Listening type music but I listen to artists such as My Chemical Romance, Nicki Minaj, McFly, Foster and Allen and The Dubliners on a regular basis. Elvis and Cliff Richard are two of my favourites as well mind you. 

Anyway, I was originally planning on doing a Favourite Artists type thing for this post but because I have so may and over 4,000 songs on my iPod i thought I would simply do a list of my top 25 most listened to songs, so hopefully you'll all enjoy reading this post as much as I enjoyed writing it! The list starts from my 25 most listened song to my one most listened song.

25. Nicki Minaj - Va Va Voom

24. Lucy Spraggan - Lighthouse

23. Rick Springfield - Jessie's Girl

22. Taylor Swift - Stay Stay Stay

21. Straight No Chaser - Rhythm of Love/Can't Help Falling in Love

20. Don McLean - American Pie

19. Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons - December 1963 (Oh What a Night!)

18. My Chemical Romance - Teenagers

17. Scissor Sisters - I Can't Decide

16. Ann Murray - Snowbird

15. The Dubliners - Monto

14. McBusted - Get Over It

13. Wham! - Last Christmas

12. Cliff Richard - Saviour's Day

11. Jellyfish - Baby's Coming Back

10. One Direction - Over Again

09. Maroon 5 - Misery

08. Demi Lovato - On The Line

07. Blink 182 - All The Small Things

06. Erasure - A Little Respect

05. Michael Jackson - The Way You Make Me Feel

04. The Four Tops - Loco in Acapulco

03. McFly - Love is on the Radio

02. Donny Osmond - I'll Make a Man Out of You (from Disney's Mulan)

01. The Beatles - Love Me Do

So there you have it! My top 25 most played songs on my iPod, if you have any favourite songs let me know in the comments section I'd love to hear them!

Love Katherine. X

New Years Day Round Up

Hey Everyone!

I thought'd I'd make a really quick post just to sum up what my New Years day has been like, I'm doing this because I've finished the book I was reading, I'm sitting watching American Horror Story: Coven, listening to music and I've just finished squealing with joy at some of the clothes I've managed to order from the sale on Yours Clothing that I'll openly do a blog post on eventually... The point of that little paragraph is basically that I'm bored and have nothing better to do. 

So with it being New Years today I didn't get to sleep until around 2AM this morning because of fireworks (I live close to two very enthusiastic and rowdy pubs) so because of the late night I managed to get a good lie in until 10:06AM which was great and I feel totally well rested because of it. After that I hopped in the shower and used some of my lovely smelling LUSH cosmetics stuff i got for christmas the made me smell like a bath bomb... not complaining mind you. It's important to to say that I got dressed today in an aqua T-shirt I have that says "I like warm hugs" with a cute picture of Olaf... I swear I am an adult it just doesn't show. Anywho, I ended up just going for a quick walk around the block and coming home to the smell of New Years dinner cooking which was lovely, we always eat way too much this time of year, but then again, who doesn't?! We always have a laugh when we have a big family meal, usually me and my dad will have some form of food fight and my Mam and Grandma just sit and state in horror; today he flicked gravy at me. I was mature and waited a whole 10 seconds before putting squirty cream on his head. After lunch I ended up back in my hide hole known as my room, I did some blogging and that post can be seen here if you fancy a quick peek. I also ended up doing some online shopping and got some fantastic bargains, I've spent a ridiculous amount of time listening to One Direction's album 'Four' and once this has been posted I'm going back to reading. All-in-all it has been a fantastic start to the new year and I hope it continues this way for the majority of the year!
Let me know about your New Years day so far! I'd love to hear from you all.


Love Katherine. X

My Bedroom Wishlist

So, it's the New Year and, for about 99% of the people on my Facebook timeline, a "new me". I was looking at my bedroom earlier in the day and thinking... to hell with it. For me it's going to be New Year, New Bedroom! I adore interior design and it's something that's always fascinated me. At the moment I have a rather childish bedroom, I have a light pink feature wall with light cream surrounding walls, none of them have any pattern which is kind of boring. I have an ugly brown carpet and most of my furniture is white or off white, I thought that if I'm going to redecorate my bedroom I may as well do a Bedroom Wishlist post. This might be a long one but still it's been really fun to write. 

The first thing I'd like is the Gersby Bookcase (£17) from IKEA. I already have one Gersby in my room now but the sheer volume of books I have is unbelievable so it'd be really helpful to have another just so I don't have to pile books upon books anymore. Also it's pretty sturdy the one I have now so it's not a bad bookcase to begin with.

The second thing on my wish list is the Malm chest of 4 drawers, again from IKEA (£49). These drawers would be perfect for keeping underwear, pyjamas, shoes and even make up in. Personally I'd also use the top of the drawers to put my television on and that way there'll be no need for me to buy a TV stand. 

Next on my list is Colours Oak Effect Luxury Vinyl Flooring from B&Q (£25 per M2). I've always wanted wooden flooring on my bedroom but because I live in a council house I'm not able to have wood flooring put down but I am able to put wood effects linoleum down which is, in my view better because then the planks can't crack and it's much warmer. I like this one from B&Q because it's very light and it'll go with the colour scheme of my room.

Fourthly, I would love the Antique Rose Bouquet Wallpaper from Cath Kidston (£25 per roll). This wallpaper is beautiful and would work perfectly in my room ad a feature wall with surrounding light cream walls in Matt finish paint. I've always loved Cath Kidston designs and to have there wallpaper in my room would be fantastic, plus it's not brash or bold so I would be able to get some subtle and feminine decorations to go with the bedroom.

So far those are the only things I'm sure I definitely would love in my room however there are many more things that'll list below, I just haven't found the exact pictures of what I'd like yet:

• White bed frame - storage preferable
• Mattress and mattress topper
• A fuzzy cream rug
• A wardrobe
• Decorative pillows - I might make those myself because I'm rather snazzy with a sewing machine
• Various storage boxes for make up, hair essentials, college work, DVDs etc.
• Vase and artificial flowers, I won't have real flowers because they aways die after a couple of days. 

There you have it, that is my main bedroom wish list and hopefully the rom will be decorated completely my this time net year! Thanks for reading all, tell me about what you would like fr your bedrooms!

Love Katherine. X