Tuesday 31 December 2013

Instant tack removal

Big necklaces are in at the moment and I am definitely going to be one to embrace it. In the primark sale, I managed to nab this monstrousity (sorry if you actually like it, I mean someone must, seen as it was made??) anywho, I didn't like it as it was just too much, so as I was sat waiting for the train, I worked my magic (okay fine I just removed the worst bits- with a pen no less haha) 

The offender- those hideous triangles

The beaut- just a chain with some cheap diamantés. 

I know I said cheap diamantés disapprovingly, but I quite like the necklace now and can't wait to get home and see what to pair it with. 

Do you ever find things you know could be nice but just aren't? Poor reject things. 


Monday 30 December 2013

Thank you

Michael's parents were very generous recently and I wanted to make sure they knew how much we appreciated it, so played round with a couple of ideas for a Thank you card- 


And here is the finished piece 

It's only little but I think they appreciated it :) It's also super simple and if you have spare patterned card lying around (you definitely will from Christmas - I always save some pulling cracker paper) then you can try it out too! If you like, that is :)


P.s. Michael and I found a desk today, yippee! It's more of a pull-out-dining-table in all honesty, but I do want a lot of space. It ended up being dark wood, but at £20 it's not going to be my forever desk, and it's a very good compromise. 

Sunday 29 December 2013

Photo dump/mammoth weekly roundup

haven't done a weekly catch up in months so here's going to be one HUGE photo dump, but I'll try and keep it snappy (hehe). 
Bucket O ribs and sweet potato chips 


Almost wished my name began with an A when I found this for 99p

My boyfriend, ladies and gentleman 

Hairstyle for the ball

Dressing table I'm loving

Hehe the pup loving the head massager 

Isabelle storing kitchen utensils in my boots 

Lovely sofas that 'aren't Michael's thing' 

Christmas Eve round the British Legion with the grandparents 

Good ol' bumpits


Christmas raffle fun 

Mm lovely bath 

The best chocolates! 

Michael got a little wet pumping up his tyres 

£100 charity shop writing table :( 

Starting to get organised for my new job- always wanted one of these. Gona be so pretty. 

Bargain presents for mum- she can get her craft on! Not that she needs ANY more craft stuff ;) 

Fewf- I won't bombard you with any more photos from my life, I will just try and do weekly round ups more regularly again :) have you had a good week? 


Saturday 28 December 2013

Relocation, Relocation, Relocation

No.. I'm not doing some weird kind of review of the TV program, Michael and I are moving! Here starts a long story with lots of components:
-After our short trip to Prague and our long journey home, I had a job interview in a county near to Michael's army base. I think it was two full weeks or close to two weeks later, they called and offered me the job stating there was a delay because they didn't know which team to put me in.
- The job I applied for is in one area, whilst Michael's is another, so we are meeting it the middle and commuting each day. We decided, when I applied for the job, that it was a step we were ready to take together, but that we would leave it up to fate - if this is the job I got, when I'd applied for a few, then it was meant to be. And it's all worked out, so it was clearly the right choice!
-Flat hunting and contract waiting later, we viewed a flat and pretty much fell in love. We had to wait for a week or two again for the contract, but the new council's HR department are super lovely and I'm so appreciative of this.
-Crazy times sourcing and looking for furniture. (charity shops, of course!)
-Contract came, contract was signed, contract was sent.
-Estate agents was contacted and the flat we loved was ours! Well... credit and reference checks later (long, so long), we found out Friday that the flat is ours!

Pinterest has been an absolute God send for all of this, check out my relocating board here. It's a place I like to keep picture of my absolute goal, so I can keep them at the forefront of my mind and don't end up buying crap.

The Flat:
We have a top floor unfurnished flat that has two bedrooms (aka a bedroom and a study, Michael gets the garage!), a kitchen, bathroom, lounge, airing cupboard and coat/shoe room, garage. oh and a little patch of grass we have to take care of. The floors are mostly laminate, bar both bedrooms which are carpeted.

Finding Furniture:
This makes me laugh, because Michael kept going to family gatherings and texting me like 'I've got us a bed, I've got a mattress, do we need a nest of tables?' We are very grateful to both families pulling together to help us with all of this - furniture is expensive stuff! We thought we would just get items to begin with; this place is not our home, I don't need my forever pieces, it doesn't have to be perfect, it can be just so - we'll replace it when the time comes. The kitchen is already all sorted - I have tonnes of stuff from Uni, and luckily white goods are already in the property. Currently we've managed to nab - bed frame, mattress, dining table, bed side cabinets, nest of tables. I already have a beautiful vintage side board that will be used as the TV stand (and storage!), and Michael's parents have bought us a three seater sofa and an arm chair. Wardrobes are already built in, so our current needs are;

  • Desk
  • shelves for study
  • rug
  • drawers for bathroom
Bathroom Drawers/Storage
The bathroom is mostly set, there's a medicine cabinet etc but no shelves in the shower or place to store toiletries, hence the need for something like this -  


                                              Ikea                                                    Argos                     

The lounge
The floor is yellowy wood laminate. I love grey so the sofa and arm chairs are grey. To set the room off I know I need a colour scheme, as grey is just the base, and I'm currently crushing on these colour variations. The place has blinds up and I'm not sure if there even are curtain poles in the property, but that's something I  might need to think about too 
 
(already purchased - Tesco)

 
Pinks/Greens - but always dusky
 
Just the shade of green on the right - not the shelving, that's not my kinda thing. 

Ikea - I need this in my life - imagine that over the sofa. 

Lounge tables 

The Study
My initial thought was wooden - it's always wooden, but dark wood. Then I thought about having a big steel workbench of a desk and the ideas started flowing. I would like a metal desk, and also some metal shelving - for books, but also creeping/hanging plants - that mix of silver and green is just going to be perfect.

 
 


Other
These look like handy little contraptions 


hehe, so appropriate



I think that's it for now, it's so nice to have them all down in one place so expect another installment. And then of course a house tour! All links are on my pinterest, either on the 'relocating' board, or the 'for the home' (for the lounge colour schemes). 


Friday 27 December 2013

A couple of gifts

I'm sure you'll see hundreds but I'm probably going to end up doing a Christmas haul post as I love beig able to look back on the year! As a quick In between post, check out what Natalie got me - I am blown away and absolutely love them!!! eeee <3 I just got the train home too and entertained a family of 5 with the phone case, ha. 



Michaela and I like to be Harry potter geeks and discuss what we think our patronus' would be. I'd like mine to be a fox, and after a crazy dream once Michael decided his was a chinchilla- don't ask, haha. 

How was your Christmas in the end? Did you get some good gifts and eat yourself into a stupor? 


Friday 20 December 2013

Masters Graduation

So, I took a long ol' trip up to Leeds from Sunday - Wednesday this week, so I could visit lots of friends (Gemma, Gaynor, Theana, Harriet, Bex, Ben, Eley, Jess, Kate, Joss, Sally-Ann, Mark, Stevie, Lauren, Allison and Colin to name just a few), and also graduate! Both sets of parents came up on the Tuesday night and we arranged ourselves on the Wednesday - there were professional photos, graduate receptions and hundreds of people milling about. I got two colours on my hood this year, to signify that I was a postgraduate student graduating, which felt pretty special, and I also got a sweet little pin with the Leeds uni crest on it!

dad Michael me granddad nan

Gemma and I 

La grandparents

Collecting the certificate

Stevie and I 

Wayne, me and Mum.

All in all it was a good but busy day, and the weather on the drive back was awful!! But still, we made it home alive :)