Sunday 21 December 2014

Christmas Lights For Charity.

Tonight I visited a little village where the houses throughout go to town with the Christmas decorations for charity! Each house puts up lots of lights and figurines with a small donations box at the front for people who come to see the lights to give money- all the money goes to deserving charities just before Christmas! Last year the village raised a record seven and a half thousand pounds and this year hope to raise more. After speaking to a man who lives there, he said they come together as a community to give one huge Christmas present out of the kindness of their own hearts, I couldn't help but feel so happy that in this day and age people come together to raise money for a good cause in such creative and selfless ways.
 
Merry Christmas. x.
 








 

Monday 15 December 2014

Christmas Tree Hunt.

 
Christmas is my favourite time of year, the festivities and all the joy everywhere is truly magical! Picking a tree is one of my favourite things to do this season so I thought I would share my experience with a few pictures.
Of course looking for the perfect tree is no easy task and the factors you have to consider are:
1. Height
2. Bushiness
3. Deep green colour
4. Fresh smell
5. Big stump
If you find a tree with all the perfect amounts of all the above you are on to a winner! We did and the excitement to decorate it builds straight away for me, imagining the colours, lights and star on top of the tree gets me into the festive mood straight away.
I hope this got you excited to find and decorate your tree and get set for Christmas.
x.



Thursday 6 November 2014

Why Autumn Is My Favourite Season.

As we are officially in the season of autumn I thought I would do a quick post about my favourite parts of the season. I have always loved autumn, it's the lead up to Christmas, the big woolly jumpers are out, the fire is on and there is plenty of Halloween and bonfire night parties to go to!
 
1. The clothes: you can finally get away with pulling out the winter jumpers and woolly socks, the boots and scarfs! There is something about layers and dark colours that I love, seeing how people choose to style a simple jumper is something I find interesting to see and it is always a great excuse for a shopping trip.
 
2. Beautiful candles lit up all around every room in the house and, when it gets towards the colder months being able to put the fire on and sitting under a warm blanket with hot chocolates and a classic Christmas film. 
 
3. Halloween!! I love everything about Halloween; finding a costume, getting dressed up, doing over the top makeup, answering the door to trick or treaters, going to parties and mostly, carving pumpkins! Although pumpkins are kind of gross and don't smell nice, the satisfaction I get from thinking up a face to carve and then looking at my finished job is the best part!
 
4. Early morning walks though the leaves with beautiful trees all around. The colours the leaves turn, the way the paths are covered with crunchy padding to walk across and the cold refreshing air is the best thing to wake you up, along with the bright morning sun against the grey sky.

5. Bonfire night is one of my favourite times of year! Not only is it an excuse for a party and fun, it also involves a bonfire, sparklers and of course the best part of all, fireworks. I recently went to a fireworks show that was so packed of colour, laughter and amazing music, I honestly never wanted to leave!
 
I hope you have all loved autumn so far and find more and more love for it every day, look for the small things around you that could bring a smile to yours or someone else's face, work hard, and share only happiness and love because the count down to Christmas has begun...
 

Saturday 4 October 2014

SEPTEMBER FAVOURITES


September was such a crazy month for me as I had so much going on and it was my birthday but I decided to do a September favourites post as without these products I wouldn't have survived! I only recently got a few of these products in September and I am already in love with them so wanted to share them straight away. So here they are, the products I have been absolutely loving! 
 
1. No7's 'Beautiful Skin Gel Cleanser' [here]
2. Batiste's 'Tropical Dry Shampoo' [here]
3. Ralph Lauren's 'No.2 Perfume' [here]
 4. Grace Cole's 'Wild Fig and Pink Cedar Bath & Shower Gel' [here]
5. No7's 'Stay Precise Black Liquid Eyeliner' [here]
6. John Frieda's 'Frizz Ease Heat Defeat Protecting Spray' [here]
 
I have linked all the products to sites where I got them and they are generally not badly priced, if you are working with a budget I know there are some fantastic alternatives that the sites can suggest which are just as good, if not better for a better price so if you find anything of great price and quality make sure to share!
 
 
My all time September favourite is definitely the No.7 Liquid Eyeliner! I used to have to struggle with liquid eyeliner smudging easily, chipping, drying out the skin around my eyes etc. but now I have found this I don't have any of those problems anymore! Since using this liner the quality of my flicks/cat eyes have been much better with it staying on my eyes all day no matter what I do, the skin around my eyes isn't dry, red or sore anymore and the liner itself isn't messy or lumpy! Although it is a small 4ml tube it lasts along time and the consistency is perfect for me! The brush is small but it is designed in a way it can move to mould to where to make it, it is honestly the best eyeliner I have ever used!
I would recommend this to anybody looking for an affordable, top quality liquid eyeliner as it is absolutely perfect, if you have any questions etc. just comment below and I will be happy to help :)
 
Enjoy!
 

Monday 22 September 2014

London Trip.

London is my all time favourite place in the world, over all the expensive, hot and amazing holidays I have been on, London has always been the place I wanted to be.
There is something about the hustle and bustle, the knowing that whatever you need is always available and the idea of blending into a big crowd that makes it appeal to me so much - I have never liked standing out from the crowd but always found myself there anyway but London is the only place I feel happy and truly myself. There are so many styles, people, cultures and everything in London that makes everyone so different nothing is stand out enough to take note. In the capital city surrounded with thousands of other people doing their own thing I found myself, literally discovered something within myself that I never thought I would, contentment, that is why I love being there and that is why my heart belongs to the capital.
 
I take every chance I get to head down to London for a couple of hours, a weekend, a week or just a concert! This time I wanted to document it, I stayed for 2 nights and lived the life of a Londoner, no longer a tourist- I have mastered the tube, seen the sights and am now just enjoying my time- just another person going about their day and I couldn't have been happier with my time spent there.
 
 
 
 The street I stayed in was absolutely beautiful and right next to Hyde Park! On my last day after breakfast I walked through the park and even managed to catch a glimpse at the charitable half marathon.
 

 
 The memorial for all the British soldiers lost at war was phenomenal and I know 'a picture speaks a thousand words' but this picture and no other picture is able to represent the immensity of the display or the emotion expressed through the thousands of ceramic poppies planted in the ground.

 
 
  I of course had to take a walk over the river and take some shots of the London Eye and the London sky line in all its glory.
 

Portobello Road is one of my new favourite places in London! I went purely for the famous market but found myself in awe of the beautiful buildings and scenes around me - I would definitely recommend it for anyone who hasn't experienced it yet!
 



Camden was one of the first places I ever visited on my first trip to London 8 years ago and I have never stopped loving it since! If you ever go look out for the fresh orange juice stand covered in whole oranges and a man shouting about how good his juice is because it is the best.
 
 
 During my time in London was the African Culture Day which I of course had to go and check out (long story short I ended up playing a bongo in front of around 100 people) still one of my favourite days ever spent in the city!
 
 
I had to fit a show into my weekend also and went along to see Made In Dagenham which was one of the funniest and sweetest west end shows I have ever seen! I would definitely recommend it to anyone into rom coms/ chick flicks such as myself as it is the perfect combination of everything in one!
 
Piccadilly Circus
 

 
Until next time,
Toni.
x.

 
 

 

 

 
 

Thursday 11 September 2014

Penguin Lovin'.

I recently went to my local zoo and went by to look into the penguin enclosure and had such a lovely view of a group of penguins up close and personal, literally! I had the opportunity to feed the penguins when they were all in the water and swimming, which was kind of gross (considering the food they eat are tiny dead fish) but also so much fun and definitely something to check off my bucket list. After they had been fed they got onto the rockery and I got some lovely pictures of a couple of penguins sitting with their partners and showing each other some love. It was great to witness this because, although you can see every documentary, cartoon film and picture of penguins cuddling each other and standing close together to keep warm, seeing it right in front of your eyes makes it all the more magical! This is a short post but I wanted to share these sweet pictures I took of my favourites from the enclosure.



Wednesday 10 September 2014

BOOK REVIEW: 'Love Is A Number' - Lee Monroe.



I was very sceptical about the book to begin with and went into reading it very open minded yet (despite my initial doubts) I ended up staying awake until 3am reading consistently because I simply had to finish it. Although the story line is quite cliché, it is incredibly sweet and as the author presents the feelings of both characters throughout the novel by switching between their view points in chapters, I was able to connect much more with them, meaning I wanted to know the ending as soon as I could. The book is finished with an amazing last line from Lo which I feel links the whole book together 'Call me... just, call me'.

It was an easy read and an incredibly enjoyable at that, there were certainly moments throughout the book where I forgot my own life and believed I was a part of the story. The story at the beginning is fairly dragged out and at times I found myself beginning to get frustrated to 'get to the point', but at the same time I love books like that because it makes me read them non stop to get to the end, if a book doesn't keep me hooked I find myself becoming bored and reading is like a chore.

On several occasions throughout the book I had mixed emotions about some of the characters being incredibly rude and pretentious whilst others were lovable and similar to those of my own friends, making the book more relatable. Within the novel, I think there are hidden themes of finding true friends and living your own life; as Lo's life had been taken over at a young age and she had been forced into a crowd of 'those girls at school who are 'popular' but secretly hated'. I loved this about the book as I love to observe human behaviour, so found this very interesting in the way Lee Monroe had presented the themes. Although I did find the ending to be slightly rushed and again quite cliché and unrealistic, the novel was still an incredible story and dreamily 'perfect', therefore, I would consider it a great novel and recommend it to any readers who love a classic romance with a modern twist or someone just getting in to reading.