My new favourite shop .

So my love for shopping goes outside clothing shop. Before deciding to study fashion, interior design was one of my other options and I felt that passion could be filled through decorating my own/family members houses and creating spaces for events! This has resulted in me loving shops like Ikea, Next home or Dunelm mill. So after finding Home Sense - a TK Maxx discount shop of homeware I literally was in heaven!

The shop is filled with homeware, fixtures, lights, mirrors, clocks, kitchenware, bathrooms accessories, pet stuff, toiletries etc etc. After telling myself I can't buy anything as I'm currently living back at home with half my life still in boxes containing all my home stuff I often forget what I already have. We were in the shop for 3 hours 3 BEAUTIFUL HOURS. I've already mentally made a christmas list of gifts I can get everyone! 

I managed to contain myself and only buy a few items, necessities may I add..

Now these plates were a bargain price of £2.99 each and they are so beautiful and the quality is amazing. Plus all of my plates at home are old cracked and ginormous (im trying to keep an eye on my portion sizes) so these plates were perfect! I picked up the bowls in Dunelm mill (in the sale for £1.79 each!) which match in my pastel crockery I have hidden in boxes somewhere!

This was my necessity buy... a notebook. for anyone thats a serial list maker like myself. a notebook gives the same excitement as a new pair of shoes. Its also metalic pink.. I personally think 7.99 is a small price to pay for being organised!

I'm off now to make more lists..

AbbieJS 
xxx

Matalan finds .

Matalan to me reminds me of standing with my mum with a huge trolley full of clothes and her stressing about where her Matalan card is. Thankfully they are alot more leanient to you misplacing/having no idea where your card is nowadays (back then it was a tradegy). So when I popped in the other week to buy a new work wardrobe I was pleasently suprised at my finds!

First of all I picked up 3 black jumpsuit. I tried it on in THREE different sizes as we all know clothes shops differ in sizes/shapes ALOT. I finally picked the comfiest jumpsuit in a size bigger than a usually wear (cry) but there was too much of a CT (camel toe) worry with the smaller size. It was £20.00 which was a reasonable price as the material looked quite expensive and as of yet no VPL issues!

I then picked some plastic version birkenstocks, which I chose for their comfy soles. I've always struggled with long shifts with my weak ankles but these shoes are like cushions and after a 13 hour shift my feet were fine! For the bargain price of £8.00 I've recently gone to get another pair for when I wear my others out! Perfect!

My third buy was a bright orange shift top, it would look 10x better with a tan but for £12.00 I could afford to invest for a possible next year holiday top.

My final buy was my favourite (and the biggest bargain).. £30.00 down to £10.00 for this perfect winter jacket! Its pastel pink and I fell in love as soon as I saw it!

Will deffo be returning to Matalan in the near future for more bargains!

AbbieJS xxx

Doing my research .

Call me cheap (or smart) but with a potential holiday to Sharm el Sheikh in October I've decided to be more prepared than previous years and look at some of the styles and trends so if I am able to go browse some of the fakes in Egypt I know I'm getting the right look! Now I would love to be able to afford to buy Michael Kors items, ideally a bag, purse, sunglasses and a new watch (is that too much to ask?) but with a large student overdraft and a top up masters year with NO student loan, my finances cant cope! Last time I travelled to Egypt I came home with half a suitcase of new goodies including a Hermes purse, Marc Jacobs bag, Mulberry clutch and a large Mulberry bag (which many people have commented on thinking its real! - obv it was rude to correct them on their mistake ;))

I also had my eye on a royal blue bag which seems to have dissappeared off the website (cry) but I'm sure I will be able to find it in one of the stores. Think I might have a staple wardrobe item investment on this arm candy though and ask for it for my birthday! (birthday list post to follow in the near future). 

I REALLY want a black office wear kind of bag, 1. because black goes with everything and 2. because it makes you look more professional than you really are. Everyone knows a good pair of shoes and a great looking handbag are essential work wardrobe items. So obviously I'll have to have at least two! These black bags are perfect! Im espeically loving the studded bag! 
The orange bag is to replace an orange denim bag I had from Mango for years, it was one of my first (of many) purchases with my student loan and it lasted me nearly 3 years at uni of lugging my laptop and various notepads around! I like having the option of a bright handbag to add abit of colour to my very often black outfits!

The sunglasses are purses will be additional extras! Im loving the dogtooth purse but if I was to pay the real big bucks for a Michael Kors purse I think I would go for a block colour - maybe the royal blue to match my bag! Also this silver metalic purse I absolutley love!

If I don't end up going to Egypt I'm sure some of these will be on my Christmas list!

AbbieJS

xxx

Mid year resolutions .

As things in life change so quickly I think its only appropriate I make some 'mid-year' resolutions.

My first resolution will obviously be similar new year resolutions, relating to the new year fitness bug and detox. Seeing as I rarely drink and have no holidays booked, alcohol has never really been an issue (except from during my undergraduate where vodka was an appropriate lunch).

So this summer I've been trying to work on my 'winter bod' to a healtheir and happier me. I've always been an 'all the gear no idea' kinda gal. I'm also always either hammering the gym 6 times a week or faceplanting the fridge for 3 weeks - therefore I'm not setting a number to lose or a crazy ideal 'where I wanna be by blah blah' but just learn to have a healthy balance between my chocolate addiction, fitness and my general well being.

For christmas I got a Polarft4 watch, it was literally my best present, it cost around £50.00 from Amazon, there are loads of different versions that will track distance etc but for me a calorie count was all I wanted! It really makes me work 10x more at the gym, and also stops unrealistic expectations of jogging on a treadmill for 10 minutes and being like 'that burned off my burger king I had yesterday right?' You can put in your height and weight and wear a heart mointor band and the watch to give you an accurate calorie count of your workouts. I have always quite enjoyed HIIT workouts, not only do they mean less time in the gym but they also raise your metabolism for the following 24 hours. I tested this out with the watch and wore it for 2 hours after my workout, the calories literally keep going up even though I was sat on my laptop! I also bought a iphone arm holder as theres nothing more annoying than your earphones popping out or falling out your top (I used to use my bra as an ipod holder). Esepcially as it cost me about £1.99 from Amazon it was so worth it!

The pink nike trainers I got from Sports direct which worked out at a fraction of the price I would of paid for the Nike free runs I wanted, they may not be as pretty but they do the same job for now (Even though Nike's are on my birthday wishlist - post to follow).

The pink bobble bottle I got from Tesco for £10.00 they come in various sizes and colours (obviously I got pink to match my gym gear - matchy matchy), I chose to get the biggest size of 1 litres as trying to up my water intake. Its really handy out and about and as I used to constantly buy bottled water theres only so many times you can refil them before you need a new one so this was investment (or so I tell my mum).

I also purchased a blend active, these have really became popoular through the smoothie craze everyone is on. I'm not a huge fan of smoothies and will try to use more veg than fruit due to the sugar content but one thing I'm loving my blender for is iced coffees! I've recently had to cut dairy due to my IBS and after crying over not being able to eat cheese or chocolate (my staple diet) I experimented with some almond milk. I've used it in the past and its amazing with porridge and coffee but FYI scrambled eggs and tea is a no go. In these hot summer days though the last thing I feel like eating is a hot drink therefore I decided to try an ice coffe simply using almond milk, some coffee and ice. I mixed a spoon full of coffee with some boiling water to dissolve the granules, added the coffee to almond milk and ice popped it in the blender and voila! Great for a morning coffee fix! The blender comes with two flasks and I bought it for £29.99 from Tesco (its cheaper on there online store but im too impatient).

Another thing I've really got into is herbal teas! also not being able to have milk has resulted in my 7 cups of tea being swapped for herbal teas. I'm not 100% keen on regular green tea and always get the green tea with pineapple and grapefruit which is lush! I recently went into Holland and Barrett and asked about whether there were any teas that would give me a boost of energy! - I bought this 'Engergitee' for £2.70 for 10 teabags. The taste is not great and is similar to the daytime tea from bootea (which gave me loads of energy), your meant to have 2-3 cups a day but I've just been having one cup with my breakfast and it has significantly made me feel more alert and awake!

Will continue with my other 'mid-year resolutions' in a later post!

AbbieJS xxx

Girls night .

Due to the fact I've turned into a unsociable hobbit I have only been out once this year (that being in February), so when I planned to go out one weekend in July you can understand my distress trying to find an outfit. 

ASOS next day delivery has saved in me many of these situations - so I ordered a few options (obviously it had to be over £120 so I got the free next day delivery ;)) First time I've EVER ordered various things from ASOS and not kept anything - typical!

So then an emergency shopping trip commenced. You can put money on it whenever you have money to spend and NEED an outfit everything on the high street is hideous/makes you look fat/tacky. After 3 hours in various changing rooms and a small mental breakdown I finally found an outfit!

The shoes were FREE (adopted from a friends unwanted wardrobe clearance), the skirt and top are both from miss selfridge for a bargain price of £34.00 (including student discount), teamed with a silver clutch I got for £4.00 from Primark last year. I also loved life as my hair curled perfectly!

AbbieJS xxx

Her name was Lola .

After months and months of begging my parents to let me have a puppy THEY FINALLY CRACKED! 

Her name is Lola and she is the most beautiful pup ever! After months of searching for a poochon (toy poodle x bichon frise) I couldnt take the risk (or price) of some of the strange looking cross breeds, no one wants an ugly dog.. cause lets be honest you'd love it - but no one else would! 

This is Lola - I fell in love as soon as I saw her!

Anyway I was first to choose from the litter of 8 springer spaniels, which I absoultley loved as I am so fussy I wanted to pick my perfect pup! The only downside to this was I had to wait 9 days to go pick her up. The longest 9 days (of my life), even though I really wish I had made the most of my sleep in that time and now she howls and crys ALL night for me, literally the most heartrenching cry EVER but I'm trying to stay strong and let her learn. Even though last night she turned into Lara Croft climbed up over her pen through a small gap in sliding doors and ran into my room. Of course we had to have a sleepover then and she was so worked up she never would of slept.

Being the diva that she is (and the instawhore I am) she has her OWN Instagram. Partly as she is the cutest thing ever and I can't help photograph her every second of the day, and partly as my friends would probably unfollow me turning into this crazy dog lady. So if anyone wants to give her a follow its: @hernamewas__lola 

Heres a sneak peak of her first few days at home:

Of course she had her first (sleepy) selfie

Before she decided to poop in my car

Shes so tiny! The pics dont do her justice.

I'm sure this wont be the last you will see of her!

AbbieJS xxx