Thursday 18 October 2018

Backpacking Adventures

Again I've been M.I.A for a looooooong time (10 months, holy cow new record), but there's been something that's made me want to get back into blogging and that was our travel plans. We spent two years talking about traveling and finally as our apartment lease was coming to an end and we had no more ties at home we made the decision to just go for it and jump for the experience. Now, looking back, as I write looking out over the gardens of a  French Chateau (no biggy), I can't believe we were so scared and put it off for so long. I really don't know where to start in how to catch up on what has happened but I guess somewhere towards the beginning is a good start.
For the last month and a half, my boyfriend and I have been backpacking in France using HelpX, a website that allows you to exchange work for free accommodation and food ( basically broke travelers gold mind). We are now at our second location and in a few days moving on to our third location, this time in Germany. There has been many, many experiences and adventures in the first month, it may take me another 10 months just to talk about them but I'll try to narrow them down...

 We made our first flight together successfully and then as we tried to follow our hosts directions, we got on the first tram we saw and never even thought about checking where it was going or where we had to go and we couldn't ask anyone because we don't speak any french, but hey it actually worked and we managed to find our way correctly. Our first location was i.n.c.r.e.d.i.b.l.e (I will do a separate post on it) and we were so lucky to have it as our first experience. The people we met, the places we got to go and the care we were given will never be forgotten and only now looking back do we appreciate it all.

Our second location was a little, em, basic. We were way too spoilt in the first place so I didn't take too well to all seven helpers being housed in a separate building from the main chateau, where we did have our own dirty rooms, but Rich and I had separate broken beds, we never met our actual host until the third day and literally everything was broken. But now that we are here our third week I have relaxed and gotten used to all the massive bugs, broken shared shower, unclean laundry and being pretty much dirty and stinky the majority of the time. I mean this is real backpacking and what you would expect in a hostel.

Our whole idea of traveling was to get experiences in any way we could.

  •  I've danced with professional Argentian dancers in a park, 
  • had a 5-course meal with part-owners of Morgans cars,
  • been shown around by a local French guy who we had met at a festival and said he would take us to his favorite sights, 
  • fell off my bike into a huge nettle bush and cried for about six hours, 
  • had a bonfire in rural France with an Italian woman, a German man and an awesome girl from New York, 
  • and lastly enjoyed every second. 

We have the next two locations planned out and know where we are going up until the new year, but between now and then (and after) is anyone's guess as to what will happen.


Thursday 25 January 2018

Bullet Journal: Next 4 Pages

My Bullet Journal journey continues...



I'm a complete numpty at saying "oh yeah, sometime" or letting things and opportunities constantly pass me by.  This page is dedicated to me stopping that and starting to say yes. It could be simple little things as going for coffee with a friend, to new events to push myself to get out there more.  Everything that pops up lately I'm going to add to this page and use it as encouragement to tick off.


Another day, another bucket list.
This one is dedicated to our new area, after moving. Donegal is famous for lots of things, one of those being the scenic views which I tried to tie in with the design for the bubble in the middle of the page. 
We're in a totally new area and that means lots of things to tick off while we're here from little things like trying the local drink (what even is Football Special) to climbing the biggest mountain in the area.


This page, I absolutely love after spotting similar posts on Pinterest. My old school dodgy tvs are where I keep track of the series I'm currently watching and what episodes I'm on. Simple yet very effective. 


One of my favorite pages is my read tracker. I've set a goal for the year to read a minimum 20 books to get back into my passion and I love the idea of keeping the name and author of the book to look back on and even re-read. I added in little book quotes on the open book page such as the classic Dr.Seus 'you can find magic wherever you look, sit back and relax all you need is a book'.

I'll be honest I haven't had a lot of time to be creative and add new pages lately, starting new classes and lots of assignments on day one its been very hectic but hopefully, when I settle down I'll get back to my perfectly organized colored pens. 

Sunday 14 January 2018

Primark & Essence Bargain Beauty


 A little while ago I picked up some new basic makeup as the pieces I've been using I've had for months (bad, very bad). I'll be fully honest here the reason I am so excited for this post is because of the beautiful purple roses that made my shots look professional. I always stick with the same brands, colors and pieces so I went straight for Primark/Penny's to their Essence stand to find my usual, and was surprised with my results.




As I said I always go for the same Essence pieces and that includes my mascara, although this time I went for one a bit different and boy am I glad I did. Eyes are my main focus when I do my makeup, I want them to pop and be the focal point. With this mascara they certainly are. I love a good dark lash and this mascara offers a vibrant black and even curls and gives an extension of the lashes.
Roughly €3.50



This one, I always go for the same, although I went slightly lighter this time. Roughly €4.50 I can't quite remember although I think it may have been cheaper. I live for soft touch mousse it was actually one of my first ever makeup pieces as my mum used it and I followed suit. I usually apply foundation first and then a light layer of the mouse to give a complete flawless soft coverage. If you've never tried mouse I can't recommend it enough as it really lives up to it. There are higher priced alternatives available but I find Essence and incredible quality and affordable brand, plus they're cruelty-free.





Lastly, I picked up this new foundation, stepping out of my comfort zone to try a new brand which was the Primark/Penny's P.S for just €3.50. I can not shout from the rooftops enough how AMAZING this smells, I mean smell is just as an important factor as everything else, it is truly beautiful. I barely use as much as I would normally as a tiny amount goes a long way with fantastic coverage and another amazing thing is the lasting effect, it lasts an entire night out (and even through to the next day, but we don't fall asleep with makeup on, and pizza in our hands) without any need for finishing spray which I would normally use. 

I'm a proud bargain beauty user, are there any bargain brands that you use without fail? 

Thursday 11 January 2018

Bullet Journal: Next 5 Pages


I recently started my own Bullet Journal and shared some of my creative pages and want to continue sharing as I expand the book. 



Every journal I've seen so far have a monthly layout and I had planned on not doing one as I do have a separate diary but as I said I am a list girl and there are extra bits and bobs each month that I like to keep organized and this is the perfect place for them. I kept this page really simple black and white with lots of different fonts to have it more organized and not too much color distracting me from tasks to do. I also added in a little monthly inspiration quote. 


My positive year is continuing with my Happy page filled with things that make me happy in simple everyday life such as cuddles with my dog or soup when I'm sick. It's a very simple page to add but writing a little piece of positivity in your life really makes a difference.


And again continuing on my positive pages are a list of all my favorite things. We all have that embarrassing diary we made when we were 10 and High School Musical and Hannah Montana were our favorites and I picture looking back on this one to see what some of my favorites were. I kept it simple again with blue and blank font for the little quote and then writing my favorites in red.


A really cute idea I saw to keep track of birthdays are this year diagram where you can clearly see who is in each month and when you have to prepare that gift.


A lunar calendar was something incredibly beautiful I came across and thought it was a lovely page to add as I believe in the phases of the moon cycle and having a page dedicated to it and the meaning of the moon stages is interesting for me and looks beautiful (although my drawings are terrible).  

Can't wait to create more pages soon and update you here. 

Monday 8 January 2018

Biting the Bullet and Bullet Journaling

Like us all, I've seen the countless beautifully written Bullet Journal pages all over Pinterest and thought in awe how skilled people are. I never imagined starting one myself because I can just about draw a stickman and thought I wouldn't be able to make mine look as amazing as they are 'suppose' to be.
Then I received an amazing journal.


 I got inspiration for making this book my little escape in my spare time with my colors and just be creative and be me. I'm a list girl and schedule everything I possibly can, so keeping all my thoughts, lists, goals and notes together in one book in a creative way is my idea of a day well spent.
I've scoured Pinterest and Instagram for inspiration and ideas for pages and have planned out some of my favorites, all in three days back to back I drew, colored and wrote for hours on end and had the most inspirational and motivating start to the year. Here are my pages so far...


I had to start the book with a celebration of the new year, my plan was for a black background with lots of colored fireworks. It somewhat worked and then I decided I would write some of my little hopes and goals for the year, things I want to accomplish that I have been talking about for years and things I want to continue doing that makes me happy. 
On the inside cover page, I've been writing down ideas for pages to keep track. 






We have been talking about traveling and trying to save the bit we can for over a year but after Rich got me the travel fund money box seen in my birthday post we have finally set in stone this is it we are putting away money to live our lives exploring instead of wasting pennies on silly possessions. So our goal is to put away €2 every day each which will be €728 each, not a bad headstart at an adventure. I found this little money jar drawing to keep track of our total and think its so fun to watch the color filling up.


Anyone who knows me knows I'm a total book nerd but lately, I've been in a totally reading rut (after reading a not so great series which consisted of three books that took me six months to read, normally it would take me two weeks it was so antagonizing to read each day) but I am determined to get back into reading some amazing pieces that I have seen recommend a lot and have on my TBR list for a year.
Being a book nerd, I loved this little bookshelf drawing to keep track of the books I want to read.





 As I've said about 100 times so far, we want to travel and I saw a great idea of a color in map of places you've been and I decided to do our home country of Ireland and fill in all the places we've been so far, lots to explore yet.
I added in a nice little travel quote at the end for that extra inspiration. 





I'm constantly wanting to learn new things ( I may lose interest after a day though) and there are so many things that I have been dreaming about for years, nows the time to stop dreaming and actually learn.

I have a lot of blank space here to fill up with more and more of my crazy ideas of things to learn.




This 'year in pixels' was a really interesting one for me after seeing peoples 2017 being shared on New Years Day I thought it was amazing to look back and see how you felt on each day of the year. I am to try and make this a positive year and not have many of the same days, unless they're all amazing.


After two months off college (due to being out on placement) I am actually so excited to get back into study and lucky for me (much sarcasm) I have my exams coming up in January (they really know how to let you have a nice Christmas) and I've been waiting to make a study plan for weeks, until now. I like to add this kind of thing into my journal to look back on in a few years and see the subjects I did. 
The blank page beside is where I will write in my timetable for the next two semesters. As I will be going back into first year to do modules I missed (long story, I got direct entry into 2nd year) and then back into continuing on my second-year modules I need some form of organization to know where I'm at. 


This is by far my favorite page, mainly because it actually turned out quite well and they actually look like polaroids which is a shock (refer to my stickman statement). I like the idea of writing memories down in short word sentences instead of just pictures. 



I, of course, have a sampling page at the back of the book to write out some of my favorite fonts to use throughout the book.



I am so excited to continue on my bullet journal adventure and be more creative each day for the next year and onwards.
Do you bullet journal? what are some of your must-have pieces in your journal? 








Thursday 4 January 2018

Notebook Hoarding and What I use them for

Notebook Hoarding is a thing, right? I'm not the only crazy person that has a selection of notebooks each for their own occasion.
I've been giving quite a few lovely notebooks over the years (pretty much all HP) and have always put them aside because I wanted to use them for something special and specific to each notebook, as I'm a reoccurring giver upper and have lots of started stories, diaries, poems, etc and then not knowing what to do with the rest of the book.
After my birthday and Christmas and another seven books to the collection I knew it was time to get my creative cap on and use these beauties. So after lots of researching of many ideas to use notebooks, these are some of what I use mine for...

Since meeting my boyfriend who is Latvian I have wanted to learn his language and culture and soon as we moved in I started planning how he would teach me some of the basics. My goal is to be able to speak to his grandmother when I meet her in Latvia sometime soon. I selected one of my little Gryffindor notebooks so its handy to carry around in a pocket if I ever need to refer to it.


 

Next up the cutest little idea for a notebook, is a Mutual Love Note Book. In this day and age (god I'm old) there aren't many love letters or even spreading love and I think is an amazing idea to have a mutual book between you and your partner where you leave little notes for each other at random times. And it's a great thing to look back at after many years. I again used one of the little Gryffindor books, this time I'll save you reading the soppy message though. 


When I received this amazing Quibbler notebook I knew I wanted to keep it for travel adventures. I've said countless times I want to travel to many countries and I think its amazing idea to keep a journal of the adventures together, filled with stories, tickets, and photos. Although traveling to other countries isn't financially  possible for us right now, we are seeing as much as we can off our own country and I wanted to keep a list of all the places we have been, so I've split it up into counties and listed all the museums, towns scenic places, and everything else we've seen in each place. I'm keeping this book specifically for lists of places we've been, I will make another book for them travel adventure stories.




I received this incredibly beautiful diary for Christmas and fell in love. Any Harry Potter fans will agree with me here that it looks like a magical spell book and I just love the whole bohemian dark vibrant colors. Obviously, I will use this as a diary, but I plan for it to be a daily positive diary. The spaces for each day are huge so there's lots of room to write about whats been good, fun, and amazing that day and I plan to make my day count and have lots to write about.




Lastly, is my favorite, this incredible Hogwarts Journal. Like many of us, I have seen Bullet Journals all over Instagram and Pinterest and I plan for this book to be my creative space for lists, notes, and drawing. Lots more to follow with updated Bullet Journal pages. 


I know there will be lots of more notebooks to come, and lots more ideas.
Do you use notebooks for specific things and if so what are some of the things you use them for?