Tidy space, tidy mind

I am a huge believer in tidy space, tidy mind. If things around me are organised then I feel happier, calmer and like I can give things a good go. As a bit of an organisational freak, I thought I’d but together my five tips for getting and staying organised.

1)    Keep writing lists

Lists are my life, whether it be a to-do list for the day(or week), a list of what I need from boots or a list of when my assignments are due in at Uni - whatever it is, I’ll have a list for it. Lists help me remember everything that needs doing so that nothing can slip under the radar and get forgotten about. It also helps to differentiate what’s important and what can wait. When noting your to-do list, I would add to each point with what needs doing to achieve that point, example: ‘Contact companies for work experience’ firstly, you will need to think of what companies you want to work with, you will then need to find there contact details, double check your CV and tailor it to each company, and then create a cover letter before drafting and sending an email. This way, you can clearly see what needs doing and feel better about starting to work on it with structured things that need doing.

2)    Storage – whether it be make-up, work desk or even your wardrobe

I think storage is a big thing, having enough space to see everything as well as having a structure to it so you know where things are, so for example; my make-up is separated by products e.g. face products have their own draw. Then, my work is separated by what needs doing, what needs to be filed away, as well as assignment briefs/previous work with feedback to refer back to. With having structure to your organisation it means that you know exactly where everything is and you can easily see where everything is along with what you need, it helps me focus.

3)    Calendars

Writing things down is the best way to know what you’re doing, for me personally I’d rather use a little diary and a calendar on my bedroom wall than use my iPhone calendar(I know I need to get with the times) but I just find it easier to write things down and see the whole week/month in front of me. I write everything down, even if its something obvious like when my Uni lecture is, I still write it down just so you can see how busy you are that week and when there is time to fit other things in.

4)    Night-before planning

I also think it’s a good idea to plan for the day the night before, from something as little as setting your alarm so your up in time, to planning your outfit so your not rushing around looking for something to wear. Planning your lunch, and organising your bag the night before will just make the morning run smoother, meaning you’ll leave the house feeling fresher, calmer and ready for the day, iIt also means you can afford to have an extra 10 minutes in bed)!

5)    Bag necessities

For me, it is important to have a big bag with enough room for everything I need for the day. I often have to take my laptop out with me so my bag has to be big to fit this in along with my notebooks, water, lunch, chargers etc etc. I also keep lots of other things in my bag such as; paracetamol, nail files, tissues, hair brush, make-up, perfume, chewing gum – little things which could come in handy throughout the day!

Loved and loathed at the NTAs 2016

 Last night saw the UK's most loved TV stars take to the red carpet and as usual, floods of fashion journalists are profiling the best and worst dressed in this mornings papers. Now, i'm a strong believer in the power of a little black dress and the idea of less is more, so I've pulled together my favourites and least favourites from last nights event. 

LOVE

Alison King. Coronation Street 

Love love love this outfit, Alison pulls of a classy look but stays flirty with a cut out in the middle, she also adds fun with a splash of orange on the feet. A matching orange bag would have pulled the whole outfit together! 

Caroline Flack. The X Factor 

Caroline Flack has proven peter pan collars are still on trend with this cute little dress. Although, a little plain for one of the biggest award shows of the years, she still pulled it off and looked effortlessly chic. 

Holly Willoughby. This Morning, Suprise Suprise, Celebrity Juice

A round of applause for Holly Willoughby, who always manages to look absolutely amazing! This figure hugging, floor length dress complimented her curves perfectly and paired with big curly hair she was definitely up there with my best dressed! 

Vicky Pattinson. Geordie Shore, I'm A Celebrity, Loose Women

With a very similar dress to Holly's, Vicky also looked completely stunning, Vicky swapped her Geordie Shore reputation for an extremely classy dress, showcasing the Vicky we fell in love with on I'm A Celebrity. 

Natalie Anderson. Emmerdale

Another quite simple dress was chosen by Natalie Anderson. This floor-length dress bought some colour to the red carpet, with a lot of others opting for black and white. Her gold accessories added matched perfectly.

NOT SO MUCH LOVE

Emma Willis. The Voice, Big Brother, Celebrity Big Brother 

Emma Willis is my all time fave, and normally looks absolutely drop-dead gorgeous! But...what? This dress isn't doing much for me, I think it's quite outdated! 

Fearne McCann. The Only Way Is Essex, I'm A Celebrity

Love Fearne on TOWIE and she did great in I'm A Celebrity, but I don't always agree with her choices of outfits.. this being one of them. I like the lace top and think the colours work well together, but the bottom of the dress kind of reminds me of some curtains... sorry Fearne! 

Jorgie Porter. Hollyoaks, I'm A Celebrity

Jorgie dissapointed me in I'm A Celebrity, she didn't really bring that much to the show, and she dissapointed me further on the red carpet - no one wants to see those bum cheeks! Love the hair and make-up though.

Lydia Bright. The Only Way Is Essex

I love Lydia in TOWIE and she normally looks so so gorgeous in everything she wears, but i'm really not a fan of this outfit. It's not awful, but she just could and normally does look so much better.

What was your favourite and least favourite outfits? 

Lobster, wine and good company

Lobster, wine and good company – what more could you want? And that is exactly what last night consisted of when I finally got round to trying Nosh & Quaff.

Nosh & Quaff is one of the new restaurants to join the city in 2015 – and it has had everybody talking. From the #LetsGetMessy on Twitter, to the pictures of everyone in lobster bibs, it seems to be talked about everywhere and I’ve been looking forward to trying it for ages!

We booked a table as we were told how busy it gets, and we were seated straight away by a lovely waitress. We ordered our drinks, and soon after our food and it all came within less than 10 minutes, which I found rather strange – but it was hot and cooked absolutely fine so, no problem!

The menu didn’t offer a huge selection, if I’m totally honest. However, I didn’t mind, as I was planning to have the lobster either way – but I guess it might be annoying if you go regularly as there isn’t a lot of choice. The burgers and ribs also looked amazing, and I think if I went again I would opt for a burger as they were huge and smelt delicious.

My lobster came with a gorgeous lemon and garlic sauce which complemented it perfectly alongside the chips and salad. It was so nice and I would definitely recommend it, although it is expensive, so I personally won’t be rushing back. I didn’t have a pudding although the sharing waffle was tempting…

Have you tried Nosh & Quaff? What did you think?

Merry Christmas All!

I just want to give a bit of an explanation for my absence from blogging. I have found second year at Uni extremely challenging, and have had to push myself in order to complete my work to a standard I am happy with to hand in. With everything getting on top of me towards the end of my first semester of second year, blogging was the last thing on my mind. I've now finished all of my assignments in time for Christmas and I am so exhausted from working so hard that I just want to relax and spend some time with friends and family over the break.

I am determined to get back into regular blogging in the new year and hopefully the break I have had will inspire some new and exciting content. I don't want to write, just for the sake of writing. I want to write things that are worth reading, and relevant to my life. I've loved doing various reviews on my blog and talking about events i've been too in the past few months, so hopefully this can carry on within the new year.

I am hoping to buy a camera or phone with a good camera in January when the sales starts so hopefully this will mean that the quality of my posts will improve as the quality of the photos will too. For me, when I read blogs, the pictures play a vital part so I really want to make sure that I have good quality pictures featured on here.

A big thanks to everyone who has read and supported my blog over the past couple of years, what started off as a platform to showcase my writing skills ready for my University interviews has grown into a platform for me to share my life with friends and family who I don't get to see often. It has also given me amazing opportunities which I am extremely grateful for. Hopefully this can continue in the new year and throughout 2016.

Merry Christmas All, and a Happy New Year!

<3

The #MailboxSessions

Over the weekend The Mailbox hosted the #MailboxSessions following the launch of the new Mailbox which was unveiled on Thursday. I attended a few different events which took place over the weekend, mainly the ones focusing around hair, beauty and style, although the other events looked pretty cool too - especially the food demonstration hosted by Strada which I just caught the end of.

The first event I went to was 'The Art Of Style' hosted by Hannah Almassi, Grazia's fashion editor, Blogger; Bip Ling and Darren Skey, Head of Menswear at Harvey Nichols. This session was all about personal style and the panelists discussed their own style and asked how you develop this style and showcase your individuality through it. Blogger; Bip Ling said she dresses for herself and no one else, she loves colour and patterns and throws on anything that she loves. She is mainly influenced by art and sees fashion and clothes as an art piece, and her outfit that she is wearing, she described as her own personal art. Hannah Almassi talked us through her style icons which included: Marilyn Monroe, Rihanna and Coco Chanel - all on her list for different reasons, either due to a certain era as with Chanel or due to the confidence that Rihanna has. Darren Sky said there's a fine line between being stylish and then looking like you're trying too hard, he thinks London is often a place where people will try to rock every trend and end up looking silly in the process - he prefers to get his inspiration from Copenhagen and LA, and his style icon is David Beckham.

A similar event was 'The Art Of Beauty' but this was more of a demonstration, this session was presented by TV presenter Lucy Kite who invited brands which sell within Harvey Nicholls, such as Cover FX, Natural Bisse and Shavata Brows, to the stage. The staff demonstrated how to use the products from their counter to the best of their ability, we had a masterclass on contouring as well as top tips on aftercare once having your eyebrows threaded. My personal fave was the skincare routine that was shown as i'm so bad when it comes to skincare, it made me really want to try and find a skincare routine which would suit my skin. That was one of the interesting things about Natural Bisse, they wouldn't sell you anything that wouldn't suit or improve your skin - you can go in and talk to them about your needs and about your skin type and they will advise you on the products you should be using - however they are a little on the pricey side, so maybe I will really do my research before investing.

'Styling Secrets with Nicky Clarke' was a hair demonstration with one of the stylists from the salon at The Mailbox, he gave three different hair style tutorials - all on different hair types, which I really liked. Often, people will demonstrate different looks on the same face or hair, whereas that doesn't always help you because your hair is different. The stylist did an up do, on Lucy Kite (who also presented this show), an effortless curl look on fellow Brummie blogger The Ting Thing and a sleek half up, half down look on another Birmingham based blogger Nutella Tasha. He used all Nicky Clarke products to create the looks, and talked through the benefits of using good haircare products. He also gave us top tips on how to keep our hair styled for longer, and how to re-create that salon-look at home.

I also was lucky enough to attend a 'Bloggers chat' with the lovely ladies from Essensuals, the sister company to Toni & Guy. We were shown around the salon by Sally who gave us an overview of Toni&Guy and the history of the salon. We were then introduced to the stylists who talked us through the styles and looks which were rocked at London Fashion Week. Toni & Guy's products 'label.m'  were the official haircare products at London Fashion Week so I trust that the girls know what they're on about. We discussed hair trends at the moment, which is still that bo-ho, festival kind of look, one of these looks I particularly loved was the 'Glam Garland', a Fashion Fix braid which the stylist Harriet demonstrated on one of the gorgeous models. We also discussed colour with the colour expert from the salon, who said it's great when someone comes in who is up for anything!

Thank-you to The Mailbox for a fab weekend! 

Review // Revolution Birmingham

On Wednesday night we went to Revolution to taste the new menu. Revolution is predominantly a bar, a popular bar next to Gatecrasher on Broad Street. Where they do cheap shot deals and gorgeous cocktails, we were excited to try the menu as I've never thought to come here for food before. To drink we had a cocktail each I had a 'Strawberry Woo Woo' and Paige had a 'Long Island Iced Tea', both lovely! 

To start with we both had 'Nachos' and 'Calamari' and just shared them both between us. The nachos were nice although the cheese was a little bit rubbery, but the calamari was gorgeous, both only around £4 so not bad at all. 

For my main I had a 'Blackened Chicken Burger' which came with sweet potato fries and red slaw,  basically a spicy chicken burger. It was quite big with two large pieces of chicken on the burger, however nothing else - no garnish or salad except a tomato and some mayo. The sweet potato fries were delicious and the red slaw also a nice touch. 

Paige decided upon the 'Lobster Ravioli' the waiter did warn us that it was quite a small dish, and suggested she ordered a side as well - however,  she didn't want a side so just had that, it was however very small so I would still suggest a side if you opt for this. Both meals were really nice, and we both enjoyed them. 

For pudding we had a dessert to share, after recommendation from the waiter we went for the 'Salted Caramel Chocolate Fondue' which came with a pot of melted chocolate, some skewer dips and some marshmallows, raspberries and banana, and some weird bread sticks which we didn't really get to be honest, but they were quite nice. 

Thank-you to Revolution for our complimentary night out, I'd definitely say if you're in Revolution then give the new menu a try, or if you fancy some cheap and cheerful food before a night out it's definitely the place!