Go Ape!

Had THE best day yesterday with my most favourite girls in the world! Cringin'ell but I do have the bestest friends I could ask for.

To celebrate my birthday in pure style I took my friends to Go Ape! High ropes and Zip wires 20 metres high in the trees. Definitely scary at times but we had such a laugh and was so fun to spend the day doing something active with my girls.

 All harnessed up and ready to hit the high ropes! We're all looking gorgeous with our hair up preparing to dangle from the trees...

 So only a little high! This isn't even the highest point and I could already feel butterfly's in my stomach!

 Awh cringey/cute group photo whilst up on the platforms. New advertisment photo for the Go Ape! website??!!

 Doing it Tarzan style - launching ourselves towards a wall of rope!

 We finally made it! Felt quite nice to have our feet on solid ground after all that.

Cheeseeeeeee!

So all in all a fab day out! I would definitely recommend doing Go Ape! if you haven't before - maybe not if you don't like heights though.

xx Natalie

Build me up buttercup

Hooray fellow bloggers! My exams are well and truly officially finished, for this year at least!!! Couldn't be happier today - being able to relax plus this beautiful weather is just so so perfect!

Just realised I haven't done a birthday related post! So thought I'd give you a brief rundown now. Not quite as nice as today but the weather certainly wasn't anything to complain about last Friday. The sun was shining for me, so me and my beautiful mum took my favourite bundle of fluff over to our local meadow. Look at all those pretty buttercups, the dog was definitely enjoying herself! Dog walking, driving lesson and a night out; a pretty decent birthday if I may say so myself.

Now back to today! 21 degrees Celsius calls for a sleeveless cropped shirt and some new sunnies I think. Black wayfarer style sunglasses - everyones go to pair of shades. Mine are from Boohoo.com for only £5! Only a smidgen of the Ray Ban price tag but from a distance look just as good! Well good enough aha!

My shirt is from Newlook.com and was one of my birthday presents so I'm not too sure on the price. New Look are never that pricey so I imagine for the quality of the item it was pretty reasonable! Denim style but light and summer since it's actually cotton and the cute white dots give it that girly edge. 

We are still in England so I wasn't quite ready to brave shorts quite yet so I teamed my shirt with cropped white jeans. These ones are from dorothyperkins.co.uk which I got in the sale a few years a go. So comfy though, I'd definitely recommend jeans from there!

lots of love

xx Natalie

Half term Happiness

I am so so happy that my Sixth Form have broken up for a week off!
Ok so technically I haven't been at school for the past two weeks anyway but that's besides the point! A week break off school means a week break from exams! I have taken six AS exams in the past fortnight - so ready to be able to relax, at least for a little while.

So my plans for the week are mainly to relax and revise every now and then, just so I don't forget absolutely everything! But there are gonna be some fun and games. Under a week now until my birthday!!!! Woooo

Some of you may not regard it as fun but I plan to head down to my gym every other day and workout! I'm slightly disgusted with myself as I don't even remember the last time I went! Haven't done any proper exercise in ages. That as well as revision snacking does not go well together!

Friday the 31st May - FINALLY I turn 17! And I cannot wait. I intend to have a rather relaxed morning and then I've got my first two hour driving lesson booked between 1-3pm. That will be exciting hitting the road for the first time! Later on that evening I am going to work! Not to actually do work though don't worry - I'm not that sad to work on my birthday haha. I work at a wedding venue as a waitress and the boss and chef are getting married on this day. All staff are invited so we're all going to get dressed up and go to the wedding party. Free bar - I hear birthday shots calling my name!

I plan to wear my favourite LBD from Topshop. It's skater style but over the collar bone area there's mesh insert with beading draping the shoulders. My explanation is absolutely rubbish but here is a similar dress without the beading but with long sleeves and mesh middle.
To brighten it up I'm going to use my coral clutch bag - similar here on Ebay and at the moment I'll wear my trusty suede black heels but if I can find myself some matching coral heels then result! Let me know if you've seen any nice coral heels recently please!

xx Natalie

The perks of having Study leave

   

I've mentioned it enough that I'm currently doing exams but along with that comes study leave! Four glorious weeks of not having to attend lessons at school. So yes the majority of it does/ should be spent revising but I can afford to have some time with my head outside a text book! This afternoon has been one of the relaxing occurrences.

Especially as we are experiencing a typical English summer - rain - I chose to spend this groggy afternoon watching a film with my mum. How cute! Don't laugh, we watch The Lizzie McGuire Movie, one of my childhood favourites. When I was younger Hilary Duff was without a doubt my idol! I wished (and secretly still do) to be as cool as her. Especially in this film as Lizzie. Most people know the words to the legendary 'Hey Now' song featured in this film. Well I know the dance moves and can pretty much quote the film the entire way through. Many hours of my childhood, and embarrassingly my teens years too, have been spent watching this movie. It'll be much easier to get away with if you have a younger sister, show her this movie and you'll probably love it more than her!

I also took some time today with my mum to organise my upcoming birthday. Despite turning 17 I'm being very uncool - like always - and taking my friends to Go Ape! I've done it once before and if you love heights then it is fabulous! High ropes, zip wires and Tarzan swings, relying on rope, a harness and a few carabina clips to dangle yourself many metres above ground. Not every-ones cup of tea but it is certainly mine! I'm so excited! Just praying that the weather is not like today so we don't get drenched whilst suspended in mid air.

One good thing that the English rain has brought is the brilliantly titled debut Album from Gabrielle Aplin which was released yesterday. I love Gabrielle and have loved each single she has released so far. I'm yet to listen to her album but is exactly what I plan to do right now! Check it out now!

xx Natalie

Wish list

It's 11.20 Saturday morning and I'm still in bed! Relaxing whilst I can because I know all my day will consist of is revision!

I'm also catching up on my beauty sleep after having a very unexpected late night last night. Me and my friend Amelia set out for a jog about half 7 last night. We decided to 'pop' round to our friend Molly's to say hi - 4 and a half hours later we were still there! We had such a laugh together acting half our age. We each wrote down predictions for each other of what we think will happen between us and boys between now and summer! We agreed not to read each others until the Monday morning after V Festival, which we are all going to and camping at! Woooo

But as I've mentioned before my birthday is on it's way and this morning I've really started thinking about possible thinks I may ask for! I'm not expecting much this year because I've been bought a car already and will most probably get driving lessons paid for as a present from my parents.

But this hasn't stopped me from creating a wish!

Top of my list is the new album by Paramore. I've loved them for years now and even went to see them live in 2010 when they played at the O2. I've been listening to this a bit on spotify already and although it's different to their previous sound I still absolutely love it! 'Still into you' and 'ain't not fun' currently my favourites.

I'm really into music at the moment so albums is mainly what my list consists of. Bastille - Bad Blood I'm seriously in love with. First heard 'Pompeii' on radio one a few months ago and I soon became addicted to it! I'd never heard of Bastille before then so I checked them out on good old spotify and they really are fab! I've even started to learn 'Pompeii' on my acoustic guitar.

Don Brocco - I don't really know anything about them apart from they're a band who have a great new album called Prioritise. They're single 'whole truth' is so catchy and has great lyrics. This song made me want their album so hopefully it'll be just as good.

Here are a few other albums I would like!

                  

If you haven't yet seen Pitch Perfect I urge you too immediately! It stars Rebel Wilson who is my new queen of funny! She's so great and in this film has you laughing from start to finish. This film is quite girly too so if you're in the mood for a chick flick then this is what I suggest! I also think it's recently been added to sky on demand so check that out if you're unsure whether to buy it or not.

Only a few more things I promise!


I'm beyond useless with headphones, they always seem to slowly but surely break and stop working. I use them quite a lot I guess but still it's highly annoying! So I think it's time to invest in a new pair. But I've decided to go for ones like these to the right - Sports headphones which clip round your ear. I go to the gym quite regularly and have also started going for jogs as well so these will be perfect to use for that - save me having to poke my earphones back into my ear every ten seconds!

I discovered 'GlossyBox' a little while a go now when I first started reading peoples blogs and tumblr posts. The majority of people were raving about it saying that it was really great value for money and it being really fun waiting for each months box to arrive to find out which samples you would have to try out. So for those of you who don't know, it's a beauty box subscription. Each month you receive a box full of samples of new beauty products; make-up, perfume, hair products. It sounds really good and if I don't get a subscription as a birthday present I may just treat myself to it anyway!



These brushes have burst onto the beauty market and headed straight to the top of everyone's lists. I haven't had the chance to try them out but I know so many people who have and I haven't heard a single bad comment against them. This core collection kit seems really good value for money. On Amazon you can get it for just under £ 20 for the four brushes and this case/stand. I do already have a foundation brush from QVC which I think is great but a girl can never have too many beauty products so hopefully these will be worth getting!






Finally, some clothes! There are plenty of items that i would love but i wanted to be realistic and also not go on for ever with this blogpost, it's pretty long as it is!


I headed to the queen of all fashion shops - the beloved Topshop. This skirt caught my eye straight away and here on this model it looks lovely! The colour is right up my street - I love a bit of pink and this is so summery and ideal for me to wear to school on the warmer days and also in the height of summer to BBQ's and gatherings and I'm sure it'll make its way into my suitcase to Florida as well.







This Bikini is also Topshop and its tie dye print makes in very in fashion and striking. On the beach on a sunny day I think this would look lovely and if I remember correctly it was only £30 too! Very good value for money I thought! This probably won't make its way onto my birthday list but I'm definitely saving it for later on my Topshop online account and will hopefully buy it in time for summer.

I hope I haven't bored you too much and if you are looking for a new film of some new music to listen too, check out Pitch Perfect and Paramore!

xx Natalie

Happy May!

Hi guys and gals, Happy 1st of May!

Today has been such a lovely day so thought I would share it with all of you! Hope you've had a great start to the best month of the year. Of course the countdown has now begun - only 30 days left until my birthday, until I turn 17 and until I can legally learn to drive!!!! Excitement doesn't quite cover it if I'm honest!

So today here in Essex we had perfect spring weather. It was lovely blue skies and sunny but there was also a cool breeze. Definitely got my daily dose of Vitamin D today and it's definitely had positive effects. Ok so school was pretty average but being able to sit outside in the sun at lunch does make it slightly more bearable, starting early on my summer tan - why not?! 

Acid wash skater dress - £15.99 - missguided.co.uk

I wore a really lovely dress from missguided.co.uk It's skater style so fashionable but also very comfortable - perfect for school! (my sixth form don't have uniform btw) It wasn't that warm so I did wear it with black tights unlike the photo. I also wore black ankle boots from Miss KG I bought in republic at the beginning of winter and a light blue denim jacket I got from New Look a few years back. Perfect spring outfit!

Cannot wait for this in the summer!

Talking of summer I can't quite believe how quickly it's coming around! Not long to go and I seriously need to get my summer bod sorted! As corny as it sounds it's true - everybody wants to look and feel good in a Bikini! So with this is mind I chose to have salad for lunch, so proud of myself! I also had a banana when I got in from school and even went for a jog! Ok so I went with my friend and we spent most the time gossiping and walking but it still counts as exercise right? haha!


So May isn't all good, especially if you're in year 11/12/13. The dreaded exams are looming around the corner. I've got under two weeks until mine start now, only a tad scary! My mocks exams haven't gone too horrifically so fingers crossed I'll do alright in the real ones.

But in between exams we do have half term and of course the 31st of May which is my birthday :) cannot wait to start driving lessons and get on the road in my baby! I haven't got her yet but she's so beautiful and I'm seriously so excited! I've been beyond lucky and got a mini one. Literally my dream car, I couldn't be happier! She's black with chequered roof and wing mirrors and white racing stripes. As soon as I've got her I'm sure I will do an overly excited post dedicated to my mini! But until then you and I will have to wait!

xx Natalie