The Liebester Award

Hiya everyone! A slightlly different post today.

I've been nominated for the Liebester award by Lizzie from: http://head-full-of-flowers.blogspot.co.uk/
 (!) Thank you so much! My blog is my own personal creative space, and its so cool that a few other people are enjoying it too!

 I'm really happy for the opportunity to connect with more bloggers out there.

( I had no idea about this award before Lizzie contacted me, so this is in her words):

"The rules for the award are basically-answer the  questions given to you by your nominee, then nominate up to 10 of your favourite upcoming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. Then Notify them on their blogs (no tag backs!!) and of course, remember to write them up to 10 questions! It's a great way to connect with other bloggers while getting more out of your own blogging.

So, here goes! I have 5 to answer so I'll be asking 5 also."

*If you've been nominated by me skip to the end to see the questions you have to answer!*

Here goes with the 5 questions that Lizzie asked me. Hopefully you'll learn a bit more about me too!

What do you like the most about blogging?

Hum, that's a tricky one.

Probably that there are no boundaries of any kind- I can put up what I want, when I want to.

Its completely mine to do what I want with it.

Oh, and that most people I've interacted with who are into blogging are super nice too :-). *ahem, LIZZIE*

If you had to drink one drink forever, what would it be?

If you know me, you know I drink A LOT.

And even though I love coke, drinking coke forever would be seriously unhealthy; and I get bored of it every now and again.

  I guess it'll have to be water, I never get bored of it and its healthy. Super boring- but true.

Favourite book/magazine and why?

I read all the time. Picking favourites are near-enough impossible. Here are some of my picks of the mo. I'm going to include a quote from each book so that you can get a feel for the story without me giving the synopsis away.

Paper Towns by John Green

“I'd had nearly four years of experience looking at these clocks, but their sluggishness never ceased to surprise. If I am ever told that I have one day to live, I will head straight to the hallowed halls of Winter Park High School, where a day has been known to last a thousand years.” 

 Angel Dust By Sarah Mussi

"I looked at a T-shirt flung carelessly on the floor. What was it to be human? To feel the breeze against your face and know that nothing lasts? If Marcus could have lasted, would he have changed? I could smell change and goodness somewhere in his scent. Standing there, in his room, his life spread out before me, in clothes and music and passion, I saw the speed at which he'd lived. No time for regrets. No thoughts of the hereafter."

and

MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza. 
“The room was a small square of hopelessness.

A flash of red. And then:

Dimensions: 10 ft. by 9 ft.

I swallowed a horrific giggle. Perfect. And now I knew the exact measurements of hopelessness.”

(Click on each link to go to their respective Goodreads pages)

 Magazine would have to be Company- its jam-packed with fashion, beauty inspiration.

What is your fondest memory?

When I was about 5 or six, my brother was working part-time at McDonalds whilst at college. My mum and I went to pick up some food from there, and on the way home I remember him leaving the joint and running down to street with tomato ketchup and a happy meal toy for me. I didn't even know that it was his shift and it was such a lovely surprise. Little stuff like that mean a lot to a 5/6 year old...ya know?

Another is, in Australia on Christmas Day. Because its obviously summer over there at Christmas time; we all had Lobster and lounged by the pool-side. That was probably the biggest Christmas I will ever have, there was so many of my family members there and we were all so genuinely happy.

Anything you can never leave the house without?

I don't really take that much out with me, I take a small shoulder bag which prevents my bag from resembling a Mary Poppins bag.

 However, one thing I always have to take is the Kleenex Shine Absorbing Sheets. I have super oily skin; so whether its' picture day at school or a shopping spree with my friends, I NEED these on my person. Without them I'm a spotty, stinky, sebaceous MESS.
However, they are kinda hard to get hold of... and I'm running out :-(.

Enough about that, I think.

 My 6 questions are:

1) If you could go back to any era in time, which would you visit?

2) Can money buy happiness?

3) Favourite place you've visited
4) One word to describe you

5) Favourite animal

6) One product you can't live without.

Nominating 5 blogs was relatively easy for me, as most of them I'm following already.

http://www.lolajaneloves.com/

http://amberjayez.blogspot.co.uk/

http://bohofashionbandit.blogspot.co.uk/

http://xlaxx.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.scarphelia.com/  <----- This one in particular is one of my all time faves! :-) 

Thank you again to Lizzie for asking some interesting questions, I sure had a lot of fun answering them. Make sure you go check out her blog!

*Sparkle*---

Rachel   xxx

Lucky jumper, y'all

Here's another OOTD for y'all! (read in American accent for maximum effect)

The weather wasn't as nice as in my first OOTD, so say hello to my kitchen door!

This whole outfit was inspired around this lucky 'lil  jumper. I'd never seen anything like it before, its just plain on the body section, but on the arms its a beautiful chiffon material that really dresses the whole look up. 

Cute AND  comfy, say WHAT?!?

Because the top was still pretty plain, I added a long necklace (owls FTW!) and some polka dot dark-wash skinny jeans to make it more interesting. 

 Since my necklace was gold, I decided to add a cute gold 3D bird ring, a plait headband with gold detail and a gold bow hair band to finish off my plait.

My shoes continue the theme of cute and comfy- they obviously are heels, but they are chunky heels which means they are super easy to walk in and because they are boots they give you tons of support.

 I love this type of shoe in general because they are super versatile.

Jumper: Glance
Jeans: Next
Shoes: F&F for Tesco
Shoulder Bag: F&F for Tesco
Necklace: A Present
Headband: Claire's
Ring: Claire's
Hair band: Tiger

Dad: 'So what's this for again?'

Ring close up.

Hair bow, Headband and Necklace close up. Its a gold overload! (if that's possible.)

I couldn't NOT put this picture of my favourite boy and I.
 He's a cutie, ain't he just?!? To read more about him and his best friend, click HERE.



Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed and that it gave you some inspo for that awkward transition period in between summer and autumn.

*Sparkle*---

Rachel   xxx

Miracle in the making.

Anyone who know me, knows that I'm a litttllllee obsessed with Youtube. If you don't know what Youtube is....I'm not even going to finish that sentence. You MUST know what Youtube is.


Anyway, it takes up a heck a lot of my time. I watch video's whilst I'm getting ready/cleaning/cooking/dancing/learning/talking/sleeping   and i have been doing for over 3 years (I can't watch Youtube videos while I'm sleeping, but if I could; I probably would.)

I'm subscribed to 187 channels (and its being added to everyday!) which may not seem like a lot, but when you're watching nearly all of the video's that each channel puts up- it's mahoosive.  I wish there was some way I could find out how many
hours  days I've spent watching Youtube videos.

I went to Summer In The City on the 17th and 18th of August. You can check out the post I wrote on this subject before going Here. 

It's basically a massive YouTube convention. I'll blog about what went down later on, maybe.

The initial point of this blog was not to ramble about how obsessed I am with Youtube; however.

Naturally loving Youtube so much, I'm always on the look out for new Youtube Channels. Rachel Talbolt ( from 'Check In The Mirror' on YT) announced that she was expecting a baby :-). I was looking through the comments, and someone mentioned 'The Bumps along the way' and 'DailyBumps'.
It's run by two young parents, Missy and Bryan Lanning. 

They wanted a child so bad, but the 'bumps along the way' sadly prevented them from having one..... until 2 weeks ago, when baby Oliver came along! They've been so brave in sharing their story, and possibly helping other families experience with loss like their's. They are such great parents, and people in general- and despite me being a mere teenage girl, I've become so invested in their life. 

It must be cray cray to have a new child and still vlog everyday on 'Daily Bumps', plus upload regular videos on  their parenthood channel 'The Bumps Along The Way'. They vlogged everything from Missy telling Byran she's pregnant; to each week a 'BumpDate' on how Missy and the unborn baby were getting along (and the size that the baby would be compared to a fruit) and even the birth itself. 

This has lead me to be obsessed with babies...in the least creepy fashion. Every time I see a cute baby I squel and become a wreck. It's like a maternal instinct or something. When I talk to my mum about it she laughs and just reminds me how much hard work they are, etc- like I'm actually planning to have a baby.

Anyway, enough about my creepiness. 

I believe Byran and Missy are friends with a Traditional Celtic band, 'Nelson at the helm'. They wrote an amazing song for Oliver. It's called Miracle in the making (Oliver's song). I purchased it on iTunes instantly. It's on constant repeat. I highly recommend for you to have a little listen, it's a tear-jerker, yo. 

Miracle in the making- Nelson at the Helm

I've basically just given a massive plug for DailyBumps

, but I do love so many YouTube channels. 

There might be a 'Favourite 

You-tubers'  video in the pipeline, so get 

excited!

I'm blogging from my hotel room on holiday, 

and if that isn't dedication, I don't know what 

is! 

You may appulade me later. Or now. 

Whatever floats your boat. That saying 

makes me cringe, ahah. 

*Sparkle*---

Rachel   xxx

----------------------------------EDIT: 17/09/13--------------------------------------

It's been 27 days since I initially posted this post, and since then, my subscriptions have increased from 187 to 260. That's 73 more. 

Told you I love me some Youtube :-)

A catch up and BABY LIPS!!!!!

My best friend Charlotte had just returned from an amazing trip to Italy (slighhhtlly envious...) and we definitely needed a well over due catch up.

*Charlotte also has a blog, filled of her cool photography & days out-check it out HERE.

(She is also doing a similar post to me that is live now!)*

REVELATIONS were MADE!

PLANS were PLANNED! (kinda)

SHOPS WERE SHOPPED! (just one shop)

I'm making it sound like it was a lot more exciting than it was; but nevertheless I did have a great time.

We went to our local town, walking through the park, which gave us a lovvveelly chance to catch up. 

Then we went to Starbucks; where I tried for a while to put some money on my Starbucks Card...in order to get a discount (cheapskate for life! Internet high five me if you are too).

After THAT was sorted out, the next port of call was to go into 99p store (I told you I was a cheapskate) to pick up some snacks for the movie night that was happening the next day.(The movie night is actually in a hour as I type this :-).

Then we kinda gravitated towards Superdrug, it's like we had no control over ourselves at all! We trawled around the shop for a bit; and after much deliberation (the most indecisive award goes to...) I decided not to get anything at all. Charlotte was buying some water and as we were queueing up we saw the most marvelous sight: 'Baby Lips'. Check them out Here.

~Baby Lips: Sold by Maybelline. Claim to be like a lip balm but more, and I'm a sucker for lipbalms. The more part is that most of the shades are tinted in one form or another, so you can wear them by themselves for a lovely subtle pop of colour.~

But this wasn't the main reason I was excited for these products, oh no. 

In America Baby Lips have been out for what seems eons, and nearly every American Blogger/Vlogger/Guru has mentioned these bad boys at some point. 

At first I looked into them, but alas- they were not available here. 

And you always want what you cant have, right?!? 

So just imagine my excitement of paramount proportions when they were just sitting before me in all their Baby Glory?

They had a '3 for 2' offer on ( Buy three, only pay for 2) which I believe is still on, so skedaddle down to your nearest Superdrug if you feel so inclined!   

And since we definitely WASN'T going to leave Superdrug without the Baby Lips, we thought we might as well pick up a Barry M Gelly Nail Polish as they were on 2 for £6 (or £3.99 each). I love the Barry M Gelly Nail Polishes as I can actually use them. On a number of occasions I've gone through a whole bottle of nail polish- but having nothing to show for it on my nails.

 If one nail smudges, you have to start all again and the formula can be streaky or bubbly.....

But not the Barry M ones! The Formula is super thick and opaque and if you use a good Nail Dryer, ( I like the Sally Hansen 'Dry Kwik' see HERE.)the polish dries in no time at all! 

So we walked back through the park after our very successful purchases (saving nearly £5!) and I broke the news to Charlotte that I've actually have had a blog for ages. I know, I know- I'm a bad friend. I wasn't actively hiding it, just not telling her. She had a blog too, and I wasn't that confident in mine just then to share it with her. But I bit the bullet, and now I feel and ton better for it. 

We took the pics for this post in the park, so here goes! (Other people must of though we were crazy, taking pictures of us with lip balms!)

   Aww, look how excited I look with all the products! ( 'All' meaning 5...) 

     

     Having to open the packing on a product is one of the hardest things! 

       You just want to keep everything pristine but use the product at the same time ahah.

           

     This is what Charlotte bought, I'm sure she'll speak about what she thinks about these products, as I haven't used them. But the colours look great and I'm sure I'd like them.

                        

I got the Baby Lips in Peach Kiss, which is very natural on my lips. It does have a slight shimmer to it, which looks really sweet. It has a lovely artificial peach smell, that for some reason reminds me of my childhood. I love it.

The next Baby Lips I got was in Cherry Me. Let's all stop and appreciate how darn cute that name is. Cherry me, as in Marry me-right?!? 

Cute names just make me love a product even more. This one smells like my favourite flavour Chupa Chups lollipop.... in Cherry (duh). 

I can't give a well-rounded evaluation of these as of now, but if I really love them/hate them; chances are you'll be hearing from me.One thing I had noticed is that even though they can feel really moisturising at first, they dry down and leave your lips a little dry. I don't know whether that's just me, but I'll have to give it a couple more uses before I can back this up.

The Barry M nail colour is so amazing. It looks more pastel in the picture, but on the nails it is definately a BRIGHT highlighter pink. I do own another Barry M Nail Gelly, and its a dark purple-so I wanted something bright for the summer. I definitely got that! The formula is exactly what I expected, it gives you a high shine  look, said to be likened to going to the salon.

 I'm wearing it on my nails as I type! (nice visual for you there).

What I've learnt from this post: 

• That I'm a major cheapskate
• That I HATE opening products for the first time
• That I'm kinda confident in my blog now (otherwise I wouldn't have told Charlotte)
• That artificial peach reminds me of my childhood
• That I've used 'that' and '(brackets)' waaayyy too much in this post :-)

Here's a picture of the beautiful Charlotte, if you care to see. 

(Internet high five for the cheapskate thing earlier! *bam*)

*Sparkle*---

Rachel   xxx