Getting cosy

Its that glorious time of year when the weather is cold enough to warrant digging the woolly jumpers out of the cupboard. As soon as it starts going grey towards the end of August I get excited to wear anything knitted. One day I'll get round to learning to knit myself, then I can chose the colours and pattterns :)

Here's some of my collection that's been growing for the past few years! There's a bit of Fat Face, Primark, Boohoo and the Weasley jumper my mum knitted for my a few years ago. This is only a tiny sample of my jumpers and cardigans! 

 My favourite place for knitwear is either Fat Face or H&M. Fat Face is great for cosy, warm jumpers and cardigans and H&M is best for basics, both thick and of a finer knit.

Where's your favourite place to buy knitwear?

A Weekend in the West Country

A while ago I registered for Marjon Uni's #BigOpenDay in Plymouth, and booked in with my Granny in Bristol to stay with her for the weekend, as Plymouth is a full on trek from the mid-Wales coast. I travelled down to Bristol on Friday, went to Plymouth on Saturday, went to Wells on Sunday and came home on Monday. Lots of travelling, lots of trains, lots of tracks listened to on my ipod!

This weekend could also be known as 'The Weekend of Truly Awful Photos'. Seriously. Stunning views from the train between Bristol & Plymouth and all I could get was the reflection of my phone in the window. Booo. And the weather in Wells was grey and miserable so any attempt at capturing the beautiful city and cathedral went down the drain. At least this one of the inner quad at the university is nice!

 The main purpose of the visit was to have a look round the University of St Mark and St John (aka Marjon) to see if I'd like to study there in September. The simple answer is: YES! I loved that its a small campus uni, so everything is all on one site. The course sounded really good and the staff & students were all really friendly and informative, which made a difference. They even provided a complimentary hot meal and live entertainment. I've not seen that anywhere else! The train journey along the South coast of Devon is big plus too!

I made a lovely collage of pictures from the train window... They include deer (yes those sheepy looking things), the river Ex, and the Dawlish sea wall. (Just so you know what to google if you want a decent picture!)

 Now... on to Wells. On Sunday my Granny had to drop off a book to a friend in Bath, so we started there, but as Granny didn't fancy tackling the city we headed for Wells (which is also technically a city, as it has an enormous cathedral).

I've been to Wells before, but only when I was little, and I couldn't remember any of it. It has the most delightful little high street and town square, which apparently is one of the locations in Hot Fuzz. Its the prettiest little place, surrounding this huuuuge cathedral.Wells is definitely somewhere I'd like to visit again (and again, and again), and next time I'll go on a nice day and take a decent camera!

We had pottered around some shops and lunch in a little cafe. Its is so so so lovely there.

Here is my crappy offering of a photo of the cathedral, but the Wells tourist information website has plenty of beautiful pictures and information if you want to stay there (you really must!).

 I had a really good weekend, and loved spending some quality time with my Granny. Next time I'm down that way I think a trip to Bath is in order!

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red

Mark and I were lucky enough to see the poppies at the Tower of London before they were taken away. Mark's family were even luckier - they bought one and it arrived in the post yesterday!

What really struck me was the amount of people trying to cram and see the poppies - you'd think the Queen herself was there! It was like being at a gig, you had to try and get to the front to get a good photo. But its not about the photos.

Each of the poppies represented some body that gave their lives in World War One. It was humbling to see the sheer number of poppies and remembering the significance of each one. It was a really beautiful and poignant memorial to mark the centenery.

I feel very privileged to have see something so fleeting and historical.

What's in my bag?

Here's a totally original post idea for you ;)

I love reading these types of post - its great for us nosey parkers to see what type and size bag people carry for different things, and what they have with them! Since I've just got a new bag that I love, I thought I'd debut it on the blog with the typical contents.

Firstly then, the bag!

This is Fat Face's Darthaven Shoulder Bag. I am a BIG fan. Its just the right size for all I need, and the shoulder strap makes it really versatile. Its a lovely chocolate brown shade which unfortunately desn't show up very well in this photo. The fact that it's genuine leather it a big plus beacuse is smells heavenly (obviously the key thing you look for in a bag!).

Now to what's inside...

•  A book or my kindle, depending what I'm reading at the time. 
• Diary Paperchase
• Beach purse - this has the gift cards and the loyalty cards I don't need everyday inside. The link is for the company's website but I got mine from a local gift shop.
• Hand cream
• Phone charger
• Earphones
• Hand sanitiser (this is from Holland & Barret, its such a handy little spray)
• Hair brush
• Car keys - the teddy keyring is an essential so I can find my keys quickly at the bottom of my bag!
• Purse Accessorize
• Notebook

What do you have in your bag?
 

Taking blogging seriously...

I've been blogging and reading blogs for at least 18 months, and though I've recently re-jigged (that's a word, right?) this blog I've always had Hannah Sundae as my URL. Now just to confuse everyone, my instagram, twitter and gmail were Hannah Gwyrdd. Gwyrdd is Welsh for my surname, and is a lot easier when choosing usernames than my actual name! But people searching for me on social media wouldn't be able to find me because its totally unrelated to my blog.

Finally.... I have new twitter, instagram and gmail accounts! Now I'm Hannah Sundae everywhere! Yaaay!

One problem... I have no followers on twitter or instagram.... so get following, people! pretty please :)

Thanks for the continued support, guys :)

Rimmel Wonder'full Mascara

One of the products I featured in my recent beauty haul was this mascara by Rimmel. Mascaras are so hard to choose because you've never got any real clue about how good it's going to be!

This is what Rimmel have to say about it:

 

Clump-Free Volume & Definition Extreme Black Mascara

- Formula with Argan Oil.
- Extreme Black pigments for deeper impact.
- Ultra-Flex brush hugs lashes defining them from root to tip.

I'm not sure if the Argan oil is going to have much effect on my eyelashes to be honest, it seems a bit superfluous!

Really this mascara does what it says on the tin - well at least on the description. It makes my lashes look longer and more defined, and it is definitely clump free. I normally go for a thicker mascara so initially I was disappointed, but if you don't want big-impact, this is perfect for every day.

I do think the name, Wonder'full, is a bit misleading as you'd think it would make your lashes look fuller, whereas I think it only makes them look longer. There are better mascaras out there for fuller looking lashes.

Here's the results:
 Apologise for the poor picture quality - its actually really hard to take a close up photo of your eye whilst looking at the camera and trying to press the right button!

 What do you think? Have you tried this?

I'm not sure if I'd buy it again, but I will use it.

London

Now unlike a lot of bloggers, I don't go live in London or go there every other week. In fact, this was only the 3rd time in my life that I've been to the capital of our United Kingdom. The first time was a school trip so I couldn't really do any exploring as we were ferried on and off the coach and had a set itinary. The second time was last year when I went with my family to see Les Mis, with a stop off at the science museum. This time the aim of the trip was to see the Poppies at the Tower of London before they were taken away, and see the newly refurbished Imperial War Museum. The poppies and the IWM I will cover in seperate posts, this is just a round up of the sights!

- Picture-heavy post! - 

We got arrived at Euston station at 10:15, and were trying to decide which tube stop to go to to get to the Tower. As it was such a nice day we kept walking towards the river, using the handily placed tourist maps every now and again, and trusty old Google maps. Once we got to Temple station, on the bank of the Thames, we decided we'd just walk along the riverbank until we got to the tower. This was a good decision as we got to see quite a few sights along the way that we'd have missed if we were underground.

We were so lucky with the weather! We'd dressed for the cold and we were both roasting by the time we got to the Tower!

After the poppies we walked to Monument station. I'd seen this on the tube map and the signposts and I was wondering which monument the station was named after... turns out its the monument for the Great Fire of London in 1666. The monument took 7 years to build!

We went from Monument to Elephant and Castle to walk to the Imperial War Museum. I think this wins my favourite tube station name award!

Fun fact: I've travelled on the subway in New York more than I have the London Underground!

Outside the IWM there was a really tame squirrel that came right up to Mark! It was too quick to get a photo though. Whilst we were in the museum the weather had turned typically British grey. We walked to Lambeth Road tube station and got the train to Charing Cross. I always thought it was pronounced chair-ing but it is in fact char-ing! Learn something new everyday. We came out of the station to the sights of Trafalgar Square - I actually gasped out loud! Its the sort of thing you see on tv or films (St Trinians!) all the time but actually being there is very impressive.

From Trafalgar Square we walked all the way down The Mall which is something I've wanted to do for years and years! I'd love to be there on a Royal occasion and wave as the carriages and horses go by! At the end of the Mall is of course.... Buckingham Palace! Cue lots of tourist shots...

 It promptly started raining just as we were leaving the palace.. we got caught in a downpour as we walked to Victoria station to get the tube back to Euston!

This was such a good (but long!) day out. I'd love to visit London more often but its such a trek to get there... its probably easier to get there from Europe than it is from rural Wales! We've seen the "big" sights, I'd like to see all the smaller sights and the musems.. there's so many museums to see! Let alone all the shows on the West End! We won't be staying away for long that's for sure.

Life lately...

This post is to tell you what to expect on this little old blog in the next few days :)

Last week was such a busy week! On Monday evening we made a last minute decision to catch the 05:47 (!!) train the next day to London to see the poppies at the Tower of London and the Imperial War Museum. Wednesday I had to take my Dad to Aberyswyth (and did a bit of shopping while I was there... of course!) and we watched the local fireworks. And on Thursday Mark and I went to Manchester to see Paolo Nutini (I gave Mark tickets for his birthday) and came back on Friday. Madness.

Other life updates include... I'VE APPLIED TO UNI. Again. I can't believe I'm actually doing this, but I dutifully wrote my personal statement, filled in the UCAS application and sent it off on Tuesday! I've finally (six years after first thinking about it) applied to study Speech and Language Therapy. I'm looking forward to seeing if anywhere will offer me and interview and/or a place! Exciting times are ahead.

Yesterday I started volunteering at the local Riding for the Disabled Association group. I've always loved horses and riding and this is a great way to get experience ready for my next degree and give something back to the community. I really enjoyed myself yesterday and I'm excited to go again next week.

Here's a couple of pictures from bonfire night to keep you going :)

Beauty haul

At the weekend I went to Cardiff, and I specifically wanted to go to Boots because they have a large store that stocks Bleach London and Essie, both brands I was after! A couple of days later I went to Superdrug in Aberystwyth becuae they had a triple points offer. This post has been a bit of a long time coming because I've been waiting for a nice(ish) day for decent photos! Here are the spoils...

 I've been wanting an Essie nail polish for a while now, and I'm really loving the Oxblood/Wine shade that's big this season. This particular shade is bordeaux. As you can see I got the Rimmel lipstick in a similar shade and Lush's Hot Toddy shower gel. I also got Sweetie Pie shower jelly from Lush and their Comforter Bubble Bar which all  smell amazing as you'd expect. Other Rimmel products I got were the BB cream (I need to see what all the hype is about BB cream) and the Wonderfull mascara.

I've been reading review's for Bleach's Silver Shampoo for a while now and decided to go for it. I've got blonde ombre hair and its nearly 6 months since I got it coloured so I've been needing a toning shampoo to get rid of the yellow tones to it. This one seemed the one that works best according to the blogosphere - I'm excited to try it!

I'll let you know how I get on with these products over the next few weeks. Let me know ifyou've tried any of them! :)

Hannah xo