sparkles & sounds

I finally took the plunge and converted from Android to Apple, which means I get to buy new cases, and I have choice!

I chose this Skinny Dip one as it was £6 in the Topshop sale and its quite snazzy! Its not my first choice but as it was at least £10 cheaper than other cases I settled for it, beggars can't be choosers, ey?











I didn't need new earphones until a couple of days ago. I've got my Skullcandy headphones and I'd been quite happily using the earphones that came with my Samsung if I needed something more compact. That was til the other day when I went to Bristol with 2 silicon ear bud thingies and only came back with one. Bummer. I popped into HMV on my flatmate's recommendation and bought these Smile Jamaica Chant earphones.

I like the wooden design and the fabric(?) cable. The company, House of Marley is all about eco-friendliness and charitable causes so that's a bonus too! And of course, the sound quality is really good and they also have a microphone so I can wander around in public looking like I'm talking to myself if I'm on the phone.

You might also be able to tell I've got a screen protector on my phone. Its a tempered glass one (apparently) that I got off Amazon for a couple of quid. My cousin has just managed to smash her screen and I know how often that happens so I didn't want to take any risks!

Where's your favourite place to get a phone case?

What I'm listening to: playlist

Jonah - Calan

Off to the Races - Lana Del Rey

Stay Out - Nina Nesbitt

The Stairs - Family of the Year

Softly in the dusk a woman is singing to me

The other day I went out with my family for a meal to celebrate my Mum and Granny's birthdays (they're a week apart). We went to a lovely pub/restaurant by the River Avon. I took the opportunity to grab my cousin to take a few photos of my outfit - they're not perfect as they were quite rushed (I didn't even shut the clasp on my bag!) but I wanted to be able to show off what I was wearing here.

I love this top but if it rides up it doesn't hang right and makes me look twice the size I am! The colour is great though, nice and bright, which is what we need at this time of year, and the material is soft (though not warm at all!).

The trousers are my favourite purchase of 2016 (so far). They can be worn more casually, like today as I'm writing I'm wearing them with tan flats and an oatmeal jumper, but they also are a really comfy way of being a bit smarter!

These shoes were a bargain (£15!) find at the end of the summer but I haven't had much occasion to wear them, they normally come out on occasions like these if I'm going out for dinner. They're not really a heel to wear on a night out, but they'd be ideal for work if that was your dress code. They are seriously comfy - I wore them for hours and my feet didn't hurt!

What do you think? I'm happy its getting sunnier (even if it isn't getting warmer).

Top & Trousers - H&M  Shoes - Clarks  Bag - Animal

What I'm listening to: playlist

The Story - Brandi Carlile

Breathe (2 AM) - Anna Nalick

Shout Out - Kizzy Crawford

New November - Pure Youth

January & February

Yet again I've left it far too long between posts. Its nothing personal, I also haven't been for a run for weeks! I thought I'd give you a whistle stop tour of what I've been up to since I last updated this 'ere blog.

I GOT MY HAIR CHOPPED! Its so so soooo much better than it was, I'm much happier with it this length.

Mark and I went on a little jaunt to Caerphilly Castle, it was freezing, but definitely worth going to. As it was the end of of the (very cold) day, there was barely anyone around so we pretty much had the whole castle to ourselves... now there's something I could get used to! 

Mark excelled himself with my Christmas presents this year - amongst some Lush goodies and some cosy slippers were also a pair of tickets to the Harry Potter Studio Tour!!!  We went to London in the middle of January, had a quick whiz round being tourists and of course the studios in Watford. (Apologies for the picture quality - I only had my phone and it was fairly dark!)

For Christmas 2010 my Mum knitted me a Weasley jumper, needless to say I wore it! I hadn't realised the studios would be set out for Christmas at Hogwarts, which meant  Gryffindor common room was all Christmassy - exactly how it was when Harry opened his jumper from Mrs Weasley.

We went a couple of days after Alan Rickman sadly died, and I must admit I got a bit choked up at this poignant tribute:

It may not be widely known around here, but I do have a thing for steam engines, so when I walked into this room I did go a little bit nuts. I was jumping around and grinning like the Cheshire Cat.. Mark just pretended he wasn't with me (I don't blame him!) 

Before catching our train home I insisted we went to the bloggers' mothership - Lush Oxford Street. I bought a cheeky little Unicorn Horn (of course!).

I've not walked so far so quickly for a long time! We managed to tick off a lot of the sights and squeeze in some shopping, so we were both happy. We had lunch at Franco Manco Pizza in Covent Garden, which I'll review next week.

Hope you liked this quick run-down, who knows, I might blog a bit more regularly in the coming weeks and months!