Hello Old Friends

It's been too long.

If I'm completely honest, I have no clue how to start this post, other than I've been a bad blogger. I commenced my little internet hobby over 2 years ago now with hopes of it growing and flourishing into something much more. That, however takes commitment - something I apparently do not have.

In my head, I had accepted that blogging was just not for me. I can never style my hair to Pinterest standard, or ace winged eye liner, and no matter how much I adore my phone, it is nothing compared to a professional camera. And I was fine with all of that, until I came across a collection of old emails. Emails that notified me of blog comments and twitter happenings; things that once made me proud of creating what I had.

I think what has really done it for me is to see blogs that were started around the same time as By Alex, and have evolved massively. The writers' passion for it has pushed them forward and has gained them the followers that they deserve - and quite rightly so.

This has brought me to a decision. I won't promise to regularly post, or at least not for now. I will probably not write about various make up products or cosmetics that have stood out to me throughout the month. What I can offer is what I enjoy. For me, this blog was a creative outlet and a place I could really enjoy writing. My favourite posts have always been those that were personal: music, memories, general life events, the day to day aspects that culminate as my life. 

I think from now on this blog will be taken in a different direction. Maybe a year-long hiatus is what it has taken to make me realise I'm not all that interested in beauty/fashion blogging, although that's not to say I will never write on these topics again. 

If you want to read these forthcoming posts then fabulous! They are here for anyone to enjoy, that is if anyone enjoys my rambling posts that never come to a point. I will probably continue to be a rubbish blogger, at least for some time as year 12 looms, and I will also be starting a job, attempting the Duke Of Edinburgh Award, and numerous other things. However I promise that I will try, and that is all I can promise.

Moments Like These

Moments like these are the moments I treasure. I love that being 200 miles away from home doesn't stop us from spending quality time with our closest friends and I love the memories created when we do.

This wasn't where we ate but we stayed in this small seaside town for the week and it is easily one of my favourite places in England.

We've spent the week in Dorset and coincidentally so were some friends of ours, and on Wednesday evening we arranged to meet up for dinner at  little pub/restaurant by the sea. It was beautiful. It felt like a whole world away from normality - for me, at the minute, home life is hectic and many things may not be how I'd ideally like however just one look out to sea and the stress wipes from my mind. To our left, rolling hills, continuing for miles and in all shades of green; below, a pebbled beach split by a shallow brook and to our right, the ocean. Our picturesque view had no sign of modern influence and it was refreshing to say the least. We talked for hours and shared laughs upon laughs; so much so I was genuinely sad when the evening came to an end and we all had to leave. Evenings like this make me think. They make me think about how much I appreciate having the people I do in my life, albeit not all family, but they certainly act like it. They make me think about how I could happily hug them and not let go until they removed me with force. They make me think about everyone and everything in a whole new light which apparently makes me produce mega cringey posts. At the end of the day, when I'm not at my happiest or simply having one of those days, it's moments like that which I will always remember and appreciate.

Made it this far? This is what happens when you mix me in with breath-taking scenery, enjoyable moments and time to think (always dangerous in my case). This holiday wasn't anything spectacular but that didn't make it any less enjoyable, my family has been coming here for years and hopefully will return for many years to come. 

What's your favourite memory?

Life lately & Happy New Year

Source: We Heart It

(Even though we are nearly a month in,this is my first post of the year so I guess Hello 2014!)

What's this? I'm actually posting something?! I have actually had this post saved in my drafts for weeks as I could never bring myself to finish it! I think from now on or for at least the foreseeable future, I won't be committing to anything blog related i.e. challenges where you have to post regularly like Blogmas- I messed that one up royally! For some reason I can never stick to what I promise blogwise, it's not that I just can't be bothered to post, I love writing and posting stuff but it's a matter of having something to write and the time to sit down and get everything I need. And my school's fondness for homework doesn't exactly help. 

With that aside, I am so sad that Christmas is over! After a whole festive month-long build up it has gone along with New Year's Eve and now we move miserably into the horrible part of winter. Yay.
 I LOVED Christmas. Just like every year at my Dad's, lots of family came round for a little get together on Christmas Eve which was great like always as we rarely get to see a lot of them . Next came Christmas Day - things were happening slightly differently this year as my Dad had worked a night shift on Christmas Eve and my Step-mum was working Christmas day so I spent the day with my Mum and her family and Boxing Day at my Dad's instead of the other way around. It was a great 2 days and not to sound cheesy but I can honestly say the best bit was spending time with my family....and two huge Christmas dinners. 

With 2013 done and dusted, for the first time I may make some resolutions with today being my starting point as I have already broken these numerous times.

1. Cut the junk
I am far from a healthy eater, I try my best but as a self confessed chocolate addict I can sometimes find it difficult to ignore the temptation. My diet really needs a complete shift as, in all seriousness, sometimes I do worry about my health. That sounds a little over the top but in the long run it will only help - it should also help my skin out no end!

2. Get organised
I think this may be a huge reason for my blogging disappearance as well, I think by getting homework out of the way ASAP will free up more time for me to write a post and give me more free time without 'write that essay' or 'do that revision' hanging over my head. 

Right now I can't think of any other main aims I would like to set myself this year but I'm sure I'll think of something. I think I have probably used the most 2 clichéd/over-used resolutions out there, aside from 'join a gym', which would be great but being too young to drive as of yet that isn't really possible.

Hope you enjoyed this extremely disjointed post - tomorrow I am planning to sort myself out so hopefully I be able to write something else (wow!)..
Hope your 2014 has been great so far! What have you got planned for the next month?
xx

Chocolate-brownie-fudge-cake-thing- Hey I baked!

I'm not sure what category this post would fit into. Recipe? Maybe. Although,I think it may be just me being a little too smug about a sudden baking urge!

I love cake, probably a little too much, which is why I randomly though on Sunday night- 

'Hey, why not make cupcakes?'

I used the Channel 4 Plain Cupcakes Recipe  which is extremely easy to follow, even for an amateur such as myself. I also decided on a whim to make them chocolate flavoured...and add fudge pieces. This is where it could have gone horribly wrong and result in a complete waste of cake but no - some how I managed to guess about the right amount of cocoa powder to add to my concoction (50g if you're wondering). I didn't measure the amount of fudge pieces I used, I just kinda' chucked them in (Again, if you're wondering, I used the Silverspoon Cakecraft Mini Fudge Chunks).

As if I hadn't strayed from the recipe enough already, I put the mixture into a cake tin instead of cupcake cases, mainly because the cupcake cases were no where to be seen.

I think it stayed in the oven for about 15 minutes-ish. If in doubt just poke a metal skewer into the middle - if it comes out clean (or near enough if you like a gooey cake) then, hey presto, it's done!

I think it could look a bit more appetising..

This is the best picture I could get, I was a hungry girl with a chocolate cake in front of me, did you really think  it would last that long? In fact it only lasted a day after my family had tried some.

So there we have it. Odd, random post? Check. I think The Great British Bake Off has 'inspired' me to get out the mixing bowl and see what else I can create. This should be interesting...