30 Day Snap

Hello all :)

I just read Louise from Sprinkle of Glitter's most recent post about her feature for next month - the 30 Day Snap. She will be taking a photo a day through the whole of June and uploading it to her blog, and is encouraging others to do the same, so I've decided to give it a go! Pop over to her post here to read more about it if you would like to be involved too!


Bondi Beach at dusk. Clearly this isn't from today - I just love the photo!

I'm quite excited to take part, since I've been trying desperately to get better at remembering to take photos! I took so many when I was travelling and it's amazing to have them to look back on. Last year I realise I took hardly any photos at all, and while 2012 wasn't exactly my most exciting year, it's a shame that I didn't do more to document the little things.

Let me know if you're going to take part too! Can't wait to see all the lovely photos that start appearing.

Thanks for reading!

My guilty pleasure...

We all have a guilty pleasure, right?

Well, I've decided to reveal one of mine (sshhhh, don't tell anyone ;)). My guilty pleasure is YouTube mashups. I love a good mashup. I have a tendancy to try to create them in my head anyway, so when people have actually followed through and made it into something I can listen to I rather enjoy it. Anyway, I decided to share a few of my current favourites with you guys ... I guarantee you'll enjoy at least one of them!

Avril vs Taylor: I'm dancing to this right now.



P!nk vs Rihanna: I'm not Rihanna's biggest fan, but I love Diamonds.



Pop Danthology: 50+ songs in one... what's not to love?!



So there you have it... I know my secret's safe with you guys! :)

Thanks for reading!!

Favourites of the Week #9

It's Saturday afternoon, so I'm actually a little late in doing my weekly favourites, but here they are nonetheless!

Track of the Week
Hand on Heart - Olly Murs

I love Olly Murs, but I hadn't properly listened to all of the tracks on his latest album until a couple of weeks ago, which was when I fell in love with Hand on Heart. I'm the kind of person who can (and will!) make a film trailer/music video in my head for any song, but this one is particularly good for doing that!



Album of the Week
Olly Murs - Right Place, Right Time

I've been addicted to this album this week. It's such a feel good album, as all of Olly's albums have been.



TV Show of the Week
Dexter - Season 6

Season 6 of Dexter this week, and the writing is as strong as ever. Seriously, it never, ever dips. There hasn't been one season yet where I've thought 'Meh, could be better'. To keep up such consistently good writing (and acting!) for so many seasons is a total triumph these days.

Film of the Week
The Great Gatsby

I STILL haven't seen Gatsby, but I've talked to so many people about it I feel like I have! I'm definitely going to go and see it next week!

Beauty Product of the Week
Australis Creme Colour in Flirtacious Pink

I bought this little lip and cheek duo in Australia and while I'm never using it as a lip product, I've worn it as my cheek colour pretty much every day since I got home. It's so lovely and easy to blend, I wish we got it here in the UK!

Book of the Week
One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern/The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

I'm still on these two, I've been so lazy with reading this week - will do better next week, I promise!!

YouTuber of the Week
Books and Quills

This week I watched one of Sanne's videos titled 'I Ship', and got ridiculously excited and made a video response (which you can watch here). I am a huge fangirl when it comes to film/tv/literary romance, it's quite sad really, so this was the perfect video for me! Sanne's booktube channel is definitely worth watching - her videos are clear, concise and always interesting to watch.

Blog of the Week
Cocktails and Daydreams

Lynne is one of the lovely bloggers I've had the pleasure of getting to know already through blogging events, and Cocktails and Daydreams is her lovely little corner of the internet. This year she has started a series of posts called 'Extracts', where she goes through snippets of her childhood and teenage diaries, and these posts are guaranteed to put a smile on my face!! You can check out her blog here :)

Website of the Week
ASOS

I saw a lot of pretty things on ASOS this week. I therefore have not been back on... just incase.

Style Icon of the Week
Ellie Goulding


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Oh hiiii Ellie. I think a small part of me actually wants to be Ellie Goulding, and this dress is not helping matters. I love it when she really glams it up, because she's so often really chilled and casual, but she looked amazing in this statement Patricia Bonaldi gown at the amfAR (Cinema Against Aids) Gala at Cannes this week. I think these see through skirt dresses that are popping up all over the place this season can be a little bit hit or miss, but I'm loving this one.

Also, who knew she was dating Jeremy Irvine?!

What have some of your favourite things been this week?

Thanks for reading!

Instagram #2

new hair / youtube giveaway / spring blossom
denim nails / FOTD / rainy night out
cake addict / bourjois150 twitter party / pop tarts


Look how well I did at remembering to instagram this week! I'm managing to get into the habit of doing it more regularly, so we'll see if I can keep up the good work next week!

Over the past week I had my hair cut for the first time since before I went travelling - relief doesn't cover it! My fringe was getting out of control and the ends were so dry after the heat of Australia, it needed a decent trim.

I also reached the halfway mark of my first giveaway on YouTube, you still have till Sunday to enter if you want to be in with a chance of winning! :)

My best friend and I took advantage of the nice weather on Friday and went for a stroll! It was warm and sunny and the blossom on all the trees looked so pretty... sadly the spring-like weather didn't last! Saturday saw me heading into Glasgow for my friend Gemma's engagement party, and then a night out with a couple of other friends, in absolutely torrential rain! It was unbelievable, honestly, it felt like the middle of winter! The engagement party was in the beautiful Arta bar in Glasgow though - check out the amazing decor at the end of the post (I thought it deserved a special mention!).

I also tried out a cute denim effect nail polish from George which my lovely mum bought me as a wee present, and I'm really loving it. I've added a top coat which kind of took away the real matte denim look, but it has kept it chip free for days, so it's all good!

I have eaten several of these caramel tart cakes from ASDA (bad Lynsey), they are so good. What you don't see in this photo is the ice cream I put on it after the photo was taken... I must control my sweet tooth...

says she who had Pop Tarts for breakfast today! It was just one of those days.

In other news, I was lucky enough to be one of the winners of a lovely Bourjois goodie bag after joining in the #bourjois150 twitter party on Sunday night. I was so excited to get this tweet yesterday, will definitely blog about it when it arrives :)

This week also consisted of more and more soul destroying job hunting - anyone else in the same boat, please feel free to comment below and we can console each other! - and an actual interview, which I won't hear back about for a few days (so let's all keep our fingers and toes crossed that it went well!).

What have you guys been up to this week? Leave me your instagram names below - I'm lynseymac1 :)

Thanks for reading!


The lovely decor in Arta, Glasgow

My Happy Place

Loch Morlich, Aviemore, Scotland

It took me a while to decide whether or not I wanted to share this place with the internet! It's not that it's some sort of private, hidden spot that no one else knows about, but to me it's the most perfect place on earth, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to share it with everyone! But the more I thought abut it, the more I realised it might make for quite an interesting little tag for other bloggers to do too!

I've spent so much time here, and have so many happy memories, but last October I hadn't been for five long years. My mum and I took a little road trip and I had the most amazing two days.

There are some really special places in this world, and over the past few months I've been lucky enough so see a couple of them. But nowhere will ever replace this loch in Scotland as my happiest place in the world.

At a time when I was stressed out of my mind about getting a job (little has changed there then!), this trip was exactly what I needed. And the most amazing thing was that while everything else in life felt a bit all over the place, and I was feeling a bit lost, nothing here had changed. It's perfectly preserved, with all my memories of my idyllic childhood holidays intact. From the smell of the pine trees to the huge rock in the carpark which my brother and I used to climb on every single time we arrived, it all remains beautiful and peaceful, and like a little bubble outside of reality. And any time I come here I instantly feel that sense of calm decend over me.

No matter where I end up, this place will always hold the most precious memories for me, and that's something worth posting about ♥

Where's your favourite place in the world? I tag you all to do your own version of this post, and leave me a link to it in the comments below :)

Favourites of the Week #8

It's time for another weekly favourites! How the weeks fly by!

Track of the Week
Alive - Bo Bruce

I have fallen completely in love with this track from Bo Bruce's album. I fell a little bit in love with her herself on The Voice last year - there's something about her voice that just gives me chills. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's certainly mine! I love the lyrics of this song (written by Bo and her coach from The Voice, Danny O'Donoghue), and I've listened to it I don't know how many times this week!



Album of the Week
The Great Gatsby Soundtrack

While I haven't listened to everything on it yet, my best friend just let me hear a few of the tracks from The Great Gatsby OST and wow. It's amazing. Definitely one to listen to! I'm including this amazing Florence and the Machine track, but look out for Andre 3000 and Beyonce's amazing rendition of Back to Black - it's insane!



TV Show of the Week
Dexter - Season 5

This week I watched the last three episodes of Dexter Season 5 and was completely blown away. This show honestly just gets better and better and while I'm a bit behind, I can't wait to jump into season 6 now! Michael C Hall and Julia Stiles just blew my mind, there was an actual, palpable vibe every time they were on the screen together, it sounds mad but there were moments I was literally holding my breath (ahh the dramatic response of a film and tv graduate!). And Jennifer Carpenter was as brilliant as ever. I'm thinking of writing a separate post on this actually...

Film of the Week
The Hunger Games

Again, this is something my best friend Emma and I were discussing, and we were actually talking about the problems with the film for people who haven't read the book first - there are definitely some things that you miss. However, I had read the book before I watched the film (way back last summer!) and I absolutely love it. I love the whole idea of The Hunger Games, and I think Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson (team Peeta all the way ;)) are brilliant. I am absolutely Hunger Games mad, by the way, and I'm currently rereading Catching Fire (juggling three books at once haha) because I got so excited when I saw the trailer for the new film!

Beauty Product of the Week
Maybelline Baby Lips in Cherry

I love my Maybelline Baby Lips which I picked up when I was in Hong Kong - why can't we get them here in the UK yet?!!

Book of the Week
The Great Gatsby

I've literally just started it, but I need to attempt to read this before I go and see the film! I've wanted to read it for so long too, I don't know why I'm taking so long! I'm actually giving a copy away on my YouTube channel so check that out here :)

YouTuber of the Week
The Bumps Along the Way

This is a pregnancy channel which I know won't interest everyone, but I stumbled across this video when a couple of people I'm subscribed to liked it - I just think it's the loveliest video. I was really touched when I read what the channel is about, and a bit about Missy and Bryan's story.




Blog of the Week (new category!)
Indigo Buttons

Sometimes you read someone's blog and think 'Yep. We'd definitely get along in real life!", and that's how I felt the minute I started reading the lovely Kirsty's blog! Last week was Kirsty's six month blogaversary (check out the post here!) and I look forward to many, many more months (and years!) of her posts! It's a really interesting mix, so go and check it out :)

Website of the Week
Hello Giggles

Again and again I come back to this website - I can't get enough of it. Don't get me wrong, I blog about beauty and I'm just as guilty of catching up on celebrity gossip as anyone else, but sometimes it feels like there's a gap - like magazines spoonfeed us articles on beauty, fashion, sex and relationships and celebrities, without really getting to the heart of what ordinary women are interested in (thank goodness for blogging!). Enter, Hello Giggles. Without fail, there's an article on here every day that interests me, and I'm so glad it exists!

Style Icon of the Week
Isla Fisher




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I think Isla Fisher got it exactly right for both the photocall for The Great Gatsby at Cannes, and the premiere itself. Her white Dolce and Gabana dress, black peep toe heels and bold red lip looked simple and classy for the photocall and then she amped it up with that stunning scarlet Oscar de la Renta strapless gown for the premiere. Nothing too fancy with the hair, just simple waves, and a statement necklace from Bulgari Heritage finished off the look perfectly. You've come a long way from Summer Bay, Miss Fisher.

So that's it for another week! Let me know what your favourite things have been this week :)

Thanks for reading!

Instagram #1

Cocktails with friends/Harvey Nichols+Grazia Beauty Parlour/Fifi Lapin Tote
Birthday drinks/Marvellous Creations/Les Mis on DVD

Since I've never done one before, I thought I'd do a little 'my week in instagram' sort of a post - only issue is I'm a nightmare at remembering to take instagram photos! Must sort this out for future posts!

Last Saturday I met up with four of my lovely friends, three of whom I hadn't seen since I got home from Australia. We went for a couple of cocktails in Hortons Bar in Glasgow, and had a great catch up.

On the Wednesday, I went to the Grazia Beauty Parlour in Harvey Nichols in Edinburgh (I will do a full post on this at some point!). There were lots of interesting beauty related talks, a glass of prosecco on arrival and I got to catch up with Roisin (Lost My Heart in Wonderland) and Laura (The Likely Lady). Had such a lovely night and came home with a cheeky wee purchase from MAC ;) They also sent us home with a gorgeous Fifi Lapin Tote bag with some lovely samples inside, all of which I'll show you in my upcoming post.

The following Friday was my lovely friend Emmeline's birthday night out, so we went to Bread and Butter in Glasgow, a bar I had never been to before. I really loved it though - they had such interesting cocktails. I tried one called an Um Bongo (yep, just like the kids fruit juice, but with a kick!) and will definitely be going back again!

Saturday night saw me immerse myself in the first Battle Round of The Voice UK, and it featured some amazing and some downright terrible performances. It also featured Danny O'Donoghue (Ok, fine, I'm one of those girls who decided she fancied him once he became a coach on the voice!), so I was happy. I demolished half a large bar of Cadburies Marvellous Creations (the popping candy and jelly kind!) in the process.

And that brings me to today, which included job hunting, blog giveaway prize buying (keep your eyes peeled!!!), getting drenched in Glasgow with my mum - where is the sunshine?!! - and being unable to resist buying Les Mis on DVD... I swore I wouldn't buy it on day one, and totally failed!

So that's it for my first instagram post - I quite enjoyed doing it, so maybe planning posts like this will help me remember to make more use of instagram! Hope you're all having a lovely week, and remember to enter my YOUTUBE GIVEAWAY over on my channel here!

MY FIRST YOUTUBE GIVEAWAY!

I've just launched my first giveaway over on my YouTube channel! I'm giving away a copy of The Great Gatsby book, in honour of the film release, AND a Revlon Lip Butter of your choice! Hop on over to my channel to enter, I'll embed the video below, but pop onto the channel and subscribe/comment for your chance to win :)

INAA #shaba2013 Blogger Event!

I arrived home from Australia on Saturday 27th April and on Monday the 29th I was lucky enough to be invited along to the I Need An Appointment (INAA) Scottish Hair and Beauty Awards (#shaba2013) 'Bloggers do it Best' Party, which was held in the swanky Apartment 29 in Glasgow.



The event was held to give us lucky bloggers a little bit of insight into who the frontrunners are in the lead up to the awards itself, which will be held on the 26th May. It was such a lovely event, and a great chance for me to catch up with some of my favourite bloggers (and meet some new bloggers I haven't met before!). We were greeted at the door with a lovely Long Vodka and the founders of INAA gave us a bit of background about the company itself, the Hair and Beauty Awards and then introduced Lauren Goodger (of TOWIE fame!), who was kindly donating some of her own beauty products from her range ''Lauren's Way'' as part of our goody bags!


Lauren Goodger*

After the introductions were out of the way, we moved through to another room where INAA had gone all out to impress! There was a tanning booth courtesy of Lauren's Way, Bumble and Bumble were there to give us some of their tips and tricks for styling your hair (lots of bloggers left with some amazing hair that night!), Bare Minerals had a stall to talk us through their lovely cosmetics and there was plenty of wine and some super cute INAA chocolates to keep us going!


Little miss jet-lag in the left hand corner there having a blether with some of my favourite bloggers!*


Posing with Lauren


Cute little INAA chocolates!

I had an absolutely lovely night thanks to INAA and Alison Jameson PR, who organised the event. At a time like this when the economic climate is so unstable and the weather's so rubbish, it's easy to get a bit down in the dumps, but treating yourself every once in a while to a little pampering is a sure fire way to lift your spirits! INAA provides a brilliant service that allows you to book an appointment for whatever treatment you desire with just a click of a button! Check out the nominations for the Scottish Hair and Beauty Awards here, and if you fancy booking yourself an appointment for some sort of well earned beauty treatment why not visit the INAA website here :)

*Photos 2 and 3 are taken from the INAA facebook page :)

Favourites of the Week #7

It's the return of my weekly favourites!!

While I was travelling I didn't really have time to do these posts, and I've missed them. So, without further ado, here are the things I've been loving this week...

Track of the Week
Can't Hold Us - Savannah Outen and Jake Coco (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Cover)

This week I've been testing how fast I can sing/sort of rap by having this cover of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis on repeat on my iPod. Trust me, there's nothing like the feeling of satisfaction when you realise you've learnt all the words...



Album of the Week
Ellie Goulding - Halcyon

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love Ellie Goulding to pieces and this album is most definitely top of my playlist this week. There are a few standout tracks (Figure 8, My Blood and I Need Your Love being three obvious favourites), but there are a couple that really grow on you the more you listen, which is one of the things I really love about Ellie's music - Don't Say a Word and Hanging On are two examples of this.



TV Show of the Week
Veronica Mars

I never need an excuse to revisit Veronica Mars and something told me (maybe all the Kirsten Bell interviews I've been watching!) this week that I should make the always exciting move of rewatching the Pilot - I'm hooked again already. Honestly, it is one of the best television shows of all time!!! I couldn't be more pleased that a film is finally in the pipeline!

Film of the Week
Silver Linings Playbook

As I mentioned in my What I've Been Watching post the other day, I absolutely adored Silver Linings Playbook and went out and bought the dvd. Never, in recent times, have I parted with £12 for a newly released dvd - I'm more of a 'wait till it's been out a few months and get it cheap on Amazon' kind of gal. But in this case I couldn't resist. I love everything about this film, from the plot to the soundtrack to the brilliant acting from every single member of the cast (with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence both completely deserving their Oscar nominations). If you haven't seen it, you should! I know this is one I will watch over and over again.

Beauty Product of the Week
Revlon Lip Butter in Wild Watermelon

I treated myself to this when they were on offer for £5.99 in Superdrug and I've fallen completely in love with it! I adore the Revlon Lip Butter's anyway, but this colour is gorgeous. It's much more vibrant than what I usually wear on my lips, but I really like it, and will do a proper review, complete with photos and swatches soon!

Book of the Week
One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern

As you all know, I love Cecelia Ahern and I downloaded her most recent book on my Kindle while I was in Australia. I didn't get a chance to start reading it till I got home though, and I'm about a quarter of the way through it - really enjoying it so far. It's the story of a journalist named Kitty who has found herself in hot water after wrongly accusing a man of a crime he didn't commit, with disastrous results for her personal life and career. Alongside this, her friend, mentor and boss has just passed away, leaving her with a list of names connected to a story she wanted to write before she died. Kitty is left to figure out how these one hundred people are connected and hopefully write the story Constance never had the chance to. It's another interesting concept from Ahern, and I just love her writing style.

YouTuber of the Week
Louise - Sprinkle of Glitter

We all know I love Louise, but this week she uploaded an interesting video addressing the tricky subject of self-harm and I think she handled it brilliantly. It must be difficult for YouTubers with a lot of subscribers when people ask them to make videos on this sort of serious topic. But it was a well balanced, properly researched video and didn't go on for too long - it said exactly what it needed to say. Apparently it was mentioned on the BBC and Sky News too!

Blog of the Week (new category!)
Roaring Twenties

You know when someone has a distinctive style that you just instantly love? For me I found that when I first started reading the lovely Margaret's blog a few months back after meeting her at a blogger event in Edinburgh. I love the tone of her posts, the film quotes and the fact that she rarely writes a post that doesn't have me laughing out loud (I wish there was a way to describe that that didn't instantly make me see LOL in giant letters!), she just has a brilliant writing style. Anyway, go and check out her blog, and if you're anything like me you'll love it :) (http://roaringtwentiesblog.blogspot.co.uk)

Website of the Week
Twitter

Loving twitter again - I found out about the Harvey Nichols Beauty Parlour through twitter last week and attended the event tonight! It was great fun and I got to catch up with the lovely Roisin from Lost my Heart in Wonderland and meet Laura from The Likely Lady for the first time, which was great (more on this event in another post)! I also thoroughly enjoyed the #lbloggers chat on Sunday evening, it was nice to join in again after my travels!

Style Icon of the Week
Emmy Rossum

I'm just going to ignore the fact that Emmy Rossum's Donna Karan Atelier gown doesn't exactly fit with the punk theme of the 2013 Met Gala, because it is beautiful and I want it. I love the colour, I love the shape, I love the beaded detailing and I love that she didn't overdo it with the train. It's perfect. And her heavy smokey eye, nude lip, perfect brows and braided up-do compliment it perfectly. Love. It.


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Hope you enjoyed that guys, what have you been loving in the film, fashion, music and blogging world this week?

Thanks for reading!

My Top 5 Travel Tips!

The lessons I've learned from my travels will stay with me forever, but while they are still fresh in my mind, I made a little (14 minutes is little, right?!) video to fill you all in on my top 5 pieces of advice for travelling to Australia!

If you're looking for specifics, skip to...
1:51 for money tips!
4:05 for sun protection tips!
5:30 for packing tips!
8:07 for communication tips!
9:33 for tips on making it the right trip for you!

Hope you enjoy :)

What I've Been Watching...

In order to get to and from Australia, I spent quite a few hours on planes! I had never been on a plane for more than 4 and a half or 5 hours at a time before, so 12 and 14 hour flights were a bit of a shock to the system! Unfortunately, I couldn't get to sleep on ANY of them, so that left me with a lot of time to watch films and tv programmes on my Cathay Pacific and Emirates flights - these airlines had an amazing selection of viewing material, so I wasn't short of entertainment! I watched a few episodes of New Girl and Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, both of which I love, but thought I'd focus on the films in this little post :)

MOVIES

Silver Linings Playbook


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Silver Linings Playbook is the story of Pat and Tiffany, two people facing some serious emotional issues (Pat is a recently diagnosed bi-polar while Tiffany is a recovering sex addict, who has recently lost her husband) and how their unusual friendship helps to repair some of the trauma they've suffered in the past. I absolutely love Jennifer Lawrence, but I've never been a massive fan of Bradley Cooper. I don't really see the attraction (sorry guys!), and I've found him a bit arrogant when interviewed. However, he is beyond brilliant in this film! The entire cast is excellent, and I loved this film so much when I watched it on my flight to Hong Kong, that I ended up watching it again on my flight home last week! I am now the proud owner of the dvd and can honestly say this is a new favourite. I completely agree with all the Oscar nominatations it got, and I'm so glad J-Law walked away with best actress. It's funny, sometimes sad, uplifting and heartwarming, and it also has a great soundtrack.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower


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This film had a far darker undertone than I had been expecting! I hadn't read the book (I have since downloaded in on my kindle though, and will share my thoughts once I have read it!). It follows Charlie, an introverted teenage boy dealing with what appears to be a severe case of all the ordinary issues of any shy adolescent boy. As the film progresses though we discover that he has some seriously troubling memories from his past - not going to include spoilers, don't worry! - and his new found friendship with hippy step-siblings Patrick (Ezra Miller) and Sam (Emma Watson) leads him down an even more complicated path. I enjoyed this film, but would advise preparing yourself for a bit of emotional turmoil before you watch it!

Pitch Perfect


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If you liked Bridesmaids, you'll like Pitch Perfect! It's another one of these you-think-you-know-what's-coming-but-you-don't movies. It's the story of a college a capella girl group competing to win the Nationals. When Anna Kendrick's character Beca reluctantly arrives at college, the last thing she expects is to join the 'Barden Bellas'. But with her dad breathing down her neck to give college a proper go, she finds herself joining an unlikely group of girls, including the hilarious Rebel Wilson, to change up the dated Bellas routine. This film has some absolutely hilarious one liners, inappropriate jokes and a cute romance which doesn't take over the rest of the storyline (hello Skylar Astin, where did you come from?!). Another must see.

Ruby Sparks


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I've wanted to see Ruby Sparks for a while, and was really excited when I saw it on the list of movies I had to choose from on my flight home. The basic plot follows a young author struggling to come up with an idea for his next book. When he starts dreaming about a free spirited young girl named Ruby, he starts writing a story about her, only to find that she suddenly appears as a living, breathing human in his house, who thinks they are in a relationship. It blurs the boundaries of fantasy and reality, and I have to say, it's a much darker film than I had expected. The general tone is fantasy and romance, but it definitely has some heavier moments! It's a quirky little film, but I'd still recommend giving it a watch if you have some spare time!

Robot and Frank


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Again, after seeing the trailer for this film a few times, I was keen to see it. It is set in the near future and is a sci-fi movie with real heart. I have to admit I shed a tear at this one. It stars Frank Langella as Frank, a former thief and conman who has served time and is now getting old and forgetful. In an attempt to help, his son (James Marsden) buys him a robot home help, to cook for him, clean the house and help him into a better daily routine. While initially reluctant, Frank slowly realises he can use this little companion to his advantage, with dramatic results. Another brilliantly cast film, I really enjoyed this.

Ice Age 4: Continental Drift


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I'm a massive fan of the Ice Age films! I hadn't managed to see the fourth one in the cinema, so I was quite excited to get the chance to see it on the plane! In this instalment our favourite bizarre little family are separated due to continental drift (caused by another unsuccessful attempt by Scrat to bury his acorn in the ice!). As always, this film had me laughing out loud, with the brilliant dialogue between Manny, Sid and Diego as sharp as ever. In this film, Diego meets his match in a fiesty white sabor tooth tiger named Shira (voiced by Jennifer Lopez), and Sid's crazy granny joins the gang. It's one of my favourite series of animated movies ever!

So that's it for the films I watched on my recent long haul flights! Hope you enjoyed :)

I'm ridiculously excited for the Les Miserables dvd release next week! What films have you been watching recently - I love recommendations!

Last Week in Australia!

After seven amazing weeks I found myself in my last week of my trip! It started off on a high, with the amazing Blue Mountains, and the fun continued for the next four days!

On the Tuesday night I was lucky enough to be given a ticket to see Scottish comedian Danny Bhoy - my two cousins were going, originally with my uncle, but my aunt and uncle insisted I take the extra ticket, which was so lovely of them. Despite him being Scottish I had never heard of him before, but he seems to be really popular over in Australia. His show was brilliant, I laughed till I cried, and getting to see something in the beautiful State Theatre in Sydney was amazing!



The following day I took a trip into the city again to pick up some souvenirs for my family and friends! I also met Gemma for lunch in the restaurant at Darling Harbour we had her birthday dinner in - unfortunately I've managed to competely forget the name of it, but they do $10 steak and chips all day every Monday to Wednesday! It was a glorious day and the water in the harbour was so blue!



After a nice chilled out evening on the Wednesday, the Thursday was Anzac Day - a bank holiday in Australia. My uncle was off work, so we all went out on a family picnic at Brooklyn Marina, a picturesque spot just twenty minutes away.







We had such a lovely afternoon, and headed back to the house just in time for me to get myself ready, and out into the city to meet Gemma, Emily, Sarah and Sarah's boyfriend, to go for some drinks and then to the Sydney Opera House to see Tegan and Sara!! It was amazing to be inside the Opera House, and the concert was brilliant!



That night I stayed with Gemma and Emily in their flat in Bondi, before heading back to my aunt and uncle's the following morning for the daunting task of packing! My flight wasn't until 9pm though, so I had a nice lazy day getting organised! I booked my flight home with STA Travel, and got an amazing deal on an Emirates flight, which flew me from Sydney to Dubai (14hours!) and then Dubai to Glasgow (8hours), with a two hour stopover in between. I didn't manage to sleep at all unfortunately, but I did watch a lot of good flims and tv shows, which I'm going to do a separate post on actually!

My time in Australia was absolutely incredible, and I feel like it did me the world of good! Again, I'll do a separate post on that, but thanks so much to everyone for reading my posts along the way - it's been great :)

So now I'll be getting back to a lot of my regular posts! Weekly Favourites will be back as of tomorrow, and I have a couple of blogger event posts to write up, one from the INAA #shaba event last Monday, and I'll have another to do after the Grazia Live Beauty Parlour in Harvey Nichols in Edinburgh on Wednesday! If anyone is going along, let me know!

Back to Sydney - The Blue Mountains!

After my trip to Melbourne I flew back to Sydney for the final two weeks of my Australia adventure! I had a couple of things on my 'to do list' before I flew home to Scotland, and one of them was to visit the spectacular Blue Mountains.



The Blue Mountains is just a two hour train journey North of Sydney, and if you have the chance to visit them you must!! Emily and I set off at 9am on the Monday morning and arrived at Katoomba train station at 11, ready for a day of walking (note: take appropriate footwear for hiking in the mountains... we did not and boy did our calf muscles pay for it the following day!!).



You could spend days exploring this amazing place, but we decided to do the day trip on the Hop On/Hop Off Blue Mountains Explorer bus, which you can do for $49. That includes your train ticket from the city to Katoomba and your bus ticket for the day. There are 29 stops on the bus route, and it is entirely up to you which stops you choose to get off at! We pretty much followed one of the walk suggestions in our guide book which took us down the Furber Stairs (an hour long walk almost entirely downhill, with some amazing views!), Queen Victoria Look-Out, Echo Point and the Three Sisters (a famous rock formation in the Blue Mountains), the Leura Cascades, Bridal Veil View and Gordon Falls Lookout.


Amazing profile of a face in the rocks, known as Witches Leap!


The Katoomba Falls

Katoomba Falls and the Scenic Railway

After our initial hour long walk, we found that we had reached a point where either we had to walk all the way back the way we had just come, or take the Scenic Railway up to the bus stop. It cost $14 for a two minute journey, but since we had a lot more walking to do, and a limited amount of time to do it, we relented and took the railway through the cliffside and got back on the bus. We hopped off at Stop 14, Echo Point, which has an incredible lookout point and views of the Three Sisters, and a really nice cafe where we got ourselves some lunch!


The Three Sisters

Posing with the Three Sisters!

Beautiful View from Echo Point

Our next walk took us from Stop 17, the Leura Cascades, to Gordon Falls Lookout, with the breathtaking Bridal Veil View on the way. This was a long, but beautiful walk, which took us around an hour. Due to one part of the walk being closed off, we were told to look out for a slight detour, which would take us back up onto the main road, and then back onto the cliffside path, just before we reached Gordon Falls. This resulted in me having a minor panic attack at one stage, convinced that we had missed the detour - poor Emily had to put up with five minutes of a ludicrously stressed out companion. There something so incredible about being out there, in what seems like the middle of nowhere. It's so rugged and untouched, and such a massive difference from the busy city - just like the rainforest in Port Douglas!


The Leura Cascades

Amazing scenery - high up at Bridal Veil View!

Emily and me at Gordon Falls Lookout Point :)

After my brief nervous breakdown - brought on by the fact we hadn't seen another human for around half an hour! - we were back on the main road and managed to reach Gordon Falls before it was time for us to get the last Hop On/Hop Off bus of the day to the train station in Leura, and catch our train back to the city. Not before we hit Woolworths for necessary supplies though...


Obligatory cookies for the train journey home!

I arrived back at my aunt and uncle's house at 8oclock that night, absolutely exhausted, but having had such an amazing day - you can see how beautiful it was from the photos. If you don't have time to make a weekend of it (there are lots of hotels, hostels and B&Bs at the Blue Mountains, making it easy to spend a few days there!), I'd definitely recommend going for the day! You might not have time to see absolutely everything, but you can go on a couple of amazing walks and see some stunning views you'll never forget!

Thanks for reading - watch out for my next post which may well be my final Australia post!! And be sure to check out my final Australia vlog which includes our day at the Blue Mountains :) Thanks for reading guys!!

Melbourne: Day Two :)

After a relatively good sleep in the hostel (my one issue with the Melbourne Central YHA was that being in such a central location on Flinders Street meant that there was quite a lot of street noise!), I was up and out to explore some more! First stop was the Crown Casino, which my friend Lynsey had insisted I visit, preferably at night, but I knew I wasn't going to have time for that. So at 10am I arrived at the amazing complex, which is just a five minute walk from Flinders Street, and went in to have a look around!













After exploring the casino I wandered along the river side back to Federation Square, and saw some amazing wall art on the way!







I enjoyed some lunch in the square and then headed back to the hostel to go off on the Neighbours tour!! I'm going to do an entirely separate post on that, since I took so many photos! But here's one for this post anyway!


Outside Harold's Store!!!

After the amazing Neighbours tour I took a long hard look at the tram timetable and jumped on a tram to St Kilda, another part of the city I'd been told to check out for its cool, artsy vibe. St Kilda is the studenty bit of Melbourne, and definitely feels a bit grungier and edgier than the centre of the city! I got off the tram at Luna Park and was amazed at the noise in this part of the city - it's so loud, with music blaring everwhere.



I headed straight for Acland Street to get a cake as once again Lynsey had told me that I would love the cake shops there - and she wasn't wrong!



I devoured a lovely cupcake from Acland Cakes and made my way down to the beach at St Kilda, just so I could say I had seen it! By the time I got there it was late afternoon and dusk was sort of setting in, and there were some really interesting clouds! I also got really overexcited about this amazing sand sculpture of a turtle with candles in it!





I headed off from the beach to get a tram (and then a train!) to Chapel Street, one of the hugely long streets in Melbourne, to meet Stacy and her boyfriend Chris for dinner and a drink. Then it was back to the hostel to shower, pack and a get a good night's sleep before flying back to Sydney the next day!

I had an absolutely brilliant time in Melbourne, and I'm so glad I went! Keep your eyes peeled for my Neighbours tour post - it was so much fun! Thanks so much for reading!