Mini June Playlist

Monday, 30 June 2014


Having done a couple of "I've Been Watching" posts lately, I figured it was time for a quick musical version. In the interests of me not rambling on for hours, I've kept it short with just four artists! Links to the tracks themselves are included if you fancy having a listen!


Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX - Fancy

I'll admit, the first couple of times I heard this song, I hated it. Then, over time, something started to change. It's like it began to seep under my skin and I couldn't help but sing *cough, rap, cough* along whenever I heard it. Now I'm listening to covers and mash-ups and remixes and it's like I can't get enough. For my very favourite cover, check out Madilyn Bailey's version here, and my favourite mash-up (with Beyoncé's 'Partition') here.

Ed Sheeran - Don't, Photograph and Tenerife Sea

I got Ed's new album "X" for my birthday last week, and I haven't had the chance to properly listen to the whole thing yet. I am, however, loving these three tracks so far. "Don't" (which is allegedly about Ellie Goulding, but I really hope it isn't), is ridiculously catchy, and I caught "Photograph" on the radio a couple of weeks ago and instantly loved it. I skipped through some other tracks to listen to "Tenerife Sea" due to my love of Tenerife, and it's such a lovely wee song. If I haven't mentioned it already, I sort of like Ed Sheeran's music ;)

Bastille - Flaws

I've loved "Flaws" since it came out, but for some reason I've been having a total urge to listen to it all the time at the moment! It's such a good song, with great lyrics, and Dan's voice just fits it perfectly. Seeing them perform this live at Big Weekend was absolutely amazing, I wish I'd recorded more of it, but I was too busy enjoying the moment!

God is an Astronaut - Red Moon Lagoon

I discovered God is an Astronaut in my quest to find the perfect study music throughout April. I needed something fast paced enough to keep me awake and motivated, but without any proper words, so I wouldn't sit and sing along in my head (or out loud) like I do with my beloved Katy Perry, and almost any other form of music with lyrics. Having worked my way through lots of Sigur Ros, Tycho and Hammock, I finally stumbled across God is an Astronaut and it was love at first listen. This album (Origins) got me through one of my most hated assessments, and "Red Moon Lagoon" is my favourite track.


Hope you enjoyed that quick run down of some of the songs I've been loving lately. What's been on your playlist this June?!

Thanks for reading!

I've Been Watching #3

Saturday, 21 June 2014


Maleficent

I went to see Maleficent in the cinema a couple of weeks ago, and it was incredible. I was totally mesmerised from start to finish - I am one of those people who gets ridiculously involved with whatever I'm watching, to the point that I react to every little moment, and I was in full swing with this one. Angelina Jolie was incredible. I am a fan of Jolie just as a person in general, the work she does for charity and for women worldwide is fantastic, but I've never had huge feelings about her one way or another in terms of her acting. She was phenomenal here though! The film is the story of Maleficent before the character you meet in "Sleeping Beauty", and is a brilliant twist on an old tale. If you haven't seen it yet, I'd definitely recommend checking it out - it's visually stunning, well written and total escapism!

The Room

Ahhh The Room. Emma had been telling me for ages that I needed to watch this cult classic and I just hadn't had the opportunity until a couple of weeks ago. I can tell you it was worth the wait!

This is undoubtedly one of the worst films that has ever been made, which is what makes it so utterly fantastic. The writing is appalling (the plot makes no sense whatsoever), and the direction is equally terrible - both are courtesy of actor/writer/director/producer Tommy Wiseau. And don't even get me started on the acting - there were literally tears rolling down my face I was laughing so much at some points. But this combination makes for brilliantly funny viewing, as you attempt to grasp on to any, minute strands of plot that are referred to more than once throughout the 99minute run time. In it's simplest form, The Room tells the story of an awkward love triangle between Johnny (played by Wiseau), his fiancee Lisa, and his best friend Mark. But it is so, so much more than that. It has cultivated such a following that the cast now tours around the globe discussing the film in panels, and introducing it at screenings, while it has inspired a book and a video game (according to wikipedia!). I can tell this is a film I will watch many times, and definitely suggest you check it out if ever you have the chance!


Eat Pray Love

I've been intrigued by Eat Pray Love for a while now, and with a free evening this week I settled down with a gigantic cup of tea and an obligatory bit of cake, to devour all two hours and twenty minutes of the movie adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir. Starring Julia Roberts, it tells Gilbert's personal journey to, for lack of a better phrase, find herself after a difficult divorce and equally unsuccessful rebound. She travels to Italy, and then on to India and finally Bali, and attempts to reshape her life, and her attitude to life, through a search for spiritual fulfilment, focusing solely on becoming happy alone before approaching any new relationships. It is a great story and I definitely walked away from it feeling inspired. I wonder if it could perhaps have been a little shorter, but if you don't mind a lengthy film then get on Netflix and give it a go.

Tabloid

I watched Tabloid a couple of months ago now and forgot to mention it in a previous I've Been Watching post. This documentary by Errol Morris looks into the bizarre story of Joyce McKinney, a young American woman who, in the 1970s, was accused of kidnapping her morman boyfriend in England, and raping him. The documentary is made up of clips from an in depth interview with Joyce about the events at the time, her subsequent arrest and the trauma she has suffered at the hands of the media ever since. It is a baffling story, and while the film portrays McKinney in a less than stable light, you leave it not having a clue what to believe. It is a scandalous story, and certainly makes for some interesting viewing.


Fargo

I talked about Fargo in my last I've Been Watching post, but I need to mention it again. I cannot explain how good this show is, I really can't. It is absolutely insane, but the performances here are just spectacular (pay attention cast of The Room). Martin Freeman has just completely blown my mind in the past couple of episodes. His character, Lester, is (without giving anything away) a complex sort of person, and over the course of the past nine episodes his character progression has been amazing to watch. It is such an intense hour of television and the fact that I'm keeping up with it while it's still on TV instead of forgetting it's on and eventually waiting for it to appear on Netflix or for the DVD to come out shows you what high quality it is. It's definitely a TV highlight of the past couple of years for me.

24 - Live Another Day

I am a massive, massive fan of 24 - it's the show that really made me realise I wanted to study television at some point in my life, leading to the selection of my undergraduate degree course! I'll admit, I was sceptical when I heard that they were bringing out a twelve episode 'mini-series', when the entire format is based on the events taking place over twenty four hours. The moment I saw that ticking digital clock, and heard that oh-so-familiar soundtrack from Sean Callery, however, I was hooked. I'm just loving having Jack Bauer back, and having Kim Raver, one of my favourite actresses, back on screen is almost too much for me to cope with... #jackandaudreyforever. The storyline this season is just as dramatic as ever, with another terrorist threat for Jack to swoop in and save the world from; the only difference being that this series is set in London. Every episode leaves you with your heart in your mouth at least once and I can't wait to see how this pans out.


So that's it for this edition of I've Been Watching! What shows or movies have you been enjoying lately - you know I love a good TV or film recommendation!

Image Credits - all on my Pinterest board!

30 Day Snap #16 #17 #18 and #19

Friday, 20 June 2014

Catching up once again - I was so much better at this challenge last year!

#16 - summer is here!!!


#17 - started reading "The Bling Ring":


#18 - summer hair experiments:


#19 - cheeky Forever 21 purchases in the search for something to wear to my birthday night out!


Thanks for reading! Hope you're all having a great week :)

30 Day Snap #13 #14 and #15!

Sunday, 15 June 2014

I know. I know. I am useless... here is a quick recap of the past three days...

On Friday I worked away in uni, then headed home, got myself dressed up and headed out for drinks with the girls.


Saturday was a long lie sort of a day - I slept in, then got myself organised and popped into uni to do a couple of hours work. I then went and met some more pals for another wee catch up - I hadn't seen my friend Nikki in absolutely ages, so it was lovely to see her (and catch up with Roisin, Gill (for the second night running!) and Iona too!). Aside from that, we added baby Oleg to our growing meerkat family... how cute are they?!


And today was Father's Day, so in honour of that I'm including a snap of me and my brother with my dad when we were tiny, up in my favourite of favourite places, Aviemore. Happy Father's Day dad!


Thanks for reading!



30 Day Snap #11 and #12

Friday, 13 June 2014

So, I managed to miss two days... but I remembered now, and that's the main thing, yes?!

For Wednesday's photo, it's another instagram number. I have discovered this, and even if it isn't the most exciting photo in the world, I'm including it so that if in the future I have forgotten how good this popcorn is, I'll see this photo at some point and buy a packet ;)



And for Thursday's, I've gone with a throwback Thursday #tbt... this was a uni night out in 2009 (which is terrifying as it's now 2014), and we were playing twister in The Arches. Standard Octo Wednesday, as any student in Glasgow during that time period will remember!


Thanks for reading! Hope you're having a great week!

30 Day Snap #10

Wednesday, 11 June 2014


The 10th day of the 30 Day Snap was a nice, productive day, with horrendous weather once again! I went into uni to work on dissertation stuff, followed by an exciting meeting about a project that myself and three of my friends are working on. The meeting didn't last too long, so the boys headed home and Aimie and I popped into Strata in the city centre for a couple of cocktails and some nachos - the perfect way to end a successful day!

30 Day Snap #9

Tuesday, 10 June 2014


Late again - I'm doing well here! A quick summary of the above photo - I spent most of yesterday in uni, but had the chance to just chill out and relax when I got home. I'm watching the new series of 24, one of my all time favourite shows, and I put this little snap of Mary Lynn Rajskub (who I LOVE) on instagram last night. Apologies for the less than exciting photos - thank goodness I've got some fun plans for later in the week, the 30 Day Snap has been a bit on the dull side so far!

Thanks for reading!

On Feminism

Monday, 9 June 2014

Did you know that the female body makes up 96% of the sexualised imagery we are exposed to? Or that 1 in 9 girls worldwide are married before the age of 15? And that two thirds of the world's illiterate population are women?

Over the past few weeks, the news has been continually filled with stories which emphasise how deeply rooted gender inequality is in our global society. It manifests itself in different forms and with different masks in different cultures and on different continents, but it's always there. Lurking beneath the surface. Ready to appear at any given moment. Whether it's two teenage girls being raped, strangled and hung from trees in India last week, hundreds of Nigerian school girls being kidnapped and sold off to be married for daring to get an education, or murderer Elliot Rodger in the USA blaming womankind for his atrocities for having the audacity to not want to sleep with him. During a recent conversation in which I was commenting on the huge gender inequalities we still face today, someone said to me "Why are you like this? So pro women?". Coming from someone who supposedly knows me pretty well, this was like a kick in the guts. While it isn't the first time I've been subjected to a question like that (male friends have asked "but you're not one of those 'proper feminists' are you?" - whatever that means), it really stuck with me. It made me realise I haven't ever written a blog post talking about this, and the fact that I am, unquestionably, a feminist.

It makes me so sad when people misunderstand what feminism is really about. There's a horrible, consistent assumption that if you're a feminist you a) automatically hate men - which is categorically untrue, thanks Shailene Woodley for really helping the cause there, and/or b) you think you're somehow above others, and use your views as a way to sound clever. It genuinely saddens me when I hear people talk like this, because the simple truth of the matter is that feminism, in whatever guise, is about one thing - fighting for equality between men and women. It's not about overpowering men and taking control, or suggesting that women are in some way superior. It's simply about demanding that everyone, no matter their gender (or age, nationality, sexuality... the list goes on and on) be treated with the same level of respect. To be treated as equal. If you believe in equality, whatever your gender, you believe in feminism - it really is that straightforward. What bothers me the most is that there's almost a sense of shame attached to the word 'feminism' - like admitting to being a feminist is something to be embarrassed about. I don't know about you, but speaking out and standing up for equality isn't something I will ever allow anyone to make me feel ashamed of.

The #YesAllWomen hashtag has, I would argue, been a really important moment in contemporary feminism. While, as always, there have been the trolls and the haters, chipping in with their horrendous remarks, and a negative reaction from a lot of men (the #NotAllMen hashtag being a perfect example), it has sparked a passionate, sometimes difficult, but lasting conversation around the gender issues affecting us today. Of course not all men are violent, sexually aggressive or disrespectful. But enough are that it impacts on what it means to be female in this day and age. The stories shared on the #YesAllWomen thread on twitter are a testament to that. It's a cultural problem, and one that we have to keep addressing. The society we have created is warped, and teaches men that traditionally feminine traits are weak and shameful, while teaching women from an early age to compete for the attention of men. This, in turn, leads to the breakdown of female friendships, inequality in the workplace and some serious self-esteem and body image issues for girls and women of all ages. One of the best videos on this subject, in my opinion, was Laci Green's latest upload, which I'll link at the bottom of this post.

I remember when I turned eighteen and started going out on proper nights out in Glasgow - my parents and particularly my gran were always so worried about me being out and about late at night, and the mere thought of me getting a taxi anywhere on my own was enough to send them into meltdown. Outwardly, I always played it cool - "Don't worry!" I'd always say, "I'll be fine!". I still do. I'll be 25 at the end of the month, and it has occurred to me that in the past seven years, I've developed some habits that are, from the looks of the #YesAllWomen tag, all too familiar to other girls.

Heading home from a night out, there are two things I do without question. The last thing I say to my friends if we're getting in separate taxis, or if I get out of the taxi first is "please let me know you get home safe". I can't sleep if I don't hear back from them, and will persistently ring and text them until I get confirmation that they're home safe and sound - and they do the same. The second is that if I am alone in a taxi, or walking anywhere by myself after about 9.30pm, I am always "on the phone". I am now a master of the fake phone conversation - the sad fact is that I now don't even think about it, it's just what I do. I have a few standard rules that I follow. I, without fail, mention exactly where I am (street names and all), and precisely how long it will take me to get home. I mention other friends who have been out that night, and I usually stay on the phone until I am literally paying the driver and getting out of the car. The reality is, most taxi drivers are absolutely lovely, and it sickens me that it's so natural for me and my female friends to feel on edge getting in a taxi or walking anywhere alone. The sad truth, however, is that from an early age, girls are subjected to the uncomfortable stares and catcalling of strangers on the street, the horror stories on the news about women being assaulted and the general rule of "it's better to be safe than sorry". There's an instilled sense of vulnerability which settles in during your preteen and teenage years, and it's so incredibly unfair. It shouldn't be like this. A night out should end with a text that says "Tonight was so much fun!" rather than a genuinely worried "let me know that you're home safe".

It's unfair for women to be constantly afraid for their safety, and it's unfair for men to be collectively feared due to the actions of a twisted segment of society, fuelled by a reluctance of people, both men and women, to speak out when they see these injustices happening. This is why it puzzles me when men get defensive over feminism - rather than getting angry at women for standing up for themselves, get angry at the culture of male violence and the men who go along with it. The men who use their physical strength to intimidate women and create power over them. The men who think women owe them access to their bodies. The men who catcall and harass women on the street. Get angry at them and speak out against them.

I don't ever remember deciding to "become" a feminist. It's just always been how I've felt, particularly since I went to university the first time around. It's incredibly important to me. For me, as a twenty-something year old woman in Scotland, I know that my situation is far better than the world millions of other girls live in today - girls who are sold as child brides at 12, who undergo FGM, who are deprived of an education and are treated as lesser human beings simply for having been born a girl. But I'm still painfully aware of how far we have to go before any corner of the world can claim to be gender equal. I have a huge amount of respect for the women who have fought for our rights in the past, and are continuing to do so today. I love being a woman, and I see no reason in the world why we should be treated as anything but equal to our male counterparts. I am not defined by my feminist views, but I will always speak out with them, and argue my case. I know there are people on my Facebook friends list who are fed up with me posting links to articles about feminist debates, or about violence towards women across all corners of the globe. But until as many people share the links I post to news stories about women being attacked and abused as they do the Buzzfeed lists I post, I will keep sharing them. And for long after that. It's all too easy to shy away from what's happening in the world. People think that simple geography means that what's happening in Sudan, or Pakistan, or America, doesn't affect them - but it does. This month alone there have been at least four reported rapes of women in Glasgow city centre, with an almost 50% increase in calls to Rape Crisis in the past two years; what does that tell us? This culture of women being treated as objects rather than people is being perpetuated every day, and until we all, collectively decide to take a stance against it, nothing will change. To allow people to wear what they want, have as much or as little sex as they want, and not be labelled. To just respect people and their choices, and live and let live. To stop blaming the victim with comments on how much alcohol a woman who was raped had consumed, or how short her skirt was. To stop pressurising teenage boys to value themselves based on how many "notches they have on their bedpost". To stop allowing women to be paid less for doing exactly the same job as a man. To fight back against the sexual objectification of women in advertising. To reach a point where girls and boys, across the world, are offered equal education and equal job opportunities. If I'm ever lucky enough to be a parent, that's the sort of world I'd want to bring any child, girl or boy, into.

To finish this post, I'm going to link a few articles I have read and videos I've watched over the past few weeks which expand on this topic in a really interesting, and important way. I hope you get something out of them:

Laci Green: Elliot Rodger video, Feminism video, Sex Object BS video

"Your Princess Is in Another Castle: Misogyny, Entitlement, and Nerds" by Arthur Chu

"#YesAllWomen reveals the constant barrage of sexism that women face" by Jessica Valenti on The Guardian

"After shock rise in rape and assaults Glasgow faces down misogyny" on The Herald, Scotland

Just as I was preparing to publish this blog post, I read this article on the brutal treatment of women in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Horrific does not begin to describe this - it's not an easy read, but I urge you to finish it; no human being should ever be treated this way.

Let's all agree to work together towards a better future, for everyone. If the news over the past few weeks is anything to go by, time is most certainly of the essence.

Thanks for reading.

30 Day Snap #8


All of my photos this time around seem to be instagrams! Since this one is super late I won't go into too much detail - I also think it's pretty self-explanatory... it's a strawberry. Scottish strawberry season is upon us and this one looked so pretty. It also tasted amazing. I think that about covers it ;)

Hope you had a great day!

30 Day Snap #7

Sunday, 8 June 2014


Today was another horrifically rainy day, and I headed into the library with the intention of doing some dissertation work. What ended up happening was that I read Morag's latest The Linkables post, which included a link to some amazing CV templates - cue me spending three hours sprucing up the old Curriculum Vitae to aid in the job hunt! I didn't actually end up downloading a template, just changed up my layout/background/font etc, and it's safe to say I'm much happier with it now. Obvz this means I'm going to get my dream job now.

When 6pm came the library was closing for the day, so I headed off into the storm and found myself in Starbucks on Buchanan Street, cosied up in a wee corner with one of my dissertation books and a hot chocolate, which I should really not have been having since Starbucks isn't exactly the cheapest of places and I am currently an unemployed student. But hey ho, it was lovely, and life's too short not to hide from the rain with an interesting book and a delicious, if pricey, hot drink.

Hope you all had a lovely day! Thanks for reading!

30 Day Snap #6

Saturday, 7 June 2014


Two days running I've been posting this after midnight - tut tut! Tonight I watched "The Room" for the first time, and it was amazing. Honestly, it might be the most poorly written, edited, acted and directed film ever, which is what makes it so brilliant! Emma's been telling me about it for ages, and I finally watched it with her tonight. I highly recommend watching it if you ever get the chance!

Today's photo obviously isn't that, but is, instead, a screenshot of me editing away. I filmed a video this afternoon and started editing it earlier today. I really love editing videos, although I very, very quickly get sick of the sound of my voice! The video should be up in the next few days, but in the mean time, I uploaded The Social Media tag a couple of days ago if you fancy giving it a go!

Thanks for watching - have a great weekend!

30 Day Snap #5

Friday, 6 June 2014


It had been quite a long time since I'd been to the cinema - the last thing I saw was Veronica Mars back in March - so Emma and I headed off to see Maleficent tonight. It. Was. Amazing. Angelina Jolie was absolutely mesmerising (sounds dramatic, but it's so true). I loved every minute of it and this is definitely something I'll want to watch again.

In other news, I had my first meeting with my dissertation supervisor, which went well, and questioned why my family, friends and I don't up and move to sunnier climes while battling through a sea of umbrellas in Glasgow city centre - it's June for crying out loud Scotland, if not sunny let's at least try for dry shall we?!

Thanks for reading! :)

30 Day Snap #4

Wednesday, 4 June 2014


After a crazy day of travelling yesterday, today has been a quiet but productive one. I spent all afternoon writing up my survey for my dissertation and filling in several admin-type forms to go along with it, but it felt good getting the ball rolling! Then, this evening, I spent an hour on the phone to my lovely friend Gemma who I met on my travels to Australia last year, and who I will hopefully be seeing fairly soon!! It's been over a year since I've seen her and Emily so that will be amazing <3 I'm now kicking back with a cup of tea and watching the above - Being Erica, one of my all time favourite TV shows. You know that comfort food sort of show that will never fail to improve your mood? That's what Being Erica does for me! Hope you've all had a great day, and be sure to check out my other post from today - it's an I've Been Watching one :)

Thanks for reading, as always!

I've Been Watching... #2


It's time for another update on what I've been watching recently! Netflix is a wonderful, wonderful thing...

First, let's talk about Fargo. It started on channel 4 a few weeks ago now (we're now 7 episodes in) and it is phenomenally good. Insane, but phenomenal. I usually don't have the patience to watch a TV show as it airs - I am useless, and hate waiting a week between episodes - but I've been managing to keep up with Fargo pretty well. I've never actually seen the original Coen brothers' film, but having heard such good things about it, and being a massive Martin Freeman fan I was intrigued to see what the TV show would be like. The cast is absolutely outstanding - Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton are both superb, as are Allison Tolman and Colin Hanks. My mum mentioned to me that this is the first major role Tolman has landed, which is hard to believe because she is absolutely excellent. Thus far, the show has focused on the unravelling of Lester Nygaard's (Freeman) life following an encounter with a stranger going by the name of Lorne Malvo (Thornton), and the attempts of Deputy Molly Solverson (Tolman) and officer Gus Grimly (Hanks) to solve a series of crimes they believe Malvo is connected to (it is so difficult to summarise what has happened so far without giving anything away!!).

You can catch the show on Sunday night (9pm) on channel 4, or catch up on 4OD (but I'm pretty sure by now the first two or three episodes will be unavailable), otherwise I've been informed by a friend that it is showing on Norwegian Netflix!


Next up we have season one of MTV's teen dramedy Awkward. I watched this entire series over the course of my one month free trial of Amazon Prime Instant Video. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this show, but as a lover of all teen television I was willing to give it a shot, and I'm really glad I did. Is it a little bit predictable? Yes. However, there are some genuinely interesting and well developed characters here that kept my attention through the whole series. It is funny without being too over the top, and explores high school in what feels like a pretty up front way. This isn't your Gossip Girl-esque Upper East Side party zone (which, incidentally, I thoroughly enjoy too), nor is it the opposite extreme which usually depicts teens in pretty dire situations. The only issue for me was main character Jenna's parents - believability sort of went out the window there, and it felt like a sort of awkward (pardon the pun) stereotype of "young parents". That aside, I couldn't wait to get stuck into season two, but to my horror it wasn't available. I'm sure I'll catch it somewhere eventually though!


I FINALLY started watching The Office (the US version) a couple of months back - just when I had lots of uni work to do, of course! It really is as good as everyone told me it was. I am, unsurprisingly, full on obsessed with Jim and Pam. John Krasinski is now, pretty much, my ideal man! I've been a fan of Steve Carell for ages, and he is just brilliant as Michael Scott, he is guaranteed to make me laugh in every single episode. I'm halfway through season four at the moment, so I still have lots to watch, and that pleases me - I love having something familiar to tune in to.


And last but not least for this little update, we have a typically cheesy, rom-com style film called Stuck in Love. As a fan of the majority of the cast of this little movie, I had almost bought it in Asda for £5 a couple of months back, but in an attempt to save some pennies I put it back! This was a wise move, as it appeared on Netflix a couple of weeks later. Starring Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Connelly, Lily Collins, Logan Lerman, Kristen Bell and Nat Wolff, for a rom-com there are a couple of darker storylines running through the usual romantic stuff here. Much like Awkward, is it a little predictable? Yes, but I genuinely really enjoyed this film, so much so that I got home from a night out the day after I watched it, and put it on again. Any scenes between Lily Collins and Logan Lerman were fantastic - I'm pretty sure I tweeted that they were metaphorically making my heart swell they were so cute, and that's always a hit with me. Is it life changing? Probably not. But I'd definitely say it's worth a watch if rom-coms are your thing!


This is not an exhaustive list of what I've watched over the past couple of months, but just a few words on some things I've been really enjoying! Hope you enjoyed this, and let me know what your favourite films/tv shows of the moment are!

Thanks for reading!

30 Day Snap #3

Tuesday, 3 June 2014


Cheeky little instagram number today - I spent most of the day on the train, but was in London with my mum and took this wee snap at Liverpool Street Station. I've been on the go since quarter to six this morning and I'm absolutely shattered, so I'm now off to watch a bit of something on netflix and fall asleep! Hope you've had a good day!

Thanks for reading!

30 Day Snap #2

Monday, 2 June 2014


Today's post is pretty self-explanatory! I had my dissertation induction today - turns out writing a Masters dissertation is even more intense than I had thought! As the photo itself is somewhat uninteresting, I popped a little filter over it to fancy it up a bit ;) In addition to the induction, I found out who my advisor is and the ball is well and truly rolling! This felt like a really productive day, and I caught up with my uni pals, some of whom I hadn't seen over the past three weeks or so, so that was lovely.

Hope you all had a lovely day :)

Thanks for reading!

30 Day Snap #1

Sunday, 1 June 2014


Today was a typically lazy Sunday, and I actually didn't even leave the house. I had been out for dinner and drinks the past couple of nights as a sort of ''I've passed all my assessments" celebration, so today I just caught up on some blogging and social media stuff, and did a bit of pampering. Today's photo is a wee snap of the skincare stuff that I just used - Shu Uemura cleanser, Granny Sally's Soap Kitchen Toner, Lush Mask of Magnaminty mask, Hydraluron and Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask. My skin's feeling better already!

Hope you all enjoyed the first day of June, and check in tomorrow to see what day two of the 30 Day Snap will bring!

Thanks for reading!

My New Phone Case!

Afternoon all :) A few weeks ago I was contacted by the lovely folks at Mr Nutcase to tell me a little bit about their range of cute, personalised phone-cases. As someone who constantly drops their phone, yet has managed to leave my iPhone uncovered since I got it back in December, I was instantly intrigued and popped over to the site to take a look! Cut to a few days later and I was proudly clicking my phone into this snazzy new case!*


You have the option to personalise the case with your own photos (like I did!), which can be arranged in a variety of collages, or choose from one of their original designs. There is a wide choice of themes in the collection, from abstract and floral, to street art and vintage! There are also a variety of styles of case, from a slimline cover to an executive flip leather style case - these range in price, but the flip case I went with is currently priced at £19.95. For the quality of the product and the images (and the mere fact it is protecting what is probably a super-expensive phone!), I reckon that is a pretty good deal. The cases are also available for a huge number of handsets - this isn't an iPhone only affair!


I got stuck in and uploaded eight photos, ranging from drinks with friends to some of my favourite places in the world. What do you think? I was really thrilled with how it turned out!


The guys at Mr Nutcase also gave me a little discount code to give out to you lovely lot :) If you fancy purchasing a case of your own, you can get 10% off by using the discount code - Thanku10

Thank you so much for reading!


*I was very kindly gifted this lovely phone-case for review purposes, but all opinions are my own.

30 Day Snap 2014

As some of you might recall, last June I took part in Sprinkle of Glitter's 30 Day Snap challenge - to upload one photo on the old blog every day for a whole month! I cannot believe that that was a year ago - time seriously flies! So much has happened since then, and yet it feels like just a couple of months ago that I set out to take on this wee challenge.

Final collage from my last 30 Day Snap

When I realised June was approaching I decided I would do it again! I've been getting so much better at remembering to use instagram lately (@lynseymac1 on there if you want to check it out!) and I'm loving documenting all the little things that brighten up my day - so, as of today, let the challenge commence! I'll be uploading my posts in the evening, y'know, to give myself the opportunity to have something really exciting happen. Don't want to rush in and post a photo of my lunchtime cup of tea as a highlight when I might bump into a handsome celebrity later that day and be whisked off for dinner (that could happen...)

Thanks so much for reading, and let me know if you decide to take on this challenge too!