The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 23 | Sponge Cake

Friday, September 23: A family recipe (if grandma allows, of course)!

Ingredients 

6oz Self Raising Flour

6oz sugar

6oz butter

3 eggs 

More Butter

Icing sugar 

Method

1. Preheat your oven to around 180 and grease 2 cake trays ready for the mixture. 

2. Break eggs into a large bowl and add self raising flour, sugar and butter. Mix it all together, I would recommend using an electric mixer.

3. Divide the mixture between the two tins and smooth out before placing the tins in the oven for around 20 minutes.

4. Whilst the cake is cooking make your butter cream. All you'll need to do is mix butter and icing sugar together, add enough to suit your own taste.

5. Take the cakes out of the oven and leave to cool.

6. Run a knife around the inside of the tray in order to release them and leave until fully cold. 

7. Once cold go back to the cake and add butter cream to one of the cakes and then place the second on top.

8. Make your icing by pouring icing into a cup, and adding water until it's of a good consistency  (ensure it's thin enough to spread).

You can then add extra decorations to the cake if you would like, I usually just go with a few sprinkles.

The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 22 | Fall Favourites

Ahh Autumn, the best season of them all. I've waited a year for this moment, and I can already see the leaves turning into the most beautiful of colours

Thursday, Sept. 22: Fall favorites. Share your must-haves for this season.

Fall Favourites:

 Crunching leaves. Pumpkin carving. Cozy clothes. Caramel apples.

Crisp air. Pumpkin spice. Colours. Candles. Halloween.

Hot Chocolate. Sweaters. Boots. Fall photoshoots. 

Baking. Christmas is closer. Shows come out of hiatus. 

Horror movies. Dark nights. Fireworks. Scarves. 

Lots of cuddling. Staying in with a good book. 

The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 21 | Minimalistic Vanilla

Well hello Wednesday...I'm currently writing this post with the divine smell of cakes baking beautifully in the oven, and the moment I've finished here I'll be going to ice them! It's a little bit of a late post today, noticeably not as late as yesterdays 10pm post though! haha. I've had a lovely day with one of my nearest and dearest friends today, just eating delicious foods and watching Bridget Jones's Baby...AGAIN! I had a wonderful time, I appreciate these days more than most.

Wednesday, Sept. 21: If you were a flavor of ice cream, which flavor would you be? Why?

I REALLY have to be in the mood for ice cream to actually enjoy it, mainly because my sweet tooth isn't too big at all. However...when I'm feeling it, I will sit and scoff the entire tub without a second thought. haha.

If I were a flavour of ice cream I would probably be vanilla, and that's not to say I'm plain and boring, because that's certainly not what vanilla is! It is because I enjoy the little things in life, sometimes beauty comes in the most simplistic form. Which is another thing I enjoy my life to be, as simple as possible without any complications. Vanilla ice cream is a classic, and I love a classic, I find joy in the most normal day, just like in vanilla ice cream.

The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 20 | Believe...

Can you believe it? It's the 20th of September and that means we only have 10 days left until the end of the month! ROLL ON HALLOWEEN! It feels like just yesterday that we started this challenge, and now I'm sad to say that it's almost over for another year. This month has been a crazy rollercoaster for me, but will be finishing with what will hopefully be the best week of my life. For today though, we have a prompt to talk about!

Tuesday, Sept. 20: Something you wish more people knew or believed.

I wish that more people believed that their illness doesn't define who they are, it doesn't determine their life, and they are so much more than it! 

It's only over the past couple of weeks that I've actually came to realise how many people let their illnesses define who they are, and allow it to determine their life, and it's a horrible thing to see. No one should let their illness take control of their life, the illness is not who you are, it's a small part of you, you're so much more! 

I have PCOS, I'm not PCOS. 

The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 19 | Memory Lane

Monday, Sept. 19: A list of your favorite blog posts you've written.

Ahh, I love a good excuse to read through old posts, and this was certainly that.

Wonderland Warblings is now just over 2 years old, I've gone through various blog names, and themes, but it's always stayed the blog I wanted it to be. I've always posted about topics that mean something to me, and used it as a release when I've just needed to rant. 

It was so hard to pick just a few of my favourite posts, but I've managed to narrow it down to my 5 favourite from the past 2 years!

The Posts

1. My Biggest Dreams: Rome - The History

2. Invincibility Doesn't Exist 

3. Have Courage and Be Kind

4. Life Is Not A Dress Rehearsal 

5. Bucket List

There are so many posts that I absolutely love, and it was soooo hard picking just a few.

What are your favourite posts?

The Blogtember Challenge: Day 18 | Keeping it simple

Wow, I can't believe how fast we're getting through this challenge! I don't really know what I'll post about once it's over haha. 

The one thing that seriously helps me in life is my planners/journals. 

There's nothing more I like than to be as organised as I can possibly be, and I absolutely love having something with me at all times to help with this. I always have some kind of journal/panner in my bag, it's a big must for me. It's always good to have something to hand incase you think of something amazing and need to get it down on paper before you forget. 

I always buy the most basic of planners, but I've been loving Lara Casey for awhile now, and think it's about time I spent some serious money on something worthwhile. I definitely think this will be a purchase for 2017.

The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 17 | The one where I don't VLOG, but talk PCOS instead

Saturday, Sept. 17: Vlogging day! Record a vlog about anything you like!

Hey lovelies! I hope you're all having a wonderful Saturday, I'm off work so I know that I am haha. The prompt for today was to record a vlog, and that's something that I don't think I'll ever be into so instead I'll be talking PCOS.

"Polycystic ovary syndrome: Abbreviated PCOS. Polcystic ovary syndrome is a condition in women characterized by irregular or no menstrual periods, acne, obesity and excess hair growth. PCOS is a disorder of chronically abnormal ovarian function and hyperandrogegism (abnormally elevated androgen levels). It affects 5-10% of women of reproductive age. PCOS is also called the Stein-Leventhal syndrome."

I always try to keep the posts on my blog as positive as I possibly can, but sometimes I just need to ramble and speak my mine. You see I have a syndrome, a syndrome that completely makes sense when I look back on my life.

I'm 22 and the last thing I wanted to be told is that I have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, and that there's no cure. The one thing that truly makes you feel like a woman is having the ability to give the one you love in your life a child, and something that comes along with that, no matter how much we hate them, is our monthly periods. I knew something was wrong when I was 16 and was only having a period every 4 months. I spent a lot of time in discussion with my doctors, visiting the hospital, and having various tests, only for them to all return and say that nothing was wrong. I was told that my periods would regulate themselves again and that I had nothing to worry about, it was just because I was young. So I learned to live with it, pushing it to the back of my mind and never wondering what was wrong.

I always knew that there was something wrong with me, I never knew what it was, but I always had that feeling. It was late last year when things began to change for me, my periods became less frequent and a lot heavier. My periods became so heavy that I was afraid to leave the house, and to the point that I'm crying in pain. This is the moment that I knew I needed to return to the doctors and demand answers. 

Over the last few months, I have been sent for more blood tests than I ever imagined, along with a Transvaginal Ultrasound that was absolutely as unbearably uncomfortable as it sounds. Once the ultrasound was over, the technician told me that I had a cyst on my ovary around the size of a golf ball and that they would explain more once back in the clinic. 

I returned to the clinic on the 7th September, after around a month of waiting. I was told about the cyst on my ovary, and that they wanted to repeat both my blood tests and ultrasound, much to my annoyance. Following this, the doctor explained to me that I have polycystic ovary syndrome, but it has nothing to do with the cyst they are currently testing. I went into my appointment expecting one thing to be wrong, not two. 

I have PCOS, I don't really know too much about it, but I'm terrified. I now haven't had a period since February, and I'm afraid to have one. I'm afraid I will struggle to have children, I'm just so afraid right now.

How much do you know about PCOS?

The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 16 | It's time to put my feet up

Friday, Sept. 16: How do you de-stress/take care of yourself?

I'm stressed ALLLL of the time, I'm just a natural stress head, and it's something I can't break. So inevitably there comes a point when I can't take it and I just need to stop for a moment and take the time to look after myself. 

Sleep. Sleep is the best fix when I'm stressed and need to look after myself, I just need to sleep straight through and have a lovely lie in, which is something that NEVER happens. 

There are quite a lot of things that will help me to de-stress and the main on is probably reading, having new worlds at my finger tips, and having the ability to get lost inside them. I love watching movies and just forgetting about the world around me, or even just listening to music whilst relaxing on the couch, and one of the best ways is a lovely relaxing bath.

Tomorrow I'll be taking the time to de-stress and take good care of myself. I now have 16 days off, and most of that will be spent at home just watching movies, TV shows, playing games, and reading books...I CAN'T WAIT!

How do you de-stress?

The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 14 | Tattoo Inspiration

Wow! We're now nearly halfway through the blog-tember challenge, you've got to admit that this month is absolutely flying by. I love how much notice my blog is getting from this challenge, and I'm sure you all feel the same, I am loving reading everyone's posts :)

Wednesday, Sept. 14: Make a mood board! Are you brainstorming a room re-do, a capsule wardrobe, or already planning for the holidays? 

Our prompt for today is to create a mood board, which I love! We've just been asked to create this to show what kind of things we're planning at the moment, and for myself it's tattoos! 

I currently have 4 tattoos, shown in the images below, and I got my latest addition on Monday after going around a year and a half without any new ink. The collage above is a compiled collection of the tattoos I'm taking inspiration from, and I can't wait to see what comes from them!

The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 13 | My Partner

Tuesday, Sept. 13: If you could switch lives with someone for a day, who would it be? Why?

It would be amazing if you could really switch lives with someone, but unfortunately it's something that we can only dream of. My answer to this question would be Mike, my better half, without a doubt.

Mike is amazing, but that's obviously something that I would say, haha! I think by choosing him it would strengthen the bond between us, I would be able to understand how his mind works and how he see's the world. I think it would be crazy exciting to be inside his wonderful brain, even just for a day, and I'd love to be able to see myself as he does, maybe it would help me to appreciate myself more than I do. I would want to see his work life because although we do talk about it, it's not in depth, and I can't say that I fully understand how hard it is on him or how hard he works. 

The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 12 | Books, the greatest weapons in the world

Monday, Sept. 12: Three books! One you just read, one you're currently reading, and one you want to read.

Recently read: Billy and Me

This fantastic book was the first written by Giovanna Fletcher, whom I adore, and is a book of absolute dreams. I've never really been once for romance, I first read books by John Green which I loved, then moved onto these, and I'm now hooked! Ahh Billy Buskin...you can only imagine how dreamy he is, and I must admit that I've fallen in love with him after reading his book. This book is seriously the sweetest thing ever and I can only pray that it's made into a film. The book follows Sophie May, a young lady living in Kent with her mother, and working in a quirky coffee shop with her best friend Molly. Sophie is quite a shy and anxious person and is completely swept away when big time movie star  Billy Buskin turns up in town to film one of her all time favourites, Pride and Prejudice, which also happens to be one of my favourites! This really is a book about chances, a book about risking everything for love. Ahh it's such a beautiful love story.

Currently reading: Always with love

After reading Billy and Me I did actually read Christmas with Billy and Me, but it was such a short story that I don't really have much to say about that. It obviously followed Billy and Sophie through the Christmas period, bringing us to Always with love. This is another beautiful read, although I'm about 3/4 of the way through, so I'm not quite at the end yet. During this book we follow Billy end Sophie to Los Angeles where they are spending New Years with Billy's family. Billy ends up accepting an offer for a new movie meaning he's staying in LA for awhile whilst Sophie sets back off to Rosefront Hill. In this book we see the challenges they are faced with when their relationship turns long distance...

Reading next: Dream a little dream 

The next book I plan on reading is another by Giovanna Fletcher as I'm working my way through all of her books before I start on anything new. I actually don't know all too much about this book, I just know that I want to read it! This book follows Sarah, a lady who has been single for the last two years, and has spent an uncomfortable amount of time around her ex, his perfect girlfriend and all of their mutual friends. No ones surprised when she starts dreaming about a handsome stranger and begins looking forward to sleeping every night, but it all gets a little strange when her dream-stranger turns up in the real world! This is actually the first time I've read about this book and I'm now super excited to read, eek! 

What are you reading at the moment?

What would you recommend? 

The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 11 | Instragrammers to look out for!

https://www.instagram.com/ashleighparry13/

Happy Sunday! This is a super late post because I've just got in from work and totally forgot to schedule a post! I'm so sorry, but I object to failing this challenge.

Sunday, Sept. 11: Round up of your favorite Instagrammers! Who should we follow?

Today we're talking all about those instagrammers you should be looking out for. Now I don't want to bore you by writing an essay on who and why you should follow people, so i'll leave some pictures and links so that you can all see for yourself.

Giovanna Flettcher

https://www.instagram.com/mrsgifletcher/

Phillip Bloom 

https://www.instagram.com/philipbloom/

Humans of New York

https://www.instagram.com/humansofny/

BottleandHeels

https://www.instagram.com/bottleandheels/

Who would you recommend following?

Happy Instagramming!

The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 10 | A day in the life of Ashleigh

Saturday already? This week, month, and year are just flying by! How are you all? I hope life's being kind to you today :)

Today I'm going to be giving you a little glimpse into my day to day life. Unfortunately I'm in work today, boo, so I won't be able to share pictures every hour, however I will still talk you through my day, yay!

Saturday, Sept. 10: A day in your life! Take us through it with you by sharing a photo each hour of the day.

06:00am:

GOOD MORNING WORLD!

07:00am: 

So far this morning I have rolled out of bed for work, despite not wanting to, and have managed to get ready in less than 15 minutes! I mean, no I haven't put any make up on, but I was still out of the door in remarkable timing! So I jumped out of bed and straight into my clothes, brushed my teeth and made my hair look somewhat presentable. Following this I raced downstairs to make sandhwiches for lunch, just chicken paste, nothing too exciting haha. I'm now sat on the bus on my way to work reading Billy and Me and listening to McFly.

08:00am:

Instead of another bus photo, I've opted for a screenshot of what I'm listening to! Since getting off my last but I visited the cash matchine inside the bus station, which happened to be out of order! I find this funny because I was tempted to withdraw enough money yesterday for today's but, but de used against it! I spent a good 10 minutes walking around Warrington town centre looking for a working cash machine, I tried another one that didn't work before being able to withdraw my bus money. I'm now sat on the bus heading off to work, and as I start at 9am won't be able to take all too many pictures. after getting into the building, using a lift to get to the top floor, I logged onto my computer and then spent a good 20 minutes reading before it was time to start.

09:00am 

I'm off the bus and at work, something I'm not excited about on a Saturday morning when I'm super tired and not feeling so good. As it got to 9am I was beginning to log into the systems and low and behold "incorrect username and password" appeared on my screen. We have attempted to unlock my account and try again but have been left with the same response, I've been locked out of the computer. I've been spending a lot of my morning running to and from the bathroom because of the constant need to empty my bladder along with the constant feeling of being sick.



10:00am
I've spent the last hour pretty much doing nothing! As I can't log into the systems in order to do the work, this means I can't access the Internet to do anything. 

11:00am 

Still at work, still locked out! 

12:00pm

I was told they no one is in who has the ability to reset my password meaning that I would be locked out ALLLLL day, could this prompt have came on a worse day? Haha.

13:00pm
I had lunch, that was nice. I ate some of these beautiful potato cakes that I home baked myself :) following that I sat next to a colleague observing their work.

14:00pm
I spent a lot of time running to and from the bathroom because oh my god the need to pee is strong with this one! Seriously, this is unreal.

15:00pm
I had my second lunch which involved me just having a little read of Always With Love, which is a beautiful book by Giovanna Fletcher, and I would certainly recommend it! 

16:00
Guess what I'm doing? Absolutely nothing. I really don't have much to tell you about my day at this point. Oh! I sneezed! There's a bit of excitement for you :) The lack of doing anything continued up until home time :(

20:00
HOME TIME! I got home about half 8 and have my food and then went to bed where I read for a little bit then slept as I had work the next day!

What are you up to today? 

The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 9 | Rome

 

When in Rome, live as the Romans do; when elsewhere, live as they live elsewhere.

- Saint Ambrose 

Friday, Sept. 9: If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? Why?

If I could go anywhere in the entire world it would be Rome. In fact though, I am going to Rome very soon, and I don't think that I have ever been so excited about something in whole life. 

For as long as I can remember I've had the biggest fascination with Rome, although I'm not sure where it came from. Maybe it's the history of the city, I absolutely adore walking through museums or runs etc and learning about their history, you can have fun learning! I've never known a city to have such amazing architecture  the city just screams "explore me" and I cannot wait to do just that! I can't wait to be standing in awe in front of the colosseum, walking through the vatican or through the catacombs, everything in this city seems incredibly divine. 

There's a Roman saying "Even a lifetime isn't enough time to see Rome" and I don't think i've ever believe a quote so much in my life. Rome is certainly one of the worlds most fascinating cities, and I'm truly excited to have the opportunity to visit the city.

The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 8 | A Glimpse into our home

Hey, wow the 8th of September has came round fast. Although I have to admit that the sooner we get to the middle/back end of the month, the happier I'll be as I'll be going to the beautiful city of Rome! I visited my lovely family yesterday and have only just got back online, to find out that I didn't schedule today's post! 

As a lot of you know I attended the hospital yesterday and was absolutely terrified about the results. I was rather disappointed to find out that unfortunately they wanted to repeat all of my tests, meaning I won't find out anything new until December. I did also receive some more distressing news from the hospital, but I won't go into it, I'd rather not think about it if I'm being honest. 

ANYWAY! I believe that I owe you a glimpse into out little home! 

Thursday, Sept. 8: A house/apartment/room tour! Give us a glimpse of your space.

So I have only taken a picture of this side of the room because the other side is just full of washing, this is essentially our clothes drying room and small library, haha. I love books and I absolute love reading to the point that I'm running out of space for all of my books! 

This is just a small kind of dressing table that we've put together because of my insane amount of beauty products. The workspace is just Mikes old desk, and we bought this beautiful vanity mirror for around £20 from Argos. Underneath I have a lot of storage boxes to ensure the space isn't cluttered.

Mike is completely obsessed with Warhammer 40k. Now this isn't even half of his models, but I wouldn't want to completely scare you all away! This bookshelf full of models is in the spare bedroom along with my dressing table, his games table, and another unit full of models.

Here we have out TV with sound bars and games consoles. We're really big gamers in our household, I mean at the other side of the room my partner has his big desk with his gaming PC set up haha. 

I apologise for the lack of content today, I've only just realised that I didn't upload a post today! I hope you enjoy my little sort of home tour, hopefully it gives you a more in depth look at the person I am.

The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 7 : Things that bring me joy

Happy Wednesday! As you're reading this post I'm either at the hospital in my appointment or have just received results for the scary tests I've had done. I have absolutely been dreading this appointment for the last month and I'm praying for good news, keep your fingers crossed for me!

Let's not beat around the bush and get straight down to why we're here today, and that's for day 7 of the Blog-tember challenge!

"Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing is every day" - Henri J.M. Nouwen

Wednesday, Sept. 7: Five things that bring you joy.

1. My partner

2. Photography.

3. Blogging.

4. Reading.

5. Travelling.

What things bring you joy?