The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 3 | Summer Favourites

Saturday, Sept. 3: Now that summer's at an end, share a list of favorites from the season!

Happy 3rd of September! Another new day means a new post as part of the Blog-tember challenge. Summer is coming to an end, and today we'll be taking a little look back at our favourites from this delightful season. 

I was up at the crack of dawn this morning, and chose to spend my time finding a couple more cute items for my Italy trip, and I also decided to have a little book haul, which was quite the success! 

This has been the greatest summer of reading for me, I've found so many authors and read so so many books! I have been absolutely loving anything by Giovanna Fletcher, especially the Billy and Me series. I've never really been one for romance novels, but I think that's something that has certainly changed this summer! OH! The Cursed Child also came out this summer, and it was absolutely amazing to be thrown back into the world of magic, it's a world I want to stay in forever. 

I've been spending a lot of time clothes shopping to ensure I have the perfect wardrobe for my trip to Rome, which means I have bought an unbearable amount of dresses. I love dresses, no matter what time of the year it is, and I've found so many beautiful ones this summer.

The butterfly filter is the best filter ever! I take most pictures of myself with this filter, and it's just so pretty, I love anything that makes me look/feel prettier than I actually am. 

BANDANAS! I imagine it's socially acceptable to wear these at any point, but I see summer as the best possible time. It's a lovely fashionable way to get your hair out of your face, and I just think they are so lovely.

I've spent a lot of time searching for the perfect foundation, and this summer I finally found it, L'Oreal's Infallible 24-hour matte foundation. Seriously, this foundation is absolutely fantastic, it works amazingly with my skin and is great in the sun, it honestly doesn't melt off my face!

Ice Cream...need I say any more? 

What have been your Summer Favourites?

The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 2 | Goals

Goals

Friday, Sept. 2: Share a list of your current goals.

Hey, lovelies and happy Friday to you all! I'm working today, but following my departure from work this evening, I actually have 6 days off and lots of plans!

It's now day 2 of the blog-tember challenge and I'm still going strong. This year I've decided to plan in advance for these posts because one thing I struggle with is finding the time to write, especially on my days in work. I'll be scheduling all of my posts in the hope of successfully completing the challenge without missing a day. 

I haven't actually compiled a list of my goals for a little while now so I'm quite excited to get everything down on this page. 

Monthly goals:

1. Read 4 books. I've always been a big lover of reading, I just often struggle to find the time to finish a book, but I've been doing a lot better lately. I'd ideally like to read more than 4 books a month, but let's start off light eh? 

2. Learn to swim. One of my biggest dreams is to swim with sharks because they are amazing and I just love them. I only have one little problem... I can't swim. Mike and I have been going to our local pool every single week in order to try and beat my fears and reach the ultimate goal of me learning to swim. It's going to take awhile, but we will get there!

3. Save. This is an always goal for me, not because I can't save, but just because life continuously gets in the way. There are so many wonderful things that I want to do, and obviously, they cost money, especially all of those Holidays. It's time to sort out Christmas, save for Japan, and all of the other wonderful adventures we plan to go on.

4. WRITE! Writing is one of my biggest passions, but sometimes life gets in the way. I come here as much as I can to talk to you and tell you all about my life. Another thing I'm trying to get finished at the moment is my own book, it's taking some time and I'm constantly distracted, but I will finish and will publish.

5. Enjoy working. I need to take the time to find a job that I could fall in love with. That's certainly something it's going to take, time. All I need to remember is that I have a job for now that will help me pay for the things I need, but there's a bigger end goal in sight. 

6. Do more things that make me happy. I love a lot of things, reading, writing, gaming, creating videos, and the list goes on. It's very easy to let life get in the way of the things you really want to do, and it happens to the best of us. I need to start using my time off work more productively.

7. Go to ALL of my hospital appointments. I hate the hospital, I absolutely despise it, and I've spent so long avoiding getting things checked out. All I seem to do at the moment is visit the hospital, and I have so many more appointments lined up. I'll make sure I attend them all, as much as I don't want to because my health is at stake, and nothing is more important than your health.

8. See my loved ones more. It can be hard to spend time with those you love when you don't leave too close to one another and when you have completely different schedules. I'm going to stop making excuses and just start making plans more frequently, no matter how busy life gets.

9. Visit Rome. It's booked, it's finally booked! It's now less than a month until we will be walking around the beautiful streets of Rome, and I'm unbearably excited. This trip is something I've waited so long to do, and along with this trip will come many things ticked off my bucket list.

10. Be happy. Happiness is the ultimate goal in life, it's all I strive for. I must admit that my life is pretty perfect right now, but things have a habit of changing. 

Some more goals...

• Get a new tattoo
• Exercise more
• Play more games
• Be decisive
• Stop procrastinating 
• Spend Christmas just us two, no matter how stressful
• Get Christmas shopping finished before November
• Do more of the DIY projects I constantly say I want to do
• Do more book/film/game reviews
• Buy a new sofa
• Cook more

What are your current goals?

The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 1 | Meet Ashleigh

The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 1 - Meet Ashleigh

Hello lovelies! Happy September to all and what better way is there to spend September than participating in the Blog-tember challenge. Unfortunately I managed to completely miss the challenge last year and I was absolutely gutted! From that moment I made sure to leave a memo in my diary to ensure I would not miss it this year! 

Thursday, Sept. 1: Introduce yourself however you like! Pics, vlog, collage, your choice :)

I'm Ashleigh. I'm 22 and live in a not so big town in the North West of England with my sweet lovely Mike, and I'm very proud of the bricks and water that have came together to create our lovely little home. This has been my first real year without those lovely summer holidays, and it's awful! I've been a working girl for the last year of my life, not doing something I completely enjoy, but it pays the bills. I studied a BSc in Broadcast and Media Production at Liverpool John Moores University and it was the worst 3 years of my life. 

I have MANY dreams, most of which include me being on a place travelling to beautiful places. I'm a blogger (obviously) when I remember. I love reading, I love being transported into new worlds. I'm in the process of writing my own book, it's a working progress that's for sure, but I hope to one day be a published author. I have a MASSIVE love for cameras and love running around taking pictures of everything and anything, I'm quite the creative person. Have I mentioned reading? I love reading. I also love watching films, I could never watch too many films, and I'm quite the gamer too I must admit. 

These are a few of my favourite things... 

Reading. Pizza. Doctor Who. Tattoos. Gaming. Writing. Supernatural. 

Boyfriend.Blogging. Make-up. Bones. Candles. Travelling. Movies. Clothes. 

Stephen King. Horror. Journals. Cameras. Autumn.

Tell me about yourself...

What are your favourite things?

Rome Bucket List

Rome Bucket List

Rome is not like any other city. It's a big museum, a living room that shall be crossed on ones tiptoes. - Alberto Sordi

Hello lovely readers! As most people know, I'm a lover of all things lists, especially those of the bucket variety. So I've came here today to share with you my Rome bucket list that will be full of all the wonderful things I hope to do whilst in the beautiful city.

Colosseum

Pantheon

Vatican Museums

Trevi Fountain

Spanish Steps

Roman Forum

St. Peter's Basillica 

Sistine Chapel

Piazza Navona 

Palatine Hill

Castel Sant'Angelo 

Capitoline Hill

Catacombs of Rome

There are actually sooooooo many more places that I need to visit when in Rome, but I'm sure I'll have PLENTY of pictures to share with you of all the beautiful places I've visited.

Have you visited Rome?

What was your favourite part?

August Glossybox

This is a little bit late, and I accidentally forgot to show my July box, but here's the August glossybox! This months box design was a little different that usual, this being because it was their 5th Birthday, woo! So they decided send out a limited edition box, and it's quite simple, but I like it.

So this is the boxes contents and I have to admit that I was slightly disappointed with this box, especially considering it was their 5th Birthday. I was highly anticipating beautiful make up and soft creams. This box featured 2 full size products, 1 full sized little bag? and 2 sample products. It's funny because my favourite part of this box is the MUA make up palette that I could pick up from Superdrug for just £4. However I am looking forwards to trying the Spa to you deep pore facial cleansing brush, I've had good experiences with this brand. 

MUA Eye Shadow Palette - Full Size 

RRP / £4

SHOP / muastore.co.uk

So the first product we have is an MUA make up palette, Glossybox gave us the chance to choose our own palette, I chose Hall of Fame,just because this palette has the most eyeshadow I'm likely to use. It's highly pigmented and contains 12 lovely colours, and lets be honest, you can never have too much eye shadow!

Spa to you - Full Size 

RRP / £6.99

SHOP / spatoyou.com

Next we have the Deep pore facial cleansing brush my spa to you, a brand that I do thoroughly enjoy every single time I use one of their products. The soft bristles are specially designed to help buss away dead skin cells for a deep but gentle facial cleanse. The combination of silky soft bristles and silicone cushions also help to massage the skin in order to improve microcirculation for renewed radiance. All you need to do in order to get the best results from this product is wet the bruch and apply your cleanser and then you'll be winning at life!

Mudmasky - Sample size

RRP (full size) / £53

SHOP / mudmasky.com

This month we also received a facial detox purifying recovery mask by Mudmasky. Now I'm a sucker gor a good face mask, so I am happy with this product, I would just rather have received a bigger sample, possibly a full size seeing as it was a Birthday edition. Now this is one of the first PH-balanced facial treatments, it's formulated using all-natural ingredients and contains no parabens, but still manages to fully detoxify the skin. This mask also refines and tightens pores, hydrates brightens and smooths skin and generally gives it a boost. In order to get the best results we have been told to use this one a week, so I'll be trying that starting this week, and hopefully we'll have a go to face mask!

Cowshed - Sample Size

RRP (full size) / £20

SHOP /cowshedonline.com

Now this is a product I'm yet to try and completely unsure whether I'm likely to, I really don't like the way it smells. Although I'd never judge a book by it's cover, so many I should give it a chance. This products it said to give you an energy boost due to its boosting blend of Lemongrass, Ginger, and Rosemary. It moisturises the skin with Shea and Cocoa Butters. It's made using natural ingredients and is packed full of skin-loving essential oils.

Rae Feather - Miniature size

RRP / £20

SHOP /raefeather.com

The final item we received this month is a mini monogram pochette that I can't say I'm too keen on. It just feels a little cheap, like it could fall apart at any moment. I'll probably keep a couple of things in it at home, but highly doubt I would ever use it as a make-up bag or take it out with me anywhere. 

Like you've probably guessed or I've probably mentioned in this post, I'm not really that happy about the August Glossybox. I just think it was a little disappointing considering this was their Limited Edition Birthday box. I'm looking forward to seeing what the September box is like, hopefully it will encourage me to continue with this subscriptuon

Are you subscribed to Glossbox?

Tell me what you thought of the August box!

Have Courage and Be Kind

One thing that I've began to notice when I creative these wonderfully detailed posts of how my life is going is that I always manage to focus on the negative aspects of my life. I'm going to be the first to admit that I've always saw myself as a bit of a pessimist, which isn't the way I want to look at life.

My life is full of far more beautiful things than I sometimes think.

I sit here dwelling on the fact that one of my closest friends has basically abandoned me with no warning in a time I could of done with their support. I need to stop myself from thinking that I have probably done something to deserve this because I have done everything in my power to try and keep the friendship alive. This doesn't mean I'm not good enough, and I shouldn't see this as a massive loss for me. I would like to think that I am being the better person here because I have tried time and time again, with no response. Another thing I seem to concentrate on is how much I dislike my job, how much I dread waking up in the morning and spending 11 hours in the office. I just despise how people can treat another human being like something they have just stepped on. I have always tried to do everything in my life with kindness, and I would never just disregard someones feelings. I guess this is why I find it so hard to understand, not everyone has the same morals, some think they are better than others, and most only care about getting everything in their life for free. Again, I shouldn't think so negatively about this, I should think about how I can go to bed smiling because no matter how someone speaks to me, I will always smother them with kindness, making me the better person.

These are the kinds of things I find myself constantly focusing on, but alas, I say no more!

Life is all about happiness, being happy, and spreading happiness. When I take a good look at my life, when I way up the pros and the cons, I actually begin to realise that I am pretty content with my life. In a way, I have everything I have always wanted, a devoted partner, full time income, a house to call my own, and some time to do the things I love to do.

Once upon a time I thought that I knew everything about the world and what it had to offer, but then I realised I'm just a dreamer. I have spent my life thinking that all I needed to do to become that big time director was go to college and then to university, and then I'd have a beautiful degree and the job of my dreams. It was never going to be that simple, I had spent too long believing people when they told me that's all I'd need to do for this to happen.

I think I'm always going to be a ball of stress, I'm always going to be a rollercoaster of emotions,  and I don't see myself being decisive anytime soon. I'm just afraid of making the wrong decisions, I'm afraid of disappointing those that I love, and I constantly let my own insecurities get the better of me.

Little did I know that I already have everything I always wanted.

It's time to focus on the positives!

• I have a devoted life partner that gives me everything I need, although I probably take him for granted. I never imagined that I would find someone as perfect for me as he is. I have found someone who truly accepts me for who I am, and I have never felt so much love and appreciation. 

• My family and extended family are more than I could ever ask for. I have a group of people that I can go to with all of my problems, a group that I would trust with my life. I have never met so many people that encourage and inspire me.

• I have a job. It's not what I have worked for, but it's something to fill my days, a way for me to pay my bills, buy books, and go on the occasional adventure. 

• Speaking of adventure, I'm going to Rome very soon!

• I'm making plans for the future. Whether that be planning a holiday, picking out new furniture or deciding whether our house if big enough for the family we will one day raise here. 

When I take the time to think about it I come to the realisation that my life is pretty damn good! It can be hard to list the positive parts of your life, but I listed those without even thinking about it, and if I took the time to think I could probably come up with a lot more. 

Life isn't about everything being perfect, sometimes it's just about making the most of what you have. 

Things can take time, which is something life is made up of. It's time to focus on the positives and becoming the best version of myself I can truly be.