Rachel Ellen

Wednesday, 16 September 2015

tag 21:50

Love/Hate Tag

A bit of an unusual one for me but I've been tagged to do this which is super exciting.

I was nominated by a the lovely Emily from Twisted-Rust & Pixel to do the Love/Hate Tag!
Go see her Love/Hate tag here, spoiler: she saves her best hate until last

What is the Love/Hate Tag? Once you have been tagged by another blogger, you must state 10 things you love and 10 things you hate. Once you have done that simple task you must nominate 10 other bloggers to do this tag.

Note: I did ask my boyfriend for a lot of help with this, I didn't include all his suggestions but it's nice to know how well he knows me, cute!

Love

1. We'll start with the obvious, family friends and boyfriend. Everything else is just a bonus ~~soppy~~

2. Eating out is definitely something I love doing, this might be because I'm so rubbish at cooking and that I don't like waiting around for ages for something to cook. I'd eat out every night if I could! (new favourite is Chiquito, their chilli and cheese garlic bread starter is to die for!)

3. Red lipstick, to me is timeless, seasonless and the perfect accessory to any face providing you get the right shade. Love my Rimmel Kate Moss 111 right now.

4. Autumn, the leaves, the colours, scarves, coats, hats, halloween, bonfire night, birthdays (so many people I know are born in Autumn!) and before it gets way too cold. What's not to love?

5. Smoothies/Cocktails - Although you might not think they fall into the same category I love fruity tastes, cocktails aren't suitable for day to day and Smoothies don't quite do the job for a night out!

6. Dogs they didn't get the name (hu)man's best friend for nothing! The most loveable dopey creatures in the world, I can't be sad whilst there's a dog around

7. The zoo, in fact animals in general I'm just obsessed, finding animal videos on the internet really hasn't helped this at all

8. Sensations Thai Sweet Chilli crisps...
Or Salt and Vinegar any kind...
In fact just crisps in general, there's a few flavours I'm really not for (cheese and onion, gross!) but I'm a fan of their general existence.

9. Sleep, what more can I say?

10. New places, I might not always be so confident with new people, but new places just excite me!

Hate

1. Feet. The. Worst. Thing.

2. Sweetcorn, why oh why do people eat sweetcorn. Shops put it in everything, do you know how hard it is to buy a salad without the mini yellow devil inside? Surely something that bright yellow shouldn't be consumed, the smell of it cooking, the pop in your mouth the fact it does nothing for you?!?! WHY!

3. My nose, no not in the sense of I'd like a nose job, but how sensitive it is. I am permanently sneezing or blowing my nose or sniffling, is it hayfever? Is it allergies? Is it just bored?

4. Unnecessary physical contact, just things as simple as somebody half leaning on you when they really don't need to, or people who hug too much. People who touch your hands are so beyond my understanding, and they get a fright when they find out how cold my hands are anyway.

5. How lazy I am, I could have such better grades and opportunities and a very full CV if I wasn't so lazy, it's something I try so hard to overcome. If I don't consciously try not to be lazy I could sit in the same spot for days.

6. Proper nouns not being capitalised, English geek I know, but when people write my name without a capital (or even their own!) it drives me crazy.

7. Queueing, what a bad English person I am, we're supposed to love queueing. (searching how to spell queueing, apparently you can spell it as I have or queuing, but the version I have used apparently has the longest consecutive use of vowels!)

8. Potatoes, I realise crisps are in my loves and they are potatoes but they actually have flavour unlike the bland blandness of other kinds of potato.

9. Sales racks, I get so excited at the idea of a bargain, then I go shopping and see the sale rail and just stop, I can't bring myself to route through, see point 5!

10. Spiders, how did I get to number 10 without mentioned this, i can't even describe the spider I just saw ten minutes before writing this, so big! I appreciate they're needed to control the fly population but guys, stay out of my house!

My nominations:

Autumnal Revival
Water Painted Dreams
Franny Says x
Ball Bounces Back
Hanna Laura
Olivia Redfern
Eloise's Diary
Tea and Blush
Beventure
Shy. Life. Living

I look forward to reading other peoples. hopefully you haven't already done it and if you have make sure you link me to it anyway!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx

Wednesday, 19 August 2015

university 21:17

Unusual University Essentials

by Rachel

Many of you will be starting university soon or returning after your summer break. Unfortunately I have finished now and I have to go and be grown up somewhere.

Hilariously accurate

We've all seen the blog posts of things you need at university like your pillows, duvet, pots and pans. But this post will show some more unusual essentials that I found during my three years at university.

1. An important one if you'd like to be sociable at uni (well some of the time at least). A doorstop, most university accommodation have heavy, self closing fire doors. Now and again you'll want your flat to be a bit more open to everyone, or maybe just air out the smell of that plate that didn't make it to the kitchen three days ago.

2. A money box, either one of them pot ones that you can't get into (they are way too much commitment for me, I mean what if I need that 20p later on!) I just went for a little metal one with a princess on it that I can open up. There will be a point at the end of each term when that pot will be essential to survival.

3. A vase, at some point somebody will be bought flowers or decide to buy some for themselves and then realise vases have to be bought! As much as I loved the genius idea my flatmate had of cutting the top off a coke bottle, I would have definitely preferred a pretty vase.

You can just see the coke bottle behind the black picture frame

4. Fancy dress clothing and some rubbish clothing. I stupidly went to uni with no fancy dress outfits and had to buy one for every time something came up.

Rubbish clothing is important too, within the first week of freshers we went to a UV paint party which meant whatever clothes we wore got absolutely ruined (let's not talk about getting it out of my hair #ouch)

5. Scissors, for some reason not something that popped into my head when packing for uni and I suffered for a long time without my own pair of them. There's only so many ways you can use a knife instead of scissors. On the note of knives...

6. A sharp knife. No scissors, pathetic knives, how on earth did I survive first year?!

7. Straws, you'd be amazed how thrilling a pack of straws is to a bunch of students, especially ones that are wearing expensive lipstick. You can never have enough glasses either, take as many as you can fit in your car as they will go missing and someone will always be drinking out of a pot noodle mug.

8. A spice rack, or something to that effect. If you have to eat cheap food on a budget you need ways of making it tasty. Curry powder is super useful, rosemary and thyme, chilli powder etc.. My favourite which is only £1 from shops like Home Bargains and B&M, The chilli and garlic grinder, makes everything super tasty and a little bit spicy.

Not my image

9. A sleeping bag, somebody will always have somebody stay over whether friend from home or uni friend who has locked themselves out, with single beds in a lot of accommodation somebody might just appreciate a warm place to sleep.

10. Some cushions and blankets for shared living spaces. You definitely don't want your Debenhams, expensive, fancy cushion in the living room with drunk people. I brought some old cushions from home (with washable covers) and a cheap blanket from pound stretcher. Don't forget you spend most of your time at university in Winter (In England winter lasts about 9months of the year) so it will be cold, stock up on the warmer things.

Does anyone have any other unusual uni essentials? Hope these 10 help someone preparing for three years away.

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx

Friday, 14 August 2015

lifestyle 17:00

Decorating

by Rachel

We all love a nosey inside people's houses and rooms to see what they're like so here's a quick peak into the decorating process of my bedroom.

For now only walls and furniture moving has happened. Lots of saving up to do before I start buying the furniture to go with everything.

First thing first was making space to begin decorating. I thought I had a lot of stuff to bring home from uni until I had to take things out of my home bedroom.

And then so everything was stored out of the way I had to take things up to the loft room, up these stairs!!!

I didn't technically do a lot of this bit, brothers who are more experienced with these stairs were definitely more useful than me.

Mum decided to graffiti under the wallpaper so one day somebody will find this!

Think I need to invest in some matching bedding!

The bed used to be against the wall that the wallpaper is now on, so not only are my walls different, I'm facing a totally different way. Just need to get lots of little purple things now to go with my room. And if anyone has any advise on where to get a pretty make up brush pot that isn't to big either comment on here or tweet me pleeeeeease @reiwwood

Thanks for reading,

Rachel

xx

Tuesday, 11 August 2015

lifestyle 18:49

Adjusting: Part 2

by Rachel

Now about 8 weeks since officially moving back home from uni and I think I'm beginning to settle back into it. This weekend I took a trip back to Sheffield to see a few of my course girls (and of course take advantage of Sheffield's nightlife) which was a lovely treat and I can't wait to do it again! Onto the second part of my adjusting post, hopefully by now you've all read part 1 (here if you haven't) That was a post full of moaning, everybody loves a good moan.

But now for the positives of moving back home, there definitely is a lot it's just that negatives tend to stand out more.

1. First things first food. Although in part 1 I had mentioned tea time being difficult to adjust to, tea being ready to eat with no effort from yourself is a novelty that never wears off. Also not going food shopping is always a bonus. I am paying my way at home for food but for that we have a lot nicer food than Aldi 18p curry noodles (however if you're living on a tight budget get straight on them!)

Monday, 27 July 2015

lifestyle 21:35

Adjusting: Part 1

by Rachel

Moving back home from uni is a big deal, by anyones standards. Yes there's the actual moving out of your uni place and the outrageous amount of stuff you accumulate over 3 years that you feel like you can't throw away. I don't care what anybody says, I definitely need my Velma jumper and glasses - in case of emergency y'know.

But that's not where the difficulty stops. Now, by no means are my family particularly difficult to live with. But living back at home after living away is. Some of you won't need to read the rest of this to understand exactly what I mean, but if you're anything like I was, it might come as a bit of a shock. This post will cover a few of the more difficult things about living back at home, a good old Monday moan. I will make a separate post to highlight a few positives.

1. The most difficult thing for me to adjust to so far is definitely tea time (evening meal). Having to be in for a certain time, or not being able to go anywhere until after a certain time unless you give enough warning so that food isn't wasted. I've spent the past three years (bar Christmas and summer holidays) cooking for myself making what I want (kind of) when I want. Mealtimes in general are more difficult at home, especially due to number 2...

Thursday, 9 July 2015

lifestyle 17:30

Time Alone

by Rachel

Whilst we're having a much more miserable week than the last I thought now would be a nice time to share a few of my backlogged pictures.

In early June on a rare sunny day in Sheffield, I decided to walk up to Norfolk Park, a very quiet secluded area in the city centre. I was in the middle of reading To Kill a Mockingbird (yes I know, later than everybody on the planet!). I have never studied it in school, but with all that is going on in the world, specifically in America, I think it would benefit a lot of people to read.

But anyway, off serious topics for now, I felt very grown up sat in the park in the sun, reading a book, ~~listening to 5 Seconds of Summer~~ and on my way I took a few pictures, enjoy!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx

Monday, 6 July 2015

university 13:10

Graduation Ball

by Rachel

A very delayed post, but the 21st May was my university graduate ball. I was pretty nervous about going but finding a pretty dress and pretty shoes made it all a bit easier!

Of course my hips ~~look~~ are enormous, I bet you couldn't even guess how much my dress cost me (clue, my shoes cost 6x more than my dress)