Rachel Ellen

Sunday, 29 November 2015

travel 16:59

November Travels - Parque de El Retiro

This year for my birthday I decided on something a little different. My boyfriend's birthday is two weeks before mine so we decided, instead of presents, we would take a trip. We'd initially looked in September and Madrid was our chosen destination.

At the end of October we booked our 4 day trip for the 14th November, barely 2 weeks before we travelled.

My first quick tip if you're doing a city break, spend that little bit extra on a hotel in the centre or very near. We saved (quite a lot actually) to stay outside of the centre, but the 20 minute walk and then 15 minutes on the metro was just way too much each way, everyday.

The room was great though, I wouldn't object to staying in an Ibis Budget hotel again, more than enough for what we needed.

Plus the shower head changed colour depending on temperature! Amazing! (although difficult to take pictures of)

So anyway, past the boring part of the room, we spent most of the second day in Parque de El Retiro, the enormous greenhouse was absolutely beautiful in an Autumn month, the colours were so vibrant through the glass.

If any of you have read much of my blog before you'll know my boyfriend is massively into his fishing, it didn't take long for him to spot the carp in the lake.

Which lead us to hire a rowing boat for 45 minutes, I think it was about 8 euros which was so affordable!

We had lunch in the park in a little cafe, we spent most of the time feeding little birds (all the way to Madrid for the entertainment of feeding some birds)

Madrid was lovely I'd definitely go again one day but with plenty more money saved so we could actually go inside a few more places, but for a budget birthday treat for the both of us it was more than enough!

I'll post another post or two sharing more pictures, I thought the park was gorgeous enough to deserve it's own post!

Oh yeah and if you go anywhere abroad, remember your travel adaptors, we got stung for 16 euros to get a plug we could use, ouch!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx

Tuesday, 20 October 2015

lifestyle 21:40

Life update...

by Rachel

Today's post will be an unusual one for me, a lot less structured and generally just chatting (to myself with perhaps somebody reading afterwards - hopefully) about what's been going on for me.

First things first, I have started my driving lessons! Yes! About time, only about 3/4 years late. So far I have done 8 hours and it's starting to come together, super exciting so if any secret millionaire would like to buy me a car I'll send you my address!

A new niece was welcomed into the world about a month ago, baby Annalise. Holding babies scares me so much, I was shaking just taking the below picture in case I dropped my phone on her face (I would not be the favourite aunty then!)

Work, work is work. What more can I say about it, it's nice to be earning my own money I suppose! saved and paid for my own driving lessons so well done me! I'm definitely on the look out for job opportunities and when my laptop is either fixed or I have a new one I will make my search a lot more serious.

As an alternative to a new job, I'm also thinking about further education. Whether that be a masters or just some kind of qualification, I'm really starting to think I'll need it to make my journalism ambition a reality.

I turn 22 next month, oh my god, how did that happen! When I'm not on the verge of crying about how old I am I suppose I'm feeling some benefits to my age... or not.

Working means I need to find a way to make it worth while, I'm currently in the process of looking at a trip away but won't say any more until it is a definite! Frequent trips back to my lovely little Sheffield are super nice though!

I would have included more pictures in this post but the only ones in my phone are screenshots of various things I've found funny recently, my favourite ever:

Thanks for reading guys,

Rachel xx

Monday, 5 October 2015

list 17:37

Resting Friendly Face (RFF)

by Rachel

By now we've all seen the posts all over the Internet about "Resting Bitch Face" (RBF) and the associated problems, which I am sure there are many.

But I am yet to see anyone address the opposite problem, that we could call the "Resting Friendly Face"? RFF for short (could have had resting approachable face but somebody already took RAF)

I can almost hear you RBF people sighing thinking how could this even be a problem, well trust me it is! Here's a few points to demonstrate why:

1. People assume you like them, Imagine the most irritating person, rude, obnoxious, everything you hate in a person. Every time they speak you don't react, you stay expressionless - so you think. Then you catch your face in the mirror and you're pulling the expression on the right above, no wonder they keep talking to you! Cue over exaggerated frowned eyebrows.

2. In a world where everybody says they hate people, imagine people regularly approached you. People ask you for directions, people you don't know ask you about things, ask for your opinions etc. Half of the time I'm thinking "I've been awake about an hour I must look like death why do these people want to talk to me" and then I'm sat there like this:

Wednesday, 16 September 2015

tag 21:50

Love/Hate Tag

by Rachel

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!)