Hello (again)

So of course I didn't go back to blogging when I said I would. I'm far too lazy for that. Nothing much has happened since, pretty much everything is stil as it was. We're still doing a rubbish job at wedding planning (though in fairness we have looked at quite a few venues now, I'm just both picky and indesisive. Oh and not forgetting, not exactly rolling in money). I'm 27 now and I'm sure when I was little I thought I'd have my shit together at this stage but I really don't. I am happy, for the most part, so that's all that matters.
As for blogging, I still do want to post more, but to be honest the world of blogging is increasingly boring and infuriating me. Seems like so many are not happy without a good whinge about how injust something or other is. Just get the sand out your vag already. I still love an unpolished, real blog with no ulterior motive other than to tell you a bit of goss or what good shit they've bought lately. Shame these are becoming a rare breed.
Anyways, this could be my yearly check in. Or not. We'll see how it goes.

Hello!

Hey there! How are you? It's been a long time since I last wrote a post! Though I'm sure no one noticed haha.
Real life of course takes precedence, and honestly I just haven't felt like writing one. A lot has been going on, good things and not so good things, but I'm happy enough and plodding along!
Work has been a challenge as since September I've been supporting a new child and soon my role will be changing yet again, but I'm looking forward to the variety it will hopefully bring. I have been looking at job sites now and then but at the same time as wanting more hours/pay I'm reluctant to give up my holidays! Is this bad?!
Christmas and New Year was lovely and marked 1 year of being engaged. Planning is still pretty much non existent  but I have started saving and have made a rough guest list, in addition to my pinterest and occasionally online browse for venues. Maybe soon I'll be ready to go to some open days and viewings!
I don't really make New Year resolutions but I'm going to make an effort to manage my money better and eat better. The usual really! Me and Stu both want to lose some pudge and hopefully eating better will lead to spending less money on junk food.
A short post for now but hopefully I'll be back soon!

Barmouth

Hello!
As always I am late writing up this post. Ah well.
On the 12th we decided to make the most of the sunsine and Stu's time off to go to Barmouth for the day. If you didn't know Barmouth is a seaside resort in West Wales, in the county of Gwynedd. I've been there loads of times as we used to holiday in Shell Island which is just a few miles away from there.
Anyways, after about an hour and fifteen mins on the road we arrived. Parking took a while but we finally found a spot way down the front- it was heaving! We went to get some lunch first and being at the seaside, it had to be fish and chips! We went to the Carousal Cafe (or 'Arousal' - they have a joke sign where the C has slipped) which isn't the best there but was pretty quiet at least. I believe The Mermaid fish bar is the best chippy but I bet the queues would have been long. Service was slow but the food was fine and filled a hole! After lunch we found a spot on the beach to sit and relax. The beach right near the front, opposite the kiosks and fair and whatnot, was pretty packed but we walked a bit further down where it was much less busy. It felt good to lie down and feel the sun on my skin. Though next time I'll have to remember to bring two towels- it was a bit of a squeeze trying to share one and Stu didn't want to get sandy!
A while later we went to get ice cream, as I couldn't go to Barmouth without getting my usual ice cream and doughnut from the kiosk outside the Silly Shilling gift shop- I'm not sure of the name! In any case it was really good and I polished it off very quickly. We then had a little walk around and Stu bought a giant tennis ball for his parents puppy as well as a mint choc chip ice cream for himself.
I then had a little paddle, which felt amazing in the heat, and we made the long walk back to the car along the beach. I had a really lovely time and I'm glad I finally got to go to the beach this summer as it was on my to do list. Hopefully I'll get to go to another one before I have to go back to work. If the weather holds up that is!

An old nail file I had in my bag proved to be a good sculpting tool!

Have you visited Barmouth? What beaches do you reccomend? 

My Birthday!

 Last Sunday (the 9th) was my 26th birthday and I had an absolutely lovely time. We started the day off nice and early to make the most of it, and after opening my presents (I loved everything but highlights were definitely the Sabrina boxset and a new pair of sheepskin boots, my last pair were literally falling apart!) we set off to Ikea with a quick visit to McDonalds for breakfast en route. I do love an Ikea trip and we hadn't been for a while, so the need to buy some random tut was pretty high! We usually go to the one in Wednesbury but this time we went to the Warrington branch. It was very busy, as always, but we still managed to get a good amount of miscellaneous items! Such items included candle holder, plastic bag dispenser and a cushion for my new cover. Oh and a pretty orchid. After a speedy lunch of  meatballs, a hotdog and a cinnamon roll we set off to Chester for some more shopping at the Greyhound Retail Park. I bought quite a bit at the big B&M store there. I'd not been before and it was huge in comparison to the one here in Oswestry. This is probably sounding very boring but I love a bargain shop! Other shops I visited were 99p stores and TK Maxx so I was happy!

Stu didn't approve but how could I resist these! Plus we did actually need new oven gloves.

Stu doesn't like this either as owls don't tweet. But it's cute.  So I don't care :P 

Only £2.49 compared to £6.99 at Boots. This is the shade Little Minx and they did a nude one too .

Pretty orchid! Also, got a lot of cute dog cards this year! 

We had a table booked at La Tasca for 5.30 so we headed back into the city centre to have a drink beforehand. After a bit of a stressful time for Stu finding parking (we eventually managed to park for free so it all worked out well!) we went to Pitcher and Piano. I had my fave Cosmo and Stu had a lovely passion fruit cooler. I hadn't had one in ages and it went down a treat! La Tasca was a bit disappointing however, as we were sat right at the end of a table with a family on it and opposite a couple with a rather noisy baby so it didn't feel like we could talk properly. The food was rather average too, and not as good as the last time I went, but we had a 40% off code so it was reasonably priced at least! I still really enjoyed the beef and cannellini bean empanadas though as well as the slow cooked pork cheeks with skinny fries. Stu chose the latter and I was pleasantly surprised- I wouldn't have ordered it myself but I think I will if I ever go again.
Afterwards we stopped off at a pub alongside the canal and Stu treated me (well he treated me all day, tbf) to another cocktail. This time I chose a strawberry daiquiri and it was pretty good, if a little strong! I was feeling a little sleepy and full by this time so we headed off home to watch Monsters University and have my chocolate orange birthday cake which Stu made. It was so so good and I definitely went to bed feeling as though I could pop!

Primark PS... Velvet Matte Lipstick Crayon

I bought this on a whim the other day whilst quickly perusing the beauty section. I hadn't seen these before and I do love a lipstick crayon. I think there were 3 shades available though I can only remember two! This one which is 'Nude' and a 'Pink' one (very imaginative names!) which I may also have to get. The third may have been a red but I really don't know. At £2 I thought it was worth a try, particularly as I don't have many matte shades. I chose Nude as it seemed to be the most natural colour. It wasn't too brown and had enough pink it it to be wearable for me. I've only tried it on for an hour or so yesterday but so far I'm impressed. It has a lovely soft texture that makes it easy to apply and it really is matte. I will say that your lips need to be pretty smooth to get the best out of this. Mine were a little chapped yesterday and it did highlight the fact! It also has a pleasant vanilla like scent which a lot of brands seem to have. I will be trying this out again on a day when my lips are in better condition, but for £2 I can definitely say they are worth a try.
The pictures make the packaging look more pink but the swatch is more accurate.

Have you tried these? What are your thoughts? 

Simple Micellar Cleansing Water

I was lucky enough to win 2 bottles of this a while back in a Twitter giveaway. I gave one to my sister and kept one for myself to try. I've tried a few different brands now and I have to say that there really isn't a lot between them. This was one of the more gentle ones though- it didn't sting my eyes and it didn't have a strange after scent (sort of soil like, just me?) like the Garnier one did! Whilst it was gentle it was still really effective at taking everything off and my skin wasn't left feeling dry or sticky. I tend to use cleansing waters at night when I'm too tired to wash my face properly and I did go through a long phase of using just this. I then had a breakout on my chin so I stopped using this for a while and went back to using a cleansing balm. I'm not entirely sure whether it was this that caused the spots- more likely it was the fact that my skin wasn't getting a deep enough cleanse. I will probably buy this again if I see it on offer though I will try not to rely on it too much! It's also quite a small bottle so I did seem to go through it very quickly. Still, I would recommend this.

More Laura Factoids

So I'm into week 2 of my summer hols, and Stu has gone back to work after having the first week off with me, so I thought I'd fill some time by doing some more facts about me. I know, how riveting eh? These types of posts of some of my faves though as they appeal to my nosey nature, haha!

• I think the last time I wrote a similar post I was still doing supply as a teaching assistant. Well I'm now a learning support assistant in a school just 5 mins drive from me (or a 15 min walk if I'm not feeling lazy, which is very rare). I've been doing this since Easter (ish) 2013 and I've worked with the same child from reception to Year 2. Sadly at the end of last term I was told I had been placed with another child, which was a massive blow to me, but I think a change will both do us some good, and I'll still see his cheeky little face around school! 

• I live with my fiance Stuart (fiance still sounds weird) who I met online. This is quite common place now I think. The couple who's wedding I went to a few weeks ago actually met online too! After my break up in 2012, unbeknown to me, my friend had made me a profile on a dating site in the hope of finding me someone new. She then told me what she'd done after she was sick of getting messages from weirdos! She kindly gave me my log in details and that's when I had a little look for myself and found Stu amongst the creeps. He only lived about 20 mins away and seemed normal!  I think we started messaging around Christmas time and we had our first date in January, the 7th I believe, and that was that!

• I don't have eyebrow 'game'. I'm sorry. I very rarely use anything on them. Again my apologies. 

• My hair is naturally wavy but I have to blow dry it as it would take all day to dry naturally. This results in my hair being very bushy with random kinks. My hair is either in a low pony or a high pony. I don't tend to deviate and it's so boring!

• I can't drink coffee as it makes me feel ill and very weird! I'm literally still feeling the caffeine 6 hours later! I used to really like the iced coffee drinks but nope, the after effects are just not worth it! 

• My current obsession is with pancakes. The crepe sort, though I have nothing against the American kind. With bananas and Nutella I'm in my happy place! 

• I didn't go abroad until I was in secondary school. I remember being disappointed that everything seemed so brown from the plane! Before then I had always gone camping. I haven't really been since and I miss it. 

• I once took my hamster to my friends house in my coat pocket. I also took one on a car trip once and nearly lost him in the upholstery, 

• I'm not mad on Disney. I like some of the films but for the most part I'm indifferent! 

• Last night I ate a whole trifle in one go. Can't say I was that ashamed! 

• I love lychees and anything lychee flavoured or scented. Also elderflower at the moment too. 

• For some reason I really like it when I get a yellow birthday card. I can't explain this! 

• Some days I hate that it's bright and sunny as it shows up all the dust and where I did to hoover in the flat!

I'm starting to bore myself now, so I'll leave it at that! I'm sure you've been gripped :P