My first hospital experience!

Now, I'm not a clumsy person. I take care not to take very potentially-dangerous risks and I don't put myself in situations where I'm likely to get hurt. I've never broken a bone. Never had any deep cuts/injuries. 

Yesterday was a very normal, boring day at school. I had 3 hours of English in the morning (yawn!) and was tucking into a laaaavely slice of pizza at lunch with two of my best friends at my side. A few seconds after I swallowed the last piece of pizza, however, I felt like I'd got something stuck in my throat. Not in my airways, thank god, but in my oesophagus. My friends started laughing at me as I tried to cough whatever was in my throat out while I laughed as well, but I had to run downstairs to the water fountain to try and wash it away. It didn't work, so they took me to the school nurse (I felt like a little year 7 again!). She was so baffled when I came in and didn't really know what to do. She suggested I try to eat more, so I went and bought a second lunch, but it didn't work. 

I returned to the nurse, who suggested, as a last resort, I try and make myself vomit. Embarassingly enough, I had to go into the gents toilet (to avoid the other girls in my school thinking I were bullimic!) and I had random male teachers ask why I was in there when I came out. 

That didn't work though.

Then, cue my horrible anxiety problems, I started getting panicy and scared and randomly crying for no reason. I started to go bright red, blotches and sores all over my body.  

My mum was called and I started getting faint and dizzy and was sent in a taxi home. When I got home, I changed into some tracksuit bottoms 'cause my whole body was getting itchy and awful, but I almost fainted at the top of the stairs. My mum had to guide me to the car once I'd gained a bit more consciousness, and she drove me to the local hospital. 

So I spent 2 hours in a hospital bed being seen to by a hilarious doctor who kept cracking jokes and making me feel a little less embarassed. I have an awwwwwful phobia of needles, but I was forced to get my finger pricked for a blood test, and an injection in my butt to stop me feeling so sick. Oh dear. 

Turns out I had a severe allergic reaction (to something unknown they'd accidently put into the school pizza!), tonsilitis (hence the feeling of something stuck in my throat), and severe dehydration (the reason why I kept fainting, feeling dizzy, and feeling unable to sit up for longer than 20 seconds without wanting to puke). 

So, this was my exciting hospital trip that I thought I'd share with you :) 

I got the day off school today and spent it drinking these vile sachet things with electrolytes and whatever else in them, having tomato juice and worcester sauce (YUM) and sleeping. 

Other than this 'traumatic experience' my life has been quite exciting! This weekend was a lot of fun - I went to my first university open day on Saturday morning, making me feel so unbelievably old! Then in the evening, I went to the joint birthday party of two of my good friends and got very drunk. 

My final exams are loooooooming. We're already getting notices from teachers about revising for them and preparing, I'm terrified! 

Birthday haul!

I turned 17 yesterday (21st) and despite not having the best of days (it mainly consisted of biology revision and sitting in my room alone with a massive plate of chocolate cake!), I did get a few lovely things from my parents this year that I thought I'd share with you lovely people! 

 1. My Mad Fat Diary by Rae Earl - I've been watching the Channel 4 programme of this book and absolutely fell in love with it, and the book is meant to be just as amazing!

2. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green - I've never read any of John Green's books but have so many good things about his writing. This one is meant to be really sad, but brilliant. 

3. Miranda Hart Is It Just Me? - I looooveee Miranda, I just know that while I'm reading this book I'll have Miranda's hilarious voice in my back of my mind reading along with me :D 

 This set of drawers is originally made for keeping bolts and screws and general DIY 'things' in, but I thought it would be the perfect place to store all my necklaces! I used to hang them on this old metal Christmas tree, but they would get tangled really easily, so I think having each necklace or just a few necklaces in separate compartments, it will keep things a lot neater and save me ten minutes in the morning trying to untangle one! 

 1. My parents know how much I looove Charbonnel et Walker chocolates so I'm so happy they've got me another flavour to try (I'm determined to collect a box for every flavour before I die :)). I've tried one of these already and if I'm honest, they're not my favourite flavour, but they're still quite nice! 

2. I love candles and glitter, so this one is just perfect for me :)

 My lovely younger brother bought me the Les Miserables soundtrack! Ever since I watched the film, I've been humming along the tunes, so now I'm glad to have a backing track accompany me (and drown out my awful singing!) 

 I've been massively into getting-fit-and-healthy recently and have taken up running and zumba, so to get me started, my mother got me these lovely neon orange and grey Nikes. 

 Very Classy by Derek Blasberg - I think this has got to be one of my favourite presents! This book is bascially an instruction manual for 'how to be a lady and not a tramp'. It's hilarious and full of articles and pictures, I love it. 

 Another 2 books to add to my ever-growing collection of ones I still need to read! I love the Pretty Little Liar series and unfortunately we don't have Sky and I'm not keen on trying to find the episodes illegally online, so I've had to stick to reading the books, but they're so well-written and gripping, I read the first 5 so quickly! 

I've been looking for a pair of disco pants for so so long, and all of the pairs I've tried on (namely American Apparel ones, Topshop ones and River Island ones) have looked so unflattering and didn't fit right on me. I almost gave up until I saw this lovely pair in Primark (of all the places!) and found that they fit almost perfectly. The waist is a bit too big, but the legs fit well so I don't mind. 

My mum also got me this lovely pink bag from Primark when I fell in love with it a couple of weeks ago. I think there's such a retro feel to it, I love it! 

I also recieved a surprising amount of money from both my grandmothers and parents, and the most exciting part!! - an iPhone in a couple of weeks! 

I'm unbelievably grateful to my family for this wonderful collection of gifts and feel so cherished. 

I've got my AS Level mocks coming up in a couple of days which I'm dreading, so I was hoping my birthday would be a good excuse for a well-needed break from my work. But unfortunately, after way too much procrastination in the last few days, I felt too guilty to ignore the pile of revision notes I still had to learn, so I sat at my desk for a couple of hours and flicked through my biology notes. 
My parents had left for work before I had woken up in the morning and my mother came home for an hour in the afternoon but dashed out again to meet my dad at his work. They had to go to a dinner to 'celebrate' the anniversary of one of their friend's death's. They didn't get back until about 11:30, so I pretty much celebrated my birthday on my own in my room :P 
My good friend/neighbour bought me a hot chocolate from Costa as a birthday treat though, which was nice :) 

I'm hoping next week goes okay!
I'm really sorry I haven't been very active on this blog, I've just been overwhelmed with work recently but hopefully by March I should have a lot more spare time. 

Lots of love, 

Ellay xxx 

Update: 04/02/13

Hello lovelies! 

I've been neglecting this blog quite a bit recently and I feel utterly guilty, but to be honest, I haven't felt enourmously inspired to write any posts. 

My life hasn't been majorly interesting since new year, but nevertheless, it's been quite fun...


1. I went to my first rugby match ever with one of my best friends! We caught the train to High Wycombe and watched the London Wasps VS Rugby Mogliano game at Adams Park. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, the only downer was when my friend, Em, knocked a cup of hot coffee all over this old farmer guy when we were trying to get to our seats and he went absolutely mental, and worse, we had to sit next to him and his equally-fuming farmer friend for the next hour and a half. Oh well.


2. It snowed! There was almost 7 inches in my area and I spent days taking pictures of the gorgeous white blanket! Kind of annoying though... the first day it started snowing happened to be an inset day sort-of-thing because of these 11+ examinations taking place there (exams for the 10/11 year olds that are applying to get into Year 7 at my school). However, my year had to go in and sort everything out and organise them and get them into their exam rooms while everyone else from my school enjoyed the day off, playing and sledging in the snow. But it snowed constantly all weekend and on my way to school on Monday, I slipped over and messed up my back, so got the day off to sit at home and rest! :) 

my pink snowboots! 

Alfie got a snow beard!

3. On the 23rd of Jan, I went to the birthday party of one of my close friends! It was at an amazing, trendy restaurant called Nobu in London, and we were sat in the 'VIP Corner'. And guess which incredibly famous star happened to be on the table next to us that evening? Only Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas! He sung happy birthday to my friend (along with the rest of the restaurant), he bought us dessert, then just as he was about to leave, he decided to sit down at our table and talk to us for the next hour about why we should study and appreciate our parents, and how technology is advancing so rapidly! It was crazy, I practically fainted when I first saw him, and almost died when he started talking to us and agreed to have a photo taken with us. He was the nicest, funniest (if not slightly tipsy) guy! 

I look like a complete idiot, but aaaaah (here's proof! :) ) 

my friend's absolutely amazing, yummy birthday cake 

I really liked my hair that night :P 

4. I had a little group of friends round for dinner on Saturday night. I nicely forced Em into helping me cook (pasta and meatballs for main course, Oreo cheesecake for dessert). However, we ended up cooking the meatballs while we were half-drunk, so most of it ended up splashed all over the wall, or on the floor for my dog to lick up! When we'd finally cooked it and poured it onto the plates, it sort of resembled a pile of meaty-tomato sick, so the running joke all night was 'I really hope we don't get food poisoning tomorrow morning!'. But despite this, it went down well and everyone enjoyed it, and the Oreo cheesecake was the cherry on top! It was amaaazing. I used this fab recipe from Lottieslittlekitchen and it went down a treat. 

5. Next Saturday evening, Em's having a little Chinese New Year party with a couple of our friends and her older brother and some of his friends and I'm already excited! An endless supply of margaritas, strawberry daiquiris, gin and tonics, tequilas and mojitos has been guaranteed! 

Lots of love, 

Ellay xxx 

Liebster Blog Award!

I've recently been nominated by the lovely Shona ( http://shonalouxo.blogspot.ie/ ) for the Liebster Blog Award! I'm am completely and utterly chuffed to bits to have recieved this award and will be silently celebrating tonight with a massive mug of hot chocolate and a wide grin on my face all evening.

The 'rules' of the award are to...
1. List 11 random facts about yourself
2. Answer the 11 questions that your nominator set for you
3. Choose 11 blogs to nominate (who have less than 200 followers)
4. Create 11 questions for who you choose to nominate to answer



11 random facts about me:

1. I'm a fairly picky eater. 
2. I study biology, psychology, art and English at school
3. I would love to live by the beach when I'm older
4. I'm a naturally cautious and anxious person - I rarely take big risks
5. I absolutely adore stars and the night sky
6. I'm quite a sensitive person and I take everything to heart
7. I have a diary that I write it quite often (my biggest fear is someone finding it and reading it!)
8. I love making people laugh
9. I never go out the house without make up on
10. I have naturally really curly, dark brown hair
11. I love listening to movie soundtracks more than any other genre of music



Shona's questions:

1. What's your favourite TV show?
I watch so many different programmes, I don't think I could possibly choose one! I've been watching Eastenders since I was about 11 and still love it. I also like Miranda, Casualty, Skins and Fresh Meat.

2. What's your favourite online shop?
I think BooHoo.com would have to be my favourite, but blackmilk is amazing as well.

3. Would more money make you happier?
I may sound shallow when I say this, but I wouldn't say no to a little bit more cash that I could use to indulge myself with now and again. I do love my shopping trips quite a lot :)

4. What song sounds like it was written about your life?
I've been thinking about this question for ages, but I really can't choose just one. My life is such a mix of awesome-ness and crappy-ness, so it's hard to pick just one!

5. What three words would you use to describe yourself?
Sensitive, energetic, joker.

6. What's your party piece/trick?
Sadly I don't think I really have any 'special skills'. I can roll my tongue and put my leg behind my head, but that's about it.

7. Do you have any piercings?
Yep, I've got one piercing in each ear. I really want a cartilage piercing, but I'm still mustering up the courage to actually get it done.

8. In what was are you different to how you were twelve months ago?
I've learnt not to trust everything that people tell you, to not care so much about what people think about you, and although you might be having an absolutely awful time and feeling really low and sad, it always gets better. 

9. If you could eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
This may sound boring, but I reckon I could live my life only eating chocolate. I adore the stuff, any flavour, milk/dark/white, yum.

10. What three items would you want with you if you were stranded on a desert island?
If I had to take items and not people, I would bring an iPod full of music (with an unlimited battery life), a diary + pen, and a phone that always got a signal in case I got bored of sunbathing.

11. What is the meaning of life?
I have not a single idea, but I'm hoping eventually I'll find out.



The bloggers I'm tagging are...


beadollblog
sequinbuttons
oliviagracebradley
lauracuddles
tan-livelaughlove
maddiestevens
frankest
treetrunkslife
vanillaparadisee
appletoothpaste
bettinahearts



My 11 questions for the people I nominate to answer are...

1. What is your favourite thing about yourself/your body?
2. If you could see anyone in concert, who would it be?
3. Do you miss anyone right now?
4. What one thing could you not live without?
5. What's been your most embarassing moment?
6. If you could only use one beauty product for a month, what would it be?
7. What makes you happy?
8. What have you done recently that's made you feel really proud?
9. What's your biggest fear?
10. What's your ideal career?
11. What's your favourite song at the moment?

My favourite jewellery!

For today's post, I thought I'd show you a couple of my favourite jewellery pieces! I don't tend to wear many accessories (usually because I just forget to put them on!) but I do have my collection of favourites...

This is my most worn necklace. I got it about six years ago at a zoo in South Africa - coincidentally, the shop I was buying it from was right opposite the elephant 'pen'! I love elephants/ellay-phants so much :) 

I love this little charm - the arms and legs move around and I find myself constantly flicking them whenever I wear it! :) I got it at a Christmas fair in central London about two years ago.

This is an assortment of my favourite string bracelets. The blue one is from a tiny shop in Mauritius that I bought this summer, the one at the top with the little key charm attached is from a stall in Camden Town, and the ying-yang-sign one in the right-hand corner is also from Camden.

This necklace is just adorable! As you can see, it's a little bubble-shaped glass jar of 'sweets'. I saw it in a cute trinket shop in France. The chain is quite long as well which I prefer (short chains can really irritate my neck!) 

I rarely wear rings as I don't think they really look right on my hands, but this bow one is so cute and subtle! I really like the charcoal, metallic colour as well, it goes really well with the sort of clothes I wear. I think I got it in a sale at Boots a year or so ago.

There's a slightly strange story behind the accumulation of this charm. I was on holiday with my family in America (I think) when I was quite young and we were visiting a big play-park for kids. There was a game 'stall' that involved digging through a sandpit, looking for the charms and trinkets that were buried in it and I happened to dig up this fish! I attached a really long, silver chain to it.  

I don't wear earrings very often, but this is probably my favourite pair at the moment - a cute set of gold dolphins. I used to have a pair of tiny horseshoes that I wore all the time and loved to death, but I lost one of them in the shower (hate when that happens!)

*all photos taken by me*

So as you can see, I tend to go for subtle, 'conservative' pieces rather than ones that make a statement, but I'm gradually pushing myself into buying more bold and unique bits of jewellery to add more colour or interest to my outfits! 

Lots and lot of love,

Ellay xxx

Beauty Wish List

I constantly have a list of beauty products/clothes/things in general that I am longing for, and I thought I would share with you what's currently on my beauty wish list right now!

1. Urban Decay eyeshadow primer potion

http://bit.ly/WbmF79

Yes, I know, I'm missing out. I've heard countless raving reviews about this product and have been desperate to try it for so long, but due to *cough* limited funds, I've had to make do with ELF's eyeshadow primer, which works just fine though! 

2. Origins High-Potency Night-A-Mins

http://bit.ly/omB9NM

I've heard that this stuff is a saviour for dry, chapped skin, and with these cold winter months, my hands get quite nasty. As good as this stuff may seem, I'm just not willing to pay £33 just yet, so it will have to stay on my wish list for the time being.

3. Topshop Highlighter in Sunbeam

http://bit.ly/U0Gi7l

I've been meaning to get into the use of highlighters recently (in the hope that I can achieve that glowy-dewey skin look!) and this Topshop one is meant to be great. I have Benefit's High Beam, but to be honest, it doesn't really do much for me but that may just be because of the way I am using it!

4. Benefit Blusher in CORALista

http://bit.ly/VfnVaN

I loved this blusher from the moment I swatched it on the back of my hand over a year ago in Boots, but again, it's just slightly out of my price range. 

5. Jemma Kid Light As Air liquid foundation

http://bit.ly/10FS4Ga

I've also seen many rave reviews about this product, some people even going as far as to say it is the 'perfect foundation'. Unfortunately I've had a hard time finding any shade other than Dark on any site online, so until then it shall remain here on my lovely list.

Lots of love, 

Ellay xxx 

Update: 08/01/13

Hello lovely people!
This is just a little update on my life as I feel like I haven't posted anything in a while. I thought it would be nice tell you about what I've been up to in the past week or so - it's been quite a good one! :) 

I started school on the 2nd which was ridiculously early and unfair considering most of the rest of country go back at least a week later, and immediately, all the relaxed-feelings and calmness melted away, replaced by stress and exhaustion. But to be honest, despite the constant stress due to the upcoming mock exams I have soon, I don't really mind school or the workload and the holidays were getting a tad boring/too unproductive!

On Friday, I got to speak to the mother of one of my friends about a career I'm considering going into when I leave school in a couple years. It was so useful, but has left me even more unsure and confused about the job as I was before! It definitely helped though. 

Then on Friday evening, I went to another friends house for dinner with a group of other friends. It was so lovely and I was pleasantly surprised with my friend's cooking skills - the food was brilliant! He cooked goats cheese and roasted tomatoes on toasted bread for starter, chorizo and cheesey pasta for main, and banoffee pie for desert (however, I was too drunk on cider and wine to have any room for desert - how classy! :S ). Overall, it was an unbelievably fun night! I love just hanging out with a group of really close friends, completely relaxed and content in each other's company. 
Howeverrrrr, 'events'... occured, and I must admit I did leave more confused than I came, and since then I've been feeling a mixture of irritation, confusion, but also insane happiness about certain 'things'. 

Saturday afternoon, I went with one of my best friend's, Emily, to Somerset House in London to look at Tim Walker's exhibiton 'Story Teller', which was absolutely incredible and I adored more than any exhibition I have ever been to before! I've completely fallen in love with his work, and haven't been able to stop thinking about some of his pieces since. It was truly beautiful. Me and Emily spent a couple of hours wondering around and staring at the hot guys skating around on the ice rink, then went sales shopping at the Topshop nearby! 

they serve delicious hot chocolate! 

gorgeous architecture 

this is a picture of the ice rink that I edited - I really like it, especially the purple hues at the top and defined white scratches from the skates!

Some family friends came round for dinner on Saturday evening, and I had a lovely, long, girly chat with the daughter who's a few years younger than me, but unbelievably mature!

Sunday was an unproductive day, I got very little work done and spent most of the time watching movies online, but it was rather nice to have a bit of a rest (which I obviously definitely needed after being back at school for 2 days!). 

I got the result for my art AS Level mock today - I got an A (the highest grade), which I am unbelievably pleased about, as it's nice to know that all the time I spent on it and effort I put into it payed off!

I must admit, this probably isn't a very interesting post for the majority of you, but I thought I would share it, just in case anyone was interested!

Lots of love, 

Ellay xxx