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 This set of drawers is originally made for keeping bolts and screws and general DIY 'things' in, but I thought it would be the perfect place to store all my necklaces!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 

Christmas Time!

Hello lovely people,

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas/holiday with lots of happiness and celebration!

I thought I'd share with you little snippets from my great day! 

My brother and I were up at the crack-of-dawn (well... 9:30am) ready to open our presents! After an hour or so, we drove down to my granny's, who lives about an hour away from us and opened yet more presents and had an AMAZING Christmas lunch :D

Then we spent the afternoon watching movies and playing with our gifts.

Overall, it was a brilliant day and I thought I'd show you some of the snaps...

 My lovely doggy snuggled on my brother's lap in the car

 That was good grub... (the turkey's hidden!)

 Chocolate tart... heaven.

And the presents...

I'm honestly so so cherished to have such an amazing family. 

 Chiffon top from New Look, black velvet shorts from Topshop

 Some art books I've been desperate for, Submarine (one of my all time favourite movies!) and The Perks of Being A Wallflower book (another of my absolute favourite movies - I had to get the book to go with it)

 Some beauty gifts! 

Soap&Glory products, Umberto Giannini hair products (came in a gorgeous wash bag), bath fizzers, Moroccan oil shampoo and conditioner and some Lush goodies

 2 sets of 'Sneezums' earrings from my lovely Grandma and an ear cuff from Topshop

 bareMinerals primer and eyeshadows in Rapture, Tiger's Eye and Cream Soda, and 'Studio' smokey eye make up set

 Fairy Dust candle (www.lily-flame.co.uk) that smells incredible, and Taylor Swift's Wonderstruck perfume and handcream that I've been lusting after for so long

 Some amazing food!!! Is it bad that I've already eaten half of the sea salt caramels, marshmallows and Terry's chocolate orange? Oops :D

And my shoes from www.boohoo.com! My mum gave me them early for a dinner I went to at the beginning of December and they're so comfortable! 

I also got a couple of other goodies and some money and vouchers. I'm so grateful for all the wonderful gifts I recieved, I've been so lucky!

I'd love to know what you all got for Christmas! 

Lots of love,

Ellay xxx

Ugly Days

I’m pretty sure nearly every girl will agree when I say 'ugly days' are the worst. Most of us, if not all, have them now and again. We’re girls, we’re not always going to be completely satisfied with how we look 24/7! But they’re annoying as hell, and typically, for me anyway, whenever I have them I just happen to have something planned that day for me to do, or people to see or impress. 

A lot of things contribute to the whole day becoming ‘ugly’ for me...

♛ Spots – I’m a typical teenage girl and just as I get rid of one, another three appear! I’m yet to find a miracle cream or gel that gets rid of them within a couple of hours (if anyone knows of any though, let me know! Haha J), and until I do, I’ll be a part of this constant battle against my skin.

♛My hair – sometimes I can leave my hair for days without washing it and my curls will stay intact and it won’t get greasy at all, but then there are other times when I’ll wash my hair and hours later, it’ll be like a mass of rats tails, or completely the opposite, and just a frizzy mess! Once again, a constant battle.

♛My body – I have many a ‘fat day’, especially recently with all this delicious Christmas grub everywhere! I always gain weight around this time of year and it really bugs me, but I have the worst willpower and can’t resist those extra roast potatoes for dinner, or hog roast baps at the Christmas fairs!

♛Friends and people in general – even a silly tiff with a mate or an argument with my brother before school can put a downer on the day and make me feel really self-pitiful and ugly.

♛In general, nothing going right.

When I have an ‘ugly day’, I act completely different to how I normally am. I’m quiet and reserved and feel unsociable and lazy. It’s crazy how much it can affect my self-confidence and today, typically the day when me and a few friends had a night out at the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park planned, I feel as vile as ever. I had to stop myself cancelling on them and spending all evening in bed with Eastenders and a big mug of hot chocolate.

The cause of this spontaneous ‘ugly day’ is mainly down to the massive swell that appeared on my top lip this morning. Yesterday afternoon, whilst playing with my ridiculously hyper doggy, he accidently bit my face when jumping up at me. I thought it was okay, until I woke up this morning with a swelled up lip with a red spot in the middle of it. Vile. With a crazy amount of concealer, I thought I’d be able to hide it and get away without anybody noticing. Alas no, over the course of the night, it eventually reared its ugly head and I basically ended up looking like I had three lips, which is just lavely.

So since I’ve been home, all I’ve been able to do is constantly check in the mirror at the disgusting mass on my face and wallow in self-pity. Ugh.

Whether we like it or not, we’re going to have these days once in a while and I suppose all we can do to help ourselves is prepare for them. So I recommend massive, share-sized bags of crisps, chocolate and a good romantic movie, and you should be feeling better in no time J

I also find that a nice long chat over the phone with a funny mate also helps cheer me up as well!  

Love and hugs,

Ellay xxx