New Years Resolutions

The problem with New Years Resolutions is that come mid January, that person you wanted to be is gone, the 'new' isn't so new anymore. 

So this year I've decided, instead of doing 'less' of things that are bad for me, I'm going to do 'more' of things that are good for me. That way it's a lot easier to better yourself in 2014!

So here's mine:

1. Save more. 

2. Capture more. 

3. Travel more.

4. Keep in touch more. 

5. Learn more. 

Hopefully you'll see how my journey goes over 2014!

What are your New Years Resolutions?

Jx 

10 Things That Have Made Me Happy This Week

I thought I would write something a bit different. Life has been so crazy, as I imagine it is for everyone at this time of year, that I haven't had a chance to take many photos, so an 'iPhone Eyes' post would be very boring for you to see! 

So I thought I would let you know 10 things that have made me happy this week. 

1. I am much more capable than I thought. Just when I thought that Christmas and New Year at work couldn't get any busier, it did. And guess what? We've done it! Only after something happens you can see your own strengths. 

2. My husband. This man will continue to make me happy every day. Even after a ridiculously long day he will still pick me up to make sure I don't walk home alone.

  

3. Christmas cards from family and friends. They show how many people love you enough to take time out and wish you a Merry Christmas. 

4. The sound of the wind and rain we've been having lately through the open window at night. My favourite sound. 

5. My family. We had our 'Christmas Day' on the 21st as all us 'kids' were working on the actual day. Turkey and roasties, and pigs in blankets, and mince pies, and Eton Mess, accompanied by bickering and photos and singing Christmas songs. I wouldn't have it any other way!

6. Lazy mornings watching Love Actually and getting dressed whenever I like!

7. How the smallest things can make me smile. Painting nails in Christmas colours, drinking Black Forest Hot Chocolates, pancakes with friends, seeing my Daddy, texts from my favourite people. I could go on until the end of time! 

8. Early bedtimes and sleeping through the night! Sometimes I feel like it's all one day running through!

9. Buying Christmas presents! Although stressful at the time, I have been so happy this week knowing that all my presents are wrapped and all our cards written. Giving presents is so exciting!

10. Knowing that it is now 2014 and there are so many exciting things to come!

What has made you happy this week? 

Jx

Verbs #2

Loving: my man, my family, my girls, my job. Corny but true.

Hating: the cold! Why is it Winter already? I love Christmas but I hate the weather so much! Maybe I should emigrate to Australia...

Listening to: (embarrassingly) Peter Andre... I think I've said enough. 

Reading: my new One Pot cooking book, excited to get my slow cooker and start trying out some new meals. 

Watching: Great British Bake Off! I'm obsessed, I need to catch up on all the series! 

Eating: pasta like it's going out of fashion! It just seems such an easy meal to eat at the moment, but in reality it's not great to eat every day! Looking forward to having a couple of days off to cook for my man and eat properly again! 

Anticipating: CHRISTMAS! I know, it's crazy soon, but the amount of Christmas planning we're doing at the pub at the moment, is making me so excited to spend some time with my husband and my family, even if I am working most of it!

Praying for: those who aren't looking forward to Christmas, those children who won't be with their families/getting presents, those elderly who long for their family to visit them. Christmas can be a magical time for some, but the worst time of the year for others, and sometimes I forget this. 

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Jessica xo

Five Bad Beauty Habits

I love seeing these types of posts on blogs, because I'm nosy basically. So I thought I would throw in my own one for your entertainment ;)

1. Touching my face. If you know me, you'll know this is my absolute worst habit. Ever. I can't help touching my face, I don't know why, and this is definitely the hardest habit for me to try and stop. I end up with foundation everywhere. On my jeans, pieces of paper, my iPhone, laptops, pens, mugs, glasses. You name it, it's there. I need to think of a way to make my face untouchable. Any ideas? Good luck Jessica. 

2. Not washing off fake tan. I think the problem with this habit for me is that David and I don't have a shower in our flat. Which means putting on fake tan overnight would need to result in having a bath in the morning and swimming around in green water. Nice. So instead, I just get dressed and just wash it off whenever I have to actually go somewhere important. And I end up smelling like corn flakes all day. I'm not making myself sound great here... Solution to this habit? Don't put on fake tan and just wear more layers in the winter!

3. Neglecting my feet. Especially in the winter I find the idea of painting my toenails totally pointless. Nobody is going to see them and the whole thing is just a chore. Maybe I should take better care of my feet, especially as I walk around all day in my job, and I'll have less feet problems later on in life. 

4. Not conditioning my hair enough. My hairdresser has given me strong words about this many a time, I'm rubbish at it. Again I think it's the whole bath situation, after having shampooed my hair in the bath, the last thing I feel like doing is rinsing out conditioner in the same water. I am getting better at it though, motivating myself to rinse my hair with fresh water and just having to sit there that little bit longer. 

5. Not washing my brushes often enough. I try so much to do this often, and I love the satisfaction if having clean brushes afterwards, but the fact is I'm just lazy most of the time. And then I complain about oily skin and spots. Perhaps reminding myself of these will help me to do it more regularly? 

Maybe I'll follow this up with a good beauty habits post, as there are things I'm actually good at doing as well!

What are your bad beauty habits? 

Jessica xo

iPhone Eyes #5

Wahaca London; best friend bus snap chatting; hyped for Christmas in Winchester; cousin photo opportunity. 

Family night out; first Christmas purchase; hand candy; face of the night. 

Jessica xo

Sunday Verbs

 

Another week down, where does the week disappear to?

Loving: the prospect of two days off tomorrow! Getting things done around the flat, pampering, washing brushes, shopping, and celebrating my gorgeous husband's birthday Tuesday. 

Hating: that moment when all your make up runs out at the same time. I can feel an expensive Boots trip coming up!

Listening to: The Vamp - Can We Dance on repeat! I love this song, so feel good!

Reading: less magazines! I'm desperately trying to wean myself off buying magazines for the sake of it! Only Cosmopolitan from now on! 

Watching: Kardashians, Peter Andre, Towie. Working long hours and watching serious tv is just never going to happen. 

Eating: Calamari, roasties and homemade Nutella cheesecake. Working Sundays always makes me eat weird things! The hangover cravings didn't help either!

Praying for: those who lost their lives fighting for their country, and their families. And those in the Phillipines whose lives have been devastated by the storm. It's easy to lose perspective in life, these days show me how blessed I am. 

Happy Sunday boys and girls!

Jessica xo

Every Day Is Like a Sunday

This weekend has been a bit of a long one! This post is coming direct from my sofa in my dressing gown, with another 5 hours of work to go this evening! 

Every day feels the same at the moment, I find it so hard to relax on a day off, thinking that I don't really have a 'weekend' as such. I am looking forward to my week off after this coming one, a time to get things done that I have wanted to do for ages, and to see friends and family without having to worry about the workplace (that's the plan anyway!)

Sunday is actually my favourite day of the week, with Church, lunch and family being on top of my priority list on a rare one off!

How do you spend your Sundays? 

Jessica xo

The Sunday Quote #2

Another quote from me on a Sunday! After a lot of hours put in this week, lots of emotions are bound to come out! I am so fortunate that I love my job, I really am so lucky. But sometimes the dramas of life just get on top of me, as I'm sure they do with everyone! 

More often than not, I need to remind myself of this fact: you are enough. I am enough, and I don't need the approval of others. And although this sounds over confident, I know that sometimes it is just what I need to remind myself that I am who I am for a reason, and so are you!

I'm hoping to blog more often from now on, with *fingers crossed* a little more time management, and anything you would love to see, I would love to hear! 

Happy Sunday! 

Jx

iPhone Eyes #3

Day off with hubby; party for the tiny bro; catching up with old friends; making Rolo cookies. 

First sleepover!; cocktails in Barcelona; mojito; first night ootns. 

Selfie; patriotic flowers; sangria; message from my favourite. 

Jx

What's in my Handbag?

The bag. 

My lovely bag is from Debenhams. I've always had such huge bags to carry around and this one caught my eye as it is compact, but still has enough space for what I carry around on a daily basis. It's by Ben de Lisi and I think it cost me around £35. However, the cost per use for me must be about 2p as I use it so much! 

The boring stuff. 

Everybody carries around boring stuff in their handbag, but I'm just so nosey and love to know what people keep! Tesco vouchers, flat keys, pub keys, my sunglasses from good old Primark, and an essential for me: eye drops! I get the worst itchy eyes from hayfever, this Rapitil stuff is amazing if you can get your doctor to prescribe it to you!

The purse and make up. 

My purse is by Marc B for Topshop and was bought for me by my lovely best friend as a gift, after mine was pretty much falling to pieces. I had a big leather purse that had so much ripping and so many holes that I was forever finding all my money in the bottom of my handbag where it had all fallen through the holes at the sides! Not ideal. This purse is, lets me honest, beautiful, no holes, fits in my handbag and has enough space for everything I need! 

This is the kind of make up I carry around with me from day to day, just to touch up really. 

Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in Dark Brown

Maxfactor Masterpiece Mascara

Real Techniques Blusher Brush

Look Beauty Blush in Rio

Carmex Cherry Lip Balm

Softlips Lip Balm

Natural Collection Lipstick in Apple Blossom

Natural Collection Lip Gloss in Fondant

Rimmel Apocolipse Lip Laquer in Nude Eclipse

I don't know why I carry so many lip products but I always seem to! Always a reason!

I hope you enjoyed snooping in my handbag, link me to any similar posts of yours, I would love to check them out! 

Jx

iPhone Eyes #2

With my favourite little boy; picture taking for a new post; reminiscing about my favourite day; date night with my husband. 

Hanging out with the Olympian; finding old photos at my lovely nan's house; gin and slimlines. 

My favourite girls on a night out; family photo opportunity. 

Holiday babies, berry lips, beauty essentials, La Roche-Posay. 

Jx

iPhone Eyes #1

Funeral day; girls back in Winchester; breakfast at Buddys; Slug cocktails; Monday day off reading. 

Jx

Downsizing My Life

I am incredibly honest about how I feel, and this blog is no different. This past year has been so hectic. If I thought the previous year was busy with working full time, and saving and planning for the wedding, I had in no way prepared myself for our first year of marriage. 

What surprised me most this year, is the amount of time David and I actually spend together. Whilst planning the wedding and working hard to pay for it ourselves, David was working nights and we were like 'two passing ships', or whatever the phrase is! This year after getting married we have had the time build a much more solid and committed relationship, despite a lot of crazy work patterns, tiredness and drama. If I have learnt one thing this year, is that communication is the most important thing in the world. 

I now feel I have the enthusiasm and the motivation to blog again, for a long time I just didn't want to. And that was the problem. I have found the most liberating thing I have been going lately is 'downsizing my life'. Too often life can just be full of too much 'stuff'. Decluttering the flat is one of the most productive things I have done recently, which led me to ask some questions about my life. 

Do I really need all these apps?

Do I really need to be part of this many social networking sites? 

Are some of those beauty products out of date? Are you ever going to use that? 

How many of your Facebook friends are actually your friends? 

All of these questions have made me stop and think, maybe I just need to simplify myself, and hit the refresh button in many areas of my life. 

For me, it is now time to be focused on three things; My Marriage, My Job & My Relationships with others. I am very blessed to have a fantastic job as Assistant Manager of the pub, and well looked after by great employers. Getting out of debt is key to liberating myself and preparing for our future. I am very lucky that I have a very small, very close circle of friends. Three amazing girlfriends, my family, and of course my husband. I love having loyal people in my life. 

How are you going to downsize your life? 

Jx