My Christmas Day 2017

Hey everyone!

Seeing as it was Christmas just this past Monday, I thought it would be nice to tell you how I spent mine.

I woke up at the ungodly hour of 6am; we were supposed to wake up at 5:30, so I guess that counts as a sleep in. I grabbed my bagful of presents that was hanging on my door and brought it out to the lounge room near the tree. We (me and my younger brother) dug through our bags to see what Santa had delivered to us. I received a rose gold light up ‘N’, a tiny little body wash from Bath and Body Works, a sonic face cleansing brush, a blue insulated water bottle, a green off the shoulder jumpsuit and strapless bra to go beneath it (which is not pictured because that’s weird), and an avalanche of chocolate money (which I ate while watching the others opening their presents, so no picture of that either).

After completely emptying our bags, it was on to tree presents. One from Mum and Dad and the other from Santa himself (even though we discovered the secret about eight years ago, we still get Santa presents). From Mum and Dad, I received a black Mimco pouch with a rose gold circle in the centre. It is really pretty, and I love it so much. From Santa, I received a Fenty Beauty Foundation brush, which feels really nice and soft on my hands. Now I just have to find a foundation to use it with…

After presents, it was time for Christmas breakfast. We had to go fast since we had to be out of the house before 8 o’clock, having to be at Christmas lunch by 8:30. Mum had served up some choc-chip waffles (by accident, she didn’t realise they were choc-chip when she bought them!) with strawberries cooked in maple syrup and topped with vanilla ice cream. Delicious! After breakfast was finished Mum announced, “We need to bang!” (to which I scoffed). I soon realised she meant the Christmas crackers. I won one of mine and lost the other. Inside the crackers were little tealight candles covered in glitter, a paper crown and a corny joke or two. We then hastily got ourselves ready, packed the presents and food into the car and we were off to Christmas lunch with Dad’s family.

We were a little bit early to Christmas lunch (well, we weren’t last to arrive, at least) and I had been sitting down for maybe 5 minutes when I started seeing some little sparkling lights in my eyes. A migraine. Who gets a migraine on Christmas? This girl. I immediately told Mum and she got up to find the Panadol. After a little while, the migraine went away and I felt that weird feeling you get after migraines, sort of a feeling of emptiness, I guess. Soon after that it was presents time! The first presents I received were from Grandma and Granddad, and they were Harry Potter: A History of Magic and a bucket of Honeycomb flavoured Maltesers. My next presents came from my Dad’s auntie (who I just call Auntie), and they were an umbrella (awesome since my last one broke), a purse with Paris on, and a bracelet and a bookmark inside the purse itself. From my Dad’s cousin (whose house we were at), I received a photo frame with a string in it to peg about four or so pictures to, which I will definitely utilise once I find a place on my wall to hang it. And finally, from my Dad’s other Auntie and Uncle, I received Harry Potter: A Journey Through the History of Magic.

After presents, it was time for lunch. There were a vast array of hot foods on offer (it was lucky that we ate inside in the air conditioning!). Onto my plate, I stacked some ham, Mum’s roasted baby carrots, some roast pumpkin and potato, roast chicken, and some cauliflower bake with melted cheese on the top. It was bloody delicious if I do say so myself. There was barely time to fit in dessert as well, which consisted of the most amazing pavlova you have ever seen. It even had chocolate shaved onto the top! Then we absolutely had to leave so we weren’t late for Christmas dinner with Mum’s family.

Once we had arrived at Grandma’s house, we were blissfully welcomed into the air conditioning (thank God, it was at least 30 degrees at the time). We sat around for a little while just cooling off in the air con before moving into the front room for the third round of presents that day. First, from my Auntie and Uncle I received rose gold headphones and a rose gold pouch for them to go in. From Grandma and Grandpa, I received a blue and white striped top and some denim shorts with a cute little belt. And finally, from my other Aunt and Uncle, I received a black flowery off the shoulder jumpsuit and a box of Maltesers (that I still haven’t opened yet).

After presents were done, final preparations were made for dinner before it was served to the masses. Despite having a massive lunch, I filled my plate entirely. I got some turkey, some potato salad, Mum’s ambrosia salad and watermelon salad, and some green salad that I mostly got solely for the avocado in it. I also managed to steal some of my cousin’s ham since she didn’t want any more. The whole time, I was battling a sudden head cold that I assume I got from being in and out of air conditioning all day. My nose was running, I was sneezing loads and my eyes were watering enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool (and lemme tell you, they aren’t small). After dinner, we went back inside and played some Jenga (it turns out that even when I try to cheat at it, I still lose) and had some pudding with custard and chocolate sauce.

Overall, despite my body fighting against me for most of it, I’d say I had a pretty good day.

How did you spend your Christmas?

Love, Nicky x

The Christmas Tag

Hey everyone!

I thought that since Christmas is literally right around the corner that I would do a little Christmas tag to get everyone in the mood for the big day. I, of course, am already in the Christmas mood and am overly excited for it. Once the Christmas tree is up, decorations placed about the house, and lights strung along the front of the house, its hard not to feel at least a little bit Christmassy. So, on with the questions!

   1.       What is your favourite Christmas movie/s?

There are so so many Christmas movies, but my favourite ones are The Santa Clause (all three!), The Polar Express, and Elf. There weren’t any Christmas movies on TV this year – at least when I looked – but I have marathoned Harry Potter twice and although they’re not particularly Christmas movies, they make me happy and the Christmas scenes make me wish I could spend a Christmas at Hogwarts, but alas I never got my letter, so at home in Australia it is.

   2.       Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

We have always opened our presents on Christmas Day, in the morning. Sometimes we’ve had to get up super early because Dad had to leave for work (how rubbish is it to have to work on Christmas?), but we always do them in the morning. We have bags that hang from our doors (they’re like stockings but bigger) that get filled with little presents like books and pyjamas, and our main presents under the tree, one from Santa and one from Mum and Dad.

   3.       Do you have a favourite Christmas memory?

I don’t know if I have a favourite Christmas memory, but one that I do have that I like a lot is one year when Christmas was at my house I got Just Dance 3 on the Wii. After presents and dinner, we all got together in the living room and took turns in groups of four dancing like idiots and laughing a lot.

   4.       Favourite festive food?

I don’t know if it's festive, but every year my mum makes chocolate truffles and they are very good. I have at least five of those. Last year I had to be careful since I was wearing a white skirt. Another favourite is Ambrosia salad. It is technically a salad, but it is made up of mandarins, marshmallows and shredded coconut. I mostly just eat the marshmallows, but I still love it nonetheless.

   5.       Favourite Christmas gift?

Is it bad that I don’t really remember what I got for Christmas as a kid? One Christmas I do remember, I must’ve been twelve, I got my first ever phone. I was so happy that I finally had one that I accidentally broke it. I loaded too many apps onto it at once and it kinda crapped itself. Dad gave me a replacement hand-me-down phone for the two weeks it took to fix it, but after that, I took good care of it, like I do with all my technology nowadays.

   6.       Favourite Christmas scent?

Oooooh, that’s hard! It would have to be those Christmas spice candles, I reckon. Can’t get much better than that!

   7.       Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?

We always go visit either my Grandma or Great Aunt (on Mum’s side) for Christmas Eve nibblies and chats. I have kind of developed the tradition of always watching the Christmas Eve Carols on the TV. I’ve done it ever since I was little, and still do, even if no one watches them with me.

   8.       What tops your tree?

We have two trees, mostly because Mum buys way too many decorations to fit on the one tree that the excess goes on the other. Our main tree (the one the presents go under) has an angel atop it. I believe it may have been a wedding present, but I can’t be sure. I named her Christine and she watches over our present openings every year. Our second tree sits in the front room in front of a window so we can see it twinkling from outside. Atop it sits a red tree topper stick thing. I don’t really know how to describe it but it’s shiny, red, and has gold glitter on it around the base.

   9.       As a kid what was the one (crazy, wild, extravagant) gift you always asked for but never received?

I don’t know if I ever actually asked for it, but my auntie always told me to ask Santa for a pony. Mum or someone would ask four-year-old me what I’d like for Christmas and apparently, she’d be sitting right near me whispering in my ear “A pony! A pony!”. I never did get a pony, but to be fair I never did put it on my list. I don’t think it would have mattered either way; Mum would never have let Santa deliver me a pony.

   10.   What is the best part about Christmas for you?

My favourite part of Christmas is definitely the food. Sure, seeing family is good, and gift giving and receiving is great and all, but Christmas breakfast, lunch and dinner are where it's at. The best part of the food, though, is the Christmas crackers – terrible jokes and the paper crowns everyone wears on their heads while eating is so good!

Are you as excited for Christmas as I am? Either way, have a great holiday season!

Love, Nicky x

Christmas Wishes | Random

Hey everyone!

Welcome to the third and final instalment of my Christmas list this year! In this one, its everything that didn’t really fit into a category on its own, so I’ve lumped them all together and dubbed them ‘Random’. Most anything could be on this list, other than clothes, books and makeup, seeing as I usually have enough of those on my list to warrant their own category, and therefore post. Anyway, here’s the random assortment of items that made it to my Christmas list!

First off, which I put on my Christmas list almost every year, is a party sized bucket of Maltesers. It takes me about a week to eat through the entire bucket (mostly) by myself. I do intend to share, but nobody asks. Even when they do I give them, like, one or two. I am generous mostly, just not with Maltesers. They are truly the best snack food. I can sit in front of my laptop or on my phone for hours just munching away at the slowly emptying bucket. Sure, the bucket says party size, but some parties can be just one person, right?

The next thing on my list is a Harry Potter thing (Are you even surprised by this point? I’ve mentioned it in my last two or three posts now). I would really like a Harry Potter themed phone case, like a Marauders Map kind or a Hufflepuff kind (but Hufflepuff merch is particularly hard to find), but I really don’t mind as long as it’s Harry Potter related to be honest. The current phone case I have I received last Christmas, and its great and all, but the pattern is slowly being rubbed away by my fingers constantly touching it, particularly the area in the middle of the case. The plastic is also cracking in places from when I’ve dropped it or thrown it onto my bed with a bit too much gusto and it slides across my bed and lands on the floor just beyond the bed.

The third and final thing that made it on to the random assortment of items on my Christmas list is iTunes cards. I know, boring, right? But I really need them. At the moment I have about $3 left in iTunes credit, meaning that if any of my musicians release an album I will be able to buy about one song. I know for a fact that both Shawn Mendes and Dean Lewis are working on albums right at this very second and if I don’t have enough money to purchase their music, I might flip out, or scream, or faint, or all of the above. Can you tell I like music? Or am I being too modest? Maybe I should calm it down one or two notches…

Aaaaaaand that is the end of the random things on my Christmas list and thus the end of this Christmassy little series! I do hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

What random things are on your Christmas list? Do you like my list?

Love, Nicky x

Christmas Wishes | Books

Hey everyone!

Welcome back to the second instalment in my Christmas Wishes series. This time we talk all things books! I have gotten back into reading in a big way this year and I can’t wait to share with you the books I would like to read next (after I’ve read the current ones on my bookshelf first!) once I receive them for Christmas.

The first book on my list was also on my birthday list and it is The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton. First of all, the cover is really pretty; the way the golden feather stands out against the blue background, just yes. This book tells the story of a girl named Ava who is quite normal except for the fact that she has bird wings. To find a place where she fits in and to understand herself better, she goes on a quest. I think the whole idea of the story sounds very interesting (I kinda wish I’d thought of it first!) and I would really like to read it to find out more about Ava.

The next book on my list also has a golden feather on the cover (I guess I have a thing for golden feathers on book covers) and was also on my birthday list. It is Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley. This book tells a story of a girl who has a strange lung condition that makes breathing very difficult. One day, she looked up into the sky and saw a ship and heard someone calling out her name. The world she sees is called Magonia and she finds up there that she can breathe and has some kind of powers as well. She finds out that Magonia and Earth are on the precipice of war and she must decide where her true loyalties lie: Earth, where she grew up, or Magonia, where she belongs.

Another book on my list is Incarnate by Jodi Meadows, which doesn’t have a feather on the cover, but it does feature a butterfly which is just as pretty, I think. This book has been on my list since last Christmas, and also was on this year’s birthday list, so I’ve been wanting this one for a little while now. It is about a girl who is a ‘new soul’. Everyone where she lives reincarnates when they die into a new person, but with the same soul. She is the first to have a completely new soul and she must find out why and whether she’ll be reincarnated once she dies.

The final two books on my list are both Harry Potter related (I told you there was a running theme of Harry Potter, didn’t I?). The first is A Journey Through the History of Magic and the second one is simply A History of Magic. As the massive Potterhead that I am, I would love to have both of these books, so I can know all there is to know about the wizarding world. A Journey Through the History of Magic looks at some of the original manuscripts of the books, the curriculum at Hogwarts, and much more. A History of Magic is the book of the exhibition celebrating the 20^th anniversary of the Philosopher’s Stone, and contains artefacts from the British library, sketches and illustrations, as well as essays about the subjects of Hogwarts from experts in those fields.

Those are all the books on my Christmas list and I do hope you enjoyed this post. Next week is the final instalment of this series, so stay tuned!

What books do you want for Christmas? Do you like my list?

Love, Nicky x

Christmas Wishes | Fashion and Beauty

Hey everyone!

Welcome to the first instalment of the series where I show you everything I want for Christmas. In this post, I will show you all of the beauty and fashion things I have on my list. There’s not as much stuff on my list this year. I'm not sure why, I just don’t. I guess there’s just not as many beauty and fashion things on the market that pique my interest, but I do have a couple of things so stay tuned.

The first thing on my list is a Mimco Lovely Medium Pouch. It is very pretty in its simplicity, being a shiny black material with a rose gold circle in the centre, and I wouldn’t mind getting it for Christmas. Every single one of the girls in my family has one, and I don’t really want to be left out of that, so I have to have one. I can use it like a clutch for when I go out, or like a coin purse to keep in my handbag all the time. It will be very useful and also pretty. Win-win!

Another fashion thing on my list is a summery, floral dress. I haven’t got anything specific about it that I want like fabric or shape, I would just like it to be flowery and flowy, so I can wear it in the summer months and not get too hot. I really like floral patterns and flowers in general, so a floral dress would be lovely. I have quite a few summery dresses, but none that have flowers on them, so I need to fix that.

The last of the fashion-y things on my list is a Harry Potter shirt. I really want one because I love Harry Potter a really lot and shirts are a good way of showing it. In particular, I would like it to be either a Marauder’s Map one or somehow Hufflepuff related, as that is the house I belong to (you’ll find that this is a theme throughout my entire list). I have recently rekindled my love and obsession with all things Harry Potter and think that a shirt of it would be a perfect fit (mind the pun).

Now, on to beauty things! The first of these is a Fenty Beauty Foundation Brush. I have heard that Fenty Beauty is really good quality, so I would really like to try it. I don’t wear makeup often enough to warrant asking for actual Fenty makeup, but having nice brushes is always a good thing, and better than the ones I have at the moment that are all old and falling apart a little bit.

Speaking of foundation brushes, I would also like something to go with the brush. It is The Body Shop’s Tea Tree Flawless BB Cream. I have run out of my current BB Cream and would like another to replace it. The shade matches my skin pretty perfectly and it doesn’t break me out (touch wood). I want to try getting back into wearing face makeup more often. Not every day, especially if I’m not going out, but more often than I have been. Mostly I just put on some concealer if anything at all. I feel like with a new BB Cream that it will get used and I will get used to wearing makeup more often.

That’s all my fashion and beauty related things on my Christmas list. I do hope you enjoyed this post and stay tuned because next week is the second instalment of this Christmas list series.

What fashion and beauty things do you want for Christmas? Do you like my list (so far)?

Love, Nicky x

November Favourites

Hey everyone!

I can’t believe we’re already at the end of November. It just flew by! As did the whole year, really. I’m so excited that its almost time for Christmas as well. I am very much looking forward to it. There haven’t been many new things that I have used and liked this month, but I’ve managed to compile a couple of things that I have loved throughout the month of November, so here we go!

First off, not having to go to university has been absolutely wonderful. I had no exams at the end of this semester, so I finished up as soon as my last assignment was submitted (which I did a day early so I could have an even earlier start to my holidays). I’ve had so much time this month – I mostly devoted it to doing nothing much at all – and it has been fantastic. I have had more time to devote to my blog, which I have done as best I can – the laziness just takes over sometimes. I have had to be patient with my friends as they still had exams up until this week, so we couldn’t always hang out when I wanted to, but now I’m housesitting with a bunch of them for two weeks! The lack of university has also meant that I have slept in nearly every day this month since I switched my alarm off almost four weeks ago. It has been absolute bliss not having to wake up early to catch the bus. The other week, I didn’t wake up until midday. Mum was really mad at me for wasting half the day, but I thought it was great. I did feel a little bit guilty, but honestly, I think it was my body saying, ‘hey, you missed out on some sleep back there, here you go,’ and I couldn’t be more thankful.

Another thing that I have been loving over this past month is that channel 9 have been doing a Harry Potter movie marathon over the past four weeks, one movie every Friday and Saturday night. I am extremely annoying to watch Harry Potter with – it’s not my fault I know the entire script – and my family are sending me death glares every couple of minutes when I recite each line word perfect. I really love Harry Potter, okay? My friends understand me, but it doesn’t seem that my family does, which is a bit of a shame, but oh well. The final one is airing tonight and I’m very excited. I can already hear you saying, ‘but you’ve seen it already a million times!’ but I don’t care. I love love love them all so much and I don’t care who knows it.

I haven’t really read any books or tried any new products this month, but I did get some new clothes recently, and my favourite is this red and white stripy top from Glassons. It feels really nice to wear, first of all, and it looks really nice with high waisted jeans (unfortunately on picture day my jeans were in the wash). The top is a little bit cropped, but not a lot of my tummy shows, which is fine by me. It sits really nicely on me and is very comfortable. I also got it in plain black, but I don’t wear that one as much. I like wearing light colours, not fading into the background with dark ones. It’s a really good quality top and I really like wearing it.

This month, quite spur of the moment, I decided to try my hand at learning French. So, I downloaded Duolingo on my phone and have been taking the lessons daily. So far I can say lots of basic phrases like ‘The apple is red’ and ‘The child is a girl’. I have learned that objects have genders – for example, a table is always female – and that singular and plural words often sound quite similar, which can be a bit annoying for someone trying to learn it. I have really enjoyed learning French so far and will continue my learning into the future. I would definitely recommend learning a language as well. It broadens your mind and allows you to understand people you wouldn’t have been able to before.

What have your favourite things this month? Did you like mine?

Love, Nicky x

Uncontrollable Laughter and Everything After

Hey everyone!

It has been a little while since I updated you on the goings-on in my life, so I thought that there was no better time to do so than now. The past couple of months have been full of ups and downs, twists and turns, and I’ve managed to make it out the other side (relatively) unscathed.

I just spent five minutes straight laughing at a cat video, so much so that tears were falling down my face. It was the funniest thing I’ve seen all day, all week actually. I really wish I could show you the video, but I don’t know how to save them from Instagram to my phone. Basically, there was a cat getting annoyed at their owner’s feet moving under a blanket. The cat was hissing at them, then leaned his head back and shook it like he was powering up and then went for the kill and bit down right on the owner’s foot. I showed all my family members and we were all pretty much in hysterics. I don’t think I’ve laughed like that in a very long time, so it was nice, especially that I could share it with my family.

In other news, I still haven’t got my final marks back from uni yet, which I really want because then I will know my current GPA. Last semester it was pretty bad, but I think I did better this time around so maybe it’s improved, even only slightly. There is a story I’ve written for one of my assessments at uni that I really wanna share with you all, but I want to edit it with the feedback from the markers, so there’s nothing I can do about that yet. Final marks and feedback aren’t due to come out until the first of December, so there’s a little bit more waiting to do on that front.

Speaking of coming out, the results of the same-sex marriage survey came out the other day and it was a resounding yes! I’m so happy that the majority Australia is so supportive of same-sex couples getting married and that we aren’t as bigoted and “ist” as people think we are. I voted yes, obviously, and I’m so happy that loads of other people did, too. Now, I know this doesn’t mean same-sex marriage is legal yet, but soon. It will happen soon. Frankly, it’s been embarrassing not having same-sex marriage legal when there are so many other places that it is legal, but now we’re on our way and I’m so excited.

Another thing to be excited about what's coming ever closer is Christmas! I am sooo pumped for Christmas. I still need to sort out an outfit for Christmas Day and a Christmas list itself, but Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year and I just can’t wait. I can’t wait for all the Christmas movies to come on the telly, singing Christmas songs and not being stared at as harshly as I would in, say, April, and for the house to be decorated in all things red, green and sparkly. Also, I’m going with my friends to a Dean Lewis concert in a little under three weeks’ time, and I’m mighty excited about that. One more thing, one of my friends’ parents are going on holiday for two weeks for their wedding anniversary and my friend has invited us to live at her house during that time. I haven’t asked Mum if I can go yet, but I’m sure she’ll say yes so shhhh it doesn’t matter.

Aaand that's all that's been happening in my life recently. I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it (and experiencing the things I wrote about).

What’s been happening in your life lately? Are you as excited for Christmas as I am?

Love, Nicky x

3 Things University Taught Me

Hey everyone!

So far in my first week of my four months of holidays, I’ve managed to be rejected from the job I interviewed for, live without a deadline, unlike my exam-having friends, and not much else. Sure, I’ve been reading, but that’s about the most productive I’ve been. Oh, and I washed my hair this morning. That’s something, right? It’s nice to not have dirty, greasy hair. I definitely left it far too long between washes, but at least it’s clean now. From all my not-doing-anything, I haven’t been writing at all. I’ve not even come up with any ideas for any posts. I’m sitting here writing this, struggling to get words down. It’s like trying to fill out a 280-character tweet. It takes planning, effort, and absolute determination. But I will push through. I will. Today I wanna talk to you about what I’ve learned from my first year at uni, other than what my classes taught me.

First off, I learned that I am rubbish with time management and that I need to get better at it. There have been so many close calls when it comes to deadlines. I always made the deadline, but it was almost always down to the very last minute. Now, every morning, I write a to-do list, even if there is nothing I have due. I even put things down like ‘make bed’ and ‘eat’, because sometimes I forget. I find the to-do list insanely helpful with remaining on top of things. It doesn’t always work to get me to do work, but for the most part, it does its job well.

I have also learned that I’m not as rubbish as making friends as I thought. Sure, I don’t have their phone numbers or know where they live (that sounds a bit more ominous than I intended it to), but I know their names and can talk to them about uni and stuff. It’s nice to not feel so alone at uni, especially when the rest of your school friends go to different universities. I haven’t seen them since I last went to uni two weeks ago, but that’s okay, at least I’m not alone when I go there.

Another thing that university has unintentionally taught me is that I am better at things than I thought I would be. I never thought I’d be able to deal with all the assignments at university, especially because of my lacking time management skills (that I’m trying to improve). I think that I’ve proved to myself many times over that I can juggle six assignments at once, and get at least a passing grade on each of them. I’d thought before going into uni that I would drown in the massive workload, as everyone else stood on the boat, SS We’re Better Than You, watching and laughing at me sinking further and further under the waves of task sheets. Wow, that was an image. Don’t know where that came from. Anyway, I’ve learned that I can swim through the waves of assessments with a bit of difficulty, but considering I thought I’d drown, staying afloat is an achievement.

I guess you could say I’ve learned a lot in my first year of university, even if all of it wasn’t entirely intended. I did learn things that were set, obviously, but that wouldn’t make for an interesting post, now would it?

What have you learned about yourself this year? Do you go to uni as well?

Love, Nicky x

October Favourites

Hey lovelies!

I can’t believe it’s already November. This year has just flown by; how is there only two months left in 2017?! I submitted my last university assignment two days ago, so I am officially a free agent (yay!). I haven’t got all my marks back yet, but I’m sure I’ve done alright (at least enough to pass). Also, I had a job interview last Friday so I might be getting a job soon (squee!). I haven’t had many new favourites this month as I simply haven’t had time to go shopping, but I still found some new things that I already own to love.

I recently ran out of my face cleanser, so I dug through the bathroom cupboard to find another. I found the Garnier PureActive 3-in-1 and it works really well for me. It can be used in three separate ways: as a cleanser, as a scrub, and as a mask. In the mornings, I smear it all over my face and leave it there while I wash my body to give the mask time to work its magic. In the evenings, I use it as a normal cleanser since I don’t think you should really do more than one face mask a day. my skin has really thanked me for this. I have only gotten very few pimples since I’ve been using it and my skin feels smoother than it used to. It does promise to get rid of blackheads, and I still have quite a few of them on my nose, but I can use some pore strips for that. Overall, great cleanser!

Nintendo has very recently released a new mobile app called Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, where you go around catching fish and bugs, crafting furniture and setting up a campground for the animals that live there. I have been absolutely addicted to this game since I downloaded it two days ago. My phone says I have played it for a total of 5 hours and 6 minutes in the past 2 days. When I was little, I used to play Animal Crossing on my DS for hours and hours every day, so getting the app just seemed like a logical next step. I really enjoy playing it, even if there is no museum and very limited shops. Everything works seamlessly and has the same adorable art-style that made me fall in love with it in the first place.

Another one of my favourite things that has been happening this month is that my cat, Stanley, has been sleeping on my bed. I love watching him curl up at the end of my bed. He stays there for hours. When I’m sitting on my bed not paying attention to the rest of the room (probably on my phone) and I feel a little dip in the bed, I look around and he’s walking around finding a good spot to settle down. Right now, as I’m writing this, he’s laying down on my pillow, looking as relaxed as can be. He woke me up this morning and as soon as I lifted my head off the pillow, he began making himself comfortable on it. Today is sheets changing day, but I can’t move him; he looks so happy, but also he’ll hiss at me if I try to move him. I love him so much. He’s so cute.

My final favourite this month is finishing my first year of university. In my final week, I had five things due, three on one day, two on another. I managed to survive that week, getting everything in on time, so now I think I can do pretty much anything. I have enjoyed this year at uni, even with all the assessment struggles and speech nerves. I’ve made new friends and learnt new things about writing and about myself as a person. I’m really looking forward to my second year, but I’m very happy to have a four-month break in between. I’ll have a lot of time to read and write and relax and hang out with my friends (unless I get that job!) and not to mention Christmas!

That’s all my favourites for this month. I do hope you enjoyed this post.

What have you been loving this October? Do you like my favourites?

Love, Nicky x

My Anti-Bucket List

Hey everyone!

Did you know that this is my 150^th post? Me neither, until I looked at the numbers. I lost track of how many times I’ve posted and 150 has just come out of nowhere, you know? I’m not doing anything special to celebrate, though, since I’m so busy with uni stuff (which I’m currently procrastinating from doing by writing this. I’m still being productive, right?). I’m a bit scared of doing a giveaway because I’m not entirely sure how they work and I also have nothing to give away nor any money to buy something to give away. Instead of that, I thought I’d tell you about some things I never ever want to do in my entire life. An anti-bucket list, if you will.

    1.  I never want to go skydiving.

I don’t see the appeal in jumping out of a plane. I am a generally anxious person and putting me in a situation where I could die heightens it beyond belief. What if the parachute doesn’t work? What if the plane crashes? What if I land weirdly and injure myself and/or die? Why would you jump out of a perfectly functional plane when you can just, you know, not?

    2.  I never want to go bungee jumping.

Why would you willingly throw yourself off a bridge? That does not sound like my idea of fun. I know some people find this very fun and exciting, but what if the rope snaps? What if you drop too far and hit your head at the bottom?

    3.  I never want to lose my love for reading.

That would absolutely crush me. I would hate to hate reading and struggle to understand the people that do. I already know people who hate Harry Potter, which makes me really sad. I also know people who don’t read. One of them said, “What’s the point of reading if there aren’t any pictures?”. Also, I was just reminded of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone movie where Hermione says, “Honestly, don’t you two read?”.

    4.  I never want to go to prison.

Not that I’ve done anything to get me there, but I’d hate to imagine little tiny me in a prison with big scary lawbreakers. What would I even do to go to prison? I’m one of the most goody-goody people I know. I’d probably end up going to jail for something really stupid. Or straight up murder. For hating books, obviously.

    5.  I never want to watch a horror movie.

My mind already assumes everything that goes bump in the night to be a demon. I don’t need any more nightmare fuel thank you very much. I hate being scared and I jump at a lot of things, even if they’re not scary. I also don’t like seeing blood and gore all that much, and would much rather watch a Disney movie, or Harry Potter.

    6.  I never want to have to worry about money.

I want to be able to live comfortably without having to worry about if I can afford things. Of course, at the moment I have it pretty sweet. Living with my parents and not having to worry about anything, but it won’t always be that way. I want to be able to support myself once I move out of home (which I hope to do before I turn 25).

    7.  I never want to get a tattoo.

I’m not even that good at deciding what to order at a restaurant, so deciding what to have permanently inked on my skin would be impossible. Also, I have a very low pain tolerance so it would be absolute hell. If I was to get a tattoo, it would have to mean a really lot to me. I’m not gonna go and get my significant other’s name on my bicep, then later have to cross it out when we inevitably break up. I don’t have anything that means enough to me that I want to permanently display on my body.

And that’s my anti-bucket list. I do hope you enjoyed it!

Do you agree with me? What do you never want to do in your life?

Love, Nicky x

Spring Morning Routine

Hey everyone!

Seeing as it is now spring, I thought I would share with you how my morning routine has changed from winter to spring. Where I live, spring is pretty much skipped over straight into summer. Last week we literally had three days in a row with maximums over 30 degrees Celsius and we’ve already started having summer storms. Because of this hot, summery weather, my skin has been breaking out a bit more than it did in winter. Anyway, here’s my new morning routine!

The first thing I do when I wake up is scroll through social media apps on my phone for about fifteen minutes, depending on how much time I have before I leave for university. Then I get up and have a shower. Once I’m in the shower, I wash my face with Simple Spotless Skin Triple Action Face Wash or the Garnier Pure Active 3 in 1 face wash if I have a breakout of pimples. Then I get my Lush Snow Fairy body wash on a loofah and wash my body. 

Once I’m out of the shower, I get dressed (obviously) into a light dress or crop top and skirt, since spring and summer are synonymous where I come from. I probably should moisturise my body, but the truth is I forget to. I have so many barely used body moisturisers sitting on shelves and in drawers all around my room. I don’t even really moisturise my face, but I’m more likely to moisturise my face than my body. I only do it if I notice that my face is dry. If I do notice this, I use the Formula 10.0.6 Picture Perfect Day Gel Moisturiser which also has SPF in it, which is great especially for the summer time.

After maybe moisturising my face, I go to the kitchen and make some cornflakes for breakfast and take my puffer (since I have asthma). I watch some YouTube videos on my phone while I eat. I only get time to watch one or two videos, but it’s something at least. After breakfast, I brush my teeth. Ever since I got my braces off, I have been doing my best to keep my teeth as clean as possible; I don’t want to ruin what I’ve waited so long for, after all.

Next, I brush through my hair with my Tangle Teezer and put my hair up into a ponytail. The height of the ponytail depends on two things: (1) how hot it’s going to get in the day and (2) how cooperative my hair is. If it does not cooperate, I end up going with a low pony. I don’t bother with makeup much at all unless I’m doing something important that day. I don’t deem university as important as I kind of just get in there, take notes, then go home. I like to think that it’s because I’m so confident in my own skin but mostly it’s that I can’t be bothered.

After doing my hair and not doing my makeup, I pack my bag (unless I did it the night before) with whatever I need that day like notebooks, pens, my laptop and things like that. I then go to the kitchen to fill up my water bottle and cut up an apple, since I’m always home by lunchtime so I can just take a snack and be okay. I then go back to my room and put on some deodorant so I don’t stink up the place, and if I remember, I’ll put on some perfume.

Then I pick up my bag and heave it onto my shoulder, bid goodbye to anyone still in the house and hightail it up the street to the bus stop.

Do you like my morning routine? What’s yours?

 Love, Nicky x

September Favourites

Hey everyone!

Again, we have made it to the end of the month. Only three more to go this year. There are less than 100 days until Christmas and I’m already ready for it to hit me like a one-horse open sleigh. September gave me a lot of stress. There were three assignments all due in one week, and none of them were easy. I finished them all, thank goodness, and am currently on my uni break. Its only one week, but at least it’s something. I have spent the majority of this week watching movies and spending time with my friends, but Mum keeps hounding me to get a head start on the assignments due in the coming weeks. As of yet, I have done exactly zero work on any assignments, but I am reading a book for one of them so that counts, right? Anyway, on with the favourites for this month.

I started rereading the Harry Potter books right at the end of last year (Goodreads says I started Philosopher’s Stone on the 16 of December and finished it on the 18^th). Overall, I finished the first three books before the end of 2016 but didn’t finish the Goblet of Fire until late July because of uni. The final three took me until mid-September to finish and I loved every moment of them. I cried a lot more than I thought I would. Considering I usually never cry over books, crying over Sirius, James and Lily was a lot for me. I can’t explain how much these books have changed my life. I grew up trying to be like Hermione and learned the power of love and friendship. I love the world of Harry Potter – so much, in fact, that I dreamt I was a witch the other night – and get pulled right into the world whenever I open the books.

Since I had a week off uni, I decided I would marathon the Harry Potter movies (as if I couldn’t get enough from the books). I have not yet finished the marathon as Mum wants me to do work. I have one more left to watch, but having seen them all a billion times, I think I can speak with authority on this subject. I love the movies just as much as I love the books. Admittedly, there are a lot of inconsistencies between the books and the movies, but for the most part, everything is perfect. The movies are a lot easier (and faster) to get pulled into as they go for around 2 hours each, whereas a book can take up to (in my case) six or seven months to read. I think the total run time of the movies is 19 hours and a bit, but I consider marathoning the movies to be at least 2 movies per day. Once, Mum and I watched them back to back to back and managed to finish the series in two days (and I cried at every death, even Voldy’s – I may have already been crying from Harry’s death though). I can’t put into words how much I love the world of Harry Potter, but I do love it very much.

It makes sense that this month’s favourites are very Harry Potter-centric, seeing as September 1^st this year was ‘19 years later’, the day Albus Severus (still not okay with that name) Potter got on the train to his first year at Hogwarts. I don’t really have any other favourites from this month, as I’ve been so busy with uni and Harry Potter that I haven’t had time to try new and different beauty bits.

Do you love Harry Potter as much as I do? What things did you like in September?

Love, Nicky x