WHAT I WORE: ST PATRICKS DAY

Silk camisole: Primark, £6

Dark jeans: Dorothy Perkins, £22

Waterfall jacket: River Island, £38

Shoes: Tesco, £15

Bag: Primark, £12

EVER-CHANGING HAIR

I am blonde.

Well, ombre. But almost blonde.

I've always said that I'd never go blonde, but after dipping my toe in the 'ombre waters' last summer, I craved the sunkissed look & swore I'd go back after the cold, winter months were over, but I just couldn't wait that long..

So just before Christmas, I made the decision to get rid of the dark hair that washed me out, and take another divulge into the world of blonde-ness. I started off just by ombre-ing the ends, just like last summer, but was left feeling a little empty & wanting more to my hair.. After trolling through Pinterest and looking at what felt like thousands of ombre hair pictures, I finally decided that I needed to lighten my hair more, have highlights, and then carry the ombre up higher..After numerous boxes of bleaches and hours of waiting, I am finally happy with my hair, and can go off to New York with lovely golden locks, yay! 

xxx

THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME

I remember starting secondary school, and being asked "where do you think you will be in 10 years time?"
 My answer:  "Well, I'm going to be 21, so that means that Maisie, my little sister, will be 18 and that means that we are going to have a big party. And then I will grow up."

This time last year, my mum called a "family meeting".. Family meetings always include Dominos pizza,a new film and then an argument.. Always. Anyway, this meeting was to discuss the plans for mine and Maisie's special birthdays, and we had our sights on something very, very special and that's where this entire vacation came into plan.

 Honestly, I've been so blessed with my parents; I couldn't dream of a better set of people.. They have given me what most people my age can only wish for, and for that, I'm truly grateful. 

As most of you know, I am a massive, massive Taylor Swift fan and so this was very special to me. I bought the tickets months ago, and have literally thought about it every day since. It was like one big party that I never wanted to end! The tickets were a present from Mr X for mine & Maisie's birthdays and I am just so lucky that I have finally seen her live.

Just hours after the concert, we went off to London, Heathrow to catch a plane with the lovely people at Virgin Atlantic which took us directly to NYC. After checking into the (very fancy) Milford Hotel, right in the heart of Times Square, we went straight out for a little sight-seeing & dollar-spending. The 2 days following this were a complete blur, as we rushed here and hurried there, wanting to make the most out of the small hours that we had remaining.

Then we hopped on board the Carnival Splendor cruise ship. Cruising is something that we have never done before, but thought that we'd give it a shot; boy did we enjoy it! We chose this particular one do to it's 'casual quality'.. No black suits and prom dresses (imagine trying to cram all that into your case?). To say that it was casual, we wasn't expecting anything special or fancy, but I was completely blown away by the decor, the staff, the food, the itinerary.. everything! There was something to do at every hour around the clock.. From yoga at 7am, ice sculpting at 3pm and a movie on the cinema screen at 1am (and you even get free popcorn and blankets!). Hugely impressed. So impressed that I'd get back on it tomorrow if I could.

The first stop on the cruise was Florida.

How silly would I be to go to Florida and NOT visit Disney World?

Very.

So off we went to Disney World, happy as a 5 year old, whilst the boys went to NASA. 

I won't bore you with all my soppy details, but all I'm saying is that I can't imagine enjoying a day as much as I enjoyed this one. Ugh, the magic, the atmosphere, everything! AMAZING!

The second day in the Bahamas saw us dock at Free Port, but there wasn't much to be seen here that we hadn't seen yesterday, so we decided to have a ship day. We baked in the sun, swam in the pool, ate so much that I made myself feel sick.. The usual holiday behaviour.

After this, it was back towards New York we go, meaning 2 full days on the ship with no stopping.. It got majorly choppy at one point, and my sea sickness kicked in for an hour or so, but luckily it passed just as quickly as it had come. There was more than enough things to do.. We spend at least 2 hours on a 'duck hunt', looking all around the ship for 12 hidden rubber ducks.. and we only found 9 of the buggers! 

Getting off the ship made me feel a little emotional, truth be told. I don't know whether it was because I'm used to staying in hotels where you can come and go as you please, but here you obviously stay on the ship for 80% of the time.. That's your home. I'm also not sure if it was because I was thoroughly enjoying it. There wasn't one moment that I thought to myself 'ah, I'm bored' or 'I've had enough'. 

After the long flight home, I was told that we were staying in a cheap hotel for the rest of the day so that my dad can have a rest before the long drive home from London to Nottingham, and I was quite satisfied with that. We got to the 'hotel' (which genuinely did look run-down and b&b-like, so I really didn't suspect a thing), and were told that we couldn't go to the 'room' until AT LEAST 2pm.. Checking my watch, I realised that it was 8am and we had at least 6 hours to kill in a little place called Maida Vale. I was tired, hungry, jet lagged and feeling pretty darn shitty. 

We traipsed around the shops after finally finding a cafe for some breakfast, and then finally decided to waste a couple of hours in a local pub. So I'm sat there, drinking my coke, when a girl walks in with her case, smiling at me.. Literally, you know when something is such a shock that nothing registers.. It was just like that. My best friend, who had tricked me into thinking that she was on her way to Miami, had all this planned with my mum since last September and I had literally NO IDEA ABOUT ANYTHING! 

It was the best surprise that I could ever ask for on my 21st.. I was sad that she wasn't gonna see me on my birthday as she had done every year for the last 10 years, and this just topped off my birthday completely.

My mum has been an absolute gem to us over this weekend, so took us all to the Ice Bar for champagne cocktails and out for an expensive meal with plenty of cocktails. Oh and the shitty hotel was only a fully-blown, fancy apartment. It was absolutely beautiful.

I've been so spoiled in the last 3 weeks, and I can't thank everyone enough, especially my family, boyfriend and best friend.

xxx

BARGAIN OF THE WEEK: EP 2

As you should know by now, I've spent the last couple of weeks gallivanting off to various locations, sunning and shopping, sightseeing and (mainly) scoffing. Oh, the excitement! 

This week's bargain comes all the way from our friends across the pond in the beloved USA.. I took a trip to the very popular store that is Century 21 on the recommendation from a colleague and boy was I glad! If you've never heard of this store, then you are horribly missing out and should book a trip to the US ASAP just to take a trip here. Honestly! We didn't discover this until half an hour before we were due to get the bus back to the hotel in New York to get to the port & I am truly gutted that we didn't find it sooner. Think TK Maxx but with another 50% off the prices. Yep, that's right! 

Brace yourself for this one; 

Source of image

This beautiful dress, from a bespoke designer, came in at $5 from the original price of $550!! That's like £3.50 here in the UK! I literally could not believe it. I spotted it and ran to the tills with a tear in my eye that I'd missed out on all of those designer bags too, but the tight schedule didn't leave me the room to fulfill my shopping needs. *sob*

xx