Monday, 18 July 2016

Mental Wellbeing

Do you ever have those moments where you sit there and wonder if your brain is turning to mush from all of the monotonous things that we do in our day-to-day life? Scrolling through Instagram, sitting in traffic, binging on the newest season on Netflix. Of course, I use my brain all of the time, but I guess I just don’t feel like I’m learning anything new.  

It was a few months ago when I was reading an article about how changing little habits in your life can really impact your future- I mean things like doing a Sudoku or crossword puzzle every day or reading part of a book before bed and it really had me thinking -what can I do to help me use a little more of my brain and really get more out of our ability?

Just under a month ago, I downloaded the app 'Duolingo' - specially designed to gently introduce you to different languages and help you to understand, learn, speak and write in the chosen language. There are over 20 different languages to choose from and Duolingo will take you from the very basics right through to telling the time, learning different professions and can even teach you how to flirt in the language that you've chosen to learn. It's done in bite-size chunks so that you're kept on your toes and it's very fun, animated and game-y, so you don't feel like it's a chore. 

I chose to do Spanish as I figured that it’s always handy to know, seeing as we love taking random trips to Spain and the Canary Islands and as it's something I've never done before, I really expected to struggle and thought that I would've given up my now. 

You can download the Duolingo app through your Apple app store or the Google play store and if you don't have a compatible device, you can simply use their website; https://www.duolingo.com/.



xxxxxxx

Tuesday, 5 July 2016

Pretty Pink Party



*Insert obligatory 'sorry for lack of posting' speech here* Kidding. But I really am sorry this time. I've literally just been crazy-busy these last few months and I've been away and working a lot and basically being a social-queen of late (I mean I quadruple-booked myself last Saturday night.. I don't think I even have 4 friends, so who knows how that one happened?!). 

ANYWAY enough rambling, I threw a mini girls party last month to celebrate a big wedding decision with my fave girls and, obviously, the theme was pink so I figured that you might want to see some deets of this? It was totally budget-friendly and a very cute evening was had by all.

Just as a little side-note, I'm not colour blind and I’m totally aware that the table runner is red, not pink, so please no hate (it's a new table and I think I'd cry if I ruined it already).


I put this party together mainly to announce that me & Luke have decided that we are getting married abroad! It makes perfect sense- we live for holidays. The next holiday gets me through the endless weeks of work (even though I definitely love my job) and it's something that we are so passionate about and I really don't see any negatives to this. I also just wanted everyone to get together and get the excitement rumbling!

I chose the pink theme as the boys were going to the pub and it's not very often that all the girls get together, and I just wanted everything to be very girly and pretty and I definitely think that it had the desired effect. The cute, feather string lights set the ambience just nicely, making it look that little bit more chic and I think that the metallic champagne flutes gave it a bit of a high-end vibe. 

Not pictured here is the pizza (uh, no girly night is complete without it), the popcorn and the numerous bottles of wine and frozen cocktails that were chilling in the fridge and the mountain of crisps and sweets that everyone brought with them - they know the way to my heart.

The girls loved it and it's definitely something that I'll be able to do again and again and hopefully have the same enchanting effect each time. 

If you're wondering where anything from the table has come from, I'll be making a list below so you can, of course, check that out.

Table - Ikea, table runner - B&M, cake stand - gift (similar here), napkin holder - Ikea, lamp - Ikea

pink napkins, pink paper plates, pink cups, pink balloons - Tesco party section

pink cake serving knife - Poundland 

plastic 3 litre jug, champagne bottle covers, metallic champagne flutes - Home Bargains

Small, glass serving bowls - Wilko

pink straws, pink cutlery- eBay

All food excluding cookies (Subway) - Asda


What do you think to this? Is it something you'd like to throw yourself? 
xxxxx