Blogging away

Sooo hello there my blog, It seems I had somewhat forgotten I had even started a blog (well not actually but it sounded good).

I have recently well actually last year as it's now 2014 yiiikkeess! From about September until the current day (which is January 10th) realised what it means to be living a 'actual' very busy life and being in somewhat of a bubble, which has resulted in me neglecting my starting to blog. The reason for this bubble like effect to my life was moving to a totally different city and becoming a student busy busy busy. Also it's amazing how typing out a few words on a keyboard & putting it out there on the worldwide web, can make a girl feel really anxious thus the fact I have a million draft posts...But  I vowed to start a blog, even if only for myself so here goes FINALLY HOLLY BETTER LATE THAN NEVER! 

I can't yet tell what my blogging 'niche' will be (hurm who says I need one) but for now I like the idea of blogging about what takes my fancy and hey, it doesn't do you any harm to do a little bit of what you like every now and then! 

Well that's one of my new years resolution already being followed only about 6 more to work on :) 

August favourites

August has been the best of the summer months for me, I've been super busy in more ways than one! I can't believe how literally fast August flew by, but I love fall and winter so I'm excited.  I'm now going to share my favorites of this last month with you.

1) My family, we recently went through a little trauma & it made me realise how much they are my favorite people in the world!

2) Pretty little liars (TV show),  oh god I just love it.

3) Morrocan argan hair oil paired with my fabulous curling wond.

4) Thrift shopping ,I managed to thrift a pair of brand spanking new next jeans for £1.50. That's not all I picked up a hardback book I've wanted to read for £1 and they retail at £14.99 :O 

5) A restaurant known as " Muffin break" I've been into the city center of my home town near enough 1000 times and have never been in this place. This month I have been lucky enough to discover the wonder of Muffin break and it's friendly staff! 

6) Concealer to be on point, the bonjour healthy mix concealer & Rimmel wake me up. It's definitely a girl or boys best friend. 

7) Two dates have been my favourite the 15th (Alevel results day for me) and 22nd (GCSE results for my brother) both filled with happiness and pride.  

8) Vaselin moisturiser it does a bloody good job of keeping skin soft without all the sticky fuss of some moisturisers. 

9) Ellie Goulding's Haylcon/days album it is amazballs I can't explain how much love I have for it. I urge you to go and give it a listen.

10) My real techniques stippling brush, I love putting my base makeup on with this. It just makes my life easier and helps my make up look tip top I think.

11) I adore YouTube but I'm going to say my favourite this month has to be 'The Shaytards'. They are just beautifully family at its very finest.

12) My flats from office I brought these years ago but have worn them near enough all August.

13) Avocado & poached egg on wholewheat seeded toast NOM!

14) My count down widget as a I'm counting down to the start of my next chapter.

15) Lastly my Katie Piper book of 365 affirmations for a year of positive thinking which was a Christmas present, it has really made a difference to the way I think about my days.  

What have some of your favourites been? Doesn't it seem like August didn't even happen?!

Happy September love Holly x

French style toast with assortment of Fruit

Nom nom nommy nom!

This French toast style, yoghurt and fruit is one of my favourite breakfasts. Granted I don't eat it all the time as I'm not a huge bread lover but it's one of them dishes that is perfectly quick, pretty and a delight to eat. The dish also looks beautiful if you are trying to impress with your culinary skills ;)

So here is how I put together my version of the dish. Also a quick tip it's perfect to make if your bread isn't so fresh and is a little 'crusty' don't waste food.

You will need:

- A couple of rounds of bread any of your fancy, I used whole grain with added seeds.

- One or two eggs this depends on how many rounds of bread you are using, one egg did me fine with my two rounds of bread. I also add a tad bit of vanilla extract to my beaten eggs.

- fruit now this is where you can get creative and use any fruit that takes your fancy. I used Grapes and a banana as they were to hand seriously get funky with the fruit.

- Jams/ yoghurt you can use a little or a lot again all down to you. I however used a tad bit of an ikea red berry jam (it is so versatile and yummy) and a greek yoghurt. 

Another tip you could also add honey or nutella to your end dish, play around with the dish makr it your own.

That is litrally all you will need in terms of food.

-Now you'll need a hot frying pan with a tad bit of oil, feel free to use any oil you feel comfortable cooking with. 

-A pair of tongs or spatula to monouver the bread in the pan.

-Sharp Knife to cut up your fruit.

-Of course a plate to serve your yummy dish on.

-A couple of spoons to add your jams or yoghurt.

-You'll need a bowl big enough to dip your bread in when you add your egg.

The dish will only take as long as your bread does to cook until it's nice and toasty.  Average about 10 minutes maximum.

Okay now your ready and you'll be shocked how fool proof this dish is. Right I start by beating my egg in the bowl add in a few drops of my vanilla extract,  now I take one piece of my bread and dip it in my beaten egg. I like to make sure both sides of my bread are nicely covered I just repeat this step with my other bit of bread.

Now take the eggy/vanilla bread and pop it in your pan now just watch it closely so that it doesn't burn at all. Your looking for that golden colour, I suggest turning the bread over a few times. The bread shouldn't be soggy it should be crisp just like toast. Sometimes I like to finish it off under the grill but you really don't have to.

Whilst I'm cooking my bread I like to just chop up any fruit I may be using so my banana and grapes. When the bread is done and is now nice and toasty I add my jam and yoghurt, then my fruit and we my friends are finished go and eat your lovely dish! 

Woweee you have got yourself a tasty dish I told you it was simple and it looks drop dead beautiful.  It's know surprise that we eat with our eyes!

Just a quick side note I love cooking and making tasty dishes but I am no chef.

Zara City bag with zips Review

So with my move to university literally just around the corner, I have needed to go shopping for the essentials that any girl would need to take those all important steps! One of them essentials being a new bag to carry around all of that £9000 worth of work & learning aids!

So I had walked the whole of my home town at least twice before I thought I was never going to find a handbag that fitted the bill! I had seen the zara city bag (£49.99) as it has become very well loved and recognised by other lovely bloggers and even celebrities such as Lucy Meck (TOWIE) and Michelle Keegan (corrie).

Zara city bag 

 I really liked the square, black and many pockets design  of the bag as it would be perfect for carrying around just about anything. I did however hold off on my love for the bag as I'm very much a shoulder bag kind of girl. Although the bag comes with a shoulder strap, perfect design and sleek black colour means that it would also go with any outfit or event a girl is or was to attend winwinwin! 

So after my trip around town looking in many of my other favorite shops but being very well disappointed at how beautiful but how small all the in stock bags were. I head to zara as I remembered how much I loved the zara city bag, I was filled with dread when there wasn't hardly any bags in stock but just on the way out HELLO the one and only bag that was the Zara City bag with zips! Just a note for some reason I love how these bags are known as "zara basics" 

Zara city bag with zips

Now this isn't the typical zara city bag others have been flaunting, it has a price tag of an extra £10 making the bag £59.99. Now the zara city bag with zips only has a few differences to the zara city bag (£49.99) I'm going to list them with photo's now for you. 

1) It only has two big zipped sections and a smaller sized zip section that is in the clipped section of the bag.

2) It is less of a harsh square shape like the other zara city bag

3) The strap on this bag seems to have more detail which I really like

4) There is a clasp to keep the handles of your bag together.

5) The zips are of a different design which is kind of given away in the name of the bag I guess.
R- zara city bag with zips. L- zara city bag

6) The zara office bag with zips is literally only like a eneyweeny bit smaller than the zara office bag. The zara website is perfect for checking exact sizing of bags zara office bag measurements- 30 x 42 x 15 cm.  zara city bag with zips measurements- 29 x 40 x 16 cm.
I personally think this bag is just cosmetically different as you get the same amount of space as you do in the 'original' zara city bag. I think when making the decision it would all come down to your own personal choice(Just as it should).

 I like that the two zipped compartments meet when clipped together this covers the more open area of the bag. As I live in England and we get a lot of rain and horrid weather which is never ideal when you have to walk around, I feel that this feature will help keep the contents of my bag dry phew.  I love that one zipped compartment is padded for a Mac book/laptop should you wish to use it, there is also an iPad slot in the other zipped compartment (also in zara office bag). It amazes me that even our handbags are so in tune with technology these days! 

I have filled the bag with some of the things I think I will take to uni with me on a daily basis and it isn't to heavy to carry. I am sad that it doesn't fit my 'new' ring-binder folder in,  I do think I will need to take some sort of small (pretty) shopping tote style bag some days as I will need to carry heavy books and bigger folders! Unfortunately I think the only kind of bags that accommodate for this type of use are huge luggage bags! I do however always over pack no matter what the circumstance I like to be prepared. 

I do really like this bag a lot despite the pretty pricey price tag and I think it will serve me well throughout my experience of becoming a first year "undergrad" student. 

Don't any of you other girls out there agree that zara do some absolutely stunning bags, like wow!! 

*I was lucky enough to have the zara city bag with zips brought for me as a "goodbye, goodluck" gift. All thoughts in this post are my own.  

Hello there

Hi, I'm fully aware that as I write this blog post I have no blog followers yet which is perfectly fine as everyone must start somewhere. So here is my starting point, I have wanted to blog for a very long time now and I thought now is finally the time to give it ago. 

So firstly "Hey its ever so nice of you to look at this blog post, I'm Holly." 

Hey :) 

I really want to indulge in a bit of everything beauty, lifestyle and general chitchats. I very much like the idea of blogging whilst I’m on this crazy journey called life, you never really know where you’re going to end up from one moment to the next. If you stayed and read this post until the end then thank you very much, I hope that I can develop on my blogging journey and that people just enjoy reading the thoughts & feelings I fathom into sentences.

Bye for now Holly x