And onto the next one!

Hello one and all!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and got to spend it with the ones you love and ate a silly amount of food!

A couple of days before Christmas, I finally handed in my portfolio and work for my deadline, and the feeling of freedom I felt as I slipped those pieces of paper in the hand-in box was better than I anticipated!

I then went on to celebrate with festive fun with friends before trekking around the country and spending so much-needed quality time with family.

I went to fulfill my Aunty Amy role and had light-saber fights with my ever-growing 6-year-old nephew, and hide-and-seek with my niece. Before spending Christmas in Yorkshire at my brother's with the family, and it was cozy and filled with love, and I ate more pigs in blanket than you could shake a stick at!

But now it's that weird limbo stage in between Christmas and New Year, and i'm trying to motivate myself to organize all my work for Uni before I start the next term so it's not too overwhelming and I get time to enjoy all the other precious things in life.

And once again, I can't believe how quickly this year has flown by, more so than ever. It seems like it was last week that I graduated. In some ways, I feel like I've been living in Sheffield for what seems like forever, despite moving there 3 months ago, and at the same time, it feels like yesterday when I drove up and moved in.

A lot of things have happened in 2013.

It was one of the happiest, most enjoyable, yet most stressful years of life so far.

I survived Uni and graduated with my fashion degree in hand!

I'd not sewn and worked as hard ever in my life, and I haven't even entered the working world yet!

I graduated with the people I've shared my life with for the past 3 years, some who I know will be friends for life, and some who sadly, I thought were close friends but after sharing their true colours, I knew they were not who I thought they were.

I moved out of the uni home I'd lived in for the past 3 years, which also meant no longer living my 2 of my closest friends, which I've now found myself missing more than I thought I would. As much as I enjoy living in my new flat and my new flat family, it's just not quite the same and I miss these 2 crazy cats.

I spent the first year in a long time, not as part of a couple, and as hard as it was to accept and deal with at first, I had the most fun in my life for a long time. I really did lose part of who I was a little bit in my past relationship, and I became more independent and happy with myself this past year.

 And it made me realize, as much as I loved him, and I wouldn't change any of it for the world, we just were not meant for one another. Our memories make me smile so much and I'm so happy that after all we've been through, we still have our friendship :)
I generally have faith that people are genuine good people, and so when you not feeling you're tip-top, I think it's easy to lose sight of this. Yes, there are nasty people out there, but it'd make me 10 times more sad if I lost that belief and became skeptical. I'm excited for what's stored next for me over the horizon!

I've been putting in some major Aunty Amy time with my nephew and nieces, who are just TOO CUTE!

My oldest nephew, Lewis, is 6 and a half now, and it's been absolutely amazing watching him grow up and develop his own little personality. With my brothers watching my grow up, and supporting and looking out for me every step of the way, I cannot wait to do the same for all 3 of them :)

And of course, I moved to Sheffield. I'm exploring and getting to know a new city that I'm falling in love with. I learning new skills and lessons in class and in life everyday, and found out so many new things about myself too.

And, I've made a whole new load of great friends. 

Gals and guys who are so sweet and funny that they keep me sane throughout the mountain of revision and

articles that need to be done.

Flatmates that are hilarious and have been part to make up our happy family of a flat that is C20.

And one of the longest running things is that every week, our happy flat gets split in 2, as us girls go against the boys in a pub quiz! It all gets very intense. We've won gloriously with cash in our hand, and lost terribly with boys mocking us, but  in the final...we came 2nd! Girl Power!

And then there's Kim. 

In her words, she's my kindred spirit. I didn't think anyone could be more in love with Disney and all things sparkly and glittery as me, but thank god I've found this girl to share all my wacky and eccentric moments with. I've got many best friends, who have made their way close to my heart throughout different stages of my life, and I'm very happy and glad that she has a place there now too, for good!

And more recently and much less importantly...i cut my fringe (or bangs) cut back in! I've missed my eyes peeping out from under it, and having it keeping my forehead warm and cozy during the winter chill! AND, I finally braved up and got my nose pierced which I've wanted for a while. I love it at this point in my life, and the fact that there's a part of my face that twinkles when I move just makes me happy!

I'm not really one for resolutions, if you want to change something in your life, you shouldn't need to wait until a new year to do it! But, I know I need to stop over-thinking about little things. I'm not one for stressing at all, but I read into more lines than an obsessive bookworm, and it's not good for my little mind! I need to just live life in the moment instead of worrying about the little things.

What have you loved about this past year? And what are you hoping for 2014?

I hope you all have a great NYE, whether it's just chilling out and enjoying the company of friends and family, or if you're putting on your heels and painting the town red! I hope you get to spend it with the ones you love :)

A new year means new adventures, new memories, and anything new you want to make about yourself!
And I for one am excited!

Hope you're all well,
Speak soon,
A.x

Mistletoe & Wine

That sparkly, twinkling, festive-fun-filled season is creeping up upon us once again, and I for one am giddy with excitement!

And if that wasn't a good enough reason to wear your Christmas jumper with pride, tomorrow on Friday 13th December, it's Wear Christmas Jumper day ran by the charity, Save The Children UK.

Apart from the obvious reasons why I love Christmas, spending time with loved ones and stuffing my face full of yummy food, one other the other reasons is the kitsch, insane, adorable and cozy knitwear!

I really do love a Christmas jumper, whether they're cute with reindeers prancing acros it...

....a bit of traditional in a fairisle style....

....more swish and extravagent with some sparkle that even a snow queen would be proud of...

....a bit cheeky and cause a bit of a Christmas chuckle...

....something more home-made and completely crackers and crafty...

 

...or just good' ol totally and loveablly tacky!

Save The Children UK has also brought in the forces of fashion designers and they've all out their own take on a plain white jumper.

All of them I think, reflect the brand perfectly, and I think it's a brilliant idea! Not only do you get a one-a-kind beautiful piec of knitwear, but you're also helpng with charity....i don't think you could get more speicla than that! So if you can, I'd definitely go and have a bid on one of these!

There's bright and bold from Giles, delicate and floral from Jonathon Saunders...

Funny and festive from Paul Smith or abstract and fruity from Matthew WIlliamson

My personal favourites though are.

This cute and quirky scene of pure British by Burberry, complete with even pouring rain of hearts...

This clever, cozy number by Anya Hidmarsh, beign a lvoer of anagrams, I lvoe the meaning behind this and especially the lettered beads around the neckline and cuffs of the sleeves...

This beautifully and extravagently embellished piece by Alexander McQueen all on a simple and serene pallete of white...

This dreamy concoction of fluffy pastels from Peter Pilotto...

And my ultimate Christmas jumper liust it this beautiful and bold grid of ribbons, mistletoe and holly by Mary Katrantzou , which would just make you look liek the most perfectly wrapped present in all the land.

Sources: Save The Children UK, Glamour online

Which one of these designer lovelies is your favourite? What kind of Christmas jumper do you usually go for?

You can find out more about the day here, and bid on the jumpers here.
And to find out more on what this brilliant charity does, just click here.

Hope you're all well and getting your Christmas shopping underway!

Speaak soon,

A.x

We were born & raised, In a summer haze

Do you ever have one of those night where you watch a video YouTube, and there's that bar of related videos down the side, and you think, "oh, i'll just watch this video too....just one more", and before you know it, you've clicked on your 20th video and you've ended up watching a cat jumping into a box, when what you started off with was a cover of a Lordes song...

Well, this happens to me on a regular basis. I fall into the Youtube trap so much, and before I know it, it's 1am and the article I promised myself that I would finish is still a half-done string of words.

This is exactly what happened the other night, but what I ended up watching at the end ofthe line wasn't some furry animal, but a lioness with luscious locks and lungs of steel.

I watched Adele live at the Royal Albert Hall, which I actually hadn't seen before but heard nothing but amazing things about, and, just....WOW.

Her songs get played so much I think it's easy to forget sometimes just how outstanding her voice is. She belts out those notes with what seem like such ease, and her lyrics are so beautiful and human that you can relate with so much, it sometimes feels like she's written about your own life.

Watching her live is absolutely mesmerizing. he can tell each lyric she sings is dripping wth passion and emotion, and is taking her back to that very moment when she wrote them.

And obviously, I'm not the only one who thinks she's the bee's knees...

She has such a great raport with her audience and is such a joker you can't help but to cackle along with her. She seems down to earth, sat there drinking her mug of hot honey, it feels like a friend has invited you round to catch up and chat, but then the music starts and this majestic, sophisticated, elegant and glamourous eagle just soars.

Also, how amazing doe her hair look?! I have complete envy! How is it even possible t have that much and volume and curls so bouncy!?

Not only is her voice stuning, but she always looks it too, with her smouldering smoky eyes and tousled hair.

                                 

She's found what works for her and plays around with dark and myterious dresses that shimmer across the stage. I love her style and how much it suits her. It's a kind of old-fashioned glamour that you really don't see too much of these, in the world of mid-riff bared twerking where sex always seems to sell. There is a simple yet extravagant elegance about Adele that remains.

                 

I can't wait to see what she does next and for her to come back, and I'm gonna have my fingers crossed that I can go see her perform live with my own 2 eyes!

Are you a Adele lover? (how could you not be?!)   What your favourite song of hers?

image sources: vogue, yahoo fashion, outnet, tumblr

Hope you're all well,
Speak soon,
A.x