This week . . .

. . . well, this time last week we went out for family dinner/Sunday lunch to celebrate my lovely mother's birthday. I feel like I've talked a lot about birthdays in these Weekly Reflect posts recently and that's because in my family, 4 out of 5 of us have birthdays which are very close together! After a nice meal together we ventured over to the shops, armed with the excuse that mum had some Marks & Spencer vouchers she wanted to spend. I do love a good look round Marksies and once we'd finished picking up a few groceries we headed straight to the clothes sales to see what we could find. After trying a few things on, I came away with two tops I love and these gorgeous shoes which were an absolute bargain at £15.99 reduced from £55!


Monday was the day my dad and I both had some errands to run so we headed into town again. I took up my role as chief bargain hunter and helped him find a pair of shoes in the sale that were exactly what he was looking for, then we went to the post office as we both had things that need posting! I sent off my pen pal letters to Meg, Shona & Lee which was very exciting. I love the whole process of writing letters, sending them and waiting for the reply! My dad and I then popped into TK Maxx - where I couldn't resist getting these beautiful little neon notebooks - before having lunch and then going home.

From then on the rest of the week was much of the same - I was left exhausted from Sunday & Monday's outings so I was trying to rest but simultaneously attempting to get myself organised. January was an all over the place month for me, I feel like I barely got the chance to blink and now it's nearly February! I've seen a lot of people on Twitter say that this was a 'trial month' and that 2016 properly starts in February and I couldn't agree more. I'm only now feeling settled enough to start working on resolution type objectives like drinking more water, reading more and experimenting with art more which I'm pleased to say are going well . . . so far anyway!



Ooh and here's a bonus behind the scenes photo of when she tried to get in on the action while I was taking photos for my January Favourites. Evidently she likes a bit of attention. And windowsills apparently!

So that was my week! Now it's your turn to get involved in the comments below and tell me what you got up to!

How was your week?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

x 

Lastly I just want to mention the little bit of travelling I was able to do in January. How could I not? I went to stay with my sister in the glorious city of Cambridge from the 8th - 14th and I had a wonderful time there. I wrote a whole post about the trip which you can read here if you want to know what I got up to each day. I feel so lucky to have so many happy memories of the place and I'm hoping another chance to visit will pop up in the not too distant future!

So those are the things I loved most in January! Go ahead and get involved in the comments below and let me know if you have any experience with anything I've mentioned, I'd love to know!

What were your January Favourites?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

x 

To be honest January seemed to be a pretty dry month for music, from what I came across anyway! For me it mainly consisted of revisiting stuff I've been listening to a while but there were a few new tunes & some teasers to forthcoming albums. Two of my favourites, The 1975 and Kanye West are both expected to drop records next month - both of which I'm ridiculously excited for!

THE 1975

The Sound by The 1975 is a super upbeat song with a gleaming melody, juxtaposed interestingly with the actual meaning behind the lyrics which are telling of a less-than-happy relationship. I don't think it's one of my favourite songs from the band but that's not to say I don't enjoy it all the same.

KANYE WEST

As for Kanye, he uploaded a trio of songs to his Soundcloud and if they're anything to go by, SWISH is going to be incredible and a definite progression from his last album, Yeezus. I've been listening to all three over & over ever since they came out but I think Facts is probably the one I like most. I'm so ready to be able to listen to a whole new album of his!

NAO

Aside from those two, I stumbled across Bad Blood, a song by NAO when it turned up in my Discover Weekly playlist on Spotify. Her beautiful voice and soulful sound drew me in and sparked me to listen to some of her other songs; namely Inhale Exhale and Adore You. If you're a fan of Alunageorge and/or FKA Twigs, I think you'll like her!

ONE DIRECTION

Lastly in January's playlist, I haven't been able to resist listening to One Direction's newest offering, Made In The A.M. It's not one of those albums I'll play from start to finish but there are some real gems on there. Olivia is a real ear-worm, I challenge anyone not to have it stuck in their head even after one play of it! As for History, I think it's a lovely song to leave as a lasting impression with their fans until their hiatus is over.

Have a listen:

So that's my January Playlist! Now I want you to get involved in the comments below and let me know what you've been listening to this month, give me some recommendations!

What have you been listening to?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

x 

Before this, I'd never tried any of Collection's eyeshadows so I really had no idea what to expect. However on swatching they proved themselves to be soft, apply smoothly and offer a very decent amount of pigmentation. For £3.99 you get six warm toned, bronzey shades which you can use to easily create a handful of different looks, all within a dinky, space-saving palette. I took it with me on my trip to Cambridge and it was all I needed for the week! That's what I love most about it; you're not paying extra for four other shades you won't use - every one is very wearable.

Due to their almost creamy texture, fall out is fairly minimal but I find layering them on top of a cream eyeshadow (my favourites are the Maybelline Color Tattoos) completely eradicates that problem. It also increases the longevity of the eyeshadows although saying that, they do hold up impressively well on their own.


IVORY & MINK:

Ivory is the most sheer in the palette but it gives a beautiful, baby pink glow which looks great swept over the lids on it's own or blended with Mink as I've shown here. Mink is a champagne shade which makes a very useful & pretty addition to the palette.


OCHRE & GOLDEN BROWN:

Ochre is one of the most stunning gold eyeshadows I've ever used! It's super shimmery and pairs together well with Golden Brown for a bold smokey eye.



EMBER & NUTTY:

Ember is more than your standard shimmery brown; the pink running through it makes it gorgeously unique. Nutty is also interesting, in that it's a kinda of matte/shimmer hybrid. It somehow manages to be both (it's more of a sheen) and so it deepens up a smokey eye like a treat!

So those are my thoughts on this Collection palette. There isn't anything I'd really change about it to be honest! I know they do different shade variations so if you've tried any of them, please get involved in the comments below and let me know what you think.

What are your favourite budget eyeshadows?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

x 

So that's what I bought from Yankee Candle! Personally I think the tarts are the best value for money, what do you prefer? Get involved in the comments below and let me know if you'd like to see full reviews of these.

What are your favourite candle scents?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

x 

. . . began with a lovely Sunday lunch with some of my English family. Because they live over the pond I don't get to see them very often so it was great to catch up and have a huge roast dinner & an ice cream sundae too in Hungry Horse, Cambridge. The last time I saw my littlest cousin was when she'd just turned 1 so it was cool to see her a wee bit more grown up & able to do a lot more now she's 3! After most of us parted ways, my cousin, my sister & I had a look round a retail park closeby. We tried on a whole bunch of funky sunglasses in TK Maxx and went to Homesense & Hobbycraft for the first time. Both of which were amazing, I could have spent a whole day in each!


On Monday morning my sister and I got up bright & early to explore the city. As she's been living there for nearly 3 years now, she acted as my unofficial tour guide. It was great to have her knowledge of the place alongside my curiosity so we could discover new places she hadn't been to before as well! Oliver Bonas is an amazing shop. We started out with a walk around the market (which was annoyingly kinda bare), then the colleges and their gardens. It was a bit grey & rainy that day but that didn't dampen our spirits!

We visited Hardy's sweet shop, aka one of the coolest places EVER. The entire shop was packed wall to wall with unique, exciting chocolates & sweets of all kinds, a whole two floors of them. Yup, TWO FLOORS. I probably would have ended up buying a lot more than I did if I didn't have my sister to calm me down!


Bag of sweets in hand, we searched for somewhere to have lunch. It was quite the hunt because there was so much choice! We ended up going to Bill's, a restaurant I'd heard good things about but had never tried before. I can safely say it's one of my favourite places I've ever eaten - everything about it was just wonderful; the interior, the service, the food . . . the food. I had the kale, quinoa & avocado salad followed by warm cinnamon donuts with chocolate dipping sauce and I've been raving about them ever since. Incredible. With full bellies we marched around the shops and I got a few things from MAC which I'll blog about soon!


Then on Tuesday I met up with Liam for tea & cake in Costa. He's one of the nicest people I've got to know through blogging and it was so cool to meet in person and find out he's just as friendly & chatty as he is online!

For the rest of the day I chilled at my sister's place, then that evening some of her friends came over for dinner and played Cranium. If you haven't played it before, it's kind of a mixture of a few board games and can be absolutely hilarious - we were cracking up the whole time!


Wednesday was the day we went to Grantchester! It's a small village close to Cambridge which lends it's name & scenery to one of my favourite TV shows. It's also (apparently) home to the highest concentration of Nobel Prize winners so overall it's a pretty cool place. We sat inside The Orchard tea rooms for lunch, overlooking the beautiful gardens which is what a lot of famous & prestigious people have also done over the years. (You can see the list here, I think it's pretty interesting!) Once we were done we took a walk around, up to the church and onto the land overlooking the river. The views were so beautiful and it was so worth the trek to get there. Photos can't do it justice.

Then that night one of my other uncles picked us up and we had dinner with some more family in a place called Jolly Postie in Royston. It's a restaurant that used to be a post office and they've really gone to town with keeping the decor 'post' themed. There were huge mocked up postcards hanging from the ceiling, post boxes dotted around and even an old post van which you could sit and eat in if you wanted to! Aside from all of that, it was a super cosy place to eat and the food & company were both lovely. It was the best way to spend my last night of the trip!

The next day, I made the journey from Cambridge to London to Belfast on my own. Stressful, but I managed to keep my anxiety under control and I'm proud of myself for that! I'm also proud of all I managed to do while I was in Cambridge - it's taken a toll on my illness but I feel so fortunate to have been able to do it at all. Since I've been home I've just been resting & recuperating, catching up with my family & cat who I missed loads and I received my blogger pen pal letter from Megan, which I'm sure I'll talk about more in another post. There's also been some snow here & a fox appeared at the top of our garden on Friday!

There's a saying that travel is the only thing you can buy that makes you richer and I certainly feel richer, refreshed, motivated & really excited to improve my life and work hard on my 2016 blogging resolutions.

So that was my week! Now I want you to get involved in the comments below and let me know what you got up to.

How was your week?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

x 

This week . . .

. . . began with my dad's birthday which was celebrated by going out for a meal with the family. Well, actually two meals because at the last minute it turned out my sister couldn't make it on Monday night so we all went to another restaurant the next night when she could! I don't think I've ever been out for dinner two nights in a row before but it was fun, we had some delicious food and as always, it was lovely to spend the time together. And not have to do any washing up either!

Something pretty exciting came in the post midweek; the MAC lipstick I won from Shona's giveaway! The shade (Twig) is absolutely gorgeous and of course I'll review it here in good time. A mahoosive thank you to Shona again, she is such a star and if you're not already following her blog I really recommend you do. Also if you know of any MAC lip liners that you think would go well with Twig, (or just any pretty MAC liners) let me know because I'm quite tempted to treat myself and try one!


Then, after quite a lot of hullabaloo, I boarded a plane to Cambridge on Friday night! I booked a trip to stay here with my sister a few months ago, however during that time I became unsure whether I'd be well enough to go or not. The trouble with having a chronic illness is that making plans for the future can be quite difficult and don't always, well, go to plan. I changed my mind completely so many times wondering if I should or not but in the end I decided that I'd do my best to enjoy myself whether I'm ill or not.


So far, I'm loving it! My sister and I got here late on Friday night, then I spent all of yesterday resting because the journey well and truly exhausted me. I'm excited to get out and explore the city a bit over the next few days which I will most certainly be documenting over on my Instagram if you want to keep up with things as and when they happen!

So there you have it, another week gone by! I am really missing my family & my wee cat Evie but I know that this time next week I'll be able to cuddle them all again. I'd love for you to get involved in the comments below and let me know what you got up to this week!

How was your week?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

x 

Y'know when you get up in the morning with a good idea of what you want to wear but when it comes to trying it on, it just doesn't work? Well that's what happened to me when I got dressed on Tuesday. I had intended to wear a pair of monochrome patterned jeans with this jacket but for some reason (nothing to do with overindulging at Christmas obv), they wouldn't zip up. After having the same luck with a bunch of other things I tried on, as a last resort I lifted this drop hem skirt out of my wardrobe.

I actually found it in the River Island January sale a few years back for only 8 quid. In that time I've only worn it a handful of times because it rarely seems to look right with anything! That is until the eureka moment when I glimpsed it in the same eyeshot as this denim jacket. Ever since Boohoo sent it to me last year for this outfit I've been finding any excuse to wear it, I absolutely adore it. The result of a happy accident, I also love how the two look paired together - it was just the right mix of comfy & casual while still being 'out for dinner' appropriate!



Jacket // Boohoo
Top // Primark
Skirt // River Island
Necklace // New Look
Ankle Boots // New Look

So there you have it, my first outfit post of 2016. I wanna know if you've ever had something sit abandoned in your wardrobe for ages then all of a sudden you love it, get involved in the comments below and let me know! Also . . .

What was your best ever January sale purchase?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

x

I was sent the Boohoo jacket a while ago/not for this outfit and all opinions are honest and my own.