Sunday Best

Super hungover today so I'll try let the pictures do (most of) the talking. Here's a wee run down of my favourite things on a sunday.

Foodie cheat days at the weekend, and wedding planning over breakfast with my girl Luisa who has her big day in August.

My lovely new phone cover from Nikki Strange, a textile print designer with so much pretty work on her website. I was so torn between this and the Starry Eyed pocket mirror. What a beaut. If something catches your eye, you can use the code LITTLEHORRORS to get 10% off. Thank you Nikki :)

Some DIY'ing for boohoo. They provided me with a kit to customise a festival outfit. I wanted to stay true to my style so I'm saving the gems and glitter for perhaps decorating a tote bag. I used the studs from the kit down the neck and shoulders of my tshirt and then did some tie dying with purple Dylon, which only cost me a few pounds from John Lewis. I really like the way my tshirt turned out for a first attempt and would like to try other tie die techniques and colours. Think this tee would be great at a festival with denim shorts, knee high socks and wellies of course!

My workshop for CBBC until the end of august :)

The past couple of weeks I have been working like a trooper, making lots of props and drinking lots of tea too. It's the nicest wee reward to stop for tea break and a calm 5 minutes in the midst of a busy day. I got a sample of some gourmet tea from LoveTea (a monthly tea subscription service, how cool!) and despite me not being very adventurous when it comes to a cuppa, I really loved the blend they sent me. It came as loose leaves with little parcels for me to make up my own teabags. As I mentioned at the start of the post I'm feeling a bit rough today and now I've really got myself in the mood for a cuppa (kettle going on, be right back...)

I got tattooed by the insanely talented Danielle Rose recently too. She did an awesome job on my thigh of Dexter. It took four hours, and the pain was pretty bareable but my thigh is still so swollen.

I can thank playing the Kitty Glitter game on BGO for winning me £60 to put towards my kitty tattoo! I'm not normally a fan of games like this or the ones people play on facebook, but this game led me to Stardust which is where I actually ended up winning a bit of money. It was pretty exciting ^_^ I'm quite an inexperienced gambler and withdrew my winnings as soon as I got them!

I've had a wee spend of my hard earned wages recently, going a bit crazy in the new Vans and Forever 21 stores that have opened in Glasgow. I treated myself to some new Jeffery Campbell heels yesterday for my early birthday night out last night. 

Aw my handsome John :) I turn 24 on tuesday so we went to the Grand Ole Opry last night with a bunch of friends. I ended up leaving early as the double gins started to catch up on me. I don't drink much or often so I think I indulged myself a little bit too much. I suppose we're all allowed to do it every once and a while though eh?

Today we just lay in bed with some recovery dominoes pizza and watched The Place Beyond The Pines. If pizza, cuddles with John and Dexter, and Ryan Gosling with tattoos riding a motorbike doesn't make me feel better today I don't know what will. Hope you've had a great weekend whatever you've been upto, and thanks for the nice feedback on my vlog (the lipstick I was wearing for those who asked is Ronnie Red from the Mac Archie's Girls collection)

Inspect A Gadget

Well I've not done one of these in a while... so please be gentle! I got the Philips HD Camcorder to review and thought what better way to get to know it than take it on a real test drive over the weekend. From set up, to filming, and then uploading the files to my macbook it was easy peasy. The quick set up instruction manual got me recording within 10 mins of opening the parcel and the camera has a clever USB built into the bottom which charges it when connected to the computer and transfers your files over too.

I'm really happy with the picture quality, and only slightly less happy with the sound but I think I can adjust the parts that are too loud next time in Imovie. Keeping the microphone out the way of the wind is probably a good idea in hindsight (doh) So all in all I'd honestly say that editing all my footage together and uploading the video was the hardest bit! It was good fun once I got going, but then Imovie took ages to process my 'project' into a film, and then uploading to youtube takes time too. I think the HD footage is worth the little extra wait though. Thanks to the camcorder for being so simple to use, the filming is the fun and easy part! It's small and compact enough to fit in my bag just like a phone, can take pictures as well as record and has some decent presets such as black and white, vintage filters etc. 

At £49.99 (not including memory card, I got a 16gb one for £10, and it holds about 4 hours worth of footage) I'd say this is a pretty nifty budget travel gadget if you're looking for something to take away with you. If you are going on holiday, it means you can keep your mobile phone in the hotel safe and use this wee gem for capturing candid footage when you're out and about. I'll be keeping this fully charged and in my handbag for any opportune moments that pop up over the summer. I love my iphone but filming with something that has a dedicated purpose just feels so much better! I'm looking forward to getting some more footage and hopefully working on my video editing a bit more *cough cough* So yeah, I hope I did okay for my first proper vlogging attempt in many years. Let me know if you'd like to see more of these! And I promise the next one won't be so lengthy...

First day of my life

Well, it's been a while. But here I am again sitting in bed drinking tea and listening to Bon Iver (oh I'm a walking cliche, I know) and I realised how much I missed my wee blog. The dynamics of blogging have changed for me over the past year or so, and I feel like sometimes the blog bosses me about instead of me doing what I want, when I want! I never want this little corner of the internet to feel like a chore for me. Ever. So I took a step back while things were busy with work and I spent every spare moment with the people in my life who make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I've just had a week off and literally have no idea where it went to, and now I start a new job tomorrow on a childrens tv show for 14 weeks. Now that's a pretty long haul for me! With guaranteed wages every month and weekends off it's safe to say I feel pretty blessed right now. So for the forseeable future I will be a 'normal' person with grumpy monday mornings and that friday feeling come the weekend. And I cannot wait ♥ Here's what I got upto in my blogging absence.

Met the very tanned and glam Lauren Goodger at the INAA Scottish Hair and Beauty Awards bloggers event. We had a lovely night full of canapes and cocktails, and hair and beauty demo's from various brands at the Apartment 29 private members club in Royal Exchange Square in Glasgow. My favourites were Bumble & Bumble who did some awesome va-va-vooming of my hair! We also got a sample of Lauren's tanning product in the goody bag and I can honestly say it is fantastic. This girl from Essex knows her stuff when it comes to fake tan! Would certainly purchase the full size bottle.

Apart from cocktails and beauty bits and bobs, you know how much I love food, right? Well you can imagine how much I started drooling when I was invited along to a blogger evening at my FAVOURITE food store, Wholefoods in Giffnock. I am already quite familiar with the store, but it was great to get a proper tour of the layout and learn a little bit more about their story and each department. I really like their mission statements and values, and generally what they are about as a company. Good ethics and good food. I couldn't really afford to do my big monthly shop here, but the high quality of their produce is unquestionable. Big up Wholefoods!

My best girl Gemma's little boy Harris was christened a few weekends ago, so it was nice to join Gemma and her boyfriend on this special day for the wee fella.

The weekend after it was my little sister Tylers first holy communion. She looked like an absolute princess on the day and it was amazing to get home and catch up with the family.

John and Tyler

Mums buffet of home made canapes was amazing!

My Gran, Mum, Me and Aunty Elaine

Us again joined by Aaron, Tyler and my Papa. Tyler got changed into a second outfit for the later part of the day like a proper wee diva!

My Step-Dad Paul, Tyler and Mum

Gran and Papa with Tyler

And then came work. Pretty much three solid weeks of 7.30am-9.30pm days which started off with lots of antique shopping and prop sourcing, followed by the fitting out of our shop location and then a week of filming. I won't mention the name of the programme physically on here but you can see what it will be called with the lanyard card above. Kirstie was lovely, very down to earth and I got papped on her twitter at one point ^_^ Fan girl ahoy.

This is the only sneaky picture I can share at the moment, but the set looked fab and I was really pleased with the final outcome. Should be on your tellies come July so I will be proud to scream it from the rooftops closer to the time!

A final bit of loveliness, John and I were featured in my favourite magazine Things & Ink. They were asking for couples with matching tattoos so I submitted these photos a good while ago and was over the moon to find out we had been included! My favourite bloggy girl SJ over at Cowbiscuits got featured too :)

Well that's all for now, I need to go pack my bag and make my lunch for tomorrow. These first day nerves come far too often for me. Have a great week whatever you are upto!

A Short Hiatus

Life, life and more life. Be back soon ♥

Back to school

The weekend had a total 'back to school' vibe for me, because I start a new job today on a tv programme for channel four. I spent yesterday packing my bag and kit, writing lists, and replying to emails. I find that getting as organised as possible helps to eradicate most pre job jitters (most, not all...)

I got sent some lovely roses from Debenhams Flowers the day I found out I had got the job so that was pretty good timing :) As they started to bloom, the centres were a peach colour with the petals more pink and they looked ombre/as if they had been dip dyed. I have never seen roses like this before!

My flowers came as part of a gift set which included three body butters from the Sanctuary Range. Which I think is a lovely idea especially if you were buying flowers for a lovely lady in your life and wanted to add in a little extra pressie. I've been having a wee try of them all this week to help my skin stay moisturised and let my new fake tan (from the last post) fade gradually. So far, so good :) They smell AMAZING.

Debenhams Flowers are offering Little Blog Of Horrors readers 20% off their Sanctuary range with the code LBHBLOG20. It expires on the 31st of May and can be delivered straight to the recipients doors, so be sure to take advantage of the sneaky wee discount before then!

Keeping along with the school theme, I have totally geeked out in terms of my organisation and made my own personalised blogging notebook with Blurb.

I downloaded the Blurb software and started making my book. The possibilities are endless and it is so customisable I didn't know where to start! Think this will be an amazing resource for the future if I need to get a good quality hard back book made up as a prop for any film/tv job I'm on. I took one of my favourite images from a day up north snowboarding with Kyle, and made that the front and back cover. I kept the pages blank and unlined inside, with more bloggy 'inspiration' pictures every 5th page. I'm fed up of writing notes and reminders on my phone when it comes to the blog stuff, and it is so nice to now have a dedicated notebook where I can scribble down ideas and post schedules.

I've spent the past week tying up loose ends on my previous job which finished on saturday, but wish I'd had time to head to the the shops to treat myself to a little something new for starting this week. I'll be on my feet solid for the next few weeks, exploring prop houses and antique stores for quirky furniture and getting everything ready for filming, and have had my eyes on the following from Size?.

A new comfy pair of kicks (Nike Blazer Mid Woven)
Backpack (Herschel Heritage)
and cosy beanie hat (Carhartt Watch)

I absolutely love the Nike Blazers, I find that style of trainer to be the most comfortable when I'm on my feet all day. Plus the sorta patchwork style colours woven through them are too cute! Maybe a treat come pay day instead :) Entries close on my competition tomorrow so be sure to enter if you haven't already and I will be announcing the winner via email. Have a great week whatever you are upto ♥