In and out

IN

Bronzed skin

Okay, so I'm not quite the bronzed goddess, but the sunshine we've enjoyed this week has had me reaching for the tanning lotions. I feel and look so much better with a bit of colour!

Rock My Wedding

I've bought hundreds of wedding magazines over the years (don't fret, I'm engaged, not a loon haha) and every so often I have a good old clear out. There's one magazine that I refuse to throw out because there is a wedding in there that I think is fabulous, and I only recently found out that the bride from that wedding runs her own wedding blog, Rock My Wedding. LOVE!

Pretty Little Liars

Really getting into this now. Very late but I'm getting there.

MAC Shy Girl lipstick

How did I live without this? Such a pretty peach coral nude and it looks lush now I'm a tad more sunkissed.

Royal Blue

Whilst shopping this weekend I saw some beautiful dresses and accessories in the vibrant colour. I'm not really big on the Royal Wedding yet I'm totally transfixed with anything Kate Middleton-inspired, because her pretty engagement ring has a sapphire in it. I wouldn't mind a little replica.

Time off work and long bank holiday weekends

Enough said!

Floral earrings

My current favourites are little daisy ones, bought for a bargainlicious £2.50 in Asda!

OUT

Shopping

I love shopping, I really do, but when I'm looking for shoes that aren't too high or too expensive, the only ones in the whole of Swansea are expensive skyscrapers. Annoying! Got some in the end, higher than I usually like and a bit pinker than I was aiming for, but they are pretty.

Travelling

I'm currently on my way to Scotland for a wedding tomorrow. I suffer from travel sickness so although this is a scheduled post, I'm pretty certain I am not enjoying the (estimated) 12 hour journey. Bleurgh.

Royal Mail

The fuckers lost my NVQ work that took me forever to complete and a lot of frigging money to post. Seriously, it was ginormous! Thankfully my assessor will accept copies, so I've made copies of my copies.

Also, Happy Birthday to my fab Daddy! I bet he is sobbing into his birthday presents as we speak. Not really - I think his exact words when he found out I was going to be away for his birthday were "YIPPEE!! Now that is what you call a birthday present!". He had his present on Mother's Day, because he is like a child and found our hiding place, so I bought him some sweeties for him to have a little something to open on the day. Bet he's having a whale of a time!

Posts may be sporadic this week - I have got some scheduled for while I'm away but I'm not sure whether they will work or not. So just in case - Happy Tuesday everybody - see you on the weekend! :)

xoxo

In and out

Hello sweetpeas - hope you are all well?

I am back in the land of blogging after what seemed forever. In reality it was only two weeks, but it was a pretty long and boring two weeks! Mr Lollipop bought me a snazzy new laptop lead on the weekend so fanks Mr L! I am tremendously excited, which sounds really bad but I didn't realise how much I relied on my laptop. Not just for blogging and things, but charging up my iPod, checking cinema times, and the most important thing at this time of year, compiling my list for Santa! I think my lovely fiance is also glad to have regained control over is Xbox. I have a sneaky suspicion that if he had to play one more round of Bomberman, Sonic or Worms, he'd have thrown it through the window, swiftly followed by me!

I thought I'd come back with an In and Out post for you :)

IN

New laptop leads - obviously. You knew I'd say that, right?

Christmas - I'm feeling properly festive. We've got some Christmas presents all ready to be wrapped, I've bought my sparkly Christmas frock, and I'm hearing Christmas songs a lot more frequently. Yay!

Parties - You can't have Christmas without the Christmas festivities! It's my Christmas party with work on Saturday and I am sooo looking forward to it. We had a mini-party last weekend and it'll be great to relive it on a bigger scal, but with all of us there and not just the pissheads hehe.

Weightloss - I'm not sure exactly how much I've lost but I've dropped a dress size. Chuffed isn't the word! No doubt it'll all go back on over the course of December, but meh. You win some, you lose some. My brand spanking new super pretty twinkly black frock is the smaller size so it'd better not go back on too quickly!

Rebecca Ferguson - I am in love with his girl. Her voice is spine-tinglingly stunning and her style is utterly fabulous.I really hope she wins the X Factor, or at least does well from it.

I'm A Celebrity - Ahhh the return of Ant & Dec, my two favourite telly boys. How annoying is Gillian McKeith?! I feel like reaching into the telly and smashing her head into a tree, but it's compelling viewing.

Gem - FromGemWithLove is one of my favouritest blogs ever, and I have thoroughly enjoyed catching up on everything she's posted while I've been gone. She wears her heart on her sleeve, has me in stitches with her humour, and she writes about real things with truth and passion, which I think is one of the most important qualities in a blogger. Plus she looks so adorable in her little furry hat. I love this girl and bet you will too when you go see her blog. Go. Now!

Ellie Goulding - Your Song is on repeat, over and over and over again. It's slightly better than Ewan McGregor's version, which gives me goosebumps everytime I listen to it. It's just gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous.

OUT

Coughs and colds - I'm suffering badly at the moment and if I have to take another concoction of pills, I'll rattle. I'm on antibiotics too which I'm not too happy about given that it's our Christmas party on Saturday, but I'll be finishing the course on Friday. Phew!

Clashing dates - Saturday is also a planned family day at the Winter Wonderland but I can't go. Booo.

Snow - We haven't even had any where we live and it's already pissing me off. I love snow, I really do, and it's not 'out' because I'm jealous (much), but more because I live on the coast, so even if we were to get snow, it's 99% unlikely to stick. So why, oh why, do the idiots around here insist on stocking up on bread, milk and potatoes at the first whiff of snow, even though it's hundreds of miles away from us? And in the very unlikely event that we will get snowed in, what do they think bread, milk and potatoes will do? Go off quicker than everything else, that's what! Unless they plan on living off mashed potato sandwiches washed down with a hot cup of milk? Seriously, stop overreacting and go and enjoy it!

Oops, that was a bit of a rant wasn't it?

And that's it :) So, what have I missed? Have you got any news? Let me know in the comments! I've missed you all, lots!

xoxo

In and out

Hello cupcakes, hope you are all well? I don't feel like I've been around the interweb much recently - I've neglected my blog a little and my Twitter hasn't been updated in forever! All that will change this week though as the reason for me going AWOL will be clarified in the 'put' part of this post. It's nothing seedy or dodgy, I've just been a bit bogged down. I thought I'd do a little In and Out post to tell you some things that have been making me happy (or unhappy) recently :)

IN

♥ October - October signals the start of my favourite time of year. I love the colder weather, I love the fresh feeling as I'm walking to work in the mornings, I love coming home from work and being able to have a candlelit bubble bath because it's dark enough, and I love all of the exciting occasions - Halloween, Mam's birthday, Bonfire Night, and ultimately, the build up to Christmas. Yes, I said the C-word. I know it's early but I adore Christmas. The day itself just whizzes by, but the build up to it is really lovely and exciting, and even heartwarming I'd say. In my family at least. I adore this time of year. I've even started my Christmas shopping! Okay, so I've only bought one item because it was in the sale, but still, it's a start. It's a drum kit for my niece if you were wondering :)

♥ Autumn TV - The arrival of Autumn has seen the return of some of my favourite TV programmes, like The X Factor, The Apprentice, and Nigella Lawson's new cooking programme, Nigella's kitchen. I love Nigella. I want her to adopt me. And the wonder of Sky + means I never have to miss anything ever again. Yay!

♥ Autumn Weather - Yep, I love the weather. It might sound strange but the colder weather means I don't have to think too much about what I'm wearing. I can just layer up with lovely cardigans and still look decent. I'm a big bird so choosing something in the Summer that doesn't flash too much flesh but is still cool was becoming so annoying, so I'm welcoming the weather change with open bingo wings.

♥ Plum touches to my make up - I've been wearing lovely plum colours a lot since the sunshine went away, especially on my lips. My favourite combo is Maybelline's Colour Sensational lipstick in Galactic Mauve, with YSL's Golden Gloss in Golden Lavender on top. Shimmery, pretty and plum. I love it. I feel all sophisticated and it's a refreshing change. I'll be doing a FOTD real soon, as soon as I get enough sleep for the luggage set under my eyes to bugger off ;)

♥ Homemade smoothies - I love making my own concoctions when I have the time, and all of my favourites have the same base; frozen banana and milk. It gives it a kind of thick, creamy milkshake consistency, and is tres yummy. I slurped a frozen banana and mixed berry one this morning and it was delicious. Surprisingly filling too.

OUT

♥ My NVQ - the reason for my absence. My deadline has been and gone and I had to get an extension. I misjudged the amount of work I had to do and have spent almost every waking hour doing something for it. Aargh. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now though, so normal blogging and tweeting will resume sortly. I've missed you all!

♥ Setting my hair on fire - True story. Not actually like a ball of flames on my head, but I now have lots of charcoaled layers where I never did before. I exaggerate slightly with the charcoaled bit, but I can definitely see where my hair got singed even if nobody else can. I was cooking you see... and managed to stick my hair in the flames. Yeah yeah, you chuckle. Go on, have a good laugh on me. I did. Well, not at the time but I laugh now. I know I was due for a cut but that was a bit extreme, wouldn't you agree? ;)

Have you got any In's and Out's? Let me know in the comments! Also, keep your eyes peeled for a DKNY Be Delicious giveaway this week :)

xoxo

In and out

I love In and Out posts but rarely do them, so I thought it was about time :)

IN

Angry Birds - I am a tad out of the loop here as I don't have an iPhone, but Mr L recently sorted out my iPod Touch and downloaded a few things for me. How addictive and utterly frustrating is this game?! Mr Lollipop and Brother Lollipop are obsessed a bit too. It's infuriating how smug those pesky little green pigs smile and giggle when you fail a level. Grrr.

Pink lipstick - I adore nude lipsticks because they're so easy to wear, but I've really enjoyed wearing pink lately. There's a pink suited to every look and occasion, and I feel really girly and pretty when wearing it. Some favourites include MAC's Angel, MAC's Snob and YSL's Lingerie Pink. All pretty and all wearable.

Milkybar Raisin & Biscuit chocolate - Yum yum for my tum. 'Nuff said!

Lovely emails and tweets - I have been really touched by some messages that I've been receiving lately, from book recommendations or quick messages from people who have only recently found my blog, or having a good old natter about London. Whatever the reason they've been putting a smile on my face, so if you have messaged or tweeted me recently, thank you!

Babies - It's my niece's first birthday on Sunday so Mr L's sister is having a BBQ to celebrate (weather permitting). It should be quite fun. Also the 'Yummiest Mummy To Be' over at Laura's Bloggy Blog is waiting for the arrival of her Baby Nugget. I'm checking Facebook and Twitter all the time to check for any progress! Hurry up Nugget, Good Luck Laura, and Happy Birthday Eliza! It's almost enough to make me broody... but not quite.

My upcoming week off work - As of next Wednesday I'll be off work for 11 days, and I can't wait! Mr L is away at Legoland with his brother and nephews for 2 days, so I'll start my holiday with a bit of much needed me-time and a pampering session with The Mothership. Then I'll have a whole week with Mr L, just chilling out and doing lovely things, like having cinema dates, going out for yummy meals, and quite possibly some shopping. I'm so excited!

Don't Tell The Bride - I loooooove this programme, whereby a groom has £12,000 and 3 weeks to plan his wedding, with no contact from his bride. The brides tend to do my head in - why go on the show if you're such a control freak/spoilt brat? But it's compelling viewing, plus I get to see some pretty weddings. Would you trust your other half? I think I would, you know...

OUT

The weather - Disgustingly cold, wet, dark and generally miserable. Where's my sunshine, damn it?!

Feeling poorly - I've been a little run down this week, and I blame the weather. I've had a bit of a sore throat but have been dosing myself up everyday. I blame the weather.

Skin issues - Again, I blame the weather. My lips are chapped, my cheeks are dry and my nose is red and flaky. I've taken to wearing Bio-Oil as a daily moisturiser, which is just wrong. Doing it's job though, which is all I care about!

My NVQ - My final deadline is October 4th, which is freaking me out slightly as I still have a ton of work left to do. It means a payrise though, so it'll be worth it in the end.

And because they're super duper cute and make me smile:

What are your In's and Out's?

xoxo

In and out

I haven't done one of these in a while. I've been concentrating more on my 'Five Good Things' posts, but this week I've been in such a bad mood that I struggled to think of five good things! I'm in a better mood today though, so thought I'd do an In and Out post :) 

 
IN

Glossy lips. I've been shunning my beloved lipsticks in favour of lipgloss recently. I'm particularly loving MAC's Sugarrimmed Dazzleglass <3

Baking cakes. Drooooooooooooool!

Hot chocolate. I'm slightly obsessed and have to have at least 3 cups a day. I'm a chocaholic, and the way I look at it is, it's better to have a mug of 40cal hot chocolate than 3 bars of proper chocolate to satisfy my craving :) Though I've been known to indulge in both.... Oops!

Chris Moyles' silly little games in the mornings on Radio 1. I absolutely loved Jedward's 'What Am I?' game, and laugh my socks off at Westwood's 'Where Am I?' game... so ridiculous it's hilarious.

Make up storage. I'm loving watching storage videos on YT and reading blogposts on how everyone stores their make up. I'm really loving the Muji storage at the mo. I think I'll have to investigate.

OUT

Glee's 'Don't Stop Believing'. Maybe I need to actually watch the show to 'get' it, but it annoys me everytime I hear it on the radio.

My hair. It's quite a light blonde and I'm starting to hate it. I want Jennifer Aniston's hair please :) I want to be her actually, she's fab.

Washing machines. Ours broke recently and not only did we have to fork out for a replacement, I can't seem to work the new one and find the right cycle. It's getting on my nerves. It took me a whole blinking day to do 4 loads of washing. A WHOLE DAY!!

Katie Price. Go away and don't come back.


Hope you've got lots of good things and lots of ins!
xoxo

Goodbye 2009

Well, it's the end of 2009. Yep, my last post of the year. I thought I'd mark this important occasion with an 'In and Out' of 2009.

Since the end of January 2009, I've been saying 'I'll be glad when 2009 is over'. The further into the year we got, the more I hated it. However, I've come to realise that 2009 wasn’t all that bad. It's funny how we seem to focus on the bad things rather than the good, isn't it?

IN

• Vampires. I've become obsessed with vampires, shape-shifters and fairies, thanks to Twilight and True Blood. I love the books, the movies and the TV show. Vampires FTW!! Eric... mmm yummy.

• Florence & The Machine. This girl has such a stunning voice, and 'You've Got The Love' is possibly the best cover of all time. I remember hearing 'Kiss With A Fist' on an E4/C4 advert, and thinking that I want to hear more. She didn't disappoint! :) 
  

• New additions to my family - Baby Cousin Leo (9 months) and Baby Niece Eliza (4 months). They're gorgeous. Enough to melt my heart a little, but nowhere near enough to make me broody. Not quite!
  

• Jedward. They were a definite highlight of the year! Who can forget Ghostbusters, and Queen Vs Vanilla Ice? Genius!
  

• Moving house. Mr Lollipop and I moved out of our awful privately rented house, that had faulty electrics, faulty boilers, faulty water pipes, the lot, and my parents moved out of their small and cramped house. Then we all moved into a great big lush house on the beachfront, like one big happy family :) It's been super hard adjusting to life with the parentals again, but it's been the best decision we've made so far.
  

• Passing year 1 of my NVQ. It's nothing major, but it's the next step in my job. It just adds a qualification to my belt and more money in my pocket. The job will be the same though. I'm embarking on my 2nd and last year as we speak. Scary!
  

• Starting the Lipsticks & Lollipops. I am absolutely loving being part of the beauty community. I've had such positive feedback so far and have even had some really nice emails recently. I think the beauty community as a whole is really friendly and welcoming, which has made being a 'newbie' a bit easier. It's been a fab experience and I'm really excited to take my blog into 2010.
  

• Robbie & Take That reuniting. Albeit onstage very briefly for a big huge group performance at the end of the night, but I'd love, love, love for Robbie to do something with Take That. Even if it's just one song! I've loved them since I was a little girl, which makes me feel incredibly old, but I can't help it. Robbie & Mark were my favourites, and I will always have a soft spot for them, but Mr Barlow has been looking incredibly hot recently. He's definitely improved with age! haha

OUT

• The deaths of my wonderful Grampa and my beautiful dog Ivor. The hardest thing of losing them is dealing with life afterwards. That was one of the hardest experiences I've faced this year and it completely drained me. I miss them tremendously every day, but I know that they understood how loved, special and appreciated they were to us. Just goes to show you never know what's around the corner.

• Katie & Peter. Seriously, if I see one more magazine cover, newspaper article or TV show with these two on it, I'll scream. I'm definitely 'Team Peter', but I don't want their relationship woes shoved down my throat for another minute!
  

• The weather. Down in South Wales, we had the most miserable year ever weather-wise. All over the country people were getting glowing sunshine, but us? Rain. June, rain, July, rain, August, rain, September, rain. I've been saying it's winter since March! Here's hoping to a bit of sunshine in 2010!

And that's all the out's I can think of. I should have given 2009 more credit.

Since it's New Year's Eve, I thought I'd share my favourite cocktail recipe with you all. My favourite tipple if I'm feeling particularly indulgent, is Rose Moet & Chandon. Yum bloody yum! My bank balance won't allow me to be indulgent this year though, so I'm having a quiet night in with Mr Lollipop, a takeaway, and Michael McIntyre. It may sound boring but I can't wait. I can't remember the last time we had some peace and quiet to ourselves! Anyway, this is what you need to make a Woo Woo, and it's my favourite colour - pink! If you are anything like me, you'll measure by eye rather than exact quantities, so I take no responsibilites for how quickly you get drunk haha. Enjoy!

25ml Archers (or any peach schnapps)

25ml Smirnoff (or your vodka of preference)

50ml Cranberry juice

And, very importantly, ice!

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve, however you may be celebrating. I want to say thank you to all of you for your love and support since I started this blog. I really do appreciate you taking the time to read my rambles and comment on my posts. I hope that your 2010 is one full of health, good fortune, and above all, happiness! x x x

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I am feeling really festive today. I spent Thursday putting up our decorations and last night I had the house to myself for the first time in a very long time! I had a little 'me time' before the busy next few weeks start. I had a lovely bath with a Lush Star Melt and my TrueBlood Omnibus book, then watched I'm a Celebrity with a glass or two of vodka and coke, then I wrapped some Christmas presents whilst watching Love Actually. It was such a perfect, blissful evening and I'm definitely feeling refreshed and calm today!

My pretty Christmas tree, with a little train that goes round. I love it! :)

Anyway, I thought I'd do a pretty quick Ins/Outs post!

INS

- Girls night in - I'm spending this evening in my friend Zoe's house with my girlfriends and I can't wait. It'll be a bit messy I'm sure, but that's the point ;)

- The weekend. Work is over for another week and one of the girls I've not been getting along with has left!! Doubly woohoo!!

- YSL Rouge Volupte. Best lipstick EVER!

- Glitter eyeliner. I've been rocking this since December started, and I don't intend on stopping until December is over! I've even been wearing it to work for a subtle Christmassy sparkle. I don't think I'll ever get bored of wearing glitter, and I'm not ashamed to admit it haha.

- Feeling all lovey dovey. I'm not going to sicken you all with a mushy post about how wonderful Mr Lollipop is, but I do love him and he really is wonderful, and I've realised recently how lucky I am. So there :)

- Cupcakes. Mr Lollipop has been baking like mad. He's trialling some recipes from The Hummingbird Bakery's book and they are scrummy. It's all part of a grand master plan that I don't want to say about on my blog, but I'm enjoying tasting them, even if my waistline isn't! Strawberry Cheesecake flavour is my favourite so far!

OUTS

- All my favourite programmes ending. ANTM (I wanted Celia to win, but since she went last week I'm backing Alison), I'm A Celeb (I wanted Gino or George to win - go Gino!), X-Factor (please God not Danyl to win!). Boo hiss to not spending my evenings tucked up with Ant and Dec anymore!

- Having no money. That's the worst thing about this time of year.

Only 2 outs - Yay!! Hope you're all feeling festive and happy too :) xx

In and Out

IN

- Hitting pan on my All That Glitters eyeshadow. I love the feeling you get when you see the little speck of silver at the bottom of the eyeshadow - it shows its not a waste of money if nothing else!

- Exciting new job prospects in the pipeline. It's all dependant on whether the company I work for gets a particular contract, but if it comes off I've got job security, which is something really hard to come by.

- Getting the results of my NVQ modules back - 3 A's and 2 B's! I'm so happy and was really not expecting to do so well.

- Tumblr. I don't have an account myself, but I love looking at other people's. My favourite one that I check about 5 times a day is Daisy's, found here. I don't know where she finds her pictures but they're gorgeous!!

- Those bloody addictive games on Facebook. Yes, I have a farm and a cafe, and I'm trying my best to make my brain bigger than my friends. Sad I know!

OUT

- Hitting pan on All That Glitters eyeshadow. It's my favourite eyeshadow ever and I'm going to have to buy a new one pretty sharpish.

- The clocks going back. I know it was last weekend and I know we gained an extra hour in bed, but I was out with the girls that Saturday and was either too pissed or asleep to benefit from the hour. Instead its pitch black when I'm leaving work, which makes me feel like the day is over and it's time for bed again. Aargh!

- Not buying make up. I'm not on a spending ban as such, but with Christmas coming up we can't afford to do it all. My wishlist is getting bigger by the day :(

- Starting year 2 of my NVQ. It's the final year so it'll all be over this time next year, but it looks so hard and confusing.

And because I don't like doing pictureless blogposts, how gorgeous is her make up?!!

In and out

IN

• All the Christmas goodies coming into the shops, particularly Lush! Can't wait to check these new goodies out!
  
• Layering lipsticks. I much prefer to wear 2 lipsticks instead of a lipstick and gloss. My favourite combo at the minute is Maybelline's Ambre Rose and MAC's Big Bow.
• Darker evenings. I love summer and sunshine, but I have willingly surrendered to Autumn. Bring on the candlelit bubblebaths, the cosy cuddling on the sofa with G and a good film, the layering of chunky knits and boots.... I love it.
• M&S creme brulee bread and butter pudding. I love bread and butter pudding, but M&S give it a creme brulee twist by adding a sugary/caramelly topping to it. Seriously, this stuff is gorgeous.
• Hot chocolate! With the colder weather and darker evenings comes my cravings for hot chocolate. If I'm being naughty I make it with hot milk, real melted chocolate and add lashings of whipped cream and a sprinkling of marshmallows. If I'm being good I make a mug of Cadbury's Highlights with hot water for only 40 calories. Boring in comparison, but it gives me my chocolate fix.

OUT

• The weather. I love Autumn and I can live with the cold, but the weather is poo. I live right on the beachfront so get more of the wind than most places. There is something in/on/around the roof making a banging noise whenever the wind blows a certain way, and my Mam won't let my Dad go to investigate since it's a 3-story house and she doesn't want him to fall off *rolls eyes*. Not good when it's banging at 3am, I can assure you!
• Waiting for my modules to be sent back to me. I'm doing an NVQ as part of my job and if I fail this first year, I won't be able to go onto the second, nor will I be able to resit any modules. Eeeek! Talk about tension!
• My whole family being struck down with cough/cold/flu - I'm probably next :(
  

More in's than out's so life can't be that bad! :) Hope you've got more in's than out's too! I was going to recreate a look I wore to dinner for you tonight, but I think I'm off for an early night instead. I haven't had much sleep this week, and although I want to stay up to watch True Blood on C4 at 10pm, I don't think I can. I'll have to watch it on 4OD tomorrow. Surely I'm not the only one who hasn't seen this programme yet?!

In, out, in, out, shake it all about...

Thought I'd do an In and Out post :)

IN

• Using up lots of my bath and shower products. That means I need to shop for more ;)
  
• Starting Christmas shopping. I have a huge family, G has a huge family, and if we don't start now we won't be able to buy for everyone.
• America's Next Top Model. Cycle 13 started last Monday and it's probably my favourite show on TV. It's on Living tonight at 9 if you were wondering :)
  
• Wispa Gold. Mmmm I can't resist them!
• Having a fun day in work. Never thought I'd say it but I didn't stop laughing all day :)
  

OUT

• All the bitching, moaning and drama on Twitter. Really - I don't get the fuss? I thought we're all meant to be here because we love make up and stuff, not to out-do each other.
  
• Christmas shopping! As much as I love it, I have to cut back on my make up spending. Rubbish.
• I just realised that I've only got a week to get 7 modules of my course in to my tutor. Shit.
• Having to buy a paler foundation.

Hope you've all had a good day! Now, I'm off to *try* and finish my modules that I've neglected - then to watch ANTM of course xx