Stress-head

Very sorry it's been a while, but I can honestly say that I am mid-the week from hell.

This is literally the most difficult fortnight since starting university!

With 4 Industry Award Briefs due in exactly 1 week, and my dissertation (which I've been trying to perfect since the summer) due in less than a week after that!!

Ironically, because it's the last year too, I want everything I create to be 120% perfect!
But with so much going on at once it's seemingly impossible. Doesn't stop me from trying though!!

So, apart from the obvious working week, I have now taken to working at least 30 hours at the weekend.

Goodbye sleep, and hello Mac screen all day, every day!

Unfortunately though, I've also managed to make myself ill from all the stressing and lack of sleep.

Not gonna stop me though! If I can get it all sorted (semi-sorted) by the weekend, then I get a visit from the mister to cheer me up, so...back to work I go!!

I'll be back after hand-in...

Speak to you then!!

Gutted

So I have no money, but I really want this...

It's for sale at:

http://www.shopdixi.com/item_1780/Treats-Velvet-Bag-Leopard-Vest-Set.htm

So if anyone fancies buying it FOR me...that'd be great!

Ta.

(Picture courtesy of Dixi)

Gonna be poor!

I can't stop spending! And not even necessarily in the sales!

And don't even get me started on the cost of bras these days! But...I did manage to pick up these little beauts in the Accessorize sale the other day! Only £1.50! Definitely worth a look!

My fav is the cutie little gold heart though (£5.00). Not usually a fan of gold, but it was just so gorgeous. One of those things I'd love the Mr to pick me up as the perfect little Valentines present. But I figured the likelihood was slim! So treated myself :)

Also treated myself to some new make-up bags, and a little going out bag (I'll be sure to get pics soon!).

I've still got my eye on a travel bag for my trips to Luff and a new dress for my 21st! Here's hoping one of my gifts is cash =/

Now if I could just stop spending before I start going hungry at uni, everything should be fine...!!

Preoccupied

Back to uni in a week, and I should be working all day everyday.

I was pretty dedicated to it, but today I took some time to get excited about my upcoming birthday party which I'm sharing with one of my best friends and housemates!

Our joint 21st will be a thing of legends me thinks :D

Someone asked me what I'd like for my birthday today, because it's such a 'special one', and I'm off on one now, thinking of presents and themes etcetera, etcetera...

I'll have to keep you updated with my musings discreetly, so she doesn't work out what she's getting!

Ahhh, I feel about 5 years old again!!! Except something tells me this birthday is going to be messy in a completely different way to back then!

Slap on the Wrist

I've been a terrible blogger this last month, I know.
But between uni work, work work, and Christmas; I've hardly been anywhere near a computer in the last few weeks.

There are a few things I have to definitely catch you up on though.
I'll try and do them consecutively, so I don't forget anything...

1. LilyLovesLola
    http://lilyloveslola.bigcartel.com

I'm an avid follower of sweetmondayblog.blogspot.com, and I spotted LilyLovesLola on her site a few weeks ago. I was struggling to work out what to get some of my friends. I couldn't afford to spend a fortune, but wanted to get something special nonetheless. So I had a bit of a peek at the link and realised I'd found the perfect pressies! Starting at just £2.00, there are a range of hand made charm bracelets. There are a variety of charms, and you can chose the colour thread the charms come on. They're so subtle and cute, so they will suit all of your friends; from the shy and retiring to the outrageous.

I got a little carried away and got myself a bunch of bracelets (and looking at the site now, I see they have some more charms in...might have to give myself another little New Years jewellery treat...looking at these two to add to the collection)

The best bit is that the site's owner, Victoria, was lovely enough to keep us up to date with the progress of the delivery; and she was very understanding of the time constraints due to Christmas coming up. 

Everything arrived in time, and they even came with a little hand-written note :)

Definitely worth a look if you're strapped for cash and looking for something a bit special for a special occassion!

2. Christmas was magical :)

Got to enjoy my first ever Pantomime - Dick Whittington at the Wimbledon Theatre, thanks to the boy's parents. Great Christmas present!! Was so much fun and I laughed so hard. Think it must be one of those things you never get too old for!

Present-wise, I was spoilt! Got my onesie (finally!) - no more being cold at 102! Got the Adele DVD of her performance at the Royal Albert Hall which I'm gonna watch as a treat once I get my dissertation completed. Lots of stocking goodies, including Nerds and Big Red. The boy knows me so well. Also got a Taste card: www.tastecard.co.uk. I can use it at home and at uni. Going to be eating out far too often now!! Also got some beautiful burgundy Chelsea boots from Topshop. Still refusing to take them off because I love them just a bit too much.

3. Driving 'round' for Christmas

One of my pressies off the parents was insurance to cover me on our car while I learn to drive, which kicked in on Boxing Day.
I'm a little rusty because it's been a while since I was behind the wheel, but now I'm taking up learning again, expect to see me on a road near you soon...!!

4. New Years

Still don't know what I'm doing. Everyone wants to do something, but no-one has any real plans or ideas. I live in London. Making plans cannot be this hard!! Any suggestions?? Help!!

A rather long post, but that's the big update for the last month.
I'll try and keep on top of it now...fingers crossed...

Christmas is coming!!

Aloe Blaac

Mama Hold My Hand

cross this road...

when i was just a little boy
well i would go out to play
and i would wander so far from home
that i would lose my way
and i'd call on my mama to help me and she'd come right away
to help me get back home where i wanna be
and here's what i say


mama hold my hand
i dont think i can cross this road by myself
mama hold my hand
i dont think i can cross this road by myself

and when i was a young man
i would go astray
didnt want nobody to hold my hand
wanted to make my own way
and my mama would come out to help me
but i push her away
cause i just wanted to be on my own
and heres what i say


Mama leave my hand
i've been waiting to cross this road by myself
cross this road
by myself

well now that i'm a grown man
and i've moved away
i got house a 9to5
and my wife got a kid on the way

mama told me that lifes gonna of
take it day by day
but every once in a while i get scared
and i wish i could say

mama hold my hand
i dont think i can cross this road by myself
mama hold my hand
i dont think i can cross this road by myself

now my mama is near the end of her years
and her hair is grey
sometimes i call her
to ask her if she would like to spend the day
mama used to be strong but she aint now
and she cant make her way
thats why im always around when she needs help
and heres what i say

mama hold my hand
i dont think you can cross this road by yourself
mama hold my hand
i dont think you can cross this road by yourself

Saw this man at the weekend at Nottingham's Rock City, and it was one of the most amazing gigs I've ever been too.

His soulful style reminds me very much of a modern day Jackson 5. I had my pic taken with him after, but it deleted itself (boohoo!), but if you get the chance to see him live, you definitely should! 

In the meantime, get his CD on your ipod!

The rest of the weekend was lovely :) Lots of Starbucks hot chocolate, and my first proper experience of Nottingham.

It was strange that lots of their shops seemed shut down and deserted =/ but we managed to find the town centre, and their amazing Christmas market! As well as their main street for all the restaurants - take note, Slug and Lettuce on a Monday, food is 50% off. Was soooo tasty!!

Also, the best pub in Nottingham is called the Horn in the Hand. Pint for under 2 quid. Take note if you're ever in the area!

Such a brilliant weekend :)

Can't wait for Christmas now!!

Retail Therapy

I'm being a bit of a grump at the moment, and I can't seem to kick myself out of it.
There are not enough decaf white caffe's mochas and skinny muffins (see below) to fix my mood; so now I've moved on to some retail therapy, and in the process I've found this great little boutique on ASOS Marketplace - Boutique73

https://marketplace.asos.com/boutique/boutique-73

I haven't actually received my items yet, but I'll keep you updated. I love most of their products, and they seem to have got some pretty good feedback, so I suppose we'll just see.

In the meantime, work is coming along quite nicely, but I can't put any sneak previews up because it's suddenly got very important and top secret, now that's it got competitive for D&AD.
Don't want anyone stealing my best ideas (Yes, I'm looking at you Mr O'Dea)!

But when it's all completed, I'll be sure to put the best bits up on here.

Sleep deprived

Blogging has been a bit scarce this week, but I'm just a bit too tired and lethargic to do anything (including blogging).

I've managed to drag myself out of the house for all my lectures. But I'm walking around a bit like a zombie at the moment because I can't sleep!! Terrible.

Hot water bottle and bed for now. Fingers crossed I'll be back to my blogging best soon. But til then, you can enjoy the attempt I had at leopard print the other day...

Pretty basic. But pretty.

Used some of my spare time this week to have another go at using my nail art pen. 

Subtler than what I've done before. But I quite like it.

Good thing I have fingerless mittens to show off these beauts.

Just annoying how long the bottom layer took to dry. Some nail varnish brands are a pain like that.

Never mind. Time to get back down to some serious work now. Fun, fun!

Industry Design Awards

Our new design brief has been set, and I'm quite excited about it...at the moment.

We have to work on four industry design awards from schemes including D&AD; the Roses Awards and YCN Awards.
There's quite a lot of variety in the briefs, so I'm hoping I find something that suits me perfectly. Fingers crossed.

I took the opportunity, before the workload gets too heavy, to finally sort out the mess that is my studio aka. my room. It still contained the cut-offs, test prints, and spray mount covered remains of the last brief; and it seemed like too much of a task all weekend.

So nice to finally have some clear space to work in again. But it also means that I have no excuse not to get busy now.

Solid work until the weekend, when I have family and friends coming to visit :) Can't wait!!
And the Christmas Parade to turn the town's lights on, followed by a trip to the cinema to see the latest Twilight movie.
I am despicably girly sometimes. But a girl has to do what a girl has to do.

Lazy and liking it

But not loving it. Just feel a bit lazy really.

Did buy myself a cheeky early Christmas present today though...once it's all set up, I shall disclose all.

But even though I intended to have a bit of a lazy stroll through town to start my Christmas browsing, I was naive enough not to realise that absolutely EVERYONE has now started their Christmas shopping.

I forgot that once Halloween and Fireworks night are out of the way, the next big occassion is Christmas, and it becomes the commonly accepted time for the festive shopping to begin, and the carols and Crimbo songs are allowed to be on the radio etc...

I actually watched the stores change all their visual merchandising on Fireworks night for the Christmas shoppers. It was genuinely that soon after/during the Firework 'festivities'.

Ah well, I'll start trying to enjoy the Crimbo spirit; but I am going to have to start going out shopping earlier to avoid the crowds, and have some chance of getting my much needed decaf white caffe mocha from Starbucks. Christmas yums :)

As for my lazy weekend...I'm hitting the gym tomorrow; rewriting my first dissertation draft; and attempting the shopping again.
Or, I may just end up lazing in bed all day. Let's see how motivated I can be.

Finally done!!

After 7 weeks of pretty solid work, I finally completely finished the Graphic Design prospectus I was producing!

We had our big class presentation and hand-in today. So relieved for it to be over now! 

Had become quite stressful in the last 2 weeks in particular.

Quite pleased with the way it looks though! Was definitely worth all the stressing.

Third year looks like it's gonna be a good one. Hard work though.

Above are two examples of spreads from the prospectus, but they all vary in style and layout, with the horizontal lines used wherever quotes are used in the prospectus.

It was interesting to see what other people had done for their first project, but I can't lie, the best part of the day was lunch with the Graphics guys and girls. A nice chance to relax for a bit.

Saying that, first draft of the dissertation is due in tomorrow...eek.

Not gonna let that dampen my mood though.

Bring on the wine and DVDS (and very warm pj's, because my goodness it's cold!!)

Banana muffins

Found the ultimate distraction from work in what are supposed to be, banana muffins.
They turned out a bit more like banana cupcakes, but oh my goodness, they're amazing!!

Banana muffins (with cinnamon!) and coffee. Definitely the way to kickstart your day.

It helps that the process of making them distracted me from work for a solid 30 minutes yesterday.

They may not be pretty, but I don't really care. They're just amazingly tasty.

But can anyone help me with this one...how do you make a muffin, rather than a cupcake?

Muffins seem airy...cupcakes aren't. So how do I make actual muffins?

Almost...

Work is almost done...I think...I hope.

Fingers crossed for me, and if you're lucky, I'll be posting pics up within the next 24 hours!

PS. Brrrrrrrr it's too cold, even in the damn house!

November

Hope everyone had a decent Halloween night. I turned in to a cat for the evening, as you can see...

We also had an actual cat visitor for the night; and a black one at that. Cutest thing ever!

Think we've made a friend for life after the kitty went for a big wander round our house.

I had a lovely weekend at home, and this topped it off perfectly. 

Now tomorrow back to work. Only a week til the deadline!!

Scary, scary =/

What a lovely weekend :)

Spent the weekend with the mister, and it was just what I needed.
Even though I did actually spend time working. But his uni library is just a bit of a ledge!

Absolutely hate to be back now!
Can't wait for my next trip up North though!! We'll be seeing the amazing Aloe Blaac when I do! =D

But for now, there's lots to be done, and the deadline seems to be closing in so quickly!

Got to get my brother a birthday present, making my work beautiful, tidy my room before I lose everything important, and somewhere along the line, I should probably try not to forget about the dissertation work I have to do too =/

Oooooh dammit.

On the plus side, the boyo did buy me this yummy scrumptiousness for me to be munching while I work! =D

Yums!!

Things can only get better

Been a bit of a rubbish week, but the photoshoot for my latest 'prospectus' brief managed to put a smile on my face. 

With the help of the wonderful Christine Xuan's photography, we managed to capture an array of 'doodle faces'.

Her retouching is amazing, and has made even the worst of us look a bit dam good!

Love my pic; even had to facebook it.

Quite excited about eh final outcome now. Post pictures when it's finished.

Until then, enjoy this little beaut! Ha! 

What a week

Student housing is a mess.
Work is a mess.
I'm tired.
I'm lacking motivation.

I want to go home. With my boy.

Cannot wait for Loughborough.

I want, I want, I want!!!

I've just realise how little money I have in the world (boo!), and at the same time decided that I need beautiful fairy lights along the head of my bed...and can't afford them (double boo!!)

But I have found the most beautiful website for when I can afford them...

http://www.blaze-on.com/category.php?id=364

Fingers crossed, I can save up enough to get them. They're just the perfect crappy winter's day lighting to help you get to sleep.

Speaking of which, I'm absolutely shattered. Night.