The Month That Was....June

June has been a pretty hectic month ending with my 25th birthday (but I'm telling people I'm 21! Yes I'm in denial!)

My birthday celebrations started with a night out with my friend Emma which included cocktails at the Hilton, very posh!

From there I then had a couple of days away in York with my mum which included a lot of shopping and a trip on the York Wheel, kind of like the London Eye just smaller. Much smaller!

We also brought home some yummy cakes from Patisserie Valerie which were amazing!

The day after I got back from York I was off to Leeds which my friend Laura. This also included a lot of shopping and a lot of food! We went to Red Hot Buffet World which was the most amazing place ever! We tried everything except for American and English food but for me the highlight was the creme brûlée, it was that good I had 3!

The day we were coming home we decided to go to TGI Friday's as we both hadn't been before but there was a problem with our order as it didn't get sent from the till to the kitchen so after waiting an hour we finally got our food and the very nice manager said it was on him so all we paid for was dessert! And we got to try a brand new cocktail for free and we were the first customers to try it!

The food was amazing and we would go again, especially if the whole meal cost us just over £5 each! Don't think that will happen again!

Our view from the hotel was pretty good. We were on the 6th floor and had really good views, we spent most of the time sat in the window people watching!

Whilst people watching we listened to CD's which were on the hotel TV and discovered a new band called Pooh! We had fun translating the song titles (they were in Italian) and making a story out of them!

That was pretty much my month. I will be posting some hauls up soon but this will probably be next weekend as I need to work out the best way to post them, maybe two or three different posts.

Anyways hope you had a good June!

The Month That Was.....May

With one thing and another May has been a pretty busy month.

The month started with the most exciting thing ever in the history of the world: The Big Reunion Tour! Me and my friend Laura went to the first show in Sheffield and it was amazing!

We were so close to the stage it was unreal! Our favs were B*Witched and Five but I have to admit Kerry Katona was pretty awesome too, she got the biggest cheers of anyone!

Also on a shopping trip to Lincoln me and my mum bumped into Ed Milliband (leader of the Labour party), ok so he was going a roadshow thing so we stopped by to listen for a while. And then low and behold guess who's in the background on one of the photos on the Lincolnshire Echo website? Only moi!

I also finally got an iPhone! A spangly white iPhone 5 and I love it! Seriously don't know why I didn't get one sooner.

Me, my mum and my dad went and saw Bill Bailey at Sheffield City Hall. This was my dad's birthday present and it was a good night.

Other things that happened in this month included getting my tax sorted that has been going on since August last year. Basically I under paid my tax but it was my previous employers fault so I appealed it. They did in the end admit it was there fault so I don't have to pay back what I underpaid (£350). I also got the money back from being over charged for my contact lenses, nearly £60. I sold a cardi on eBay for almost £21 (insane), I got new hair which includes a fringe and I had a little drama with a flat tyre!

Anyway I'm going to leave you with some more photos from The Big Reunion so enjoy!

Have a good June!

The Month That Was....April

Yey we finally had sunshine!

Ok so it might have been sunny but it still hasn't been that warm, can't wait for some lovely long, warm, sunny summer evenings.

I also had some kind of tonsillitis/viral infection in my throat which made me have 3 days off work as felt rubbish and my throat still hasn't gone back to normal but I don't feel ill anymore.

Apart from that I started my diet which you probably know so I'll be continuing that until the end of June at least.

All in all I think April has been a pretty boring month, apart from deciding that next year I'm going to get a BMW. I can get one for only £10 a year extra on my insurance so I thought I might as well spend my money on something I've wanted for a few years so all my savings are going to be spent on that.

Hope you had a good month!

The month that was.....March

Well March has been and gone, can't believe that we are a quarter of the way through the year and believe it or not we are now also on British Summer Time. Hope it warms up soon!

March has been a pretty busy month, it started with an unexpected trip to the opticians as I couldn't see properly. Turns out in 3 months my eyes have changed drastically so I had to have another full eye check, swap my contact lenses and buy new pair of glasses. At least I can see now.

I also went on holiday to Lanzarote. This also coincided with the snow we had back in the UK so when everyone here was wrapping up warm I was in the warm of a 28 degree climate.

Unfortunately whilst on holiday I ended up with bad fluid retention in my foot.

My foot is near enough back to normal but it does still hurt a little. Oh and the heat rash has gone too. All in all my foot was a mess and flip flops were my friends whilst on holiday.

As I've now been back a week I think I also have a mild form of tonsillitis but I think I'm beating it so hopefully won't need any medication.

Well there we have my March, except for the huge fat foot and huge fat throat it was a pretty good month. Oh and for the blurry eyes!

The month that was....February

Wow February flew by, so fast in fact that I am behind on my end of month posts, whoops!

Firstly February brought us snow....again. The white stuff well and truly out stayed it's welcome so fingers crossed it's now gone for another year.

I also finally got to see Strictly Come Dancing on tour! I took my mum and we were sat so close to the stage and it was an amazing show! I've already decided I'm going again next year!

February also marked the start of Lent which has been an epic fail this year. Normally I give up chocolate or fizzy pop but as I'm going on holiday smack bang in the middle of it I wouldn't be able to give up these so I decided to give up tea but that didn't last. Oh well there's always next year.

Me and my friend Laura also booked tickets for the Big Reunion tour in May! This is really exciting as Five and B*Witched were two of my favourite bands when I was growing up and as I haven't been to a pop concert in years I literally can't wait!

So that was my February, I hope you had a good one!

The month that was....January

I was really looking forward to the start of 2013 but it started badly. I had Norovirus :-( It had been in the news alot about cases rising and symptoms of it but I have to admit I thought it was just a bad stomach bug and didn't get why it was a big deal. This soon changed within about 2 hours of being ill.

I had a fever (felt freezing cold but was boiling to the touch), sickness, headaches, severe muscle pain and a crippling bad back. My legs were so sore it felt like I had ran a hundred marathons and my back hurt so much I couldn't even bend down.

So anyway I had the first 3 days back at work after the christmas break off sick and when I did eventually go back to work I still felt ill but I'm over it now and wouldn't wish it upon anyone because I can't say quite how ill I felt.

Anyway January was also the month where the Beast From The East came. Snow, snow and more snow. Oh and ice and bitterly cold temperatures.

And I was also excited by the release of new Kit Kat chunky's and bought three of the new flavours.

After trying them out I can say that the choc fudge one is amazing! The other two are nice but nothing special.

So that was my month, I hope you had a good one too! 

The year that was...2012

2012. Not much has changed this year. I am still living back at home and still have too many toiletries. The only mega change happened back in June when I left my job and was unemployed for 5 weeks before getting my current job which is doing admin for a telesales company in the town that I live in. The 5 minute commute is much better than the old hour and half one.



2012 goals and aims
Last year I set myself a few goals to complete during 2012, so did I actually complete them?

• Complete as many Day Zero goals as possible - Last year I completed 6 goals and this year I have finished a grand total of 22 goals! I have now also finished my 101 goals so this coming year I will crack on with completing them
• Go on holiday - this didn't happen but I did book a holiday for March 2013
• Save 10% of my wages - I did start really well with this one but when I left my job it threw me off course a little but I am getting back on to saving in 2013
• Keep losing weight - Nope, but I didn't put any on!
• Start crafting again - Nope, did even less than last year! But I do still dabble when I have a specific project to do
• Paint my nails at least twice a month - YES! I did this one religiously and here is the proof!

A few photos from the last year

 Pop Tarts in Januay

Snow in February

 Sunrise and emptying my piggy bank in March

Rainy day in April

Jubilee goodies in June

Kopparberg Cider in June

Redecorating in August

Handmade Burger Company in October

Festive Costa Coffee in December

Goals for 2013

I have a few goals which I want to work towards and achieve during 2013 including:

• Saving some of my wages every month
• Wear nail polish at least twice a month
• Complete 20 Day Zero goals by June
• Cut my toiletries stash in half by the end of the year
• Exercise regularly 

I hope you'll all continue reading Beauty and Beyond in 2013 and I hope you all have a great new year :-)

The Month that was....November

I literally can't believe that this is the last month that was post of 2012, my next post will be a yearly round up. Seriously where has 2012 gone?

Well November has been mainly plagued by me being ill :-( I had such a bad cold which I had to take nearly 4 days off work to try to recover from but I still have a bad cough and still feel a little bit bleurgh,  especially as I don't get paid for being off work sick so my wages were down which is really what you want the month before christmas, ahh well.

I also got contact lenses. I'd been wearing my glasses more and had started to realised just how bad my eye sight was so decided to try lenses out. I had a weeks trial before committing to anything and really liked them so I'm now a permanent wearer.

My car also failed it's MOT and it was for something I didn't think it would fail on. The two things which I thought might make it fail passed which is a little annoying but never mind.

I also had a few days off for annual leave so spent some of my time watching old films that I'd never seen before and I've been missing out. I watched The Day After Tomorrow and Dear John and they were such good films.

And finally I booked tickets to see Bill Bailey next year! These are for my dad for his birthday but I'm really excited and we have quite good seats. So that's 3 gigs booked for next year so far! Oh if you don't know who Bill Bailey is he's a comedian and looks like this:

Oh and he's very very funny!

One last thing, I've also literally just finished my christmas shopping, just got foodie bits to buy but all my presents have been bought. I normally buy myself something but instead have decided to get a few things in the sales instead as I don't really want anything at the moment. How's your Christmas shopping going, have you finished yet?

The month that was....October

October always seems to be one of those months that seems depressing as the seasons change, the clocks change, it's so much darker and christmas starts to infiltrate our lives. So what have I been up to this last month?

At the beginning of October me and my friend went to see the comedian Chris Ramsey on one of his tour dates and it was really good. The gig was in a really small room so it felt really intimate and his support comedian who was Carl Hutchinson was amazing too! Of course we went for a cheeky Nandos before the gig!

I've also been indulging in the odd Jean Paul Gaultier Diet Coke cans, they are almost too cute to throw away. 

And last weekend we got snow! I'd been tricking my mum and dad on Friday night saying it was snowing when it wasn't as we weren't forecast any but when I woke up on Saturday there was a dusting on the ground. Unfortunately it didn't last too long.

One last note, did everyone see the photos and coverage of Hurricane Sandy over in the US? Some of the pictures were amazing, can't imagine what it would have been like to have been there.

Anyway hope you've all had a good month!

The month that was.....September

September has been a relatively quite month. I think the most exciting thing that has happened is that I've been given a permanent contact at work before even finishing my 3 month trial period! I must be doing a good job and obviously haven't done anything drastically wrong!

I also booked a holiday for March next year. This will be my first holiday in about 4 years so I'm really looking forward to it.

Also whilst in Marks and Spencer's yesterday I came across these little beauties! I have a feeling they won't last very long!

The month that was..... August

Wow August has been and gone. It will soon be christmas before we know it.

August began with the Olympics ending. I was kind of sad that it finished as even though I didn't plan on watching much of it I watched something everyday and was really getting into it. The closing ceremony was really good and I stayed up to watch it all which meant that I spent the rest of the week catching up on sleep I missed!

I also redecorated my bedroom. I moved back home a year ago and decided it was time I had a change from turquoise that my mum decorated my room in when I left home last time! I decided on zebra print wallpaper and beige/light brown walls. Sounds horrible but I think you'll agree it looks pretty damn good!

I also got new storage boxes from Matalan for my shoes and handbags to go on top of my wardrobes but I could have done with another one as I had more stuff than I realised and I also got a cute flower laser cut light shade.

And I got a new curtain pole and new curtains but they're not that exciting!

I've also been at my new job a whole month now and I feel like I'm getting there with knowing stuff and multi tasking which can be quite hard in my job. But I'm still liking it so that's the main point!

And one last thing that happened this month is that my car lost it's plastic grille thing that sits in the front bumper. No idea where it went or how long it's been gone but a new one is on it's way to me from the power of eBay!

So that was my month, how was your August?

Oh and a quick piccy of a double rainbow I spotted out my bedroom window :-) 

The month that was.....July

I literally can't believe it's August, where's time going?!? But back to July. July started with me getting a job interview for a company in town doing telesales. I went and didn't like it so wasn't going to accept the 3 month trial but then the man who I saw phoned me and asked if I wanted to try out for a job in the admin section. This was way more me so a few days later off I popped for a couple of hours to try it out. Three hours later I left pretty sure I had the job in the bag and hey presto 4 hours later I got the phone call asking if I could start on Monday! So I work 9-4.30 Monday-Friday, with one late night until 7.30 where I get paid for working 3 hours when in fact I work 2, we get extra money on Fridays depending on how well sales have done, last week we got ice creams when it was hot and we get enough free tea and coffee to sink a battle ship! Even though I've done admin before this is completely different as they have their own system and at the moment it's alot of learning and remembering. We sell till rolls by the way so it's not something I have a clue about! Overall though I really like it and it's so nice being able to get up for 7.30 and only having a 10 minute drive to work, abit different to a 5.30am alarm and at least an hours journey to work. 

Also in July my grandad had his big 85th birthday bash which was a big garden party and a hog roast. The weather was ok but it did rain on and off which was a little disappointing but everyone had a good day. Lots of family who I hadn't seen in years also came so it was really nice to have a big catch up. 

I'm also planning on redecorating my bedroom which is going to be a mega job but I've decided on what wallpaper I'm having and which paint so now it's just deciding when to start. 

Also it was the opening of the Olympics. The opening ceremony started a little 'blah' if you ask me. I turned off after half and hour because I just didn't get it but then when I started to see all the tweets saying how amazing it was I put it back on and was transfixed to the screen. Simply amazing. I'm not really planning on watching many events as I'm not really into sport but some of the athletic and the diving might just find their way on to my screen!

And as I've recently had a lot of time on my hands I took full advantage of competitions on Twitter and on blogs and won quite a few goodies including these: 

So that was my July, how was yours? Are you planning on watching the Olympics? Have a nice August :-)

The month that was.....June

Ahh June, it's been a busy month.

I'd resigned myself to staying on at work and accepting an extension to my contract much to my disappointment and then I got a possible job opportunity somewhere else which would mean an immediate start so dilemma....what do I do???? 

Well I decided that this opportunity was too good to miss so I told work that I wasn't going to accept my contract extension and I left! In the end I didn't get the other job but cest la vie, I'm way happier than I was so the risk was worth it!

Also I did lots of interview prep (below) for the job but I didn't get ask a single question, it was very strange!

Also I won a competition run by Revlon on Twitter and I got lots of their new Top Speed nail polishes sent to me and I've been enjoying trying them all out. I also won a competition ran by Eylure for me and three friends to go on the Guestlist for the Hed Kandi and Pacha beach party in London yesterday but no one could make it so I had to reject the prize :-( Twas gutted.

It was also the Queens Diamond Jubilee, it feels like it was ages ago not only 25 days ago, so we had a little party on the sunday when the flotilla was going down the Thames, my theme was everything in miniature!

It was fathers day so I dusted off my crafting stuff and made my dad this card:

Yesterday was my birthday but I just had a quiet day and went to Nandos for tea which was nice but the wait for a table was so long. Tonight I'm also gong out for some drinks with my friend who I haven't seen for ages so that should be fun and talking of drinks.....

A nice refreshing Rekorderlig cider:

Ahhh lovely!