christmas day

Hello everyone! I know, you've probably been inundated by Christmas posts, but it is that time of the year and I love seeing everyone share photos of their day. Frankly, I thought this year would be very weird and awkward as it's our first year celebrating Christmas with one parent as opposed to the two (my mother chose to stay in England with her parents), but it was great actually! There wasn't an awkward atmosphere like last year and we all had lots of fun, even if I was under the weather.

These pictures were all taken with my present, a Nikkor 35mm f1.8 lens! I haven't worked it out completely yet, but practice makes perfect!

I couldn't resist trying out a bokeh effect as my standard lens wasn't really good for depth of field.

A picture with my fluffy Molly (and basically an excuse to try my Nikon remote out!).

Some of the makeup related presents I received (from my sister and her boyfriend ) although there are a few more bits and bobs.

Molly looks like a puppy in this picture, despite being 7 years old! She was like a teddy bear as a puppy and still retains that quality, it seems!

My cat Charlie, who at least posed, unlike her sister.

Molly wearing my new Gryffindor scarf! She's so photogenic, this dog.

Dani and Minnie, my two older sisters.

And that's me, looking a bit dopey due to the meds..

My crazy siblings and I.

The dinner table, although a few things were missing.

My favourite part of Christmas dinner, sausage meat!!!! I lovelovelove it.

Charlie, looking exceptionally inspirational. It just needs one of those quotes next to her.

And our Christmas tree!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and that you're enjoying the sales+ I haven't been out yet to browse them although I may do so soon. Tonight we're going to see the Hobbit, as we are all big Lord Of The Rings fans!

Gift ideas: L'occitane

A lot of gift idea posts have been popping up all over blogger and I love seeing these. No matter how well I know my friends and family, there will always be someone whose gift I will be despairing over. So seeing lots of bloggers post ideas is always refreshing, even if they just push you in th right direction.

Now I'm not going to post in general about gifts, rather I will talk about certain gifts that I have already got. Of course, these aren't gifts for my sisters as I know they read my blog and I'm not that stupid as to post about their presents.

So today I'm going to post about my nan's present, which was quite a coincidental discovery. I was in the shopping centre after tutoring, waiting for my bus (yes, I have to get two buses to get home from tutoring, which isn't that much of a hardship) when I decided to amble along into the L'Occitane shop. I've been contemplating getting my mother a present there, but I didn't find anything that really stood out to me. But fortunately, my visit was not in vain as I discovered something I could get for my nan. I would have killed two birds with one stone and got one for my granny too, but I wasn't quite sure about what scent she liked so I had to wait.

 

This is "4 Reines (4 queens)" rose trio, which I thought was a perfect present for my nan as she is quite fond of rose-scented things. The trio retails for 15€ in Europe, I couldn't find it on the English website but it should be around the same price. 

So in the set are a bath soap, a bath and shower gel and best of all, a hand cream. I myself love hand creams and it's a perfect gift for during the winter as your hands will need a bit of TLC. This gift may seem a bit 'grandmotherly' but I don't think it's limited to grandmothers as the shop really does have a lot of stuff, including some very interesting perfume scents and personally, I would quite pleased if I got something from L'Occitane as it's not something you really need, but you'd be pretty pleased if you get it anyway. It's also not as generic as getting something from Sephora (as in, the brand Sephora, which is what I used to get people when I wasn't quite sure what they wanted) as it does have a certain luxury to it.

Not to mention the adorable packaging and in-store service. Yes, I am sold because their samples were a lot more pleasing than what I get from Sephora (really? two years on and you still give out the same Clarins cream sample?). So if you're in a bit of a rut of what to get a female friend or relative, I think you can't go wrong with L'Occitane unless of course, said friend gets headaches due to scented stuff ;)

lazy days

Hello everyone, how are you all?
I myself have had a rather lucrative and productive weekend, babysitting and tutoring yesterday. I'm especially pleased with myself as I am saving up to buy everyone presents, especially once I get to England (16 days!). Aside from that, with yesterday the 1st of December, we've had our first (official) snowfall! It was lovely last night, watching it snow. Snow never fails to lift my spirits up, although unfortunately it had all melted by this afternoon...

I have decided to do an outfit post as instead of just wandering around in my joggers and some random top, I actually put a different outfit on as I felt like wearing some of my more winter appropriate clothes, especially as it's officially December and it's getting quite chilly now.

 

I have yet to master the art of both posing and getting my camera in good position (let's hope Christmas fixes the latter - I'm hoping to get a tripod of some description). I don't usually wear leggings as I've always preferred tights. But I've seen a lot of people wearing leggings and a long top and it is quite a nice look, so I decided to try it out myself. I'm not sure if I would go out in this outfit, especially with the woolly cardigan - I fear it may be too in your face for some people in Luxembourg.

But I would definitely like to try the leggings + long top combo, perhaps tomorrow if it's not too cold and if I dig a nice long top out of my wardrobe. I've noticed that I have a distinct lack of long tops and party dresses. In fact, I only really have three party dresses and one of them doesn't even fit me...

 So the cardigan in question was a gift from my nan. She knows how much I like  neon colours and whilst I have toned my wardrobe down from what it was like a few years ago (clashing colours galore if you're curious), I still do like the odd colourful piece. Knowing my nan, it's most likely from TK Maxx or M&S, and I just checked and it is indeed from Marks & Spencers. I like that the print isn't the most aesthetically pleasing, its oddness is endearing to me so maybe I will wear it out to school, even if people will think it's a monstrosity. At the least, I'll wear it if I attempt to take my dog for a walk (as a side note, I have the laziest dog ever).

But the pattern is definitely wintery, so I will probably wear it most weekends, even if my dad winces when he sees it. My dad thinks my fashion choices are 'unique', in his diplomatic words, especially my pink doc martens, of which he isn't particularly fond.

Anyway I hope you all like this post, although I am aware that my blog isn't nor will it ever be a fashion blog. I suppose I just like to occasionally post my outfit of the day, if it's something special. I won't post every day as usually I repeat my outfits weekly ;)

So what do you all like to wear at home on lazy days? I've seen the trend of onesies grow but I haven't yet bought one...who knows, I might buy one when I'm in England :)