Five years have flown by...

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the first time Ryan and I met. We'd spoken a lot online before we met and we've been together ever since. This year has been huge for us, although we moved in together last July, this April saw us move into our own house and a couple of weeks ago we got our first pets. This little post is just a small tribute to the time we've been together (and my ever-changing hair). I've grown up with Ryan by my side (I was 17 when we met) and I finished college, finished university, got my first job and my second job with him, and I'm so excited for our future together. I love you, Ryan, here's to another five years (and the rest.) xxxx

Charity Shop Cardi

Oh look, it's that dress again.

Dress: Clothing at Tesco, Cardigan: Next via Charity Shop, Leggings: New Look, Boots: Next

I love this dress, it's bright and summery, but a nice shade of pink for the autumn months as well and when I found this cardigan at the weekend I knew they'd be a good match.

There's a charity shop in our village which we try and go into whenever we're near but I've never bought anything, there's not a lot of clothes choice and my dreams of finding amazing dresses are scuppered on every visit. I once found an amazing maroon top which I thought would have been perfect for work and play, but unfortunately I had no money and was too proud (yeah, really) to ask Ryan for some change. That top will forever remain the one that go away.

This cardi is originally from Next and is a lovely fabric and a good fit. I've worn it buttoned today to give this dress a different shape, but I think it will work open as well. Good find I think.

What have you found in charity shops recently?

Daily Routine

Where do you find time to blog? Let's start with an outfit:

Top: New Look, Leggings: New Look, Cardigan: Primark, Scarf: Forever 21, Shoes: Clothing at Tesco

Right now, my day goes a bit like this:

06.00: Alarm goes off 

06:30: Get up - brush teeth, do my hair, get dressed etc.

07:00 - 07.30: In this time I have to feed the cats, feed myself and get my lunch stuff together. At the moment I am also putting eye drops in the kittens' eyes. Oh, I also take outfit photos in this time, like the ones above.

07:35: Train to work

09:00 - 17:30 (roughly): I'm at work, for an hour at lunch I try and catch up with blogs

18:16: Train home

19:00: Get home

Then I have the rest of the evening to eat, watch TV, play with the kittens, spend time with Ryan, blog, catch up on other blogs, and you know sometimes we go out and do stuff. I'm also always in bed for about 11pm. That's only 4 hours.

I'm feeling the strain a bit, and you may have noticed that my August blog posts have been quite sporadic and I'm not commenting on other blogs as much as I would like, which annoys me. Blogging is something I really enjoy and I'm just trying to make it work alongside my already hectic schedule. 

How do you find the time to blog? I'd really love to know how you fit it in - any tips are welcomed!

P.S. While writing this post I have been trying to watch WWE Raw and have had two kittens climbing on me. Yawn. 

Bank Holiday Monday

Who doesn't enjoy a bank holiday Monday? Three-day weekends are amazing, but I never get to spend my extra day off with Ryan as he normally has to work them (this doesn't include Christmas) - which means I normally spend the day doing not much waiting for him to come home, and today was no exception (maybe this will change when I can drive/have a car!)

Top: Topshop, Jumper: H&M, Leggings: New Look, Belt: ASOS

Today I wore my scruffiest lounging clothes, played with the kittens, did some washing and ate copious amounts of cornflake cakes. I also watched a lot of Man v. Food on Good Food. Productive, eh?

What have you been up to today?

Matalan Goodies

Now, I hope most of you will follow Vicki and will know what I'm talking about when I say I was super lucky to be chosen as a winner when she ran her amazing giveaway a month or so ago (if you don't follow her you really need to get on that, right now.)

I won a Matalan goodie bag and I was really chuffed with what arrived at my door a few weeks ago:

The candle has already taken pride of place on the bookshelves in our living room and the other bits are ready in case the sun comes out! Apart from the sandals which are unfortunately a few sizes too small for my boat feet, however, I'm sure I can give them to a friend or use them in a giveaway myself at some point!

Thanks to Vicki and Matalan for my wonderful prize!

My New Furry Friends

On Saturday Ryan and I headed to Haworth Cat Rescue to meet some kittens and hopefully bring two home. Everyone at the centre was lovely and after meeting a few different pairs our hearts were stolen by a black boy and a tortoise shell girl. They were called Guinness and Martini but we have renamed them Alberto (Alberto del Feline: The Mexican Aristocat, WWE Cat Champion) and Sookie (Stackhouse) and they seem to be settling in quite well.

Do you have any pets? I'd love to hear about them!

An Evening at Joe Brown's

When I received an invite to the launch of Joe Brown's A/W 11 collection I have to admit that I didn't really know anything about the brand. Ryan knew that they had a catalogue, but that was about it, so I had a look at the website and thought they looked unconventional and very unique.

I was looking forward to the event both to find out more about the brand, and to meet other bloggers, as this was the first bloggers event I'd been invited to! Everyone at Joe Browns was really friendly, the food was yummy and the warehouse looked really nice with all the clothes from the collection on display.

I was a bit late (missed the train from work I wanted to get) so I didn't have time to have a chat and meet all the bloggers before the Joe Brown's team started talking to us about the brand, how it started and their vision for the collection. The the buyers for the womenswear and menswear spoke to us about the theme for the season and their inspiration, which is something I found really interesting. I like to know how brands decide on the direction of their collections, and it was really great to hear about their travels and the method they use when buying.

Now to the clothes, I must admit that there were some items that just weren't my style, some pieces were slightly too embellished or the patterns just weren't to my taste. However, there were some dresses, knitwear and that fur coat that I just fell in love with. The team were very generous and our goodie bags contained a voucher for us to spend on anything we like, I've decided to wait until the full collection is available online, but flicking through the catalogue I think I should look at a dresses and knitwear instead of the coat. And OMG I loved that coat.

I'd like to say thank you to the Joe Brown's team for inviting me along and paying for my taxi to the event and back to the train station (much appreciated) and for the amazing voucher, I'm excited to spend it! Plus, another big thank you to all the bloggers I met, I had a fab time and it was great to meet you all!