Friday favourites: Instagram

I've found myself on Instagram a lot lately. I don't know if it's because I love looking at pretty photos or whether I just really like having a nosey in other people's lives, but either way I'm on it at least once a day.

It can be really inspirational (I know, clichéd) to see the kind of things other people do, the kind of photos they take. 

These are five of my favourite, uh.. Instagrammers? What's the word you'd give an instagram user? How am I supposed to know anyway?

1- karahaupt

2- sofiyaslyu

3- kaylahadlington

4- luanna90

5- urbanoutfitters

My posts are probably going  to be very sporadic over the next few weeks (as if they aren't anyway) because I've got GCSEs to do and it's a bit terrifying, so I need to revise as much as possible. I'm not the only one this stressed, right?

Love, Shay. xo

P.S. You can follow me on Instagram here

Friday favourites: Adventures

Hello! Apologies for my absence (I know, I say this way too much), school has just been, like, woah. Mock exams are hard. So is revision. But then so is climbing out of bed, and where would we be if we couldn't summon up the strength to do that each day?

My blog content is slacking (sorry times a million), so I thought it could be a good idea to do a 'Friday Favourites' kind of thing every (other?) week. Not only will it motivate me, it'll also be nice to reflect and think about things that I've really enjoyed over the past fortnight. 

With the unusually nice weather we had recently, me and my friends decided to go on adventures in our local Country Park and around the area we live in. It was really lovely, and we had spontaneous picnics and long walks and took photos and just had a lot of fun.
These pictures are from two different days and both were so nice. On our second walk we just sat down for like half an hour chatting and enjoying the sunshine. It was the most content I've felt in a while.

Jess actually wrote two adventure logs about them, too.

Sorry for the picture overload, it was just so hard to choose!

Love, Shay. xo

Birthday love

Hello! 

Last month was my birthday, and I thought I'd do a 'birthday haul' with a few of my presents. I was so lucky this year to get some really fun stuff from my family and friends, and I had such a good time. We went out for a birthday tea last night at Pizza Express (better late than never, right?) It was delicious, if a little expensive.

 Fujifilm instax mini 8 (and pictures)

 Dream catcher

 Scrapbook (with mini washi tape and tiny bunting!)

 Barry M nail polish (okay so I already had that silver glittery one, but it's just so pretty!)

Laura Ashley tea for one

I got so excited with my presents this year and really wanted to share them with you- I hope you enjoyed having a peek!

Love, Shay. xo

It's my birthday!!

Even Google wished me a happy birthday ;)

I'm so happy it's finally my birthday! I got a Fuji instax and it's adorable and I love it. I haven't taken any pictures yet, because the film is pretty expensive and I don't want to waste it. Kate, Georgia, and Jess are coming over later for food and a sleepover, and I'm really excited!!

I'll see you soon!
Love, Shay. xo

Etsy wishlist

I'm sorry for my hiatus. I think I unconsciously hibernate in the winter- I’ll blink on Sunday and weeks will pass. I'm like a bear. Or a cat. Y'know, if cats hibernated.
As my birthday is coming up soon (the 22nd) I thought I’d do a little wish list. I really love Etsy; I browse all the time, but I've never actually bought anything for myself, plus it’s a great place for DIY inspiration.

1) Pretty in pink

 2) Little black dress

3) Midnight Kitty

4) Hey cat

5) May the odds be ever in your favour

6) We’re all mad here

7) I'm looking for someone to share in an adventure

8) Here kitty kitty

9) I like the sound a typewriter makes

10) A stopped clock is right twice a day

All of these items were on my favourites already, but they’re definitely some of the best.
Sorry again for my absence. I have a couple of posts planned soon so hopefully I’ll snap out of it.
Love, Shay. xo

I think I need a stress ball

I am a bad person, and I can only apologise for my lack of posts. Sorry :(

I've been ridiculously unmotivated, which seems to be the norm lately and that's a shame. It seems to have really hit over the new year. Maybe it's just January blues? I hope so 'cause it's not fun. I just get stressed and then I get stressed over being stressed until I get so stressed that I end up with nothing done. Ugh.

In other much more exciting happy news my friend Jess has started a blog. It's really lovely, and she made brownies on Sunday so you should go and check it out.

In the mean time I'm going to brain-storm blog post ideas and try not to get myself in a stressy ball of stress.

Love, Shay. xo

New Years Resolutions

I'm so sorry this took so long! I’ve just been feeling really unmotivated lately. Plus I almost had it finished yesterday when Sherlock came on. Sherlock is life so I'm only a little bit sorry for not posting yesterday.

Anyway, I'm here now to share with you my 2014 New Years Resolutions. I know they’re a bit late but let's all just pretend that it's still the 5^th January okay? Okay.

I've made resolutions in the past but they’ve always been a bit silly or I've not stuck to them (whoops). But this year I've made my resolutions and I’m going to stick to them, because they’re all things I really want to focus on.

These are my 'Big Goals'. I have lots of other little things that I want to accomplish but my resolutions are ones that mean the most to me.

1. Just say yes.

This, for me, is my absolute most important resolution. I can be quite a shy, nervous person. There's a lot of things that I shy away from or just won't do because the idea of doing it terrifies me. An example of this is school. In a lot of lessons I won't put my hand up or get involved in class discussions, because I just cant bring myself to raise my hand. It's one of those things that makes me annoyed afterwards, because it shouldn’t be so difficult. I’m hoping that this resolution will encourage me to be more outgoing, even if it is just small things like getting more involved in school.

2. Stop letting silly things bother you.

This is another pretty important one for me. I'm the kind of person that takes everything to heart. Someone's passing comment can have me awake at night worrying, and it's not particularly enjoyable. For this reason, I’m going to learn to brush things off. On the other end of the stick, I'm going to focus more on thinking before I speak, because I would hate for something that I say to be taken in the wrong way, and my mind often lacks a filter.

3. Remember the little things.

I'm just going to come out and say it. I have a dreadful memory. Like, really really bad. It's a real shame because I always forget the little things like fun days out with my friends.

I’m going to start taking more pictures, because I barely ever use my camera, and I’m going to make a '2014 memories jar'. My friend Georgia did this for 2013 and I thought it was such a good idea. Now I just need to think of some way to decorate it! I also may start a diary, but any attempts at this before haven’t been too good, so I'm not putting too much faith in the idea.

4. Organise yourself.

I'm possibly the least organised person in the world. With my GCSEs coming up this year and next, I want to organise my time better, revise, get homework done, finish last-years-media-coursework (oops) and just generally sort my self out. I plan on doing this in a few ways; I’m going to get some kind of weekly organiser/filofax, and I’m going to put my whiteboards and cork-boards to use. Lists help me a lot, so I’m going to start carrying my little flippy notepad around to remind me of, well, just about everything (like I said, awful memory).

5. Do stuff.

I have absolutely no hobbies. I'm really bad at keeping them up because I lack the time and energy and motivation and more often than not the money. One of my goals this year is to start one or more hobbies and actually stick at it. I made myself a list (I love lists) of some things I'd like to try.

• As I mentioned before I want to try and take a lot more photos and use my camera more.
• I want to start sewing again. I've made a couple of little things in the past, but when my sister left for Uni she took her sewing machine with her. I want to get back into crafting and making, because it's something I really enjoy.
• Scrap-booking is another thing I’d really like to try this year. After browsing Pinterest it looks like something really fun that I could get into if I had some supplies and a bit of creativity.
• Finally, I want to start cooking more. I do bake quite a bit, but I generally stick to the same few recipes (another one of the reasons I haven’t posted one in a while, sorry!) I want to branch out and try cooking more savoury dishes alongside cakes.

I’m really excited for my resolutions this year. I'm going to print them on pretty paper and hang and frame them on my bedroom wall so I don’t forget them.

Do you have any resolutions for this year? Or have you cheated on your 'no chocolate' rule already? ;)

Happy (belated) New Year!

Love, Shay. xo