Adventure | "We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon"

Hello again, it's been a little while. Life has been pretty (very) hectic for me these past few weeks. So far I've flown the nest, moved from Bristol to Lincoln, put an offer on a house, offer was accepted for said house and we have been buying/deciding things to renovate it. Crazy, huh? I'm used to coming up to Lincoln for a week or so at a time to visit my boyfriends family but now, he's just left to go back to work and I'm sat here all alone in a 4 bed house. It's only now it has occurred to me that this is real life. I have actually moved out.

I'm a grown up now. A grown up...

On the Friday before I left to start my journey to what feels like the other side of the world, my family took me for a leaving meal. It was such an amazing evening and I got to spend it with my favourite people. To top it all off, the gorgeous Alice (Alice's Antics), came down to say ciao while she was back from Italy. Gorging ourselves on steak, burgers, nachos and far too much alcohol, we spoke about the future and laughed about the past. The couple beside us thought it was so funny that my boyfriend had the challenge burger, I don't think I've ever seen a group of people be so engrossed with someone eating. I guess a 24oz burger is pretty funny... but not as funny as my Grandma asking me to take 'the selfie' with her. Evidence below. Although it was such a positive event, I couldn't help but feel a little bit sad that I wouldn't get to experience this again for a long time. We all left feeling a little bit merry, but for a good cause. It really was the best going away present I could ask for.

After waking up with a fuzzy head and taking Alice back to the train station, we finished the last of our packing and headed on our long journey up to Lincoln city. 3 hours on the motorway, a stop at the services and treating ourselves to a McDonalds we arrived at my new home. We didn't waste any time looking for a place to live and by the Wednesday, an offer was accepted on the house that we had fallen in love with. Unfortunately for us, that house is an empty shell. It does, however, mean we can create our dream home from the blank canvas previous owner had left us. The minute our offer accepted was so special. Danny picked me up and spun me around the room, we both fell on the floor laughing and I may have even shed a tear. Everything seemed to fall into place in that moment.

Having my future balance on someone saying 'yes' was the most exciting yet nerve-wracking experience I've ever been through. You could cut the tension with a knife every time the phone rang. Buying a house after just hours of viewing it is impulsive, but when you absolutely love something you have to go for it. Houses don't stick around on the market for very long anymore and we would have been gutted if we'd left it that little bit too long. I can't even tell you how many times we've driven round to see 'our house', it seems to be our favourite past time at the moment. To make things even more exciting, the last time we spontaneously took a trip to admire our new baby, there was a sold sign waiting for us. I think that was the best feeling in the world. That little place was going to be our home. Somewhere we could bring up our children, create memories with family, host dinner parties and fall even more in love.

Currently, Danny is back at work for the week and I'm sat here browsing home stores for lovely things to furnish our house with. If anyone fancies giving me any websites to check out, they will be greatly appreciated. You can leave suggestions in the comments or on twitter.

It's so odd to see my life changing so dramatically all at once. I've been here a week... already it's all systems go and it doesn't seem like it'll be slowing down any time soon. I think one thing I'm going to take from all this is to cherish every moment spent with my family. At home I saw them nearly every day and took it for granted. We didn't spend half as much quality time together as we should have. It gives me comfort that although I may be a few hundred miles away from them, if we look outside we still see the same sky. Homesickness hasn't kicked in quite yet, but I'm sure it'll come at me full force soon enough. 

Affordable Fashion | "The only real elegance is in the mind; if you’ve got that, the rest really comes from it."

I don't know about you, but money is always an issue for me, so Primark is usually my go to shop. At the moment, I don't have too much time to go into town so I've been browsing the internet for bargains. Honestly, I don't claim to know or follow any sort of fashion, but what I do know is that lots of people try to budget. A lot of the time it's really hard to find any decent good quality clothes and accessories for a small amount of money. 

Here are just a few of the things I've found on some super cheap (and reputable, promise) sites.

www.everything5pounds.com

LITERALLY EVERYTHING IS £5, HOW GREAT IS THAT?
I can't comment on the quality of these pieces, but there are so many things on that website that need to be in my wardrobe, and for £5 each I won't feel guilty buying them.

www.missluxe.co.uk
Now, this is a little steeper price wise. Most things range from £10 - £30. They do have some lovely items, but the majority of it isn't really to my taste.

www.missrebel.co.uk

Basically, I want to purchase this whole store. It's so cheap. I think the most expensive thing I've seen on there was a leather jacket and that was £25. I've purchased a few things from this store and they've always been amazing. Fast delivery and great product.

www.charmedivy.com

This website is such a little gem. Each of those items above are less than £3. I absolutely love every single piece on this site. If I could buy all of it, it would all be mine. If you're looking for beautiful pieces of quirky jewellery, then this is your newest bookmark.

And now for some of the more recognised names...

www.asda.com
Yes, thats right. You saw it correctly. ASDA. I am under no illusion that ASDA isn't a clothes shop, but my gosh, have you seen some of the beauties in there? I can't help myself but look at the new additions when doing my weekly shop. They also do the best bras for ladies with bigger busts -  now theres a tip for you lot.

www.elf.com

Elf has always been so great to me. Their lipsticks are so pigmented and stay on all night. I've never tried their varnishes but they are great value. The only things that are above £7 are the gift sets and brush sets. It's really a great place to go if you don't really have too much money to spend on cosmetics.

www.matalan.com

Matalan isn't exactly the cheapest of shops BUT the quality you get for what you pay is incredible. I have items of clothing I've bought from there for years and they still look new. They're good at keeping up with the newest trends and still keeping them at an affordable price. Definitely worth a look.

www.barrym.com

Barry M is quite possibly my favourite make up range. It seems like no matter how popular they are getting their prices are staying the same. Their nail polishes and lipsticks are incredible if you don't have money to spend on MAC etc etc.

A lot of people try and steer clear of sites that don't look 'professional' or are cheap, understandably, but what did your mother always tell you? Don't trust a book by it's cover. They might not look great, but it doesn't mean they are untrustworthy. I can't speak for every single site out there so you definitely just need to read the reviews and make your own decisions. 

If you're not a fan of sites you don't know too much about, don't forget to check out the sale items on sites like new look & topshop.

I absolutely despise spending money on clothes, which is odd considering how much I adore buying them. You'll always find me in the sale section and I'm not ashamed of it at all. 

You don't have to spend a lot of money to look a million dollars.