As some may have noticed, I haven't been posting much in these last two weeks. I just had my Easter holiday away from uni, and that's when there was a flourish of posts about things going on, and my blog became a hive of activity. Just this last week though, I've been brought down to earth with an almighty drop, and had to realise that I can't keep going out for day trips and spending time writing up posts when I have exams coming up soon.

So I've had to put this on the back burner and focus on revision, and because I've been inside revising, I haven't had many things to blog about.

I felt the need to do a little post just to say, to those of you who have followed my and read when I update, that although things seem slow, it's not going to be like this for long. I do intend on getting back to multiple posts a week, but my exams ultimately have to come first .

I have my last exam on the 16th of May then I am officially on holiday! So as of then, you can expect very regular posts, as I have 2 weeks in Edinburgh in which I intend to explore the city properly, then months doing goodness knows what! And I'll blog about my holiday to England, when it comes, as well as a 3 week excavation that I'm going on, and other random thoughts and things..
So if you think that my blog is becoming dry, please don't give up! 2 weeks on Friday and it will become lively and I plan to put a lot of work into it and getting it better..

So thanks for baring with me through this!
Much love,
Emily
xxx

We've started making it a bit of a habit that my sister, Eleanor, and I will go for a lunch date together when I'm home over the week. I meet Eleanor during her school lunch break, and we'll spend the hour either at Belmont Picture House cafe or Books and Beans. These are both places that we wouldn't usually go for a school lunch, so its a nice treat during the school week for Eleanor.

This time, we decided to go to Books and Beans. The cafe is adorable. The walls are lined with second hand books that you are allowed to take out and read over coffee and you can buy them too. For the first time, I actually bought a book from them- a huge book about Athens in the classical period. I was scoffed at by Eleanor, but that's what I'm studying right now so I thought it would be useful.

We always try to go to this one corner of the book shop, where there are only three tables, so its quieter and enclosed. We also always get a toasted panini from them, which comes along with salad and some crisps. And as there are always so many paninis to pick from, we decided to go for a spicy meatballs panini and a chicken tika and cheddar one, then half it and share them with one another. Since it was another cold day in Aberdeen, we also got a hot chocolate each to go along with it.

I love having these lunches together, it all started with our older sister too, but now that she works, she can only come for weekend lunch dates. But its a perfect opportunity to chat away to each other and feel grown up. Its become some what of a tradition, that I hope continues.

Hot Chocolate

Spicy MeatBall Panini

Chicken Tika and Cheddar Panini

Inside the shop- image source http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/aberdeen/BooksAndBeans/192344

The Shop from the street- image credit http://www.bookstoreguide.org/2009/07/books-and-beans-aberdeen.html

 Outfit of the Day

• Shoes from Primark
• Black Chord Skirt from Primark
• Light Pink Jumper from New Look
• Gold Necklace from Internationale

I made my way back to Edinburgh on Saturday just for the night because it was my friend's 19th Birthday and we were going to celebrate. Annoyingly, a lot of people were at home for the holidays, or busy revising for exams, but although there were only a few of us, we all had a great night. I haven't seen my friends for 2 weeks so it was great to see them all again, even if it was a fleeting visit.

The night ended up being a bit of a messy one, as it always does when ring of fire is involved in predrinks, and on Sunday morning I was definitely paying for it; a 9 o'clock train ride was certainly not ideal.

But I thought I'd share my outfit and make-up look for you to see, with a talk through of what make up I've got on.



For my birthday, some younger girls who live on my street and I've known for years very kindly gave me a sunkissed make up kit and I basically based my whole make up look around those eye shadows, which I find I use almost every day. The colours are not overly pigmented, so I find them perfect for an everyday, casual look. A while ago, though, I was watching a Tanya Burr video (which I can't find the exact one) where she said that she was using a bronzer and highlighter for her eye make up. In this kit that I was given is a very gold and shimmery bronzer and highlighter, which I tried to use initially, but on my pale complexion it didn't look good to say the least. So why I saw Tanya's video, I decided to try it out for my eyes, since she said golds were in season. I have found I really like this look and I've worn it on many a night out, but when I was getting ready on Saturday, I tried to change it up a little. This time, I've used the highlighter on the lid, and blended the bronzer above, as usual, but I also blended in the dark brown from the brown pallet into the crease and outer edge of my eye. I then used the cream underneath my eye brow, and somewhat daringly used a lilac from the purple pallet in the corner of my eye upwards. I find pale purples match my skin tone quite well, and I've been told that purples are supposed to bring out green eyes, so I took a risk adding it to this make up look, but I discovered it worked well because it was subtle, but brightened my eye. On my eyes, I also used my Max Factor mascara, a brown eye liner on the outer corners of my under eyes (which I found at the bottom of my make up bag), a white Natural Collection eye liner to the inner corners, which helps to widen your eye (and I feel like my eyes are quite small), as well as black liquid eye liner over the tops of my lid.




As a base on my face, I use Clinique tinted moisturiser, as I don't feel like my skin needs the thicker coverage that foundation gives, in the lightest shade; and touch up my spots and blemishes with collection lasting perfection concealer. Because I have been a little bit stressed this week, as well as eating a lot of unhealthy food, I've found that I have had quite a few spots that need more coverage, and so I used benefit boi-ing concealer on those spots. I used Benefit Dandelion blusher on the apples of my cheeks and on my lips, I've used the sunkissed lip liner, which I then went over with just vaseline to give it a shinier appearance.



And there's my attempt at a make up explaination! Hopefully this was interesting to some people, obviously I am in no way a make up artist, nor do I want to be one or try to be one, but I've recently been asked about my eye shaddow, and I just fancied trying to do a make up post.

What I wore

• Black crop top from Republic (bought last Spring) 
• Pink chequered tight skirt from Internationale
• Skin coloured tights (I forgot to bring black tights as I have all of mine at home with me)
• Black gym type shoes from Primark
• Necklace from Internationale
• Leather coat from Miss Selfridge (bought last winter) 

Emily
xxx

My favourite song this week has been One Direction's 'Why Don't We Go There'. This song is off of their 3rd album, Midnight Memories. The reason I have been absolutely loving this song is because I've been going on a lot of drives with my sister Eleanor and we have taken to blasting it out, windows rolled down and singing along at the top of our voices.

It's such a great song, great to belt out, and it makes me smile. I love to go for drives around with Eleanor because we always blast music out. Today we had a 30 minute journey to some woods just out of Aberdeen, and the whole way we were singing. It's such great fun, especially with the weather we've been getting over the last few days.

I realise that One Direction are a typically teenage girl band, and believe you me, I got made fun of no end at school for being as obsessed as I am. But they make such feel good music, that you can't help smile to. Today it's been a year since we saw them in Manchester for the Take Me Home tour, and we had a little bit of a reminisce about it too. I don't care that One Direction get slagged off for 'not producing good music'; I find it fun and cheesy and just good to put on. And each song has a different memory attached to it for me, so that's why this week I have been loving One Direction. And with their Midnight Memories tour starting off song (we're going in June) I feel like its only right to play some of their songs.

Have a listen if you haven't already, its ideal to listen to in the sun and to kick back and relax to. Why Don't We Go There

Love,
Emily
xxx

This last week I've been getting a little bit stressed.. exams are coming up and I'm realising that I don't know as much as I thought I did, and yet when it comes to studying, I have the same problem as the majority of other students, and I can't actually sit down and do the work. And that just stresses me out more! When I go to bed at night and think of how little work I've gotten through, I start to panic. And that's on top of having a crisis about my future too! I seem to over think things way too much, and it eventually gets too much for me.

A good technique my mum taught me is to "chunk things down", she says that when you look at the big picture, everything can seem overwhelming, but by breaking it down into small manageable chunks, everything seems much more do-able.

As well as this, I've been giving myself silly little treats, that are most likely meaningless to most people, but to me, they are enjoyable, and they help me get through the stressful patches in the day. And I thought I'd share some of the things that make me smile a little, and help to relax me, in the hopes that anyone else who is feeling like things are too much and impossible to manage, like I am, can find some comfort in the fact they are most definitely not alone, and can apply some of these things to their own life, in some way or another.

1. Spend time with my family. During the exam period at Christmas, I found it unbearable getting up, and revising from 9am-9pm, with only a couple of breaks and in total silence. Then when I finished, I'd go straight to bed. I found the days became monotonous and tiring, and I hated the routine. So for these exams that I'm about to sit, I decided to do my revision at home. I really think that this will suit me much better, because I'll be able to have small breaks to talk with my family, I'll be in the same environment that I did all my revision during school and I'll be able to take the evenings off to watch a film with them. Not only that, when I get stressed when the exams get a lot closer, I'll have my mum there to calm me down and help me with revision. So my family is the first thing that makes me happy, because I'm able to have a laugh with them and take time off to go out with them or something.
2. Play with my dog. I realise I'm one who talks about their dog A LOT, but I just can't help it. All I need is a cuddle from him, or 5 minutes throwing the ball for him, and I fell instantaneously better. He just has a face that you can't help smile at, and he's a really needy dog- he loves human contact, so he'll come and sit beside me as I work away, I love having him around. And he's so dopey at times that he always can make me laugh; the more people laugh around him, the more excitable he gets, so he really does help me relax.
3.  Going on a walk. The other day, I found even the thought of revision was stressing me out, so I decided to go on a walk and I find that it really helps to clear my mind. Just being out of the house and having time to think about things really helps to calm me down, and when I return I always feel more motivated to work, since I've organised all my thoughts in my head. 
4. Look up places to visit. I realise that this is quite an odd one, but I find that researching different places really relaxes me and I really enjoy it. Before going on holidays I always look up things to do in the area, and make a little travel brochure for our holiday. It has honestly been a dream of mine to work in a travel agency because I just love organising holidays. So my thing right now is researching areas of Turkey that I really want to visit, and places in Greece too. I plan to just travel straight away when I finish uni, the sooner the better, because nothing makes me happier than learning about the history and culture of a place. So right now if I've been stressed out, then I'll just look up a new city and find out everything there is to know about it, and it calms me down because I know that that is my goal- get through all the hard work of uni then just explore, and it makes this stress seem worthwhile.
5. Watch a Disney film. Being at home means I have access to tv, which is such a good feeling, but my favourite thing right now are all the Disney movies, which Sky has a whole bunch of. They are so easy going, you don't need to pay attention to the plot, and you can just laugh at them. I find them a nice treat during the day, to have a silly film on and to relax.
6. Listen to music. Since I got spotify, I've found that I've started listening to artists that I wouldn't have listened to usually, I just click on random playlists and I've actually discovered a few artists that I hadn't heard of before. I like to just sit back and have music playing that I can listen to and forget about everything else. And being at home means that I hear my dad's music a lot more, which I love, we were listening to Chas and Dave the other day, which I normally wouldn't listen to, but I love to sing along to all the songs. Apparently singing has been scientifically proved to help relax people, so I'd highly recommend belting your heart out, if not to relax you then to see the reactions of your family, because my family are never short of comments when I decide to have a good sing song. 

Yesterday, we made an 1 hour and 1/2 car trip to Glen Livet, where my dad was running a 10km. He did absolutely amazing, and came 7th in the 'Super Vets' category, and I'm so proud of him. He started off going out for morning runs about 2 years ago. Running was something that he did when he was younger, but gave it up due to work and the family taking up all his time. So when he decided to start running again, he would go out for little runs in the morning, and come back completely out of breathe, face red and he wouldn't be able to talk for a good 5 minutes. Now he goes out a few times each week and will run for a good 45 minutes to an hour. How he does it, I do not know, but its something that he finds relaxing as well as rewarding. He's only competed in a few 10kms, but he's already decided to do a half marathon in the later half of the year. I'm really proud of how much time and effort he dedicates to his running now, he has the proper gear for it and everything, so he obviously enjoys it a lot, which makes me happy for him.

The Glen Livet 10km was a really beautiful setting for the race. It was very windy, which meant that we had to wrap up for it, but the sun was shining which really made the surrounding scenery look stunning. The hills against the blue sky and so much greenery made it feel like spring had come.







 Its really motivated me to start going out running, I don't know how much progress I'll make, as I said the same thing at Christmas time and managed 3 runs then gave up. But with university now basically finished, and the whole summer ahead of me, I'm going to take a leaf out of my dad's book and start to do short runs and gradually build them up.

Outfit Of The Day

Since the Scottish weather is never reliable, layers were essential. I thought I was adequately dressed, however, I was still very cold when the wind blew, but when we stood in the sunny spots, I was fine.



What I wore:

• Pink Jersey Jumper from Boohoo 
• Leggings from Marks and Spencers
• Dark Green Converse
• Necklace from Internationale
• Coat from Next
• Tartan Scarf from The Edinburgh Woollen Mill
• Brown Satchel Bag which was my mum's

I thought I'd start a little weekly post about what song I've been loving each week.
It'll just be a short little post about it, and why I like it, along with a link to the actual song, should anyone want to listen to it too.

This week, I have been loving listening to 'Do It Again' by The Beach Boys.
The weather has been improving this week, and along with the sunshine comes The Beach Boys on replay. Granted I haven't been blasting it out like I normally do, but the weather isn't quite warm enough for that yet. But with the promise of sunshine, and glimpses of it throughout this week, I couldn't resist playing the Beach Boys just a couple of times.

'Do It Again' has to be my favourite song of theirs, because it was the very first time I remember listening to them. I was about 8, and it was Halloween, my sister and I had just returned from trick or treating with our mum, and my dad had taken the evening to play some of his favourite music. We must have been on a sugar rush or something, but I remember dancing around for ages to The Beach Boys, and my favourite tune of theirs being 'Do It Again'.

The Beach Boys are ideal for summer days, and I always always play them in the car, windows rolled down and just loving the sunshine and life. And I really feel like 'Do It Again' is such an underrated song, everyone knows the classics, but not many people listen to all the albums, which my dad has introduced me to.

So if you haven't heard of The Beach Boys, or 'Do It Again', then I highly recommend playing a song or two, because it is so unbelievably catchy, and really will put you in a summery, happy mood. They are a pretty old band, the single was released in 1968, they were formed in 1961. But their songs are famous for their harmonization, which is great to sing along to, so give it a go!

Love,
Emily
xxx

Today I was out on a walk with my sister and my dog. Alfie was behaving himself and we were having a lovely little stroll, when another dog appeared that Alfie ran off to greet. We're used to him running off to see other dogs, and he's learnt to come back when we call him, so we carried on walking as normal. However, Alfie and this other dog were having a right good sniff of each other, and wouldn't return. The other owner was shouting orders at his dog, and he sounded like an angry army commander or something the way he was snapping at his dog. It definitely wasn't a way that I'd talk to my dog.

But the most shocking thing was that when Alfie returned to us, and we were praising him for returning, he got his dog to sit then whipped its back with its lead.

I don't know what made this man think that he has the right to hit a dog, but it actually really upset me and disgusted me. Its in a dog's nature to run up to each other, and whenever dog owners act like my dog is badly behaved when he runs up to their dog, I have to laugh. All Alfie ever wants is to sniff at another dog, and he immediately comes back to us when he is called, so unless the dog is vicious, then I don't understand what the problem is. Alfie and this other dog were happily having a sniff at one another, neither growled, nor jumped up, so why this dog deserved to be beaten is beyond me.

It makes me worried about what that dog has to go home to, and it really upsets me that this won't have been the first nor the last time that it was beaten. Every dog deserves a good home, and beating a dog is not going to make it feel safe.

I really feel like a dog should never be shown violence, and by beating it, surely that encourages the dog to be have a violent nature too. We would never ever hit my dog, sure he is badly behaved, but we reprimand him by putting him on his lead, or he doesn't get his bone at the end of the walk and he learns not to do that again. Alfie knows the difference between play fighting and violence, and we have never had a problem with him being over vicious, and I believe that is because he has never been shown violence, and doesn't have a reason to resent us.

Not only do I think that it could encourage the aggressive behaviour in a dog, it could also do the opposite and make the dog a quivering mess. It could become so scared of its owner and the outside world, that it won't enjoy life. How is that fair for a dog? Why does it deserve that kind of life? I honestly don't understand how anyone could hurt an animal, they don't fully understand what we want them to do- they don't speak our language. Sure, you can teach a dog to react to certain commands, but I honestly think positive reinforcement is the best way to go. I know that there will be people out there that don't agree with me, but I have such a happy, loyal and well behaved dog and the thought of hitting him never crossed my mind.
It just angers me that some people think that they have that right to hit an animal just because they are bigger. Tables turned, and that dog could do much more damage, but chooses not to. Animals should be respected, and violence as a means of teaching that animal is not the way to go.

I realised that this post is a serious topic, and not a light hearted read like most of my posts have been so far, but what I saw really angered me today and I felt the need to post my views on the matter, because it provoked a lot of emotions in both me and my sister, and we had a deep discussion about it after we witnessed it.

Feel free to post your opinions on this matter, because I'm really interested to know what people think too.
As always, love and hugs,
Emily
xxx




Disclaimer, these are just my thoughts, and I haven't done research or what not, I just felt like writing on this, feel free to disagree. Also, I tried to lighten the mood a little with the picture (source http://www.elephantjournal.com/2009/03/dog-disciplineor-abuse/) but I do understand that this is a serious and important issue. 

Since the weather seems to be improving up here in Aberdeen, we decided to make some coke floats, and I just thought I'd do a wee post showing the result. It was such a yummy treat on a sunny day and I thought I'd do a quick 'how to' post...

•  Look out tall glasses for the float, we prefer tall Ice Cream glasses as you get more that way

•  Look out Ice Cream to use, I think that vanilla is the best option for floats, and a fizzy juice, although coke is my favourite I've also had it with sprite and iron brew, which are tasty too

• Fill the glasses up with ice cream, we went for 1 1/2 scoops

•  Pour your fizzy juice in to the glass, I found that 1/4 of a can was plenty for this glass 

• And serve! We added a spoon and a straw so that we could get every last bit of ice cream

Today I went on a walk along the river bank, with my sister and my dog. This is my favourite walk to go on, I love the river and the nature surrounding it. Although its in the centre of the city, it feels like you are secluded, almost like a nature reserve. The river was so still, and the plants have all come into bloom. In a couple of weeks, we reckon the plants will be so over grown that we won't be able to walk it, so I brought my camera along with me and I thought that I'd post the snaps that I took. I love to follow the river along, there are so many different plants and trees that grow along this way, and usually we don't bump into anyone at this side of the bridge. Its so peaceful that it makes a great place to think about things and talk about what's going on.
















I never realised that there were that many photos that I wanted to share! But I loved looking at everything that was surrounding us as we walked. Also, if anyone has any idea what those yellow flowers are, I'd be really interested to know- they've just appeared out of nowhere, and are only around the marshy areas, not the actual river.

Love,
Emily
xxx

 I just found out that today is National Siblings day and thought I'd do a post about my family to celebrate!

As I've mentioned before, I have an older brother, Anthony, an older sister, Holly and a younger sister, Eleanor.

From when we were little, we all got really well- my parents made sure we all spent lots of time together, and said that they didn't want Anthony and Holly to feel like they had to look after myself and Eleanor and miss out on plans of their own, so they were never told to babysit us. I think that this really helped our relationship, because they never resented us, and we were able to play together even though there is an age gap of 9 years between Anthony and Eleanor.

We were watching home videos the other day, and Anthony and Holly seemed to really enjoy having two younger sisters to play around with and teach us things. I always looked up to Anthony and Holly, they seemed a lot older than me, Anthony is 7 years older and Holly 5, so I always wanted to try and be like them. We joke about how I used to idolise Holly, when I was in primary 7, I remember thinking it was the cooliest thing ever to go into town with her, and get to do grown up stuff.
Eleanor, on the other hand, is only 18 months younger than me, and growing up we used to do everything together. Having such a small age gap meant that we were around each other the majority of the time, we even had some of the same friends. And heaps of people thought that we were actually twins, because we looked so alike.

Right now, we are all so close. It can be pretty difficult at times, because my brother now lives in Leominster, which is in England, and we all miss him a lot; the last time he was home was last July. I was able to see him a few times last weekend when he came to Edinburgh, and we went out for dinner a couple of times, and to a club, which was a lot of fun, and we're going down in the summer for two weeks, which we can't wait for. My sisters and I became really close after a holiday to Turkey where we became even closer- it seemed like the age gap had disappeared, and we were able to all joke around together.

Our closeness, however is the main reason I get pretty homesick being away in Edinburgh. But we have a group whatsapp group that we chat on literally all the time, and whenever I'm home it feels totally normal hanging out with them again. Everything isn't always peachy with us, sure we have fights and argue with each other over stupid things and have been known to throw the occasional punch at one another. But I wouldn't change it, we have the best of time together and I love all of them to bits. I love having a big family because there's always someone there to talk to- my brother is good for giving me life advice, my big sister is good for boy, friends and fashion talks, and my little sister is good for fangirling with and making me feel better. But all of them are so much fun too, and I feel so comfortable with all of them. It's exactly what I want my family to be like when I'm older and because of my love for siblings, I want to have 4 kids too.

So here' s to national siblings day, and I hope that my relationships with my siblings never change and we always remain so close.

Here's some pictures through the years to round off the post (sorry for the bad quality of a few of them),

1997

1998

2001

2005

2009

2012

2013

lots of love,
Emily
xxx