Well, I've been naughtly lately and splurged a little on myself!  I've been eyeing up my lovely friend Shelley's Fox bag for ages now and finally decided to take the plunge and get my very own!  Today a lovely package arrived from Temporary:Secretary.

The bag comes in two colours, light and dark brown and I chose dark.  I can't imagine the bag lasting very long as the material is quite thin and delicate looking so I'm going to have to be careful with it!  I'll be heartbroken if I ever have to retire this little guy!

I also treated myself to a little gorgeous bunny ring - it's so simple but so cute!  I'm a sucker for bunnies.

And on that note, I'm not allowed to spend any more money this month on anything!  I'm usually quite good with not spending too much but I couldn't resist!

Let's have a go at one of these beauty posts eh? ;)

I had my hair done for the first time in over a year yesterday.  Every time I've had it cut in the past ten years I've gone from long hair to chin length short hair instantly but I decided to keep it long this time.  I was sick of it just being a long mop all one length with no definition, so here's what happened:

Since I'm now on four weeks holiday before maternity leave starts, I'm free to paint my nails!  I'm limited to "natural" colours for work which means I never get to experiment really unless I want to remove the colour after a day.  I've had Your Planet or Mine? by Leighton Denny waiting in my stash for months now so I cracked it out this morning.

Hydra Flex Shield - Your Planet or Mine? - One For All

I'm a big fan of Leighton Denny, so it's all going on here.  I started with the Hydra-Flex Shield as a base coat - my nails are rather lovely and peely at the moment because I'm pregnant.  I had to whack on three coats of the colour to get rid of the patchiness even though two coats are usually recommended for this brand.  Then on went the top coat - I used One for All.

I swear by the Miracle Mist because I absolutely loathe waiting around for nail varnish to dry, my only complaint is that a can doesn't seem to last that long!  Mine's running a little low now and I've only used it for about five applications.  You can wait sixty seconds between coats of varnish then after the last coat spray each nail for two seconds each then wait again and repeat.  It really works so it's great although it took a bit longer to be so effective this time, probably because of how much there was on the nail to get the correct colour.

I'm overall a massive fan of this colour - you can't even appreciate what it really looks like in this picture (and even less so on the Leighton Denny website where it looks like a completely random other colour!)  Depending on the light it's got purple, blue, brown and green tones with a shimmery effect.  Love it.

I've collected these products over a couple of years so didn't really feel the hit on the bank account but looking at the website - £44 in total for all the products used on my nails today.  Oh dear.

I see why so many people like iPhones.  I've yet to find a camera that doesn't make me look like a complete dog (which does wonders for my self esteem!) yet the iPhone manages to make me look half decent, even wearing no make up, with bed head and in pjs.  Awesome.  I'm sure they developed the camera on this phone specifically so people would feel good about themselves!  Definitely a selling point!

I've officially started four weeks of holiday before my maternity leave starts.  My workmates were absolutely amazing - I had balloons and banners and loads of lovely gifts for Freya, Katie and me.  Tom gets the helium balloons so I'm sure he's not feeling too left out.  I shouldn't be at a loss of what to do with my extra time now - I have hobbies coming out of my ears and a toddler to run after but I can't help but feel a little lost!  I'll be looking forward to getting my weekends back and doing all the things I never have time to.

Hoorah! I've finally joined the 21st century and got myself an iPhone! I've been using an old Nokia with all the basic functions for the past God knows how long so it's quite a shock to the system. It feels good to be blogging on the move although I'm still trying to figure it all out. Wish me luck!


Edit: I've had to laptop it up so I can edit this post - seems the blogger app needs a little work!  There's no way to edit where your picture ends up in the post and somehow the default font ends up being changed!  Ah well!

Studying Japanese - Minna no Nihongo

I've had a change of heart.  A change of layout!  It's my thing I think!  I'm forever changing my mind about things - I can't work out whether that's a good or bad thing.  I'm nearing the start of almost a month's holiday before maternity leave and am very much looking forward to the rest.  I'm trying to gather up my thoughts and find direction for what I want to be doing and I think I'm just about getting there!  I'm making a lot of changes at the moment - healthy eating, exercise, self-development in general.  Life is rather slow at the moment and I'm hoping to speed it up.  If only my willpower and determination would catch up with my mind, I'd be going at 1000mph.


I've got a few things for sale on my facebook page for ridiculously low prices - meaning I'm having a de-stash!  I've got this nasty habit of making tons of jewellery and never advertising it for sale - three boxes worth at the moment!  I'm hoping to completely de-stash to free up space for an upcoming new range - Loungeturtle.  Wonder where I got the inspiration for that name?  Think simple vintage style jewellery.  I'm very excited ;)

Oh yes, it's the Bluebirds Connecta Integra!  I ordered this baby carrier back in January some time.  I absolutely adore it, although I was less than impressed with the customer service offered by Connecta!  Several emails, five months (of having already paid for the carrier) later and a threat of me cancelling the order it finally arrived two days after a free Connecta in a different pattern (as a sorry for the delay).  Katie hates it, she just about tolerates being carried on my back for five minutes and will only go on my front if she can see herself in the mirror, so here's hoping little Freya will feel snug and secure in it!

In other news, I'm now on month three of my Happiness Project - focusing on healthy eating and keeping active.  I'm doing pretty well so far!  I really want to start taking better care of myself.  My skincare routine consists of a quick wash with Philosophy face wash and then slapping on a little bit of the matching moisturiser. I usually only stick a quick bit of Bare Minerals Bisque under my eyes, whack on a bit of Bare Minerals Foundation, then stick on a bit of Benefit Dandelion to make myself look a little less ghostly.  I'd love to do an overhaul of all things me, if only I had a little more energy.  I think I might get the smoothie maker out again soon, see if that does the trick.