Competition | #Blog4Trek my entry!

Travelling is something I love to do and am very passionate about; my whole ethos in life is 'if it'll make a good story, do it'. I want to be able to thrill my children grandchildren with the stories of my life and the adventures I had, much like my parents and grandparents do now! I'm so determined to take my skills as a midwife and work all over the world, one of the many reasons I chose my career is that I will always have a job in any country I go to.

With that in mind, Victoria's (inthefrow.com) account of her journey across the states with Trek America completely captured my imagination. I can imagine nothing better than leaving reality for a while and making memories with new people. Victoria definitely inspired me to start saving for my own epic journey across America; then her and the lovely people at Trek America completely changed the goalposts and opened this competition to win the two week Westerner 2 trip, which looks ideal to sate my travelling appetite (for now!) 

Ergo, I spent the morning plotting and planning what I would pack for a weekend away. My boyfriend and I often go for spontaneous trips away to cities in the lovely United Kingdom and I have very fond memories of them all. With Valentine's just around the corner I decided to photograph what I would pack for a lovely weekend away with him in the capital, London baby! We've been plenty of times but I don't think London can be beaten for diversity and we've barely scratched the surface.

Beauty wise, I stick to what I know when I'm travelling. I'm not very good at packing lightly though, so to save you going through my entire skincare and makeup routine I've pictured just the essentials...I wouldn't want to spend too much time in the morning getting myself ready and wasting precious exploration time, so these quick fixes are first in the bag. 

I plan the clothes I'm going to take day by day, to minimise wasted space. I'd wear a different pair of jeans to the ones pictured, therefore taking a whole other option...sneaky huh? I think, seeing as it's Valentines I'd throw in these gorgeous heels from Miss Selfridge and the beautiful floral top underneath from (brace yourself) George at Asda to wear with jeans for the Saturday night out. For the day times I'd want something comfortable that also made me feel happy and confident! This selection of pastel jumpers from Forever 21 and Topshop fit all these criteria as well as layering well under my favourite leather jacket to keep me warm, and could be worn with either blue or black jeans for a bit of variation. Top with a stylish hat and these adorable tapestry boots and it's an outfit fit to see the Queen in! 

After the meal I'm presuming we'd have (eating out is my favourite thing to do, and no-one wants to cook for themselves on a weekend away!) I'd come back and slip into something more comfortable...probably this silk PJ set, also from Asda! My boyfriend would probably appreciate the change from grubby animal print bottoms and one of his t-shirts and, as it is valentines, I'd pop this bottle of prosecco to end the night. Perfect! 

I'd make sure the extras I took fitted into a small-ish bag that I could sling over my shoulder...nothing worse than pushing onto a crowded tube with a large handbag and having chronic aching shoulder pain from its weight by the end of the day! Obviously my purse and Oyster card is a must as well as my camera to capture it all on film. I'm very careful when I go away to take a camera to save special moments forever, but I'm also wary of living the weekend through the lens. One of my favourite musicians Dallas Green (of City and Colour and formerly Alexisonfire- check him out if you haven't  already!) once made everyone at his gig put their phones and cameras away and just experience the moment rather than miss it by trying so desperately to remember it. It is a notion that has definitely stuck with me and so whilst I always make sure to take my camera away, it's not a tragedy if it's left in the hotel room! 

I'd also pack a small notebook to make lists of what I wanted to do, what we did and record special memories on our return to the hotel each night. I love doing this 'thought per day' type thing on trips away as it allows you to remember things that couldn't be photographed, funny things you said or saw. 

I'd sneak my kindle in to read whilst travelling if Jack fell asleep, or to entertain myself whilst he was in the shower. He has been known to take longer than me to get ready, so it's definitely needed! 

Whenever we're somewhere new I can't resist picking up some souvenirs and these two lovely cards are ones I've had from previous trips away. I'm yet to send them, they look so pretty I'm just not sure I can! 

Last, but by no means least, my phone is a vital essential whenever I'm out and about. iPhones are especially useful as there is a wealth of travelling apps to enhance your weekend. These are just some of the ones I'd make sure I had to hand for a weekend in London! 

I hope you enjoyed reading my entry as much as I enjoyed writing it! Keep your fingers crossed for my entry to catch the lovely judges eyes, but even if it doesn't it's given me such wanderlust I'm all the more determined to make my travelling dream a reality! 

Review | Base face: my power trio.

I change my base a lot, suffering from acne and the scarring it leaves has sent me on a constant quest to achieve faking flawless skin. At the minute these are my three products of choice.

When I won Benefit's #poreoclock competition on twitter they sent me a wonderful package full to the brim of Porefesisonal merchandise and also the two Porefessional products, the porefessional primer and the zero shine powder. I had already tried, and loved, the primer but the powder was new to me and I have to say, I love it just as much! 

Essentially a translucent powder which aims to reduce shine, I find this works really well over my foundation to set it. It's a matte powder so I would recommend if you're after the dewy look (which I normally am) but this gives such a lovely finish I can't resist it! It comes with it's own little brush and is all self contained so it's very handy for travelling. 

Another new addition is the Bourjois 123 Perfect CC cream. I'm usually a high street foundation sceptic, but had seen good words said about this so decided to give it a go. I love Clinique's CC cream and was hoping to find a cheaper replacement in this...which I definitely have! This cream claims to correct the three main skin colour issues; redness, fatigue and dark spots. I have to say it delivers on all three. I was expecting its watery texture to house a very sheer coverage but after  applying this with my Real Techniques buffing brush I only need the smallest amount of concealer to hide those really dark blemishes I have and I'm good to go! 

These products together are making up such a power trio that I'm neglecting my higher end foundations for this set for day to day use! I highly recommend all three if you're after a long lasting base with good coverage. 

Have you tried any of these products? 

Review | Sensationail is sensational!

Another of my lovely lovely Christmas presents was the Sensationail gel set I'd seen in Boots and been lusting after for months! I got the basic set with two polishes and the lamp and necessary tools, and also the removal set and another polish. I've got a good amount of practice in and my technique is definitely getting better!

It's quite a lot of steps to get used to but the finish actually does last so well, and actually I find it quite theraputic! It's also working out much, much cheaper than getting gel nails done at a salon! 

These are the three colours I have so far. I think Sugar Plum is my favourite, and the one I currently have residing on my toes. I wore Taupe Tulips on New Years Eve, and it looked really elegant. Both these colours came with the original set and then I ordered this one afterwards.

Steel a kiss is a lovely shimmery blue, and I literally couldn't stop staring at the shiny finish on this one! I was so sad when I had to take it off. I can't wait to start buying more colours and building up a collection, there's so many to choose from on the website!

This is the removal set and was a little extra extravagance that I probably wouldn't worry about if you're strapped for cash- it came with about 40 foil wraps, the removal tool, buffing block and the 98% acetone remover. It's lovely to have the complete set but actually you could buy everything seperately if you wanted- you don't need the specific foil wraps but they're really easy to use and I'm really glad my Mum thought to purchase this too. I'm really impatient so I end up scraping the polish off as soon as it's soft, when really you should probably wait a bit longer. 

Overall I was thrilled to get this for Christmas and will definitely be using it for years to come! I can't wait to get some more colours and give myself numerous gel manicures, it's going to be especially useful before any holidays I manage to book this year! 

Life | Recent Primark Picks

I really think Primark are bringing it at the minute, they're competing with the likes of Topshop and New Look so well. As a result, their prices have increased slightly (isn't it weird paying £10 for a dress in Primark is outrageous, but in Topshop £40 is spent on the same without batting an eyelid?).

I recently perused the aisles of my local primark and picked up a couple of really lovely bits. These are going straight into outfits for around my birthday, I'm excited to wear them!

This lovely shift dress was the aforementioned £10 and is a lovely silky material. A shift dress hides multiple sins and has plenty of room for an expanding food baby, so I'll be wearing this to my favourite american diner that my family and I always go to on any of our birthdays! Seriously the portions are huge and so delicious. 

I never, ever thought that I'd pick up a polo neck and fall in love, but the material of this is so so soft, and blue is my colour- I couldn't resist. It's short in length, almost cropped, which I love because it means I can tuck it into my favourite leather mini skirt and not have that awkward bump over my bum where the material ruches up. This little gem was also £10 :)

Okay so this one isn't a birthday outfit as such but I am such a sucker for pajamas I literally couldn't leave them behind. They're that brushed cotton fleecy type material and are just dreamy. I love the traditional styling too, I feel so sophisticated wearing them. If you can ever feel sophisticated rolling out of bed with your haystack hair. If you follow my instagram you will have already seen the preview of me wearing these with my fluffly owl slippers. I am such a catch. Seriously though, if you're into your warm night wear please invest. You won't regret it! I think these were about £10 too? I may be wrong though, so do check them out! 

Sometimes I go into Primark with the best will in the world and find nothing, yet other times I find some classics. This was one of those times- lucky for me, unlucky for my purse. J'adore! 

Life | Sunday Funday

I'm currently writing this in a post night shift haze, so I'll apologise now if it makes no sense! It's lovely to have a Sunday (almost) all to myself. I work a lot of weekends and so if I do get some downtime along with everyone else it's important to me that I make the most of it.

Today I've been fairly productive considering I've slept for 4 hours; I dragged my sorry carcass out of bed at around 12 (after finishing work at 7am) and forced myself to change the sheets and make my bed look pretty so I wouldn't be tempted to fall back into the nest I had made.

For Christmas I got a lot of baking equipment to help me fulfill my wish of getting into baking and having something in my life that isn't my job. This blender was one of the lovely pistachio coloured tools I got and, although I haven't used it for actual baking yet, I've used it a lot to make smoothies!

I love the colour of this one, and it tasted delicious. If you follow me on instagram (abigail_lovick) then you'll probably have seen some of my other concoctions! I haven't got any recipes so at the minute I tend to just chuck in whatever fruit and veg I have in the fridge with some juice, and see what it tastes like. This one was spinach, apple, banana, kiwi and orange and mango juice. Healthy! If you have or know of any posts/blogs/websites with more smoothie recipes then please link me in the comments or find me on twitter! (@_tuesdaysgirl)

Apart from whizzing up some fruity goodness in the kitchen, I've packed for my trip home and taken loads of blog photos. I know I'm slacking on the blog front but I'm hoping if I get the photos taken and the posts written I can schedule a couple of posts a week for a while and get back on it. 

My birthday is coming up on Tuesday and I was lucky enough to get some annual leave from work, so a week of celebrations gets kicked off on Monday with a sleepover with my old uni flat mates. I'm super excited because we're all NHS workers now therefore getting time off together is a rarity. I'll then be heading home to Norfolk for more celebrations with all the people I love, I'm really looking forward to it! Not so much turning 22, but I might just pretend it's my 21st all over again...that's acceptable, right? I don't want to get old!

I have nothing else exciting planned today,  just some stereotypical pampering in the bath later, a manicure with my Sensationail set  I got for christmas (post coming soon!) and then a long awaited sleep in my freshly made bed. How lovely! 

What are you doing with your Sunday? I hope whatever it is you're enjoying it. Lots of love to the weekend workers! 

Books | Warning: do not read this book.

Okay so I'm late to the party on this one: The Fault in our Stars by John Green isn't a new release and I'm sure you know someone that has read it if you haven't yourself. I actively avoided this book after seeing reviews including  words like 'tragedy'. I'm not a masochist, I'm actually a master of self-preservation and anything remotely tear jerking is not for me. I like books that remove me from reality rather than bringing reality into sharp resolution, but when my friend (who has excellent taste in books) passed this one on to me, I gave it a shot. Mainly because I had nothing else to occupy myself with on a break on a night shift, but I started it nonetheless. And, not counting the short break I took to you know, deliver a baby, I read it start to finish without stopping.

I'm not going into the plot line, that's insulting; you can read the blurb as wells as the next person. In short; This book broke my heart. I sobbed like I haven't done over a book since Angela's Ashes, and being as I was approximately 11 and the book was about the foot and mouth disease epidemic (if I rememeber rightly) I'm not sure the emotional pull felt is really comparable.

This book made me feel. Excruciatingly tore me from my pleasant little world and thrust me into Hazel's without an apology. It's so much more than the story of a kid with cancer, it's a story of love and death and the unfairness of it all, but how despite that unfairness the world still goes on. Hazel's voice continues in my head even now and that's how you know a book is good, when you continue to try and live in that world even after it's over. 

I loved it but it's given me an emotion head ache. The worst sort. 

I don't suggest you read this book if you're after a heart warming, feel good happy ending, Hazel is a hypocrite in that her story doesn't finish, much to my annoyance. I want to email John Green and demand to know what happened to her, it's frustrating. I do however suggest you read this book if you want an insight to coping, to living and loving, to losing and to how, actually, the universe doesn't give a either way. Fantastic, inspriring and a whole lot of tragic. 

EDIT: despite the title of this post, I'm not trying to put you off the book! It's wonderfully written, charming and laugh out loud funny (cliche) in more than a few places. I feel better for reading it, I'm so glad I did. I realise my review doesn't actually state this outright but I thoroughly enjoyed it. So, do not read this book...except do, because it's great. I promise you won't cry the entire way through. 

Ps, I apologise for the photos and their irritating placement. This entire post was formulated and posted from my iPad. This isn't a permenant arrangement but I couldn't not write about the book, and  also couldn't drag my sorry self to get my laptop. Normal service will resume soon, promise. 

 

Books | As long as I have books, I can cope with anything

Getting paid for the first time in 3 years does crazy things to your head so last month I splashed out and bought myself three  actual books, whereas normally I’d leave it until they came into a sale on the kindle! I adore my kindle, it cant be beaten for convenience and portability, and having all my books in my bag without breaking my back is not to be sniffed at, but I will always love browsing Waterstones for hours flicking through the pages and getting drawn in by beautiful artwork on the covers. These are the books that caught my eye! 

My latest venture was only a short one whilst my boyfriend was holed up in the pub watching the football. Waterstones often have great deals and they were offering buy one get one half price, which I obviously couldn’t resist. I picked up The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom and Grimm Tales by Philip Pullman. Both these authors are ones I already love; you’ll of course have heard of the Northern Lights trilogy which caused such a stir and still remain one of my favourite series to date. Philip Pullman is king of the modern fantasy world and this book is a composition of fairy tales, popular and not so, in his own words. The prologue reads like an excellent English literature essay and being the bookworm at heart that I am, I absolutely ate up his words of wisdom. I love books into which you can dip in and out, and fairy stories are at the heart of my childhood so this book was a winner from the off. I’m discovering old favourites and finding new ones and it’s a great book to pick up for some bedtime reading!

Mitch Albom wrote my all time favourite book The Five People You Meet In Heaven so when I saw this offering I couldn’t walk out without it. I finished it in about 3 days, due to that pesky thing called work, but definitely could’ve finished it in a day! An easy read, but a gripping one, with concepts that will definitely get you thinking which is a speciality of Albom! I don’t want to say too much and ruin it incase you want to go and get it (please do!!) but it’s about Father Time and the consequences of watching the clock. An excellent read, I'm passing this on to my Mum because I know she will love it as much as me! 

My hatred of internet shopping has well and truly been smashed to smithereens with my recent orders from Cult Beauty and now Amazon. I added The Clear Skin cookbook to my basket after seeing this post from Sophie and having given it a read through definitely am up for the concept of clean eating! My nighttime skincare routine is pretty comprehensive (have you read the post?!) but I still don’t have the flawless glowing skin I dream of, and I think my diet may be the final piece of the jigsaw. I’ll give anything a go once so I’ll do some shopping and get back to you on the effectiveness of this lifestyle choice! 

Have you read anything excellent recently? I'm always on the look out for something that grips me completely, I've always got time to lose myself in someone else's world for a while so please leave your suggestions below or bombard me on twitter!