Dear 16 Year Old Liesbeth...

...One of my favourite things about my blog is being able to showcase some really talented bloggers, especially when they write really beautiful Dear 16 Year Old Me letters. I realised today that I the last time I posted a Dear 16 Year Old Me letter was Micaela's from Dolce Vita, way back in early February. So I thought I would resurrect the series. To kick things off, I thought I'd publish Liesbeth's letter, from Every Last Drop of Me. I love Liesbeth's sweet blog, and I'm sure you will too.

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25 Year Old Liesbeth

Dear 16-year-old Lise,

Wow, this is an exciting year. If I remember rightly, your first kiss is
coming up in oh... about a week's time! FINALLY, I know! Damn that
all-girls school! So enjoy it honey, it sets the bar on kissing for quite a
few years to come. Unfortunately, the boy is not the one for you, and nor
are the next few that follow. Particularly look out for that guy with mucho
charisma when you're 18 - he already has a girlfriend and he's going to be
the first to break your heart when you find this out after 2 months of
dating him.

But worry not my darling, after a few false starts of tears and dramas you
DO find a guy who becomes your boyfriend and best friend in one. He will
give you 2 blissful years during which many of your teenage fantasies are
fulfilled - the romantic holidays away, the valentine's treasure hunts and
perfect all-night dates.

Enjoy these years with him, and don't be too upset during the one
slightly-more-rocky year that follows them as you both realise your futures
don't lie together. It's the right decision when you finally do part ways,
and he's going to stay a special part of your life, probably forever. And
there will be life after him, just remember that during the first few hard
break-up months - your friends will be amazing, and they will make things
easier than you ever expected they could be during this killer time.

There are also some difficult family times ahead, but know that you have
the strength within you to get through them, and trust me when I say things
WILL get better. I've been there and come out the other side, so I know
it's true. You can do this, and it will help you learn a lot about life and
unconditional love, which will be lessons you'll remember for the rest of
your life.

In terms of study, don't be so hard on yourself. You could work far less
and still get the marks you need for your uni course. And, as it turns out,
you won't even like it anyway and it'll be another 2 years til you locate
your passion. But when you do, boy it is gonna BLOW YOUR MIND. You are
going to find your calling in life, and though it won't always be an easy
path, the fulfillment you feel when doing it is indesrcibable.

So til then, just enjoy each day as it comes and trust that everything -
boyfriends, love, travel and career - is going to unfold just as it is are
meant to. Treasure each special step and know that you deserve every piece
of success and happiness. The future is bright, and I can't wait for you to
see it!

With so much love,
Your 25-year-old self

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Thanks very much Liesbeth!

More letters to come soon - I promise!

xx

New Home!

It's been one month and two days since we moved in our first owned home. Which is just about the amount of time it has taken to unpack (though there are still at least four boxes which we haven't unpacked...) and get organised. In fact today is the first day that the bedroom actually looks like a bedroom.

Our house is definitely a 'fixer upper'. It looks like the previous owners have done no decorating in almost twenty years. We've not got as far as decorating yet - all we've done is replace a window in the living room, put up some new curtains in the bedroom, and place a new shower curtain in the bathroom.

I thought I'd give you a little house tour:

Kitchen: yes, that is a Christmas tree. Long story! One of my least favourite rooms in the house at the moment, but we have plans for it!

Spare room/office/laundry room/storage room: this room has had the least amount of attention from us, and has been used as a bit of a dumping ground. Again we have plans, which mostly involve removing the child's border that has been stuck to the wall, and getting rid of the tumble dryer.

Bathroom: Not brilliant, but we can live with it for now.

My map of the world shower curtain. My favourite thing in the house at the moment!

Bedroom: the least offensive room of the house. I quite like it, but the all white walls are a bit much, so we are thinking about painting or wallpapering one wall...


Living room: this room is first on our hit-list of things to do. So far we've changed the window in here - the last one was orange (like most things in here), and leaking water everywhere. That's why there's wallpaper missing under the window. We also took down some horrible orange shelves.

We're awaiting delivery of a curtain pole, and got new curtains ready to be hung. The old orange (surprise!) curtains are hung up with a bit of string at the moment!

When we sit in here we feel like we need sunglasses - the orange is a bit overwhelming. It's all going to be painted a light colour, including the sloping wood ceiling, the seventies fire is coming out (to be replaced with a wood burner), the awful little wall lights are coming out, the glass wall panel is being boarded up, the door is being changed, all the wood is being painted. In short, it's going to be completely different. I, for one, cannot wait to get started.

I've saved the best 'til last. At some point someone went a little crazy with artex, so all of the rooms have horrible swirly ceilings. It's on the stairs where the artex really came into it's own. The whole hall looks like an iced christmas cake, and for some inexplicable reason, in the corner is a plaster-work palm tree. Behold:
Lovely, isn't it?!

There we go - tour complete! If anyone has any decorating tips, advice, ideas for our home or can commiserate with the dodgy artex 'art' then please feel free to drop me a line!

xx

Lately I Feel...

...like I might just be the luckiest girl in the whole world.

Today I got home to not one, but two parcels!

The first one was a beautiful branch necklace that I won from Liesbeth at Every Last Drop (courtesy of Jersey 608 jewellery):

I can't wait to wear this beauty! Thanks so much Liesbeth and Jersey 608.

The second parcel came from Laura at The Madness of Mundanity.
Here I was lucky enough to win a lomolito, a beautiful polaroid brooch (courtesy of That Kate Creates) and some holga foto clips!Laura also sent the sweetest letter that made me seriously happy! Thanks so much Laura - I can't wait to get out and about with my camera!

I'm seriously overwhelmed - I'm usually the kind of girl that never wins anything. Seriously, the last time I won a competition must have been in 1993, when I was 12, when I won a cinema ticket to see Jurassic Park. I wrote a really lame slogan for an ice-cream company. I think they took pity on me, and just gave me the ticket! So to win two amazing giveaways like this is the best thing ever!!

And not only that, lately (well, kind of lately - January. Oops.) I've been the recipient of two lovely awards from some pretty cool ladies.

The first is the Happy 101 award from Jessica Leigh La Lou:
Thanks so much Jessica!

The second one (also from January - oh my) is the Best Blog Award from Kattrina at 365 Days of Happiness:
Which also makes my day! Thanks Kattrina!!

And realising that the awards both date from January make me feel slightly guilty for neglecting my blog lately. I think this is the impetus I need to get me back in the blogging zone!

So I'd like to pass the awards on to YOU for sticking by me lately, and dealing with my erratic blog postings!! I really do have the best blog followers EVER! Thank you!

Anyway, I hope you all had wonderful weekends. Boyfriend and I spent the weekend in our adopted hometown of Aberdeen, drinking and dancing like there was no tomorrow. Good times were definitely had! Let me know what you got up to!

xx

I promise...

...that I haven't fallen into a black hole. Our internet was due to be connected on the day after we moved into our new home, but someone didn't check the small-print on the e-mail from our internet service provider. This meant we completely did not realise that even though they told us when they we connecting our internet, that we had to phone them to confirm the date was ok. Which has left us weeks without the internet. Until now. Oops.

Let it be said that I've missed you. I've missed your blogs. I've missed your lovely little comments. And I love you all for bearing with me through my unexpected hiatus.

We've moved in and been lost in a world of unpacking and, after a mammoth trip to Ikea - flat-pack furniture building. We've been so lost in flat-pack furniture building that boyfriend is sick of me asking if there could actually be a man out there called Allan Key...

I'll get some photos up soon of our little house, I promise. The previous owners had, how to put it delicately, an unusual eye for interior design, so you're in for a treat!

Enjoy your weekends, and I look forward to catching up on your blogs soon!

xx