The past few weeks haven't been the best for me, it seems like everything is going wrong! But I think it's important to remember there's still things to happy about.

1. It's getting noticeably lighter.

It feels like the winter solstice was forever ago but it finally seems like it is starting to get a bit lighter. Like most people I leave for work when it's dark and don't get home until it's properly dark again. It can get very depressing and I get quite frustrated that I spend all my daylight hours in an office. But I've noticed that it's no longer completely pitch black when I leave work.

Summer is creeping a bit closer every day!

2. Cadbury's hot chocolate.

I had forgotten how amazing this is with real milk. I've had a few mugs of this in the evening recently when it's been cold and miserable outside. I haven't had it for years and it always cheers me up. It's so much richer and creamier than the stuff you make with boiling water. A swirl of salted caramel added to it makes it even nicer ;)

3. Our cat.

Every morning when I get up she's waiting outside my door ready to come and get into bed with me for cuddles. I look forward to it every day.

She wasn't very well before Christmas and it made me so sad to see her looking so unhappy and ill. I'm so glad she seems to have recovered and is back to her old self.

4. My part time studying is going well.

I'm currently studying part time alongside working and it's been going well this week. I'm nearly halfway through the course. I'm actually ahead of schedule at the moment which is nice because it makes me feel like I have enough time to take things at the pace I need to. 

Going back to studying after a break is tricky, particularly as I've never studied this sort of material before. 

Now I need to keep the momentum going!

5. Cookie dough.

Over Christmas I made two batches of chocolate orange cookies and froze them ready for when I had a cookie craving. 

I was feeling a little low and craving something sweet so I dug these out of the freezer.

They were so so good and they were ready in 15 minutes. I'm glad I've still got the other batch ready for when I need another cookie hit...

Is there anything that has made you happy this week? It's always good to try and appreciate the little things!

A Christmas Gift Guide with Uncommongoods

I don't know about you but these darker, colder nights only mean one thing... It's nearly Christmas! 

Now yes I am aware it's only October but a girl needs to be organised about these things or it can very quickly become stressful and expensive instead of fun. I always start my Christmas shopping early because I can't deal with the crush of people in every shop from mid November and I always try to do as much as I can online to save time and effort.

So in this post I've got a few ideas to share with you as part of a collaboration with Uncommongoods. 

I was really excited about this post because I absolutely love buying people gifts, but I can struggle to find them unique and exciting things that they actually want. But one of the things that immediately caught by eye about Uncommongoods is that their products actually do offer something different. On top of that they are committed to doing good business. By that I mean focusing on sustainable products and packaging, supporting their designers by celebrating what makes their creativity unique and making sure all their staff have a great place to work. 

I always try to get my boyfriend Jared cool little stocking fillers but he can be incredibly hard to buy for. He has very particular tastes and interests and I don't want to get him anything too generic. 

I think he would absolutely love these beer jellies as he is a real foodie who loves to try new things. He really likes chutneys and savory foods like that and as these have beer in them I think they would go down well. I got him a tomato and red pepper chutney last year and he loved it, so I think these would be a winner.

Even though I try really hard with buying presents for Jared, he's not always the best at buying gifts for me. I have sometimes ended up buying things for myself for him to give to me. Such romance in my life *inserts eye roll emoji*. 

That said, I'm sure finding special gifts for your girlfriend can be a bit of a minefield because we can be just a little bit picky. But that is because we usually have a firm idea of what we want. Personally I would love to receive this for Christmas. What is not to love about a cute little tin full of pampering goodness? I can see myself relaxing with this on a lazy Sunday afternoon when I need a little bit of zen time. 

Even shopping for those who have similar tastes to your own can be tricky. I try to get my friends unique and useful Christmas gifts. We've all got enough stuff cluttering up our lives without well meaning friends adding to it.

I think this is the perfect example of the kind of thing you never knew you needed but is fantastically handy. Some of my friends spend a lot of their lives on the road due to their job and after four years living out of a suitcase traveling back between home and uni I think this would be helpful for someone who travels a lot. One of the frustrating things about traveling is no matter how neatly you've packed you can't find the thing you're looking for. By keeping things separated it should also make it easier to unpack once you've arrived. 

Hopefully this was some inspiration to get you started on your Christmas shopping. If you've spotted anything that you've simply had to get someone recently let me know!

*This post is sponsored by Uncommongifts but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

A Weekend of Sunshine

Since I moved back home from uni I’ve been so focused on saving money that doing things at the weekend hasn’t really been possible. Days out and trips all add up and I’m trying hard to watch all of my spending.

As you can imagine it has lead to life feeling quite repetitive and dull. Go to work all week, chill out at home at the weekend, repeat. 

I was starting to feel if I spent another weekend at home I would go crazy. 

Last weekend we had such utterly fabulous weather, the clocks went forward and it really felt like Spring had finally arrived.

As we’re watching our budget Jared and I went for a drive. I know, we sound about 74 but we are really lucky to have fabulous countryside on our doorstep that Jared hasn’t seen before. The drive itself was lovely in the sunshine, with some tunes playing and chatting away about our week. 

We headed for the tiny village of Compton Chamberlayne which is where my Nan grew up and my Dad was born. The whole village is one street so I showed Jared the house they used to live in. It really is the cutest little place and has a real old charm to it, with its daffodil lined verges.

After having a quick look around we headed out of the village towards Fovant in order to see the Fovant Badges. These are military badges of regiments that fought in the First World War which have been carved by soldiers waiting to head over to France. The oldest was created in 1916 and they are carved into the chalk hillside. You can see them from the road and there’s a viewing layby which has a guide to the badges. Well worth a look if you are interested in local history.

We then drove back through Barford St Martin and stopped for lunch at The Barford Arms. Two enormous plates of food and drinks cost us around £25 so we were really pleased with the value for money. The food was hearty and tasty and the cosy interior of the coaching inn topped off a really fun afternoon. 

Overall we had a really lovely time and it was so nice to actually get out and explore our local area a bit more. I'm going to try and think of some more fun things to do that are close by and still inexpensive. If you have any ideas, let me know!

How to make your student room feel cosy

Ok so your student room isn't quite the cool and happening Pinterest worthy space you daydreamed about when you were applying to uni.

Chances are there's some curtains with a questionable pattern, a dodgy looking stain on the floor and walls that are covered with generations of students worth of blue tack. And it really doesn't matter if you're in halls or are renting privately. Unless you've got shed loads of cash to spend on rent, which lets face it isn't most of us then your room is likely to be a bit of a craphole. Chances are its probably a tiny craphole as well.

During my four years at uni I lived in a tiny room in halls, a disgusting student house and spent my final two years in a pretty nice terrace with an absolute gem of a private landlord (hence why I stayed).

But it need not be a grim and depressing place. With a bit of ingenuity and some inspiration you can spruce things up and put your stamp on the place in ways that won't lose you your deposit.

1. Throws. Get several in nice fluffy textures. An absolute must is to use one to cover the grotty chair that sits with your desk. Of the three different houses I lived in, one had a sticky brown stain, one had ancient chewing gum glued to it and one had cigarette burns. The same throw covered all of them and made it somewhere nice to sit at the same time. Easy to do and makes a massive impact. Put another one over the bottom of your bed, instantly makes the whole room feel cosier. You'll probably need it to survive the sub zero temperatures of the average student house.

2. Fairy lights. A classic but so useful. Primark does a range of absolute bargain ones that are not only pretty but importantly are battery operated so you can have them in your room without your landlord/student housing nazis losing their shit over them. Wind them round your headboard, drape them over your mirror, display them over your noticeboard or desk... Just be liberal with the fairy lights! Try and get ones that are natural light rather than white light as they give a softer effect.

3. Lighting. Following on from the previous point good lighting can totally transform the feel of a room. Creating soft pools of light changes the whole feel of a space and its easy to do. A bedside lamp (alongside your fairy lights) is a good start - but if you can possibly stretch to it and have the space a floor lamp is a great idea. My parents gave me their old one and I put it on a timer so that it was always on in the evening. Nothing makes a room look uglier than harsh overhead florescent lighting and having soft low level lighting will make your space much more inviting.

4. Rug. Use it to cover the industrial carpet that seems to feature in every student house. As much as you would love to rip it up its not an option but a rug can be a good compromise. Small ones are actually pretty inexpensive (H&M Home have some great ones at the moment) and a nice neutral tone means it can help tie the room together. Its also nice to step out of bed onto a nice soft rug and helps make the space feel yours. The best part is you can roll it up and take it with you everytime you move which you can't do with an actual carpet.

5. Picture frames. Get a few nice ones (Wilkos and IKEA do excellent ones that only cost a few pounds, TK Maxx and Homesense slightly more elaborate ones that are still good value) and frame your favourite pictures. Or some cute slogan postcards from Paperchase. Or your favourite quote that you hand wrote. Put one on your windowsill, on your bedside table, on your desk. It'll help you feel at home and help get rid of the anonymous feel that most student rooms have.

6. Fake flowers. Good quality ones can actually look pretty nice and they need zero care. IKEA and Homesense would be my recommendation. A few fake flowers in a £2 jug from Sainsburys add a nice feminine touch. Of course a small potted plant on your windowsill or heck, even actual real flowers (Waitrose reduce theirs to a few pence after 8pm) are also excellent. But fake flowers will ALWAYS be there to brighten up your room so they're worth getting.

7. Cushions. Ignore anything any man in your life says about cushions being pointless, the more the better. Its easy to create a nice tiered effect on your bed with just a few cushions that makes your room look more boutique hotel and less student squat. Add in a pretty focal cushion and you're good to go. I also liked to have one on my desk chair to make it a bit comfier. And because my cushion obsession is a bit out of control.

8. Good quality bed linen. I'm going to be straight up here and admit that both of my Grandmothers bought me a nice duvet set when I went to uni which I am very grateful for (and I'm still using them now). The price is less important than how it looks in this case. The bed is likely to be the focal point of your room and taking the time to choose nice linen that compliments the other aspects of your decor will dictate whether the room is a mish mash of styles or not. Choosing two that are different yet enhance different parts of the style you're going for is a good idea because then you can change your room up each time you wash your sheets.

9. Add furniture. Once you leave halls chances are you'll be living in a student house where all the furniture you'll get is a bed, a desk and a wardrobe. Most student landlords don't even think about how a normal person can store all their possessions in one room with nowhere to put anything. Adding a bookshelf, some drawers, or a bedside table, (depending on the amount of space available) can make the world of difference to the amount of storage you have. You needn't blow your entire overdraft on this though.

First off see if any friends or family have anything they want to get rid of. My Nan gave me a chest of drawers and a mirror, my Mum took me on a trip to IKEA to get a £20 set of drawers which doubled up as a bedside table.

If that isn't an option there will be loads of people in your city looking to shift stuff they don't need and a lot will deliver it for you if you ask. Gumtree, Freecycle, eBay, Craigslist, Facebook... the options are almost endless.

Not to mention local car boots and other students. Final year students will often sell their furniture or even give it to the new tenants so its worth keeping an ear out. One of my friends bought two sets of drawers for £30 from someone she knew who was graduating and then sold them onto the next person who was renting her room. Win win because she didn't have to find someone else to get rid of them and the person buying them knew they would fit in the room.

Of course you can also use this to furnish the rest of your house, perhaps with a second hand TV or an extra chair. During my time at uni we acquired everything from an electric organ which we kept in our kitchen at halls for as long as we could get away with (which my flat mates carried up 8 flights of stairs) to an enormous trampoline we got off Freecycle which probably saw a lot of dodgy activity at house parties.

So there you have it, 9 quick ways to instantly improve your student room without breaking the bank.

Shop this post:
Lamp - Old from Tesco, similar one here 
Chest of Drawers - IKEA
Clock - Matalan 
Jug - Old from Sainsburys similar one here 
Candle - Amber Noir from Shearer Candles 
Photo frame - Wilkos
Perfume -Flora by Gucci
Slate Heart - Old, I think it was from Home Bargains similar here
Initial Coaster - Aspire Style