December Goals

I have a habit of disappearing off the face of the earth (Internet) when I have a lot of uni work to do. I get absorbed into the world of books and word documents and I emerge a month later out of my study cocoon like a somewhat relieved, almost stress free butterfly.

Last month I decided to start making more short term goals with the hopes of being more productive with my time. My November goals actually went pretty well with the only one I completely and epically failed at being attending yoga, oops. This month I've decided to make some brand sparkly new targets, and though we're almost half way through December I thought I'd share them with you anyway:

The Filling Station Christmas Preview Event

A couple of weeks ago the lovely team over at The Filling Station invited the Aberdeen blogger gang and I to preview their Christmas menu. Accompanied by our plus ones (although mine bailed as I was running late, oops!) we headed inside eager to see what festive treats would await us.

Winter Wanderlust - Turkey

My time in America this summer well and truly made me fall in love with travelling. There are few things that compare to the excitement of a new city and spending days getting acquainted (or in my case lost) in a new setting. Especially as we head into winter and not just any winter, but a bitter Scottish one, it seems that when I’m not daydreaming about my travels gone by I’m mapping out my next adventure.

The Body Shop Christmas Blogger Event

I am a self confessed The Body Shop fan and it is rare that you'll ever find me without at least one of their products in my handbag. So when the lovely folks over at The Body Shop invited me to their Aberdeen store to find out more about their new Christmas products I happily accepted.

November Goals

There is something very rewarding about achieving your goals. Perhaps it's knowing that yes you actually have the attention span to complete something you have planned, or the feeling of winning and great achievement. For me it's probably both. Unfortunately short term goals are something I seem to have become pretty lazy with as of recent, but today I'm making a change.

Skeleton Halloween Make Up

Seeing as it's been a while since my last beauty post I thought I'd show you all my skeleton Halloween make up look! Halloween is probably my favourite holiday as I absolutely love to dress up, but I have to admit I left costumes etc really late this year.

Why Do I Blog?

I saw this tag on Annabel's blog and though I wasn't explicitly invited to take part, I thought I'd crash the party and do it anyway. Welcome to the blog of a complete and utter rebel.

What it Feels Like to Fall Through the Sky

After an incredible eight weeks in San Diego, our Saltire internship experiences had sadly come to an end. Traditionally many Saltire Scholars use their opportunities away from home to give back and raise money for the cohort's chosen charities and in addition to our fundraising bake sale Niall and I decided to do something a little more daring.

3 Tips for Creating an Interesting 'About' Page

The other day the lovely Ellis posed a question to Twitter talking of her dilemma in coming up with content for an About Me page and it got me thinking. One of the first things I look for on a blog is that blurb. Who are you? What do you look like? What's your address and postcode? Okay maybe not that far... but still. We Brits find it very difficult to talk ourselves up and especially in the vast blogging world (yes the mystical realm that is the Internet) this is no time to start playing small. 

Lush Aberdeen Christmas Blogger Event

Last weekend a few of the Aberdeen girlies and I were treated to an after hours evening of bubbles and sparkles by the lovely team at Lush Aberdeen. And whilst I am aware that Christmas is still a couple of months away yet I'm all about the early prep and besides who am I to pass up the chance for a good nosey?

The One Secret Every Blogger Needs to Know

We've all been there. It's natural and it's nothing to be ashamed of or feel sorry for, despite the cloud of guilt that hovers over you. 

5 Ways to Save Money in... NYC

A few months ago I was granted the opportunity to visit America in an adventure that beats any other I've had in my life so far (I have a tremendous backlog of posts I need to write for this). During my ten weeks in The States I learnt a lot about America and it's culture, about travelling and also how not to bankrupt myself whilst having the experience of a lifetime. I finished my trip in New York, which was incredible, but also conveniently the most expensive of my American destinations. On my shoestring budget I still managed to have a fantastic time so keep reading for my 5 ways to save money in NYC so you can too!

Top 3 Reasons to Visit San Diego

I've been living and working in San Diego for almost two months now and the time has sped by. This city continues to grow on me and the more time I spend here the more things I find to do that make me appreciate it even more. If you're planning a trip to America you just have to visit, and while it's not in as many films as New York or Vegas this beautiful beach city still has a hell of a lot to offer and to prove it I've compiled my top 3 reasons to visit San Diego in to one handy blog post.

Travel Diaries #5: The Golden State

Let's pick up where we left off shall we... When I wrote my travel diaries last I was settling in to a motel for the night in the little Californian town of San Louis Obispo and you'll be glad to know I survived the night, which did not live up to my horror film expectations. That morning the other San Diego interns and I left early to make our way down to San Francisco and eventually to San Carlos for a Saltire Foundation alumni barbecue that evening. 

Travel Diaries #4: Sun, Sushi and Santa Barbara

This weekend the other interns and I decided to hit the road and go on our first all-American road trip, leaving behind our cushy apartment in San Diego (more on that later) to make our way up the Californian coast to San Carlos for a barbecue with a few stops, and a motel stay, along the way. Despite our excellent combined planning skills we somehow failed to anticipate the ridiculous traffic heading into LA, even at our bright and early time of twelve in the afternoon. Another thing we failed to anticipate was the dramatic increase in temperature between San Diego and LA and as a result of our poor judgement Jose and I divided the majority of the ride between melting into our seats and trying to nap away the pain.  A few hours into the journey we decided to get some relief and headed to a sushi place just off the freeway for lunch.

Travel Diaries #3: Settling in to San Diego

Moving to San Diego (my flatmate says it's not technically moving, but 11 weeks constitutes as long enough to say moving for me) has undoubtedly been one of the most nerve wracking things I've ever done. The week before I left I stupidly overworked myself to the point where a day before I was due to leave I had a meltdown in Asda because I couldn't decide on a suitcase. For leaving. The next day. As it got closer to the time these feelings didn't go away and I began to get more and more anxious worrying about insignificant things, or creating ridiculous situations to worry about. I'm not a nervous person, I'm not a particularly scared person, but there was something about this particular adventure that had an effect on me.

Travel Diaries #2: California Incoming

I've been unusually quiet on my blog over the last couple of weeks, but it is not without good reason. As some of you might of read I was granted a scholarship by The Saltire Foundation and am now over in San Diego, California interning for eight weeks! Between the frantic packing, emotional meltdowns and endless flights I haven't had the time to sit down, never mind blog, but never fear as you, lucky reader, are about to receive a long overdue update.

Beach Ready Skincare

The Body Shop Vitamin E Hydrating Toner

The Body Shop Coconut Lip Butter

Smashbox Photo Finish Primer

Clinique 7 Day Scrub Cream*

Superdrug Tea Tree Oil

Monu Skincare Instant Radiance Brightening Boost* 

Benefit It's Potent Eye Cream*

As I'm spending my summer in one of America's hottest states, I fully intend to take advantage and spend every spare moment in the great outdoors. San Diego is home to some beautiful beaches and what better way to bask in those glorious sun rays than with clear, healthy skin?

TAG - Lip Product Addict

I've seen this tag cropping up everywhere over the last few weeks and it just screams my name. I love lipstick and it's a rare occurrence that you'll catch me without one on, or at the very least in my handbag ready to be whipped out and applied at any given moment. There's a great episode of Mad Men where Peggy talks about lipstick and how no woman wants be just a shade of many and it's true - you make lipstick your own and it can look completely different from one person to the next. I could wax lyrical about lipstick all day, but let's just get on to the tag!

Mr Nutcase Custom Phone Case Review*

The back of my phone sports a mosaic of cracks, whilst the front of my phone relies on a screen protector to keep it from falling apart. As a somewhat clumsy person a phone case isn't just a fashion statement for me - it's a necessity. So when the lovely folks from Mr Nutcase* got in touch and asked if I'd like to create a custom iPhone case I was eager to get on board.

Top 8 Swimsuit Picks for Summer 2014

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8

This year I have the pleasure of spending my summer in sunny San Diego where, unlike British summertime, swimwear can actually be worn outdoors without fear of a dramatic weather change minutes later. Naturally the promise of glorious sunshine got me thinking about what kind of clothes to pack/looking for any reason to justify shopping, especially in terms of beach wear, so after much deliberation I've compiled my top 8 swimsuit picks for summer 2014.

Aunty Betty's Ice Cream Parlour

I am a recovering sugar fiend and a self confessed health freak. So much so that anybody who has spent a great deal of time with me will probably tell you that my eating habits just plain piss them off. However on this particular occasion I let myself slip and tiptoed over to the dark side, just for one afternoon... 

Film Review: Bad Neighbours

Yesterday my last student loan of the semester came in and in true baller style I headed down to my local cinema and splashed out a whole £2 (thank you Orange Wednesdays!) to see Bad Neighbours. There are two types of people who go to see this film - those who go to see it because it looks absolutely hilarious and those who go to see it because the beautiful specimen that is Zac Efron has a lead role. My flatmate was neither of these so I had to use both arguments on her to convince her to come. Her main opposing argument being -  won't it be completely predictable?

Travel Diaries #1: Journey to Unknown Festival

With summer just around the corner (although in Britain that's questionable) I've been getting excited about my upcoming trip to America and this got me thinking about my adventures last summer. One adventure in particular I want to share with you is my journey to Unknown Festival last year. Allow me to set the scene...

It is now the beginning of September, like many of my friends I've spent my summer working trying to gain some experience for my later years, as a result of this we've not seen a lot of each other by no fault of our own. It's not long 'til we go back to uni and we could do with a holiday, but ultimately we're still poor.

30 Day Shred Challenge: Level 1 Review

I've recently finished Level 1 of Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred challenge and thought I'd let you know how I'm getting on so far and share some information for those thinking about trying it for themselves.

The Motivation

 As many of you will know in less than two months I'm heading to San Diego for a marketing internship through The Saltire Foundation so I was really keen to get myself bikini ready before heading over. I'm already quite into the healthy lifestyle and eating well really isn't a problem for me, but exercise seems to be one of those things that I've just never managed to consistently commit to. Enter the 30 Day Shred challenge. Just 20 minutes of intensive exercise a day, next to no equipment (weights and a mat) needed, how hard could it be?

Stateside Bucket List

So as you might of heard from my 'Life's a Beach' blog post I'm off to America for ten and half weeks this summer and to get the most of my visit I've come up with a stateside bucket list of some of the top things I'd like to do while I'm there. For the first eight weeks I'm going to be carrying out an internship programme through The Saltire Foundation with three other Scottish interns (who I've yet to meet but have been in very excited Facebook talks with!) Our internship itself is in San Diego then after the eight weeks we're going on to do a bit of our own travelling including San Francisco, LA and finishing in New York for our last few days. It's been a life long ambition of mine to go to America (who wouldn't want to go?!), but you know being a student and all money is kinda an issue. The great thing about the internship programme through The Saltire Foundation is they cover all the costs of the flights, accommodation and living for the duration of your internship so it's just the extra two and a half weeks travelling and the costs associated with that that I have to worry about and i's an opportunity I just could not let pass me by, no matter how broke I'm gonna be.

 It's pretty unlikely I'll manage to do everything on my stateside bucket list, especially as plans always tend to change, but I thought it would be fun to share it with you guys anyway and I'd love to hear your suggestions too!

Thinking About Setting up a Custom Domain?

So yesterday I took some big girl steps in the blogging world and set up a custom domain (previously effytalkslife.blogspot.com now effytalkslife.com).  It's something I've always thought about doing, but just been way too lazy to put into practice and all I can say is if you've been thinking about it - stop thinking and just commit! This is the first of a series of many changes I'm making to my blog in the coming months and thought I'd shed some light on it for those of you considering setting up your own custom domain. 

3 Reasons to Love Student Life

I've recently picked my modules for my last year at uni and it has suddenly hit me that I'm head over heels, heart skipping a beat, weak at the knees in love with student life and am nowhere near ready to give that up. Of course there are downsides to being a student - my flatmate is a classic example of this with her steady diet of pasta for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert - but that's something we're (read I'm) working on changing.

So you ask, why DO you love student life so much?

Life's A Beach

Sorry. Note to self: must stop starting blog posts with apologies. Now that that's over with on to the good stuff!

A Student's Guide to LinkedIn

LinkedIn is described as a social network for professionals and put simply it is the future of job hunting, which is why it deeply surprises me how many students haven't ventured over to see what all the fuss is about. When I ask my student friends why they don't have LinkedIn the most popular responses I get are 'Oh well I don't really understand it', 'I don't have enough experience' and 'What's the point?'. In this post I aim to address all of these issues, and hopefully  encourage you to start a profile or improve the one you already have!

Cheers to Another Year

I know it's a bit late for the nostalgic 2013 posts, but what the hell it's still January so I'm doing one anyway! Last year was a big year for me so much happened with work, blogging and life in general and honestly it still seems like just yesterday...

The Wolf of Wall Street - A Spoiler Free Review

Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" is the hot topic film right now, plastered over social media and dominating conversations. Love it or hate it - you're still going to be talking about it.

Having been in deep exam revision hibernation for the past month (you can probably tell due to lack of blog activity - sorry!) I had seen no trailers for "The Wolf of Wall Street", but during one of the afore mentioned revision sessions it was recommended by a friend and I decided to take the plunge and see if it was worth the hype.