2014 - Year Of The Blog??

Hi guys, first of all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I've been absent for about a month now because the month of December was ridiculously hectic. I literally had no spare time after the demands of work, sorting things out for Christmas, running a house and trying to have a social life in between - oh and I graduated (but more on that at a later date...!) But now it is a new year and a fresh start, things have calmed down and I am settling down into a nice routine.

2014 brings fresh hopes and desires which I am hoping to achieve. A lot of crappy things happened in 2013 but without sounding too cliche I feel like they've made me stronger and even more determined. I am hoping to elevate this blog to a higher level with new content ideas and better pictures. That's right - I finally got the camera I have been after for ages woop! I was so luckily to get the Canon EOS 650d and 18-55mm lense for Christmas which I had been saving up for myself. In all honesty that is part of what held me back from posting in December too - I felt like my pictures weren't up to scratch even though I tried the best with the camera I had and I didn't want to put sub par content up on this blog, especially after having a brand new layout I wanted the posts to match up to it.

My plan for Little Miss Lifestyle is not too rigid, but I would like to post consistently around 3-4 times a week at the least and am hoping to be much more organised in scheduling posts etc. If there is anything you would like to see let me know. Now I've got my new camera I'm also toying with the idea of youtube... but putting yourself out there on video is a whole lot more scary than typing up a post! If you have a youtube account please could you give me some advice and tips?

A few other resolutions (most of which I have already broken...sigh!) are to do some form of exercise every day, eat more healthily, drink more water... basically just take care of myself a bit better as there was way too much food and booze consumed over the Christmas period and I'm not as happy in myself as I would like to be. I also want to complete some other career goals which I am keeping secret for now but will let you know when the time comes! Finally I want to make more of an effort to keep in contact with my friends as now I live further away and everyone has their own schedules its very hard to stay in the loop with everyone.

Sorry for the ramble but I found that post quite therapeutic and its always nice to have a catch up and lay out a plan which I can now be held accountable for! I would love to know what you are hoping to achieve this year xxx

p.s. all my social media links are located on the right if you would like to follow my day to day musings and snapshots of my life (there are lots of different platforms!)

Lifestyle: Update

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Hi everyone, today's post is a bit of an update as a few things have been changing for me recently. My uploading schedule has been a bit few and far between at I've been super busy for the following reasons.

Ok, so the house in the picture isn't mine but it is to signify that I am properly leaving home for the first time to finally move in with Matt! Ever since he asked me a few months ago (details in this post) we've been really looking forward to it but I'm also quite nervous as moving to Uni is a lot different to actually leaving home for good. The flat he is in at the moment and which I'll be moving into isn't the ideal place but we're using it as more of a stop gap until we find our perfect home. It will be the first time I've ever lived with a boy, let alone a boyfriend so I'm sure it will take some getting used to. I can't wait to put some girly touches to the flat and make it more of a home for us. We have been together for nearly two years now so it is the perfect time to start this new chapter of our lives and I'm so excited!!!

Secondly, I've recently started an internship in PR which I am seriously enjoying but is a lot of hard work. Since starting a blog, it opened up new avenues that I hadn't even considered so I am really thankful that I've found something that I really want to do and enjoy.

Finally, hopefully in the next few weeks you will see that this little space of the internet will have recieved a face lift! I'm currently working on re-designing the whole layout and am really excited about the finished result and hope you will be too!

Hopefully once I've unpacked and got more settled I will be able to stick to a proper uploading schedule as I have so much I want to share with you. If there is anything you would like to see over here at Little Miss Lifestyle then let me know! And remember to follow me on social media as I love to make new friends xxx

Date Day: Bluebird Chelsea & The River Cafe

Hi guys, I haven't done a personal lifestyle post in a while now so I thought I'd share what I did last Saturday with you. As you already know I had to defer my exams and therefore finished them later than everyone else.  I found out my results a few weeks ago and passed (yay!) and so Matt planned a lovely 'Date Day' to celebrate. If you follow me on instagram then you will have seen a few of my pictures of the day but here are a few deets of what we did.

First we had breakfast at the Bluebird Cafe in Chelsea. I'd been wanting to go here for ages because I love MIC (I know that's really sad haha) but unfortunately we didn't spot anyone famous! I had eggs royale with a pot of tea, while Matt had eggs benedict with a latte. It was so delicious and the service was super fast. We also ordered a Bloody Mary to drink as we hadn't tried one yet - it was so disgusting but at least we tried it!

After breakfast we wandered down towards Sloane Square tube station and popped into a few shops along the way, including John Lewis where we had to purchase an umbrella as it began to rain! We wanted to go Boris biking along to the river to the next destination but the weather didn't really allow this so that was the only disappointing part.

After working up an appetite walking around the shops we arrived at the River Cafe for lunch. This is another place I've been dying to go to for ages, one of the reasons being they serve the Chocolate Nemesis which I love to make from this book. It was a lot more modern that I was expecting but it was still gorgeous and very popular and busy. Once seated at our table we got presented with a bottle of champagne which Matt had arranged beforehand as a surprise :) It was so cute and reminded of me when we first started dating as he used to pre order a bottle of wine with a little note attached to it.

Food wise, the River Cafe is delicious but really expensive so I would definitely save it for a special occasion like we did! We chose to share a starter of seafood risotto which included scallops, squid, prawns, langostines and muscles. Matt carried on the fish theme by ordering the Seabass for main, while I had lamb with roasted beetroot and a horseradish cream. The food was of an amazing quality like you would expect and the service was friendly and attentive but not at all over bearing. After our late lunch we made our way home feeling very full and slightly tipsy and settled down to watch a scary film for the rest of the evening.

I had such a lovely relaxing and romantic day, it was great to enjoy ourselves and think of nothing else but each other. Sorry for the crap quality of the photos but blogger seems to have messed up their resolution! What is your favourite place to visit in London? xxx

Lifestyle: The Little Things #1

This is the first post I've done of this type but considering I've been quite absent from my blog and it is a lifestyle blog as well as for beauty, I thought I would write a little life update. I've been super busy with loads on my plate so I'm really looking forward to Christmas (although it will be full of dissertation work) to relax a little in a warm, cosy house and spend some quality time with family and friends. So what have I been up to?

001. Firstly, I've had so much uni work piled on top of me and have quite a few essay deadlines to meet. It makes it difficult to keep in touch with friends away from Uni and have a social life, but I've been trying to make an extra effort - half hour phone call with a friend can really help you to feel less stressed.

002. I've also been busy applying for a PGCE for primary education which has been hanging over my head for a while. I've wanted to be a teacher for so long so although I know teaching is becoming very competitive to get into I'm hoping it will work out as it is something I'm really passionate about.

003. Christmas! I've desperately been trying to think of gifts to get everyone and make sure I have enough of my budget to make sure everyone gets something lovely which they deserve. I've got some general ideas so I just need to stop putting off buying things and just do it as it will be a weight off my shoulders! I'm thinking of doing some crafty, home made gifts too which I will be sure to post about nearer the time.

004. Matt's move to London. You might remember he started a brand new job a few months back, which is his first ever full time job. He did so well to get it and has been working really hard, but has had nowhere proper to live and sort his things out. He has finally sorted out a flat so we spent the whole weekend down in Exeter collecting his things and spending time with his family then back up to London to move in and go on a big trip to TK Maxx and Ikea (which is incredible!) It was a super busy weekend but was definitely work it :)

005. Finally, I got my hair done! Matt's Mum is a hairdresser and she re-did my highlights for me and chopped off a good couple of inches. My hair was quite long but it really needed a cut as I hadn't in a while. I really like the out come although it is weird getting used to the length!

Although I feel like there has been lots of stresses in my life at the moment, I thought I'd make a list of the things that I'm really grateful for at the moment as its easy to forget the small things:

* Handwritten letters from my Grandma and Granddad through the post.

* Hot drinks on cold, rainy days.

* Hot water bottles!

* Scented Christmas candles.

* Surprise flowers delivered to my door.

* A great group of friends I've known for years.

* The opportunity to go to Uni and make new memories with fantastic people (and also meet Matt!)

* Wrapping up warm in scarfs and ear muffs.

* Sing alongs in the car with Matt.

* Every page view, comment and follower I get on my blog.

* An advent calender from Matt's mum.

I really enjoyed writing this post and it has helped me put things into perspective! What have you been up to recently? What are you grateful for today? xxx

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