August Wishlist

Hey everyone! I've literally been saying this every month this year but oh my gosh, hasn't August gone by so fast!? It's ridiculous how in two days it will be September! Wow! At this rate, it won't be long until I'll be writing up my next wishlist post and it will already be Autumn :) I am so excited for Autumn, yay! Anyhow here's my August wishlist; I hope you enjoy reading! 

1. Lara Dreamcatcher Layered Necklace I fell in love with this necklace has soon as I saw it! I've always wanted a layered necklace because I think they look awesome, but until now I've never been able to find one that I loved all of the pendants on each chain. This one is lovely! I have a dreamcatcher necklace and it's one of my favourite necklaces, so I would love to own another. I love the moon and crystal pendants too. 

2. Punky Pins Lola Enamel Pin How beautiful are these Mel Stringer X Punky Puns pin badges!? I absolutely love Mel Stringer's artwork and I would LOVE to add any of these gorgeous collab pins to my pin collection! I love the important message on this badge, 'my feelings are valid' and I would love to rock it with my outfits.

3. Punky Pins I Am Beautiful Enamel Pin This pin from the same Mel Stringer X Punky Pin collab is just so pretty! I absolutely love the colour of the girl's hair and the big pink bow she's wearing. It looks super kawaii! I love that she's naked too because I think it helps spread the message that #NudityIsNotPorn. Written on the pin is 'I'm beautiful' and this is so nice. Whenever the wearer looks at their pin, they will get a positive reminder that they look great!

4. LimeCrime Opal Highlighter Powder I really want to start experiencing with highlighter and this looks like a lovely little palette to start with. It comes with three colours, and my favourite is the Opals palette, which has a pink, a gold and a peach shade. I want to try some more subtle shades before I use bright coloured highlighter. Can anyone recommend any other highlighters that would be great for beginners? 

5. Top Shop Bunny Hair Scrunchie This item has sold out since I put together this wishlist! I hope that I can find it in store! Since my hair is so long, I wear my hair up in a ponytail most of the time and I've been on the look out for cute bobbles for a while. I like that this one has a simple design and is black so I'll match most of my wardrobe. It would be cute worn in any situation with any outfit! 

6. Stabilo Boss Pastel Highlighters I love that it's 'Back-To-School' season so all of the stationery stores are having sales and introducing money off their essential items! I have wanted some pastel highlighters ever since I spotted some on tumblr because the shades are really nice! Ryman's have reduced this pack of six from £7.99 to just £3.79! They are sold out online now and I'm not surprised so I'm totally going to pick them up in store when I next go shopping. It's too good an offer to miss! 

7. Boohoo Plus Embroidered Smock Dress I am actually so gutted that this dress has sold out and I regret not ordering it when I checked if it was still available yesterday! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the embroidered floral pattern on it; it's just so gorgeous! I also love the design of the wrists because whenever I buy dresses with sleeves, they always end up being too long! I really want this dress! Please let it come back in stock!

8. Metal Tealight Holder I'm seriously in need of a tea light holder to use in my bedroom. I'll be finally getting my own bedroom at home soon and will no longer have to share with my sister, so I will be able to relax more in my own space and flickering candle-light really helps calm me down when I'm stressed. This silver and white starry tealight holder from Boohoo is super cute & only £3! 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥

What items have made it onto your own wishlists this month? 

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25 Reasons Why Aurora Is Awesome

Happy Sunday Guys! I hope you've all had a wonderful day! Today was my oldest brother's 39th Birthday so instead of our usual Sunday roast dinner, my mom prepared a buffet, along with a delicious chocolate gateau for dessert! I had a lovely day spending time with my family. I was actually supposed to share this post with you yesterday, but my internet decided to mess up so better late than never! Whilst browsing twitter yesterday, I discovered it was National Dog Day and so it was the perfect excuse to write up a post idea I've had for a while! If you're a regular reader of my blog, you may have seen my post from back in April about the newest addition to our family; my sister got a Shih Tzu puppy! (See the post here). Aurora is almost 9 months old now and is a cheeky little bundle of joy, 80% of the time haha!. She has brought so much happiness to our home and I adore her so much! I wanted to share a post about all of the things she does that are just so cute and awesome! Dogs are such amazing animals :) Enjoy! 

1) The way she greets me every day when I first wake up and come downstairs is so cute! She gets super excited to see me, it makes me feel so loved. 

2) When she paws at me for attention with her cute little fluffy feet!  

3) She looks like a bat when she's rolled over on her back and it's hilarious! Her ears flop on the floor above her head and if you try to tickle her, she playfully bites your fingers and she resembles the most adorable little bat you've ever seen!

4) Whenever she's really happy, she goes on these hyper runs around the room, crashing into things and she just doesn't stop! She sometimes does this at random and it's so funny!

5) I love when dogs do that 'confused' head-turn thing. Aurora looks extra cute when she does this! 

6) She looks adorable when she's asleep... it melts my heart!

7) Whenever someone walks into our garden, such as my dad or my brother coming back from work, she gets so excited watching them through the window and it's lovely to see!

8) At the moment, my laptop is broken and because of this, it has to be propped up against the wall. I keep it on top of a box and usually sit on the floor to use it, and whenever I'm on my laptop Aurora comes and sits beside me. It's wonderful that she just enjoys being near me :)

9) If she gets something on her nose, like dust or water or bits of her food, she hates it and tries everything to get it off. She always starts rubbing her muzzle all oer things and snuffles and it's literally the cutest thing ever! 

10) When her coat is fully grown and she hasn't been to the groomers for a while, it looks like Chewbacca and an Ewok had a fling and she was the result! She honestly looks more Ewok than dog sometimes! 

11) Whenever she wants to play, I love how she will go and choose one of her toys and bring it to you. Her favourites at the moment are her plushie teacup and a squishy pink ball that squeaks!

12) She cuddles into my things and lays on top of them because she can smell me on them, like my slippers or my hoodies. I often walk into the room to find her doing this! She's even starting doing it with my notebooks!

13) Her front teeth are always a little visible because she has an underbite and it looks adorable!

14) Whenever she's had a bath and we put her on the floor ready to dry her off, she nuzzles and rolls all over her towel like ''Look guys! I can do it all by myself!''

15) When she's out in the garden, she desperately wants to play with my rabbits and cries excitedly whilst looking up at their hutches. It's so sweet :) 

16) I love how she follows my youngest nephew around everywhere he goes! 

17) At night when I'm relaxing and watching movies, whenever she's sleepy she sits by me and rests her head on my leg. Then when she falls asleep, I feel like I can't move for hours because she looks too cute to disturb! 

18) Whenever we take her collar off for whatever reason, she gets really confused and nuzzles at your hands until you put it back on again!

19) The sound she makes when she's incredibly excited to see you is amazing! It's a really high pitched squeal! (It resembles the sound I make when I'm fangirling!)

20) Watching her try to eat fresh garden peas is so comical... she just drops loads of bits of pea all over and can't seem to keep it all in her mouth! 

21) She sneaks upstairs to see us whenever we are still in bed in the afternoon. She comes into mine & my sisters bedroom and wakes us up by running around crashing into things and stratching trying to reach our beds! It's sweet that she's that desperate to see us :')

22) When anyone is laying on the floor in my house, she jumps on their back and sits there. She sometimes carries a toy up there too! She used to do this all the time when she first came home and is doing it now less and less. It's a shame!

23) I think it's lovely how she forever wants to be near us, to cuddle up to our feet, to sit up on the sofa and snuggle next to us, to follow us everywhere around the house and garden and even to the toilet! She's like a clingy toddler! 

24) Sometimes when I'm laying on the floor whilst I'm colouring or writing blog notes, she tries to distract me by nuzzling and snuffling all over me... in my face, all over my back and my legs and pawing at me too! I'm super ticklish so you can imagine how much this makes me giggle!

25) Finally, even though it can be annoying when she's constantly staring at you whilst you're trying to eat, it's cute when you joke around and try to cover your food so she can't see it. She peeps around the corner of whatever you're using to block her view and bobs her head around if you move it. I don't know if I'm explaining it well enough for you to visualise it, but it is hilarious! It reminds me of a cat when they don't take their eyes off something in your hand :) 

So there's a list of some of the ways that Aurora makes my melt heart on a daily basis! There are so many other adorable mannerisms that she has! I basically almost die from cuteness overload sometimes! Shih Tzu's are brillant little dogs, even though they are really stubborn and pretend that they can't hear you when you're telling them off and are super lazy! They have the sweetest fluffy tails and faces that look like an old man with a beard, but they are affectionate and mischievous and playful. I love Aurora to pieces and she's brought lots of happiness into my life. I hope you've all enjoyed reading! If you have a dog too, I'd love to hear all about them in the comments :)

Thankyou for reading!

 ♥

What's something that your pet does that makes your heart melt? 

Check out some of my other animal-related posts:

| My Trip To Sweden: Part 3 | Big Butterfly Count | Pets At Home Haul |  

 

A Day Out At The Gala

Hi lovelies! If you follow me over on Instagram, you may know that on Saturday, I went to a gala. Every year, my hometown hosts one of these traditional British events, so since I hadn't attended for years and years I thought I'd go check it out. I hope you enjoy reading about my day! This post is going to include A LOT of photos!

Just in case you've never heard of a gala before, I'll start off by explaining a little about them. 'Gala' is an old name that used to be given to public celebrations and festivals. They were originally big parties to mark the end of seasons or specieal events in the calendar. They were held to raise money for local causes, for charities or to fund something that would benefit the townsfolk. This year marked the 52nd year of the Darwen Gala! 

It's a shame that I can't find much history about the Gala or why it was originally set up! However, I'll just tell you my memories of the Darwen Gala from back when I was a kid. I remember going to the event every year when  I was little with my Dad and my younger sister. Gala day always begins with a parade. It was so brilliant back then, nothing compared to how bad it's been for the last couple of years. Even though I haven't attended the gala itself for ages, I've been watching the parade again since I came back home from university in Nottingham. I usually just walk to the end of my street, watch it and go back home again. 

The parade was very much the highlight of the day for me when I was little; it was so cheerful and loud and exciting! There were so many floats decorated according to the theme of the year, and you could really see how much effort everyone put in. There were loads of troups of dancers, groups of all ages, from morris dancers to majorettes to theatre clubs! Whenever I think of the gala, I immediately hear the nostaglic jingle of all the morris dancer medals that covered the front of the dancer's outfits! There was a marching band that could literally be heard all across the town as soon as they started playing.

I was actually on a float myself one year when I was around 8 years old, and the theme was 'Under The Sea'! It was an awesome experience! I was pretty nervous that I was going to fall off the truck everytime we went over a bump in the road though. It was wonderful waving to all of the cheering crowd too! I had a lot of fun putting together all of our costumes and decorations for the float, which I did with a summer youth club that I went to that year with my brother and sister :)

This year, I wasn't very enthusiastic about the parade to be honest, but I went along because my niece's cheerleading club were on it! That's about the only thing that was on it! There were cars filled with various people and I didn't have a clue who most of them were. The mayor of the town was there, so it's always cool to see the big gold chain that they wear. There was also someone dressed up in a cartoon version of our town's landmark, Darwen Tower. Finally, the parade was lead by a marching band from Accrington. I was lovely to see my niece performing, it made me feel super proud :) But the parade itself was so disappointing. it's just not the same as it once was!

Here's a photo of the float for the cheerleading group that my niece is part of. She isn't on the float as it was reserved for the younger children. She had to walk in front with the older kids up to the site where the main event is held. They also did a performance at the Gala itself and she did fantastic! 
 

The Gala takes place on some fields across from Bold Venture park, which I blogged about last Wednesday when I went geocaching there! The lower field is filled with rides and those traditional fairground games like Hook-A-Duck. You can find an array of tents and gazebos in the upper field, sheltering various stalls for charities and local businesses. There's always lots of tombola's dotted about the site, where you can win prices that people have donated to help raise money. I always play because it's fun, but I barely ever win *cry cry*. My sister and her girlfriend won some prizes though! This year there were stalls for sweet shops, for local clubs & groups, for a cat rescue and rehoming charity that runs in my hometown and more! 

There were two bigger tents too, one was filled with mostly local business stalls. I regret not buying a cupcake from a bakery stand! This year my town organised a local 'Great British Bake Off' challenge with different categories and prizes, but I avoided going into the other tent because it was pretty crowded! A stage was set up towards the front of the field, along with a pop-up show ring where acts took place throughout the day. My mom was excited to watch a show with miniature ponies so that's where we headed first. The show was performed by four beautiful ponies from Leopold's Equestrian Productions. The ponies in the show were named Obe, Popcorn, Patches and Oli. Patches was definitely my favourite because he was a falabella cross and I absolutely love these horses! You can find out more about the ponies here. They put on a lovely show, even though one of the ponies was being super cheeky and distracting the others from their routine. It just made the show even more entertaining to watch! 

So, finally, here are some photos I took around the Gala show grounds :) 

How awesome is the horror themed artwork on the ghost train!? As a big horror fan, I love it, especially Freddy Krueger! We browsed around the stalls, and I bought myself a couple of things but not much since I'd only brought a tenner with me! I got myself a burger from the food van for my lunch and it was actually really yummy. I also tried my first ever mint Knickerbocker Glory at the end of the day before we headed home. I'd never seen this flavour available before, and I love mint ice-cream! It was very nice but also super sweet so some people might not agree. My mom & I decided to have a go at a tombola game. We couldn't say no when it was only 8 tickets for £1 and money was donated to charity. You had to get tickets ending in a '0' or a '5' to win and neither of us did, nevermind! I've included a picture of the huge Tigger plushie that my sister's girlfriend won :) 

Another activity that the gala offered this year was trips up onto the moors overlooking our town, which is technically in a valley, to explore Darwen Tower. I've mentioned the tower before on my blog but for those of you that didn't see the post, the tower is an historical landmark that was built in 1898 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. It's a stunning piece of history and architecture, although it has been refurnished over the years. The view from the top of the tower is beautiful and on a clear day, you are supposed to be able to see all the way to the coast at Blackpool and also to the Yorkshire Pennines. 

I haven't been up to the tower since I was in high school, when me and a friend walked up there to draw pictures of the tower for our art class. That was over 10 years ago and since my late teens, I started to develop symptoms of fibromyalia. Of course, I didn't know what it was back then but my knees and ankles couldn't handle the trek up the moors. The gala had organised for Land Rover rides up to the tower with the Red Rose Land Rover Club. It was only £2 for your ride up and back down again, and all of the proceeds went to charity. I thought it would be an amazing experience and I was not disappointed! I loved the ride up the hillside, although it was not easy on my back and felt something like I imagine riding a mechanical bull is like! There was a handle on the dashboard of the Land Rover and I held onto it so tight! It definitely felt as though the vehicle was going to topple over and go rolling down the moors, but with these awesome cars being built for cross-country driving, it made it to the tower and back in one piece!

It wasn't a very clear day; in fact it had been raining on and off all afternoon so my photographs don't do the view justice at all! It was breathtaking up there. I felt like the queen of my very own castle! I could see all across my hometown, as well as fields and farmland as far as the eye can see! I saw carpets of purple heather stretching for what seem like miles. It was so so windy up at the top of the tower! It felt like my camera was gonna get swept right out of my hand! I've never clutched it so close to my chest before! It was quite an adrenaline rush to be up at the top, even though I was really struggling to breathe with such strong wind blowing in my face! The tower is 85 ft high! It really is such a gorgeous building and it's definitely worth a visit if you enjoy treks up big hills! 

You've almost reached the end of my post; I hope I haven't bored you with all of this writing! Before I finish, I wanted to show you all the few things that I brought home from the gala :) 

I couldn't resist buying one of the lovely cat-themed products from the Moggies stall, the cat rescue and rehoming charity run from my hometown. They always have cats and kittens looking for new homes so if you're in the Lancashire area and are looking for a new furry addition to your family, please give Moggies a google search. I popped a £1 into the donation bucket and purchased this pretty little ring trinket holder. It's such a nice blue shade and was only £2! The Red Rose Land Rover Club stall was selling a selection of cards, so my mom let me choose one, and since we were going to the tower, I picked this one :) When we first got to the Darwen Gala, I visited the sweet stall and thought it was £2 each for a bag, which I was happy to pay just to support local small businesses. The owner gave me a nice surprise when she told me it was actually 3 bags for £2!! I would have included them all in this photograph if I hadn't have already devoured two, oops.

I had a wonderful day out with my mom and even though the parade was pretty crap, the gala itself was fun and I enjoyed doing something in my hometown. It wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be, but that might have been because of the rain throughout the day. I came home with very muddy boots and leggings that's for sure! 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

 Does your town have any traditional annual events?

Have you ever been to a gala?

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Geocaching In The Park | Photo Diary

Hello guys! Today I managed to check something off my summer bucketlist! I went to a lovely big park in my hometown to find a geocache. If you've never heard of this hobby before, you can learn more about it on my 'All About Geocaching?' post. The weather was nice enough to go out for a walk with my camera and I hadn't been to this park in such a long long time, years in fact! It was so much more pretty than I remember it and so I thought I'd share a photo diary with you all. It's a nice way to document my geocache find too! Enjoy! 

The park that I visited today is called Bold Venture Park. I think that's such a cool name for a park! It was established in 1889 so it's a historical landmark for my hometown, which is Darwen in the county of Lancashire. In 1921, a monument was put up at the entrance to the park to pay tribute to the 1,200 soldiers from Darwen who fought and died during World War One & Two. This includes my great grandfather on my mother's side. There are five steps leading up to the monument to symbolise the five years of WW1. The monument has a beautiful angel on top and also a statues of a soldier and other war officials on the side, both made from bronze. It's the first thing you notice when you walk into the park, with a backdrop of trees and the big ornamental pond. So, without any further ado, here are some photographs...

This stunning pond is sometimes filled with ducks, but today I only saw a few hiding in the shade around the sides of the pond. I did see the cutest little Moorhen and its chicks. They were so adorable! There's quite a few ponds in the park, although this is the biggest, since the grounds are located on the Bold Venture Brook, which flows down the valley that Darwen is situated in, through the woods from the moors. There's even a pretty impressive little waterfall hiding in the park, which I'll show you soon! Another feature in the park sits where there was once a lovely aviary housing peacocks amongst other birds, which was gifted to the park at the end of the Victorian Era in 1901. Where the aviary once was is the Hindle Pergola, which is named after Mr & Mrs FG Hindle who gifted the aviary to the park all those years ago. I didn't know the name of those pretty wooden or metal frames covered in climbing flowers but they are apparently called Pergola. There's no flowers growing on the Hindle Pergola at the moment but I'm sure it will look beautiful when there is!

I really wish that I'd taken a tub with me to collect wild blackberries now! It was near this area of the park that my Geocaching app was telling me that I was close to the cache I was looking for. Geocaching is a hobby that is a little like treasure hunting. People hide caches and it's your job to find them. Caches are containers of any size and shape, often filled with little brick-a-brack 'treasures' which are great for children. There are also coins in some and other cool things, but most fun part of this activity is that you never know what to expect! It took me around 10-15 minutes to find the hidden cache, and I thoroughly enjoy climbing over tree trunks and exploring across the leaf-covered terrain to hunt out the cache. I was super happy when I finally found it :)

As you can see, this little cache had a cute pirate eye-patch inside that I know my nephew would like if he was to find this cache! There is usually a log book or sheet inside the container for finders to note when they found it and who they are. There wasn't one in the cache so I popped in a piece of note paper for others to sign. I also brought along this little heart charm that I got in a Christmas Cracker, so I left this little 'treasure' behind. Yay! Another geocache found; I wish there were more close to my house! I'm planning to search for caches next time I go to a city because there are usually lots hidden in such busy urban areas. I think it's pretty amazing that this little hobby goes on under everyone's noses everywhere! The geocachers even call people who don't know about the hobby 'muggles', haha! After finding the cache, I explored some more of the park. My next step was to the old historical drinking fountain that I wish was still in working order, but it was built in 1902 on the coronation day of King Edward. Lastly, I went to see if this waterfall was just as big as I remember it being when I was a kid. Fantasically, it was!

That waterfall is apparently 40 feet high! So, we've come to the end of my very picture heavy post; I hope you all enjoyed reading. I had a lovely day at the park, looking at the flowers and trees and squirrels and butterflies and ALL OF THE MAGPIES! I seriously saw so so many! It was nice to appreciate the history of the park and I started daydreaming about what it would have been like to see families walking around it in their Victorian attire, in the old days when the park was first opened to the public. I can't help but daydream, my imagination is vivid :) Who's the same? I wish that the playground was empty, because I totally wanted to play on it! Oh well, it was an awesome afternoon nonetheless!

Thankyou for reading! 

 ♥

Have you ever been geocaching? 

I also love to hear all about the last park that you visited. 

Here are some related posts:

| Finding My First Geocache | Summer Bucket List | Afternoon at Avenham |  

 

Little Things That Make Me Happy

Hi Everyone! The last few weeks have not been the best for me as there's been a lot going on in my life, mostly involving family, which has really impacted my mental health. It's been a hard time to get through, especially when I already have so many other things stressing me out. I decided last week that I was going to try and cheer myself up any way I could, to concentrate on the little things that help bring a smile to my face and make me feel uplifted. It can be very tough to focus on the positives though when there's so much negativity taking place around you, so I started writing some notes on my phone of anything and everything that filled me with happiness, no matter how small and insignificant it seemed at the time. 

I started keeping note so that at the end of the day, when I was laying in bed which happens to be one of the times that I struggle with anxiety the most, when I'm overthinking for hours and hours, I could read back through the list I'd made. It was my hope to make myself feel good when I was re-playing the day's problems, to try and distract my mind by thinking about those things that make everything worth it, the things that make life wonderful. I thought that I'd only keep up this list for a couple of days, but seven days later it was still going strong. I thought then, why not share it? Although the points on my own list might not be things that would make it onto your own list, I hope that by reading this post it makes you think about all the little moments in your lives that are special to you. Maybe you could start up your own list. For all of my readers who also struggle with their mental health,  remember that even the smallest things you can do to make yourself feel good are super important! Self care is crucial for everyone and it's good to give different things a go to find out if they will be beneficial to you. I hope you all enjoy reading! 

Gardens full of pretty flowers

The School of Rock (2003) 

The way my rabbits wiggle their noses; it's so adorable!

Being surprised with sweets (I really love sweets and even more so, surprises!)

Talking the perfect selfie that makes me feel great!

When I manage to draw perfect wings on my eyeliner

Having the house to myself 
The fact that Horror Con exists (I've been watching lots of vlogs lately, I need to go!)

Kiefer Sutherland in the 80's

Ticking things off my to-do-list 
Badass battle scenes on shows (nerd!)
Listening to heavy rain when I'm snuggled up in bed

The way Aurora (my sister's puppy) greets me whenever she hasn't seen me for a while

Having a good, loud sing-along
Hot chocolate with marshmallows

Speaking German (I'm learning German at the moment)

Getting comments on my blog posts 

My mom left a cute note and some lunch for me when she went out for the afternoon :) 
Finding hilarious and/or relatable memes
Compliments (no matter how much they make me blush, haha!)
Musicals
Listening to people talking to animals, when they put on that specific high-pitched voice 
That feeling of accomplishment after you do something you've been meaning to for a while 
Frujj Banana Milkshake
Spotting wildlife (On Wednesday, I saw a huge Buzzard & again on Sunday, as well as a Sparrow Hawk ) 
Homemade Roast Potatoes *nom nom*
Painting my nails red
When me & my best friend respond to something in pretty much exactly the same way :D
Listening to people's joyful laughter
Sexual innuendos & clever dirty humour
Writing in a fresh notebook
Doing well at my German; I feel great when I have revised my lessons well. 
Watching little garden birds chasing each other 
The adorable sounds that Pokemon make
How my art print wall in my bedroom is coming along nicely
Dragons! 
Also, Dragons burning things on Game of Thrones!
The legend that is Tim Curry
Toasting bread perfectly & not having to put it back into the toaster
The colour Yellow
When Aurora snuggles up to me & falls asleep
Ridiculous, badly-done gore scenes on horror movies 
The fact that it will be Autumn soon, yay!
Putting on PJs that are straight out of the dyer & still warm
The smell of vanilla
Bright moons on a clear night
That first feeling of getting into a hot bath
Ice-cream with sprinkles

I know this was a long list to read, but I hope you all enjoyed it!

Thankyou for reading!

  ♥

I love to hear about some of things that made you smile today? 

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