21 Candles

A week ago to the day I celebrated my long-awaited 21st birthday at home in the little town of Newark. I had such a lovely day and for the first time in years it really did feel like a proper birthday. I woke up to a very excited puppy, almost as excited as me, with a fluffy birthday collar trying to clamber on my bed and give me a birthday kiss, so cute! Due to having so much Uni work I didn't have a big night out over the weekend but I've had a few before and after in Leeds and I'm going for a mini break in Edinburgh in a couple of weeks with 4 of my best friends and I cannot wait!

I was lucky enough to receive loads of cute gifts and cards from family and friends. Lots of jewellery, sweet treats, make-up and a couple of gorgeous photo album/scrap book type things which will definitely make me smile on a rainy day spent indoors. Make-up wise I got a Clinique All Over Blush and Copper Canyon Eye Shadow Duo, both of which I'll be blogging about any time soon so look out for them.

I spent most of the day with my family, we went for a lovely meal at the Fardon Boathouse, my favourite restaurant in the whole world, which lucky for me is only a 5 minute drive from my house. The meal was gorgeous, as expected, and it was lovely to spend some quality time with my nearest and dearest without having to worry about deadlines, word counts and systemic functional grammar!

Anyway here are a few snaps from the day:

Birthday Morning

My mother - would you believe she has a 21 year old daughter!

The Williams Girls

My Grandad and I

Duck Spring Roll - amazing!

My two little brothers and me :)

This did not last very long

Puppy Love

I have a new man in my life!

His name is Wesley; a black labrador who's just a baby at 4 weeks old! He can't come home and leave his mother for another 4 weeks (which falls right on the time I go back to University - gutted!). I am hoping however that we might be able to bring him home a little early.

His brothers and sisters are totally adorable too, as you can see!

Generous Mr. Clause

Ok so I promised a post detailing a few of my 2011 christmas presents, and here it is!!

Once again massive apologies for my shambolic photography - I have no idea how to work my mum's SLR and was in a bit of a rush to take the pictures before she cottoned on to the fact I'd 'borrowed' her precious and expensive camera. I also didn't get round to taking the pictures until Boxing day; at this point I'd already taken the labels off a few things and been for a walk in my new Ugg boots!

I have an absolute shopoholic/spendaholic of a mother so she tends to go a little overboard at Christmas time, leaving me feeling rather spoilt, but loved all the same.

Anyway, here are a few of my beautiful gifts...

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisterizer - an absolute godsend. I've been literally scraping out last years' pot for the last couple of months, I love it!

Hunter Fleece Welly Socks - to compliment my pair of discounted Hunter wellies I purchased earlier this year.

TOWIE Boxset (I am a not-so-closet lover of trashy TV), Bridemaids DVD (hilarious) and Amy Winehouse's new album which I've already listened to and absolutely love - going straight in the car I think!  

Possibly my favourite gifts - a MAC Lipstick and a MAC surf-baby bronzer. Need that glow in the current climate!

My favourite scent at the minute - Carolina Herrena '212 On Ice'. Very hard to get at this time of year but Santa obviously found a way! (Amazon)

A girl can never have too many bags. An ALDO shopper on the left and a Warehouse clutch on the right. Both are gorgeous and will go with pretty much anything.

A personalised cushion  made by my very own Mother <3 Pink enough and girly enough for a 10 year old but I don't care!  

An engraved ring that says 'love conquers all things'. I chose this myself and I love it because of the sentimental value.

Chocolate UGGs. Had two pairs previously and pretty much lived in both of them. Chocolate colour came on sale on ASOS a while back and I made sure Santa knew about it!

Not Vivienne Westwood, but a similar style - and who's going to ask. Going to save these statement earrings for night time outfits I think!

A cute bedroom sign

Another much-loved product that I've been running out of of late. I've tried both Fake Bake's lotion tanner and mousse and while they are both great, I personally prefer the mousse for a lighter, more even coverage.

More 'girly bath shit'. Princess bubble bath, shampoo, body wash and cleanser, fairly boring.

A surprise but I really like this. Anew from Avon's foaming cleanser. Very fresh and moisterizing.

A selection of Boots' Body Butters. Absolutely love body butter at this time of year and each of these smells divine.

A Tog 24 thermal hat and an FCUK snood. Both extremely useful for chilly Forest matches and bitter walks up to Uni in January. 

Fat Face Pajama shorts. I'm yet to even try these on as my poor pins can't quite face being exposed around the house. Give it two months however and I'll be living in these babies!

Very Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!

So although Christmas isn't exactly all over, I'm already ready to get back into normal everyday routine (work, gym, Uni work) and start thinking about the new year. One of my main aims for next year is to really keep up with my blog, and i'm getting cracking on writing this Christmas post to do just that.

Christmas day was (as always) a wonderful one; lots of laughter, food, presents and smiling faces and with my mums LSR camera in hand, I attempted to capture some of these moments in the form of some digital pics. My snapping skills aren't great, but I'd really like to improve and as the famous saying goes 'practise makes perfect' - so bare with me on this.

These are just a few family photos, a post detailing my gifts from Santa will be coming up!

Appropriately frosty make-up

'Sledge must have stum' hahaa Santa's been!!

My Grandad

My Mum and Auntie

My brother Alex with sporting festive headwear

My Mum attempting to use my brother's treadmill - absolutely zero co-ordination, hilarious

My mum and I

Auntie and Niece

My favourite possession. Didn't get this for Christmas but worth a pose as we were walking by

My Auntie and our new friend Charlie the horse. Sex to be confirmed...

Had a look...still unsure. Most likely girl.

Gordan Ramsey eat your heart out. My brother is a chef - literally the BEST job a brother could have.

Christmas Dinner - amazing.

3 too many slice of turkey for Gramps...full

Wouldn't be Christmas without Champagne..

My Dad

My mum modelling my hat - never changes.