Mostly Roundup: March

March went by quick didn't it!

Began with my flatmate's 21st birthday dinner in our flat which was a lovely time. I am going to miss the flat dinners we have, pushing together our massive dinning table and kitchen table and squeezing 17 of our close pals around it for a night of food and laughter. Prepping the food usually is the most stressful part but Robyn's lovely parents sorted that for her so it went by smoothly. My boy's birthday was the day after which we had a chilled day of dinner and movies because his friend from home was up to and also I think everyone was trying to save themselves for Oktoberfest the next day.

Our uni has our own version of it in March which I appreciate the choice of a warmer month. Everyone get's dolls dup in lederhosen and dirndls and start "brunch pres" at about 10am before we're all shuttled to the venue. Funnily enough, I had a science fair that morning to participate in so it was not fun being stuck in the stuffy physics building when you're well aware form snapchat everyones already begun the festivities. After my shift, I did rush home for a quick outfit change and set off to join everyone else. The entire day basically consisted of chugging pints of beer, laughing and chatting in an improvised beer hall and dancing away to german music. It was brilliant, a nice step up from the usual balls and the best part was I could wear sneakers all day. We stayed drinking till about 7pm before we called it a day and decided to treat ourselves to a massive indian dinner which hit the spot perfectly. One of those days, you technically had a "night out" yet I was in my pyjamas, fluffy socks and tucked up in bed by 10pm. This should honestly be more of a thing, party early so we all still get sought after 8 hours of sleep.

Digital Declutter

With the sunshine comes the first wave of spring cleaning. Finally, it feels about time to hit the reset button and do a bit of tidying up in your life. While it's obvious that the important thing that needs sprucing and cleaning out is probably your home, your bedroom, your wardrobe etc., I do think in such a digital age, it's super important to declutter your online life too.

Most spring cleaning would involve donating old clothes and throwing out furniture and homeware that no longer "sparks joy" (I praise the Marie Kondo method so much, definitely watch at least one episode of her Netflix series to get the gist). However, I feel that decluttering our phones, computers and overall electronics is a good way to get organise and gain a little piece of mind too. So, I'm going to share my top 5 pointers to start tidying up your digital life. 

1) Social Media Cleanse 

I think the first thing to deal with is the social media apps and platforms you spend most of your time on, i.e. Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Blogger (& whatever else your heart desires). Start by unfollowing the accounts and people that you no longer relate to or whose content does not bring you joy (this phrase may seem cringey but its helpful to think about). Honestly, social media can be a exhausting environment on ones self esteem and you shouldn't leave instagram or twitter feeling rubbish about how you look or what you say. Remove all the negative influences in your online stuff, whether its people promoting those awful diet pills or teas or just hateful accounts in general. These may even be your "friends", there's no need to be constantly aware of the lives of people you no longer click with or frankly no longer care about. Additionally, go through your saved folders on Instagram and organise the pictures. I have categories for makeup looks, fashion and travel inspo, recipes I want to try and at the moment a folder dedicated to bangs because I am toying with the idea of a good snip to the fringe (I will reiterate the word toying so my flatmate doesn't throw me an intervention). You could do the same for snapchat memories and actually save pictures and videos that are important to you or make you laugh. God forbid the day the app crashes and you lose 2 years of magical memories, this is a genuine fear of mine.

Albufeira, Portugal!

 

Spring break diaries consisted of last-minute orders and arrangements for the charity fashion show, stress-writing my social psychology essay (which thinking back now I wish I did a better job) and bidding my time until I was lazing on a beach in Portugal.

Iain and I booked this trip well in advanced we almost forgot we did it. Well he did, I could not wait to get out of our lovely little town for a while and head straight for warmer temperatures. Read a tweet the other day of something along the lines of "the only way to get through life is to always have a holiday booked to look forward to", could not agree more hun. We decided to head to the Algarve, Albufeira in particular for some sunshine and beaches and cheap drinks. Apparently, Albufeira gets about 30 days of rain a year (don't quote me on that) which makes it the perfect holiday destination and brilliant for tourism but not so great for the agriculture sector. We stayed at a lovely 5-star hotel called the Grande Real Santa Eulalia Resort & Hotel Spa (a bloody mouthful and honestly not the easiest to convey to taxi drivers), because we booked early we got an amazing all-inclusive deal for our flights, hotel room and a massive buffet breakfast every morning. It was such a steal!

Spa Day!

For Iain's birthday, I wanted to treat him to something a little special. Odd fact, for some reason he did a course on massages, no idea why but it has benefited me immensely. Unfortunately, my hands are not as well-trained as his so the massages he gets in return probably does anything but relax him. So, I figured a nice birthday present idea would be to treat him to his first proper spa day, including a facial and massage Had a wee look through itison.com and found some vouchers for exactly that at The Coach House in Kinross. It was a bit of a drive for St. Andrews, and I figured he'd rather have some company instead of having a spa day by himself. Just unselfish me wanting to keep him company at the spa, totally not after a massage myself of course just me being a usual saint. 

It was this huge estate that turned its guest house into a spa and hotel. The main estate (first pic) is still owned by the family who visits time to time but it's mainly now being rented out for big events, weddings and that sort of thing. When we first arrived, we were given robes, towels and flip flops  and immediately treated to an hour in the hydrotherapy pool and sauna. That pool was amazingggg, the jets were never switched off for longer than a second to ensure a constant stream of bubbles. We didn't spend too long in the sauna because the heat and humidity was actually insane, I much rather relax in the pool anyways. 

Monthly Roundup: February

2019 is the year of 21st birthdays, which I LOVE.

I love having a birthday every month to look forward to which is how February began for me. We got dressed up, had some prosecco, cut some shapes on the dance floor and then proceeded to pass out in bed with my makeup on. Am still trying to train drunk me to care about my skin, it's a work in progress. 

Also celebrated my first ever Valentine's day which was really special for me. Odd to think I'm suddenly in this exclusive group of people that actually has a valentine. I made an offhand comment to Iain that it would be the first time I ever celebrated it and I can't believe how amazing he made the day. He tried to keep his plans a secret but bless him he was too excited so I managed to sneak bits and pieces out from him throughout the week. He picked me up in the morning and drove us to The Peat's Inn, a michelin starred restaurant (another first for me). We had a stunning 3-course lunch that I do think was wasted on me. It all tasted amazing but man I couldn't even finish my main after the starter, weak I know. Luckily I have Iain who will happily scarf down my leftovers. We then drove to a deer park which I always wanted to visit. We happily spent a couple hours wandering around feeding and petting the deers and watching the bears get fed. I mean it was a deer park but we got more than we paid for because there were bears, lynx, wolves too. Also a little go-kart area which I had to drag him away from when we realised the kids using it weren't leaving anytime soon. 

Winter in Germany

 

I'll be frank. I was slightly underwhelmed by Germany, Berlin in particular.

I had such high hopes and have been wanting to visit Berlin for years. I think I set myself up to fail with my expectations to be honest. Always figured it was such a historical city with a modern arty vibe and edgy fashion scene. It probably is but I don't think I experienced it that way. I think the fact we didn't enjoy Germany as much as could've was probably because of the timing. I think quite a few people do visit the land of bratwurst during winter but most probably during the Christmas period. We arrived at the in-between time where its after Christmas (so all the christmas markets and cute festive vibe was over) but before it was warm enough for people to actually venture outside and enjoy the outdoors (severe lack of beer gardens). Millie visited in the summer and she said it was a completely different scene, a lot more bustling city-esque and not empty and full of construction as it was during our stay. 

Munich wasn't too bad! We did a few walking tours that definitely tried your willpower to stand outside in the frosty wind and listen to the same ol' chat about this one artist having this bright idea for a building. Actually, our Munich city tour guide was a fun time. It was informative and enjoyable and he let us in on loads of little facts and hidden historical/"fun fact" spots around the city. We visited this church especially that was breathtaking. It didn't look like much on the outside but the moment you stepped in, you were surrounded by incredibly high ceilings, massive marble columns, impressing paintings lining the walls and the most insanely detailed carvings and sculptures. It was gorgeous. Didn't manage to snag a proper picture because am not actually sure what the rules are with flash photography in consecrated churches but hey ho. Definitely one for the mems. I wanted to visit the famous Disney-inspired castle outside of Munich but couldn't rally the troops nor did I want to venture 2 hours away on my own when I couldn't speak a single word of German. We did the third-reich tour as well which I totally recommend, I forget what a massive part Munich played in Hitler's regime. It was where it all began and we visited little landmarks where Hitler's name and propaganda started taking stand. We went to a few beer halls on a pub crawl type thing as well which was loads of fun. 

Winter Holy Grail

Winter is almost over and I am sO excited to say goodbye to the long nights and constantly wearing a minimum of 3 layers. Can't wait for spring, definitely plan to spend way more time outdoors in the sun, instead of huddled in our house hiding from the cold.  Living near the coast of Scotland these past few years has given me some handy tips to prep for the cooler temperatures. Seasonal depression that comes hand in hand with the colder months is tough but these few bits make it a little bit easier to pull through.

Starting with the sort of skincare bits, I feel like it's a bit of a given, but you cannot leave home without lip balm. My favourite is Palmer's cocoa butter lip balm, since I've found this gem a few years ago, I haven't tried anything else. I know, I'm suuuuch an adventurous gal. It's the only lip balm i've found that actually moisturises and actively repairs my chapped lips. The past balms usually form a nice layer of protection on my lips which helps against the wind and cold but it doesn't actually get absorbed in the skin and hydrate it. On the topic of moisturising, Cetaphil moisturiser was a godsend for me last winter. Recommended by my flatmate it helped my skin so much in such a quick time. I was previously using a simple moisturises which worked well before but suddenly did nothing for me last winter, I truly believe there's some sorta science behind that like your body getting used to a certain formula and then it not having an effect after a while?? Anyways, I have dry skin and was complaining about dry patches and my flatmate lent me some of her moisturiser to use and I noticed such a big difference in the morning. My skin didn't feel so tight anymore and the patches had definitely ameliorated so I immediately purchased a large bottle (which has lasted me a year now might I add - though I do switch back to Simple in the summer for a lighter moisturiser).