Smoothies In The Summer

I've been loving the recent sunshine so much! Nothing is better than relaxing out in the garden with a good book, some music, my snazzy new sunglasses and a lovely summery drink.

When it comes to the summer my drinks always become so OTT, I'm all about the straws, the cocktail umbrellas, the funky glasses and my light up flashing ice cubes (seriously its like Vegas in a glass). However on a much more classy front I've been dying to make these mason jar sippy cups since the very first time I saw them! They are just really cool and quirky and perfectly fit my summer drink desires as they are portable and so perfect for taking with you on walks or picnics or (if you're much less active like me) sitting on a lounger out in the sun.

Making the sippy cups is really easy (let's face it I can do it) what you will need is:

- A mason jar
- A rubber washer
- Water resistant glue (make sure it is ok to use with food and drink)
- A drill
- A straw

To make the jars...
1. Measure your straw against the washer to make sure the straw will fit through
2. Then just remove the screw top and the lid and mark the centre of the lid
3. Drill a hole in the lid on that centre mark that is the size of the hole in your washer
4. Wash the washers to make sure they are sanitary
5. Carefully apply the glue to the perimeter of the hole on the metal side of the lid then glue your washer on to make sure that the metal doesn't cut you when you wash your sippy cup
6. Leave the glue to set then glue a washer to the other side if there is sharp metal exposed (there wasn't for me so I didn't)
7. Once all the glue is set you can put your summer beverage into your sippy cup

Me and my mum made strawberry, raspberry and ginger smoothies which were absolutely delicious and I would definitely recommend - you can find the recipe on her blog here. I hope you guys are all enjoying your summer too!

Q&A Tag

So this morning I woke up, checked my comments and was delighted to see that the lovely Keighly Kerr from her blog Keighly had tagged me to do this post! If I'm honest I'm a little too excited about this since in the blogging world I feel a little bit like the new girl with no friends and this is like someone asking me to have lunch with them! Totally thinking about Mean Girls now...

Anyway after that rather random start lets start on the questions!

What is your current fashion obsession?
I kind of covered this question off in my June favourites my current fashion obsession has got to be my sunglasses from Topshop, even if since I've come home I haven't had much opportunity to wear them (damn you Northern summer!!)

What is your current makeup obsession?

Since I saw the poster for the Mac collaboration collection with Lorde I so so so want to try out a purple lip it just looks gorgeous so I guess that's what I'm obsessed with right now!

What are you wearing today?

Well (this is embarrassing) I don't know exactly what I will be wearing today because I'm not out my pjs yet, I was just so excited to write this post I had to do it straight away (but don't worry I will be all ready by the time this post goes out!)

Hair?

Well at the minute it is a dishevelled mess but I'll wash and straighten it when I'm finished writing this so it'll be all good...maybe...

Do you nap a lot?

Is it just me who thinks this is the most bizarre question??? Anyway no I do not I'm quite a heavy sleeper so if I was to try and nap I'd be there for hours and not sleep of a night time.

Why is today special?

I want to say because I got tagged to do this but that is just a whole new level of sadness so instead I will say because it is one of my friends 20th birthday (aren't I cute!)

What would you like to learn to do?

I would love to learn to actually play an instrument! In my life I've had lessons to learn; the violin, the keyboard, the guitar and I attempted to teach myself the recorder (which I think was just painful for everyone involved). Despite all this however I can't actually play anything so there you go. On a more practical note I would like to learn website design because since my last foray that I mentioned briefly in this post I've been too afraid to attempt it again in case I have a similarly nightmarish experience.

What's for tea?

Chicken and chorizo (mmmm). If you'd like to see more of what I have for tea (I mean who wouldn't) my mum writes an amazing food blog that I steal recipes off all the time so you could always go check that out! :-)

I love my mum's soba noodles!

What are you listening to right now?

Well right this second nothing because I find it difficult to concentrate and listen to music. However the music I'm listening to at the minute (and please bear in mind I have quite a varied music taste) is:

- Going to Hell by the Pretty Reckless (my favourite song is House On A Hill)

- Young the Giant's new album Mind Over Matter (my favourite song is It's About Time)

- Electra Heart by Marina And The Diamonds (just a favourite album of mine I love all the songs!)

So there you go.

What is your favourite weather?

I'm a summer baby so I love it when its warm and the sun is shining and I can crack out my summer dresses!

What was the last thing you bought?

So super excited for this but I bought the Naked 3 palette and I can't wait to use it today! Of course a review will be up on here at some point in the near future.

So pretty!

What are your essentials when traveling?

Err, this one is actually quite hard now I think about it...I would say my iPad and iPhone for definite, makeup wipes because I am even more lazy on holiday and good people because no one likes to travel on their own (sorry for the slightly cheesy end there folks).

What's your style?

I would say I just wear the stuff I think is nice and goes together so I don't know if I fit into a particular style category...I realise this does not help.

What is your most challenging goal at the minute?

I realise this isn't a very profound goal but its the truth: trying to book holidays for the summer (and yes I know how last minute it is).

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished, anywhere in the world, where would it be?

I'd love to say somewhere warm by the sea but in actuality if I could have such an amazing house I'd have it in the same town as my uni so I could live there with my flatmates and actually enjoy it a lot of the time!

Favourite vacation (holiday for us English folk) spot?

Florida! 100%. We used to go there every year when I was younger and I am desperate to go back (yes I am still a little kid).

Name the things you cannot live without...

Food, water...but seriously probably friends, family, my grumpy cat Sooty; those kinds of things.

How was your childhood?

Seriously what kind of question is this? But it was good thanks for asking.

What would you like to have in your hands right now?

Totally have to agree with Keighly's answer and say a winning lottery ticket!

What would you like to get rid of?

Sprouts.

What are you most excited for?

Going away with my friends!

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour where would you go?

Well since an hour isn't really long enough to enjoy a gorgeous part of the world I'd go visit my uni flatmates Anna and Josie because I miss them (sorry to be cheesy again guys what is wrong with me?)

What countries have you visited?

France (so, so, so many times), Holland, USA, Spain, Scotland, Croatia, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Italy and Belgium.

So that's the end of the questions! I hope you liked hearing a little bit more about me 

A Tip, A Chat and A Cupcake

Well today is Wednesday otherwise known as 'hump day' (a little fact I learnt when I was younger from playing Animal Crossing) and before your minds start working it is called 'hump day' because you're halfway through the metaphorical hill that is the week and after this you're speeding towards the weekend.

I've never been a huge fan of Wednesdays personally because when I was in school I always seemed to have my worst lessons on a Wednesday and that feeling of dread waking up on a Wednesday morning knowing its non stop maths, P.E and physics till the end of the day has never really left me. However as far as Wednesdays go today hasn't been too bad! Plus I've tried out quite a few things today I'd recommend for you to try...

One thing that has made today quite nice is that last night I saw a video by Tati (aka Glam Life Guru on YouTube) who was saying in one of her Tip Tuesday videos that if you switch around the order you shampoo and condition your hair in the shower (i.e. condition your hair, wash your body, rinse out the conditioner, THEN shampoo) it leaves your hair silkier, more volumised etc. Now in my hair tutorial post I told you how my hair just doesn't do anything in particular or hold a style so when I heard this I thought I should try it out just to see (plus Tati's hair in the video looked so gorgeous I just had to!).

Me with my (largely) frizz free hair - I have been out in the
wind a bit today!

I've got to say my hair has been feeling amazingly silky smooth all day (I was wandering around combing it with my fingers all morning) and it was quite easy to style this morning which I was impressed with as my hair desperately needs the TLC of the hairdressers at the minute and so I've been getting a lot of frizz and flyaways which just won't go away no matter how much I straighten my hair! Today zilch; one going over with the straighteners and not a flyaway in sight! Admittedly I don't have any extra volume but if you have more style-able hair than mine you might just, plus I was slightly scared to shampoo my scalp too much for fear of washing out all the conditioner so that could also have been a factor.

Also today I have been baking cupcakes with my mum for her food blog (a bit of mother/daughter bonding never hurt right??) and they are delicious!! The cupcakes were chocolate and chilli and vanilla and lavender and they were both so so so nice! My mum's food blog is The Crispy Crouton and she'll be posting a recipe soon so be sure to have a look because they were gorgeous! 

Vanilla and lavender cupcake (L) and chocolate and
chilli cupcake (R)

I realise this is becoming the most random post I've written yet (well maybe not quite but still) so I just thought I'd throw another random thing that I would recommend. I was watching the music channel the other day and it was a 90's show and this song was playing and I really loved it it was just super chilled and summery feeling so I downloaded it and I've been listening to it on repeat ever since (listening to it now and singing along). The song is Save Tonight by Eagle-Eye Cherry and I just can't get enough!

Let me know if you try any of these out!