Update Tuesday

Hey,

I like to think that this is just me writing to my future self, so that when I look back I can cringe at young me and laugh at the fact that I wore dungarees and crop tops. Maybe then I'll have a young family to laugh with, or maybe it'll just be me and my cats looking at me and wishing I was young again.

So I started this blog a while back but I think that I should have a fresh start, however I won't delete any old cringe posts but I 'll try to make them private.

This is my update to say that it'll just be me who blogs on here as my friend who I started this with decided it wasn't for her - but she was the better writer out of us two! This has caused me to change my blog name and also my domain - but I've not chosen the name yet!

I decided that I should help old me get a better idea of who I am right now and to do this I thought I would do a post dedicated to introducing me!

I saw this post on another blog and I decided it would be a good idea:

1. Do you have a middle name? Yes but it is embarrassing (thanks mum and dad!).
2. What was/is your favourite subject in school? History or business are probably my favourites but I enjoy all of the subjects I am taking this year.
3. What's your favourite drink? I normally just drink water but I love herbal teas and lemonade, weird variety.
4. Favourite song at the moment? I am loving Ed Sheeran's "X" album but my favourite song write now is "Indian Summer" by Stereophonics as it feels so Autumnal.
5. What would you name your children? I have never been one of those people who has decided the name of my children. (I don't think I'll ever find a man anyway!).
6. Do you participate in any sports? I have never really been a sporty person because I hate when it gets too competitive. I remember a few years ago in PE my teacher was trying to get us to do some violent shot in badminton that needed a quick, powerful hit, my teacher said that I should get my anger out by hitting it really hard. After 10 minutes of gentle shots she realised that I had no anger and I stood there in the middle of the class utterly embarrassed with all of my friends watching. Yeah... Other than when I'm required to do sport, I run and am training for a 5K but I also do a little hockey.
7. Favourite Book? It's like asking a mother to choose there favourite child, but if I had to choose it would be "The Da Vinvi Code" by Dan Brown, I'm not into violent or crime novels but this one is different!
8. Favourite Colour? My favourite colour changes depending on the season (that sounds weird!) but right now it is purple, it is summery but with orange it is perfect for Autumn.
9. Favourite Animal? I recently got a dog but I also have a cat and a fish, I sound like I live in a Pet Shop, but I don't have a favourite animal! When I was younger I loved dolphins, I mean LOVED!
10. Favourite Perfume? I love Daisy by Marc Jacobs but I wear body sprays more, for example the Hollister Body Sprays.
11. Favourite Holiday? I love when me and my family go to a Villa in France and just become locals for the holiday but I also enjoy going to big cities. My favourite city is probably Paris but I want to go to Italy and America! I just love soaking in the culture.
12. Have you graduated High School? No, I am still in high school.
13. Have you been out of the country? Yeah, I've been to France, Spain, Belgium, England, Wales, Monaco, Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Australia. I love travelling so I think I'll take a gap year.
14. Do you speak any other languages? I obviously speak English but I also speak French and actually just got an A in the class!
15. Do you have any siblings? I'm the middle child and I have 2 sisters.
16. What's your favourite store? I don't have a favourite store but I get a lot of my clothes from H&M, Hollister, Top Shop and Forever 21.
17. Favourite Restaurant? I think I have an addiction to Nando's, it is sooo good. I also like Italian, so I really just like any Italian restaurant. Other than that I like a small French restaurant near me.
18. Did/do you like school? Yeah, I like school. It is one of those places that so many people hate and I understand why, all the drama! I think the reason I like school is because my mum taught me from such a young age that school is for learning!
19. Favourite YouTubers? I like watching YouTube too much so I have a lot of favourites: DanIsNotOnFirre, Emma Blackery, Carrie Hope Fletcher, StilaBabe09, Motoki Maxted, SprinkleOfGlitter.
20. Favourite Movie? Taken, I don't know why but I love it! Other than that I love comedies.
21. Favourite TV Show? How I Met Your Mother *wipes away tear* and Dr Who (Peter Capaldi, YAY!).
22. PC or Mac? PC because I'm poor!
23. What phone do you have? I have the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini and I love it!
24. How tall are you? I'm 5'4"!
25. What do you order at Starbucks? I don't go to Starbucks that much but during winter I order the Hazelnut or Caramel Hot Chocolate but during summer I love the Raspberry and Blackcurrent Blended Juice Drink and the Orange Refresha.
26. One thing in your closet you cannot live without? I seem to always be cold so I love cardigans - even during summer! Other than cardigans I always wear skinny jeans and skater skirts.
27. What's one thing most people probably don't know about you? I only tell people who are close to me but it isn't really a secret - I'm partially deaf (or was) and it has really affected my life but still so few people know about it.
28. Name one thing you want to do befre you die. I want to have travelled the world - obviously not everywhere but everywhere I want to go! My Great-Aunt travelled a lot (and still does) which means she has so many great stories to tell but she is also so educated on every country she's visited! Other than that I would like to have a family because I think that bringing life into the world is one of the most wonderful things anyone can do.
29. What food can you not live without? Other than the obvious chocolate, ice cream, pizza and chips I love pesto pasta and a caesar salad.
30. What quote do you live by? I think that Mahatma Ghandi is an inspiration and I love his quotes, "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind" and "Be the change that you wish to see in the world".
31. What's your most listened to song on iTunes? I don't actually listen to my music on iTunes because I've got a Samsung phone!
32. What kind of style would you define yourself as having? I don't think I have one specific style as I like to change mine around, so sometimes it will be girly and other days it will be a lot of a darker look. 
33. Favourite number? Probably 10.
34. Two Hobbies? Blogging (does that count?) and running.
35. Two pet peeves. I hate to see people spreading bacteria, so when someone sneezes and doesn't do anything about it or when people leave the toilet with there hands not washed I get so annoyed! I also hate when people bite there nails!
36. Guilty Pleasures? Please don't tell anyone this but I play the Kim Kardashian game! I also love food...

I hope you now know more about me and I've decided that I'll do a post each week and if I lack behind I'll try to catch up.

Love,
Lauren. x

My Back to School Series: Supply Haul

For back to school everyone buys tonnes of supplies and a month in everything has disappeared except that 1 freebie pencil that you're unsure if the hotel wanted you to take!

I was like that but now I know how to avoid losing all of my stationary and ensure that I have all of the right stuff.

So I wrote a list and bought all of the stuff (mainly from Ryman). Here is my list (sorry there is no pictures):

1. Pens - A necessity but I only use blue ink (I think it looks neater) but for correcting my work I use red.
2. Pencils - I use mechanical pencils as they NEVER need sharpened.
3. Eraser - This comes in handy as I always make mistakes.
4. Tippex - I use the tippex mouse as liquid often spills and if you use it too much the pages can begin to crackle when you turn them.
5. Highlighter - I only bought 1 highlighter this year and it is bright green. I don't use them too much but they are really helpful for ensuring I memorise the most important points. (This is the closest I could get to what I bought).
6. Multi-Coloured Pens - When I want to pour some colour into my notes I use these pens (fineliners) to write them.
7. Ruler - It is required to have a ruler (30cm) for maths in my school but they are often too big to carry in my bag so I got a collapsible one!
8. Maths set - required.
9. Calculator - these are also required!
10. Pritt Sticks - Although our my school gives us glue sticks, for gluing in extra notes, they always run out or dry out within a month of school - so I bought my own.
11. Folders - carry jotters, homework or projects. Great and cheap!
12. Post Its - I use Post Its to keep note of homework and anything I'm likely to forget (doctors appointments, coffee dates etc). They are also great as quick revision notes that I leave about the house (learning some -ER verbs while making tea!).
13. Flashcards - great for quick revision while out and about, a lot of people swear by these but only use them if they help you study effectively.
14. Notebok (large) - I use this for studying at home as I like to copy my notes out until they are in my head.
15. Notebook (small) - Sometimes teachers only want you to take down certain notes but I want extensive notes, as it helps me while studying. This is when I might take down the extra notes in here. I also use this when doing last minute studying at lunch or if a teacher tells us to study for a test while in class.
16. Homework Diary - I love these! I honestly swear by these and I believe that these are one of the few things that help me stay organised. I also use mine to keep note of my social life and other random stuff, I keep these in sync with my calendar in my room and my phone calendar as well as the taxis calendar (also known as my mum and dad's calendars!).
17. Pencil Case - I saw this pencil case while shopping and fell in love with it; it is quite big and so pretty!
18. Lunch Box - A great size as it isn't too big or too small! How cute is it!!!!!
19. Water Bottle - This bottle is AMAZING! I heard about it a while back but after hearing another couple of people raving about it I decided that it was time to get it; the bottle is basically just a nicely shaped clear plastic bottle with a carbon filter.
20. School bag - I got this bag back in January and I love it! It is perfect; pretty, quite big (but not too big), great shape and good quality! (This is the closest I could get to my bag).

This post is mainly for me as it will help me next year to see what I bought. I hope that it might have also helped you and I have 2 more posts in this series unless there is any requests!

Love,

Lauren

My Back to School Series: Preparing for a new year

Hi, and this is my Back to School Collection.

As a girl who hates going back to school after summer I can promise you that this collection of posts should help you be as prepared and organised for school as possible(if that is possible!).

So I have just over 2 weeks before going back to school and summer is running out. So what I've done is written down a list of everything that I want to do during these last weeks. These include:

• Going to the beach
• Going to a farm and berry picking
• Ordering a Starbucks using a fake name
• Going swimming
• Have a picnic in the park
• Bake
• Go shopping

So I now know how to organise my next 3 weeks and I don't go back to school feeling like I did nothing.

Next thing I do is ensure that I have all of my supplies (stationary) for going back to school and I think that I'll do a post on this.

I also make sure I'm not too nervous about going back to school as 7 weeks away for school can make the place seem scary (even though it's not really scared). What I do is I make sure that I do stuff with my friends leading up to going back so I have nothing to be afraid of. I will do anything from getting a coffee to going to the beach.

I will also make sure that I have all of my school uniform (in Scotland most schools have a uniform) and I go shopping to buy everything from skater skirts to my rucksack!

I also make a list of lunch ideas for the year so that my parents can add the food I need to the weekly food shopping list and it makes sure that everyday at school I have something filling and tasty for lunch.

I also organise my room and my study so that I have plenty of area to work on my homework and studying. This also means creating a calm area to work which means however stressed I am the area should still help me stay relaxed. 

I know that as a teenager we all stay up to stupid o'clock doing whatever rubbish (reading, watching YouTube, tweeting etc) and during the summer holidays I seem to be staying up later and later so when I want to get into a better routine for sleeping I make sure that I set a "bed time" and an hour before this I turn off my laptop, iPad and the WiFi on my phone. This is good because the "blue" light in these can keep you up at night and disrupt your sleep (Google it!). I also make sure that I fall asleep before 11 o'clock and that I sleep for 7-9 hours a night. Remember not to get too much sleep and not too little, but don't stress about sleep! Another tip is not to drink coffee at night as it will also disrupt your sleep, maybe try a herbal tea like Chamomile Tea. I use all of these tips to help ensure that I have plenty of sleep and I start this routine a week before schools so that I have time to get into the swing of it.

Another tip is to ensure that you have plenty of plans for after the holiday as it helps keep me motivated at school (but make sure you still do your school work). I have already organised to go to a concert, a party and a holiday! 

Remember that school is for learning (but also make friends!).

Love,

Lauren