The Big 2 3

A week tomorrow is my birthday, a fact I keep forgetting since I have been so mega busy at work as of recent. I already know what I will be receiving from my parents in the way of gifts so I thought I would do a little blog about it! If you hadn't guessed from the post title, I will be 23. It's not really a milestone birthday but I do enjoy getting older! I feel like I am the only one who revels in being a year older!?

Gift number 1: The ever so lovely - wanted it for LIKE ever - Zatchel satchel in Cream

Zatchels, £130 in total with shoulder strap and handle

For Zatchels birthday they offered 50% off all orders, as I had wanted this exact satchel with a burning desire for well over a year, I decided it was time. I could never justify the purchase even after I said to myself I would get it with my first pay check of my new job (which was almost a year ago now) I never did! Well, fear not, it is (almost) within my grasp now, and luckily the £130 turned into a delightful £65, nice that!

Gift number 2: The very cool - will look awesome when I do a twirl in it - Skirt from Miss Selfridge

Miss Selfridge, £28

A vertically wide striped skirt has been lurking around my wishlist for some months now, when I found the absolute perfect one in Miss Selfridge I went all 'grabby hands' on it. It was £28, but you guys know I love a bargain, and I bought it when they were doing a deal on in Debenhams off the concessions, it came to about £22 which was money well spent in my opinion. High waisted skirts, as you will most likely know, are my all time favourite things to wear and I can't wait for the summer when I can go all bare legs. Although on this subject my Mum said "you're not going to get your legs out are you?! YOUR legs?! You're going to fake tan them, right?" errr thanks Mum, well aware how pale I am and there is nout wrong with that!

Any of you lovely bloggers got your birthday coming up? I love the fact I will be getting some pieces which I really wanted but wouldn't splurge on myself!

ACTIVATE VISION

Hello and Happy Sunday to you all! I am doing a sneaky blog as a bit of procrastination (shh!) on a break from writing my latest teaching assignment. Yesterday was quite exciting as I went to pick up my new glasses. Over the past couple of weeks I had suffered from almost a permanent headache because my prescription has shifted a bit and my current glasses were a couple of years old. Matt helped me pick out which frames to get and I was away!

I must say, it's good to be able to see again! As soon as I put them on in the sunshine when I left the opticians my headache left almost instantly! Are any of you fellow glasses wearers?

Summer!

Kind of... now the sun has been peeking out and making an appearance more frequently my attention has turned to summer weather shopping! I know that is still wishful thinking! I went shopping with very limited funds yesterday mostly out to spend some vouchers but unfortunately all the things I had spotted online were out of stock in store with exception to the sandals below. 

I have been after some summer sandals but I tend to be quite picky with shoes. When I saw these leather Oasis ones, £26 (I used vouchers) I hoped they would be in store and luckily they were so my shopping trip was not rendered entirely pointless! I love the tan colour and they will go with everything. 

I also nabbed this flower headband from Primark after desperately wanting a Crown and Glory one but not being able to part with the cash. I was unsure whether I could pull off the look but thought it would look lovely with curled hair when the sun is shining. 

Have you purchased anything summery lately and are waiting for Mr Sun to come out?!

Instacool

Hello! First up I must tell you all I now have Instagram, my username is Karys_M so feel free to add me on there, I am finally cool. Most of my pictures are either me with new clothes or food, but hey - isn't that what Instagram is all about anyway?!

One of my favourite pictures so far is me in my swish new Fred Perry shirt which I completely splurged on when me and Matt went on our weekend away recently to Bath and Bristol. Matt surprised me with a trip to a spa which was totally awesome, and we spent the rest of our time shopping. Couldn't be better.

Fred Perry shirt, official Fred Perry shop, £55

My hair looks really long in that, and it has grown a great deal - except when I think about it I haven't had it cut since Christmas 2011. I am also in the dilemma as always - straight across or side fringe. In the below pictures you will notice I have styled it straight across. But I am still so unsure whether to go for the plunge! Advice please!

Yesterday I popped to Exeter shopping with Matt as I needed to try on new glasses frames and am so picky as I really don't think I have a face for glasses! I tried on probably 50+ pairs and eventually found some I liked so I will keep you posted on that. I also went to Wagamamas for the first time. My chopstick skills were atrocious to begin with but I became leaps and bounds better by the end of the meal.

So, onto the new purchases. As usual it has been shirt crazy, I mean, what did you expect?!

The rarely seen (since I was 15) straight across fringe, should it make a come back?!

Shirt, Urban Outfitters, sale £25

First up I got this plain white shirt from Urban Outfitters, I loved the fabric, a kind of linen-y feel to it which I thought would be great for the summer and at work during this time. Sometimes you can't beat a plain white shirt for looking effortlessly cool.

Secondly I totally splashed out on an American Apparel shirt. It was in the mens section (buttons are on a different side!) but was an XXS small and fitted perfectly, again a nice linen kind of fabric which will be perfect for work in the summer months! At £45 I knew I shouldn't have, but I did anyway. Whatever!

Shirt, American Apparel £45

A couple of other bits I got recently were these ace striped shorts from Primark for a tenner and whilst I was in American Apparel I went crazy and spent £8 on a pair of socks. They are cool though.

Shorts, Primark £10. Socks, American Apparel £8

Finally, did anyone manage to get a sneaky bargain when Zatchels offered 50% off everything for their birthday? I only went and bought the satchel I have been wanting for ages! What would have cost over £100 cost me around £65 which I thought was too good to ignore. It has been put away for my birthday at the end of this month but I am so pleased with finally getting something I have wanted for years.

Cream Zatchel, varying prices depending on size

Photo Admin

Today I was given the task of taking pictures of my lovely other half Matt. Alongside his full time job he dabbles a bit as a DJ and one of his tracks has just been signed by a label who asked if he would take photos wearing a shirt with their logo on. Done deal, we went on a lovely walk and took some pictures of eachother after a delicious fried breakfast in a cafe. Whilst I was getting ready Matt did an impromptu DJ set testing out some new equipment, I wish he was around doing that all the time! It made my morning routine a lot more dance-y!

After nearly falling over Matt pulled some hilarious male model poses. A lot of which I haven't posted but made me cry I was laughing so hard at the time.

Me and Matt had a lovely night in, he brought home a curry and after I sadly said "I wish we had some ice cream" he gave me a cheeky look and said to go look in the top drawer of the freezer...Ben and Jerrys! We then got well into watching The Cube, shouting at the screen quite a lot..!

Hope you all made the most of the sunshine this weekend!

Sneaky Purchases

Today was my Mum's birthday, I won't divulge her age as she wouldn't be best pleased! She revels at every opportunity however in the fact she looks youthful, genes which I am hoping are coming my way. My Dad put together a lucky dip in a bucket, he is sweet like that, him and my Mum have been together since they were 16 and my Dad will often do little treasure hunts for her of presents etc. 

I took the day off work so me and my Mum went out for a spend up, which is quite frankly our favourite thing to do. We stopped off as usual in the M&S cafe for a jacket potato (or 'Jacky P', as Matt blurted out on the phone earlier which had me in stitches.)

I got a few things including the below scarf. I am always wearing my aztec square scarf and thought this one from Debenhams was lovely and summery with a pastel coloured bird print. 

Scarf, £15 Debenhams

I also picked up this skirt in the Miss Selfridge sale for only £7. I thought it was really cute and to be honest when something is cute I find it hard to resist.

Skirt, £7 Miss Selfridge

I then took the plunge of buying a maxi skirt. I didn't know if I could pull the look off as I am a petite 5"1 but after some encouragement I got this one, it was a tenner in Primark so I thought you can't really go wrong for that. I actually really like it and think it makes me look taller..until someone of regular height stands next to me of course!

Crop top, Primark £3 Skirt, Primark £10

I also got a couple of these cropped t-shirts for £3 in different colours. I thought they would mostly look good with a pair of shorts or skater skirt, or just lounging around. Either way I thought they might be handy.

Will be weird going back to work tomorrow for just one day, but then I have a fun weekend ahead planned with Matt. This week I also had my first teacher training lesson which was pretty exciting, I thought I may as well qualify to be a teacher whilst maintaining my day job, why not, eh?!

Ombre!

Just a quick post today to show you my new Oasis purchases I blogged about which came through the post today! I was itching to get home from work after a package arrived for me, and tried it all on straight away. Unfortunately I didn't like 2 of the things, but the dip dye jumper and shirt were winners!

Tomorrow I am off to a 50s theme party so expect some pictures of me soon dressed to the nines! Hope you are enjoying your week, nearly the weekend!