Recipe Review - chocolate chip cookies!

Hi everyone, in today's post I'm going to try something a little bit different - I will be reviewing a recipe (Well, duh. I think you can guess from the title...). If you read my post about What I've been reading recently (not that recent now, though!) then you'll know that I got the Australian Women's Weekly Gluten Free Cookbook not too long ago, and I love it! I made a batch of cookies from it today, and I was delighted with the results!

Here is how you make them:
Ingredients 
125g softened butter
110g brown sugar (It doesn't specify, dark or light. I used dark and it worked well!)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 egg
170g gluten free plain flour (I recommend "Bob's Mill" gluten free flour)
2 tablespoons white rice flour  ("Dove's Farm" do this)
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
140g chocolate chips

For the glaze:
150g milk chocolate
2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Method

• Preheat your oven to 180°C and line 2 baking trays
• Beat the butter & sugar together until just combined (don't cream them). Add the egg & vanilla.
• Sift in the flours in 2 batches (So it's easier to stir in!)
• Add the chocolate chips (You might need to do some 'quality control'on them at first....)
• Cover the dough, and chill for an hour in the fridge.
• Using wet hand, roll the dough into little balls, pop on the trays, and into the oven!

Just before going in!

• Bake the cookies for 18 minutes of until they're nice & golden
• Make the chocolate glaze by melting together the oil & chocolate. The book says to do it over a pan of simmering water, I did it in the microwave. Just melt it in whatever way.
• Now for the fun bit: once they've cooled a bit, dip the cookies half in their glaze (look at the photos if you don't get what I mean). Leave to cool. Or don't, and eat a warm cookie with melted chocolate.....

Cookies and milk? Yes, please!

So there you have it! Do you have any baking stories or recipes? Let me know in the comments!
Kisses, Rose
xxx

What if.....

Hello everyone!
Today's post is going to be short, sweet, and fun. I am going to basically question... just about everything. Ever. Enjoy!

• What if everyone actually sees colours differently? (So for example, what you see as pink, I see as blue, and Jimmy down the street sees it as yellow?)
• What if there's another country people haven't been to for hundreds of years, but there are still humans living on it?
• What if every freezer in the world just broke down right now, for about a week? (Think of all the melted ice cream....)
• What if a caveman accidently learned how to time travel and just turned up somewhere really random... tomorrow?
• What if drinking tea was thought to make you really sick but no one actually researched it and so everyone just sat there, being scared of tea?
• What if toasters were made of glass, so you could see how well done your toast is?

Well. There you go, people. I think that this is the most random list of anything, ever - but oh well! Next week, I won't be so busy (I hope) and so I'll be able to post something a bit longer and more exciting!!! If you have any interesting what-ifs, or any other ideas on anything, let me know in the comments!
Kisses, Rose
xxx

My travelling bucket list

Hi everyone!
As you know, I love to travel. I have had the privilage of visiting lots of different countries in Europe, but I still have lots of places that I would like to visit. I don't think that I will end up visiting them all, but hey, I can dream, can't I?!
In no particular order, here are a few from my very long list of destinations. The copyright on the photos goes to the people who originally took them. So not me.

1. The Maldives

2. Tokyo, Japan

3. Austria. Especially Vienna.

4.Amsterdam, the Netherlands

5. A safari trip in Kenya

This was a really fun post to write (or type?) and I hope you guys enjoyed it! What places are on your travelling bucket list? Have you ever been to any of the above? Let me know in the comments!
Kisses, Rose
xxx

What I've been reading recently

Hi everyone & happy Monday!
As you all know, I'm a huge fan of reading. I read everything and anything, and it'll all be finished in a very short space of time. However, now that I'm back to school, my afternoons are taken over by classes, homework and studying instead of reading. This gives me less time to read. Sigh. Even still, this post is about the books I've been reading recently (this month). Enjoy!

Here is the little collection I have for you:

The Australian Women's weekly Delicous Gluten-Free Food cookbook
What a long name! This isn't a novel like the others, but I think it deserves a mention.
As you all know, I'm a celiac, which means I can't eat gluten. This cookbook is beautifully designed, and has loads of delicious, creative gluten free recipes. Obviously, I haven't tried all of them, but I've tried about 8 recipes from this book, and they've all been successful!

Rating: 5/5

The Apple Tart Of Hope (by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald)
I read 'Back To Blackbrick', which is also by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, quite a while ago. Whilst this book has been out a while, and I've been meaning to read it for just as long, I never really got around to reading it. I'm glad I did, though!

The book is about a girl called Meg, who lives in Ireland and then moves (reluctantly) to New Zealand with her parents. She leaves her friend Oscar behind her, and they're both really sad to see each other go. A new girl moves into Meg's house, and makes friends with Oscar. Then, Oscar dies.  No body is found, though and Meg is certain he's still out there.

Note- the 'Apple pie' part of the title is because Oscar made delicious apple pies. Lots of people ask whenever I tell them about this book...
I really enjoyed reading this book and would definitely recommend it.
Rating: 4.5/5

What was never said (by Emma  Craigie)
This book made me cry! It took me only a day to finish this short little book, because it was just... amazing.

This book is the story of a girl called Zahra. She moved from Somalia to Bristol and many chapters give us flashbacks to her life back in Somalia - the beautiful trees, her family, and the sad war. The main topic of the book though is that Zahra, along with her (adorable) little sister Samsam, are trying to escape from 'the cutters', and the horrible practice of FGM. For obvious reasons, the book isn't overly
detailed in certain parts. Zahra addresses the book to her her sister Rahma, which I found a bit confusing at first, but I copped on quickly enough.

Rating:5/5 (My favourite of this collection!)

Birthmarked (by Caragh O'Brien)
I'm not sure how I felt about this book. The storyline was great, I think, but the way it was written was slightly disappointing.

Here, we follow Gaia Stone, a 16 year old midwife living outside the Enclave city, in the future. The people from outside the Enclave must deliver a quota of babies to the Enclave every month. These babies are then raised by parents in the Enclave. However, this also leaves parents from outside the Enclave without their own children. When Gaia's parents are arrested for seemingly no reason, Gaia must try to find them, using a combinaion of a hair ribbon given to her that has a variety of strange symbols on it, and sheer courage. Sounds good, doesn't it? Sadly, Caragh O'Brien doesn't give it enough 'oomph' to turn it from the 'meh' level to the 'omigod I need this book in my life!' level. Gaia isn't that easy a character to relate to, and there are many loopholes in the book. I won't explain these in detail, in case any of you want to read it.

Rating: 3/5
I'd love for one of you to read this one in particular, because I'd love to know how other people feel about rhis book.


So there you go! Have you read any of these bnooks before? What did you think of them? If you have any book suggestions, please leave them in the comments below!!!
Kisses, Rose
xxx

It's been a while...

No, I don't really know what possesed me to put an
airplane view photo up here...

Hello!
It's been a while, I know. I've read this kind of blog post before, wondering how on earth some one can stop blogging for so long, and then just turn up. Out of nowhere. Yet here I am, doing exactly the same.

When I started this blog, I thought I'd post at least once a week. That failed. In march, I went off on a holiday that was over a week long, came back, and thought, "Thats it. There goes my blogging life. T'was nice."
However, I still really wanted to post something. So today, I finally am. Are my readers still there? Hello?

In other news, I had an amazing Summer. I kind of travelled Europe, visiting England, Denmark, Estonia, Russia, and Switzerland. Let me know in the comments if you'd like a post about any if them. Or anything else, really.

I think I'll leave you all there. I'll post again soon, I hope. Until then,
Kisses, Rose
xxx

20 Reasons to be Happy!

Hello, Everyone!
Today, it is 'I want you to be happy day'. Don't believe me? Google it. So because of that, I'm doing a blog post that will (hopefully) bring a smile to your face (If you aren't smiling already!) - I'm going to give you 20 resons to be happy!

1) It is nearly Easter
2) It is nearly St Patricks day
3) Somebody out there is probably laughing so hard they could cry right now. Why aren't you?
4) Did you smile at someone today? If so, then you could very possibly have made their day
5) You have great goals and dreams!
6) Your favourite foods exist (Chocolate, I'm looking at you)
7) Everything bad that happened yesterday is over. Forever. No need to look back.
8) You have friends who really care about you
9) Lush bath bombs
10) Baby ducklings
11) You can read this. That makes you so much luckier than millions of others out there
12) Some people completely recovered from cancer today!
13) There is only one you on this whole world
14) You have a beautiful smile
15) It is also 'If pets had thumbs' day
16) People are 20% prettier than the person they see in the mirror
17) Your blog is amazing (If you have a blog!)
18) Somewhere in the world, there is a lost dog poster with a picture of a cat on it
19) Your home country is amazing! (Especially if you're living in Ireland...)
20) Those days that you have that just get better and better

There we go, only a short post for today. Happy 'I want you to be happy' day, and  bye!
Kisses, Rose
xxx

Ps- Continue down in the comments :-)

My February Favourites

Hello everybody!
I'ts nearly the end of February. Which is completely crazy. It was new years day like... yesterday! So today, I'm going to show you my February favourites. This is actually my first favourites post on this blog, so I'm really excited to begin!

Doc Martens
For Christmas, I got these doc martens from my aunt, and I love them! They took a while to break into, unfortunately and so my feet were really sore, but now they're really comfy, and I wear them everywhere. Plus, they're red. Who doesn't love red doc martens??? I wear them with everything. Well, actually I don't, but I wear them a lot, and I love them so so much!!!!

Simple Moisturising Facewash                        

Onto something a bit less exciting than my docs, I've started using this Simple moisturising facewash this month, and I really like it. It lathers really well, and it also is really gentle on my face (unlike the facewash I was using before this!) So I would definatly reccomend this to... everyone. I got it in superdrug for about €3, which is really good value because it comes in a big 150ml bottle.

Body Shop body butter (Strawberry scent)

As you might know from my Winter Handcreams post, I recently got a strawberry scent body shop hand cream. I decided it was a bit lonely, so I got it a matching body butter. My skin gets really dry in the winter, d this is perfect for it! It feels kind of balmy, so unlike other body butters I'm not all greasy after putting it on, plus it smells great. Thumbs up from me!

Yankee candle Summer Scoop

Even though its only February, I'm really excited for Summer so when I saw this in the shop, I decided it might make Summer come quicker, at least weatherwise (The weather has been really stormy here recently). Inevitabley, it didn't change the weather. It does, however, smell like heaven in a jar. I bought the little sampler size (as you can see) but its nearly gone so I'm going to have to replace it with one of the big jars that they have soon.

Pig Phone Stand

For €2 in Penneys, this is the cutest, funnest thing ever! Basically, its just a little pig and it sticks to a hard surface. You pop your phone against it, and boom. This is so useful for youtube, netflix, anything really. I think they do them with little men as well as pigs, if thats what you want.

Glasses

The last, although really the biggest  thing I got this month has been my glasses. As it happens, I'm kind of very blind and I need glasses for reading and distance. So earlier this month, I got two pairs. My first pair are red and black with a little floral pattern on the inside, they are by Replay and I got these to match my docs. My other pair are by Red Or Dead and they're brown toroiseshell and I wear these ones for school usually. I was really nervous at first that people wouldn't like my glasses, but thankfully they do, and it is so great to be able to see properly!

That's everything then in my February Favourites. Do you have any of these? Do any of you wear glasses as well? Let me know in the comments! See you next week...

Kisses, Rose

xxx

(Triple) Leibster Award Tag!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Hello, everyone! Sorry for not posting in ages. Up until now, I've only used my phone to work this blog, and now google keeps on coming up about my cookie settings whenever I try post anything (If anyone knows how to fix this, tell me!!!) so I couldn't reply to or post comments. But now, I've gotten access to a (not great tbh) computer, so I can post again!!! Yay!!! In this time that I've been away, I have been nominated for the Leibster Award. But, not once. THREE TIMES!!!! So, here we have the triple leibster award. I have been nominated by Martins Virtual Blog, Teenage Tanglewreck, and Emma from Just a happy teen. Thanks, all of you! Now, after my long intro, lets get started!!!

By the way, if you are tagged below then here are the rules that you and I need to follow:
-Link back to the person that tagged you
-Answer all 11 questions and attach this photo (Its up there)
-Tag 11 bloggers who have less than 1000 readers
-Ask them 11 questions
-Let them know you tagged them through social media

Martins Virtual Blog was the first to nominate me, so I'll do his questions first. Here we go:

Lets get started!

Question 1- Best thing about the country you live in?

I'd say that the best thing about Ireland is... probably the amazing culture we have, and the Irish language. And you can't forget the Late Late Toy Show... 2 and a half hours of a grown man playing with toys every Christmas, on the TV. You won't find that anywhere else!

Question 2- What makes you smile? Why?

I smile over almost anything. Simple things like being with my friends, or getting a comment on this blog are great! In fact, being told something motivating in the morning keeps me smiling all day long!

Question 3- Do you have any pets? Pictures?

I have a cat, Ella. She is lovely but is constantly hungry! 

And I have Guinea pigs. Billy is the small one, Bobby is the poofy hairy one :-)

Question 4- Who is your favourite artist? Name their album. 

To be honest,  I go through phases when it comes to music, I'm not really a dedicated fan of *person*. Right now, though, I really like Zayn Malik's new song Pillowtalk. He doesn't really have an album yet, so there we go!!

Question 5- Favourite blog to read?

As for the big bloggers, I really enjoy Louise sprinkle of glitter. I'm not sure about smaller bloggers because I don't read enough to be honest! (If you are a small blogger, let me know in the comments. I'd love to check out your blog!!!!)

Question 6- Where in the world do you dream of living?

Paris!!! I'd love to spend time living in London as well, though. 

Question 7- what are you most proud of?

Never failing an exam (yet!)

Question 8- Do you bath or shower?

I shower.... I would much rather have baths, though.

Question 9- Tea or Coffee? 

Herbal tea. That's not an option there, though, so I'll just say normal tea.

Question 10- Name 5 ways, 2016 will be your year.

I'll visit lots of new countries, I'll improve my math and chemistry grades, I'll think less negatively, I will buy less cute things in shops junk I don't need, and I'll eat better. I hope...

Question 11- Favourite memory at age 11?

My friend (let's call her A) and I used to clean the school library, and wash up after painting class at school. We missed lots of class. And it was a lot more fun than it sounds!

Teen Tanglewreck from Teenage Tanglewreck was next to nominate me, so here we go: set of questions number 2:

Question 1- Have you ever left your home country? If not, have you ever been interstate?

Yes, I've left Ireland lots, but have never been outside Europe! And there aren't really states here, because Ireland is so small... so yeah. I've been to Northern Ireland, England, France, Spain and Holland.

Question 2- If you could have any job and everyone gets the same amount what job would you love to have?

To be honest, I really don't know. I love to dance, bake, blog and read, so a job should be invented where all of those combine!!!!

Question 3- What would a day in your life consist of?

Usually on a weekday, I get up at 7:00 to feed the pets, get changed, have breakfast, then I leave the house at 8:10 to go to school for half past. School ends around 4:00, sometimes I'll have things on afterwards, if not then I go back home, study or do homework, have dinner and finally relax!

Question 4- If someone met you for the first time what is one word they'd use to describe you?

Quiet, perhaps, I don't open up easily to new people most of the time. Then once they know me, I'd probably be described as a dreamer because I always go on and on about things that will more than likely never happen!

Question 5- Whats your biggest fear, not something like spiders but something like not being able to have children?

I'd hate to have something bad about me spread around everyone or a secret leaked. I'm also scared of dying while my children (If I have children) are still young.

Question 6- Whats something you so only for yourself?

Well, I blog, I'll sometimes treat myself to a delicious sweet treat, and I set myself high goals, if that counts.

Question 7- What do you think is the perfect age to get married?

I haven't a clue! Late twenties, early thirties, I suppose?

Question 8- Whats one thing you have a natural talent for?

I'm pretty good with languages, learning and writing with them. Or at least thats what I like to think... (I speak fluent English, Irish and Esperanto, I know some basic German and I learn French at school!)

Question 9- Do you have a best friend that you know you'll be best friends forever?

 I have a small group of very close friends and I think (I hope!) I'll always stay friends with all of them!

Question 10- If you could live in any country where would you live?

Ireland!!!!! I would like to live in France for a while someday, but Ireland, I think is my forever home.

Question 11- What out of school activities do you do?

Ballet, Jazz and hockey! I love the dance, but running after a ball with a wooden stick in the freezing cold wearing a skort isn't really my forte! (I'd love to be good at it, though)

My last nominater (Thank you!!!) was Emma from Just A Happy Teen. Here we go again, people:

Question 1- What is your favourite animal and why?

Cats, definately. They're so beautiful and elegant but really low maintenance. Sorry, any dog lovers. 

Question 2- What did you want to be when you grew up when you were 5?

I remember wanting to be a ballet dancer, a childminder and a teacher all at once!

Question 3- Would you rather live in the city or the country?

Right now, I live in the city, and I love it. I want to live in the city when I'm older, too, because there are so many people and shops, and the city atmosphere is always busier than a small country town.

Question 4- Why is your best friend your best friend?

I don't exactly have one best friend, but with all of them, I suppose we were all just too unique for everyone else! And we just kind of steered towards each other, I guess.

Question 5- What is the most awkward thing you have ever done?

Ever? I've done so many awkward things, it'd be impossible to say. Recently? Well, I called my friend thinking I was calling my aunt yesterday, and I asked if she could pick up some underwear for me. I don't even know this friend very well....

Question 6- What are you spectacular at?

I'm good with languages,writing and communicating with others. Usually.

Question 7- Describe your personality in three words:

Shy (until you know me!), Daydreamer, and ambitious.

Question 8- What subject do you hate in high school?

Math. And chemistry. I'll get to drop chemistry next year, but I'm kind of stuck with math forever. And even then, i'll never know what the value of x is. Uggghhh.

Question 9- Do you like Valentines Day or do you think its a scam?

Well, I've only ever spend Valentines day single, but when I was little, I loved it because I could make multicoloured glittery hearts and hang them all around the house!

Question 10- What do you hope of the future?

I hope to be happy, to help lots of people, and to be remembered. Pretty general, but I haven't a clue what is in store for me so this is my little goals thing, I guess!

Question 11- What is your favourite flavour of ice cream?

Well, I was once on holiday and I went to this weird and wonderful ice cream parlour and I had the most amazing sea salt (I know!) flavoured ice cream. Then my holiday ended and I had to go home. I haven't had sea salt ice cream since. Sad face :-(

There we go, now. All questions done! Phew! I nominate:

Alice from Alice Eastburn

Talkative Girl from Talkative Girl

Sinead from Sinead Oc Beauty

Kathryn from In the depths of dreams

Bri Nicole from Bri Nicole

Foreverdreaming from All things sweet

The pretty things from The Pretty Things

Scarlett from All the little things

Liv from Livs Beauty Blog

Reyna from Reyna

Mae from Sweet as Mae

And here are your questions:

1) What is your favourite season?

2) What was your least favourite age to be?

3)  If you could learn a new language, what would it be?

4) What shop do you buy most of your clothes from?

5) Whats your favourite board game?

6) Why do you blog?

7) What was the first thing you did this morning when you woke up?

8) What was the best holiday you ever went on? 

9) If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?

10) Do you have any pets?

11) Do you play any sports?

That's it for now! I promise to post more often, and please leave a comment down below!!!

Kisses, Rose

xxx

My favourite handcreams for the cold Winter!

Hi everyone!
Sooo... this Winter is really cold. And I hate coldness. At the beginning of the month, and the end of last month, it wasn't that cold, it was rainy. But now, it is full on freezing cold, which I hate! One of the worst parts about this awful weather (apart from just being cold!) Is that my hands get really dry, chapped and itchy, which is horrible. So, I use hand cream, but I find that lots of hand creams are too light for how chapped my hands get, in other words - they're for Summer, not Winter! In today's post, I am going to share my favourite handcreams that really work in Winter. Enjoy!

                                   
Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream intensive moisturinsing hand treatment

 Even though its a bit on the pricy side, this handcream is great for putting on your hands at night, you really notice a great difference when you wake up! I keep this one next to my bed to remind me to use it, because I am the worst for remembering to moisturise my hands at night. The only bad side of this is the smell, it isn't good at all (to say the least..). You can get it here on the Elizabeth Arden website.








 Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Concentrated Hand Cream

 

This hand cream is great for budget-ness, and you apparently you get over 200 applications with it! It is very concentrated, so you only need a small amount. This cream has no scent, and yet again is great for overnight use, although I usually put this cream on in the morning. I got it in boots, here it is on their website.








The Body Shop Hand Creams

As you might know if you read my Secret Santa Gift Guide, I got the body shop'd coconut flavoured handcream for Secret Santa. I loved it, so I went back and got the strawberry and mango scents as well! These all smell amazing, I actually can't pick a favourite. They aren't as moisturising as the other two, but they still work, and they smell just sooo good. You can buy the strawberry, the coconut or the mango on the body shops website.


That brings this post to an end... if you have used any of these handcreams, or want to recommend one to me, then please let me know in the comments!
Kisses, Rose
xxx

2016 - My goals for the new year!

Hi guys!
I can't believe its nearly 2016!!! A whole new year to make amazing memories, go to great places, and meet incredible people! This year, I am going to set myself goals, and try to stick to them. Some will be easier than others, but I'm going to try do them all. Here we go...
· In 2016, I want to become more flexible. This will help with my ballet, jazz, and (probably) my general health (I don't know if it actually will, lets just say it does?)
·I want to eat less junk, and go on more runs. I won't exactly be Ms Fit the Fitness goals person, but I'm not great when it comes to excercising and all that jazz, so I'm going to try a bit harder next year!!!
· I'm going to study more, especially chemistry... even if I never get the real point of electrons and protons and all their friends.
· Hopefully, my blog will get bigger, and better, and I'll find lots of other blogs, too!
· Lastly, I hope to become more confident in front of people I don't really know, and actually TALK rather than just smiling, nodding, and thinking about something completely random while looking really angry (even though I'm not!)

These are my goals that I'll hopefully achieve. How about you? What are your goals for 2016? Let me know in the comments!!!
Kisses, Rose
xxx

Secret Santa Gift Guide

Hi guys!
Seeing that its sooo close to Christmas right now, lots of people are doing Secret Santa. I did it twice this year, (once with my friends, once with my class). And I actually found it pretty hard to think of present ideas, because usually you don't know the person you have that well. So, in todays blog post, I will give you all some ideas for presents to give for Secret Santa. Enjoy!

Candles. And scented candles.
I love candles. Sooo much. Especially scented candles. Especially Wintery, Christmassy scented candles. They smell so good you could eat them (does that make sense?) ,they give off a beautiful lighting, and they look super, too! Plus, they aren't terribly expensive (usually). If your person doesnt really like scented candles - there are people out there like that- you could just get an unscented candle.So why the hell not?
I got this Frosted Marshmallow candle from Penneys. This smells super sweet, and just like marshmallows really :-)

Mini beauty products
Mini beauty products are a great idea for Christmas, I think. No explanation needed, to be honest. And if you like the mini version, then you can you all the way out with it, and get the big version later on.
I have especially been loving The Body Shop's mini beauty range. You can get a little set of mini hand cream and lip butter, which I got and its really nice, not terribly expensive either. I have the coconut scent, and it is definately something I recommend!

Tea/Hot chocolate/Other hot drinks with a mug
I think that these are really good gift ideas. I am a huge person for herbal teas (My aunt calls them hippy teas!) , and I actually got this really cute tea set from one of my friends. It comes with some teabags, an infuser, and a really cute mug that says 'hot tea' on it. If your person doesnt really like tea, then you can you down the hot chocolate route. Because, who doesnt like Hot chocolate?! A really quick, cute DIY thing you can do for the hot chocolate is put the powder in a jar, and top it with marshmallows. Bam. Hot chocolate delicousness that looks great in a jar. Another drink you go for is coffe, a drink I personally hate, but most people love it. Yet again, you can go all DIY-ish, and put some capsules, or instant coffee into a jar.

     

Food
Pretty obvious, right? If you know the person well, you can give them their favourite treats, but if all else fails, candy canes are the way to go. They're cheap, Christmassy AND pretty. Yaaasss...

So theres ny Secret Santa Gift Guide. Are you doing Secret Santa this year? What are you getting for your person? Let me know in the comments!!!
Kisses, Rose
xxx

The Christmas Tag!

Hello everyone!
Today, I've decided to do the Christmas tag, because why not? This is the first tag I've done on this blog, so lets get started!

1. What is your favourite Christmas film?
The Santa Clause. Definately. Hang on, maybe Elf... or what about Home Alone 2?
I'm not sure. One of those, anyway

2. Have you ever had a white Christmas?
No, unfortunately. I had a Frozen Christmas once, though. The pipes in my house all froze up and on Christmas day, we had to go to our neighbours to have our showers. It was pretty embarassing...

3. Where do you usually spend your Holiday?
At home with my family. We usually leave to go visit more family a few days after Christmas, though.

4. What is your favourite Christmas song?
Hmmm... thats a hard one. I really like 'Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas', because right now, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas

5. Do you open any presents on Christmas Eve?
Yes. My brother and I always exchange presents on Chrustmas Eve instead of day, so that we remember each others presents well!

6. Can you name all of Santas reindeer?
Rudolph, Dancer, Vixen, Dasher, Comet, Cupid... is that all of them? No? Oh well.

7. What Christmas traditions are you looking forward to the most this year?
A few days after Christmas every year, my extended  family always get together in one of their houses (if you get what I mean) . Loads of people find family get togethers boring and annoying, but I really like them.

8. Is your Christmas tree real or fake?
Both! Theres one room in my house thats always freezing, so we put the real tree in there (it would wilt anywhere else), and that tree has loads of mismatching family decorations. In our sitting room, we have the fake tree. This tree has a baubles colour scheme with it, and its also where the presents go!

9. What is your favourite Christmas food?
Has to be Terrys chocolate Orange!

10. Be honest: do you like giving or recieving gifts better?
This really depends on who I'm giving the gift to and who the gift is from. I prefer giving when I know that the reciever will genuinely like the present. I do like to get presents, though...

11. What was the best Christmas present you ever got?
I've gotten a lot of great presents. My best present I got when I was little was probably a dollhouse I got when I was 4 or 5 that stayed as my favourite toy until I was about 10 or 11. I also got my tablet (a computer tablet, not the medicine!) or Christmas, which I still use (as in, right now!)

12. What would be your dream place to visit for the holiday season?
Paris. I know its probably really unsafe right now, but that city is my favourite in the world. By a lot. A lotta lot. London would be pretty cool to visit for the Holidays, though.

13. Are you a propresent wrapper, or do you fail miserabley?
Fail miserabley. Unless putting presents into gift bags counts....

14. Most memorable holiday moment?
I have soo many! I remember when I was about 8, my Dad and brother went off somewhere and I stayed at home with my Mom and my Granny and we made and decorated a gingerbread house. It doesnt sound terribly special, but its one of those thngs that I'll always remember.

15. What made you realize the truth about Santa?
Myself, I guess. It always seemed possible but then one day, I thought about it. One man travelling the whole world in one night who has flying reindeer and lives in a place thats nowhere on the map of the Earth? Maybe not. I asked my parents, and they told me the truth.

16. Do you make New Years Resolutions? Do you stick to them?
I never usually make them, but last year I did, and it was to get my splits. That kind of went down the drain... I  put it down to the fact that I was born with unflexible bones!
I will try harder this year, though!!!!

17. What makes the holidays special for you?
The big run up to Christmas is the best, if you ask me! Everyones singing Christmas songs, and you have your Advent Calendar, and there's the decorations... its the best. Ever.

So there we have it, the Christmas tag is done! Thanks for reading, I have lots more Festive posts coming up, so keep on reading!

Kisses, Rose
xxx

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Hi there!
Just in case you haven't noticed, its December!!!
Yay!!! In other words, its nearly Christmas, one of the best times of the year and I am soo excited. Although there's no tree, my house is starting to be decked out (by me...) for this amazing time of year!
In todays post, I'm going to show you a few things I have, to be Christmassy. Hopefully you'll be in a festive mood by the time you're done reading!

My Advent Calender
I love advent Calenders, they really add to the whole excitement leading up to Christmas (even though theres loads of excitement anyway). I was really close to buying a yankee candle calender this year because it looks like such a great idea, and I adore scented candles, but its just so expensive! Instead, I've gone with the healthy option. Okay, not really. Caburys anyone? Yes please!
I happen not to be a calorie counter when its December!!!

(I took this before december - I don't nearly have enough self control to not eat the chocolates everyday!!!)

Festive Body washes
I got these two body washes last year for Christmas and I had so many others that I kind of didn't use them. I found them a few weeks back and I've really been enjoying them!

These are by beauticoligy (baylis and harding) and I got them in a set with a bar of soap (which I used last year) . They were a present, so I'm not sure how much they costed, but they were definately worth it!
The Gingerbread flavour looks glittery, so I thought my skin would be kind of shimmery after using it, but it wasn't. The smell is really good, however I don't really think its for everyone. Its like a really strong gingery sweet smell but it doesn't really stay after you use it.
The Cranberry flavour is my favourite of the two. The smell is sweet and delicate (very delicate - as in you get more of a vagye scent than a smell) but I prefer it to the strong gingery one.

Christmas mugs and hot chocolate
I got this mug a long time ago from and it had Lindt chocolate in it. The chocolate has been gone for years. I've kept the mug, though. I love drinking hot chocolate from it while thinking about Christmas. Its even got little santas on it... :-)

Well, I have lots more things I could add to this list, but I think I'll leave with this much for now. What do you do to be ready for Christmas? Let me know in the comments!
Kisses, Rose
xxx

How similar should your friends be?

Helloo...
Okay, so I haven't blogged in a while... but I've been really busy with life in general. This is the part where I would promise to post more often, say every Tuesday and Friday, but I won't because then I feel like this blog would be a chore, you know? I write this blog so I can blab on about my life annonymously and to enjoy it. And I do enjoy it. Having a blog is great fun. To keep it so fun, I'm not going to make a schedule or something about when to post, but I will try and post often enough, once a week, say? Maybe more?
Anyways, todays blog post is going to be rather deep, so be prepared!
I have lots of friends. And no, I don't get into arguements with them, or I dont dislike any of them, and to my furthest knowledge, none of them dislike me. I'm the quiet one in our group. The quiet one who gets good grades and thinks of good comebacks to things others say or do - thats me!
I'm not super quiet, though. I'm just not so great at the whole talking to people you dont really know thing. I worry so much about what others will think, as in to the extreme! I was worse last year, I think that I'm overcoming my shyness, its just not completely gone yet. Funny, I can confidently dance in front of hundreds byt the idea of going up to someone I dont really know and chatting to them scares me!
So, one of the girls in my group, hates another girl. None of us in the group are great friends with this other girl, but I dont mind her. When she told us that she hated her, one of my other friends was like "Me too. Lets all hate her so we can be squad goals who hate the same people". So now all of us are set on auto-hate to this girl. I don't say it to them, but I don't really hate this girl. Thats the thing about being quiet, you dont have to agree all the time!!!
This got me thinking, though. Would we not be squad goals if we didnt all hate the girl? My friends and I all have some things in common, but no two of us are the same. So why do we have to seem more similar by hating this girl? How similar do you have to be with somebody to be friends?
I think that we shouldn't all be the same, that we can all have our own opinion on things and still be friends.
Or, we can all love and hate the same things.
Both those kind of friendships work, I've been in both cases.
How about you? Do your friends try and seem the same as you? Or do you all stay different?
Every friendship is special, but is that because of the differences or similarities? I think its a mixture of both.
Best way to be squad goals? Enjoy being with the people you place yourself with. Your friendships are your choices, so pick carefully, and enjoy the ups and downs, the giving and recieving in friendship.
Kisses, Rose
xxx

Little things that are the best...

Hi!
Today, I'm going to share with you the little things in my life that are genuinely the best! I am really grateful of how lucky I am and I send all my prayers to Paris after the awful bombings last Friday. Nobody should ever have to go out for a fun night only to be killed. If you've read my 20 facts about me post, then you know that Paris is one of my favourite places - elegant, beautiful and busy. It makes me feel sick to know that people can be so cruel.
So, without further adue, lets begin!

Christmas
The first thing I have here, even though these aren't in any order, is Christmas! I love Christmas everything. Christmas food, candles, decorations, the presents, The Nutcracker(!) - in short, everything about Christmas excites me! Not to mention it is only.... *checks calender* 39 days away!!!!!!!!

Ballet
The next thing I have here is ballet. No, I'm not some ballet child prodigy. No, I don't do classes every day of the week. No, I don't have the small, thin ballet physique.... but those don't, and never will, stop me from loving this beautiful art so, so much!

Helping people
I love to help people. I know, it sounds really strange, and slightly cheesy, but when someone tells me I've just make their day, it makes my day as well!!! I try really hard to be as helpful as I can, without being overly - helpful, you know?

Travelling
I love to travel places. By car, by train, by ferry, by plane.... especially by plane! I love airports, you se so many different people all busily making their way hurridly around from country to country. And when your on the plane and it lands, it gives a little thump noise, and everyone on board claps and hugs each other. A lovely feeling.

Chocolate
Chocolate is one of my favourite foods. Ever. Especially Cadburys, and Lindt, and Terrys, and... just every kind, really. Yum :-)

I think I'll leave you there, but in short, I want to just appreciate everything I have, and remind other people to do so as well, because we can often accidently take things for granted! There are people out there with nothing, and they are really nice, kind people (I haven't travelled to meet any of them before, but it would really surprise me if these people weren't nice). You can buy happiness, but you can't buy yourself kindness.
Kisses, Rose
xxx

Time to de-stress

Hi everyone!!!
This week has been MAD for me - its been like a never ending rollercoaster of exams and studying. On top of that, I felt pretty sick for most of it. So not fun. Balancing all of this with life has been pretty difficult, leading to a really stressful week.
But there is some good news - Today Is Friday!!!!!!
Its Friday the 13th, but still...
Tomorrow, there are no exams
Sunday, there are no exams
Monday.... lets not go there yet
I'm just really happy that its Friday and that I can just calm down and stop worrying about exams for a while. Yay!!! So today, I'm going to write about how I like to de-stress, because I will be doing most of them this weekend. I do these on a regular basis and find them useful. Enjoy!!!

-Firstly, I love to just have a nice mug of herbal tea to

calm me down. I currently really like this apple and cinnnamon infusion from Tesco - it smells really, really good, tastes even better, and its also pretty seasonal!!!

-Obviously, I have to light a scented candle. I love this yankee candle. Its called 'Black Cherry'. Its really

sweet and really strong, so probably not for everyone, but I think its just like heaven in a jar. I'm also staying fairly seasonal, because its a lovely winey colour :-)


-Another thing I like to do is to have a really long, really warm shower. There is just something so
calming about the lovely warm water and the smells

of shampoos, soaps, conditioners.... if you have a bath, even better! I don't though, so I just stick to a shower.



-Another tip I have is chocolate... You can also have sweets but I personally prefer chocolate. Try

not to have too much, though, obviously. The aim of this is to de-stress, not to de-stroy your health!!! (I might do some healthy snacks posts soon, what do you think?)

-Open a window. I know most of the time you are told to go for a walk, but its getting dark early here in

Ireland, and I am also just not bothered to leave the house (if you can go for a walk, then do obviously!) So what I do is I just open a window in a room. Fresh air on your face is actually one of the best feelings ever. Just so long its not followed by a huge gust of wind/rain!!!


-Lastly, if you're feeling stressed because of something your friends might want you to do, then stop that, and be yourself! The only changes a friend should make to you are good ones, and if you feel that your friends are trying to get you to do something, and its not you, and its not going to change you in a good way, just say no. Your friends are not friends with you to change you in a bad way, they're friends with you because they like you as a person andof course, they want to have fun with you!!!!

Hope you found these tips useful. What do you do to de-stress? Do you do any of these things as well? Let me know in the comments!!!!
Kisses, Rose
xxx

All photos are mine :-)

Chat about makeup!

Hello!
I'm meant to be studying right now, but I think I'd rather write a blog post. So I am. In todays post, I'm going to talk about makeup, which sounds a bit strange but not many people do this and I think it is a good idea. So lets begin!
I have okay skin. Its not flawles; not nearly, but still. I don't have bright red acne covering every inch of my face. I have a few freckles, a couple of spots here and there and under eye bags. Not perfect, but its grand.
Going to an all-girls school, most of my friends and I don't bother wearing makeup to school, usually. I mean like, if there are photos being taken, or if its a no uniform day, then we probably will. But not on an everyday basis.
Some of the girls in my year, and a good few girls in the older years above us wear full face makeup everyday to school. As in, like, full face. They put on the primer, foundation, eyeshadow and all that, but they don't stop there. They contour. They fill in their eyebrows. They conceal, highlight and outline their face every morning in front of the mirror. It must take forever. And all for what? Its an all girls school, people!!! There are no guys in the school ever. As in, ever. So basically, we have these girls go into school, their faces hidden (pretty much!) And its really just for, well, other girls. I think its a bit of a waste of time (to be honest), but, lets just let them be.
I understand that for girls with a low face confidence, makeup can completely change them (in a good way, as in they feel better about themsleves!)
 And I also understand that some girls just love putting on makeup. They see the colours and squirt, squirt, squirt from the bottles, jars and pallets and they have the time of their life. A simple pleasure. Like me and ballet. You feel like you finally can let go of everything and just dance. Or for them, put on makeup. I completely get that!
But I'm not like either of them. I don't like my spots and under eye bags, but I wouldnt have a mini panic attack from not leaving the house with them covered up.
And while putting on makeup isn't something I hate (like maths, sweeping the floor and taking my cats hair off the sofa) , it wouldn't be something terribly high up on my priorities list. Its enjoyable enough, but not as fun as other things (I think so anyways)
But still, whenever I go out in public, there is like this invisible person making me put on makeup. I was talking about it with my friend once, and realised something: we really are only doing it for one another. None of my friends need makeup, we all have good skin, but even still, there is this expectation that we kind of have that we should always look perfect. So we wear makeup to live up to it.
Even after all that, I still wear some makeup every now and then. I wear it to live up to expectations and it can be enjoyable to put on. I wear it to define my good points (my cheekbones) and to put less of an emphasis on my spotty chin!
What do you think?
Do you wear makeup?
I can't wait to hear what you guys think!
Kisses, Rose
xxx

Autumn photos : -)

Hi everyone!
 Its November now, so autumn is pretty much over. Its at like a halfway point between Autumn and Winter -  (47 days until Christmas!!!!) But even still, being me, I decided to do an autumn photo taking session. Because, autumn leaves (whats left of them) are so pretty!!! And I was conviniently in my local park today, so why not? I'm not a great photographer, buteven still it was really fun to take these photos. I took some in the light of day and some when it was starting to get dark, for contrast- I took some of the same photos twice (once in the light, once in the dark) and they looked completely different! Well anyways here you go, sorry for the long rambley (is rambley a word?) introduction!!!

 

turn the selfie camera on under a tree and this is the result!!! 

I really liked just the simplicity of the leaves on the ground here - the park was covered with a leaf carpet, if you want to put it that way.

When I showed my brother these photos, he told me this was the best one. I saw the sun and shadow contrast and the photo had to be taken!!

This was just me kneeling down on the grass with everyone looking at me confusedly(?)  while I casually take a photo of grass....

This was the first photo I took in the dark. I don't really know what to say here about this one - I just thought it looked nice, I guess!!! 

This photo was taken of the exact same tree in day time. It looks completely different here though.

So was this one!!! 

This looks kind of like a cherry blossom tree.... its not though. Its just like a typical tree with leaves (my tree knowledge is close to none!)

To finish off, why not go all tumblr and take a picture of the sunset in the park?

So there you go. More brown and yellow than red and orange... but still nice, I hope? I don't plan on doing too many photos posts, but if you want more, let me know in the comments!!!
By the way, before I leave you,I'd like to give a shoutout to Hope, another new blogger (like me!) She posts really good fanfiction, but she's also done a few personal posts too, here's a link to her blog.
Kisses, Rose
xxx