Lorna Cole

I hope everyone had a brilliant Christmas, however you celebrate! If you don’t then hopefully you had a good holiday break! I thought I’d share some of the things I kindly received this year as I always enjoy reading these sorts of posts.  An iPhone 11 was my main gift this year, though I basically treated myself to it haha! I previously had an iPhone 7 which served me well but wanted a bit of an upgrade. I use my phone constantly for socialising, blogging, coursework, photos and entertainment so think it’s a worthwhile buy and I’m really pleased with it so far!  I also got a keyboard for my graphic tablet as I was having problems with my laptop so now I can do all my work on my tablet. It’s pretty useful as it clips in and basically turns it into a laptop but you can still use the touchscreen and pen as well.  One thing I’m always trying to improve is my health and fitness, something I want to work on a lot in 2020! To potentially help and motivate me I asked for

As I’ve not been doing Blogmas this year I thought I could do a roundup of the lead up to Christmas!  Secret Santa   I participated in a Bloggers Secret Santa again this year and we opened our presents last week. I was kindly given some really lovely gifts, I’m especially looking forward to trying the different masks as it’s something I often forget to buy! Also Lindt chocolate is always a winner!  I also really enjoyed buying the gifts, it’s so fun to wrap everything up and see them open it! Big thanks to Casey for organising it - you can see a roundup of it on her  Instagram! Decorating   I think the thing that really kicks off the season for me is decorating the tree as it instantly makesme feel Christmassy! I think we have a fairly simple tree, with a red, white and wooden theme, I kind of wish we could have a tree that was decorated for every season! Christmas Shopping   I said on my Instagram recently about how I think I’ve bee

Firstly, Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great Christmas, holiday or just a nice time if you don't celebrate anything! I know these posts aren't everyone's cup of tea but, I'm very grateful for everything and am not bragging at all, I just think it's interesting to see what people received. Also, I like to be able to document all the gifts I was given this year as something to look back on.    My main present this year was a Fujifilm Camera which I was so excited to open, I've been interested in photography for as long as I can remember and plan to start a Creative Arts Degree which will help me to develop my photography skills. It's also going to come in really handy for blogging too and I can't wait to start taking better photos for my posts! I've been meaning to get a new pair of shoes for a while now so this year I asked for some Nike trainers.  I wanted black ones since they go with pretty much anything and have a feeling this w

Christmas Eve is often a very busy day and begins with the chaos of getting all the final bits ready for Christmas. We usually collect and deliver presents to different family members and do some last minute shopping for any food or essentials. My Mum then prepares some bits for Christmas Dinner and my evening usually kicks off with the annual trifle making. I’m not sure how many years I’ve been making one for me and my Dad but it’s at least 6+ so it’s become a tradition now! The evening is (hopefully) a bit more chilled out and we usually watch a Christmas film. This year’s pick is The Muppet's Christmas Carol! One of my favourite traditions is getting a few gifts to open on Christmas Eve. Most often, this consists of some new festive pyjamas which we usually put on straight away and have them for Christmas morning. I’ve had multiple designs over the years and this time I received this matching grey fairisle set which I really love! Luckily it’s not too thick as I hate getti

This year I participated in a Secret Santa for bloggers which was organised by the lovely Casey. Despite a few hiccups, it was a lovely thing to be a part of because I was able to connect with so many new bloggers and we all have a great support system now! You can check out Casey's post here if you'd like to see what everyone else got too as she kindly provided links to all of our blogs! My gifts arrived quite a while ago, packaged in some really festive Christmas Pudding wrapping paper and I really had to resist the urge to open them, I always used to be one of those kids that would feel around and try to work out what a present was when I had to wait to open it, haha! My Secret Santa was Eloise who blogs over at The Longing Wanderer . She absolutely nailed my gifts and I couldn't be happier with them so I can't thank her enough! Firstly I opened two bath bombs which smelt amazing even before opening them, I quickly recognised that they were from Lush whic

 I was recently tagged in The Christmas A-Z Tag by the lovely Gemma, you can check out her post  here  or head over to her blog:  Hidden Little Gem . The purpose of this tag is to essentially share the things you love and associate with Christmas - using each letter of the alphabet of course! Finally, make sure you tag more bloggers to complete it as well. A -   Absolutely everything. I thought I'd start there because that encompasses it all and instantly covers how much I do love Christmas! B -  Buying the tree is something I always like to do because we usually get it at the start of December which really kicks off the festivities!  C -  Chocolate is definitely one of the best things about this time of the year, it's great always but you just have an excuse to eat so much more! My favourite has to be a Terry's Chocolate Orange! D -  Decorating the tree is another thing I enjoy because it instantly makes me feel so Christmassy, we also like to put up our outdoor

I feel like everyone has certain preferences and traditions about what makes Christmas, the Christmas they know and love, so I thought I'd incorporate that into a 'this or that' post! Real or fake tree? I love having a real tree, they smell so Christmassy and we got ours this weekend!  Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? It has to be Christmas Day for me, it's my favourite day of the year because it's all so much fun! Also, you can't beat Christmas Dinner, can you! Though I do love the whole build up so this was a hard one. Open presents all at once or spread out? Ever since I was little we've always done it all at once! It's so exciting, I don't think I could wait and spread it out through the day, haha! Eggnog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate is my go-to drink around this time of the year so this is an easy one for me. A classic hot chocolate or I also enjoy peppermint, chocolate orange and cinnamon flavoured o

At last, it's finally my favourite month of the year! I'm going to attempt to do the 12 days of Blogmas this year and to begin I thought it would be nice to look back on the things I enjoyed over the last month. The posts will become much more festive after this for sure!  Homeware I love fairy lights in general but they are a total must have around this time of the year because they can really make anything look so much more festive! I also cannot wait to get our Christmas Tree so we can decorate that with all the lights too! Another thing that I love about the colder weather is the various hot drinks and creative flavours. I’ve recently enjoyed making cinnamon hot chocolate and of course, had to have it in a festive mug! I got this one last Christmas and it’s the perfect size when you want to have a cosy evening. Fashion I mean I'm not really sure if pyjamas count as fashion but hey! I'm obsessed with Christmassy pyjamas and I've collecte

Happy Christmas Eve everybody! I thought The Christmas Tag would be very appropriate to do today, I tag anyone who wants to do it!  Q) What is your favourite Christmas film? A) Elf! It is just brilliant! Q) Is your Christmas tree real or fake? A) It's real, wouldn't have it any other way! Q) What would be your dream place to visit for the holiday season? A) New York or somewhere really cold and snowy because we don't really have much hope for a white Christmas where I live! Q) Do you stay in your pyjamas or dress up on Christmas Day? A) I stay in my pyjamas whilst opening presents, having breakfast and then at some point, usually late morning I'll get dressed. However we don't necessarily dress up, I'll usually wear a top or jumper I received as a present with some jeans. Q) What is your favourite holiday snack? A) Cheeselets! They are a must have and something I can eat and eat! / Q) Are you a pro present wrapper or do you

Less than a week to go now guys! Something that is a massive part of the whole run up to Christmas are the festive tunes that I love to listen to - in fact I've probably had them on since September time! There are some absolute classics and I would love to know what your favourite is! I'm going to share my top 10 favourites, then a link to my YouTube Christmas playlist and various Spotify ones too if you want to have a listen and put them on repeat like me! 1) Merry Christmas Everyone - Shakin' Stevens This one had to be at the top of my list because I have always, always loved it. Whenever I hear it I feel nostalgic as I associate it with Christmas at my Primary school and of course it is great song to get anyone in the Christmas spirit! 2) Last Christmas - Wham! I couldn't go through Christmas without listening to this, it is a great one to belt out in the car I think! After the horrible passing of George last year, I feel like this one should be

I was recently nominated for the Liebster Award by the fabulous Lisa, you can find her blog here at Total TV Addict . I seriously recommend you check it out if, like me, you love discovering new shows to watch! For anyone who isn't sure what the Liebster Award is, basically it recognises new bloggers and helps others to 'discover new blogs!' I'm pretty new to the blogging community and it is so amazing to see the amount of love and support that goes around, this award is just one example of that! So what do you do if you are nominated? Firstly don't forget to thank them! Then you answer the 11 questions that they asked you in their post and then you must create 11 new questions for your nominees! This is a great way to get to know a bit more about the person behind the blog so thank you again Lisa for nominating me - you can also follow her on twitter:  @Dimaline27  . Lisa's Questions: 1. Why Blogging? I have always enjoyed writing, whether that i

This weekend consisted of a Christmas preparations trip to Southampton, mostly to get our Christmas tree but there were also a few other bits to do! I know there are pros and cons of getting a real or fake tree but there is something so exciting about going to choose it and being surrounded by the iconic pine scent, it really makes me feel so Christmassy and sort of marks the start of the festive period. You could probably spend hours looking at different trees and trying to decide which is the best looking one but once we had finally agreed we took it back to the car and headed into the town. After getting some lunch I headed to a shops in search of a Christmas jumper, I'm always really picky with the ones I like so I knew it would take up some time. Unfortunately it seemed that a lot of them had sold out but hey I suppose that is the beauty of online shopping isn't it! Luckily it wasn't a complete waste of time as I did spot a few different things that could be po

So it's officially December and my favourite month of the year! This is my first year blogging around Christmas and I'm going to attempt to do some form of Blogmas, my intention is to do the '12 days of Blogmas' but we'll see if I stick to that. Anyway here is day 1! I found it hard to come up with a favourites list for November as I've mostly been sticking to what I know, but there are a few things I wanted to share! Beauty - Aussie Conditioner has always a firm favourite for me but I hadn't used it for a while so grabbed a little travel size and well let's just say, I'm going to be needing a bigger bottle! I felt like my hair felt a little dry and this conditioner was the perfect pick me up, my is left feeling so smooth and smelling absolutely amazing! I used the 3 Minute Miracle one but there are a few varieties, depending on what you need. Food -  I'm currently obsessed with Lindt Lindor balls, and to be honest you can't really b