A Student's Bargain Kitchenware Haul

Sorry I was absent last week but I was working almost everyday and had rehearsals for a play I was in almost every night so I barely had time to eat, never mind write and take photos for my blog. I am back now however as I have evenings free again!

So it is now less than 2 weeks until moving day (eek!). I am so excited. As I am beginning to get organised with buying and packing all of my necessities for living on my own, I thought I'd share with you a few of my bargain buys.

I am loving red at the moment and so I decided to make this a theme for my kitchenware. Imagine my joy then when almost everything red was on sale and so beautiful! I had a hard time restraining myself from popping everything in my trolley!

The two places I shopped for almost all of my appliances, kitchenware, laundry items and bedroom decor etc. were B&M Bargains and ASDA. There were so many great bargains for a student on a budget yet the quality is still great too. My personal favourite purchase is the adorable owl salt and pepper shakers. Aren't they cute?

Products Photographed:
Red Plates:   ASDA £1 each
Owl Salt and Pepper Shakers:   £1.50 B&M Bargains
Red Bowls: £1 each or 6 for £5 B&M Bargains
Stilton Cheese Pot: 50p from local charity shop (thought it would be cute for storing sugar etc.)
Heart Mugs: £1.99 each or 2 for £3
Heart Coasters: £1.50 for pack of 4

A Day-Trip to Tarbert

Hello everyone.

Today I thought I'd upload an extra lifestyle post seeing as it's been such a lovely day. Some friends of ours are visiting Arran this week and seeing as we were all off work and it was my two sisters' last day of the school summer holidays, me and my family went away for the day with our friends to Tarbert and Skipness.

After hearing the pitter-patter of rain this morning I didn't get my hopes up for the weather today however, I have been pleasantly surprised. Although there were a few showers here and there, they were only light and short and we all managed to find shelter whenever they passed through.We actually got some warm sunshine aswell.
Our day began on the little ferry from our Island which was a nice smooth journey and then we drove through the incredibly picturesque country-side to arrive at Tarbert. Whilst there, we did some shopping - where I bought a beautiful big journal which I am in love with - and then we strolled down the front to what we thought was a park but turned out to be an outdoor public exercise park...thing. It was lots of fun. Then we all squeezed onto a picnic bench and began to enjoy our lunch and each others company just in time for the clouds to gift us with some soggy sandwiches (a typical Scottish picnic). We then all headed back to our cars and after a 20 pence pee (pretty expensive public restrooms if you ask me) we drove over to Skipness where we had afternoon tea by the castle with the most beautiful view before exploring the castle itself. This was an adventure because the norm, as we all know, when visiting castles and historical buildings is that all the interesting looking places are always blocked off with red rope or signs saying "Restricted Area" however, at this castle there were none of the latter meaning we got to roam free right up to the roof. The view up there was breath-taking. Not quite as breath-taking as when I took a look over the edge of the balcony  to see how high we were; I soon swiftly made my way back to ground level.
After a little more admiring of the view, we then headed home on the ferry and had fish and chips. Bliss.

 After a few weeks of lots of wrk and various stresses within and outwith the family, I think this day trip was a necessity for us and to share it with our friends made it all the more special. I am feeling very much more relaxed and ready and blessed to have such lovely family and friends.
I hope you've had a lovely day too!

Mollie

♥

How do you like to unwind? Where do you like to escape to?

Be Your Own Bestfriend | Mollie'sThoughts#1

Hello my lovely readers.

This is technically a "bonus" blog today as it is not yet Thursday (when I usually upload) so I am technically not late. Technically.

As promised I am writing my first installment of "Mollie's Thoughts" today - how exciting! - and I thought I would begin  by talking about something we should all try to focus on -being your own bestfriend.

(This is not my photo but I found it on various instagram pages so I'm not sure where it's original source is.)

Being your own bestfriend is something we have all heard about from inspiring youtubers and celebrities and read about in the occasional motivating articles we find in magazines. It is not, however, something we always put it into practice. 

Being your own bestfriend isn't vain or selfish in anyway and it doesn't mean sending our friends packing just to sit in a corner and hug ourselves -even though hugs are the best. It's about putting your wellbeing and your happiness first in order to maintain your mental health and to prevent you from feeling rubbish about yourself.

Sometimes, for whatever reason, we can have those days where we look in the mirror and just don't like ourselves. We begin to point out our flaws and re-live everything we've done wrong and everything that we'd like to change. It's when the little voice in the back of our mind speaks up and tell us we're not pretty, we have no friends, we have no talent, we can't achieve our dreams etc. and if we're not careful, we can begin to believe it. 

So let's think about this for a moment. Let's imagine that we said the things we tell ourselves to someone else. Imagine you told your bestfriend that they were fat, ugly, useless, alone etc. Do you think they would still be your bestfriend? The answer, unless you have a one in a million, should be no. We would never tell our bestfriend cruel things about themselves and yet we can quite easily sit and say those same hurtful things to ourselves. Nobody wants to hear that; nobody should have to hear that. So why do we do it to ourselves? Why do we make ourselves feel rubbish when we're the only person that we are guaranteed we will always be around? Why do we bully the one person we're going to spend every minute of our lives with? Life would be so much easier and we would be so much happier if instead of being our own worst enemy, we became our own best friend.

So instead of dwelling on mistakes we've made, let's learn to laugh at ourselves and learn from them. Instead of telling ourselves that we look terrible today, let's tell ourselves that we'll try to be extra beautiful on the inside. Instead of treating ourselves and our worries with little respect, let's make ourselves feel special and learn to love our quirks, flaws and weaknesses equally to our strengths - just as we would a friend. Because that's what being a friend is all about; accepting and loving the other person for who they are - flaws and all.

Let's give it a go! I challenge you (once you've finished reading this post) to write down 10 things you love about yourself (either in your diary, on the back of a bus timetable or even better, in a comment below). It can be anything from your smile to the way you make a mean cheesecake - anything. You deserve to know everything that makes you special and who knows you better than you? 

People come and go in our lives, but we will never be without ourselves so why not make life better by showing ourselves some love?

Mollie

♥

Ink and Paint

Hello everyone.

I feel like I need a new opening to my posts rather than “Hello everyone”..hmm. Any suggestions?

So this week I have finally managed to focus my attention (for at least 30 minutes every 3 hours…) on admin revision.  There’s been quite a lot even though I've only this year got one exam (my other subjects don’t have an exam). I've been through 2+ pens. And now it’s all finished as I sat my exam today and I think it went okay.

I always surprise myself when I’m revising at my ability to find so many new interesting hobbies and interests in order to distract myself in any way possible from the revision I’m trying to do. In one of my many breaks I even developed a whole business that I’d like to run complete with product lists and some price ideas. Yes it really went there.

Something I've been enjoying about revision is that I've had time to just sit out in the sun all day. It’s almost made revision fun. Almost.

A beautiful view from where I was revising

 My bedroom floor right now. So many pieces of paper and books.

As well as revising however I've had my Advanced Higher Art folio to complete and stick down and it had almost slipped my mind with the thought of Admin being at the top of my list. However after a little panic moment on Tuesday evening thinking I’d never get it done in time I decided to risk losing a day of revision on Wednesday and make-up for it one Thursday so that I could do my art. It seemed to work and things are back in control. Phew.

Here's a sneak peak of some of my artwork:

I will hopefully be selling some of my art/prints of my artwork once it is returned from the SQA. I also have lots of other plans for it too...exciting.

Now I have my new job to think about. I can't wait. My first day/training day is this Sunday so I’m preparing myself and hoping that my waitressing experience from my last job will help me out. It’s great to know that my best friend is starting work there with me and my other best friends already work there. I’ll always have someone to answer my questions and spend my lunch breaks with.

I think that’s it for this update as I haven’t really anything more to tell you as I've been mostly sat revising all week. *sigh*. I hope you've had a lovely week and been able to enjoy some beautiful weather.

Mollie

♥