25 Questions Tag

Hello everyone.

I feel like we're at the stage where you've gotten to know me pretty well. You know my likes, goals, attitude, opinions, friends, hobbies etc. but do you know my favourite beverage? Ah, see I don't think you do. This will not do which is why this week I thought I'd go a little more blogging-mainstream and do the 25 Questions Tag to give you some insight into certain things you may not learn about me otherwise.
There were a few different collections of questions floating around for this tag and so I decided to pick my favourites as well as add some of my own. Hope you enjoy!

What is your middle name?

 Elizabeth. Also, while we're on the topic of names, my real name is Mary. I was named after my two great grans, one named Mary (known as Mollie, hence why I'm known as Mollie) and one called Elizabeth (my middle name). Mary Elizabeth Hodkinson. Also known as the poshest name ever.

What was your favourite subject at school?

 I've always loved art but I also really enjoyed Business Management. This was partly due to the amazing teacher I had. I also liked this class because my parents have always been very entrepreneurial and so I've always had an interest in the running of a business. Taking business management also helped influence me to set my goal to one day own my own business.

What is your favourite drink?

 Tea. I am a complete tea addict. Morning, noon and night. Not even fancy tea, just traditional Tetley. There's something so comforting about a good old mug of tea.  

What is your favourite song at the moment?

 Young and Beautiful - Lana Del Rey. What can I say other than pure bliss. I've loved Lana Del Rey from the moment Video Games met my eardrums. She has such on old-time dark glamour about her that just leaves me speechless whenever I listen to her songs.

What is your favourite food?

 I'd have to say lasagne. Garfield's got nothing on me and my love of this cheesy, tomato goodness. Mmm..just writing about it is making me hungry.

What is the last thing you bought?

 Makeup (lipstick, nail varnish, blusher brush, eyeshadow, liquid eyeliner) from MUA. I love MUA because despite it being incredibly cheap, the quality of their makeup certainly doesn't reflect this. I am never disappointed by the quality and as someone who loves makeup as well as saving money, there is no better brand I could find.

Favourite book of all time?

 Although I must admit I'm not someone who reads a lot (I am trying to change this) I do have a favourite book and that is Heidi. There's something so wholesome and enchanting about it. It makes me want to live up a mountain and drink goats milk.

Favourite Colour?

 Purple. It's so luxurious and pretty.

Do you have any pets?

 Yes, two massive dogs- leonburgers- and although not strictly "pets", my family owns alpacas. 

Favourite Perfume?

 Lancome- Touch of pink. It smells divine.

Favourite Time of Year?

 Summer. There was no hesitation writing this. There's something about waking up to a bright warm sunny day that fills me with complete joy. There's more to do in Summer as people have more time, I love summer fashion and colours, beach days, ice-cream, late nights, BBQs and the list goes on and on.

Have you ever been out of the country?

 Yes I have. I've been very fortunate in my childhood and me and my family have been to Florida, Egypt and our favourite place, Spain. I love the language, tradition and flare of Spain and I'm pretty sure I'll wind up living there at some time in my life.

Do you speak any other language?

 A teensy bit of French from learning at school. I would LOVE to learn Spanish though and I'm hoping to try in my gap year!

How many siblings do you have?

 I have two siblings, Megan who's 16 and Emily who's 15.

What are your favourite shops?

 I love boohoo.com, apricot, MUA, Avon, Lush, Arran Aromatics and Cath Kidston to name a few.

What do you love to do?

 I enjoy painting, spending time with my friends and family, singing, making videos, blogging, sewing and crafts and being creative in general. I feel so inspired when being creative.

When was the last time you cried?

Yesterday evening. I got into a silly phase where I started panicking about the future, university, my friend's leaving for uni and lots of other things. Luckily my mum was there with some comforting advice and a hug to make it all better. Thanks mum.

Favourite Blogs?

These two gorgeous youtube celebrities were already inspirational to me and once I discovered that they blog too I was over the moon. These guys are Zoe from Zoella and Louise from Sprinkleofglitter. I also really enjoy readingWatercolour Kisses blog. It has some really good advice and reviews for girls.

Favourite Movies?

 All the Disney films but my favourite is The Little Mermaid. Others include 50 First Dates, Up, The Proposal, She's The Man and many others though I'm having a hard time remembering names right now for some reason.

Favourite TV shows?

 Modern Family -I'm obsessed with this show, plus the character Gloria is beyond hilarious-  The Middle, Cake Boss, Touch and Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model.

What are you afraid of?

 Not being successful, heights, spiders, being alone outside in the dark, seeing blood and injuries in real life or film because it makes me faint. You can imagine how much I loved first-aid lessons at school.

You're sat doodling, what's on the page? 

Hearts, eyes and flowers mainly.

Eye colour and hair colour? 

I have green eyes which turn blue in direct sunlight and dyed red hair but my natural hair colour is light brown.

Can you cook?

 No, I have literally burned pasta. More than once.

What's your favourite time of day?

 This is quite tricky. I like certain aspects of all times of the day but I think it has to be the morning. I love the fact that it's the beginning of a new day with new opportunites, I love seeing the beautiful sunrises and I'm always more productive and full of positivity in the morning.

There we have it, 25 random questions answered. I hope this gave you a bit more of an insight into who I am and what I'm like (in a good way). It's a bit different from my usual blog posts as I don't like the idea of following the crowds because I'm not the type to do that in my life anyway however I enjoyed writing this post and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Have a fabulous week and I'll see you soon!

Mollie

♥

I challenge you to do this tag too and make sure you leave the link in the comments!

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?

Present Purchasing and Shoe Blues

Hello everyone.

I know, I know. I'm a little late with my post but I have at least two reasons why! One being that I have been working so much that as soon as I get home I'm already beginning to fall asleep so my blog would consist mostly of "zzzzzzz"s and two, because I've been working so much I hadn't really done anything to interest you for more than two lines. That's why I waited until today because I actually had time/energy to do something yesterday which was quite fun. I'll still fill you in with the more interesting parts of my week though.

So this week began with a bit of a panic when my ipod beeped an alert at me telling me to "Make sure you've bought Kirsty's present!" - this is not the "chummy" Kirsty who I mentioned in my last lifestyle post but my other friend called Kirsty. Confused? Me too.
I'd been wondering what I should get her for ages and after trawling through pages of gift sites I still wasn't sure but, with Kirsty's birthday on the 11th, I knew I had to get my act together to make sure that whatever I ordered would be here in time - a downside of living on an island is that things take longer to arrive. It's strange that despite spending almost everyday both in and out of work with Kirsty, I couldn't for the life of me think of a suitable gift for ages! Thank goodness I pulled myself together though and it's all sorted now.
(I know she'll be reading this post so don't panic Kirst, your pressie's sorted now!)

Wednesday was my day off and with plans to go out for lunch with some friends I was ready for some chill-out time away from work. That was until I found out we were having lunch at the cafe where I work... This was chummy's idea (my other friend who's also called Kirsty) even though she too works there. However it worked out quite well because we were able to sit in the up-stairs area of the cafe where there were no other people therefore no cafe chaos so I could almost forget we were at work on our day off. Almost.

On Thursday it was back to work and there certainly was a lot of work. It was a very very busy day with hardly a moment to catch your breath. We were so full in fact that when staff went for lunch, rather than sitting at the always free tables that we usually do in the upstairs part of the cafe, we needed to sit either in the back kitchen or on the table used for stacking dirty dishes before they're taken to be washed because everywhere else was in use! Madness. What was also mad was the lack of some people's manners and understanding when we were so busy. I can't count the times when I had drinks to make, orders to take and dishes to collect all in the same moment and a customer decided to come and pay at that very moment in the slowest possible way and with all the change they had whilst I just had to stand there with my (now slightly forced) polite "thankyou" and smile.
I did have something to keep me going however and that was the thought of the lovely roast dinner we were having at the apartment my grandparents are staying in whilst visiting later that evening. Not to mention just the idea of being able to sit down. Both of these I enjoyed so much when I'd finally finished work.

On Friday I was working the morning shift and the idea resting my feet was already on my mind at that time but not because I was tired. The reason I needed to sit down then was because my shoes were killing me. Really badly. It was 100% my own fault though. The day before I had worn my black dolly shoes because the pumps I usually wear to work were wet and gross from the rain - lovely - and because our shoes need to be black for work, the dolly shoes were my only other choice (I don't enjoy black shoe items it seems). I failed to realise that I hadn't worn these shoes in a while so by the end of the day my feet were a little sore from them rubbing but the next day, with my usual shoes still gross, I thought "Oh, they'll be fine today I'm sure!". No. No they were not fine. Within two hours the idea of walking another two meters in them made me want to weep so after 5 hours you can imagine how badly I wanted to sit down and get them off. So when I finished work and got to the bus stop I was thrilled to be getting on the bus to rest until I saw how full the bus was when it turned up. I was basically sitting on the bus drivers knee because it was so full! Like a tin of sardines and I was right at the front so I also had the joys of getting off the bus every time it was someone's stop. Not the best ending to my afternoon. It didn't matter though because I had another lovely dinner with our grandparents- this time at our house- waiting for me when I finally got home and some fluffy cosy uggs calling my poor feet.

The evening was much better because my new camera had arrived (yay!) and I was off out with my friends to Kirsty's house for a sleepover where we got to drive her dad's Kubota (like a farming version of a golf buggy) which was hilarious (and a little scary if you were sat in the back and Iona was driving) before we went in to watch some good films with lots of yummy chocolate goodies. A lovely ending to a not-so-great day!

This is a Kubota

Me and Chummy.

 Iona saying "I'm going to kill you." after I drove a little speedy when she was in the back. Oops.*mwahaha*

So that was my week, how was yours? I'd love to hear about it in the comments! Until my next post, have a lovely few days with lots of smiles and comfy footwear.

Mollie

♥

My Week In A Nutshell

Hello my lovely ladies and gentlemen.

Sorry I’m late with this post but my internet’s been down since Thursday (when I usually upload) so I shall upload Thursday’s post today. Here it is…

***

I'm feeling a little drained today so I don't have a big exciting post lined up - though I hope to have some later in the week. So today shall be another lifestyle post about what I've got up to this week.

On Saturday my grandparents arrived from England for their holiday here on Arran. They'd began their journey at half four in the morning I believe, when they were driven to the train station. (Does that time even exist? It's so early!) This was so that they could arrive on Arran during the afternoon and it was a great time to arrive as it was a beautiful sunny day as it has been for a long time! I can't believe how fabulous the weather has been this year!

Sunday was the "weird day". That is quoting one of my bestfriends, Iona who I might add, began her day by trying to hitchhike the 8 1/2 miles home at 8:30 in the morning because she forgot the buses were different on a Sunday and needed to go home from a friend's before work. One of the many reasons we love her.

The reason it ended up being a "weird day" however, was mainly because of the evening. This is when me, Iona and Chummy (her real name is Kirsty but as we have two bestfriends called Kirsty so we call this one chummy to make life easier) met up after work as usual whilst we waited for our bus. During this time, Chummy wanted to look around one of the shops in the village - where she later purchased another one of at least ten trinket boxes for her room's storage - but me and Iona had ice-creams so we waited outside. After about 10 minutes we began to get a little bored and decided we'd run and hide for chummy to find us once she'd finished shopping. So off we toddled with our ice-creams like little kids to hide near the bank - convenient as I needed to get some money out. This was when I told Iona that I sometimes pay money to my parents for my living costs as I now work and earn enough to do so to which she replied, "What? You pay rent to live in your parents' house?" and I told her "No, I contribute to the house for how much I cost. I cost a lot you know.". We then finished our ice-creams and decided to pop into the co-op because chummy still hadn't made an appearance out of the shop.

Whilst in there, we went to the alcohol section for a while as Iona is now 18 and we felt that it was almost mandatory to do so. In this time chummy had still not turned up and just before we were about to go and rescue her from buying anymore trinket boxes we bumped into a lovely regular from our work who is notorious for hugging everyone who works there whenever she sees us. So after a cuddle we had a bit of a chat with her during which Iona, of course, became distracted and walked away only to return a few moments later with a chocolate cake to show me. After agreeing how nice it looked the ‘hugging lady’ said she was going to buy it for us and before we could say no she had put it through the till and handed it to us whilst we stood there motionless not sure how to cope with this sudden awkward but pleasant position we had just found ourselves in. Our way of coping seemed to be one of a hasty "thankyou" and exit as this is what we did. So out we walked back to pick up chummy and her new trinket box with our gift of a chocolate cake and a few funny looks from the people around us who must have thought that was our only intention of visiting the co - to get cake from nice, hug-giving old ladies.

Tuesday had a similar feel of weirdness as it was the first day in a long time that it properly rained. And I mean rained. I was working that day and within seconds of me arriving the lights in the cafe were flickering and the deep rumble of thunder was echoing. And then the rain started; the kind of rain that if you stood out in it for even a second you'd be drenched. It was so heavy and loud! The building I work in has a metal roof as well so it sounded quite scary. 

Not as scary however, as the sight of 18 damp lady golfers arriving for coffee to escape the rain all at the same time. I'll tell you now, trying to ask who's coffee it was in your hand with the rain hitting off the metal roof and 18 poshly dressed ladies shouting across to one another is not for the faint hearted. "Who's is the white coff- THE WHITE COFFEE!!"

Wednesday, I'm glad to say, was a much quieter day as it was my day off. It began with a much needed lie-in before my grandparents arrived to take me and my sisters out for the day. We had a stroll down to the village and had lunch at a cafe before getting some ice-cream from my mum's shop which is also in the village. (I had the lemon cheesecake ice-cream which was better than my words can express.) After that, we went to the apartment my grandparents are staying at to chill for a while before visiting the beach beside it.

Here me and my sisters worked together - for a change - to create a big heart of sand and some little masterpieces of our own.

My grandparents.

Today was my second and last day off until next week and so my initial plan was to just sit and do nothing. I had forgotten thought that I was meeting with an art gallery owner from the island to get some feedback and advice on my paintings from my Advanced Higher concerning how to go about selling them. It was very useful and he told me that my art, being abstract, may be quite difficult to sell which was a little disheartening but he then said that some of my biro work might be better suited to interior design. In other words having my floral designs on lamps and things. This was really exciting for me to hear as a goal of mine since about half-way through doing my art course was to one day make a business of my own where I sell cushions, aprons, curtains, mugs, you name it, with my art on them. This is why instead of selling my paintings on there own I am going to look into finding some way of getting my art onto the latter list of items beginning with cards. This I hope to do very soon and I will of course share these with you on a future post.

Another exciting thing that happened today (well, for a quiet day anyway) is that I have now ordered a decent camera for my film-making since I have saved up some money to do so! There are so many different budget cameras on the market these days which did not make mine and my dad's job easy as we searched through page after page of "the best budget cameras". I have found one I like though and cannot wait for it to arrive so I can try it out. I think I'll post a review on it as well once I've got a handle of it so that'll be coming up in the next few weeks as well as lots of videos hopefully! Yay!

That's pretty much everything of interest that happened this week. Not one to blow your socks off but still a good week. I have also decided this week that I will definitely be posting more than once a week so prepare to see me more than just every Thursday. *distant scream*.

So until my next post, I hope you have a lovely couple of days and make many happy memories, 

Mollie

♥

P.S. I almost forgot. Me and my mum have also spent today setting up and starting her new blog and I know she would love it if you would check it out HERE. Thanks <3

Frolickings With Friends

Hello everyone.

How has your week been? I feel like I'm the only one doing the talking and as patient as you are reading all my weekly ramblings I'd love to hear back from you guys even if you were simply organising your sock drawer. (I wonder if anyone does that).

This week I have been working A LOT which hasn't been too bad as we all know I enjoy it there but it has been tiring. That's why me and my friends decided we would make the most of our evenings and meet up after work to chill and eat cakes and other yummy treats. 

As you can tell from these photos the weather has been fabulous. I love it when the weather is like this because it make Arran look almost like a tropical island rather than an often damp Scottish one.
To make the most of the weather, me and my friend Kirsty decided to meet up on one of our few joint days off yesterday and go to our island's main town for lunch, shopping and sunbathing. 

We began by hitting the charity shop which I love visiting because you never know what you might find. I bought a new bag, scarf and, my favourite purchase of the day, a gorgeous little vintage teapot candle-holder.

After spending no more than £7 on our bargain purchases we did a little more shopping and then went to lunch at ... the cafe where we both work. Trust us to spend our day off work at our place of work. 

Whilst walking there through the blistering heat we bumped into Ross, a boy from our year, who came and joined us. It felt really strange having lunch at work and being served by our friends but it was handy for them as they stole a nacho each time they walked by.

After lunch we decided we would play mini golf and get ice-creams.The only thing was we did both at the same time meaning an impressive juggling act between not letting the ice-cream melt and not falling behind on the golf was performed. Pressure was added when we decided the loser would have to go in the sea which, despite the very hot temperatures, didn't sound too inviting as we were picking up our other friends, Kirsty and Iona, shortly after and I didn't want to leave a trail of wet footprints and laughing strangers through the village .

Luckily for me I didn't lose! Unlucky for Kirsty, she did. She kept up the bet though, much to the surprise of me and Ross, and she waded on in without hesitation.

After Kirsty finally re-emerged it was time for us to pick up other Kirsty and Iona and for Ross to go to work.

With the four of us united there was more swimming in the sea, sunbathing and chocolate-y goodies. What more could a girl ask for?

 Kirsty after she lost mini golf

 Kirsty's trail after being in the sea

The two Kirstys

Kirsty: "Is it coooooold?!"

 Chilling in the sun and watching the bags

 Today was my second day off and after going out in the sun all of yesterday, I decided to have a chill out day at home where I could plan my next week and collect my thoughts. I also decided that I should probably clean my death trap of a room which now looks somewhat presentable after a few hours of work and smells like blueberries thanks to a candle I bought yesturday. Yummy.

All in all it's been a good week and all my working means I'm earning lots of pennies which I'm hoping to save up to buy a good camera so I can properly start making videos. Hooray.
Sometime next week when my brain's alarm clock kicks in I will have my "Mollie's Thoughts" post up . Until then, I hope the weather is as lovely for you as it is here and that you have fun in whatever you get up to. Don't forget to leave me a comment letting me know what you got up to! I'd love to hear.

Mollie

♥