A Walk in the Countryside

Normally I only visit my dad's house twice a year (even though it is only a half an hour car ride away) as he lives I'm my old hometown where I spent the majority (16 years) of my life growing up. However since my boyfriend had two days off work I thought it would be a brilliant opportunity for him to "get to know" my dad a little better.

We arrived on Friday evening where we were treated to some food at the local pub. I opted for a vegetarian lasagne whilst the boy's went for the Scampi and  Chips deal. It was a lovely evening to just have a chat and a catchup, dad and Ben even had a mutual friend in common...weird!

The next day we woke up bright and early for once (9AM) and munched on our peanut butter and Nutella covered crumpets in front of The Amazing Spiderman.

Here was my outfit for the day:

Jacket - Topshop || Top - Forever21 || Jeans - Forever21 || Pandora Bracelet || Brown Ankle Boots

After breakfast we headed out a walk to a nearby reservoir (popping into the corner shop for some sweeties on the way). We then walked to the nearby park, taking time to stroll past my old house where I spent the first 16 years of my life!

We then walked down to the near-by park where we spent a good few hours playing on the swings, the monkey bars and all-sorts! Seeing that the toddler park was deserted we took over and made good use of the seahorses. However I made the bad decision of boasting that I was small enough to fit in a children's swing; I successfully managed to fit in one but then got stuck, so poor Ben had the struggle of pulling me out (much to my embarrassment).

The big dome swing was my favourite though, as we both laid in the dome enjoying the sunshine and a small breeze; it was like paradise! We stayed in that position for a good hour or so...

We then took ANOTHER walk (see a theme forming here?) to the beach/deserted sand mines where my shoes got ruined by the mud! Although I found a cute two-part seashell and i'm planning to create a necklace from it (blog post coming soon!) 

To end the weekend we drove down to the nearest town with the roof back to make the most of the sunshine, and all three of us (Dad, Ben and I) had an ice cream with a flake. Although we made a quick get away when the swans started chasing us!

Overall It was a beautiful, relaxing and fun weekend that I think ill never forget. Hopefully we'll go back there soon when its hot and go to a proper beach!

How have you been enjoying the April Sunshine?

Trip to NYC: Day 3 - Empire State Building

On our third day in the Big Apple, Alice and I took advantage of the beautiful scenery next to our hostel and paraded around central park for a couple of hours. Our group then set off to the second art gallery of the tip, all the way on West 20th Street which was over 40 blocks away! One of the pieces at the David Zchwirner gallery was to experience a white "dome" space where you couldn't see the ceiling or the edges of the room and you could only hear the echoes of your footsteps (seriously messing with one's mind)

My college art project was focusing on body image and size, so we thought a trip to Mcdonalds maybe could be passed off as "educational"? I made full use of this opportunity and ordered a large (extra-large in UK) meal, which unfortunately defeated my mighty stomach. Whilst at Mcdoanlds we also took lots of selfies and were spotted by a group of Americans who later stopped us outside and asked for a group selfie which was massive surprise to us!

As I had been to NYC before with my mother I knew the best time to visit the Empire State Building was at sunset so I made sure myself and the girls got tickets and got up to the top before the queues started! The view was spectacular and because we went about 5ish we managed to catch New York in the day, at sunset and at night. I know the girls enjoyed their first experience on the empire state (from what they've told me!) even if was absolutely freezing! So I really recommend going just before sunset if you want the best views and photo's.

(the view from the empire state building)

Since it was only a couple of blocks away we walked to Times Square, however it was the coldest weather I had ever experienced, so to try and keep warm we three created a tightly linked formation to walk in (not the most conventional of idea's) and waddled all the way. We managed to find a TGI Friday's and have a spot of dinner, Zoe and Abi going for burgers and myself opting for a children's spaghetti, needless to say it aaas more of a large portion than a children's!

After dinner we were hoping to do some shopping but we were so exhausted from walking and the cold that we decided to get a taxi back to the hostel (so boring I know!)

Im off to NYC!

I just wanted to update and let all of you lovely readers know I will be absent from blogging from the 3rd-8th of March.

This is because on Monday I jet off to the famous streets of the Big Apple! Yes NEW YORK!

This will be the second time I've been to NYC, the last time being in July 2010 (ages ago I know!) and will be an "educational trip" with my Art Foundation course.

I will be taking lots of photographs and writing posts up in my mini-notebook the whole time so look forward to those going up when I arrive home.

au revoir

GlossyBox Review || July 2013

I bought my first ever GlossyBOX in july and I must say I was mightly impressed! The products came in a little turquoise box with little coral images on it (very suitable for the month). 

I wanted to start off with my favorite product from the July box, the "Bamboo Style Boho Waves Tousled Hair Mist". Normally on a day-to-day basis I dont like doing anything fancy with my hair, it takes way too much time and effort for the 5 minutes I get in the morning before college (I confess I am that person who will skip doing their hair occasionally in the mornings), but spritzing a couple of pumps of this each morning gave my natural waves a boost and transformed them into cute curls instead of frizz. I've been dying to get some sea salt spray for months and now I can't live without it!

For those of you living in or visiting hot countries this summer staying cool is essential and so is this facial spritz by antamologie. One thing I want to highlight is that it has a very unique smell as the product also contains lavender! I honestly don't know how to explain it except by using the word "fresh". I would of preferred this as body spritz instead of facial spritz.

One product I didn't enjoy was the "Sleek Pout Paint", it was a very big disappointment. Supposedly "Lip Paint" is meant to provide you with long lasting and full colour however when I tried it it actually felt like I was applying acrylic paint to my lips (not a nice experience). Apperence-wise it looked like a young child had drawn all over my lips in windows paint, definitely would not recommend this.

I didn't have much use for this "Coola Mineral Suncream" as I live in the UK (it rains A LOT). However my new NARS foundation (as you may have seen on my youtube channel) doesn't contain SPF, which being a "pale freckled red head" was my worst nightmare! People with fair skin have to take extra precautions to protect their skin as we get sunburnt easily which causes skin damage, wrinkles and could leave us with a high risk of skin cancer (so for extra protection I used it under my everyday make-up). It's scent is almost a combination of plastic and suncream, but it left my skin soft and protected, which made me feel good inside and out.

Last but not least is the "Essie Sleek Stick" which I had high hopes for after reading rave reviews about "Essie's" nail products. They come in a range of different patterns which all look lovely however most of the nail stickers said to have been "designed to fit perfectly for my nail" really didn't and only covered up about half of my nail. Also I found that I the nail stickers were very delicate and would bend on themselves if brushed against something slightly making them very impractical. In the end they were half-peeling off my nails by a few hours so I decided to take them off. I liked the look of this product however these beauties were not long-lasting!

All together I was very happy with my first beauty box, and I am looking forward to trying out and reviewing even more unique products in the future.

What beauty boxes have you tried and tested? and which one is your favourite?

Tweet me at @AnnieeeMAC

♥

"Exploring Canada" continued

For the last post in my "Exploring Canada" Series I head off to Ottawa to visit my relatives. Since 2011 I've only been on a couple of city holiday's (i.e. sightseeing) with my mum, and this year after finishing my A2 exams it was really refreshing to go on holiday to just relax by the pool with an ice cream.

We took many (too many for my tummy) trips down to the quaint town of "Merrickville" for original ice cream, including a watermelon flavor and an orange/black licorice flavor (yuck!), we also had a couple of boxes of "Poutine". Now for those of you who have no idea what i'm on about "Poutine" is a traditional Canadian specialty, made up of chips smothered in gravy and cheese curds. Sounds disgusting right? It has to be one of my top must-try food's if your heading to Canada on a holiday! It tastes delicious and is highly addictive.

For a fun activity we decided to go out white water rafting for the day, perfect for a hot summers day! We went with OWL rafting who provided us with excellent (not to mention gorgeous looking) guides for the day, and we set off on a yellow school bus (I have an unhealthy obsession with these vehicles). During the day we paddled our way through several rapids and even surfed against a few! Due to being in a sports raft (6 people) instead of a 12 man raft we were bound to find ourselves in the rapids a little...big understatement.

This is my favourite shot from the holiday, it's my younger cousin "Drew" and myself at his 16th Birthday party. To conclude this post I had a lovely time in Canada and I can't wait to go back next year! It was a wonderful way to socialise with my much missed cousins and the trip really motivated me to get off my sofa and do something with my life, so here is a little bit of motivation for you:

Hope that gives you guys some happiness for the week, do tell me if you would like to see more travel posts or motivational posts in the comments below or tweet me at:

@annieeemac

Also I have joined bloglovin! So remember to follow my blog on there and my "Exploring Canada" video should on Youtube by monday :)

♥