Update!!

So, I've been into Boots THREE times to get the BB cream to write my review, and everytime, they've been out of stock!

Apparently it's been flying off the shelves and they were out of stock at the warehouse...Anyways, bear with me, I haven't forgotten and will keep trying!

In other news....I've installed a 'Like' button at the bottom of my posts, please click this if you like a particular post, it's a nice easy way of giving feedback so that I know what to write more of!

I've got a couple of posts planned for the near future, but the dreaded exams are upon me, so I may be a little quiet for a while!

In the mean time, take care!
 X

Valentine’s Day – A nation divided?

The shops are full with horrendously overpriced pink and red fluffy things, and card companies are competing for ‘the most vomit-inducing, slush-fest card’ award.

Valentine’s Day is a bit like Marmite - you either love it or you hate it. And, whilst I’ve seen a few people saying how they don’t do anything for it with their partners, I have noticed that many people’s opinions of Valentine’s Day seem to change depending on their relationship status…

Certainly Valentine’s Day can be slightly depressing when you are single - I’ve had about 10 emails a day for the last 2 weeks from various shopping sites reminding me to buy now for delivery in time for Valentine’s Day (Guess that serves me right for having an online shopping habit!). Each of these emails has been promptly deleted, unread.

But I have to say, having spent the last few years in a relationship agonising over ‘Should I get something for him, how much is too much, how much is too little’, I’m actually quite happy that this year Valentine’s Day is passing me by with no stress!

You see, I DO agree with people when they say that Valentine’s Day is a manufactured scam to get people to part with their hard-earned cash. I DO think that if you love someone then you should do nice things for them all year round, not just one day that is dictated by society. 

BUT…having said that, Valentine’s Day is thought to have originated around Roman times (long before Clinton Cards got on the bandwagon), and there are many theories of who Valentine was.

My personal favourite is the story that the Roman Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men, because single men were better soldiers, and Valentine was a priest who defied him by marrying young lovers in secret! It’s theorized that he was then put to death when he was discovered, hence his sainthood. 

Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love, and really what is wrong with that?!

Yes, it’s over-marketed, overpriced and over-the-top these days, but you CAN choose not to participate in this side of it!

Show your appreciation for your partner every day of the year, but on Valentine’s Day why NOT use it as an excuse to do something extra special? Cook a meal, bake some homemade heart-shaped cookies, make a card, light some candles!

To me the most important thing would simply be to spend some quality time with my partner, so coupled up people, embrace the fact that society provides you with the perfect opportunity to do so!

This year I am happily single, and in all honesty, for all my moaning I don’t really mind all the Valentine’s Day propaganda.  It doesn’t make me feel bad that I haven’t got someone in my life that I want to share this day with, but excited for when I do have someone, and happy for my friends who already have that.

So I guess it isn’t a love or hate kind of day. Now tell me, what are your feelings on Marmite?

Happy Valentine's Day! X

Jo Carnegie Book Review

Firstly, apologies for a) not posting in a loooong time, uni has kept me rather busy lately, and b) for not posting the BB cream review - every time I go into Boots it's out of stock!

So to keep you going, I'm going to chat about some books I recently bought...

Browsing in Tesco the other day I saw they had a twin pack of books by Jo Carnegie - 'Country Pursuits' and 'Horse Play'. The blurbs hailed the books as 'The new SATC - Sex and the Country, and Carnegie as "The next Jilly Cooper".
Now, I like Sex and the City, and I've never read Jilly Cooper, but the little giggle my Mum gives every time a Jilly Cooper novel comes up in conversation made me want to try these books by Carnegie.

So I soon worked out that both books were part of a series about the little village of Churchminster.
Annoyingly, Country Pursuits is the first in the series, whilst Horse Play is the last...so I guess a trip to WH Smith is in order!

Both books contain a lot of the same characters, the majority of whom are loaded rah-types that try to buy whatever they want.
That said, whilst it would be easy to hate a lot of the characters, Carnegie has a neat trick of showing their more human sides, and the stories tend to focus on problems that can't always be solved with money - adultery, custody battles, estranged parents, ill spouses.
In both books there is a central theme that pulls the members of the village together: in Country Pursuits, it's the threat of a new housing estate taking over some nearby land; in Horse Play it's the development of a locally owned racehorse.

Personally I thought that some of the characters and scenarios were a little hard to believe for a book that was set in the real world. However...that's exactly what I want from a fiction book!!
For me, reading books is a way to unwind from the day and forget about my own life, and these books allowed me to get caught up in the glamorous lives of the people in this supposedly quaint little village.

I found it hard to put the books down, and yet there were some points where I almost didn't want to keep on read on because Carnegie had taken a problem so far that how could it possibly get any better?!

Overall, I would recommend these books as great for a bit of light escapism.
Personally I will definitely be buying the books in between these two!

Happy Reading! X