Going away!

Today my boyfriend Richard got the train down from Durham to my place in Wigan for us to go on holiday! The plan is: tomorrow we get the local train to my dad's place in Liverpool, and Friday morning we're getting a 9:35am flight from Liverpool John Lennon to Faro airport in Portugal, so excited! We'll be there for a week so no more posts for a while, but when I'm back expect a mega photo overload!

{Me and Rich on our way to Spain on our first holiday, 2010}

That's all for now folks!
Fran
xoxox

"One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”

 – Henry Miller

"Penny Lane is in my ears, and in my eyes..."

Well not really with Penny Lane being in the suburbs an' all, but you get the gist! Today me and mother went shopping in Liverpool; I treated her to a Cafe Nero lunch and we picked up quite a few goodies I thought I'd share with you all!

  

{Outfit Share! What I went shopping in today, sorry for the miserable face, I'm concentrating!}

{I got these for my friend Lauren for her 21st :)}

{I've been looking for a nice pair of high waisted jeans for ages and I finally managed to find these at a place called Pull + Bear.  I've never even heard of the place before but my mum bought a top from there or something a while back so she was really pleased with herself that she's like down with the kids haha! You can't really see what they look like so I thought I'd try them on :) DOWNSIDE: had to buy a size 14 which I honestly am NOT, swear the sizing was age specific in there!}

{Nice little surprise for the day:  I went to Boots to pick up some foundation and a primer when I saw there was a 3 for 2 deal on Bourjois products and you get a free pair of sunglasses, win! Now I know I picked up a couple of shades the other day, but these aren't really me anyway, they're massive on my face! But I thought the case is pretty nice, and it's got a zip on it so I can put some euros in with my sunnies and they'll both be protected on the beach!  Also, you may be wondering where my third product is, I decided to be a loving daughter and give my mum the freebie haha, how nice is that?! 

Btw: Bourjois Healthy Mix serum in Vanilla, £10.99 and Bourjois Flower Perfection primer £9.99}

{Shorts £10 Primark: Primark vs Topshop note, they sell like exactly the same pair in Topshop for £32 that I almost bought, so glad I didn't!}

{My tribute to francescadanielle.blogspot.com haha (for future ref in case I change the design, I used to have a yellow and white polkadot background!) Oasis, £3 in the sale :) I thought this would look really nice on the beach, hopefully sort of the Notebook-esque!}

And with that, I bid you adieu!

Muchos love

xoxox

Fathers' Day Continued...

In the spirit of Fathers Day, I thought I'd upload some old snaps that I took on my Blackberry when we went on holiday for my dad's 50th, hope you like them!

Key West 2010

Happy Fathers Day!

Hope you all had fun spoiling your dads' today! I don't know about anyone else, but i really struggle buying men pressies, so I treated me and my dad to home made pizza, a bottle of plonk and a trip to the cinema to watch Men in Black 3 :)

What did everyone else get up to today? As well, I've got plenty of birthdays coming up, so your thoughts on pressie ideas are more than welcome!

Love Fran
xoxox

Nail it #1: Hawaiian

In other news, I did my nails today so I thought I might give a little tutorial on them.  I don't have any nail pens, so I just try and find designs that are really easy to do with the nail polish brushes, or occasionally a cotton bud!  This one is probably my fave, it's super simple and I always get compliments when I do them.

Step One: Painting your nails white.

Easier said than done! I don't know if it's the white I use (Marks & Spencer White Tip) but I think white nail polish is the hardest to apply.  My advice is to do at least two thick coats, and don't fuss about being too neat around the edges.  Once you have a thick even coverage, soak a cotton bud in nail polish remover and dab across the white bits around your nails.

StepTwo: The flowers

I use 17 Fast Finish in Knockout Red from Boots, for me they give decent enough coverage and at £1.99 you can't really complain!  Do the flowers in diagonally opposite corners, first painting the petal that's at a diagonal angle, and then doing a petal either side of it. 

Step Three: The middles

Once everything is dry, filling in the middle of the flowers really finishes it off.  You can't really tell from the photos but I fill the middle with 17 in Pink Grapefruit, also Boots.  

Step Four: Top Shine

Putting a top coat over these once the pink has dried, and then once every couple of days makes the design last for ages! I use Barry M Basecoat, Topcoat & Nail Hardener ALL IN ONE and it lasts so well that I only get rid of the nail polish when I get tired of it haha, not because its chipped!

Et Voila!

I think using the white nailpolish really makes this design stand out, and the great thing about it is you can spice it up using any colours you want!  Next time I'm thinking of trying yellow and brown for sunflowers, not that I have brown but I feel it's something my mum probably has stashed away! 

Hope you like the design, and if you have any suggestions for other nail art then I would love to hear your ideas!

Muchos love,

Fran

xoxox

Bye House!

This morning I went back to Sheffield to sort bringing my stuff home for the summer, I can't believe I've been at Uni for three years already, how quick did that go?! Me and Rich moved into this place last July and we've had such a lovely year together.  In first year we lived in Endcliffe Village, which is like halls in Sheffield, and we were room mates so that's how we met :)  Then in second year it was me, Rich and three girls that we lived with in first year, so after that we thought it was time to get a place for ourselves.  I'm staying on for another year to do my Masters, and Rich is graduating next month, so who knows what the future holds for us.  He's moved from London to County Durham last summer so it's going to be long distance from now on, which is going to be crazy hard after living together for three years! Whatever happens though, this year was really great, and I wouldn't change it for the world. 

Sorry for the mushy post, I'm feeling a tad sentimental! 

Holiday Spesh: A quick shopping trip and introducing... the piece de resistance!

So this time next week me and the boyfriend Rich will be in sunny Portugal!  Super excited about it, but I've still not got loads of stuff, so today I enlisted my friend Jen from Uni to help and we went shopping in Manchester for stuff.

We went to Tampopo for lunch which is this great little chain that does food from all over East Asia, yum!  They also have this £7.95 starter and main deal on, so I went for the corn fritters for my starter and ramen noodles stir fry for my main, it was gorgeous! 

Anywhoo, back to shopping:  I had quite a big primark haul today, and I've included a bikini I bought a few weeks ago from Topshop. I cannot TELL you how long I looked for the perfect high waisted bikini, and the day that Topshop came out with this little beauty I snapped it up! I think high waisted bikinis are a bit of a marmite subject, but I can't wait to be strutting my stuff in those granny pants haha! Here's some snaps I took of all my holiday gear :)

{Dress £6 Primark}

 {Bikini Top: £4.50 Bikini Bottoms: £3, both New Look}

 {Sunglasses: £2 Sun Hat £5 Sarong £4, all Primark}

{Sunglasses £1, Primark}

 {Shoes £6 Primark}

 {Bikini Set £32 Topshop}

And last but not least, my holiday charm bracelet! This term I made good friends with a girl from Australia called Adrianne, and I got us these bracelets matching as a leaving present.  She's doing a last ditch tour of Europe now before she goes home in a few weeks, and then I'll eagerly be awaiting my aussie inspired packages! I've got her a bit hooked on English goodies so I'll be sending some good old fashioned Dairy Milk her way soon!

My plans for Summer

Doing a Torville:  

Me and my mum were watching Dancing on Ice a couple of months ago and we decided that once I finished my exams we're gonna become skating pros! Both of us can't actually stand on ice without holding the side so it should be interesting haha.

{Photo from romeforchildren.com}

I like to move it move it: 

NEED to get fit again! At my peak last summer I could swim a mile, which is about 65 lengths so getting back to that again would be fab.  Also, just having general sit ups/lunges/squats motivation would be good, (anyone tried chair squats? It's torture!) I WILL be toned!

{Photo from blog.reuters.com}

We are FAMILY hey-hey-hey-heyeyyy:

I love being away at Uni, but getting to spend time with the fam again will be great, we're a pretty tight knit bunch. 

Reading:

My cousin Dom lent me 'The Hunger Games' the other day andI'm already half-way through the second book, majorly addictive!  I'm thinking of starting 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' trilogy after that.  Is there any books anyone's hooked on at the moment? Any recommendations would be lovely!

{Photo from  http://weheartit.com/entry/15057031 }

Crafty Things:

Don't you just love buying new arts supplies?! I've just bought a new scrapbook and I can't wait to get my hands on it! My dad is amazing at anything artsy and I'm not completely awful so we've got a few ideas in the mix to get working on.  Also I've been reading the lovely Victoria's Lily Loves Lola blog and I'm now tempted to give knitting a whirl!

{Photo from timezoneblog.com}

Workin' 9 til 5...:

I've had an interview today at a local nursing home and provided my CRB checks through, I could be looking at bank staff work in a month, woop!

{Photo from walluk.co.uk} 

Get back on that horse!:

I used to ride when I was little until I got bucked off during a jump, and last summer holiday I decidedto give it a go again. I'ma complete beginner now but I don't mind, and my dad says he fancies giving it a go which should be fun!

That's all I can come up with for now,any suggestions are more than welcome! Think I might curl up with a cuppa and the Hunger Games haha,

Muchos love

xoxox

Movie Love: One Day

                   

“Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles, live passionately and fully and well. Experience new things. Love and be loved, if you ever get the chance”   -  David Nicholls

Hey!

                              

Welcome to my blog!  So I'm a bit of a newby when it comes to this, but I thought making a blog would be a great idea to put all my little memories together so I have something to look back on :) 

A bit about me:

My name is Fran, I'm 20 years old and my home town is Wigan.  I've just finished three years of Maths at Sheffield Uni, and right now I've got 13 weeks of summer to look forward to!  I'm into pretty much all the usual girly stuff, plus some swimming (when I can drag myself to the gym!) and the occassional bit of photography. I'm hoping this blog can be a combo of beauty, travelling, photos and the odd inspirational quote, I'm a bit of a sucker for them!

Muchos love

xoxox

{Photo found on http://paintedfishstudio.com/?p=824 )