Cheryl...loves her iPad!

So this is my first post from my brand new shiny iPad and I absolutely love it! I thought typing on it would be a nightmare but I am actually getting used to it. I have mostly spent the time taking silly photos, downloading tons of apps and watching videos. The main thing I love about it is the crispy clear screen, it is a joy to look it. Having used it for two days now here are some of the things I have noticed...

* The screen is exactly the right sensitivity

* The battery life so far is fantastic and has lasted a pretty long time with me using it looooots

* It is much heavier than I expected and not very comfortable to hold

* The apps are very fast to download and easy to use

* The camera isn't great especially with low light when it is awful and very grainy

* It was very quick and easy to set up

I haven't done much on it so far other than take silly pictures and join Instagram although I will probably mostly share my pictures on here! 

You can find my instagram profile here so please follow if you want to!

http://instagram.com/cherbearboos

I have been coming home every evening, getting in my onesie or comfy pjs and just playing it on all the time! Hopefully Michael doesn't feel like I am neglecting him at all haha ;) Other than that, I have just been working hard this week and this weekend I hope to get most of my Christmas shopping finished. I am going to make a visit to a favourite shop of mine...Matalan! I buy a lot of their stuff online but can never be bothered to go to their store, even though there is one only about 4 or 5 miles away! So lets hope I get some bargains!

Hope you're all having a fab week, I promise my next blog post will be slightly more interesting! x

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I can't believe it's nearly December and I have been writing my blog for 7 months now! Thank you to everyone who reads it, I don't have many followers but I do notice that from time to time I get a nice big surge of views on here which is lovely and even when I don't post quite a lot of people read it. I am hoping my lovely Ipad will arrive tomorrow and from then on I shall blog from there, I am so excited! I have lots of nice things planned for the next few weeks, I thought I would share with you what I am excited about...

Christmas Trip to Canterbury

Michael and I are going on a little weekend break on the 15th to Canterbury and I can't wait. We love the place and we will visit the market, do some shopping and visit the beautiful cathedral.

Holiday from work

I am off work from 21st December-7th Jan, whopeee! I love working in a school around Christmas time especially as our nativity is coming up soon and all the kids get excited. I can't wait to have the time off the finishing buying gifts, spending time with my loved one and eating in excess.

 

Going to see The Hobbit 

Michael and I have been waiting for this for a long time and it's nearly time! We are massive fans of LOTR and will be seeing this in the cinema. In an Imax. In 3D.

 

Spending Christmas with family at home

Can't wait <3

New Years Eve

Around New Year's I will be going down to see Michael's family which will be lovely and New Year's Eve will be my mum and me.

A few other things I love about December:

*Snuggling in my onesie

*The Christmas TV guide coming out

*Snowy evenings

*Cold crisp days

*Wearing funky coloured ear muffs

*Cuddling in the warm with Michael

*Christmas TV specials

* That Christmas Eve feeling

*Opening and giving pressies

*Boxing Day food overload

*Making new year's resolutions

xoxo 

Cheryl....treats herself!

Well I finally committed to buying an Ipad, how very exciting. I have been thinking about buying one all year but I was always concerned about the price and the fact that I already use my laptop a lot. I guess I feared it was all style over substance but I guess I shall see! At work we are lucky to have Ipads in the class for the kids and having played on them myself and looking at its features, I decided to get one of my own.

I work about 35 hours a week and earn what I would call a pretty minimal amount (I work damn hard for it though!) so I thought I would research options for buying the Ipad and paying it off in installments. A lot of people don't like the 'buy now pay later' option but this is what I went for. With Very, you are able to use their BNPL option and defer payement for 12 months without interest. What interested me was the fact you can pay off chunks within the time frame of whatever amount you want. I am very lucky that my Mum and Michael have given me a chunk towards it as an early Christmas gift but the rest I hope to have paid off by early next year. I don't feel like it's a debt hanging over me as I am confident I can pay off the rest soon. In the meantime, I shall enjoy the benefits of an Ipad, yipeeee! When I receive it, I shall post an honest review of it. I have already started to look at cute covers and accessories for it (no doubt they will be Hello Kitty themed!)

I have had a good week at work this week although feeling a little down the past few days and panicky. This has certainly picked me up though!I have spent the past few days coming home from work, getting in my pjs and watching my Downton Abbey boxset! Also I am seeing my lovely friends this weekend to celebrate a birthday and have lots of quiz related fun! I have bought myself a few bits and pieces since pay day but nothing major. I had to get a new purse and bought this one from Ebay for £12. I love the tapestry cat print and hope to get a bigger bag in the same material.

 Tonight Michael is making us one of his amazing curries, going to watch a film and get a decent sleep! 4 weeks until the Christmas holidays, time is flying past and I need to get busy wrapping pressies!

HOLIDAYS ARE COMING!

XOXO

Wearing glasses

I remember my first ever pair of glasses. I was 8 and they were red Mickey Mouse ones and I thought I was so cool. Back then, I didn't care about what I looked like or how I may appear to others. As I grew older and my sight began to get worse, I was very reluctant to even wear glasses even though I knew I should. As my teenage years approached, I wore my glasses on and off but hated how I look in them. I would hide them away and just put up with the fact that I couldn't see everything clearly. In hindsight, it didn't help at all and as time went by, my sight just got worse until I had to admit defeat, I had to wear them more. I got new glasses in my early 20's and began to feel a little more confident. A year or so ago, I bought myself some new brown glasses from Specsavers and I feel a lot more able to wear them out now-in fact I wear them all the time except for when I am sleeping obviously.

However I still always take them off for photos which is why some people may be surprised that I wear glasses all the time. There are probably only about 5 photos of me that exsist where I am wearing them! For so long it has been a reflex action for me to just whip them off when a camera comes out because I have always been so self conscious. I realise though that it is all in me, this feeling of looking ugly in my glasses and that other people see it differently. Wearing glasses is so 'in trend' now that it does annoy me when you see people wearing them without even any lenses in! People say well why don't you wear contact lenses but really, I cannot be bothered with the stress and discomfort of them. As I get older, I begin to care less and less about what others think and go with what feels best for me.

There are a few celebrities who have inspired me to keep wearing my glasses-particularly the beautiful Zooey Deschanel who just rocks a pair of specs like nobody's business. As well as celebrities such as Tina Fey who make me feel like it is sexy to wear glasses and the old 'geeky four eyed' cliche is long gone.

So I will do my best to wear glasses in my pictures sometimes. After all, they are attached to me for 75% of my day, so why not! 

xoxo

Wedding Planning: Stars and Moon Theme

I love all this wedding planning/researching lark. Michael and I aren't really comitting to any particular place or date right now but that doesn't stop me coming up with all these ideas and themes. I have mentioned Pinterest many a time (every other blog post haha) but I use it all the time to create boards for wedding planning and it's perfect for gathering ideas. I love anything with stars and moons on and I thought this would make a really great theme for a wedding and something maybe slightly different from your normal vintage theme which I am sure many couples are doing (still love it but you know what I mean). Here are some of my ideas, do you think it could work?

A giant moon and stars, posing for pictures underneath, very romantic!

Lovely stars and moon quotes everywhere like this

A cake with moon and stars, this is so unique!

Cute cupcakes

Adorable little moon sandwiches

Star lights everywhere!!

THESE SHOES!

And this ring!

 

XOXO

Christmas Party Dresses!

So I have been searching online for the past few weeks for some party dresses for the coming Christmas season! I only have one party to go to at the moment but hopefully I'll get invited to more. If not, it's never a bad thing to have new pretty dresses! I have a lot of casual, day dresses in my wardrobe but not many 'fancy' going out dresses and the ones I do have, I feel are a little outdated! I am really fussy when it comes to things like this and can spend hours online on websites like ASOS. I have bought this dress on there, reduced to £12 from £40 and it's a lovely fit. Plus you can never go wrong with florals! I have also seen these dresses I like on various websites...

ASOS Strapless Dress In Floral Print-£12

I couldn't resist this when I saw it on ASOS-you can't see it but it has a sweetheart neckline and I always find that quite flattering to my chest region as it's not particularly big lol. 

Matalan Be Beau Embroidered Neckline Dress-£30

This dress is so unique and pretty and not like many other typical party dresses for sale-the colour is gorgeous and the price is reasonable I think as it looks great quality and had some good reviews!

 

New Look Black Sparkle Velvet 1/2 Sleeve Skater Dress-£16.99

I just love skater dresses and velvet AND sparkly things, what a great combination! I am almost definitely going to buy this when I get paid tomorrow!

 

ASOS Pretty Lace Skater Dress-£24.50

When buying party dresses, I normally go for red as I think the colour suits brunettes. I love lace too so this dress is perfect for me!

Topshop Sequin Skater Dress-£65

This may be a little bit overloaded with sequins but if you can't get sparkly and spangly at Christmas then when can you?! It looks like it could be quite heavy but the style looks so flattering! 

 This week has been pretty quiet and just been busy working and counting the days until the weekend/Christmas holidays-only 5 weeks to go! I am currently loving I'm a Celebrity Get me Out of Here as well as X Factor. I LOVE James Arthur, what a talent and so original too. I sort of hope he doesn't win as the contestants who come 2nd/3rd always seem to do better. Tonight Michael is making us a fry-up and I have the suffer the awful burden that is ITV football. PANTS.

xoxo

Sunday catch up!

It's been a while since I have blogged hasn't it? I have just had a real lack of inspiration to blog this week, I have been busy at work and just tired and feeling unmotivated! On Monday I had a little operation on my toe (unfortunately I was blessed with big feet and big toes!) where they removed an ingrown toenail. It was pretty uncomfortable and I found it hard to walk for a few days so I didn't go back to work until Wednesday! 

Yesterday Michael and I had one of our famous date days-we try and make sure we spend a whole day together every few weeks just us. Even though we have lived together for such a long time (over 5 years) we never get bored of eachothers company! We are not only partners but best friends too. We didn't want to spend too much so we headed to Frankie and Benny's where Michael had his favourite calzone and I went for their steak. I love steak well done and it was pink inside! So not impressed with F&B's right now! Still it was lovely to spend time together and then we did a little shopping, came home and snuggled up in bed to watch a film (funny one called Open Season).

Today I went to the 'London Vintage Wedding Fair' in Chiswick, West London with my Mum! I just went for some inspiration really, not to buy or book anything as we have a lot going on at the moment :) But it really was lots of fun! Me and my Mum had some lovely lunch in their tea rooms. 

I browsed hundreds of beautiful dresses. I was so tempted by many of them but saw a wonderful original 50's lace wedding dress. It looked pretty old and dusty but the design was so original which is exactly what I want.

I saw some fantastic ideas for artifical lace flowers, vintage tea parties as well as this lovely idea to have a vintage ice cream van! 

 

I would definitely want something like that. I picked up tons of leaflets and going to add them to my wedding planner tonight.    

  I have been up to much this week other than resting my foot, buying Christmas presents online and working! 6 weeks until we break up for Christmas holidays and I really can't wait!

xoxo 

How to get a cheap holiday!

One of the things I get asked often is 'How did you book that holiday for so little money?' It is true that with a lot of hard research and time, I have saved Michael and I A LOT of wonga on trips abroad. We have been to Morocco for a week for just over £200 each, Rome for under £400 and Barcelona for about £250 each for example. Over the past 5 years I have seen flight and hotel prices steadily increase but I always manage to get us a good deal and save a significant amount. So how do I do it? Here are some of my tips for spending as little as possible on holidays...

Be prepared to research

Such a simple tip but be prepared to do lots of internet research, you need a lot of patience and willingness to trawl through websites for the best prices. I do recommend using comparison websites but more often than not they don't show me the deals I really want. Google is your best friend-you may need to spend a few hours properly searching but you will get there.

 

Don't go for the first price you see

It's tempting just to book the first deal/holiday package you see because you think it's pretty good value. DON'T DO IT. I have always found the cheapest flights/hotels after a couple of searches. 

 

Be willing to book FAR in advance 

Yes you can get some amazing holidays deals 'last minute' but if you are like me and like to have things planned out in advance then it's always important to be willing to start early. For our summer holidays, I usually book in Jan/Feb time and watch over the coming months how flight and hotel prices start to increase. If you are willing to commit to a date early on, there are lots of holiday savings to be had.

If you book far in advance, always check first

By this I mean, check the date is right for you. For example, you need to make sure you are not working (obvious), that the attractions you want to visit will be open and you have no other important events on. It's really tricky to re-book flights although easier with hotels if you book on websites such as Venere or Booking.com

 

Don't be afraid to use cheaper airlines

All the good deals I have got on flights have been from airlines such as EasyJet-they have been a fantastic, low budget option for us and I can't recommend them highly enough especially now you can select your own seats in advance (the scrum to get the best seats on the plane was always a bit annoying) and if you can book a few months in advance, there are some bargains. Saying that, British Airways also have some good prices depending on where you go. Often you need to compare and check where they fly from-how much will you spend getting to and from the airport? It's worth mentioning however that EasyJet charge extra for their luggage (currently about £22 per item) so add that onto the price you see. As far as I know with BA, the price you see is the price you pay.

 

Consider booking now, paying later

This has its benefits and its drawbacks but it's an option I always chose when booking hotels. On websites such as Venere and Booking.com, you can reserve your hotel in advance and pay when you check out. This can be great because you can save up money between when you book and when you go however if the currency you are buying in changes in value, you may end up spending slightly more. However I am lucky this hasn't happened to us yet!

Don't go for a 'package holiday'

I may be in the minority but I really don't think package holidays are good value and 90% of the time I spend less by doing a bit of research and booking the flights/hotel seperately. Also with package holidays you are not normally given much choice with hotels and flight times are always tricky and you end up having to pay more to get the better times.

xoxo 

As I get older...

I made this the other night at like 1am when I couldn't sleep but just wanted something to do! Please excuse my poor cropping/editing skills btw. I have been in a very reflective frame of mind the past few days, thinking about how I have changed throughout my 20's. When I was 19, just before I met Michael I wasn't really in a good place. I used fake confidence and was perhaps slightly egotistical to cover the fact that I was just so insecure in myself. I certainly never thought I could maintain a proper relationship with a man, something I had yearned for, for so many years. The only man in my life up until the age of 18 was my Grandad and I always carried a heavy load of dis-trust towards the opposite sex. I am so glad that I allowed myself to just be 'me' with a man . That is something that is so hard to do but also something you inevitably HAVE to do if you are in it for the 'long haul' with someone. You can't carry that baggage forever and it's a true test in a relationship when you are able to reveal everything about yourself and still be accepted and loved.

My depression and anxiety hit me really hard between the ages of 20-23. I regretted chosing journalism as my degree because I knew that I only picked it because I love to write. I really never wanted to be the 'grabbing the headlines no matter what it takes' type of person. I always felt like I was far too shy and inward to be a journalist. I am glad I kept going though and despite my heart not being in it, I still worked hard. I spent months and months writing my dissertation on celebrity fan culture (something I have a lot of experience with!) and was over the moon when I got a 1st. That was the piece of recognition I needed that my 3 years at university were really worth it.

Between 24-25 after graduating from university, I really was in a state of uncertainty regarding my career. I made some wrong choices but I really feel that now at 26, I have begun making the right ones and I am really happy in my career. Will I do this forever? I don't know but I am still learning every day and I never get bored so that must be a good thing right?

I am never one for 'resolutions' towards the end of the year but recently I have been starting to think about what I would like to have achieved by this time next year, when I am 27 and getting even closer to 30! I would love to be able to say I won't get depressed but that is unrealistic. Anyway, here are some of my goals for next year:

Continue to study at home and learn something new
 
Don't let me anxiety take over me and keep moving forward
 
Keep the right people in my life and move on from the wrong ones
 
Learn from any mistakes I make at work

Keep trying to learn how to cook/bake

Try to keep healthy, take vitamins, eat new foods

Accept I will have sad days and look forward to the happy ones

I have said it before but I really feel like 26 will be my best year yet :) I have a lot to look forward to over the coming months and I am loving life more than ever before. Just because you suffer from depression doesn't mean you can't still live a great life full of hopes and dreams :)

xoxo

Chocolates and shopping!

Well Michael has been away at his friend's for a few days (he is back tomorrow) so I have been busy doing a bit of girlie shopping with my Mum and also mastering how to make my own chocolates!

In Forever 21 I bought this cute Aladdin jumper-reduced to £12.50! It was in a size small but I thought I would give it a go and try it on and it fits perfectly! I loved Aladdin when I was little (and still do now to be fair) and it's perfect for the cold winter days that are approaching.

I also picked up this little bargain from Primark today-it is a black and white dress covered in duck prints-how cute! They only had one left on the rail which was my size and it fits perfectly! It was only £5 and whilst it may be too thin for winter, I plan to layer a jumper over it or a cardigan.

Halloween was a quiet affair at the Cherbear household-it always is to be honest! I just stayed in, watch films and ate tons of giant marshmallows! We had lots of chocolate left and I decided to use my new mould and make cute little heart shaped choccies! I mixed in lots of sprinkles, put them in the fridge to set for 30 mins and they taste so good. I am going to make some for Christmas presents, wrap them up in a cute bag with a bow and voila...instant personalised gift for very little money! Here is how I did it...

I also got a lovely wedding pack from Arundel Town Hall this morning! I am currently trying to sort out a proper tour/visit with Michael in the next few months as we both really love this place and it would be perfect to get married in. 

xoxo