Peace and Tranquillity

One of my most favourite places is Cyprus. I have just returned from my fourth visit and once again, fell deeply in love with the country. 

I stayed in an area called Nissi beach, just outside Ayia Napa, which is also known as the party capital. Luckily I was far enough away from the famous square to enjoy the true culture of Cyprus. 

The apartment we stayed in was secluded and exclusive, with only around forty people staying at the small complex, it felt like heaven. The complex was located away from the roads and meant the area was peaceful and silent, perfect for sunbathing! 

The first week consisted of me and family exploring the island of Cyprus in our cute little hire car. We decided to visit the Troodos mountains first, which was an adventure to say the least. We ended up sort of losing our way and driving up along the side of the mountains, which I found fun but my mum disagreed! 

However the sights were absolutely breathtaking and I was blown away, the journey was worth it (bearing in mind we drove for around two hours around the mountains!)

We soon came across the centre of the Troodos mountains, containing restaurants and shops. The area was lovely and filled with vast forestation, I couldn't believe I was still in Cyprus!

We had been told that there were some waterfalls hidden within the mountains, so we soon became determined to find one. After a little drive we came across a sign advertising one, however it took us down a tiny dirt track that was a little scary! But it was truly worth it, the waterfall was amazing...

The next few days included visiting areas such as Protaras, Penera and Kocareis Beach. We had previously visited Protaras and Penera when we came on holiday a few years ago, so the area was recognisable to me. We went for lunch and walked along the beach which was lovely but a tad hot! (temperatures were reaching 43 degrees)

Kocareis beach was absolutely amazing, and we came across it by complete accident. It was quiet and peaceful, with a white sandy beach accompanied by rocky features. The water was crystal clear, so clear you could witness the fish wriggling around your feet.

It was lovely just to sit on the rocks and watch the world go by, whilst dipping your feet in the cool blue sea. It was my most favourite place, and i'm normally not a big fan of the beach!

We visited a few more places, so here are some pictures:

   In my favourite Italian in Protaras, one word: beautiful

The second week was spent relaxing around the pool and sunbathing, but we did do one exciting thing...a boat trip! We went on the Aphrodite II which departed from Ayia Napa and went all the way to Famagusta bay, and then back.

The boat stopped in an area called the blue lagoon and we were able to get off and swim in the deep blue sea...

After some time in the sea, we came back on the boat and had some lunch. The views were incredible and the sea breeze was refreshing, let alone cool. 

After some time the boat stopped again for another swimming point and this time I decided to do something a little bit crazy...

Yup, I jumped off the boat! The boat was probably only fifteen foot high, but trust me, it's scary up there! It also really hurts when you hit the water, let's just say I swam off the pain!

Here are some more snaps...

                                                 


 On our last day we visited Nissi Beach, which is lovely, but a tad overcrowded. The beach is beautiful, and the sea once again was crystal clear. But the main beach was just wall to wall sun beds, so we decided to walk through the sea to a little island in the middle. 

We hired out a pedlo for an hour, which was harder to control than once thought! The sea was unbelievably choppy and kept throwing the pedlo in any direction. However the pedlo had a slide on the top, which meant I was able to act like a five year old without being judged. 

So overall I had a pretty amazing time in Cyprus. It was really nice to get away for a bit after a bit of drama, it was nice to be drama free for two weeks! 

I would definitely recommend going, but be prepared for the heat, it gets pretty hot during the midday sun! 

Thanks! xx 

This Is Us Premiere

At 5:40 am I boarded a train from Birmingham International to London Euston. I was surviving on around thirty minutes worth of sleep, but I was fuelled with energy. The reason? you may ask.

I was on my way to One Directions movie premiere in Leicester Square, London. Just days before the premiere it had been said that there were already thousands of fans waiting in Leicester Square. The news made my heart pound. 

Luckily we made it to London by 7 am and was in Leicester square collecting our stickers which declared we were entitled to wristbands, allocating us to a section. I was number 1795 out of around 3,000. 

The atmosphere was absolutely incredible. Some fans were rude and obnoxious, but the majority were pleasant and just enjoying themselves. Me, my friend and my sister were placed in the front pen, near the stage, pen one. Fans who had stickers numbered below 2,000 were allowed to enter and were given a bright green wristband. 

The premiere was scheduled to start at around 5pm, which was when yahoo were starting their livestream online. The wait seemed endless, luckily the weather in London was delightful!

Within the gardens were many tv presenters and cameraman, trying to interview fans and catch the extraordinary atmosphere. There was constant screaming and singing, which got a tiny bit monotonous after a while! In addition, me and my friend got interviewed by an Irish TV show, hopefully I'll be able to find the footage!

At 4pm a DJ was began to blast music throughout Leicester square, encouraging fans to sing and dance, obviously pumping them up and getting them a little crazy. At this point I was overly excited and couldn't wait for it all to start. 

Unfortunately I was no where near to the red carpet, and the boys weren't allowed to enter the gardens to sign autographs, which is what I kind of went down for but oh well! The people near the red carpet were the fans who had camped and were truly dedicated (and a little crazy!)

Then, at around 6pm the boys arrived. Thousands of girls began to hyperventilate as they watched their idols on the massive screens set up. I must admit, I was pretty excited and had a few moments of craziness. 

The boys constantly interacted with the crowd, mainly through the cameras connected to the big screens. When talking to the press they made faces to the cameras which made the crowd go absolutely wild, and they knew it. 

                            a little excited?

There were loads of other stars there including Morgan Spurlock (director), JLS, Mcfly, Simon Cowell, Ronnie Wood and Connor Maynard. The line up came at a huge surprise, especially Simon Cowell!

Eventually the boys made their way to the stage and gave a little speech to the crowd. To my disappointment I heard very little due to the amount of screaming and hysterics. Also, I couldn't see much as a man with a child on his shoulders decided to stand in front of me. But hey ho! I still saw them in the flesh and died a little....(send help)

Once the boys left to make their way to watch the film, the premiere pretty much ended. A video was played of the highlights and then everyone began to make their way out, still screaming and singing. 

                         looking a little worse for wear...

All in all, it was a pretty immense day. I was blown away by the whole thing, and still can't believe I was there at the world premiere. 

Hopefully i'll be watching the film next week, I can't wait!

Did anyone else go down the premiere?!


xxxx

letting go

I have never understood the sadness felt from a pets death up until now. I never understood the way people reacted, the words such as "our little solider" and "hero", a pet is a pet, right?

Wrong. 

When I was nine years old, my family adopted a black Labrador called Jet. We collected her when she was six years old, full of life and energy. Yesterday we had to put her down when she was fifteen, tired of life and lacking energy. 

Nine years is a long time. She was part of the family, and did nearly everything with us until she became unable to. We took her on holiday, slept with her (she hated fireworks, and one bonfire night I let her sleep in my room, one night turned into two years...) and shared hundreds of memories with her. 

The past two years were tough for her, she suffered with arthritis and old age. Her weight decreased and her mentality followed, she wasn't the same. Yesterday morning she completely collapsed and wasn't eating or drinking, blanking the entire family.

I had always promised myself that if she had to be put down, I would be there. And I was, even though it was the most painful experience of my life. As the vet inserted the drugs into her, she became relaxed and slowly lifted her head to face mine, looking me dead in the eyes, almost thanking me.

Pet owners will understand and share the pain, but those who don't will not. It's a strange sensation losing a pet, you mourn as if they are human even though they are not. 

It's unexplainable. 

But she was technically my best friend, no matter how sad and stupid that sounds, she was. We used to do everything together, and there were many occasions in which I spoke to her. It's bizarre but true.  

I guess I've just got to grow up and let this part go. 

I PASSED

Today was the day I had been dreading for weeks, my driving test. After a sleepless night and a breakfast of just tea I headed towards the test centre with my stomach in knots.

I have been driving for around ten months now and wanted to pass my test more than anything, but I could only concentrate on the worst outcome...

However, the test went unbelievably well and I walked away with only three minors on my sheet! I was completely shocked but over the moon to hear the news. 

So now I am a legal driver, watch out world!

Thanks my dears xxxxxx

Kiss You.

The band one direction seem to be very busy lately, what with their tour, their new film and their erm... new make up range? 

Yep, that's right. One direction have now released a make up range, exclusively at superdrug, consisting of nail varnish, lip stick, lip gloss and cheek blush.

The collaboration with high street make up brand MUA has caused controversy within the media world. Many state that the band are contradicting their number one hit song, "What makes you beautiful", don't need make up to cover up.

However, I paid no attention to the news stories at all and went into superdrug to check out the new range. Well, when I first entered the stand was completely empty, even though the range had only been released that morning. 

A member of staff informed me that a delivery would be arriving later in the day, so I decided to come back then. When I returned the display had been restocked, but there were still no nail varnishes or cheek tints! So I settled for a lip stick..

Of course I chose Harry's lipstick (he's my favourite) which is a bright red colour. The lip sticks are adorable, and mega cheap (three pound for a lip stick)

I'm not really a big fan of red lip stick as I find it doesn't really suit me and is overly messy. But I thought, why the hell not? 

Yup, this lip stick is no different and I still struggled to apply the lip stick perfectly. But hey ho, what can I expect from a three pound one direction lip stick? 

All in all, the make up range is aimed towards the younger fans who will use this stuff on a daily basis. However I'm still over the moon with my Harry lipstick (I realise how silly I sound) and for three pound, I can't complain.

P.S I'm going to the one direction première on the 20th of August in London! *screams*

Thanks xoxoxoxoxo

Summer Nails.

One of my summer must haves is nail varnish, and bright nail varnish at that! I use the lovely season of summer to experiment with different colours and patterns, especially bright, crazy ones!

I recently visited boots to invest in some new, luminous colours to decorate my disgraceful nails and found a good offer on the Barry M cosmetics. If you spent £6.00 or over on Barry M products you received a free limited edition nail polish (a choice of pink or yellow, as you can see I chose yellow)

I'm a sucker for Barry M nail varnish and jumped at the chance of grabbing myself a free nail varnish, so here is what I brought...

Gelly Hi-shine nail paint - Guava 
Gelly Hi-shine nail paint - Key Lime

Both were priced at £3.99

The free limited edition nail varnish did not have a name and is labelled B on the bottom of the bottle. 

All the colours purchased are luminous and easy to apply (without smudging) I would definitely recommend! 

Thanks for reading! xxx

I like shopping...

On Saturday I ventured down to London with one of my friends, Emily. We had brought train tickets with LondonMidland and decided to go sightseeing in the spectacular city of London.

However, we eventually entered convent garden and well, our plan of sightseeing slowly faded away. As we were walking down the cobbled stones we saw a Jack Wills shop across the road with huge posters in the windows saying...Sale.

We both glanced at one another and ventured across the road together, as if we could read one anothers minds. The entire first floor was covered in sale items, ranging from jumpers to flip flops. I was spoilt for choice, but decided to stay away from the stereotypical jack wills top and picked up this...

This overly cute vest top was only fourteen pounds in the sale, and I couldn't resist it! The colours featured are bright and summery, perfect with denim shorts on my holiday. 

We popped in and out of shops such as urban outfitters and H&M but I was under impressed by their sale items. Then we spotted a shop we could no resist...Cath Kidston.

The shop also had sale sprawled all across the windows, and with that I was completely sold. The store at covent garden is a tad small, especially during the sale but I still managed to grab myself an absolute bargain!

This posy bag was half price in the sale, from twenty four pound to twelve pound. I've wanted a Cath Kidston bag for ages now, and I instantly fell in love with this beauty! The bag is the perfect size for my daily essentials, I cannot wait to start using it!

After a quick Costa break to rest our feet, we began our shopping quest again for more unbearable bargains...

As we came out of Costa we noticed a cute vintage shop across the street called Rokit. I had previously recalled hearing of the shop and decided to take a little peak into the store...

I was blown away. The shop was filled with priceless vintage pieces, branded and non branded, at beyond reasonable prices. I picked up a pair of Levi jeans reduced to ten pound, but unfortunately they didn't fit my over sized thighs!

However I found this...

An over sized denim jacket, reduced to a ridiculous ten pound from thirty. I was debating the purchase for some time, as I questioned whether or not I would wear the item. However at ten pound, I simply could not resist. 

The jacket is quite large on me, but I'm sure I'll find a way to pull it off, hopefully. 

After several hours of browsing the shops, we decided to call it a day. But there was still one last place I wanted to visit, Victoria's Secret. 

I was determined to buy something from there after I visited a few weeks ago and fell in love with the place. The shop is breathtakingly huge, and smells absolutely amazing.

I'm not going to show you what I brought, but I will tell you...pants! They had an offer on, five pairs for twenty pound, and I simply could not resist. The staff there are super friendly and always offer help where needed. I think I have found my home...

Thanks for reading! xxx

LONDON DAY TRIP.

On Sunday I went on a day trip with my family to the capital city of London. Me and my sisters had been demanding to go ever since the one direction wax works came to town, and since they leave on the 11th we decided to go!

We went down to Ealing on the Saturday night and stopped in a premier inn, which was delightful to say the least. Then when morning came, we walked to Perivale station, where we got the train to baker street.

We then walked to Madame Tussauds in the glorious sunshine, which was around a two minute walk from the baker street tube. We arrived at around 9am and only waited approximately thirty minutes before we were served and able to purchase our tickets. Me and my family used two for one vouchers to make the cost cheaper, since there is five of us!

So as you can see...I was fairly excited to see the one direction waxworks. Me and my sisters walked into the room in complete hysterics, as you may be able to tell we are big fans! The room was playing one direction music and the atmosphere was brilliant. We had to wait around five minutes to have our photos taken and see the waxworks, but it was completely worth it.

I look ridiculously happy, like way too happy! We had a professional photo taken, and then my dad took absolutely loads. To be completely honest, they look scarily like then, it's really freaky. 

Oh yeah, this happened.

Any who, we continued our journey through madame tussauds and I found some more interesting characters...

My time at madame tussauds was chaotic but a large amount of fun. I finally got to meet one direction (kinda) and then enjoyed the rest of day shopping on Oxford street and roaming the streets of London. I brought a beautiful blouse from primark which I should hopefully be blogging about soon.

Thanks my lovelies!