#BloggersFestival

Helloo Everyone,

Blogging events are great for mingling with fellow bloggers you've been talking to for god knows how long online, getting the chance to interact with fantastic brands and just having a good old time - this event was no exception! As you can probably tell from the title I was invited to the #BloggersFestival last Saturday organised by Scarlett London. I have been to one of her events before #SLBloggerBash back in April so I had quite high hopes for this one because I knew she could pull it all off! If you want to know what I got up to during this exciting afternoon then all the details are below so why not grab yourself a cuppa and relax while you have a read!

Architecture, Chocolate & Waffles | Brussels

Helloo Everyone,

Sorry for disappearing last week, let's just say it's been a busy but very memorable one at that. As you might be able to tell from the title and I was constantly talking about it on my Twitter, I finally had the time (and money) to go and visit Brussels! This was also my first time travelling solo which was exciting and quite nerve racking but a new adventure nonetheless so if you want to know what I got up to in the lovely capital of Belgium then keep on reading!

Turning 21

Helloo Everyone,

Birthdays are strange, don't you think? We don't even need to do anything significant and we'll all celebrate being another 365 days older? To be fair, I love any excuse to do something exciting but still haha! Not to say I didn't enjoy my 21st because it was really great day, it's just when you think really deep into it birthday's are odd. Anyway like I said it was a great day and you could even say eventful so I thought I would share what I did with you lovely readers! How are you all by the way? I haven't asked you this in a while so let me know!

A Late Night Revelation

Helloo Everyone,

It's 1am and I'm only a little tired. You all know I'm quite the night owl as it is but still even for me this is odd? My brain is really going crazy right now; I have all of these thoughts going around and I think it's because I'm on my own so I have more time alone to think which is deadly.. Well I better get straight to the point on this whole ramble! I've just had this weird revelation and afterwards I thought "Oh I should write about this!" but don't worry I'll try to keep it short I promise!

11 Things

Helloo Everyone,

A few days ago I got tagged by the lovely Emmie from Carpe Diem Emmie to do the 11 Things tag so how could I possibly say no to that? She's asked me 11 questions (hence the title) then after I've answered those I will tag some lovely bloggers and ask them questions so I hope you enjoy getting to know me a little more!

2015 So Far & What's Next

Helloo Everyone,

Can you believe it's July already? This year is going back so quick. I wish it would slow down because I can't keep up haha! It's been a bit of a crazy year for me with it being very up and down to say the least but overall it has been a good 6 months. I wanted to do a wrap up of the year by sharing with you my current highlights and let you in on what I've got planned for the rest of the year so let's get started!

Things I Wish We Learned in School

Helloo Everyone,

When you leave secondary school I feel you're just pushed into the deep end of adult life, maybe it was just me but I'm sure there'll be some of you that agree with me! Something will come up and I'll be like "Why wasn't I told this earlier?" so then it'll be up to me to figure it out or ask someone trying not to seem like an idiot. Don't get me wrong, there will be things that you have to learn yourself because you can't get everything handed on a plate to you and I completely get that because that's what being an 'adult' is about. HOWEVER the things I've listed below our the ones I believe should be taught or warned about at school if they aren't already of course.

I'm turning 21 at the end of July and I know I've still got so much to learn!

Last Minute Trip to Brighton

Helloo Everyone,

Brighton has always been that place I love going back to again and again every year and 2015 wasn't going to be an exception! My boyfriend had the week off work and I was free so because of this we spontaneously decided to book a night in a hotel and spend 2 days away near the sea. We booked it on the Thursday and then the following Monday we were our way to Brighton from London and I was so happy; I had been feeling a little sorry for myself because I still hadn't got a job and my insomnia was playing up so a day or two away with the boyfriend was definitely what I needed! I'm going to have to apologise now for the lack of photos, I could have sworn I took more and there were some places I completely forgot to take photos at like the shops so sorry about that.. I'm still getting used to taking photos everywhere I go but I'll get there I swear haha!

BeautyCon Comes to London

Sorry for some reason this photo comes out blurry when I put it on here but I still quite like it!

Helloo Everyone,

As you may or may not know BeautyCon came to London for the first time this weekend and I was very lucky to be able to go. Why was I lucky? Because I won 2 tickets with Helen Anderson and Liz Earle! How cool is that? I'm one of those people too who never win anything so I was really surprised when I got the tweet from Liz Earle saying I'd won, I didn't even know I was going till 2 days before so thank god I didn't have any plans! I thought for a while that I was going by myself but the night before I managed to arrange to meet Vix from Vix Meldrew and Charli from High Street Beauty Junkie (go check out their blogs, after you've read this of course hehe) which was great! I really did have such a great time and I was pretty much there the whole day so I wanted to share it with you my lovely readers! I'm also going to apologise now because sadly I'm not very photogenic like at all but hey I'm sure you guys aren't bothered about that.

#SLBloggerBash

Helloo Everyone,

How are you my lovely readers? I hope you're all well! And me? Oh I'm great because last Friday I went to my first blogger event *eep*! I was very lucky to attend the #SLBloggerBash in London organised by the wonderful Scarlett. I got a last minute invite the day before as there were a couple more spaces available and of course I said yes but I'm not going to lie to you, I was super nervous! I did end up feeling quite anxious meeting new people but of course I was just being silly because everyone was so friendly and chatty. The event was just amazing and I wanted to share it with you!

A Letter to My Future Self

Helloo Future Ali,

This is kind of awkward because I'm not really sure what to ask so first I'll say congratulations! Why? Because you've made it this far; it's your 25th birthday! Don't worry you're still young but I'm writing this letter to you (myself) at 20 years old because I have goals for us and I will want you to have completed them by now because you have no reason not to! Don't get me wrong, you've had some things that have tried to knock you down but you get back up, even if it's after a while but you do it eventually because that's you! So I'm going to make a list of all the things I want you to have done and just have a little catch up because the me now writing this now could be a different me when I'm reading it in 5 years time.. wow that's kind of deep haha! Anyway shall we get started?

My Day at Harry Potter Studios

Helloo Everyone,

If you guys have seen my previous Harry Potter post on why I'd love to spend Christmas at Hogwarts (link is here) then you'll know that I'm quite the fan. Well after literally YEARS of wanting to go I finally visited the Harry Potter Studios in London two days ago! I was so happy it was untrue, to the point where my friends were convinced I'd gone mad with excitement haha! I really wanted to share my experience and some pretty cool photos (I took over 200 of them but I'll show my favourites) with you because everyone needs to know how cool this place is so if you're a harry potter lover then keep scrolling! FYI I'll try not to give away too many spoilers..

My Blogging Goals

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Last week I joined the #lbloggers chat on Twitter and it made me think of how I could be a better blogger. Don't get me wrong, I don't think I'm a 'bad' blogger or anything but at the end of the day I've only had this blog for 6 months so I think now I'm able to see what I've missed, what I can improve and new things I want to do so I'll share them with you! You might find something that can help you with your blog!

March Book Haul

Helloo Everyone,

Okay I got a bit carried away and I've ended up buying a couple of books more than I thought I would, not like I'm not complaining or anything haha! So I thought I would show you what books I've got this month earlier than planned as this might stop me from buying anymore till April (my bank account needs a break) but you never know, you might discover a book you like!

Why Twitter is Important for Blogging

Helloo Everyone,

I've only been blogging for a couple of months but I've already learned quite a bit in this short amount of time. The first thing I found out is how important social media is, especially Twitter which is what I'm going to talk about now! The picture below is my Twitter page and as you can see I haven't done as many tweets as most bloggers have but that's only because I've only just got into it! So here I'm going to explain why I've found Twitter really helpful for blogging and I hope it helps you!

My Love Hate Relationship with my Kindle

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I'm going to be completely honest with you now, I never had any intention on having a Kindle at first. People would say to me "Oh you should definitely get a Kindle you'd love it!" and there'd be me like no thanks they'd never be as good as physical books.. reading e-books just didn't appeal to me! Well as you can see I do in fact have a Kindle but it was a long journey from not even considering having one to not wanting to go out with it so let me fill you in on the pros and cons!

March TBR

Helloo Everyone,

As you guys probably don't know this about me, I'm quite the bookworm so I set myself a challenge to read 25 books this year!!! It may seem hard for some and easy to others but you'll be surprised of how sidetracked you can get and how annoying it is when you plan something at the beginning of the year and it doesn't pull through.. I want that to change so each month I'm going to plan monthly TBR (to be read) throughout 2015 and then I'll do a wrap up of what I thought of the books! I've seen a couple of bloggers and youtubers do this, I liked the idea of it and thought why not!

Why I Dropped Out of University

Helloo Everyone,

So as you can see, my blog has been quiet since Christmas and there's a reason for it.. The title is a bit of a give away but yes I dropped out of university end of December last year and it's one of the hardest decisions I've had to make. I don't regret it though, not for a single second! Okay yeah I miss my uni friends as I was used to seeing them everyday and I moved back home so I lost my independence but at the end of the day I was seriously unhappy and it was the right thing to do. Let's go back a bit and I'll explain everything..

So I started university September 2013 and I was full of nerves and excitement all at the same time and I was genuinely really happy! You know moving into halls, starting your new course, meeting new people, the student nights out; all the stereotypical things that come along with going to university and yeah it started off really well but sadly it didn't last long.

BLOGMAS #4 Easy Gift Wrapping Techniques

Helloo Everyone,

Sorry for the late post, this was meant to go up Wednesday morning but I got caught up with uni work (my bad) but I'm back now! Anyway, it's really starting to feel like Christmas to me right now! I know I've been excited for Christmas for ages but there are always these certain things that come around each year that makes me realise it's nearly here; writing out christmas cards, christmas songs on the radio and obviously wrapping presents! I was wrapping presents the other day and I wanted them to look nice but I'm not artsy so I thought I would just do little things to make an effort. If you guys struggle like me then here are some ideas I used that only take a little effort but still makes them quite christmassy!

What I've Used: Wrapping Paper Scissors Sellotape Name Tags Ribbons Bows I had a M&S gift card that I needed to use up hence why everything is from there haha!

Why I'd Love to Spend Christmas at Hogwarts

Helloo Everyone,

So how's this festive month going for you? I'm sure you're all counting down the days like me hehe! I'm a massive Harry Potter fan and obviously with Christmas coming up I randomly thought to myself if I could spend Christmas anywhere it would have to be Hogwarts, come on who wouldn't? It's a magical place and what better place is there that snows inside a castle? There are just so many reasons why Hogwarts is the best place to be especially around Christmas time! Let me explain..