Christmas Sale Buys And What Pressies I Got!

Hello there all you lovely ladies and gents, I hope everyone had a really nice safe and relaxing Christmas. Also a happy new year to you all! I might have been awfully bold and abandoned my poor blog altogether for the likes of the lustful tin of roses and the many many reruns of Buffy and classic cheesy Christmas films. One cold and infection after another has left me promising to write up a blog post only to find myself face down snoring on the couch, so please try to ignore the time length!

I thought I'd start by showing everyone what I got for Christmas and then a few bits I nabbed in the sales. I went back for round two but I'll save that for another post soon! Apart from you all being jealous of my new pretty floral bed sheets - Ikea you sexy shop, you! You will notice that I have now renamed my blog to Big Blonde Girl as it not only makes life easier, but everyone knows me by that alone! The uber lovely Stephen from Hardly Working Highlight Reel  spent a painful amount of time on it for me, while I was leaning over his shoulder chewing his ear off. The poor sod! If you fancy your own beautiful blog banner then feel free to leave a comment on his blog or find him on Twitter. 

From L-R: A gas book my besties dad got for me, hes too good!/Irish mammies books from my mammy - expect lots of reviews!/Sleek make up brushes, be still my beating heart!/Benefit how to look the best at everything set that Stephen got for me/A gorgeous Yankee candle the mother in law got for me/Ombre nail set that the sister gave me/A chocolate santy of course!/Some gold FUN from Lush/A FUN set from lush - don't my family know me too well?!

If you have a look at the top picture you'll see my new gorgeous long purple scarf that the mother in law knit for me. I just. I just can't. Hash tag in love!!

And now onto the great bargains I got in the sales! Naturally on Stephens Day I was first in the que at the door of Lush, but that to be expected of me. don't you know. My total mind blown buys were the 500g Pounche shower gel €10.48 and an unexpected find of Lovely Jubbly breast cream for only €10.95 - its literally never on sale! I also got two Penguin and Christmas eve bubble bars that were €6.76 for them all! A little bit of angels delight soap, €2.33 and lastly the stardust gift set for €16.98. You can see all the wonderful things in it below!

Then I wondered into Boots and came away with some lovely cards, a royal jelly set and a Beauticology set that I had my eye on for ages before Christmas all for under €13! 

This New Year I have not resolutions, this year I'm just going to take one day at a time and hope that everyday is better then the last. To help me on my way I'm doing little things to perk myself up, which I will be blogging lots about soon.

For now, as always, have a fab day and 2014. You lads and ladies keep chatting, following and supporting me each in your own way and I am so grateful for you all. If 2013 was anything to go by, then I can't wait to see what this year brigs x

Birthday Haul

This is purely for those of you who like having a nosy at different blogger hauls just because. So if your not one of those people feel free to ignore this one! I am in no way boasting or 'showing off'. All items below were gifted to me by family and friends. 

As some of you will know I turned 21 last Wednesday (the 18th for anyone who cares to know!) and my family and friends all went a bit mad with gifts. I got some really lovely things and am very grateful for each thought that was put into the day. So I just thought I'd show you a few bits now. There is nothing from Stephen here for the simple reason that he lost his marbles completely and bought half of Lush for me along with lots of other things and if I was to talk about that it would turn into a Lush haul!  

My mother got me three beautiful pieces from Newbridge Silverware. A flower shaped key chain, a little cat (sparkly cat for the win!) keyring and a set of gorgeous, dried, pink flower filled mirror and trinket box. I also got a lovely Argento necklace called Hope that has the cutest little pearl on the top and also a sparkly (Sparkly!) blue French Connection necklace from two of my friends.  

Everyone knows how much I love cards and I got the biggest bundle! Theres quite a few cat inspired ones too, which I just want to giggle at while jumping about in an overexcited fashion pointing. Two of my other passions, books and candles were clearly carefully noted as I received a sky high stack of both and I'm very excited about the lot. Cook books, owls, comedy books, yankee and even two cheeky dvds? Expect me to emerge from my room by say, Christmas? Ok, good!

Last but not least, I got a really thoughtful hand made scarf from a friends mother. She knitted and crocheted it in a fab dark blue with - the best part - loads of sparkles through it! To say I am excite is an understatement. I feel really fancy, movie star like when I have it on, hence the ridiculous face/pose and crazy hair flicking fashion show going on in the picture/my room right now.

Anyway thats the show and tell over with, now excuse me while I cat walk to the nearest chair to read my book! Have a fab day x

Things I've Loved This Month

As I haven't been around these parts much to do a weekly Friday Favourites, I thought I would just tell you all about what I have been loving for the whole month! Please let me know if you would rather I stick to my Friday Favourites or if you would all just like a monthly post. Oh, and Happy Easter!

This month it has been cold, super rainy some days and even some crazy amounts of snow for Ireland. As I'm sure you can imagine weather like that makes your hair dry and your skin sore, so I have kept my magic carmex original lip balm in my pocket at all times. Everyone will tell you I get slightly overly upset when I leave it at home or can't find it. It has become a staple in my hand bag and I will be picking up another one soon, I think I might even try other flavours in the range too. The tube has lasted for ages and you only need a little to cover and fully protect your lips with its formula of menthol and camphor that helps to sooth and calm irritated chapped lips. 

A cold tired body loves a hot warm bath and thats just what I've been doing. I wanted to get a cheap and cheerful big bottle of bath soak so I could enjoy more bubble baths without having to ration out my Lush bath bombs like a crazy girl. And hey presto, Boots sleep well bath foam 750ml in a lovely lavender scent for €1.19. I'm not sure if it was the relaxing smell, the huge bottle or the next to nothing price that did it, but I ran to the check out and couldn't wait to get home for a bath!

A blog that I love and follow is Tattoologist. People send in pictures of their tattoos with translations and explanations of why they got them and what meanings they have. Its kind of like pinterest for tattoos only! Go check it out over here . You can follow the blog on bloglovin' too, makes it easier to keep an eye on! I personally love to see other peoples tattoos to be nosy, for inspiration and then just to give out about. - The feather and star tattoos that are far over done and the pain in the ass for artists.

I love Ted and the Ted Talks on YouTube are a must watch for me. There are so many different topics and after listening any of the stories I always come away with something new to research or think about. This story made me laugh and feel inspired. If this boy, thousands of miles away at the age of 13 with limited education can do this and help animals and aid his community, what can I do? Have a watch:

I love my candles and the Yankee candles have to be one of my favourites, purely because 1, they smell good and 2, they last ages in the cute large jars. A limited edition Easter candle 'Chocolate bunnies in a jar' is just the thing to get then and Stephen surprised me with one the other night (the little pet!) I thought it would smell over powering but it has a lovely soft sweet scent that doesn't make you feel sick if you have been lighting it too long. I however can't find them in the Irish Yankee candle shop or online in the American shop either. Heres a link to the place Stephen got this one for €9.99. Otherwise if you need to ship it you can find it all over Amazon.

So I may have a sneaky order coming to me from Fragrance Direct, expect a haul blog once the post man comes! I have only recently become familiar with this site and oh my god, lads go check it out right now over here! Theres loads of well known brands for a fraction of the cost. The products say if the box is damaged but other then that everything seems to be in perfect condition. The shipping cost to Ireland wasn't expensive either which was great.


I'm not sure if I should admit this willingly but my series of the month that I have watched every single episode of is um, Rugrats All Grown Up! on Netflix. Stephen and me were hunting for something to watch one night and this popped up, oh the childhood memories! ''Every birthday my mom and dad would say, your another year older, another year wiser but I still go to school...'' Who needs nights out on the town when you can stay in bed and watch childrens programmes instead? I may have also watched one or two shows of Little Bear. Fingers crossed Netfilx release The Animals Of Farthing Wood soon! The child in me is clearly still very much alive.

Something that I have been wearing loads of this month is my many coloured scarf. I love scarves and if I could use a room just for them I so would. My most warn one has to be the Top Shop multi coloured one that I bought about 4 years ago. It goes with so much, brightens up any outfit and is lovely and warm for those snow filled days! Scarves.net has a gorgeous one here for $9.71 that is as similar to mine as I could find. If your looking to splash out on a colourful statement piece for your wardrobe House of Fraser has a drool worthy one over here.

I am nearly certain I have mentioned the fab HelloGiggles.com more then once here, but I need to tell you about them again! HelloGiggles was set up by three lovely girls Zooey Dechanel, Molly McAleer and Sophia Rossi which now has a wide and really interesting range of reads being updated daily for your fashion, beauty, life, ect needs! This particular article caught my eye and made me laugh as I'm sure everyone can relate to it, moving back in or not. Go check it out and see if you have anything you could add to it.

Thats all from me for now, hope your all having great long weekend!