Birthday Haul Part Two || Shopping Trip (LUSH and Tsum's!)

I think I mentioned this a couple times before, but on Tuesday 18th August, I went on a shopping trip to Carmarthen by train. We left kind of late, around 11pm, and it was boiling hot, it felt like the waiting room to Hell and I imagine we were also the laughing stock of everyone in America...yeah, yeah, I get it, you'd be wearing jackets in our summer times!

Anyway, I thought I would show you the things I bought while I was there - which really wasn't that much, but I tried okay, I tried. I'm not good at spending money because I'm such an indecisive person!

The first place I went to was kind of a weird place to go, but it's Clintons, a card store. Reason why? Because of these beauties: 

Yes, this is the ass of the Queen of Hearts with her fancy underpants. 

Disney's Tsum Tsum's! I already have a couple, Winnie the Pooh and Stitch, that Austin my boyfriend got me a little while ago because Winnie the Pooh was my favourite TV program has a kid (and one of the movies I am obsessed with, still), Stitch is just adorable. I think everyone loves Stitch, you're crazy if you don't! 

It was really hard to pick the ones I wanted, I eventually settled for a Mini Queen of Hearts (from Alice in Wonderland/Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) and Mini Alien (from the Toy Story series). I wanted all of them! They had Minnie Mouse, a badger, Bambi, Dumbo, Jessie, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Peas in a Pod...I'm going to have to go back there! They were £3.50 each. 

I was running out of pens and I also have a fountain pen at home, so the next things I got were these from Ryman's: 

The ink cartridges were their own brand, I think, and cost £1.99. I already have blue cartridges, but...this may sound weird, I just hate writing in blue ink and much prefer blue. Where I live, black ones seem to be non-existent so I just had to get some. It's a nice big bag for cheap, too. The pens are one of my favourites because of how smooth and easy to write with, the Bic Biro Original Crystal pens in black.Hopefully, I don't lose these, why do pens love to go missing?

These gems were from Waterstones, a fairly expensive but popular bookstore in the UK (and if it's in anywhere else in the world, I don't know about it). I think it was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland's anniversary, as it has a whole two bookshelves dedicated to it. Different editions of the books and merchandise, mostly. I'm a huge Alice fan, and if I had the money, I would have bought it all. Instead, I got some small things that I knew I would use often and would mean more to me then adding yet another Alice book edition to my shelves for £25. I couldn't find any of these online, so sorry I cannot provide any links! The small Cheshire Cat badge was 99p, the bookmarks were £1.50 each. I think it's good that it has a little information of the artist on the back, it's pretty interesting if you ask me. They're also really hard, but still plastic/paper bookmarks, so I think that means they'll have a stronger durability (RIP past bookmarks, you're missed).

You can get your own VooDoo doll from the website, WatchoverVooDoo but I got her from TheCardFactory!

Anyway, these are cute little VooDoo dolls found at a card shop (which was also shared with a chocolate store, pretty cute?) and there was so many but this witch stood out to be the most. They're £3.99, she claims to give me confidence and etc, but I don't believe in magic like that even though I obviously really like Harry Potter. I just thought she would look cute hanging from my bag.

I then went to a charity store for a bit because my mother had wandered off somewhere and I couldn't find her. I had bought the movie editions of New Moon and Breaking Dawn (which I actually really like) and have been looking around for the other two for a while. The Twilight series is commonly found in charity stores, so it shouldn't be hard, it's just finding the first book that I'm having difficulty with. I can't remember if I liked the series or not, seeing as the first time I read it I was pretty young and under a stronger influence from a friend of mine who really loved Twilight. Actually, a couple of friends of mine. We'll see...when I find the first book! I don't think I ever finished Eclipse!

I also got some earphones with strawberries decorated on the earbud but they broke and I therefore don't have a photo of them - they were pretty cheap, I was expecting them to break, from a shop called Tiger in Carmarthen, Pembrokeshire. 

And (my personal favourite from this haul), my first experience with buying from LUSH (even if you have money, visit that website...the animation of different bath bombs being thrown into water is amazing). I've tried their Blackberry Bath Bomb before, and I liked it but I didn't love it. It smells more like blueberries, which is good, because I actually hate blackberries and till I looked it up just now I thought it was blueberries. It was slimy, and doesn't do anything to the bath, it's a pretty simple and boring bath bomb. But, the bath stuff I bought for myself for my first time buying experience was *drum roll please*:

If you can read the labels, you can see I got the Sex Bomb Bath Bomb (oh, the pun) and if you click on the link, it'll show you what happens to it when you put it into a bath - if you can't be bothered to click it, it basically just turns pink. And, for my vegan readers, it's 100% vegan! I had a bath with it tonight, it was so relaxing and I still smell so good. Usually, the scent wears out after I have a shower because well I guess shower gels weren't meant to be strong scented! The second one, I haven't used yet, but it's called a bubble bar, I think? It's Rose Jam I think, but it doesn't look like that, it's more like a rose shape...I think? Anyway, I'm heading to England tomorrow and I'm bringing it with me so I'll let you know how I like it! Probably a lot more because it creates bubbles!!

That's not all I got, though, worry not:

My mother bought me the shower jelly by them quite often when I was younger, I forgot to mention, it reminds me of the ocean even though it's lime-scented (and the label makes me chuckle!). It's called Woosh, another reason why it reminds of the ocean, and it smells so good even if it is a bit hard to use in the shower. It's just fun to use, I suppose!

The second is something new, not just for me but for LUSH itself. It's a Yuzu and Cocoa Shower Cream that smells just like chocolate oranges! (also, the women in the image is just WAY TOO MUCH...such a pet peeve of mine!). It's a small 100ml bottle, to test it out, but also it's because it's kind of expensive. The prices of which are listed below: 

Sex Bomb Bath Bomb - £3.35
Woosh Shower Jelly - 3.50
Rose Jam Bubbleroon - £3.75
Yuzu and Cocoa Shower Cream - £4.75

I really hoped you enjoyed reading, I'll see you in my next post - goodbye for now!

My Birthday Haul 2015! || Part one: Gifts

Hey! 

So, if you didn't know, my birthday was on the 8th August, where I went to the Milford Perk American Diner and it was so much fun! I think some of you might be interested in what I got for my birthday, right?! Well...I hope so!

Anyway

The first thing I received for my birthday was probably one of the best things, my mother got me a second-hand laptop from her friend and I got it a couple of weeks before my birthday. I remember doing a very exited, short post on here about that and I'm still very exited! It's been great to write to my hearts content and watch videos on the 'big' screen!

Next best thing I got for my birthday was a kitten from my aunt and uncle!

I named her Boo! (although everyone in this house calls her Baby Boo or Boo-Boo). 

I'm not going to talk about her much here because I'm planning to write full posts on her later! 

They also got me these!:

I've wanted that bracelet forever, I've been eying it up on Amazon for quite a while (although, for whatever reason, I never bought it). It's a Harry Potter bracelet, for those unaware, with the Snitch and the Deathly Hallows symptoms. The second one is a RSPCA pet guide on how to care for my kitten, which so far, has come in use! I didn't know kittens needed worm medicine, nor did I know they are lactose intolerant.

My mother also surprised me by getting me some new books! She never usually gets me books because she never knows what to get, I assumed she asked my boyfriend or my sister. It's the first two books in the Nicholas Flamel series by Michael Scott, "The Alchemyst" and "The Magician". I'm not sure what they're about, I like to go into books blind, but I have been hearing so many wonderful things about these, I rarely hear a bad word! Pretty exited to read them (although I don't know whether to get all the books first?!). 

My sisters' good friend came to my evening dinner to Milford Perk and even came with gifts! The bag is beautiful, pink with birds on and little blossums, my mother said that my sisters' good friends' mother makes these kinds of things...yep, it was made! Awesome, huh?! I also got some toiletries from Sanctuary Spa, and some really pretty earrings! :3 Shame my ears aren't pierced anymore, but I'm thinking of going to a tattoo place to get them done soon!

These actually came today!! These are from my boyfriend. The top if the Ultimate Edition of the Harry Potter movie, "Chamber of Secrets", it has cards and a picture book and four disks, I'm pretty exited to watch them! (and because it's so expensive and it's not something you would buy without thought, or at least it's my version of expensive, I might do a little 'review' type of post!). "Horrorstor" by Grady Hendrix is a horror parody of Ikea, essentially, I hope it's as goofy as it sounds. The next book is a Star Wars book because I watched the movies with my boyfriend once, but I couldn't really get into it as much as I wanted to just because I didn't understand it, so he thought to buy me one of the books, "Darth Bane: Path of Destruction" by Drew Karpyshyn. Again, I have no idea what it's about. 

Lastly, I got a little bit of money from my Grandad, my dad and his girlfriend and my mums' family friend! We're going out shopping on Tuesday of next week (18th!), I'll tell you what we got! 

Thank you for reading, I'll see you next post! 

Amazon Book Wish-List - Part Two

Hello and welcome to yet another way-too-long blog post on my Amazon book wish-list. I realize now as I go through all the books I am going to talk about in this and future posts that there's an awful lot of books I haven't added that I have really wanted to read - for example, if it has anything to do with the holocaust, I will want to read it. I've been meaning to look for more books on the paranormal but until a future post, have some of the more creepy books on my wish-list! 

Doll Bones by Holly Black. 

Zach, Poppy and Alice have been friends forever. They love playing with their action figure dolls, imagining a magical world of adventure and heroism. But disaster strikes when, without warning, Zach's father throws out all his toys, declaring he's too old for them. Zach is furious, confused and embarrassed, deciding that the only way to cope is to stop playing ... and stop being friends with Poppy and Alice. But one day the girls pay Zach a visit, and tell him about mysterious occurrences. poppy swears that she is now being haunted by a china doll - who claims it is made of the ground up bones of a murdered girl. They must return the doll to where the girl lives, and bury it. Otherwise the three children will be cursed for eternity...

This usually wouldn't be my style because a) male narrator and b) china dolls (*coughs* talking to you, Annebelle movie) and therefore there's a huge chance that not only will I not like it and be uncomfortable, but it would be a pretty bad book, anyway - what changed my mind was a favourite booktuber of mine saying she really loved it, despite being a children's book. So, on my wish list it goes with an anxious me waiting in anticipation for the day I finally get it.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. 

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called "Le Cirque des Reves," and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway--a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love - a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per-formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

 

One of my friends (hi, Dani, if you're reading this) recommended this to me quite the while ago but me being me had completely forgotten about it, and I don't really know how I feel about this book anyway. I'm not one for romance and I absolutely hate sex (the question of asexuality is for another post) and so therefore I want to take caution before I proceed with reading this - the cover also makes it look like it was from a less fortunate time period and I have a lot of empathy, goodness knows if I will actually be okay with that. 

Carrie by Stephen King. 

Ew, movie cover

The story of misfit high-school girl, Carrie White, who gradually discovers that she has telekinetic powers. Repressed by a domineering, ultra-religious mother and tormented by her peers at school, her efforts to fit in lead to a dramatic confrontation during the senior prom

Unpopular opinion alert, but I'm not a huge fan of Stephen King. Despite that, I absolutely loved "Carrie"...I have of course watched all three of the movies and for some reason, have never actually got around to reading the book, probably because it's Stephen King (oddly, I do own several of his books so I'm still going to give him a try regardless)...I never, ever say this but...I hope the book lives up to the expectations I have from the movies. I also usually hate anything to do with high-school, this whole thing is just pushing boundaries for me.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. 

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife's head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media--as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents--the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter--but is he really a killer?
As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

I wasn't going to read this book because again, male narrators (although I think this might just be on the overview of Nick and not straight from his head but I feel uncomfortable with that too, also yes I did forget what person means what) but decided "Hey, what the hell!". The description of 'beautiful wife' makes me feel a bit annoyed, too, simply because (sorry) I much prefer it when a woman is talked about for what she has done and who she is more then what she looks like, and especially compared to Nick's description on the back of the book who's looks aren't even mentioned, I feel like that theme is going to continue throughout the novel and as an angry feminist, I am not looking forward to doing that. 

So today I'm keeping this post four books long instead of five like I had usually planned because I feel like this post is a bit longer then the last already, and also because as I had mentioned at the top, I am all sorts of stressed, anxious and depressed so I don't really feel like pushing myself just to add that one last book, which I hope you can understand. I'll be adding another post after this one explaining a little about my situation and how I'm going to take a small break from blogging (totally contradicting what I originally said, huh?) but more about that when that post gets published. Thank you for taking the time in reading this, and I'll see you next time.

Amazon Book Wish-List - Part One

As promised, the post that I would write and publish shortly after I introduced it (not that I needed to introduce it, but it sort of happened) and I'm not going to spend forever talking this time, but I'm just going to jump right into it. 

365 Days of Wonder 

 If you know me at all, you will know that I love quotes but I also loved the original "Wonder" book- which took me by surprise, because if there's anything I hate in books, it's high school, drama, and sugar sweet endings. I saw this ages ago, it's a book filled with quotes (that I believe aren't from the books, but I might be wrong on that one) for everyday of the year. It'll be a book that'll be pretty useful. 

The Twenty-One Balloons. 

This also has a probably quite boring backstory, but as everyone knows, I'm a fan of Stacy from StacyPlays on YouTube and she recently made a new Minecraft series on her channel called Bookcraft. One of the first builds that she did was from this book - so, although I already know a good portion of what happens in this book, I was still really interested to give it a try and especially since it's a kids' book (I love kids' books), it interests me even more. It might just be one of those books that I never read, though. 

Alice in Zombieland. 

From now on in this post, it's all about Alice in Wonderland. Which is why I want this book, Alice in Wonderland is my favorite book (because it's just so weird) and I also quite like zombies, although they are never very well represented in books and are just so much better in the movie world, I still really want to give this book a go, although I am always welcome to hearing opinions about what their thoughts on this book are. 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Barnes and Noble Edition)

 

I think this one might be self-explanatory, but I already have the slim version of this book from the Barnes and Noble collection on Amazon, and it's only natural I should want my Alice in Wonderland collection to grow...right? Well, keep that it mind for this next book. 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Puffin Books). 

I mean just look at that cover, right?

 Thank you for reading, and I hope I can keep this series going, I am really bad at staying on task.