Life: The Perks of being a Pair

Life: The Perks of being a Pair

Saturday 27 February 2016

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I’m constantly seeing posts about the benefits of being a single lady so I thought I’d go the other way and do a little something on the benefits of being in a loving, secure relationship! I feel like I have to write a bit of a disclaimer here and say that I’m not knocking the single life in the slightest  (you go single girls!) but I personally have been so much happier since being in a relationship so thought I’d share 5 of the (less serious) reasons why I love being in a couple so very much! 

There’s always someone there to give you endless snuggles. 
Final year of uni has made me VERY cuddle needy (who am I kidding, I’ve always been needy for cuddles) and having my boyfriend there to give me them whenever I need them has definitely helped me out a lot this year, particularly recently when I’ve been stressed out to the absolute max with uni work! High five to you, boyfriend.

You don’t have to meet takeaway minimum delivery costs by yourself. 
Let’s be realistic: a little person like me isn’t going to buy and eat £12 worth of Chinese food by myself. Having a boyfriend means I only have to spend half the amount that I'd have to if I was buying takeout by myself. Plus, you get free Prawn Crackers and a drink when you spend over £15. It all makes sense. 

You have someone to BLAME for buying takeaway. 
Linking back to my last point: I LOVE blaming my boyfriend for being a bad influence when I order food out when in reality I’m just a little fatty and would have done it anyway. It’s nice to take the guilt off yourself though. 

There’s always someone there for you to moan to/at/about. 
When your housemates leave crap all over the place and you find mouldy carrots down the side of the oven because they’re too lazy to pick things up when they drop them, it’s nice to have someone outside of the equation to moan to. It’s all well and good moaning to your mother about it, but she’s just going to tell you to clean up the mess yourself and quite frankly, why the bloody hell should you? (This DEFINITELY isn’t a regular occurrence in my house…) 

You have someone there for you, no matter what. 
A more serious one to end things. I don’t know what I’d do without the love and support of my boyfriend, he picks me up when I’m down and always knows the right things to say to me. He drives me absolutely mental half the time with his lateness and his ability to sleep ALL THE DAMN TIME but I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

What do you guys love about being all coupled up? Let me know! 

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Goodreads: February Currently Reading

Goodreads: February Currently Reading

Tuesday 23 February 2016

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It’s only the beginning of February and I already feel like I’ve absolutely failed on my Goodreads challenge already: taking a French literature based module with 5 (LONG) set-texts AND a European history module with a Spanish set text and 2 Italian set texts is not good for my reading-for-pleasure habits in the slightest. However, in spite of this, I’m trying to get back into the swing of things so I’ve put together a little currently reading post on a few texts I’m hoping to get through over the course of the rest of the month. 

Bad Feminist - Roxane Gay

A friend of mine from university recommended this one to me and lent me a copy of it this week. It’s made up of short essays which is handy as you can just read a few at a time and I’m really enjoying this one so far. I love feminist writers but have never read anything written by Gay before so I’m looking forward to properly sinking my teeth into it. 

L’Ingenu - Voltaire 

This is a set-text for a French literature module that I’m taking and we have seminars on the book over the course of the next few weeks so I’ve gotten stuck well into this one over the course of the last few days. It’s the second text that I’ve read by Voltaire (the other being Candide) and I’m absolutely loving it so far. I absolutely love Voltaire’s use of language and style so I’m thrilled to be studying this as part of my degree.

Please, Mister Postman- Alan Johnson 

I read Alan Johnson’s first autobiography, This Boy, whilst I was living in France and I absolutely loved it. I’ve since lost a little bit of respect for Johnson himself but my boyfriend bought me the second of his autobiographies for Christmas so I decided to give it a go this month as it’s quite a short one so I can fit it in amongst all of my university reading. I really enjoyed the first of his books so hopefully I like this one as well. 

What are you reading at the moment? 

Review: My Mystical Wonderland Adult Colouring Book*

Review: My Mystical Wonderland Adult Colouring Book*

Thursday 11 February 2016

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A few months ago I reviewed the Millie Marotta Animal Kingdom Adult Colouring Book and recently I received an email from Lauren at Plexus Books asking me if I wanted the opportunity to review a new Adult Colouring Book. I absolutely LOVE my Millie Marotta book so jumped at the opportunity to give another one a go and I received the book My Mystical Wonderland in the post this week. At first glance, it’s everything you want in an adult colouring book: it’s colourful, the images are exciting and interesting and more importantly, with the exception of a few, the drawings inside aren’t TOO fiddly, which I found with the Millie Marotta. This book was created by the creator of  the “My Magical Oasis” colouring book and promises “a perfect antidote to the stresses and strains of everyday life.” 

Sounds good to me! 

The drawings are, generally speaking, pretty realistic (with the exception of the fantastical, imaginative drawings which correlate marvellously with the concept of “mysticalness.” The book is made up of 101 beautiful exotic images- I’ve spied a unicorn and a dragon amongst all the birds, flowers and butterflies, for example- which makes a change and also makes things a bit more interesting as you can really experiment with colour. There is definitely something for everyone, no matter what your taste, which makes the entire book varied and interesting. The vast majority of the illustrations are drawn using quite thick lines, which again I think is an advantage as the more intricate drawings in the Millie Marotta were far too fiddly for me after a while and I got pretty frustrated after a few hours of colouring (although putting it down for a few days definitely gets rid of the frustration!) However, this doesn’t limit the intricacy of the designs as there are multiple sections which require a steady hand, so perfect for someone who wants a bit of a challenge.  The quality of this book is excellent- the sheets of paper are thick which almost certainly won’t limit what type of pens and paints you can use to colour in the images- the last thing you want is bleed through when you’re spending £10 on a colouring book, after all!  The only flaw I can think of as far as the book is concerned is the fact that the pages are double sided and aren’t perforated - this makes things a little bit more difficult as because of the design of the spine, it’s difficult to lay the book flat against a table without it springing back closed. Because of this, I think I’ll detach a few pages from the book when I have a go and see how acrylic paint works with the designs. I’ll definitely do a tester at some point though as you can never be too sure how paint and ink is going to work on a page. I haven't had a chance to actually get any colouring done yet but I’m particularly looking forward to giving the unicorn and the little phoenix a go when I have a little bit of spare time, or to just have a break from work. The unicorn in particular is absolutely adorable, I think the intricacy of its wings make the picture that bit more interesting but aren’t overpowering or too much to deal with.

You can purchase the book from all the usual outlets (amazon, for example) and directly from Plexus books. RRP is £9.99. I’d argue that it definitely weighs up in terms of quality when you compare it to other adult colouring books and can definitely compete in an already competitive market. 

*This product was provided for review. All opinions are my own.