You Burn First

Peace shirt
£22 - topshop.com

Dorothy Perkins black boots
£36 - dorothyperkins.com

Eden wine ultra soft jegging - Fashion Jeggings - Jeans - Clothing -...
dorothyperkins.com

Wine cable slubby beanie
£13 - dorothyperkins.com

I wasn't planning on posting about any of my Christmas presents until after Christmas day, however last night my friend and I had our own early Christmas, and I recently treated myself to a few new items of clothing!
The tank top was one of the gifts from my friend, and I'm wearing it right now! It's so comfortable and oversized, and I have a secret love for tie dye so this is perfect for me. The hat is also courtesy of my friend, I already have it in cream but as I no longer have purple hair, I can now wear a red hat which makes me very happy.
The jeggings and boots were my own little present for myself and I love them. It's so unusual for me to wear anything but skirts and dresses, however these jeggings are so comfortable and versatile; I now own them in this wine colour and now in black too. I wasn't too sure on the boots until I tried them and I just couldn't resist. This outfit as a whole is basically what I'm wearing today (swap the jeggings for the black pair) and I really like how it is different for me but nothing something I feel uncomfortable in.

Is there anyone else who's like me when it comes to jeans...a bit too scared to wear them? It sounds silly but I always feel more exposed and body conscious in jeans than I do if I'm just wearing a skirt or dress!

Now for a photo spam...

I love this necklace, it comes on a long chain and it reminds me of the steampunk style.  The cogs turn and everything :D

My friend's dad finds my slight irish background very amusing, so this was his doing!

This will probably be my last post before christmas, so for now I'm going to continue watching Harry Potter and I hope you all have a lovely day!

x

The Pogues

The Pogues by xwallflower-x featuring resin jewelry

Crop top / ASOS acid wash jeans, £33 / Resin jewelry, £2.46 / Dorothy Perkins , £17 / Ace Black / Georgia Knitted Coat With PU Sleeves And Pockets at boohoo.com

I've vaguely based this outfit around 'The Fairytale of New York' video by The Pogues...which suitably enough, is my favourite christmas song! I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm a complete scrooge around christmas time, I just tend not to get excited over it, and I think that song fits with that pretty well.

I've seen a lot of holiday season outfit posts, so I thought I'd make my own- with a twist.
Being a Brit, I find myself getting stuck in the habit of dressing like the weather- a bit dark, a bit dreary. I wanted to prove to myself that I could still make that look fashionable, with the help of a few key colour pieces.
If my bank balance would allow it, I think I'd buy everything in this, including the veerryy expensive 'Acne' boots. What I like about this is that by simply changing the shoes, you could change the entire look of the whole outfit.

Is this an outfit you'd wear, or do you always make the effort to dress up around the holiday season?

I have to leave the house to go back into the pouring rain as I'm going to go see my friend perform in some christmassy...performance.

And on that note, I'll leave you with this:

x

I want that squirrel!!

Hi guys!

I'm back with what I hope is a substantial blog post! As Christmas is just around the corner, and my 21st birthday is not much further away (January 11th, if you were wondering,) I felt a wish list was necessary! Having said that, I've barely been out into the real world or online so whilst I have a couple of ideas in mind (a hamster, an adopted penguin, letter from Hogwarts- life essentials) it's literally going to be a case of hunting around the internet whilst I do this!

Swallow Ear Plug- £9.99

Although I already have one swallow ear plug, I can't help but love this. I've had my eye on this for so long, but as I already own so many plugs I've resisted buying this. 

Amarya Beauty Box- £12.50pm

As you may know, I'm obsessed with my monthly Glossy Box subscription so the idea of another monthly beauty box makes me very very happy! As this one is full of natural and organic products, it appeals to my inner hippy. I can't quite justify paying for 2 monthly boxes...so if santa wanted to sign me up, that'd be great! 

Pixi Lash Line Pen - £12

I wish I could remember where I heard about the 'pixi' make up line, all I can remember is hearing very good things about it. As someone who loves a bit of winged eyeliner, I'm always on the hunt for a miracle liquid eyeliner! 

Urban Decay Smoked Eye Palette- £31.50

Let's be honest, I wouldn't be a fan of eye make up if I didn't crave some Urban Decay make up in my life. 

Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara- £18.90

Without a doubt, this is my all time favourite mascara. I just hate that it has to be so expensive so I only ever buy it as a treat. 

Bobbi Brown Hydrating face cream- £32.40

So, I bought this last year from Macys (I was on holiday...I felt it was okay to spend that much on moisturiser!) and oh I miss it so much :( It lasted for ages and I was reluctant to accept that it had finally run out. I need this back in my life! 

Viktor&Rolf Flowerbomb- £58-£80

This perfume...just...wow. 

For a while I was buying the tester sized bottles from ebay, and then I finally bought a full sized bottle from the airport but a while ago I managed to break the top off it (oops!!) so I'm left with a bottle that's just teasing me. I definitely need some more of this, it makes me very happy :) 

Tweed Blazer- £34

I stumbled across this a few weeks ago, and some money has been knocked off it since (making it all the more tempting!) and I don't know if it's right for me to love it as much as I do... 

Now, as I'll be turning 21...I can't help but feel I deserve a more 'adult' coat, as opposed to my scruffy looking khaki parka. 

Burberry Trench Coat- £1,195

My guilty pleasure in life...*daydreams*

One day this pretty shall be mine. 

I've also been trying to track down 'Adventure Time' on DVD, and you can guarantee I'll be asking for plenty of Lush, Waterstones and Amazon vouchers! 

You can also guarantee a follow on to this post, full of clothes and shoes. I'm just not feeling particularly inspired at the moment, uhoh. 

I miss the days of being a kid and flicking through the Argos catalogue, making a list of every.single.item! 

What about you, do you like making lists for people or are you all about the surprise?! 

x

Let's redefine what it means to heal

Hey guys!
Once again, apologies for my lack of posting. I've been to the Drs multiple times, the opticians and the hospital and its still a bit of a mystery as to what is wrong with me- but I'm on some medication that seems to be starting to work so fingers crossed! (If you're wondering what on earth I'm going on about, read my previous blog post!)
Anyway, I figured it wouldn't hurt my head too much to spend 10 minutes on my macbook and I wanted to post something about my trip to London last week.

If any of you remember, I had a bit of a battle trying to buy tickets for Alexisonfire's farewell tour (MASSIVE SOB!) Thankfully, my friend and I managed to get some so after counting down the days, it was finally time to see Alexisonfire for one last time!

We set off for London a bit earlier so we could go to Camden (she had never been before :O!) and so we could go to a Shisha bar (again- something she had never experienced.) I'm always so massively relaxed around Camden, and it's a shame we had to head off after a couple of hours as we were going to meet some friends back at the train station.
Before the gig, we all went for a few drinks in an insanely busy pub in Brixton...and before I knew it was time to make our way to Brixton Academy just in time for Alexisonfire!!
I've been to a fair few gigs, but this was in a league of it's own. The band played amazingly- but the atmosphere was just unbelievable. This probably had a lot to do with it being their final gig in the UK (and basically in the world ever) so the energy was just out of this world and it's just one of those moments where I was just stood there thinking 'I really am just happy to be here!'

Now for a few photos!

I only took a couple of photos at the gig- too busy living in the moment to bother with a camera, hence the crappiness of these photos!
Unfortunately we missed the last train back...so it was a bit of a mission getting home, involving a bus journey, a taxi and dragging my mum out of bed at 2.30am to pick us up (what an angel!) and by which point my head was absolute agony but OH WELL!
I wish I could relive this night over and over.

Just listen to the audience....wow!!

Until next time- BYEEEEEE X

And it's been a while...

Hi guys!

Wow, massive apologies for my absence...and I can see it's made a difference by my loss in followers, oops!
I've been super busy and also super ill, so blogging has kind of slipped my mind. I do have some blog ideas lined up, but I've barely been online as I've been suffering with chronic headaches for the past month. I'm currently on medication for 'Hemicrania Continua' although that seems to be making me very dizzy, but I'm still at work basically every day so as you can tell, life has been hectic and not in the best of ways.

I did go to see Alexisonfire at their last ever gig in England, so expect a post about that when I can tolerate the use of the computer for more than 5 minutes.
I hope you all understand, and please don't be offended by my lack of commenting on your own blogs- I really am sorry about this!

As always, if you have any suggestions on things you want me to post about, feel free to let me know in a comment on this post.
Once again, HI and SORRY!
Please send healing thoughts my way as I'm feeling very sorry for myself these days (headaches are seriously underrated.)

xxx

Are you sure where my spark is?

Hi guys!
Wow, I've been meaning to write this for a few days but I've just been pretty busy and therefore tired!
I neglected to write posts on my last 2 days in NY, so I'll have to write a very brief recap (mostly because I'm still so tired and jet-lagged I can't remember anything in any other way than 'briefly.')
Before I move on to that, I just want to tell you guys what I've been up to since I returned Friday night.

Aside from working on Saturday (with my body clock 5 hours behind, it's safe to say I didn't know where I was or what I was doing!) After work, for some reason I can't quite pinpoint, I decided to dye my hair brown. So, the purple is no more. I continued to be wide awake until about 4am GMT time and then decided it was absolutely necessary for me to re-decorate my bedroom and have a furniture move. I'll hopefully make a post about the finished product, if it works out! I spent all day on it yesterday and it's not even half done, oops.
Does anybody else ever just wake up with the urge that everything in their life needs to be completely overhauled? It's quite unsettling, but hey, it gets things done!

Whilst I anxiously wait for the delivery of my iphone 5 (upgrade time- and I have no idea when it's being delivered eeep) I shall talk a little bit about New York!

Day 5-  

If my memory serves me correctly, we spent most of the day in SoHo and then about 10 minutes in Chinatown, it was absolutely insane so we sort of walked for a little while and then decided to turn back out of fear of lack of oxygen.

A bit of shopping was carried out while in SoHo, and for a while I felt like I was back in England when a Topshop and Lush was spotted.
We found an amazing shop, and we just couldn't help but buy new shoes!

Hightop wedges with studs- nice!

We went back to our hotel for a while and then headed off out on the subway to meet Vicky, stock up on food for thanksgiving and I had my first real american apartment experience. I don't know if it's lame that it made me so excited, but I don't know, I think it's nice to break out of the tourist role for a few hours and just settle in to what it would be like to live in city like NY! 

Day 6- THANKSGIVING! 

Thanksgiving marked the only day we were up and out by 9.30am. We had to navigate our way around a very busy New York in order to find out where the Thanksgiving day parade would be travelling through. Eventually we found our way and caught the first hour and a half of the parade! It was such an amazing thing to experience, especially when you realise just how many people go to New York to see the parade! 

It started to get really cold so we went back to the hotel to sort out our suitcases (a mission and a half!) and then went back to Vicky's apartment for thanksgiving dinner. This basically consisted of me cooking roast potatoes and yorkshire puddings (from scratch, first attempt, and damn they were good!) Anybody who knows me will know that seeing me in a kitchen is a funny sight, it never happens- I think i'm allergic to cooking. 

We had the thanksgiving day parade on the TV, and it was just a lovely and relaxed way to end our visit. 

Yazz and I had to get back to the hotel pretty early as we were being picked up at 3am to go to the airport, but we couldn't not go visit times square one last time. 

I love that my coat is basically a tent.

And now? I am home and very, very grumpy about this. Partially because I hated leaving Vicky, but also because I always considered myself a countryside girl at heart, and this remained true last time I returned from New York, but now it's not so much like that. I miss how busy it is at all times of the day, how easy it is to get around the city, I also kind of miss how impossible it is to have a relaxing day when out and about in central Manhattan.
Take me back there, please!

New York is the only place I've visited outside of the UK/ Republic of Ireland, and I know I have to see more of the world, but I would do anything to return to that city right now!

On a side note, I have a couple of ideas for future blog posts- but if there's anything you'd like to see me write about/any interesting 'tags' please do let me know! I've been debating making a youtube video every now and again (because it seems like less effort than typing!) but I'm not sure how keen I am on that idea. I don't know, what do you guys think?

And lastly, is there anywhere you have visited and would recommend?

Don't forget to follow me on twitter @AGP_x

Day 4- "You guys have beautiful..." Americans love giving out compliments.

Hi Guys :)

I have to say, this morning I woke up very happy to be in New York after seeing friends post on facebook that places in my area of the county are flooding. So far, we are yet to experience any rain here, which I'm extremely grateful for!

Yesterday was another good day (despite my lack of sleep and the headache that is *still* taunting me.)
I'd like to take this moment to pat myself on the back for officially becoming a genius at navigating the subway. Okay, perhaps not a genius but I managed to figure out how we get to Battery Park and then back to Union Square.
What's in battery park you ask? Well, that's where you catch 'The Water Taxi' to go see my pal Libby.
The captain of the boat was very friendly and I now have a picture of random strangers on my camera thanks to him.
Unfortunately, due to the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, Liberty and Ellis Island were both closed off to the public so repair work could be carried out. Nevertheless, it was still amazing to be that close to Libby, in all her glory.

A few photos of this part of the trip:

Looking a bit evil with the sun in my eyes.

Failed attempt at catching us and Libby.

After this, we then went to the 9/11 Memorial which was only a short walk away. Last time I went, the memorial was still being built so it was basically just a building site with a bridge over the top that I could walk across. It was amazing to see how much progress has been made in the space of just over a year, and I couldn't help but get emotional as soon as I saw the memorial. Just seeing all the names of people who lost their lives during 9/11, it never fails to shock me.

Tower 1- still in progress.

We headed back to Union Square to meet Vicky as she had got us guest passes for one of her classes. It was very interesting,in the best possible way, to see her performing. It felt quite bizarre to be in that setting, listening to the training they're given and the way the entire thing 'works.' I couldn't help but think that as much as I'd love to be able to, there's not a chance in hell I could ever do what they do. 

I have discovered a new level of respect for acting.  

(I should probably say- you can check out her website and blog here)

The rest of the evening was spent in Barnes & Noble, American Eagle (for Yazz, again) and hunting down food (mmm crisps, how substantial!)

Yazz fell asleep early, not quite over Jet lag I don't think, so I finished reading 'Looking for Alaska,' by John Green and shouted at people trying to enter our room.

Just another 24 hours in New York, really!



Day 3- Shake my hand, I'm the real Prince Charles.

"Dang lookin' fly, what I'd do to that!" Said the random cyclist.
Being surrounded by Americans still confuses me, you wouldn't think there was that much of a cultural difference but there definitely is!

Today has, thankfully, been another relaxed day! We pretty much spent the majority of the afternoon going around various shops, but the one that excited me the most was Bloomingdales! I didn't get chance to go in last time I was in NY so it was something I really had to do this time round. I had to divert my eyes away from the make up sections, which meant my favourite floor was easily the gift/homeware/christmas floor!

The little birdy you can see is a christmas decoration made out newspaper extracts!

I was determined to get a christmas tree decoration while out here, and I'm pretty satisfied with that.



After this we decided to locate Central Park (sometimes quite hard, considering how big it is) so Yazz could have her first Central Park experience. We also had our first salted pretzel (well, half pretzel- they're very filling!) which is another thing ticked off the list for this week.





Yazz wanted to go to Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch, for which we had to queue to get in...

I've always kind of avoided these stores, mostly because it's not the kind of clothing I'd go for, partly because it's so expensive, but also because I find the idea of shopping in a very dimly lit store with dancing girls in bikinis a bit...odd. Maybe I'm missing the appeal of it?

We then went to the Harry Potter Exhibition, I went to this last year but it's only right for a British person to visit a British exhibition. There's nothing like hearing the soundtrack to remind you of home. I kindly volunteered myself to get sorted into a house by the sorting hat, and surprise- RAVENCLAW. Complete shock after I'd said my favourite house (/the house I'm in according to Pottermore) is Ravenclaw.

We had a very intense *sort of* Quidditch game, made the mandrakes cry, chilled in Hagrid's hut and then cried over the prices in the gift shop. However, I couldn't not get this item!

That's right, a Ravenclaw pen :')

After heading back to our hotel room to offload our bags, we went back out to go to the top of the Empire State Building. I'm probably completely overusing this word when posting about New York, but the view was breathtaking. It's bizarre to see everything so lit up and for everything to be so far away but still so massive- and it was lovely to see Libby's torch lit up!

It's so hard to get a decent photo when your camera is as rubbish as mine, but just...lights!!

Now, I'm off up to the rooftop lounge to hunt out the stars (little obsession of mine- I like to see nature while surrounded by the rest of New York!) before heading off to bed. :) 







Day 2- Have a good day y'all

Hi-de-hi campers :)
I did intend to post this last night but wow New York makes me tired; I went out to the rooftop lounge at about 8pm to have another look at the view and I came back to my room and my friend was already asleep! It's been pretty hectic.

Yesterday we went for a nosey around times square, I'll still always prefer it at night time so I might have to drag Yazz there so she can see it in it's all glory :)

We spent way too much time in Toys 'r' Us (why am I 20?! I want a Barbie Malibu beach house!) and got very excited by pretty much everything. Yazz found some Auntie Anne Cinnamon sticks so she was happy...and I was happy because we found some huge penguin stuffed toys!

We made quite a spectical of ourselves while trying to get a photo of us both and the 3 penguins, but it was worth it!

I was a bit disappointed by the lack of Adventure Time toys, there was a tiny section of stuff but nothing for Marceline (aka cartoon me.)

We went on in to a few shops; forever 21, American Eagle, Hershey Factory and M&M world...however by this point I was in a bit of a bad mood as my headache was in full force and I'd managed to lose Yazz in the crowd in the space of 5 seconds and ended up being cornered by 4/5 huge guys trying to sell me a CD. It started off with one confusing me (not hard to do, and their selling skills are incredibly good) and signed a CD for 'Kcutie' eh, and then demanding $10 off me, so I was just like 'eh sure whatever gets me away,' at which point a few more guys came along, signed cds, threw them at me and then got a bit aggressive when I didn't want them. SO, that did put me on a bit of a downer but all was healed after we made our way to the Rockefeller centre.

We had planned to go Ice skating, but with funds being what they are we didn't go yesterday. I think we'll probably leave it til later on in the week and see what we have left $$$ wise! It was pretty awesome seeing all the skaters, and the christmas tree was in the process of being put up!

We got to fast track the queue for 'Top of the Rock,' and I had timed it so that we would get there just in time for sunset. Luckily our timing was pretty good, so we got to see the sunset from the top of the Rockefeller centre which was breathtaking!

We stayed until it got dark so we could see all the lights, and we witnessed a couple getting engaged (n'awww cute!)

Once again, Empire State Building behind and the sun is just setting :)

(The sun was glaring in our eyes which would explain Yazz's face.)





I think we have a pretty busy day planned, so I'm hoping my headache will subside enough for me to not want to punch everyone in the face.

I still haven't had a Salted Pretzel, so that's definitely on my agenda!

Hopefully updated this again later or tomorrow!

P.s If we had a dollar every time we were complimented on our hair colour, we would be rich.