goodbye july, hello august

Wow I can't believe how quickly July flew by. And I only blogged 7 times - so shameful! It's been a crazy month, here's what I got upto!

I passed my driving test woohoo! 

I made pink, sparkly cupcakes for my last day at work. 

Alex graduated - super proud of him and can't wait for my turn.

I had a trip down south with friends and went to Brighton and Thorpe Park for the first time, and had a BBQ by the beach. 

I'm so northern, 6 days down south and I got sunburnt! Wasn't complaining about the rare sighting of the sun though. 

My cousin and her boyfriend came to stay with us. Cocktails, meal out and another BBQ!

Such a busy month! I feel like I can finally breath now though, I've left my job at the nursery and officially have NO plans for the next 8 weeks until I go back to university. Unless you count a stupid dental operation in two weeks (in preparation for braces eek!). 

I'm going to be setting myself a few challenges to keep myself occupied over the summer, mainly getting my diet and fitness into check but a few more exciting things too. I'll write a separate post on this soon.

Fingers crossed for more sun in August!

wet weekend in wales

This is just a selection of the 100s of photos we took during our wet weekend (well 5 days) in North Wales a couple of weeks ago. My parents, Alex and I decided a while ago we fancied a little break in Wales, mostly because we wanted to climb Snowdon but also we hoped for some better weather and a few beach days. But we didn't let the weather get us down and instead we took the opportunity to really relax, mostly infront of the log fire - bliss!


We also explored Caernarfon and the castle which is where Prince Charles had his investiture ceremony for him becoming the Prince of Wales. As you can probably tell, I spent the whole time in my walking boots as it was the only sensible footwear I took. Needless to say I am now scouring the internet for holidays abroad so I can crack out the flip-flops before the summer is out!

weekly ups and downs #4

finally fitting into a dress I've had in my wardrobe for years, new studded jumper, outfit for the sun

hair looks blonder in the sun, fotd, cute socks 'borrowed' from the spare sock box at nursery

blue cheese salad dressing yum, home-made chicken korma, healthy pizzas

watching my dad play cricket, alex made marinated courgette salad, finally said goodbye to double digits

catching up on gossip girl, cramming for driving test on wednesday, finished 50 shades of grey trilogy

follow me on instagram@lifeofemilyalice

Ups

+ Only 3 days left working at the nursery yippee!

+ It's a bit embarrassing that you're all going to know what I weigh haha but I've finally broken into the 9s and have officially lost over 3 stone. I've been so so good with my diet this week and I'm aiming to keep it up for the next 3 months or so and hopefully be at my goal weight by September when we will be going on holiday!

+ Only 1 week until I head down south for 5 days with friends and hopefully some sunny weather.

+ I discovered a new album to listen to over and over. Don't laugh but I really love the song on the Kopparberg advert so I googled the band and it's by a Swedish band called Fredrik - they're hard to explain but kind of folky and electronic, very ethereal and right up my street. 

Downs

- I have my driving test on Wednesday and I'm feeling super nervous about it. Hopefully passing it will feature in my 'ups' next week!

Only one down so it must've been a good week! :) Here's to another one!

the swan queen

Dress: Topshop (sold out)

Shoes: Primark Wedges

Bangle: Custom Made

I posted about this dress here when I bought it a few weeks ago. I'll admit I didn't actually wear it out the house when I wore it as I'm still saving it for Alex's Graduation on Friday but I know there won't be time for posing (apart from the obligatory photos with Alex in his robes!) and I really wanted to take some pictures in it. 

I love the print of this dress so much, the only thing I'm not sure about is the length. I think it could do with being a teensy bit shorter. I'm quite funny about the length of skirts/dresses, even though I don't particularly like my legs (horrible knees) I hate wearing anything too long - you'll never see me in anything on the knee, below the knee or mid-calf, it's just mini or maxi for me! It'll be okay for Alex's graduation but it might be taking a holiday to my Mum's house where all clothes go when they are in need of some sewing handiwork :)