It’s been two weeks since my last review post and I’m hoping the adage ‘better late than never’ rings true. I’ve been living life and trying to find time to write in between (the irony of having a lifestyle blog and being too busy to write about it). The past month has been spent travelling around the UK, attending blog events and completing some urgent ‘wedmin’. Life has been a bit of a blur. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m looking forward to returning to my quiet, cosy life of evenings wrapped up in a blanket, with the fire on.
So, without further ado, here are the last two weeks in review…
Read
Tin man. I’m still trying to read more of Tin Man, but as it’s usually late by the time I pick it up – I’ve fallen asleep holding it more times than I care to admit. Next week, I’ll be travelling into London again for the final day of Facebook Fast Track training so I’m hoping to catch up on some reading during the early morning train journey.
Blogs, blogs and more blogs. I’d estimate that, in the past fortnight, I’ve visited around 100 blogs as part of the outreach work I’m completing at work. It’s my first task every morning (after making a cup of coffee of course), I run through the list of published collaborations and read each one – it’s a definite perk of my job and one of my favourite parts.
Watched
X Factor. Here’s where I admit that I’m not a fan of X Factor, but during our stay in the Peak District at East House Country Hotel, Erica and I were faced with an evening in after dinner, accompanied by a bottle of pink fizz. X Factor seemed like the natural progression and surprisingly, it was the perfect girls’ night in. Despite liking alternative music, I’m going to jump on the bandwagon and profess my love of Rak-su. This year, X Factor seem to have axed the novelty acts and put real talent in its place. Bravo. Will I continue to watch it? Probably not, but I’ll be keen to know who wins.
Made
A start on my Christmas shopping. Finally. I’m genuinely terrified of the Christmas shopping I need to complete this year. Usually, I’ve purchased the vast majority of my gifts by now and around the end of November, I start wrapping. Even with the arrival of Christmas adverts and markets, I’ve bought few gifts and these are for my thrifty Christmas gift box (thanks to finding gorgeous items in a Bakewell charity shop) Ironically, I’ve received gifts with the arrival of my John Lewis Secret Santa gifts which I wrote about this week.
Heard
I’m obsessed with Wolf Alice (and so is half of the UK, and probably the world). I missed them performing live last Thursday in Manchester, due to a blogging event with Salon Success and Paul Mitchell. I’ve played their new album, Visions of a Life, whenever I’ve had chance: in the car, in the office, in the shower – just to try and make up for the fact that I missed their live show. I’ve just discovered this stripped back version of ‘Don’t Delete the Kisses’ thanks to Morgana referencing it in her latest Little Loves post – I don’t think I could love Wolf Alice any more.
Jimmy Eat World. Slam Dunk tickets were released on sale, along with the news that Jimmy Eat World are headlining along with Taking Back Sunday. The teen emo inside of me has relished hours of listening to all of their albums during the commute and whilst I’ve been working.
Knuckle Puck. Still. On repeat ready for their UK tour!
Wore
More pinafore dresses. No surprises there. I’ve been wearing more pinafore dresses – they’re comfy and practical (and I can see why toddlers are dressed in them!) This time, I’ve switched up my collection of trusty denim dresses for corduroy. Joanie Clothing sent me their Olive Cord Pinafore Dress in the aptly named colour ‘pumpkin spice’ for my #JoinTheWorld trip to Sheffield with Visit England. I want to start wearing more of my second-hand finds and this is the perfect dress to layer with my thrifted and vintage blouses.
New pyjamas. On my return from a visit to London, I had over an hour’s wait in Manchester city centre before I could catch my train back to St Helens. Like all right-thinking women my age, I decided to call into Primark and investigate their Christmas pyjamas range. I was not prepared for the sheer influx of themed pyjamas: Disney, Harry Potter and Christmas. I made an on-the-spot decision to invest, and spent the walk back to the train station waylaid under the burden of paper Primark bags. So worth it.
And, lastly…
You’ll notice there have been some pretty huge changes to the design here and it’s all thanks to Steffany from Haus of Coco who is changing the entire look and feel of Polkadot Pink to bring it more inline with my branding and the topics I write about. It’s a work in progress, but already, I’m really pleased with how it’s coming along.
I wish I could say that next week promises to be quieter, but I’ll be travelling to London twice for Facebook training and also to attend the launch of #LOTD’s celebrity collaboration with Louise Thompson.
