mollydotw: 2017

o Musings Of A So-Called Shutterbug

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Sunday 24 September 2017

The Unique Blogger Award (Tag)

What would blogging even be without a good old tag post?!

I personally love reading tag posts to find out a bit more about the person behind the blog so thank you to Hannah from What Hannah Wrote for including me in this little 'Unique Blogger Award' question and answers!

The rules for this tag are:

o Thank your nominator

o Answer the questions that your nominator left for you

o Nominate 5-10 people (and let them know)

o Set questions for your nominees to answer

So here are my answers to the questions left by Hannah -

1. What’s your all-time favourite song?

I'm not sure I have an all time favourite as I change then so often (anyone do the whole, love a song, listen to it on repeat for a week and then hate it routine because same) but at the moment I am LOVING Louis Tomlinson Back To You.

2. What was your main motivation behind starting a blog?

When I was younger I always wanted to be an author and would spend hours writing stories - usually my own version of a Bratz episode or something haha. I also always enjoyed English lessons at school and still now just generally love writing and getting my thoughts down onto paper (or a laptop screen). I had also read a few blogs before and really liked the concept of it and the way people made internet friends through all having the same hobby.

3. Pineapple on pizza: yes or no?

Oh goddd, I feel like this is a proper WW3 starter question...I'm not a huge pizza eater but yeaaahh the thought of Pineapple is weird on a savoury meal but I think I'm going to have to say yes. To be fair I normally pick the pineapple off and eat it separately but I do love the way it tastes from being on the pizza in the first place...

4. If you could go back five years to give yourself some advice, what would it be?

THERES MORE TO LIFE THAN HAVING A BOYFRIEND.

5. What was your favourite age, and why?

I looooved being eight. What worries does anyone have at the age of eight? Whenever I think back to childhood I always think of memories of being that age because life was so simple and great.

My questions for my nominees are:

o Whats your favourite thing about blogging?

o Have you kept your blog a secret from friends & family or do they know?

o Summer or Winter?

o What is one of your biggest pet peeves?

o On a scale of one to ten, how excited are you for Christmas?

And finally my nominees arreeeee:

o What Lyd Did

o izzieberry

o Its All Zara

o A Cruelty Free Me

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Sunday 17 September 2017

Netflix Picks

I have been LOVING NETFLIX soooooo damn much recently.

No word of a lie normal TV channels are never on in our house, it's literally: TV on, Netflix on.

Normally I spend ages scrolling through pages and pages of programs trying to find a series to get gripped onto and slightly obsessed with but not really finding anything that tickles my fancy, yet more recently the scrolling time has become less and less because everything just looks SO DAMN GOOD.

Twitter helps of course, as I always read peoples recommendations and I'm always up for trying a series even if it means stopping after a couple as its not my thing - not that this happens often!

So to return the favour to all those very helpful little Netflix nerds that have enlightened me to some amazing series, I'm going to plonk all my most favourite series I've finished or am watching currently (I'm definitely a 'one series at a time' person) so hopefully you'll find something to try out and also become obsessed with!

The Vampire Diaries

Does this even need an explanation? You've all already seen it right?!

If you haven't then DO.

I was slightly skeptical at first as I was worried it was going to be a bit Twilighty and the first couple of episodes were with the whole 'girl meets attractive guy who has a secret' thing but once thats all out in the openits actually the complete opposite, and more of a 'realistic' take on Vampires rather than those that sparkle in the sun (sorry not sorry to any avid Twilight fans).

Plus...Damon, that is all.

Riverdale

ooooooooh Riverdale.

I love a series thats based around an America high school, theres something nice about the vibe and Riverdale hits the spot!

The whole feel of the program is 'cool' is that uncool to say?? It's just super easy to watch with an easy to follow storyline, and the last two episodes when all the loose ends get tied up are so good!!

I love the characters, it's impossible not to love each one of them, even the horrible ones haha.

Mr Selfridge

I heard about this series from my sister who loves all things vintage and only ever saw snippets of it when I was at her house and it was on.

I was in a 'scrolling through Netflix desperate for a new series' state one evening and came across Mr Selfridge so gave it a go. And let me tell you it was blaaaaaady amazing.

It gives off all the cosy vibes, and it's just so British in every way possible.

The storyline in a brief is about an American man who opens a department store - Selfridges - in the centre of London. It's based in the 1900s so all the women have amazing hair styles and wear cute dresses, and talk of wearing makeup is like a secret that nobody should talk about until Mr Selfridge decides to sell it over the counter at the front of his shop, and life starts to change. Theres so much more to the storyline and I feel like I've made it sound complete shite, but trust me its so good and you'll be hooked by the end of the first episode.

Side note - the last episode is so emotional, I sat crying so hard over a friggin SHOP.

Gilmore Girls - (currently watching)

AUTUMN. COSYNESS. CHRISTMAS. WARM basically sums up Gilmore Girls.

I used to watch the old episodes on TV when I was younger but never really understood what was going on, and then when the new episodes were released last year I watched them but didn't really connect with it as I couldn't really remember the old episodes and meh it was all a bit wasted on me.

So once Mr Selfridge was over I decided to go back to GG and give it another go, and I'M SO GLAD I DID.

I've actually become slightly obsessed with it and it's become all I watch in any spare time I have.

If you love a program that makes you want to cosy up on the sofa with a hot drink and just feel good about life - then get into Gilmore Girls.

What have you been watching on Netflix recently? Let me know!

Molly

xox

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Saturday 9 September 2017

Minimalistic Pinterest Lounge On A Budget

Since pressing post on my previous 'Moving Out For The First Time' post I've been spending a large majority of my time Pinteresting yet more house inspo, to fit our theme of being minimalistic slightly Scandi yet homely and cosy.

I LOVE Living Rooms that are spacious, airy and light yet of course still a place to be comfortable, cosy and warm of an evening so I've been trying to mix the two together to create exactly what I can so easily imagine in my head.

This can be pretty hard when you're on a budget - especially when your Pinterest feed is full of all these beautiful houses with all the furniture and bits and pieces you so desperately want to make your house perfect...but just can't afford.

As this is my Boyfriend and my first home together and also or first time having bills and rent to pay, we always knew from the day we signed the contract that money would no longer be a luxury like it was before when living at home and we wouldn't really be able to go out and buy things willy nilly without having to check our bank balance first.

My family - knowing me all too well - told me not to worry about that the house looks like at first and to just buy what we can afford or take whatever furniture our family and friends offer to us...even if this means it not matching or looking right together.

This instantly sent alarm bells ringing as I am very hot on having theme and sticking to it, so things not matching around the house was straight away a big no no for me, but I took it in my stride and decided to just take a deep breath - push my organised and aesthetically pleasing thoughts aside and just go with the flow, and see what happens.

All in all we were actually super lucky, and everything we were kindly gifted by family and friends was all in a decent condition and we liked everything, but larger things such as a sofa, chairs and a table we had to pick out and buy ourselves without over-spending.

Second hand at first I was pretty skeptical about, the thought of having pre-owned things in our house that used to belong to people we don't know kind of freaked me out, but once reality kicked in and I stopped dragging the two of us to sofa shops to mourn over the 'sofa of dreams' I knew we couldn't have right now, we took a day off to go around every recycling shop in our area until eventually after what felt like hours we found a sofa that fit our theme, was comfortable and super affordable.

All it needed was a bit of TLC (in the form of a sponge, warm water, washing powder and some elbow grease) and walah! I LOVE it, and its so super comfortable.

Don't be afraid of second hand...recycling shops are full of little gems and you're almost certain to find exactly - or if not very similar - to what you're looking for.

DIY is cheap, quick and easy.

Once all our main boxes were empty and our house started being properly unpacked, I wanted to make the living room a much more cosy and homely area.

I already had a shoe box stuffed full of old photographs including a big pile of polaroids of my favourite Instagrams which I'd printed from Printiki, so I fished them out, picked out the best ones and simply strung some string along a section of wall opposite where we sit to watch TV and used wooden clothes pegs to hang the polaroids along the edge of the wall.

I'd seen similar ideas on Pinterest before and knew I definitely wanted to recreate it in my on house. I love how it looks, and it cost practically nothing!

Facebook Market, eBay and Lidl/Aldi are all great places to find homeware that can potentially look completely high end.

We found a lovely little TV unit on Facebook as well as a Pixar style floor lamp which I am completely obsessed with (we don't turn it on but it's a great decoration and we already had our eye on one brand new which was almost £60, we got ours second hand for £20!).

Our table for two was a lucky eBay find, it was exactly what I had been imagining to have, as we have to have it in the lounge to eat on I wanted it to match the rest of the rooms decor. It was one of the only things we bought brand new but it was an absolute steal. I'd seen others for almost double the price, and was so excited when I found a company on eBay selling the same thing for so much cheaper! (yep...being excited about dining room tables is how exciting life gets when you move out).

The chairs were from Aldi who also surprisingly do very good homeware and along with Lidl we've bought some lovely homeware bits from both. All their items seem to keep up with the latest trends and styles so everything matches perfectly, which means I normally end up adding a few bits and pieces into the trolley when food shopping, (who can't resist cute kitchen tins and flower pots ey?)

My advice if you're moving out into your first home on a homeware/furnishing budget is definitely to be open minded and shop in places you wouldn't normally try, such as supermarket homeware sections. Don't be afraid of second hand shops, they look pretty grim when you first walk in but after a rummage through you'll be sure to find something...plus anything can be easily cleaned up. We've had friends and family think our sofa was brand new!!

Definitely look through Pinterest for inspiration but don't get disheartened by how expensive things can be, theres always a cheaper option...even if it means a bit of DIY!

Do you have any moving out decorating tips? Let me know!

Molly xox

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Sunday 23 July 2017

Moving Out For The First Time

This post is long over due (as internet unfortunately doesn't just appear in your new house when you move - boooo) as we've now been moved in for roughly two weeks but, ME AND MY BOYFRIEND HAVE MOVED INTO OUR FIRST HOUSE TOGETHER EEEEEEK.

HOW EXCITING.

It feels like a life time that I've been waiting for this day to come, to have our own house, and our own space to put furniture anywhere we like, and have things how ever we like them to be - I've never felt freedom like it!

We've been together for almost five years and have been looking at houses to rent for just over a year, it seemed after viewing the fourth house and it still not being right that we would never find the perfect one for us, but along came house number five which I booked a viewing for without much hope or expectations, and now here we are moved in, and completely happy and content with everything about it.

I have ever only lived in two houses with my parents, but the second one is the only one I can ever remember living in as we moved in when I was just two years old.

It was in a small cute village which was completely out the way of town and surrounded by fields and farms, whereas my boyfriend on the other hand lived in the main town five miles away. We viewed houses in both villages and town to see which we preferred, and although a village like the one I lived in was top of our list, the house we fell in love with and suited our lifestyle the best happened to be in the town, just a two minute walk from my boyfriends old house.

Not living in a village is weird for me, and even after just two weeks I'm kind of already missing the quiet evenings, windy country lanes and the smell of the farms (yes even that believe it or not). I think at the moment my mind thinks I'm on an extended holiday and I'll soon be going back 'home' but reality does hit me quite a bit when I take the ten minute drive back to my parents house for a visit and find my old bedroom completely empty.

But that doesn't mean I'm also absolutely loving living in our own place, and enjoying being a proper adult - woohoo!!

Decorating and furnishing a house has been one of the things I've been most excited for during the whole moving process. As we are renting we are pretty limited on what we can do regarding painting, and hanging pictures on the walls etc but the luckily our landlords have already decorated the house perfectly, with everything light and airy so theres not much we would change even if we had bought the place!

As it's quite small we wanted a minimalistic clean feel to the whole place with a few plants dotted around.

Pinterest has been my main inspiration and help - I swear there not one thing in the world it doesn't have on it! - so after creating a board containing all the living room and kitchen goals we got to work on Ebay and home are shops ordering lots of bits and pieces. (my advice to you if you're planning on moving for the first time or even a complete change of decor is not to be afraid of second hand objects - within reason. We found that being on a budget second hand is amazing and furniture can easily be cleaned and up-cycled to make it the style you want).

Heres a little sneak peak of our living room

The sofa was purchased in a charity shop, in which I just simply removed all the cushion covers and washed them, and then scrubbed the rest of the sofa down with washing powder, warm water and a sponge and then added my own grey throw (to match the rug - which was originally bought from Aldi for my old bedroom) and cushions to add a pop of colour.

The canvas on the wall above was from the same charity shop and was £5! We bought it at first just as a wall filler to make the place feel a bit more homely, but ended up loving it plus, it matches out theme so well! So for the moment its staying put.

One of my favourite pieces in the whole house is the house plant. I knew I would want one eventually for the lounge and came across it by accident whilst shopping in Lidl (if you're not from the UK, Aldi & Lidl are basically food super markets which are ran by siblings who used to own one shop and then fell out and now own two separate shops both identical to the other...the small town we live in has one of each next to one another, its hilarious really...but also great as they sell great homeware and odd bits and pieces!) they were outside the shop for a bargain of £10.99! I bought the pot separately from Homebase for £9.99, but I'm obsessed with it. I even bought leaf wet wipes to keep them clean and shiny haha, (now let's just hope I don't kill it).

I am soooo happy with life at the moment and how the rest of the house is looking and and I'm even more excited to be able to dec my own house out for Christmas, eeek!!!

Whats been happening in your life recently?

Molly

xox

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