As we're now a few days into May, its only right to tell you all about my April favourites, of which I have a few! Even though this is only my second favourites post, I'm already finding myself looking towards new things in the month, and trying to deviate from my normal daily picks in order to find something new to share. As these are 'lifestyle' favourites, there is a mix of everything that I've loved this month and have made April that little bit better for me.



Beauty



Over the last couple of weeks I've been trying to wear less and less make up on a daily basis. Its really been helping my skin and has saved me a few extra minutes in the morning to lie in bed. Instead of the usual smattering of foundation, blusher, bronzer, etc. I've been letting my skin breathe. That's not to say I don't still have some spots and pores that would be better off not being shown. Benefit's Pore-fessional has been a saviour to cover my pores. It's a balm that covers them and makes them less visible. It doesn't feel greasy or heavy and is perfect for a little extra confidence.

Skin Care



I don't know about you, but here in Scotland the weather has been so temperamental. One minute its glorious sunshine, the next its a snow storm - I'm not even joking. Because of these drastic changes, I've found my hands have been getting quite dry. Aveeno has been helping me massively. Each night I've been moisturising my hands with it, and found such an improvement so quickly.

Movie
This month I've been to see a few films at the cinema, but my favourite by far was Eddie The Eagle. It's the most up lifting, feel good film I've seen in ages. I found myself literally willing Eddie on as he went for jump after jump, and couldn't keep the smile off of my face as he went to the olympics. If you get the chance, I can't recommend this film enough. It's also just kick started my next celeb obsession, as Taron Egerton is beautiful (once you see past his ginger bum fluff moustache).

Book



The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time is a great easy read. I couldn't resist picking it up after seeing the theatre show on a trip to London in February. Amazingly, the show follows the book almost by the letter, and I'm so incredibly impressed. Although probably targeted at a younger reader than me, I'm so glad I read it. It's really interesting to read a book narrated by a young boy with autism, and I found it an intriguing and entertaining read.

Music
This month I've been totally obsessing over 5 Seconds of Summer's album Sounds Good Feels Good. I went to their Glasgow show of Sounds Live Feels Live and was blown away by how amazing they were. I haven't stopped listening and re-listening to the album since, and trying to relive each song that they performed. My favourite songs are Money, Safety Pin and Waste The Night.

Other



I posted on instagram showing off the new addition to my wall of my Cheerz - La boite a photos. Stuck inside revising for weeks on end is slowly driving me insane, so to remind me of all the good things to come after these exams, I've displayed all my travel polariods over a wall. Looking at the photos has certainly made me wanderlust, but gives me that motivation to finish these exams. Check out my original review here. 

Check out my March Favourites here! 

What's your favourites for the month been?

Lots of love,
Emily
xxx

Well this month has been a busy one, with not much to show for it. Exam stress is high at the moment, anyone else feel like no matter how much they work they do it's never enough?  The library has become my home, and I've laid my claim on a specific seat. With only two more weeks of exams, the end is in sight. Should be doable right? If the blog front is a little quiet in the meantime, you can only expect that I've been suffocated in a pile a books and succumbed to my fate.

Despite this, I did have some good moments in the month of April. I officially finished all the teaching and essay deadlines of third year. This in itself scares me, as I am so not ready to enter my last year of my undergrad, but the thought of a summer abroad (hello 9 weeks of sun) and a bit of a break from deadlines has me beyond excited. I also spent a few days childminding, which was a lovely break away from the mundane routine of university, and let me have some fun, letting out my inner child.

So onto the main title of this post, here is my April in pictures from my instagram!



1. I celebrate the last day of the term with a trip to my all time favourite Peters Yard. I've posted many mouth watering photos and even a blog post (Check out here) before, but this crayfish sandwich was the ultimate treat. And too picture perfect.
2. I acted as "archaeology ambassador" for a couple of school open days, and as a reward for my work - guiding tours up and down our 6 floors- I was given Blackwells vouchers. Do I go for academic books, or treat myself? What a hard choice. Book reviews will be following, as I work my way through my wee pile, but I've really enjoyed reading something that isn't an academic jour al for a change.
3. I was working my way through essay deadlines when Easter Sunday came and went, so my family were super cute and saved the Easter eggs for when I came home the following week. We're a little to old for the usual hunt, but we were still spoilt with lots of treats.
4. I wrote up my first ever favourites post last month - which you can check out here - and loved reviewing my month. Expect to see another one in the next few days, recapping all my April favourites too!
5. When I'm at home I spend a lot of time with my doggy Alfie, and this little candid shot with him was too adorable not to share. He's super affectionate, and although the slobbery kisses are gross, I do love him for it.
6. As I said, I was childminding at the start of the month. We had a lot of fun, doing different activities - and if you're interested at all Lewis vlogged the whole holidays, and I feature here and there in a couple! Check them out here. A big highlight was a trip to Aberdeen's theme park Codona's. The day was heaps of fun, and I was dizzy and light headed from the amount of times we went on the waltzers and the drop ride, but loved every minute.
7. This month I've changed my hair around a lot. And it all began with dying it peroxide blonde. It was a big change, but I found that I really liked it, despite thinking I looked like a barbie doll when I caught myself in the mirror.


8. I was home over the easter holiday, which was a lot colder than I thought it would be for this time of year (anyone else confused by the snow?). Despite the dull days, I still loved taking walks along the river.
9. Another selfie to show off my blonde hair!
10. I did a throwback to this amazing chocolate milkshake that I had at Bills, you can see the blog post here.


 11. I had another concert this month, this time I was at the Hydro to see 5 Seconds of Summer. I have loved these boys for years now, and loved every minute of shouting the lyrics, chanting at the boys and singing along to 500 miles.
12. As I said, I did a lot with my hair this month. And the final change - which I'm sitting here with - was dying it back to purple. I loved it when I dyed it in October, so wanted to give it another shot, and have been rocking it since.
13. I finally got round to (read as procrastination method) hanging up all my travel snaps that came in the Cheerz 'boite'. Here's my review from months back showing all the boxes that Cheerz were kind enough to send me, if you fancy a nosey!
14.  I was treated to a lunch at Revolution Bar this week, where I stuffed my face in their new menu. This brownie was a delightful end to the meal. Keep an eye out for my review later this week.



15. And finally it wouldn't be my instagram without at least one photo of my cute little pup Alfie. And here he is this month, playing peak a boo in the daffodils, and looking as gorgeous as always.

So that's my round up of the month. lots of photos despite the many many library days. Let me know how your April was, filled with exam prep or did you get to enjoy an easter break?

Catch up on all my April posts:
March Lifestyle Favourites
A Day in Glasgow | Little Mix Get Weird Concert
Review | Randomise

Be sure to say hi over on instagram too!

Lots of love,
Emily
xxx

May is here, its absolutely crazy and I don't understand how its the 5th month of the year already when New Year literally feels like the other day. But it is here none the less, and I've decided to set myself some targets for this month, and share them on here, and reflect on April a little bit too.

I've spent much of April at home, only actually being in Edinburgh for the first couple of days at the end of term, and a one night trip back for a friend's birthday (which I blogged about here). I'm not ashamed to admit that I've suffered from quite bad home sickness being away from home for university, and I actually still do. I plan to do a blog post about my first year experience, in which I'll write about it a little, but I've found that being home this month has really helped me. I needed this month to look forward to, being at home just relaxes me a lot more, and I feel comfortable and happy surrounded by my family. As I am about to do my exams, I've been doing a whole lot of revision while I've been home, and I've found that being in the environment that I revised for my Highers has set me at ease, and made me feel a lot more relaxed than last term. It's also helped that I've been able to revise a little each day over the course of the holidays, revision week, and this last week when I didn't have exams. Last term I had a week to cram in revision for my three subjects and all it did was stress me out and almost made me sick. So being back home has helped my stress levels.
I've also got into a new study routine over the past few weeks, which I've found has been really productive as well as allowing me time to relax and enjoy the day. I get up for breakfast with my family at 7, and get ready and am at the central library for a 9am start with my sister. At the library, I'm able to focus much more as there is absolutely no internet. And I've been staying there for a good few hours- some days till 1- and then go home for lunch and then I have the afternoon to do some light revision or relax. Its been much more beneficial for me, as I've been able to get through a lot of work and stayed focused when I'm there, because I know I'll be able to have a fun afternoon. It has also made the day feel a lot longer, which I love.
This past month I've had time to reflect on what I actually want to do with my life- it seems a pretty hard going thought to have and I'm only 18, but realistically- first year has passed so fast, that its going to be next to no time until I'm graduating a faced with the reality of finding a job or whatever. Over this last year, I've discovered that I am most interested in the classical period, and in particular Classical Archaeology. So I've decided that next year, instead of Scottish Archaeology I'm going to study Classical Archaeology, and for my History subject, I'll do Ancient History. As my outside subject, I've decided that I'm going to take up beginners Greek, I loved Latin at school, but can't do the course at uni, so I think I'll enjoy Greek. With all this "looking ahead", I've been considering what to do after uni. I've always thought that I'd go straight on a gap year- travelling the Southern coast of Turkey (which is still a dream of mine), but I've decided that its not something I need to go on to do straight after graduation.  I was lucky enough to be asked in to do a talk on Roman Archaeology in Britain in my sister's primary 4 class, just the other day, and I absolutely loved it. I've always loved being with kids and working along side them, and being in my sister's class, who were all lovely, has brought that back. So I've been looking into doing a PGDE (post graduate diploma in education). Its only a year long course, then a probation year afterwards, but I genuinely think I would really enjoy it, and I can see a future being involved with kids. So this has brought me onto looking at different ways I can become involved in leadership roles, and that's something that I want to do a lot of over the next few years at university. So we'll see how that goes!

My May Goals:

• Church: After being home for the last few weeks, I've been able to go back to my church and see everyone again, which I have loved. So I've decided that after my exams are finished, I want to try and find a church that I can go along to when I move into my new flat for next year. 
• Volunteer: As I've said about the PGDE, I have to start volunteering and getting experience with kids, so I want to have sent a few emails around trying to arrange volunteering opportunities for next year.  
• Run: I said in a previous post that I wanted to try and start up running. Its not a surprise that I haven't done that yet- but I thought if this month, I set myself a goal of going for at least a couple of runs, then I might actually do it.
• Exams: This month is pretty much stress month, and I have my first exam tomorrow. So this month my goal is to complete the three exams with as little stress and panicking as possible. 
• Explore: With two weeks in Edinburgh at the end of May and absolutely no uni work to do, I want to go around the city and explore it a little more. 
• Blog: My main goal is to build up my blog a lot more over the next few weeks, since I'll be finishing exams and exploring the city and able to spend time writing things. 

I didn't want to set lots of goals, that I wouldn't be able to do. I thought these ones are realistic and achievable, and since I've written it here it means I have to give it my best attempt.

Thanks for reading!
Love,
Emily
xxx