Commuting.

Now that I'm at university I am commuting a lot more than during my sixth form years. There are two reasons for this -both quite obvious if you've read any of my previous posts- which are: I no longer live in my family home, which means no more getting dropped off, and I live in one town and my university campus is in another.

At the start of this academic year I was unsure of how far my finances would stretch. Because of this I opted to travel into Luton the cheapest way possible; which resulted in me buying a month-long bus pass for £80 that let me get on any bus and commute anywhere within the county of Bedfordshire. My bus journey was the whole bus route, which was an hour give-or-take depending on the traffic. At first it was mind and bum numbing torture, but by the end of the month, although still bum numbing, I did start to enjoy the bus ride. I started to enjoy it so much that when I noticed we were getting close to my destination I used to wish that the journey had taken a little longer.

That made my change in transport at the end of the month quite bittersweet. During the time I was commuting on the bus, I had calculated that it would be possible for me to start getting the train to uni and not end up with an overdraft by the end of term. So I decided to start getting the train instead; because they came more frequently -roughly every 20 minutes as opposed to every hour- and the journey was shorter, which meant less waiting around in the cold and getting home quicker when it started to get dark earlier.

A photographic summary of my commute: platform, music and a hot beverage of some kind.

So far I've been enjoying my new commute for the most part. Coffee and hot chocolate is more readily available; I don't have to panic about missing the train I planned to get; I get home quicker; and there are more seats available. Baring all that in mind I can hardly make a valid complaint about anything else.

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I also commuted the two years before I changed schools for sixth form, which coincidentally was on the same train line. I enjoyed that commute as well, aside from how crowded it would get with other school kids once we reached Radlett. Thanks to that daily commute I made myself some pretty good friends and made a lot of memories, some good, some hilarious and some quite cringe worthy.

Over all I've enjoyed all my commuting over the years. Most of all I've enjoyed my journeys on the London Underground -a.k.a. the Tube- either to go to a concert, go shopping or just randomly explore that marvellous city.

I'm not really sure why I chose to share my commuting experiences and opinions with you. It probably isn't a very good post but for some reason all I wanted to write about today was how much I love commuting -for the most part- on public transport.

November Favourites.

It's that time of the month again! The end of it, which means it's time for another favourites list. So without further ado, here's a selection of some of my favourite things from the past 30 days:

Knee-high bed socks - Optimum comfort and warm for more than just your feet and ankles; what could possibly be better than that?!

My 'Counselling and Interpersonal Psychology' unit - When I first saw that I had to take this unit during my first year I didn't really see why. I didn't think it was relevant to my course title and I didn't think I'd enjoy it at all. Thankfully I have been proved wrong on all accounts. It links to my course with regards to possible career possibilities in my future field of work, we haven't had to do any role-playing so far -I absolutely detest that sort of learning activity- and I'm actually really, really enjoying it.

Vitamin Water - In particular: 'Revive' and 'Defence.' They taste great and bump up your vitamin levels. The only down side is that compared to other drinks available they are quite pricey -especially for a cheapskate come student like me! So for me these are usually a bit of a treat, and that's usually when a supermarket is doing a deal on them, haha!

Bodycare - I had seen this shop in Bedford and in Luton, and I'd heard it was cheaper than both Boots and Superdrug. But it wasn't until Monday that I actually went into one. To be honest I wasn't expecting much. I had heard the prices were low so I assumed it was going to be like the drugstore version of Aldi and Lidl. However I was pleasantly surprised. They had a wide range and all of it was the brands you would expect, not the foreign knock-offs I was expecting to see. The two things that really sold this shop to me and will mean future purchases in there are: they had all five of Garnier's 'Moisture Match' moisturises -I read about them around my birthday and have been looking for the 'Goodbye Dry' one ever since, with no success until then- and the wide range of hair dyes they had in stock -Just looking at the Swarzkoft dyes I spotted a few I'd not see or rarely seen before and picked out three colours that I'm torn between getting.

Garnier Moisture Match - Goodbye Dry Moisturiser - I'll be honest with you, I wasn't expecting much from this moisturiser. Although Garnier is one of my go-to brands, I've had absolutely no success with moisturisers from any brand. Some have worked a treat for a while and then my skin has become accustomed to it and it stops having any effect on my dry skin. So far I am loving this moisturiser and I really, really hope it keeps up the good work in the long run! Also, it smells really nice.

Tea with sweetener - This is quite a random and somewhat boring favourite of mine this month. But to summarise why it's on my favourites list, my boyfriend made me a cup of tea and instead of putting sugar in he put some of his sweetener in it and it tasted 10 times better than the tea I make with sugar.

So those are my favourites, and in some cases pleasant discoveries, this month. What have you been enjoying this month?
-Hannah

My Tips For Keeping Cosy This Winter.

I'm currently sat in bed with a stomach ache, longing to feel a little cosier and more comfortable than I do now. And whilst I was dwelling on that thought was round about the time that the idea for this post popped into my head. So I'll cut my rambling introduction short and leave it at: here are my top tips on how to stay nice an cosy this winter!

At home:
1. Hot chocolate/tea/coffee - make whichever of the three you prefer in your favourite mug, get comfy on the sofa and use it as a hand warmer in addition to a satisfying beverage, while watching some quality TV. I would personally recommend The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, MASH or Fraiser. 

2. Hot water bottle - nothing quite tops cuddling up under a blanket or in bed with a nice, warm hot water bottle!

3. Onesie - I think this one is self explanatory. I love lounging around in my black cat kigu!

My all time favourite hot chocolate, my cosy hot water bottle and my cute slipper boots from Sainsbury's.

4. Slipper boots and/or bed socks - All my life I have been a lover of bed socks. They're just so practical in my opinion; and they're really good at keeping my feet -which are almost always cold- nice and toasty. Also, since buying my slipper boots last week I have become a huge fan of the things! They're just perfect. If you don't already own a pair I seriously recommend you invest in some!

5. Soup - Aside from when you're under the weather, winter is the perfect time to stock up on soup. I'm quite boring and tend to stick to chicken soup; although I do occasionally mix it up a bit by swopping to either tomato soup or my nan's home-made chicken noodle soup.
6. Jumpers - I could go on about my love for jumpers all day long! I won't though because I don't want to bore you. But to sum up what could potentially be paragraphs: they're super cosy, super practical and you can never, ever have too many of them!

Out and about:

1. Layers - Last winter I mastered the art of layering. I'd go out with 4-5 layers on and not complain about feeling cold or chilly once. The only thing that I don't like about layering is how many clothes end up going in the wash and how quickly my washing basket fills up. So there's a bit of a downfall to this tip unfortunately.
2. Hats, scarves and gloves - All three are obvious winter must-haves, but I felt they should be included regardless. This winter, when I'm out and about, I will definitely be rocking the burgundy wool look. I have a lovely and thick snood and a cute, little bobble hat, both of which are burgundy and super, super warm. But for a bit of variety I won't be neglecting any of my other woolly hats or my other scarf. I thought I'd leave gloves until last and mention them on there own, as although they're a winter essential I only ever seem to purchase fingerless gloves. Don't get me wrong, they're warm and lovely, but they do leave my finger tips feeling a bit neglected as my current pair don't even have one of those mitten flaps. Companies just seem to make fingerless gloves that I prefer the design or pattern of, as opposed to their normal gloves.

A pair of my cableknit tights, one of my layered outfits from last week -a vest, a t-shirt and a fairly thick jumper- and my Starbucks flask.

3. Thick cable knit tights - I am developing a little love of thick tights, specifically ones with patterns (i.e. my grey cableknit ones pictured above). They're just super handy when you feel like having a 'feminine day' as I call them; as they allow you to stick on your favourite skirt or dress without your legs turning into icicles once you leave the house.
4. Boots and doubled up socks - I have horrible circulation in my feet and I often find that my toes go numb in the winter while waiting on a train station platform. Only last year did I think to combat this by wearing two pairs of socks, and I'm going to keep up this habit for the rest of my days. What I also really like about this is that if I plan to wear leggings and my black boots, I often put my second pair of socks -either black or dark grey- over my leggings so they just poke out of the top of my boots. I think it's a really nice little detail that adds to any winter outfit.
5. Christmas Starbucks - Although I have found out that as of this year they have stopped selling praline mochas -I won't lie, I was a little heartbroken when I found that out- I will continue to sing the praises of Starbucks' Christmas coffee range and all their coffee in general to be honest.

So that's my quick-ish guide to keeping cosy this winter. I hope you enjoyed all my little ramblings! If you feel like I missed something essential off either of my lists, let me know in the comments below! :)

Potential Direction/Focus For My Blog?

As you're aware from previous posts I'm a university student. Although I don't post on here much compared to before I started uni, I often use this site, among others, as a form of procrastination.

I had the idea of potentially making my blogging procrastination more productive. I was thinking of writing posts on things that I have covered in my lectures. It sounds more fun than just rewriting my notes and it can also provide you guys with a little insight into the bits of my course that I find most interesting and also bits that I have a little trouble wrapping my head around.

Obviously I'll still chuck in a few of my usual, random posts for good measure. But how does that sound? Would those sort of posts interest you?

Thanks for any feedback,
-Hannah.

Time Flies!

I'm finding it a little hard to compute the fact that we're already over half way through November. The past 18 days have flown by! Quickly looking back over the last 18 days I think I've achieved nothing, but when I take a bit more time to think about it I realise I've actually achieved quite a lot.

I've done two assessments and begun work on my third; done a group presentation really all by myself; made more friends; applied for three jobs; I haven't as of yet gone under the limit I set myself in my bank account and I've even made a start on my Christmas shopping. Now I know that might not seem like all that much, but for a very, very unmotivated person that's quite a lot to have achieved in the space of 18 days.

Future Purchases - Part 2?

The fact that there is a hole in a pair of my black leggings, in a rather inconvenient place, and also the fact that Christmas is slowly approaching, led me to go on the New Look website this evening. It's turned out to be a bit of a financial disaster, as we all secretly knew it would be.

I currently have eight items sat in my shopping basket, that together come to nearly £64 after my student discount. One of those items is a twin pack of black leggings, two more of the items are additional non-black pairs of leggings, two items are Christmas presents for my boyfriend and the remaining three are completely unrelated to the reasons I went on the website and are for me.

I've already brought quick a few clothes this term -I got a bit trigger happy so to speak when taking advantage of my student discount- and don't have enough wardrobe space for the amount of clothes I have already, so realistically I don't need these items -bar the black leggings and Christmas presents. But that doesn't stop me from wanting all of those items.

What I think I will do when my boyfriend -a.k.a. my voice of reason- gets in from work is to show him a selection of the items in my basket -excluded the his ones obviously- and get him to try and reason with me and talk me into removing one or two of the items in order to bring the cost down a bit. Although flicking through my basket I can only see two items that I could see myself removing.

I never realised I was such a shopaholic! Damn student discount and my weakness for nice clothes!

Future Purchases?

More and more these days I am noticing items that I feel a need to purchase. Not a need in the sense that I actually need them for some aspect of my life, but a need as in a burning desire to own these items on my ever growing list.

As I haven't posted in quite some time I thought I'd do a little run down on some of the things that have caught my eye whilst window shopping. I may also explain why I want/need them to try and reason with myself into either buying them or forgetting about them.

First up is a penny board. If you don't know what a penny board is the best way I can describe it is a mini, misshaped skateboard. I've liked the idea of having one since I first heard about them and then today I saw some in a shop window. Naturally I went in. It turns out they're selling the penny boards for £25 each. I was tempted to buy one write there and then but then logic and reasoning decided to kick in. I have no idea if that's a good/reasonable price to pay for one and I don't actually know how frequently I would use a penny board if I had one.

Then we have a number of canvases that have caught my eye -they were in the same shop as the penny boards. My housemates occasionally comment on how our house could do with a bit of decoration on the walls, so this want could actually become a purchase. I mean when they're selling three adequately sized canvases for £20 who could say no? My one concern though it that the shop will disappear before I get around to buying anything from there -if I buy anything from there- as I think it's just one of those random pop-up shops that are around for a few months and then move on somewhere else. I hope it doesn't turn out to be that way, but I think it's pretty likely considering that they don't even have a shop sign.

This is quite a boring one, but I want to invest in a few more vest tops and cami tops, so I can layer up a bit more as the weather gets worse and the temperature plummets. I'm not thinking of anything fancy though. Just your bog standard Primark and New Look ones.

Finally, I've also spotted a pair of adorable slipper-boot-things in Sainsbury's on my last trip there. They are most definitely going to be a future purchase -I'm thinking of going food shopping tomorrow or Wednesday so I'll get them then- because I genuinely believe that I need them. I have bed socks that are super warm and cosy but the bottoms of them get so dirty from walking around the house. In fact my nice blue pair have black-grey bottoms no matter how many times I wash them, and with these slipper-boots I wouldn't have that problem because they have a rubber sole.