Here's to a new and happier year...

I am aware there has been a huge lack of blogging on my part recently, have really lacked any motivation over the last few months, I definitely need to give myself a huge kick up the bum to get up get out and do what makes me happy and to spend my time surrounded by people I love and doing things I enjoy.

So I have decided the turning of the new new year is the perfect time to do this.

I am going to  'Do what makes me happy'.

So I've decided to make 2014 a happy year full of excitement and adventures, I've signed up to do a skydive on the 14th of June for Greenwich and Bexley hospice.

It has been without a doubt the most difficult year of my life, growing up really is rubbish there's no one to sort all of your problems out for you, (although my mum is still doing a pretty good job!) but some things even she can't make better, I've never lost someone I love until this year and at nearly 23 years old I do count my blessings for that. The people at Greenwich and Bexley hospice do such great work I wan't to give something back, although I have raised money for them in the past I wanted to do more than a bike ride this time and try to raise as much money as possible.
If anyone would like to sponsor me please click this link below which... if I've done it correctly should take you to my just giving page.



I am also going to try to do other things that will give back to others and will be trying my best throughout 2014 and onwards to do at least one good thing for someone else every day and this is something I think everyone should try to do, don't focus on negatives (which I know is hard) but life could be so much nicer.. so the next time someone is struggling on the underground escalators with a big bag why not offer them a hand? you might just make their day a little easier.

I am also going to make more effort, make sure I see the people that live further away, actually save the money to go on a holiday this year even if a couple of months are a bit tight you don't make memories sat at home every night.

I'm wishing everyone a very happy new year and hope 2014 brings everyone lots of happiness.
Sorry for this slightly soppy blog but it was for my benefit as much as anyone else's now its written down it has to happen! :)

Happy new year guys and girls!!

Scarlett

How to do vintage on a budget, my new room...

As some of you may know, I recently moved house...
I was so excited to get the chance to decorate my own room, to my dad's (a painter and decorator's) dismay, I was looking for something that incorporated my style, which is a bit eclectic with some antiques and ditsy prints thrown in, but that wasn't too girly.
I decided on a light blue for the walls from Dulux, I think its lovely and fresh and has a calming effect, which I definitely need! And i'm interested to see how it looks with some winter accessories, like a tartan throw for the be and some more seasonal cushions.

I am a huge fan of bootfairs and charity shops to find things to decorate my room, like these suitcases i have stacked up to use as a stand for a television.

•  Top: Case bought for me by my dad full of old postcards some as old as 1900: around £5
• Middle: Case given to me by my grandparents: Free
• Bottom: Animal protection charity shop Pickford lane: £5

Think this has so much more character than a standard television stand you can pick old leather suitcase from all over the place normally between £3- £5 at bootfairs and charity shops, don't bother going to expensive 'vintage' and 'retro' shops they will rip you off! 

Another different idea, instead of using a bedside lamp I used a paper lampshade that I bought at a charity day for Greenwich and Bexley hospice and filled it with fairy lights. Fairy lights are honestly one of my most favorite things in the world I don't hang around for Christmas I love fairy lights all year long!

• Paper lampshade : £2
• Fairy lights: £1

Gives off a really warm glow in the evenings when you're all cosy in bed.

I really wanted to use my childhood dolls house and fill that with fairy lights but my room wasn't quite big enough in the end, but that's another idea!

Here are a few pictures of some other item's I've collected along the way all from charity shops and bootfairs or handouts! haha!

• Pink clock: £2
• Chinese tea set: £2
• Egg salt and pepper set: £1.50
• Glass bottle: gift 
• Bassett's tin: 50p

I use this old Allsorts tin to store all my nail varnishes. 

As you can see below I have a slight obsession with old camera's, I have got quite a collection going now! I love they way they look and I love imagining the people before me using them to photograph the people they loved and things they enjoyed. I have only tried to get one of them working which i know is lazy! but I just like looking at them.

My most recent and one of my most exciting purchases was this old sewing machine, and I am in love with it!

I have been searching for one for a while now but lots of them are a bit pricey! (my pricey probably isn't the same as most people's pricey) but when I saw this one and the guy said £5 I was so happy! Its not a brand I've ever seen but I think the colour is gorgeous and it's so 1950's .

The thing with bootfairs and charity shopping is that you can't expect to find exactly what you want straight away but if you stick with it your bound to find something eventually.

 My dad found these really cute postcards in frames outside someones house with a sign saying please take they are really funny they have all surf images on them.

I'm going to finish with a few other photo's of parts of my room I like, I'm working on a magazine wall in my bathroom which you can see below but I've had to stop because I've ran out of images I like so that's an on going project.





I hope this was interesting for some people and maybe gave some of you some idea's?  I think rooms look so much more personal when they are full of objects that reflect you an have stories behind them.
Happy bargain hunting!

By the way sorry if the images are a bit wonky I haven't got the hang of blogger yet it looks fine when i write it then when i publish it, it goes all wonky so Apologies!!

Eltham palace

Me and my boyfriend recently visited Eltham palace, I hadn't been for years and I had forgotten how beautiful it is!

Half of it is classic 1930's Art Deco and the other is a great hall built in the 1400's, Both me and my boyfriend love the look of Art Deco design and as you walk round holding the audio handsets which gives account of people who visited the palace in its heyday layered over music of the 1930's it felt like you were part of their parties.

It felt hard to believe you were in Eltham, It was fairly reasonably priced it cost under £20 for both of us and we bought our own lunch and ate it in the lovely gardens.
Would definitely recommend a visit :)

Hope your all well

The red shoes... and the cold legs...

2 weeks ago me and my pal Polly went to see an outdoor screening at Somerset house, I'd always wanted to go to an outdoor cinema since I saw it in Maid in Manhattan, yes I'm not ashamed of it I've seen that film! ( and enjoyed it)
Like I said it was at Somerset house which was so cool you were sat in a courtyard with everyone making their own little spaces with their blankets and cushions. We arrived at 6 like it said on the ticket but we didn't realise the film didn't start until 9! and spaces were already going fast so we had to go in, you also were told you couldn't leave once you entered the screening, which was pretty annoying as 3 hours is a long time to wait on a concrete floor! To be honest we needed a couple more blankets as I stupidly wore a tiny playsuit and by the time the film had ended I expected to look down and see my legs had been hit by frostbite they were so numb.
If anyone is thinking of going this is my essentials list that you will need:

• 2 blankets - one to sit on one for over your legs
• 2 cushions per person - the old bum cheeks start to go numb after hour 2
• A bottle of wine in a plastic bottle (no glass allowed) - over 18s of course
• Lots of food
• Wear comfy clothes - I wore a playsuit that was up my bum for about 5 hours!
• Some nice socks - just a nice addition if your getting your feet out!

Overall I really enjoyed the film but me and Polly were definitely not fully prepared!
see you in the next post please follow this blog if you are enjoying it as much as I'm enjoying writing it :)

Mine and Polly's Ukulele hootenanny...

This is probably one of the most random things I've done in my life and it was fitting that it was suggested by one of my best buddies from uni Polly.
Her text read 'Hey do you want to go to a ukulele hootennany on at a rooftop bar on monday night?!'.

Interesting...

Polly moved to London from her hometown in Devon and she always finds the most interesting places to go like a cool mexican bar that was in the film 'One day', or a Hootenanny and next week we are off to an outdoor cinema...

Of course I agreed and we arranged to meet at London Bridge go get some food then off to the bar.
The pub/bar was called Queen of Hoxton and was such a cool place in fact if I'm honest I definitely wasn't cool enough to be in there especially with my ukulele sticking out the top of my bag!!

They do silent raves, have guest DJ's and my favourite part a ping pong table... see definitely not cool enough to be in there!!

Anyway back to the Hootenanny it was a free event anyone can turn up you don't even need a uke you can just borrow one, which is what polly did and to my dismay she basically picked it up and could already play better then me who is about 4 months in and still struggling with Camptown race tracks! There is a book that everyone follows and there are hundreds of songs to choose from both up to date ones and old classics, Of course we weren't very good but would definitely recommend going along for a good laugh!!

Drinks were pretty pricey but it is London so that is to be expected think a pint was about £4.50 and cocktails were £7 odd.

Sorry I didn't take any pics but will leave a link to the Queen of Hoxton website where you can check out their gallery...

http://www.queenofhoxton.com/

A day with the butterflies...

On Monday me and my family and boyfriend spent an enchanting day at the butterfly house next to the natural history museum.
We travelled up by train to south Kensington, in the lovely sunshine, we got there a while before it was our turn to go in and had a picnic on the grass outside.

when you first walk in the butterfly house it feels so humid it takes your breath away but after a couple of minutes you find you've acclimatised, instantly there are butterflies fluttering around you landing on a nearby flower or if your lucky on you :).

One was so attached to my hair he stayed on for a ride for a while....

I walked past a large fan at one point haha apparently he was hanging on for dear life!

Saw some beautiful butterflies and the biggest most beautiful moth I've ever seen, look at the size of him!!

But it's really sad he only lives for 6 days and he cant eat or drink as he doesn't have a mouth, all he does is reproduce and look pretty.

Going to finish this blog with some pictures I got :)

By the way entrance is £4.50 for children and adults, like I mentioned the nearest stop is South Kensington which is only 2 stops from Victoria and it is open till the 15th of September 2013.

a camping trip to remember

So last week me and my boyfriend decided we were going to attempt camping together seeing as the weather has been so lovely and neither of us can afford a proper holiday this year so we borrowed a tent and all the camping gear from my aunt and on Sunday morning off we went.

We surprisingly managed to get the tent up in about 25 minutes considering how windy it was! then we just spent the rest of the day setting up bits and sunbathing really then had a really nice dinner.

It was the second day which was the 'interesting' one , it all started so well woke up, beautiful weather, made breakfast ( after spending a good hour trying to work out how you use the grill before realizing it had legs haha) and off we went to the beach, we went to Greatstone which is an absolutely beautiful sandy beach near Romney.

Me and Nels (boyfriend) were commenting on how neither of us were getting a tan as we were laying there, I was applying suntan lotion but normally you can see if you are catching the sun, we went to go get some fish and chips (classic seaside lunch) and as I stepped into the shop out of the sun i looked at myself and i was practically glowing!! i was so burnt it was unbelievable i moved my bikini strap and it looked like it was still there! we spent a bit longer at the beach after having a nice swim in the sea ( to Nelsen's dismay) we headed back to the tent.

I opened the cool box to put in the stuff we had bought for a bbq that night picked up the pot of butter from breakfast and it basically exploded, it was completely liquid where the tent had gotten so hot!! it was horrendous, melted butter is not the easiest thing to clean everything was slipping out of my hand it was like a cartoon comedy sketch with a bar of soap in the bath!!

After that drama and after a traumatically hot shower adding the the heat from the sunburn we had a lovely bbq and watched the sunset with our campfire blazing.

That night we were woken up by the sound of the loudest storm i think I've ever heard, thunder forked lighting illumination the tent and of course the tent leaked directly above our heads!! ended up sleeping in the middle of the tent under a very damp sleeping bag!

Slightly stressful but the good outweighed the bad, brilliant memories and what I'm hoping will turn into a good suntan to stay with me.