What I Got For My 20th

Hello again peeps!

So a few weeks ago I did a post on things I wanted for my birthday. So today, I thought I'd do a post on some of the things I actually got. Let's get started!

On my birthday my friends from uni had gathered for a surprise lunch after our lecture. It was really sweet and was a real surprise! I got a cute HANDMADE (can you believe it?!) doggy in a basket and perfume. I'm not really a big perfume wearer (on a daily basis that is) but I will definitely be wearing it more often as this particular one smells amazing! And I think my friend will resort to killing me if I don't use it anytime soon...

One of my best friends got me a jigsaw puzzle and a Rubik's cube. She read my post and told me that's what she'll be getting me. I'm yet to use the Rubik's cube but I have started on the puzzle, and boy is it hard! Maybe a 1000 piece jigsaw was not the best place to start, ha.

I also got the blender I wanted! You see, I'm not a big fan of greens so mixing spinach with a couple of fruits and gulping it down is what I've got to do. I used a banana and an apple as my accompanying fruits on this particular occasion but I'm not too fussed as to what goes in.

My little sister got me a Tigger onesie but I have not yet got a decent picture of it so I've got nothing to show you at the moment. I love it though- it has a tail and everything!

This one  I didn't actually get for my birthday but it was from my "secret" santa. I love Winnie the Pooh and this was honestly a perfect gift. 

And that's it for now! 

I'm not a big fan of my own birthdays but this one was nice. So thanks to everyone who made it special. Love you guys ❤

Oh and this is not birthday related but here are a few pictures I took since the sky looked so pretty!

Take care,
Santhiya

Mary Christmas!

Hello guys!

So... I think it's fair to say I've been a "little" quiet on here for a while now and I'm going to talk about one of the reasons why today.

My friends and I had been organising a little project to help the homeless this Christmas and "the big day" was last Wednesday. The initiative is called Mary Christmas as the majority of us are Queen Mary students *badum tish*. 

The idea came from two of my friends who wanted to do something for the homeless after seeing them go through the harsh winter last year. They bought the idea up and all of us were up for doing something. A group of us got together and planned the event... And none of us- not for a moment, thought it'd get the reception it got. 

The idea was to make "winter packs" which we would distribute on a selected day. The packs contained essential toiletries, winter wear, instant noodle packs and a candy cane. All the items in the packs were either donated or bought through donations.

We only got around to making the packs a day before "the big day". I woke up pretty early to get to my friend's house so we could start with a nice breakfast before getting down to work.

Breakfast!!!

We didn't get much work done as we left soon after breakfast to exchange Secret Santa gifts with the others. When we got back, however, we were working like elves would the day before Christmas. In the end, we didn't even finish all the packing.

The morning of the big day arrived and I went to my local Greggs to collect 50 chocolate muffins which they'd donated. After collecting those, I went to my friend's house again to see she'd finished the packing and the bags were ready to be distributed!

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur to be completely honest.
1. We transported the bags to uni, which was the meeting point.
2. We were given instructions as to what everyone was going to be doing.
3. We set off on our assigned routed.
4. And we distributed!

My group only got to four homeless people during the day. We had a lot of bags left which we gave to shelters and the rest we gave to a soup/food van after merging with another group. 

To say it was an eventful day would be an understatement. However, the real distributions took place at night, when the others drove around and distributed the remaining packs. The night crew managed to get to around 130 homeless people which really was great.

All in all, I'm really proud of what we accomplished and am grateful to everyone who helped out: through donations to volunteering on the day. Thank you all!

Our Facebook page is here and twitter is here, so do check us out! Hopefully we can do it again next year and the year after and so on...

Just to mention: Of course, uni deadlines and other bits and bobs have made me a little preoccupied too! It wasn't just Mary Christmas that had me stressing slightly. However I don't think you guys would want me to go into detail about the other things.

Until next time (which will be a lot sooner!)...

Take care,

Santhiya

20 for 20!

Hello again guys!

Hope you've all been well, especially with winter really coming home this week.

This weeks post is going to be a little different as it's going to be one of those "about me" posts. I thought it would be a great way to tell you guys a little bit about myself and get something down for the about me page too. Now that I've turned 20 (hurray?), I thought I'd do 20 facts... So let's begin!

1. I was born in London, UK and I've stayed in London ever since. 

2. One day, I want to move out of London to somewhere that's a little quieter and less busy.

3. I'm a Scorpio. I'm not a huge believer of the Zodiac so I'm not aware of the associated traits. However, I still often check up on things related to my Zodiac sign as it can be a bit of fun :)

4. Now I wanted to talk about my hair type but I don't even know where to begin. I have black hair which I would say is of medium length (just above my shoulders). My hair is wavy, curly, frizzy and all things in between. Ha. 

5. I'm just over 5ft tall... I've been waiting for that growth spurt for a while now and I'm starting to lose hope.

6. I had braces when I was 15/16 years old but I didn't wear my retainers properly so the majority of my teeth have shuffled back to their original places.

7. I'm short sighted so I often wear glasses during lectures.

8. I have two piercings on each lobe: the first one I got when I was a few months old and the second one only a few months ago. Haha. I want to get another piercing on my lobe on both ears and maybe one or two cartilage piercings on my left ear. Probably not anytime soon though!

9. The only TV series/drama I watch on a regular basis would be The Mindy Project. I honestly love it and can go on about it for ages! Melissa and Joey is another show I've come across recently and have quickly started to like a lot too. Grey's Anatomy has been on my to watch list for far too long but one day I will conquer all eleven (or however many) seasons!

10. I am currently studying Medical Genetics BSc and want to go into Medicine after completing my undergrad degree.

11. I have two younger sisters- no older siblings nor brothers.

12. Ice cream has to be one of the best foods in the world. (That is a fact.)

13. Winnie the Pooh has been my long term obsession. I love the character so much! He's such a little cutie <3 

14. Bloggers often have nice meanings behind their URLs but I'm not really sure I do. My twitter username was/is anotherduckling so that kind of carried forward to my blog too. 

15. I like maths. There I said it. It’s something I miss doing and I get a little bit excited when we have to do calculations for lab reports. 

16. I am a dog person as far as I'm aware... Cats scare me slightly.

17. I think I'm a forgiving person but I don't really follow the "forgive and forget" principle. So am I really forgiving? 

18. Yellow is one of my favourite colours.

19. I am yet to have a Starbucks or Costa coffee :P

20. I hope to become a vegetarian one day. I've started to incorporate more vegetables and vegetarian sources of protein in my diet so... Slowly but surely. 

And I'm done! This was a lot harder to write than expected. Sorry it's so wordy- hopefully my next post will have a few pictures to liven the post up.

Until then...

Take care,

Santhiya

Day out: Pulpit Hill

Hello guys!

Last Monday I had my first university field trip *woop woop*. It was to Pulpit Hill and it was the BEST, so I thought I'd share a few pictures from the day with you guys.

This picture does not even begin to show the steepness of the hills. I honestly had small bruises on my shins from falling whilst trying to climb the hill. Plus side was that I probably burnt a few calories doing it.

One thing I've learnt from this trip is that I definitely want to get into more outdoorsy stuff: like hiking and hill walking. I've wanted to try them out for a while now but I never got around to it- thinking it wasn't something I'd enjoy. But it feels like it is something I'd enjoy- even though it seems to bring me a bit of embarrassment. 

The surrounding area (which I sadly didn't capture) was also beautiful, which makes the idea of moving out of London when I'm older more appealing.

It really was a nice day and we made "plans" to come again (or go somewhere similar) for a little day out. So hopefully there will be similar posts on days out with nature to come!

Take care,

Santhiya

My 20th Birthday Wishlist

Hey guys!

I'm so sorry for the irregular posts again :( Uni has got me feeling a little meh at times and it's been hard finding the motivation to write something.

However, I do have a post today! (Woohoo :)) Since my birthday is approaching, I thought I'd do a little post on my birthday wishlist for this year. I want to put it out there, that these are things I will be "expecting" from my family, but will most likely buy myself.

Now, the list:

1. Smoothie maker- I've been using the family blender and having my own just for smoothies would be pretty useful :P
2. Rubik's cube and/or jigsaw puzzle- I read an article recently which was talking about puzzles delaying dementia and I just thought it's never too early to start preparing. Plus, I haven't done a puzzle in a long time! I'm talking years here!
3. Winnie the Pooh onesie- I feel this one is kind of self-explanatory... Winnie the Pooh + onesie? Pure happiness!
4. Polar watch and yoga mat- My motivation to lose weight and increase my fitness is slowly disappearing. I've had my eye on there polar watched for a while now and thought it'd be a really good way of keeping me motivated through the winter :)
5. Earrings- I am yet to change the earrings in my second piercing (>.<") so new earrings are in order! I'm looking for some small studs which are perfect for my second piercing- which is pretty close to the first one.

And that's it guys! Well, they're the main things anyways :P 

I'll (hopefully) be doing a post on what I did get for my birthday and what I did. I don't have plans as of yet- other than revision!

Until then...

Take care,

Santhiya

Review: Bioré Deep Pore Charcoal Cleanser

I think it's pretty safe to say I was never really into skincare until recently, when I started to notice more fine lines under my eyes. That's not to say my skincare routine and products are up to scratch- there is still a lot of work to do with it. 

My skincare routine consists of two aspects: cleansing and moisturising. I would say I have dry skin with some oiliness around my T zone so finding products that work well hasn't been easy for a skincare newbie! 

The cleanser I was using before was the Bioré Combination Skin Balancing Cleanser, which I did quite like.  It didn't do wonders for my skin but it did "cleanse" my skin without drying it up. Sadly the product has been discontinued in Boots so I thought I'd pick up another Bioré cleanser as a replacement. The one I went for is the Deep Pore Charcoal Cleanser. 

I use this twice a day on most occasions, and once a day when I'm feeling particularly lazy. 

The cleanser itself is black (which is pretty cool!) but turns into the "normal" white consistency when lathered. This may sound silly, but this was not something I was expecting to happen: I was kind of hoping it'd stay black! >.<"

Just like the other Bioré cleanser, this one cleanses without drying up my skin. I also feel I have had less breakouts but this may be because of my diet rather than the magical properties of the cleanser :).

After using this cleanser for over a month, I can say it's a great alternative- if anything, it's slightly better! 

This is available in Boots at £4.99 for 200ml and I would definitely recommend this to anyone with a similar type to me.

Take care,

Santhiya

PS. Please ignore my hands! They're definitely one of my least favourite body parts :|

Eat out: Nando's

Hey guys!

Hope you're all doing well :)

I'll be starting my second year at uni tomorrow so last week I met up with a few friends before everyone goes to their respective unis. We decided Nandos would be the best place as it's a pretty hassle free place to meet and eat! There were around 10 of us going so we decided to book a table beforehand.

Now this was my first time eating at Nando's so you could say I was pretty excited. I ordered the Chicken Breast Fillet Burger with one regular side- chips. My friend ordered the same but with a side of garlic bread so we split the sides between the two of us.

We didn't have to wait too long for the food to arrive after ordering, which was pretty good. But I wouldn't say I was amazed by what did arrive... Everyone else seemed pretty happy so maybe it was just my taste buds? It was edible and not bad so I wasn't complaining for too long, ha.

As I said at the beginning of the post, I start uni tomorrow so there might be less food related posts and more posts related to my studies ^*^

Speak to you soon guys!

Take care,

Santhiya

Fifteen Favourite: Wattpad stories

One of my resolutions for the year was to start reading for pure enjoyment again and one site that has helped me achieve this is Wattpad. 

I discovered Wattpad when I was in secondary school but didn't really think much of it then. It was only when I got into sixth form and had more free periods that I actually started using the site properly. AND I LOVE IT! :)

So today I thought I'd do a little post on my all time favourite Wattpad stories. In no particular order:

1. The Boy Who Sneaks in my Bedroom Window by kirsty1000

2. Awakening to Life by FreeFalling22

3. White is for Virgins by ToutesLesNuits

4. There's a Thin Line Between Love and Hate by MP13Girl

5. Our Song by MP13Girl

6. Finding Love in a Coffee Shop by XxSkater2Girl16xX

7. Illegal My Ass by makeandoffer

8. Forever Yours by BeautifulRose16

9. In 27 Days by HonorInTheRain

10. Dumped! by XxSassyCynicxX

11. I Sold Myself to the Devil for Vinyls... Pitiful I Know by DarknessAndLight

12. The Shy Girl Has a Gun by makeandoffer

13. Dead and Not Buried by makeandoffer

14. Coming Home by LizBizCheezWhiz

15. All I've Never Wanted by ACRL37

Ha, going through my favourites has made me realise that I really really do need to expand on the genres I read from >.<

Hope you guys enjoy!

Take care,
Santhiya

Baking?

I am not the greatest baker and that was evident yesterday when my little sister and I decided to bake some biscuits.

We had a load of blueberries in the kitchen that nobody seemed to be eating so I decided that I'd add them to my share of the "biscuit" dough. I ended up getting really lazy at the end and just spread the dough into the pan, hoping it'd turn out okay. 

Luckily, it did turn out okay (i.e. edible)! I wouldn't call it a biscuit though as it was a bit too soft in the middle but it wasn't quite cake material either.

My sister just stuck to plain almond biscuits, which were gone almost as soon as they came out of the oven :)

I really want to try baking more often but maybe not with my little sister as she's more of a follow-the-recipe baker whilst I'm more of a put-everything-in-the-bowl-and-pray kind of baker.

Speak to you soon!

Take care,

Santhiya

Day out: Chinatown London

Chinatown is a place me and my friends have wanted to go for a while now and for some weird reason, we never got around to actually going... Until last week!

We got the tube to Piccadilly Circus and walked to Chinatown, which took us less than 10 minutes.

We got there pretty early so most of the shops weren't open and there were a lot of people setting up. One of the shops that was open however, was a grocery store, which we spent ages looking around. I will definitely be heading back to pick up a few things for the kitchen! 

I didn't have a full breakfast before leaving so I picked up a little snack for myself to keep my happy til lunch. The sweet potato snack was a little sweeter than I thought it'd be but it was still yummy. 

We didn't actually eat at any of the restaurants in Chinatown and ended up picking up food at good old Wasabi. We were hoping to find a park to sit and eat at but it started to rain. So we went to a KFC that was nearby and order some food so we could use their shelter :P

And of course, what trip to Chinatown could be complete without some bubble tea! I got myself some watermelon flavoured bubble tea which was really good- I even liked the little tapioca pearls which I'm normally not fond of.

The weather was really weird throughout the day :/ It was slightly gloomy at first, then seemed to brighten up and then it ended up raining. Yay London.

Obviously seeing these lovely boys made the day way better! ;)

Speak to you guys soon ^^

Take care,

Santhiya

PS. I still haven't got the hang of aligning pictures side by side yet so sorry for the repetitive layout to posts :(

France 2014

Hey guys!

At the end of July my family and I went to France for a week and I thought I'd  do a post sharing some of the pictures I took whilst there.

Whenever we visit France we always stay at my aunt's house, who's balcony view is so pretty! She lives right next to a Church which you can actually barely see in the picture :(

One of the main reasons we went to France was so we can go to Lourdes and visit the beautiful Church that is present there. Although I haven't been to many countries or cities around the world, I am quite sure Lourdes has to be one of my favourite cities ever :) It has such a calm atmosphere and the people there are some of the sweetest I've ever met.

I did not try a variety of food whilst I was there and stuck to chips and chicken baguettes. BUT the baguettes there were sooooo yummy that I could not bring myself to regret not trying other things.

Glimpse of the Church on train journey back to Paris.

Hope you're all doing well!

Take care,

Santhiya

Travel Edition: What's In My Bag?

Hello again guys!

My family and I are off to France tomorrow for a week and I thought I'd write a little about what I'm taking in my backpack. I used to be am kind of obsessed with posts and YouTube videos on what people have in their bags so doing this post is quite exciting for me :)

Ok. Now the backpack I'm taking is not the prettiest or coolest out there but it's big and comfy to wear so that's the one I'm taking. I'm also taking a small messenger bag to use whilst in France as I won't be carrying all the contents of this bag around.

Onto the content of the bag:

 1. eBook

2. Purse

3. Box of jewellery- I just chose a few bracelets and earrings to bring with me and put them into the box my watch came in since I don't have a "jewellery carrier" of any sort.

4. Snacks- I bought a packet of goji berries (I've wanted to try them for a while now) and a packet of trail mix in Tesco so I'm emptied those into the container :)

5. Water bottle

6. Tin :P - This tin contains "girl stuff".

7. Plasters

8. Notebook and pens- I like to have some paper and a pen to hand in case I need to jot something down for future reference.

9. Glasses

10. Tissue

11. Comb and clips

12. Mirror- That's the pink heart shaped item in the picture which I got as a birthday present in year 6- so almost 9 years ago!

13. Hand cream and sanitiser

14. Lip care- that's my little red tin and the Burt's Bee lip balm (I kind of regret buying the shade I did :/ I probably should have gone for something a little darker).

15. PEZ!!!- I'm so excited about finally getting to use my Winnie the Pooh PEZ dispenser thingy. Woohoo! ^^

I want to point out that my mum brings all our passports and tickets so that's why they're not there. 

I'm planning to follow up with a post on things we do in France soon but until then...

Take care,

Santhiya

Plans for the year

Hey guys!

I thought I'd start off by apologising for the lack of posts recently.  Blogging is a lot harder than I thought; especially when you're as lazy as me and do nothing that is "post-worthy". So I'm sorry guys. However, I do have a few ideas for posts to come so it's just a matter of actually writing them :)

This week's post is about my plans for the year. I know it's not what most people would call an "exciting" post but making lists of things to do is an activity I actually find enjoyable.

This list came together after my official results came out on July 9th. Although I knew I'd passed my exams and could go on to study the next year, I wanted to know what marks I'd got so I knew how well I'd actually done. (I'll go into more detail about my first year of uni in another post.) After finding out, I felt I could go on and plan ahead.

So, without further ado, the list:

1. Get my driving licence - It's one of those things that I just want to get done ASAP. Hopefully, with careful preparation, I can pass the theory during this holiday and maybe go on to get my actual licence before 20? I know it may seem like asking too much (since I turn 20 in November) but maybe it's my ego that just really wants me to get my licence whilst I'm still a teen :P

2. Lose weight- I've struggled with my weight since I was a kid but it's only recently that I started actually doing something about it. I really would like to get into the "normal" region of the BMI scale :)

3. Learn how to knit

4. Join a sports team- I've always wanted to be part of a sports team of some sort so I'm going to gather some courage and try joining one in September when uni starts. 

5. Start doing yoga- I've wanted to start for some time now so it's just about making that commitment and sticking to it ^^

6. Weekly posts- I want to try and improve my writing (one of the main reasons I started this blog) so weekly posts seem the best way to do this.

7. Get a job £££- I need money and something to stop me from being lazy at home!

8. Volunteering- I used to volunteer in sixth form but stopped when uni started. I miss volunteering and want to start again :)

9. Keep up to date with the news- I am terrible when it comes to world affairs! I really need to watch/read the news more and improve my all round general knowledge.

10. Study harder!- This one is hard for me. I always seem to slack with work all year round then end up doing last minute revision. NO MORE! This September onward I WILL keep up with my work instead of leaving it last minute.

Take care,
Santhiya

PS. Sorry about the ramble heavy post :/ I tried to cut down but I just couldn't!

The Fault In Our Stars

Okay. 

My little sister had watched the film yesterday and came home with a bunch of used tissues in her bag saying the film was amazing. Now, she'd read the book and had been looking forward to the film for a while. I, on the other hand, had not yet read the book but knew the overall story. However I was still looking forward to watching the film and decided I'd go today with a couple of friends.

We decided to go to the 3:30PM showing since it meant we could get lunch beforehand. 

We went to Picture House in Stratford where student tickets are £5 each, which I thought was pretty cheap! I think that price is only available Monday to Thursday though.

The film itself came as a bit of a disappointment to me. Maybe it's because I had set quite high standards after hearing amazing reviews about it or maybe it's because the plot itself just wasn't to my taste. Either way it just didn't wow me. My friends would definitely disagree though as both of them shed a few tears throughout the course of the film. 

To be fair though, the romance scenes were kinda cute in a very cheesy way >.<

Overall: Okay. That is actually how I would describe this film: it wasn't amazing but it wasn't horrible either. It was just okay. 

Mini Boots and Superdrug beauty haul

Hey guys!

So last week I did a kind of mini haul from Superdrugs and Boots and I thought I'd just talk about my purchases.

1. Yes To Blueberries Eye Cream-  This is a product that I've wanted since I heard about the Yes To range and I knew I had to get it when it was 1/3 off in Boots (so £14.99 to £9.99). I haven't started using it yet but will do so soon!

2. Olay Essentials Complete SPF30 Lotion- Now I use the Olay Complete Care Fluid on a daily basis but I thought I'd pick this lotion up as it has SPF30 rather than SPF15. I bought two as they were 2 for £15 at Boots.

3. Burt's Bees Tinted Lip Balm Pink Blossom- £5.99. I've never in my 19 years of living have had a lip balm like this! What I mean by this is, I've never had a lip balm 'stick': tin=yes, stick=no. I ended up buying the Burt's Bee lip balm as my sister has the same one in the shade Red Dahlia and loved it so I thought I'd get it too. It is really moisturising but I feel that it needs more applications than normal Vaseline. However I like the colour on my lips so I guess it makes up for it in that sense :) 

4. Colgate 360 degree Sonic Power Battery Powered Toothbrush- £3.25 (Normally £6.50 but was half price). I needed a toothbrush and this sounded cool so... :l 

5. Rimmel Professional Eye Brow Pencil Black- £2.99. My eyebrows are very sparse at the ends and I wanted a cheap but effective pencil to fill them in. I had read good reviews on this product so I picked it up too. The lid has a little brush on it which makes your eyebrows look nice and clean too.

6. Garnier, The Ultimate Blends The Sleek Restorer Shampoo and Conditioner- These two were the only things I bought at Superdrug and they were 2 for £4. This is a pretty new product and I haven't heard much about it so it was more of an impulse buy. 

Reviews may be posted soon :) But until then...

Take care,

Santhiya