Last Week's Shenanigans (13th May - 19th May)...Birthday Haul!

I have honestly had such a lovely week, largely down to the fact that Monday was my birthday! I of course got some lovely presents, and on Tuesday Mat took me out on a shopping spree to buy some bits! It was a lovely idea (I rarely treat myself) and I can't wait to show you guys what I got, especially from our trip to Foyles. The rest of the week was very relaxed with very little in the way of work!

I Read...

I Received...

- 'A Short History Of Myth' by Karen Armstrong: Gift (14/05/19)
- 'Burning Your Boats' by Angela Carter: Gift (14/05/19)
- 'Spark Joy' by Marie Kondo: Gift (14/05/19)
- 'The Female Of The Species' by Mindy McGinnis: Gift (14/05/19)
- 'Fire & Blood' by George R. R. Martin: Gift (14/05/19)
- 'Muse Of Nightmares' by Laini Taylor: Bought (16/05/19)
- 'King Of Scars' by Leigh Bardugo: Bought (19/05/19)
- 'The Emotion Thesaurus' by Angela Ackerman et al.: Bought (19/05/19)

Last Week's Shenanigans (7th May - 13th May)...It's My Birthday!

Yay! It's my favourite time of year! I booked a whole week off (starting Wednesday 9th) in order to maximise celebrations and had a really enjoyable time off with Mat. Firstly, we went to go and see Kinky Boots in the West End! Honestly, the show was so enjoyable and I really recommend it to anyone looking for something funny and feel-good while visiting London! We went for lunch and dinner while out too, which was nice. We even had some delicious pancakes!

On Thursday we went to Canary Wharf for dinner out with some friends and had a wonderful evening enjoying the views by the river! It's been so nice to relax and I've loved having the freedom to socialise at my own pace as well. On Saturday my parents came to visit and I really enjoyed spending time with them! Then came my actual birthday and it really was such a wonderful day. I was spoilt rotten by both my wonderful fiance and my friends who came round later on in the day! We played a hilarious game of Scrawl too - for those that don't know it's basically Cards Against Humanity, Pictionary and Chinese Whispers combined!

I Read...

I Received...

- 'And The Mountains Echoed' by Khaled Hosseini: Gift (10/05/18)
- 'Ash Princess' by Laura Sebastian: Physical ARC (12/05/18)
- 'No. 1 - No. 80' by Various (Little Black Classics): Gift (12/05/18)
- 'Alice In Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll: Gift (13/05/18)
- 'The Love Interest' by Cale Dietrich: Gift (13/05/18)
- 'A Study In Charlotte' by Brittany Cavallaro: Gift (13/05/18)
- 'The World Of Ice & Fire' by George R.R. Martin: Gift (13/05/18)
- 'Wires & Nerve' by Marissa Meyer: Gift (13/05/18)

Last Week's Shenanigans (8th May - 14th May)...IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! Haul Included!

That's right guys and gals, it's my birthday week! I have to say, in some ways it has been a little tough. A lot of things happened that threatened to make it a horrible week. But so many fantastic things happened too and I am really focusing on those because in the end I had a great time! On Monday I went back to Ashford to see my family and sort out a couple of appointments. I met my sister for lunch with Mat too and we had a lovely catch-up and food at a nearby pub. The evening with my parents was great fun too and we ate a delicious curry before heading home.

My next day off was on Friday and I took it as a well needed lazy day after a tough week, as well as the start of four days off for my birthday! Hooray! Mat bought me some chocolate and treats and we watched Howl's Moving Castle, one of my all time favourite films.  The next day was of course my birthday! I had such a great day with my wonderful boyfriend who treated me like a princess (tiara and all) all day! We played a fun game of Tales Of The Arabian Nights! If you're into board games, I highly recommend it! Then in the afternoon we went to Stratford's shopping centre for a treat! I had a wonderful time and ended up with quite the haul of presents!

I got vinyls from my family - Busted's Night Driver, Lana Del Rey's Born To Die and Mumford & Son's Sigh No More which is incidentally my favourite of their albums. I had it on CD growing up so it was a real pleasure to add it to my growing vinyl collection! I also got the Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 CD (I am a huge fan of the mix of songs on those albums) and Moana, a gorgeous Disney animated film! Mat got me an iPad Pro and pencil and I feel so lucky! My old tablet was dying a bit of a death so I needed this one! While out shopping I also got a Funko POP figure of Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas, a Happy Birthday candle by Lily-Flame and a tea set from Typo!

The next day, I saw all of my friends! It was a lot of fun sending time with all of them and playing games! I received some lovely gifts too - a new colouring book, lip lustre and travel pass from Tash & George, a cool Typo mug-flask from Genny & Joe AND a beautiful necklace from Karl and Megan! It was a wonderful end to a roller-coaster of a week and really made sure that my birthday week ended with a bang!

I Read...

I Received...

- 'The Sleeping Prince' by Melinda Salisbury: Bought on Amazon (09/05/17)
- 'Godblind' by Anna Stephens: Approved by Netgalley (11/05/17)

My 23rd Birthday Haul & Illumicrate Unboxing (Box 3)!

As you all know (possibly) it was my Birthday on the 13th May. As I received my Illumicrate box the very next day I thought I would talk about both in one post! So let's start with my birthday bits:

To start, I received quite a bit of money from various relatives (Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents) as well as from my parents! One of my Aunts did buy me a gorgeous Cath Kidston Travel Bag, complete with clear bottles and an extra, smaller bag. I've always loved Cath Kidston's brand so I'm excited to get to use this when going on holiday!

Tash & Meg, the two girls that Mat and I rent with bought me some awesome presents! Firstly, of course chocolate is a huge part of my life so I was happy to see some of that thrown into the mix! They also went down the obvious reading and writing route with a green, fluffy pen and a Little Black Classic: 'O Frabjous Day' by Lewis Caroll! I think my favourite thing to receive from them had to be the Blogger's Journal! I've been needing something like this for a while and I finally have one to use for the rest of the year!

My sister and her boyfriend also spoilt me rotten this year and I'm so grateful! Chocolate and another fluffy pen (this time red with a London Bus on top) were just a couple of the great gifts I received, all wrapped in Wrapping Paper decorated with the London Tube map! They also got me two Game Of Thrones notepads, a gorgeous pink dress (which I somehow forgot to photograph...) a National Book Token and (my favourite) a book of Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales!

Mat, my beloved boyfriend, spent an extortionate amount of money nabbing me tickets for a show that I've wanted to see since it was announced for the West End: Aladdin! I've seen and adored 'The Lion King' so as soon as I heard of this one, I had to go and see it at some point. I'm so excited! This was accompanied by the 'Agents Of SHIELD' season 2 Blu-Ray and a huge box of Ferrero Rocher. Yum!

Now comes the moment that you've probably all been waiting for! Box 3 of my Illumicrate subscription arrived the day after my birthday (I see it as a belated Birthday present...that I bought for me...) and I can't wait to tell you guys about some of the things inside! I've gone on about Illumicrate so much but for those that didn't know, it's a really good value for money UK based YA subscription box, and the contents found inside thus far have been varied and suit all kinds of readers.

The box remained the same and I sincerely love this packaging. Normally Daphne splits the items into two layers inside, with the box in the bottom so as not to spoil the surprise. She didn't do that this time which was a little disappointing (I love the anticipation of revealing the book) but this was really only a minor niggle. The packing note is always found on top so if you don't wish to spoil the surprise I would recommend not reading it until you come to checking over the contents later!

So what was inside? The items were a lot smaller than usual which is probably why they were all put together in one layer. Good things come in small packages though, so let's find out:

THE BOOK: 'When We Collided' by Emery Lord. (Paperback). This one came as a bit of shock. I always feel slightly nervous about the book (I worry that I'll already have it or it's not for me) but I did like this choice despite not being my usual type of read. It's a Contemporary YA which covers the subject of Mental Health, and I enjoy reading books that cover topics such as that so I have a good feeling about it! This gorgeous book also came with:

- A signed bookplate
- Postcards

TBR List Notepad: This is such an awesome idea and I really loved this freebie! One of my favourite things about Illumicrate is Daphne's dedication to supporting Indie Businesses! Etsy is a real favourite internet shop of mine to browse and thanks to Illumicrate, I get some really fun goodies from small businesses! This will certainly help me keep track of my TBR pile! If you're interested, the shop that supplied this is Goodnight Boutique, and it sells some really cool things! Check it out!


Book Club Mug: I have mugs-a-plenty already in my cupboards here, but what's one more? It's a bookish one too (my first bookish mug) and while I'm not actually a member of a Book Club, it's a neat idea! The material is plastic so it's pretty durable rather than fragile which will certainly be useful for me if I want to drink outside! Head over to The Art Of Escapism for more!

Ex Libris Stamp: I've never really been into Stamps, but I have to say that I adore this one! If your book collection is constantly being loaned out to others then this gorgeous little fox sleeping on top of a book pile could mark it as yours! Similarly you could use it for gifts, cards and tags (which I think could be really useful in the future)! Definitely a great inclusion. From what I can tell, a lot of people got different stamp designs, so I am so lucky that mine was a Fox (my all time favourite animal!) and I'm enjoying seeing the other cool designs found in people's boxes. There are so many others to choose from too, at the Little Stamp Store!

Readers Gonna Read Pin: This brooch is adorable. I love it so much! It's probably one of my favourite of the little extras! It's design sort of makes me think of Harry Potter and I thought that the packaging it came with was a really nice touch. I have had a real browse through Literary Emporium, the store this brooch came from and have a list of things I want about a mile long! I would definitely recommend having a look at their stuff.

Bookworm Clips: This is such a cute idea. So simple, yet cleverly made and the design is adorable. I really enjoy bookmarks of all shapes and sizes, so this one was so nice to receive. There are an absolute ton of designs at My Bookish Mark mostly with an animal-related theme so if you enjoy bookmark collecting, this might be a cute place to visit!

And here is all of the box contents in one, neat picture! As you can see, there are a few extras that Daphne included that I haven't mentioned yet:

• An excerpt from Laini Taylor's 'Stranger The Dreamer'. I couldn't believe it when I saw this! I'm a huge fan of Taylor's previous series, 'A Daughter Of Smoke & Bone' so am really looking forward to reading her next release. Daphne must have pulled out all the stops for this one, I feel incredibly lucky!
• A Cinnamon Muffins recipe card in honour of 'The Square Root Of Summer'. Another really cool freebie, mostly because I like collecting recipes. In the last box, Daphne included a Lemonade recipe so I'm glad that the tradition is being continued!
• Badges in honour of the 'Ladybirds' series. Daphne's added extras tend to be a lot of fun, and we all know I do like my badges. These ones were no exception and I'm really intrigued to read these books at some point!
• A postcard advertising the 'Mystery & Mayhem' collection. As far as short stories go, this is one collection I really want to get my hands on. There are some great authors contributing, and the cove is gorgeous! The postcard was a really nice little extra to remind me how much I wanted it!

What a great collection of items! I really love all of them ad am already looking forward to the next Illumicrate box in three months time! Hopefully the wait won't be too agonising...

My 22nd Birthday Haul!

I don't plan on doing my post on my two week hiatus until  tomorrow, so instead I'll settle for telling you all about the Birthday bits that I received both on my Birthday and today when my parents came to visit and drop the rest off. I of course took a picture to give you all a taste of my haul, and I'll explain in more detail after!

I trust that most of you will probably have looked straight at the books, but I'll list everything in case you're interested! So obviously my first presents came from my wonderful partner Mat who as you all know, took me to Paris as a Birthday treat. While we were there however, he surprised me on my actual Birthday with something I didn't expect. A trip to Disneyland! Most of you might not know how special this is to me, but I have never been in my life and have always adored Disney/wished to go. My wish finally came true! The tickets came with a little toy Lady whom I adore. Just before we left Paris, Mat also took me shopping and bought me a few cosmetic/beauty bits and a beautiful Michael Kors rose gold watch, which is something I have been wanting for a very long time. My whole time in Paris was one of the best things I could have asked for and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Upon returning home, I had a lovely box of 'Happy Birthday' chocolates waiting for me from my two lovely flat mates, Meg & Tash. Chocolate is actually the love of my life so they definitely made a good choice there! The rest of the presents I received when my parents came up. Most of my family outside my parents and sister gave me money. The books however, came from my close family. Book-wise, I received:

• 'The Sin Eater's Daughter' by Melinda Salisbury
• 'Bitter Greens' by Kate Forsyth
• 'More Than This' by Patrick Ness
• 'The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers' by Christopher Vogler

The first three are fiction books I have been after for a very long time (or at least, as soon as I heard of them, and I am so pleased to finally receive them! Thy all look so good and I look forward to hopefully finding three new authors to love! As for the last one,it is a non-fiction book I have been interested in reading for quite a while. Mythology has always fascinated me and it's influence on writing is sure to be an intriguing topic that I would like to know more on.

My sister, as well as two of the books, bought me whole host of 'Frozen' related bits (Top Trumps cards, a poster, a tumbler, a mug, a notebook and pens, stickers, key rings, etc.) because I absolutely adore that movie. It ended up having a bit of a Disney theme all in all and I was ultra pleased with all of my presents.

Daily Shenanigans, 13/05/2014: My 21st Birthday!

Well this post is coming a little late, but that's because I've been quite busy today! It's my birthday! I'm home now and have had a lovely day with Mat and my family, and I'm blown away by some of the gifts I've received! I'll do a quick haul because some of you might be interested and there are a few books scattered in there which I'm desperate to fan-girl about! I must apologise for very poor picture quality!

These are the presents I received from Mat and I'm so taken aback! I'll mention these first because I have already spoken about most of them but I was so happy with them! I mentioned that he got me a cute Eevee toy and Totoro toy yesterday while shopping. I probably also mentioned the Chocolate egg which I got yesterday as an early present! Well the one I received today was so unexpected and I still can't believe he got me one but it's a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3! I knew he was planning something bigger for my 21st, but this? I did not see it coming! I'm so grateful for everything he got me, as well as the lovely four days in London he treated me to. I've been spoilt rotten!

Next up are some of the presents I received from extended family. My Nan and Grandad bought me a gorgeous necklace which I adore. they let me look at it when I visited them a couple of weeks ago to make sure I liked it, which of course I did! It's beautiful! They also got me one of the two big keys, all wrapped up in pink as a bit of a joke. The second key is personalised and from one of my Aunts! speaking of Aunts, I have two more. One of them bought be a lovely bracelet and key-ring, while I received lip make-up from the other. I loved all of these presents!

This is actually a really terrible photo but pictured are the lovely and exciting presents that my Mum and Dad got me! A book on the Stage Show 'Les Misérables' (which I watched and adored). The 'Sherlock' series 3 DVD (which I am so happy about, it was on one of my Wish Lists). Tickets to see 'Let The Right One In' in the West End which I knew I was getting but I'm so looking forward to the show. The Swedish film is great! And last but certainly not least, the entire Harry Potter book collection! This present was entirely unexpected too and I actually almost cried! These covers are my favourite too so I was really happy!

Now for some reason this picture came out really well but there's a lot to cover here so I'll list them all anyway! These are the presents from my Sister, Bev who also has a blog at Tutus And Ballet Shoes and I love them all. She got me the 'Frozen' DVD which made me actually squeal when I saw it! She bought a couple of Owl-themed notebooks because I need some for general blog planning etc. There was also a lot of chocolate because it's probably my biggest addiction! And one of my favourite presents from her was a beautiful Snitch pocket-watch that actually opens and has pretty wings and tells the time and it's gorgeous (I love my Harry Potter themed bits and bobs).Now for the books which I'm sure you're all dying to hear about! First, 'Scarlet' by Marissa Meyer. The second in the Lunar Chronicles, I now have extra incentive to read them! The first three books of the 'Peter Grant' series, 'Rivers Of London', 'Moon Over Soho' and 'Whispers Underground'. Man I want to read these books so bad but simply thought I'd never get round to owning them! And last but not least, the entire 'Game Of Thrones' series! Wow I want to read these so badly but I must resist and get through my other reads first. 

And that about sums up my collection of Birthday bits! This is probably the longest Daily Shenanigans post I have ever written but it has been quite a day. I spent the evening with Mat and my Family, watching 'Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix' which happened to be on. I've really had such a nice day, though it's back to reality with work tomorrow!