Drowning in a Sea of Paperwork (A little life update)

 

 

Sorry for the lack of contact lately, my life seems to have been taken over by paperwork!

If you have any teacher friends you will know about the dreaded "Reporting Time" and for me that time is now. I feel like the piles of marking are rising around me! But I'm getting through it and holidays are the light at the end of the tunnel!

In the meantime blogging has taken a back seat and I apologise. It may be another week or two until my schedule calms down but after that I will be back in swing of things. Just wanted to write a quick post updating you on where I've been...

The Liebster Award

 

Recently the lovely Bex from Bex's Blog commented on a post of mine telling me she had nominated me for a Liebster Award. Having never heard of this before I went to her page to check it out. Basically it's a really nice way to share some information about yourself with your readers and acknowledge and share the great things other bloggers are doing, particularly highlighting bloggers who may be a little hidden or might be new to the scene.

Here are the rules:

- List 11 random facts about yourself
- Answer the 11 questions which are given to you by your nominator
- Ask 11 new questions for all the bloggers that you nominate to win the award
- Nominate 9 bloggers with less than 200 followers to win the award
- Go to each of the blogger's pages to let them know about their nomination
- Thank the blogger who nominated you by mentioning them and link it back to their blog on your post


11 Facts about Me:

1. I am the youngest of three girls in my family, and I think my two sisters are pretty awesome.
2. I am a high school teacher and the majority of my students are taller than me, not really ideal...
3. I've never broken a bone (and am touching wood right now that I haven't jinxed myself by writing that down...)

February Empties (And a Challenge Update)

Sorry I have been absent from the blog for a while, this change in season (and probably the germy children I work with) have made me unwell! I finally caved and had a day off today and am already feeling more rested and a little brighter. But for the last week or so have just been laying low and having early nights.

I decided having recently posted an All Time Favourites that a February Favourites would be a little redundant... But I have quite a few empty products that I thought I would share with you and give you my thoughts on. Now the following photo may appear like I am a bit of a Lush junkie but I am actually just really bad at keeping empty products (still getting the hang of this whole blogger thing...) and the only products I do manage to keep seem to be Lush products because I return them to the store, that being said, I do very much like Lush so calling me a Lush junkie wouldn't be an outrageous claim.

 

My Favourite Makeup products of all time

 

Since putting myself on a spending ban, I have actually really enjoyed using some make up products that I had been neglecting and I think my makeup philosophy is starting to change a little... I used to be the sort of person who wanted to try everything and have a big collection, but I've realised that what is more important is to do research and invest in products that work for me, taking into account my skin type, my colouring, and the quality of the products.

 

Another bad habit I have is that I tend to save some of my more expensive products for "special occasions", why do I do this? I very rarely use up these makeup products and I have decided that I am going to start using my high end products on a more regular basis and actually get my moneys worth out of them.

While shopping my collection I decided it would be fun to share some of my all time favourite products with you. Let's start with face products...

Taking some me time

 

 

The year is well and truly in full swing, I am three weeks back into work and am feeling a little overwhelmed! I am teaching Business Studies for the first time and although I am enjoying it, it is taking me a while to get my head around it and feel confident.

 

One of my New Years Resolutions was to work on my work/life balance and I don't think I've done this very well the last few weeks so it is time to prioritise! I have been thinking about the things I haven't been doing and am making sure I allocate some "Zoe" time,

Up for a Challenge

I haven't been able to find a whole lot of time for blogging lately, but I have found myself really enjoying reading other people's blogs, and I have found so many of you giving yourselves little challenges. Between Rachi's clean eating, CC's 100 before 25 list, Rachel's investment closet and Vanisha's no make up challenge, it's safe to say I'm feeling inspired!

I didn't want to start out too crazy so I've had a think about some little things in my life/house that I need to organise and sort out and I decided that my skin care/make up should be first on my list! I really hate clutter in general but for some reason this doesn't seem to transition into my make up and skin care. Recently I have found myself doing a few clean outs and have really enjoyed the organised feeling afterwards. My downfall, however, is those sample sized/travel sized products that I somehow find myself believing I will use for a weekend away, but never do... A lot of these products came from a beauty box subscription which I cancelled well over 6 months ago, I was just not finding it useful and was constantly having to find new storage for all these products! After a big clean out of things that I don't like/were past their "best before"/didn't suit my skin type, I was a little embarrassed by how much I still had.

So my challenge to myself is a ban on buying any make up/cosmetic/skincare/haircare item, until all of these products are finished...

 

Coconut Oil: Wonder Product

 

 

At any one time there are two jars of coconut oil in my house, one in my kitchen and one in my bathroom. I absolutely love it and I thought it would be fun to share with you some of the things I use it for.

 

Let's start in the kitchen...

 

Unless you have been living under a rock I am sure you have heard of the Paleo craze, one of my friends husbands is an absolute convert and on a recent visit to their house was greeted with some delicious Paleo friendly banana bread. I asked for the recipe and my relationship with coconut oil began (let me know if you would be interested in the recipe and I will happily share it). I am not on any specific diet but I like that all these diet crazes come with fun new recipes because I do love experimenting in the kitchen and finding new and interesting ingredients, I now use coconut oil in a lot of cooking in place of butter and other oils, it is delicious!

 

Now for the bathroom...