Weekly Roundup...

Hey lovely people,

So tomorrow is my weigh in day and I am feeling optimistic. I have seriously tried sooooo hard this week and I  have thought about and planned everything I've eaten. As well as this I have made a real effort to go out a walk every day... Something that I must admit I'm guilty of doing far too little of. My job as a photographer is 30% standing and moving and 70% sitting and editing so I find that most of my day is spent in front of the computer. But I have pushed myself to move around a lot more on an hourly basis as well as having my little evening walks.

So let me just share with you some of the meals I have eaten this week:

Don't they look delish... Here are their pro-points values (remember my points allowance may be bigger than yours so you can have more or less dependent on your allowance):

Porridge (45g) with semi-skimmed milk (213ml) & raspberries (handful) = 8 Pro Points

Spicy Vegetable Cous Cous (150g) with spinach & sliced cucumber = 5 Pro Points

Spinach (plateful - I really love spinach... lol) with salt & pepper = 0 Pro Points

Fresh Tortiglioni (250g) with a spicy tomato sauce (75g) with spinach = 14 Pro Points

Banana (1 med) & Raspberry (handful) Smoothie (Juice 150ml) & ice = 3 Pro Points (330ml glass)

Chicken (165g) & rice noodle (200g) & sweetcorn (100g) stir-fry (soy sauce added) = 14 Pro Points

These are just some of the meals I ate this week and they were all super filling and tasty, which just proves you don't have to eat food that tastes like cardboard when you're on a diet.

I hope that any of you who are on this same journey have had a really good week and you are feeling positive and healthy and I will report back with the outcome of my weigh in tomorrow morning,

Wish me luck...

Take care lovelies. 

xxx

Bourjois Instant Dry - Full Review

Hey lovely people!

So time for another little review. This is a product that I have had on my radar for a few weeks. I went scouring the internet, after smudging my newly painted nails for the millionth time, and in my frustration I found this little beauty on ASOS. 

I don't know if any of you are like me, but I change my nail polish 2-3 times a week, and I have a job, dogs to look after, a house to maintain and a husband to keep so I don't really have the time nor the inclination to wait for my nails to dry before moving!

So anyway, I discovered this little beauty, promising wonderful things in the realm of instantly dry nails and I felt super excited to give it a try. It did not disappoint. 

It is a 9ml bottle of wonder and delight, making the process of painting your nails all the more fun and interesting. All it takes is a single drop from the fabulous little dropper provided in the lid of the bottle. Just one single drop on top of your polish will, I found, dry (not harden) in about 20 seconds. 

It really is quite ingenious... and makes simple tasks like getting dressed and doing the dishes a much easier feat to achieve! You can get this little beauty at ASOS for the bargain price of £5.99... and what a price to pay for finally being able to say goodbye to smudged nails???

Hope you enjoyed this post lovelies and seriously hope, if you're a nail polish addict like me, that you will purchase this fab little life saver. You will not be sorry!!!

Take care lovelies. x

Friday Faves!

Hey lovely people! 

How's everybody's Friday been so far. The hubby and I have been busy doing a bit of DIY in the house... and getting rid of some furniture so not exactly a relaxing evening so far. However, we're calling it quits for the night and settling down to watch some "Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip", with a couple of bottles of beer and a bar of chocolate. Before I do that though, I will share this weeks favourite things with you all. 

1. You guessed it... My hubby!

I got to spend an extra day this week with my favourite guy, with it being a bank holiday Monday, and it made my week that little bit better. I love this picture of him... It was taken as part of my photography coursework and reluctant as he was to let me take it, it's ended up being one of my favourite images of him. 

2. Concert Tickets!

Excited is an understatement! My boys are playing Bellahouston Park in Glasgow on the 19th of August... And being a member of The Victims (The Killers Fan Club) I managed to get myself some pre-sale tickets!!! So me, the hubby, my big cousin and his wife will all be dancing our asses off in Bellahouston Park on the 19th of August... and yes I already have a countdown on my iPhone! 

3. New Purchases!

Who doesn't love new nail polish? I've already spoke at length about these glorious little pots in my previous post so I won't go into any further detail about them. I just love some new beauty goodies to play with.

4. Cuteness Personified!

I had a shoot with these 2 cutie pie twins last week and spent the best part of this week editing their photos. Seriously, is there any better job than this??? It is quite literally... like I've already said a million times, the best job in the world.

5. Blog Of The Week!

http://www.supergorgeous.co.uk/

I've really been loving this gorgeous ladies beauty filled blog. The writer behind the blog Super Gorgeous is the delightful Alice. She is a makeup artist and freelance photographer, sharing her views on the latest beauty and fashion trends, not only through her interesting and descriptive words, but her technically astute use of a camera. Her images are engaging and her reviews are an absolute pleasure to read. As well as this, her Instagram is equally enthralling, and you should definitely give her a follow. 

So that's my favourites for this week. I hope you have a great Friday night and I will be back tomorrow to annoy you with another Saturday post. 

Take care lovelies. x

Snap Happy Tuesday - Keeping It In The Family

Hi there lovely people,

Today is obviously Tuesday and that means it's the day when I share some of my photographs with all of you lovely people.

So today I thought I would share images of my youngest little sister Aimee. Now, before this goes any further, I would like to clarify for the record that I am in no way favouring her over my other sisters, nor do I think she is the prettiest (they are all equally beautiful), but she is quite literally, the only one of my sisters to willingly sit for me. Hence the choice to share her images.

"Staring into nothingness"
ISO 400 - 25mm (18-55mm lens) - f/4.0 - 1/60 sec

"Dappled Thoughts"
ISO 200 - 55mm (18-55mm lens) - f/5.6 - 1/60 sec

"Into The Soul"
ISO 400 - 32mm (18-55mm lens) - f/4.5 - 1/60 sec

"Lean On Me"
ISO 200 - 30mm (18-55mm lens) - f/5.0 - 1/125 sec

"That Gaze"
ISO 400 - 42mm (18-55mm lens) - f/5.0 - 1/60 sec

Ok so believe it or not, when these images were taken, Aimee was just 11. She is quite simply a stunning little girl and a photographers dream client. She's super willing to take direction and loves having her photo taken. 

The photos with the white background were taken in my home studio, in front of a plain white backdrop. I had envisioned a kind of raw shoot, filled with attitude, and this was the result of that vision. Even though she was in fact only 11 at the time, she is very much a diva and has been for years, thanks to watching and then emulating the behaviour of my other sisters. So when it came to doing this shoot, the attitude was just oozing out of her, and I think it's really very visible. 

The outdoor shoot was a little different in terms of my vision. I wanted Aimee to look young and vulnerable and lost in amongst her surroundings, but still standing out if that makes sense. It was a super hot summers morning that we set out to a wooded area near my home and we played about a bit with the lighting, which turned out to be really quite bright and harsh with it being so early in the day. So after failing to find good enough light that wasn't creating harsh shadows on her face and body, we resorted to shaded areas inside of the woods, and this is where the trees became our props. I got a few quite catalogue looking shots of her standing and leaning against a tree branch, which I was really happy with and this was actually supposed to be the last shot of the day, when I noticed some beautiful dappled light coming through the trees on our way out of the woods. This is where the "Dappled Thoughts" shot came from. Green is always a pretty difficult colour to work with in photos as it often creates a murky hue, that can often look quite sickly on the skin, but this shot just felt like utter perfection to me and is still actually my favourite shot of all time. 

Oh and it's also worth noting that this shoot was actually part of one of the assignments for my photography course (Using Natural Light), before I had even qualified, and it ended up being the highest marked image in my portfolio. 

As always lovely people, I have included the camera settings used to capture these images, and although they're not exactly complicated shots, I think it's important to share these settings with you in case you fancy trying to create a similar shot. 

Anyway, as ever I hope you enjoyed looking at these images, and I really truly hope that you get out there with your cameras and start shooting. It really is the best feeling in the world to capture beautiful moments and be able to keep them forever. Far too much of life is missed and forgotten about, and photographs are a way of being able to love and treasure our most wonderful memories until the end of time.

Take care lovelies. X