cara haley

Friday 10 June 2016

Few of my Favourite Things

hey guys!

Today I thought I would do a list post - a list of some of my favourite things. Such as days out; music/artists; films; tv shows; food etc..
I know I've posted something similar a few months ago but this might help you to get to know me a little better since I've disappeared for a while.

1. Beaches - the feeling of sand between your toes and the sound of waves is just sooo relaxing.

2. Concerts/gigs - there's just something about seeing your favourite artists live with hundreds of other people that I find thrilling and ecstatic.

3. Spending time with friends - always leaves a smile on my face no matter what we end up doing.

4. Shopping - whether it's clothes or makeup, I can't go a wander around town without leaving with something new.

5. Long walks - I always find walking more fun when I'm with someone and the sun is out. I could spend hours exploring somewhere new - well until my feet get too sore to walk on anyways..

6. Ice Cream - there's always time for an ice cream stop! Especially Vanilla Honeycomb *mmm*

7. The Zoo - I don't go very often, but when I do I feel like a little kid at Christmas!

8. Hollyoaks - I've been watching this show for years and as much as I love it, it frustrates me so much with some of its storylines.

9. The Vampire Diaries - this is honestly one of my favourite tv series ever. It's exciting, emotional and the cast are ah-maze-ing.

10. American Horror Story - this is also one of my favourite tv shows. I'm usually petrified of horror films but there's something about this show that I've been sucked in by. Evan Peters also stars in it, so that's another bonus.

11. The Fault In Our Stars - this book/film is basically my life. I love it so so much and I'm so glad John Green came up with it. I love a good cry haha.

12. The Breakfast Club and Dirty Dancing - these are two of my favourite old movies. I always find an excuse to watch them.

13. Reading - always been my happy place.

14. John Green and Cassandra Clare are my favourite authors at the moment. I cannot fault them a single bit.

15. Traveling - planes, trains, buses, cars etc. I love getting away from home wherever the destination may be.

16. Catfish and The Bottlemen - they have to be one of my favourite bands. Their sound is amazing and I'm obsessed. I highly recommend you all listen to their albums. Plus, they're even better live, what more would you want?!

17. Sean Paul - he's probably one of the best rappers I've heard in a while. He's just so funny.

18. Justin Timberlake - god, i'm so glad he's back and 'Can't Stop The Feeling' is such a tune!

19. Museums - I don't know what it is about them, but I love walking round them learning about the history of something.

20. Banoffee Pie, Carrot Cake and Sticky Toffee Pudding - do I need to explain these?! *heart eye emoji*

21. Jake Bugg - his voice and sound is just ridiculous.

22. Northern Ireland - I might just be being biased but it's so beautiful here. Since visiting family once or twice a year for as long as I can remember, I've become attached to places such as Portstewart, Portrush, Belfast and Ballymena.

23. Lazy Days - there's nothing better than cuddling up in bed on a rainy day, or any day in fact, watching Netflix and eating junk food.

24. Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging - this film is great for a pick-me-up and never fails to make me laugh.

25. Getting ready for a night out - there's nothing better than feeling your best in your favourite outfit and makeup.

What are some of your favourite things?

Cara x

Foo Fighters at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh

Tenerife, 2016

Paris, 2013

Monday 30 May 2016

2nd Year

I'M BACK!

Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted in ageees but this year has been so busy due ~~to the oh so busy life schedule I have~~ to uni, my holiday to Tenerife and my social life (who am I kidding?!)

Hopefully I'll be able to keep posting one or two blogs a week from now on though since its summer, fingers crossed!

Anyways, I thought I would just share some of the things I've been doing at university this year with you all and call this a 'getting-back-into-blogging' kind of post, because honestly I keep running out of good ideas to write about *sigh*

I'm halfway through my course, it's ridiculous. It's gone far too fast and I am no way ready to become a third year student.

Here's what I've been up to:

Subtraction Pattern Cutting

Drape

Architectural Pattern Cutting

Menswear Shirt

Semi-fitted and Lined Tailored Jacket

It's mental how far I've come with my sewing due to not being able to even thread a sewing machine 2 years ago!

Hope you all are well and have had a great year!

Cara x

Friday 4 September 2015

Things That Make Me Happy

Hey guys - happy September!

Sorry for the lack of posts over the past two weeks, I'm back though!

Since its the start of a new month, and it's just over a month until my birthday (YAY!), I've been feeling very happy over the past few weeks or so, but especially this week. I start back at University a week on Monday - Monday being the start of freshers week and since I'm a huge geek, I can't wait to get back into my work.

Today, I've decided to share with you all a list of things that make me happy.

1. Friends and Family - obviously.

2. Visiting new places.

3. Baking - either alone or with people. What's not to be happy about when baking yummy food?!

4. Meeting new people.

5. Spontaneous nights out and road trips.

6. Laughing until I start crying and then laughing even more.

7. Smoothies. Such as my favourite go-to one.

8. The smell of cinnamon.

9. Horses.

10. Fresh, new bed sheets.

11. Salted caramel hot chocolate, or just hot chocolate in general really.

12. Autumn.

13. Compliments - even though I don't take them well.

14. Binge watching Netflix.

15. Clothes and makeup shopping.

16. When one of my favourite bands/artists announce a tour.

17. Long conversations.

18. Long, peaceful walks.

19. Popcorn!

20. Taking risks and making memories.

21. Being my weird self.

22. Waking up to the sound of birds - I'm basically Snow White.

23. Finding a song that describes exactly how I'm feeling.

24. Hearing one of my favourite songs in a shop.

25. Finding the perfect outfit.

26. Picnics.

27. BUBBLES!

28. Books.

29. Walking in the snow, trying to catch snowflakes, snowball fights and building snowmen.

30. Roasting marshmallows.

31. Beaches and running into the sea.

32. Pay day.

33. Photo Booths.

34. Late night adventures.

35. Knowing people care about me.

36. Singing at the top of my lungs.

37. Dancing until my feet hurt.

38. Lazy days.

39. Making someone else happy.

40. Knowing people can trust me.

41. Going on holiday.

42. Trying new things.

43. Finding out my favourite TV shows are starting again soon.

44. Movie days/nights.

45. The smell of Chinese food.

46. Stationary shopping.

47. Hugs. Lots and lots of hugs.

48. Sitting outside talking to someone for hours.

49. Having my favourite meals.

50. Birthdays and Christmases.

I still can't believe I go back to uni soon, summer has gone too fast for my liking. Feels like yesterday when we got our results for first year *cries*. Oh well, back to reality!

What makes you happy?

Hope you're all having a good day!

Cara x

Thursday 27 August 2015

My Go-To Smoothie

Hey guys!

I've been overly-obsessed with making smoothies this summer and I just can't get enough! Not only do smoothies taste amazing, but they also provide your body with essential vitamins and nutrients. What's better than that?! *Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate* - CARA NO.

I thought I'd share with you all my favourite go-to smoothie at the moment and it's so easy to make!

All you need is a blender, fruit, yogurt and water.

This one contains lots of berries - yum!

Ingredients:

4/5 Strawberries                                                                             3/4 Raspberries

6 smallish slices of Pineapple                                                      a handful of Blueberries

1 or 2 spoonful's of Vanilla yogurt                                               Water

I sometimes add 3/4 grapes and blackberries too, but we never had any in when I made this one.

Once all the fruit and yogurt are in the cup (or whatever you use for your blender), fill it to the max line with cold water. I tend to usually fill it just above the max line to make it that little bit thinner.

Place everything in your blender and keep it on for just under a minute (or more if you want it even smoother).

Then take it off and there you have it! A great tasting and incredibly pink smoothie! Seriously though, it is heaven. This one and a mango one are my absolute favourite ones to make. I highly recommend for you all to try these because they - hopefully - won't disappoint!

What's your favourite smoothie to make?

Have a great day!

Cara x

Monday 24 August 2015

10 Things I've Learned During First Year

Hey guys!

Since its 2 weeks until freshers week - yes 2 WEEKS!! The last 3 and a half months have gone far too quick! - I've decided to share with you all 10 things that I have learned during my first year of university.

1. Come out of your comfort zone. You won't be able to experience new and exciting stuff fully without doing so. Break free and you will amaze yourself of what you can do when you put your mind to it.

2. Stop putting yourself down. I'm really bad at putting myself down all the time. When I stopped doing that with my coursework, I began to love my drawing and design style and began to love my work a lot more and looked at it in a different perspective.

3. Ask questions. Who cares if no one else does? Ask your lil' heart away. Everyone else is probably wondering the same thing, so grow some balls and ask a lecturer yourself. It shows them you're wanting to learn and do well in that certain subject.

4. Stay after hours. Yeah, this might make you a 'geek' or a 'dork' or whatever but if you need more time with the resources provided stay until you're too tired to work anymore. I done this a few times leading up to hand-ins, either in the computer suites to type up essays and finish things for CAD or the sewing workshop to finish a paper pattern for a dress etc. It helped me so much and those extra hours helped me achieve the grades I got and I couldn't be more thankful.

5. It's 5 o'clock somewhere in the world. Any excuse for a relaxing drink with friends after a stressful and hard day at uni.

6. Read, read, READ! Maybe reading isn't your strong point but it helps so so much! If a lecturer recommends a book, get it. Do not hesitate and say 'awk I doubt I'll need that, I'll just get the notes from lectures'. Don't be that guy. I agree that notes from lectures do help but doing extra reading for a subject makes a huge difference and you'll feel a lot more confident coming up to exam time. I know I certainly did.

7. University is not High School. You have the freedom to do things when you want to do them. No one can tell you otherwise (unless you live with your parents like me lols). You get treated as an adult and it feels great. There are more people like you than you thought. You thought you were the only weird one? Think again.

8. You grow as a person. This may be an obvious point but to me, I never thought it was possible to do so as quick as it did. In a year I have become a more independent and confident person. I don't care (as much) what people think of me, I'm not afraid to show off what I can do and I've made amazing friends when doing so.

9. Don't leave finishing deadlines to the last minute. I done this a few times last year and I regretted it big time. Even though I handed everything in and passed, I was rushing at the last minute. For two or three of my hand-ins I was, no joke, still finishing it 5 minutes before the time was up. So much stress and frustration builds up and you think of giving up but you just can't! Make sure you get it all completed in plenty of time and have a relaxing hand-in morning instead of basically dying and crawling to your lecturer with your work.

10. And finally, always do what makes you happy. Laugh as loud and as much as you can; act stupid with your friends; if a way of working starts to get boring - spice it up a little. Be spontaneous. You don't need to dress or act a way to please someone - be you. Turn up to classes in your pjs, does it matter what other people think? No, not really. Don't feel like you can't act yourself or do something you love because there will always be someone there waiting to find someone with the same interests as them. You're not alone.

University may not be for everyone, but some of these points can relate to anywhere. Keep doing you and don't stop for anyone.

Hope you're all having a great day!

Cara x

Friday 21 August 2015

My Last Few Days In Pictures

Hey guys!

As I said in my Liebster Award Tag, I've had a really busy last few days! Probably one of the busiest weeks I've had since May (oops, just shows how lazy I can be!).

Instead of going on for ages about my week and what I've all been up to, I thought I'd make this a picture post, so you can experience some of the beautiful sites I've had the pleasure to see this week.

18/08/15 - Edinburgh

Indoor picnic because the weather was so bad!

We went to an A cappella group's show at the Fringe - All the King's Men - and they were absolutely amazing! If you ever get the chance to see one of their shows, I highly recommend going, they won't disappoint!

Far too many stairs for my liking

19-20/08/15 - Dundee

Pizza Hut delivery *heart eyes emoji*

This is such a nice pub! Live music and cheap drinks - what more would you want?

After here we went to Underground but it was far too dark for me to take pictures *cries*

We went shopping in Dundee and of course I ended up buying more makeup.. I'm such a disaster! Here are my fab buys:

Lip liner

Eye shadow

Eye paint pot

Hope you all had a great week as well!

Cara x

Liebster Award ~Tag~

Hey guys!

First, I want to apologise for my lack of posts this week. From gallivanting in Edinburgh and Dundee, I've been incredibly busy. However, this might just mean you'll be getting a double update today. HOORAAY!

Secondly, I just want to say thank you to everyone who follows me on Bloglovin'. Just over 2 weeks and I've already got over 100 followers, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Lets get on with this tag then, shall we?

I'm so happy and excited about writing this because I've been nominated by 3 wonderful people with amazing blogs - B Shannon, Georgia Charlotte and Miel and Mint. Thank you so much, I'm over the moon haha. I just started this blog about 2 weeks ago to cure my boredom, and now I've been nominated for this award! It's crazy how many of you read my posts - I love you all!

Liebster Award Rules

Once nominated, make a post thanking and linking your nominator's blog.

Include the Liebster Award's sticker in the post as well (you can copy it from above).

Nominate 10 other new bloggers that have 200 or less followers who you think are worthy of this award and include their links in your post. Also, make sure that you let them know they've been nominated by commenting on one of their posts. You can nominate the person who nominated you.

Answer the 10 questions asked to you by your nominator (these questions should be on their post). And make 10 questions of your own for your nominees to answer.

Finally, copy these rules onto your post.

Georgia Charlotte's question answers:

1. Favourite song(s)? This is a hard one for me because I just love too many! I'll try narrow it down to 3.. Ed Sheeran - 'Autumn Leaves', All Time Low - 'Paint You Wings' and 5 Seconds of Summer - 'If You Don't Know'.

2. Are you a reader? Any book recommendations? Yes, yes, yes! I'm a huge lover of books and i highly recommend any of John Green's books because they are fabulous!

3. What is or was your favourite school subject? In school I was a huge lover of art, I still am, but my favourite subject had to be History.

4. What are 3 places you really want to visit? I actually haven't been to many places actually so there's a lot of places I would really like to visit. The main 3 would probably be Australia, Greece and New York.

5. What would be your dream job? My dream job would have to be working for a huge and successful fashion company or owning my own fashion company.

6. What's your must-have beauty related product and why? At the moment I'm obsessed with Benefit's 'They're real! push-up liner'. It makes putting on eye liner that little bit easier and the shape of the pen ables you to get the perfect wing and it stays on all day. I'm in love with it!

7. If you could have a day out with any celebrity, who would it be and why? This is a tricky one.. Can i choose 4? Well technically its one band so that kind of counts, right? I would love to have a day out with 5SOS because who wouldn't?? I just think it would be so fun since they're all total goofballs and I'm one too. Would be the perfect day tbh. If they don't count then probably Cara Delevingne because she is queen. I love her personality so much and since we have the same name it'll be the start of a great friendship.

8. Favourite Harry Potter character? This is another really tricky one! I've been a huge fan of HP for years now and I love them all. However, I especially love Dobby or Ron (Ron, Ron, Ron Weasly!).

9. Who's your favourite band, or artist? Ahhh, I can't answer this, I have too many haha! If I had to choose one it would have to be Twin Atlantic.

10. Finally, shoes or clothes? I'd have to say clothes for this one. Definitely clothes!

B Shannon's question answers:

1. Top 3 TV shows? The Walking Dead, Gossip Girl, American Horror Story.

2. What's on your beauty wishlist? Everything MAC pretty much. I just want all the beautiful shimmery eye shadows and their amazing lipsticks haha!

3. Do you prefer hair care or skin care products? Probably skin care products.

4. Favourite book? This is really hard because I have loads of favourite books but one I keep rereading is The Fault In Our Stars by John Green because the book is amazing, better than the film (sorry Ansel and Shailene, ily).

5. Which celebrities makeup are you inspired by? I'm not really a fan of them but its got to be the Kardashian/Jenner clan. Their makeup is always on point and I just want to cry when flicking through all of their instagram profiles.

6. Favourite youtubers? I don't keep up with a lot of the youtubers that I used to be obsessed with anymore, so for this I'll have to say Joe Sugg and Tyler Oakley.

7. Which brand of makeup is your favourite? Probably either MAC or Benefit.

8. How would you describe your fashion style? This is a tricky one because I don't just have one style.. One day I could look really girly and the next a complete grunge tomboy haha.

9. Go-to accessories? My Pandora bracelets and rings. I don't go anywhere without them, unless its work. .

10. What are your favourite phone apps? Hmm probably Snapchat, Whitagram, Instagram and Puzzle 11 - I'm addicted to this stupid game!

Miel and Mint's question answers:

1. Favourite place you've ever visited? Well my favourite place is Portstewart in Northern Ireland but if we're talking about cities and different countries, I'll have to go with either Paris or London.

2. Top three TV shows/TV series? I watch far too many series and my top three always changes. My usual top three is The Walking Dead, American Horror Story and Gossip Girl.

3. Favourite make-up brand? MAC or Benefit.

4. Can't-live-without item? Hmm either my sewing machine, straightners or phone.

5. Your favourite blogger? I have too many, I can't answer this!

6. What do you like most about your own blog? This is a hard one to answer since I haven't had it for long but I like just writing down all my thoughts and letting you all read what goes on inside my crazy head.

7. Best advice you can give to a friend? If they ruin your mascara, they're not worth it. ha!

8. What is the most recent book you've read & did you like it? 'Gone Girl' by Gillian Flynn and I absolutely loved it! Highly recommend it.

9. Favourite online shopping website? ASOS all the way.

10. What makes you smile? Seeing my favourite artists live; big hugs; being with family and friends; people remembering small things about me; beautiful sunsets; walks along the beach with sand between my toes; finding that perfect outfit; laughing until we can't laugh anymore and cups of tea - lots and lots of tea.

I nominate,