Five Romance Novels You'll Fall In Love With

Hello everyone!

Ever since I can remember, I've been an absolute bookworm. As a girl I would hurry into the libraries at school everyday, fingering the books with wonder and gasping in awe at the colourful book covers and imaginative titles. Books excite me, always have done; some of my very favourite books have helped me through the hormonal traumas of teenagehood. Books are also largely responsible for my unrealistic expectations of men (probably why I'm still single, then). Romance novels in particular are my kryptonite, so today I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite romance novels, so that you can read them and we can all have unrealistic expectations of love together! Yay!

My top five romance novels from left to right:

1. Let's Get Lost by Sarra Manning

2. Adorkable by Sarra Manning

3. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

4. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simison

5. Looking For Alaska by John Green

Let's Get Lost

This was one of the first romance books I ever bought, when I was just entering my teenage years and was painfully naive (I still am, really). This book is about a girl called Isabel and a boy called Smith. I think that's all I need to tell you really about the plot - what makes this book really special is that it is a gritty and realistic portrayal of the sometimes unpleasant reality of teenage love. Isabel, the protagonist and narrator of the book, is angsty and infuriating in equal measure, and there's a lot more to her than meets the eye. She has a few deep dark secrets and they may or may not rear their ugly heads in the story. In fact, what I loved about this book was the serious flaws and imperfections of both main characters. If you read the book and think it over, in actual fact neither character is particularly likeable, or even nice, but Manning writes so well that you feel deeply emotionally attached to them as you read, and you'll be cheering them on all the way, I guarantee. This book is amazingly good, to say the least. I cried. Read it.

Adorkable

Again, this book is by Sarra Manning, so shares similar themes with Let's Get Lost, but is equally as good in its own right. Adorkable is about Jeane, a jumble-sale-wearing super nerd who is opinionated to say the least, and Michael, king of cool and golden boy at their shared high school. They say opposites attract, right? Not at first. It's only when the two are thrown together by unfortunate events that sparks begin to fly... Quite literally. Jeane's feisty. What I loved about this book particularly was Jeane - I have a teeny tiny girl crush on her (she's maybe a little bit famous on the internet, what with having a massive blog and lifestyle brand) - and I loved the honesty of this book. It's definitely not a happily-ever-after sugar-sweet love kinda story, but if you're after a lot of bickering and some serious chemistry then this is the book for you. Again, even though this is primarily a comedy, a few tears might have slipped out of my eyes towards the end of the book. You feel a real emotional connection to Jeane by the end of the novel; like her literary sister Isabel, she's a troubled soul and it only makes her more endearing. So yes, I would say that Adorkable is an adorable book (hehe).

Fangirl

This romance novel is completely different to the two previously mentioned in that it is all too easy to love and empathise with Cather (nickname Cath), the shy narrator of Fangirl. She's spent her life living in the shadow of her outgoing twin Wren (piece their names together... Cather... Wren... Catherine! Pretty cool, huh?) and when they go to university together and Cath's forced to socialise, she's less than happy. Fortunately, the adorable Levi, sunny, optimistic, really cute, is everything that Cath's not, and, well, I think you can guess what happens from here on in. I urge you to read this book, not simply because it will make you "aww" countless times, but also for Levi, because he is wonderful. I'm slightly in love. Read the book and you'll be comparing every man you meet in life to Levi. There's also an awesome couldn't-care-less sidekick in Reagan, Cath's new roommate, and moody Lit student Nick to complicate things. I didn't cry reading this book, because I was given no reason to. Rainbow Rowell did everything right and ends this book perfectly. LOVE.

The Rosie Project

This book stands out amongst the rest of my romance novels in that it is not primarily written or based around teens, and I think this shows. Don, the narrator, is possibly one of the best literary characters ever written - he'll have you crying with laughter as he tells you his story of attempting to find a wife before he's too old the only way his scientific mind knows how - by designing a questionnaire for potential wives to fill out in order to find someone perfectly compatible with him. He doesn't, however, anticipate the introduction of Rosie, the world's most incompatible woman with Don's survey. Needless to say, Rosie turns Don's world upside down and makes him question everything.This book is so heartwarming - yes, I cried. I also laughed out loud many a time. This romance book is one of those that I will proudly recommend to fiends (which I have done, and all of my friends love the book as much as me) because it is also engaging, witty and life-affirming. It is so much more than a fluffy romance. It's about the transformation of a socially awkward, painfully scientific and clinical man into one who is willing to take risks, open up his heart and ditch the schedule for once. I cannot tell you how glad I am that there is now a sequel out, The Rosie Effect. I've already purchased it and I'm going to get stuck in right after finishing this post!

Looking For Alaska

Yes, I had to throw this one in. I mean, it's John Green, right? I personally love this book just as much as TFIOS, but there's no point me including TFIOS in this post as practically everyone in the world has read it already. Instead, I introduce you to Green's earliest work: a story of a socially inept Miles and flawed, troubled Alaska. This book will make you cry, and scream with frustration; but most importantly, it will make you laugh through your tears because of its sheer brilliance. I made the mistake of reading this book on holiday one year and it lingered in my mind all week, such was the strength of my connection to the story's characters. It's set at a boarding school, so feels very relatable and real, and you will grow to love Miles (i.e. Pudge) and his friend The Colonel, and all the book's other wonderful characters. I won't say anymore about the book, because I don't want to give the storyline away, but all I will say is that you need to read this if you're a sucker for romance.

So, there you have it! It was impossibly hard trying to condense all of my favourite romance novels into just five, but I think I managed okay. I really hope that you maybe read one or two of these books if you like the sound of them and that you enjoy them as much as I did. I'll return next Sunday, as usual, for my next edition of Sunday Scribbles.

Until then,

Olivia x

Give Winter A Chance

Hello everyone!

Now, I think it's time to face facts. Summer has bid us farewell for another year and swanned off to join the Australians on the other side of the planet, leaving a trail of broken hearts and sunburn in its wake. But contrary to popular opinion, I'm extremely happy that Summer is gone and Autumn is on the way, because with Autumn comes Winter, and I LOVE WINTER.

I know, I know, okay? Winter is cold, wet, miserable, I hear you cry, how can you love it, Olivia? Well, it's funny that you should ask, italics, because I'm about to tell you in this blog post!

Today, I will be defending the season of Winter and explaining why it is my favourite season of them all, and hopefully getting a few of you excited about Winter in the process. Let's get on with it, shall we?

1. Jumpers. The introduction of the colder months gives me an excuse to bring out the comfy, cosy woolly jumpers I know and love and be snuggly and stylish all season. I really, really love jumpers - the feel of them, the look of them, all the cute patterns you can get on them... What's not to love?

2. Boots. Again, Winter allows me to pull out my trusty Winter boots (the ones pictured below are my New Look ones mentioned in last week's post), and enjoy wearing them without fear of my feet roasting to death in them because of the temperature. My boots will keep my feet toasty and warm into January and beyond.

3. Hot drinks. I have a bit of a thing for coffee and hot chocolate - I've probably mentioned this before - and even though I enjoy them all year round, there is something a little odd about sipping a cappuccino on a hot summer's day. I can't help but feel as though I am breaking some unspoken rule of nature if I dare to have a hot drink in Spring or Summer. Thankfully, during the Winter I can drink copious amounts of both substances minus the guilt. It's a win-win situation, in my opinion.

4. Candles. A similar problem lies here - lighting a candle in Spring or Summer just feels, well, wrong to me - I don't know why, I don't know how, but it does. Lighting a candle on a cold winter's night is one of the most comforting things to do I can think of. I have already mentioned my love affair with candles on this blog (yep, it's a thing) and I can rekindle (ha, geddit? Rekindle?) my passion for candles of all sizes and scents over Winter. Happy days.

5. Scarves. I've always said that good friends should be like scarves: they should keep you warm, support you, hug you lots and make you feel awesome. (Okay, I've never actually said that, but whatever. It's a cool analogy, so I'm sticking with it.) I think that description says it all, really: you can't go wrong with a good quality scarf in a pretty pattern. Scarves make my neck feel all cosy and comforted, and scarves just add a little something to an outfit. Throw on a scarf as you leave the house and all day you'll look effortlessly put-together and cool. It's magic, I tell you. Magic. In Winter, it is generally more socially acceptable to wear scarves, meaning I can wear them to my heart's content.

6. Skincare. Obviously it is very important to take good care of your skin during the Winter months, and I really enjoy pampering myself with Body Shop goodies or using a nice face mask to help me feel good all over. Again, it is such a comforting thing to do in Winter and I love it dearly.

7. Christmas. Enough said.

8. Autumn/Winter makeup trends. I've never really been one to experiment with makeup, but this season a berry lip and smoky eye combo just seems to be calling my name... The Winter weather gives me an excuse to up the makeup stakes a little bit, which I am very much looking forward to.

9. The weather. I actually love the weather in Winter - the crisp of the leaves underfoot, the biting breeze, the lakes that freeze over... Wait, I'm not really selling it, am I? Let's try that again: basically, Winter means snow (hopefully), and everyone loves snow, right? Snow also means days off school (here's hoping) and it's all thanks to Winter. Now will you show it some loving?

10. Television. In some apparent attempt to make up for the Wintry weather, BBC, ITV and all the other big stations seem to churn out some right corkers of television programmes round November-December time, especially Christmas. I don't know about you, but I'm a bit of a closet Strictly addict (guilty as charged), and of course, you get Doctor Who's new series and all the Christmas specials for this, that and the other. Winter creates a perfect excuse to curl up on the sofa and binge on some quality telly.

Righty, I think that's just about it for today! A wee bit of a short post I'm afraid, but last week's was a mammoth episode, so to speak, and silly Olivia left herself only an hour before her weekly deadline to write this post, meaning it may not be my best work. Ah well. We live and learn.

Until next week's Sunday Scribbles,

Olivia x

And here's my collation of some of the reasons why I love Winter so much...

Sunday Scribbles and Getting To Know Me

Hey there everybody!

So, Sunday has rolled around once again (the weeks seem to fly by at the moment, even though I'm back at school - boo),  meaning it is time for another upload! I thought I would attempt to put an extra effort into this week's post, seeing as most of you will have just finished the long first week back of school/work/other boring things people do, and may need a pick-me-up in between all the horrendous homework that your teachers are setting you ALREADY (seriously, do they have nothing better to do?).

For this Sunday Scribble (by the way, that's what I've started to call my upload schedule now - Sunday Scribbles - neat, huh?), I've decided to rack my brain to attempt to come up with fifty facts about me, so that you lot (if anyone actually reads this stuff) can have a bit of a poke into my life. I, being a nosy person, love reading other people's versions of this, so hopefully you'll enjoy mine!

So, without further ado, I give you fifty interesting (ish) facts about yours truly...

1.  I was born on 20th March 1998. Let's start with the basics, eh? If you're a smart cookie, you will have clocked that this makes me sixteen years and five months old.

2. I'm a Pisces. My birth date just about squeezes me into this zodiac sign (one day more, and I'd be an Aries), and apparently this makes me "compassionate, adaptable, accepting, devoted, and imaginative", but also "oversensitive, indecisive, self-pitying, lazy, and escapist" (basically me in a nutshell. I am all of those things). I quite enjoy being a Pisces as my zodiac sign is an image of two fish, and I am a complete water baby.

3. I didn't have a proper little girl's haircut for most of my childhood. Being a redhead, my hair takes AGES to grow, so until I was about five or six I had a boy's haircut. It's only in recent years that I've been able to cut it to a length I like without fear of losing it all!

4. I have no cousins and I'm happy about it. I know it sounds selfish (and I am, look at the Pisces traits!), but I'd prefer not to share my mother with anyone but my brother, and having no cousins makes my family much less complicated. We're a small family of seven people and it's nice.

5. I have never moved house in my life. I've lived in the same house since I was born and so have a real emotional connection to the place in which I grew up. To me, my house is like part of the family as it's been there through everything. I know and love every nook and cranny of my home.

6. I've only had two pets in my life. When I was ten or eleven, maybe, I had a hamster called Sneaky, a real devil who liked escaping from his cage of an evening and letting the family frantically search the house for him. He was a fabulous hamster and now resides in that big ol' hamster cage in the sky with his brother Ginger, who was my brother's pet. We now, of course, have Dusty, whom I go on and on about all the time and probably bore everyone to death with.

7. I love garlic. Like, seriously love garlic. Apparently I ate tons of the stuff as a child (I'm going by my parents' stories here), and now have developed what I like to call a 'high garlic threshold', meaning that I can't taste garlic in my food unless there is lots and lots of it there. I remember in cooking class various times adding spoonful after spoonful of garlic puree to my dishes and complaining "I still can't taste any garlic!", whilst my poor friends try my food and choke over the ferocity of the garlic in them.

8. I am a drama queen. I mean that in both senses of the word - I can have a real diva fit over the tiniest of things, but also just really love acting. I've appeared in various productions in my time (you name it, I've done it - from playing an old lady in Year Two at my infant school after I purposely auditioned badly so that I wouldn't have the part, to learning a sequence of fifty obscure colour names for my part as a chorus member in Joseph in Year Nine) and I'm currently studying Drama as an A Level subject.

9. One of my best friends is a dirty bear. No, really. My childhood 'teddy' (you know, the one you sleep with, play with, spill paint over, that sort of thing) is none other than a toy of Baloo from Disney's The Jungle Book. Okay, so he's not the cleanest or prettiest of stuffed animals, but he has a certain rugged charm (that's what I tell myself, anyway) and I love him dearly.

10. I'm a real daydreamer. Sometimes I think I spend more time in the little worlds I create for myself in my head than in the actual one. It's not good - I'm away with the fairies most of the time, which only adds to my natural clumsiness.

11. I'm a hopeless romantic. I was never one of those girls who sat down and planned their wedding aged five, but I am a real sucker for real-life love stories and rubbish rom-coms. Yeah, I'm that girl, the pathetically single one who likes to spend all her time thinking about how she'll never find a boyfriend/girlfriend (I am open to options) and crying into tubs of Ben & Jerry's.

12. I've never had a boyfriend. While we're on the subject, we might as well throw in the fact that I've never gone out with anyone. You may think I mean that I've never had a 'serious' relationship, but I mean what I say in the purest sense of the phrase. I've never even had one of those silly two day 'romances' where you hold hands in the playground and then decide you hate each other, aged six or something ridiculous like that. To be honest, at this stage I'm so needy I'd settle for even that. It's pathetic, I know.

13. I have abnormally long thumbs. Yep, I know, really random - but I'm running out of material already. My thumbs - and fingers in general, actually - are super long and super thin, so they look slightly odd joined onto my petite palms. I look like I've got spiders attached to my arms. It's odd.

14. I am a very emotional person. You might have twigged that already, what with the hopeless romanticism and the like, but I am. I am a person who goes through serious mood swings. I can either be on top of the world, blissfully content, or down in the dumps, feeling lonely and unwanted (self-indulgency alert). I also cry frequently for no apparent reason, and am extremely protective of my friends and family (you cross them, you cross me).

15. I love to read and write, always have done. I am a bookworm, and was even more so when I was younger, and have always loved creating stories where I have complete control over what happens. In my stories there's always some adventure, a strong female protagonist (because I'm a bit of a feminist too), a wee bit of romance (okay, a lot of romance) and the guy always gets the girl. I seem to recall writing a story when I was younger called Alfred The Grape (seriously, don't ask) and dreaming that I'd be a best-selling novelist because of it.

16. I am a foodie. I eat food a lot, love food a lot, and spend a lot of my time dreaming about what food I'm going to eat next. I am so glad that eating is a necessity, because for me it's also a real pleasure.

17. I like to dance but I'm not very good at it. It's not unusual to find me dancing around my room badly to some tunes of a Friday evening. I find dancing such a liberating and fun thing to do.

18. When I was younger I had a 'Feather And Stone' collection. I can't remember how old I was, but I went through a phase where I would go around picking up feathers and stones and storing them in a little box which I decorated with glitter and stickers.

19. I have starred in a radio adaptation of 'A Christmas Carol'. I was lucky enough to do a course in the Autumn of  2012 which allowed me to help act, sing and produce a radio play of the Dickens classic, along with other teens who took the course. I was picked to sing the carols for the play and I also earned the part of Belle (Ebenezer Scrooge's fiancé), which I'd had my eye on ever since we started work on the play. I got a Bronze Arts award out of it too, which was pretty cool.

20. I am in the midst of a long-term love affair with coffee. Admittedly, it took me a while to get into the stuff, but I am now well and truly addicted and love nothing more than popping into a Starbucks or Costa and ordering a macchiato (my drink of choice) in either a Vanilla, Hazelnut or Caramel flavour. Mmm.

21. I'm in love with candles. I think it might be premature ageing. Now that we're getting into Autumn, I will quite happily spend my time browsing candle websites on the internet or (even better!) sniffing them in the shop. I just think there's nothing better than lighting a candle on a cold day to make any room in your house feel cosy.

22. Rice is one of my staple foods. Honestly, if rice didn't exist then I do not know what I would do. Rice is in all of my favourite dishes, (i.e. curry, Chinese food) I love ricecakes, and I eat some sort of rice every single day. I think it's becoming a bit of a bad habit, but better that I have an addiction to ricecakes than fast food, right?

23. I'm a Hufflepuff and proud. I know, I know, it's an unpopular opinion. When I visited the Harry Potter Studios Tour a couple of weeks ago, a show of hands dictated that of our tour group, only myself and my brother were Hufflepuffs, about three people were Ravenclaw, a few were Slytherin, and almost everybody there was a Gryffindor. (Personally, I think Gryffindor is really over-rated and I'm not a fan of the house, but hey ho.)

24. I'm a quarter Irish. My granddad was fully Irish, making me inherit a quarter of that, and I'd love to visit Ireland when I'm a little older. I've only ever been as a baby and don't remember it, so I'd like to travel there on a gap year, meet Funghi the dolphin, and visit Dublin.

25. My name has the meaning "symbol of peace, grace of God". To me this meaning is an entirely inaccurate description of me. I am in no way peaceful (I natter like there's no tomorrow and have been known to get into physical fights), I possess no grace whatsoever (I am the world's second clumsiest person ever), and I'm not overly religious. I think it's safe to say that my parents had unrealistic expectations of what sort of person I would grow up to be like. Sorry to disappoint, Mum and Dad.

26. Fairy Lights please me immensely. I have a set strung around my bookshelf, and when I'm older I want a house full of them. Please.

27. I will eat ice cream any time, any day, any season. I love ice cream and always have - I think it's safe to say I'll still be ordering it in restaurants when I'm old and grey. My favourite flavours are coffee (and all variations of the flavour), vanilla, lemon, strawberry, mint, honeycomb, blackberry, chocolate... Well, all of them, really, except bubblegum. That flavour is so wrong on so many levels.

28. I have a fairly extensive ring collection. I have been collecting rings for well over a year now, and have a sizeable amount of them tucked away in my drawers. I love everything about them - how they look and feel on your hand. They are most likely my favourite jewellery item.

29. My favourite animals in the world are sloths, greyhounds, donkeys, hedgehogs, and penguins. They are all adorable in their own right.

30. This blog was originally going to be a YouTube channel. There, I said it. The secret's out now! When I originally planned on starting a project to see me through Summer and beyond, I wanted a YouTube channel, but didn't feel brave enough to jump straight into videos. I find I am much more eloquent and witty via the written word.

31. I am slowly but surely ticking off all of the places on my dream travel list. In April this year, I went to Paris with my mum, which was incredible. I'd always wanted to visit and it was the most wonderful weekend ever. I'm heading to New York, Washington and Philadelphia in February with my best friend (New York is another on my dream travel list). I've just got a couple of places left, like Italy and Ireland, to visit, but I'm sure I'll think up more destinations as I go.

32. I am really interested in Interior Design. I love nothing more than daydreaming about how I would decorate a house if I had all the money in the world. It's making me really excited to get my own place, just so I can do it up really cutely. In the meantime, I've been attempting to re-decorate and clean my room, and I'm pretty happy with the results so far. Maybe I'll let you see in a room tour post? Who knows.

33. My A Level choices were English Literature, History, Drama and Communications & Culture. You can definitely tell from those choices what sort of person I am! At the moment I'm really loving my experience as a sixth form student, so I might do a post on A Levels once I'm further into the year.

34. I love to sing and have taken singing lessons for over two years. Ever since I was a child I have enjoyed singing in the shower or in concerts at school, at hopefully if you ask my friends they'll tell you I'm not a bad singer. Either that or I really am rubbish and they've just been tactfully lying to me all this time. Let's hope for the former, eh?

35. Lemon is my favourite of everything. I love anything lemony - food, drink, beauty products, skincare, candles... I could go on. Chances are, if it tastes, smells, looks like a lemon then I'll eat or use it.

36. My favourite Disney Princess will always be Ariel. I was a typical 'little girl', watching all of the Disney films, dressing up as my favourite princesses and learning the songs off by heart. But Ariel was always my favourite  - I think I loved her the most because she was red-headed, rebellious and pretty damn beautiful (c'mon). She was also a mermaid, and what I wanted most as a little girl was to be a mermaid. Let me also point out that I liked Ariel before it was cool. I was never one for Cinderella or Snow White or even Sleeping Beauty. So maybe Ariel is not the best example of feminism out there (she basically gave up everything for a bloke who offered nothing in return except money... Making her a bit of a gold-digger), but let's face it, Eric is hot! I also loved Mulan, so I had a strong female role model sussed.

37. I love buying beautiful stationary and then never using it. I have a vast collection of notebooks, pads and diaries that I have bought but not touched because they're so beautiful and I have a fear of ruining them. I know, it's a bad habit. I also have about ten sheets of lovely stickers in my room which I refuse to give away because they're just. Too. Pretty!

38. I'm a pastel kinda gal. If I do get round to showing you my room, you'll see that my colour scheme is fairly reliant upon mints and mauves and dusty pinks. I also tend to dress in pastels quite a bit, simply because I love those sorts of colours and they make me happy.

39. If you were being tactful, you'd call me 'original' - if you were being honest, you'd just call me 'weird'. I've finally accepted that I will never be a normal person and now embrace my oddness.

40. My favourite flowers are probably orchids. I just love the fact that they're so unique and beautiful. So, if you want to woo me, buy me a bouquet or orchids (nice handy tip for you there).

41. One of my favourite places to be is beside the sea. Being at the beach is something that really relaxes me, and I love nothing more than to stare out into the endless sea and think about life (oo er, getting deep there Olivia).

42. I only like white marshmallows. Don't ask me why, don't ask me how, don't ask me when, because I don't know. There's just something about a pink marshmallow that disturbs me.

43. I once kicked a boy in the crotch because I hated being teased about my hair. True story. I was a very touchy Year Seven.

44. I have what I like to call a 'boomerang' food taste. This means that I will go through a stage of liking a food, then hating it, then liking it again. For example, when I was young I used to love scrambled eggs and melted cheese (not together; as two separate food items), then I went through a phase of about three or four years where I couldn't stand either of them. Now I love them again.

45. I'm a very empathetic person. I think that's why I love acting so much - because I find it very easy to place myself into another person's shoes. Tying this in with the fact that I am over-emotional, if someone else is feeling really upset, I will probably feel really sad on their behalf, even if I don't know them.

46. My favourite instrument is probably the guitar - but it HAS to be acoustic. I have an endless admiration for those who are able to play the guitar, and will quite happily sit listening to them strum away for hours on end. Also, guys who can play the guitar are my favourite kind of guys. Just saying.

47. I have the rarest hair and eye colour combination in the world. I'm a redhead (but you knew that already), and I also have blue eyes. Both are recessive traits and the chances of finding another person like me with red hair and blue eyes are smaller than your chances of finding any other hair/eye colour combination. I'm of only 1% in the world, which is kind of cool when you think about it. Apparently I'm as rare as 'a four leaf clover'.

48. I'd love to do so many things with my life that I find it hard to channel my ambitions. I'd love to be an actress, but also maybe a journalist, or a teacher, or a nursery worker, or a bookshop/café owner, or...

49. I have a secret dream of owning a pub in the country. I'd love to have my own pub and decorate it cosily, and name it after something or someone special to me, and then decide on a themed night for every day of the week, pick a menu, create my own cocktails, choose the staff. I just think it would be ridiculous amounts of fun.

50. I came up with the idea and name for this blog at midnight in a moment of frenzied inspiration. I was feeling really un-motivated and bored, and the summer had only just begun, and then the idea of creating a blog came to me. When I came up with the name 'Whimsical Scribbles', I wasn't entirely certain of the meaning of the word 'whimsical', and had to look it up to be sure it meant what I thought it meant. Luckily, it did.

So, there you have it! That is fifty facts about me. That was a lot harder than I thought it would be - it's funny how when you go to write something about yourself you find that your mind is completely blank. I had to write this post over the course of a few days because I found it so difficult to make myself sound remotely interesting.

Anyhoo, I hope you enjoyed this post. Please let me know what you thought of it and if you'd like to see any of the possible post ideas I featured here. I will see you all next Sunday for another edition of my Sunday Scribbles, but before I go, I thought I'd leave you with an oh-so-attractive picture of me grinning like an idiot (just so you can put a face to all of the blathering I do on this blog).

Have a fantabulous week!

Olivia x

What I Want But Cannot Afford - My Current Wishlist

Hey everybody! Welcome back!

Before I dive into the bulk of this post, I'd like to say that I've decided that I will be uploading to this blog every Sunday before 5pm. I think that a weekly upload is best suited to this blog as it means I won't be constantly juggling studies and posts, and I have sufficient time to think of an original and creative post to put up each week. This way, my posts will hopefully be of a good quality, and I'll be posting fairly regularly, meaning that this blog still gets some lovin'.

Now that that's out of the way, this week I'd like to share with you the coveted items on my Wishlist - beauty, fashion and general lifestyle bits and pieces that I'm currently lusting after. (Friends and family take note.) I am one of those people who enjoys constantly taunting myself by researching adorable items which I will not be able to buy; as a result, my Wishlist is fairly long and crammed...

I'm going to begin with BEAUTY bits, as there are a few products that my makeup bag wants to adopt at the moment, and who doesn't like a nosey around what cosmetics other people desire?

1. Lanolips Lemonaid Lip Balm

This lip balm has been on my Wishlist for a while. My lips are beginning to chap and crack now that we're heading into Autumn, and I could use a good lip balm to keep my lips hydrated and moisturised throughout Autumn and Winter. I love the idea of the Lanolips balm as it incorporates my favourite fruit/scent/flavour EVER - lemon. I just love the packaging of the balm (trust me, it's very important) and the pale sheeny colour of the product itself. WANT WANT WANT.

2. Lanolips Lip Ointment with Colour SPF
One of the most recent launches from Lanolips is their line of lip ointments with a dash of colour thrown in - essentially lipglosses which also happen to be really, really good for your lips. The aim of these glosses is to protect and hydrate your lips whilst looking like a typical lip product. I love the packaging of these and the colour range they're currently offering is divine - with adorable shades including "Apples", "Dark Honey", and, my personal favourite, "Rhubarb" (coincidentally, these shades have adorable names to match).


3. Bourjois So Laque Glossy Nail Enamel
I've recently re-discovered the joys of painting one's nails (sixth form will do that to a gal) and as I'd like to have colourful nails all year long, I've decided it's high time I stock up on some more nail polishes, and the Bourjois offerings have caught my eye. I haven't chosen a specific shade as I really like them all, but just thought I would throw them in as another makeup/beauty item I'd like.


I'm going to go on to talk about FASHION, as the transition in seasons from Summer to Autumn means I have an excuse to update my wardrobe and Winter-ify it (I just made that word up, by the way).


4. Primark A/W '14 Collection
I have to say, Primark have really upped their game in the fashion stakes this season. I popped into a store to have a look around the other day, and was completely surprised at how many of the tops and jumpers I really loved. This year Primark have a great collection of jumpers of all thicknesses and materials, with subtle jewel or lace detailing, pieces so up my street it's not true. I have a distinct lack of jumpers in my wardrobe, so it's highly likely that next time I'm within the vicinity of a Primark that damage will be done, money will be spent, and a few new jumpers will be worming their way into my wardrobe ready for the colder months.


5. Accessorize Scarves
Again, Accessorize scarves this year are really rocking my world. I popped in the other day (just to look, alright?) and my friend and I both expressed our interest in a thick, stylish, tartan scarf that would be perfect for the coming months. I had a browse of the website, too (again, just to look) and loved all of the new designs they've brought in with regards to their scarf collection. A stylish knitted piece that keeps you warm, adds another layer to your outfit and looks stylish? Yes please.


6. New Look Boots
I love my boots from New Look's A/W '13 collection, I really do. They've lasted me a whole year and I wear them practically all the time. But, well, the four separate buckles on each boot that I have to do up are starting to annoy me, and the boots have always made my feet appear even more clown-like than they already are (I'm a size seven; but before you all cry "that's not large at all!", I am of a very thin build, with small legs, torso and hands, which only accentuates my feet). I think it's time for an upgrade, and I will return to New Look to find me a stylish, comfortable pair of boots that will see me through Winter and beyond.


Onto LIFESTYLE items now - a section which essentially means "I had no idea which categories these items would fall under so I'm clumping them together in a section of their own".


7. Spitalfields Candle Company Candles
I was in Spitalfields a few weeks ago with some friends (for the blog post on that, click here) and stumbled upon these candles in a small trinket gift shop. Since it's no secret that I'm a candle fiend, myself and a friend (also a candle lover) went around sniffing all of the candles that this small, independent candle company had to offer, and I loved them all. The company at the moment has seven scents: Lavender and Chamomile, Lemon Verbena (my personal favourite), Rose Geranium, Rosemary and Thyme, Vetyver and Lavender, Ylang Ylang and Patchouli, and Grapefruit, Bergamot and Lime (what a mouthful; I hope I spelled all of those correctly). I didn't buy any of those candles and I am now kicking myself. The scents were lovely on cold sniff and not too strong, and came in cute little glass candle holders that I just know would look dinky lined up on my shelves in my bedroom.


8. "Work Hard, Play Harder" Notebook
Recently, I've been all about organisation and making sure that I have my life essentially sorted out. I'm really keen to keep everything in order this year, be that schoolwork, home life or my room, and this dinky little notebook from Tesco's I think will help me do that.


So, there you have it - that is my current (condensed) Wishlist. I hope you enjoyed reading about the products and items I desperately want for Autumn and Winter. I've popped links to all of the products I've mentioned in the product titles so that you can browse away to your heart's content. Obviously I couldn't provide a link to the Primark website as it doesn't currently offer an option to shop online (boo - Primark need to do something about that), but apart from that the links are all there for your convenience.


See you next Sunday!


Olivia x