My Beloved Bookshelf

Hello!
I've been doing lots of tags lately, but there was one more I really want to do. My amazing friend Sheridan made a tag the other week! It's called My Beloved Bookshelf, and here it is...

But firstly I apologize for my weird book storage, I limit myself to one cube of my Ikea bookshelf for books. This is because I think books look messy if not presented right, and I don't have the space to make them look nice. Also, most of my books (childhood picture books, old novels) are in my sisters big bookcase, so these are only books I really like to read. I am more of a borrow-a-book-from-friends-or-the-library, not a buy-the-book type of person, so there isn't to many on there anyway.

1. What is the oldest book on your bookshelf?

                                        
I don't even know where this book came from. It just appeared. I've never read it or anything, but it looks really old.

2. What is the newest book on your bookshelf?

I bought this book quite recently and I really love it! It is so heartbreaking and sad but a really good and interesting read too. Thumbs up for this one!

3. Do you have any series of books, if so which is your favourite?

I have so many book series that I love, but I only have a few of them on my bookshelf. The picture is of a couple of my Heroes of Olympus books. Some other series that I own are Harry Potter (on my sisters bookshelf), Angel, and The Hunger Games (one of which someone has borrowed). Others which I do not own are Divergent, Ashes, The Forsaken, and Linked, although the last two are not complete series yet. I can't choose any favourites! If I really had to at the moment I think it would be Divergent or The Forsaken.

4. What is the randomest book on your bookshelf?

A coin collecting book! I got it a few years ago when we went to the Australian Mint.

5. What are your 3 favourite books on your bookshelf right now?

All of these books are quite random - A yoga book, A Tangle of Tails, and The Cookie Club. (yes, A Tangle of Tails is about mermaids). Even if it sounds horrible, I still actually enjoy reading it. All of these are really good books!

6. What are you reading at the moment?

At the moment I am reading The Cookie Club. It is such a great book about cookies and Christmas and middle-aged women and their problems. Next up I would really like to read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Does anyone have any other suggestion of what to read?

7. What is your bookmark?

I use a bookmark that my sister made for me, or I just fold down the corner of the page.

I hope this was interesting! You should go and check out Sheridan's blog!

Have a good week!

DIY Drawer Dividers

This is the most simple way to organise the inside of a drawer. Hate how things always roll around by themselves? That's me, and this is how I solve it.

You will need:
Old boxes (think cereal, muesli bar, cake mix boxes)
Glue
Scissors
A patterned paper of your choice

Cut the box down to the right height. If you are storing things sideways than it can be shorter than if you want to store them upright.

Measure and cut a strip of coloured paper to fit insidethe box. It should go up an outside edge, down across the bottom and out again. You might be able to find some scrap paper to fit.
Glue this down.

Cut another piece of paper for the wide edge, and glue it from the outside, along all of the edges on the inside, and back out the other side. The box will have a double layer on the bottom but thats alright because it's the quickest way.
If you're like me and dont really care about the inside of the box, for the wide edge you can just stick two panels of paper on the outside. Or, if your really lazy just wrap up the outside and don't worry about the inside at all!

This is so quick, it literally just takes 5 minutes. And it's free! - If you have the paper and boxes. These nifty little things control where the contents of draw move and make things look prettier on the inside because of the paper! I will certainly be making more of these!

Everything.

Hello there!

I'm sorry I haven't blogged for a while, but I have been so busy.
My brother's german exchange student is here, and for the long weekend we went away and it was really nice. My dog had his birthday (5, already?!), and the terms school assignments are really piling up. On top of that I am insanely tired, and sick too. :(. Sports day is coming up along with our school's version of a fair, you might say, called the Twilight Tea.

As you can see I've re jigged by blog template and made it a bit more 'me'. It's still in the proccess so the buttons don't work yet, but they will soon.

I've realised I haven't been doing many DIY posts recently, but in the next few weeks I have some exciting posts coming up, including a food one, a diy/organisation post, and a hairstyle tutorial. So everything will be going back to normal soon as I settle back into my school routine. (I know, it's been 5 weeks! Get a move on Maddie!).

Moving further into the winter I'm planning a winter outfit post and some more diy and lifestyle-y type ones, along with some tags and maybe a free printable. I also am hopefully going to have a veeeeery exciting post which I am keeping a secret for now. So stay tuned and it will hopefully be up in about 5 weeks!

Right now I am badly wanting a big tartan scarf like THIS one, and a bag like THIS. But how I will ever afford that bag, I have no idea.

So hopefully I get a bit more organised with my posting schedule and you'll be hearing more from me soon. There's an inspiring quote up there from a frankie magazine which I loved, so I thought I'd share. Haha. But now I am meant to be doing homework so I've got to go!

Latest Loves.

1. My adorable spoodle Bentley.

2. These shoes from Wittner.

3. Light pink nail polish.

4. This bag from valleygirl.

5. Playing with watercolours.

6. Flowers, whether fake or real.

Those are some of the things i've been loving lately! I've also been loving eating graped and a Jamie Oliver chicken dish (post coming soon). I'd love to try these Oreo cupcakes and this delicious looking vegetarian crunch wrap supreme (not that I'm a vegetarian). What have you been loving lately?

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Handwriting Tag!

Hello there!

This is the handwriting tag, and I read this a long time ago on Chloe's  blog, and guess what? She tagged everyone, and I'm a part of everyone soooo.....here it is!

1. Your Name

2. Blog URL

3. write; the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

4. favourite quote

5. favourite song/s

6. favourite band/singers

7. say anything

8. Tag 3-5 bloggers

You should have a go! (sorry for the bad quality photo!)

Love you,  

Current Wishlist

1. Instax Mini 8 Camera

2. Topshop Dog Print Trackies

3. Daisy Eau So Fresh perfume

4. Topshop knitted jumper

5. Topshop check leggings

6. First Aid Beauty face cleanser

7. Clinique Neutral Territory 2 Eyeshadow palette

8. Benefit They're Real! mascara

9. Nars blush in Orgasm, (another I like is Sleek blush in Rose Gold)

10. Real Techniques Expert face brush

11. EOS lip balm in Summer Fruits or Strawberry Sorbet 

There you have it! The current things I am wanting. I also made a pinterest board called wonderful wishlist if you would like to take a look at that. 

What are you currently saving up for?

10 Ways to Have a Good Day

Ever wake up feeling like not doing anything, or just feeling a bit 'meh'?

I know that I do and I've put together some simple tricks about how to make your day a better one.

1. Make things fun.

Adding that finishing spray of perfume? Leap across the room like a ballerina while spraying it and you'd be surprised how much it lifts your mood! Or if your going on a long car journey, how about singing out loudly to some good songs?

2. Put things into persepective.

Is every single little thing going wrong in your day? Think about how much worse it could get, or how small your problems are compared to some other peoples.

3. Find the enjoyable side of things.

If things are looking a bit dull, maybe you have a chore to do or some work to complete, think about what you like about it. Have to hang some washing? At least you can soak in the sunshine and have some nice clean clothes. Always look on the bright side of life! 

4. Think of things that your looking forward to.

Maybe you have a daunting speech or performance coming up that you are not looking forward to. Think to yourself, if I do my speech then I am one step closer to that holiday I am looking forward too. There's always something good on the other side!

5. Turn on some happy music.

Music can always make us think and effect our emotions, so if you turn on some happy music your definitely going to have a better day!

6. Laugh and smile.

Try to be happy. If your just in a bit of a bad mood, injecting a bit of laugh and smile into the small things that happen is a great way to make you feel better. Even a fake laugh sometimes brings on a real one.

7. Do something productive that you've been meaning to do.

If you keep getting down on yourself for not organising that drawer, not starting that project, then just buckle up and do it: it will make you feel happier, leave a feeling of accomplishment, and that job will finally be out of the way!

8. Think of how lucky you are.

Don't get yourself down about things you don't have; focus on the things you do have and be grateful because of them.

9. Complement others.

If you give someone a compliment, it not only makes you and them feel better, but it is more likely you'll get one back too. Compliments always make you feel better!

10. Do something that you enjoy.
Just doing something you enjoy can lift your mood so much and really make you feel happier. It could be doing some painting, going for a swim, or doing some baking!

If you do even a couple of these thing and try to enjoy them, then I can garuntee you will feel happier.  They always work for me!

Maddie xx