this and that

Firstly, sorry I don't post anymore. Quite simply, there's no time. I am a busy busy lady these days. The first semester back has gone way too quickly, in my opinion. Here's a rundown...

• Jem dropped out because she got pregnant, so Matthew moved in
• Faliraki was lovely but one week wasn't long enough, need a month long holiday I swear
• Freshers was fun but we didn't go out enough!
• Everyone is more boring this year and everyone works harder
• It's amazing having sofas
• I got 100% in two stats assignments, and 92% in the other!
• AND a first in an essay. There's a first!
• Overall, I've done really well with uni this term. I hope my exams reflect this, too.
• I work in Monsoon Cardiff, and the girls are all really nice. It's okay. The downside is i'm home for 3 DAYS over Christmas, not cool.
• I volunteer with Home & Away, when they finally get round to placing me. And I sing in a choir. And i still poledance. 
• That's basically it!

I came here to write my new years resolutions, a bit ahead of the game I know.

So...

• Get in to Camp America! And have the adventure of a lifetime.
• The inevitable "lose a stone" except I actually want to make this happen because, America.
• Wear my contacts at least twice a week. Or, get dailies. Either works, just basically save money.
• Get a first in a jan module and a june module. It's achievable!
• Do something different. I'm not sure what yet, just do it.
• Get to and pass level 4 pole by the end of the year
• Don't kill my housemates

foody friday

hello lovelies!

it's been more like a foodie week, actually, than a foodie friday. i had my social exam on monday, which i was extremely stressed about, to the point of breaking down and then realising there wasn't time to sit there and sob. i know, awful. so i've been eating a lot of naughties lately, in the form of

• ben and jerrys - dough-ball whammy; oh my, it's gorgeous. buy it!
• dominos - two for tuesday, couldn't resist with the boy. new yorker is the one.
• auntie anne's cinnamon sugar pretzel sticks - we always get the free samples as we walked buy, but treated ourselves and bought the sticks to share. 3 was plenty, so they are great to share between 2 :)
• pasta and garlic bread - on my healthy eating plan there isn't much opportunity for pasta, although i've had both mascarpone pasta and bolognese, both with garlic bread, my ultimate favourite carb. oops?

i received a voucher to try two graze boxes for free from a friend, so thought i'd give them a whirl. the bargain hunter in me seems to think they are a little pricey for what you get, but i can definitely see the appeal for business workers and the like, they just aren't too price-friendly for students. in my first one i received a fruit and seed flapjack, which was delicious! even though i don't generally like dried fruit, i can certainly tolerate it nestled in syrupy oaty goodness.

ANYWAY, a while back i bought all the ingredients intending to make granola, but never bothered. a few tweaks here and there and i had the perfect flapjack mix! they are scrummy and it's killing me not to go eat them all because although they are in graze, they aren't THE healthiest for you. it's all about portion control...

the finished product - eat your heart out, graze!

love love love xxx

late night procrastination

hello lovelies.

it's 1am, and i'm still up attempting revision. i think i'm going to cut my losses soon, and get up early in the morning to carry on. i've been listening to some lovely tunes lately, and thought i would share some of them with you.

first of all, the whole of bastille's new album is a new favourite. it makes me feel summery, it's casual enough to listen to whilst revising but it also has a decent beat to it. my favourites are pompeii, obviously, bad blood and the weight of living pt II. some of the lyrics are really appropriate, and i find myself relating to so many songs!

If we're only ever looking back
We will drive ourselves insane
As the friendship goes resentment grows
We will walk our different ways

But those are the days that bind us together, forever
And those little things define us forever, forever
--

But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
Nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
You've been here before?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?

These two passages are particular favourites.

I am also particularly obsessed with P!nk + nate ruess's just give me a reason. I love a good belter, and this one is addictive and lovely and ha just generally good for when I am trying to relieve some stress. 

Oh, I also made a summer bucket list for 2013. I think everything is actually achievable, and hopefully this summer is going to be amazing. What are you planning on doing this summer?

Love love love xxx

music to my ears

hey, you.

I'm completely bogged down with revision at the moment, but have been on a nice productive streak for the past few days. I've found music to be rather helpful in keeping me motivated and focused, bopping along in my library seat, ha!

At the moment, one of my favourites is this, by Buble. It never fails to put me in a beautiful mood, makes me want to shout from a rooftop and spin round and round in the sunshine. Even when it's gloomy and raining, like it has been for the past couple of days. Wasn't the sunshine glorious, at the beginning of the week though?!

Hope this brightens up your day, too :)

Love love love xxx

series of unfortunate events #1

hiyaaa!

Let's start by saying that hopefully, there won't be too many of these posts. I'd like to think that not many unfortunate things happen to me, anyway. The first one that springs to mind is my sandal breaking outside of university the other day, meaning I sported the hippy look walking in a dress and barefeet the whole way home, not cool. But that's not what I've come to talk about. Oh no...

We went out last night, because Gabbie had her friends down from up north. I had been excited for a while, because with exams and what not we haven't been out much. Anyway, I had a nice outfit, felt confident and had every intention of getting smashed. Which I did, oh boy I did.

The night was brilliant, up until when we decided to move clubs and go to live lounge. I was stood in the queue, pulled out my phone to text my friend, put it back, and 2 minutes later my bag was open and it had disappeared! Not impressed, because I KNEW it had been stolen but had pretty much no way of finding out who had it. I activated the find my iPhone app but it had already been switched off. At 6.17 this morning, so around 5 hours later, it turned up in London. LONDON!! It's actually quite impressive that it managed to travel that far in such a short space of time, but also leaves me with very little hope of its return. I suppose these things happen, though. For the meanwhile, I have the joy of a samsung bring to be getting on with. Maybe it will actually benefit my revision?!

Love love love xxx

down in the dumps

photo credit

Hello lovelies.

I'm sorry to say this is a bit of a moody post. The work load has hit me, hard. I'm trying my best to revise with the help of numerous tv shows but I lack focus, can't concentrate for more than an hour and just want to crawl back into bed whenever biology is mentioned. Actually, I've been feeling like that a lot lately. My bed has never felt so comfortable but my body also feels weak, literally like I cannot do anything.

I've been fighting swollen glands lately.. They got pretty bad and I resembled a hamster. The annoying thing is that I felt absolutely fine in myself, I wasn't actually ill or anything but my face was in agony. I couldn't eat, and for once didn't even feel like eating, but still managed to stuff my face every day! But as I was told I was probably fighting infection, I had to stay away from the gym for a few days, no fun. I finally went to the docs and was given antibiotics, which definitely helped but it is still uncomfortable to chew. Since when did that stop me though, aye?

I suppose I better give you a diet update aswell. It has not been good lately! Before Easter I managed to put on 4 pounds in a week (!) which we thought wasn't accurate but then when I came back to uni after 3 weeks off everything, I had put on a total 8 pounds, meaning I was practically back where I started. Not good. In my defence, I did hurt my foot so was out of action. Anyway, I am in the process of rectifying this.. in the first week back I shifted 3 pounds, meaning in reality I only have another 5 to go before I'm back at my lowest. However, today's weigh in saw me lose.. nothing. NOTHING? I've barely eaten all week! Both my girlies lost 3 pounds each, and whilst I'm so happy for them it doesn't half make me feel shit. I thought, maybe I won't have lost 3 pounds again but was hoping for 2! or 1?! Merrrr. It just means I have to try harder next week but it's so disheartening. I just want a sexy beach bod :(

Anyway, I'm seeing Matthew tonight so hopefully that will cheer me up. If not, I don't know what will! I should be better soon, at the very latest 1st June 'cos all my exams are over yay!

Love love love xxx

get to know me :)

I think I look like my sister here!

Hello lovelies! I haven't actually properly introduced myself, and most bloggers seem to do it so thought I'd let you all know a little bit about me :)

My name is Chloe Jane Lavington (hence the blog title) and I'm 19. I'm from Southampton, England but am currently based in Cardiff for uni. I study Psychology and am coming towards the end of my first year, shock! It has flown by. I have met some of the best people ever and it's cute that we have a little uni family who I'm looking forward to living with next year. As for the actual degree part, well that isn't so fun but it's something to power through because I will be so proud of myself at the end when I have a 2:1!

I have longish brown hair that is getting the chop in a couple of days, fairly drastic as I'm then going back to the trusty red. I've gotten bored of my hair lately, and ombreing it only lasted a month or two before that got boring too. I want it to be short enough to have to bother to do something with it; these days it just gets put up in a pony or bun and I'm fed up! I usually wear contacts on nights out but glasses the rest of the time - I like the change they make and can't be bothered with faffing around putting contacts in every single day, I'd much prefer the extra half hour in bed!

I have recently started wearing a bit more make up. Before now, I have barely dabbled a toe in the world of make up, only wearing eye liner, mascara and a bit of blush. I guess with growing up, I am trying to make a bit more effort with my appearance, but more to enhance my features than change them. Sometimes, I'll post makeup stuff but not often!

I have a boyfriend, Matthew, who I've been with for a mighty 4 years. At 19, it's one of the longest relationships of anyone I know my age, but I couldn't imagine a life without him. We've been through a lot but are currently very happy and looking forward to our holiday in summer to Faliraki!

My goal in life is literally to have a happy family, be married to a man I love and bring up children I adore into beautiful adults. I want a pretty house somewhere nice that I can tend to and look after, make cakes in and my kid's packed lunches. I definitely want pets ASAP, especially a dog. The simple things in life definitely make me happiest. I want to have money, but I don't care to be rich! A holiday once a year is plenty to look forward to ;)

I mainly post about uni shenanigans, food, my life in general and my weight loss. It's not going so well at the moment after a bit of a bip (10 pounds worth) over Easter but I'm back on track now and am extra determined not to slip up when I go home for Summer. I love all things cookery and charity shops help to satisfy my cookery book obsession. I don't know what else to say really, I don't have many followers at all but my blog is more for me, to look back on.


Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to post about, anyway :)

Love love love xxx