Weekly Ins and Outs..

This week has been quite busy but mainly consisting of sorting out work for my uni deadline which is why the blog has been a little quiet the past couple of weeks! - Sorry!

Ins:

Work has been handed in for my first project, finally! But now got lots to do over christmas..boo! 

I went to the Christmas Markets in Manchester with two of my blogger friends Rachel and Charlotte last week - a post will be up soon about it! 

For those of you who follow me on instagram, yesterday my 'photo a day december challenge' title was family pet...I can finally announce we have a new addition to our family! She was collected on Tuesday and she is a little sweetie!! As it's for Dad's birthday and christmas present I've been told I'm not allowed to put any more other than this one..

Believe me, I will be uploading quite a few more as soon as it's been Christmas Day!! She is the most adorable thing ever and loves her cuddles :)



Outs:

I still don't feel too christmassy!! Maybe it's because I've not broken up from uni yet but hopefully I will soon! Can't wait to go home for Christmas - everyone else has finished so gone home and I'm the only one left in the house :(

Hope you all have a good evening - think I'm going to curl up on the sofa and catch up on Homeland and Made in Chelsea tonight to keep me occupied! 

Don't forget my giveaway is still open - just click here to enter!

Gina xoxo

Weekly Ins and Outs (Huge Catch up!)...

Hi everyone! So I've been pretty busy recently and not been doing my Weekly Ins and Outs so feel as though I've got loads to tell you! (I'll try not to make it too long but here goes...)

1. Rachel, Charlotte & I (blogger girlies) shopping at Meadowhall 2. Uni working on the mac 3.Uni working in the studio 4. Dressed up for halloween at work 5. Group of us dressed up for halloween night out 6. Onesie girls night 7. Cooked breakfast before didsbury dozen 8. Bunk beds on London trip with uni 9. Alex and I (One of my best friends nephews) 10. All the shopping Rachel Charlotte & I did! 11. Cornetto for pudding at home 12. Group pic on a night out in London with uni lot :)

 Ins:
As you can see I've been very busy...last month I met up with my blogger girls, Rachel & Charlotte- I would have done a 'what i've bought' haul post but most of it was christmas presents so I can't incase anyone sees! After Christmas I am thinking about doing a big post on new items I get between now & then. I am trying so hard to save at the moment, knowing tuition fees are leaving my bank account from January is not a good feeling! 

For halloween, we had to dress up at work - it was great fun apart from when I was on my own at 7am in the shop with all the builders and work men coming in! I went out in the evening with a group of friends at home which was lovely and saw one of my best friends boyfriends out who decided as (he was a little drunk) and I'm a student, he would buy my drinks..amazing!...However, think he may remind me I owe him a few when I next see him!

A couple of weeks back the girls from the Dodgeball society I go to decided we should have a girls get together and dress up in onesies. It was the comfiest night ever and had a great time watching the Inbetweeners movie, drinking wine and playing articulate.

As always, I had to include some food - again, with dodgeball (that is definitely my main social event now!) we did the didsbury dozen in manchester. For those of you who don't know, it's basically a pub crawl with a pint or double in each pub. We obviously needed a big breakfast to get us ready for the day!

A couple of weeks ago...before I was too stressed with my deadlines, I went to London with uni. It was great fun even if the beds we stayed in at our hostel looked like they came from the Victorian times! We had a good night out and it has brought us all a bit closer :)

Again, a few weeks back, my old housemate & coursemates sister and nephew came over from Northern Ireland for Alex's birthday. Although I didn't get to see zara (one of my best friends) it was lovely to see part of her family.  

Outs:
Uni work seems to be taking over my life - don't get me wrong..I love it but I have so much to do! I have one deadline on the 14th December and another two after christmas. I am really hoping to get my photography facebook page set up over christmas if I have any spare days...will be working whenever I'm not doing uni work as need the money!!

1. Dodgeball girls at Uni champs in Bedford 2. OOTD 3. Yummy chinese food in Camden London  4.Roast dinner whilst at home 5. My dodgeball shirt and nickname 6. Domino's pizza

Ins:
The weekend before last, Uni of Manchester Dodgeball travelled down to Bedford to play in the Uni Champs competition. (Ignore the fact I'm actually a Man met/college student not uni!) We had to leave at 6am in the morning (eugh!) and were shattered by the time we got back the next day but a great time was had by all. Everyone is so pleased with how many girls now play for our team - we managed to get 3 girls teams down there..considering when this society first started they had 2 girls a couple years back! As Liam is part of the committee for the society, he helps to pick out names and secret missions for the weekend. I alwaysss tell the boys in our house stories and they get bored and end up saying "great story gina" hence the name. As soon as I got it, I remember saying, "This was allll Liam's idea wasn't it?!" Grrr. (least it wasn't as bad as some names...)

Again, I have to include the food photos!..I go home every weekend to work and as I come back on a Sunday evening my mum cooks me a roast dinner..I really miss that on the weeks I don't go home..it's lush! Whilst in London on the uni trip, we went to Camden and tried loads of different foods. However, we all settled on a large tub of chinese food for £4 with a drink, you could have any mixture you wanted and it was scrummy! Lastly, whilst on the dodgeball trip on the first night before going out us girls had a nap then decided to get a domino's as one of my friends works at the one here in Manchester..50% off yes please!

Outs:
OOTD - winter has definitely hit recently and I am feeling it a lot more. I have had to break out the scarfs and although I love them as soon as Christmas has been I am soo looking forward to summer!

And back up to date...

1.Liam and his god-daughter at her christening party 2.Me and Lilly at her christening 3.My OOTD for the christening 4.My friend's week old baby and my god-daughter (!!) Amelia Jade 5.Amelia Jade 6.Mummy and daughter x

Ins:
This weekend just gone, Liam and I went home for his god-daughter's christening. She is such a little stunner and looked adorable in her outfit - Laura definitely gets my approval for the outfit! Lilly was quiet the whole day apart from when the vicar tried to draw a symbol of the cross on her chest...did not like that one bit! But was so well behaved and was shattered by the end of the day! You can see my OOTD on my instagram  by searching ginab1989. I will do a proper OOTD post soon for you all.

If you remember me saying, a few weeks ago I went home to do a baby bump photoshoot..well this is the baby out of the bump! She is the most beautiful little bundle with a full head of black hair. I went round to see her and the family with my best friend and her boyfriend. Whilst there, we were asked to be Amelia's godparents!!! I am officially a godmother of the gorgeous Amelia Jade and this makes me so proud :) It was only the other day I was saying to Liam I'd love to be a godmother to someone..so I must have done something right!  Over christmas when I set up my photography page you will be able to see more photos (fingers crossed!)

So there you have it...there's nothing bad going on in my life at the moment and even though I keep complaining about work, I'd be worried if I didn't have any..! After having such a brilliant weekend I don't think anything can get me down!

Hope you're all having a great week and I didn't bore you too much!

Gina xoxo   

P.S Don't forget to enter my 100 follower giveaway!

Weekly Ins and Outs...

Hi everyone, sorry again for the late post - work seems to actually be taking over my life! Seeing as it is a bank holiday weekend I have an excuse and I am using today as the end of the week as it will be my Monday and day off tomorrow! :)

McDonalds Hangover Lunch . No one but me on the road at 6.30am B.H Monday . Relaxing Drink . Flowers from the boyfriend . Rain, Rain, Rain .

Ins:

After the drunken works night out, Monday was very much a hangover day. (That's kinda an out, but I had a McDonalds which obviously cures all hangovers! Especially a McDonalds coke..mmm :) Liam and I travelled up to Manchester on Monday as he had a resit to do Tuesday morning.

Once Liam had finished his exam, we went to Wetherspoons for something off their steak day menu. For anyone that hasn't been on the set menu days, it's great. You can still order anything off the normal menu but generally you can get a steak and a drink for a certain amount which is great! :)

Friday was another day off! In the evening, Liam and I had a lovely night relaxing in front of the TV. He made me some sweet chilli chicken wraps for tea which were amazing and also surprised me when I got there with a huge bunch of flowers..just 'cos he was feeling nice :) I felt so spoilt!

Saturday night I went out for a meal with a group of friends and Liam. It was great to catch up with everyone and also for Liam to be there as so often he's been busy when we've all gone out. Two of the girls there are pregnant at the moment so it was great to have lots of baby talk....even though the boys got a bit bored of it haha.

Outs:

Work, work, work. As always. But again, gotta just keep thinking of the money! As this post is a little late..I have even worked 7-4.30pm today.. on a Bank Holiday :( Boohoo. As you can see, I was the only one on the roads at 6.30am..depressin 'ell. (I'm not sure if that's how you write it, but you get my drift....!)

This weather is awful. I cannot believe it will officially be September on Saturday and we have not even properly had summer yet. It has been cold, wet and dreary recently which is rubbish. What is more scary is that in the warehouse at work we have mince pies ready to come out..eek! (Although I am sure I will make an early purchase. I LOVE them!) 

I have suddenly realised how much I do actually need to save to do my course so am trying really hard to save money. I will soon be having a blog sale, but also as I have so so many products for in the bathroom I have decided that at the end of each month I will be reviewing my 'empties' and am making sure I don't buy anything before I have used that certain product up and anything that relates to it. For example, I have about 5 different body moisturisers so need to use them all up before being allowed to buy a new one. Maybe this way I will definitely save a bit! (And these photos are less than half of what I have!)

Cupboard in the ensuite

My messy shelf :/

I have suddenly realised how much I do actually need to save to do my course so am trying really hard to save money. I will soon be having a blog sale, but also as I have so so many products for in the bathroom I have decided that at the end of each month I will be reviewing my 'empties' and am making sure I don't buy anything before I have used that certain product up and anything that relates to it. For example, I have about 5 different body moisturisers so need to use them all up before being allowed to buy a new one. Maybe this way I will definitely save a bit! 

Wish me luck!

As I have had an early start and a long shift today I am off to bed soon for a big sleep!

Hope you've all had a great Bank Holiday Weekend,

Gina xoxo

A biiiig catch up-Weekly Ins and Outs

It has been a while since I last posted (oops) but I have just been working so so much. Now that my supervisor is on holiday, I am covering all of her shifts. This means more hours but finishing at 3 pretty much every day so I have time to actually relax and blog! :)

So, here goes three weeks into one post!

Ins:

Weddings:

• A couple of weeks ago, I met a bride-to-be, Emma, to discuss wedding contracts as I am her official photographer! Eek! It is quite daunting but I am looking forward to it. Once I start my new course I will be setting up a new photography blog and page on facebook, so I hope some of you will be kind enough to follow :)

• One of my best friends is getting married in Cuba in January. Although I cannot afford to go out there for the actual ceremony, she and her hubby-to-be are having a blessing in their local church and reception once they get home. At the moment, we are all organising her hen do so it's all very exciting!! If anyone can give us any tips on good games or anything to surprise the hen with, let me know!
 
• Charlotte, a friend I have met through blogging, has set a date for her wedding next year too! I am so looking forward to hopefully look for dresses with her in Manchester from September!

Trips:

• A couple weeks ago, I went on a trip to Sheffield to meet my blogging friends, Rachel and Charlotte. (A what I bought post will be up soon!) It was a great day out, and included a trip to Frankie & Benny's..mmmm! As I was giving them their birthday presents, the waiter (who thought he was being really friendly, but was kind of weird) asked if it was their birthdays. I knew straight away that they'd be getting candles in their desserts..was so funny! 

Charlotte, Rachel and me :)

• I've also been away to London with mum for a couple of days, however will be writing a post all about this! :)

• Last Friday was Mum's birthday and she kept saying to my brother and I not to spend a lot. Recently she has done ever so much for us though and we wanted to treat her so we had already decided what to get her. When she kept saying only spend like £5 or something we were like 'Yeah, yeah...' so she told us off when she opened her present which was..a kindle! I know secretly she was really chuffed with it though as she had been wanting one for a while and she has already read a couple books. Just a heads up though..if you want any kind of accessories, ebay is the place to go. This was the seller that I bought a couple bits off and I even got a free reading light with it!

• Sunday night I had a works night out. We achieved the best in a questionnaire about the company we had to do which meant head office paid for a night out for us. It was smart dress and actually felt like we were at a wedding! As we went in we were greeted with bucks fizz and canapes..not sure if I've spelt that right but you get my drift! We then had a 5 course sit down meal with unlimited wine! (Well, it was limited but meant we had just over a bottle each...!) I had the duck spring rolls, lasagne, lemon meringue, and cheese & biscuits. We also had a sorbet in between the starter and main..this makes me hungry just thinking about it all! Everyone had a great time, got pretty merry and of course had sore heads in the morning but it was so worth it! I'm glad I have made such good friends from work :)

(Excuse the erm..more merry photo!)

Outs:

• Again, having no money. When I say I have no money, obviously I do as am working, but as I am still in my overdraft whenever I get paid no money is increased. It just gets a little closer to zero! So it never actually feels like I am making any money.

• Trying to get information out of Manchester College is a nightmare!! I have seen that you can apply for a grant if you don't get funding, but when I ring I get some unexperienced girl on the phone who says "Ermmm...I don't think we do anything like that." Good job my tutors for the course seem a lot more helpful! Rant over :)

Have a lovely week and sorry for the mahooosive catch up!

Gina xoxo

Weekly Ins and Outs

Ins: 

On Tuesday, Mum and I used our vouchers we'd bought each other for beauty treatments a long while ago! Mum had a massage and a facial, I had a facial and my eyebrows shaped. I still have a voucher from my most recent birthday off Tasha to use and cannot wait to have another facial again, it was amazing! The beautician massaged my neck and shoulders too and I almost fell asleep it was all so relaxing!

 That afternoon Mum and I popped to town to buy my birthday and very early christmas present from her and dad....my new Canon 50mm lens..it is amazing and I am so happy! I cannot wait to use it to shoot at my friend's wedding in February!

As I had Tuesday and Wednesday off work, I spent all that day being relaxed and then went round to Liam's. On Wednesday we treated ourselves to lunch at a local Indian restaurant where the set menu was really cheap and the food was delicious!! After that, we went off to the cinema to watch the new Batman film which was amazing. If anyone hasn't seen it, and has seen the others, go watch it! We did this all over lunch and had an early evening as I had to work at 6 the next morning...not nice.

The girls: Kay, Laura and me x

On Saturday night, some of us decided to be patriotic and go out dressed in Olympic outfits. It is an annual tradition for my friends to do pub golf at the end of July / start of August yet I had never done it before with them all. We all looked hilarious but was a great night, especially as we walked into a pub just as Jessica Ennis had got her gold medal so felt we were really supporting her! For some reason we all did each hole / pub in one and surprising we were all okay! Safe to say, work at 9 the next morning wasn't great...especially as I had to work until 6 and had only come home about 4am!

The boys: Joe, Jord, Arron and Liam x

 For those of you that have me on Facebook, you will soon be able to see more!

Sunday evening came too slowly, but was nice to see almost everyone again at football that evening...with a special lady...Lilly that I showed you a photo of a few weeks ago. She is growing quickly, but can't believe she is already 4 weeks old. It definitely made my day seeing her there on my very hungover Sunday!

Outs: 

I can't actually say there has been anything bad this week minus the hangover..and the workload but that's all my fault needing money!

In case anyone is wondering, as a follow up to last weeks post, I have spoken to my Gran and she is happy to lend me some money to do my course..I am soo appreciative of it as I literally did not think I could afford to do the course after not being able to get any funding for it but am really pleased I can!...even if I will still need to be working a lot..and again, shameless plug: look at my ebayyy! :P

I hope you all have a great week, I have my two days off today and Wednesday and am looking forward to spending the first sorting out my friend's wedding contracts for being her photographer, and Wednesday, meeting my blogger friends Charlotte and Rachel in Sheffield for a shopping day!.....Also am sure I will be looking forward to pay day on Friday! Haha.

Gina xoxo

Weekly Ins and Outs...

Ins:

Have had a great time the past week enjoying the tiny bit of sun we have had and catching up with friends and my boyfriend. 

Gorgeous blue sky we get once in a long while!

On a walk with Liam in the village x

Tuesday night I went to my friends house for a BBQ with all of her family. She has a few older sisters all with young families so was nice to catch up with them all..and we took part in a little bit of face painting...maybe didn't help that they were the face painters so we just had splats of paint all over our faces! Nevertheless, it was a great evening and nice to see them all.

Wednesday after working 6am-12, Liam and I drove up to Manchester as we had tickets for the first group game of the GB Mens football at Old Trafford for Thursday night. I had such a lovely time away with Liam, was so nice to just be us for a change and everyone seemed to be so happy as the sun was out, lovely weather, but of course all cheering Great Britain on!

Ice Lolly in Picadilly Gardens before getting the tram, London2012 sign, Outside Old Trafford, Line up and crowd singing National Anthem

I didn't think I'd get so into it as I have been, but on Friday night I was at Liam's and we all watched the London 2012 opening Olympics ceremony. In my opinion, it was a great ceremony. Although I didn't really enjoy the beginning showing Britain in history, I know it all appealed to all different age groups. I loved the music, Mr Bean and the spoof with the Queen however, my Gran loved the bits I didn't so there was definitely something for everyone! It has been so exciting watching all different sports..especially the gymnastics today which was so exciting!

Outs:

Last week was a bit gutting...I have accepted my place on the course in Manchester to do a 2 year foundation degree. However, having rung student finance last week I then found out as I have already done a degree I get no funding whatsoever. Not one penny. Yet a man I spoke to the week before said I'd get max everything and even wrote on my notes that I would so some poor woman had to break it to me on the phone. I actually have no idea what to do at the moment.. am trying to save every penny I have and work out a way. But, I need to save £5,400 just for the first years fees let alone living costs...eek! So I will soon be having blog sales, many ebay sales, and also advertising spaces coming up..so let me know if you would like to be a part of it. - Details will come on a later post. Luckily this news came before going to Manchester, so at least I had a pick-me-up to look forward to!

Does anyone have any tips on how to save any money or earn money quickly, either with my blog or just in daily life?! Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Have a good week! 

Gina xoxo

Weekly Ins and Outs...

Hi everyone, hope you've all had a good week.. (sorry for the late post, have been at Liam's and didn't take my laptop!)

This week has been a pretty good week for me..although have been working lots again, they haven't been late shifts so have had lots of time to see people and go out! 

• On Wednesday Liam and I went to the cinema to see 'The Amazing Spiderman.' And yes, it was pretty damn amazing! I cried quite a lot too as I'm a big softie! I just loved it as there were comical bits like when he had been bitten but didn't realise how strong he actually was, a love story attached (as in the old ones) and sad bits too. It was just a great film, so if you haven't..go see it! You can also look geeky like I'm sure we did in 3D glasses!!

• Thursday night after work I went round to my friends house to get ready to go out. Kay, Laura and I had a great time catching up and getting ready together whilst the boys all played fifa and drunk downstairs! I still need to put photos up on the old faceyb but here are a few snapshots :)

Laura, me and Kay-standard toilet photo!

Me just before we left with the boys playing fifa in the background!

 (I will soon do an OOTD post with this dress that I got from my lovely boyfriend for my birthday!)

• Sunday I went round to my best friend Tasha's house..she has just moved house so I was helping to decide on colours for her room and think we have finally settled on two colours! We also went shopping in town (post to come!) and for a lunch date to Pizza Express..yum! We paid for one main meal and got another pizza for £2.50 which was pretty good. You can find other deals for Pizza Express here :)

• Sunday evening Tasha came with me to watch Liam play football. - My Sunday evenings have ended up me standing at the side of the pitch watching him...but I'm not complaining as it's nice to see everyone especially when the girls watch too! Plus, the weather was gorgeous so I was stood in a dress and flipflops in the sun, which I didn't mind one bit!

• I've been trying to be good and once again have a few things up on ebay! I will be having a blog sale soon enough, but for now please take a look at my ebay tab on the blog! Thank youu! 

Outs: I can't really say there have been any outs for last week, this week however.......grrrr, you'll find that out in a later post!
 

Hope you've all had a good week!

Gina xoxo