Saturday

101 in 1001 XXXIII

There is now exactly one year to complete my goals. By some happy coincidence, I completed my original series exactly 1001 days before December 31st 2017. It pleases me so much that it ends on the last day of the year. Since I've only got 365 days left, I need to start taking stock of what I've got left to complete and find out ways to squeeze them in during 2017. Still, that's getting a bit ahead of myself. Let's look at what I achieved in December.

#16 Visit Germany
Hamburg Weihnachtsmarkts
In my last update, I mentioned that I was going to Germany at the end of November. Ami and I visited Hamburg, and I also squeezed in a little trip to Munich before Christmas.

Salzburg in Winter

On our last day in Salzburg, we decided to walk across the Mönchsberg mountain from one side of the city to the other. It curves around the old town from the lift near the modern art museum to the Hohensalzburg fortress where you can catch the funicular, so you can walk across the top of the mountain without actually doing any of the hiking up or down. Bonus! Mönchsberg Terrace

Friday

Salzburg Christmas Markets

I'm starting to feel like all I've done this year is visit Christmas markets! Just before Christmas, we returned to Salzburg and when we weren't climbing mountains, we popped along to the markets. Now, I know I'm hugely biased but I mean it when I say Salzburg's Christmas markets are my favourite. Despite the small size of the city, they're much larger than others I've visited, and they're held in peaceful, pretty courtyards. Just perfect!
Salzburg Christmas tree

Thursday

Untersberg Mountain in Winter

Remember that time I climbed a literal mountain (kind of)? Well, I only went and did it again (kind of). Having experienced the Untersberg in summer, I was keen to see what it was like at the end of the year. Unfortunately, every day we were in Salzburg was super cloudy and foggy but I figured it would still be a fun experience to climb into the clouds. In fact, in some ways, it was even better!
Standing on top of the world

Wednesday

Munich Christmas Markets

Because I evidently hadn't had enough of Christmas markets, what with Winchester and Hamburg, I also visited Munich to experience Weihnachten the Bavarian way. Since I was ill on the first day, I spent most of it napping so we had to squeeze as many markets in our second day as possible. Thankfully, Munich is really easy to get around and most of the locations were within walking distance from each other. Munich Marienplatz Christmas Market

Tuesday

OOTD // Winter Pastels

Honestly, Salzburg is the most photogenic city I've ever been to. Absolutely every corner has another pretty spot that's perfect for outfit photos. The hardest thing about travelling alone in summer was that I found all these lovely locations but had nobody to take the photos! I kept a note of them all and then started to tick some off when I returned with Rich this month. This location was the exception, as we'd already made use of it during our first trip for this outfit post. It's just such a pretty, peaceful courtyard that I couldn't resist returning! Plus size winter pastels outfit

Monday

Winchester Christmas Market

Yeah, ok. It might be a little late to write about Christmas markets now but I never got round to it and I don't want to waste all the time I spent editing photos. Just pretend Christmas hasn't happened yet. Christmas market mulled wine

Thursday

A Very Copper Christmas

Earlier this week, I talked about looking for a little Christmas tree- Kevin- for my office. After failing to get one at the Christmas tree farm, we found one in Wilkinsons. Poor thing was very undernourished having sat in a shopping centre for days on end but at least he was cheap and came complete with the perfectly-sized bucket. Since my office is copper and white, it was obviously the only option for my Christmas tree colour scheme.
Copper Christmas tree decorations

Monday

OOTD // Christmas Tree Farm

Last year I visited a Christmas tree farm to pick up a little tree named Kevin. It was a lot of fun and I loved having my own mini tree in the house so this time around I decided to return and get one for my office.  Plus size Christmas outfit
Cardigan: Vintage
Top: Primark (similar here)
Skirt: Topshop (similar here)
Leggings: Evans
Boots: Missguided

Thursday

My Christmas List

Just over a week until Christmas and I couldn't be more excited! It's been difficult to feel festive this year with the huge weight of uni assignments on my shoulders but now they're all handed in and I'm ready to party! Unfortunately, I haven't had time to decorate the tree so I might be waking up to a pile of presents underneath a pretty bare Christmas tree this year. Shall I just pretend it's a fashion statement? Less is more and all that. Speaking of presents, I've put together a little list of the things I'm hoping to find beneath my minimalist (ahem) tree this year.
Christmas list 2016

Wednesday

Christmas Nails // China Glaze Innocence

It's that time of year again, when I have my annual glittery nails. It's funny because my mum gets glittery, outlandish patterns all the time and I will only permit glitz in December. It's like I'm the mum and she's the daughter! This year, I wanted something subtle and delicate, so I went for pale pink nails and a little snowflake design.
China Glaze Innocence Swatch Christmas Nails

Saturday

Christmas Wishlist

Christmas is less than two weeks away, so I think it's high time we start cracking out the novelty jumpers! I've had a look around the internet to find my favourite festive knitwear and accessories.
Best Christmas jumpers 2016
Rudolph jumper // Really really want jumper // Coca Cola Christmas jumper // Christmas dog jumper // Christmas cat jumper
Holly jumper // Merry Woofmas jumper // Mince pies before guys jumper // Miffy Christmas jumper // Disney Christmas jumper
Baah humbug jumper // Yoda Christmas jumper // Bright 80s cardigan // Sonic the Hedgehog Christmas jumper // Jurassic Park Christmas jumper

Friday

OOTD // Stripy Jumper

While we were in Hamburg visiting the Christmas market, we thought it would be a cute place to take outfit photos. It was... and it was also pretty busy. Somehow Ami managed to get a bunch of photos without people in the background (although there were also lots of photos with people walking through the shot. We may have tried to get some of them on purpose to showcase our #bloggerproblems) Plus size horizontal stripes
Jumper: Simply Be
Skirt: Primark (similar here)
Leggings: Evans
Boots: Skechers (similar here)
Coat: ASOS (similar here)
Scarf: Primark (similar here)

Thursday

Hamburg Miniatur Wunderland

Let me tell you a little story: Back in 2010, my brother Jamie posted a link on my Facebook profile saying "My life ambition is to visit here". The link was to Miniatur Wunderland- the largest model railway in the world. It was a half-ironic post as he finds the mundane hilarious (I once bought him a book called The Untold History of the Potato. He loved it!) When Ami and I booked our trip to Hamburg, I had a quick look on Trip Advisor and, well, you see where this is going. The number one attraction was Miniatur Wunderland! I managed to convince Ami to come along with me but neither of us were expecting much. As it turns out, we had a surprisingly good time!
Miniatur Wunderland Review

Wednesday

Hamburg Christmas Markets

After the success of our trip to Amsterdam, Ami and I decided it was time we had another mini break. Since Christmas was coming up, we couldn't think of a much better idea than heading to Germany for the markets. There was no particular reason why we chose Hamburg- it looked pretty and flights were cheap, which is good enough for me! While we were in Hamburg, we visited two Christmas markets- the main one at the Rathaus and Santa Pauli erotic market.
Giant nutcracker Christmas decoration

Tuesday

Review // Lush Oxford Street Christmas Exclusives

Last year, I was disappointed to not get any Christmas exclusives from Oxford Street (I'm not even sure if they released any), so I was very excited when I visited this year and found out they had a small selection. Especially since one of them is the most amazing shower gel ever known to man.
Lush 2016 Oxford Street Christmas Exclusives

OOTD // 90s art teacher

How fabulously ugly is this jumper? I feel like a 90s art teacher in it and I'm totally down with that aesthetic. Ami took these photos for me in Hamburg and it was absolutely bloody freezing! The sacrifices I make for the blog! 90s vintage jumper plus size
Jumper: Sainsbury's
Skirt: New Look
Leggings: Evans
Boots: Skechers (similar here)
Coat: ASOS (similar here)

Sunday

Review // Lush Kitchen Christmas

Want to know a secret? I bought these products last Christmas and by the time I got round to writing the review, it was closer to Easter than Christmas. By which I mean, literally a week before Easter... Being the forward-thinking blogger I am, I kept the post in my drafts in case the Kitchen restocked these products for 2016 and guess what? They are! I've already seen a couple of these pop up this year. Woohoo! This is why you should never delete your drafts, kids!
Lush Kitchen Christmas 2015 2016

Saturday

University Catch Up

When I first told Twitter that I'd been accepted onto my master's in Death, Religion and Culture, I got a fair few tweets asking me to share details about my course. Initially I intended to do monthly updates but it turns out that master's study is intense. Who knew, huh? Not only that but some of the concepts I've been learning are really complex and I thought going into fairly detailed ins and outs might be a bit heavy. Having said that, I do still want to share some of what's been going on so here's a (not very) brief outline.
Death Master's Degree

December Wishlist

It's 1st December and I've cracked out the Bublé. Christmas is on its way! Having that said that, I'm going to reign in the festive feels for my December wishlist. Mainly because I'm going to have a full-on tacky Christmas extravaganza of a wishlist later on!
Caped red dress // Green trench coat // Gold sequin dress
Gold star earrings // Green velvet dress // Red velvet shoes 

If you ask me, December should be all about velvet and sequins in red, green or gold. Ooh it's feeling festive!

Affiliate links have been used in this post
Bloglovin' // Twitter // Instagram

Friday

FF CLXXXV

It's been a long ol' time since I've posted a Friday Favourites... a whole month in fact. November was so busy that I've barely had time to breathe, let alone read posts so I've got a whole load of catching up to do!
Berlin Brandenburg at night
Gemma's written a great post about what to do in Berlin on a budget.

Alternative advent calendar with Book Your Lifestyle

As we all know, chocolate advent calendars just don't cut it anymore. I'm not entirely sure when that happened because as a kid I wasn't even allowed a chocolate one and had to make do with a glittery nativity scene with an illustration of a donkey or something behind each window. It was truly thrilling stuff. Anyway, at some point in the twenty intervening years, chocolate calendars came and went, and now it's all about the quirky and unusual. This is where Book Your Lifestyle comes in with their #Glitzmas2016 beauty advent calendar.
Book Your Lifestyle Beauty Advent Calendar

Blog Design by Get Polished | Copyright Becky Craggs 2017