Becky Bedbug

Saturday

25th January 2014

Jumper: H! by Henry Holland

Dress: Primark

What's this? An outfit post? Crazy, I know! I started the year with such great intentions to write two outfit posts a week, but it just hasn't worked out that way. I'm sure that January itself is a big factor: I'm still not used to being back at work, it's cold and miserable, I'm never home during daylight hours and, even on the weekend, the days are so grey that there's hardly any natural light to work with. On top of that, I've been having some health problems and have been back and forth to the doctors, so life has just got a little in the way!

Nevertheless, I've finally managed to snap some photos. Both of these items have been in a permanent wear-wash-wear rotation this month, especially the jumper! I love it, it's so warm and snuggly and the kids think it's great too. Pirate teddies!

Friday

FF LXXVI

Becca visited Whitstable and it made my heart ache! Whitstable is a place that holds many happy memories for me.

Matilda Temperley's photos of the recent flooding are sad but beautiful.

My Chemical Romance have released the trailer for their greatest hits album, May Death Never Stop You. I'd never understood the point of greatest hits CDs before and, if I'm honest, I was pretty annoyed when I found out they were releasing one. However, as it turns out, I'm clinging to this release as my final MCR-related anticipation. I've already pre-ordered the bundle. Gerard Way's tweet on the previously unreleased song, Fake Your Death, made me cry on the train and I'm not ashamed to admit it!

On my laptop, I discovered a video of Myles, aged 8, twerking in my frilly petticoat and it's the greatest thing I've ever seen!

Other stuff

I just really hope Leonardo DiCaprio wins an Oscar.

Not going to lie, I kind of want The Brick phone. It has Snake!

Red pandas love snow!

This is why the internet is amazing- Within 14 minutes, it had started to decode a grandmother's last message.

The definitive ranking of tube lines. Although my 2 and 3 would be Central and Jubilee, I totally agree with first place. It's like a magical wizarding train pulled by thestrals! Move out the way, I'm the driver! Choo choo!

Signs you were born in the late '80s. So very true!

Book review: Sputnik Sweetheart

Sputnik Sweetheart- Haruki Murakami

Wow, Becky, another Murakami book? I know, I know! I'm trying to read them all so console yourselves with the thought that I've only got 9 left to go!

Sputnik Sweetheart is told through the eyes of K., a 24 year old teacher who is in love with his best friend Sumire. Unfortunately for him, Sumire falls in love with Miu, an older woman who she ends up working for. Suddenly, Sumire disappears without a trace and K. does everything he can to track her down.

Surprisingly, most of this book is a straight novel. There's very little in the way of Murakami's usual surrealism. Ok, so we do have a disappearing love interest but even that's not centred in the paranormal. There are lots of Murakami's usual trademarks though: A sense of losing identity, mystery aplenty and, of course, perfectly-formed ears. What is with Murakami's ear fetish?

Despite Murakami's novels tending to be quite samey, I found this one of the more distinctive that I have read. I put this down to the fact that it's a lot shorter than the others at less than 230 pages, and therefore it's more concise. Every event is written with meaning and this allows little room for the standard spaghetti-cooking, jazz-playing, Tokyo-wandering filler.

Although the characters were well-defined (Sumire was particularly easy to visualise), I found some aspects a little difficult to accept. K. is only 24, but his voice and attitude was a lot more mature than that. Maybe this is something that doesn't translate well into Western culture- I'm always aware of the fact that Murakami's books are first and foremost Japanese literature- but I found it easier to imagine him about 10 years older than that.

Overall, I think this would make a great introduction to Murakami's literature. It's a gentle approach to the more complicated surrealism that occurs in his other novels and, as it's only short, it's not as intimidating as some others (cough 1Q84 cough).

Thursday

Lush sales haul and review

Shock! Horror! Another Lush review! I know, I know. I'm terrible! It was the January sales though and I just couldn't resist. As this is the post-Christmas sales, a lot of this stuff is no longer available but it might come in handy next year.

Santa's Grotto gift set

I know I'm not one for gift sets from Lush, but this was in the sale so it was actually worth the money. I've reviewed both Secret Santa and Cinders before, so I won't mention them again here. The packaging is so cute. It's wrapped up in a knot wrap inspired by the first Lush store in Poole.

As well as being super cute, the knot wrap is made from recycled bottle tops. Remember you can take your bottle tops into any Lush store to be recycled!

Aside from Cinders and Secret Santa, the gift set includes a Snowman and a Father Christmas bath ballistic.

Snowman

Finally! A festive scent from a Lush Christmas product! Snowman has a spicy vanilla smell which is really warming and comforting. He has red speckles that turn into globules in the bath. I know that sounds horrible, but bear with me! They're really soft and moisturising, turning the bath into a lovely slippery, creamy tub of wonder!

Father Christmas

This little fella really surprised me. He might look all pink and white but he actually turned my bath a bright emerald. It was extremely fruity with scents of orange and mandarin. He was also super duper fizzy. I could hear him from the other room!

Shoot for the Stars

This is one of the prettiest bath ballistics I've used! When I dropped it in the bath, the top layer drifted off in a big blue foam, then the bright pink inside started fizzing out the sides. The result was a pale blue and pink marble effect but, when settled, it turned the bath water a really dark indigo. It was so dark, in fact, that I couldn't see the plug at the bottom of the bath! There was a little shimmer to it too. The fragrance is a lovely rich scent which Lush describes as honey-toffee. I absolutely loved this!

Christmas Eve

I adore Lush bubble bars! This one has a strong floral, almost soapy scent of Jasmine. It's so relaxing and calming. I'm pretty sure it also produces more bubbles than most bubble bars. Very nice!

Bombardino

How could I resist this cute little face? Look at him! I loved this fragrance- a warm lemony, vanilla-y scent. It was really creamy too, with cocoa butter making my skin feel lovely and soft afterwards.

Christmas Candy Box gift set

I'm going to admit it: I only bought this because I wanted to stock up on Snow Fairy and they were out of bottles. However, I do also love Candy Mountain and I'd always wanted to try Rockstar Soap, plus you can't go wrong with a lip scrub!

I got pretty excited when I opened it as it had my name inside!

I love the lip scrubs from Lush! The bubblegum is my favourite as I'm such a fan of those sweet, candy flavours but I was excited to try the popcorn one. I'm not sure if it really tastes anything like popcorn. It definitely has a buttery taste but, to me, it tastes more like those burnt bits of popcorn at the bottom of the bag. Nevertheless, it works brilliantly to exfoliate the lips and keeps them super soft!

Fun Tin

How could I resist something called Fun? I'm not a fan of the cartoon on the front. I find it a bit silly, and not in a good way. The feet are horrible!

I do, however, love the little penguin dude! Look at him, wobbling around all happily!

The tin contains 100g packets of all 5 varieties of Fun, including the gold one, and varying sizes of cookie cutter so you can play with it. At first I used 25g and squished it into the bath whilst it was running to create bubbles. It was probably a bit too much as there were too many bubbles! They had a much finer density than the bubble bars, which was interesting, and it made my skin feel somewhat rough and sticky. It also created little beads of excess product sticking to the edge of the bath, making that feel pretty nasty too. As a shampoo and shower gel, it doesn't work at all. It's so difficult to lather, ends up in lumpy bits and leaves my hair and skin dry. It doesn't even work that well as squidgy Plasticene (Yes, I tried!)- It cracks easily, which makes it difficult to mould.

So far, I've only tried the pink and green varieties. I think I'll be using these as back ups for when I've run out of bubble bars and bath bombs. Pink Fun has a very subtle scent of sweet candies. It's nice but way too delicate to really make any impact. Green Fun smells amazing in the packet. It's a zesty lemon and lime fragrance which smells just like Fruit Pastilles but it loses the scent once you use it.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my stash! I love Lush so much!

Wednesday

Yankee Candle Review: Christmas Eve

I got a lot of Yankee Candles for Christmas. 9 wax tarts, 3 large jars and 3 small jars, to be precise (including two I bought myself with Christmas money). It's going to take a little while to review them all, but I'm hoping to do a review a month. It can be my new monthly feature! I guess I'll just have to buy a new candle each month. Shame that...

Anyway, I know Christmas has long gone, but I'm far too impatient to leave Christmas Eve until next year! My mum bought me this one because she wanted to get me a Christmas candle, and she knows Christmas Eve is my favourite day of the year. Pretty sound reasoning there! Luckily, it turns out that Christmas Eve is one of my favourite Yankee Candle scents. I love it so much that I bought a small candle especially to go in my bedroom so I can be surrounded by the fragrance at all times!

The scent is a sweet, fruity festive fragrance with notes of sugared plum and candied fruits. There's also a hint of spice in there but it's very subtle. The whole scent is very delicate: When sitting right next to the lit candle, it's hard to detect but when entering the home from the outside, it hits you with the gorgeous sweet festive fragrance.

I absolutely love it! It's definitely one of my favourite festive candles (Red Apple Wreath is my favourite, in case you were wondering) and I totally recommend it for the Christmas season.

Tuesday

365 15-21

015

One of the kids in my class last year gave this to me on the last day. He stills visits my classroom all the time!

016

A lovely gift from Echo Falls!

017

I have so many lip products to arm me against the winter!

018

I found this little dude clinging to the side of a church. I hope he found his owner!

019

Morning frost

020

A beautiful winter's morning!

021

Oh, My Chemical Romance, why are you determined to break my heart?

I'm really going to try and get more outside photos done for this project. It's just so difficult when I'm working through the entirety of daylight hours!

Monday

Diaries behind-the-scenes: The Emo Years

Yay! Time for the emo years! This is going to be a pretty long post but, boy, it's a treat! For reference, this is what I looked like at the time:

Billie-Jo (December 2004- March 2005)

Sorry, Piglet and Eeyore!

Marnie (March 2005)

2005 was an amazing year! Can we go back to this please?

Wow, I really do sound like a cool rocker!

Gerard (April- July 2005)

Casual Papa Roach lyrics. And does that say "Revise Against"? What's that all about? Is that genuinely what I thought they were called or is it some sort of long-forgotten joke?