Dear 2015

Dear 2015,

Wow. You've come and gone in what seems to be a blink of an eye. It genuinely feels like it was only a few weeks ago that I was seeing in the new year and saying goodbye to 2014. Oh my, how things have changed since then. 

When January came around, I headed back to school having not undertaken any of my GCSE's and feeling extremely stressed. I was excited and scared for what would come in your 365 days here, you didn't disappoint. I left school, had my prom, finished my exams, started college and most importantly, enjoyed myself.

After 2014 being a bit, well, crap, my main aim was just to enjoy 2015. I decided that it was time to start actually living, and that's what I did. I lived 2015 for me, and I don't regret a second of it.

Of course, there were a few rubbish times but I didn't let that ruin my year like I did in 2014. I feel like I really came into myself this year, and really defined who I am as a person.

This January, I'll be headed back to college to study a subject I actually enjoy and feeling nothing but excitement for the future.

Goodbye, 2015, and thank you for just being great. I really do hope 2016 is just as amazing.

Happy new year!

Dear December

Dear December, 

I'm writing to you slightly early this month. I want to write to 2015 as a whole before the end of this month, and so I decided to say goodbye to you now.

You were amazing. Christmas is obviously my favourite holiday and I'm so sad it's over. However, it means I can now start looking forward to next year!

I've been so happy in your time here, December. I've noticed how happy everyone else has been as well, the Christmas spirit really is something magical.

I don't have much else to say, December, other than thank you.

Winter Must Haves

December is my absolute favourite month. I love the build up to Christmas and the excitement for the new year. I thought I'd share my winter/Christmas must haves that I've been loving so far.

Red lipstick is my best friend in the lead up to Christmas, whether that be a bright red or a more berry tone. My 3 favourites for this time of year are Kiko's Velvet Mat lipstick in 606 Fire Red, MAC's lipstick in Sin and Rimmel's Kate Moss lipstick in 107. All of these have a matte finish because I personally believe that suits me the best. I'd definitely recommend you check these lipsticks out for the festive season.

Now for perfume, the scent I've been loving recently is 'gingerbread' from The Library Of Fragrance. This smells just like gingerbread but in a good way, you don't smell like a walking gingerbread man, even though I'd probably quite enjoy that. It smells warm and wintery, the perfect Christmas day scent.

I love being able to wear super glittery nails at this time of year. Glitter looks amazing over a dark colour and the glitter topcoat I've been loving is Essie's summit of style. Recently I've been putting this on top of Barry M's Watermelon, which is a lovely dark forest green colour, or Raspberry, which is a gorgeous berry red.

Taking care of yourself and your skin is especially important during the winter months. I love having a bubble bath using this Beauticology body wash in the scent gingerbread, it's not great as a body wash but works perfectly if you use it as a bubble bath. After getting out the bath, I enjoy using  the Body Shop chocomania body butter. Being a bit of a choco-holic, I looooove the scent of this. Finally, it's important to keep your lips moisturised during winter, especially if you're going to be wearing dark/matte lipsticks. The lip balm I've been using the most is the Body Shop's born lippy in Passion Fruit.

Obviously, Christmas music is a massive part of December. I popped into HMV about a month ago and found this Christmas vinyl from Frank Sinatra and had to pick it up because I'm an old lady and adore Frank Sinatra. The vinyl has 12 tracks, including 'have yourself a merry little christmas' and 'the first noel'. If you have a record player and find this, I'd highly recommend it.

Obviously hats and scarf's become increasingly important as the temperature gets colder. I've been wearing this tartan blanket scarf from Matalan which is huge, so perfect for the colder weather. The hat I've been loving is this cream bobble hat from Peacocks. I like this because it sits on my head really well, which is something a lot of hats don't do on me.

Thanks for reading, I hope you have a fantastic December!

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Toffee Icing

Gingerbread is my favourite thing during autumn and winter, so combine that with my love of baking cupcakes and you have some amazing gingerbread cupcakes. I've been loving making these recently, so I thought I'd share the recipe with you.

INGREDIENTS

• 150g butter
• 150g brown sugar (you can used caster sugar but it won't taste as good)
• 150g self raising flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon 

THE ICING

• 200g butter
• 50g brown sugar
• 200g icing sugar
• 2 tbsp milk

METHOD

• Preheat your oven to gas 4/180C (160C on a fan oven)
• Make sure your butter is at room temperature, then cream the butter and brown sugar together
• Crack the eggs into the mixture and mix together.
• Slowly sift the flour, ginger and cinnamon into the mixture.
• If your mix is looking a bit too dry, add up to a tbsp of milk.
• Place 12 cupcake cases into a cake tin and evenly distribute the mixture into the cases.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes. Make sure they're ready by sliding a knife into the middle of one of the cakes. If it comes out clean, the cakes are ready.

THE ICING

• Put 50g of the butter and the brown sugar into a pan and heat on a low heat until melted together.
• Once melted, add 2 tbsp of milk into the mixture and stir until it forms a glossy toffee sauce.
• Leave the sauce to cool at room temperature.
• Beat the rest of the butter until it's smooth, then sift in the icing sugar and stir until creamed together.
• Stir in the toffee sauce, add some more milk if the icing seems to thick.
• Put the icing into a piping bag and pipe onto the cupcakes once cooled. 
• Sprinkle some cinnamon on top.

Let me know what your favourite thing to bake at this time of year is,

thanks for reading!

Dear November

Dear November,

You've come and gone in a blink of an eye. 

November, you were a strange 30 days - not just for me, but for the rest of the world. In your time here we saw great loss and violence committed by human kind which shocked everyone. Why do people have to be so heartless?

However, in your short time here, we also witnessed nations and strangers coming together to help those affected. My faith in humanity was lost but also restored whilst you were here, November.

I only hope that our world never has to experience such dreadful attacks again. War and violence is not needed in this day and age, please try to make peace.

With my favourite holiday, Christmas, fast approaching, I really do hope that December gives us a good end to the year.

Until next year, 

Lily x