Blogmas | My Christmas Eve

Can you believe it;s actually Christmas Eve already?! Which also means it's the final day of Blogmas! Too much excitement to handle.

To finish my Blogmas series, I thought I would do something a little different and show you my day. As Christmas Eve is not a normal day, I thought I would represent my day (which I'm pretty sure is a fairly normal way as far as Christmas Eve's go) through a series of images from my day. Just something a bit different which I'll hope you'll enjoy.

The final Chocolate in my advent calendar. I get far to exciting for these.

OOTD: Jumper: River Island | Shorts: Top Shop | Hat: Miss Guided | Necklace: Eclectic Ecentricity

Make-up of the day... is that a thing?

Lunch: Camembert with sauce and a baguette. Yum!

A game of Baliwick Trumps that my sisters Young Enterprise group 'Vida' made. I lost... hate this game! Ha!

Entertainment of the day. I've been watching a film everyday of the holiday so far and I don't plan to stop just because it's Christmas. 

All that's left to do in my day is have a shower; watch some festive telly specials and wrap up the last of my gifts. Then tomorrow is Christmas! Whether you celebrate the holiday or not, I hope you all have a great day tomorrow and don't eat too much!

Tasmin x

Blogmas | Alternative Christmas Playlist

Merry Christmas Eve-eve! It's very nearly the big day and, I don't know about you, but I fancy a bit of a change up with the music. Don't get me wrong, nothing brings me joy than listening to the cheesy pop classic that have become tradition to listen to at this time of year. However, sometimes I do wish a new one would sneak into the radio playlist. The newest Christmas that has charted this is Mariah Carey... again! Sometimes, I just want to hear something a little different and mix it up a little bit. Which leads me here, my very own alternative Christmas playlist where I have avoided the typical Christmas classics and have actually found amazing songs that have been completely overlooked over the past few years. 

Mulled Wines- BBC Radio One's Greg James and Chris Smith (with the news...): This hilariously festive parody of Blurred Lines from BBC's Greg James and Chris Smith with the news (only fans of the Greg James show will understand the that) is most definitely better than the original. I mean, it is clear that they aren't profession singers but that doesn't overshadow the pure genius that is this parody of what was the biggest song of last year. 

I Want an Alien For Christmas- Fountains of Wayne: That's right, the band that brought you Stacy's Mum also have, this although a little strange but nonetheless awesome, Christmas hit. An alien isn't exactly what I have on my Christmas list, I think that may be a little frightening opening up one on Christmas day, but it does sound like a cool pet. Remember, aliens are for life not just Christmas!

Yule Shoot Your Eye Out- Fall Out Boy: Not as sinister as the title suggests, but it's not your traditional uplifting Christmas classic, which is what this playlist is all about. For some, Christmas isn't full of cheer and I'm sure there are people we really don't want to bump into this Christmas. If anything, this song is probably the most honest Christmas song I've heard for a long time. We can't be cheerful for the whole of December, can we? Oh my gosh, can you tell I'm a bit of a Scrooge!

Merry Christmas (Wherever You Are)- Lower Than Atlantis: I heard this song for the first time on last nights Made and Chelsea episode today. It was released a couple of years ago and I'm a little shocked that it hasn't had a much airplay as I would of expected. Lower Than Atlantis is one of BBC Radio One's favourite bands so I would of expected to hear it being played on the radio, especially since it's such a great song. Oh well, I spread the word here instead!

Santa Looks A Lot Like Daddy- Bowling For Soup: This is a more modern rock cover from the creators of the Phineas and Ferb theme tune (oh yeah!) of the Buck Owens song from 1965. I'd actually never heard the original before, this kind of Christmas song isn't as big in Britain and it certainly isn't a song you can play to young children, but it does make me chuckle. I think it's just the brutal honesty of a child recognising that Santa doesn't quite look as you would imagine and the incredible catchy-ness of Bowling For Soup's music that you just can't help but love.

Some may say it's a little bit late for a new Christmas Playlist, but I say it's never too late! As always, here's a link to my YouTube version of this playlist for you to have a gander at.  Are there any Christmas songs that you love? New or old, classic or unknown, let me know in the comments. I'd love to hear from you.

Tasmin x

Blogmas | Past Verses Present

I have this weird obsession with past vs present images. These are old photos that people reenact in the present as a comparison, some of which are absolutely hilarious. I'm sure you've all seen one before. I've done one before of me from my first day of Infants and my last day of High School. However, I haven't found a really funny one that I could recreate but this festive one of my sister and I sat in front of the Christmas tree really appealed to me for some reason. I've been wanting to do this particular photo for ages but it became one of those things that I just didn't get around to.

However, today I sort of forced my sister into taking this photo. We didn't have any white pyjamas and we live in a different house not with a different tree but we tried to overcome this by looking extra festive. Okay, so it isn't an strong replica but it kind of works-ish.

Blogmas | Town's Christmas Lights

I spent my evening roaming around town admiring the beautiful Christmas lights. Since I've been so busy, I hadn't quite had the chance to just look at the lights up in town and really wanted to rectify this. So I grabbed my camera, woke up my family (literally!), put on my coat and had a mooch around town.

Because it is so dark and cold, many of my images turned out a little blurry but I think I picked out the best ones. I always like to nosy at  different high-streets Christmas decor, it's a bit of fun I suppose. So I thought I should capture mine to make it fair. I hope you enjoy.

Tasmin x

Blogmas | Christmas Shopping

I finally got my Christmas shopping done. Well, I say that.

As soon as I walked into town, I instantly wanted to run straight back home. I don't know why as it wasn't especially busy but I just felt claustrophobic and pressured. There's little time to the big day and I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to buy my family. I hate feeling pressured into shopping as it takes me ages to find exactly what I want/need and that's when I buy the wrong thing or the wrong size. Which is exactly what happened so I'm going to have to pop into town next week to exchange some things. Such an idiot. 

Anyway, I've spent this evening wrapping up the majority of my gifts whilst watching Love Actually while the rest of my family are out partying. Totally the party animal of my family! ;)

Tasmin x

Blogmas | Attempting to Feel the Festive Spirit

School has finished until next year. Christmas songs have taken over every radio station. You can barely watch the telly without a Christmas advert popping up. Yet, I still don't really feel festive quite yet. I struggle with this every year and I don't know why it takes me the whole month for the excitement to kick in. God knows the rest of the world started their Christmas in November. Tonight I'm watching Elf, arguably the best Christmas film ever, in an attempt to feel a little bit festive. I hope it works!

Tasmin x

Blogmas | Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

One more day of school before the holidays. I really need a break. I have no lessons tomorrow yet I still have to go in... a bit unfair but I'll try and finish some artwork before the holidays.

So in the spirit of Christmas, I found this picture of my sister and I with the snowman we made when we were about 9 or 10 years old. I know I've shared this image on the internet before but I'm not sure if I've put it on the blog before so I hope this isn't a repeat. Regardless, I think it's a cute picture.

Tasmin x

Blogmas | I'm an Ant

To fully explain this photo, we need a little bit of a history lesson. It will be quick, I promise. During World War Two, the Channel Islands were invaded by the Nazi's which is referred to as the German Occupation. On May 9th, 1945, our island was liberated from the occupation and now every year we celebrate this day with a national holiday and events town. 

However, every five years there is a huge parade through town and in the year 2000, my Play School entered a float. The theme was A Bugs Life (that film was brand new back then) and I dressed as Dot, one of the baby ants. Okay, so I'm not the most convincing ant but I am only three and we all looked really cute. So proud I got to be part of this.

Tasmin x

Blogmas | Giant Cat

Will the cat pictures ever stop? I think I'm about 10/11 here and my cat, Cane, decided it was time to cuddle. He wasn't actually that big and I'm really not that small, so I have no idea why he looks so huge in this image.

I'm trying to hint to my Mum to get a cat. So far I've been unsuccessful. I've been practically begging for the past year so I'm not exactly hopeful, but finger crossed!

Tasmin x  

Blogmas | There's Been Better Days

It's not been a great day for me. I can't really explain it all, to be honest I'm not entirely sure on the whole story, but everything is safe now and that's all that really matters. There was a huge bee on the bus to school. I know, traumatic. My bad morning kind of spilled into my afternoon and I've not enjoyed it. However, I've decided to give coursework a break today and am now watching Russell Howard's Good News in an attempt to cheer myself up.

In other news, I found this picture of me showing Blue's Clues a Winnie the Pooh book. Blue's Clues was my favourite TV show when I was younger and was about Blue and her owner Kevin solving mysteries around their house. I just think it's a really cute picture,

Tasmin x

Blogmas | Putting Up The Christmas Tree

I know that it is rather late, but we have literally just put up our tree. Maybe I will finally get into the festive spirit... Or I'll just get annoyed by all the green plastic tree 'needles' all over the floor. Either way, at least the house looks a little bit more Christmas-y!

None of us are really in the festive spirit at all this year. In fact, we got a little bored when decorating the tree and ended up literally throwing on decorations from where were sat by the tree. It's actually pretty fun, highly recommended.

The Christmas tree clock: just in case we forget the time...

Don't worry, this Swarovski crystal decoration was not one that we threw on.

I think I may of made the most self-obsessed tree decoration in Play School.

I don't know exactly how old this decoration is, but apparently it used to belong to my Great  Gran.

Yeah, it's not very impressive. We tried.

Tasmin x

Blogmas | Mr Grumpy

This cheeky kitty got his name from his constant groan of a meow every time he waltzed into our flat. Mr Grumpy wasn't actually our cat, but he liked to hang out at our flat pretty much everyday. He'd eat all our cats food, sleep on our sofa and just generally act like he owned the place. He even bit my toe once, but we still welcomed him in anyway.

I don't know what happened to him. A week before we moved out, he disappeared. The whole neighbourhood was moving out so I can only assume his owner took him when they moved out but I honestly don't know who he belonged to. He wasn't the most affectionate cat but I do have fond memories of him. Even if he was a little grumpy.

Tasmin x

Blogmas | I've Got Wings

... and I didn't even have a Red Bull! Short post today as I'm running very late for a friends Birthday get together. Happy Birthday Charlotte! I'll be there in about 15 minutes...

Tasmin x

Blogmas | London Baby

This is a snap from my first ever holiday when I was four years old. We went to London and, as you can probably see, I was rather excited! I don't remember a lot from that holiday as I was quite young, but there are tiny snippets in my memory of the trip. One was actually here on the London-Eye, jumping around and panicking my Mum (she though I was going to 'fall off'). It's such an amazing view from the London Eye, the best way to view London.

Tasmin x

Blogmas | Fashionista From Birth

I have this thing that I do whenever I receive a gift, less so now but all the time when I was younger. I have to try on any gift instantly. Obviously this is dependent on the situation; I don't just try on a t-shirt in the middle of a restaurant. I just get overly excited and throw on the first thing I unwrap. However, it has lead to many interesting style combinations like this one. 'Who cares, it's Christmas' was clearly my motto when I was five years old...

Tasmin x

Blogmas: A Family Portrait

I decided to do some fancy editing with this photo, then I remembered my laptop doesn't have Photoshop on it so settled with the pre-programmed editing software already on my laptop. Not as bad as I thought but not quite how I picture it would look. Oh well! I don't know why we are holding bananas, I guess roast dinners go straight to our heads!

Tasmin x

#6: Paint a Canvas

So I've decided that I'm not going to completely give up on my 25 Things to do This Summer challenge and I'm really going to try and complete the other five or six I have left to do. The two week Christmas holiday should be plenty of time to get this all done... hopefully!

Anyway, on to the present and I have finally finished this canvas painting. This is a final piece for my A-Level art project and is from an image I took in the town harbour as part of a study on water pattern. The study wasn't all that successful as it was a pretty still day but my teacher pretty much insisted that I do this as an oil painting. 

Then she brought down an A1 canvas...

Yes, this painting is huge and has taken me months to complete but I'm so glad that it's pretty much done now, a few lines could be neatened up here and there but otherwise this monster of a painting is finally done. I was worried at first because I've not used oil paints that much and this is the biggest painting I've ever done but I think I did okay. I'm not crazy about it, however I must admit it does look a lot better in the photo then it does in real life, but at this moment in time I'm just happy it's finished. Exhibition is months away so my opinion will hopefully change by then.

Tasmin x

Blogmas | Missing My Cats

Stress has been the theme of the day today. Filling out university application forms is a hard task and I have been frantically trying to finish my photography essay which is in for tomorrow with only an All Time Low playlist on in the background for company. It just kind of hit me that I have been feeling rather stressed and a little bit lonely lately. However, I think I may have found the route of my problem. I am without my cats.

When I was born, my Mum already had two cats; Candy and Cane (Cane is pictured above). They were the most friendliest cats I have ever met and, as my sister and I got older, they were more than up for cuddles on the sofa. However, they passed away many years ago now and I have just realised how much I really miss them.  I miss coming home from school to them meowing at me, demanding I feed them. Or watching the telly on a Sunday night with one of them snuggled on my lap, purring away. Even just stroking a cat that won't instantly run away or turn on me and attack me after five minutes has become a distant memory (the cats in my neighborhood are rather mean!).

Unfortunately, these two beauties aren't coming back and I'm going to have to move on. If only Guernsey had a cat cafe, I could hang out there and do my coursework whilst being surrounded by cats. The fact that that is my ideal way to spend an afternoon is probably why I label myself as a crazy cat lady...

Tasmin x

Blogmas | Forever Dreaming of a White Christmas

According to the big boss weather people (official term), a White Christmas occurs when at least one snow flake lands on the ground on Christmas day. Even if you follow their so-called "rules", I've never even been close to a White Christmas. Ever since I was a child, I've always wanted to peep out of the window on Christmas day to discover a white blanket of snow covering the garden. However, here in Guernsey it rarely snows. And even when it does, this tends to happen in February. Far from the ideal time. I guess my dream Christmas will forever remain a dream... Unless the climate takes a dramatic change. Could it do that? I'm not even sure.

Tasmin x

Blogmas | Christmas Wish List

Christmas Wish List by razmataz-girl featuring floral throw pillows

I can't get onto my laptop right now so I can't get an old Christmas photo for this post but I'm trying harder to get into the festive spirit by making a little Christmas wish list. Since its the weekend I wanted to try and make the post more interesting for you. I know browsing through clothes is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine so I hope you guys enjoy the slight post change. Here we go!

New Look Black dress 
I was just randomly scrolling through dresses when this one popped out of nowhere. I absolutely love the floral pattern and the lace detail on the back and it can easily be worn all year round.

Missguided short skirt
To be honest, I love the whole outfit but the skirt in particular is really cool. It's the perfect shape and I love the colour.

Next Black romper
I saw this playsuit in Jersey but I didn't have enough time to try it on so never brought it in the end. Totally regret it as it would be amazing for Christmas parties.

River Island black shorts
I think I may have an addiction to shorts. I just love them all. I like how this pair are hig-waisted and the cut would be really flattering on.

Soap & Glory Body cleanser
Huge love for this body wash. I haven't brought it I. Awhile and I'm really missing it. The sweet scent is just incredible and it always leaves my skin feeling really soft. It's a must-have!

Zoella Body moisturizer
I actually got this for my birthday over a month and I'm going through it like crazy. It's amazing and I need more.

Marks and Spencer Floral throw pillow
This is another item I found through scrolling which I instantly fell in love with. I've been wanting to get new cushion for my room so I can swap them around and mix and match for a while now and I think this could look really cute in my room.

Paperchase Notebooks
Some people get tones of notebooks that they never write in, I seem to have the opposite problem. I haven't brought a notebook in years but I've filled up all my old ones years ago with lists, sleepover ideas and terrible song lyrics I made up myself (safe to say I'm not going to be the next Taylor Swift). I am in desperate need if some new notebooks!

Amazon 10 Silver Star Battery Operated LED Fairy Lights By Lights4fun:...
The one thing I don't have in my room that I would really like is fairy lights. So when I found these really cute star ones I got really excited. I will find a way for them to work in my room.

Very.co.uk Fearne Cotton Cat Cushion
I am obsessed with Fearne Cotton's home and fashion collection for Very, I just wish I could have it all. However, I will behave myself and showcase just one of my favourites. This cushion has the most beautiful design. I love that Fearne is a crazy cat lady like me and I love the idea of the cat hiding behind the mask. I just love it.

Tasmin x

Blogmas: I Wish It Was Halloween Everyday?

Apparently I wasn't all that into the Christmas spirit here and decided to dress up in my Halloween costume to decorate the house, as you do. Nine year old Taz, you are a strange one!

Tasmin x