Spring: Five Favourite Instagram Accounts

I decided it was about time I got round to doing my next Instagram instalment, not that we can really call this Spring at the moment. It's more like Winter #2 out there, but the show must go on. As with everyone else, my Instagram feed is constantly filled with flowers, flowers and more flowers at this time of year. Not that I'm complaining, as I'm a sucker for seasonally-appropriate things. {Take my Autumn and Winter favs for example.} It's pretty impossible to walk down the road right now without finding something that would look great on your feed, so I bring to you the accounts that are nailing it for me!

1. @wishwishwish

For her recent hen do she went to Paris, and spent part of it at Disneyland Paris, how dreamy is that for a pre-wedding trip. 

2. @livpurvis

Olivia was an attendee of the fore-mentioned hen do to Disneyland Paris, so I was obviously going to follow her and I was not disappointed with her feed, that is full of gorgeous outfits, pretty places and heavenly food!

3. @jessicajoseph
The fact that the owner of this feed currently resides in Leeds makes me super happy as it means all the mouth-watering food posts are within driving distance. That and that we share a mutual love for Zara.

4. @poppydeyes
How refreshing do these photos look. The fact that there is always some variety of flowers in the picture makes me v. happy.

5.@elensham
Think architecture and Spring blooms. I want to go everywhere she goes, it all looks so beautiful!

Little Things #22

This week has reminded me of one thing, how terrible I am at painting my nails. Apparently buying new nail polishes doesn't automatically make you an A* nail painter, so I know what I'm going to be doing tonight. This last week{end especially} has been a busy one, and whilst it didn't start off the fresh-est, it ended pretty well with too much ice-cream and not enough vegetables, weekends are cheatends.

1. Because Mr. Sunshine treated us to his presence from rise-to-set I managed to get out on a few jogs this week by the river. 
2. The Queen turned 90 and being the royalist I am, I loved every minute. Especially all of the pictures of George, how adorable is he! 
3. To celebrate said 90th birthday we headed to one of the local parks and ate fish n chips on a bench, watched a beacon being lit and sang Happy Birthday to HRH. 
4. And as if I wasn't broody enough with all the pictures appearing of George, we had visit to the office from 4-day-old Cooper. He just slept in my arms and I could have quite happily taken him home with me. 
5. I discovered there is a Twitter account for when and where York smells like chocolate, and it made my day. 
6. I'm a little bit in love with my new shoes- paired with a stripy top and I feel like I should be on a catwalk. {with some jeans obvs!}
7. We saw The Jungle Book at the cinema this week and it was amazing, I could quite happily go again, but maybe without the three rows of school kids in front of us. 
8. Jay's mum and friend have been up this weekend so we spent our days shopping, walking and eating. 
9. And I finally replaced my broken converse with a sparkling new pair.

Now here's to hoping this week goes quickly so we can welcome in May with a lovely three day weekend! 

Things I Love About Spring

My flat is filled with tulips and daffodils, the sun stays up till gone 8pm and I'm starting to head out of the house without my coat. These things can only mean that Spring has finally sprung, (well technically it sprung nearly two months ago but the rain to sun ratio was very much so 5:1). If you hadn't guessed already, I love Spring and what comes with it. With blossom flowing in the wind and lambs bleating in the meadows I'm pretty content, as long as the sun is making an appearance that is. And just like any other season, I feel Spring brings a right of passage of things that have to be done over the months, so I've created a list as to what I think that list should include.

1. Dining Alfresco
If I was still living at home I would 100% be coming home from work  and heading straight outside to sit down with my book and dinner. Unfortunately, a garden is the one thing we're missing with our flat, but fear not, we've applied for an allotment and have a large amount of neighbouring parks nearby. 

2. New Clothes
It goes without saying that a new season means a new wardrobe. It's out with the dark colours and in with the light. Mine is currently filling up with pastel skirts and printed shirts, now isn't that a nice phrase. 

3. Baby Animals
I know I've touched on this before but driving past the lambs every morning just makes my day. I've also started jogging in the evenings again which means when I get to the river there is a stream of ducklings just bobbing along. It's the little things that make me happy!

4. Flowers and Greenery
When it gets to this time of year I always think that the grass is just calling out to be sat on. It's just so green and fresh, and that smell once it has been cut, heaven {unless you're a hay fever sufferer}! The streets and fields are all so colourful too with the fresh blooms which make for great Instagram photos. 

5. Days Out
Now that the sun is actually out there's no excuse for you stay in your pjs all day. My favourite thing is the longer days and we've even started doing things in the evenings after work, who would have thought it!

6. Spring Scents
I love sniffing out a new candle and when you're in a new season it gives you a reason to head out and restock your rooms and cupboards. 

There are another 101 things I could ramble on about such as the pastel nail varnishes I'm yet to paint my nails with or the addition of Spring homeware essentials but I don't want to send you to sleep, so I shall leave it short and sweet. Have a wonderful spring-filled weekend!

Little Things #21

My blogging game has been a shamble so far this month. I can only apologise for the cracking content you've been missing out on. I can't even blame it on the fact that I have a life as many of my evenings have been spent searching the internet for cushions, I'm halfway there. I do have the excuse that two evenings of my week are spent sitting in on a Social Media Course and I spend my weekends away from my laptop screen, so I suppose it counts, sort of. These weekends have given me all kinda kicks...

1. I managed to maintain my dignity at my first work social which included a team-building activity followed by an afternoon/evening/night of drinking. I felt god damn awful and suffered from a two-day hangover as fresh as a daisy for work on the Monday. 
2. My flat is filled with tulips and daffodils- I just can't get enough. 
3. I've consumed my body-weight in Dolly Mixtures this month
4. The Saccone-Joly's have announced they're expecting baby number three- I am beyond excited. 
5. We took advantage of the sun and headed down the park for a game of ping-pong. There were also lots of ducklings and I just wanted to take them home.
6. I'm a member of the work fun committee which pleases my inner-organisation-freak-self. 
7. My desk has been updated with a new folder and pen pots.
8. Kensington Palace have been documenting Wills and Kate's trip to India and I've loved it. 
9. Sunny days mean we find fun things to do such as hire a pedalo. 
10. Last Friday we went for a team outing for lunch at the local carvery and I left in a complete ice-cream coma.
11. The Durrells has turned into our new Sunday routine.

If I was to add today's events to this then they would include a complimentary bacon sandwich for this morning's quarterly company meeting, and a trip to see The Jungle Book tonight. As far as Tuesday's go, this one is pretty damn good.

Get to know Bethany Alice Webb

"What are we?" "A leading single-sex school admitting boarders at age 11." "Wrong! We're winners!" There are two reasons as to why I love this quote a) Wild Child is a great film, b) It pretty much sums up my life. Not that I'm a leading single-sex school, but that whenever I introduce myself to anyone I always seem to word-vomit the most boring parts of my life. Who wants to know that I'm a twenty-one year old, who went to university in Southampton and now lives in York? No-one. I should be shouting about the fact that I'm a proud owner of a Blue Peter badge, or that I used to play the cello. So really, this blog post is a reminder to me about self-facts that may be midly more interesting than my geolocation.

• I could eat coco-pops for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• In another life I hope to be above-average at science and fulfil my dream of working with giraffes/lions/bears/elephants, basically saving the planet.
• I can be prone to fainting when I'm in a hospital.
• I can't resist a good cushion, and we've almost run out of new places to put cushions which deeply saddens me.
• I make lists, about making lists.
• I don't like cheese- unless it's on pizza, or spaghetti bolognese.
• I have mild OCD- volume has got to be an even number, wardrobe is colour coordinated, that sort of thing.
• I can tap dance, not very well anymore, but nonetheless.
• I have been to Disneyland Paris five times #noshame
• No matter how many times I try, I will never be a neat baker. I just can't do it.
• I'm a Wagamamas virgin.
• Dolly mixtures are my new go to, I could eat them all day long.
• It doesn't take much to make me happy
• I get far too attached to shoes.
• I have too many pairs of shoes, but some would say you can never have enough.
• I'm an avid lover of pretty book covers- I will have the most Pinterest worthy bookcase one day
• There's no in-between with me. Let me give you an example. I will either eat all of the Easter Egg or none of it.
• My middle name is Alice after Alice in Wonderland.
• I adore musicals and tend to try and sing like I'm a West End star.
• I have very little patience when it comes to my hair. Which isn't great with how long it currently is as I just end up looking I've been dragged through a bush backwards.
• I will always be dreaming about what foreign country I'm jetting off to next.
• I hate bananas.
• I can be a big wuss and get scared easily.
• I have a history of purchasing great birthday presents.
• I will always choose stairs over a lift because I'm that kind of person- unless it's like eight storeys high, obvs.
• I have already planned that once we buy a house, we're getting a ginger Cockapoo and calling him Mowgli.
• Majority of my wardrobe is made up of shirts and stripes.
• I'm a sucker for rom-coms
• I'm also a super Harry Potter fan- I made Jay a Harry Potter monopoly for Christmas once. One of the player pieces was a dolls house porcelain snake.

I could probably keep going but I don't want to give away all my secrets or make you have to scroll any further. Lets just hope that the next time I'm introduced to someone I can refer to my bank of self-facts to make me seem like a slightly more exciting person.

P.S. This is also my 100th post so I've given myself a pat on the back. I'm pretty amazed I've stuck at it for this long without getting bored. To put things into perspective, my Sims never made it to retirement.

Diary of a Working Girl: A day outta the office

Tuesday 5th April was just one of those days. I had a day away from my desk to a day at another desk learning about email marketing with the other Beth of the office, otherwise known as B1- I'm B2 (Think Bananas in Pyjamas). Our main takeaway from the day was that we shouldn't be left to go out just the two of us, but it all makes great entertainment, and I couldn't not share our events from the day. 

6:05am- Alarm goes off. Snooze it for 10 minutes and end up getting up 10 minutes after that. Brush through tangles in my hair and jump in the shower. 

6:45am- Attempt one at putting in my contact lenses. Utter fail. Try again. Poke myself in my eye numerous times. Left eye is in, just the right to go. Poke myself in the eye some more. Drop it on a towel, finally it's in. 

7:48am- My lift pulls up. Jump in the car. Panic that I've forgotten my phone. It's okay, it's in my bag. The morning commute begins. Arrive at work approximately 8:21am. 

8:40am- Pick up Beth (B1) from the office along with the pool car. Start our journey to Leeds. Head to Tesco to fill up the car. Didn't check what side fuel cap was. Didn't check whether it's petrol or diesel. B1 makes an educated guess. B1 was right.

9:05am- Arrive at the multi-storey car park. Drive up to Level 5 before finding a space. Reverse into spot but neither of us can get out. Drive up to Level 7. Same happens again. Keep driving. Reach Level 13. Lots of free spaces. Successfully park the car. 

9:15am- Pay £6 at the pay and display machine. Position it on the dashboard when the wind pushes it down. Ticket is now half-stuck down between the dashboard and windscreen. Both attempt to stay calm. 

9:19am- Ticket is still stuck, this time we can only see the corner. We have 11 minutes till our course starts. Panic levels are rising. 

9:23am- Businessman pulls up next to us. Comes over to see what we're in a flap about. Heads back to his car to find something to help. Ends up sticking his gum to a paper door hanger in an attempt to retrieve the £6 ticket. 

9:25am- It fails. The ticket is gone. Thank the man and accept the fact we've got to pay for another. 

9:27am- Head back to the machine, buy another ticket and put it in the car. This time we place it on the other side of the dashboard and shut the door quickly. It worked, phew. Now we have 3 minutes to find the location of our course. Have to get to floor 5, we're on 13. We choose the stairs. B1 drops her phone. Nearly falls through the gap right to the bottom of the stairwell. It doesn't. Not even a scratch. Maybe our luck is changing. 

9:35am- Arrive a little late. Joke with the receptionist about our names both being Beth and the type of morning we'd had. Proceed to settle down at our desks after apologising for our lateness several times. Have to tell everyone who we are and what we do, sighs silently. Once finished the course can begin. 

10:30am- Tea break. So far, so good. Time to check work emails, nothing exciting. Head downstairs with B1 to get a cuppa. End up opting for a hot chocolate. What a good decision. Crack open the Galaxy Golden Eggs I brought along and reluctantly offer them round to the rest of the group. 

10:40am- Tea break over, back to learning. Make my own email campaign for Beth's BnB- what a cracking place to stay. 

11:00am- We start to code an email. Mind blown. What does half of this even mean. It's just mashed up letters and symbols. B1 nails it. I copy. Turns out we took a short-cut, so we kinda, technically cheated.

11:40am- Still coding. Something about a table. Not too sure. Starting to understand it slightly, maybe. Mumble about how I could never be a developer. Start rewarding me and B1 with Galaxy Eggs every time we do something right. 

12:30pm- We stop for lunch. Hallelujah. My brain is fried and all I can think about is this buffet lunch. Get to the buffet lunch, not living up to my expectations. Sandwiches- 5/10, crisps- 7/10, caramel shortbread- 10/10. It's the pudding that's raising its rating. Better have an orange to even it out. Head back upstairs with B1, too quiet downstairs. Check Facebook, nothing interesting going down. Repeat on other social networks. 

1:30pm- It all starts again. Get your concentration game on Beth. Constantly repeat how I don't know how our developers do this all day long. 

2:50pm- Nailed it. Now I can start making it look pretty with pastel colours and nice alignments. Oh. That didn't go to plan. Why has that moved? What are you doing over there?

3:30pm- "That was the last coding part to the day." Yes! *Air grab* Move onto email strategy. Now, this is more like it. 

4:45pm- Call it a day. I am shattered. My brain hurts. Time to go catch a train home. 

4:52pm- Say goodbye to B1 and start heading off in the opposite direction. After 30 seconds realise I infact needed to be going the same way. Turn round and get back on track. Get some funny looks for using my iPhone as a sat-nav. Find the train station and see there's a train in 4 minutes.

5:17pm- Jump on the train. Managed to score a seat. 23 minutes till York. 

5:40pm- Arrive in York. Jay's there with Dudley. Manage to squeeze through rush hour traffic and get home super quickly. Change into PJs and slump on the sofa for the rest of the evening until bedtime, feeling content that tomorrow is Wednesday, the week is flying by. 

If you want an optimum day to go on a course, Tuesdays are a pretty good pick. 

Little Things #20

We're five days in and I feel like April is fully living up to it's rainy nature- I'm over here trying to prep my spring wardrobe and move forward into the times of shoes that don't require socks. Alas, weather moaning aside. It's been a little while since I posted a life update, and in-between trying to come up with healthy ways I can eat/bake/cook my growing pile of chocolate I've managed to lead a relatively interesting life with some mildly interesting things that keep me content in my little world.

1. It's 47 days till we jet off to Barcelona so preparation has begun.

2. Part of this preparation includes ensuring I'm not as pale as a ghost when baring my legs, so I'm currently trialling Garnier's sun kissed skin moisturiser. {when I say trialling I mean trying it for a few more days as a rash coincidently appeared which is because of a) the product or b) my eczema} 

3. I discovered Malton has the best ice-cream parlour. 

4. Rumour has it we could see a Princess Diaries 3 in the foreseeable future.

5. I dressed up as a ballerina for Sports Relief and got everyone in the office to play chbby bunnies.

6. We popped into the city, and I ended up in Zara. I cannot walk in without walking out with a purchase so I now have this, this and the pictured top in my wardrobe. 

7. Easter = food, friends and family. The best kind of alliteration.

8. We visited a farm over the weekend and I made friends with some lambs.

9. Spike outgrew his pot, so we bought a pretty new pot, did some gardening and left Spike 1 resembling a pineapple.

10. I'm up to date on Once Upon a Time and the fact that Swan and Hook are getting it back on makes me super happs. 

11. I've regained my student status by enrolling on a Social Media Marketing course for the next 4 weeks.

12. Tonight has been reserved for the Daredevil final. We have sweets and everything. 

April Goals {2016}

The end of March means the beginning of April and the beginning of April means it's the month where I have eight birthdays to prepare for and I'm totally prepared, ish, not. I also now have a mountain of chocolate to get through which is totally contradicting my day time salads and evening work-outs, but the lighter evenings mean I have no excuse for starting up jogging again. So whilst I wallow in my disappearing bank balance and munch through half a chocolate egg, I will leave you with my ambitions for April. 

1. Finish all chocolate-related goodies and replace with healthy things.

2. Replace my hearbreakily-broken converse.
3. Attempt to not make an utter fool out of myself at my first work social.

4. Visit a farm and see some lambs.

5. Spring clean the flat- not entirely sure what that means yet.

6. Get Barcelona planning. 
7. Update my wardrobe with some Spring essentials.