28/52

1. After such a nice weekend celebrating dads birthday I jumped straight back into work. Monday isn't the nicest of days during a working week but the weather was nice, not too cold and there were plenty of jobs to be done. Best things to do to forget the feeling of monday morning is to be kept busy!

2. Driving home for work on tuesday, a little bit later than normal and with a clear night, we got the see the moon like I've never seen it before. It was so low to the horizon that it looked massive and it was a bright golden colour, really quite a sight!

3. When we got home I decided to go out and see if I could get any pictures of the moon, but of course it had moved by the time I got home and grabbed my camera, but it was still worth the try!

4.It's been a while since we've had good enough lighting to take any pictures of my blog but it always seems to arrive just in time plus it helps to have that extra bit of vitamin D this time of year.

5. After this week it's been nice to get back on my feet with blogging and socialising, not to meant ion tidying up my room - I'm ashamed to say it looked like a tornado had passed through.

6. IT SNOWED! only a dusting of snow but none-the-less there was snow outside my window! (First time I've seen snow whilst living in Scotland)

7. The weather on friday was absolutely hideous! I had to catch the train in the morning and from running from the car to the shelter on the platform I got soaked. Something that did make me chuckle though was seeing a giant mass of people filling the sheltered bit, I never thought so many people could fit!

8. Catching up on the weekly happening online was really good on saturday - by the time I get home from work the kids in the area are all online too, so it's virtually impossible to watch anything!

9. Having the house to myself on Saturday and a bit of Sunday was enough to get me back on track and feeling better after a long week at work.

10. Sunday Roast. I feel like this is happening every week but I can't help myself it just soo good!

Happy Weekend!

Charlie xo   

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WoodWick | Soft Chambray

Woodwick candles are very new to me, this is Soft Chambray, I'd describe it as a fresh smelling candle, it instantly fills my room with the smell that reminds me of freshly washed sheets and clean laundry.

Woodwick's website describes Soft Chambray as a relaxing and clean fragrance with subtle kisses of jasmine and rose. I feel like I can completely agree with their description and I absolutely love the scent of Soft Chambray. It quickly fills the room with the clean fresh smell and the soft crackling of the organic wick, which is made out of wood, which I find really soothing and relaxing. Providing a calm and warming environment. I just wish I could package the scent and let you smell it right through your own screen I love it so much!

I haven't used the candle enough to make to much of a dent in it right now, but the website claims that they medium sized candles can burn and release the fragrence for up to 100 hours!
Have you tried any other wood wick candles? If you have any recommendation I loved to here them.

Charlie xo

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27/52

1.  Considering monday was considered 'blue monday', the most depressing day of January I was happy to be going back to work. It might be because payday in creeping closer and closer, I don't know but monday wasn't as bad as I thought a blue monday could be.

2. I got my hair cut on tuesday and to be honest, I didn't have anything prepare, I'll usually spend time on looking for a cut I like and maybe have a few pictures to spare to demonstrate what it is I'm thinking to the hairdresser but tuesday I through it all up in the air and just went with it. Turned out alright, I didn't go too crazy but its nice to have a fresh cut!

3. We started watch the TV series Merlin again (I brought it for my dad's birthday present a year ago) and I forgot how much I loved the series!

4.  Wednesday was another day off, so I got back into the workout plan and it's surprising how much better you feel after.

5. Again I just want to say thank you to the new followers on Bloglovin this week! I've been thinking back to this time last year and how far this little blog has come, I am very grateful for you all, and I hope I can improve the blog even more as the time goes on!

6. (typically british comment here) The weather has been so much better this week, it's been so mild and lovely that I'm not stood at work shivering until close, so I'm thankful that its been warmer, but I hope everyone in America is alright with the recent bad weather they have been having.

7. It's been a long five weeks since I was last paid,  so thank god it's pay day!

8. We went on a road trip on saturday, it's always a fun day when you go to new places!

9. Its my dads birthday this week and it's really nice to actually be home for it and get to spend the time with him, over the last three years I've been at uni so a quick Skype was all we could do so its nice to finally be there on his birthday.

10. Continuing the birthday celebrations, we've decided to treat dad to a TGIF's, always a win!

Charlie xo   

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Resolution Update | Work On Me #1

At the beginning of the year I posted my New Year goals / resolutions. One of them was to 'work on me' more, by this I meant putting myself first and really have a go at changing what it is about me that I don't like, for example my weight. January is defiantly the Monday of all months, everything calms down, things go back to normal and all the excitement about christmas is gone. Not even to mention the weather, but come on, January is not the best time of year.

To finally make a difference in myself this year I have decided to make these posts to give an update, monthly on how I am doing with this resolution, because lets be honest, I struggle to find motivation at the best of times, but if I am making a post about it I have to keep to my word. So to set a time for these posts I have chosen to do an update on the second to last wednesday of each month. I really do hope that I can stick to this, it's something that has bothered me for far too long and I feel that if I reach my goal I will be a lot happier and more confident in myself, and if that's not a good enough reason to do this what is?

So on with the update...

Lets start with the negatives - We live in the middle of no where. There isn't foot paths, the roads are national speed limit and I'm not comfortable with walking on them. We also do not live near a gym, even if I did, the cost of them is something I can't justify right now.

However to overcome these problems I've got a few plans up my sleeves - We have a treadmill in the garage, last time I tried to tone up and loose weight the tread mill actually showed me some good results so I want to start using it again! At the start of January I went into good 'ld TK Max and brought myself an exercise ball, I love the fact TK Max have exercise gear! One of my biggest problems is my back, physiotherapy helps but not as much as I would like, I think my biggest problem is that it just isn't strong enough, hence where the exercise ball comes into play. Another thing I have decided is that I need structure, guidance and I am all up for learning, so after watching Vivannadoesmakeup's video I brought one of the books she recommended The Women's Health Big Book of Exercises which you can buy from Amazon here, it arrived in great time!

After having a quick look through it, it looks pretty impressive. The amount of different workouts for different parts of the body are great for somebody like me who hasn't really got an idea of what I should be doing and what it is I'm working on when I'm trying something. The Pictures are clear, there are helpful posture tidbits and I find it a lot easier to look in a book and have it in front of me easy to see everything than having my laptop and scrolling to the next stage. I am really liking this book at the moment and I can defiantly see myself using this more often than not.

Since last summer I have been using my Fitbit on and off. It's easy enough to use and as long as you get into the habit of taking it out the door with you, you can really get some results. It calms to make you more motivated to reach the goal of 10,000 steps before the end of the day. 10,000 doesn't sound like a lot but trust me on some days it can be very difficult to reach that number. I'm trying to track my steps and write down any exercises I do to keep myself active on those days off. If you are interested in Fitbit I do recommend it, I like the Fitbit One as it is discreet and I don't have to worry about it throughout the day, unlike the wrist watch styles which I know I would be fiddling with throughout my day.

So far so good, I've had a few slip ups but I plan on really trying my best next month and be strict with myself. Hopefully I'll be this up happy in the next update!

Have you made a resolution around health and fitness? If you have how are you doing? Things like this are easier when you have somebody else to help motivate you through the times when you are unmotivated!

Charlie xo

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26/52

1. A busy monday meant that the slowest day of the week flew by! And with good company it makes the start of the week a good one.

2.  During the week I joined one of the Life bloggers and Beauty Bloggers chats on twitter - I have only really just learnt and joined in on twitter chats, I didn't use the social media platform too much before meeting blogger Eilidh from Velvet Winter, who by the way you should check out if you haven't already, recommended I have a look at it. If there's one thing I would recommend to new bloggers it would be to join a #blogger chat on twitter, you can meet so many people with similar interests and help you find some really amazing blogs!

3. I having be focusing on my blog a lot more since finishing university - I'm really enjoying it and love to see it grow, so I would like to say thank you to everyday who has recently started following Lotties Thoughts, and interacting, it really does make my day so for that I would like to say thank you!

4. Its been weeks and week since we have had a clear sky at night -  I forgot what the star filled sky looks like, so it was beautiful to see again during the week! It really is breath taking.

5. I managed to catch a beautiful sunrise in the week, the sun started to peek out from behind the trees and I can not describe the beams of light it left in the front room, not to mention I was so in awe I didn't find my camera battery in time to catch the rays of light but I did get a contrasting picture of the sun behind the trees.

6.  Being at work at the end of the week got a bit tough. And by that I mean the weather made it a lot harder. It was so cold that customer were zipping the coats back up, gloves back on and I just want to add here that our shop is inside a shopping centre, however we are directly opposite the main doors (electric ones which one when somebody walks to close to them, letting in all the cold air and breeze!) Thankfully tiny hand heaters have saved us from turning into shivering ice women, wondering around the tiny shop trying to keep active and get some heat into us! So a HUGE thank you to whoever invented those beautiful things!

7. Working a saturday isn't my favourite, but if you've got good company you can't really complain!

8.Waking up on Sunday morning to see a few new followers and my first actually SAVED post made my entire day! I am so thankful for everybody who has taken time out of their day to read something I've written or even just to look at a picture or two, I am so thankful for all of you, we have almost doubled in size from where we were this time last year! I am very excited and fully enjoying this little space online and I hope you are too, long may it continue!

9.  Always a nice surprise when something you order online arrives before planned! I really love getting packages!

10. Apparently we are having Sunday Roast again today ... I think a bigger workout will be require this week!

My Eyeshadow Palettes

I have always loved eyeshadows, they were the first thing I played around with when makeup was first introduced to me so many years ago. Since then my love for it has grown, especially when I went into a MAC store, (thanks Daisy for that) the colours, the texture and the shimmer, what can I say, what not to love?!

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 #1

URBAN DECAY NAKED ONE PALETTE

I use the Naked One palette pretty much every day. Granted I only really use one or two colours in the palette on a day to day basis, but for the more adventurous colours in the palette I am waiting for the chance to use, there are some colours which are too glittery for everyday so I'm holding off till the suitable time.

NAKED - Is for me the perfect base colour -  it is warm sandy colour and sits well on the lid - I don't suffer with any fall out and I find I can put any colour I want to with it. This is my go too colour for my most used eye look.

BUCK - works so perfectly with Naked. It is the best transition shade, I also use this shadow for the crease, just to add a bit of definition. Again this colour goes well with most colours and I love to create a warm light brown smoky eye, absolutely suitable for everyday!

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#2

MAC 15 REFIL PAN EYESHADOW PALETTE

Although I've spend  a lot of time and effort in creating my MAC eyeshadow palette I tend to use this after I use my Naked One palette for a base. I love the texture of the shadows by MAC and the colours they have are just mesmerising.

QUARRY - My most used shadow from MAC, I am still loving this shadow to fill in my brows- its a cool tone colour and I can't see anything else I would love so much to fill in my brows!

WOODWINKED - One of the first shadows I had my eyes on, right at the very beginning of my MAC addiction. Probably my second most used shadow, I loved this during the summer and autumn months. The colour builds easily, I have had some fall out before with this shadow, it defiantly depends how much you try and pack on the brush in one go.

SHROOM - A new addiction to my collection - I being doing so much research into which shadow would be suit me for highlighting my brow bone and the inner corners of my eyes. After going back and forward to many times to count I finally decided on Shroom. I am glad I took the time to look into it, the glitter is just enough for me, its not too pale and I feel it gives just enough highlight for my liking. 

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#3

TOO FACED CHOCOLATE PALETTE

This palette is fairly new to my slowly growing collection. It looks cute, it smells beautiful (slightly like chocolate) and the texture of the shadows are so creamy. I haven't played around with this palette as much I'd like too yet but I am happy I made the purchase. Plus there are a few colours that are right out of my comfort zone, but hey it's ok to step out of that zone every now and then - plus that's one of my New Year goals!

MARZIPAN - I hate the stuff normally, however the colour and texture in this palette well, I guess that it's not all that bad. I just won't eat it... Its a beautiful champagne colour with just the right amount of bubbles *I mean sparkle!

CRÈME BRULEE - A really warm autumn golden colour, again just the right amount of sparkle!

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#4

REVOLUTION ICONIC THREE PALETTE

This is my least used palette, which to be honest with you is a shame. It is by far the cheapest of all four and is great value for money in my opinion. I decided to go for the Iconic Three palette as it is meant to be a good dupe for the Naked Three palette, which I didn't want to folk out the money for. In my opinion pink hues are a difficult colour to pull off on the eyes - it can quite easily look like you've got some kind of infection... But with a light hand and a good eye for colour a lot of people can pull this off. I'm not quite one of those talented people, yet but I do dip my toes into the pink shades every now and then. If you are braver than me and love delicate pink and gold colours on your eye I highly recommend the Revolution Iconic Three palette, it has beautiful colours, great texture and for the price, well how could you not?!

Do you have any palettes that I don't? Any to recommend? I'm all ears!

Charlie xo

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25/52

I know Christmas was two weeks ago now but I'm having christmas withdrawals, so please don't mind the photo! Anyway half way through this series here on Lottie's Thoughts and I can not wrap my head around how fast this series is going! It started out as something to remind me about all the good things that have happened week to week or even the small things that just made me smile and that I am thankful for. I feel perhaps I lost this sense for a bit, but half way through and I am reminded of the reasons I started this -

1. I got the house to myself on monday - I started to pick up the pieces of my blog that had been put to the way side over the christmas holidays. I lost my motivation for a while there, however having space to myself on monday I found a bit of motivation to kick start this blog again, hopefully it will continue for a long time to come.

2. Back to work on tuesday - ok I was the same as everybody else,  not wanting to get out of bed, but the day is going to happen whether I want it too or not. It was nice to see people at work again, having catch ups I mean I haven't see the since last year!!

3. I managed to do some finishing touches to a blog post for next week - I'm actually excited to have it go live, I feel quite proud of it and I've realised thats how I should feel when posting each and every post, otherwise why am I posting it?

4. Moving on with life and leaving uni, finding a jobs or just trying to get on with life, keeping in touch with friends can be very difficult. Time can slip away so quickly and things tend to distract us, so thank goodness for Skype! It's not the same as grabbing a drink or going out for food but the hours defiantly fly by when your catching up on Skype.

5. Although the weather has been so dull and grey, everybody seems to be in a good mood. The Sale madness has died down and people are relaxed shopping. You might find some amazing deals in the sales but its not worth being rude to sales staff.

6. I havent seen one of my best friends since 2014 I believe, so we have planned to take a trip to Glasgow in February and catch up! Since finishing uni she's moved to another city and got a fantastic job and I'm back up in Scotland so we don't get to go for a coffee catch up! However we got the hotel booked this week so I'm so excited that it finally feels like we are going to have a good long catch up which is well and truly over due!

7. The commute to work on friday morning had a few surprises. Although it was lightly spitting at home, during the night it had snowed and there was a good inch of snow on the fields. I haven't seen snow in Scotland since moving up here so it was nice to see some final!

8. Saturday morning, house to my self, a lighthearted film and all the time in the world to work on my blog. Thats what saturday mornings are for.

9. This week has generally been quite relaxed, so it's been a really calm week and after christmas and everything it's been nice to slow down the pace.

10. The best way to end the week, especially when the weather is like it is, is to have a Sunday Roast, so that what we are going to do.

I hope you are having a lovely week, and may the next one be even better!

Charlie xo

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Twenty-Sixteen

Over the Christmas period I have had the time to think about the things about myself I want to change over this next year. You can change what ever you want at any point of the year, at the end of the day you are doing it for you. The new year is giving me the motivation to change several things that I have been sitting on over the last year. So here are four of my targets and resolutions for 2016. 

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FIND MY OWN STYLE WITH MY PHOTOGRAPHS.

I love photography, I admit my favourites are landscapes and hues of colour. I feel that at the moment my images are lacklustre and I am without a style for my blog photographs. I see so many amazingly talented people with beautiful pictures and I feel that my images don't have the look I am after. There might be a lot of experiemently images coming up on the blog this year but fingers crossed I will finally find a style that suits me and my work.

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BE MORE ORGANISED.

Theres nothing that feels as good as being organised. I love to write notes and check lists but unless you actually physically do something about it, organisation goes right out of the window.
If I spend a day doing nothing, at the end of the day I look back and feel like I've wasted it. I think if I write a list of things to do, whether it's day to day or week to week, If I have something written down I can find something on the list to do on a day that might otherwise be wasted. I really want to improve my blog and improve my content - and I believe organisation is the way to do this!

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COME OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE.

My anxiety has taken a back seat since coming home, and I know why. My 'comfort blanket' as it were is my dad. He can make me feel right at ease and safe. I know this is a state of mind more than anything, but I don't want to be restricted to where I feel safe. I want to travel around and meet new people and go new places, but I can not enjoy myself even in a safe environment with people I know. I'm not sure how to over come this problem but through out the year I don't plan on it holding me back. I need to learn to put my trust in others, quicker and without worry. Its a mental thing but I am determined not to let it control me life so much this year! I know where the comfort zone is, and I want to explore whats around it instead of staying inside that little, controlled box.

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WORK ON ME.

After finishing uni and moving home, finding a job which is now part time, I have decided to look at myself and think about all the things I want to change about myself. I have had a body image issue for several years, nothing to extreme but something I really do not want to keep. I really want to focus on my body image and weight. Whilst at uni my weight fluctuated, especially during the last few stressful months in my final year.  I'd spent almost three years not gaining or loosing weight, but the stress and timetables I set for myself really messed up my eating habits and resulted in weight gain. This year I am setting myself a target, whether I do it before the end of the year or not I am going to try and shred some excess weight. I understand its not the most important thing to focus on, but I know that for me, to finally feel confident in myself and my size, It will change so many things about me, even the way I try to hide myself. Confidence starts from inside yourself, do it for you!


I've made resolutions in the past, admittedly too many to handle, so I've decided on theses four plans, things that I've had on my mind over the Christmas period and even before. Do you have any new year resolutions? What are you planning on this year?

Happy New Year 

Charlie xo

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24/52

Image

1. Of course working in retail means the christmas break isn't enjoyed for very long but thankfully I didn't have to work on boxing day just the day after boxing day. And every shop workers dream is for the day to pass quickly, which I am thankful that it did!

2. I always felt that the week between christmas and new year was super long and it always felt, at least to me it felt like it was over a week long. This week however, I haven't worked as much as I used too. The length of time between christmas and new year felt shorter and time just flew by!

3. So thankful that Costa is open before I have to start work, to sit down and have a hot drink whilst waiting to start work is my appreciated. Although I am a little bit concerned that the staff seem to know what I want to order... maybe I should take a break... or maybe not

4. The weather has been so mild the last couple of weeks, but there has been a few mornings where there has been snow on the hills, always adds a little smile to my face in the morning!

5. Up until late october last year, I had had the same glasses for five years. Apparently you are meant to have your eyes checked for change every two years. Well with uni and moving I haven't had chance to find an optician and get an appointment. So I got my new glasses at the end of last year but my mum had only ordered some just before christmas. On wednesday however we received a message to say her glasses have arrived in store! Great timing and she is ecstatic about her new glasses which is just so nice to see!

6. New Years Day! I can not believe how fast the year has gone! Its beyond crazy! I'm not quite the 'new year, new me' type of person, but I for some reason felt very enthusiastic about having a clean out. So a productive day cleaning and sorting out my room went pretty well, I guess it's out with the old and then there is space for anything new.

7. I didn't finish going through my room and getting rid of things on friday so I am continuing today, saturday, time to tackle the wardrobe!

8.It feels good to have a clean, tidy and sorted room to wake up to. I've thrown out things that are just way too old and worn out, and there is a pile of items, clothes, bags, belts and scarves to go to charity. I do get really attached to things so I often cling onto things, thinking 'I might wear that again' or something along those lines but clearing out really has made me feel better, I'd strongly recommend a good clear out to start of your year! (It'll give you more room for the things you brought in the sales too!)

9. We went out on sunday, just to get some fresh air really. The weather has been awful, and being inside on a dull grey day doesn't do anything for your mood. So we went out and I managed to get into a TK Max which I've been wanting to do since before Christmas. I've been looking for an exercise ball. With all the trouble my back gave me last year, I am looking to do something so I don't have to struggle so much this year!

10. With bank holiday monday tomorrow, we have decided to sit down and watch some TV, something we didn't do over christmas. (They weren't showing as much christmassy films on TV this year, not sure why but it left me feeling very behind, if our internet were better we'd consider getting Netflix but it's just not an option right now) Any way New Endeavour was on so I guess we'll get back into a good series to start the year.

I hope you have had a lovely holiday season and a brilliant New Year! 

Wishing you all the very best for 2016!

Charlie xo
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