Writing Wednesday ~ Christmas Edition: A Gift to Remember

This prompt comes from Secondary Solutions Blog. Merry Christmas everyone!

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It wasn't until I looked at the present that I realised what it really was.

Before me, the shredded wrapping, the card thrown aside, they all fell from view beside the box itself. The brown cardboard seemed far to ordinary to stun me into silence, but it was the paper haphazardly taped to the top that left my jaw agape.

His handwriting was the same chicken-scratch I remembered. Who'd have thought such a collected person would still have the penmanship of a 7 year old at 25. Just glancing at the first sentence brought tears to my eyes.

Melrose,

If this has gotten to you in time, then merry Christmas. If not, happy random day of the week.

That brought a laugh to my lips; he was always one to make the most mundane of days a joy.

I have been compiling this box since the 1st of January this year. In it, there is every item that brings to mind a milestone of ours this year. Whether it's the bracelet you broke on that ice skating date (I can still feel the bruises) or the birthday card that your pen exploded over (I swear, it's still wet from the sheer amount of ink that ended up on it), it's in this box.

I wish I could be there to see you open this box, truly I do. I'll be home soon, rosebud, but for now, enjoy the last year in our lives as it stands in this box.

 I love you, Caleb.

 Careful not to rip the beautiful note, I pried the cardboard lid open. Inside sat the mentioned bracelet, card, as well as several other mementos from the last year. The tickets from the film we'd seen on our anniversary sat tucked into the book I'd started crying over a couple of weeks later. Each item reminded me of something I'd experienced with him, just as he'd promised.
Getting towards the bottom of the box, the components were less frequently from shared experiences, more frequently becoming articles that reminded him of me; an old notebook that looked heavily leafed through, a copy of my favourite book with pages marked, a set of photos taken from a booth in our late teens.
Sat in the very bottom of the box, was a velveteen container. With a hiccup, shaking fingers cracked it open, revealing a golden ring with a diamond set into the shining casing. Tears couldn't help but drip from my eyes as I cradled the box in my hands, heart self-destructing in my ribs at the thought of him choosing this exact ring, of him, in his perfectionist tendencies, spending precious time picking the perfect ring to slide onto her finger.
Movement behind me brought my eyes away from the ring. "Why are you crying, rosebud?" his smile alone sent me leaping into his arms, tears drenching his shoulder in seconds. "I'm guessing you liked my present then, eh, Melrose?"
Within seconds, tear-stained cheeks met the stubble of his in a kiss that was two months overdue. "I'll take that as a yes," he whispered, pressing himself against me in a hug that I never wanted to be released from, the engagement ring still clutched in my fingers.
"Merry Christmas, rosebud."

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Some Christmas fluff to kick you into the spirit! Merry Christmas, happy Hannukah, enjoy Qwanza, whatever you celebrate, I hope it's a god season for you.

Merry Christmas, love Eve <3

Pen and Key Life ~ Christmas Traditions

Around Chistmastime, you see a load of posts on whatever social media you major in about 'how to decorate your room' or 'what gifts you should get who', but do you ever see people talking about their family traditions? Like, when you put your tree up, or what order you have your Christmas dinner in. I know there is a Christmas tag that you can do - like Maya did - but that doesn't really get to what you actually do in the month leading up to that day.

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Let's start with December 1st. Most people get generic advent calendars, maybe with One Direction or the Avengers on. As I can recall, I've never had one of those. For as long as I can remember  - which, I found out, was just after my first Christmas - I have had an advent village that consists of 22 houses, a church, a Christmas tree and little villagers. The village board itself is marked with the numbers 1 - 24, which are inside little boxes. With each day, you add another house to its place (my favourite house is number 9, the Post Office ;)) and take a sweet from one of those multi-pack bags you can get; this year, we found one that has sweets that I actually like (there's usually that odd chocolate that I don't like, but there isn't this year!).

In pride of place in the dining room

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Then, the tree. We usually try and get the tree up before my dad's birthday (this Wednesday, if you wanna know). We get it on a Sunday from a local seller who sells them in his own backyard, literally. On the same Sunday, we'll troop through my room a few times going up to the loft, and then coming back down with boxes of decorations in hand. Our Christmas tree is always quite mismatched. We have red and gold baubles that are as old as mum and dad's marriage, a bauble comemorating my first Christmas, Winnie the Pooh plushies, a really heavy Bob the Builder, a peacock. I think the only thing that actually coordinates are the lights that are always multi-coloured. But I love our hodge-podge tree! We'll have Christmas music playing  whilst we decorate, if we've found the CDs. I'll end up doing all the other things, like setting up the decorations in the dining room, as well as putting decorations on the tree. To top our tree, we have a golden angel, who usually has a light up her bum.

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Onto Christmas Eve. Mum finishes work around 1:30, and we used to get bacon butties from a van, but now there's a McDonald's across the road we'll get something from there. I'll spend the afternoon wrapping the presents for my family so they're ready for Christmas Day. Then we'll go to the Crib Service at my grandparent's church, with my entire maternal family in attendance. When we were younger, me and my cousins would have McDonald's instead of having a dinner with the rest of the family, then watch a DVD, but now we're older, we eat as a family (there's 12 or so of us). My cousins and I, once we get kicked off the table so the 'adults' can gossip, will stick a DVD or something on and usually start messing on with the balloons we get from church (they say 'Happy Birthday Jesus). We'll stay there until 10 o'clock or something, get handed our presents from the cousins on our way out the door, and go home. At home, the prep for Christmas dinner begins. I'm not part of the prep stage, so I'll just get ready for bed. Then, I'll set out the drink and food for Santa and carrot for Rudolph (my parents take turns, the dog probably gets the carrot, now I think about it). We then chuck some reindeer food around the garden - for those not in the know, reindeer food is basically oats mixed with glitter that you sprinkle outside your house, so the glitter and oats attract the reindeer to your house.

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On Christmas Day, I'm the first to wake up, always. I have to wait for my mum to be presentable (shower, put makeup on, turn the oven on, make a cup of tea, and return) before I go into mum and dad's room to open stockings. After the stockings, we go downstairs to open the rest of the presents. We each get a different section of the living room to our presents. It's bacon sandwiches for breakfast on Christmas, whilst we tidy all the presents into piles. The grandparents usually visit  with presents, and basically it's presents, and family for the rest of the day.

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Christmas dinner is like a military operation. We have starters, either patè, prawn cocktail or orange juice for my sister who doesn't do either of those. Then Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, and I mean all the trimmings; I seriously don't know how we fit it all onto the table. Every year, we try and set our Christmas pudding on fire and actually getting a good picture of it, but we don't usually manage. I myself don't like Christmas pudding, so I always have vienetta instead. 'Table presents' are then handed out by my mum. I don't know exactly what defines them as table presents, but I just like doing it. We end up sitting in the living room for ages messing on with presents whilst my dad falls asleep somewhere! I watch the Doctor Who Christmas episode on my laptop, then go to sleep.

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Boxing Day, my family usually throws a house party in our house, so we have to put y parent's presents upstairs and prep everything for the buffet. Family come around throughout the day, and it's just a nice time with family and everything.

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That's my Christmas traditions for you! Merry Christmas everyone :)

Eve <3

Clothes Show Live 2014 ~ Haul and Swatches

So on Tuesday, I travelled down to Birmingham (5 hour drive) to attend the last day of the Clothes Show Live. This post is going to be a haul of what I got with swatches of some of the products!

BAGS!!!

Although Maya managed to get all she had been excited for in the first ten minutes, it took until we saw that the Rimmel London stand had reduced their goodie bags from £10 to £5. They'd sold out of the Kate bag, so I went with the Rita bag, simply because it had two nail polishes in it!

Fix & Perfect Primer, Sweetie Crush Polish in Violet Swizzle, Exaggerate Waterproof Eye Definer in Starlit Black, Rita Ora 60 Seconds Polish in Midnight Rendezvous, Lasting Finish Colour Rush Balm in Give me a Cuddle, Extra 3D Lash Mascara in Extreme Black, Sample Matte BB Cream in Light

Exaggerate Waterproof Eye Definer (unsmudged and smudged) & Lasting Finish Colour Rush Balm

Sweetie Crush Polish in Violet Swizzle

Rita Ora 60 Seconds Polish in Midnight Rendezvous (flash makes it seem bluer than it is, but my room is dark, so I need the flash)

My next hit was at the Model's Own stand where they were running a deal where you could pick out 5 nail polishes of your choice and then get a bag of other cosmetics and a magazine (not pictured) all for £10. One Model's Own polish retails for £5 alone, so it's an incredibly good deal.I actually picked two polishes each for my two sisters for Christmas and the last for myself, so I managed to get in a bit of Christmas shopping whilst I was at it. :)

Goodie Bag includes 2 eyeliners, a lip gloss, a lip balm, a due eyeshadow, a 4 way buffer, a black nail art pen, eyelash curlers, 4 sponge applicators and 2 cosmetic sponges

Hed Kandi in Disco Heaven, Sophie's Pink, Beetlejuice in Pinky Brown, Disco Pants in Paradise Garage, Hydra Gel in Blue Glint

Goodie Bag includes 2 eyeliners, a lip gloss, a lip balm, a due eyeshadow, a 4 way buffer, a black nail art pen, eyelash curlers, 4 sponge applicators and 2 cosmetic sponges

Lip gloss and the two eyeliners

Duo eyeshadow

Next up after the fashion show we watched (amazing dances and music (Elyar Fox sang at the start), though the fashions were a bit weird) I decided to finally cave and get the Barry M goodie bag, which we'd been avoiding all day, because we were hoping it would reduce in price, but with only half an hour left to shop, me and Olivia went to buy it at £10, a great deal once again.

Goodie Bag includes magnetic polish, textured polish, crackle polish, glitter polish, 2 polishes, Dazzle Dust, Fine Glitter Dust, Metallic Liquid Eyeliner, Lip Lacquer Crayon, Lip Gloss, Eye Crayon

Magnetic Nail Paint in Magnetic Violet, Instant Nail Effect in Black, Glitter Nail Paint in Gold Glitter, Nail Paint in Dusky Mauve, Textured Nail Effect in Atlantic Road, Nail Paint in Racing Green

To find swatches, go here (I was having trouble with blogger, so I gave up!)

Dazzle Dust #96 Gold, Fine Glitter Dust #22 Black Gold, Loud Mouth Lip Colour in Tell-Tale, Matte Eye Crayon #8, Lip Lacquer Crayon #4, Metallic Liquid Eyeliner #6

The eyeliners, lip lacquer, lip gloss and dusts

So there we have it! I also bought a present for my sister, but I won't be posting a picture of that, as she has the link to this blog, and I don't want to spoil it!

I'm sorry there was no Writing Wednesday this week, as you can probably tell, this post took a while with swatching and picture taking and finding the names of the products. We'll be back to normal next week!

~ Eve

NaNoWriMo Failure ~ Blame it on the Procrastination

I'm far too much of a failure, I'm sorry to the very successful NaNoWriMo community. This is the story of my complete and utter failure to NaNo.

So, a couple of days towards the end of October, I saw Elizabeth posting a load about NaNoWriMo prep, and I thought, 'yaknow what? I'm gonna do it this year'. And I was ready!
I already had an idea, Advocates of the Moon, and even a perfect opportunity to be productive.

And that, my friends, was my downfall

You see, I was to be on holiday for the first 10 days of November, which got me thinking that I'd be able to sit and write instead of sitting and reading my holiday away.

Of course, it worked nothing like that

Whilst on holiday, I wrote one sentence of Advocates of the Moon, whereas I managed to read a full 24 books. Well done, Eve!

Of course, I hadn't done anything all holiday, so I thought, maybe I'd end up writing a bit once I was home.

I need to stop making excuses

I am a procrastinator, well and truly. I accept that, and surely in acceptance, I can begin to move past it, but I think I've just gotten lazier. I spend far too much time on youtube, g+, and just anything to keep me away from homework. It's not a rare sight anymore to see Eve the Swot doing homework on a lunchtime due in for the next lesson. It's not a rare sight to see me cursing myself because I completely forgot we had a piece of homework due.

So, perhaps my New Year's Resolution 2015 should be to reduce my procrastination obsession.

Or maybe I should delete my internet accounts to cut out the middle man.

Yeah, no! Then I wouldn't be able to blog about my failures!

Anyway, congrats to the people who actually achieved something this NaNoWriMo, and I'm sorry for letting you down! Maybe next year! Later x

Writing Wednesday #2 ~ Treat

So this may sound a bit garbled, a bit rushed, and it probably is. I'm currently sat in a pub writing this intro. It got to Monday night that I realised, s**t, Writing Wednesday in a couple of days! So yeah, I'm not the best at organisation, as can be seen in my school planner, which has been pretty much empty since I returned from my holiday a week into this half term.
So, yeah, I had no ideas for Treat. It's such a vague prompt that could lead to so many different possibilities (kind of the point, I know); so my brain kind of shut down at the idea of all those variables.
Don't expect this to be good, I'll try and get on track for next week!

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"So, where're we going?" She asked, her pace quickening just to keep up with his gate.
"I told you," he sighed, rolling his eyes in exasperation. "It's a surprise!" He tried to put as much enthusiasm as he could into the word, but after having to repeat the phrase for what must be the tenth time, the enthusiasm was waning some.
"And I told you," she argued with a petulant lip that would put the best of 'selfie pouts' to shame. "I hate surprises!"
"You'll like this one," he whispered, eyes scouring the horizon ahead before turning with a reassuring smile plastered onto his face. "I promise. It's a treat, for getting through your A Levels."
"You don't even know the results yet, I could've done crap for all you know!" She retaliated, yet still keeping her pace with the lanky boy she was following.
She couldn't put her finger on it, observing his back as he stormed ahead; he was just ... off. Whether it was his quickened pace or the nervous way he was looking ahead of them, as if waiting for something to appear, she couldn't tell exactly which of his ticks was setting her more on edge.
She pulled up short when he turned to her, with what to him may have felt like a reassuring smile, but honestly gave her more reason to worry. "Nearly there," he exclaimed, voice sounding strained. "What's that face for, Luce? I promise it's a nice surprise!"
As much as Lucy would have loved to believe her boyfriend, the tone of his voice was nowhere near as convincing as he intended.
Lucy was wondering where exactly 'nearly there' was - they must have been walking for half an hour, at least - when they finally crested the hill they had been ascending. Apart from the car at the other die of the green, she couldn't see what this 'treat' of his was.
She finally saw it, however, when the driver's door of the parked defender swung open. Out stepped a man, his strides confident, eyes hidden behind large sunglasses, which he proceeded to remove, revealing eyes that were as terrifying as they were hypnotic. The blue depths held an eery quality, a malicious glint of triumph. "It's been a long time, little sis," he breathed with a leering smile.
Instead of focussing on he man before her, the man she had been old she wouldn't have to worry about seeing again, she rounded on the one behind her, the traitor.
"You tricked me!" she yelled, voice filling the green, the hurt of the betrayal painfully evident.
"He made me, I swear, I wouldn't have done this on purpose!" He had been perfect, a boyfriend she knew she could fall back on; yet now, he'd let her keep falling.
"Think of it as an accelerated reunion. Change your name and move away as often as you like, Melody, but I will always be able to find you, and you know it."
A shudder ran its course over her spine, taking her mind away from her brother, his confident stride bringing him all the more closer to her. Even as she tried to step back, to run back to her boyfriend - traitor or no, he'd at least try to protect her, or so she hoped - but, too late. James' hand curled malevolently around her upper arm, the vice-like grip holding firm.
"Trick or treat, Melody," he whispered into her ear, the triumph in his eyes a permanent reminder of how royally screwed she was.

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At 11:49 pm, this still counts as a Writing Wednesday, no matter how rushed/undeveloped it is! I'm so sorry, this twist is about as inventive as a slug, but I couldn't think of anything else, please don't kill me! Then I won't have a chance to redeem myself this time next week!

Until next time, Eve