Hannah Aija

I've been sitting on my sofa for the past 30 minutes trying to think of a way to start this blog post, I feel like I've lost my blogging game as I haven't sat down to write a post in such a long time! Anyway, to cut a long story short...WE GOT A PUPPY!

It feels so surreal writing this as we've wanted to get a puppy for so long but, argh, it's so exciting! We had been talking about getting a puppy for about a year or so, but as we didn't live together at the time it wasn't exactly realistic. We had been doing so much research into what breed to get that would fit our lifestyle, at first it was a Chihuahua (which we wanted to call Simba, lol), then it went to a French Bulldog which is a breed I had been in love with for years! Then we looked into short haired Brussels Griffon's, then we finally decided on a French Bulldog as we completely fell for the personality of the breed after spending hours online doing our research. In June we finally moved in together so it was at this point when we were like "yeah, okay, we have our own place, but something is missing." In August we plucked up the courage and asked our landlord if we could have a small dog in the flat, luckily our landlord is very nice and agreed to let us have one. We're quite lucky really as our flat block is small and has a communal garden, we would never have got a dog if we lived in a multi-storey flat 100 floors up!

So on we went with our search for the perfect puppy. We looked at breeders nearby but we didn't find a puppy that we felt was 'the one', so we widened our search which lead us to Wales! We found an advert for this small litter of Frenchies near Cardiff and they had a little sable boy which we completely fell for as soon as we saw his picture. We made an appointment to view him and I can't even explain how excited we were! We drove over 2 hours to see this little pup and I'm so glad we did, as soon as the breeder brought him into the room, we knew he was the one for us. He just sat in my lap, licking my arm to death. We didn't need to look any further, we had found our perfect dog and we already had a name picked out...Ernie.

Ernie's first day home! (I look a mess!!)

We picked him up a week after and it's safe to say our lives changed forever as soon as we got him home. We had his crate and pen set up with his bed and toys all in it waiting for him. At first he was a little quiet as he scoped out the place, then he soon made himself at home!

We've had Ernie for just under 3 weeks now and it feels like we've had him forever! There's definitely times when we're so exhausted after running around after him that we think, "what have we got ourselves into?!". But we love him to bits and wouldn't change him for anything. People said to us before we got him that it would be like having a child and they were not wrong! It is hard work, I'm not going to lie, but to me it's worth it for the amount of love and happiness that Ernie brings to mine and Jack lives.

Tips On Getting A Puppy

1. Do your research.

Doing your research is paramount before going out and buying a puppy. Things to consider:
Can you afford to look after a puppy? Each breed of dog comes with certain health risks. For example Frenchies are brachycephalic dogs so they can have breathing problems, they are also known to suffer from hip dysplasia, cleft palate's, spinal problems etc. These are some of the things you need to take into consideration. Luckily for Jack and I we are able to afford the care that Frenchies need, otherwise we wouldn't have even considered getting one.
Which breed is best? This all depends on your lifestyle. If you live in a small 1 bed flat, it's not exactly ideal to get a Great Dane! If you work all day and cannot come home or take the dog to work, it's not ideal to get a needy dog breed like a Jack Russell as they don't like to be left alone.
Do you have time for a puppy? Getting a puppy is a lot of hard work. They need constant attention and training throughout the first few weeks of their new life with you. Ultimately you take on the role of their mother. You need to feed them, take them out to the toilet, play with them, comfort them etc. If you have a lifestyle where you're at work from 8am to 5pm and then out with friends or family at night, is it really fair to take on a puppy?

2. Looking for the right puppy.

Once you have decided what breed of dog you want, the next step is looking around for a breeder. Figure out how far you're willing to travel to see a litter, with us we chose a 90mile radius as we thought "if it's the right dog, it's worth travelling for". Don't just settle on the first litter you see, we looked for about 2 weeks before deciding to go and look at Ernie. Purebred puppies should always be KC registered, so if that is not the case when looking at a puppy, it should raise a red flag. If a litter is not registered, it is likely the dam of the litter may be too young, too old, had too many litters or be endorsed for health reasons. Ernie's litter was KC registered and we received his registration certificate about 10 days after we transferred ownership of him from the breeder over to us.

3. Things to ask a breeder

It's so important to ask a breeder questions about the litter, dam and the breeder themselves, here are a few that we asked:

"Can we see the mother?" If you cannot see the mother along with the litter, alarm bells should be ringing in your head.

"Have the puppies been health tested?"

"What have the puppies been fed on?"

"Have the puppies been microchipped, had any vaccinations or flea/worming treatments?"

"How often do you breed?"

"When are the puppies ready for their new homes?"

"Are the puppies KC registered?"

These are just some of the questions we asked when viewing Ernie. You can find loads more online too.

I'm sorry this has been a long post but I hope I haven't bored you too much! If you have any questions if you're thinking of getting a French Bulldog or any other breed then drop me a comment! I'm happy to help...or try to!

Hannah

xox

There's nothing better than looking back on old photos, my favourite pastime is looking through my scrapbook at all my photos and the memories they hold. As I'm struggling with blogger/writers block lately I thought I'd dedicate a whole blog post to my favourite photos of the month! They haven't specifically been taken this month but they're just the ones I'm loving right now.

1. My Boyfriend In Bruges Markt Square

I love this photo of Jack in the Markt Square, we went to Bruges for valentines day and I loved being away with him for the weekend exploring another city together. I struggle really badly with anxiety and Jack always seems to bring me out of my shell and encourages me to tackle my anxiety head on! Every time I go away with him I feel like I've accomplished something that I find really hard to do, so yeah, this photo of Jack just makes me feel happy :)

2. My Dog Poppy

My dog is such a diva she could easily put Beyoncé to shame! This photo just makes my heart melt, she's such a cutie. We adopted Poppy from Dogs Trust almost 3 years ago and it's so lovely seeing her come into her own little character over the years. She never fails to make me or my family laugh.

3. A Peacock At The Cotswold Wildlife Park

The Cotswold Wildlife Park is definitely one of my favourite places to go, I love everything about it, the wide variety of animals, the location, everything! Peacocks are such beautiful birds and I just really liked this photo!

4. My Boyfriend And I

There isn't really much to say about this photo other than I love him a lot and I was really happy the night this photo was taken :)

xox

So as it's Easter it means most people get an extra long 4 day weekend - yay - and what better way to spend a sunny Friday off than at the wildlife park?!

Jack and I love going to see animals, whether it's an aquarium or wildlife park and so far our favourite has been the Cotswold Wildlife Park. This was our third time going there as we just love it so much! It's such a nice park with gardens, play areas, shops, a mini train and of course, animals! It makes for a great day out and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to get in. They have a really wide variety of animals in the park from rhinos to fruit bats to giraffes to goats, they have them all. My favourite part is the Lemur Walk Through where you get to walk through a big cage with lemurs running around your feet, I was half expecting King Julien and Maurice to jump out and start singing "We like to move it move it!". They're so cute!

I have no doubt that Jack and I will be going again some time in the summer, it's one of my favourite places to go.

xox

Like many other people, I can be swayed to buy a product just because a Youtuber has hyped it up like it's the best thing in the world! However, after buying some products I've felt so disappointed with them and thought they weren't worth all the rave reviews they'd received. Then on the other hand there are so many products that aren't talked enough about, here are a few of my underrated and overrated products;

Overrated

1. Becca Champagne Pop Highlighter

I was um'ing and ah'ing about buying this highlighter for so long that when I finally decided to get it, I couldn't contain my excitement. I feel like so many Youtubers and beauty guru's have been raving about this so much since it came out, but I was left a little disappointed with it and failed to see the hype personally. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful highlighter but It's just too bronzy for my skintone. The first time I used this I applied it with my normal highlighter brush and how I apply any of my other highlighters, but it seemed to stick to my skin - even though I had powdered - and was hard to blend out to make it look natural. I've tried using fluffier brushes and it's improved slightly, it doesn't look so full on. Maybe with a bit of trial and error it could work, but I still find myself reaching for The Balm's Mary Lou Manizer instead.

2. Nars Illuminator

This is the product I have a love-hate relationship with. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I can't stand it. I can't seem to find a happy medium with it. I have quite cool toned skin as it is but this looks so pink when I apply it and I find it so hard to blend too! I find that it seems to take my foundation off underneath making it look patchy and very unnatural looking. I'm really not a fan of this! I did a blog post comparing high end products with their drugstore dupes which you can find here. In that post I compared it with the Revlon Photo Ready Skinlights and after using both products, I definitely prefer Revlon's skinlights.

3. NYX Butter Gloss

Everyone raves about the Nyx Butter Gloss's but I really don't like them! The consistency is very sticky and thick and the colour pay off isn't the best. I mainly got this for an effortless slick of colour on my lips for work and as soon as I applied it, I didn't like it. Firstly like I said before, they're very sticky so they don't feel very nice on the lips, secondly they have zero pigmentation. After a few hours at work the colour faded and I was left with just a horrible sticky feeling on my lips which felt horrible! It's such a shame because I love their Soft Matte Lip Cream's.

Underrated

1. Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette

Okay, so I know this isn't a product that no one ever talks about, but I think it deserves so much more attention. I bought this on a whim at Christmas and I'm so glad I did. The palette smells UH-MAZING and every eyeshadow is so pigmented! It's such a versatile palette, I use it for work when I want a toned down look and I use it for date nights when I want a more glam look, I just LOVE it! I would highly recommend this palette to everyone, you're missing out if you don't have it!

2. Revlon Colourstay Foundation

This is such a brilliant foundation! I bought it when I ran out of my trusty Mac Studio Fix as it was a cheaper alternative and I felt like trying out a new foundation after using my Mac one for the past year or so. I love it! The coverage is great, it feels so silky and light on the skin, it comes in a range of colours and has a different formula for each skin type which I think is brilliant! This has completely pushed my Mac foundation to one side and I don't regret buying it one bit.

3. Gerard Cosmetics Hydra Matte Liquid Lipstick

Over the last few months I've been obsessed with liquid lipsticks. I was mainly obsessed with the Lime Crime Velvetines but then I stumbled across these little gems and couldn't resist buying some. For only £9.50 you can't complain about the price when you get such an amazing product. They last on the lips for so long and I don't feel like they dry my lips out half as much as normal liquid lipsticks. The only downside is that there isn't that much choice in terms of colours, but the colours they do have are beautiful. You can get them here.

xox

I absolutely love Valentines Day and I always look forward to doing something really special for it every year. Last year my boyfriend and I just went out for a meal and snuggled up in bed after watching movies, however this year we decided to do something different so we booked a weekend away in Bruges. We stayed at a hotel called Martins Brugge and it was right in the centre of everything, the Markt was only a 2 minute walk from the hotel and everywhere we turned there was a chocolate shop. I had to refrain myself from going in every one of them!

Bruges is such a beautiful medival city full of stunning architecture and cute cobbled roads. The first full day we were there was Valentines Day and all the shops were decorated with love hearts and it really made the place feel romantic, not to mention all the couples walking around hand in hand or cuddling up in the back of a horse and carriage ride. And while every other couple were doing cute couply things, Jack and I spent it looking at gory wax figurines in the Torture Museum. How romantic. Although it might not be to everyone's taste, it was quite interesting and was only 7 euros to get in so we couldn't really complain!

We spent three days in Bruges and I don't really think that was enough time to see everything, every little ally you go down leads you to a different part of the city that you never knew existed, it kind of felt like we were in a fairytale land. Around the hotel were two churches, they were so tall I almost fell back trying to look at the top of them and every hour they chimed out such a beautiful tune. It sounded just like an orchestra. I have to say though my favourite part of the trip was trying my first Belgian waffle! My topping of choice - banana and hot chocolate sauce. They were delicious! Jack and I had such a lovely time in Bruges, we were quite sad to leave. It's only now, looking at the pictures I took that I realise how stunning the city is.