A letter from Emma about: A Year of No Resolutions

Dear Reader, 

This year I have decided not to make any new years resolutions. Not because I won't keep to them but because I  believe that you have any opportunity for change throughout the year and this should not be exclusive to the start of January. 

As many of you may know I really like quotes, so this year instead of resolutions  I have written a collection of my favourite quotes, which I hope will inspire me for the new year a head: 

"Ah yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it. "

- The Lion King

"Worry is a misuse of imagination."

- Dan Zadra 

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling,

but in rising every time we fall.”

- Nelson Mandela 

Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions."

- Dalai Lama 

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." 

- Oscar Wilde 

"Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be."

- Abraham Lincoln 

"The first recipe for happiness is : avoid too lengthy meditation on the past." 

- Andre Maurois 

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

― Mae West

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness 

was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I 

wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I 

didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t 

understand life.”

- John Lennon 

I have just noticed that lots of the quotes are about happiness, and I guess that what it's all about really: so have a 'happy' new year. 

I would love to know of your new years resolutions or any of your favourite quotes? 

Yours, 

Emma Dilemma

P.S. Quote of the day- all the above. 

A letter from Emma about: Cake

Dear Reader,

Today's post is about one of my favourite things in the world: cake. But also about the dilemma of sending Christmas gifts to family and friends who live far away. Since starting Uni I have moved far away from home and also most of my friends have done the same, which means that often gifts have to be posted. We all know sending gifts can be difficult, not only it is hard to get companies that deliver on time and but it's also difficult to find a thoughtful gift without it costing lots of money.
Baker Days offer a great solution to this problem, they deliver letter box sized personal cakes. This week they sent me a lovely Christmas themed cake to review:

 

I really like the sprout cake because its a bit different, and what's more traditional than sprouts at Christmas (even if you're not a fan)! Baker Days have lots of different Christmas designs to choose from,  and you can also add personalised messages and even photo's to the cakes.  You can even choose the sponge type ranging from chocolate to gluten free cake. The cakes are delivered in a compact box, accompanied with a Christmas cracker and party hat, and they taste pretty good too. The box is also small enough to be delivered through the letter box, so none of those dreaded red slips!

Although this is a Christmas themed cake Baker Days also cater for other occasions and with lots of my friends turning 21 this year I shall be ordering from them, I just think its a nice way to say happy birthday. You also don't have to worry about whether or not they'll like the gift because, let's face it everyone loves cake.

You really can have your cake and eat it too! Sorry, I couldn't resit. 

Yours, 

Emma Dilemma

P.S. Quote of the day- "Let them eat cake."
- Marie Antoinette

A letter from Emma about: Bunny Slippers

Dear Reader, 

Today's post is all about slippers, well to be specific bunny slippers. The lovely people from Jolly Bunny sent me some bunny slippers to review. I love products which are unique and original so I was very excited when they arrived: 

Heating is very expensive and with the cold weather upon us slippers are a great way to keep warm as well as prolonging turning the heating on. When I moved into my student flat last year for the first time ever I lived in a house with floorboards and tiles, whilst this is great for me as I am prone to spilling drinks, I definitely missed the warmth that carpet gave my feet. Immediately I invested in slippers (for the first time ever) and I felt so much warmer. I don't know about you but when my feet are cold, my whole body is cold too! Which is why these slippers from Jolly Bunny are so great, because they keep my feet super toasty. I also like the humour element of them and love the little rabbit's tale. When my niece comes to visit next week I am pretty sure she is going to love them too. 

Yours, 

Emma Dilemma 

P.S. Quote of the day - "It's easier to put on slippers than to carpet the whole world." 

- Al Franken 

A letter from Emma about: Monochrome

Dear Reader, 

Today's bargain was not located in a charity shop but instead on the high street, although I love shopping in charity shops I do not locate all my clothes from them. This dress is a bit out-there and I am pretty sure you will either love it or hate it. I guess I could call it the marmite dress, so here it is: 

 

This dress was originally £46 from Topshop, however it was reduced in the sale to £25 and then further reduced to £10, with my student discount it came to the gran total of £9. Not bad, considering it's original price was over £30 more than what I paid. When it comes to high street fashion I rarely ever pay full price for anything... it's just not worth it. With a little patience and planning you can buy your favourite high street clothes at a fraction of the price if you wait for a sale. Often I decide on a price I'm willing to pay for something and refuse to buy it before it is reduced to that price or until the store do a 'student discount' special. 

It is also important to note that when your buy something brand new and at full price it's value dramatically reduces. So, the less you pay for an item the more likely you are to make a little bit of profit if you decide to sell it on. 

This year monochrome has really made its way back into fashion, and at first I wasn't overly convinced but after consideration I really like it. It brightens up 'black' a little bit, also if you are clever and buy horizontal monochrome pattern clothing its very flattering (plus stops you from looking like a robber).

Anyway, I quite like the dress. If all else fails I can wear this for fancy dress; either as a Zebra or a Mint Humbug.

Yours, 

Emma Dilemma

P.S. Quote of the day-  "There is no black-and-white situation. It's all part of life. Highs, lows, middles."
- Van Morrison

A letter from Emma about: Celebrating Plutonium Sox's 100 post

Dear Reader,

In this post I have linked up to Plutonium's Sox's 100 blog post celebration. For all of you who may not be aware Plutonium Sox is my lovely sister's blog,  and it was her who inspired me to start blogging at the beginning of the summer. Her blog is brilliant and I'm very proud of her for reaching her 100th blog post.

It's a nice short challenge, and if you to fancy linking up and finding some lovely blogs to read you can do by clicking on the link provided. 

Here goes: 

1. Things I love

Charity Shops, Strawberries and The Moomins. 

2. Places I love

The Seaside, The Cotswolds and Home. 

3. I love this photo because 

Goat's in a tree!? Whats not to love. 

4. Charities that deserve some love

WaterAid 

Against Malaria 

Street Child World Cup

Acorns Children's Hospice

(I know that this exceeds the 10 word limit, but hopefully I will be let of because they are all such deserving charities). 

5. What's funny?

Charley Bit Me! 

6. On a dessert island I would need

Tea, cake and an endless supply of good books 

7. This week's news

One of the sister's is staying with me in London. 

8. My best ever bargain 

My 99p polka dot top. 

9. What I enjoy doing

Painting, drawing, shopping and spending time with my lovely niece. 

10. What I hate

People who unnecessarily moan and negativity.  

Yours, 

Emma Dilemma

P.S. Quote of the day- You can't live a positive life with a negative mind. 

-Anonymous 

A letter from Emma about: A Onesie

Dear Reader, 

To onesie, or not to onesie: that is the questions: 

And subsequently what today's blog post is about. 

The onesie craze gained status about two years ago, and I have always been on the borderline about whether or not to join in. Yes, I want to be warm but I don't want to look like a full grown adult in a baby grow. However, Onesie Warehouse have some lovely onesies which look great as well as keeping you soooo warm and they were kind enough to send me one to review: 

Emma + Onesie = One very happy student. 

Oh, I love it!

 With in two minutes of putting it on, I cant believe I ever doubted them or lived without one. I love this wonderful world of onesie wearing full of warmth and comfort, and this world has so many benefits. One of the biggest adjustments after moving out of student halls was the high price of heating bills, they are just so expensive. Therefore, one way to avoid putting the heating on is to wear warmer clothing, and I cannot stress just how warm onesies are. I am pretty sure that my average body temperature has increased by 5ºc  since having my onesie. Also, the warmer I am the less likely I am to turn the heating on = lots of money saving.

Onesie Warehouse sell some very reasonably priced onesies, starting from as little as £15. I have my eye on an animal dinosaur one next, yes I have been completely converted. Oh its great, and not only are they the warmest pyjamas in the world, but also they are great for chillin' around the house in.

So how about you:

To onesie, or not to onesie? 

Yours, 

Emma Dilemma 

P.S. Quote of the day-  "A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval."

- Mark Twain

A letter from Emma about: Canvases

Dear Reader, 

Throughout my years of charity shopping I have learnt that you can find all sorts of things in charity shops (and they often come with the reasonable price tag too) which is what I discovered this week when I paid a visit to the Geranium charity shop for the Blind. 

As some of you may know I really enjoy art, but a well known difficulty that all art enthusiasts encounter is the high price tags of art materials. Which is why I was over the moon when I came across a selection of brand new art canvases... yep, they were still in their packaging and still with their original price tags: 

Originally £13.95 for three 20x60 canvas's , I paid £3. 

Originally £5.99 for one 30x40 canvas, I paid £2.

In total I brought five canvases, it wasn't until I got home that I found the original price tag on each canvas. I totalled it up and worked out that I got £25.93 worth of canvases for £7. Amaaaaaazing, and all of the £7 that I did spend went to a lovely charity. I'm so happy with my purchases and I'm really looking forward to doing some painting, I think that these could make great Christmas presents. 

Yours, 

Emma Dilemma 

P.S. Quote of the day- "A picture is worth a thousand words".

- Napoleon Bonaparte 

A letter from Emma about: TOMS

Dear Reader, 

Today's post is all about a wonderful company called TOMS. I discovered TOMS just over a year ago, whilst on the look out for ethical products I wanted to buy some comfy shoes (but not trainers) to keep my feet cool in the summer. And TOMS ticked all the boxes. I recently have started a new job where I am on my feet all day and I needed to invest in some shoes that are comfy but also pretty, so I looked no further than TOMS. 

You may already be familiar with their ethos, but just in case you are not. When you buy a pair of shoes from this lovely company they match every pair of shoes brought with a new pair of shoes for a child in need. This created the slogan One for One. So every time you buy a pair of shoes a child in need is given a new pair too, I don't know about you but I think that's absolutely brilliant.

Here are my lovely TOMS: 

 

 

  

The shoes also come with a handy shoe bag, which is great for when you're travelling. 

 I think the ethos behind TOMS shoes are brilliant, but also they are just so fantastically comfy! This particular pair is very summer but they have a wide range of different styles to choose from. I already have my eye one a  pair of TOMS ankle boots for Christmas. TOMS can be found online and in many high street stores including Office and Schuh. These Toms were £41.99 but with my 10% student discount I brought them for £37.79 from Office. A pretty reasonable when you take into account that this purchase paid for my shoes and also enabled a new pair of shoes to be given to a child in need. 

TOMS also sell other products including eyewear, whereby every pair of sunglasses you purchase will help give sight to an individual in need. It's that One for One again.

Yours, 

Emma Dilemma

Quote of the day- "If you organise your life around your passion, you can turn your passion into your story and then turn your story into something bigger- something that matters."
- Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS

A letter from Emma about: Bunting

Dear Reader, 

Today's post is all about bunting, in particular some pretty bunting which I received from Paper Themes. This party or wedding bunting is perfect for decorating any event. The bunting was self assemble but it was no problem at all (I actually found the assembling quiet therapeutic) and 4 metres of bunting later I had some lovely hanging bunting. 

Here are a few pictures of the product: 

The lovely bunting. I do love the ribbon and the design. 

There were lots of different bunting designs to choose from depending on your event, I purposely picked a union jack design as I think that it can be reused for other upcoming events. It will be great in the summer for a summer garden party. Oh, any event looks great with bunting. 

Although Paper Themes primarily specialise in wedding invitations they also have a wide range of gifts, greeting cards and invites ranging from christenings to Hen Do & Stag invitations. They are worth a visit if you want to add a touch of prettiness to any event. 

Yours, 

Emma Dilemma

P.S. Quote of the day- "Never be the first to arrive at a party or the last to go home and never, never be both."

- David Brown.

A letter from Emma about: 21

Dear Reader,

It's been just over a week since I last posted, so I wanted to keep you updated. This week I celebrated my 21st Birthday, I've posted a few pictures from the day and wanted to let you know that some charity shopping finds will be coming very soon (from some birthday money which I received)!  

I had such a nice birthday, my lovely flatmates woke me up with a birthday confetti trail, and then I had  an amazing lunch with my lovely boyfriend (champagne included)! When I came back to the flat my friends from home had sent me a surprise delivery of flowers and then later that evening me and a group of friends hit some London clubs. I am not really  a 'birthday' person, but I had the nicest day ever, and feel very blessed. Next week I shall be travelling back to worcestershire to visit my family, which I am really looking forward too!

How did you celebrate your 21st birthday?

Yours, 

Emma Dilemma 

P.S. Quote of the day- "At twenty years of age, the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgement."

- Benjamin Franklin 

A letter from Emma about: The National Wedding Show

Dear Reader,

On Sunday I was lucky enough to me given a VIP ticket to The National Wedding Show. Although I am no blushing bride I had a lovely day exploring the show which full was of so many lovely ideas not just for weddings but for events too. So, todays blog post is a collection of pictures from the day:

It may seem a little strange that someone with no intent of getting married any time soon spent the day at a wedding show... but it was so much fun! I guess that itself shows how good it was. Also, with my ticket orignianlly costing £40 I thought I should make the most of it. Part of the VIP ticket which I received includes champagne on arrival and make-up goodies (shown in the picture above), and also front row seats to the wedding catwalk show.
One wedding dress theme which I really wanted to mention was the Art Deco,  1920's Great Gatsby like wedding gowns designed by  Ellie Sanderson, they were just beautiful. I loved the loose fitting dresses I thought they were so timeless and made the brides look very elegant and sophisticated. Unfortunately I did not manage to get a clear picture of the dresses on the catwalk,  however I would highly recommend them if you are a bride-to-be looking for something a bit different but also elegant for your big day.
The National Wedding Show really is a fantastic place to get ideas and tips about weddings. One of my personal favourites was the picture booth with props! I defiantly want one of those at my wedding reception, so much fun!

It was also a wedding show like this that my sisters wedding dress would have been originally worn at. I wrote about the dress in  my Wedding Dress blog post, which is also another great place to find your dream dress if you are getting married. 

Yours, 

Emma Dilemma

P.S. Quote of the day- "If I get married, I want to be very married."
- Audrey Hepburn

A letter from Emma about: More Jumpers

Dear Readers,

As promised, this is the post about the lovely items my flatmates brought from FARA during the week. 

Flatmate number 1 (Roseanna)

Originally from MANGO and cost £9.50 from FARA

Flatmate number 2 (Cat)

Originally from Topshop and cost £7 from FARA

The jumper I brought  is very different from these two, all of the jumpers are very different. I guess what I am trying to say is that charity shops can meet everyones needs. Contrary to popular belief, they have lots of choice and variation in stock, which I often think is a  negative taboo associated with them. Often many people say to me that 'they' never find anything in charity shop, I just wanted people to know I do not have charity shopping superpowers.  Charity shops really do have something for everyone and if at first you don't succeed then try the next one down the road.

The jumpers we brought were all brands of some sort, and often ones without brands go for a little cheaper, in the past I have brought jumpers for under £4 (so you can save even more money). As students charity shopping is a great way to save lots of money as well as staying fashionable, it's also a lot of fun!

Yours,

Emma Dilemma

P.S. Quote of the day - When the bold branches bid farewell to rainbow leaves- Welcome wool sweaters.
B.Cybrill

A letter from Emma about: STYLIGHT

Dear Reader, 

This week I was introduced to  the lovely STYLIGHT  which is a wonderful international fashion community bursting with style inspiration, consequently I have reviewed their site: 

STYLIGHT can be best described as an online ARGOS catalogue for fashion lovers; created by fashion lovers themselves. You can can create your own outfits using products, these products are then linked to the store in in one click you can buy someones fashion creation. As a fashion blogger I signed up to the community, however, I did not use products to create my own look (this is ok too) I created it from my previous blog post outfits.

So Let's give this a go...

This is the Emma Dilemma profile which I created, as you can see it includes the link to my blog.

Then I created a 'look' this is from my 99p blog post. Under the picture I was able to link up my blog to the look and also add a caption.

It's these 'looks' that are at the centre of STYLIGHT. 

"Each look is a member’s collage of outfit photos, products you can buy, videos & more. You can mix photos from your blog, products from shops, videos from YouTube, quotes and songs to express every aspect of your personal style in a look. "

Once your 'look' is created it is then added to the STYLIGHT database, and on the home page you can search for other 'looks' to find inspiration.  These can be searched for by using the famous # (much like twitter) so for my 99p post  it can be found with #polkadots or #charityshopfind. 

These four are outfits under #fbloggers, therefore linking a whole community and our outfit styles together.



For example this is a look under #black

I can then 'heart this' and this add the 'look' to my favourites, and what do hearts make... prizes! The more hearts you get the more likely people are to view both your outfit creation and therefore your blog.

I can then 'heart this' and this add the 'look' to my favourites, and what do hearts make... prizes! The more hearts you get the more likely people are to view both your outfit creation and therefore your blog.

 "Millions of people see this page and can directly discover your looks and your blog. "

Also, if I like someone's "look" and they have created it out of products I can then 'shop this look' for further details which give you a break down on the outfit and an option to buy each piece.

I think that this is a great way to buy products as it's almost like trying them on before you buy them, also as a reader of fashion blogs I often would love to just click on a 'buy now' button on some of the outfits that view.... STYLIGHT allows me to do this!  However,  I found some of the items on 'shop for look' a little expensive, I understand that this is high end fashion but I think it would be great if more affordable or even second hand clothing brands got involved.

Overall, as a fashion blogger I think it's a fantastic international community since it allows you to see world wide trends as well as sharing your own. It's just really useful. I also like the incorporation of twitters notorious  #. It's a language that us #fbloggers know and understand; it's not trying to make up something completely different or alien.

One problem that I did have is that it was difficult to add a profile picture, this is a work in progress. But could possibly have something to do with me and my poor technology skills?! However, I found the rest of the site easy to  navigate and use, and I shall be going back for more.

All in all I defiantly think that this site has potential and I shall be working on updating and improving my profile.

What do you lovely readers think, have you ever posted a 'look' on STYLIGHT?

Yours,

Emma Dilemma

P.S. Quote of the day- " Fashion is what you buy, style is what you do with it."

- Anonymous

A letter from Emma about: Winter Warmers

Dear Reader, 

Today my flatmates and I went searching for some much needed winter jumpers. Charity shops are great places to find these winter warmers, since they are often reasonably priced and high quality. Also the warmer we are this winter, the less we will need to put the heating on...so jumper shopping is a must!

Here is my warming cardigan purchase...I love it!

Cardigan £12 from FARA

I purchased the cardigan from FARA, which is a charity shop that raises money for underprivileged children in Romania. All the money from your purchases in this shop go to such a lovely and deserving cause. Oh, the store is filled with such lovely things to purchase! The cardigan is Sparkle & Fade which can be originally sourced from Urban Outfitters, so I was very happy with my £12 price tag.
FARA shops can be found throughout central and south west London and I highly recommend a visit!

A great tip for students, or anyone looking to keep heating costs low this winter, is to buy lots of jumpers and chairty shops are full of low priced and high quality ones. 

What do you think of my purchase?

Yours, 

Emma Dilemma

P.S. - Quote of the day- "Big sweaters are like portable hugs".
- Anonymous

P.P.S.- Watch this space for my flat mates purchases, I shall be blogging about them later in the week.