5 festive things I've done in December

Usually I get excited for Christmas but never really do anything to celebrate until closer to the actual day. But this year I am LOVING December. So much has happened already this month to get me into the Christmas spirit. Have a read at why I'm basically Father Christmas this year.

1. Thorntons advent calendar - One of the best things about Christmas is the abundance of chocolate that appears and tends to last until February. This year I treated myself to a Thorntons continental advent calendar which is slightly more pricey but definitely worth it.

2. Bought a real Christmas tree - this year is the first year that I've bought a real tree. We've put it in our living room at the flat but it's potted with its roots so I'll take it and replant it in the garden when I go back home for Christmas. 

(Excuse Kayleigh's grumpy face haha)

3. Early Christmas dinner - last Sunday we decided to have a Christmas meal in our flat which grace and I cooked with all the trimmings. Everything went perfect until we spilt chicken juice everywhere but all in all it was a lovely day. 

4. Mulled wine at the Christmas market - Northampton's Christmas lights were turned on in November so as a flat we all went into town and walked round the Christmas market together. Of course no Christmas season is complete without mulled wine and this was my first one of the year. 

5. Christmas night out - as it was our last weekend all together we went out in town and had a Christmas themed night. My friend from home came to visit and it was such a good weekend. 

Girls house

We are in the middle of finalising the paperwork for our house next year and I am excited to say the least. I'll be sharing the house with 4 other girls from uni who are all lovely. We have had a few problems in our flat this year due to a few flat mates having friends over and items dissapearing etc so I'm looking forward to living in a house where I trust everyone who lives there. 

We've visited the house twice now and have decided on who is having which bedroom already. I think it used to be an old bake house but it only got renovated 2 years ago so everything is nice and new inside.  

We have one big kitchen/living room which is technically in the basement but part of the ceiling is raised so there are still windows at the top. 

Bedrooms are all on the ground floor in a long corridor and are all double bed en suites. 

I can't wait to move in next September and hopefully live there until I finish uni in 3 years time! 

Working while at uni

Along side uni I have managed to get two part-time jobs. These are both flexible in terms of when I work so it's just as and when I have spare time and want to make a little money. 

The first job I have is being a student ambassador for the university. My job basically includes helping out at open days, occasional office work and other odd jobs that the uni needs help with. Doing this job definitely makes me feel more of a part of the uni rather than just one of the thousands of students. I've only worked one open day so far but hopefully this will be a job I can carry on doing trough out the whole time I'm at uni. 

The second job I have is with a company called Events People in which I get to work at all kinds of events around the country doing stewarding and waitressing. So far I've worked at Northampton firework display, the MK football stadium and at the Deco theatre in Northampton. These have been great fun to work at because you're never doing the same thing. 

I do most shifts at both of these jobs with my friend Ashleigh who is on the same Fashion Marketing course as me and lives in the same halls. This makes going to new jobs so much easier for me as I feel more confident if I have at least one person that I already know there. 

Fashion illustrations

I've studied art throughout school for as long as I can remember and recently I've been missing it as I'm studying a subject where I no longer get to do any physical artwork. So every now and then I've started to mess around with different techniques in my spare time to create little pieces that I feel still could add to my fashion marketing course at somepoint.

I've never actually studied fashion or design before now but I'm finding making fashion designs and illustrations very interesting at the moment. These are some that I made while just sat in front of the TV relaxing for a few hours. 

I used watercolours and a thin soft brush to paint on top of already drawn figures. This made it so much easier to keep the design within the right proportions.