Edinburgh Day 2: Pandas, Parades & Promises

Day two was spent at Edinburgh Zoo! I had not been to this place for a loooooooong time, I think the last was when the polar bears were around when I was little! 

Another purpose of the trip was to make our promises to become official members of Senior Section and as the Pandas were the newbies why not make it with them?

For those of you who have been before, you will be aware of the Penguin Parade. This was the best photo I could get due to the amount of people that filled the area around the track. Obviously a very popular event!

For the rest of the day we were left to wander round the zoo and see the animals on show.

Paige couldn't resist the chance to get a self with a penguin

The sun was shining and the lighting outside the monkey cages was just perfect for selfies!

Thanks for reading! More photos from the weekend can be found on my flickr below.

Esmee x

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Edinburgh Day 1: Sweets, Selfies & Sightseeing

About a month ago I spent the weekend in Edinburgh with my Senior Section unit as part of our Commonwealth Award badge. I had never been to Edinburgh, only driven round it, so it was great to become a proper tourist for the day! And I also needed a break away from school, home and life in general so it was a handy two-day escape.

We were set a challenge to find answers to questions about the different historic monuments and landmarks in Edinburgh and take a selfie with each one to prove we actually went to see it rather than googling the information!

Edinburgh Castle

The Scott Monument

Holyrood Palace gates

When walking around all day, it wasn't a surprise that we got hungry pretty quickly, there was a Starbucks just down the road but Paige spotted the Fudge Kitchen and I was dragged in there. After trying literally all of the samples (served to us by the very attractive guy working there...what more could you want? A hot guy giving out free food!) I choose the After Eight Fudge which I split with Paige and she chose the Salted Caramel Fudge.

 We also bumped into Waterloo Road's old head teacher Michael Byrne played by Alec Newman outside the Cathedral. He happily helped us out with our photo challenge even though Paige did walk up to him and asked "Is this you?" whilst holding my iPhone in his face.

And of course a trip wouldn't be complete without a hint of shopping! I bought this kimono from the Apricot collection in New Look and I also found a pair of heels I loved but they didn't have my size in black so I'll have to order them online. 

Here are a bunch of the selfies I was talking about earlier!

See you tomorrow for Edinburgh Day 2: Pandas, Parades & Promises!

Esmee x

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My Top 5 Skin Kind Secrets!

One of my skin kind secret is not wearing a lot of makeup. I may only be 16 but almost everyone I know cakes on the foundation, concealer, various eye products, blush, bronzer, the works! Whereas to keep my skin glowing I tend to just wear mascara and occasionally a BB cream (if you can believe it…I've never owned a foundation!) as I feel that's all I need and it keeps my face spot free. This is something that I'm going to keep going with for as long as possible. 

Another quite obvious (no-so-secret) secret is drinking water but it can get quite boring sometimes so I tend to throw in some fruit such as sliced lemon or strawberries.

In order to improve my skin (and to try loose weight!) one of my New Years resolutions was to cut out crisp, sweets, fizzy drinks and chocolate out of my diet therefore cutting out a lot of fats and excess sugars. This is probably the best thing I have ever done! And I would highly recommend it. 

Although I have been a little naughty sometimes on the chocolate front. As Easter resulted in chocolate eggs and birthdays produced chocolate cakes. Other than these occasions I've done pretty well! To be honest I have partly scrapped the "no chocolate" rule as at times it proved pretty difficult, so instead I cut out milk chocolate and treated myself to dark chocolate when I needed a little pick-me-up. It's a lot healthier for you and really benefits your skin!

Finally, seafood. I absolutely love seafood and it's usually my top pick at restaurants. My favourites have to be squid, prawns and salmon. Salmon being top as I eat it at least once a week as it is full of omega 3 which it great for your skin and body. 

What are your skin kind secrets?

Esmee x
  

Quick Holiday // Callie's Corner

Hey there people! So while Shmee is off gallivanting in France for 2 weeks, I'm still here in Scotland and in charge of the blog for the time being. Which she's already told you all...

 

However, I haven't just been stuck here in one place. Last week my family decided to take a long weekend away in St Andrews, Fife. Staying in Fife is something we do a lot simply because we like it there and it's only a 2 hour drive away. Usually we get a house for a week or two in Elie but this time we decided to stay in the Old Course Hotel in St Andrews. And the name is pretty literal as it's situated slap bang in the middle of the golf course practically!

I was pretty happy because we got two conjoined rooms so I had one to myself while my family were in another room next door.

 

The room was like 76% mirrors and because the hotel assumed that a parent would be in the room with me there were two beds. Obviously I decided to join them together to create a super bed.

 

All in all the long weekend was great! On the second day we went for a picnic – which the hotel prepared for us - on the beach in Elie. It was raining pretty badly when we were driving there so I was thinking we'd have to leave as soon as we got there but nope! The sun was there! Seriously, it was great.

Third day I was left to wander around on my own in St Andrews after a family trip to the aquarium. Once again the weather was great and the tour groups were out in full force. St Andrews is honestly a great place to shop, whether you're buying or just browsing. The streets are full of big high street brand stores, along with smaller businesses.

This is a personal favourite – seriously, the collection this guy has built up in here is astounding. The owner is really great and up for a chat if you feel like talking. Also, if you're a nerd like me you'll love the fact that he has drawers full of comic books dating back to the 60s. If you're in St Andrews and you're looking for something unique to bring home then this is the place.

Anyway, there's not really much to say after that as we went home the next day. It's kinda sad but this took me so long to type up because literally all I've done since I got back was work. Shmee's in France and I'm waiting tables… Life just doesn't seem fair. Oh well! Until next time! Excuse me while I pray that this upload worked.

Callie

Off to France

Within the next few hours I will be on a plane to the South of France for two weeks. As the villa where I am staying has no internet and I would end up with a huge phone bill, I will be absent from my blog but don't worry as Callie will be taking over! 

Over these two weeks that I am away, she will be blogging about whatever she wants and posting whenever she feels like it so make sure you keep coming back to see what she is up to!

See you in two (ish) weeks!

Esmee xx

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