Practically Alice

As this decade draws to an end, I’ve decided to take a look back at the last ten years and see what books have truly impacted my life. Choosing these was hard – for one thing, I’ve read a lot of books (663 since 2011) and for another, it’s harder to distance yourself from the ones you’ve read most recently. Ask me in five years, and this list may have changed! Books have fundamentally shaped me, from the ages of 14 to 24. So much has changed, including myself. Without these books, times would have been darker, more difficult to overcome, and I definitely would have felt a lot more alone. Books have brought me closer to people, they’ve made me friends, they’ve given me something to talk (gush) about, and they’ve eaten up a whole lot of time and money (not one moment or penny do I regret!). This year I fell back in love with going to the library, a habit I seemed to forget to do as a teenager/young adult. I urge you to go there, see what they have waiting for you on the shelves (

Back in September when myself and my boyfriend had to find somewhere new to live (despite only living in our previous house for a mere 6 months), I consoled myself with the idea that I could find somewhere that had a bath. Going through a job rejection, being served our notice, and a bereavement meant that September-December of 2018 were rough ; it's funny how the mere idea of having a bath, a place where I know (and have previously mused on the fact that) I can properly relax. My baths have always felt like such a treat; it's also something that I've always enjoyed writing about and when I do get to a place where I can marry the two these blog posts seem to happen. When I received 'Twilight' for Christmas, I fell in love with the smell immediately and even though I haven't been able to get my hands on it, I was the grateful recipient of many Twilight bathbombs, and even a tub of Sleepy cream in there too! One of my goals this year is to practice more self-ca

Yes, it is that time again. Claire is feeling low-key-stressed  so she submerges herself in water. In actual fact, normally I get to a stage a high-key-stress  before getting into the tub - this time, I only have access to a bath for 2 more weeks (due to moving... for the third time in a year) so I thought I'd make the most of my local Lush. A while ago I spotted Metamorphosis  and asked the member of staff to show us what it did (she gave us pick of the store). Now... I love the smell of this bath bomb (my bathroom and skin slightly smell of that lovely concoction of scents). The wow-factor was less impressive with this one. Which leads me to the questions: is that always an imperative for a successful bath bomb? Does it have to look absolutely beautiful, or can the warmth and smells lull you to a sense of happiness only a bath can achieve? The fact that I would definitely buy Metamorphosis again, says "no, the prettiness doesn't matter", but I loved  the smell a

As I sit here with vaguely glittery handy, my body smelling of vetivert, cedarwood and peppermint I remember that I need to take my own advice more. As I have repeated on countless occasions here (and, honestly, anywhere I can), growing up can be tough. Add hormones and period cramps to the mix and you have the lovely, wonderful result being-on-the-brink-of-tears-for-no-reason. Though trivial and very much not the worst thing in the world, I very much do appreciate ways to avoid feeling like this; especially when weekends have become so precious - time to spend with my boyfriend, reading, and - well - just out and about during daylight hours at the moment. So what did I do this evening? I finally pl ugg ed up the courage to see if the plug I bought for my bath in my shared house (do you like my pun... I'm hilarious ) fits and well, if it fits, I sits. I have yet to delve further into the Lush bathbomb treasure troves, but I decided tonight was the night I was going to use Interga

Around a month ago, my boyfriend and I pootled into Pizza Hut and I said "ooh go on then" and had lovely, lovely cheese on my gluten free pizza. Three years ago in May I was diagnosed coeliac, and since my diagnosis I have never had an "ooh go on then moment" because I know the dire consequences it can have on my body. Every day, I swallow calcium, vitamin D, B12 and ranitidine tablets in an effort to keep my bones and body healthy. Everywhere I go, I look at labels and folders of ingredient information. Being coeliac is something I'm used to now, but it's taken me a year to solidly give up lactose (and I'm still not 100% sure I'll last Christmas...). The day after my Pizza Hut escapade, I was sick. Slowly over the last year of being lactose free on and off, my reaction to lactose has worsened. My stomach doesn't like food very much (even if my mouth and brain do!) and I often feel sick after eating, but lactose made that significantly worse.

My next escapade into the Lush bath-bomb world was the wonderfully named Avobath . Admittedly, I did use this bath-bomb a while ago... weeks ago... and I haven't had time to write up anything until now. Why? Essays. Stressful essays. (Did I mention Master's are tough? No...?) The avobath is lovely, because it smells fresh (I definitely don't do sugar-sweet smells) and that just intensifies as it hits the warm water. I'd had a particularly rough day when I decided I'd use this one, and it just made the bathroom smell heavenly. Costing only £3.50, too the avobath comes in 25p cheaper than my previous BBOC (bath-bomb of choice) Dragon's Egg. A little less exciting than my last pick, but nevertheless still heavenly to the nose and skin, the avobath was incredibly moisturising and calming. Just what you need around this busy exam and deadline time!! I've only actually got two (EEK) months left, including May, in my student house so I need to use all the bat

As you can probably guess from my lack of posting, Master's degrees are hard . Speaking to my fellow MA buddies, we can't quite pin-point what it is that is making us perpetually stressed but there's just something about them that seems to eat up all of your time ever . And don't even get me started about 'thinking about the future'. I somehow forgot that one of my favourite things to do to relax is to take a bath. Earlier last term when our shower broke (yay student housing), we were confined to baths - and I vowed that I would take more as soon as the shower was fixed and not just fall back to showering. But alas, I did.  Baths have always been kind of special to me; forever have they been places of chats, giggles, relaxing, music, and such a treat. For a couple of years I couldn't get out of the bath unassisted because of my back, so to be able to leap forth out of the tub with a gracious gazelle-like leap (I lie) is a privilege. I also used to not be