A few months ago I was contacted by Nicola, a freelance writer who had been commissioned to write a double spread for the Guardian's University clearing supplement which was published in August just before students received their A-Level results. The supplement provided vital information for prospective University students who may not have achieved the A-Level grades they needed for their University choice and so had to go through the UCAS clearing process.

The article I was involved with was depicting a 'diary of a student blogger' through Instagram photos and interview questions to complement these. Unfortunately, the article was only available in paper form on the day it was released and isn't online, so I thought I would share and expand on some of the questions with you! (Apologies in advance for the poor quality photo - it's hard to take a picture of a picture!)

Even since finishing Uni, I still love going to the gym and eating well. I was pretty good at budgeting at University and I think part of it is down to knowing the best places to buy food (e.g. fruit was cheaper from a market stall in town) and not eating meat every day of the week. If you're interested in cooking yummy vegetarian meals, I wrote up some of my favourite recipes a while back on my blog which you can read here and here. The photo on the right was taken at the Makeup Revolution 2nd birthday party in London a few months back. I feel so lucky to be invited to amazing events like this one and I have met so many incredible people through these experiences!

I love the photo on the left of my final year uni fam at Christmas. They're totally going to rinse me if I make this soppy but it was so sad moving out because it was such a great year, even if most of it was spent deciding what film to watch in the evening. I couldn't write this article without mentioning the charity I was involved with (predominantly in second and fourth year) - Student Minds. It's a national charity with regional branches within Universities that aim to support students struggling with their eating. Student Minds was one of the reasons I decided to work on an eating disorders ward on my placement year at Uni and I loved every minute of it. We held some great fundraising events as a group and I feel so privileged to have been part of such a wonderful society at Uni. And of course I had to mention my little (5 year old) pup Alfie - LOOK HOW CUTE HE IS!
A massive thank you to Nicola for contacting me and writing up my national newspaper debut - I'm so glad I could be a part of it and it's perfectly rounded off a fantastic four years at University. If you're interested in reading my blog series on starting University, I'll put the links below. Let me know about your Uni experiences in the comments!
The Ultimate Uni Checklist: http://www.highstreetbeautyjunkie.com/2015/09/what-should-you--take-to-university.html Making Friends at Uni: http://www.highstreetbeautyjunkie.com/2015/09/making-friends-at-uni-my-top-five-tips.html

Recently, I received an invite to the press launch of Exeter's newest restaurant with a Caribbean twist - the much-loved Turtle Bay chain. I'd heard so many great things about this chain, including its incredible jerk chicken, rum cocktails and vibrant atmosphere. I can easily say that the new Exeter chain lives up to these claims too! 
I decided to take my mum as my plus one because she definitely deserved a night off for once! We were warmly greeted by the beautiful decor and a VERY strong rum cocktail (and a non-alcoholic passion fruit cocktail for my mum who was driving). We were then given a lesson in rum - including tasters of course - which really got us in the Caribbean spirit! Adam the rum expert was absolutely brilliant.

After a lot more rum, we were seated to soak it all up with some scrummy Turtle Bay tasters. With the cocktails still flowing, a tray of starters was brought over to our table, including jerk chicken wings, sweetcorn fritters (my favourite!) and garlic 'n' herb flatbread. The main dishes came shortly after which included curried goat (it was stunning - I'd never tried anything like it before but I'd definitely choose it again!), jerk chicken and two beautiful sides of dumplings and rice 'n' peas. It's safe to say that as a rare consumer of hot foods, my mouth was on fire by the end of the main course - but this isn't to say that the food wasn't delicious! The flavours from each dish were to die for. 


I have a seriously sweet tooth, and so it's no surprise that the highlight of the evening for me was the dessert tray. I found it so hard to choose a favourite because I loved all of them - the gluten-free brownie was one of the best brownies I've ever tried; the banana and toffee cheesecake was basically heaven on a plate and the BBQ pineapple complemented the rich desserts beautifully. All of this was washed down with a strawberry daiquiri and refreshing Raspberry Reggae cocktail.

I'm so glad Turtle Bay has now landed in Exeter and I can't wait to go back! It officially opens on Tuesday 23rd August in the new Queen Street dining quarter. Have you ever tried Turtle Bay's food or cocktails before? I'd love to hear your experiences in the comments below!

At the beginning of July, my boyfriend Tim and I set off to the beautiful Greek island of Rhodes for a much-needed summer holiday. We spent a week staying in Faliraki and travelled around the island for a few day trips as well. I wanted to share with you some of the photos I took whilst on the island and show off the stunning views we were so lucky to experience.







That's the best of the bunch! Such a beautiful, picturesque island. Do let me know if you'd like to see a Rhodes travel guide in the future, including the best places to visit etc. And let me know your favourite places to travel to in the comments below - I always love receiving new holiday recommendations!

The second part of my weekend of blogging events involved me getting up super early and making the long trek to Birmingham. I was slightly apprehensive having never really been to Birmingham before but I'm so glad I went!
The Blogger Tiki Party was hosted by Kirsty (@KirstyLeannee92 on Twitter) who I'd met before at another event she'd organised and again at the Makeup Revolution party earlier this year. I loved the last event she held so much that I had to attend the next one - even if it did take a lot of travelling! I arrived and saw so many bloggers I'd met before/recognised from Twitter, it was lovely to chat to everyone.
The day it was held was National Pina Colada Day which meant one free cocktail per person -  perfect! I went behind the bar and made my own like the natural I am (not). I'd made cocktails a couple of times before (see my post about Locke & Remedy in Cardiff where I whipped up a tasty rum cocktail) and it's quite clear I'm not the talented cocktail chef I wish I was. It was fun nonetheless!


At the event, there were several brands set up around the room and we were left to mingle and chat to the brand ambassadors about their products. These brands included TOAD diaries, Lipvir and Heaven skincare as well as so many more! Everyone was so lovely and generous, and were so passionate about their products.



I'll be trialling some of the products I received at the event over the next few weeks, so watch this space for reviews! As well as the brand ambassadors present at the event, so many brands also gifted us with some fab products, including Pink Parcel who I've worked with before - click here to see my review. We also received a mini beauty box from Little Bit Lavish. I was so pleased to see the box included a bath bomb from Miss Patisserie, which is a brand based in Cardiff whose events I've attended in the past (which you can read about here if you're interested). I love their products and I'm excited to use this one! 


Kirsty also held an amazing raffle (all proceeds going to charity) and I ended up winning a huge box of snacks from Tasty Little Numbers - all of the products are 100 calories so are perfect for snacking without feeling guilty. We were also given our goodie bags which contained so many amazing samples and full sized products - I love discovering new brands through goodie bags and you can see a few of my favourites below. 


After the event it was lovely to be able to catch up with Kirsty and a few others. I know Kirsty had a few problems during the event (which she talks about on her blog) but I hope she knows that she put on a fantastic event and there's nothing more she could've done to make it more successful - it's just a shame some people ruin it for the masses. Overall, my weekend of blog event-ing was fabulous and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!