book recommendations based on red (taylor's version)

28 Nov 2021

It's been a HOT MINUTE since I last did a bookish post, mainly because I've not really been reading that many books. I'm sort of only averaging one or two a month at the minute so I don't feel like it's worth updating. You can see all that on Goodreads if you follow me there! I actually think my last one was book recommendations based on the Eurovision top five so maybe I'm carving myself a niche here.

Something I have been doing a lot of recently is listening to a LOT of Taylor Swift! You Belong With Me was one of the very first songs I ever bought on iTunes so I’ve been a Taylor Swift fan for as long as I’ve been a music fan. I even have my original copy of Red on CD still to this day so Red (Taylor’s Version) was something that I personally was very excited for.

I’ve tried to include a wide variety of genres and vibes here – this was a MAMMOTH task okay, she released thirty songs – that’s almost as many books as I’ve read this year alone. I ended up just opting for all the songs on the original release of the album rather than the vault songs because truly nobody has time to read that, but in case you were wondering, my favourite vault songs are Better Man, Nothing New and obviously the ten minute All Too Well!

For this post I’ve got the song, a line of the song I think is particularly poignant and connects to the book, a summary of the book and a brief thought from me on why I picked it. There’s a lot going on so I guess we’ll just jump right in.

simple ways to get your room holiday ready

22 Nov 2021

*THIS POST IS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH POSTER STORE AND CONTAINS GIFTED ITEMS*


I simply adore the festive season. It’s something that’s fairly obvious about me if you spend any time with me at all during the November/December period. I’m famous in my friendship group for always being the first one to watch and review all the latest Netflix Christmas movies so naturally I’m the first person people come to in order to get into that Christmassy mood. However, while my days are spent filled with my favourite Christmas music and the rest of the house it covered with tinsel, my room always ends up looking the same as always. I think I’ve always put it down to the space being too small to fit anything extra in but there are some really great ways to spruce up your current décor to give it a bit of a festive twist. I have lots of different posters and prints all over my room throughout the year and they usually stay fairly consistent but grabbing some new festive ones, like these ones I got from Poster Store are a really great place to start!
I’ve worked with Poster Store in the past and I’m always so impressed with the quality of the prints. So naturally, when the idea arose to spruce up my room for Christmas, I knew I could rely on them for some cute festive prints. All the posters are printed on sustainable but high-quality paper coming from responsibly managed forests which meet the highest environmental and social standards.

I already had these frames with prints in them so all I had to do was switch them up for the holiday season but if you don’t Poster Store also sell frames to fit whatever posters you choose so you’re guaranteed a perfect fit. I opted for one 21x30 sized print and one 30x40 sized print to add a little bit of intrigue with the different sizes. I mentioned that my room is quite small so I’m often apprehensive about going for massive prints so they don’t overpower the room, but I find that these sizes work perfectly together to fill the space I need.
The prints that I opted for are these two typography prints with the words ‘Let It Snow’ and ‘It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year’. I just really love the simplicity of them, and I think they add such a fun but simple festive touch. A funny coincidence about this is that I’m a massive Il Volo fan, they’re an Italian operatic pop trio if you’re unfamiliar and they actually do a Christmas Medley featuring both of these songs, the only one that’s missing is Jingle Bell Rock!
Some other easy ways to spruce up your décor for the winter season is to add some fairy lights because although they work all year round there’s just something so so festive and joyous about them at this time of year. Also light a festive candle and relax with a cup of hot chocolate in a festive mug and snuggle under some festive bedding. Have I said the word festive enough?
One really great thing about Christmas décor is that, if you do it properly, it’s sustainable. While you only use these things once a year a lot of the joy of Christmas is nostalgia and so you end up using the same things year after year because of the memories associated with them. I still use the same stocking that I got for my first Christmas in 1998. So the memories that you make with your Christmas décor now will be things that you’ll remember every time you go to put them up every year afterwards. It reminds me of the Taylor Swift song New Year’s Day - ‘Hold on to these memories and they will hold on to you”!
If you want to switch up some of your prints for the festive season, there are so many other great ones on Poster Store that you can check out and they’ve even given me a discount code for you so you can get 55% off! Use ALICE/55 at checkout for your discount and make your Christmas magical! This code is valid until 29th November for all posters, not just festive ones (except Selection) and it is not combinable with other discount campaigns and can’t be used for frames. What is your favourite way to decorate for the holidays?