Life update

Jess and Hannah here,

We're back, and yes we do have some excuses as to why we disappeared for so long. The last couple of months have been pretty hectic as we both finished our a-levels and have been all over the place this summer. Last week we both got back from Denmark and have finally taken a second to breathe. As we type this we are creating a schedule for the months ahead, organising who posts when. so hopefully you'll be hearing a lot more from us.

This September Jess will be heading off to uni and Hannah will be taking a gap year before starting uni in 2016. So there are lots of adventures ahead for us to document and share on this blog. We are excited to be back and are relaunching our blog properly in September.

See you soon!

-H&J xox

Sunsets and sunrises 🌅

Recently I have come to the realisation that I adore watching the sun set and rise. 

I've seen many a sunset, especially while I am in the Isle of Wight as in the summer it sets at about 9ish each night, but I have only seen one sunrise in my life, and that was last week on my girls holiday to Zakynthos or how it is more commonly known, Zante. We stayed up and went straight from our night out to the beach where we watched the sun rise over the Zante sands, and now I'm obsessed. I wish I had the stamina to stay up all night every night and watch a sun rise every morning, however that wouldn't be healthy and I wouldn't recommend it for anyone! 

There is something about this simple act of nature that mesmerises me. The way it creates different colours leaves me in oar and makes me want to take endless amounts of Instagram pictures of it. 

I wish my life was just watching the sun set and rise over and over, but unfortunately I like sleep too much for that. 

Here are some pictures I've got recently: 

These two were the sunrise in Zante last week! 

These sunsets were taken in the Isle of Wight! 

If you like pictures of the sun moving as much as me then follow our Instagram @ourlivesoninsta as I'm forever uploading new pictures I've taken

Thank you for reading,

-J 

Xx

Primark Summer Clothes haul

Jess here,

at the weekend I visited primark for the first time in ages, I am visiting Greece soon for a girls holiday and so I was in desperate need of some cheap summery clothes, so here is what I bought, 

Crotchet jacket- £12

Blue and white striped sandals- £6

This Playsuit was only £5 which is an absolute bargain for what it is!!

This red crop top was £6

And the final item i bought was this small black over the shoulder bag for just £4.50, bargain!!!

Thank you of reading, 

-J xxx

5 Reasons Why I Love Spring

My favourite season has always been winter, however I am starting to change my mind, I am currently obsessed with spring and I think it is working its way to my top season spot, so here are my top 5 reasons why I am loving spring at the moment:


5) Game of thrones starts, this one is not a usual reason for people to love spring but it is true spring always brings about a new series of games of thrones so it is just another reason why I am loving spring.


4) Chocolate, easter always leaves a massive supply of chocolate in my house which in my eyes is always good (even if i am trying to be healthy)


3) The blue sky, who doesn't love a blue sky? its not normally until summer that we see these in England so to get some already is brilliant.


2) The flowers, I love the hydrangeas, daffodils, blossom and the roses the most. They are so pretty I just want to have an endless supply of them in my room.


1) How much it has lifted my spirits, this has never happened before as I am usually content all year round but for the first time I have got fed up of the cold winter, I need the sunny weather, blue skys and tans that spring brings. Just for the sun to be out has made me feel so much happier and excited for summer.



Thank you for reading, let me know what your favourite season is in the comments or tweet us our twitter is @livesofhandj
-J xxx

My Netflix Recommendations

Netflix is my one true love so I thought that I would share some of my favorite TV shows and films to watch on it. Recently I have been really loving all the newly added, so good job Netflix!

1) Pretty Little Liars.
I am only on Season 3 of this show, but I am hooked! It is such an addictive tv show to start watching so if you need to be revising or doing something else important I would not recommend watching this because you will undoubtedly become addicted to it.

2) Gossip Girl.

Another addictive show to watch, but so so great, I loved this and watched it so quickly as I got drawn into the characters, so again do not start this series if you have other things to do, it is very ADDICTIVE! 

3) Merlin.

I have always loved Merlin, I have every series on DVD! But having it on netflix means I can watch it easier so if I just want to watch something but I'm not sure what then Merlin is my go to tv program. Would definitely recommend this series. 

4) Disney. 

This is a bit of an odd recommendation as there is not a specific film I would recommend as all of them are brilliant, if you just type in disney to the search bar you get over ten disney films to choose from and recently netflix have been good with their choice of new disney films (brave, hunchback of Notre dam, Hercules and oz the great and powerful), definitely the best kind of films out there! 

5) Mock the Week.

A comedy quiz show that makes me laugh every episode, this is mine and my dad's sense of humor in a nutshell, and I love it! It is my go to program on netflix when I need a laugh, it's only the older series's though so would love it if the new ones could be up too *hint hint netflix*

Thank you for reading, let me know what your favourite thing to watch on netflix is at the moment, 

-J xox

New tea purchase

Hannah here!

This winter I spent christmas with my family in Denmark, while I was there one of the things I bought was this selection pack of teas. The packaging is of course in Danish but the name of this selection is 'soul warmer', it includes; green tea with Jasmine, strawberry tea, summer-berry tea, and herbal tea with blueberry. 

I have now tried all of them and the strawberry tea is definitely my favourite of the four. It is also the nicest strawberry tea that I have ever tasted, having a very sweet (non-artificial) and refreshing flavour. 

I would love to see more selection packs of this kind in the UK as I think they are a really lovely way of trying new teas. I also picked up another selection pack called 'Evening calm', although I haven't opened it yet so can't tell you much about it. 

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this slightly different style of post! I am a big tea lover so would love to hear if you have any tea recommendations! -H xox

Ypres trip

Today I went on a battlefield trip with my school, this is honestly one of the best yet most upsetting trips I've ever been on. We visited the Ypres region of Belgium where many battles throughout ww1 took place, so all around are cemetery's and battle grounds, I could not imagine living there and seeing them every day as after even one day I felt the impact.

The vast amount of soldiers who gave there lives for us in this one area is unimaginable and when seeing the graves it is hard to fathom that there are British or Commonwealth men lying in the ground who fought for us to be here today, some of whom may be related to me, or one of my friends or you?! Here are just some of the places we visited and a fact I learnt from each:

We first visited Mening Gate, this is a memorial for 55,000 soldiers whose bodies were not found and they do not know where they were killed due to many circumstances, when building this they ran out of room to write the names so a further 34,000 names of unknown soldiers are written on a memorial at the Tyne cot cemetery.

The Flanders fields museum was the next destination we visited and this picture really got to me, straight after this picture was taken a bomb hit and all of these injured who were expecting to go home died, this was also only 1 year before the war finished so had that bomb not hit all these men would have survived the war, the person who took the picture survived as they had moved a few metres from the site the bomb hit so he was able to print this picture with its story of despair.

The next place was the Essex farm cemetery, this is where the famous poet John McRae served as a doctor, however it is also where the youngest known soldier to die in ww1 is buried, he was only 15 which is an anomaly as normally you were not allowed to join until you are 18.

We then visited Leningrad which is a German cemetery, we went here to see the difference between how the British and German bury there dead and also to pay our respects of course! One fact that shocked me is that in one grave as soon as you walk in there are 25,000 German soldiers all buried together, and what makes it more interesting is that 2 Belgian men looked up every name in the grave and found that two British soldiers got mixed up within the mass of German soldiers. I cannot write down the kinds of emotions I felt when here, these people had lives and families and it confuses me how one war can take so many.

Lastly we visited Tyne cot which is the largest grave of British soldiers in the world with 11,871 men buried here. The saddest part was reading the sentences that some family's asked to have on their loved ones graves, some were very emotional on one grave this was written 'it was as if the sun had gone out' (this was actually at Essex farm but there were many at Tyne cot too). The sheer mass of graves that were here was astounding, again how could one war take so many.

Overall it was a very emotional experience which I would thoroughly recommend to anyone but especially history enthusiasts!
Thanks for reading,
-J xox

My top 5 handbag essentials -H

 Hannah here!

Yesterday I gave my handbag a much needed clear out and noticed that there were a few items I always carry with me. So I thought I would share with you my current handbag essentials.

• The Body Shop "Honeymania" hand cream 30ml- This sinks in super fast for on-the-go application.
• Eos organic lipbalm in "Sweet Mint"- There's no need to stick your grubby fingers in a tin to apply this lip product. 
• Carex refreshing wet wipes- This is just the brand that I am currently using. They're a fairly standard 'does the job" product, but definitely necessary. 
• Chewing gum- To keep you minty fresh all day. I love the "Bubble mint" gum by Extra, it's definitely my favourite flavour. 
• A makeup bag- I always have a small case to keep all the necessary bits and pieces together and prevent them from getting lost. My sister gave me this one for Christmas because I love cats, it's also a great size! 

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. I would love to know what your handbag essentials are! 

-H xox

Water and tea update.

Jess here,

In a previous post I spoke about how I was only going to drink tea and water this February and for about 15 days I was able to complete this successfully. Then my family and I went to harvester and I completely forgot and automatically ordered a diet Pepsi, and only after drinking it did I realise what I had done, after this I just had a craving for fizzy drinks! I did manage to hold myself off slightly however my will power is not the best and I ended up drinking about two more diet fizzy drinks. I was VERY disappointed in myself however even though I didn't complete the month without sweeteners, this small action has had an impact on my diet. I have now changed the sweetener in my tea for either one sugar or nothing, and I drink so much more water throughout the day, and even my family have started to drink more water because of us trying to give up sweeteners. So all in all it was a good idea to try it, although I have realised I have a slight addiction to fizzy diet drinks I am now drinking more water than I have ever drunk and actually do feel healthier in myself. I would highly recommend trying to give up sweeteners, even if it is just for 15 days!!!

Thanks for reading, 

-J xox 

Outlet haul

Jess here, 

The other day my sister and I traveled to Gun Wharf Quays in Portsmouth which is an outlet shopping park, and it is amazing! I love discounts and when I can get a £56.50 dress down to £16 I can't say no, so here is what I bought:

From Jack Wills I got two dresses, they had the best discounted clothes, I was so tempted to get some track suit bottoms which were only £15 but I persuaded myself out of it and instead I bought two dresses: 

£56.50 down to £16 

£49.50 down to £10 

We then went to gap so that my sister could get some baby clothes for her children however I managed to find two bargains:

 

£19.99 down to £13.99.

This jacket is a different kind of purchase than what I normally buy however I thought it would be perfect as a summer jacket as it is so light, and I loved the colour of it!

I cannot remember the exact price of these stripped jean leggings however they were around £15.

Thank you for reading,

-J xox

Detox tea review

Hannah here!

This week I purchased the M&S Detox tea, it is a blend of nettle, dandelion, and milk thistle. No to mention it is naturally caffeine free, making it suitable for all. I am a great tea lover and was eager to try a calming and cleansing brew (especially when it was only £1 for 20 tea bags!). I have absolutely fallen in love with this tea and its many health benefits are a bonus. I also find that the milk thistle gives it a slightly sweet taste, which makes it all the more enjoyable. 

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this post. I would love to know your thoughts on any great teas that you've come across!
-H xox

Only Water and Tea February.

Jess here,

Recently in a food tech lesson I found out the bad qualities of sweeteners such as the risks of headaches, cancers and mood swings, although it is not 100% proven that these things occur from sweeteners I can't help wanting to test it out.

I have recently been getting headaches and wondering what it could be, although it is only probably stress from school, when I was taught about this I thought to myself  'God I drink a lot of sweeteners.' 

In my house we always substitute sugar for sweeteners, in teas and coffees, diet cola, diet lemonade and no added sugar orange squash so by removing these things from my diet,  could make some impact on my health.  I also never drink enough water, the reason for this is because I would rather have orange squash or another kind of sugary drink but I have recently learnt that most of these contain sweeteners! 

When I mentioned what I had learnt to my parents they were as shocked as I was at the amount of sweeteners we actually drink so we agreed that for the month of February we would only drink water and tea (because non of us could get up in the morning without a cup of it.)

These studies into sweeteners may be wrong but even if they are, only drinking water and tea for a whole month will hopefully have benefits for me and my parents health.

I'll keep the blog updated on how it's going, wish me luck and hopefully only drinking tea and water will do something good for me! 

Thanks for reading, 

-J

Current must-have products

Hannah here!

I hope you have all had a lovely winter break and are enjoying the new year. After a much needed break we have finally got ourselves organised and back into the swing of things. I thought I would  share with you some of the products I really couldn't live without!

The body shop tea tree cleanser
This is an absolute must have and I don't go a day without using it. It is perfect for mattifying and toning oily skin!

Tangle teaser
This was a new product to me in 2014 and I don't know how I coped before it! If anyone hasn't tried this, I don't know what your waiting for!

Real techniques stippling brush
I use this everyday to blend in my concealer and nothing does the job as well as this brush, its an absolute staple product.

The body shop shower gels
They all have such a lovely and refreshing scent, but my favourite is definitely strawberry. They're a tad pricey for a shower gel, but they last well and I feel so good using them. The scents I have are; Vineyard Peach, Mango, and Strawberry!

Vo5 "Give me texture" hair spray
I go through so many cans of this and I simply couldn't fault this product. its the perfect texturising spray with a great scent. 

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this post. I am always looking for new products to try, and would love to hear what your current must-have products are! -H xox