A Few Moments With: The Kind Side // Interview #6

A blogger I am slowly growing to love is Zauni over at The Kind Side. Reading through her blog posts was like a breath of fresh air (I've always found that saying slightly odd haha!) and found her posts thought provoking, to say the least. Her blog is now a place I know I can visit if I'm ever in the need for a burst of positive energy or just a chance to reflect on certain things about ourselves that we can sometimes neglect in the business of every day. I decided to interview Zauni for this interview series in order to share her blog with you guys and find out more about her passions on blogging and life!

Hello! Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

Hey there! My name is Zauni, I’m a positive lifestyle blogger over at The Kind Side. My blog is focused on helping those discover their ‘kind’ side and enhance their inner peace in hope of making the world a more peaceful place. I believe in the concepts of love, unity, and peace - and I believe in them strongly. My mantra is: spread love, practice peace, advocate unity. That is how I try to live my life. I’m not always successful, and I have some set backs, but for the most part I just try to live a good life and help as many people as I can along the way. When I’m not being a humanitarian-blogging activist, I’m a semi-normal college student who is obsessed with Harry Potter, alfredo sauce, iced coffee, vanilla lattes, fruit infused water, and squidward from Spongebob. 

How and why did you first get into blogging?

I wanted to start a blog for a while, but I didn’t know what ‘type’ of blog I would have. I kept putting it off, or talking myself out of it. One day my mom just said, “You know stop talking about it and just do it.” Some of the best advice I've ever had.

What has been your highlight about blogging so far?

Helping others help themselves. When people comment or email me saying they have learned something about themselves, or they have been inspired it makes me feel as if I’m doing something right. 

I get a lot of inspiration from your blog and positive outlook on life! Where do you draw inspiration from?

Aww thank you! I get a lot of inspiration from my mum, she is amazing. She’s taught me so much about life, love, God, and how to be a good person. She’s got the most incredible, beautiful spirit I’ve ever known and every time I talk to her I get inspired.

You recently took part in a sense of self week on your blog, could you explain what that was and what you learnt from it? 

Sense of Self Week was a blog series focused on defining what it means to have a ‘sense of self’ and getting to know yourself presently, in order to move forward. It was the first series I ever did on my blog, and it helped me discover a little more about myself, and dig deeper into who I truly am and how who I am is the cause of the choices I make and the things I like.

Experience Sense of Self Week for yourself here: Defining the term | Finding Sense of Self | Finding Gratitude | Dealing with Feeling Lost | When we Change

What is the best advice you've been given?

Face your fears. Simple, a bit cliche - but it’s gotten me through some tough moments. Sometimes the fear itself is the worse part. When I’m able to move away from that fear, it makes difficult things easier.

What are you goals for your blog and where do you see it heading in the future?

I’m a huge believe in the power of hope, love, and faith and it is those ideals that helped me formulate a plan of action for my future and the future of my blog. I want to make the world a better place, and ultimately I would love world peace. It sounds like a such a Miss America answer, but I believe it’s a true possibility with the right movements and mindsets. So I’m taking steps forward to make those dreams a reality. Currently I’m working with a team of people on a couple of projects that I’ll be revealing soon! If you’re interested in working on something that will help others - head over to my group project tab to learn more! 

Who are some of your favourite bloggers?

My favorite blogger has to be Karla Deras over at Karla’s Closet, hands down. She was the first blog I ever read, a couple of years ago and I fell in love with her fashion, her confidence, and just her overall hustle. 

Thank you! Where else can we find you?

Blog - www.thekindside.com

Twitter - @TheKindSide

I’ve got a really awesome contact page where you can reach me!

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I hope you liked this interview! Let me know your thoughts and suggestions on ways to improve the blogger interview series below :)

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Manchester times!

Last week I handed in my Coursework and broke up from uni for Christmas break so I planned to spend the weekend in Manchester visiting my friend Bim who had just moved there for work. I've been to Manchester before but only briefly so it was nice to spend a whole weekend there and take a stroll through the Christmas markets and Art Gallery.  It was also my Birthday last week so it was nice to get away after all the uni stress!

I also met up with fellow blogger Halima over at Fashionicide for dinner while I was there which was nice as it's always lovely to meet bloggers in person! We decided on a Wagamama's and had a lovely evening discussing blogging, parents and er, politics haha!

The next day I dragged Bim over to the Manchester Art Gallery in town. We went on a Sunday near closing time so it was nice and quite and we just had a look round. I love going to Art Galleries whenever I'm in a City that I don't know that well. I don't know a thing about art though - I just like having a look round; I feel like I'm walking through someone's home and having a nosey at their pictures ha!

This was my favourite painting, I wish I could remember what it was called but it shows Egyptian women collecting water from the Nile.

Hope you're all having a lovely Christmas break and enjoying the festivities/holidays/time of work

Check out my latest YouTube video on making decisions HERE 

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Clap your hands if you feel like happiness is the truth // OOTD

Denim Jacket; Vintage || Jumper; H&M || Shirt; M&S || Rings; H&M || Riding pants; H&M || Boots; Matalan

A massive thank you to Gavina for taking these photos for me! Check out her Fashion & Beauty blog HERE and photography blog HERE

Oh hey guys hey guess what Christmas break is heeeerreeee, oh yeaaaaah. Time to chill. Kind of anyway, I still have some work left to do and need to think about my dissertation title buuuut like the typical student I'm putting it off for a while ha! Anyway, I bought this denim jacket a while back and haven't really worn it until now but I'm a lover of layering so its come in quite handy recently! Also I guess it'll be a good piece to wear in the Summer too over a dress or something as an alternative to a leather jacket.  The shirt underneath my jumper is, again, stolen form my mum but it has such a lovely print over it!

Currently, I am loving:

Pharrell - Happy (AKA the best feel good song ever)

P-Square - No one like you (AKA my wedding song)

P-Square - Chop my money

Find me on: YouTube | Bloglovin | Twitter | Intagram: @thatgirlsaadiya

You are a story. Do not become a word // OOTD

'You are a story. 
Do not become a word because you want to be loved. 
Love does not ask you to be nothing for something' 

Nayyirah Waheed

Jumper; H&M // Skirt; Topshop

Oh hey there. So this is just a quick outfit post for today, I feel like I've been wearing this skirt waaaay too often but it's such a good item that I can't help but wear it again... and again... and again. I'll probably get bored of it one day though.

I'm currently swimming in a sea of coursework research and political essays which is getting quite stressful! Although I'm nearly done so that's not too bad I guess! I have to say, I think this course is making me more skeptical about the world and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing... interesting stuff though!

Music wise, I am loving:

Jason Mraz - In your hands 

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A Few Moments With: Not Your Average // Interview #5

I can remember signing up to blogger a good four years ago now with a sudden burst of inspiration after catching up with some of my favourite fashion bloggers. If I'm honest, I never really took it that seriously as it was just an extra way for me to procrastinate. Now, however, after coming across the online community that blogging has to offer it's become a pastime I very much enjoy. From weekly blog chats, press events to blogger meet-ups I think it's easier to get involved in as much or as little as you want in this online community. Blogger meet-ups, especially, give you the opportunity to meet and connect with other bloggers in your local area, bringing the online community into reality and possibly uncovering new friendships. I recently attended the #EastMidsMeetUp held by the lovely Emma from Not Your Average and had a lovely, chilled and fun filled day meeting local bloggers and chatting about all things blogging related. As the host, I decided to ask Emma a few questions on blogging, organising/attending a blogger meet-up and blogging with a baby!

Hello! Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

Hey! I'm Emma, 23 (nearly 24) years old and live in a small town near Burton on Trent, Derbyshire. I have a 6 month old girl called Millie and live with my boyfriend of 2 years. I'm currently also studying Childhood part time with the open university and plan (or hope) to be a Primary Teacher or Teaching Assistant! 

How and why did you start blogging?

I started blogging when I was in university to start with but I used a blog.com platform that never really got many hits so when I left (due to being pregnant) I set up a new blog with Blogger in January of this year and everything went from there. It was mainly to fill up my spare time as I was only working casually and part time because of being pregnant and then when January came, nowhere would take me on as I was 5 months pregnant and they probably knew I'd be leaving pretty soon! 

The blogging community offers so many great opportunities, one of my favourites being meet-ups which is something you have recently organised. What inspired you to hold the #EastMidsMeetUp?

The main reason was because you hear so much of events happening down in London that people in the Midlands find hard to get to and then when there is other meet-ups that are held in the Midlands, you get Londoners and Northerners travelling and they take up spaces that could have been for more local girls. It's why I was so picky when it came to spaces for this one, you had to live in a 30 mile radius of Derby so that it was strictly local bloggers! 

For anyone thinking of organising and holding their own blogging meet-up or event, what advice would you give them?

DON'T! Haha, just kidding. But it does take a lot of work and can get stressful, especially if you want to make it big and provide goodie bags. Contacting companies or emailing companies back takes up a lot of time and you have to be super organised as you have so many things coming in and out. Set up spreadsheets for attendees, companies and people you need to get back to and update it on a daily basis. This way you keep on top of everything! 

Attending a meet-up can be quite nerve-wracking! For anyone attending a meet-up for the first time, what advice would you give them?

I don't really get nervous when meeting new people so it's hard for me to advise but I guess that you know you're going to have at least one thing in common with everyone there - blogging! Don't be shy, just come straight out and ask the person standing next to you "What's your name? What's your blog?" and you'll find they will probably have been thinking the same thing but you beat them to it! :) 

Your blog ranges from posts on Fashion, Beauty and being a recent Mother! How exciting has it been being a part of the #pbloggers community too? 

It's really nice to know that people are going through, or have been through the phases I go through with Millie. Such as sleeping, or lack of, feeding problems etc. There is always someone that can give you advice or re-assure you that everything will be okay. The #pbloggers chats are kind of a luxury when it comes to parenting though, everyone has their different parenting ways but it's good because we can all learn something new from each other! 

What has been your most recent beauty purchase?

Up until now, I have been re-purchasing some of my holy grail high street products such as Seventeen's Phwoarr Paint, Barry M Lash Vegas, No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation and Collection Eye Liner. All AMAZING but cheap products. 

What are your top three beauty products at the moment? 

At the moment it has got to be... 

1) MAC Up the Amp Lipstick

2) Sleek Vintage Romance Palette

3) Seventeen Phwoarr Paint

Thank you Emma! Where else can we find you?

Thank you! I have Twitter, Youtube, Facebook and Instagram - emmalou_b

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I hope you guys liked this interview! Let me know what you think below and if you have any suggestions :)

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#EastMidsMeetUp // Blogger Event

Myself and Rosalie                                                                   Myself and Gavina

Thank you to Gavina for the photos (as my camera was rubbish on the night haha!)

Last Saturday I went to the #EastMidsMeetUp which was hosted by the lovely Emma and had such a great time! It was so nice to meet up with other local bloggers and take the blogging community offline and into real life for the day. We had been using the #EastMidsMeetUp hashtag on twitter for quite a while too so it was nice to meet people in person and figure out who was who from their twitter/blog pictures (que lots of 'ohhh so yoooouuu'reeee so & so, nice to meet you' comments!) We started off by doing some shopping in Westfields in Derby (which is mega crazy huuuuge) as this gave us an opportunity to mingle and get our Secret Santa presents. I had picked out Charlie and so decided to get her a bath bomb from Lush. We then made our way over to The Fat Cat Cafe for the whole group to meet up and get a chance to mingle with others and talk some more. After stuffing our faces, Emma handed out all the goody bags that she had spent months organising and preparing for us and there was so much stuff to go through! We also swapped our Secret Santa presents which was exciting and I got the Snow Fairy shower gel from Lush bought by Emily from What Em Loves which smells like sweets and bubblegum and candyfloss and summer so thank you to Emily for that!

All in all it was a lovely day/evening and was nice to see how many local bloggers there are! A massive thank you to Emma for organising and hosting - I can imagine it was stressful but was a definite success! Hopefully I'll have a couple of reviews up about some of the samples soon!

Have you guys been to an event recently?

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Is it too much to ask for something Great? // OOTD

Top; Matalan || Riding pants; H&M || Cardi; stolen from my mum

Erm guys... I'm wearing all black wowowowow. Is this a boring outfit? I feel like it's a boring outfit cos there's no colour haha! I say that however, I actually like this all black look - it's simple and a lot more 'grown up' looking, if that makes sense! I stole my cardi from my mum when I started uni ages ago and, to be honest, I've practically lived in it ever since - it's so warm and great for layering.

I went to the #EastMidsMeetUp yesterday by the way! It was organised/hosted by Emma and was so lovely to meet/connect with local bloggers! A blog post talking about the day in more detail will be up later as well as a blogger interview with Emma too so look out for that :) Speaking of the interviews... thank you guys for your comments and feedback on the last ones so far! I'm glad you're enjoying them and if you have any more feedback/suggestions/ways to improve then feel free to let me know! If you want to catch up on the latest ones you can do so here.

I hope you enjoy your Sunday, I'm off to read up on world politics for uni... yaaay (no sarcasm intended, it's actually interesting... ok maybe a liiiiitle bit of sarcasm...) (wouldn't it be so cool if you could go to uni/take classes because you genuinely enjoy the course content but not have to be graded on it? Yeah that would be cool)

Music wise I am loving:

Ellie Goulding - How long will I love you?

(How amazing is this song??)

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A Few Moments With: Bambella Blog // Interview #4

I first came across Alex's blog after taking part in a #lbloggers chat a couple of months back on twitter and instantly fell in love with her style - girly and quirky with an edge that will surely leave you with some inspiration for your own outfits and as a self confessed accessories-kinda-girl, Alex's blog always makes me promise myself to incorporate more jewelry into my day to day outfits. Not only does she share her personal style but money saving posts, DIY posts along with beauty, lifestyle and food posts all feature on her blog too.  I decided to ask Alex a few questions on blogging, her fashion design course and her outfit choice for a super cool themed date night...

Hello! Can you tell us a bit about yourself? 

Hello there! I'm Alex, 20 years of age, studying fashion design in Falmouth and want nothing more in life to blog and be a wedding dress designer.

How and why did you get into blogging?

I was first introduced to blogs when I started my own little jewellery shop. I wanted to get the shop's name out there so looked to bloggers to review my items. It was then that I started reading blogs purely out of interest and became addicted! From that, it seemed like the most natural step to create my own!

What advice would you give for anyone new to blogging and the blogging community? 

Most people tend to say social media for this answer, and although I do agree that it helps, I think that you need an aesthetically pleasing blog first as, you can get thousands of people to visit your blog through Twitter and Facebook, but if they don't like the look of your blog, they'll click off straight away. Doing a little research will help with this, such as Googling 'how to ... on blogger'. You will find loads of tutorials to help spruce up your blog a little. This is just my opinion though so don't hate on me if you disagree!  

You are currently studying Fashion design at University, has your blog helped with elements of your course?

Yes! It was a huge help to me getting on the course in the first place! Last year I was doing a different course at Falmouth and decided it wasn't for me, so went to see the head of the fashion course to ask about changing. Turns out he had already done a little research on me, found my blog, had a browse through and ended up loving it! As I had never done any previous fashion/textiles subjects at school, I think my blog was the main aspect that got me onto the course.

Who are your favourite designers at the moment?

Sorry to be cliché but it always has been and always will be Alexander McQueen. I love his style as it is the exact same thing I would love to be able to produce. The detail in his (or now the different people who work on his behalf) is just perfection in my eyes, I'm definitely not a believer in 'less is more'!

What are your best ways to personalize an outfit?

I find any average looking outfit can look more interesting with jewellery. I am a crazy jewellery fan and have way too much for my own good, so love wearing it at any opportunity! 

Date night is coming up! How would you style your outfit?

Well as it just so happens, mine and Jack's date night is in fact coming up! This weeks pick from the 'date ideas' jar was a themed night. We chose a pirate theme, so along with watching Pirates of the Caribbean and drinking rum, I'll probably be wearing a flouncy shirt, striped waistcoat, plain black skirt with knee high boots and fishnets to top it off! 

Where else can we find you?

Aside from my Blog of course, I have Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest all under the name alexmaceachern, YouTube under the name Alex Maceachern Bambella and Facebook by searching for Bambella Blog. 

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Hope you liked this interview! Let me know your thoughts below.

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Lights will guide you home // OOTD

Coat* - c/o Urban Outfitters

Scarf - Some random market stall I think!

Rings - H&M

If you live in England you know how important/vital/crucial it is that you have the perfect/warmest winter coat. Well I guess England isn't THAT cold but idk I'm just always dreading winter and just wish I could hibernate for real.  Anyway, I've been on the hunt for a proper coat for ages now as I used to have a really flimsy one from Primark that was just getting me by so when I was invited to the Urban Outfitters press day last week (check out my post on it here) and kindly offered an item I thought it would be so cool to get one from their label! Gavina actually picked this out for me to try on and I remember thinking 'ohhhhh yeaaaaaaaaaah this is niiiiiiiiiiiice' because, firstly, I love the tartan print (but also that it's not too in your face and a lot more subtle than I've seen recently) and secondly I love that it's two-tone so it makes it look a bit more interesting. And of course IT'S SO NICE AND WARM. I got it in a size bigger and I feel like I'm walking round just wrapped in a duvet. Amazing. So thank you to the guys at UO for the gift!

I actually met up with Gavina last week and she kindly offered to take my photo's for this post and for her photography blog too! We found an alleyway in between some shops that was pretty cool and lit up all the way down so it seemed like a decent location to shoot. It was really nice to experiment with light actually and I'm loving how the shots came out so thank you to her for the photo's! Make sure to check out her photography blog HERE for some more photo's and her previous work.

I hope you liked this post! A little bit different but hey! Let me know your thoughts below and have a good week! 

Currently, I've been loving:

Luke Sital-Singh - Nothing Stays the Same

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Urban Outfitters comes to Nottingham!!

GUYS URBAN OUTFITTERS IS NOW IN NOTTINGHAM AND IT'S SO COOL AND EXCITING. 

Cool because, well, it's Urban Outfitters. Exciting because, you have no idea how much people have been talking about the store opening. It's like the highlight of the year for Nottingham shoppers (slight exaggeration? I dunno...) I was lucky enough to be invited along to the press day and went along with Gavina yesterday to take a look round which was pretty exciting! I've only ever been in the one in Liverpool One so it's nice to have one here in Notts that I can check out IN REAL LIFE instead of browsing through their online collection (and perhaps spend all my money in? Oh dear...)

Every time I go shopping I've started paying more attention to mannequins and how they're styled which I never really did before for some reason (I used to just ignore them and think 'oh they're dressed too cool for me to try' haha!).  I love the layering of different colours and textures on these mannequins and as soon as I finish writing up this post I'm going to YouTube how to tie a scarf/turban so I can gain extra cool points (you think I'm joking...)

Apart from loving the Urban Outfitters brand/style I also love love love the general design and vibe of the store.  It's a lot bigger than I thought and myself and Gavina kept commenting on the quite rustic/old school vibe it gave off with graffiti and street style art dotted around. There's also a Vinyl wall and an area full of quirky books and gift ideas (I'm pretty sure I saw a couple of furby's hidden at the back somewhere!) adding  to the whole shopping experience.

If you live in/near Nottingham and haven't done so already then you should probably go and check out the store for yourself, it's so flipppin cool! It's in such a great location too (the entrance to Victoria Centre) and it's opened just in time for some serious Christmas shopping. I'm so glad I got to go along to check it out so thank you to the guys at Urban Outfitters for the invite! I was also lucky enough to pick out an item so I shall do a separate outfit post for that so look out for that! Also, make sure to check out the #UONottingham hashtag on instagram for some pictures from their store opening party last night!

What do you guys think of the store? 

Currently, I've been loving:

Fast Car - Tracy Chapman

Find me on: YouTube | Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram: @thatgirlsaadiya