Social Media | Unfriend Zone

Oh I do love a good rant, and since posting my blogger pet peeves recently I've came to see you guys do too! Admittedly I perhaps rant a bit more than the average human being and hey why not? The world is so full of wondrous moments of idiocy, irritants and general annoyances that if I didn't point them out who else would!? So in light of my devotion to and deep love of the good old fashioned rant I thought I would share with you today some of the things I have unfriended people for on Facebook during the course of my social media years.

Now before I get started I just want to say that you know, to each their own, I don't mind baby pictures, pictures of your latest holidays, after all isn't that what this glorious social media generation is all about? So take that baby picture, upload that tanning snap and come at me horizon and sunset pictures! But please, for the love of god, keep the following in your home or in your head!

Women who make anti feminist statements

This one wasn't as much a 'I hate feminist' post, rather it was a post on why men should be regarded as higher beings than women and that this particular young lady, 'exists to serve her man' that it (I guess it meant her life) ought to be about his hopes, his dreams, his ambitions and above all else his desires. To be quite honest it looked like an excerpt from 50 shades taken that step too far and if that's the kind of things you'll be sharing I say sayonara to you! 

Excessive photoshopping of selfies

This one was so ridiculous I must have shown every single one of my friends and family members, somebody had smoothed their face, altered their features, hair colour, eye colour and added a false hair accessory only to display this as their own profile picture. Of course being the understanding soul I am (cough) I gave them the benefit of the doubt and thought ach it's a joke. Oh no my friends, oh no, this picture received well over 50 likes and a good few comments on how amazing this person looked and how different to which this person replied, aw thanks just good lighting..... hm... I rest my case.  

Overuse of pet names and PDA's

This I have done to more than one couple in the past, it simply baffles me that couples validate their relationships through gooey pet names and sickly sweet PDA's in their day to day life let alone in the digital world. Worse still, these people generally live together, that's right folks, they're sat opposite each other, in the same room of their house, tagging, untagging, liking, poking, prodding and causing a general digital annoyance to my feed, see ya later pookie!

Well guys, now you've heard my social media pet peeves, well at least we've scraped the surface! So now I'd love to hear yours, be sure to let me know what gets your goat, gives you social sweats or just blows your digital top in the comments below, come share them with me on Twitter, or of course if you'd like to hear more from Granite City Girl you can follow me on Bloglovin'

Until next time folks, love you forever honey and I'll see you soon pookie!

H.Elizabeth

Yoga in the Deen | What to expect from your first yoga class

Lady my body simply wasn't meant to bend that way!

Hello everyone, today I am back with yet another exciting Granite City Girl what to expect post and today I'm going to be tackling what to expect from your first yoga class. A few weeks ago one of  my friends and I decided that it would be good for our fitness, health, minds and general well being to take on a yoga class and get some much needed zen in our lives. As you guys know I recently moved house and as well as all of the lovely little moments life throws at you in the mix I was stressed, and I don't do well with stress, and my solution? Yoga! A little piece of advice guys....yoga is NOT the answer!

Unfortunately my local fitness haven Pure Gym does not host yoga classes (guys sort it out!) at the moment so we went to an independent city centre yoga studio which had been given the thumbs up by various yogis and reviewists of the inerwebs and decided to go with a class which noted it was ideal for all experience levels and even beginners. At the beginning of the class we were told to take our yoga mats and some foam blocks (which I had NO idea what they were used for) and find a space. Now this is where we ran into our first hurdle, these classes are in such high demand that you're seriously at risk of a yogi smashing you in the face with their foot, hands, face and all manner of orifice, you're genuinely that close to your neighbour at all times which obviously makes it quite difficult to relax.

We moved through the different positions but it soon became quite clear we were the dunces of the class as we were consistently corrected by the class leader and then advised to literally sit and watch our fellow class mates (rude, hey lady I paid £8 for this class!) I continued to join in and try my best, which as a beginner in a class full of yoga genii that's all you really can do, but at this point either I was acing it or the instructor just straight up gave up on me! I was beginning to enjoy myself a little more, I felt like around halfway through I found my flow and stopped worrying a bit about what everyone else was thinking about me and my abilities, hey everyone's got to start somewhere right? 

The part of the class I found the most difficult and that I wasn't very prepared for was the amount of breathing techniques that would be involved, that is definitely something I have got to work on if I want to keep this class up (if any of you have any yoga tips be sure to leave them below) The class in its entirety lasted about 1 hour and 15 minutes with a 5 minute savasana at the end (the sleepy sleepy relaxy bit) and leaving I certainly did feel more refreshed and ready to take on my bed, let's be honest guys yoga makes you sleepy!

The next day however, was an entirely different story. I hurt more than I did after spin class. My legs, my thighs, my abs, my arms even! Everything ached and I found my regular walk to work far tougher than I really should have, so mix that in with having to shift boxes from one end of Aberdeen to another for the next week I was not relaxed, de-stressed or ZEN at all! 

I'm definitely going to continue my You Tube yoga with Adrienne (she always tells me how brilliant I am) I feel like the videos are so much easier as it's just you by yourself and you can pause, rewind and generally take it at your own pace rather than attempting to keep up with a class of 30 seasoned yoga students. Perhaps in a few months time when I'm feeling a bit more confident in my techniques I'll go back but for now I'll stick with spin!

Have you ever attended a yoga class in your area? How did you find the experience? I'd love to hear all of your tips, tricks, and experiences in the comments below, come have a laugh about my experience with me on Twitter or of course if you'd just like to see more of my humiliations be sure to follow Granite City Girl on Bloglovin.

Until next time folks, I'm just going to skip to savasana.

H.Elizabeth x

It's All Lies | Lies (Almost) All Beauty Bloggers Tell

Do you ever see something so cringe and that 'grinds ya gears' so much that you just can't help but physically recoil? Can you relate to sitting at your computer and reading a post by a friend, family member or maybe even a straight up stranger and you know they're lying? Have you ever done this when you've read your favourite beauty blog? I have, and today I would just like to share with you a few little white lies and big steaming ones that all beauty bloggers tell or at least imply at one point in their blogging history.

Any similarities between the points mentioned in this post and any subsequent beauty bloggers alive or dead are purely coincidental, but if you are offended... it's probably because you're a beauty blogger.

1. Matchy matchy haul posts or currently loving posts 

Have you ever seen a bloggers recent haul post or one of those 'favourites' posts in which all of their favourites or purchases are all the same colour? Recently I saw a blog whose current favourites were all baby pink and rose gold. Now I don't know about you guys but I am currently loving all colours of the damn rainbow and I simply don't believe that you love that pink eyeshadow to go with your pink lipstick and your pink nails, juice drink and everything in between!

2. Sorry I've been away

No you're not! I saw your insta pics! You had a whale of a time away in that foreign exotic land, doing yoga on that hill, soaking the sun in with your hot dog legs and you didn't think about us once not once!!!

3. I've repurchased this 20 (or some other ridiculous amount) times this year

Oh you've repurchased Velvet Teddy 20 times this year? Tell me more about how you support natural beauty and body positivity, girl if you've repurchased that one product that many times before the end of the year you're either wearing it somewhere you shouldn't be *cough* the gym *cough* or you've got the borrowers living in your make up drawers nicking all your good stuff!

4. This is my go to *insert product here* 

And proceeds to rave about other skincare / moisturising do dad the following month in yet another perfectly coordinated monthly favourites. But then I suppose if they had one 'holy grail' product as they often claim to then they'd run out of things to say other than dooiiiiii.

5. Thank you lovely!

Yeah I'm not 'lovely'

Sound familiar? It may all be lies but they're so darned addictive anyway, I don't think I'll ever tire of fluffy white rugs on perfectly hoovered and tidy floors alongside some copper / rosegold / insert whatever the fashionable metal of the time is here and some piece of pink nonsense that I will also undoubtedly go out and buy myself! If any of this rang a bell, made you laugh or even made you a little cross, be sure to leave your comments below, tell me what your favourite beauty blogger lies are or just blogger lies in general, I'd love to hear your funnies. As per you can catch me on Twitter or see more of Granite City Girl on Bloglovin.

Until next time folks, see you later 'lovelies'

H.Elizabeth x  

Granite City Girl's Career | The Worst Job I Ever Had

Well guys here we are, I have been wanting to write this post for a very long time but unfortunately I have had to subdue myself and wait for a couple of years following this anger inducing incident purely because I felt my head would explode from the sheer rage this particular post would inspire in me. As you can probably tell from the title of this post today I'm going to be sharing my experience of the worst job I ever had and just before I begin I just want to say it was nothing to do with the nature of the work or the industry and in no way do I want to put you off of this line of work as I have actually gone into it myself, but I am a big believer in that your environment can influence a great many things and that has never been so clear than when I worked in this particular role.

The job was advertised through my university email newsletter which students received every week, I was 19 at the time and had just finished my first ever work placement at a film festival in Glasgow and with that behind me I was ready to take on my next work challenge and do something a bit more relevant to my degree than my regular Saturday job. The role was for a part time marketing assistant (2 days per week) at a garden centre in Aberdeenshire and sounded right up my street, from writing up press releases to helping maintain their website, social media channels and assist in organising events to attract visitors I was there and I was ready.

The initial interview was held by the centre manager and the current marketing manager which is when it was in fact revealed that as opposed to assisting someone as the job title suggested I would be doing maternity cover for the actual marketing manager and would therefore be on my own from the off with a one day handover. But being the young, enthusiastic, budding career woman I so am I decided it was just another stepping stone and the experience would be well worth it. I started the job two weeks later. The location of the job meant that I would need to walk to my local train station and get a train for 20 minutes then walk a couple of miles through an industrial estate but I was willing, ready and excited just to get a paid marketing opportunity at my age, I convinced myself that it would all be worth it in the end.

I quickly found my footing and within my first week was able to secure some press for the garden centre in their local newspaper, a member of staff was taking part in a charity skydive and not only did I succeed in getting her story picked up by the local press, but she was photographed in the garden centre with her uniform on, exposing the branding to the wider community. I held social media competitions, maintained the website and began looking in to advertising for the coming summer months, overall everything was running smoothly. Now I just want to say that despite the actual work running smoothly the social aspect of the job left much to be desired, nobody spoke to one another and it basically consisted of 8 hours worth of solitude mixed in with super awkward lunch breaks where attempted interactions were met with steely silences, and I was about to find out why.

I was introduced to the owner of the garden centre fairly early on in the time I worked there, he was an older man who was very much a country, farmer type man who didn't take to me from the off, we had different interests, different sense of humor (though I now know he didn't have one) and to be honest he found my job as a nuscience and didn't see why he needed marketing at all. Which disheartened me when I found that any and all adjustments, events or money I spent had to go through him after going through the centre manager, which is where the problems really began.

It happened that when I started the garden centre was looking to host some new events and invite new businesses into the garden centre and I was asked if I could come up with some event proposals, so with that in mind I got right to work. After I had a list of event suggestions and about 5 detailed event proposals I handed them to the manager and the owner (who discarded the proposals immediately without reading them) but as they said they were busy at the time I decided I'd continue my work and come up with even more and go back to them the following week. Again the following week the owner knocked me back, not reading my proposals and I then asked about marketing budget, he didn't really explain but he said well we'll see what the events are we don't have a marketing budget as such.

The following week I had a 3 page document full of events the centre could do that would bring in customers, social media likes, press activity and most importantly revenue and about 10 detailed event proposals and I went in with my go getter head on and I insited on scheduling in a meeting with the owner and the manager so I could move forward with my work. We sat down in the office with the event proposals, just so you know this was a tiny office right in the middle of the garden centre and I was excited to finally get the opportunity to present my ideas (because guys not to toot my own horn but those ideas were amazeballs) and that's when the shit hit the fan (excuse my language but for this man I have said FAR worse in the past)

The owner slammed my proposal down on his desk and proceeded to yell at me over why his garden centre was not as big as another rival Aberdeenshire garden centre (who are known pretty much all over the UK) and that it was my fault and I wasn't doing my job and essentially belittling my skills, my degree and my character. Of course attempting to get a word in appeared futile and by this time he had not only attracted the attention of the other members of staff in the office, but the attention of customers passing by the office. He said and I quote, 'Isn't social media your degree isn't that your job, aren't you supposed to be getting my Facebook page likes?' spoken like a true technophobe, this drove me crazy and yes I did snap back, and yes I did get emotional to which he did make a sexist comment. I explained that I had gained them press coverage, engaged with his customers (a damn sight more than he did) yes I had improved likes to their Facebook page, a very tiny tiny part of my job, which if he had spoken to me he'd could have asked me to prioritise that. But, and this was the stinger that really wound him up, I explained that in order to be able to post on social media and attract business as a whole you actually need to do something, for example have promotions that will interest customers, host events, competitions etc which had been pitched to him but ignored on several counts.

But, and as I'm sure you guys already know. There is really no talking to some people and this man ladies and gentlemen appears to be more interested in making a show of his staff and belittling their skills than actually aiding his business by creating a positive environment, I guess that's his prerogative.

Anyway, getting back to that day, I understandably left early, I was quite upset by this encounter actually and I'm not proud to admit that but you know I was 19 and it was my first experience of marketing and being thrown in at the deep end and it left me rather disheartened. I had about 3 / 4 days to think things over, I discussed with my family what I should do and the general consensus was for the garden centre owner to stick his job where the sun don't shine, but I decided to seek help in the marketing manager on maternity leave before making my decision and I was gobsmacked by her response.

She basically came back and said she was expecting an email like this from me some time before and said she understood and that this particular man was a bit of a misogynist and difficult to work with due to his prejudices towards his female staff, mixed in with his general dislike and disdain for anything new, innovative or relatively technological I was destined to fail from the beginning. And that was it for me, I wrote my resignation letter and handed it in the following week without working out a notice period. There was no way I could work for such a man and no way that this experience would aid in furthering my career whatsoever. Upon handing in my notice the manager of the centre made a desperate attempt to vouch for the owner offering up all sorts of excuses about a difficult home life and stress to which I replied, you know leave it at home, as a business owner you can't take every little encounter out on your staff, then I made my exit and moved on to bigger and better things than pansies and garden gnomes.

Apologies this post has been a little long guys, but I have been carrying this around with me for the last 3 years and I just decided to spill it all out of my brain for your education and entertainment here today. My general advice to anyone working in a toxic environment like the above would be to just get out as soon as possible, I was lucky in that I was working two jobs at the time and my other boss was so understanding and I was able to pick up as many hours as I liked there to support myself through university. I hope you guys have enjoyed this little insight into my career path hiccup today, I would love to hear if you have ever faced anything similar in your life or career, be sure to leave your comments and experiences in the box below, come share your thoughts with me on Twitter or if you'd like to keep up with my latest posts be sure to follow Granite City Girl on Bloglovin.

Until next time folks, you can stick your pansies.

H.Elizabeth x

Make up application | You're doing it wrong!

This is something that I have been meaning to post for such a long time now, it's something I myself only learned last August before I was about to get married from my make up artist for the day, and let me tell you this one tiny make up tip and beauty blunder, that I'm guessing more than 90% of the nation get wrong, can revolutionize the way you do your make up on a daily basis. Now let me just start off by saying I realise most of you who read this will roll your eyes and think that is ridiculous I'm not doing it that way nor will I ever, but just trust me on this, try it for a week, a couple of days even and it will save you time, product and ultimately money! Sounds too good to be true right? Well you'll soon see for yourself.

I remember having my make up trial and wondering of all wonders what on Earth is this woman doing to my face? That weekend I had been suffering quite a bad breakout of immense and stress inducing proportions, so much so, that I thought my wedding make up artist wasn't going to touch my face with a barge pole let alone product, and I panicked a little when the first thing she did was come at me with some eyeliner and shadow products. But what about my base, 'bout my base? I said (lyrically) and it was just then that the obvious dawned on me, you're supposed to apply your eye make up first aren't you? Yes siree bob that thur is a hole in one! My make up artist then went on to enlighten me and my maid of honour that by applying your eye make up and brows first you're less likely to smudge your base and muss up your eyeliner. Logic right?!

At first I thought, ugh rubbish that won't make any difference to me, but being a lifestyle blogger and an I'll give anything a go once type of gal I thought I would make the effort and try it her way for one week. And guys, it has changed my life (well my face at least) I used to be plagued by eyeshadow dust, blasted by clumsy finger smudges and don't even get me started on those eyeliner fails, but with this technique this is a thing of the past. Because I haven't had to touch up and re touch up my base I've actually been saving an incredible amount of product as well as time and money (see I told you we'd circle back around to this)

Have I dazzled you? Maybe, maybe not, maybe you're sat at home thinking, as I did, what a load of rubbish I need a base from which to build my facial empire, and so to all of you naysayers I challenge you to one week, that's right just one week of trying things my way and just see how different your make up routine becomes. If you take on my challenge or just want to have a chat about this beauty base technique be sure to leave your comments and experiences below, come share them with me on Twitter or if you'd like to be dazzled some more be sure to follow Granite City Girl on Bloglovin.

Until next time folks, revolutionising my own facial empire.

H.Elizabeth x

Our Tuscan Holiday | Photo Diary

Hello everyone, just a quick photo diary post of what we got up to in Tuscany today as I have had a couple of requests to share what we got up to. All in all it was quite a chilled out holiday and we didn't get up to much exploring you know, Tuscany and chill as it were. We stayed in a 'grande' villa just a 20 minute drive from Montepulciano, we had a few thunder storms, some glorious weather and a lovely pool to relax in and as I said we didn't really take that many pictures, because how many interiors shots do you guys really want to see? So here are some of the snaps we did manage to capture while we were off on our adventures. 

Hope you enjoy!

Body Shop Aberdeen | Bloggers Evening and Skincare Haul

Coming back at you today with yet another Aberdeen Bloggers event, myself and the girls from the #Abzmeet group were invited along to the Body Shop in Aberdeen's St Nicholas centre to test out their new range of spa products as well as their oils of life range and their exciting foray into flawless foundation! Needless to say as a lover of all things spa, beauty and just product really I was so excited to go along for the evening and get my learn on. Admittedly the Body Shop is not somewhere I usually venture just mainly because I have a tendency to stick to what I know skin care wise and never stray too far from my typical Boots and Lush products, but I knew myself it was time for a revamp!

We were introduced to the team at the Aberdeen store and they explained we would each get time with their three experts, one from the spa range, one from skincare and one from the make up team. As there was only three of us able to make it we each had a considerable amount of time with each of the ladies and were given advice tailored to our individual needs and skincare requirements which was brilliant and so informative. We got to try out pretty much all of their new products, my personal favourites being the new spa range which has all sorts of smelly, goodies and loveliness for you to get your hands on, their oils of life which make your skin feel unbelievable and their new foundation which I may even do a separate post on because it is a thing of wonders (am I exaggerating? NO!) 

Instead of today bending your ear on all the intricacies of my own skin and the ins and outs of what we tried on, what worked, what didn't work, I just want to share my haul of products I came away with on the evening, how they benefit my skin and how they might benefit yours if you're skin type is similar to mine. 

Honey and Milk Bath Mix
When I got a whiff of this from their spa range I knew I had to have it, and given that we will have a bath in our new home I am so excited for this to become my go to relaxing bath scent! The formula leaves your skin feeling hydrated, moisturised and all manner of silky smooth. The mix was inspired by Egyptian Queen Cleopatra who used to bathe in milk to keep her skin in tip top condition. So if this mix is going to leave me looking anything like the late great Liz Taylor I'm all for it.

Oil of Life (pictured above)
Okay so like many of you ladies and gents out there I struggle with dry skin, particularly at the moment with the colder weather coming in. I leave my house in the morning hydrated and looking alive but after facing the elements and the general day I'll left with unattractive dry patches showing through my foundation and I'm in need for a little TLC. This is why I have invested in a facial oil, I have been seeing these everywhere lately, these babies are the new face serums. You put this on before you go to bed and after your shower in the morning before you use your moisturiser, it basically preps your face for moisturising and helps your skin to absorb the product a bit easier. 

Vitamin C Microdermabrasion

Again, with the Scottish weather lately my skin has turned a bit grey and as fashionable as the colour is for home interiors right now I don't want it on my face! Given that I'm a bit of an exfoliation junkie I jumped at the chance to get my hands on an exfoliator with skin brightening vitamin C properties.

Fresh Nude Foundation in Porcelain (Pictured above)
And for the big finish! After spending a bit of time with the Body Shop's senior make up artist and talking about my skin care needs and what tones go best with my face in general she showed me their new Fresh Nude Foundation. I will be doing a full full review of this product but I just have to give it props right now for how wonderful it makes my skin look. Never have I ever had a product match my skin tone as well as this does, it's lightweight, build-able and one of the best parts? You can wear it matte or dewy by doing one small thing (no tools required) stay tuned for the full review of this wonder product soon!

On top of all of my haul goodies we were treated to some gift bags and freebies which has an amazing array of products inside that I can't wait to try out, vanilla scented sprays, lip balms and a highlighter dupe for Benefit's High Beam to name a few. I'm hoping to discover some skincare saviours for winter in my little bundle and if I do I'll be sure to share them with you guys who also suffer with dry winter weather skin like I do!

Apologies for the lengthy, lengthy post today guys but I honestly can't say enough good things about the staff at the Body Shop in Aberdeen, I was so impressed by how passionate they are about the brand, the ethics and the product quality in total (and before anyone says, no they are not on commission!) so if you're looking for your very own skin care saviours be sure to spare a thought for Body Shop and pop in past to have a chat with their experts. Do you have any must have beauty, skin or shower products from the Body Shop? I'd love to hear all of your thoughts, comments, suggestions and link your reviews below, and as always you can catch me, myself and I on Twitter or more from the blog on Bloglovin.

Until next time folks, bathing just like Cleo!

H.Elizabeth x

LASplash Cosmetics | Disney Liquid Lipstick Review

As some of you may know if you have been spying my Twitter and Instagram feeds of late you'll know that I was one of those few who jumped on the liquid lippy bandwagon and got their hands on a few of the Disney lippys by LASplash Cosmetics this last month. These sold like nothing I've ever seen, you know, except for every limited edition MAC lippy ever, and I was so pleased when I was able to get my hands on 3 of the shades I had been coveting, namely Lady, Evil Queen and Belle.

This will have been  my first ever foray into 'American' make up as well as one of my first known forays into cruelty free make up which I am aiming to look a bit more into in the coming months so do stay tuned for that. Ever since I fell head over heels for my bourjois liquid lipsticks, namely in the colour nudist all I have ever wanted to wear has been liquid lipsticks and having heard the likes of LASplash and Limecrime are the reigning champs of liquid lipsticks it felt like fate when LASplash released a Disney line.

For being shipped from the US these really didn't take long to arrive with me, it must have been about 2 weeks max, when I half expected to be waiting for like 6 - 8 weeks and had given up hopes of having these throughout the autumnal season. They came well wrapped in little plastic boxes and I got a little purple glitter pigment as a freebie too so that was nice, though I have no idea what I'll do with it, other than make a quite obvious mess!

The shades I chose for me all all relatively safe, I do tend to stick to my reds and browns and behave like autumn is an all round constant. Lady is what can only be described as a true red with subtle red glitter pigments which is going to be gorgeous for Christmas time and may even end up being my Christmas day lippy, who knows? Only time will tell. Evil Queen is a more burgundy red with purple running throughout the colour in the form of glitter pigments once again, it's so vampy and striking which I love, particularly for this time of year. And finally Belle which along with Nala (which was sold out) I really wanted to get my hands on, once swatched  on my hand Bell looks like a golden colour but on my lips is a beautiful pale coffee shade which I think compliments my skin tone perfectly without making me look washed out.

On the first day I decided to undertake a little experiment and swatch all three to see just how durable these babies were, as they are supposed to be waterproof and literally won't budge unless you want them to (not in a 'I command thee' sort of way!) and I was so so impressed. They didn't budge at all, honestly this was a day where I had a van hired and was moving furniture and it didn't move, I washed my hands, bashed them off boxes, everything, they faded slightly but only moved fully when I took my make up remover to them.

My one and only criticism would be that these are quite drying on your lips and often don't feel very pleasant but I suppose you've just got to prioritize whether you want durability and high pigmentation or the conditioning properties for dry lips. I myself always moisturise my lips in the morning and evening so it doesn't bother me too much, but for those with very dry lips I would steer clear. And on a similar note you have got to be super careful not to drop some of the product on your cheek or anywhere you don't want it that day. I'm serious when I say these lippys don't budge.

I hope you guys have enjoyed yet another lippy review from Granite City Girl, did you manage to get your hands on any LASplash Disney lipsticks? If so leave your thoughts on the in the comments below, I'm also super interested in the Limecrime Velveteen range so if you have any reviews or thoughts on those I'm all ears. Otherwise you can catch me in the usual ways, via Twitter or more from the blog via Bloglovin.

Until next time folks, getting lyrical with my lippy.

H.Elizabeth x

Blogger Tag | 11 Things You Didn't Know About Me

Today I'll be doing my first blogger tag in a long, long time as I have been tagged by Karen of Tiny Bird Heart to take part in the 11 things you didn't know about me tag. This is right up my street becasuse as you guys probably already know I'm super nosy and can't wait to pass my questions along and get all of the gory bloggery details from everyone else. Without further ado here are 11 things you didn't know about me:

 
1. Your favourite blog
I follow so many blogs on Bloglovin that it's really difficult to pick just one, but if we're thinking about one I revisit on a regular basis then it would have to be Becky's Milk Bubble Tea, I think her photography is gorgeous and I love her week round ups from instagram, overall two very enthusiastic thumbs up! 

2. Your favourite holiday destination so far
This year my husband and I spent our honeymoon in Paris and a trip to Disneyland and it has got to be the highlight of my year. The weather was perfect and we had so many fun activities planned from a romantic dinner cruise to going a bit crazy on the rides in Disneyland it's definitely my one to top! 

3. The last film you watched
This might be a weird one but the last film I watched was the 51st State with Samuel L Jackson, Robert Carlyle and Meatloaf, it was on BBC a few days ago and it was by far one of the oddest movies I have ever seen. A synopsis for you would be lots of drugs, explosive diarrhea and Sam L Jackson in a kilt... 

4. Your favourite teddy or soft toy growing up
I don't think as a child I was particularly attached to one teddy or soft toy but I did like socks and dusters, so take from that what you will! 

5. Your favourite decade
Fashion wise I have to say the 1960's, when I was a teenager I went through a mass phase of flower crowns and baby doll dresses and I just love the music that came from that decade like Dusty Springfield and Nancy Sinatra, but tech wise I have to say I'm pretty happy with here and now.

6. The last person you retweeted and what it said
The last person I retweeted is really a company, specifically STV Aberdeen and it was giving news on our brand new potential Cat Cafe which I wrote a little bit about here.

7. Your middle name(s)
Since getting married last year this has changed as I now have two middle names as I was very reluctant to give up my last name so I just shifted everything up, so now my full name is Hannah Elizabeth Cosgrove Adams.

8. Who was your favourite Spice Girl?
Need you ask! Ginger spice was definitely my favourite, I loved her hair colour and how she owned it and really I just related, is that a little sad?

9. What are you currently reading?
I'm so bad at starting books and never finishing them just because you know... life. But at the moment I am half reading Stephen King's Misery and I'm loving it, I love reading horror novels as I'm far too scared and squeamish to watch the movies.

10. Do you play any instruments?
Nope unfortunately I do not have a musical bone in my body though I do wish I could play something cool, but then doesn't everyone?

11. Can you curl your tongue?!
Yes I can, I can also lick my elbow in case you wanted to continue the freakery here!

So guys the rules are simple, as always tag the blogger who selected you for this tag and answer the questions at the bottom, keep the love going by tagging more bloggers in your post and ask your own 11 questions. Today I'd like to tag Lisa of Diary of a Jaded Zombie, Dyan of the Little Blog of Everything and Jude of The Wee Blondie, and ladies I want to know:

1. Who is your blogging inspiration?

2. What are your hobbies other than blogging?
3. Dead or alive who would you love to have dinner with?
4. What is your favourite childhood memory?
5. Where is your favourite place to shop?
6. Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?
7. What is your favourite drink at Starbucks / Costa?
8. If you could only have one make up product what would it be?

9. Would you rather have bushy brows or unruly underarms?
10. What is your favourite film?
11. What is your 'party trick'?

Can't wait to read your responses ladies, be sure to leave me your links to them in the comments below or on Twitter, apologies for the weirdies. And as for the rest of you lovely lot reading this post if there's anything you'd like to know or if you'd even like to just answer these yourself be sure to leave me your responses in the comments, and as always if you liked this post and you'd like to see more of my face, tags and general oddballness be sure to follow Granite City Girl on Bloglovin.

Until next time folks, contemplating bushy brows and body hair!

H.Elizabeth x