New year newness

The new year is not only a great time to get white girl wasted and sing Auld Lang Syne at the top of your lungs (badly, in my case), but it's also a great time for new things and new beginnings.

I've actually done really well and barely spent any money since I got paid in December (despite the fact that that payday has to last 6 weeks) and so it was finally time for some new clothes! I haven't done a proper haul in a while and so my wishlist on new look was building up and it was time to put an order in. As I've already said, I've got a thing for embroidery at the minute so I ordered a pair of embroidered jeans, embroidered boots and a striped top with red floral embroidery. I also love new look for their crop tops so I got a couple of super flattering ones; one in green botanical floral print and the other in mustard yellow. I'm not often one for knitwear but this winter has been so cold so far that I figured I needed a couple of new jumpers - I got one striped one (mustard yellow again) and one with Tres Bien on the front because I'm a big fan of a french slogan and I've been wearing a lot of red lately so I think it'll slot nicely in to my wardrobe. I also got a few new pairs of earrings which are all super pretty, plus a new pair of pyjamas and a new printed canvas for my room. But looks may be deceiving because despite my big haul, it technically didn't cost me a penny because I used the gift card that I got from work for Christmas. And I've still got £25 left on it so I don't think I've done too badly there!

When it's cold outside and you're trying to stay in more to save money and drink less, there's no better time to start a new TV show. I've not started a new series for ages and have just been watching TOWIE on Netflix, but I feel like too much reality TV fries your brain so I wanted to start something new. I always go with the chick-flick, romance, drama-type series and so I decided to go with this Amazon series This is us. It basically follows the lives of 4 people who were born on the same day, who you originally think aren't connected but then the end of the first episode weaves everything together really cleverly. It's basically a story about love, family and life. I'm only on to episode 4 but I'm enjoying it so far.

The new year is also the time when you start to look through and use all of your Christmas presents and for me, that included my new Valentino handbag from my lovely mum and dad. I've been wearing a lot of red right now and so it was a great choice. I wore it on Saturday with navy sweater dress with embellished collar, black thigh high boots, fur trim skater coat and red tartan scarf. I finished the look with red lipstick and silver bangles; a queen bee one from Etsy and a dreamer one from Wanderlust & Co.

New years are also for new diets. For some people. Although those people are clearly not me. My brother went back to uni this weekend so we went for a send-off family meal on Saturday at the Beekeeper. I had camembert, followed by a burger, followed by a Lotus Biscoff cheesecake and then I didn't move for the rest of the evening because I was so stuffed. Well, that was until Sunday when I went out eating again. Me and Laura decided to have brunch but to save money (we're both struggling with that 6 week pay period), we did an at-home, DIY brunch instead of going out. And despite the fact that Laura invited me round to hers, I ended up cooking for the both of us instead haha! We'll call it a team effort - and it was really nice so gold star for us!

And of course, the biggest cliché of them all; new year, new me. But we all knew that was never going to happen, because I'm too fabulous to change. So while everyone else is attempting Dry January, I headed out on Thursday night with 3 of the girls for some cocktails for Sophia's birthday. After a bottle of prosecco each at Sophia's house, we went to Boiler Maker, Pepper Rocks, Cocotang (for the famous Regina George cocktail) and then to baa bar and we had such a fun night! Fast forward through only 3 hours of sleep and it's safe to say that a hungover Friday in the office was not quite as much fun as the night before. New year, but same old Jenni.