On The Countdown

I'm currently cross-legged on my sofa with this tea tree mask slathered all over my face, wondering what the hell I did to deserve my skin breaking out in full on scales. You know how babies, fresh out the womb, get pimples and such - I wan't to call them milk spots but correct me if I'm wrong, that's kinda what I've got going on, but it's considerably less 'awww' when it's gracing the face of a twenty-something adult. 
As delightful as that visual is, does anyone else feel my pain here? I swear to god, about two weeks ago I was having a vain skin moment and giving myself an inner high five at how not shit my skin was looking. Roll on two weeks and I'm borderline fungal-looking. 
I blame wine and the copious amounts I drank over the Eid holidays... and maybe cheese. I've started eating cheese again. *Sigh* I'm trying to think of one thing I've not failed at recently.
And that one thing would be buying shoes. 

Shoes - Link

Yes.. three pairs in the last 2/3 weeks. I mean, that's pretty much a pair a week. We'll just gloss over the fact that I have one or two *aherm* pairs of shoes still sitting in my wardrobe, unworn. What is it with women and shoes?
Sidenote: Many, many moons ago, I remember buying these hideously tacky, neon pink, patent wedges from Primark, in a size too big because... wait for it... I wanted them for display purposes. I don't know what I was doing with my life in the early naughties but it sure as hell wasn't making good decisions. 
In 14 weeks I'll be back home in the UK... and I felt like sandwiching that fact into this post because I'm ready. I love going home, don't get me wrong but sometimes I dread the hassle of travelling and the expectation of visiting as many people as possible, but this time I'm really ready to head back. It will have been just over 12 months since I was in the UK, which means over a year, Gregg's cheese and onion pasty-free and 12 long months of not being properly cold. 
Greggs aside, that might sound like a good deal but I recently had it described to me that breathing in the air in the UAE is like breathing in soup - and it makes complete and utter sense. Every time I would step off the plane when I would travel home from Qatar, I'd spend several minutes just breathing in the air. Manchester air at that. It doesn't sound exotic but those breaths of fresh, Mancunian air take a lot to be beaten. 
I'm counting down the days - and will no doubt be one of those people that starts tweeting about it months in advance. Just an FYI. 
Another Sidenote: When Scott and I were choosing the wedding officiant that would perform our ceremony, I wanted to choose a man solely based on the fact that he'd professed his love for Gregg's cheese and onion pasties in his bio. I mean, that's something I can totally relate to in a person, although sadly he was unavailable. 
Okay, I'm waffling, and not doing a very good job at it at that. I shall leave you with two things;
Firstly, I'm thinking of hosting a giveaway to coincide with my trip back to the UK. As some of you may know through reading my blog, Bath and Body Works is readily available in the UAE and as I know how much folks in the UK would love to get their hands on some of their products, I thought a UK-based Bath and Body Works giveaway would be a nice addition to my trip home. So, what would you like to get your mitts on? Candles, body sprays, hand sanitisers? I want to grab a few items so leave me your suggestions below. 
Finally, I recently hit 10,000 followers on Pinterest. Yay! I feel like wine celebrations are called for but skin so anyhoo, I have a group fashion, beauty and lifestyle blogger board which you can see here. It's one of my faves for checking out new posts and there's some fab bloggers already sharing their content on there. If you're a blogger and you'd like to get involved, drop me an email at lifeinexcess@outlook.com and I can add you to the list of contributors. Alternatively, you can leave your email address in the comment section below and I can send an invitation your way. 
Much love