Volunteering in Costa Rica

I know - awful blogger! But now I'm back for good - scheduling posts and everything! I'm in Greece next week so hopefully content should still be being posted. I have loads of content to deliver but I thought I would start you off slowly before I indulge you all in my recent makeup purchases and hauls and what I'm wearing and give you all a review of my trip to Costa Rica! I just July I travelled to Costa Rica to go volunteering across three schools in the country. I flew into the capital, San Jose, for a night then travelled to Quepos for a week, then to Turrialba for four nights and then back to San Jose! Quite a short trip, but definitely one of the best experiences of my life, I met amazing people, did amazing things, saw some of the most amazing sites and definitely ate amazing food! 

  

Very picture heavy - it's so hard to organize photos in a blog post! I tried my hardest, in the top half you see some of the photos I took whilst working in the schools. We were painting, building and teaching. The kids were amazing to be around - their spirits and attitude was amazing and so inspiring! If you look through the photos you see there is one of a mural outside a building - that's a school called Villa Nueva and we painted a mural on the kindergarten building. It was an incredible experience, we had each kid paint a flower into the bushes. In the other photos of the group and I you have pictures of us just after surfing, at dinner, just before we leave. I had a great time, we did so much! We even stayed in the depths of the jungle and rainforest for a few days, but I think I'm going to do a whole other post on 'Jungle Survival', coming into contact with spiders, snakes, scorpions, micro-pigs, sloths and monkeys! 

It was an amazing trip, I made such amazing friends and I gained so much from the experience. I'm so grateful to everyone who I was with, the volunteering company (GVI, who does great volunteering programs with Under-18s) and Costa Rica for being such a welcoming country.

If you want to check out more photos definitely go on my instagram: perdi_stoller to see everything from the sunsets, selfies, six-packs and waterfalls as well as my daily life! 

I'm so glad to be back and huge thank you to helping me reach over 200,000 views! That's massive and amazing and I never thought I would ever get to this place! Thank you so much for reading, bouncing, scrolling and definitely commenting and following! 

Apologies

I have so much explaining to do, but I don't think I'm able to do it! I've been inactive for around 5 months. Even though I have been lacking posting I've still been thinking about you all - from testing products for future reviews, planning posts, taking outfit photos and checking/answering/reading emails many times and let's not even get started on my twitter. I haven't forgotten about you, or given up. Since May I have had study leave, exams and summer! My exams were rough, my results even rougher! I will definitely do a post soon on school tips, from revision to binder organisation - maybe I'll even do it in a video! My summer was amazing, in my last post I mentioned my trips I was about to go on. Those trips have came and went and totally changed my life and I want to share my experiences with you all soon.

The reason I haven't been posting was because I was completely tired out, it was my first day back at school #seniors and I am even more tired but I thought if this is what stopped my blogging, I should stop complaining! I'm still too mentally exhausted, even with a five month break, to go back into posting three times a week but I promise I will get back into it slowly. I think we'll call 2014 WatermelonRaindropX's worst year yet content wise so far, but I'll try and fix it for the latter part of the year especially in honour of WMRDX's 3rd birthday.

I also would like to say a quick apology! I'm sorry to the few brands I've been working with over the past few months as I've not offered them the respect and services that I promised and what they expected and deserve. I'm really sorry and will try to make it up to you soon! 

I have so many exciting things to tell you, soon! 

Till next time,

Sporatic Blogging

I just wanted to give you lovely girls (and gents) an update of why I haven't been active properly for just under two weeks. I know I just came back from a break, but I came back from a blogging break to go straight into breaking up from school, onto study leave. My exams have officially begun and I'm managing to fit in this post between Biology revision and a Maths tutor, but my blog is still one of my priorities and in between exams and revision I definitely will be answering comments, emails, tweets, facebook messages (I think you get the idea, any social media site I'm active on) and I will try and upload during days when I have no exams. I started my exams last Thursday, Geography (Paper 1) and English Language out the way and now I only have 22 exams to go, 15 by the end of next week. Starting Tuesday I have nine exams within three days. 

Then I start summer on June 18th and then I am all yours.

Wish me luck,

Triangl Bikini: Santa Rosa Splash

Around a month ago Triangl sent me this amazing bikini, but as I have not been active on my blog I haven't had the chance to write about it. Quick apology to Triangl for this! Triangl were seriously a great team to work with, with such great customer service, and I was such a bad blogger in response! Triangl are an Australian brand but they ship internationally. I first heard about Triangl around this time last year from Australian instagrammers and seriously loved all their bikinis. All their bikinis are made from 100% neoprene with a 100% opaque look, you'll never have the issue of transparent bottoms again! Not only do they have an amazing swimwear range, they also have a super cute underwear range! 

I chose the Santa Rosa Splash bikini, $79 (US). It's a gorgeous baby blue colour, I had a hard choice deciding which one I wanted. They have amazing colours and range and you end up wanting to collect them all, I know I am definitely wanting the mint, white and coral/mesh! They have a great range of sizes and a really reliable size guide! I'm a 34DD and got a large in the top and a medium in the bottom and they fit like a glove. Literally a glove, the neoprene sticks to you for a super sexy and fun fit. Once you try a neoprene bikini I can guarantee you, you will never want anything else! Neoprene definitely clings to you, potentially even flattening you a bit, I can definitely tell you you will not appear to be 'popping out', if anything they can make your boobs appear small but I like it! It's super comfortable and definitely the most flattering bikini I own. All their super colours will look amazing on your beach holiday and will definitely make for some great photos, honestly no bikini looks as good as a Triangl bikini especially when it comes to photos! Each bikini also comes with a really cute matching beach bag, as you can see in the photo. The packaging is amazing and you can be reassured that their products will never come damaged and always will be at the best of their quality.

I seriously recommend these. If anyone has any questions or recommendations I'd love to hear them! 

Thank you Triangl for such an amazing piece! 

This post is sponsored, the bikini was sent to me, but all views are 100% my own as are the photos. 

Review: 22 Days of Being Vegan

 Earlier on in the year, just after I tragically broke my finger on my birthday, I read a review in a magazine of a girl who just finished the 22 Day Vegan Detox. When I first read it, I had no clue Beyonce and Jay Z had done it (apparently for spiritual reasons) but what the girl said about it appealed to me so much. She mentioned how clean and energetic she felt after it, and how much she loved doing it. At the time I read it, I had just finished one month of being doped up on prescription painkillers after an operation on my ankle and just about a week after I ended up being put back on them for breaking my finger. I do not understand how people can be addicted to pills like these. They made me lazy, they made me gain weight, they made my skin so bad, they made me sleep all day to the point I missed so much school that I am still behind nearly six months later. All I wanted to do was feel clean and energetic and confident, so I thought it was perfect.

I first read about it around the 15th February and decided to become vegan on the following Monday, 24th February for three weeks and one day. I walked to and from school every day, twenty minutes, and did vigorous exercise twice a week, from Zumba classes to jogging with the dogs. 

You'd probably be more interested in hearing about my diet during these times so I thought I would write an example meals:

*I should also mention before I was vegan, I ate anything: meat, dairy products, animal products etc*

Breakfast:

- Porridge with almond milk (or water if we were out) with cinnamon, a chopped up banana and agave nectar

- Home-made fruit smoothie (no milk, just ice) 

Lunch:

- Rice cakes with hummus and celery/peppers/cucumber/carrots

- Salad with no dressing

Dinner:

-  Teriyaki tofu on vegetable fried rice

- Stir fried vegetables and vegan noodles

- Vegan sausages and sweet potato fries

Snacks:

- Lightly salted Kettle Chips with hummus

- Fruit or vegetables

- Vegan chocolate with almond butter

Drinks:

- Only water

- (Iced) black coffee around 3 times a week                   

Those were just some of my most common meals. Breakfast was probably the easiest meal of the day and even when I am not vegan I still eat porridge. Dinner was also really yummy, but I do really hate the texture of tofu. For those who haven't tried it (and do yourself a favour and don't), it is squishy and soft and tastes like flavourless mush. Lunch was 100% the hardest, I'm at school during lunch and often starving watching everyone else eat sushi, pasta and everything I cannot eat, but I'm sitting there dipping my carrots into hummus (I ate a lot of hummus being vegan). I would almost go as far to say it was degrading. Well that is a tad of an over exaggeration but don't be pedantic. Another really hard time was my morning trips to Starbucks with my friend, I decided to limit coffee to only three times a week but Starbucks was the worse. Wishing I could order 'an iced white chocolate mocha' but having to say 'an iced black americano' can destroy a soul. Other soul destroying moments continued to be when you are ordering food with your friends and the only vegan thing on the menue is 'a side salad with a side of chips' and finding out McDonald's chips are not vegan!

Being vegan didn't go as smoothly as I hoped. I was often hungry, but it helped me concentrate on my school work as a distraction, and often irritable. I cannot confirm this was from being Vegan but one can presume. My skin didn't clear up till after I was vegan, unfortunately being vegan can even make your skin worse. The weight I lost, 13lbs, is easily put back on but i've worked hard to keep most of it off. A perk whilst being vegan? Most bubble teas are vegan! 

Stopping being vegan was weird, I still feel almost anxious walking into a restaurant and having the ability to order anything. There are times when I miss the vegan diet's limitations so often I go back to being vegan for a day or two.
Would I recommend it? Yes. Is it hard? Yes.
If you've ever done an extreme diet/detox like mine comment below! I'd love to hear about it! Any questions about being vegan, i'd be happy to answer them. If you'd like to read more about the vegan detox, leave your requests below and maybe i'll do some recipes! 

Disclaimer: I do not have any form of eating disorder or craving to be an unrealistic goal. I didn't do this detox to lose weight and I am not promoting doing detoxes or trying to lose weight by drastic measures. I did this detox to rid my body of all my medication, toxins and pathogens, gain energy, confidence and to help my brain focus on school work. All of the above was achieved. This post was not sponsored, nobody told me to become vegan and no food mentioned was sent/gifted/sponsored.

Where have I been?

I'd like to start off with apologizing for disappearing. I haven't blogged for 4 months and 6 days, and yes I have been counting. I took this break because I couldn't handle the stress of managing my blog, my exams, my social life and my new job, I just had to stop the most frivolous of the three. Not that I think blogging is frivolous, I love it, seriously. I've continued to be active on twitter and my email and I have seriously been checking my blog every day. I even stopped reblogging as much on tumblr, that's how much I wanted to focus. 

My exams don't start till May 6th, and then after 24 exams I'm on Summer by June 18th. I'm hoping you'd all understand that during that month and a bit my content will either lack or be irregular but I'm back for now, scheduling as many posts as possible. 

In February I managed to get myself a part time job, working at one of the best hairdressers in London and it's fab to work in. Not only am I getting a great experience, it's helping me with opportunities on my blog. They're my Sunday family and I love them all to pieces. 

This Summer I have so much planned. I'm going volunteering in Costa Rica, helping with the construction and conservation of a school. I'm hoping I get a chance to visit The Sloth Sanctuary, it's an orphanage for sloths! I'm also going to Wireless Festival, all three days, with the best people I know and I cannot wait. We also want to book a spontaneous weekend to Paris but I think that will either be for before Wireless or after Results Day.

Coming up, I'm planning on a few fashion features, maybe a haul, a rant and a lot more! 

Spring Pinks and Blues ft Missguided

I've had a break for a bit but now i'm back, and wow what a month I have missed. I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year, I wish you all the best for 2014! The year's speeding up and I cannot wait for summer this year, my school break is around 3 months long after my exams and I have so much planned, from volunteering in Costa Rica and work experience in London to Barcelona, Ayia Napa and hopefully a few more places. I love summer clothes, probably more than the next person, and this morning whilst scrolling through Missguided's new collection I could not stop adding pieces to my basket. They have so many adorable Spring/Summer colours I couldn't help myself! All the pieces i'm showing are either blue or pink but they're all so cute, I hope you love them as much as I do.

1,2,3,4,5,6,7

1) Nothing is cuter than a cropped box top in a pastel colour but add some mesh and then it is flawless. I find most designers using mesh end up putting the mesh in revealing places but I think Missguided has made this dress even more sophisticated by adding it. Wear it with white scallop shorts and you have yourself the perfect outfit.

2) This piece even features the love-heart. This is the first piece I saw and this dress made me know the whole collection will be utterly fab, and it is. I love baby blue and use it on a shift dress with a halterneck collar and you get an utterly obsessed Perdi.

3) I couldn't work out which colour I preferred, hence why both the baby pink and blue are in this wish-list - but it also comes in black. I love how it's long sleeved and cropped, I haven't seen this style in many summer pieces but I think it'd be perfect for the English summer. I love the collar and the back, it's so cute with a key-whole cut out.

4) I've been looking for a baby blue skirt for a while now, since I went to New York (in October) and regretted not buying a baby blue Brandy Melville one but this is even prettier. I like how it's a vibrant baby blue and how the pleats and zip make it a structured a-line fit. 

5) I originally didn't choose this piece, but I loved the skirt (no.6) that was styled with it and thought it is an adorable outfit. I never bought into the mohair/eyelash jumper A/W 2013 trend but I knew I wanted a cropped cream one and that's exactly what it is.

6) I love this skirt. I think it's totally Cher from Clueless with the a-line fit and baby pink plaid and even though the colours might completely wash me out, I still love it.

7) As soon as I saw this I knew I needed it. The collar paired with the baby pink is so girly and fun and in a fitted shift dress form what could be better? I need this in my life asap! I think between this dress and the baby blue dress, no.2, you'd have a perfect summer dress wardrobe. 

What's your favourite piece I featured and what trends are you most excited for in 2014?  Comment down below! 

Dislaimer: This post is not sponsored. All views are 100% honest. All pictures sourced from missguided.co.uk.