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Wednesday 31 July 2013

Miley Cyrus

"I think people forget what it feels like to be 20. People just evolve and that’s all that’s happened to me. But people think a mad scientist somehow cooked up this potion and turned me in to a different human, which it wasn't. All I did was get a haircut and buy some clothes and everyone thinks that I am made into a robot that changes with what’s popular every 10 years. I think some people kind of fall off and they end up going crazy because you don’t give yourself time to go crazy. That’s what you’re supposed to do; you are 20, you are supposed to be a mess because you haven’t figured it out yet, and 10 years from now I am supposed to have it all together."




Wise words from Miley Cyrus there. She's grown up in the public eye and I think it's pretty normal to go through the changes she has as you get older. I read somewhere that "you're under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago" and it's true. You're allowed to evolve as a person and I think you should embrace that change because it's entirely normal. It's probably healthy to grow into someone different as you mature and see more of the world. If Miley doesn't "end up going crazy" in these next couple of years, she'll turn out just fine.

Sunday 28 July 2013

The Cornwall Diaries, days 1 - 3

Day 1 - Friday 26th July:

Woke up at 5.11am for a 6.00am departure. Actually departed at 6.08am. Arrived in Exeter suburbs at 10.31am to pay a visit to my great Auntie Pat and great Uncle David. 12.30pm-ish, arrived in Padstow to get a chicken and ham pasty and to buy some peppermint fudge. Drove on to our holiday home on the outskirts of Penzance and reached it at 3.40pm. Went on a walk and made friends with some cows. Ate dinner at 6.45pm by which point I was bloody starving. Played a game of Estimation Whist and hopped into bed at 10.20pm.


Day 2 - Saturday 27th July:

Shaken awake by Papa Green at 6.03am to get dressed in running gear and head off at 6.25am for a Parkrun. About to finish the three mile run when I trip over a rock and mutilate my leg. Papa Green doesn't notice blood pouring down my leg but everyone else does. Thanks Daddy.


Stop off in McDonald's on the way back to the holiday cottage for a Mediterranean chicken burger meal. Arrive back at 12.40pm and shortly afterwards leave for Sennen Cove, undoubtedly the best beach in Cornwall. Body board, sunbathe and munched an ice cream. Came home in time for a dinner of lasagna, followed by a game of Nine Card Brag. Jumped into bed at about half ten, shattered from the trauma of Parkrun.


Day 3 - Sunday 28th July:

Rise at 9.31am to find the whole family besides my uncle has left for a walk. Play cards with said uncle (can you tell we play a whole lot of card games on these kind of holidays?) and drink a lot of Pepsi Max. Head off to St. Ives at 11.30am and get my fourth ever hair braid, my first since 2006.



Pick up a chicken, bacon and chorizo pasty for lunch and some marzipan fudge for afterwards. Brother is attacked by a seagull for his cookies and cream ice cream and he totally freaks out. Hop back in the car at 3.26pm and head back in time for the Grand Prix. Help Papa Green make paella for dinner but he's such a control freak that he basically rendered my input useless. Play football with aforementioned brother and befriend more cows in the adjacent field. This brings us up to now when I am writing this post because - praise the lawd - there is wifi!


Other important points of note: I have yet to find any kind of cosmetics store where Baby Lips are available. I shall continue this quest tomorrow.


Overall Cornwall experience so far: 4.5/5

Thursday 25 July 2013

Barry M Gelly Nail Paint in Pomegranate


This is what the polish looked like in the shop, but on the nails, it's a different story.



It sometimes looks red.





Sometimes it looks like it has more of a pink tint.



And sometimes it looks like a darker red.


It just depends on the lighting I suppose, but it has yet to chip or crack at all and it's been on for 48 hours (24 of those with just one coat of colour and no top coat). 10/10, would recommend.

We're all going on a summer holiday

I'm free from school! I celebrated by going down to McDonald's with my best friends and ordering something from the new summer menu, a Mediterranean chicken meal. It's quite spicy - by my standards but that's not saying much! - and has the most delicious orange sauce on it. Basically, I just love anything from McDonald's so I don't have a bad word to say about it. We then went to someone's house and watched The Ugly Truth with some popcorn, and had a dance break in the garden. It was a pretty good day.


I'm going on holiday to Cornwall tomorrow until next Friday so I don't think there will be any posts during that time - unless our holiday cottage has wifi, that is (which I highly doubt). Every summer, I go to either Cornwall or Wales with my mum, dad, brother, grandparents and uncle and we stay rent a house for a week. We go to the beach, little seaside towns, antiques shops, visit relatives, and play a lot of card games. We've done this every summer since 1997 when I was just a year old. For the past two years, we went to a lovely place in north Wales called Harlech so it's high time that we revisited Cornwall.


I hope to get lots of photos during the week so I can do a post on it when I get back. I'm also going to try and find the best Cornish pasty down there because our bakers here do a pretty good one and I don't know if it can be topped!


I'll leave you with one of the cheesiest songs of all time, but one that gets you in that holiday mood: Summer Holiday, by Cliff Richard.

Sunday 21 July 2013

Circle skirts

Almost everyone I know has a denim circle skirt and I'm not usually one to be like oh everyone's got it so I want one, but denim honestly goes with anything. At risk of sounding like a wannabe fashion blogger, it's such a staple piece for my wardrobe. I can't think of a top I own which it won't go with. I'm pretty sure most clothes shops sell them but, being the cheapskate I am, I went to Primark for mine today and got it for just £8. Bargain!




I also popped into Boots to try and get some things from my little wishlist and was absolutely distraught to find Maybelline's Baby Lips haven't found their way there yet. There was a huge crowd around the Revlon bit so I decided to forgo the lip butter too because I was in a bit of a rush. I did however manage to get some pink Vaseline because it's sold pretty much everywhere. When I came to the Barry M section, I saw the Prickly Pear polish was very close in colour to an MUA varnish I'd totally forgotten I had, so I went for Pomegranate instead which I'm looking forward to trying out.



I'm going to go and sunbathe for a bit now because I haven't really been out in the sun for a while (like um.. a day?) and the backs of my legs are so pale that I look like Edward Cullen. I'm surprised I'm not sparkling. Happy Sunday guys!

Saturday 20 July 2013

Prom dress 2014

TopShop had a sale on fairly recently - it might still be going on, I don't know! - and I saw a dress which I absolutely loved. It was reduced from £40 to £20 so I decided to snap it up and wear it for prom next year in May. Perhaps this is forward-planning to the extreme but I like to be prepared, plus it gives me time to think about my hair and makeup for the day, and also allows me to spend ages deciding on shoes and jewellery to wear with it. My camera recently broke but I discovered that my laptop's webcam can take stills too. All hail the laptop.






I think the lighting is a bit rubbish in some of them but I think the lace detailing shows up okay. They do this dress in other colours too, definitely an aqua colour, and I think (but I'm not 100% sure) a dark green one. Check the website! What did you wear to prom, or what are you hoping to wear to prom? 

Friday 19 July 2013

Summer beauty wishlist 2013

I've recently become obsessed with makeup tutorials on youtube and trying out new looks with the products I already own. After obsessively reading some of the more famous beauty blogs, I've compiled a little list of some things I wish I owned, makeup-wise. I'll hopefully be picking some of the items up next Thursday or something when school finishes and I'm finally free for the summer. So without further ado, here is the list:


1. Barry M Gelly Nail Paint in Prickly Pear.

www.polishedcriminails.com


I've heard so much about these polishes, both from my friends and from hauls or blog posts. Barry M's normal nail varnish is such good quality so I have pretty high hopes for this Gelly range. The colour is also unlike anything I currently have so I'm thinking it's probably going to be a good thing to expand my collection of colours.


2. Vaseline, Rosy Lips.


I've heard this can work as a cheek tint as well as something to put on your lips (I believe it was on Ruby's blog somewhere, check her out!) so I've been keen to get some and try it since reading that. I also love the colour of the actual Vaseline on your cheeks because I think it looks like a pretty natural rosy glow.


3. Revlon Lip Butter in Candy Apple.


Last summer, I bought a Revlon lip butter in Peach Parfait because I'd heard so much about the whole range of them. (Also, Emma Stone was the face of the campaign and I love her so much - I guess you could say I'm pretty easily swayed!) But I found the one I bought was a bit too close to my natural lip colour so I tend to just wear it if I want a really casual look. Yesterday, however, one of my friends was wearing Candy apple and I absolutely loved it. It looked great on her and we have fairly similar hair colours and skin tones, so here's hoping it will suit me too.


4. Baby Lips by Maybelline.


I cannot tell you how excited I am to get one of these. I don't even know if they've come out in the UK yet but there's such a hype around them. I found out about them through Maddi Bragg (youtube: madisenrosebeauty1) and she has a nice little collection of them. I'm not sure what colour/flavour I'll get - I'm torn between nude or clear - but you can be sure I'll be posting crazily about them the minute I get back from Superdrug.


And so ends my short list. I wanted to keep it kind of concise or I know I'll end up spending way too much on products I potentially may not even like! Feel free to leave a comment if you've tried any of these items, or just to share your thoughts or something. I love comments on here and getting to know fellow bloggers.


Song of the day:

Summer Vibe - Walk Off The Earth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNzenkoeJcY

Such a feel good song! It just puts a smile on your face immediately. Enjoy!

Tuesday 16 July 2013

Cory Monteith

"Find something that inspires you. Find something that you can get excited about that will become your new direction." [on how he recovered from his alcohol and drug addiction]


Cory Monteith has definitely left his mark on our generation. May he rest in peace.

Monday 15 July 2013

One Day

For those of you who've read One Day, happy One Day day, and happy St. Swithin's Day! I've been saying I was going to do a review for this book for ages and I feel like today - 15th July - is the most appropriate day for it. This is because the book focuses on all the 15th Julys from 1988 until 2007, following the lives of two friends, Dexter and Emma.


Let's be honest, I'm awful at book reviews and this is really spontaneous since I just realised what day it was. I also haven't read the book since early April and have read about eleven others since then, so please try to overlook the vagueness of everything I'm about to write. One Day is quite possibly my favourite book at the moment. It made me laugh out loud, it made me cry like a baby, but it mostly made me wish that I could have a friendship like Dex and Emma have. Yes, it's flawed and when they have arguments, they're bloody huge but when they're getting along it's wonderful - and I don't know about you, but when my favourite characters are happy, I get this little warm fuzzy feeling inside.


Speaking of the characters, Emma is someone who I look up to. I love how rational she is and how every decision she makes is what I would have chosen to do too. I can identify with her. Dexter, on the other hand, pissed me off hugely. Perhaps I get too into my books in this sense, but I felt like the characters were real, so Dex's bad choices got me feeling pretty angry. I don't know, I think it was just that he seemed so thoughtless and did things regardless of how they made his friends and family feel. Sylvie was too good for him, let's be honest.


I also loved reading how all the characters, not just Dexter and Emma, grew up from university to nearing middle age. It definitely got me thinking about my life and what I'm expecting it to be like, but it also worried me. I'm scared I'll get into a situation like Emma and Ian did, and I'm scared that, like Emma, I won't be able to get out of it without creating a massive mess and tearing a huge hole in someone like Ian's life. 


I feel like reading One Day has taught me so many life lessons. Perhaps it's better to read it when you're this age, seventeen, than when you're an adult and can see the mistakes you've made reflected in the story. Because I don't want to make mistakes. Of course, I'm not going to live the perfect life and have everything work out, but I'm adamant that I will not make the mistakes that Dexter made.


I'm aware that this post is a bit (very) garbled but you know, it's late and I'm rushing but I'm suddenly overwhelmed with a desire to read the book again. Please please please tell me at least one of you has read One Day or this isn't going to make much sense to anyone! Leave your thoughts in the comments if you understood anything from this jumble of words attempting to be a book review. Happy St. Swithin's Day!

We are wild.

Americana. Exotica. Do you wanna feel a little beautiful?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZvHkOAtUYQ

I have a feeling this is going to be my song of the summer. Can anyone recommend any other Fall Out Boy songs? I feel a bit behind having only just started listening to them!

Saturday 13 July 2013

Awfully crazy

Not a lot has really been happening but I am getting into the summer spirit. I need to sort out my camera so I can - in true wannabe beauty blogger style - upload OOTDs. I've had a long week at school with next to no free periods and lots of work. However, our school is right next to a park so we've been going out every lunch time to play frisbee to display the fact that we are mature, studious sixth formers. The downside of this though is that I've developed the bloody worst heat rash on the freaking planet. Like, I go outside and it flares up. The sun shines on it through a window and it flares up. Argh, it's so annoying and so bloody itchy and it's looks not entirely attractive. I was hoping to go in the garden and tan today - hottest day of the year, you know - but I probably can't do it now.


I went to a party last night but I can't say I enjoyed it a great deal. I don't know what it was, I liked all the people and the music was good but I didn't have much fun. I think I was that annoying sober girl who tries to stop her friends smoking for the first time, and who ends up dragging the drunk boy up the stairs to the bathroom because he'd wet himself. That was.. um, an experience. I suppose it will be better next time!


This was just a quick post to check in and assure you I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. I find this song highly appropriate right now, so enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYx7YG0RsFY

Sunday 7 July 2013

Summer nails



I'm pretty sure I've posted some photos of this style of nail varnish before but it's really one of my favourite patterns to do. It's something different to the old alternate colours on nails but not as much effort as doing split colours on every nail. It's also great for when you can't decide between two colours (which I never can).

Purple: MUA, shade 26
Orange: Barry M, Tangerine

Saturday 6 July 2013

Cambridge University

I will never ever apply to Cambridge. I think I'll come out with ABC next year, not A*A*A* so it's completely unrealistic. But my school booked a residential at Cambridge for Thursday night and picked the "top achiever" from each subject so woohoo, I got to go. My best friend also went which made it doubly fun. I hate to be all cliche-teenage-girl, but we carried her mattress down a spiral staircase and into my bedroom in the halls so we could have a cheeky sleepover. 


On Thursday afternoon, we all went down to the town for a bit of shopping and relaxing in the park. It's a lovely, quaint little town (or is it a city? I didn't see a cathedral!) with lots of old fashioned shops and amazing restaurants. In the evening, after a delicious meal of fish and chips at the halls, we went punting. Well, we didn't punt but we got on the boats and professional people punted for us. People who didn't fall in or capsize our boat: bonus. If you ever go to Cambridge, go on a punting tour and get the guides to tell you the history of every beautiful building you see. They know it all. The architecture is fabulous, and we also got to see a copy library. It has every copy of every book ever published in Britain. Apparently. I find it hard to believe but it's an impressive thought. There must be close to a million. We punted in the evening and the sun was setting. It was so lovely and perhaps one of the best days of 2013 for me so far. I haven't laughed that much in a while.



This cringey photo is of said best friend and me by a fountain in the town, marvelling over the fantastic quality of the sweets we'd just bought. We also visited the Sedgwick Museum which related very much to what I'm going to learn in geography; geology. I actually found it really interesting, sad as it may sound, and the fossils were so impressive.


The next day, Friday (yesterday), was a little less exciting. We went on a campus tour and had a student life talk. Cambridge "doesn't really recommend" having a job whilst there, going home often, or going out clubbing (not that there are clubs in Cambridge anyway!). "Doesn't really recommend" is just a polite way of saying "this is prohibited". The students do have their "Friday Night Bop" at the college bar every Friday though!!!!!! We stayed at the Churchill College which is one of the more modern ones but I really liked it. I also really loved the subject talk for Linguistics that I went to. It's just made me want to go there so much but it's entirely unrealistic, and essentially a waste of a uni application for me. (Evidence of this is when a student said to me: "when you come here, don't expect to be getting the 95% you're getting on tests now, expect more like 70% here while you're taking time to adjust". The 95% I'm getting now? Hahahahaha)


Like almost everybody, I love discovering new bands and a way I like to do it is to walk into a charity shop and pick out a CD which I like the look of. Oxfam in Cambridge had a pretty small collection of CDs but I picked Hearts and Unicorns by band from Cali called Giant Drag. They're apparently indie rock, but the main reason I chose the CD is because track one is called Kevin is Gay which I (childishly) thought was bloody funny. I actually really like the record so far, and I'll leave you now with a gem of a song, Kevin is Gay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dugZU0QCYg

Monday 1 July 2013

Something to live by...

"Some guys just need a push".

- Jess

Well said, Jess, well said. For more of Jess's fabulous guy advice, go and befriend her at www.theadorabledork.blogspot.co.ukhttp://justxjessx.tumblr.com/, or https://twitter.com/221bprivetdrive. She truly does give out absolute gems of tips!

I know exactly what I want and who I want to be

Today I, for once, wore an outfit which was weather appropriate so I didn't overheat like mad and I didn't spend the whole day shivering. I finished three PowerPoint presentations. I've done absolutely every little bit of homework there is. I've made a to-do list for tomorrow and packed all my folders. I feel so in control. This never happens! And let me tell you, I feels bloody great. I should really be organised more often. Are you? I bet you are. Everyone else is!


I was in the study room at school today, taking a break from one of my many PowerPoint presentations when a boy called Michael walked in holding a Tesco bag, fit to burst with... CREME EGGS! "Oh my god, how many do you have?!" I asked, mouth dribbling. "Forty six" he replied in his mega cute Polish accent. I think I may have squealed. What? Why? How? Where? When? It transpired that the Tesco Express ten minutes from school were selling their left over Creme Eggs from Easter for... ONE PENNY EACH! One penny. Can you believe it? I bloody couldn't.


I rummaged through my shit tip of a school rucksack and managed to get a 10p coin, a 5p coin, and three 1p coins. I got my arse out of the school gates and down to Tesco in about eight minutes power walking (PowerPoint abandoned).There were only thirteen eggs left, so I felt like being a bit generous and just bought ten to leave the other three for another lucky soul. 


I've spent my whole afternoon gorging myself on these eggs and basking in the brilliance of organisation. I was also very saddened to see number one babe, Laura Robson, lose at Wimbledon but I still love her. Our love runs deeper than um, the core of the earth? That was bad, I'm sorry. She's fab.


Please please please follow this blog with the Bloglovin button on the right hand side of the page: I'm getting desperate now, faced with the frighteningly real prospect that I may lose you lovely people if you don't follow me on there. Together forever (if you follow, that is).


Song of the day: (the I'm-in-control-and-am-unstoppable anthem)

Oh No! - Marina and the Diamonds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr-SqRWImmI

Bloglovin

Let's be honest, I don't really have a clue what Bloglovin is or how it works but I gather that Google Friend Connect is just being ditched for it. I've imported all the blogs I follow onto my Bloglovin account and if you follow me here, (which not many people do, let's face it) pretty please follow me on there - that is if you wish to keep up with my mundane ramblings. Just hit that button in the side bar and hopefully it will work! Please don't leave me.