4 Weeks To Go…

Am I allowed to feel Christmassy yet?
It almost December and although it happens the same time every year, Christmas always seems to sneak up on me. One minute it’s summer, the next I’m opening the last door on my advent calendar to reveal a disappointingly small chocolate Santa and it’s Christmas Day!
However, by about the last week in November, after being bombarded with Christmas songs and decorations every where you go, you’ve kind of got no choice but to give in and start to feel a little bit more festive. All the Christmas adverts are on the TV and everyone is gearing up for it all. I went to a Festive Gift Fair last weekend and for the first time in all the years I’ve gone, it didn’t feel wrong to hum along to Jingle Bells as I browsed through the stalls looking for presents.
Am I right to embrace it yet or is it still too early? Well whether we love it or hate it, it’s only 25 days until Christmas so you better start getting ready!

30 Days of Thankful

#3 – Thanksgiving and American friends

I may be thoroughly English, but I do have quite a large number of American friends, which means that every year I celebrate Thanksgiving. Don’t be tricked into thinking that that means that I know what on earth it’s all about though. In fact, I spent a good majority of my study period today, attempting to work it out, but I’m still pretty much none the wiser (though in all honestly, I did get slightly sidetracked into learning about Belarus. Did you know they found some mammoth fossils there?). Something to do with pilgrims?

Anyway, despite the fact that Thanksgiving isn’t until Thursday, we decided to live life on the edge and celebrate four days early. So, yesterday was a day filled with turkey, pumpkin pie and some pretty dodgy American impressions. But it’s not the turkey I’m especially thankful for (though it is pretty good), but the fact that even in times where every single news story seems incredibly depressing, people can still get together and celebrate the good parts in their lives and be thankful.

Also, here’s something I uncovered on my Thanksgiving revision. I learnt a lot …

Nail Fail

So you get to go home early because a lesson is cancelled. What do you do? Catch up with some homework? Use the extra time to study? Nope, you do your nails. Well I’m not exactly endorsing it but that’s what I did…

I’d seen a nail design on Pinterest where you drop nail varnish into a bowl and then swirl it to make a tie dye effect. Well, let’s say things on Pinterest always look easier than they turn out to be in real life.

1. Okay so first I painted on my white base coat and put sellotape around all of my nails so I didn’t get the nail varnish all over them

2. I then dropped the nail varnish into a bowl of water (the clingfilm is just so I didn’t stain the bowl). This was my first obstacle: the nail varnish started to either sink to the bottom or just spread out and not mix with the other colours.

3. Even so, I persevered and place my nail on top of the swirly mess I’d created so far.
This was the best nail:

You can see by middle finger that the rest were not so successful and I took it all off straight away and went for this more simplistic design instead:

The moral of this story: Don’t underestimate the difficulty of things put on Pintrest. I’ve tested it and failed.

30 Days of Thankful

#2 – God’s Creativity

As a Christian, I believe that God created everything in this world, so if you don’t believe in the same ideas, just go along with it for now. When God created the world I feel like he had a great time. He could have just decided to make a tree, and a grass, and a flower, but instead he decided to go all out and make hundreds of beautiful, intricate and frankly, weird variations. For example, a few weeks ago at church, someone gave me a bunch of flowers which included the most amazing flower I have ever seen. Seriously, it’s a cabbage:

Like what?! Even everyday flowers like roses. Once you actually look at them, they’re absolutely amazing!

So here’s a little challenge for you today, and over the next week. When you see flowers, or  trees, or plants, instead of simply glancing at them look at them, and appreciate the beauty  in every part of His creation.

Eyeliner: Do’s & Don’ts

Although this is a very popular makeup trend at the moment, a lot of people still don’t completely know how to do it. I’ve put together a short list of do’s and don’ts with eyeliner but remember some of these are just my opinion and there are loads of different styles you can do…

DO’s

• Buy a good quality eyeliner 

It’s important to make sure you buy a well-known, branded eyeliner that won’t start cracking and rubbing off by the end of the day.

• Find your favourite type of eyeliner
  

There are actually lots of different options when it comes to eyeliner. You can get liquid, gel or pencil. I personally prefer to use liquid or a liquid pen as it’s a more precise line but you can also achieve really good results with a gel liner or kohl pencil.

• Practice

Before you wear it out for the first time, I would recommend you try it out a few times to get the right technique. The first time I wore eyeliner I drew it on about half an inch away from my actual eye.

 

DON’Ts

• Draw it on too thick

You don’t want to end up with eyeliner across half your eyelid so make sure you keep fairly near to the lashline.

• Severe Wings

If you are going to attempt a wing  you need to make sure it looks as effective as possible. It needs to be a consistent line from the corner of your eye right the way to the tip of the wing. Ideally, the wing will look like a continuation of your eye so you need to draw a line out from your waterline (your bottom lashline) to the desired length of the wing.

• Forget mascara

Putting eyeliner on as an extra is all well and good but not if you forget to put your normal makeup on as well. There are loads of people who seem to think as they are wearing eyeliner they don’t need to wear any other makeup but you need to make sure you put mascara on as well to emphasise your eyes.

• Give up

Eyeliner takes a long time to perfect and you can’t expect to get it right the first time. Liquid eyeliner is notoriously difficult to get right, but with a lot of practice you can achieve brilliant eyeliner every time!

Made In Chelsea Catch Up Time!

Season 6, Episode 5

Awkward Silence Count: IIIIIIIIIII

EPISODE FIVE!!! LET’S DO THIS!

Louise and Spencer go on a conversation date with Louise’s MASSIVE coat. He tells her he’s broken up with whatever-his-girlfriends-name-is. Want a big surprise? He cheated on her. He’s not bothered, but Lou-Lou is and does a classic dramatic huff and stalks out.

Spencer is having a men’s dinner with a nice selection of people he doesn’t like, in some weird sort of dungeon. Stevie texts Tiffany a really awkwardly cringy text asking when ‘they’re next going to make music together’.

Lucy and Louise are friends now?! They have a whole conversation that’s actually friendly. WHAT?

Thankfully, e4 gives us a brilliant argument in the form of Jamie and Spencer about the whole Phoebe-Lucy situation. I’m not sure who wins or whose side everyone else is on. Instead they agree to not fuck each other’s ex’s, but I bet you as much money as I possibly have that that promise will be broken. Spencer then tells Andy that he thinks that Louise still has feelings for him, and has done for the entirety of Andy and Louise’s relationship. Cue extremely long, extremely intense awkward silence. Annndddd break for some adverts.

Jamie confronts Phoebe about her secret boyfriend, and she tries to deny it by simply not saying anything, then making out that she hasn’t done anything wrong.

Lucy and Louise meet up with Spencer’s ex girlfriend to tell her he cheated on her. Spencer then turns up and tells her that he doesn’t get what’s different about sleeping with someone else while in a relationship or sleeping with someone after breaking up with them.

Tiffany and Stevie are on a cocktail making date. She suggests a baby making date next.

This week’s end of season party is at some sort of posh garden center. Some random guy called Sam tells Spencer that Andy has texted Louise telling her he still loves her. NO ANDY! Stevie on the other hand gets turned down by Tiffany despite the fact that he’s the most adorable person ever. Back to Andy, turns out he was drunk when he texted that, but when he tells her that Spencer thinks she still has feelings for him, she doesn’t deny it. Ooh dramatic.

So what have we learned this week? 1) It’s okay to go and practice boxing in the middle of a pavement; 2) No one in Chelsea is physically able to stay faithful; 3) Spencer’s a dick, but we kind of knew that already

30 Days of Thankful

#1 – This blog

Last week I found this little challenge swimming around the internet (metaphorically of course) and decided that this would be a good way to improve Mondays, by looking at the slightly more positive side. And of course, being the slow movers that we are on this blog, yes we are starting late and yes we will finish late, because that is the story of my life.

Source

Number 1 is this blog. I started this almost a year ago, purely for something to do, and now it’s turning into something that both Katie and I absolutely love doing. We were talking about this the other day, mainly about how we now see every situation as a blogging situation. When I told Katie I was away in Torquay the other day, the first thing she said to me wasn’t ‘have a nice time’ or ‘what’s it like?’, it was ‘make sure you take loads of pretty pictures’. This blog has become a huge part of our lives without us really realising it, and yes that’s pretty cliché but that just means that lots of other people feel the same way.
So if people actually read this or not, I’m thankful for this little space of  creativity, and also incredibly thankful that it’s been almost a year and still none of our friends have managed to find it …

Why Is It Even Called Fall?

Autumn (or Fall, though really why is it called that – is because the leaves are falling? By that logic surely you should call Spring: Grow because the leaves are growing? Just a suggestion) is by far my favourite season. Not only is my birthday right in the middle of it, but it’s just starting to get colder and Christmas is just around the corner.
I also love it because of the beautiful autumnal landscapes and golden leaves on the trees.
I visited the National Arboretum today and took some photos of the changing leaves before they all fell for the winter (okay I guess the Fall thing makes sense):

 

Made In Chelsea Catch Up Time!

Season 6, Episode 4

Awkward Silence Count: IIIIIIIIIII

Sorry if you were a bit lost without this last week, but I refuse to watch MIC when on holiday so man up and watch it for yourself lazy.

Firstly, EVERYONE HAS DOGS. Secondly, it’s Binky’s dog’s birthday and they’re throwing him a party in the form of a obstacle course. That’s right. A birthday party for a dog. Including presents. Ahh posh people.

Stevie and Tiff are on a date that involves aprons, though we later find out is all about making pizza, which I feel really doesn’t need an apron, unless you’re below the age of 5. Andy think he’ll friendzone her, and, let’s be honest, he probably will.

The boys have decided to go camping, so, feeling that the girls couldn’t possibly survive in Chelsea all on their own, Rosie organises a spa trip with people who hate each other because she ‘thinks it will be good for them’ and according to Louise ‘it can’t get worse’. I bet it can Louise. I bet it can.

Spencer doesn’t fancy the camping trip, but instead rants about Jamie to Proudlock, about him ‘stealing’ his ex girlfriend, while conveniently forgetting about that time that he stole Jamie’s ACTUAL girlfriend, Louise. Nice one Spencer.

Speaking of ex-stealing, Phoebe confronts Fran about all the Alex drama and calls it the ‘ultimate betrayal’ even though Fran is apologising to her. But what can make this conversation even more angry? Lucy. Oh and there she is, leaving Phoebe to flounce off with the amazingly childish burn ‘Jamie says hi. He just text me.’

Phoebe forces Louise to go gatecrash the boys camping trip and Andy’s pissed. And who would blame him really? Having your ex girlfriend turn up on your boys-only camping trip must be pretty rubbish. Jamie however, it’s pretty damn excited, gets kinda drunk and tells Phoebe he wants to put all his eggs in her basket (yes he actually said that), even the eggs that were in Lucy’s basket.

Lucy finds out and cries. Again, another consequence of dating Spencer Matthews.

This week’s end of episode party is Andy’s gig – he’s adorable. Jamie decides he’s going to decide on Phoebe as his current girl obsession, who unfortunately has gone off on holiday with a different guy. Andy continues to put on a very strange accent as he sings and Louise is having wayyyy too much fun despite the fact that he purposefully didn’t invite her.

Spencer shouts at Jamie for sleeping with Lucy and that strange MIC phenomenon happens again. You know the one when you’re having an argument with someone, apologise to them and say you’ll do exactly what they want and it just makes them more angry. And in a spectacular ending, Spencer throws a drink at him, which only hits his shoulder. Embarrassing.

What have we learnt this week?
1) You must always throw your dog a birthday party
2) Camping ‘in the wilderness’ involves ready built, brick firepits
3) If someone is playing really depressing music, just sway really heavily

Life Lately

The Half Term Edition:

Wait What Homework?!

You may have missed us last week (or if you didn’t please just pretend) because we were living it up on half-term which means, I at least, spent all my time avoiding doing half-term homework, sitting around doing nothing and watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians for the whole week, up to the point of Sunday evening when I realised I’d done pretty much none of the 16 pieces of work I’d been set. This led to a secret meltdown out of sight of my parents (who are still under the impression that I’m happily on top of my workload), and an emergency study session this morning during breakfast. I managed to make it to school with the three pieces of work that were set for today (shoddily) completed. How many of those do you think were checked? That’s right. None.

Torquay … T-adventures

There’s nothing better than a bit of awkward alliteration, admit it. Ah and the second one wasn’t even on purpose! I digress. Our family’s annual ‘holiday’ happened last week. I’ve noticed something about holidays as my brothers have left home and my parents have grown older, an that’s that they’re getting shorter and more dull. When we were younger, holidays involved going away for a week or more in caravan, going to beaches and on trains and eating a lot of ice-cream. This holiday consisted of three days in a Travelodge, a National Trust visit, country walks (avoiding the muddy paths of course) to beaches with no sand and a big fat no to any suggestions of trains or cliff trams or ice-cream. I’m sorry if I sound ungrateful, but frankly, none of those things are fun to me. So as a cure for this, I’m forcing Katie to come on holiday with me this summer, whether she likes it or not.

Awkward Parties

Me, my brothers and sister-in-law, traveled down to London on Saturday for a friend of our’s 40th birthday. Of course, we got there and knew nobody, so our friend’s wife introduced us to his nephew. Unfortunately, the music was so loud that my brothers and I were too far away to hear him, leaving him to chat to my sister-in-law who, also unfortunately, doesn’t actually know the birthday boy at all. Their awkward conversation about why she was actually there was then interrupted by an older, rather eccentric looking man, who immediately dropped an extremely inappropriate sex joke, then left again. Nephew guy then also left and avoided us for the rest of the night.

A New Claim To Fame

The most exciting part of that night is obviously the fact that the Captain of the Cutty Sark was there, and gave me a kiss on the cheek which I will now always refer to as my claim to fame, displacing that time that Jessica Ennis smiled at me across a room. Before you get excited though, the Captain was about 80 and told me I’d have to be 60 years older for him to whisk me away on his boat … which is kinda a good thing I guess …