An Assortment of Awards

Hello my lovelies,

It’s awards time! I’m afraid my backlog of awards is just too big to be attempted without seriously endangering both my and your health, so I’ve decided that I’m going to completely clear the slate, and start again from now. I’m so sorry to anyone who has nominated me for awards I haven’t done; I am extremely grateful for them – they make me feel appreciated, and happy – I’ve just let my crappy organisational skills get the better of me. Surprise surprise. Totally don’t have a track record of this. I’m sorry guys.

And now, here are a few recent awards:

Sunshine Blogger Award:

I was nominated for this award by the freakin’ fabulous Okaaythen.

1. What do you think happens after death?

Honestly, I’d like to say I think we all go to a place of sweetness and light, of marshmallows and white Christmases, cherry blossom and endless pristine sandy beaches. I’d love to really believe that. But I don’t. Harsh as it sounds, when we die I think that’s it – oblivion. It’s bloody terrifying but I think that just means you have to make the most of life while it’s here, however long or short a time that might be. There’s no point living as though there’s more to come, because what if there isn’t? Then that’s just a life wasted. *hands up if you didn’t expect this post to turn into a philosophical discussion. Me too. Always unexpected, I am*

2. Your favourite food?

Food being one of the things I love best in the world, you can believe me when I say that this is a question I have considered countless times, and it doesn’t ever get less agonising. Dish-wise, I’d say lasagne, but the individual food category is wide open: ice cream, bacon, ginger cookies, bagels, yorkshire pudding, sausages…- It goes on.

3. What’s in your five year plan?

So this is when we expose the fact that I am completely unorganised and unprepared and I basically just don’t have a clue about life. Oops… I’m winging it guys! Well, I guess the next five years are pretty much just education for me – after this year, there’ll be another year of GCSEs, then 2 of A-Levels, and then uni, with possibly a gap year in between. I’d like to study English Lit at the moment, but let’s face it, anything could happen.

4. Ten year plan?

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I gave the last one a pretty good stab, but I honestly haven’t a clue about a ten year plan. Am I meant to? Okay, let’s try: I’ll go to uni and then take a gap year, rather than one before. In my gap year I’ll save to go travelling (India, Nepal, Tibet, China?), gain some work experience, possibly in law or at a newspaper, and also live in Paris for a good few months, if my French allows. Basically the full gap year cliche. Then I’ll either do a law conversion course and become a criminal law or human rights barrister, or I’ll go into journalism. At least, that’s what interests me at the moment. Like I said though, anything could happen.

5. Do you think the education system at the moment is adequate?

In this country, yes. Or at least, in my experience. It’s not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but I would call it adequate. And it is evolving and *hopefully* improving all the time. Elsewhere in the world, however, the standard of education is terrifying. I’m not going to get properly started on this now, but corruption in education, the denying of an education for girls, and the prejudice taught in some places disgusts me. A good education is the most valuable tool, and it is absolutely unfair that some people are never given it.

6. If you ruled the world, what would you do?

Crack down on institutionalised misogyny, ban war, and make doughnuts free for all.

7. What inspires you?

Nature, Amal Clooney (perfect life, am I right?) and those who stand up against oppression and injustice.

8. What’s holding you back at the moment?

A combination of laziness, insecurity and lack of sleep. It’s not ideal, but most of it is my fault.

9. What makes you happy?

The stars, strangers being nice, my family and friends, and food.

10. What colour is your hair?

This is actually a hard one for me – my hair itself doesn’t really know. It’s currently working its way from blonde to brown, so I’d say a warm light brown. I wish it would make its mind up.

I nominate:

Happyalexx

Dziey

Just Average Teen Me

Vengeance Wears Black

My questions:

1. What is your most precious possession?
2. If you could make one permanent change to the world, what would it be?
3. You’re in jail. Why are you there?
4. Top 3 favourite women in the world.
5. If you could, would you go to space?
6. What is your favourite memory?
7. Fame or fortune?
8. First musician/band you saw live?

 

Liebster Award:

I was nominated by wideandawake, who I suggest you follow now.

1. What or who inspired you for blogging?

Reading Girl Online probably gave me the idea, but I wouldn’t say I see Zoe Sugg as an inspiration. My main inspirations are probably the lovely people I have encountered daily on WordPress, who run blogs with humour, compassion and creativity.

2. Your favorite music genre?

I’d say I listen to indie rock mainly, but I have a very eclectic style – jazz and musicals are ever-present on my Spotify.

3. What character do you despise the most of people?

If this is characteristic, then I’d say arrogance, without a doubt. Followed by prejudice, of any kind. Both are immediate turn-offs, and I have been known to literally walk away from people who display theses traits. Got no time for big egos and stupid assumptions.

4. Favorite leisure activities?

Listening to music, singing, reading, watching films, concerts, dinner out with my friends.

5. One dream you know is impossible?

To be given Gigi Hadid’s face/body. Just imagine.

6. Your dream destination?

A big bucket list holiday would be New York, and also a big trip to Asia, which I mentioned as a gap year idea.

7. Worst or weirdest habits?

Endlessly clicking my thumbs, “forgetting” to get dressed at weekends, procrastination, biting my fingernails.

8. Books you love the most?

A full post on my top 10 can be found here, though I’m already rethinking it! This is a crazily hard question for any book lover.

9. Favorite quote?

“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” – the magnificent Les Miserables.

10. Best experience?

Too hard. SO hard. Possibly when I went up Mount Etna last summer – it’s an incredible place, and the feeling of being literally on the edge of the craters of a volcano is indescribable. Or possible seeing The Vaccines live in November.

I nominate:

ParisianPages

TheAmbivert123

DiaryOfALonelyGirl

My questions are the same as the questions I wrote for the previous award.

 

And that’s us done! Congratulations if you managed to slog through the previous 1158 words of this post, I seem to have got slightly carried away.

Lots of love as always,

xxxxxxxxxxx

Spread The Love

Hello my lovelies,

The idea for this post came yesterday, when I realised that people don’t always know how much we appreciate them. I was giving my mum a hug – she’s fabulous, so why not? – and she asked, slightly surprised, what had prompted it. It made me stop for a minute, to think that she might not realise that I just think she’s generally great, and that’s reason enough, and then I realised that there are probably a lot of people in our lives who are in the same situation.

Do you actually tell your siblings that you love them? Or do you just assume they will know? Do your friends know just how important they are to you? What about people who have helped you online? An author who wrote a book that changed your life? Have you told them?

Because of this little epiphany, I’ve resolved to do much more to show people how much I love them, or how much they’ve helped me, and I think you should do the same. Chances are, your friends probably know they’re a huge part of your life, but it absolutely doesn’t hurt to make sure, and no one will ever mind being told that they are loved. Today, I challenge you to tell some people how fabulous they are. Spread the love, and brighten someone else’s day. Give people the recognition they deserve, and don’t just presume that they are already aware of what they’ve done for you.

Specifically, here are some things that I think it would be great if we could all do, today. Each one will just take a few seconds of your life, but it’ll make all the difference.

1. Visit a blog that you really enjoy/admire/just generally love. Leave them a lovely, really sincere comment, letting them know how great you think their site is.
2. Comment on a post, recommending another blogger that you think deserves more recognition. We’re all very keen to gain followers for ourselves, and you see many bloggers commenting on posts to attract viewers to their own page, but never for someone else. Try that today, by recommending someone else’s blog to people you think will appreciate them, or even write a whole post listing different bloggers who deserve more love. I’m going to be doing just that very soon.
3. Is there someone who’s really inspired you/changed your life? If they’re someone close to you, like a parent, then let them know today. Or was there a comedian who really got you through a dark time? An author who changed your perspective on the world? An actor who inspired you to do what you love and have more confidence in yourself? Write them a letter – they’ll almost certainly have a PO box or agent that you can send it to.
4. Go give your sibling a hug. Right now. For absolutely no reason, other than that you love them. You can come back to this post in a minute. Or at least, you’d better 😉
5. No sibling? Give your pet some love.
6. Text your friends. Tell them you don’t know what you’d do without them, and add a lot of heart emojis to the message. You can never go wrong with emojis. I’ve just sent mine.
7. Imagine that today was your last day on Earth. You wouldn’t want to leave knowing that there were people who didn’t know how much you appreciate them, so take this opportunity to fill them in.

I know this post is completely random, and utterly out of the blue, but I just realised how little I actually vocalise my love and admiration for people. And that definitely isn’t a good thing, because there are so many people who deserve to know. It’ll make you happy too: I’m currently watching as my phone buzzes with replies from my friends, telling me they love me too, and it’s a pretty darn good feeling.

So, off you go guys.

Lots of love,

xxxxxxxxxxxx

PS. If this does inspire you to write any kind of post, do use the tag “spreadthelove” so that I can see it, or link it back to this post, but I’m not trying to turn this into a project or award, or something.

PPS. The featured image (obviously) isn’t mine.

I Don’t Like Halloween…!

Hello my lovelies,

Yep, you read that right. I don’t like Halloween. I’ve seen everyone else’s countless posts about why they love Halloween, and Halloween costume/makeup/nails/decoration ideas, and I thought that some people might be interested to read a contrasting piece. 

P.S. I know Halloween was yesterday, but I was on a train and so couldn’t post it then, but wanted to put it up anyway!

I guess it’s because I’ve never really celebrated Halloween. Even when I was much younger, I never went trick or treating, and I’ve only been to Halloween parties a couple of times. Maybe if my family had always been really into it I’d be more of a fan, but they’re not, and I’m not. There’s just something inherently intimidating and (dare I say it) greedy about Halloween and the traditions that go with it. It all centres around the idea of “trick or treating” and whilst in practice this is a generally harmless affair, essentially it is telling people that if they don’t give you what you want, you’ll do something potentially really nasty to them. 

You’re probably all protesting that no one ever actually does anything bad, and it’s all just lighthearted, and I’m sure this is true 99% of the time. But I remember when I was younger feeling genuinely scared of people who came round – usually the older ones. It’s because I’d seen things that had happened to houses on my street who hadn’t had sweets left – they had eggs thrown at their houses and even their cars vandalised. To 5 year old me, this seemed to be the usual punishment for a lack of treats, and so began my intense dislike of Halloween. 

For the next few years I’d cower in my room as soon as it got dark on October 31st, and refuse to come downstairs. Now, my objections are totally different – it doesn’t scare me, but I find it a pretty unpleasant holiday. First of all, it’s pretty much just as way for companies to make money. There’s not actually anything being celebrated, it’s just an excuse for companies to persuade you to buy things you otherwise wouldn’t have a reason to buy. Shops and companies have just made Halloween (and the very distinctive theme it provides) an excuse for a buying spree, and a massive spike in takings. Think about how many Halloween-y products you see in shops on the run up to the 31st – everything is calculated for profit, not because it actually increases people’s levels of happiness.

Also (this is a much more personal and less societal reason!) the whole point of Halloween is scary things and I basically just don’t like horror! I’ve always been easily scared – I can’t cope with horror movies at ALL – and so a whole celebration based around things that go bump in the night is never going to be something I can fully get on board with. Make it about rom-coms and sure, I’m listening, but horror is just really not my thing! Woman in Black is about as much as I can take, but anything worse than that and I am out of there. 

So there we go. Why I don’t like Halloween. Maybe that makes me a weirdo, but to be honest I rather enjoyed my evening last night – hot chocolate, a blanket and a film appeals to me much more than traipsing round the streets in the dark past loads of people with rubbish face paint… That makes me sound like such a spoilsport, but I’m just being honest!

Anyway, to those of you who do enjoy Halloween, I hope you had a good night. And to those who don’t – it’s okay. You’re not alone.

Where do you stand on the subject of Halloween? Let me know.

Lots of love,

xxxxxxxxxxx

One Lovely Blog Award

Hello my lovelies,

Today I’m going to be doing the One Lovely Blog Award, for which I was nominated by the fabulous Elm and the equally incredible UnfashionableCupcake approximately 5 years ago. I’m sorry it’s so late – I really am so grateful for everything I am nominated for, it makes me so happy!

Anyway, for this award I have to share 7 facts about me with you guys, and I think I’m going to use it as a bit of an update post, so here goes:

1. I’m currently feeling absolutely crappy, having had a grand total of FOUR teeth pulled out yesterday. This was not due to any neglect or mistreatment, I hasten to add; they were baby teeth who just wouldn’t shift, and were causing the adults below them to fight for space and go in funny places. It’s a good thing they’re out, to be honest, but it hurt like hell and I’m now feeling really insecure about even opening my mouth to talk, as I look like a witch. It’s horrible. But I guess at least it fits with the Halloween vibe. 😦
2. I’m 14, but I turn 15 next week, about which I am worryingly over-excited.
3. Only one person knows about this blog (one person I know in real life, I mean) as I’ve never been brave enough to tell anyone else.
4. I did my first ever time-constrained Controlled Assessment for my GCSEs last week, and I’m surprisingly proud of myself. I am a perfectionist to the very limit of the word – look up perfectionist in the dictionary, and there’ll just be a little picture of me looking incredible stressed out. But somehow (I honestly have no idea how) I managed to finish the essay in time, and I think it was actually a pretty good one, as well!
5. I find choosing people to nominate on awards really stressful, as I always feel like I’ll annoy people. Yes, I need to chill.
6. I’ve recently started yoga, and I thought it would just be for a laugh, but I love it! It’s relaxing and calming, things I could definitely do with a bit more of in my life.
7. I’m possibly the only person in the world like this, but don’t kill me… I don’t like Halloween at all. Never have. Full post on this to come – look out for it in a couple of days. *shameless self-promo*

Just took 10 minutes deciding who to nominate (see no. 5) but I’ve decided on mainly new blog finds of mine, who I’d love to find out a bit more about. They are:

Ramexa

A Teenage Diary Online

Just Average Teen Me 

Luna (My Irrelevant Thoughts)

Hope you enjoyed this little update/award post.

Lots of love,

xxxxxxxxxxxx

This or That Beauty Tag

Hello my lovelies!

So today I’m going to be doing something rather different to posts that I’ve done in the past – a tag. I saw loads of YouTubers do this a few months back, and really liked it, but at that point I had no blog to do it on myself! Now (obviously) I do, and so I remembered this the other day, and thought I’d give it a go.