New Years Resolutions!

1. Blog at least once a week
Doing the little December challenge has made me realise how much I enjoy blogging and it's also made me realise that if I can put up a blog post every day for 25 days, it shouldn't be too hard to put up one a week! I've been doing pretty well so far with a post every two days since the challenge ended. I just really enjoy blogging and I'd like to be more committed to it in 2016.

2. Read 52 books
This is going to be a more difficult one. I'm the kind of person who will read like 10 books in the space of two weeks and then for two months after I won't read a thing. I really love reading though so this year my goal is to read 52 books or a book a week. I've even written a post about a reading challenge I'll be taking part in to help me along. You can read that post here.

3. Eat better
Not necessarily healthier, just better. I'm prone to having a lot of pasta and pot noodles, especially while at university, I want to get into the habit of making proper meals for myself. This is probably going to take some meal planning and a lot of Pinterest searching.

4. Keep My Surroundings Tidy
In a post about how I de-stress I wrote about how when things around me are tidy, it makes me feel more organised, less stressed and just better about myself in general. So in 2016 I want to make more of an effort in this area.

5. Keep Organised/Plan more
I find it easier to keep my surroundings tidy when I plan in time to do it. My typical planning method is checklists, I love ticking off things I've done during the day, it keeps me organised, makes sure everything I want done is done and makes me feel accomplished when I get to tick something off my list. However, I'll go a few days where I do this really well and then one day I won't do it and it ends up not being done for weeks. So, in 2016 I want to make more of an effort to plan and organise my time.

6. Hydrate - Keep track of my water intake
I am the worst at remembering to drink water, it's just not something I think about during the day. There are so many benefits to drinking enough water so I would really really like to up my water intake this year.

7. Go to bed/wake up earlier
So I honestly can't see this one happening, but I can hope. I always find myself waking up past 11am and just feeling like my whole day is gone. Getting up earlier makes the day feel longer, makes me feel more motivated to do things and just makes me feel good. I am well aware that going to bed at 1am does not help with wanting to get up earlier so I also need to try and go to bed earlier! We'll see how that goes...

8. Check up on my progress every month/few months
I'd really love to blog about my progress regularly, I think it'll help me stay motivated and it'll be an incentive to do well so I'm not all embarrassed about posting that I've failed all of these things!

What are your New Year's resolutions?

5 Things I Learned in 2015

1. If you need something done, go out and do it yourself.
Sometimes you'll find a gem of a person who will do what they say, when they say they'll do it. But nine times out of ten, they won't and that's okay. Everybody works on different schedules, takes different amounts of time to do things and does things in different ways. So, if you need something done within a certain amount of time and in a certain way, you are better of just getting it done yourself, or you might find yourself nagging people constantly.

2. Having and sharing your opinions is a wonderful thing. Forcing them on others isn't.
If we couldn't share our opinions on things life would be extremely boring, and I personally love hearing other people's thoughts and feelings on different subjects. However, there is a major difference between sharing your opinion and forcing it on others. Having varying opinions from someone else is okay, not everyone has to or is ever going to have the same opinion on every topic as you. When you can't accept that other opinions exist, it shows and doesn't translate well in conversation. Sometimes it's best to agree to disagree.

3. Being scared is a major thing that only holds you back.
Fretting over a deadline, being scared that the thing you said to that person yesterday was wrong in some way, being scared of taking chances and opportunities. All of these thing just hold you back in life. Obviously sometimes there is genuine reason for being scared, but most of the time that feeling of dread amounts to absolutely nothing. There is no point in being scared of the little things, it doesn't help in any way. You'd be better off taking a deep breath and facing the problem head on, that way you can work to solve the problem instead of worrying about it.

4. 90% of the time, other people aren't thinking about you.
I mean this in the best way. People are often way too busy thinking of their own insecurities to be thinking of that one stupid thing you said, or the blemish on your face, the fact that you didn't do your eyebrows today or the outfit you're wearing isn't 100% on point. We worry so much about these things and the likelihood is that no-one really cares, especially if it's just a one-off. People are way too busy thinking about themselves and if they do think about you, that thought lasts no more than a few seconds before their brain floats along to the next thing.

5. 90% of the time, other people aren't thinking about you.
I mean this in a not-so-nice way. When that person bumps into you or pushes past you in the street, when you're boss shouted at you, someone you know made that comment that hurt your feelings, when the person you've been talking to likes someone else's Facebook picture. I guarantee that 90% of the time the person is not thinking about you. They are only thinking and worrying about themselves, which is fine and normal. What I'm trying to say is don't take the little things that people do everyday too personally, most of the time people aren't doing things to specifically annoy or hurt us. They're just so far into they're own little world that they fail to even notice how their actions may effect someone else.

So those are just a few things I observed in 2015. What did 2015 teach you?

2016 Reading Challenge

I've decided to take part in the 2016 reading challenge! With everything in my life, if I'm given a guide I'm more likely to do things. One of my resolutions this year is to read 52 books and I figured this would be much easier if I was also doing a challenge, to give me motivation.

So here is the list for 2016! It's from Popsugar,com, I'm also going to list some books I plan to read to fill the categories below. This list may change over the course of the year though, I'm just kind of using this as a guide.

A Book Based On A Fairy Tale: I'm currently reading A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas and I totally considered just finishing it after January 1st and including it, but that would be cheating. So instead I'm going to read Cinder by Marissa Meyer which as I'm sure you can guess is based on the story of Cinderella.

A YA Bestseller: Once again I have already started and not finished Paper Towns by John Green but I think it would be cheating to use something I started in 2015 so instead I will be reading Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard.

A Book You Haven't Read Since High School: Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling. This isn't a book I read for school, but it is a book which I Haven't read since High School and I really want to re-read and try to finish this series so I thought I'd make it part of the challenge!

A Book Translated Into English: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson

A Romance Set In The Future: Divergent by Veronica Roth

A Book Set In Europe: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

A New York Times Bestseller: Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

A Book That's Becoming A Movie This Year: Nerve by Jeanne Ryan

A Book You Can Finish In A Day: End In Sight by W.J. May

A Political Memoir: I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

A Book At Least 100 Years Older Than You: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

A Book That's More Than 600 Pages: Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

A Science-Fiction Novel: The Martian by Andy Weir

A Book That Is Published In 2016: The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead

A Dystopian Novel: Matched by Ally Condie

A Book With A Blue Cover: The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-time by Mark Haddon

So those are just some of the challenges which I have planned out, here is the list of challenges in full.

Day 25: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

I am very, very happy and grateful for everything I've received this year! Perhaps I'll do a little 'What I got for Christmas 2015' video soon, it seems fitting seen as the very first video I have on YouTube is 'What I Got For Christmas 2014'

This video makes me laugh, I literally went through EVERYTHING I got for Christmas that year. I probably won't do that in this year's video, I'll just do the interesting stuff. Also the rose body wash that I mention... Literally sitting unopened on my shelf in my uni room, and the ring that I said had been missing for 3 years... Found it.

God, my first ever proper YouTube video... bless me. I also didn't post another video for like 7 months after that, dedication at it's finest.

Anyway, Christmas has been lovely. I've watched The Santa Clause 2 and 3 (both were awesome), Brave (also awesome), some How I Met Your Mother (bloody amazing) and a few YouTube videos.

Now I am very much looking forward to my Christmas after Christmas Christmas with Jordan when we'll open our presents off each other.

So that is the end of this blog post and the end of my little blogging marathon/challenge. This has actually been really fun and I hope to continue posting often.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and if I don't post before, have a very happy New Year!

Goodbye for now!
x

Day 24: Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Today has been eventful! I tidied my room, wrapped last minute presents, took a last minute trip to Tescos and spent the evening over Jordan's where we watched The Grinch!

Here's my Snapchat story for the day:

Something I noticed about TV today: amongst all the lovely Christmas films and shows and things. A back to back of the two Lara Croft films was on... And Casino Royal... And a crap load of Impractical Jokers. Bit random if you ask me, but I love Impractical Jokers so I'm not at all complaining!

I think I'm going to do a ranking soon of all the films I've watched over the last month. Not sure if it'll be a 'Top Ten' or a definitive one yet, but we'll see! Even though this blogging every day thing ends tomorrow, I'm hoping to blog a lot more in the New Year than I did before I started this challenge. I have lots of post ideas lined up and the list is growing all the time.

The Grinch will rank very high on my list, I love this film, it's just so cute and feel-good! I also love baby Taylor Momsen, she is ridiculously adorable in this movie.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas gets:

Day 23: Favourite Cardiff Restaurants

It's Christmas Eve-Eve and I've only just today got all my Christmas shopping done, but I had a lovely few hours in Cardiff with my parents, noticed that a Shake Shack has opened in the St David's Centre, will need to be trying that soon.

Cardiff did not disappoint at all and still stands as my favourite city in the UK. So in light of that, I thought I'd share both my favourite places to eat and places I would like to try in Cardiff.

Places I like:

ASK Italian

- I've eaten in quite a few Italian restaurants both in Cardiff and elsewhere, and so far this is by far my favourite. The restaurant is so nice, it's light and airy, the drinks are amazing and most importantly the food is amazing! This place has the entire package and is always a go to for Jordan and I.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen
- It highly disappoints me that there isn't one of these in Southampton. I first heard about GBK from a Zoella vlog? I think. They seemed to love this place so much that I really wanted to try it, and when I did... I love it so much. Definitely a must try.

Red Hot World Buffet
- Red Hot is another go-to for me, it's the perfect place if you don't really know what you want to eat because they have everything! Pizza, pasta, salad, sushi, Chinese, Indian, pancakes, chocolate fountain, ice cream, you are genuinely spoilt for choice. The sushi is my personal favourite. The only downside to it is that it can get very crowded sometimes, the tables are all pretty close together so when it gets busy it can be annoying, especially because it's a buffet and you're mostly likely going to be getting up and walking around quite a bit.

Wagamama
- If you haven't tried a Wagamama before, you need to! This is the place I go if I feel like being healthy because everything here at least seems like it's super healthy (even if it's not). It's also quite light and the juice drinks are amazing. The restaurant in Cardiff Centre is also extremely bright and airy as the restaurant has these huge floor-ceiling windows, it just adds to the whole atmosphere of the restaurant.


Places I'd like to try:

Science Cream
- Apparently this place makes Ice Cream with liquid nitrogen! How cool does that sound?! Jordan actually suggested this one a while ago and we just haven't had a chance to visit yet, but I hope to very, very soon!

Shake Shack
- This is brand new (to me). When I moved to uni three months ago, this place did not exist in St Davids. I think it's only opened up in the last few days, but either way I need to try. They do burgers and milkshakes as their main selling point as far as I can tell. I love burgers, I love milkshakes...

Burger and Lobster
 - Okay, I'm going to be real with you. The number one reason I want to try this place is because it sounds a) super american and b) super fancy. Because lobster is fancy. I'm not even sure if I would order lobster if I went in there, but I'm curious to try this.

Crepe Affaire
- All I know about this one is that they do crepes. I like crepes, and I want to see if there's anything special about these particular crepes. Although knowing me, I'd just walk in and order a Nutella crepe. I'm not the most adventurous eater.


Honestly, I would love to try every cool-looking restaurant in Cardiff. Unfortunately, now that I live in Southampton, I don't visit Cardiff as often so I'm a little more limited on my restaurant-trying. But I love finding new, amazing places to eat and drink. If this list included places to get drinks...

Bubble Tea.

I don't care how, if you've never had Bubble Tea, you need to find and experience Bubble Tea.

Side Note: 2 Sleeps until Christmas!!

Day 22: How I de-stress

Make sure my surroundings are clean and tidy.
I don't know about you but I always feel 100% better within myself when everything around me looks good. A clean, organised bedroom, a made bed, it all adds up and when everything around me is clean and organised, I feel clean and organised. Which automatically brings my stress levels right down. Unfortunately, my room is almost never tidy. I probably need to work on that.

Make a checklist of everything I have to do.
If I write absolutely everything I have to do down, it means I'm not worrying and wracking my brain in case I've missed something. I make a long, long checklist of everything I want to get done in a day (I even include a reminder to have breakfast and make my bed in the morning) and the more things I get checked of in that day, the better I feel.

Go to bed early.
Sleep is key to healthy and happy lifestyle and it is something that drastically needs improving in my life. I always plan to go to sleep early and usually for whatever reason it doesn't happen. (Example: It is currently 1:08am, this blog post doesn't need writing desperately so why am I up? Who knows.) But When I actually do go to bed early, I'm not stressing about getting up in the morning, or sleeping too late. (Example: Jordan and I slept in until gone 1pm today... I know, that's awful.)

Wake up early.
I know I hardly ever do it unless I have to, but in the end I love being up early. The day feels so gloriously long and I end up getting so much done. My problem is I hate getting up in the mornings, I just find it so difficult. Probably because I stay up until 1am writing blog posts... But I always end the day feeling accomplished and relaxed when I've woken early.

Treat myself.
In the most materialistic way, if I've had a really stressful, day, week, month. I love nothing more than retail therapy. For me a really good shopping session is an amazing way to kill stress, I find it relaxing and fulfilling. Sometimes though, it doesn't even have to be a shopping session, just treating myself to one thing I've had my eye on for a while can do the trick.

Spend time with friends.
This may be an obvious one but I find this is best when I'm stressed about something specific. Spending time with friends is a great way to forget about your worries and just have a laugh, this is usually a temporary fix as I have to face the specific thing sooner or later, but it's a fix all the same.

Read.
Reading can transport you to another world and sometimes this is just what I need when I'm stressed. To lose myself in the adventures of a character and block out life's stresses for a little while. Books can also teach life lessons and every now and again I'll find an inspirational quote or character that will serve as the pick me up I need to get back to reality,

Watch YouTube/TV in bed.
Now this is reserved for a 'today was so stressful and I am so annoyed that I do not want to see or speak to anyone, I do not want to do anything and I want to eat everything' kind of day. This day for me is usually a Wednesday, Wednesday day is News Day (which I highly dislike), and News Day is usually very long, very annoying and very, very tiring. So I will return to my flat, make myself a tea/coffee, lock my door, curl under my blankets and watch YouTube videos with a packet of Jammie Dodgers... for a few hours. This is the ultimate in relaxation to me, just lying there, locked away from everything and every one. Then I'll go to sleep and wake in the morning feeling refreshed. It's always handy with this one to have a subscription list as long as mine, I'm usually never without a video to watch.

Breathe.
Sometimes we can't just leave the situation we're in to go and destress, sometimes we need a super-quick in the moment fix. In these situations the number one way I clear my head of stress so that I can focus on the task at hand is just by breathing. A simple deep breath works wonders for me, it's almost like you're quickly expelling any bad feeling from your body, and the breath back in is like a beautiful clean slate.


P.S. I'm posting this blog pre-movie watching as I'm working until 9pm today, so I'll watch when I come back but I didn't want to leave it that long to get this post up, so there you go!

Day 21: My Christmas TBR

For those of you who don't know 'TBR' means 'to be read', so for this blog post I decided to share my TBR for the Christmas holidays.

1. Girl Online: On Tour - Zoe Sugg
This is the second book in Zoe Sugg's Girl Online series, the first of which I have actually written a review on, which you can read here. I've actually already started this book but due to the busy life of a university student and the importance of reading the Throne of Glass series, it kind of fell off to one side. But I'm determined to finish it, and I feel like now while I'm chilling at home is the perfect time!

2. City of Ashes - Cassandra Clare
This is the second book in Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments series. Again, I have read the first book in the series and I've started this one, but despite this series' glowing reputation I am finding them a little hard to get into. But once again I am determined to finish this book and the rest of the series because I'm just stubborn in that way.

3. A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J Maas
So I don't know if you already know this... but I LOVE Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas. The problem is, I just finished the fourth book in that series and I have no idea when or if another one will be coming out. So when I found out she'd written another book, the only logical thing to do was buy it immediately. I am already a little way through this book, I like it (not as much as Throne of Glass) but I am liking, it's still in it's 'introducing the world and characters' stage at the moment but it's starting to pick up and I'm excited to finish it.

4. The Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling
This series is obviously extremely popular and I probably should have read them by now and I have actually already finished the first two and a half books in the series... a few years ago. I think the problem was that the series is so big that it was a bit of an overwhelming read when I was younger, but this time around I am determined to read the entire thing start to finish and finally get the full Harry Potter experience.

Day 20: Bridget Jones' Diary

I can't believe there's only a few days left of this. It doesn't feel like I've been blogging for 20 days straight now, and the fact there's only 5 days left is a little saddening.

But I will definitely not be carrying on with a post a day after this month, because that would just be too much and I would much prefer to do one good post a week than meh posts every day. Maybe I should make it a New Years Resolution to write at least one post a week, but I'll think more about that when we get closer to actual New Years.

Today I am watching Bridget Jones' Diary with Jordan and so far it is very much enjoyable. I love any movie that involves writing and books in some way so the fact she keeps a diary and works at a publishing company instantly makes the movie more interesting to me.

I am sat watching it in my beautiful recently re-decorated room, which I am in love with. And I am watching it on my glorious TV which I was lucky enough to be able to bring home over the Christmas holidays.

I have enjoyed Bridget Jones very much and I am very happy I watched it.

Overall I give Bridget Jones' Diary:

Day 19: Serendipity

Today...

I GOT MY MOVIE-WATCHING BUDDY BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell I'm excited?

Today I'm finally home for Christmas and it's been so lovely and hectic that this post is late. I blame Jordan.

Remember a few posts ago I talked about how much I wanted Indian food? Well we had a Tamarind today, and it was so much better than I remembered. I had the King Prawn Tikka Masala, just yes.

Jordan and I have finally been reunited and he is currently sat behind me playing with my hair (he can't see what I'm typing though).

We watched Serendipity today and it was glorious! We love this sort of film, and I just feel like films are better when you watch them with someone.

Overall I give Serendipity 5 Santa faces! (I can't actually put in the emojis right now, maybe later)

Day 18: Party Food

Surprise surprise I haven't watched The Holiday today... BUT I've actually been very busy! I spent the entire afternoon in university working on my photography assignment, which I'll finish sometime in January. I also got another result for an assignment today, and I got another 2:1!! So I'm extremely happy!

Now I am sat in front of an array of party food with some Peach Schnapps and mango juice, listening to Christmas songs and I don't plan on giving that up to go watch a movie today.

Update: The party food is gone.

I can't wait to go home tomorrow now, it's been decided that we're having a Tamarind (Indian Restaurant) and I'm just excited to be in my house where it's quiet and cosy, and i'm very happy that my parents are coming too pick me up because I would never be able to get all of my stuff on the train AND I get to take my TV home this way!

Anyway, my next post will be from my homeland of South Wales!

Day 17: Assignment Results!

I should really be tidying my room and packing right now in preparation to go home Saturday morning but I just really can't be bothered. I won't really have to time to do it tomorrow as I have quite a lot going on, which you may or may not find out about soon. Mainly I'll be going to university in the afternoon and I'll be having a cute night in with two of my favourite people in Southampton before we all go home for Christmas. But there's also something else happening tomorrow which is incredibly exciting and nerve-wracking but I'm not 100% sure if I'm really going to post about it on here yet, though it will probably make it to my Instagram at least so you can click on the link to my Instagram on the right if you're curious.

Today I got the results of my audio unit and I had the exact same mark in both assignments I had to do, which means I was just shy of a first on both! I'm not entirely sure about how grading works at university yet and what's good and what isn't but I was told that my scores were some of the best and that I should be happy, so I am! I can't help being a little bit annoyed that I just missed out on a first though, but I got some useful feedback for next time!

Today I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, and I know there's a whole debate on whether it's a Christmas or Halloween film but it has Christmas in it and that's enough for me.

Watching it I realised that I don't think I've ever seen it all the way through, but I enjoyed it and I would watch it if it popped up on TV but I don't think I'd ever go out of my way to watch it. My favourite songs are definitely What's This and Kidnap The Sandy Claws.

Overall I give The Nightmare Before Christmas:

Day 16: Boohoo Haul

Something i've learned since starting this challenge. Blogging every day = not too bad. Watching a movie every day = really annoying, Writing to me isn't all that hard, because you can write about anything, but sometimes I'm not in the mood to watch a movie. Especially if the movie you're supposed to be watching isn't easily accessibly via Netflix or Amazon Prime. So, as the creator of this challenge I have made the executive decision to skip The Day After Tomorrow (because it's not really a Christmas film anyway) and change Miracle on 34th Street to How About You.

On to the haul! I ordered some stuff from Boohoo and they came in the mail yesterday, I don't have my own pictures of them but I thought I'd use pictures off the Boohoo website and show you them anyway.

Lily Leopard Print Knicker Short - £1

Trixie Pom Pom Trim Aztec Runner Shorts - £3

Ada Mixed Check Short - £4

Petite Louise Cut Detail Printed Mini Dress - £6

Petite Leona Lace Cut Out Side Split Maxi Dress - £12

I'll add in my rating for How About You once I've finished watching it (if i remember).

Day 15: Top 10 things I'm excited to go home for

In light of the film I watched today (Home Alone) and because of my upcoming departure from Southampton, I thought I would make a list of the top 10 things I am excited to go home to.

Enchiladas
Before moving to Southampton enchiladas were basically my favourite meal ever. But since moving to Southampton I haven't had them ONCE! That's 12 whole weeks without Enchiladas... What?

Chinese Food
You know how students are kind of known for junk food and take-aways... well I haven't actually had a lot of take-aways. I think I had one Dominos and two Pizza Hut deliveries, but those aren't Chinese. So much like the enchiladas, that's 12 whole weeks without Chinese food... WHAT?

Indian Food
Now back home we have two really good Indian take-aways near us. At least I think there's two, the one of them is one of those shops that has a habit of closing and reopening as something else every few months. This is looking to be a really healthy trip home isn't it? And guess how long it's been since I've had Indian food... go on, guess.

Sleep
I will say that my mattress at home is SO UNCOMFORTABLE. Like literally my back hurts so much in the mornings, but my mattress at university is so comfortable so I'm really going to miss that. What I'm not going to miss is people making noise outside my window at all hours of the morning and being woken up by the cleaner when I'm trying to have a lie-in.

Not spending as much money
This. Over and over again, I love things and really really like having new things. What I don't like is spending money on things. Being home I will no longer be a simple 10 minute walk from town, which means less of an incentive to spend money. But sometimes when I get bored I like to look at the sales online... so we'll see about this one.

Christmas
Who isn't excited for Christmas? I've been watching so many vlogmas videos that it would be literally impossible for me to not feel festive. I also started my Christmas shopping months ago and there's only a couple things I have left to get so I'm not feeling that pre-Christmas panic.

Scenic Drive cooked breakfast
Cooked breakfasts are literally the best, and to have a cooked breakfast in a cute little cafe surrounded by the trees of a Welsh mountain early in the morning is the best. There isn't much that I will happily get out of bed for before 11, but a Scenic Drive cooked breakfast... just yes.

Time with my family
Funnily enough, a Scenic Drive breakfast is usually something me and parents will do together, usually on a Saturday or a Sunday morning and always with the puppy. We also go out for meals together a lot, which I enjoy so I look forward to that too.

My puppy
I wear a lot of black and being in university I have not missed being covered in dog hair all the time, but I have missed the way my little pup used to come to my room in the mornings, either to moan at me until I wake up or sometimes just to cuddle with me.

Time with my best-friend
It's really difficult when you have such a strong connection with someone but you physically can't spend time with them. Jordan and I have been pretty much joined at the hip since April 2011, we would literally do everything together. There's not one major thing that's happened in my life since 2011 that he hasn't been there for and suddenly he's missing. I just miss everything about him, we already have plans to watch How I Met Your Mother, Sword Art Online 2 and more over Christmas! So yes, I'm very excited to finally spend time with my best-friend because I miss him every second that he's not by my side.

Overall I give Home Alone 2:

Day 14: The Santa Clause

So now I'm a day behind with my movie watching, but I'm still planning on watching every movie on the list so DON'T PANIC!

Today is The Santa Clause which I have never actually seen before but I have been told it's a good one so we'll see.

Also, today was The Write Approach day so I have another little piece of work to share! Our task was to write another opinion piece, but this time it had to be written in 30 minutes. I spent 10 minutes deciding what I actually wanted to write about until I settled on a little bit of a rant. Hey it's supposed to be opinionated!

So I wrote this in about 20 minutes and quite literally wrote exactly what came to mind, as it came to mind. The issue that I talk about didn't actually bother me as much as it sounds like I was bothered by it but it was the first half decent thing I could think of to write about at such short notice so... enjoy!

Last week a young female fan somehow got hold of the phone numbers of few famous YouTubers some of which included Zoe Sugg, Alfie Deyes, Joe Sugg and Louise Pentland. The clearly naïve girl took it upon herself to call said YouTubers, especially Alfie Deyes, leaving over 300 missed calls over 3 days.

Although the girl was obviously very wrong in doing this, I felt that the way some YouTubers reacted to this incident was not the best way a role-model should react.

Zoe, as usual, reacted very well choosing to find the humour in the situation and joking about it on twitter. Louise took the sensible route and simply turned off her phone. 

But the person who got to me was Alfie Deyes. Alfie took to twitter in a much more vicious way than the others, threatening to release the girl’s phone number to the masses.

No matter if he actually meant it or not I found this extremely disgusting because he more than anyone should know that if he released that number this young girl would be bombarded with calls and hate messages. As far as I’m aware the calls she was making mostly consisted of dead air or just her talking. The calls she would receive would be ones of hate, death threats and disgusting things that come with releasing that sort of information to an angry fan base.

It’s just my opinion but I don’t think this incident should have been addressed at all online. For all we know this girl was simply a very over-enthusiastic fan who just wanted the attention of the people she looked up to. Yes, she went about it the wrong way. However, imagine being this young girl and going on twitter and seeing the people you look up to bitching about you and threatening you. Imagine seeing a fan base you thought you were a part of riled up against you and seeing devastating things being written about you.

What this girl did was wrong, but you never know someone’s backstory. The way Alfie Deyes handled this situation was appalling and could have easily been avoided by simply blocking her number or maybe even just talking to her and asking her to stop, but not by ridiculing her on social media.

Anyway, The Santa Clause was so good! A very, very cute Christmas film that I would definitely watch again.

Overall The Santa Clause gets: 

Day 13: Top 10 YouTubers

I have A LOT of YouTube to catch up on and I'm insanely tired today so, The Santa Clause is being suspended until another day when I can be bothered to watch it.

Life is too short to watch films that you can't be bothered to watch.

So as I'm going to be watching YouTube videos all evening I thought I'd make a list of the top 10 channels I am watching at the moment.

10. Just Between Us

9.  Anna Saccone

8. Abookutopia

7. Ayydubs

6. The Slow Mo Guys

5. Achievement Hunter/Rooster Teeth

4. Katie Snooks

3. Zoella

2. Let's Play

1. SacconeJolys

Day 12: Happy Christmas

Hi! Welcome to a running commentary of my thoughts during the film Happy Christmas.


So this film has 1 star on Netflix...

But it has Anna Kendrick in it! So we'll see how it goes.

First thing I've noticed about this movie... the baby is a bit creepy.

Second thing... there's no music, at all in the background. Unless someone turns music on in the movie.

It's not very Christmasy yet either...

I'm half way through and I don't really know what the point of the film is yet.

There's a lot of silences that are just filled by the normal sounds that would happen with normal movement, which is weird for a film.

Still not Christmasy though. (One hour in)

Okay so there's a Christmas tree and some presents... but that doesn't really make up for the complete lack of Christmas in the rest of the film.

I think it's Christmas day now...

Christmas day lasted like 5 minutes.

OMG BACKGROUND MUSIC!

Oh it's because the film's over.

Kay, so I don't really know what to say about it. Not much happened, and I can't seem to figure out, like I just don't know why this film was made in a way. It's a bit pointless.

Overall I give Happy Christmas:


Not because it was insanely awful... just because it was a little awful and I really didn't get it.

Day 11: All I Want for Christmas

I officially don't have another assignment to hand it until January!!! I have handed in the last of my assignments for my The Write Approach and Intro to Audio units and all I have left is Photography.

Today, I am watching All I Want for Christmas but I'm also very tired so today's post is not going to be a long one.

At the moment, I am very much excited to go home for Christmas next week and just be back in Wales for a bit! But for now I am going to lie in bed and relax and I think I deserve it after completing and handing in two assignments this week.

All I want for Christmas is a really cute movie and the main two children are so cute! I think this is a movie that I would re-watch in the future!

Overall I give All I Want for Christmas:

Day 10: Annie (1982)

The first thing I've noticed about this is that the Annie in this version of the film is much more violent than in the 1999 version. There's actually a lot of subtle differences that aren't all to do with the time difference but little things to do with how the story is.

Even though I definitely prefer the 1999 version for it's happy feel-good essence, I have to give credit to this for the choreography and all the little details that the extras do that you'll miss if you're not paying attention.

This is a very late blog post but I've had a busy day! I handed in an assignment, then went back to bed, then I read, then I went to view two houses, then I read again and managed to finish Queen of Shadows. Now I am left to wait for the next book, while also waiting for Reign to restart, and Once Upon a Time and Pretty Little Liars. It's a good job Christmas is right around the corner otherwise I do not know how I would cope!

Anyway the rest of my night is going to be spent with Jammie Dodgers.

Overall I give Annie (1982):

Day 9: A Royal Christmas

Okay, I know today was supposed to be 101 Dalmatians but that wasn't on Netflix or Amazon Prime and this film was so A Royal Christmas it is!

So far it's a bit rubbish...

It's hella cheesy, quite a bit over acted and ends exactly like every other girl runs away and guy runs after her and asks her to marry him film. Did I just ruin the ending for you?

Oops.

OHH! I just realised the lead actress is Gretchen Weiners from Mean Girls.

Anyway! Today I've just been doing some preparations for an assignment I have tomorrow, had a cheeky Starbucks panini while I was at it. In about 2 hours I plan to go to the library but until then I'm going to read some more of Queen of Shadows, which I am now half way through.

I didn't do anything special for todays blogpost so here's a crown,

         /\           /\              /\             /\

        /    \        /   \          /    \         /    \

       /      \      /     \       /        \      /       \

      /        \   /         \   /           \    /          \

     /           \/           \/                \/            \

     |     0           0             0               0      |

     |vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv|

     |ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo|

     |_____________________________|

I know, my artistic skills are beyond.

Overall I give A Royal Christmas:

Day 8: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

I've never realised before how sad the beginning of this film is with the war and the children having to move away from their mother, I actually wasn't particularly excited to watch this film today but once it started I remembered how lovely it is!

Because this film is full of various wonderful creatures and because this is the 8th day, I thought I'd fill this blog post with 8 animals who are just as excited for christmas as we are!

Enjoy!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Overall I give The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The wardrobe:

(All images found on Pinterest)

Day 7: Love Actually

So far every day I've mainly blogged about my day, the movie I've watched or what I'm doing while watching the movie and I think that would be a bit boring to do for 24 days straight. So, today I'll do something a little different. In my seminar today we were told to write an opinion piece or magazine column-style piece so I thought I'd share it on the internet. No idea if it's any good, I literally wrote whatever came into my head at the time and right now I can't even remember exactly what I wrote.

But anyway, here you go!

A good book is well written, holds your attention, and leaves you with a sense of pride when you finish the last page. A bad book is boring, a drag to read and the thought of turning the last page makes you want you to jump for joy.

But a great book is something that is rare. A great book will grip you by the heart and pull you in, you will feel as if the world and the characters are a part of you. It will make you laugh and cry, it will make your heart race in anticipation for the next chapter, the answer to your questions.

And it will make your enthusiasm and excitement and attachment grow and grow until you can barely contain your excitement. Then when you turn the final page, you’ll be left with an indescribable feeling of emptiness.

A great book is both the best and worst feeling in the world, and I feel sorry for anyone who fails to understand the joy that a book can bring. A lot of people read nothing but their Facebook page, completely unaware of the millions and millions of amazing things that they will never discover. The worlds they’ll never travel to, the character’s they’ll never meet, the stories they’ll never watch unfold right before their eyes.

You can learn so many lessons through even the most fantasy-driven of books. Things that can make even the worst day feel a little more bearable. Quotes that when you think of them give you that little kick of inspiration, that shot of happiness. And they mean something, they’re not just a few words splattered on an ‘inspirational’ picture on Facebook, the quotes have a background, a story, a meaning and a life.

Yes, I feel extremely sorry for all the people out there who will never experience this. They don’t have time, they don’t like reading, and ‘books are boring’.

But at the same time, when I read a book (especially one that’s not well-known), I always feel like I am holding onto some sort of amazing secret. So maybe I’m okay with the people who view books as some sort of hindrance to their lives. It just means there are more secrets for me.

P.S. Love Actually was great! I love films with so many big names in them, it's like playing a game of spot the celebrity.

Overall I give Love Actually:

Day 6: Annie (1999)

So you know when you sit down to watch a movie, and you've got food and you're all snuggled up in bed and everything's perfect... And then the laptop decides it needs to do updates and doesn't let you reschedule them for later. Yep. So that happened. Seven minutes into the film.

Thanks laptop <3

But on the plus side, I have chicken noodle soup and onion rings and bread and butter. Well I don't actually have onion rings any more because I ate them.

Todays film was Annie, and before you tell me Annie isn't a Christmas film, IT TOTALLY IS A CHRISTMAS FILM. She gets to stay at Mr Warbucks'  house over Christmas, therefore, Christmas film!

Musicals are probably my favourite type of film and my favourites are all from the 1900s because that's when huge orchestras were still used to highlight every movement and emphasise every moment in a film. I love being able to listen to a film soundtrack and remember exactly what was happening in the movie at that point because of all the little things going on in the music. I also love how much this film is set out like broadway show with small sets and huge dance routines.

I feel like I got a lot done this weekend so (even though it's already 10pm) I'm going to spend the rest of the evening relaxing and watching YouTube videos and possible reading. (I 100% recommend Sarah J Mass as an author by the way. I highly recommend her Throne of Glass series, it's amazing.)

Overall I give Annie (1999):