New Years Resolutions - 2014

SO it's almost the new year. 2013 has definitely been the most eventful and the quickest year ever.I can't say that everything that's happened during this year has been brilliant, but many wonderful things did happen which I am very grateful for.

A few weeks ago I decided to write out a long list of resolutions for the New Year that are written to myself. I probably should have been spending that time when I was writing them to do some school work, but things like this are important. Perhaps.

2014'S SET OF NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS.

1) Think positively. Follow your life goals and definitely believe in yourself.

2) Don't buy so many pointless things. It clutters up your room and you always complain about it.

3) Read at least 10 pages of your current reading book each day. Reading is good for you.

4) Dedicate more time to your religion. It's not just a label.

5) Practise more at what you love most.

6) Please try and revise for your AS Level Exams.

7) Stay busy but don't push yourself too hard. You don't want to get ill and unhappy again.

8) Let people know that they are wonderful and that you appreciate their existence. Feeling lonely is one of the worst possible feelings out there.

9) Try and eat fruit and drink lots of water. It's very good for you and your skin.

10) Go to the gym. I know exercise is grim but being unfit is bad news.

11) Keep up to date with your school work. You panic when teachers shout at you.

12) Try and use up all your nail varnish. Let's face it, 60+ bottles is just too many.

13) Help around the house more and do more favours.

14) Wear what makes you happy.

15) Don't get angry or panic. Life is too short for unhappiness.

15 is a good number of resolutions. I approve.

Happy New Year!

Also, I don't know how I ended up with over 60 nail varnishes. I swear down they just multiply randomly.

Thankful Thursday #12

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY BOXING DAY. 

This week I am thankful for:

- Fixing my favourite mixtape

- Having the most wonderful family and for having such a brilliant Christmas with them

- Avengers Arena volume 2 being just as sick as the first one

- Atonement being beautiful

- My party last Friday going smoothly (ish)

- The Christmas holidays! Although I have SO much work

- Being surrounded by so many fantastic people

- My beautiful ring from Joseph

The last week has been up and down like crazy; I am in some sort of inbetween state where I'm very happy but I'm also very sad. It's been a shame watching some beautiful things come to an end but I am very grateful for them actually happening in the first place. The main focus now is to be super super happy!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too. 

Thankful Thursday #11

It's Thursday again. I cannot believe we're breaking up for Christmas next week. I almost don't want to because I'm liking school that much at the moment. 

This week I am thankful for:

- Arriving home from a surprisingly good parents' evening

- Going to see As You Like It (BSA) last Friday with Elizabeth which was BRILLIANT.

- Paisley's birthday party tomorrow

- Going to see Peace tomorrow also with my burntwood mandem (busy Friday night)

- Stewarding for Fantastic Mr. Fox on Tuesday evening then having a catchup with some friends in Wetherspoons

- Spontaneous meal out with Elle last Saturday

- Actually having many of my Christmas presents for friends and family ready and wrapped up

- Buying tickets to see Equus (BSA) this Saturday with Amy

- New Kill la Kill episodes

- Long conversations with actual depth

The last week has been SO busy but I am still feeling unbelievably happy at the moment. I've been here, there and everywhere and everything is going brilliantly. It will be lovely to have a short rest over the Christmas holidays though. 

Thankful Thursday #10

Ooooooh, I'm finally on my tenth thankful Thursday. How glamorous.

This week I am thankful for:

- Having the opportunity to do my A Levels and get a proper education

- The little candles my Grandma bought me to light each day leading up to Christmas (they have a number on each candle)

- Going to see Birmingham School of Acting perform Shakespeare's As You Like It at the Birmingham Hippodrome tomorrow with Elizabeth

- The first two rehearsals for The Railway Children going swimmingly well

- Reading Atonement (although I should be doing some English Literature wider reading...)

- Going for a quick meal and catchup with my Grandma tonight

- Having so many great people who I can confide in and ask for advice

- Audition opportunities to help me gain experience 

- MY ADVENT CALENDAR 

- Being able to wear all my winter clothes again and finding them out from the back of my wardrobe

- Finally using up some of my Lush products (I have thousands which I don't ever use) 

The last week has been very... Interesting. Lots of different things have happened, both good and bad, but I am feeling 100% positive and extremely happy with life at the moment. I've already bought/ordered many Christmas presents for friends and family and I'm overall very excited for Christmas and the Christmas holidays. ORGANISATION IS KEY. 

One Good Thing - Comic by Rachael Smith

I found Rachael Smith and her work whilst having a search around on other blog's about comics that I follow on here. After reading a review for "I Am Fire" and falling in love with her drawing, I decided to check out her blog and have a look at her items on Etsy.

Then I came across Rachael's "One Good Thing" comics. These are diary comics where Rachael draws a page each day of the month. As I hadn't heard of a diary comic like this before and I loved her work, it naturally resulted in me planning to buy one of them sooner or later. 

Rachael posted about attending London MCM on Twitter so I decided I wanted to visit her stall there and purchase one or two of her comics.

Rachael was really pleasant and she also signed the front of my comic! 

The book is a nice, small size which is easy to carry around with me as it's not full A4. Each page is full of the different things Rachael does each day and each of her drawings are different and beautiful.

For only £4, it was a lovely purchase. I'm looking forward to seeing Rachael at future conventions and buying more of her work!

Check out Rachael's store here!

MCM Expo Comic Con October 2013

Last month I was lucky enough to go to MCM Expo at the Excel along with Joseph. It was such such a good day and I finally got to wear my Daenerys Targaryen cosplay!

I met a girl who was dressed as Sansa. I couldn't not have a photo.

Here's my cosplay in full! My mother cut up a secondhand cross-over dress and used that as the pattern for my blue dress. I absolutely love it and I'll be sure to wear it again at the next expo I go to.

JOSEPH IS MY FAVOURITE.

Here are a few little things I brought back from my weekend in London! I absolutely love my One Good Thing comic (Rachael Smith) and my SAO, Madoka & Oreimo posters.

It was a brilliant day, if not a little too busy. I met lots of cool people and it was fun when people asked for photos with me. The only downside was that we went quite late so I looked like a freak walking around Croydon/London dressed as Khaleesi! 

Thankful Thursday #9

I can't believe I've only made nine thankful Thursday posts ever since I started making them. I am about 100% forgetful.

This week I am thankful for:

- The first performance of Singin' in the Rain going well. Dancing in the rain was VERY cold though (not looking forward to putting my costume back on again tonight...)

- The run of Romeo and Juliet being brilliant. Very sad that it's over.

- My spongebob blanket (I'm ill today so being wrapped up in it is perfect).

- Rehearsals for The Railway Children starting next week.

- Long phone calls with Elizabeth.

- Going to the free screening of Ross Noble's Freewheeling at the Prince Charles Cinema with a Q&A afterwards with Joseph. 

- Catching up with The Walking Dead, American Horror Story and Misfits.

Today I am VERY ill (sob) so I've sat in front of my television all day doing absolutely nothing. It's the second performance of Singin' in the Rain tonight. I don't know how I'm going to take dancing in the rain again!

Thankyou! 

Romeo & Juliet - Crescent Theatre

If I haven't mentioned it already,

at the moment I'm playing Paris' Page/Ensemble at the Crescent Theatre (Birmingham) in Romeo and Juliet. We've been rehearsing since August three nights a week and the run finishes tomorrow. (I probably should have wrote this a little earlier!) 

It's a new, fresh outlook on Romeo and Juliet, being set in the 1980s and the moving through to the new millennium. It really is incredible and the cast is spectacular. If you could catch the last three shows tonight and tomorrow, it'd be wonderful. It's the after dark tonight aswell, how exciting.

Tickets are £15 (concessions £14) and they can be purchased through the box office or through the website.

Thankyou! :-) 

http://www.crescent-theatre.co.uk/Y2013/romeo-juliet.php?EventID=1408

Mochimir Store Review

I'm powering through my Psychology Investigation today and I thought I'd have a quick break to post this little review I've been meaning to publish for a while. 

Mochimir is a sweet, little storenvy store that sells cute accessories for a very good price. I spotted this site advertised on tumblr a while ago and I had my eye on many of the items for a while. Unfortunately, I didn't want to spend too much because I don't have a job at the moment (sob sob) so I decided to finally buy the items that I loved the most.

I placed my order on the 29th September and my order arrived on the 15th October. As it was being shipped from Spain, I didn't really mind it taking this long. I'm quite patient when it comes to waiting for letters/parcels anyway.

These are the accessories I bought:

True Mermaid Brooch

Kyary Brooch

Ice Cream Choker

The link to each of these items are the names above! ^

Sadly, the mermaid and Kyary brooch's are both sold out at the moment.

They arrived in a small green envelope, each item safely wrapped in bubble wrap with cute little tape (with elephants on it!) on each to keep them secure and safe. I was really happy to see that Miriam had taken so much care with the items!

Here are a few more photos of the items:

The pins are both securely glued to the back of the brooches and are very strong and stable.

For this necklace, you have a choice of what colour choker and what charm. It's quite a big choice and I chose this one as it was definitely my favourite.

The only problem I have is with fastening the necklace. It's quite difficult to get the hook through such a small hoop without looking at it properly.

Service: 5/5

Miriam was very helpful, responded to e-mails very quickly and kept me updated on my order.

Products: 5/5

I love all three of them and have already worn them quite a lot. They're peeeeeeeerfect.

Postage: 5/5

My order arrived reasonably quickly and it was fairly priced.

Overall, I'm very happy with my order. I'm not too sure if I'd buy from the store again any time soon as I have quite a few accessories in my room at the moment, but I'll definitely know where to go if I need some more.

Also, there's a sale on at the moment so get buying quickly!

To visit Mochimir, click the logo underneath:

Thankful Thursday #8

It seemed like forever ago when I started doing thankful Thursday posts and I've only completed eight. Perhaps I should start updating here more. 

This week I am thankful for:

- Spending last weekend in London.

- MCM Expo Comic Con

- Finally finishing Sense and Sensibility 

- Having a reasonably tidy bedroom

- THE HALF TERM!

- Technical rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet going swell.

- My new Oreimo and Sword Art Online posters. 

This week has been super awesome so far but it has flown by so quickly. I can't believe it's Thursday already! I've decided to keep my days free and have plans in the evening so I can complete school work efficiently and swiftly, which I should do next holidays as well as it's working for once. Romeo and Juliet begins next Tuesday and I've got Singin' in the Rain (our school show) on top of that so it's mandatory that I get as much work done as possible over the next few days.

Like I said before, I've got some more blog posts planned which I will be writing as soon as possible!

Until then, enjoy the rest of your half-term/week! 

Invocation "Face2Face" Event 2013

And here's another delayed post.

A few weekends ago, I attended the Invocation Face2Face event at St. Chad's Cathedral in Birmingham. I was a little reluctant to going at first as I didn't know anyone who was going (I was all on my own) but as soon as I arrived I felt comfortable and happy. 

After registering, we were given a sheet to show us the different choices of workshops we could go to in the late afternoon and a brief description of each. 

The day began with a quick welcoming introduction and then a talk from Father Dermot Donnelly and Father Glen Sudano. Father Glen spoke about how we rely on technology far too much, so I'm considering cutting out the length of time I use technology for as I feel like I rely on it SO much! I'm one of those people who zone out during long talks (unfortunately) but they had my full 100% attention throughout their talks as they were simply brilliant.

Following that we had adoration and had a few talks personal talks about individuals' ways of becoming closer to God.

After lunch we had our workshops which I chose "Theology of the Body." After Father Glen Sudano's talk, I felt that I really had to go to another one as it was simply beautiful. I learnt things which I have never known and how to love myself and others; I truly felt like it brought me closer to God. 

The day ended with Holy Mass and I was completely moved. I ended up crying during the first hymn which is something that has never happened to me before. I was in the Liturgy and Worship group at my old school and although I attended every mass and every session, I was never really considering the lyrics to each of the hymns. I finally considered what the words meant during Mass and I felt completely overwhelmed. I feel like I've been very unaware of how much God loves me until now.

Overall, the day was brilliant. I met lots of new and old friends there and it's really brought me closer to God. I was surprised with how far people were travelling to the event and I loved being surrounded by so many lovely people who also believe in all the same things as me. I'll definitely be going to the next event!

Slightly delayed Thankful Thursday #7

Ok, so shall we not mention my long absence? Thankyou.

To say that I've been busy lately would be an understatement; I have been VERY busy. With school and rehearsing for two shows, it's been a very busy few weeks! Everything is absolutely perfect at the moment and I have a fair few things to write about (which will be split into separate posts).

This week I am thankful for:

Liam's party last weekend 

A wonderful run of An Inspector Calls at the Lichfield Garrick

My WONDERFUL friends. (I may have said this before, but this point deserves to be stressed again as I don't know what I would do without some people at the moment). 

Being able to use up about 50% of the spare paper lying about my room for sixth form

Good American TV shows

Misfits season 5 airing on E4

My parents

Breaking up for the half term

My Daenerys Targaryen cosplay being completed all ready for London MCM Expo tomorrow!

I am thankful for many, many things this week. Everything is going perfectly at the moment and I hope things don't change any time soon because I am so, so happy. 

Sixth form is proving to be a lot better than I expected it to be. I love studying only four subjects which I actually like (well, perhaps not Psychology). I'm juggling the work well with rehearsals and I'm finding it all thoroughly enjoyable. HERE'S TO SIXTH FORM GOING WELL AT THE MOMENT. CHEERS.

Twisted Dark: Volume 1

Suspense, humour, horror, psychological. Twisted Dark ticks all these genre boxes.

I find that horror stories usually either take things just the tad too far or don't expand enough. Twisted Dark however, gets the balance completely accurate.

Myself and Joseph came across the TPublications crew at MCM Expo Birmingham in March (click here to read my blog post about it) and we decided to give their first volume a shot. It's safe to say, I wasn't disappointed.

First of all, the script writing and artwork is impeccable. Neil Gibson's story writing is both entertaining and enrapturing, pulling you further into the book after each story. Not only are the stories all completely different, they're all similar in the element of being twisted on all kinds of levels. From mass murderers to innocent-looking individuals plotting their revenge, this first volume definitely lives up to it's title of being both Twisted and Dark. I found myself re-reading many of the stories again, trying to figure out how the characters could behave in such ways. 

The artwork for Twisted Dark is completely out of this world. I'm going to begin my singling out the art of Caspar Wijngaard. Not only is it remarkable, it can make scenes look sinister yet pleasant at the same time. I haven't work like this before, so it instantly impresses me.

From the first page of the book, you are instantly plunged into a world which is familiar yet completely alien. Seeing the way different minds work through a comic format is abundantly engrossing and entertaining; I found it difficult to put this book down at many occasions. 

If you haven't already read Twisted Dark, I highly recommend you do so. 

Follow TPublications:

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

Thankful Thursday #6

I've been lucky enough to have a few free lessons today at school which gives me just enough time to quickly write on here.

This week I am thankful for:

- Rehearsals for Romeo & Juliet and An Inspector Calls going brilliantly.

- All the performances for An Inspector Calls selling out. 

- My new friends at my new school who have made me feel very happy and welcome.

- My wig being decent for MCM Expo next month.

- Water.

- Finally have a school locker. 

- Having lots of opportunities to improve my writing in lots of different things.

- Evie's fab fancy dress birthday party (I dressed as Alice in Wonderland).

I've got some new post ideas in mind for the next few weeks and hopefully I'll have the time soon to get started on them! Obviously it's difficult to juggle all of my school work with rehearsals and writing here there and everywhere, but I'm slowly moving forward! 

Enjoy the rest of your day. 

Introduction to TPublications

Apologies for my lack of posts AGAIN, but I have started a new school and it's difficult to fit in time to write in between school, homework and rehearsals! Hopefully soon I'll find a little more time to write regularly.

OK, this is going to be a short-but-sweet post about something exciting that's happened over the last few weeks.

So, not long ago I signed up to be a part of a street team for TPublications (T-Pub) who are an independent comic book company who produce original comic books with remarkable artwork. If you had a look at my "MCM Expo - Birmingham" post earlier in the year, you may remember me mentioning that I would post a review on the book "Twisted Dark." Well, this is the comic book company the book is from! I tend to post book reviews mainly on goodreads.com, but I'll be sure to post a few here as soon as possible.

WATCH THIS SPACE. I will be posting about their books and anything that's going on related to T-Pub in the near-future!

Oh, and follow T-Pub on:

Facebook

Tumblr

Twitter

Ciao.

August Favourites (Photo Heavy)

I've never done a Favourites post before, so here we go. 

It's finally September (wow)!

A small list of things and happenings that are highlights from August!

1) Meeting Chelsea and Amy at Annie

2) Receiving pink roses and visiting Thorpe Park with Joseph.

3) Seeing the Red Arrows, crab fishing in Brixham and visiting Buckfast Abbey with my family.

4) New comics from Joseph

5) Soap and Glory "Heel Genius" foot cream. 

My feet would have suffered big time without this! Dancing in character shoes too small during Annie was not good for my feet, understandably. 

Thankful Thursday #5

Today is the day when I finally use the blogger app on my iPhone. I'm not too sure how this post will show up on computers/laptops, but I am here anyway.

This week I am thankful for:

- Being on holiday in Torquay with my family

- My wonderful, wonderful friends

- Books 

- Free soap and shampoo in hotels (you can't say no, let's be honest)

- Buying a whole new outfit from Generations in Hednesford

- My camera

- Winning two plushes on the claw machines in an arcade

- Dancemats

- Meeting up with Bradley and going on the ferris wheel with him whilst being on holiday

I have had an awfully rough time over the last week but I am thankfully starting to feel better. I am starting to feel a little sad that the summer holidays are coming to a close, but this summer has been a truly wonderful one. I'm also pretty gutted about coming home from Torquay tomorrow as I'm having a brilliant time here with my family. 

I hope everyone is well and I will remember you all in my prayers. 

Little list for 2013 & results!

At the beginning of 2013, I wrote a little list of things I should do/achieve this year and stuck it on the desk next to my bed where I can notice it before and after I go to sleep. As it's been there for some time, I don't really acknowledge it anymore and just carry on as if it's not even there. 

Today I decided to have a good look at it properly and see how many I have achieved so far seeing as we're now mid-year (NOT LONG UNTIL CHRISTMAS).

1) Buy new shelves for my books in my bedroom.

NOPE. I still don't have a proper bookcase. My books are just piled up on top of each other. In fact, they're all over the floor at the moment. It's difficult to get to books at the bottom of the piles without all the rest falling over.

2) Paint bedroom walls all one colour (preferably white).

NOPE. I still haven't painted my room. My room looks kinda orangey at night because a few of my walls are dark pink and it really irritates me sometimes. I also thought it'd be fun to have a few friends round to help me paint it for the day, but I can wait. PINK WALLS WILL NOT HURT ME.

3) Revise and pass exams.

YES! I got my GCSE results on Thursday and I managed to get all the grades that I wanted. I am so, so happy that my hard work has paid off and I now have a great set of results! 

4) Finish the Harry Potter books.

No, no I have not finished them and I doubt I will for a while.

I read the first 3 books before breaking up for the summer in year 10 and I want to carry on reading them as they seem mandatory to read but I have so many books to read at the moment. I'm starting my wide-reading for sixth form soon so I'm going to be reading lots of other books that aren't already on my book list non-stop!

There's a few other little things on my list but I'm sadly running out of time as I go on a small holiday tomorrow and I need to get to sleep soon. 

I hope everyone enjoys the remainder of their summer holidays!

Cosplay Ideas

Over the recent months, I have been doing a fair bit of thinking over what I should cosplay at October MCM Expo in London & Birmingham. I wanted to cosplay a character that is well known but also one that is my favourite, so I've gone for...

Daenerys Targaryen

I've decided to go for her blue dress from Season 3 as it should be quite simple to make and the cloak should be enough to keep me warm in the coldness of October and November!

The only problem with the dress is the cross over part towards the bottom. I've been discussing how to make it with my mother and we're not too sure so far but we'll definitely figure something out.

For her tooth necklace which changes from double to a singular one throughout the season, I've found a necklace on the internet which is very similar (here).

So, this is the starter of my new project up to October! I'm hoping to get it done as quickly as possible.

Other cosplay ideas...

Haruhi Suzumiya from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

I recently bought this seifuku but it hasn't arrived yet. :c

Merida from Brave.

(I'll definitely need a very big wig for this...)

Gasai Yuno from Mirai Nikki.

If you've been reading my blog posts since I first started writing, you may know I've been planning on cosplaying her forever!

Homura Akemi from Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica.

SO, I am finished. Thankyou for reading!