Little Dreams

Image taken from We Heart It

So the blog and I have made it into triple figures, hoorah! I now have 100 very friendly, (and I'm guessing somewhat bored) GFC followers on my back. It's always so lovely to read your comments and it still baffles me when I see new people have clicked the follow button and taken the time to read and comment on sometimes more than one post. I don't want to seem like I'm gushing too much, but a genuinely big thank you to you. It is especially surprising seeing as for one thing, I have not been writing this blog for very long at all and secondly I've had to allow blogging to take a back seat recently as third year takes priority over life! 

But I have a few more posts lined up for the next week and a half which I'm looking forward to putting together; I have finally received my Motel dress that I chose way back when so hopefully the sun will shine for just a little while and I can do the dress some justice photo wise. And then it is just a few short weeks until the Christmas holidays and then the big event itself, and I am so looking forward to a 4 week break at home with my wonderful friends and family, and hopefully the chance to make up for lost blogging time. I'm also on Bloglovin' so come and follow me here! 

Oh, and come say hi here!

Who You Are

A completely different genre of music to post about for this week's What I'm Listening To. Having just watched X-Factor like millions of others across the UK enjoying their Sunday night guilty pleasure, who should take to the stage but my not-so-favourite artist, Jessie J. A bit too poppy for my liking, I have never really considered myself part of the Jessie J fan club. Compare her to the previous music posts I have shared with you on my blog and the difference is obvious, and I fear that I am becoming a little too closed ear and snobby for my own liking. There will be many a friend reading this post, my boyfriend included, thinking 'what the hell are you doing posting Jessie J on your blog?' And this is what I will reply:

I don't think I will ever be able to call myself a Jessie J fan but I have a lot of admiration for this woman. She is one of few who can be classified as a 'genuine artist,' and that's rare these days especially in the mainstream world of music. Does she write her own songs? Yes. Does she sing live? Yes. Can she actually sing (and in tune)? Er, JUST A BIT. Jessie J has got some of the best pipes going; that girl can hit notes and makes it look so easy. No, I do not think her songs are amazing, but she hits her target audience well so it is no surprise that people love her. And vocally, she is incredible, there are no two ways about it. There is no need to question how she got to where she is and she thoroughly deserves it; even the most arrogant of music fans must eat their humble pie at some point.  I have listened to her latest single Who You Are several times tonight purely to admire her vocal ability. Credit where credit is due, right?

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Autumnal Palettes

Just a quickie before some seriously hardcore essay writing commences once again! Reading and researching has taken up most of the past few days and shall continue a while longer I'm afraid to say. Better blogging to come soon, promise. I decided to get myself up and motivated for the day yesterday by going for a run at 8.30 in the morning. Every second hurt. It still hurts. And I'm still tired. Supposedly going for another swift jog with my house mate tonight, we shall see. CANTERBURY, Y U HAVE SO MANY HILLS? 

On another note, I hope you've noticed the new blog design! For a while now I have really not been a fan of how my blog looked, plus I had seen about 10 other blogs this week alone with the exact same header design as mine. (That's what you get for using a freeby I guess!) It was all just a bit girly and naf and not very me if I'm honest. So after whining, begging, pleading and some not very helpful descriptions of what I wanted instead, I managed to get Rob to design me a new header. And to then alter it. And to then alter it again. Until I decided that I actually really loved the first one that he'd made me! A top notch job ol' chap. So a few colour adjustments, a new background design later et voila! I personally think it looks so much better now that it's not so pretty and prim and proper. It's still not 100% finished but it's a darn lot closer to how I want it to look. Really need to get him to teach me all the ins and outs of html, I'm such a technophobe it's just silly. The main issue I'm still having is that I can't make the background picture fit the whole blog, it only lets me tile it. Anybody know how to rectify this? You will get a very big thank you if you do! Maybe I'll bake you a cake. 

Thoughts on the new layout? 

All's Fair In Love And War

An impromptu phone call from the boy a short while ago and a tip off to this gem of a video below lead to uncontrollable fits of laughter from both ends of the receiver. There's a whole series of extreme pranks between two friends ranging from pretend public break ups to one friend believing he had won $500,000 in front of a whole stadium full of basketball fans who were all in on the act! The one below however, is my favourite clip that I have watched so far in which Streeter is convinced mid-skydive that the chord to his parachute is broken and the emergency parachute isn't going to hold. Can you even imagine the fear he must have felt?! The instructor, Duncan, is amazing though, 'How much do you weigh? Can you swim? Kick your legs, kick your legs!' Enough explanations, you need to watch it now!  (P.S. Do not trust skydiving instructors called Duncan). 

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Pranking and YouTube aside, life is busy in little old Canterbury. Rob came to visit again and we went to the cinema for the first time in ages to watch the latest Twilight movie (don't judge me). After complaints from him all day long and whinging whispers in my ear throughout the first half an hour or so of the film his moaning soon turned to inquisitive questions about the plot and characters  as he got sucked in to its brilliance like all good fools do! I do genuinely think it is a really good film, far better than the first two and praise from Rob, considering his previous avid hate of Twilight, is testament to what a step up the latest instalment is. If only Stephanie Meyer had written the books as well as Bill Condon directs them on screen...

But fun and games are now over as yet more deadlines hang over my head with an essay, presentation and two ICA's all due before the end of term. So it's back to scouring the library for books and typing away at my desk, only to be made temporarily easier by the recent news that my house is partaking in the joyous event that is Dominos Two for Tuesday. Not all bad I guess!

Given To The Wild

Long awaited new material from The Maccabees.
Very, very worth it.
Orlando, marry me?


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I Love London

After a week of frantic essay writing, this weekend could not have come soon enough and was well worth the wait. On Saturday, Rob and I ventured to London with excited hopes of hanging with the celebs in all their wax work glories in Madame Tussauds. Alas, our dreams were soon quashed by a sign at the end of the queue reading '2 hour wait from here.' So with dismayed hearts, we headed to Eat. And boy did we. Then with fully fed yet dismayed hearts we hopped back on the tube and allowed our feet to lead us to Harrods. Welcomed by the beautiful lights decorating the exterior and the glorious smells of the perfume counters, (which I shall one day own), we were like children in a toy shop. I reckon we could have quite easily made a whole day trip out of Harrods, I can't recall the last time I 'oohed' and 'ahhed' so much. And this was only increased by escalators leading me to the Harry Potter section and then to the Christmas World.  One day, I will be rich enough to afford a box of 6 crackers for £600 and all of my Christmas guests shall go home with sterling silver zircon earrings and Swarovski crystal USB flash drives.  

But we didn't allow ourselves to enjoy the day away inside a department store, so a few more tube stops later, a barely there queue and we were aboard the London Eye. Now, Rob has a terrible fear of heights but some mind lapse lead to him forgetting this until things were in full swing and we were rising to some 135m (443ft) in the air. (Google is so very, very clever). So sitting on the bench with sweat beads dripping from his brow, our romantic trip was somewhat different to how I had imagined it to be. London looks beautiful at night though and I only wish I had remembered to bring my camera so that the photos could do its views some justice. But my 5MP Blackberry camera will just have to suffice for this post I'm afraid. 

We then found the most amazing Chinese Restaurant, Canton, after stumbling into China Town and once we were full enough to roll ourselves back to Charing Cross, we did. The rest of the weekend was spent in what turned out to be a very sunny Canterbury. But yet again, no camera bad blogger. It has been so nice to have a weekend not worrying about deadlines and reading. The next 4 weeks leading up to the end of term are set to be jam packed with deadlines and tests but I'm a bit more ready for them than I was this time last week so I'm hoping to be able to blog more frequently nonetheless.

In other news, the Motel Dress that I chose arrived but was just a tad too small so once a replacement has been sent I will share it with y'all. Also need to start getting some Christmas related posts in the pipeline. Has anyone else seen the Coca-Cola advert yet? I caught it today and jumped in excitement. And it's only mid-November!

Bring Me A Higher Love

Okay, so I have a deadline in about 50 hours and 10 minutes and promised myself I would save all things blogger until then. But for ages I have been hearing snippets of this song on the Love Film adverts but keep forgetting to find out who it's by. I just heard it again this evening and at long last my wonderings have been answered. It is an absolutely beautiful cover of Steve Winwood's song Higher Love by James Vincent Mcmorrow. I'm totally in love, it brings a lump to my throat every time I listen to it. There's a certain James Blake type aura to this song and his voice. But for now, grab a tissue, have a listen and fall in love a little bit.

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Fashion Fundamentals

I know it's not really considered great blogging etiquette to do two posts in one day BUT, I am just too happy and excited to leave it until tomorrow. On returning home from uni this evening I had a lovely email from Selena who works at Motel Rocks informing me that I had won Ambassador of the month for the article I wrote about Motel for my university newspaper! As a result there is going to be a little something about me on the Motel Blog and I get to choose an item from the currently beautiful collection on their website! Definitely something to blog about. What a bloody brilliant day!

No Sleep Tonight

So at 3 months old (yesterday) my blog has at long last reached the 50 follower mark! So hello readers and ta to you all very much for jumping on my little bandwagon! Uni work is ridiculously busy right now with French novels to read, a philosophy essay to write and pancake recipes to translate! I am going to go and hibernate in the library for the next week or so and as tempting as it is, all things blog will have to be put on hold, sigh. I do however need to find some firework displays in Canterbury to watch tomorrow...

But to cheer you up if it is a rainy day where you are and getting out of bed is proving to be just that little bit more of a challenge, watch the clip below to put an instant smile on your face! Happy bonfire nights and have a lovely week!

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Kissing In The Blue Dark

This song has really grown on me over the last couple of weeks. At first listen I wasn't too keen on the song but I did fall in love with Lana Del Rey's voice a little. She performed on Jools Holland last week and again I wasn't blown away but, after a few more listens to the recorded version of 'Video Games' I'm really coming around to it. A beautiful lady with a beautiful voice and an equally beautiful name. Have a few listens to the song below and let it grow on you too. 

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