My Week #5

This week I was feeling quite girly and cute, so I put that into my week design and I'm pretty happy with it! The stickers were sent to me in a swap with a lovely girl called Rebecca from America. I sent her a Filofax and she sent me some goodies in return. She also sent me the heart and pink sticky notes. The "I'm with you rain or shine" sticky note was sent to me by someone else (I have an awful memory).  And all washi tapes were from eBay.

How was your week?

My Week #4

I've started to design my weekly layouts to what I'm feeling as well as choosing a Project Life card which were kindly sent to me by pen pals :) It was my anniversary on January 20th and we've been together for 3 years. We went out for a meal together the Friday before as I had work on the Sunday and Monday. The Middle also returned to UK TV on Comedy Central instead of Sky 1; I was so excited until I realized I had watched the new episodes online a few months ago! I also LOVE the cat sticky notes which were sent to me by a pen pal if I remember correctly, and I adore them! I'm going to buy them in the other colours when they run out.

How was your week?

My First Pair Of Dr Martens!

I bought a pair of Dr Martens 1460 W Patent Lamper White Blanc from tReds in their January sale. They're usually £89.99 but I bought them at £39.99, I couldn't pass this fantastic deal up! They were sold out completely of the black boots, and had sold out of my size in the white for a while. A few days later I checked their website and they only had my size in, so I went for it! 

My first reaction: I ordered the boots on the Friday evening, and got them on the Tuesday morning. When I opened the box and checked out the boots, I found a little scratch mark on the right boot (shown below) which isn't too much of a bother to me. I loosened the laces and stretched the insides out with my hand, folded the heels in and out a few times to soften the leather up so they wouldn't rub too much. 

I wore them the Wednesday for college; I made sure to wear a thick pair of socks which definitely helped the breaking in process, but by the end of the day I had a small blister on my left heel. I looked up a few breaking in tips and found that rubbing baby oil into the leather should help to soften up the leather, I haven't tried it yet but I'm sure there is no harm in giving it a go. My mom mentioned rubbing some Vaseline into the heel to also soften the backs, which has worked for me in the past with other shoes so I'll be doing that. 

Apart from the blister, I've also had a little problem with the tightness where the laces start on my foot. It was only on my right foot, but it was quite painful and left me with a bruise. I read that taking the laces out and stretching the boots will help with that so I will be giving that a go. Apart from that, these boots are now my favourite shoes and I will definitely invest in more Dr Martens!

Hello 2014! New Years Resolutions and an update

London's firework show on New Years eve 2013

Okay, so I'm 19 days late, but HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I'm so sorry about not being up to date with blogging, I've had a mad few weeks. I was diagnosed with Kleine-Levin Syndrome (it's a sleeping disorder, click the link to learn more about it). I've also not had much time to get online and blog properly, but that's one of my resolutions this year, to blog more regularly :)

I've written down a few simple goals for myself to complete this year and put them in my Filofax so I can see them often. 

I plan to take my theory test by March, and my practical by July. I also want to lose 20lbs by the time I finally go to meet my best friend Shannon in July as well as taking part in the Sunderland colour run! I am going to be saving up money throughout the year to go on trips. The volunteering is apart of my paramedic science course for uni; I have to complete roughly 50-60 hours of volunteering with adults and the elderly before I apply to uni. Even though I won't be getting paid for a whole year (I'll still be working part time at a supermarket), I am really looking forward to it!

I am a huge fan of Bubzbeauty on Youtube, and when I watched her video "12 Resolutions Everyone Should Make" I completely agreed with the resolutions she mentioned. For me personally, these resolutions will help me be more laid back and positive, and I would recommend others to follow suit :) I'm also going to be writing these in my Filofax to remind myself each day!

1. Enjoy life now
2. Mind your own business
3. Use your mouth carefully
4. Live life with appreciation
5. Stop comparing
6. Let go of the past
7. Do yourself a favour and forgive
8. Love yourself
9. Accept that not everyone will like you
10. Give out more and receive more
11. Stop worrying
12. Teach to learn. Learn to teach.

My Week #1/2/3 of 2014

My first week of 2014!

I have to apologize for being AWOL from blogging for the past few weeks. I have just been diagnosed with Kleine-Levin syndrome, which is a sleeping disorder. Over Christmas it effected me and I ended up sleeping for roughly 10 days; but since then I've been okay. So I went to the doctor, had blood tests and he diagnosed me just over a week ago. As well as that, I've just been doing college work and haven't had too much time to take photos and blog.

My week #2 - One of my favourite week layouts so far!

My week #3

I hope to be blogging more regularly this year, I've missed it!

My Week #51 and #52 of 2013

My Week #51

My Week #52

Once Upon A Time I Used To Draw...

When I was in high school (2006-2011), I was known as the artist kid. I used to spend every minute of everyday doodling on any pieces of paper I could find. I loved art classes and it was the one thing I felt good at, and it made me feel good in return. In my art classes, I felt free and left to express myself in anyway I could possibly think of. I was lucky to have a teacher who understood where I was coming from, and let me explore my artistic side with the tools needed.

I would spend hours creating these little doodles; using mainly black fine liner, drawing lines and circles to cover a whole page. I could spend hours doing these little patterns with my headphones in, and I would occasionally look up and find several people staring at me. It felt good to feel good at something, I would have handfuls of people ask me to draw something for them which was a huge compliment ^.^

I had to create a project in my art class using layers, so I decided to create a simple drawing using a complex method of 'colouring it in'. Me and my mom came up with punching holes from magazines in different colours and layering them one by one to 'colour in' the drawing. I used triangle shaped blue card for the background (which was A LOT easier than the small holes!). It took me roughly 2 weeks to complete and I would spend 1-3 hours per day working on it, getting stressed and annoyed with it along the way. But once it was complete, I felt incredibly proud of myself and it still today is one of my favourite pieces.

I chose to take BTEC Art & Design, and in my final year of high school I had to complete another project which I was given the freedom to choose what I did and how I completed it. I decided to create a big version of the doodles I did throughout school as that was what I was most comfortable doing, and in the project brief, it had to take us over 10 hours to complete. I took 4 pieces of A3 paper and doodled on them individually, and created an overall piece using all 4 pieces:

It's a lot bigger than it seems, this was taken on my phone when it was completed. It took me about 20 hours to complete.

When I was preparing to leave high school and go to college, everyone thought I'd go to art college and go on to become an illustrator of some sorts.. Even I thought about it, but I had bigger ambitions. At the time I wanted to become either a radio presenter or film editor, but I still wasn't completely sure on which courses to take in college. 

I decided to do fine art, health and social care, and applied science in college; but fine art ended up being a disaster and was the reason why I no longer draw. I first had a wonderful, laid back art tutor who motivated and inspired me to be creative. Then when I changed another course, I had to swap art tutors and ended up with someone who was the complete opposite. She was HORRIBLE!!! She thought anything she didn't like wasn't art, if you had a different style to her, she would criticize everything you said and did... and that happened to be me. I started to hate art and dreaded going to the art department, in the end I stopped going and dropped the course completely before finishing the first year.

This was one of the pieces I did in college, I was interested in it but I had no inspiration or motivation, and the tutor completely ruined the experience for me.

I decided to change colleges and start a new course, as I had found a better course suited for me who wanted to become a paramedic. It was in the college next door to my previous college, and the course was a Public Services course. It's a BTEC course but is worth 3 A-Levels and is 2 years overall. I'm currently in my last year of this course and I love it! Since leaving my first college, I haven't drawn since and I don't have any desire too. But I'm a much happier person than I have ever been!

So that's my artistic story and what happened. I'd love to hear if anyone has had any similar experiences!

My Week #50

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY WEEK!! I am now 19 years old! I also saw Placebo live on Thursday with my boyfriend (review in previous post) and it was also pay day on my birthday :) Crazy to think it's only 2 weeks until the new year!

How was your week? Anyone else have a birthday?

Placebo Live @ Birmingham O2 Academy

On Thursday December 12th 2013, me and my boyfriend went to see Placebo live. It was his birthday present to himself but happened to be the day before my 19th birthday.. So it was a joint birthday present >^.^<

We arrived at the O2 Academy at 3pm and the doors opened at 7pm. It was quite a wait and was pretty darn cold outside, but we met two lovely girls who unfortunately I forgot their names :( But the one lady came all the way from Canada to see them! 

The opening act were called Toy which in my personal opinion were a disappointment. It was very synthesized with little vocals in majority of the songs. They weren't very interesting or energetic, and the crowd also didn't seem to into it either. So I haven't become a fan of those guys sadly... After Toy played a 45 minute set-list, it was time for Placebo to come on stage around about 9pm. They placed an hour and 45 minute set-list

Placebo's setlist for Birmingham's O2 Academy on December 12th 2013.

Their performance was definitely one of my favourites, and I'm not even a big fan of the band! Special K, Running Up That Hill, Post Blue, and Blind were some of my favourites! Here are some photos from the night which were taken on my iPhone (if you re-use the photos, please credit me).

My Week #49

This week went really fast, but then again it feels like forever since I've had a bad throat and it only started Monday. Regular week with college and work, nothing exciting really.

How was your week?