A little something about everything

Sorry for the lack of posts recently; it was Christmas which meant I had to frantically buy Christmas presents as well as to try and find money I really don't have. I am going to start off by saying that recently my Dad has been telling me off for overusing the word 'amazing', therefore in this post, that word will be limited.

So a couple of weeks ago I saw the Hobbit, and I can genuinely say it is the best film I have ever seen. And that's no exaggeration either. The characters were just as brilliant portrayed in the film as they are in the books, the scenery was breathtaking and the acting just wonderful. Everything about it just completely wowwed me - and YES that is a word..

My Dad thought the same.. "Peter Jackson is God!!" he said.. "YES!!" I said..

Please go and see it if you haven't already. You have missed out otherwise.

On another note I have had a very lovely Christmas, seeing family and eating delicious food. It goes without saying that I got plenty of books, therefore making me a very happy bunny ^.^

But now it's New Years Eve! It has been a bit of a strange year for me, in which I have finished Sixth Form, completed my A Levels, missed a few friends because of university, gained a few more, and discovered clubbing. I think it's fair to say my bank balance is sufficiently less..

So my plans for 2013? Well my plan is to treat it as if it is a gap year, ie. I will be saving as much money as I can and then hopefully going travelling towards the end. I plan on continuing to update this blog as much as I can too. I haven't really got any New Years resolutions, basically because I can't think of any apart from wanting 2013 to be a good year, and better than the last.

So, that's me done for the year! Here's hoping you all have a brilliant 2013, party hard and see you all on the other side of the calendar!

Oh and on a side note, thank you all for taking the time to read this as I appreciate you may have better things to do. Hope it was worth it :)



And look Dad, I haven't used that word..

In which I talk about The Hobbit, Sherlock, and generally fangirl a lot.

So.. the Hobbit is hitting our cinema screens very soon..

ASDFGHJKL I CANNOT WAIT.

It is very much a dad film - ie you see it with your dad first and then friends later. And it was my lovely daddy who introduced it to me (thank you!) I think I first read it when I was about 12, I loved it quite a bit.

And as I grew older I loved it even more and my love for it grew. I read it last night actually, the language JRR Tolkien uses is just classically beautiful. To me, the Shire is basically my idea of heaven. Basically I want the whole book to come to life so I can visit these magical places (as it does in Inkheart, kinda. If you do not understand what I am referring to, then please for the sake of us all, go purchase a copy from Waterstones).

Just the thought of stepping through the pages and visiting Rivendell. OHMAGERD. Seriously though, I'm getting shivers of excitement just thinking about it. I just want to meet Bilbo and confess my love for him. And I also want to meet Gandalf so he can teach me how to make smoke rings.

Books have always been to me a form of escapeism. A place where you can just step away from your problems, and into another world, to make new best friends and go on an adventure. Books have always managed to completely capture my imagination.

That person there is basically me, but my hair is not yellow, my eyes are not blue, and my skin is not that clear.

I discovered Sherlock whilst on holiday this year. I know, I really wish I had read it earlier. But anyway I downloaded the complete collection of Sherlock onto my kindle and read it within a week ; it would have been quicker but I was on holiday.

OMG.

I am so glad that Arthur Conan Doyle is a Sir. He completely deserves that. He is just so clever. I want to give him a massive hug. I had already read the Lost World so kinda loved him already, but that basically sealed my love for him.

As soon as I came back from holiday, I took a trip to HMV to buy Sherlock - both series.

Oh Cumberbatch. Oh Freeman. Oh Johnlock. The two of you together? Oh my.

I literally watched it all in complete awe, and then I showed my dad. The best bit had to be when we were sitting down to watch it, and he goes "Sherlock, thats the one with Cumberbum in it, isn't it?" I was like "OMG DAD YES. YOU JUST SAID THAT WITHOUT ME EVEN SAYING ANYTHING ABOUT IT YOU BIG FANGIRL YOU". It was an incredible moment :3

Another wonderful book I read when I was younger is Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke, that was so magical and I still have my copy on the bookshelf :)

I also loved Watership Down, but I hated the film. It completely ruined it for me.

I could quite easily go on and on and on and on about all the books I love, but that would like take years, so I won't.

Instead I will finish this post by leaving this quote from an amazing series of books:

"Yer a wizard, Harry". Yes Harry, you are.

Society Rules.

It's crazy the way society has turned out. You know when you just end up watching videos on youtube? Well I found myself watching old-ish videos of Catherine Tate doing her 'Am I bovvered?' routine, and it's funny stuff; want to know why? Because it's all true. It's not as if she is overexaggerating either, just look around and you are sure to see plenty of Lauren Coopers..

And I suppose we shouldn't really be laughing but instead trying to help these poor souls who have quite clearly lost their way..

It is ridiculous the way society can create so many groups and cliques. I guess school is where it all starts, on one end of the scale you have the populars, the Regina Georges' of today.. and on the other end you have the so-called geeks, loners, freaks..

But one thing that I have noticed which is rather lovely is that once you leave school, those kind of cliques don't seem to matter so much anymore and everyone grows up. And you learn to be proud of who you are.

But I think schools need to change the perception that being different is a bad thing. Instead they need to reinforce the idea that individuality is important and nobody is the same. 

I fear for the next generation. I worry that they will have no understanding of the concept of playing with one another. Colouring in will be an activity long gone, and forget about 'pretend' games. Any imagination will be lost and soon the concept of tooth fairies and Santa Claus will be long gone.

If you compare nowadays to society around 100 years ago, the main differences seem to be the technological and scientific advances. Yes, as people we are a lot more outspoken and no longer so afraid to say what we think, but the original cliques still exist, they're just slightly more modernised.

'Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat..'

Yes. Christmas is fast approaching, which means it's almost the end of another year and (if the Mayan predictions are anything to go by) very soon the sky will fall on our heads (as it does in Chicken Little - brilliant film!)

It is a time of year that I really love, the leaves are turning gorgeous colours and crunching on the ground as you walk over them in your warm, fluffy boots leaving the trees bare. The nights are longer now, with darkness coming quickly and there is a frosty bite in the morning when you wake up. The gloves, hats and scarves are all coming out and people are panicking as they suddenly realise how much shopping there is to do and how very little money they have.

So you start evaluating the past year and what to differently next time round. Then you realise you have lost your list of New Years Resolutions; but even if you did have them it would still be a disappointment because you haven't achieved them anyway!

But you start getting excited about the thought of seeing all the family, and everyone sitting round the TV to watch Elf. Your mouth starts watering at the thought of gravy, roast duck (we don't do turkey or goose), roast potatoes, brussel sprouts, bread sauce, mince pies.. In fact all of these images are something that can be seen in the Asda advert - sorry, going off on a slight tangent here! - but I love that advert, it's all about how much of a panic there is around Christmas time, there may be rows but at the end of the day, most of it goes to plan.

It's a wonderful time of year though and you can't help but hum "All I want for Christmas" whilst washing the dishes at work..

I've just read another amazing book. The main character is Sam - a schoolgirl - and throughout the story you see her trying to correct her wrong-doings by living the same day again, and again, and again.. Throughout this she deals with a number of important life lessons;

1. Never judge a book by it's cover
2. Have no regrets
3. Live every moment as if it was your last.

I don't want to give away the storyline so I'm all I am going to say is go and read it, it's brilliantly written and leaves you with a number of things to think about afterwards.

'I started to think about time, and how it keeps moving and draining and flowing forever forward, seconds into minutes into days into years, all of it leading to the same place, a current running forever in one direction. And we're all going and swimming as fast as we can, helping it along.. Maybe you can afford to wait. Maybe for you there's a tomorrow. Maybe for you there's one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around in it, let it slide like coins through your fingers. So much time you can waste it. But for some of us there's only today. And the truth is you never really know.'

I love that :) It's so true. Life is precious and we should live it as well as we can. We can't all be perfect but there is always room for improvement.

(Apologies if I sound like a self help book!)

"What have I been doing lately?" I hear you ask. "Looking for Alaska", I reply.

I've just finished reading Looking for Alaska. And it's uh-mayzing. It's basically about a boy looking for Alaska..  but in this case Alaska is a girl and they are looking to find who she is. NOT where she is.

I love books like this, the main character is so normal yet so different. Being a loner, he struggles to fit in, until he comes to boarding school. So he might be slightly messed up and misunderstood but that makes me like and understand them and I feel I can more or less relate to them. But it's a really good book and very well written. It's message is unclear but at the same time it's not. I guess it can mean whatever you want it to.

And if you're anything like me, you'll love it. So go on, have a read.

(Apologies if this post is slightly rambling, but my brain is slightly scrambled 'cos I'm still fangirling over how amazing it was)

It ain't just for the oldies.

So last Sunday I went with my family (plus dog) to Felpham - near Bognor Regis - to spend some time with my auntie and uncle. After filling ourselves up with chilli con carne and then tiramisu, we set off on a long walk along the shoreline. It was a wet and cloudy, yet this only seemed to add to the beauty of the place.

Anyway, to cut a long walk short (see what I did there!) we got onto the subject of knitting. Knitting is a skill I have often thought about learning. A few years ago if I'd said I wanted to learn to knit, people would have laughed at me. Since then however, knitting is fast becoming more popular and I know more and more people learning to knit. As someone said to me at work the other day 'it is a dying tradition and we need to keep it'.

I completely agree. Tradition, is to put it simply tradition. It is something that our ancestors have been a part of and therefore surely it is our duty to keep it going?

So we returned to their house and my auntie began to teach me how to knit. It took me a fair few stitches to understand how you did it, but after the first row I was feeling pretty confident. I might be creative but I am by no means artistic. Hence why a few stitches are slightly loose..

Scrap that, it doesn't look good, theres bobbles everywhere and pieces of wool where there shouldn't be.. Anyway, I'm making a scarf and so shall take some pictures when finished!

Knitting is actually therapeutic and I found myself listening to Felicity Kendal's interview on Piers Morgan Life Stories at the same time as knitting without making too many mistakes.

So that's another hobby to keep me occupied and I look forward to showing you all the end product!

I said I wouldn't watch it..

Another year and another series of The X Factor.

Yes, yet again this 'family friendly' show has hit our TV screens. Each year I promise to myself that I won't watch it, and yet I do, warming to those with a good voice and a tragic story to tell, and (albeit somewhat guiltily) laughing at those who can't sing.

This year however, has thrown up a contestants who are seemingly remaining true to themselves.

Take Lucy Spraggan for example; an ordinary girl who writes beautiful quirky songs about the things she thinks are important in life. At last, someone has the guts to say what they think without getting slated.

Jahmene, on the other hand - he's such a sweetie with a sweet voice to match. I have a real soft spot for him but unfortunately do not expect him to stay long, I fear that his nerves and the press may just get the better of him..

>insert sad face here<

And then theres' the two boy bands, Union J and District 3, neither of whom do much for me. I don't deny that they both can sing, and they're all good looking guys, but really? Is there any space left for them in the charts? I don't think so.

MK1 on the other hand work great together and sing well too, I reckon they will do well.

The over 28's, a group which is finally being taken seriously, and with good reason too.

Carolynne has a gorgeous country voice, I think its such a shame she had to leave so early. Louis, shame on you! Seriously though, she has the better voice, and The X Factor SHOULD be a singing competition, I guess it just goes to show that all they care about is publicity and drama. Shame on them all.

>Insert angry, angry, angry face here<

I'm not a great lover of Kye, I do like him a lot but theres' a lot of people like him out there, but I reckon he will go far.

Christopher Maloney. O.M.G. This guy has serious power! And another thing? When he sings, you can just tell he means every word.

I've saved the best of the overs till last. Mel. I love this lady so much, such a belting powerful voice, yes it might be a bit screamy but I like that, and hey, at least shes screaming in tune! She's such a diva, but then again shes really not. Her voice is just stunning.

James Arthur - he seems so edgy and has such a great tone to his voice. Hes pretty cool and real too. (ie. he won't do what the producers tell him to)

Rylan on the other hand. Each year we have a jokey act and they always end up going further in the competition than they should have been, I'm sorry, but he should have gone at bootcamp. Yes hes good fun but his voice is nowhere near the standard it should be.

Jade is just gorgeous with such a soft, husky voice. I'm doubtful of how well she will do but I certainly wish her the best.

And I have saved my favourite to last. Oh. My. God.

Ella.

You beautiful human being. Her voice just sends shivers down my spine. When she sang 'rule the world', it wouldn't have surprised me if she did (rule the world). Finalist? Definitely. Winner? I'm not so sure, but I know the producers will have one already in mind..

One thing is for sure, this year Louis won't win. He never does and given that he has such a weak category, there is no chance that he will win this year. I don't think Nicole will win either, so it's between Tulisa and Gary.

Let the battle (and the ranting at said producers and Simon Cowell) commence!

Please note that no comments were meant to harm anyones feelings. This is just what I think. :)

#projectrabbittoy

So about a month ago.. (yes this post is just a little bit late), I decided that it would be a good idea to do something creative.. so I made a trip to Hobbycraft and bought two wooden models and a 'sew a rabbit kit'. After making both models rather more quickly than anticipated, I began to make the rabbit.

And soon discovered I cannot sew. And at the rare times when I am able to do several stitches, its never neat. Basically, it's a good thing I didn't choose to do Textiles for GCSE! However, I did really enjoy making it.

                                                   So this is what it is supposed to look like:

 

 

 

 

And this is what mine looks like:

 

It's a bit wonky.. And it also needs a name.. suggestions welcome! :)

What Abbi Did Next.

(PLEASE EXCUSE THE CAPITALS IN MY TITLE. ITS A MICKEY TAKE OF WHAT KATIE DID NEXT)

So I've finished my A levels, had a pretty good summer and am now left wondering what the next step is.

I have come to this conclusion: I WANT TO GO INTO PR.

PR (otherwise known as Public Relations) is an industry which immediately excites me. It is all about maintaining the reputation of your clients - be it in agency, a company or an individual. And the thing is, you're often supporting a number of companies at the same time. As many different problems arise, it is up to you to come up with a solution. This involves a lot of quick thinking.

PR is also about having the ability to communicate well. I think a lot of my friends would be able to say (reasonably) confidently, that I'm good at this!

It is also about being creative and thinking of new ideas which may be a little crazy or somewhat 'outside of the box'. I'm pretty crazy myself and have a very vivid imagination - which has sometimes resulted in some very disturbing dreams..

So yeah, there you have it. PR is what I want to do. I have looked into university courses which are PR or PR related and so will be applying very shortly. In the meantime however, I am looking for a job or some work experience which will hopefully allow me to develop some of those skills needed.

I will of course keep you all updated.

:)

The hills are alive..

So last week, I went on a family trip to Austria. Normally family trips consist of at least 3 arguments per day, HOWEVER I am proud to say that on this holiday, we had 3 arguments in about one week. Pretty astonishing really!!

We had an amazing time, Austria seems to me to be the place where dragons live alongside humans, unfortunately i was unable to find little evidence of them here. Austria is gorgeous though. Seriously, go visit it! Every mountain is incredible, the human population there is also highly lacking in dirty chavs. This pleased me. As well as this, I found very little litter on the streets. So, Austria? Well done, you are a lot cleaner and nicer than England and the only things stopping me from moving is more clothes shops, friends and family. Thats it.

Austria, you should be proud.

So in our little trip we did a number of things, these included visits to Salzburg and other towns and small villages, a ride to the top of the mountain (we're too lazy to walk up it), grass-sledging down the mountain, visit to a waterfall, a medieval castle, swimming in lakes. Oh, not to mention the continuous harmonising of our four voices singing songs from the Sound of Music.

Ehehe we're so cool :3.


Another thing worth mentioning is that I downloaded the Complete Collection of Sherlock Holmes on Kindle. It was wonderful. I have read most of it, now just have the preface by Arthur Conan Doyle to go.

That man deserves a big hug, I guess I'll join the end of the queue..

A view from the top of the mountain of Dad, totem thingy, lake, mountain and finicular:

                                 

                                                A view of the snow topped mountains:

                                                               Another gorgeous view!

Books

I love these things. I love the fact that often they have a lot of pages and that as long as you keep turning the pages, there will always be something new to learn and discover. And every story is different in some way. It amazes me that there are so many different stories out there and yet (most) authors can successfully create a new storyline.

I love the fact that you can NEVER run out of books to read (unless there isn't a local library near you; or a book shop; or a friend to borrow from; or a kindle or something similar)

One of the things that I most love about reading is that you can take yourself away from all your problems and instead involve yourself in someone else's. Isn't it great?! Now, I'm the type of person that blocks out everything when reading a book (this has unfortunately led to my sister not buying me a chocolate bar from the shops..) But I like that, I like the fact that you don't hear people say your name because it shows that a book has grabbed your attention and you feel involved with the story and the characters themselves.

You might wonder, what don't I like about books? To be honest, very little. I suppose what really gets my goat is when someone who NEVER reads a book, picks up a book and immediately exclaims "OH MY GOD, THIS IS LIKE THE BEST BOOK EVER".. I mean seriously? You have NOTHING to compare that book to. AARGH.

Apart from that? Yes, I love books!

Testing.. testing.. testing..