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!