FUCK YOU 2016

2016 has been awful. To date, it was probably the worst year ever, for me personally and the rest of the world, I am still not over Alan Rickman passing. From July to October I totally lost who I was as a person due to stress, pressure and constant failure. I had hit rock bottom, I could barely recognise myself, which was really tough for me and the people closest to me. But with support from the amazing people in my life I managed to pick myself back. I feel like I am becoming myself again and things are slowly getting back on track. 

As sucky as it has been, lets talk about the great things that happened in 2016.

Number one. I met Tania! It feels strange that I met her in the toilets at Slam Dunk only 8 months ago, but now she's one of my favorite people in the whole wide world and I couldn't imagine life with out her. We've had loads of random adventures already and here's to a million more in 2017. LOVE YOU GURL!!

Number two. FLORIDA!! Oh my goodness. Florida. I've wanted to go for years but it took me forever to persuade Sean to go. On new years eve 2015 we decided to book it for Halloween 2016 and what made it even better, is that in April, Shell (my bestie) and Ryan (my male bestie / Shell's fiance) decided to gate crash, they booked to come with and that took my excitement from a 12/10 to a 10 million / 10. I had the most magical time, words can't even explain how incredible it was. I would do anything to re-live those 2 weeks over and over. 

Number three. I rekindled relationships with so many people this year and made more time for the people that mean the most to me. Which is something which has really brightened up my year in a big way. 

Number four. I started to loose weight and I am learning to love and appreciate my body

Number five. I sorted out my finances. How adult of me!! 

Number six. I started this blog, it was meant to be my new years resolution but I started early. I have had just over 500 page views since starting a little over a month ago. Which I am mega shocked about, so thank you.

I could not be happier to see the back of 2016. Here is to 2017, I am so determined to make you my bitch!! 
  
HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Let's make this one count.  

Hair Tinsel

DO DO DO DOOO, DO DO DO DOOOOO, DO DO DO DOOO, DO DO DO DOOOOO, Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas,  Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas Eve friends!! I am super excited that it is Christmas tomorrow. In light on that fact I have basically thrown up Christmas on myself by adding hair tinsel to my clip in hair extensions. Calm down, I know you're are excited as I am.

After lusting over Kristin Leanne's sparkly hair for months and months and months I decided that now was the perfect time to accessorize my hair extensions. They're falling apart anyways, DAMN YOU FOXY LOCKS, so if I ruined them no big deal right.

I found my hair tinsel on Ebay, it was a bargain at £5.99. I thought it would be a ball ache to put in ... I was not wrong. It took ages and I wasn't even applying it to my own head but it looks AWESOME!! So the effort was totally worth it. You basically have to pinch the tinsel and pull the ends through, then pull your hair though the hole and then tie 1000 more knots so they don't fall out. This step by step picture explains it way better than I do.

They come in a pack of 100 strands, which is way more than you need. I think I used around 20 - 30 strands, so if anyone else wants sparkly hair, hit me up.

 

Applying each strand did take longer than expected as they're so fiddly. For my hair extensions, I didn't want to go too overboard so I decided one strand per clip. As you fold the tinsel in half as you apply it, you end up with double that what you expect. I think the this is something you can either do subtly or go completely wild, I went for the subtle approach as it can look tacky. It is tinsel in your hair after all. This is what my hair extensions looked like after I was finished.

 

Food, Friends and Festivities

This weekend I ventured back to Eastbourne (my hometown) for a birthday and a catch up with some old friends. I had such a lovely weekend seeing everyone and I ate like a king. If you’ve ever been to Eastbourne, you know what a small little town it is and if you’ve never been … well basically it’s full of old people and it is in great need off being brought into the 21^st century. I love it regardless.

It was the gorgeous Emily’s 26^th birthday and she invited a group of her closes ladies to The Hydro Hotel for afternoon tea, it was extremely adorable. I’ve never been for afternoon tea before but I felt really fancy. I ordered of the festive menu, I had turkey sammies, a yule log and a hot chocolate. Not your traditional afternoon tea but it was pretty good and a mega steal at £8.95. 

As luck had it, the Christmas Coca Cola truck was in Eastbourne town center on Saturday so I went down to have a look when it got dark so I could see it all lit up. It was really busy so I didn’t queue for a photo with the truck but it did put me in the holiday spirit, that and my egg log latte in my basic bitch red cup.

On Sunday I met up with my two oldest loves Rachel and Kaye. We went for a coffee and for lunch at Half Man! Half Burger! One of my best friends is the head chef there so we had to visit really to judge how good the food was. I had a festive burger and coleslaw, which was AMAZING. In a nut shell it was a Christmas explosion, a burger with pulled turkey soaked in gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce and parsnip crisps. Holy Fuck it mas magical. They have another branch in St Lennard’s, so if you do see it, go eat all the food and you will not be disappointed ... I need to go back like right now because the thought of this food is making me hungry.

I love happy weekends. 

*header photo from http://www.eastbournereymarhotel.co.uk/

EVERY TIME I DIE at The Haunt, Brighton

On Sunday (11^th Dec) I saw EVERY TIME I DIE at The Haunt in Brighton. I’ve been into ETID since they released Gutter Phenomenon many moons ago … like almost 10 years ago which makes me feel old, I think the album came out in 2005 or 2006. Over the years I’ve managed to see them quite a few times, although I missed them at Slam Dunk this year because Panic at the disco! were playing at the same time and I could not miss that!!

I feel that bands never come to Brighton because London’s so close … but do bands not know that the trains suck, driving in London is scary and parking is impossible?! So, I always try my best to make it to shows like this.

ETID’s set was pretty spot on, Bored Stiff was my favourite track of the night. I completely failed at snapping it though and ended up filming the crowd behind me. Lucky for me, Brighton is full of beautiful faces so that such wasn’t a bad thing. Being 5’6 and in a sea of men, who I am pretty sure were all at least 10 foot, it was pretty hard to see but I had an awesome time regardless. They had '68 and Drug Church as support so if you're a fan of ETID make sure you check them out too.

I don’t know whether it was me, the vodka or the dancing but there set flew by even though they played almost 20 songs. It was the end and time for a subway and a cookie before I knew it.

Set List

• Glitches
• Werewolf
• Ebola
• Bimbos
• Thirst
• Decaying
• Petal
• Bored Stiff
• Two Summers
• The New Black
• Floater
• It Remembers
• Coin
• C++
• No Son
• Map Change
• Big Sky
• Fucking A
• Moor

What I wore

I wore dungarees with a black and white striped long sleeved top paired with some B&W vans for ultimate comfort. It was pretty cold so I wore a black trench coat and a grey scarf. 

 

* all my photos from the evening were rubbish so the one at the top is from here. Thank you amazing photographer who took that snap - http://epitaph.com/artists/every-time-i-die/bio

Walking the dogs at the RSPCA

Did you know that you can volunteer to walk the dogs at the RSPCA? It’s something I have been meaning to do for ages, but I finally got around to it yesterday after booking a random midweek day off work and I was so happy that I did.

It’s so simple, all you do is turn up when the shelter opens (10:30 for Brighton), queue up at reception, sign in and leave your car keys with them, head to the kennels where the staff will hand you a dog. They have a huge private field right next door where you can take your dog on a 20 minute walk. Just make sure you turn up early as it can get busy and they will turn you away if you run out of dogs.

Meet Kevin, he was the dog that was appointed to us. He was quiet shy and was pretty nervous about going for a walk. He was fine as long as he could see the RSPCA building at all times, which was really sweet. After a couple of minutes he chilled out and happily trotted around the filed with us, as long as we stopped every now and again for a cuddle. He was really sweet and I hope he gets adopted really soon.

I adopted my cat Waffles from the RSPCA and I absolutely love how well they treat their animals. I am going to try to make this a regular thing, for sure. If anyone want's to come with me, let me know in the comments.

Minnie

x

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24 Christmas movies to watch in December

Every December me and my boyfriend have a holiday tradition too put us in the Christmas spirit. We make it our mission to watch a Christmas movie every day in December on the build-up to the 24^th. So here is a list of my top 24 Christmas movies and what I plan to watch in the next few weeks, hopefully this will inspire you too watch a few as well.

1.     The Grinch

2.  Jurassic World (okay so this isn’t conventional but there was a Christmas song at the beginning of the movie so I am counting it.

3.     Bad Santa

4.     Home Alone

5.     Home Alone 2

6.     ELF – WHICH IS THE BEST MOVIE EVER

7.     Arthur Christmas

8.     Love Actually

9.     The Nine Lives of Christmas – A film for all the cat lovers out there, it’s so bad it’s good

10.  The Holiday

11.  The Polar Express – you’re only allowed to watch this if you’re drinking hot chocolate, that is the rules.

12.  Gremlins

13.  Jingle all the way

14.  Fred Claus

15.  The Santa Clause

16.  Four Christmases

17. Miracle on 34^th Street – the one with Matilda and Richard Attenborough in

18.  Die Hard … because the BF makes you

19.  Jack Frost

20.  The Snowman

21.  A Christmas Carole

22.  The Snowman and the Snow Dog

23.  The Nightmare Before Christmas

24.  It’s a wonderful life

11 things to do when the football is on

Does anyone else have a football obsessed other half? I don’t know about you but I am so bored of hearing who has scraped their knee and what Liverpool's new kit will look like. YAWN!! Okay so I understand that they’re passionate about the sport but a game is 90 minutes long and we haven’t even started to talk about the pre and post match interviews yet. Me and my boyfriend rarely get weekends off together so that 90 minutes means a lot to me. I am a nice girlfriend though and if we aren’t doing anything special then I won’t moan about it being on. Instead I try to keep myself entertained, so here's my list things to do in that 90 minutes.

1.     Nap
YESSSS!! It’s been a long week and that 90 minutes is perfect for a cheeky cat nap. I’ve grown accustom to falling asleep to the sound of a crowd cheering. As long as you can stay asleep during the goal celebrations and the totally unfair red card that the ref has just pulled out his back pocket, then you’re golden.
 http://giphy.com/gifs/disney-frozen-college-8GOYcHhgqwDkI

2.     Watch some videos on youtube

 If you’re obsessed with watching vlogs like I am, then I am sure there are some videos which will keep you happily entertained for hours.
 http://giphy.com/gifs/writing-excited-A7rTdPxXP9fqM

 


3.     Netflicks

 If you haven’t already then download the Netflicks app on your phone or tablet, you can easily watch a film or two episodes of the latest series you’re gripped too in that time. Football time is when I catch up on Greys Anatomy.
http://giphy.com/gifs/movies-watched-in-2015-T9iVE09wfZQAM

4.     Bake
This delicious idea is probably one of my favorites. I LOVE cooking, baking and everything food related. So searching Pintrest for a tasty recipe is my idea of heaven. 90 minutes is more than enough time to whip up some brownies or cupcakes. 
 http://giphy.com/gifs/filmeditor-mean-girls-movie-l0IulqHv5pXW8LtqU

 

5.     Read

You will probably have to leave the room for this one, but read that book that’s been sitting on your bedside table for a month.  

http://giphy.com/gifs/hulu-nbc-scrubs-l0MYtRl33WaN4HGBq      

      

6.     Do your hair or make up
I love playing with my hair and make up, to be fair I would do this even If the football wasn’t on. But watch some Youtube tutorials and make yourself look fancy AF.
http://giphy.com/gifs/win-nicolas-zimbio-P2FxX8KZ1eAko

 

7. Paint your nails
Hands or toes … or both. You’ve got the time.
http://giphy.com/gifs/chelsea-lately-hunt-hYubhYfTh9FYI

 

8. Go for a walk

Go for a walk. Even if you don’t go out for the whole time or just pop to the shops down the road, the fresh air will do you some good.

http://giphy.com/gifs/running-adventure-movie-HVr4gFHYIqeti

9. Exercise
Urgh!! Sorry, don’t hate me. But if you’ve got nothing else to do then why not. You can loose 300 calories for half an hour work on the exercise bike. 
http://giphy.com/gifs/hulu-fox-the-mindy-project-l2SpV2WnTQ2tXko2Q

10. Social media

Facebook, Instergram, Snapchat, Pintrest, Twitter, Bloglovin, Youtube etc. etc. I am sure there is enough here to keep you entertained for hours
http://giphy.com/gifs/television-girls-parks-and-rec-5mnLbCMlpsWkM

 

 11. You could try watching the game? 
I know, you’ve tried before and you get bored AF but would you really want to miss that player from that team break his leg hahaha. Injuries are the only entertaining thing about football, lets be real. Oh and sometimes there's a cat.

http://giphy.com/gifs/football-watch-mutombo-TT6PObwTpFoA0