Loss.

You know how people always say you should find the positives in everything and ignore the negatives? I try to do this as much as possible, but, like everything, this isn’t always possible.

I don’t mean to put a downer on your day by talking about death, but the reason why I started this blog was to be able to put down my feelings and hopefully in some way sort my mess of a mind out, and so this is what I’m going to try to do now. I hope I don’t offend anyone in this post, as I realise it’s a subject which you have to try and skirt around and just not talk about it, as it’s almost a taboo subject.

A friend of mine lost a family member very recently, which was the trigger for me to start thinking about loss, and it made me reminisce on the people I’d lost and how this affected and shaped me as a person. Probably my earliest experience of loss was my much loved dog dying when I was four years old, and I can remember sitting on the bottom stair and being told by my mum that he hadn’t been very well and had gone to heaven. I think it’s strange that I can remember being told this but I can’t remember being told that my Grandad had died (which was around the same time). It almost makes me wonder if I had been told or not, or if I’d worked it out for myself. I don’t know.

The death, however, which probably had the greatest impact on me was the when my friend had died when I was eight years old. He was nine and to this day I can remember the exact words my mum said to me and where I was when I was told about his passing. I was sat on my bed making a Easter card as it was Maundy Thursday, and when my mum came in I tried to sit on my card because it was a surprise for her. I can remember the words she said to me, and I can remember how when she left, she came back into the room and asked how close I was to him. I can remember going back to school and how everyone avoided talking about him, except in assembly when we had a silence for him and all of his friends brought in daffodils to put in a peace garden we made for him, and how each year on April 13^th whilst we were at that school we would each place a single daffodil there, until it was just a few of us who still remembered. I remember the talks our teacher gave us, the talk by the head teacher and the time my friend completely lost it because he missed him so much and he just started throwing chairs and turning over tables. It’s hard to find a positive in that, don’t you think?

The first day back at school after my friend died, we were all given a piece of paper in which we had to draw a picture which reminded us of him and write something about him to give to his mum. I drew a picture of him holding a daffodil (even though it just looked like a stickman holding a torch with a coloured orange mess for hair) and wrote “he’s always smiling”. I remember being laughed at by other girls who told me I must be stupid because “no one can always be smiling” and I can remember the teachers reply “it’s something nice his mum will like to read”. I can then remember her asking me to redraw it and change it to “he was”. I didn’t because I told her that he is probably still smiling in heaven with all of the other angels. I don’t even know if my picture got put in the collage for his mum because of my grammatical error.

Can you find a positive in losses as strong as this? I lost a friend who had had a huge impact on my life in a positive way. He let me sit and talk to him when I was bullied at lunch times, and let me play Rose in his Doctor Who game (I had never even seen it, but he made me feel like I knew everything). He told me how he wanted to be someone who helped a lot of people when he was older, or go to the moon. It’s a cruel world which never allowed him to go to the moon, or let him “get older”. He did help people though. He helped me. I only knew him for four years, but in the last year or so, when the bullying I went through was starting to get pretty bad, he noticed when nobody else did and sometimes didn’t play with his friends and came and spoke to me when I was crying in the corner of the playground, or hiding in a bush (I was a great believer of the idea if I couldn’t see them, nobody would see me). I am eternally grateful to him for this, and I guess before writing this post I never really realised how important he was in my life.

This blog post started with me saying how I was wondering if you could find positives in everything. I don’t think this is true in situations such as this. Another saying is how you don’t know and appreciate what you’ve got until you’ve lost it and this is true. I’m never going to stop thinking about what my friend could have grown up to be or where he would be now, and I wonder if I would still be friends with him, if he would still have the same dreams and ambitions, or silly little things like would he have done well in his gcse’s or be looking forward to the 50 year Doctor Who episode next Saturday. He never had the chance to “get older” or to fulfil what he wanted to be when he “grew up”, because he never did.

I’m sorry, this post was going to be a whole long philosophical post about how in some ways loss could be considered important, but I just put down every single thing that was running through my head, and I ended up with this mess.

RIP to all those who were taken away so soon. I love and miss you more than you will ever know. Thank you for everything you did for me in your short life, I wish you were still here today.

❤

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Apologies.

I feel like this post has been due for some time now, but I haven't really had time to write it. As some of you may know if you follow me on other social networking sites, I'm incredibly busy/unorganised/stressed/*insert emotion here* at the moment, for many different reasons, which, when combined, make me very anxious and stressed (have I mentioned I'm stressed??). This is why I haven't written a blog post in a while, and I'm sorry for that :( I'm actually away during the holiday on NCS (woohoo - I'm very scared though!) so probably won't have too much free time to blog until afterwards...when I'll probably be bogged down with coursework again...anyways, this was just a little waffly post to inform you that I do in fact have  a lot of ideas for new posts (I have 19 posts in my draft at the moment, all of which are just ideas/sentences to include on the posts), and hopefully soon I'll have time to write them and share them with all you lovely people.

So, yeah, this was just a wee post to let y'all know that I'm alive (mostly) and I haven't given up completely on my blog :)

sawwy.

Thank you, and I hope you haven't missed my posts (pfffttt...who am I kidding? You didn't even notice ;) )

P.S. I know this post doesn't make much sense, I'm writing this thinking through things for my English Language coursework, but I hope you get the general gist of what I'm saying here :)

❤

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On Wednesdays, we wear pink | Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

As some of you may know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This month is especially poignant for me as I personally know somebody now who is fighting against Breast Cancer. I'd planned this blog post a long time ago, but due to school work and various other reasons, I never wrote it. I'd originally planned to write it on the first Wednesday of October, and name it "On Wednesdays, we wear pink." and do it that way. I also thought I would have a cool mean girls picture and have a moodboard full of pink fashionable things, like pink coats, pink makeup etc. Well, I've given you one of the two things, so I hope you're satisfied.

The facts

• The number of people being diagnosed with breast cancer is increasing, but the good news is survival rates are improving. This is probably because of more targeted treatments, earlier detection and better breast awareness.
• The biggest risk factor, after gender, is increasing age – 80% of breast cancers occur in women over the age of 50.
• Breast cancer also affects men, but it’s rare – around 400 men are diagnosed each year.
• Breast cancer is not one single disease there are several types of breast cancer.
• Not all breast cancers show as a lump, and not all breast lumps are breast cancer.
• Less than 10% of all breast cancers run in families, so having someone in your family with breast cancer doesn’t necessarily mean your own risk is increased.

The stats

• Every year nearly 55,000 people are diagnosed in the UK. That’s the equivalent of 150 people every day or one person every 10 minutes.
• 1 in 8 women in the UK will develop breast cancer in their lifetime.
• Nearly 12,000 people die from breast cancer in the UK every year.
• Breast cancer is the second most common cause of death from cancer in women in the UK, after lung cancer.
• Of adults aged between 25-49, breast cancer accounts for 45% of all female cancers.
• There are an estimated 550,000 people living in the UK today who have had a diagnosis of breast cancer.

Source for the above information

Anyway, to try to do my little bit to spread the awareness, I've found you all 53 little facts about Breast Cancer that are pretty much unknown, and some of them are pretty interesting, so I hope you like it.

Source

1.     The youngest known survivor of breast cancer is Aleisha Hunter from Ontario, Canada. At only three years old, Aleisha underwent a complete mastectomy in 2010 to treat her juvenile strain of breast cancer. 2.     Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among American women after skin cancer. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in women after lung cancer. 3.     The first operation to use anesthesia was a breast cancer surgery. 4.     The incidence of breast cancer is highest in more developed countries and lowest in less developed countries. 5.     The left breast is statistically more prone to developing cancer than the right breast. Scientists are unsure why. 6.     In the U.S., an average of 112 women die of breast cancer every day, or one every 15 minutes. 7.     The United States has the most cases of breast cancer in the world. 8.     The first recorded mastectomy for breast occurred in A.D. 548 on Theodora, Empress of Byzantine. 9.     Only 5-10% of breast cancers occur in women who have a genetic predisposition for it. However, women with the gene mutation run a lifetime risk as high as 4 in 5 of developing the disease. The risk of developing ovarian cancer also rises to 2 in 5. 10.  When breast cancer spreads beyond the breast, it is said to be “metastatic.” The most common places breast cancer spreads to are the bones, liver, and lungs. 11.  There are currently 2.5 million breast cancer survivors living in the United States. 12.  During 2002-2006, 95% of new cases and 97% of breast cancer deaths occurred in women 40 years and older. The biggest single risk factor for breast cancer is age. 13.  White women have a higher incidence of breast cancer than African American women. However, African American women are more likely to die from breast cancer than white women. 14.  Currently, about 1 in 3,000 pregnant or lactating women will develop breast cancer. Research has shown that once a woman has been diagnosed with breast cancer during pregnancy, her chances of survival are less than a non-pregnant woman. 15.  It has been estimated that if every woman over the age of 50 had her yearly mammogram, breast cancer deaths in this age group would drop by 25% or more. 16.  Breast cancer in men is rare, accounting for approximately 1% of breast cancer rates in the U.S. Nearly 400 men die of breast cancer each year. African American men are more likely to die from breast cancer than white men. 17.  Risk factors for male breast cancer include age, BRCA gene mutations, Klinefelter’s syndrome, testicular disorders, a family history of female breast cancer, severe liver disease, radiation exposure, being treated with estrogen-related drugs, and obesity. 18.  One in 40 women of Ashkenazi (French, German, and East European) Jewish descent carry the BRCA1 and BRCA2 (breast cancer) gene, which is significantly higher than in the general population where only 1 in 500 to 800 people carry the gene. 19.  The risk for breast cancer increases when a woman has been using HRT for more than five years. The largest risk is when both estrogen and progesterone are given together. Women who have had a hysterectomy and are taking pills containing estrogen alone are at less of a risk. 20.  One myth about breast cancer is that a person’s risk is increased only when there are affected relatives on the mother’s side of the family. However, the father’s side of the family is equally important in assessing breast cancer risk. 21.  Tumors are more likely to be malignant when they are firm and have irregular shapes, while benign tumors are more likely to feel round or soft. However, it is important to see a doctor when any lump is found in the breast. 22.  In 1810, the daughter of John and Abigail Adams, Abigail “Nabby” Adams Smith (1765-1813) was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent a grueling mastectomy—without anesthesia. Unfortunately, she still eventually died from the disease three years later. 23.  Breast cancer was often called the “nun’s disease” because of the high incidence of nuns affected by the cancer. 24.  Mammography was initially used in 1969 when the first specialized X-ray units for breast imagining were developed. 25.  In 1882, the father of American surgery, William Steward Halstead (1852-1922), introduced the first radical mastectomy (the breast tissue underlying chest muscle and the lymph nodes are removed). Until the mid 1970s, 90% of women with breast cancer were treated with this procedure. 26.  Breastfeeding has consistently been shown to reduce breast cancer—the greater the duration, the greater the benefit. 27.  Although not fully understood, research suggests that pre-eclampsia is associated with a decrease in breast cancer risk in the offspring and the mother. 28.  There are a number of misconceptions about what can cause breast cancer. These include, but are not limited to, using deodorants or antiperspirants, wearing underwire bras, having a miscarriage or induced abortion, or bumping/bruising the breast tissue. 29.  A JAMA study reports that women who had taken between one and 25 antibiotic prescriptions over an average of 17 years had an increased risk for breast cancer. The results do not mean women should stop taking antibiotics but that these medicines should be used wisely. 30.  Women with high breast density were found to have a four- to six-fold increased risk of breast cancer compared with women with lower breast density. 31.  No association has been found between breast implants and an increased risk of breast cancer. However, the FDA recently announced that breast implants might be associated with anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). ALCL is not breast cancer, but may show up in the scar capsule surrounding the implant. 32.  One study found that increased exposure to ethylene oxide, a fumigant used to sterilize medical experiments, is associated with higher breast cancer risk among women who work in commercial sterilization facilities. 33.  Nurses who work night shifts and flight attendants who have circadian rhythm disruption have a higher risk of breast cancer with long-term employment. The International Agency for Research on Cancer recently concluded that shift work, especially at night, is carcinogenic to humans. 34.  Currently a woman living in the U.S. has a 12.1% (or 1 in 8) chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer. In the 1970s, the risk was 1 in 11. The increase is most likely due to longer life expectancy as well as changes in reproductive patterns, longer-term menopausal hormone use, increased obesity, and increased screening. 35.  The most common type of breast cancer (70%) originates in the breast ducts and is known as ductal carcinoma. A less common type of breast cancer (15%) is known aslobular carcinoma, or cancer that originates in the lobules. More rare types of cancers include medullary carcinoma, Paget’s disease, tubular carcinoma, inflammatory breast cancer, and phyllodes tumors. 36.  Nearly 10.4 % of all cancers in women is breast cancer. 37.  Approximately 1.2 million cases of breast cancer are diagnosed around the world each year. About 75% are found in women over age 50. 38.  The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reports a higher risk of breast cancer in women who take multivitamins. 39.  Research has found that pomegranates may help prevent breast cancer. Chemicals called ellagitannins block the production of estrogen, which can fuel some types of breast cancer. 40.  Studies report that breast cancer patients with diabetes were nearly 50% more likely to die than those who didn’t have diabetes. 41.  Long-term breast survivors who were treated with radiation before 1984 have much higher rates of death due to heart disease. 42.  There is a strong correlation between increased weight and breast cancer, especially those who gained weight in adolescence or after menopause. Body fat composition in the upper body also increases the risk. 43.  On average, it takes 100 days or more for a cancer cell to double in size. It takes about 10 years for cells to divide to a size that can be actually felt. 44.  Notable women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer include “Sex and the City” star Cynthia Nixon (diagnosed in 2006 at age 40), Sheryl Crow (diagnosed in 2006 at 44), Kylie Minoque (diagnosed in 2005 at 36), Elizabeth Edwards (diagnosed in 2004 at 55), Jaclyn Smith (diagnosed in 2002 at 56), and Christina Applegate (diagnosed in 2008 at 36). Other historical figures include Mary Washington (mother of George Washington), Empress Theodora (wife of Justinian), and Anne of Austria (mother of Louis the XIV). 45.  Breast cancer was one of the first cancers to be described by ancient physicians. For example, physicians in ancient Egypt described breast cancer more than 3,500 years ago. One surgeon describes “bulging” tumors in the breast of which “there is no cure.” 46.  In 400 B.C., Hippocrates describe breast cancer as a humoral disease caused by black bile or melancholia. He labeled cancer karkinos, meaning “crab,” because the tumors seemed to have tentacles which looked like the legs of crab. 47.  To disprove the theory that breast cancer was caused by an imbalance of the four body humors, namely an excess of bile, French physicians Jean Astruc (1684-1766) cooked a slice of breast cancer tissue and a slice of beef and then chewed both. He said that because they tasted exactly the same, breast cancer tumor does not contain bile or acid. 48.  Some physicians throughout history have proposed that breast cancer was caused by several factors, including lack of sex—which caused reproductive organs, such as the breast, to atrophy and rot. Other physicians suggested that “vigorous sex” blocked the lymphatic system, that depression restricted blood vessels and trapped coagulated blood, and that a sedentary lifestyle slowed bodily fluids. 49.  Jerome Urban (1914-1991), who practiced the super-radical mastectomy in 1949, would remove not only the breast and axillary nodes but also the chest muscles and internal mammary nodes in a single procedure—often on patients who had tumors less than a centimeter large. He stopped in 1963 when he became convinced it worked no better than the less mutilating radical mastectomy.l 50.  October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM). The first NBCAM took place in October 1985. 51.  Studies show that social isolation and stress can increase the speed at which breast cancer tumours grow in animal models. 52.  Not all lumps that are found in the breast are cancerous but may be a fibrocystic breast condition (disease), which is benign. 53.  Researchers speculate that left-handed women are more prone to developing breast cancer because they are exposed to higher levels of certain steroid hormones in the womb.

I wasn't actually going to write this post, as I sort of assumed that a lot of people would already know about Breast Cancer Awareness Month, as they would probably know a lot about Movember next month, but what really prompted me to write this post was because I found the blog of a lovely lady who passed away. Her name was  Susan Niebur, and you can find her blog here. I give you this warning: take a box of tissues when reading any post on here, you'll need them.

If you like this post, please help by spreading the awareness of Breast Cancer by showing it or sharing it to somebody else, or simply just to donate some money, because a little bit can honestly go such a long way.

Thank you!

❤

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Identity.

Hello there lovelies! I found this poem on Tumblr the other day and I think it summed up something that all teenagers should read. I know this is a very short blog post and it's sort of a cheaty one as I'm using other people's words, but I think it's best if I leave you to interpret this poem.

I've got a lot of things planned for future posts, I've just got to find the time to write them!

❤

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Musician of the Month | Shannon Saunders

Hello and welcome to this month's edition of musician of the month! As the title tells you, this month it's going to be on the wonderful and gorgeous Shannon Saunders! Now, I know that many of you might not know who she is, as she doesn't belong to some big record label and get played on the radio, but in my opinion, she's much better than half of the people that are played on the radio.

 

Shannon Saunders is unique in many many different ways. She's not afraid to be different, and she even set up her own record label "Lovejoy Records" because she wanted to have more control over what she released and when. Some of you may be thinking that Lovejoy is just a nice little name she thought up because it sounds pretty, but one other thing about Shannon Saunders is the amount she shares about her personal life on various social medias. I know it sounds weird, but I think I probably know more about her than the people who live down my road. ( ~ would just like to say I don't stalk her. to be fair to me my neighbours are REALLY unsociable ~ ) She tells us all about what's going on in her life, shares her holiday snaps with us, and posts videos of her gorgeous and incredibly adorable little nephew, Pierson. (I literally want to keep him, in a non-abductive-and-completely-legal way. yeah.) So anyway, back to the main point about Lovejoy records. Shannon also has a blog on her official website (which of course she designed and runs all by herself), and she posted this about why she chose "Lovejoy Records":

"Basically, My nan's mum was a very popular character in our family as she was always singing, joking around, telling hilarious stories and just being a bloody brilliant woman. My nan's mum's surname was Lovejoy so we all decided in the family it would only be right, now my nan's passed away, to call the label "Lovejoy Records" in honour of her."

N'awww, that's nice isn't it? And do you know what else is nice? HER BLOODY FANTASTIC VOICE. Honestly, if you don't fall in love, I recommend that you go get your hearing tested. Seriously. I'm not joking. Miss Saunders currently has 4 songs you can buy on iTunes, two of which she recorded for the Disney film "Tangled", and those are called "The Glow" and "I see the light". Shannon has posted covers on her YouTube for a good few years now, and they are all incredible. She's actually introduced me to other artists through her covers, for example Christina Perri and Jessie Ware. Personally, my favourite covers she's done are a cover of Kodaline's "All I Want" and "I Can't Make You Love Me", amongst many more (of course). Even though these are all amazing, where Shannon really shines is in her ridiculously good songwriting skills! I mean, this girl is incredible. Her tunes are always mega-catchy, and her lyrics are insane. Two of Shannon's originals are on iTunes that you can buy, her first ever single "Heart of Blue", and her more recent one, "Scars". As I've mentioned before, Shannon shares a lot of her life with her followers, and she also recommends a lot of other singers on her Twitter pages, such as Hobbie Stuart (who I am now addicted to - and he's rather easy on the eye as well ;) ) In fact, I'm so obsessed with Mr Stuart at the moment, I may have to do a blog post about him soon. (This gives me an excuse to say that I am being "productive" whilst looking at videos of him and pictures of him. Sounds good to me.)

Another lovely thing about the wonderful Miss Saunders is how much you feel you can relate to her as a teenage girl. She's honestly a normal human being, who's just been gifted with the voice of a goddess (and the looks to be honest). Her lyrics are so easy to relate to, and she has normal problems that she talks about, for example, her heartbreaks, her friends, and not knowing what outfit to wear for the day (even though she looks gorgeous in practically everything...*sigh*). She also doesn't use huge famous people in her advertising and to do things such as making her music videos. She recorded both of her music videos to go with the singles on iTunes with the wonderful Damian Weilers, and amazingly, her video "Heart of Blue" video only cost £9 to make (for the tube and bus fare), compared to the hundreds, or maybe even thousands (I'm not clued up on these things) that other pop "stars" cost to make a music video.

If I haven't convinced you yet that she is one of the most perfect human beings on the universe, here are 3 more reasons you should love her/want to be her/her best friend.

1. She is literally the only girl who can wear double denim and STILL look fabulous
2. She is like me and without releasing calls everyone and everything "lovely". Seriously, just check out anything she posts
3. She posts hilarious and relatable tweets on the good ol' twitter. My two favourites currently:
1. "The ;) face always seems a bit sexual doesn't it? If you saw my ;) face in real life you'd think differently."
2. "Some people are like flies. The buzzy annoying ones that smack into the windows and never seem to leave"

Yup, this girl is actually the definition of perfect.

Soooo....I think I have well and truly emptied my brain of all things that are currently residing there. I'm sure I'll think of more reasons as to why I love Shannon Saunders but maybe in the mean time you should check out her own music, videos, and make your own reasons up!

Possibly my favourite ever cover in the whole wide world by a YouTuber:

Shannon's newest single, which you can buy on iTunes (link on her social networks and in video description).

My favourite original by Shannon, which is unfortunately not on iTunes :(

lemmie hear ya say chuuunne!

How to stalk Shannon (in a friendly and completely legal way):
Twitter
Official Website
Facebook
Youtube
Instagram

~ Sorry if this post is rambly. I've got mountains of school work and had to work unexpectedly today, so I think I've made up a few words here and there ~

Thank you!

❤

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caught up in the quest for perfection

Today is another one of those "random" postings where I just feel like I need to write my feelings down. Apologies. 

Something I found on tumblr which seemed appropriate.

I started sixth form last week, and I've already noticed how people are all trying to fit in with the people they deem to be "popular" or "pretty". I'm seeing people that I've spent the last five years with changing their interests and pretending to be something they're not so that they can change their friendship groups and make new friends. Making new friends is great, but not if you're pretending to be someone else whenever you're around them.

I go to an all girls school, so appearance is also something that I'm noticing a lot. The day before we started sixth form, I saw a huge long twitter feed about what everybody is wearing so that they weren't wearing something different to other people. The result: five or six girls wearing the EXACT same outfit from Primark: pepsi-cola baseball style tops, black leggings and white converse. Of course there were slight variants from this, some people wearing coca-cola T-Shirts and red converses. I'm not saying that every single person was copying everyone else, but I'm just saying you don't have to be the same as someone else to look nice. I complimented different people on their different outfits, and in return got some compliments about the dress I had chosen to wear.

The second day was just the same, and the third day after that. Everybody was wearing similar clothes, and it looked like everybody had had the same shopping spree in Primark/New Look (and a few of the rich kids in Abercrombie, Jack Wills and Hollister). I have nothing against any of these shops, or shopping for new clothes, I just feel like everybody has lost their originality and wants to be a carbon copy of everybody else. There are of course some people who have a beautiful and unique dress sense. There's a girl who embraces vintage in a way that only she can do (not the high-street fashion way, HER way), and I'm sort of jealous of how amazing/gorgeous/lovely/unique she looks every single darn day. She also has a blog but I don't think she knows I exist so that's why I'm not linking the blog/saying her name. She is far too cool for me and if I have any lessons with her, who knows? We may become great blogging friends :) But if not, it's not to be.

Everybody seems caught up in the quest for perfection. They don't understand that perfection doesn't just have the one definition, and nobody is perfect anyway. Is barbie perfect? No. I recently found this online and thought you should read it. It does actually make you feel slightly better about yourself.

If Barbie was an actual woman, she would be 5ft9 tall, have a 39" bust, an 18" waist, 33" hips, and a size 3 shoe. Her head would be the same circumference as her waist, meaning that she'd only have room for half a liver and a few inches of intestines. The result? Chronic diarrhoea and death. Also she would not be able to menstruate, meaning she would be infertile and unable to produce children. If Barbie was real, she would have to crawl on all fours due to her proportions. Her feet are so small, her chest would pull her forward onto her toes. Barbie calls this a 'full figure' and likes her weight at 110lbs. At 5ft9 and weighing 110lbs, Barbie would have a BMI of 16.24, and would fit the criteria for anorexia. Because Barbie's neck is twice as long as an average human's, it would be impossible for her to hold up her head; and yet this is the 'person' a lot of girls aspire to be.

Is she so perfect to you now?

I hope not.

Something else I found on tumblr:

Society is wrong. Dead wrong. We're taught that fake is beautiful. We're taught to believe that miniature waists and perfect tans are beautiful tans are beautiful. We're convinced that the blonde girls with the gorgeous smiles will win ever time. But, the truth is? Originality is beautiful. Big brown eyes, green eyes, blue eyes. Curves. Your natural skin tone is beautiful. Your hair colour, your smile. Your voice, your laugh, your personality. Every inch of you is beautiful, every single part of you shines with your essence. You my dear? You're beautiful.

Of course we've all got little things we want to change about ourselves. I've got a roman nose and would love to lose that little bit of weight in certain places, but you've got to accept you for YOU. I'm green-eyed, freckled and spectacled. Does that matter? Sometimes it bothers me of course. Some days I would love to have "perfect" smooth skin. Sometimes I would love to have perfect eyesight and glasses annoy me. On these occasions I sometimes wear contact lenses. You don't need to be a carbon copy of a supermodel to be considered beautiful. There are certain things you can't change about yourself. 

Don't get caught up in the quest for perfection, because the only way you can be anywhere near perfect is by being you. The true you.

~ rant over ~

P.S. I apologise for the lack of photography in my posts at the moment. My camera has a problem with it and is being fixed, so I've only got my phone. That's why quite a lot of my photo's are internet photo's. It should be fixed by next week though...hoorah!

❤

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One Month of Blogging!

So it's been one whole month since I've entered the blogosphere, and stamped my name across this little piece of the internet, so I thought I should write something about it :)

(I also felt it necessary to have a picture of a cake. I mean, who doesn't like cake?)

I know my blog posts have been random and haven't really got any structure to them, but I absolutely love having a little space to jot my thoughts down when my head isn't big enough to hold them all! I have 4 lovely followers, and just for clicking that little button I am so grateful, thank you so much :)

Although I think I've taught you a little bit about myself through my random ramblings, I also feel like I've learnt a lot in my month of blogging, so I also decided to share these with you! (sorry)

1) There are so many interesting blogs out there that I've never heard of, yet now I spend hours everyday reading them with a mug of hot chocolate - believe me, it's quite time consuming!

2) I REALLY LOVE writing down my thoughts! No matter how random or screwed up my problems sound in my head, it always makes me feel better when I let them all out in the form of a blog post (for example, my post on Ronan) - even though these are completely random and reading them back they make absolutely no sense at all, at the time it was almost my form of therapy, so it really helped me :)

3) I'm addicted to designing things and am a bit of a perfectionist, even though my blog still seems to look a little pooey.

4) Checking your stats too often is NOT productive, and actually wastes a lot of time

5) Google is your friend - trust me, it's helped me so much starting this blog up :)

(I could honestly go on and on with these but I feel I've got to stop sometime, and I've got an essay to write for tomorrow - whoopsies!)

So yeah, this is me one month blogiversary post, and I hope you enjoyed reading another rambling of mine! Again, thank you so so so so very much for clicking that follow button, I love every one of you!

Rebecca-Ella
x

❤

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It's That Time of the Year Again...

Well my lovelies, it's that time of the year again when we all have to say goodbye to the summer and go back to normality & school (cue sad face). Unfortunately this means I'm going back and as I'm starting my AS levels, I won't have as much spare time that I can spend on blogging and photography. I'm going to try to continue blogging, but I'm not sure how often I'm going to be able to do posts. I'm sorry :( . Whenever I have free time I'm going to write a blog post, and if I end up writing about 3 in a night, I may just schedule them for different days so that they're spread out. But hey, you never know, I may get less work than I'm expecting and I might be able to continue blogging as much as I do at the moment! (Which isn't exactly that much, so I don't know why I'm writing this post...) Anyways, I wish you all the best of luck in your new school year, and I'll speak to you soon.

N'night my lovelies

x

❤

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Festival Fun

I live in the south coast of England, and I am very lucky with where I live, due to the fact that I live really close to the New Forest, and if I ever wanted to go to the beach, it's just a 20 minute drive away.

A little heart for all you lovely readers ❤ 

Last weekend was the annual Bournemouth Air Festival, which is a lovely weekend of planes, entertainment, attempting to get a tan and getting a lovely sunburn! I feel like I should give you a little warning here: this post is very picture heavy. 

Here are a few of the best pictures I took during the day time I thought I should share with you lovely readers. I've sorted them in an order which isn't chronological, but it sort of makes sense (I've basically grouped the planes together, you'll get the idea). I did this because over the four days, quite a lot of the planes flew more than once with different weather and lighting conditions etc, so I basically put all the pictures of the Eurofighter together, all the Red Arrow pictures together etc...

So, without further ado, here are some pictures I took of the aircraft at the air festival!

If any of you are wondering, from the top to the bottom, the planes are: the battle of britain memorial flight (including the lancaster and spitfires), then the sea vixen, then the eurofighter (which is incredibly loud!), and then the colourful one is Miss Demeanour. After that, of course, is my personal favourite, the red arrows! I've mainly used the pictures of the red arrows from their performance on the Saturday, due to the lovely clear blue sky (and so the pictures were better!), but they flew on the Thursday, Friday and the Saturday. The final picture is of a plane during the Night Air segment of the festival, and the night before (when my camera battery unfortunately died :( ), it actually had fireworks on it! I think that this plane is from O Brien's Flying Circus, but I'm not 100% sure).

Unfortunately, on the last day the Vulcan had a fuel leak so it couldn't fly, which I was super sad about because I'm a bit of a plane geek, and it's probably the last year it'll be flying due to funding issues :( But on the bright side, I also took some random pictures of the picturesque South Coast and random objects/animals for you!

 

I named the seagull on the right Marcel...because he got all the birds :')
If you don't understand don't worry, my jokes are never any good.

We spotted where Kodaline was staying before their concert so I quickly snapped these pictures whilst they were watching the planes, Vinny's (the drummer) face makes me smile every time I see it in the second picture, he was so excited when the planes came!

Last year, a local radio station decided to hold two concerts in the evening,with tickets priced at only £3.50 - a bloody bargain if you ask me! We didn't find out about it until the week before, and we managed to grab ourselves some tickets for the second concert, which was amazing! I saw Ben Montague, Ryan O'Shaughnessy, Matt Cardle, The Loveable Rogues, Lawson and Scouting For Girls! But the night before (which we couldn't grab any tickets for), we went down to the pub and because of how close it was to the open stage area, we could just about see the artists (nice one dad!), we also saw Amelia Lily, Honey Ryder, Newton Faulkner and Rizzle Kicks!

Although this year they doubled the ticket price (still good though!), the line up was just as super duper. On the Friday there was Diana Vickers, Stooshe, Lucy Spraggan, Shane Filan, The Feeling and Blue! On the Saturday night, I was really REALLY lucky because there were quite a few of my favourite singers/bands of ALL TIME! The line-up was Neon Jungle, Newton Faulkner, The Loveable Rogues, Lisa Stansfield, and Kodaline. Here are a few pictures of each of the acts. Unfortunately on the Friday night my camera battery died halfway through the concert and I had no spare, so I had to switch to my phone camera, so that's why there is a sudden decrease in quality. Sorry. Because of this, I put all the Friday night photos on one collage so that the quality doesn't appear as bad :) Enjoy!

Top Row L-R: Diana Vickers, Stooshe, Lucy Spraggan, Shane Filan
Middle Row: The Feeling
Bottom Row: Blue

Neon Jungle

Newton Faulkner

The Loveable Rogues

Lisa Stansfield

Kodaline

 I loved every minute of the Bournemouth Air Festival this year, and will definitely be going again next year (26th-31st August 2014!), you can find all the information about this here. The only advice I would give you that isn't given on this website is that it would be a better idea to go to a beach other than the stretch between Bournemouth and Boscombe pier, as this is absolutely PACKED. We went to a beach near a place called Southbourne, mainly because it's where my friend has a beach hut, but also because it was only a 30 minute walk from Boscombe pier, but also because the beach was nearly empty but you could still see all the planes!

Thank you for reading - apologies for how long it was, I didn't mean for it to be!

P.S. I'm feeling super snazzy & sophisticated blogging from the beach ;)

P.P.S. Happy September!

❤

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