A Sunny Day in Sheringham

As this weekend was incredibly hot, me and my mum and dad decided to go on a little jaunt to the North Norfolk Coast.

The Day started with a lovely trip to Blickling Hall (where Anne Boleyn was born) for some nice lunch where I got to read a bit of my book while waiting for food and a trip to the second hand bookshop - the photo of the shop is taken on a stage which my Grandad built when he was stationed there during WW2. Then we went on to Sheringham a little sea side town with a few shops and a couple of arcades. My day then finished with a visit to The Two Lifeboats pub on the sea front for tea where I had my favourite meal of sausage and mash. The weather was so gorgeous I couldn't help but take a few photos and why not share them on here!

Urban Decay Naked: Smoky Event

So on Thursday (August 6th) the new Urban Decay Naked palette was launched in the UK. Me and my friend decided to go to the launch event at our local Debenhams it cost £5 to go to the event but I believe that if you chose to buy the palette (which I am yet to do) there was £5 off. Included in the ticket price you got a couple of free testers (bottom photo) and a free make over which we are planning to do next Thursday in preparation for a night out.

For me the event was just ok, however if I was quite knew to make-up it would have been fabulous. As the two make-up artists put make-up on the models they gave quite a few nice tips and tricks to help with putting your own make-up on better. Having spent many hours of my life watching beauty guru's make-up tutorials I kinda know what to do (I may know but I cannot do!) What I found was best about the event was that they handed round products to test and see what they were like, which definitely made me want to spend A LOT of money.

Although I didn't buy the palette or any products as it is a lot of money for me to spend right now - although my student loan comes in soon ;) - it was a lovely experience especially for someone like me who feels intimidated when speaking to people at make-up counters.

July Favourites!

For the first time I am going to do a Favourites blog, mainly as there are a few things that I have really been enjoying this month that I thought that I would share.

Beauty.

The Bare Minerals True Romantic Eye shadow Quad £29. This is the first high end eye shadow that I have actually bought. I got a Debenhams voucher and went in meaning to get an Urban Decay naked palette, but I got looking around and testing a load of colours and I fell in love with 1) the packaging, isn't it pretty and 2) I couldn't resist the shimmery gold!

Clothing.

Floral Bardot Dress, New Look, £14.99. I find this dress really comfy because of the skater dress fit, but it's also a bit different because of the Bardot neckline and very summery because of the floral.


Accessories.

Rose Gold Metallic Backpack, New Look, £19.99.  I have been looking at this bag whenever I go into New Look and also thinking about it whenever I am not in New Look. So finally about a week ago I bought it, and isn't it B-E-A-UTIFUL. it has a little front pocket and two small ones on the side, inside there is a zipped pocket and a phone slip like in most bags. There is plenty of room to lose all your items in as well :).

Choker, Primark, £1.50. Ever since they have come back into style I have really wanted to get a choker but I didn't really find a style that I liked and I have been unsure whether or not a choker would irritate me throughout the day. However because it has an adjustable chain it doesn't have to be tight against my neck. Also I really like the simplicity of the silver band with a small simple heart.

Bracelet, Primark, £2.00. This is a very recent purchase of mine and I have only worn it a couple of times, but I find that it being a mix of a bracelet and a ring adds to it and really makes it something different that I have never owned before.

Other.

The Truth About the Harry Qubert Affair, Joel Dicker. Although this is a chunky book it didn't feel like there were 600+ pages. It was a complete page turner, it felt that with every chapter there was  new twist to the plot. It really kept you guessing from beginning to end, which is something that I really love in a book. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone and everyone (well maybe not little children!)

What I've Read: January - June

Initially I was going to do a post a month about what i had read in each month but who am I kidding I won't blog that frequently, and sometimes I will only read one or two books a month which I thought would make for a very boring short blog (in hindsight that would be better than a list of 15 or so books) but oh well there are still 6 months left of the year to change how I blog. So in future there will (hopefully) be a blog a month of what I have read with a mini review of my opinion of the books.

However for today I will just list the books and give a rating out of 10!

So without further a do lets begin!

1. The Death Cure (Maze Runner #3) by James Dashner. The first book of the year started with the last if a series. Yet it was still worth a read if you have read the previous books. I started with the prequel which is still my favourite of the Maze Runner books. Rating: 6/10
2. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. It had a slow start with a new character and a new narrative introduced every chapter, but once you got further into the story and the connections between characters became clearer the book got better and better. Rating: 8/10
3. Girl Online by Zoe Sugg. I'm not going to go into the aspect of the books being ghost-written as I don't have an issue with it. First of all I will say that I am clearly not the targeted age range for the book but I still enjoyed the story even though it is a tad predictable, the characters were likeable and i will probably read her next book. Rating: 7/10
4. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton. When I picked up the book I though it would be much more supernatural and spooky, however that does not mean I did not thoroughly enjoyed reading it.  If I had known more of the story before buying I probably wouldn't have gotten it but I am glad I made that mistake as I thoroughly enjoyed it. Rating: 8/10.
5. No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. This is the second book of McCarthy's that I have read and i enjoyed it just as much as The Road. I don't normally go for western stories but I knew I liked McCarthy's style of writing and I wasn't disappointed. Although if you are squeamish then this may not be a good book for you! Rating: 7/10.
6. All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. It took me a while to read this one and I don't know why. Normally when it takes me a long time to read a book its because I am not enjoying it but All the Light we Cannot See was a beautiful story of two children facing adversity in World War 2. It may just have been the lack of time I had to read the book or it may be the size of the book that took me some time to get through. Rating: 8/10
7. The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom. A generic horror story about a haunted house, this book left no lasting affect on me and at parts the story just got beyond strange. There was never really any suspense and I didn't keep me awake at night like a good horror story should, that's all I really have to say about the book. I don't know how I finished it. Rating: 1/10
8. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. This was possibly one of my favourite reads of the year. I love a good thriller and this was a good thriller. The girl on the train is a real page turner I really wanted to find out what happened next. Although a few months later I can't actually remember what happened at the end. So I don't know what that says about the ending. However at the time of reading I really did enjoy it, especially as I was reading it on a train! Rating: 9/10
9. All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher. Again like Zoella's book this one isn't really aimed towards my age range, being only a year or so younger than Carrie I read it more as an autobiography than an advice book. Yet I can see how her words would be comforting to a young girl/boy going through adolescence needing some words of comfort from someone who has recently had to struggle through the tough years that are high school. Rating: 7/10
10. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. If you like post-apocalyptic novels then you might just like Station Eleven. To me it was one of those books that you could pick up and read for a long time without realising. Rating: 8/10
11. The Circle by Dave Eggers. The circle was much like Station Eleven in the sense that it was an easy read. What I loved about this book was that it felt like it could happen any day the way that technology is advancing. After finishing the novel whenever I hear about apple buying new companies and expanding I start thinking about this book and how apple are taking over the world (and yes I do own an iPhone). While reading The Circle it felt like it had heavy influences of 1984 but with a bit more modern. Rating: 8/10
12. Still Alice by Lisa Genova. Again one of my favourite books of the year so far. Although this one is completely different to The Girl on the Train as it was emotionally draining to read just how quickly Alzheimer's can affect someone. Yet although hard to read at times it was really interesting to read, I would thoroughly recommend it.  Rating: 9/10
13. Cross Stitch (Outlander #1) by Diana Gabaldon. I started reading this one because my mum wanted to watch the Amazon prime original TV series and I thought I would read the book as we watched the series. I really enjoyed it apart from the almost game of thrones like amount of sex. If you like pretty much anything book genre wise you will like this. however it take me a while to get through.  Rating: 7/10
14. Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes. I was quite disappointed by this book and I can't pinpoint why. I thought the premise was brilliant, Hitler waking up in 2010 what could be better! However it all fell rather short of what it promised, it was all rather predictable. I would probably still recommend it as it was an easy read.  Rating: 6/10

If anyone has any good book recommendations I would love to hear them!

I Found a Lump!

I want to say now at the beginning that I am fine and my lump was a benign Fibroadenoma (more info here) but I still wanted to blog about my experience.

At 20 I never worried about my breasts, I still checked them regularly, but it never occurred to me there would be anything to actually be worried about. However in early June I was laying in bed when I got a sharp pain in my right breast, when I went to feel I found a lump that was hard and didn't move. Naturally my first instinct was that I was going to die. There are so many horror stories out there (and quite rightly) about young women finding lumps that my first instinct was that the big c word was involved.

After I calmed down a bit I went on the NHS website and it helped me to realise it was highly unlikely to be anything serious.

It still took me a couple of weeks to pluck up the courage to tell my mum and go to the doctors. It was a straight forward appointment, I went in and the talked through what I had felt, then it was his turn to Coppafeel ;) it was all very quick and then it was over.

He said that most likely everything was ok but he was going to see me in a couple weeks to see if there was any change but I was probably going to be referred to the hospitals breast clinic. Which I was in fact referred to.

The hospital was again very painless and very quick, when my name was called it was just a quick feel and the specialist doctor told me there was nothing to worry about and it was a Fibroadenoma. I will have to go back for a scan as they couldn't fit me in then but it is a great relief that everything is ok.

The moral of this story is that if you every feel anything out of the ordinary please just stay calm and get it checked out as soon as possible, and that it is not a scary experience going to the doctors.

BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend

So It has been just over a week since Radio 1's big weekend came to Norwich!

It has taken a while for it all to sink in. I had been counting down the days and then it is suddenly over.

A little bit of context if you don't know what the big weekend is. It is a 2 day festival run by the BBC and is completely free (except from an online booking fee of the grand total of £7) it is the biggest free festival in Europe. It has been running for about 10 years and tends to go to smaller cities such as Carlisle, Dundee and Swindon. This year it came to my home town of Norwich.

The day was brilliant, despite the rain (although what would be an English festival without rain eh?) By far my favourite act of the day was Taylor Swift, she has fast become my favourite artist at the moment and her performance was impeccable, Her performance was flawless which is the same as her vocals. I couldn't believe that I was standing there watching her, so much so that i did have a little happy cry while she was performing.

However Imagine Dragons were also brilliant, the atmosphere of everyone singing along and the energy that Dan Reynolds (lead singer) produced really got the crowd going. It also helped that the sun had just started to come out after a very wet beginning to the festival.

Although by the end of the day everything was hurting and I felt like I could sleep for a week the whole day was absolutely incredible and showed Norwich off as such a brilliant city.

I have for sure caught the festival bug and can't wait to go to another one!

P.s if you are reading this within around 30 days of it being posted and live in the UK you can watch all the acts on BBC's iplayer.

All Nighters

This one is for the all the university students now that it is deadline season!

Tomorrow is deadline day for two of my assignments the other is on Friday. I have already submitted one but I have been putting off this essay for about a month now, I have about 24 hours to write a thousand words that make sense, so I have taken to do an all nighter till it is complete then i can sleep and proof read tomorrow and finish off the assignment due on Friday.

So i though i would blog my experience of an all nighter (although it isn't my first)

The time is 23:23 (24 hours and 7 minutes till deadline)

I am pumped full of energy drink (relentless - my fav) and listening to a playlist of music (currently playing the way you look tonight - mouse rat from Parks and Recreation) I have done 754/2000 words and am feeling quite good about getting this done by a reasonable hour - this could all change quite quickly.

The time is now 00:35 (22 hours and 55 minutes till deadline) 

I have opened a box of chocolates to snack on!

Word Count - 1043/2000
At my university and I am sure many others you are allowed 10% either side of your word limit so really I have about 1043/1800 words which is a much nicer number to look at. As that means I only have 757 words left instead of 957 words :L I am still listening to music and it still from Mouse Rat on Parks and Recreation (if you have never seen Parks and Rec you really should it is bloody brilliant. I am also not feeling too tired, thank you energy drink!!!

The time is now 2:30 (21 hours until deadline)

I am losing the will to live

Word Count: 1233/2000

                      1233/1800

It has got to the stage in an all nigher when I start to flag in the last two hours I have written 200 words :(. I got distracted by taking the life in Britain tests to see if I would be able to pass, safe to say I passed with flying colours (good thing to as I was born here!). I have also stopped listening to music as my headphones were starting to hurt! Maybe that's why I haven't been as productive. However I am still not that tired :).

The time is now 4:30 (19 hours until deadline)

It is done!

Word Count: 1819/2000

So I would ideally like to be higher into the world count but my aim for tonight was to hit 1800 and then go to sleep so I can rest up and then tomorrow it is then time to proof read and finally submit! Then its time to start my final assignment for Friday. In terms of tiredness I can truly say I feel ready for bed, thank you energy drink for keeping me awake. Coffee it is your turn in the morning :)

So if you have been reading for this long then thank you and I hope it made sense as I don't feel like proof reading this as well. 

Have you ever pulled an all nighter?

 Edit: The time is now 2pm and I have submitted the essay YAYAY!!

The final word count was 1988