H is for Happy week 7

It's that time of week again! Okay so it's not really a specific time because I don't have this go out on a specific day for multiple reasons...However I'm in a fairly good mood today because a Lush has opened up in Sunderland (finally) and the uni lecturers are striking so I was free to go to it as soon as it opened. Greeted by a lovely glass of bucks fizz I restocked my bath bombs, bought a sneaky something for my mamma for mother's day and scraped together enough change (poor man in Lush had to deal with all my 10ps and 20ps...whoops) for a charity pot. Plus my Internet's been fairly decent today so I've been able to download a few sermons to watch.

Anyway rambling introduction out of the way, here is this week's H is for Happy:

• Getting excited for stuff. Michelle and I have officially started our "OHMYGOODNESSTAYLORSWIFTSOON!!!" messages. We will probably look something like Spongebob and Patrick with the beautiful wide eyes and excited grins next Wednesday seeing the lovely Taylor Swift in London.

• "You have been tagged by ______ in x new photos" Yes facebook informing me I've been tagged in photos make me happy. Why? Because my brother's girlfriend puts up photos of my niece and nephew then tags the family in them which means I get to see them even when I'm over 200 miles away. How adorable is my nephew here?!

• The Holiday is possibly one of my favourite films and tends to be right up there as a go to film when I need cheering up. I've had a rubbish few weeks and this film was needed so on it went! I actually adore Jack Black in this film and the character of Amanda's next door neighbour is easily the best character in the film.

• Emma Watson gets two pictures this week. Why? Because I couldn't pick between these two outfits taken on the set of her latest modelling (ooo get here) shot for Lancome. The 'daytime' look works brilliantly thanks to the hat and the tie and I love the mix of texture in the 'night' look. Plus her hair looks amazing slicked back like that.

AND FINALLY...

• "The sun has got his hat on, hip-hip-hip-hooray. The sun has got his hat on and he’s coming out today" The sun has been shining beautifully over the last few days and I've been able to venture out in just a cardigan (admittedly my hoody still comes with me but I haven't had to wear it yet. Hurrah!)

Third Time Taylor

This time next week myself and the lovely Michelle will be in London screaming very loudly in a fan-girlish manner. Why? We are going to see Taylor Swift in concert...for the third time in two years. My boyfriend asked why I was going again to see someone I'd already seen twice so I felt a bit inspired by that to write the following post...

• She does gorgeous photo shoots and looks like she's simply having a laugh with friends and a camera taking slightly goofy poses every now and then. This humour transcends onto stage and her talking between songs.

• Her songs are brilliant in both album form and live format. She genuinely encourages the audience to sing along and who doesn't love a good old sing song?

• She has great style and sets. The first time we saw Taylor it was at London's Shepard's Bush arena which is titchy compared to somewhere like Wembley. This meant the concert was Taylor in a gorgeous silver sequinned dress and the band. No sets (wah!). However when the album really took off Taylor did a whole load of new tour dates in the UK which enabled us UK fans to see for ourselves the amazing sets put together including the You Belong With Me marching band/dress costume change on stage, Love Story dancers, Forever and Always chair throwing (amaaaaazing!), the mash up of You're Not Sorry with Justin Timberlake's What Goes Around (Comes Around) and the personal favourite of mine...the Should've Said No waterfall:

So if, this time next week, you hear excited screaming and singing of country songs you might have just run into us pre/post Taylor concert.

Grieving issues

Grief is a funny old thing. For some people it’s easy to express: they openly grieve, sobbing at anything that reminds them of that which they have lost. Other people are completely opposite. They find it difficult to convey how they feel, or even admit to themselves how they feel and thus the grief isn’t deal with.

Why on earth am I writing such a blog post? You may ask. I’m writing it because for the last few weeks I have been grieving. Or supposed to have been grieving. For some bizarre reason or other I’ve been finding it quite impossible to grieve properly. I’m not heartless or uncaring because this is a loss which effects me greatly and cuts deeply and yet I just can’t seem to outwardly grieve.

So what exactly does Cameron Diaz have to do with this issue? If you’ve seen the film The Holiday (it also had Jude Law, Jack Black and Kate Winslet in it) then you might remember her character Amanda Woods. Amanda cannot cry at the beginning of the movie. Even when her boyfriend (or husband, but I think boyfriend) cheats on her and she throws him out. She’s effected enough to go from America to England for Christmas but she can’t cry, even though she tries her hardest.

And that is why she’s relevant. I can’t seem to cry about this. It took my boyfriend close to 45 minutes to even get an emotional response from me and that passed in a matter of moments. I know I need to grieve properly and it is affecting me otherwise. I’ve lost weight without intending or attempting to – jeans bought for me approximately a month ago are baggy enough to fit a side-facing fist down the side and constantly slip down so I have to pull them up what feels like every five seconds.

So I’m appealing for help: any ideas how I can process this grief properly? Talking doesn’t seem to have much of an impact as I just go numb to my feelings and I’d like to deal with it rather than bottle it up which is never healthy.

H is for Happy week 6

I am very much aware that I missed last week's posting of this. I had to go home for my grandma's funeral and even if I had internet connection, going online was the last thing I felt like doing. I'm back up north now having been shipped off back to uni for the next month until Easter holidays with only an overnight visit for a Taylor Swift concert the week before I break up for Easter. Anyway, looking to begin to feel happy again here is the next H is for Happy:

Chunky chips: smothered in salt and vinegar preferably. Done right, one of my favourite foods

Carasouls: I'm fully aware that generally speaking carasouls are for small children but I love these. Plus I have an excuse on family trips out courtesy of my neice

Surprises: a lot of the time I don't like surprises but there are a few particularly lovely ones I don't mind. One such surprise was Piers showing up at the train station when I got back a couple of nights ago, feelings physically and emotionally shattered, and gave me the biggest hug ever.

Kinder Eggs: Combining two lovely chocolates AND a toy means this is one of the best sweets possible to get your hands on

Love quotes: I was originally going to have poetry as part of this week's post but then I came across this picture. I remember this quote from the Hilary Duff film The Perfect Man and it stuck in my head. I'm a romantic at heart so stuff like this makes me smile.

Beauty shouldn't have to smell bland...

I've just noticed today how lovely all my beauty products have been smelling today. It's been somewhat a fragrant Thursday thanks to...

l-r:

• Rimmel long lasting lipstick in shade 166 Temptation; this is the one shade of red lipstick which suits me. Typical that, when I try to find it in shops, I discover it's not on sale anymore (boo for being discontinued) thankfully I found it on ebay so should I need a new one soon I can still get my mitts on one.
  
  
• Rimmel lasting finish nail varnish fruties in 053 Apricot Punch; so you may be reading this thinking "what is she on, it's nail varnish! Does she have some weird enjoyment of nail varnish fumes?" No, I don't but this nail varnish is part of Rimmel's brilliant range of nail varnishes which smell after they've dried. I didn't buy it for that reason (I wanted a coral/bright peach shade) but it does work quite nicely.
  
  
• James Brown shampoo and condition; expensive? You bet'cha it's expensive. Thankfully I got my set when Boots were running a '2 for £8' deal and I'm hoping I'll have enough left to last until after the Easter break when my next loan comes in (I don't fancy spending £12 on haircare no matter how amazing it is). It smells gorgeous though and my hair loves these products times a billion!
  
  
• Lush Dragon's Egg bath bomb; I've been indulging myself recently to a) pass the time and b) use up my ridiculously large stock of Lush bath bombs. I used Ex-factor yesterday and Dragon's Egg today to brilliant results. Dragon's Egg gave my bath a lovely smell, orange water and left behind some glitter which is still sort of hanging around my feet.
  
  
• Soap and Glory Hand Food; Yummy! I love hand food and the mini version lives in my handbag. I think it's great how marshmallow makes up some of the ingredients and I'm sure that adds to the gorgeous smell of this!

I've also got the quite nice smell of my lipgloss - Missguided Lip Spalsh in clear - which I got free with this month's edition of Cosmo. I've noticed the monthlies are very giving this month. So far I've got a lipgloss with Cosmo, a Clinique product with Glamour and Cowshed body lotion with Marie Claire. Lovely.

H is for Happy week 5

Well here's this week's H is for Happy. It's been an extremely rubbish week so this week these things have been particularly special to me:

Surprise hugs: the first beautiful thing happened Tuesday during my only lesson at uni. I'd taken Monday off after getting some bad family news and got upset during uni the next day (Tuesday now, keep up readers!) so at the end of the lesson one of my friends gave me a hug. During this hug another friend jumped on my back to join in.

Baking: I took Wednesday off after Tuesday's moment and caught up on the sleep I'd been severely missing out on. I also used this to get through the eggs I had leftover which were to be out of date today. Cue twelve cupcakes, a big cake and a giant toad in the hole. When I bake, I bake in style.

Pokémon: I'd brought my old gameboy advance back to uni with me along with pokémon blue and yellow for an alternate distraction on the trains last week. I had a bit of a session last night and got thoroughly frustrated with how many Zubats you come across in Mt Moon!

Crumpets: om nom nom! These were mentioned during a quiz I took part in over the weekend (guess the basket price) and I'd been craving them ever since. Finally got round to having some today and I'd forgotten how amazing they were. Crumpets all around!

Instant Star: Finally, this week stumbled upon my favourite TV show online available to download...kinda. I managed to get most of the first season but can't find the second season where it's available to those outside the U.K. Anyway, the show is Instant Star and it was big in America and Canada mostly so it's fine there but difficult to get hold of here (online or on dvd) and I desperately want it on my laptop. Anyone who can help I'll be thrilled! I've enjoyed watching this between baking spurts yesterday and reliving the big they-should-but-won't-yet romance of Jude and Tommy (the two people in the picture) and rediscovering my love for the soundtrack.

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