That Girl with that Blog

Hey Earthlings! We all have those phrases or quotes or sometimes just words that when we hear them it makes our blood boil and our neck do that funny thing where you kind of go "bleurghuohui". You know what I mean? I've taken a few of them, listed them here and told you exactly why I hate them. Let me know if there's some more you hate. "There's someone out there worse off than you" Yes, this may be the case and I hope they come out of their situation feeling all the joys of spring but just because there is someone out there with more issues than you're feeling, it does not mean your experiences and feelings are invalid. If you are trying to comfort someone and make them feel better about their situation in what way is, "ah well don't worry, Tina down the road is way worse off than you are" going to make them feel better? EXACTLY. It won't. End of, let's just entirely blow this phrase away. "Respect your elders"...

Hello dearies!  I hear the new film that's 'hot on the block' recently is this Captain Marvel one, and little old Doris does like to be hip, trendy and down with the kids *throws the equivalent of a swagger sign* so decided to hop on the bandwagon and go along, booking myself in for the 12.00 (pm just to clarify) showing at the local cinema. I'm currently cutting down on the whole chocolate/cake/biscuits scene, so sneaked a small tub of Pringles into the cinema with me...I have to say, I felt like a bit of a rebel eating food that I'd bought from somewhere else whilst inside the cinema, it was an adrenaline rush! If you're wondering what flavour Pringles they were, I obviously chose the best ones aka sour cream and onion as I'm not some sort of monster.  Anyway, I did buy one of those Tango Ice thingymabobs as I hear that's too what the cool kids like to have at the cinema. I could only have cherry though as the machine wasn't working properly, t...

Hello Earthlings! As I sit and type this I'm tucked up cosy in bed and listening to the wind batter everything in sight, and it doesn't matter that today I turned 20 because the wind still scares me so I'm still going to tuck up as tight as I can and try my best to ignore it after I've typed this. But, anyway! Hi. Birthdays are a funny thing, you know they're going to happen and you know that you get older but they're a bit odd. When I was little, I looked forward to being a teenager which in itself is completely barmy (maybe I'm the only one intimidated by groups of teenagers...), and I always thought "13 is such a grown up age!!!" because 6 year old me was clearly clueless. I remember a particular time where I stood looking out of my bedroom window, in the house I lived in as a young child, wistfully into the distance (you know like they do on films where it gets to a real deep moment?) and couldn't wait for 13 to arrive so I could be a ...

I'll admit in terms of the How to Train Your Dragon films I'm a bit rusty, in fact very rusty as I have never seen the first one...or the second one. But I decided to go along and see the 3rd one as I'd heard about the hype surrounding it and thought "why not". The kids watching the film were probably less annoying than some of the parents, yes I'm talking to you the woman two rows in front who scrolled through Facebook and your Snapchat stories for half the film, 104 minutes is not a long time to go without social media - maybe give it a go!  I'm sure I'd have understood bits of the film more if I'd seen the other two but I wouldn't deem it as one of those films that make no sense without watching the first in the series. So, don't worry if you have no dragon knowledge and get dragged along to see it.  Hiccup discovers that his dragon Toothless isn't the only remaining Night Fury, and he must find "The Hidden World" that ...

Hi Earthbugs! I have returned to some sort of normality post Christmas and am back at university and all that fun stuff so I thought, what better time for a new blog post?  I've vowed to myself to push myself out of my comfort zone more, not so much as a new year's resolution but more a lifestyle change, and take opportunities when I can and that basically sets the scene for this post. I was scrolling through Facebook a few weeks ago and saw an advert for volunteers to collect money at a Young Voices event in Sheffield for Teenage Cancer Trust. I put myself out there and signed up, I love volunteering and helping others so I thought "what could go wrong?". I received all my confirmation emails, my t-shirt, where I had to be at what time and was excited.  Until the day came and then the crippling fear of "what if I do something wrong?" "what if people look at me and go why is she here?" "what if I'm not needed?" and a thousan...

Hello Earthbugs! I'm back and hopefully this upcoming year will be a lot better post wise than 2018, if I tell you the truth I don't really know what happened. Quite a few times during 2018 I felt all out of sorts and not really motivated to do anything, which for me is horrible because I thrive off having a goal to get and so on. Writing has always been a passion of mine and my blog allows me to have my own little space on the internet which I have always loved the idea of so 2019 is definitely the year that I attempt to throw myself back into blogging. I hope you're happy to come along on that journey with me! I decided to combine the goodbye 2018 post and hello 2019 post instead of doing separate posts this time, so feel free to grab yourself a cup of tea or something stronger if you like and let's go. 2018. I think I can safely say that 2018 hasn't been the year for my family, we have gone through a lot of battles and hard times and somehow come out of t...

Hey Earthbugs, For what feels like the billionth time I have returned from an impromptu break from blogging that I definitely wasn’t planning or wanted but it happened. During this break I have thought a lot about ideas for blog posts, some of which are nestled away in my mind and some that floated away, and I’ve been really motivated to do them but I haven’t had the chance to sit down properly (as I am now, tucked up cosy, in my bed, in my Christmas pyjamas) and if you’ve been around for my other blog breaks you’ll know that I’m not one for writing a post really quickly and half-heartedly and posting it and I didn’t want to start now. Hence, the absence. However, I would like to say a huge thank you to the love and support I received as a result of the last post I did which was the Domestic Violence awareness one, it was a huge thing for me to publish and I’m very glad I did. So, thank you! Right, so now that’s all out the way. Welcome back! Let’s sit down and have a cuppa o...

Hi Earthbugs, Today isn't as much of a cheery post as I would usually write but it is an important post that I think is very relevant as October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. I have thought about posting this and then changed my mind and then considered it and here it is. A thing to remember is that domestic violence isn't just physical abuse, it comes in many forms of abuse including emotional abuse. That is what today's post is about, about a friend of mine who experienced emotional abuse at a young age. She was fifteen and in a relationship with a boy in her year at school, at fifteen it was nothing serious. At fifteen she was enjoying secondary school, with the laughs and jokes that summer bought and how teachers started being a bit more chill and lenient with work. A couple of months down the line, my friend was told that her boyfriend didn't like the idea of her having males as friends. So she distanced herself from her friends, she didn't want...

Hello Earthbugs, This is a bit of a jumbled post to once again explain where I disappeared to, I'd say a lot has happened and in between being a busy bee I have been working and if I haven't been doing that then I haven't been feeling too positive about myself or I've been feeling ill, like today for example. I'm also posting this now because I'm once again going to disappear but only for a week, as I'm off to sunny Spain for a bit of a break before going back to some sort of routine at uni. Here we are! Harry Potter Studio Tour A couple of weeks ago my Dad and I went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour near London but not quite London and as it's probably obvious I can't remember whereabouts it actually is. I've been once before on a school trip, but my Dad has never been so I bought him gift experience tickets for Christmas last year with the provision that he had to take me. We took our packed lunches (thanks Mumma G), hopped in Pedro the Pu...

Hey Earthbugs, Today I want to touch on recent on goings in the media and the uproar they’ve cause. If you have Twitter you may have seen the entertainment (I say that in the loosest term as I wouldn’t particularly call dragging women down to be entertainment, but we’ll continue) magazine “Now magazine” branding Stacey Solomon as “boring”, “desperate” and “cheap”. This has come to light because Stacey fought back against the horrible words that were written about her, this was a front-page story and surrounding the images of her were other headlines that read “I wanted a bum like Kim – 85k surgery” and “revenge bodies”. For me, when I think of Stacey Solomon I think of an amazing woman who works hard to share body positivity an obvious example would be her recent Instagram post of her in a bikini with the caption “Loving my extra fold over tummy lines this year”, a woman who shares positivity in everything she does and keeps it real. She’s the kind of person you want to b...

Hello Earthbugs, I thought I would write a post today about the little changes that I'm making in life to help me enjoy what I'm doing more, be more productive and be a bit healthier. By writing this post now it gives me a few months to continue with what I'm doing and then I'm going to review it at the beginning of 2019, that is a little bit scary to say because it really isn't that far away.  It's a bit mad how I only really have one month left of being off before I return to university for second year, I had this huge to do list of things that I wanted to do before then and it's safe to say, that's been blown out the window. Instead I'm just going to continue making little changes when I feel necessary and not limit it to a strict timescale.  One thing I have set myself a time limit on though is to sort my room out before I go back to uni and declutter and get rid of clothes (to buy more obviously) and make sure I have all my big jumpers rea...

Hey Earthbugs, The title may seem a bit odd and not really stuff that I'd usually touch on but I saw this image on Pinterest with the quotation "you are your own home". Before I get started with this post I would like to point out that the picture I am going to include is not my own and I'm unfortunately unsure who to give credit to, I just loved it and had many thoughts about it. So, pop that kettle on and let's get started with the deep stuff.  Home. What is home?  Google describes home as being "the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household". I think I disagree, when I moved into the house I currently live in with my parents I was very close to turning 8 years old and for a very long time it didn't feel like home. I wasn't sure why, I didn't hate it at the new house or anything like that but for some reason, home was the old house. I'd spent most of my life there, made lots of memories t...

Hey Earthbugs, A few days ago I went to Hull and back, we did only visit the Deep but I did want to use that reference in a blog post about Hull. If you don't recognise the reference then it is the title of an Only Fools and Horses episode, and very funny it is too. I thought I'd do a little review on the Deep because I absolutely loved it and had a really good time, the journey was only about an hour as well so it was a win win really.  I purchased tickets online before we went to get a little bit of a discount, gotta save money where you can, so when we arrived we joined the main queue to the entrance and soon enough we were looking around the exhibition. We also had the slight advantage of queue jumping a little bit on the way into the exhibition because there were several people queuing for the lift with pushchairs etc so we hopped up the stairs. Which I regretted by the time we were at the top and I felt like collapsing on the floor. ANYWAY...  As soon as you walk i...

Hey Earthbugs, In the summer of 2015 (I want to say) I used to do this thing called Weekly Rambles on my blog and today we're going to bring them back and just ramble about anything and everything that happens to pop into my head. I'm hoping it provides you with a bit of an update as to where I've been as I once again disappeared off the blogging Earth and go from there really. I'd usually say get a cuppa, but maybe a cool drink would be better in this horrible humid weather. But if you'd really like a cuppa, then pop that kettle on and let's get ready for a nice chatty post.  The last couple of weeks have been hectic, fitting in with working I've been a bridesmaid and consequently had a long weekend visiting relatives in Blackpool and being reunited with other relatives from Yarmouth and Chicago. Of course, this has led to plans to visit Chicago and I'm very excited about them! I've also been to see Little Mix in Derby with my Mum and we had an ...

Hey Earthbugs! Last night I took part in a charity walk for Ashgate Hospice, a local hospice that provides excellent care to people when they most need it. It's been running a few years now and I have only ever marshalled it before back when I was a cadet, however this year I walked as part of a team with wonderful people. It's called the Sparkle Night Walk and kicks off at 10pm and you basically follow a 10k route and it's a big sea of pink, flashing lights and glitter - not forgetting the feathers that fell out the bunny ears.  I know of a few experiences with Ashgate Hospice from recently to back when I lost my Nan in 2015 and they have been outstanding on all occasions. I will never forget how helpful they were to my grandparents when my Nan was in her final days and made it easy for my Nan to remain with them. I imagine their jobs can be very challenging a lot of the time but they always deliver the best service. There doesn't seem to be many people who I'v...

Hey Earthbugs! You may or may not know this, but I have just finished my first year of university and I am a commuter. I thought I'd put together some tips for making the commute a bit easier, some of these can come in handy for all students though.  I hope you find some of these helpful! Get a backpack  Honestly, when I was younger I was obsessed with the idea of having this style of a flimsy bag that looks good and is not practical in the slightest. As a result of this, I had to carry several other bags that obviously had to be Hollister or something equally as cool, so days in year 7 when you had PE and food technology?! You know the struggle. Admittedly this was the time that I heavily cared about what people thought of me so had to fit in with everyone else so backpacks were a no go.  When I was getting ready to start uni I just wanted a big enough bag to throw everything in, whack on my back and go. They can fit everything in, even the kitchen sink, and y...