Cardiff weekend in photos

The Millennium Centre

Last weekend Ben and I planned a last-minute stay in Cardiff. Since we didn't plan it far in advance we didn't really have any ideas of what we'd do, but it was actually fantastic.

On the Saturday we decided to head to the Doctor Who Experience. Since we passed the Millennium Centre on the way we decided to pop inside (mainly out of curiosity), and managed to book tickets to see a performance of West Side Story the same evening. On Sunday we decided to explore the shops and stumbled across some amazing arcades. We were then thinking about heading home when we spotted Cardiff Castle and found that there was a special Medieval event on. We were so lucky! Turns out that spontaneous trips are the way to go.

I was lucky enough to get my new camera recently, and I loved putting it to good use. I really hope you can see a difference in my photos - I'm so impressed with it!

Ben's hot chocolate "mug" that was really a bowl.

Ben and I put together some LEGO mini figures. They're not an exact resemblance, but for £3 we couldn't complain!

Meat and cheese <3

The view from our giant business class room window. Hooray for complimentary upgrades!

Wall art at the Doctor Who Experience.

My least favourite Dr Who villains. So creepy.

The theatre in the Millennium Centre was amazing. West Side Story was also good once you got used to the strong accents!

There were these unusual shopping arcades everywhere. Need to go back to explore some more!

The Keep at Cardiff Castle.

Since there was a Medieval weekend going on at the Castle there was also a Falconry display. We got the chance to hold this grumpy guy - Mr G, the Little Owl.

The Gold and Blue Knights fighting valiantly.

The stained glass windows in the House were pretty amazing.

As were the ornate ceilings.

And the lighting too!

And to finish off with: my current favourite nail varnish (Angel Kiss by Color Club). Every time I step outside I find myself mesmerised by the holographic effect. So shiny!

Have you ever booked a weekend away with no idea what you'd do? How did it turn out?

Edinburgh Day One : Exploring and the Zoo

A few of you may remember that Ben and I headed to Edinburgh a few weeks ago. We had a great time and I've been dying to share pictures ever since. Unfortunately my laptop is still being repaired, so I've taken the opportunity to use my sister's whilst she's away. Here are the pictures from the first day of our trip. We decided to head to the zoo because we knew we definitely wanted to pay it a visit, and the weather was alright. The zoo is the biggest I've ever been to, and it had a few things I've not seen anywhere else. Here's how our day went :)

Mmmmm. French breakfast at Café Rouge.

One of the cutest ice cream vans I've ever seen.

The Scott Monument casts an ominous silhouette against the sky.

Meerkats are one of my favourites!

You learn something new every day!

This little lady kindly posed for a photo (ladies have rings on their left flipper, men on the right)

Slightly obsessed with photographing water droplets.

...okay. Just macro photos in general.

There was no way I was going to miss the Penguin Parade!

So they weren't drumming or marching, but it was still pretty cute! Apparently this represents a record turnout.

One of the biggest attractions of the zoo is their Giant Panda couple. This is the lady, Tian Tian, who they suspect might be pregnant. She hurried into a hiding place as soon as we went to see her enclosure and only popped back right at the end, but at least we got to see her being active. The male panda was also awake and eating bamboo. Apparently it's quite rare for visitors to see them both up and about.

A pretty close encounter with a beautiful Asiatic Lion. Thank goodness for the safety glass!

We had a great day at the zoo, and it was so easy to get to from the centre! I'd definitely recommend a visit if you have a spare four or five hours. Pictures from day two will be up soon!

Have you ever visited a zoo where they have something unusual like the penguin parade?

University: my experience and some advice

First of all, a quick apology to those of you that noticed a few unfinished posts go up on my blog yesterday - I've been relying on scheduled posts throughout exam period, and unfortunately I've been so busy this past week that I completely forgot to finish them. They'll be finished and up again in their complete form soon. So this week was pretty momentous. On Friday I took my last ever exam and, all being well, I'll be graduating in July. It's a confusing feeling. I've been looking forwards to finishing for such a long time, but now I'm done and have nothing concrete planned for the foreseeable future it's a bit of a shock to the system. The last two months have been the most gruelling of my life, and suddenly I've gone from ten hours of revision a day to nothing. It still feels strange, and there's still the underlying feeling that I have something that needs doing. Hopefully I get over that soon, because I sure could do with a couple of weeks to relax! Anyway, since my university experience is all but over I thought it'd be useful to share my thoughts. The job market nowadays is so competitive that people often feel that they have no choice but to go to uni. However there are so many people going to uni that graduates are struggling just as much as non-graduates to find a job. Therefore I feel like now, more than ever, people should really consider all their options before making a decision on which direction they want to go. My experience has been quite different to many other peoples', so hopefully it can provide some guidance. The first difficulty I had was deciding which subject to study. For as long as I can remember I've been an indecisive person. With difficulty I managed to choose five A-level subjects, which I enjoyed equally. This didn't help me with choosing a uni course, and to be honest I can't remember how I decided. But eventually I settled on Physics. "Settled". There was nothing I really had a passion for, and I think that was the start of my problems. In most university courses there are two types of people; those who have a natural ability and "get" the subject, and those who just try their best. I was in the latter category. I'm not afraid of hard work, but when mixed with a lack of passion for the subject it isn't conducive to a fun experience of higher level education. My experience at university wasn't due to my choice of university. I still believe that I chose the best uni for my course. Instead it was due to an unfortunate series of events, some of which were unavoidable and others which were due to my personality.  My flatmates in first year were a mixed bunch: one girl I became good friends with, one girl I rarely saw and two boys who, when put in the same room, were very hard to get along with. This, combined with the fact that all social events seemed to involve getting drunk, reduced my ability to make friends. Fortunately I managed to make a few like-minded friends on my course, but I still found myself spending a lot of time alone. Apart from a few flat arguments first year went uneventfully and I got decent results in my summer exams. Second year meant moving out of the student accommodation and into a rented house along with a few friends. Unfortunately for me, most of my course mates had already decided who they'd be living with for the year. I, of course, wanted to live with my friendly flat mate, and so decided to take up her offer to live with her and a few people she knew. We managed to find a lovely house right next to campus and all seemed well. Everyone in the house had really similar personalities, but unfortunately we didn't see a lot of each other. The four of us were studying three different courses, so we all had different commitments. The two girls I didn't know well also, understandably, had separate friendship groups. Then, a few months after second year started, my flatmate decided it'd be best for her health if she left uni. This was a hard time for me. I'm completely happy with having a very small friendship group. But living with two people who still seemed like strangers to me was something that I couldn't get used to. I would spend more and more time alone in my room, and there came a stage when I struggled to get out of  bed. I tried not to let it affect my work, but my summer exam results were evidence that my mental health had suffered.  I knew something had to improve for third year, so I decided to move in with my sister and her boyfriend. It was something that I had resisted for a while due to the stereotype of identical twins being joined at the hip. I'm sure that there were plenty of people who believed that we were studying the same course at the same uni just to be together. The truth was that we were both as unsure as each other about what we wanted to do in the future, so we chose to study a subject which precedes a wide variety of careers at the best uni we could. Still, I spent the first two years living away from Jess so that people wouldn't roll their eyes when we told them that we were living together as well as studying together. Turns out that moving in together was the best thing I could have done. Suddenly there were people who I could eat my evening meal with. And being able to pop upstairs to see Jess was a great comfort. Slowly my mental health improved, along with my marks for assignments. Third year also meant that I had more choice when it came to choosing modules. I was able to tailor my degree towards the areas of physics that I enjoyed more, which made a huge difference to how I felt about uni. There were only a few modules I disliked, and some that I even enjoyed. A pole fitness society was also formed this year, which gave me a great opportunity to do some exercise, and provided a great distraction from final year stresses. Fast forward two months and I've now jumped the final hurdle of my degree. Eight exams completed, and now there's just the stressful wait for my results. I really hope I've managed to do myself proud, despite all the difficulties. In fact, they just make a good result seem even more necessary. If I'm going to spend three years of my life being quite unhappy then I need something to show for it. I hope this post doesn't completely dissuade anyone from deciding to go to uni. I do have a few good memories from my time there. I only hope it can help people gain some perspective about what uni can be like.  I've compiled a list of dos and don'ts, so that people who decide that uni is for them can hopefully avoid the experience that I've had.

Do: - take a gap year if you're not sure whether or not to go to uni. Unfortunately I felt pressured into going to uni straight away as the uni fees were tripled the year after I started. Travel or get a job, and hopefully you'll decide what will be best for you.  - take a look at how flexible your course is at each of the universities you're interested in. Having the option to focus on subjects you enjoy will allow you to excel. Although it's worth remembering that science subjects will have quite a few compulsory subjects in earlier years. - think about how much you're likely to enjoy your course on days when you're finding it difficult. University is a big step up in difficulty from A-levels. Weekly assessments tend to take hours, and evenings spent in the library aren't unusual. - say if you're not happy with your flatmates in first year. Student accommodation services are normally quite accommodating (pun not intended), particularly for the first few months, as clashes in personality are bound to occur. - think about how often you'll be able to see your housemates. Living with people doing your course is a safe option, as long as you won't get sick of seeing them! - tell someone if you feel that your mental health is suffering. For a long time I denied that I had a problem. And unfortunately my relationship with my housemates wasn't good enough for them to tell me to get help. - join societies. Having an hour a week to look forwards to without fail really helped keep me going. And most importantly, don't go to university just for the sake of going. People worry about missing out on a life experience, especially if all of their friends are going. But in the end I felt like I put my life on hold for three years. For me it was just a means to an end, and now that the end is here I can't wait to start living! What are your thoughts on uni? Do you feel that people head to uni too rashly nowadays?

My Bucket List: Turning 21

Background image source

So today I turn 21. People often place a lot of significance on that number. The day you finally become an adult. The start of a new era. Unfortunately for me, today marks the final day of revision before my final year uni exams start. I'm taking a few hours off to have a meal with my family and boyfriend, and also wanted to mark the day with a blog post that I've put a lot of thought into. Therefore I've spent my study breaks creating my bucket list. It's something I've been meaning to do for a while, but have put off. I don't believe in defining your life by the number of things you tick off your bucket list, but I do believe in the power of inspiration. This list will serve to inspire me on days where life just isn't going my way. There's so much we can do if we just put our minds to it!

My Bucket List:

1. Get a 2:1 at uni
2. Get a job
3. Buy a car
4. Buy a house
5. Get married
6. Have children, when I'm ready
7. Pay off my mortgage
8. Raise kids that I'm proud of
9. Visit every continent
10. Teach children abroad
11. Sign up for a monthly charity donation
12. Volunteer abroad
13. Fly somewhere first class
14. Ride an elephant
15. Go surfing
16. Learn how to make an entire roast dinner
17. Become fluent in Spanish
18. Meet someone I admire
19. Go on a spa day
20. Be an extra in a film/programme
21. Go on a three month spending ban
22. Try vegetarianism for at least a week
23. Change my hairstyle dramatically
24. Go to a drive in cinema
25. Stay up all night and watch the sun rise
26. Sleep under the stars
27. Visit a dark park
28. Go on a holiday with no itinerary
29. See the Northern Lights
30. Swim in the Great Barrier Reef
31. Swim/float in the Dead Sea
32. Conquer my fear of public speaking
33. Start my own business
34. Do a skydive
35. Ride a camel
36. Sleep in a rainforest
37. Road trip across the US
38. Sleep in a desert
39. Stay in a motel
40. Visit the Pyramids
41. Go white water rafting
42. Climb a mountain
43. Visit a casino
44. Climb a famous building
45. Get a promotion
46. Eat at The Ritz
47. Make an entire outfit, without patterns to follow
48. Attend a convention in cosplay
49. Go to a film premiere
50. Swim with dolphins
51. Write a book
52. Ride a hot air balloon
53. Run a marathon
54. Complete a triathlon (if the marathon didn't kill me)
55. Stay in an ice hotel
56. Go inter-railing through Europe
57. Be in a national newspaper
58. Be in a magazine
59. Make everyone's presents for Christmas one year
60. Buy something extravagant
61. Go scuba diving
62. Travel abroad for at least a month by myself
63. Win a game of poker
64. Produce a short film
65. Learn a new instrument
66. Try five new crafts
67. Keep a plant alive for more than a year
68. Watch the top 100 films on Imdb
69. Create artwork for my house
70. Visit a famous headquarters
71. Give blood
72. Organise an event for charity
73. Complete a movie marathon of more than 24 hours
74. Donate hair to charity
75. Become financially independent
76. Take my parents on holiday
77. Win a competition
78. Sail a boat
79. Write a song
80. Go to a music festival
81. Take part in a World Record attempt
82. Take part in a professional photoshoot
83. Perform in front of at least 100 people
84. Design my own house
85. Go skinny dipping
86. Stay in an underwater hotel
87. Go paragliding
88. Pet/feed an exotic animal
89. Go on a cruise
90. Live abroad for at least a year
91. Finish a scrapbook
92. Go to the Olympics
93. Take my kids to Disneyland
94. Go on safari
95. Visit a volcano
96. Get a tattoo
97. Learn to do the splits
98. Go to the top of the Empire State building
99. Adopt an animal from a rescue shelter
100. Be happy.

I'm aware that this list probably sounds very selfish. I tried to think of more charitable/volunteering things to include, but being selfless shouldn't be a one-off! I'll make time as often as possible to help others :)

Here's a few things I've already ticked off:

101. Become fluent in a foreign language (French)
102. Learn to drive
103. Get into uni
104. Own a pet
105. Go rock climbing
106. Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower
107. Visit Disneyland
108. Move out
109. Learn an instrument (piano)
110. Get a piercing (ears)
111. Be in a newspaper (local)
112. Learn how to ice skate
113. Learn how to knit and crochet
114. Go on a student exchange trip
115. Go abseiling
116. Complete a run for charity

Life so far has been good, but there's still so much more I'd love to do! I can't wait to see where the future takes me, and I'll treasure every adventure.

Have you made a bucket list? If so, how many entries have you ticked off so far?

The Great Gatsby Ball

Ben and I at the start of the evening

First of all, apologies for the extremely long photo, and congratulations for making it this far! 

Approximately three weeks ago (woah, where does time go?!), on the 21st of March, was the Physics Department's annual ball. This year it was Great Gatsby themed, which immediately made me very excited with the thought of dancing around a giant pool, with champagne on tap and a firework finale. Okay, maybe my imagination got a bit carried away. But, even with a more realistic mindset, I spent the two weeks prior to the Ball becoming increasingly more excited. I love 20s fashion, and I found the perfect dress in the ASOS sale. And who doesn't love dressing up fancy?

The Ball was held in a function room of the Paragon Hotel in Birmingham, and the ticket cost included a three course meal, a welcome drink and table wine. As my boyfriend, Ben, was travelling up from Bristol with limited time left to get ready, we decided it'd make most sense to book a room at the hotel. That way he could head straight there and start getting ready, as opposed to taking a detour to my house.

The hotel, like most hotels, looked really posh in the foyer and function rooms (good first impression and all...), but the rooms weren't anything special. However, upon arrival, there was about an hour until the Ball kicked off, so nothing could dampen my excitement! I did my makeup and then did my hair in the style I had spent a few weeks practicing (typically I think it was the worst it'd ever gone, but at least it looked fancier than doing nothing at all), and pulled on my dress. After spending ages trying to help Ben with his bow tie (he figured it out in the end), we headed downstairs to meet everyone else. Turns out we were too late for the welcome drink (Ooops. I like to think, we were fashionably late), but apparently we didn't miss much.

Mid-party selfie! This was after a few drinks... trying (and failing, I think) to look sober!

After about ten minutes outside we were invited to take our seats in the function room. The first difficulty was finding our table (there were about 250 guests), but after some searching we were happy to find that our table was centrally placed. After introducing ourselves to "the other half of the table" (who were lovely), we cracked open the wine and waited for our starters. My sister, Jess, and I were pleased to discover that the pre-made playlist contained such classics as 'She Will Be Loved' by Maroon 5, and 'How to Save a Life' by The Fray. Early 2000s hits anyone?

The food arrived relatively quickly, and was okay but not great. Guess it was to be expected when there was so many people to cater for! There was, however, an amazing Gatsby themed cake that looked too good to eat. I'm glad I wasn't the one who had to cut it, because there was obviously a lot of time and effort invested in it!

The amazing cake. I hadn't realised that my uni's physics society was founded 130 years ago!

The best part of the night was the music. There were two 45 minute sets from a great live band, and another three hours or so of songs I love and songs I forgot I loved. I love hearing music that I've not listened to for ages, and I danced all night. I felt a little bit sorry for Ben as I knew about 98% of the songs and so was reluctant to leave the dance floor. Think I tired him out! The night finished at 1 am with a beautiful drunken rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody by all the attendees.

I was so excited for the Ball, and I'm really glad that it lived up to my expectations. It was one of the last parties I'll attend as an undergraduate, and I'm glad that I made some memories I'll keep forever. I've been drunkenly invited to next year's party, and I'll be accepting that offer gladly!

Have you ever been to a Gatsby party?

P.S. What do you think of super detailed lifestyle posts like this one? It took me a while to write this post as I couldn't decide how much detail to include, as I didn't want the post to be boring. In the end I decided to document the night how I would like to remember it as I think it'll be a great thing to look back on. Let me know what you think!

100 Happy Days Challenge: Part 2

Image found on weheartit and edited by me

As I previously mentioned in another post here, a few months ago I set myself the challenge of completing 100 happy days. This doesn't really involve changing much about your life (although I have found that I've made more of an effort to do something fun), it's about recognising the things that do make you happy. It's easy to get caught up in the things that make you stressed or mad or scared and completely forget about the one thing you did/heard/saw that made you feel happy. At the moment I'm on my 64th day (although I've not managed to post for the last few days), and I'm reasonably happy with how it's going. Although there are some days where I really couldn't find anything worth recognising, I'm glad that these are outweighed by days where something really did make me happy, and I'm glad that I now have a record of these things. I thought it was time for a little update, so I'll be sharing some of my 100 happy day pictures below. To see them all, check out my instagram here.

Day 34: ice skating with Alice (middle) and Jess (right)

About a month ago one of my best friends from Uni came to stay. We're all avid skaters (we were all lucky enough to take lessons for a few years), so we decided to dust off our skates and head to the rink. Getting back on the ice after more than a year was the best feeling ever, and I'm so glad that I don't seem to have forgotten much!

Day 35: Totoro amigurumi

About a year ago I became very interested in amigurumi crochet patterns. 'Amigurumi' is basically the style of crocheting 'in the round' (Totoro's body is one long spiral of crocheting). I started Totoro about a year ago with the premise of giving him to Alice (mentioned above) for Christmas. That deadline came and went (and I got her a replacement present). Then I tried finishing him for the Christmas just gone and that didn't happen. Then for Alice's birthday in February... and it didn't happen. But I'm glad to say that I managed to finish him for Alice's visit, just a few weeks later. I think Totoro is one of my favourite amigurumi projects so far, and I'm glad he's gone to a good home! (You can find the pattern for Totoro here.)

Day 38: bright clothing confidence

For a while recently I lost my confidence when it came to wearing bright clothing. Every day I would choose jeans and grey jumpers over anything else. This wasn't great, as half of my clothing comes from Black Milk clothing (website here), and is really colourful. I didn't want to neglect my bright clothing any longer, so I pushed myself to wear some leggings (not shown) and actually received a few compliments. Needless to say, I found my confidence again and went out in my brightest pair the next day (shown above).

Day 42: crocuses on campus

A few weeks ago marked the arrival of Spring on campus. I think Spring is probably my favourite season (apart from the deadlines at Uni), and I was so happy to see so many flowers appearing everywhere!

Day 43: 1,000 pageviews

This picture is pretty self-explanatory. At less than two months old, my blog got its 1000th pageview. Tiny milestone, but a happy one!

Day 45: sun, craft fair and chinese food

This picture pretty much sums up one of the best weekends I've had in a long time (you can read all about it here). The weather was perfect, the craft fair was exciting and the food was delicious.

Day 49: Black Milk Clothing order arrived

A few years ago when I first became obsessed with Black Milk Clothing I'd have orders arriving about every month (oops!). Nowadays it's a lot less frequently, mainly because my wardrobe is quickly becoming saturated with tight, shiny clothing, and also because I'm now in my third year of uni and therefore quite poor. Therefore I was very excited when a parcel arrived with my two latest purchases: a Vamp Jacket (link here), and an Amethyst vs Aurora Skye Inside Out Dress (link here) that I'm sharing with my sister. I love them both and can't wait to wear them out!

Day 53: Birmingham Botanical Gardens in the sun

A few weekends ago the weather in Birmingham was so nice. Jess and I decided that we couldn't stay inside, so we headed out to the Botanical Gardens. We'd been meaning to visit for a long time and I'm so glad we did. There were so many interesting plants, and birds too. And of course it was great to wander around the gardens and soak up some much needed sun!

Day 56: tiny shark amigurumi

I found a really cute crochet shark pattern online (here), and couldn't wait to try it out. I managed to finish this guy in about 30 minutes (just needs a dorsal fin and a tail), and I was really happy with how tiny and cute he turned out!

Day 61: tasty thai food

At the weekend I went to a restaurant called Sabai Sabai that serves the tastiest food ever. The coconut rice is amazing! I couldn't resist having two duck courses. Nom nom.

Day 61: Gatsby ball preparations

Another happy post for day 61! I'm not one to deprive myself of happy things, so I thought I'd allow two.

Tomorrow (!!!) is the physics department's Gatsby Ball. I am so excited! I was getting a bit worried about how I would make my long hair look suitable for the 20s theme. But after some trial and error I decided on a style that I think looks smart enough. And it was one of the easiest things I tried. Hooray!

Have you ever thought about doing a challenge like the 100 happy days challenge?

(P.S. I'm currently holding a giveaway to win three things from Lush's new Easter Collection. To see the giveaway and enter click here.)