Current Playlist

Music plays a predominant role in my day to day life, I've always got my earphones in or blasting music round my house. As it's half term I've been travelling a lot and all those train, bus and car journeys have caused me to use my iPod a lot, so I thought I'd share my current playlist.

1. Ariana Grande - One Last Time

 This isn't my usual type of music to go for but this song is just so catchy and I've had it on repeat way too much. Grande really is a damn good singer.

2. Twin Atlantic - Fall into the Party 

My friend got me Twin Atlantic's Great Divide Vinyl for my birthday because she knows how much I adore them, and I've literally had it playing all the time. My family are sick of hearing me play this album now, Fall into the Party has been my favourite from the album since I saw Twin Atlantic late last year, I miss the vibe of that gig so much.

3. Lower Than Atlantis - Emily

I heard this on Radio 1 a while back and it was just one of those songs that I instantly liked and downloaded straight away. It's the only song I know by Lower Than Atlantis so I'm up for any suggestions of their other music in the comments below!

4. Alex & Sierra - Little Do You Know

Again, not my usual type of music but there's something about this song that I just love. I've also come across some amazing covers of this song on YouTube.

5. Sia - Elastic Heart

Sia literally has one of the most amazing voices ever, there has been a lot of controversy around Sia recently because of the video to this song and because of her refusal to show her face during interviews and performances. Personally I think Sia's work is great, I love how she doesn't want the spotlight to be on her, she wants people to focus more on her music and hence why she doesn't show her face. I don't think it's rude in the slightest, sure it might be a bit weird to not face an interviewer but that because Sia's not conforming to what we're used to. On a lighter note, can we please just appreciate how talented Maddie Ziegler is in both Elastic Heart and Chandelier, that kid has buckets of talent.

6. Don Broco - You Wanna Know

Listen to this and love it.

7. The XCERTS - Pop Song.

I definitely have a thing for Scottish bands, no shame. The Xcerts were Twin Atlantic's supports act when I saw them in 2014 and I loved them so much! Definitely give them a listen if you haven't already.

8. James Bay - Scars

My friend introduced me to James Bay a few weeks ago and I think I'm a little obsessed with his voice. This is definitely my favourite of his along with Hold Back the River and If You Ever Want  To Be In Love.

9. Mcfly - Love is Easy

Old but gold.

10. 5 Seconds of Summer - End Up Here

Not so guilty pleasure. So excited to be seeing them again this summer!

what's your favourite song/s at the moment?Amy xx

It's time to leave this old black and white town..

Some of the best days are spent on the road travelling to new places to explore or revisiting old loved places. I find where I live is so dull, and I've spent many days wandering round with friends trying to find new cool things where we live but I'm almost 100% certain we've over explored it (if that's even possible). I can't wait to pass my driving test and get my own car so that I am able to just take myself off with friends to find new things. 

Personally, I absolutely love photography, I'm not necessarily any good at it but it's something I want to feature quite a bit on my blog. We took a trip out today so as usual I brought along my camera to see if I could get some decent shots. 

Hole of Horcum

North Yorkshire Moors

Road Ahead

The road just before you dip down the hill into Slates gives the best views of the Sea.

Try to love all the people. Open your heart, forgive.

Whitby Pier.

Where are some of your favourite places to take a day trip to? 

Amy xx

London

I have only ever been to London twice in my life, once when I was about 7 which I barely remember and once back in 2012 with school which consisted of 3 west end shows, singing lessons, dancing lessons, BBC studios tour and shopping time all crammed into 3 days. So it was nice to head down to London yesterday with my family for a more relaxing day out (I say relaxing but the underground was far from that). 

The 2 hour train journey went much faster than expected  and we were in Kings Cross for lunch time.

I'd never been on the London underground before and I had absolutely no idea what to expect. First impression: mental. The escalators are some of the longest, steepest escalators ever and they have a system where you stand to the right so anyone in a rush can run down the left hand side, clever but very odd. Getting on the tube itself is manic, it makes no difference whether you've been there first waiting for the next one or if you're running down those escalators last minute, you've got to fight for your place on that tube and even if you do get on you're squished up to some glass trying your hardest to grab on to a bar so you don't topple over when it sets off. Oh and you also get probably less than a minute to let people off before  pushing your way on, it's crazy. I have no idea how people can put up with the underground everyday.

I love the cool quirky signs that restaurants around London has & these cakes looked so amazing I couldn't resist taking a photo of them.

We headed over to China Town for a bit & sorry for more cake photos but just look how cool they are!

We had a quick coffee break to kill some time before heading to Piccadilly Theatre to see Jersey Boys which was absolutely insane, I'd definitely go see it again!!

We spent a little time in Piccadilly Circus before taking the underground back to Kings Cross where we had a meal while waiting for our train home. It was such a good day out, I love London so much, we're definitely planning to go back in Summer to visit Camden Market and Baker Street.

Amy xox

Lush Haul

Someone needs to refrain me from Lush any time of year but especially in winter when I usually have more baths and therefore splurge out on many more bath goodies. A Lush sale on boxing day could not go amiss so I was soon filling up my basket and grabbing the last of the Christmas selections.

Father Christmas - This one is definitely my favourite, you simply pop it in the water and watch it work it's magic. As the bath bomb starts to dissolve a very christmassy green begins to emerge and this is the colour your bath ends up. It smells amazing and left my skin feeling so soft.

Magic Wand - I've already vowed to buy this one next Christmas because it's just so good! With this one you just put it under your running tap or swirl it round in the water and it creates bubbles. The best thing about this is you can use it again and again, it lasts such a long time and if you're a fan of snow fairy then I'd definitely try this out because it has a very similar scent.

Butterbear - I wasn't too sure when I bought this because the scent wasn't one that i was drawn to but i wanted to give it a try. I'd say it has a bit of a vanilla smell, it doesn't do anything fancy to your bath like most of the other lush bath bombs but I'll definitely be buying this one again. It made my skin feel so soft and amazing, I didn't even need to bother moisturizing when I got out of the bath.

I've been unsure whether I should post this or not as these are some of the Christmas range from lush however I figured they often sell these products year after year so this may be relevant for future reference. I would love to hear your favourite lush products in the comments, and I would be happy to hear any recommendations.

Amy xx

My 2014

This post may be slightly late but seen as it's only the 4th January I thought..why not! 2014 has been a huge roller-coaster of  a year for me, I'd probably class it as my best but also my worst year. This blog has now been running since the summer and with a poor 2 posts since then, 2015 is definitely the year I want to take this a little more seriously.

After many lows nearer the start of the year and the stress of exams taking up my entire life until June, I then got to have one of the best summers yet, absolutely nothing to worry about and so much time on my hands, it was the most happy I'd felt in far too long. From summer onwards has just been getting better and better.

I'm not one to usually make New Years Resolutions, purely because I never stick to them and therefore don't see the point in them, however this year I definitely want to progress with my blog and post more regularly. What are your new year resolutions?

 This was just a short quick post to wish you all a very happy new year and I hope 2015 is a good one! I thought I'd share a few photos to sum up my 2014.

HAPPY NEW YEAR
Amy xoxo

The Christmas Tag

So I saw this first on MilkBubbleTea a while ago and have seen it on various other blogs since, so I decided why not kick off the festive posts with The Christmas Tag!

1. What is your favourite Christmas Movie/s?I'm the kind of person that watches way way way too many Christmas films every year and to think that I watch so many you’d think I’d find it hard to pick a favourite but it has to be The Polar Express, no doubt about it. I absolutely adore this film and I end up watching it at least 4 times during December, it gets me feeling so festive!
2.Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?Always Christmas morning! It doesn't seem right to open them Christmas Eve or any other day for that matter. Whenever I hand out presents to my friends on the last days of school I absolutely insist that they keep them under their trees until Christmas Day.

3. Do you have a favourite Christmas memory?There’s not any particular memory that sticks out to me however I do remember the first year mum let me decorate the smaller tree in the dining room by myself and I got overly excited and persuaded her to get a real tree instead of the usual artificial one we have. I think I ended up showing every single guest we had over during December the tree and I made sure everyone knew I’d decorated it by myself.

4. Favourite festive food?I adore just the whole Christmas dinner! Even though half of it is exactly the same as what mum cooks every single week for Sunday dinners, there’s just something so much better about a Christmas dinner. Pigs in blankets are also a big win win!

5.Favourite Christmas gift?I'm grateful for every gift I get therefore they’re all my favourites however I do remember one year when me and my brother got a Tamagochi each (remember those?) and we were the two happiest kids in the entire world. My most recent favourite presents have to be the camera my parents got me last year. It encouraged me so much more to start blogging and it meant I didn't have to use my own savings for a Camera for Photography at school, I'm in love with it, I take it everywhere I go.

6.  Favourite Christmas scent?This sounds incredibly odd, but I love the smell of all our Christmas decorations and the boxes they’re stored in. It smells like pine and Christmassy candles and it’s just such a nostalgic smell. Mum also recently bought an amazing smelling Yankee Candle and I'm in love with it at the moment.

7. Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?Every year Grandma and Grandad have taken me and my brother out for lunch and a walk, however now my brother has started working and is therefore busy on Christmas Eve, its just me but nevertheless its still a tradition (just minus my brother). We also take a trip ice skating at night on Christmas Eve with family friends and we sit and have a huge mug of hot chocolate (with all the added extras of course) afterwards, I’ll be sad if/when these traditions end.

8.As a kid what was the one (crazy, wild, extravagant) gift you always asked for but never received?I can’t really remember anything I used to always ask for but I always used to go through the Argos catalogue and circle nearly everything in there

9. What's the best part about Christmas for you?Definitely going in to mum and dads room on a morning to open our stocking presents. Even though my brother is now 18 and we can barely all sit on one double bed together.

If any of you decide to do this tag as well, link me in the comments, I would love to read them!Amyxx

Holiday Diaries: Part 1

My family and I took off in our car with our fold in camper in tow the other week and headed down to the Isle of Wight for 11 days for our summer holiday.

Camping is our favorite thing to do and the Isle of Wight is one of our favorite places, so we were all extremely excited. We had such an amazing time and I took over 500 photos (which is probably way too many), so i thought, why not start off my blog by talking about my time on holiday!

Day 1:

 

We woke up extremely early on Wednesday 30th July and took the long journey right down to Southampton where we boarded our ferry over to Cowes. The weather was amazing so we sat outside in the sun and watched as we got closer and closer to our destination. This was the fourth time i have visited the Isle Of Wight and I will never tire of the place!

After the long drive and setting up the camper, we were extremely hungry and all too tired to stand and cook something to eat, so we decided to head out and get takeaway pizza and eat it down on the seafront (literal heaven). We decided to take a walk along the seafront and then headed back for an early night.

Day 2:

I was bouncing with happiness when i woke the next day to find out the sun was out once again and instantly asked mum if we could spend the day down at the beach. Over an amazing cooked breakfast we decided to drive over to SeaView and spend the day on the beach. Seaview is a small seaside town which looks across the Solent to Portsmouth and is such a lovely place to spend the day on the beach if you ever visit the isle of wight! 

Day 3:

My Brother and Dad have had a passion for fishing for some years now, and as the campsite we stayed in has two ponds, they were both keen to see what they could catch there, so hey headed down with all their gear and set up for the day. Fishing is not something that interests me or mum in the slightest so we left them too it and drive 10 minutes down the road to a place called Arreton barns. 

We had visited here once before when i was younger but I barely remember it at all. They have a selection of small shops all selling items handmade on the island, and they had an old fashioned penny arcade. My favorite amongst these shops definitely had to be the sweet shop, you could smell yummyness before you even stepped through the door, I somehow managed to refrain myself from buying out the whole shop! They had tons of old signs hung up and the pub there homed many more of these. 

That afternoon, my Brother and Dad were still enjoying themselves down at the pond, so me and mum decided to spend the afternoon at the swimming pool in the campsite. We luckily managed to get the last two sun loungers and I spent the afternoon just relaxing and reading one of the many books i took away with me.

Next part of my holiday will be up soon!

Amy

xox