Room Tour.

Some books of mine that I thought may come in handy with
regards to evidence and referencing.

This is one of the cute little mugs I decorated. I decided to keep
this productive looking chap to hold my stationery.

One of a few snaps from Slam Dunk South '12.
I gave this to Brandon for our anniversary last year.

A sneak peak into my wardrobe:
Part 1 - Dark & thick winter clothing.

A sneak peak into my wardrobe:
Part 2 - Pyjamas and T-shirts.

My Moving In Experience.

I'm officially all unpacked and on the road to settling into my new house. I thought I'd briefly go over my experience with you as you can compare your experiences to mine -if you've moved before- or you can have a little idea of what lies ahead of you if you have yet to move out.

Firstly I had a cheeky pamper evening the night before I left. My main reason for this being, it was the last time -excluding future visits home- that I would be using water and beauty products without having to fork out any money myself for them. Now I know that's very cheap of me, but like all students I'm a very cheap person. That was then followed by washing, drying and straightening my hair in order to save time the following morning; which in turn meant that I could stay in bed for an extra twenty minutes.

Then I went to bed relatively early as I had to wake up at the unearthly hour of 8:30am the next day. Things got off to a flying start I was dressed and had my make-up done by the time my dad had loaded all my bags and boxes into the car, and by 9:15 my parents and I were on the road.

Chillin' in the backseat, looking surprisingly awake.

As the house is a bit over an hour away the car journey was hardly long or exhausting. We ended up getting to the property 55 minutes early, so we decided to head back the way we came in order for my parents to have a quick shop and a cheeky cuppa in the Waitrose that was a few miles away. Although I hadn't had breakfast I opted to stay in the car -where I broke into a packet of pain au chocolat- as I didn't really feel safe leaving all my possessions unattended in the carpark.

At 11am I got a text from my boyfriend saying he had collected everyone's keys from the estate agents and would be at the house in 15 minutes. We arrived about half an hour after that text, due to that cheeky cuppa I mentioned my parents having.

Once we got to the house the unpacking process was relatively quick. Everyone with muscles -so everyone bar me- worked on bringing boxes and bags into the house, while I transferred their contents into the relevant rooms. While I was emptying some boxes so my parents could take them back home, the two of them got to work checking we had electricity, hot water and heating, and that the boiler, fridge, freezer and cooker were all turned on.

My parents then departed and I got to work unpacking the bags in my room and finding places to store things. There were two things that disappointed me about my room. The first was that there is not a single draw in my room so everything I unpacked is very much on display. The only things that are not fully visible are my clothes -that's my second disappointment. You would think that there would be a fair amount of wardrobe space in a double room, after all the fact it is a double room implies that there is a suitable amount of room for two people. However that's not the case with the wardrobe in my room; it's tiny. It was a bit of a struggle to get mine and Brandon's clothes in there; in fact just over a third of the clothes I brought here with me are still in my holdall at the bottom of my bed.

Other than those two little issues with my room, the lack of plug sockets, lack of storage space in the kitchen and the hour long wild goose chase we went on looking for the metres with our electricity and gas cards, everything is fine. Well it's fine so far.

Until Monday it was just Brandon and myself living here, his twin brother moved in that evening and our other two housemates moved in yesterday. It's still early days, so we have yet to go through the stages of group formation and reach the reward of a functioning household at the end of that tunnel. Although we did have our first bonding session last night. It started out as a group curry; then it moved on to a very serious game of 'the floor is lava' when one of us spotted a fairly big spider; and it ended with us watching the first Pirates of the Caribbean once the spider was disposed of.

Catfish.

My apologies to any readers I have accumulated since starting up this blog of mine. I know I've been on a bit of a mini hiatus recently and for that I am sorry. What with all the packing and organising I've been doing I've not had much time to get on here; it also doesn't help that I've had a small case of Writer's Block when I have been able to get on here. Nonetheless I am back and have a post for you!

Over the past month or two I've started to watch 'Catfish: The TV Show' and I've got to say, it's probably my new favourite programme. I kind of feel weird about liking the show so much; it's a reality show, but I cannot stand any other form of reality TV. But then again, when I say that I admit I am sort of generalising the term to programmes like Big Brother, The Hills and Jersey Shore etc. Which are hardly similar to Catfish. 

I just find the concept of a show exposing online love and 'catfishers' with an always optimistic host -and his realistic/slightly pessimistic co-host- to be so interesting. I also like it because although people are aware that there are people out there who create fake profiles -for a number of different reasons- they can still be fooled into thinking that the person they've developed feelings for is the person in their pictures, even when there are things indicating otherwise. I think the show is a good way to get people to question the identity of the people they talk to online, but do not know in person, as it provides viewers with a wide range of real life examples to learn from. 

It also shows people that there are varying 'catfish' levels. Some people are completely different people to their internet persona, others are themselves but hide certain bits of information, and then there are the non-catfish who turn out to be exactly who they say they are, with no hidden secrets -they prove to be a rare breed on the show.

Matt turned out to be who he said he was. He had put off meeting Kim and blocked her from seeing certain pictures of himself because he felt ashamed of his weight/body.

There have been a number of episodes that have warmed my heart. Such as Rico and Ja'mari's episode, where Ja'mari, although he was physically the person he claimed to be, had lied to Rico about a some aspects of his life. But Rico was able to accept the truth and their relationship continued. Kya and Dani's episode was also a bit of a heart warmer for me -it was also the first episode I ever watched. In this episode both parties had catfished one another, Kya admitted this to Dani, but Dani still held out on revealing his true self. Kya was incredibly accepting of Dani once they met and if anything the show made their relationship stronger, and it gave Dani a well deserved boost in his self-esteem.

But my personal favourite so far is the only episode I have seen where the catfish in question turned out to be exactly who they said they were. If you don't watch the show, or hadn't already guessed it, I'm talking about Lauren and Derek's episode.

Lauren and Derek's Catfish episode summarised:
When Lauren was 14 she added 16 year-old Derek on MySpace. Eight years later they've grown together as they've grown up and talk of marriage in the future. But there have been a few bumps along the road over those eight years. Lauren had a son, who at the time of filming was 4; she had also been engaged, but called it off when Derek deleted her as a result of the engagement. Her father was in the Navy which meant she'd moved around a lot within the eight years she was in contact with Derek, at one point she was five and a half hours away from him, yet they never met during this time; they had also never Skyped, and these were the two things that caused Lauren to question if Derek was really Derek.

Then Nev and Max came along. From their research Derek seemed to be legit, bar the fact his mobile number was registered to a completely different person. Lauren was still hopeful and Derek agreed -with a little hesitation- to meet Lauren, along with Nev, Max and their MTV crew. Lauren then tells her dad about the whole situation and he is nothing but a sweetheart about it all.

When it got to knocking on Derek's door Lauren seemed to be riddled with nerves; after ringing the door bell she turned to face Nev and then found it almost impossible to turn back to face the door. After a moment of waiting the door opens, but instead of seeing who comes out the door we see Nev put his hand on Lauren's shoulder and encourage her to turn around, with a smile on his face. We then see Lauren turn to see that Derek really is Derek and they head straight into each other's shaking arms, both finding it hard to believe that the moment they are sharing and experiencing is real.

After a few questions Nev and Max leave the two of them to go on a date. The next day Nev wakes up to find Lauren had sent him a text in the early hours of the morning expressing exciting news and her obvious happiness. It turns out their date went really well and that that day the plan was for Derek to meet her son, Mason. Again, this went well.

Then at the end of the episode, like all other Catfish episodes, we skip ahead a month or two to see how things are now. Nev and Max contact Lauren via Skype and are presented with a pixelated image of Lauren, Mason and Derek. They then inform Nev, Max and the viewers that everything is going better than they could have hoped for, Lauren and her son plan to move in with Derek and there is even talk of engagement within a year.

Their obvious happiness just made me feel so happy for them. I truly hope that they get the happily ever after they deserve.

So that's my take on 'Catfish: The TV Show' along with a brief-ish summary of my favourite episode. Hopefully you enjoyed reading this because I certainly enjoyed writing it.

Have a lovely weekend!
-Hannah.

My New (Academic) Years Resolutions.

This term/semester there are a lot of new things happening in my life. Because a lot of things everything is going to be so different to what I've experienced before I decided it might be a good idea to try and make some additional changes to my life/lifestyle, to help me grow as an individual, hence the title of this post.

My first resolution is to act/be more confident. In my journal I have a number of quotes written down referring to confidence. Confidence has always been something I've struggled with -I personally think that goes hand-in-hand with how socially anxious I get- and it's always been something I've wanted to change. I've always hoped that one day I would feel more confident in myself and see/feel a raise in my self-esteem; but that day has yet to come and I figured that that day isn't going to come until I start to portray a sense of confidence in myself. You know, the whole reverse psychology thing, pretend to be confident and then you'll become and feel more confident? Yeah, that sort of thing.

My second resolution is linked to my first, and it is to be happier with my appearance. A lot of different things factor into this one. The main thing being that I want to feel happier with my looks and overall appearance in order to help me feel more confident and to help to raise my self-esteem a little too. When I'm out in public I'm very much the big hoodie/jumper/coat wearing, head down, quick walking girl you occasionally spot going from A to B. I'd like to change that, I want to be able to walk down the street with my head held high -or at least higher- and not feel like an idiot or have to continually resist the urge to look at the ground in front of me while I'm doing it. 

I know this particular resolution will involve more time and effort than I usually put into my appearance, which I'm okay with -for now at least. It also means less lazy days, which is the aspect I have mixed feelings about. I like how quick and easy it is to get ready on a lazy day, which I'll miss; but I never really feel any sort of self confidence when I go out during one of my lazy days, which is the part I won't miss. The main thing I'm not looking forward to is the money side of things. I'm a student with an excel spreadsheet that's telling her she is just about going to get by if all goes well and she can stick to just having the bare necessities. So I'm hardly going to be in a position to buy things like eyeliner, mascara and body butter when they run out. Which means I'll have to rely on my hopefully specific enough birthday and Christmas lists.

My third resolution is to start swimming again and to go on a weekly run. My fitness level is shocking and I think now would be a good time to improve both my fitness and my health. My family are very much the sort of people who show they care through putting you down and making fun of you, which is why I've never even bothered going for a run before, as I know it would result in a tired and sweaty Hannah with a lower self-esteem than before she went on a run. Thankfully I've found myself a loving and supportive boyfriend who I know will encourage and motivate me to improve my health and fitness. Woo-hoo!

My fourth resolution is quite simple. I want to be tidier. I have a habit of piling things, be it clothes, books, DVDs or a mixture of them all. So I aim to locate a place for each of my possessions and always return them to that place instead of letting them pile up on a table or the floor. Another part to this resolution is tidying and cleaning, two things I tend to avoid doing. As this house is both mine and four other people's I am going to try and keep it as clean and tidy as possible by doing my fair share of the work -although I've been told that when it comes to some aspects of tidying/cleaning I'm hardly a domestic goddess, so we'll have to wait and see how this one goes.

My fifth and final resolution is to make sure I don't end up taking my boyfriend for granted now that I'll be living with him. I don't want us to get stuck in a rut and then slowly begin to drift apart -which happens to a lot of couples when they move in together- I want our flame to remain as strong and as bright as it is, I want our goofy romance to last and never falter. In order to do this I have come up with -and found through internet research- a number of ways to let him know how much I appreciate and love him, and a number of ideas to break our day-to-day routine once we've developed one without breaking the bank at the same time. All of which I'm really excited about doing. :)

So there are my five resolutions for the new academic year. Hopefully I can achieve the majority of them. *fingers crossed*

Ashridge and the Tree Chapel.

Yesterday a good friend and I went on a bit of an explore. Our first destination was Ashridge Estate, where we wondered around in the huge forest which is a National Trust protected site. Along the way though we popped into a mill where we purchased a four cheese loaf of bread -it was absolutely amazing!

One of my panoramic snaps of the Ashridge Estate.

Another of my Ashridge Estate panoramic snaps.

Once we'd finished wondering around the woods and had a spot of lunch we headed of to the Tree Chapel. Which is basically a load of trees and bushes that have been planted to created the layout of a chapel. I can't remember the name of it's location but if you fancy a visit there I'm sure it'll come up if you Google it. After all there can't be that many chapels made of trees. 

Then after taking a few pictures there we headed of to the Dunstable Downs where we watched people of all ages flying kites of all kinds, as well as the occasional glider plane. 

A quick picture of the owl bench situated within the Lady Chapel of the Tree Chapel.

A Romantic Get Away.

My boyfriend and I were considering going on a 3 night trip to Venice in December. We never really came to a firm decision on it and now we've missed the deadline for the offer; but like he said, "We have the rest of our lives to go to Venice." But I would still like to go on holiday with him either this December coming or next. I like the idea of getting in the Christmas spirit abroad and experiencing some of the build up to Christmas in another country, to see how it's similar and different to the build up to Christmas in England.

While my boyfriend is off in LA and San Francisco, with his dad and brother, I have a  lot of free time, too much to know what to do with to be honest with you. And the other night I started thinking whether or not it would be possible to go on holiday with him for a similar price to the Venice trip. That's when I had a light bulb moment and wondered how much cheaper a ticket on the Eurostar was compared to a flight to one of my dream destinations. It turns out that a St. Pancras - Gare du Nord return is around the £60 mark -a lot cheaper than any flight I could find to one of my dream destinations in Italy. I also found a hotel near the station and its cheapest double room is £301. So the total cost of a 3 night stay in Paris would come to around £210 + food and travel fares, which is £60 more than the Venice trip.

Because it'll be £210 with travel fares, three meals a day and other expenses on top I'm doubtful that we'll be able to make the trip this December. Which means I have 14 months to save up for it; that then makes me wonder if by next December we'll be able to afford a trip that's a little longer or a trip somewhere else. I like the idea of our first holiday as a couple being abroad and a week or two before Christmas. But, although I know Paris will look lovely at that time of year, I've never really wanted to visit there, especially as the destination of my first holiday with just my boyfriend, because it's just such a generic place to go for that sort of holiday. Plus I've always wanted my first trip abroad -bar the Republic of Ireland- to be Italy.

But then I think that it might be a good idea to go there or somewhere else in France as I'm able to speak a little bit of French and understand what people are saying; whereas if we went somewhere like Spain, Portugal or Holland we'd both be very lost in translation and not have a clue what was going on communication-wise most of the time. I'd even be confused in Italy because my ability to understand French is a lot better than my ability to understand Italian.

I guess all I can do for the time being is do some further research while I wait for my boyfriend to get back and discuss my ideas with him then.

"Wherever you go in this world a little piece of me will always be with you."

I always thought that was a really sweet and supportive thing to say to a person. However, last night -in a moment of pessimism- I gave it a bit of thought and realised that it's not quite as sweet as we all think.

The majority of us take it to mean, that the person who said it will always be with us in spirit every step of the way and that if you're happy with what you're doing and experiencing they'll be happy too. When in actual fact the person who said it probably means -maybe without realising they mean it like this- that while the person they said it to is away and out of contact with them, it'll feel like a piece of them is missing.

That's certainly how I view it now anyway, because a piece of me is definitely missing right now and it will be for the next two weeks.

[I know this isn't exactly my most eloquent post to date, but I just wanted to quickly get my thoughts down.]

YouTube.

For the past couple of months I have been giving some serious consideration to the idea of 'vlogging.' I watch a lot of YouTubers and often find myself thinking, "Maybe I could do something like this..."

I would really love to make YouTube videos, but I have a number of concerns about it. For instance, there are the YTers/vloggers I watch and then there are the YTers/vloggers who get like 15 views and have five subscribers. Obviously I would want to be one of the 'popular' channels, not for the views and likes, but for the knowledge that I wasn't wasting my free time making videos and knowing that people actually enjoyed watching my ramblings. But I'm not sure how I'd get there; I don't even remotely have a clue what the fine line between successful 'vlogging' and unsuccessful 'vlogging' is.

Then there's the issue of editing, camera quality and filming equipment. I'd be making videos on one of my two Panosonic cameras, with no microphone, no lighting equipment and maybe not even a tripod, and editing them on Windows Movie Maker. Obviously if my YT channel took off I would consider investing in some of the things I am without -especially editing software. 

I'm really not sure what to do. Part of me is like, "Yeah, why not?! It'll be fun;" and then another part of me is like, "But look at all the cons and uncertainties, Hannah. Is it really worth it?" Gah, I really wish I wasn't so indecisive!

Maybe I'll wait a bit and see how this blogging idea of mine on here goes. Then if it goes reasonably well I might take the plunge and make a couple of YT videos, as it's kind of similar, just ones typing and the other is talking/filming.

Trying to make the most of time.

One of my sisters is very stressed lately, for a number of very valid reasons. One of these reasons is that I am going away to uni and won't be around as much anymore, which I know will definitely have an impact on how her weekday mornings start and what happens with regards to when she gets home from school.

I now might be moving into my uni house roughly a week earlier than I had planned. That means I have 18 days left at home. She doesn't got back to school until the 9th, so for the rest of this week I will be 'babysitting' her as the rest of my family are back at school/work. So I'm now aiming to spend as much quality time with her as I can within the week.

Since I first attempted 'newspaper nails' she has frequently asked me to do her nails like that. She came into my room earlier and I told her that tomorrow I would do her nails, so they'd be done for her to show off on her first day back at school. On Wednesday I'm thinking of taking her for a hot chocolate at Costa, as I know she always gets one from there if she gets the chance. But I'm still not sure what to do on Thursday and Friday.

The added bonus of spending some quality time with her is that she won't complain of being bored and having nothing to do, which she has done plenty of this summer -even though she's done more than me. :')

August Favourites.

1. Mint green. I've never really been a fan of the colour green, but these days I am absolutely loving anything that is mint green. It's well on its way to becoming my joint favourite colour!
2. The annual Larks' Holiday. This one is a little tricky to explain in terms of who the Larks are. Basically my boyfriend's family and four other families, along with a few others, are all really good friends and collectively call themselves 'The Larks.' Every year they go on holiday together, usually to a Haven site. This was my first holiday with them and I was a little apprehensive at first as I still feel like the newbie in some ways, but I did really enjoy myself. The one thing I felt was missing from the holiday though was Brandon and I having a romantic evening on the beach, around and just after sunset.
3. My boyfriend. Don't be surprised if he pops up in a number of my monthly favourites, because it's quite likely that he will. He's an amazing guy and I'm very, very lucky to have such a great guy in my life; therefore he makes my 'August Favourites' list. :)
4. Revlon Colour Burst Lip Butter. Either the day of A-Level results day or the day after I treated myself to a little haul in Boots. Two of the items I purchase were the 'Juicy Papaya' and 'Raspberry Pie' Revlon Lip Butters and I love them. The 'Raspberry Pie' one looks like a deep purple but actually comes out a deepish pink, which was a bit of a surprise but I like it nonetheless.
5. Blistex Relief Cream. I have quite dry lips and my mum saw this in the supermarket and brought it thinking of me. I highly, highly recommend it, unless you don't fancy a slight tingly sensation once you've applied it, in which case this probably isn't for you.
6. Paperchase. I absolutely love Paperchase. It is one of my all time favourite shops -even though it is a little bit pricey- and I could honestly spend hours in there.
7. Purple hair and full fringes. I died my hair red in June of last year and have been trying for the past three dyes to go from red to purple. It looks like I've succeeded at first but then my hair slowly fades from purple to purpley-red to faded orangey-red. However this time I think I've actually succeeded, my hair is still very much purple but it could turn at any minute -well any hairwash. I also got my hair cut this month and had a full fringe put in. At first I wasn't sure if I liked it or not, but after playing around with it and getting used to it, I can say that I'm now a fan of my fringe, ahaa!

A quick snap on the cliff top.

Lazy Sunday.

Like most other Sundays, today I have done nothing bar read, check PostSecrect, watch YouTube videos and set up a blog. Above is what I decided to wear for such a day -it's surprisingly dressy for one of my Sundays- pale blue jeggings, a white vest and a black cardigan. Behind my hip if my collaged chimney-breast, a.k.a. the snazziest part of my room.

My folks went to the beach yesterday and as a small gift I was given this chocolate stegosaurus, which I think is one of the cutest things ever.

A Quick Introduction.

I don't really have a clue what I'm doing. I thought it might be best to start off with an introductory post, so if anyone ever happens to stumble across my blog they get to know a little about the crazy person behind it.

First things first, my name is Hannah; I am currently 19 and less than two months away from my 20th birthday. I'm not keen on turning 20 and I find it quite daunting to be honest with you. I don't feel old enough or responsible enough to be 20 years old.

In three and a bit weeks I will be moving out of my family home and into a house in Bedford with my boyfriend, his twin and two of our friends. This is because they are students at the University of Bedfordshire (Bedford campus) and as of the beginning of October I will be too (but the Luton campus). Now I know you may think, 'Why on Earth are you moving to Bedford? Why not just live in halls on the Luton campus?' and that my dear readers is because I would much, much rather live with people I know and get along with than complete strangers who I may end up hating.

That's all I can really think of to tell you about myself, but I'm sure I'll reveal more in future posts.

I think from my brief intro and interests that my posts will mainly be about: university life; some interesting stuff I've learnt in lectures; DIY projects I've done or am working on; my opinions/views on books I've read and films I've seen; and maybe even a spot of fashion/beauty stuff.