Italiano!

I don't think I've made it common knowledge on my blog that I have a 'little' obsession with Italy. It is the one place I am desperate to visit, explore and immerse myself in.

If I ever got the chance to travel across Italy there is so much I would want to do. I'd want to devour all the signature foods of Italy, walk along the beautiful beaches, go to galleries, spend hours walking around museums, visit all the historic landmarks Italy has to offer, walk around admiring the architecture and just completely lose myself every town, village and city I visited along my journey.

In preparation for all of my future visits to Italy -I'm hoping of going to Rome next summer for a few days with Brandon- I've decided that I'm going to learn Italian. I've made small efforts since the summer, but I'm now really going to try. I've even brought myself two books from the book shop affiliated with my university to hopefully help teach myself, along with the two apps I downloaded onto my phone over the summer. 

As, like French, it is a language derived from Latin I'm hoping I'll be able to find some similarities between Italian and French. I studied French for five years at school, so any knowledge I can apply from that to Italian will be a godsend and hopefully make my mission a little bit easier.

Is there anyone else out there who has a mild obsession with another country?
Has anyone else tried to teach themselves a new language? I could do with some pointers, so if you have leave me a comment below with any advice you have on how to tackle learning a new language.
-Hannah :)

The Fault in Our Stars.

After watching the trailer for what must be the 20,000th time since it was released I decided that writing a quick post about how excited I am for the film would be a really good idea, although it doesn't appear to be quite as prolific on here -from what I have seen anyway- as it is on Tubmlr.

Now I know I've never expressed my love for this book or its author John Green so it may seem like I'm sort of jumping on the bandwagon to any die hard nerd fighters out there who happen to stumble upon my post, but I'm not. I've loved John's work ever since I first read Looking For Alaska -which FYI is still my favourite book after the God knows how many books I've read since. 

What I love about John Green's written work is that there is always a perfect mix of deep, thought provoking moments and fictional moments of comedy gold. I also love that you can see his progression as an author with each book you read. The more books he writes the more amazing and beautifully written they get.

But getting back to the more specific topic of The Fault in Our Stars, I honestly cannot wait until the film is released in UK cinemas! The book is his best piece of work to date; it's a beautifully, gut-wrenching emotional rollercoaster of a novel. If you haven't read it already 1) have you only recently moved out of the space under the rock you were residing under?! and 2) go and read it immediately! 

I do however have one concern about the film and that is the typical almost-fact that when a book is turned into a film it's never as good as the book.

DFTBA!
-Hannah :)

January Favourites.

Sorry for my absence as of late! I'm very aware that we're already over a week into February and this is my first post of the month; so much for being a better blogger in 2014! Anyway, my failure aside, the start of the month means a new list of my favourite things from the previous month! I can't see this one being too long, as although I've splashed out with all my Christmas gift cards I haven't really tried anything new. 

So out of the existing things in my life and a few new things these are my favourite things from January:

>My Primark hoodies: One cold and windy Monday in January I went into uni with an ineffective number of layers on. By the time I got to my first lecture I felt like a mobile icicle! Knowing it would be much colder in the evening when I began my commute home I decided that in one of my three hour breaks I would pop into Primark in the shopping centre and purchase a cheap hoodie that I could stick under my leather jacket and keep scrunched up at the bottom of my rucksack when I wasn't wearing it. 

And that is sort of what I did. What actually happened was I couldn't find a dark grey/charcoally hoodie -which was for some reason the specific colour I had in mind- so I found two other colours that I couldn't bring myself to choose between -burgundy and a really nice dark green- and a Ramones t-shirt to wear to the gym that was the same shade of green as one of the hoodies.

All three are super comfortable and that is why they're one of my January favourites. Sorry about the super long back story! 

>My leather jacket: That badboy is still one of my favourite things, especially now I've got three hoodies to pair it with for a bit of extra warmth!

>Juicy Water - Lemons & Limes: I've always wanted to try Juice Water but I've never been able to pick between the flavours they offer. The choice always came down to either Lemons and Limes or Raspberries and Lemons. One day in Tesco I found myself once again trying to decide between the two when my friend came up to me and recommended the Lemons and Limes one. Following her recommendation that's the one I brought and I've been hooked ever since!

>Maybelline Baby Lips - Cherry: During the Christmas holidays my sister brought three of the Baby Lips range with some of her Christmas money. I noticed she left the orange one on the table and me being the odd ball I am picked it up and sniffed it -I find that the smell of a lip balm is a very important deciding factor on whether I like it or not. It smelt amazing! And for that reason alone when I found myself in Superdrug looking to spend my gift card I popped one into my basket.

So there's a quick-ish run through of my January favourites. What were some of your favourite things over the course of January?
-Hannah :)

My Training Programme | Day 1.

Today marked the start of my 6 week training programme. I was both excited and nervous about it. One part of me was looking forward to taking the first steps towards becoming a fitter and healthier me, but there was another part of me that was freaking out at the prospect of entering a gym. That part of me kept telling me that I was completely out of my depth and that I'd look like a fool doing all these beginners things in a room with regular gym-goers dotted about the place.

Thankfully once I was there it wasn't too bad. There were a group of students waiting around by the main doors to the building and I'll admit I felt very self conscious walking past them, but once I was in the actual gym section and having a go on the rowing machine I felt a lot more relaxed and at ease -even with three people on the treadmills facing me!

Sorry about my awful posture. I didn't feel brave enough to take a picture in the mirrors lining the gym so resorted to taking one in my bedroom instead and the mirror in my room is quite low down.

The things I said I wanted to work on were: my strength -mainly core and upper body-, core stability and balance. Tuesdays are the days I'll be working on my balance and core stability and Fridays will be when I work on my strength.

As it was my first day and my first workout we didn't do anything too intense; it was more just getting me used to things and learning the ropes. And as today was Tuesday it meant the exercises I was doing were focussing on my core stability and balance. My routine today was:

• Warm up: 5 minutes on the rowing machine,
• A few stretches that targeted my core muscles,
• Evaluating my balance,
• Balancing exercises,
• Planking for as long as I could manage,
• Balancing on the Swiss ball (core stability work),
• Side planks
• Cool down: 5 minutes on the stationary bike.

I was pleased with the session and my performance overall. Although I wasn't great at everything I put in all my effort and I'm proud of myself for that. A good example would be all the side planks I did. The longer I did them the more my body would shake because my muscles were under a lot more pressure than they've ever experienced. But instead of collapsing onto the mat before x amount of seconds were up, I forced myself to keep at it until I heard Brandon say "Zero," which is when I would happily drop onto the mat.

I know that over the next two weeks it's going to get a lot tougher than today was, especially my strength days, but I'm looking forward to it for the most part. I can't quite get rid of that little bit of dread and self-doubt, but hopefully as I progress they'll disappear.

A #GlitterGetsFitter Late Arrival.

As some of you may be aware, the blogger/YouTuber Sprinkle of Glitter decided that this year she wanted to get fitter and healthier. To help stay on track and motivate herself -and others who had similar New Years Resolutions- she started the 'GlitterGetsFitter' tag on Instagram.

There's a long road ahead.
Photo credit for this image and all others featured in this post goes to Louise, a.k.a. Sprinkle of Glitter.

I thought it was a really good idea and I'm really pleased with how responsive people/Sprinklerinos were to it. What made me pretty excited about this tag was knowing that I'd be able to join in, all be it a bit later than everyone else.

As part of my boyfriend's university course he has to personal train someone for six weeks. I decided to volunteer as his participant for this assignment for two reasons,

1. I always want to improve my fitness and physical appearance but never get motivated enough to do so. So this seemed like a good way to get my 'bum in gear' and make a start on bettering myself; especially as he's a qualified personal trainer now, so he'll know what exercises are best for the goals I have, unlike me who is totally clueless when it comes to exercise.
2. My 'before' and 'after' stats, measurements, appearance and God knows whatever else may be recorded will probably get him full marks as I'm tremendously out of shape -although I admit my physical appearance doesn't reflect it too much- and I know he'll make me work hard throughout the six weeks.

We're starting on Tuesday and so far the plan is: I'll be going to the university gym with him on Tuesdays and Fridays; one day we'll work on improving my overall strength, with a focus on core and upper body; and on the other day we'll be focussing on my core stability and balance, with a bit of cardio thrown in for good measure.

I'm pretty excited to start although Brandon did make me a little apprehensive when he said not to pay attention to the other people working out in the gym and to not feel intimidated by any of them as I'm a newbie and everyone else there will be more experienced and doing more than me, e.g. lifting heavier weights and have a better lifting 'form'. Now I hadn't actually thought about that before he mentioned it. I just pictured it being the two of us as I didn't know how many people used the uni's gym; so when he said that I started to feel a little apprehensive and intimidated, just like he told me not too. He also said he'll probably act differently than usual as he wants this to be as professional as possible, which is fair enough and I totally understand, but it might take a little getting used to at first as I've had over two years of acting unprofessionally with him.

But going back to the Glitter Gets Fitter aspect of this post, I'm really looking forward to documenting any improvements I make! Whether it's a tweet outlining what I got up to in the gym or the dire amount of pain I'm in the next day, or Instagram pictures of my hopefully improving figure, gym equipment or a sneaky caramel protein shake if Brandon lets me have some, I'm looking forward to joining in with the rest of the Sprinklerino community.

Depending on how well it goes I may even do a before and after post once my six weeks are up. I'm really hoping I see the improvements I want and get a figure that I'm not only happy with, but proud of. If all goes well and that happens I will definitely start seriously considering joining a gym in order to maintain it all. I've just got to keep my fingers crossed that if that does happen I can actually financially afford to join a gym.

Are any of you guys Sprinklerinos taking part in Glitter Gets Fitter? I'd love to hear how you're getting on so far!
-Hannah.

Deaf Havana.

Not my image.

Whenever a Deaf Havana song comes up on shuffle I always find myself thinking, "Wow, I'd forgotten how much I love these guys! Their music is so underrated!" And quite often it has led to me abandoning my iTunes library shuffle session to listen to purely all of their songs -which is currently happening. So I decided I would act on these thoughts and write a short, little post encouraging you to go away and give these guys a listen.

Now I'm no music critic or journalist, so I can't promise the most eloquent review, nor the most analytical and jargon filled. But I'm pretty passionate about this band, and music in general, so what I can do is give you a post detailing simplistically why I enjoy Deaf Havana's music and why I strongly advice you listen to them if you haven't already and if you have a similar taste in music to me.

I first discovered Deaf Havana in 2010 when the music channels I watch began playing their video for 'Nicotine and Alcohol Saved My Life'. Soon after that I saw their video for 'Friends Like These' on another of the music channels; and those first two songs were all it took to get me hooked.

Since then I've downloaded the majority of their music -all legally I might add!- and seen them perform a number of times, either as supporting acts at concerts or at Slam Dunk South, and they have yet to disappoint me. 

So far I've been able to 'connect' with all their music. Now I know that sounds a little odd, and I can't really explain it all that well, but what I mean is that when I hear their music -as well as other bands, some I may recommend to you in the future- something in me sort of lights up/comes to life, all of a sudden all I want to do is sing along loudly, while jumping and dancing around the place. There's just something about their sound and their lyrics that makes me want to come out of my shell and express myself through them. I guess you could say that I connect with a lot of their songs on an emotional level, or something else that sounds just as cliché. 

I'll leave it there, as I feel that I'm starting to ramble. I hope some of you do go and check out Deaf Havana if you're not already fans. If you do, I would suggest giving the following songs a listen:

Nicotine and Alcohol Saved My Life

Friends Like These

In Desperate Need of Adventure

I'm a Bore, Mostly

Leeches

Filthy Rotten Scoundrel 

The Past Six Years

Boston Square

Lights

Night Drives

Kings Road Ghosts

Review: Penelope | Film.

Released: 2006
Watched: 04/01/14, E4.

Basic Storyline: After her daughter's unfortunate death a witch curses the 'blue-blooded' Wilhern family. The curse states that the next female born into the family will have a face that resembles a pig's face, and the curse will only be lifted -to give her a normal, human face- once she has been fully accepted by "one of her own kind." 

After numerous generations of only male offspring, Penelope is born. True to the curse she is born with the ears and nose of a pig, making her parents -particularly her mother- keen to protect her from the outside world and the media desperate to get a picture of Penelope. It is these two things that lead on to the two main storylines within the film.

Penelope, played by Christina Ricci.

The first is Mrs. Wilhern's quest to find her daughter a 'blue-blooded' husband in order to break the curse and give her daughter a more human face. Although Penelope's mother means well, she often comes across as quite harsh and selfish, and a lot of the time it seems like she cares more about lifting the curse than she does about her daughter.

The second main storyline revolves around a reporter (Lemon) and an ex-suitor's (Edward Vanderman) mission to obtain a picture of Penelope to show the world. It is an unlikely pairing and they both have very different reasons for having their hearts set on obtaining Penelope's photograph. 

Lemon wants the photograph to heal his bruised ego and make up for the loss of his eye; both of which were a result of being attacked by Mrs. Wilhern, when he was found hiding in the Wilhern household trying to get a picture of Penelope after she was born. Alternately, Edward wants to get and publish a picture of Penelope in order to restore his reputation, after he was deemed to be crazy when he ran to the police after first seeing Penelope face-to-face and claimed he had just seen a fanged and pig-faced monster.

Johnny (a.k.a. Max impersonator), played by James McAvoy.

The two storeylines are intertwined with the arrival of Max, a 'blue-blood' who had gambled away most of his inheritance and was hired by Lemon and Edward to act as a potential suitor and in the process of courting Penelope get a picture of her for them to publish. What they didn't know however is that they had actually hired a man named Johnny that they had accidentally assumed was Max, even though at first Johnny even told them they had the wrong man.

After a few twists and turns in the plot Penelope decides that she needs to see the outside world and as a result runs away into the city disguising herself by wrapping a scarf around the lower half of her face (pictured nearer the beginning of this post). She appears to thoroughly enjoy her time in the city -keeping her parents up to date on her adventures by sending them postcards- and befriends a woman named Annie, who for the most part acts as her tour guide. 

There's more to the story but I feel like this is a good place to leave it as I don't want to ruin the ending for any of you that decide to go away and watch it. :)

Annie, played by Reece Witherspoon.

My Thoughts/Opinions: I personally really enjoyed the film overall -Penelope's mother did annoy me a little from time to time- and would definitely watch it again. I particularly liked the fact the Penelope had the bravery to run away and experience the outside world for herself. I also liked how accepting the friends she made were when they discovered what she really looked like under the scarf; and of course I loved the happy ending -particularly the scene towards the end were Penelope goes to find Johnny and they are reunited.

Lemon, played by Peter Dinklage.

If you've not seen this film before I suggest you watch it at some point in the future. When the film first came out I saw the trailer for it a few times and it didn't really appeal to me. But I'm glad that one day, years later, I was feeling too lazy to change the channel and ended up watching it.

If you have seen this film before, what are your thoughts on it?

-Hannah.