Liebster Award

I won an award! I'm so chuffed, I didn't even know anyone read this blog to be fair. I received it from the lovely Librarian Girl! I won't be tagging anyone/passing this award along because I've received this award on my main blog and have already tagged people a million times before (so would only end up tagging the same people again) but I'm still rather pleased!

The Liebster Award is given to upcoming bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers. Liebster is a German word that means sweetest, nicest, kindest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome. It's a fun way to say welcome to the blogging community.

Here are the rules for receiving the award:

1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.

2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you and create 11 new questions for the people you have tagged

2. Choose 11 people and link them in your post

4. Go to their page and tell them about the award (social networks accepted)

5. If you have not done so yet, follow the tagger and visit at least three nominees

6. Remember, no tag backs

11 Things About Myself:

1. One of my favourite childhood films is Willow, and I'm going to watch it after I've posted this!

2. I have a pet tamagotchi on my phone called Bob, however I tried to kill him off as he was the third pet I'd got that had evolved into an Octopus (the other two, my only pets, are called Roger and Sandy). I felt too bad though, so I'm sticking with him.

3. I have my tragus pierced and it is my favourite piercing (although I miss my lip piercing!)

4. I am on pretty much every social media site going (hey, I'm a journalist, it needs to be done)

5. I used to love music like A1, Lou Bega and Busted. I still have Busted on my iPod...

6. I really want a tattoo but I'm too scared to get one.

7. I have a skull in my room (it's paper mache, don't worry!) called Roger. He was named after Roger from American Dad as he has big eyes.

8. My favourite colour is Red.

9. I never want a relationship again unless the person is 'the one' and the one who I'm going to marry.

10. I'm so bored with my hair.

11. I've spent far too much money lately!

Questions from Librarian Girl

1. What was your childhood nickname, if any?

I had a few - Lou, Loopy Lou or Louish-Ann!

2. What is your favourite colour?

Red.

3. What inspired you to start a blog?

The chance to inspire others.

4. Do you have a favourite film? What is it?

I have loads so I couldn't pick just one, but my last favourite film of all time that I watched was Back To The Future.

5. Have you ever done anything scary, such as skydiving?

Does snowboarding count? I'd love to try skydiving or go bungee jumping or something one day

6. What's your favourite city?

London, without a doubt.

7. Something you are proud of.

Graduating from university (not only that but one that was a five hour drive away from home!) with a degree in Magazine Journalism.

8. What are your vices?

Falling far too quickly for far too many bad boys.

9. Heels or flats?

It depends on the situation, but heels for a night out definitely. I just can't feel sexy without them.

10. Can you play a musical instrument?

I can play two songs on guitar - Daniel Beddingfield - Gotta Get Thru This and Joshua Radin - Winter (which is supposed to be really tough to play so I'm pleased about that!)

11. What's your favourite sandwich?

Ham & Tomato!

As I said, it would be pointless for me to tag 11 people because I don't actually follow any blogs with less than 200 followers that I haven't already tagged in a previous award! However, if you click here, you'll be directed to my main blogs 'Blog Awards' page, where you can click on each post about award's I've won, and where I've therefore tagged other blogs - phew that was a mouthful! 

Finally, just as I haven't blogged recently - what have I been up to lately? Well, I've been working my bum off, going out on far too many nights out and partaking in short but sweet (and passionate!) 'flings?' which we're amazingly fun whilst they lasted :)

Nostalgia

This time last year I was graduating with a degree in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sunderland! At the time, I couldn't believe how quickly three years went by - in fact I still can't - and I can't believe I graduated a year ago now.

One of my best friends Jo only just graduated this week too as despite going to uni together, she spent a year studying in France. I'm feeling very nostalgic as it's dawned on me how long it's been since I've been a student.

I still remember leaving home for university like it was only yesterday - the long drive, the nervous unpacking, the first night out with my flat mates! University gave me so many amazing memories that I'll treasure forever, as well as giving me some amazing friends. I also learnt so much about myself in those three years.

I also remember the week I graduated so vividly. To this day, I still cannot grasp how much of my life changed in a matter of days. 

When I graduated, I had no idea where I'd be in a years time. But am I happy? I'm ecstatic. I've got a job relating to my degree and I'm still as close as ever to the girls I met at uni. I don't have my own place, but in all honesty I love being at home so much especially after spending three years away! 

Going to university was one of the best decisions of my life and sometimes I really would do anything to just pack up a bag, hop on a coach and spend a week there just for memories. I miss the town, the people, the food, the memories - everything. There's so much I didn't get to do, but so much I still want to do. I've promised myself that I'll hurry up and pass my test, get a car and visit again soon.

Of course, it won't be the same. It wasn't when I visited in February. Things will never be the same. But that doesn't mean me and my friends can't visit again for memories and to create new memories, doing all the things we said we would. We still need to have our big Newcastle night out and visit Amsterdam.

And when I visited in February, there are only two things I regret not doing. The first would be not getting a Chillino's pizza (oh my god my mouth is watering at the thought!). The second would be not visiting South Shields beach again.

South Shields beach, on my first ever visit, taken by me

To this day, South Shields beach is still one of my favourite places in the whole world. I never grew tired of living near the coast and spent almost every Sunday evening at this beautiful beach. This beach was my favourite place to be in Sunderland and is home to so many memories. It was one of the few things that still gave me good memories during my last year of university when everything else was going to the shit (for lack of a better word!).

Sunderland was my home for three years and I practically became an adult in that little town. It wasn't special - it wasn't home to the top university of the country or even the best nightlife but it was just right for me. I can't wait to go back.

Feeling overwhelmed

I'm feeling so overwhelmed lately. I know I'm having one of those weeks, but I can't shake this feeling that I'm trying and not getting anywhere. It honestly baffles me how people find the time, money, effort and inspiration to do things. There's so much I want to do with my life but getting to that point is near impossible.

Setting up the magazine is on the back burner at the moment, I'm afraid. Although I'm constantly thinking of new ideas, knowing what to do with them is a different matter. I'll be having some meetings in September to see about getting a business loan, but until then, what can I do other than research? And I said I wouldn't tell anyone about my idea to avoid pressure but I did to get some interest and contributors. Although they understand, I can't help but feel like I'm letting them down when I tell them about my big plans and then they here nothing from me in weeks. I just don't know where to start, I can't make any progress on content at the moment.

I guess I am slightly worried about failing. Not because I'm not good enough. I know for a fine fact that my writing is top notch and I have some really big challenging ideas, it's just getting the word out. Promotion has never been my strong point and the majority of hits for my blog for example are returning loyal readers who genuinely enjoy my writing. But finding new people, people to read my blog and buy the magazine? That's the tough bit.

The other main thing is travel. I still want to take a year out, but how will that fit in with the magazine? I can't go ahead with it all and decide later on that I'm going to take some time off, then just leave it for a year.

And travel. That's the thing! How can people afford to do it? It's like one thing at a time for me - concentrate on work for money instead of a career and somehow save to go traveling, or concentrate on putting my writing first.

There's just so much to do. There's not enough time in the day. And then I find a week or two have passed and before I know it it's been a month and I've not gotten particularly further with anything. I think if I'd just done a little bit each day, I'd be considerably further by now. But it just doesn't work like that.

Life's much too short. I need to hurry up and do things before I turn around and realize years have passed and I haven't yet done what I want to.

When things get tough, just remember...

This feels familiar,

I’ve been here before.

A different face walking

through the same door.

Thought it’d get easy

but it just hurts

more, every time.

The way I see it,

nothing ever ends.

Like a circle,

something new begins.

And now I turn my back

into the wind and carry on.

I know you’re gone.

I had to walk away.

Now it’s broken,

It’s the price I pay.

But it was worth it,

now I can say you’re name,

without falling apart (like the circles)

We always end up at the start.

I know it’s scary,

what you can’t define.

But just a temporary

place and time.

We’re pushing forward

and we can’t rewind.

But that’s alright,

It’s how we survive.

I had to walk away.

Now it's broken,

It’s the price I pay.

But it was worth it,

now I can say you’re name,

without falling apart (like the circles)

We always end up at the start.

And I know, I know,

feels like it’s always changing.

I know, I know, it’s 

like just rearranging.

Build it up,

tear it down,

all the walls and hurdles.

We’re running in circles!

I had to walk away.

Now it's broken,

It’s the price I pay.

But it was worth it,

now I can say you’re name,

without falling apart 

We always end up at the start.

(For future reference)

Work Hard, Play Harder

Last night I watched the film Project X.

First of all, this is an amazing film in its own right (with an equally amazing sound track!) so I'd suggest watching it anyway! I've already posted something similar on my other blog but this film reminded me how sometimes you have to just forget who you are sometimes and forget your responsibilities and concentrate on having a good time.

I've had some amazing nights out over the years and some amazing parties. I've been to foam parties, popcorn parties, UV paint parties, rollerskating discos and even hot dog parties. I've had too many house parties to even remember. I've been to events themed as nearly everything under the sun - school girl, nurse, Mrs Santa,  beachwear, army, neon/80s, and so, so many different Halloween costumes. Despite not being Irish, I've been on three different pretty awesome St Paddy's Day pubcrawls. I've partied with Matt Willis, Lee Ryan and er Steps. I've attended nights out, I've hosted nights out, I've DJ'd nights out and I've been the official um dance mover maker for nights out. I've done A LOT. 

Do you think I spent any of these nights out worrying about uni in the morning or how skint I was? Nope. In fact, if those thoughts crossed my mind, I instead used this as an excuse to party more.

Don't get me wrong - university, a career, big responsibilities like that - they DO come first. But it's always good to remember that you need to get the fair balance between the two. You can't go to university or spend your whole life working without letting your hair down - in fact your work will suffer if you're sat at home not taking time to relax. Likewise it's probably not a good idea to party constantly because you'll never get anywhere in life.

BUT this film has also reminded me that sometimes it's alright to be a bit silly. No matter how many responsibilities you have, you're NEVER too old for a decent night out. Sometimes it's hard to forget that when you're piled down with work and you've got so much to do, life really is passing you by. Of course I don't recommend that you burn a whole street down BUT even nights when you really shouldn't go out - you're skint, you've got work in the morning - sometimes these nights turn out to be the best ones. 

It's all about finding the balance between working hard and playing hard. If you're out 24/7 anyway this probably doesn't apply to you but if it's been a while since you've been to a good party then forget about what responsibilities await you the morning after and just go out and have fun. When you're old you'll never look back and think about the amazing memories you had staying in each night and working, will you? No, you'll remember the epic last minute nights out you've had that probably shouldn't have happened but led to amazing nights, amazing friends and amazing memories. 

All of those nights I've mentioned have been awesome in their own right. But some of the best nights I've ever had were honestly hand on heart never planned. Some of the best nights I've had were when I was stuck at home, skint, with work to do and all I could think about was how much I'd like to be out because there was no way I could concentrate on my work. So I did go out. And it was awesome.

I've got some pretty amazing nights to come as well. I've got so many birthdays to celebrate (what should my next theme be?), plus an Ibiza holiday next year. And of course there will be many other unplanned as of yet nights out to come.

So this post is to say remember you're young so go out and make the most of it! Don't quite go as far as they did in Project X (thought we both know you're tempted to) but still have as much fun as you can. I'm not encouraging anyone to go out and be unsafe or cause havoc either but remember sometimes when you do accidently have a bit too much and do something silly - you are only young and the whole point is to learn from it.

Go out and let your hair down ;)

(But be safe too!!!)

Busy Busy!

The past month has almost been non stop and it looks like next month won't be any different!

I am taking on this editors roll like...a fish to water..or whatever an appropriate phrase is. In other words - it's perfect for me. I'm really, really enjoying it and I absolutely love finding out about different places and things to do. Working from home can be a bit tough as I've always had problems with motivation but I'm slowly learning to close that Facebook tab and get my head down, refusing to go on any social networking websites until I've done at least an hour of two or work. The new All American Rejects Album - Kids in the Street - is helping a lot too. I love it and it has quickly become my background album to listen to whilst I work, helping me to concentrate.

I've also been helping one of my sisters friends who has her own business and had fallen behind so needed an extra hand. It started with popping down to hers one Friday and just generally helping out a little bit - sorting out her invoices and making lots of tea and coffee. But it's soon becoming more than that as yesterday I learnt all about renewable energy and how to draw a floor/house plan. She is an domestic energy assessor and as boring as that sounds, it's actually really fun! Next week I'm acting as her assistant, manning the phones and booking assessing times whilst she's out and about doing her job. Then another day next week I'll be out with her, doing floor plans and all the measurements and such. It's pretty fun and I guess that's another bit of experience I can add under my belt - plus she's going to give me a great reference.

Finally, I was offered a job at Next the day before last which I am chuffed about! It was kind of funny how it worked out because the interview was almost a month ago now and I'd heard nothing. I'd left the interview feeling extremely confident however, I'd built up a great rapport with the woman that was interviewing me and definitely got the vibe that I was being offered a position. However, four days after we went on holiday, she was going on holiday too (actually to Sharm, Egypt as well which was a bit spooky!) for two weeks. After three weeks I assumed I hadn't got it and gave the office a ring Thursday and she told me she had actually planned to ring me the next day. It was her and another woman dealing with the new employees and the interviews and such and this other woman had gone on holiday as she'd come back. So I was actually offered a position in their new store opening. I'm really pleased about this because I really wanted this job.

Even better is it's part time so I can still keep on with my editor duties and learning to be an domestic energy assessor!

I'm off to a Flea market in Soho tomorrow which should be fun and I have my induction for Next in the week so it's going to be a very busy week!

June is looking out to be just as busy too as I'll be in London quite a few times, plus I'm arranging a bloggers meet up in St Albans for the end of the month which is going to be really fun. It's also my Nan's birthday and my Dad's birthday and we're hoping to throw a nice BBQ for that. The website is also set to launch in July so I'll be working extra hard with editing duties. Luckily I got my good friend Becky in with a job as well as she studied Journalism with me at university and lives right in London. This means we'll be able to divide the work out between us and I'll get to see a lot more of her at all the different events we'll be going to! I'm glad about this as we were quite close at university and although we still talk all the time, she works full time and as she lives in London it's hard to find time for a catch up.

I'm also still working on setting up my own magazine. On the surface it looks like I've put it on hold but in actual fact behind the scenes I've been working hard to find different contributors and get all my ideas into motion. I've also started writing my own novel - random, I know - but I'm feeling pretty positive about this as it's sounding quite good even if I do say so myself!

I'm still blogging over at Inspire Magazine too and have actually been in contact with a few companies for reviews. After redoing the whole layout I've been trying to take a more professional approach with it rather then just updating as a hobby and with companies interested in a company-blogger relationship, it's finally taking that professional turn. The blog will soon be going onto bigger and better things soon as you all know so it's good to have companies interested!

So I've been learning lately that staying positive and getting your head down and getting on with it makes a huge difference. It's been really hard to find a spare moment to myself over the past few weeks and it's been especially annoying with this hot weather! A couple of times last week I decided to go out for a run and a bike ride but in all honestly I thought I hated running and loved bike riding..I'm not so sure now though! I went out on my mum's bike and my god is my bum sore! Her bike seat is really uncomfortable so yeah, I think I'll be sticking to the running until I can get a more comfy bike seat.

Well, that's what little old me has been up to lately so if you find me absent from blogging over the next few months - you know why. I'll leave you a photo of me being a bit of a poser in my favourite new dress after my parents took me out for food last night to celebrate the new job.

My holiday in Egypt

Last night I arrived home from a lovely week long relaxing holiday in Egypt. I've always wanted to visit Egypt, everything to do with Egyption history absolutely fascinates me and I'm obsessed with the idea of visiting the pyramids and such. We were nowhere near Cairo and there's trouble there at the moment anyway so we didn't go site seeing or visit them. Really it was just a last minute deal to Egypt for a relaxing holiday but it was amazing!

Generally we spent our days sunbathing by the pool ; napping, reading, listening to music and going for a dip in the pool and to the swim up bar. We'd then have lunch and do it all over again! The absolute perfect way to enjoy the boiling hot weather :) 

On Tuesday we visited another sensatori hotel and went on a tour of it. My sister and the other ladies I went with all work for Thomson and this other hotel was also a Thomson hotel so where they'd spent the last few months designing the brochure for it, they were intrigued to see what the hotel was actually like in person. It was stunning ; it was five star so it was all very exclusive and high-end, most of the rooms had their own individual swim up pool and a jacuzzi too. The spa was beautiful, it was situated at the very top of the hotel so it had amazing views. The fitness aspects of the hotel were also pretty amazing too, you had so many options of ways to keep fit and healthy including things like yoga on the beach at sunrise and things like that. Amazing!

Beach tent things at the sensatori - what I'd do to live there!

On Wednesday was one of the best days where we went on a Sinai By Starlight excursion. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever done in my life and something that was totally up my street. We left the hotel pretty early and got a coach into the middle of the desert where we then had a camel ride further into the desert. Now I wasn't sure what to expect, I was excited but I'd never really had much um experience with camels in the past. It was scary. Very scary. They were all making loads of really scary noises and camels are a LOT bigger than you expect them to be. Once you climb on they get up by kind of leaning down and getting up with their back legs first followed by their front legs - it's hard to explain but you end up all over the place and it's really scary. In fact I almost backed out as I really didn't like the idea of it! There was a camera man filming the whole excursion and we bought the DVD and you can see me on the camel as it gets up. You can see the absolute fear in my face, haha! Once I was up and moving though I was okay...until half an hour later it came to getting off the camel in the same fashion and as it dropped to the floor I was so scared I screamed! Everyone looked at me and laughed!

After that weird experience we all went into a bedrin tent and drank some Egpytion tea and had/tried a shisha which was interesting! We also learned a bit about the history around where we were before watching the sunset in the mountains.

Sunset among the mountains in the Egyption desert - stunning!

Then we had some food, made some bread and some men did some traditional dance thing and got all us ladies up to dance too. After that we wandered into the desert with a professional astronomer who gave us a talk about stars and the solar system - stars, planets and constellations we could see and such. It was beautiful, of course in the middle of the desert the sky is 100% clear so it was a really beautiful site. We also looked through some telescopes and saw Saturn up close - so close that you could see the rings around it - and the actual surface of the moon! I was astounded! We managed to take some photos through the telescope though the Saturn photo just looks like a blob, ha!

Saturn

The surface of the moon

Anything to do with the solar system fascinates me so it was really a truly amazing experience for me. 

We got up to various stuff during the rest of our holiday - I ended up DJing at one of the club nights there which was funny! We pretty much hosted this night to be honest - we got everyone up dancing, making up all these new dance moves, putting on awesome music and getting everyone involved! We also very nearly won the quiz night (we came second by ONE point). One night I remember being particularly funny was when we were really tired and planned to get a cup of tea and head to bed - in the end we ended up still in the bar at 1am making our way through the cocktail list with the aim to try each one! 

I had mixed thoughts on the hotel. It was pretty beautiful - the reception had all marble floors and a stunning staircase that curled around a waterfall feature and a bridge at the bottom. We named it death bridge as it had loads of ridges in it and was impossible to walk over in heels. The grounds were stunning too - loads of flowers, water features and cute wooden bridges. The pools were SO nice as well. However, some of the rooms needed to be made a bit more modern - you could see where parts of the hotel could do with a makeover and the staff were actually a bit dodgy/rude. One of them even smashed a glass on the floor in a huff when they messed up our drinks order ha! The food was pretty bland too - it was all inclusive - but it was very repetitive and by the end of the holiday we couldn't face it and walked into town to have food elsewhere.

However it was just a really lovely way to relax and spend some time to myself before my new job. I've added some more random photos below.

Me DJing! The DJ added me on Facebook after this, ha!

Me and my sister on the dodgy camels

We did not, I repeat, we did NOT choose this pose ourselves! We asked some guy to take a photo of us and he started modeling us into all these different poses then insisted we had a photo with him too! So funny!

Posing

Janine, Claire and Sharon

I had an amazing time and really enjoyed myself. By yesterday I was ready to come home though! My shoulders, neck and hairline (?) were burnt and our flight was at a ridiculous time of the night. Ricky from TOWIE was at the airport though and everyone started fangirling over him - one of the girls sat near us even got his number! The flight was horrible too - three screaming babies in the aisle next to us and horrible girls sat behind us trying to cause trouble. We didn't get in till 4:30 am and I felt like a zombie by the time I got in!


Some of the funniest memories/quotes from the holiday -


Sharon sleep talking but mumbling then all of a sudden saying (not singing!) really loudly as clear as day 'I'm sexy and I know it'!
The dodgy crab dance in the pool
The chocolate song/dance
The night of 'We'll just pop up and get a cup of tea to take to bed with us...three hours later LETS DO EVERY COCKTAIL ON THIS LIST'
Talking about traveling and stonehenge and I talk about how I'd be worried about Jasper. Janine goes 'er what you'll only be gone to stonehenge a day' 'Um I meant when I take my gap year' cue tears of laughter
Always assuming that if anyone is going to fart or snore, it'll be Janine
The camels!!