2014 review

Happy New Year all! I can't believe that it's now 2015, it seems so hard to get my head around. My family never usually stays up to welcome in the new year, but this year we attended two parties, the second one lasting until almost 2am. It's the first time I've been at a party to celebrate, and I've got to say, it was pretty fun.

Anyway, I thought I'd take this opportunity to look back over last year. It was my best year so far, and I'm determined to make this one even better.

The start of the year saw a colossal amount of dance and theatre rehearsals on my behalf. In March, I was part of a youth production of Cats the Musical. This was an incredible experience that has allowed me to grow and encouraged the development of many skills like teamwork and confidence, both on stage and within me as a person.

Shortly afterwards, in April, my dance school performed at Sadler's Wells Theatre in the West End, London. I really loved this, as it was really a once in a lifetime opportunity. It also brought about new friendships with other dancers, which really heightened the whole experience.

Then in May, our dance school held its annual show, and this was a great chance to perform for friends and family who don't usually watch us dance.

Throughout the summer, we've performed our Sadler's Wells dances at many events both locally and not, whether it be for charity of just for fun. This includes locations such as a local music festival, and Northampton Cricket Stadium (twice!), one of which was at the t20!

Moving on to September now. I started my final year of high school; it's pretty crazy to think that I've already been there for four whole years. This also meant the start of my Creative Writing AS level that I'm taking a year early, along with quite a few others from my year.

A couple of weeks into the school year I turned 16...another milestone.

Finally, this year's holidays have been incredible! We've been on family days out, I'm cleaning my room out ready to be redecorated, Christmas Day went very smoothly and so did last night! Something I'm very proud of, however, is the fact that I've been super motivated enough to work out every day since December 20th, and that's continuing on through today, even though I slept for half of the day!

Now we have to think of what we want to get out of this year. Time passes anyway, so we might as well steal something back while we can. I've come to realise that resolutions don't work for me. I see them as a fake promise that you make just to say that you're going to make an effort, and then they're forgotten.

That's why this year I'm going to set goals for myself and put them on a list, so I can tick them off. There's just something about ticking boxes and physically being able to see my progress that motivates me even further. I'll post them within the next few days.

Hopefully you've had a great year too, and you can look to 2015 to improve!

getting fit

Both school and my exams have now finished until January, which leaves me with a couple of weeks to do not very much. The friend I normally meet up with is heading home to Japan to see family over Christmas, which means that I may have to settle for other friends!

But I'm so excited about Christmas, you know? This past month has seen my head stuck in a revision book in every free minute of the day, so to be able to finally look up and realise that Christmas is less than a week away is pretty exciting!

All of this studying means that I've missed out on most of the festive cheer this year, but I'm determined to make up for that in these upcoming few days.

Usually, during school holidays, I don't do a lot at all. Dance classes take a break, school pretty obviously takes and break, and that only leaves chores. But other than that, there's pretty much nothing to do. Sure, I'll have to revise quite a bit and finish some coursework, but the Internet can often prove to be quite a pain.

But I'd like to use these next couple of weeks as an opportunity to start working out more, seeing as I'll have plenty of time to kill. Today I started the Blogilates Decemburn calender, but I only have time for 2 of 5 of the workout videos because I also had dance class. I'm so glad I did it though, because my core and arms were sore for so long.

Another great thing is that I've managed to rope my brother into joining me in working out! I think be might just be starting to think about fitness, as he does some of his own accord anyway without a club, which is great. Workout buddy!

Think Happy...12/52...

Hello, how is everyone? I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and enjoyed the time with friends and family.

1. Christmas!! The first thing on my list this week, since it was so so amazing!! I got so many lovely gifts from my friends and my family, and we had so much lovely food.

 



On Christmas day we had roast beef instead of turkey (we're having that next weekend!) and we pulled a lot of crackers!

 

I also got this beautiful jumper from New Look, and so much jewellery and makeup, which you saw in my previous post.

 

 

2. Boxing day party at my nan's! I have no pictures from this, but I had a great time catching up with my dad's side of the family and eating a lot of pizza!!

 

3. Cats rehearsals yesterday (Sunday). True, I got there an hour late, but we learnt a lot of choreography and lyrics, and I helped Catty choreograph some extra parts to put in.

 

4. The weather. The weather has mainly been good over these holidays - the sky has been blue and the air cold but fresh.

 

 

This is the theatre after Cats, when I was waiting to go home. It's hundreds of years old and really is so amazing - I've been earlier in the year to see Steve Leonard for a biology lecture. I can't wait to perform on that stage!!

 

That's all for now, sorry this didn't get posted yesterday, it wasn't a very good time for me, but hopefully I'll be back on track now. Bye!

My Makeup Routine...

Considering I've been pretty lazy over the past few days, I thought that today I'd make an effort to create a nice post for you all. And what's better than something most girls and ladies do every day - make up!

I got quite a lot of lovely makeup this Christmas, so I am merely 'showing off' my new products; I am not advertising them in any way (gee, I wish I could get paid for it!!), although I will be reviewing them.

Aww, I got all of my makeup in this super pretty cereal bowl!! Isn't it beautiful?

Anyway, I start off every morning by washing my face clean with some Witch facial wash (which I forgot to photograph - clever me). Since I'm a teenager I have quite a lot of spots, but I've found this really helps if I use it twice a day.

What I next do is apply my Avon Magix 'foundation' all over my face. I normally prefer the other version (the 'face perfector') that isn't as shiny and is slightly thicker, but this is really cool! It doesn't wear off at all, and the tube lasts quite a long time. The only bad point is that I don't have a regular Avon magazine, so I have to buy in bulk.

 

Next I use concealer under my eyes and over any spots I have. I think this came free with an Avon catalogue one time, but I really like it.

Now comes my powder. I use Rimmel London Stay Matte Pressed Powder, with just a simple foam puff.

Eyeliner. I only have a very thin line, mainly to my outer upper lid. I love pencil liners for how I use them, but if I was going to do a cat's eye I'd definitely need a liquid liner.

I got this one a while back...

...and this one for Christmas.

Now for my eye shadow. I use this Rimmel London purple set, and it's so natural looking!

This is the back of the packet, and I apply it as it suggests, which turns out very very nicely!

Now for some close-ups...

Mascara. I am actually so bad at putting on mascara so my eyes are sore from being jabbed so much, but I'm getting better.

The brush has a really nice curve to it, which makes it that much easier to apply.

And here's what the bottle says:

Lastly, lip balm/colour.  Baby Lips 'Pink Punch'. I really genuinely love this; my lips are so soft and it tastes/smells soooo good!

That's it for my daily 'routine', but here are some other products I got for Christmas.

I painted my nails the other day with my new Rimmel London 60 Second nail varnish in the colourway 210 (Ethereal). It has a wider brush which means a much much easier application and I only need about 2 strokes to fully cover each nail.

I got this beautiful lip balm which has a strawberry jam flavour!

And a matching hand cream, which smells gorgeous (but not of strawberry jam!).

And I am totally in love with my new bracelets! I got three which all go perfectly together, only I've managed to misplace the third one already....it'll show up soon, I'm sure!

This pretty one is covered in sparkly beads that catch the light!

And this one is my favourite!

It's so delicate and I have barely taken it off since I got it!


So that's all for today, I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone, and that you got everything you wished for for Christmas. Thank you to everyone who bought me gifts and I am also so so thankful to each and every person that reads my blog! I hope it wouldn't be too much to ask to share it around a little, so I can gain even more fabulous readers? Please? Hahaha, thanks in advance :)

Merry Christmas!...

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your day has been amazing, with lots of yummy food and gifts, and that you'll enjoy the rest of the holiday!

I'll keep you updated with photos over the next couple of days, my head's still a little busy from this amazing day!! Sleep well tonight :)

Crochet Day!...

Hello my lovelies! How are you on this fine Friday? I feel so Christmassy today - it's only 5 days away!! As I'm sitting here writing this, I'm listening to this song in my new (second-hand) jeans and (complete coincidence!) My Chemical Romance hoodie! The sky outside is overcast but it's perfect for my photography - nature's very own softbox. All that really means is that the light is reflected off the clouds and that it's being diffused to leave perfect natural lighting for photography. It doesn't leave harsh shadows and evenly lights your subject.

Right now, I'm working on my crochet project again! Want to know what it is?.....

Bunting!!

Yes, I've never made any before, yet it's so quick and easy, and I'd forgotten how relaxing crochet can be.

Yesterday I showed you a picture of the lettering, and it's going to read 'DANCE'!

 



So, by this morning I'd already crocheted four of the five bunting triangles, so I set to work crocheting the last one in a lilac coloured yarn.

It started off small...

Then got to be this size! That's fourteen rows of yummy hookiness!

They're all finished now, so just look at all those rows of deliciousness! Mmm, that's one good crochet sandwich!

And again...

...and again...

Don't you just love those colours? I really love using colours in my work, and these just feel so perfect to me!

Sorry for bombarding you with so many pictures of those triangles, they just look so perfect and amazing that I had to show you them all!

Now, do you want to see the letters? Yes? Okay then!

 

 

 

 

And this is (roughly) what my bunting is going to look like!! I still need to edge the triangles and block them to get pointy corners, and then I need to crochet the string that will allow them to hang down, but already so excited!

 

 



And that concludes today's post (which I'm really happy about because it has so many pictures!). I really made an effort to make this post look good, to do the bunting some justice! I'll catch you up on the next parts of the bunting on Sunday - I'm going out most of tomorrow so fingers crossed I'll have enough time to show you on Sunday!

 

Have a good weekend!