Insomnia 49

At the end of August a group of friends and I went to Insomnia Gaming Festival in Telford, we went as this year they had a minecraft expo and as an avid fan of minecraft missing out was not an option! 

It was such a great day, we were able to play in mini minecraft tournaments against other people attending the festival. There was also lots of stalls where you could buy gaming merchandise, posters, retro games etc. I brought a Team Fortress 2 t-shirt which I LOVE! We finished the day by watching a minecraft tournament and also a Team Fortress 2 tournament. We then queued up to meet members of the Yogscast, we didn't actually realise how long we would have to wait to meet them! Overall we waited for about 2 and half hours, but it was honestly worth the wait and they were such nice people! 

I am defiantly going to try and go to another gaming festival because I had so much fun! 

Paintballing

A couple of weekends ago I went to Deltaforce Paint-balling in Coventry, with my brother and his friends as a late birthday present for him. This was the first time that I had ever been paint-balling, so I was rather anxious about it, but once you arrive and collect your helmet and overalls, and have the safety brief I started to relax.

Throughout of the day we got to go and play on all of the 6 areas, but I have to say the best one by far was called Desert Storm. The aim of this area was to get the president to the embassy without getting shot by the apposing team. Unfortunately for em I got chose to be the 'president', and my task involved running from one end of the arena to the other with the help of my team without getting shot! However as soon as the game started I was pretty much abandoned bar a few people, they helped me to make my way half way up the arena - they soon disappeared. Luckily the marshall helped me get further and I did make it in the front of the embassy only to be shot about 1029484837283million times by the other team!

I would defiantly recommend going paint-balling it was so much fun and was completely different to anything I have ever done before! Hopefully I can go again in the near future because I honestly enjoyed it so much.

Looking very hot and sweaty after a long day of paint-balling / my smiley face bruise (I bruise so easily boohoo!)

Brighton

So at the end of last month me and four of my good friends from University decided to take a trip to Brighton for a couple of days. It was honestly such a lovely way to finish our first year at uni and to say goodbye to each other, as we probably will not see each other of the summer break very often, so this was just the perfect end to the year. The trip started off with the drive down to Brighton, singing at the top of our voices and eating way toooo may sweets.

When we got to Brighton we parked our car in an underground car park - really secure, highly recommend it if you are staying for a night or so, I think it was called Regency Square! We walked along the sea front and went to find out YHA, and oh my gosh it was so windy we were all getting blown away! The rest of the day was spent walking on the beach, playing in the arcade (Elisha and I won a glow in the dark necklace - cool I know!), walking to the end of the pier, wondering through Brighton. And in the evening we sat in the bar of the YHA and watched the karaoke, had a couple of drinks and sang along to all of the songs, it was a good laugh, and a lovely end to the evening.

The next day we had to get up early as we had to be out of the YHA by 10am, so from there we went straight to McDonalds and stocked up on food and drink, luckily it was not as windy as the day before! We then met up with a friend of Shani's and he showed around Brighton and took us to The Lanes. I have to say The Lanes reminded me a lot of Camden, I do wish we had a bit more time to just look in some of the shops, but it was extremely hot so we did not really hang around. We ended the trip with a trip to Starbucks and taking hundreds of photos on the beach. It was a lovely couples with the Cambridge girls and I am going to miss seeing them over the summer!

My First Year at University

I have officially finished university for first year and I moved home at the June. Wow I honestly cannot believe that I have finished first year already, it only seems like yesterday that I was packing up all my things! 

To be honest my first year at university was not how I expected it to me at all, the main things that were different was in the Student Halls, there was a lot more people than I had anticipated living there. We were a flat of 9 very different girls, at the start the flat was a great place to be in but as the year went on things slowly went downhill, cracks started to show and tension began to show. But thankfully I made 4 amazing friends in the flat, and they've become really important to me. When I moved to university I honestly did not think that I would find a group of friends, that I can honestly call my best friends. 

My actual university life was great, I would only have a couple of days a week actually in university attending lectures and seminars. I thoroughly enjoyed my first year doing Media Studies and I honestly cannot wait for next year! Even though it's going to be a lot more hard work next year - I am excited to meet some new people and conquer more tasks.

Lord Of The Rings

So on my list of things to do before I am 21, I wanted to watch the 'Lord Of The Ring' films. (I know shocking that I have not seen them yet!) When 'The Hobbit' came out in the cinema I went to see it and honestly I did not really enjoy the film greatly, considering that the book is only about 300 pages in it and they have decided to drag out it into three films I already had my doubts. Even though I said that I disliked it, I did enjoy about the first half an hour (I did think that some of the scenes introducing all the different characters were not necessary) and the bit when we met Gollum and then the ending, honestly that was about it. After not really enjoying 'The Hobbit'I was quite sceptical about weither I was going to enjoy the other films or not, but surprisingly I actually did think that they were good. Last week I watched the films with my boyfriend, and I ended up watching 'The Fellowship Of the Ring' the extended edition - BIG mistake, it lasted for nearly 4hrs! Half way through we stopped the film and watched something else for a while then went back to it - probably to try and keep me interested tehehe. Watching one film in extended edition was enough so we watched the cinematic versions of the others instead. Even though I kind of enjoyed them I do not think that I will be watching them again.

Cake in a mug Recipe

I love cake so when one of my flat mates found this recipe to make a cake in a mug in just under 5 minutes we had to try it out!

What you will need:

4tbsp. flour

4tbsp. sugar

2tbsp. cocoa powder

1 egg

3tbsp. milk

3tbsp. oil 

A splash of vanilla extract

1 large Coffee Mug 

3 tablespoons of chocolate chips (these are optional)

How to make it:

Add all of the ingredients into the mug and mix well

Add the egg and mix throughly 

Pour in the oil and milk - mix well

Add the chocolate chips (if you are using them) and vanilla extract - mix again

Put the mug into the microwave for 3minutes at 1000watts (high) 

Then you should get something like this as the end product!

Cambridge Vintage Fair

After such a successful fair last time I decided t take the plunge and d another one. However I was greatly disappointed, I feel that there was not as many people there as there was last time - which was slightly disheartening as my sales were down but in spite of this I will continue to do vintage fairs. I have also decided to offer a 15% off everything from goffbot.com for a whole week, just simply add 1WEEKK in at the checkout to receive this offer. 

Slam Dunk - North 2013

Last weekend saw Slam Dunk Festival return, and the first festival that I have ever attend, but also it is is a one more thing crossed off my list to do before turning 21.

I have to say it was one of the best days, that I have had for a long time. The day started off really early! I woke up really early and drove to pick up Sam, we then made our way to Nottingham from where we took a train to Leeds which took around two hours - bore! When we got to Leeds we did not really know where we were going but we saw a crowd of generic looking Slam Dunk go-ers and decided to follow them! Luckily for us they were going to Slam Dunk and we got there just after the gates open.

The day started off with getting our bearings and working out where all the stages were and who we wanted to go and see. The first band that we wanted to see were The Summer as unfortunately we did not get to see them when they were touring with All Time Low. I have to say that they were incredibly, I did not think that they were going to be as good live as they actually were.

We then had a two hour gap until The Story So Far, so we decided to go and look in the merchandise hall and see if there was anything that we wanted to purchase. After that we wandered aimlessly around looking like lost sheep so we thought that we would just watch Tonight Alive - I have seen them before when they supported Never Shout Never and did not like them then and I definitely did not like them on saturday - we made a speedy exit!

The next band we saw were The Story So Far and I have honestly never heard a crowd sing louder than the actual band before, it was a surreal experience. This was the first time that we had both seen and I thought that they were really good - I would definitely go and see them again if I got the chance. We then watched We Are The Ocean, this is the second time this year watching them and they did not disappoint- they are fast becoming one of my favourite live bands. After We Are The Ocean we decided to sit down at the back of the main hall and watch Sleeping With Sirens (another band that I have not seen before) and once again another band that sounded amazing live! We then made our way to the front of the hall to wait for Kids In Glass Houses, unfortunately they were running late so we did not get to see them as we really wanted to see The Wonder Years. This is another band that I have not seen before and they were awesome I loved them!

The last band of the day that we could see (due to travel problems) was Deaf Havana. They started their set with a cover of Robbie Williams 'Let Me Entertain You' (I think!) they really got the crowd going, and not a single person in the room was not singing. These have to in my top 5 of top live bands they never fail to put on a show!

I am so so soooooo glad that I could experience this festival with someone that loves music just as much as Sam does!

Elf

I heard about Elf along time ago but this is the first time I have ever ordered anything, and I have to say that the service, quality, and press were all excellent. The items that I ordered were all quite similar but I wanted to try out a different range of concealers, foundations and spot treatments.

The first item I ordered was Eyebrow Stencils as I thought they would help with giving my eyebrows a bit of shape  when I actually looked at them they were a lot thinner than I imagined so as of yet I have not used them simply for the fact I feel the stencils are too thin.

The next item was the Tone Correcting Concealer (in Ivory), I decided to order this as in the description it said that is masks skin tone imperfections and redness, and I find that my skin tone can sometimes be mismatched.

I also ordered the Zit Zapping Concealer (in fair), this concealer fights and prevents acne using a blend of Salicylic Acid, Tea Tree Oil and Camphor. The concealer hides and conceals blemishes. It isn't often that I get bad spots but I thought that this concealer would be perfect for when I did.

I saw the all over Cover Stick (Apricot Beige) and thought that it would be a handy size to throw into my bag and use if need be, while I am out.

I hate wearing Lipstick but since discovering Lipscote I love wearing it as you can hardly tell that you are wearing any, because of this I actually own only one lipstick so when I saw the lipstick in the shade of Fearless, I just couldn't resist it.

I love gel liner but i always find that the brushes never last very long so I thought that it was time to invest in a new one however silly me didn't think about geting a slanted one however this brush is really good.

The next thing is another concealer called Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter (in glow/fair) this is my favourite thing that I ordered and the highlighter, as I feel that it made my eyes look brighter and more awake.

The second to last thing that I received was a product called Zit Zapper. It helps to fight blemishes, reduce redness and swelling, I have used this product several times and found it really effective!

Finally the last time that I brought was a Mineral Foundation (in Porcelain , I have heard a lot of good things about mineral foundations so I thought I would jump on the band wagon. However since using the foundation I feel that it has made my face feel a little greasy so I am unsure if I will carry on using it or not.

Pre-birthday celebrations/ Shani's birthday

A couple of weeks ago saw Shani turn 19, pre-birthday celebrations and a night out with the girls!

Monday started off with handing in all of my university work for the first year. It was then followed by a relaxing day with the girls, just kicking back and relaxing. We then headed out to Chiquitos, this was the first time that I had ever been and to be honest I was disappointed, I found that there was a sufficient lack of vegetarian food. I would have thought as a chain of restaurants there would have been a lot more selection that there actually was - after a lot of umming and ahhing I decided on Fajita Roasted Veg. When it arrived I was once again very disappointed, I was given a massive plate of roasted vegetables but only four wraps, I thought that the ratios were not great. However saying that it did taste a lot better than it looked, but I personally would not ever go back to Chiquitos purely for the fact that it was very expensive and there was a lack of vegetarian food.

Tuesday was a day for relaxing and just spending quality time with the cambridge girls! We started off the day with making loads of party food and snacks, then Anna and I were given our early birthday presents (love them!). The rest of the day was spent curled up watching films and chatting, it was honestly such a lovely day.


Wednesday started off with a lovely lie in, then a relaxing day just catching up on tv programs. The evening started off with a couple of drinks, in preparation for our night out. We had decided to go to Vodka Revolutions, when we got there we got in for free and Elisha had arranged for us to have table, in which we got a massive bottle of Champagne for free. The rest of the night was spent dancing the night away and just having a great time!

Honestly could not wish for better friends!

goffbot.com

goffbot.com

Last year I started making jewellery in preparation for creating an online business that sells unique Handmade Jewellery. In January I started up an Etsy page and have been slowly adding and creating more and more things. Starting up your own business is always a risk but I am glad that I took it, I love creating and making new pieces of jewellery, but I do sometimes find it hard to spread the word about my new pieces. However as time goes on you learn new things that you did not know before, but also how to handle the work load of university and making new items for the shop. I love my jewellery store and I honestly would not change a bit about it.

New Jewellery Pieces

Tigereye Gemstone Necklace

Sodalite Gemstone Necklace

Topaz Gemstone Necklace

2 Year Anniversary

30th April 2012 

♥

Legoland & Iron Man 3

A couple of weeks ago it was mine and Sams 2year Anniversary, and as I was back at university we decided to celebrate it the weekend before as we did not know if we were going to see each other. So this is what we did! I went to Legoland as a kid and absolutely loved it, and as Sam had never been as a child I thought that this would be the perfect place to go (added bonus that Kellogs were doing a 2-4-1 offer on the side of cereal boxes - score!).

The car journey was about 200miles there and back - but it was completely worth it! As soon as you get to Legoland you are greeted with Lego people and Letters all the way up the road until the car park.

When we got there we discovered that there was a Star Wars mini world and a shop dedicated to it! As massive fans of Star Wars we devoted so much of our time looking around and taking hundreds of photographs. We spent most of the day wondering round the park looking at all the Lego models and looking in all the shops, taking hundreds of photographs of every single thing!

 On the way home we decided to go and see Iron Man 3 as both of us really wanted to see it - it is safe to say that we were not disappointed! It was such a brilliant film, definitely one to go and see.

30th April 2013

Today marks mine and Sam's two year anniversary - two years of the rest of our lives, and I honestly cannot wait! This guy means more to me than anything on this planet and I honestly would not want to spend my life with anyone else. He makes me smile when no one else can, cheers me up when I am down, he is my best friend. I can be myself when I am with him and never feel like he is going to judge me for being my silly self. 

You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.

You are person that I want to wake up next to each morning and fall asleep next to every night.

My soul mate.

Mine.

Forever.

I will always love you, now and forever.

∞

21 things before 21

I rarely write a to do list or make a list of things that I want to do, but I thought I should make one of things that I really want to get done by the age of 21! So here it is...

1. Take a road trip with Sam
2. Buy a lottery ticket
3. Go to a festival
4. Watch The Lord of The Rings
5. Go camping
6. Make a den
7. Sell 100 pieces of jewellery over on goffbot.con
8. Watch the sun rise
9. Explore Britain
10. Star wars Marathon!
11. Finish university (hopefully with a 1st)
12. Be engaged to my lovely boyfriend!
13. Have my own flat with Sam (the boyfriend)
14. Travel to Ireland
15. Explore Devon
16. Start a painting company
17. Stay in a 5star hotel, even if it was only for a night!
18. Take a road trip with my best friends (NAGAH)
19. Put a padlock on the bridge in Paris
20. Pay off all my debts to my dad
21. Make my mum proud

Even though I have done quite a few of these things before I haven't done them without my family. I want to do them again with different people that I now have in my life and the people that have always been there. Hopefully I will be able to cross off some of these goals this year and continue to work hard and make my way all the way through the list!

Cinema Trip

Hat - H&M | Denim Jacket - Vintage | Smock

Dress - ASOS

This week a couple of my oldest friends and I decided to have a trip to the cinema to see Identity Thief (if you haven't seen it I would definitely recommend that you should go - it is extremely funny!) and then have a catch up and a girly sleep over!

Whenever I go to the cinema I am always unsure on what I should wear, casual? smart? or just not bother? Especially when all you are going to do is sit in the dark for a couple of hours - so I decided that I would stick to casual, a dress, slouchy hat and a vintage denim jacket. 

What do you wear when you go to the cinema?   

Dixie

Recently I entered a competition over on Twitter to win £50 worth of jewellery from Dixi, an online Jewellery and Clothing shop, and I won! These are some of the beautiful rings that they sent to me (they also sent me a gorgeous necklace but I’m wearing it so forgot to take a photograph – doh!). They sell modern and vintage jewellery items, something perfect for everyone. I would definalty recommed that you follow them on Facebook and also on Twitter as this way you can keep up to date with their giveaways and their new collection, that is due to be released in the next couple of weeks - exciting! 

My personal favourite of all the rings above is the Sterling Silver Above Knuckle Ring! Its so delicate and unique, it adds a bit more detail to a plain outfit. Plus if you spend over £25 you get free Worldwide shipping!

Dixie 

How To Make Chocolate Macaroons!

This is the first ever time I have made Chocolate Macaroons, and it is safe to say that they were not the best I have tasted but they were still edible and not that bad as a first try! I also added in a bit of red food colouring the make the macaroons a slightly more purple colour! Hopefully the pictures above will show what we did! (:

75 grams plain flour

25 grams cocoa powder

125 grams icing sugar

2 large egg whites

15 grams caster sugar

1. Firstly preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and line baking tray with grease proof paper.

2. Then sift together the flour, cocoa powder and icing sugar into a mixing bowl.

3. Next whisk the egg whites until fairly stiff.

4. Add the caster sugar in slowly as you whisk the egg whites further till they form very stiff peaks.

5. Fold the whites into sifted dry ingredients, and combine gently until it is well-incorporated.

6. Pipe small rounds onto lined baking tray with 1cm plain nozzle, (or if you haven't got a piping bag we used rolled up grease proof paper, it didn't work that well but it did the job!) let them sit for 10 minutes to form a skin, then bake in oven for 10-12 minutes. Note at this point, they should be set but not dried out.

7. Remove macaroon shells from oven and let them cool on a rack while they are still on the baking tray. While they are cooling you should make the buttercream filling to stick the macaroon shells together!

For the Chocolate Buttercream:

55 grams cocoa powder, sifted

250 grams icing sugar, sifted

125 grams unsalted butter, softened

1. Cream together the butter and icing sugar.

2. Add sifted cocoa powder and mix until you get a smooth buttercream. (we didn't have cocoa powder so used Hot Chocolate powder instead)

3. Fill a cooled macaroon shell with the buttercream and sandwich it with another shell.

Vintage Fair - goffbot.com

A friend of mine told me about the Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair, and I am so glad she did!
I started making jewellery in March last year but I was too nervous to start up my own business, but after making and designing hundreds of pieces of jewellery from necklaces to hair slides, I decided to take the plunge only a couple of months ago and I created a page on Etsy, and since then I have had no regrets.
One day I just saw Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair in a blog post I follow, and decided to look on their website as to when the next one was. By the time I looked at the website the next Vintage Fair was only a couple of weeks away! I spoke to a few of my friends about whether I should do the fair or not, and after a lot of debate and working out if I could afford to do so, I signed up straight away!
The people that work at Judy's were so great and helped me feel at home at the fair. I am so glad that I decided to do the Vintage Fair, the experience itself was amazing, and it helped me to get out the name of my company and my details, but also helped me gain confidence in the items that I am making and selling. I will definitely be going to the next Vintage Sale!

University

So I’ve been at university for about 5months, and we are a couple of weeks into the second semester. Everything is changing rather rapidly, some of my flat mates and I have found a house and we are preparing to move in September. When I first came to university about 100 miles away from the tiny village of Wolvey I was worried about making friends and not fitting in. I really do not know what I was worried about, I have made four amazing friends that I can not imagine being in Cambridge with! They have made me feel so comfortable and really helped with the transition from being at home with my mum, to moving hours away from her. I really can not wait until September when we get our house and have endless fun tehe! Love these guys.

Minecraft Redstone Ore Night Light

A couple of weeks I ordered this Redstone Ore Night Light from Thinkgeek.com, and today it arrived! This Minecraft Light-Up Redstone Ore works by tapping it to activate the light, it has several different settings for the light low, medium, and bright shades – guaranteed to keep pigmen out! I was personally a little bit disappointed with the size of the night light, for the price of $24.99 I was expecting it to be slightly bigger than 3″ x 3″ x 3″. But overall I am extremely happy the light and can not wait until I have enough money to order the Minecraft Light Up Torch.

me.

These are a couple of photos that sum up me. I’m passionate about drawing and creating things, especially for my etsy site goffbot.com which I started in January but I have been making jewellery for over a year in preparation for setting up the shop. I also enjoy photography in my spare time, I usually use a Diana Lomo film camera or a cheap film camera and then send them away to get developed. I personally prefer to use a film camera, the grainy quality from my plastic film camera makes the photographs I take have a different feel. I am also extremely passionate about music, listening to and discovering new bands. Kids Can’t Fly are an unsigned band from the South of England, I go and watch them as much as I can and I plan on following them on tour next time they are performing!

Likes – music, art and salad!

Dislikes – lairs, the dark and the smell of bacon!

New Years Resolutions

One of my New Years Resolutions was to create a blog - more of a virtual/ visual diary, it will likely include outfits, music interests, day to day goings about and most of all my interests! 

New Years Resolutions

Spend more time with the ones I love

Start up jewellery business (http://t.co/MAuJEbnW)

Don't waste a day

Start a blog

I started a blog a while ago but I never stuck to it, but hopefully this time round I will succeed! This post may be 19 days too late - but better late than never right? I am managing so far to stick to my resolutions, but for how long?

Have you got any Resolutions?