Long Awaited Return!

Hello lovelies!

Wow, it's been well over two years since my last post and SO SO SO much has happened and I can't wait to tell everybody!

First thing's first, I'm very sorry for the long break, my health deteriorated massively for a good while, it's far from being back to normal now but I've recently been slapped by motivation to get back to blogging.

I'll give you all an update about my life in general right now then get on to something more personal and important to me if that's alright! 

Well in 2015 just after I was diagnosed with an ovarian cyst I actually met a guy and we have been dating for 2 and a half years, his name is Simon we are now living together with my grandmother and although it is quite difficult and sometimes cramped we are very very happy. He's honestly the most amazing man I've ever met and looks after me better than I could've expected. On December 14th last year, which happens to be my birthday Simon got down on one knee and proposed, since then we have been very happily engaged for almost a year and are hoping to tie the knot around either the end of 2018 or 2019 depending on finances, although admittedly I have already bought my wedding dress, oh I wish I could show everybody it but it shall have to stay hidden until the big day. 

In September 2016 I started university on a social work degree at University of Sunderland, I was absolutely miserable for two months on the course and got very little support partly because I wasn't able to stand up for myself and tell the lecturers what I needed, however one day after discussing whether or not I should drop out or do social work part time Simon pushed me into the office of the programme leader of Sociology. I absolutely adore sociology and Simon knew I would be happier there, it was a struggle but after a while the leader decided I could change courses and managed to get caught up within a couple of weeks and since then I've been overjoyed studying a subject I adore, I finished this year with 6/12 assignments being first class and the rest very solid 2:1 grades. 

Other than that there have been many ups and downs, me and Simon have both lost friends, gained new ones, had many many new experiences both together and separately, we have tried to move out, been screwed over by our local council, lost that house and moved back in with family but all of it has been a good experience for really growing up and maturing. I've been learning to cook, learning to love myself, learning to go out and be unapologetically confident in who I am, I've seen the Rocky Horror Picture show LIVE (OMG WOW!!!!), I've done things I never thought I would in my entire life, and it's been a hell of a time!

We have attended appointments and the Centre for Life to find out about our fertility as a couple, I've learned a lot more about myself and about my medical conditions which has been very enlightening. 

So, with that update out of the way there's something very important I need to move on to if I may. When I was only a little sprout, about 5 or 6 I was diagnosed with a disease known as Pro-opiomelanocirtin Deficiency Disorder (POMC), which is a very serious and extremely rare condition that causes severe early onset obesity, my dad also has this condition and it affects us both very differently, I don't want to say too much about it as I will get to that soon.  Recently I've been learning a lot more about my condition that affects pretty much every single aspect of my life, I've been looking for treatments, trials and support for people with this and similar conditions, I've connected with some lovely people who have taught me quite a lot in a very short amount of time and one thing I have realised about this condition is that there is not, anywhere near enough information or awareness about this disease for the general public, schools or even in GPs surgeries. Thus, I'm making a major shift in the kind of blog this will be, I am going to be posting a lot more about this condition, my journey and others' journey living with this, I will hopefully be able to contact others and find out about how they live with it. I want to document everyday life of somebody who has POMC, how it affects them, what kind of support there is available. Should I be lucky enough to trial a drug that's being tested to manage it now I want to document the process of taking it honestly, without any faffing or fussing. People need to know the truth of such a condition as it is very serious, life-threatening and difficult to live with as I have found out first hand. I would appreciate it if these posts can be shared as the purpose of this blog now is to raise awareness of POMC even if it is just in a small way, every little helps after all. 

However, do not despair as I am fully planning on keeping the lifestyle aspect of the blog running and I have many more ideas for advice posts, support, general discussions and so on but the posts may be less frequent than before as university is going to get more heavy workloads particularly in years 2 and 3. Please bear with me if posts aren't coming as thick and fast as liked. 

Thanks for reading and I hope you all come back to read more!

P.S. I want to thank everybody who, in the two years that I was gone, continued to read and comment on and share my blog posts, you're wonderful people and you're the reason I came back to this blog instead of beginning a new one! I hope you're all having wonderful lives yourselves!!

Love,

Katy. xo

Back to College and Catch Up!

Afternoon lovely people,

it's been a fab two weeks off despite the ups and downs but honestly I've thoroughly enjoyed myself. I've not blogged for a while purely because I've spent quite a lot of time out of the house this week with friends, having BBQs, shopping, and such other fun things. overall it's been a rather busy holidays and I had planned to spend them just chilling out, reading, doing some cross stitch and knitting (19 going on 90 here!) but I've really enjoyed what I've ended up doing. 

I hope everybody else has had a great easter break too filled with chocolate and lazing about. With the two weeks off I've managed to get a couple of blog post ideas drafted which will definitely be posted over the next few weeks but most importantly after nearly 2 whole years I've finally managed to book a singing and piano lesson with my favourite music teacher!! I am so so so excited about this because I've been waiting to do it for ages and now i actually have an income I have a lesson for Friday at 5, music is one of my biggest passions and I adore singing and piano as well as clarinet so hopefully within a few lessons I'll have my mojo back and be playing Beethoven's 'Moonlight' Sonata soon enough. 

Anyway, because it's back to college tomorrow *insert sarcastic comment* I thought I'd do a quick post before I have to go an get all of my things together for the morrow, so far I have a to do list that goes onto back and front of a sheet A4 paper, oh the joys. I'm also going to spend some time researching jobs I might want in the future because I seem to be flip flopping and I'm gonna need my personal statement started soon so hopefully that'll help. Anywho, I shan't bore you lot anymore I just want to wish everyone a happy easter and a good start back to the last term in college/sixth form or wherever you are!!

Love Katherine. X

Blogging Tips & Tricks

Hello all!

I've been blogging for a while now and this particular blog is not my first, although it is my favourite of all 4 of the blogs I've maintained. I've had this blog for almost 3 months now and I think it's high time I put together a little list of all the blogging tips and tricks that I've learnt over the last few years of blogging. Hopefully some of you will find this useful, I think if I'd had a list of things that I know now before I began blogging it would have been a much smoother experience but I'm honestly very happy with my blog at the moment although a few things need to be tweaked soon. So, without further ado I shall begin. 

Schedule!

Once you've got through the main stages of starting your blog, so things like choosing on the type of blogger you want to be (e.g. I label myself as a mainly lifestyle blogger but I do like to throw a bit of fashion, beauty, food and other stuff in there too), creating the theme of your blog and so on, I would say it's then a good idea to plan or get yourself into a blogging schedule. Schedules will help massively because not only do they give you motivation to keep posting but life can be made much easier by scheduling particular days on which you'll post. This way you'll be able to keep posts consistent and give your readers something to look forward to regularly. 

Stay Consistent

In the previous point I mentioned that keeping posts consistent will keep readers interested and keep the traffic coming in. Traffic is definitely not the most important thing when you're blogging and t's a real shame that a lot more bloggers are focusing more on the traffic that the actual writing but admittedly we all like to see that we have traffic coming in because it means we're drawing the attention of readers and keeping them intrigued with content. By posting every other day or on particular days you'll get into a routine in which you'll become consistent in your writing/posting times. 

Carry Notebooks

I highly recommend that you keep a notebook or pad of paper nearby because the majority of bogglers I've spoken to personally say that inspiration comes to them in the most inappropriate of places... like when you're on the phone and there's never a pen near you. Notebooks, pads or even notes in your phone mean you're able to write down some of your best ideas for later on. It's a good idea to plan ahead on this one as well because the topics you're looking forward to writing about can be worked into your schedule so you can definitely get your best ideas out there at some point. 

Find Inspiration

If you're stuck for inspiration and need a bit of a helping hand there are a good few ways you can get over bloggers block. I'd definitely recommend having a bit of a brainstorm with friends or other bloggers you talk to, this means you're all sharing ideas in an open way and ideas can be shared that you may never have thought about in a million years! Another way of getting inspiration for posts is by asking your audience what THEY think you should write about, because who wants to read a blog that doesn't cater to what their audience want to hear about? By asking the audience also a sense of respect and value is given because you're listening to what they would like. 

Look into Social Media 

When I first started blogging on a serious level I was told social media was a big part of blogging and it would definitely help get my blog seen and I'd get more feedback. Obviously thinking I knew better I didn't take social media very seriously but it's genuinely a pretty big part of blogging. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Bloglovin' are significantly involved in getting blogs seen and networking with other bloggers from my experience. I've been able to meet some wonderful bloggers such as Danielle from Underland to Wonderland and Tamara from  Me Just Talking To You. Other fantastic bloggers have been able to give me advice and support throughout my blogging experience and I would say it's something you wouldn't want to miss out on even if social media isn't your thing. 

Write What You Love

I have always said whether it is blogging, writing novels, magazine articles or whatever it is you write always write from the heart. If a blogger isn't writing with passion or interest then it shows greatly in their posts. This can be a major put off for readers, I  prefer reading things that you can tell are from the heart because they tend to lure me in and keep me hooked! The same goes for writers who don't write as they speak, it's not believable when someone writes things like 'verily' or 'forsooth'... I have no idea who does write like that but you get the picture. It's not real. Give your readers the REAL you and they'll thank you for it in the end. 

Thanks so much for reading, hope this helped all you fledgling bloggers!

Love Katherine. X

5 Games for Nights In - Drinking or Not

image from Google

Hi everyone!

A few weeks ago me, my friends Annie, Aidan and Matt were all together at Annie and Aidan's house and we had a bit of a 'get together' type affair as all 4 of us aren't really together very often. Each time all four of us are together it's always a really good night in my opinion because I, personally, am definitely not the clubbing type, I'm not even a fan of going to pubs if I'm totally honest. So, for me good nights in with good people are top notch, I'm also not a big drinker really as I'm actually quite allergic to alcohol so when we do get together and there is drinking there's always some fun games to play that, usually, don't involve a whole load of drinking for me as I'm pretty good as games like these. I've managed to get together my top 5 favourite games to play for those people who drink and those who don't. 

1. Fuzzy Duck - This is a British word type game that can be played with 2 players but more players makes for a better game. One person from the circle of players is nominated to start, they begin by saying "Fuzzy Duck", going clockwise the next player will say either " Fuzzy Duck" or they will ask "Does He?". The circle then goes backwards anti-clockwise, with players saying "Ducky Fuzz" instead of "Fuzzy Duck". This carried on as players alternate what they are saying. This is a really fun game to start the night with whether you're drinking or not because it's just as easy to make a mistake with the pronunciation (if you catch my drift), the swearing from this game can become seriously funny if you individuals decide to take a shot whenever a mistake is made. 

2. Suck and Blow - Now this one isn't as bad as it sounds, I promise. For this game one individual gets a cars to their lips and sucks air in to keep the card to their lips, they then to to the player on their left and pass the car to the other players lips. The aim of the game is to keep the card going in a circle for as long as possible, if you're drinking take a drink whenever you drop the card. 

3. Roxanne - The Police recorded their song Roxanne in 1978 and decades later people are still playing it... as a drinking game too! This is a game that should only be played if you're drinking, if not it becomes very boring. Divide into two teams e.g. guys v. girls, stand opposite one another and put 'Roxanne' on loud. Team A: whenever you hear the word 'Roxanne' drink and whenever you hear 'Red Light' spin on the spot. Team B: Do the exact opposite, spin on 'Roxanne' and drink on 'Red Light'. Keep repeating this, the more times it's done the funnier it becomes watching people wobble. 

4. I Have Never - This is a drinking game classic, it's brilliant to get to know people and get to know the scandalous things they've gotten up to! One person in the circle says something they have never done e.g. "I have never ridden a motorcycle", those of the group that have ridden a motorcycle must drink. The game continues like that and is much more interesting if the statements get... well mischievous. 

5. Drive By - Drive By is one of my favourite games to watch as the end result can be highly amusing. This game was first suggested to me by Aidan Ford, take a single shot glass and fill (halfway) with a drink of your choice, the first person to finish 10 shots wins. This is one of the more... intense drinking games and although it's fun to watch it's essential that you don't drink too much. The last time myself and Aidan went head-to-head in this game Annie Filmed it on her camera whilst her and Matt laughed at us both, Aidan ended up being... ill. I believe firmly although he managed 6 shots I was the true winner and I sort of managed to keep my senses. 

All of the above games can be played with or without alcoholic drinks, however if you do choose to drink with any of these games I must stress the importance of drinking responsibly. Listen to your body and stop drinking before you feel you've had enough. Be sure to eat at regular intervals and DO NOT UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES drink and drive.  Always drink responsibly and be safe. 

Love Katherine. X

Last Week Summary and This Week's Plans

Hi All!

This post is a little late as I usually post it on a Sunday but I wasn't in the blogging mood last night so I ended up reading instead... unforgivable I know. Anywho, as many of you will know last week it was half term for those of you at college or school or whatever, and for most people it's a lovely time to rest and relax... not for me this time. I thought I'd been busy at college lately but I haven't had a minutes peace this week. No rest for the wicked I suppose. Monday and Tuesday were spent attempting to get an assignment done, it wasn't a particularly difficult one but I had to explain to job roles in the children's workforce, 4 pieces of legislation that affect looked after children and evaluate regulatory bodies al in 1,000 words; for me that was like climbing a mountain because I really struggle when it comes to writing a little about a lot, you've probably all gathered that I tend to babble quite a bit.

So, those two days were literally full of research and coursework from the minute I got up to the minute I went to bed, no lie, it was a thrilling 48 hours, I can tell you that for nothing. I had planned on spending Wednesday just relaxing and reading or cross-stitching something that involved me not moving and drinking lots of tea. Well, that didn't work out, my elderly uncle came over on Wednesday morning and I offered him a lift home so he wouldn't wait for the bus in the rain. I was about 1/4 of the way there when I was pulled over by a massive tuck, the driver got out and told me I had a flat tyre, this came as a bit of a shock because it must've gone down during the night as I had planned to take my car to the garage to get a slow puncture fixed in the tyre on Thursday, it happened a day earlier anyway. When I checked it, it was pretty bad so I thought I'd get myself through to the garage right away, which I did. In the waiting rom for 20 minutes before the mechanic came in and asked me when my last service was, September last year and everything came back perfect. No, no, no, no. Turns out all of my tyres were below the legal limit tread depth and my break pads were over 95% worn, which is not exactly safe. My usual Richard Hardie garage in Durham had either not checked my car properly (important to note it's not even 2 years old yet and I had been twice about brake issues before!) or they'd given me correct info. So I ended up going back to the garage on Thursday and having my brake pads changed and all 4 tyres changed. That took up Thursday too. Friday I went to a house party with my three closest friends and ended up having an extreme fun night in which funny videos and pictures were taken. I completely lost Saturday to sleep to be honest which was much needed after Friday. With all my work finished and myself recovered from Friday's antics I was determined to read all day Sunday... No. i had at least 7 people from my college class asking me what to do on this assignment despite the fact it had to be handed in today (GO NERDS). Lord knows why people leave things so late. So I ended up spending my day on the phone to people explaining it properly. No reading done again. I must apologise for my very long rant about my week haha.

This week is really short, today and Tuesday is college and college is closed on Wednesday for staff training so I'll be getting my cute butt down to work and spending sometime with the kids there on Wednesday and Thursday! Eeek very excited for it :)

I believe I'm going for a meal on Friday with a friend from college and no doubt I'll organise something for Saturday to keep me occupied. I'm very hopeful that this week I will actually get some reading done haha!

Thank you all for reading! I hope you're all having wonderful weeks and had a fab half term!

Love Katherine. X

A Few of My Favourite Things! Tag

Hi All!I've decided to do do the Few of my Favourite Things Tag, I only stumbled across this today because I've had that song stuck in my head all day, you know the one "these are a few of my favourite things" I can't remember what movie that song is from but anyway, I started googling whether there was a tag like this and I found one! So, I took my chances and decided to do it, it's been pretty fun writing it so i hope you all like reading it!
Products/Things: Snape's wand I got from the Warner Brothers Studio Tour, Prada Candy perfume, my 62 year old teddy bear that's been passed to me from my grandma's generation, my books and my special mugs.Foods: Pizza, Sunday/Christmas dinners, Sensations Thai Sweet Chilli crisps, Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough ice cream! All at the same time of course ;)Places: Whitby, York, Edinburgh, London and Ireland, I've posted about these places previously and Ireland was included in my Travel Bucket List.
Things you'd miss if you didn't have them: My family, my friends, my iPod as I can't live without my music, my books obviously, my notebooks and finally my onesies, I adore my onesies and especially on cold days I'd miss them too much.
Things you do when you're bored: Read, play piano, sing, blog, watch my favourite box sets.
Things you do when it's sunny: Go to the beach, spend time with friends, go swimming or ice skating and do a bit of yoga.
Films: Rudolph the movie, Oliver and Company, The Book Thief, the Santa Clause movies, Brave, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland (with Johnny Depp), Pirates of the Caribbean.
Songs: Téir Abhail Riú by Celtic Woman, Galway Girl - Foster and Allen Ft. Shayne Ward, Boys are Back in Town - Thin Lizzy, Stand By Me - Ben E. King.
Brands: Prada, Kandee (love their shoes), Converse, Cath Kidston.
Outdoor things you like: Starry nights, dark nights, bright summer colours, dark rain cloud colours, snow, being caught in a storm, swimming in the sea.
Events: Christmas Eve/Day, Boxing day, my birthday, Halloween, Winter Solstice, Summer equinox, National Book Awards.
Cartoons: Family Guy, South Park, Simpsons, Rugrats, Recess.
Buildings: Edinburgh castle, Durham Cathedral, york cathedral, Whitby Abbey. Anything in everyday life: Children laughing, seeing my family happy, cups of tea, being warm, talking to friends and reading. 
Traits in a person: Humour, tolerance, kindness, maturity, family orientated, nurturing and generally upbeat/optimistic. 

Influences: My Mam and Grandma, Sarah Millican, J.K. Rowling, Acker Bilk, Derek Landy, all women in Celtic Woman. 

Drinks: Tea, honey and lemon tea, hot chocolate, Dr Pepper with ice on a hot day, Lemon water, did I mention tea? Shlœr and tea. 

Experiences: College, Warner Brothers Studio Tour, Haven Holiday 2012 with Aymie, passing my theory and practical driving tests. 

Things to watch: Documentaries, News, Debates, Music videos, tennis, swimming cooking shows etc. 

Youtubers: Rose and Rosie, Kaelyn and Lucy, Zoelle, Sprinkle of Glitter, Beauty Crush, Tess Christine, Ugly Face of Beauty, Bethany Mota. 

Bloggers: A Bloke's Eye View, Maddy Kake, Aymie Louise, Underland to Wonderland, Me Just Talking To You.

Books: Lord of the Rings series, Harry Potter series, Skulduggery Pleasant series, Sherlock Holmes series, literally any book by Danielle Steel or Pamela Evans. 

*NOTE: Ihave absolutely no idea what's happened the the writing on this post and I don't seem to be able to sort it out, I've rewritten it several times too, so sorry for the weird writing everyone!

Love Katherine. X

My Top 10 Disney Movies!

Just a few DVDs in my Disney film collection

I'm a Disney addict and there's just no denying that fact anymore. I, Katherine H. J. S.  Simpson, am a complete and total Disney freak! I'm 19 years old and I am proud to say it, in all seriousness I do absolutely love Disney movies and there's nothing like a good Disney film to make you feel better, which is exactly why I'm planning on doing nothing tomorrow once I've been to the dentist, other than watching Disney films. I'm pretty sure that even people who claim not to like those movies do like at least one Walt Disney film and if you don't you're probably just denying your love for them. This is a list of my top 10 all time favourite Disney films from childhood to... well, now. This list is in no particular order other than my favourite movie right at the motto of this list. :)

Beauty and The Beast

Beauty and The Beast is one of the most brilliant Disney film I think I've ever seen, it's cliché in typical Disney style, nothing is ever straightforward with love stories but a beautiful lady falling head over heels for a beast? It actually does make a great love story and I really think this film shows the importance of looking beneath a person's appearance in order to find the wonderful person underneath the hard, guarded exterior of some people. For me I always thought this film was about showing young children everywhere that no matter who they are, everyone is loveable. 

Oliver and Company

Whoever doesn't like Oliver and Company must be crazy I'm sorry to say. I mean who doesn't love a story about a cute little kitten being abandoned on the streets of New York City, finding a loving home and attempting to fit in with a crowd of dogs? This is a lovely hear warming tale of friendship, belonging and finding your own way, if you've not seen it, give it a watch! The songs are lovely and Dodger the main Mutt is just fab, he has better street cred than me!

Brave

Brave is one of my absolute favourite Disney films and I could watch it over and over again and not get bored of it. I actually think this film is pretty relatable because almost all of us have, at one time or another, experienced firsthand or seen it happen to a friend, where you feel pressurised to be something you're not because of a parent's expectations. The fact that throughout this film you get to see the development of the relationship between Merida and her rather highly strung mother is hear warming to watch as the two meet in the middle and Merida is finally allowed to be herself. I adore the triplet brothers in this film and Billy Connolly was as epic as usual in this.

The Emperors New Groove

The Emperors New Groove is probably one of the funniest Disney films I've watched so far, Kuzco and Kronk are probably two of the funniest characters Disney has come up with yet purely because Kuzco is so self involved he's oblivious to everything that goes on around him and Kronk is so kind and gentle he's really naive because of it. The movie is just totally weird also because I mean... a selfish, arrogant, spoiled emperor plans to tear down a village to build a huge pool on top of someones home but in an attempt to kill this emperor a woman who wishes to become empress accidentally turns him into a llama and he must go about with a peasant until all is well again... where else but Disney?!

Cinderella

Cinderella is a total classic, I always smile when I watch this and I remember when my grandma used to sing Bippity Boppity Boo to me when I was tiny before I went to sleep. It's a lovely film and I think sometimes everyone feels like Cinderella or wants to be the girl/guy to go the ball and find their love. I know I've spent hours dreaming about what it would be like to be someone like Cinderella or having a fairy godmother. 

Lilo and Stitch

"Ohana means family, and family means no-one gets left behind  *sobs uncontrollably* I love this film so much I still actually know all of the hawaiian dance moves Lilo knocks out right at the beginning of the movie! Stitch is so cute and to watch a character progress from practically evil to loving best friend is adorable to watch, the soundtrack packed full of Elvis songs is definitely a bonus in my book too! I love that this film shows how even the strangest of little creatures can become part of the family if everyone is willing to accept them. 

Tarzan

I've always thought of Tarzan as one of those movies that tends to be forgotten about with many people yet I have no idea why so many people ignore this movie. It's a great little story with some pretty good twists and turn, particularly as the main characters adoptive parents are gorillas! The soundtrack consists mainly of Phil Collins which is just another plus in my book to be quite honest. I love the initial relationship between Jane and Tarzan but the researcher and study thing build a relationship of their own, it's really lovely to watch. 

Alice in Wonderland

I love Alice in Wonderland because it is so... Quirky. That's probably the only word to describe it really. Disney's adaptation of the book written by a drug addled Lewis Caroll, it's wonderfully wicked, good fun and totally loopy, the characters are so diverse and amusing that the whole film is like some weird hallucinogenic subliminal message. it's crazy and I adore it! The 2010 adaptation with Johnny Depp is absolutely wonderful too but then again, anything with Johnny Depp in usually is. 

Frozen

Now, I'm sure pretty much everyone has seen or at the very least heard of the 2013 Disney 'breakthrough' Frozen, yes? Well if not you must be living under a rock, in a cave, in the alps, where there is no wifi. I refused to watch this film when it first came out purely because I'm the type of person that really doesn't like to hum on fad bandwagons, I prefer to wait until all the hoo-ha dies down. Awywho, I watched this movie in early 2014 and WOW I was genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed it, I was over the moon that somebody has finally said it's not right for a woman to marry a man she's just met, the cuteness of Olaf and Sven and the fact that true loves kiss was two estranged sisters rather than a romantic coupling type affair. This was one of the biggest Disney films of the past 10 years and I can see why, the dynamics of the typical Disney style had been completely changed for the better, if I do day so myself!

Mulan

Mulan is my ultimate favourite Disney film! Based on a true story of heroism, strength and bravery Fa Mulan goes to war disguised as a male soldier in order to stop her failing father from going to war and getting himself fatally hurt, this is a movie of female power and basically she's one of the original feminists. What a film! With the help of her dragon friend Mushu and a lovely cricket Mulan saves China from the wrath of the huns, singing some very catchy tunes as she goes along. I'll always love this film and it will always be my favourite. 

Of course I've missed quite a few movies off this list including: 

• Snow White
• The Little Mermaid
• Lion King
• A Goofy Movie
• Lady and The Tramp

And SO many more.

In the past few years Disney has changed so much that all I can do is hope that when I have my children, they're fortunate enough to know the joys that some of these movies were able to bring me and millions of other young girls and boys. 

Love Katherine. X

Maya Angelou 'Letter To My Daughter' Book Review

Hello everyone! 

Today's second post is going to be the first of many book reviews that I'm planning on writing on this blog, I'm extremely excited about these posts as I grab any chance I have to post about books. As I'm an avid reader I doubt I'll be running short of books to review, some of the books I'll be reviewing in the future will be rather old and some relatively new, this is because I believe that somewhere, someone will read my blog and might just want to read one of the books that have been reviewed and I honestly can't think of a better way to use this blog than giving someone a bloody good book to read! I'll be reviewing each and every one in my own words and not all of the books I'll be reviewing will be good or booth that I've really enjoyed. As this is my first book review post I'm doing it on a Tuesday because I'm so excited to get it out and finished, however, from now on I'll be posting these reviews either every Sunday or every other Sunday depending on how much time I get to read because of college. 

This week's book is by the late, very great Maya Angelou and it's her book 'Letter To My Daughter' that I'll be looking at this week. I received this book for Christmas from my Mam and I was overjoyed when I unwrapped it; Angelou is one of my favourite writers, one of which I've only recently gotten into, I've some of her other work and I find her writing truly mesmerising, and her writing style a joy to read. This book is a collection of brief essays in an autobiographical form in which Angelou recounts lessons she's learned throughout her life;  she addresses this book to her daughters. Angelou gave birth only once to a son but in her book entitled 'Letter To My Daughter' she speaks to the millions of women around the world, in her introduction she states this as follows "fat and thin, pretty and plain, gay and straight, educated and unlettered. I am talking to you all". Throughout the book Angelou provides each brief chapter or essay with her usual passion and delivers it with her usual, beautifully poetic style, in fact some chapters are pure poetry, literally.
When I was reading this book I was given the sense that I was being spoken to by a gentle and caring relative grandmother figure, if you will. Chapters addressing issues from rape, vulgarity and finding love at a mature age, each gives a fantastically powerful message to end with and it was truly a joy to read, some things in this book I believe I will kep with me for the rest of my life, for example, Angelou speaks of being charitable simply by giving others your smile, of turning your music down if it's overly loud and she speaks of being brutally honest when people ask "how are you?". I will cherish and treasure this book always, I'd highly recommend it to anyone.


Love Katherine. X

College Vs. Sixth Form: My Experience

Hey Everyone!
Since it's officially my first week back to college after being ill I thought this would be the perfect time to do my comparison between sixth form and college as I've had the privilege of experiencing both environments.

Image not mine, from Google

This month it will have been five months since I and thousands of A-Level students received their final set of A-Level results. For many it will have been extremely daunting, it know it was for me! I've never excelled when it comes to exams, I get that pre-exam nervousness that then tends to linger until the end of the exam and then post-exam panic begins to rear its ugly head. I can't win.

I was utterly convinced that I would be running out of my sixth form centre with tears spilling down my face after my horrendous results had been exposed to me (and the little hoard of friends I had with me at the time) but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had done rather well; better than I had expected. I say I had done better than expected because after finding out what it was really like to be an A-Level student at a sixth form centre, I was not expecting anything good at all to come from my A levels.

After surviving years 7 and 8 at my lower school and achieving good results in most of my exams I was determined to continue my education after year 11... that was until I hit year 9 and the 'Gateway exams' arrived. I'm sure all of the people who read this that are currently around the age of 17 or 18 will remember the moment your teachers told you about picking your GCSE's and having to take the 'gateway exams', I personally was very excited about taking Music and Business Studies, music didn't turn out too well but one can't complain when the rest of the GCSE results we're, for me, fantastic. My GCSE results made the decision to continue education concrete. So, I chose to attend a sixth form college and chose my subjects, Health and Social Care, Religious Studies, Sociology and Psychology. That was when my journey as an A-Level student began. My first day of sixth form was SO exciting, I was looking forward to many more free lessons, more independence and being treated like and adult with respect by teachers. After the compulsory 3 day orientation I was really motivated that I would do well that year, I would focus more, revise more, I would get good grades and most importantly it would be easy! No. No. No.

Oh my was I wrong. Yes, despite the 6 or 7 free lessons I had per week and freedom to wander out of school in those lessons I still spent most messing about or revising for exams. Sixth Form is, excuse the language but it's bloody well difficult! If you think it's going to be just like your GCSE's you'd be wrong, the jump from GCSE standard and A-Level standard is absolutely huge! We weren't informed this before choosing out A-Levels as a group of potential students; when I discovered a C at GCSE is an E at A-Level I'm pretty sure my heart stopped and I lost the ability think for a moment... Me, an average student who barely scraped a C in maths and Science at GCSE taking heavy workload subjects such as Sociology and Psychology. WHAT WAS I THINKING?! Never the less I pushed through the first few months of sixth form preparing myself for the January exams which came and went with all of the usual exam stress, panic and hours and hours of endless revision. The results were more than disappointing, I was disheartened more than I have ever been (which is saying something for me because I'm easily disheartened, or was I should say) but I am thankful for those dreadful results. Why? Well I shall elaborate. Those results shocked me, panicked me and scared the living daylights out of me! If I didn't get my head down, spend more time revising, keeping on top of the enormous amounts of work I was, and you will be, given as an A-Level  student I would fail, I wouldn't have the bright future I'd always dreamed of; so, that's what I did. I concentrated, gave up a big part of my social life, spent my time keeping focused and grounded and it did pay off. When you are able to get your head around the immense changes in the work standard, load and quality you will be given and must understand and feedback to your tutors you will be fine at A-Level. A few reasons that sixth form isn't for everybody:

• There's a huge amount of pressure put on you.
• Lots of essays and assignments due.
• Many exams and mocks the can become stressful.
• You don't get as much freedom as you'd expect.
• Often you may need to drop a lesson you enjoy in the second year. 

Image not mine, from Google

With the right attitude A-Levels will be much easier to deal with; personally I absolutely loved the free lessons I had in my final year of sixth form. However, I chose not to attend university for my own personal reasons and opted to take two years out and take up a place at a local College, now after experiencing sixth form and, to be quite honest, the very little freedom you do actually get, I was shocked as the whole dynamics of what I thought education was like, completely changed. Everything went from, teachers being on your back constantly to having your own independence at college, it was a wonderful feeling, the facilities on my current course are far more advanced than any facility in my previous sixth form centre; the opportunities offered will provide many a fantastic experience, more opportunities to gain extra qualifications. Now my current course is BETEC and admittedly this is a better type of course for myself given exam stress and such but I simply can't fault my college experience, the variety of people I've met is wonderful, I've been given opportunities for course representative positions, LGBT officer positions, board member positions and so many more chances to take positions that are never offered to you in a sixth form environment. Personally, and many of my classmates I've spoken to agree that their experience at college has been wonderful and has given me the opportunity to gain a whole new level of individuality, independence and qualifications, so I have to say if you're planning on continuing your education, don't bypass the thought of college, it may not be in your comfort zone or you may want to stay in a place where you have friends, you know the teachers and such but take some time to think about what you really want to gain from your educational experiences and what you really want to do. Yes, Sixth Form provides a good foundation for independence and opportunities but often college goes above and beyond the chances for personal and professional development. Consider college and sixth form, I have to say my experiences of both have been positive however College is a wonderful place to gain a deeper understanding of yourself and others around you. 

Thanks very much for taking the time to read my blog and putting up with my opinions.

Love Katherine. X

3 Things I Like About Myself and 3 Things I Don't

Credit to Effyourbeautystandards on Instagram

This post is a kind of follow on from yesterday's Advice to My Younger Self post, that post was very personal to me as it addressed some of the issues I've faced in the past however, I would like to keep a theme of body positivity and self acceptance going on my blog for as long as possible as I feel it's really very important to spread a vibe of body confidence to everyone. Therefore I'm going to write a post on 3 things I like about myself and 3 things I'm not too keen on, I've only written three of each because I have an assignment for college and I'm rather pushed for time, so lets get down to it, enjoy everyone!

I LIKE: I really love my eyes, they're such a lovely combination of colours, my eyes start as a very dark green around the outside or the iris and they gradually get a lighter green until theres a light yellow right around the pupil area. Also because of my eye colour I really suit browns, golds and creams in eyeshadow shades which I love to wear anyway so... bonus!

I DON'T LIKE: I really don't like how much of a stress head I am. If I could change anything about myself I would honestly say that I would change how I handle stress. I've always stressed over little things, even things like what book I'm going to read next, so big things like life decisions tend to be daunting times for me purely because of how high my stress levels go. My best friend is so laid back and I really envy her for that, I'm currently in the process of finding ways to relax when I' stressed and so far I've found gallons of tea and cross stitching works rather well. 

I LIKE: I like how sensible I can be, a lot of the time when I was younger I was really insecure about being so different from other girls my age, I was never into going out drinking or staying out on school nights and I think because of that I was able to look at the culture of people my age in a different way, I was able to spend more time on getting good grades and having nights in with my friends when we were free to do so. 

I DON'T LIKE: I don't like my my eye sight, I mentioned above that I really like my eyes, well I don't like how my eyes work... or don't. I have pretty bad eyesight and I can't really take my glasses off without bumping into something or falling over, I would love to have better eyesight. 

I LIKE: I absolutely love my boobs! This might be too much information but I love my bosoms, they're pretty large and have been since I was young. They've always made me feel really feminine, womanly and when I find a bra that actually fits and they're in a good top I can't help but feel really good about myself because I've found that having melons my size also really helps to accentuate my waist and hips, both of which I also love!

I DON'T LIKE: I'm not too keen on my feet but then again I'm not keen on anybody's feet so technicallyI don't think that should count, so I'm going to end on a positive note despite the fact that it's in the I DON'T LIKE  section. I do like myself, it was so hard to think about all the things I don't like about myself but honestly was a doodle to list 5 or even 10 things that I like about myself and that's because I've finally learned to love myself and my flaws not in spite of my flaws because my flaws are part of what makes me, well... fabulous ME!

I hope more people out in the world will learn to love themselves because no matter who you are I genuinely believe that you deserve to love yourself!

Love Katherine. X

Garlic and Honey Chicken Pieces: Quick Lunch Recipie

Hi Everyone!

Today has been a pretty slow day to be honest, I woke up around 8:30 this morning and I've been on doing an assignment for college ever since so as you can all probably guess today's been packed full of fun. Anyway, I've been looking to post a few recipes on my blog but I haven't found any I really like enough to post until now. I am far from a good cook, in fact a personal goal is to learn to cook healthily as soon as I'm feeling better; today everyone is the house was out so I took the opportunity to test out a recipe I found in a book a few weeks ago - Honey and Garlic Chicken Pieces. Turns out it's delicious and I'll definitely be making it again. I'll put the ingredients and directions below if you fancy a go. 

Today I was making for my family so the portions/measurements were for several people. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 cup of sesame seeds
• 1 cup of breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 1/4 cup of soy sauce 
• 3 cloves of minced garlic
• Salt and Pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Firstly, you're going to want to preheat your oven to around 370/375F and line a baking tray with parchment paper. 

Put the breadcrumbs into a medium sized bowl and mix in the sesame seeds, once you've done that put both eggs into a bowl and beat them, add salt and pepper to the beaten eggs to taste. 

Next, cut the chicken into strips or cubes of about 1 inch in size and put the chicken into the egg mixture, make sure each piece of chicken is coated thoroughly with the egg mixture. 

Next you'll need to place each piece of chicken into the bowl of seeds and breadcrumbs and coat generously, ensure the whole of the chicken piece is covered. Place the coated chicken pieces on the baking tray and place in the over for 20 to 25 minutes on a high heat. 

For the sauce:

Crush the cloves of garlic or mince them, add the minced garlic to the 1/4 cup of honey and 1/4 cup of soy sauce, add salt and pepper to taste. One that's all mixed together pour it into a saucepan and put that on the hob on a high heat. Leave it there stirring regularly until brought to a boil, once boiling turn down to a medium heat and leave to cook for a minute or two, stirring at regular intervals. 

Once that's done you're ready to plate up! You can either drizzle the sauce over the chicken pieces or you can have it as a dipping sauce, personally I prefer the dipping sauce but it's totally up to you.

I hope you enjoyed that recipe and let me know some of your favourite quick recipes.

Love Katherine. X

50 "Interesting" Facts About Me Tag!

Very bad picture... but it's Me!

Hi All! 

Right now I'm sitting at home, feeling less than my usual self as I've got some sort of bad cold so I came home from college earlier. I'm only really doing this post because I was chatting to another blogger who isn't active any longer, unfortunately; she was telling me that she enjoyed writing this post and it might be worth me having a go, so here I am giving it a good go. I'm jut going to be posting 50 facts about me that seem interesting, it's going to be kind of difficult because I'm not THE most interesting person to ever live... then again who is? Right, let's get down to it!

1. My full name is Katherine Hayley Jazz Savage Simpson - kind of a mouthful but I love my name. 
2. I'm naturally a lightish blonde however I dye my hair dark chocolate because I always loved brunettes. 
3. I LOVE Christmas.
4. I study Health and Social Care.
5. I hope to be a university lecturer (of either health and social care or social work) in the future.
6. I am a total bookworm, I read like 40-50 books a year. 
7. I'm obsessed with Harry Potter.
8. My favourite book series is Skulduggery Pleasant - I've read them all (including novellas) at least 10 times. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm reading them all again right now, currently on the 5th book (Mortal Coil)
9. I am seriously obsessive compulsive. 
10. I choose not to label my style, some people find that rather odd.
11. Spiders are my worst nightmare, I have a meltdown if I see even a money spider.
12. I started blogging as a way of venting any stress I had after college or whatever. It genuinely helps me wind down.
13. Sarah Millican is my idol, that woman is fabulous. 
14. I'm a nail polish addict.
15.  have a really, really rare genetic mutation that affects my DNA and certain receptors in my brain. As far as we know only myself and my father has this  exact condition in the Europe.
16. I have a teddy bear in my room that's been passed from child to child in your family for 60 years. That's pretty cool if you ask me. 
17. I live in converses.
18. I have to hamsters called Hamish (as in McBeth) and Molly (as in Hooper from Sherlock)
19. I'm an only child.
20. I'm atrocious at mathematics.
21. My favourite writer is Danielle Steel (other than Derek Landy obviously)
22. I don't drink.
23. I'm an ex-smoker now. 
24. I'm 5 foot 4 inches.
25. I have green and yellow eyes.
26. I play piano extremely well. 
27. My favourite thing to play on piano is Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. 
28. I play Clarinet.
29. I also sing, my preferred singing style is opera. 
30. I have a MacBook Pro that I haven't worked how to use yet.
31. I have 9 piercings all in all. 
32. I proudly identify as a feminist!
33. I'd love to be a hippie.
34. Whitby is my favourite place on earth. 
35. I have a Peugeot 3008 13 reg car.
36. I passed my driving test first go, both theory and practical.
37. I'm allergic to lavender.
38. I once took part in a singing contest and won against professionals. 
39. I can speak German and a bit of French.
40. My favourite part of my body is my bosom area, TMI but it is. :)
41. I once had a Bearded Dragon I had to give up called Shelley.
42. Silver is my favourite colour.
43. I have PCO/S. Not interesting but I'm struggling for facts now ha. 
44. Despite this post I don't like talking about myself.
45. I have a rescue bullmastiff named Bella.
46. I live with my Mam.
47. I'm from the Newcastle area.
48. I hate shopping, with the exception of stationary shopping.
49. I love jewellery, especially rings but I can't wear fake stuff because of allergies. 
50. My Mam and Grandma are THE two most important women in my life. 

I hope you all enjoyed reading this because I really struggled to find all of those facts! The picture at the beginning of this post is of my beautiful mug, in case you hadn't gotten that before... ;) 

Love Katherine. X

My Weekend and Next Weekend Plans!

Hi guys! 

As you all know tomorrow it's back to the daily grind so it's highly likely that I won't be posting every day, or at least not twice a day as it has been recently. Anyway, I did a post similar to this one about a week ago, have a look at that here if you fancy a peek, and it was good fun to write particularly as a great deal of writing wasn't really needed. So, I decided to do another and add on a few of my plans for next weekend, I hope you all enjoy it. 

This weekend has been really slow for me and I haven't been up to much as all, the majority of my family came down with some sort of cold this weekend so I was in charge of looking after them, I was planning to go shopping with my friend Aymie however that was put on hold because of my carer duties. So when I wasn't busy with the family I did some online shopping and bought a ton of clothes from  ASOS, Yours Clothing, Debenhams, Simply Be and Schuh which hopefully I'll be scheduling a blog post on at some point in the near future. I've spent a lot of my time reading some of the many books I got for my birthday and Christmas which again I hope to review a few of. Yesterday I was given a bit of time to relax and decided I should take my Christmas decorations down, that was a painful experience given how much I love Christmas. I swear they're going up in October this year. 

Also because I'm getting into blogging much more I had the pleasure of meting and speaking to a few really, really lovely bloggers who I plan on mentioning at the end of this post. 

Today has been a little bit boring, so far I've done some housework, blogged a little and done some reading, I suffer from PCO/S and I have good days and bad days, to day is a bad day, it often drains me of energy much quicker than on a good day and the pain definitely isn't a bonus of the condition so I've decided that tonight is going to be full of relaxing and pampering before I'm back at college tomorrow. Face masks, hot bath, gallons of tea and my favourite book series is what's needed for tonight methinks. 

So thats it for what I've been up to this weekend, pretty dull I know but I'm hoping next week will be much better. I'm planning on going to IKEA, LUSH Cosmetics and the metro centre for bait of retail therapy with a friend, I'm also planning on going to Waterstones and getting myself to many books that I won't be able to fit them all in my car! That's if my bank account allows ha. Anyway, thank you all for reading and I hope everyone has a lovely night and a better week! Below you'll find a list of the wonderful bloggers mentioned earlier in the post. :)

- http://www.underlandtowonderland.com This blog is absolutely wonderful and it's quickly become one of my favourites, Danielle is also a lovely person and she recently mentioned this blog in a post of her own, thanks again for that!

- http://mejusttalkingtoyou.wordpress.com Again this is another fabulous blog run by a fabulous lady, Tamara is so nice and she's also helping myself and Aymie organise a bloggers meet up in Newcastle round February time - more info on that soon by the way. 

- Finally I couldn't mention some of my favourite bloggers without including Aymie Louise http://aymielouise.blogspot.co.uk  Aymie is a natural at blogging and her blog is varied and diverse, she's also really easy to talk to and welcomes interaction with other bloggers as I do. 

Each blog mentioned above is brilliant and more than worth a look, I'd recommend reading these blogs to anyone!

Love Katherine. X

The Beauty Tag

Hi Everyone!

One of my new years resolutions that wasn't mentioned on my resolutions post (find that here) was to make sure I post more fashion and beauty type things. I haven't really been doing many of those but, that's mainly because, I was really stuck for ideas as to what to write for them. Now after brainstorming last night because I couldn't sleep I thought a good way to kickstart the beauty aspect of my blog would be to do the beauty tag! I'll only be answering 20 questions but there will be a few more posts similar to this one coming up for beauty and fashion; enjoy!

How often do you wear makeup?

I wear make up when I'm going out, usually to an event or a meal or whatever is going on. I wear a little when I go to college or to the shops but I don't go all out with it, I never ever wear make up in the house unless I'm just messing around with new looks.

Would you leave the house without make up?

Oh yeah definitely, if you can go out without make up and still feel beautiful and confident I would say the self esteem might need some work, then again I know some people love make up that much they they wear it all the time and that's totally fine, it's all about preference.

What do you use in terms of skin care? 

At the moment I'm using Simple kind to skin purifying cleansing lotion which is fantastic! it keeps my skin smooth and clear and it's also helped balance out my skin tone. I also use the kind to skin facial cleansing wipes they just help to again keep my skin smooth and I use them predominantly at night. I use Clerasil blackhead clearing scrub also because I have issues with blackheads sometimes and this just helps keep them at bay. Finally I use the Olay double action day and night creams. 

What type of skin do you have, oily, dry or combination?

I have combination skin usually however there are certain days where my skin can get really oily and always in the winter it gets very dry. On the whole though it's definitely combination skin.

Do you ever have any spot breakouts because of wearing make up?

Nope, I don't usually have a problem with spots as my skin is relatively clear minus a few uneven skin tones and such, when I do have a breakout it usually comes from issues to do with waxing. If I do have a breakout though I will avoid make up just to be sure it does't make it worse.

Do you avoid certain ingredients in cosmetics such as paragons or sulfate?

Actually yes. I'm allergic to a LOT of non-organic make up so when I buy things I have to make sure they're organic or my whole face will start to burn and I get red splotches, which I then cover up with make up that defeats the whole point haha.

What foundation do you use and what coverage do you prefer?

Just now, I'm using Rimmel London Match Perfection foundation with SPF 18 in Ivory. It's long lasting and gives a great smooth and radiant look. I also use Garnier BB cream skin perfecter and Rimmel London Stay Matte pressed powder.

Do you use a base or primer for you face/eyes?

I do, I use the Make Up Academy Pro Base Primer.

Pencil or liquid eyeliner?

Liquid eyeliner is my favourite, I very rarely wear eyeliner but when I do I much prefer liquid. I just really need to work on my application technique...

Do you wear false lashes?

NO, I have pretty long eyelashes anyway so I just usually apply a clear mascara and a brown mascara on top of that to make them look slightly more prominent and natural. i really can't stand falsies and think they look daft although that's just my personal opinion. 

What're you using on your lips at the moment?

Oh so many different lipsticks! I love lipsticks and I use two Mac lipsticks that I can not remember the name of and two lipsticks from... Primark! The Primark lipsticks smell lovely and they go on really well and stay for over 12 hours!

Do you prefer lipgloss or lipstick?

I like the look of lipgloss but I prefer lipstick so I tend to cheat and apply my lipstick and put a tiny, thin layer of vaseline over he top just to give it a bit of gloss and get the best of both worlds. 

What're you using on your eyes at the moment?

I'm not using any particular brand only at the moment I'm using a mix of brands and the colours tend to be 3 different types blended together. I mainly use browns and golds for everyday make up looks. 

What is your go to mascara?

My current mascara is Natural Collection clear waterproof mascara, from Boots as a first coat then Essence Get Big Lashes Volume Boost Waterproof mascara as a second coat. 

Do you prefer blush or bronzer?

My skintone is a light olive so I tend to avoid colours like pinks, reds and so on for my face and eyes. I love bronzer and I use that all year round, it gives a really lovely warm look to my face in winter and a tanned look in summer. 

What type or look do you go for, heavy and bold or light and natural?

That depends on the occasion, last year for halloween I had a silver and deep grey smokey eye look but that was for a party. For every day I tend to go very light and neutral, colours like light browns, light berries, sometimes I do like bold looks on my eyes such as deep blue, purples or silvers. Usually though would have to say light and natural.

How often do you shop for make up? Do you pick up items one at a time or but lots of goodies? When it comes to my spending habits i'm very tight fisted and hate spending my money. That being said when I do get started on shopping it's very difficult to stop me. I buy in bulk so I shop for make up whenever something vital to my collection runs out and I but loads of goodies at once. 

Have you ever considered taking a make up class?

Oh definitely! I would absolutely love to, I've considered taking a night class in hair and beauty at my college. I think it's really worth looking into as I'd love to know how to do a really professional looking smokey eye.

Who is your beauty guru?

I wouldn't say I had one in particular as I love so many! My main two would be Sami Maria (BeautyCrush) and Tess Christine, they both tend to go for the same type of looks which I adore but I sometimes have to change the colours they use as they're either to light or too dark for my skin tone so I mix it up by looking at videos by Bethany Mota and Pixiwoo.

What do you think the best thing about make up is?

The best thing about make up is that if I'm feeling low or my skin looks awful I know I have my make up on hand to cover it up and make myself feel a bit better. Make up hides a multitude of sins.

Thanks for reading all.

A collection of my make up

Love Katherine. X