2015: the highlights

Hello everyone,
what's this? Two posts in one day? This really is a miracle!
As 2015 hurries to its end I thought it would be really cute and very emo to look back at some of my most favourite memories from this year. I really enjoy it when people make posts like this so please leave me a comment or tweet me some of your stand out moments from this year.
I would like to think 2016- the year I graduate and drown in the adult world, will be just as incredible as this year has been, here are some of my favourite things from 2015:

My Sound of 2015

Hello everyone,
it seems that 2015 is almost behind us. I think one thing you've probably learnt if you've been a devout follower of my blog this year is that I love music. Yeah I know, 99% of my posts are about some band from Sydney, but today I'm going to be highlighting the realm of my musical interests, and in no particular order, telling you why they're the best. Let's go!

they say writing is therapy

Hello everyone,
I'm writing this post on reflection of what happens to be the worst week of my life. If you know me personally then you'll probably have guessed what this is about, but for those of you who don't know why, you're about to find out.
Eleven years and six months ago, on a sunny June morning, I had in my lap a tiny puppy sitting in a bowl, on his way to his new home for the first time. His ears were too big for his body and he was restless as each green light disturbed his attempt to sleep. This morning, on a rainy December day, that same puppy, who grew into his ears and could sleep through
a hurricane returned home for the final time, in a teeny box with his name written on it.

Hey Violet @ O2 Academy Islington

Hello everyone,
here's a little update on what's been happening in my world:
uni, work, placement, uni, uni, uni, work, placement. It is a never ending cycle that pretty much aborts my socialising with friends, but December 2nd was a fantastic exception.
The emo's (me, Emmy, Amy and Emma) had planned to have a cute AF Christmas meet up at Winter Wonderland in London, followed by Pizza Hut Buffet, Oxford Street shopping/photoshoot and Hey Violet. Unfortunately 3/4 of the squad ended up stuck in traffic for over six hours, YES THAT'S SIX HOURS, during a journey that should have taken two hours. It's safe to say we've reserved Winter Wonderland and Pizza Hut Buffet for next December, but one thing did happen and that was seeing Hey Violet at the O2 Academy in Islington.

5SOS- Sounds Good Feels Good

Hello Everyone,
so this post has been a few days in the making, mainly because I needed to dedicate a shit ton of time for listening to the album, discussing it with friends and trying to narrow down my favourites.
As we all know, I'm a massive fan of 5 Seconds of Summer and on October 23rd I felt like a kid on Christmas as I downloaded the album and hit play for the first time. I didn't know what to expect in terms of sound, from songs that have been released such as She's Kinda Hot and Fly Away I knew it was going to be filled with catchy little anthems punching the references to 1D right where it hurts. I had read about some of the songs and was a little nervous  to hear them (aka Broken Home).
The overall sound of the album is maturity. Their self titled debut featured songs the lads had written at 16 and 17 years of age, songs that fans attached themselves too but Sounds Good Feels Good was made in real time, talking of love as the members experienced it, talking of travelling and being on the road as they lived it and on reflection of getting out of a little town and living life on an enormous platform nobody could ever imagine.
The riffs are heavier, the songs are drenched in the blood, sweat and tears of the musicians they admire and worked with, such as Alex Gaskarth, the Madden brothers and John Feldmann and, for me, the album seems to be split into stages of life- the first being the coming of age and realising life isn't all that jazz when you can't even afford a bus fare, the second being that love often SUCKS both romantically and within a family and the third is the prospect of life getting better, if you just take the bad with the good.

It Eventually Happened

Hello everyone,
I feel like it has become a bit of a habit to start every post with a *sorry it's been a while message, so *sorry it's been a while!*
This is going to be a tiny emo post about the day I had yesterday, when I finally met 5SOS again after what feels like 9749 lifetimes but in fact was a year.
It will come to no surprise for you who are reading this because of Twitter or being my friend that me and some of my friends are a tad obsessed with this Australian band. When they announce shows we pounce online for tickets, when they say they're coming back to the UK we amber alert one another. Since September 2014 we've had a stroke of bad luck with every attempt we've had at meeting them; they've flown to Sydney whilst bunches of girls waited for them at Heathrow, they've arrived sans band member, they've flown from Manchester whilst we've sat in Heathrow departures, we've been given false info and just in general not been in the right place at the right time.
I don't want to look as though I'm complaining about all the bumps in the road of trying to meet 5SOS, because I have been so fortunate to have met them multiple times, and have the loveliest memories of meeting them, but it is the most disheartening thing to fail, especially when 294984984 people you know are posting their photos and you're a little emo.
The main thing is, through all the angry drives home, rewriting songs to fit our misfortunes, for every time we said we were done, that was it, it was finished, we were never coming back, WE NEVER GAVE UP!

Aimee Was Watching: Scream Queens

Hello everyone,
So I just finished watching the two hour episode of Scream Queens which aired last night in the U.S and I immediately had to express my reaction somewhere, so here I am, ready to blurt out why this TV show is one you should ALL be watching.

Halsey's London Shows

Hello everyone,
please forgive me for the rambling that will take place in this post as I attempt to convey the experiences I had seeing Halsey at her first headlining UK shows. Let's see how this goes, shall we?
First things first let's go to the day before the Islington show, where I met up with 5 of the Halsey Squad to begin our camp out. Given how fast the shows sold out, and the fact the venue had been upgraded, we'd anticipated a strong turnout for campers, but in fact we were the only 6 people, and so our night of playing the Seven Second Challenge, watching Boobah YouTube videos and running away from foxes began. The morning of the show fans turned up in mini groups and the atmosphere came to life, we cosied up in Starbucks and this is a PSA for you to NEVER DRINK A PEPPERMINT LATTE! We had a little issue with the queue being unaware there was an O2 priority queue but resolved any doubts we had about our campout being worthless and our tiny hearts grew as we raced to  the barrier for the show.

ITUNESVERSARY

Hello everyone,
So today I found myself scrolling through a massive emo avalanche on Timehop as a result of an event I attended exactly a year ago today; 5SOS @ ITunes Festival!
The emo swamp of posts included selfies of a sleep deprived me consuming pumpkin lattes to feel a little more alive, the massive banner with 5SOS's faces on which I woke up to outside the Roundhouse and on more than ten occasions the word emo was used!

HALSEY: BADLANDS REVIEW

For most people, Friday August 28th was like any other day. However, for some souls, the day marked the release of the long anticipated debut record from American singer/songwriter, Halsey, as she released Badlands to the world.
The alternative musician, who is signed to Astralwerks, has an intense following. I remember when she released Ghost in 2014 and I listened to it on repeat as I paraded to university, some time later came her well received EP Room 93, which spurned out fan favourites such as Hurricane and Trouble. Badlands promised to depart from the days Halsey was better known as Ashley Frangipane and with its release, fans such as myself have been pulled into the dark, imaginative spiral which the bad lands entail.
Castle, the opening track for the record throws the listener in at the deep end, as Halsey embarks upon the dystopian metropolis and is 'headed straight for the castle' supposedly to become queen of the bad lands. There's a choir trickled into the chorous which backs up her inauguration into this seemingly sinister place. Lyrically the song offers an insight into Halsey's position as a woman fighting in a predominantly male industry. On several occasions Halsey has bought up the topic of the struggles that are placed in her way as she climbs her position within the music industry. She's rejected labels who didn't support her intentions, and took control of having a female-female love relationship for her video for Ghost. With the statement 'there's an old man sitting on the throne, that's saying I should probably keep my pretty mouth shut,' this power struggle punches through the hypnotic rhythm of the song.

A Little Bit of Lush

Hello everyone,
it's been a little while, mainly because I've been busy at work and planning some of my dissertation, but I'm back with a new post. This is going to be about Lush, the cosmetics/beauty chain which is as ethical as it is wonderful. I recently discovered that my local store is stocking some of the Oxford Street exclusives and so I went and got myself some treats with the hope of having a little series of hauls over the next couple of posts. In each one I'm hoping to give you a little view of three products I've purchased. In no way, shape or form is this post sponsored by Lush, I simply love their values and products and, as someone who is trying to make their makeup and beauty products vegan, I wanted to show that beauty doesn't have to be painful, for you or for animals.
So, let's get into the very first little bit of Lush (none of the following are Oxford St Exclusives):

My Pet Peeves

Hello everyone,
it seems that most of my posts are about bands and the great adventures those bands bring for me and my friends and, as much as I love to update you on our emo escapades, I wanted this blog to bring you little pieces of me and my life. I'm slowly, but surely, trying to post tiny pieces about me as a way of introducing myself, and I thought there would be no better way to start then with this post in which I will be doing what I do best; complaining about things that annoy me!
I already have an about me page, which you can read here, however most of those bullet points are tiny with no further explanation. This post is a place where I can rant about the things which, however ridiculous they may seem, have the power to make my mind want to implode. Hopefully you'll relate to  one or two of them and if you have any of your own pet peeves please feel free to leave them in the comments below!
So in no ascending order, here comes the rant of all rants:

5SOS 'She's Kinda Hot'

So it's been a while since I last updated you guys on my life, and that's mostly because I've been laying about crying over how much I hate the weather whilst reading book after book. The last post I wrote was about my time seeing 5SOS at Wembley (you know, the time Michael really was kinda hot) and I guess it was inevitable that my next post would be dedicated to them too.
And what is this post all about? Well, today the boys dropped their latest single 'She's Kinda Hot' and the world has been pretty much freaking out ever since!

After a very failed attempt at hearing the song premier on Shazam Top 20 this morning, I was finally blessed to hear it via Spotify and it seems the wait was sure as hell worth it. Of course, like a few people, when I saw the title of the single I was sceptical. Thoughts such as 'what's the deal?' 'has the girl been downgraded from looking perfect to being sort of alright?' 'how is this reflecting their deeper direction?' crossed my mind. But when I heard this new single for the first time, any anxieties I had about 'She's Kinda Hot' were obliterated.

5SOS Wembley Weekend

Hello Everyone,
It's been a week since 5SOS' Wembley shows came to an end, and after a week of post concert sadness and heartbreak over the UK tour finishing, I thought now would be the best time to write a post reflecting on what was one of the best weekends ever!
We (Me, Emmy and Amy) got to London for around 10 am and met with Emma before checking into our hostel, which we've renamed hosthell given the experiences we had (Emmy's wine bottle breaking in her suitcase, the air conditioning leaking, the lack of windows and air as well as a broken bed). After that we headed to try and meet 5SOS, and technically we did get 4/4. Then we headed for Wembley and missed Hey Violet's acoustic which made me very sad, but we did manage to join the meet and greet queue and get a cute AF Charlie's Casey's Angels photo.

Here's To Teenage Memories

Hello everyone,
So as you may, or may not know, tomorrow is my birthday. It seems ridiculous that June 20th is on the edge of the calendar when it feels like Christmas was just yesterday, and with this years birthday comes a milestone, one that is very emo and that is the end of my teenage years. I thought I would use this post to be a little self indulgent and very much nostalgic and look back on my teenage memories as I prepare for this new 'adult' chapter of life.
I guess a lot of my teenage years consisted of school, being the weird kid who liked My Chemical Romance and wore skull print fingerless gloves from Claire's whilst everyone else loved the Sugababes. I rarely ever spoke, put my hand up in class or participated in socialising at all. I made the mistake of having a mega dick for a best friend and my teenage years got a WHOLE lot better when I let that person go out of my life.

What Goes On Tour...

Hello Everyone,
As I mentioned in my last post, I spent the last weekend in London seeing one of my favourite bands, 5 Seconds of Summer headline a triple bill of shows at Wembley Arena!
Right now, I'm a little too emo to talk about the actual shows (especially the part where a certain Michael Clifford set on fire) so, I thought I would write a little post about the things we encountered during our tour weekend, most of which left us in a fit of craughing (Verb- to cry and laugh at the same time) so without further ado, here's some moments that we could never forget, no matter how much we might try:

ROWYSO: Birmingham Weekend

Hello everyone,
So I may have been a little bit of a liar when I said I would update my blog more, but I'm back (with major apologies) and I am ready to let you all know about the time of my life, which was seeing 5SOS this weekend, as their Rock Out With Your Socks Out tour came to Birmingham.
On Friday I made my way to Birmingham (after a major traffic delay) and met with Georgina, Ash and Vanessa to check in to our hotel. The room was so beautiful I'm considering living their until I can afford to move out! It is at the hotel where we glittered ourselves up, began our pina colada cocktail party and made our way to the venue.
The NIA was buzzing, and we made it in time for Hey Violet's very short, but incredibly sweet, acoustic show. The band then took pictures with pretty much everyone who came out to watch them perform. We opted for the peace and pout pose, and I have to say that Nia is the coolest and cutest band member I've met! Then we got food at Subway and I almost fell off my chair when the guy that worked there started whistling the chorus of Good Girls. After that, we headed back to the venue for the show.

Better Late Than Never...

Why hello there old friends, it's been a pretty long time since my last post (major apologies, kisses, bouquets of tulips to you) but here I am, back better late than never, and ready to blog, blog, blog about things that you may want to read, read, read (or not)!

So, what was the cause of my delay? Well, that massive, time consuming, often pain in the butt thing which happens to be my degree, and I am unbelievably relieved to say that second year is officially OVER! I feel very weird saying that. A good weird, but nonetheless it seems like this morning I enrolled at uni, and to think that I'm going to be spending the next few months planning my dissertation is beyond crazy. It's so strange to think I spent literally everyday of the academic year wanting to either a) be in bed, b) fighting dragons c) anywhere but uni, and to be at a point where the summer is officially on my door step is a complete state of JAMOHDIJDOKMONISJOSMosoM.

What will I be doing with my endless amount of time with no exams, classes, 9am lectures sent from hell? I am so glad you asked. Here is a mini list of things I'm planning on doing, and may even be writing about right here for you to read in the very near future:

It's Been A While

Hello Everyone,
I'm really sorry that I've been pretty absent in the last few weeks, let's just say that uni is currently taking up 93% of my time.
Here's a summary of what I've been up to:

• Filling in my dissertation proposal which fills me with complete ANXIETY! I decided that I'm going to major in Creative Writing mainly because if I have to do anymore research into novels written in the Victorian Era I will sacrifice myself to Satan.
• I finished my film assignment which consisted of me shit talking the MTV adaptation of Wuthering Heights, showing my allegiance to team Heathcliff and listening to Kate Bush on repeat until I reached the word limit.
• I've begun my revision for my English exam and realised how little reading I've actually done this year and also how sassy women have been in literature in previous generations.
• Planning my final Creative Writing Assignments, which at 60% each and roughly 4000 words each plus research are making me question my decisions in the first point. Ghost stories are difficult but monologues are actually a NIGHTMARE!
• I did find some time to go to London recently and have a failed 5SOS attempt because, ya know they decided to go to Sydney! But I got to hang out with my favourite people so I couldn't complain. Plus I won a donut on the McDonalds Monopoly so...

I'm looking forward to the end of May when I have time to chill, tidy the pile of crap on my bedroom floor, sort out my wardrobe in time for summer and just hang out with my EMOS!
Thank you for being patient with my posts I promise this summer they will increase by approximately 32%
Until next time,
thank you for reading,
Aimee :) x

The American Adventure: Two Year Anniversary

Hello everyone,

So this week marks two years since me, two of my cousins and my cousin's girlfriend embarked on our American Adventure to Boston and New York and I'm going to try in as little words as possible give you a highlight in to what was the craziest week of my life.

So, to start with I should mention that this trip would have been nothing without the Irish Dancing World's. Each year they take place in a different location, for example I believe last year was London and this year is Montreal and in 2013 (gosh I really cannot believe it was that long ago) the World's were held in Boston. As it's been a life goal of mine to visit America for as long as I can remember, and as it tied in to near my 18th birthday, I was lucky enough to tag along.

All Time Low Acoustic @ Hippodrome, Kingston

Hello Everyone,
Sorry it's been a few days since my last post things have been pretty busy lately but here I am, ready to tell you about RAD AS FUCK show that was All Time Low's acoustic gig in Kingston.
First things first, I have to point out that it was Emmy's birthday and I'm glad we got to have such an insanely great time watching one of our favourite bands, along with Georgina.

Tea Break: A Student Society

Hello Everyone,
Apologies for my lack of posts recently (can I get a 'hell NO' for assignments and overtime?).
I thought I would use this post to talk to you about a really cool website you should all be tuned in to. I might be a little (ok VERY) biased given that I contribute articles for the site, but I'm going to use this post to tell you a little bit about Tea Break, a society based at my university.

So what is Tea Break?
Tea Break (formerly HerDMU) is an online magazine/blog, written for students (and anyone between the ages of around 15-30) by students. In a similar fashion to sites like BuzzFeed and Hello Giggles, Tea Break produce a whole range of articles, falling under categories including fashion, music, book reviews, recipes and topics of debate in pop culture and news headlines. Anna Landi, our very cool chair woman, founded the society during her first year of studying and from there recruited several editors and contributors to ensure that the site has a constant flow of posts.

Reminiscing 5SOS @ HMV Institute Birmingham

Hello Everyone!


Earlier this week marked one year since I saw 5SOS on their first UK headlining tour at the HMV Institute in Birmingham.
It's safe to say that Timehop was pretty EMO on Monday morning as I scrolled through photos of me, Georgina and Vanessa queuing and videos of what was one of the best gigs I've been to. As a result of my overwhelming emo nostalgia, I thought it would be interesting to write a post which takes a trip down memory lane.

The Book Tag

Hello Everyone!

So yesterday my friend Georgia tagged me in a post she wrote all about BOOKS and given that my degree has something to do with reading a lot (though most of the time it's me pretending to read the books that nobody else in the world would ever read) I was happy to be tagged for a post I have a passion for.

At first I thought it would just be some cool tag which would involve me writing about my favourite books, but it's actually radder than that. Georgia has created some pretty interesting topics which  forced me to narrow down the realm of wider reading I've done in my life. There's also an options for me to give a shout-out to some books I'd much rather burn than ever read again!

You can read Georgia's book tag here ...

So here goes

Your favourite childhood book

This was one of the trickiest topics for me to think about because I feel like I read so widely as a child it's hard to narrow down a number one favourite. Having said that, I have decided that The Witches by Roald Dahl is being awarded this accolade. Firstly because any book by Roald Dahl is worthy of being my favourite book from childhood and also because it was the first book that introduced me to the world of witchcraft, however simple it may seem. I have vivid memories of repeatedly reading this book during primary school and even now I look to Dahl for inspiration when writing.

A book with a background story to it

This is more of an emo background story than a super interesting event but when I was younger I hated a lot of things about my life which were mostly related to how I thought about myself, there wasn't anything particularly wrong happening, just more negative thoughts. I came across alot of books on Tumblr, some which will feature later in this post and one of them was It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. There was something about the way he wrote that book that spoke to me on a profound level, an experience consisting of me mentally saying YES SOMEONE GETS IT. I was always so proud of the fact Ned had created a succesful career from his own struggles and how his work inspires people like me on a daily basis. I was really pretentious when the book got made into a film and kind of put it away in my drawer for a few years. Just over a year ago, Ned Vizzini died as a result of suicide and it broke my tiny heart. I was devastated that a person that had helped me believe it gets better couldn't make themselves better, no matter how hard they tried. I would urge anyone to read this book, mentally stable or not. In the summer I want to power read all of Ned's work and give his talent the credit it deserves.

University: A Positivity Speedbump

Hello Everyone,

I know the point in this blog is for me to try and be as positive as possible, and talk about the things that help fuel my happiness, but right now I need to talk about something that sometimes hinders my road to positivity, and that's the speed bump of university!

For as long as I can remember, I never intended on going to university. Even when the university fees were £3000 ( a shit ton less than they are now) I wasn't interested. Mainly because my life plan was to get a job, save up money and travel and then potentially move abroad with an uber cool boyfriend. But reality (mainly the lack of job prospect and uber cool boys in my life) kicked in and I got to 17 and had to make a decision. I never thought I was smart. My GCSE predicted grades weren't good and I had a hard time fitting in during high school, so the notion of willingly staying in education seemed the complete opposite of how I wanted to spend my life.

Then, on results day I pretty much got the opposite to the grades I had been predicted and all of my teachers changed their minds as to how capable I would be at achieving good grades at A Level and beyond. I sat with the head of year and picked my options- History (which I had to do because French wasn't offered) English Literature Media Studies and Psychology. I loved A Level. I loved learning, I love theories and I love writing essays where I get to choose what I want to say. I did pretty well in my A Levels and when it came to UCAS applications I knew that I wanted to go to university and study film.

F*CK! I'm (almost) In My Twenties

A few years back I stumbled upon a post on Tumblr which raved about a certain blog, which was run by the sister of one of my favourite musicians (Ezra Koenig, Vampire Weekend). So, I gave the blog a peek and was amazed by the online world which Emma Koenig had created. You can find Emma's blog here.
The blog was humorous, visual, and although I was closer to 15 than 20 at the time, was relatable. I envied this blood of Koenig which seemed to burn with creativity.
When I found out that Fuck! I'm In My Twenties was actually being released as a book I was delighted. I'm a huge fan of the Rookie Yearbook run by Tavi Gevinson, and thought Emma's blog was very similar in it's kitsch, cool style.
I decided I wanted this book for my 20th birthday, and I've waited. In the time since I first encountered Emma's blog I've completed my A Levels and embarked on my degree, and more than anything, I've joined the gloomy path to a teenageless life. A few years ago I liked the idea of Fuck! I'm In My Twenties, but now I feel like I'm living the life Emma describes.
I recently decided that with the amount of work related to my degree right now is so immensely agonising that I might not make it to 20, so, on a whim, I ordered Koenig's book, as well as the journal to accompany it.

Playlist Party: Top 25 Most Played

Hello Everyone,
So today I had a little epiphany whilst listening to Bastille, on my bus home from uni, that I would write a weekly playlist. I'm calling it Playlist Party, as oppose to Playlist Thursdays etc, as I'm 97% certain that I will never be able to stick to a day of the week.
I thought it might be a cool way of introducing you to the music I enjoy listening to. I think it's a great way to learn about people. If someone gives you access to their musical library I feel like they're letting you in on their life, their secrets and their memories, and I thought this little weekly segment (fingers crossed I will stick to it) might also introduce you to new music and sounds.
As an introduction I thought I would write about the top 25 most played songs on my iPod. The list has changed a lot over the years and I was actually surprised today, by some of the songs that popped up.
So without further ado, here it goes:

1. My Boy Builds Coffins by Florence and the Machine- Of all the songs that have come and gone over the years on this list, I've noticed that this song has always remained at the top. I fell in love with this song when I first purchased the album Lungs. I love the lyrics, they're incredibly poetic with a sinister tint and it's a song I never tire of listening to.

Teenage Dream: I Finally Saw All Time Low

Hi everyone,


This is going to be a very emo and probably embarrassing post filled with declarations of love and happiness because I FINALLY SAW ALL TIME LOW LIVE!


Back in 2007 I was idly watching an episode of E! News when a very odd music video advertised. It was a bunch of guys, half naked in a sauna, playing instruments and performing what sounded like a pretty awesome song. It turned out to be Coffee Shop Soundtrack by All Time Low and from that moment I've been hooked on their music.


Flash forward a couple of albums later, some very emo songs and a slight obsession with Alex Gaskarth which resulted in me creating us a Sims family, we are in 2011. I have a ticket to see them live at the O2 Academy in Birmingham. I am ready to rock out, dance, sing and sweat to death when I can't get a lift home and therefore cannot go to the gig.
I was devastated. I stared at photos of Zack Merrick and watched Straight to DVD on repeat for about a month solid.


Since that traumatic period in my emo life, I've met some EPIC people who have become my best friends and who all share a LOVE for ATL like me. Vanessa is the ATL queen, I live for her sass towards Alex, her stories about signings and her loving insults towards them, then there's Georgina who I could have potentially met at the show that never was. There's also Emmy who shares my interest in All Time Low and emo for therapy, and there's also Amy, who isn't too into ATL but who I love nonetheless.I decided that fate had bought this ATL gang of girls together and that we would all be able to see them and pop my ATL cherry. This didn't exactly go to plan given Vanessa's going back home to Spain, Georgina not being able to afford a ticket and Amy not really liking All Time Low. But it did leave me and Emmy with the chance to see them live, so we ordered our tickets and began our countdown.

I Went to a Circuit Training Class

Hello everyone,

It's February, wtf? By now I'm guessing 79% of the world's population has given up on their resolutions for 2015, and I'm betting more than half of those were 'GET FIT FOR SUMMER' related.

I don't really buy into New Years Resolutions, mainly because I'm indecisive and cynical and aware that I will more than likely fall through the cracks of any resolution I make, regardless of how big or small it is.

Having said this, for a few years now I've wanted to make some healthier improvements in my life. In the past I've gone through stages of hating my body, followed by binge eating, followed by regret and more comfort eating. I think going to university has made me a little healthier as I'm walking a lot more, and starting to feel comfortable sliding into a pair of jeans in the morning, which in high school I would never have even tried on.

What I've always wanted to try is exercising with a friend. I always thought it would make the whole exercising thing more enjoyable because I would have a distraction from the tasks set out for me, as well as having a support network of being supported and being a supporter for someone else.
My friend Emmy has been raving about a circuit training class she regularly attends and given that the gym isn't too far from where I live I thought it would be a good idea to try it out with her.

So, on Monday off I went, wearing the first pair of trainers I've worn in about 4 years and with a pair of leggings I'd ripped five minutes before leaving the house. The workouts take place in a leisure centre I spent a lot of my childhood swimming with my Mum and brother in, and when I first walked in my body was more inclined to take a ride on the dragon water slide than complete an intense workout.

Emmy arrived and we walked to the hall. I mean it when I say I was full of fear when I saw the sports hall, which closely replicated my high school gym! I saw a few mats placed on the floor and some benches and I had an idea in my head of the exercises I'd be putting my body through. What I hadn't anticipated was the LAPS I WOULD BE TOLD TO RUN when entering. I'm not very good at maths but I can tell you one calculation that doesn't work out is my body + running. I think I ran about five laps before taking a water break and I'm honestly proud that I didn't just start crying like I would have at school when told to run.

Once Upon a Time I Met Halsey

One thing you're going to learn about me if I manage to keep this whole blogging thing up, is that I heart music. Just like every person on the planet, I have songs I could listen to 600 times in a row and not hate, musicians I would kill to see live and musicians I would love to meet.

For over a year now I've been obsessing over an American musician called Halsey, an anagram of her real name Ashley (Frangipane). I'm going to be honest and say that I did come across Halsey because of her friendship with Ashton from 5SOS, but nonetheless she's grown to become one of my favourite rising music stars, and her music is the complete opposite to 5SOS.

Just over a year ago she released Ghost, which I played on the way to uni and knew all the words to by the time I got there. Then came her Room 93 EP which features tracks I'm still obsessing over, especially 'Trouble' and 'Empty Gold.' The EP was only released in America, but Halsey encouraged anyone who is a fan to download the EP in any way (illegally) so that they could obtain the music. When Halsey gets signed to a UK label I will be putting in the money to purchase any music she releases, and I cannot wait for the day I get to see her
perform live (if only she could've supported The Kooks here).

On the Road to Manchester

Hello Everyone,

I'm currently listening to a mix of Busted and Spice Girls whilst reminiscing over my recent road trip to Manchester and I thought I would write a little post about my journey, which in total was just over ten hours!

First things first (no I'm not the realest) the reason I was travelling to Manchester was to see one of my closest friends since childhood who is currently studying up there. Having a job that requires me to work weekends and then balancing that with university, studying and having a little *chill* time, my time is often limited. So, with a weekend off from work I decided it'd be a cute thing to do and go and spend some time with my friend who I haven't seen since the start of December.

The outbound journey had a little hiccup when my coach was delayed by half an hour. Now, given that the UK had suffered a tiny snow storm the day before my coach was due to leave Leicester, I was surprised and relieved I even managed to get on the road to anywhere! Another speed bump in my journey (punny, I know) came when my travel sickness kicked in, twenty minutes into the journey. Luckily I had managed to purchase some travel bands which kicked in quickly and eased my nausea. For anyone who gets travel sick, either when on a road trip or flying, I would highly recommend the bands I bought, they were called Sea Bands and were £8 from Asda. I was somewhat shocked by the price of the bands, and considered trying to find an alternative in Poundland but in all honesty I can say they were a great investment and worked for me.

Goodbye Invisalign

When I first started the process of having the gap between my teeth closed, I found myself reading countless blogs and watching videos made by ordinary people, about the process involved with Invisalign treatment. Having now completed the process of Invisalign, I thought it might be helpful for someone out there to stumble across this post and let it possibly influence their decision to consider having the treatment done.

I started Invisalign in May 2014. My gap was hereditary, with my dad and grandmother both having the infamous 'Costa Space' (my surname's Costa btw, this isn't a plug for free coffee). On one hand I liked it because it was such a well known thing in my family which gave me a little feeling of belonging and repping the fam, also it made me feel a little like Spongebob who is pretty cute in my opinion. I was also happy to share the gappy smile with Vanessa Paradis, who is not only a beautiful French model and singer, but also the former MRS JOHNNY DEPP! I mean if Captain Jack Sparrow is into it, I thought it could be a pretty cool look to live with!