It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

In the immortal words of Noddy Holder, "IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!"

 

Okay, so technically Christmas Day is the 25th, meaning there are still 14 days to go, HOWEVER it is finally December and, as far as I am concerned, its Christmas.

 

I LOVE Christmas, it is without a doubt, my favourite time of year. As soon as the decorations go down at the end of the season I already start to think about how long it is until they can go back up again. There is just so much to love about this time of year, the songs (personal favourite is Merry Christmas Everyone by Shakin' Stevens), the films (Miracle on 34th Street, the scene with the deaf girl melts my heart every time),  the food, it suddenly becomes perfectly acceptable to eat ten times more than usual and I always make sure I make the most of it. The decorations are so pretty, the lights on the houses, the tv, the traditions that you might have in the family, mine have plenty and I wouldn't change them for the world! Not forgetting the Christmas jumpers, I have three, some call it excessive, I say I am dedicated. And so much more! No matter what is going on at the time, when December starts I start to feel that little bit happier and it takes a lot more to get me stressed and annoyed, which after previous events is a welcome change!

 

I returned home for the holidays on Friday and the decorations went up on Saturday causing me to go into excitement overload. The last week of term is worth a mention though, it was one of the best weeks in a long time, it was so good to relax a bit after the stress of term, spend some time with those closest to me, eat lots of food and party lots! I also got to exchange Christmas presents with a few people, it was so exciting to see them open their gifts and their reaction to them. I also got some truly lovely things, showing just how well my friends know me.

 

This week I did the rest of my Christmas shopping and I am now pretty much finished! Wrapping presents also makes me really excited, I love to spend time trying to make them look as pretty as possible. I raided card factory for pretty gift wrap accessories and they did not disappoint.

 

So now, with my Christmas eve candle burning, I think it is time to watch 'The Santa Clause' and write my Christmas cards whilst continuing to get ridiculously over-excited!!!

 

Let me know what you love most about this time of the year, I would love to know!

The Most Stressful Week of My Life

This week, as you can see from the title, was the most stressful week of my life. I had an interview on Friday, for something that I have wanted for a very long time and its safe to say I did not deal with it very well! This week was full of me crying, moaning, getting ridiculously angry and moody at everyone and just general panic. I feel extremely sorry for anyone who had to deal with me this week, how no-one slapped me I don't know.

 

For the interview I had to take a maths test, something I haven't done in four years. Maths has never been my strong point and when you haven't done something for that long it is very hard to get back into it. This meant that most of my stress came from my inability to do what was the considered the most simple calculations. In the end the test could have been a lot more horrific, however I still have to do another one in two weeks time which is just as terrifying.

 

The actual interview wasn't great, I feel that I made a real mess of it in the end, probably because I spent so much of my time freaking out about it instead of just getting on with it and preparing myself. So we shall wait and see what happens, but I do not hold out much hope, I am just glad its over! The one good thing about the experience is I really learnt who my friends were. When I was in complete and utter meltdown and feeling at my most vulnerable it became very obvious who was there to support me. I have learnt a lot about some of my 'friends' this week, with some really letting me down and others being there by my side the entire time, even when they probably hated me for the way I behaved! I am so grateful for the support I received and am now repaying them all with Cadbury's chocolate snowmen, and a promise that I will be there for them if they ever need me.

 

In happier news, this weeks marks the start of CHRISTMAS. My decorations went up a long time ago as university Christmas starts rather early. However this weekend I went to Birmingham Christmas market with a few friends and the celebrations officially began. I spent far too much money on clothes in the Bullring and the market was so pretty with lots of really nice things, I got a really cute snow globe with two snow men in it. This week is also the end of term so we are going out for a Christmas meal, exchanging presents and spending the week celebrating that we made it through the term! It is going to be a very good week. And of course, tomorrow is the 1st of December, meaning advent starts. This year I have three advent calendars, you can never have too many! I have a milky bar chocolate one, the Yankee candle one which I am so excited for, a candle everyday?! Its perfect! And I have this chocolate bar that has the date and a little Christmas picture on each tiny square, it is unbelievably cute!

 

I hope you have a great week and start to get into the Christmas spirit!

 

So many advent calendars!

Its too cute to eat!

 

10 Reasons to Love Your Bed.

As I sit here in my bed drinking toffee flavoured coffee and wait for my friend to get up so we can watch America's Next Top Model, feel free to judge us, I often judge us too, I am just thinking about the value of bed. So here are my top 10 reasons as to why bed is the best place in the world, excluding Disneyland. Disneyland is definitely better than my bed.

 

1. It is so comfy.

2. It is so warm, something highly valued in a student house.

3. You can decorate it with bedding and throws to suit your needs, for example mine currently has a throw with reindeer all over it. 33 SLEEPS TO GO.

4. Despite the fact you leave it every morning it welcomes you  back with open arms at the end of the day, or the middle of the afternoon, and all is forgiven.

5. It is an extremely good storage holder, don't know where to put something? The bed is always the answer.

6. It is the best place to lie and think about everything in the world. Though the shower is a good contender for this.

7. You get to sleep in it. Sleeping is the best part of my day.

8. It is multifunctional. Need somewhere to sit? The bed. Want to watch some tv? Go and sit in bed. Need to do some work? The bed is a pretty comfy place to be.

9. It looks after all of your belongings. For example, it always keeps the tv remote and phone safe for me so that when I have lost them I know where I should look first.

10. And finally the word 'bed' looks like a bed, which I think is pretty cool.

Speeding Through Time

Nothing much has really happened this week, I seem to have found myself completely surrounded by essays and I feel like I am spending every minute of the day trying to get some work done. Consequently this has left me desperately trying to think of something to write about and coming up with a big fat nothing.

 

It has left me wondering where this week has gone, I cannot believe the week is almost over, yet I honestly feel like I have nothing to show for it, apart from a huge dent in my bank account (a result of buying far too many Christmas decorations) and another, extremely bad, finished, essay. Yet thinking about it, this whole term is going so fast. I am about to go into week 7 and each term is 10 weeks long. WEEK 7?! I have only just moved in! Its crazy how fast time is going at the moment, I feel like if you blink you may just miss a huge moment. I feel like I went to sleep on the first night and woken up to find I slept for 6 weeks, its crazy. However, I like to think if the time is going so fast then you must be having a good time and there must be lots of things going on. I am sure that is the case for me, just at the moment I cannot think of the last thing I did that didn't involve me writing an essay.

 

No. Wait. Yes I can. I went to Costa yesterday to get one of their Christmas drinks. Sticky toffee lattes are delish! Though I drank it feeling guilty that I was not sat at home writing about the reasons the mortality rate declined in the nineteenth century.

 

So now it is Sunday evening and I am faced with a whole new week, and a whole new essay to write. However this week is going to be SUPER exciting as our university Christmas officially starts on Tuesday as it will be 25 days till the end of term. I will be blasting out the Christmas songs and putting up the decorations, there has also been a discussion about the possibility of a mince pie or three. Also I am going back home for a weekend away with my family, something I am also looking forward to, that and the fact going home gives me a good excuse to get a Starbucks as it is on the way home. I need to do a full comparison of Starbucks' and Costa's toffee latte variations!

 

So I guess that's it for now. I will leave you with a picture of my sparkler from Wednesday and a promise to think of something better to write about next week.

 

 

Happy Halloween

After my extremely poor effort last week at dressing up as Vanellope I felt I should try slightly harder with Halloween. This does mean that I ended up with a witches hat and fake blood, because those two things definitely go together. Fact. I need to get better at this costume thing.

I have never really bothered with Halloween, its too close to Christmas as far as I am concerned and Christmas is a HUGE deal with me, so by the time Halloween has arrived I have already started getting stupidly excited about the festive season and Halloween seems to get forgotten about.

 

The one thing I do love about this time of year is carving pumpkins. I insist on carving one every year and this year was no exception. So it was a trip to our local supermarket for the perfect pumpkin, we also somehow ended up looking at Christmas decorations, I don't know how that happened. It took FOREVER as we couldn't decide which one was the perfect one, we did eventually make a decision only to get home and realise that when it was on a flat surface it tilted forward quite a lot. *sigh*. However that didn't stop us and we soon got thinking of ideas. I find with pumpkins a face is slightly boring and overused so I always try and think of something different, so this year we went for a slightly evil looking sorting hat from Harry Potter and I was quite impressed with the final result.

 

The final result

With the pumpkin done, I had to get thinking of a good costume. I ended up skipping the fake blood as it said on the packet it could stain your face for a few days and I had to go to work today so it was a risk I wasn't willing to take. Somehow I think stewarding a Charlie and Lola play with fake blood on my face is not the best idea ever. In the end I just wore a lot of black, a witches hat and A LOT of make-up, I even drew a cobweb on my face. Dressing up really is not my thing, but it was good fun to try!

 

I hope everyone had a fantastically spooky Halloween! I am now off to get ridiculously over excited about Christmas!

 

I did get creative with my noticeboard!

 

Vanellope Von Schweetz

This week I went out with the Sociology society at Warwick dressed as Vanellope Von Schweetz from Wreck it Ralph.

 

We went to the student night, Pop, where they play a lot of cheesy music and in all honesty, can only be enjoyed if you are VERY drunk. We went circling, something that apparently every University does, but only Warwick call it circling. Basically a society stands in a circle (hence the 'circling', get it? We are so original) and then you play drinking games and drink purple, otherwise known as snakebite. Tastes disgusting but gets you very drunk and is nice and cheap. The joys of student life.

 

The theme for our circle was Alphabet. Everyone had to come dressed as something that began with the first letter of our name. As a massive Disney fan I felt Vanellope was a good option and was a fairly easy costume to get together. In the end my costume was a pretty poor effort, I basically wore a green jumper and stripy socks, but it was the thought that counted, right? I think the universe was conspiring against me as I was trying to get a costume together. I ordered a green jumper from Boohoo which when it arrived I hated. It was a shame as it had the potential to be a really good jumper but the fit really didn't suit me, something that is always a danger with online shopping. I decided to return the jumper but that meant I had less than a week to find a replacement, It is also worth noting that the service at Boohoo was amazing, the delivery time was really quick and the jumper was really cheap, it is a shame I didn't like it.

 

So, the next place I looked was H&M, I always find them a bit hit and miss but I figured it was the best place to look for a cheap, plain jumper and I was pleasantly surprised! They have had some really nice things in there recently, and I picked up a really nice mint green top for £7, bargain! And I will definitely be wearing it again, so definitely a success!

 

The only other thing I needed were green and white stripy tights, that are extremely hard to find, in the end I compromised and went with knee high socks. However, stupidly, I sent them to my home address, not university and the latest delivery date was the day I needed them for, luckily they arrived at home the day before and my family immediately sent them out to me so they arrived the next day, but that was a few stressful days when I realised what I had done, I will definitely pay more attention next time.

 

I am fairly sure that the final result looked nothing like Vanellope, but I did have a really good night and it was a lot of fun to put the outfit together and see everyone else's costume. It also gave me an excuse to dress up as a Disney character, in fact you could argue I was a Disney princess. Vanellope turns out to be a princess in the end, so that definitely counts....doesn't it?

 

Oh and I definitely had to look up how to spell Vanellope in order to be able to write this post, who knew it would be so complicated?!

Basically twins...

 

I will try harder next time.

Home Comforts

After another terrible week I made the last minute decision to go home. So I packed up some stuff, threw it in the back of the car and then on Friday afternoon, I ran off from work and drove the two hours it takes me back to the familiar surroundings of my house. It was the best decision I had made all week. The only exception was possibly the decision to have garlic bread at the pub on Tuesday, it was the best garlic bread I have ever tasted. But that is a completely different matter!

 

What is it that makes home so reassuring? I don't know. Maybe its the fact that when I woke up on Saturday morning I had this strange sensation of being ever so slightly too warm, instead of peeling back the duvet in the anticipation that I would freeze the minute I did so. One of the main problems of being a student is the inability to be able to afford heating. Or maybe it was when I got in the shower I felt actual water run onto me, instead of some pathetic dribble that I have lean back into to feel any water at all. Or perhaps it was the amazing food on offer, and someone else cooking it for me. Or the comfort of waking up in my bedroom that I grew up in. Or possibly, and most definitely the most important reason, the fact that I was able to hug my mum, annoy my brother and be reassured that I had someone who cared about me right next to me. Within an hour of me arriving home my oldest friend was sat on the bed next to me and we were chatting and laughing away, all the stress of the past two weeks gone. Then I spent the evening on the sofa next to my family and just felt completely content. Of course this doesn't mean I hate university, I am also surrounded by those I love at my house there and do feel extremely comfortable there. But there is something about "home", its familiar, its safe and its comforting. I have not stopped smiling all weekend and just feel so much more relaxed then I did two days ago. Hopefully now I can start a new week tomorrow and feel slightly more positive about my degree and be less of a nightmare to be around, though I am not making any promises.

 

I suppose if all else fails, I could go back to that pub at university and get their garlic bread...

The Kindness of Strangers

Everyday we meet a wide range of people, whether we actually stop to talk to them or just walk past them we are still faced with a number of strangers each day. Most of them will have no impact on our lives but occasionally someone will offer a random act of kindness or help you out and that make a real difference.

 

This week I have experienced a lot of kindness from strangers, something that I am extremely grateful for. This kindness and help that I have been shown has helped to make this week slightly more bearable, and really restored my faith in others. This week I have had help from people when I was feeling vulnerable, and I have had people who do not know me, or anything about me, look out for me, ensuring I get home from a night out and ensuring that I am safe. I can never thank these people that helped me enough, especially as I will never see them again.

 

These people took a small amount of time out of their day to help another and expected nothing in return. We are currently surrounded by the view that there are so many negative individuals and we often get caught up in our worlds that we forget about others. I know that I often get caught up in my own life I never stop to think about others, yet a little bit of kindness from someone else can really make a day. So I have decided to set myself the challenge of showing someone I don't know some kindness or helping them out everyday, because if everyone did that, the world would be a much better place.

A New Room to Make My Own

Last week I moved into my house, despite my previous blog post announcing that I was excited about the move I actually had numerous breakdowns and when the time came to say goodbye there were A LOT of tears. However once I had the time to get over it I got excited about decorating my new room. This year my room is huge, it is the biggest room I have ever had and the owner of the house clearly loves shelves, they are everywhere! However the main point of the room was the fireplace in the middle. I was so excited for this all holiday and spent ages getting candles to go in it and planning where to put everything. Well I have finished unpacking and I am really pleased with the way it has turned out.
 

 

The fireplace is not actually useable and I thought the middle bit was a bit ugly, so I covered it up with pictures from my Disney calendar, postcards and cards that I have collected over time. Then there are a selection of candles, ornaments and photo frames to brighten it up.

 

There is no colour scheme to the room, I am fairly limited with what I can do as I cannot change the furniture or carpet. However I like to add things that make it personal to me, so I have a lot of my Disney ornaments placed around the room, with pictures and my fairy lights to give it a cosy feel.
 

 

I really like it and look forward to living in it for a year!

 

I think someone's room can tell you a lot about a person, so much so that I did a project on it for a university project last year, I think it is fascinating how people organise their personal space. So let me know what you think, do you think a room reflects an individual? What does my room say about me? I would love to know.

Returning to University

In a few days time I will be returning to university and will officially become a third year. How that happened I am not sure seeing as I only started university yesterday....WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?!

Anyway. Now I am sat here feeling old and debating the idea of starting to pack all of my stuff and it got me thinking about how I feel about moving back. University has always been a tricky one for me, I love it, but I usually hate the idea of going back. My mum calls me a "home bird" and I guess she is right, I love being at home and surrounded by my family but I also love being at university, living with my friends and being able to do pretty much whatever I want. Within reason, I couldn't go and rob a bank for example. I think it is the transition between the two that I hate, I hate saying goodbye and you have that brief period of 'oh goodness I am on my own'. Two years ago when I was faced with the prospect of starting university and leaving home for the first time ever I was terrified, there were a lot of tears and I was adamant I was not going. I remember turning up at the place I was living and telling myself that I would never call this place home, that lasted about a week. I was really lucky, I made some really good friends who when confronted with me on the first night, a blubbing wreck, instead of running for the hills they offered me cake and a game of poker, I then loved university. The start of the second year should have been a lot easier but I was just as apprehensive and really not wanting to go. We had moved into a different house that I hated and the idea of returning made me cry even more than the first time round. But once again I settled it and loved it, in fact I really miss that house now!

So the start of third year. For the first time ever I am openly admitting that I am excited to go back, I am actually looking forward to it. We have a lovely new house and I love the people that I am living with. Of course there is still a fairly large part of me that is terrified of saying goodbye to my mum and I am sure that when the time comes I will be in tears clinging to her like a three year old begging her to stay. I may be 20 years old but I can still act like the children at work when I want to. However I am trying not to think about that, instead focusing on all the fun I am going to have and remembering that I do really like university.

So to anyone who is starting university or returning, good luck! I hope you have the best year yet!

REVIEW: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

What was the last book that made you laugh out loud? If you had asked me this a few days ago I would not have known the answer, however I have just finished reading The Rosie Project and there were moments in this book where I genuinely laughed out loud.

 

'I'm not good at understanding what other people want.'
'Tell me something I don't know . . .'
  Love isn't an exact science - but no one told Don Tillman. A thirty-nine-year-old geneticist, Don's never had a second date. So he devises the Wife Project, a scientific test to find the perfect partner. Enter Rosie - 'the world's most incompatible woman' - throwing Don's safe, ordered life into chaos. But what is this unsettling, alien emotion he's feeling?

 

I actually came across this book by accident, after a recent trip to the cinema I saw an advert for a film that I thought was based on The Rosie Project, the film looked quite good so I thought I would give the book a try. After I had finished the book I realised that I had been mistaken and the book was completely different to the film, however I am still glad I read the book.

 

I thought the two main characters were likeable which made me want to read on as I enjoyed finding out more about their lives. The story was a twist on a traditional love story where a boy meets a girl, they fall in love, there are a few minor blips along the way and then they live happily ever after. There were elements of this within the book but it was not the conventional way, which I really enjoyed. I am rating this book three stars as although I did enjoy it, and it definitely made me laugh, I feel like I have read better books recently that kept me hooked, this one did not have quite the same effect. Also I was slightly unsure of the ending, I found that it really confused me, this is probably because I started to lose concentration for the last few pages of the book, another sign that it was not the best book, but this meant I probably missed a key plot point which left me confused at the end.

 

None the less this book is definitely worth a read if you after a light hearted story that will make you laugh or you are after a slightly different love story.

Feeling Creative

Recently I went to see Les Miserables in the West End, it was the third time that I have seen the show and it was still absolutely incredible. I went with my two closest friends from university, to celebrate a birthday and to have a last meet up in the summer holidays. We spent the morning in the science museum which turned into a little bit of a disaster as we realised that we didn't understand any of the activities that were clearly aimed at children! Feeling a bit deflated we decided to go somewhere that was more on our level, the soft toy section in Hamleys! After spending far too long stroking the toys to see how soft they were we went to the theatre and, of course, the show was absolutely incredible, the current cast are probably the best I have seen, one of us shed a few tears, not me I would like to add, and the cast managed to add humour and give me shivers when they sang "One Day More". We then went to eat at a restaurant in Covent Garden called Wahaca which was really nice with lovely food and fairly cheap which is always a good thing when you are a poor student! Finally we ended up at Be At One ,a cocktail bar also in Covent Garden. They have an app that you can download on your phone which allows you to create your own happy hour which gives you two cocktails for £9.50. They have such a large range of cocktails and the ones that we have tried so far are delicious, the staff are all really friendly and they played a lot of really cheesy music throughout the evening, think early 00s, it gave a great atmosphere and we had lots of fun, we will definitely be going back again!

 

Anyway, I feel like I have gone slightly off topic here, after we had seen the show we went to the stage door as I really wanted to meet Carrie Hope Fletcher who is currently playing Eponine. She is also a Youtuber and I have been watching her videos for a while now so I decided I would take the opportunity to become a little bit of a fangirl! She was so lovely to everyone who was there to see her, she stopped and spoke to everyone and it was such a pleasure to meet her. Afterwards I turned into a little bit of a speechless, grinning wreck, it was rather embarrassing and not something that I am used to! Before we went to the show I had read other people's experiences of meeting her and how they were shaking and crying and I always thought it was a little over the top and unnecessary. I was wrong. I acted in pretty much the same way which completely surprised me, but I do now understand how these other people felt.  So, this is eventually the actual point of this post, I decided that I would like to frame the picture I got of us and my ticket that she signed, continuing my fangirl moment. I knew the kind of frame I wanted but the cheapest I could find was £20 which was far too much money in my opinion. So after getting some advice from a friend of mine I bought a really cheap clip frame for just over a pound, some nice to paper to back it with and to cover the horrible chipboard, and some ribbon so that I could hang it on my wall. I am really pleased with the finished result and it cost me less than £5, bargain! It has given me a really nice memento of what was one of the best days of my life and I am looking forward to hanging it up when I move into my new house at university. I am planning on hanging it next to my wooden plaque that says "Follow your dreams" because Carrie dreamed big, she dreamed of the role of Eponine and she achieved it. My picture with her reminds me that it is ok to dream big and if you work hard enough you may achieve the ultimate dream, this is something that I had forgotten recently and I hope by having this on my wall it will remind me that my dream is not impossible.

 

 

If anyone is reading this, let me know what you think and share what creative things you have been up to, I would love to see them!

REVIEW: Fractured by Dani Atkins

I have literally just finished reading Fractured by Dani Atkins and thought I would share my thoughts on the book.

 

 

I actually really enjoyed this book, I was slightly unsure at first as I had never heard of it before, but I tend to find the best books often end up being the ones that no-one has mentioned to you as the hype around a book can often lead you to be disappointed.

 

What would you do if life gave you a second chance?
The night of the accident changed everything...
Now, five years on, Rachel's life is crumbling. She lives alone in a tiny flat, working in a dead-end job, desperate with guilt over her best friend's death. She would give anything to turn back the clock. But life doesn't work like that... Does it?
The night of the accident was a lucky escape...
Now, five years on, Rachel's life is perfect. She has a wonderful fiancé, loving family and friends around her, and the career she always wanted. But why can't Rachel shake the memory of a very different life?

I started reading this book two days ago, so that should give you an idea of how much I loved it! The book starts with the main character Rachel and follows her life until she has a fall and hits her head, she then wakes up in hospital where we discover that the life that she has lead was not real. The story then follows her journey in trying to piece together her life and there is a sweet love story integrated within the book. What I loved about the book was I couldn't work out how it was going to end, and in fact when I reached the end I was surprised at how it finished. Until the final twist in the story I would have only given the book three stars, however the twist, or at least what I thought was a twist, gave me a different view of the story and therefore pushes the rating up to four stars. In all honesty I am not sure I liked the ending, I think I would have preferred it to finish differently, but it was very clever, particularly the way that it linked in with the rest of the book.

 

So, if you are into Chick Lit or liked "If I Stay" as I personally found the concept to be fairly similar, then I would recommend this book, its definitely worth a read. If you have read it, let me know what you think!

 

If anyone has any book recommendations, let me know, I am always on the look out for something new to read! 

The Start of Something New

As you may have guessed from the title, I am new to this, but as I am sat here, slightly bored and desperately trying to avoid doing my dissertation I thought I would start a blog because...well why not?!

I have decided to call this "A Little Place of Happiness" as this is what I want this blog to be, full of things that make me happy, whether its a review of something I liked, or telling you about something I have been up to, or just my random thoughts, I want this to be full of all the happiest things in my life.

So first a short introduction. My name in Vikki, I am 20 years old (apparently) though I told someone the other day that I was 18, genuinely believing it was the case. I currently attend university and am about to go into my final year, I also have a part time job working in a nursery, something that I love, if I could quit university and work there full time I would. I love all things Disney, I am obsessed with London and anything that has a London reference and friends and family are very important to me.

And that's about it for now, I suppose I had better go and put some proper thought into what I am going to write about!