Goodbye London!

I'm on my way back home to Scotland and for the first time I am kind of sad about it because it means this amazing trip is over. Don't get me wrong I'm always excited to go back home!  I love being around my family and the people I love and having my general homely comforts around me and not to mention people can actually understand what I'm saying!  But going home means that this trip is over and I wasn't really ready for that. Usually when I go away anyway I am ready to go home after a few days, not that it stops me enjoying the place that I'm in, I like to make the most of these things. But I have had so many brilliant moments on this trip that I wanted it to keep going.

A quick story for context. 

About 2 years ago I started talking to my friend Jenna who lives in Finland. I started following her tumblr blog and realised that we were very similar, we had the same interests and opinions, it was great!  I sent her a message on new years Eve (' Hogmanay ' if you know how to speak properly) saying 'Happy New year!  I really like your blog ' and the rest is history. One of the things we had in common was our quite frankly creepy obsession with Dan and Phil, two British YouTubers that captured the hearts of many teenage (and not so much teenage) girls with their swoopy hair, English accents and bizarre sense of humour.  We would chat for hours about their latest endeavours and what we were up to in our own lives. We became genuine friends. When Dan and Phil announced that they were going on tour it wasn't even a question weather we should go it was a question of how? We got the tickets and have been planning the trip since March. I will admit that the trip didn't really feel real to me until the day before I was going as I have had a lot to deal with with university, placements in A+E and other responsibilities that I deal with a day at a time. So forward planning isn't really my thing.  

Before I knew it I was on the train to London about to spend three days with someone I had ever met in a city I vaguely knew and about to see a show that was the pinnacle of the Dan and Phil community aka 'phandom'. Needless to say it went all went very well and exceeded expectations. I felt a huge amount of pressure to make the trip 'good' I thought it was all on me to be an excellent tour guide and impress with my witty entertainment (not really). The trip was good on its own, I didn't need to make all the effort that I was worried about. The conversation flowed between us, there was no awkward moments. We embraced the obnoxious ' touristness' and had a great time, some of the time when I had nothing planned we just wondered around taking in all the Londonness and appreciating each others company.

Over the weekend we went to The Sherlock Holmes museum, Madame Tussauds, the London Eye, Harrods, a tour bus of London, M&M world, China town and not forgetting the Moomin shop in Covent Garden. We also walked around and ate delicious meals which made me very happy. We also just wondered round and took in the goings on around us. This is more for myself as I don't want to forget anything. Between the both of us I think we took around thousands photograph's.

Then Sunday night came. Time for the Dan and Phil show. We met my cousin and her friend before the show as they were going too. It was really great to enjoy the experience with my wee cousin. It made my day seeing her wee smile after the show. Made my day even more that is as I have to say the show was pretty spectacular.  As horrendously cheesy as it sounds words can not even describe how happy I was from the moment we walked into that theatre (the London palladium no less).  It was truly heart warming to be surrounded by such happy people, everyone was just beside themselves with excitement.  Neither Jenna or I could wipe the smile off our face from the moment everyone was singing along to the songs associated with Dan and Phil at the beginning to when we finally got back to our hotel!  The show was more than we could ever have imagined, pure Dan and Philness for an hour and a half, which really only felt like ten minutes.  It was Dan and Philness times a hundred!  There relentless energy through out was unbelievable!  What made it for me was looking round at everyone else that were as exciting as I was. It was reminded me that Yeah I'm weird but it's very okay to be weird as long as your happy, which is the most important thing. Also we can't be that weird if we are the same as thousands of other people up and down the country now really?

I may upload my photos at a later date but this is more of just a word dump on the train home after the trip than a proper blog post. I just want to remember all the thoughts from after this trip as I don't really remember the last time I was as happy as this. And as the thought of reality and a week of night shift is looming ahead across the border, I want this feeling to last for as long as possible. I'm sure Jenna got bored of be saying 'am so happy right now ' or 'am so chill right now' but I could help it. I just felt like it needed to be said. After a yummy meal, 'that dinner made me happy' sitting on the tour bus 'am really enjoying this', snuggled in bed with a cup to tea and youtube 'am so chill right now', during the show 'am so excited, I can't even explain'

Needless to say...

I am very happy right now. 

Trying New Things and Sticking to them *Gulp*

I realise that by looking at the title you might think this is some kind of January new years resolution kick that will inevitability resolve in the next couple of weeks.

Well it sort of is but also isn't... I would say that I am getting my 'New Years Motivation' in the middle of May but I think this is a bit different. As I finished my second year university exams a few weeks ago I feel a sense of not wanting to waste my summer (even though I will still be working).

 The last four months have been filled with non-stop university lectures, tutorials, essay writing, studying and work. I have quite literally had time for nothing else other than work. I have not even had time for reading which is one of my favourite things to do.

Since I have been in the midst of all this I have missed having free time to work on projects of my own, projects that I can choose and enjoy rather than ones I am forced to do to pass exams.

Now that the time has rolled around where I have all the free time in the world (apart from work) I don't want to waste a minute of it!

Imagine me sitting at my desk with books and papers everywhere day dreaming and making lists of all the things I am going to do with my spare time. I have been looking forward to this moment for months. Now that it has arrived I don't want to just stay in bed and watch Nexflix all day (which I could easilly do). I want to know that I have achieved something in May-September of 2015 other than successfully completing every season of friends. I never really appreciated what great value my free time had until it was taken away from me. 

List of things I hope to achieve.

I feel this will be a good place to document everything. To keep on track and be honest. Or it will be funny to look back on this in cringe then laugh at myself which is what I do with every other 'come back post'.

Exercise more

 (Duh!) I know this is on everyone's 'self-improvement' list but I actually have managed to stick to it so far! What?! I have managed to go to the gym at least 10 times as well as swimming, running and walking as much as I can. I hope to write a more specific post about it later as well and truly getting started is the hardest part!

Start Driving

My Goal is to try and pass my test by September! This could be an ambitious one but we will see how it goes!

Blog More

I love blogging so much. I love looking back at all my old posts and photographs and reading everyone else's beautiful blogs.

Cook More

I always really enjoy cooking and baking. I just never give myself enough time to actually try something new once in a while.

There are also many other little ideas for projects and things I want to do that hopefully I will be able to write about if they seem interesting enough.

Do you have any plans for the summer? Let me know!

December Wrap up!

I can't believe December is already over. I feel like we spend all this month anticipating Christmas then it's all over so quickly. I have really enjoyed my time off work and spending time with my friends and family. I feel like I spent more time with my friends Helen and Emma in December than I have in the past three months. I have really appreciated the time off to chill and watch movies and not worry about a lot as I know January will already be busy with travelling, work and studying. I think my time off with officially be over by the first of January. I have also got back into blogging this month. I have really enjoyed trying to think of things to write about everyday even though some days it has been challenging. I am hoping to keep it up in the new year. At least when I am travelling which will hopefully make exciting reading. 

I wish you all the best in 2015! I hope you have a smashing year!

2015 Resolutions...sort of

It's that time of year again, the time when you reflect on yourself and remember that you have flaws.

 I don't know why I have always hated making resolutions, maybe it's because I know that I will enviably fail at 'eating heather' or 'going to the gym'. I have sometimes thought why do we have to wait until the 1st of January to try and make ourselves different? Is the earth circling round the sun one more time really going to make you a different person when you wake up? I know that the idea of 'new beginnings' can be really inspirational to some people but not really for me.

 I think changing things about yourself comes from experiences in your life that have made you think. I think we all change as we grow and learn. These 'resolutions' I have chosen are something that I have notice are naturally changing about me as I have 'grown up' a bit and had some events in my life that have changed my view. I have also met new people that have inspired me to try and become better. I think that over coming some of our 'flaws' can be a life long journey and sometimes we don't even realised how much we have changed till we look back. Growing and over coming your flaws is not just a 1st of January thing. 

Here are some of my ideas, some of them I have already begin to change over the last few months and I want to continue.

Be more confident

I wouldn't say I am a particularity shy person but I am not the loudest either. When I say 'be more confident' I mean be more confident in my own decisions that what I am doing it right. Sometimes I don't think I am as assertive in my decisions as I should be. I often rely on other people to lead me though certain situations. I am making more of my own decisions at work but I need to be more confident when I think I am right, I have a habit of letting other people change my decision because I don't have enough confidence to make my argument.

Be more organised

I just need to face up to the fact that 'organised' is not one of my personality traits. It takes quite a lot of effort for me to get my head around things. I think that I just need to start getting on top of things by dedicating part of my day to just making sure everything is done or there is a time arranged when everything can get done. I think my life will be a lot less stressful.

Do more things

Lately, I have started doing the same things all the time so I want to stretch my self to do more interesting things. Replacing the time I spend on YouTube and browsing with other things like finishing my sort stories which I have really enjoyed recently. My brother is going to teach me some rock climbing I hope. I don't want to make myself busier, I am busy enough between work and studying but just want to stop pointlessly browsing all the time when I know my mind isn't getting anything out of it. 

Run Down

Today is my first day of freedom as yesterday I finished work for a few days.

Unfortunately I woke up today very ill and I'm still having dizziness. I was very disappointed as I had lots of plans for today which I had to chancel and general business around the house to attend to, however, my body wouldn't allow it.

I decided to try and see this as a positive thing. As a time to recover and recharge. I am the sort of person that always has to be doing something. Even on my days off work I am always seeing someone or working on some sort of project.

December has been a particularly stressful month for me. My job is very physical and demanding and it wasn't until I  was forced to do nothing that I realised how wound up I was. It was such a relief on my body and mind when I decided today I would do nothing. I have not left my bed or the sofa all day and didn't have a shower till 4pm!

I have also tried to make my environment and relaxing as stress-free as possible to I can recover properly. I stayed in my PJ's all day and had a nice smelling candle (vanilla and cranberry if anyone is interested) and watch some chilled out Youtube videos I enjoy. 

 I am doing my best to see this as positive thing. Next week I am hoping to feel refreshed. I think if I had kept going today I would have become more run down and eventuality more ill which I don't want. I think I have learnt a good lesson today, that it is okay to take a break and relax because it can do you more good than just powering through it.

Rachel xxx

True Meaning of Christmas....?

Gifts? Family? Friends? Giving? Christ?

These days Christmas has so many different meanings to many different people. 

 We all know how easy it is to get caught up in the commercialised side of Christmas. Like I said yesterday I am no Scrooge. I love walking around Winter Wonderland soaking up the atmosphere with a Hot Chocolate, looking at all the trinkets and people trying not to fall over on the ice rink.

I love hanging out with my friends and family at this time of year where you are forced to be in a room that is too small for the amount of people. You are listening to your brother and grandpa arguing about the latest advance in technology. Your Granny is telling you about her newest knitting pattern and you are telling the rest of the people in the room about a really interesting concept you read in a book recently when you know no one else really cares (just me?). I just love it. I have been trying to figure out why I love it. It's just one of those things you start to appreciate when you get older (just to be clear I am only 20, I know that sentence makes me sound like I'm 60).

Despite all that happiness and contempt it doesn't take much for that bubble to pop. Well for me it doesn't. Turning over to the news in the middle of a Christmas film. Walking past a homeless person when Christmas shopping. Reading about horrific stories of abuse in the middle of browsing Tumblr. I immediately feel guilty about everything I have and that I am able to have such an enjoyable time when there is so much suffering. In other years I have been able to block it out and continue in this festive universe where nothing bad happens but this year I am facing reality more and more. How do you deal with it? 

For me that is where Christ comes in. This week I felt particularly bad watching the news about the Sydney siege. I think a situation like this where there is loss it causes people to ask questions about God such as 'How can God let this happen' 'Why doesn't God stop the suffering?'. For me it does the opposite it answers my questions 'How can we heal from this?' 'How can we move on from what is broken?'. For me the answer is Christ. I understand that not everyone will agree with me but it is where I seek my comfort in a season which is about the coming of a savour where we are supposed to be cheerful and happy but the suffering doesn't go away.

 Sorry this wasn't the most light hearted of posts but it has been on my mind for the last few days. The next post will not be quite so serious.

Rachel xxx

All Wrapped up!

Hello Blogger Friends!

Long time no blog! I apologise if I have made that joke before, I have not got time to look through all my previous failed come backs. 

Two people mentioned to me today how much they missed my blog. Considering I have not even thought about my blog for many months I took it as a sign that I should start back up again.

Today I got one of my least favourite Christmas jobs out of the way, wrapping. 

It's not that I am ungrateful! I love the opportunity to give gifts to the people I love to show how much I appreciate them. It's the actual wrapping I don't enjoy all that much. I find it very stressful to sit for hours battling with scissors, tape and paper. The finished product never quite turns out how you'd hoped and there is always that one person that turns up with the perfectly wrapped present with extra ribbon and glitter making it look effortless and they claim to actually enjoy the process. Maybe it's my lack of patients or my over all worry that the person I am wrapping for might not like the present but whatever it is I like to get it out of the way as soon as possible. 

To make the experience as stress free as possible I made sure I had the right supplies to keep me going, this includes tea in my favourite mug, enough chocolate to keep me sane (I did have to consume the whole bag of Cadbury's Dairy Milk) and believe it or not I am no Scrooge so my favourite Christmas film was on. The Grinch. Such and epic film in so many ways.

It was a such a relief to finally see all the gifts under the tree. Done and dusted on the 17th of December with a whole week to go before Christmas! I would consider that a special achievement. 

What about you? Does wrapping stress you out or are you one of those creative types that enjoy making their gift into an art piece that will inevitably get ripped open in 30 seconds? 

It's the thought that counts right?

Rach xxx

Back from the Dead!

Hello Blogger Friends!

I'M BACK!

I am going to start off by being totally honest, I had ever intention on giving up on this Blog and letting it die (reference to title). However there have been quite a few things that have inspired me to come back lately so I decided to give it another bash! 

The last thing I posted on here was 8 months ago OOPS! I have wanted to come back on many occasions but is has been so long that it kind of turn into that friend that you haven't talked to in a long time and the longer you leave it the more awkward is gets. Does anyone else know what I am talking about with that? ANYWAY, so I decided enough is enough and it is time to rip off the band-aid and pluck up the courage to talk to that friend no matter what they think of you. Yes, I think I did use two metaphors in ones sentence.

On a more positive and maybe a less obscure note I have not been gone from the internet completely. I have had no problem what so ever keeping my Tumbr up to date ( I wonder why that is?). Also posted some videos to my YouTube channel and posted some photos on BlipFoto.

By far the most inspirational website I have been involved with is the HopeForum. This is really the reason I wanted to come back because it reminded my how awesome, intelligent, hilarious and supportive people on the internet can be and I wanted to make the most of it.

Friendship bracelets 

Anyway, I don't want to go on for too long or you will be bored to death. Here is an idea I had to add to the end of a post where I list the things I have been upto since the last post, like books I've read or movies I've seen.

Books Read

- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

- How I Live Now Meg Rosoff

-Seriously... I'm Kidding Ellen DeGeneres

Currently Reading

-The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Movies Seen

-The Book Thief

-Divergent

-One Day

Links

Tumbr

Youtube

Blip

Hopeful

Wish me luck byee xxx

Blogging Fail!

Hello Blogger friends,

Long time no Blog! (see what I did there? Thank goodness I can still think of terrible puns!)
It has been such a long time since I last posted anything so this is going to take a bit of getting used to!

I have had a crazy summer of doing lots of things. Believe it or not I actually left the internet and went outside and interacted with people that are not internet retailed! Now that summer is coming to an end (sad face) I finally have a chance to tell you about it. However, I had not completely abandoned this blog over the last couple of weeks. My notebook is spilling out with ideas. I like to think of it as a creative retreat.

I have taken thousands of pictures this summer here is one of my favourites as a peek of what is to come!

Now that I will be going back to University soon I decided that I need to come up with some short of plan to stop procrastinating and get my life sorted. If you know me well you will know that my life is just one big procrastination session. I realised that I actually need to start DOING the things am passionate about and stop thinking 'I'll do it tomorrow' or 'I'll do it after one last game of Mario Kart 7'.

I was inspired by Alex Day and Charlie who both use a system called 'Don't break the chain'. I know it sounds ominous but it's actually a really cool idea and if it worked for them then maybe it will help me.

The idea is that you do an activity for a certain amount of time every day to and when you have done it you are able to cross that date off your calender therefore making a chain of crosses. I am going to be doing at LEAST one hour of Uni work a day (obviously will have to do more) and one hour of blogging a day. The idea is to get motivated to stop procrastinating and get those crosses. I am going to try this out for four weeks and let you know how I get on. I will let you know if it is was a terrible idea.

Am sorry this wasn't a very interesting post but I promise they will get better as I tell you about my summer adventurings.

How have all your summer's been? Miss reading your comments, So let me know!

Byee x

Race for life 2013-Wet-Emotional-Heartwarming

Hello Blogger Friends,

On Sunday the 23rd of June my family and myself ran/walked the Race For Life. If you have never heard of the Race For Life then you can click 'HERE'. Basically it is a race to rise money for a charity called Cancer Research UK. All kinds of people run the race from little kids to the older generation, people dress up in funny costumes, run, jog,walk, hop, dance, you name it someone is doing it. Oh yeah and everyone wears pink!

By far the most difficult part of the day was not the running or standing around in the pouring rain but reading the tributes and celebrations on everyone's back. There was over 2000 people running in the race and every single one of them had been affected by cancer in some way. 

Our team name was '3 generations'. This is a perfect photo of three generations in my family, me, my Mum and my Grandmother. After running this race I feel so grateful that I am able to stand with three generations of my family when so many people at the race were not able to.

My Auntie, two of my cousins and my friend Kayleigh (who I see as part of the family anyway) were all part of our team as well.

Cousin age 8 before the race. 

 Unfortunately the weather was terrible but that did not dampen our spirits! The atmosphere was fantastic! It felt so good to have so many woman coming together to be united for one cause!

Pre-race stretches

Starting off the 5km race.

Mum and cousin age 10 finishing the race in a down pour but still smiling! 

I will summaries with what my Aunt updated after the race as she did a good job at bringing all the collective thoughts together.

"Well it took a while to dry out (longer than it took to get out of the car park anyway) .... but we did it ... 3 generations ... combined age of 211... all in one piece.

Most difficult part by far is reading the tributes and celebrations on people's backs. 

Find myself very reflective ... sad about those that we've lost, thankful for those who have fought and won and standing with those we know who are fighting to be cancer free.

Definitely a disease that affects us all in many ways across all the generations.

#raceforlife2013"

Thank you for reading my post! Hope you enjoyed it and a HUGE thank you to anyone that contributed money to the cause. Our family raised over £500! We couldn't have done it without our friends, family, work colleagues and school friends who donated.

xx