August 19th 2016

Currently loving...
Band: Scouting for Girls
Film: We bought a Zoo
Book: The Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling
Product: Dove, Summer Revived
Game: Pokemon (obvs)
Drink: Almond Dark Chocolate milk (Alpro)
Food: Couscous

This month I have been revisiting old loves of mine, and the biggest one is the band Scouting for Girls. I honestly forgot how much I loved them, and quickly found myself singing, if not a little out of tune (okay a lot out of tune) to the songs. It took me right back to when I was in year 10, (some 7 if not 8 years ago), Elvis isn't dead, the heartbeat song and of course She's so lovely. And yes I ended up watching Angus, Things and Perfect Snogging. I also found out that they are touring!!! So, I might have to get me some tickets.

Little update. 
As you guys know I am on a health kick. Out with the old and in with the new and all that jazz. This week I have thoroughly enjoyed trying new healthy foods and found my love for couscous, this stuff is a life saver, some boiling water is all you need and boom healthy meal, I add chicken and loads of veg to mine. I can never finish it all which is great, because when I undoubtedly get a little hungry later on I can finish off my lunch. In my first week I lost a total of 6lb which I was over the moon about, and the second week a total of 9lb. So, as you can imagine I am a very happy girlie right now.

I also purchased a new bike and I love it. It is so pretty and beautiful. (see below) I was lucky my local Halfords have a deal at the moment on bikes and accessories 20% off all bicycles and 3 for 2 on accessories. I couldn't resist, it is beautiful :).  I am of course going to get matching basket and saddle bag, I'd be silly not to.

Also, this month I got a new tattoo, by the wonderfully talented Sophie of Skin Wizard in Thatcham. I am beyond happy with the tattoo, it means a lot to me. The photo does not do this beauty justice. 

That has been my month so far, I hope you liked my little update. Until next time..

Love yah

IsThataRedHerring 

I'm finally doing it!

For ages now I have thought about writing a book. I have had many ideas but none of them developed into anything I wanted to actually pursue. I kept coming up with excuse after excuse why I couldn't write my book. But then something clicked. I love writing and this idea came to me just before I went to bed. I wrote a note to myself on my phone then went to sleep. I forgot I had written myself this note until 2/3 weeks after; and I still really liked the idea for a book. So, I got researching and writing bits and developing my characters.

Researching is the hardest part. I found that I got distracted way to easily when I was at home so would often venture to the library, where I was restricted by 2 hour computer slots which meant I got more done in the time. But when researching for a book you end up searching and googling the most randomist and weirdest things. For instance today I was in my local library which is small as I live in a small town. Away I was printing 10 pages worth of research on breast cancer then followed by asking if they had any baby name books (which they didn't). The librarian gave me such a weird look as she handed me my printing and unsure what to say. I laughed and said I'm doing research for a book I am hoping to write and we got talking about it and how she has written a children's book for her children which they love. It went from an awkward interactions to something quite rewarding and interesting to hear about.

I haven't been working on my book for long, an hour here and there. However I am able to concentrate on it more now that I am between jobs. I finished my job as a carer last Friday and do not start my next job until October. So I am using this time to research for my book, catch up on books I want to read and generally having some me time.

If you have any writing tips I would love to hear them. All advice is welcome.

Love Yah

IsThataRedHerring

Avengers: Age of Ultron review

I LOVE ANYTHING MARVEL... I thought I'd put that out there.

This film from the beginning was spot on! The funny one liners from Thor, Captain America and of course Iron Man were perfect. I loved the running joke throughout the film, that Steve aka Captain America hates bad language and tells Iron Man (Stark) for swearing. Also, after a small party each of the Avengers try and pick up Thor's hammer, none of them can although Captain American jolts it a little (Thor's face is priceless).

As expected this film has a lot of exciting scenes and things that cannot be missed, and few little twists and turns that I was not expecting! This film sees the arrival of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver... but I am torn as to which Quicksilver I prefer, and although Aaron Johnson plays him perfectly, including funny little one liners... I am still in love with Quicksilver from X-Men, Days of Future Past, Evan Peters plays him splendidly, he is funny, charismatic and lets not forget perfect on the eyes. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, despite Loki (Tom Hiddleston) not being present in the cast. I am also excited for Thor 3 to arrive on screens soon, along with Captain America: Civil War, another Avengers, more X-Men films and other Marvel spin-off films. I loved seeing all the original characters back and the introduction to two more Avengers (Quicksilver and Scarlet-witch). I cannot wait for what the next lot of films have to offer. I am never disappointed with a Marvel film. This is up there among my top 10 favourite Marvel films, but it cannot beat Guardians of the Galaxy, Days of Future Past or Thor (there is something about Loki okay). 

Without spoiling anything I do hope the ending is wrong and that a certain Avenger is not dead! They best not be!

If you haven't seen the film GO WATCH IT PLEASE! below is the trailer. 

Love yah 

IsThataRedHerring

I finally finished Paper Towns by John Green

This post will not contain any spoilers!

WARNING! This is my opinion of the book and my personal review, please do not take this as fact, make your own mind up of the book.

I have tried to write this post at least a dozen times, and each time I end up deleting what I have written, because for me this book had so much potential, I started this book with excitement as I really liked The Fault in our Stars by John Green; however as I neared the end of this book I predicted the ending and I was correct. As I read the last few pages I was so disappointed and honestly felt the last chapter was pointless,

So what is the book about?
The book is set around Quentin.
Quentin is a normal teenager and is in his last year of high school, he has normal friends Radar and Ben. Quentin loves his next door neighbour Margo and always has done since they were little. Margo is not a typical teenage girl; Margo tends to run away often, she disappears for 2 or 3 days at a time and tries to leave clues for her parents and friends to follow so they know where she is, however the clues aren't always great and often get ignored. Margo's parents do not worry about her because she does this all the time. One night Margo knocks of Quentin's video and they explore the city, causing a bit of mischief and the next day Margo is gone. Quentin doesn't think this is a normal disappearance, so he sets out to find her. 4 days pass and she is still no where to be seen, so Quentin gets his friends and Margo's closest friend involved in finding her. The book follows Quentin and the group follow clues that Margo has left all over the city. Quentin believes Margo has left this clues personally from him.

I think this is a safe place to stop and let you read what happens... But I will say is that I was so disappointed and annoyed with the ending of this book. It had so much potential to be so amazing but for me it failed at every obstacle and corner. I just don't know why it had to end so stupidly. The whole book was leading up to finding Margo and then this twist, a stupid pointless twist. That made the majority of the book pointless. it could have ended within a few chapters and have been a better ending.

I am not sure if I have given this book a bad review because I really just wanted to finish it because i wasn't gripped from the beginning. I know I have given this book a bad review, but I want you to make up your own mind, we all have different tastes in books, films, music etc. So do not let my review dishearten you. I am just given my own opinion,

The film for Paper Towns comes out sometime this year and I will be seeing it, mainly because a new upcoming actor that I like is playing Quentin, I hope the film adaptation is good, I do have high hopes because the Fault in our stars was great. I do have one more John Green book to read which is Looking for Alaska and I am hoping I will enjoy it.

Love yah

IsThataRedHerring

1 hour of reading everyday.

You may remember that at the start of this year I decided to read 21 books because I turn 21 this year. And well it isn't going great, I've only finished one book so far which was Paper Towns by John Green. I feel like I do not prioritise reading enough. So I have decided to start reading for at least an hour a day. It is most likely to be before I go to bed, but I feel like if I can just fit in an hour a day it will make it a lot easier and more enjoyable to read. I do not want it too seem like a task because its not, I just do not prioritise reading as much as I should. Therefore instead of watching videos on Youtube before I sleep or watching one more episode on Netflix I am going to read. Get all cosy in bed with my book and maybe a cup of tea and read, and enjoy it.


The book I read first was Paper Towns, I think this was a wrong choice for me to read because I disliked this book immensely. (I will be posting a review) I just feel this book had so much potential but failed at a lot of hurdles, and so much waffling about nothing. So, this I guess put me off a little to continue my 21 book challenge, but I have just started my new book and it is by a different author and is good so far, I am only 20 pages in therefore I cannot really comment about it, but the style of writing and layout is a lot different than what I normally read so I am excited to continue. The book is called The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer. Hopefully I will finish the book by Sunday the 16th, I also have a longish trip back home so I can read for the 3/4 hour journey I hope.

This was a short post so I can motivate myself to read more, and I hope you guys are somewhat motivated to pick up a book and read more, something you've been meaning to read or you've been recommended to read but never did, this is your opportunity to do so! Just 1 hour each day that's all it takes and you will fly through books.

Love yah

IsThataRedHerring

Where does the time go?

Tomorrow is February, one whole month of 2015 gone! Where has this time gone seriously? I guess this is a little reflection of January and look at what February holds for me and this blog.

January
I looked like this for one...

...which is absolutely bonkers because not only have I changed my hair colour 3 maybe 4 times since December/January I have also changed the hair style. I am forever changing my hair. However, I am hoping to stick to one colour soon, but first I need to find the right colour. I returned back to uni in January, which I had several mixed emotions about, but thank goodness I am here. I am so glad to be back, and still shocked how quickly my final year has gone! Just under 4 months until my time at Plymouth uni is over. I also began to write my dissertation which is rather daunting but so far I am enjoying the challenge and researching into a subject I really enjoy. I don't hate my subject yet, which is a massive bonus, I have about 2000 words ish written of it at the moment, so only 6000 more to go haha. What else has January brought me? Oh yeah, yet more illness :( which is sucky, but I am hoping that I have found the problem so I can fix it. Also, myself and Chelsey have started a new blog together which focuses on us becoming healthier and fitter mentally and physically. Which for means I need to start making a lot of adjustments which I know in the long run are going to make me a lot healthier both body and mind. Oh yeah, also more about my hair changes:

So as you can see January has been a crazy time for my hair, and February will also be the same, I no longer have blue and purple hair. I am in transition, so its a white/blonde/green mess at the moment. Which is great fun. According to Chelsey I look like an old women who has had a perm and a blue rinse, I think I look amazing! But back to the serious stuff... January has made me think about a lot of things, how I look, how people see me, what I plan to do after uni, question friendships and relationships, look through mistakes I've made and some things that just need to stay in the past. But I feel that it has made me look at February as a bit of a fresh start, healthier eating, exercising and maybe even just finding myself a bit (peace man peace). I know January is supposed to be the time to make changes but you can always make changes, you do not need to wait for the new year or a Monday to start that diet again. I firmly believe that whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger (thank you Miss Kelly Clarkson) and that just because something hasn't turned out the way you want, just pick yourself back up and try again and again. Hey, I'm trying to lose weight and become healthier for the millionth time, but this time I have a lot more riding on it, I have support from family and friends and you guys which is amazing. And if you are reading this and feel that you have something you want to do but do not have anyone to support you, I'm here. I am always here to help anyone, so don't worry you are not alone, I am a comment or an email away even a tweet anything, I'm here! 

Anyway I went a bit off topic but I think it was essential to mention. Anyway for me February is a start of a newer me in all aspects. I'm going home also for a week which will be great, see the family and some friends, and have a bit of a break from uni and just chill for a bit. Also, this year I am doing lent and giving up meat (I miss bacon already) so we will see how that goes, I also hope to have a lot of my dissertation done. 

So that was my first month of 2015 and here's to the second... 

Love yah 

IsThataRedHerring 

Trying to add more veg into my life

2014 has been and gone so I thought it was about time to try something different. I'm not really a meat eater and tend to stick to white meat and occasionally beef mince. I normally cook the same things as university, which tend too be chicken and pasta and some sort of sauce, or cottage pie! But when my good friend Beth made me an amazing vegetarian curry I was in love. Finally I got the recipe after months of forgetting to ask for it. And I was not disappointed. Full of spices and amazing tasty vegetables, most definitely one of my new favourite dishes. I've been trying to use new and exciting spices and vegetables, and looking for new veggie recipes.

I have two amazing recipes so far thanks to Beth, which are the amazingly packed and tasty spicy veggie curry and gnocci in a rich tomato sauce which I am trying this week. I also have a few soup recipes that I still need to try out, but if anyone has any recipes I would greatly appreciate them.

Sorry for short but sweet blog

Love yah
IsThataRedHerring

The Kindness of Strangers

Who knew how kind people on the internet could me?

My mum was frantically searching the house for some old photographs of my Grandad, it's his 70th birthday in June and my mum wanted to do something special for him. After a few days of searching my mum finally found the photographs she was looking for, however they were in bad condition. I'm not good with Photshop or anything technical so I turned to the internet.

I am an avid browser and occasional poster on Imgur,and I thought on the off chance I would see if anyone could help me and my mum with our photo problem. I wasn't all that optimistic but gave it a shot; and within an hour I had people already helping me.

This was the picture my mum wanted, as you can see there was a crease in the picture and a mark where something was stuck to it. It was a amazing how quickly people reacted to my post and began helping straight away. Several people corrected the picture....

And this was the best results....

I was blown away with how amazing it looked, but they didn't stop there.One Imgur user went out of his way to colourise the picture for me, and my mum actually cried because she was so grateful to the person to do this. She was amazed that someone who doesn't even know our family, is willing to do such a nice thing. 

And this is the photo now. I am so shocked at how good it is, he did this in less than an hour. And even fixed and colourised a few other photographs. 

So, all I have to say is there are some wonderful people out there, not everyone on the internet are weirdos! Once again thank you to literallyfigurative for all your help with the photos, you have made my mum and myself very happy. And have restored my faith in humanity.

If you have any stories like mine, an act of kindness from a stranger, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks for reading (sorry it took me a while to post)

Love yah 

IsThataRedHerring