2014 Favourites

Favourite Songs:

• Sing To The Moon by Laura Mvula
• Stay Gold by First Aid Kit
• I Love You Too Much by Diego Luna/Gustavo Santaolalla
• Architect's Son by Julia Gray
• She by Laura Mvula
• Running When You Call My Name by Haim
• Torrent by Asgeir
• Rise Like A Phoenix by Conchita Wurst
• Long December by Julia Gray
• Roots by Orla Gartland
• Robber Bride by Julia Gray
• Blue Roses by Julia Gray

Favourite Films:
(I will be doing a separate post with a short review of each film and an actual ranking of my favourites)

• The Wolf Of Wall Street
• Gone Girl
• The Book Thief
• Godzilla
• The Book of Life
• The Maze Runner
• How To Train Your Dragon 2
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Belle
• It's A Disaster (Sure, it came out before 2014 but I only saw it this year)
• Snowpiercer 
• Nightcrawler
• The Love Punch

Favourite Moments:

• Being surprised twice at work by my loving partner: First in the morning after I'd been on the phone to her all night saying how stressed I was. She got on a bus in the early morning and travelled all day because she knew I needed her. Secondly, on Valentine's Day when I was surprised with presents and flowers at work. It was the best Valentine's day ever.
• Hannah's graduation.
• Being merch girl for Bad Pollyanna and getting to go backstage with them and the other bands.
• Going to the Marina Abramovic exhibition, 512 Hours.
• Taking Hannah to see The Crucible in London for our anniversary.
• Setting up the ScavHanger Hunt for my partner <3
• Holding my book for the first time. Knowing that I was officially a published author. 

Favourite Events:

• Seeing Eric Whitacre and Laura Mvula perform at Union Chapel back in May
• My book launch!
• Watching my beautiful partner graduate from university after three years of effort and study
• Bad Pollyanna and William Control on The Punishment Tour
• Seeing Within Temptation in London with my father and friends
• Going to a football game with my father
• Setting up a scavenger hunt for my beloved around the town.
• Going to the Miranda Sings gig with my partner
• Seeing The Crucible for my anniversary with my beloved.

Favourite TV shows:

• Game of Thrones
• How To Get Away With Murder
• Orange is the New Black
• Masters of Sex
• Grey's Anatomy
• The Following

My Little Shopping Spree

So I finally got around to that little shopping spree I'd mentioned lately. I'm a bit of a saver rather than a spender. Most of my wages end up in a savings fund each month so that I can put money away for the future. I don't go out and just splurge on things like I did the other day.

I stopped off at Lush Cosmetics at Liverpool Street Station and then at Primark on Oxford Street and picked up a couple of goodies from both stores. At Lush, I went in to buy my regular shampoo only to find that the price had gone up. I decided to go crazy and try their Cynthia Sylvia
Stout shampoo that contains beer and cognac. Phwoar! It's the fanciest shampoo I've ever bought.

I got a gorgeous grey sweater form Primark (pictured right) and it's so cute. I suppose I like it because it's really long and super comfy.

When I was trying it on, I liked it mainly because it looks like something a sexy wizard would wear. Basically, I'm just a fan of wizard chic. Can we make that a thing? Can that be a trend?
I got a black kimino-like thing and another thing. Basically, I'm not very good at the words associated with fashion. But yes, maybe next month I'll do a little more shopping... And maybe I'll learn the words for the items I buy.

One Year of HuffPost!

It is now officially a year since my first Huffington Post blog went live on their website and I must say that I am so pleased and so proud to be a part of such a wonderful website.
Having applied after finding success on this blog I was sure I wouldn't even be considered but after striking up conversation (mainly about Game of Thrones) with an editor it just... happened. I've been blogging ever since. Nothing makes me happier than seeing someone tweeting or sharing my blog posts. In 2013 someone even used one of my articles in a Twitter argument to justify their opinion. It was pretty rad.

I have a resolution for YOU: Start a blog!

Normally we choose New Year's Resolutions for ourselves. They're often incredibly personal things. As we come to the end of 2013 I'm sure you're all probably thinking of things you'd like to achieve in 2014 but may I suggest one simple thing you should do in 2014?

Start a blog.

2013, for me, was the year I started blogging and I've been so overwhelmed with the success of this humble blog. I don't write for money, I write because I want to write. I write because I want to exercise my mind and keep writing each day so that, even if I'm not inspired enough to write a novel, I'm still creating things. This past year I've seen my blog accessed all over the world and tweeted/read/shared by celebrities like Carice Van Houten from Game of Thrones, Dan Bucatinsky from Scandal and Natalia Tena from the Harry Potter films as well as many more wonderful people. I'm now a blogger for The Huffington Post. I vow to continue writing here as long as my readers and I enjoy it. Writing a blog provides a wonderful place to dump thoughts, feelings and energy. It gives you a place to raise your voice and share your opinions with other like-minded folk. I suggest trying it, even if you create one blog post a month, and just see how you take to it. It's a great way to vent, to share, to create and to explore.

If you create a blog then please tweet me and tell me about it!

The Huffington Post

It is with joy, gratitude and much excitement that I announce I now have been given the opportunity to blog for The Huffington Post UK.  It's different from being a journalist, I do this without any pay or specific benefits, but I'm glad to be able to work alongside such a prestigious website.


This is something I wouldn't even have considered were it not for this blog and the success I've had here. I also would not have considered this without you, the readers taht so regularly stop by. I'll still be blogging here and hopefully just as frequently. I'm currently in my last two weeks of university - and to think I started blogging a month ago and the end seemed so far away.

I'll be a little quieter over the next few weeks as I finish my final three pieces of university work and then I'm all yours. Expect lots of reviews and articles from May onwards. I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy writing it. Once I have posted something on the Huffington Post blog I'll post a link here.

Thank you, dear blog-ghosts*, for taking the time to read my ramblings. If there are topics you'd like me to try to cover or discuss, let me know. If you would like me to interview you here, let me know. If you have an album/book/work you'd like me to review here, let me know.


*blog-ghost (noun) a viewer of the Welcome to the Birdcage blog.


Also welcome to the new viewers/blog-ghosts from Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland.