Favourite First Series Watched In 2016

It was definitely a good year for TV, although you could say the majority of the stuff I watched was actually a good few years old.

I love getting stuck into a really good series so a first series has to really draw me in to keep me hooked.

Pretty Little Liars definitely did that for me. I blitzed through the entire lot in a few months so I'm now awaiting the last half of the final season along with everyone else.

Okay so it did get a little bit ridiculous after the first "A" was revealed but I'm not going to give up on it when there's so little left to go!

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Westworld was a recent one my housemate and I decided to watch as we'd heard a lot of weird but good things about it.

It was definitely beyond weird, but hey that's JJ Abrams for you.

A weird mix of the wild west and sci-fi, you have a million questions by the end of episode one and are no near answering them by the end of all ten episodes.

It certainly does heat up though from the end of episode seven, so if you're finding it hard to grip, bare with it.

I can't believe we have to wait two years for the next one!!

Prison Break was another I got into as a recommendation from my previous boss. I had a weird on-off relationship with this one. When I was watching it I loved it, it was action packed and you didn't know quite how it'd end up but then when I stopped watching it I wasn't completely gripped to start another episode.

Maybe it was because my mum accidentally told me who died at the end when I was only a few episodes into series one. 

Oh well, throughly looking forward to its return for a fifth season in April!

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The Walking Dead I literally only started last month I think. 

I kept going back and forth in my mind as to whether I should watch it or not as zombies absolutely terrify me, but I'd heard so so many good things. So I took the plunge and it is truly fantastic and has you on the edge of your seat, wondering who will make it through the terrifying apocalypse!

I'm currently on season three and I have to say, I'm addicted!

Stranger Things was the first series my housemate and I decided to watch together one evening as we were bored with sitting in our own rooms all the time. 

This literally had me hooked within the first minute. That opening scene was gripping and I loved the whole idea of the series and how 80s America it is.

The cast are brilliant, the choice of music is brilliant and I love the mix of horror and sci-fi and especially the way the Duffer Brothers introduced each episode as a separate entity.

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Containment was one I randomly saw advertised whilst watching something else and I seem to have a weird love/fascination for watching virus outbreaks (maybe that's why I'm so into zombies now?) 

It's only a one-off series unfortunately but my God. 

There's one episode in particular that broke my heart, literal floods of tears and I had to take some time to myself after just to process!

I hate when a TV series gets cancelled or finishes and I definitely hate when they kill off characters, especially crucial ones, but that's what also makes them good.

Hopefully this year will provide some more fantastic series to get stuck in to.

I know I can't wait for the final season of Game of Thrones and the final bits to Pretty Little Liars and Prison Break!



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Heart to Art

My final piece in Year 11

Think I've just watched the most traumatic episode of television for quite some time.

I mean, it was traumatic for me just because it was so heart wrenching. I even had to go and stand outside for a minute or two after just to think. Horrific.

Note to self: stop watching tv shows about viral outbreaks, they creep you out and they do not have happy endings.

Anyway, other than thinking about the tragic events in that last episode of Containment I have also been thinking a lot of late about art, especially with the timing of the new school year starting (not that I need to think about that anymore).

I never really hated school, but I never really liked it much either. It was so easy back then though and I kind of really miss it.

Roaming the hallways, getting to see your friends everyday, maybe even spend time with them after school sometimes, you'd have giggles over whether or not the guy you liked looked in your direction, or, even better, you actually spoke to him, and you'd learn interesting things and then go home to start on that massive pile of homework.

And then you'd get up the next day and do it all again.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the free evenings and weekends these days with no homework to do, but I miss the rest of it. The socialising, the learning, the growth as a person (physically and mentally).

You get older and you don't realise how much you took for granted. I never appreciated any of that when I was growing up and looking back, I wish I had. I wish I'd slowed down and enjoyed it more instead of wishing it away, wishing to be grown up already.

Okay, so I don't miss the bullies or the fact that I never felt good enough in my classes or for any of the boys I fancied or in the social click I was with.

It's weird. Although I mainly stuck to the one group with my best friend in, I did quite easily get on with a few others in different groups. So, from time to time I would hang out with them too. 

I guess I never really let the type of music I listened to or the clothes that I wore get in the way of who I made friends with. A good lesson to learn so early on considering a workplace (although I still find it to have clicks) is a much easier place to get to know everyone from all backgrounds.

Well, I'm getting rather off topic.

I actually started this post intending to show you a bit of my secondary school art and that I do miss. 

When I was back home, when my parents were visiting, I had a good flick through my art sketchbooks from Year 7 through to Year 11 and you know what? I was inspired.

I put so much work into it all, and not just the pieces of art themselves but the presentation and all.

I remember creating them all though, labouring on each evening with paints and colouring pencils and oil pastels just to get it all completed on time and to the best of my ability. This is the only subject in which you will ever hear me say that I know I deserved that A* and boy am I happy that I got it.

(Please ignore the terrible quality of these photos as they were just quick snaps to document my work as a reminder to myself to get drawing again sometime soon.)

I hope you enjoy them. 

What was your favourite subject at school?

Years 7-9 (I believe), baby me in the top corner

Years 7-9 (I believe)

Years 10-11 (I believe)

Year 11 (I believe)

Year 11

Year 10 or 11

Year 10 (I believe)

Year 10 or 11

Year 10 or 11

Mixture of a few different years!

Year 11

Year 11

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What I'm Loving Right Now

For the last few weeks now, I've left it until the last possible minute to write these posts, I've taken pretty much three weeks off of running with going back home a couple of times and I seem to have lost all motivation of writing again.

Maybe it's because it's the end of summer and as the colder weather starts to creep back in I'm feeling a different kind of lazy.

The summer lazy is understandable, it's warm, you're sleepy, it's nice to just lounge in the sun, etcetera etcetera.

But this kind of lazy is just a tiredness in which I can't find the motivation to do anything. 

I've been powering through One Tree Hill again and they've just graduated high school and it's gone on to being four years later and it just astounds me that the majority of them can have their dreams come true so quickly. (I know it's just a TV show but it makes me want to work a little harder for my dream).

I really really want to be a writer, someone who writes incredible novels that people want to pick up and read, maybe even a bestseller. But, although I've written one novel (and am still in the process of editing it), I'm terrified it won't be good enough.

Like, there are so many stories and books out there that why would anyone decide to choose mine to read?

I don't know what to do, so I keep reading for inspiration.

I may start writing snippets that come into my head on here - unrelated to my book, just peaks into other stories I may expand on in the future.

I'm too scared of what others may think, but I also need opinions and giving it to my friends and family to read is one thing, but they're obviously going to be biased.

A couple of posts ago I wrote about facing your fears, and this is one I've yet to overcome.

Anyway, rambling aside, here are the things I've been loving recently:

Images From Pinterest

1. TV - The Musketeers, The Strain, Containment, Stranger Things - I just think TV has gotten so much better of late. I loved the final season of The Musketeers, it obviously wasn't the most realistic of endings but I wouldn't have exactly been happy if they'd killed anyone else off! Containment and Stranger Things are two new series I've been trying and they are so so good right now. I think with both of them I have about three episodes left of each! The Strain has also just re-started for it's third season and I have to say, it is so tense and gripping. I LOVE IT. (I seem to have a weird obsession with virus-y type programmes of late).

2. iPhone SE - I upgraded a few days ago, and although it looks exactly the same as my 5S, it is rose gold and has way more space for my photos. IOS 10 is also amazing. Me and Adeel have pretty much been conversing in GIFs alone of late, it's hilarious.

3. Fred Perry shoes - I wanted some new white plimsol-like trainers for ages and I saw this cute pair on ASOS. They weren't by any means cheap, and they are definitely a little dirtier now, but they're cute and I can wear them with anything.

4. Driving - I'm slowly gaining my confidence with driving again. I keep getting sudden urges to drive a bit further than just around the block or to Tescos, but I'm not entirely sure where to go. I need a proper destination and to set up my phone so that I can use it as a SatNav before I try anything too far!

5. My boyfriend - It's coming up to our four year anniversary and I'm mega excited. Not because we've planned anything special yet or anything, just because it means we will have gotten past the point last time in the relationship where we couldn't figure out how to go further. (Plus it's been four years ago around this time that we met each other for the first time! Eek.)

6. My friends - since spending time at home and being able to see my friends again (and getting my car), I've been thinking about trying to see them all a bit more. It's so difficult us all living so far apart, but hopefully the car will help with that. It's great to spend time with them, it makes me feel like I'm not alone, even just texting them. (I've been feeling very lonely of late and I'm not sure why.)

7. Working on my future - I've been at my job now, officially, for just coming up to a year (it's been a bit longer if you include work experience and interning too). We've just had our annual review things and I've been looking at new places to live and trying to get back into my writing again. It's a slow process but the future is looking bright, I hope :)