Hannah's Merry Christmas Greeting

Hello wonderful readers of this blog!

As you may have guessed by the not-the-normal greeting, this isn't Libby. It's Hannah instead - if you're wondering right now who in the world I am, I was fore-mentioned in the gorgeous Libby's brilliant blog as 'the lovely lady who wasn't able to play guitar' (isn't she just the kindest?).

Anyhow, Libby and I were talking and I was expressing how utterly amazing she is (as you do and if you don't you should as she deserves it very much).

Her blog became the subject of conversation alongside me speaking of her humour as one of her brilliant attributes. She mentioned she was worried about new ideas and lack of time for posts for all you lovely readers (although I believe she does a cracking job) and she proposed the idea of me writing a post for this incredible blog of hers!

With it being so incredible and me being just a tad obsessed (have read every blog post and will continue to) I was very excited by the proposition and agreed to it!

So here I am, hijacking her small Libby-ified section of the internet for a while - I do hope you don't mind.

Seeing as we're in the festive season of Christmas, I decided to go wild, and attempt a positive and uplifting Christmassy blog about things to be happy/grateful for (as we all have many things although it may not seem like it) because Christmas is about counting your blessings after all.

Libby is absolutely counted among my blessings, as she and all that she is is a blessing in her own right (just to make that prominent before I really do begin).

So here's a little list of reasons to be happy if you're feeling down or sad or appreciative (or any feeling at all really) because there's lots of things to thank your lucky stars for:

• Friends and family (these people love youuu and they love you just the way you are, because chances are they've spent enough time with you to see you being yourself) 

• You've got a roof over your head and if it rains outside it won't be raining on you, most likely there's a lovely HOME you can go to which is something a large number of people do not have (I say home instead of house because it matters more how much of a home to you a building is than how big it is, or how well furnished it is or if the paints peeling a little or not or even if it's your house that you usually live in. In other words it could be a place that feels like a home, your Nanny's house etc etc).

• Someone smiled at you today. I needn't say more really: smiles are great and they brighten days whether this is acknowledged or not. In the rare circumstances someone didn't smile at you today (I'd find that exceptionally hard to believe if you told me) I bet they did yesterday. Or maybe you smiled at a stranger today and with everything they've got going on it made their day a whole lot better! Whatever the case, smiles are great!

• Music : dance, soul, rock, funk, reggae, disco, indie, Bhangra, jazz, country, all sorts. I know for a fact i will very much be backed by Libby on this one! Now, there may be one person (God forbid) that says 'I don't like music' but the fact is music categories are so vast that there's going to be one song that you like - or you haven't listened to enough.

• You've profoundly impacted someone's life. I think we must of all had that one day, week, month, minute, hour (however lengthy period of time) where we've felt useless or like we didn't matter. But the fact is, we've all made an impact in the world in one way or another and there's people that need us and things we are yet to complete. We all very much have a place and are indescribably important.

Right then, I think that will do. If you're a not so happy person reading this then I hope you see sunnier days soon because you deserve it and you are wonderful and loved.

Hopefully my little input on Libby's blog hasn't bored you (and Libby is as happy with it being on her blog as I was to write it) and I'm sure Libby will be back with another outstandingly brilliant post for you soon or thereafter.

Wishing you all a very merry last few days of the Christmas week (not sure if the Christmas week has ended now we've had Christmas Day but I'll go with that).

To Libby: Thankyou for letting me do a little (or not so little as I may have got carried away) post on here! You're gorgeous! Have only recently told you of your value and specialness so won't publicly rant on.

Today's song of the blog is The Fairytale of New York by The Pogues because it's my favourite Christmas song

Lots of loveeee xx

More Than That.

Hello fellow friends of the interweb! Yet again, I've managed to abandon you for a month and for that I apologise. However, I am back! Today I am here with something that I felt I needed to talk about. Do you have a friend that you've never argued with? Do you have a friend that you can call at 3 in the morning if you need it? Because I do (and I strongly recommend that you invest in one if you don't.)

Today, on December the 20th is Olli's birthday. Now, if you're new to the blog you may be totally confused as to who Olli is, so I'll happily elaborate for you.

The Story of Olli (That isn't a birth story. That'd be weird.)

 In year 7, I was in the same tutor as Olli, he was close friends with my friend Lucy (Hello Lucy) however, we never really talked. Fast forward to year 9 and he was pretty much my knight in shining armour. At the end of year 9, our school holds a year 9 graduation to celebrate the transitioning from KS3 to KS4.  During this mini graduation, there were performances from students. 

Now, I had a bit of  an issue with singing in front of people during year 6 (well, I still do to be perfectly honest, but that's not the point) and wanted to redeem myself during the year 9 graduation. The main issue was that I lack dedication and never learnt to play an instrument, this lead to me going on the hunt for a guitarist.

At first, I asked a lovely lady called Hannah, who was unavailable. At this point I was hellbent on performing, but still in dire need of a guitarist. Hannah, being the aforementioned lovely lady she is, directed me towards Olli. Having not spoken to Olli at all since year 7 (and I mean AT ALL. No interaction ever.) I was a bit nervous about asking him to help me out.

Eventually, I plucked up the courage to ask him to be my guitarist and he said yes! (This is starting to sound like an engagement story isn't it...) We agreed to practise one day after school, and ever since then we have been best friends (I hate that term by the way. "Best friends" always sounds a bit childish doesn't it?) 

To my family, Olli is either known as: Mister Jenkin, (By my mum. She tends to put missus or mister in front of peoples names.) The Guitarist/Guitar Boy (by my dad, who's a bit rubbish with names, but I forgive him because of his beard.)  Or as Olli (by my brothers, because they're probably the most mentally stable out of the five of us.)

However, to me (other than a lot of names that are not suitable to repeat here :3) Olli is known as Gary. Not in a weird 'pet dog' sort of name, there's a story behind this too. Also, when I say 'known as' I mean that's what he's saved as on my phone.

The Gary Story 

(This isn't a long story, so I'll just go right into it.) During one of our practises, I did something stupid (as per usual) I can't remember what it is but just to paint the picture, I'll use a frequent strap incident as an example.

Olli needed a strap for his guitar so he could play it comfortably. He was talking about the strap and I giggled (very childishly) because "Hahaha, 'strap.'"  We then got into a conversation about how I tend to do Miranda-esque things. (I tried to play 'where's Libby' once and got stuck under a dining room chair.)  We then decided that I may as well be called Miranda, so then I insisted (considering he's the better looking, talented friend) that he should be Gary. 

The whole point of this blog post is (partially to brag, I'm going to be honest)  to thank Olli for being a fabulous human.

He's the friend that seems only to exist in books or films. He's the person that I'll always talk to if I need anything (we rant a lot, he's good at that, it's rather amusing.) I know that if I'm feeling a bit off colour I can call him and he'll make me feel better and we've never argued (which is really saying something.) Overall, he's an extremely selfless person. If he was in a burning building, he'd be the guy who'd save everyone else. I'm very pleased to be able to call him my best friend and would like to take this opportunity to wish him a very happy birthday:

Olli, I know you've heard this a lot but you really deserve to have the happiest, present filled day because you're a brilliant person and I love you a lot, yush? 

(Fellow friends of the interweb, I sincerely hope he actually reads this otherwise I'll be a bit embarrassed. He will though *hopefully*) 

Today's song of the blog is: Cucurucu by Nick Mulvey

That's all my fellow friends of the interweb!

Till next time-L

Baby Olli

Not Baby Olli