We Meet Again

Hello fellow friends of the internet, I am back!

As you may have noticed, I've been M.I.A for over a month now and can I start with pointing out that this wasn't a planned or intentional absence. When I started this blog, I made a promise to myself that I would only post when and if I wanted too, as if I felt obliged to blog it would turn this hobby into a job and I didn't want that to happen. Of course, this can cause some problems (like 3 months worth of no posts) but in the long run, it's good to just go with the creative flow!

I do however have some actual reasons as to why I've not been blogging. The main reason is due to the "real life work load." This year has been busy! There have been interviews for senior student roles (head boy and girl, that sort of thing), trips to colleges for taster days, mocks (lots of revision-ew) and presentations to prepare among other things. So it's safe to say I've been a little bit loaded down with work to do (much like everyone my age.)

Since I last spoke to you it's been my birthday:

I've had quite a few barbecues, sleepovers and have gone on rather lovely walks:

And of course, spent quite a bit of time with my family:

But of course, this was all done over the period of 3 months or so! It's quite relieving when you're busy/stressed in a schooling/working situation to take some time out on weekends, or for an hour or so in the evening to have sometime to yourself or with your family- otherwise you end up with headaches and all sorts of horrible stress related issues.

That's it for my "hello I'm back" post, I hope you all have had wonderful lives whilst I've been away and continue to have wonderful lives! I shall leave you with today's song of the post: Wraith by Peace

See you soon (hopefully)

-L

Live what you love.

Well hello!

I'm Ellen and frankly, I'm really nervous right now about introducing myself but hi! This is me and I'm going to pour my heart out to you lovely people about my love for life and how quickly it can be over (sounds cheery, I know!)

Well, on the wall by my bed is a picture with a quote that I bought from a shop saying "Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful" to me this is such an important thing to remember. My life is full of gorgeous, darling people (such as Libby) who just make days so much better.

Although only recently properly speaking to Libby, she has already made me feel lovely and has already made me laugh too much! Last night we came across the subject of bucket lists and how quickly life can be over. I said to Libby "I find it silly when people think they have so much time to do something when in reality anything could happen in the space of five minutes" and also to "have no regrets and so whatever you want to, as long as it makes you happy."

Everyday I live by this rule. Now, I promised myself that I wouldn't get too deep into this as I will make a fool of myself. However, just think about how much time you waste everyday worrying and arguing over small things. Here's some food for thought:

You could die within five minutes, would you have done everything that you wanted to when an opportunity presented itself?

Probably not!

So whenever you come across a tricky bridge or something you would normally be too scared to do, think about the other side of the bridge. Cross the bridge when you get to it and do it knowing that you've done something great, something that will allow you to grow old with no regrets. Do something everyday that makes your heart beat fast, do something that you will be proud to say you did after you've done it.

Do it knowing that anything could change by tomorrow and make the most of the moment and the time before you.

I got too into it! I apologise!

I shall leave you with todays song of the blog: Cocoon by Catfish and The Bottlemen.

Goodbye my honeys, Ellen x

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

Friends.

Hello! I apologize for leaving you for so long, but as I've mentioned before I only want to blog about things when I feel like doing it otherwise, this will feel like more of a chore and less of a hobby! I'm in the mood for a bit of a chatty/long blog post today so be prepared for badly formed sentences and appalling spelling. In other words, get a cup of tea because I'm not planning on holding back at all.

As you may have gathered from the title, today's post is about friends. Personally I have issues trusting people; so all of my friends have been hand picked with care. Oddly enough, I've found friends in people I wouldn't have thought I would ever call a friend. Even more than that; I've become really close friends with people that I never thought I would consider a friend.

As much as I'd LOVE to name and shame my friends (trust me I thought about it) I'd end up forgetting someone and that's not cool so I'm just going to have to hope that you know who you are! Considering I'm shuffling through a rough patch life wise at the moment, the one thing I think I've needed most is support and I'm SO thankful to have a brilliant group of friends behind me.

Some of my friends understand what I'm going through and have experienced it themselves, some know my "deepest and darkest" secrets (although I'm a very dull person so none of my secrets are very deep and dark.) I have friends that let me use their Netflix account and friends that I've been camping with.

Recently (By recently I mean on Thursday) I went to the cinema with two friends to watch Annabelle. (Warning: it's a horror movie, I don't want to be responsible for any younger people scaring themselves.) It was fabulous and I thoroughly enjoyed myself but (get to the point Libby.) I came to the conclusion that without those friends, or without friends in general- wouldn't life be dull? I don't want to go to the cinema alone, or go camping alone or dance to I'm Sexy and I know it on a bridge alone!

Everyone likes some time to themselves of course but don't friends make life so much more enjoyable? Have you ever nearly peed yourself whilst with a friends because something ridiculous just happened? Have you ever taken long walks with your friends just because you want to talk? When was the last time you told your friends that you appreciate them?

As horribly cheesy as it sounds, I was in a maths lesson the other day having an utter existential crisis and my friend was sat next to me giving me ideas for what I could do to solve my problem blah-blah-blah and I suddenly felt overwhelmed with appreciation for this person.

She didn't have to help me out, she didn't have to use up brain power to help me come up with solutions, she could have just left me to my own devices and sort it out by myself but she didn't. Instead she actually took the time to help me out and I appreciate her for that (she knows so too because I told her so in the lesson.)

I dedicate this blog post to all of my friends, to those of you who have: spent time with me, brought me food, share an inside joke with me and those who have calmed me down when I've been a little too emotional. Most importantly, I would like you to know that I appreciate you and I love you (Ohh she went there) because you're all brilliant and life would be very dull without you,

That's all for today my fellow friends of the interweb! I shall leave you with this posts song of the day: Centuries by Fall Out Boy

Till next time- L