The 2016 Goodreads Reading Challenge

This year I decided to take part in the 2016 Goodreads reading challenge. If you don't know what Goodreads is, it's basically Facebook, but for books. Each year they set a challenge where you get to choose however many books you want to try and read over the course of the year. I chose to read 22 books, since this year I turned 22, myself.

And...

I completed the challenge! (But barely!)

This year I have not been on the ball. I only just managed to complete the challenge, and only because some of the things I chose to read weren't full-on novels. I'll try not to spoil any of them!

The Full List:

1. The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events #1) by Lemony Snicket

2. Five Nights at Freddy's: The Silver Eyes by Scott Cawthon and Kira Breed-Wrisley

3. As They Rise (The Eva Series #1) by J.M. Wilde

4. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

5. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

6. #Girlboss by Sophia Amoruso

7. The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen

8. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

9. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

10. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

11. Moranthology by Caitlin Moran.

12. Alice (The Chronicles of Alice #1) by Christina Henry

13. On the Other Side by Carrie Hope Fletcher

14. Online (Vol. 1) by Midori Amagaeru (Manga)

15. The Walking Dead (Compendium #2) by Robert Kirkman

16. Guts by Chuck Palahniuk

17. Gakuen Babysitters (Vol. 1) by Tokeino Hari

18. Battle Royale (Vol. 1) by Takami Koushun

19. Battle Royale (Vol. 2) by Takami Koushun

20. Battle Royale (Vol. 3) by Takami Koushun

21. Battle Royale (Vol. 4) by Takami Koushun

22. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

As an extra, I also read One Day by David Nicholls. I've read this a few times before, but I wanted to read it again, when I graduated, since its about two characters and what they get up to in their years after their own graduations.

As you can see there are quite a few short stories and mangas in there to bump the list up. I loved Gakuen Babysitters, which my boyfriend recommended I should read; it's so CUTE, and I really need to get back to reading it! I read Peter Pan while I was in Disneyland Paris (where I've always wanted to go) and so that will have a special place in my heart now. I also read The Diary of a Young Girl while in Amsterdam, because I'm a basic bitch.

There weren't many books that I outright hated. My friend told me I should read Guts and it was DISGUSTING, but I love telling people about it, because it was the weirdest thing I've ever read. If you read it let me know. I love seeing people's reactions to it! The Girl on the Train was very hyped up, and I guessed who the killer was pretty early on. I also had some problems with Alice, but I might end up writing a full review on that book, but I'll see!

I've wrote very brief reviews for all these books on my Goodreads profile which is here!

Let me know if you've read any of these books, and let me know if you've done this challenge yourself!

Thanks for reading!

Bye!

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The Autumn Tag | 2016

Hello! I'm a little late to the party, but autumn is finally here! I don't think I've done a tag before but I thought it would be fun to do one on my favorite season!

1. What signifies the start of Autumn for you?

Leaves falling. Even though I class autumn starting as soon as September does, autumn doesn't officially start for me until there are leaves on the ground!

2. What is your favorite Autumn scent?

This one is kind of tricky. I would say pumpkin, but pumpkin doesn't really have a smell. The only scent I can really think of is a sort of apple/cinnamon smell. There are a lot of candles with this sort of scent around this time of year.

3. What is your favorite Autumn color?

Red is my favorite color all year round, so I'm gonna choose orange for autumn. It reminds me of Halloween, pumpkins, and the prettiest leaves that fall tend to be orange.

4. What is your favorite Fall drink?

Pumpkin. Spiced. Lattes. I know it's the most basic and stereotypical white girl drink, but it tastes good. Sorry I'm not sorry.

5. What TV show, new or old, are you looking forward to this Fall?

The Walking Dead I'm both dreading and looking forward to. If you've caught up with season six then you'll know why. I was looking forward to Luke Cage, but I've already binged watched that, so I'm not sure it counts.

6. What is your favorite Fall fashion trend?

At first I thought that velvet clothes were really gross, mainly because I just don't like the feeling of materials like velvet and suede. The feeling of them under my nails makes my skin crawl. But I saw this beautiful velvet wrap dress on New Look. I loved the cut and the color, but if I brought it I have no idea where I would be able to wear it. But it's so pretty!

New Look Dark Purple Velvet Wrap Front Dress

Also because Halloween is coming up I love Halloween themed clothes. This year I've seen so many Halloween jumpers, dresses, pajamas, all sorts. If I could I would just buy everything. I would post some pictures of the stuff I saw on ASOS and Boohoo but I would be here all day.

7. What is your favorite frugal Autumn activity?

I love going for walks in autumn, and when I was little I used to go hunting for conkers. I used to take home huge bagfuls. I went looking for conkers again this year for the first time in forever, but only because I read somewhere that spiders don't like the smell of conkers, so I collected loads to put around the house because for some reason spiders seem to love squatting in my house.

8. What is your favorite makeup look come autumnal weather?

I really love that dark red/purple vampy sort of lipstick. I brought my own for the first time to experiment with. Had an episode with it earlier though, when it went everywhere and refused to come off... Other than that I just stick with what I wear all year round. There's Halloween costume makeup, but that doesn't really count, does it?

I'm not gonna tag anyone, whoever wants to do it - here are the questions if you want to copy and paste them:1. What signifies the start of Autumn for you?
2. What is your favorite Fall scent?
3. What is your favorite Autumn color?
4. What is your favorite Fall drink?
5. What TV show, new or old, are you looking forward to this Fall?
6. What is your favorite Fall fashion trend?
7. What is your favorite frugal Autumn activity?
8. What is your favorite makeup look come autumnal weather?

If you decide to do it, let me know so I can read it!

Thanks for reading! Bye!

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My Graduation

Around this time three years ago, I was moving into halls, starting my first year at the University of Lincoln. On the way, I had thrown up and the car had broke down, so my first day of moving out and starting my life at university had not begun well.

On Wednesday 7th September 2016, I officially graduated with a 2:1 in English! After spending my first and second year struggling to get above a 2:2, I managed to achieve my goal and get the grade that I wanted!

My three years at university went by so quickly! I stumbled through first year, considered dropping out in second year, and then managed to make it successfully through my final year, achieving grades that I didn't think I would be able to.

After having my writing skills shot down in second year, I ended up getting a really high mark for my dissertation that I had put so much work into! I'm normally terrified of trying my hardest at things, in case it goes badly, but I'm glad I did for my dissertation.

My graduation took place in the Lincoln Cathedral. Lincoln's main tourist attraction for a reason. It's huge and the inside is so elaborate and beautiful. I didn't get to look around much because I was staring at everyone going up, trying to work out what I was supposed to do when I got up there myself.



I was stressing so much, and to be honest, I don't know why. I didn't need to. I didn't have to do a speech or anything like that. Everyone was in the same boat so I don't know why I was so anxious.



My boyfriend, who I met on fresher's week in my first year, was supportive my whole three years. He's what stopped me from giving up and dropping out. He also got me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a cuddly toy that represents me during my whole three years at university.



I will also miss seeing my Heathers/Mental Brigade all the time and not being able to spend all night procrastinating working in the library.



I'm really proud that I managed to get the 2:1 that seemed so unattainable during second year! I'm also really proud that I managed to survive the whole three years.

Thanks for reading! This post is really late, so I'm sorry about that! Right after finishing university I felt really lost and I had no idea what to do with myself, but now things are finally coming together!


Bye!

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Life lately | Graduating & Moving

Hello! I'll start off by saying sorry that I haven't been blogging these past few months! It's been so hectic and I haven't had much time!

So, what's been going on?

I finished university!

I am so happy to be finished! I can read what I want and I won't have to stress about exams or coursework ever again! Sure there are some things that I'm going to miss, but I am really glad that it's over.

I also got my results back a few days ago and I will be graduating my English degree with a 2:1! I'm really proud since in first year I was like 0.70% off a 2:1 and then second year it was even lower so I was sure I'd end up with a 2:2 overall. But I tried really hard this year and I got the grade that I wanted which rarely happens! My dissertation also turned out to be the highest mark I've ever gotten which I'm so surprised about because throughout writing it I was doubting it so much!

I went Amsterdam!

To celebrate finishing university I went to Amsterdam with a friend and my boyfriend came along too. I finally got to tick off going to the Anne Frank House and Body World! I'll do a post on Amsterdam soon!

I also moved house!

My boyfriend and I have moved in together! It took us forever to find a house that we both genuinely liked, but we finally found one in the end. The only bad thing about it is the amount of DOGS around. I would love a dog of my own so much but we're still settling so I'm refraining from getting one, but so many people walk past my house with their dogs and its torture. There's even a french bulldog in the house behind ours. 

Right now I'm still trying to settle and get the house in order because there's still boxes everywhere. I'll try to blog more often! We have no internet at the moment, and I'm currently sat in the University library typing this up. 

Thanks for reading! More soon!

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Disneyland Paris

A few weeks ago I finally got to go to Disneyland Paris for the first time ever! It's somewhere that I've always wanted to go and I never thought that I would be able to. It was my boyfriend's present to me for my 22nd birthday and it was supposed to be a surprise but he accidentally told me a month early.

We saw the Disney Magic parade which had started when we first got into the park. Most of the pictures I got were terrible, but I managed to get two decent ones of Cinderella and Rapunzel. There was also Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Elsa and Anna, Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, Buzz and Woody, characters from the Lion King, and Winnie the Pooh, and of course Mickey and Minnie and all that lot.

I'm pretty much a wimp when it comes to rides, but my boyfriend made me go on the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril ride which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but as we were waiting to get on the ride this little girl was crying because she didn't want to get on it and I could relate. I hadn't been on a ride that does a loop, but was over pretty quickly, although I was scared my harness thing wasn't on right and that I was going to fall out. He tried to get me on Space Mountain 2, but that wasn't going to happen. One day maybe.

In Discoveryland, where Space Mountain 2 was, we found this really cute statue of Wall-e and Eva. I tried to get a good picture of it with my boyfriend, since we watched Wall-e on our first Valentine's Day together, but it was stood opposite this Jedi training place, and my boyfriend wasn't happy because he was too old to train to be a Jedi, and in every picture he just looked devastated. 

We went for a walk around Alice's Curious Labyrinth and I got to see those cute little horn things that are my favourite creatures from the movie, 

Picking a favourite ride is kind of hard. The Pirates of the Caribbean ride was really great, but Phantom Manor is so pretty. Look at it! Although in the Disneyland in Hong Kong, there's a similar ride called Mystic Manor, and that one was better, in my opinion. That one was more about magic, while Phantom Manor is more about ghosts, but it was still really good!

Overheard while waiting for the Dumbo ride:

14-Year-Old Kid #1: Man, I really like that girl but she rejected me. I'm just going to be forever alone.

14-Year-Old Kid #2: Do you like her? Do you want to be with her?

14-Year-Old Kid #1: Yeah...yeah, I do.

14-Year-Old Kid #2: WELL TOUGH! SHE DOESN'T LIKE YOU! GET OVER IT! 

I didn't realize there was also a Walt Disney Studio Park there too! I didn't get many pictures of the inside, but it was decked out like a retro Hollywood. My boyfriend tried to get me on the Hollywood Tower of Terror, but again, that wasn't going to happen because I am a massive coward. They also have that statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse which I thought they only had in Walt Disney World. There was also a statue of my favourite scene in Fantasia!

On our last night there we saw the Disney Dreams firework display which was probably the best firework display I've ever seen! Seeing the castle was such a big deal to me since I've seen so many photos and videos of it, and I never thought I would ever be able to see it in person, although on our last day, just before we were leaving, I found out that there is a dragon underneath the castle and I didn't get to see it! Next time I am definitely going to look for it.

Even though we only spent two nights there, so much happened that I can't even write it all down. I forgot to mention the Disney Village, which was by our hotel. We stayed at the New York Hotel, which was on the park, and I wish I had taken some pictures of it! The Disney Village is full of shops and restaurants and we brought so much stuff! I had a really good time at Disneyland Paris and I was so sad on the last day when we had to go to the train station!

Thanks for reading! Bye!

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Life Lately | Birthday & Disneyland Paris

Hello! I haven't been blogging lately since I've been really busy. I've had so much going on and have things coming up so this is just a little update. 

First of all:

I finished my dissertation!

After months of constant worrying, breakdowns and thoughts of scrapping the whole thing and rewriting it, I finally finished it! Even though I'm done it still haunts me. I had a nightmare that I had sent it in and was looking through it and found that I had accidentally left this huge chunk about Peter Pan in there. Even when I woke up I didn't realise it was a dream and had accepted that it was too late and that it had been sent off so Peter Pan would have to stay in there.

I'm almost done with university. After the Easter break I'll be in the final hurdle. A lot of people I know are really sad about leaving, but I'm just like of kind ...meh.

Next thing:

It was my 22nd birthday!

I had to get my dissertation finished early since I didn't want to be working on it on my birthday so I got it done and headed by to my home town where I went for sushi for the first time and watched someone get arrested outside the restaurant (happy birthday to me).

Finally:

I'M GOING DISNEYLAND PARIS!

I'm so excited! I've always wanted to go! Nobody understands just how much. I'm going tomorrow and I can't wait, even though I haven't even started packing. I have so many things to do before I leave so I better get started. 

Thanks for reading! I'll have more soon when I get back from my trip!

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Bath Trip Photo Diary

So I went to Bath a few weeks ago. I had never been before and I expected it to be a pretty small place but it ended up being twice the size I thought it was going to be, and everything was uphill, which is not convenient for a lazy person like me. But Bath is so pretty! I didn't get to take enough photos!

Shanghai & Mainland China Photo Diary

Happy Chinese New Year! As well as going to Hong Kong last year in September I also took a trip to Shanghai and some cities in Mainland China and I never actually got round to writing about it, and I have so many photos that not many people have seen so I thought I would just post them here!

DIY Simple & Cute Valentine's Day Gift

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and if you're strapped for cash and still have no idea what to get your other half then here is a tutorial for an easy to make, but meaningful gift.

Despite being poor as, I still wanted to get my boyfriend a nice present for Valentine's Day. I've seen this idea before, but used in different ways, so I decided to turn it into a Valentine's Day gift! It's really easy to make, and anyone can do it!

Casetify: Phone Case Review

I've brought loads of phone cases and wouldn't normally review them, but I felt like this should be an exception.

I have an iPhone 5c and when I first got this phone I didn't realize how hard it would be to get a decent phone case for it. Not only are iPhone 5c cases one of the rarest to come by, but the bright neon colors of the phones end up clashing and just looking plain awful with most phone cases.

An advertisement for this website, Casetify, popped up on my Facebook news feed. Normally I don't bother with the advertisements on Facebook, but this one displayed these really beautiful flowery, watercolor style cases, so I decided to check it out.

I went straight to the iPhone 5c section and was pleased to see that almost all the iPhone 5c cases were transparent, so they would suit any of the 5c phones! I had a really hard time choosing which phone case I wanted, but I eventually settled on the case called the Motels Kew Garden Print.

Since it was shipping from the US it arrived two weeks later in this simple but cute box, and my case was safe inside, surrounded by this foamy material. Normally my phone cases just come in bubble wrapped envelopes from Ebay so this was a nice surprise.

My phone case cost £18.17 which I normally think is pretty expensive for a phone case. But all my cheap ones ended up breaking and falling apart so I wanted to invest in a more durable phone case, since I'm still going to have this phone for another year and a bit. I think the price is worth it as the design is really beautiful and it definitely feels like it will be able to protect my phone if I were to drop it. The only downside with the design is that it doesn't completely cover the text underneath on the phone, but that wasn't a big issue for me, and there are other cases that do this, but I really wanted this one.

If you have an iPhone 5c and are struggling to find a phone case I would definitely recommend this website, but even if you have a different phone I would still recommend it. Casetify has a huge array of designs and a number of different collections, including holiday themed ones, such as their recent St. Valentine's Day collection, which is great as Valentine's Day is just round the corner! They do cases for the other iPhones and some Android phones too. They also do cases for iPads (which I've been eyeing) and Macbooks. You can even get your own customized cases if you want to include your own images!

Thanks for reading! Bye!

Click here to check out Casetify!

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Hong Kong Disneyland

This is another travel post that I never got the chance to write. My boyfriend and his family took me to Hong Kong back in September last year, and I've only just realized that I had taken no photos at all! The only one I managed to take is the one pictured above, and that was taken at the airport. To be honest, I don't even remember that much about Hong Kong. We were so busy travelling back and forth from Hong Kong to mainland China I can't tell you what I saw and what I didn't, and I sadly don't even have any pictures to remember. The only thing I do really remember is our day at the Disneyland in Hong Kong!

When I boyfriend told me we were going to go Hong Kong Disneyland I was so excited! I have always wanted to go to a Disney park and I never got the chance. When I was little we got this video in the post and it was basically a long advertisement about Walt Disney World, in Florida. I watched it loads of times, hoping that one day my parents would take me, but my childhood went by without a trip. Even as an adult I was still determined to go to at least one Disney park, and in September I finally got my chance!  

Just outside the park's entrance.

We went there for the day and for some reason I had decided that I wasn't going to bring my phone, which also doubled as my camera. These photos are from my boyfriend's camera and the only ones were weren't blurry as. Since we were staying in the city we got the train to the park and I wish I had taken some pictures of the train that took us there. It had Mickey Mouse shaped windows and handrails, and there were small gold statues of various Disney characters in the each cart.

Just inside the park's entrance.

Main Street, U.S.A., the first theme area was so cute! I didn't even know the parks had this area. I went straight for the gift shop even though we had only just got there and brought something, a t-shirt with the new Disney Tsum Tsum characters on it, because I refused to leave with at least one souvenir.

Main Street, U.S.A, Railroad Station

We went on a few rides. The big ones like Space Mountain had like a two hour wait to get on them, but I'm a coward when it comes to rides anyway. When I go to theme parks like Drayton Manor or Alton Towers, I'm the one who holds the bags. I had always wanted to go on Space Mountain, it's the main Disneyland ride I always hear about. Maybe one day I'll get over my fear. My favorite ride was Mystic Manor. Although during the first half of the manor you just walk around looking at photos and stuff, gathering information, so I wasn't expecting much, but the second half was so cool! If you ever go to a park with the Mystic Manor ride in it, I would recommend going on it!

Mystic Manor

 It wasn't really a ride, but we also went to see Mickey Mouse's Orchestra I think it was called. It was basically this 3D show and it was the best 3D experience I've ever had. I've been to see movies and such in 3D, but they are nowhere near as good as this orchestra was. It almost felt real. I even got a bit emotional when Flounder swam up to my face since The Little Mermaid is my favorite Disney film.

Toy Story Land

I'm pretty sure we managed to go to every area in the park. I can't really say which one was my favorite. It's between Main Street, U.S.A., and Toy Story Land. Toy Story is my favorite Pixar film and they had this cool Slinky ride which I wish I had gotten to go on, but again, I was too much of a coward, even though I now realize I'm pretty such it was just a kid's ride.

Final firework show at the castle.

Even though we were there most of the day we only saw Tinkerbell and Jessie, until the Paint the Night parade at the end of the night where I saw loads of characters, including Woody, Buzz, and my favorite Disney Princesses, Ariel and Belle.

I'm so grateful to my boyfriend and his family that I finally got to go to a Disneyland park and I can cross it off my bucket list. I was terrified of going Hong Kong, but the thought of getting to go to that park is what got me on the plane. I would obviously love to go again, and I am still determined to go to other Disneyland parks; as many as I can, and as many times as I can.

Thanks for reading! My posting schedule is still all over the place. In a few days I'll be starting my final term of university, so I'm going to be pretty busy. But I'll try and write again as soon as I can!

Bye!

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Tenerife

This is another old post I wanted to rewrite. This will be the last one, I promise! Like I said in my previous post I hadn't been out of the country since I was twelve and I went to Benidorm, Spain. For years I had been wanting to go on holiday to somewhere with a beach again. I had only been able to go to coastal towns and cities in England, and I had been wanting to go somewhere like Spain again and so June last year I dragged my boyfriend on our first holiday together to Tenerife!

It was my first time booking a holiday and I had pretty much no idea what I was doing. We got a pretty good deal for a beach holiday in the summer which was convenient for someone on a student budget! 

Tenerife is so pretty. It's bright and colorful and the people are really polite and greet you when you walk past. If I lived there I would be pretty cheerful too though! We stayed by the Los Gigantes cliffs (pictured above) and our hotel, Lagos de Cesar, was pretty much on this long street which went by the beach and had loads of restaurants on it. I unfortunately didn't take any pictures of the restaurants or food but we went to an Indian place called Bobby's which was around the corner.I had never had Indian food before and it was great! We also went to two pizza places, L'Italiano, which was this cute restaurant next to Bobby's, and we went to a place called Nino's which was further up the street, and not exaggerating but the pizza there was the best pizza I have ever tasted, and the place was so cute and cozy and it overlooked the sea, and the people working there were so nice! Literally one of the reasons I want to go Tenerife again is to go there.

Even though I had wanted to go somewhere with a beach so badly, we didn't really spend that much time on the beach. We mainly stayed by the pool of our hotel and ventured out occasionally. Towards the end of each day we would walk along the beach and throw pebbles into the sea. On arrival in Tenerife I didn't realize that the sand would be black. The only problem with black is that it absorbs more heat, and so the sand was so damn hot that I could barely walk on it some days.

We also went on this pirate ship thing which took you out to sea to see the Los Gigantes cliffs and to see dolphins and whales, however this was the time that I found out that I am actually seasick, so I pretty much spent the entire two hours on the boat with my head down trying not to throw up (again). I did see some dolphins but I didn't get the chance to take any pictures for obvious reasons. We also went to a zoo and I hadn't been to a zoo in forever. I really wish I had gotten to take some pictures on both these trips but I didn't get the chance.

Overall Tenerife was really nice, and my boyfriend and I had a great first holiday there together (even though, during the hotel entertainment, one night, he got dragged on staged and racially abused by a guy dressed as a pirate). I would love to go again! 

Thanks for reading. I'll have more posts coming soon. I'm not sure when because I don't exactly have a schedule down yet. Bye for now!

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