A Summer Summary

I've been on summer now for several weeks, don't ask me exactly how long, for I could not tell you, all the weeks merge together after a while! As I woke up nice and early again because of the natural light that brightens up my room until I'd basically be experiencing the same brightness as outside, I realised that I hadn't done a blog post in quite a while. This isn't that I haven't done anything interesting, quite the opposite actually, I've been more busy than, quite frankly, ever before! 

I thought I'd do a nice summer summary (try saying that with a lisp, sorry) to fill in all the missing days and all the fun things I got up to whilst the sun was still shining and the kids were still at school! 

The week after Kew Gardens, my friends and I had organised my other friends birthday surprise to the zoo! This was such a fun day, she didn't suspect a thing and we were able to do everything we'd planned. We went to London zoo and wandered around there for a few hours having a picnic and gawping at the cuteness of the Penguins and goats (yes, they have goats at a zoo!). 

After the zoo, we went on the pedalos in Regent's Park. We took out 2 pedalos with 2 people in each and just had a lovely pedal around the lake, feeding the birds the leftover sausages and praying that they won't all die from overfeeding and not very nice gristly  cocktail sausages! 

After that we made our way to heaven on earth, otherwise known as GBK! It was a lovely way to finish the day, having a long catch up about everything, which hadn't happened in a rather long time! 

This summer I also went bowling. Twice. Once with a group of guys from my new hometown (Sevenoaks) which was interesting...but fun. And another time with my friend. 

I've been to a lovely deer park in Sevenoaks, knole park where I climbed trees and dubbed the deers #squadgoals because obviously that's what normal adults do! 

I went on a lovely day out with my friends in westerham where we had a delicious pub lunch and soaked up the incredible sun which had graced us that perfect day! Following that we went for a walk in the country, a very British day, one may say! 

I've also had a work barbecue this summer which was a lot of fun but ended in a bit of disaster! The barbecue was lovely, but being locked out of your house at 12:30 at night having decided that actually rescuing a stray dog was more important than clubbing, was not the highlight of my summer! But it all makes for a good memory! 

Then this week I went to bluewater shopping centre with one of my friends, picking up some dungarees for, I kid you not, £10 in Topshop! We had a curry in wagas at 11:30 in the morning and a Krispy Kreme (in a gift tin of course) to help it go down! 

I went to visit my nan who isn't too well at the moment and had a lovely day playing cards and eating a roast, the typical grandparents kind of day! 

I've had a couple of chill days with some of my best friends watching films and eating good (other than the pizza I made) food! 

Yesterday I spent the day making a cheesecake with lotus biscuits, quite possibly the best biscuits in the world, and watching both Inbetweeners films! 

Summer has been rather magnificent so far! I've loved spending so much time with friends and family and being able to go out and do things with so much freedom! Even if the day is bad, weather-wise, you can still have a blast! 

I hope you all have tremendous summers too, I'd love to hear about them! 

Fran x

The Happiness Project: Book Review

A few months ago, I purchased a book on my tablet which I had previously seen on Anthropologie's Pinterest and which looked very intriguing to me. Obviously it has taken me a while to complete because of exams and school etc etc. But that whole period of my life is now over....hallelujah!! And since then I have completed the book and absolutely loved it. I cannot stop telling people about it. If I could buy a copy for everyone I see, I would.

Synopsis
"Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. "The days are long, but the years are short," she realised. "Time is passing, and I'm not focusing enough on the things that really matter." In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project.
In this lively and compelling account, Rubin chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. Among other things, she found that novelty and challenge are powerful sources of happiness; that money can help buy happiness, when spent wisely; that outer order contributes to inner calm; and that the very smallest of changes can make the biggest difference."

So if you are asking now, 'what was so good about it?', I will tell you.
Gretchen Rubin, the author, has a way of writing which is both incredibly informative, yet very easy to follow. Her anecdotes and areas of dialogue give you a real insight into the struggles and her life as she participates in her resolutions, putting them into practise and attempting to achieve greater happiness. I love the way she is brutally honest about her weaknesses in being happy and is also honest in how successful parts of her project were. Through being so honest, it allows the reader to really relate to her and see how the different parts of the project can be embedded into everyone's lives, if they strive to be happier.
Her use of famous philosophers, world leaders, and other inspirational people, not only allows you to feel super intelligent (you can just whip out a quote from Socrates from reading this book), you are also able to see that the pursuit of happiness is not only an ordeal seen in deep quotes on Pinterest or Tumblr, it dates back thousands of years when people still questioned and proposed answers to what makes us happy.
But I think what I love most about this book is how true a lot of the problems she faces are. She looks at negative language, and shows that there is a large proportion of statements that we make which are negative, even something like 'I'm so exhausted that I'm going to go to bed now' she questioned whether it was a complaint or statement of fact, and concluded, I think rightfully, that it was a complaint. It's the little things she picks out that we do unnoticed in our day to day lives which really help bring this book home, and helps you to see that although you may feel happy, there are little things you can improve upon which could make others happy and help maintain your mood.
One thing I also really enjoyed about this book was the way in which Rubin went about achieving her happiness resolutions. Her creation of a chart and setting out a clear strategy for tackling this daunting task is a way which, I know, really helps me with resolutions. It helped me when I gave up chocolate for lent and I can see it as being relatively successful as I attempt to put some of these resolutions into practise.

My favourite bit: 
This, although being a bit I truly love, is not necessarily my favourite. I tend to, now thanks to English A level, underline and highlight a lot of my books as I read them. But with this one, I didn't until nearer the end, so cannot remember the best bits from earlier on. This bit came from the month of August and is regarding a saint who Grubin came to admire:
'Thérése intensely disliked one of her fellow nuns, Teresa of Saint Augustine, whom Thérése described, without identifying her, as "a sister who has the faculty of displeasing me in everything, in her ways, her words, her character." Instead of avoiding her, Thérése sought out this nun at every turn and treated her "as if I loved her best of all" - so successfully that this sister once asked Thérése, "would you tell me...what attracts you so much toward me; every time you look at me, I see your smile?"
 After Thérése's death, when this disagreeable nun gave her testimony during the process of Thérése's beatification, she said smugly, "at least I can say this much for myself: during her life I made her really happy." Teresa of Saint Augustine never knew that she was the unlikeable sister mentioned in Story of a Soul until thirty years later, when the chaplain, in a fit of exasperation, told her the truth.'

The reason I love this bit is because, we each have someone we don't like, whether that is for a genuine reason or just due to their personality. But it makes life easier for the other person if the unspoken dislike between you doesn't arise and cause a greater problem. I think it is so admirable to be able to overlook this dislike and treat the other person with so much love. It is a tricky task, because the person you dislike will, undoubtedly still be dislikable even when you act positively towards them, but as Grubin also says, 'act the way you want to feel'. So if you act as if you genuinely care for the person, there is the possibility that you will start caring for them. And even if that doesn't happen, being nice towards someone you don't like creates a nicer atmosphere for you both , as well as the people around you.
I love the section, a few pages on from this, where Grubin acknowledges the difficulty people have being happy all the time, 'It is easy to be heavy; hard to be light'.
I know from experience, that when others are happy and your life isn't going as well as theirs, that you tend to be bitter and annoyed at their happiness. And sometimes, without even realising it, you go out of your way to deprive that person of their happiness, because you aren't feeling the same way. Being a happy person all the time, with these constant attacks, can, I imagine, be so challenging. Grubin acknowledges that the happy people, more often than not, do not get the credit they deserve, because being genuinely (or not) happy all the time is more exhausting than is imaginable. Being a genuinely happy person, I have learnt, is not about having nothing wrong. If that was the case, no one would ever be happy! Being a happy person is making the most out of situations, seeing the positives in the negatives, acting the way you want to feel and appreciating the small moments which often pass us by.

This book has taught me so much and I would definitely, definitely recommend that you read it. I have a much greater knowledge of what creates happiness, through seeing the results of Grubin's actions in her day to day life.
I will be attempting to partake in some of the resolutions she has made, with a focus on not being negative, and I may consider doing an update soon as to how it goes, in my attempt to be a happier person!

Fran x

Obsessions

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I've been thinking for a while now about the obsessive nature of a lot of people these days. And just a few minutes ago I was having a think to myself even more about the subject of idols and how much of an impact it has on the young (and in fact older) people of today. It appears to me that as soon as someone becomes a little famous, people latch on to them, following them on all social media, crying and screaming when they meet them and treating them like absolute royalty. Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of celebrity gossip, I love hearing about the Kardashians, Taylor Swift and all the Victoria secret models, but it just actually frightens me a little to see the extent to which people go to meet, and get these celebrities to notice them!

For example, as I was having a think on my walk, I realised that people idolise Taylor Swift. I adore Taylor Swift and have done for many years and I'm glad she's finally getting the recognition for her music and personality at last. But I realised that people idolise Taylor swift and many others for being able to make a good tune; obviously it's a little more than that but when you break it down it just seems absurd. Even more ridiculous is someone like Kim Kardashian, people idolise Kim for being attractive and living a life that, to many, is the dream. It's crazy! 

What I find quite frightening is the reactions to the youtubers. In the past year or so youtubers have gained an immense amount of recognition and a massive amount of fans. These fans are scary, no joke! They scream when they meet them, wait outside their houses and attribute their happiness to the 'celebrities'. I can see how the videos can put you in a good mood and can help you in some circumstances, but I find it quite worrying when the fans' whole happiness is simply embedded in the 10 minute video of a person they've never met! 

People are really obsessed with fame, you see people comment on people such as Zoella and Karlie Kloss things like 'I love you', 'you're perfect' etc and it just baffles me how someone can admit they love someone having not even met them! 

I also had a thought a while back that if ever you wanted to feel good about yourself just know that if you were famous, people would undoubtably call you perfect. And scarily it's true, the people who you would arguably never look twice at in the street if they weren't famous are suddenly being called perfect! I may sound blunt and I'm all for positive vibes, but perfection? Really? 

I suppose it may be due to my Christian perspective, but there appears to me to be a correlation between the world becoming more secular and the obsessive ideology which is continuing to emerge. As people no longer have God to praise and worship and celebrate for his blessings; people turn to everyday people. And for me this is proof of God's existence, the amount of times celebrities have gone to rehab because they can't cope with the pressure (see Britney Spears and shaving head incident) is astounding, a normal human is not capable of the amount of praise and essentially worship that is thrust upon them from fans all around the world. But because people no longer have this relationship with God, they place their admiration onto celebrities. 

I can say this with confidence because it happened to me before becoming a Christian and as I was coming to terms with my faith. In 2012, the Hunger Games was due to come out, and I became almost obsessed with the stars of it, watching every interview and seeing every film with them in that I could. I followed them on Twitter, tried to message them, learnt everything about them even down to height. And looking back now it was so consuming, what did I gain from it?!

I feel so much more liberated now not having any idols and not feeling constricted to anything or anyone famous, only checking up on Karlie kloss and Taylor Swift for the fun of it and most certainly not obsessively. 

I think it's so sad to see the deterioration of people's individuality because of their obsession with celebrities, and I have so much hope for the generations of today that they will force themselves out of that pointless obsession and into a liberated world. 

I'd also go so far to say that the obsession of today has led to the social anxiety which is more frequent now, as well as (arguably) the doubling cases of eating disorders which are being dealt with. Through checking up with celebrities constantly and obsessively keeping track of every aspect of their lives, people are losing touch with their own lives, envisioning their life to be easier and more like the celebrities if they lose weight and if they copy every element of their life - leading to people not going out or spending more time on their own analysing these people (which through watching films and videos they arguably are!). 

I really wish such an obsessive idolistic society wasn't a reality, it is definitely unhealthy for people, both the celebrities and the fans, and I feel as though many increasing difficulties would be resolved or decreased in severity if everyone stopped being so frighteningly obsessed! 

I commend you for reading all of that; this is something I've been thinking about a lot recently and I hope you've found this interesting and agreeable! Have a lovely week, 

Fran x

*photo credited to google images 

A Night in London

So a couple of weeks ago my mum proposed that we have an evening in London because she was scheduled to work up there.  Of course, having lived near London most of my life, I've never stayed in London before, just travelled up for the day. So I said yes! 

We hopped on the train with far too much clothing and toiletries around 2pm and headed to the hotel to dump our bags. 

Once we had, we went to Covent Garden and seven dials, window shopping and (I was, anyway) admiring cute coffee shops and restaurants. After (literally) hours of deliberating, we concluded that the best option for dinner would be Carluccios. And let me tell you, I had probably the best 3 course meal ever! I adore Antonio Carluccio as a person, his two greedy Italian series with Gennaro Contaldo remains to this day one of my most favourite series ever! 

I ate for a starter/primi, bruschetta with tomato and rocket, for my main/secondi I had ravioli with spinach and ricotta with butter. And for dessert I had vanilla cream with caramel apples, caramel sauce and hazelnut meringue biscuits! This is quite possibly the best thing I've ever tasted! Try it if you ever find yourself in Carluccios!

After this we strolled back to the hotel completely satisfied, and joked about clubbing or going to the casinos in Leicester Square etc (I hate that sort of thing). 

In the morning we had the most tremendous breakfast to wake up to. A buffet was laid out by the hotel which included: full English, pancakes, pastries, fruit, smoothies etc and everything on that list I ate, no joke! Buffets are not a good thing for me, I need to try everything no matter what! 

One amusing thing I found that morning was an American guest asking about  black pudding, with the chef explaining it was sheeps bladder, to which she replied 'are you joking?'. 

After this, we went our separate ways, me, for a walk in the park, and my mum to work. With exams fast approaching I really should be dedicating most of my time to working. But with such a sunny day, I wandered for a while in the area (in a couple of shops) and then jumped on the tube to Covent Garden where I found the loveliest cafe called 'The department of coffee and social affairs' where I actually did some work! 

After this I stumbled, ever so gracefully upon Kate Spade (oh dear) and ever so gracefully left with a pair of boots (very much oh dear) which I adore. In fact everything about Kate Spade I adore, I'm not a massive lover of bright colours, but I feel converted after seeing the flamingo print bag and hot pink purses! 

After this I had a costa (thankfully free due to my Costa card) and headed home, very content with a lovely night in London! 

Fran x

White choc-chip and peanut butter brownies

 One of my favourite things to do is experiment in the kitchen. I love being able to chuck random ingredients that sound right into a bowl and wait to see whether the results will be (mainly edible but also) yummy. I was watching Cider With Rosie's YouTube channel yesterday evening, and she made some brownies which were from a recipe by Nigella Lawson; in this recipe instead of using a ton of chocolate bars to create luxuriously rich brownies, she used cocoa powder. This inspired me, and I thought that a little baking would be an ideal break from philosophy revision, and alas my white choc-chip peanut butter brownies were made. I've only tried these once (today) but they were super yummy and I really wanted to note them down in order to be able to recreate them,  because the only thing you may not have in your cupboard would be white chocolate, meaning they are super easy to make and you won't need to go out for a £50 shop in order to make them! 

These can of course be made without peanut butter, but I'm a massive peanut butter lover and love the saltiness with the chocolate, but for those unfortunate people who have an allergy, they can be made without. I'm super chuffed that these worked, and I hope if anyone was to make them, you would find them just as yummy (and that they work!). 

INGREDIENTS:

- 100g self-raising flour
- 40g cocoa powder
- 75g butter
- 120g sugar
- 1 egg
- 100g white chocolate chopped
- 2 tbsp milk
- pinch salt
- a few teaspoons peanut butter (optional)
-dusting of icing sugar (optional)

METHOD:

1. Pre-heat oven to gas mark 4 or equivalent

2. Measure out in a large bowl your flour and cocoa powder with your salt and mix to combine.

3. In a small saucepan melt the butter and sugar together until they are melted (obviously), and take it off the heat as soon as it is combined and melted.

4. As long as the butter isn't too hot, pour it into the flour mix and mix until all combined.

5. Crack in your egg - I found this bit tricky, just keep stirring and you'll be fine!

6. Pour in your milk and stir

7. Sprinkle over your white chocolate chunks, you can make the chunks quite big if you like them that way!

8.  Pour it into a lined tin (lined so the edges protrude from the tin so you can take it out with ease), and spread so even.

9. Dollop some teaspoons of peanut butter on top and swirl around to create a marble effect.

10. Put it in the oven for around 15-20 mins or until a knife comes out clean.

11. Cut it up and dust over some icing sugar to make it look pretty.

And there you have it! I hope you enjoy these as much as I currently am, and I very much hope that this wasn't just a fluke, I shall soon find out however, as I'm sure another batch will be requested soon!
Thank you for reading,

Fran x

Taking Risks

I haven't been very good at blog posts recently, I've been super duper stressed with school, add a dollop of work on top, a cup of house moving and 50g church searching and you will come just a bit closer to my life right now. I keep wondering if the stress will give me grey hair or something, but as of yet I'm still bright blonde, so at least something is remaining the same! I thought that today I would do a post on Taking Risks and essentially being fearless. One of my favourite songs by Taylor Swift is her song Fearless, she wrote within the booklet in the CD about what fearlessness means to her:

"FEARLESS” is not the absence of fear. It’s not being completely unafraid. To me, FEARLESS is having fears. FEARLESS is having doubts. Lots of them. To me, FEARLESS is living in spite of those things that scare you to death. FEARLESS is falling madly in love again, even though you’ve been hurt before. FEARLESS is walking into your freshmen year of high school at fifteen. FEARLESS is getting back up and fighting for what you want over and over again… even though every time you’ve tried before, you’ve lost."

I really love her concept of fearlessness, I think even if you are terrified of multiple things, you can still be fearless because you can push yourself over the boundaries that you either consciously (or not) create for yourself. 
I feel that I've always been quite fearless, when I was younger apparently I jumped into the deep end of a swimming pool without arm bands and I ran off in a big toy convention to go to the Thomas the Tank engine bouncy castle. I feel as though fear has never really prevented me from doing things. 
I've been hurt many, many times, whether that is physically ( I constantly have bruises on my legs) or emotionally and it is most commonly the emotional pain which runs the deepest. Yes, I have a lumpy bone on my shin that will probably never go back to normal, but it's the deeper emotional wounds which have me flashing back to lovely but difficult events on a daily basis. 
No matter what, even if you have been knocked down 50 times before, you can still be fearless. This year and last year I have really seen how fearless I can be, last year I went outside of Europe to America for the first time, just me and my friend, staying in a totally new country for 4.5 weeks! Last year I spoke to people I had never previously spoken to through going out of my way to ignite conversations. This year I have been to London several times on my own, doing things I like the sound of even if it is on my own. This year I also decided to follow my heart and follow what I believed to be God telling me to do and reject the option of University next year to take a gap year in Australia. 
Every single one of these decisions and fearless moves took a hell of a lot of internal persuasion to encourage me to take up these opportunities. And you know what, I would not trade in any of these memories; they caused me pain and joy, but they are honestly the memories I am most fond of. I've made new friends abroad from taking a leap of faith, I've gained a lot of freedom from taking these risks and I would definitely encourage you to take random opportunities if you are offered them. 
A week ago now I took an opportunity which was really a 'seize the moment' kind of situation. I may have mentioned this in a previous post but I will explain anyway. Walking to the loos in my town I was stopped by a man who said he was a journalist and asked if I wanted a free 'drastic' haircut. I initially was hesitant thinking he would cut my hair and keeping in mind my promise to myself that I would grow my hair in order to have the perfect wavy beach hair to fit in in Aus! But when he explained we'd go to a professional salon, I could hardly say no, although I was flipping terrified. But actually it has turned out to be a massively good decision, I love my new long bob, plus I got tea and biscuits ( and I might even be in a magazine!?). 
I think often the best memories we have are the ones which are unplanned and spontaneous. I am always up for a spontaneous trip to London or a road trip somewhere, because if you don't plan something, you don't know what is in store for you. But if you don't take the opportunities, no matter how random or eccentric, if you aren't even a little bit fearless in any sense of the word, you may not experience some of the best times of your life. 
I got to shoot guns, swim in waterfalls, ride in the back of trucks, make new friends and ride a speedboat all because I seized an opportunity. If you don't seize some opportunities you may never get to experience things again. 
To be clear, I'm not saying take every single opportunity that is given to you, I made sure the journalist was genuine and I have a (rough) plan for Australia, I'm just saying that if such things are offered to you, why not consider seizing them, they may take you to places you have never been. Even if the experiences you have hurt you physically or emotionally in some way, they will shape you into who you are today. I took a couple of negative experiences last year to improve my self love and my health to create a person who I want to be proud of, a person who isn't so reliant on others. But even the painful experiences I would never trade, they were an opportunity I tried and enjoyed (at the time) and can learn from. Without experiences out of the ordinary, life would simply be a routine, the same thing daily, everything being anticipated.  And like Oscar Wilde once said: 

"To live is the rarest thing in the world; most people just exist"

I think taking risks and seizing opportunities helps you live and not just exist. Existing, to me, is living by routine, living is experiencing the highs and lows of opportunities thrown at you, and it is the most exciting and terrifying thing you can do. But these last two years have probably been my favourite, I've seen so much, done so much, only through being fearless, learning from my mistakes and seizing opportunities, and I would highly encourage you to do the same! 

Fran x

Berlin by Pictures

I can't believe it's been about 2 weeks since Berlin, time flies! I've finally mustered up the energy to write this blog post, although write would be strictly untrue. I took my dads camera with me to Berlin which is a better quality than my phone and so I thought, instead of talking you through every aspect of my 4 days in Berlin, I would just show you the pictures and do a couple of captions for some places which you may not know of. I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Berlin, I felt that not only has it aided me in understanding my history course more, it was a great bonding trip for me and my friends (cheesy, I know) because we spent 24 hours a day for 4 days with each other. But anyway, here we go, before I write a massively long blog post unintentionally.

The Berlin Wall

My faves

Lovely Lauren

Street Style

Street Style

Holocaust Memorial

Memorial for Gypsy victims in holocaust

BURGERS

Best ice cream ever!

The Reichstag

The Olympic Stadium

This picture really stood out to me, it was taken by the girl on the left's boyfriend. Both of the girls were Jewish and a couple of weeks following this, they were both executed in Auschwitz, and the photo was donated  by the girl's boyfriend.

The cutest café in the Jewish museum.

Fran x