The day I didn't see Michelle Obama...

...which in at least one respect, makes it startlingly similar to every other day.

I went in to Oxford today, not because but aware of Mobama being in town. I joined the crowds of people lining the sides of the road and patiently waited. Eventually all we got was a fleet of blacked out land rovers going at full speed. Apart from the one with open windows and a mini-troop of fully armed soldiers, it was a mystery which one she was even in. Everyone immediately turned around bemused at why they'd bothered and promptly dispersed. And that was the highlight of my day...

...untiiiil I got home, read my emails and found out I'd got the science bursary to do research during summer. This for me is terribly exciting, apart from the fact that I'll not be able to do anything fun (eg. latitude and edinburgh) but yaaaaaaay!!!!

other highlights of my day were various purchases; some very pink shorts from zara and some fairly busy printed trousers, also zara

thanks to a lovely 3 for 2 offer on practically half of Boots at the minute I also bought a Garnier Eye Roll-on in  Very Fair (which as someone who spends her life trying to find freakishly pale concealers, I can confirm absolutely lives up to it's title), Soap & Glory Energy Balm (seems to have all the properties of my beloved Clarins Beauty Flash Balm for half the price) and the Neutrogena Wave Duo (probably a bit gimmicky but I can't afford a clarisonic and this will do. I'll post an opinion on it after I've been using it for a while)

Finally, after having a dodgy reaction to the Bare Minerals foundation and being happily persuaded by blogger reviews, I bought the Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation in B10. I have only used it the once but OH EM GOODNESS, it feels as cool and light as a particularly nice moisturiser, brightens and evens my skin no end AND is virtually invisible (more so than bare minerals). Easily the best foundation I've ever used.

Now on to another day of revision avoidance. Adieu :)

Imaginary friends.

Day 01 — Your favourite film

Day 02 — A song that makes you happy

Day 03 — Your favourite food

Day 04 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago

Day 05 — Your day, in great detail

Day 06 — Your favourite television program

Day 07 — A song that makes you cry (or nearly)

Day 08 — Your favourite book

Day 09 — A photo that makes you happy

Day 10 — A hobby of yours

Day 11 — Your favourite song

Day 12 — An art piece

Day 13 — Your family

Day 14 — A photo of you taken recently

Day 15 — Your favourite actress

Day 16 — A recipe

Day 17 — Your favourite possession

Day 18 — A website

Day 19 — A song that makes you want to dance

Day 20 — Your favourite quote

Day 21 — A non-fiction book

Day 22 — Your favourite memory

Day 23 — A photo you took

Day 24 — What you can see from your window

Day 25 — A talent of yours

Day 26 — Your favourite actor

Day 27 — A photo that makes you angry/sad

Day 28 — A fiction book

Day 29 — What you wore today

Day 30 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next year

View from my window. It's a pretty rock and roll neighbourhood as you can see

My main talent is an excessively good memory. School, conversations, useless information; it all goes in and never gets out. Can be useful, can make me look like a stalker/ enthusiast for odd topics I couldn't care less about. Either way, an uninteresting talent.

My top 10 actors. Some major decision making was involved, I'll regret it all tomorrow.

1. Monty. The single greatest person who ever lived. If I had an imaginary friend it would be him.

2. Roger Livesey, Laird of Kiloran. "She walks in beauty like the night, only she's bicycling and it's daytime."

3. Tom Courtenay. Someone give the man a hug.

4. Jack Lemmon. I want to cry whenever anyone's mean to him. It's hard remembering what's fictional.

5. Warren Beatty.Quietly, hilariously terrifying.

6. Clark Gable. "Do you love her?" "YES! But don't hold that against me, I'm a little screwy myself!"

7. David Niven. That video says all that needs to be said.

8. Cary Grant. Easily the coolest comedy actor ever.

9. Michael York. Blue is his colour...

10. Terence Stamp, he of the ultimate scary eyes. Anyone ever tells me they collect butterflies; I'm running for the hills.

Done. That was stressful. I'm going to have to go and watch at least one film of theirs now, so long.

Blah blah.

Day 01 — Your favourite film

Day 02 — A song that makes you happy

Day 03 — Your favourite food

Day 04 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago

Day 05 — Your day, in great detail

Day 06 — Your favourite television program

Day 07 — A song that makes you cry (or nearly)

Day 08 — Your favourite book

Day 09 — A photo that makes you happy

Day 10 — A hobby of yours

Day 11 — Your favourite song

Day 12 — An art piece

Day 13 — Your family

Day 14 — A photo of you taken recently

Day 15 — Your favourite actress

Day 16 — A recipe

Day 17 — Your favourite possession

Day 18 — A website

Day 19 — A song that makes you want to dance

Day 20 — Your favourite quote

Day 21 — A non-fiction book

Day 22 — Your favourite memory

Day 23 — A photo you took
Day 24 — What you can see from your window

Day 25 — A talent of yours

Day 26 — Your favourite actor

Day 27 — A photo that makes you angry/sad

Day 28 — A fiction book

Day 29 — What you wore today

Day 30 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next year

It's impossible not to love Adele's album, she seems to be there every time I turn the TV on. Apart from the incredible singing it helps that she's hilarious. If you didn't see her on Graham Norton with Miranda Hart and Jack Whitehall then quite frankly you must watch it. NOW.

"Nothing succeeds like success." - Alexandre Dumas. Sensible man. My mantra for justifying the amount of work I'm making myself do.

Non-fiction: Key Concepts in Victorian Literature (Palgrave Key Concepts). If I can just memorise this, the wider reading literature exam will be a doddle. If you happen to be taking this AS course, this is easily the best book I've come across.

Combine memories with pictures, some of my travels...

Barcelona. Trying to get pictures of the chimneys while on the roof of La Pedrera. Most people don't have their bobble hat and the sagrada familia in the same picture, but I asked if we could go in October so that it wouldn't be too hot... pathetic.

Ireland. My family has a farm, I'd never been before, it was lovely.

Favourite things in Paris: Pere Lachaise cemetery, Versailles and bizarre chewing-gum poetry on the metro.

Very old picture of me from an art project that, at a guess, was about anger. Just found this in the mess of folders that is my laptop. Too many pictures, too little organisational skill.

A post consisting of almost entirely unrelated things. Oh well, thankyou very much if you stuck with it :) 

Hello dolly.

Day 01 — Your favourite film

Day 02 — A song that makes you happy

Day 03 — Your favourite food

Day 04 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago

Day 05 — Your day, in great detail

Day 06 — Your favourite television program

Day 07 — A song that makes you cry (or nearly)

Day 08 — Your favourite book

Day 09 — A photo that makes you happy

Day 10 — A hobby of yours

Day 11 — Your favourite song

Day 12 — An art piece

Day 13 — Your family

Day 14 — A photo of you taken recently

Day 15 — Your favourite actress

Day 16 — A recipe

Day 17 — Your favourite possession

Day 18 — A website

Day 19 — A song that makes you want to dance

Day 20 — Your favourite quote

Day 21 — A non-fiction book

Day 22 — Your favourite memory

Day 23 — A photo you took

Day 24 — What you can see from your window

Day 25 — A talent of yours

Day 26 — Your favourite actor

Day 27 — A photo that makes you angry/sad

Day 28 — A fiction book

Day 29 — What you wore today

Day 30 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next year

I very rarely cook, the only even half tasty thing I've ever made was with my sister last christmas. We made a spiced popping candy and chocolate ganache tart from a Heston Blumenthal recipe (which was from the sunday times and slightly different to any of the ones I can find on the internet unfortunately) which was decorated with gold leaf, terribly extravagant of us.


My prized possessions:

My very squashed and creased Miu Miu dress, which I bought for my prom, and my Aquascutum rain mac. Shallow creature that I am, my priciest clothes are right up there among my most treasured possessions. It's not all bad, there are also things I have inherited and been given by people I love (like my sewing machine) but then they don't make so good a picture...


And finally a website http://www.kouklitas.com/
Collectors Edition and slightly strange artist dolls and bears are a bit of a family thing embarrassingly enough. These dolls are amazing, I'd love to commission one but they're a little out of my price range.
An Alexander McQueen doll:

another website on a less cultured note, http://tubecrush.net/ Mentioned in this week's Grazia and actually hilarious!

Now back to homework :(

Everything's better with a chocolate rabbit.

I really need to buy a tripod. I live in some of the most beautiful countryside in England and the only pictures I have are poorly lit ones of my tiny room, silly! Not the most thoughtfully constructed outfit, just a day at school, but I thought I might as well. My mum laughed at me this morning and said it looked like I was going out in my underwear. What a charmer... I had a pretty-good day all in all; lindt bunnies are selling cheap at Sainsbury's post-Easter. Got to do a bit of shopping too as my english lit. lessons were cancelled. Bought a fairly plain stripy jumper and grey skirt from H&M as well as these everyday shoes from New Look as my pale blue brogues are somewhat worse for wear:

 hope you had a good day too :)

That's the way it crumbles, cookie-wise.

Day 01 — Your favourite film

Day 02 — A song that makes you happy

Day 03 — Your favourite food

Day 04 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago

Day 05 — Your day, in great detail

Day 06 — Your favourite television program

Day 07 — A song that makes you cry (or nearly)

Day 08 — Your favourite book

Day 09 — A photo that makes you happy

Day 10 — A hobby of yours

Day 11 — Your favourite song

Day 12 — An art piece

Day 13 — Your family

Day 14 — A photo of you taken recently

Day 15 — Your favourite actress

Day 16 — A recipe

Day 17 — Your favourite possession

Day 18 — A website

Day 19 — A song that makes you want to dance

Day 20 — Your favourite quote

Day 21 — A non-fiction book

Day 22 — Your favourite memory

Day 23 — A photo you took

Day 24 — What you can see from your window

Day 25 — A talent of yours

Day 26 — Your favourite actor

Day 27 — A photo that makes you angry/sad

Day 28 — A fiction book

Day 29 — What you wore today

Day 30 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next year

The last piece of art I did, probably over a year ago now, for my art gcse (really poor picture quality, taken sneakily with my phone before the end). This exam was one of the most terrifying parts of my education to date. 10 hours and one chance to get it right (eek!) I'd also managed to box myself into a corner of flipping miners on my project; who are some of the liniest people on the planet and impractically difficult to draw. I quite liked art at school but I'm not great and with all the busyness of a-levels haven't had chance to do more than some doodles and birthday cards since then.

My terribly modern family is far, far too complicated to have any photos or anything all together but never mind. I love my family, they're a little eccentric mostly.

Most recent photo of me which isn't already on this blog. All dressed up, Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's style, for a friend's school thing.

My favourite actresses are more difficult to discern than my favourite actors. Not sure what it says about me but I don't get as enthusiastic about individual actresses as I do their male counterparts. There are lots I love in certain roles but very few who I consistently like.

Shirley Maclaine. For always being in things that make me laugh and cry like a baby.

Audrey. I don't think a girl exists who doesn't wish she was her.

Lillian Gish. Essentially invented film acting and had hair I've been obsessed with as long as I can remember.

Joan Fontaine. Aside from always being in films I love, she looks so much like my mum. It's the rabbit in headlights thing. :)

My preferences with actresses are pretty standard. I also love Julie Christie, Vanessa Paradis, Clara Bow, Shirley Temple, Marilyn Monroe, Gene Tierney, Vivien Leigh, Brooke Shields and Sissy Spacek to name a few. 

So much work my brain is crying.

Day 01 — Your favourite film

Day 02 — A song that makes you happy

Day 03 — Your favourite food

Day 04 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago

Day 05 — Your day, in great detail

Day 06 — Your favourite television program

Day 07 — A song that makes you cry (or nearly)

Day 08 — Your favourite book

Day 09 — A photo that makes you happy

Day 10 — A hobby of yours

Day 11 — Your favourite song

Day 12 — An art piece

Day 13 — Your family

Day 14 — A photo of you taken recently

Day 15 — Your favourite actress

Day 16 — A recipe

Day 17 — Your favourite possession

Day 18 — A website

Day 19 — A song that makes you want to dance

Day 20 — Your favourite quote

Day 21 — A non-fiction book

Day 22 — Your favourite memory

Day 23 — A photo you took

Day 24 — What you can see from your window

Day 25 — A talent of yours

Day 26 — Your favourite actor

Day 27 — A photo that makes you angry/sad

Day 28 — A fiction book

Day 29 — What you wore today

Day 30 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next year

Tragic as it is, my sole hobby these days is school. As a talented procrastinator with an aversion to hard-work, this has come as a surprise to me more than anyone. However since realising how bloody hard A-levels are and not wanting to do myself an injustice by not getting to the best university I can, homework is now my life. Because of that miserable fact and this being the start of exam season, posts here are likely to be few and far between during term time. In just a fortnight's holiday I'd somehow completely forgotten how ludicrously tiring this school business is. Ugh.

In other news my favourite song is ever so originally... more or less anything by Bob Dylan, my music tastes are disturbingly country bumpkin. The specific favourite changes on practically a weekly basis. This week it's Maggie's Farm, what with my feeling all overworked. Apparently there is not one decent version of this on youtube, fo shame.

Here to make it all better is some unrelated Zhivago:

"We turned at a dozen paces, for love is a duel, and looked at each other for the last time."

Day 01 — Your favourite film

Day 02 — A song that makes you happy

Day 03 — Your favourite food

Day 04 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago

Day 05 — Your day, in great detail

Day 06 — Your favourite television program

Day 07 — A song that makes you cry (or nearly)

Day 08 — Your favourite book

Day 09 — A photo that makes you happy

Day 10 — A hobby of yours

Day 11 — Your favourite song

Day 12 — An art piece

Day 13 — Your family

Day 14 — A photo of you taken recently

Day 15 — Your favourite actress

Day 16 — A recipe

Day 17 — Your favourite possession

Day 18 — A website

Day 19 — A song that makes you want to dance

Day 20 — Your favourite quote

Day 21 — A non-fiction book

Day 22 — Your favourite memory

Day 23 — A photo you took

Day 24 — What you can see from your window

Day 25 — A talent of yours

Day 26 — Your favourite actor

Day 27 — A photo that makes you angry/sad

Day 28 — A fiction book

Day 29 — What you wore today

Day 30 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next year

A song that makes me cry: Mumford and Sons, White Blank Page

The first time I saw Mumford and Sons, thinking they were just another support act I'd have to listen to, was unexpectedly harrowing. Them playing this song wasn’t dissimilar to a punch in the stomach. The dingy little room had been awed into complete silence, a surreal low fog had materialised and quite a few people looked like they were about to burst into tears (myself very much included). It was pretty intense; I listened to nothing but them for at least 6 months so I’m not in the least surprised by their recent success.

 

My favourite book... is indescribably difficult for me to answer. I'm young, impressionable and have busied myself with reading classics from completely different eras and genres. Most things I read have an impact on me, all the clichés, so it’s hard to tell what has had the most yet. The last book I finished was Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’, which I have wanted to read for a long time after reading ‘And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks’ which he wrote with William S. Burroughs. Knowing how much influence Kerouac had on Bob Dylan, I used his music as the soundtrack to reading the book, which made it quite immersive. I really loved the book despite its slightly soul-destroying loneliness, it felt refreshingly free after all the Victorian literature I've been reading for school. I’m now reading Virginia Woolf’s ‘Orlando’.

Some of my favourites: The Scarlet Pimpernel, Hangover Square, The Count of Monte Cristo, Slaughterhouse-5, Decline and Fall, Lolita, Jude the Obscure, The End of the Affair, Catch-22, As I Lay Dying and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Unoriginal but I don't care.

A photo that makes me happy:

Last day of school, age about 13/14, best friends since we were 5 :)

I'm a real spring chicken and I'm having a ball.

More or less everything I'm wearing today is from Topshop. I hate it when that happens, makes you feel so spectacularly unimaginative, but never mind. Lovely sunny day and I had a load of maths revision to do :( . Also sat in the pub and viewed a house with the family today (well yesterday, not sure why I only manage to post late at night. That's the holidays for you). 

I Just Blued Myself.

Day 01 — Your favourite film

Day 02 — A song that makes you happy

Day 03 — Your favourite food

Day 04 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago

Day 05 — Your day, in great detail

Day 06 — Your favourite television program

Day 07 — A song that makes you cry (or nearly)

Day 08 — Your favourite book

Day 09 — A photo that makes you happy

Day 10 — A hobby of yours

Day 11 — Your favourite song

Day 12 — An art piece

Day 13 — Your family

Day 14 — A photo of you taken recently

Day 15 — Your favourite actress

Day 16 — A recipe

Day 17 — Your favourite possession

Day 18 — A website

Day 19 — A song that makes you want to dance

Day 20 — Your favourite quote

Day 21 — A non-fiction book

Day 22 — Your favourite memory

Day 23 — A photo you took

Day 24 — What you can see from your window

Day 25 — A talent of yours

Day 26 — Your favourite actor

Day 27 — A photo that makes you angry/sad

Day 28 — A fiction book

Day 29 — What you wore today

Day 30 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next year

I watch way too much tv. Sad but true.

Sherlock, I love Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman and Steven Moffat's writing.

The Thick Of It. Malcolm Tucker is the single greatest character ever created for tv.

University Challenge. Look at Paxman, mocking me for being pleased when I get 1 question right.

Arrested Development, just comedy genius.

The IT Crowd. Oh Moss... I love you.

I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.

Day 01 — Your favourite film

Day 02 — A song that makes you happy

Day 03 — Your favourite food

Day 04 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago

Day 05 — Your day, in great detail

Day 06 — Your favourite television program

Day 07 — A song that makes you cry (or nearly)

Day 08 — Your favourite book

Day 09 — A photo that makes you happy

Day 10 — A hobby of yours

Day 11 — Your favourite song

Day 12 — An art piece

Day 13 — Your family

Day 14 — A photo of you taken recently

Day 15 — Your favourite actress

Day 16 — A recipe

Day 17 — Your favourite possession

Day 18 — A website

Day 19 — A song that makes you want to dance

Day 20 — Your favourite quote

Day 21 — A non-fiction book

Day 22 — Your favourite memory

Day 23 — A photo you took

Day 24 — What you can see from your window

Day 25 — A talent of yours

Day 26 — Your favourite actor

Day 27 — A photo that makes you angry/sad

Day 28 — A fiction book

Day 29 — What you wore today

Day 30 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next year

Not such great detail but here we go: My mum came and woke me after about 4 hours of sleep to announce that she wanted to go shopping again. Ridiculously hot day for England in April; had a lovely chai tea milkshake to cool down and wandered round Oxford. Found a few places I hadn't known about, bought some nail varnish and wore this:

headband: River Island
blouse: Zara
jacket, necklace, belt: vintage
shorts: Topshop
bag: Primark


I felt like a WWII land girl somehow. Safe to say, I did not toil the land. Being limited to inside where i can prop up my camera without a tripod at person height is extremely annoying. Think I may have my hands within reach of a new one though, fingers crossed.