20 questions about me.

So what tends to happen when I can't think about a new blog post is i'll search for a questions tag, so here's the latest one I found!

1. What was the last book you read?
The last one I finished was The DUFF by Kody Keplinger. But at the moment i'm reading How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran. I used to read a lot but at the moment I seem to have hit some sort of reading wall. I'm trying to get back into it though!

2. If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
At some point in my life I really want to live in America, even if it's just for a few months.

3. What are your biggest fears?
Needles, heights (even just watching videos where someone skydives makes me feel uneasy), clowns, wasps and to some extent, the dark!

4. Are you ruled by your head or your heart?
I don't really know. Honestly most of the time it's like a battle between the 2.

5. What motivates you to work hard?
Money? And the satisfaction when i've done something well (which doesn't happen a lot).

6. Who is your favourite Disney character?
Eeyore. My room is like a shrine to him.

7. What TV series are you currently watching?
Gossip Girl (for the third time). And keeping up to date with Pretty Little Liars of course.

8. What was the last movie you went to? What did you think of it?
Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It was brilliant. I'd only watched the first 6 films for the first time the week before and i'm just obsessed with the whole franchise now.

9. What's your favourite season?
Summerrrr.

10. What is your favourite game or sport to watch and play?
Haha no.

11. Would you rather ride a bike, ride a horse or drive a car?
I like driving my car but i'd love to be able to ride a horse.

12. Do you have any pets? If not do you want any and what do you want?
I have a black and white cat called Freddie, he can be adorable when he's not channeling the spawn of satan. I really want a black Pug and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

13. What is your favourite animal?
I love dolphins and tigers.

14. What are the 2 most painful things that you've experienced?
I've genuinely had a proper think about this one and I don't think i've ever really experienced anything physically really painful. I did break my collarbone when I was younger but if i'm honest that didn't really hurt (badman I know). I suppose getting my daith (cartilage bit in the middle of your ear) pierced hurt a lot. And maybe when I burnt my arm on the pizza oven at a restaurant where I used to work (pictures below).

15. Who would you most like to spend the day with?
Literally any member of the Avengers.

16. If you could go back in time, what year would you travel to?
Either the 20's or the 90's, they looked so fun.

17. What are your top 2 pet peeves?
Hands down chewing loudly. My family and friends know how much this ticks me off, it actually makes me angry. My second is definitely when people don't use their indicators when driving. It drives me up the wall (sorry).

18. What's your favourite type of foreign food?
I love love love Italian or Mexican.

19. Do you collect anything?
I have quite a few Pandora charms if that counts? I also like interesting cocktail stirrers!

20. Is there anything you would like to achieve before the end of the year?
I ask myself this year and I know it's totally lame but I just want to be happy!

So now I tag Tom and my sister Emma to complete these questions too!
𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕝

January

Fancy header for the first time ooo.

So the first month of 2016 is over already. I feel like this year is going to absolutely fly by!

I brought in the New Year celebrating with my family and friends playing beer pong and drinking a lot.
That was fun, but on the night of 1st January, it was my leaving do for work. I chose to leave before Christmas and New Year so I could spend as much time as possible with all my family and friends before I move to Melbourne in February. I also had exams so needed every hour I could get to revise!
It all seemed to go very quick, one minute we were playing Cards Against Humanity and beer pong, then the next I had my head down the toilet and was put to bed. Shout out to Viv for looking after me in my own house. What a babe. Despite crashing mid-party, I still had a great time like I always do with my work pals.

Everyone else enjoying themselves with Singstar after i'd gone to bed!

About a week later, it was my best friend Mary's 21st birthday which was brilliant because I saw some friends that I hadn't seen in a while. We all pretty much just spent the night dancing to some golden oldies and had such a good time.

The next week or so was a bit dull as I had exams and assignments to focus on, but on the glorious day of 20th January, I had my last payday from LEGO and had my last exam. Naturally, it was time to celebrate with alcohol. Me, my friend Sian and her friend Rob went out (which was my first night out in town in months!). We had such a good time and even bumped into quite a few of the girls from our course which was nice.

As my bestie, Tom, can't make it to my Bon Voyage bash in February, I went to go visit him in Leicester where he goes to Uni. That evening we started the pre drinks with a classic game of Never Have I Ever. We then started playing the Zoella drinking game which was ridiculous. Tom had drunk a lot by this point and took himself off the the loo for a chunder. After he had (sort of) recovered, we got our stuff together and went out to a club called Mosh. I'm not usually a massive fan of going out to town, but I really enjoyed myself this time. if i'm somewhere where I recognise a lot of the songs then i'll be happy for hours. They played all sorts; Dance Wiv Me, Saturday Night (we did the full routine), Be Faithful, S&M, Star Girl, Year 3000, Mysterious Girl... I could go on and on. All in all I had a really good night, but it was very sad the morning after when I left to go back to Leeds - I won't see Tom until I come back from Australia now #bye.

Just about the only decent selfie we managed to get that night!

Another best pal, Charlotte, came to sleep over after she'd spent the week at Disneyland Paris (jealous!). We decided to have a complete Disney night and watched Big Hero 6, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Treasure Planet and The Princess and the Frog. Nothing better than a bit of Disney.

Yet again we had another leaving do for someone at LEGO, and this time we took to the karaoke microphones in Tiger Tiger. After screeching to My Hump, Keep On Moving, Summer of '69 and Breaking Free, we went back to my friend Aaron's house for yet another game of Cards Against Humanity...then we all pretty much fell asleep after a very difficult game of I-Spy.

Looking back on this month i'm realising now that I have been drinking a lot. I'd say maybe I need a detox but with me moving to the other side of the world next month, that is most definitely not going to happen.
𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕝

Caitlin Moran.

As i'm on the train to go see my best pal Tom, (whose blog you can read here), i'm reading one of Caitlin Moran's books, 'How To Be A Woman'.
Previously I read one of her other books 'How To Build A Girl' and absolutely loved it. It's one of the rare books that once I started reading it I just couldn't put it down, and ended up finishing it in 2 days.

How To Build A Girl

Even though the book is fictional, I love how honest it is. Caitlyn really doesn't hold back when she's writing and that's one of the things I like most about her as an author.  'How To Build A Girl' has so many different elements to it too. At one point you'll feel sympathetic towards the protagonist, then you'll be laughing. Then to put a real twist on things you'll be cringing at the slightly more awkward parts of the book. I found myself racing to finish the book because I just couldn't wait to find out what happens, it's such a rollercoaster of a book.

How To Be A Woman

I've read less than a chapter in 'How To Be A Woman' and already I can't wait to read the rest of it. Caitlyn sets the scene pretty much straight away and she's not scared to just jump straight into it. I obviously can't say too much about this one not having read it yet so i'll copy down the blurb for you and you can see if it's something you'd like to read!

"It's a good time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven't been burnt as witches since 1727. However, a few nagging questions do remain...
Why are we supposed to get Brazilians? Should we use Botox? And why does everyone ask when you're going to have a baby?"

It goes without saying that these books appeal to the slight feminist in me. I totally recommend them if you like the sound of them!
𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕝

Travel Diary

Probably my biggest goal in life (sounds cheesy but idc), is to travel a hell of a lot. I love going to weird and wonderful new places and learning the perks of different cultures. I feel like when i'm old and grey I know that i'll have lived my life to the full if i've seen as much of the world as possible.

My all time favourite poster on my wall is my scratch map. They're around £15 on Amazon and you essentially scratch off a country as you would a scratch card once you have been there. If you're a massive fan of travel like me, you'd love one. I get way too excited to come home from a holiday just so I can scratch a country off!

My aim is to be able to scratch a place off a year, however this may be a tad difficult so I may go for 1 every 2 years. We'll see how my bank account stretches.
So far the places that have been scratched off are;

Mallorca, Jamaica, Finland, France, Menorca, Spain, Belgium, Mexico and Italy. I'm not planning on Antarctica - that would be a bitch to scratch off!

I'm incredible lucky to have been to the places that I have already, but to me it just isn't enough! There are still so many things I want to do and places I want to visit!

I want to cuddle a tiger cub in India, go on a safari in South Africa, visit many many locations in the USA like Florida (Disneyworld), New York, Miami and LA, see Christ the Redeemer in Rio in Brazil, bit of a depressing one but I want to visit Auschwitz in Poland, walk on the Great Wall of China, I need to see Hobbiton in New Zealand, go skiing in Switzerland or Canada, visit Mexico again and see the Chichen Itza, go to the pyramids in Egypt, sunbathing on the gorgeous beaches of Greece, see the Taj Mahal in India and also visit Portugal, Amsterdam, Ireland and Thailand. I could literally go on for hours with all the places I want to visit.

If travelling were free I wouldn't be in England right now. Fingers crossed I win the lottery!𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕝

What i'll miss & what i'm looking forward to.

Hello! It's been a while. I've had a lot on my plate recently and i've just been either too busy or had no motivation to write anything, but the excitement of a new year and an upcoming adventure has spurred me on to write again.
Recently i've had millions of thoughts whizzing through my head about little things i'm going to miss whilst i'm away and other things that i'm really looking forward to. I thought it might help clear up my head to write them down, and writing on my blog somewhat calms me.

What I will miss.
1. My family: I think that's probably the most obvious. We're so close and it'll be very strange to not have them a stones throw away (i'll miss my sister the most but don't tell my mum and dad).
2. My friends: another obvious one. I'm lucky enough to have no shortage of them and i'm going to miss every single one of them so much. I've been begging them all to come and visit me at some point!
3. Mum's cooking! If you haven't had one of Pip's homemade meals, you haven't lived. And if you know me then you'll be aware that i'm no Jamie Oliver in the kitchen. I can make pasta and that's about it.
4. My cat: He's a right little bastard sometimes but i'm going to miss his cuddles!
5. My car. This is such a first world problem but i'm seriously going to miss being able to drive myself around for 5 months. Back on the peasant wagon!
6. My double bed: Another first world problem - I have a single bed in my new apartment!

What i'm looking forward to.
1. Meeting new people: making some Aussie friends!
2. Living on my own: hopefully it will finally teach me to be tidier.
3. Living near the beach! Do I really need to explain this one?
4. Being surrounded by a different culture: one of my most favourite things is getting to know other cultures. When I went to Rome I was fascinated in how erratic and busy the Italians are.
5. Improving my Australian accent: (i've been practicing).
6. Getting out of Leeds for a while! There's a lot of people I know that hate living in Leeds, and whilst it isn't my favourite place in the world, it's still home. However i'm very excited to get to know another big city.
7. The gorgeous weather: even though when I get there it will be in the transition from summer to winter, it's still going to be pretty damn hot!
8. Visiting Sydney at Easter: Harbour Bridge, the Opera House (that's the plan anyway).
9. Learning to be independent: it's about time.
10. Writing letters! A few people have called me strange for this one. I thought it might be nice to send my friends and some family letters whilst i'm away. It would be a nice change to sending e-mails or messages and I love getting things through the post.

I'm already feeling better after jotting these down! Everything is set in stone now; flights booked, accommodation sorted and enrolment accepted. All that is left to do is pack and go!
I'll try and keep more blog posts coming, as soon as my exams are over i'll have a lot more free time to think of new things to write about.
𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕝
Ps. I sincerely hope I come back with an awesome accent.