Florence & The Machine Glasto '15

FLORENCE & THE MACHINE, GLASTO '15

So last night I was busily reading a pretty incredible book titled 'I'll Give You The Sun' by Jandy Nelson (a gushing review is most definietly going to be making an appearance soon dear readers) when my Dad happened to switch the TV channel to BBC1, and then the red button, so we could catch some of the Glastonbury footage. I was happily reading away whilst the likes of The Libertines, Circa Waves and Jungle played superbly away in the background, until the hour reached 11pm and the airwaves suddenly announced that Florence & The Machine's surprise headline set was about to begin on BBC2. My original plan was to again do a spot of reading whilst Florence's set played in the background, but that plan was thrown to the sharks and gobbled up into eternity because as soon as I uttered those words "um Mum, do you think you could, er, put Florence & The Machine on please" I was subsequently completely transfixed under Florence's captivating, magical spell, because oh my... HOW INCREDIBLE WAS FLORENCE LAST NIGHT?!

As soon as I realised reading was going to be impossible with Florence cascading around the stage so ethereally (and so very Kate Bush), putting on the most finest and captivating of shows, I decided I'd watch for maybe half an hour and then call it a night (I was feeling incredibly tired for some reason). The long and short of it is that that didn't happen, and no surprises next when I say that I actually ended up watching the whole entire set from start to finish, and then went on to stay up till half one, listening to Fleetwood Mac and imagining I was Stevie Nicks. Florence & The Machine were just that incredible, and what's more so is that they managed to put on that phenomenally spectacular show at such short notice. With the equally incredible Foo Fighters initially securing one of those precious headline slots, when Dave Grohl had to step down due to his unfortunately timed leg injury, Florence & The Machine were unexpectedly thrust into the centre stage when Emily Eavis asked them to take the Foos place. 

      
All images belong to the BBC!

Now it's fair to say that an awful lot of people had their doubts as to whether they would be able to do the coveted slot justice, subsequently meaning that Florence Welch herself had quite possibly the biggest pressure and expectations of them all riding upon her shoulders, with her duty as front woman leaving her with the massive responsibility of 1) proving the haters wrong and 2) somehow managing to entertain a humongous field full of expectant people, many of whom had spent the best part of a year hoping to see the Foo Fighters. I wouldn't say I'm a diehard Florence & The Machine fan, but I desperately wanted the band to defy expectations, as well as all that suppressing negativity, and show the world just how incredible they are. Show the world how much they deserved that headline slot. I guess in part it was also because last night was an amazing opportunity for Florence herself to raise a fist for us women, do one for gender equality, and prove that women can put on just as much of a hypnotising, phenomenal, electrifying show as our male counterparts. Especially with the recent controversy of the evidently female lacking Reading & Leeds line up, to see such a powerful, liberated, electric female icon taking that Pyramid stage by storm and rising to the momentous challenge set before her, and ultimately conquering it so profoundly, was a truly mesmerising and inspiring sight to see as a young woman myself. 

I adored the twinkling, glittering stage décor, consisting of a gigantic mirage of reflective squares illuminating all the beams of colourful light thrown at them, with hues of blue, orange, yellow and white bathing the stage. I adored Florence's perfectly balanced feminine yet masculine outfit of shimmering pale blue suit paired with a free flowing, Stevie Nicks- esque silk shirt, and how her autumnal toned hair curled and coiled into little spirals at the ends, riding the breeze as Florence fluttered around and commanded the stage. I adored how Florence gave each and every second her utmost all, projecting her gorgeous voice right across the Glastonbury fields, letting the music entrance her soul and then pour out of her almost, enlightening everyone in its proximity. With every twirl, every pirouette, every leap, every twist and turn of her hands, I found myself half expecting beams of pure magic, glitter, electricity to shoot out into the midnight sky, releasing whatever amazing notion was evidently brewing within Florence, as she seized her moment to shine. It was just spectacular viewing, as was seeing each of Florence's carefully chosen songs from her impressive back catalogue of work, spanning three critically acclaimed albums, be brought to life by Florence and her band and then transfix the thousands and thousands of people there to take this mesmerizing sight in. Florence should be so proud of herself for the performance she delivered last night. With that amazing voice and presence she showed the world just how incredible she is, how deserving she is of her success and acclaim and the amazing opportunities, such as this, that come her way. And even though this chance to shine might have come earlier than expected, the fact that Florence pulled it off so sensationally shows what a brilliant performer and musician she has become, and this career defining moment has prematurely unleashed that dazzling electric potential lying patiently within her and showcased it to the world.

http://florenceandthemachine.net/

Burberry Autumn/ Winter 2015 Campaign

BURBERRY AUTUMN/ WINTER 2015 CAMPAIGN

Today's post is just a quickie, as there are numerous other things that I really ought to be doing but am currently not because upon seeing these gorgeous photographs from Burberry's new A/W 2015 campaign, shot by acclaimed fashion legend Mr Mario Testino, I knew I simply had to get them up here on zee blog and share them with you all. Dawdling over these beauties for fifteen minutes and then getting up and on with my day simply would not suffice. Writing this post was an imperative, partly because this campaign is wonderful and needs sharing, but also because I feel like I haven't shared a lot of the things I'm currently loving with you dear readers for a while, so one needed to get the motion back in the ocean and unleash the tidal wave of things I'm loving, from fashion, art, music, literature, photography etc. in blog post format, so here we are, and what better place to begin then with the quintessentially British fashion house Burberry. Woo.

The new campaign is expertly shot and features a host of twelve up and coming, or already established, young forerunners from various mediums within the creative industry, from singers, actors and models, interacting with one another around London town whilst adorned in sublime Burberry clothing and accessories from the impending new season. The six female campaign leads include Holliday Grainger, Ella Richards, Clara Paget and Amber Anderson, whilst the six males include my personal favourite Tom Odell (you need, repeat need to see him perform live, he's truly magical), Harry Treadaway and Jackson Hale, and all look incredibly sublime in the campaign. I love the idea of celebrating and promoting new British talent, something that Burberry has always done so well with the incentive complimenting the brand's all British aesthetic and heritage so perfectly. This campaign has also provoked ye olde love-hearts-springing-from-one's-eyes syndrome (oh so typical of showing love and adoration in animation) within me because of its nostalgic allure combined with an illuminating exposure that then both contrast with the clear cut clarity of the images, somehow meshing the ideas of vintage and modern together. And boy do I love the results. The autumnal colour palette is also something of a dream, as well as the intricate notes of pattern dotted here and there within each photograph, and lastly I just adore the classic, timeless quality radiating from each photo. It's a reminder that the gorgeous traditional quirks of days gone by can still somehow be translated into the modern age and fit into our ever changing and advancing world.

So yes, Burberry's A/W 2015 campaign gets a big thumbs up from me, and with that, I'm off to begin my rather mahoosive to-do list... Ta-ra.

-All photographs belong to Burberry and Mario Testino-

Fill you world with more Burberry goodness by clicking below:

http://uk.burberry.com/

A Simple Trick To Happiness

A SIMPLE TRICK TO HAPPINESS

I know I hark on a lot about happiness, and it's also true that I think about it a lot too. It's just one of those subjects that is so central to every single one of our lives, it's a driving force, it's a matter of so much importance and whether we have it or not can cause us to colour and construct our lives in differing fashions. If I'm feeling pretty happy, I feel like life is good, I'm positive, content, and I feel that I can overcome any problems that may come my way. If I'm feeling unhappy however, I become incredibly dissatisfied with my life, I see the world through pessimistic eyes, and my will to overcome hurdles in my path seems to evaporate into thin air. It's strange isn't it? Anyhow I feel I've mentioned on here before, but a couple of years ago I was just coming out of a particularly difficult part of my life, an emotionally and mentally trying time that was pretty crap but has since gone on to shape who I am and ultimately made me a better person because of it. My perspective on life was a bit askew, and after having had my emotions go pretty wild for a good year or so, when I finally found my feet back on solid ground again I decided it would be a good idea to start afresh with everything, reign in my emotions and pretty much start from square one again. I had somehow allowed my happiness to become dependent on entirely the wrong things, somewhere along the way, and subsequently it lead me to feeling rather unhappy instead. I was trying to seek happiness in all the wrong places, and it was only when I finally turned a corner in my life that I realised where I had been going wrong and how I was going to fix it. And the best thing was the answer was incredibly easy and simple: enjoy and appreciate the little things in life and the world around you.

I realise that it sounds a bit cheesy and naff, and it's some what of an anticlimax when you're half expecting the answer to be something rather spectacular, but the beauty in that little trick I found, a trick that has contributed massively to my overall happiness ever since, is that it's just so simple that it's in turn completely accessible to anyone and everyone. Once you realign your expectations, take a step back and begin to get some perspective, you'll start to realise that happiness can be found quite literally anywhere. For me I've taken it right back to the extent that my happiness starts by being informed by the littlest things in life, and this can include anything from the gradual motion felt when riding an escalator, the greenness of the plants outside just after it's rained, the way raindrops trickle down the windows, the lights of the city twinkling on the horizon, hugging someone you love, the peaceful quiet and tranquillity of the early morning, little things people do to show they care, when your favourite song comes up on shuffle, observing the way two lovers look over their shoulders at one another after they've parted... It's just these little things, little observations you make of the world around you, and I've managed to force myself to come back to square one and start to really notice, appreciate, enjoy and observe these things, contained within the world around me, in so much more detail than I ever did before. Writing them down it really does sound so cheesy, but I don't mind laughing about it because these simple but beautiful little things really do give me so much joy, and there's a million more I could tell you about because the best thing is they're endless. 

If you should choose to let the little things in life be the source of your happiness, joy and contentedness, you essentially have an infinite fountain of happiness, a never ending supply of things to make you smile, feel happy, brighten your life a little bit at a time. And yes so you might have an awful day at work, or maybe you fight with someone you love, or you fail an exam, but I find that at some point you'll have a moment which contains a little pocket of happiness somewhere within it, for example maybe you spend five minutes laughing with a stranger you start talking to on the bus, maybe you get home and find you have a spare bar of chocolate you completely forgot about, or you look outside the window as you get ready for bed and notice that the stars are shining in the sky. And suddenly you start to realise that things aren't all that bad, and that actually the world isn't such a bad place after all, things will get better, and it's the little things that give you these fragments of hope. Of course like everyone else I have those bigger moments that give me an overwhelming feeling of happiness too, and that's truly wonderful but it can only last so long, which is why seeking happiness in all those smaller moments is so important because it sustains you and helps to make sure you're nearly always on the right side of happiness, just about. You're always just happy enough to feel content and retain your optimism, which in turn makes life and the world seem so much better as a result.

So to conclude, honestly I don't know if I've quite explained myself properly, but I've tried my best, and if from reading this post you find you start to take a step back and see life through fresh new eyes, noticing the beauty, wonder and happiness in little moments that you didn't quite catch before, and start to allow those little things to be the root of your overall happiness, or a least part of it, then I think I've done my job just about... :)

How To Make Fifteens (aka heaven)

HOW TO MAKE FIFTEENS (aka heaven)

Hello lovely readers! Hope you're all well and happy and managing to enjoy this rather peculiar good/ bad weather that is oh so typical of good ol' Blighty. Just like my last post, I feel I once again must apologise profoundly for the lack of posts the last ten days or so. It's been so, so strange not blogging every other day and I've missed writing on here soooooo much, but just like the last time I wrote, life has been pretty hectic for me the last couple of weeks and I just feel like I haven't properly had the time to organise my massive list of blog post ideas and actually sit down and write them. Since I last wrote I've been travelling to and from Manchester, seen family and friends, been volunteering, been doing work experience at a fantastic local school, enjoying my last few days as a first year and with my wonderful flat and perhaps most importantly the time finally came to move out of Flat 68, say goodbye to my brilliant first year home that I'll always hold so dearly in my heart, and come back home to Derby for the summer. It's been one heck of an emotional rollercoaster and I'm trying to adjust to both being back home as well as transitioning between my life in Derby and life in Manchester (sometimes I really do feel like a less glamorous and countrified Hannah Montana).

Anyhow this evening, after getting back from work experience, I decided I'd get ye olde blogging ball rolling again (I felt it was imperative I do so as I'm now officially the UoM BlogSOC Social Secretary!!! I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!) and there was no better way to kick things off then by sharing with you what could quite possibly be the most amazing food item in the whole entire world: Fifteens. I had no idea that these glorious sweet treats were even a thing until earlier this year when my lovely Irish pal Amy made them for me and my friends one afternoon, and we all fell head over heels in love with them. I feel like we all deserved a medal for our outstanding ability to restrain our overwhelming inner urge to eat the entire batch in one go, because these Fifteens were that good. Apparently according to Amy, Fifteens are actually an infamous delicacy in Ireland, so I feel like it's my duty dear readers to share with you lovely people what the Irish have been greedily keeping to themselves all these years. We deserve this goodness in our lives too. So I'm here to give you the gift of Fifteens because these things will seriously change your life the better. No joke. They're simply amazing and ridiculously easy to make too, so with that, here's the recipe I made up and followed (created lovingly through my fave past time of winging it) for you to hopefully enjoy as much as I do...

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HOW TO MAKE FIFTEENS

You will need:

15 digestive biscuits

15 glacé cherries

15 mini marshmallows

Dessicated coconut (to cover)

8-10 spoonfuls of condensed milk

Recipe:

1

Put the digestive biscuits in a large bowl and break into crumbs using the end of a rolling pin.

2

Cut the cherries into quarters and add to the mix, followed by the marshmallows.

3

Spoon in the condensed milk and mix the mixture together until it combines together, then break off individual parts and roll into little balls.

4

Roll each ball in dessicated coconut till evenly covered and when all balls are done place on a plate and put in the fridge for 30 minutes- 1 hour.

5

Enjoy and don't even try to resist the urge to eat them all within two hours of making them. Me and my family easily devoured them in less than that time they were that good.

6

SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT HOW AMAZING FIFTEENS ARE. HELP BE A PART OF THE FIFTEEN REVOLUTION.

The End of First Year

My wonderful, lovely, amazing, Flat 68 family. <3

THE END OF FIRST YEAR

First things first, apologies again for the lack of posts recently, and secondly this post has come about because the first person to leave in my flat has left, meaning it's officially the beginning of the end... Sad times. This time of year is always kind of strange but especially so this time round, as it's the end of my first year of university (say whaaaaaaat) and more so than previous years I've been feeling the need to really spend and enjoy my time doing things with the people I love before time runs out. At uni it's so unique in that almost all the friends you make live absolutely nowhere near you when you're not all at university, which means that when holidays come you're spread out all across the country in various different locations. So the last couple of weeks I've been trying to make the most of having all my friends in one place and trying to meet up and do random things whenever I can. I've also been making sure I make the absolute most of the time I have left with my wonderful, wonderful flatmates who I adore to pieces, and just living in halls in general (Fallowfield represent), as I've steadily come to realise that your first year of university is a once in a lifetime kind of thing. Things will never be quite like this again. For a while I've been aware that time is running out, that this amazing experience is almost over, but at the same time I've been reminding myself that yes this is the best time of my life, and it's that way for a reason. And instead of being sad that it's all over, I should enjoy every last minute whilst I can, be so, so happy that I've been lucky enough to have all these wonderful things happen to me, meet all these amazing people... Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.

For most of my life I just assumed that people were lying about how great university is, and honestly they just did my absolute nut in and I wished they'd shut up about it all. But now having experienced a bit of it for myself, I've changed my mind completely and I finally understand what they were on about. University really is amazing, first year especially as you're living with your friends/ flatmates and being independent, studying something you actually like, having people to always do things with, doing so many crazy, fun, spontaneous things like flat quizes, meals, film nights, catch ups, parties, frisbee, going to the park, dancing, clubbing, frequent trips to the pub and Sainsburys...You go from having a pretty average social life, standard day to day life in the town you've always lived in, being looked after by your lovely family, to suddenly having your social life vamped up to high voltage, your life becoming incredibly spontaneous, unpredictable, crazily wonderful with everything completely changing and you have to look after yourself for the first time ever. It's totally disorientating and new, and almost kind of surreal, but also incredibly amazing too. When I compare my days and weeks here to those back home, I sometimes just cannot believe that this is my life now, that these things are actually happening to me.

 I feel completely and utterly blessed, lucky, grateful, thankful, *insert gushing, appreciative word* to have had such an incredible first year from start to finish. Never in a million, trillion, gazillion years did I imagine that my first year would be like it has been, and that I could have this kind of life and experience beyond my wildest dreams. I just can't believe still that this has all happened to me. Sometimes I really do feel like I'm dreaming. And I know it all sounds so gushing and almost a bit bonkers, all this rambling that I've done, but trying to condense my amazement and gratefulness at this last year, as well as the fact that I've now actually completed my first year of university, is incredibly hard to do so. I know that without doubt I will never, ever forget this period of my life, nor the memories or the people, and I will always hold it so dear to my heart. I wish things wouldn't change but I know they have to. Things can't stay this amazing and perfect and wonderful forever, but I'm so glad I've been lucky enough to have things be so this last year. For me things will change a lot next year, and they'll be quite different, but I finally feel ready to embrace it and make the most of the next chapter to come in my life and everything new that is to come. I'm so sad to see this year end but it's given me so many precious memories, taught me so many different things, pushed me out my comfort zone, changed me as a person for the better, helped me to meet so many brilliant people and facilitated so many new friendships that I just know are going to last the test of time. 

So as I conclude before I start getting all emotional and banging out them crying face emoji's, and with one week left up here to go, I'll finish by saying 1) Manchester is a bloody amazing city and if you're considering going to uni there, do it because you will love it, 2) university really is awesome in every possible sense and you'll just have the most incredible time, and 3) whether you're at uni or not, just enjoy life and all those wonderful moments, get out there and live and take it all in, push yourself out of your comfort zone, say yes, meet people, find yourself and who you are and just be happy.