Out with the old and in with the new

So it has been 18 days since I last uploaded a post. 18 days that have been unashamedly spent with endless Mulled Wine, Mince pies (I'm currently on a strict diet of at least two a day) and Movies. 

Christmas is one of my favourite times of year, but as we go through the confusing days between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve (don't ask me what day it is) I always start to think about what my goals for next year are. I have never really been one for sticking to New Year's Resolutions, mainly because they tend to be slightly far fetched or unrealistic. I don't write New Year's Resolutions because I intend on becoming a brand new human being as soon as the clock strikes midnight on December 31st each year, but because I like to look back on them at the end of the year to see whether I managed to reach my personal goals. I would even recommend doing them purely for the sake of the future you who will get to look back on them in 10 years time and laugh at what you considered to be a problem in your life and how insignificant it feels now. Take it from me, it can be very entertaining.

Yesterday I was given a piece of advice that I can only imagine will stick with me for many years to come. It was that we need to remember that the biggest investment we can make in our lives to ensure future success looks back at us every time we look in a mirror. With this in mind I know that I need to put in hard work within my life now, to helpfully make my life a lot easier in the future.

The most immediate way of investing in my future that I can think of is ensuring that I do well in my degree. It is so strange to think that as I write this post I am already half way through my degree and only 18 months away from being 'set free' into the real world of work and I need to do as much now to try and make that transition as 'easy' as possible. I know that I need to work hard in terms of my academic studies, but I also need to work hard at gaining work experience and I need to work hard at filling my summer doing constructive things to help towards my future career goals of working in the media. 

I just hope that 2015 will bring happiness and most importantly will begin the countdown to the end of  this country being run by the  Cameron and the Conservatives but with Ed Miliband as the alternative I'm not sure how likely that will be.

What are your New Year's Resolutions? Do you bother with them? Let me know in the comments!

Dealing with Embarassment

Embarrassment is something that we all have to deal with, some people more than others.I seem to always pull the short straw. I spend a disproportionate time of my life cringing, it's like I am a magnet for awkward situations.

Just today I had a missed call from an unknown number which I assumed was my Mum from her work phone. My Mum has this annoying habit of having a very good ‘phone voice’ and also saying ‘Hello?’ loads of times just to wind me up. So when the woman on the other end of the phone met both of these criteria I instantly assumed it was my mum and half seriously asked ‘WHAT DO YOU WANT!?’ after having said ‘Hello’ for the fifth time.

It turns out that it wasn’t my mum.

It was actually a woman from McDonald’s.

Where I used to work.

Asking me if I was going to return to work over Christmas.

In that moment, my brain and I fell out.

I don’t know why it decided to betray me.

My response was ‘I’m sorry I thought it was my Mum’. In hindsight I doubt that made me look any better. She was probably thinking ‘This girl is a horrible person, why would she talk to her mum like that?’ or ‘This girl is an idiot’.

I only found solace in the fact that knowing that I quit my job means that I will probably never come into contact with her again.

I am not that lucky in the majority of my awkward encounters.  Most of them tend to be face to face which means I’m stuck with the mental images of people’s faces. I tend to talk quite quickly which means I’m often misunderstood and confronted with blank faces on an almost daily basis.

So anyway, I’ve tried to come up with a few foolproof ways to prevent myself from digging a hole and never resurfacing.

1.       Just pretend that it never happened- easier said than done but it is a possible option

2.       Learn to laugh at yourself and see the funny side- Instead of cringing on the outside as well as on the inside after the phone call ended I just laughed non-stop for a few minutes

3.       Talk slower- this is especially for those, like me, who talk at 100mph

4.       Say sorry-If you genuinely did something wrong or can see you upset someone just say sorry. (note I said nothing about actually meaning it)

5.       Avoid the person for as long as possible- with McDonald’s this is an approach that I have very much welcomed

Ten important life lessons I learnt in the week beginning 1st December 2014

1. Healthy eating can be a lot of fun

2.Some people think it appropriate to drink this in a study room

3. Pixie Lott is fab

4.This image will always make me incredibly happy mainly because of the Pizza but also because it's when I first realised the annoying black dot that's been on my iPhone camera for months has disappeared!

5.George the Gingerbread man is adorable

6.Secret Santa present shopping is stressful, but great when you know they like your present.

7.You're never too old for one of these (Yes that is Cara D's Tom Ford ad in the background, I'm so obsessed with that pic)

8.Gingerbread men on Christmas jumpers is almost too much cute to deal with

9.My work know how to throw a fab Christmas party

10.Teenage girls go crazy for MIC guys, a day at the Clothes Show taught me that!

Facebook and FOMO

I love social networks as much as the next person, I love them so much that I'm scared that I'm genuinely addicted to it. I doubt I'd be able to go more than a few hours without the endless scrolling that has become part of my life. I honestly don't know how I lived for 13  years without Facebook.









My life on social media began about 8 (!!!) years ago when my school friends and I used to make endless websites on the now defunct Piczo.com when I was in year 6 at school. Then I went to secondary school and moved on to the also now defunct Bebo and spent hours and hours organizing who my 'best friends' and posting on my friend's walls.

Then life as I know it was changed in 2008 when I finally joined the biggest social network of them all. Facebook. Facebook formed a key part of my school years as everyone was on it. If you weren't on  Facebook it was like you didn't really exist outside of school hours. I love Facebook as I get to catch up/keep up with old school friends but there are some things that I massively dislike. Not including the embarrassing photos that exist of me, namely between the years 2008-2011. While it's nice to see that my friends are enjoying themselves, its almost impossible not to compare my lives to theirs, which more often than not makes me feel like I'm missing out. Especially since moving away for university I always see posts from old friends at their unis loving life and seemingly going out every night which makes me feel like I'm doing something massively wrong because there are not 1026561 photos of me in clubs or out drinking with my friends. I know that everyone uses social media to portray their 'best self' but it doesn't change the inevitable FOMO ( Fear of missing out) I experience every time I log in. 

I'd love to know what your thoughts on this are!

Ten important life lessons I learnt in the week beginning 24th November 2014

1. Burrito bowls are still fabulous

2.Fog is very creepy at night

3.FIJI water is literally just actual water

4.It is possible for women to have both a successful career and children

5. GIRLS is coming back on January 11th and I couldn't be more excited

6. The BBC Communications team sounds like a very fun place to work

7. People don't like it if you don't have manners (it won't help you get served faster at a bar)

8. Winter Wonderland is the stuff that dreams are made of

9..Mulled wine is all you need at Christmas time

10.The London skyline looks pretty at sunset

Ten important life lessons I learnt in the week beginning 17th November 2014

1. Christmas shopping is always better when it's free (Thanks 02 Priority)

2. Faux fur is fabulous, I've waited a whole 19 years for this coat

3. Christmas is literally everywhere now (but I'm not complaining)

4. Sometimes WhatsApp group chats get a bit much

5.You're never too old to want to visit Santa

6. Portcullis House is beautiful

7.  Democracy is for everyone

8. Sometimes it's ok to be a tourist in London

9. If you don't ask you don't get (asking got me the latest Cosmo for free!)

10. Gingerbread is my vice

Monochrome Mondays

I seem to have this habit of going shopping when I procrastinate and this weekend was no exception. Somehow in the midst of completing the two assignments I had to submit by Sunday evening I found myself on the Central Line heading straight for Oxford Circus.

I told myself that I was only going to buy some stick-on nails because I thought it was only fair that I deserved a pre-payday treat. I decided on the Elegant Touch Little Mix collection because I am obsessed with Monochrome and Jesy2 is just perfect for me at only £6 from Boots.

So there I was, minding my own business when I decided to go into Selfridges to lust over their windows when I thought it would be a good idea to have a look at Offspring to see if they had the black and white Roshe Run trainers that have been on my mind for ages!

I've wanted these trainers since I bought my Liberty print Roshe Runs back in April and fell in love instantly with how comfortable they were. It also doesn't hurt that they are very easy on the eye too! I would recommend these to anyone! It has been like mission impossible to find these trainers in my size so it would have been rude not to have bought them there and then for £69.99.

I just hope the next time I start procrastinating it doesn't result in me being over £70 lighter. 
No regrets though!

Young women and politics

So this week I had the amazing opportunity to visit the beautiful Portcullis House (part of the Houses of Parliament) to listen to a panel hosted by Parliament Week and brought together by Cosmopolitan magazine to discuss the main issues at the forefront of young women's minds going into next years General Election.

The panel consisted of Cosmo's Editor-in-chief Louise Court, Margot James MP, journalist and author Bryony Gordon, presenter Gemma Cairney, Baroness Lolsa Young and singer Eliza Doolittle.

I studied Politics at college and so have always been interested in how our country is run so this was an unmissable opportunity to see all of the things I'd learnt at college to be applied to our real lives.

The main topics of conversation was what exactly it is that we want/ need to change to make things better for millennials. There was a general consensus that the current situation is not good enough for young people in this country with many feeling ignored and let down especially regarding tuition-fee gate.

Many of the panelists agreed that the government and the opposition need to do more to connect with young people  on a meaningful level rather than trying to 'get down with the kids' by having a twitter account. Which, in the case of David Cameron appears to just be an extension of the necessary 'white, middle class, middle aged' personality needed to become prime minister in this country rather than giving a glimpse of who he really is. As I type this post the number one trend on Twitter is #Cameronmustgo, surely this is a key sign that politicans need to do more to fully represent the public and encourage them to engage with politics.

Another issue was the seemingly archaic way in which we actually vote and how that may put young people off. Some argued that the way that we have to register and then go to a particular polling station is confusing to many people. It was suggested that the whole system of how we actually make our voices heard needs to be changed. One thing that worries me about this argument is that if we were to eventually allow people to vote online, it would trivialise the whole process. People place votes online all the time on various entertainment sites, so surely this could lead to the public not really caring as much about who they're voting for as they may just treat it like another BuzzFeed quiz.

The lack of female politicians was an unavoidable topic.The whole panel agreed that we do need more women in politics to fully represent issues that are exclusive to women as well as increasing diversity in a system that appears to be populated mainly by only one type of person. However, one audience member disagreed by arguing that she would prefer a fair meritocracy over a quota system. It was noted that heavy media scrutiny puts women off being involved in politics because, as seen in the Daily Mail, we know that whilst men tend to be judged on their competence, women tend to be judged on their outfit choices.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2693563/Now-win-election-PM-tells-new-girls-including-Esther-McVey-queen-Downing-Street-catwalk.html
This blatant sexism belittles the successes of these women and treats them like they are there purely to look pretty.

On the whole it was agreed that politicians  of opposing partied need to dress back the theatricals and not be afraid to say when they agree with each other to make them seem more human, because as it was said in the talks, we all know that they'd be best friends if they didn't happen to lead opposing parties.

What do you think needs to change?

Ten important life lessons I learnt in the week beginning 10th November 2014

1. Packing is not my strongest point 

2.Floppy disks used to be pretty

3. Mile End tube station always have the best quote of the day

4.Somebody once thought this clock was a good idea

5.Small dogs are cute!

6.Watching Children in Need is such an emotional rollercoaster

7.Pudsey bear merchandise comes in all shapes and sizes and the money goes to a great cause!

8.Massive Christmas trees are always a fabulous idea

9.A lack of sleep will catch up with you (an accurate description of me yesterday)

10. Sometimes pictures are capture the perfect moment