Summer Favourites

So, I've been a bit of a naughty blogger this summer and seriously lacked in enthusiasm to post anything on here. I've gone from 27 posts in July to 8 (9 if we include this one) in August. I can hear the internet yelling ''shame on you!"... Anyway, I'm back to college on Monday and summer will, in my head, officially be over. Booo :( I thought I'd compile a 'summer favourites' post to give you a glimpse of why I've not been posting :)

Television If I told you that my entire summer has been spent watching Not Going Out repeats, I wouldn't really be lying. Equally, I wouldn't be lying if I substituted Not Going Out for Pushing Daisies. I pretty much never watch TV during ''the academic year'' so summer has very much been spent lazing around and watching TV. When we were in France, my brother and I spent every single evening watching the DVDs in the picture :)

Personalising Somewhere, once, I saw that someone had created a 'washing line' of cards, photos etc, and hung it in what I think was their kitchen. I'm not even sure why, but I decided I wanted to do the same in my bedroom. From left to right: The CHS World Challenge Team 2010; Fern and I at prom; Croatian countryside; Rachel 1 and Rachel 2 at Magna (v. old); My handprint; Sarah, Beth M, Fern and I on prom night; two thank you cards from extended family; a Valentines card from Talor (my Psychology friend). The pegs are a mix of craft pegs and pegs I bought in Poland ''because they looked pretty'' :)

Jewellery I've been incredibly good about buying jewellery this year and barely bought anything, with the exceptions of the three (technically four...) rings pictured and a bracelet in Poland that matched Jade's. The first three rings you can see are all from Bijou Brigitte, which is a German brand that has recently opened a store in Wakefield, and the fourth is from Asda. The necklaces pictured were all made by me, and if you scroll back a bit you'll find tutorials and other posts about making jewellery yourself.

Nails The only thing I can justify wasting money on is nail polish, and that's because I know I'll use it. From left to right: Beauty UK Frozen Kingdom; Boots 17 Chaperone; Boots 17 Baked Cherry; Accessorize Khaki Folly; Models Own Utopia; George at Asda Deceit; George at Asda Indigo Dazzle; George at Asda Troll; George at Asda Starry Eyed. The George range has absolutely been my favourite - only £1.75 and the polishes seem to last for quite a long time considering how cheap they are. The bottles are a little small but for the price it's reasonable. My most recent purchase was the Beauty UK Frozen Kingdom one, which I LOVE, and despite the name, it really isn't wintery.


Being a Geek The two notebooks pictured were customised to say 'Notebook' and 'Thoughts' in lots of different languages. Geeky? Yes. My drawer isn't usually that messy, by the way. I've also been teaching myself Swedish, hence the whiteboard...which actually is completely out of date now as that was the first lesson I gave myself and I know everything on there now. A post on that will be coming soon, language geeks :-)

Beauty While I can justify spending money on nail polish, I really can't when it comes to make up. I don't know why, I just can't. This summer I've mainly been wearing the lighter shades of the eyeshadow, the Rimmel Flash Eyeliner or the brown eyeliner, and a lipstick that's not actually pictured (yay for good photography). The lipstick pictured is actually a replacement for one that I bought twice, which broke both times I purchased one. The one pictured, Beauty UK's In the Buff, replaced Collection 2000's Crystal Gloss Coral Crystal - the colour is fairly different, but it's does its job and, most importantly, doesn't literally fall apart when being used. 

Hola Magazine This really shouldn't count as a 'summer' favourite, as I only purchased it recently. However, I have discovered that WH Smiths sells copies of Hola magazine in some of its branches. So far, I've spotted it in Barnsley (random, I know) and York. Obviously, I've purchased both times :) This one I bought in York and I was pretty impressed with myself for actually knowing of one of the celebrities it did an article on (Paulina Rubio). Stress free Spanish revision is the best ;) I've had the other issue I purchased for well over a year, so it was nice to find something up to date, haha.


Party Planning Finally, the big one - party planning. My 18th birthday is on the 18th of September, and I'm having a party on the 10th to celebrate :) There are no prizes for guessing why the picture is related, but I'll be impressed if you can guess why (Fern, you know why, so you can't take part :P). My mum is a bit of a nightmare when planning something - I keep mentally comparing her to the nightmare mother of the bride situation you always see in films, haha. I'm VERY excited for my friend Rachel (yes, same name) to come up from Melton Mowbray on the train as we haven't seen each other in about 4 years. I'm also excited to see some of the extended family again because it's been a while. I'm also hoping that after a long first week back at college it'll be something nice to look forward to :)

So that's been my summer. I'm back to college on Monday (nooooooo) and dreading it. That place is seriously depressing. I'm also going to look into the ridiculous spacing problem going on with Blogger at the moment, because I know the paragraphs are all messed up and it's been winding me up for ages.

Besos ♥ 
Rachel 

Review - World Nomads Spanish Language Guide

Life seems to have stalled at the moment, so reviews and languages are definitely the way forward. Today, I'm reviewing World Nomads Spanish Language Guide - which is an app that I have on my iPod.

World Nomads is a company that, primarily, isn't a phrasebook/language software company. They are, primarily, a travel insurance company - their tag line being ''Keep Travelling Safely". So, bearing that in mind, my first question is 'how does this app help me to travel safely?'

Arguably, it is hard for an iPhone/iPod/phone app to keep you safe, especially when it is a phrasebook/language guide. The 'travel safety' and 'travel health' sections of the app are fairly thorough, especially in comparison to other apps of a similar nature. Admittedly, I do find those sections in the Spanish phrasebook by lastminute.com slightly more thorough - especially the health section. In this respect, they do stick to their motto of ''keep travelling safely'', although I hope they're not using this as their main hook.


Moving onto the other sections, unlike with some of their other language guides, every section has audio alongside the written text if you tap the little box the word is in. With some apps, I find it incredibly frustrating how audio is only available on some phrases - especially because a pronunciation section is incredibly rare with a phrasebook/language guide style app. 

The sections are as follows: basics, instructions, directions, transport, places to stay, travel safety, travel health, food and eating, numbers, times and dates, and flirting. There is also the option to upgrade to the Language Guide Plus.


The title 'Language Guide' is perhaps a little misleading - this app is absolutely a phrasebook. I assume the 'Language Guide' comes from the fact that you can opt to take a 'Language Lesson' in which you will hear an Australian pretend to be foreign (the Croatian one is incredibly cringeworthy) and another Australian receive a lesson in the language while in a random situation (Croatian was someone had hurt their leg).


As with all phrasebooks apps, this one is not going to match up to if you were to go out and purchase a whole phrasebook. Luckily, this version of the app is free. The Language Guide Plus version costs £1.49, which I have never downloaded because my level of Spanish is way above the level of the app. 


Because of my level of Spanish, there are a few things I question - firstly, the app translates 'Internet' to 'Internet/la web' and 'Email' to 'Email'. I have only ever heard Internet as Internet or la Red, and email as un correo electronico. I also don't understand why these are in the basics section - alongside 'yes', 'thank you' etc. Secondly, the app seems to like making use of different tenses and conjugations. For instance, it would be just as easy to say ''Hay habitaciones?", but the app says "Tienen habitaciones?". The travel safety section also has the translation for "Those drugs aren't mine!" - now, maybe it's just me, but if you've been caught with drugs in a foreign country, you're probably not going to be holding it together enough to get our your iPod/phone and look the phrase up... Finally, the flirting section only has two phrases in it, with a third box suggesting you upgrade to the plus version. I find this a little odd, because I can't imagine anyone reaching that part of the app and deciding they want to upgrade for more flirting phrases. There are more free apps (Lingopal lite, for example) that do this.


Overall, it's a pretty good app. I personally wouldn't buy the plus version for reasons already stated (level of Spanish), but the free version is worth a download. If you're downloading one of the less popular languages, audio will probably be missing - even the German app has audio missing...as does the French. 


Have you used any of the World Nomads Language Guides? If so, leave us a comment to let us know how you got on with them :)


Besos ♥ 
Rachel 

Life...

...is a bit all over the place at the moment. Last Thursday was results day and I got Bs in English Language and Media Studies, and As in Psychology and Spanish. Myself, Eliza, Danny and Eleanor went out on Friday evening as a sort of celebration which was very much needed after not seeing them since Monday 11th July. It's bad that I know that, right?

Other than that I've been spending a lot of time at my grandma's house gardening and restoring bits of the garden. She has a HUGE tree that, when we were little, myself, Amy and George (yes, that's us in that awful picture...and Winnie the Pooh...) used to make dens underneath. And by make dens, I mean we pretty much set up home underneath that tree. We had fencing and everything. 


I decided to make it my little mission to clear around the tree - everything was overgrown and several plants - including a huge, definitely unwanted holly bush - made it impossible to get anywhere near the tree. 

We started off by pulling the yellow slide we had out from underneath the tree - somehow it ended up at my grandma's house and somehow it ended up on its side underneath 'the katkin tree', and nobody ever thought to move it because nobody is anywhere near young enough to care about it anymore. 

Me, my grandma and my brother (Daniel) spent two afternoons cutting and sawing away at the tree and bits around it until the ground was finally clear. Arguably, it's nowhere near the same at almost 18 as it was when I was 8, but there it was - childhood.

Ten years ago, I would have been sitting on a little wooden chair underneath that very same tree, tidying up our 'house' or 'cooking for us all' - you know, taking care of the home... And now? Exactly the same. Only now, it's not pretend. Harvesting the blackberries, potatoes and tomatoes now is exactly the same as when we used to harvest the 'egg flowers' (don't even ask...), only now, it's real. 

We even had our own little shed. I remember painting it with Amy and George one afternoon. It used to be the shed at my house, and then we kind of outgrew it and it got moved to my grandma's house. We painted the shed outside, we painted it a pale blue inside, we found some old fabric and made a curtain to go against the window, someone put down left over carpet, we had a table, chairs, we even had a painting that I believe was created by Amy. We had a 'patio' at the back and, again, we put fencing up and made it our own little house. But this was after the days of the tree dens, of course. 

And then I went to high school, Amy left high school, George was still in high school, and the magic of childhood very slowly began to fade away. Grandma's house - the symbol of my childhood - was suddenly just a house. 

But, recently, I've realised that no matter how old I am and how mature I think I am, one thing will always remain the same - memories. I know that I'll be able to walk around that garden and see it as something much, much more than just a garden. And, while life might seem terrible, my memories will always be there to carry me through.

So it might be goodbye to childhood, but it's hello to growing up, and I can't say I mind at all.


Besos ♥ 
Rachel 

Crispy Air

If you spoke to me right now, you wouldn't be able to tell that my AS results day is tomorrow. I'm completely unfazed by the whole thing at the moment, which I'm taking as a good thing because I started shaking 24 hours in advance of my GCSE results...

Tonight, I've been staying sane by reading through my Facebook profile and laughing hysterically to myself about the memories created - crispy air, Fo Te, Nacho Macho Woman...

The truth is that even if I get horrible results tomorrow, I know I'll always have been so lucky to have such good friends and wonderful memories. 

Good luck to everybody getting their AS and A2 results tomorrow! :)


Besos ♥ 
Rachel  

Misadventures in French

While I was in France, I was the designated linguist. Despite frequently telling my parents that I don't speak or study French, they seemed to believe that if you can speak one language, you can speak them all. 

Although not a proper 'misadventure', linguistics first made an appearance while on the ferry to France. I'd told Sophie I'd buy her some French magazines or newspapers for reading practice (not even because I'm just kind like that, it's more because I know how obsessed she is with French) so I did so on the ferry. Because I was buying a French magazine and paying in euros, naturally, the cashier thought I was in French. That was awkward. It's a good job I knew how much it cost because I could never do French numbers...

The 'misadventures' began when we arrived at the holiday home we were staying in to find a note from the owner that was entirely in French. Now, let me tell you, 00:13am CET is NOT a good time to be translating paragraphs and guessing verb conjugations in a language you haven't studied for about 3 years. 

The next morning, we had a visit from the owner herself...who only spoke French. I had to follow my parents around the house with a dictionary and a phrasebook, and ended up in situations such as my mum yelling ''Rach, what's 'early' in French?'' at me from across the room. 

We went to Dinan for the day on Tuesday which was where my proudest French moment came. We went into an ice-cream shop and my parents decided that I could ask for my own, because apparently it's better to look like typical Brits and point at flavours rather than ask for them in French. Somehow, I managed to go 'je voudrais un citron et framboise, s'il vous plait'. And no, I literally have no idea which part of my mind 'je voudrais' was sitting in, just waiting patiently for it to be remembered, but it was there. My brother, who studies French now, only ever managed 'mercy' (no, not 'merci'...) and my parents stood pointing at things and going ''M&Ms''.

The house owner came back on the Friday evening and once again, my parents seemed to think I could speak French. This time, I ended up in a slightly mental situation in which I was interpreting what the woman said. Now, I've tried interpreting - it's hard enough English to English, let alone a language you don't speak to English. The owner would say something and I'd have to wait until she repeated it slowly and then translate the words I knew and guess the rest. I think she asked us if it was our first visit to the region at one point. I don't know... Best of all, my parents only ever responded in English. I'm there interpreting for them in a language I don't know and my parents are there going ''yep, yep...yeah, sure". Honestly...

Before I'd even reached the country, I was reminded how important language skills are. My parents spent a lot of time going ''She owns a cottage that she rents out, she should speak English'' and my only response was ''Why should she? You don't speak any other language, so why should she?"

More than that, though, I was once again reminded how rewarding languages are. Being able to communicate in a language that isn't your mother tongue is incredibly rewarding. I was ridiculously proud of myself for that ice-cream shop moment, and that's the point - the ability to break down a language barrier is hard enough, but as we learnt at Linguastars, the ability to break down your own fear barrier is even harder. 

If anything, my 'misadventures' have taught me that you shouldn't be scared of other languages. OK, so maybe your pronunciation will be terrible (I spoke in a Spanish accent everytime I said anything in French...) and maybe your tenses won't be the greatest, but the effort is there. And let me tell you, I greatly appreciated one of the waiters we had attempting to speak English, even if it was only ''to drink?''.

Have you had any 'misadventures' in a foreign language recently? Leave us a comment if so :)

Bisous ♥ 
Rachel 

The Wandering Soul

They are lit only by the faint glow of a streetlamp and the stars of the night sky. There is a chill in the air that callously holds their weary bodies in its clutches. It floods their shadows, fills their hearts, distorts their minds. Their despair is tangible, yet, as their eyes slowly meet, they do not move.

A million thoughts flash through their minds. Their aching limbs reach out into the night air, desperately clutching at somebody that understands, somebody that knows, but there is nobody there. They yearn for somebody and, as they let their delicate, powerless bodies sink into the grass, they can but remember - how things were, how things should have been. Yet, they are here, isolated and with the troubles of this great earth upon them.

One day, with time, they will meet again. They will lie side by side in the grass, hidden from the world, under a blanket of stars. Their weary fingers will meet and they will no longer exist. She will walk through the night, her old friend far out of sight but never closer. She will step forward into the light of day with her aching heart eased by the sunrise. With that heart, she will embrace her new life. And she will know that while she may be isolated, she will never be alone.

30 Days

Today marks 30 days, roughly a month, until I get to see a friend I haven't seen in about 4 years. Am I excited? YES!

It has been WAY too long since moments like this (see pic). My very first blog post was about her and how our friendship came to be. To sum up our friendship perfectly, here's a quote from that post:
"We left a strange boy from our class on top of her climbing frame at a party once, but I think we can be forgiven considering he always claimed he was from Mars..."

We really did just become best friends the moment we met. Her, her mum, and her little sister Gemma visited my primary school for the day because they were moving up to Yorkshire soon and were looking at potential schools for Rachel (and eventually, Gemma). We played together all lunchtime and then I remember just hoping she'd join our school for months until she finally did - and that was it, the start of a beautiful friendship :) :P

She moved to Melton Mowbray in 2003/2004 and we visited each other's houses whenever we could, and then in high school we kind of drifted. Then, last year, she was having a really rough time with some problems that were going on and we ended up talking (one of the few good things about Facebook) and she sent me the sweetest message anybody has ever sent me. And yeah, I cried a little a lot. Haha.

I never really get excited about anything. But this? I'm already counting down until the morning TV duo (don't even ask...), name twins and bad influences (on each other) are reunited. Aren't birthdays the best?

Besos ♥ 
Rachel 

Sooner or Later

I drove past my old school today. They've put up the new signs for it becoming an academy. Finally, some solid closure on school ending. CHS is no longer CHS. School is moving on and so am I.

Results day is on the 18th(?). Year 12 will properly be over. I don't even care about my Media result anymore. In fact, I'm only bothered about Spanish and Psychology because I already know I've passed English and based on my exam and coursework, I should get either a B or an A. I'll probably cry at my Spanish result. I probably won't at Psychology because it's not what I want to study after college.

I go back to college on the 5th. I'll get a new tutor, a new form. I thought it would really upset me that I'm not likely to have Tim as my tutor again, but for some reason, I'm looking forward to the change and I'm not bothered by it at all.

I'm ill. This makes it pretty much a month of being ill, with three different 'illnesses'. I can't even blame it on being stressed this time, because I'm pretty much doing nothing all day every day, though I suppose there are other things (people) that continue to stress me out...

Yesterday my dad came home from work with two thank you cards from his side of the family to let us know they'll be attending my party. Before January, I wouldn't have even recognised some of these people in the street, but I've seen them more this year than in the past ten years, and it means so much to me that they're coming. When I got back from Poland and went straight to my Great Auntie Helen's birthday party in Doncaster, she was the first person to greet me (with a ridiculously huge hug, haha) and made sure I was alright all evening. Because my Nana died when I was young, I've never really known her side of the family (except my Great Uncle Joe) and now that I've managed to reconnect with them again this year, I don't want that connection to break again. I was worrying about them not being able to attend and then, right when so many family members had replied saying they'd be busy, I got those cards.


What I'm slowly learning is that sooner or later, things will happen - things that I have no control over. Control is something I have/have had major issues with. I can only assume it stems from starting high school and having friends that liked controlling what everybody else did. I absolutely hated it and I remember feeling so free when I finally made friends with Fern and Aiden properly in year eight because they were just normal. Now, when I don't have control of a situation, I'm reminded of all of that and that's where I struggle. I find it hard to realise that it's not somebody trying to control me, it's just that it has to happen. 


I've had some serious issues with my friends in the past few months. Things just seemed to turn awkward overnight and nobody knew why. Some of us were just paranoid and thought everybody was talking about us behind our backs. People gave each other strange looks and nobody knew why. I took all of these things personally. I thought I'd done something but couldn't work out what. I'd ask Eliza what was going on and she'd be clueless. 


In truth, I don't think there was anything going on with others, but there was something going on with me. I'd stopped making an effort. I'd felt a little awkward and just given up. In Poland, when we were all talking, I made a remark about getting on better with the group there than my friends and one of the teachers seemed shocked (and then went on to tell us a story about ditching her friends...) that I'd admitted it. But, the raw truth is that I've been a bad friend for a while now, and I want to change that.


I've made a conscious effort to keep in contact with certain people since college ended for summer, one person I don't even know well but feel like I have a lot in common with; another I only met by chance at a meeting I wasn't even supposed to be part of (hi, Sophie!); and the majority I've been friends with since school.


It's not even that I expected people to make an effort with me and for me to be able to do nothing in return. It actually stemmed from a lack of effort from certain people and me just feeling thoroughly rejected, and those feelings somehow spread to everybody, pretty much. I know it's about the compromise between me being my usual busy, committed, academically-focused self, and me letting those things go and being fun to be around. 

For so long (pretty much since I started high school, actually) I've continually beaten myself up about not being able to figure out that balance. But you know what? I'm only seventeen, I have the rest of my life to figure that out. For now, I'm doing the best I can and if that's not enough for some people, then maybe it's not just me who needs an attitude check...


Besos ♥ 
Rachel

"Trying to swim but you're sinking like a stone, alone" - Sooner or Later - Mat Kearney

Diamonds are a girl's best friend...and beads...and charms...

I got back from France late last night after 16 hours of travelling. I'll do a post on that some other time. Right now I'm mainly thinking about one thing: jewellery.

Since my purchase of some craft pliers at some point last year my love for creating pieces of jewellery has continued to grow steadily. In fact, I've found that I haven't purchased a necklace in a long time, and I only really wear necklaces that I've made myself now. Why? I'm not really sure. Firstly, I just seem to prefer wearing homemade jewellery, it just seems more personal. I'm not really one for expensive jewellery, clothes, shoes, bags etc. Secondly, I just find that jewellery in the shops at the moment (even my favourite - Accessorize) is so...fashion conscious. I know that's the point of it, but the nicest things in the shops are always ruined by something that the designer's just attached to make it fit a line, and you usually find that it adds at least a fiver to the price. Aside from that, I'm bored of seeing the same jewellery reworked in shops. 

Homemade jewellery, on the other hand, is exactly what you want it to be. If you have the time and the patience, you can make yourself something for less than it would cost in a shop and without the annoyance of bits you don't like attached to it.

There is a point to all of this, I promise.

While in France, we had a day trip to Dinan - a little medieval town somewhere in Brittany. We went because I found out that my favourite bead shop, Yum Yum Beads, from Leeds has a shop there - La Perlerie. Well, we walked about for hours looking for it, and it turned out to be at the bottom (almost) of a massive hill. Now, if you know me, you'll know I don't like hills...ha. It was so worth it, though. Firstly, the woman that served me was English, so it didn't even matter that I completely lost count of how much money I was spending and I didn't have to interpret her French because it was all in English. Yay! Secondly, they had so much more than the shop in Leeds. Seriously, I could've bought everything. I spent about €22 but could've spent way more if I'd wanted to, there was just SO MUCH to choose from.


One problem, though, I didn't take my pliers, so I couldn't make anything while in France. What did I do today? This...

You may be looking at the second picture and thinking ''what on earth is that?'' - don't worry, I'm not sure myself. I was attempting to work out how a ring I bought a few years ago was made and I think I got close, but this attempt was, well, terrible. It's also already broken because I cut the nylon too short and couldn't tie it properly. Oh well, you live and you learn. PS: My nails are George at Asda in the shade of 'Troll' with a top coat of clear polish, it dries matte otherwise. The necklace I made is a stack of beads on a headpin on a 'silver' chain. Yes, the headpin is bronze. No, I didn't think about that until I'd finished making it. Again, oh well. 


So, forgive me for my slightly materialistic post, but I think a girl should be allowed to go a bit mental for jewellery every now and then, don't you? ;)


Besos ♥ 
Rachel