I Have Faith...

First of all, do not fear, I am not about to go all churchy on you and try and force my opinions on you because everyone is entitled to opinions and all that jazz! I have, however, had people telling me I shouldn't be having Cameron christened because I am not 'a proper Christian' or some rubbish, just because I haven't been going to church every week for my whole life... This is totally unfair, and narrow minded.

I am, in fact, what is referred to as a 'lapsed' attender. I used to go to Church a lot more when I was younger, often with my dad's then girlfriend (my sister's mum) in London, where they lived at the time. I will admit, this is probably what put me off attending a church as it was a bit too happy clappy for my liking. I went to Sunday school sometimes instead of the service, and I felt very self conscious and as if I was being judged for not being there every single week (which would have been impossible as I lived in Kent with my mum at the time).

I also will admit that for a while I did not go to a church because I had lost the faith that I had in it. This was when my Grandad passed away and I felt that if a god who was meant to be nice, and in power, could take such an amazing person away from me, that he wasn't worthy of my support. Instead, I got into the Spiritualist church, and attended a lot of services at these churches in Kent and, later, in Poole and Bournemouth. I still would say that I am a spiritual believer, alongside being a Christian.

When I was pregnant and alone, and with my ex boyfriend threatening to kill himself every other day, feeling so alone, I decided to give my faith another shot. I don't care if this sounds bad, it is the truth. When I started bleeding heavily at 17 weeks of pregnancy, I did pray to God that my baby would be ok. When he was, my faith was restored a little. When Cameron was born, it turned my life around. I used to have no direction and would never settle in a relationship, scared of getting hurt, or of hurting the other person. I would drink a lot and sometimes do silly things when drunk. Having a little baby dependant on me has made me reassess my life and come to the realisation that none of the silly stuff matters anymore. Only being a great mum and being able to support my baby by getting my degree and earning money matters to me now.

I felt I found my faith again when I was pregnant, and it was Cameron who helped me find it. I knew I would have Cameron Christened from that moment I discovered he was alright after bleeding. I wanted him to be given the chance to be a Christian, like his mummy and the rest of his family. If, when he is older, he decides he doesn't have that faith, like I did when  I was a child, then he can just leave his faith behind. I won't be forcing anything on him. He is his own person, but I would like to give him the Christian start in life as I do believe in the fundamentals behind the religion.

I started attending my mum's local church around November time. I did not just do this to get Cameron Christened there, the Vicar himself told us that we didn't have to reguarly attend to have a Christening. I started going then because I had not had a chance to before and because I didn't want to be a hypocrite and have my son Christened, without first getting back into the faith properly myself. I haven't been able to attend every week, mainly due to having so much Uni work on at the moment, but I do go whenever I am able to. From going to these church services, I have actually learnt a lot, and have definitely regained my faith. I feel I have more purpose in life, and can apply the readings and prayers that are said in Church, to my own life.

I am not a preachy person, I am not going to start dressing more conservatively or stopping drinking altogether or no longer sleeping with anyone until I get married, but I will not have people tell me that I shouldn't have my son Christened, when I am a Christian, and I want him to start life as one too. People can do what they want. I am not going to start telling people what to do with their children, I think other people shouldn't tell me what to do with mine.

I cannot wait until the Christening. It is now only 6 weeks away, and I have nearly everything ready for it. I will be putting up a new post soon with the final touches to the planning.

A Diary Entry from Pregnancy!

20th August 2010

Almost 38 weeks pregnant and very impatient!!

I am 37 weeks and 5 days pregnant today and am getting extremely impatient to have baby Cameron! I have been taking raspberry leaf capsules since 36 weeks and increased to the highest dose of 6 capsules a day once I reached 37 weeks. Over the last week I have eaten a lot of spicy curry and spicy pasta as well as some fresh pineapple and lots of orange juice. I went to see my mum's friend Candice's baby boy yesterday and he was gorgeous but just made me want my own baby even more! I am getting a little worried about the birth and being a single mum now, but know it will all be worth it when little baby Cameron comes out :)

I am having another curry tonight so fingers crossed something happens soon!

 

 

Ahhhh, takes me back!!

An Update on my Tattoo!

I waited patiently for the 48 hours after having my tattoo done, to take off the clingfilm and wash the gunk off! It had started getting very itchy last night, but I resisted scratching it.

I absolutely love it! It is a slightly thinner and more elegant font than the other foot as I wanted it to be more like the disney writing of wish upon a star, but I think it compliments it. I cannot wait to have them both touched up so they both look amazing.

Focus on: Mikee J Reds Musician

Mikee J Reds (www.facebook.com/mikeejreds) is usually seen in pop punk band Call off The Search (www.facebook.com/calloffthesearch). However in the past six months he has also taken a more pop/rock acoustic style to his music. In the short few months that he has been playing he has been signed to record label Engineer Records (www.engineerreccords.com), toured the EU and UK with Jonah Matranga and has recently filmed his debut music video 'Living Well' - taken from his forthcoming split EP with Jonah Matranga called 'Countrysides', which is released through Engineer Records on May 6th.

You can view the video, which was filmed mainly on location in Paris, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve8cguriIPc

Amazing Competition over at Life of a Sweetaholic's Blog!

Fellow Blogger Rachel Crawford has a great little competition up on her Blog this weekend for the chance to win lots of retro sweets from 'Sweet Heaven'! Go along to her Blog now to find out how to enter!!

http://sweet--rachel.blogspot.com/2011/02/sweet-weekend-competition.html

(And while you are there, check out the rest of her Blog, it's really interesting!)

Good Luck!!

Focus on: Emma's Events

A bit of background on me:

I am coming to the end of a four year Events Management degree at Bournemouth University. I have a lot of marketing knowledge on top of the events as this is heavily integrated into the course. I also did a placement a few years ago at a marketing company in Bournemouth. This means I am qualified to provide marketing for other companies if required, or for individuals where applicable. As part of my course, I did a year on placement. I spent 3 months at a top catering and events company which was based in Southampton, but we worked all over, including at both Newbury Racecourse, and Wimbledon. I was given the title of staffing manager and I also assisted the managers on all other aspects of the job. It was a great placement and provided me with a huge amount of experience over a relatively short amount of time. I then went on to have a more casual placement with my aunt's children's party company, based in Kent. This was more of a marketing placement but was interesting to see the completely different side of a business, and different area of events. I have also had experience in putting on events privately for both family and friends, this experience ranges from Weddings, Christenings and Birthdays to informal events such as termly reunions amongst myself and school friends. I am highly ambitious and like to be kept busy, so alongside my studies and raising Cameron, I have also been helping people on  a casual basis in the planning of their events. This has mainly been in Weddings, but also I have been planning Cameron's Christening, and my own 'Fake 21st' 22nd Birthday festivities.

Technically, my Events business is yet to be set up officially, as I am waiting until I have finished University in the Summer. However, a few months ago, I saw an ad for free business cards from Vistaprint and decided it would be worthwhile getting some printed to see what they were like and to give to people if they were interested in my business. I had 250 printed and only paid a small amount for postage. I was able to design my business cards from a vast range of design templates and then adding in my own details such as Company name, email, phone etc. The business card is shown below (sorry for the bad quality of the photo, but the design shows up anyway!):

I will be working alone to start with, and working from home. I am specialising in Weddings, though I also have experience in a variety of event types including Christenings, Birthdays, Wedding Anniversaries and Children's Parties. Due to starting the company straight from graduating, my prices will start off low. This is great if you are organising an event on a budget! If you have a Wedding or other Special Event you need help planning, please do not hesitate to get in contact. I can either do some planning now, alongside my degree (for FREE!) or you are welcome to book me for an event in the future to be properly planned by myself after my degree is finished in the Summer (at my startup low rates). Email me on: emmalouise_p@hotmail.co.uk if you want to book me, or have any questions.

My New Laptop!

So yes, yesterday was a verrrrry expensive day for me! My laptop has been causing me trouble for months now, and I have spent over £200 in the last 6 months on it. When it started messing up again last week, I could not bring myself to spend even more on having it fixed, just to die again.

So, I looked into my savings and decided I could just about afford to buy myself a new laptop as it was urgently needed for my 2 final assignments. Luckily, I sold my old laptop for £50 for parts and my mum was able to give me £50 towards it too. This meant that my original budget of £400 could increase to £500.

I fell in love with my new laptop the minute I saw it. It is PINK!

It is also a great laptop, with loads of memory and a big screen. It's a Dell, and I've heard great things about the make. I did have an issue with it last night but it has been resolved which means now I get to enjoy my new laptop, but more importantly, that I get to do my assignment! I have some catching up to do....

My New Tattoo!!

I have wanted my second foot tattoo done for literally months and months but haven't been able to because I was pregnant and then breastfeeding. I went to have it done yestersay. I was really nervous the night before, despite having had one on my foot before and having had a baby since the last time! I worked myself up for this huge pain but when I was in the studio, I relaxed totally because the guys there are so lovely. My tattooist had come back to the studio just for my tattoo, as he had moved into a new studio that week.
I got into the chair and he set about preparing the needles and applying the stencilled text to my foot. I had two friends Aimee and Abi with me and so I don't really feel too nervous waiting to have the tattoo done. The first contact with the needle is always the worst as it has such a huge buildup in your mind. It was painful, I am not going to lie, but was nothing compared to the pain of childbirth and I was just really excited to see the end result. I squeezed a packet of tissues in my hand to distract me, and talked to the girls and my tattooist throughout. He used some numbing spray after the outline was done, but to be honest I didn't feel it really did anything. I got used to the pain though, and it went really quickly.

I was so pleased with what it looked like, but the guy put the cling film over it before I remembered I wanted a picture done, so the only photo I have at the moment is with cling film over the top.

I have to leave the cling film on for 48 hours and then I can have a bath on Sunday and wash all the buildup of ink off. Then I will be putting a better photo on!

The tatooist also said he would touch up both my new and my old tattoos in a couple of weeks when this one has healed, for free. This means that both of them will be a nice black colour, as the older one has faded a little. It will hurt having both done at once, but will be worth it for them to look nice! They will then both be healed and look good for the Christening.

...And the Winner of The Ella's Kitchen Competition is....

I decided to pick the name with the aid of an app on my new phone to ensure it was fair. See the video clip below of the winner being chosen:

Well Done to Mel Matthews!!!!

I will be in touch to let you know how to claim your prize!



My Mood Board Poster

When I was in Canada, whilst pregnant, my aunt who is very much into spiritualism told me about the idea of making a mood board to have up in your room and to remind you of your goals and what is important to you.

I loved this idea and so, on my return to the UK, I made my own mood board by cutting out words and photos from magazines. I have only just managed to get round to putting this up in my room (the holiday was last April1).

 



I love it! It is everything that makes me, me and shows what I still have left to achieve as well. It also brightens up my room and reminds me of my goals. I advise everyone to go and make one, they are awesome!




My Gorgeous New Dress!

So, Rachel requested I put up a post of my lovely new dress I bought myself today (it's not the dress I won through her gret blog comp, waiting on that at the moment!). I don't buy dresses very often as I don't go out often enough at the moment to justify it!

When I saw this dress in a little shop on my local high street, I didn't really think it would suit me as I never really go for one shoulder styles. I was trying on a red tunic style dress and thought I might as well try the purple one on as well as I do love the colour purple.



Best decision I have made this week!

It's a gorgeous dress and I felt really confident wearing it! It is pretty short. Short enough that my mum told me I couldn't wear it without tights (I disagree). I think with a great tan and some awesome heels this dress would look amazing!

The dress on me:



The dress on



the sleeve :)



The bottom of the dress



the side view


I am already starting to think about what to wear out for my Birthday in April/May, as it has to be a really nice outfit.

Opinions on this one would be great...

My Girl Crushes!

I know my nan reads this and takes the term girl crush literally so, for the record, this does not mean I like women nan!! But these women are, in my opinion, very hot and sexy and deserve recognition for this! So, here are my top 5 sexy females:

1. Natalie Portman
This girl is very sweet looking most of the time, but when she smiles she looks like she can actually be pretty kinky...

2. Jennifer Aniston
Have loved Jennifer since she was in Friends, every girl wanted to be her!

3. Dianna Agron
She plays a sexy cheerleader in Glee, need I say more?

4. Kate Hudson
I have been told I look a little like her which I take as a massive compliment as she is very sexy!

5. Jessica Alba
She is a very yummy mummy! Very hot!

How to Curl your hair with GHD's

I used to curl my hair with my straighteners all the time before I had Cameron, but these days it is hard to find the time. Curling with straighteners, once you know how, is quite easy but does tend to take awhile. I have tried using other straighteners and haven't been able to so I would recommend GHD's for curling.

My hair is naturally a little wavy, so I usually use straighteners on it when I have washed it, and then the next day it is still relatively straight.


My Hair straight

I love having my hair curly as it seems more glam and it also maintains hair for another day if it's gone a little greasy and you don't feel like washing it. I curled my hair the other day and this is what it looked like:















To curl with GHD's, first you should really have hair that isn't completely clean as it will be harder to keep the curls from falling out. Day old hair is the best to work with. If your hair is prone to grease, spray a small amount of dry shampoo onto it first and brush through as normal.

Section your hair and, starting with a section of around 3 inches, place the straighteners about 2 inches below the roots and close them around the hair section. Turn the hair around the straighteners, at the same time gently pulling the straighteners in a downward motion. When you reach the bottom, let the hair section fall from the straighteners and it should be curled. If it hasn't, don't worry, just start from the beginning again. This is the part that really takes practise!

Once this step has been mastered, simply continue al the way around the head, using a sectioning clip. I would suggest spraying your hair with hairspray at intervals to ensure that the curls stay in place. Once the whole head has been curled, spray once more with hairspray and scrunch the hair slightly to seperate too tight curls.

For a more relaxed, daytime look, simply use less pressure when curling the sections, or start further down the hair.

NB. If you go out at night with curled hair and have no time in the morning to wash your hair, curled hair is much easier to disguise grease/dirt etc so just pile it up in a clip, letting a few curls hang loosely around your face for a casual, girly look.

For the Video on how to use GHDs to curl your hair, follow the YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjHarZgVpfo

Focus on: Carl Lewis Photography

I have known Carl Lewis for a few years now and if there is one word I could use to sum him up it would be determined. He has a natural flair for photography and the result is fantastic images. Carl's built up his photography business to cover a range of photography styles including Portrait and Landscape as well as Macro shots. I am being given the opportunity for Carl to shoot photos of me and Cameron in the near future and am excited as I have seen his previous work and know they will be great. Carl has photographed a friend of mine, Sealy, and the photos of her were stunning. Carl not only does photoshoots in a studio, he also shoots on location for Weddings, Christenings and other Special Events. Carl already has an impressive portfolio of his work, which can be seen on his Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=lf#!/pages/Carl-Lewis-Photography/115855255149565

A few of my personal favourite shots of his:

If you are interested in booking Carl, you can contact him either via his Facebook Page or by email: carllewisphotography@hotmail.co.uk

My Gorgeous Girles- An Intro to my Best Friends

I have always preferred to have few great friends than many not so close friends. I lost quite a few of these type of friends when I was pregnant. I still have quite a few friends left, and this post is by no way trying to say these people are not important to me, but I do have 4 friends I would class as 'best friends'. These girls have known me for different amounts of time but I see all of them as important people in my life. Three of these girls are going to be Godmothers to Cameron, and the fourth would have been but I already have 7 Godparents! These gorgeous girlies deserve some recognition, so here they are:



1. Aimee 

Don't Ask! At our 18th Fancy Dress Party



This girls is the best of the best. She is my oldest friend and the girl I trust more than anyone else to be there for me no matter what. She is going in my will to look after Cameron, if the worst were to happen to me and Cameron's daddy. I met her way back when I was 8 years old, just after I had moved to Bournemouth from Kent. We made friends because we had the same barbie lunch boxes, barbie swimming bags, and we shared the same birthday, May 2nd. Since then we have had a couple of major fights, but have made up and become stronger from them. The times when I wasn't her friend were horrible. It was like losing a limb. I worried that when she moved away to Uni 4 years ago, I would lose contact with her. But this hasn't happened due to keeping in touch via Facebook, text, phone and even good old fashioned snail mail. The best letters I have ever received have been from Aimee. We have the exact same childish sense of humour, that I am delighted to say has not changed despite us getting older. Between us, we have had a fair amount of boyfriends, but we have always been there for each other. When I first told Aimee I was pregnant, I also told her I might not be keeping the baby. It was the one day in my whole pregnancy that it had got too much for me and I had actually considered not having the baby due to the huge complications in my life. Despite Aimee being a person who loves babies, she came round to comfort me and she was there for me to talk to and to cheer me up. When, the next day, I rang her up and told her that of course I wouldn't be having an abortion, that I was keeping the baby, she was ecstatic for me and allowed her joy about the baby come out. From early on we had decided that Aimee would be there at the birth, but at one point this might not have been possible, and I was devestated my best friend wouldn't be there. Luckily, when the time came, Aimee was there at the birth and was amazing. Both her and my mum were, and I couldn't have asked for better birthing partners. Since Cameron has been born she has continued to be amazing. I know she would love to see him more, but has moved to Cornwall this year to be with her boyfriend, so doesn't get to see us as much as I would like. She is one of the best friends a girl could ask for though and is truly special.

2. Georgie
 

On a Night out with Georgie



I met Georgie when I started Uni. We were put in the same group together for a poster project. Georgie later told me that when she realised I was in her group she groaned inwardly, because she had met me at the Freshers Ball when I was very drunk and apparently I was rude to her. I have no recollection of this but have no doubt it is true, Georgie is someone who would never lie. She also said that she had been a little scared of me at Uni to begin with because I had such dark hair, and would always look moody. I tend to do that at Uni as I am pretty shy and it is a defence mechanism. I am surprised I made any friends to be honest! We started spending loads of time together during working on the project and discovered we had some things in common, including a love of Jaffa cakes. I ended up pretty much living at Georgie's student let house in the first year as I was still at home and it was much more fun to be in a student environment. Georgie and me got closer still in the second year of our degree when she used to come and stay with me and Abi in our student house. Abi would go to bed earlier than me, so Georgie would often sleep in my bed. We would often have midnight feasts of cheese and ham toasties or jaffa cakes, which led to my nickname of Jaffa. We would also both leave our work until the last minute and sit up half the night working on it to get it finished by the deadline. I was devestated when Georgie told us that she was leaving the course, at the end of the second year. I couldn't imagine going back for fourth year without her. Luckily, we had a year for placement in between which meant we would have been away from each other for a year anyway. Georgie enrolled on a new course, in a new University, which happened to be where our other Uni friend Abi was from and was working on her placement. I did feel pretty left out that year when they were both living so close to each other, miles away from me. I went to visit Georgie a couple of times, once when I was pregnant, and it was great to see her so happy doing something she actually loves. I don't see Georgie as much as I would like to as she is so busy on her course and I am with mine. She has come down to Bournemouth a couple of times and loves seeing baby Cameron. She is great with him and I can't wait for her to have her own kids as she is a natural. I hope I can see Georgie more in the future, once I have finished with the pressures of Uni. She is a truly great friend and a great girl. I would be lost without her in my life.

3. Abi
 

Me and Abi, my fellow pouter :P


I met Abi at the same time as Georgie at Uni. She was the third and final member of our group for the poster. My first thoughts of Abi were that we were very similar. This thought still stands. We not only look pretty similar, a couple of people have mistaken us for sisters, but also to some extent in our personalities. We both tend to find making friends with other girls hard and get on with guys better, and we both like the same sort of things. This is probably why we became friends pretty quickly and, with Georgie, became a terrible trio. I got to know Abi well as we both ended up living with Georgie a lot of the time, and because we would sit next to each other in lectures and pass notes to each other instead of listening to the tutor. In the second year, me and Abi lived together along with three other girls who had lived in her halls the year before. It was a bit strange moving away from home and into a 5 bedroom house with 4 other girls, but my room was next door to Abi's and it just felt like one great big sleepover. It was great living together as we were both on the same course and could work on assignments at the same time. I feel I got to know Abi really well by living with her that year. We would often just chill out in either of our rooms, doing exercise DVDs or watching TV or films together. When I got the call to say I had a placement and I might have to move alone to Southampton, Abi was there for me suggesting wine and movies. It was a no brainer, when Georgie dropped her bombshell on us that she was leaving that year, that we would move in together in the fourth year. When I fell pregnant in placement year, I was unsure whether Abi would still want to move in together, as it would now not only be me, but a screaming baby to contend with. She said she still wanted to, though, and so in September we moved in to our gorgeous, brand new rented flat. Things haven't been amazing so far, mainly due to me finding adjusting to motherhood and Uni slightly hard to begin with. I do feel more secure now, but it is hard to spend time just me and Abi when my main priority is now Cameron. Having so much Uni work is also hard, on both of us, and I do feel that once that work is over, we will be able to relax more! Abi is always there for me when I want to moan about various men, various exes, various uni assignments etc. Recently she watched the entire series of Sex and the City, and when I was around I watched with her. We are still very similar, which is great when you are living together. I hope that once we move out and go our seperate ways with our careers, that we won't lose contact. She is a great girl and will go far, I have no doubt about that.

4. Sealy
 

With Sealy, back in the old days, 'revising' on the beach


I met Sealy when I was 16, when my then fiance, told me that he had a surprise for me. Thinking that it would be my engagement ring, I was very disappointed to say the least, when instead he showed up at my work (New Look) with a gorgeous girl on his arm. I was incredibly rude to Sealy for the first few days that i knew her. It turns out my suspicions were right however, as my ex had been trying it on with her back then. However, she turned him down, and told him he had a pretty fiancee and shouldn't be trying things with other girls. Him and Sealy have since fallen out, but we are still great friends. Sealy ended up moving in with my family, after only a couple of months of me knowing her. It was great having her living at home and we quickly became like sisters. When she went out with a friend of my boyfriend, we became even closer and often hung out together at mine as a foursome. When they broke up, Sealy took it really hard as it came from nowhere. I was there for her and in return, when my ex split with me in Cyprus, she was there for me. She has always been very protective of me with men as she hates to see me return to the men who treat me badly. I am able to tell her anything and know she won't judge me. Sealy moved out but moved back in again a couple of years later when she found herself without a place to stay. We would go out a lot together and have a great time in town. It was whilst she was staying with us again, a couple of years ago, that she met my cousin. They ended up going out, which I will admit, did put a strain on our friendship a bit as I was an unwanted third wheel. I saw less and less of Sealy. This wasn't just because of their relationship, but also because I was then in a long distance relationship with my now ex boyfriend, and so whenever he was around the house, we would want to make the most of him being there. We got over this bump in our friendship, though, and started seeing more of each other again towards the end of my pregnancy. Sealy is another maternal girl who I know will be an excellent mum when she decides to have a baby. She is incredibly ambitious so I think she will be a little more sensible than I was though! I love Sealy to pieces, and she was my Valentine this year. I cooked us a meal and she brought me a rose and wine. Who needs men when you have girlfriends this great? I hope I never stop being friends with Sealy, as she is a lovely person to know, and if I never heard her gorgeous Scottish voice, I would be sad.

Love you girlies xxxxxx

Rocky Horror Obsession!

I remember when I was back at school that a few of my friends had a bit of an obsession with The Rocky Horror Picture Show film. I didn't really have a clue what they were talking about as I had never seen it. In fact, I still hadn't seen it up until last week! My flatmate, Abi, had brought the DVD back from home with her to the flat after the Christmas break and was watching it a few weeks ago and I saw a few clips as I was doing things around the flat.


Rocky Horror Cast



My addiction with it came from watching the Rocky Horror Glee episode which was on a couple of weeks ago. The episode showed the Glee kids putting on a performance of the Rocky Horror show, singing some of the most popular songs from it. I had only heard the Time Warp song before, as it is often played towards the end of parties. When I saw the Glee episode I liked it, but it wasn't until I watched it again, over my mum's house on catch up TV that I listened to the songs properly. I loved the Toucha Toucha Toucha Touch Me song the most, so much so that I now have it as my ringtone, which can be embarrassing if I am called when out somewhere!



Glee Cast as Rocky Horror characters



It's times like these when I wish I could sing well, my poor family and Cameron and Abi have to put up with my awful singing voice every time I play the songs. Cameron loves listening to them, though, which is slightly worrying considering what the songs are about! He especially likes the Time Warp song, mainly because I dance him around whilst singing to it. My arms and stomach are getting a good workout from it, as every time the line 'Let's do the Time Warp again' comes on, I lift him up with each word, ouch! Cameron loves it and giggles wildly each time I do it.

I have decided, that if I were to ever be given the opportunity of acting in a performance of this show, that I would want to be the character called Magenta, the maid. She is one of the kinkiest characters which suits me perfectly, and her outfit is a very short maids one.



Magenta




I had the idea of going to see a performance of it for my fake 21st in May, but upon searching for shows, I found that it wasn't on anywhere in the UK this year. I am sure my obsessive nature will be transferred onto something new soon enough anyway, before this it was Black Swan, making me want to be a ballerina (luckily I think I am over that as I would never make it as a ballerina!).

At least this obsession is based on sex and kink....Things that are not new to me, at all...

So, everybody now:

It's just a jump to the left.

And then a step to the right.

With your hand on your hips.

You bring your knees in tight.

But it's the pelvic thrust.

They really drive you insane.

Let's do the Time Warp again.


(More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/r/rocky_horror_picture_show/#share)

Film Review: The Social Network

I had meant to go and see the Social Network when I first saw the trailers for it, as I am a massive Facebook fan. But, I never got round to it and before I knew it, the DVD was out already. I saw clips of it whilst watching the BAFTAs and remembered that I wanted to watch it, so when I saw it in Sainsbury's today I decided to buy it to watch tonight, even though it was £9.99 which is more than I usually spend on films (I like buying them too much so give myself a £5 limit!).

I had a bit of a nightmare afternoon/evening stressing over work and feeling pretty down, but sat in my mum's room with her to watch the film. Usually, when watching films late at night, my mum will fall asleep halfway through which can be pretty annoying. Not this film! We were both sat on the edge of our seats (obviously not literally, we were on a bed, but you get what I mean) throughout the entire film.

It is a really fast paced script, needing your full attention when you watch it. It's one of those films where if you start talking for just a minute, you might completely lose track of what is happening in the plot. It's a true story, which is fascinating to watch and learn how Facebook was created, especially as someone who spends so much time on the site.

You find yourself really getting involved in the story and feeling for both of the main characters, but especially Facebook's creator, Mark Zuckerberg. Without giving the whole plot away, at the end, I found myself feeling both envious and sorry for him. He took a gap in the market and used his very clever and creative mind to produce something that now has over 500 million active users!

I loved this film so much, it has the potential of becoming my new obsession, if it wasn't already (I am a self-confessed fb addict!). I urge anyone who has yet to see it to either rent or buy it and give it a watch. If you're anything like me, you will be glued to the screen and at the end will be logging on to update your status as:

 'Social Network was amazing'....

How to Look Good whilst being Pregnant: My Maternity Fashion Guide (only works during warmer months, sorry!)

When I was pregnant, I was 20/21 years old and I looked around shops in vain trying to find maternity 'fashion' that wasn't made for people a lot older than me. Everything seemed to be floral, and highly unflattering. So, I got creative with what I wore. I was determined not to end up looking like a big fat lump wearing a sack.
I got a few staple pieces from maternity lines, such as a black and a white vest top (which I wore a lot!), a couple of funny slogan T-shirts, and my absolute lifesavers during pregnancy, my maternity jeans from Mothercare!
 

Jeans early on



Jeans later on!



These jeans were totally worth buying as I lived in them a lot of the time. They were under bump ones, the over bump ones just look plain weird in my opinion. The fact that they were elasticated, but looked just like normal jeans, made me feel so confident as I could wear 'normal' clothes.

Another thing I disliked about maternity clothes was how expensive they were. Just because women are pregnant, it shouldn't mean they should have to pay more to look 'good'. I started buying things to wear from H & M, as I found that they have more elasticated stuff and loose but stylish tops. I found that if I got things in a slightly bigger size, they lasted longer throughout my pregnancy and looked better and felt comfier. The skirt, I remember, was a size 14, but other than that I mainly bought size 12 clothes which seemed to be fine.

 

5 months pregnant and hiding it, fashionably, under a baggy top

















I bought a few tops with famous people on, my Lady Gaga one looked a little funny later on in pregnancy as her nose stretched! There was also a lovely white Madonna one which I wore towards  

Madonna top

the end of the pregnancy.


I also bought a couple of maxi dresses as they were luckily in fashion that summer and were easy to wear. I bought my white flowery one in Canada and love it!



On my 21st!



I wore it on my 21st birthday, when I was 5 months pregnant. I have since leant it to a friend who is pregnant and she wore it to a family meal and looked stunning. The other one was from New Look and was just plain black.



Black maxi dress


I wore it to hang around the house in as it was so hot, but also wore it to a couple of meals and when I was going over friend' houses.

I found dressing for Special Occassions the hardest, as there were bound to be lots of photos and I wanted to look good, despite being pretty big! For my Mum's Graduation, when I was 7 months pregnant, I wore a lovely navy blue top/dress with black leggings and some pretty blue polka dot wedges.
 

At mum's Graduation for her Masters



For my Babyshower which was around the same time, I wore one of my old 'Town' dresses, a bright blue and black low cut dress with sequins! My boobs had grown loads by then so I was bursting out a bit, but I wanted to stand out! 

Babyshower



 

 



A perk of being pregnant- the food!

























Going on holiday whilst being pregnant was a bit of an effort, packing clothes for the holidays was worse. I feel I managed to look Ok throughout them, though. In Disneyland Paris, I went for casual with my trusty jeans and a couple of loose fitting tops.

  

In Paris in Lady Gaga top



In Canada, I went a little bohemian, living in my long, loose fitting, knitted cardigan with jeans and floaty tops.

  

In Canada






I went to stay with a friend at her Uni when I was around 4 months pregnant, and they had a St Patrick's day party. I wore a pretty black top with a corsage on it and felt pretty confident. I didn't drink and went to bed early, but it's the effort that counts, right?

 

St Patrick's Day Party



Corsage top



As my pregnancy neared an end, it was tempting to just let myself go as I felt so frustrated. But I was pretty low during this time, and I needed to keep my spirits up, so instead I had my highlights done and I spent awhile each day making myself look nice, doing my makeup and often curling my hair.

 

During a holiday to Cornwall, I made an extra effort to look nice in the evenings and wore a couple of long tops over leggings with some low wedge heels which made me feel like I wasn't so big and unattractive!                                  



I also wore accessories such as flowery headbands, necklaces and bracelets to add to my outfits.





Accessories add to an otherwise plain outfit


  
When the weather got really hot, I lived in my flowery pink dress I got from H & M. It was so nice to just pull it over my head and be dressed, then go and sunbathe in the garden all day.






Sunbathing in my flowery dress




In the last few days I wore my 'Coming Soon' T-Shirt I had got from New Look Maternity line which was quite amusing.



Nearing the end!



There were a few times when I got it wrong, once I looked like a tent!


Tent!



And, of course, I didn't make an effort to look great every single day of my pregnancy as sometimes I just wanted to relax in jogging bottoms and a baggy top. But, I will definitely be pulling out some of my trusty maternity clothes next time I am pregnant, as well as taking my own advice and buying some normal clothes in a slightly bigger size, as it is nice to keep looking good whilst being pregnant. I know it made me feel a whole lot better anyway.