A Wedding

Yesterday was the eagerly awaited wedding of William and Kate.

I celebrated by going to my friends house to watch the ceremony, while commenting on what every one was wearing, eating lots of Haribo and chocolate, taking part in a Royal Quiz where I got only 5 out of 20 answers correct (one was thanks to last weeks Doctor Who), eating themed cakes which were incredibly delicious (especially the blue ones) and eventually playing Just Dance and Guitar Hero.

The box of Haribo my friend bought for the occasion looked almost untouched at the end! There were so many packets! And the cakes and lunch were delicious too. I was so full when I got home, I only ate a third of my dinner, but I made up for it afterwards with ice cream, a cream egg and a red cake I got to take home :).

As well as the cakes being themed, we had to dress in red, white and blue. This was a difficult task for me and I ended up being almost an hour late to the party! But I did get to make use of the white tights I bought a couple of years ago.

I was also really tired when I got home, I tried to nap but was awoken by the neighbours singing the national anthem... It was excruciating :| they should really have learnt to sing. Not that I can talk, I 'sang' most of time while playing Guitar Hero, and I sounded quite terrible. Luckily my voice was drowned out by my friends singing, which, although it was terrible, actually got us a lot of points, so we didn't do too badly. It was also incredibly funny, so I was laughing most of the time I should have been singing with her :P.

I hope everyone enjoyed their day yesterday, even if you didn't like the wedding. It was a welcome day off.

Reflexology

The other day my aunt came round, bringing with her a treatment couch and foot moisturiser, which I thought was kind of strange. I was complaining most of the day about how much revision I had to do, and it did not help that it was ICT, it's just so boring :|. So my aunt said I needed to relax and offered me some reflexology.
My aunt is currently taking a course and needs to do 100 case studies so she was pretty persistent about me having reflexology. Luckily, she got to my mum first but then my mum had to go out with my dad and I was left alone with my aunt. Then she took the opportunity to kidnap me...
Reflexology involves massaging the feet in places that correspond to parts of the body, like the back, eyes and even certain glands, like the hypothalamus, that are linked to stress.

This is a foot chart I found on Google.

This is another foot chart which I thought you should see
because I thought it actually looked pretty funny/weird/kinda disturbing(?).

It wasn't too bad, but I don't like people touching my feet so it wasn't the best experience in the world to me. And I was laughing almost all the way through because of the awkwardness of the situation... Not sure if I really felt calmed by it, I think it actually made me more tense having to have someone look at and touch my feet! But actually I did feel too relaxed over the next couple of days and hardly did any work :\.

As she was still learning, I had to fill out a questionnaire about how good/bad it was and whether I liked/disliked it and whether she had told me everything she was suppose to, like what reflexology is, what it involves and the after effects. This was a little awkward, so I just ticked yes for everything! Even though afterwards she was saying 'oh, I forgot to tell you that' even though I had already ticked that she had ^.^ hehe.

She also asked if i'd ever have it again. Yeah, I lied again...

Explore Your Genome

A little while ago my Physics Friend sent me a link to the Open University website where you can get some free magnets. They're the set of the 46 pairs of chromosomes we have in our DNA. And they are so awesome. I was worried they would take ages to come because it said they'd arrive within 28 days, luckily I only had to wait about three :).
This is what I got:

As well as the magnets, which aren't in that photo. But i'd already pulled them apart and stuck them on my fridge :) so it was too late to photograph.

It was so confusing when they came! It was just a sheet of chromosomes and I had no idea what to do with them, but looking through the rest of the stuff I was sent, I found a sheet that had all the chromosomes numbered and in order. So I spent half an hour pairing them up. Then I stuck them on my fridge:

Voilà. Yes, I know it looks good. That is one hot fridge. But seriously, I cleaned my fridge for you, so you better be grateful!

Also, I got this sniffing experiment card, which I did on line. It wasn't measuring your sense of smell as much as I thought it would be. There were maths questions and memory tests and I was a bit confused. There was also an attractiveness test, were you were shown faces and you had to rate them on their attractiveness. Most, in fact all, were about twice my age so that wasn't much fun...

So if you would like a free set of genome magnets, click here. I can guarantee at least an hour and a half of fun :).

The Neverending Story

A lot of old films have been on recently. Mainly on Channel 5 and ITV. It's so strange watching films you've watched as a child when your old enough to actually understand what is happening. I think it makes films a little more magical and I still haven't stopped wishing I could be the children in them!
A while ago I watched The Neverending story:

It's not never ending the way you'd think it would be. It's like if you were reading a book, the people in that book are real, just like you are, and your story is being read, as if you were a character in a book. So it's never ending that way. So this film does actually end ;).
So this boy, called Bastian, is being chased by bullies and hides in a book shop where he steals this book that this man told him we wasn't allowed to read. In the book the world of Fantasia is being consumed by a force called The Nothing, so the creatures of Fantasia try to find a hero. The hero turns out to be a boy, called Atreyu, who along with his horse, Artax, go to find a cure for the ill princess of Fantasia so she can stop The Nothing. He has a lot of trouble on his journey. His horse is swallowed by the swamps and the wisest being, Morla, directs him to the Southern Oracle, over 10,000 miles away! Just as he is also about to sink into the swamps he is saved by the luck dragon Falkor, who takes him right where he needs to be. He has to pass through gates, which are like trials, and they have destroyed warriors before him.
I don't really want to give away the whole story because it really should be watched. I've seen it repeated a lot on ITV2, I swear it was on twice in one day... So if you see it you should watch it. Its fun and the creatures are so strange and you know the oompa-loompa from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the one with Johnny Depp)? He is in it! Now if that doesn't get you to watch it, I don't know what will.

This is Falkor. Isn't he the cutest? ^.^

P.s. I hope everyone had a good Easter yesterday :). I certainly enjoyed the sudden acceptance of eating so much chocolate in one go. And I absolutely love Cream Eggs.

I'd better go eat more chocolate do some awesome revision ;).

So much chocolate, So little time!

I finally decided to open the giant box of Guylian chocolates.
They were delicious!

There were three selections of chocolates: Chocolate Sea Shells, Opus and Trufflina. The Sea Shells were lovely :) they're the ones i've usually had, i'd never tried the other two. Opus had the best looking chocolates, they were all so different, I think they were Egyptian themed. Trufflina was nice but they're quite rich (they're the ones underneath the foil, and in the second picture).
They've nearly all gone now, bad times. I opened them last Sunday because my brother had a friend round and me and my parents were bored so we opened up the chocolates, then the next day he went on a sleep over and couldn't have any chocolates then. By the time he eventually got a chance to have one there was a very limited choice ;).
If I finish them tonight I'll be ready for all the Easter Eggs tomorrow!
Oh, and Doctor Who is on tonight! So excited :D.

My parents went out...

And I was hungry and think I deserved a treat from all the 'revision' i'd been doing so I made myself a most wonderful snack :) :

Oh my, they were so delicious.
They consist of a chocolate chip cookie, covered in whipped cream and lovingly sprinkled with white choc chips. I didn't want to go crazy and use milk choc chips!
I hope you enjoy the pictures, they look as good as they tasted ;).

The Shadow of the Wind

I've just finished The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón and it was amazing, and i'm sure it's no coincidence that the author has a beard! It was lent to me by the one and only Physics friend, and I think it was even more mysterious than she said!

It's a story set in Barcelona in the mid 1900s and is about a boy, called Daniel Sempere, who is brought up around books. One night his father takes him to The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, which is where he finds the book that has been waiting for him since he has been born: The Shadow of the Wind by Julián Carax. After staying up all night reading it, he wants to find more of this authors work so consults Barceló, an influential man in the city's second hand book trade. He is willing to buy the book for a very substantial price, as there have been mysterious disappearances of collections of Carax's books, due to a man called Laín Coubert who, in Carax's book, is the Devil. 
As Daniel gets older he befriends a man called Fermín Romero de Torres and begins to search for answers to the disappearance of Carax and his books, and for the reason why people are trying to stop him, are following him and lying to him.
It is an incredibly well written book. There were some very scary parts in the book and I felt how the characters were feeling at those points. At times I thought I knew what going to happen, I was sure of it, but then I would turn out to be completely wrong. It's a really good book, filled with twists and turns and answers and more questions and I would definitely recommend reading this!
Thank you for the recommendation Physics friend :).


I've also read a book called Fallen by Lauren Kate. It was about angels, like Hush Hush and Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick. It was good, and I really liked the ending. I was worried it wasn't going to be very good because the book wasn't as good as I had thought it would have been but the ending made up for it. This book was also filled with mystery but it was much easier to guess what was going to happen than in The Shadow of the Wind but not because it wasn't written well, it was because  The Shadow of the Wind was just written too well!

I have been reading a lot of books recently. I think it's due to the fact it's the Easter holidays, and I have a lot of work and revision to do and I don't want to do it. So I just spend my days reading and/or eating. I still have a whole list of books to read though:

1. Pretties by Scott Westerfield (sequel to Uglies) then the third book: Specials, then the forth: Extras.
2. Torment by Lauren Kate (sequel to Fallen, and there's a third book, Passion, coming out soon).
3. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (also recommended by the Physics Friend).
4. The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare (which is a four part series and Alex Pettyfer is going to play one of the characters in the film ^.^).
5. Lies by Michael Grant (sequel to Gone and Hunger, and then the forth book, Plague).

So altogether that is 12 books to read! I've never had to do so much before, hopefully they'll all be good! It may take a couple years to get through all of this though, I do sometimes have a life ;).

Oh, another thing I wanted to mention was that I was listening to Katy Perry's album, lent to me by Lauren (thanks) and E.T. came on, and for some reason i've only just discovered it and it is amazing So check it out if you have the time :).

P.S. during the Summer Holidays and I don't have any work to do i'm hoping my blog will become a little more exciting than me just talking about books all the time. So be prepared for awesome ;).

Brownies Bonanza

I didn't want to do any work today so I decided to do something productive: make Brownies.
Charlie McDonnell (a.k.a the love of my life), recently did a video showing how to make brownies and I think making them was definitely not a waste of time...

So my Mum went out to get me some ingredients while I played Just Dance. And when she got back we got to it! The instructions I wrote down from his video were terrible! 3/4 cup of butter, 1 cup of flour, etc. were the measurements he gave, while holding the butter/flour etc. in a bowl?! So there was a lot of guess work involved in measuring out the ingredients. But melting the chocolate and butter together was so delicious, I quickly forgot about those troubles. I was convinced i'd gone wrong at one part, the melted butter was at the top of the bowl, while the sugar and chocolate was at the bottom, it did not look nice, but adding the flour and eggs really helped!

Once the mixture was ready I poured it into to tray, put it into the oven and had to wait half an hour for it to be done. I went to my room thinking I could get some homework done, but I really wanted to eat some brownies so ended up running around my room and then downstairs to check the timer every 4 minutes.
Finally, they were done, I had to leave them to cool off:

Once they were cool, I covered them in icing sugar, to which my Mum said: 'Do you really need that much?' and she started scrapping some off. So I assured her it was essential!

So, to the important bit: the taste. They were okay, not like 'Omygosh, these taste so good, it's like i've died and gone to heaven' but in a 'oh, nice brownies' kinda way. I think if I ever make them again I will find a recipe I understand and stick to it. Because with Charlie's recipe it was confusing and I definitely did not stick to it. But, to be honest, I haven't actually eaten brownies before, so maybe my opinion is slightly unreliable and I was expecting too much... I'm surprised by the texture, I hope they're supposed to be like that :|. But my Dad liked 'em so they must be good :).

At least I wrote down what I saw/heard and not copied this written recipe! I totally would have made the wrong kind of brownies following this...

So now you know what to do if you ever want to make Brownies. You're welcome ;).

It's Time To Party.

But not really because although it is the Easter Holidays I have exams in around a month and I need to revise everything! I am so very worried about these exams. GCSE's feel like a breeze compared to these. Oh no, i'm rhyming, I really am nervous :|.

I've decided to do work this holiday. And I actually mean work! My Lent promise totally failed and I really hope I can get some stuff done now, away from school.
Today is Saturday. Day 1 of the Easter Holidays. And I have already done quite a lot of work, but it always starts like this. I have done so many Biology revision posters, which were actually fun to do, I don't usually get to do a lot of arty work so it was fun. And I have also done 3 or 4 Maths papers but there were quite a few questions I couldn't do which is scary but I have a revision session on Wednesday at school so hopefully i'll solve those problems. I have to do another 12 papers for then! I really shouldn't have left them all till this week. I actually did two of those Maths papers last night. That's what happens when you drink a lot (and I mean a lot!) of Pepsi late.
I did try to take a break and play Just Dance but it was so hot, I had to lie down for 15 minutes!

Recently, I read this book called Hunger by Michael Grant. It's very good. And second in a series of (woah, just Googled it) six books. I had no idea there were that many. The first is called Gone and basically what happens is that all the adults and teenagers over the age of 15 vanish. And those who turn 15, then vanish. The children left in Perdido Beach are in a state of panic and Sam Temple is, kind of, voted in to become Mayor or President. And some children develop powers. So the book is about the struggle for the kids to keep control and to fight against rivals from Coates, whose leader is Caine. It's an amazing book and I know the series will be too. I totally recommend it! But just to warn you it is a bit gruesome and cruel in some places.

I wish I could have found a picture showing the side of the book. Its bright neon yellow. The other books have neon colours appropriate to the colour of their title. It's pretty awesome.

So, like i've said before, its the Easter Holidays and I broke up yesterday (after a three hour Critical Thinking exam - which surprisingly was better than I thought - and i'm hoping I did okay). Me and my friend went to go and get ice cream at this ice cream shop that opened up recently. The prices seemed a bit high, but you should have seen the size of the scoops! And there were so many flavours, we were in there deciding what to get for at least 10 minutes, probably more. I settled on Hokey Pokey (of course.) and Cholcolate with Honeycomb. It was so so good. People in the street were totally jealous. And then I had more ice cream after dinner! Well, I did need something to wash the pizza down. I have an addiction. Oh, you should definitely try Ben and Jerry's Phish Food Frozen Yoghurt. Its delicious, and because its sort of healthier than ice cream, you can eat twice as much!

Thank you for reading this far, if you have. Those were my ramblings for today :).