Throwback Thursday Week 5: Christmas 2013

For the final post in the 'Throwback' series that I have been posting I thought that I would go back to a fairly recent event, that being Christmas 2013. It seems like only last month we were getting into the festive spirit and every shop going was pulling in last minute Christmas shoppers. In reality Christmas was a good 6 months ago and in 6 months time we will already be in 2015 which is a really scary thought because Christmas again would be over.
  After Summer, the festive season is one of my favourite times of the year. Although I'm not a huge fan of the cold weather and the evenings getting dark really early I love that at this time of year get into the spirit, whether that be by organising secret santa at work or just by decorating their houses, it is a special time of year.
  One of my highlights of Christmas is putting up our tree in the living room. Although it is artificial me and my sister have lots of fun putting on the lights and decorations. It is one of those times that you can put aside our busy lives and spend some family time together. However I seem to always get stuck with the job of putting the lights on which is a task and a half as I either run out of lights half way down and have to start again or I have loads of lights leftover and so I desperately try and bunch them all together at the bottom. My sister then gets the nice job of putting on the tinsel and other decorations before putting the angel on the top.
  For our decorations we never used to have much of a theme. It tended to be to just chuck whatever was in the box onto the tree and hope for the best which often resulted in a huge array of colours and it was a little overwhelming. However in 2012 we bought new lights and decorations and we love them. We went for a blue and white theme because it represented the colder weather yet still looked festive. The lights are a mixture of blue LED and white LEd and I thought that they worked together really well. They also look gorgeous when all the main house lights are out and they are flashing away. The tinsel also helped to reflect the light and make it seem bigger and brighter.
  My sister gets a bit OCD when decorating the Christmas tree and her ballerina decorations get pride of place near the top of the tree and must always be on the tree. They do add a nice touch but when you have about 5 of them it can be a bit too much. The rest of our tree is filled usually with loads of white, silver and blue baubles which all are reflective. The tree itself is also quite unique because my dad decided to go against getting a traditional green tree and get a chocolate brown one instead. Although at first I wasn't sure about this when it is decorated it actually looks lovely.
 All of these pictures were taken back at Christmas 2013 and I was experimenting with a technique called zoom bursts on the DSLR at the time. It is achieved by starting with the lens zoomed either all the way in or out and increasing the exposure time to a few seconds. Then whilst you are taking the picture you zoom the opposite way and you are left with this beautiful flashed effect. Although it isn't a traditional technique, it creates some beautiful abstract images especially when light is involved.
   I found that last Christmas suddenly snuck up on me and I was not organised at all. I know that I was still frantically buying and wrapping up Christmas presents on Christmas Eve and this was mainly down to the fact that I had been so busy in the days and weeks leading up to Christmas Day that I hardly had time to think.
 I spent the 15th of December driving from my hometown to Nottingham for a work course which lasted two days. I remember spending the second night in my hotel room ordering Christmas presents for my sister to be delivered whilst I was away and also to try and find a dress for the upcoming work Christmas do.
 When I returned home from Nottingham on the Wednesday evening it was time to unpack before working on the Thursday and Friday. Then on Saturday was my meal with everyone from work and I still hadn't found a dress to wear. Me and my friend rushed into Ipswich to find something and luckily I found a gorgeous dress in River Island.
 We then spent the rest of the day getting ready and having a few drinks before heading to a hotel where our Christmas do was being held. It was a brilliant evening and it was good to see everyone there.
  When Christmas day finally rolled around a few days later I was so excited. I had managed to get everything done and sorted and was looking forward to spending the next few days with my family. On Christmas morning my sister and I went round to my mum and stepdad's house to spend the morning with them before my sister, dad and I went round to my nan's with my aunt and cousin to enjoy our delicious roast dinner and to finish off the day.
  Our Boxing Day was very chilled and was again spent with family eating far too much food and watching films on the TV.
 I was very spoilt this Christmas and I am very lucky to have such a loving and wonderful family and it was nice to have a few days off work to just relax and enjoy the company of others. I can't believe that in less than 6 months we will have the chance to celebrate all over again and it has been good to look back at my last Christmas to remember what a lovely time I had.

Throwback Thursday Week 4: Music

In true 'Throwback Thursday' style today I wanted to look back at the music I listened to whilst I was growing up. I remember listening to cassette tapes, followed by CD's when I was younger and music has been and still is a huge part of my life. I've never really been a TV or film addict and would much rather listen to a new album in the sunshine or whilst driving my car instead of sitting in a cinema.
  I have also always loved the thought of having a physical CD in front of you. With technology taking over most of our lives it is so easy now to download the music straight to your phone but I love the concept of seeing a CD and the album cover. I do still download a lot of the music I listen to but if there is a particular CD I want I will go out and buy it. 
 The music I listened to growing up was inspired by the music that others around me was listening to. My mum has always been a huge fan of Robbie Williams and Take That so I've been familiar with their work for a long time. I also obviously developed my own music taste as I was growing up and I wouldn't particularly say that I have a particular genre of music. I'm open to listening to any song and if I like it I will play it again and again regardless of who it is sung by or how old or popular the song is. 

  I remember at one stage growing up I was a little obsessed with buying the 'Now That's What I Call Music' CD's and would always get them as birthday and Christmas presents as well as buying them myself with my own pocket money. The first CD of this collection I got was Now 54 and this was released 11 years ago back in 2003. I was 8. After this CD I didn't get another until Now 57 but I have every single release from Now 57 all the way up to Now 80 I think. 
 Another huge part of my music collection when I was younger was dominated by the band Blue. I was literally obsessed with their music and I actually have all of their albums. I remember buying one of them in Woolworths and playing the Guilty album all Christmas Day one year. I even saw Blue in concert at the old Wembley Arena and this was one of my earliest memories of a concert. Their album Guilty came out again in 2003 and I'm surprised the CD still works considering how often I listened to it.
 I love rediscovering old albums that I loved and so when I came across this one last year when sorting through my music it was played solid for a good two weeks. My 18 year old self loved it as much as my 8 year old self all those years ago. 
 Atomic Kitten was another band that I used to listen to a lot. Their favourite album of mine was Feels So Good but when I listened back to it I found that I didn't recognise a lot of the songs on there. Along with Atomic Kitten I also liked the Sugababes but I was never a huge fan of Girls Aloud and I don't own any of their albums or particularly like any of their songs. I have bad memories of their performance on the X Factor when they all wore gold glittery dresses and didn't sing that well!
 The final band that I remember listening to a lot was Steps. I discovered this band through one of my childhood friends and remember watching the tape version of this album showing all the music videos round my friends house multiple times.
 Although Steps got back for the TV show 'The Big Reunion' I didn't watch it because I wanted to keep the memories of when I used to listen to them as a kid and I knew it wouldn't be the same as when I loved them all those years ago.
  Although I haven't featured them here there are so many other artists and bands that I listened to throughout my childhood and whilst growing up such as: The Backstreet Boys, Westlife, Busted, McFly & S Club. Although music has changed over the years and my taste has developed I really enjoy listening back to the old albums and reliving the songs that I used to play on repeat on the good old portable CD player or even on a tape in the car.

Throwback Thursday Week 3: Childhood Photos

A few weeks ago, I decided to start writing a series of posts using the popular 'Throwback Thursday' idea as inspiration.
  I started off the posts with an introduction and my Year 11 prom and followed this up last week by looking through my Facebook profile pictures.
  This week I have been searching through the old family photo albums and looking back at some photos taken whilst I was growing up and thought that I would share them in the form of this blog post.
  In this first photo I am clearly rocking the trends that teenagers and adults are wearing in 2014! I appear to be wearing some gorgeous red tracksuit bottoms and what we now call a 'snapback.' Obviously I was creating trends that would catch on years later without even realising it. Haha.
  I'm not sure how old I am in this photo, but I would imagine I was around 2 and I can see that I am loving my first ever car which I can still remember using throughout my childhood.

 In this next photograph I look much older and I think I must have been about 7 years old when this was taken. With me in the photo is my Auntie and you can just about see the London Eye in the background.
 My Auntie used to live and work in London and I remember this was the day that I went on the London Eye for the first time after queuing for what seemed like forever. Along with my Mum, Dad and Sister we met my Auntie in London and spent the day sightseeing. It's hard to believe that this must have been around 12 years ago now, especially because I can still remember parts of this day.
  My auntie always used to wear the red coat pictured here and you can see that some of my own clothes have been inspired by her because I am sporting a rather lovely red coat to match. I'm not quite so sure on my hair, especially because my fringe has parted here so I look as though I have curtains. Not a good look.
  I'm not sure what I'm holding in my hand but I think it might be a teddy bear wrapped in cellophane or something similar. This photo must have been taken in the Winter as it doesn't look particularly warm, but considering that it's England it could well have been the middle of summer for all I know.

The car makes another appearance! I wasn't lying when I said that I loved this toy car growing up and here I am again looking a bit older than before actually inside it this time.
 I remember pretending to fill this car up with fuel because of the pretend fuel cap and that I used to like people pushing my around in it as opposed to using my own feet to get around. I also remember it wasn't very good on grass and so tried to use this on the pavement and patio as much as possible.
  Looking back now, the fashion here isn't too bad and I could quite easily see someone today wearing a jumper similar to the one that I'm wearing.
  Next up is a photo of my sister, myself and my dad. This was taken on a family holiday when I was about 7 years old. I don't remember much about this photo apart from the fact that we were in Spain but I love this photo because it isn't posed, it's just a spontaneous moment.
  My dad looks really tall and tanned here in comparison to how small me and my sister look here.
 Our mum's fashion taste also comes through here as she dressed both me and my sister when we were younger. Bold colours and floral print was obviously a favourite choice, although looking at it now I'm not a huge fan of my blue sandals. I'm also not sure why I'm wearing a bib whilst enjoying my ice cream because surely I had grown out of that stage by then.
  This is one of my favourite pictures from my childhood and always makes me feel happy when I look at it because it has two of my favourite people in it. I've lived with my dad and sister for my whole life so far and it's hard to imagine life without them.

To finish off this post I thought that I would include a photo of myself with one of my first ever pets. Although I've always had cats, this hamster was the first pet that I could call my own and I loved her. I think this may have also been the hamster that went on to have 12 babies one day before eating all but 3 of them. These 3 survivors went to three of my best childhood friends, which for some of them was their first ever pet too.
  For a large part of my childhood I sported this bobbed haircut with a full fringe, probably because it was easier for my mum to wash, brush and maintain. I'm glad now that these days of terrible hair have gone and the fringe has gone for good!
 I'm also rocking some beautiful Barbie pyjamas, which screams out typical child of the 90's.
 I also like how natural this photo appears to be, and that I'm not playing up to the camera of posing. I'm just holding and enjoying the company of my hamster and this is probably where my love of animals and pets originally started.

I've really enjoyed looking back at some of the old photos I found of both myself and my family. So much has changed since these photos were taken in terms of both personal changes and also fashion and social changes. It's good to have these reminders to look back on and I'm glad I found them.   

Introducing: Throwback! + Week 1: Year 11 Prom

Sometimes there is nothing better than looking back at old photographs and bringing back old memories. These events could have happened just a few weeks, months or even years ago, yet living in a digital age means that we are able to document our lives now even more then ever. Over the next few weeks in true 'Throwback Thursday' style I am going to be reminiscing, taking a trip down memory lane.
  These posts will include photos and stories from my past and will include some of the biggest events that have happened to me in the past 18 years. From growing up to attending Prom in 2011, I'm going to look back at the music I used to listen to and the books I used to read as well as sharing some memorable stories.

My first throwback will be to July 2011, nearly three years ago now, the night of my Year 11 prom. After finishing all of our GCSE exams my whole year was invited to spend one more evening together before we all left school and went on to sixth form, college or even work. I had been on the Prom Committee, helping to organise the evening and like my peers, was so excited for the night.
   When the day finally arrived, I certainly made the most of it. Although we didn't need to be at the venue until around 7-7.30pm I actually started getting ready around mid-day. I walked to my Mum's work and we went to my hairdresser's who styled and curled my hair  for me. I knew exactly what I wanted and absolutely loved what my hairdresser did and the style lasted the whole night!
  After my hair was finished it was a quick rush back to my home town where I quickly popped into town to buy a new foundation and to get my nails done. I loved my nails, as they matched my dress perfectly and were so intricate because I had floral patterns painted by hand too.
After leaving town I remember  not having much time at all to do anything more to my makeup apart from touching up the stuff I was already wearing. I then got on my dress and put on my accessories and after a few photos made my way down to the seafront in my Mum's car.
 Around 5.30pm myself and my friends met at the seafront where we had professional photos taken of us by a brilliant local photographer. Our friend had won the shoot at a prom fair type thing a few month previous and it was lovely to catch up with friends and have so many photos taken before we actually went to prom. As we had someone to take the photos for us, no-one missed out on having their photo taken and we were so lucky with the weather because it was a gorgeous evening.
 After we had our photos taken our transport arrived to take us to the venue. Myself and a few of my friends went in a classic white limo, complete with a playlist of music which we could control and a complementary bottle of non-alcoholic drink and the others went in a vintage car, which matched one of our friend's dress.
  I remember us all being so happy on the way to prom, singing and dancing along to so many good songs and about 20 minutes later we arrived at the Golf Club where our prom was held.
 

When we arrived there was already loads of people there. There were some rather interesting dresses and suits admittedly but overall everyone looked amazing.
  Our school year was always big and so when our teachers attempted to get a whole year photo it didn't exactly work. Even to this day I don't think I've seen this attempt but I know it can't be good because there was no organisation to it at all. There was tall people in front of short people and I'm pretty sure even standing on a table didn't get everyone in the shot.
  After the attempted photo shoot we went inside and were seated for our main meal. For starters I had chicken with parma ham I think (tasted like rubber), main was meant to be roast beef (but no Yorkshire puddings!) and for dessert I had chocolate torte (the best part.) After the average dinner we crammed onto the tiny dance floor and had lots of fun dancing to some of the classics.

 

Our prom night ended around midnight when our limo arrived to take us home and the music stopped playing.  We then went on to a house party at a friend's house which ended a brilliant night although many of us were exhausted.
My Year 11 prom was absolutely amazing and I wouldn't have changed any of it. Although it was the last time I saw some people in my year, there was no better way to celebrate all the hard work and effort we had all put in throughout our GCSE's.
  Looking back on it now it's hard to believe that this Summer it was three years ago since Prom. So much has changed since that summer but it's so good to have the photos to look back at and the memories that go with them.