I AM SORRY POP-CULTURE

So recently I read 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' by Stephen Chbosky and I have to say I really don't see the world's obsession with it.

Ever since the movie came out in 2013, the whole teenage population appears to be obsessed with this book- they watch the movie, they walk around holding the book (yes I have witnessed this many times), they quote from it, and mostly they all say that they want the lives of the characters and they want to be them.
Now I'm sure that these people mean well, but they can't possibly have read the book if they are making statements like that, the main plot of the book is a teenage boy with no friends, deep psychological issues and who was a victim of child abuse.

This book had the potential to be really good, yet I just found it very, very pointless. There are all these events that happen to the character that have absolutely nothing to do with the outcome of the story (plus most of these events are very repetitive and all the characters seem to do is drink, take drugs and act in the Rocky Horror Picture Show 24/7) and it all appears to be leading up to this big event that is mention briefly all throughout the book... And then when you get there the whole psychological-and-mental-health-issues point of the book is briefly mentioned in the epilogue and that's it. There seems to be this big build up to some major event all the way through the book which there just isn't there when you reach the end.

The one thing I kind of like with this book is the enigma that comes from who the character of 'Charlie' is addressing all his letters to, but when you really think about it it's like they are actually addressed to the reader.

I am just very disappointed after reading this book, I think that all the events that happen in the story are irrelevant to the underlying theme and they have nothing to do with the character's journey to realising his childhood problems, they are just there to fill space.

All in all it is a very pointless book and I do not get the pop-culture hype over it- if you want to read a book about mental health issues that is not pointless and has an actual overall aim, then I would recommend 'It's Kind of a Funny Story' by Ned Vizzini (which is also a major movie starring Emma Roberts and Zach Galifianakis).

If you are suffering from a mental health issue or believe that you may have one, then please don't suffer in silence, you can all Childline on 0800 1111 or talk to someone close to you about it.

COME FLY WITH ME

So I just got back from a weekend in Barcelona with my AS-Level geography class and I thought as I travelled by plane and there's February half-term coming up (yes, okay, I was meant to post this earlier, I am sorry) where some people might be going away, that I better do a 'what's in my airplane carry-on bag'...


Before we can even begin to think about packing the bag we first need to find a suitable one- with bags the bigger is always better. When it comes to rucksacks I don't tend to go for the prettiest ones as what you really need is something that can carry everything but it also comfy at the same time.

 

1. Passport- this is pretty essential, you can't actually get on the plane without it.
2. Glasses- pretty self explanatory, so you can see really.

Yes these are my glasses and yes I really do where glasses

3. Boiled sweets- these work amazingly at stopping your ears from popping if you suck one whilst taking off and landing.
4. Hand sanitizer/ wipes- planes are yucky, also planes are not the best for your skin and having wet wipes on hand means you can keep your skin fresh at all times.

5. Best friend- they don't seem to mind if you hold their hand the entire journey because you're scared of flying.
6. Book/ trashy magazines- short flights like the one to Spain don't have TVs and planes are immensely boring, trashy magazines are fun for the whole family to laugh at. 
7. iPod (and headphone splitter)- So you can spend the whole 3 hour plane journey listening to Disney's Greatest Hits with your friend and sing along very loudly.
8. Big puzzle book (and pen)- literally hours of entertainment if got out of these, can't forget the pen or they suddenly become a lot less fun.
9. Jumper- planes are freezing and you will freeze without a big jumper.

Yours truly in Sitges, Spain- you can't see my jumper but it is rose print (obviously), £5.99 (fantastic price) from H&M

10. Lip balm- I have two in my bag, the Body Shop lip butter in Shea for night time and the Body Shop Born Lippy stick in plum for the day.

11. Sunglasses- because even though it (was) January and Barcelona is just a cold as England, I was going to Spain and I wanted to give an impression of a holiday. My sunglasses are from Topshop last year (around £15 I think) but everywhere sells the same style and I just really like this style plus it suits me and a lot of sunglasses don't.

 

12. My bobble hat!- in case your head gets cold (Accessorize £18)


13. Nail varnish- so technically I didn't pack this but I was wearing Barry M Berry Cosmo, packed a nail file though, don't want horrible nails

14. Camera- *whispers* plane selfie, airport selfie, I-woke-you-up-at-three-this-morning selfie, getting-told-off-for-taking-a-selfie-with-the-flight-attendant selfie (not recommended)

SHE, SHE-A, OR SHAY?

(Apparently it is pronounced 'shay').

For ages and ages and ages now I've wanted to try the Body Shop lip butters and it has taken me this long to finally decide I would spend the £4 and buy one. I decided to get the Shea one as Shea is very good for your lips and it was my favourite scent out of them all. (One of my main gripes about this product is that it only comes in a very few flavours: Shea, chocolate, coconut, grapefruit, mango, lemon and honey, and I wish it came in more). To me, Shea is quite a comforting and nutty scent which I think smells perfect for all the seasons.

I don't know if this was because it was brand new, but the first time I found it quite hard to pick up a decent amount of the product on my finger and putting it on made my lips look quite dry and horrible. However after about a week it was lovely and soft and easy. The one thing I must say is how beautiful and creamy/ buttery it felt on my finger (it smells a little bit buttery as well but that might just be me/ the scent of the Shea).

I use this religiously every single night (and sometimes during the day when I'm at home) as it does leave a white residue type thing around your lips that makes it look like you've got rabies, but when I wake up my lips are unbelievably soft and smooth and amazing looking and they're already ready to put on another lip product over the top without any prep beforehand. This lip butter is amazing and 1000% worth the hype.

My lips currently look absolutely amazing which I believe is mostly due to using this every night, I absolutely love it.

Just to add: I am loving the new(ish- it's been out quite a while) Body Shop packaging, the design is simplistic and beautiful and the whole look of a single image plus the matte tubs is just so much nicer than their old tubs which had more of a cluster-like image and didn't look as good (I make no sense, please look below for a comparison of the old body butter tubs and the new ones, and also the old and new Born Lippy pot designs).

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS...

So my friend and I decided to try our hand(s) at baking together recently and we were going to try and make macaroons but after that recipe looked impossible we settled for a lemon drizzle cake.

You Will Need:
-3 eggs
-170g self raising flour
-170g caster sugar
-170g unsalted butter
-2 lemons (you will need the zest and the juice of each)
-1 teaspoon backing powder
-110g icing sugar

You Will Also Need:
-A snazzy apron (check out the Beatles magic of mine)
-(Cheese) grater
-Juicer
-A bowl
-Scales
-Electric whisk
-Loaf-shaped tin
-Baking paper
-Skewer/cocktail sticks

This is Bert the cake

How To Make The Cake:
-Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius
-Mix the eggs, flour, sugar, butter, baking powder and zest of two lemons together in a bowl using the electric whisk until it is creamy and batter-like.
-To get the zest of the lemons, simply use the cheese grater to grate the outside skin of the lemons off into your bowl (the outside rind-y bit is the zest).
-Then pour the mixture into the loaf tin and cook for 30-45 minutes (see step one for the temperature).
-Eat the remaining mixture.
-To check that your cake is cooked, stick a knife in the middle of the cake and if the knife comes out clean then it is cooked, if the knife comes out with mixture still on then it is not cooked. Simples.

TAKE NOTE: At first this cake is very, very lemony but it subdues over the day

To Make The Drizzle:
-Add the icing sugar and lemon juice to a bowl and mix using a spoon, the mixture is supposed to look very watery.
-To juice the lemons, you can either cut them in half and use a hand juicer to get the juice out, or you can cut them in half and simply use your hands to squeeze them into the bowl.
-Use a skewer or cocktail sticks to poke some holes all the way through your cake then drizzle the mixture over the top so that it seeps all the way through the cake.