I watch way too much of it and fan-girl over the vloggers as if I'm 12 years old again.
But everyone's allowed their guilty pleasures and a list of new video 'subscriptions' featuring most of my frequently watched peeps has just made my evening after a long day back at work
(after half-term holiday).
Here is a list of only a few out of the many I watch regularly.
If you'd like to discover more I'd reccomend I can do another post.
Let me know in the comments!
Also what's your favourite vloggers?
Glossary for the senior readers among you.
Blog: ' a Web site that contains online personal reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer'- Google.
Blogger: the author of the Blog.
Vlog: 'a blog in which the postings are primarily in video form'- Google
Vlogger: the recorder/editor of that video recording.
I stumbled across Joe Sugg through a People You May Like Facebook advert and clicked on it purely because his name was amusing to me at the time- (must have had a hard day! :s) - he has that dry, sarcasm you know I love *if not, check out my Best British Sitcom List*
He does a lot of prank vids which are actually quite well-thought through and reminds me of my uni days! He also reminds me of old uni housemate who is as hilarious and like Mr. Sugg very good at improvisation!
Through him *sings- with him, and in him...in the unity of the..(stops choral singing abruptly)*
I found out about his sister, now infamous Zoella a beauty and lifestyle blogger/vlogger
Zoe Sugg is that annoyingly petite prettily perfectly popular girl you long to be or be friends with at school. Aside from this slight childish envy I have of her, her videos are great- fresh, fun and useful! Definitely a trend setter. She gives beauty/hair/skincare tutorials that are easy to follow, lifestyle follow me around type videos to nose into her enviable lifestyle as well as anxiety issues we can all relate to.
Next on my YouTube searchings I was enticed by SprinkleofGlitter 's video 'How to Look Average'
This was the start of my long term obsession, (top favourite) with this woman! I can relate to her- she reminds me of myself- I love her humour, she bursts into song mid-speaking
- she's very human and real!
Beauty, fashion, lifestyle, craft and girl problems feature in her videos.
Not to mention her little girl, Darcy known as 'Baby Glitter'.
And now to my newly found vlogger - Velvet Gh0st (or Gabriella)
A Brighton based singer who follows the familiar trend of YouTube tags, Q&A's and follow me around(s), with beauty, home-ware, fashion hauls. She recently did a cover of Ellie Goulding's Love Me like You do which is pretty good! (I like the slower arrangement of this song mashup)
I have warmed to her more after finding out she shares my same fear of the solar system!
Sweet, moorish and slightly more healthier than a dairy milk (it's fruit ok!)
Not too tough and chewy either!
Don't be fooled by the 'Low Fat' label the sugar level is sky high!
~
-Supermarkets-£4.99- 500ml-
You can't go wrong with Ben and Jerry's icecream and they have triumphed again with their Bob Marley inspired 'Satisfy my Bowl'. A banana icecream that's very sweet and sickly but oh so yum with swirls of caramel, cookie dough and dark chocolate peace sign discs.
I reccomend having a scoop with fresh pineapple!
~
-Supermarkets,
(but I get mine from Garson's Farm Shop, Esher because I am oh-so-posh)- £4.99-500ml (8 pints)-
Produced in Lincolnshire this cordial is to be diluted with water. In comes in many flavours however my favourite this month is 'Raspberry and Lemon'. Its tangy, sweet and just hits the spot! It's a great way of keeping hydrated as you do not need much to taste.
Its non-alcoholic too.
Although its quite pricey it has no sulphates or additives
(which a lot of squash has) which is good for the old innards!
-Sheppard's single, Geronimo is out now 99p-Itunes- - Buy their album 'Bombs Away!' now- £8.99- Itunes-
Sheppard are a Aussie band with a fresh, young, catchy vibe. I'm sure they'll become a Summer staple. I love their songs 'Geronimo' and 'Let me Down Easy'
- also check out their acoustic playlist on Youtube.
They sound as good as live as they do on record too. Their sound is like Walk off the Earth, a non-country Lady Antebellum and I'm sure quite a lot more: discuss in the comments!
**Ignore continuity Error**
-Boots Tea Tree & Witch Hazel Back Spray- 150ml- £4.99
(current offer 3 for 2 on selected products)
With the weather hotting up my back has decided to 'sprout' acne or Bacne
...mmm attractive!
It was going to happen sometime, being acne free until now.
Also health-wise my genetic calender is in sync with my mum's and this has matched the time my mum had this too!
(have the high blood pressure, joint ache, arthritis...all to look forward to!)
So advised to use witch hazel by 'mum the expert' I purchased a Tea Tree/witch hazel Exfoliator scrub but this months winner is the Tea Tree Witch Hazel Back Spray. A lot easier to apply or spritz... *SPRITZZzz- what a classy word*
...morning and evening and away you go! It has also cleared up the worst of the spots- oh they're still there of course but less 'in your face'!
(although I can't see them so in my mind they're gone!)
Taking Colouring Books to the next level!
Using The Secret Garden colouring book I mentioned in my April Favourites I have thrown away the pens and got out the sewing kit.
I love sewing and have been an avid cross stitcher since the age of 6!
*'avid cross stitcher? my 'cool' rep as taken a downward turn*
There is so much more scope with embroidery- It's still very therapeutic and stops nail biting!
And with this bug page I can try out metallic threads, feast your eyes on the glittery shininess :)
**Please leave a comment if you'd like a tutorial**
I'm super excited about this new venture and hope to be meeting new feline friends.
I am a cat-lover through and through and am purrrfect for this job!
-Natural History Museum, London Shop, £16.00-
The Natural History Museum, London is amazing and really worth a visit!
(See Dippy the Dinosaur at the entrance before he gets moved in Summer 2017!)
and I recently met a friend from Uni there, with a look round the shop I found this Milk Jug
- the only one on display so of course I had to have it!
As I often live off instant tea he has been used as a water jug to fill my hedgehog's water bowl
- only fitting!
I absolutely adore the Beasties range at Magpie
Check them out here! The Badger milk jug reminds me of that lovely 'textily' woodland range.
I may need to buy the Fox jug to keep Mr. Brock (Beatrix Potter reference) company!
If your interested check out my April Favourites here and stay tuned for next month's 'Favourites' Blog post- Is it really nearly June already?? Ca-razy!
**I do not own the watermelon designs** Watermelon pattern in title by Jen Gardner Watermelon original banner from Etsy
First Broadcast in 1942, the idea is that celebrities are invited to share and discuss their choices of 8 pieces of music, 1 book and 1 luxury as if they were a castaway on a desert island. They already have The Works of Shakespeare and The Bible on their imaginary Island.
The items chosen often have personal meaning to them which is then discussed in the programme. Exerts from the music are played as part of the Radio programme and the celebrity is asked to pick 1 piece in particular out of the 8 tracks provided as their all-time favourite.
The luxury cannot be food, another human being nor can it be something of use (ie a boat).
Thinking about this logically it would also have to withstand the humidity and torrential downpours of the Island- mine obviously isn't a mythic-ally 'happy' place...
As the internet is a huge archive of thoughts I love the idea that I can create an 'open time capsule' that will record my own personal wishes and likes of 'Belinda the 24 year old'. I feel in years to come as I grow and experience new things this list will most definitely change-for example I'm sure it will feature the song played at my wedding, the luxury being my child's first tooth or something creepy, the book that I pen about my experience being saved from this deserted island...
So Here goes:
Music
1.Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade: The Young Prince and The Young Princess
This piece of music is my top favourite and will always be. As a baby and child it was my lullaby and was hummed by my mum and my late grandma in attempts to waft me to sleep.
'It was written in 1888 as a symphonic suite by Rimsky-Korsakov on 'Arabian Nights' stories' - The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music.
Listening to this piece is very calming and brings me back to my earliest memories as a 3 year old being soothed to sleep- I have a very vivid long-term memory!
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2. Gershwin- Rhapsody in Blue
I first properly appreciated this music when it was included in Disney's 2000 film 'Fantasia'. It was the first time I realised how music can act out a story (it was used to accompany an animation). Now, listening to it without a cartoon attached, the piece with its different layers, cresendo's and diminuendos, instrumental characteristics and change in tempo creates its own imagery! If you like this, check out 'American in Paris'- another notably visual piece.
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3. Andrew Lloyd Webber- Masquerade- Phantom of the Opera
Phantom of the Opera is my all time favourite musical and I am a huge fan! I will cry at each performance and I will continue to pay crazy amounts of money to see it! (I've seen in 12 times so far since 2006) Why? The story is about a deformed musical genius recluse who lives in the depths of the Paris Opera house and falls in love with a chorus girl. Throughout the play the music, stage design, the costumes are just so atmospheric - I have goosebumps even now! There are raw sensual moments, unrequited love, amazingly impossible vocal range and spectacular magical effects. The exert is very hard to choose from but the Masquerade music is a big chorus party number I can see myself spending time on my island performing the dance wearing a costume of leaves...I'm aware I'm taking this too far.
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4. Stainer's Crucifixion - God So Loved the World
I have been raised a Christian but it has only been in recent months that I have learnt the impact of the Christian teachings in my life; this piece reminds me of the Christian message. Since school I have sung in choirs singing choral scores as well as musical theatre and chart-'stuff'. I come from a very musical family with classical music being played and sung constantly. This piece of music is very emotive and has family connections: my grandpa (96) sang it as a choir boy when he was 9, I've sung it at school and it was played at my Grandma's funeral. It is a beautiful piece- even better when sung unaccompanied.
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5. Khachaturian- Adagio from Spartacus Suite No.2 (Ballet)
This music is soooo romantic! As previously said, my mum is very musical and the biggest classical music fan I know, so much so I can hum a piece of music and she will tell you what it is, where it was performed, who conducted it...The love for this music simply came from hearing it used in TV programmes and just falling in love with it. A possible personal connection could be that it is music from a Ballet (although I haven't seen it). I used to dance Ballet and growing up went to see Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.
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6. Miriam Stockley- Perfect Day
I relish in Nostalgia. I grew up watching Beatrix Potter cartoons (and the Ballet) and we have old VHS tapes of them recorded from the TV. This music is the theme tune to these animations. It makes me think of little woodland creatures scampering about in a fairy filled forest...a safe, idyllic flowery forest not one smelling of weed with drug dealers scampering about!
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7. Simon Jeffes- Penguin Cafe Orchestra- Air à Danser
The Penguin Cafe Orchestra were a collective of musicians whose music was used in an orchestrated Ballet choreographed by David Bintley, 'Still Life at the Penguin Cafe'. This is what me and my sister watched when we went to visit our beloved grandparents. Its a ballet that is set in a cafe where human-like penguins gather and dance (have I lost you yet?). After which there is a series of dances danced by an endangered species. They all have a party together before surviving a down-pour and congregating on an Ark-like boat. (Not selling this to you am I?!) ...
The ballet's theme is Pro-Environment, Pro-conservation but of course growing up watching it and not understanding all these values I just loved the music and watching the dancing of the 'bleeding Zebra', 'cute chipmunk', 'naked family' and 'morris dancing ladybird'. Oh innocence! How I miss you!
~
8. Glenn Miller- Pennsylvania 6-5000
In a perfect world I would now actually be reaching 70 years of age having lived through WW2, attended regular tea dances, making all my own clothes and digging for Victory! I love the 40s/ 50s music, fashion and that Make Do and Mend attitude. I don't wish for WW3 but I do feel our country needs a kick up the arse in tradition, clubbing together and using our luxuries and resources more wisely! I first heard this song on the TV drama, 'Carrie's War'. Its so upbeat and I just love that brass band sound of the decade. Learning to ballroom and latin dance now has given me part of my 'perfect lifestyle', just need more young people to get involved!
Its interesting but not surprising, looking at my list of music that its predominantly from the classical genre. Would you agree classical music is timeless? I wonder why- what makes a piece timeless? No words? ... please enlighten me!
Now to finish with the:
Book: Jessie Burton- The Miniaturist
This is such a magical story set in 17th Century Amsterdam. Eighteen year old, Nella has come to live with her husband and austere sister-in law, who she has yet to meet in a large wealthy establishment. As a wedding gift from her husband, Johannes she is given a cabinet- a replica of her marital home. She commissions a miniaturist to finish it. However when these figures and props arrive she realises they resemble the people and mimic and prophesies the events happening in the house and her life. It is a very atmospheric read that makes me go 'oOOo-ahhhh' and that deals with lots of issues. Having a historical setting I initially thought the book would be too 'meaty' for me. I have dyslexia and find reading quite an onerous task but this book was so gripping! I think the fact I had these qualms (good word) and that I enjoyed it so much heightens my love for the story and the writing. I also love the fact that you can see THE cabinet the story is based on at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
and lastly the...
Luxury
I have always said 'piano'. Happy times are spent playing the piano, I could spend my time on my desert island learning the 70 pages of Rhapsody in Blue...Oh that's 2 luxuries.. I could use the belly of the piano as a shelter (or a raft)..and floss my teeth with the strings...but then we're getting in the realms of functionality!
So I hope to update this with something more exciting but as I have recently been reviewing my skincare routine and I have a track record of burning like a lobster in the sun I suppose I would take: SUNCREAM.
