Prom: To Do and To Not

So for many 15-16 year old's in Britain right now, we are currently in Prom season as teens all over the country have reached the end of their secondary school lives. I still remember this time last year when I reached the end of an absolutely fantastic period of my life. Its safe to say I was a mess. However, I remember how excited I was planning for my end of school Prom, as I'm sure many of you currently are! I was on the Prom committee for my school so I got the opportunity to be quite involved with organising the Prom for my year, which was a brilliant opportunity and made the whole experience a lot more exciting! If I had spent as much time revising for my GCSE's as I had spent planning the Prom, I probably would have achieved A*'s all round!

Anyway, after all that planning, I did end up regretting some of the choices I made, however, I still did manage to have the best night ever, spent with some truly amazing people. I've put together a list of to do's and not to do's using my own experience to help you along the way to having the greatest night ever and celebrate the end of an era! 

Do:

1. Make sure you take spare make-up in your clutch. I stupidly only took a lipstick and immediately regretted it as soon as I arrived at my friends house for pre-drinks. It was a really hot day and my face was literally melting. I had spent so long trying to perfect my make-up for it to smudge off before I even reached Prom, so I'd highly recommend taking some basic essentials like powder and concealer to keep your make-up looking nice. I'd also recommend taking a little packet of tissues to help with any touch ups.
2. TAKE A CAMERA. And I don't mean your phone unless you have alot of free memory. To be on the safe side and make sure you don't miss any picture perfect memories, take your camera with an empty memory card. You'll get much better quality pictures and you wont have to worry about running out of memory or your phone battery dying (especially if you are going to an after party and relying on your phone battery to last until the early hours of the morning!) I took my camera to pre-Prom but left it in my car because I didn't think I'd need it at the actual Prom. I was wrong, and ended up having to take all of my photos on snap chat (rubbish quality and most of them didn't save) because my phone memory was very low. You will regret it so much if you don't capture the memories properly!
3. Make sure that your dress fits perfectly. Try it, try it again, and try it again. I had my dress custom made to fit, so the dress should have fitted my body perfectly, however, this wasn't the case and I had to get it altered. I had spent a lot more than I had wanted to on my dress and the altering, so when I tried it on after getting it resized, I just ignored the fact it was still a little tight in some places so that I wouldn't have to spend any more money. This was a bad idea as when I got in the Hummer with my friends and sat down, my dress split right on the booty. Luckily, it was on the inside so it wasn't noticeable but I was panicking so much on the way to Prom, and I struggled to enjoy my experience in the Hummer because of this. MAKE SURE YOUR DRESS FITS!
4. Wear in your shoes. If you don't want to spend most of the night in bare feet like I did (gross, I know), make sure you wear your shoes in so they fit comfortably. I couldn't last very long at all in my shoes because I had barley worn them before Prom, and it's difficult to feel like a Princess when you're either in pain whilst dancing in your glass slippers or running round with dirty bare feet. 
5. Depending on the length and thickness of your hair, I would seriously consider having your hair up. Prom falls in the Summer, when the weather will most likely be hot (depending on the British weather). Hot weather, lots of people in one space, lots of dancing and long, thick hair all over you do not go well together. It's difficult to enjoy yourself when you're worried about your make-up melting off and your hair going disgusting because you're too hot, so having your hair up will help you to stay cool. I really regret having my hair down - it looked awful by the end of the night because I was so hot, and dancing whilst I was so hot made me feel sick. I think up-do's look much more formal and are a lot more appropriate for the occasion anyway.

Don't:

That dreadful mane

1. Don't think it's a good idea to wear 26" long hair extensions to your prom. You will only spend the rest of your life regretting it whilst comparing all pictures of yourself to the lady from the Grudge. I had worn hair extensions for years prior to my prom, however, I had never gone longer than 22" which fell just under my ribs. I don't know why I thought it would be a great idea to suddenly change this for my Prom. I didn't think the extra 4" would make such a huge difference and so I didn't even try on my new hair until a few hours before the Prom, which meant that whether I liked it or not, however my hair looked with the extensions was how it was going to stay. Honestly, at the time I loved it. I thought I was so cool, with my Rapunzel length hair, however, about an hour into Prom, I regretted it so much. I was boiling hot, my head was itching, and I looked like I had been dragged through a bush (slight exaggeration but regardless, it was a bad look). My fellow extension lovers, stick to what you know, and if you can bare it, natural is probably best!
2. Don't go out of your comfort zone when it comes to heels. I though that because it was Prom, everything had to be OTT. I went for a ridiculous height of heels, and I towered over all of my friends in the photos and looked like an idiot. I couldn't walk and nearly broke my ankle as I fell down a crack as soon as I arrived at the Prom venue. Again, this made it difficult to enjoy
   the Prom, and I really wished that I had chosen smaller, more wearable shoes. 
3. Be careful when considering your dress type. I chose a white floor-length mermaid style dress
   with a little train on the back. I was initially just worried about the fact it was white, because I feared I'd spill something down it and look like a scruff, however, I did manage to avoid this luckily. It was actually the train that spoiled the dress for me because I kept treading on it and it was making me slip over. I had to spend a lot of the night carrying the bottom of my dress because it was tripping me up and I was worried that it was making my dress filthy, and I couldn't have looked very glamorous carrying round half of my dress in my arms.

   

   Shoutout to my Mum, 6 months pregnant and still whipped

4. Less is more. Stick to what you know with make-up, nails, tan etc. and don't go out of your comfort zone. For me, this mainly applied to make-up and acrylic nails. I had never had my nails done before and I decided to get these ridiculously lengthed talon stiletto nails (I don't know what I was thinking). This made it so difficult to do anything, especially make-up. For Prom, I decided to completely ignore everything I knew, and do a whole new look that I had never tried before and was very dramatic. Although it didn't actually look bad looking back, I spent much of the night feeling uncomfortable and paranoid that it looked stupid. It was also very thick and heavy, and it did smudge quite a lot because of this. so I wish I had gone with a more natural, light look.
5. Be careful when ordering from online companies! The company I ordered my dress from was DIY Dress. I found it after searching far and wide on the internet, and it had the most beautiful dresses, which all seemed to be reduced in price. It wasn't until I ordered my dress that I found a review website which stated the company was actually China based (even though it stated it was a UK company on the website) and it often presented customers with horrific replicas of celebrity style gowns, who then struggle very much to get a refund or any kind of apology. Luckily, this wasn't the case for me and my dress was beautiful even though it was sized completely wrong despite the fact I paid extra to have it custom made. It did leave me very stressed in the run up to prom, which wasn't ideal considering I was sitting my GCSE exams at the same time, so I would avoid ordering from any unknown websites and stick to what you know. Also be sure to research into customer reviews before you order from anywhere! Although I was lucky in my situation, after hearing of other people's experiences, I will never order from this company or any similar companies again.

So there we have it! My personal experiences and advice for all of you upcoming prom-goers! It may be completely irrelevant to some of you, and others may disagree with some of my tips, however, it just comes from my own personal experience and it would be advice that I would personally follow if I were to go to Prom again. I have followed this advice for similar occasions since my summer Prom last year, and it has definitely helped and enabled me to enjoy the experience a lot more. 

I hope that everyone who is awaiting their Prom's this year have the bestest time ever! I can honestly say it will be one of the greatest experiences you will have, and you will make some fantastic memories. Be sure to enjoy yourself regardless of how you look at your prom, because the most important thing is the fact that you get to spend time making memories and having fun with the important people in your lives! 

Do you have any tips for how to make the most of a Prom?

What are your best memories from Prom?

P.S. Lets take a moment to appreciate the fact that the only thing
 I have ever won was this at Prom. I wonder why...

A Little Encouragement...

As of today, year 12 and my AS exams are finished! Yippeee! I honestly feel like the biggest weight has been lifted off of my shoulders, and I don't know what to do with myself. I got home from my last exam, and I just feel quite lost. I've gotten myself into the habit and routine of coming home, getting into something comfy, working as hard as I can all evening and then going to bed. And then repeating the whole thing the next day. It feels weird that I have the time to sit and watch a movie, or just take a nap without feeling guilty. I don't know how well I'm going to adjust to the whole not having anything to do thing. I quite liked the whole productivity which came with revision.

Although my exams are over, I feel like until I get my exam results, and I've secured the grades I need and want, I wont stop stressing. Although there is nothing I can do about it any more, it will be something that plays on my mind until that terrifying day in August.

However, I came across a really inspiring video a couple of days ago. It gives the message that our futures and aspirations should not be determined by a grade. If you have worked hard, and you know that you have tried your absolute best, you can succeed in life, whether you get the grades you need or not. Exams are merely just a test of how much you can remember in one shot. It's not testing you on your ability to be able to fully understand something. It tests you on your ability of remembering information and regurgitating it. That does not show knowledge. 90% of the things I "learnt" at GCSE are now things that I can't remember at all. Not once have I had to refer back to Pythagoras theorem or the electromagnetic spectrum (what even is that?). That doesn't go to say to go into your exams with a bad attitude; you have to revise for them. Although the whole concept is frustrating, it's just how it is. If you have a bad attitude towards everything, you will never get where you want to be. What I am trying to say is as long as you do show that you are willing to put in the effort, your grades are not the only things that will define your future, which is shown through the video. 

If you are a student, whether it be at GCSE level, A-level or even University standard, you need to remember that you can not succeed at every attempt you make. If you fail in anything that doesn't make you a bad person. We can not be good at everything, and sometimes you have to try new things and find out what you're good at. And if that still doesn't work, just continue trying. There's always another way around things.

Albert Einstein could not speak until he was 4 years old and his teachers told his Mother that "he would never amount to anything". He is now known as a genius.

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. He is now known as one of the greatest basketball players.

Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper company because he "lacked imagination" and "had no original ideas". His company and movies are now some of the most successful in the world.

This just goes to show that if you try your hardest, and do not let your failures define you, you will eventually succeed and get where you need to be. A lot of hard work can go a long way, and it will pay of eventually.

Good luck to everyone in the process of achieving whatever it is that you dream of. And in particular good luck to any students who are sitting any exams and are preparing for the upcoming results day! I hope everyone achieves what they deserve and want. Hopefully this post has inspired you and eased any of your worries. I know that watching the video really put my mind into perspective.

"Success in life comes when you simply refuse to give up, with goals so strong that obstacles, failure and loss only act as motivation."

(Sorry if this post is really messy and isn't very well structured. I was just jotting down all of my thoughts as they came to me. If you ever wanted to know what goes on in my head...here it is!)

P.S. If all else fails in your exams, just listen to this. I promise it will make you feel better. 

Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

There's never not a good time to indulge yourself in chocolate. Who cares if summer is around the corner and your struggling to fit into your new bikini? Chocolate will always come before the beach bod. Always.

If you're like me and absolutely love a calorific treat, then continue reading as I tell you how to make nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies, a.k.a heaven.

Since the start of this academic year, I've had to significantly improve my baking skills as my history class decided to introduce a twice a week cake rota. We all take it in turns to bake for the class, and I'm all up for it, apart from the fact that until the start of this year, I was probably the worst baker/chef ever (no seriously, I've nearly burned my house down about 3 times). Anyhow, I'm always looking around for new recipes to try, and when I came across your standard cookie recipe with an exciting twist on I Covet Thee's blog, I just had to try it. I did adapt the recipe a little to suit my preferences by combining a few different recipes, but just experiment and you will find what works best for you.

I must say before I get into the whole procedure, do not worry about not being able to bake this if you don't have the right equipment. I didn't have a set of scales, an electric blender or grease paper (I did say I'm no chef), and despite the recipe stating otherwise, working without these tools still worked an absolute treat for me. As long as your estimates are okay, you should be fine.

So, to make 12 servings of these beautiful little treats, you are going to need:

• 125g soft butter
• 100g brown sugar
• 125g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• A teaspoon of vanilla
• 225g self raising flour
• A pinch of salt
• 200g chocolate chips (but add more/less as you wish)
• And most importantly, the biggest jar of nutella you can find

Tip: If you don't have scales like me, take a look at what the full weight of each product is before taking however much you need, and segregate what you need out of the bag. For example, if you have a 300g bag of sugar, to get the 100g you need, simply pour out a third of the full bag. It wont be exact, but it worked for me.

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees/gas mark 4.
2. Mix your butter and eggs together before adding the egg and vanilla.
3. Sift in the flour and salt and mix. Add more flour if required until you get a very thick,doughy consistency. Think of play dough.
4. Add as many chocolate chips as you like (the more the better) and mix them in.
5. Take handfuls of the dough and roll into golf ball sized balls. Then pat them flat until they are about 1.5cm thick.
6. Take a dollop of nutella (you can use as much or as little as you like) and place it in the centre of the flattened cookie dough.
7. Fold in the edges of your cookie to the centre to wrap in the nutella like a parcel. It should be completely sealed by gently pushing down around the edges.
8. Repeat steps 5-7 until you run out of dough.
9. Place your cookies on baking paper on a tray with plenty of space. If you don't have baking paper like I didn't, lightly grease your tray with a little bit of cooking oil to stop the cookies from sticking to the tray.
10. Place in the oven for 7-10 minutes until the edges start to go golden.
11. Take out of the oven and let them harden before transferring to a cooling rack/plate.
12. Enjoy your very unhealthy but tasty treat!

Further Tips:

• You can stuff your cookies with so many different alternatives! Try peanut butter or check out the sandwich spreads isle for so many more options.
• Throw in any other treats you fancy! You could add nuts, dried fruit or even seasonal treats like mini eggs if they are for a particular occasion! Go mad!

So there we have it! All of my fellow chocoholics, I'm sure this will be something you absolutely love, so do give it a try and let me know what you think!

Happy Baking!

What are your favourite things to bake?

Are you chocolate obsessed?

50 Things to Smile About!

I was intrigued by a survey I read into recently (recently as in about a month ago). Bupa conducted a survey which asked 2000 British people what makes them happy for their 'Feel Great Britain' campaign. What I loved about the survey was that in the generation that is surrounded with high tech gadgets and aims of perfection, the survey found that some of the simplest pleasures include "feeling clean after a shower", "doing something for others" or simply just "sleeping in a freshly made bed" which made it right to the top of the list. The list made me feel really good, because it told me that despite the concerns that every part of us is controlled by technology, and that we are being ruined as human beings, the list gave me hope that people are still reliant on the more mundane, simplistic pleasures in life that lead to enjoyment and fulfilment, and I think that's great. In response, I wanted to sit down and analyse what makes me happy. Am I completely reliant on the modern day pleasures or am I similar to the 2000 Brits who are satisfied with the simplistic beauties of life? (Please note, I was not organised to put my list into any particular order; my list is completely random in terms of numbering!)

1. Making others smile.
2. Hearing the ice-cream vans tune.
3. Feeling the suns heat through the window.
4. Organising my things.
5. Knowing I'm up to date with everything.
6. Having my achievements/hard work recognized.
7. A hot meal on a cold day.
8. Music.
9. Being appreciated.
10. Simple, sweet messages.
11. Spending time with loved ones.
12. Long, peaceful walks.
13. Sunsets/sunrises.
14. Long, hot bubble baths.
15. Movie days.
16. New socks.
17. Long weekends.
18. Having my hair washed at the hairdressers.
19. Family get togethers.
20. Bohemian rhapsody. Need I say more?
21. Sunday morning lie ins.
22. Long weekends.
23. Beer gardens.
24. Butterflies.
25. Hearing Ronnie laugh (funniest thing ever).
26. Inside jokes.
27. Deep, meaningful conversations.
28. Sitting down to appreciate a good book.
29. Sunbathing.
30. Mangoes.
31. Tea made to perfection.
32. Exploring.
33. Making memories through pictures.
34. Looking back on pictures.
35. Smoothies.
36. Clean bedding.
37. The smell of fresh washing.
38. At Christmas when you get like 24 body wash sets and you smell like a flower shop.
39. Long road trips.
40. Thinking you've finished a bag of sweets and then you find another one right at the bottom of the bag.
41. The smell of coffee.
42. Flowers.
43. Sunbathing.
44. Meeting new, friendly people.
45. Seeing good friends after being apart for ages.
46. Needing to pee really badly and finally finding a loo. You know I'm right.
47. Fairy lights.
48. Cuddles with my dog.
49. Doing well in something.
50. Finding money you didn't know you had.

I didn't want to go on in case I was boring you, but I could honestly probably go on to 100 and still think of more things. I think there is so much to be happy about in life and it really is the small things that make a big difference to how we live our lives and determine the perspective we have of the world. Looking back at all the wonderful little things in life does really make you appreciate it so more.

What makes you smile?

Do life's simplicities make you happy?

To read the full Bupa survey, please click here.

pausing life to take a deep breath...

WOW!

Life for the past month has been absolutely ridiculously crazy, meaning I have not been able to find a spare second to blog about the many things I've been up to. However, I have managed to note down a few ideas in the space of the time I've been gone which I will hopefully be able to blog about very soon!

I thought I could make a little catch up post, you know like when you haven't seen a friend in a while and you finally meet up for coffee and just drown each other with all of the little bits and pieces you've been up to in the time you've been gone? That's how I feel about this post - a nice little (it'll probably actually not be very little) catch up.

My time has been mainly spent doing little bits and pieces related to my AS levels, whether that be revising, completing art coursework (which seems to be never ending) or sitting my actual exams (eek). Despite taking some study leave of work for the past few weeks, my time still seems to be solely based around school, however, there has been a few exciting little things that have been happening which does make the struggle of A-Levels that little bit more bearable.

I must begin with revealing something very exciting which I hinted at in one of my last posts, which you can read about here. It was the birthday of two of my bestest friends on Wednesday, Lena and Zoe who are twins. As I've mentioned before, Zoe now lives in Holland, and she wont be receiving her presents for another couple of weeks, so I can't mention those, however, I did a big reveal for Lena's present as an extra little something on her birthday. Lena and I have been staying at Tanishia's for the past week whilst her parents were in Cyprus, so on the morning of Lena's birthday, we ran into her room, jumped on her and slapped her in the face with balloons...at 6am. She wasn't too impressed until she received her presents and a cup of tea, courtesy of yours truly. I made Lena a video which was a montage of all of our memories together, and I'd love to share it but I fear that Lena might just boil me alive. It was filled with good times, bad times and damn right ugly times as well as a selection of video messages from some of her closest friends and family, which she really appreciated seeing as she lives away from a lot of her family. It then went on to reveal a very exciting present, which I have been lying to her about for weeks, and had to get various members of her family and friends to help me maintain the lie. I got Lena tickets to our favourite band, Imagine Dragons, and I think its safe to say she was quite pleased! We are both so excited to go in November, and its so nice to have yet another amazing experience to look forward to.

The last week has been spent learning various life skills, ready to take to uni with me in a years time. Before I stayed at Tanishia's, I was incapable of living independently. I could only cook one 'proper' meal (which I treated the girls to on one night over the week) and most of the things I made consisted of baked beans or chicken nuggets...and even those I managed to burn. However, with great thanks to Lena and Tanishia, you can now safely call me Nigella (kind of). We cooked so much lovely food together and I've learned a lot of skills which I'm sure will be very handy in the future, so thanks again girls!

When we weren't cooking, a few friends and I went out for dinner a couple of times in the last week (naughty). It seemed to be everyone's birthday, so there was a lot of celebration needed. We went to Ask for Lena's birthday where I had a very delicious pasta dish. I could literally live of pasta, it is so damn good. It was also lovely to catch up with Lena's family, and we had a great laugh before going home to spend the evening watching some good TV accompanied by some cocktails, thanks to Tanishia.

On Friday, we went to try a new local lounge bar for lunch to celebrate Janvi's birthday. I've been wanting to try it out for so long, so I was so excited! My expectations were exceeded, the food was great, the atmosphere was perfect and even the loo's were quite a treat! Each cubicle looked like a separate little house, and had its own numbered front door. It was very cute (wow, that's two words in one sentence I never thought I'd use together).

In relation to my recent post about the election, I was also very excited and honoured to have been able to participate in the election count on 7th May with some fab people from my school. It was very difficult having to go after a full day at school, sit and count votes from 9pm to 3am the next morning, and then go straight to school for another full day on an hour and a half's sleep but it was so worth it and very rewarding. I've always been intrigued to how the vote count is done, and I was fascinated by the organisation of it. It was like a huge assembly line to which everyone was assigned a special little job that made the whole thing run smoothly. I also got the pleasure of meeting some lovely ladies who accompanied me on my counting table, and they made the whole process a lot easier and managed to keep me awake with the various jokes and exciting stories they had to tell. When it came to placing each voting card into the designated party section, I was so stunned to see how quickly all of the representatives of each party came rushing over to watch. Imagine how people are when they are gambling on a horse race, and they know they're about to win and it all goes wild. That's how it was. If you ever get the chance to take part in something like this, I highly recommend doing it. Its so fascinating, and it does give you such a sense of achievement to know that you contributed to such a significant event.

This is what an election count looks like for those of you who are wondering. Cool right?

So that's some of my highlights from the past month or so! I am so disappointed that I've not managed to keep up with my blog as well as I had hoped to, but as of Wednesday next week, my exams are over and things should hopefully return back to normality!

AND A MASSIVE HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ZOE, LENA AND JANVI! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST AND I LOVE YOU!

Are you currently sitting any exams? If so, GOOD LUCK!

What exciting things have you been up to in the past month?