Summer Bucket List 2017

Every year I decide I want to create a summer bucket list to make sure I don't waste a single day off sitting in my bedroom wasting my time being unproductive. This year isn't an exception. I thought I'd share with you guys what I have so far starting from May to the beginning of September and maybe this inspire you to create your own.

Summer Bucket List 2017

@awanderlustbeing

1. MCM London Comic Con 2017 (27th & 28th of May) - I already have my tickets book for Saturday and Sunday! I'm hoping to cosplay Kylo Ren on Sunday and Dr. Jillian Holtzmann on the Saturday (We'll see if I finish them in time!). I'm planning to go to a meet up to see Nyx Rising Industries (at the moment it'll be at 1:30pm - check their website for updates!) and a Disney meet up on the Sunday (2pm next to the statue). If any of you are going I'd love to meet you so leave me a comment down below! I could make a group chat on Twitter and we could all organise to meet!

2. Explore Wales - I have lived in Wales since I was nearly 2 years old and I still haven't been to a lot of places in this country. I just want to explore and see more of what this beautiful place has to offer before planning to move away.

3. Film - I feel like I'm slacking with filming and uploading videos to my YouTube channel at the moment. This is partially because I don't really have a good editing software and Windows Movie Maker severely kills my motivation to edit. I'm hoping to use the editing software at college and get some videos done and ready to upload over the summer!

4. Develop My Cosplays - Work on finishing touches and details I may have missed or had to leave out before Comic Con in order to get them ready. I don't want to start any new major cosplay projects over the summer due to no. 5 but I want to have the majority on my cosplays finished and ready to wear at any time.

5. Save Money - I want to save money over the summer for multiple reasons. One being I plan to go on holiday with my good friend and her two friends for her 21st birthday in September. I want to be able to have some spending money whilst out there to explore a bit more. Save up for a laptop (high hopes but fingers crossed!) and to just have some money saved in my bank account for moving out or starting university.

6. Delve into Portrait Photograph - I have already taken some portraits and have found a desire to do more. Over the summer I'd love to find a few people willing to model for me so I can practice and hopefully get some nice shots for my Instagram.

And last but not least:

7. Get Fitter - I plan on starting going to the gym and eating healthier to loose weight, build muscle and live a healthier lifestyle. This is my choice because I am overweight and I know I have an unhealthy diet. I want to do this to feel more confident, health and positive.

If you guys are inspired by this post to make your own summer bucket list or you've already beaten me to the punch I'd love to hear from you in the comments below. Perhaps you may strike me with inspiration and I may add to my own!

The story behind my tattoo

For the past 3 or 4 years I have been dreaming of getting a tattoo. I think it's a phase a lot of people go through in their teens. At least, it was between me and my friends in school. When I was 16/17 I remember being infatuated with looking at tattoo designs on the internet and thinking about having them done when I was old enough.

Come my 18 birthday I knew exactly what tattoo I wanted to have as my first: a forget-me-not flower.

Forget-me-nots are my favourite flower of all time. The reason for this is because they used to grow in an abundance in my Nanny's garden. As a child my Nanny was and still is one of my favourite people. I used to spend all of my free time with her. Her house was only a couple of streets over from my mother's so after school I'd rush over to her house and I'd sleep over there most weekends. She was such a caring and lovely lady. 

I have so many memories with her. Simple things like how she taught me to boil an egg, how I sometimes used to help her make rock cakes, that she used to take me on the bus down town to pick out a new colouring book whilst she had to go to the pet shop and bakery, her three Yorkie dogs and the dozens of birds she had. How I used to help feed her fish in the pond at the back of the garden and how when she became ill she never failed to make me happy.

Forget-me-nots always remind me of my Nan before she suffered with Cancer. I was too young to realise at the time that she was loosing her battle and really suffering and I didn't really understand what had happened too well when she had died. I understood what death was but I don't think I grieved right away. It took a while to sink in and I still sometimes have moments where I miss her so much and get upset.

I felt that this tattoo would help to keep her memory alive. I'm no longer able to go to her old house and I have very little physical things left of her. I have a few of her things like a doll, a watch and some broaches. I thought dedicating my first tattoo to her would be nice. 

I had it done on the 14th of April, 2017 at 11:30am; a week ago today. I have waited nearly two years to have this tattoo done and I couldn't be happier with it!

@yagooobian

I hoped you enjoyed this little story. I thought it'd be nice to share with you. What are your feelings on tattoos? Do you have some or are planning to get one? Leave me a comment below!

Cosplaying Harley Quinn

If you happen to follow my personal Intsagram account (yagooobian) and/or my Amino Cosplay profile (awanderlustbeing) you may already know that I cosplay Harley Quinn from the Suicide Squad movie. At the moment I don't have a lot of the cosplay done. I basically just have the wig, make-up and t-shirt sorted for her 'superhero outfit' and the wig, make-up, slippers and props for her outfit in the last scene in her cell.

I recently wore the 'superhero' cosplay to Film & Comic Con Cardiff back at the beginning of March, despite the plan being to cosplay Kylo Ren. As this year goes on I'd like to add to my Harley Quinn cosplays so at least the prison cosplay is done and the 'superhero' cosplay will be further alone or even completed.

I want to tackle something though which pushed me into writing this blog post on a Saturday morning before work. Leave Harley Quinn cosplayers alone.

It is entirely up to each individual person who or what they want to cosplay. Some people are negatively pointing out that there are a lot of Harley Quinn cosplayers with the Suicide Squad cosplays yet I don't think they realise that there were a lot of Harley Quinn cosplayers before the movie was announced. I have seen plenty of classic Harley cosplayers as well as some from the videogames and cross overs or original pieces for the character.

You are allowed to cosplay anything or anyone you want to cosplay. I would love to cosplay Foreteller Ava for example, yet I haven't played that particular part of the Kingdom Hearts series. That doesn't mean I'm not allowed to cosplay that character. Even if you haven't seen the movie/tv show, played the game or read the book the character belongs too doesn't mean you can't cosplay them. Cosplay is to celebrate characters whether that be you're drawn to a character because of their design, personality, backstory or if you feel a connection to them in some way.

So what if they are now more Harley Quinn running around at comic conventions? I think it's pretty cool that all those people want to celebrate her as a character. I'd also like to just say, not one cosplay is the same.

Are you a Harley Quinn cosplayer? Have you experience this judgement first hand or seen people criticising people for cosplaying certain characters? I'd love it if you left a comment below!

Cosplay: What It Is and What It Isn't

Cosplay, or 'costume play', is the art of dressing up and pretending to be a character. It's something I found out about around the age of 14/15 or what I like to call my Japanese phase seeing as this is around the time I was obsessed with everything Japanese culture. Through Anime I found people cosplaying on YouTube who went to conventions and created skits. Instantly I was hooked.

To me cosplay is a creative outlet. I barely draw or paint anymore like I used to in school, I seem to have lost a lot of motivation to continue with it despite it having being a big part of my life. I've mentioned before I struggle with bad mental health and cosplay is a huge help with keeping positive. It give me a goal to work towards and I feel a huge sense of achievement by the end when I wear a cosplay.

Of course cosplay is a wonderful thing where everyone in the community interacts with you as your characters at conventions and it can lead to making new friends and learning new skills. However, there is also a negative side like everything has now. The cosplay community is full of lovely people with different skills and tips if you can find them. There are also those who find it hard to understand that anyone can cosplay and that everyone's cosplay efforts should be respected and celebrated.

It doesn't matter if you are black and want to cosplay a white character or vice versa. It doesn't matter if you want to cross dress to cosplay a character identifying as a different gender than the one you identify as. It doesn't matter if you buy or make your cosplay or do a mixture of both. It doesn't matter if you don't have the skills another cosplayer does. It doesn't matter if you weigh more or less than the character you are cosplaying. The thing about cosplay is that it should make you happy. Having made the effort to research and make/buy your cosplay is personally the best feeling to me. 

Cosplay is everything to me and I'd love to learn new skills and develop my cosplays to make them the best I can. I want to build up the range of cosplays I have and build up a portfolio of sorts just for my own entertainment and the entertainment of others.

I'd love to hear from you in the comments below. Tell me what cosplay means to you and if you send me a link to where you showcase your cospalys I'd love to have a look.

Let us all support one another and celebrate cosplayers of all ages, genders, skin tones, heights, weights and abilities!

Anxious Over Your Future? Me too!

We all have the pressure at a young age to decide the career path we want to follow for presumably the rest of our lives, do we not? Being in Wales, UK and working my way through the public schooling system we were given choices at 14 years of age for what four subjects we'd like to studying along side core subjects (Science, Maths, Welsh, English, P.E.) for the next academic year. Obviously I choose subjects I thought were fun and didn't think about the future as I didn't know what I wanted to do yet. I didn't really see the connection between school and our lives once we finished school. To me it was just something we had to do five days a week.

Then moving into Sixth Form and having to choose more subjects there, still unsure of which career path I wanted to go into but now seeing more of a connection between my grades and my future. I focused on Art. I've always been a creative person and have always found enjoyment in drawing. Until Sixth Form that is. I started to really hate the school I was at. I was dealing badly with my own mental health and I was falling behind, having my teacher constantly telling me that I needed to pick up my slacking in order to pass my exams. I felt trapped in Sixth Form and like I didn't belong so I made the decision to leave before the exams.

When I look back on this now, I regret it so much. I would have preferred I had stuck it out and gotten my AS Level exam grades and worked harder but I don't feel so bad because leaving Sixth Form resulted in what I like to call my big move!

I moved in with my Dad, a hour North up the coast of where my Mum lives, and enrolled in a Level 3 Extended Diploma in Childcare. If you've read a previous blog of mine (Half Way There!) you'll know that I studied Childcare. Reading back over that post there are a lot of things I said that didn't come true. For one I didn't go to work in Australia. I still plan to go to Australia to stay with family but the issue there is funding! Two I didn't go through with doing the extended essays to give me the option of university. I began to get bad again with m mental health and decided that I had enough work to do with the actual course let alone stacking three essays on top too. Sometimes I wish I had gone through with them but it doesn't bother me too much to be honest.

Once I had finished the two years in childcare I was thrust into the pressure of trying to find a job in the local schools or nurseries. I already have a weekend and holiday job in my village anyway so I wasn't paranoid about being left without an income (not that I was desperate for one because I am still living with my parents but I want to get on my own feet) but I wanted a full time job. When the summer was ending and I still hadn't found a job I didn't want to be sitting around doing nothing all week and decided to apply for another course at the college. 

Media Productions was my course of choice! I have been interested in filming for a couple of years and obviously I have a YouTube channel but I had never really given thought into pursuing it as a career. Since starting the course in September I have felt as if I have finally found something I feel really passionate about pursuing as a career path. I did enjoy childcare but I enjoy and feel incredibly at home on this course. I have two years of this course overall and then I'm thinking about university as an option afterwards. 

The reason I decided to write this blog post is because I haven't always had the best responses or support from those closest to me when I have decided to change my mind with subjects through my education. They have grown to support me once they have gotten used to the idea that I'm on a different course. I've learnt that it doesn't matter that if you don't know what you want to do when you're older. There's nothing wrong with exploring different subjects and trying different hobbies to find something you're really interested in. Don't worry about your age as much as I do sometimes. I'm turning 20 in two months and while most of my friends are nearing the end of their second year in university and could be out by 22 years old I won't be out of uni until I'm 24. 

I wish you all the best and I'd love to hear your experiences in the comments below!

Cosplay Chatter

I always hype myself up every year to make New Year's resolutions and I never end up meeting them by the end of the year. I simply forget about them. Take this blog post for example, this probably should have been written and uploaded back in January but you should know me by now -insert sad laugh here-.

Despite not having created New Year's resolutions this I did decide to make some Cosplay plans for the year to try to meet. There are six cosplays altogether:

1) Kylo Ren (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

2) Maria Posada (The Book of Life)

3) Anastasia Romanov (Anastasia 1997)

4) Elizabeth (BioShock Infinite)

5) Han Solo - Genderbend (Star Wars 4, 5 & 6)

6) Belle - (Beauty and the Beast)

(Originally posted on my personal Instagram account: @yagooobian)

I don't want to go into detail about cosplaying and my plans during this blog post. The reason being a friend of mine (Mivi) suggested I make a video over on my YouTube channel about my experience and plans for cosplay. I filmed it but I wasn't happy with it and felt it was too long so I have decided to turn it into a series of sorts as well as the plan to film videos with updates of my current cosplays. 

Thank you for reading,

A Wanderlust Being

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things!

Have you ever had a hobby you once really enjoyed but had given up? 

Throw back to a six year old me. I once took ballet classes and I LOVED them. I had made a lot of friends there, all of which I can no longer remember (funny thing I found out recently that my brother's girlfriend had in fact gone to the same school and may have been in my class! My good friend, Alesandrina, had also gone to the same school but we think she may have started after me and in a different class at the time). I left because I was simple bored. It's strange to think back on: 'A six year old me being bored of playing ballet games and actually wanting to learn more than what the teacher was teaching us'. That is the reason I left.

Going throughout school I hadn't picked it back up. I have always loved dance in general and continued to hold a love for it throughout my teenage years. During secondary school there were different dance groups held during lunch times we could sign up for. If I remember correctly I joined anything to do with danicng: Dance Mats, Zumba, Hip-Hop, Body-popping. 

I also remember feeling the effect of quitting ballet all those years ago. I really missed dancing and when I become friends with Alesandrina in school and a few other friends and people I knew were in the same class I felt the desire to dance again. I didn't follow those desires though and just continued on with Street dance in school. 

During those years where I joined those dance groups, we competed in three competitions of sorts. The first was the body-popping. It was a friendly competition of sorts (another funny fact: One of my friends from Childcare was at the same competition!) were schools in Ceredigion all competed with their hip-hop/street style dances. 

The next was with the Zumba group. It was more of a showcase than a competition if I remember correctly and a few different groups from different schools all came together to show off their Zumba routines. 

The one I remember the most is the Street group where we competed competitively with different schools in Ceredigion once again. We were all so excited because we had a really strong routine and our teacher was pretty confident in us that we could pull it off without a hitch. After everyone completed their routines we were judged. We were really upset with the results. We would have been happy with what ever place we came, don't get me wrong. Saying that, our dance teacher revealed on the bus home that she had talked to the judges, asking for feedback on how to improve our ability. She had explain we had come second (which is great!) but we would have come in first place if we had not worn the masks with were using during the dance (which is not so great). 

She wasn't happy that they had judged us on something that wasn't our dancing ability. The judges had told her that they wanted to see more emotions in our faces during the routine. Although we were annoyed with this fact, we were still happy because we had all been doing what we loved - dancing.

Since leaving school I had not had the opportunity to join any dancing group or class. Until recently. I'm now in my third year of college in Aberystwyth, no longer studying childcare and the teacher from my last street dance group has set up adult dance classes. Although it is back in my old town, an hour and three quarters journey on the bus from college, I knew I had to take that opportunity. I have been attending her classes now since Septemeber 2016 and I cannot express how much I love dancing again. We have gone through Tap, Jazz, Street and Ballet. Starting out one a week until December and now twice a week. 

I am so glad to have had the opportunity to get back into dance, especially ballet. I may have waffled on but the whole point I had for this blog post was to share with you my story. How I gave up something I loved because I was impatient. Don't give up on something you really love only to regret it later. Keep on going.

A Wanderlust Being.

Halloween Fest - Halloween Day 2k16

Hi guys,

sorry this post is being uploaded in November but I was waiting for my friends to confirm that it was okay to use the photo with them in it in this blog post and I've been working the past few days so I haven't had a chance to write it but here I am!

This Halloween has been one of the best Halloween days in my life so far. My friends and I decided that we wanted to low-key cosplay to college due to the fact we all love Halloween and wanted to dress up but no one else in college would be obviously in a fancy dress. 

We came up with the idea that a theme was the best way to go. Of course, we chose Marvel.

I've been thinking about doing a Peggy Carter cosplay for a while now and when the opportunity arose I couldn't pass it. Mivi cosplayed Steve Rogers aka Captain America; Famber cosplayed Tony Stark aka Iron Man; and Leona cosplayed Bucky Barnes aka The Winter Solider. 

Famber as Tony Stark (left); Leona as Bucky Barnes (middle); Mivi as Steve Rogers (right); Myself as Peggy Carter (back).

Later that night I got home and decided to change into my Suicide Squad Harley Cosplay to give out sweets to Trick O' Treat-ers (although we didn't have many callers I still enjoyed a lot).

Myself as Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad the movie.

I'd love to know what you think of our cosplays or what you did for Halloween so be sure to comment.

Thank you,

A Wanderlust Being.

Halloween Fest - Halloween Playlist 2k16

Hi guys! 

Seeing as I didn't post anything in September and seeing as October is my favourite month of the year (for many reasons a few of which are pretty obvious if you follow my social media accounts, haha!) I thought I'd challenge myself to schedule a ton of blog posts and videos to upload for you. 

I know I don't actually have a great track history with sticking to these things but I am going to try my damn hardest this time! I'm hoping to be posting every other day starting from today; two blog posts followed by a single video over on my YouTube channel before repeating. Don't worry about missing my video, I will be linking it into my blog through a post. Now, let's get in with my Halloween playlist for this year!  

🕸💀 S A M H A I N    2 k 1 6 💀🕸

1) It's Almost Halloween by Panic! At the Disco 

 2) Zombie by The Cranberries 

3) I Put A Spell On You by Creedence Clearwater Revival 

 4) This is Halloween by Panic! At the Disco 

 5) (Don't Fear) The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult 

 6) Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell

 7) Ghostbusters (I'm Not Afraid) by Fall Out Boy ft. Missy Elliott 

8) Monster by Paramore 

 9) Heads Will Roll by Yeah Yeah Yeahs 

 10) Time Warp by The Rocky Horror Picture Show Original Cast 

11) Remains of the Day by Danny Elfman 

 12) Disturbia by The Cab 

13) Highway to Hell by AC/DC 

 14) Tears to Shed by Danny Elfman 

15) Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by Emily Browning - Sucker Punch 

 16) Haunted by Evanescence 

 17) Superstition by Stevie Wonder 

 18) The Addams Family Theme Song 

 19) Monster Mash by Bobby "Boris" Pickett 

20) Spooky Scary Skeletons - The Living Tombstone mix

I hope you all like this playlist as much as I am at the moment and let me know down in the comments of other songs I could check out and add to my playlist!

Love, 

A Wanderlust Being.

             -x-

Harley & Mistah J's Relationship (Suicide Squad Spoilers)

Hi guys! Sorry for the inactivity recently. I've been trying to write blog posts and create videos to upload to my channel but I'm never happy with them. I recently told a good friend of mine that I don't want to just upload pointless posts to my blog for the sake of it. I want to create enjoyable and interesting posts for everyone to read.

Going straight into today's post: The relationship of Harley Quinn and The Joker. Now, I have to say that I'm in no way an expert. I rarely go towards anything DC create, I just prefer the Marvel universe but I do have a soft spot for J and Harls. I've just fallen in love with what I have seen of their characters and think their brilliant villains. 

http://screenrant.com/suicide-squad-action-figures-joker-harley-quinn/

Only a couple of days ago I went to see Suicide Squad and loved every second of it! I think Margot Robbie played Harley so well and I loved Jared Leto's Joker (despite being a big fan of Heath Ledger's version!). Despite some of the flash backs I can't remember the Joker being at all manipulative towards Harley during the current time events. However, perhaps that was just because of his desire to have her back by his side and resume creating havoc with her throughout Gotham.

It's nothing new to people who are familiar with the characters that before Harley became 'Harley Quinn' she was in fact Harleen Quinzel, a psychiatric intern at Arkham Asylum. She encountered the Joker and he gained her sympathy before seducing her. Harley is infatuated and madly in love with the Joker and there are a few moments where J shows affection in return but it is more than anything an abusive and manipulative relationship, often with the Joker actually trying to murder her. Due to Harley's obsessive love for the villain, she will go to extreme lengths to stay devoted and loyal. She often has no regards to her own life over her Puddin's. 

I'm not just writing this as a way to get to know the characters or for the sake of it. I have a message behind this. Before seeing the film I've been seeing people writing online about how they are experiencing young girl's with little knowledge about the relationship between the two characters stating that they wish they had a relationship like Harley and the Joker's. 

The bottom line is that Harley was a promising student working towards becoming a psychiatric Doctor (or possibly having already obtained her degree) but due to a manipulative man she gave up her dreams for the promise of love. She gave up everything to be in an abusive relationship with probably the greatest and most well known villain ever created. Yes she may be able to hold her own in a fight and looks like she is a strong willed character but that cannot be said about her mental health. She has no concern for her own health and is very dependant on being with the Joker. 

http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/harley-quinn-joker-suicide-squad-romance/

People need to learn to be able to spot the difference between an abusive relationship and someone who genuinely loves and cares for them. It is show that mother's often tell their daughters when a boy picks on them that 'it's only because they like you'. We shouldn't teach others that love is shown through aggressiveness or abusiveness behaviour. I'm not saying I think Harley and J's relationship shouldn't be shown due to the abusiveness. I'm stating that everyone should be taught that they don't deserve to be treated like that.

Despite this I have to say that I feel that the Suicide Squad movie was fantastically written and directed and I loved how much the Joker was actually portrayed in the film without being made the centre of attention. In my opinion they kept the focus heavily on the squad's goals whilst weaving in bits of the Joker. I highly suggest you go to see the film or buy the DVD when it is released. I know for sure that I will be preordering it soon (and possibly going to see it again on the big screen)!

I hope I am actually achieving my goals to write interesting and enjoyable posts, any feedback would be fantastic!

Love,

A Wanderlust Being.

A Little Bit Of Bristol, London & Four Aussie Lads

You may or may not know but during the last week of the Easter holidays I went on a bit of an adventure. It started in Bristol where I stayed with my good friend Katie. We went on a tour of the area, finding all the street art and simply having a look at Bristol's streets. I had the pleasure of being treated to dinner at Pizza Express and played a game of jungle themed mini golf with Katie and her friends from uni, who were lovely. I was having a brilliant time and this was only the first few days of my adventure. Katie and I did a bit of shopping (of course!) and I ended up buying a toothbrush that looked like a red lightsaber from Primark (which I will never regret because of my inner childishness). Once reaching HMV I obviously had to get a 5SOS t-shirt to wear for the gig that weekend. That t-shirt has since become my favourite and I will continue wearing it late into my adult life. We also went to Bristol's museum and art gallery which I have to say was pretty interesting and with free entry and pretty cool place to visit if you have some spare time. Unluckily we didn't reach the art gallery before it was closing time but that only adds to the excitement of seeing it the next time I'm in Bristol!

After the couple of wonderful days I spent in Bristol Katie and I woke up early, headed to the coach station and made our way to London! We did a lot of travelling that day and I'm pretty proud of how we managed the tubes in London with little experience. The first stop we came to was the Buckingham Palace (which is a very stereotypical tourist spot to go to when in London) and took a few snapshots and footage before moving onto Hyde Park. I have to say, Hyde Park wasn't at all what I expected but it definitely lived up to my expectations of how big it was! We walked along the edge of the park after having lunch and watching a man expertly feed pigeons, trying to find the Royal Albert Hall but in the end decided to cut across the middle of Hyde Park because it was taking too long and there were other things we wanted to see. 

Our next destination was was the Sherlock Holmes museum near Baker Street Station. We ended going up the wrong side of the street (thank you Google Maps!) and walking back down it to cross and walk back up the other side. Despite our detours, it was still an adventure and we had lots of fun! We didn't go into the museum as it would have run out of time to do other things but it would be a lot of fun to do the next time we're in London. After this we took a tube from Baker Street Station to Temple (I think?) and made our way to Covent Garden (which has to be my favourite place in London that I've been too!). We walked around the square, watched a street performance and decided that we were going to sit down and relax for a bit. This is when I spotted the Ladurée shop and freaked out. I've wanted to try Ladurée macarons for years now and I even tried making macarons as a part of my Food Technology coursework during the time I spent in Sixth Form but nothing could compare to the professionally made macarons. 

After the little bakery shopping spree I went on, Katie and I decided to sit down in this cute little place (which I forgotten the name of but if I remember it I'll update this post) and had a cup of tea and a chat. The lady at the till talked to us about 5 Seconds of Summer, saying she had gone to the show the night before and loved our t-shirts. She was lovely and if I knew her name I'd give her a shoutout and try to hunt her down! After our tea we had to make our way on the tube all the way up to East Ham where we had to check into our Premire Inn room (big love to Premire Inn; I love how heaving their mattresses are!) as quick as we could as we were running late for getting to the concert. Luckily the man at the desk was lovely and helped us by ringing a taxi to take us to the O2 arena. The taxi man was also lovely and chatted to us about the concert and wished us a nice time. 

Obviously when we got there we got a bit lost yet again but we didn't panic and we found the right path with the help of a lady who passed us by. As soon as we saw the stalls selling mercy and the digital advertisement boards with the lads' faces on them we just kind of lost our shit. We made our way in, ate sandwhiches for dinner and I bought a programme to add to my collection at home. I can't begin to explain how I felt in the area. Before a guy called Jessa Rae (not sure about spelling so I apologise) came on as the support act for the evening we did a toilet stop and grabbed a couple of beers before rocking out to Jessa Rae and the best pre-gig playlist I've ever heard (goddamn 5SOS have good taste in music)! When they came on stage I couldn't help but fangirl badly. I've never been so carefree at a concert but I loved it! I filmed a lot of it and although it was shaky due to my excitement I'm proud of it. I think one of the best parts of the gig is when they performed a song they had made up on the spot called... wait for it... Fish and Chips! God, they're dorks but I love them all too much! 

After the concert we made our way to the tube and headed back to East Ham, groaning to ourselves how we wished the gig would have continued on forever and cheering about how the songs we wished they would play but doubted they would was played. As soon as we got to our room we basically crashed, having been busy all day. We rung our parents to let them know we were a-ok and I transferred everything on my camera to my iPad and looked through it all, unable to stop smiling. 

The next day wasn't very eventful compared to the day before but it made me very happy. We had some breakfast and travelled from East Ham over to Crawley were a lot of my family live and spent half the day with my grandparents. We also saw my uncle and that night after a dinner from the Chinese we went out with my sister (Shala) my brother-in-law (Jim) and their friends to a pub in East Grinstead to celebrates Jim's birthday. My sister talked to me about the house they were thinking of getting and how I could go up more often and even stay with them for a while in order to get a job and move up their permanently which I have definitely thought about. We left early in order to get a good night's sleep as we were up the next day by 6:15am. My grandad took us to the nearest station and we made our journey home, starting at the station at 6:51am, Katie's ending around 11:00am in Bristol but mine lasting until roughly 6pm as I had to go through the following process: Crawley - London Victoria - Bristol - Newport - Carmarthen - Home. It was a long day of travelling but I loved it anyway! 

I actually got home and the first thing my step mother asked was if I want to go to town for dinner as she fancied Chinese. I agreed but seeing as I had had Chinese the night before and I'm not too fond of Chinese anyway, I went for a good old Maccies. 

I had the time of my life during those 5 days and I wish I could live it all over again (or better yet, have an adventure everyday as a part of my job!) but until the next time I have to settle back into college and work. Seeing as I did take a lot of footage though, I edited it together and produced a vlog which is now up on my YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/pjS2kM5FISQ 

I would be forever grateful if you'd check it out and leave a like? 

Thank you for reading and I'll talk to you all again soon.

Love, 

A Wanderlust Being.

Celebrating a 1st birthday!

Hello!

Unfortunately this blog post didn't go up on the day I wanted it to go up as I was ill yesterday and fell asleep most of the night so here I am writing this blog post during my lunch break in college to ensure this bog post reaches your eyes because I can almost guarantee that I will fall asleep yet again as soon as I get home tonight.

Yesterday was a special day for me as this blog has officially been running for a year (and one day if you count today!)! It certainly hasn't felt as if I have been uploading blog posts for a whole year, it doesn't even feel like it has been a couple of months. I really can't begin to understand where the time has gone!

I am so glad to have this blog as an escape and a means of expressing myself and exploring the world a little more. I hope that in the next year there will be many more exciting posts to actually do with one of the main reasons I started this blog: travelling.

For now, I have a simple post just to thank you all for supporting me along throughout the year by reading my blog and encouraging me to continue when I feel like I don't have much to offer.

I'd like to share with you my most popular blog post: A Series of Serious Topics (ASST) - Rape.

And which of my blog posts was my favourite to write: Meeting Online Friends.

Seeing as yesterday was a birthday (of sorts) I decided to have a birthday party the night before (again, of sorts seeing as I was the only one celebrating - haha!) and bake some cakes!

I was going to decorate them all like the cake below but I ended up buying food colouring instead of icing pens and messed it up so this was the best I could do. This design is also a sneak peak to something I've been working on recently, which will be revealed soon enough! 

These are the alternative design I ended up doing. 

I wish I could thank each of you individually with hug and a cake for supporting me so much and for sticking around when I promise a consistent uploading but never live up to the promise but for now, I hope this blog post suffices because I'm dedicating this blog post to all of you! The ones who sit there reading what I have to say without any reward for doing so - so thank you!

Here's to another brilliant year together!

Sending my love,

As always,

A Wanderlust Being.

               -x-

My First YouTube Video!

Hello!

I'm very excited to announce that I have uploaded my very first YouTube video to my channel - A Wanderlust Being!

I know I'm late writing this post as my first video was actually uploaded on the 2nd of September but here is the link to the video - 10 Facts About Me. I would love if you could check it out and let me know what you think as well as giving it a thumbs up if you think it deserves it. 

I'd like to take this time to also say that I won't be uploading a video every week as I have limited internet a my father's house and I'm busy at college and work at the moment. I don't want to fall behind in my college coursework like I did last year. Although saying that, I will try to find a way around that and upload as often as possible, even if that includes stocking up videos and uploading them all when I go to see my mum or using free wifi.

If you have any suggestions for any videos or improvements I can make feel free to comment either on the video or this post or if you'd rather suggest something privately feel free to send me an email on awanderlustbeing_enquiries@outlook.com.

I appreciate every single idea, suggestion or tip you can give me and thank you for reading this post (and if you click on the links, thank you for taking a look at my channel and video!).

Sending my love,

As always,

A Wanderlust Being.

              -x-

Reminiscing over my summer

Hello!

It has been a long time since I have sat down to write a blog post for you lovely people and for that I sincerely apologise. I didn't mean to leave it for so long but I have been quite busy lately whether that may be due to saying goodbye to my friends who have left for university/another country or starting my second year of college. 

To make it up to you and to kick start my motivation into developing this blog into something better. I have decided to sit down to eat some Joe's Chocolate Swirl ice cream, watch Bridget Jones's Diary and write a few blog posts for you beautiful/handsome readers. At the moment I'm sitting home alone in my dressing gown and slippers beside the heater trying to keep warm (which I know makes no sense as I am eating ice cream but that's just how I roll!) as I think about my father and step mother on holiday in Egypt who are unable to actually sit in the sun as it is too hot for them. Anyway, let's move on from the holiday jealousy and get you up to date on what I have bee up to. 

At the start of the summer, I had decided to make a list of blog posts I wanted to write and upload to this blog. I loved some of the ideas a lot but as I said before, I was busy and seemed to run out of time because before I knew it we were back in placement! So I'd like to take this time to run through the events of my summer as I had created a summer bucket list.

Over the six weeks we had off for our summer holidays, I tried to do as much as possible in order to tick everything of my bucket list. The reason I had actually made this bucket list is the fact that I have never had a summer worth remembering. I often sat in my bedroom playing video games on my laptop and reading books. Now don't get me wrong, I love doing those things but I want more out of my summer this year, I wanted to make more memories and be more active. 

As we all know, my summer kicked off with seeing AC/DC live at Wembley in London. This was a dream come true and one of the highest things ticked off my bucket list (not just my summer bucket list). This was closely followed by the fact that I cut my hair to shoulder length and dyed it blue and purple. 

The next event of my summer and one of the loveliest days out I have ever had was the Blogger's meet up in Cardiff where I met a bunch of lovely lasses including two of my internet friends Katie (the brains behind the blog Funsize Beauty) and Becky (aka the wonderfully hilarious Bambino Becky)! I thought my social anxiety would get the better of me and I'd end up being to timid to talk to anyone. I admit that it did hold me back a little but I enjoyed my time despite this and tried to interact with everyone at the meet up in order to get to know them. 

Another thing that was ticked off my bucket list was to have a night out with my friends after they returned from their adventures in Holland. Unfortunately one of them had travelled to Cyprus to meet her family instead of returning with our other two friends but we still had a lovely time. That night we had a spontaneous sleep over at my friends house and played a few games to pass the night. 

I also had a day out with my mum where we went shopping and had Sunday lunch in a lovely pub followed by an ice cream from a local business which only sells products with honey it in. All their flavors are a mixture of honey and something else, i.e. strawberry, coffee, hazelnut, chocolate. If any of you are ever near Aberaeron I fully suggest going to The Hive to try their honey whippy ice cream!

On the 22nd of August, it was Shaniah's birthday so I came down to spend the day with her. We had lunch, bought a minion birthday cake and had a lengthy conversation about blogging and our favourite bloggers.

I was invited to go to the cinema with two of my other friends to see the new Fantastic Four film and I just had to despite all the negative comments I'd heard about it (as I am a Marvel fan and like to judge it for myself). I have to say I do prefer the original films to this one but there were some aspects I did like but I won't go into too much detail.

I face painted on two of my friends and wrote a blog post about it (as some of you may already know - here's the link if you didn't see it - Practice makes perfect!). My brother came up to my dad's then once I was back and we spent most of the weekend watching Mrs Brown's Boys (which so happens to be a Morrison family favourite!). My dad then took us to see The Man From U.N.C.L.E. before dropping my brother off at my mum's. I really like this movie and highly suggest seeing it!

The last chunk of my summer holidays consisted of working and top secret events that I'm going to discuss in another blog post! Overall I ticked off twelve and a half out of sixteen bucket list ideas. The only ones I didn't do was:

• Look into Astrology (I bought a book, which is where the half came from, but I haven't read it yet),
• Go Geocaching with three of my friends,
• Paint my bedroom at my dad's house and;
• Give my blog a makeover (I wanted to design the layout and update it but I haven't had time to do what I wanted to do with it - this is still going to happen though, I just need to figure out when).

I hope you all had a wonderful summer as well! Why not comment below and tell me the best thing about your summer? 

Sending my love,

As always,

A Wanderlust Being.
             -x-

Practice makes perfect!

Hello!

Over the summer holidays, for some odd reason, I've become more motivated and my muse has had a craving for practicing my artistic skills. This is something I was desperate to do over the summer as I really do love art but since I left school and entered college my muse hasn't been fed.

If you knew me back at school you'd know that this is a big deal for me! Throughout my life I've always been interested in more creative and artistic things. For as long as I can remember I have always been drawing (I even have an artistic based nickname to prove it!). I'll admit that over the past year I have done a few pieces of artwork but not to the extent that I used to and want to. Perhaps confidence and lack of belief in myself has a part to play but I've gotten into the mindset to tell myself that I'm still learning and that practice makes perfect. 

Seeing as I had visited my friends from school for a week I decided to feed my muse and take advantage of the bare faces in my presence -insert evil laugh-.

As you may have already figured out, I am partial to a bit of face/body painting (usually on the hands) and this is what happened:

I set myself the theme 'The Elements' and tried to match my friends personalities to the elements. Each element look has the symbol for that element painted just above the middle of the eyebrows (if you type in element symbols into a search engine, you're sure to find quite a few. I just happened to choose these).

In the first image is my friend Katie. I decided that fire suited her and the reasons for this is that she's passionate about her morals and opinions. She isn't one to let people extinguish (see what I did there?) her opinions easily and for any illogical reason such as to be spiteful. She's one to stick to her guns when it comes to her morals and that's something that inspires my own way of living (she's also totally hot in red - another shameless pun).

The lovely lady in the second image, and my best chum, is Layla; I based her design around the element of air. I did discuss the reasons why I chose these elements for each of my friends but I wasn't entirely truthful about Layla's. One of the main reasons I chose this element for her was that I adore her laugh. It's not a cliché airy giggle, quite the opposite but I smile and laugh along every time I hear it. Her happiness (and the happiness of all my friends) raises my own spirits and spending time with them never fails to bring me joy. Her laugh, despite being the opposite of an airy giggle, reminds me of the cliché anyway. 

"She is like the wind, open and free.", is a quote by Christine Feehan (cited in Dark Prince) that I have come across once before and I think it is extremely fitting for my friend. I do not know what the original sentence is describing or explaining (as I have not read the extract it comes from) but I think it describes Layla a lot. She's often travelling around, exploring different places whether it's abroad or at home. She's always got something to do but she takes it so well and seems as if nothing is to hard a task for her. There's a lot about my friends that inspire me and the motivation Layla has is one of them! 

Now I know this isn't really drawing with a pencil and paper but I enjoy it and it's still an art. I have been practicing with traditional materials as well but I'm not quite ready to show that off yet as I haven't finished the pieces. I'm sure you'll see them soon enough over on my Instagram account (awanderlustbeing) though.

I think that's it for this blog post! I was planning on doing Water and Earth themed looks as well but I ran out of time that week so perhaps you'll see them pop up on my Instagram. I'll update this blog post in the future if I do happen too them or I'll make a part 2! 

Sending my love,

As always,

A Wanderlust Being.

           -x-