Monday, Monday

Happy Monday everyone!

I've had 12 hours sleep as felt super ill lastnight. Still got a bit of a headache but nothing some painkillers and scrambled egg on toast won't cure. Only two days until my little sausage head Liam comes to visit. Hooray!

What are you looking forward to this week?

F x

TGIF

Okay so here's a new thing I'm going to try. Seeing as I've done a couple of posts already entitled 'TGIF,' each friday I'm going to do a post and say what I'm grateful for this friday (or this week even.)

So this week, I am grateful for the following...

vegetables - because without them I wouldn't have been able to make delicious home made soup.
my birthday slippers - for keeping my feet toasty warm and comfy after a long day at work.
my dads wednesday pep-talk - because it cheered me right up.

What are you all grateful for this week?

F x

Another Favourite Book!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows


Yes, a self confessed Potter fan. Although I didn't read any of the books until 2007, when dared to by my boyfriend. I told him they were 'books for children' and I wasn't interested. And he bet me that I wouldn't be able to get them finished by the end of the summer. Anyone who knows me will know I can never let a bet pass me by and so decided to give it a go (albeit unwillingly.)


I admit, the first two books were written in a way which was obvious that they were for children (well, after all, that is what they were meant to be originally,) but by the time I was halfway through 'Azkeban' I was hooked. Fantasy really isn't a theme I look for in a book, I much prefer real life stories and things I can relate to, but I found myself getting completely lost in this Wizarding World and was (must to my surprise) absolutely loving it. While I love all the books, my favourite is definitely Deathly Hallows. While it's not the longest of the series I just loved finding out how everything ended, who survived, who died, what happened to everyone and all the twists and turns along the way. This was also the only book that has made me cry. I'm not one for crying at stories, I don't even cry in films really, but there were a few moments in this book I just found so emotional. (Obviously the death of Dobby and again at the end of the Battle for Hogwarts.)


Here's a brief (ish) summary of what happens...

Following Dumbledore's death, Voldemort has completed his ascension to power and gains control of the Ministry of Magic. Harry, Ron, and Hermione drop out of school to find and destroy Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes. They isolate themselves to ensure the safety of their family and friends. They do not have much knowledge about the remaining Horcruxes except the possibility that two of them are objects that belonged to Hogwarts founders Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff, and that the third is Nagini, Voldemort's snake familiar. The locations of the two founders' objects are unknown, and Nagini is presumed to be with Voldemort himself. As they search for the Horcruxes, the trio learn details about Dumbledore's past, as well as Snape's true motives.

The trio recovers the first of Voldemort's Horcruxes, Salazar Slytherin's locket, by infiltrating the Ministry of Magic. They recover the Sword of Godric Gryffindor; it is one of a few objects that can be used to destroy Horcruxes (being dipped in Basilisk venom), and they use it to destroy the locket. In their travels the trio comes across a strange symbol, which an eccentric wizard named Xenophilius Lovegood (father of Luna) tells them represents the mythical Deathly Hallows. The Hallows are revealed to be three sacred objects: the Resurrection Stone, a stone with the power to recall the dead to the world of the living; the Elder Wand, an unbeatable wand; and an infallible Invisibility Cloak. Harry learns that Voldemort is seeking the Elder Wand, but is unaware of the Hallows and their significance. The trio decides that discovering Voldemort's Horcruxes is more important than procuring the Hallows for themselves. They break into Bellatrix Lestrange's vault at the Wizarding Bank Gringotts to recover another Horcrux, the cup of Helga Hufflepuff. Harry learns that another Horcrux is hidden in Hogwarts, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione enter the school. They find this Horcrux, the Diadem of Ravenclaw, and successfully destroy the cup and the diadem.

The book culminates in the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, in conjunction with students and members of the wizarding world opposed to the rise of Voldemort, defend Hogwarts from Voldemort, his Death Eaters, and various magical creatures. Several major characters are killed in the first wave of the battle. The battle commences and Voldemort requests Harry meets him in the Forbidden Forest, alone, to battle face to face and meet his fate. 

(I won't reveal the ending purely because I don't want to spoil it for people who haven't read it.)

I also found it really interesting as to what happens to everyone next. Although there's an epilogue of where everyone is 19 years later, JK Rowling had obviously thought about it in great detail and had made notes of what happens throughout all the key characters' lives.

J.K Rowling completed the book while staying at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh in January 2007 and left a signed statement on a marble bust of Hermes in her room which read; "J. K. Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room (652) on 11 January 2007". In a statement on her website, she said, "I've never felt such a mixture of extreme emotions in my life, never dreamed I could feel simultaneously heartbroken and euphoric." She compared her mixed feelings to those expressed by Charles Dickens in the preface of the 1850 edition of David Copperfield, "a two-years' imaginative task." "To which," she added, "I can only sigh, try seventeen years, Charles..." She ended her message, "Deathly Hallows is my favourite, and that is the most wonderful way to finish the series."


So if you haven't read the series, please, please, give it a go. Don't be ignorant like I was. In a way I'm glad I read them at the age I am now, because not only have I been able to appreciate and understand the writing more, but I haven't had to wait for any of the books to come out :)


Until next time my loves <3

Rise & Shine!

More favourite books to come tonight, but first, I have a day of work ahead of me.


Wish I was here with a book and a cocktail though!

My Favourite Books

Today is my day off work! Hoorah! So I'm going to fill it with doing boring grown up things, followed by a bit of reading. Considering I have now reached the grand old age of 22, I have a somewhat younger taste in reading material. Some people say 'immature' but I say there's nothing wrong with being a free spirit! 


So here are a few of my favourite books of all time and a little bit about them!


Blind Beauty - K M Peyton


Really is one of my favourite books, I read it as a child and I think it was the first book I read without forgetting about it for a couple of months when I'd got halfway through. It was also the first 'big' book I read by myself (with more then 200 pages.) It took me a while to finish it but the story is so gripping (especially to horse lovers like myself) I read it every night for a couple of hours until I had finished it. Heres a little bit about the story...


Tessa has major attitude and an impossible dream—not a great combination for success. But she believes that fate has delivered the ungainly horse Buffoon to her and Tessa is determined never to be separated from him. What's more, she intends to one day become a jockey and ride Buffoon in the Grand National. But how can a girl with a violent temper and a "can't do" philosophy gain the physical strength, courage, and money needed to become a jockey, especially when her stepfather would like nothing better than to see her fail? Determination and grit may not be enough—but Tessa's not going to let go without giving it her all.


Confessions of Georgia Nicholson (Series of 10 books) - Louise Rennison


I originally started reading these books when I was ill from school one day, my Mum bought me the third book in the series, 'Knocked out by my Nunga-Nunga's' as a present, but as I had never read the previous two so when I was reading it I didn't really know what was going on, so my friend lent me the first two and after that I was hooked. The series is essentially a set of Georgia Nicholson's diaries, with an hourly breakdown of her embarrassing life. She is so similar to me, I felt that we were sisters separated at birth! 


The story focuses is Georgia's daily life, with her mad family and evil prefects at school making her life as difficult as possible as well as Georgia's main love interest Robbie aka 'The Sex God,' which soon changed to Masimo, 'The Italian Stallion' once Robbie leaves Georgia to go to New Zealand. 


As one of these books was released every year since I was 14, I more or less grew up reading about Georgia and the Ace Gang and used to really look forward to the newest book coming out so that I could take it on holiday to read - even though I'd have finished it by the time I got off the plane. 


I was so sad once I'd finished the 10th book (which came out last summer) and the journey with Georgia and the gang was over. Every book leaves you wanting to know what happens next and when I finished the last book I found myself wanting the story to continue. But since then, Louise Rennison has started a new gang with a character called 'Tallulah Casey' who is actually Georgia's cousin. So who knows, she might appear on my pages once more!


There are lots of other books I will be talking about, but that's it for now as I'm dying for a brew!


TTFN!

So who saw lastnight's X factor?

I must admit, after watching last nights X Factor I was NOT impressed with the final 12 one bit. In all honesty I think the show is really scraping the barrel this year for contestants. Whilst watching the first round of auditions I didn't see anyone who I thought 'WOW, they could really win.' The only people who really stood out for me in auditions were Gamu and Mary. Mary, while I think she has a fantastic voice and seems like a great person, it's unlikely that she could win the show just purely on the fact that the people voting for the show want someone with an image to win. It's a bit like the whole Susan Boyle thing, everyone was rooting for her because she was such a great story, but when it came down to it, did anyone really care once she'd released an album?


Gamu not making the final 12 on the other hand, was a total shocker. I don't think she had the strongest voice out of the girls, Anastasia was probably the best singer, but Gamu definitely had the likeability factor and she had a great image to go with it. Lots of people were talking about her audition and she when being interviewed she was modest but seemed really sweet and genuine. She was different, not a pop star clone wannabe like Katie or Cher. Don't even get me started on those two. It seems as though both of them are only interested in fame and money and their pictures in magazines, not the music. Cheryl said they're both 'quirky' and 'different' but they aren't really are they? Cheryl might think they're different but I am yet to meet a single person who doesn't think that Katie is a total dick head. I think it's most unfair that both of them keep making mistakes and getting rewarded for it, while people like Anastasia and Gamu performed fantastically without any mistakes and had to step aside.


The Groups did okay, I was sort of hoping for Princes & Rogues to get through though because I thought they were quite cool and sang some great songs. Obviously 1 Direction (aka Justin Bieber clones) got put through for the young girls who would be voting at home. I wasn't really too bothered about boys, but I was glad that Matt got through but other than him none of the boys really enthralled me.


Anyway, that's my X factor breakdown for this week!
Until next time!

I have returned!

Hello hello hello hello!


Sorry to have been an utterly rubbish updater lately. Been super busy. I was my birthday on Wednesday and I had a lovely day at an owl & rare breeds farm, followed by a big paella for dinner with family and friends. Then it was time for trivial pursuit! Which I obviously won because I was the birthday girl. 


Now it's back to reality in Manchester, looking for writing work and being a normal person. But tomorrow it's my belated birthday dinner at Frankie & Benny's (how apt!) with my lovely Manchester friends.


Anyway, here are a few pictures from my birthday weekend in Hereford. Enjoy!