2016 - Rachel Ellen

Thursday 15 December 2016

Too many new things
On Tuesday the 6th, I went to The Clothes Show. Unlike everyone else (it seems) I have never been to it before and I ended up going to the final day ever in Birmingham before they move to Liverpool.

I didn't actually buy any clothes, although there was some really nice stuff. I got quite a bit of make up and skin products due to the deals that were on. Maybe I need to go to a make up show.

Here's a nice big list of the things I got and my initial impressions on some of them.



First thing was the £3 show bag, which had a few bits and bobs in. I haven't actually used many of these things. The nail varnish is lovely, and below, I have paired it with a couple of the other Barry M nail varnishes from the day. The other thing I have used is the popband, pictured top left. It is supposed to be comfortable on your wrist and work as a bobble. I have quite smooth heavy hair so maybe it's just me, but it didn't hold very well.

So the Barry M stuff. At their stall, they were selling this little set, with the make up bag for £10. For me, it was worth it for the nail varnishes, never mind the other bits.




The nail varnishes are great, apart from the blue one that needs a particular top coat to use. The first and the fourth shown in the picture are the two I used on the picture further up, they are currently sold as a pair in Superdrug. They dry reasonably quickly compared to the last Barry M varnishes I have had. 




The lip products and the palette are a little disappointing and some a little unusable (the loud mouth lip thing, it's sticky and a really unpleasant colour.) But the lip balm, is quite nice, it's a little moisturising and is purple tinted. I think I'll stick to just the nail varnishes with Barry M in future.

Glamour magazine had a stall and they were offering a gift bag with all of the below, January's magazine, and a years subscription for £9. As someone on a magazine journalism who buys the mag every month, this is a great deal!



The coconut shampoo and conditioner is really nice, I was in need of quite a good conditioner so I'm really pleased for this! I'm excited to use the St. Tropez fake tan, I've never used their products before, let's see f they can convert me from St. Moriz. I love the bottle for the finishing spray, I don't think it's any different to many hairsprays but a really great size!

And of course, the part we've all been waiting for, Spectrum brushes!



Spectrum had a stall there which was absolutely swamped. I did initially want the pink handled ones which are everywhere but they were sold out. Then I spotted this set, which is almost the same as the set in the glam clam (£59.99), without the brush carrier, these brushes were £25, that works out at £2.50 a brush can you believe it? B06, which is an eyeshadow blender, is my favourite so far. The brushes are super soft and completely vegan and cruelty free, which is great. They only pick up a little bit of product, which is good in most of the brushes, however the large one, I would prefer it to pick up more product.



If you need a good angled contour brush, this w7 one has done me proud for quite a while now, I picked it up for about £3 when I first wanted to try contouring and it's amazing. The only real difference between that and the spectrum one is that it picks up more product. So with a light hand, it's a really great brush. It's £6.95 on the website, but have a look around cos their stuff is cheap in a lot of places.

What do you think of anything I got from the show? Will you attend the new Liverpool show in the summer?

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx

Wednesday 7 December 2016

How to be a grown up - Cook a vegetable

Are you a student? Or a rubbish cook? Or very unsure what on earth to do with a vegetable (other than asking for non on your pizza) Then look no further.

Use this recipe to impress your family and friends. You can make soup AND use vegetables!

Ok sorry for the cheesey opening, but all of that applies. This is a really easy recipe to follow for even a novice cook (me). The ingredients are pretty flexible so don't worry too much but obviously, if you only add one carrot, there's going to be a difference

This is an adaptation from this recipe > Carrot and Parsnip Soup

Serves 3/4

First things first, ingredients:

  • 4 decent sized carrots (I've used 5 cos they were small)
  • 4 decent sized parsnips
  • 1 onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • A stock cube (chicken or vegetable will work)
  • 1 tablespoon of Chilli powder
  • Salt (to taste)
  • Pepper (to taste)
  • Oil
  • 1 tablespoon of butter (or margarine)

Don't worry if this seems a long recipe, I've just really broken it down. Now let's get stuck in.

1. Peel your carrots and parsnips, and chop the end of each one so you don't have the stalky bit, I chop a bit of the bottom end off too because I don't know if you need to.

2. Chop your carrots, parsnips and onion, do the carrots and parsnips reasonably small (like the picture) so they cook properly.

3. Grab a good sized pan and heat the butter and a small amount of oil (to stop the butter burning). I used margarine because I don't want to buy butter just for this and it worked just fine.

4. Put the pan on a low heat and add the chopped onions. Crush your garlic into the pan (I fully advise getting a garlic crusher, I suffered without for so long but just got one for my birthday - I'm 23 let me live). You want to keep this on a low heat so you don't burn the onions, you want them to soften and look a little clear. Heat this for about 10 minutes.

5.Add 1 litre of boiling water and your stock cube together to make your stock. Add this mix and your carrots and parsnips to the pan with the onions and garlic. Add salt and pepper however you like it, I like a lot of pepper and minimal salt. And add your chilli powder, again, depending on how you like it, if you have hot chilli powder like I do, add a little less.



6. Bring mixture to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes with a lid.

7.Make sure the vegetables are soft. Use a hand blender to liquidise.

And you're done! BBC food website says to sieve the soup before eating it, but I actually don't mind if there's small bits of veg still in it.


Now you have quite an impressive, wintry, slightly spicy soup. Tell your parents you'll make soup on Christmas day!

Let me know if you have a go at making this soup and how it goes, good luck!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx





Thursday 1 December 2016

Snapchat Challenge!

Tomorrow I will be doing a Snapchat challenge for an article in my uni portfolio.

For that challenge I will be getting as many Snapchat trophies as possible in that day. I have created a new Snapchat account: RachelScape

So, anyone that would like to follow my snapchat journey, or would like to send some pictures to me, or even receive some from me, add the account!

I will update you all on how it goes in a few days!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx

Wednesday 23 November 2016

Stressed, But Happy



I started my Masters degree nearly 2 months ago (I actually can't believe it has been that long) and I have been through so many emotions over it that I can't even express them all.

Everyone knows that a masters degree is going to be harder and more work than an undergraduate degree, and yet my little brain still wasn't quite prepared.

In about 3 weeks time, I have 8 articles due in, an essay, and in January I have an exam. I think the most I had at one time in my last degree was five essays, and that was hell.

I realise articles don't seem nearly as bad as essays, and that's true in some respects, they're much more fun and your topic is much more free. But you also have to do so much for it. You need your initial idea, you need to develop it, choose an audience, choose a platform, find the information (which a lot of the time can mean interviewing someone), write it, re-write it, get feedback, basically start it again, take pictures/videos/sound, edit, hit word counts (and you have to be very close to your word count.)




I know I sound like I'm complaining, but I'm not. This is all the most exciting, exhausting, draining, fulfilling thing I have done. I spend each day going through such a wide range of emotions

I have never done a "creative" course before. Since school, everything could be done from the comfort of my own laptop. It's so exciting now that I get to have so much hands on experience.

I can't wait until all of my efforts start coming together, some of them are really exciting and I can't wait to share them with you all

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx


Monday 7 November 2016

The Red Poppy

Wearing a poppy at the beginning of November is something that has always been important to me, but over the recent years there has been a lot of controversy about it. Controversy that has confused me.

There have been increasing numbers of scaremongers amongst us, telling us who is offended by the poppy and why. But with my understanding of the poppy, the only reason you would be offended would be if you had the wrong end of the stick.

In the simplest of terms remembrance day and poppies are a symbol of respect and remembrance of the fallen. But I have always been taught that it is more importantly remembrance of the loss and devastation caused by war.

I do not believe that it is for patriotism, I do not believe that it is for pride, I think it is the opposite. I think it is to remind each generation what once was, in the not so distant past. And what could be if we're not aware of our past. Now don't get me wrong, I know there have been wars since the world wars, and that is devastating. It is heartbreaking that the people making these decisions are the same people that wear poppies every year without thought.

There are rumblings currently of white poppies to represent peace, but to me the red poppy should represent our future peace. The red poppy was the first flower (or one of the first) to grow on the battle grounds, the fields of blood red flowers to remind us of the past, to hope we can stop it from happening in the future. I understand the sentiment of the white poppy, and I know it goes back way before my lifetime, but to me the red poppy gives the true impact of the consequences of war.

So this poppy day, as with any other, I will wear my red poppy as a sign of my political stance against war and all its devastation. I will use my two minutes of silence as thought, not only to the fallen, but of hope that no more will fall. I will not narrow my thoughts to only this country. I hope you will all do the same and not stain the meaning of the red poppy.

"Lest We Forget"

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx


Image taken from : here

Wednesday 2 November 2016

What is a Bullet Journal?

What is a bullet journal? I know many people already know but for a while I didn't, and then for about the past year, I'd seen them around but never really looked into them much.

But this week, in an odd, over-tired decision I decided I was going to start one, so cue the googling, youtubing, pinterest-ing etc.

You will find loads of information all over the web about these things, but in the simplest terms, and you may have already guessed, it is a journal. In longer terms, it is a creative outlet and an organisation system. With a lot of uni stuff going on for me at the moment, I decided I needed something to do that wasn't high pressured and is just a bit of fun. Whether I keep up with it or not, I'm not entirely sure!

On bulletjournal.com there is a lovely video for basic set up of these journals, however you can still do whatever you want. The video and the website (and everyone on pinterest) seem to use the same kind of notebook, but I went for a small A5 sketchbook, firstly because I had one, secondly because I like that it opens easily.

First they tell you to set up an index (although, I'm sure it's a contents page, but I'm not the expert) and you will number every page. Next The Future Log which the video says to do 6 months, but I did a year. And then a monthly log;
List all the dates of the month on one page, and all your tasks for the month the other.

After that, a daily planner, which I haven't taken a picture of because it looks boring, but this is where the "bullet" name comes from, you bullet all the things you need to do/have done in the day, it becomes a nice reference point to work from. I plan on using a double page spread for a week. In that spread I am also including any money I spend, money for me is on a very tight budget at the moment, so if I can see every penny I'm spending, and wasting, this might make me spend less.

Next, because, again of my money situation I have created a meal log;

On the left, I have listed all the food I have, I know I look like I have a lot at the moment! At the bottom of the page I have included two boxes, extra food I buy in the week and wasted food. This way I'll know what I should buy more of and what I should stop buying. On the right, I have broken down into days and meals, this way I can track what I'm eating and what I'm using. I have colour coded the days (cos it's pretty, no other reason) and any food I buy rather than make, I am putting in black eg Tuesday Lunch Hot Roast Pork Sandwich (although totally worth it.)

I hope to keep up with this journal when I can, and I'll be scouring Pinterest for new ideas!

Let me know what you think, and link me to any of your own posts about journals of any kind!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx

Sunday 23 October 2016

Autumn updates

The blogging community's collective favourite time of the year has come around again, Autumn! The weather is dipping meaning more chunky jumpers, scarves, hats and gloves. The trees are vibrant shades of reds and oranges and Halloween is just around the corner.



In the educational world, this means things are getting serious, we're not a newbie anymore, we have so much more knowledge already and we're so tired.

So far on my course (if anyone is interested) I have about 3 trees worth of notes for Media Law, I have done hours and hours of Shorthand, I've been in discussions about the ethics of journalism, learnt a lot about news writing and even more about multi-media.

We have been taught about filming, photography, voice recordings, both on mobile and the specialist equipment. I think I've learnt more in my four weeks of this course than I did in three years of my undergraduate degree.




A picture I took in one of my multi-media sessions

I think, unfortunately the fun stuff is out the way, and now I'm moving on to the serious work, we're thinking about assessments more and more, which is terrifying, I feel like I've only just started.

How's everyone's educational year going so far?
Or are you missing/not missing education?

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx

Ps. Here's another picture from a multi media session, I haven't found any appropriate context to share this so here it is!

It feels like modern art


Wednesday 12 October 2016

Goodies From The Body Shop


Last Friday I visited Meadowhall in Sheffield with my boyfriend for him to look for a birthday present for his Gran. On our journey we ended up in The Body Shop (no surprises, it's the title of the post) and when I was in there I was told about a little deal they had on.

You could get any three single items for £20, and that includes the big pots worth £28, so really, how can you say no? My favourite smell from The Body Shop is the British Rose, it's just so gentle, but unfortunately, they didn't make that in the big pot, so instead I picked up two big pots of the Moringa body butter, quite a flowery smell, nothing overpowering, and a smaller pot of the British Rose body butter.



So, £28+£28+£14= £70 worth of stuff for only £20!!

But that's not all...

They had another deal (another! I hear you say) that if you spent over £25 you got a free tea tree set. As my boyfriend had chosen something for his gran, we had spent the more than enough.




Within this set I got:

Skin Clearing Mattifying Toner
Skin Clearing Foaming Cleanser
Mattifying Lotion

Which in total should be £20, totally for free. So I spent £20 and got a heavy bag full of stuff! So pleased.

Unfortunately the deal isn't still on, but they have just put a sale on (I only know cos we went back for more, gotta think of Christmas!)

This post does sound like it's in line with The Body Shop, but it really isn't, I was just so excited!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx

Sunday 9 October 2016

Learning Shorthand


Two weeks ago, I started my Masters degree in Magazine Journalism and I think I've been tired for those whole two weeks. I have had so many contact hours in uni, in fact I did more in my first day than I would have done in 2 weeks in the final year of my undergraduate degree! The whole thing is so fun and so crazy and scary. I'm meeting a whole new set of people, learning a new set of skills, and so much knowledge. 

But for today I am just going to talk about shorthand. I am in uni Monday - Friday at 8am for shorthand for 2 hours. 8AM! I haven't missed a single one so far which is a lot better than most people! 

Shorthand is a skill that many journalists have, although it is becoming less used. Shorthand is defined on Google as "a method of rapid writing by means of abbreviations and symbols, used especially for taking dictation." But basically is like learning a whole new language.



It really does take time and patience to learn and I am finding it so difficult, but I have to keep reminding myself I am only two weeks into the course.

To leave this degree with the ability to write in shorthand will be so special though, especially in the world of magazine journalism where it is much less common to have it. However, with the amount I am working on it and thinking about it, it is starting to drive me a little crazy, as my Tweet shows:

Seriously though, I think I need to get out more! However, me and my boyfriend have just started watching Orange is the New Black and we're really enjoying it, now I need to wait two weeks until he visits again so we can carry on watching it!

Let me know if you have learned short hand, or if it's something you want to do!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx






Sunday 25 September 2016

I Have Arrived in Sheffield

So after many months of preparation I have finally moved to Sheffield for my Masters degree. After a long day yesterday of first packing, then moving and again unpacking 2 hours later I'm almost settled.

I will get some pictures of my room soon enough, but it needs a little bit more organisation and cleaning before I can make it public!

Over the next year I am going to be super crazy busy as far as I can tell. For at least the next 6 weeks, I will be starting at 8am Monday to Friday ( I can't even begin to tell you how mortified I am about that)

I am both so excited and absolutely terrified about this whole thing, but at least the move to Sheffield has gone smoothly. On Tuesday I will be in the building pictured above, so pretty!

My blog has taken a back seat these past few weeks as I have been so so busy, but I've been doing really boring things that aren't worth blogging about.

Has anybody else started uni this September, or returned? How are you finding it?

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx


Image not mine, from Google Images.

Monday 8 August 2016

What Makes You an Adult?


As I am 22 years old, I'm well on the way to adulthood, I mean I don't feel or look like an adult but my age tells me I am. There's some things that remind you that you're not a teenager/child anymore some good and some bad. I just wanted to make a list of the things that really stand out to me at the moment!

1. Being left responsible for things/people. When something, or a child needs "keeping an eye on" and you start looking around for that responsible person, and you realise it's you. All trust is on you, anything that goes wrong is down to you, but it shouldn't go wrong because you're an adult. No pressure


2. Talking about houses, cars, marriage, children etc and realising that you could have all of those things if you wanted to and nobody is going to say no to you (if you have the money). That's terrifying, but definitely one of the plus points of being an adult!

3. A silly little thing which has happened to me a lot in the last year, pens running out! I have never had a pen run out on me before in my life, I used to lose them before I even came close to them running out. In this last year I couldn't even count how many pens I've thrown away because they are empty!


(look at these images, I may as well join the minion memes like middle aged people on Facebook)

4. Making your own decisions is a really big deal. Whether this is a good thing or bad thing is questionable. I could quit my job tomorrow and nobody could stop me, I could book a plane ticket to America and never return and nobody could stop me doing it, how exciting and scary!

 This is hilarious

5. A bit of a serious one, but finding out about how many people take drugs recreationally, it's something that really doesn't interest me. I thought people didn't do them after the talks we had in school but apparently I was very naive in that aspect! I think just realising that teachers do anything kind of reckless is always crazy! I think we still all have that idea in our head of the teacher living at the school like you thought when you were young!

6. My biggest clue about being an adult is clothing choices. When I moved my bandeau tops from my t-shirt/tops drawer to my underwear drawer I really knew I was growing up. When things are "too short" is another pointer, I had to retire some black hot pants when I was about 20 because they just weren't acceptable anymore, let's keep my bum cheeks covered now!

7. Being able to like what you want is a really big deal for me. When you're at school and college you're so worried about what everyone else will think of your choices. Now, people judge you less and I care less what they think! I love that kids trust your judgement too!



8. Choosing your own bedtime is a really big deal, maybe some people have had control over this for a really long time, I have since I left school. But I end up wanting to go to bed earlier and earlier when I've got the choice!

9. Not understanding the cool new words. As much as I do (kind of) know what Fleek means, I really can't use it seriously in a sentence, it doesn't sound right. I think eventually, our capacity to accept these new words really diminishes. 



 I can't tell you how much I love this picture, especially with the comment "I'm an independent dog who don't need no man!"

10. Being excited about household things, I don't mean like decoration because I think that depends on the person. I mean things like cleaning things. When you see something in a shop and think, I really need that, that will make my bathroom shine! Like, take yourself to the toy aisle and calm down


I hope you enjoyed this post, numbers and memes, it's pretty much a Buzzfeed article. What reminds you that you're an adult? What makes you feel like an adult?

Thanks for reading,

 Rachel xx

Monday 1 August 2016

100th Post!
In Feburary 2014 I posted my first ever blog post, and this is my 100th. Admittedly, a lot of bloggers have posted that many posts in a shorter time, but I'm still proud. 

Although I've had a lot of inconsistency and a few lengthy breaks from blogging, I'm so proud of how long I've stuck at it. I even feel like I might have got better at it.

Why I started blogging

I briefly touched on this in this post. In all honesty, when I first made my blog I hardly knew anything about blogging, I'd watch a few vloggers when I was younger (Charlieissocoollike, Amazingphil, Danisnotonfire, JennaMarbles) But I hadn't really come across any blogs, I didn't know how people found them, how you followed them and had no idea of the community I was stepping into.

What I wanted was a chance to write, publically. I've always loved writing, I've been shy about it, I've thrown things away that I've written but I've always loved doing it. My thought of going into journalism was really blossoming and this felt like the only logical next step. 

Starting Blogging

So low and behold I created a blog and started to write. I shared it on both Facebook and Twitter and was surprised to see people actually viewing the pages. I posted 48 times in 2014, 17 times in 2015 and 34 times so far this year.

I somehow came across a couple of other blogs through googling and quickly found out about Bloglovin. This gave me the opportunity to really see other blogs, and have a feed to look at and people other than my family and friends to see my posts.

Learning more 

Blogging turned out to be so much bigger than I had ever realised, last year I decided to make a Twitter page specifically for my blog, giving me the chance to follow other bloggers, for them to follow me and for us to interact a lot. I have taken part in Twitter chats and spoken to many people, I'm learning more about promoting my blog, writing and taking pictures.

My worst part of blogging was finding about the view count. Thinking I was doing quite well looking at my blogger view counts and then reading a post about how inaccurate they are. I signed up for Google Analytics and found much more honest page views, that was hugely disappointing. I'd advise any starting out blogger to look at that first before believing your blogger statistics.

Improving

This year I've already hit a few of my blogging goals, I've hit my end of year target for my page views (the fake blogger number), numbers of posts, numbers of tweets and twitter followers. And each time I try and give myself the next mini goal.

Blogging is something I really enjoy, and most of the things I learn make me enjoy it more, just not that fake page views number! 

Do you give yourself blogging goals? When did you find out about the difference between blogger views and Google analytics?

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx  


 

Thursday 28 July 2016

Uni Preparation
My uni course starts in less than 9 weeks which is absolutely terrifying. As I've been to uni before I kind of have any idea of what I need and already have some things from last time (check out my full "What Do I Need to Take to Univeristy?" here). This post consist of a few things I've collected especially for university, that I won't use at home first.

Stationary 

I do have some bits and bobs left over from uni last time, but most note books are half used, folders still have my work in because you never know! So I've got myself a little collection of things, I'm sure I'll need more but I'll wait until I've started, I know a nice little shop in Sheffield that sell folders quite cheap! I also need some pretty pens as well as the standard bic black



Ipod dock

This Ipod dock is what I had at uni last time, although I no longer have a phone or iPod that fits this I have a little adapter and audio jack wire which means I can still use it! I do have a full stereo system at home but I was always worried it'd be too loud to have at uni. Having music on is really important to me, especially when doing work so it's hard for me to cope without it!
 

 Kitchen essentials

The spice rack on the left is something I had all through my undergraduate degree (meaning I do need to replace the spices) It's really useful to have different herbs and spices when you're eating on a budget, it helps make even the cheapest of foods a little more tasty! I would fully advise one of these for everyone.

A good frying pan is everyone's best friend, I used mine for so much at uni last time so I decided to get a bit of a posh non stick one this time, is it sad that I'm excited to use it and see how nicely it cleans afterwards? Yes Rachel it is very sad.

Generous gifts

I told a lady at work how much money I had to save for this degree and how I would have to take bits from home rather than buying much, she very generously brought me a few bits and bobs she doesn't use at home that she would have ended up throwing away, I'm so pleased with all of these! 



 Others

Another gift was the mattress protector from my boyfriends Gran, I was a little concerned what she thought of me and why she thought I needed one, but turns out it doesn't fit her new bed.

A very nearly new baking tray, me and my boyfriend made ourselves cookies a couple of weeks ago and wanted a nice non stick tray to put them on so I bought this one and said I would take it to uni with me. I was always surprised how much I actually needed a baking tray when at uni the first time.


These are just a few bits and bobs I've got stored ready to go with me, I'm getting more nervous and more excited to go by the day!

I've also received an email from uni telling me about the first book I should buy to learn short hand over summer, how exciting!

Are you going to uni in September?

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx

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