Rachel Ellen

Sunday, 1 January 2017

Happy moments

It's looking a lot like 2016 is going to be a year that we all recoil from in the future, the "don't talk about it" year, or kids saying "when did that celebrity die?" and we answer "probably 2016", or the history question "what was the pivotal point in 2016 that caused.. (whatever might happen in the future)?"
a) David Bowie dying
b) Harambe
c) Brexit

d) Donald Trump

And it will be, e) all of the above.

But actually, amongst all the events going on in the world, in 366 days, some of us had some really positive moments. So, I'm just going to mention a few moments that made me happy this year.

1. I spent a year out of education for the first time since I was 4. I worked the whole year, saved a whole lot of money.

2. I passed my driving test, something I've been dying to do for years but I just needed the money, and just last week, I drove for the first time since my test as one of my Christmas presents was 3 weeks of insurance.

3. I applied for, got a place on and started a masters degree. To say I underestimated it, is a massive understatement. I've never been as far behind with work in my life, I was convinced I wouldn't even get it finished. But I just about managed it. Now onto the second term.

4. I managed to buy Christmas presents, don't underestimate how much of an achievement this was for me this year in terms of money and time. I even think people liked their presents.

5. I've met loads of new people, I've spoken to strangers regardless of how nervous it has made me, and I even made some new friends.

6. I finally completed my resolution I've had for years of drinking more water, I don't even know what this years resolution can be without that.

7. I've learned how to cook new things, from scratch as well.

8. I've worked hard, in many different aspects and I'm really pleased with my lazy self for that.

For all the terrible things that this last year will be remembered for, don't forget to give yourself a pat on the back for everything you've achieved this year, keep your head high and continue on to next year with a positive outlook.

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx

ps. The Queen, I hope you're alright, let's not start 2017 with a black mark.

Thursday, 15 December 2016

beauty 17:09

Too many new things

by Rachel

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

food 20:34

How to be a grown up - Cook a vegetable

by Rachel

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

university 16:47

Snapchat Challenge!

by Rachel

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

university 10:36

Stressed, But Happy

by Rachel

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

opinion 22:44

The Red Poppy

by Rachel

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

lifestyle 16:49

What is a Bullet Journal?

by Rachel

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