All WE Know Now

CARRIE
If you are someone who spends a lot of time on Youtube (like me) then I'm sure you already know Carrie Hope Fletcher, or as she goes by on youtube, ItsWayPastMyBedtime. And if you do know her then you'll also know that her book, All I Know Now, came out last week. I very excitedly went into Waterstones this week and bought my copy of her book, and then sat down in their café with a latte and a big slice of millionaires shortbread and began reading it.

And so, in celebration of Carrie's book coming out I decided to tell you five things I have learnt during my nineteen years of life, or more simply, all I know now...

1. Bread Makes You Fat
Now this one might seem obvious to you lot, but picture a 14 year old me, happily watching KickThePJ videos and not watching Scott Pilgrim vs The World. It wasn't until I watched that film a few years ago that I understood a lot of the references PJ had made in his videos about it. So when PJ said in a video that bread doesn't make you fat, I stupidly took his word for it (I don't know why, I was young). Cut to me watching Scott Pilgrim vs The World and hearing the rest of the line and it's then that I find out that bread does make you fat. My mum confirms it. My world is shattered. I can't eat endless amounts of bread and not get fat. Now, let's get real here for a second; I still eat a lot of bread, that will never change, bread is my one true love. But I do now know that it's definitely not good for me.

2. Your Makeup Doesn't Come Off When You Sleep
Well that's not strictly true, it does come off when you sleep (the evidence is on your nice was-white pillow), but it doesn't properly come off. When I was first getting into makeup in my early teens I remember my mum telling me to take my makeup off before going to bed, and I responded my saying 'It comes off when I sleep, I don't need to.' YES YOU DO YOUNG CHLOE. Taking your makeup off before going to sleep is the best, and easiest, thing you can do if you want clearer skin. It stops dirt and oils from building up and plus, it feels so good after a long day (unless you have really good makeup on, then it just feels heart-breaking, but you gotta power through that pain).

3. It's Better To Have One Flower Than 100 Weeds
This is basically just me saying, it's okay to not have hundreds of friends, but making it about plants because why not. I have never been good at making friends, and I have about eight years of experience in not having friends in my classes. (I was that one person who loved seating plans in school because it meant I didn't have to worry about not having friends to sit next to!) But I've come to realise that it's okay to not have loads of friends, as long as the friends you do have are rad as heck. If your friends are amazing and love you as much as you love them then don't you worry about only being a three person group. And it's far better having just a small handful of wonderful friends than having lots of fake friends who don't really care about you (speaking from experience here, trust me on this).

4. Don't Do Anything Once You've Painted Your Nails
I am the worst at chipping freshly painted nails, I've been known to chip or scratch my nail varnish within minutes of painting them, so when I say wait at least an hour before you do anything when you've just painted your nails, TRUST ME.

5. Fuel Your Passion 
Whether your passion is writing, photography, playing guitar or acting, fuel it! If that means spending hours practising, or grabbing five minutes to write something when you have the chance, then do it. My dream is to be an author and it always has been (apart from that weird time when I was very young and wanted to be an ice cream van driver), but for some reason between the ages of about 11 and 14 I stopped writing. I have no idea why, but I am constantly grateful for the forums on a gaming app I used to play that made me start writing again. Because of those forums I rediscovered my love of stories and writing, and now here I am five years later studying creative writing at university and getting my passion for writing fuelled every single day. So don't give up on your passions, keep going with them, and you'll reach your goal soon. Promise.

VOILA


Well, there we go, five things I know now. I hope some of those helped you, even if it was just a little bit. If you want more life lessons then make sure you go read Carrie's book because it's wonderful.

Thanks for reading, remember to follow me as I post once a week (and very often more)!

Love Chloe x

HAVE SOME LINKS:
'All I Know Now': https://www.waterstones.com/book/all-i-know-now/carrie-hope-fletcher/9780751557510
Carrie on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ItsWayPastMyBedTime
Me on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGiddyElf

Australian Adventure

FOND MEMORIES

So this time last year I had just gotten back from Melbourne, Australia. For the past two weeks Facebook has been telling me things I was doing last year and showing me photos I'd posted whilst on my adventures. (Thanks to the rad little "on this day" feature they have!) I have such fond memories of my Melbourne adventure and the photos I took there always bring a smile to my face when I see them.

And so I thought, why not create a blog post about my time there? So here we go! 

PHOTOS AND STORIES 

This is Degraves, or as we renamed it 'The Dark Alley'. It was the raddest alley lined with cafés, restaurants and a couple of shops. We went down there for breakfast nearly every day because all the cafés were so good. My personal favourite was either 'The Journal' or 'The Quarter'. 

I'm a huge fan of the Australian soap 'Neighbours' and we got to go on the set and even meet a star! This was James Mason who plays the character of Chris on the show. 

This is probably my favourite photo from the entire trip! Taken on The Great Ocean Road, where we had stopped at this little area that was basically just some trees and a tiny shop, but in the trees were hundreds of rosellas (that's the bird for anyone who doesn't know)! Our tour guide gave us bird seed and the rosellas would eat the food straight out of your hands. I even had birds on my shoulder and head! 

This is my and my sister at the aquarium. This was the best tank, filled with sharks and huge stingrays. It was amazing. 

I love this photo! My mum having a stare down with a shark! This guy was a proper mean looking shark, he looked like he'd definitely eaten some people before...

Penguins at the aquarium. 

This is the entrance to the Great Ocean Road! 

Our first stop on the Great Ocean Road was Lorne. Here we had coffee in stained cups (a bit gross but we laughed it off, it's cool), ate delicious biscuits and watched these people surfing! The cool thing about stopping in Lorne was that my mum realised that we'd stayed in the campsite just across the road when we'd been there about 20 years beforehand. I was one the first time round so I obviously didn't remember it, but it was still rad to know! 

Still in Lorne. There was a koala sitting in one of these trees and cockatoos flying overhead! Our first proper sighting of Australian wildlife. 

Incase you needed a reminder of why I love Melbourne so much. 

Me and rosellas. Seriously in love with this birds.

Look at this cutie.

I waded across a little bit of sea to a small sandy patch to take a photo of this beautiful starfish. 

These are the Twelve Apostles, the highlight of the Great Ocean Road tour. It was so beautiful here, like this photo doesn't even begin to cover it.

Another apostle!

#nofilter

We also went on a day trip to Philip Island for the Penguin Parade (penguins coming out from the sea at sunset, I have no photos of that because you're not allowed to take them there). We first stopped at the Moonlit Sanctuary where we got to feed kangaroos. This one held me hand. It was the best moment of my life.

I kinda wanted to take this little guy home. SO cute.

#nofilteragain. This was at The Nobbies, where we stopped just before going to the penguin parade. It was hella windy there but so gorgeous.

This was the first photo taken of me in Melbourne! We were waiting to meet one of my sisters friends for coffee. 

This was along the Great Ocean Road also, at a place called Cape Otway. We had lunch here and then had a little while to explore the area. I loved it there and I want to go back!

FIN

And that's it. I took over a thousand photos while I was there so obviously this is just a very small selection of them. I had the time of my life in Melbourne and I'm hella excited to be going back in December! 

If you ever get the chance to go to Australia, please do! I promise you'll love it. 

Thanks for reading, remember to follow me for posts at least once a week (and very often more). 

Love Chloe x

P.S. Sorry the photos are in a slightly odd order. I'm blogging on the go and I don't know how to move them around on the app...

Human Stories // AMBER LILLY PAYNE

BEFORE WE BEGIN...
I just wanted to quickly explain what this is. So basically I had this idea for a series of blog posts called 'Human Stories', in which I ask a bunch of people some questions about their lives and the stories within their lives. And so that's what this is, it's the first one and today you'll be meeting my dear best friend, Amber. Make sure to look out for future Human Stories and there will be opportunities to get involved with it at a later date too! Enjoy! :) x

* * *

Human Stories // AMBER LILLY PAYNE

This is Amber...

Why do you like this photo of you so much? What is the story behind it?

I chose this photo because I can’t use Jade’s photo of me as Merida and so here’s the runner up :’) This photo was a headshot done by my good friend Tom Ridgeway, and oh the giggles we had trying to get to the photography room when the doorway was blocked by piles of artwork and things, we were still laughing between shoots. I feel like this photo actually shows me, and not just my face, I mean you can get an idea of who I am and what I’m like just looking at this photo. I think it’s pretty neat that a photo can reflect personality as well as personal appearance.

The Basics

• Name? Amber Lilly Payne

• Where do you live? On weekdays I live at Bracknell Forest, Berkshire. I spend my weekends in drinking tea in Narnia.

• Favourite food? Either margherita pizza (toppings are too much if planning on devouring an entire large pizza) or carbonara pasta.

Describe yourself in one sentence

“I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious.”

Childhood - What is your favourite childhood memory?

My favourite childhood memory is probably exploring my Nana and Popa’s garden in New Zealand. Think of the film The Secret Garden, then add random animals walking through occasionally because of the farm which you have to go through a hidden pathway to get to. New Zealand is magical.

Dreams - Do you have a dream for your life? Is there are story about how this dream came about?

I want to act, more than anything. I especially want to become a well known actor because I have had Generalised Epilepsy for six years, and more recently have developed Gilbert Syndrome (laughably harmless) and Asthma (I call them Effie, Gilbert and Annie for short). I didn’t know of many performers at all who had conditions that could potentially stop them from performing or from doing anything else major and I think it’s really important to have people there that people like me, with conditions, can relate to when times are tough. I want everyone to know that illness doesn’t have to define you. You are not your illness.

What don’t we know?

I plan on learning at least five languages by the time I’m old and grey. I’ve got English down, I’m currently learning British Sign Language, Dutch and French. I hope to start learning either Finnish or Swedish and Spanish soon after I become more fluent in the previously stated languages.

Storytime - Tell us an interesting story about yourself.

Back in my college days I was the shortest person there (at a staggering height of 5”1), and so whenever something was lost out of a window or in a small space I would retrieve the items with the help of fellow students by hanging out of the window (with someone holding my legs of course, safety first children!) and use a litter picker to grab a hold of the revision book or whatever it was that had gone out the window. Thinking back on it, maybe my heroic deeds hanging out of windows is what made me so tired at college? I may have fallen asleep and woken up to find my friends had been piling things on me…

Social Media - Where else can we find you?

You can find me on Facebook as Amber Lilly Payne, and Instagram @amberlily.

The Daily Traveller // 18th April 2015

HOMETOWN HOLIDAY
So I live in Bath for university, and I feel so lucky every time I think about the fact that I can say "I live in one of my favourite cities". Now I love it when my family come down to Bath to visit me as it gives me an excuse to go to some of the more touristy spots around the city. And that's what happened this weekend.

AFTERNOON TEA WITH MR DARCY

We began the weekend by having afternoon in the Jane Austen Centre, which actually used to be where Jane Austen lived and is now a museum with a Pride and Prejudice themed tea room on the top floor. I'm actually not a fan of Jane Austen (sorry), but we had heard good things about the tea rooms so decided to give it a go. And boy am I glad we did. It was one of the best afternoon teas I have ever had, and I've had a good few. It was a selection of finger sandwiches, scones and delicious cakes to finish.

These cakes tasted exactly as good as they look.

Endless coffee.

SPACE NK ANTICS
We then did a bit of shopping. My sister and I went into Space NK, to look at the gorgeous makeup they have. I asked one of the ladies in there about foundation that was good for oily skin and she offered to do my makeup to test out a couple of products. Now this wasn't my original plan, but when you're offered a free face of makeup, done by an actual makeup artist, AND using high end products, I ain't gunna say no. She used mostly Laura Mercier products, but with an wonderful Oskia moisturiser. And oh my god, I fell madly in love with everything she used. She then gave us some free samples to test out at home, and basically it was amazing.

This was my makeup about 7 HOURS after she had done it. I'm very much not used to my foundation lasting that long and still looking perfect. 

A VERY CASTLE-Y HOTEL
We were booked into the Tracey Hotel for the night, and this is such a rad hotel. It feels like you're staying a castle and I want to permanently live there if possible. Our room had a four poster bed, a chandelier and a bath where water ran from out the side and into the tub!

I think I'm sticking my tongue out and my sister isn't looking, classic. 

Bath puts on a good sunset.

The castle!

The restaurant had some very Hogwarts vibes going on.

BEDTIME
We ended the day by watching a chat with Russell Brand and the cast of Sons of Anarchy (my two huge loves all in one <3) on youtube before going to bed in the four poster bed that I never wanted to leave.

So my weekend was wonderful, as I'm sure you gathered. I want to do it all over again!

How was your weekend? Let me know what you did in the comments, even if you were just watching netflix in bed all day, haha!

Thanks for reading, remember to follow me for at least one post a week, and sometimes more :)

Love Chloe x

SOME MORE PHOTOS AROUND THE HOTEL

My eyes started watering when we tried to take a selfie, but here's my sister and I at the castle!

Scented Reminders

A WAVE OF NOSTALGIA
I had the idea for this blog post earlier in the week when I sprayed my Chloé perfume (when you share a name with a brand, you gotta use them!) and was hit by a wave of nostalgia for being in Australia last year. I always find it cool how smells can remind you of certain times and places, and so I thought it might be fun to share with y'all some smells that remind me of different moments in my life.

LOVE, CHLOÉ PERFUME
In April of 2014 I went to Melbourne, Australia to visit my sister while she studying abroad there. And it was the best time of my life. I loved every second of it, from feeding wild rosellas along the great ocean road to having to change out of my converse because it had rained so hard. While I was there I mostly wore my Love, Chloé perfume. It's a floral scent but with a hint of spice mixed in too. Whenever I spray this perfume now, which is pretty much every time I'm going out somewhere nicer than uni or shopping, it reminds me of being in Melbourne.

BACON
This one is a bit different to the fanciness of my perfume but the smell of bacon reminds of Melbourne too. And that's because my sister's apartment always smelt like bacon because someone in one of the neighbouring apartments obviously enjoyed eating bacon, haha. This scent is so distinct to me to the point that I can remember perfectly how it smelt right now as I write this in my bedroom in England where nobody is cooking bacon!

DOVE WOMENS ORIGINAL DEODORANT
I use different brands of deodorant all the time, I just buy whatever is on offer, but whenever I use the original dove deodorant the smell really reminds me of summers while I was in secondary school. I don't know why it's summer in particular, but I just can't help thinking of the days when I used to go to the park all day with my friends and just sit and talk. In a weird way though, I really wish I wasn't reminded of those times because since leaving secondary school I realised how bad those friends treated me, and I lost contact with most of them. But hey, that's life. (Woah, this got deep real quick, back to the lighter stuff shall we!)

A CERTAIN BOOK SMELL
A true bookworm knows that not all books smell the same, and so with this one I don't mean all books, just a certain kind. It reminds of being little and reading The Faraway Tree, aka my favourite book ever when I was a child! It's hard to describe this smell properly because it's just a certain type of paper I guess, but the best way I can think of is that kind of felt, spongey material you get, mixed with paper? I can guarantee that most of you will have no clue what I'm talking about so I'm going to move on, haha.

RIGHT GUARD MENS DEODORANT 
I can't tell you what particular one, but I imagine it would just be the classic/original deodorant that right guard have, always reminds me of being at the Danny Elfman, Music from Tim Burton films concert that I went to at the Royal Albert Hall in 2014. I think it's because I was wearing this deodorant that night as it's what my dad uses and I'd ran out of my normal one, so I just borrowed his. Now, men's deodorant smells hella strong, so I could just smell it on myself all night. And now whenever I smell it it just reminds me of that evening (and seeing Helena Bonham Carter sing, which was crazy exciting because woman crush).

BYE!
And that's it! I'm sure there are more scents that remind me of different things, but I can't think of them right now, or in most cases, I can't distinguish what the smell actually is, which makes it a little bit hard to write about.

Are there any smells that remind you of certain times of your life? Let me know in the comments below and we can have a nice little scent based memory chat!

Thanks for reading, remember to follow me for new blog posts every week!

I hope you're having a wonderful day.

Love Chloe x

A Day At The Zoo

HEY
I went to Marwell Zoo with my family a few days ago, and I had such a rad day! And so this is going to be a photo heavy post because let's be honest here, cute animals are better than a load of writing!

ANIMALLLLS

To the zoooo! (Featuring the sun making me squint)

We made it look like the giraffe was eating my head, because why not.

Hippos and hipsters

My sister took this one, but I couldn't not include it, because it's so cute!

Lunchtime selfies

AND THAT'S IT
And that's it! I hope you enjoyed this post, I guess it's a little different for me considering there is so little writing, but I'm making up for it with the cutest animals you ever did see.

In the comments below tell me what your favourite animal is! :)

Thanks for reading, I hope you're having a fab day, speak to you next week ^-^

Love Chloe x