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Hello everyone,

As you’re probably aware, I haven’t been doing much blogging recently. However, today’s post isn’t going to be about catching up on what I’ve been up to in the few months I’ve been absent from this platform. I hope at some point I will be able to fill you all in, but for now, I’m going to be putting the focus on my baking. Baking is something I have had been passionate about for a long time now, and recently I have been turning to it more and more as a way to relieve stress, boredom and express my creativity. I decided recently that I would like to take up baking as a CAS experience for my IB. My focus would be on refining my baking skills to become more experimental and ambitious with my baking and also to hone my decorating skills such as piping and fondant work. I’m hoping that writing about my experiences may inspire some of you to get baking and also help me to document my journey. I’m hoping to do one of these posts every 2 weeks or so, with a new recipe each week! This week’s recipe is…

Sugar Cookies

The first time that I attempted to make sugar cookies it was a lot of fun. I’m quite used to making cakes rather than biscuits, so first off, this was a nice change of speed. I stuck rigidly to the recipe so that I could try and nail it the first time around and then work on testing out my own variations on the recipe.

I used this amazing recipe I found on Allrecipes UK by sadieleemia! Full credit for the recipe goes to her, I do not own anything.

Difficulty Rating: Easy

This recipe is amazing because it is simple and quick. You can have a whole batch done in next to no time, meaning if you’re in the mood for some quick fix baking, this is perfect!

Difficulties:

Since our kitchen was remodelled recently, things are still a little all over the place and I couldn’t find a whisk! I had to use a large fork instead, which worked fine but my arms got a little bit tired after a while.

Also couldn’t find a large mixing bowl so I had to use a casserole pot. This worked fine but it didn’t have the curved sides of a bowl and it wasn’t clear so I couldn’t see if the ingredients in the mixture that were sticking to the side of the bowl had been fully mixed and it was a little more difficult to lift.

The first time I made the cookies I decided to spread all of the mix over two reasonably large trays in one batch in the oven. This meant that the cookies took a little longer to bake and also kind of melted together to make one big cookie, which gave them straight sides when broken apart. They were also more crumbly and fragile. Luckily, the second time I decided to split up the mix to go onto two trays in two batches. With a maximum of 12 cookies per baking tray, none of them ended up stuck together the second time around and they were all the classic rounded cookie shape! Success 🙂

Baking Tips:

Melt the butter in the microwave a little bit before you add it to the bowl. This makes creaming the butter and sugar together so much easier. Just make sure that you don’t melt the butter for too long or else it will burn! I find it’s easiest to put it in a glass measuring jug and microwave that and then pour directly into the bowl.

Try and get even spacing between each cookie dough ball. I found the ones that were spread out more ended up with a slightly different appearance than the ones placed uniformly on a tray.

Be generous with the fudge pieces and the chocolate chips. Whoever tries your baking will be grateful!

Try dusting the cookies with cinammon sugar or icing sugar to finish them off.

Safe to say, the cookies were a massive success! They went down like a treat with my family and also with my classsmates at school. They were so good that I decided to bake them again the following week, since I had some left over ingredients. I chopped up some country fudge and bought some chocolate chips to add a bit of variation, and the second batch was enjoyed as quickly as the first (in other words, a day after I’d made them, they had all miraculously disappeared!)

Are you a bake-when-bored person like me? What’s your favourite thing to bake? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time,

xoxo

Hannah

  Baking for CAS #1: Sugar Cookies Hello everyone, As you're probably aware, I haven't been doing much blogging recently. However, today's post isn't going to be about catching up on what I've been up to in the few months I've been absent from this platform.

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Blank (Original Short Story Opening)

Blank (Original Short Story Opening)

I’ve been asked by one of my new IB English Lit teachers to write a short story opening in a post-modern style. I thought I would share this with you because I really enjoyed writing it. Let me know what you think. xoxo Hannah “Blank” How did I get here? I awake in a flood of panic, face down on the gritty, dirtied flooring of a large, hangar-like structure. As I tilted my head upwards I slowly…

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Hello everyone,

As you may or may not have known, about a week and a half ago thousands of 16-year-olds across the UK received their GCSE Results, determining what direction they are taking on their step into further education. Just to explain the grades: we are a transition year, so our English Literature, English Language and Maths grades were marked from 1 to 9, 1 being the lowest and 9 being the highest. The rest of our subjects were marked on the regular A* to G system that is now on its way out, this being the last year it is being used. The new top grade 9 is the equivalent to a grade above an A*, or an A**, awarded to approximately the top 3% of the country. The grade 8 is an A*, 7 is roughly an A, 6 is a high B and 5 & 4 are high and low Cs respectively. Anything below a 4 is considered a fail.

Results Day was something that took so long to arrive that the anticipation had almost disappeared by the time the day actually came around. I’m just going to go over my Results Day thoughts before and after opening my results.

Before Results

Thursday 24th August 2017

I awoke abruptly at roughly 5.30 am. Due to nerves I found it quite difficult to get back to sleep but nonetheless managed to sleep through until roughly 7.30 am. I quickly started looking up grade boundaries on the exam specification websites (Edexcel, AQA and OCR) so that I could know how many UMS I needed for particular grades. I found these quite reassuring in most cases, as many required far lower marks than I expected. I showered and dressed, ate my breakfast and then went off in the car at about 9.30 – to take my grandma to a dentist appointment. Anxious and excited, I sat in the car listening to Rutter’s ‘The Lord is My Shepherd’ (my calming song) until my friend rang me up about her results. I helped her calm as she opened hers – only to find she had done much better than she had expected, which was reassuring to me as well.

Finally, we set off to school to arrive at approximately 10.30. Many people had left at this point and this caused some anxiety to really kick in. As I walked into the Main Hall and started to approach the results table, my History teacher flashed me a smile. I find that if that happens to you, it’s almost certainly a good sign. I flipped over my plastic wallet with my list of grades and tearfully collapsed of joy in my dad’s arms as I read down the list.

Disclaimer: Just to clarify, I am not in any way shape or form boasting about my grades, I’m simply showing what can be achieved through perseverance and hard work 🙂

My GCSE Grades

After Results

I was absolutely thrilled with these results – especially Music given how many hours I had put into my coursework; 2 compositions, 1 appraisal, a solo and a group piece all paid off in the end! I was also so happy about the A* in Geography as that is the line I am looking to go down at University. I was very, very surprised about the A* in Biology, the exams for which I had thought hadn’t gone too well. It just goes to show you can never really judge how well you’re going to do.

I took a moment to calm down before a lady asked me for a quick camera interview where I told her my feelings, my grades and who I wanted to thank. It all went in a crazy rush because I was still in shock. I was given my yearbook by a member of staff which was full of lots of pictures of my secondary school journey. Other members of staff congratulated me which was so so lovely. I texted my mum who was at work at the time and absolutely delighted to learn that given my grades, we will be off to Amsterdam in the Spring ❤ I also texted my sister who has been absolutely lovely and wonderful throughout all of my exam stress. She’s about to start her GCSEs this year, so maybe it’s my turn to support her! One by one a wave of friends showed their support and congratulations to me, as I returned to them.

On the whole, my school did really really well – here’s a quick extract from a news article off the school’s Facebook:

Decision Time

Over the summer I had been trying to decide whether I was going to stay doing A-Levels at my current school or whether I would go to the local Boys’ Grammar school to do the International Baccalaureate. I simply couldn’t decide so I put off the ultimate decision until Results Day. I surprised many people when I told them that I had decided that I would do the IB. Of course, it means leaving some of my closest friends and greatest teachers behind, but I’m ready for a new adventure. I’ll meet my friends on the weekends and talk to them regularly, but I’ll also have the chance to make new ones. Going on NCS meant that I got to know more people who are also doing the IB which means that I do have friends there already and will make a far more comfortable transition. I felt that if I never gave the IB a chance, I would massively regret it. It’s amazing how supportive people can be – telling my best friends, who will miss me as much as I miss them, what I decided to do next year and having their full support has carried me far.

I’m also fortunate in that the Boys’ and Girls’ Grammar Schools are right next to each other, making it easier for me to meet one of my best friends who decided to transfer to the Girls’ School.

So, starting this Wednesday, I’m studying Higher Level Geography, Philosophy and English Literature and Standard Level Maths, Physics and Japanese ab-initio. Will I encounter new and nerve wracking experiences? Of course I will. Is it going to be hard at times? Yes. But I am so very excited to see what the IB can throw at me – I’m ready as I’ll ever be for this new, two year journey.

To all those who got their GCSE (or A-Level or IB) I hope you all did fantastically well and that you are happy going forward. Remember that what you put in always comes out in the end – I believe in you! ❤

What are you doing next school year? Are you leaving your current school for college? A sixth form? Let me know in the comments below 🙂

xoxo

Hannah

  My GCSE Results & What I’m Doing Next Year Hello everyone, As you may or may not have known, about a week and a half ago thousands of 16-year-olds across the UK received their GCSE Results, determining what direction they are taking on their step into further education.

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Hello everyone,

It’s time for me to talk about something very close to my heart. Just over three weeks ago I met an amazing group of people through a program I am doing over the summer called National Citizen Service. We went on two 5-day residentials, one covering adventure activities and one covering skill related activities. At the start of the program we were sorted into 3 teams that we would remain in for all team activities for the entirety of the program. Over these two weeks we were able to work out our strengths within a team, in order to prepare ourselves for a social action project.

Team 1 Group Photo

Team 1 Group Photo

We decided to make our social action project about mental health awareness, because we felt it was a very relevant topic that everyone would be able to connect to and feel passionate about. We selected our charity to donate our fundraising money to, which is Rethink Mental Illness, a charity that aims to support mentally ill people and their families through difficult times, as well as helping to combat the many stereotypes and the stigma that surrounds mental health.

We plan to do this by holding bake sales, doing bag packing in local supermarkets, hosting a charity football match and doing a 13.2 mile sponsored walk. Hopefully this will give us many opportunities to interact with the public and make them more aware of the many types of and the spectrum of ways mental health can affect people. I know that I have learnt so much already from starting this campaign, especially about being more aware and informed about mental health. So many people I know have stories that I never would have known about by looking at them at a first glance. We have designed a banner for all of our campaign leaflets which looks like this:

We also decided that we would hand craft 50 boxes to donate to Rethink, affectionately designed and named by us as “Pal Packs.” These boxes will contain items to comfort and support the mentally ill in their darkest hours. With items including small bottles of dried lavender, the scent of which is known to have calming properties; inspirational quotes; hand painted worry stones and a personal, hand signed reassurance message in each, we hope to make someone’s day when they need it the most. These boxes will be about shoe box size, some of which we were lucky enough to have had donated by Clarks and Pavers, which we were very grateful for 🙂

The Pal Packs Logo

Collecting the donated shoe boxes

It would be absolutely wonderful if you could check out our Facebook page and give us a like and share, and even better if you could donate something, however small, to our JustGiving account 🙂 We can see that we are making a huge impact in our local community already, with stories being shared and people reaching out to us to ask to help out and support the campaign.

Currently, we are sharing a new mental health story everyday at 5pm British Time and giving lots of updates on fundraisers and what we are doing daily to build the campaign.

It is so important to talk about mental health, because the more we keep it bottled up, the worse the problem becomes. Just know that you are never alone and there will always be someone to talk to.

Thank you for all of your support,

xoxo

Hannah

Support MHA Campaign – NCS Torbay! Hello everyone, It's time for me to talk about something very close to my heart. Just over three weeks ago I met an amazing group of people through a program I am doing over the summer called National Citizen Service.

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Sixth Form/College Essentials and Top Ten Tips and Tricks

Heading into Sixth Form/College next year? Need some advice? Check out my top ten tips!

With GCSEs Results Day looming around the corner, just one week away, it’s never to early to start some preparation for the next step. I’ve been looking up a lot of different advice videos, spoken to some current sixth formers and have generated some of my own ideas about what I need to do to be on top of my game when I go back to school in September. Like me, you may be unsure about exactly…

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What's going on?

What’s going on?

I realise that I haven’t been posting on my blog for quite a long time. I am so frustrated with myself for possibly letting any of you down by my absence. I’m so sorry. Hopefully after reading this post you’ll be able to understand why. So why haven’t I been posting? I’ve  been very busy with summer work, National Citizen Service and my other plans. On top of this I no longer have my chromebook…

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  My Prom Experience

On Friday evening, June 30, 2017, I attended my last secondary school event with people I have known for 5 years. I have to say that the experience was definitely a fitting finale to this chapter of my life. It really gave me a chance to reflect on how much I have learnt and grown over this period of time. I know that I have made so many friends for life and that I have met some truly unforgettable people.

Our prom was hosted in the function room of our local zoo. This may sound odd but it was quite incredible – the tables were so nicely laid out with white ribbons and balloons, and there was a dance floor right in the middle of the room, which you had to go down a few steps to access. We got a view of the whole zoo which was pretty incredible, and we were allowed to go outside (although not into the wider zoo grounds) to take lots of really amazing pictures.

The Run-up to Prom

The evening before prom was time I dedicated to small preparations such as sorting out my nails. I painted them myself, red to match my prom dress, using a Miss Sporty Lasting Colour Nail Polish in the shade 540, Boys Love Me. It is supposed to last 10 days and it’s brilliant as at the time of writing I have had it on for 3 days and the colour has not faded at all! I thought that this was a really great, inexpensive nail polish to use and I highly recommend it as it applies very smoothly and gives a lovely shine. It cost me only £1.99 which was fantastic! I also pampered myself with a charcoal face mask and went to bed earlier so I could look fresh the next day.

The morning of prom I took a shower where I could apply a hair mask and shave my legs. The hair mask allowed me to restore natural oils to my hair whilst removing any residue from hairsprays and other hair products I use. Once out of the shower I made sure to lotion my arms and legs to lock in moisture and leave them feeling smooth.

I then carried on with my day as normal until about 2 o’clock, when my mum brought her friend over to do my hair. I had chosen a tutorial I found on YouTube by Lilith Moon for a braided updo. We finished it off with some gorgeous screw in pearls to make it extra special and applied lots of hairspray so it would last all night.

After this, I put on my base makeup in preparation for my sister returning home to do the more complex stuff for me. I started out by moisturising my face using Aveeno lotion and then applying a small amount of the Benefit Porefessional Primer to fill in my pores and make them less visible. I then moved on to use the Maybelline Better Skin Foundation in Sand, the Camouflage concealer by Essence for my undereyes and the Maybelline Fit Me! concealer for my blemishes. I blended it all out using an oval shaped brush. I also packed my silver clutch bag with my ticket, some spare change for drinks, a power bank and my perfume. I planned to pack my phone and my lipstick later on.

My sister then proceeded to transform my look from everyday to special occasion. She used a gorgeous Makeup Revolution Eyeshadow Palette called New-trals vs Neutrals which is super pigmented and has lots of lovely shades. It cost £6.99 which I think is well worth it for the quality and number of shades you get. She completed the cut crease eye look by applying lots of silver glitter eyeliner to part of my eyelids to give me that extra sparkle. You can get lots of inexpensive glitter eyeliners from Superdrug, Boots or even Poundland! I also wore the Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick in the shade 107 Wine which is a gorgeous colour that stays on for a long time. I wore a gold highlighter from Tanya Burr’s Christmas Collection, some bronzer and had my brows filled in with a brow pencil and some Essence eyebrow gel.

Here is the finish look:

I then got into my red dress and finished it off with a necklace, a red rose corsage, pearl dangly earrings, silver heels and my clutch.

My Prom Dress from the front

My Prom Dress from the Back

A few photos in the garden later and then we were off to my lovely friend Maddie’s house to catch a ride in our transportation for prom.

Travelling to Prom 

We decided that we wanted to take a really classy vehicle to prom – so what better than a beautiful dark green VW Camper van?

My friends and I with our prom transportation

The colour of the camper van complemented all of our dresses wonderfully and it was beautifully upholstered. I sat in the front seat whilst my three friends sat in the back. We were taken by the driver to a few locations to have pictures done with the dream machine before we actually arrived at the venue.

VW and a whole lotta laughs 2

VW and a whole lotta laughs 1

He took a few pictures of use all laughing which actually turned out great, as well as a couple of others.

And of course, we had to take some group selfies as well…

Selfie 1

Selfie 2

This is probably my favourite though:

Beautiful best friends

Then, we arrived outside the zoo where so many parents, teachers, friends and classmates were waiting for us. It was an amazing feeling looking at how well everybody cleaned up for our last event together as a year group. ❤

With some friends

Eventually, they let us into the venue (although not without a check for our tickets and a bag search) so we could go off and party!

Prom

The start of the prom itself was a frenzy to secure seats and tables and to get lots of pictures with people. I was very social, going around and greeting people and telling them how lovely they all looked. I’m so thankful and blessed at the number of compliments I received as well. ❤

I saw a lot of teachers, including my Chemistry teacher who is leaving my school at the end of this year. I was lucky enough to get pictures with her and a couple of other friends too.

Me and my chemistry teacher

Three girls in red

Two of my favourite people

We had buffet food including chips, sausage rolls, quiche, peppers and sandwiches. The queue was long but well worth it as by this point I was starving!

After we had finished our food it was time to get on the dance floor! For me, this was 100% the highlight of my evening. The DJs were killing it on the turntables and soon near enough everyone was dancing. So many people abandoned their shoes to join in on the action. It was amazing to form a giant circle of people during songs and have people show off their moves in the middle of it! Some of the teachers even joined in and went a bit mad on the dance floor (even our headteacher!)

There is something inexplicably fun about dancing and singing along to all of the songs with your friends. We demonstrated our dancing skills during YMCA, screamed the lyrics of Despacito, performed the Macarena in style. We rocked out to Beyonce’s Crazy in Love, went mad doing the Cha Cha Slide with teachers and classmates and held hands in a ring with one another during Coldplay’s A Head Full Of Dreams – whilst singing with equal enthusiasm! I even got picked up by one of my guy mates and spun around unexpectedly! We had started out a little awkwardly at first but eventually let all inhibitions go and went crazy with our moves. They do say that the crazier you dance, the better it looks!

I danced and laughed so much and just let myself live in the experience. Some of the Zoo staff were dancing along as they started to tidy up the venue, which was equally hilarious and also impressive to watch as some of them had really great dance moves. People were shooting videos left, right and centre for Snapchat and the like. There were strobe lights that went in time with the music and it made the entire atmosphere so magic and energetic. I didn’t want it to end and never even wasted a second, constantly dancing along with increasingly more ambitious and absurd dance moves.

Towards the end of the night, at about ten minutes to eleven, they switched all of the lights back on in the function room and turned off the music. Everybody started shouting for one more song and at the Head Teacher’s say so, we got one more song – Dancing in the Moonlight by Toploader. That song is such a classic and it will forever be special to me as the anthem of the prom. It was amazing just dancing and singing along with my maths teacher, best friends and year coordinator. The song felt like it lasted forever and we made use of every second that we had.

Regretfully, we started making our way out of the zoo. We took one last photo and I hugged a couple of people goodbye who I’m not sure I’ll ever see again. The ending was the most bittersweet part of it all, knowing that whilst I have the most incredible evening, and indeed 5 year experience, I may never see some of these wonderful people again. 😦 As we made our way out of the zoo gates (which were initially locked, leaving us wondering whether we were being held captive for the night) I started to play Whitney Houston’s Dance With Somebody, a song which is very special to a friend of mine and myself. Soon everybody started to join us in singing along as we made our way to our lifts home and hugged each other goodbye.

It was one of the best evenings of my life and something I will treasure throughout my life. It was the perfect way to mark the end of an era and to reunite with so many amazing people one last time. If you ever get the opportunity to go to prom, do because I can’t imagine myself not having gone!

Big love to all of the members of my year group. ❤ ❤ ❤

I will end this post with a little slideshow of my prom pictures.

xoxo

Hannah

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A Day in My Life: Summer Ball/Prom Night My Prom Experience On Friday evening, June 30, 2017, I attended my last secondary school event with people I have known for 5 years.

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Blog Improvement Poll

I would really appreciate it if you answered my little poll below on what you want to see from my blog next. I really value your feedback! Hope you’re having lovely days! 🙂 xoxo Hannah

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My 1 Year Blogging Anniversary!! + Q&A

My 1 Year Blogging Anniversary!! + Q&A

It’s my blog’s 1st birthday! 🎉���🎆 Whilst I made this WordPress account over 1 year ago, I only really started using this blog on Saturday 18th June 2016, writing about my Work Experience with the local town council. So much has changed since then and I am truly blessed to have been on this wonderful blogging journey 😍☺️ Let’s go through some of my blogging numbers… 4450 The total number of views…

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Q&A Help!

Hey Guys, As part of my 1 Year of Blogging Post, fast coming around the corner, I would like to host a Q&A! Please send any questions you may have for me in the contact form below! Any question will do and I will attempt to answer them all (you know I love a good, long post <3) Submit as many questions as you like, the more the merrier 🙂 Hope you’re having a lovely week, xoxo Hannah

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Accepting Awards (Long Post Ahead!)

In this post I accept the awards I have accumulated over a few months and nominate others! :)

Hey guys! I’ve realised how many award nominations I’ve received recently over the last few months, and I have gotten SO far behind! It’s honestly embarrassing how I’ve let myself slip to the point of having to compile EIGHT nominations for awards! I’m honestly astounded that you guys consider me deserving of these awards. My blogging family has given so much to me that all I can say is a huge…

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Original Poetry Shorts

I am a great lover of poetry, especially that of Kayil York and Tyler Knott Gregson. Every now and again, I feel really inspired to write my own poetry, so I wanted to share a few of my own poems today with you guys. If you really enjoy it, let me know in the comments and I’ll upload some more <3 Just to clarify, not all poems are written from my own point of view, or necessarily from a female…

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Rapid Fire Book Tag

Rapid Fire Book Tag

I feel like I am constantly apologising for my lack of posts, but with studying it is just too hard to juggle this with everything in my life! :( I hope you understand, just to put it into context, I’m currently on Easter Break, but still attending school during some week days – I’m just that busy! :(  But thanks for being there for me when I need you guys! <3 I was tagged to do the Rapid Fire…

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Cover Reveal: Chasing Cars and the Lessons We Learned by Michele G Miller & Mindy Hayes

Cover Reveal: Chasing Cars and the Lessons We Learned by Michele G Miller & Mindy Hayes

Boy, am I excited to reveal the cover for this book! This is the third book in the sensational ‘Paper Planes’ series co-written by Michele G Miller & Mindy Hayes. Not only is their writing exceptional, both collaboratively and independently, but these two are also lovely if ever you should have the opportunity to connect with them on their social media :) Please go buy their books, they are 100%…

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My Love for the Classic Movie Musical

My Love for the Classic Movie Musical

A recent trip with a friend to see La La Land in the cinema, a modern day homage to old Hollywood musical films, which I absolutely loved, has ignited a fierce and sudden passion for all things movie musical, especially the classics with the likes of Sinatra, Kelly, Astaire and others. Whilst I had delved previously into the genre, having sang some of these songs in various choirs and watched…

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Meet and Greet: 2/18/17 Meet and Greet - only a few hours left, but a wonderful opportunity to share your blog and meet new bloggers! Come and get involved in this great experience :)

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The Rules:

1. Mention the creator – David @ theguywhosaidalwaysno

2. Use the image that you find in this article

3. Mention the blogger who has chosen you

4. Answer the questions

5. Mention 9 bloggers/friends and let them know through a comment on their blog

I was nominated by the lovely Ann of Ann’s Reading Corner! I love her blog so much, and she is absolutely lovely, so go and click that link and check out her posts! :) She also celebrated her 2 Year Blog Anniversary today, so huge congratulations to her, and I hope for many years more of her blog! :D 

Describe Your 2016 in 3 Words:

Refreshing, Exhilarating and Terrifying

Write the Name of 2 People that Have Characterised Your 2016:

This one is a tough one – I think that the two people who have characterised my year are:

Mia from La La Land (although I only saw the movie about 3 weeks ago) – in the film, Mia has a dream of becoming a famous actress, but she doesn’t have the support or means that are needed to get her there. Throughout the movie, she is gradually given the boost and inspiration to get to where she needs to be. This year, I had a goal – to find out what it took to be a Town Planner, my current career goal. When it came to my work experience week, I could not find a placement. I went to my careers advisor, and she gave me the necessary guidance and details to get my dream placement, with the planning department of the local council, and as a result, I had one of the best weeks of my life :) I can’t thank my careers advisor enough for that!

Sam from My Life Next Door – not because I’ve fallen in love with my neighbour, but because I’ve learnt who my real friends are, and that the longevity of a friendship shouldn’t be the determining factor in whether you remain friends or not. If you don’t fit together, then just spend some time apart, like Nan and Sam did. Maybe you’re meant to be with other people, but that’s okay :) I learnt that this year, and I doubt I could be happier with my decision <3

Write the Most Beautiful Place You Visited in 2016 and Why You Liked It So Much:

Coincidently enough, I visited my favourite place in the entire world for the first time in August 2016. Singapore has got to be one of the most stunning places in the entire world – it is so clean, everyone is so friendly and the landscapes are absolutely stunning! I can guarantee you will never be bored, and the food (especially from the Chinatowns) is exquisite. I had what is known to many as a numinous experience, a type of religious experience that I find so difficult to describe. Basically, I had this overwhelming feeling standing by the river, overlooking the light show coming from Marina Bay Sands (pictures of that below) that this was just absolutely stunning and could not have just occurred with no divine intervention, that some greater being had to have created this, that being God, according to my Christian beliefs. <3

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I also had the best time ever on the Singapore Flyer, which is the World’s 2nd Biggest Giant Observation Wheel (165m) and is quite significantly larger than the London Eye, which is the world’s 4th Largest GOW, 30m smaller than the Singapore Flyer; at Sentosa, a resort island of Singapore which legitimately has everything you could ever want (a huge cinema, aquarium, Hard Rock Cafe, a waterpark, beaches, zip lines)! Plus I got a picture on my 2nd F1 Track, the one used for the Singapore Night Race which is actually my favourite!! I cannot wait to go back to Singapore someday, I had the best 3 days of my life so far there! <3 <3 By the way, it has been so hard for me to be selective about the photos I’m going to add below! I’m trying to make this post about the tag, not entirely about Singapore, so I apologise! :) <3

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Write the Most Delicious Food You Tasted in 2016:

This is so hard :( It is so so difficult to pick just one food to single out! But if I had to pick one, it would probably be the garlic foccacia from my local Italian Cafe <3 :) That stuff tastes absolutely lush, drenched in herbs, garlic and olive oil!

Write the Event That Had Marked You The Most in 2016:

Leaving my old friendship group for my current one. It was just something I had to do and felt so much better for – my new besties are people I can’t imagine being without and I feel much more included <3 :D Or maybe starting this blog, which I must say has changed my life and I have met so many amazing people through here <3

My lovely peeps <3

Write the Finest Purchase You Made in 2016, and If You Want, Link A Photo:

I’m not the kind of person to make big purchases. At all. But, if I have to choose one, I’d probably have to say my printed photos <3 I love them!

Write One Place You Want to Visit in 2017:

Again, a super difficult question, and also something that is out of my control, at least for the most part! I would absolutely love it if I could go to Germany (I have been, but only to the Black Forest), Dubai or Amsterdam. If I get good grades in my GCSEs, then I get to choose a location of my choice to travel to, and currently, it’s looking as though I might be planning a trip to Amsterdam! We’ll see :)

Write One Plate/Food You Want to Eat In 2017:

I found a recipe for Chicken Finger Mozzarella Sticks under the Tastemade Story for Snapchat. It looks absolutely unbelievable and I would love to try it! I would also love to have a pesto pizza again like I did with my cousin in Cambridge just over a year ago!

I Tag:

It’s getting a bit too late into the year to nominate anyone, but I give everyone the opportunity to do it who may still want to!

So, how was your 2016? Is 2017 shaping up nicely for you? Let me know in the comments below! :)

xoxo

Hannah

2016/2017 Tag The Rules: 1. Mention the creator – David @ theguywhosaidalwaysno 2. Use the image that you find in this article…