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Despite not being as good as I wanted to be, I rather miss playing sometimes.When I moved away, this is one of the things I lost and one of the things I wish I had found a way to stick to. When I am home, as much as I can, I will teach myself. I haven't held a violin for almost two years. Hopefully I will still be able to play something.

Add to list: save for music lessons.

Life In Black and White.

When I was younger, I hated old films, especially black and white ones. They seemed to be all about a times that was irrelevant and of no interest to me. Then, when I was about thirteen, I was flicking through the tv channels one day and stumbled across a showing of You Were Never Lovelier. The title intrigued me, so I settled in to watch and pretty soon fell in love with old films, films that weren't bothered about extravagant tricks, explosions, obvious sex and, particularly nowadays, 3D. I love the clothes (even when the movie was in black and white), the dancing and songs (when they are there) and the uncomplicated, slapstick humour. More than this though, I love the actresses, the women who were beautiful in subtle and classy ways. This afternoon, I curled up with a large cup of tea and watched How To Marry A Millionaire which stars two of my absolute favourites, and then spent a long time Googling all of my favourite old Hollywood actresses, finding out all kind of interesting facts and beautiful pictures.

Lauren Bacall: You can't start worrying about what's going to happen. You get spastic enough worrying about what's happening now.

Rita Hayworth: All I wanted was just what everybody else wants, you know, to be loved.

Audrey Hepburn: If I'm honest I have to tell you I still read fairy-tales and I like them best of all.

Marilyn Monroe: No one ever told me I was pretty when I was a little girl. All little girls should be told they're pretty, even if they aren't.

Grace Kelly: I would like to be remembered as someone who accomplished useful deeds, and who was a kind and loving person. I would like to leave the memory of a human being with a correct attitude and who did her best to help others.

Starting New.

Most people make the decision to make a change in their life at the beginning of the year. I've always made New Year's Resolutions, and I always have the best intentions to stick to them, and every year I fail. I think that's because deep down I am very much of the belief that you have to truly want to give something up or make a change, and a date isn't always a good enough reason to do that. An event, life changing, or even just something small enough to trigger an emotion and make you step back and think is what it takes and yesterday I got that emotion that has made me decide to make a change. It has been a long time coming, and there has been many failed attempts, but this time I am determined to sort myself out. Turning 21 in just under a year's time means it is time for me to stop acting the way I have been and make the hard decisions. I don't know how well this plan is going to pan out, but I am going to try my very very best to do everything right. My strategy is organisation and distraction. Wish me luck.

{Image from weheartit.com}

Summer To Do List:

- Read ten books.

- Do some volunteer work.

- Learn to cook something new.

- Write 3 chapters of my now neglected attempt at a novel.

- Reorganise bedroom.

(More to be added soon, no doubt.)

Happy Smiley Things.

I do love looking up pictures on the internet, particularly browsing the many pages of weheartit.com, and so here are some of my favourite pictures of the past few days. :)



[A dream.]

[One of my favourite books...]

[I really want some floral patterned shoes!]
[More ideas for my room next year..]

[And my favourite.. :D]

News of the World? Really?

It seems as if the entire world has gone mad. Not in a surprising, overly negative way; simply more in a 'all of the secrets have come to the surface' kind of way. I don't usually watch the news, however I also don't usually get up early and drink copious amounts of water, but apparently being at home has changed me. Every time I turn on the news over the past few days, I am fascinated by all of the revelations about the News of the World, the hacking and all of the scandals that go along with it. I feel increasingly sorry for the people who have lost their jobs who had nothing to do with any of the wrong-doings that went on, and I am constantly angry that those who were in charge are still not being dealt with in a severe enough manner (in my opinion). I flicked through the final edition of the paper this past Sunday (which I felt I may have to fight for in the shop as people were gathering behind me, eager to get their hands on their own copy) and I will honestly admit I didn't realise how big of a paper it truly was: how long it had been running, how many people read it, how many celebrities they had caught indulging in not-so secret lines of cocaine, how many affairs and indiscretions of public figures they had pushed into the limelight. I will admit that before all of the hacking scandal hit the [other] headlines, I had been going through the paper each week with feelings of contempt. The story of Cheryl and Ashley, the 'will they, won't they?' that they deemed huge news graced the front page and a fair few inside. The pictures that accompanied the story, the pictures that were meant to confirm their reconciliation, anger me beyond comprehension: this is news?! Now, I am a fan of celebrity gossip. I love it; I watch E!, I browse Perez Hilton's blog every chance I get and, thanks to my wonderful best friend, will occasionally go through heatworld.com and see what is going on in this world I am nowhere near. However, it is not news. I don't know when this started to bother me so much but I am full of the feelings that news should be about important things. I am well aware that the News of the World was a tabloid newspaper but I think there are far more important things going on in the world, even for a tabloid. And now this paper has become the thing that everyone cannot stop talking about. A scandal of epic proportions but that affects so many people in so many different ways. Ashley and Cheryl? We all think she's be insane but it isn't world changing, life-threatening or crucially important, is it? Also, ironically, it is not the News of the World. I doubt people in other parts of the world care about this footballer, his incessant cheating and his ex-wife with questionable decision making skills.

Maybe I am wrong. I usually am when I get annoyed about these kind of things but I don't think I am the only one. I can honestly say I will be watching the news again tonight to see how this story has unfolded further. And at some point I will probably have even more to say on the matter!