Hello friends,

Once again, I've proven to be an awful regular blogger. In my defence, I've had a heck of a lot of work to do over the last two months or so, but I currently have nothing to do, so I'll write an update. All in all, it's not been the best two months, with thanks to a few unfortunate events mixed in with my own stupidity.

Beginning at my own stupidity, in the last few months, it's come to my attention just how awful I am with money. I have been absolutely, completely, totally and utterly broke for just about two months now (yes - I even used all of my overdraft). This came as a result of careless spending (not even on anything of substance - just the odd £10 and the odd £20), trying to keep up with friends who have a fair amount more money than I do, and not even attempting to keep track of it all. Budgeting is so easy, and I never once thought to do it, leading to a very broke and often very bored Ashleigh. I've been seriously bailed out by the Royal Bank of Mam and Dad when it comes to food and bills, and all the necessary stuff, but I'm lucky I have them. If I didn't I would be well and truly on my arse. So a great lesson has been learned, and will be put into practise next term - BUDGET BUDGET BUDGET.

On to horrible misfortune - my aunty was diagnosed with breast cancer back in September. It was all treatable, and an operation removed the tumor, but she still had to undergo chemotherapy, which she started a few weeks ago. Obviously, it's great news that it's treatable, but it's still shaken us as a family. It's not something you imagine to be a part of your life until it actually happens. The chemo is making her really sick too, and she'll be receiving treatment right up until the day before Christmas eve, which means she'll be feeling rough over Christmas. But we'll make the best of it, and make sure she has the best time she can. These kind of situations are all about positive mentality, which she has thankfully pulled right out of the bag. I know she'll be back on her feet and fighting fit again soon, and I can't wait for her to get there.

Misery struck again last week, as my dog Jess died at the age of 13. Again, this was something I didn't expect to affect me quite as much as it did, and I still haven't been home since happened, so heading home from university for Christmas is going to be weird this week. She was such a sweet little dog - an absolute idiot, but lovely. She's been part of the family since I was 6, and she's going to be missed.

Onto a more positive note - last week, I had the news that I'll be spending a year at the University of New Mexico next academic year! It wasn't my first choice (or any of my choices, to be honest) so I was initially quite disappointed, but then I took a moment to think about it. I would never have chosen to even visit New Mexico, let alone study there, so I'd never know what I was missing out on. Being placed somewhere out of my comfort zone is actually a great thing. My first choices for the universities were places I'm going to want to visit in two years, five years, and further into the future, and they're still going to be there when I'm done with university! But for now, I'm excited for my placement, and I'm happy. I'll be making another blog for my time over there, as it's something I'd really like to document and look back on. But I'll worry about that come next August when I'm jetting off. 

As of right now, it's the last week of the semester. I've but one presentation remaining, and then I'm free to leave. I actually can't wait go home this year. In the first year, nobody seemed to want to leave for Christmas, but it seems to be a completely different ball game - everyone's exhausted and ready for their home comforts! I'm headed to London for the weekend on Friday to stay with Emily, my cousin-turned-Mary-Poppins who now lives in Clapham. I may make a post about it... but I'm not promising anything.

Until next time, buddies.

xoxo

McBusted: Truth Time

Hello friends.

So this has been something that's been brewing in my mind for quite some time now. I have a lot of opinions on this, and I've seen that many many others do too. So... McBusted.

I love McFly. I love Busted. As a girl who grew up in the Noughties, it was inevitable that I'd fall in love with these bands. Their catchy songs, their (in hindsight, god-awful image but) dashing good looks, everything about them was, and still is brilliant. I was devastated when Busted split up, but at least we still had McFly to carry us through the years.

I never forgot about Busted, don't get me wrong. I still have their albums on my iTunes, and I still listen to them from time to time. But I listen to them nostalgically. I listen to Crashed The Wedding and I think about school discos and boys sliding on their knees whilst the girls argued over which member of Busted they were going to marry. I listen to Year 3000 and remember my absolute horror when discovering The Jonas Brothers (our music fan base enemy) had covered it. Busted and their music remind me of so much of my childhood.

And then we have McFly. The band who stayed with us right up until we were adults. We watched them grow up whilst they provided the soundtrack to us growing up. We saw them progress as artists, changing their sound as they grew. Alright, we can all agree that Above The Noise was a bit of a hiccup, but then they brought out this book that admitted it wasn't their best, and filled us with hope of the valiant return of McFly, and promised us a ton of new music. Us as fans were damn excited! We had our boys - now men - dressed in smart suits with a more mature, yet still fun-loving sound and the Galaxy Defenders loved it.

And then it happened.

Now, I was there for one of the dates James Bourne supported McFly on their tour. It was great, because everybody in that arena was absolutely bursting with nostalgia. Arguably, this should have been the end of the Busted revival. But obviously, this is where the McBusted idea was born, and were then included in McFly's 10 year anniversary shows. This could also be argued as the place McBusted should have stopped. It was nostalgic, it was fun... it was enough.

Okay, okay. Give them a tour. They were obviously enjoying themselves. I went to the Cardiff date of the McBusted tour (I was very ill, but I went anyway) and I'll admit - it was a damn good show and I had a really good time. Again, it was extremely nostaglic and everybody was there to remember, and relive.

There's no argument to it. This is where McBusted should have ended.

Here's my argument. Busted were a very successful band in their day. But today isn't their day. They ended all those years ago for a reason. Busted was a threesome, and should always remain one. I know they're friends, and I know they were invited, but it just doesn't seem fair for two members to latch on to a band who are still doing incredibly well for themselves, who have god knows how many fans waiting on their new material. Not McBusted, but McFly.

It was revealed at some point that McFly have two whole recorded albums, just sitting on a shelf doing nothing. The fans are dying to hear this music, and now we don't even know if we ever will. And it's frustrating. It's like dangling something you've wanted for ages in front of your face then pulling it away and replacing it with something old you used to have 10 years ago.

I know I sound harsh and bitter, but the truth of it is, it's what a large majority of fans are thinking. However, there is another side to the story, and something we have to consider.

All our lives, we've had mentors and people we look up to tell us, "Chase your own dreams. Never be pressured into doing something you don't want to do. Do what makes you happy." That's what McBusted are doing. They are a group of friends taking charge of their own careers and altering them slightly to do something they're evidently having the time of their lives doing. Yes, they have an audience to entertain... but do we as an audience hold the right to tell them not to do what they're loving doing?  Do we really hold the right to spam their instagrams and twitters with "wee hate McBusted" and so on?

We all have the right to our opinions. But they also have the right to work on whatever projects they like. If we don't like it, we don't have to consume it. If you're sick of it, just stop buying the music. Don't go to the concerts. But don't just sit behind a screen and throw abuse at them. They know that what they're doing won't please everyone, and that's a decision they've obviously made. It's a disappointment to a lot of people, but that's life. They're having a whale of a time, and it's been long enough for me to become indifferent to it.

In short, I suppose this post is here to say if you don't like it, you're not alone because neither do I. But we don't have the right to dictate their careers. Just find another band to listen to if it bothers you that much.

Do let me know if you agree, or maybe if you think I've been too harsh. I've stated my opinions, but I wouldn't say they were hateful. It's all interpretation, I suppose.

That's it, I think. Yeah.

Until next time, muchachos

xoxo

Two Months Later: I AM SO BAD AT THIS!

Hello friends.

Well, the inevitable has happened. I feel behind on my blog. AND I WAS DOING SO WELL!

I'm not entirely sure what happened. I just lost my motivation over summer, ironically being the period of time in which I had the most free time. It's not as if I had nothing to write about, either. I just lost the muse to do so. So I suppose this will be a whirlwind catch up.

In the middle of July, I went to France for two weeks with the father and brother. I'll be honest; my expectations were not sky high. I knew we were staying in a caravan (meaning personal space was limited, shall we say) and I definitely knew just how annoying these two individuals can be. But all in all, it was actually a very nice holiday. Unavoidably, my brother was a stroppy, grumpy teenager for a considerable amount of time, but I only nearly killed him once, which is a positive. The weather was beautiful for the majority of our stay, so there were plenty of pool days (we only went to the beach once, which I regret because the sea was absolutely gorgeous) and even - would you believe - a light tan. I also ate a truck load of lovely food, but I'm also happy about the fact that I managed to stay relatively healthy. I do love a good salad, and I indulged in plenty over the two weeks. All in all, a very happy fourteen days.

My dad, myself and my brother on the way to France! Possibly the only nice picture of the three of us since the brother was in nappies.

A bonus highlight of the holiday was the revelation of my dad's apparent love for 5 Seconds of Summer. Since falling in love with them and their music a few months ago, I've slowly wormed their songs into car playlists and such. Seeing as we drove to France, I brought the album, hoping for a few cheeky plays. I'm not kidding when I tell you that it was on repeat for the entire trip. All of it. And I'm also not kidding when I tell you that it's still in his car. He hasn't switched CDs. My dad listens to 5 Seconds of Summer every day, and he drives around for a living. You can't make this up. Well done, 5SOS!

Then came August, bringing the absolute best weekend of my life. Ever. I went to Reading Festival. There are simply no words to explain how much I enjoyed myself. Unfortunately, some of the people I went were, to put it politely, dicks. But honestly, it doesn't matter. I stayed with the people I liked and had an absolute blast. In total, I saw Jimmy Eat World, Foster the People, The Kooks, The Horrors, Jake Bugg, Clean Bandit, Imagine Dragons, A Day To Remember, The 1975, Paramore, Disclosure and Arctic Monkeys.

Some absolute highlights included a moment where Paramore's sound system cut out, and they were left with one working microphone and an acoustic guitar, and the crowd sang The Only Exception (it was so overwhelming, I actually cried), the Arctic Monkeys set in its entirety (even though I had lost all my friends by this point), and The 1975, who absolutely blew me away. Matty Healy is a true star. And then there's the Disclosure set, which blew my head off. I'm not necessarily a fan of that kind of music, but that set was like some kind of religious experience. I was absolutely entirely consumed by the whole affair (okay - I wasn't exactly sober but THAT'S NOT THE POINT) and I think being around five rows from the front in a tent overflowing with tens of thousands of people may have contributed to that. When it was over, I felt like I had been dragged through a bush backwards, and I couldn't help but think that's how you're supposed to feel after something like that. It was surreal and incredible and I cannot wait to go back next year. (I would insert a photo here, but between a combination of no phone battery and enjoying myself far too much to document ever move, I ended up taking about two photos all weekend. Oops.)

So here we are in September! It's been a slow starter - nothing all too exciting has happened, but I moved into my new house for uni today! I absolutely love my room, even if the house could do with a few improvements on the whole. I may do a house/bedroom theme post in the future when it's all completely decorated and looking lovely. Who knows?

And that's pretty much it for now. I hope I've patched up the two-month hole in my blog somewhat, and now that I'm back at uni, I'll probably find motivation to continue blogging more frequently. (Let's be honest, what motivates me to write these things is knowing that it's more fun than doing something important like working. Procrastination Level 100!)

Until next time, chums!

xoxo

Birthday Lush Haul!

Hello Friends!

So last Friday was my 19th birthday and I must say, I was slightly spoilt, particularly in the Lush department. Finally, my hinting Instagram pictures, tweets and Snapchats have paid off and the people around me have at last realised that I'm now partial to the odd Lush product.

Quite a few of them a new to me, but I'm excited to give them all a go. But nevertheless, I thought I'd make a little post including all of my little treats. Enjoy and be jealous!

Here's the Creamy Candy bubble bar - I had The Comforter too, but managed to use that one before I even had chance to take a picture of the whole thing, I only used just over half, but it was still the bubbliest bath I have ever seen!

The old trusty Big Blue. I've bought this quite a few times myself and I am obsessed with the smell of this. It's not sweet and it's not anything else either. It's just bloody lovely.

The Sex Bomb. Y'know, just in case. (As if.)

Space Girl. I've bought this myself before too. I was apprehensive about the glitter at first because I didn't really fancy emerging from the bath looking like a disco ball, but it's actually just a really subtle shimmer that doesn't even stick to you. It just looks nice in the water!

Dragon's Egg. I've never had this before but it just looks and smells mightily refreshing.  And it's massive, so there's extra time to marvel at the fizzing of it. It really does fascinate me.

Sakura. Now according to the Lush website, this fellow will 'evoke the first sign of optimism the first sign of spring brings'.  I'm told I'm quite a pessimistic person. Let's see if this balances out, shall we?

Last but not least, Think Pink. It's another ol' faithful, this one. When I think of Lush, I think of this bath bomb. I don't know why. I just do!

So there we have it. I have officially found an incentive to bathe. I've always been a shower person, entirely against the idea of lying in a pool of my own filth, but Lush just changes things, doesn't it? Lovely jubbly. 

Until next time, amigos!

xoxo

(ps. After taking all the pictures for this, I now can't stop smelling my hands. SO GOOD, MAN.)

Mid-Year Check In

Hello friends,

Blogging has been a bit slow over the last few weeks as I've been enjoying the remainder of my time as a Fresher. So this post will be a fill-in of what has happened recently, but is mostly a check-in point for the year. A progress log, if you will, of how my year has been going.

So Friday was the day I said goodbye to the Swansea Student Village, where I've been living for my first year of uni. The process of leaving was a surreal feeling, watching everything gradually being packed up over the last week or so. I may have been back and forth from home a lot throughout the year, but I still became immensely attached to the village. It was like a tacky little holiday camp, but has left me with some incredible memories. What was nice about the last few weeks was that my housemates and I seemed to come together and become closer than ever before. Admittedly, I've had my ups and downs with the people I've lived with, and I've felt let out on numerous occasions, just because I feel like I'm very different to some of them, but none of that seemed to matter over the last few weeks. Obviously, the idea of being separated for three months dawned on us (and in my case, a lot longer, as I won't be living with them next year) and we've all kind of clung onto each other. We've made the absolute most of the Swansea night life and spent way more nights in watching films and TV shows together as our little family. It's been really nice, and I'm really going to miss my little crumbums next year (inside joke - anybody seen We're The Millers?).

Ready for the summer ball. I'm going to miss these freaks!

So now I'm back home for the summer, desperately seeking a job or something to do with my time that'll cost me no money, especially now I have reason to save. I bought a weekend ticket for Reading festival this August. At first, only a small group of us were going but now more and more of my friends seem to be buying tickets. It's going to be quite the weekend, and I'm extremely excited for the whole affair! I also have a fortnight in France with the family to look forward too, which should be nice. There's also my birthday at the end of this month, where I get to see some lovely people I haven't seen in a long while (cough +Rachel Bott) and have some self-indulgent fun. I have faith in this summer. I think I'm going to have a lot of fun!

Now onto the evaluative side of this blog. At the beginning of the year, I set myself a few goals for the year. They weren't strict resolutions, just a few things I thought would improve my 2014. So how am I doing so far?

Blogging: So far so good, right? In January, I set myself a target of at least one blog post a month. As it turns out, I have a lot more to talk about than I expected to, and I've posted twelve posts since that target. A few of my posts on what I would consider to be more important topics have done pretty well too, which I'm happy about. Apparently, I can speak a lot more sense than I thought sometimes! I'm just enjoying documenting and writing about some of the things in my life and I definitely want to keep this up.

Living: In January, I didn't think I was using my time wisely enough. This probably came from the fact that deep down, I was disappointed with my first term at university. It wasn't anything like I expected it to be, and I felt like I wasn't doing enough to enjoy it. But I do think I've done a lot more in the second half of the academic year. I've gone out a lot more, I've expanded my friendship group and I've generally made more of an effort to be open to new possibilities. As a result, I do thing I'm living a lot more. Obviously, I still spend a massive chunk of my time in front of my beloved laptop... but baby steps, guys. Baby steps!

Image: The goal was to either change myself until I could find an image I was happy with, or to ease myself into being comfortable in my own skin. I expected fulfilling this goal to be a lot harder than it was. This year, I'm beginning to realise that, holy shit, I'm not ugly. Am I overweight? Yes. Does that define me? Not really. Obviously I have my down days where I look in the mirror and see precisely nothing that I like, but those days are becoming less frequent. I've found a balance between dressing and finding an image that I'm comfortable with, and not giving a damn what other people think of me. If I feel good, why should I care about what other people think? The other night, I got called a 'fat bitch' by an absolute idiot in a drunken state. Had that happened some time last year, it would have sent me into a spiral of self hate. But you know what? I really do not care. 

Positivity: I have a friend who says I'm the most pessimistic person he has ever met. The more he says that, the more I play up to it, because our friendship thrives from that kind of banter. But whilst I have a strong ability to be a pessimistic hypochondriac-diva, I'm actually more positive now than I've been for a while. And I think my response to the previous three goals has proven that. So yes - so far, so good!

There's one more thing that can't go without a mention. After my Gran died in April after suffering with dementia, I promised myself I'd become more involved with related charity communities. So this weekend, I signed up to a Memory Walk in aid of the Alzheimer's Society, with all of my family. It's such a wonderful charity who do a lot to help people who suffer from dementia and their families. The walk is sponsored, so if you're in a position to donate, here is a link to my JustGiving page, where you can also find some details about the work the charity does and the event itself. 

So that concludes my June check-in. Here's to another six months of positivity!

Until next time, muchachos!

xoxo

May Catch Up!

Hello friends!

I haven't written anything for a few weeks now, so I thought we'd play catch up. May has been quite a busy month for me so far and I can't quite believe that it's just over a week from being over already! But now that I'm done with university work for the year and I have some more free time, here are a few stand outs of the month.

May didn't get off to a great start for me. As I may have mentioned once or twice, my immune system isn't great, and right from week 1 of May, I had managed to land myself a kidney infection. It started off with me either being boiling to the touch whilst shivering uncontrollably, or a human ice cube whilst sweating like a pig. Then came the agonising pain that felt like somebody kicking me very very hard in my sides constantly for the best part of a week, resulting in a stable diet of cocodamol and antibiotics and virtually nothing else (you know I'm really ill when I lose my appetite - this was serious business here!).

But, to brighten up my week of illness, I carted myself off to Cardiff to see McBusted at the Motorpoint Arena, with my two best friends, my aunty and two other chaps. I might have been in pain, but I have to say - the show was AWESOME. I felt like I was 8 years old again, finally getting the chance to see Busted live after being deprived of such a treat the first time round! I had more than enough fun to forget about the state of my health, and it's always lovely to see the McFly boys perform. We were stood right at the back of the arena as we arrived quite late (cocktails took priority - sorry boys!) but it made no difference, as far as I'm concerned. I still enjoyed every song they played and managed to get one or two great photos with the added bonus of extra room to dance!

Doug's wonderful rendition of My Heart Will Go On - hilarious.

The next thing was to move back to Swansea for the last term of my first year in uni. I didn't have a great deal to do but seeing as I was paying full rent, I figured I would make the most of the Student Village. I had one essay to write which, for a change, I feel fairly confident about. Then I had some time to just chill out with friends. The weather has been pretty amazing recently (she says confidently whilst a thunderstorm cracks into action outside) so everybody has been outside in the sun having barbecues and playing ball games, like a good old fashioned 'summer'. It's been pretty awesome! But unfortunately, it couldn't last forever. I still had one exam to go so inevitably, I had to do some revision.  I may have gone slightly overboard with the visual learning, but what can I say? It works for me. 

My wall of knowledge. Actually covers the length of my bed.

Another treat May brought me was a trip to London to see We Will Rock You. The show closes in the West End at the end of this month, so I absolutely had to see it before it left. Not only am I still in love with the show from when my school performed it back in 2011 (I could still quote most of the script and sing every note of every song, and had to try very hard to keep my mouth shut during the performance!), but my absolute favourite West End star, Oliver Tompsett was playing the lead role of Galileo Figaro. I fell in love with him as Fiyero in Wicked, and my adoration has only multiplied by seeing him in this role. He is so talented, it physically hurts me. I recommend anyone who likes musical theatre to just find something he's in and go see it. I'm not sure what his next show is, but when I do I'll be sure to share. You should also check out this song to give yourself an idea of the ridiculous smoothness of his voice. So obviously, I very much enjoyed the show. I'm sure it's touring again some time in the near future, so be sure to see it if it plays near you! 

I also had a whiz around the London Eye whilst I was in the city, which I had never done before. It was a cool experience - I found it a little surreal seeing so much flat, built-up land coming from a tiny valley with a mountain in every direction you look. 

So after these treats, I returned to Costa del Swan for some last minute revision and to sit that dreaded Politics exam (which was held in an Indian restaurant - quite bizarre). It could have gone better, but then again, it could have gone worse. All I know is I'm glad to have it over with and I can safely declare my first year of university over!

So that's been my May so far. It's definitely been better than April, I'll tell you that for nothing. Next month should be fun with the end of year shenanigans, the summer ball and of course, my birthday! 

Until next time, muchachos!

xoxo

A Wicked Evening!

Hello friends!

Yesterday was a pretty awesome day for me, mostly because I got to see my favourite musical ever Wicked for the third time! I knew it was the closing night last night, so literally the first thing I thought of when I woke up in the morning was Wicked. Then to add insult to injury, I saw about ten pictures of the opening scenery from various other Wicked lovers on Facebook, and I was absolutely gutted I hadn't had chance to see it while it was at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff. But then, a change in the weather was to come! I got a phone call from my lovely chummy +Ffion Thomas, asking me if I wanted to go with her and her family, as her brother's girlfriend couldn't go any more (for very good reason, too!). She didn't need to ask twice - I WAS GOING!

The opening scenery - I'm always mesmerised by that map!

 

I had been to London twice before to see Wicked, both times with the same cast. There's always apprehension about touring productions and different casts, especially when what you had seen the first time was absolute perfection. But I have to say, this production did not even slightly disappoint. Obviously it was a little different, and I have my favourites from both casts, but it was truly incredible. I don't know if it's because I'm a few years older than last time I saw it, or maybe because I've been in more productions myself since then, but I noticed so many more details this time around, like the absolutely obscene standard of dancing throughout, or how tight and powerful the harmonies of the chorus were. In particular, the Dancing Through Life and One Short Day sequences showed off the amazing chorus, and still remain as my favourite scenes.Not to mention our lovely Fiyero and Elphaba nailing one of my favourite duets ever, As Long As You're Mine. I'm just in awe. Everything was amazing. I recommend absolutely anyone to buy tickets to see Wicked, either on the remainder of its tour, or on the West End. It is powerful, moving, funny and witty (seriously, some of the Wizard of Oz references are brilliant!). There's a reason this is my favourite show. Okay, I think I'm done gushing now. 

And of course, there was an excellent reason I got my hands on that ticket! Ffion's brother's girlfriend, Sophie, had gone into labour earlier in the day. Then in the opening bars of One Short Day, we got a phone call from the hospital and a little wave of commotion made its way across our row as we learned that Ffion's second nephew, Daniel Ray Jones had made his way into the world safely. Congratulations, Aunty Ffi! 

So I said this post was going to be happy, and I think this pretty much stepped up to the cause! An all round excellent evening to write about.

Until next time, amigos!

xoxo