A to Z: Aloysius

As it's from wikipedia, I shall name it Wiki,
and it shall be my Wiki.

Today I decided to take up a hobby for a month. As my boyfriend over at Empire 5-star 500 had done the Blogging from A to Z Challenge last year (not too badly I might add) and is giving it another go this year I decided I'd do the same. Only I have absolutely no theme.

So it's whatever first comes into my mind. This could be anything.
Today it is the name Aloysius.
Tomorrow the possibilities are endless.

I have honestly liked this name ever since watching the film version of Evelyn Waugh's (also an awesome name) Brideshead Revisited in school or college (not sure which, it's all a bit of a blur now) and hearing it bestowed on a teddy bear. Since then it's a name I frequently come up with when naming things, along with the likes of Roy (my car), Vlad and Eugene.

I'm pretty much a sucker for naming things. Growing up, there was always a name for the car. Personally, I think I chose the best ones, which is why I carried on the tradition when I got my own beloved yet truly awful car. It's the dirtiest, lowest, most uncomfortable car I've ever been in, and that is why it's my baby. I'm sure others will agree with me when I say that it's always the tattiest and weirdest of things that you love the most. I think probably the best example of this is the much-chewed toy of your childhood.

Aloysius also happens to be the first name of a great character from books by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I had to give this a mention otherwise I'm pretty sure I wouldn't wake up tomorrow morning. He's a character by the name of Aloysius Pendergast who happens to be an FBI agent. So he's going to be pretty cool. If you want to know more I suggest you ask my dear boyfriend (you know, the Empire 500 one) and I'm sure he'd be happy to tell you all about him.

As I can't think of any more to write I'll end there, but I look forward for thinking up something completely at random for tomorrows posting.

Help!

I've got some great news. My sister and I are currently in the process of writing our first novel.

Amazingly, it's not looking too bad the the moment, but it needs a lot of editing and work.

I'm looking to see what people think of our idea. Please please please leave a comment below (or any other way you could communicate to me) about what you think of this idea, whether you would read it, or whether you think it sounds like anything else. We're in dire need of people with this kind of information.

So this is pretty much what would be on the back of the book , were it to be published:


'Evangeline always thought déjà vu was when your brain glitches and can’t figure out the difference between long and short-term memory. That is, until she gets switched and finds herself in a futuristic parallel universe where the government is eradicating anyone deemed undesirable. What’s worse is that her fugitive counterpart has left her in deep trouble. On the run with a man who seems to know her, but that she has never met before, Evangeline is hurled headfirst into an adventure she never wanted.'

It's kind of a sci-fi adventure, with parallel worlds, futuristic gadgets, nods towards psychology and a view of family and friend relationships, as well as government conspiricies.

We'd love to know what you think.

How to Ace Graduation.

I've been waiting for this moment for a long, long time. Ever since primary school in fact when a teacher told my mum that me and my sister could go to University.

Since then it's kind of been a one way ticket to Graduation. Having completed my degree in the summer, getting a modest class degree in what people appear to think is a weird subject for me to do (Criminology with Psychology), I feel pretty darn proud I must say.

And the best part was the day. One of those few days when it feels like it's all about you. For normal people, this is every single birthday, however, being a twin this has never really been the case. It's always OUR birthday, and always will be, so that ones out of the picture.

Only this day I got to share it with my fellow coursemates and friends, and my family, and had a lot of fun.

So, the outfit. That's what people want to know about, right? And whether I tripped. I can tell you that I DID NOT trip, surprising as that may be.

This is what I wore:

On knowing that the gown had purple on it, I went and clashed it with my bright yellow dress. Well, you have to stand out don't you? (However you can barely see the yellow, which is probably a good thing as it could easily blind you.)
A tip would definitely be to wear something that goes with the colour of your graduation gown. Most people wore the basic black and white, or both, but some wore blue which worked really well.
However others wore red and burgundy (Oxblood) and it just looked terrible.

I think the picture shows that stage and amount of people watching rather well too. My heart was beating ridiculously fast.

So here are the tips for Ace-ing Graduation:

1. Bring safety pins and hair clips. You'll probably need them to keep the gown and hat on. Most people did.

2. Give yourself plenty of time to get there. Because it's bound to be busy, especially in a city like mine. Also, time to get your gown and make it to the venue. We left 3 hours before the start of the ceremony and I think we probably should have left a little earlier (that is including 30-40 odd minutes to get there though).

3. Don't worry. You'll be told everything beforehand, so you'll be fine. I'm a worrier anyway though, so even on stage I was worried about my handshake.

4. Don't forget your camera! Take loads of pictures, because this may be the only time you graduate. I don't think I want to go back to education any time soon. I didn't get nearly enough pictures of my day.
Do the hat toss. I didn't and I am slightly disappointed in myself for it.

5. If you're a woman, don't wear shoes you can't walk in (and/or that don't fit properly) because you will regret it. For my sisters I wore shoes that rub a little. Not good when you're walking and standing up a lot.

6. Have fun! or, if everything is going completely wrong, which it most likely won't,  keep smiling.

Special: Food for Thrifty Thought

Image from Google

So this is the food special.

Welcome.

Please sit back in your chair, preferably with a mug of tea (or coffee, but being quintessentially British, it's usually tea), and of course some biscuits, and relax.

So food shopping on a budget is always difficult. Theres countless tricks that the supermarkets and other food sellers use to trick you/ force you/coerce you into buying food you didn't need.
So when you get back and sort out your shopping you think 'Did I really put that in my trolley?'... and the answer is usually yes, unless you have children, or a person decided that you really really needed some Spam.
So Here are a few helpful tips the next time you feel like saving some money on food.

1. I think the first thing is to give yourself a budget for each week's food. (Or two weeks, depending how often you food shop.) So write up, or remember, how much you'd like to spend each week on food, and try to stick to it. I gave myself a budget of £10 per week for dinners for two people. I pretty much stuck to it, and we had some left over for the next week too! So, from experience, it can be done.
Also, only buying what you need is very helpful. Maybe making a list of what kinds of things you (and your family, partner, housemates) eat most weeks, and stick to that.

2. Price comparison guarantees. Supermarkets now offer money off your next shop if it was more expensive than at another supermarket. Which is great! The problem is it only compares on brands, and if you don't buy many brands, it won't make much difference. So it's worth looking at which own range is generally cheaper.

3. Supermarket's own ranges like Tesco Value, Smartprice and Essential Waitrose are always cheaper, and usually they taste just as good, but there are some things you just don't scimp on. Pasta tastes pretty much the same no matter what price it is. However I've found I just can scimp on tea bags.. or soup. Both taste bad on the cheap.
Freezer sections are always a good bet too, because you can use the same things for a few different meals each week.


Farmers Market, Image from Google

4. Poundland is NOT always cheaper. I've noticed that a can of Heinz Soup is smaller in Poundland, and the normal size is currently on offer at Adsa for 50p. I think you know which one is better value. If you have enough time (26 minutes) watch The Secrets of Poundland. Please.

5. If you're after fruit, vegetables, cheeses, meat and other groceries go to a market. Farmers markets happen at least once a week in many towns and cities in the UK. Please utilise them. They offer a good price on quality produce, with the added benefit of it being local, so you support local economy. Bonus!

So I hope these tips have helped you in terms of food, and here, as usual, are some useful websites related to saving on food shopping:
http://www.localfoods.org.uk/
Local Food Advisor - Bloggers, Markets
Saving Money on your food bills
Lovemoney.com

How To Be Economically Friendly Online.

Well Hello.
I haven't posted in a while, I've been pretty busy. Evertything seems to be happenning all at once.

I've been working on a series of blog posts all about saving your money. This is because I'd like to work on some about organising your house, but I would be very, very hypocritical if I were to do that. So instead I've decided to write about something I know about. And I'm starting today, with some general tips for anyone who might want to save a good few pounds.

Image from Google

I have come to be a saver from not having much money to begin with. I was taught from a young age not to spend too much, and since going on Education maintenence allowance for college, and having a student loan from university, I've learnt a good few things about how to be frugal.

Look out for these upcoming specials:
-Holiday
-Christmas and New Year
-Clothes and Accessories
-Beauty
-Food Shopping
-General Tips

But the first is online. There are some great ways that you can save by going online.
I challenge you to do something frugal with them this week.

Tips !

One very easy way is to use websites to their full potential. Joining comparison sites like comparethemarket, moneysupermarket and gocompare are great for a comparison of insurance and credit cards. But don't forget to look out for ones that aren't on it, like directline. Also it's a good idea to search the web each year to find yourself a better deal on things like gas and electricity. There's usually an even better offer just waiting for you.

When buying on the Internet, whether it be clothes, food or tickets for that show you want to see, always compare, and look out for discount codes and vouchers. Just do a google search, or join a voucher website, like wowcher. An example is codes for H&M and Boohoo.com, and Dominos Pizza. Also, you can get great online deals for tickets for shows and concerts if you go on opening night. I did this and got a very good discount for a theatre show.

If you're a person who likes to reuse items, or update your wardrobe by adding some embellishments. or just generally like homemade things, I suggest you join Pinterest. I have my own pinterest account full of tips and things to do, how to make cheap gifts, make your own beauty remedies and re-purpose items. It's also a pretty cool way of planning things, like your next staycation or party on the cheap, or maybe just places you'd love to go when you've saved up enough money. Check out mine here.

Don't forget, there's always freecycle, to find items for free in your area. And also gumtree, for pretty much everything. Or your local freeads.

Image from Google

Another idea is to use bloggers and blogs as a resource. They'll give feedback on items and how well they have worked and try out ideas for you to see if they're any good.
Recommended blogs:
A Thrifty Mrs
Diary of a Frugal Family
Frugal Queen

Here are some really useful websites I would also recommend.
1. Tips on being frugal (50 ways.. pretty comprehensive)
2. Frugal Living
3. Top 25 personal finance blogs.
4. Best of the web - Shopping
5.Arts and crafts? try this one.

Question Time

I could go all deep on you, and ask what the question of the universe is. Or question about life, gods and death. Or perhaps question why people are cruel.

But instead I'm going to not think depressing thoughts and answer some more jovial questions, and maybe some big ones at the end. This is basically, an opinion piece.

These questions were set by Kyra of Beautyetc and Raves, Rants and Random Ramblings, and I'm pretty sure some are put in there just to embarrass me.


Image from google

1. What's your favourite TV show? I have many. It's probably going to be Doctor Who. But then there's Misfits, and Heroes, and Andrew Lloyd Webbers talent shows, once Upon a Time, Criminal Minds, Being Human and so on.
2. Do you have any really annoying habits? Um.. being messy? I don't take much notice of my annoying habits to be honest.
3. How many colours have you dyed your hair? Ohhh, a lot. if we went for shades. As it is there's been brown, blue-black, red, ginger, I tried blonde once (it didn't work), purpley-red. So that's...6?
4. Do/ did your parents/friends have any embarrassing nicknames for you? Oh yes. Many. I think the worst was Pidgeon. It sounds cute. It wasn't. I get called Ace by my dad, which i like. And get called many names by my boyfriend.
5. If you could keep one object (that is currently in your room) for the rest of your life, what would it be? I'm not sure, because there are so many things I would love to keep - gifts from friends, family and my boyfriend, paintings, holiday trinkets, some gorgeous clothes, my camera. But It might have to be a gift from someone. Not sure if I can decide which one though.
6. Do you have any collections, if so, what are they? I have a lot of Disney films. And buttons. But I don't really collect any more. Unless you count my nail polishes. Thats a pretty big collection. I used to collect both coins and pots.
7. Which meal would you say you are a pro at cooking? Pasta bake. I'm pretty good at it.
8. Whats the coolest thing you've been for Halloween? I haven't really been very cool at Halloween. I guess the best thing was last year being the Queen of Broken hearts with an outfit my sister's boyfriend's mum made for me. (The Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland).
9. If you worked for yourself and money was no object, what would you be doing? If talent were no object I'd be singing. Unfortunately, I'm not blessed in that department.
10. Who is your favourite author and why? I have a few favourite authors. My favourite books are the Inkworld trilogy by Cornelia Funke. So I guess it should be her. The reason being because when I read one of those books the world just jumps right into my head.
11. What specialist subject would you choose on Mastermind? It might have to be Disney Animated Classics. Quite Seriously.

------------
Now for some kind of serious ones.

What is the meaning of life? I don't know. If I had to guess.. to learn to be the best we can possibly be. Personally, I have reason to believe the some of us aren't doing our best. But only because were bogged down with things like money and jobs.

Do you believe in God, Spirits or Voodoo? No, but I'd like to. Yes. And no.

Are we alone in the universe? The chances are.. no. Probably not. We are probably like bacteria to the other beings out there. Either that or we're like gods. I know which one I prefer.

It must be love, love, love.

Well, I must say I've looked at this award before and thought, 'well, that looks like fun'. Luckily I didn't have to pay someone to nominate me, as Hannah at Daisies and DMs did! (And Hannah, I'd like to see your answers to my questions too! )
And, I'm pretty excited.

So, I'll copy and paste the guidelines, so hopefully the people I nominate (although I barely know anyone) will know what to do. I barely know myself to be honest.
The Liebster Award. - What to do.
- list 11 things about yourself
- answer the 11 questions the tagger has set for you
- create 11 questions for your nominees
- choose up to 11 bloggers linking them to my post and telling them about it (only nominating blogs with less than 200 followers, and no tag backs.)

 

Right, well, lets go!

Things about yourself

I always find this difficult. Not in choosing things to say, but in thinking them up.

1. I have a massive collection of nail polishes. They're like a comfort, because even when things get tight, I can always paint my nails or get a cheap new nail polish.
2. I hate text speak. HATE it. When people use it on facebook it drives me mad. Texting isn't so bad, but still, I prefer people using full words.
3. Most of the dresses in my wardrobe are black, black and white, or blue. In fact, most of my wardrobe is black and blue. However, I do have two red dresses, one yellow and one green dress.
4. I very much dislike the film 'Groundhog Day'. I don't usually hate films. Except this one.
5. Today I noticed that none of my hobbies involve sports. Although I will get into badminton and hopefully archery soon.
6. I also noticed that most of my celebrity crushes are in their thirties, or very close. I'll give you a few: James Marsden, Jared Leto, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Henry Cavill, Tom Ellis, Matthew Gray Gubler, and Garrett Hedlund (27 is good, but it is getting close to thirty). if you don't know some, look them up. Please.
7. I love quirky Jewellery. From Battenburg Earrings (which I really want) to stamp neacklace (which I have). Love it.
8. Board games. I love them. My favourite is Balderdash.
9. I would like a hamster. It's the only pet I think I could keep.
10. Being thrifty is something that I enjoy. Any excuse to make things and buy good items at bargain prices is right up my street.
11. I can do a five-strand plait. And am very proud of the fact that all of my plaits always turn out well.

Questions to Answer
These are a good set :).
1. What was the first cd (or, if you're old school like me, it might be a tape cassette or something else cool) that you remember loving?
Well, ther was a tape that was always played on long journeys, and that was Aqua's Album 'Aquarium'. It had such classics as: 'Barbie Girl', 'Doctor Jones', 'My Oh My' and 'Turn Back Time'.
2. what's your latest music purchase/download that you're loving?
To be honest I haven't bought or downloaded music in a long time. I usually only buy CDs that I really like. I think the last one was probably Michael Buble. Not in a music phase at the moment.
3. What's your signature scent?
I love fresh, fruity fragrances. So my favourite that I own is Ice Sheers (pear scented) - by Avon. However, I don't think they do it anymore. I also love DKNY be Delicious. It reminds me of Apple and Cucumber. Lovely and fresh. Another that I wear sometimes is Avon's Tahitian Holiday, which smells like coconut and holidays.
4. Have you got a passion or hobby that not many people know about?
I love to write. Stories, poems, lists, ideas, logs. anything. I just enjoy it. I'll always have a pad of paper and multiple pens around in case inspiration hits me.
5. What's the worst job you've ever had and why?
I really did not like having a paper round. It was the middle of summer.me and my sister went on a very long walk complete with newspapers. We braved letterboxes and dogs, and peoples open front doors. And it was awful. At the end our hands would always be black with ink.
6. Let's pretend last night you won the lottery. What are you going to do with the money?
I'd be sensible. Pay off my student loan, put some in a bank account, help my mum and boyfriend pay off their mortgages. Oh, and have a small shopping spree for when I move in with my boyfriend, sofas and all. And clothes. And shoes. ok maybe not so sensible there.
7. Are you a messy or a tidy person?
I am exceptionally messy. You walk into my room, and it's like a nuclear bomb has gone off in a very small space. You WILL trip over things. If you need any proof, please read my blog on how bad my handbag is - The Handbag of Hell.
8. Do you have any tattoos, or any tattoos planned?
Ahh Tattoos. I have six now. Six.
1) My phoenix, on my left shoulder blade.
2) An ivy leaf on my left wrist.
3) Flowers and bugs on my right ankle.
4) Three dots on my neck, on the spine.
5) A key on the right hand side of my torso.
6) A book with an infinity symbol on it behind my left ear.
I kind of pride myself in being able to keep most of them under wraps when I need them to be.
i think I'll always want more.
9. Marmite: love it or hate it?
I'm one of those annoying people that this doesn't work with. I like it. Don't love it, don't hate it. I have it thinly spread on a piece of buttered bread. On occasion.
10. What's your favourite disney film?
Either Hercules or Mulan. I think hercules usually comes first because of the mythology, but I love the story of Mulan. And I love the strong female characters in both. But Hercules is adorable.
11. What would your ideal house be like?
Fairly tidy, but lived in. With random little gadgets, games, films when you want them. Airy and light, with lots of brightly coloured things dotted around. Like a yellow toaster and a red lamp. And cute and bright art on the walls. But mostly it would have to be comfy, and have lots of room for delicious things like marzipan.

Well. Now that's done, I would love to nominate Ed from Empire500, Kyra at Beautyetc, if she looks at this, and Cari from Cari's Book Blog. And I really don't know anyone else. So, if you come on here and find yourself thinking, like me, 'That looks fun!' then YOU ARE NOMINATED to do it. But only if you have less than 200 followers. And tell me you're doing it so I can read your blog :D

The Questions I would like to ask are:
1. What's your favourite food?
2. What's at the top of your wishlist at the moment?
3. What's your favourite movie, and why?
4. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
5. If you had lots of money, what's the first thing you would spend it on?
6. Where would you most like to go as a holiday destination?
7. Do you have any celebrity crushes? Particularly embarrassing ones?
8. If there was a film of your life, who would you want to play you?
9. What's your favourite season, and why?
10. If you had to be an animal (real or mythical), what would you be?
11. If you could choose a sense to be heightened, which one would you choose?

I hope people blog with this.
Thanks for reading, and

The 10 Day you Challenge : 1 Picture of Yourself

For the last day of the challenge, it's a picture of yourself.

Well, instead of posting an actual picture (not a good idea for me) I decided the best way to show how I view myself is to write and draw things that I love, and to do a small self-portrait in the middle.

I don't think picture's really show who you are, they're more how you were in that moment, or the face you put on. But drawings and paintings.. and a collage maybe. that really shows what you love.
So I gave myself a little project and this is what I came up with:

I just went ahead and drew it in biro quickly, but I hope it sums me up well. (Reminds me of a childs drawing, but I can't draw people at all.)

To sum it up a little, I'm holding a phone, theres a cupcake, a pencil and paintbrush, lots of nature, a laptop, a book, a handbag, a DVD, some musical notes and a host of random words. oh, and a badly drawn nail polish in the corner. There should be a camera, a holiday and loved ones on here, but I couldn't fit it on the piece of paper (and can't draw them). This shows the things I enjoy, without being too nosy. :)

Thank you for taking your time to read my post, and possibly even the whole challenge (if you did that I'm impressed).