Same Difference?

I heart social media. 

Instagram is my side-boyfriend... I L-O-V-E it, and with 569 (and counting) posts under my belt, there's no signs of me dumping it just yet. 

Here's some food I Instagrammed earlier.

After reading a recent Guardian blog I do however have some food- for- thought for you. Not necessarily my opinion, just a little slice of devil's advocate. 

Kate Winslet has recently expressed in an interview that "social media is harming our children", an argument that has circled since the beginning of time (media time that is). She states that young women look to social media to "gain image- validation from strangers" and with that comes worrying consequences such as eating disorders. In fact, all social media is apparently banned in the Winslet household and it doesn't look promising for a Kate Winslet official Instagram account anytime soon. 

The Holiday, Titanic and The Reader are some of my fav films... just saying. 

Now the interesting part of this interview (here comes my devil's advocate pie-in-da-face), is that Kate Winslet would not put her name behind any campaigns surrounding this issue. She did not want any negative back-lash from her comments, and was concerned that she would "look like a celebrity who think they have all the answers". 

So my question to you: is there an air of same-difference?

Winslet does not want her daughter using social media sites to gain 'public' approval via people 'liking' her posts, placing importance on the opinion of others and not her own. 

But by avoiding putting her name behind something she obviously believes in, Winslet is placing importance on what the public would think of her, and would prefer to maintain her favourable status in the public eye. In Instagram terms, she is still receiving 'mental-likes' by others and therefore would not risk jeopardising this by backing her true opinion. 

Can you see what I'm getting at here? 

Instagram 'likes'= positive validation from others 

Kate Winslet keeping away from campaigns = positive validation from others.

Obviously I completely agree that young adolescents can let the media influence themselves to a worrying degree, and yes this does unfortunately cause terrible outcomes such as eating disorders and Body Dysmorphic Disorder.  

But how far can we really get away from this world of acceptance from others? 

Can we genuinely always practise what we preach?

Or can we fall into the same trap without realising?

The Struggle is Real

Current situation update: sitting in my spare room, bra-less, knicker-less and let's be honest, I am yet to wash (it's 3pm).

Me? Naked? Never. 

This ladies and gentlemen, is the life of a 22 year old Bristol University graduate, 1 year on from striding out those grand oak doors with a 2:1 in Anthropology*, and (what I thought) was my ticket to success.  I recently received a letter through from Student Loans company, proudly telling me that my 3 year effort to become an educated and employable member of society cost me a mere £22 000.

Guess what? I'm unemployed. Not only am I unemployed, but the prospect of becoming employed within the next month is looking rather bleak. Slightly like the prospect of Louis Walsh being asked to return to the X Factor.. not likely. (Soz Louis).

Now, don't get me wrong, I have worked in the past. Having been employed from the ripe old age of 14, I ain't no working-virgin, a la some spoon-fed Bristol students I can think of. In fact, I have been temporarily employed since leaving education, working as an administrator within a small student lettings company. Lovely job, but not by any means a career.

And this is the problem. I would like a career. I have a burning desire to work with people, businesses and creative movements all at once. And this, my friends, isn't all that possible. EVERY application WITHOUT FAIL asks you to write an essay as to why you have a focused passion for that particular sector or role. Why you live, breathe, eat and sleep renaissance art, or war-time naval ships. And lets face it.. I don't. Yes I enjoy the arts, yes I love heritage and culture, and yes I am creative, but i'm sorry to say I don't have a focused passion for your job role. I am however, willing to learn. And with learning comes passion.

Sooooo many Instagram likes. 

The frustrating thing is companies or recruitment agencies don't get this. Or if they do, they wholeheartedly ignore it for someone who is a maniac about old boats (which is fair enough). But that leaves someone like me, who has work experience in PR, charity volunteering and an intense eagerness to develop and succeed under my belt, left sitting in their spare room, half naked with £30 in their bank account.



There wasn't really a point to this post. It's more of a monologue from a frustrated, down-trodden and almost penniless graduate, who desperately needs a job!





*and Archaeology but we don't talk about that.

Retro Metro

SO.
I'm challenging myself. And by challenging myself, I mean slightly setting myself up for a big tub of awkward failure. BUT YOLOSWAG, I'm gonna do it anyway.
I'm going to blog about current affairs. (NB. I am doing one blog on current affairs, but lets not be picky now).

As the winter months have welcomed freezing cold mornings teamed with a splattering of rain and icy wind, I have been rather naughty and taken a bus to work every morning - all 20 minutes walk of it. Sinful, I know. As part of my bus routine, I have been grabbing a copy of the Bristol Metro newspaper, a light read to wake me up in the morning before a full day of madness in the office.
Now, don't get me wrong, I do LOVE the metro. "Rush - Hour Crush" is my guilty-pleasure, and the "good dead feed" restores my faith in Humanity that little bit more. I couldn't help but notice however, that two days in a row, a double page spread in the centre of the newspaper was some how biased in its writing. I'm only going to focus on one to get my point across.
The first days' spread on pages 4 and 5, was filled with SIX short news articles surrounding stories linked with Islam:
1) The Green Party leader allegedly claimed to make it "OK to join IS"
2) A Ukip "Bigot" was "only joking" when making racist comments within a pub (defending said bigot)
3) "ISLAMISTS" offer a hostage swap (with regards to the IS Japanese hostages)
4) The "Jihadist" Boko Haram group attacks a nigerian city
5) A "Jihadist" wife has written a guide on how to live as a war widow
6) And finally, "Muslim" rebels kill 30 paramilitaries
Can we just take a moment to appreciate one small factor : the term "Jihadist" means an "internal spritual struggle" a. k .a  a person who is  PERSONALLY struggling to full-fill a muslim way of life. NOT pushing islam onto others in an aggressive manner.
This word, however, is now affiliated with acts of terrorism and violence. Instead of its intrinsic meaning, a personal struggle to better oneself and help build a "good muslim society", the media of today has twisted a peaceful definition into something associated with hatred and death. An insult to the Islamic community, in my opinion.
The second point to make is that Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green party (go green girl power woo!), DID NOT claim that they would make it OK to join IS. In fact, she actually said  

Natalie Bennett enjoys all things Green, Ponds especially

“...it should not be a crime simply to belong to an organisation or have sympathy with its aims, though it should be a crime to aid and abet criminal acts or deliberately fund such acts”. 

Pretty anti-terrorism if you ask me. And i'm terribly sorry, but whoever actually believed that she would say that is an idiot. Do your research, and don't trust everything the media says. Remember, at the end of the day, no media outlets are independent and thus unbiased (even though ironically "The Independent" is called "The Independent"). They are all owned ultimately by the same people, who have the same hidden- agenda; one that co-insides with our current government and the unfortunate repercussions on the ethnic community that that has. 


Has anyone noticed, that in the last few years Islamaphobia has dramatically increased in daily media? No? Just me?

I think (hope) you're getting my jist. Titles such as "ISLAMISTS OFFER HOSTAGE SWAP" and "MUSLIM REBELS" are dangerous. It is not the actions of Islamists, it is the actions of a group of extreme radical terrorists who claim to be fighting in the name of Islam; slightly more extreme than 'rebels'. By no means are they following the teachings of Islam; if they were, they would be not doing such terrible acts. It is a point to say, that Islam teaches a life of peace and humanity - not terror,beheadings and world-domination. Has anyone stopped to think that the next hostage in the firing line is a Jordanian Muslim? If IS were so keen on protecting and spreading the Sharia law, why on earth are they targeting the very people that practice it peacefully? It is unfair and unwise to categorise IS militants under the same umbrella as practicing Muslims. 

And it is from media outlets such as The Daily Mail (although, I do have to admit I love a good celeb-culture story from time to time) and The Metro, that Islamaphobia is hotly spreading; more-so into the younger generation that will carry this opinion through the decades. 

Only last week was a comment made along the lines of, "...well it's all the fault of Muslims". Nope. No, it's not. But it is the fault of biased news outlets, not educating the general public into the difference between extremist militant groups, and the religions that they associate themselves with. 

So, fine people of Britain, THINK about what you are reading. Don't believe everything you see, and don't judge a whole religious community based on naive news articles in silly old newspapers with retro points of views.

Do however, go watch gogglebox because it's well good. 

Park on Park Street

This is why I L.O.V.E Bristol.

Building a park on park street? GENIUS!! Simple yet so effective, today has really felt like the start of summer. And if you don't know what park street is, it's the massive hill/road that runs through Bristol's centre (here's a picture to get your imagination going).

i'm sitting here writing this with my window open, accompanied by the live band singing their merry hearts out two streets away.

Now don't get me wrong, i was hoping that they were going to cover the whole street in fake grass (my housemate meanly tricked me into believing it was), so the small square patch at the top of the road was a tad underwhelming.

But all pickiness aside, we grabbed our sunnies and headed out onto what felt like the largest street party in history. Not long were we out before our pennies were rattling, and a fancy henna tattoo had neatly planted itself on my hand.

The park street shops had spilled onto the street, with food tents dotted everywhere entwined with the unique stock of individual shops. 

If only I was that cute to get away with sitting on the sign...

With all the exciting commotion unfolding around us, hunger had started to creep up on us... and what better way to cure this than with the BIGGEST ensemble of afternoon tea! We headed to Boston Tea Party, ordered everything we could feast our eyes on along with a generous and much needed pot of Earl Grey Tea (naturally).

My favourite parts had to be the egg mayonnaise sandwiches and the cream teas... I will always argue egg sandwiches are underrated!

POSER ALERT

Bristol has yet again added that extra little sparkle into the weekend... long may it last.

Honey, I'm Home!

SO. Where have you been ey?!

More like myself, APOLOGIES, but fear not I have returned to the blogging world with an almighty bang.

SO much has happened: Skiing holiday, 21st birthdays, a BOYFRIEND THAT IS REAL, finishing university for ever and ever, and one almighty shopping trip to celebrate. Let's be honest, I hope more has happened than that in about 6 months but hey, I'm getting old along with my not- so- youthful memory.

With the almighty weight that was finals, blogging took a slight back seat... kudos to those who can keep it consistent all year round! I do have to admit however I took the easy route... Instead of blogging I ended up reading/watching copious amounts of other bloggers.. you know.. to stay connected to the blogging world and all that.. (a.k.a uber procrastination)

So I thought i'd make up for it by treating ya'll with some of my favourite online bloggers and youtubers from the inter-galactic-inter-web... you deserve it (cuties).


NUMERO UNO:

The absolute queen of the blogging world, *you can call her Queen B*, The Londoner.

My blogging hero. Not only does she ooze class and sophistication in everything that she does, her lifestyle posts are filled with wit, humour and sassiness to keep you on your toes. From recipes to day trips to fashion posts... The Londoner is the capital of the blogging-sphere. (See what I did there?)

(Be sure to check out her Slutty Brownies... being a slut has never been so tasty)

NUMBER TWO:

(I never took Spanish... can't count past one. Forgive me.)

A youtuber and blogger from my hometown, Fashion Rocks My Socks.

An avid lifestyle and fashion blogger, Rhiannon Ashlee gets your creative juices flowing and your purses singing with her reviews of all things WONDERFUL. Hauls, monthly favourites, and outfits of the day are just some of the corners covered by this award winning blogger... (Why haven't I won an award ey?!)

Speaking of awards, she is in the running for the 2014 Cosmopolitan Blog Awards for "Best established fashion blog": why not give her a helping hand and vote here.

NUMBER THREE: 

Coming in at number three, a blogger I've only recently discovered: Cider With Rosie.

This blog makes you want to curl up on the sofa, cup of tea in one hand, peanut butter toast in the other (crunchy obvs). A real homely blog, Cider with Rosie provides a fresh look at life's little things, from the importance of printing photos to just her top favourite events of the week.

An honest and innocent perspective of life, Cider with Rosie makes you feel like you've known her for years!


So there's how I've been filling precious revision time over the last three months... hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Man vs Meat

Meat and men and meaty men.

A phrase that sums up "Grillstock" quite nicely.

So the annual Christmas work-do came around (very belated- more like a new years shindig), and instead of opting for the usual chain restaurants to gorge in , we thought we'd try something new and support a local business.

Our resident piercer (for all who don't know- F.Y.I,  I work in a piercing shop) had heard on the grapevine about a certain "Grillstock challenge", where a champion's t-shirt and a bottle of house BBQ sauce was on offer for anyone who could complete the array of food in 1 hour or under. "Easy!" (famous last, testosterone fueled, words...).

Up we rocked, ready to be out-meated, where we were greeted and seated on the large communal bench that spanned the length of the restaurant; a kind of 'last supper'/ hill-billy saloon love-child layout. Pretty damn cool if you ask me. The dull red lighting and scrapbook-esque wallpaper soon got our deep south juices flowing, just in time for the trays of food, piled high with tasty meat treats to appear. I say trays and I mean trays- there's no messing about in Grillstock.

I tucked into my 'Smokestack Burger', consisting of 1 patty (or 'Burger' to those getting confused with the Simpsons character), topped with pulled Pork with a side of fries and 'slaw' (Cowboy for 'coleslaw'), and MY GOD was it good. Not being one for Pork normally, this baby converted me. Tender and tasty, the accompanying american square cheese and gherkins made it potentially one of the best burgers I have ever eaten. And I do love a good burger.

Tooth pick 'nd all! 

The star of the show however, was the 'Ultimate low 'n' slow BBQ meat feast' a.k.a The Grillstock Challenge. All four meats (pulled Pork, Chicken, Ribs and Brisket), a 'hot link sausage' backed up by lashings of Slaw, BBQ Beans, Burnt ends, Cornbread and finished with a pile of fries- just in case the meat alone wasn't enough. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. With an hour on the clock umpired by the Grillstock team, a quick pep-talk, and a motivational photo of the person currently holding the most ridiculous record of finishing in 19 minutes- (a 20 something size-8 girl), our piercer got underway.

He's not small. In no way is he fat- I think "hench" is the word I'm going for. (He'll love that). And after a couple of days of drinking water to expand and train his stomach, (yeah, he took it pretty seriously), I was convinced he could complete it with absolute ease. How wrong was I. Half and hour in and the sweat started to show. Finished were the chicken, ribs, chips and slaw- pretty impressive in itself, but no where near a clean tray. A rival competitor commencing his meat challenge next to us, sparked some what of a masculine surge within our teammate resulting in the devourment of 3 ribs and a slab of cornbread. Somehow the prospects of finishing were looking bleak, and with this dawning upon his meat-filled mind, a cease-fire was declared. 1- 0 to Grillstock. Bravo.

A concentrated competitor on the left

An entertaining and appetite-pleasing, (understatement of the year), evening was successfully had by all thanks to the unique restaurant that is Grillstock. We left, stomach's swelled, smiles on and only a chunk of pride missing from our failed competitor. Better luck next time, ey!

A must visit if you find yourself hungry whilst roaming the streets of Bristol.

Remember kids: Meat, Music Mayhem!

p.s.- they have their own Grillstock Festival- how cool is that?!

Body Shop Haul

I recently took the plunge and dumped my Vodaphone contract in favour of a younger, sexier network; everybody say hello to O2. With O2, comes O2 priorities. And with O2 priorities came £15 pounds off a £30 shop in the Body Shop. How could I say no?! I'd been wanting to add some new beauty bits into my make up bag for a while, but always found buying products in one go resulted in a hefty chunk out of my bank balance (*overdraft. I'm not fooling anyone), which I simply couldn't afford. I quickly snapped up this offer and purchased £34.50 worth of goodies for an impressive £19.50- perfect!

Small bag = Big smiles.

If any of you, like me, suffer from acne prone, red combination skin (the worst) then you'll understand that finding the perfect moisturizer is near impossible. However, the Aloe Vera Soothing Gel comes in as a close contender. With properties that calms and soothes the skin, it is ideal for anyone with irritant, allergy-prone or red skin. It cools and hydrates just enough, without clogging up the pores and prompting break outs, whilst the Aloe Vera itself is a natural promoter for skin renewal. And at £8, you won't need to be extending your overdraft any time soon!

Aloe Love!

Next, i'd been searching high and low for an eyebrow kit after falling out of love with pencils. I kept missing my eyebrows and draw on extra lines underneath- not a good look! I found the body shop Brow and Liner kit in shade 02 Brunette and Brown, which also provided its own double ended brush- how kind. The colours were a perfect match for my bushy brows, and they didn't require too much product to look filled and ready to face the world. The brush provided wasn't so good with one side being too stiff, the other too flimsy-I think i'll stick to my usual slanted brush for now. £10 was slightly pricey, but it seemed like it would last a fair amount of time, making it a worthwhile investment! 

Bushy Slugs, here I come!

Even though I suffer from spots and have the odd acne scar on my face, concealer isn't usually part of my day-to-day make up routine. What I was looking for however, was a good highlighter to get rid of my dark eye circles and illuminate parts of my face, such as the brow bone. What I found was the Body Shop Lightening Touch in shade 04; a concealer AND highlighter in one- nifty! Being one of the Body Shops bestsellers, it certainly lived up to its status; GOODBYE dark circles and annoying spots and HELLO illuminated glowing skin! It provided that little bit of oomph to my usual make-up whilst again not being too heavy or clogging on my problem areas. Sorted. At £14, I would definitely invest and re-buy this product as there's nothing really not to love!

You SOOOO have that lightening touch.

Finally, I caved and threw away my beloved WHSmiths sharpener in favour of the Body Shops Small Pencil Sharpener. I figured it was time to take this make up thing seriously, and a grown up sharpener for £2.50 was the first step in the right direction.

Oh so professional. 

Overall my buys were a complete success, with the potential for future repurchases- nailed it!

And for anyone admiring my b-e-a-utiful bedding in the first picture- you can buy it here :)