#BLOGTOBER14 - Day 15

Day 15 - half way through!

Favourite Quote and Why

Because Harry Potter.

Joking aside, this is something that is very true and I know I need to remember this. It's important for me to remember that I can be responsible for my own happiness.

There are several quotes that I really like, but the one above was the first that popped up.

Happy Wednesday!

Link up

#BLOGTOBER - Day 8

Day 8:

A Letter to Myself in 10 Years

Wow. Okay. This could get interesting...or emotional...or both most likely. 

EDIT: I really like this idea, it's not something that came easily to me, but now that I've written this one, I want to write more of them. 

Dear 32 year old Me,

Ten years ago you wrote this letter to yourself on your blog (am I still blogging in 10 years?). I'm trying to think of way to ensure you get this in 10 years, I think I found a website that will do it, who knows if it will actually work... 

(http://www.futureme.org/)

How has the past decade been for you? I hope it has been good - it is my future afterall. I can't really fathom being 32, it seems like it's a long way off from now. I imagine a lot would have changed for me by then. I have questions that I wish I could know the answer to, though that wouldn't really be possible. Unless I fall into the Tardis... I've written some of them down.

• Have I finally moved out? Have I lived in London? Do I travel?
• Are me and Andrew married? Was the wedding beautiful? Do we have kids? 
• Where am I working now? What is my career? What am I doing with my life?
• Did I finally lose weight? Did we get to the goal weight? 
• Am I happy? 

At the moment I am still living at home with the family, and am commuting into London. I weigh 227 pounds - please tell me that has gone down?? My hair is currently half an inch longer than my collarbone when damp, and is blondish at the bottom, browny-red above that, then au natural at the roots for about 2 inches. I work as a Sales Administrator and have done for just over a year. I have little to no time for seeing people during the week due to getting home so late from work, so I do almost all of my socialising at the weekends with the usual faces - Hux, Kay, Alex, et al. I see Pip and Maxx at least once a month - incidentally what are they doing now? Are we still BFFs? Because we had better be, or you need to pick up the damn phone!  I am probably not as happy as I could be at the moment, but I'm working on it.

I hope that future me is better with managing her finances, and has learned how not to impulse spend. I also hope that future me is happy with the way she looks, no matter what weight. I want to think I will have things figured out, and I will know what direction to steer my life in - maybe by 2024 I've already reached where I want to be. Who knows!  

My expectations for 10 years in the future are as the below:

• To be married
• To be thin, maybe not as thin as I want to be now, but in shape and healthy
• Two children? I'm not sure on this one. I guess this depends a lot on living situation etc
• I'd like to think I am working in theatre in some way. Or at least doing something I enjoy 
• I expect to own our own house by the time I'm 32

I'm looking forward to reading this in 10 years and finding out if what I expected came to pass.

My advice for the future me is to remember to be carefree and let your hair down - 22 year old you is still in there somewhere, let her out now and then and dont be so serious! Take the time to look after yourself too, not just everyone else around you.

Maybe writing a letter back to 22 year old me would be a good exercise - and if I'm still blogging I could post it? Just an idea.

More than anything, I hope that I will be happy and content with my life at 32. 

Yours truthfully,

22 year old me

The Place That Made My Head Explode

I am of course referring to the Harry Potter Studios in London.

Warning! Spoiler alert. Do not read ahead if you haven't been and are planning to go!

For my birthday Mr boyfriend procured tickets for us to go there, accompanied by my bestie miss Roanrider and her dashing other half. I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to this. It's beyond words.

Oh, and did I mention it was also animal actors week?

The first thing we did was explore the gift shop. I was spoilt by everyone and received a super snuggly Ravenclaw hoodie, a HP tshirt, and a Deathly Hallows keyring. Thank you, you guys are the best! 

Where it all began...

When we went in, you go into a room and watch a video, and the staff interact with you and give out birthday badges (of course I HAD to have it). Then you move into another room that is like a cinema, and Pips dragged us to the front row (her and Mr M had been before so knew what to expect). I am so glad they did. Long story short-and this is a SUPER SPOILER ALERT-after watching a short film with Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint stood in front of the great Hall doors introducing the studio tour, the screen raises and reveals the real doors to the Great Hall!!! Aaaaaaah I nearly cried it was so awesome!! And it gets better, being in the front row and wearing a birthday badge, I was picked to open the doors. Yepp. Me. Out of a group of approx 40 people, I got to open the doors to the Great Hall! And they really do open into the great Hall. I was so happy, you have no idea. Even thinking about it now makes me unbelievably happy! I am in no way like a small child in describing this...

Don't They Look Glorious?

The Harry potter studio tour is spread over 2 studios, with an outside part between the two. (This is where the Butterbeer lives!) Seeing all of the costumes, sets, special effects and props was really surreal. I felt like I wanted to touch everything and see how it all worked, but at the same time hide it away so the magic wasn't ruined...

The animals were adorable, we saw Mrs Norris, Trevor, a baby Fang, Tarantula, the spuders Mad Eye uses in his DADA class, a hedgehog, the snake that Nagini was based on (a beautiful albino python), Crookshanks and a baby Crookshanks, and last but certainly not least, Hedwig.

The Butterbeer was loooovely. Though if you are not fond of sweet things I do not suggest having it...It's like cream soda, caramel sauce and foam. To be perfectly honest, it's not exactly what I imagined it to be when reading the books, but it was still yummy nonetheless!

I really enjoyed wandering around looking at everything, and going more than a little snap crazy... and I would recommend going to any HP fan. I could literally ramble on forever about this trip, but I had better stop myself now before it's too late...

But before I go...Oh my god...the last part of the tour...I was literally speechless. I had no words. I teared up yet again. I just...I cant even explain, you'll have to go there to see but just...wow. 

More pictures! I'm trying to refrain from posting all of them...there are a lot.

More than a little creepy, but so amazing!

Thanks for reading :) x

P.S. I know some of my pictures aren't amazing, however I don't want to post too much incase one of you lovely readers ends up going! 

It's the little things...

That make me happy.

Just had a big dinner of pasta bake with meatballs, (yum) and then mum asks the question 'apple tart or jam roly poly?' I jumped up shouting 'jam roly poly and custard!!'. The prospect of eating a super yummy desert made me so happy.  I just had to write about it.

Clearly I have a food problem. Getting excited about a meal just proves this...

This got me thinking about desserts and what traditional holiday desserts other people have. Surely it isn't just my family that have special desserts... (excluding Christmas pudding and Christmas cake, of course)

Here's a few of my favorite Christmas desserts:

Jam roly poly (duh)

Apple crumble

Cheese and crackers (not technically a dessert, but I have it in the evening on Christmas day)

Birthday cake (mini-me's birthday is Christmas Eve, still counts as a holiday dessert, right?)

What are your favourite holiday desserts?