April Favourites 2015

Hellooo , 

I've always liked April. I mean we get two weeks holiday, lots of chocolate and little baby sheep running around making everywhere look adorable ! So today I thought I'd share some of my favourite things from this month ! 

Clothes

I found dungarees !!!!! I don't know why, but I'm suddenly in love with the idea of dungarees . They're going to be great in the summer with just a plain white top underneath and would be really cute for wearing on the beach over your swimming costume or bikini since you can slip dungarees on and off really easily :) I bought mine from Newlook ( you can find them here ) and can't wait for it to get a lil bit warmer so it's actually acceptable to wear them outside !

Book 

All I know Now is finally out ! I've been waiting ( not so patiently ) for months for Carrie Hope Fletcher's first book to come out :) Although I haven't finished it yet, so far it's amazing ! Carrie is one of the kindest, most positive people you could ever think of and she really reflects her gorgeous personality in her writing . All I Know Now is written in the style of her blog which you can find here , It's a wonderful guide on how to handle life as a teenager . Filled with everything from playground bullies too self confidence too making mistakes and accepting other peoples apologise for their own ! I highly recommend it for anyone who's .. well, human :) You can buy the book from Waterstones and if you're feeling extra lovely you could go visit Carrie on her book tour :)

Song 

Rusty Clanton is a really sweet american YouTuber with a great voice and stunning song writing skill's. My favourite song this month has to be his song "Socks" . It is honestly the cutest thing I've heard in ages !

Quote 

Don't you just love it when you find a quote and it's just like ' Oh my gosh yes ! Everyone needs to understand this !' and it just feels like the most incredibly right thing you've heard in forever ! ... ohh just me then ;) Anyways as per usual John Green ( Author of The Fault In Our Stars ) has something wonderful to say : 

" The world may be broken, but hope is not crazy " 

You can even by the quote written up on this poster on the DFTBA website for only $10 !

Food !!!! 

I have no idea why, but until this month, I haven't even thought about, let alone eaten Party Rings in absolutely ages ! For some reason I've started eating them again and OH MY GOSH ! They are the most yummy things ever ! ... I just needed to share my new found hobby of eating Party Rings with you , I apologise for the outburst ;) Luckily, I have a wonderful best friend who supplies me Party Rings whenever I'm sad .. I think I need to be sad more hehe :) 

YouTube Video 

This just made me smile and is annoyingly catchy so I just had to share it with you ... 

Accessories 

These pretty hair ties with adorable bows on come in loads of different colours and designs ! They're from NewLook and I really like tying them around a donut bun in my hair :) What's even better is that they seem to go with pretty much any outfit ... especially the dungarees I was talking about earlier :)   

Apps 

I don't usually write about anything to do with technology because I'm a lil bit useless on that front ... okay a lot ;) But I recently found this app called Listastic which helps you keep track of everything through my favourite method ... Lists ! Add they're colour coded ! What more could you ask for haha :) You can even add lists within the lists and add notes to anything where you might need a little extra detail ! Even I can use it, which is really saying something :) I would definitely recommend this app to anyone and everyone .  

I hope you enjoyed this post. If you did then why not comment and tell me a good thing thats happened this month no matter how rubbishy your month has been I garentee there's something positive in their somewhere even if it's tiny :) For me it's that for my Easter present ( because I already got a lot of chocolate and apparently eating a couple of hundred tonnes of chocolate is bad for you .. who knew eh ? ) my mum ordered the special Costa Hot Chocolate mugs for me and my boyfriend ! In other news, I don't mean to brag.. but I now have The Jungle Book Pyjamas, Just saying ;) If you want to be as cool as me then you can find them here and make all your friends jealous ... I think mine were just lying to cover up their feelings of awe when they saw mine haha ! 

Strong <3 Stay Smiley :) 

Love, Marianne xxx

The Hopeful Notes

Helloo there !

On my last blog, I talked endlessly about a wonderful woman called Carrie Hope Fletcher whom I absolutely adore .. and now you just the pleasure of another awe fuelled blog post on my idol! Arn't you lucky ;) Today I wanted to talk about Carries hopeful notes!

What are they ?

The hopeful notes are named after Carries' middle name, Hope. Quite a while ago, her fans began calling themselves the Hopefuls after her. So it only seemed fitting that Carries new idea to add a little extra kindness to the world was called the Hopeful Notes ! Hopeful notes are little positive messages left on post it notes to brighten up a strangers day when they find them :)

Why ?

Wouldn't it make you smile to know that a complete stranger cared enough to take time out of their day just to let you know it's all going to be okay ? You never know who will find the message that just took you a few seconds to write. It might find just the right person at just the right time when they need a little pick me up to get them through a rough day :) Plus a set of post it notes and pen isn't really going to set you back that much and it's definitely worth it , I pinkie promise ^.^

Where ? 

You can leave them anywhere and EVERYWHERE ! Just don't get caught ! My friend and me sometimes write out around twenty and get in a lift and cover the lift with little messages of hope, the challenge is to finish putting them up before the lift stops and someone else gets in ! If you're nervous about people noticing you and thinking your weird, just remember they probably wont even ask, and if they do then just say you're doing a little project to cheer people up :)

Here are a few ideas of where you could leave them :

• In changing rooms ( a cute "You're Beautiful " message on the mirror would be nice, don't you think ? ^.^ ) 
• On the stairways 
• Stuck on random pages of notebooks in stationary stores 
• Inside books at the library, especially self-help books ! 
• Behind food at the Supermarket 
• On your table after you leave a coffee shop :) I always leave a little note for the waitress/waiter 
• The Bathroom mirrors 
• Dotted around shops anywhere you can find a space that isn't too noticeable :) 

But What Do I Say ??? 

Whenever I've spoken to anyone about hopeful notes, people have said that they just don't know what to write ! I've worked out that it's easy to know what to write as long as you stick to one simple rule. Write what YOU need to hear, right now . Believe it or not, however rubbishy you're feeling, you're not alone and that means other people people are feeling like, they're not quite good enough or their nose is too big ( just an example, I'm sure you have a wonderful nose ) Give them the support you need. Whatever anyone tells me, you CAN ALWAYS give someone a hug with words . 

I also keep a little notebook where I jot down positive quotes for hopeful notes to keep for whenever I need one quick :) You could even use one of Carries quotes : 

" Things haven't always been this bad, therefore they wont always be this bad " 

If you're struggling to think of quotes then let me know in the comments and I'll do a Top Ten Quotes For Hopeful Notes post ...ooo that rhymed ! ... Wow, I'm easily amused aha :) 

Spread a Little Kindness ! 

So why not go for it ? You're a lovely human being, and there's lots of other lovely human beings on Earth , even if we all do silly things sometimes and upset people . We all deserve a little Kindness ! There's a quote that says, " Happiness is like jam you can spread some without getting a little on yourself " You will be amazed how good doing the odd random act of kindness will make you feel ! 

You can find the hopeful notes twitter page here. If you know any positive quotes then I'd love to hear about them in the comments ! Lets add a lil bit of sunshine to someone's world ! 

I hope you enjoyed this post, I've wanted to write it for a LONG time :) Have a lovely day ! 

Stay Strong <3 Stay Smiley :) 

Love, Marianne xxx

How to...Revise

Anndddd... the build up to exam season has begun ! All the revision can be super stressful and it's easy to get absorbed in it. Add on the pressure to get good grades and it's easy to forget that you need a life now, as well as the fantastic one you're promised when you get good grades. Lets face it, if you're miserable and tired and feel like there's no escape from that mountain of revision books blocking you in the house, then your revision effects wont be as positive or affective as if you're calm and happy :) So Today I thought I'd share with you some tips on how to get the most out of your revision !

• Planning ! As boring as it sounds, it's really helpful and motivating to have a revision schedule . Knowing when you need to get up and actually start is a really good way to make sure you .. you know ? ACTUALLY get up and start ;) It's also good to know when you're going to finish partly for the motivation to keep going and partly so that you don't over work yourself ! Don't forget that you need breaks otherwise you're not going to take very much in and sitting staring at a text book for 5 hours doesn't teach you much... trust me I tried ;) I like to work by the 50/10 rule so doing 50 minutes of focused revision and then having a 10 minute break :)

• Don't try and force yourself to do all your revision, for all your subjects in one day. Spread it out ! I like to write the individual bits of revision I need to do on a post it note and I arrange them on my bedroom wall under the days of the week and the system is really simple. If I don't do it them that day,  the post it note moves onto the next day . I soon do the work once I can visually see it piling up :) 

•  Set up your space :) If you have a nice quiet, clean area where you can focus to revise in then it's bound to be more appealing ! It also helps to have lots of lovely new stationary ( Stationary is one of those things I get extremely over excited about ) . The one thing I can't revise without are my paper-mate revision pens. They're £4.99 a pack at W.H.Smiths but worth every penny and great for notes and mind-maps . 

• Eat well and drink LOADS of water! It's pretty common knowledge that it's easier to learn when you're hydrated .... also .. hot chocolate helps ;) 

•  Get some exercise. Seriously I can not express help much it will help just to get out of the house and even just go for a ten minute walk especially if you can't manage to understand something, coming back to it 10 minutes later with a clear head can make that complicated maths equation just fall into place ! Or if you need a longer break then why not go to the gym for an hour or so ! 

• Sleep is your best friend :) There's no point panicking that you haven't done enough because a) you probably have and b) You're not going to learn very much at 2 am ! You'd be better off getting a good nights rest of about 9 hours so you can focus in the morning :)

• Get out of the house ! Find somewhere new to work, like the library or a quiet picnic bench in the park . A change of environment might do you good . 

• Find out what methods work for you :) Not everyone learns the same way so don't panic if your friend has 50 pages of notes because you might be amazing at learning from flashcards and those 50 pages of notes, however much they help your friend might be completely useless to you <3 My favourite methods for revision are condensing down all the information and putting them into mind-maps with all the key facts in :) 

Over all the most important thing is don't panic because that won't get you anywhere :) If you work well and with a positive attitude then I'm sure you'll do great :) Let me know your best revision tips or methods in the comments !

Stay Strong <3 Stay Smiley :)
Love, Marianne xxx

Recipe : Apple Pie

Hello !

One of my favourite foods has always been apple pie ! I mean who doesn't like that warm lovely-ness on a cosy evening in ? So I finally decided to get my mum to teach me how to make one myself seeing as she's far better at baking than I am ... along with most 5 years old kids ! But don't worry this recipe is super nice and easy even when it's made by me and it was edible , I checked ;) Actually It was pretty yummy :) It's even decorated with cute pastry stars !

Starry Apple Pie

What You'll Need :

• 12 oz / 340g Plain Flour 
• 6 oz / 170g  Butter 
• Caster Sugar to taste 
• 1lb and a half / 680g of apples ( It will be about 1lb once they'll peeled, cored and sliced ) 
• 1 egg yolk 
• Water 
• A lil bit of milk 

Step One : Peel, core and cut up your apples into thick slices . Then once you weigh them there should be around 1lb :)

Step Two : Pop them in a pan with some water and stir until they're soft. Different apples need different amounts of water depending on type and how ripe they are but just add a little bit at first and if the apples start to stick then add some more ! Once they're soft add caster sugar to taste . If you have too much mixture , you can freeze it and just used it another time .

Step Three : Put your apple filling to one side and get out a mixing bowl and some scales because now it's time to make the pastry ! First weigh out the flour and then sift it into a bowl .

Step Four : Next weigh out your butter, you might want to melt the butter in the microwave slightly for a few seconds to make it easier to do the next step ! 

Step Five : Rub the butter and sugar together between your fingers until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs :) Once you've done that add, a dessert spoon of sugar and mix it in .

Step Six : Crack your egg into a bowl or cup, then separate the white from the yolk by tipping the egg white into a different cup :) 

Step Seven : Put the egg yolk in the bowl with the mixture and add a small amount of water and mix it all together, keep adding water a lil bit at a time until the mixture forms a ball !

Step Eight : Sprinkle some flour over a clean surface and onto a rolling pin to stop the pastry from sticking the it :) Now roll out the pastry to about 5 mm thick . 

Step Nine : To get the pastry into the pie dish, hang the pastry dough over the rolling pin and use this to lay it over the dish. Then just gently press the pastry down to fit the dish, being careful not to rip it !

                   

Step Ten : Go round with a knife to trim of the edges on the pastry and fill up the bowl with the apple mixture, before dabbing a lil bit of water around the edge of the pastry :) 

Step Eleven : Use the left over pastry ( That you trimmed off the edge ) and cut out little stars and build them up around the edge of your pie, circling into the middle :) 

Step Twelve : Paint over the top of your pie with a lil bit of milk to give it a nice golden coating when it comes out the oven. 

Step Thirteen : Pop the apple pie into the oven at 180 degrees and cook until golden brown :) 

Step Fourteen : Enjoy ! 

If you make one I hope you enjoy it and let me know how it goes in the comments ! If not then let me know what your favourite comfort food is ? :) 

Check back on Thursday for a top ten pins post !

Stay Strong <3 Stay Smiley 

Love Marianne xxx