Quote Me On It #12

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Quote Me On It #11

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This Blogpost Will Save Your Year

Ok so that's a bold statement...and it probably won't. But maybe it will save mine.

2013 was rubbish wasn't it? It started off really great and full of clichéd promises that this year would "be different" and this year would "be your year". None of them came true, the year is over and everything is just as pitifully rubbish as it was before. Just me?

For me January started off really awesome. University was great, there were super exciting new people in my life, everything was perfect. But I don't really think life ever works out like that and cracks always begin to show no matter how pretty you paint over them. I struggled a lot during the summer. I had been told to make friends and get along with my classmates and fall in love and then it was suddenly whisked away from me for a very long 5 month summer. I know that seems like such a tiny problem but I noticed that life away from home probably wasn't as pretty as my rose tinted glasses had told me they were.

When I moved back to Uni in September I was miserable. Miserable like I'd never felt before. People who I had valued the most in the previous months were now the one's who were nowhere to be found. Look through my drafted (but thankfully never published) blogposts and there are many a whiney ramble. I sat there and I thought 2013 has taught me things. It has taught me:

1. There is no such thing as being in love

2. You can't trust anyone

3. Everyone will leave at some point

4. Even your best is never good enough

For at least a month, I was ridiculous. I cried. A lot. I thank my flatmates a million times for not slapping me when I was so downright rude and ungrateful and full of my own wallowing sadness. 

I don't really know what snapped me out of my miserableness. I think one day I was trudging somewhere in the rain and I just thought "God, this is boring. All this being miserable, all this being angry at people and refusing to move on in my life is so incredibly boring". I carried on trudging through the rain (my walk home from uni is particularly grim) and thought about the things I thought 2013 had taught me and I thought about all the brilliant things that had happened whilst the rubbish stuff was distracting me. All the times I laughed until I thought I was going to die, all the interesting conversations I'd had, all the essay marks that had made me proud, all the nice food I'd eaten, all the songs I'd sung along to, all the books I'd read, all the friends who had picked me up when I'd drunkenly fallen over in the street. I started to rewrite my 2013 lessons:

1. There's no such thing as being in love (I kinda stand by this) but that doesn't mean you can't show someone kindness and friendship and caring when they need to see it. That's way more important than being in love with them. 

2. You can't trust...everyone. Yeah some people are arses who will break all their promises but trusting someone isn't a conscious decision and before you know it you'll be sharing your secrets with someone you least expected. Roll with it. The quiet bit of my brain always knows best.

3. Everyone will leave at some point...but that just makes room for super fun new people. And hopefully they'll stick around a bit longer. 

4. Even your best is never good enough for some people. But from now I'm going to measure my best by what's good enough for me not what's good enough for everyone else. It's MY best...not theirs. 

So Facebook keeps nudging me to look at my "Review of 2013". Well I don't want to. I don't care about it anymore I just want to look forward. I've got new places to go and new people to make laugh and the places I felt I didn't belong last year or the people who made me cry last year...they're just blips on my map of brilliance. I was always too good for them anyway!  

Maybe none of these words will make any sense to anyone else, really this is just a note to future me. Please future me, remember to be happy in yourself because you're alright sometimes - you've never needed anyone else to tell you that.

2014's gonna be fucking awesome mate. 

Quote me on it #7

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You old tartan!

Heeeey,
Tartan is set to be a masssssive trend for winter! Everywhere I seem to go I see it and the worst thing is...I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! I'm a massive sucker for the original red tartan pattern but also absolutely love the dark green style I've seen about on the high street.

Every time I walk into a shop I can almost hear my bank balance whimpering "No...stay away from the tartan Maisie...we don't think we'll survive it". Luckily so far I've managed to heed the cry of my debit card and refrain from any huge tartan expenditure. I don't think this inner strength will last long. It's freeeezing in Norwich and I've got my heart set on a tartan winter coat!

Alas, until I find one which will fit my student budget I'm stuck wasting my hours traipsing round shops and scouring ebay. Below I've made a little tartan covered wishlist all of which I'm adding to my 'When I Win The Lottery' list.

Hope you like it, and if anyone sees a budget tartan coat...let a sister know!

Red tartan faux fur boyfriend collar, River Island, £40 // Tartan and leather satchel, Cambridge Satchel Company, £140 //  Red tartan skater skirt, New Look, £17.99 //  Tartan ankle socks, Missguided, £3.99 // Tartan high wasted trousers, Urban Outfitters, £48 // Black and tartan contrast shirt, River Island, £15 // Leather collar tartan skater dress, Missguided, £14.99

Late on the bandwagon | Review - Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint

Hiyaaaa, 

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in shade GNP7 Satsuma

So I'm sure by now you've all read about 1000 reviews of this product but I've only just got round to buying it so here's a late one in case you missed the hype!

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint (try saying that five times fast!) is the new range from Barry M. The basic premise of them is they are meant to give a really high gloss finish. The colour should be more vibrant and have a nice shine.

I've been on the hunt for a nice, bright orange nail polish for a while now plus I've been dying to try this out. I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and opted for GNP7 Satsuma.

The thing I really like about Barry M products is the intensity of the colour and the Gelly Hi-Shine is no different. I put two coats on just for good measure but one could have been suffice. It's a really lovely, rich orange and the "bottle to nail difference" is pretty minimal.

I was a bit worried that the product wouldn't live up to the grand promises it makes about 'extra gloss' and 'high shine' but I think it does. The finish was really nice and definitely glossier than most other nail varnished. So much so that I didn't bother with a top coat  which I know is a cardi-nail sin (SEE WHAT I DID THERE?! PUNTASTIC!)

Overall, I absolutely love this nail colour! I think I may have to buy it in a couple more colours before they inevitably stop making it (all good things come to an unfortunately early end...especially in make up terms!). The colour range is gonna be great for summer - I'm currently eyeing up shade GNP14 KeyLime and GNP12 Green Berry.

Oops, forgot to take a non-Instagrammed picture of it. Here it is on the nail...with a filter

Sooo, have you tried the Gelly Nail Paints? Did you like them as much as I did? What colours? 

On my bookshelf - The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Helloooo,
I am notoriously crap at finishing books. Honestly, name any classic book ever written and my reply will always be "I read the first half...". I don't know what it is, maybe I just have a really short attention span. Whatever the reason, working in a book shop for two years sure was embarrassing when you haven't read any of the 'must-reads...'

Anyway, for my birthday a lovely friend bought me a copy of "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" by Mohsin Hamid. He claimed it was his favourite book and so he wanted me to read it (also I think my indignant 'I never finish books' stance was getting a bit annoying.) Well I finished this one! So here's a lil ol' review like thing

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - buy it online here (not reluctantly at all...)

The Plot
This was one of those nice wishy washy books that doesn't really have a plot - which I quite like. The story revolves around a Pakistani man named Changez. He moves to America for college and ends up working for a huge corporation. Whilst still in his youth, he falls in love with a girl called Erica who's battling her own demons. The book culminates at the 9/11 attacks, at which time Changez feels increasingly isolated from everyone especially Erica. All the big things he used to love about America seem stale and he becomes really disenchanted.

What I liked
The book is written as one half of a conversation. I'd never read a book like this before and it was a cool style to read in - made it feel like the author was guessing all the questions you might have. It also raised loads of really interesting questions for me about how we treat outsiders...

What I didn't like
Sometimes I felt like Changez was bit wallowy and it almost made it difficult to like him...but he does go through some tough stuff so it's justified!

Recommended? 
By me - Absolutely, espesh to anyone interested in politics and America...
By Waterstone's - 3.9/5
By Amazon - 4/5

Have you read this book? Or any others recently? Recommend me something below...