What's In My Bag: Extended Train Journey Edition

Bag: Missguided

I've wanted to do a "What's In My Bag" post for ages now, but what's in my bag changes so often depending on where I'm going and to be honest, is usually quite boring, I never really got round to it. Until yesterday, when I was packing my bag for my long Aberystwyth to Wakefield train journey, I realised this is probably the most interesting my bag gets so I might as well do a post about it!

Feels like all I take with me is reading and writing materials, here are all the things I take to scribble in! From left to right: my Aberystwyth diary; all appointments, important dates and my To Do Lists are recorded in here. My Radical Self Love diary, which I purchased from Waterstones. In here is all my gratitude lists (almost daily now! It really works!) and any other 'homework' Gala sets for RSLB and on her website. My journal, from Paperchase, where I try and make sense of my ever changing moods and attitudes. And, finally, such a pretty notebook, sorry it was a gift so I can't tell you where it hails from, where I jot down article ideas, drafts of posts and anything else I feel inspired about.

Next up, my reading materials. Both The Crying of Lot 49 and The Woman Warrior are texts for my 20th Century American Literature module. I finished the former on the journey and to be honest, I'm very glad, it was my least favourite book of the module. I didn't like the way it was written at all and found it rather tedious. I've started The Woman Warrior today and it isn't at all what I was expecting, but I like it so far. As for my Kindle, I don't have time to read proper books on it at the moment, but I've got the RSLB on there, along with some little ebooks on living positively that I like to read when I've got chance.

Other miscellaneous stuff is my purse, my keys, my brush and mirror, my iPod, my Nintendo DS and game case. I love my little case, I got it from Amazon if you're wondering. My game of the moment is Dragon Quest. I've had it for ages but because I tend to get so busy, I haven't completed it and because I haven't bought any new games since the Christmas before last, all my old ones keep getting played!

So, being at home. If you follow me on Twitter you've probably clocked onto the fact I'm not very happy here. I knew I was going to regret deciding to come, but I missed my family so much I decided it was worth a few days of emotional turmoil. I'm not going to go into detail about why being 'home' bothers me so much but I will say despite how miserable it makes me, this time it has really helped me make some decisions about what I'm going to do when I finish university, which is definitely a good thing. Tomorrow I'm going on a pub crawl and on Sunday I'll be seeing my baby siblings before James drives me back to Aberystwyth. Hope you all have an exciting weekend!

Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse Foundation

After a year or two of using Rimmel's Stay Matte foundation and merely finding it 'ok', when my last bottle ran out, I figured it was time to try something new. As this Maybelline foundation was on special offer, £2 off, at the time, this is the foundation I went with.

I'm very glad I did, I really like this foundation. While I'll probably get a paler shade next time, I don't find it to have orange tones at all, it's just a tad too dark for me. I apply it with a makeup sponge and I find you only need the tiniest amount of it to achieve full coverage. The finish really is wonderfully matte, you don't even need powder on top of it. It feels very light on the skin and I thought it would be quite cakey but it really isn't. It's very easy to blend in as well.

My only problem with Dream Matte Mousse is it doesn't last very long; a few hours maximum. However, I'm slowly realising and accepting that I do have quite oily skin and there probably never will be a foundation that I only have to apply once a day.

Minty

Sheer Shirt: Missguided/Black Vest Top: H+M/Denim Skirt: Zara/Suspender Tights: Missguided/Necklace: a Gift/Ring: Next

As I've started scheduling posts to ensure a regular posting schedule during the busy few weeks I'm experiencing right now, this is most definitely not what I am wearing the day I post this! I can't even remember what I actually wore this for, something boring like going to do my work in the library no doubt. This is just one of the items I purchased from Missguided a few weeks ago when I went on a mad shopping spree, and I adore this shirt. It's such a lovely minty green colour, I wish it wasn't so sheer so the colour was a little more obvious. I paired it with the denim skirt this day, obviously, but it looks better with my leather shorts I reckon, and I think it would look good with denim shorts or even some jeans if I had a nice pale blue pair.

As for the suspender tights: I'm too short for them! When I've got them pulled up properly, they just look like regular tights. I do love being petite, but this is one downside to it. I struggle with really stockings and suspenders too. In fact, whenever I buy anything with suspender clips, I make sure they're removable because I never end up wearing stockings. I digress, as you can see from the pictures, I've managed to ladder the tights already, so I probably won't end up wearing them much more now anyway!

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Film Review: The Woman In Black

So, the other night, I decided to watch The Woman in Black. Having read the book (good!) and having seen the stage play (even better!), I was quite excited to find they were making a film version, and I was curious to see Daniel Radcliffe in a role that wasn't Harry Potter, as this is the first time I've seen him play a different character. Sadly, I've been disappointed. I've seen so many people posting on Twitter and Facebook about how scary they found the film etc. and everytime I read this, I'm a little bit stunned: were we even watching the same film?!

I found the whole film to be very vague. I imagine it intended to reveal the plot slowly as the film progressed, but I think by the end, unless you've seen/read other versions of the story, I don't think you'll be much more enlightened than you were at the beginning. I try to write all my reviews so that they don't contain spoilers, so all I can really say is, I don't think it's very clear by the end of the film who the woman in black herself actually is. This is a shame really, because in the play and the book I was always trying to work things out and I really enjoyed discovering the mystery behind the Drablow family.

What other people seem to have found scary, I just feel everything lacked atmosphere. There were moments that had potential to make you jump, but they were so predictable, the jump never actually came because it was so expected. There was nothing I haven't seen before: creepy children, evil little faces; nothing out of place in your bog-standard horror movie.

As for the acting; I feel Daniel Radcliffe was very wooden, I didn't find him convincing as a father at all. The most convincing performance was that of Janet McTeer as Elizabeth Daily. Her episodes were the closest thing to alarming in the whole film.

Would I recommend this film? No, I wouldn't. If you're interested, I'd definitely read the book or go see the play instead! The play scared the wits out of me!

What's On My Mind: Should We Really Be Teaching Everyone to Love Their Bodies?

There's a growing trend right now for telling people to love and accept their bodies just the way they are. Even some magazines are coming round to this idea, with the use of plus size models etc. Of course, this is a wonderful idea. No one should be made to feel bad for their size or shape, being skinny or being fat shouldn't matter and if people can learn to love themselves via accepting their bodies and be happier people for it, well, I'm all for this.

However: is the importance placed on loving our bodies not as positive as it first seems? I admit my views on this subject are coming from a girl who has pretty much always been confident with the way she looks, especially in this past year or so. Of course I have days where I hate my spots or don't feel pretty, but overall I'm happy with my weight, I'm happy with the way I look and I think it's a shame that other people can't feel the way I feel. Despite this though: I can't help but see the detrimental effects this has on us.

No, teaching people to love their bodies, no matter what, is nowhere near as bad as encouraging anorexia. It's not as bad as saying skinny is not better. It's not as bad as people bang on about how curves are so much more attractive than a 'bag of bones'. Personally though, I think we're going in the wrong direction when place so much emphasis on the way people look. While telling people to love themselves for the way the look does come from a good place, it reinforces the belief that how you look is an important thing.

Personally, I think know there's more important things than the way you look. Surely it's better to be intelligent? A kind person? A loving person? I really think we're placing emphasis on the wrong qualities now. I want people to be comfortable in their own bodies, yes, but at the same time, I want to see more of a focus on telling people that the way they look, the size of their body, the shape of their body etc is not the be all and end all. There's other qualities that make a person valuable and I think if people remembered this, they wouldn't need to be as comfortable in their own skin so much!