Hectic Holidays!

Holy cow, the snow here is up past my ankles! We got a very sudden snowstorm at about nine tonight, and the snowflakes are super thick and fluffy, so the ground is coated in just over two inches of the grand white stuff! (´∇｀) I'm a very happy snow bunny, I love the snow, even though it can cause a lot of trouble. There's just something about it that stirs up childish excitement! I can't photograph it well enough, you can't comprehend the depth from the photo...poop! But Ren did manage to snap a photo of me bogged down with christmas shopping as the snow started to chuck down! We had an awesome day today though, despite the cold weather! I got a lot of Christmas presents in, so now I only have small pieces to buy to complete everyones presents! I'm finally starting to feel very christmassy and content with the winter weather - it just adds to the effect (＾ω＾） I did some shopping for myself too, which is always good! I finally got a decent winter coat - I had a light coat from Newlook which is nice but not at all suited to cold weather! This one is soooo freaking cosy, and wasn't at all expensive! I loves it I do. I also bought myself a little necklace. This isn't it, it's just something very similar (゜д゜;) I could not find my one...My one is that little bottle, with a tiny red gem heart inside it. I used to have the same little bottle with the words "Once upon a time..." written on a little scroll inside it, but I lost it ('A`) Anyway, in muchly AWESOME news, in the very early hours of December 14th I took part in Freckled Nest's live crafty blog (which you can watch here!) during which I conversed and laughed with the awesome Leigh-Ann and the adorable Kyla while making a cute journal. My journal failed, but I really didn't care, because now I know how to do it, and now I know two awesome new people. Thanks so much to Kyla for her little mention of me on her blog - I do feel a little weird being the "one sweet lady from Ireland who stayed up until 3am" though... As you may notice, I don't sleep well! Be excellent to each other!

"I think we ought to live happily ever after."

Diana Wynne Jones was the author of many books, but arguably the most recognisable was Howls Moving Castle, the book-turned-movie, directed and brought gorgeously to the big screen by Hayao Miyasaki of the Studio Ghibli.

Much to my disappointment, I can't remember when I first saw the film...I just remember falling head over heels for it. I watched it over and over when I bought the DVD; it was literally on every time I was in my room doing something or just relaxing. Sort of like Spirited Away and Pokémon (and Digimon!), it will remain a part of me, long after my DVD has completely worn out (it already skips and jumps on certain parts from being played so much...)

Studio Ghibli, as always, made such a beautiful and memorable film. But for now, this is all the limelight they'll get in this blog post.

The book is so different than the film, but in a way that it's like having two separate stories with the same beautiful, lovable characters - it's a joy to watch the film and read the book and feel like they go hand in hand together, rather than rage pointlessly about what was changed, left out and added.

I think I'm finding it hard to express my love for this book - I was going to review it, but I can't find the words at the minute. I'm completely out of sorts and sad, so I will say what I can for now, and perhaps return to the book when I'm feeling a little better...

We all would like to leave something behind to be remembered by when we die. If you can, please take the time to read Howls Moving Castle, or any of Ms Jones' books, and join me in enjoying the imagination of someone who wrote to allow us to escape to somewhere and live happily, if only for a few chapters a day.

Calcifer the Fire Demon, by me a few years ago...

DFTBA.

Paper Towns by John Green - an honest review!

My love for reading is perpetual, but it is often pushed back to make way for the millions of half-finished projects and little time-wasting obcessions that eat up my free time between work, friends and sleep. After a time my stack of unread books begins to tower over me while I sleep, making me feel guilty and triggering my unfortunate habit of feeling sorry for inanimate objects (yes, I'm that weird). Into drawers they go, out of sight and out of mind...

Every now and then, though, I'll get a book in my head and it will niggle at me until I've read it and loved it.

Papertowns is the perfect and most recent example of this. [Warning: I am going to gush about this book...I effing love it. I'm also relying on some pretty rusty A-level English critical-viewing skills...beware, this will be rambly!]

The third award-winning book from Nerdfighter-leader and personal (part one of two) hero John Green, Paper Towns is like a book written by your best friend in the entire world - it reads like a nostalgic session with your platonic soulmate, reminiscing about old times spent worrying about things which, at the time, consumed your entire attention and energy. On top of that, you read it feeling like you've lived each rebellious moment, each witty comeback and every hilariously rude remark a thousand times over. I caught myself quite a few times smiling like a person would smile when their best friend has had their first book published - I felt like John Green was my age, in my group of friends. He'd succeeded in doing what many amazing authors had failed to do - relate to its target audience on a level that treats them like the intelligent human beings that so many of them are.

Quentin Jacobsen is neither geek nor jock (Green wisely sidesteps that over-used trick of slotting fictional teens into labelled pigeon-holes) but a comfortable in-betweener in love with the magically mysterious Margo Roth Spiegelman, who (after a night of ninja-themed anarchy with the otherwise straight-laced Quentin) disappears one day, leaving a paper trail for the one person she seems trust. But her clues are cryptic - highlighted lines in a poetry book, tiny notes folded and inside the door frame; everyone who was once close to her start to realise that they truely never knew Margo and time seems to be running out to find her alive.

Q - as he's known - is instantly recognisable as that one friend you always had over for movie/game night and liked a great deal. You want him to succeed and be happy...actually, you wish this for everyone in the book, when it comes down to it. Margo, in the beginning at least, is portrayed as everyone else in the book sees her - quirky, hilarious, beautiful and Queen Bee of the high school. But as Q tries desperately to find her, Margo is slowly revealed as a record-collecting, breaking-and-entering, journal-writing, spray-painting, unstable girl, simply troubled yet infinitely confusing and confused all at once. She's like all of us, really - a layer of normality, with which we fit comfortably into our groups of friends and perceived enemies, glossing over the messier, sometimes sadder inner person that we all are when we're alone.

On the face of it, Paper Towns can be cast off as just another well-written, enjoyable and relatable "coming-of-age" story about a geek trying to catch the attention of the most popualar girl in school. However, as Q discovers about Margo, the book isn't a mirror. A mirror will reflect anything you want to see from it, or maybe even what you've been told so many times what you should see. No, this book is a window, something that lets you see many different aspects and variations of the one "view" - ultimately, you should never judge a book by it's cover.

If you have a moment, pick up Paper Towns. I highly recommend it for a quick read <3 br="">
Don't forget to be awesome (I love you John Green!)

P.S. I'll be making this a regualr thing, so I've inserted a little image link in the side bar to a page I hope to fill with books I've read and short thoughts on how I found them...please check it out when you can! How did you find my first review? Please let me know ^_^

A Love Letter to Fog.

Let me tell you something...

I love bad weather.

Sure, I'd probably prefer to watch the rain beat down from inside my room, but there's something about being caught in a storm or getting an extreme "wind-swept and interesting" make over from some ice cold winds - it's almost as though we can run for shelter, run away from the unpleasantness of wet clothes and cold noses but every now and then nature will just throw something unexpected our way. It's like a little reminder that we can't control everything...and we shouldn't try to either.

Life is full of little surprises.

Fog is definitely my favourite little uncontrollable element of weather...there's just something so dramatic and inescapable about it that I can't help but fall in love with. It's this atmospheric blanket that falls over everything, muffling the sounds of the world and making it peaceful. It can make the most everyday scene become instantly romanticized and mysterious...

...or blot out the light so that your favourite sunlit forest walks become cold and uninviting. To be honest, I'd just as likely run into this kind of foggy landscape as any other. It really does something to my imagination, kicking it into overdrive and telling me that fog rolls in to hide the magical and mystical, even if it is a little scary. When I think of fog, I think of long skirts, bare feet and an inquisitive mind, running into the unknown as the fog smothers the path behind and ahead.

I have this irresistible urge to walk into a thick forest filled with roiling fog and keep going, as though if I walk far enough I'll come to the edge of the blanket of grey. I guess fog and woods are generally featured in horror films with skinny blondes scrambling through the undergrowth trying in vain to escape the fog-hidden murderer…but it makes me feel safe and like there’s something amazing to be seen before the sun burns the fog away.

I love the way fog retreats from open spaces as the sun gets higher, as though there's a door closing ever-so-slowly on a world only accessible on foggy mornings...

I think it would be amazing to get lost for a while and just wander, soaking in what could easily be things I've seen every day but that have now taken on a new life in the filtered, hazy light. That is probably my favourite thing about fog. It has this amazing, goose-bump-inducing ability to transform everything into something that just seems that little bit...wrong. Like taking a photo, then putting a filter over it; it's the same scene, but there's something so slightly different, something out of the ordinary and almost other-worldly about the trees or roads or even people that loom up suddenly as you walk along.

It's a big creative dream of mine to catch a dawn fog in my city long enough to get a photoshoot out of it. I'm in a sea-side city but our climate doesn't really gift me so much as a light mist...but I still keep hoping. It's happened before (Christmas Day, two years ago...yes, I remember!), but then again, it's so unpredictable. I guess I'll just have to be ready to snap photos at the slightest hint of swirling grey amongst the trees ;)

Do you like fog?

xo!

Credits [❤❤❤❤❤]

The Fault in Our Fangirls.

It's a weird feeling, being a huge fangirl for an author. I mean, if I love a band, you can go to their concerts and scream and wave banners like an idiot with all the other fans, but often the experience of going to get the first print run of a favourite authors new book is a lonely experience.

Yesterday, John Greens new book The Fault in our Stars was released worldwide, and boy was I excited. I didn't preorder it [I don't know why!] so I was a little panicky about missing out on the signed copies.

But I guess I underestimated the Nerdfighter [don't know what that is? Click here!] presence here in Belfast...which is a little sad, I guess. Then again, most fans here probably preordered it...Anyway! As you can see from the iPhone photo above [yep, I joined the iPhone club! More on that soon] I picked up a copy! I had to ask for it because it actually wasn't even out on the shelves yet, but it wasn't an easy request. It went something like this...

Me: "Hi, do you have the new John Green book, The Fault in Our Stars?"
Cashier: "We should have ten copies in the delivery, let me run up and get them..."
Me: "OH! Can you please check if they are signed?"
Cashier: "Sure."
Me: "And also! Also, can you check if any of them have an extra little doodle on them? John Green signed all of the first run, but his brother also doodled angler fish on a few and his wife also doodled some people! Can you check them and can I buy the one with an extra doodle, if there is one?"
Cashier: "Er....yes?"
Me: "THANK YOOOOU!"

Pretty sure I terrified the poor guy. It was very weird when he brought the book down from their storeroom - I wanted to jump around and squeak like the excited fangirl I was but people were looking at me weirdly already. I bought the book and ran out, smiling all the way. I can't wait to read this book ^______^!!

John Green means a lot to me, even though we've never met. That's the weird thing about authors - they end up speaking to you through their stories, giving you comfort when you need a little escapism, and they don't even know who you are ;)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [movie]- A Review!

I recently went to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [American version!] on a whim - boy am I so glad I did. Let me preface this by saying that I never bought into the hype surrounding this film franchise [there are original Swedish films] and the books just did not appeal to me - they are shelved in the thriller section of the bookstore I work in and are constantly flying off the shelves into the hands of people much older than me. I am largely a fantasy/sci-fi reader [trying to branch out this year!] so my only exposure to this franchise was completely media/consumer based. Usually, I shy away from popular books and films, but I am slowly learning that it's not always a bad thing to give into it and reach out beyond my comfort zone!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo definitely would take anyone out of their comfort zone - let me make it quite obvious that this will not be the film for everyone, so this little review/impression of the film won't be to every ones taste. Read if you like, after the jump! ^_^

A couple of days ago I finally got a day to go out and explore with my new camera! It's a Canon 1000D and it's beautiful, haha. It was a gorgeous day, just one of those times where the weather is cool enough to wear layers but warm enough to spend a good amount of time outdoors. I think our autumn weather only lasted for a few weeks, because it's most certainly winter now! *shivers*

Probably for the first time, the seasonal change was completely obvious - everything was golden brown outside and the trees were clacking their bear branches together in the wind. Autumn is definitely my favourite season!

Ren and I headed to The Botanic Gardens here in Belfast wrapped up in cardigans and scarves and had a really awesome little day just wandering around the greenhouses and grounds, snapping photos every now and then ^_^ Here are a few I took on our autumn adventure!

 

The Botanic Gardens are a large area owned by the Ulster Museum here in Belfast, and mainly the grounds are park-land with huge gnarled trees, squirrells and grassy fields. The Museum itself is tucked in a back corner with the grounds sprawled out around it - there are two greenhouses [one for tropical flowers, the other for large tropical trees], a large rose garden and little hidden walkways all around it. Since the grounds are usually bare this season, we headed into the flower greenhouse. It's so beautiful and there are so many colours - a strange contrast to outside!

When it got a little too stuffy in the greenhouse we headed out into the crisp air and spent some time just watching people go by with their cute dogs :) I was too shy to ask for a photo of them though...maybe next time! We decided to head into the museum and wander around - it's a place I visit more often than is probably normal xD It's an amazing place to spend some time wandering around. I've been going to our museum dozens of times every year since my early teens and I still find things to learn about or admire!

This beautiful stained glass window runs along an entire wall near the precious gems and rocks section - it's actually hidden behind a display of the rocks of our earth and I can't count how many times I've admired it and walked on without snapping a photo. No more! ;)

The image beside it is of a tiny, unassuming little powder compact. But I think its one of the most beautiful things in the collection! The image of a river winding through a forest landscape is handpainted on crushed butterfly wings! That slight blueish purple iridescance comes from the reflex pigments in the powdery wings of the butterfly. A little sad, I suppose, but I'm kind of amazed at how someone thought of doing this!

The powder compact was in a little display cabinet beside other handmade things, like this cute little carved Japanese man. He's carved from oxbone. I thought it was a little funny how he's holding his sword - surely that's not comfortable!

Rens little doll, Sophie, came along for the day too, but I only managed to get this small photo of her cute little face before we headed off home! Along the way we stopped in at a charity shop which usually has great stuff, but we were disappointed...until...

We spotted this amazing old Singer sewing machine amongst the furniture at the back!! I've never seen one, so I was kind of obcessed with how detailed and pretty it was. All the bobbins and accessories were still in the drawers underneath!

It was such a good day ^_^ Spent with my best friend just wandering around one of my favourite places in the city! I think I'll make an effort to photograph more of my favourite places...it's on my checklist to get some photos of the snowy landscape here...fingers crossed for a white Christmas!

How is everyone? ^____^ Thanks so much for stopping by!