Music Crush #20

It's Music Crush time again! Wooooo!

I have quite the eclectic music taste; one minute it can be rock, the next charts/pop, to relaxed, to some kind of heavy rock stuff, to disney, to blues, to everything basically. 

Lately, I've been listening to the more relaxed music out there and, honestly, a lot of it's been classical/piano music, like Ludivico Einaudi and Roberto Cacciapaglia, but I didn't think they really suited this blog (although they are great musicians that you should listen to at least once in your life!). 

So, sticking to the relaxed music I've been listening too, I found an old sing that I've recently re-found, but a one that I  absolutely love!

Birdy

~ ~ ~ 

Wings

This song is beautiful.

I love the fact that I can still here the piano in it, hence why it's a part of my relaxed playlist at the moment. Birdy's voice is perfect with it too, there's just something about her voice that lulls me into a kind of calm serenity, in an eerie kind of way.

The fact that she's only nineteen too, amazes me - she writes amazing music, can sing, play the piano and is just all round pretty awesome, before she can even go to America and legally drink! Wow.

Here's the song, all for your listening!

Katie x

5 Things I Love About Home

 I'm home!

Which I already told you, I think, but, well, I'm telling you again! It feels so good to know that I'm home and I don't have to worry about all the things I should be doing back at uni, because there isn't anything! Now I have the whole summer to relax a bit and slowly start working on my dissertation. It's an incredible feeling to not have to worry about deadlines!

In honour of being home for the next few months, I thought I'd list a few things I love about home, because we all know how I love a good list.

1.

Family.

An obvious one, really. But no matter how often I try to make a journey home, I always miss my family the most. Especially my last month or so in Nottingham I started to get really homesick, and there are only so many Skype conversations you can have before you realise it's just making you miss your family that much more. So I can't wait to spend the whole summer with my family and going on adventures with the little ones.

2.

Baths.

From family to baths. Yep. That's how I roll! When people tell me they don't like baths, I actually question that person's sanity because, honestly, how can you not love baths?! Light a few candles, grab a book, make sure there's loads of bubbles and climb into that lovely hot water and life is brilliant!

3.

Cheese.

Shallow, I know. Seriously though, that stuff is freakin' expensive, and I'm a cheese addict! At uni I have to make a conscious effort to cut down on the amount of cheese I eat and try and make it last me. Therefore, when I'm home, I do the exact opposite; I eat as much cheese as humanly possibly and annoy my mum when she comes home and realises I've eaten all the cheese that she only bought a few days ago - sorry mum...

4.

My House.

Before you start thinking I live in this huge mansion, I don't. I live in a normal little house but it's home, and I love it. My mum has cute pictures of the little ones all around (as well as a few embarrassing ones of me and my brother when we were younger), and it just feels home-y. And it always smells nice; I never need to worry about walking into the hallway... not that we have one of those at home but if we did I wouldn't have to worry about it smelling like sweaty feet or whatever other kinds of smells there were at uni.

5.

The Countryside.

I don't actually live in the countryside, not properly anyway. However, my grandparents live in a little village surrounded by fields and gorgeous views and I live with them part of the time; it's one of my favourite things to be able to go and run outdoors in some place quiet and calm with just me and my iPod, and occasionally a dog or two as well if I'm at my grandparents. Something as simple as a lovely, peaceful view can make me the happiest person for a few hours. I'm going to blame it on the creative writer in me; it helps me to think better.

There are plenty of other things I love about being home but those are the five that come straight to my mind. Of course, there are things I miss about being at uni too, like all of my friends and my flatmates and I love living in a big city too, but it's nice to have a change and a little break from all that busy-ness.

Katie x

Music Crush #19

I've missed writing these sooooo much!

I debated for quite a while as whether to make this my music crush or not, but I've been in love with this musician so I figured I'm just going to go for it. Although, I'm pre-warning, if you fall in love with this rendition of this song as much as I have, it's not available to buy. Yet. Hopefully this guy will get signed soon and then I can listen to his beautiful voice all the time.

Calum Scott

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Dancing On My Own

He has one of those voices that I can quite happily listen to on repeat for hours and days on end and not get the slightest bit bored of. It's thanks to one of Britain's biggest TV shows that I heard him too; he appeared on Britain's Got Talent, singing this song in his first audition, and I couldn't take my eyes away from him. His voice has that haunting edge that makes it hit you with every bit of emotion he pours into it - which is a lot. 

For his second appearance, on the live shows of the program, he sang a cover of We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off, and I can safely say I've never heard it sang as well as when he did. It was truly stunning. 

In  addition to that incredible voice of his, he seems like a genuinely lovely guy too. In any interviews I've seen with him, he's definitely managed to melt a lot of hearts and I'm sure he's going to break a lot too with that whole clean-cut look he's got going on!

He didn't win, for those of you wondering, however, he made it to the final and he was one hell of a contender. I'm living in hope that a record label is going to snap him up because they'd be stupid not to - I'd buy his music instantly, with no arguments!

Well, here's his version of Robyn's Dancing On My Own. And I've also put his version of We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off below as well, because if you don't fall in love with him as quickly as I have then we're going wrong somewhere!

Katie x

Second Year = Completed!

Haven't written one of these in a while! 

It's definitely not been hard to notice I've been as absent from this blog as a first-year uni student who doesn't actually care about passing the year with higher than the necessary 40%. I've missed this little space but I've really just had no time for anything that isn't Literature essay related *sad face*. 

However, as of a week and a bit ago, I am finished for the summer! Woop woop! It's been a hectic few months and uni work practically buried me (if you'd seen the state of my friend's room - you'd have thought she was trying to bury herself under a million printed drafts of essays about urban landscapes and feminism).

As you can tell, we were more than a little bit happy to have finished our
final exam and second year!

So, even though it's been a hell of a long time since my last post, there hasn't actually been that much happening... but here's a little life update anyway!

The last blog post I did I told you all about the awesomeness of The Script concert that I went to (HERE). Some of the girls from my course and I booked tickets to go see Imagine Dragons at the Capital FM Arena in November, which I can't wait for! I love their music so obviously as soon as we heard they were coming to Nottingham we realised we had to go.  I'm considering it a birthday treat to myself, as well as an end-of-second-year-of-uni treat.

Only a few days after I went to see The Script, my grandma and grandad came to visit me in Nottingham, brought the dogs, and stayed for a whole week, which was amazing! It was perfect timing too, because homesickness had started to overtake, seen as I hadn't been home for over three months. It was lovely to see them and I got to show them around Nottingham a bit more as well as taking them to Sherwood Forest, one of my favourite places in Notts.

I went on a work placement with a friend from uni at the beginning of my Easter holidays before going home, where I got to see all of my little ones! I really hate how fast they grow, they just seem to ignore me when I tell them they're supposed to stay little babies forever! My nephew has learnt to say my name too, so he kept walking around going 'Kakie' and grabbing my hand to lead me to what he wanted, because of course he would know that I'm a softie and give in to cuteness way too easily. Although I did end up working most of the time I was home, which sucked because I wanted to see people but it was good at the same time because money. What student doesn't need money? Also, rather bizarrely, it ended up snowing for quite a few of those days - I know I live in the North of the UK, and our weather is often a lot crappier, but snow in April? That's crazy weather, even for us!

In the meantime it's been a few months of many birthdays, including my own! Which has left me rather poor, thanks to many nights out (although very awesome nights out, may I add), meals, presents, etc., etc. All of which were very lovely and deserved!

As for me, I've unfortunately left the teenage years behind and I've entered my twenties, I'm going to make 'twenteen' an age though because it sounds way cooler... right? My lovely flatmates decorated the flat and got me a cake whilst my amazing best friend (I better say that, in case she ever reads this ;) ) took me to the cinema to see The Avengers: Age of Ultron which, may I add, was a frickin' incredible movie. Obviously. My mum also rang me to tell me she'd sent me a card but she'd sent it to the wrong address... again. Yep. Again. It's not the first time she's sent me something and then I've had to go and retrieve it from some random strangers that she's sent it too by accident - she's lucky I love her.

Then came all the deadlines and exams and all the boring stuff, blah, blah, blah. Needless to say they were a tiring few months filled with a lot of work and very little sleep. However, I did find a lovely little place that I started running, or even just going for 'procastination walks' throughout revision period, but I'm gutted I found it so late in the year, especially when I won't be living in halls again next year so I won't be able to just walk out my door and down the road to it whenever I want. Oh yeah, and I developed an addiction to chocolate digestives thanks to stupid revision. Ugh.

BUT! We had a great final weekend - as an end-of-exams celebration and a birthday night out for my bestie, we went for our final ever Saturday night out of our second year, with some of the best people, and had an awesome night with a hell of a lot of dancing and laughing!

So I've realised I maybe had more to update you on than I first thought, and this became a much longer post than I first thought it was going to be.

It feels incredibly strange to think we've finished our second year of uni; it seems to have gone so quickly and it feels even weirder when I think about the fact that I'm heading into my final ever year of university (and education in general) - now that's a crazily scary thought!

Katie x

A Night To Remember

Hi!

I was lucky enough to get to go and see The Script at The Capital FM Arena in Nottingham a few weeks ago, thanks to a very lovely friend who got me tickets for Christmas. Personally, I've never been to a bad concert or gig (whatever you call them) and The Script is definitely up there in my top three... It might even just be a war between them and McBusted for top spot because they were just awesome.

The one thing I really loved about this concert, aside from the fact that it was The Script, obviously, was that it was a really down-to-earth show, there wasn't a load of unnecessary props or staging, it was just them and a stage and a whole load of amazing lighting effects going on. 

I don't think this spoils anything... It's pretty obvious as soon as you get in the main part of the venue because you see it straight away but if you're worried this is a spoiler, jump straight to the next paragraph now. There is a little stage a little bit further back than the middle of the floor where they disappear to part way through the show and they play a beautiful piano version of The Man Who Can't Be Moved after saying how much the song changed their lives, and it was one of the most beautiful things ever. I didn't want to move after it, it was so stunning. Also the fact that they did this so that everyone, even the fans that were stood at the back of the venue or had seats back there, could get a chance to see them properly and they wouldn't just be little pin-pricks in the distance was such a lovely thing to think about.

The whole show was all about the fans and you could tell that, from their energy on stage, their banter with each other, the dedications of their songs, their enthusiasm, the way they got the crowd involved. At one point a fan standing even fainted and they made sure that security got to her and helped her before they continued with the show, which I thought was lovely, not many bands/singers would have that kind of concern for their fans. It was all pretty amazing. 

One thing they'd stopped doing for a while in this tour but did was the 'phone an ex' game. I'd heard of this but I wasn't sure they ever actually did it but, apparently, on their previous tours they would get a member of the audience to phone an ex and they would then sing to them down the phone - it was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time and definitely added something a bit different and unique to their show!

I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this concert at all, it was one of the best I've been to and my feet were killing me afterwards but I guess that just means I had one hell of a good time!

Katie x

Music Crush #18

Heyyyy!

This weeks Music Crush was not difficult for me (for once) because I've been obsessing over this song for weeks now!

Ellie Goulding

~~~

Love Me Like You Do

What is there not to love about this song?

Nothing (just in case you weren't sure).

Everything about it is brilliant, from the beat to the sensual sound (if that doesn't sound cheesy), to the way it literally makes you want to have someone who can dance with you like she does in the video.

There is not a single part of this song that doesn't leave me wanting to listen to it one more time for the six-hundredth time.

There isn't much I can say about this song, you just need to listen to it and hear it for yourself to know why I am so crazy in love with it. 

Talking of being crazy in love, this song is from the Fifty Shades of Grey Soundtrack (smooth trasistion, huh?!), where Beyonce has a new version of Crazy in Love which is also pretty awesome, similarly as awesome is Earned It by The Weeknd, as well as music from Sia and loads of other amazingly talented people that I can't stop listening to. No matter what you think of the Fifty Shades movie, there is no denying that they have produced one fantastic soundtrack for it!

Katie x

An Original Obsession

Hello!

I've found a new obsession. Yep. You heard right. A. New. Obsession. It was once Suits (it still kind of is) but now I have a new one that may even have more of a hold on me than Suits. You did read that right. I am hooked on this TV show - I even dreamed about it the other night! I've watched a lot of television shows since Suits but I've never loved any enough to tell you guys about them. Until now.

So I should probably tell you what this show is before I ramble on about it...

The Originals

It's a spin-off from The Vampire Diaries, which is a show I went off a long time ago; after about season 3/4 I think I stopped watching, I thought it was starting to get a bit repetitive but, oh my god, I'm addicted to The Originals, more so than I ever was to The Vampire Diaries. 

It's definitely a lot more of an adult show than it's parent show but I think that makes it a lot better. Obviously it's still gory and bloody - they're vampires, what do you expect? - but it seems to do it in a less teenager-angst way. 

Not going to lie, I have a bit of a thing for Klaus and Elijah too. It's the best of both worlds; Klaus, a bad boy; Elijah, a noble bad boy in a suit. You can guess which one I favour, I'm sure.

I have avoided this show since I first heard about it because I'd gone off The Vampire Diaries and I thought it was basically just going to be the same thing but with different characters. It's not. Not at all. Not in the slightest. It's just not. It's completely different, the characters are more mature, and played by some brilliantly skilled actors may I add, the story lines are bigger and, I would say more talented and gripping but maybe that's all down to the actors.

I was never a massive fan of when Klaus and Elijah and Rebeckah and the rest of the Original family came into The Vampire Diaries but that was because very little was known about them apart from how much they were hated and feared, but this spin-off lets you further into their lives and I have fallen completely head over heels in love with the characters.

Joseph Morgan, who plays Klaus' character, and Daniel Gillies, who plays Elijah's character, are two amazingly gifted actors. For me, they make the whole show. They're not just two stone-hearted, thousand year old vampires who like to kill people for fun, they actually show a lot of emotion and go through some difficult battles throughout the first season. They don't just randomly kill people either, I'll throw that out there now. Hayley, who is played by Phoebe Tonkins, is also brilliant. She's a strong, independent character who you get the feeling can cope completely fine on her own and doesn't need other people to do everything for her - she doesn't rely on the men of the show, basically. The first few episodes I watched, although I was gripped, I did get the horrible feeling it was going to be a love triangle - which I really hate - but it turned in a completely different, unexpected direction and nowhere near a love triangle. It does have a little bit of chemistry and spice in there too, which I love - I'm such a hopeless romantic.

Elijah is without doubt my favourite character, it's something to do with his whole demure and the kind of person he's portrayed as, constantly standing by his brother even after all the horrible things his brother has done to him. The way he's always the protector. And the fact he nearly always wears a crisp suit helps too... I do love Klaus too though, with his whole mysterious character and hidden emotions, he has that cheeky smirk as well, no one can hate that. I'll stop swooning over the actors now. Sorry.

The whole show is simply fantastic.

The season finale is one of the best I've ever watched too, and I've watched a lot of television shows. It's heart-breaking whilst hopeful at the same time. I don't want to give anything away but it's possibly the best episode I've ever watched on any TV show.

I've just started re-watching season 1 on Netflix as I die slowly waiting for season 2 to be released. I'm that addicted that I'm struggling to live without the show in my life - I managed to watch the whole first season in three days... I have no life. 

I have no idea what else to say about this show apart from how frickin' brilliant it is. Everyone needs to watch this because I personally guarantee that you will fall in love - not just with Elijah (or Klaus, if you prefer).

Katie x