.

So.
Hi!
Whilst I'm typing this I'm internally crying.

I only have one more day of the summer holidays.
But I'm determined to make this school year 100x better than the last one.

Yeah, school is stressful, scary, challenging- sometimes monotonous.
The only thing I can change about it is how I deal with it.

"Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it."

I like to see it as: there is an external world, that we live in; and an internal world  that lives in us. We can't control what happens in the external world, but we can choose what effect that has in our world. (Make any sense?!?).

Every day I'm going to try to choose happy. 

In theory it shouldn't be too hard, that fact that I woke up at all should be enough reason.

 But in practice, it's easy to let the little things get to you. 

This is my last year of school, and I want to remember it fondly.

~Rachel x

*Sorry for being so reflective and boring and moan-y again*

Summer Checklist- Revisited

This time last year (almost to the day!) I wrote a blog post called 'Summer Checklist'.

I spoke about a number of things I'd like to achieve.

I thought it would be a good idea to see whether, a year later I have achieved them.

A follow up wasn't my original intention, but I'm going going with it ;-)

1) "to practice my keyboard like a crazy person. My Grade 5 exam is scheduled for November and I'm waaayyyy behind."

Okay. I didn't practice as much as I probably should have... and it was touch and go for a while- but lo and behold November rolled around and I got a high pass. I didn't get a Distinction; but I didn't fail.

2) "I'm probably going to redecorate my room, which I'm super excited about.I'll do a blog post devoted entirely to this topic once I plan it a bit more...and not to mention pictures of when its finally finished! '

YES.  This, I can safely say I have done. I love love love my room now and would love to do a whole post dedicated to its new state, but its just occurred to me that I have no pictures of what it looked like before so they'll be nothing to compare it with! 

D'oh.

3) I'm going to try and eat as healthily as possible. I'm not going to cut out sweet treats completely, just greatly limit my intake; and have something healthy instead.

E.g: Banana>Cake. 

I actually did follow this through from August to about April (my brothers wedding was in April and I wanted to.... resemble a elephant as little as possible). 

But after the wedding I kind of just let myself go. 

:-(. But I have prom in less than a year so I better get back on a treadmill or something otherwise I might as well just go as an elephant.

4) Like I mentioned earlier, my body clock is messed up. I'm going to bed too late and waking up too late. 

Huh. I'm still working on this. It's probably gotten worse, if anything. I need to get into my head that watching a film at 1am is not good, and 2pm is not an acceptable time to wake up.

5) I have a little bit of homework to do... 

I actually don't have a lot of proper homework to do this summer, but I want to get a fully functioning revision timetable up and running so I'm at least a little prepared for my GCSE's next summer.

6) Have fun.

Yeah, okay. 

May she rest in peace

Lets not talk about how long I've been MIA from this blog. Or how cringe-worthy it is to look back at my previous posts.

It only seems like yesterday that I did THIS blog post last summer.

I haven't really achieved what I thought I would this time last year.

Sometimes expectations are what mess us up the most.

This year coming up is probably going to be the most important of my life.

I'll be in year 11....I'm going to be doing my GCSE's, which kinda makes me feel ill when I think about it.

During my mocks I felt like I was being lead to the slaughter house.(too much?)

A lot of my friends are turning 16 in the next couple of months; and I'll be doing to the same in 6 months.

I remember thinking about turning 16 when I was younger.

It was the magical age where I would suddenly know exactly what I wanted to do with my life and do cool things like get my ears pierced (mum's orders) and get a boyfriend.

But here I am approaching that elusive number, and I feel no more prepared to fulfill my expectations than the day I thought them up.

I still feel like I'm in Year 9... as if the past two years haven't really happened.

*sigh* 

Well this post is really a box of laughs, isn't it?!

I guess this post is my attempt to try and resurrect this blog.

"Miss Rachel Reidy- may she rest in peace".

The Red Tour!!!!

On of 1st of February 2014, I went to see Taylor Swift LIVE at the o2. I've been a maahossive Taylor Swift fan for as long as I can remember. The main thing I love about her is that she tells stories through her songs. I love a good story, as you may know :-)

I went with one of my friends, Daisy. We went to a buffet restaurant called 'Jimmy's. 

I wish I got some better pictures of the decor, because it was crazy. Because it served food from all different countries, they reflected this in the design, which I thought was really neat...

The only picture of the decor I got, outside the toilets (The Western themed bit with the road signs)
Sorry for the crazy face I'm pulling- I was a bit over excited and definitely believed I deserved a snack!

This is what I wore. It's pretty much all from Primark, haha.

Also, I apologise for the state of my surroundings, we are re-doing our house and therefore all the walls were stripped.

Skater Dress: Primark
Disco Pants: Primark
Black Boots: Primark
Necklace: Beaverbrooks
(Such a rubbish picture, but the only full length one I have!)

Yes, that's my mum in the mirror taking the picture. Couldn't find it in me to crop her out. :-)

Daisy and I on the way there! I look pretty composed in the picture, but believe me, I was jumping off my seat the entire car journey.

Daisy and I
(Coat: Peacocks)

The actual concert itself was amazing. 

Think strobe lights, 

drums, 

people flying through the audience, 

ballet, 

crazy costumes from clowns to paparazzi, 

a performer that is as good live as she is on her album, 

Taylor performing bare footed whilst walking down a thin walkway suspended in the air and singing about danger (treacherous), 

amazing dance routines, 

so many costume changes done in a matter of seconds, 

 a crowd that's as excited to be there as you are, 

Taylor being carried through the crowd whilst singing( not quite crowd surfing, but near enough)

'You Belong With Me' sung soul. That was cool. Take a classic song and switch it up. Those backing singer's harmonies were tight.

ED SHEERAN turning up unannounced, 

The Vamps playing beforehand, 

I repeat: ED SHEERAN being there.

And many other things that would take too long to type.

It was a magical time. I got some recordings, but in all of them you can hear me singing really embarrassingly loud. Whoops.

I ask you kindly to ignore my face but acknowledge how close we are to the stage! EKK! Not quite the pit though ahah.

I had a great time. What's the best concert you've ever been to? 

*Sparkle* 

Rachel   xxx

Its CHRRISSSSTMASS!

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas......

We put up our Christmas tree today! I'm totally in love with everything about Christmas and I'm so excited that I can finally go out wearing Christmas jumpers and tinsel in my hair and not be judged (much).

My mum and I had such a great day, playing Christmas songs, (Listen to a Christmas playlist HERE) burning cinnamon candles, drinking mulled wine and watching a Christmassy film later on that evening.  

Last year we didn't have a Christmas tree as the boys were kittens and we just knew they would tear it down! This year we are confident that they wont destroy it (although Jay-Jay has been having some fun with the Wise men......). Still don't know anything about these cats?!? Read a post I did a while back about them HERE.

Said Jay-Jay having fum with some tinsel :-)

Henry helping me put some decorations on the tree. Just call him an elf!

I think I got a bit confused with which glass of Mulled wine was mine.... I ended up drinking both and getting a little tipsy. Whoops!

"Which one is Joseph?"

Obviously getting distracted by cats. Story of my life.

Yep, causing havoc once again......




This post is obviously just for me. Hopefully I can look back on this in a couple Christmasses and smile at the memories.
Hope you are having a great time preparing for Christmas. Now all I need to do is buy some presents!

*Sparkle* this  Christmas---

Rachel   xxx

OOTD: Birthday party!

Hello! 

Long time no blog. Apologies. Been busier than busy.

 Tonight I went to one of my best friends 15th birthday party at a restaurant. I only had just over an hour to get ready and I had no idea what to wear so I went with the classic: An LBD. Not so classic that I had to pair it with brown boots though.

Imagine the scene: I'm rushing out at the last minute and ask my dad to quickly take some pictures for my blog. My dad, being the technology expert he is (note the extreme sarcasm is this sentence) agreed . So, therefore I apologize in advance for these terribly shot pictures. And the junk in the background! I tried to edit it out but it just looked weird. We are forever renovating at our house XD.

I wore my hair naturally down, tied at the back with a black bow from primark. (It wouldn't show up in the picture as it blends in with my hair)
Fake Pearl Necklace: Claire's

Coat: Peacocks
Bag: F&F for Tesco

The dress is plain black, with black lace on the back as shown here.
Dress: H&M

Boots: F&F for Tesco
(wish I had them in black D:)
They're the same shoes I wore in THIS blog post

*Sparkle*---

Rachel   xxx

Facts about me #4

Fourth installment!
Read the 1st HERE
The 2nd HERE 
The 3rd HERE


44) I could eat popcorn (sweet or salty) all day.

45) My toes click all the time.

46) When I was younger, I was obsessed with Club Penguin, and later on, Stardoll.

47) I have a brother who is quite a lot older than me. He's like a second father and I love and respect him so much.

48) Said brother is getting married next year, and I'm going to be a bridesmaid!

49) I come from all over the world. One granddad is Jamaican, another is Indian, One grandmother is White English, the other is Vincentian, African and Portuguese. Saying that, I have a great-granddad who is Scottish (My last name, Reid- is Scottish). So when people ask my where I'm from, I find it hard to know what to say. 

50) I'm very dramatic.

51)  The world amazes me everyday

52) I have ambitions goals for myself, but I don't like to share them with other people; otherwise they'll expect too much of me- and if I don't fulfill their expectations then I'll be letting down more people than just myself.

53) I'm a doodler. My geography book is like a trip inside Picasso's MIND, my dear.

54) I love to act & sing, and have done since I was very little.

 My mum has countless videos of Young Rachel prancing around on a stage.

 I've starred in 2 of my Secondary School's Productions, and plan to continue until I leave.

55) I hate speaking on Skype or the phone. I feel like I'm just talking to myself. I'd much rather see someone face to face or text them.

56) I've always been a poser in photographs. When I was little I used to turn my head on an almost 90 degree angle for photo's haha.

57) John Green is AMAZING.

58) I'm messy/clumsy 

59) Music is my escape.

60) Socially inept. 

61) I find it hard to understand why people like me at all

62) Doctor who is my favourite TV show, forever and always


Since I included a couple of pictures of me when I was younger, I thought I'd include this one too...hopefully to make you smile.

*Sparkle*---

Rachel   xxx