My first concert

I have never, in all my fourteen years of life been to a concert. Well, not until last week. It might seem like a tragedy, and that's because it is, but luckily;y (I suppose) I had no idea how much I'd been missing out on. My very first concert was last Thursday, and it was one direction, which, depending on who you are, is either super amazingly cool, or stupid. I'm not particularly a fan, but I do like them, and my friend is MAD about them, so I've had practise at being a directioner, even if I'm not thus employed full time. 

It was the first time I'd ever been to the O2 too, and wow. The whole thing is like Disney land, but without the toy characters. Seriously, there's a whole town in there, like how do you even come up with that? Just wake up one day thinking - oh, I know, Imna build a city in a stadium,m. Anyway, It was pretty cool, and I had my very first five guys, which was almost as good as the concert itself, I'm not going to lie. Those guys know their stuff. The introducing act was Jamie Lawson, and that was cute, although I'd never heard of him before he played, and neither had anyone else in the whole arena. It was kind of sad, accentually.

Concerts are awesome though, I've decided, and even better, I'm seeing Imagine Dragons in November!! I'm so excited!

A Fandom Meal

Greetings folkeys. I’m ridiculously sleep deprived right now, because I just survived a full week of school, but I’m slogging on none the less, you lucky, lucky people. I am not, you may be surprised to know, the only fangirl among my friends. On my summer bucket list, there was ‘make a fandom meal’, and that wasn’t entirely just my idea. Because it wasn’t just me, and because I’m not exactly the world’s most enthusiastic cook (except when bakeoff is on, obviously) I recruited two of my friends to help me make this, and I want to show you the result. The whole idea was to make a meal that had each bit from a different book or movie that we were al fans of, and we came up with some ingenious things, I have to say. I can provide links to some of the recipes we used, but they can just as easily be subbed in with basically any other. All together, we fed eleven people, which was pretty impressive, I recon, although there wasn’t enough soup, by quite someway. (I love soup.)

For the starter (yes, we really were that fancy) we went hunger games themed, and had district four bread (you should know what I mean, an I'm deeply disappointed if you don't) with the pumpkin soup that Katniss has in the capital. Both of them were surprisingly delicious, I have to say, which surprised me slightly, but there wasn't enough of either the soup or the bread, which was a shame. We made the bread from scratch, in crescent shapes, with poppy seeds sprinkled on *after* the dough is risen. The dough may not have been quite bake off standard, but it was pretty darn good.

 

The soup was delicious too, and extremely easy to make, which makes a nice change. I think I might actually do it for my lunches next week, but I'll keep you posted on that front. The soup recipe came from here and is in American measurements I believe, but worked really well. There wasn't really enough of this either, you won't be surprised to know, as there were ten of us eating.  I didn't use an acorn squash, what ever that is, and used a butternut squash instead, but it didn't seem to make a difference. The photo is depressingly bad quality, because I was being pressured into being fast, but you can see how great it looks, right?

 

The main course might seem ever so slightly cheating, but I swear it isn't just pizza. This one was meant to be from Percy Jackson, but is technically just some random pizza we made, but it was still delicious, and you can check the books - they really do sacrifice pizza to the gods, so it counts. The only bad thing about our choices of dishes were that we couldn't include everything and that meant no Sherlock, and no Doctor Who. If I ever do this again I reckon we should start with all the fandoms we neglected this time, which is quite a lot.

 

The last food we made was cake, but not just any cake. We made dauntless cake, and yes, there is a difference. This one is delicious, although I knew that already. It's a Nigel Slater chocolate cake and it is YUM. If you're on a diet this really really isn't for you though; it's hard to imagine a more chocolate and fat filled cake in all the world, which I suppose is partly why it's so good. It also has about a trillion eggs in it, and they are definitely healthy so...

 

For drinks, we made butterbeer, and a bright red drink, from the mortal instruments. Guess what that meant?! (I'm going to tell you even if you don't care.) It meant that I had my very first taste of cream soda and my. mind. was. blown. Seriously. Shoot me dead and use my head as a mop. I do not know where I was going with that one. Stop me.

...

It's really good k.

(I hate my camera. The quality on the picture below is perfect, but the soup? No.) Ps. the drink isn't blood its lemonade with food colouring. Sorry to disappoint.

 

 

The butterbeer was really good, I have to say, although it looks pretty manky. We used this salted caramel thing, which was super good, but my friend ate most of it, so not so good in reality I suppose. The recipe we used may have been this one, but I'm not totally sure. Theirs seems to look an awful lot more aesthetically pleasing than ours, for some reason.

 

 

I was unduly proud of this meal, and as a special little bonus, not one of the ten people who came got food poisoning, and everyone ate food. Yas. Have you ever done anything like this? I imagine no one has, but I could always use ideas if I ever do it again, which I might do, if the relentless ton of homework ever stops coming, which it doesn't look like it will. I can try.

Until next time

x

 

 

Favourite Things on the Web this Month

I haven't done one of these for about a billion years, and actually it's probably not really as needed as another DIY (I haven't done one of those for ages either bc laziness), but I just found the absolute coolest thing in the entire world of internet, and it needs to be shared. I may slightly be guilty of spending too much time on this but the point is that if everyone else does too then it becomes normal, like calling flip flops thongs (you're mad Australia bro) or racism (you're mad humanity maaan) . Anyhoo, I've just picked ten today, but prepare to have your time truly and completely wasted. Love you too.

The Kanken website
Currently I'm in the stage of not quite denial about the beginning of school. I refuse to believe that it's starting in under a week, and yet I'm perfectly happy to search for hours for the perfect school supplies. School supplies are basically the only thing that's nice about coming back to school, and I've become strangely obsessed. Kanken is only one of the things, but it's the highest profile. Kanken bags are expensive for a school bag, if you're as broke as I am, but they are beautiful, as I'm sure you can see. I don't have one yet, but I shall, mark my words. I shall indeed. The shop is particularly lovely, and makes me particularly jealous.

Picnic recipes

I love picnics. So much, that I forced all my friends into having one at the end of the summer term. At lunch time. In the middle of the school field. It was great. When I discovered this post though, I kicked myself, because the recipes on here are so super tempting that it made me feel like doing it all over again.

Everyday things you never knew had names
Pointless knowledge is crammed into my head against my will every time I'm forced into a classroom, so why would I ever have the desire to learn more? The thing is, school pointless knowledge is a lot less interesting than the random dregs that float about on the internet, and as a special little bonus, these particular bits of learning improve your vocabulary at the very same time. Have you ever wondered what the bit in the middle of a window pane is? No? It's a muntin, fool, and don't you forget it.

 

How to read palms

I am a mystical and mysterious creature, with basic magical powers  and an air of otherworldliness. The ability to tell the future is always good to add to that, even if it is total lies and a pile of dung. This is pretty interesting even if you don't believe in anything the author says, and maybe it could pull you a job in the circus someday. Maybe.

A writers guide to torture methods

 Is this cruel to even consider these? I'm writing a book at the moment, and these torture methods really inspired me - in the best way, I swear. My characters are in for a word of pain I'm afraid, although I swear some of these are just totally made up. Check it out though if you're writing a book, or in the mood for something gruesome.

Print what you like
I swear I'm single handedly responsible for deforestation, even if it's really not my fault. Sometimes, I just have to print something because it'd so great, or I want it on my wall, or just because. This little tool through let's you print exactly what you want, and crops out ads or pieces of irrelevant junk, so you can save the orang-utans in a low key and stress free way.

It was a slightly shorter post today, so I'm sorry about that, but I have been very busy, in my defence. School starts in under a week now too, so I'm getting all sad. I swear the summer lasted about three minutes. Life just isn't fair these days.

Until next time

x

Summer Bucket List

Ah, summer. A time for relaxing. A time for unwinding. Nothing is required, and there is nothing you have to do. Or is there? Yes, you too can make a long list of things that you don't have to do, but now do, and can set yourself even more work to do! Yay! At long last! No, but really, bragging about everything you've done is kind of the main thing about summer, and let's be honest, ticking things of lists is really satisfying (is thar just me?). I made a summer bucket list because I'm no way patient enough to complete a real life one, and six weeks is a lot shorter than the whole rest of my life (I mean, touch wood.) Me and my friend Elyse made this list together, so have a read. Maybe it'll inspire you to write your own, or maybe it'll just make you laugh at us, but that's fine too, so go ahead.

 

 

I've done someof these now, and I'll post it again, all ticked off at the end of the holidays. Until then though, have you made a summer bucket list? If you have, what's on it? Anything I should add? Let me know peoples. Show me you care*

Until next time

x

 

*If you don't care, pretend. Sarcasm doesn't work in writing, so I'll never even know.

A Fairytale Themed Party for Seven Year Olds

This was actually a while ago now, but that doesn't diminish how very good I was. I was amazing. I was a saint. I was extremely nice. Basically, I organised a party for my sister. It wasn't just any old party though, not by any stretch of the imagination. It was a fairytale themed party, and it was quite a lot of work. Here's how it worked, so that if anyone fancies to copy it, or even just to use it for inspiration (and let's be honest, why wouldn't you. Age isn't an excuse.) then they can.

To begin with, I made six toadstools. These had empty stems, to hold pieces of a map, and I included a tutorial for them here: http://aminorityofonelunacy.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/paper-toadstools-diy.html

Next, I made a map. Being a naturally creative and artistic person with a ton of skill I drew it myself, of the garden and house, but fairytale styley. You could just use a real map of your house, or something I guess.

Then (sob) I cut up my beautiful map that took about an hour to draw (not that I'm bitter or anything, obviously), into six little pieces. They weren't all that little, because my map was huge- the size of our kitchen table, but anyway, it fit into the hollow stems when it was cut, and I then took them down into the woods, and hid them.

Obviously, they were easy to find, but that was better, because the kids could find them easyly. If I fancied being charming I'd say that the faces that they made when they saw the first one in the woods made it all worthwhile, but I'll just say that they were pretty good.

When they'd collected all the toadstools, fought over who could carry them and managed to get it all back to our garden with minimal ripping they put the pieces of the map together. On it were three crosses, and when they worked out that the house was the palace, and the lawn was the lawn (smart cookies, these kids.) they all sprinted to the marked places. The treasure was hung on poles, and wrapped in scarf things, in a bundle.

They contained a fairytae notebook, a pen and a gold box, holding a gold bean. This they took to the lawn and planted in pots, which they decorated with stickers. The magic beans got a bit of water, and then we went to 'grandmothers house'. They knocked on the door, and a grvely voice (my lovely friend lucy) asked if it was Red Riding hood, and then told them to go away when they said it wasnt. Ten we led them to 'Jack's Beanstalk. This was my favourite bit, by a long way.

Jack (My brother, bribed into helping.) and his cow (My dog, in a mask, also bribed.) climbed up the stalk to fetch a red cloak, which he gave to the birthday girl. She walked, (with her posse of friends) bcak to grandmothers house, where grandmother allowed her to come in. In the shed they saw a bath cap peeking out from behind blankets on the sofa bed, and picnic hampers. When they took the hampers, Lucy jumped out from under the blankets, with a wolf mask on, and chased them, screaming back onto the lawn. They ate their picnic, had cake, played pass the parcel on the rug, ate doughnuts from a string, and then got their party bags and went home.

Because me and my friend were being so very creative we decided to make the garden beautiful. This meant a lot of effort, balloons, and a ton of paper. I reckon it was worth it, but what do you think?

In general the party went remarkably well, I reckon,and my sister said it was 'best party she'd ever been to' and my brother wanted me to organise his party too , so that's pretty good. It was a lot of work,but worth it, I suppose.

Until next time

X

An Update

I have been supremely busy lately, and I'm sorry. I'm just writing to let you know that I'm alive, that my hands do still connect to my brain intermitted, so I can occasionally write things that aren't shocking. I'm in France at the moment, and not only France, but the South of France no less. That means heat (thank the lord - I live in Britain, and hot days are about as common as seasons of Sherlock.) lots of pools and slight sunburn. France is particularly nice right now because of the contrast. Before we left I had Tempest performances, guitar exams, school exams, homework, a ton of trips and a karate competition, and now I'm free!

To celebrate the end of term, I've dip dyed, my hair red, which was kind of rash, but I love it. It makes me happy I guess, and I'm planning to cut it all off at the end of the summer, into a pixie cut (let me know what you think!). I used Live Colour XXL, which worked pretty well, and was quick and easy to use. The smell was nice too, although I wasn't particularly impressed with the staying power of it - it's faded to a reddish pink after only three days, but then again, I have been in the pool at least three times a day for those last three days, so you can't really blame the dye.

I passed my grade five guitar exam with a merit, which I was pretty relieved about, and which I found out while having a picnic with my friends, at school. (That was a massive success, and was my idea, which I was pretty proud about.) Anyway, happy holidays to all you guys,

Until next time

x

Paper Toadstools DIY

I am officially a GOOD PERSON. I know I am, because when ever I tell relatives what I've been doing for the past week they always say so, and praise me, and worship me and ll that jazz. I don't want to disappoint anyone, so I'll clarify and say I HAVEN'T saved any small children from fires, I HAVEN'T solved world hunger, and I HAVEN'T quite become president. (I may not be american, but it's still going to happen. It's a 1 in 10, 000,000 chance, and also happens to be  my destiny.) However, I have created a birthday party for my little sister, and I wasn't even payed. I used these toad stools for part of it, and I'll explain exactly how it worked in a few days. Here's how I did them:

You'll need:

Some white card

Some red card

Some glue (I ditched the PVA and moved to a glue gun, because I'm hard core, but if you're patient you can just use PVA.)

A pair of scissors

                                      

Start off by getting the red card, and cutting out a big circle. I suck at making circles, but it doesn't particularly matter how straight it is. Put a dot in the centre.

Cut a slit from the edge to the centre dot.

Using the slit, over lap the edges of it so it forms a really wide coney mushroom shape, and glue into place.

Now, take some white card, and roll it and glue. This is the stem, or stump, or stick, or whatever you call that bit of a mushroom.  (I'm not exactly a botanist, I'm sorry. Although I do like mushrooms.)

Press it until it drys - be patient, young grass hopper (sorry.Sometimes you just have to say wise things folks. It just comes to me all natural like.)

Cut out a base, and set it aside.

Now it's time for more circles (oh joy.). Cut a ton of these white card beauties - I did about thirty, because I made six toadstools, but five for each is about right. 

 Stick these onto the red cone.

Now take your stem thing, and get your base. I needed the stems to open, so I could put bits of map in the hollow centre (more on this later, I promise.), so I made a sort of hinge on both sides.

I then cut a slit for the loose hinge bit to slot into, which worked perfectly.

Stick the stem into the cone, using glue (I burnt myself here - don't be foolish peoples.) I was so happy with them, and I got a few pictures of all of them together:

There were six toadstools, and six seven and eight year olds - do you see where I'm going? They each got one to take home, that's what. These looked gorgeous in the wood, but again, I'll tell the whole story of Eliza's party soon. Pateince is a virtue. Follow me people, and let me know if you want to guest post or anything. My email is bibliofille13@gmail.com.

Until next time

x