Winter Tag

Hi all! Jenna over on Sparkly Kid tagged me to the Winter Tag which is part of the Winter Wonderland Challenge. Although i'm not part of it, I thought I'd give the tag a go.

{1} What is your favourite winter drink? How do you make it? Why is it your favourite?
I don't often have a specific winter drink but I certainly drink a lot more Hot Chocolate during winter especially with added whipped cream and marshmallows. It just makes me feel so warm inside and its also the perfect evening drink because it makes me feel sleepy and cosy.

{2} What is your favourite winter month?
It's a tough one between Decemeber and February. December contains christmas which is so exciting but February contains my birthday and it is usually the start of my marathon season.

{3} Do you get snow where you live? How much?
Not really. I live in England and the weather can be very varied. Sometimes we have snow, and it usually closes everything and stops people from going anywhere, and sometimes it's just grey, cold and windy.

{4} What is your favourite winter activity?
I don't really have my favourite winter activity. Most things I continue over the whole year but I really love having more lazy days in pyjamas with blankets, a roasting fire and hot chocolate.

{5} What is the best thing about winter?
Warmth from fires and layers, pyjama days, fluffy socks, hot chocolate and hearty meals.

{6} What is the worst thing about winter?
Having to go out in the bitter cold and trying to deal with it even though you are tired and would rather be in the warm.

{7} Favourite winter-associated symbol? (e.g. Father Christmas or a snowflake)
Snow flakes are so cute and pretty and if you get a good snowflake, you could easily make it an interior design item that doesn't go over the top.

{8} Tag another blogger.
I nominate you all to give it ago.

See ya on the flip side,
Holly x

My aim for Inky Quill and Paper

Hi guys! Yeah, I know it's been a while... I've lost my motivation again which annoy's me because I was going rather well for about two months... Anyway, my motivation to write weekly blog posts has stopped. I want to do something different and more interesting.
For a while now, I've been blogging, a certain type of post keeps re-accuring and I've been enjoying preparing and writing them. The posts I'm talking about are my photo travel posts. These posts are simply about places I've visited during my day-to-day life. I really want to move into the direction of photographing my adventures and sharing them on here.
The issue I'm having, however, is my lack of interesting adventures when I am always at school every week and rarely leave the area for weeks at a time. So, to conclude, I will be continuing my blog to some extent but not in the way as before. I really love writing for this blog but sometimes when I write, it feels like a chore rather than something fun. I want to write about things that I enjoy.
Anyway, thanks for sticking with my rather inconsistent blog. It really matters to me that I still have people reading and I'll see you in another post shortly.
See ya on the flip side,
Holly x

Autumn Tag {with Sparkly Kid!}

Hi guys! I'm back again but this time with a joint post with Jenna over on Sparkly Kid based on the Autumn Tag! As it's near the end of Autumn now, we both added a wintery touch to our answers!
Me and Jenna have a lot of exciting joint things that should be coming up so if you haven't followed her or seen her post click here and do just that!
Right, let's do this!

What is your favourite seasonal drink from Starbucks/Costa/Cafe Nero?
Hate to be a bore but I generally hate tea and coffee so any seasonal drink containing either of those just don't work with me. I tend to go for a warm hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream because they are always so warming and delicious. I particularly like the one they do at Costa.

Favourite make up look?
I tend to keep things quite neutral but as it gets into the colder months, I do tend to put dark colours over my eyes with either black eyeliner or gold eyeliner. My lips also tend to get darker with deeper lip colours such as dark red.

What do you opt for- boots, scarf, gloves?
I hate gloves. They limit everything you can do. I do start to bring out the boots and scarves a lot more during the colder months. I love scarves. I would wear them all year round if it wasn't for heat equating to sweat and making you feel rather unpleasant.

What do you love to listen to during the autumn?
It depends on whats in the charts at the time. For the past two autumns, One Direction have released new albums so often they end up as my soundtrack to Autumn.

What's your favourite scent at this time of the year?
I love the really wintery scents that make you think of winter and long evenings by the fire. I don't have a particual scent name for it but I think you get what I mean. I also enjoy burning my vanilla scented candle during long baths during this time of year. There is something about the scent of vanilla that makes me think of dark evenings in.

Which scents will you be burning this season?
Like above, it will have to be my vanilla scented candle for those reasons.

What do you love most about autumn?
The long dark evenings by the fire, having a reason to wrap up warm, fluffy socks, hot chocolates, hearty meals of pie or stew.

What are you looking forward to most during this season?
I don't really know. I love how well warm, hearty food goes down when you are cold or have just come from outside. I also love how close it is getting to Christmas and the Party Season. It gets me really excited thinking about it really!

Hope you enjoyed that little post. If you haven't checked out Jenna's, please do and give her quick follow!
See ya on the flip side,
Holly x

The Big What If {Guest Post by Picking up the Pieces}

Hi guys! Envy (from Picking up the Pieces) and I have been mixing up a guest post for quite a while now based around the theme of 'What if'. I hope you enjoy it and go check out my post over on her blog. Enjoy!

It’s a part of everyone’s life: daydreaming during boring classes, staring out of the windows of the bus or lying awake at night, thinking: what if…?

We think about what could have been almost all the time, from the serious ‘what if I’d told him what I felt for him?’ to the little things like ‘what if I hadn’t eaten that panini?’ or the weird scenarios of  ‘what if fish could talk?’. We keep thinking about these things because life could be totally different if we went back in time and changed one little detail. And if we changed one big detail… who knows what would have happened?

One thing that turned my whole life around was this one sentence, spoken by my 4^th grade teacher: ‘Why don’t you write stories after finishing your work?’ Because of these nine little words I embarked on a journey full of stories, half-finished novels and bad poetry. And if I hadn’t done that?

Ladies and gentlemen, get in your TARDIS and let’s find out!

October 2005

Primary school ‘the Fountain’, the Netherlands

‘Miss Martinez? I’ve finished everything,’ nine year old Envy said. ‘I’m bored now. Can I do the tasks on the next page?’

‘Envy, you know you can’t. You’ve got to wait until the rest of the class is finished with their work too.’ Those were her actual words, after which she introduced me to the wonderful world of writing. And if she hadn’t, I’m pretty sure our conversation would have gone on like this: ‘But I’m done and I’m bored! I want to do something!’

‘Just be patient, Envy. You need to learn to be patient.’

I would have moped around for a bit. The next day I’d have refused to do my work.

‘Why aren’t you working?,’ miss Martinez would have asked.

‘It doesn’t matter what I do or when I do it, I’ll end up bored and annoyed anyway.’ That remark would have made me end up in the principal’s office, which would frustrate nine year old me even more, and within no time I would have been marked as a problem child.

April 2010

Shrinkworth High School, the Netherlands

As I grew older, I needed a creative outlet. Writing was perfect for this purpose. And if miss Martinez wouldn’t have suggested writing as an extra exercise? Without a doubt this would have happened when I couldn’t get rid of my frustration through writing!

‘No Envy, you’re a poop head!’ my friend Rose yelled at me during science class. In reality I wrote a whole story on the childishness of the use of the word ‘poop head’, but in this What If scenario I reacted differently. Instead of writing, the thirteen year old Envy in this alternative timeline yells back: 'I am a poop head? I am the one who’s being childish? You are the one who still calls people poop head. How old are you, three? You are the poop head here!’

The next day I put a drawing of Rose with poo on her head on Facebook, with the words ‘poop head’ as caption. She would have complained to our mentor and I would have ended up in the principal’s office for bullying, calling him poop head too when he doesn’t want to listen to me.

September 2014

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Writing made me realize that I love languages. Without this knowledge my career choice would have been one big drama, probably resulting in an event like this.

‘Envy? Why do you want to become a doctor?’

‘I don’t.’

‘Why are you in medical school then?’

‘My dean said I couldn’t go on believing I’d make a living out of selling my art. Said I was wasting my brains on art, that this was my best option.’ And as I’m telling my professor this, I start drawing eyes, a nose and a mouth on my desk.

‘Why didn’t you tell him you don’t want to be a doctor?’

‘I told him, but he wouldn’t listen to me because I called him a poop head.’ Meanwhile I’ve filled the desk with a portrait of my professor. He smacks on the desk, in the middle of his portrait.

‘Miss Fisher. I think you should reconsider your career choice. You’re a grown-up now. You can’t draw on your desk!’

‘Fine.’ I stand up, muttering: ‘You’re a poop head too.’ Then I leave the university and never set foot there again.

Many high school teachers were happy with me as a student – until they found out about my dream of becoming a writer. They thought it was a beautiful dream, but not one that should be chased during math classes, biology, chemistry, geography… My dean and I always got into arguments because my dream was unrealistic and I should choose a ‘real’ career path. It caused some drama every now and then, but when I look at the What If scenario I just wrote for you, I think I’ve turned out pretty all right.

‘Cause if I hadn’t been stimulated to write, things would have turned out a whole lot worse. Lots of people would have been hurt. Lots of people would have been called poop heads. And I would have had no clue as to what to do with my life. So miss Martinez, I owe you a great big thank you for introducing me to the wonders of writing!

Life Update: What's been happening in my life?

Hi guys! Gosh, it's been a bit of a while, hasn't it? I never meant for this to be such a long extended break from the blog spree but suddenly, college was back and so was the heavy workload. But I'm back with another post! I thought, because it had been a while, it would be acceptable to fill you all in about what has been happening in my life these past two weeks or so.
Last week, quite a few things started to happen in my life again. This included lots of work and lots of cold weather and unattractive thermals and layers. Wednesday brought about my first 12 mile paddle of the year in my lovely kayak. My partner, Helen, and I managed to complete this route in two hours and five minutes which was an improvement of our time last year. Although exhausting, it was rather rewarding at the finish. The sense of satisfaction is brilliant.
Then, on Saturday, it was bonfire night which simply means lots of fireworks, warm bonfires and hearty food. I took some rather arty photos that night which I even impressed myself with especially with the bad lighting and cold, rainy weather.

This past week has been especially hectic for me. On Thursday, I went back to my old school to collect my GCSE certificate for basically getting at least one GCSE during my pre-college exams. Overall, it was a rather dull evening and it reminded me of how much happier I am at my new college over my old school but it was nice seeing so many people that I haven't seen for quite a few months.
Then, on Friday, I went into London for an art trip. We started the day by visiting the Victoria and Albert Musuem to take a free sketches of some of the figurative sculptures and then a look at a recent exhibition of Constable: The Making of a Master. Constable is a very famous landscape artist who uses a build of texture to produce stunning paintings of landscapes from his life. There are some really stunning pieces in that exhibition so if you are in London, I recommend you have a look. Well worth the visit.
We then moved onto the the Royal Academy of Art to look at the recent exhibition of Anselm Kiefer who is another Landscape artist who uses a variety of materials such as straw, paint and mud to create abstract landscape pieces. Another stunning exhibition that has a variety of thought- provoking pieces. Another must-check-out. Here's some of my photos from the day...

I have also been trying to produce some better photos recently by experimenting with how I take them and how I edit them. I took some photos early this morning on a iPad and then edited them on Photoshop Express so that I could have a play around with the landscapes from where I live. Some of these photos are below..

Emotionally, I feel like my life is starting to change and move in the right direction again. Maybe, somethings happen for a reason so that you become aware of the things that are around you and have been the whole time.
Over the next couple of days, I have the National Schools Kayaking Championship which is a race composing of a few sprints and one long distance paddle against schools from all over the country. I'm a bit apprehensive but excited for the racing season to start again. I also have an art exhibition and workshop with Landscape artist Mark Spray which should be really interesting and inspiring as well as my college parents evening, which I know will be just a bit dull but it's just part of life.
I should be posting a rather exciting post tomorrow so stay tuned for that.
See ya on the flip side,
Holly x

Back to College I go..

Hi all! So college started again on Monday after a very lovely two week break that no means I have no motivation to work but hayho! It also means that majority of my energy and time will have to be redirected back to school work and my grades and therefore, less time writing and posting new blog posts... I really enjoyed blogging every other day. I found it really fun and enjoyable, which is always a positive thing if you are doing it quite often.

However, I will still be blogging every weekend once or twice so please stick around for those and by the 12th of December, I will be back to my blogging every other day schedule.

I have some really really exciting posts/ projects coming up which, with out giving too much away, are going to be really enjoy them and find them interesting!

Anyway, for now, I will say goodbye until Saturday but I will be connectable through comments and emails so keep in touch!

See ya on the flip side,

Holly x

My October Instagram's

Hi guys! So november is here and to welcome in the new month, I thought I'd reflect back on my instagram's this month. Enjoy!

{1} Me and Harry Potter at the Halloween Six Form Social at the beginning of October
{2} The three devils before the Halloween Six Form Social
{3} The typical 'I'm over you' and 'lets move on' break-up instagram quote post
{4} I had to post an instagram of my new blog design
{5} It looked really autumnally during my dog walk, so I took a picture and later used it in a blog post as well
{6} I have to post a kayaking photo every now and then. This one is from my most recent session on the water
{7} One of the many London photos but only a handful made it on Instagram
{8} A very arty photo of a wet bridge in London
{9} A picture of the poppies at the Tower of London

See ya on the flip side,
Holly x

Trip to London in Pictures {29th October 2014}

Hi all! Yesterday I went into London with my family to visit the Tower of London and a play at The Young Vic Theatre. These are some of the photos that I took throughout the day and into the evening. The weather was a bit miserable so I wasn't able to take as many photos as I wanted but heres the one's that I managed to take...

Well, that's it! I hope you enjoyed the little photo album that I've put together. Have you been to London? Where are your favourite places to visit?
See ya on the flip side,
Holly x