The Day of the Pancakes is upon us

So apparently I just check in at the end of the month now. Okay. Hi.

It's finally Pancake Day at least - I can't believe I've had to wait the entire month for it, I'm sure it wasn't this late last year.

We had Valentine's Day which was nice. I think I've mentioned this before but the cards Jack gets me always have dinosaurs on them, but he said he couldn't find one that he liked enough, or that he hadn't already got me in the past. So to make up for it, inside the card he did get me were two postcards from Paperchase, one of which has a T-Rex on it (the other has a turtle). Everytime I go into Paperchase I always look through their postcard rack to see if there's any good ones, and if there are I'll pick one up and stick it on my bedroom wall. Before Valentine's Day I had 4, and when I stuck the two new ones up next to them I was dismayed to see that they weren't the same size as the others. And I mean, postcard sizes are standard, right? The four original ones I had are all the same size. But the T-Rex one is slightly wider and slightly longer than the others, and the one with the turtle is slightly thinner and slightly longer. The size discrepancy has aged me prematurely, and I don't know why it annoys me so much but it does.

Jack said: "You could just cut them."

And I said: "That's not the point."

I suppose there are bigger problems in the world. But still.

It's been another fairly good reading month; not as many read as January but I'm still sitting pretty at 11/40 books read so I'm pretty chuffed. I don't have a least favourite this month as I've liked everything, but my favourite was probably History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera. It's not all that long but I finished it in one sitting because it was so painful that I wanted to get it out of my system all in one go. I felt like someone was clenching my heart the entire way through and it stayed with me for daaaaaays.

Finally, Spotify does this thing where every week they generate a playlist of 30 songs that they think you'll like based on what you listen to on there, called 'Discover Weekly' and I've found some new songs because of it that I keep playing on repeat:

Drive by Gretta Ray

Say No More by Fickle Friends

Honey by Swim Deep

See you at the end of March! Or sooner! Or never! Who knows? Not me, that's for sure.

Currently reading: I just finished A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab so I'm probably going to start A Conjuring of Light next because there was a cliffhanger and I have questions that need answering.

Song of the Day: Honey Bee by Seahaven (I think that you deserve some form of apology/ So here I am, and here it is, I'm sorry)

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There Are Wrecking Balls Inside Us

'Cause it's okay to be scared sometimes

And brave sometimes

And fail sometimes, sometimes

And it's not possible to lose every time

We have the time, we have the time

What we build could be anything

We can go places we never even thought of

This is pretty much the only song I care about at the moment. 

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Wish You Were Here

Have you ever really loved a song but then forgotten that it existed? And then you rediscover it years later and it's like, "Ah, yes, I remember you," and you can't quite remember why you ever stopped listening to it in the first place. I love it when that happens; it's like hearing songs for the first time again. This is my latest rediscovery. 

Incubus, man. What a great band. Terrible music video though.

Currently reading: Still all the things I was reading last time (don't judge me), but last week I did read All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven and I couldn't stop thinking about it for days. I was in bits about it. 10/10 would recommend (fair warning - it's incredibly upsetting)

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Starman

Eleven days into January, I currently have 3 empty pages in my diary and I feel so betrayed by Bridget Jones who made it look so easy. I could just fill in the pages and pretend I wrote them on the right days, but that would be cheating, and besides, I've just told everyone about it.

2016 has been weird so far, but there's things to look forward to. A trip to London, a Hen-do, a wedding, and that takes me right up to June. Other than that, there's things to be cautiously optimistic about as well.

But for now, David Bowie died yesterday and I'm so very sad about that.

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It has been a day

I ventured into town today to try and see if I could find anything suitable for a couple of family members and it took no more than half an hour for me to completely lose the will to live. It wasn't even that busy, it's just that everyone sort of seems to lose their heads around Christmas time and forgets basic shopping etiquette. People seem to go out of their way to make sure they have blocked an entire aisle, so everyone just waits for them to move or they take the long way round because we're all far too British to say anything. Also, the people who just decide to stand still in shop entrances while pedestrian traffic builds up behind them - why do they do that? I left after an hour with nothing to show for it except some top-coat nail polish which isn't even a gift, it's for me. There were even some shops I meant to go in but didn't because I was so full of rage and had utterly had enough. Ho ho ho, 'tis the season and all that.

Popped into Waitrose on the way home because there were a couple of basic things I needed and I managed to only remember one of them. I was at the tills, looking at my basket, thinking about how I had definitely forgotten something, and it wasn't until I got home that I remembered. Literally as soon as I walked through the door as well. But anyway, I had something to eat and I did the washing up and had a cup of tea, and then I wrote a couple of Christmas cards so I feel marginally better now.

In the spirit of cheering up, here are five songs that never fail to make me smile:

1. Baby I Love Your Way by Big Mountain
2. Wake Up Boo! by The Boo Radleys
3. You & Me Song by The Wannadies
4. Come And Get Your Love by Redbone
5. Shut Up And Dance by Walk The Moon (the link is to the movie dance compilation video because it's way better than the official music video)

There are plenty of other songs that make me smile too, those are just a select few.

Song of the Day: Just A Cloud Away by Pharrell Williams (This rainy day is temporary/ The contrast is why we got 'em/ 'Cause sun shining through is just a cloud away)

Currently Reading: Rivers Of London by Ben Aaronovitch. I really love it so far.

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Little Updates

I had a visitor yesterday.

He kindly stuck around long enough for me to grab my camera and sneak outside to take a couple of pictures, and then when I looked up from my camera display, he had vanished. So long, friend.

In getting my camera to photograph my little fox pal, I finally got around to moving photos onto my laptop, which means a select few of the Newquay ones will be up at some point. There's some great ones, Newquay is beautiful. So watch this space for those. Or don't, whatever. I'm not the boss of you.

I recently read the entire Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor and I loved it so much (excellent recommendation, thank you Lydia). Here's some mini extracts (non-spoilery).

  "Where I come from, old man, a soul's as useless as teeth to the dead."

  "Spoken, I think, by one who still remembers what it was like to have one."

   Akiva did remember. His memories were knives, and he was not pleased to have them turned against him. "You should worry about your own soul, not mine."

  "My soul is clean. I've never killed anyone. But you, oh you. Look at your hands."

- Daughter of Smoke and Bone

  "Mercy breeds mercy as slaughter breeds slaughter. We can't expect the world to be better than we make it."

- Days of Blood and Starlight

  The two of them were stoic and stone-faced and ten feet apart, currently not even looking at each other, but Zuzanna had the impression of a pair of magnets pretending not to be magnets.

  Which, you know, only works until it doesn't.

- Dreams of Gods and Monsters

They were right up my street, I really enjoyed them. Also they have what is maybe my new favourite fictional friendship in Karou and Zuzanna, I loved their dynamic.

In other news, I've seen a few new (to me - two of them are actually old) films. I watched Love, Rosie on Netflix which is your standard predictable romance, but fairly enjoyable nonetheless. The other two are both Studio Ghibli ones. Firstly, Laputa Castle in the Sky which is adorable and I really loved. The second one was Grave of the Fireflies which I knew enough about to know that it was going to be sad, but holy hell, it is potentially the most upsetting movie I have ever seen. I sobbed. And I am not known for sobbing.  

Music wise, I have been listening to a lot of soundtracks, namely from Princess Mononoke and Braveheart. But also, Stevie Wonder and Adam Lambert (I can't get Another Lonely Night out of my head.)

Song of the Day: Soul Meets Body by Death Cab for Cutie (And I do believe it's true/That there are roads left in both of our shoes/But if the silence takes you then I hope it takes me too)

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BANK HOLIDAY

So it's bank holiday, it's raining (naturally), and on the Eden channel there are back to back shark documentaries on alllllll day.

In other words, it's pretty much the perfect day.

Tomorrow, Jack and I are off to Newquay for a couple of days and I have spent a ridiculously long time making a roadtrip playlist for the journey. It's mostly stuff I know Jack will enjoy but I may have sneaked some Taylor Swift and Avril Lavigne in there. Maybe. It will be a lovely surprise for him, I'm sure. I'm hoping the weather will hold out but this is England after all so I can't ask for too much. As long as it stays dry I'll be happy. The hotel we're staying at is right next to the one where they filmed The Witches. Jack asked if I wanted to stay there and I said, "Are you crazy? What if the Grand High Witch is there?" He's lucky I'm here to think these things through.

I'll be back when I'm back. Obviously.

Song of the Day: Jump Into The Fog by The Wombats 

Currently reading: Ready Player One. Still. I sort of accidentally haven't picked it up in ages.

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Shut Up and Dance

If you're suffering from the Monday blues, or even if you're not, you must watch this video immediately. It made me SO happy.

Enjoy.

Song of the Day: Shut Up and Dance by Walk The Moon

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Music & Lyrics

You are not your job

And you are not the clothes you wear

You are the words that leave your mouth

So speak up, speak up loud

 Call Me Ishmael by Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly

I rediscovered Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly this morning and Call Me Ishmael really struck a chord with me for some reason. It's funny, you can hear a song you've heard a hundred times before, and all of a sudden it has a profound effect on you. I suppose it depends where you are in your life. As someone who really pays attention to lyrics, I appreciate when they're actually clever, or mean something. 

In a few weeks I will get time

To realise it's right before my eyes

And I can take it if it's what I want to do

What You Know by Two Door Cinema Club

But no one's yet explained to me exactly what's so great

About slaving 50 years away on something that you hate

About meekly shuffling down the path of mediocrity

Well if that's your road then take it, but it's not the road for me

Photosynthesis by Frank Turner

Evidently there's a theme within the kinds of songs I'm listening to at the moment. I think that's the nice thing about music though; there seems to be songs that can relate to almost any situation. They say things that you can't quite verbalise sometimes. They make you feel things. What a great gift to have. 

Song of the Day: Any of the 3 I've mentioned. Take your pick, they're all great.

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Sensitive soul

I was a sensitive soul when I was a child. Sad movies, songs and books used to always make me cry. I vividly remember going into my room and sobbing inconsolably after watching Dragonheart (remember that movie, with Sean Connery playing a dragon? It was great). However, somewhere down the line, I stopped getting so teary about things. I don't mean that I became I robot or anything and stopped feeling things. I still acknowledged the sad scenes in movies, like when Jack dies in Titanic (I don't mean to spoil it for anyone but come on, Titanic is about a million years old now), I just for some reason didn't get as upset by things like this anymore. This went on for years and years. Until now, apparently.

Recently, I feel like I've been getting teary eyed a lot. I think perhaps I've just watched/listened to a lot of sad (or at least moving) films and songs lately. For instance, in the last month I've watched The Fault in our Stars (sad), Les Miserables (it's called that for a reason people), The Theory of Everything (incredibly moving) and The Book Thief (very sad). Also, I was listening to the Wicked soundtrack the other day and when For Good came on, I very nearly bawled. 

However, would you like to know the most recent thing to make me cry? This song from An American Tail. 

I don't know what's happening to me.

Song of the Day: Polaroid Picture by Frank Turner

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Hair news! (how exciting)

I finally got myself down to the hairdresser's today. I last got it cut in January, so it's a long overdue haircut and I feel much better for it.

These are my 'before' photos. I actually really love how my hair looked. It's got a really nice natural wave and I do like having it this long. It felt horrendous though. And I don't really use heat on my hair. I haven't straightened it at all this year and have only curled it twice. I honestly think the reason it felt so dry and was breaking so much was because of my hairbrush, as I bought that at a similar time to my last haircut. So I've now got a tangle teaser, as recommended by my hairdresser (and on sale too!).

And here's 'after'. I've still got length and shape (despite having a good 3 inches chopped off) but it feels so much healthier. Plus I bet you a tenner that my boyfriend doesn't even notice a difference.

In other news, I'm having a real Blink-182 binge at the moment. I've been listening to their self-titled album on repeat, and feeling ancient because I remember it coming out when I was 14 and that was 11 years ago. How time flies.

Song of the Day: When I Was Young by Blink-182

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A Musical Recommendation

When I was in high-school, I would pretty much just exclusively listen to punk rock/pop music. Basically a lot of Blink-182, New Found Glory, Sum-41, Bowling for Soup...you get the gist. As this was my favourite kind of music, I tended to dismiss anything different straight away without really giving it a chance.

These days, thankfully, I've evolved. My iTunes library ranges from ABBA to Eminem to Paramore and everything in between (with several soundtracks from musicals thrown in for good measure). I still love the bands I listened to when I was 15, and it's funny that when I hear those songs now it takes me straight back to that age. I like to get nostalgic sometimes. 

I listen to electro-pop sort of stuff a lot more now. I'm really enjoying CHVRCHES and Chlöe Howl (I've just googled her and she was born in 1995 - boy do I feel ancient!) at the moment, and basically anything with a good beat. But I think if I had to pick just one type of music to listen to for the rest of my life, it would be indie-rock, because it's just so easy to listen to. And I think I've got a new favourite band.

I recently downloaded the Shout Out Louds album Optica from iTunes and I cannot stress enough how good it is. A lot of the time I don't listen to a whole album in one sitting; I tend to make a playlist and listen to it on random. But this is one of those rare albums that I actually like all the songs on it.

Particularly this one:

Enjoy!

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2013 Favourites

As we've started a brand new year, I thought I'd do a little round-up of my favourite things from 2013.

Outfit Posts
In general this was quite a disappointing year in terms of outfits because I didn't blog nearly as many as I would have liked to. A lot of my favourite items of clothing from 2013 actually didn't feature on the Emma Wears blog at all. But of the few posts that did go up, these were my favourites.

1. It's still sunny
2. Hey there!
3. Winter's back
4. Maxi skirts

Movies 

Some of these are movies that came out in 2013, and there's a few others that I just watched for the first time last year. I saw quite a lot, but these are the ones that stand out (for good reasons!).

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) - I was a little bit wary of this initially because I thought they might move some of the plot into the next film as it's going to be split into two, so I thought it might be really slow moving with not much happening. Happily, I loved it. It was much better than the first film (which I enjoyed anyway). I'm just a bit worried about Mockingjay now though because I didn't enjoy the book as much as the first two! 

Frozen (2013) - Pixar's latest offering. I absolutely loved it, possibly on a par with how much I loved Tangled (which is a lot!) Just your standard really good fun disney film.

Monster's University (2013) - Well worth the wait. It's the supporting characters in this that make it so great.

Blackfish (2013) - This is a documentary about Tilikum, the Killer Whale at Seaworld who killed one of the trainers. It examines how safe you realistically can ever be when you work so closely with an animal in it's own environment, but even more than that it just shows what a shady company Seaworld is in general. Well worth a watch, definitely an eye-opener if you were ever thinking of going to Seaworld.

Thor 2 (2013) - I love the comic book movie adaptations (well, most of them), and this sequel was great, everything you need from a trip to the cinema really!

Warm Bodies (2013) - I really love zombie movies, and this one is a lovely different take on the standard zombie movies. It's also got a cracking soundtrack.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011) - This is cheating a bit because I technically watched this in 2014, but I'm including it anyway. Just a really lovely little film. Plus, Ewan McGregor.

Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2 (2010 and 2013) - I was a bit late to the party with Despicable Me because I didn't get around to watching even the first one until quite late this year, but now it's one of my all time favourites, and the second one is just as good. I've even got a minion phone cover now.

Like Crazy (2011) - This follows the love story of a couple who get separated after Anna overstays her visa in America to be with him and then gets deported. It's not always particularly uplifting, but it's really well written and I really enjoyed it.

Also, honourable mention goes to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013). It's fantastic. Obviously, there's extra plot details that are nowhere in the book and it's constantly trying to link to Lord of the Rings, but you've just got to embrace the waffley-ness (definitely a word) and enjoy the ride. Plus Smaug is genuinely quite terrifying.

T.V. Shows

Firefly - Just think of it as cowboys in space. I started watching this on Netflix last year and I became hooked, so I was bitterly disappointed when I realised it only ran for one series before getting cancelled. There's a film too, Serenity which kind of gives you some kind of closure.

Adventure Time  - A cartoon about a boy, Finn and his best friend Jake, a talking and magical dog. It's wonderfully weird and funny, and if you pay attention properly it also has important life lessons.

Game of Thrones - I fully jumped on the GoT bandwagon in 2013 and cannot wait until the next series comes out. When will that be?!

The Walking Dead - I'm relatively new to this show. I'd wanted to give it a try for a while (because Zombies, obviously) but just never ended up getting around to it. I'm only just over halfway through series 2 so I've got a lot of catching up to do but it really is compulsive watching.

New Girl - This really is one of the best sitcoms to come out in ages. Just really light hearted and funny, and none of the characters annoy me which makes a change.

The Office (U.S) - I feel like if I was to do this kind of a round-up every year, The Office would make it back onto the list every year too. I can re-watch episode after episode and not get bored, I love it so much. 

Modern Family - Phil Dunphy. Need I say more?

Books
I'm not going to say anything about these, you should read them for yourselves, so just take these as my recommendations.

The Fault in our Stars by John Green
The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Divergent by Veronica Roth
The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan
The Loop by Nicholas Evans

Music
Bands/Artists: London Grammar, Kodaline, Bastille, The Civil Wars, Frank Turner, Gabrielle Aplin, The 1975, Two Door Cinema Club, Paramore, Tegan and Sara, Alex Winston.

Songs:
Shell Suite - Chad Valley
Be The Song - Foy Vance
Close Your Eyes - Young Love
Polaroid Picture - Frank Turner
Flickers - London Grammar
Brand New Day - Kodaline
Flaws - Bastille
C O O L - Le Youth
Another Love - Tom Odell
Two Fingers - Jake Bugg
Home - BriBry

Aaaaaand, I think that will do.

Song of the Day: The Mother We Share by CHVRCHES
Currently Reading: Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

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Lately...

Want to know what I've been up to? Of course you do.

Reading:
Not a lot to be honest, except for blogs. I stopped reading Linger for a bit. I was going to start it again last night but my Kindle needed recharging so I went to sleep instead.

Watching:
Game of Thrones. I finished series 2 last night and now I'm really mad that I don't have Sky Atlantic to watch series 3. I'm super excited that the second series of New Girl has started on E4 now as well, I love that show. I've also seen a few new (to me) films; What To Expect When You're Expecting (pretty funny), The Social Network (which I liked much more than I thought I would), Adventureland (I unexpectedly hated it, despite loving the cast), Breaking Dawn Part 2 (which was obviously shit), and The Woman In Black (which was ok, but it's one of those films where you're constantly having to watch the background for the spooky stuff - it's still pretty jumpy though. Unfortunately it was hard to find Daniel Radcliffe believable as a Dad. Plus he's Harry Potter.)

Listening To:
Tegan and Sara, Bastille, Frank Turner, Justin Timberlake and Jamie T.

Planning:
A holiday to be booked soon I hope. Also, deciding on what to do for my birthday in June and hopefully going to visit my friend at some point. Also, looking forward to warmer weather (which seems to be on its way) so that I can just sit around in the garden and do nothing.

A tale of insomnia

Last night I felt a little bit poorly when I got into bed, so was finding it difficult to get to sleep. So I got my i-pod and put on The Silver Seas because their songs are so gentle that I thought it would help me sleep. And I was right, when the album finished, I turned off my i-pod and was feeling nice and relaxed, and was just about to drift off when inexplicably, the scene from The NeverEnding Story when Atreyu's horse drowns in the mud popped into my head. Suddenly, I'm not only wide awake, but filled with sadness from this movie scene which traumatised my childhood. 

So anyway, after that, I drove myself crazy trying to think of the horse's name (it's Artax, I had to look it up today - I just couldn't think of it). Then I started humming along to the score of the movie in my head, and all of a sudden it was nearly 4am and I was still awake.

I hate nights like that. But I now really want to watch The NeverEnding Story.

Song of the Day: NeverEnding Story by Limahl. It seemed appropriate.

Currently reading: Linger. I accidentally lied in my last post, I was still reading Shiver but I got the titles mixed up.

Cliché

There's something so self-satisfying about sitting inside listening to sad songs when it's raining. I've just caught myself staring out the window at the falling rain, with melancholy tones playing in the background and I was completely unaware that I was doing it. I feel like I'm in one of those movie scenes where something sad has happened and all I do is sit there despondently. In other words, I feel like a cliché. 


Don't worry, nothing sad has happened, I am not despondent. I think I just lost myself in a moment. And now I'm back.


Song of the Day: Reason Why by Rachael Yamagata


Currently reading: The Book Thief (Nearly finished. Honest).

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Sometimes I wish I was Irish because St. Patrick's Day looks like a lot of fun. 

[source]

Just a quick one today because I have to go to work in about an hour and a half, but I just wanted to inform everyone of my renewed love for Travis (the band). I bought an album of their singles the other day and I'd forgotten about some of their songs, like Walking In The Sun and Love Will Come Through.

Have a listen, enjoy, thank me later (unless you hate Travis, in which case...sorry). Their music sounds like springtime. 


Song of the Day: All of Travis


Currently Reading: The Hobbit but it's okay, I'm nearly finished. I swear.

Perspective

So we're in a recession, and there's not a whole lot of opportunities for young people, and lots of people are being made redundant at the moment, but let's spare a thought for poor old Antony Worrall Thompson who is so hard up that he's having to steal wine and cheese from his local Tesco.


In other news, go and listen to Gabrielle Aplin's EP Home, on iTunes. Not you Dad, I don't think you'd like it.

One of life's many unanswerable questions

Why is it that you can be incredibly tired and so ready to go to sleep one moment, but then the minute your head hits the pillow all of a sudden your mind starts playing songs? And not quiet, soft lullabies or anything, but really energetic, repetitive songs that get stuck on a loop and replay over and over and over again. I didn't get to sleep until after 4 this morning.


And speaking of songs, I haven't done a song of the day in ages. So here's several:


Wake Up! by The Morning Light
Another Bad Night's Sleep by The Silver Seas (it's free on iTunes this week, go get it!)
Something Good Can Work by Two Door Cinema Club
Bang Bang Bang by Christina Perri
When We First Met by Hellogoodbye
Pirouette by Stickboy

Fags & Booze

Today Daf and I drove past a shop brilliantly named 'Fags & Booze'. I said, "I wonder what they sell in there?" which I thought was hilarious. Daf didn't laugh, but I think my sense of humour is just too refined for him.

In other news, I'm getting over a nasty cold. The weather has taken a turn for the worse and the temperature has dropped so I think that's why. I had to call in sick yesterday which made me feel guilty, even though it would have been irresponsible for me to go in considering I'm a waitress and handle a lot of plates and cutlery (ewww, germs).

I'm still loving Keane at the moment. Go and listen to Bedshaped. You're welcome.