Currently 8 am and TODAY IS THE DAY. I'M GOING HOME. QUICK, I'm about to break out into the going home song from Radio 1. Currently listening to Driving Home For Christmas, I'm just sat in my bedroom so you know being a little bit ahead of myself but I'm just so excited!
I'm meeting my parents at the South Bank to look at the Christmas market then we're getting all my stuff and I'll be going home for 5 weeks GAH. Mums prepared a mac and cheese for me too, what a gal.
I've been listening to Michael Bubles Christmas album, I know I keep going on about Christmas (it's Blogmas, this is acceptable) but I'm so stoked this year, the past few years have just been like eh but being away I think has made me appreciate everything, life and everyone so much more. I can't wait for the day, I can't wait to buy and create the gifts I'm getting people this year, it's going to be weird and different with my brother living elsewhere for the first time but as long as I've got my mum and dad that's okay. I'll just get a cardboard cut out of my brother and pretend he's not only 5 minutes up the road.
I AM HOME, it's 6pm and I spent the day with my mum and dad going round my grandparents and stuff, saw my beautiful little cousin who I just adore! It was a nice day but now I'm in my cosy house which is basically Santas grotto right now - mum did a good job, as per.
I'm really happy to be away from high rise buildings and being able to see the sun setting again, I've honestly learnt to love things like that now, I never used to appreciate sun sets and sun rises but when I was at my lowest point mentally this year I started to love aspects of life that I never used to.
Ah well, I hope you've had an equally as nice day as me and I shall see you tomorrow!
Hiiiiiyaaa, how are we into double figures?! That means just 15 days until Christmas, I wish I was the man from The Grinch who does the countdown on the clock, he seems like a great guy.
Last night we had our flat Christmas dinner and secret santa gift swapping! The dinner was a great success I must say, me and Molly used our initiative after I was super emo about having no pigs in blankets (how is it a Christmas dinner without?!) so we made our own and I felt like I had transformed into my nannie. We had stuffing, carrots, chicken and potatoes alongside the pigs in blankets and it was very nice! Oh, and a massive jug of gravy, possibly too big…
Look at that jug of gravy, holy hell.
Me and Molly had each other for secret santa how cute, I got her an eye mask that says 'Fuck Off' from Urban Outfitters and she got me a book full of Nutella recipes because since we moved in I've always had a jar of Nutella and one time they all shoved their fingers in it and it was an awful day. But the present was very sweet and I can't wait to make some of them!
I was meant to go to class today but I didn't (oops) I felt awful this morning after my extreme lack of sleep so to refresh myself I went for a walk instead, got too Covent Garden and realised I was still too tired to walk any further so I got some mince pies from Marksies and came back to my flat. I just had a cup of tea with a mince pie to continue my extreme Christmas-ness.
Now I'm going to go over my essays, potentially submit them tomorrow??!!! Then I can start packing my stuff up for going home on Saturday, PRAISE THE LORD.
Hiiiiiiya! Well done to me for sticking this our for 7 whole days, it's a Christmas miracle.
What a fricken day I've had god dammit. I had about half an hour of sleep last night, got up at 4:30 and was out walking the streets of London due to tubes not running til 7 - gross. 5 Seconds of Summer are back in the country so of course my life has turned into an immediate mess.
We made our way to the airport (reluctantly, knowing it would be a total waste of time) and there we were amongst hundreds of other girls waiting for them to arrive. They didn't. They took the back exit and the whole morning and lack of sleep was for nothing, it's okay though I'd never be mad at them it's not like they need to meet everyone all the time in every single country, however it would've been really nice to see them but never mind!
The walk through London this morning was lovely, weirdly felt very Christmassy. I think empty London at stupid times of the day is my favourite London.
How are you doing? I've had a 3 hour nap, feeling refreshed and getting ready for a test tomorrow at uni and after tomorrow I only have to submit 2 essays and I'm done for Christmas AGH I'M GOING HOME ON SATURDAY I'M SO EXCITED!
I've already arranged things with my friendship group who I miss a lot, then arranged to meet with lots of my other friends back home who I miss so much! I'm honestly so excited to go home.
The only thing that has super bummed me out is that I lost a bit of money the other night which was part of my Christmas present buying savings, so bummed out. DONATE TO THE POOR AKA ME.
I slept through my alarm, I have nothing to be up for (my TV is also still not working, heartbreak Shannon) but I like getting up at a good time, sleeping in sucks.
Last night I went with a friend to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in Londons West End and it was honestly so much better than I thought it would be. The acting was good, the songs were good, the staging was good - everything was good! It was just way better than I thought and it reminded me how much I love musicals and I now want to make a thing of going as much as I can, but I'm not made of money.
We walked through Covent Garden and all Christmas awards go to Covent Garden for making me feel truly Christmassy. Good Lord, it looked beautiful everywhere! So much so that I might take a walk down there today just for something to do and to get really emo about Christmas once again, if you're going to London or live in London and haven't been to see all the decorations then you must!
I might do some more Christmas shopping today, or simply leave it until I get back home (8 DAYS OH MY GOD)
We're out in London tonight for our friends birthday, I've got a super busy weekend ahead but it should be fun, I think all my work is done for uni but not totally but just about and that's good enough for me!
Semester 1 is almost over and the past three months have been a very huge learning curve, it's been an emotional roller coaster if I'm honest. I've met people, I've had little mental breakdowns and it's just all been very strange - but also very good. I learnt a lot, some humorous things in fact that I'd like to share with you so heres what I have learned in the past three months and things that I simply want to pass onto you, like tips in a sense I guess? ENJOY. 1. No one knows where Suffolk is despite it being an hour and a half drive away from London. 2. Parties.
Just because you have purchased Doritos and Tequila doesn't mean it's a Mexican party, especially when you've eaten the majority of the Doritos before anyone arrives.
Parties are v different at all unis.
Someone will steal your voddy but deal with it and move on.
If someone leaves their voddy at yours because your flat is the usual pre-drink place then it's yours now, simple as move along.
3. Es ee ex.
People literally do not care if you are a V man or like to hit it whenever possible. Nobody cares, don't worry if you're a Virgin Mary and if you're not Mr/Mrs V then you shouldn't feel the need to splurge your stories over a game of Never Have I Ever - chances are nobody cares unless someone has actually asked…in that case feel free.
4. You'll see some weird things in your life.
When I say this I mean there's a chance you will be called into your flat mates room to look over at the hotel across the road to see a couple getting jiggy, you might even see a strangers bits and pieces dangling between their legs - THIS IS A THING THAT /MIGHT/ HAPPEN.
5. Friendships.
Friendships will blossom from night one at university.
Within a week you will have pee'd in front of your flat mates, you might even have a panic attack on the floor while your flat mate has a pee in front of you in your bathroom.
Friendships will move at 100mph, you'll go from strangers to best friends within days - it's quite beautiful.
Farting in front of your new friends is one of the biggest turning points of the whole friendship, it's real from that moment onwards.
6. Relationships.
Boys/girls you start to dig within the first few weeks aren't ones you need to hold onto for the whole year, you don't need to get hooked.
If you give your number to a boy out of pressure on the first night in a proper club in London then you see them on the fourth night and they're like "aren't you -insert name" after you've ignored their texts, it's totally okay to lie and say you have no idea who they're talking about and then run away!
Your whole "I don't kiss boys I don't like" mentality might go out of the window, yolo, live while we're young n all that.
If you go to uni you might fancy a million and one boys BECAUSE BOYS RULE.
7. Weird things will be done and it's okay.
When I say this I mean that it's okay if there's no toilet roll left in the pub toilet and you use the cardboard instead.
Also if you've chucked half a bag of Doritos in the bin in your room and the next day they're teasing you so you get them back out and eat them.
8. I fall over more in this city than I ever have done in my home town.
Yep, I seem to have increased my clumsiness. I fell over in Urban Outfitters in super slow motion and got 'pushed' outside Charring Cross and it was absolutely hilarious.
I swear half of these aren't personal experiences, promise.
Last night my friend Libby and I got last minute tickets to go and see one of our favourite bands, The Vamps in London! The seats were right up in the circle and we were next to two very drunk and merry adults, so that was quite fun.
You see, I've loved The Vamps for a super long time, since they were on YouTube and had no original songs…that was a long time ago in my eyes. I even made a blog post about their first single coming out way back when, you can read that here!
They put on an amazing show, it was electric the whole time and Brad…well I can't even talk about Brad because he is the biggest dream boat on Earth even from afar. Nope, can't talk about him.
They all had their own little moment, Tristan had an epic drum solo - IT WAS INSANE I FELT LIKE I WAS IN A TRANCE. James sung a little solo of Move My Way, Connor done a cover of All Time Low's 'Dear Maria' and Brad, although he is the obvious front man he had a little sing-song on his own when he sung Shout About It. It was all very cute.
But then Brad changes it up from the cuteness and goes mental on stage like the true front man he is but still manages to sound like a husky angel, how does he do it?! I don't know, get away.
It really was a special night for me to watch such a show like that, it was awesome and to know I've watched them grow from YouTube to this was something else and I left the venue feeling quite emotional but in a good way because they are four boys who really deserve what they have. They've stayed super grounded, haven't sold themselves out to America and given in to all of the financial side of the music business. I think they really do what they do for their fans and to simply enjoy it and that's obvious when you watch them on stage. There is nothing fake about them, they're totally real and I feel like they'll stay that way throughout what I assume will be a very long career.
They're going on tour next year too so you can get tickets this weekend if you want, you probably should though this isn't even a suggestion I'm literally going to force you to buy tickets because YOU MUST.
Once again, I've not been in the best state of mind ever but I'm taking steps to make it better - working on CBT skills I once learnt and just generally looking after (or trying) myself. I'll get there eventually, I must keep that mentality up!
The past week has held some good times mind you and of course, it's Positive Tuesday I'm going to share all of those things with you!
You know, happiness is all about the little things isn't it? Well, my flat mate and I ordered our first university Dominos and it was absolutely beautiful. Things like that are truly the most wonderful moments, anything that involve pizza is wonderful of course.
I also met up with my friends Georgia and Libby and it was the first time I've seen Libby in MONTHS. So that was super nice as together we are #Shibby, get to know that. I always love seeing friends who I haven't seen in a while and the friendships where you don't see each other all the time but when you do it's like you've never been away, those are the best friendships!
Friday came and it was World Mental Health day so I went on a super long walk which involved Starbucks, pretty trees and cute puppies… you can read about that here. Oh, but a gypsy lady tried to sell me some of those little flowery things and I swiftly said no but now I think she might have cursed me, but never mind.
Saturday was one day I probably don't think is worthy of positivity but then again it was quite nice, I aimed to meet Ansel Elgort… you know the giant (literal giant, he's 6'3 -ultimate swoon-) dream boat from The Fault In Our Stars. Well, that totally failed but I had mozzarella sticks and spent the day with one of my favourite friends Vanessa and made a few news friends too! So that was really lovely despite being cold for 9 hours, the lack of food and the hurt bum bone the next day.
(As I write this I'm realising what a good week I had and all the negativity is seeming really horrible and irrelevant and I really should learn how to focus on these positive things, wow.)
On Sunday we had a spontaneous flat dinner which consisted of Chinese and potato wedges, but I was reminded how much I hate Chinese food so no thank you chicken balls, you will not be entering my mouth any time soon. Then we all joined together in my bedroom to watch 'The House Bunny' and we've decided that Sundays are now dinner and movie flat nights, isn't that just the cutest?!
And finally, yesterday was cool! (despite all my crappy ongoing anxieties, but nope we won't talk about that). I was meant to be going to a gig in Camden but I wasn't feeling it so I splurged out on a ticket for Ed Sheeran at the O2 and it was AMAZING. He is honestly so talented, he never fails at putting on a good show and it's literally just him up there…how does he do it, he's amazing. It was kind of cool, I had to go to an event for my university work and then write up a report (you can read that here, it's my university website, oh I'm so official now) and it was cool to watch a boy from Suffolk sing a sold out show to 20,000 people, see him live his dream while I was doing something to contribute to my dream - I was writing notes through the show for my report, what have I become.
This post really has got me thinking about how thankful and happy I should be, oh silly mind. This has been a good week, full of positivity.
How has yours been? I would LOVE to know so leave a comment below!
So last week I had a day off and wanted some time for myself, as you know I love autumn and I thought I might as well embrace it and go on a long walk. I walked all the way from my halls to Westminster, along the South Bank and Westminster Bridge and everything…I can't say that was the most fun I've ever had as I was dodging tourists left, right and centre. I can now understand a typical Londoners anger at the everyday tourist, it is quite infuriating but we've all done it and I'm a small person so I could swiftly dodge being in the background of someones Big Ben selfie. However, I got to Parliament Square and I was like nope, I must get on the tube this is too much because it had started to rain and I was tempted to just tube back to where I'd come from (not Suffolk, although if that was possible I probably would have).
From there I got on the circle line and went to one of my favourite places that holds many memories in London - High Street Kensington. Oh, the memories there (mostly 5 Seconds of Summer related, oops) but it made me really happy and nostalgic to be there. I walked to Starbucks for the first time on my own and got a PSL to add to my autumnal day and then walked along the high street to my other favourite place in London which is Kensington Gardens. OHHH I LOVE IT THERE. Immediately walking through the gates I felt relaxed, surrounded by leaves and trees and it was just super calm.
I've noticed that in London everyone seems to have super cute dogs and I'm really angry about it, but a good angry because I just wish it was me who had the cute dog but I'm also okay with just looking at the cute dog…is that weird? That sounds really weird.
But anyway, I continued to walk through Kensington Gardens, got a big lost, got tempted to leave but wanted to carry on to the Hyde Park side and that's what I did. I got greeted by even more prettiness, even more little dogs and the sight of London on the other side of the park so I knew what direction I was going in.
It was just so relaxing, I'd love to go for these kinda walks with other people but it was world mental health day so I wanted to spend it doing something relaxing and peaceful for myself as a day like that would obviously be close to my heart.
By the time I'd got out of the park and was at Hyde Park corner I was not okay, I'd been walking for what seemed like forever but it was only an hour or so. I then went and visited old Liz, they didn't let me in for tea though which of course was extremely disappointing, I thought we were pals.
Once again I was a little bit lost but found my way and was once again at Westminster, but nope I definitely was done by that point and could not handle the thought of more tourists in my face and men on the bridge doing weird magic tricks but they were obviously just mugging people off. So yeah, I was lazy and got on a tube. When I got in I calculated that I had walked almost 5 miles and I was pretty pleased. I'd spent a couple of hours just walking across London, earphones in and all by myself. It really was quite lovely.
October is well underway, in recent years it has become one of my favourite months of the year. The last few months of every year are always the best in my eyes, I just love the crisp mornings, the events and all that comes with them. I could happily live in autumn/winter all year round, screw summer give me hoodies or give me death (this was an extreme over exaggeration, don't give me death at all just give me jumpers and artificial warmth from fires and stuff).
Here are a few things I absolutely love about autumn…
1. The trees and all the leaves…
IT'S JUST BEAUTIFUL, LOOK AT THEM, LOOK AT THOSE LEAVES THEY ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL LEAVES I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. (This was in Hyde Park so for a super sweet autumn experience, go there and cry at how beautiful things like this are!)
2. The cold, crisp days where you're not too cold but you're cold enough…
You're totally cold enough to go out in cute sweatshirts and scarves and all that cute stuff, AH GOSH I LOVE IT. And it's like you're not freezing cold but you're definitely cold enough to return home and have a hot chocolate and act like it's acceptable to sit in your joggies and wrap up like a burrito in blankets…that is the life we all want to lead, am I right? Yes, yes I am.
3. All the autumnal colours…
The oranges, the yellows, the beautiful colours of everything. I'm getting too excited, I might cry I mean just look at number 1 I'm far too excited about it.
4. Halloween…
You see, I never used to like halloween but damn, I'm stoked! I'm getting so excited seeing pumpkins everywhere, and being at University I'm finally excited for halloween parties and stuff. Woweeee, I can't wait. But I will probably be hanging up my 'peas in a pod' costume as it is at home, I'll have to think of an even better costume.
5. New found love for Pumpkin Spice Lattes…
Yup, I'm now one of those girls, I tried one for the first time because I wanted to add to my love for autumn and praise the lord for these drinks…delicious. Well done universe and the Starbucks Gods. I even spent the last of my change on one the other day and I probably shouldn't have done that but I'm living life officially on the edge for the sake of PSLs.
What's your favourite time of year? Let me know, do you love autumn too?! And if you do let me know your favourite things!
Hello! Yep, I missed another week didn't I so let's start a fresh, let's not focus on the weeks I missed. This is now week 7 okay, but it's probably 7 and 8 I don't know…I'M CONFUSED, JUST IGNORE ALL OF THAT.
The past couple of weeks haven't been my best mentally, I'll be honest. I won't lie and say I've been a radiant ball of positivity because I really haven't. I've been having a tough time, questioning a lot of things but I'm figuring it out or at least trying. I'll get back on my feet, I always manage to even when it seems impossible. If I've done it before I can do it again and that's what I'm aiming to do.
When I returned back to London I had a couple of clueless nights out, you know those ones where you wake up the next day and it's like you were in a bubble all night and you remember nothing - AWFUL, DON'T DRINK KIDS IT'S BAD, SO BAD. And I also went on Barclays bikes at 2am and it was cool as hell.
I also have plans to see my favourite Aussies, 5 Seconds of Summer this month too aaaah yeah, the happiness returns.
OHHHH and Autumn has returned, October is here (but I'm going to be making a post about that soon so…) but that's made me super, super happy holy moly.
So yeah, I've got things to be happy about, do you?! How has your week been? Please let me know below in the comments, I'd really love to hear!
Hiiiiiii! Yes, I understand it's actually Friday and I haven't done one of these in 2 weeks now but hey, I'm now a student and I have things to do, people to see, Doritos to eat.
It's been a mad couple of weeks, I've been finally settling in after week four of 'Positive Tuesdays' and it now kinda feels like home here in my little bedroom in London with my flatmates who already feel like family. We can just talk about anything and everything, I love it.
Okay so here are all the good things that have been happening... last week my best friends India and Damian got engaged!!! We've literally all waited for this moment for years, they are the glue to our group and this was just an absolutely lovely thing to have happened. I nearly cried when we got told in the morning and I'm honestly so happy for them, all the congratulations in the world to them!
Last week I partied a bit, ate many Doritos, done some stuff…you know, the normal student stuff.
This week I actually started University and it's so overwhelming and scary, I'm trying to be as positive as I can and think of all the good things that are to come but deep down I'm like nope, I cannot do this and I think I'm just totally scaring myself to the point where I feel turning into a tortoise and hibernating would be the better option - BUT I'M NOT HERE TO BE NEGATIVE SO IGNORE THAT.
It's been a very hectic, scary but fun couple of weeks and it's given me a taster of what's to come for the next 3 years, being a fresher is cool, cooking my own dinner is cool, washing my own clothes is also pretty cool. I keep forgetting I'm in my most favourite city in the whole world, so I think I should definitely stop taking that for granted as of this moment.
How has your week been?! Let me know, I'd really love to hear!
Until next Tuesday (I promise I'll get back on track) ((Actually, don't hold me to that))
As you can see in the title this one is about the thing I've been going on about for months and months, my good thing for the week is that I am finally at University!
I moved on Saturday, I actually did it. On Friday I had the biggest wobble of all, even contemplating not moving at all and just giving up before I'd given it a chance and I stayed in bed all day when I had jobs to do before leaving but I couldn't face doing anything because that meant everything was real and it was actually happening, very scary. But I did it, my dad packed the car up and him and my mum took me down to London and here I am, 4 days later and it's like I've been here for ages.
I've met so many lovely people, my flat mates are ace and it's all just been super natural! I never thought I'd start conversations, I was super nervous about going out drinking but I did it and it's been hilarious and just so fun. With all my anxieties still here I'm working through them because I just have to.
My room is huge, I feel like I need to buy furniture to fill it up and make it more like home but I don't know where to start and I should probably prioritise buying food instead of furniture…
My cute little bed.
I still feel like I need to make it more homely, but my pin board is looking pretty cute so far!
So yeah, it's been quite hard in some respects but all in all, rather fun!
How has your week been?! Let me know I'd love to hear!
I've been here almost my whole life, Saturday comes and I'll be looking at a completely different view. I used to love familiarity, I used to love walking around my estate and going by places I played when I was a kid but it's now all a bit too familiar, I don't think I was put on Earth to stay in the same town forever, I think I was put on this Earth to travel and make the most of my life. This change is going to be good. I'll be spending 3 years in London, my favourite city. I'll come home and look at this boring view occasionally, but I'm excited to swap this view for the view of London. I must stay positive and realise that this is an amazing step for me. 2 years ago I would never get on a bus on my own, walk into shops...anything. Come Saturday I will be doing life all on my own (with my mum just on the other side of a phone in case of any potential breakdowns or confusion when I want to cook some food). But let's do this, I'm Shannon and I'm no longer Little Shannon, the girl who was frightened of leaving a bubble I've been kept in all my life, I am now just Shannon...the girl who is finally chasing a dream.
Making decisions is really scary, it brings on all kinds of anxious feelings. But, we have to make decisions every day - some we don't even want to think about. My biggest decision recently was whether to go to university or not. After the Christmas holiday, I whacked out a banging personal statement (it was actually rather good, okay) then I applied to five universities. I was aiming to commute every day but the past couple of weeks I thought 'where am I going to go in this town? I've got to move'. Don't get me wrong, I love my town. It may be simple, there's not a lot to do but I have amazing friends here and my family have never ventured out of the town. I want to be different, I want to be the one in my family to live away and make a name for myself.
Having the anxieties that I have, this decision was so hard. I will have to go days without seeing my mum and dad (I plan to come home every weekend, if I'm not partying at Mahiki or something sick). Anyway, the thought of being away from my mum is sickening. She is my rock, she's the person I turn to when everything in my head is falling apart. Of course she'll only be a phone call away, to me that doesn't seem quite good enough.
Here's the thing, all my life I've wanted to be on television, despite having all kinds of confidence issues and insecurities, I'm just going to have to fight them. Since I was little Fearne Cotton has been my inspiration and then over the past 3 or 4 years, Caroline Flack has been put on that list. They're exactly who I want to be, I want to be on TV, radio, writing for magazines. Anything. I want to be meeting celebrities on a regular basis, being tight with them and going for drinks in Camden. How cool? THAT IS THE DREAM. If you know me, you know my life is pretty much just 'famous people'. This whole blog is me talking about famous people, well, for the most part. What else would I do with my life?
This is why the decision to apply to university and move to London is the biggest one I've made in a while. It could potentially be life changing, I can't stay in this town forever. I don't want to be working for a local newspaper...I want to be big. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and take whatever life throws at you, take every opportunity. I know from experience that I haven't taken many opportunities that have been offered to me, obviously I live to regret the opportunities I've missed.
Let's hope I get the grades! This post was just something I wanted to speak about, not exactly interesting but hey ho.
Update on my week - it was the last week of term (thank God) and it was just quite shit actually, I haven't felt myself. I finally listened to a band from Australia called 5 Seconds Of Summer, 5SOS for short. They're so, so, so good! Luke Hemmings is absolutely banging. Later this week they were announced as One Directions support act, so I started listening to them at the right time! Oh, Luke followed me on Twitter, that was quite exciting. Next week I'm seeing Little Mix and then 2 days later I am seeing One Direction so I'll be blogging about them!
So, my previous post was my own personal highlights of 2012 and this one will be ones which may be seen as general highlights to a lot of other people. I've looked around and came up with 5 highlights, which may or may not be a good thing - they may simply just be things which have been big talking points of 2012.
5. Gangnam Style
Also known as - The Most Annoying Song Of All Time, courtesy of me. Why, why, why has this song reached the most views EVER on YouTube? I literally do not see the fascination, the video isn't funny and neither is the song. It's a massive lump of irritation on the world and I wish it would just be forgotten about. But, no that isn't going to happen. It's getting more and more views everyday and I just will never understand. The dance is totally hilarious...can you sense my sarcasm? In all honesty, there will always be that one video that goes totally viral but lets hope the next time it isn't one as annoying as this.
I feel ashamed even posting the video on here.
4. The 21st December 'Apocalypse'
Are you all still here? Are you all okay? Did you survive? Yeah, me too. After years of giving myself major anxiety over this day, nothing came of it, thank God! So, you will all know about this date if not then it was a theory based on the Mayan calendar which ended on this date - conspiracy theorists obviously jumped on this and assumed it was the end of the world which made a lot of other people jump on the bandwagon and describe all types of disasters which would be happening on this date. But, nothing happened, what a surprise! Lets wait for the next possible apocalypse date, shall we?
3. The Queens Diamond Jubilee
2012 marked the 60th year of The Queens reign and it was an amazing time to be British. It definitely brought the whole country together as there were street parties taking place everywhere, Royal memorabilia in shops across the country and of course the events which The Queen attended and were broadcast to the nation. The pageant which took place on the River Thames where over 1,000 boats took part as The Queen and the rest of the Royals watched on The Royal Barge. Also, The Diamond Jubilee Concert was an interesting watch too as it took place outside of Buckingham Palace and it was lovely to see all of the Royal Family having a lovely time together. Grace Jones on stage was a bit strange though. All in all it was a lovely thing to have witnessed, even if it was just from a television, it was still nice to know I was here when The Queen celebrated her 60th year on the throne. It's a nice feeling knowing that the whole country was watching and enjoying the same thing as you and it definitely shows you how united our country is in situations like this. Everyone may have issues with each other but then things like this come about and it's all forgotten about. It's really nice.
2. The Olympics in London
After years of waiting it finally arrived this Summer and even to this day I miss watching it! It took over my life for weeks as it was all I watched on television. Like The Diamond Jubilee, it brought us all together once again. The opening ceremony which was the product of Danny Boyle's imagination, was amazing to watch. Although, at the beginning, I know personally I was a bit like "what is this?" but as it went on I began to love it, I don't think it can be beaten. We all were worried we wouldn't beat Beijing's previous opening ceremony, but we definitely did. My favourite part was The Queens input, it was so shocking because everyone assumed it would just be a lookalike Queen that Daniel Craig was approaching in Buckingham Palace but it wasn't, it was the real thing. Amazing. Who knew The Queen could do comedy? The Olympics were under-way and Team GB did Great Britain proud by the end of it by getting a total of 65 medals - 29 being gold (source). This event glamorised Olympians and they're now real role models, no funny business. These people have inspired a generation to take part in so many different sports, even I wanted to start but I'm too old to really join a club now. They're all hard workers, they work hard for their success and that's definitely a good reason for children to look up to them. The Olympics was a great thing to have watched and the male Olympians weren't bad to look at for weeks either (yes, I am talking about Tom Daley and Louis Smith obviously). It's going to be hard to beat, I'm talking to you Rio.
1. One Directions Massive Success.
Oh, look at me being all biased. Yes, I would obviously say One Directions success has been a massive highlight of 2012 and certainly a massive talking point. Everyone around the world knows of them, whether they like them or not is a different story but they still know them. They are officially the biggest boy band in the world right now and they deserve to be. This year they won their first Brit award for having the Best British Single for What Makes You Beautiful and they definitely deserved it. Maybe I cried, just maybe. The happiness in their faces was amazing and I was just so happy and proud of them because this was just the start of the whole year, there were so many more amazing things to come. Earlier this year they were taking part in their sold out, first solo tour and that carried on in the States and elsewhere, throughout the year. After they won the Brit award they announced their 2013 arena tour and that sold out, in which they sold out numerous nights at the O2 Arena in London (I'll be going to 2, I can't wait). During the year they announced further dates around the world for the 2013 Take Me Home Tour, in total they will be doing 117 dates worldwide. The year went on and they got bigger and bigger and managed to sell out Madison Square Garden in New York, which was their biggest gig to date. To sell out Madison Square Garden is a massive achievement for any artist and I think One Direction definitely recognised this. Adding to their awards, they won a lot during the year as well as being nominated for quite a few as well, but I think the ones that really stuck out for the boys were the 3 MTV VMA's they won, they got these for 'best new artist', 'best pop video' and 'most share-worthy video'. Finally, they released their second album 'Take Me Home' which reached number 1 in 32 countries. Just from this I can only predict even bigger things for them next year, if that is even possible.
