Chasing the sun

Last week I flew out to Barcelona for a few days to join my parents on the last leg of their Spanish holiday. It was a bit of a last minute thing, and involved me going on my first lone plane journey, which I can happily say I survived! Had a lovely few days, it wasn’t too hot (I don’t do too well in heat…) and was just nice to get away for a bit. As much as I love camping holidays in the UK, there is still a part of me that wants to go somewhere aboard, to experience different cultures and climates…and so the restless wanderer in me was crying out to be released! That’s where the boy and I differ a little; he does like to go aboard, but he is quite content to go on holiday in the UK, whereas I like to go aboard more I think, even if it is only for a few days.

The only downside was that on the last day, I fell ill; it was either something I ate the night before, or a nasty stomach bug. So the last day (Saturday) was spent in close proximity to a toilet, even though we were still out and about in Barcelona! After we had left our luggage in lockers, we found a Starbucks, where I had little naps on the comfy armchair and duly took some medicine to try and curb the sickness. It seemed to help a bit, so we set off down La Rambla, stopping at a beautiful cafe that was in one of the guidebooks. Unfortunately, the sickness didn’t want to behave…and it all began again! We continued down La Rambla to the port, where I fell asleep on the floor near the toilets in a shopping centre – not exactly the best end to the trip, but what can ya do? These things happen. We didn’t get home until past 4am on Sunday morning due to train disruptions, and when we did get home, my bed greeted me like an old friend!

Apart from that, the rest of the trip was lovely. We didn’t rush around, so even though it was a city break, it was still relaxing. My sister gave me a book to read whilst I was there: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and I’m just finishing it now. Was quite fitting as it’s set in Barcelona. Now that I’m getting to the end of it, I’m started to feel slightly unnerved by it; don’t want to give anything away, as it is a good book, so well worth reading. A few things we did whilst in Barcelona: Casa Batllo – a beautiful house by Antoni Gaudi, Parc Guell – another Gaudi creation, a walk along La Rambla and then along to Barcelonetta. Did a few others things whilst we were out and about, including a stop in a church and a spot of shopping, and we also ate at the Hard Rock Cafe – I’m one of those who tries to eat there if there is one in a place I’m visiting!

Haven’t done much since we’ve been back, just resting and nibbling at food but have yet to eat a full meal yet. Hoping it’ll clear up soon! In the meantime, it looks like we’re going to get a late summer here in London, the weather forecast is predicting 27 °C this week – not sure which day but I’m pretty sure that’s what I saw on the news yesterday. Looks like the sun has followed us home! Now I’m off to carry on reading and sipping water; hope you’re all having a Happy Monday

I want to…travel…

For me, there’s nothing better than travelling. I love to visit new places and discover new things; there’s a whole world of experiences out there… Last night, the boy and I were talking about travelling and some of the places we’d like to go.

I’d love to go to New Zealand, but obviously this one will have to wait for a while, a few years at least, as it’ll be quite an expensive trip and it’d have to be about 2, 3 or even 4 weeks to make it worth it! I think the flights alone will probably be around £1000 or £2000, so yeah, this one will definitely have to wait…but when it does happen, I’m sure it’ll be worth the wait! Another travel plan is a cross-country trip of America; I’m quite envious of people who have done this! And after reading a bit of Stephen Fry in America, I feel even more curious about the vast country – as the boy said last night: “It’s strange to think that it’s hot on one side of the country and cold on the other, and whilst one side of the country is having their lunch, the other side is only just waking up.” In the UK, we have the same time zone…and the differences in temperature isn’t as wide as the difference in America! In London, it’s normally warmer than, say, Scotland… I’d really like to visit Salem, Washington DC, Seattle, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Baltimore…amongst more…and the trip will have to end in New York, of course! However, this trip will probably have to wait a few more years as well, probably at least 4 or 5 years yet…and there will be a LOT of research first so that we visit all the places we want to…I’m keen on making it a musical trip as well, as so many bands/musicians I love come from America, so it would be interesting to visit the places they come from… Also, after flicking through a magazine last night, I thought about Norway…that would be an interesting one…! So we may do Norway next year…and possibly Sweden too, we’ll see.

This year though, it’s hopefully going to be Barcelona and New York… At the moment, Barcelona is looking a bit 50:50 to be honest, due to money issues…so hopefully if we tighten our purse strings a bit more, we’ll be able to afford it! Originally, we were hoping to book the flights in January, but this didn’t happen…and now it looks as if we’ll be booking it all in April – flights and accommodation. 2 months before the trip should be okay, I hope! New York will be in December and I’m DETERMINED to make that one happen, as I’ve missed it ever since 2005 and it’ll be a big one for my Mum. This time, I WILL eat New York Cheesecake…oh yes…yum yum yum in my tum tum tum!

I don’t think I’m someone who needs too much materialistic stuff…I’d like to think I’m someone who prefers memories and experiences, hence why I love travelling so much I think. I have my parents to thank for this, as they are keen travellers too and they used to take my sister and I on family holidays in Europe from the word go…and in the UK too, normally Norfolk, which is why I love the place so much… I just feel lucky that I was exposed to other countries when I was young; it’s given me a big appreciation of other cultures and places now, as a young adult…

I’m yearning to be in another place right now…I think the next trip I’ll do is a day-trip to France…away we go…

Magical Memories

Memories that should be bottle up and kept in some lovely place, not that different from somewhere like Neverland. A place that no one can find, apart from you and perhaps the person or people you shared the memory with. I think we all have them. Memories that mean a lot to us, memories that we never want to forget. Whilst at Uni, I started a scrapbook that I entitled “Magical Memories” but it didn’t get much of a chance to be filled. Hopefully now that I’m home and I should have more time on my hands in about a week or so…it’ll be a chance to find all those scrapbooks I’ve started and have yet to fill/complete.

I really want to go to all these places that magical memories can be made…places like Paris, Brighton, NEW YORK, Barcelona, Lake Garda…places on my wish list. I’ve been to all that I’ve mentioned…and I’m off to the seaside tomorrow…PHOTOGRAPHIC OPPORTUNITIES. Some may be posted on here. And I’ve still got plenty from the summer that are yet to make an appearance on here (they’re a bit shy).

It’s slap, bang in the middle of November now. Christmas is on it’s way. The streets are lit up. It’s okay to start buying presents now. Now, before it all gets a bit hectic on the shopping streets in December! It’s going to be a tight one this year. But it should still be good. Tomorrow, I’m looking forward to seeing what the lights look like beside the sea. Oh yeah. I absolutely L-O-V-E going to the seaside in the winter. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… I just love wrapping up warm, with a hot drink in hand, chips on lap, starring out to the sea…what could be better? Most of the beaches are deserted when it’s cold, so in my opinion, it’s the best time to go to the seaside. If you’re a nutter, like me.

This week is going to be a BUSY one. Yes, very busy indeed. But, for once, it’s all planned out. Tomorrow: seaside. Tuesday: London with the beloved theatre – ALL DAY, it’s going to be a long one! Wednesday-Friday: visiting Lizzie In Wonderland. Friday/Saturday: a close Uni friend is home = catchy uppy times, food times, drinks times, silly times…

Where do your magical memories come from…?

Glowing orange

One of my countless candles is lit and it’s making my room glow a shade of orange (well, it is an orange candle!). This has been a strange week, it seems to have gone really fast!! Reading Festival last weekend was great, as usual, and I snapped over 700 photographs over the weekend…is that a lot for 4 days? Because I snapped around 700 when we went to Spain in July, and I thought that was a lot for a week! Hmmm, I guess the boyfriend is right when he said I’m a budding photographer…but somehow I don’t think I’d ever make it “big”. And I’m not sure if I want to really, I can be quite reclusive sometimes. But I do take great delight in snapping away and playing with cameras… Having said that, I still haven’t got that polaroid camera I wanted…!

Was planning on having a movie night tonight…it hasn’t kicked off yet…need to go and pick a film or two to watch. I’m thinking of watching The Notebook (one of my favourites) or Gone Baby Gone (a new film I got the other week, directed by Ben Affleck)…don’t know which to watch, so I’ll probably end up watching both! I do like my films, I think I have well over 100 DVDs in my collection now, it’s probably closer to 200, whoops! It’s funny, whilst some people may love their computer games, and will go out and spend loads of money to have the latest game, I’ll just go straight into HMV, head for the sales rack and pick out a few cheapies, that’s how my collection has gotten so bad really. Mind you, I did splash out a bit to have the latest of one of my favourite TV drama series. There’s nothing better than to snuggle up and watch your favourite episodes…F.R.I.E.N.D.S anyone?

An enrollment letter arrived this morning for my “old” university…and it baffled me! I mean, I’ve emailed everyone I was meant to, to let them know that I’m not going back next year…I expected some sort of certificate of higher education, not a re-enrollment letter! Ah well, I guess some places just take forever to process things. I’m getting excited about the next chapter of my education; will be studying creative writing and hopefully do some evening classes in photography…good times! I’ll also be focusing a lot more on the jewellery stuff, really want to get the ball rolling with that…

I’ve been trying to compile a few photo books lately, one of which is a collection of photographs and memories from the last year at Uni…because despite the fact that I ended up not enjoying the course, socially it was great! The photographs are solid evidence of that. I’m also trying to make a couple of photobooks for this summer and maybe the travels I’ve done this year.

A close friend of mine is jetting off to Amsterdam this month…we were talking the other day about what we did when we were out there… I have to admit that Amsterdam didn’t wow me as much as I was hoping but I think it was just the place I was in at that time. I’d been working my butt off all through the Easter holiday to get three essays out of the way, by the time we went to Amsterdam I was exhausted and worrying about the prospect of returning to Uni the day after we got home, maybe it’s just me, but that wasn’t a great combination The following term was a gruelling one too! I’d like to go back to Amsterdam, maybe for a bit longer than we were there for, so that we can really get a chance to soak up the atmosphere and do everything we wanted to do! Having said that, next up on my travel wish-list is a return trip to New York City.

We (my mum, sister and me) went to New York in 2005 to celebrate my sister’s 21st. It was an amazing trip, it truly was. It felt so magical and because it was leading up to Christmas, the city was buzzing with excitement – not to mention Christmas shopping! It didn’t snow when we were out there but it had been snowing the days before we went so when we first arrived, the snow was heaped up on the sides of the road. There was also a transit strike when we were there…no subway or buses! To get everywhere, we had to travel on foot (in the freezing cold weather) and buy day tickets for the tour buses! Despite all that, it was still amazing. One of the highlights was going up the Empire State Building, just as the sun was going down, which meant that we got to see the city in daylight and at night with all the lights – breath-taking. Oh, how I miss it! It may sound silly but I think New York City is my first love! When we got home, every time we saw the city in films, we would (all three of us) get an aching to be back! Hoping to save up enough to be able to go back, not this winter but the next winter…fingers crossed!

Right, well it’s half nine now and I still haven’t had dinner or sat down to watch a film yet… Hope every-one’s having a nice evening and have a lovely weekend.

Lucky.

Oh ok…I was thinking of the song I Should Be So Lucky by Kylie Minogue, but I put in “Lucky lyrics” into Google…and as I was expecting, a whole load of different lyrics came up! One of them was Lucky by Radiohead…and it surprised me! I know it’s absolutely no relation, there is an unlimited number of Sarahs out there in the world…but still.

Lucky (Radiohead)

I’m on a roll, I’m on a roll
This time, I feel my luck could change
Kill me Sarah, kill me again with love
It’s gonna be a glorious day

Pull me out of the aircrash
Pull me out of the wake
I’m your superhero
We are standing on the edge

The Head of State has called for me by name
But I don’t have time for him
It’s gonna be a glorious day
I feel my luck could change

Pull me out of the aircrash
Pull me out of the wake
I’m your superhero
We are standing on the edge.

Just had to post those lyrics, will also post the lyrics of the song I was originally searching for – got side tracked here! Really looking forward to the weekend, it should be a good one. Gutted that my friend can’t make it now though, I battled the internet to get the tickets in March (I think it was March, or was it April…?) but now she has too many bills to pay for the house Maybe next year…and next year it’ll be GLASTONBURY! Yeah baby! I missed it this year, despite vowing to go every year, money permitting, and it did come down to money this year, being a poor student, I couldn’t afford it. Ah well, went to Benicassim instead and experienced a whole different kind of festival. But seriously, I WILL be at Glastonbury next year, no matter what – wild horses couldn’t keep me away. Who knows, maybe the Rolling Stones will be back for Glastonbury…? I can always wish, after all, The Who played in 2007, I was lucky enough to be able to be there. And yes, I know, not all of the original members were playing but they were still awesome.

Anyway, lucky. I feel pretty lucky at the moment, for some strange reason, life has dealt out a good set of cards right now…and I’m not changing them any time soon. If it was a game of rummy, I’d be winning! It feels a bit weird having a blog, don’t get me wrong, I love blogging. It’s just interesting to be able to read backwards and look at posts from the last year and see how I was feeling at different points. I guess it was the right decision to leave but only time will tell. At times, I’m scared of time and other days I’m in awe of time. I’m scared because sometimes it seems to go by so fast, almost as if it’s speeding by and other times I’m amazed at how much people can achieve in such a short space of time, or rather, how much they’ve achieved over their life-time – especially when they have a lot more to give. It gives you hope.

I Should Be So Lucky (Kylie Minogue)

In my imagination
There is no complication
I dream about you all the time
In my mind a celebration
The sweetest of sensation
Thinking you could be mine

In my imagination
There is no hesitation
We walk together hand in hand
I’m dreaming
You fell in love with me
Like I’m in love with you
But dreaming’s all I do
If only they’d come true

I should be so lucky
Lucky lucky lucky
I should be so lucky in love
I should be so lucky
Lucky lucky lucky
I should be so lucky in love

It’s a crazy situation
You always keep me waiting
Because its only make believe
And I would come a-running
To give you all my loving
If one day you would notice me

My heart is close to breaking
And I can’t go on faking
The fantasy that you’ll be mine
I’m dreaming
That you’re in love with me
Like I’m in love with you
But dreaming’s all I do
If only they’d come true

I should be so lucky
Lucky lucky lucky
I should be so lucky in love
I should be so lucky
Lucky lucky lucky
I should be so lucky in love

I should be so lucky (so lucky, so lucky)
I should be so lucky
I, I, (I, I)
I should be so lucky (so lucky, so lucky)
I should be so lucky
I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I

Yeah, I think that song was one of those ‘cheese’ ones but I still quite like it. It’s ok to like songs that are no longer ‘current’ in our society, we shouldn’t have to conform to society’s perceptions all the time. I like songs from the 50′s, 60′s, 70′s, 80′s even, 90′s (Spice Girls!!) and the 00′s – there’s songs that have been remixed and sometimes the originals are better. Look at Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson, Alien Ant Farm did a remix of the song a few years ago, and whilst I liked their version (more rock-y), I much prefer the original – no one can Beat It! I still miss MJ, but I just hope his music will live on, just like Elvis Presley – another of the greats that I like. I know that there were parts of MJ’s life which were controversial but at the end of the day, his music spoke to so many people and no one can deny that. I agree that the media sometimes built him up and kicked him down when he was alive, and now they’re building him up again, and often there were fans who were very similar to the Beatlemania phase, but I think it’s always going to be like that sometimes. Music makes the world go round – can it?

Right well I’ve just babbled on about music for ages, think it’s time for me to sort a few things out, I know, as always. Hope everyone is having a lucky day.

Candles burning, high and low

It has been a pretty inspiring summer so far, I must admit! The trip to Spain forced me to change my outlook on things and then helped me to decide what it is that I want to do at the moment, so I think I’ll always remember that trip as a good one. I’ll remember sitting on the train between the festival town and Barcelona, contemplating what the meaning of life is – to me. Just watching the scenery speed past really inspired me and it really did reaffirm my belief that: life is too short to spend being unhappy!

Then there was the fabulous Manchester…definitely paying that city another visit in the near future…and definitely going to be snapping away with the camera again (hopefully a DSLR by that point). Sometimes, I feel that all it takes is a trip to a place you’ve not been before, just to be given the opportunity to see things you haven’t seen can help to refresh you! I can see the whole point of “weekends away” now. Or even just exploring the place where you live…maybe?

I currently have two candles burning (yes, I have an obsession with candles!)…I love watching the flames, they always seem so calm and in control. For some reason at the weekend a conversational topic was devoted to fire…and my boyfriend (quite disturbingly…but I’m sure it’s ok) admitted that he “loves” fire…hmmm…I suppose, to a certain extent, I like fire – I have fond memories of sitting around the bonfire as a child, sitting around campfires at Reading Festival, playing (stupid I know) with candle wax over a candle flame…but I don’t like the out-of-control kind of fires. The ones that start to billow out of control and you have no means of stopping it – that kind I don’t like, the kind that has the capability to destroy lives. It’s the same with a lot of natural things I think, you have to know the limits and be able to judge when things will get out of control. A lot of people are scared of the sea because of that but I feel that you just need to be able to judge how strong the current is and whether you are strong enough to handle the sea – although I can definitely understand being scared of the sea/ocean because of sharks!!

Sometimes in life, you have to take a risk…without knowing whether you’ll shoot up high towards the stars or if you’ll end up keeping your feet firmly on the ground, mulling over your regrets. However, I read a quote today:

Your regrets aren’t what you did, but what you didn’t do. So I take every opportunity.
                                                                                                                                                – Cameron Diaz

Maybe then, we should all stop thinking too much about things and just go with our gut instinct? Because the decision to leave Uni took a long time to reach, when I was already thinking about it back in January! Heck, there was even a weekend in November when I was thinking about it, but me being me, I kept dismissing it and arguing that I was just having a bad week/month. Think how much happier we would all be sometimes if we just listened to ourselves, or maybe that’s just me?

Oh lovely, the candles are making my room smell absolutely lush. Go on, light a few yourself and let them burn your troubles away.

Photographs from sunny ol’ Spain

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain…

As I write (type more like!) this, I’m uploading the photographs that I took in Spain…I snapped around 700 photographs out there…eeek! We went out last Wednesday (15th July) and came back late last night (22nd July). The first part of the trip consisted of Benicassim Festival (FIB), which was a completely different festival experience to festivals in the UK…during the day we would spend most of the time down on the beach (in the sea for the most part) and then in the evening we’d be in the arena area to listen/see the music! The headliners were pretty good this year: Oasis, Kings of Leon (who ended up being cancelled due to gale-force wind on the night), Franz Ferdinand and The Killers. The next few days of the trip we spent in Barcelona…enjoying the inspirational city and rewinding a little after the festival. So is it really that surprising that I managed to snap so many photographs?! Once I’ve had a look through them, I may post a few on here – having said that, I still haven’t posted some of the Cornwall photographs…

The trip to Spain also gave me a breath of fresh air in terms of the way I’ve been thinking about the whole University thing…and it reaffirmed my belief that there is so much more to life and there is a whole world of possibility out there – if you have the resources available to you, then there is no reason why you can’t follow your dreams and your interests…there’s nothing wrong with doing what you love for a living – isn’t that the best way to live life anyway? Therefore, I’m going to look into other degrees/courses to try and find the path I want to lead because the one that I’m following at the moment isn’t the right one for me – which is evident now because the last few months have been a struggle, and it’s a struggle without an ultimate aim – at least for me, because although I would have a degree by the end of it, the more I think about it, the more I don’t want this degree! Although it may seem silly, what Spain offered me was a chance to remember what the bigger picture of life is…so I think I may take the initiative and change the path of my life slightly.

Going to go and glance through the photographs now…then a new post may be on the way Oh and by the way…even though it was the middle of the summer…it rained for a minute or so when we were out there