Easter in the Peak District

I hope you all had a lovely Easter. I spent mine in the rolling hills of the scenic English countryside in the Peak District, and oh my it was lovely to get away. We stayed in a converted mill, which dated back to the 1830's. It did freak me out a bit, especially the basement. Although it had been converted in to a games room, it just had a spooky air about it, and I had to force someone to come with me if I ever wanted to go down there. it didn't help that my dad kept teasing me about the headless miller that leaves trails of flour everywhere. We were completely out in the middle of no where, which did mean no phone signal and no facebook, pretty hard for me being a complete social media addict!

I spent the days relaxing, baking, reading, listening to music, and visiting a forest with 140 free roaming monkeys. Bet you didn't see that one coming. Regardless of their weird-shaped bottoms, they were actually adorable, and of course it being Springtime, there were lots of baby monkeys to gush over.

Cute right? I also made my second batch of Slutty Brownies. Well okay, they were Slutty Muffins this time because Morrison's had sold-out of Brownies mix. Still just as good though! We took them with us on a journey on a steam train. Whenever my Dad's around, you can't be far from a train. We went away last Easter and steam trains went past the window of our cottage throughout the day, and shock horror the same happened this year. Coincidence? I think not.

We spent Easter Sunday eating boiled egg and soldiers, eating far too much chocolate, and then driving deep in to the Peak District. Me and Allie also had a game of chubby bunny, if you've never played it then it's basically a game where you try to fit as many marshmallows into your mouth as possible, saying chubby bunny each time you add another one. It's pretty disgusting, but it was probably for the best we were in the middle of no where, it was hilarious. I didn't take any pictures, I didn't think anyone would appreciate photographs of me slobbering marshmallows into a bin? Yeah, didn't think so.

I have to recommend a book to you. I set a new record, and read it in a day. All 458 pages of it (I think). It's called The Hunger Games, you may have heard of it as it's recently been made into a film. But read the book first, it's absolutely amazing. I bought the other two yesterday, and I'm already on page 100 of the second one. Anyway, I'm going to get on with some school work now. Hope you're all good!

Recipe: Slutty Brownies

Hello lovelies! I haven't done a baking post yet, and after seeing this disgustingly naughty, but absolutely delectable recipe on The Londoner, I just had to give it a go. I mean, what could be better than cookie, Oreo, and brownie all in one cake? Seriously, I challenge you to answer that. My oh my, this is probably the best and easiest thing I've baked in a long time. I used to cook all the time, mainly because I did a GCSE in Catering, and actually ended up with an A*, which to be honest has never actually been much use for me. I can just cook a smashing lasagna, if I do say so myself.

You need:

• Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix
• Chocolate Brownie Mix - I'd actually advise two packets
• 2x Packets of Oreo's - I mixed it up with Double Filled and Chocolate
• Butter to grease the tin with
• I also needed an egg, oil, and water for the packet mix
• A spade to shovel it down with (trust me it's this good)

This recipe is so easy to do, you literally just follow the instructions for the packet mix, pat the cookie dough in to the bottom of a greased cake tin, layer Oreo's on the top, and then pour the brownie mixture over. As Jamie Oliver would say... BISH BASH BOSH DELISH!

I got a bit confused with cooking times, but it's impossible for the cookie to burn because it's covered with the Oreo's and brownie, so I just put it in the oven long enough for the brownie mix to be cooked. I actually think this is best served when it's completely cooled. I wish I had one left, I'm drooling over this picture. All I can say is, bake it. You won't regret it, it's like eating everything good in the world, twice over, and I can't stress how EASY it is! If you decide to bake it, let me know how it turns out. Would you like to see more posts like this? I definitely have a great time making them.

Just a little catch-up

Hello my lovelies. I haven't really been paying full attention to my blog recently, and I thought it was time I explained myself. I've really had a lot of stuff going on, and a lot of hard decisions to make. Just lots and lots of drama, with an added sprinkling of stress. I guess I'll start with the fact I quit my job at Sainsbury's. In fact, my last shift is Wednesday. It was only part-time, to be independent and work for my own money, but it just got too much to be juggling along with sixth form. I'll miss the money, and won't be able to treat myself to tons of Models Own nail polish, but hey ho, I need good grades if i'm ever going to get in to university. I just hope it's worth it in the long run.

Schools just caused me to have a bit of a melt down if i'm honest, I've never really been good with coping with the huge workload that comes with doing A Levels, but I've felt really unmotivated because I'm not going to university this year like the majority of my close friends. I've felt like I've had absolutely nothing to aim towards, but now I do. Things have got so serious that I had a meeting with my parents, my head of year, and my media teacher last week about my future at sixth form. I was told there that I currently wasn't being offered a place at sixth form next year, and only would be if I change. Thing is, if I don't go to sixth form next year, I won't end up at university, I'll have to go to college and start things again, and I just can't deal with that.

So, this explains my absence, and I can't promise it will be changing for a while.
I have incredibly important exams coming up in the next few weeks, and coursework deadlines are quickly approaching. But I'll try my best, I really love blogging, and I don't want to give it up. If you've got to the end of this then thank you, sorry it's a bit of a ramble but I needed to write it somewhere.

Thanks for being lovely followers, I still have a few posts to write about LA and a lot of product reviews!

Los Angeles Day#3 - Universal Studios

I've been neglecting my blog a bit recently, so I do apologise for being MIA. There's just been a lot going on, and I don't really want to bore you so I won't go into it. Instead, I'll share more shenanigans from my trip to Los Angeles. Day number three, the trip to Universal Studio's Hollywood, where to begin? As we made our way through the gates after a mix up with our tickets (this kept happening wherever we went, bloody travel provider) we made our way straight to the Studio Tour, but were pretty distracted by the dressed up people. As you can see, I made friends with Frankenstein and Spongebob, I think Jaws just wanted me as his dinner. It's a shame, I was totally up for ignoring his past.

On to the studio tour. First stop, a terrifying 3D 360 King Kong Ride. I could have cried, but I had my eyes closed and my head in my friends lap for the whole time of what felt like an hour. Put it this way, usually this kind of ride is one screen, but this ride just HAD to be different. Screens everywhere, so many screens it felt like you were actually there. Actually there with King Kong picking you up and shaking you, and a massive T-Rex screaming at you, and a gigantic tarantular swinging around. Luckily, I only found out the tarantula bit from my friend, who shortly after the ride finished said to me "I'm so glad you had your eyes closed, there was a giant tarantula on you", and although I hadn't seen it, I still kept jumping and thinking there was something on me. In fact, I just watched a video of it on Youtube, thank god I didn't see that spider.

We traveled through the depths of Jurassic Park, Amity Island (Jaws), Hooville (The Grinch), Mexico, Europe, London, New York, the Wild West, and the famous Bates Motel from Psycho, where they even had a male actor chase after us with a knife. So, after all this excitement, nothing could be better than where we arrived next. The legendary Wisteria Lane from hit US show, Desperate Housewives.

I honestly feel so lucky to have experienced all of these once in a lifetime opportunity type things, first the Friends set and now Wisteria Lane. It was just a complete reflection of the American Dream, white picket fences, sculpted gardens, the mailboxes, and perfectly placed flowers, completely how I imagined it to be. I was half expecting to see Gabby or Susan, unfortunately to my disappointment that didn't happen. I'd love to live here, just minus the murders and all the other drama that takes place.

The rest of the day was spent eating stupidly high-calorie food including a huge burger (ok, so maybe it's plastic), a churro sundae (pictured above) and an array of flavours of popcorn including cupcake, and rocky road, and just generally messing around, running through fountains, and trying to do 'sexy' poses on motorcycles. I think I met my soul mate at universal studio's, he's a bit of an ass but I'm sure I can change that. It looks like he's looking down my top in that picture, but I can assure you he's not that kind of guy.

Universal was a really fun day. It was just how I like my theme parks to be, with the added bonus of a studio tour. I still have a few more days to write about, but I'll try not to leave it over a month to post about them this time! Hope you're all good, and thanks to my new followers for joining although I haven't posted anything in such a long time. I'll do a catch-up post soon, although I can't promise it will be the most thrilling of reads.

Los Angeles Day#2 - Getty Center/Warner Bros VIP Studio Tour

Megan, me, and Bethany at the Getty Center.

On day two, we visited the John Paul Getty Center Museum place thing. Basically, it just had really nice views of LA, and pretty top notch hot dogs. This day posed the nicest weather of the holiday, so naturally like any other British tourist gasping for some half decent weather, I cracked out the dress and tried to absorb as much heat as was possible. We were only at the Getty Center for a couple of hours, but during this time I managed to have some trouble with my dress, by that I mean dress + wind = bad combination, and I also somehow managed to knock a little girl over without even realising it. In fact, I'm still unsure whether I did actually knock her over, but it just looked that way.

Evidence of the dress troubles (Definitely wasn't just trying to be Marilyn Monroe)

I have been craving that hot dog ever since I left that place. It was just astoundingly beautiful, a hot dog of the God's I may even say. My friends also decided to try and trick me that I had to pay for the tomato ketchup, after I came back to the table with about 4 sachets of it. I'm so gullible. But anyway, enough about the hot dog. I think some of you may get a little excited about what happened at the next place we went to, because I certainly did. It was one of those once in a lifetime opportunity type things you sometimes hear about.

Next stop Warner Bros Studios, for our VIP Tour. This place was pretty damn awesome, and the awesomeness was made even awesomer, by our awesome tour guide Rance. We had a bit of a debate with him about how to pronounce his name, which (naturally) led to discussions about pasta and grass. We all sat in golf car type transport, where we travelled into the depths of Jurassic Park, True Blood, Gilmore Girls, ER, and one other amazingly awesome place which I will get on to shortly.

Yes that is me next to the Mystery Machine. How awesome is that?! I also saw the cars used in The Hangover, the Batman movies, the car from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and the Shaguar, a long with some others. Pictured above top left is the street where Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO was filmed, and pictured top right is the orphanage where Annie was set. So anyway, on to the once in a lifetime opportunity part of the day...

Anybody recognise that historical sofa I am sitting on? That fine piece of carpentry is indeed the original sofa from Central Perk, the coffee shop in Friends. NOW DO YOU SEE WHY MY DAY WAS SO BLOODY AWESOME? I guess I'll treat you lovely people to some more photographs...

I'd love to tell you that the guitar is the original, but Phoebe got to take her's when Friends deceased. 

How cool is that?  Behind the dullest door was an iconic part of 90's television culture. To conclude the day, we went to an American diner called Jerry's Deli, where they featured menus the size of broadsheet newspapers. I had a pretty tasty bacon and cheddar (huh?) cheese burger. I can't wait to show you guys more of my adventures in LA! So until next time...

Los Angeles Day#1 - The Flight

Flying over Las Vegas

The plane food wasn't so bad, the adorable afternoon tea complete with scone, jam and clotted cream.

Honey, I'm home! Sorry, been dying to say that since I arrived back in crappy England. I do apologise if this is a short post, but I'm feeling rather jet lagged right now. I'm not really sure where to begin with this trip, apart from the fact it was one of the best experiences of my life. Maybe even the best so far? So anyway, about day 1. The flight was... er, long. Very long. Horrendously long. Incredibly long. Just long. It may of helped if I'd slept, but I was just way too excited! plane food wasn't as bad as I'd expected it to be, and all the air hostess's were so lovely. Jessie J was on our flight, and we saw her at US customs, but she was so moody so we didn't really want to approach her. One of the best feelings was leaving LAX airport and stepping into the warm air outside, everyone quickly took off their hoodies, trying to absorb as much Vitamin D as we could! For the rest of the day we just unpacked, went to a supermarket called Ralphs, and then went out for dinner. I must have had been awake for about 32 hours, with the 8 hour time difference and having to get up at 3am the previous night with only one hour sleep beforehand. Anyway, more exciting stuff to come tomorrow in the next installment of my trip to Los Angeles.

Chow for now,

LA Love

Hey guys, yet again I haven't posted for a while. But, I thought I would let you know that I'm finally off to Los Angeles tomorrow! It's come around so quickly since Christmas, and after counting down from about 381 days I can't believe it's finally happening. I can't wait to experience America, it's been a dream of mine for absolutely ages, but I can't wait to also get out of this freezing cold weather. Hopefully I'll have plenty of goodies to show you when I return next tuesday, and there will of course be plenty of posts about the trip.

Here's a little summary of what I'll be getting up too...

Day One: 11:25AM flight from Heathrow to LAX - Arrive in LAX at 14:55PM (12:55AM in England)
Day Two: Visit to the Getty Centre and Warner Bros VIP Studio Tour
Day Three: Universal Studios and Pinz Bowling
Day Four: Starline Homes Tours, Hollywood Boulevard (Walk of Fame, Chinese Theatre ect.) Santa Monica, Universal City Walk
Day Five: New York Film Academy Workshop, Farmers Market. 20:30PM Flight from LAX to Heathrow
Day Six: Arrive in Heathrow at 15:00PM (sad face)

Now, I better get packing I guess. I'm dreading having to wake up at 3:00AM, but I think leaving in the early hours of the morning will make it all that little bit more exciting! Just before I bid you farewell, is there any American food that I should definitely try, and does anyone know of a shop where I can purchase Vans (as in the shoes)? Thank you for being lovely followers, and I'll be back next Tuesday probably with horrific jetlag. Now for the difficult decision of what colour to paint my nails...

P.S Apologies for the photo stolen from http://www.latourist.com