Wednesday, 31 December 2014

Girl Online Book Review

 Hello everyone! Today I'm going to be doing a book review on Zoella's (aka Zoe Sugg) new book, Girl Online. I borrowed my cousins copy and I can safely say that this book is up there with my favourite books alongside The Fault In Our Stars, also written by a YouTuber, and Lament, written by Maggie Steifvater. Girl Online successfully captured the day-to-day problems of a typical teenage girl and it was so relatable aswell. The anxiety aspect definitely helped to make the book more appealing and understandable as it is something many teenage girls go through. The book also less notably teaches how to deal with anxiety as it explains how Penny overcomes her panic attacks.

In summary, the book is about a 15 year-old girl called Penny who lives in Brighton with her parents and her brother Tom. Penny is the author of an anonymous blog called Girl Online. Here she writes about all her issues and tries to help others who are experiencing the same thing. At home in Brighton, she experiences many ordeals in relation to friendships and she also has to go through a horrible, humiliating time where a video of her tripping and displaying her knickers to the school goes viral. Her best friend Elliot is always there to console her and he even accompanies her to New York when the Mum is asked to plan a wedding there. This meant Penny had to leave behind her crush, Ollie and her other friends. Her anxiety doesn't get any better, in fact it seems to worsen at the thought of going on a plane and going to a different country. However, when she gets to New York, Penny's life is turned around when she meets a boy called Noah whom she falls in live with and he helps her with her anxiety. She stays in New York for a couple  of weeks and her and Noah develop a strong relationship between them. When Penny leaves New York she thought her and Noah would be finished but a huge event occurs which results in a totally different outcome. I am not going to reveal this in case you haven't read the book!

The main character, Penny is a quiet and shy girl who always seems to mess up at the wrong times partly due to her anxiety problems. As the story progresses, Penny becomes a stronger and more independent person.  Elliot is Penny's best friend and he has many problems of his own such as being denied by his family. He is caring and sweet to Penny however, he quickly becomes jealous when Penny gets too attached to  Noah. Noah loves Penny a lot and is always trying to make her see things in a more positive light. He is very open with her and he cares for her a lot.

I think that the moral of the story is all about being yourself and never pretending to be anyone else. Also to never hide your flaws from anyone. However, a more evident and less philosophical idea would be to never say or do anything (online) which takes away the happiness from someone.

I would rate this book 10/10 because of its realness. It perfectly captures the typical and difficult life of a young woman, providing you with LOL moments and moments where you're ready to get the tissues out! It is definitely a  book I would recommend to anyone out there looking for a touching, moving yet realistic read!
 
 
 




 

Friday, 5 December 2014

Room Decoration + Organisation!

Hello everyone! So, if you don't already know, we just moved house recently and I had such a fun time buying things for my room. Now, in my old house, my bedroom wasn't very organised or tidy and so I vowed to myself that I would keep the new house as tidy as possible- well my bedroom at least, and so I've come up with ways to organise my bedroom and make everything neat. I thought I'd share with you some ways I've organised my room and I'm going to throw in some decoration ideas aswell!
DISCLAIMER: I am, by no means, an expert when it comes to decoration and organisation, but I thought I'd share with you things I've learnt during my experience!
 
Don't you just hate it when you have nowhere to put a certain possession without your room looking out of place? Well, in my opinion, deodorant isn't something I would want to display, so I decided to get a little plastic basket to store all my deodorants in. I know this isn't very inventive but it's very effective to store your deodorant neatly and tidily. It prevents them from going all over the place and it's nice to have a clear view of your deodorant storage- i's easy access and it just puts all those annoying things in one place.
 
Basket-Morrisons
I checked the website but I can't find it, here are some cheap and similar alternatives:
 
 
Wait! I found it on Amazon!

 
Continuing with the basket theme, a great way to store your shampoos and shower gels (and your other bath essentials) is to put them in a basket aswell. You can make the basket look pretty by adding seasonal material to it and also adding things like bath bombs to make it colourful and pretty. I know, another simple idea but it works a treat and looks great too!
 
 
Wicker basket- HomeSense
Again, I couldn't find the basket on the HomeSense website so here are some alternatives:
 
 
 
 

Something else I've done is put all my make-up and nail varnishes in a big cardboard (its sturdy don't worry!) chest. The chest is themed around Paris with....calm? Calm colours? I don't know but they're not over the top colours. Neutral! That's the word! he chest has a mix of neutral colours so it matches with every colour. It looks sweet and organises all your make-up without it looking messy or awkward. It looks great open and closed.
 
 
 
 
Chest- TK Maxx
Similars:
 
 
 
 
 
Other themes:
 
 
 
 
 Because I love Paris so much, I decided to have something similar for my desk. I went for a little black box with a theme of Paris. In this, I keep pens, pencils, erasers, rulers and other desk essentials. It is effective, organised and also adds a little something to your work area.
 
 
 

 
 
Box- Not sure but I found some similar ones!
 
 
 
Other themes:
 
Try typing in 'rectangular trinket box'.
 
Now, for storage and decoration, these glass jars from IKEA add a nice decoration to your bedside tables and they store whatever you want. I keep things like face creams and oils in these goblets and not only does it look pretty, but it also saves you from having that out-of-place cream bottle sitting on your dressing table.
 
 
 
Here it is!:
 
A few others...:
 
 

Another way to spice up your house is to spice up your doors! I got this pretty and chic bathroom sign from a random pop-up store but I'm pretty sure you can find similar ones. I think it adds to the plainness of your doors and it also comes in quite handy!
 
Since the shop I purchased this from is unknown, here are some I found, however they are not similar:

 

And who can forget candles! They are so versatile, allowing you to change the scent according to the season. For the Christmas season, you can light your 'marshmallow frosting' or 'Christmas pudding' candles, meanwhile for summer, you can get out the ocean-y ones!
 


 
 My favourite candle brand of all time:
 
And lastly, who could forget a nice seasonal throw. Again you can change it up for any time of the year and it can also add a pop of colour to your bedroom. Get a nice, furry and soft one which would be great for nights in, YouTube binging in your (now) much more exciting bed!
 
I got mine from Wilkinson's some time ago, so I doubt there'll be any left. However, here are some alternatives. Yet again!
 
So that's all now! I hope this has helped you to find some inspiration on how to decorate and organise your room. Thanks for reading! Bye!:)