#17: Mistakes.

Day 17: A mistake you made. 

I seem to mess up quite a bit. But thats the whole point of growing up, right? To make mistakes and learn from them. However the mistake that I make everyday and am still not learning is that I think that I am "not good enough". In my head I have something that stops me every time I go to do something. I can hear my Mom in the back of my head saying "get a grip Grace", and I agree I should get a grip. It is all completely psychological and if I keep working at it then it will probably go away. But there are people who say things and do things that put me back to my starting place. I should overlook it all, I know. I should think "F you all", but I don't, I take people's opinions to heart. That's my mistake.

#15: Life Lately

Day 15: Life Lately.

As you may well have seen last week I only posted once. I knew that Blogtember was going to be hard for me to stick to, but I also thought that I would maybe have given it a better go. I am actually quite disappointed in myself but there are a few reasons and excuses that you probably don't want/need to hear. 

Life lately has been confusing and emotional. So many things happened last week that I had to question and you know what, life was actually going quite well until Wednesday. Then drunken mistakes were made and people got hurt. I literally cried for 24 hours and apologised from the deepest crevices of my heart on Thursday, then got a train home on friday. In some ways I feel as if I have run away from the problems I have left at university but I also think that the person who was hurt by what was said understands the situation a little better now and knows that I am not the sort of person who would be so malicious. I am sorry. I don't expect to be forgiven, but it was just a drunken mistake, I would never EVER say those things to you and I hope that we can be friends again soon. I am sorry.

I am extremely livid at one person in particular who will NOT for the life of themselves apologise for what they had a major part in (if not a whole part) and justifies not doing so by saying "I don't talk to the kid". GREAT. So now I am basically on my knees crying over something that is extremely out of character for me and they are showing no sympathy or taking responsibility for the part that they played. I think I can forget about this, but forgiving may take a VERY long time. 

On the brighter side now that I am home I can hug my family and friends and try to forget about what has happened and put it to rest. Hugs from my little brother were all I really needed. Reassurance from my parents that they know that I am not the kind of person who would intentionally hurt someone really means the world. Acting like an absolute fool with my best friend has made me so happy after what has become one of the worst few days that I have ever had. I think I am ready to go back to university to face what I have left, I am ready to apologise ten thousand more times and I am ready to start work and stay out of the way of more trouble. 

Sorry.

Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. 

I can't say it enough. 

#10: Love Letters

Day 10: Write a public love letter to someone in your life. 

// That small one that I call my friend. Oi, I just want to thank you for brining me chocolate philly the other day and sitting with me to watch Honey Boo Boo. Its nights like the other week that confirm that I have the most fantastic best friend in the world (and throughout the universe) and that everybody else should be jealous. I miss you massively but I am so glad that technology allows us to send beautiful snapchats to each other. See you soon Baker, Love from your Kites.

// The rents. What can I say, you guys are the bomb diggity. I love you, I miss you and I wish I could stay with you forever and ever...but we all know that is a stupid idea. Love from your favourite child ;)

// Brodre and Alejandro. I am so glad to be your sister, you guys make me smile far too often and make me extremely proud...Even when you annoy me. Love from Grapes.

// The groupie. That last message you sent me... I don't get it. It has made me all kinds of confused so I hope I see you in the next week or so to get you to explain. Also prepare to loose this sword fight, I get too competitive. Plus thanks for noticing that my hair has changed, I think you were the only person who noticed. Love from Birmingham.

// Ryan Gosling. Thank you for being you and for letting the internet have your face in many different places. Amen.

// Strange people sharing my humble abode. Thank you for making the first week in your new house so amazing. Settling in has been easy this year and I think its because we have been having so much fun. Paper tennis, foam sword fights, silly string and running away from spiders.. what more could I ask for? I hope that for the rest of the year we can have so much more fun and cook some more scrummy meals!! Love from the paper tennis extraordinaire.

// You lovely people on the internet. Thank you for all that you do, in terms of reading my blog, reading my tweets and occasionally replying to them. It really makes blogging more fun if you get to interact with the people you are reading about. This month I started up a twitter for my blog and I think it was one of the best things I have ever done. Being able to connect with people has really helped my blog and has made me more inclined to want to write and create content for you all. I love you all, Love your fellow blogger.

Berlin

For the second part of our holiday we went form a beautifully warm and relaxing Kefelonia to a not so warm and rather fast-paced Berlin.

We mainly went to Berlin because my brother doesn't like "hot" holidays AND he was studying about the war in his history class so we thought it might help him to visit the places where some of it went on. 

There was a lot to see in Berlin, and it is a really spread out city, meaning you need to get a train or bus to get round it all. One of the best views of the city was right outside our bedroom window from which we could see the Berliner Dom. That building was beautiful both from both the inside and out.

I really enjoyed Berlin... Not as much as New York, the atmosphere wasn't the same, but I would definitely go back. There is SO much history in Berlin which is interesting but really quite emotionally draining. The Jewish memorial, while... can I say fun? (playing hide and seek seemed to be a favourite with young children) on the ground is extremely moving and emotional when you go down to the memorial museum below.

If you go to Berlin I would recommend getting on a bus tour. Mainly so you don't have to walk everywhere but also they give you a lot of information on the sights as you are going round the city.
ALSO try currywurst... YUM!

(The view from our hotel room)

(Berliner Dom- Berlin Cathedral)

(Jewish Memorial)

(Jewish Memorial)

(The dome on top of the Reichstag)

(Brandenburg Gate)

(Inside the Berliner Dom)

(On top of the Berliner Dom) 

(This persons hand was the same size as mine. I was so amazed I took a picture)

(Parts of the Berlin Wall)

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Kefelonia

At the end of August I was MIA. I was chillin out, maxing out, acting all cool. Playin some b-ball outside of the school... No.
Well, I was actually on holiday. I had the pleasure with going with my wonderful family, on what was quite possibly our very last holiday together (unless me and my sister hijack next years holiday). We visited two places during our 2 week break, both extremely different to the other. Kefelonia and Berlin.

Kefelonia was our first destination and was in abundance of beautiful sunsets, breathtaking scenery, crazy Greek drivers, trips to the beach, friendly stray animals, HOT weather, wasps and gorgeous food.
Our villa was up a rather large and steep hill which felt like a full body work out every time you would walk up it. However the view once you got to the villa was pretty darn awesome. We had the mountains, which always looked like a green screen, in the background and the beautiful blue sea in front of us. It truly would have been one of the best places we have been if it wasn't for the millions of bugs and wasps.
SO here are some holiday snaps of the beautiful Kefelonia.

(Sami)

During our stay we went to a few places on the island; Sami, Poros and Argostoli but we mainly stayed in the local area (Lourdata) and just enjoyed the sun. The local beach was beautiful, if not hard to walk on because of the pebbles. There were cocktails and restaurants lining the promenade and it was generally a nice area to be. So if you are ever in Kefelonia I recommend you go to Lourdas (Lourdata) Beach!!

(Poros)

(Sami)

(Sami)

(Lourdas Beach)

(The cat we be-friended)

 (Argostoli)

 (Argostoli)

(Lourdas)

Next post will be the next stop, Berlin. I hope you liked the pictures and that you are ready for or German Adventures.

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#9: Self Portrait

Well it seems that this week has not been my week for blogging. I probably should have written all of these posts in advance, but hey, where is the fun in that? I have missed day 7 & 8 but I am back and ready for day 9.

Day 9: A Self Portrait. 

Hey there, my name is Grace. I am really bad at going to bed at a sensible time, I am rather excited about the thought of a new Harry Potter film, I cant sit still for longer than 2 minutes, Re-watching New Girl fills me with joy, A good fairy cake is the way to my heart, My hair hates me, So does my skin, My new housemates are the best people in the world, I miss my best friend, I can't take my own advice, Someone told me they want to be my groupie and now I don't know how to feel.

Pleased to meet you.

#6: When life took a turn..

Well it was inevitable, I missed a day of Blogtember (#5). Ive been busy decorating my new uni house and making delicious food... please forgive me, I have done todays early for you:

Day 6: Describe a distinct moment when your life took a turn.

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I swear these things are getting harder and harder to answer, I have been trying to think of what to write for this post for ages. There are many twists and turns in life, non of them interesting enough to write about or they are too personal and I don't want to write about them.

I have settled for the day that I moved to university. 

I know, I know, how boring and cliche of me, but I really think that at university my life took a turn for the better. I learnt a lot about myself and the people around me, I made a ton of new friends, lost old friends and got closer to the friends that I knew would never leave me. 

Going to university really does make you grow up, it makes you see life in a whole different perspective. I mean, I learnt how expensive food is.. It made me sad. 

You have to learn to look after money, decide how much drink is too much, deal with grown up problems that your parents probably sorted out for you a couple months before; and on top of all that you are possibly in a new place, with new people, starting a new course that requires you to give 100% for every essay. It really is hard work, even if everyone else thinks we have it easy. 

Now that I am going into my second year I feel more confident with myself and ready to tackle all the hardship that is going to come with this year. I don't know where m life would be without university, I like to think that if I would have taken a different path that I would still be having the time of my life. But for this turn in life I am enjoying myself and loving the people that are in my life, old and new. Hoorah for life, it is a funny thing.

So if any of you are going off to uni now or in the next couple of weeks; good luck, enjoy it and actually go in to uni and learn something, don't waste your time by just drinking, it doesn't get you anywhere.

#4: Screaming at Spiders

Day 4: A story about a time you were very afraid.

There are far to many stories to tell of when I have been afraid. But, if you will, cast you minds back to September 4th (3 days ago) I shall tell you my story.

 It was a pretty normal evening, my best friend De was round and we were catching up with the latest series of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo when out the corner of my eye I saw a shadow. A shadow that was moving quickly and was an unusual shape. I turned my head in order to find out what this shadow was, and to my horror it was A SPIDER. The beast was literally the size of my palm, one of its legs was probably the size of my finger.

My first reaction? To scream and inform De of the presence of this intruder. This lead to both of us running and screaming for the door. We then took evidential pictures for the non-belivers of our story before it jumped and made us scream once more. What were we to do, we asked each other. Where had it gone?

By this point my heart rate was up and my breath was heavy. It was an extremely stressful time while we couldn't find the spider and I was ready to poop my pants if it ran across my feet. We eventually found the spider on a bag and quickly threw it out of a window... not the bag, of course. Our overdramatic scare fest with the spider was over. We were safe... and the spider? It was back where it belonged, OUTSIDE!

   

#3: Be Happy

Day 3: Pass on some useful advice or information you learnt and always remembered.

Well there is the good old saying that if you eat carrots you will be able to see in the dark. Don't listen to your parents kids, its all lies. That would be the unhelpful advice that I don't want to pass on to you.. unless you are trying to make your children eat food. If that is the case then you might as well tell them that crusts of bread makes their hair curly while you're at it. 

I am always giving out advice, wether it makes sense or not. There have been times when I have been known to make things up to make situations better. If I don't know the answer there is a 99% possibility that I will Google the problem or delve into the random thoughts in my head and string together a sentence to make people happy. It turns out that people turn to me to look for advice on pretty serious things such as relationship issues, which oil to cook food in and wether or not they should drop out of uni. All of which I am not qualified to help with but I do my best to give the best advice I can. (unless its which oil to cook food in, my Mom tells me I give people wrong advice on that).

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Here is what I have learnt through helping others and by listening to peoples gossip in lectures or on the bus; you have to be happy. YOU. 

Diane Von Furstenburg said, "The most important relationship in your life is the relationship you have with yourself. Because no matter what happens, you will always be with yourself"

It is okay to be selfish and put yourself before others... sometimes. If you are not happy, other people can tell. You can lie all you want but people will still see through the charade. Do things that make YOU happy, talk to people that make YOU happy and move away from the people that belittle you, it really can be as simple as that. Life is hard, I think we all know that, so stop complaining and do something about it. 

You don't have to be a people pleaser. If you don't want to do something then don't. If you want to do something and everyone around you is saying not to, you don't need to listen to them, you can do it if you know it will make you happier. 

It is okay to make mistakes, that's what the past is for. (unless you did something terrible like.. killed someone or something. Thats just bad.) So, don't drag yourself down about something that you did last year or five minutes ago, you have already done it, you can't change that. Just make sure that each day you make yourself better than you were when you made that mistake. Make yourself happier by looking forward to the future.

Jump around and sing your head off it it makes YOU happy. Listen to the music you like without shame if it makes YOU happy. Wear ridiculous clothes if it makes YOU happy. Go to places you have never been, do things that you never thought you would do and push yourself. Life is an adventure, love it.

#2: 3 Months to do ANYTHING

Blogtember Day 2: If you could take three months off from your current life and do anything in the world, what would you do?

3 months. 12 weeks. An alternate life?

I have thought about this a lot actually. You know when you are just sitting in bed thinking and your mind starts dreaming about wonderful things? Thats when I think of other things I could be doing with my life. Part of me is regretting not having a gap year before going to uni, I see peoples travelling pictures and the green eyed monster takes over. So if I were to have 3 months off and live some sort of alternate life, these are the things I would do:

1. Travel. I think travelling is going to be on nearly everyones list, right? I have always wanted to travel. Going to new places excites me and learning about their culture, trying their food and being in a completely different environment appeals to me in every way. BUT with only 3 months I think I would stick to a smaller adventure, such as a tour of the UK or a EuroRail!

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2. Learn to play guitar. I have always wanted to be able to play guitar, and say that I am going to teach myself every summer and never do. I just want to sing songs round campfires and make boys love me by singing to them, okay?!

3. Learn French, German and Spanish. How cool would it be to fluently (or thereabouts) speak a foreign language? I think it would be tres cool.

4. Visit/ Work in New York. I don't think there is much explantion needed for this one. Just see my Dear New York post.

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5. Volunteer. Maybe I would go to Africa, but there are other places that offer volunteer programs as well. Seeing people happy and helping people less fortunate than ourselves is an important thing to remember I think!

I would love to know what you guys would do with 3 months off. Would you travel the world? Learn something new? Or sit and drink plenty of tea? Let me know :)

#1 The Creation Story?

This blog post marks the first day of this months new link-up Blogtember:
 Day 1: 'Where you come from"

I would like to thank my Mom and Dad for making me.. that was kinda cool.... HA.

I was born, raised and still return to a village in the West Midlands. That's right guys, I am neither a Northerner or a Southerner, I am a Midlandser. Try telling that to people at university fellow Midlandsers, it creates such great debates. For readers outside of the UK, this means that I basically live slap bang in the middle of the country (and to the west abit). It is a place that both borders the countryside and the more built up areas, so really I get the best of both worlds! (I started to sing that like Hannah Montana, but then I remembered Miley Cyrus and all thoughs of innocence were lost).

Where I come from there are a whole range of people. Old, young, Lovely, Horrible. But it is these people that I have come into contact with throughout the 19 years that I lived here that have made me the person I am today. I believe that because I have grown up in such a warm and loving environment that that is the sort of person I am today. Don't get me wrong there are horrible things about where I live too but I know what is the best path for me, and sitting outside of co-op with a bottle of strongbow, shouting profanities at people, was not the right path. In fact I really dislike those people. They are the reason the village Christmas tree gets vandalised every year.

I grew up as the middle child of a family of 5; Mom, Dad, my elder Sister, younger Brother and I. We live a life full of strange events; We sing all the time, as if we are the family of Vauntraps, we have some of the strangest conversations at the dinner table, we even got my Dad a horse head mask for his birthday because he wanted one... MADNESS. My friends all say that they love my family and that makes me proud. Proud that I come from a place that projects so much happiness and infects other people too. Some people think we are weird... Actually I think everyone thinks that we are weird but I wouldn't have my family any other way, they are my favourite people in the world.

Our extended family and close family friends are all beautiful people that have taught me so much about the love of family and how to make the most out of life. There is never a dull moment when you get everyone together and thats how I want my life to be forever. Life really is amazing when you have amazing people around you. What a lucky girl I am!