... therefore, please forgive me if I flump a little at some point in the post, I'm really not a fan of birthdays, but enjoy my ramblings for another month.
Then my gran got soaked walking over for lunch because her mobile phone wasn't working - it was, she just couldn't hear me - and so I couldn't pick her up when she subsequently decided she wanted a lift after saying she didn't need one.
Then a glass dish with half the cake flew out the fridge as my mum opened it, and with a squeal from her, smashed all over the floor.
Despite that, I made and ruined the icing for the cake, which split horribly... that sucked because it tasted nice.
And then, to top it off on the baking front, it turned out the cake I'd baked the day before, wasn't baked. Despite rising, browning and the skewer coming out clean at the end of its cooking, it sank and was dense and claggy in the middle. From investigating online, turns out I probably over creamed the butter, sugar and eggs, and that was because the butter wasn't quite soft enough and I was over compensating.
We didn't know that of course until after my sisters put it together and decorated it with pretty sugar paste flowers, but it was a disaster bar those. Apparently I've lost my icing mojo and my tried and true cake recipe failed me, even though I've made it a hundred times and it's my go too.
I'll freely admit, my birthday bad mood was pushed over the edge by the icing going so bloody wrong and I had a cry over dropped birthday cake, but really it was all building all day because I was already in my head about things and feeling sad. Cake was just the tipping point.
Link || How To Prevent Dense, Gluey, Streaks In Your Cake: Quick Tips by PJ Hamel via King Arthur Flour
Instagram Love: Beth Evans
I love her comics, her honesty and how they make me feel like I’m not completely abnormal. Especially how I feel about birthdays.
Happy (belated) Birthday to Beth!
Link || Beth Evans (Beth Draws Things) || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Tumblr
Drag Race
By an act of beautifully random chance, the finale of Ru Paul's Drag Race, fell on my birthday.
It half worked out like that. I got to watch the final four queens, Yvie Oddly, Brooklyn Hytes, Silky Nutmeg Ganache and A'keria Chanel Davenport, fight through the first lipsync for the crown before Gran arrived. Which was fine, better after lipsync one than just before the winner was announced. My favourite from the start was still in the running, and I don't want to give away spoilers as to who won if you're a fan and haven't watched, but I was really very happy with the outcome when I finally finished the finale, after having lunch with gran and going to see my gran and grandpa.
The winner was my favourite, and only thing that would have made the finale better, would have been having Miss Vanjie in the final four...
... Vanjie, was the returning queen, getting told to sashay away in week one of Season 10. This gave her both an advantage and a disadvantage, having played the game and garnered a larger fan base but also put under most scrutiny. It would have been nice to see her make it to the finishing line. Plus, in my opinion there was at least one queen in the top four who should have gone home twice over other contestants in the previous weeks. Drag Race, like most other reality shows, does feel political in the way some contestants stay in despite negative critics week after week, because they're liable to create friction between other queens, and therefore drama and commentary in the show.
But given who won, I cannot complain, except that it's over. It seems like the show finishes quicker and quicker each year and until Drag Race UK starts or Netflix acquires RuPaul's Drag Race; All Stars, I'll have to wait another year for the next season.
Link || RuPaul's Drag Race || Netflix || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || IMDb || VH1 || WOW Presents || Wikipedia
Link || Yvie Oddly || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || YouTube
Link || Brooke Lynn Hytes || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook
Link || Silky Nutmeg Ganache || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook
Link || A'keria Chanel Davenport || Website || Instagram || Twitter
Link || Miss Vanessa Vanjie Mateo || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook
Link 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Just Unveiled It's New Cast with a Photoshoot, and It's Everything by Alexandra Whittaker via Cosmopolitan
Not Today Brexit!
*cough*
They've been calling for her resignation for so long now, it was inevitably going to happen sooner, rather than later, however the prospect of the having any of the candidates in charge, is frankly terrifying. Especially when we still have no definitive plan as to how we're actually going to accomplish Brexit, with the clock starting to run down. Then I saw this:
If we must have a clown, let’s have a self proclaimed one, in the glorious form of Bianca Del Rio and not the bumbling buffoon that is Boris Johnson or any of the other reprobates that are standing for the roles of the next British Prime Minister. I'm sure all of whom are on her Roledex of Hate.
Frankly she's probably got more intelligence, integrity, compassion and sense than most politicians combined, and if she appeared on a ballot she'd certainly have my vote!
Link || Bianca Del Rio || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || YouTube
The Handmaid’s Tale
“I have them, these attacks of the past, like faintness, a wave sweeping over my head. Sometimes it can hardly be borne. What is to be done, what is to be done, I thought. There is nothing to be done. They also serve who only stand and wait. Or lie down and wait. I know why the glass in the window is shatterproof, and why they took down the chandelier.”(IV Waiting Room, chapter 9 page 62)
I’ve never read any Margaret Atwood before, but given The Handmaid’s Tale was written in nineteen eighty-five, it seemed appropriate that this should be the first book of hers I read. After watching the first season of the books adaptation, starring Elizabeth Moss, the copy of the book on my shelves kept staring at me, encouraging me to abandon the book I had been attempting to read, and start it instead. Then, once I'd started my sister noted the fact that she had the book on Audible (read primarily by Elizabeth Moss), which meant when I wasn't in the mood to read it - an activity I find more tiring than enjoyable - I could listen to it instead. Which is probably the only reason I managed to finish the book within the same month I started it. A rare miracle.
The Handmaid's Tale, is a dystopian novel set in the near future. Gilead, is a totalitarian state within the overthrown United States, in a time when fertility has dropped to an all time low and Gods law has be put into full affect. Any women still able to bear children, are given the choice: become a handmaid or go to the colonies where they would be worked literally to death. Offred, the narrator of the tale, is placed into servitude, with one of the Commanders of Gilead, until she either conceives a child for him and his wife, or fails.
Atwood has specified that the book won't mirror how the television show has expanded on the book, which while a really great and relatively faithful adaptation, has deviated from the original story in a few different ways. None of which, now that I've read the book, I actually mind (such as making the Commander and his wife Serena Joy younger). I am obviously only one season in, but most of the book has been covered and I'm quite content to take both seasons two, three and the new book as separate entities.
There's a reason this book is so highly thought of, and why it seems so poignant in a world where the UK wants to be independent of the EU, Scotland wants to be independent of the UK, Trump is in power in the US and we appear to be going backwards in a lot of respects.
"Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. [...] Don't let the bastards grind you down."
(X Soul Scrolls, Chapter 29 pages 196-197)
Link || The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood || Wikipedia || Goodreads || Amazon || Audible
Link || The Testaments by Margaret Atwood || Wikipedia || Goodreads || Amazon || Audible
Link || The Handmaid’s Tale (TV Series) || IMDb || Wikipedia || Hulu
Link || Margaret Atwood Will Write a Sequel to ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ by Alexandra Alter via The New York Times
Georgia
… there is some serious fucking Gilead shit starting to happen in the world and it’s not okay.
Link || Georgia governor signs bill to ban abortion after six weeks via The Guardian
Link || Georgia approves abortion ban if foetus has heartbeat via The Guardian
Link || Hollywood backlash over Georgia abortion law grows by Dominic Rushe and Mark Sweney via The Guardian
No Spoilers! PLEASE!
In light of the new laws being posed in Georgia, many major media companies, including Disney and Netflix, are threatening to pull out of filming their current and future projects in the state, if the laws come in to effect.
Major franchises such as The Walking Dead, Stranger Things and Marvel, are filmed in the state, and a large reason for this is tax incentives. Losing this revenue, which amounted to $9.5 billion in 2017, would be a major loss to the state. But, not as big as the loss for a woman's right to choose.
On top of this many actors have come out to say, they'll no longer be taking work in the state if the new laws take effect. Which I believe is admirable. I'm going to inelegantly segue into something a little lighter here, in that I've been trying really hard to both catch up with and not get spoiled for both Game of Thrones and Avengers: End Game over the course of May, and these are two of the franchises where both the actors and companies have come out against the abortion laws in Georgia. And I honestly, I don’t know who it’s harder to avoid getting spoiled by, the internet or my own family.
I'm of the mind that if I get spoiled for something, I don't mind too much, but I'm not going to go out of my way to search out spoilers for shows and films I'm invested in. Mum already spoiled herself for both and has accidentally managed to spoiler me for two major deaths in Game of Thrones and my little sister blurted out things too. I’m three seasons behind and have managed to stay relatively unspoiled for what’s been going on, but mum can’t help herself, she’s the kind of person who reads the end of books first and raids Wikipedia for episode guides when she starts watching a new show or film.
As for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), I’m gradually trying to catch up with the various franchise before Avengers: Endgame comes out on DVD, without being spoiled.
I still have Ant Man and The Wasp, as well as Spiderman: Homecoming to watch. But as much as I've been avoiding spoilers, I'm okay with watching interviews for some reason. Though even that's risky because Tom Holland (Spiderman) has to be babysat and actively silenced by other cast members during interviews to avoid letting slip. Which just makes me like him more. As does his appearance on Lip Sync Battle US...
... then, while watching the worst of the Marvel movies - Doctor Strange - my sister mentioned the Avengers 90's cast. Avengers 90's cast? They were going to make the Avengers back in the 90's? Not really, instead it was fan casting poster by Bochi-Bochi, depicting which roles would be have filled by the leading/popular actors, who were having their fifteen minutes during the 1990's:
I don't disagree with most of these, some are a little terrifying and I'd actually love to see Doctor Strange with Keanu Reeves as the lead, anything would be better than Benedict Cumberbatch* and that appalling American accent!
Anyway. Don't leave spoilers in the comments, my mum and sister will probably get there before you!
* If Doctor Strange was your favourite Marvel movie... sorry!
Link || Marvel Cinematic Universe || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Tumblr || YouTube || Pinterest || Wikipedia || IMDb
Link || Bochi-Bochi || Poster || Facebook
Disneybounding
Did you know, in Disneyland/World, adults are not permitted to cosplay as their favourite characters? In fact they can be refused entry. It's not an unfair rule, it's about continuity and safety, helping to stop adults in costume being mistaken for the actors playing the character, and this hopefully preventing anything nefarious happening. Disney doesn't want lawsuits after all.
However, it’s also kind of unfair for grown ups who have been life long fans and go to Disney to have just as much fun and enchantment as the children. So you’ve got to get sneaky, you need to Disneybound.
The term was originally coined by Leslie Kay, who’s blog DisneyBound, started life as a simple Disney fan site. However, as her first trip to Disney World since childhood drew near she be started curating outfits based on her favourite characters, posting them because she was literally "Disney bound".
These posts garnered such a huge response from her followers, that soon it not only became the focus of her blog, but a way for other fans to join in the fun.
Instead of cosplaying, you create contemporary outfits themed around your favourite Disney characters. You get to express yourself without violating the parks rules.
I’ve never been to Disney and I have no great desire to go, but I love and am absolutely fascinated by Disneybounding! It kept cropping up in my YouTube and Instagram feeds over the month, and I keep thinking about it, and I think it’s the design challenge of creating an outfit which obviously evokes a particular character, but without creating a costume.
Plus it sounds like way too much fun and the perfect way to play dress up when you're told you're too old to play dress up.
“That’s the real trouble with the world. Too many people grow up.” - Walt Disney
Link || ‘Disneybounding’ Is The Dress-Up Trend Creative Fans Are Obsessed With
Dive into the magical world of Disneybounding by Kelsey Borresen via Huffing Post UK
Link || Why Adults Aren't Allowed to Wear Costumes at Disney Parks by Andrea Romano via Travel and Leisure
Link || An Undercover Disney Princess Shares the Secrets of Disneybounding by Tara Block via PopSugar
Link || What is DisneyBounding? See the trend loved by Disney enthusiasts by Terri Peters via Today
Link || Forced Perspective via Duchess of Disneyland
Link || Five Ways Disneyland Controls You with Psychology by Amber Wheeler via Disney Dose
Link || 25 Concealed Things At Disneyland That Visitors Always Miss by Julia AAS via The Travel
A Whole New World
Within Disney, little worlds are created. Smells are pumped in around the park, fresh baking in one area and salty sea air elsewhere. Objects and footprints are embedded into the pathways, giving little clues about the residents and on Main Street, the buildings are built in forced prospective, to trick the eye into thinking that the iconic castle appears to be bigger and further away than it really is. There's even a specific colour known as "noseeum green", used by the creators of the parks to conceal buildings and objects that they don't want people to take notice of.
It's all about the magic and creating little vignettes...
These little bookend dioramas are created by Tokyo based artist, Monde.
I love the idea of looking over to my shelves and seeing one of these, or as a light on the bookshelf beside my bed. Something to focus on when my brain gets away from me at night.
Is it wrong to want to try and DIY something like this?
Link || Monde || Twitter
Link || Miniature Installations Transform Bookshelves into the Back Alleys of Japan by Johnny Waldman via This Is Colossal
Link || Creative Bookends By Japanese Artist That You Have To See From Up Close To Really Appreciate by Li via Bored Panda
Link || Clever Wooden Bookends Mimic Tokyo’s Narrow Back Alleys Lit Up at Night
By Jessica Stewart via My Modern Met
Little Boxes Made of Ticky Tacky
But the tiny house movement has started to become a more and more popular and viable way for people to get onto the property market. A way to make a space of your own and potentially being able to affordable own your own house, instead of renting forever.
I've been intrigued by them for a few years now and I liked watching shows like George Clarke's Amazing Spaces and Shed of the Year already, but in May I've been watching Tiny House Nation on Netflix, as well as some videos on YouTube. What people can achieve in these tiny home can be truly staggering.
But the thing I like about watching shows like these, is not only the ingenuity, but the resourcefulness in what you can actually do with a small space. Whether that's a self built tiny house, converting a shed or a camper into a home, or simply just making the best of the space you have. Especially when you can't afford something bigger.
Downside... you probably can't be a craft hoarding clutter-slug and live in a tiny house...
Link || Tiny House Nation || Netflix || Instagram || Facebook || IMDb || Wikipedia
Link || George Clarke's Amazing Spaces || Website || Twitter || Facebook || IMDb
Link || Living Big In A Tiny House || Website || YouTube || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Pinterest
Stropwaffle
Someone who never has to worry about space is Charlie, aka Stropwaffle, because he can be a grumpy little git and just bully people until he gets to sleep where he wants.
He's basically a grumpy, sleepy, gloriously fluffy and so we call him Stropwaffle and he has been both enjoying the sunshine we've had this month, while also groaning and meowing as he switched between too hot and not quite hot enough.
But something lovely happened too...
... it doesn't look like much. It just looks like Charlie sleeping on duvet, but under that duvet, under Charlie, is me. Again, doesn't seem like much, but in the four - nearly five - years Charlie's lived with us, he's never sat or slept on my lap. Sleeping on the bed beside me at night had been a recent enough choice. Normally he'd sit and glare at me or get off and sit on the floor any time I dared move, and woe betide me if I sneezed or coughed! But he'd also make a point of sitting, waiting to literally be waved up onto the bed, and jump up right onto my lap to get onto the bed, which was only marginally terrifying.
Having taken to sleeping on my bed when he finally came in, in the early hours of the morning this month, I was surprised enough by this happening that I took a photo and despite the early hour, sent it to my family. I lay there the first time thinking, what the actual fuck!
Misty, the last of our cats passed away about a year before Charlie moved in. She was, what I'd affectionately call, a scarf. She’d cling, hugging around your shoulders and neck, holding tight and fall asleep like that, purring, padding and almost certainly dribbling. I had years with four cats, each taking their turn curled up on my bed, sleeping on my lap or chest at night, but I didn’t expect it from Charlie.
Did I end up with a sore back because I was lying in a completely terrible position? Yes. But did I care? Not really. It was just nice having him lie there.
Dwight Schrutt vs. William Eyelash
“No, Billie, I haven't done that dance since my wife died
There's a whole crowd of people out there who need to learn how to do the Scarn
Don't ask questions you don't wanna know
Learned my lesson way too long ago
To be talking to you, belladonna
Shoulda taken a break, not an oxford comma
Take what I want when I wanna
And I want ya
Bad, bad news
One of us is gonna lose
I'm the powder, you're the fuse
Just add some friction”
(“My Strange Addiction” by Billie Eilish)
At the start of the month, two favourites collided. The Office and Billie Eilish.
Within Eilish’s debut album is the track “My Strange Addiction” which opens with the immortal words of Michael Scarn, a character created by Michael Scott, as part of his original screenplay, much to the amusement of the other staff members of Dunder Mifflen, Scrantan branch.
When I heard this song the first time, I genuinely had to do a double take, it didn’t initial register and I had to start the song over again before it clicked. Billie Eilish is an Office superfan, so of course someone had to test her knowledge and who better to send than Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) himself…
Young William Eyelash being quizzed by Dwight Schrute for Billboard, I found really funny.
What didn't, was my sister pointing out the fact that the whole cast bar Wilson, say Duh-wight, instead of Dwight. And it has started to drive me crazy. I’d never noticed and now I can’t unhear it!
Link || Billie Eilish || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || YouTube || Spotify || iTunes || Soundcloud
Link || Rainn Wilson || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || IMDb
Link || The Office || Website || IMDb || Wikipedia || Amazon Prime
Link || Billboard || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || YouTube
Balance, Not Symmetry
This is the first Biffy Clyro song that I’ve instantly loved in a little while, but I’ve loved them as a band since their first album was played over, and over, and over again in the sixth year common room. I listen to Blackened Skies and I’m instantly seventeen again, before crap happened, before college, before university, when I was still a little more hopeful. Biffy is the sound of the year my life changed a lot, so I will always have affection for it, even if listening to it can spark both great and not so great memories.
(But, there is something wrong with this video. Biffy Clyro, in particular lead singer Simon Neill, are wearing sweatshirts while performing. I’m not saying that they never wear clothes while performing, I’m just saying sweatshirts seems like a lot of clothes given being half naked seems like a pretty natural state for them to be in while performing.)
“Balance, Not Symmetry” is the title song from the film of the same name, written by Jamie Adams and Simon Neill. It’s about American student Caitlin (Laura Harrier) who’s father dies suddenly. Then she must leave her grieving mother (Kate Dickie) and return to Glasgow School of Art to finish her third year. The film is about Caitlin trying to find a balance between her own grief, the stresses of art school, her romantic life and the fractured relationship between her and her best friend.
Link || Biffy Clyro || Website || YouTube || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Spotify || iTunes || Soundcloud
Link || Balance, Not Symmetry (2019) || IMDb || Wikipedia
Number One
(No one do the maths!)
It’s probably my most played playlist because it’s full of comfort and songs I have deep seated love for, but it wasn’t my first plan for that list. It started out life as one song from every year up to that birthday, and before that every number one. This came up again when a video by Sam Tsui called “EVERY #1 SONG on my BIRTHDAY since I was born!! (EPIC B-DAY MASHUP)”...
Damn YouTube for recommending that one a couple of weeks away from my own birthday. Don't worry, I won't be singing, however, I was intrigued by the idea of what songs were number one on my birthday every year. Then I made the list…
31st May Number Ones
1985 – “19” by Paul Hardcastle
1986 – “The Chicken Song” by Spitting Image
1987 – “Nothing Gonna Stop Us Now” by Starship
1988 – “With A Little Help From My Friends/She’s Leaving Home” by Wet Wet Wet/Billy Bragg & Cara Tivey
1989 – “Ferry Across The Mersey” by The Christians
1990 – “Killer” by Adamski feat. Seal
1991 – “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)” by Cher
1992 – “Please Don’t Go” by KWS
1993 – “All That She Wants” by Ace of Base
1994 – “Come On You Reds” by Manchester United F.C.
1995 – “Unchained Melody” by Robson & Jerome
1996 – “Ooh Aah… Just a Little Bit” by Gina G
1997 – “I Wanna Be The Only One” by Eternal
1998 – “Feel It” by The Tamper feat. Maya
1999 – “Sweet Like Chocolate” by Shanks & Bigfoot
2000 – “Day & Night” by Billie Piper
2001 – “Don’t Stop Moving” by S Club 7
2002 – “Just A Little” by Liberty X
2003 – “Ignition (Remix)” by R. Kelly
2004 – “FURB (Fuck You Right Back)” by Frankee
2005 – “Lyla” by Oasis
2006 – “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley
2007 – “Umbrella” by Rihanna feat. Jay-Z
2008 – “Take a Bow” by Rihanna
2009 – “Bonkers” by Armand Van Helden vs. Dizzee Rascal
2010 – “Nothin’ On You” by B.o.B. feat. Pharrell Williams
2011 – “Give Me Everything” by Pitbull feat. Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer
2012 – “RIP” by Rita Ora feat. Tinie Tempah
2013 – “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams
2014 – “Stay With Me” by Sam Smith
2015 – “Cheerleader” by OMI
2016 – “One Dance” by Drake feat. Wizkid & Kyla
2017 – “Despacito (Remix)" by Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber
2018 – “One Kiss” by Calvin Harris feat. Dua Lipa
2019 – “I Don’t Care” by Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber
With classics like “The Chicken Song”, “Come of You Reds”, “Unchained Melody” and “Ooh Aah Just a Little Bit” (though I have Primary school disco based love for the last one), I was a little disappointed. Seeing I was born a couple of weeks early, I even went as far as to see if the list was any better on that date. Not really. Though if I could exchange Starship for Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” in 1987 and give “MMMBop” by Hason, a shared spot with Eternal (I was a fan) in 1997, (also Will Young for Liberty X in 2002 and Evanescence for R.Kelly in 2003) I'll happily live with the rest.
I think the song that I’m most surprised and happiest to see on that list is “Shoop Shoop (It’s In His Kiss)” by Cher, which featured in the movie Mermaids (1990), because that has genuinely been one of my favourite movies since I was a kid. And even though it's not a great list, if I had to pick one song off this list, it would be that, because she's Cher!
Link || Mermaids (1990) || IMDb || Wikipedia || Rotten Tomatoes
Curly Girl Update No. 4
But I did give myself a birthday treat however of banishing my white hairs for a few weeks by dying it a deeply boring shade of brunette. Which is pretty much a darker version of my natural hair colour with less red in it.
Though Mr. Kate's Instagram post did make me wish I was brave.
I also blow dried it straight for the first time in four months! And it's been so nice being able to brush my hair and not think about the various different ways I'm destroying my curls and whether or not I'd be able to refresh them well enough in the morning to not look a mess. I know blow drying and straightening is against the rules when you're a curly girl, but I'm honestly thinking about giving being curly a break for a little while. Which I also realise is dumb because it's all about training your hair back into its natural curl pattern but... I really missed being able to brush my hair without tugs and tangles.
If I do carry on with becoming a curly girl, I think I'm going to have to cut my hair shorter, but while it's straight, I might do that anyway...
Link || Mr. Kate || Website || YouTube || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Pinterest
Mental Health Awareness Week
I've been in my head a lot recently. Calling it "birthday brain" is a silly way to try and brush it off, when what it really is, is a heightening of depression around about my birthday. I procrastinated writing this post because when I'd tried, usually on too little sleep, I started writing about my birthday and how it makes me feel. It's not the getting older, it's the passing of another year without anything changing, and knowing that that's my own fault. I was going to include one of these night time birthday brain moments, but it wouldn't be productive, it would probably just have sparked another night of not being able to switch off and slipping into a down moment when five minutes earlier I was perfectly happy.
Thankfully audio books and the internet are a good way to dampen the noise, and Instagram has been full of positivity about not being ashamed of your mental health issues. Fuck anyone who does make you feel ashamed for them.
Link || Mental Health Awareness Week || Mental Health Foundation
Netflix Love: Schitt's Creek
Moira: "I suppose David's announcement left you a little shaken."
Stevie:"That's really not it Mrs. Rose. It's just... I wish I wasn't watching it all happen from behind a desk, you know? It feels like everyone's growing up all around me."
(Schitts Creek, Season 5 - Episode 14 "Life is a Cabaret")
Schitt's Creek, keeps freaking breaking my heart, over and over again. In a good way, but the conversation between Moira and Stevie during the final episode just killed me. I totally recommend watching this series if you've ever had the inkling to do so, because while initially the characters seem awful and irritating, if you keep going I swear you'll fall in love with them. Season six will be be the final one and I will probably cry. Unashamedly.
Link || Schitt's Creek || Website || Netflix || IMDb || Wikipedia || Instagram || Twitter || YouTube
Random Love: Monochromatic
Monochromatic eye shadow and the NYX Ultimate Brights Palette, that's been my makeup go too recently.
Palette Potluck was on hold for the month of May, instead I had a free for all and could play with anything I wanted. Which ended up being one single eye shadow at a time, and pretty much just from this one insanely bright palette. It's really good for the price and the second and fourth purples (second row) being my favourites and most worn.
My makeup has gotten far more "age appropriate" as I've gotten older, which is probably why I felt like rebelling around about my birthday, but fuck that and anyone who says you shouldn't wear bright colours, glitter or lots of it just because you're over the age of eighteen and are supposed to be an adult.
Link || NYX Ultimate Brights Palette || NYX || Superdrug || Boots || Cult Beauty || Amazon
The Garden
My makeup wasn't the only colourful thing in May, my mums garden was looking pretty colourful too and I've been being a bit snap happy again...
I got a set of clip on camera lenses for my phone a while back, but hadn't really played around with them until now. The set came with wide angle, fish-eye and macro lenses, and while you basically have to have the macro lens smooshed up against whatever you're photographing, they're still pretty good. I used to carry little camera around in my bag all the time, but who hasn't become a little lazy since mobile phone cameras have improved, so little clip on lenses like this are a fun way to change up your photos a little.
The lilac is probably one of my favourite trees/plants/flowers in the garden. I say one, but in fact there's at least seven or eight of these big, blousy flower packed trees (including a white and deep purple variation) around the garden, most of which are outside my bedroom window. And I think all of them have been grown from seedlings of seedlings from grandparents and great grandparents. Basically they're family heirlooms.
And while there's lots of beautiful flowers in the garden in May, this is also when all of the trees have come into leaf and when it's sunny, the light that comes through the leaves is really beautiful.
But probably one of the most impressive trees in the garden this month has to be the Laburnum.
The Laburnum starts to show its colours half way through the month, making the front of my parents house start to glow. The front path canopied in luminous, bright yellow bunches of flowers, and this year being particularly impressive as it didn’t get its annual haircut at the end of last year, and has grown. A lot.
And then there’s the hum. You can hear this tree. There’s an audible sound that goes hand in hand with it. Not because of the wind blowing through its branches, but because of the activity within the bunches of flowers which cover it. It’s full of bees! Frantically bumbling between flowers...
... you can hear the birds more than you can hear the bees, but I just love the sound of our garden, on one of those rare occasions when you can't hear the neighbours cutting their lawns, the sound of DIY or children screaming as they walk home from school. It's just the birds, the bees and probably Charlie trying to explain why you're sitting in his seat and need to get up.
I wish that Friends of the Earth had been doing The Great British Bee Count this year, because under the Laburnum would have been the perfect place to sit and take count. Bees are incredibly, incredibly important and need to be protected, and they won't hurt you unless they feel threatened - I've rescued two from spiderwebs in my grandparents garage over the past week (2-8th June) and I was able to help pull the web off their legs so they could fly off.
We even have some nesting in a bin bag of dry leaves we didn't take to get composted at the end of last year. A bin bag isn't ideal, but if you discover bees living in your garden - unless they're somewhere they really can't be and could result in you or someone you care about getting hurt by them - just leave them alone until the autumn when they'll abandon the nest to go hibernate elsewhere. Bees find somewhere new to nest in the spring, just block of the entrance to the old nest once they're gone if you don't want them there again, as they can be reused by other bees.
And be grateful that they're there, bees are awesome and we need more of them.
Link || Friends of the Earth: The Bee Cause
Link || Friends of the Earth: The Great British Bee Count - Bee Identification Guide
Link || Bumblebee Conservation Trust
Link || Mpow 3 in 1 Clip-on Lens Kit via Amazon
Barry
Something else to be grateful for is weird presents from your loved ones. Genuinely the weirdest gift I got for my birthday was... Barry.
Yeah, my sisters are weirdos, if you weren't already aware, and they know exactly what weird ass gift is probably going to end up being one of my favourites and this year it's probably got to be Barry.
Barry the Cactus - to give him his full title - is a tiny nubbin of a cactus inside his own little inch and a bit tall sealed terrarium, who claims he'll be no trouble, so long as I give in to his demands. Which mostly consist of not over watering, under watering or not giving him enough sunshine...
... so, given he's chosen to live inside a key-ring, it's probably best he doesn't also have to live in the cupboard with my car keys or at the bottom of my handbag with my house keys? He'd most certainly not have a very long life if he had to live in there.
I have been curious about these before, and I'll be interested to see if I can get him to grow big enough in there to be potted on. Especially since I've never had a spiky cactus before and I'm not even sure what kind of cactus he is!
Link || Barry The Cactus || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook
A Very Merry Unbirthday To You! (Yes, You!)
Anyway! That's it! I'm done! It's a birthday opus, it's taken me a week longer than it should have to finish writing and I need to stop! I did warn you all last month that this post would either be non-existent, tiny or an absolute and utter beast.
I wish you all a very merry unbirthday, hope May was good to you and I'll see you again at the end of the June, hopefully on time, hopefully a little less of a birthday misery guts...
... and if nothing else just as rambling as always.
Nothing new there.
..................................................................................
Listening: Pity Party - Melanie Martinez
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