Sweater Weather Tag

Yeah, this is a youtube tag but Kayley Hyde did it on a blog post so I shall follow her with that.
And yes, I'm in an italic-y mood.

1. Favorite candle scent?
I don't actually buy scented candles because my mum doesn't like them and I live at home because I'm 17. I really really love the smell of smoke though so I could light matches all day long. Bunsen burners are the best bit of chemistry practicals. Especially when you use them to extract limonene. 

2. Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?
I absolutely loathe tea, only like european hot chocolate and coffee is just slightly too strong. My huge problem is I don't like milk.

3. What's the best fall memory you have?
Does my birthday count?

In all seriousness, there's this street in my village with these massive horse chestnut trees and every autumn we'd go pick up conkers and it was lovely.

4. Which makeup trend do you prefer: dark lips or winged eyeliner? 
Winged eyeliner. All I have done this week is make my eyes look like Lily Allen's from her new video.

5. Best fragrance for fall?
I only ever wear one "fragrance" and it's malalia from hollister

6. Favorite Thanksgiving food?
I'm British so I don't celebrate thanksgiving though I love Sainsbury's cinnamon and raisin bagels that they sell across the road from my school.

7. What is autumn weather like where you live?
Cold, at the moment. However, it means I get to sit next to the radiator in maths and wear my Gryffindor jumper to school and wear apricot and khaki.

8. Most worn sweater?
Oh wow this is like Sophie's Choice.
This one from Urban Outfitters is my current favourite. I love Urban Outfitters.

9. Must-have nail polish this fall?
I just got Nail's Inc nail diary as my mum and dad are amazing so probably St Martin's Lane from Nails Inc.

10. Football games or jumping in leaf piles?
Leaves, obviously.

11. Skinny jeans or leggings?
Skinny jeans, obviously.

12. Combat boots or Uggs?
Combat boots, obviously. I love my DM's.

13. Is pumpkin spice worth the hype?
Never had it *cringes*

14. Favorite fall TV show?
I'm watching Bob's Burgers a lot at the moment. And, as always, Scrubs.

15. What song really gets you into the fall spirit?

I'm listening to a lot of Fiona Apple at the moment, as well as Keane, The Cinematic Orchestra and Imagine Dragons.

Gif tastic

On Remembrance Day

Every year for as long as I can remember I have attended my school's remembrance service. Since I officially "started school" I've been to four different schools and every year I stood through the two minutes silence not really understanding it. People died and I understood that and I'd heard the statistics of how many were lost. I still didn't relate to it. These were people from a different era and I have never lived through a war that I have perceived to affect me and when I was younger I couldn't feel anything for the hundreds of thousands of people who died and I would feel guilty about this but I still couldn't feel any empathy.

Three years ago my school took me on a week long history trip to France and Belgium which had been romantically named "The Chateau Trip." We were stating in this "chateau" which happened to be a large house with dorm rooms in the outbuildings. It was essentially a youth hostel trip to learn about the first world war and we visited several large graveyards to do with the Somme. In particular we visited this huge British (and the commonwealth if I remember correctly) graveyard. All you could see was row my row of white gravestones and at the back a round wall with names of bodies that weren't found. This made an impression at the time but mainly the feeling of peace you get rarely. However I came back home, only thinking of the large amounts of chocolate I had bought in Ypres and what was the start of my friendship group collapsing into anarchy. That big white graveyard left my mind and wouldn't return for another year.

I slept through the two minute silence that year. I had an agonising infection of tonsillitis and had to go to the local minor injuries late that evening so I slept in until 11.40. Still, I wasn't upset that I'd missed the silence.

Year 10 came around after the past nightmarish 6 months and that year I stood up in those two minutes. The trumpet sounded and suddenly it hit me. The 14 past years of not empathising were hit by this mass of emotion that I'd never felt. The big white graveyard had affected me.

I feel like we need experiences to relate.

I feel like we can't understand atrocities unless something links us to them.

I feel like we need to be educated.

I don't know what this blog will do, but hopefully it will do some good.

My Love for Musicals

So, my first blog post. My name is Heather and I am completely new to this, so I apologise if you find this post completely uninteresting! However I have decided to write about the thing I am most passionate about in life, in the hope that some of you will feel the same way: Musicals. I appreciate many don’t understand the point of people randomly bursting into song and dance, but I love it. In my opinion there is a song for every occasion, whether the occasion be having a shower, going on a date, or simply making lunch.

I wish my life was a musical. To be fair, I do sing. A lot.

Singing is the only way to truly express one’s feelings. It does so in a way words fail to do. When the conversation runs dry with a boy you like, you have to resort to awkward silence. However, in a musical, you can sing.  It doesn’t matter whether the song is an unaccompanied 2 line tune, or whether is it a huge chorus number with sparkles, dancing and jazz hands. People sing because words alone have nowhere else to go.

Musicals have memorable songs that you simply cannot get out of your head and they have incredible dance numbers that inspire you to dance even when you can’t. I have just taken up dance lessons, and trust me it is 1000x harder than they make it look! Most importantly the leading man is always remarkably romantic, and there is ALWAYS a happy ending. I challenge you to think of a musical in which there is not a positive message at the end!

Whilst what I am saying may be unbelievably cheesy, that is the point of a musical. And that is why I love them. As I am writing this I have ‘I whistle a happy tune, and every single time, the happiness in the tune, convinces me that I’m not afraid’ rolling around my head. Bet I have it stuck in your head too.

So that’s all I had to say. All that is left is to thank Sophie for letting me do this! Adieu, adieu, to you and you and you.