Sofar Sounds Living Room Gig

Hello! As promised, here is my post on the first Sofar Brum event! :-)

A few weeks back, on Saturday 27th October, I went to a living room gig as part of one of Sofar Sounds' gigs which was debuting in Birmingham! I went with my sister and a few friends (including Anna) and were also going to support our friend Nadi and her sister, Rukaiyah, who are both part of the musical duo, Cannon Street. They actually organised this particular Sofar Sounds event in Birmingham and held it in their own apartment! It was an amazing night full of great music and a truly wonderful atmosphere.

It was great to just sit back and enjoy the music without any interruptions. All four acts were genuinely so talented in their own rights, despite being quite different too. What's even more incredible is that the event was also free, although we did give a voluntary donation to help fund transport and editing of the videos. Nevertheless, we paid very little in terms of what we received, which was a really lovely night listening to some fantastic music in such a great atmosphere. I hope that I get to go to another Sofar Sounds event soon!

I sincerely apologise for the upcoming bombardment of photos. If ever there has been a severe case of photo-overload, I'm pretty sure this trumps it, but it was just such a fantastic night that I felt the need to share all of the photos with you!












 

1. The amazing Cannon Street (Nadi and Rukaiyah)
2. Social networking + Sofar Sounds
3. The second band, Count Drachma!
4. With the pals
5. More of Count Drachma
6. Cannon Street; Count Drachma
7. Home-made rainbow cupcakes!
8. Fairy lights everywhere
9. Living room gig!
10. To Kill A King!
11. The final act of the night, Goodnight Lenin
12. My friends with Rafe Offer, the founder of Sofar Sounds
13. Sofar Brum!

Told you this was going to be a massive photo overload! Anyway, hope you've enjoyed this post and the photos :-) Please check out Sofar Sounds as well as the bands mentioned in this post, they're all amazing!

Hope you're all well and gotten over the post-weekend blues. Happy blogging! :-)

Chloe xxx

London, Pt. IV - Work Experience

Hi! Apologies for the lack of posts over the last couple of weeks. School has just sapped up all my time, but it's finally the weekend! So time to catch up on blogs, chill out and spend some time with family!

I realised that I still haven't managed to post about my work experience in London, so here goes... Way back in October, I spent five days at an investment bank in Canary Wharf, the financial district of London. It was pretty scary to be commuting to and from London every day on my own, considering I'd never gotten the tube on my own before, especially during peak time rush hour. It took me about an hour and a quarter to get to Canary Wharf and and then another hour and a quarter on the way back each day, but it wasn't actually too bad on the days that I managed to get a seat. I'm pretty sure that I was the youngest person on the trains too, which was kind of weird. To be honest, I quite liked those train journeys when I could sit there and read or even do some people-watching whilst I had my headphones in.

Anyway, I was working from 9-5 every day and it was such a massive eye-opener into the world of work. The buildings were so swanky and the people that I met were so friendly and welcoming. I learnt a lot about what goes on in the finance industry and experienced far more than most 16-year-olds get to experience, for which I feel truly lucky. Without wanting to bore you further about the things that I did there, I just want to say that London is a great place to be for work, in my opinion. It is a city full of opportunity and I truly hope that I get a chance to work there in the future. The work experience was invaluable and has motivated me to try and strive for a great job in London!

1. Thomson Reuters building @ Canary Wharf

2. The DLR track

3. Bank Street, Canary Wharf

4. Morgan Stanley, Canary Wharf

5. Canary Wharf tube station

6. Sneaky shot on the escalators; Coffee overload!

Above are just a few photos in and around Canary Wharf. I genuinely really miss the independence of being in London on my own, as well as the fast-paced nature of the working environment. Right now, I've been back at school for two weeks and so finally getting back into the swing of things regarding schoolwork and whatnot. Just been busy busy busy. Anyway, coming up soon is a post on a recent living room gig courtesy of Sofar Sounds! Hope you're all well. Happy blogging!

Chloe xxx  

P.S. Can I just say how relieved I am that Obama was re-elected as President of the United States? I stayed up to watch the election results during the early hours of Wednesday morning, despite the fact that I was exhausted that day! However, even my fatigue couldn't ruin my day because Obama got what he deserved! :-)

London, Pt. III

Here is my third instalment of my London photo diary! (Are you getting sick of these yet?!) To give a little bit of context behind these photos, as I mentioned in my last post, I went to Kentish Town to meet up with my sister, my aunty and a friend who lives there. We went to her flat which was so lovely, with amazing sash windows and a balcony on a pretty, leafy road in such a lovely area of London. We had tea and little homemade cakes which was so nice and then walked it all off as we set off on a stroll around Kentish Town, Primrose Hill and Camden Town.

It was so lovely to walk down the high street and browse through old bookshops and home decor stores. Then we ran up Primrose Hill and by the end of it, I was genuinely out of breath, which is shameful... I blame this on the fact that I haven't taken part in compulsory, organised sports since May... But I digress. So we ran up the hill, much to the dismay of passers-by. My aunty then started chasing her friend and I actually heard someone say: "She's a bit keen". Cue much laughing and sputtering on my part.

As soon as we got to the top of the hill, we were greeted with an amazing view of London. After we managed to catch our breath, we decided to just be completely silly and take lots of jumping photos! We got plenty of odd looks, but it was so much fun! I highly recommend it. Sometimes, you've just gotta wave your hands in the air like you just don't care... Life is too short not to.

 1. My dream sash windows; Me @ Regent's Canal

2. Walking along Regent's Park Road

3. Silly jumping photos @ Primrose Hill

4. View of London from top of Primrose Hill

5. Sister @ Pastry shop, Kentish Town

6. Beautiful reflections @ Regent's Canal

7. Walking along Regent's Canal

One more London post to go about my work experience in Canary Wharf! Also, I started back at school on Monday and I can already see that it's gonna be a busy 8 weeks until the Christmas holidays... It's already been so busy and it's only Tuesday! Also, how is it almost November already?! Where has the year gone?!

Happy blogging!
Chloe xxx

P.S. I hope that everyone in the USA and Canada has been keeping safe in spite of Hurricane Sandy. Whenever I turn on the news, I feel like I'm watching a disaster movie like The Day After Tomorrow, except it's real life. It's so scary to think about the millions of people being affected by it. My thoughts are with you all!
 

London, Pt. II

Hey! Another London post, because I have way too many photos from my trip to fit into one measly post. Also, thanks for all the lovely comments in my last post. I'm glad to see so much love for London - it really is one of the greatest cities in the world.

Anyway, when I was last in London, after saying bye to my friend, I made my way to Kentish Town (with a bit of help, because I still can't really get to grips with the Tube system...) and met up with my sister, aunty and friend. We walked around various parts of London, but in these particular photos, you can clearly see Camden! Always a pretty cool place to go, although I haven't actually visited Camden Lock in a long time. Probably the main thing I like doing is people-watching. That probably makes me sound super weird, but the eclectic mix of people in Camden - or just London in general - is what makes the place so interesting and... Alive, I suppose.








1. Me @ Camden Lock; Pretty London streets
2. Image of Amy Winehouse above the Hawley Arms pub, Camden
3. Sister @ Primrose Hill Rd Bridge; Me @ Bookshop in Camden
4. Sister @ Bookshop in Camden
5. Entering Camden Lock
6. Roofs of houses @ Kentish Town

I've still got a couple of London posts up my sleeve as well as my post on work experience in Canary Wharf! Anyway, I'm trying to relish these last few days of freedom while I still can by sleeping in until the afternoon every day and generally not doing a lot. I'm off to a small gig on Saturday though where a friend is going to be playing, which is going to be exciting! Other than that, I'm gonna go back to tearing my hair out over my Mechanics work... Because that's gonna be really conducive to real work...

 Happy blogging!
Chloe xxx

London, Pt. I

Hello! I've spent the past week and a bit down in St. Albans and London, mostly due to having work experience in Canary Wharf for 5 days last week, which was amazing! I've got a post lined up about my work experience so that should be headed your way soon.

Anyway, I arrived in St. Albans last Saturday and just chilled out at my aunty's flat, which was nice, considering the early start that day to catch the train down. Then on Sunday, I set out for London and spent the day with a friend who has just started university in London. It was nice to catch up over coffee and sightseeing at the Museum of London, St Paul's Cathedral and Covent Garden. Covent Garden is probably one of my favourite places in London - if not, the whole world - because even though it's quite touristy, the atmosphere there is unparalleled. It's busy and bustling, but the street acts and little stores are cute and add a lot of character to the place. Even though it was pretty cold, it was such a bright sunny day and a perfect one to spend exploring London.

1. Walking along Regent's Canal
2. Lomography wall @ Museum of London
3. With a friend @ Museum of London
4. Touristy shot in Covent Garden
5. Friend in front of St Paul's
6. Going past St. Pancras on the way to Farringdon
7. The Beatles memorabilia @ Museum of London
8. View of houses in Kentish Town

Later on, I went and spent a bit of time with my aunty, sister and a friend in Kentish Town and Primrose Hill, but more on that later, as I'm a little fearful of photo overload! But anyway, I really enjoyed spending the day out and about in London - I was really lucky that the rain stayed away too! I would love to live in London at some point in the future, just because it's the best place to live if you like having everything at your doorstop - whether that be amazing cuisine from every corner of the world, great places to socialise, the best markets and places to shop at, being able to experience art and drama and the theatre, the ability to hop on the tube and travel around easily... London has it all. It really is one of my favourite places in the world.

Anyway, hopefully it won't be too long until I'm back on here again. I've just spent the majority of today reading and catching up on other blogs and chilling. I have an inordinate amount of work to do which isn't gonna be fun, but it's gotta be done! (Plus, I'm a poet and I didn't know it.)

Hope you're all well and that you all had happy Mondays. And listened to the Happy Mondays. :-) Happy blogging.

Chloe xxx

Runaways

Hello! My apologies for the 2 week hiatus. Again... Life is busy, no? School has been chaotic and stressful as ever. I have just been receiving tonnes of work and I've just had loads to do. On the upside, the days go by quicker when I keep busy! It just means that I don't get a lot of free time for the more enjoyable things in life, i.e. blogging, reading, drawing, etc. I really miss being able to do things for fun!

Also, my laptop decided to die on me last weekend, but with the help of a friend from school, I have been lent his spare hard drive for the time being while I'm waiting for a new one to arrive. So all is good again, but I did have a tiny bit of a panic (read: major freak out) when I received the dreaded blue screen of death. Cue stress attack until everything got sorted out, which luckily it did! This last week has been more of the same with school, stress, etc., but it's not too bad since I still manage to hang with friends, etc. and the freedom of Sixth Form is great. Overall, life is pretty good at the moment.

Anyway, just wanted to share a new photo - well, it's not that new, but I haven't posted it yet, so let's pretend that it's new.

 

This photo reminds me of the summer and spending a few days in the Wirral with my family. This was also the day after I got my GCSE results and I just remember feeling so much relief and happiness because all of the hard work had been worth it. I really miss Summer 2012, it was genuinely one of the best summers of my life.

Anyway, talking of holidays, I am in much need of a break. Luckily, half term is coming up on Friday 12th so I'll have 2 weeks off from school, which is going to be so good. I've actually got work experience planned for the first week! I'm gonna be going down to St. Albans and commuting into London for work experience at Morgan Stanley in Canary Wharf! It's gonna be such a good experience, albeit an intimidating one. I'm gonna be staying with my aunty for a week and also going into London to visit a friend who has just started uni in London. So it's gonna be a fun week and it'll be nice to go out and explore the city. I love it there and can't wait to get out of Birmingham!

Anyway, hope you're all well and enjoying the weekend. Hopefully it won't be too long until my next post! Happy blogging :-)

Chloe xxx

P.S. If you can, please check out my lovely friend, Anna's new blog, なるほど anna. I've only known Anna for about a month or so, but it feels like we've been friends for years! She's quite new to blogging, but even with just a few posts under her belt, you can just tell that she's a natural. So if you want a good read, some entertainment, pretty photos or basically anything that is cool, please head on over to her blog. :-) 

P.P.S. Obsessed with the new song from the Killers: Runaways. On repeat. Indefinitely. They are just so goooood.

Baking!

Hi everyone! As promised, here is my post on baking! Whilst over at my aunty's flat, we managed to spend the whole day in the kitchen making this coffee and walnut layer cake.

Let me start by saying: I am by no means an established baker. In fact, I have been known to burn toaster waffles, so that is just an indication of how badly I am lacking in the kitchen department. Alas, my lack of culinary prowess has not deterred me as I am a massive fan of all cookery programmes. My usual favourite TV chefs include: Raymond Blanc, Nigella Lawson, Rachel Koo, Michel Roux, Nigel Slater, Lorraine Pascale and Jamie Oliver. Other favourite shows include The Great British Bake-Off, Masterchef, Ace of Cakes and basically anything else on the Food Network channel.

After steering clear of the kitchen for a very long time after my many mishaps, I decided to step back in with the help of my sister and aunty. After a hard day's work (despite the fact that I remember the recipe claiming that this should take no more than a couple of hours...), we managed to conjure up something which was pretty amazing, in my humble opinion. I would've settled with "edible", but seriously. This was yummy.

So there it is: Coffee and Walnut Layer Cake à la Nigella's Kitchen recipe book. I'm not going to bother posting the ingredients or recipe as it is all on her website, so please click here to find the full recipe for this cake.

Also, as a little side note, I would recommend everyone get a little cake stand - even if you're not a seasoned baker. They're a little bit pointless if you're just gonna take the cake straight back off again, but they're so pretty!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed something a little different for this little old blog. I feel like I have been seriously neglecting it lately, so it was nice to write about something which wasn't just the same-old, same-old. School has been busy busy busy and I haven't had much time to do anything other than schoolwork and getting involved in extra-curricular things like Amnesty, etc. Anyway, I'll definitely try and write again soon. Bear with me! Hope you're all well and happy blogging!

Chloe xxx

Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key

Hi! I started back at school on Monday and it feels like I've been back for five weeks, not five days! It's insane how tiring this past week was, although I guess I am enjoying studying only a few subjects instead of 13 subjects like I was in Year 11! So yeah, Sixth Form has been quite good so far and I'm studying: Maths, Further Maths, Economics, Chemistry and Latin this year! I'm pretty worried about the onslaught of work that I will undoubtedly get, but I'm hoping that I can keep on top of it all and manage to get some good grades at the end of it. It's really scary to think that I'll be applying for unis in just a year's time!

Anyway, here are a couple of photos from a few weeks ago:

 

1. Topshop dress, Bill Amberg bag, Ray Ban sunglasses
2. Pretty pink sky on the drive back home

I love that second photo with the summer night sky and the unexpected bokeh effect in the background. It reminds me of summer, relaxing, sing-alongs in the car and just being happy. The weather has been uncharacteristically lovely for early September, but of course it would be sunny for when we have to go back to school..!

Anyway, I should be back with a recipe in my next post. It's not something I've ever done on this blog before, but just thought I'd let you know beforehand. I love food, but I'm not exactly the best baker / cook... Haha, anyway, hope you're all well! Happy blogging :-D

Chloe xxx

P.S. Love Billy Bragg.

P.P.S. Please check out my friend, Sarah's new blog: Freckled Fennell! She is one talented girl and is off to Bath to study textile design! Her blog will be a documentation of her journey at university and I can already see that her blog will become one of my daily reads. So please please please check it out! :-)

St. Albans & Newspaper Appearance!

Hi everyone! So I went to St. Albans recently to visit my aunty for a week. The weather was amazing and the sun was shining constantly - a rare occurrence in the British summer. We went out a lot: perused the charity shops in St. Albans and West Hampstead (managed to find a navy suit, Bally shoes, a couple of books and a stripy cardigan); played frisbee; went out for dinner; strolled through the park to feed the ducks and just generally had a really lovely time. St. Albans is such a lovely little town with lots of lovely buildings and I can't wait to go back again soon!

1. Having afternoon vanilla coffee at my aunty's flat

2. Pretty bike on the street

3. Out for a big meal at the Harvester
4. Street signs in St. Albans
5. Union Jacks and British spirit
6. Playing frisbee in the sunshine
7. Fry-ups for breakfast
8. Verulamium Park on a lovely sunny day
9. Lavendergreen shop - taken for Jasmine of Lavender's Green :-)

Onto some other news, sorry to have been such an absent blogger, but I've been in Manchester, Liverpool and also on my Sixth Form residential! More about that later, but since my last post about my GCSE results, I got some very exciting news the day after results day!
I was in the national newspaper, The Daily Mail, because of my grades! I mean, it's the Daily Mail and it's the first (and most likely last) time I've ever bought it, but it's still a pretty cool achievement. I've deemed this my claim to fame :-)

 


Soooo yeah, that's me. Anyway,  I'm back to school on Monday and dreading schoolwork. :-| But I'm just gonna grin and bear it, I guess. Hopefully, blogging won't fall to the wayside again! Happy blogging!


Chloe xxx