Finally Finished.

I have finally finished my dissertation! I actually finished it on Tuesday, and even handed it in a couple of hours early after being up all night re-doing my literature review and other bits and pieces. I literally didn't have any sleep, I was up until 8:30am finishing it. Probably the most stressful night of my entire life. *sigh* I have no idea what it's like, I have the feeling it's absolutely terrible, and I'm really annoyed at myself for not doing a better job on it, which is super annoying because I've spent so long working on the damn thing! 

For the past 6 months I've been researching and reading for it, and for the past two months I've been doing nothing but writing my dissertation. Woken up - dissertation. During the day - dissertation. Before going to sleep - dissertation. At work - dissertation. I thought I'd be happy and feel carefree when it was done and handed in, but actually, I can't stop worrying about it. If I get a bad grade then the past three years would have been a complete waste of time and money and energy. If I fail I may as well have stayed in Australia and not bothered making my entire family move back to the UK so I could go to Uni here. Ugh. I don't even know when we get the results back, so I don't know how long I need to keep worrying for :( 

And for some strange and bizarre reason I am now thinking of doing a Masters Degree. What is wrong with me!? There's no way I'm going to get the degree needed for a Masters, so I'm basically just setting myself up to be disappointed! *sigh*

In happier news, this weather has been absolutely beautiful!! On Tuesday after handing in our dissertations a couple of friends and I went to the bar to have cocktails, before spending the day relaxing outside on the Quad at Uni (a large grassy area in the middle of the lecture centres), drinking wine. It was lovely. Although I don't remember much. After two months of not getting drunk I decided disso hand-in day had to be an exception to the rule, so I drank a bottle of wine in less than half an hour, and we got very merry, before I slept in the sunshine on the quad for the rest of the day, only being woken up by friends to move to the student union bar, where I also fell asleep. 

Wednesday we had our last Video Production lecture where we watched all of our Horror Films - they're being shown at the Odeon in Uxbridge in May!! YAY! I'll post mine up here as soon as I get a copy on a disc. After our lecture we all went for drinks and food before I headed into London for drinks at the O&C to celebrate with my London friends.

And then yesterday was my last ever lecture at Uni - emotional times!! Rosa and I are definitely going to miss Steve. He was such an amazing lecturer - explained everything really well and kept you concentrated by being so funny.

Me with my bound Dissertation :)

Cocktails after hand-in!

Dissertation Breakdown.

This post is going to seem crazy. Because it is crazy. My dissertation is due in at 3pm tomorrow...only about 17 hours away as I have to get it printed and bound as well. So yeh, I would say I'm crazy for taking 15 minutes out of those 17 hours to write a blog post, when really I should be writing my dissertation. 

Earlier today I thought I had finished my disso, but unfortunately I have had to make some last minute changes, because, as usual, my writing style is too journalistic, and I stupidly didn't reference any broad social theories in my Literature Review! 

So after having a breakdown that lasted the whole of three hours, involved an entire box of tissues, confused&stressed-out emails to my supervisor, a packet of dough balls, milkybar yoghurts, a pack of jaffa cakes, a large bar of dairy milk, and a tub of ben&jerry's ice-cream, my eyes are now majorly swollen, I have a headache, I'm exhausted, and I have mascara down my face, BUT, I'm currently wizzing through the works of Goffman, Blumer and Mead and re-doing my Lit Review! These guys are actually saving my life right now, I have FINALLY found academic literature that is interesting and is also relevant to my subject (sorry Giddens - it was just never going to work out between us!) What these three men talk about is just so interesting, what they theorised is basically what people discuss today about social networking sites! Social networking sites haven't changed anything and haven't changed how people present themselves in public, it's just given people a new platform and way of presenting their own ideal social self. Anyway, impossible for me to explain it all in a blog post - you'll have to read my disso! 

Also, I've realized how crazy University and dissertation writing makes you! I've just had a couple of cans of coca-cola and am throwing Anadin Extra's down my throat, to provide me with much needed caffeine to enable me to stay awake for my all-nighter to get this disso finished. Yes, you read correctly, I am taking painkillers, for their caffeine, as unfortunately I don't like coffee, tea, or red bull, and I don't have access to Ritalin....yet. (jokes. I would never take Ritalin). I'm also listening to Glenn Miller...for some reason it's making me more focused!? Although that's not such a strange thing, as I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to old music, and Little Brown Jug is one of my all-time favourite songs. Fact.

Gosh, I can't wait until 3pm tomorrow when I can return to being a normal person with a normal diet and normal sleeping times! All I have to do is get through tonight...and try not to get too enthusiastic about the likes of Goffman and then go over the word count.

UPDATE: Dissertation turned out OK and I got a 2:1 for it - YAY!

Quote of The Week #9.

Ramin Karimloo 'Thank You Gig'.

If you read my post Editing a Horror Film, you will know that on Monday night I went to see Ramin Karimloo in a special invite-only gig for 150 select fans who pre-ordered his album. My friend Arabella who was supposed to come with me, bailed at the last minute due to an accident at work (that's what you get for being an engineer!), but thankfully another friend of mine stepped in and took her place, so I didn't have to go alone like a loser. 

The gig was being held at 229, The Venue, Great Portland Street, and started at 9pm, with doors opening at 8. I arrived early, so strolled over to Starbucks on Great Portland Street, bought a drink and shortbread, and cheekily sat in there and ate my baguette from Pret whilst disguising this with my Starbucks drink & shortbread (sneaky huh!). As usual I humiliated myself, but not because they caught me eating my Pret baguette, oh no, this was much much worse! A hot policeman walked in and, being a policeman, smiled at me. I didn't want to be rude and not smile back, also I thought I might look suspicious if I didn't smile back...so I smiled back...with a mouth full of chocolate chunk shortbread. Nice. Attractive. Good one Catherine. Thankfully I don't think he noticed. But I guess it could have been worse - I could have had a mouth full of berries...or lettuce leaves?! 

Anyway, after my slightly embarrassing moment there, I headed to The Venue. Everyone's names were on the list, so I added my plus one to the list before heading in. The gig was fantastic! He sang a lot of folk/country stuff, and then obviously a few songs from his album. He didn't sing any musical theatre songs, which although he warned us he wouldn't be singing any, I still found slightly disappointing. It would have been nice if he had sang just one. 

All of the songs were amazing, but the song that I liked the most was his cover of Counting Crows' 'It's Raining in Baltimore' - B E A U T I F U L. I also loved his cover of Muse's 'Guiding Light', and then of course he sang some of his own songs, which were again, beautiful. The gig was a lot of fun, especially with the country numbers that just made you want to dance! 

We weren't allowed to record the gig, but we could take as many photos as we liked, and after the gig we could have photos with him, talk to him, and get things signed. I really wish I'd been more prepared. I only got a couple of photos with him, but I really wish I'd taken my albums to get signed, and actually spoken to him! I was just so worried about humiliating myself like I usually do, and I was also super nervous, which is very unlike me! So I just said hello, got a couple of photos, mentioned that I was going to his concert at the Royal Festival Hall, and then left. *sigh*

The song list for the gig was; Broken Home, Losing, Broken, Guiding Light, Just A Closer Walk With Three, Fiddler's Green, Wings, Constant Angel, Coming Home, Murder In The City, (Untitled New Song), Raining In Baltimore, and Good Riddance.

I'm so excited for the concert now!

Here's a video of Ramin singing 'Raining in Baltimore';

Aaaaand photographs!

Ramin and Steve

Ramin singing 'Raining in Baltimore'

Ramin Karimloo and I

Max Factor Colour Adapt.

As many of you may know, I have been on the hunt for a new foundation since my usual one was discontinued last year. So far the Max Factor Colour Adapt Foundation is the best I've found. But it still isn't as perfect as my discontinued one :( 

Here's my minature review of the Max Factor Foundation;

Good points:

- Very lightweight

- Makes your skin feels soft

- It really does adapt to your skin colour

- Good for my skin: has reduced breakouts&blemishes more than any other foundation (maybe because it's so lightweight?!)

- At just £9.99 it's super affordable! 

- Lasted over a month of wearing it almost all day every day (bad for my skin, I know! But I just feel naked without it...)

- Great coverage!

Bad Points:

- Makes my skin feel oily after it's been on there a few hours

Have you tried this foundation or do you use it? What do you think?

Carlton Club and Mahiki.

Carlton Club Dinner

After my busy week I felt I deserved a night out. A couple of friends and I went to the restaurant at the Carlton Club for dinner, and it was absolutely delicious. I've had supper there before but not actual dinner. We had two courses and quite a few side dishes, plus wine etc, so it was pricey, but well worth the money. I had the lamb cutlets (that were almost perfect...just a little too rare for my liking), with hand cut chips, mushroom and cauliflower mornay. 

For dessert I had the apple crumble with apple crisps and cinnamon custard, it was so yummy. I am very very fussy when it comes to crumble as it's my favourite dessert (along with Eton Mess), and this one was absolutely perfect in every way. Just the right amount of crumble, and the apple wasn't too soggy. All in all a lovely dinner and if you're a reciprocal member or have a friend who's a member (obviously you would have to go with them), I would highly recommend going there to eat! (I'm guessing if you're already a full member you would already know how delish the food is :P ) 

Mahiki

After dinner we headed to Mahiki (a Tiki themed club in Mayfair) and got there at around 11pm so walked straight in with no issues. It cost £15 to get in, which is standard for London. The only downside was that the music was absolutely awful (they were playing One Direction...seriously! I actually quite like One Direction, but they are NOT clubbing music!). I can't be dealing with places with awful music, so in future I'll stick to the Kings Road and Kensington Roof Gardens. I have a couple of friends who love Mahiki though, so I'm sorry guys...but you won't be getting me in there again :/ lol! 

Editing a Horror Film.

Firstly, I am so so sorry for deserting all of my lovely readers over the past week! I feel terrible. Secondly, gosh have I been busy! I'm in my final two weeks of University, so my past week or so has been a mix of filming a horror film, filming and re-creating an Advert for my Saatchi & Saatchi Grad Scheme Application, writing my dissertation, and editing the horror film.

Filming the 10 minute horror film took 30 hours...and made me realize I NEVER want to go into filming! Ugh, it was horrible. I honestly don't know how these people do it. Editing the horror film is taking 36 hours, and I'm enjoying it. I'm editor so it's tough staring at the screen for 8 hours a day, every day, but it's also a lot of fun and so rewarding when you finally get the perfect sequence. Dissertation is going ok, I've done 7,500 words out of 10,000...so I'm aiming to finish it tonight (providing procrastination doesn't take over) and hand in my first draft tomorrow. The re-creation of the advert went ok, but I definitely didn't put as much time or effort into it as I would have liked to, but I've been so busy with everything else something just had to give. I'll post it if I get through to the next round :P

Also in my 'updates'; last week Ramin Karimloo announced that he was doing a 'thank you gig' for his fans who had pre-ordered his album. The album was supposed to be out months ago, but keeps getting delayed, hence the gig to say thank you to everyone for their patience and understanding. To get tickets to the gig you had to email him with your order date and order number, and then he chose 76 people randomly to attend. Obviously I entered the draw (if you're a follower of my blog you will already know of my love for the guy...if you're not...you'll find out pretty quickly), and guess what....I got a ticket!!!!! Woohooo! Well actually, I got two tickets, as I can take a plus one, so my friend Arabella is coming with me. So this Monday we will be getting up close and personal with Ramin (Not in that sense! I know what you're thinking...don't be dirty), and shall be hyperventilating and swooning while he sings to us and an intimate gathering of 150 other giggling women. Seriously though, I don't just love this guy's voice, he is such a genuinely nice person! I mean, let's face it, no other singer would do this if their album's release date was pushed back! I just have a huge amount of respect for him for being so kind to fans, there are way too many celebrities and singers out there who take them for granted and don't appreciate them at all. So I shall let you all know how the gig is, and I will try and take lots of photos! :)

Other random things for the week; 

- I have discovered Hoffman's Overture for his opera 'Undine', and have fallen in love a little bit. It's absolutely beautiful - youtube it! 

- The price of petrol is pissing me off slightly. Ho, did I just say slightly? I meant MAJORLY. As in, every time I see the numbers on the Petrol Station I just want to drive into the sign. No joke.

- I actually can't believe that the British Government are supporting the banning of wearing a cross or crucifix in the workplace. *shakes fist* Discriminating against Christians? I think so!

- It's too cold. I want summer back. NOW.

- My 21st birthday is only a month away!

- A couple of friends and I got tickets to the Royal Enclosure at Royal Ascot this year - go us!

- And finally, over the next week or so you won't be hearing much from me, but I do have a review of my Harrods Edition Glossybox to do for y'all. Unfortunately it isn't a very good review :/ but I'll try and get it done sometime next week. 

I'm off now, so have a lovely weekend, give your mum lots of love this Sunday, 

and wish me luck for Saatchi & Saatchi! Toodles!

Quote of The Week #8.

Glossybox.

I have just ordered a Glossybox in time for the Harrods Edition, and I am SO excited!! I've been wanting to sign up for a while now, and finally decided it would be nice to have a little 'treat' every month - something to look forward to :) 

For those of you who don't know, Glossybox is the UK's version of America's Birchbox. It is a monthly subscription whereby they send you five luxury high-end product miniatures every month in return for just £10 (+£2.95 P&P), so you can test them out in your own home. Although they advertise that they send miniatures, quite often they also send full-sized products too, which I think is pretty nice of them! You can start your own subscription or find out more from their website, here.

Quote of The Week #7.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. 

Explore. Dream. Discover.” 

– Mark Twain

My Best Friend's Wedding.

On Friday 2nd March it was my best friend Anna's wedding. Her and her now husband have been together for over five years, and have a beautiful 14-month-old daughter together (my god-daughter) Rosie. Anna asked me to be one of her bridesmaids as soon as she got engaged over two years ago, so we were all ecstatic that the day had finally arrived!

After my last blog post my parents picked me up from my Uni house and we all drove up to Wales. My family were staying over at my Grandma's while I stayed with Anna at hers. I won't bore you all with every little detail of the day, but it was absolutely beautiful and everyone was so happy! There were also so many funny moments - most of them the oldies getting drunk and embarrassing themselves! And the Best Man speech was H I L A R I O U S. Soooo funny, everyone was in stitches! 

Then there was the wrecking of the bride and groom's bedroom. Apparently it's a tradition. My parents trashed Anna's parents' room when they got married and so it fell upon my brother and I to trash Anna and Allan's. We didn't come very prepared, so while my parents did it in style by taking down the curtains, taking the legs off the bed, throwing confetti everywhere, taking all the light-bulbs out, and putting a balloon down the toilet; my brother and I could only throw toilet paper around the room, move/turn the furniture around, cover the bathroom in shower gel, write on the mirror, take out the light-bulbs and turn the sheet of the bed halfway back so they couldn't get into bed. 

Anyway, here are a small selection of photos from the day! (please note all photographs are Copyright by me and you may not use them in any way).

The Bouquet.

Anna about to make her entrance.

My god-daughter Rosie.

Signing the register.

Me, Anna and Tasha.

My brother and I

My Family.

The Rings.

The bridesmaids with the best man.

The Cake

Mr and Mrs Wilcock

The bedroom covered in toilet paper. For some reason my brother put the stool on there? 

It's supposed to say 'Congrats'...but my eyeliner ran out :(

Night Before the Wedding.

I'm unbelievably excited for my best friend Anna's wedding tomorrow! I'm feeling a little emotional though. I've known her since the day I was born, we've grown up together, had baths together, run around Menorca naked together, slept together with our bums in the air, pretended we were twin sisters, argued over scrabble, sung along to 'steal my sunshine', named a Donkey 'Sadie' after the character in one of the Malory Towers books (Sadie says....Sadie says...Sadie says...), created our own band, travelled to Australia&Singapore - and back again, played the game 'trolleybus', gatecrashed carol concerts, borrowed each other's clothes, had matching t-shirts, re-created the Funky Gibbon dance, had a go at modelling together, and have generally been each other's emotional support over the past twenty-one years. And now we're all grown up!! So proud of her and can't wait to walk down that aisle with her tomorrow! 

Here are a few embarrassing photos of us through the years;

Anna and I at Eastbourne when we were about 2 years old.
(She's in the pink coat and I'm in the blue)

Me and Anna

Anna, my brother and I
(how cool are our leggings!!!)

Me, Anna and my brother at McDonalds in Singapore.
(I would just like to point out that my mother forced me into that orange top...and the Reebok trainers were my 'comfortable walking' shoes. I didn't wear them because I actually liked them.)

Me, my brother and Anna just after we crashed the
carol singing in London by the Norway Tree.

Me and Anna being seriously cool 15-year-olds in Pret

Me and Anna stuffing our faces (well...me), at Center Parcs.

Now, I must go and drive up to Wales ready for the big day tomorrow! I'll tell y'all about it on Sunday :)