This Friday I'm finally turning eighteen years old and yesterday, we held a party at my house to celebrate. There was around 60 people in total including various family and friends who were lovely to see and catch up with. Some people lived locally and others lived in Sussex and it was so nice of everyone to travel up and say hi! It started at two o'clock in the afternoon and continued until about half twelve at night (a super long day, I know!). 

I received a few gifts yesterday, most of which involved a bottle of something which I'm very grateful for, but there are two in particular I wanted to talk about. One was from my Grandmother. She gave me two wedding rings which she had held onto, one of which belonging to my Dad's Great Grandmother and the other belonging to his Grandmother. These clearly meant a lot to her and it was extremely kind of her to pass these on to me. The other gift(s) was from my Grandfather. As most people know, I have a record player. My Grandfather has a massive collection of records and really loves his music which plays a huge part in his life. Yesterday, he gave me a select few from his collection, which included some Stevie Wonder and The Beatles, and (again) I'm super grateful for these as I know how much they mean to him. He also gave me a plaque which says 'If you really want to catch your dreams, you have to chase them'. He believes very strongly in this and just wanted to give me something to remind me of it. 

There were two other parts of the day that I thought were especially nice. Firstly, my Mum had bought a 'Wish Jar'. The idea of this is that people would write on a little piece of paper a little 'good wish' message for me and place it in the jar. It accumulated over the day and at the end was really lovely to read through them all. Some were ridiculously thoughtful and pleasant to read. The other part of the day which I really liked was the 'Picture Post Box'. When I was first born I had a 'naming ceremony' and during this my Mum and Dad asked people to bring along the most recent photo of themselves so that I could look back and see who came on that day. So, they decided to do the same thing for my eighteenth. People bought photos of themselves and some had a little message on the back. I really loved this idea and it's lovely to have photos of everyone to remember. 

I really did have a fantastic day and want to say a quick thankyou to everyone who came along and also to my parents for organising the whole thing. I had a really fab day and it was great to see everyone together. 

This year I would have been blogging for three years and over this time I have learnt various different little tips and tricks that have helped me along the way. I thought that today I'd share with you all some of those and perhaps even inspire some budding bloggers that are out there!

4. Stats aren't everything - If they're high, that's great! If they're low, then that's okay too. It doesn't matter as long as you enjoy what you do and have a passion for it.

5. Don't give up - To begin with, it may seem like there's not point in writing a blog or every starting one up and to begin with, it is difficult. But, hey, look at me for example, it's taken me nearly three years to get to where I am and even at times where I felt like giving up, I didn't!

6. Write as often as you can - Try to be consistent with your uploading. It's taken me a while but I've finally come up with a good uploading schedule and have managed to keep it up so far. Having a good schedule does make a huge difference!

7. Get inspired regularly - Always be on the lookout for good stories. I have a notes page open on my phone where I have a long old list of posts I want to write and upload. In fact, this post was on that list!

Last Saturday, myself and some 20-odd film and media students made away from little old Hampshire, England to Paris, France. We were going to watch a media-based conference with a number of guest speakers whilst staying in Disneyland Paris. We then made a hell-ish journey home on the following Wednesday (more on that in a bit).

We were in Disney by about 5:30 Paris time and spent the evening looking around the park and getting some space themed food in the Buzz Lightyear kinda area. The Sunday was the day where we got to go around the two parks ourselves (Disneyland & Walt Disney Studios) and go on some rides. I went on a couple but me not really being a fan of rollercoasters didn't go on THAT many. And before you all ask, no, I didn't go on Space Mountain. Sorry. Although, we had a awesome lunch at one of the buffets. All-you-can-eat for €30-ish Euros was a definite yes!! In the evening, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then watched the fireworks which were in one word; amazing!! They were super pretty and the little story they had along with it was adorable! We ended up watching them twice during our visit and managed to get a closer and better view the second time around.

Monday was when we attended the conference which was actually really interesting! I wasn't too sure what it would be like as I've never been to one before but, there was David Garrido from Sky Sports, Lucy Brett from the BBFC (the certificate rating people) and Tim Samuels, a documentary director/producer who had some amazing stories to tell. He also created a rock band from a group of elderly people who were called 'The Zimmers', which you can check out here! I thought that the conference was really interesting and it gave us all a insight into each of the roles and the media industry as a whole. In the evening, we just headed back to the hotel we were staying in and played some games and ate there.


On the Tuesday, we headed into Paris itself and saw a number of iconic places and some film locations.  Firstly, we saw the Moulin Rouge which was incredible to see in real life! It's so iconic and it can be spotted from a mile off. We also saw the most expense street to live on in Paris which was just beautiful and understandable as to why it was so expensive. As well we saw the statue of Marcel Ayme, a famous French writer, where it looks like he is stepping out of the wall. There was the bridge from Inception as well and of course, The Eiffel Tower which was just incredible. Although, there was a three hour wait to use the lift to go up it. I decided not to. Despite the fact that it was only 2 degrees, we also bought ice-cream and sat in the cold sunshine. As well, because this was our last night, 14 of us went and watched the fireworks all together one last time and then went and had a great meal at Planet Hollywood. We had the best waiter as well (you're awesome Rudy)!

Finally, on the Wednesday, we travelled home. Although, this was an absolute nightmare in itself. To start with, there was a strike, so we switched our tickets from sometime in the morning to 1o'clock in the afternoon. However, the tickets were not confirmed in France so they were re-sold. We then got new tickets for the 4o'clock Eurostar and had to wait 3 hours for that. To pass the time, there was a piano in the station and one of our students Joe played some Adele and Coldplay on it. And absolutely nailed it!

After a 2 and a half train ride back to St Pancras, we got the tube. The plan was the go from St pancreas to Leicester Square then change and head to Waterloo. But, somehow between St Pancras and Leicester Square, we managed to lose 5 people. We got off at Leicester Square and waited thinking that they would turn up there. After half an hour of waiting and tube-chasing (one of our lecturers went on about 6 different tubes to find them) it turned out that they were at Waterloo the whole time. The journey home was a bit of a mess but, we all got home in the end although we were all extremely tired.

I've been wearing outfits a lot more like this recently so, I've decided to share with you all one of my personal favourites and what I wore today!

This Saturday I'm going to Disneyland Paris with my college for the 'Media Live!' conference and to have a look at some film locations in Paris. I'm super excited to go and started to pack the other day so, I thought that I'd give you all a little insight into what I am going to take with me!

1 - Deodorant

2 - Snow Fairy Shower Gel Lush

3 - Some random spare shampoo//conditioner I found (it smells good though)

4 - Gorgeous Moisturiser Lush

5 - Colegate Toothpaste

Let me know down below what you'd take with you or if you have any Disneyland tips!