I have absolutely no smart title for this blog post. Deal with it.

Halloooo!

We're well over the first half of 2015. Week 30 people. Week 30. But unfortunately it's not been a really exciting week.

Saturday morning, my house mates woke me up at 4.30am by starting a party in their room. Loud music, chatting, laughing, ... You know, the lot. It's kind of backwards isn't it? Instead of starting up the party at midnight, they started it up in the early hours of the morning. Anyway, by 7am I couln't fall asleep again, so I decided to get up. So I had plenty of time to go to Croydon to have breakfast at Costa Coffee and catch the 9.40am screening of Inside Out. I wrote a blog post about that animation movie which you can read here ;)

After the movie I walked into HMV. Dangerous, I know. In the afternoon I took the bus from Croydon to Norbury to catch a train to Central London. I was starving and I was craving dumplings and I didn't want to go to the house just yet. So I put my thoughts into action and had the most delicious dumplings at Leong's Legend Continued in China town.

After lunch I walked to Waterstones Piccadilly. I know I know, HMV and Waterstones in one day? My bank account won't like that, but hey, I'm beyond the point of caring. Buying books and DVD's make me really happy and is by far the best retail therapy.

I ended up sitting in one of the chairs in Waterstones for a good 2 hours, reading Destined for Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon. As mentionned in my previously weekly blog post, it's very teen orientated and I wasn't sure if I liked the writing style. But as any good book does, the story grew on me. Big time. Hell with the writing style. The only thing that really bothered me was the billion miscommunication situations in the story. I'm not an expert in personal communication myself, but even I know better than that... Anyway, the story grew on me and I suffered a book hangover. Lorie and Carey, job well done! I'm going to recommend this book! Although probably mostly to teenagers and young adults x) Also, I want to visit the Brig'o'Doon now. Shall I start planning my next trip to Scotland then?

Sunday was a rainy day. Ideal to spent a day indoors, watching movies and finish reading Destined for Doon whilst drinking tea. I was in my personal happy bubble.

The rest of the week was quiet. Nothing exciting happened at work, it was rather quiet in the house and I've started counting down the days when I'll leave for a week holiday in Croatia with my sister and a friend! Only a week to go now!

That's it for this week blog post.

As always, thanks for reading!
xo - Sara

New words: Relentless= ruthless; glare= sheen

"Congratulations San Francisco, you've ruined pizza!" - Inside Out

Halloooooo!

Movietime Monday!!! Yay ^^ Saturday morning, yes morning, I went to see Inside Out! Yes, going to the cinema is a morning activity for me. The idea of going to the cinema in the evening has become a strange one.

Now, let's get cracking.

Inside Out


**this post contains spoilers**

2015
Director: Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen
Cast: Voices of Amy Poelher, Phyllis Smith, Diane Lane, Mindy Kaling, Kyle MacLachlan,...
Lenght: 94min= 1h34min
Genre: Animation, adventure, humor,... Disney Pixar!

The first trailer starts with the quote: Do you ever look at someone and wonder, "What is going on inside their head?" Well, I know. Okay, I know Riley's head.  You get the impression we're just going to see a funny movie about emotions and how they control our actions (most of the time). But Disney Pixar wouldn't be Disney Pixar if there wasn't some deeper meaning we can all learn something from.

We're following Riley's emotional roller coaster ride during the first steps of growing up. Her primary emotion during childhood was Joy, with Fear, Anger, Sadness and Disgust playing smaller parts in the show. When Riley and her family move to San Fransisco, Sadness is starting to behave differently. Like, why is she even there? Why does she have to behave differently all of the sudden? Because of these changes, Joy and Sadness end up in Long Term Memory, leaving Fear, Anger and Disgust to manage headquarters. It took me a while to understand what the change in Sadness' character actually meant, but I got there in the end. It's genius how they approached the representation of feeling homesick for the first time.

Disney Pixar succeeds in explaining in a simple, funny and moving way how the brain works. Long term memory, imagination, fear, dream production, etc. They also explain that certain core memories are the ones that shape our character into who we are. But Disney Pixar also beautifully illustrates that these core memories are not set in stone and show us that through events, experiences and growing up people can change.

This movie is filled with jokes and oneliners for young and old and is relatable to everyone. Everybody's emotions were all over the place at one point in their life, but then your 'control panel' expands (read: you grow up) and all emotions get their own area to work on. Plus, it's fun to think that the inside of your brain actually looks like something like in this movie x) That these characters are actually the voices inside your head x)

Here's the trailers and a clip for you to enjoy ^^

Trailer

Clip

Thanks for reading!
xo - Sara

Return to London

Halloooooo!

This it going to be a super dupper short blog post, simply because nothing happend this week!!

Well, that is, Saturday afternoon I went to visit my grand parents and in the evening I met up with a friend in BruParck near Brussels. I hadn't seen her since Christmas, which is a very very long time oO So I was very happy to see her ^^

Also, whilst being in that part of Brussels, of course I had to snap a picture of this beautiful (*kuch*) building... -.-

Atomium

Monday morning I catched my Eurostar train at 10.57am in Brussels. I arrived in plenty of time, I walked straight through passport control, through security and then to the coffee bar. By 9.50am I sat on one of the benches and the gate didn't open until 10.40am! I've had a lot of time to read in my new book! Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon.

It's a very easy read, but very teen orientated. I'm not sure if it's the story line or just the way it's written that makes me cringe at points. I do realise that I've been spoiled after reading books by J.K. Rowling, Casandra Clare, C.S Lewis, Andy Weir, etc. But it's now that I have to read these teen fiction books. Soon I'll be 'too old' and not interested anymore and I do still have a life time of adult books in front of me... This is me living in the moment x) (Kidding)

Instead of watching a movie whilst sitting on the Eurostar, I just kept reading. In 4 days I finished the 395page book. Not to worry, this is TBR pile (to be read):

That'll keep me busy the next couple of moths ^^ And my apologies for the bad picture quality. All pictures were taken with my smartphone and since I do not own the latest model, the quality isn't the best. Especially enlarged on a computer screen. But you get the geste, right?

Voila, that's it for this week's blog post. Like I said, a short 'n'.

Thanks for reading!
xo - Sara

"Fuck it, I'm king of Mars" - the Martian by Andy Weir (book 'review')

Hallooo!!!

**Spoiler free**

As promised, here's my book 'review' on the Martian by Andy Weir. I'm writing review between quotations marks as I don't really think this is going to be a proper review. I'm just going to rave about it from start to finish! IT IS A MUST READ. So I'll keep it short.

NASA has sent two manned missions to Mars. Mark Watney is the botanic/mechanist on board of the mission Ares 3 crew, the third mission to be sent to the red planet. Due to a sand storm they had to abandon their mission prematurly. Mark Watney gets hit by an antena and falls behind. Against all odds, he survives. Now he's stranded all alone on a planet with no way to contact Earth or enough food to keep him alive. How on earth (eh eh) is he going to survive?

As you can tell, it's a 'what the hell' story. I'd say you can categorize it as a humoristic thriller, because man, at some points it's just beyond nail-bitting exciting. We're up againt mother Nature and that makes the story so spectacular. Just one guy trying to survive.

I'm not going to lie, the first couple of pages I was like: "Okay, it's well written and funny, but is this going to be it?" I had no idea how the story could possibly progress. But then, Weir starts giving all this insight information it'll just make you keep reading. It's a proper page turner.

Although we're dealing with these nail-bitting events, the way the story is written is truly funny. Weir uses so much humor it will literally make you laugh out loud! Not just smile or chuckle, but proper laugh out loud. So you've been warned when you're reading this book in public. So many memorable oneliners. Weir makes sure his main character is lovable so you're really rooting for this guy. Mark's optimisme is really inspirational. It kind of puts your own issues to shame x)

All the technical stuff is clearly explained so normal people like you and I can understand what's going on. NASA has confirmed that all the calculations and events are accurate, so what you're reading is not just fiction, they're facts. Well, the storyline of an astronaut being left behind on Mars is fictional of course x)

As you might know already, they've made a movie adaptation of this book starring Matt Damon, Sean Bean, Kirsten Wiig, Sebastian Stan, Kate Mara, etc etc. The movie will hit theatres by the end of September in the UK. This cast is huge and I have high expectations for this one! The trailer looks amazing as well, so of course I'll link that below for you to enjoy ^^

This is my short opinion on this book. As you can tell, I HIGHLY recommend it :) It's very well written, the technical parts are super clear and understandable, characters are very well written, it's funny, it's thrilling, ... All the basics for a best selling book are present. Read it ;)

I hope you liked this blog post and that you are somewhat convinced to pick this one up. I'm glad I did :)

Thanks for reading!
xo - Sara

Back in Belgium

Hallooooo!!

My week holiday is almost coming to an end. Next week I'll be back in London, back to work. But first, I'll enjoy the remaining two days ^^

Friday morning 10th July I had to take the Eurostar at London St Pancras and boy, I was on time. My train left at 8.55am, but I was at the train station 7am. Hey, I didn't want to take any risks with the tube strike going on and the few train delays I had last week. So safe to say my journey to Brussels was more than stress free. I watched the movie "10 things I hate about you", had a bit of reading in the Martian, had a little nap...

Friday afternoon I didn't do much besides catching up with my mum and dad and just settling in. Saturday afternoon I stopped by at the bakery where I used to work to say hello to my former boss. The weather was so beautiful and she invited me to spend the afternoon swimming in her pool. It was also nice to catch up with the girls I used to work with! ^^ Good times, good times ^^

Than, on to Sunday. Mum and dad left on holiday so I had the entire house all to myself for the rest of the week ^^ HOUSE PARTY! Okay, no, mum, dad, not to worry :) Sunday afternoon one of my oldest friends stopped by and we had a proper catch up. We baked pancakes and watch '10 things I hate about you'. I know I know, I saw that movie already on the Eurostar from London to Brussels, but hey, if it's a good film, why not see it again (and again)?

I have this group of friends I basically grew up with and I normally see them whenever I'm in Belgium. There's rarelly been an exception. But this week, no one really seemed to be able to have time to meet up. Not gonna lie, I was a bit disappointed, but I can understand that they had other things planned already. But, my friends are the awesomest friends, so they let me think they didn't have the time to meet up and then all of the sudden SURPRISE. Monday evening I met up with one of the group at her house and the rest of the group sat in the kitch, only to yell "surprise" when I walked in. I was soo happy to see them ^^ Best surprise!! Of course, my blogger mentality went right out of the window, so I don't have any pictures of that evening. But I had the best time ^^

Tuesday was a relaxed day. In the evening I had to go to the vet with our cat though. The little old guy has worms and you have to get rid of them. I breaks my heart whenever I see him unwell. He's such a cutie patotie.

Wednesday I met up with MOLLY! It was like the good old days in London, only now we were in Brussels. From 1pm til 6pm we were chatting away and still I have the feeling we haven't discussed everything. It's not like we hear each other every day or even every week when I'm in the UK, but everytime we meet it's like no day has passed and we pick up right where we left off. I'd say that's a friendship goal x)

Thursday was sister day. My sis and I went to a wellness in the afternoon. Something we do two or three times a year. I'm not a huge massage fan, but I do enjoy the sauna's and the pool! ^^ The weather was so nice as well. A bit too nice maybe, because I burned my tummy. And yes I applied sunscreen. That's me done sunbathing for the next couple of weeks x) Ah well, I'm not gonna complain. Now I have a valid excuse to stay indoors and watch Outlander x) Thursday evening we also had a barbecue with some of my sister's friends. I had such a lovely time ^^

Friday was a bit of a weird day. Like I mentionned in this blog post Travel diary Scotland day 7: Mrs Rowling, are you home? there's always a weird vibe when the end of a holiday approaches. I have two days left before I am going back to London. The sis came over to hang out in our beautiful garden so it was a very laid back day. I can't chill in the garden I have in London, so I'm taking the most I can from the garden back home.

This week I also finished reading The Martian. The book 'review' will be up on Wednesday. Aaaand, I started watching the tv serie Outlander. I am s o l d. I'm currently watching episode 11 of the first season, but I'm already looking online for the books because I want to read them! It's brilliant. I still have 5 episodes to watch and I have until Sunday evening, so I better start binge watching x)

A quick introduction: 1943, Claire Randall, a WWII nurse, is on a second honeymoon in Inverness, Scotland, to reconnect with her husband after the war. When she visits the standing stones of Craigh na Dun she travels 200 years back in time. She needs to survive in the Scottish highlands and find a way back to the 20th century. Along her journey she meets young Jamie Fraser and the clan MacKenzie and she learns that the Scottish people are on the brink of war with the Red Coats (England). As she knows the outcome of that war (with Scotland on the losing side) she needs to find a way to warn them.

This was my view for a part of my holiday

And that is basically it for this week. Nothing really exciting, but that was exactly what I needed. A week of rest. No noisy neighbours, sleeping without earplugs, clean kitchen and bathroom,... Ooh paradise ^^ But I am curious to how I'll find the house in London when I return on Monday. I'll let you know in next week's blog post ;)

Thanks for reading!
xo - Sara

Local tourist part 3, Bend it like Beckham aaaand family in toowwwn

Hallooooo!!

I'm writing this blog post all the way from Belgium. Yes yes, I'm currently on another holiday. I can almost hear you thinking: "Didn't she just go on a trip to Scotland, like 3 weeks ago?". Hey, that's a perk of not being a student anymore. Although you have considerably less time off, you can choose when you're taking time off x) And for me, June, July and August are all about travelling and spending time with friends and family.

So, on to this week's blog post. It's a busy one again. The weekend before, my lovely sis came to visit me. This weekend I had other relatives crossing the pont, I went to a musical and did a proper tourist walking tour. I loved it x)

Saturday morning had a bit of slow start. I intended to go to Covent Garden around 10am so I could join the early Free walking tour, but alas, I didn't make it. Instead I made it to city centre around 10.45am and queued to get my ticket from a Sandeman's meeting point manager. At 11.10am Patrick, our guide, gather us around him. The tour began. For two hours and a half Patrick told us all about London city, the history, the people and the mythes. Although I didn't learn that much, I did pick up some facts that I didn't know. All in all I enjoyed the tour and again, I highly recommend it!

The tour ended around 1.45pm at Westminster place, so I kind of had to hurry to Charing Cross road to be on time forrrrrr... the musical Bend it like Beckham which started at 2.30pm on the dot. Before I went in, I bought a, yes, a bubble tea. How did you guess?

Bend it like Beckham is a new musical that opened in the West End a few weeks ago. It's such a beautiful show. It's more modern than, say, Phantom of the Opera or Les Mis or Wicked. But that doesn't mean it's less impressive. The actors are so talented and when they sing, you'll just get goosebumps and a rilling all over your spin. The story is about letting go, following your dreams and accepting who you are. Just beautiful.

After the musical I walked into Foyles, just to cool off a bit as it was waaay to hot outside. And then I went back to my lovely abode to watch Captain America: the First Avenger ^^ Something completely different, but hey, Marvel.

Sunday morning around 11am I agreed to meet my uncle, aunt and cousin at Liverpool Street station as they were on holiday in London. We spent the day roaming through Spitalfield market, Sunday Upmarket, Brick Lane, etc. Around 6pm we made our way to Leicester Sq to have a look at musical tickets and then have dinner at Leong's Legend Continued... in Chinatown. Best food ever ^^

As usual, I found some pretty awesome street art on Brick Lane ^^

Wednesday evening I met up again with my aunt and uncle at Covent Garden. I really like that place, but it's really touristy. Not everybodies cup of tea. Luckily there's a Masala in the area, so we had a delicious dinner ^^ I'm starting to appreciate the spicy food from India. Or is that me just growing up?oO

As usual, we could listen to some talent singing at Covent Garden

Anyways, it was a late evening for me, as the the tube strike started Wednesday evening at 6pm. From Covent Garden I had to walk to London Victoria station, which was about a 45min walk. Thanks to the free walking tour I walked on Saturday, I was familiar with that area because it's not a part in town that I visit often. Plus it was a chance for me to see London by night. I usually don't stay out that late x)

Thursday evening was all about packing my bag, as I had a Eurostar to catch on Friday morning to Belgiuuuuum ^^ So next weeks blog post will be all about my trip to Belgium ^^

If you made it this far, congratulations ^^ And thanks for reading!
xo - Sara

New words: Inconspicuously= discrete

Tha sis's in town

Hallooooo!

Apologies for the many grammatical and typo mistakes in this blog post. I'm literally too tired to have a reread now.

As mentionned in my last blog post, I had some very awesome company this weekend^^ My sis came to visit me!

Saturday morning at 9am she arrived at St Pancras. That was an eeaaarly start... From St Pancras we took the tube to have some breakfast at the Breakfast Club near Liverpool Street. It's the only appropriate thing to do when you have to get up at 7am on a Saturday.

After that delicious breakfast (I can't recommend it enough) we walked to Spitalfield market and, lets just say it, we spent some money. On t shirts, but also super cute "picture quotes". I can't really explain it, but it really is super cute and I can't wait to hang them up in my apartment (if I ever move to one)

As we had a rather large breakfast we skipped lunch and headed straight to Notthing Hill, Portobello Road. Tine wanted to have a look at the little store I bought my beautiful tea pot and of course to see thé blue door from the movie ^^ I kind of got hungry half way through Portobello Rd so I bought a delicious falafel at one of the stalls and I ate it whilst we sat on a bench in the sun. The weather was so lovely. Once my falafel was finished, we had a bubble tea (my new happy food/drink) and we walked to Hyde Park were we sat for a couple hours. Chatting, napping,... just really relaxed :)

Around 6 we made our way to St Christopher's place to have dinner at Carluccio's. Nomnomnom. And then it was just a matter of going back home. About 30min after my sister arrived in the house she said: "I can't believe you're living with such idiots". To be honest, I'm glad someone else has said it and that it's not just me x)

Sunday morning we started the day off with a classic Costa coffee breakfast near London Bridge. The idea was to walk through Borough Market and walk alongside the Thames to discover south bank. But unfortunately Borough Market wasn't open on Sunday... And it started to rain occasionally -.- So we change our plans and walked over London Bridge to Monument and st Dunstan in the East church.

After Leadenhall Market we took the tube to St Paul's (it was raining again, so it was okay to take the underground for one stop), had a quick look inside the church and then hop on the tube again to Oxford Circus. We were trying to find a cup that belongs to my mug at John Lewis, but without much success :( And I was kind of getting tired and I actually really wanted to sit down, so we agreed to make our way to Richoux on Piccadilly for an afternoon tea. It's not the best place to have an afternoon tea, but it's possibly to cheapest x) Their sandwishes are delicious though ^^

Around 5 we were finished with our afternoon teas and we kind of wanted to do something so I suggested to visit St Martin's in the Field church. But of course, "No sight seeing today". Seriously, that's the second time now -.- So we sat on the steps for a while, watching people until I got a bit chilly. So we then walked to Waterstone's on Piccadilly, but it was just about to close (seriously!?). And it was around 6 ish already and we were both getting tired so we just decided to go to Yo!Sushi and see how much we could still eat x) Quite a bit so it seemed x) But sushi is always a good idea ^^ So yeah, Sunday evening we were home at a pretty decent hour to go to bed and wake up really really early on Monday! Hurray!

But it was worth it to get up so early on Monday. We arrived with plenty of time at London Victoria. We bought some Krispy Kreme doughnuts (yum), then took the tube to St Pancras where we had a Costa coffee with those doughnuts. It was delicious. Tine had plenty of time to check in and I had plenty of time to head to the office. And so my work week started.

Rest of the week was very unexciting. Monday evening I had a viewing (yay!), but I didn't get the room (again). I was (still am) exhausted, as I can't seem to get enough sleep. We have a new tenant in the house and he (and his friends) basically woke me up at around 1am every single morning this week. Remember when I mentionned I started hating living here? Well, it's gone beyond hating and it's now down right loathing. Monday evening I discovered I was "kicked out of the fridge". Someone has placed my few food supplies to a small corner in the fridge and simply taken my shelf in the fridge. That's when I decided to have my dinners after work at the office. Salads are pretty easy to make and are healthy too, so that's what I've been making the past week for dinner. I've also been trying to spent as little time as possible in that mad house, so after work (and dinner) I wander around town.  I eventually always end up in a book store and buying bubble teas and ice creme. But I actually really enjoyed that part of the week. I bought two books, I walked around London, enjoying being there, how amazing it really is (although my bank account would disagree). But around 8pm every evening it's inevitable, I have to go back "home". My stomach literally tightens of the thought alone. Ugh.

The temperatures in London reached quite a few hights as well this week and the aircon at our floor doesn't work properly so Wednesday we worked in an office with temperatures around 35°C. I was dying. And it made me miss Scotland even more. So yeah, all in all, it was a pretty shitty week (except the few exceptions of bubble tea and books ^^)

I am really sorry that you have to keep reading my complaints about my living situation. I am working on it and if it were up to me, I had moved 4 months ago, but aaaah well. "I'm sure there must be something"...

We'll see. Anywaaaaays, not end on a complete sour note, thanks for reading!! ^^
xo - Sara