The Hunger Games trilogy

Recently the second installment in The Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire, has come out in cinemas and made quite an impression. I went to see it in my local cinema on the 24th November and holy crap - I was blown away by how freaking good it was! It was definitely an improvement compared with the first one which ever so slightly disappointed me. Personally, when it was said the first one would be coming out, I thought the adverts made the movie look far better than it actually was. But now after seeing Catching Fire, I'm super excited for the first part of Mockingjay to come out! Not to mention I'm now completely besotted with Finnick Odair - or Sam Clafin, I should say.

After watching the first movie, I decided to read the books since everybody was raving about how good they were and oh my god: BEST DECISION EVER.

The Hunger Games movie really doesn't do the book justice as the movie skips over so many important parts while in the book everything is so much clearer and makes a lot more sense. Catching Fire was a much better take on the book its based on but it still misses out a couple of vital parts.

The books are full of much more excitement and I promise you, you'll be hooked as soon as you've read the first chapter. They're amazingly written, well put together, interesting and extremely enjoyable books. By the end of the third and final book, I was in tears. I would definitely recommend them and they are some of the best books I've ever read.

Thanks for reading! Do you like The Hunger Games? Who's your favourite character? Let me know in the comments. :)

Q&A Tag

Rules:1. Respond and rework: answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, add one more question of your own.

2. Tag eight other un-tagged people

What is your current fashion obsession? - Comfy leggings!

What is your current makeup obsession? - Seventeen Doll'd Up mascara

What are you wearing today? - School uniform haha oops

Hair? - Au natural aka currrrly

Do you nap a lot? - Nope, only in the car which is also rare

Why is today special? - Oh, trust me it's not

What would you like to learn to do? - Whistle :(

What's for dinner today? - It's past and I had a baked potato and wedges

What are you listening to right now? - American Horror Story

What is your favorite weather? - Frosty or hot

What's the last thing you bought? - A hot chocolate at lunch

What are your essentials when traveling? - Clean underwear, make up wipes, deoderant, perfume, make up, phone, iPod, earphones, book... I could go on forever haha

What's your style?- I don't think I have a specific style, I just wear outfits that I like and mix and match

What is your most challenging goal right now? - I guess making sure I'm trying hard in school

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be? - New York, Paris, Amsterdam, London or LA

Favorite vacation spot? - Disney Land Paris or Menorca

Name the things you cannot live without? - My family and best friends

How was your childhood? - Overall, GREAT!

What would you like to have in your hands right now? - iPhone 5s please ;)

What would you like to get rid of? - Stress! The inevitability of exams

What are you most excited for? - All Time Low next March

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? - New York or the Maldives

Which countries have you visited? - England, France, Menorca

Charles Worthington Takeaways Hair Products

 

 Recently it was my younger brother's birthday and as a treat my other younger brother and I were given some gifts. One of the presents I was given were these Charles Worthington shampoos and conditioner from the Takeaways range. I haven't been using any of them for very long and I've never used Charles Worthington products on my hair before but since I was given them, I've been using the Takeaways Moisture Seal shampoo and Takeaways Sunshine UV protection conditioner. Both products have left my hair feeling super soft, volumized, moisturized, light and very healthy. I've only tried the Takeaways Daily Defence shampoo once so I've yet to test that one out some more. I'm not entirely sure how much each of them cost since they were gifts but you can explore all the Charles Worthington ranges on the you can explore all the Charles Worthington ranges on the website, Boots or Superdrug. I would definitely recommend you take a look as, although I don't know the exact price, I do know it's not an expensive brand but is great quality.

The results in my hair

FOTD

I thought I'd do something beauty related for a change so here's my FOTD for this fine Saturday.

WHAT I'M WEARING:

Eyes

Mascara - Benefit "They're Real"

Eyeliner - Rimmel London "Glam'Eyes" professional liquid liner

Eyeshadow - L'Oreal Paris "Chrome Shine" in no. 175 Silver Brown

Face

Powder - No7 "Creme Touch" face powder in no. 11 Candlelight

Lips

Lip balm - The Body Shop "Born Lippy" in Mango Peach

Lipstick - Estee Lauder (I don't know the name of the colour but I would describe it as a deep pink)

Photography

Photography is something I love, really enjoy and feel very passionate about. I know this blog hasn't been filled with much of my own photography admittedly but I plan to try harder to change that. I created this blog to share my thoughts, feelings and things I'm proud of with anyone who wants to read it so I'm kind of defeating the purpose of this blog when I don't share my photography. Not only am I hoping to share my scenic, portrait, etc. type photography with you but share more of my own pictures such as writing haul posts and attaching pictures showing things I've purchased. I might even do a room tour sort of post if that's something anyone would be interested in.

I'd just like to note that I am aware my blog is still small, unknown and by no means at all popular and I don't write it for anything but the sheer happiness it brings me. If more people ever begin to enjoy it then that'd be amazing but I'm not expecting anything and my expectations aren't set at an unrealistic height. I'm just happy to have even a few people read my posts. Anyway, I think that's enough rambling for one post! Here's some photos I've taken in the fairly fresh past. If you'd like to request any particular type of post involving more photos, feel free to leave them in the comments. Thanks for reading!

Uncertainty About The Future & Staying Open-minded

I know I've been blogging A LOT more than usual for me these past two days but hey, change is a good thing, right? (Or can be!) I'm sorry if I'm annoying anyone with the amount I'm posting but I just feel like writing a lot today, so my instinct was to go with it.

Me and one my best friends have just been discussing moving to LA for a gap year (we are literally discussing it right now) once we've both finished high school. Personally, I've never been up for taking a gap year but I've never not been up for it either. Of course, gap years cost money and time, and can potentially be extremely expensive but that, at present, is only a small problem to me in the equation. The real problem is, I don't actually know what I want to do specifically after or even before that gap year is over/starts. I have a dream of being in band but, in all honesty, I'm very doubtful and skeptical about that ever happening. Like I said in my previous blog post photography is another area of interest for me but I'm not sure if that's what I'd really like to do for a living or not. I quite fancy becoming a photographer for artists/bands whether that be taking photos of their concerts or of them modelling merchandise or anything they'd like/need me to photograph. I find photography very relaxing and calming, it almost is like being in a little bubble with a special lense that lets me see things in my own unique way and I have the ability to capture what it is I'm seeing. However, jobs in photography are few and far between and I feel I'd have difficulty not only finding a job but with getting into the course possibly (at Napier, Edinburgh) because it is quite hard to get into and the academic standards are high.

So all in all, I guess I haven't found a path for me yet. That's okay though, I'm only young and I still have a while to choose. Maybe I won't for a very, very long time but I'd like to think that won't be the case. I'm a very indecisive person so making big decisions is excruciating for me. I'm also interested in psychology but again I'm not sure if it's something I'd like to do for a living.

Being so uncertain about the future scares me - a lot. It means I can't really see what my life beyond high school might be like. That also excites me in a way. It leaves a lot of room for new opportunities and surprises that I may not foresee because I don't have a clue what my future will be like or where I'll end up. And I think if you too are scared by the big ordeal that is the future, you're better off looking at it in the way I just described. KEEP AN OPEN-MIND. Don't panic so much that you end up picking a university or college course to make the people around you happy or for the sake of it. Do what YOU want to do. And if like me you don't know, then that's okay too. Take some time out to yourself to discover what you like and don't like doing. Don't shy away from taking a gap year or two if that's what you want to do because you might go off to do something you don't enjoy at all and think "I wish I'd taken that year out to explore instead of ending up here being unhappy". Because you don't know what your gap year(s) might bring you. You might find new friends, new romance, you might even discover what you want to do and what makes you happy. If you have a dream or a passion for something, follow it (if you can) and make the best of it. Work hard. Uncertainty and indecisiveness isn't always a bad thing. It can sometimes lead to you making mistakes but they might be the best mistakes you ever make and they'll take you somewhere better.

So I guess the point of this blog post is it's okay to be scared of the future - it's natural! Hey, isn't everyone at least a little afraid of what's to come? Don't shy away from the things that make you happy. If there's a job you wanna do, set yourself up to give yourself the best chance at it. If there isn't a job you really wanna do, then go out and discover. Try your hand at things you like and enjoy. Don't pick something that's second best because we both know that that's only going to make you half as happy. Life is to be enjoyed, right? So do that - enjoy life. Keep an open-mind and remember it's okay to be scared of what's to come.

Thanks for reading and good luck. :)

Tag: It's All About Me

Vital Statistics:

Me: Hannah

Nicknames: Han, Hanz, Han Solo, Hannah Banana

Birthday: 16.03.1999

Place of Birth: Glasgow, Scotland

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Male or Female: Female

Occupation: Unemployed (I'm only 14!)

Residence: Moray, Scotland

Screen Name: queengaskarth (Twitter) / Hannah's Take

Appearance:

Hair Colour: Brown

Hair Length: Long

Eye colour: Blue

Best Feature: Eyes or Cheekbones

Height: 5ft 6"

Braces?: Currently have "blocks" but I'm getting braces next week

Glasses?: No

Piercing: Ears

Tattoos: None

Righty or Lefty: Righty

Your 'Firsts':

First best friend: Jenny or Sarah

First Award: Pupil of the week in Primary 1 I think

First Sport You Joined: Ballet (I think)

First Real Vacation: France

First Concert: JLS (shocking, I know)

First Love: Don't think there's been anyone!

Favourites:

Movie: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

TV Show: Friends or How I Met Your Mother or Skins

Colours: Green

Song: Circles - All Time Low / Unpredictable - 5 Seconds of Summer

Candy: White chocolate

Restaurant: Pizza Express

Store: Topshop, Jack Wills, Glamour Kills

School: Hogwarts of c0urse

Book: The Harry Potter and Twilight books

Magazine: Rocksound

Shoes: Vans or Converse

Currently:

Feeling: Slightly worried

Single or Taken: Single

Eating: Nothing

Typing: This

Online: Obviously?

Listening To: Kerrang! music channel

Thinking About: The answers to these questions, 5SOS and the thing that's worrying me

Wanting: My mum to take her time with coming home! (I'm still in my PJs)

Watching: Kerrang!

Wearing: My dressing gown and pyjamas

Future:

Want Children?: I think so, but 2 maximum

Want to be Married: I think so, but I'd need to be completely sure about it

Careers in Mind: I'd love to be in a band but if not, I'd like to be a photographer I think

Where do you want to live?: Paris maybe

Have you ever:

Kissed a Stranger: No

Had Alcohol: Yes

Smoked: No

Ran Away From Home: Once I think when I was little... haha

Broken a bone: No

Got an X-ray: No

Broken Someone's Heart: Yes

Broke Up With Someone: Yes

Cried When Someone Died: No, don't know anyone who I've been close that's died

Cried At School: Yes

Do You Believe In:

God: No

Miracles: I am undecided

Love At First sight: I'm doubtful about it

Ghosts: Kind of

Aliens: Not sure

Soul Mates: Yes

Heaven: Guess not, if I don't believe in God

Hell: There has to be Heaven for there to be Hell so no

Kissing on The First Date: Yeah of course

Yourself: Mostly, no

YouTube

As some of you may know, Zoella and Sprinkle of Glitter were my main inspirations behind starting this blog and if any of you read their blogs, you'll most likely know that they have YouTube channels. I've been watching YouTubers for 10 months now and in that time I've started to want to make my own YouTube videos. So this is a blog post to announce that, hopefully, sometime soon I will be starting my own YouTube channel! I'm not sure specifically when I'll upload my first video but I'm hoping I'll be brave enough to pretty soon. I'm trying to fix up my channel first to make it look pretty before I start uploading so I've still got a lot to learn. But it would be great once I start uploading if you guys could go over to my channel when it's up and running and like and subscribe and all that jazz. I'll be linking my videos in blog posts on here so if you do wanna keep up with me on YouTube, there will be links on this blog for every video I post.

I also noticed I've reached over 100 views on my blog and although this may not be a big deal to most, it's a HUGE deal to me! I never thought I'd get even 10 views, so to have reached over 100 views is just insane and I can't thank you all enough for reading and checking out my page.

I'll keep you guys posted on my YouTube channel and stuff to do with that and hopefully things will be up and running on that soon. Don't forget to comment if you've got anything you'd like to say to me or ask. I love you all and thank you so much for reading.

Fandoms/Fanbases

Fandoms are generally a good(ish) thing for the majority of people involved. They're usually more of an internet thing but not always, of course. As you all know, I'm a huge fan of All Time Low. They're my favourite band and have gotten me through the toughest times and they'll always be a huge part of my life. But the ATL fandom is an issue I and other fans have to deal with most days. The ATL fandom can be great, when we all come together. However, mostly it's not a nice place to be apart from a small section of a certain "type" of fans. These are the people I associate myself with as I follow a lot of them on Twitter and am friends with them. The point of this post isn't to say the ATL fandom or fandoms in general are a bad thing. The point is something I am just about to breach on.

At the moment there is a bit of a dispute going on between 5SOS (5 Seconds Of Summer) fans and ATL fans. Some people, like me, liked ATL before they liked 5SOS and some were vice versa. Now, because 5SOS have been supporting One Direction on their world tour, most people associate them with 1D and the fact 5SOS fans also like ATL is annoying to some ATL fans who dislike 1D or maybe even don't dislike 1D. This is because 1D fans call themselves "___ girls", which means they choose their favourite member or whatever and call themselves, for example, a Zayn girl. Of course this doesn't apply to all fans as some are obviously not girls and some don't have a favourite or whatever. Now, as a lot of 1D fans have now grown to like 5SOS too, some have started using the "___ girls" idea with them. I, personally, have nothing against the idea of "___ girls" and don't see the problem. But now that a lot of 5SOS fans have started to either like ATL or already liked ATL prior to 5SOS's appearance, the "___ girls" term has started move in on ATL. However, the most annoying thing is there only seems to be Alex or Jack girls as, admittedly, Alex and Jack do receive more attention than Rian and Zack. A lot of ATL fans far from happy about this.

To be honest with you, I think all of it is dumb. Who cares if someone wants to call themselves a Niall girl or a Luke girl or even a Jack girl? It's just a way of saying who your favourite member is. Personally I would prefer it if the "___ girls" term stayed away from ATL but if it doesn't, it doesn't mean people should stop liking ATL for it because it's not their fault. They didn't choose for this to happen and I fear that people will blame ATL and 5SOS and 1D for all of this, when none of it is their fault in any way.

So really, what I'm trying to say is fandoms can be dumb and also controlling. A lot more controlling than people might first realise. What happened to just enjoying music and enjoying your favourite band/artist? A lot of fandom ideas are dumb, in my opinion, and none of it really matters if you think about it. Because, in the end, we're all here for basically the same reason: we all share a love for this band/artist. So my advice to you would be not to get too caught up in all of the dumb fandom things because they aren't worth caring about. What is worth caring about is enjoying the band/artist and sharing it with other people who enjoy it too, minus the stupid bullshit.

Sorry for the very late night rant, just had to get it out of my system! Hope this wasn't offensive to anyone because that's not how I intended it to come across. However, if I have offended you in any way, I'm so super sorry.

I love you all, thanks for reading! Feel free to leave comments but please remember to be civil. :)

Keeping Up and Late Posts

I'm sorry that I haven't posted my London post yet, I've not really been feeling like writing since I got back. I will admit that I have made a start to it and I'm not gonna say "it should be up..." because I don't want to say to you guys that I'll put it up at a time when I won't. I give my sincerest apologies to all of you. I will have it up eventually I think but the hassle with the photos and organising the post sometimes just takes it out of me and I lose the urge to keep on and I just think "I'll do it another time" when really I should just persevere! But like I said I haven't really felt like writing much recently so I will attempt to make a little more effort with it and get it up relatively soon but there's more chance it won't be up for a little while yet. That's all for this post. I tried writing it from the center rather than the left hand side, what do you think? Better? Worse? Let me know in the comments if you want to.

Apologies, Explanations & Updates

This isn't going to be a very exciting post, just a quick apology on not having written anything recently! Also a little update for everyone. I've been wanting to write a new blogpost for a long time now but I just haven't had anything to say or write about, so I guessed an apology post, a little explanation and update on life would give me reason enough. I will try and write or at least give little updates more often - but no promises mind you! I'll definitely have a new post up two weeks from now, as on the 26th I'm going to London for the first time ever!! I'll be back on the 31st of May so I'll try and get a post up over the weekend I return home but it may not be up until early the following week. I'm really excited, I'm going with my school for 5 days. My best friend Stephanie and some of my other friends from school are going too. Unfortunately there is one girl from school who's going that I have rather a dislike to at the moment but nevertheless, I am going to enjoy myself as much as I possibly can! We'll be going to places like Chesington World of Adventures, the London Eye, Trafalgar Sqaure, the HMS Belfast, and other interesting and fun places. There's an All Time Low acoustic gig on the 31st which I'm really upset about because I might have had a chance of going (probably not but whatever) and I'll be leaving London just as they get there. I'd die to meet them, seriously. But lets not get into ATL related subjects because you and I both know this post will become even more rambly and ranty than it already is. That's all I came on to say really, and before I kill you all with my going off on a tangent, I'll shut up and say goodbye until next time. Thank you all for reading and being so great, remember to comment if you have anything you'd like to say.

25 Facts About Me

Hey you lot.

Thought I'd teach you all a little about me, so here's 25 (probably very uninteresting) facts about moi! Enjoy.

1. My favourite band are All Time Low, in case you weren't already aware of that

2. I have two younger brothers named Andrew and Nicholas

3. I'm honestly OBSESSED with bands, it's probably a very unhealthy obsession but OH WELL!

4. It takes a hell of a lot to make me cry

5. I've only ever been on a plane twice (one plane journey = to destination and back home)

6. I can rarely go a day without going on the internet, mostly Twitter

7. I love photography

8. When I'm grown up I'd either like to be in a band, a psychiatric/psychologist, photographer or radio DJ/presenter

9. Music and art are my favourite subjects at school but I also like English (sometimes) and P.E. is okay

10. I was born in Glasgow and the hospital I was born in has now been demolished, sighs :-(

11. I've never had a real boyfriend (unloved much?!)

12. I'm 14 this year

13. France was the first place I went abroad to

14. I went to Disneyland Paris when I was 10, it was great

15. I want two particular tattoos when I'm old enough

16. The West Coast of Scotland is one of my favourite places as I have loads of childhood memories from

17. "Smile" is my favourite word, I have my reasons for that

18. I'm a very closed up person but pretty open about certain things (some I most probably shouldn't be but y'know)

18. My inspirations to start writing a blog were these two lovely ladies - Zoella and Sprinkle Of Glitter

19. I love music, it means so much to me
20. I have two dogs called Toto and Maisy and a guinea pig called Petal
21. When I was a bit younger I really liked writing stories and making up different characters
22. My friend and I are hoping to start up a band reasonably soon!
23. Even though I am one, I don't really feel like a teenager, I feel like I'm still waiting to become one, haha
24. I love Harry Potter, the books and the films
25. Spiderman is my favourite superhero

Paramore's new single: Now

Hey everyone!

So yesterday morning on the radio one of my favourite bands, Paramore, were guests on Nick Grimshaw's morning show. A couple nights ago I'd found out the band would be releasing a new single. I was really excited as was most of my Twitter feed!! In the morning when I logged onto Twitter loads of people on my feed were going crazy for the release of it and when Paramore came on the radio, the craziness just exploded!!! I logged onto my laptop and listened to them online and watched them on webcam in the studio. That only made me love them more! I felt so excited, you know that warm fuzzy band-loving feeling you get when one that you love comes on the radio or you watch an interview or listen to them or something?? Yeah, that.

When the song was played I listened to it and oH MY GOD. I FELL IN LOVE. It was great! It was so good I mean I can't even explain it. I've loved Paramore for a couple of years now and this was just the cherry on top. I'll put the YouTube link for the song at the bottom of the page for anyone who hasn't heard it and wants to or has and wants to listen to it anyway. :)

After hearing Now and loving it, I'm super stoked for the new record to come out. Should be better than great. I'm so psyched. They're apparently going to be doing a UK tour and I'm really hoping they'll come to Scotland (that's where I live) so I can see them live. This year I want to see a good few bands I like at live gigs because I've only ever been to two and I definitely want to see more. I love gigs! But then again, who doesn't?? ;)

I hope a lot of you like the single too - if anyone's actually reading this, haha. I know I do and, well, you guys  know I do! Overall, I'm just really buzzed about the whole thing aka the single, the new record, the UK tour (fingers crossed)... EVERYTHING.

Till next time then...

Chow x

Now - Paramore (new single)

New year, fresh start.

Evening all. :)

Well, it's a little late but nevertheless - happy new year!! Better late than never as they say.
Now that 2012 is out the window and away, I must say I'm glad. 2012 was probably - and I'm not being dramatic here - the worst year of my life. Very few "life-changing" things happened for the better but plenty did for the worst. None of you will know about what I've went through this past year and I'm not going to go into immense detail on it but I give you an insight.

Last year my parents separated. From sometime earlier on in last year (before the separation) I'd been really down and hadn't really been very happy. This was getting me down because I wanted nothing more than to be a happy person again. Naturally I'm a pretty positive person in general, so being down like that was hard. But after the separation things only got worse for me. I became even more down. There were a few happy times but like I said, a few. As this year went on I just got more and more upset. I wondered if I was becoming depressed but I wouldn't know for sure unless I went to a doctor or talked to someone about it. I never did and I still haven't to this day. I guess I just never had the guts. But hey, here I am posting it on the internet!

Throughout my down time I've experienced things I didn't think I ever would - and by that I mean bad things. I never asked for any of this, I never wanted any of this. In lots of ways I wish I could take the whole year back and make something really special of it and look back on it and think "wow that was an amazing year for me!!" Now I'll never get that chance. But that's okay, because I did learn a lot from being upset and I gained a lot of understanding, of certain feelings and why a person does certain things and how certain things affect a person, whether that be in a good or bad way.

So this year, I plan to make a fresh start. I want to get my life back to being a LIVED life! Not the depressing mess it has become. Hopefully I can make this work. It'll be hard - it has been already, and the year's barely begun! But I reckon I can pull through.

For anyone else who might read this or stumble across it, I suggest you get the help you deserve asap because otherwise you may regret not getting it. Everyone deserves to be happy and everyone deserves to have a life to look back on that they're proud to say they lived.

Good luck guys!!! And all the best for 2013. Let's make it a good one. :)