50 Facts About Me

Hi guys :) I thought I'd pop up more of a tag style post today to break things up a bit and I decided to do the 50 facts about me one. So, get yourself comfy and here goes...

1. I'm a first year Linguistics and Phonetics student, which basically means I study language.

2. I'm also studying elective modules in Hebrew and Icelandic. Yes, I am a little bit mad for that.

3. Stand-up comedy is one of my favourite things and I even have a friend (hey, CT!) with whom I travel around Yorkshire to comedy shows with.

4. I'm technically a published author (in the book sense and everything).

5. When I was a toddler, a member of the girl band All Saints rollerbladed me over in Bridlington.

6. My favourite noise is the little squeak a happy/hungry/excited guinea pig does.

7. I have a 'thing' for collecting notepads, quirky pens, cute stationery etc... and especially stickers.

8. I've been trying to teach myself Swedish for years. Hopefully it will be a bit easier after a year studying Icelandic.

9. I'm finally seeing the incredible Josh Groban live in June and I've never been more excited for anything in my whole life. 

10. I studied Spanish for five and a half years, but I've never been to Spain.

11. I went to Croatia in 2010 and it was the most beautiful place and experience I've ever been lucky enough to have.

11. I have an obsession with painting my nails/nail art.

12. My bed is a mess right now - I have four unopened series of My Family, my iPad, two bags, a purse, a make-up bag and a ton of clothes on there. Maybe I should be tidying (I should always be tidying...)

13. I can't stand melted cheese. 

14. I have a bunny called Dusty and a guinea pig called Peanut.

15. I'm frequently overwhelmed by the niceness of my university friends. 

16. I loved school but I absolutely hated college.

17. I'm not a fan of the new look Outlook. 

18. There's so much snow here in the north that I've only left the house once since Wednesday. I didn't mind until last night.

19. When I have the time, I make my own jewellery.

20. I'm currently addicted to Pinterest.

21. I'm still getting over the cancellation of Pushing Daisies, which last aired in 2009. 

22. I also like to think that somewhere, someone with all of Ned's qualities (minus the whole 'finger bringing people back from the dead but also killing them again' thing) does exist... because Ned would make the perfect human really.

23. I was in my college choir and as a result of misprinted lyrics, I still can't listen to Run by Snow Patrol without hearing ''I know we'll make it anywhere'' as ''I know we'll make it anywahere". My CT will probably say the same. :)

24. I've only ever been to three 'proper' gigs, two of which being for a folk singer. 

25. I'm terrible at putting on accents other than my own, although I'm not bad at a West Country kind of accent.

26. When I was little, my two cousins and I created our own radio show and used to record it every week in our Grandma's little bedroom on a tape recorder. I still have it under my bed and it still makes me cry with laughter.

27. Similarly, my best friend (also called Rachel) and I once recorded our own 'TV show' at a sleepover. I'll probably be embarrassed by my outfit in that forever.

28. I'm a Diana Award holder and proud of it.

29. I seem to have a very forgettable name. When I first met my high school head of year I was wearing a name badge, he still called me Ruth instead, barely any of my college teachers actually called me by my name and for most of semester one, I was known as Rebecca in Icelandic.

30. I'm a huge Eurovision fan and very much looking forward to living with another as of September.

31. I'm not overly crafty, but I go through phases where I make random stuff... right now would be classed as 'one of those phases'. 

32. I never buy magazines unless they have a 'free' gift that I actually want. Ironically, three of my skincare staples at the moment came from magazines as freebies. 

33. I could live off pizza and pasta.

34. I'm really developing an obsession with Daughtry.



35. I'm also developing an obsession with Keane. I'm blaming this on college choir.



36. I really hate wearing socks and only do it if it's absolutely necessary. Living in the UK doesn't help this issue.

37. More than anywhere, I would love to visit Sweden, closely followed by Australia.

38. I have a bit of a 'thing' about names - I love to know the meanings and origins of names.

39. I still cry every time I watch Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin.

40. I also still cry at Tim Minchin's White Wine in the Sun.

41. I passed my driving theory and practical the first time.

42. If I could justify it, I would still buy every cute cuddly toy I see. 

43. I think I've replaced cuddly toys with phone cases. It's a major weakness.

44. I seem to have inherited my parents' love of crime dramas because I generally get hooked on any that I watch. 

45. I'm definitely not a shoe girl, which is probably a good thing given that my feet are very obviously different sizes. 

46. I named my blog after So She Dances, one of my absolute favourite Josh Groban songs. I also made some word art with lyrics from it last night.

47. I very rarely drink alcohol, which is considered mad amongst my age group. Whatever.

48. I miss the music of my childhood. 'Pop' music is definitely much worse now.

49. I am yet to break or even fracture/sprain a bone (*touches wood*) however I did once have to have stitches in my knee. The man did it wrong and now I have stuff moving around in there. Eurgh.

50. I'm always most awake in the middle of the night, which makes early mornings quite interesting.

So there you go! I hope you enjoyed :) If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below in the comments section because, as always, I love talking to you guys :)

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com
Tumblr: lookintothestorm.tumblr.com

Liebster Award!

I was kindly nominated for the Liebster Award by the lovely Annie-Lou of Big World Small Girl. You can view her post on it here. I actually did this ages ago on my personal blog (and the cute little graphic definitely didn't exist back then!) so it's lovely to do it again.

The rules are:

1. List 11 facts about yourself.
2. Answer the 11 questions the blogger who nominated you left.
3. Ask 11 new questions for those you nominate.
4. Choose 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers to nominate.
5. Go to each bloggers page and let them know about the award.
6. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.

So, 11 facts about me...

1. My beauty weaknesses are nail polish and lipsticks...a girl can never have enough in my opinion.

2. I have two pets, a bunny called Dusty (or Duddles) and a guinea pig called Peanut (or Nuttles).

3. I am a first year Linguistics and Phonetics student in the north of the UK.

4. Josh Groban is my absolute favourite musician and I'm SO excited for his new album.

5. I can write my name (Rachel) in the alphabet/language from which it originated (Hebrew). It also means 'ewe', which is possibly the most random name meaning ever.

6. Today is a snow day, so I'm snuggled in my favourite jumper doing nothing...just how I like it ;)

7. I'm OBSESSED with Forbrydelsen (known to most people as The Killing). If you haven't seen it, you should. 

8. I'm lucky enough to have met nearly all of my favourite comedians (Jon Richardson, Mark Watson, Rhod Gilbert), have been tweeted by one of them (Adam Hills) and have spoken to another (Alun Cochrane). In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a huge comedy junkie.

9. I speak two languages, English and Spanish, but am also studying Hebrew and Icelandic and have taught myself some Swedish.

10. I don't like watching films. I don't know why, I just don't.

11. There's nothing I enjoy more than spending a miserable day sitting in my grandma's living room while she tells me stories and shows me photos.

And now for Annie-Lou's questions (which I love because they're mainly travel themed!)...

1. If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

Bizarrely, I'm fairly content living where I am. In my wildest dreams, I'd have to say either Australia or somewhere in Scandinavia.

2. Make up your own ice cream flavour: what would it be?

OK, so I'm going to cheat a bit on this one because I have eaten this flavour before, but only once and I've never seen it anywhere since... Salted caramel. I had it in France in...2011(?)...and it was literally the best flavour ever. Unfortunately, I haven't found it since and that makes me sad.

3. What super power would you like to have?

The ability to read minds... but I'd have to be able to switch it on and off whenever I wanted. It would have helped me out so much in previous situations...

4. All inclusive package or backpacking adventure?

Backpacking! While all-inclusive would definitely be more luxurious, I definitely believe backpacking is more enriching and just more fun. If I hadn't gone backpacking with World Challenge in 2010, I'd never have had the amazing experience of camping right next to the top of a waterfall, I'd never have seen so much of the beautiful Croatian countryside, and I'd have never experienced a true feeling of being proud of myself.

5. What is the one thing you would not want to travel without?

A camera (preferably a decent one, not just a crappy phone camera) and a travel diary/notebook. When I was in Croatia I took pictures of literally everything and I love reading my diary back. 

6. Skiing on the slopes or surfing in the sun?

I'd like to say surfing in the sun, but I imagine I'd probably fit in a lot better skiing on the slopes... plus I have an irrational fear of being underwater, so it's also probably a lot safer for me, haha :)

7. What animal would you use to describe yourself?

I've had this conversation with my friend Eliza before and I can't remember what we decided on. Probably an owl because I'm constantly looking all around me... especially in exams, which isn't a good habit to be in.

8. Do you prefer the hustle and bustle of urban city breaks or the tranquil and peace of rural retreats and why?

I actually love both, but I think I'm definitely a city girl and I feel much more at home in a foreign city than the countryside somewhere. I think rural retreats are something that you shouldn't do too often because then you appreciate them more. 

9. Born to travel or stay at home?

I definitely want to travel. There are so many places on a mental list inside my head that I want to visit. 

10. What is your best/worst travel experience?

Best: I have a few. I previously mentioned camping basically at the top of a waterfall, and that's definitely one of them. Our group toasted marshmallows over a campfire and Slaven, or tour guide, played his guitar and sang to us. Another is when we were in our minivan on the way to Split Airport on our way home and Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol came on the radio and we all sat there singing along in our own little worlds. One of my best travel memories is also from Poland in 2011 when my lovely friend Jess and I sat having a heart-to-heart in our favourite coffee shop in Krakow. 

Worst: Getting stuck underneath a kayak in Croatia, being stranded in the Channel Tunnel en route to Disneyland Paris for hours and hours surrounded by screaming children, and the time we landed in Liverpool John Lennon Airport after the Poland visit and my suitcase came out onto the luggage carousel open. Way to go, EasyJet. The worst experience is probably climbing a mountain in Croatia and spending two whole days pretty much having panic attacks because I couldn't breathe. Awesome. I think I redeemed myself when I pretty much ran back down the mountain to get help on our last day when the people I was walking with all became ill, though.

11. Travel plans for 2013?

No plans as yet. My Comedy Twin (CT) Poppy and I are hoping to go to the Edinburgh Fringe this summer and my friend Sophie and I have briefly discussed the idea of going to Sweden (especially hoping for this to happen). I'll be going somewhere with my family, but we went to Cornwall and got rained on for a week in 2012 so I don't really count family holidays as 'travel plans'.

And now for the questions I'm setting...

1. If you had to choose a quote to live your life by, which one would you choose and why?

2. Do you speak any foreign languages? If so, which ones?

3. Describe your perfect day.

4. Do you have any 'odd' habits or rituals that you do but nobody else you know does too?

5. What is your favourite season and why?

6. Why did you start your blog?

7. If you could be any animal for a day, which would you be and why?

8. If you could pass a new law that would ban something you dislike, what would you ban and why?

9. Go onto iTunes or your music library and go to your most played songs. Which song have you played the most times?

10. Have you ever had any interesting celebrity encounters?

11. Tell us about one of your proudest achievements.

I can't think of anybody to tag at the moment (they've all done it!) but if I think of anyone in future, I'll pop another post up about it :)

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com

Tag: Sunday Activities

Hi guys! I was tagged by the beautiful Vanessa of house in the sand to do her brand new Sunday activities tag. If you don't already read and/or follow her blog, you need to go and do that right now because it's a lovely little blog and Vanessa is lovely too :)

So, the tag is fairly simple - all you have to do is talk about or show photos of the things you get up to on a Sunday and then tag some (7) of your favourite bloggers to do it too. Vanessa also asks that we all make sure we mention who started the tag and who tagged us to do it. Now the rules are out of the way, let's get started...

Sundays are usually the quiet days in my house. We often spend the whole day lazing around the house doing nothing, but I think that's probably quite typical of lots of households. If I'm not sitting in the house, I'm also likely to be at my grandma's house. We often go up on a Sunday afternoon and catch up with all of the gossip from our relatives (who are usually there too). 

Being a student, Sunday is also 'homework day' :( Today, I've been revising Icelandic for my exam on Wednesday but I can usually be found at 10pm trying to finish work for the next day. It's not fun, but it's necessary. 

In terms of beauty-related things, Sunday is also 'pamper day' where I'll do all of the girly things that you might like to do to set yourself up for a new week. This evening, for example, I have a lengthy list of pamper-ish things I want to get done, including painting my toenails and sorting out my eyebrows. Ladies, I'm sure you know this kind of routine well ;) I also often sit down and write up a few blog posts on a Sunday evening so that I can publish them at various intervals throughout the week.

I think Sunday is probably my least interesting day, but for most people it's a day of relaxation and preparation for the new week... it's no different for me.

I tag:

Jess at do you believe in hallucinations?
Beckie at Picnics and Pretty Dresses...
Rosie at Cider With Rosie
Annika at Sternenstaub
Gabby at Love From Londres
Zoe at Mammaful Zo
Alice at Confessions of a blog writer.

As well as anybody else who fancies doing this tag. If you do, leave me a link below so I can go and nosey at your blog :)

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com