Facts #2



16/09/2011

I wore extensions for the first time ever on Friday. I'm in love with Ed Sheeran's album, still. I hate the taste of beer. I love partying in London. The majority of my friend's have all left for University and I refuse to even acknowledge it because I know I will cry like a massive girl. Burying my head in the sand is a favourite past time of mine. I've decided I'm going to put everything into writing as a career, it's all or nothing. Today is the last day I'll feel full for a week as I'm going to attempt the MasterCleanser. I love night buses. I hope everybody is having a lovely Sunday :) xx

"It's not goodbye, it's just see you later."



"If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together...there is something you must remember: you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart, I'll always be with you." - Winnie the Pooh.

When I first moved from London to my little coastal town, I was beside myself with worry.

In London, I had a secure friendship unit, I'd had the same best friend since I was 2 and I knew my weekends would be spent sat in the attic in a close friend's house, playing Mario Party 4 on the GameCube or having water fights with 5 other close friends. As an 11 year old, I thought I was sorted for life. That was until I moved 64 miles away.

My first weekend in this town was spent attempting to teach my dog how to bark the tune of 'Babycakes' - 3 of a Kind (it was number 1 during the month we moved, don't judge me) and my Mum tells me that I cried myself to sleep every night for a good month. I'm pretty sure she's lying though (she is definitely not lying).

I thought I had lost everything until I met the wonderful people this blog post is about. Suddenly, I had friends, I was being invited to places and my weekends were no longer spent following my parent's round the supermarket. Don't get me wrong, this didn't happen overnight. Trust me, I was never 'cool' (on my first day at my new school, I smashed myself in the face and knocked my glasses off whilst introducing myself) and I had a 'funny' accent. I was never the sort of person to have a queue of people begging to be my friend but eventually, a group of people stupid enough to think I was sort of funny took me under their wings and for that, I will always be grateful.

7 years on, having got through school and college coming out slightly frayed, battered and bruised, it's safe to say that the majority of us are still friends. Maybe not the best of friend's, but we're all civil and polite to each other. We're old enough now to look past silly mistakes and pathetic arguments to realise we went through a lot together. Friendship groups changed, people moved away and we all 'grew up'. It's now time to make the all important decisions that come with being an adult (well, 18...I mean, we might be able to vote but we're hardly 'grown ups').

Some of us are off to University, other's are looking for full time work and a couple of us are still at college. Regardless of our situations, we're all moving onto bigger and better things. We have choices that weren't avaliable without A Level results and we're all ready to mark our place in this crazy world.

2 days ago, I spent the day with 3 friends as a sort of 'final day' before we all go our seperate ways. We got tattoos, piercings and spent the night watching rubbish films and laughing about past years. It got me thinking that although we're moving on, it doesn't necessarily mean we have to move away from each other. Yes, friendship isn't forever, but sometimes you're just not strong enough to say goodbye.

I'm rubbish with goodbyes which is why I'm writing this; it's my 'ode' to the people that have completed me for the past 7 years (or more, if you're reading this outside of Eastbourne...).

To the girls who made me laugh so much I genuinely considered buying stocks for Tena Lady, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You provided me with friendship, strength, laughter and love and gave me the perfect amount of all 4 things to keep my feet on the ground and my heart is completely your's for that. Thank you for letting me write essays in every single birthday/Christmas card, thank you for telling me when my hair/make-up/clothes looked stupid and thank you for indulging me with the 'Gangsta Nun' fancy dress. I have no idea how you coped with all my silly phases, but that's something that makes you superhuman in my eyes. Thank you for being there for me throughout every single silly mistake I made, thank you for inspiring me on a daily basis and thank you for being the best friend's a girl could possibly ask for. Not a day goes past that I'm not reminded just how brilliant you all are and I'm so incredibly proud of us all for getting this far. I wish I could say more but I have a reputation to uphold (*cue laughter here*) and I'm getting too emotional for my own liking right now. Oh, I've just realised I've forgotten the biggest thing: THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH for putting up with my Mum. It takes somebody extraordinary to cope with her and her ways, but you guys succeeded. She's also just told me that if you ever want cake/pie/crumble/food in general, she's your girl. She expects you all to be shotting sambuca with her at my 40th birthday party (I promise not to pass out this time...).

One last thing: wherever you are in the world whether it be China, Africa, London or Eastbourne, just know that I'll always have your backs. You all rock my world so bloomin' hard and if anything, I think it's time that the rest of the population got to experience a little piece of you. Let's be honest, I've been selfish...it's time you spread you wings, I can't keep you forever.

xxxxxx

I don't understand why they're half naked either but it seemed right to go out with the cheesy factor.

CAKES :)

Having slept for basically half of the afternoon, I decided to embrace my inner baker and bake loads of little novelty cakes with the aim being that I'd take them to my friend's birthday gathering tonight. I mean, what goes better with drunken 18+ year old's than monkey cakes?

I was genuinely excited to get started as I love baking. Well, I love baking when my Mum makes amazing carrot cakes and apple sponges. The closest I am to being a Gizzi Erskine in the kitchen is that we share similar music taste and have a love for tattoos. However, I thought "screw it, I'm going to attempt to make these babies and if they come out wrong, I'll pretend they're supposed to look like this."

So, with this in mind, I introduce to you my 'Monkey with green eyes and triangle ears/pig with deformities cake"...I couldn't decide what they looked like more...

Monkey cakes :)

"Thanks for making me a fighter."

"'Cause if it wasn't for all that you tried to do, I wouldn't know just how capable I am to pull through so I wanna say thank you." - Christina Aguilera (lyrics from 'Fighter')

Before I start this blog, I'd just like to say that I'm not perfect; I've said things in the heat of the moment that have actually been really hurtful, I've probably damaged somebody's confidence without giving it a second thought and I've hurt somebody's feelings without realising it. Words do have actions and although I'd like to be able to sit here and say that I've always been a completely innocent party, I can't. I'd be lying. However, I can honestly say that I have learnt from my mistakes. Now, I never say something without thinking about the consequences it might have on another person and I would never try to hurt somebody on purpose. I guess you could say, I've grown up.

I've had the experience of being both the bullied and part of the bullies. The latter I'm not exactly proud of and luckily, I realised before things got too advanced that I wasn't being very nice. I was never the instigator and I was NEVER violent but a few words came out of my mouth that probably shouldn't have and I regret that now. I've made my peace with the people I hurt and I've apologised. I'm not saying that makes everything ok, because it doesn't but it does make things a little lighter.

Being somebody who is quite open minded, I've had a lot of digs.

Like the time I dyed my hair orange; I thought it looked alright but the group of girls standing on the corner of my street shouting "get back in your biscuit tin, you ginger tw*t" clearly weren't the biggest fans of my hair. Another example would be the group of girls that decided it would be fun to mock me endlessly for having glasses at the age of 7. They turned friends against me, made me scared to go to school and even made me question my appearance. At the age of 7. There's something that just doesn't sit right with me about that, 11 years on.

I've been called "fat", I've had stuff thrown at me and I've been terrified to leave my house at one stage. Throughout all of this, I always thought the problem was me. That I had done something wrong to be called horrible names and left out of plans. But really, looking back on things, I realise that the issue was always with the person doing the bullying. It's always about their insecurities, their issues with them self. I can safely say that I certainly had my own issues when I was part of a group making other's feel bad about the way they looked.

Bullying has always been an issue, it's just never always been addressed properly. You hear advice like "hit back twice as hard", "ignore it" and "don't let it get to you", but all of this is simply ignoring the matter at hand. It doesn't sit down with the person being bullied and let them talk about how they feel, it just teaches them that two wrongs supposedly make a right.

The reason why I'm writing this isn't to make myself feel better for past mistakes or to brag about how much I've 'matured', it's merely to raise a point.

There are so many children, and adults, out there being bullied for one reason or another and I understand that schools, teachers, parents etc are all trying to help but what difference would it make if WE tried to help too?

Take 5 minutes out of your busy day, maybe miss a little bit of Eastenders or skip that 2nd glass of wine and please, please, please check out this website: http://www.beatbullying.org/.

Everybody involved with this amazing organisation focuses on helping the bullied regain their confidence and find their feet in this crazy world after having their confidence shattered. Not only do they work with the bullied, but they also work with the bullies. They focus on getting them to take ownership of their actions and take responsibility. For them, it's all about changing attitudes.

A good buddy and fellow blogger of mine, Geek marries Chic, has also recently blogged about this wonderful organisation and that's what got me thinking. Part of beatbullying's work is a scheme called CyberMentors which focuses on young people helping other youngsters (whether they're the bullied or the bullies, it doesn't matter; anybody can ask for help/advice) overcome the bullying. What made me feel so inspired by the scheme is that anybody can help. It takes 2 minutes to sign up, you wait for an e-mail accepting your application and then BOOM, you're free to act as a cyber shoulder for these kids to cry on and talk too.

What I'm asking for is that you, reading this blog, take that into consideration. Spending 2 minutes filling out an online application form could change somebody's life. It's a small amount of time, but it could potentially make a huge difference to a child's soul.

So this weekend, while you're out with your friends having fun, please think of those children that can't do the same due to lack of confidence, lack of friends etc. If you have a spare few minutes, why not sign yourself up? If there's one thing you do this weekend, please make it that.

That's enough preaching from me, I have an online application form to fill in.

Cybermentors - here's the link to the Cybermentors website. It'll give you all the information that you need to know and there's that all important application form too...

One night to be confused...

Recently, I've been thinking more and more about the 'stereotypical differences' between men and women; men prefer jokey conversations, women are all about emotions. Men fantasise about a hot blonde in a schoolgirl's uniform for 16 hours of the day (the other 8 are spent sleeping), women imagine themselves cosied upto Johnny Depp, talking about philosophy and music. When arguing, as soon as the word 'fuck' is mentioned, men go back to thinking about that hot blonde within seconds whereas women can carry on their nagging for days.
One difference that has refused to leave my mind though is the difference in opinions that men/women share on one night stands:

"A guy gets all the glory the more he can score, while the girl can do the same and you call her a whore." - Christina Aguilera

It's always been the stereotypical tag attached to men that they LOVE one night stands. It's a night full of passion, you don't have to get the girl's name (unless your a gentleman) and the idea of asking for her number is ridiculous. With this, it's always been said that one night stands make women feel exploited, cheap and dirty.
But in this day and age where pretty much everything is considered normal (not even lying, yesterday I saw a man walking around Brighton town centre in chains. Nothing else. Just chains, strategically placed, thank God), women's feelings towards one night flings are apparently changing.

Yesterday night, I sat down with one of my friend's, who had just spent the night with a guy she really liked and gave her this speech: "Babe, why are you worried about it? Guys do this kind of things ALL the time. You spent the night with this guy, you had fun, you felt hot and it was the perfect end to a crazy night. Guys come away from these things bragging to their friends so why can't us chicks?"
Don't get me wrong, I wasn't suggesting she go out every night and sleep with any random chap, but is it really such a bad thing? Men are *allowed*, expected even, to walk away from night's like that and feel nothing. Why is it so bad that a girl do the same?

You hear all sorts of horror stories about one night stands: STI's, tragic phonecalls the next day confessing undying love, unplanned pregnancies (definitely on a different par to the undying love thing, don't get me wrong) and I get all of that; they're not exactly the most pleasant thing. But for one night, you get to lose your insecurities/inhibitions, have a total laugh with a stranger (in some cases, not a total stranger) and enjoy yourself.
I don't like that those 3 things are supposed to be left to the fellas whilst the girl cries in a corner, feeling guilty and hating herself. It's too old fashioned for my liking.

So girls, let's leave the guilty tears, the negative feelings and the drama behind. Don't make a habit out of it, but enjoy yourself for one night.
I mean, if Example can walk away feeling nothing but fond memories, then why can't us girls?

 "Miss Whatever-Your-Name-Was...still though, that was one night to remember"

Blog inspiration

Being new to the whole blog scene, I have no idea what I'm really doing except trying to write things that people will find interesting. However, one of my 'blog heroes' happens to be one of my good pals and I've been scrolling through her blog trying to conjure up some entertaining ideas knowing that she won't mind me pinching them.

Every month, my buddy @beautblues (for those of you on Twitter) updates her blog with a little paragraph containing random facts about what she likes, what she's into, how she feels at that current moment in time. I LOVE this idea as I think it gives anybody reading this (HIYYYAAA) a little idea as to what I'm actually like.

Facts

My name's Vicky; Victoria when my Mum has discovered my antics from over the weekend, Vick if I really like you. I can't decide what colour to dye my hair. I'm contemplating shaving half of it off again. I really wish I looked like Anna Karina. One Day is my favourite book/film. Ed Sheeran makes my knickers fizz. I have the biggest girl crush on Gizzi Erskine. I like somebody who is completely unavaliable. I hate girls who like guys who are unavaliable. I wish I was going to University. I'm completely in love with anybody who follows me on Twitter. My favourite drink is hot blackcurrant and lemon, but that's probably because I'm ill. I want to play Scrabble. I have enormous amounts of love for anybody reading this and this song has been on repeat for 2 hours:

For those of you wondering who my friend is, her blog is here: I'm going nowhere and I'm going to take my time :) I urge you to check it out, not only because she's a buddy but because it's a pretty amazing blog. Of course I'm bias but one post made me cry and that's totally worth an 'amazing' label.

Today will be a good day...

             I'll make sure of it.