a little film review

Now, I am incredibly late to watch this film so many of you may have seen it before. However, after watching the DVD I felt it deserved a mention...

Inglorious Basterds. 2 words. Great film.

I am not going to pretend to be a film buff, in all honesty I know very little about cinematography and filmography, but from a normal person watching the film point of view, I thought it was fantastic.

The film is gripping from its first minute, very calm and sedate with all the fake pleasantries of the "Jew Hunter" and then in a twist, that I certainly wasn't anticipating, the screen is filled with terror as the German SS open fire.

I don't want to give away the plot line as if you haven't watched this, I certainly don't want to spoil it but Quentin Tarantino manages to somehow create a film which is historically believable (but not accurate, I am sure), immensely gorey, has a hint of comedy and which also allows you to really connect with the characters and the story. I was truly gripped throughout! This is perhaps one of the best films I have seen in a long time and like I have already said, I would HIGHLY recommend (unless you are a little squeamish!).

Go buy it and watch!!

Helen Elizabeth x

friday favourites: YouTubers

 First a little photo to add some visual stimulation and because it is one of my favourite quotes!

Credit

 I imagine the majority of people who read this will have been directed from a comment I have left on a blog which I love, or have somehow stumbled across it by searching for a few key terms. In my last Friday favourites I mentioned my favourites blogs, and this kind of goes hand in hand....my all time favourite YouTubers.


1: Pixi2woo The lovely Tanya Burr shows you how to create a million make up looks and her experience as a makeup artist means I learn so much about products from this lovely lady. She also seems soooo nice and has a second, hauls and vlogs channel which shows even more of her personality. I love to watch her and recommend you do too!

2: j1mmyb0bba His tag line is "Love, Life and Manly Stuff". The boyfriend of Pixi2woo, Jim shares his "manly views" on skincare products and other stuff. The two channels together have become my absolute FAVES over the past week or two (I discovered them very late...) mainly because they are genuinely hilarious together and just seem so lovely!

3: allthatglitters21 The very first person I watched on YouTube. She seems to have grown into a fully fledged YouTube phenomenon, and admittedly her earlier videos seem a little less scripted, less sponsored and more fun, but she does give some good tips and is quite humorous to watch.

4:  HealthyHappyLife The well know (5) gemsmaquillage has made a healthy eating/exercise/diet vlog channel. It is really interesting, informative and fun to watch. Gemma, once again, seems like a genuinely nice person and I love watching both of her channels

6: FleurdeForce

7: MichellePhan

8: kandeejohnson

9: juicystar07

10: pixiwoo

So now you may understand my little disclaimer at the beginning. I mainly use YouTube to watch beauty tutorials and to watch some music videos. Watching these tutorials is so much fun for me, like having some bis sisters to show me the way of makeup and skincare. If they aren't your cup of tea I am sorry, but next week my favourites will be a little more creative!

Hope you enjoy them!!

Helen Elizabeth xx

amazing carrots

Carrots have never been something that have wowed me. They always seemed to be the vegetable stuck on the plate with some meat as an afterthought and in an attempt to make the meal healthy. With the thanks to Jamie Oliver, my carrot views have been revolutionised. Yes, incredibly dramatic and potentially life changing...or maybe not, but they do taste incredible!

I stupidly forgot to take a picture and just tucked right into mine, but I swear that not only do they taste delicious, they would look lovely served up in a big serving bowl in the middle of a table. Multi-purpose carrots, what isn't to love?! To make the post look vaguely colourful, I'm going to add some pictures of the ingredients in, you will have to use your imagination to conjure up the finished result.

This is how you make

Ingredients

1 ¾ lbs carrots
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 clove garlic
1 orange, zest and juice
1 tsp marmalade
2 knobs of butter
Salt and pepper

1 rasher of smoky bacon cut into strips.

Method

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
Peel carrots.
Leave them whole if small, chopping any larger ones up.
Get yourself a sheet of tin foil about 2 feet long, fold it in half to make a crease, and then open it out again.
Pile your carrots in the middle of the tin foil on one side of the crease.
Pick the leaves off the rosemary and finely chop.
Peel and finely slice garlic.
Scatter the rosemary and garlic over the carrots.
Grate over the zest from half of the orange, and add the marmalade, butter, bacon and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Fold the other half of the tin foil over the carrots and scrunch and seal the two sides of the tin foil bag together, leaving one end open.
Halve the orange and squeeze all the juice into the bag. Seal up the final side.
Place your tin foil bag on a baking tray in the preheated oven for around 50 minutes.
To serve, carefully pour the carrots and all their juices into a nice big serving dish.

 

Enjoy!

Photos from: Carrots, Garlic, Orange, Rosemary

friday favourites

I realise there are many blogs using a version of this type of post but as the saying goes, "If you can't beat them, join them!" and that is exactly what I am doing.

Each week I shall be revealing ten of my favourite things and discussing why I love them so...

This week, I felt it only appropriate to mention my favourite bloggers. I have been reading blogs for about two years now and have slowly built up a choice selection of my favourite bloggers. I love discovering new reads that write about things I love in an interesting  (and preferably funny) way. They are what inspired me to start my own blog and which (to sound extremely cheesy) give me constant inspiration. Here they are:

1: Chez Larsson - The best home and crafty/organising blog. This is the first blog I ever read. Benita lets you take a look into her life, and many projects she undertakes and makes sewing cushion covers sound fun.

 2: Sofia's Journal - Sofia is an interesting and informative writer who once again lets you follow her world. This blog has more of a focus on beauty and health but is my favourite new find. 

3: Live, Laugh, Eat - American Allie talks about food, food and food on this wonderful blog. She captures every meal she eats and documents her life. She also has some interesting posts on exercise and her food photography (I think) makes you drool. Some of the foods she mentions are American only, which can be a bit of a bummer, but her recipes for healthy food are delicious and definitely worth a look.

4. LLYMLRS - Everyone's favourite fashion blogger? Well she is certainly mine. Lily has a unique and original sense of style and refreshingly does not encourage her "followers" to simply imitate. I must say, her ability to pull of pretty much every outfit makes it difficult not to try and recreate a look but even if you can't quite pull off the black hat, her constant high street finds provide plenty of inspiration.

5: Matt's Travel Blog - An unusual choice as I think this blog is more aimed at his personal friends and family.However, fleurdeforce (my number 6!!) mentioned that Matt is a friend of hers and to check out his blog. I did and LOVED the photos. His posts as he travels Thailand (currently) make me dream of white sand beaches and blue skies. A nice distraction from this horrible British weather! 

6: Fleurdeforce

7: LilylovesLola

8:  Burntheblonde

9:  nessafyfessa  a friend of mines tumblr with gorgeous photos, topical videos and lovely little quotes. Simple, but definitely effective!

10: lollipop26writes - (Sadly, Laura is taking a break from blogging, but if she was still going she would be my number 1. Her posts are funny, informative and interesting. It is still most definitely worth a mention though as she has a huge back catalogue of posts to enjoy!)

I hope you enjoy them!

NB: all photos are from the blogs mentioned next to them and are not my own.

the dreaded photos

It pains me to put these on the Internet. I look terrible (which is why I have cropped my head out - I know I have photos of my face on the blog too but for now I would rather keep the face and body separate!) Here they are...

 

...not my most flattering angle I would say. These photos make my weight more real. When you (or at least I) look in a mirror my eyes deceive me. Up until this year I have let myself put on over 3 stone by just ignoring the issue, looking at myself and thinking "I suppose I don't look too bad!". Well, these photos show me how other people see me. And it isn't pretty. Mainly my bum looks out of proportion and is clearly where the majority of my weight goes. In proportion to the rest of my body my stomach seems relatively flat, but my hips are humongous! So, that is the visual representation of me, now time for the measurements.

Week 1 Measurements 

Bust:  39.5 inches
Chest: 32.5 inches
Waist: 33.5 inches
Hips: 43.5 inches

Bum: 46.5 inches
Thighs:  27.5 inches
Calves: 16 inches
Upper arm: 13.5 inches
Forearm: 10 inches

Those are my measurements in all their glory shame. I plan on updating my measurements and photos each month and weighing myself every fortnight. I am uploading quite a lot of embarrassment to this blog but have decided to keep my weight a secret and keep a little bit of self respect in tact! Instead, I will update the blog with how many lbs I have lost each week and how many lbs I still need to lose to reach my target weight.

I'd just like to add, in case anyone is reading this, I am losing weight for myself, because I need to and according to the NHS guidelines on weight, my BMI puts my as borderline overweight/obese. My weight loss journey is promoting a healthier life for myself and I will stop losing weight when I reach the recommended BMI for my height and age. In no way am I encouraging anorexia or eating disorders or a negative view on weight. I just want to be healthy and happy again!

Let's hope I will never have to cringe so much from looking at a set of photos ever again!

dear Topshop...

...I love your new SS11 collection. There is just too much stuff that I want. I shall be spending the last of my gift cards on this gorgeous bag. 

I love the colour and the pretty scalloped detail and can imagine myself throwing it on over a pretty summer dress.

 I feel Topshop can be a bit hit and miss, I do love quite a few items at the moment but haven't seen any I liked for a while. The other thing is I really don't think they are "affordable prices", they seem to always be on the increase. So, after I've spent the last of my gift cards I am going to have to save, save, save for the rest of my wish list.

 From Left to Right, Top to Bottom: Coral Suede Tassel Front Box Bag £25, Rust Floral Embroidered Trim Vest £28, Tea Dress £46, Brown Leather Contrast Buckle Purse £18, Knitted Peach Oversize Cape £44, Camel Striped Slashed Arm Tank Top £14 

Looking at that, I think I may have a thing for peachy, rusty coloured clothing...

ready for my close-up

Unfortunately this will be no vogue-esque photoshoot. Instead, tomorrow is the day that I am taking my "before" pictures before I embark upon my weight loss adventure. So tomorrow there will be some photos a-la Clare Nasir appearing on this blog...maybe without the lime green bikini though!

Whilst 3.5 stone (that's 49lbs) is my target weight loss to take me smack bang in the middle of my recommended BMI, I know that is going to be hard. The pictures, and also measurements, will hopefully encourage me when the scales aren't so kind. There will be new photos each week and hopefully as the blog gains more posts, I'll lose pounds.

In the February edition of the UK Cosmopolitan magazine they gave away Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet: A Weight-Loss Plan for Real Women which gave me the idea to photograph my progress. If anyone is trying to lose weight I would definitely recommend this book. The first half gives great advice and really helps you understand your eating habits and exactly why you eat too much. The second half is the actual diet which, in my opinion, is not so great. It is essentially a spin off of the Atkins diet and encourages a low carb way of living for the rest of your life, which is not something I necessarily agree with. In the words of Nigella, "Everything in moderation"! However, the advice that the authors give and their witty writing style makes this book worth buying anyway, it definitely spurred me on.

Tomorrow I will wake up and know that this is the biggest I am ever going to be (hopefully) forever.