Favourite Things-July Edition

Hello Everyone...

When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I am feeling sad. I simply remember my favourite things and then I don't feel so bad-! July Edition 

It is the end of the month again and so I thought I would share with you my favourite things from July. Here we go!

Favourite Book: Water for Elephants  

Out of the books that I have read over July, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen has been my favourite. The Flight of the Falcon by Daphne Du Maurier is a close second, but I read them both over my holiday and Water for Elephants was easier to read and the storyline was a little simpler. And so it wins! 

Water for Elephants Review

Before I Die Review

The Flight of the Falcon Review

Favourite Place Visited: Segovia 

I feel like after doing all those reviews on places I had seen in Spain, I had to choose my favourite place. Segovia wins by a mile! It is a beautiful city and I saw so many amazing things there. And it is also surrounded by mountains and I love the mountains so you know. 

Check out my review here 

And also...Plaza de Toros and Botanical Gardens

Favourite YouTube Channel: BuzzFeed 

BuzzFeed have several different channels dealing with different areas, for instance BuzzFeedBlue deals with more scientific stuff and DIYs videos, BuzzFeedYellow deals with society-orientated issues, like sexuality and more issues that I can't think of right now, BuzzFeedViolet is a lot of really relatable, awkward situations that you find yourself in, like 'Why am I always late?' and 'What people do when they are home-alone?' and BuzzFeedVideo is just a combination of nerdy, weird, funny things. And the videos are all quite short so you can watch them really easily, without wasting loads of time, and you learn some stuff so it's great.

BuzzFeedVideo 

BuzzFeedBlue

BuzzFeedYellow

BuzzFeedViolet  

Favourite Videos

YouTuber Rumours? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TitLRNH2WKc 

Surprising my brother on his birthday 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRXhWRq5EI8

The Definition of 'Sexy' around the World 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzlFh3DZF8g

The Christian Holocaust 

http://youtu.be/gJM-NSMjyKg  

Favourite Film: Inception

This film is incredible, to say the least. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won four of them for special effects and stuff. Inception is a film about dreams and dreams within dreams. An extractor, someone who can take information out of people's dreams, (Leonardo DiCaprio) has to plant an idea in the dream of the son of a very successful businessman to try and get him to divide his empire. The first ten minutes have you completely confused and most people have to watch it a few times in order to fully understand but it isn't frustrating if you don't get the whole story first time. On the contrary. It is fascinating. Christopher Nolan has done an amazing job at directing it and it has action sequences and it is really thrilling. Leonardo DiCaprio plays in it with Ellen Page and Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I really recommend you see it if you haven't already. 

Favourite Fact of July

When you are in water and the skin on your fingers and toes goes all crinkly, it is to improve your grip on wet and submerged objects and is an old adaptation that we no longer need because we don't live in water anymore.

Favourite Songs 

Super Trouper by ABBA

Voulez-Vous by ABBA

Waterloo by ABBA

I Don't Care, I Love It by Icona Pop

Angel with a Shotgun by The Cab

Try by P!nk

Elastic Heart by Sia 

A few little beauty/fashion items...

Sandals

I bought these from Marks and Spencer because my old ones had a sole that was wearing very thin and I kept slipping in them. These cost about £29.00, I think, but they are really comfortable. I did a lot of walking in them and I didn't get any blisters or anything. They are really sturdy as well, a reason why I don't like flip-flops very much because they are really flimsy sometimes. These sandals do give you some strange tan lines but that is the only complaint. 

Palmer's Coconut Oil Formula Leave In Conditioner 

I have nothing but praise to give this. As I think I have mentioned before, I am cursed with having really thin frizzy hair which is horrible. Especially after being in the water, (in the sea or swimming pool) and the humidity, (in England or Spain), my hair gains about five centimeters of frizz that just grows and grows. I don't even know where it comes from because I don't have a lot of hair. But this conditioner doesn't make it feel greasy or oil and all of the tangles brush out really easily and it smells divine. I also have a really difficult time brushing my hair when it is dry and usually have to comb it because using a brush is sort of a death wish and this really helps calm it. 

Mango Body Butter

This, I have mixed feelings about. Sometimes, I love it but sometimes, not so much. However, I have been using it a lot during July so I thought that it deserved a mention. This is the Body Shop's Body Butter in the scent Mango. I have their Body Mist in Grapefruit but the Grapefruit Body Butter smells really weird, I thought, so I went for mango instead. On the one hand, this is really moisturizing and its scent stays on the skin for a long time but on the other hand, you have to be careful with how much you put on because it can leave your skin feeling very oily and uncomfortable. So you have to find a balance.  

And there you have it! Favourites from July, done and dusted! As always, I hope you enjoyed it. 

Clare

La Mujer Muerta and other stuff in Segovia

Hey everyone...

So, I promise that this will be my last post about my holiday. But I wanted to talk about Segovia because I really enjoyed it and it was our last day in Spain and so it was a very special time. Okay, whatever. By the way, this is probably going to be a really long blog post, simply because there are a lot of pictures that I want to put in, so if you don't like that, I suggest you don't start reading.  

Segovia is part of the region of Castille and León. It is not too far from Madrid and it takes about an hour, give or take, to drive there. We crossed the mountains by driving through a tunnel that went underneath it and then you are pretty much there. Now, I was with my brother, godmother, her husband and their child and at first, we all went to these gardens that were close to Segovia in this little town. Word of Advice to anyone travelling around Europe: bring identification if you are a student. Pretty much every price is reduced to get into castles and monuments and things and some places are free (like the Prado) if you are a student. So bring something!

These gardens were free to get into, though. There was also a large house, as you can see in the photo above. I was told that no one is living there at present but we didn't go inside it, so I don't know. (I would just like to say that while I am writing this, the sky is very overcast and I am looking at that sky above the house and just wishing that I was back in Spain...anyway! Back on track!) I don't know who made these gardens so I won't be able to tell you anything about that but I can say that it was very exotic. There were all these different fountains and pools that were decorated with statues. Some statues were gold, some were silver, some were bronze. It was really incredible. They were all different shapes and sizes, some were on different levels, some were square, some were in a semi-circle. It was amazing. Also pictured above  are some of the statues in front of the house that we saw. I have to say some of those were slightly odd, there were sphinxes and women with children growing out of their backs but some were cool so you know. Each to his own, I guess. 

And then, we went to the actual city of Segovia. In terms of geography, I think it must be quite high up but then again, it is surrounded by mountains, so I am not sure. We did have to climb many stairs to get up to it though. In the picture, you can see the cathedral in the background and that was the first place we visited in Segovia. Now, being a Catholic, I have been in so many cathedrals in my life across the globe, in Italy and France and Brazil and everywhere. But Segovia's cathedral wins the prize for being the best. Whoever built it, *applauds*. You did your job well. Even the organ was covered in gold leaf and icons and decorations and things. It was mind-blowing. And all around the edge of the cathedrals were these shrines to different saints and every single one of them was decorated in a different way. If you like cathedrals, for some reason, this one is a must see. You can even climb the tower but it was closed when we went there. I think you have to go in the morning or something. The detail on everything was extraordinary; the gates were all decorated, the ceiling was decorated, the floor was decorated. Above every archway there was some decoration or design. It was amazing.

The three pictures above are different shrines. I am not sure which saint they were dedicated to but you can just admire the general atmosphere

This is the tower that you can climb

Just look at that. How incredible is that!

 And then, after the cathedral, we went to the edge of Segovia where there is a Roman aqueduct. Apparently, in the past, Segovia used to be a river and so the Romans built this aqueduct to channel the water. And here it is. (Sorry for the people in front of it but it was so crowded.) If you at centre in the top row, there is a little statue of Mary. I was told a legend that had to do with pagans and Christians but I am not sure of the exact details. The story went that some pagans were going to try and build the entire aqueduct in a night and they managed it except for that little bit there and so the Christians put the statue there instead. I don't know. But it was something like that. And then you could climb up this huge flight of stairs and be at the same level as the top level of the aqueduct. And you can see all these mountains surrounding Segovia and there is one that the locals call the 'La Mujer Muerta' which means the dead woman because it looks like a woman who has died in childbirth.

La Mujer Muerta
You can see her head, her pregnant stomach in the middle and then her feet at the end

And did you know that knockers on doors on old houses, when they are really high up, is not because everyone in the past was really tall but because they used to knock on the door when they were sitting on a horse? I didn't know that. And also, we saw a jail that had been converted into a library and a bunch of buildings that were decorated in something that looked very Celtic but obviously wasn't (because we were in Spain) but was from the Medieval period.

But, I think that is it, finally. I know that it was long but we did see a lot. I hope you enjoyed parts of it, even if I seem to get overly excited about the most mundane things. Anyway, I think the last blog post of July will be my favourites and my second novel is coming out really, really soon! Finally!

Clare