190. Loving Lately...

Here's a quick rundown of what has been making me happy recently, from food to make-up, books to films!
What's floating my boat?

Reading: I've been getting stuck in to A Force To Be Reckoned With: A History of the Women's Institute by Jane Robinson for a couple of weeks now, and I'm really enjoying it. The WI has always intrigued me - not only do they love tea and cake, but they have done so much incredible work over the years and it's so interesting to learn about. I'm expecting to finish this book this week, so I'll post a review - see if it sounds like your kind of thing!

Watching: I've been really getting back into my TV lately, as a result of poor nights' sleep and, therefore, spending the rest of my days off on the sofa! I'm re-watching Peep Show from the beginning, I'm really enjoying ITV's new drama Home Fires which is about the WI (do you see a theme going on here?!) and, as recommended by my sister, Jane the Virgin which is a new comedy on E4. Film-wise, I watched Kingsman yesterday with S and it was brilliant - funny and action-packed!

Eating and Drinking: It would be a lot faster simply to list what I haven't been eating recently, as I've been hungry 24/7! I've been trying to incorporate more fruit into my diet in the form of smoothies, and I'll be sharing some recipes over the weekend. I've not had much energy to prepare any fancy meals, but S and I had a tasty Mexican inspired cottage pie last week, which I blogged about here. 

Beauty: I finished my Snow Fairy shower gel this week and I miss the smell of it already! I wish I had stocked up whilst it was still available... I'll just have to wait until next Christmas and then hit Lush! I've really been loving a new lipstick that I picked up in Superdrug recently - it's L'Oreal Paris Color Riche in the shade 'Julianne's Nude'. It's a gorgeous, subtle dusty rose colour and its perfect for pale girls like me who want to add a pop of colour without overdoing it.

What have you been loving lately?

173. Film Review - Still Alice

When I saw that the critically acclaimed Still Alice was showing at my local cinema, I knew that I had to go so me and my Mum headed down to see it last night. I'd been wanting to watch it for a while as I felt that the story line was very different and interesting and sounded just my cup of tea. 

Still Alice tells the story of Alice Howland, a linguistics professor, who discovers at the age of 50 that she has early onset Alzheimer's when she begins to forget words and gets lost on a run around her local area. Worrying that she has a brain tumour, she visits a neurologist where she is diagnosed, after several tests. 

This is an incredibly moving story of a woman, still in her prime with a fantastic career and a beautiful family, coming to terms with such devastating news and it is approached so sensitively and respectfully. The moment when Alice tells her family the news really made a lump in my throat as Julianne Moore's performance was just so believable. The fact that Alice apologises to her family for having this condition, which can be passed on genetically, is heartbreaking and made me really empathise for the character even more as it showed that she cared more for her family and their health, than her own.

Watching Alice deteriorate - at times, incredibly quickly - was pretty hard to watch and the whole cinema remained practically silent, as if holding their breath to see what happened next, throughout the entire film. 

I loved how realistic the film was. As strong as Alice tries to be by carrying on with her career and daily life, trying to prevent further memory loss by testing herself daily, I'm pleased that it was demonstrated that at some point Alice did have to admit defeat. She wasn't portrayed as a tragic hero, she was portrayed as a normal woman, thrown into an unfair and upsetting, but real, situation.

Without giving away too much of the story, Still Alice is a very sad film but created in the most beautiful way. The acting is top notch, in particular from Julianne Moore and Kristen Stewart - who plays Alice's youngest daughter, Lydia - and the film is easy to follow, whilst still being very informative and insightful into the delicate matter of Alzheimer's disease. 

The only thing that I struggled with was, at times, relating to the characters in the film. They live a very affluent lifestyle, the characters have high-flying careers and are all beautiful, athletic and intelligent. The relationships demonstrated between characters, however, were easy to relate to as were the emotions and topics that were covered.

All in all, I really enjoyed Still Alice. It's not a particularly fast paced film and its definitely not an action-packed epic, but it's a very moving, insightful and delicate account of one woman, and one families', struggle with the devastation that is Alzheimer's disease.

122. Lifestyle // My Month in Movies

As it’s the end of May, it’s now time for me to run through my top films this month…  I’m really getting back into reading at the moment, so many of my evenings have consisted of enjoying a good book, rather than curling up to watch a movie, so I haven’t watched that many films at all in May!

Pineapple Express

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My love for James Franco and Seth Rogan led S and I to this film on a quiet, lazy weekend. It’s a real stoner comedy, based around two guys who get caught up in a crime, and has all the elements you need for a great comic film. Although it was funny, it wasn’t as laugh out loud funny as Seth’s other films, which left me feeling quite disappointed but there were some hilarious moments (like when Franco's character gets his leg stuck in the windscreen). I probably would watch it again but I can’t rave about it, which is a shame. (7/10)

Hope Springs

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I’m a big fan of ‘feel-good’ films, and Meryl Streep, so this was a winner for me before it had even begun. The film follows an older, married couple who have lost the spark in their relationship, through the ups and downs of an intensive marriage counselling course. Meryl Streep is, as always, wonderful and Tommy Lee Jones played a brilliant part too; they were both very believable and relatable. It’s a wonderfully emotionally but, ultimately, feel-good film and I’d recommend it to anyone if you're looking for a heart-warming, easy watch. (8/10)

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

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I reluctantly suggested to S that for our date night a couple of weeks ago, we should head to the local cinema to watch the latest Spiderman movie, as he’s a huge comic book film fan. I actually semi-enjoyed the last Spiderman movie, starring Andrew Garfield, but nonetheless I wasn’t really looking forwards to seeing the second installement. However, I was very pleasantly surprised! Andrew Garfield was excellent as Peter Parker, cute, cool and a little bit nerdy, and Emma Stone.. well, just, Emma Stone. *Girl crush*. There was just the right amount of humour, action, violence and romance – it was never ‘too’ anything, it was ‘just right.’ Even if you don’t think you’d enjoy this, I’d recommend giving it a try as you may well be pleasantly surprised.  (8/10)

Other than these three movies, I also watched Jackass 3 which was gross but awesome, sorry not sorry!

Will you be giving any of these movies a watch this weekend?

103. Lifestyle // My Month in Movies - March

It's the start of April - SPRING, AT LAST! - so it's about time I posted My Month in Movie's for March. I didn't watch that many films last month but the ones that I did manage to watch, were some really top notch movies. Here's a lowdown of what I thought of a few of them...

Gravity

Gravity received rave reviews from both critics and the general public so, although I have no (literally, none whatsoever) interest in space or science, I thought I'd best give it a watch. S and I rented it from our local video shop and settled in for the night.

I was absolutely blown away by this movie. Seriously, I couldn't look away from the screen. Not only are the graphics outstanding, the acting is brilliant and - although in some parts there's very little dialogue (as a large part of the film contains only one character, the fantastic Sandra Bullock, whose character is just so believable) - it never feels as though it's lacking anything.

There's a lot of drama, a lot of suspense and so many moments where you're wondering 'oh my god, what's going to happen?!' I don't want to spoil the film by giving away much of the story-line but, if you haven't already seen it, you really must. (9/10)

Catching Fire

I loved the first Hunger Games movie and fell, ever so slightly massively, in love with Jennifer Lawrence in her portrayal of Katniss Everdeen, so I was super excited to catch the second installment. Unfortunately, we missed it in the cinema, so when it came out on DVD we rented it at the first chance we had.

Although I haven't read the books and get kind of confused about the politics behind the districts and the actual Hunger Games themselves, I thoroughly enjoyed it. There was just the right amount of action and gore, but with so much sentiment and some really important messages on friendship, family and ethics. (7.5/10)

The Book Thief

My favourite film of March had to be The Book Thief. I'd just finished reading the book (you can read my review here) when I saw that the film was going to be released in my local cinema. As mentioned in my Sunday Summary this week, my friend Becca and I went to see it on Wednesday. She hadn't read it, but still loved it just as much - if not more! - than me.

For those of you who don't know the story, a young girl, Liesel (played by the incredibly talented Sophie Nélisse) is sent to live with foster parents in Germany during WW2. The film tells the story of her progression through her teenage years and all the tears, adventures and heartbreak that she experiences along the way.

I know that lots of people don't like to watch a film if they've already read the book but, for me, it's all part of the experience. You read it and visualise it using your own imagination, and then you sit down and watch someone else bring it to life. The film doesn't stray too far from the original story, but there are - of course - some "Hollywood moments" added in, and , unfortunately but understandably, some of the brilliant - but not crucial to the overall story - parts of the are book missed out. (9.5/10)

Apart from the above films, I also watched some other great movies; Filth which is a dark British comedy-drama (7.5/10), the ever-so-sh*t Bad Grandpa (3/10), the eery and gripping (and also starring the oh-so-beautiful Jake Gyllenhall and total DILF Hugh Jackman) Prisoners (8/10) and - at last - the cult-classic, smack-shooting Trainspotting (8/10).

* IMAGES: SOURCE 1, SOURCE 2, SOURCE 3 *

95. Lifestyle // My Month in Movies

Today's post is something a little different; it isn't a product review, a wishlist or even a recipe idea. Nope, today I'm going to share with you my top films of January. I'm hoping to do a post like this every month; as I watch so many films (Shane and I don't have TV in our bedroom so we live on Love Film, Now TV, etc) I thought it might be a fun way of sharing what I've enjoyed each month, so here goes...

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

We kicked off the year with a fantastic choice after some recommendations from many lovely Twitter-er-er-er's (?!) and headed down to our local cinema (which, by the way, is based a totally awesome art-deco building - cool, eh?) and settled down to watch Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, and we weren't disappointed.

Before watching the film, I knew the basics about Mandela, the apartheid and South Africa's history as I'm a massive history dork, but this film informed us about Mandela's personal life, his volatile relationship with Winnie Mandela, his struggle and - of course - his ultimate success. Idris Elba, as well as being absolutely incredible to look at, played a wonderful Mandela; the accent was spot on as were his mannerisms, and - as cliche as it sounds - I really believed, and felt for, him. 

9/10

Sightseers

This was a quirky, little British film that we stumbled across whilst browsing Love Film one evening. On a whim, we decided to stick it on and give it a go and it turned out to be AWESOME. Produced by Edgar Wright (think Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz!), it's a black comedy which revolves around a somewhat awkward couple who go away on a roadtrip, but it's not all plain sailing...

What initially appears to be a pretty boring, lame caravan trip, turns into a mass killing spree. Not what you were expecting? Nope, us either. The characters - in particular Tina, "the girlfriend" - are so likeable and very real - as one of the posters says, "Killers have never been so average." It's most definitely not a feel-good film but it will make you laugh (and wince at the same time). 

7.5/10

As well as these two absolute babes, we also watched Identity Thief (hilarious and heart-warming), The Watch (pretty funny), The English Teacher (slightly slow but brilliant - Julianne Moore, you belter), The Way Way Back (despite the fantastic cast, a bit of a bore), Small Apartments (worth a watch), Riddick 3 (I fell asleep... 'nuff said), Bolt (you don't have to be a kid to watch cartoons!) and the incredibly disappointing Why Stop Now? 

33. Films // My Top Three

I fancied doing something a little different today as I have no recipes, film reviews or lifestyle posts in mind, so I thought I'd list my three favourite films.

I love these personal posts as I feel they're a good way to get to know someones personality and something about them and, to be honest, if you're reading someones blog - it's nice to know whose life you're reading about!

I'm a huge movie fan. When I was younger my favourite videos included The Fox & The Hound and The Swan Princess. Cartoons were my absolute favourite! Over the years, my film tastes have ranged from rom-coms to action to horror, and now they're a bit of a mixed bag!

1. The Last of the Mohicans

History (in particular the history of native American's in the United States) is my absolute passion. It's a huge interest of mine and it's also what I'm studying at university, with the intention of becoming either a history writer or history teacher.

This 1992 film is, as you probably guessed from the name, about native Americans and tells the story of of a tribe of 'Indians' and a group of British; it's a tale of romance, tragedy and honour. It's got a brilliant cast including Daniel Day-Lewis and has one of the best soundtracks in a film ever (seriously, ever). 

You are guaranteed to shed a tear through this film as parts of the story is devastatingly sad and yet very true to life. 

2. Bridesmaids

Admittedly, this 2011 film is a big contrast to the above movie! I love comedy films and this one is top of the list for me. Although it initially sounds like a soppy rom-com, it is so much more than that and it's not too girly - there are even some 'poo' scenes involved.

The film tells the story of one (hilarious) woman in the lead up to her (also hilarious) bestfriends wedding. There are a lot of 'issues' a long the way, and nothing really seems to go to plan... I know it's so cheesy and so American but it really is a 'laugh-a-minute.'

I've watched this movie a million times and I could watch it a million more. No matter how many times I've seen it, certain lines make me laugh every time and Kristen Wiig is just absolutley hilarious. I think girls everywhere can relate to certain characters or moments in this film!

3. Inglourious Basterds

Besides the fact that this 2009 film stars Brad Pitt *swoon* this film is undoubtedly in my top 3! Again as it's - albeit loosely - based on historical fact, it was instantly up there on my 'must watch' list and I wasn't disappointed!

Quentin Tarantino is an absolute legend of film-making and this film doesn't let him down. The storyline is amazing and there are so many moments of humour thrown in too. Christopher Waltz is also absolutely incredible as a Nazi 'Jew hunter.' Although it is a gory watch (seriously, do NOT watch this film if you're squeamish) there is also romance in there too.

Awesome. That's the best word to describe it.

So, what do you think of my film choices?

Have you seen any of them yourself?

Love,

Becci xox

17. BEDM // Pampering

Hello lovelies! 

I'm having a bit of a rotten day, well, a bit of a rotten week to be honest so pampering is the perfect topic for me right now as it's exactly what I need.

To me, pampering myself is an important part of my life. We all work so hard, do so much for others and have very little time for ourselves, so when we finally do get a night to ourselves we should embrace it! For me, that can involve many things.

How do I pamper myself?

- Grab a bar of chocolate, a huge glass (or two..) of wine & snuggle up in bed with my boyfriend and spend the night watching films.

- Get out of the house! I love a nice walk and I'm lucky enough to live in a really beautiful part of the world so there's always somewhere lovely to go. I always end the walk in a cafe with a huge coffee (or hot chocolate, yum!) and a good book.

- Seeing a friend always makes me feel much better too. Whether it's lunch somewhere, a girls night in or just a wander around the shops, it always perks me up so much. 

- Run myself a red-hot bubble-bath, light some candles, play some music & relax. A bubble-bath can cure anything. I mean it. 

And then, of course, there are the beauty treatments! 

I love a good face mask as they're a) so cheap, b) quick & easy and c) always leave my skin feeling as smooth as a baby's bum *cringe* and I find painting my nails quite therapeutic too, as bizarre as that sounds. Perhaps it's because I know that I have to take my time.

So, as you can probably tell, my ideal pamper day would be as follows: a long lie-in, lunch in a lovely cafe with a friend, a nice walk around the park, finishing off a good book (and a good cup of coffee!) somewhere, a bubble-bath and a few beauty treatments and then ending the day in bed, with my boyfriend, a trashy film and plenty of food and drink.

I would actually be in heaven. I can't wait for a day off work so I can do just this :-)

How do you pamper yourselves?

Do you like the sound of my pamper day?