HARRY POTTER STUDIO TOUR 2014

Yesterday I went to the 'Warner Bros Studios: The Making of Harry Potter' studio tour for the second time. The first time I went I was amazed, and I thoroughly enjoyed it...except for being horribley ill with a migraine, so I ended up missing a lot of it on the way round. My dad surprised me with tickets as a late Christmas present and this time, I was ill again but not so ill, and I managed to see almost everything - I'm sure of it. I even ended up buying myself a time turner!

I've put together a little video of all my photos and short video clips of the day, I took over 1000 so I've condensed them down quite a bit. We were there for over 4 hours, and this is only a 12 minute video so enjoy it.

I do not own any rights to the music in this video. All rights belong to Warner Bros.

WHAT I GOT FOR CHRISTMAS (part 2)

This year I am going to be having three christmasses: The one on Christmas day, one at my mum house (this blog post) and one at my best friend, Amy's, house later on in 2014. I just exchanged gifts with my mum and step-dad and thought I'd share with you what I got.

Just as another disclaimer, I am not trying to, in any way, brag. I know a lot of people enjoy reading these, and I enjoy writing about them so I can look back in the future at the memories. Also, I know I have been utterly spoilt this year. 

No stocking is complete without a chocolate teddy or a chocolate Santa. In my opinion, chocolate teddies are much cuter. 

This was actually a late present from my dad, but he lost it on Christmas day haha. Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer - best primer I've tried to date. 

I've been needing some cloths for ages, for university. My mum put these in my stocking because she knew that. Apparently these ones are really good because they work with just water, so you don't need to use antibacterial sprays etc. if you don't have them. She's given me two big ones and a small one for computer screens etc. 

Just a little stocking filler, but aren't these tissues cute. I don't want to blow my nose into them they're so pretty. They're in a handy little fold-up wallet which means that they won't get ruined if I shove them into my bag. 

How beautiful is this coaster? It's made of stone and it looks really antique and gorgeous. It will look beautiful on my bedside table at university.  

A beautiful red, large beaded bracelet. The light catches on each of the little bobble beads, it's beautiful and I love it. 

I've only tried two other types of teapigs tea. This one is by far my favourite. It's not 'spicy' spices, but it has a lovely scent to it, it's gorgeous. I would definitely recommend this tea. 

Clarins have always had beautiful skin care products. These are sample sizes of their HydraQuench Cream Mask, and HydraQuench Cream. These are some of the most hydrating face masks and moisturisers that I have ever tried, and I would really recommend trying them. 

It's almost a necessity that a stocking has chocolate coins in it.

This soap is really rich and lovely. I won't be using it on my hands, but I've put it in my underwear drawer because the smell reminds me of something my mum used to put in my underwear drawer when I was little. 

According to my mum this mineral foundation came with my chanel mascara (which will come up in a minute). This colour is too dark for my skin, but I'm going to try it as a bronzer. It looks lovely.

Well...what can I say about these? yum

My step-dad was the person who convinced my mum to get this. 1334 pieces of lego to make a campervan. I finished it within 10 hours, and I loved it. I can't wait to get another one.

I'm so excited to read the Bridget Jones series, I've seen all the films and I love them and books always tend to be better than the films. I'll probably write a book review on the series once I've finished, which shouldn't be too far away.

This is a Liz Earl hot cloth polish, which I haven't tried yet, but it smells lovely and it's my mum's favourite so I'm excited to try it. 

This is a sample size of a chanel mascara. I really like this because it's in a squeezy tuby bottle and not a normal mascara tube, which means I'm able to get more out of it when it runs low. So far it seems very nice. 

There's not much I can say about this. This is a set of 10 of the most popular O.P.I nail varnishes. I've tried each one on one nail and I love them all. I think my favourite is the darkest brown one.

Just a silly little stocking filler. These are some really pretty pegs, which according to my mum reminded her of me which is why she got them. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR: New years resolutions.

Well, that's 2013 over and done with...now we're on to 2014.

Here's to writing 2013 as the date for the next few months!

How was your year?

Mine was definitely up and down. The most memorable moments of my year are:

getting my first job,

quitting my first job,

getting my gorgeous bunny rabbit, Weasley,

getting into university,

starting up this blog and

seeing my best friend for the first time in, what seems like, forever!

Around this time of year a lot of people tend to set themselves goals - or new years resolutions - for the new year. I recently saw a facebook status criticizing people for doing this: not for setting themselves goals, but for waiting until this time of year to do so. This got me thinking, do people just wait for this time of year to come around for them to set goals, or is 'new years' a trigger for them to do so? Why can't people set themselves goals any time of year? Is this just a 'fashion' of such that means that we can't announce our goals at any other time of year without being judged? I don't think there's a real answer for these questions, but I feel as though 'new years' triggers me to want to do something different in the next year.

I have two goals for this year:

lose weight (typical or what?)

and to do more with my life. I want to do at least 4 memorable things per month, things that can be written on my calender, plans that will impact my life, and make memories. Take photos of these memories and create a scrapbook of this year. 

Do you have any goals for the year?

What are your thoughts on setting goals?

Maltesers Cheesecake!

I don't know about you, but every time I watch a video or film that has food in it, I always fancy that food. Recently I watched a youtubers video and saw their Christmas eve meal, and for their desert they made a maltesers cheesecake, and ever since then I've really wanted one. I've been looking up recipes and today I've finally got around to making one - and it is delicious, if I do say so myself. 

Disclaimer: I am not a chef. The recipe I adapted this from is here so please use that recipe if you wish to.

For this recipe you will need:

• 125g melted butter
• 100g digestive biscuits
• 400g maltesers
• 800g cream cheese/soft cheese
• 200ml soured cream
• 200g icing sugar
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 100ml double cream

First things first is you need to have a container of some sort to put your cheesecake in. Here I am using a "spring form cake tin" which means that I can take the outside of the cake tin away from the base, which i thought would be pretty useful for this cheesecake. Another good idea for a cheesecake is to put it into a glass serving dish, so you can see the layers but you don't have to worry if you don't have a spring form cake tin.
Once you have chosen your container, grease it. The recipe suggests to grease it with melted butter, but I decided to use grease proof paper and that worked perfectly well, for my standards. 

In a blender mix together the digestive biscuits and 200g of the maltesers until they are all completely blended and look like breadcrumbs. 

In a bowl melt the butter. Then add the digestive mixture to it and mix. This doesn't look pretty but it tastes pretty damn gooo-oood. This is the crust for your cheesecake.

Pop the mixture into your container, pressing it down with the back of a spoon to make sure it is as even as possible, and is pushed into all of the gaps. make sure there are no holes in it or the filling will fall through - and that will get messy. Put this in the fridge for at least half an hour. 

After half an hour as passed you should start making your filling. To do this you should whisk up your double cream until it goes thick, like this. 

Add to a large bowl the double cream, the cream cheese, the vanilla, the icing sugar and the sour cream and whisk up until it is all combines and smoothe. 

Do not make the mistake I made! Crush up 150g of the maltesers BEFORE you put them in the bowl. I made the mistake of putting them in whole, thinking my electric whisk would crush them up for me - no such luck. I ended up having to get my rolling pin out and crushing them whilst they were in the mixture, which turned out very messy. 

After you have crushed up your maltesers fold them into the mixture. This is now your filling for your cheesecake. 

Put your filling onto your chilled crust. Make sure you have spread the mixture out evenly, it recommends banging your cheesecake on the counter to make sure it forms properly with the crust. Pop this into the fridge for at least 2 hours, although I would recommend more.