My music for June!

Summer Playlist Faves! 

I use Spotify to listen to music which means I'm always discovering new music through the suggestions on the app, which I love. So I thought I would share some of my summer favourites with you. I have a few playlists with hundreds and hundreds of songs and artists on them so I have to be very selective!

My playlists are named: 

• Disney (no shame, I love Disney tunes for cleaning up and cheering me up)
• I'm 16 Again (songs I loved when I was younger in general)
• R&B
• Home (I made this playlist when I was travelling and felt very homesick and decided to listen to songs with the title 'home' in them)
• Female Power (gotta have some Beyonce and Iggy in there)
• Gym (motivational pumping iron stuff here, duh)
• Summer Chill
• anndddd TUNES (pretty much all new music goes in here)

I'm going to make this a monthly thing because I generally listen to new music all the time and sometimes I have it pretty seasonal. I like to go to a lot of gigs too, so sometimes I'll use my Bandsintown app (Songkick is really awesome too) to see who's coming to town and I'll have a listen and see if I like them. 




Lately I've been loving: (courtesy of my 'summer chill' playlist) 

• Chet Faker

An Australian Electronica Musician, what's not to love? I've seen him live this year and he was amazing, he has such a perfect recording voice. Really chilled, calm (kind of sultry?) vibes from his music. Plus he has a beard, and beards are awesome. 

Here's a cover of no-diggity to ease you in: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1JsBhRCRH0

Here's one of my favourites: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPy5igZJnVw

• SOJA

An American group. I'm not good with naming genres but I don't know... I'd say they're reggae chilled awesomeness. That's the genre they fit into. I did actually google them just to see what genre they consider themselves but no luck pour moi. I listen to these lovely lads when I'm chilling in the sun or with friends on speakers. I'm also a fan girl for dreads and beards. 

Here's a super popular song: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X572Mp_r46E

Here's my favourite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30GHWqX4OEo

• SOHN

Sohn  (Real name Christopher Taylor), is an English musician, songwriter, and producer based in Vienna, Austri of the Electronic genre (Thank you wikipedia). I don't generally research musicians, I just listen to their music. I think SOHN's tunes are so so catchy and unique (to my ears). I could just listen to SOHN all the time. So summery, chilled, passionate and great. Definitely give him a listen! He's touring Europe at the moment I think. I'm seeing him in Croatia this summer and Glasgow in September, so if you like him see if he'll be anywhere near you! 

My favourite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9btsq496hkQ

Super passionate and beautiful: (my my what a high voice he has)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlLJcbK7Xiw 

• Cas Haley

The runner up on America's got talent 2007. Don't let that put you off, the show did good! I personally think it's better not to win that show anyway because the artists disappear for ages before anything happens. He's a reggae rock musician and I love his vibes.

America's got talent link, why not see him years ago?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S59zM4rmNjU

My favourite (I just love his covers):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S39WmWZEFYg

• Michael Franti

An American musician and poet. This man has the sexiest voice, but in a very strange way. He fits the genres of hip-hop, reggae, rock, folk and many more. What a lovely little variety. Yet again, a dreaded man. I honestly don't even know what artists look like when I listen to them. Maybe dreadlocks have some sort of magical musical power. 

His most popular according to the side bit on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01FE9cPXE3M

My favourite. So chilled, I can't help put move to this: (I listen on spotify so this was the best I could find):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMaNSyD-da0

Another goodie (with his band), go on listen and be free:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgBq_feHYQ4

• John Butler Trio

An Australian man called John Butler and his band mates. I've loved this mad for years, so he fits every season to me. Alternative rock, bluegrass, blues rock, Reggae, and many more! He's so talented as a singer, songwriter and guitarist. He cheers me up with his tunes. I've seen them live this year and it was a great night. He used to have dreads and he cut them. None of his musical talent has been lost with the loss as far as I'm aware. Maybe the dreads create everlasting talent. 

Ocean, which is just him and a guitar for a long time and it's magical: (There's a 12 minute version of him live outside somwhere that is amazing, find it!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VAkOhXIsI0

One of my favourites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiBxYDyyb14

• Ben Harper

I discovered Ben Harper because when I was much younger I was pretty obsessed with Heath Ledger and they were apparently friends. Nowadays, I listen to him because his music is beautiful and chilled. Folk rock, blues rock, alternative rock, gospel, reggae galore! Listen to this beautiful musician and enjoy.

His most suggestion popular on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAnlXD9Gaag&list=AL94UKMTqg-9CajzbQhyzRydZEB0nBBow_

My favourite (it used to make me cry and I don't know why):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJUOcrQ9_RM

• Jack Johnson

An American singer song writer and surfer fitting into the genres of folk rock, indie pop and surf. This cheery little chap has been around for years. Well, most of these musicians have but Mr. Johnson has been commercially famous for a while. He was my best friend's first ever album that she bought so that's my memory that I always associate with him. He is just so so summer and happy and chilled. His music makes you just sit and appreciate life and want to be a better person. So sit back, relax and enjoy.

One of his makers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqUdI4AIDF0&list=AL94UKMTqg-9DECNG_F7IWiMU6L6jgB3LB

My favourite (I wish I could obey this song all the time, just listen to that rain in the background, mmmm):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Graa_Vm5eA

That's it from me! This turned out to be a lot longer than I had planned but I just love talking about music. It also took a while to write because I had may have listened to all the songs I posted and chilled mid-way.

I'll see you for a similar post next month!

If you enjoyed this and want to see similar things in the future then please let me know in the comments!

Much love, have a beautiful day.

-Tessatata xoxo

Watermelon Nails!

I've been drinking... Watermelon!

I've been embracing the colours I purchased recently and I've created a pretty watermelon look for my nails. All the colours and polished I used are shown in the picture above. They're mainly from Primark or the local drugstore and are all pretty inexpensive. 

I wish I was better at this blogging milarke, I haven't been able to show the step by step tutorial AGAIN because my camera is so heavy and I'm not the best at doing nails so it would have been disastrous. So, I'll type the steps instead! This is a lovely summery look and I have gotten a lot of compliments on them already!

Make sure to give each step time to dry before trying the next one! There's a lot of colour going over base coats and it'll just smudge if it's still wet! :) 

Steps:

I firstly used the pink colour and painted my nails up to the JUST before the tips (with two coats for everything because my polishes are cheap). 

I then used the light apple green and painted straight across the tips.

Then, I took a light pink (you can use white or any light colour really, I just used what I had lying around) and with a tooth pick I drew a line in between the darker pink and the green to create a more gradient effect. 

I then used a separate toothpick and dipped it into my black nail varnish and dotted a lot of pips on to each nail. You can do lots too or just 3 or 4 would be cute too, it depends on what you like. 

Then, dun dun dun, another toothpick was used to draw the thin dark green lines over the light green tips to give the impression of the watermelon outer (skin?) bit. 

I then took a clear glitter nail polish and used it over the tips of the nails to make them stand out a little more and create a super girly effect.

Finally, I used a clear coat to seal it all together and make sure that the watermelon nails last longer!

I did this look for four of my nails on each hand and then chose to have one nail entirely apple green with dark green stripes (and glitter!) to give a little bit of variety and edge to the look. You can pick any of your nails to be the green one, the thumb would be nice too. If you don't want to do that you can just have all of the nails the same, it's up to you. There's a lot of variety with your own nails!

Make sure not to rush this or it could end up smudging or going wrong! Do it when you have a little bit of free time set aside.

This took me 25 minutes (I watched Tangled and painted my nails which was a fun multi-tasking experience). 

If you like this look or have any suggestions for my next nail design then let me know in the comments!

Much love, I hope you have a really lovely day!

-Tessatata xoxo

The Fault in Our Stars Review!

Book and Film!Book: 

The first time I heard of The Fault in Our Stars (TFIOS) was in 2012. I was living and working in Xinjiang, China with two other girls. We taught English during the day and read a lot of books and watched a lot of films in the evenings! My two flatmates were big big youtube fans and loved the Vlogbrothers, thus their love for John Green's literature came very naturally to them.

I initially heard about the book when my flatmate got the 'pain demands to be felt' quote tattood onto her leg. Without any context that was an odd one for me to understand, so she told me it was from her favourite book (then my flatmates proceeded to talk about John Green for days) and I eventually got round to reading it. I love the book, I know a massive proportion of it's readers really connect with the story in lots of ways and I did too. 

The novel centres around two American young adults, Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters, who have both experienced Cancer. Hazel is living a long term  battle with lung cancer, which results in her being ill and unable to 'keep up' with others her age on various occasions in the book. Augustus Waters is a survivor of cancer who meets Hazel when he attends a support group as an act of solidarity for his friend Isaac who is about to undergo a life changing  operation. The story follows Hazel and Augustus as they fall in love with each other and face the challenges that many ill, or healthy, people experience in life. One of the main themes in the book is acceptance. I say that generally as it means acceptance of situations, other people and life in general. Augustus is determined that his life is only significant if lots of people remember and mourn him. Hazel is understanding of her lot in life and is happy with what she has. The story is (in my opinion) beautifully written, especially for teenagers enjoyment, and captivating from the start. It's witty, inspiring and sad throughout and I am very pleased to have read it (twice). 

Having read TFIOS, I have moved on to read many other of John Green's books because I enjoy his writing so much. I like that his characters are unapologetic in their forms and that their personalities have so many faults as well as pros. Overall, the book is a very easy read (In an enjoyable, positive way) and I highly recommend it. It'd be a really nice summer read by the pool or in the evenings sitting out in the garden etc. Though as a little warning (I'm a massively emotional person and my tear ducts have a mind of their own) I'd maybe stay away from the mascara when you're reading this! 

Film:

I went to the cinema to see this on Monday! I went on a nice outing with my brother and mum who have also both read (and loved) the book. The film was pretty honest and I'd say it's a close representation to the book.  I think the casting was pretty great. Hazel was a really close match to what I had imagined, so was Isaac. Augustus was a little more dreamy in my mind but having re-evaluated the situation I actually think he was fantastically portrayed and I have nothing bad to say about that casting choice! The mother in the movie was made really quite funny and I really enjoyed the interpretation of her. 

Sadly, I missed the first few minutes of the film (damn that lack of parking near Cineworld) so I can't be 100% accurate but I'm pretty sure the film missed out Hazel's extrovert friend and the lovely quote that explains the title of the Book/Movie. Other than that, I don't really have any massive flaws to mention. They kept the chronology of the book, which I'm sure many readers will have enjoyed. I don't want to give away any spoilers so I won't say too much but I'd say I'm really happy with the adaptation! 

If you haven't read the book then I'm sure you'll still enjoy TFIOS movie. It's cute, the acting is really well done and for a love story it wasn't too corny for me! (I sat throughout the whole of the Divergent film sighing to myself at the predictability and cornyness of the romance, sorrry!). I did shed a few tears at the film, not as many as the book but to be fair I had a horrifically annoying person behind me in the cinema shouting profanity at really emotional and lovely scenes which was a bit of a mood kill. 

Overall, I do recommend both the film and the movie but if you're only into one of those mediums of entertainment then just pick your favourite and enjoy a lovely story! 

If you've read the book or seen the movie do let me know your opinions in the comments, I love hearing other people's views! :)  You can also follow me on Bloglovin if you fancy <3 

That's all from me, I hope you have a really lovely day. 

-Tessatata xoxo 

Strawberry Nails!

Strawberry Nails! 

Okay, so I'm pretty terrible at doing nails. This attempt at Strawberry Nails was no better than usual but I still think it's a really cute idea and if you're decent at them! I have all the imagination and none of the skill!

However,It was really easy to do time and supply wise.

I just used:

•  A cute pink/red colour for the strawberry body
• An apple green for the tips
• A white nail polish for the little dots
• A clear glitter to give the tips a little bit more attention 
• A clear coat to complete the look and keep the nails safe for longer

All of my nail polished were really cheap from Primark and Boots because I wanted to try this and see if it'd work. If I like a nail design then i'll invest in really good quality brands but for trials these are perfect.

Green, pink and clear nail polished are all from Primark

The Glitter and the White nail varnishes are from Christmas gift sets Boots 2013

Firstly, I put on a coat of the 'Rose Petal' pink and waited for it to dry.

Then, I used the 'Keylime Pie' green as the top of the strawberry. These polishes require two coats to look bright and vibrant. 

Once these had dried, I took the glitter and covered the green entirely to make sure it would stand out a little more and just to put in a little sprinkle of girlyness here. 

Lastly, I took a tooth pick and dipped it into my white polish and created the dots on the strawberry and I finished it all of with a clear coat. 

You could do this design with a black or yellow nail polish replacing the white for the dots, or darker base colours depending on what you like!  

I actually think it would be a little bit nicer if I had put the green at the bottom of the nails instead of the tips but I still think it looks cute.

If you like this design or want to see similar blog posts then comment suggestions and let me know! Thanks for reading :)

-Tessatata xoxo

Loch Awe (Some) Camping Adventures

Aloha,

I've actually managed to tick quite a few things off of my summer bucket list already! 

From Monday the 16th June until Thursday the 19th I went camping at the lovely Loch Awe (pretty near Inveraray). 

Myself, my brother, his girlfriend Sally, Daniel, Zach, Emma, Craig an array of Domino's employees and the dogs all set off from our local Tesco's after a substantial food and drink hall at around 2pm. We had three cars and, luckily, I was in Sally's car which was loaded with Disney tunes and far better banter than the smelly boy's cars. We sang Disney songs for almost an entire 3 hours and it was great.

Upon arrival (after spending 2 hours lost trying to find our camp site) we quickly pitched up tents, had some burgers, blew up the inflatable kayak and we all went to swim in the loch! 

Sally's pretty picture of Loch Awe in the morning

Swimming in the Loch was such a fun experience and I just said how 'magical' everything was pretty much the entire time. Everyone took turns taking the Kayak out and playing with the dogs whilst we were swimming away in the Loch. 

Sally and I cheekily bought water guns in our huge Tesco haul and took them as weapons for the water (a much better idea in theory as splashing the water is definitely more effective...oops). 

The water was b-e-a-utiful, if not a bit chilly, and we swam around and chatted there for a long time before drying off and making a camp fire to sit at.

The Fire

So, we had quite a lot of fully grown, independant individuals on our camping trip and not one of us was capable of making a fire that lasts the night. The camp fire was the absolute bane of my existence on the trip, we spent SO many hours gathering twigs, branches, kindling etc for the fire and countless more making sure it stays on! But I am so glad that I did because the fire was such a communal area for everyone to sit around and chat and drink (I don't actually drink but they all do). On our last night we played a fun game of 'Dares' which resulted in Daniel being duck taped to a tree for a good hour or so and tormented by everyone who found it incredibly amusing. Bless him. 

Daniel was tented

Anthony pretending his best friend is a pinata

During the Days

The majority of our time was spent chilling out on the decking where we were camping. We were really lucky with our location. There were lots of trees to shade our tents (that let us sleep much easier without constant light coming in!), we were right next to the Loch and we had a beautiful decking to sit on and enjoy the sunshine and the lovely views. We crafted a make shift speaker for our iphones using a used pringle can and just sat listening to chilled summer playlists, talking, sunbathing, playing cards and amusing the dogs Penny and Misha. The dogs were so well behaved and adorable on the trip, I was so proud of them. Penny is a bit older and usually just slept or sat looking cute whereas Misha was constant hyper-action hyper-drive, insisting that everyone threw tennis balls and twigs for her. Needless to say, the animals kept us very amused on the trip. 

Such water babies, you can see the boys Kayaking in the background

Misha, her ball and the great outdoors 

Penny getting in on the card action

For food we mainly ate dry foods, pasta and beans. Such typical camping food essentials. On night 2 we boiled pasta on our camping stove, cooked beans in a pan on a disposable bbq and cooked Quorn sausages on the disposable bbq too! We didn't want to bring meat because none of us were too certain about food poisoning rules and we knew that Quorn would be totally safe, which it was. We put all of the ingredients together and created a pretty tasty meal!

On night 3 our stove ran out of gas (nightmare) and we just used disposable bbq's to cook corn on the cob, bread, beans and hot dogs. It sounds super odd but yet again it was pretty tasty. We cooked all our meals whilst sitting on the decking because we were so happy and chilled out there that we wanted to stay there for as long as possible. (There were also no midges there unlike nearer the trees where they ate us alive :( )

Emma, Me and Anthony sitting out on the decking 

Chef Tessa to the rescue, that straw hat was passed around so much.

Daniel and Zach chilling in the sun

Anthony posing

Another fun thing we did was make a tire swing! We (by we I mean the boys and Sally) found an old tire by the loch and used some rope that someone had brought to make an awesome swing that amused us endlessly for the 3rd day!

The making of the tire swing

Alien Sally enjoying the swing

Our tragic but much loved fire

On the last day, we all woke up and took our tents down. We cleaned up the camp site, washed our dishes, took the bins away and drove home! The trip home was a lot easier without getting lost so it was a lot shorter. 

I'm happy with the cute little trip we went on, I'll definitely be joining them again next year. I was able to tick off:

Go camping, swim in a natural body of water, watch the sunset, watch the sun rise, make a camp fire and probably a few more off of my 25 things to do this summer list. It was that easy! 

Hopefully you enjoyed reading this and found it a little bit interesting. If you'd like more stuff like this then let me know in the comments and otherwise enjoy your life until next time :) 

-Tessatata   xoxo

My Summer Bucket List

Hi! I'm starting a little blog to document my life and just for me to write general nonsense whenever I feel like it. I'm starting it off with a fun to-do list of some little and some big ideas for me to complete in the next few months. 

So, I was inspired by other bloggers to create a bucket list for summer 2014. It's going to be a list of 25 things that I want to have done come...September this year. I think this is a great idea to get me a little more motivated and active this year instead of just spending all my time chilling out I can actually do really fun or productive things too. So, here's my list:

1. Go Camping
2. Swim in a natural body of water
3. Take lots of photos
4. Star Gaze
5. Watch the sunset
6. Watch the sunrise 
7. Go to the Zoo
8. Build a camp fire
9. Get a part-time job
10. Get healthier (I say this on every occasion possible but i'm determined!)
11. Go abroad
12. Learn 2+ songs on my Ukelele
13. Watch my entire Hitchcock and Kubrick collections
14. Create healthy recipes for myself to follow
15. Visit Loch Lomond
16. Refrain from buying a hamster
17. Buy a Mac lipstick
18. Go to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 
19. Vlog at least once
20. Wake up early and be productive
21. Carve something for someone
22. Read one book every week or fortnight 
23. Go to Alton Towers for a day trip
24. Hug people and smile more at strangers
25. Complete this list! 

There's my list! I'll try to blog about the things as I cross them off the list and take photos of them to share with the internet. I'm really excited to get this started and have an awesome summer, I hope you are too!