Daily Shenanigans, 12/07/2014: My first ever Blog Tour Post and Giveaway!

Today marks a pretty special day for my blog guys. I took part in Vanessa Morton's Blog Tour for her debut novel, 'Moonfall'. I really enjoyed the book, so I've been looking forward to posting my review for it. As well as that, the post included my first Author Interview and first Giveaway too! That's a lot of firsts! It has been so much fun taking part, thank you to all those involved for letting me be part of the tour. If you're interested learning more (particularly about the Giveaway for a free book) then follow this link. After all that, I had work which was pretty stressful, but it went fairly quickly I suppose. Mat came over for an hour or so before heading to a friends, and he brought me a present of some chocolate-filled croissants because he knew I'd had a hectic day. It was such a nice gesture that it instantly made me feel ten times better.

Tomorrow I have work (again) and a Weekly Wishlist to upload. Hooray! For now though, time for bed.

Daily Shenanigans, 13/06/2014: Doing things differently!

Today ended up being quite different to my usual day since finishing Uni. I made a decision to give myself a break from being sat at my computer today, purely because I had a pretty terrible headache and I really wanted to get on with other things. This of course meant that I didn't do much in terms of my blog. I did however get much further into 'A Game Of Thrones', which I'm really enjoying. I definitely feel like watching the TV series has made me appreciate this book even more! Anyhow, I did a lot of tidying this morning as a sort of surprise for my Dad because I'm generally a pretty unproductive person when it comes to household chores. I really recognise this as a flaw within myself which I'm determined to address.

This afternoon, I continued to have an interesting day when my friend, Imogen, came to visit! We drank tea, caught up with each other's antics and she bought me a cute Totoro pillow which served as part of a very late birthday present (she'd accidentally had it delivered to her Uni address while living at home). I've included a picture because it's so soft and awesome and really wanted to show you guys! This was the same friend who bought me chocolates and a set of Lewis Carroll books a few weeks ago and it made me feel really grateful to have friends in my life who know me this well. Thank you Imogen! After dinner, Bev (my sister) had her photography exhibition which we went to have a look at. Going back to my old school was very surreal but it was nice to revisit everything and see how it has changed! The exhibition was great, there are a lot of talented photographers and artists about.

And so ends my day of doing things a bit differently. Tomorrow I'm seeing Mat and we may go to the cinema in the evening depending on timings and what is on. He'll be round in the afternoon so I'll be using the morning to hopefully really get into 'A Game Of Thrones' and finish some tasks that really need finishing!

Daily Shenanigans, 17/05/2014: Playing with my new Samsung Tablet!

Having had such a busy last few days, I haven't had time to properly check out all the lovely presents everyone got me. But as I had a real day off today, I though I'd have a proper go of my new Tablet! Firstly though, I did get a lot of other things done too. I'm a good way through 'Thereafter' which I'm pleased about, and so far I'm enjoying it more than 'Hereafter'. I really want to finish it and get a review up tomorrow, so I'll read a bit more tonight before I sleep! As well as that, I played some more of 'Town Of Salem' (I am an addict) this time with my sister, which was fun! As for the Tablet, wow! I am so grateful to Mat for getting me such a lovely present, it is awesome! It will make things a little easier too for me, particularly blogging on the move as I'll no longer need to borrow other people's laptops or computers when I'm away from home just to post or check emails. It's a great investment into this blog, and generally a fantastic thing to have handy.

Speaking of Mat, I did end up seeing him today as I picked him up from work (he asked me to, even though it's a ten minute walk from his house. I call that laziness!) and we went to his house and watched Britain's Got Talent! I only saw him for a few hours but it was nice to spend some more time with him, and he bought me a case for my Tablet as an extra little birthday add-on, which was very sweet of him! Tomorrow's plan is to post my 'Weekly Wishlist', hopefully finish and review 'Thereafter', get a good way through 'A Red Tale' and sort out my mess of a room!

Daily Shenanigans, 12/05/2014: The 'X-Men: Days Of Future Past' premiere!

It's the day before my birthday and it has been such a good one! We got up this morning and quickly got ready for the Premiere which was due to start in the evening, but we knew it would be better to get there earlier. When we arrived (about half 12ish) there were already so many people there, most of them dressed up in some rather impressive looking costumes! They were being judged for a competition and seeing as there were no barriers in place at this point, we decided to go and get something to eat, then do a spot of shopping. I had some lovely pasta and we went to a cute shop in the London Trocadero, 'TokyoToys', where Mat bought me an Eevee and a Totoro as early birthday presents! Speaking of early birthday presents, he also presented me with a Thorntons Chocolate Egg this morning which made me very happy.

One thing we didn't know about the premiere however was that in order to get a good spot, you had to be there when they were handing out wristbands at whatever time that was. Without wristbands, we were given a space where the stage and screens could be seen well, but no chance of any stars being able to come over and sign or talk. Nevertheless, we still had a lot of fun! The stars in attendance, for those interested, were Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Patrick Stewart, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy. It was really interesting listening to them talk to Johnathan Ross about upcoming projects and the film itself, and there was even a special appearance from Dynamo! I'm really glad I got to go and if I decide to go to another premiere in the future, I'll be sure to get a wristband next time!

I watched another couple of episodes of 'Game Of Thrones' this evening. It's getting pretty intense now and I'm just getting this awful feeling that my favourite characters will die while the ones I don't like will live on to cause more trouble. I shall have to wait and see! It's been such a good day and I look forward to seeing what my birthday has in store for me tomorrow!

Daily Shenanigans, 04/05/2014: The 'From Bard To Bookshelf' Event!

I'll start, as I always do, with my rather busy day! I spent most of it with my family visiting my Grandparents (and inadvertently, my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin too)! I haven't seen them for a pretty long time, so it was really nice to get away from the stresses of life and spend some of the day doing that instead! I had a lovely time there and I was allowed to open one of my Birthday presents early, which was a beautiful necklace. It put me in a really good mood for the rest of the afternoon! As soon as I returned home, I wrote my Weekly Wishlist post and then finished 'Hereafter' by Terri Bruce. I posted the review this evening too, so check that out if you're interested! Next up is 'Deep Blue' by Jennifer Donnelly. I know I was originally going straight onto 'Thereafter' but I want a bit of a break from that series and I'm pretty desperate to read 'Deep Blue' before it is released in two days time (eek!)

Onto the main agenda of this post (and the reason behind the title), I have signed up to a rather exciting event! The 'From Bard To Bookshelf' involves me writing a post relating to Shakespeare, particularly on his influence on YA Fiction. My two favourite things combined? Impossible! It is being hosted by Nina at Death, Books And Tea and having read about what it involves, I'm very much looking forward to it. The event itself will be held in August so that gives me plenty of time to get Uni out of the way, and the opportunity to sign up ends in mid-July so get joining if you're a big Shakespeare fan like me. If you are interested, you can find more details here. I would highly recommend it and would love to see some of your thoughts on the idea!

Tomorrow is a Bank Holiday so no Uni for me! Instead I'll be at home, probably working on the essays that I have in for this week. Then some reading and a minute amount of blog posting!