Liebster Award!

Fantastic news!  I've been nominated for the Liebster Award, which helps to promote smaller blogs (under 200 followers), and thank you Vanessa for being so kind and nominating me :)

So now I've been nominated, here are the rules for receiving said award:

1.) People nominated musy answer the questions that the tagger has set for you, and create a new set of questions for the people you've tagged to answer

2.) Choose 11 people to nominate, and link them in your post

3.) Go to their page and tell them!

I've been loving reading people's answers and think these questions are really interesting and fun to answer, so away we go!

1. Who is your favourite actor or actress?

It's hard to differentiate favourite actors and actresses who I think are brilliant at what they do, like Johnny Deep, and then there's those whose's personalities I just quite like and gravitate towards. 

But I'd have to say, as all-rounders, whose acting I think is 2nd to known, whose films I like, and whose personalities I think are great are, Jonah Hill, Jason Segal for actors, and Helen Mirren and Emma Watson for actresses.

2. What is your favourite word in the English language?

Soliloquy. It's such a pretty word, spelt beautifully, and it's meaning is just as gorgeous.

3. If you were on death row, what would your last meal be?

Ahh, this is so hard!  I love food way too much!   It's going to have to be a 3 course meal, beginning with a starter of a plethera of oriental delights, with sushi and dim sum, which not only is part of my heritage but I also just love eating these little bitesize parcels of deliciousness! Main would have to be a good-ol' Sunday lunch, complete with stuffing, mountains of cauliflower cheese, and a big crispy Yorkshire pudding drenched in gravy, it just shouts out homely, British comfort to me, and is like a gigantic big hug :)  Then for dessert, it'd have to be a toss-up between a silky and creamy panna cotta (I love Italy and Italian food!), or an indulgent NY cheesecake (not gonna lie, I could quite easily eat a whole one, complete with a side order of guilt!)

4. Which one of your Blogspot posts are you most proud of?

Probably my blog post on inspirational women. I just felt really empowered one day, and thought to do a post like this, before realizing how many women in my private life and those in the public life, are so amazing and inspirational to me, and I found out so much more about some of them also from a dab of research.

5. If you had to be trapped in a tv show for a month, which would you choose?

Well, 1st thing that comes to mind is 'Friends' or 'The Big Bang Theory', because they both are based around a group of people who have great friendships and different, hilarious and endearing personalities, and I think it'd just be a barrel of laughs. But, I've got to say that 'The O.C' also comes to mind because that was literally the show of my adolescence. When I was teenager, I wanted to be part of that show and its people so much, and although looking back, I don't think I'd like to now, the 13-year old within me definitely would be screaming to be driving a sports car to the beach and the mall.

6. Do you have any phobias or philias? 

My biggest fear is of death....(putting a bit of a downer on things here, sorry), and being lonely. I can be alone, that's fine, quiet time for myself apart from others is healthy, but the thought of ending up being lonely, on my own. I know the likelihood of my not having anyone at all in my life is slim, it still strike fear all through me.  Apart from that, there's not much else, I'm not keen on creepy crawlies but I wouldn't call it a phobia.

7. What is your perfect pizza?

I'm a big meat feast love (no innuendo intended), but I am partial to a mushroom, ham & pineapple too.

8. What your favourite item of clothing that you own?

Oh, this is a tough one. My favourite pieces of clothing that I own and love to wear, are my dresses and skrits, but if  I had to pick one item out of the whole bunch, it'd have to be this dress that I designed and that me and my mum made. I made it to go to an opera that I got invited to by my ex-boyfriend and his family, and having never been to an opera before, and there being an outdoor posh-picnic, I was quite excited! With an idea of Cinderella in my head, I made this baby-blue and silver, shimmering halterneck beauty that draped just perfectly. I like that I designed and made it, I like how it actually looks, how it fits one me, and I truly feel like a princess of my own :)

I've also got a bit of a soft spot for this dress from Ted Baker. I love Ted Baker, especially when it does quirky prints like this, all the details in this circus scene are just gorgeous and it's extra special as it's from my parents as a surprise when I won the Schwarzkopf Live Project for the trend I entered for.

9. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What's holding you back?

I wanted to start making Youtube videos about 5 years ago, not even exaggerating. The first people I remember watching were AmazingPhil's vlogs and the VlogCandy's collab channel, and I've tried numerous to making videos, and there's many a draft version stored on my laptop and computer, but I've never uploaded them. As many different ideas that I think of, there's always that voice in the back of y mind as well saying  'who on earth would want to watch me rambling on?!' or 'oh god, everyone's gonna hate me!'. I know it should be about you loving what you do and make, and I have this attitude applied to most areas of my life, but criticism is a hard thing to take, and with an audience of the world wide web on top of that, it's just stopped me every time.

10. If you knew that nobody would ever judge you, would you dress or act differently than you do now?

I don't think I'd dress much differently, although, I would probably end up wearing sparkly dresses and pretty ballgowns everyday! (secret fairytale princess and Hollywood movie-star wannabe!) I love dressing up and think it's a shame when people don't do it more often. There's something quite romantic and nostalgic about dressing up and putting on your top hat and tails, like the vintage days of Ginger Rogers, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor. That'd also mean I'd get to wear all those magical, fairytale creations from my favourite designer, Elie Sabb (that is if some genie would conjure them up for me!).

And I already am pretty much my very own bizarre, silly, and giggling self to the majority of people in my life, so I don't think much would change there :)

And here are the questions for all of those I've nominated:

1.) If you were a cocktail/alcoholic drink, what would you be?

2.) What's your go-to lazy, take-away option?

3.) If you had to live in a musical, which would it be?

4.) Who would play you, in the movie of your life?

5.) If you were part of a pack of crayons, what colour would you be?

6.) What do you like doing in your spare time? And what do you actually end up doing?

7.) Create your perfect ice-cream sundae!

8.) If you had you're own festival, who would you have performing and headline?

9.) If your wardrobe could only be filled out by one designer/brand, who would it be?

10.) Who's the cartoon character from your childhood?

Thanks for reading!

Hope you're all well,

Speak soon,

A.x

I am woman!

I have this cute, lil, Lego keyring of Wonderwoman that i got for Christmas from m brother on my set of keys that i see everyday. 

I love WonderWoman and as silly as it may sound, every time that i see it, the inner Wonder Woman in me feels ready to take on the day and whatever it throws at me.

I think Wonder Woman is an awesome female and let's face it, she's damn hot! I always think of her as a strong woman to kind of look up to, as silly as it sounds as she's just a fictional character, but not only is she gorgeous and graceful, but she's also powerful and strong and kicks absolute ass! While still having her hair flowing majestically while she flies across the skyline and looking amazing in her fiery red and royal blue get-up! Before her, the only role models young girls could look up to in comic books were ones who got married and lived happily-ever-after, or bubblegum teens such as Betty and Veronica. But then Wonder Woman came along, who didn't need a man to be happy and was the one who rescued the dude-in-distress. But females all over can still relate, she had to balance all kinds of aspects of her life, just like us. And this got me thinking of all the female figures that appear in the public eye that i personally think are inspiring.

 

Joanna Lumley

I absolutely love her as Patsy Stone in Ab Fab and is just one of the funniest and most hilarious women in comedy, and her co-star Jennifer Saunders is just as an amazing also. Not only does she make the world laugh while always remaining sophisticated and charming, but she is also involved with more than 70 charities, probably most famously with helping Gurka veterans win the right to settle in the UK.

Tina Fey

Another hilarious woman made a real impact in the male-dominated world of work and comedy and became SNL's first female head writer. Creating a cult-classic, that is Mean Girls, that gets quoted by millions, and creating and starring in comedy favourite, 30 Rock, showing that you can work in a world that can seem like a boys' club, without succumbing to their testosterone ways and that you also can have a personal life without tastelessly exploiting it to become successful. Amongst all this, there is no cliched, female bitchy-ness, she respects and admires smart and talented women, like herself, such as Amy Poehler.

Jessica Ennis

The poster-girl of team GB for the 2012 Olympics, she is a breath of fresh air of hard-work, discipline and graft, in a sea of feckless flakes in our popular culture. With a gold medal hanging proudly around her neck for her hepthalon, brought on from years of hard work, she is beautiful inside and out as she remains humble and engaging. She has also shown young girls that they don't have to strive to a particular female form that society has seemed to deem as perfect, and making sure that girls are not afraid of sport. Her, along with all of the females of Team GB, are an inspiration. Inspire a generation, they definitely did.

Emma Watson

Being part of the most successful film series, she has grown up in the public eye, yet it hasn't seemed to affect her in ways that it has to other young stars. Education has always remained important to her even while balancing Liberal Arts at Brown University with being a fashion icon and playing the part of Hermione in the Harry Potter series. With her fashion work, she has been involved with People Tree, who provide fair trade and organic clothing, showing that you don't need the world and society to suffer for fashion. And despite being a beautiful young woman, her success isn't due to her sex appeal, it has purely been down to her hard work and talent.

Dakota Fanning

Another beautiful, young actress, who has worked with the likes of Tom Cruise and Sean Penn while still going further with her education by studying at New York University. So much so that her absence was noticed at the Twilight Saga: Eclipse screening so that she could take her college entrance exam. She is such a well-adjusted teenager despite growing up in the public eye and realises that she is a role model to many young girls but that she is also just a human and will also make mistakes like everyone else.

 Dame Judi Dench and Meryl Streep

On the other  end of the age spectrum, showing that Hollywood success has no age limit and demanding more female roles in Hollywood, these two women are still going strong and long may they reign!

Ellen Degeneres
An inspirational woman who has always strived for equality and proud and open about her sexual orientation and being strong campaigner for the LGBT community and anti-bullying with her "Be Kind" campaign. Charismatic and funny, she is proudly breaking stereotypes and prejudice, along with her hit talk show

Miranda Kerr
Being a Victoria Secret's Angels, with her gorgeous flowing locks, gorgeous face and adorable dimples, many would may not see a her as an inspirational woman, but she was one of the first models to promote proper nutrition and exercise and the importance of happiness, in a world of fad-diets. She regularly  promotes having a positive attitude and balances her hectic schedule and maintaining an amazing figure, with being a loving mother. Not only a supermodel, but also a role model.

 Kate Winslet
Targeted by the media many times for her weight, she has always spoke out about the importance of the accurate representation of her curvaceous body. When she graced the cover of GQ's magazine and she was photoshopped without knowing, she spoke out about how not she did not look like that, but more importantly, didn't desire to look like that. Not only has she been outspoken about the issue of body image, but she has also been continuously eliminating the barriers that people with autism, face.

 Audrey Hepburn & Grace Kelly
Both of these women are just the epitome of an era of classical and timeless beauty of a time gone by. They don't make them like that anymore. The were both effortlessly elegant and beautiful, inside and out. Audrey Hepburn gracefully portrays all the roles she played in movie, many of them being m favourites, but was always modes. She sent out such a positive attitude and was an ambassador for Unicef, helping in humanitarian issues and travelling and aiding with those less fortunate. Grace Kelly filled the role of the Princess of Monaco also, and founded a Monaco-based, non-profit organisation which promoted the well-being of children all around the world. Both of these women are icons and unforgettable.

This is just a short list of the amazing women at there in the world, there are so many out there that i could go on and on and make an endless list about, but none of them top my mum. She is Wonder Woman in my eyes, for reasons i won't go into, but all of these women are magnificent in my eyes and beautiful, inside and out, and if don't agree, well, i'll leave you with Wonder Woman herself in action below ;)

What women do you think are inspirational? Do you have any role models in your eyes?

Hope you're all well,
Speak soon,
A.x