Run Forest Run

Today I went to a race avec my family. It was supposed to be my whole family running but it turned out to be just my dad and my sister's boyfriend Paul (Mum hurt her knee during the last race and Brooke has come down with the flu - hopefully not of the Swine type).



We arrived too early because my dad panicked as he had read on the website that there were limited places left. But it was lucky we did go early otherwise we wouldn't have had time to walk around the beautiful and twee street fair (or fayre - I always get confused with that one). We went there last year for the race and I had decided back then that I would love to live there in Thurrock at some point in my life. It's so cute and village-y. It instantly puts you in a happy mood and gives you a craving for pretty dresses and picnics.



I took MANY photos of the whole village - I want to write about this magical and enchanted place and my memory sucks, thank god for cameras!! Whilst dad and Paul started the race (unluckily the weather was very 'muggy' so it was an incredibly hard as the heat was overbearing) my mum, grandparents and me walked around, looked at the animals (we missed the ferret racing this year!) and - a tradition for myself in any fair (sp?) setting - ate fudge. [For fudge lovers out there I had the strawberry and cream; plain vanilla; chocolate; and chocolate and mint. It was freaking delicious].



Then all of a sudden it was 50 minutes later and people were coming in from the race. We situated ourselves on the pavement next to the road they were finishing and watched as sweaty men and women forced their way through the heat to the finishing line.

*THE BEST DRESSED RUNNER* goes to the cute guy wearing bright red socks and blue rayban wayfarers.

As the first lot came in I sat on the pavement and read NYLON. Then as the majority arrived I stood up and continued to clap my heart out for every runner. [Yes, at points I was the only one clapping.] I can't believe how many people were there: over 500 runners, and just think there must have been at least 3 watchers to every runner! Paul, followed by dad finished - they did really well - and were soaked with sweat. I made them sit in the back on the way home.

Latest Obsession

I first heard about this wonderful band when I accidently recorded a show they were on on V+. I watched it in wonder as a mysterious - and seemingly shy - redhead belted out a song that belongs in another world. There's something very unique about her = and definitely her voice, and I love her music!!



Being Nylon, the best magazine in the world, there was an article about Florence and the machine and it was really interesting. Florence claims that she had 'Singing Tourettes' in school as she wouldn't be able to stop singing and would always get told off for it. She also revealed that her first success was when she was drunk in a nightclub's toilets and someone overheard her and booked her for a party.



She also appeared on Jonathan Ross this week. Thus her music is my latest obsession.

Thank George It's Friday

SO Yesterday went to TGIF's in London avec Kirsty and Amy (or Amie - I still don't get which way she spells it :S). It was pretty damn hilarious ;) [IE Guess what they're thinking game included: "I'm secretly a spy"; "I'm going to keep on smiling so they can't see my pain"; "No one know's we're gay...so we're going down the back alley"; and finally "MUM! I told you not to put my white boxers in the dark wash". Hirarious].

It was a sweltering train journey up to London but during TGIF's [we all had burgers] it started to chuck it down! And I was only in my lil dress. We had an interesting conversation with the waitress who stated that she was from Brazil - imagine how she felt about this weather.

After dancing in the rain for 10 minutes (and waving at - we think - tourists on a coach. I stand by believing they were tourists because if they were English they wouldn't have waved back with so much passion. They were all waving to me and Amy's gleeful waves whilst Kirsty cringed ;P) we decided to go for a lil trot through leicester square, then H&M [bought a top and skirt for a tenner] and then onto Covent Garden. It was hirarious.



Amy departed leaving me and Kirsty to act like tourists [again] as we took ever more photos of us next to Big Ben etc. [We actually got asked by tourists where the boat with the fancy dress people was. As Kirsty explained that we saw some people in fancy dress back along the Thames, I just stood there confused. I thought the woman had said 'bar' instead of 'boat'. Anyhoo, after Kirsty explained the tourists looked at her and said: "Are you even English?"; which set us off into Hyena laughs as Kirsty explained: "Yeah I am - i'm just crap at talking."]

We also did a Michael Jackson tribute through London, singing the likes of 'Billie Jean', 'Thriller' etc as well as Boom boom pow. [Which WE think could be used in the Cats musical as a new song with the lyrical change of Boom Boom Meow].

Another incredibly funny day. [BTW: well done to Kirsty for surviving her first driving lesson yesterday].

Oh, also apologies for no photos - will add some later - my PC is doing a crazy thing in the fact that IT IS NOT UPLOADING ANYTHING. Ass.

Summer Daze

Don't you just love those summer days?


After college on Tuesday 23rd we saw the Hangover (such a good film) and afterwards went to a pub.


Thanks Sophie for taking us there ;).


It was a hilarious night and will be one of my favourite memories.

I'm pretty sure the whole world has heard it...

I woke up this morning to the words of Chris Moyles: "...so we're sorry to listeners but we will have to keep repeating this news every 15 minutes so that people get it when they wake up. Trust me, I never thought I would be saying the words that Michael Jackson has died..."

I was incredibly shocked. I jumped straight out of bed and bashed into my sister's room to tell her the news. She couldn't believe it either. We turned radio 1 up loud so we could hear the news from the study as we looked at videos of what happened.
I'm not the biggest fan of Michael Jackson; yet I think that everyone loves at least one of his songs - and I love quite a few.

All I can say is I give my condolences to his family and friends (and fans). He has had such a hectic and dramatic life and I think it's nice to think that he is finally at rest now away from all his problems.

Rest in peace Michael Jackson.

Maybe it's because I'm a RANDOMER!

Ok so what a really random week. We went back to college for three days (and the worst 3 days of my college life ever); then moi et the girls went to Portobello Market/ London generally and had a brilliant time. Then I went to Megan's 17th Birthday and - finally - yesterday Kirsty came round and we were in the mood for some DRAMA!!! So we made a little parody show which is below.

And btw - if you want to find any of my videos of youtube just type in (or copy and paste from this as it'll probably be easier): ZIRLINKSKI and you'll find my vidz ;)

ENJOY!

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?

After a pretty crappy day at college, I was invited by Kirsty to see Romeo and Juliet in the park [Anyone heard of it?? hehe]. We were worried all day that it was going to rain but thankfully it didn't.

Now, even though I'm a literature student and I LOVE to read, Shakespeare has always confused me and I have never particularly liked his writing. But - I don't know whether it's because I'm older or the fact that I was there with a mate - I really really enjoyed it last night. I think the grueling GCSE Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet texts put me off Shakespeare a bit (Let's face it, when you have a discussion over every quote in any book it's going to make you bored.)

I really enjoyed it (thanks for inviting me Kirsty), and although we got the giggles after the break [you know the ones - where you're trying so hard not laugh that you start to breathe really juddery. Then you can't look at the person you're laughing with - i.e. Kirsty - cos you see them trying not to laugh and that makes you want to laugh harder]. Thankfully, after the person we were laughing at [not meanly, I promise] 'died' in the play, it got a lot easier.

When Juliet killed herself and lay on Romeo I thought it was really beautiful how she positioned herself on him - like they were embracing and just napping. [After this point there seemed to be a LOT of speeches, so this was the only part I got bored with].

Suddenly it dark, the cast had bowed and I got a lift home from Kirsty's parents [thanks!] and I was home.

Thy love and cookies,

Madison

Blog Life Lesson Number 1

BLOG LIFE LESSON NUMBER ONE: All that schools, colleges etc care about are GRADES, not the pupils. Don't be fooled.

Cynical right? Hey - I didn't write this lightly. I've had a LOT of experiences to back it up. But, most recently, my worst.

I won't go into any gory details but let me make a formal statement:

As a COLLEGE student, I got promised to be treated as an adult. Generally in life there is the freedom of CHOICE. So if I choose to NOT do something anymore (and the college allows us to do this) I do not expect three teachers to have a go at me for a collective amount of 30minutes. And make me cry.

Yeah, I know - what a wimp. But generally I don't like confrontations, and it really upset me that these people were talking to me quite rudely. [I got called 'stubborn for the sake of being stubborn', was told that the 'mature' way to go about the situation was to not do what I was doing, that I would be 'letting the group down' and a hell of a lot more of the above. Things keep comign back to me now and I just get so angry. The person even went: "I can see you're getting upset but..." and continued. Thanks for that.].

So after these two people had a go ["I know it seems like we're ganging up on you but..."] I decided to go to the person who I'm supposed to be able to confide in and get help. He basically said: "Yeah I agree. It's a NO." I didn't cry this time, but hell did I get angry. I walked out ready to shout at anyone who did anything to aggravate me. I was so angry and frustrated. College obviously doesn't support it's students very well - I didn't get any advice, I was spoken to rudely, treated like a child and - finally - got THREE no's to signing a form that the COLLEGE HAD CREATED so I could this thing that I wanted to.

Sorry - had to vent out somewhere...

I'd like to say a HUGE thank you to the only people I can rely on in college - my friends. Thank you to Kirsty, Debra and Dawn who were there with me and supported me.

George, Smint and Shortie ;)

Post Secret

For all of you slow on the up-take, and have never heard of Post Secret you must visit it now. It is an online anonymous community where the creator Frank Warren invites the whole world to send a postcard with their secret on it to him.

He posts them on his website once a week on Sundays and shows a variety of secrets from the damn-right funny to the heart breakingly sad. I've been a fan of this website for over a year now and it fills me with hope, inspiration and makes me feel lucky about my situation if I'm down.


I encourage everyone to read the blog and support it, as Post Secret supports (and I think actually created) a suicide helpline and has helped to save many lives.

If there's one blog that you must visit once a week make it www.postsecret.com. If you already know about it, you're probably an addict like myself :).

Love and secrets,

Madison

Ask .. Uncle

Had an INCREDIBLY busy day yesterday. The morning was ok - uploaded more stuff on ebay, washed my hair and got it cut by my hairdresser Lindsey.

[Kirsty takes random photos]

Then I went to the hall where my Uncle was having his party that night to decorate. We were there for aaaaaages. Putting up posters, etc. We also took the cakes to the hall which my mum had made for my Uncle. It was kind of a weird party because it was a joint 50th birthday joint 50th wedding anniversary joint 75th birthday. But whatever - my mum made three cakes, aswell as cookies, muffins and cupcakes. They went so quickly and they were all INCREDIBLY delicious.

[On a side note: My mum is now in business!! Woop woop. She got quite a few offers at the party - saying how professional her cakes are. She finally took an offer and is in the process of sorting out her pricing. If anyone wants any cakes or cookies or cupcakes made for them comment me and tell me and I'll give you my mum's email ;) ]

After which I went to the post office to visit my mate Nora ;) . Haha - she was ok this time, though not really a smile to be had again (although fair enough - I wanted stamps, and proof of posting on over 15 packages that were all different weights). By the time this all happened I had like 20 mins to get ready for Ask. Then my sister wanted me to curl her hair. After panicking and forgetting my camera, I finally made it to Dawn's who drove us to Ask.

It was so nice in there and the food was DELICIOUS :). I had Penne a la Gorgonzola. And showed off my Italian. Ahem. Anyway, I was planning to go to my Uncles party anyways and - quite frankly - didn't want to go on my own. I invited the group and they said yes (though all said they felt guilty for not having a card. *rolls eyes*) and thank gawd. It was a really good night (even though Dawn had to hop off to a music performance straight after the meal).

After grabbing food and drink we went outside onto the little car park and sat in the little hut think and talked all night. It was really funny and went too quick!

We must have been there from about 7 - midnight!

Overall a really good night and I finally got some of mum's cake - and still have loads to eat. It. Is. Delicious.

Love and Chocolate cake,

Madison

The romance, the hang over and the kids book

Woke up, ate icing, posted bows online and now I'm craving films...

The first out of the films I want to see is WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE:

This just looks like one of those random films that is going to be treasured forever. I've never read the book but the trailer looks so endearing - someone please come see it with me ;)

Second film I want to see is one I've been waiting for for aaaages:

I'm a big Zooey Deschanel fan and so can't wait for this to come out. However, I think I read somewhere that it's not coming over to England until November. The lucky ole Americans get it in July/August methinks ( in SUMMER). Grrr.

And this just looks incredibly funny:

I'm really in the mood for these films and have gone back to my obsession of looking at pretty much EVERY SINGLE trailer there is on apple.com. Ahh - there's too many good films.

Oh, and did anyone get to see Watchmen? I wanted to but because I'm 17 instead of 18 never got to!

Other films I want to see: Coraline, Sunshine Cleaning, Adventure Land, Harry Potter, Toy Story 3, any films you wanna see?

Trust me, I'm English

Ok so I know I sound totally freaking ebay mad but I was really bored and wanted to make a video. So after wrestling with the wires behind my PC i managed to dig out my dusty webcam and spend ages figuring out how to put sound on it. After about 10 mins of infuriating button clicking I figured out that all you had to do was tick the bloody Audio box!! Anyhoo - got it working in the end, so here it is: [btw excuse my voice - it seems to go Australian at points, but trust me - I'm English!!]

[Click here for my ebay account.]

Cinema, Ebay and Shopping

So over the last three days I have:

1. Gone to the Cinema avec Courtney, Sophie, Debra, Ambra, Kirsty, Dawn :) We were incredibly indecisive and after going to sainsburys, coming back and waiting for Courtney to arrive we STILL couldn't decide. It was a flick between Night at the Museum 2, Drag me to hell ("NO!!!" - Kirsty), or Last Chance Harvey (I said a big NO to this one - saw a clip of it on Jonathan Ross and it looks cringey and - quite frankly - crap). And then X-Men Origins: Wolverine got thrown into the mix and we were like: YES. I've already seen it before but love it so much I encouraged this choice A LOT. Plus, I don't mind giving money to the genuinely nice Hugh Jackman. It was brilliant and I even picked up the line of "I'm the best at what I do, and what I do isn't very nice" which might not mean anything to you, but I watched a parody on youtube the other day which mentionded this. The girl kept saying to him - "So what do you do?" and he keeps repeating the line above. It's quite funny :)
   
   


2. The second out of these past three marvellous days I've had was spent Ebaying :). That's right - I earned £15 this week :). I wrapped up the items and posted them today - hope they arrive safely :)

As you can see my room is becoming quite consumed with this here lil business:

3. And then today I went shopping avec Megz and had a great time. We shopped around, debated what to buy and then ate some DELICIOUS food in BHS (sandwhiches, sausage rolls, cookies and danish pastry with mouthwatering melting icing adorned on it's surface. Um..yum anyone...???!) Megan got the black shoes and sunglasses she wanted whilst I bought a hat. For any of you people of the dark hair know how easy it is to get sunstroke in the sun (it happened to moi last week) because our hair is so bloody dark and it attracts the sun. This therefore gives me justification on buying a £16 hat. But it's so darn cute!! Also, when I got home a package had arrived and my mum had treated me to eyeko cream and lip balm !! YES!

A pretty fabulous three days, I have to say.

Love and Danish Pastries,

Madison