Just a little something to make you smile this Sunday…

Just in case anyone out there has had a rubbish weekend, is already feeling those Monday blues, or just needs a bit of cheering up. I took this picture of my roast dinner this evening – because it just wanted to say it loves every one of my readers!

Thanks for all your support over the past few months and here’s to another year of reaching my blogging milestones!

Ahhhhh Ready For The Weekend!

This song had been floating around in my head for over a week now and I think it is going to be my anthem for the weekend. Icona Pop are a bombastic Swedish duo with electro house, pop and punk influences. They smashed into the UK charts with I Love It which instantly stuck in my head and still gets me singing along – and remind me of a TATU-esque band (cheeky and cute, but with mountains of attitude).

The two singers, Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo, who grew up in Stockholm, like to create music that they describe as “you can both laugh and cry with at the same time” according to an interview for a Swedish magazine. Although not my favourite artists, they are certainly one of the most catchy around at the moment and their music, although current and fresh, also seems to hark back to a 90’s ‘girls night out’ kind of vibe. It’s cheeky, flirty. loud and brash – the perfect type of music for getting ready for a night out with the girls.

It’s going to be playing very loudly in my head, and my car, this weekend as I head to Essex for a big night out and a university reunion.

In response to Write Meg’s ‘selfie’ post – what if your face just isn’t quite right?

In response to Write Meg’s ‘selfie’ post – what if your face just isn’t quite right?

I was really interested in reading Write Meg’s post this morning about “the humble selfie has practically risen to its own art form” because it is something that I have watched shoot to fame with the introduction of Instagram and as Facebook developed. Only 23, I still remember a time when my house had no computer and certainly no mobile phones. Photos were not digital for the Ruthnum household and they were only taken on special occasions by my parents or extended family – usually with half a finger over the lens or someone pulling a funny face, but with no way of knowing until they had been printed.

Now, everyone has an iPhone or something similar, having had mine stolen recently and lived without it for some time (I actually felt refreshed and relieved to have a short break) but it does leave you at a bit of a loss for things like photo-taking and sharing. I am a big lover of having a camera on every night out and snapping endless pictures of my life, I love Instagram because I see it as a wordless blog and a way of sharing my life with my friends. I am that friend that is partially hated by others for capturing the moments people least want on camera – many will send me that dreaded text the morning after a night out begging me not to put that picture, or that video, on Facebook.

I love pictures that show people in the moment – not posing – just having fun and sharing memories. If a pictures doesn’t not instantly transport me back to a wonderful time and place in the endless library of my memory – what is the point?

However, I am not adverse to the odd selfie, mainly if my face happens to have fallen into place quite well after a night of tossing and turning in my bed. I just don’t understand the point of uploading a different one each day, basically of you pulling the same face, with the only difference being a different outfit!

But that is my next issue – how do these girls get their faces to make such different faces? My face is stuck on two settings – big grinning smile, or neutral. Sometimes it will venture into mildly annoyed from the neutral, but rarely. I’m always one of those people who prefer to have a smile on their face.

But this new generation of girls have pouts, gasp faces, cheeky grins, big eyes, and all the rest that they seem to accentuate in their photos! Genuinely, if you look through my photos on Facebook, you will see clearly that my face does something very similar in each. Mainly because when I take photos, it is usually because I am having the time of my life. I’ll admit, it’s slightly embarrassing but sometimes I do long to be able to pull off a pout, or a sticky out tongue picture – but then I figure, what’s the point?

Let’s be honest, pouts just look ridiculous, especially when you see the pictures of groups on girls tarted up on a night out all sticking their lips out until they protrude further than their noses. Screw it, I’m sticking it the old-fashioned, but classy smile. It’s always worked for me so far!