Cloud People

When I was younger and on a plane ready for a holiday to an exciting new place, I looked out the window and saw that magical vision: fluffy marshmallows of pure white, shapes formed that I'm sure made me giggle and beam with endearment. What caught my eye the most though, as I stared in awe, were these cloud people that I would have bet my teddy bear's life on existed.

 

The last holiday I went on, I watched a few people, entranced very much a like to the five year old version of myself. So many people on the plane were sat, watching, mesmorised by the clouds, pinning dreams and hopes on the fluffy cotton, momentarily holding everything on the water vapour in the sky.

What these people and the five year old version of myself were never thinking of in this moment of innocent wonder was what the promise of these clouds held - not that I would have known. Maybe I'm being pedantic, but wasn't I wishing to join these cloud people that are the thief of safety? My wish to meet them was far from the beauty I saw out of my window.

My point is, why do we pin our hopes of comfort on something so deathly and destructive?

To me the clouds were comforting; them allowing me to daydream masked my fear of being high in the sky as I didn't want to tell my parents beside me that me being "brave" was a lie. Is that not a façade though?

Now, I'm not taking the beauty away from clouds because to me, the cotton balls dotting the sky can make a perfect picture but I'm wondering this: In the photo above, is it an elephant peeking around a corner in a game of innocent hide and seek or is it the eventual downpour of rain? The answer, for me, lies in my personal promise I made HERE, to see positivity when my vision is grey. Yet, why, when watching myself in a scene of happiness do I always feel I will be picturing puddles?

Today, I challenge myself to for ever reach for the stars. Join me?

Hide & Seek,

The Girl in the Moonlight.

Twitter/Tumblr/Pick 'n' post

To an Unnamed Hero

To an Unnamed Hero,

You've experienced the sourness of the relief that is felt when at last evil allows the sufferer to close her eyes. You've been on a search for salvation and won before your wall came crumbling down with your promise falling to the ground. You've held happiness in your hands and watched it diminish in the eyes of your children. You've known a sadness that can only end in a wavering smile. Your heart was bright until an eclipse ensured everlasting darkness.

Yet, you find honest happiness when no one expects you to. You offer your hand when darkness seems evident. You could see beyond your days and still you endeavoured to spread goodness with your tired hands. You have comforted others when it is your heart that aches louder and your mind that is screaming for deliverance. Goodness leaks out of your every movement while sadness travels through your veins. You are a hero to everyone who has been graced by your breath-taking presence.

You teach your experience without regret or isolation of your heart; you, instead show courage and honesty and your watchers know they must trade their sorrow for a better life. Your love has spoken to those who needed it the most and has sung through the hearts of everyone you have met. You deserve recognition but your modesty would prevail and you - the person who should know it the most - would recognise your goodwill with a smile that echoes your humble refusal to accept your greatness; your greatness that words will never conquer to define.

To an Unnamed Hero, your eyes still glisten, your will for goodness and truth to triumph will always win and your want to fill the world you live in with happiness will always exist.

All of my wishing stars will for ever whisper your name.

Bricks & Letters,

The Girl in the Moonlight.

My place of tweeting/Tumblr/Random post

An Optimist Whose Glass is Half Empty

I always say "I'm a hopeless romantic who doesn't believe in love, a dreamer who fears failure and an optimist whose glass is half empty." HERE, I explained how I am a hopeless romantic who doesn't believe in love and I thought it was time to explain how I am an optimist whose glass is half empty.

I have always been very nervous when it comes to certain things that I want to go well: exams, sport competitions and musical performances. Although I'm a lot better at dealing with the stress now, I still force myself to believe that everything will go horrendously badly and I'll not do as well as I would like to. I'll get the worst butterflies mixed in with another feeling: a burning excitement. Despite this being an example showing more of me being a pessimist whose glass is half full (I don't know why, but in my head this makes more sense in this situation), I am always cancelling some form of excitement out with the negativity fear produces in me.

So, the picture? Today I saw these dying flowers on my window sill and thought I'd find the positive in them and take a little snap. They are a lot less colourful than they used to be but they are still sweet and lovely so I thought I'd attempt to try and improve my naturally pessimistic view and find something beautiful out of something that's not as bright as it once was.

Dewy Grass & Flowers,

The Girl in the Moonlight.

My nest for tweeting/All things Tumblr/A surprise post

An Almost Adult

HERE I spoke about my recent blogging problems. Mostly due to lack of time, my blog has gone slightly downhill in terms of how much I like my own content and to me, this is a particularly important aspect of blogging. As I wanted to write something about how I'm getting back on track, I thought I would do a bit of an update post to organise my thoughts.

Today I woke up, despite having so much to do this week, feeling ready to take it all on. My list includes a lot of college work, some life errands and sorting out my blog. My college work has gone as well as it can so far and I'm feeling a lot more at ease because of it. In terms of the issue I named one of my "life errands", I am feeling very happy with myself indeed. I shall explain.

I did something that proved to myself and I hope to others that I can deal with the responsibility of sorting relatively serious things about my life out, despite a slight obstacle. I can become very anxious at the thought of a few things and although I won't name them all, one of them is phoning people I don't know. It's not something in my life that takes over completely; it only affects me at certain moments but I can get to the point where I fear the thought of someone horrendously aggressive picking up (or various other scenarios) so much, that I'll end up just not phoning. It's something that many people without the anxiety for that specific thing may not understand, but I really am happy with myself.

Today, I just did it.

I was having troubles with something that needed sorting and I'm not counting the fact that there was no one around and wouldn't be for a long time to help as something to put me down. I picked up the phone, had a few blips in terms of needing to wait around and I did so, without panicking myself.

I don't know whether I have conquered the fear but I'm very proud of myself, to say the least!

Although it doesn't take over my life completely, today I proved to myself that I can move forward from it by one simple thing: doing it. I ignored any nervousness and felt completely at ease. Now, it's my time to tell you: you can do it. If you're suffering with anxiety, on a big scale or a small scale like me, I hope that you can find a way to overcome it.

On another issue, because I dealt with something that if a parent was nearby they would have sorted, I feel like I own my "almost adult" age.

Now back to blogging. I haven't yet sorted my blogging dilemma out, but I have no doubt at all that, next week, with a whole nine days off, I will be back on track by at least midweek next week. I am super excited to eventually be writing content that isn't making me cringe at the computer mouse hovering over the "publish" button. I will have one more post up this week and in the mean time I will be completing some college work, smiling at the increase in confidence I have in myself to sort out my life errands and being very red-in-the-face-excited to finally have my blog sorted!

What are your aims for this week?

Jelly & Cream,

The Girl in the Moonlight.

My Twitter/Tumblr galore/A random post

The World of Dreams

I was thinking about the concept of dreams today and although I don't know anything technical about dreams and how they work, the happenings of dreams made me really think.

When dreaming, there are no limits. The rules and structure of how to live in real life aren't there and your mind may explore things that you shouldn't physically explore in real life. They also open up an alternative world: the world of dreams. You're not restricted by thoughts of "you can't do this", or any other possible obstacles to stop you achieving your dream, your ambition; you can do it.

Considering sleeping kind of dreams existing of things that make you happy, things you want and things you'd like to happen, it makes my ambitions bright all the more brighter. There are things in my life that I want to achieve and the anticipation to achieve them is exciting and my sleeping dreams can sometimes remind me of this and highlight how much I want something.

When I'm dreaming about something that I would like, the dream version of me is rather happy. However, when recalling dreams, I always feel like I'm a spectator rather than being actually involved, which somewhat reflects real life: I'm wishing and imagining but not getting anywhere.

The dreams where something I want is produced within are the ones that make me momentarily (or sometimes a little longer than they should) sad to have been awoken. Should this prove something? In many cases, yes. Despite being excited for things to come as well as the work I'm going to put in to get where I need to, I hope so much that I pursue my dream; at least to some level.

The problem is this. If I get too caught up in what may be, I forget for a slight moment that it isn't just going to happen at the click of my fingers. I do have to work hard and I am so up for that.

In the world of dreams, fears are also exposed. I have had dreams where I've woken up, more than relieved to find it was just a dream and I'm going to work to make sure I'm don't end up living a life (in some aspects - I won't be completely miserable, I hope!) I want to wake up from!

How do you feel about the world of dreams? Are you often dreaming of your wishes? Let me know!

Orchids & Truffles,

The Girl in the Moonlight.

Tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet/All things Tumblr/A wee random post

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

This post is long overdue and I'm very excited to go fangirl on you.

With the anticipation for Thor 2 higher than ever, the S.H.I.E.L.D series was well needed. It's exciting, action-packed, funny and well: Phil Coulson rules.

I love all of the characters and the plot from episode to episode has me living that cliché: on the edge of my seat.

I also fangirl about, er, all of the... I HAVE MORE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS ADDED TO MY OVERSUBSCRIBED LIST OF LOVES. *Breathes.* Leo is adorable and intelligent and has some hilarious lines. Then there's Grant Ward: handsome, heroic and charming, I fell instantly. Phil Coulson just re-confirmed my love of him: hilarious, fabulous and perfectly-suited all of the time, I love him.

There have been three episodes so far and I've sat, popcorn and chocolate beside me, not needing anything else to entertain me while Phil Coulson and the gang make my Friday night exciting. As lame as I am, I refuse to have plans on a Friday because my fangirl needs some time to become excited. Every week, my anticipation is the same: What surprise will there be this week? Will there be loads of links to the comics? Will we find out why Phil Coulson is alive?!

It's only a short post, but as I no longer do favourite posts, I had to quickly discuss my weekly fangirl happiness!

Popcorn & Chocolate,

The Girl in the Moonlight.

My Twitter where I tweet/My Tumblr where I... tumble/A random post - ooooo, exotic

My Blogging Bucket List

Today I have been feeling a bit nervous. I have a plan for my blog; I know vaguely what posts are going up when with a few exceptions that I'm comfortable with. However, recently, I've been rushing my posts, not being happy with the outcome of them. Today I wasn't sure what I was writing about for my Friday post.

I've been very busy and tired and although blogging is my release, - and always will be - I've found it a bit scary recently. I don't think it's writer's block; it feels more like "I've got so much to do ahhhhhh!" I love blogging. I can't write in words the genuine joy I get from it but if I'm not producing content that I am interested by, I can't expect anyone to like my blogposts and therefore for me to respect my blog.

Due to my disappointment with my blogposts, I want to write a blogging bucket list to get some blogging perspective on a Friday night.

I want to reach 50 members in the next year. For many this may seem not to be an ambitious hope, but for me, it is! I am proud as punch with the amount I have and it excites me a lot! I don't know whether I'll reach it but I've got 24 (at the time of writing) to go so, fingers crossed!

I want to take pictures. I've spoken before about how difficult I find it to take pictures for my posts. I'll leave it too late (recently I'll be sitting writing the blogpost on the night and not see why I should produce a naff picture) and become uninspired to do anything about it. The annoying thing is, I love it when I do use pictures I'm happy with. I'm just, for some reason not good at it!

I want to be creative. I really love writing short stories (Eyes Opened) and every now and then I want to be a bit daring and post one. I also love writing posts in a different format to a "traditional" blogpost, like a letter (Dear Mr. Ignorance...). I love writing about things out of my comfort zone, like talking about what a certain thing means to me (Comfort) or a lifestyle post (Sun, Water and Family Time). I want to write these posts that excite me so much.

All of the hopes above won't be achievable if I'm not happy with the posts I'm producing.

I have decided that, while I get my blogposts up to the standard I want them to be, I will go along with my blogging schedule (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) so long as I'm content with the post. If I'm reading over it sighing, I won't post it. It may be that I get more comfortable and happy and it may not be affected, but if it is, I want to document my blogging struggles because it's all part of the learning how to be a blogger for me. I'm hoping, if I do partake in holding back from posting that it won't last longer than two weeks (I am expecting to be posting twice still) and my schedule will be solid after I breathe a bit (if only for my slight obsession with posting on certain days). I hope it goes well!

What's on your blogging bucket list?  Have you faced any walls in the way of your blogging? Let me know.

Sparkles & Felt Tips,

The Girl in the Moonlight.

Having Hope

After watching Louise, Sprinkle of Glitter's video about Having Hope, I was flooded with thoughts about the subject of hope. Louise put it so perfectly but I want to talk about Having Hope in my view. However, after being initially flooded by so many thoughts, I was so overwhelmed by how Louise put it that I started this post and then stopped. I didn't know what to write anymore. Yet, in the true "I can do it" fashion, here I am: ready.

 

Losing hope can be triggered by something big or small. The size of it or how long you have to endure the feeling for doesn't make it any less or more significant: You've lost hope and it sucks. I've found I don't lose hope for long, but in short spurts. In those short spurts everything seems, as Louise put it, "rubbish", just utterly rubbish. It leaves me thinking everything is dark and I'm very isolated.

 

"When you feel afraid, it's very very hard to feel hopeful." It's not always - probably rarely ever - needed to be told "it'll be okay", but I hope that if I said, "it will be okay, things do get brighter", it's not a "rarely ever" needed moment. I can't speak from your perspective and your situation, but I have hope that things pass, things will be okay in my life and so I have hope for you!

 

Things change all of the time. Situations change, feelings change, perspectives change. The thought of this is sometimes all I need to filter out my state without hope. If I'm feeling alone, I'll be sure to be proven wrong by a friend the next day. If I'm feeling useless, I'll prove myself very soon. If I can't understand college work, I'll take a break and another time I'll wonder what the fuss was about. Despite how the situations are different, things, in every aspect of life, can get better!

 

I think my top tip to find hoping again would be to find something you love and do it! That's partly what my blog is all about! I enjoy and so I do it. If I'm feeling down, my blog will always make me happier because it's something that I love to do! Books and music do the same; McFly are an even bigger part. Find anything (that won't damage you) that makes you happy and find hope in that.

 

Sweets & Tulips,

 

The Girl in the Moonlight.

 

P.s. I'm going to shamelessly put a link to my last blogpost HERE.

My Favourite Books: Before The Teenage

I want to address my favourite books, however today I will be talking about the books I enjoyed most between the ages of about 6 and 13 (excluding Harry Potter).























I remember really enjoying Midnight, reading it while I was ill one time. Violet was my favourite Jacqueline Wilson character; she's imaginative, different and more exciting than she would ever realise.

My absolute favourite Michael Morpurgo book has to be Friend or Foe. Sadly I don't have the book. I think I borrowed it from the library but I will definitely be purchasing it again because I remember it making a young me very thoughtful. However Escape from Shangri-La is so good. I remember it being very raw and captivating.

So I was a big Cathy Cassidy fan. I loved everything about her books and as soon as the next one was out, I'd be there: ready to read. Looking back, her books have a really deep meaning in them all and I actually plan on re-reading them all very soon. I won't talk about them each separately but they are all fabulous. I think I read Ginger Snaps when I was just a teenager but it had to be in this post because the moral of this novel is the bomb; it's about non-conformity and breakdowns in friendship and realising the important things in life.


Scarlett was my favourite Cathy Cassidy book and I consider it one of my favourite books of all time. There was something about this particular novel that made me re-read it within weeks of reading it. I was head over heels (and still am) in love with the boy in it, Kian and I adored Scarlett. I thought she was the bee's knees. It's, I'd say, a coming of age story after Scarlett causes trouble wherever she goes. She moves away to live with her dad and, well, the story that begins makes my heart smile. Cathy Cassidy was what I call my favourite before the teenage author. I religiously read all of her books and fell in love with all of the characters. There was always something different about her books; a theme would be explored that wasn't something typical and it made them something special; it made them charming.


Enid Blyton was my favourite childhood author. I probably read her boarding school-based books between the ages of nine and eleven, as suggested by my mum as she loved them so much and I didn't look back as soon as I turned the first page of The Naughtiest Girl in the School.
 

Mallory Towers are just... I loved these books so much! They are brilliant. Everything excited me about them: the sports, the lessons and the scandals of Gwendoline Mary. Oooo, I'm getting all nostalgic thinking about it!

Oh golly, I love books and I have for ever (as you can see). Getting all of these books out brought up a lot of nostalgia and excitement and thinking about the plots and characters. Out of all of the books I read when I was younger these are the ones I was most obsessed with and

Old Books & Old Smiles,

The Girl in the Moonlight.

The Girl in the Moonlight | Blogging

I started blogging in January because I wanted to do something with my writing (and lyrics). My first post very much encapsulated this. Now, I'm not all that focused on lyric-writing because I feel, not only embarrassed writing them and posting them, but also that I'm not confident about them. My blog is for, well, blogging! Today, I wanted to write about just that.

I have a lot of favourite things about blogging. One of them is that excitement when I think of a topic to blog about and then I think of everything that I could include and suddenly my mind is buzzing with words and excitement for getting home and turning on my laptop. These are the posts that end up being my favourite to write because I'm so inspired.

I also really enjoy the community of blogging. We all like to write posts and so, in turn, we all like to read. I love clicking on posts when I log in, getting really sucked into the writing of the fabulous blogger and it seems only fair to comment when a blog has made me feel some kind of emotion: happy, excited, thoughtful or whatever. I won't always comment due to lack of time or being busy but I love reading people's blogposts so much!

Writer's block is obviously something I'm not so keen on. It's horrendous to sit with a blank computer screen in front of you, knowing there's something to write, there's something there, but it's also not coming any time soon. I'll tap my fingers, frustrated, until I realise it's time to either take a break or think about it in a way that will help me progress. If I choose the latter I'll write down as many "topic headings", if you will but if that fails, I'll write any disjointed thoughts down, in poor English or not and see what I can do with it. If nothing comes of that, well, it's time to listen to McFly.

In turn, I dislike putting up blogposts that I read and just think, "why am I publishing these?" I feel some strange need to publish on certain days and it doesn't match well with my want for every post to be as perfect as I see fit. More about this later though.

My number one blogging tip is, as you will hear most say: write about what you want! It's so important. Obviously, considering what people like is necessary too but you have to make sure you're enjoying writing your content or else your excitement for blogging may disappear before you realise you need to put your heart and passion and excitement into it. I often publish posts that I assume will get very few views because it's not typical blogging but I publish them because they are about things I love to write about. For example, I've written a post a whole post about one of my favourite villains, Loki. Posts like this are nothing controversial, they're not thoughtful or deep, they're just things that make up me! P.s. My post about Loki hasn't got the most views out of all of mine, but it's not all that close to the least either!

There are things about blogging that I'm particularly bad at. Two of these that stick out the most to me are taking pictures and my blog layout. Recently I'm trying so hard to take pictures for my posts because I know they can be important. The problem is, I'm just not that good at it! My bigger flaw in blogging, however, is my layout. I want my blog to be more personal, more about me and my background and everything that could be more about me, isn't! I can't wait to get around to changing it - when I figure out how!

Blogging, to me is a release, a passion and my favourite hobby. What does Blogging mean to you? Is it writing to your heart's content about anything you wish? Is it being creative? What's your number one tip for blogging? I'd definitely like to hear so I can take them on board!

Thoughts & Constellations,

The Girl in the Moonlight.

My Autumn Bubble

I have really been enjoying seeing bloggers write about autumn so I thought I would give it a go. Hot chocolate with whipped cream and mini marshmallows by my side and I'm ready to jump right into the multi-coloured leaves and talk of big jumpers and the early darkness that takes the innocence of the day away - oooo, how rather magical!

It's such a beautiful season because you step outside, two pairs of socks and some boots and the leaves are so sweet and the morning is sleepy and the eyes of cars are waking up, slightly misty-fied. It's time to pretend to be dragons again, blowing into the slightly crisp air and enjoy the feel of a warm coat and gloves. It's autumn again.

Autumn is awesome because I love getting in from the chill after a long day, throwing on a big baggy jumper and curling up on the sofa with a hot chocolate and a film or a book or with my family. It's simple and refreshing - but in a warm, cosy kind of way.

It sounds silly because a reason I love summer is because of how light it is for so long, but I love autumn because it gets dark more quickly. It makes every evening a little bit lovelier when home time has arrived. Being all warm and cosy with the comfort of knowing you don't have to go out is just the perfect set up. Heating on? Check. It's sure to be the perfect autumn night.

What else does autumn mean? CHRISTMAS IS COMING. Yes, I'm one of those types. I love Christmas and everything about it and therefore the build up (which started a good few months ago in my world) is oh so exciting. It's starting to get a bit frosty in the morning and it's almost time to buy Christmas cards and eat festive treats. Autumn makes me all jolly.

So far autumn has already given me some fabulously warm memories: I've had a movie day with a friend; baked to my heart's content; watched the rain.

My Autumn Bucket List:

- Go puddle splashing in my wellies
- Buy a new coat
- Take pictures

Autumn makes me feel warm inside. What do you love about autumn? Or, do you not like it? I'd love to know!

Orange & Red Leaves,

The Girl in the Moonlight.