My Massive Autumn Haul

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I love it when autumn comes around. I've always loved this time of year: the colours, the weather, the seasonal vegetables... But one thing I really love to do at this time of year is to decorate the house.

Most people will only decorate at Christmastime. Some people will change things around in the Spring too, maybe swap for pastel colours and Easter items, but I like to make my home feel cosy and ready for autumn from September through to the end of November.

This year I decided to buy some new items that will last for years. Things that I can pack away at the end of the season, put away in the loft and then get it all out again next year. So, here are some of the things that I've bought to make my home feel very autumnal...

Film Review: Kingsman: The Golden Circle

I've been so excited for this movie, from the moment they announced that it was being made. I really enjoyed the first film, as far as comedic-violent action films go.

The trailer looked incredible and just had me more excited to see this, so we booked tickets as soon as we were able to. I would have loved to go on opening night, which was Wednesday, but we weren't able to go that night and I was at Book Club on the Thursday, so we went on Friday evening.

We went to quite an early showing for a Friday evening, at 6pm. When we arrived at our local Cineworld, I got myself a pumpkin spice frappuccino and headed to our screen with our tickets.

This part isn't about the film, it's about the cinema. I just want to praise my local Cineworld staff who dealt with some rather difficult people. They were teenagers, who were asked for ID as the film was a 15 and they now have to ask everyone as they go into the screen. They said that they'd been allowed to buy the tickets. The staff then tried to explain that people who are over 15 have bought tickets and then passed them on to people who are underage, so they need to see ID when tickets are purchased and when they are going through to the screen. It's also true for those who buy tickets online, because anyone of any age can do that.

So, I just want to say how well the staff dealt with those people, as they tried to explain what year they were in at school (which means nothing and is not proof of age). They had a big group of teenagers to talk to and they dealt with it really well.

Anyway, on with the review...

 

Tower of Dawn Release Dinner Party

Tower of Dawn is finally here! Chaol Westfall has been one of my favourite characters from the beginning of the series, so I've been dying to know what he's been up to in this companion novel.

Along with the release of the book, Bloomsbury have produced a party pack. I was so excited to be a part of the release and cook some of the food on the recipes page and have a little Tower of Dawn dinner party.

So, here's what I cooked and everything else that I got up to...

WHSmith Zoella & Friends Book Club:Review (Books 5-8)

I'm back with the second part of my review for the WHSmith Zoella & Friends Book Club.

You can see my various blog posts and videos for all rounds of the book club below:

Zoella Book Club (Summer 2016 - Round One):

• I'm Reading: The Zoella Book Club 2016 (blog post)
• Reviews: Books 1-4 (blog post)
• Reviews: Books 5-8 (blog post)
• Full review (video)

Zoella Book Club (Autumn 2016 - Round Two):

• Unboxing (blog post)
• Author Interviews: Books 1-4 (blog post)
• Author Interviews: Books 5-8 (blog post)
• Full review (video)

Zoella & Friends Book Club (Summer 2017 - Round Three):

• Unboxing (video)
• Reviews: Books 1-4 (blog post)
• Review (video - coming soon)

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Here are the last four titles in the 2017 book club:

• The One Memory of Flora Banks
• After the Fire
• Girlhood
• Letters to the Lost

(You can buy the complete eight-book bundle, with the exclusive WHSmith covers, here)

So let's get on with the reviews!

Again, before continuing, please be aware that there are going to be some mild spoilers ahead.

Get Organised: Back to School (Updated Version)

A couple of years ago I wrote a blog post about how to get organised for going back to school. You can see the original post here, but I was still studying with the Open University then and a few things have changed since that first post.

I may not be studying anymore, but I still work in a school and I make time for writing, blogging, reading and BookTube. So, here is an updated version that has some similarities but is more suitable for me now.

Use a timetable

I don't need this so much anymore because, as I said, I'm no longer studying. However, I like to keep up with my blogging, filming videos for my BookTube channel and writing (as I have so many ideas after doing my creative writing modules at university), so this is still a helpful tool.

A couple of years ago, I was inspired by this schedule to create my own, but combining my work hours and the slots I have for my studies. I still have a similar schedule, it has just been altered to fit to my work hours better, and the study slots has been replaced with blogging time, video editing and other similar tasks.

I have always have two copies of this schedule. One stays on my person, tucked inside my diary in my handbag, and the other stays with my notebooks for when I'm working on other stuff at home.