Hello, my name is Claire and I have a serious problem...

...I really and truly do.  It's called clothing separation anxiety.  You see, I'm shifting my Winter and Summer wardrobes and I have just realised that I have a very, very bad situation on my hands.  I basically did not grow much over the past few years, I probably haven't since I was ten or so and apart from a few select pieces which tend to stand out, I tend to buy items which I can style in several different ways with several different pieces and accessories.  Now you'd say, that's not really a problem, it's more of a gift really (oh, I'm soooo gifted, right??) . BUT, and there's always a but, when you fear throwing away stuff, you end up accumulating a lot and a lot of clothes.  Plus, recently I've been looking at trends and nearly and up crying my eyes off at the fact that some pieces which are hot right now, my mom used to wear...AND SHE THREW OUT!!! Because you see, my mum's the opposite of me, she throws anything and everything out once she gets bored with them..good and bad for me depending on whether I manage to convince her to tell me before she throws stuff out.

Now I see two options how I can deal with this problem:

1. Stop buying stuff.  I could of course settle to accept that I have enough stuff and stop buying.  But I know for a fact that I can't for the simple reason that I am young, I work hard  and spend carefully so I find it rewarding when I buy stuff I like.

2. Start throwing stuff out.  The second option is probably the option that is more likely to happen though I'm going to have to work very hard.  I hate throwing stuff out so much that I usually keep things that I can no longer wear outside...and sleep in them! You see the problem? I should of course, give stuff away to charity and it's not that I don't like being charitable or helping others, it's just that I can't bring myself to get my stuff, throw them in a garbage bag, and never see them again.  I get this from my grandma, who's just like me and she often brings stuff over which she used to wear or she kept which are often amazing vintage pieces and I just drool over them and appreciate the fact that I am like her...you see a pattern here?

One of the pieces my Nanna kept. Also, my favourite ring. 

So that's my problem.  Any suggestions from people who suffer from this sort of anxiety will be appreciated.

Claire

My favourite books!

I have no idea how I have never written a post about my favourite books.  I'm such a bookworm, always have been always will be.  I have no clue how I'm going to group this but I'll probably group by authors when there are multiple books by the same author.

The first book and an all time favourite is Where Rainbows End by Cecilia Ahern.  I've read this book about ten times already and play to read it again this summer.  It's all written in a series of letters and emails between the two main characters and although this may seem weird, it's so cleverly written that it's super fun and interesting to see the story progress.

My next favourite has to be The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.  Now most people will say they've watched the film and it's a good film, but the book is great too.  I'm not one to always claim that books are always better, sometimes movies are.  I just love the way the story is told from a child's point of view and the whole war and Nazi situation is explained through the point of view of a young boy, it's just really effective.

The next is a series. Harry Potter. I know, it's everyone's favourite but I love it and I'm always fascinated at JK Rowling's imagination.  She's a genius, creating every little detail to perfection.

I also love Lesley Pearse a lot a lot a lot.  She writes novel mainly about women, so if you're a guy you might not like them as much. but the stories are really gripping and they usually happen in the past, 20s London or something like that, which obviously, the granny in me loves.  Top faves by Lesley are Belle, The Promise, Charlie and Father Unknown.

The last two are a biography and a book I had to study for Uni.  The first is the biography of Carmen Bin Ladin, the wife of one of Osama BIn Ladin's brothers.  She gives a look into the Bin Ladin world which is so shocking and scary that you just have to keep on reading.  And the book which I read because I had to but I love is 1984.  A classic by Orwell and again, I was fascinated by the genius of the author as much as by the story.

There are hundreds more books I've read and authors I love and they all hold a special place in my heart.  I just can't keep on mentioning books and authors because I'll end up never stopping.

Feel free to comment telling me what you love to read, maybe I'll find a coupe of authors and books I've never heard of.

Claire  

YouTube Faves!

If, like myself a couple of months ago, you only use YouTube to listen to music or check out TV/film trailers, let me tell you, you're missing out, a lot.  My boyfriend has been watching videos on YouTube from the very start and recently he got me hooked too.  There are also some channels we both enjoy together and can spend hours watching.

Now for those who don't know what goes on on YouTube, let me explain.  There are basically 2 types of YouTubers, those who post vlogs, which means you get a camera, hand held and go about your day and just shoot stuff.  These people are called vloggers.  Then there are those who post videos.  If it's fashion and make-up you enjoy, then you'll find people showing you how make-up techniques, hair techniques, stuff they buy and review, etc.  If you're more tech interested, you'll find people who post videos on that.  I personally enjoy the fashion related stuff more though I do occasionally watch a video or two which is quite techy (again, blame the boyfriend!)

Now since I'm assuming you're YouTube beginners, I'm going to tell you my personal faves and why ypu should check them out.  Starting with vloggers.  I mostly watch 'The Shaytards', a family with 4 kids and another on the way, who live in LA and just do normal family stuff.  And the dad is super cool.  I also watch 'Pirillo Vlog' just because it's of a couple, with the guy being all techy and the girl being all make-up loving and fashion crazy, so it reminds me of myself and my boyfriend a lot and we sometimes watch it together.  Next, videos.  I have 3 main favourites, they're all girls and all British; Zoella, Tanya Burr and DollyBowBow.  The first is just so cute and I love her look and what she has to say.  Tanya is a make-up artist so she's a bit heavy on the make-up tutorials and DollyBowBow is similar to Zoella though less famous.

That's it basically.  I sometimes watch stuff from friends of these people, they link their videos and I give them a look, but these are my main favourites.  I hope you enjoy watching these videos and feel free to share any favourites with me.

Enjoy,
Claire

PS Here are the links for all the people I mentioned.
Shaytards
Zoella
Tanya Burr
Pirillo Vlog
DollyBowBow

My thoughts on Maltese Advertising!

I'm going to reward myself by posting! YAY! It's that time of year, where blogging turns into an incentive to study. Oh well.

The only thing is that this post will be a bit of a rant.  I realised something today and I'm not sure if I should blame it on me being a horribly annoying control freak or my Communications degree subjects are wearing off on me.  Let me explain.  I was flicking through one of the gazzillion magazines we receive on Sundays and I came across an advert.  Now, being the journalism lover and all, I tend to look at magazines to find stuff I would do differently had I been the editor (what an ambitious little idiot I am, eh?). No but seriously, I go through stuff, point out stuff I don't like in my head and move on.

But this particular issue has been bothering me for a while.  The issue I'm talking about is the fact that they put ads and forget who the audience is.  You'd think it's something from page 1 of "Advertising for Dummies" right? But in Malta it's not.  They get ads from the UK or any other country we import stuff from, chuck it in the magazine, and voila', stupidity galore.  Example, an ad for some alcoholic drink in a can.  The ad says it's perfect to relax with and with summer close by you can take to festivals or at a picnic at the park with the girls.  And my radar goes off.  What festivals? Isle of MTV? I mean, we get a couple of good bands and artists yes but we don't have festivals, we have festa and maybe Beer Fest which is not what they meant by "festivals" I'm sure.

Next one, "picnic at the park with the girls".  What girl in her right mind would want to go to a picnic in summer.  We don't even like going to the beach sometimes it's sooo hot! (Ok, I don't) Imagine a group of girls, hitting ta' Qali drinking these alcoholic drinks, no you can't can you.  And I'm ignoring the "park" reference.  Our parks are "bandli" and you don't want to be caught drinking alcohol from a can at the bandli!

So you get what I'm saying? Does anybody read these before they publish? I hope the answer is no because if they did and it's acceptable, I don't want to live in this world anymore!

Rant.Over.
Claire