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ghostxraven · 3 years

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hi love im deep in ur art blog for reasons and im SO in love with the fact that ur ghoul has his OWN nickname tattooed on him in party's writing they are SO 🥺 was wondering if you wanted to talk a bit more abt ghouls tattoos??? theyre just SO gorgeous and intricately laid out

HI i LOVE u i am KISSING u i would love love love to talk about ghoul’s tattoos 🥺❤️

^ yeah ghoul & party have each other’s handwriting tattooed!! for party it’s one of the only tattoos they have & it’s right over their heart (im sure ive mentioned this fact before but idk if ive explicitly noted that it says ‘sunshine’) and ghoul didn’t have the space to put his right over his heart because poison’s kj symbol is there so his is on his upper arm (they ARE soooooooo 🥺 i love them)

ghoul’s tattoos are a healthy mix of sentimental ink and things he just thought were beautiful. when he met the rest of the four he didn’t have THAT many tattoos because 1. he was 14 2. he’d only been in the zones for a little under a year and a half at that point but the ones he DID have (aka his oldest tattoos) were his knuckle tattoos (‘freed’ and ‘fuck’ what can i say he was 13), the big raven on his upper shoulder and neck (he started believing in the witch very early compared to other cityborns but yeah that tattoo was both a way of symbolizing his devotion to the witch and a way of marking himself as a killjoy/shedding his past in the city in the way that he considered clearest), the fangs on his hand, two bats on his leg, the zombie bite on the other side of his neck (i could get a little more into this but BASICALLY ghoul being an ex-crow trainee + a cityborn + being the only surviving member of his first crew had a problem with feeling inhuman and a lot of survivor’s guilt and so he really. idk he connected a lot with zombies & frankenstein’s monster and ghosts & the like when he was a runner for dr. d post-his crew’s deaths. he got better about Seeing Himself as a Person especially once kobra + the other two showed up but the fascination remained) (also not tattoo-related but that’s when he chose his name. before that he’d been called ‘sandpup’ by his old crew & he never had a chance to tell them before they passed but he really loved that they used that as a name for him especially with how much he didn’t want to associate himself with the city) (ghoul had A Lot of issues but the difference there is that he worked thru them a lot earlier than the rest of the four) and “I FORGIVE U” on the back of his neck (in remembrance of said former crew).

umm along with that kind of fascination with the undead/feeling that kind of connection are the frankenstein stitches on his wrists (tho thats more of a common hc) and he has this pretty big tattoo of abstracted bones following his vertebrae down his throat and chest that he’s gotten expanded/fixed/touched up over the years. ik i do a lot of b&w doodles but i feel like i’ve been kind of inconsistent about coloring (most of his tattoos are color). pretty sure ive mostly drawn them in green (???) but in my head they’re like a faded light blue using natural skin tone as highlights.

his more sentimental tattoos…let me see if i can outline them here. this might not be exhaustive but i will do my best to list what ive figured out at least thus far:

the two little bats on his right thigh are for his grandmother and little sister. his sister (juliet adele fujikawa, b. april 2009 d. december 2014) was killed in a car crash shortly before he left the city, and likewise, his grandmother (charlotte fujikawa [藤川千尋] b. june 1936 d. december 2014) was “moved to retirement housing” at about the same time. that was pretty much the last straw & ghoul left battery city within the week

there’s his crewmates’ symbols on his chest (in order from his right to left: kobra, jet, party) (gotten when their crew had been together for a while. dating this one is based on a couple things: 1. ghoul had been with them for long enough that he felt secure 2. poison and ghoul were friends by this point, or else he wouldn’t have included their symbol and 3. poison’s is over his heart so you can read into that as you will)

text from the graffiti bible on his right calf, as protection for his crew & as a reminder of one of his former friends who was a droid that believed very strongly in destroya’s return

his raygun on his chest (he was pretty proud of the design! this was when he was ~15 or 16) that he had poison’s added to post-sing post-engagement pre-commitment ceremony (so. september 2023) (yes i have my handwritten timeline + my own drawings + my fics out in front of me rn cross-referencing sldkdksksbx!)

one of the girl’s childhood drawings (one she drew of him & her & the stuffed animal he made for her when she was a baby all having a tea party together) from when she’s about 5 or so on his right hip (december 2022 or so)

shooting stars on his upper right shoulder, partially because they’re pretty and blend well with his other tattoos and partially because they’re a reminder of a lot of things, including but not limited to his first night out in the zones seeing the stars for the first time, stories his grandma used to tell him, and right when he’d first joined the fab four and him & kobra sat on the roof during a meteor shower

besides the other one i already mentioned ^ he has more of poison’s handwriting on his left inner forearm — this is also one ive mentioned before but once they’ve been in a relationship for a while they get into the habit of leaving little love notes around for each other! there’s nothing particularly special specifically about the one he got tattooed, besides the fact that it reminded him of poison and they love each other. the text in full (which i don’t think ive ever put anywhere, though im pretty sure ive put fragments of it in fics and art) is as follows:

Good Morning baby <3! I needed new paints, went on a run. Kobra has the Girl @ the Crash Track, Jet’s at the station. call me when you wake up! I love you, be back soon. XO Party <3

he also has the anniversaries of when they started dating and their commitment ceremony (03•03•21 and 10•26•23 respectively) on the inside of his right wrist ^ !

he’s got a snake wrapping around his left leg that kobra picked out and a hand of cards with the ace of spades face up that jet picked out (and these ofc are because they remind him of his crewmates!!)

he has the phoenix witch tattooed on his ribs, left side, styled vaguely after catholic saints (since that imagery can still be found in the inner zones & especially where ‘joys who still practice that religion gather!)

there’s a version of the eye from the mailbox on his right shoulder, and this one is also a sort of symbol of protection/good luck, to show devotion to the witch and to help protect himself and his crew

the constellation libra on his left forearm! this one was done a little while after he started running transmissions and supplies for dr. d! he liked the connection that astrology — whether he believed in the practice or not is up for debate — gave people to the stars, and the feeling that he had a place in the universe, predestined or not

after charlie is born, he gets a portrait of her (~age 4) with her name and birthday underneath done on his left thigh! (~2036)

and on his lower back, he has a fairly simple tattoo of two crows on a wire with their beaks pressed together (aughhhhhh romance) that he gets done as an anniversary surprise for their 10-year (so. 2033)!

his non-sentimental tattoos are largely based off of images from books, either from dr. d’s collection when he was working as a runner for him or from cherri’s after he joined up with the fab four, or else they’re naturally occurring in the zones!! this includes but is not limited to: california golden poppies on the back of his left shoulder, strawberries around his left bicep (he doesn’t ever have a strawberry until he’s like 35, this one is absolutely based off of a particularly pretty illustration), a thundercloud with lightning on his left elbow, a moon on his right inner bicep, a ring of thorns around his right forearm right under the elbow, a dagger on his inner left calf, and a sun, small bat, cross, rose, ribbon (with the word ‘faith’ in script), and wing on his right forearm and hand, all picked from flash sheets

so yeah! that’s about everything i have to say about ghoul’s tattoos atm but ty ty ty sm for letting me ramble abt them i think about his tattoos so much 😔❤️

#danger days #fun ghoul #ttlotfk #killjoys california #headcanons #killjoys #funpoison #hcs #pi's personal #jordan tag ⚠️#query on top #i LOVE U SM !!!!! 💕❤️💕❤️💕❤️#sorry you got an essay & also that it took me all day to get this out i have SO many thoughts #& i really hope i didn’t miss anything but i MIGHT have because tumblr deleted half of what i typed when i tried to save a draft SO.

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mymelodyheart · 4 years

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Forget Me Not Chapter 2 ~Homeward Bound~

“For the two of us, home isn't a place. It is a person. And we are finally home.”

2015

He cocked his head to listen if anyone was in the corridor. Satisfied nobody was about, he cautiously snuck into Claire's old bedroom and shut the door firmly behind him. After carefully placing a vase of forget-me-not flowers on the desk, Jamie noticed not much had changed in her room since she left Lallybroch. On one wall was a massive poster of the world map, on the wooden beam above, hung an assortment of dreamcatchers, and on her bed was a collection of stuff toys he had given her over the years. After a brief glance at the bookshelves filled with classic literature and travel books, his eyes wandered to her dressing table. Slotted in the frames of the mirror were a collection of photos, and they were mostly of him, William and Jenny. He smiled as he peeked at each snapshot, conjuring memories from their childhood. He wished he had a more recent photo of her, but that was one thing Claire never granted him as she was never keen to have her picture taken. Although she was active on social media, most of her posts were images of places she had visited, wildlife, food and the odd time her feet, to show off her new trekking shoes.

Over the years, he thought of her often even in times when he was in relationships. How could he stop thinking of her when Claire would faithfully send postcards, cards during special occasions and made-up occasions, and also ridiculous souvenirs that served no purpose except to clutter his apartment. But he kept every damn thing she had ever sent him. In return, he would send her favourite hardback books with forget-me-not flowers pressed into the pages and occasionally a bottle of single malt whisky so she wouldn't miss home too much.

Every Christmas and a couple of weeks in summer, Claire would come to visit Lallybroch, but Jamie was never there to see her, for the most part, because those times were his busiest at work in France. And whenever he came home, either she was studying in Switzerland, or she was on some adventure with her backpack in some faraway places. Once, only once they had an opportunity to meet in London airport for their connecting flights when she was bound for Scotland, and he was returning to France. Even that chance meeting went awry when Jamie's flight was delayed departing Edinburgh. But today she was coming home, and it would be the first time they will see each other in six years. This time she was staying for good and so was he.

..........

"God ah hate regional trains! Are we nearly there yet?" Geillis muttered as she slumped on her seat and stretched her legs in front of her. They have been travelling on the train from London for four hours already. "Remind me again why we took the train instead of flying."

Claire closed her book and sighed at her friend. "If we had booked a flight, we would have had to wait for two more days, and I can't wait that long. All the cheap flights were fully booked, and I wasn't prepared to pay a few extra hundred pounds to fly from city to city. I know how you're feeling, Geillis... I can hardly wait to get there myself. I'm even finding it hard to concentrate on reading, thinking of seeing my family again. God, I've missed them." Looking at her watch, she smiled. "Not long to go now... an hour and a half... more or less."

In actual fact, she had been thinking of Frank for the most part of the journey, and the thought of him made her stomach do somersaults. Claire had seen him the summer before when she came to visit Lallybroch, and she couldn't forget the appreciative look he had given her way when they met at the local pub. He seemed surprised as if he was seeing her for the very first time. And if her instinct is anything to go by, Claire believed Frank loved what he saw.

"What's with the secret smile, Claire? Is it Frank?" Geillis cheeks dimpled as her lips curled into a puckish smile.

Claire grinned. "You know me too well. Yes, alright yes I've been thinking about him, but I'm also thrilled to be seeing my family again, especially Jamie...I haven't seen him for years. God, I've missed him." She paused as she summoned memories from the past before continuing. "Just between the two of us, Jamie is my favourite out of the three siblings. I love them all, but Jamie is the best. Maybe because we're closest in age and we get along so well. As for Jenny, she used to fuss over me a lot, and when I got older, it became annoying. Well, Willie is great too, but he was always so grown up. He rarely played with me when I was little, but in my teens, he spent more time with me when ma and da were busy in the hotel. On weekends he used to take Jamie and me to movies and such, while Jenny was more interested in staying at home and pottering about. "

Thinking back to her childhood memories, the Fraser family was the greatest gift her uncle Lamb had ever given her. Although Claire felt like an outsider in her school and was often taunted for being English, the love her foster family had for her outweighed the heartaches. Her happiest memories were within Lallybroch and days spent with the Frasers. Even though she lost her parents at such a young age and then later, her uncle Lamb, in her heart and in her mind, despite what her schoolmates made her feel, she was never an orphan.

"Here, hand me yer IPad. Ah want tae see pictures of your folk again, sae ah ken who is who."

Claire shifted seats next to Geillis, and opening her IPad, she tapped into the gallery icon. After a few swipes on the screen, she found what she was looking for. "This one here is the last photo of all of us together under one roof. This was taken before Jamie went to a culinary college in France. I was sixteen here. Willie here was on holiday from his training as a chef in Italy. And Jenny, she's the only one who stayed at home. She never had any interest in the hotel, restaurant or further studies. Though she did go to University in Edinburgh to study Business Management. Da said she was born to be a housewife because she loved running the household and cooking."

"So you're the youngest? You look sae different in this photo...maybe it's the glasses ye were wearing and your hair was shorter."

"Yes, I'm the youngest. Jamie is now 25, Jenny 28 and Willie is 30. I was the baby then and was spoiled rotten when I first came to Lallybroch. Yea, I got rid of the specs after ma convinced me to wear contact lenses because I kept losing them or breaking them. As for my hair, I realised the curls aren't as wild if I kept my hair longer. I hated my hair back then and wished I had Jenny's straight hair. " Claire swiped past more pictures to a more recent one. "This one is from last year, just the Fraser kids."

"Holy mammy of God, are these Jamie an' Willie? They're sae tall an' Jenny is sae wee. Mmm such good looking lads if ah may say sae."

Claire laughed. "I don't know why Jenny is so small. Everyone else in the family is tall, even ma. Jenny and Willie take more after da with their dark hair and blue eyes. As you can see here, Jamie looks more like ma... he's ginger just like you, but he does have his father's eyes."

"Mmm...Jamie looks scrumptious, and he's more buff than Willie. Is he single? You wouldna mind if ah tried tae angle for a date? Unless of course, ye want him for yersel'"

"Don't be daft! He's my brother...and if he falls for you and ends up marrying you, it's like we're going to be sisters. Now wouldn't that be fab? And yes, he's definitely single. He broke up with his French girlfriend a few months back. He never really liked to discuss his relationships with me, and all I know is that he reckons Frenchie wasn't the right girl for him."

Claire loved Jamie with all her heart, and she had time and again reminded him that he will always be her best friend. He had consistently made her feel special, especially on the night when Frank cancelled their dance date when she was fifteen. He had planned to go with his friends after the dance, but instead, he went with her and Willie, stopping by a gas station to buy a tub of her favourite vanilla ice cream. When they arrived home, they both tucked into their treat sitting on the outside balcony, wrapped in a blanket and looking at the stars. Claire always loved looking at the stars, and she thought it was the most beautiful thing. Then she remembered him saying to her softly as he fed her a spoon of ice cream, "Next time you think of beautiful things, don't forget to count yourself in."

"So does Jamie have a type?" Geillis asked as she enlarged a photo of Jamie on Claire's IPad.

"Funny you ask that. He always told me he prefers brunettes, but his past two girlfriends were blondes. Blokes are funny that way, aren't they? They say one thing and do another, and yet Jamie always told me women are the most complicated creatures. Tsk, men!"

Geillis closed the IPad and handed it back to Claire. "Weel 'tis braw tae be back in Scotland an' I'm sae glad ah will be workin' wi' ye and yer family. How is yer da tae work for?" Geillis asked, straightening up from her seat to rummage for some snacks in her satchel.

"Oh, da is great, you will love him. I spent summer as a kid doing odd jobs at the hotel...helping in the kitchen, in housekeeping and such. I enjoyed it so much that I proceeded to study Hotel Management instead of nursing."

Claire and Geillis met while fulfilling their apprenticeship in a five-star hotel in Munich, Germany. Once their training came to an end, Geillis had planned to apply for a job in New York hoping Claire would follow suit. But Claire declined as she had promised Brian, her foster father, she would come back to work for Fraser Manor Inn once her studies and training were over. As Geillis was intrigued by the Frasers' hotel and wanted to be closer to her friend, instead of going to New York, she applied for the Front Office position with the help and recommendation from Claire, which Brian Fraser accepted.

Jamie and Willie have returned home to Lallybroch a few months back to help with the preparations for the Grand Opening after the hotel went through a major restoration. It was a pact they all made that they would one day return home to work for the family business. Claire had, at first, wanted to travel to Mexico after her apprenticeship had ended. But since the Grand Opening of the hotel is imminent, she decided to come home earlier than planned.

Fraser Manor Inn, having only thirty rooms, is not by any standard grand but more traditional of the Highlands. The pièce de résistance of the hotel was the restaurant, and the food was very sought after for its exceptionally high standard in taste, presentation and creativity, promoting Scottish fresh and local produce. The head chef Murtagh Fraser, god-father to all Fraser children had earned the restaurant a Michelin three stars; hence, his cantankerous manner was put up by Brian and Ellen. Working alongside Murtagh in the kitchen would be the Fraser boys; William as the Sous-Chef and Jamie as Chef de Pâtissier.

"Weel, I'll give it a go for a year, and I hope yer da will give me a fantastic certificate tae add tae my resume. When does the hotel re-open?"

"Hopefully before Christmas. So you'll have plenty of time to familiarise yourself with the locals and local delights. Da says you can stay in Lallybroch until you find your own place. Otherwise, he has a couple of apartments for rent...normally he rents them out to staff. It's supposed to be for one of us in case we tire of living in Lallybroch."

"Oh good, plenty of time to get to know the local boys before we start work. Or let's say, plenty of time to get to know yer brothers, " Geillis said, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

..........

Jamie and Willie were standing on the platform, waiting for the train to come to a halt and for Jamie, it seemed to take eternally before the screeching and clunking on the beaten old track ceased. The air felt nippy, and although it was only mid-afternoon, it was quickly turning dark. It was a perfect homecoming for Claire, Jamie thought, as autumn was her favourite season. He smiled to himself as he thought of Jenny and his mother preparing Claire's favourite meal of Beef Wellington, thick gravy, roast potatoes and vegetables. Willie had offered to cook, suggesting a more elegant dish, but the Fraser women had shooed him away. Earlier in the day, while nobody was in, Jamie snuck in the kitchen and made Claire's favourite dessert of Raspberry Mille Feuille and Sherry Trifle much to Jenny's annoyance. He had to make it as it was the only request Claire had of him when he asked what she wanted when she came home.

The whoosh of the sliding doors of the train carriages brought Jamie back to the present. As his older brother started to move forward, he followed, looking up and down the platform for a ginger-haired lassie and a curly-haired brunette. There were plenty of people disembarking eager to get off, and others, keen to get on board and out of the cold. The brothers strained their necks watching out for the girls, and it was Willie who saw them first.

"Claire! Over here!" Willie shouted as he started to jog forward.

"Oh my God, Willie...I'm finally home! So good to see you!" Claire squealed as she flung herself to his older brother's arms, while the ginger-haired lass stood back and observed the scene with amusement.

Jamie waited patiently, not wanting to disturb their moment as he leaned on a pillar watching the scene before him. He watched her squeal some more and giggle as Claire introduced Willie to her friend Geillis, babbling and swinging her rucksack onto her back as she went along. Ah Dhia, she's more beautiful than ever. Gone was the awkward and shy teenage girl he remembered but instead there stood a bubbly gorgeous young woman full of self-confidence and most importantly, happy to be home.

"Where's Jamie? I thought ma said he was coming with you." Claire asked, looking slightly disappointed.

"Right here, Sassenach," he replied, stepping away from the shadows and opening his arms for an imminent embrace.

She spun around to the direction of his voice, her eyes widening in surprise before her face broke into a most stunning smile he'd ever seen. Gone were her braces and in place were perfectly even teeth. "Jamie!!!" Claire wasted no time and ran up to him.

Jamie lifted her and hugged her tightly as they both laughed and spoke at the same time, of how they missed each other. Jamie didn't let go, and Claire wrapped her legs around his waist to keep her balance, as she rained loud kisses on his cheek. "Fancy a piggyback for ol' times sake?" Jamie suggested, grinning.

Claire nodded her head animatedly, her smile never leaving her face.

Without much effort, Jamie grabbed her hips and shifted her to his back without her feet touching the ground. Once she was safely behind him, her arms around his neck and legs around his middle, Jamie grabbed Claire's duffel back and turned around to his brother. "I'll race ye to the car!" Jamie shouted as he ran off.

Willie laughed at their carry on as he watched Jamie zig-zagged on the platform, Claire's laughter echoing in the air while Geillis face was one of astonishment. "Don't mind them, they've always been like that..." Willie confessed, shaking his head as he chuckled to himself.

"Brother my arse...he's got the hots for her," Geillis muttered to herself, as she watched Jamie and Claire disappeared into the crowd.

"Pardon me...you were saying?" Willie turned to pick up the rest of the bags as he smiled at Geillis.

"Nothing."

"I don't want to race Jamie to the car, but you can tell me how your trip was from London..."

#melodyheart #forgetmenot #Claire Beauchamp/Jamie Fraser #outlanderfanfic

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shooting-the-walls · 5 years

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I watched His Last Vow, and, well..... here are my thoughts again

Quick thing before we start: I choose HLV because it is one of my favourite episodes, and what I feel is one of the best shot episodes. Usually, I can't make it to the end of it because I know what is going to happen and I can't stomach it. Anyway, enjoy my little angst-filled monologue!!!

• Uggggghhhhhh Magnussen is so creepy even to start with

• Quick question: why the fuck does he have "porn preference" in his little file?? Creepy, dude. Real creepy

• I hate Magnussen with a passion but ngl his house is pretty bomb

• Why has a got a statue of a knight on an ostrich, and why does the camera focus on it? Kinda random XD

• Clever how they never show him going down the stairs the storeroom. IMPORTANT LATER ON

• Lady Magnussen when she sees Magnussen: *quietly* what the fuck

• "She looked delicious" "yum-yum": EEUURRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH

• "I have a condition": is that condition.... being a creepy weirdo???

• HEY SHE MAY BE AN OLD LADY BUT SHE'S A STRONG INDEPENDENT WOMAN SO SHUT THE FUCK UP MAGNUSSEN

• "This isn't blackmail it is.... ownership": uhhhhhh, pretty sure it's blackmail mate

• I'M SORRY BUT WE DON'T JUST LICK PEOPLE'S FACES, WHO WERE YOU RAISED BY DUDE

• The driver knowing something's up: we stan a king

• BAKER STREET YEAAAAAH BITCHES

• The intro mussssiiiiiccccc: it will now be stuck in my head for days XD

• When you miss your bestie: :(

• John being clueless XD

• *doesn't know what to do* *makes tea*

• "He the drugs one?" "Nicely put John"

• "Who's Sherlock Holmes" "See, that does happen"

• I think John feels bad for snapping at her XD

• "THERE IS NOTHING THE MATTER WITH ME. Imagine I said that without shouting": me 24/7

• Dude we know you tryna look sexy but the tyre lever XD

• "It is a tiny bit sexy" "I know": *is forcefully reminded of Boyle screaming "later sluts"*

• "I'm not just browsing": MATE IT'S NOT BLOODY ARGOS LOL

• Why is John so fucking cocky? Like we get you're an adrenaline junkie but Jesus XD

• JOHN BAMF WATSON IS HERE GUYS

• "Nope, just used to a better class of criminal": truth

• "Arse end of the universe with the scum of the earth": Jooooohn be nice

• Sherlock just so casual like " Oh HIIIII"

• "They're havin' a fight": Oh, like..... a married couple....?

• "WEll NoT nOW": we stan a queen XD

• "Alright Shezza?": *John and Mary Watson, Mycroft, Mrs Hudson, Molly and NSY have joined the chat*

• MOLLY YAAAAAAAS QUEEN PUT HIM IN HIS FACE

• "Just. Stop it."

• They are so concerned and Sherlock can't see it and I CAN'T

• "Just some guy" Sherlock: JOHN YOU DIDN'T *is suddenly more in love than ever*

• Sherlock: *hears what he sounds like* *ROLLS EYES*

• Billy knows what's going ON

• "Hang on, weren't there other people?"

• "I've got Mrs Hudson on semi-permanent mute"

• "Why do you do that": IT'S BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU

• "Cross-dressing may have been a wiser path for you": Mycroft your uncle was a bloody QUEEN

• "foR GOD'S SAKE"

John: oh deary me

• The mardy lil "I'm just gonna sit in this chair"

• MYCROFT STOP TATTLING ON YOUR BROTHER

• Also the Holmes parents line dance: I feel like this fact is super underrated XD

• "Just look frightened and. Scuttle": I LOVE THIS SO MUCH

• "I think we'd both find that embarrassing": THE FACT THIS WAS AN IMPROVISATION MARTIN IS SUCH A FAB ACTOR

• "Okay, I'll let you know if I notice"

• "Don't appall me when I'm high": genuinely one of my favourite lines of the entire series

• "God no. Trying to recruit you": Sherlock knows his John so weeeeelllll

• "Stay out of my bedroom" John: *immediately goes for the bedroom*

• JANINE HEYYYYYYYYY

• "Sherl.....": John is having a fucking field day with the nicknames

• John's confused little face XD XD

• "You have a girlfriend" "Yes I have" *JOHN WATSON CANNOT COMPUTE*

• Damn they're starting with the aquarium shit early

• "You got that from a book" "Everyone got that from a book"

• I'm sorry but Sherlock Holmes acting straight it the weirdest thing EVER

• "Maybe I will....": OH GOD. If she knows "what he's really like" (ie gay), then she also knows how much he loves John (she was at the wedding), so she's basically saying "I'll tell him you're in love with him"

• John: OH YES. THIS. THIS IS SOME NICE CEILING. MMM. GOOD CEILING

• John is so hung up on dinner XD

• "With wine.... and sitting....": I love the idea that when Sherlock eats, he just walks around like munching on shit. Like John used to get out of the shower and when he opened the bathroom door Sherlock would be standing there rocking on his heels eating a scotch egg XD

• "It's in the fridge, it kept ringing": me as an adult

• John just being so armed

• OH GOD SHERLOCK YOU'RE SO DAMAGED LIKE SO MANY PRESSURE POINTS

• BITCH DON'T BRING UP REDBEARD

• Oi listen Magnussen you little bitch

• NO PLEASE DON'T

• Shut UP Magnussen: as a Brit I cannot condone what the fuck he's saying. I AM A PROUD BRIT

• WHYYY

• WHYYYYYYY ARE YOU PEEING IN THE FUCKING FIREPLACE: this is why Moriarty was better, the sweetie had manners

• "How do you know his schedule?" "Because I do"

• The fact that Sherlock's checked with Mary if John is available XD

• CAM news: OMG THE CAM LETTER FROM S3E2, it makes sense nowwww

• Sherlock is so good at pick-pocketing

• "...your head kicked in." "Do we really need so much colour?" "It passes the time"

• I'M SORRY HIS CUTE LIL FACE WITH THE RING BOOOXXXXX

• I am fully convinced Sherlock was pretending Janine was John when he made the proposal

• SHERLOCK YOU CAN'T GET ENGAGED TO BREAK INTO A FUCKING OFFICE

• SHERLLL BEING IN LOVE WITH YOU IS NOT HUMAN ERROR, PLS GET SOME SELF ESTEEM

• "Bit rude, I just proposed to her"

• Sherlock immediately knows something's going on

• "...white supremacist so who cares?": SHERLOCK YAAAAS

• "During our own burglary" aka "really u idiot"

• The fact he immediately dismisses Mary: HE'S SO SWEET HE DOESN'T WANT TO RUIN JOHN'S HAPPINESS

• OH MY GOD THE REVEAAAAAAAAAL

• That moment when he realised. He just realises. The deductions he ignored: they could have helped her

• NO MARY YOU SHOT HIM WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS

• I'M SORRY BUT SAYING YOU'RE SORRY DOESN'T RIGHT THIS

• The sirens: again, as I said, the way this episode is made is incredible

• People often remark on who turns up in his mind palace: I totally agree with the idea that the others are his heart, "and you should never let it rule your head"

• SHERLOCK CALLING HIMSELF STUPID IN HIS MIND PALACE OH SWEETIE NO

• The fact Anderson is there tho

• THE FACT THAT EVEN THE FLOWERS TILT JESUS THE DETAIL

• "Don't go into shock, obviously": woooooooow, thanks Mycroft

• Oh Redbeard, the sweet little dog: "They're putting me down too now"

• Oh come on, he was totally looking for John's room when he ran into Mary

• NO NOT THE PADDED ROOM

• You don't understand: I actually can't watch this scene. It freaks me out so much. It's so sad, and the acting is SO GOOD.

• "Pain. Heartbreak. Loss. Death.": I'm sorry, but isn't that everything Sherlock's been through with John almost?

• Magnussen: dude I ain't telling you who shot him

• "It's raining. It's pouring. Sherlock, is boring. I'm laughing. I'm crying. Sherlock, is dying": JESUS THIS SONG

• "Mrs Hudson will cry. And mummy and daddy will cry. And the woman will cry. And John will cry buckets and buckets. It's him I worry about the most. That wife..... John Watson is definitely in danger": THE FACT THAT THAT MAKES HIM COME BACK; I'm sorry but how can you deny Johnlock after that?? He literally COMES BACK FROM THE DEAD for John Watson. Also, note how he misses off Greg and Molly and Mycroft. He thinks they don't care but they do. They care so much, Sherlock.

• "Oh you're not getting better are you?"

• MARY STOP ACTING ALL FUCKING INNOCENT YOU FUCKING SHOT HIM

• "I'm buying a cottage": I mean why not

• The fact that they're fine with each other after insulting each other XD

• I maintain that Janine is Moriarty's secret sister

• "I have an interview with The One Show and I haven't made it up yet"

• "I know what kind of man you are. We could have been friends": AGAIN she totally knows he's gay

• The fact he's self-punishing by turning the morphine down MY BABY

• The fact Greg just wants a video XD: I still want a Special Features on one of the DVDs of "videos from Greg Lestrade's phone"

• Of COURSE Sherlock's broken out, what else were you expecting John?

• Mycroft's little hand gestures like "off you go peasant": we know you love Greg really Myc

• "...stalked him one night" "foLLOWED"

• YOU, JOHN. HE'S PROTECTING YOU YOU DIPSHIT

• The fact Sherlock went back to Baker Street, BLEEDING INTERNALLY, to put John's chair back <3<3<3

• "A façade. Remind you of anyone?"

• Of course you can't Sherlock XD

• The fact he won the house in a card game with a cannibal XD

• I love this scene. Everything just suddenly makes sense. Everything she's said suddenly has a different meaning

• "You were very slow": BECAUSE HE WAS IGNORING THE WARNING SIGNS SO HE DIDN'T WANT TO UPSET JOHN

• "Even Scotland Yard can get somewhere with that"

• I feel like Sherlock had a little bit of a panic when she pulled the gun out, because he KNOWS that John is sitting there and he can't lose John Watson

• She loves John but he loves John too.... too much man, too much

• She can barely turn: the fact she knows that she may have just lost John forever

• YAAAAS WE'RE AT THE HOLMES' GUYS

• "How is it only 2 o'clock, I am in agony"

• "Is this your laptop, Mycie?" "Upon which depends the security of the free world, yes, and you've got potatoes on it"

• "Am I happy, I haven't noticed?" *gets hit with cracker*

• MRS HOLMES WE STAN A QUEEN

• "Someone's put a bullet in my boy and if I ever find out who I will turn absolutely monstrous": *takes tea to said shooter*

• When the dad is the only sane one XD

• I think even Sherlock's dad can see how much his son is in love with John

• I'm sorry but the entirety of the first bit at the Holmes': I STAN IT GUYS

• "What exactly is the point of you!?"

• "What's going on" "Bloody good question": me in physics

• Jesus Mrs Hudson is right Sherlock does look bloody awful

• "...that's me by the way, hello": HE'S SO PROUD AND IT'S SO SWEET

• "IT WAS MY HUSBAND'S CARTEL, I was just typing"

• The fact he tells him to be calm: Sherlock KNOWS that he needs to calm John down to get this sorted out

• Mary, stop being sarcy with him he's tryna sort it out

• "Because you won't love me when you've finished, and I don't want to see that happen": I mean she's not my favourite but I still feel so sorry for her

• "Look at you two: you should've got married": Sherlock: OH BABY NOT MY GAY ASS

• See, Sherlock SAYS that the reason Mary didn't kill him was because John would be part of the murder investigation, but I think it's because she's already seen what Sherlock's death would do to John: she's seen him crying at the grave, seen him drunk and screaming for Sherlock to come back, seen him unable to even walk past St Barts without seeing Sherlock hitting the ground over and over and over again, and she knows she can't do that to him again

• Paramedics: yo we here

• "She shot you" "ehhhhh mixed messages"

• "The problems are your past are your business. The problems of your future are my privilege": GET YOURSELF A MAN LIKE JOHN WATSON

• "You can mow the sodding lawn from now on": the fact John uses his wife's secret identity to get out of chores is such a mood XD

• When your mother catches you smoking: Mycroft: nope wasn't me Sherlock: *immediately blames his brother*

• "Your loss would break my heart" "what the HELL am I supposed to say to that": brotherly feeeeeeeeeeeels

• "Go and have some more": AWWW YOU LOVE HIM REALLY

• Dr Watson voice is baaaack

• Awwww at least he checks they're all still breathing XD

• "You can imagine the Christmas dinners".... GUYS THE OMENS CAME TRUE

• I love the idea that Sherlock just waltzed into Angelo's like "yo can I have a table", and Angelo DIDN'T EVEN QUESTION what he was wearing or the fact he was hooked up to morphine, just said "yoooo, I got your table sorted" and brought him food XD

• The constant flashbacks in this episode are so effective, cos they really bloody fit in

• "My brother": *literally delivers a drugged Mycroft all wrapped up with a little bow on top* "WELL I DIDN'T LIE"

• "Oh yeah we could be imprisoned for high treason btw": Sherlock stop you idiot

• "But it's Christmas!"

• "WHY WOULD I BRING MY GUN!?!!?!?!" "Coat pocket?" "YES"

• "But look how you care about John Watson": even MAGNUSSEN knows guys

• Awwwww Mycroft's pressure point is Sherlock, that's kinda sweet

• You've gotta admit Magnussen's logic is pretty sound

• "I enjoy it": yeah but you're a sadistic maniac, mate, you don't enjoy normal things

• He must have half the fucking Eden Project in his house XD

• Ooooo THE VAULTS ARE A MIND PALACE: big reveaaaaaaaaaal

• Sherlock's little look down: it's as if he's chastising himself, telling himself he should have know

• "I don't understand" "You should put that on a t-shirt": JOHN WATSON T-SHIRT SAGA #2, PART 1

• "Sherlock do we have a plan?" *silence*

• "I still don't understand" "And there's the back of the t-shirt": JOHN WATSON T-SHIRT SAGA #2, PART 2

• When Magnussen makes John let him flick his face: Sherlock can't even WATCH. He's just standing there, staring at the floor, still questioning why he didn't see it

• I mean I'm sorry but the murderous little glint in Sherlock's eyes when Magnussen is flicking John: he knows there's nothing he can do, but then he also knows what he's about to do. And he knows that John is going to hate it, but it's the only way to keep Mary safe

• THE LOVING LOOK AT JOHN JESUS CHRIST I CAN'T

• "MERRY CHRISTMAS" *bang*: JESUS SHERLOCK NO

• Mycroft sounds so panicked, like "no please don't shoot him"

• "Tell her she's safe now": THEN. That was the moment John realised. The moment he realised who he was really in love with

• All Mycroft can see is his crying, upset and scared little brother AND I CAN'T

• "You know what happened to the other one": OOOOOOO

• "There is no prison where we can incarcerate Sherlock without him causing a riot on a daily basis": dis be true guys

• SHERLOCK MAKES MARY LOOK AFTER JOHN I CAAAAAAN'T

• The fact that all acceptingly walk away, like they know what Sherlock is gonna try to do

• "The game is never over, John. There are just new players": SHERL STOP

• "6 months, my brother estimates. He's never wrong": he KNOWS he's gonna die

• The fact he can't even tell John just shows something, doesn't it

• "John there's something I need to say. Something I've always meant to say but never have. Since it's unlikely that we'll ever meet again, I might as well say it now": we all wanted it. We all wanted him to say it. Even JOHN had the hopeful little look in his eyes....

• "Sherlock is actually a girl's name": BUT HE CHICKENS OUT AT THE LAST SECOND. You can just see the disappointment and upset in his face, even on the plane, knowing that he may not see John again and John still doesn't know

• "Did you miss me?": MORIARTY YES WE STAN A QUEEN

• "You're needed": the lil panic cos he knows his OD isn't gonna work

• "Who needs me" "....England": yeah, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are screwed XD

#sherlock holmes #sherlock #sherlocks3 #johnlock #his last vow #s3e3 #brain dump #wtf brain #kinda analysis #analysis

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missjanjie · 4 years

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Ohana Means Family | Ninex

Summary: Hi! This is my secret santa gift for @artificialmeggie and im just like, surprisingly pleased w it so i decided to share it here too! Word Count: 2046 Rating: G

Read on AO3

“Christmas bells are ringing,” Nina sang as he strung lights around the tree. It was a miniature one - only around three feet tall - but that was all the landlord would allow. So, make the most of it he would. “Christmas bells are ringing. Christmas bells are ringing–”

“On TV – at SAKS.”

He turned around at the sound of the voice, smiling warmly at Monét. “You’re home early. Subway’s not delayed for once?”

Monét laughed and set his bag down on the coffee table. “Yeah, it’s a Christmas miracle if I’ve ever seen one.” He walked over and kissed Nina’s cheek, then looked over the tree with a nod of approval. “That’s gonna look so fucking fab.”

Nina beamed brightly and looped his arm around his waist. “With any luck, I’ll actually be satisfied with it by Christmas Eve,” he chuckled. “Is Bob picking up the twins?”

“Mhm, he just texted me that he’s on his way,” Monét confirmed, reading off of his phone. “You got everything else?”

“And not a moment too soon either, that sort of thing flies off the shelves this time of year, but it’ll be worth it to see their faces. We have to get it on camera, obviously,” Nina’s face lit up as he spoke, eyes wide with enthusiasm. But then he heard the front door open and his expression instantly changed to panic. “Hide the stuff!” he whispered harshly, grabbing the bag and shoving it back into Monét’s hands and all but pushing him out of the way.

Without a second to spare, Monét hid the evidence in the hall closet right before he heard two identical sets of footsteps running towards him.

Aside from getting married, adopting Ruby and Victoria was the best decision Nina and Monét has ever made. The pair were adopted by the couple at eighteen months old, and it was love at first sight. They were absolutely adorable with big, brown eyes and small dimples. Bob had even joked that they ‘looked like Vanjie’. But unlike their friend (or Uncle José as he was now called), the girls were very shy and reserved until they’d gotten acclimated to their Manhattan apartment.

Now, however, the girls were completely at home. They looked forward to returning to their dads every day after kindergarten, knowing there was always a warm embrace (and snacks) waiting for them. Of course, this was their last day before winter break, so the enthusiasm was increased ten-fold.

“We writed letters to Santa today!” Victoria announced proudly, her sister nodding in agreement and fishing through her Frozen-themed backpack to pull out her list - which was now crumpled and a bit ripped after its journey. She handed it over, along with her sister’s, with a bright, front-toothless grin.

Monét looked between the lists and laughed. “I told y’all, we aren’t allowed puppies in the apartment. Ask Santa again when we move out to the suburbs.” He was amused, but also excited. They didn’t mention anything like their big present, so it would catch them totally by surprise – which, naturally, was his and Nina’s goal. “Now, you two go wash up, Daddy left your snacks in the kitchen.”

“Thanks, Papa!” they chirped in unison, taking their bags to their bedroom and hanging up their coats before washing their hands.

Once the girls were in the kitchen and out of earshot, Bob turned to Monét. “You got everything all set up? They’re gonna lose their minds.”

“You know it,” he beamed broadly. “We’ll FaceTime you on location.”

—————

“Okay, now these last gifts are from Papa and I, and we think you’ll like them very much,” Nina grinned as two identically wrapped presents were set in front of the twins. The wrapping job wasn’t perfect - they never got around to asking someone that knew what they were doing - but considering the twins tore it apart instantly, it didn’t really matter.

“Suitcases?” Ruby asked, tilting her head.

“Open them up,” Nina encouraged.

The twins, perplexed, obliged. But when they unzipped the luggage and found them already full, they were intrigued. They took out each item one at a time – sunscreen, bathing suits, autograph books, Mickey Mouse sunglasses, costumes of their respective favorite characters. They were curious and seemed to be enjoying their gifts, but not all of the puzzle pieces were fitting together just yet.

Nina glanced at Monét, then back at the girls. “Now, where do you think we should take these things?” he gently prompted, nudging his husband to start filming.

Ruby and Victoria looked at each other, the wheels turning and turning before it finally clicked and they shouted “Disney World!” in unison. Once they got the nod of confirmation from their dads, they burst into elated screaming and bouncing up and down, then finally running and giving them both big hugs. “When do we leave?” Victoria asked once the initial excitement died down.

“Next Friday!”

—————

“You really couldn’t get them in a coordinated look?” Bob had finally stopped laughing long enough to read Monét on the girls’ costume choices. “Come on, you have to admit the two of them next to each other looks hysterical.”

Monét huffed and rolled his eyes. “What do you want from us? Ruby wouldn’t go as Anna and Vick wouldn’t go as Lilo. So, we got Elsa and Stitch. More importantly, we got two happy five-year-olds that get to go to Disney World, we’re gonna take what we can get.”

Bob put his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay. But you gotta make that your Christmas card for next year.”

“Goodbye, Bob.” Monét shook his head and hung up. He looked over at the twins and - not that he would ever say as much - it was amusing to see the wildly different (save for the color scheme) costumes. Nina had told him that they should be happy that the girls were embracing their own interests and not adhering to liking the exact same things in the name of being ‘twin’ enough.

“Papa! Ruby bit me!”

“I’m being Stitch! Stitch bites!”

Okay, he thought. They better get going before someone got hurt. “Knock it off you guys, or we’re not going to the gift shop,” he warned as he ushered the girls downstairs to meet up with Nina, who was loading their things into the rental car.

Monét guided the two of them through the hall and into the elevator, then weaved their way through the lobby and into the parking garage where Nina was just closing the trunk. “Everything all set?”

“Good to go,” Nina beamed and gave a thumbs up. “Wait, wait, I have to take a picture.” He scrambled to get his phone out and gathered them up for a family selfie. “Okay, now we’re good to go.” Soon the girls were strapped into their car seats and they were on the road.

By the time they approached the park, the twins had started chanting in enthusiasm. “Disney! Disney! Disney!” All four of them were chanting by the time they’d pulled into the parking lot.

With a place like Disney World, there were so many things to do, it could be overwhelming figuring out where to begin.

“Let’s go down Main Street and take it from there,” Nina suggested. And with that, they embarked on their Disney adventure, stopping every few minutes to take pictures or point out interesting things. Nina took particular pride in all the trivia and Easter eggs he was able to talk about, whether or not anyone was actually paying attention.

The constant onslaught of distractions was probably what caused the subsequent events. Nina had stopped the family to watch the Dapper Dan Quartet, and after listening, he suggested they take a quick picture. But as he turned around, his expression dropped. “Kevin… where’s Ruby?”

“She’s right –” Monét furrowed his brows and looked around. There was only their Elsa, no Stitch. “Uh oh.” He briskly ushered the other two off to the side. “Vick, did you see your sister go anywhere?”

“Horsey.”

Her two dads exchanged perplexed expressions. “Horsey?”

“She sawed a horsey and wanted to go say ‘hi’,” Victoria explained matter-of-factly. It was probably for the best that she didn’t realize her sister was lost.

Nina took a deep breath, doing his best to stay calm. “She couldn’t have gotten far, let’s just go to guest services and find out where they can make an announcement.” He scooped the remaining girl in his arms as they made a beeline to the building.

“We need someone to make a missing child announcement. Her name is Ruby Bertin-Levitt, she looks identical to her, but in a Stitch costume,” Monét spoke quickly but firmly, gesturing to Victoria so whoever was searching knew exactly what to look for.

The young woman at the desk listened intently, and in a matter of minutes, an announcement was made throughout the park. “Have a seat right over there, I’m sure she’ll be here real quick.”

Nina sat down with Victoria on his lap. “Maybe you should go look for her too, the more hands on deck the better.”

Unsurprisingly, Monét was out the door before his husband had even finished the suggestion. “See, this is why we had child leashes when I was a kid. You don’t wander off when you can’t,” he remarked. There was no way in hell he was returning back without his daughter. He’d upend the whole park if he had to.

“Thank God she didn’t go as Anna,” he muttered to himself. “There’s gotta be five hundred fucking Annas here.” He’d always embraced how Ruby was the less conventional of the two, but he never thought it would come in handy, definitely not like this.

He was only about five minutes into his search when his phone went off. “Hello? What happened? Did you find her?”

“We got her, bring it in.”

Monét turned on his heel and bolted back into the guest service building. He was greeted with a sight that almost made him burst out laughing.

Ruby was standing there, not with Nina or Victoria, not even someone on the park’s security team. Instead, she was standing and smiling with a Stormtrooper as if they were best friends.

“Apparently she thought they were part of the ‘robot police team’,” Nina explained before he could even ask.

“I said I needed to find my Ohana,” she nodded proudly.

He chuckled and picked her up, thanking the person profusely before they left to go back to their designated route. “Well, we’re very glad to have you back. You got us all worried.”

She hid her head in the crook of his neck. “‘M sorry, Papa.”

“It’s okay, we’re just glad you’re safe,” he assured.

“Can we go on the small world ride now?” Victoria chimed in. To her, the whole ordeal only cut into her ride time. She looked over at her sister, who was excitedly nodding in agreement.

Nina and Monét looked at each other and laughed softly. “Okay, let’s go.” They all re-entered Main Street, this time with a much closer eye kept on both girls. “You two hold hands,” he added. “And stay where we can see you!”

All chaos aside, their first day of vacation was an overall success. Their arms were full of souvenirs and camera rolls full of new memories.

“Next time just put trackers on them,” Bob had suggested with a laugh when the story was relayed to him.

Monét rolled his eyes before looking over at his daughters, who were cuddled up on the couch and winding down for the night with a movie. “Oh shut up. We’re all gonna look back and talk about how it brought us all closer one day.”

“That’s so cheesy.”

“It’s Disney, the cheesiness is what makes it fun,” he looked over at Nina, who was sorting through which souvenirs were their own and which were for family and friends.

But then Nina looked up and their eyes met, and he smiled that room-lighting smile. And Monét's heart skipped a beat the same way it always had when he was with his husband, with the warmth and adoration that he’d shared with the man for so long. In the same way he knew it always would be. Because, well, ohana.

#ninex #ninex fic #rpdr rpf #rpdr fanfiction

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kittywildegrrl · 5 years

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MAMA CAT AND THE VERY HARD SLOG

In Which MamaCat Gets Her SAG-AFTRA Card and It Makes Her Start Blogging Again

“Why do you write like you're running out of time?

Write day and night like you're running out of time?

Ev'ry day you fight, like you're running out of time

Keep on fighting”

-- Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Non-Stop,” HAMILTON, Act 2

Oh, look, I’m back.

The agent looked at me with clear confusion. “Diana,” the agent asked, “How do you DO it?”

The agent in question, here in Minneapolis, is a good friend of many years, a responsible person with spouse and family, mortgage, all the Adulting, if you will. Also, a really wonderful actor as well. So, somebody I was glad to answer honestly. And if you’re taking the time to read my little bloggety blog, then I shall extend the same courtesy to you.

The agent was asking how, essentially, how does it happen that I seem to be always heading off to or getting back from New York, when I don’t seem to have a whole lot of money. I have heard friends say things like, “But you have agents in New York, don’t you?”; “I wish I could do that”; “New York must be so fun!” The answers are, (a) it seems that way because I often am on my way there or back here; (b) no I do not; (c) you could, if that were your priority; and (d) yes, it is, but I’m not going for fun - I just happen to have fun while I’m there.

There comes a time in your life when you just know that THIS IS IT, this is the thing I am going to do with my life, with the time I’ve got left. It may come to you as a child, or it may come to you in something that looks to others like you’ve had a complete crackup from your midlife crisis. It may come at any time, and it may change your life if you let it. It may come back after detours of many years, and tap you on the shoulder, and say, “Hey, did we want to Actualize or what?” Parts of it may suck. Parts of it will definitely be much harder than you had anticipated. Parts of it will amaze you. All of it will require risk and courage (cue “Climb Ev’ry Mountain”).

Five summers ago, I was doing a season at Allenberry Playhouse in south-central Pennsylvania. It was the summer I grew up, at the ripe old age of 56. I made a few lifelong friends, did some delightful work, took some hikes, enjoyed some bananas Foster, got some nice reviews, had a nervous breakdown when I saw the rehearsal & production photos and realized what my body actually looked like after years of sitting… you know, the usual.

Among the lifelong friendships that were born that summer, is that which blossomed with the lovely and talented Shannon Haddock, actor, blogger, wife, singer, in no particular order. My pal. My sister from another mother. She offered to all and sundry at Allenberry a safe place to crash in the Bronx, on their couch (hers and her hubby’s). I guess I was the only one to take her up on it. And I have done so again and again. I have also accepted invitations to sleep on April & Andy’s couch, and Bethany & Adam’s couch. At a time of life when most of my peers are either already retired or just about to retire, I am couch-surfing like a college student. AND LOVING IT.

If you’re a Facebook friend of mine, you’ve seen a lot of photos uploaded from New York… but few seem to notice that you don’t really see me doing a lot of spendy things. Or touristy things. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! Welcome to New York, now spend your money and go home! Two baseball clubs, every kind of cuisine, Fashion Week, FLEET WEEK!!! Have a blast! But my path is a little less Vacation-y and a lot more Focus-y.

I may check into the restaurant on Facebook, so my husband knows where I’m eating and whatnot, but the odds are pretty good that it’s not a famous or trendy place, & there aren’t any fab pictures of fancy, expensive meals. Maybe one cocktail. Maybe I’m splitting something with a friend whom I couldn’t make time to see otherwise. What you don’t see is the two bags of groceries I carry home after I get off the train, to pitch in for meals with my benefactors (or, one bag of groceries & another with a bottle of wine in it. Let’s get real.). Or me shopping at the dollar store on Upper Broadway instead of, say, Bergdorf’s.

Sure, I’ve seen this show and that show… but some of them only because a dear friend sprung for tickets (thank you Fern!!!!!). Most of what I’ve seen on Broadway, I’ve seen because I could grab $39 nosebleeds, or I hit a Lottery deal. Quite a few trips go by without me seeing anything on Broadway at all, except the tourists in the streets. Some of the shows I’m fortunate enough to have seen have been Off-Broadway & Off-Off-Broadway; not just because that’s the surest way to catch fresh work, but also because that’s usually where I’ll be able to see my friends performing, and the tickets are much cheaper Off-Off (so are the bars).

I see folks waxing rhapsodic on the Social about their trips to the City, the amazing things they’ve seen and done and eaten, and it looks and sounds great! But it’s a version of the City I never see. And I am just fine with that. One thing I can confirm about New York: there is literally something for everyone.

I go on the cheapest flights at the most annoying flight times. My last trip back, for example: from the apartment in the Bronx to my husband’s arms in Minneapolis took well over 12 hours, but it was barely $125 including meals. Leave the Bronx on a train to go get on a bus to Boston. From there, take a train into Logan to catch a flight back into NYC. Change planes for a flight to MSP. Yes. That’s how Mama rolls.

I live like the other actors live while I’m there; $25 - $50 for some class is CHEAP AF, but the same $25 - $50 is WAY the hell too expensive for a meal. The train may only be $2.75/trip (less when you’re savvy about your MetroCard refills), but look here, there’s time walk between at least two or three of these appointments and I can get cardio while saving almost enough to afford the lunch special at that place in the Garment District where they always have a 1/2 sandwich with a cup of soup for $10 if you go at the right time of day. If a friend is taking a dance or improv or acting class on the regular, that allows one free drop-in session, you can bet your bagels I’ve gone with her and taken the free drop-in.

It’s a freaky weird choice of lifestyle, but I’m committed. Many people have suggested that I should be committed – but I think they were thinking of something else. Perhaps in later installments I’ll tell you tales of what I’ve sacrificed to pull it off, regale you with fascinating (or boring) vignettes, detail some of the moments and connect the dots. It’s the best possible way to work things out in a world in which we can’t pick up and move to New York, but in which I need to be there for karmic and professional reasons.

But six weeks ago, I got the break. A really cool one. It may or may not lead to Really Exciting Stuff; no one can predict the future, but it was most definitely something cool. And it goes directly to these efforts over these five years. And it’s supported by the friends & husband who have helped me suck up the sacrifices, live through the tears, and learn to go without the shiny things in order to earn the greater things.

“Diana,” the agent asked, “How do you DO it?”

I do it on the cheap, babe. I do it on the 1 Train. Just like Lin-Manuel.

Meow, darlings.

#actorslife theatre musicaltheatre film NYC unionmaid

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itzfabi · 6 years

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A Very Unmerry Birthday

Who: @dagnyjuniper & @itzfabi

When: Dagny’s Birthday aka Princess Day

Where: 1160 Wizard Way

What: This chatzy is from March don’t come for us we KNOW. Also: After Dagny kissed Fab at his birthday party back in November, Fab decides to return the favor thanks to a few months of reflection on whether or not he’d like to date his best friend. Things do not go according to plan.

Fab hadn't really known what had been on his mind since the dance. It had been a month, and he was still feeling weird about that Secret Admirer thing -- of course, it was just Massie, and she was doing it to be a friend, and that was cool of her. But he'd kind of hyped it up in his head that it could've been Dagny...after their kiss on his birthday, of course. And he had no clue why, after all was said and done, he still couldn't get his mind off of it -- off of her. Maybe now that Kally was all official with her hot new boyfriend, he was feeling some compulsion to move on, too, and his brain was getting alll confused over what kind of 'like' he felt for Dagny. But in any case, she had said that she wanted to spend her birthday with him and only him and how could he say no to that? Besides...Did that mean she felt something with him at the dance, too? He had asked her to dance. Maybe the spark wasn't so one-sided after all. After setting up the big, pink kiddie princess tent that he'd rush-ordered online, Fabi waited inside her cottage (after getting her roommates to let him in and eventually split) with the handmade birthday cake in hand, waiting for her to come home. As soon as the door opened, his reaction may have been a little premature, as he instantly blew into his party horn and exclaimed, "Happy Birthday!" before she could even really enter the cottage.

Dagny had gone out on a limb by saying she didn't want an official Princess Day. Typically, it had to be some huge celebration put on by the Neverlanders, but she figured after she'd made such a blunder by sleeping with Marsh on DJ's birthday, it might be best to keep things lowkey for her own party. She knew Kally was busy hanging out with Leverett, or whatever she was doing to spend her time nowadays, so she hit up Fab to be her official birthday plans. Things seemed to finally be balanced out with them after the Valentine's Day Ball, so she wasn't worried about things being super awkward. Wow, she was starting to realize that maybe birthdays in general just weren't something she's particularly skilled at. She opened the door to her cottage, expecting Fab to show up once she'd sent him a text that she was back in her cottage, but upon entering through the door she was startled by the sound of a party horn. "Ah!" She jumped back, nearly falling into the door frame. It took her a few seconds to recover from the sudden horn noise before she straightened up and finally saw Fab standing there, cake in hand. "Jingles, Fab! You wanna spend my birthday taking me to the hospital?" She joked, setting her stuff down on the floor before moving to give her friend a careful side hug so as not to knock the cake out of his hands. She looked around at the princess tent, "Ha! Very cute." She turned back to Fab, "Thanks for coming to celebrate my birthday. I totally didn't want to have to deal with all nine million Neverlanders trying to throw me a party."

Fab didn't realize that maybe he should've waited for her to recognize his presence before going all out with the exclamation until Dagny screamed. Letting the party horn fall from his lips, Fab started toward her to apologize but she seemed to recover quickly. "Sorry!" he exclaimed through laughter, "I guess I was so excited I got a little ahead of myself. You're lucky I would've needed both hands to set off a party popper," he chuckled before leaning into the girl's embrace. "No problem," he shrugged, making his way over to the tent. "I mean, from what I've heard, Princess Day sounds like a good time for them, not necessarily for the birthday girls, though. So I'm just honored to be your guest of choice," he smiled warmly before gesturing out toward the tent. "After you, Princess." He was joking, mostly, but hey -- it was still Princess Day, he was gonna milk that for as many laughs as possible. Grabbing two forks, Fab made a move for the light switch, flipping it down so now the only source of light in the cottage were the glow-in-the-dark stars that he'd stuck to the ceiling. They'd be able to see, since their legs and heads would probably be poking out from either sides of the tent anyway. "Ta-da!" Fab smirked, rather proud of himself as he crawled into the tent.

Dagny climbed into the small tent, making herself as comfortable as she could in the limited amount of space. "I'm apparently only princess by birth and not by popular vote. I'm pretty sure my little sister made the Not My Princess hashtag spread even to Pixie Hollow, where there isn't a even a need for hashtags," Dagny groaned. It was no secret that she was constantly stressed over the idea of someday having to take over her parents' job of overseeing literally all of the fairy business when it came to changing seasons and distributing pixie dust. Dagny stared up at the stars stuck to the ceiling, pretty amazed she had a friend like Fab who would do this sort of cheesy stuff for her. "Excellent ambience choice," She congratulated him, wriggling around a little to make more room for him. "Seriously, you're the best. I know we haven't hung out as much since-" She paused for a second, trying to figure out if she should bring up her disastrous kiss attempt, "-your birthday. But, new year, new me...She says in March of the aforementioned new year." She laughed awkwardly, hoping to slide right on by that topic, regretting even bringing it up in the first place. "So, tell me again about the weird secret Valentine's Day gifts?" She asked, grabbing one of the forks that Fab had brought in preparation to dive right into that sweet, sweet cake. "You hadn't like, planned to serenade me Happy Birthday or anything, right? Because this cake is about to get demolished."

Fab gave a pout, not really one to understand monarchy like that, but it seemed like it must suck to not be liked by the people you were gonna rule someday. "Well until they figure out some kind of coups, they're stuck with you, so they're gonna have to deal," he chuckled, amused by the mere idea of anyone they knew from Pixie Hollow staging a coups. They were more of a talkative bunch who would fight with nothing but a hashtag, he was certain. After making himself comfortable alongside her, Fab gave a contented sigh. They were so close to each other, the only thing between them being the cake, and he didn't think much of it until she brought up his birthday. Ah, yes, the thing he hadn't been able to get off of his mind since it happened. "Hey, I think a New Years resolution is valid at any point in the year -- we're not even halfway there yet, 2018 is still relatively new!" Fabi smirked, flipping onto his side to face Dagny once she asked about his "secret admirer". "Oh, no, you don't want to hear me do that -- dig in," he approved, nudging the cake toward her, before actually answering her question. "Well...Massie is really sweet, and knew that Valentine's Day -- specifically the dance -- was gonna be hard for me, so she sent me a bunch of secret admirer stuff, like a bunch of cards and an Edible Arrangement and a fleshlight -- you know, cute stuff like that -- and I really had no clue it was her until she told me at the dance." He wanted desperately to add that he had kind of worked up in his mind that it could have been Dagny behind it all, as kind of a segue into talking about the slightly-confusing things he'd been feeling since. But instead of doing that, Fab stabbed his fork into the cake and shoved a bite into his mouth to shut himself up.

Dagny went ahead and forked a piece of cake as soon as Fab gave her permission to do so. She'd be lying to herself if she said she didn't keep Fab around partly for his superior baking skills. "Oh, right," Dagny thought on that. She'd almost forgotten that Kally and Fab had broken up around that same time the year previous. She was on board with Fab until he got to the part about the fleshlight. "That Massie...she's always trying to make you...feel good?" Was all Dagny could come up with in the moment after her original plan to commend Fab's roommate had been thrown by the sudden appearance of the sex toy. "Did you have any idea who it was? Like, could you sus out Massie's handwriting or something? Or was it totally a surprise?" She questioned, finding the whole story rather funny. She knew Fab had great roommates, having hung out with all of them several times, but the secret admirer thing was really something special.

Fab laughed, nodding in agreement that Massie sure was special. "Yep! Gotta love her," he chuckled before taking another bite of cake. Dagny asked, then, if he knew it had been Massie all along. He blinked a few times, chewing the bite that he had in his mouth very slowly as he worked up the nerve to speak the truth. "No. I actually...Thought it could've been you. You know, since my birthday and all," he nodded slowly, rolling over onto his back to avoid seeing Dagny's reaction. He stared at the ceiling, taking inspiration from the glowing star stickers above him, and continued. "And I don't know...After I got out of my head about it, and like...really sat down and thought things through, I wouldn't have minded if it was you." He rolled over onto his side, facing her again. "I actually wanted it to be you."

Dagny almost choked on the hunk of cake she was devouring when Fab told her he thought it might have been her sending him the gifts. Dagny started to protest immediately when Fab brought up the birthday thing again, but she was cut off by Fab saying he wanted it to be her. She set her fork down slowly, trying to fill the pause with something before she was forced to speak. "Oh," She started, "Yeah, well, you know the birthday thing was just...it was just an accident. I read the whole situation wrong and plus there's like, Kally. I mean, talk about a large shadow to cower behind..." She waved her arm, referencing the place where their third friend normally sat. Dagny looked around the tent, trying to find something else to look at other than Fab, but there wasn't much else around she could stare at without looking weird, so her eyes ended up back on Fab. "Okay, confession time," She swallowed nervously, "I did have a crush on you. Or I do. Since like, high school. It's super embarrassing and I wish I hadn't told you, but I'm actually kinda glad I did because I've been sitting on that secret by myself for literal years."

"Oh no, yeah, for sure," Fab said over Dagny's rambling about what had had happened on his birthday, but then knit his brow when she mentioned Kally. "Whoa, you'd never be in Kally's shadow," he said tenderly. He could only imagine how Dagny felt being the third among him and Kally for so long, and how weird it must have been for her. She confessed, then, that she had a crush on him, which he already kind of knew given what happened on his birthday. But, judging by the way she was acting right now, he had thought that maybe she no longer felt that way, so he was surprised when she corrected herself and said she still did. He smiled, then, moving closer to her -- well, as close as he could with half of a cake between them. "I'm glad you told me too. Cause I don't know, after you kissed me -- or, tried to kiss me -- I couldn't stop thinking about it. And I know it sounds crazy, especially considering I dated Kally for five whole years, but my mind's been so focused on that that maybe I missed something that could've been just as great. Or, you know, more great -- you never know." He got quiet, trying to feel out where they could possibly go from here now that they'd both pretty much admitted feelings for each other. Without really thinking, something in his body told him that the only way to go was forward. So he reached over, caught Dagny by the cheek, and placed a determined kiss on her lips.

Dagny listened to Fab basically admit he also had feelings for her too, and when she should've been ecstatic that the guy she'd been crushing on for literal years liked her back, something just felt off. She was about to protest that he shouldn't discount his relationship with Kally just because dating her would have been different when Fab reached over and kissed her. Kissing Fab somehow felt like the changing seasons and the end of the world all at once. On one hand, him kissing her back was the thing she had imagined for years and on the other it was also the only secret she'd ever kept from both Fab and Kally. It just felt slightly wrong, like somehow she was the other woman when Kally and Fab had been broken up for over a year. Of course, she couldn't properly think all this over when Fab's lips were still on hers, so she pulled away begrudgingly. "Okay, but we can't just suddenly be-" She motioned back and forth between them, "-together. Doesn't that feel odd to you?"

Fab furrowed his brow when his kiss was met with more confusion than excitement from Dagny. Not that his ego was that big, but he liked to think that if she really liked him as much as she said she did, and for as long as she said she did, she'd be a little more...elated and would reciprocate the butterflies that were fluttering around in his stomach. "I mean...No. Not really. Kally's moved on," he chuckled a little bit awkwardly, knowing he had no right to feel some type of way about Kalasin and Leverett, which he didn't, but it was still weird. "It's time I did, too, and who to better move on with than my beautiful, awesome best friend? And if it's too odd then we can go back to being friends, it shouldn't be that hard." He was always the optimist, though he knew that he'd tried the same thing with Kally and it didn't exactly work out how they'd planned. But maybe things with Dagny would be different.

Dagny thought about what Fab said. It would be awesome to finally get to experience what she’d been fantasizing about literally since high school, and she was almost convinced to say yes but Kally’s face kept popping up in the back of her mind. “I really thought I could if ever the opportunity presented itself, but I definitely cannot do anything without talking to Kally first. Even if you’re both over each other it wouldn’t feel morally correct to let her know first.” Of course, talking to Kally proved more difficult than usual since she was almost always with Leverett now, but she’d find a way. She sat up suddenly, putting her head in her hands. “UGH,” She groaned, “I didn’t even think about the fact that I’m a fairy and you’re a human. There’s no way I could stay in Walt for the summer and there’s also no good way to get in touch with anyone in Pixie Hollow if you’re not in Pixie Hollow. Especially because I would just sound like bells to you! Oh my God! Why have I never thought of this before!?” She knew that was a reach, but in this moment in time all her brain could think of were reasons why they shouldn’t be together. It was contradictory to literally her whole life right before this moment, but maybe she was just scared. She saw how Kally and Fab’s relationship had ended and how awkward it had been for them afterwards. If the same thing happened to her and Fab their entire friend group would completely fall apart and Dagny didn’t know what she would do without Fab in her life. “Sorry. I think I’m ruining my own birthday celebration.”

Fab gave a sigh, totally understanding where she was coming from. Should he have been more apprehensive, too? Was he being a bad “friend” to Kally by not really considering her feelings on the matter too much? To him, she’d moved on, but he hadn’t really thought of how this would affect her and Dagny’s friendship. “You’re right, you’re right,” he agreed, slumping back down onto his back, feeling a little like his pride had been shot. Then Dagny shot up, and began ranting about a bunch of things that had never even crossed his mind. “Whoa, whoa -- “ Fab said in an attempt to slow her down, “We were gonna be friends with you as a fairy and me as a human, is there really that much of a difference?” he attempted, but like -- of course, there was. Couples had sex and intimate moments that would require them to be at least within the same realm of size proportions. “You’re not ruining anything, I just -- it sucks that we’ve got so much working against us.” Fab shrugged, finding no other way to say it. “Should I leave?”

Dagny hung her head in defeat. It really should not be this hard to just date Fab. It really should not be. She guessed it was just her inner saboteur working against her yet again. “I’ll talk to Kally,” She promised. What she didn’t mention was that ever since Dagny had kissed Fab at his birthday, talking to Kally felt like the equivalent of swallowing knives and therefore was avoided at basically all costs. She reached over and squeezed Fab’s hand, “Usually I’d say something kinda inspirational and very liberal about how our differences make us stronger, but considering that our differences make me three inches tall and a fairy princess, I’d say it definitely is working against us,” She agreed, letting out a huge sigh at the end for punctuation. “That’s probably a good idea,” Dagny said when Fab asked if he should leave. “I’ll call you tomorrow, and thank you again for the cake for this.” She motioned to the playhouse around them and the stars on the ceiling. “Still friends. No matter how awkward this gets from here on out,” She attempted a joke, trying to lighten the mood. She wasn’t sure if it landed or not, but she was already crawling on her knees out of the tent so she couldn’t gauge Fab’s reaction. She stood up and walked over the door, holding it open for him. “Again, I promise I’ll talk to Kally and if you still like me after that then we’ll see what happens.”

Fab nodded, agreeing that talking to Kally was probably best for the both of them -- or, all three of them -- in this situation. He really wished things were different. Not that he and Kally had never dated so that he and Dagny could give it a go without any of this awkwardness, but moreso he wished that society didn’t have these weird rules about dating a friend’s ex or that fairies can’t realistically be with humans outside of Walt. He knew it wasn’t true that he didn’t deserve her just because she was a princess, but boy was that kind of how it felt. Fab got up with a shrug, brushing off her gratitude. “It’s really no problem, anything for my best friend,” he nodded, before cracking a half-hearted smile at her joke. He knew she was just trying to make this less weird, but Fab didn’t think that was very possible. “Still friends,” he agreed as he made a move toward the door. He fought the urge to say ‘Of course I’ll still like you’ when Dagny gave him the opportunity, but bit his tongue instead. If it was meant to work out, it would. “Great -- we’ll see,” he nodded as if they’d just made a business deal and leisurely walked out of the cottage. So this was how his love life was going to be now…great.

#( interaction: dagny )#( feat: dagny )

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theherondaels · 6 years

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For You

I know what you're thinking, a Eurovision au? Nicola, it's only April!

Yeah, people, here's the thing... I wanted to post that last May...

Sara is obvi my oc... why don't the sl charas have siblings like c'mon

Have fun reading!!!

Matteo wasn't entirely sure if the last few hours had really happened.

Everything still felt so surreal.

Just two hours ago he had sung his heart out on the Sanremo stage and now he was showered with flowers and well-wishes. His family had been the first to congratulate him, both his parents wearing proud smiles. Matteo's sister, Sara, almost killed him with her hug. "I always knew you would win. Nobody can resist the Balsano charm," she let go of him, stepping aside.

"Yes, the others had nothing on you," his best friend and manager, Gastón, interrupted their sibling moment, hugging him tightly. Matteo laughed a bit. Sure, having won Sanremo was nothing. It was not like he had left some of Italy's best singers and songwriters behind him. His fans must have dialled their hands bloody. He really needed to thank them.

"Alright, moon man," Gastón said, lightly shoving him towards the line of reporters, "time for the interviews."

"Congratulations on your win," a blonde woman said. "How does it feel to have won the ticket to Barcelona?" she then asked. The realization that he would really participate in Eurovision and what it meant hit Matteo at full speed.

He was going back to Spain. Back to Barcelona.

Back to her.

"Matteo, are you okay?" Gastón asked when the Italian hadn't answered his question yet. "Yeah, sure," he answered a bit spaced out. "Are you really sure?" Perida questioned again, not believing him. "Yes, we don't want to keep Ámbar waiting," Matteo said, reading the blonde's name tag.

That shut Gastón up, allowing him to answer the question. He did so with a smile and bid her goodbye after, the next interviewers already waiting.

"Hello, Delfi and Jazmín from Fab&Chic here," a black-haired woman quickly introduced herself and her colleague. "So, Matteo, everyone is dying to know for who you wrote the song for! Can you give us a hint?" she asked, looking at him expectantly.

Matteo's whole body tensed. He knew that with the tone of her voice Delfi wouldn't accept no for an answer.

"I wrote it for someone special a long time ago," he admitted, smile fading a little, not trusting his own voice to say her name.

"Well, we're sure, whoever it is, feels very special indeed right now," the read-head said warmly. Matteo liked her. She wasn't as harsh as Delfi. "Anything else you want to say? A greeting to your fans perhaps?" Jazmín suggested and Matteo promptly answered. "Yes, of course, my fans. I'm very grateful for every single call you made. I wouldn't be standing here without you," he stressed, smile truly genuine. "See you in Barcelona!"

They said their goodbyes and Matteo sighed when he saw how long the line of reporters still was. He would be doing this for a while now.

Matteo really hated interviews nowadays. Everyone wanted to know who the girl of his song was. He always used the excuse that he wanted to protect her identity, and he did want that, but the whole truth was that it was too painful for Matteo to talk about it.

Sometimes Matteo wished he could just wake up with amnesia. Not remembering his time in Spain would be great. No heartbreak, maybe he could even skate again. Writing occasionally helped with his heartache, but skating was always a one-way ticket into depression.

Matteo only knew that this interview was for Spain’s biggest life-style magazine, Vidia, and that his interviewer, Bruno, could be a real pain in the ass. Gastón’s words, not his.

"So, your fans wondered who exactly your inspiration was and did a little research." Balsano clenched his jaw. They just had started. He didn't like this at all. "And they were so kind and sent us a very interesting video." Matteo's eyes briefly flashed to Gastón out of panic, who stood left to the camera, looking shocked as well, before adverting his eyes back on the screen. The video began to play and Matteo's insides shredded themselves into bits.

He knew the song. Remembered the choreography.

Matteo wanted to discontinue the interview, but he never got the chance to. Once he had spotted her everything around him lost meaning. His eyes were glued on the skating girl.

Dark brown hair. Lovely curls. Vivid green eyes.

Luna.

The fingers of his left hand cramped on his thigh, memories - the good and the bad - replaying in his head.

He still cursed himself for not telling her goodbye. For not confessing his love to her.

"Jesus, all it takes is one video of her and you're moping around again," Sara said harshly, switching on the light. "And the interviewer definitely got that video from the competition website. Slimy git."

"How did you even get in here?" Matteo asked, clealry annoyed. "Gastón gave me the second key card," she told him. "Leave me alone," he muttered, putting the duvet over his head. "Real mature, Matteo, real mature," Sara said, inspecting his hotel room.

She sighed and turned around. "Today's the first rehearsal. Luna or not, this is your dream. So, get presentable before I'll drag you through that door," she warned. Matteo sighed, deep down he knew she only wanted the best for him.

Thanks to his sister he now stood on the big Eurovision stage, feeling a bit lost. He was glad he got to sit on the moon during his performance. The enormous stage was a little daunting, even for him. The empty arena already gave him chills, just how magnificent and nerve-wrecking would the night of the final be?

He also wore the silver suit again. "Ready, Matteo?" Gastón yelled. Matteo gave him a thumps up, before adjusting his guitar again. He let his gaze wander around the arena, starting to play the first chords of 'Siento'.

It was the night of the final and Matteo was a nervous wreck. Not because of his performance, everything had went smoothly during the rehearsals. Of course, he wanted to to well.

But Matteo's biggest wish was that somewhere in Barcelona Luna would see him. Listen to him. Come back to him.

The group from France had left the stage, it was his time to get up there. Matteo took his place on the moon, guitar in hand.

And just before the melody began to play Matteo gathered all his courage.

"This is for you, little moon."

Once again, Matteo was being congrulated from all sides. He really had won, and with both the highest jury and televote at that. He liked to think that Luna had voted for him. He got to perform a second time, the Italian flag draped around him. Confetti was flying everywhere, the sight bad from all the colourful slips of paper.

Matteo heard her, before he saw her.

At first, he thought he had imagined it, but then Matteo saw her silhouette, coming closer towards him. The Italian was so shocked that he stopped singing. His heart was beating loudly in his chest, almost drowning out her singing.

For a moment, he couldn't believe that she really stood there. She was as beautiful as she had always been, her dress matching his suit in colour.

A billion questions raced through his head. Why was she here? Who had organized this? How did she know the lyrics?

He opened his mouth, wanting to ask her all this. His eyes found hers and, suddenly, nothing around them mattered anymore. Matteo was too busy memorizing Luna's perfect face, missing the high five Gastón and Sara gave each other.

"Don't you have a song to sing, chico fresa?" Luna grinned, tears in her eyes.

And for the first time in four years Matteo Balsano was truly happy.

#lutteo #one-shots #soy luna #somehow the keep reading fucks the spelling up #so i deleted it #eurovsion

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waterparksk-blog · 7 years

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11 questions

So I got a bunch of these and I didnt realise until now so here goes!! (whoops its taken me like two days to actually answer these)

Thanks so much to @geoffwigingtonshair @gloomboysmp3 @applepuns @musictrash0426 @fronkieroismyhero for tagging me xx (sorry if I missed out anyone ahh)

1.current favourite album? it changes everyday but double dare or life’s not out to get you

2. how tall are you? 5′5 and a hALF that half is very important it makes me above average height

3. do you have/want any tattoos? not really but I think they’re pretty cool

4. physical copies or digital downloads? physical

5. What was your first concert (if you’ve had one)? loool the jingle bell ball

6. marvel or dc or don’t care at all? yikes don’t really care sorryyy

7. star sign? sagitarius but they found like two new ones idk and if you count that I’m ophiuchus

8. favourite movie? ahhh this is hard... all harry potter

9. what made you get tumblr? so this one specifically I wanted a parx blog but my original one was for funny stuff

10. do you want to get married (not to me don’t worry, just like in general)? not keen on it at the minute but I might change my mind idk

11.who is your favourite person in the world? can I say my dog ??

1)favourite colour? changes a lot but maybe blue

2) favourite band/artist? waterparkssss

3) favourite hobby/pass time? haven’t done it in ages but surfing

4) favourite game? slam like the card game

5) colour of your eyes? blue / lil bit grey

6)how long have you had tumblr? since I was 14?? maybe 13?? idk

7) Favourite season? summer bc holidayssss

8) Do you want any piercings? yeah I lowkey want a nose piercing

9)how do you sleep? badly haha my cycle is non existent, but idk like on my side?? depends

10)dream job? volunteering abroad to help people and getting to see the world at the same time

11)favourite quote? To love, to be loved. To never forget your own insignifcance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest of places. To persue beauty into it’s lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, not power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget. -Arundhati Roy

1. what is the first band you remember getting ~into~? snow patrol and green day when I was a kid I’d play them off my dad’s ipod and jump up and down on the bed hahah

2. most recent artist/band you’ve been obsessed with? waterparks

3. do you have any cool “party tricks”? i can vibrate my eyes and i can thow stuff really high and catch it in my mouth like mints and stuff

4. are you homeschooled or do you go to public school or maybe have you graduated yet? public school (the english kind, some places say private and public the other way for school I think??) and i’m in sixth form

5. top 5 favorite people in the world? yikes. my dog, my sister even tho she annoys me, my friends can have the rest of the spaces lol

6. do you have pets? if so what kind and how many? my dog xx

7. would you like to have children some day? if so, would you adopt/foster? no kids for me but I aprove of adoption sm like why keep adding kids to the world when there are already ones that need a family

8. what’s your favorite meme? all of them I just spent like half an hour looking at memes trying to chose but I can’t

9. favorite book? ahhhhhhhhh! harry potter is always going to win but the raven cycle is also a fab series would really reccomend

10. what would you like to be doing right now if time/money/age/energy weren’t an issue? volunteering and traveling the world

11. what do you do in your free time? sleep honestly

1.Do you have any pets? ya my dog

2. Favorite youtuber? don’t really have one whoops

3. What is your favorite thing about yourself? idk sense of humour maybe

4. Do you remind yourself that you’re gorgeous? (If not, you should.) nope, sometimes tho i’m like ‘gal if you put in some effort to like anything you’d be a badass unstoppable bitch’

5. Have you had your first kiss? no and its getting a little tragic at this point

6. If you have kids, what would you name them? mistake lmaooo, just kidding idk tbh maybe aara for a girl and isaac for a boy

7. Favorite place? the beach not that i live near one

8. Dream concert? like a week long festival with all my favourite bands

9. One person you can’t live without? no one suck it

10. Do you have any siblings? my sister

11. What color are your eyes? blue / lil bit of grey

1. What was the last concert you went to? blink 182

2. Star Wars of Star Trek? don’t really have a strong opinion on it but star wars is the only one I’ve seen properly

3. Do you believe in a higher power, religious or spiritual? nope

4. What’s your favourite kind of flower? hmmm maybe roses 5. If you had one day left to live, what would you eat? everything, chips, pizza, lasagne, pasta, a load of ben and jerry’s, cookies, all the food

6. Where do you usually wear perfume? Behind the knees? Neck? Ears? neck

7. How long doe it usually take for you to get ready in the morning? for school like 20 minutes

8. Are you wearing any jewellery right now? nope

9. Is there a band/artist you can’t stop listening to, even though it’s embarrassing to admit? nah not really ??

10. What methods do you use to calm down after being angry or upset? plotting revenge without actually doing it or music

11. What’s your favourite kind of weather? thunder storms or sun

whoops does answering extra questions mean I don’t have to make any up??

#this took so long #sorry #i had fun though #thanks for tagging me

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fuckyeah-thedarkness · 7 years

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Even though Darknesstival was a couple of weeks ago we're still talking about it. I'm sure you're all aware that the guys have already started planning the next one, and there's a possibility it'll happen in other parts of the world. Exciting, isn't it? Anyway, I interviewed one lucky Darkling who attended the first ever Darknesstival. We had a lovely chat. Well, I sent @lauraqueenie83 the questions and she gave me very detailed answers. Some of it was for my ears and eyes only, but that's how interviews work. 😉 Check the gallery above and read the interview below.

Let’s start with the usual. How long have you been a fan and how many times have you seen them live? I'm a TD fan since 2003, but I could see them live only in 2016, but when I do something, I do it well: 3 times!!

How did you discover The Darkness in the first place? I was working in an office and I heard “I Belive In A Thing Called Love” on the radio. I jumped from my chair and bumped up the volume! It was love at first sight!!

What's your favourite song? What do you feel like hearing it live? “Love Is Only A Feeling”, always and forever. There are lots of others I love, obviously, some more, some less, but those change all the time. LIOAF still remains the one that makes me feel better, and even more live. I've heard it live those 3 times, and the first time I was completely mesmerised by Dan. The 2nd time us of the Italian fanclub made a choreography with confetti at the second verse, so I lost a bit of it, but the 3rd one... Wow. No words. I'm talking about the Darknesstival one.

Yes, let’s talk about the event. What was your favourite part of Darknesstival? At first sight, I would like to say the gig, because it was very, very good. Stunning. They played new songs, oh, loved the new songs. Loved everything about the gig. But no, I have to say it was meeting all my Darkling family because I met the guys again and I met lots of people. This is the most beautiful thing about Darknesstival, the Darklings.

Emily, Laura, Sariah.

Yousuf telling Dan about the birthday card

I know you made gifts for the guys. Were they surprised when you gave them these gifts? Yes, they were gladly surprised! They are always super cute! Maybe the one not surprised at all was Dan, because he already knew something by my "messengers" Laurie and Yousuf, we have also a photo of him (forever grateful mates). First I gave the birthday card to him and he started to open the gift like a baby on Christmas day, as he always does, so tenderly! It was from his Danlings all over the world, not only from me, and he liked it very much. [Interviewer’s note: Here’s the lovely birthday card.]

For Justin I had written a little letter about his song “Mighty Wings” and something like "please fly always high for us, because we love how you can do it". He started to read the note without really opening it, and asked me something about it, was so kind and nice!

At the same time I was giving my Xmas note to Frankie. He got our gift - and by "our" I mean that it was from his Cow Belles - from Chelsea, so I had written just a note to explain him how much I am grateful to him for his kindness and talent. I am so sad because I couldn't talk with him, the meet and greet was very short this time, and I needed to spend most of the time explaining the card to Dan.

Then, I was talking with Ru because the person with the gift was behind me. I told Ru that the gift for him was with another person and he said he knew. We laughed. The gift was ideated by @veroniqueorcel, a Christmas box with lots of Ru fans' letters. [Interviewer’s note: My letter was in that box as well. 😊]

I was leaving and I forgot to give my personal Bday/Xmas gift (the Hawk necklace) to Dan. The necklace made it to him with the help of someone in the staff, thank you whoever you are, for your help, support and kindness. He was asking without words from the people in front of him "from who?", my friends that were waiting their m&g time, told Dan to look out. He looked out the doors and saw me, so I said with hand gestures "the gift is by me" and in the same way he replied "OK, got it, thank you". I don’t know why, but I was sad on Monday, I was sure he doesn't like it. I have to trust him much more than I used to. I'm smiling saying this. I'll be forever grateful. [Interviewer’s note: You can see him wearing it here.]

Cow Belles' gift to Frankie

Veronique, Laura, Philippe, Harry

There were a few people complaining that there wasn't much to do at the convention. Did you feel bored or thought that there should've been more activities planned? Not one single minute, for me, to be bored!!! The convention was simply awesome. Complete, nice and warm like it was in a family house, you know. I wasn't bored at all, I talked all day with lots of people. Got my band's and Dan's tattoos (designed by Brooke), met my Darkling family and watched the guys come and go. (Laughs) I appreciated everything I saw, and from what I've seen, everything was good, relaxed, funny, friendly and has been greatly appreciated by fans.

If someone would ask me advice for the next festival, I could say only two things, that I'd like a bit more time with the guys and that I really missed something like a set list, a list with all the activities and the hour of the activities. (Well, maybe also a Karaoke with them, OMG what a dream!!)

Oh, and the soundcheck was amazing, we were very few people in front of the stage and enjoyed it not like rockstars and fans, but a big crew! Darklings made it amazing, and our fab four made it perfect. They were fooling around, you were talking with people and Justin would show up and Dan would say hello with his hands passing behind you. Where else you can find wonderful people like them?

Chris and Laura

Sariah, Laura, Chelsea, Stefania

You probably met many other Darklings during the day, tell us a little about that. Also, is there anyone you wanted to meet but didn't have the chance? Yes, truly, I met lots of people. They all are my Darkling family, it was simply awesome. I was completely moved most of the time because of them... This is what our guys of The Darkness can do, connect us all over the world.

The first who me and Stefania met, was Chelsea (from UK, and one of the fans in “Last Of Our Kind” video), she was completely genius, funny, fresh. I like her so much, we met at the bus station because she was so kind to come guide us, and she stayed with us all Saturday. Then I met Sariah (from USA) at the hotel, I shared my room with her, my sister from Danlings' Den, I love her so much. She's so funny, cute and very special to me.

Saturday night we had a meeting of the Danlings' Den, Dan Hawkins fans. There we met Laurie, the admin, who gave us the magic pen of the fanclub, and a lot of other Dan's fans. I was so proud, because most were men, and you know, some people at first sight think Danlings are mostly females who are crazy in love with him, but in real we all respect and love him for his work and his talent, as a musician and also as a producer. (...and well, yes, sometimes we females are a bit naughty, but it's his pretty face's fault!) (laughs) (damn, where's my mop?!)

On Sunday, the huge reunion: Italian Darkness Army and The Darkness Italia members, of course Stefania, my soul sister with who I made my trip and adventure, Nicola and his wife Chiara, Monica, Jack, Geraldine, Stefano and Sara. Love you all, Italian mates!! And from UK Lucia, Chris and her hubby, Harry, Bekki and her daughter, Richard, Yousuf, Scarlett, Emily and Fee. Philippe and his son from Belgium. From USA Scott and Geoff, and Laurie. Babs from Amsterdam. Penelope, with her mom, from France. I'm sorry, I'm sure I'm forgetting someone, too much adrenaline that day, I remember their faces but not their names, I'm so sorry!!!

I met again also a very special person, Veronique, and finally got to stay with her in person more than few minutes, as for last Queen+Adam Lambert gig. She is one of the most genuine, cute, clever person I know, really brilliant. And funny! I love her, how couldn't I?!

I am truly glad to met again the awesome Judit. She's a sweetheart. This is why I am so glad for the convention, because Darklings are the convention. I missed to meet someone of the staff, I really wanted to meet to say thank you in person, but they were working, so I can understand, obviously! The time will come.

Moving on to the show portion of the day, they played longer than usual. What did you think of the extended set? Did you like the new songs? I loved the new songs! “Solid Gold” is simply brilliant!! Loved the ultrariffs style and the extended chorus by Dan, loved the massive bass line by Frank, loved the magical voice and the stunning onstage presence of Jus, loved the energy of drums, man, that Ru is terrifying! Well, okay, loved everything! Seriously, for me it's been the best gig ever. Not only for the new songs, but also for the "unplayed or rarely played songs", loved it! Loved “Bareback” and “Dinner Lady Arms”, “Knockers”, and the odd version of “I Love You 5 Times”, played on bass by Dan and on guitar by Frank, OMG!!! I was like Alice in wonderland. (Laughs) [Interviewer’s note: A video of “I Love You 5 Times” from the soundcheck.]

You threw your bra on stage. Where did that idea came from? Would you do it again? Yes, oops my fault! I wasn't wearing it, by the way! (Laughs) Well, the idea came from talking on the phone with my friend Monica few days before the festival. We wanted to organise something special and funny, and it was hilarious, because in the inside on the left we had written "Merry Christmas from Laura and Monica" and on the right "......bite our cookies!!!" And when Jus was close enough I threw it to him! He took it, read it, and wore it... Monica was ready with the camera and took a little video!! We're still dying thinking of it, so.... Yes, we'd love to do it again!!! [Interviewer’s note: Here’s a little video of Justin wearing the bra.]

Like I mentioned, they played longer than usual. Was that enough or did you want them to play even longer? To me it was more than enough, as time and as quality, damn they all played amazingly. Terrific gig!! I could feel their hearts and their souls, especially my baby monster (Dan) was awesome. I can say more about him because I was exactly in front of him, and because he stole all my attention, as always. I was like mesmerised watching his hands playing. Only one other guitarist makes me feel like this, it's Brian May. By the way, he also played the songs we're used to hear live, like LIOAF, with something special, like he was drawing a fabulous arabesque. Like I said, for me it was enough. You know, obviously never enough of them really, but you have to think of their tiredness. They are our heroes, but they are humans too! (laughs)

Laura, Sariah, Laurie, Fee, Toby and his dad.

Darknesstival merch and Frankie's book signed by him

The setlist was still Permission To Land heavy. Do you ever tire of hearing those songs? No. I'm not tired, but I would like to hear more new ones, and by new I mean also Hot Cakes and Last Of Our Kind ones

You had the VIP ticket, right? What was the afterparty like? Yes, I am such a lucky person, I had my family and my Darkling family to help me, so I got the Super VIP ticket. I'll be forever grateful to Stefania (the admin of The Darkness Italia) and my parents.

Afterparty was in the pub upstairs, completely informal and friendly, as you can see from the pics. The band came after a bit and they started to talk with the fans. Ru came to sit in the table behind mine, so I could ask him for a photo together, he's adorable, and recognised me by name and country, I was so shocked and honoured!!!

Again with my friend Monica, we planned a joke for the guys, but because they were separated at the party we chose Justin as the victim. She took 4 red papillons, put them in a red and white box, like Santa's clothes, and in the notes, from IDA and TDI, we wrote thanks and wishes and "please, for the next Xmas video, we would watch the four of you wear only these...." Justin was funny, tried to seem shy and in awe, but at least laughed with us, and accepted to take a pic with the Italian fanclub.

About Frank, I asked him if he would like to sign my copy of his book (...book that Chris gave me at the convention as Xmas gift, love you darling) He was something like a bit moved, and dedicated me wonderful words.

Dan seemed really busy, so I tried to catch him in a good moment. Failing. (Laughs) Anyway, I asked him to please sign my copy of the birthday card, he was very kind to do it, but was also in a hurry, so I tried to leave him free. Surprising me, he came back to say "Ciao bella!" (Hello beauty, in my language) I was completely shocked, he saw my face and started to laugh. And then he came to hug me and kiss my cheeks for the 3rd time in a day. #lifegoal (Laughs badly)

*Images courtesy of Laura Beccari and many other Darklings all over the world. We have permission to share them here, but please don’t repost them anywhere else.

#The Darkness #Darknesstival #interviews #Justin Hawkins #Dan Hawkins #Frankie Poullain #Rufus Taylor #with fans

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sundaywhiskey · 7 years

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We’ll Always Have Sunsets

It was early 2009, and I did not want to meet my father’s new girlfriend. My parents’ divorce had finalized only a few months earlier. This new woman, I thought, was at best a rebound, at worst a homewrecker. I was twenty and angry.

We shared the same favorite Beatles song, me and the new girlfriend. “Revolution.” I learned that the night we met. She treated me, my father, my sister, and a couple of our friends to see The Fab Faux, a Beatles tribute band that sounds like the real thing. We drove there in a limo. When “Revolution” started—the clanging electric guitar, the racing drum, the background yell—she tapped my shoulder. “This one’s my favorite!” She sang along, smiling, dancing with hands and hips. Dad’s new girlfriend smiled the kind of smile that made everyone around want to smile too. I’m not sure if by that point my father had nicknamed her “Sweet Thang,” but probably. By the end of the show, I knew for certain my father’s new girlfriend—Kim was her name—was impossible to dislike.

I stood on the dock, bitching. “I do not do boats.”

Ignoring me, my father loaded the boat with essentials: a cooler, life vests. I went to Key Largo thinking we’d jet ski, not boat. There’s a difference: one I’d done before and decidedly disliked, and the other I hadn’t tried, so my feelings were up in the air. I worried about seasickness. The last time I’d gone boating was a year or so prior in St. Augustine. I had deep sea fished, or rather, I spent the trip curled in a ball, trying not to throw up. But this day, the bay was smooth and notably shallow—imperative differences I chose to avoid. Kim promised I’d be fine. She talked me on board.

It turns out, I like boats.

Kim teased me for years: when I’d go tubing, when I’d kneeboard, when I learned how to drive the boat, the one afternoon I tried wakeboarding, the vacation in Hawaii I snorkeled. “I thought you didn’t do boats,” she’d say, imitating my whine. “Oh hey, Miss I-Don’t-Do-Boats.” In Canada, we sailed while the sun set—Kim’s favorite time of day. My father played guitar and we sang.

Recently Kim saw a photo of me on the same boat from that first day. My father drove, and I smiled beside him. Kim laughed looking at the photo, said Dad should have that framed and mailed to me. “Remember how Lyndsay doesn’t do boats?”

Kim didn’t know that just after that photo was taken, she was Baker Acted for threatening suicide to her daughter.

A month after I moved to New York in 2013, my father called on my lunch break. He worried Kim might have a problem with alcohol. After her father’s funeral, she’d drank so much, she passed out on the toilet, fell off, maybe got a concussion.

I’d drink at least that much after your funeral, I probably said. Or maybe I said, I don’t know—that sounds like a reasonable day to get drunk. Whatever I said that afternoon, sitting at a picnic table in front of a grocery store on Fulton St., too many miles from my family to be of any use, I needed to believe that no, no, Kim was not an alcoholic. Not our Kim.

In hindsight, there were signs. I’d lived with my father and Kim for the six months preceding my New York move, and in the mornings while drinking coffee, Kim sometimes poured herself a glass of vodka before retiring to her bedroom for the day. She worked from home. In the evenings, her words slurred, her memory like mist. I’d later learn that what I had interpreted as sometimes was frequently, and what I’d interpreted as normal wasn’t.

I returned to my office. Should I confide in someone? Alcoholism wasn’t that serious, was it? I mean, I drink. And sometimes I don’t drink. Kim could do that: control her consumption. I remember thinking, or maybe the right word is hoping: There’s nothing to worry about. But what if there was?

Kim passed away January 4, 2017, at 6:36 p.m. from complications of alcoholism, namely cirrhosis of the liver and esophageal varices. She is survived by her husband, four children, two stepdaughters; her mother, and two brothers. Her first grandson was born 36 hours later.

I’m not sure which anecdote best illustrates my stepmother’s alcoholism.

Maybe the time she flew to New York for rehab, drank during the flight, forgot why she was on a flight, and tried to check-in to a hotel at which she had no reservation. She slept in the lobby. The police came.

Maybe the time she chased my father with a garden hoe.

Maybe the rumors she circulated about my father—that he was using her for money, he was cheating. She had developed Korsakoff Syndrome (a chronic memory disorder), and in the morning she’d love him but by afternoon she’d forget, rage and call him an asshole. Could he get the fuck out of her house? More than once she demanded her assistant pack my father’s clothes in garbage bags.

Maybe that she said these things and behaved this way while my father put his life on hold to help her. He called every doctor in town. He researched every rehab center. He left her cards on the nightstand—I love you, he’d write, his all-caps handwriting in permanent ink.

Maybe the Christmas she tossed half my presents in our backyard lake. She’d thrown other things in the lake, too: her wedding ring, for one. Once she threatened to drive into the lake.

Maybe the time she lost her car at a hotel. She’d forgotten she drove, took a taxi home, and the next morning she’d forgotten to which hotel she’d gone.

Maybe the time I went to her house and she told me to fucking leave, that I’m not her fucking daughter, and why don’t I tell my father to fuck off, while I was at it. A minute later she emerged on the driveway in tears. She was sorry, she would do anything for my dad’s girls. Amy and I were like daughters to her. I couldn’t stop crying.

That was not Kim. Kim was sick.

That was not Kim.

Kim was sick.

My father proposed to Kim in bed. They were that way, without frills. The six of us kids took to calling them Tomberly, or sometimes Tim. Their love was that gross gooey shit I didn’t believe existed until it stood before me, arms wrapped around waists and shoulders, smiling and laughing as though the only ones in on a joke. They were happy. My god, they were so happy.

They married November 3, 2012, in an intimate ceremony in Key Largo, FL. My step brother walked his mother down the aisle; my sister and I walked our dad. Kim’s daughter was maid-of-honor, and my Pop Pop was the best man. They married before a dock during sunset. My father’s band played the reception. Kim wore a teal and coral dress.

This year she forgot their anniversary. She was hospitalized, throwing up blood.

Alcoholism is a disease. A disease like cancer is a disease like diabetes is a disease like HIV is a disease. Many dispute this, claim people like Kim have a choice in the matter. They’re wrong. Nobody, least of all Kim, would choose this.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Addiction defines alcoholism this way: “An addict’s life is often centered around their drug of choice, which in the case of an alcoholic is alcohol. They spend much of their time figuring out how to obtain it, drinking it, and recovering from its effects. They also do this at the expense of practically everything and everyone around them. Jobs suffer, as do relationships with friends and family members, and often alcoholics are in trouble with the law.”

Alcoholism alone explains the illegal golf cart rides down busy roads to the gas station. Why she lost custody of her youngest sons. The bruised liver, the tar stool, the blown esophagus, the near-dementia. The tubes, the heart monitor, the machines that kept her alive more days than her body would have survived on its own.

I last saw Kim not connected to wires and machines in a hospital bed on Christmas Day 2015. (I first saw Kim connected to wires and machines in a hospital bed on Christmas Day 2016.) She was sober and chain-smoking on the porch beneath the tiki hut. It was later in the evening, only a few stragglers from the day remained: me, my father, Kim, and this guy who turned out to be a neighbor, but whom I’d never before met. He argued politics, something about how you just have to work hard to obtain a college education, blahblahblah.

“Look,” I said. Hard work can get you only so far: because of hard work, I honed my talent for writing and obtained a career. But I qualified for said career because of a costly master’s degree, which required a cross-country move. Kim paid for my undergraduate and graduate education. She financially supported my moves to New York and Los Angeles.

No matter how much hard work, I would not be where I am today without my stepmother’s generosity.

Kim aww’d, pulled me into her arms. She never did these things for recognition. She’s not that way, helping people to feel better about herself. She paid my tuition because she knew I wanted to be a writer, and she knew I wanted a degree that said so, and she knew she had the means to help me accomplish that.

“That’s so sweet of you to say, little love,” she said. She smiled her Kim-smile, her cheek pressed into mine.

At her celebration of life Saturday, I shared many of the above stories. The one’s about Kim. Not the one’s about her disease. No person should be defined or remembered by that which ailed them.

The first time I said aloud “Kim is dead,” it tasted badly. It was palpable, the words a weight on my tongue.

Grief is relentless.

Addiction is relentless.

My family, we’ve had practice in grief—we lost our Kim years ago. Interventions. Rehab stints. Marchman Act’s. Doctors and psychiatrists and drugs and memory loss and yelling—my god, there was so much yelling—and legal documents and lakes.

I last heard Kim’s voice on Election Day. She sounded good, sober. I could’ve recognized her voice anywhere. She joked I should run for president. We laughed, and I remembered Revolution, and boats, and the family vacation to Steamboat Springs when like dominoes we all contracted stomach viruses, and Christmas-Day-matching-pajamas and Costco-maxi-dresses, and singing B-b-b-bennie and the Jets!, and the way the sun glowed behind her on her wedding day.

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sunkissis · 5 years

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Bonjour guys,

I’ve had the most formidable (as the French say), chill summer. We hosted many special and dear friends and family that we ended up staying in Paris all summer. I started a new venture called Mon Ami Paree walking tours and this weekend we are hopping on a train for our 17th wedding anniversary. It’s completely bananas to me that I have done anything for as long as seventeen years but I’ve been with lovely Antz for half of my life so I consider myself lucky. I’ve been thinking about how I am getting closer to the midpoint of my life (fifty is creeping on me) and all the things I’ve learned, failed and grown from. Here’s my list of real talk life advice that have shaped me thus far.

Don’t pick at your face. I am so old school in my skin regime that I still use toothpaste on my pimples and I never touch my face. Now that I live in a city without a car, I feel the dirt and sun more than ever. So, everyday I wash my face with Bliss fab foaming 2-in-1 cleanser & exfoliator with bamboo buffers (I bought a huge bottle before we left LA) and moisturize with my Holy Grail Aveeno Positively Radiant Sheer Daily Moisturizing Lotion. That’s it! I try my best not to frown but I am embracing my laugh-line wrinkles.

Manners first in everyday situations. When I was 11, I spent a summer in Oklahoma with my Grandmother’s sister. My Great-Aunt was super traditionally strict and she basically put me in charm school boot camp that summer. No elbows on the table, ask to be excused from the table and always say Good morning when you greet someone. These are no-brainer rules for Liv, lucky me I rarely have to remind her but it’s such a dying part of our society. Bring a gift the first time you visit someone’s house, hold the door for people struggling, make eye contact when you speak to someone. So many people have a hard time learning names but I always say the person’s name when we meet to remember it. I also write myself notes to remind myself (cute family we met at the park with two kids and live in the 2eme). Please learn a strong handshake. When I meet someone with a weak handshake I want to head bump them so hard. How far will you get in life with that weak grip? I don’t trust weak hand shakers. I often have to catch myself from saying “Bless you” out loud when someone sneezes on the bus because I get such strange looks (I forget, no one speaks English). One of the most charming things I appreciate here in Paris is you must always speak to a shopkeeper or bus driver when you enter. I also love how people offer their seats to elderly or pregnant women without a thought. From my observations, pregnant ladies get treated like princesses here. Remember, politeness goes a long way and shows integrity.

Always bring a umbrella! I have learned the hard way so many times since I moved to this land of unpredictable rain. I have gotten caught in rain and hailstorms without even a jacket. I am so LA that I forget to wear a jacket when I leave the house and the sun is shining bright. Little did I know it can take less than an hour for the weather to take a major turn. We have acquired so many cheap umbrellas because we get caught in the rain. Now we carry a bag every time we go out with two small umbrellas, a pack of wet wipes, portable phone charger and cords, hand sanitizer, our table tennis rackets (almost every park has a table) and a water bottle. These things used to live in the trunk of my car but now I have to schlep everything myself.

Invest in quality lip balm. I used to throw Vaseline on my lips if they were chapped for years in my twenties. Then I got an Anthropologie gift card for my birthday so I bought some fancy Smith Rosebud Salve. I loved the smell of the balm but the container would get bent in my bag and it was too cumbersome and messy to open. So when I found EOS in sweet mint at Target, I was addicted. I literally brought 20 of them to Paris with me because I fear running out. My Mom even sends me more in my care packages because she knows I am obsessed. Find a quality lip balm and never leave home without it in your purse. Trust me, I had to stop at a 24 hour grocery store to buy some lip balm while I was on my way to the hospital when I was in labor with Liv.

My Mommy keeps me stocked with LA necessities.

Don’t buy something with the hope of losing weight to wear it later. I bought a cute baby doll dress from Target thinking, it’s so cute and not expensive, I’ll lose some weight in my arms and be able to wear it in a few months. That dumb dress sat in my closet for five years. Why mentally psyche yourself up for something you can’t enjoy now? I no longer starve myself, or beat myself up about my weight. I am healthy and loved. I walk more now than I ever did and I feel great in my clothes. The apparel industry has come around to accepting that all women aren’t size six, so I feel great about being able to buy clothes that don’t look matronly or feel left out of what the cool girls are wearing. I was even asked to try-on clothes for two brands I adore (my darlings at Ace & Jigand Ban.do) This 42 year old lady is still as rad as I was at 22!

Never not wearing my favorite Ace & Jig dress

Embrace your quirky self! I used to have an unhealthy relationship with my hair. I have bleached it to death, chemically straightened it for years and mistreated it out of sheer laziness. The straw that broke my hair unhappiness was in January 2017. I was putting a chemical straightener on my hair when I had to take off my Olivia pendant necklace (the chemicals would ruin it) I somehow lost my necklace that day so I vowed to never use that stupid (and damaging) stuff again. I haven’t put any chemicals or color on my hair since then. I replaced my necklace too. When I want to change my look, I get colorful braids. Now that I live in a more humid climate (my hair literally turns into a mushroom the second I go outside)

I’ve learned to embrace my natural curls. I have an established hair routine that I do once in a while because I’m still lazy but the less I mess with my hair the stronger and healthier it’s been. I bought products I know keep my dry, damaged hair moisturized and leave it alone. I broke my expensive flat iron when I first moved her because of the dumb voltage. I bought a new Euro flat iron but it doesn’t work as well as my old one so I decided, why go through the time and energy trying to make my curly hair straight? Now I throw tons of leave-in conditioner in my hair, or sometimes I wear flexi rods overnight and poof! I’m little orphan Lizzie.

Young Lizzie and Lizzie in her 20s (with extensions)

I’ve retired my signature braids for the summer to give my hair a rest and let it breathe. Braids are a protective hairstyle in the Black hair community but they can also cause breakage if you use the wrong type of hair or have them braided too tight. Plus they are annoyingly hot.

Please for the love of God know the difference between homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled and mean different things!) I am in a Facebook travel group and when I see adult people typing “I waisted a ticket because the whether was bad,” I have a brain meltdown. Listen, I am no grammar snob, I am completely aware my spelling is atrocious (thanks autocorrect for fixing that for me) and I am a serial run-on-sentence writer, but if you aren’t sure (NOT SHORE) which word to use, take a second and Google it. It took me years to grasp the difference between stationary and stationery. I subscribe to Word Genius which emails me a new word a day. I really wish I had a reason to use the word hornswoggle on my blog. Learn new things all the time.

Master your penmanship. I may sound so old-fashioned and prissy in my unsolicited advice but have you ever tried to read a doctor’s prescription? I now live in a country where they write in lovely italic cursive however, I can’t tell an S from an R. Liv has beautiful penmanship, I have always instilled taking pride in your handwriting in her from an early age yet the French education system has taken over and she writes so teeny tiny, I can’t figure it out. I bought her a calligraphy set and she loves to practice writing fancy.

Not everyone is going to like you. Believe it or not this is hard for extroverts like myself to accept. I can be hypersensitive and get anxiety around new people. I am an only child so my friendships are everything to me. I have been told that I am a people person but I really have a small inner circle of only about five or six people who really know the real uncensored me. I’ve had to deal with people flaking on me, people mischaracterizing me and many people doubting me for years. My confidence comes from learning self-trust. I am okay being the loud girl who listens to weird music or dresses like a toddler obsessed with rainbows, that is who I am, not sorry about it. I can’t help but be selfish about my happiness. I try my best to set an example for my (sometimes shy and quiet) daughter because growing up is hard and things like bullying, eating disorders and now the fake Instagram perfection standard makes it even harder. I never had a sibling to give me advice or tell me I look crazy so I’ve made great friends and spent time listening and learning. I now have many sisters (by marriage and my bff) but I wish I knew at 13 that just because someone didn’t like me meant something was wrong with me. As you get older, you stop caring what other people think. What they think doesn’t matter and are inconsequential to your success!

Proud Pokemon Go Mom. If you play too, let me know so we can be friends!

Fail, ugly cry and then try that shit again until you succeed! OMG, this was a hard lesson for me to learn y’all. I am impatient and when I don’t immediately get my way, I turn into the biggest brat ever. I have gone through every type of disappointment, felt like life was over for me and through all the drama and heartache, always came through better than I started. It’s weird when you are going through something serious, it feels like being stuck in quicksand. I now know that the harder something is for me to achieve, the more it’s worth it. I also know that anything worth doing requires sacrifice and commitment. You may sacrifice sleep, spending money, eating desserts but will it be worth the sacrifice in the end? Ask yourself this when going into a new venture. I have learned in the past twenty two years that my internal stress and anxiety is a complete overreaction. I know deep down things will work out because it always seems impossible until it’s done. The word is literally I’M POSSIBLE!!

Have a lovely rest of the summer. I am still working on last summer’s travel posts, it’s taking forever because my laptop memory is full so for every photo I upload I have to throw away three. It’s moving slow but it’s possible.

Bisous

My mid-life check in Bonjour guys, I've had the most formidable (as the French say), chill summer. We hosted many special and dear friends and family that we ended up staying in Paris all summer.

#40&039;s #life advice #real talk

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krisrowland · 5 years

Text

Promises for this year and reflections on last year

A few activities that I’m trying to have a positive impact my life in 2019

Reading (so many books I haven’t read on my shelf)

Drawing in my Adam J Curtis book

Writing Kasper pieces

Spend time figuring out a vague shape for Kasper so far.

Organise Skype sessions with friends, Helena, Steph/Archie, Tina/Aine, Rosie, Lauren,

Research artistic meetups

Find time to meditate

Find time to be silly/rehearse monologues

Singing in the shower

Practising monologues

Writing thought pieces

Practical things to work on in 2019

Get a credit card and spend £50 each month

Buy all birthday cards and presents for sister, mum, dad, matt, Archie, Sophie, Jonny and Rich and Helena. + any other major birthdays

Organise birthday party in August

Organise China trip in August

Things I promise to be this year

Being a better uncle to Archie

Everyone is a little bit racist as they say. I want to be less so. I want to understand more and go to talks, plays, listen to activists that have a BAME voice . And figure out how else I can be an ally.

Always be willing to learn

Reflections on 2018

January

I met Chris at Paul's birthday party which was amazing it was so fun and an overwhelm of lust and play. I stopped doing the Landmark Education introduction Leader Programme after 4 months of emotional, frustrating and enlivening phone calls. I couldn't deal with the pressure I was putting myself under. My grand visions of social justice and my own creative practise were in severe conflict with reality and I needed to reassess what I was saying to myself. I think Landmark has undoubtedly changed my life it has made me really respect myself and find ways of being more flexible on a day to day with others. I now have the best relationship with my Dad, Mum and work I have ever had. I also started counselling for the first of three times this year to clear up some irrational thought patterns, which has continued my personal development journey and understanding of myself. Katharine and I continued our obsession with Stacey Makishi @ The Yard Theatre. Paul and I watched an earthshattering theatrical version of Network at The National theatre.

February started with Rosies hen do and a rekindling of the Notts college crew. I had a two week break to hang round London see shows and art galleries. I had my first rehearsals for Kasper, a performance piece I have wanted to do for ages and invited Chris k to collaborate. I also partied hard with Kayleigh Foulkes for the first time in a number of years in Camden and G.A.Y. The broom dancing team were on form (minus Heather)

March Rosie and Bob's wedding was another wonderful reminder of the awesome people that are in Nottingham, god I love our college crew there is so much I have to thank you for. Catching up with Jake was great, though we only met up three times this year, a culture vulture with a big heart and the best company. Kris R's party was a messy fun night with glitter et al at G.A.Y. And another messy night to welcome Gurdeep to his new Stratford home.

April Discovering the cruisey vibes of Bloc bar with Bryan was amazing. It felt like I was at a gay trance night in the 90's. Pulsating music, guys and telling the time by the number of topless men you could see. April was also Jamie's birthday with a terrific karaoke and Chinese evening. I went to Nestas people powered health conference which made me want to do a service design ma in the new year and had a number of wines for the road with my director and manager.

May was an eventful month starting the new job, Eurovision being a messy evening to say the least in a fabulous location. I saw Hamilton with Jamie which was an honour and a pleasure it was the best musical I'd seen in ages, intelligent, mainstream, modern and political, never mind catchy. The amount of times I listened to the soundtrack Spotify created me my own Hamilton playlist as if it was a genre.

In June I did my first stint drinking no alcohol at house parties with support from Helena as she was trying to cut down as well. I joined the Grapes quiz team and won a number of times throughout the rest of the year with them. Helena and I went to Phobiarama which was a political and race based ghost train. Followed by a very iffy messy night at XXL. It was Jonny and Rich's 40th and Sophie's 30th. We said goodbye to the first care leavers peer support group and partied at Chris's caravan to say goodbye to Chris and Helena on their next adventures.

The start of July was Helenas leaving party :( This years London pride felt like the first time I really understood why we still celebrate. A space in which you can be anything you want to be and feel comfortable being who you are. Years and Years were epic at the Roundhouse showing off their new album with much pizazz. Grindr the Opera was a weridly touching patische that was both hialrious and heartwarming. Helena was back in London and had a brief visit to see Gary in his new pad with Lindsey on the Henley part of the river Thames.

August was my first holiday with my dad in a beautiful air bnb in the New Forest. I had a joint birthday with Chris K starting with a picnic in Green park and ending in the beautiful Set You Free at The Chateau for pure 90s pop #messy. Kayleigh came to London again and we saw Britney at the O2 and went to Jonny woo' club The Glory.

September I headed off to see Helena and explore Estonian culture in Talinn. I managed to do my best time on a half marathon. 1hour 54 minutes.

October

Not much happened in October.Cabaret night with Phil Will and Kris. Halloween twas

November I met a really nice guy on Tinder but just didn't get the spark. I started Kasper rehearsals again, trying to figure out what the hell you do in a devised rehearsal space. Fantastic Beasts was a disappointment.

December started off with a fab racalette and wine evening with Chris Will and Phil. We had two Team away days on the same day which I helped organise. The Xmas party was at one my fav craft beer places. I had the gayest of Secret Santa's with unicorn Christmas decorations, a apron with a fake cock attached to it and a very fluffy rainbow pen. I finally went to see The Inheritance. A beautiful bittersweet depiction of modern gay life and the debt we owe older gay men.

Throughout the year I have been volunteering at a care leavers peer support group in Thurrock. It has been a challenging experience with the young people but also being able to find our place in the group. I wrote a blog about my experience here. I am continuing this into next year and won't be continuing after June.

It was a bit of a shock in May to hear that Helena (my closest and best friend) would be moving to China. We have really gone through thick and thin together and with each other over the last two years. Meeting at Landmark on a course and then developing a social impact concept together. Whilst the CCA's output may have left much to be desired. We created some unbelievable friendships ourselves and with other people including Gary, Kris , Annie and Papola. July was the month when she departed to go to Estonia for a few months before leaping over to Bejing to be a lecturer. Looking back over the year it strikes me how much of an impact she has had on me. Getting me off my seriousness addiction, pushing me when I didn't think I could give much more. She is one in million a real open, honest, not afraid to share her thoughts, willing to give anything a go and also a mysterious multitasker that you don't realise is doing so much brilliant stuff. She has opened my eyes to the EU migrant experience in Britain, Estonia's vibrant culture, my own biases, helped me celebrate myself and so so so much more. Helena I frigging love you and miss you, no one can ever take your place.

At work it was an up and down year. A department restructure and consultation had been taking place since September 2017. After six months we had the finalised structure, my line manager was leaving which was a blessing and a curse. (In some ways he was an amazing line manager giving me space to explore with him what I wanted to develop in the role but he was also not great at following up and holding me to account plus our meetings could go on for hours.) Then looking at the final paper I saw that my job had been deleted. So I had to interview for a new position which mostly matched my previous role, though it was the grade above which softened the blow. We welcomed Jane to the peer support team and many others into the unit and it felt we had new found energy and ambition. Two colleagues and myself started the LGBTIQ+ workshop which has been an amazing 6 months of creating events, learning, creating structures and trying to see how we are best placed in the organisation. At the Xmas party we even had someone congratulating us on sustaining the group and seeing us as a steering group for the organisation. I also travelled to Birmingham and Swansea for Influence and Participation (I&P) events, helped create an animation and will be facilitating a session next year for a new set of videos explaining the benefits of I & P to people on their recovery journey. The success of our staff forum pay paper meant in April that all staff got a pay rise, with further Brexit/ economic developments this will be a key focus in the coming years to see how we can support staff within our capacity as a charity. I was recently made the staff forum chairperson as Zadie leaves after having helped us navigate a consultation that asked major questions of our internal structures and leadership and form a project plan. Things now seem more on track with my role with a clear steer that my efforts to troubleshoot and problem solve is a positive contribution to the units and department as a whole. We will see what happens in the new year.

Jamie was another of Paul's friends who I instantly hit it off with. An amazing creative/ animator who has enthusiasm for all things culture with a labyrinth of music, film, TV shows and merch surrounding his almost iconic living room. We created a film club watching films we had never seen before it was a zany mix of animation, black comedy, surreal adventures and classics that you are suppose to have seen. After a bit of persuasion Jamie created an amazing puppet lipsynch to Robyn's here. Talent screaming out, can't wait to see what next year brings for this phenomenal guy.

Chris what to say about Chris. Well he has given me some of the best nights of the year pub quizzes, theatre, drinks, nights in, films, banter, Karaoke, clubbing, a picnic. His smile is inffectious. He made me value the small things. We dated and that came to an end but he became a solid friend. There is so much going for him I just wish he would see how great he really is.

Big love

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beccaislearning · 6 years

Text

Out of the Box Cards...

When I was young I felt that I was not very good at a girl. I guess I felt this as the pressure to conform into prettiness and ‘femininity’ increased with age. I hated kiss chase in the playground, I wanted to play spies. Wearing makeup and dresses made me feel self-conscious. When I moved to high school, I wasn’t ready to give up running about in our breaks and invented a game called ‘the running game’ which led to an actual run-in with a toilet. Throughout my youth I was in and out of A&E being x-rayed for various incidents, after great experiments for climbing things, play-testing new game ideas, and basically going 100 miles an hour.

I was a really kind child. I wasn’t cool or savvy, and I didn’t know how to manage my great mane of frizzy hair. My heart got broken by friends who were better at being cool, and judged me for being chubby, silly, wearing the wrong kind of underwear, and not having boyfriends.

Thankfully I had a good team to cheer me on. My mum celebrated and defended my sense of humour and ‘zest for life’. My grandma told me stories of her childhood scrapes and climbing trees to read books rather than get involved with the running of the house, that as the only daughter, she was expected to get stuck in with. I had great youth leaders, who gave me opportunities for fun and play and leadership, while I was still letting my mum choose my clothes because I just wasn’t interested. Guide camps were a haven of being able to go away and get caked in mud and not care one iota about what I looked like the whole week while I learnt to build fires, storm lash tents, work as a team, and sing songs that were about nature and silliness (rather than the nineties and noughties pop songs that would otherwise be the soundtrack to my coming of age) loudly and unashamedly around a campfire with friends.

The strict policing of gender is such a problem of our age. It’s a problem for girls and young women because it limits their room to grow into the best versions of themselves. They are measured against a stick which is an inappropriate measure of worth, joy and flourishing, and too often find their marvellous selves falling short of these measures.

This is why I’m so chuffed that my marvellous friend and great empowerer of women, Jenny Baker, has gathered a fab team to develop a new kickstarter venture, Out of the Box Cards. They are some fantastically designed cards for girls, with the vision to celebrate girls for ALL of their wonderful aspects of girl-hood... not just prettiness and princesses. This is what they say about themselves:

We often buy cards for our nieces, cousins, friends and sisters, but it's usually a depressing experience. The cards on offer for girls depict them as pink and pretty, they are always passive and posing. These cards imply that what’s important about you is your appearance; you need to conform and fit in.

Young women are under enormous pressure to conform to a very stereotypical femininity and they need wisdom and guts to navigate that and remain true to themselves. We don't want to contribute in any way to the message that what’s most important about them is their appearance or their size, even through a poor choice of birthday card. The girls we know are intelligent, creative, bold and full of potential. We want to celebrate all that's amazing about them, not put limits on who they are and what they might become.

So we're creating a range of cards, designed with girls in mind, that expand their horizons and assume they are adventurous, active and brave. When a girl receives an Out of the Box card, she'll know that someone believes in her and sees her potential. When you send an Out of the Box card, you're speaking affirmation into a girl's life and celebrating who she is. You're showing her a world outside the pink and fluffy box that society offers her.

Amazingly, before the deadline, they’ve already surpassed their original target of £7,500. That’s a lot of great support for this venture already, and means that they are good to go. However, as they say on their website, further donations enable them to achieve more with this project:

Exceeding our target will enable us to:

-commission a beautiful, bespoke website that delivers more of what we need without monthly fees. -launch our website with a wider range of card designs, and create even more during our first year, expanding the range beyond cards designed with girls in mind. -promote our cards more intentionally, rather than only relying on friends and family to spread the word (although you're our best advocates so we'd love you to keep doing that too!) -meet the extra costs in fulfilling all the additional pledges

I’m so excited by this, and so wanted to draw your attention to this too. If you’re inspired by this and glad that these wonderful women are doing something to offer an alternative way of encouraging the women in your life, do pledge some backing. It doesn't have to be a lot, if a lot of us are doing it... though if you’re inspired a lot and have a lot of excess cash, don’t let me put you off giving a heftier donation!

Also- watch this space. Once they’re live and kicking, they’ll need customers! Cast your thoughts over the women and girls in your life and think about this as another practical way in which you can cheer them on and celebrate them in all their fullness.

Visit their website here to pledge, learn more, watch their videos and see their first card designs.

Visit their Facebook page here to keep track and be able to share with your Facebook friends.

And here is their Twitter account if you want to engage and retweet their stuff here.

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fancycollectionfury-blog1 · 6 years

Text

what is considered affordable health insurance under obamacare

"what is considered affordable health insurance under obamacare

what is considered affordable health insurance under obamacare

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My quote was: Semiannual premium: $1251 Do I pay $1251 twice a year?

Driving Lessons+ Insurance+Car?

when i turn 17 i get about 4,200 . now im wanting to spend that money on something improtant, to me thats a car, lessons and insurance. will i have enough to do this? say i pass etc how much will the insurance cost & the lessons""

Will my auto insurance rates go up if I broke someone else's left mirror?

Nothing big, my car hit and cracked only the mirror on someone else's left mirror car. But the thing is I don't have full insurance coverage, only the basic.""

I have cancelled my old insurance with a company and i need a renewal notice to get cheap insurance.?

i have called the old company is asking me why i need the renewal notice from them. they told me they have put it in the post but i did not receive anything. the only mail i received, was the sorry to see u go mail the next day after i cancelled the policy. With the notice i can show i have a 6yrs no claims discount. How do i get the old insures to send me the notice with the no claims or do i just tell my new insurers to contact the old ones. Please this is urgent. Serious answers only""

Fair price for my car insurance?

Got my car insurance bill. I'm on a family plan with my mom and my sister. We did it because we were told it would save money. I'm in my late 20's, drive an older car(a '97), have never had a traffic ticket or accident, and have the basic coverage with a $500 deductible. Just the basics. It's $350 for 6 months with Grange. It went up from the last time I paid it. First, is that a decent price? Second, why does the insurance go up if I didn't get a ticket or accident?""

Question about health insurance for unborn son?

When am i supposed to try and get insurance for my son? I'm sorry if this is a completely stupid question but i've asked many people and they don't know. He's due January 28th, 2012. Am i supposed to get insurance BEFORE he's born, or after? Can i even get it before he's born? It just seems like if i try to get it after he's born it'll take awhile and he needs to go to the doctor soon after he's born of course. My insurance will not cover him. My fiance's will cover him but the owners of the company have been putting his paperwork off. Anyway, please help. :)""

Should i keep car insurance?

Car lot required full coverage car insurance to drive car off the lot. I just want the bare minimum can i switch to just liability? Or do i have to keep it?

Which insurance company is the cheapest?

i live in ontario canada and i wanna know which company has the cheapest insurance. my insurance expires this month? please help........................

Will these cars cost more to insure?

So im looking to buy my first car. The deal is I pay for the car, my parents cover the insurance, but they wont let me get a SUV or sporty car because then they have to pay more. I was looking at a Toyota Celica or Hyundia Tiburon (I kinda want a coupe so my friends wont be bumming rides all the time because ill be the only one with a car). Is this true? I mean, even the 4-cylinder 2.0L automatic models? Will these models still be considered a sports car even with the wimpy specs or were my parents mistaken? I was also looking at a Chevy Cobalt LS coupe, which is pretty much the same as the others, and my dad said it was cheaper to insure?""

what is considered affordable health insurance under obamacare

Need health insurance. Can anyone help?

I'm 21 and I don't have insurance. I can't get it from my job becuz i work part time and I make to much money to get it (12/hr). What should I do?

High school sports insurance Florida?

Hi, I'm a 15 year old varsity baseball player in Florida. On the 19th of March, I had a partial tear of my biceps tendon in my right elbow along with a suspected injury to the RCL, and LUCL (MRI results). I don't have primary health insurance (even though my Dad's a doctor haha) but my school carries insurance for student athletes. I'm going the the Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze, FL. What do you think my coverage will be like? I know it's a rather hard question but thanks for anything!""

Driver's Test Insurance?

Im going to take the driver's test next month but have no insurance. The car is under my dad's name and is insured under his name. Can I use his car and insurance for the test or do I have to get my own insurance for it?

Dental insurance..?

Hi, i am a student so i do not have much money. I am living in Melbourne, Australia. I would like to know if there is an affordable health insurance that cover dental needs. I need to remove my 4 wisdow teeth and also i would like to put some braces...but i can not aford it. Would an insurance be worth in this case?""

Hi what is the best 600cc sports bike for an 18 year old bearing in mind the insurance?

I need some help with choosing my first 600cc bike at the moment i ride a skygo 125cc (yes chinese lol) but i turn 18 in a couple of weeks and am looking to buy my first big bike. iv had a look at the cbr 600 but not to keen on the shape to be honest and dont really like the shape of the r6 so im looking at the kawasaki ninja / suzuki gsxr 600 and 750. any ideas would really help insurance would play a big part for me to so i need the cheapest really and what price would i be looking at ? if anyone has any other bikes to suggest i would apreciate that aswell ?

What is the best affordable health insurance for students out there?

I am thinking about changing my provider and was wandering if anybody has any recomendations?

How much money does car insurance go down when you turn 17?

I'm 16 years old and turning 17 in a few months. I am currently paying about $435 for insurance in a 6 month period. Will that rate decrease when I turn 17, not having any tickets or accidents?""

Can student loans cover health insurance?

I am attending University and I do not agree with the Health Insurance my University provides. The semester expense is $1875 and it is applied to my tuition costs. Those costs are being covered by a mixture of scholarship and student loans. If I opt to purchase my own student health insurance through a different provider - can I pay for it with Student Loans?

""If I get a license and a car, will my parents be forced to get me car insurance by the law?""

Or can they chose not to. My family has 3 drives, Mid 50s, 23, and 21. I'm getting my license and a car next year. Will the government force my parents to get me car insurance or will my car just sit in the garage. I'm buying my car btw and not my parents...""

Car insurance problems?!?

So I've had my license since I was 18 and now I'm 21, my boyfriend has always just let me use vehicles that he would give me that are registered in his name and on his insurance and I already know someone is going to point out its a bad idea I don't have my own vehicle, we have been together 5 years and haven't had a problem, but recently when I was driving my truck, registered and insured by him, some senile old woman pulled out around 8 feet in front of me and stopped right in the middle of the road so her whole car was right in my lane and the back end of her car was still sort of on the road she was pulling out of, I slammed on my breaks and when I realized I wasn't stopping I turned my wheel as hard as I could so I didn't hit her and I ended up just catching the end of her car and totalled mine by hitting the stop sign and about 4 trees on the road she was coming out of because of the fact that I was driving my boyfriend's insured vehicle and me and him live together, his insurance automatically added me to his policy which caused it to sky rocket from $190/mo. to over $400/mo. I was wondering if he should try to switch companies, or just keep me on his insurance whether he switches or not ?""

Where can I find affordable health insurance with no waiting period for maternity coverage?

We're residents of Virginia, but use a doctor and hospital in North Carolina, and can't seem to find a thing. Doesn't need to pick it up as a pre-existing condition. Ehealthinsurance.com didn't find a thing for us. Any help is appreciated.""

""I need advice on selecting the right health insurance for me, one that covers accutane....plz help!?""

Hi all. i'm 20yrs old. i work full time, and the company that i work for offers Aetna Insurance, i believe...but i've heard that it's not that great. i need an affordable insurance plan, one that covers Accutane (acne medication) and dermatologist visits. plz help!!!""

How much is a Geico car insurance for a minor ?

I am 17 years old and I am just wondering how much I will have to pay for my car insurance. My mom has Geico, and I am sure that will be the one I will have, too. Help!""

""If i pay CASH for a street bike [motorcycle], do i still have to get insurance?""

certainly i wont have to get full coverage since it will be paid for, but am i required to get liability, as i would with a car? if you show me a link to a website that backs up your answer, i will select you for the best answer.""

""As an owner-operator, working for the big taxi company, what kind of insurance do I need on the cab?""

I'm in California. I'm working as a cabbie for that big taxi company with the brightly colored cabs. You know, the one everybody thinks of first. I just bought my own taxi car and it's being converted into a taxi which I will drive for the company. The boss has given me an insurance card, and he says this is the only insurance I need. But I'm worried about it, because the taxi car will also be used a little as my private vehicle, you know, like to drop off my kid at school, or pick up groceries, etc. If anyone knowledgeable can shed some light on this for me, I'd appreciate it. Thank you.""

""Which is the the cheapest liability car insurance company in Houston,tx?""

Which is the the cheapest liability car insurance company in Houston,tx?""

Help! I dented a car and need an idea on how much it will cost without going through insurance...?

I have a picture of the damage. I am still shaking so worried, it is my first year of driving so am looking to deal with it privately, luckily my car wasn't damaged, however it was my fault so I am going to have to do the paying! <a href= http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/Gothixpixie/?action=view&current=Photo-0107.jpg target= _blank ><img src= http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/Gothixpixie/Photo-0107.jpg border= 0 alt= Photobucket ></a> http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/Gothixpixie/?action=view&current=Photo-0107.jpg Not sure if these hyperlinks will work! Any help would be great!""

What would insurance cost for a 16 year old male with 08 Honda Accord LX-S coupe/ 2dr?

Hi, I am a 16 year old male and I might be getting a 08 Honda Accord LX-S coupe. But I want to know how much it would be to insure the car. I know that it is not classified as a sports car. I'm not sure if I am getting it so I just want to know. I have a clean driving record with no accidents (i just got my license). Thanks!""

Who pays my car insurance?

As a Christmas gift my boyfriend bought me an X6. I didnt ask any questions because he and my parents got into a fight about it because they didnt think it was appropriate so I dont know anything about whos name its under or insurance or anything, anyways. Im almost positive the car is under his name, but will the insurance be under his name since the car is under his name or would the car insurance be under my name since it was a gift to me?""

What's the cheapest auto insurance and do you need it to have a permit?

it speaks for itself what company has the cheapest & most reliable auto insurance company for a 16 year old driver (not 16 yet but I should have my driver's license by February 25th if I go after my birth day)

Whats the best way to check multiple car insurance quotes at once?

last time i got car insurance, i went to a broker type place, there, the guy used a website to find me the cheapest car insurance, do any of you know which website this is?""

Will my car insurance skyrocket if I switch from a '97 to a '09?

I live in NYC so my car insurance is already astronomical. I drive a 97 Saturn right now and Im thinking of getting a Prius because of gas prices. Do you think my insurance will increase by a lot because of the difference in model and year? I know I could just get a quote but that's a process with my insurance company.

Where can I find cheap motorcycle insurance in florida?

I am looking to finanace a bike, and need to find some insurance. Most of the quotes I have gotten have been at least $400 a month. I am trying to find something a lot cheaper. Do you have to have full coverage when financing or can you just get basic coverage like collision or something like that?""

Refund on car insurance?

Basically i got my car insurance on the 21st may. And i payed the amount in full. I asked, when the documents ill be arriving and they sed with 5working days. But nothing came. I went on holiday on 5th june and i didnt come back until 15th july. And i find that my postbox is damaged and all my post went back to the royal mail. But i still didnt recieved anything from the car imsurance and because it was a renewal quote, i thought probably they dont need anything of me, coz they have already got my detail from last year and thats why i didnt recieve anything. And this was my first time i paid in full. So i thought they only need my signature when im paying monthly. Anyways i went through my spam mails outa curiosity and i find one email from car insurance that says that my car insurance is cancelled. I called them up, but they arent willing to reinstate a cancelled policy. Now im confused, whether i can get my money bac for the rest of the year or not. And if so, how much will they deduct etc. Ive not had any accidents or motor convictions for the past 3years of driving. And i cant find the cancellation policy on there website and i dnt have any paper work that explains it either. I know i can call up. BUt im curious, whether anyone knows about the idea behind this and how it works. Thanks x""

How much should life insurance cost per thousand?

for a middle aged person with no health issues.

what is considered affordable health insurance under obamacare

Car insurance?

Are there any cars which are very cheap to insure? I have at several but insurance is still quite high, how do i know which will be lower than others?""

Suspended liscense and car insurance?

So in two more months my license suspension will be over from a dui. First of all the type of dui that I got from what I've been told isn't as bad as the real one seeing as I got a dui for blowing a 0.3 but being under 21 makes it illegal at any alcohol level. My dui is considered and infraction so no criminal record but still not sure if this goes in my driving record. When I get my license back and look for car insurance will I have to pay extra for insurance for having a dui infraction?

Can I get temporary health care coverage inbetween plans?

I'm switching jobs and have about 30 days where I will have no insurance. What can I do to get my prescriptions covered for that amount of time? I'm looking for something affordable and legit.

Can't decide if i want to go to college for Insurance sales?

I wanted to go to college to be and insurance salesperson but im not sure. If i go to a community college and get an associates degree in business-insurance sales what does it quallify me to sell, like what type of insurance? How much do they make? Will it be easy to find a job? What are the typical hours? Will i have a secure job? Do you work off comission? Any additional info plz""

Life Insurance for a 40 Year Old?

I need some suggestions on what Life Insurance company to go for. I need one that's legitimate and affordable.

Is progressive car insurance cheap?

I had State Farm but they terminated my insurace because of to many tickets, i herd Progressive was cheap, what do you think? I am 19 by the way""

Have a question about car insurance?

Im currently 18 and just passed the driving test. I reside in bronx ny. I wanted to know how much would insurance be for a used fully paid car under my name?( ranging from ____ to ____ ) Lets say the car is a honda civic year 2000. Or any other better car that wouldnt be high on insurance. Thanks

How much motorcycle insurance cost in Ontario?

per month

Statefarm locksmith coverages for auto insurance?

how much StateFarm reimburses for locksmith charges. I had to pay $139 for a locksmith to come and open my car. his service charge is 39.99 and $75 for opening car (tax and 10% credit card charge) it totalled to $139. now any of you has any idea how much StateFarm will reimburse me. Do agents play tricks to reimbruse less money. Any suggestions will be highly appreciated. Thank you

Can anyone recomend some cheap insurance companies for drives who have completed pass plus?

I'm 18, soon to be 19, and have been trying to get a quote on a 1998 vauxhall corsa, and the only 1 i got before was ridiculously high. I know it being an older model is going to make a difference, but does anyone know from personal experience or whatever which insurance companies offer decent insurance prices to young drives, who have completed the pass plus scheme? Thanks, much appreciated!""

Affordable places for auto insurance?

I am looking into leasing a new car. I live in Grand Rapids, MI. What are some good companies that typically have affordable rates?""

Where might i find proof of insurance in texas?

I need to find proof of insurance for my car in the year 2004 is there some where that it might be saved, my insurance company no longer has records, and I am in desperate need of that proof""

Which auto insurance company will NOT check my credit?

I saw an advertisement for one, but forget which one it is. I have pretty good credit, but I do not believe in their correlation between credit & driving skills. I also do not believe that they should penalize people with bad credit under the assumption that these people will file a false claim. These insurance companies have all the incentive to damage people's credit files so they charge more for their products. I also pay in full, so they will not be extending credit to me. Even if the policy costs more, I do not wish to reward bad behavior by doing business with the big insurance companies.""

How much would insurance cost?

I am 20 years old, I have taken driving school, I have been driving since I was 16, and i have my g2. im gonna need a reliable car to get me to my new job. I am looking for a used care, i need to know how much insurance would be. Can anyone suggest a car, used, 2004-2008, price, insurance for a female who is 20 and taken driving school. Something reliable like a honda or a mazda or anything else and around how much payments would be a month. i know it wont be exact , there are many factors i just am wondering like an estimate if anyone can help me.""

How much will insurance cost for my painting business i am a sub contractor and i have no employs just my self?

what they require is $1,000,000 per occurrence and $1,000,000 personal injury and $2,000,000 general aggregate . thanks""

Questions about car insurance?

If I get a Mustang 2011 (300 Hp V6) next year, my aunt who is a senior citizen and she has a clean record report, will be the owner of the car. I'm 18 though, how much is the cost for insurance in a year going to be?? Just estimation is fine.""

I cancel my car insurance because I sold my car.?

I was told by the car insurance company that I have my car insurance that I would have a laspe in my insurance. I was also told that I would not be able to purchase insurance with another company. Why is this? Why should I keep my insurance if I don't have a car and won't be purchasing one for awhile?

How much would it cost to insure a 17 year old driver with a 2003 corvette?

i should say how much more? right noq i drive a 2005 chevy avalanche LT and i have always wanted a corvette. i found one from a dealer that i might be able to afford if insurance isnt too much. i have usaa insurance and ive never had an accident or ticket, im not an honor role student but i pass with c's ans b's(I've herd honors affects insurance), i live in ct ( ive herd the state affects insurance), and i've done the minimal drivers ed (only the drug and alcohol courses which are required atleast in Connecticut). my insurance allows me to drive all the cars i want that are connected to that insurance plan. thank you!!!""

Should I switch to a $20/month health insurance plan?

Alright, I have health insurance through my employer and I pay over $100/month. My friend has an individual policy and only pays $20/month. He thinks I should switch to have the same health insurance as him. What's the catch? Should I change health insurance policies?""

Would i need car insurance?

(Only open to UK) i am a provisional driver using my dad's car. My dad is with me at all times and he has fully comprehensive insurance, i have been told that this then covers me also, is this correct or will i need extra insurance?""

Does the owner of a car have the be the primary driver on the insurance?

I'm not far off from passing my driving test (in the u.k.) and my mum is giving me her old car (she's got an new one now). I've looked at insuring me as the primary driver and it would cost around about 1000 but if i'm set as the secondary driver and my fiance is the primary driver it's around 300 or something my dad says. My questions are: If i'm registered as the vehicle's owner do I have to have insurance with me as the primary driver? Also, Is it a problem if my fiance is the primary driver on my car as well as his? I've read online somewhere that he can't be the primary driver for both cars (wasn't sure if the site was referring to in the u.k or elsewhere in the world though)""

Should I buy life insurance online?

I want to buy a life insurance plan for myself, and later for my husband. I have done some research, although I must say it's all very confusing and there are zillions of options. Now that I have a better idea, however, I am wondering if buying the plans online is at all an option. Do you have an experience with it? Do you recommend it, or feel that it's completely not a good idea?""

Do you need auto insurance to ride and motorcycle insurance to ride a motorcycle?

Ok i have a couple questions But first off all im 15 1/2 (all ready have motorcycle and car permit) 1) when i get my license do i have to buy auto insurance to have motorcycle insurance, Because my dad said to have your license and to ONLY drive a motorcycle you need both insurances. (even if i dont drive a car) 2) do i need to have motorcycle insurance to drive a motorcycle with a permit? (since you dont need car insurance for driving with a permit) Thank you!""

Cheap insurance?

cheap insurance

At what point does an insurance company own your car when it is stolen?

I live in the state of California and my car was stolen. I was paid out for it by my claims adjuster, but the paperwork is still in the process of being transferred from my name to the insurance company's name. Is the car relinquished? If it gets found, am I liable for towing expenses, etc and is it legally still mine?""

what is considered affordable health insurance under obamacare

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/does-having-sr22-lower-my-insurance-any-chance-steven-garcia/"

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garnetsingingwriter-blog · 7 years

Text

As you probably know from my ‘Birthday Tag’ post three weeks ago, it was my birthday recently. On Saturday 21st January, the day after my birthday, I celebrated my sixteenth by having a birthday meal at a local Tex-Mex with my best friends. It was a really great night, where I was surrounded by friends, food and lots of fun! <3

My outfit for my birthday meal (c) Grace Galvin

I’m just going to touch on all of the wonderful gifts I was given for my 16th birthday from friends and family members, considering they were all so lovely and thoughtful! To me, pricing doesn’t really matter when it comes to gifts. As long as some thought was put into it, that’s all that matters! :D I am not in anyway boasting or bragging about my birthday presents, simply thanking those who gave me them and showing you guys, so maybe you can be inspired.

I am not, in any way, trying to boast or brag about my birthday presents, simply thanking those who gave me them and showing you guys, so maybe you can be inspired.

Family

This year, my mum and dad surprised me by buying me an Amazon Echo Dot! This thing is literally one of coolest presents I have ever received. I’m planning on doing a review and walkthrough on how it works, but essentially you can ask this little device questions, get it to play music, tell you the weather, set alarms, play games, such as 20 Questions, or purchase items from your Amazon account. You can even connect it to the lighting and heating in your house for convenience, and simply tell the device to switch your lights on and off for you. It is simply controlled by your voice, where you say the command word (Alexa, Amazon or Echo) followed by your command. I can’t wait to see what other stuff I can do with my Alexa app and this device! :D One feature I particularly love is the ‘Inspire Me’ feature. If you say ‘Alexa, Inspire Me’ then she will play you one of a selection of inspirational speeches by famous celebrities. It’s honestly great if you’re like me and need a motivation boost to enable you to do tasks such as revision.

They also gave me a tote bag that I asked for from a shop called BookwormBoutique on the Society6 website. It has a galaxy background and white text that says ‘I’m going on an adventure’ with a white book graphic outline. In fact, the whole BookwormBoutique Site (as well as others, of course, this is just my favourite) has loads of gorgeous designs that can be transferred onto throw pillows, tote bags in a variety of sizes, mugs, t-shirts, purses and even shower curtains, just to mention a few! The products are not too expensive, and they are also of a very high quality which I am so pleased about! I have these adorable book-themed badges that I’m going to pin on the bag (which I have talked about before) and I’m also looking to get some Coldplay band badges to pin on there too! <3 <3 <3

My mum gave me a gorgeous pair of light-blue droplet earrings from H Samuel! <3 They are so beautiful and glint in the sunlight! 😍

My sister bought me a giant 90 by 60 cm corkboard, so I could pin my world map up on my wall, and be able to stick push pins in the places where I have been and where I want to go. I’m so happy with how it looks and I can pin all of my important school things and weekly timetables on there (and the actual GCSEs exam timetable I just got 😁) too :) She also bought me a massive ’16’ badge for me to wear into school! :D Thank you, Cecilia! <3 <3

Friends

My friends bought me some very thoughtful, fun and useful gifts for my 16th, which I opened the majority of on the 21st at my meal :) Two of my friends, Jazmin and Myah, gave me my presents in school on my actual birthday. As you may well work out, I have consumed some of the food items before they ever got to the photography stage! 😂😂 They were delicious, though :)

Jaz gave me a gorgeous poetry book by this person called Tyler Knott Gregson who found a typewriter in an antique shop in Helena, and ever since, he has written poetry on random scraps of paper with it. The poetry book is a compilation of these poems and as a poetry lover and amateur poet/writer, I can completely relate to his poems on a deep emotional level. He is also a very talented photographer and big on social media, so do look him up :) This present has got to be one of the most beautiful and heartful gifts I think I’ve ever received! Thank you so much, Jaz! <3 <3

Myah gave me a selection of little gifts – she gave me a set of Primark Gold, Silver and Pearl Earrings; a silver photo frame with a picture of both of us in it, some Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups; and an ‘H’ mug which I now use every morning for my orange juice at breakfast :) Thank you very much, Myah for such personal and tasty gifts ;) <3

The rest of my friends gave me my presents at my birthday meal, which was absolutely wonderful. I don’t think I could ask for more thoughtful and caring friends :D

My lovely friend Chloe bought me a Love and Friendship Colouring book that is filled with gorgeous designs and quotes which I am in love with! To go with that, she also bought me a beautiful set of 36 wooden colouring pencils! I personally have a thing for collecting adult colouring books, so I was delighted to see that she had given me this! I’m going to spend my time winding down and colouring these in! Thank you so much, Chloe <3 :)

Then, Sanjana gave me, firstly, a stunning square photo album/scrapbook where I can stash all of my photos and ticket stubs etc. I am in love with the vintage world map cover that it has! <3 The other gifts she gave me were:

A Packet of Strawberry Bon Bons (yum! :) )

A Flower Print Passport Cover and Luggage Tag (Wanderlust <3)

A book called ‘Girl, Missing’ by Sophie Mckenzie – from the blurb it seems like such an interesting premise and I personally cannot wait to read it!

Thank you so much, chum, for these gorgeous gifts! I’m obsessed with them all and they have really got me feeling wanderlusty! 😍🌍

Mollie gave me the softest pillow I think I’ve ever possessed – it’s a gorgeous rectangular blue Reblog (!!!) pillow :D I doubt I’ve ever been more excited about a cushion in my life <3 <3 She also gave me a HUGE Galaxy Chocolate bar – and I mean MASSIVE! 🍫 I’m surprised I have been able to save it this long without eating any of it! Finally, she got me a fab set of Avon Eyeshadows – the colours are so vibrant and shimmery and they are just perfect! Thank you so much, Mollie – you know me too well! ;) <3<3

Now onto Maddie <3. Maddie gave me these beautiful blue faux flowers in a pretty jar, a £10 gift card to WHSmith and two gorgeous cupcakes although they aren’t pictured below because I ate them! 😂 One was chocolate and one was vanilla but they both tasted absolutely amazing and I was so grateful for them! Thank you very much, Maddie – the flowers look fab in my room! Plus, I used some of the money on the WHSmith card to buy myself something I’ve needed for so long – a light-blue box file! 😍 To me, my box file is the ultimate organising tool for all of my pens, highlighters, notepads and pieces of paper. It is waterproof and has so much capacity :) I honestly can’t leave my house without my box file anymore and I thoroughly recommend them to everyone, especially students!

Ruby gave me a gorgeous set of crystal droplet earrings and a necklace to match! They are both absolutely stunning and sparkle in the sunlight which I love! :) <3 She also gave me a bath gift set which comes with a black and gold (I am obsessed with black/white and gold!) cosmetic bag, two bath oils/bubble baths and a lotion! I personally can’t wait to relax in a lovely hot bath with these as they smell so amazing and look fab too! Thank you so much, Ruby, for the gorgeous jewellery and the bath gift set! I’m going to have such a relaxing time with them! <3 <3

And last, but not least, Freya gave me a lovely selection of presents, not all of which I was able to picture below but I still will mention! The highlight (in my opinion) of these presents was a planner! :D I had been looking at this planner for a while so it was honestly amazing that Freya gave it to me! <3 It has a weekly planner, shopping list/budgeting section, packing list for travel, decisions (pros and cons) section and some blank pages for notes. It even comes with a transparent zip lock wallet for little pictures and documents in the back! :) I use it so much and it is so helpful for organising my life! She also bought me a pink heart plaque which says ‘There is no such thing as perfect. Remember: your flaws are beautiful’ <3 This is one of the things I have got to remember as I strive for perfection – that it is okay for things not to be completely alright and that vulnerability and fragility can be beautiful. As well as a ’16’ badge for me to wear at my birthday meal, the last two gifts she gave me were an Essence Clear Mascara for me to use during shows and other situations where real mascara may easily smudge and a hairbrush that says ‘I use this as a microphone!’ That is so me! 😂 Thank you, Freya, your presents are so sweet and thoughtful and I am definitely using them in my daily life <3 <3

The Meal

Woo! We’re on this section finally! The meal was absolutely fantastic – we went to a local Tex-Mex which has the most amazing food :p For the sake of this not dragging on, I’m going to include a couple of my favourite pics from the meal, followed by a slideshow of the rest of the pictures :) <3

Chloe and I decided to share two starters between us, so we got mozzarella sticks (my fave!) with salsa and a plate of nachos with melted cheese, guac, sour cream and salsa.

This was my main meal – the Classic Burger which had Jack Cheese and was served with curly fries. It was simply delicious!

Toffee Fudge Sundae (c) Freya Beecham

Freya and I decided to get one Toffee Fudge Sundae with two spoons as we were so full up after our huge meals! It tasted absolutely divine and it was a great dessert for sharing!

We got some mocktails to finish up on a wonderful evening. Chloe and Ruby got Pomegranate mocktails and the rest of us got one called ‘Designated Driver’ which is basically lemonade, pineapple juice, orange juice and cranberry juice! They tasted absolutely amazing <3 <3

The Birthday Girl (c) Mollie Cronin

And this last one is me at the start of the night, in my birthday dress. I am completely obsessed with this dress, it has bell sleeves and is shoulderless! <3 <3

Here is a slideshow of some of the night’s best pictures:

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I hope you’re all well and having a lovely week! Have you been up to anything fun recently? Let me know in the comments below :)

xoxo

Hannah

What I got for my 16th Birthday + Meal Highlights As you probably know from my 'Birthday Tag' post three weeks ago, it was my birthday recently.

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