i can never think of post titles...

Hi guys!

I know it's been a while, but I've been working hard for my exams and haven't had much time for doing things that I love - I haven't read, slept solidly, done anything with my friends that didn't include revision in a long, looonnngggg time. The majority of my holidays have been pajama days - which I am no complaining about! - and I think I've left the house for something that wasn't revision based a total of once. And then I came straight home and did revision with the friend.

I have no life anymore. :0

And with all of this work, I also have homework, tests, controlled assessments and work experience. Plus more non-academic things, like..... actually, I can't think of anything non-academic that I've been doing a lot lately. If I've ever had a break from revision, it's either been to eat, to sleep, or a one-off hour or so when we went on a food shop. Oh dear....

I'll never stop though - I want and need the good grades, and I'm willing to have a non-existent social life if it means As and A*s.

Because of the constant revision, I've been listening to a lot of music (I've also started going on jogs just to get out of the house. Whhaaattt????? Bethan doing exercise?! :0 ). I've recently been loving James Bay's album Chaos and the Calm. There are so many great songs on that album - I love them all. My three favourites are down below - please have a little listen, as they are beaaauutttiiful songs.

Best Fake Smile

Clocks Go Forward

Need The Sun To Break

Just check out his album, it's so beautiful ♥

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! I had a very last-minute, make-shift Easter egg hunt, where we couldn't find any small chocolate eggs, so wrapped up bundles of mini eggs in tin foil, which was a lot of fun. :)

After finishing PLL (I finished it the day of the finale - OH MY GOD IF YOU WATCH PLL CAN WE TALK IN THE COMMENTS BELOW BECAUSE I NEED TO DISCUSS) I needed something to fill the void of mindless binge-watching when I'm too tired to do anything else. So I've recently started watching New Girl, and it's so cute and so funny!!! I love Nick and Jess together sososososososo much ♥ I'm currently on Season 3 and I'm really really enjoying it. :) Do any of you guys watch PLL? Or New Girl? Or both?

Love you guys ♥

- B

xxx

easter holidays, poetry & posting ideas

Hey guys!

Oh my goodness, I'm so happy it's the Easter Holidays! :0 I've been needing a serious break, albeit a break filled with revision, planning and panic. It's so nice to get up at 10am and do work in PJ bottoms and an over-sized Hogwarts hoodie, drink tea and go makeup free - it's great to be able to rub my eyes and not have mascara smudges under my eyes as a result! Are you on break at the moment? I hope you have nice things planned! I think the only social thing I'm doing is going shopping with my biffle Charlotte next week, which should be fun - I haven't been shopping in a while, and there are a few things I need to get (as well as pop into Waterstones - the UK version of Barnes and Noble - to see why they're taking so long with my work experience!)

Sooooo, I had my school Eisteddfod (eye-steth-vod) last week - it's basically a huge event celebrating Welsh Culture and the arts. You are put into 1 of 4 houses when you start school - kind of like Hogwarts, but it's not based on your qualities, it's just random haha. In your house, you can enter into competitions in the Eisteddfod - on-stage and off-stage. On-stage competitions are things like junior (years 7-9) and senior (years 10-13) song, dance, english and welsh dramatisations, house band and house choir. Off-stage competitions are for each department, so there's a competition for Art, History, Maths, Geography etc. One for each subject, basically.

The English competition is probably the most important off-stage competition, and the most traditional in the Eisteddfod - which I just googled and is a tradition in Wales from the 12th Century :0. It's a poetry competition to become the Bard. In my school, it's split into Junior and Senior. I entered for Senior, and... I came 4th! I was up against a lot of talented writers in my year and the three years above me. And I beat all but 3 of them. Goodness, I was so happy! Wow, it was amazing.
My poem was based off of this post. I might post it if you want. :)

I was just thinking; what do you guys want to see more of on more blog? What do you want my posts to be about? Do you prefer reading my writings/poetry? Would you like more book reviews/book related things? Do you enjoy these catch-up, chatty posts, or do you want more structured posts? More photos? Let me know in the comments below. >.<

Love you all loads ♥

- B
xxxxxx

haircuts & general rant about everything

Hey guys!

I know it's a day late, but at least I'm posting. :)

Tane is currently working on my blog, which is super exciting! Lots of change. I had my hair cut this morning. If you follow my instagram, @fiction.and.tea, you will have seen in past selfies that my hair was really really long. And this morning, I sat down in a squashy, comfy leather chair, took a deep breath and said "I'd like to cut it short". So yeah, I know have bouncy, lightweight hair. And I love it so much. Why did I not do this sooner?! I came home from the hairdresser's and showered, and it took somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes less to wash my hair. :0 I'm going to save so much time! Also, no more catching my hair in zips!

Before // After

In other news, exams are charging toward me like they're a bull and I'm holding a red flag. Or like I am the red flag. Either way, they want to tear me to pieces and spear me on their horns like a very skinny, tense kebab. I'm doing the best I can, juggling homework, revision, social activites (*laughs for 12 years* I have no social life), relaxing and ya know, basic things like eating and sleeping. But it's coming down on me like a wave. Gosh, I hate exams. Usually, I'd spend next week celebrating the near-ness of the Easter Holidays, and then spend the next two weeks sleeping and reading and Netflix-Binge-Watching (it's a medical condition that I've just made up called NBW). Instead, I'll be rising at 8:30, working - either at the library or in my kitchen - working, working, NBW, NBW, sleep. I think I'll probably have one social outing, which will be shopping with my bestie, followed by intense practise of our Welsh Speaking assessment....
Holidays no longer equal sleeping until 12 and eating Nutella for lunch.
And that, my friends, is a terrible thing.

Love you all xxxxxx
- B

life slumps & netflix binge-watching

Hello!
I am very sorry for not posting last Friday and this Friday just gone - busy busy busy at school. I have my French Writing controlled assessment tomorrow, as well as a Religious Studies test and a Biology test, my English Language controlled assessment on Wednesday and my French Speaking controlled assessment next week. I also have the school Eisteddfod (eye-steth-vod. It's a welsh festival thingy celebrating culture and the arts) next Wednesday, which I'm taking part in, and then revision for my exams which start in 7 WEEKS HELP ME, with homework on top of all that. So I've had a lot of work to do! I'm frequently bursting into tears and having what I think are panic attacks where I find it really hard to breathe and yeah. So there's that....

Anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk about. I've recently been binge watching Pretty Little Liars - do anyway of you watch it?! ISN'T IT AMAZING?!!!!!!! - I finished seasons 1 and 2 (that's 47 episodes and each episode is 45 minutes long) in 4 days. 4 DAYS!!!!!!! I think that's a talent... I'm currently just over halfway through season 3 and oh my goodness!!!! I think I'd be Spencer if I were one of them. She's the most normal of the 4 and she's always working hard and pressuring herself to do better. Also, when she wants to win something, she gets super competitive like me.... woops.

I've been falling majorly behind on reading as a result of PLL. It's just, I've had all this work, plus piano practise, plus other activities, and after a full day of school and all those other things, I'm too tired to read. My eyes are sore, my head hurts, my back aches, and I don't want to do anything other than lie in my PJs in the same position for 5 hours, clicking 'next episode'.

In fact, it isn't just reading. It's everything. I'm not in the mood to do anything. I'm like a zombie. Get up. Get dressed. Breakfast. Clean teeth. Try to cover up the brush of deep purple under my eyes. Attempt something with my hair. School. Home. Piano. Homework. Revision. Netflix. Sleep. Repeat.

The same thing over and over. I don't socialise, I don't do any of my hobbies. I've lost my appetite, I'm constantly exhausted. I've stopped reading, the one thing I love most in the world.

I have entered, what I now call, a life slump.

Like a reading slump (where you don't want to read anything) but with life. 

And I have no idea how to make it stop.

I've tried forcing myself to read, to write, to do anything. But nothing works. I just trudge through the day in slow motion and then collapse from exhaustion at 10pm.

Maybe it's the stress from school. Maybe it's the exams looming ominously around the proverbial corner. I don't know.

I just don't want to be in a life slump anymore.

Love you all

- B
xxxxxx