August Favourites 2016

Hey guys, can you believe it’s September already? I feel like this year’s gone by so fast! I felt a lot like this last year, it felt like the first 5 months didn’t even happen last year – I feel like this year has felt a bit more real and I do feel like every month has existed but a bit like they were all cut in half? If you know what I mean?

Anyway… I had an absolutely amazing August and certainly the busiest month I’ve had all year! It was so much fun though! However, because I was so busy I did find that I wasn’t getting to experience things that could be used in a monthly favourites post as much but I of course do have things and will share all of those things with you now!

BOOKS

Race The Wind By Lauren St John – I mentioned the first book in Lauren St John’s series in last month’s favourites post but I just had to mention the sequel as well!

This book is the sequel to The One Dollar Horse by Lauren St John and it’s about a girl with a passion for horses who rescues a horse from being slaughtered and then decides that with only three months training she’s going to compete in one of the biggest horse competitions in the world.

This book series has always intrigued me and I always discarded it but I am so glad that I read it! I feel like the second book was a lot shorter in comparison to the first one and the last one. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing because on the one hand I basically managed to read it in one sitting, on the other hand it wasn’t quite as satisfying because of it’s length. I feel like this book was much more suited to people who weren’t a fan of horses than the first one was and there was a lot of story going on that wasn’t strictly related to horse racing.

Fire Storm By Lauren St John – This is the last book in the One Dollar Horse series and it’s possibly the best one! There are some more characters introduced that are really interesting (including a mysterious guy!) and the already existing characters develop a lot more and it’s much more dramatic and enjoyable. I really suggest reading this series if you haven’t already!

The Eye Of Minds By James Dashner – Some of you might know that I am a huge Maze Runner fan and whilst I was in a bookshop the other day I saw this on the shelf and decided to pick it up and read the blurb, after deciding it sounded amazing I went and reserved it from the library.

For those of you who don’t know, Eye Of Minds is about a gaming community but instead of it being like Xbox Live it’s a gaming community which can kind of transport you into a game but everything you experience in this game feels real, for example, if you get shot you feel the physical pain of being shot but in real life nothing is happening to you. The way this happens is that the people aren’t conscious in the real world whilst all of this is happening, they sleep or ‘hibernate’ in this coffin/pod styled thing with loads of wires attached to them. But the point of the game is to give a really realistic experience. Then suddenly there’s a guy that’s holding loads of players captive within the gaming community and not letting them teleport back to reality, the government then contact a particular gamer and his friends and ask them to try and find this rogue gamer within the gaming community, so they then all go on this quest to try and find this gamer but they face loads of challenges in their path.

I really enjoyed this book and a lot more than I thought I was going to if I’m honest, whilst I love The Maze Runner and like James Dashner’s writing I felt like this book was a bit more boyish than I usually read and I know that’s kind of sexist and I’m stereotyping boys and what they read but that’s kind of how I viewed it, it turns out I was completely wrong and that this book was just my kind of thing. I did notice some similarities between some of the ‘scenes’ in Eye Of Minds and ‘scenes’ from The Maze Runner but I didn’t hate the similarity I kind of liked being able to make the connections even though the books were different.

FILM:

A Girl Like Her – This film was suggested to me by someone I know and it was already in my Netflix watchlist but it motivated me to watch it sooner after the suggestion was made.

A Girl Like Her is about a girl who attempts suicide after the bullying she is receiving becomes too much. It’s set as if it’s a documentary even though it’s only fictitious and follows the people who are close to her and the people who are responsible for the action as she is in the hospital. It’s not known throughout the film whether she will live or die but the film does reach a conclusion either way.

I found this film so emotional and difficult to watch, it’s probably the hardest film emotionally that I’ve ever had to watch even though I’ve watched films that are based on true stories such as the Titanic and The Impossible both of which are based on terrible tragedies that have occurred. I think the reason why it was emotionally hard for me to watch is because I could relate to the girl a little bit and because I recognise that this is the outcome that can sometimes happen. I have been in a situation where I’ve been bullied and it’s not nice, although I didn’t get affected by it as much. My bullying also wasn’t anywhere near on the same scale as the bullying this girl received. I’m quite aware of bullying that happens and also of the effects it can have on people and I’m very set on trying to help anyone out when I can visibly see them being bullied or if someone’s saying horrible things about them for no reason – I’m not the kind of person who can sit there and just let something like that happen. And I think one of the things that made me be able to cope with the bullying I received slightly better is because I knew that they didn’t really mean anything by it, and it wasn’t a reflection of who I was it was a reflection of who they were and I knew that they were doing it because they felt bad about themselves and they were miserable in their own lives and it made me be able to feel empathetic towards the people bullying me and therefore I developed this kind of coping mechanism. But because I can identify that these people don’t necessarily mean to be bullies it means that I can identify that they don’t necessarily want to upset or hurt this person in the way that they actually are.

I really liked this film because it showed the effects of what bullying can do to people but it also portrayed the bully in a way that I have never seen before and I feel like they portrayed the bully really honestly and it really showed the thoughts I’d already had about them not really meaning to harm the person their bullying but at the same time not properly taking into account the consequences that their actions might have. I feel like I’ve spent way too much time talking about this film but basically I really think you should go and watch it!

TV SHOW:

The Originals – This TV series follows the lives of a family of vampires who are the original vampires, they were the first ever vampires to exist (hence the name) and it’s a spin-off of the TV series The Vampire Diaries.

To be honest, I haven’t watched much of this show, I think I’m about 3 episodes into the first season but we are introduced to the characters during The Vampire Diaries and I really like them and think they’re really interesting and I think the actors have great chemistry and work really well together. Also, although it presumably does have some romance in it (I’m not sure because I’m not all that far through it) it’s not strictly about romance and there isn’t loads of romance straight from the outset so I feel like it’s a lot more unique and original (no pun intended) than the typical popular vampire things that are currently dominating our TV channels and screens. I feel like they’r trying to take a slight step in the opposite direction to the stereotypical human/vampire romance storylines.

Even though I’ve only watched three episodes I’m already hooked and know it’s going to be an amazing series with loads of awesome, emotional and funny scenes to come full of chemistry and great acting.

MUSIC:

Let It Go By James Bay – Firstly, if any of you thought I was talking about Frozen shame on you! Haha!

I feel like I’m a bit late to the party with this song as I feel like everybody else has been listening to it for months but to be honest with you I thought that it was a great song for a really long time but I never knew what it was or who it was and there was never anyone I could ask because they weren’t there when I heard the song and I obviously couldn’t describe it. I also never got the opportunity to Shazam it. But, I really suggest you go and check it out if you don’t know what it is because it’s a really great song with just enough emotion and James’ voice is absolutely beautiful and really suits the song (hence why he’s singing it of course!).

GAME:

Wii Fit – For those of you who don’t know what a Nintendo Wii is it’s a games console but is slightly more interactive than Xboxes and Play Stations because the remote has a little sensor on it and you also get a little sensor which you stick on the top of your TV so it gives you a more interactive experience because as you move your remote the sensor on the top of your TV picks up on it and moves the hand on the TV (it’s a bit like a mouse and cursor).

Wii Fit is a fitness game with actual workouts, yoga poses, balance games etc. and you get an instructor and you can select your yoga pose or workout and they will talk you through it whilst you actually do it and you get points for how well you do the pose which is judged by the remote and another object called the Wii Fit board, which is just like a normal board which you stand on and it picks up your movements and how much pressure your putting on your feet etc. I’ve been playing it everyday recently to improve my fitness and it’s really working and I can see that my body is becoming more toned and I can feel that it’s becoming less tense and stronger. If you own a Nintendo Wii I would really suggest giving this game a go if you’re looking for ways to improve your fitness. For more ways to improve your fitness go and check out my 5 fun ways to get fit post.

FOOD:

Chocolate Oreo Cake – I think I mentioned this cake in one of my posts recently and promised a recipe – which I will post at some point – but that’s just been one of my favourite foods this month and I’ve had multiple slices of it and even made two cakes, you can probably find recipes for oreo cake online but I thought I would share my recipe at some point because it’s 100% vegan.

Pink Panther Waffers – The other day I was in a shop and saw these sitting on the shelf and I had completely forgotten they existed until that moment and I used to absolutely LOVE them (before I forgot they existed) and so I picked them up to see if they were vegan and they were! And I was so excited, unfortunately at that specific moment I didn’t have my purse on me but after that day I started obsessing over the fact that they were vegan and so the other day I just went and bought some and I’m so glad that I did because they were just as amazing as I remembered them and in some ways it was more satisfying eating them than it used to be because I now know that they are vegan. If you haven’t tried them before I would really suggest giving them a go because they are a really lovely consistency, the colour of them is really satisfying and they just taste amazing! Altough I have to admit they’re not the greatest thing to be eating with braces.

BEAUTY:

Original Source: Cherry and almond milk body wash – I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned Original Source‘s body wash before but there are always more scents/flavours that they are bringing out and they bring some out specifically season related etc. but this is probably one of my favourite body washes that they do. I have a love/obsession with cherries and am pretty much willing to use/eat anything that features them. There used to be this really amazing ice cream that I used to get before I was vegan and it was vanilla and cherry and had like cut up cherries and cherry sauce on top of the vanilla ice cream and now anything that I have that smells of cherry reminds me of the wonderful taste of that ice cream and makes me like it even more. One of the things I particularly like about Original Source’s body wash is the fact that it A) is a really lovely consistency and is kind of milky and wonderful when you apply it to your skin and B) holds it’s smell for a lot longer than other body washes do when you wash it off your skin.

MUA Lipstick Shade 19: Nectar – If you have read some of my other monthly favourites posts you will probably know by now that I am a fan of MUA‘s make-up. I think their stuff is just really, really cheap but also amazing quality and this lipstick is no exception. I’ve never owned an MUA lipstick before but I was shopping with my friend the other day and just completely fell in love with this lipstick and although I wasn’t certain what the coverage or consistency would be like I knew that a colour that was so lovely by a brand that was only changing £1 for it would be well worth the cost and I am so glad that I made the decision because the coverage was really good and the consistence was lovely, it felt really creamy and hydrating when you applied it and remained that creamy without looking like a lipgloss and without melting down your face in the heat.

That’s all I have for my August favourites, I really hope you enjoyed this post and it was helpful to you in some way – if you do try, read, watch or listen to any of the things I have suggested please let me know what you thought of them in the comments.

If you did enjoy this post please give it a like and feel free to leave any comments you might have down below – I love to read and respond to what you have to say! Also, I would absolutely love and welcome any suggestions you might have on things I could include in future posts, leave a comment below telling me about a book I should read, a youtuber I should check out, a song I could listen to, a film I could watch etc.and maybe they will make it into a future favourites video!

Lastly, if you ever want to get in touch for any reason my e-mail is  – aninspiredteen@gmail.com

That’s all for now!

Inspired Teen 🙂