Happy New Year?

Happy New Year One and All! 

So come on then, Hands up, How many of you have made New years Resolutions? now, How many of you have already broken one? and be honest!

New Year is a time of fresh starts, new things, it feels like a chance to change and it is but lets face it some of the resolutions people make and say they will start on Jan 1st are a bit unrealistic, Food and alcohol are definitely the prime example! most of us still have loads of Christmas goodies and cheer left and lets face it you would have to have extraordinary will power not to succumb so why set yourself up to fail? if its about diet, say starting from the 7th! give yourself a fighting chance and with all other things make it achievable! give yourself that positive start then you're more likely to stick to it and change will happen!

As for me I am starting to eat healthier, no diets just some lifestyle changes, I intend to organise my time better, read more, do more for charity in a practical hands on way and keep on top of my course work! all very practical and a bit boring I know but hey everyone is different!

Oh and just thought of a few more... See more of my family and friends and do more things, like days out and the theatre and make more memories with my children! 

What about you, How many have you made and how many have you broken?     

  

My Christmas Message!

As you know in the UK it is traditional for the Queen to give her annual Christmas message to her people often addressing the years events etc and this year it will also be available to watch in 3D! (I kid you not!) though what exactly she will be doing to make this 3D vision more watch-able is anybody's guess! throwing snowballs at the screen perhaps, or just waving arms emphatically! who knows but in my Christmas message (not in 3D) I would just like to share my thoughts.

We are in general a consumer driven society often forgetting what is really important and not being grateful for what we have. I for one this year feel blessed I have had 2 quite scary health scares but I am ok, I have a roof over my head, food in my belly and family and friends to share the season with.

This year my presents may be small and I may not be giving as much as usual but my love and compassion for others is big and my home will hopefully be filled with laughter so for me that is the best present I could wish for!

So I'm going to leave you know with the poem that I and probably many of you that are reading this read their children every year The famous poem by Clement C Moore

Life

I've neglected my blog quite badly of late, home, college, work and generally life have all been so full on, that my poor old blog fell to the bottom of a great big to-do list!

But I am back and this returning post might be a bit scattered and if it is I apologise but I have a head full of thoughts that I need to express somewhere so you lucky folks that read this get to have my first returning post that might just be an incoherent mess!

The awful tragic event at Sandy Hook Elementary got me to thinking....A LOT!

Firstly like everyone else how awful and devastating the loss is to all those poor families, that poor community that has had their entire lives turned upside down by one very sick individual. I can't even comprehend the pain and utter despair they must be feeling but I also gave thought to the family of the perpetrator of such extreme evil, what went wrong that he thought that this was the answer? Were there signs? Could something have been done to prevent this? Questions that I'm sure others are asking too but that family too are suffering not only loss but the knowledge that they will surely be blamed and victimised for the actions of one of their family members a guilt that they too will have to live with. Obviously my first thoughts are with the families of those brave teachers and poor little children but I just think that the others involved deserve a thought too.

And when that dreadful news came on the radio, TV and now the newspapers I couldn't help but wonder if the exposure by the media of these mentally ill perpetrators actually gives them a forum to do these hateful things? We see time and time again when these awful things happen the name and face of evil splashed across every TV and newspaper and we know and remember the names but how many of the victims names do you remember? Now I'm not completely blaming the media but I have to wonder how many of these sick people have seen the attention given and thought to themselves I won't die a nameless loner I shall share my pain inflict it on others and instead of being invisible be remembered by all! They don't care that for eternity they shall be known as the face of evil I think they just care the they will be known! That's why I shan't even mention his name but I urge anyone reading this to go and look for the names of the victims and remember them!

And for me it made me realise the important things, I hugged my children a little tighter and all the worries that I had about money being tight this year and the fact that I can't afford to get them much suddenly was put into perspective. We are a consumer driven society driven by the media to think that we need these material things or our life might be less than if we don't have them! The reality is material things get broken, lost, devalued. Life is about experiences, it's the memories that we can keep forever or at least as long as our faculties allow! So this Christmas I shall do something to spread kindness, I shall spend time with the people I love and I will hope to instill those same values in my children who might not be opening the latest gadget or thing but will be sharing a meal in a warm house that will hopefully be filled with joy and laughter and gratitude that we have what is important.

Open Mic 2012 and the amazing talented Autumn!

Proud Mum alert here...My daughter the Amazingly Talented Autumn has got through to the Regional Final of Open Mic UK, I won't go on and on about how amazingly talented she is (but she is!) I shall present you with the press realease instead........

Local talent shines on the Mic.

Autumn from Peckham has been given the big thumbs up by judges at the Open Mic UK auditions.

 Along with other impressive acts, Autumn has made it through to the Regional Finals and will 

now be performing at the live stages of Open Mic UK 2012.

Open Mic UK 2012 is the exciting national talent competition which searches for the UK’s best singers, singer/songwriters,

 rappers and vocalists of all genres who perform either covers or original material.

One contestant who has evidently caught the judge’s eye is local talent Autumn,

 now in the running to compete for a place in the National Final within The O2 in London. 

Thousands of hopefuls entered nationwide and hundreds of auditionees

 queued patiently on the day for their turn to impress the judges.

Those who made it through the audition stage will now take part in a live Regional head to head battle alongside

 the best talent in their area. They’ll be performing in front of hundreds of audience members and a

 professional judging panel to win a place at the National Grand Final.

Chris Grayston, Events Coordinator for Open Mic UK comments “We are looking to find an act that has something

 unique to offer,

 another Birdy that can go all the way, with both the ability to deliver a strong live performance 

but also potential to become a professional recording artist.

 There is so much talent out there I’m sure we can find that star again!  

The competition is divided into age categories; 16 and under, 17-22 and 23 and over; 

all types of singers, vocal performers, groups and acoustic singer/songwriters are invited to enter Open Mic UK.

 The acts are all aiming to make it to that prestigious Final at The O2 where the spotlight will be on all the acts

 with a chance to be signed.

The latter stages of the competition will also provide acts with the opportunity to impress many guests from

 record labels, agencies and the entertainment industry as well as judges from BBC Introducing,

 national radio and regional press with judges being more prestigious in the later rounds.

 Past judges include Radio 1 DJs Ras Kwame and Annie Nightingale MBE with Ivor Novello award winner Mark Hill

 and KISS FM’s Charlie Hedges already confirmed to join this year’s Grand Final panel for 2012.

Former winner Hatty Keane has been signed to BGM Music. Hatty has been featured in a variety of local,

 regional and national press, performed live sets alongside Ed Sheeran, Tinchy Stryder and Roll Deep and

 is currently working on new material. Previous winners also include Birdy who is signed to Warner has in

 the last 12 months has hits all over Europe and is set to conquer the US with a collaboration with Mumford & sons.

For more information go to the website www.openmicuk.co.uk or better still come down and support

 your local talent performing! You can purchase tickets from the website www.openmicuk.co.uk 

 or on the door subject to availability or from Autumn.

***ENDS***

For press enquiries please contact Ben Price on 01142 321 993 or email press@liveandunsigned.uk.com

London Fashion Week(spoiler, not actually about fashion week)

So it's London fashion week and do you know what that means to me......absolutely squat!

Don't get me wrong I love clothes, I love dressing up and I know that fashion week is a chance for up and coming designers to get their work out there and there are designers whoses lines I love so let me justify my opening line by saying that I personally don't follow fashion, I don't know what colour is in at the moment or even what style.

I don't want someone to dictate to me what is and what isn't in fashion, I know what I like and quite frankly I don't care if it's this seasons, last seasons or 20 years old if I like it, it fits me and it looks nice then I'll wear it!

For me, style, fashion call it what you will is personal and eclectic it's about looking and feeling good.

How about you, are you a dedicated followerer of fashion or do you march to the beat of your own drum?

School uniform and dress codes

A friends daughter got sent home today because she was wearing false nails not long talon like ones that could be potential health and safety issue, no these were average length with a small design. In fact I don't know how they were even drawn to a teachers attention anyway it got me to thinking about the whole school uniform and dress code issue.

Now I agree with school uniform I think it's a great leveller, it stops kids thinking about what they're going to wear and as long as it isn't one of those ludicrously expensive ones from a school uniform shop (don't get me started there, that's a whole other issue) it saves us parents money but what I do have issue with is schools telling parents how their children can have their hair or makeup.

Please someone tell me how this affects their learning?

How differently is my child going to learn if they have blue streaks in their hair or have their ears pierced twice, seriously someone please tell me?

Shouldn't we  be allowing our children to express their individuality? within reason of course but surely that's a parents decision not a schools.

How do you feel about this issue?

Here I am again, hello

Well, I did it again didn't I ? I apologised, declared my love for my blog then let it fall by the wayside once again, this is the point where I'm pulling a sad pouty face, I'm actually quite disappointed in myself for not managing my time better.

School holidays were mad and hectic and I have completely lost any routine that I had.

But now school holidays are over, I start back at college next week for 2 more years....we have already established I'm insane right?  And on top of that I have the voluntary work I do plus a 4 year old to entertain and take care of and then of course there's the teenagers!

So you see why I struggle with my time management!

But hopefully I will be here more often and maybe I'll even entertain and inform you! Or at least make you feel better about your life's!