Wanderlust: New York (#1)

New York City, aka the city that never sleeps. It's been a place that I've wanted to go for so long and I finally get the chance to this month. One week away with my sister in what looks like such a beautiful city. I cannot wait to get there! 
There are so many things that I'm looking forward to seeing when we're there, Broadway being one of them. I love musicals and I've gone to West End with my school but Broadway is a place that I always wanted to go. We've booked tickets to go and watch 'Les Mis' and I really can't wait to watch. 
Top of the Rock and the Empire State Building Observation Deck are two places that I have a feeling might take my breath away whilst also making my legs shake. It's going to be amazing to have an overlook of New York. 
One of the other places that I can't wait to go and see in the Natural History Museum there, especially since I love watch 'Night At the Museum'. I'm going to be like a child wanting to see everything there. 
There are so many other places that I want to go and see in New York and so many of them that we will be seeing but those are just a few of the ones that I'm really excited to see and I'll be doing a few posts of my trip there later on. 28th of December couldn't come any quicker for me right now!
*This post idea originally came from Pagex394

Top Ten: Books of 2014 (#2)

2014 is coming to an end and here are what my top ten books of 2014 ended up being! 

---

1) The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E Smith This is the first ever Jennifer E. Smith book that I read and I'm hoping to read some more because I really loved the book and the plot line that went with it. From the cover art to the ending, I absolutely loved this book. 

---

2) Severed Heads, Broken Hearts by Robyn Schneider Even though I did have some problems with this book it was still one that I enjoyed. Ezra Faulkner is a character that I still love and it was great to read a book that I loved and had a male in the forefront.

---

3) Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead I am in love with this book so much, to the point that I think I may have to read this again next year. It was so lovely to read and get through. I was immediately sucked right into the world that I just didn't want to leave. 

---

4) Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead It might be cheating to put another Richelle Mead book in but this had to be my second favourite one in the series so I have no shame in putting this one down on this list. Yet another amazing book that I could not put down.

---

5) The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkein  This book made my year. It did take me a little while to get through it all but it was completely worth it! If I though 'The Hobbit' was good, this book just blew me away and I cannot wait to get my hands on the rest of the series. 

---

6) The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness  After hearing so much hype about this book I am so glad that my sister got me to read because I didn't regret it one bit. I've yet to read the rest of the series but I'm ready to dive into it as soon as I get the time. This book made me think so much and had me hooked and guessing what was going to happen. 

---

7) Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck   Even though this is a part of my English Literature course, I love this book and I couldn't help but put it on here. I could read this book over and over (which I have) and not get tired of it. For a short book, it packed a lot in and taught a few lessons along the way. 

---

8) Day 21 by Kass Morgan  I loved 'The 100' but the sequel was even better. This is a book that I just want everyone to read. For me, it's dystopia at it's best  It left me wanting so much more by the end of the book. Kass Morgan has this book not letting my interest go. 

---

9) We Were Liars by E. Lockhart Please, if you have not read this book, go and read it! You are missing on so much! I had no idea what to expect with this book and even though it feels like a slow start, you understand why everything was put in the book. This book is still haunting me, months after reading it. 

---

10) The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani  This was such a nice book to read, even though the target audience might be a little younger than me. I love fairy tales and this was the perfect mixture of them. It wasn't at all complicated and the plot was so lovely to follow. I kept going on about this book for days afterwards.

---

So, those were my top ten book that I read in 2014. Were any of these yours? And if not what books made your 2014? 

Top Ten: Reasons I Love Christmas (#1)

Movie Review: Mockingjay - Part One

Title: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part One
Based On: Suzanne Collins' - Mockingjay
Running Time: 123 minutes
Director: Francis Lawrence 
Writers: Peter Craig & Danny Strong
Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson & Liam Hemsworth 

'With the Games no destroyed and in pieces, Katniss Everdeen, along with Gale, Finnick and Beetee, now end up in the so though "destroyed" District 13. Under the leadership of President Coin and the advice of her friends, Katniss becomes the "Mockingjay" and the symbol of rebellion for the people.' 

I pretty excited to watch this film and yet at the same time I was slightly sceptical about watching it since I knew that there was going to be a split in the middle and I didn't know how action packed this film was actually going to be. The day of gong I saw a few reviews of people saying that they loved it more than 'Catching Fire' and it made me more excited to watch it.

This movie had me drawn in from the very start. The scenery of the movie was fantastic. It was exactly what I had pictured in my head when I was reading the book an so much better. You could tell that there was a lot of effort that was put into it all and it made everything seem very realistic considering what the scenes were trying to show. 

Josh Hutcherson's acting deserved a standing ovation. I know a lot of people are speaking about Jennifer Lawrence's acting but Hutcherson's acting was absolutely amazing. Filming the scenes would have been emotionally draining but he did a fantastic job to the point my chest was hurting from watching the movie. Julianne Moore did a great job as President Coin. Although I did have reservation about her when the casting was first released she was the perfect Coin.

I won't lie, the split did annoy me a lot but that didn't affect how much I loved the movie. With the return of some of my favourite characters in the movie. It was great how the writers managed to balance the movie and add some comedy to what otherwise would have been a very serious plot line. Having the odd line slipped in here and there really did relax the atmosphere of the cinema. 

Although the movie did stray from the book in a few parts it still stuck to it quite a bit which I was extremely happy about. It's not very often I want to watch a movie again after watching it in the cinema already but I would definitely go back to watch 'Mockingjay'. 

I cannot hesitate to give this film this rating. 

Rating: ★★★★★

A Letter To The Future Year 11 Saira

Dear  Future Saira, 
If you're reading this then I want to give you a gold star for remembering that you've wrote this. You tend to forget a lot of things when you get in a tizz. All common sense just goes right out of the window.Since you've remembered though, you've probably remembered why I wrote this in the first place. The reason isn't really a good one though.
You're in year 11 and I'm pretty sure that I don't need to remind you about that and the chances are that you're panicking and stressed and throwing away everything you told yourself to remember at the beginning of the year. So here, let me jog your memory.
Do not stress. Seriously, I know what you're like. Just breath! I know that things are probably going to seem like one huge mess in front of you but just take it little bit by little bit. Don't look at the big picture, I know that you have to but you're going to do it to the point that you'll work yourself up. Just take one day at a time. 
You've got so many people around you that are there to help and support you. You know that you can go to your sister about anything. She'll help you out on the things that you're stuck on and she wouldn't hesitate. Don't panic about something that you don't know or don't understand. Just go and ask. She's not going to yell at you about it. She'll sit with you until you understand. 
Don't be afraid to talk to the family if you're worried about something. Just go over to them and tell them everything that's worrying you. They'll sit there and listen. You're not going to burden them, if anything, they want to know what's ticking in that head of yours. Sit, have a cwtch, get everything off of your chest and then breath. 
Sai, your grades aren't going to define the person you are and you know that. Sometimes you just get a little too caught up in everything. Aim for the grades that you want. Don't listen to what teachers and your friends say, you know what you want to walk out with on results day. 
Enjoy year 11, more than anything else. It's your last year there and it may seem stressful but don't bury yourself in work to the point you don't enjoy what's going on around you. Embrace your last year. You aren't going to get another one in secondary school.
Good luck and have fun.   Saira x

My Month on Instagram: October 2014

Here's what's be going on on Instagram this October. The link to my profile is on the side and I'll be more than happy to accept any follower requests. 

Mas and I have found heaven in our IT lesson.

Being so productive in IT.

Currently reading Looking for Alaska by John Green.

Hair in rollers, sweatpants on, let's get some work done.

Donut and Nutella from my sister and mam for a treat.

Finally putting my birthday stuff away in my room from the bags so there might be a lot of photos. I love this key chain though. Going to find my house keys to put it on there.

Can't wait to get this framed so I can put it up in my room.

This now needs to find a place in my room.

The Comforter has to be one of my favourite things from Lush. Can't wait to use it later. 

Such a cute file.

Looking Back At: October 2014

Another month has gone by so quickly and I'm really finding it hard to believe that October has come to an end and we're just over a month away from Christmas. It feels absolutely crazy but there isn't anything I can do about it. 
Compared to September, October has been a relatively quiet month but I've appreciated that if I'm honest with you. Every once in a while, it's nice to have a month which isn't so packed with different things to do and is just a little more relaxing. It gave me so me much needed time to sort myself out. 
Looking back at October, it really was a month where I finally felt like I had a routine back with school. I sorted out some after school revision sessions and organised my school work. Controlled Assessments were started, finished and are in the midst of being planned. School wise, it was a pretty productive month and it's surprising how much, as a class, we managed to get things done. 
Duke of Edinburgh has started up again as we've now officially had two meetings. Admittedly one meeting was to decided when we were going to have all our other meetings. The second meeting I wasn't really sure what we were supposed to be doing. What I have managed to talk to my teacher about is doing a little bit of a film whilst we're on DofE. A lot of things go on during our training, practice and qualifying expedition. More than just learning how to read a map or do first aid. We have such an a amazing time with so many laughs on the way that I wanted to document it all and then compile it into one video. So, my leader has given me the go ahead for that, he even has a water and shockproof camera that he's letting me borrow for when we're out training. It's one thing that I really can't wait to do! 
Other than that though, my month was quite quiet and was spent just doing homework and assessment preparation. 
Book wise wasn't really a busy month either but I thought I'd only be able to finish one book with the rate that I was going. In the end, I managed to finish: 

• A World Without Princes by Soman Chainani 
• Looking For Alaska by John Green 
• Paper Swans by Jessica Thompson 

And I'm currently reading: 

• 1984 by George Orwell 

I'm still managing to be two books ahead of schedule, so I'm somehow hoping that I'll be able to keep that up or at least stay on track so I can finish my challenge for this year. 

Quote of the Month: