The Marine Parade Eatery ~ Paraparaumu Beach, NZ

Apple Crumble French Toast guys!

For my birthday (yes I know that was April I'm slack) my family and I headed out for lunch at The Marine Parade Eatery in Paraparaumu Beach and let's just say the food was excellent! Coming from someone who goes to pretty much the same cafes all the time for brunch it was really nice to try somewhere new. My parents had been here previously a couple of times but it was my brother and I's first time.

Book vs Movie Review: Ready Player One

I'm very much one of those horrible people who always say 'the books better than the movie' and to be quite honest with the exception of probably two or three movies I do think they are. This doesn't mean I hate the movies though I realise they need to cut out things and change things slightly to make the stories work for the screen, I just usually prefer the book. Now, Ready Player One has been a big hit lately and with all the hype of the movie I felt I had to read the book first! Here are my thoughts on both: 

Hello Life! Hello Internet! - Marcus Butler book review

Yes it's another YouTuber book, I know I know. I jumped into the deep end blindfolded for this one as, unlike Carrie's book, I didn't actually know what it was about, I just assumed it was another self help advice type book — and it kinda was. Now Marcus Butler is someone I used to really enjoy watching on YouTube but lately I found he's humour isn't really my thing, it is my brother's thing though and I'm probably going to give this to him once I've copied some parts I want to reread sometimes. (Ladies this may be a perfect gift for those hard to buy for teenage boys in your life!) 

But that didn't stop me having a read! Hello Life*  navigates you through healthy living, the dating game, friends & family, and how to get the life you want. Naturally if you ignore the constant reminder that 'I'm not a professional or an expert, I'm just a guy with a video camera' then you actually find there's some good tips in here. Where with Carrie's book I felt like I was slightly older than the target audience, with Marcus' I feel like it has a much broader target market. I don't want to compare the two but I'm just going off my previous knowledge of advice books and apart from 'the girl guide' I got from a car boot sale when I was like 8 these are the only two that I remember.

I'm doing pretty well in the dating game and friends and family, having a lovely long term boyfriend, amazing family, and great friends. I guess the healthy living section should be useful but maybe in the future cough cough, although I'm loving the smoothie recipes! However, it was the last section, how to get the life you want, I found the most useful. Marcus aims more at those choosing their path in life at GSCE (NCEA 1), A Level (NCEA 2 & 3), and choosing whether or not to go to University. While this isn't me, 21 year old 3rd year University student, a lot of the tips and advice works well in my situation at the moment. Currently with fourth year and internships looming I'm getting more and more worked up about whether or not I'm good enough and the pressures to succeed. I won't spoil it all for you but a main point Marcus makes is that we'll always have pressure throughout our life so the sooner we get into dealing with it the better. He also has some great tips for those of you (me) who struggle with public speaking!

Basically most of this is just common sense but sometimes it takes reading it to stick it in your brain and act on it, otherwise he does cover some good topics that a lot of advice type books stray away from, including divorce, eating disorders, and family death. All these struggles Marcus has personally dealt with, so there's not just your basic shrink 'it all gets better in the end' mumbo jumbo. It's out now so if it feels like your kind of book, or a kind of book to be gifted to someone else, go and get it!

* I was kindly given this book to review by Hachette NZ but all opinions are completely my own thoughts and feelings!

Move over Carrie Bradshaw, Monica's in town!

Well hello there, I've finally finished this book!! Hallelujah I never thought I'd get there I've been so busy but I managed it. Killing Monica* isn't a book to read when you haven't much time I've found out, it needs your full attention for long periods of time, because of this I found it really hard to get into in the beginning as I'd read a few pages here and there when I had time. The other night however I managed to take some time out and just sit down and relax (a treat that doesn't happen often now a days) and pretty much read most of the book in one sitting. Seriously though there's three parts to this book and once you're past a certain point it's super easy to read - I will say though the last part is like what the hell.

"Pandy "PJ" Wallis is a renowned writer whose novels about a young woman making her way in Manhattan have spawned a series of blockbuster films."  ~ Goodreads 

Pretty much the first part is about her current life, the second contains many flashbacks throughout her life, then the third part continues from the first part but when knowing the backstories you understand more of her current life. Obviously from a girl called Pandemonia her life isn't the quiet chilled life of low key writer, her life is all over the front page no matter if she's kissing some guy, out with some girl, or missing in action. Her life just seems to be taken over by 'Monica' her character persona, which might parallel that of Bushnell's Carrie Bradshaw, to the extent that she plans to kill her so her new novel idea might be considered in publishing. Personally there were a few times I didn't really want to pick up the book again to continue reading as it just didn't seem like my kind of reading - I haven't actually read or seen Sex and the City and actually I thought it was called Sex in the City until I looked at the photo above oops. But I did enjoy the major twist in part three, I did think it was a bit what the hell but it personally made the book better than a maybe 2 stars out of 5. I guessed the final twist though just for those who have read it, did you too or was it just me? About PJ's sister? 

I wouldn't say you'd be missing out on this if you didn't read it but if you're looking for an easy reader with boys, alcohol, and some partying then maybe this is the book for you! It's rather wishy washy until the last part where all the action happens but if that's your kind of book maybe pick this up.

* I received this book from Hachette NZ for reviewing purposes, however all opinions are probably obviously my own! 

Contrast: Books vs Screen

So the #NZBloggers group and the #brunchclub group have this blog post inspiration challenge going this year called #bloggreatness where they are giving a topic for each week of the year to inspire bloggers to blog. Read more about it and the groups here. I've been wanting to do this for a while, especially the typography week, however I just haven't got around to it. This week however is Contrast and I thought it would be the perfect time to discuss my personal views on the endless debate: Books vs Screen. 

Now while I do love a good movie my personal favourites are books, I do have points where I just can't be bothered reading and it takes me over a month to finish one book. But if you couldn't tell from the increase of book posts over the past few months I've finally got my reading mojo back! Hope you don't mind about that by the way. 

My favourite book series of all time are the Harry Potter series. They never lose their magic no matter how many times you read them and I've read them a fair number of times. I remember when it took me an entire summer to read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when it first came out and now it takes me a few days. I wouldn't say the movies are a total let down, they're magical and I'd happily watch them again and again but there's just a few tiny details that would've made it so much better, even simply including Peeves the Poltergeist would have made it better. I know things like these have been mentioned time and again round the internet so I won't go on about it. But how magical would a tv series been? I don't know if it would be right to do it anymore as our recognisable Harry, Ron, and Hermione have grown up. I'm not sure if it would be right to have it recast even if we were to get something as magical as a tv series. Wouldn't it be cool though if they refilmed the 19 years later scene when they all got to that age? I'd accept that! 

I don't know if many of you have heard about the new thing coming to Netflix next year but I'm so bloody excited about it! A Series Of Unfortunate Events is going to be made into an actual series. Not a crappy movie that covers three books and then doesn't have any sequels... an actual series! I read this series when I was younger and having never owned them myself I would borrow them off my best friend one after the other until I caught up, we then went to different secondary schools so the newer ones I haven't actually read (but will get to in due time). The second one was always my favourite, followed closely by the third one which I now own after finding a copy in a charity shop a few years ago. I do admit I enjoyed the film, Jim Carrey was great and the story line was great for the fact they shoved 3 books into it but I just feel like a series like this would be done so much more justice from a TV series. I'm just in love with the fan cast of Lily Collins for Violet and pray it comes true really. 

Game of Thrones for example is a great example of this, I haven't actually read the books as I've never been able to get into them even after trying again and again - I will conquer them one day I promise. The series though just does works so well and tells all the different story lines in a way that isn't confusing and it's so good to a point where I don't feel like I really need to read the books. I know that there's so much more in the books and it's actually has some different story lines but it's just something that I'll get around to one day whereas I watch each episode as soon as I can obtain it! 

What are your thoughts towards this debate? I know some people just can't concentrate enough to read a book but only some on screen productions have been able to create magic equal to that in a book. Are there any books that you feel have been beaten by their on screen partners? Or is the pen always mightier than the um... tv? 

Recently Read #2

Hello to you these wonderful holidays, if you're not on holidays I'm sorry and I'm even more sorry if you've got exams... Anyway I've been using this spare time to get on track with my Goodreads book challenge. I set myself a goal of 30 books for the year and I was getting rather slack but now I'm at 11/30 and there's a few more weeks to go. But here's what I've recently read!

I Heart New York by Lindsey Kelk
"It's official. Angela Clarke is in love – with the most fabulous city in the world."
After hearing quite a few people going on about this series I though I would at least try out the first one. It wasn't really what I was expecting but it was pretty decent for your average girly novel. Probably going to have a look at the rest of the series, can't say I'll read them all but we'll see.
6/10

Day Four by Sarah Lotz*
"Four days into a five day singles cruise on the Gulf of Mexico, the ageing ship Beautiful Dreamer stops dead in the water. With no electricity and no cellular signals, the passengers and crew have no way to call for help."
This isn't the type of book I'd normally read but after reading the blurb about it it sounded pretty good so I thought I'd give it a shot. It's actually a sequel but it didn't make any difference to me that I hadn't read the first. I actually really enjoyed this book although it's split into 6 different protagonists the story reads easily and keeps you on your toes. I wasn't really keen on the ending as throughout the book it was hugely detailed but when it came to the big finale it all seemed a little rushed and missing major details. Basically to me it didn't answer half of the questions I had which I guess might have been the point, cliffhanger ending and all that. I did enjoy it though and would reread it again, maybe that would reveal more answers?!
8/10

Anne Of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
"Everyone's favorite redhead, the spunky Anne Shirley, begins her adventures at Green Gables, a farm outside Avonlea, Prince Edward Island."
This was one of my favourite childhood book, even though I didn't actually read it until I was around 16, but I'm still counting it! So when I saw a few people including Sophie from NanaWintour had got this beautiful collectors edition I knew I had to get my hands on it! 
9/10

Resistance Is Futile by Jenny T. Colgan*

"Connie thinks she's never met anyone quite like Luke Beith before. She has no idea how right she is."

Okay if Day Four wasn't really my type of book this definitely wasn't. From the blurb I thought it could be quite good however the more and more I got into the book the more I wasn't so sure. There's a lot of questions and twists and turns but the characters are a thing to love, easily relatable even if you're not a super mathematic genius. I will say though, it's not that this is a bad book I've seen so many people loving it, it's just not my type personally - give it a whirl! The cover art though oh my gosh when I opened the package containing this book the graphic designer in me just swooned. 

4/10

What have you been recently reading? I need a few more new books to add to my to read list! 

* I was kindly gifted these books by Hachette NZ for reviewing purposes however all opinions and ratings are my own :)

I know some more things now! - Book Review

Yes yes another YouTuber book, but hey Carrie Hope Fletcher isn't just a YouTuber, shes an actor singer writer YouTuber, so surely this'll mean bigger and better things right? Well for a start I've actually only read Zoella's book (which I enjoyed) so I can't really judge the rest but I can say that although some parts of Zoe's book sounded like her most of it you couldn't tell. Carrie's however sounds like she's sat in your head reading it to you, if I didn't have loads of uni coursework hanging over me I probably would have finished it last week on the day I got it but hey I gotta graduate!

Even though I was looking forward to All I Know Now* coming out I wasn't sure if it would be the book for me seen as it was aimed to be the 'big sister advice' type book and I'm only a year younger than her. However I was surprised at how much actually related to me; I was able to look back on my teenage years and cringe and cry, and also learn a little bit towards present life. Being an actress (currently Eponine in Les Mis in London's West End) the book is laid out similar to a play; with an overture, acts, and a finale, although I personally didn't take much notice to them but more to the great illustrations. I always love it when 'older' books like this have illustrations, not just kids love pictures!

I don't want to spoil the book for you but Carrie covers a range of things that are both deep and important, and fun happy things so you'll be sure to find something that tickles your fancy! I know a lot of my ex friends could do with reading this book and learning a few things mhmm *clicks finger and wiggles head*

All I Know Now is available now in your local bookshop and online so grab a copy if it's your thing!

*I was kindly gifted this book by Hachette NZ to read and review however I would have obtained this myself otherwise to have a read as I love Carrie so all thoughts and opinions are my own :)

How to be a GIRLBOSS - Book Review

I recently finished reading #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso with the book club I follow on Facebook and it got me feeling so inspired! 

Amoruso shows readers how to channel their passion and hard work, while keeping their insecurities from getting in the way. She offers straight talk about making your voice heard and doing meaningful work. ~ Goodreads 
It's a mismatch of advice and biographical stories which comes together into a pretty good book. Sophia pretty much tells you how she got to where she is and how it's possible for you to do the same. I wouldn't say it's the most inspirational book in any way but it made me think about my life a bit more and how I go about my profession. Of course that's not saying it's not the least inspirational book either it's like in my top 10 at least! Plus it has cute illustrations! 

Being in the design industry I rarely feel like I'm on top, I always feel like I'll forever be average. I get reasonably good grades, sometimes get used for examples but there's always people who seem so much better and ahead of the rest of us that I never feel like I'll catch up. Sometimes I feel like no matter what I do or how ever much time I spend working it's never good enough. Especially as in a latest project I got the same grade and percentage as someone else but had barely anything to fix while she had so much to fix. I just didn't really understand how that worked. With #Girlboss up my sleeve it's been like a little kick up the bum to do even more to get up to scratch. 

If you haven't found something you excel at yet there's this quote that's floating around the internet which days that 'Van Gogh didn't start painting til his late 20's, incase you feel like you haven't found your talent.' So you always have time to find your talent!

Recently Read

Recently since the start of the year I've read 5 books, a little ahead of my Goodreads challenge of 30 books but a little behind my Mum challenge where I want to beat her and she's on 9. I thought I would share some thoughts on these five: 

Bossypants - Tina Fey 

7/10

'Tina Fey's Autobiography' I read this because I thought it was going to be funny, but I think it might have been a bit better if I'd actually watched more of her shows, or like any of her shows. I did enjoy it though I won't say it wasn't funny it just probably would've been more funny if I had.

Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell

8/10

'Two misfits, one extraordinary love.' Although this was a very cheesy teen love story I did enjoy it and I have written a longer review on this one so check it out if you're interested. 

You're The One That I Want - Giovanna Fletcher 

7/10

'A story about a love triangle between three childhood best friends.' I admit I only picked this one up because it's written by Tom from McFly's wife. Also it was recommended by his sister Carrie Fletcher who's YouTube is here. I went into this book with some low expectations but this little love triangle was much better than the crappy one over in Twilight. However I did have hopes the entire book that the prologue actually didn't happen and she would end up with the other guy, spoiler alert the prologue comes true. 

Penelope - Rebecca Harrington

8/10

'Harvard freshman's story of her first year; full of parties, exams, and boys.' I really enjoyed this book and was thoroughly disappointed at the ending. It was an awful ending. Can Harrington just rewrite the ending and then I will give it a 9 or a 9.5 out of 10. 

Trouble - Non Pratt 

5/10 

'A pregnant teen learns the meaning of friendship - from the boy who pretends to be the baby's daddy.' Yes another recommendation from Carrie and I do not continue this recommendation. A teenage pregnancy book aimed at tweens is not a great book for an almost 21 year old. I should have seen this coming if I actually read the blurb or looked at the cover... 

So there we go! There's the first few books of the year and hopefully I continue to read at this pace and manage my 30 book challenge but I also have been stuck on the same book for 15 days now and I'm probably about 3 chapters in. Ya know the feeling?

Anyways I'm looking for a few better books to read so if you have any recommendations chuck us them in the comments! x

Eleanor & Park ~ Book Review

Image from DeviantArt user candy8496 ~ check out her other work it's great!

I've read Rainbow Rowell before and not being a big fan of Fangirl as much as anyone else I wasn't too sure about how I'd like this one. But after seeing it again and again mentioned throughout the internet I decided to give it a go. I wasn't that disappointed to be quite honest, I hadn't read any blurb about it so after diving in and finding it was another abnormal couple love story I had my doubts but I did enjoy it. I wasn't really keen on the ending and thought it could've been dealt with differently but I won't go giving away any spoilers. Sold as another 'star crossed lovers' book it's expressed in the early pages that Eleanor, your average unpopular redheaded girl, that she's not fond of Romeo and Juliet's story at all calling them 'shallow, confused and then dead'. So it's ironic that she finds herself in her own shallow confused love story with Park, the dated the popular girl in primary and then became invisible boy, all because they shared a seat on the bus to school. This book seems to be similar to those teen love story library books you rent, read once, and return never to read again. I personally would say go for it if you want to read it but although I enjoyed it I probably won't be reaching for it to read again.    

Girl online reviews Girl Online

Photo borrowed from Zoella.co.uk

So I jumped on the bandwagon and joined the tens of thousands in reading blogger and YouTube sensation Zoe 'Zoella' Sugg's new book. I do really love Zoe and although there's a lot of rumours and stories going around the internet regarding a ghost writer I still wanted to read it. However as books are flippin' expensive in New Zealand I had to take another route in acquiring this book. I will firstly say that it is a middle teenage book but it did read easily and I got through it in a few hours. I did like it however it was your average 'girl has a gay best friend, girl meets guy, falls in love, gay best friend gets upset, all hell breaks loose' kind of story. I really liked the characters and I commend Zoe as these are confirmed all her ideas, and personally will not buy it but I am looking forward to acquiring the second book she's been planning. Not sure how this will run with the internet/media talk happening right now but I'm wanting more closure for the story than we got. 

I do recommend reading if you like your teen love stories although my advice would be to acquire it from one of the many 80 thousand people who've already bought it. Which slightly breaks my heart having it take over Harry Potter in the number of sales in the first week but makes me cheer for it taking over Fifty Shades of Grey as well!

Is it really a miracle? | Nail Polish Review

While I was over at my boyfriends house the other week his mum gave me this Sally Hansen Miracle Gel set saying that she struggled with it and wondered if I would have any luck. Now with these no light gel sets becoming all the rage lately I decided to wait to post this review until my nails had chipped. I did have some better luck with the set and although I do like the look I'm not sure it's doing what I would want from a gel manicure. Although I've never actually had a proper salon gel manicure I'm pretty quizzed up on the positives. Sally Hansen says that this manicure should last for up to 14 days with brilliant shine, so far I've had mine on for 5 days and it's started to chip. I will add that I was putting up a Christmas tree today so I'd give it a few extra days but it's still far from the promised around 14 days. Also they recommend 2 coats of colour and 1 coat of top coat, however as many people say it's better doing thinner coats I did 3 coats of colour and it's still not as opaque as I would like. I feel like this set gives the same look a regular polish and a really good top coat would give so I'm not exactly going to be running out to the shops for another colour. I will however give this another go with another layer and less Christmas tree making and see how it goes. 

Review: The Maze Runner

Hiya blogisphere it's been a couple of days but look what I finally did! After my friends decided they wanted to go to watch The Maze Runner this week I decided as I love to read the books before watching the movie it would be the perfect time to finally get my arse in gear and read the book. I've been wanting to read it for so long and have actually started it a few times before and ended up being too busy to finish it. But I finally did it! I managed to read it the fastest I've ever read a book of it's size so I was pretty proud. Although after watching the movie I saw it wasn't really necessary reading it before hand as it's hardly even the same at all, based on the book is a very loose term.
I really liked both the movie and the book but I felt that the movie held a lot of questions as I was having to fill my friends in on the reasons behind certain things on the walk home from the movie as they didn't understand. When I think about it this was the same for The Hunger Games when I watched it with my Dad, I guess big actiony books are hard to siphon down to an hour and a half so some background information is left out. It's understandable but then it's also annoying having to let your non book friends know the reason why they all have weird names and Thomas is just Thomas.
The casting in this movie however is great, there's only a few characters where I was like "oh what how is that Gally I thought it was Chuck", "how is that Newt I thought it was Chuck", "oh that's Chuck now I get it", or "oh wow Alby's black". But saying that I really enjoyed it and I'm glad they managed to get it down to about an hour and a half as those actiony movies that are like 3 hours get a bit meh to me. I recommend both the movie and the book so whatever you like to do go get this story! (BUT WHY DID IT RAIN THE WEATHER WAS A HUGE PART OF THE STORY WHY) 

The Scorch Trials currently halfway through reading, stay tuned. 

Book Review: Charlie StCloud

Hiya so sometimes very rarely I do the thing where I don't realise movies have come from books and randomly discover them in the library. This is one of those cases having watched the movie Charlie StCloud with mister wildcat Zefron himself years and years ago it was weird to see him chilling in the fiction section on a book cover. Of course being Zac I investigated and realised there was a book! Now luckily as I hadn't seen the movie for quite a long time I couldn't for the life (and death) of me remember what happened so it came home with me. Of course reading through things started to click into place and halfway through I started to remember what happens. 

I would recommend this as even though I'd watched the movie it's still written perfectly in that it's very hard to as my Dad would say "write the script" and guess what's going to happen. Of course the whole girl falls for the guy part is obvious but other than that there are some great jaw dropping moments. Have a read! 

Artist Attraction #3 | Dawn Tan

I came across this artist whilst browsing Pintrest a while ago and ended up spending quite a while browsing her various pieces. After coming across her again on Tumblr I thought I might include a little post about her work on the blog. Dawn Tan lives in Australia and specialises mainly in landscapes, food and plants, her art is laid back and fun to look at. I wish I had the confidence she has with watercolour. I think she's been one of my latest inspirations to my work especially as I discovered her shortly before purchasing my first watercolour palette set. I wonder if you could actually make what she's drawn just from seeing the ingredients, the pieces are really unique and I really wish I could have one for my room! Even just the soy bread and smoothie piece, which shows how easy her inspiration comes to her - just from breakfast. I think from looking at her architecture pieces that the year 10 art class at my school studied her, that's a bit freaky coming across the actual artist years later!    

A Wild Ol' Picnic - ProductReview

Glam Manicare Express! Nail Wraps in 'Wild Africa' and 'Peach Picnic'

I've never used nail wraps or strips before so this was a first, also the reason why I have not included pictures of the wraps on the nails as they're appalling. When I say appalling I really mean close up you can see some little bubbles on the edges and things which can't be seen from normal length away. So unless you've got your head so close to my hands that i could hit you without moving my hand they look fine, they just don't photograph well! These glam manicare wraps are actually really easy to use and if you don't rush them like I did you'll get a great finish, like I managed to on my last few fingers that I took time doing.  The only problem I had with these was the packaging, it was a struggle to get the strips out of their plastic pouches and I ended up taking to them with the scissors which has left it horrible to try store the rest of the unused strips, as you can get two manicures out of one design if you have the right sized fingers which is great in my opinion! 8/10 x

I'm comin' home just in time... [Book Review]

The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

While I was on holiday I picked up this hefty book of my shelf of 'books I really want to read but I really can't be bothered sitting down and reading them' books and took it with me. I admit it took me a while to get into it as usually I'm not into books that have different narrators every chapter and tend to jump around a lot but once I got into the storyline it was fabulous. I wont spoil it but I really recommend the book, I have watched the movie a few years earlier but could only remember a small section of the ending so I didn't have too much to go on. I loved the part where some things throughout the book were hard to figure out but further on through the story everything got explained at one point. Clare however is such a sweetheart falling for Henry so young and continuing throughout her life with the good and bad to be with him, such a sweet tale and anyone should strive for that kind of love in their lives x

Artist Attraction #2 | Lizzie Mackay

Another artist discovered on Pintrest: Lizzie Mackay... aren't her illustrations beautiful! There's just something about any nicely drawn animals that just make me want to look at every single other piece the artist has produced and these are no different. I had to google her and spend a good hour or so looking through all her pieces on her website here, I really recommend a look as I'll definitely be using some of her work as inspiration for my own x

Artist Attraction #1 | Emma Zanelli

I came across this gorgeous illustrator this morning on Pintrest, having stalked pretty much her entire Facebook of photos I came to the conclusion I really love Emma Zanelli of Kiss The Devil design and illustration. She's a freelance illustrator and graphic designer from the United Kingdom. There's just something about the mix of hand drawn pencil and Photoshop that gives me the happy 'yay fab illustration' feeling. She does commissions if you're interested over on her Facebook page so if you're interested in getting Zanelli-fied go check that out, also you should like her page too! I'm loving the contrast of the girly make up and hair with the tattoos, quite a common idea around some artists at the moment.