5 Musicals That Will Make You Fall in Love with Theatre

Musicals are often misconceived to be only for a certain type of audience who love cheesey singing and easy plot lines. However, I completely disagree with this! Personally, I love musicals because I find them completely absorbing as you have to listen to the words of each song in order to follow the plot line. Also, the songs are normally really catchy and when you listen to them you can immediately imagine the scene in your mind. So I thought that I would tell you my top 5 favourite musicals that you should definitely watch!

5. Grease

This musical is one the first that I ever saw, other then disney movies! If you want to watch something that is catchy, easy to follow and uplifting then this is the perfect one for you! The musical is based around a rebellious teenaged boy called Danny and a new innocent girl called Sandy who fall in love. It's well known songs like 'Grease Lightning' and 'Summer Nights' will have you singing along in no time. Also, it is a movie as well as a theatre show so if you can't make it to the theatre it is still easily accessible.

4. Wicked

I first saw this musical a couple of years ago, and since then I have wanted to go back and see it all over again! Its based around the story of 'the Wizard of Oz' except it focuses on the Wicked Witch's perspective. It really interesting to see a different angle of the story, and really allows you to understand the Wicked Witch's backstory and misfortune. This makes it perfect for all ages since it is a twist on a well known classic. Plus the set is amazing and really transports you to Oz!

3. Miss Saigon

I don't even know where to start with this musical... I saw it last year just before it moved from the Westend back to Broadway, and it was amazing! It is set in the Vietnam war and is an epic love story following a Vietnamese girl who meets an American soldier in a brothel. However, their opposing nations get in the way of their love... I don't want to spoil it so all I'm going to say is that its a real tear jerker and is spectacular to witness. It is one of those shows that you watch and then come out feeling like you have had a real experience. If you want to watch a musical that is emotional, thought provoking, and spectacular then I would recommend this!

2. La La Land

Last weekend I finally saw this musical in the cinema and I can tell you that I can completely see why it has been nominated for fourteen Oscars and has won seven Golden Globes! It is about the romance between two people called Mia and Sebastian who are aspiring performers that are struggling to achieve their dreams. The colours were vibrant, the set was dynamic, the songs were catchy, and the almost eerie melody of 'Sebastian and Mia's Theme' that plays throughout really tied the whole plot together. I can guarantee that when you finish this movie you will come out singing the songs for days! Also, the ending is not stereotypical of a musical, so is really shocking and heart wrenching to watch. This is truly a musical for people who don't like musicals.

1. Les Miserables

Anyone who knows me well, could probably guess that this would be at the top of my list. I've seen it in the theatre three times now and have watched the film so many times that I can't even count. The reason why I love this musical is because the story line is complex and the period of history (French civil war) that it is set in is really interesting. Moreover, each song is dynamic and tells a story. Unlike the other musicals in my list Les Miserables has completely no speaking and every word is sung. When I first saw it I didn't think I would like this, but actually it meant that I was completely drawn into the story line and you really have to pay attention to know what happening. I love the tragedy that underlines the whole plot and the funnier aspects of the musical like the joking Thénardier's. If you want to see a pure musical then watch this!

Tip: From January to February Westend productions sell their tickets for a lot cheaper then usual, as it is the slow season. If you go onto seetickets.com you can find tickets for some of the best musicals that have been reduced to £20, which is a bargain! Also in the summer London theatres often do a deal where for every adult ticket you buy you can get a free childs ticket! These tips definitely make theatre a lot cheaper as it can be very expensive. Or if you don't want to see a musical in the theatre you can always watch it online!

I hope that this has inspired you to watch a musical! Please leave any comments on this post or recommendations for a next post below.

Thanks,

Hannah x

Best Healthy Smoothies

Smoothies are an amazing way to start your day! They also are great as a snack to increase your energy levels. They are especially good as pre/post workout drinks as they are packed with nutrients. I make a smoothie every morning for breakfast, and it gives me a sugar boost after my workout that keeps me going through the morning. Plus its an easy way to make sure you have your five a day! 

Some tips for making the perfect smoothie are:

• If you are making it for breakfast ,put in at least a handful of rolled oat (before you blend), as this will make it thicker and therefore more filling!
• Try to use dairy free milk alternatives as these are healthier and better for your body! Personally, I love using unsweetened almond milk in my smoothies as its not too sweet and complements fruit well.
• Add some ice cubes before you blend as this will make the smoothie colder and more refreshing! Just don't put in too many otherwise it will turn watery.
• If you aren't adding ice then freeze your fruit! I normally just freeze any berries that I am going to use, as this makes the smoothie colder and thicker! Plus, it means that you fruit doesn't go off as quickly. If have a couple of bananas that have over ripened I will chop them up, and put them in a plastic bag in the freezer. This prevents a lot of waste and saves money!
• Try to use fruit thats in season, as buying fruit like raspberries in the winter is really expensive, plus they sometimes taste too bitter. If the fruit you use is in season it will make the smoothie taste a lot better and be juicier!
• If you want an extra health kick try putting a tbsp of chia seeds in your smoothie! They have great health benefits, and don't alter the flavour of the smoothie too much.

There are so many smoothie recipes out there sometimes its hard to know where to start. So I'm going to give you some of my favourite recipes, and also tell you what season they are best for. 

All of my ingredient quantities serve 1 person, so just double the amounts if you want more servings!

Directions for all smoothies:

1. Chop up any ingredients that are too large to be blended.

2. Place all ingredients in the blender.

3. Blend! 

4. Once a smooth consistency has been reached your done!

Peanut Butter, Berry and Banana Smoothie:

This is my favourite smoothie to make in the mornings! (mainly because I'm addicted to peanut butter) Its so quick and easy as it requires little to no chopping, so you can quickly blend the ingredients and go! Just make sure that your peanut butter contains around 100% blended peanuts, and doesn't contain any unhealthy additives.

Ingredients:

• 1 banana 
• 1 Tbsp of peanut butter
• A handful of blueberries or strawberries (I tend to use blueberries in the winter and strawberries in the summer when they are in season, but if you don't have either, then you don't have to add any berries and it will still taste great!)
• 1/2 a cup of unsweetened almond milk
• a handful of rolled oats (optional)
• 3/4 cubes of ice (optional) 

Spring and Summer- Mango and Raspberry Smoothie:

Mangos are my favourite fruit, and in the summer they are perfect for smoothies because of their juicy and flavoursome nature. Additionally, they are packed with vitamins!

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 1 ripe mango
• a handful of raspberries
• a handful of kale (optional)
• 1/2 a cup of unsweetened almond milk
• 3/4 cubes of ice (optional)
• 3/4 spoons of greek yogurt (optional)
• a handful of rolled oats (optional)

Super Healthy Green Smoothie:

If you are feeling the need for a super healthy, nutrient full kick, then try this smoothie! It's best in the summer as the ingredients are fresher!

Ingredients:

• 1/2  avocado
• a handful of spinach
• 1 banana (optional)
• 1 kiwi
• 1 tbsp of chia seeds (optional) 
• 1/2 a cup of unsweetened almond milk
• 3/4 cubes of ice (optional)
• a handful of rolled oats (optional- not as necessary as this smoothie can be super thick!)

Winter and Autumn- Apple and Cinnamon Smoothie:

Cinnamon is great in smoothies all year round, but I especially love using it in the winter as it creates a festive flavour!

Ingredients:

• 1 banana or 1 pear
• 1 apple (core removed)
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• a handful of blueberries 
• 1 tsp of honey (optional- great if you have a sweet tooth)
• 1/2 a cup of unsweetened almond milk
• 3/4 spoons of greek yogurt (optional)
• a handful of rolled oats (optional)

Orange and Banana Smoothie:

This combination is great for the winter season when oranges are ripe and juicy! It will also fill your body with loads of nutrients and vitamins, in preparation for the holiday season.

Ingredients:

• 1 orange
• 1 banana
• 1 carrot
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of orange juice
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk
• 3/4 cubes of ice (optional)

But, don't just stick to making these smoothies! A smoothie recipe is easy to concoct once you know what your doing! I normally use 1 banana, 1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk, a handful of oats, 3 spoons of greek yogurt and then add any other fruit that I can find in my kitchen! Be experimental and try new flavour combination! If you need any advice about smoothies, or have a suggestion for my next post please leave a comment below!

Happy blending!

Hannah x

5 Books You Need To Read

As far back as I can remember I have always been completely captivated by books. One of the main reasons for this is because, for me, reading is an escape. It takes my mind away from any stress I may be feeling, and transports me to another world. Since starting English lit A level I have been reading classic books from a reading list I was given by my teachers, and it has really helped me to open my eyes into a new genre of literature that I had never explored before. As before A level the only books I would read were teen fiction, like divergent and hunger games. At this point you may be thinking: "I don't care, I hate reading!". But i hope that this post inspires you to pick a book and read! Not only is it fun, but reading helps to improve your vocabulary, speech, and spelling. Also, its not hard to make half an hour of you're time free to read, rather then watching TV. So why wouldn't you read?

If you are looking for a book to inspire you, and make you get into reading, I have made a list of my top 5 books that I have read this school year; and  they aren't actually as boring as you would think:

5. 1984 by George Orwell

“If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.”

I always looked at this book and thought that it looked completely boring! So I was shocked when I finally decided to read it, and noticed the correlations with the many things in our society that it has. Some background about the book is that it was written in 1949 as a prediction of what the world would be like in 1984. It is a dystopian novel about a man called Winston Smith who has the secret desire of breaking free from the totalitarian state. This novel is full of secrecy, action and deception so is really intriguing. This book inspired many things in our society such as the TV programme 'Big brother' which takes its name from the communist leader in the book. And also 'Room 101' which takes its name from a secret room where citizens are forced to face their worst fear. Furthermore, whilst I was reading it I couldn't stop noticing parallels with the style of writing and events that were similar to the divergent series. So its a great book if you are trying to start progressing from teen fiction to adult fiction.

4. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

“Human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished masterpiece” 

This novel is extremely controversial so if you are looking for a book that addresses a previously ignored concept, which can be quite disturbing at times, then chose this book! It's story centres around the unreliable narrator Humbert Humbert who is a pedophile, and becomes obsessed with a 12 year old girl called Dolores Hayes (AKA Lolita); who he later becomes step father to. At many points I found this book quite hard to read because of the subject matter, but at the same time due to its controversial nature I was completely absorbed into Humbert's mind and world. Additionally, this book inspired many things in pop culture such as some songs by Lana Del Ray, and the image of a young girl in red heart shaped glasses.

3. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

“Looking at me, you'd never guess I'd killed three people. It isn't fair.”

When I first read this book I went into it knowing completely nothing about the plot, other then it was supposed to be a 'good' book. But I can tell you that when the Irish Times called it "a work of unparalleled depravity." they were completely correct. The book is about a psychopathic teenager called Frank, living on a remote Scottish island. The book soon reveals that before the age of 10 Frank had made numerous killings, and is part of a strange cult that involves a contraption called the wasp factory. If you enjoy gruesome and psychotic books then you have to read this!

2. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

"I fell very still and very empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of a surrounding hullaballoo."

The Bell Jar is a semi-autobiographical, coming of age story about a girl called Esther and her downward spiral of depression which leads to her attempting suicide numerous times. The reason that I love this book is because of the depth of emotions that you can feel from Esther whilst reading the book. It opened my eyes to the trapped nature of women in the 1960s. Moreover, I find it extremely interesting because of its links to Sylvia's life not including her suicide a month after the book was published in the UK. Since Plath was married to the old poet laureate Ted Hughes it also gives you some insight into their strained relationship. I have now read this book twice, and still haven't grown bored of it!

1. The Colour Purple by Alice Walker

"Everything want to be loved. Us sing and dance and holler, just trying to be loved.” 

On reading the first page of the novel I immediately couldn't put the book down, and ended up reading it in a day. This is because of the daunting subject matter that the book faced. The story focuses on the life of African-American women in the US in the 1930s, and both the lack of freedom and abuse they faced. The main character Celie is raped by her father as a child, and then sold to her husband who she is repeatedly abused by. However, even though Celie starts off as a run down and abused character, by the end of the novel you see her transformation... In the end I found this book very uplifting and a really easy and enjoyable read because of its epistolary form (diary entry). Definitely a must read!

Happy reading! 

Hannah x 
(if you have read any of these books please leave your opinions in the comments!)

Stay Motivated!

The first week of January is nearly over, and people are starting to struggle at keeping to their resolutions. So in this crucial time of trying not to break your resolution I'm urging you to keep going and stay motivated! In light of this, I thought that I would pass along some handy tips on how to stay motivated; at not only keeping resolutions, but any other things that you are trying to do in your life.

1. SET YOURSELF GOALS
Having a clear target of want you want to achieve really helps you to stay on track, especially when trying to make a big fitness or health change in your life. Recently, I have found it extremely useful to keep a 'to do' list on a piece of paper on my desk and on my phone. As I can clearly see what my targets are for the day (this can include any homework or chores); for example you could write 'drink 6 glasses of water', then overtime when you drink one  you can cross it off. Moreover, when you cross a goal off you get a feeling of empowerment. It is also useful to have a goal set for the week and the month, in order to feel motivated and show how all of your smaller goals lead to a bigger one.  Just make sure that your goals are achievable, and that they are not too over ambitious.

2. TIME FRAMES
It can be very useful to set a time to do the thing you want to achieve in the week or day. Obviously for some resolutions this isn't possible. However, if your resolution was to workout everyday its much easier to do if you have a set time to do it at, and an amount of time that you are going to do it for. For example, I set myself the goal of doing 30 minutes of pilates every weekday from 6.30am to 7am. I really feel that by following this regular pattern it makes me more likely to do it as I can't put it off as easily. Also, if you make time to do something then it is easier to get into a daily pattern. Setting reminders in your phone, and in your phone's calendar to do these things can be useful too. Another useful tip if you are trying to live a healthier lifestyle, is to go to bed earlier. As sleep is VERY important! If you are going to sleep at 12pm every day and waking up at 6am this is not going to be good for your body. A lack of sleep makes you grumpy, less focused and it bad for your body. Sleep is the time when your body rejuvenates and heals, so if your trying to lose weight, sculpt your perfect body or get clearer skin a lack of sleep prevents this, and slows down the process.

3. STAY INSPIRED
A great way to stay motivated is to be inspired everyday. It helps to follow some inspirational accounts on social media (Instagram, Pinterest etc), that link to your resolution. When you see other people doing the things that you want to do, it makes you more motivated to stay on track in order to try and reach your goals. For me, every time I'm not feeling motivated to eat healthily or read etc, I go onto Instagram,  and find posts that inspire me. If you're trying to stay healthy it can be very helpful to find healthy recipes or cook books hat inspire you. For example, I'm trying to not eat any chocolate, sweets, crisps or dairy products this month. So to stay motivated for breakfast i find recipes online and from cook books like Joe Wick's. (If you're looking for a great healthy cook book buy his! The ingredients aren't hard to find in supermarkets like some of the vegan ones, and it always tastes good!) This morning i made his protein pancakes and they were really tasty. Also they were dairy and wheat free!

4. BE HAPPY

To be honest, I think that the best possible piece of advice that I can give you is to be happy. You have to be doing something that is making you happy, because the fact is that if you aren't enjoying completing your resolution then you won't be motivated. Also, it won't put you in a good frame of mind. You need to try and find things that you enjoy and can look forward to every day. Do not let your new years resolution put you through hell; trying to achieve something that you haven't put your heart and soul into. If you feel like you aren't enjoying your resolution try to alter it so that it becomes more enjoyable, and is something that you are actually going to look forward to doing. This also means that you will stick at it more permanently.  If you need any help trying to change your goals into something achievable comment below and I will try my best to advise you. At first when I started to exercise I found it laborious, but once I found the right You Tuber to subscribe to I was more motivated. I exercise with Cassey Ho from Blogilates. She helped me to discover that exercise could be fun, and a release from daily life. So if your looking for a fresh start, and more motivation to exercise I would really advise you to subscribe to her!

I hope that you have a great week and stay motivated! (leave any suggestions for future posts in the comments)

Hannah x 

A New Year, A New Me

"A New Year, a new me". Are these not the words we have all heard replayed constantly over the last week? But, however much they're used I will never give into them, and I hope that you won't either. 

My main point is that you shouldn't under sell yourself so much. Just because it's a New Year does not mean you have to start again completely from scratch. Since we all have great attributes that we should value (and maybe boast about occasionally). I'm not trying to say that the New Year isn't one of the best times to get into new habits; because if you are in need of some motivation to start something new I think it provides just that. But don't think that you have to change completely; and try to remember that it doesn't need to be the beginning of a New Year for you to make a change. The New Year is the perfect time to be grateful for your life, and the people you share it with. So when you are trying to come up with a new year's resolution I think it would be very beneficial to make a list of all the things you are grateful for and don't want to change. 

Personally, when I was thinking of a New Year's resolution I decided that I actually wanted to do something that I could stick to and would benefit my life. Unlike some of the resolutions I made when I was younger, like: don't go to school; don't eat potatoes (as i never liked them and was always forced to eat them by my mum); and the most common of all... stop eating chocolate. These resolutions were all unrealistic for me, so there was never any determination to achieve them. 

However, last year I decided to make one that would actually change my life and challenge my sense of determination. I decided to start doing half an hour of pilates every morning to boost my fitness level. Which was drastically low from my hatred for PE at school. Moreover, with all of the images of models posted all over social media I was feeling quite self conscious. I can honestly tell you that it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. As it not only boosted my self confidence, but turned into a retreat, and an escape from when I was overly stressed from GCSE revision and exams. (If you want me to talk more about fitness in future posts please tell me in the comments below). Since I started my weekly routine of pilates I have continued it all year and plan to carry on for hopefully years to come, as I have discovered I have a passion for it (especially because it makes me feel good). 

If a resolution as ambitious as this is too daunting for you maybe start off with something small, like going for a run once a week. Or something completely different like smiling a bit more. You have probably already guessed that my resolution for 2017 was to start a blog. I chose this because I have always loved to read and I am quite opinionated (maybe a bit too much sometimes) . Additionally, I wanted to share the things I love. I aim for this blog to be on everything from fashion and lifestyle to various experiences that I have had. 

Please leave me any recommendations you have for future posts in the comments. I will be posting every Sunday. But most importantly don't forget to notice your values and not just focus on your supposed downfalls.

Happy New Year! 

Hannah x