My 17th Birthday!

Last Tuesday, the 15th of September just so happened to be 17th birthday! To be honest, it only feels like yesterday since I turned 16-this past year has seriously flown in! So I thought in my next blog post I'd write about what I got up to for my birthday last week. So here it goes.......

Like every weekday morning I got up at around 7:30am (or thereabouts) to open my presents and cards with my family before my Dad went to work and my sister went to school. I was a bit sleepy headed I must admit, I am by far more of a night owl rather than a morning person. However, I received some lovely cards and presents including a Beatles t-shirt, hoodie, purse and lanyard that I'd picked out in Liverpool back in May, jewellery, Cathy Cassidy's Looking-Glass Girl book, a new hat (of course!), chocolates and some money from my family and close family friends which I'm going to put towards purchasing a new camera that I've been saving up for. So a huge thank-you to everyone for their kind gifts of money! I am extremely excited to buy my new camera which I'll be able to use to take photos for my blog, for personal photography and I also hope to experiment with the film features in order to create a YouTube channel. I received some truly lovely gifts and my Mum even managed to find wrapping paper with my all-time favourite fictional character Peter Pan printed on it! How cool was that!? Yes, I get excited about the simplest of things in life!

After Mum and I dropped my sister Laurel off at school that morning, my Grandparents came down to visit with my birthday card/present. I had music tutoring in the afternoon meaning that time would be too tight if we decided to go out for lunch so instead we went out for a birthday breakfast, which was lovely! My music tutor arrived at around 2pm like he does every Tuesday afternoon for my bass lessons. I know not everyone would be too chuffed about having education of any sort on their birthday but I for one was actually quite happy! My music tuition is never something I dread as I enjoy it so much and like I said before I am now learning to play songs rather than learning the basics like I started off with. Now, if I remember right last week I was learning to play the bass line to Band on the Run by Wings which was great! As you all know by now, I am a huge Paul McCartney fan so actually learning to play one of his songs is absolutely amazing! All I'm waiting for now is that all-important phone call from Paul himself inviting me to come perform live on stage with him! One can dream right?!

Anyway, after Mum and I picked my sister Laurel up from school, it was a mad rush back home to make dinner because just a short while later I would be heading out to The Gaiety Theatre to see a Beatles tribute band. For dinner, Mum made me probably one of my very favourite meals; roast chicken, mashed potatoes and vegtables-mmmmm! It makes me seriously hungry even just to think about it!


Me and my birthday cake (please excuse the bad lighting!)

And of course it wouldn't be a real birthday without a cake; or at least not in my world! Ever since I was little I have always had a major obsession with birthday cake. As weird as it may sound to some, I think that there's something really exciting about birthday cake; always have and probably always will! So of course everyone sang Happy Birthday to me, took a few photographs (which I'll try and add to this post in the editing stages), made a wish and then I attempted to blow the candles out but there's always that one that chooses to be difficult and takes a couple of attempts to finally blow out! But we always catch it out in the end!

After blowing out the candles, we soon realised that time was ticking on and that I needed to leave the house soon or I'd be late! So it was kind of rush round the house as I flung everything I needed into my bag, popped on a coat and hat and tied up the laces to my Dr Marten boots. Thankfully, we made it to the Gaiety Theatre in time for 7pm for me to meet my friend Heather. Once we met up, Heather and I went inside out of the cold (typical Scottish weather!). Thankfully, the doors to the actual theatre itself were soon opened meaning that we were able to find our seats in plenty of time before the show began at 7:30pm. It looked like the theatre was almost a full house so fortunately, when Mum and I had booked the just tickets a few weeks earlier there were a couple of seats remaining in the second row which of course we snaffled up meaning that we had a great view of the stage! The show itself was absolutely brilliant! Both Heather and I couldn't get over how a like the gentleman playing John Lennon looked in comparison to the real thing-it was unbelievable! If you closed your eyes, it could easily have been the real band performing right there in front of you. Overall, both Heather and I really enjoyed the show and would definitely go again if they were to come back in future! If you'd like to read more about the Cavern Beatles show click here to be directed to the review link on my music blog.

 

After the show, Mum picked us up and gave Heather a lift back home on route to our house. Heather had surprised me with a lovely card and gift which I opened when I arrived home. I don't know how she managed it but a few weeks ago when we went shopping together and popped into the town's new record shop, I'd been eyeing up a Beatles record and unbeknown to me as I later discovered Heather bought it for me as surprise for my birthday! I was absolutely delighted about that! Thank-you so much Heather! To finish off my special day I tucked into a delicious slice of birthday cake before heading to bed just a short while later.

Before I go I just want to say a huge thank-you to all my friends and family for the lovely cards and kind presents that you kindly gave me for my birthday! I really appreciate it! I also want to say a huge thank-you to everyone for the sweet birthday wishes you sent me across my social media sites; it was so lovely to read them all! Here's to a great year as a 17 year old-I wonder what adventures it'll bring!?

Anyway, I shall love you and leave you all for now!

Sending you love, peace & Best Wishes,

Rob, The Hat Hippie xxx

 

The Final Week of the Summer Holidays 2015

 

Me in Castle Douglas

Last week was the final full week of the Summer holidays here in Scotland and I can't help but wonder where on earth have the Summer holidays gone!? They've seriously flown by this year! Although I think I say that every year! You blink suddenly it's all over and it's back to business; back to school!

Anyway, my final week of the Summer Holidays was certainly nothing short of crazy; I've quite literally been here, there and everywhere and could do with a wee lie down to be completely honest! Seeing as I count myself as a lifestyle blogger, I thought I'd share what I've been up to with you lovely people! So sit back and relax with a cup of tea (or a nice glass of lemonade!) and enjoy reading about my busy week!

To start last week off I met up with a lovely friend of mine, Daisy who I've known since we were around five/six years old. I lost touch with Daisy when I moved house as well as school when I was in Primary three and bumped into her once every now and then after moving. As I grew older

I decided to join Facebook and managed to get back in contact with Daisy, discovering that we share a lot of similar interests (particularly in music). So it was really lovely to finally meet up with Daisy after such a long period of time and spent a few hours chatting and catching up in Costa-it is however, a wonder that the staff didn't shoo us off as we were in there for hours! Hopefully, it won't be too long until we meet up again!

On Tuesday, we visited my Grandparents and as it was such a lovely day I was able to spend some time wandering round their garden with my iPod taking photographs of all the lovely flowers my Granddad grows there. Stupidly, I'd ignored the fact that it was a nice day; the perfect day for taking photos and didn't bother to bring my camera with me to get capture my surroundings. I was however, pleasantly surprised with the picture quality that my iPod produced and successfully managed to take a handful of decent photos.

 

My lovely Mum and I at the theatre

 We then enjoyed some yummy Chinese takeaway for dinner from one of the local takeaway's, before Mum, Gran, my sister Laurel and I travelled to Glasgow to catch the opening night of "Dreamboats and Miniskirts" at The Kings Theatre. I am huge fan of the musicals and love going to the theatre so without a doubt I had a great night! I'd previously seen "Dreamboats and Petticoats" back in 2012 which was set in the 1950s but if I'm being completely honest I preferred the sequel as I was more familiar with the music, fashion and the era in general. However, I must admit the highlight of the show for me, was the scene set in The Cavern Club in Liverpool where the actors took on the role of John, Paul, Ringo and George as they performed Twist and Shout. As you'll probably have worked out by now, I'm a huge fan of The Beatles so this particular scene really made my night! And of course I had to sing along although I'm surprised I didn't clear the theatre as I'm such a terrible singer!

The following day my Mum, Laurel and I took my Grandparents on a trip to a lovely town here in Scotland named Castle Douglas. We visit Castle Douglas at least once every year, sometimes more frequently than that depending upon just how busy we are. The drive there is lovely as there's so much beautiful scenery to take in along the way! It is in my opinion Scotland at some of it's very best!(providing that it's a nice day of course!)

Castle Douglas itself is a lovely, quaint, little town with some fabulous little shops and cafes for a much needed snack or even a spot of lunch. As we arrived, lunchtime was quickly approaching and we all felt a little bit peckish and in need of a bite to eat. With that in mind we made our way to the Designs Café which we only discovered a few years ago after a family friend recommended it to us. Designs Café sell a range of delicious sandwiches, toasties, soup, daily specials and even home baking. For lunch, I decided upon the chicken fajita featured on the daily specials menu which came accompanied by a lovely salad, all of which tasted great and could easily have fed a small army!

Our lovely lunch was followed by a browse round all of the lovely independent shops in the area. There was an amazing bohemian shop selling goods such as clothes, jewellery and house accessories which I thoroughly enjoyed wandering round and raking through the clothing rails. I couldn't leave this fab shop empty handed and instead left with two boho cushions and a gorgeous throw for my bed. Amongst the other shops we visited my sister and I couldn't help but pop into a little toy shop that we loved as young children named "Jenny Wren". Despite the fact that we're a lot older now it's still good fun to look around and reminisce about all the toys and cute little bits n' bobs we used to play with when we were little. And of course a visit to Castle Douglas is most certainly not complete without a visit to the ice cream shop next door! The only problem was that there were so many different flavours to choose from leaving in deep deliberation over what to pick. Eventually, I decided to be boring and completely unadventurous and opted for chocolate ice-cream. But oh my goodness was it absolutely delicious!

On our way home from Castle Douglas, Mum pulled into a little lay by beside Loch Ken so that I could take full advantage of the beautiful scenery and the unusually lovely weather (for Scotland that is!) and take a few photographs. So I spent a good half hour or so snapping photographs of the loch which I'll eventually get round to editing. I think that'll be a job for when the weather's bad and I have nothing to do! 



The sunset over Dunure

Needless to say I was exhausted by the time we arrived back home but still to accompany my Mum on a trip down to one of our very favourite places, the small fishing village of Dunure. My sister was invited to a movie night at a friend's house so we decided to take a short drive there and enjoy the stunning scenery on offer! I somehow managed in the short time between arriving home from Castle Douglas and popping back out again removed my camera from my bag meaning that yet again I missed out on a photography opportunity! Typical!

The following day was of course Thursday which meant I had my radio show at 3TFM from 1-3pm. Every week during my show I pick a "Dream Theme" which helps me plan out my playlist for the show and gives my lovely listeners the chance to request the songs they want to hear during the show. Last week's theme was a follow up to a show I hosted a few weeks a few weeks ago named "Girl Power" which celebrated the best female artists to brace the music industry. So as you've probably guessed by now last week's "Dream Theme" was of course "The Best of the Boys". So in the space of just two hours I attempted to squeeze in as many of the best male bands/singers into my show as I possibly could. That particular theme could easily have gone on for hours as there are so many amazing bands/singers that deserved to be included on the list!

Colourful beach huts in Kirkcudbright

 On Friday my parents, my sister and I decided to pay Kirkcudbright a visit. Kirkcudbright's yearly art trail happened to be on so we managed to visit a few of the stops and have a look around the artwork. Up until then I'd never been to Kirkcudbright before which is a little strange I suppose. Following a mooch round Kirkcudbright we also visited a place named Gatehouse of Fleet which has an old mill situated directly beside the river with a cute little café and tourist information centre hidden inside. We decided it was the perfect time to take a break and enjoy a much needed refreshment from the café. As we sat outside in the cafe's patio which looked onto the river we spotted a heron in the distance closely studying the water surrounding it for fish. Unfortunately, it was too far in the distance from where we happened to be seated for me to actually get a decent photo of it-next time perhaps! The peaceful surroundings was the perfect place for a café and I for one could have easily sat there for hours enjoying the sweet sounds of nature-pure bliss if you ask me!

To finish off our busy week my Grandparents treated us to dinner at The Stage Door our favourite restaurant in Ayr on Saturday. The Stage Door is an extremely popular restaurant inside The Gaiety Theatre located in the town of Ayr. I've been lucky enough to have dined there with my family on numerous occasions since it first opened a couple of years ago and not once have I ever been disappointed! The menu has something to suit everyone; the prices are great and the portions are huge! My Mum, my friend Heather and I had breakfast there one morning and couldn't believe just how big the small breakfast was! It was seriously unbelievable! The food itself tastes and looks absolutely amazing which is all the more reason to dine there! And of course my diner there last Saturday lived up to my previous expectations and was just as good as I remembered it to be! So if you're ever in Ayr and looking for somewhere to eat; The Stage Door is definitely worth a visit!

Last week was indeed a busy but great week however all good things must come to an end and so do the Summer holidays. Today, the schools here where I live have now returned which for so many means early morning rises, homework and wearing a uniform. So to all my lovely readers who've already returned or are due to go back to school in the not so distant future; I send you all my best wishes for the coming school year!

Lots of Love, Peace and Best Wishes from,

Rob (The Hat Hippie) xxx

Louise LIVE in Edinburgh

 

I haven't had the opportunity to write about this until now as the past few weeks for me, have been extremely crazy! Thankfully, I've finally had the chance to sit down and write about Louise's event so I do hope you enjoy!

A couple of weeks ago, Saturday 13th June 2015 to be exact I accompanied my younger sister to see Louise LIVE in Edinburgh. As I'm sure you already know, Youtube is an extremely popular platform that young people in particular use on a daily basis. Louise Pentland, known as Sprinkles of Glitter on Youtube has grown to fame by filming beauty, fashion and lifestyle videos and posting them on the internet. Youtubers like Louise are a major influence in the lives of literally thousands of young people all over the world. Being a blogger myself, I find their stories extremely inspiring and encouraging within my own work that I produce for you my lovely readers to enjoy. Seeing just how successful they've become inspires me to work hard as it evidently pays off.

Anyway, a number of weeks ago Louise posted a video on Youtube to announce that she would be going on tour with a show that she has created in order to meet and interact with her fans. My sister was absolutely ecstatic to discover Louise would be visiting Edinburgh during her tour and was absolutely desperate to get hold of tickets. Tickets went on sale literally the very second that the events were announced and we just so happened to be in the car at that very second so guess who had to endure the famous ticket buying stress? That's right, Me! Not only that but I'm pretty sure phone Wi-Fi decides to slow down in urgent situations such as this. Nevertheless I managed to secure to tickets much to my sister's excitement and my relief!

So we arrived at the venue to find a huge queue of teenage girls, all whom were there to see the lovely Louise Pentland. We edged our way into the end of the continuously growing line before being approached by a member of staff who noticed that I was in my wheelchair and said we could wait at the front to avoid people bumping into me once the doors were opened. Stopping for my sister to purchase one of the signed posters they had one sale, we followed the lady to the front of the line and were quickly approached by another member of staff who escorted us through to our seats before the doors were officially opened. Sitting on each seat was an autographed photograph/postcard of Louise for each ticketholder to take home with them, it was such a lovely idea and of course a nice memento of the event.

 

At either side of the stage were big pink metallic balloons with the word "Louise" on the left hand side and "Live" on the adjacent. Above the stage was a screen with a photo of Louise showing. A soundtrack of some today's biggest hits filled the room as everyone settled into their seats and waited for the show to soon begin.

Before long the lights dimmed and Louise's entrance theme which if I remember right was "Sugar" by Maroon 5. Shrieks of excitement filled the room as the lady who inspires so many young people out there, including everyone in that very room walked on stage. And of course it just wouldn't be Louise without her signature catch phrase "Aloha Sprinklerinos!" much to everyone's delight to finally hear in person.

Apparently, last year Louise ran a few trial shows of "The Glitter Experience", now know as "Louise LIVE" in a handful of venues to see if this sort of event would attract her fans. From what I've heard her plan was to make the "Louise LIVE" experience a more intimate and personal one for her fans compared to Amity Fest which she'd also been involved in alongside a number of other Youtube personalities.

The first half of the show which if I remember right was around a hour and consisted of a "Glitter Quiz" and some hilarious stories about Louise's life which quite literally were brought to life thanks to Louise's bubbly personality. Louise divided the room into four or five teams and named each group after an aspect of her life. For example one group was named "The Chummies", after the nickname Zoe Sugg (Zoella) and her (Louise) call each other. Another group was called "The Baby Glitters" in honour of Louise's nickname for her adorable daughter Darcy. From every group Louise picked two volunteers to come up on stage to participate in the "Glitter Quiz". The two volunteers from each team were given an item that makes a noise such as a horn or a triangle (I think) so that every time they thought they had the right answer they could catch Louise's attention. The quiz had a very similar concept to a game show where each team would compete against each other to correctly answer as many questions as they possibly could. All of the questions had some sort of relation to Louise's life, surprisingly I managed to answer a lot of the questions correctly (too bad I wasn't competing in the actual contest!).

After a rather amusing story about Louise's recent experience of suffering from toothache which had everyone in heaps of laughter, (as funny as it happened to be, I'm sure it wasn't a fun experience for Louise at the time!) there was a short intermission to allow everyone to stretch their legs and nip to the bathroom if necessary. During the break a video that Louise made especially for her tour was shown on the screen above the stage to keep us entertained as we patiently waited for the next part of the show to begin.

 

A little while later, the lights once again dimmed and "Uptown Funk" began to play as Louise entered the stage for a second time. In the second half Louise held a Question and Answer session where again, she picked two volunteers from each of the groups to join her on stage and ask her a question. My sister happened to be one of the lucky girls that Louise picked from the audience. I was so excited for my sister as I know just how much the Youtubers inspire her and I know she's been waiting a very long time to actually meet one of them. So Louise, if you ever read this post which I doubt (but you never know!) I just want to say a huge thank-you for making my sister's dream come true! It really meant a lot to her and I know she'll treasure the memories for the rest of her life!

One by one, Louise worked her way down the line of fans that she invited on stage for the Q&A answering each question as she went. I must admit I spent the entire Q&A snapping photos on my Mum's camera to get a decent photo of my sister on stage with Louise. My lovely sister was the last person to ask Louise a question which happened to be "what was your favourite subject at school?". Louise answered with a great story about how English was her favourite subject, although she didn't receive much encouragement or positivity from her teacher. She told the audience about how she'd like to send a copy of her new book "Life With a Sprinkle of Glitter" to her old English teacher to show her that she'd successfully written a book despite her negativity.

I can't remember if it was during the first part of the show or the second as I'm writing this almost two weeks later, but Louise pulled out her phone to film a short video of the audience wishing her friend Marie (Bits n Clips on Youtube) a Happy Birthday. What a sweet idea and of course very exciting that we all got to be a part of it!

 

Next, Louise with the help of yet more members of the audience told us about an imaginary land she'd created to pass time whilst travelling on trains and planes. One of her stage hands lifted a large white board onto the stage which looked rather heavy-poor guy! The audience members who were invited on stage were each handed an envelope with a word printed on a piece of paper hidden inside. The remainder of the audience then picked one of the words which lead Louise to describe it's significance in her imaginary world and where it would be situated on the map that she drew for us on the whiteboard. Even Zoe, Alfie and Joe Sugg as well as a few of the other Youtubers live in her world which made it all the more interesting! It was most definitely a fun idea and reminded me a lot of the imaginary worlds I used to draw pictures of when I was little.

Louise Land

As the show came towards the end, Louise announced that she would hang around in the main entrance area of The Exchange to meet everyone after the show. Literally the second she mentioned this my sister and I gathered all our things together so we could quickly slip out at the end and make our way to the front of the queue to avoid the mad dash. It's pretty scary when theirs an influx of people pushing and shoving above me and I'm sitting below in my wheelchair and they can't see me. Once Louise said her final few words, left stage and the lights came back on, my sister and I made quickly left the room and joined the queue to meet Louise. Much to our delight we were pretty close to the front. Unfortunately, when Louise came out a bunch of girls pushed their way in front us and my wheelchair and followed her down the queue, pushing and shoving  their way through the crowd which was pretty rude. Had I been standing with my crutches I potentially could have been knocked over as my balance isn't so reliable and that would have been disastrous and anyway I'm extremely short so would never even have caught a glimpse. Thankfully, the gentlemen escorting Louise noticed us and asked Louise to come speak to my sister and I which I was so grateful to him for. We didn't want to keep Louise back for very long as she had a VERY long queue of people waiting but we quickly chatted with her and my sister even managed to take a sneaky selfie with Louise. The funny thing for me was that Louise recognised me from somewhere which to be honest was the last thing I expected her to say to me. To my knowledge I've never met her before, well certainly not since she's been famous on Youtube. Perhaps I've maybe crossed paths with her during one of my many visits to London as some point. I must admit I was a little excited about it though!

Louise LIVE was a fun and girly event which I'm so glad I was able to share with my sister. She's been extremely desperate to meet one of her YouTube inspirations for such a long time and I am so pleased it finally happened! Louise is such a lovely lady who evidently is very grateful to her fans for the success they've helped her achieve. I think Louise's idea of making her live events intimate and personal is the perfect avenue to go down, as the time Louise was able to spend conversing with her fans was invaluable. From what I've heard Louise is already planning Louise LIVE events for next year and if she decides to bring her show back to Scotland I know two girls who would definitely try and get hold of tickets!

Preparing for Christmas Festivities

I can't quite believe how quickly this month has flown by! It feels like not so long ago we were enjoying the sunshine in the midst of summer and all of a sudden Christmas has arrived. During the couple of weeks I have been pretty busy preparing for the festivities so with that in mind I thought I'd share with you all what I've been up to.

Just over a week ago we visited our local theatre to see this year's Christmas pantomime which they have chosen to do a production of "Beauty and The Beast". I'm unsure whether pantomimes are performed worldwide or just here in the UK. For anyone who has not heard of a pantomime; here is a brief explanation. Basically, it is a re-enactment of a classic fairy-tale such as Cinderella or Jack and The Beanstalk the plot is usually filled with popular songs and jokes relevant to today's society. A pantomime also involves a lot of audience participation so being an audience member means you never know what to expect.

A few years ago our town's little theatre was closed due to the lack of funding to renovate and maintain the building. It was devastating to see the theatre close, it was the heart of the town and was sorely missed by each and everyone of us. Fortunately, enough money was raised to begin some of the much needed renovations and the theatre was eventually reopened to the public in December 2012! Everyone was delighted to see it open again and has been well supported by theatregoers ever since.

The pantomime is always held during the months of December-January and is most definitely the highlight of the year in the theatre's programme. I personally, had never seen "Beauty and the Beast" as a pantomime before and thoroughly enjoyed the show. The hilarious cast had every member of the audience in heaps of laughter-it was certainly a great start to the festive season!

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Last Monday my lovely friend and I visited our local Sainsbury's store to wrap Christmas presents for charity. We'd visited the week before and made a start on the wrapping. However, we soon realised that we wouldn't be able to work our way through the entire three trolleys full of gifts. We decided that we both would come in a second day to complete our duties as Santa's elves! So we did just that.

The gifts are donated to a range of different charities who give these gifts to people (children in particular) who would wake up to nothing on Christmas morning. I find it really devastating that unfortunately there are people out there who have nothing but it's so lovely to think that these gifts that are given to them will put a big smile on their faces.

My friend and I both enjoy wrapping presents so we had a good old time working our way through the gifts. It was a good way to improve on my present wrapping skills-although I think I still have a long way to go before I perfect that skill! There is of course no forgetting that it was also nice to have a good old chat whilst in the process of doing so!

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Over the week I've also enjoyed some Christmas festivities such as baking red velvet cupcakes to give to friends who visited us at different stages last week. I confess that I somehow managed to cover myself (and the kitchen) in icing sugar-yet again! It's all part of the fun of it though! 

Apart from that Mum and I have enjoyed working our way through a selection of Christmas movies that were aired on television throughout the past few weeks. In my opinion we recon that the best ones are televised on Channel 5, they're proper feel good movies. Definitely worth checking them out if you have a few hours to spare and since it's Christmas you can't forget a mince pie or in my case a slice of chocolate yule log-mmmm!

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Finally, my week finished off with a visit to the theatre (in Glasgow this time) to see Saturday Night Fever the Musical. Saturday Night Fever was absolutely brilliant! You can't help but dancing in your seat and tapping your feet to those catchy tunes. You just can't help but love the Bee Gees' music!

 I must admit whilst at any show I like to pay attention to the smaller details as strange as that may sound. I've had a couple of backstage tours in theatres which was so interesting as I had the opportunity to see what happens behind the scenes. I have such a fascination with the sets, the costumes, the orchestra etc. It's so interesting to learn about everything that goes into putting on these popular productions. I don't think I realised how much hard work and effort goes on behind the scenes to put on the flawless performances that we see on the stage.

The music was great too! In this particular production rather than having an actual orchestra members of the cast played the live music which was wonderful to watch. There was a keyboard player and drummer who played in an orchestra like tradition. But the rest of the music was performed by the cast on stage which in my opinion was an excellent idea. As I am currently learning to play bass guitar, I spent a lot of time during the show focusing on the bass players to see the techniques they use whilst playing as I pick up on the techniques that they use helping me to improve on my playing.  

This will probably be my final post prior to Christmas so with that in mind I wish each and everyone of you out there a Very Merry Christmas!

Lots of Love, Peace and Best Wishes,

Robyn x