50 Facts About Me! - YouTube

Transitioning to Vegan? - YouTube

Brand New Video up on YouTube all about my Transition to becoming a Vegan! Hope you all enjoy!

Hair

Anyone who knows me well will know my love for bleaching the shit out of my hair and putting bright colours over the gingery, dry, awful mess I’ve created; which, I will add always turns out really well (apart from when part of my hair was green & I tried to redo my roots which went blue… bad times).

I first dyed my hair when I was around 14, this was the usual ‘blonde streak’ phase most girls I know went through, after my blonde streaks I went into my emo phase (which I’ve still never really left ha!) I had dark brown hair & a bright blonde fringe, at the time I loved my blonde fringe, thought I looked very cool & emo… Now I look back at laugh at what a state it was. At one point my hairdresser actually told me she wouldn’t bleach my hair again as it would fall out, so I decided to take my hair into my own hands & bleach the rest of my hair to match.

That didn’t really work out for me as I ran out of hair dye & was left with brown, ginger and blonde hair, I didn’t have the money to correct it either so my hair stayed that way for at least two weeks. Cringe.

I finally got my hair all blonde & was so happy with it, I bought long blonde extensions and was in love with my hair, although it was in the worst condition possible. As my hair was pretty much dying (literally) I decided to stop brushing and straightening my hair & started curling my hair extensions instead, again I was extremely happy with my curly blonde hair. I do look back at those pictures and regret the curly hair, just makes me wish I’d have bought some good conditioner & tried my best to keep it healthy!

Eventually I decided it was time to go back to brown, the dark brown faded after a week or so and I was left with a very light ginger colour which I absolutely loved. I think after the ginger I then went back to dark brown. After being bored of my ginger brown, I tried the blonde hair once more then straight to dark brown to give my hair a good rest.

Around six months later I was bored again & dyed my hair dark purple, this was one of my favourite hair colours, I think I’ll definitely go back to this colour one day because it was so nice and I really suited my purple lipstick with this hair haha.

I then dyed the side of my hair light enough to put different colours over it, started with lilac, then to bright pink and then blue. I then bleached my whole head and put pinky/lilac dye over which I loved and I really want that hair back too…

Here I am now with my black hair. I love having this hair colour as it is so close to my natural colour so suits me, but I also like having black hair because it looks so shiny and healthy (most of the time).

So why on earth am I sat here debating buying a box of bleach and some directions hair dye!? I feel like it is time for another hair change… maybe if it is just my fringe this time. Definitely bored of fully black hair at the moment though.

Hope my reminiscing of my past hair colours didn’t bore you reading this, was more fun for me thinking back to all the silly hair colours and styles I’ve had in the past!

Katie xo

Graduation - 15th July 2015

Graduation has to be one of the best days I’ve had this year, my family were so proud of me which made me extremely happy. I had to be at uni for 8.15am which meant being awake for around 6am, I will admit it was a struggle but I was so excited for the day ahead.

The day before graduation my two year old nephew ruined a surprise my mum had planned for me, he had been out shopping with her and ran in shouting “CAKE IN CAR, CAKE IN CAR, NANNY GOT CAKE IN CAR” which really made me laugh a lot, I knew straight away my mum had planned a cake and had surprises for the meal we were going to after graduation. Although the cake surprise was ruined I felt happy that Harris was so excited by my cake that he just wanted to tell me haha.

At Uni I met up with my friends and got registered, then it was time to get our robes, the part I was really excited for (even though I wasn’t happy my fringe had to be pushed out my face although I had hairspray it to death that morning resulting in my fringe going in all sort of directions when I took my hat off ha!)

The ceremony was long but I’m glad I went to it, the thing that made it feel even longer was the fact I’d downed a bottle of water as I’d first sat down, half an hour into the ceremony I was dying for a wee!! So annoying! We graduated with Liam Fray, the lead singer of Manchester band The Courteeners which was quite cool! It was time for my class to queue up and walk across the stage one by one, luckily we were going up in three’s which took the pressure off a little. Myself and my friend Shaf walked up together (and another person in my class but by that point my head had already blurred and I couldn’t hear anything else around me except the screams and chants coming from my friends and family which was really nice but extremely nerve-wracking!

After graduation was over we went straight outside for photos with the class and my lecturer, I met back up with my family and had more photos. After some food (as I had eaten all morning) I handed my robes back (sob!) and headed home.

After an hour or so of napping myself and Luke got ready again and jumped in a taxi ready to meet my family who were already out waiting for us at the restaurant. The table was decorated with Congratulation balloons which was lovely! (Thanks mum).

After we’d had the meal the waitress decided to bring my cake over which was the best cake ever, an Avengers cake, chosen by my 2 year old nephew (it was either that or a football one and my brother knew I’d love the avengers cake).

I absolutely loved graduation and felt so proud graduating with my class. Lovely day & memories I’ll keep with me forever!

Katie xo 

University

University felt like a second chance for me; after college I went straight into looking for work as I was so done with education & college wasn’t the best time of my life (I hated the place!) I started working in an accountant’s as an administrator and after a year there I realised it just wasn’t for me. Although I never regret the decision to take that job at the accountants as I made a friend for life whilst working there (Sarah!) and I actually really enjoyed working with the people I met there but I decided it was time to give University a shot.

After a few phone calls with my future lecturer it all seemed to be set in stone & in September I would be leaving work and going to start my first year at University of Salford, Media City campus which I was so excited for.

First year of University went so quick; as our class was quite small compared to the usual lectures, there was only a few girls in my class we all decided to stick together.

Second year I decided to put my head down and get on with my work, I realised how much I wanted to get a good grade overall. I began working on a stall in Afflecks Palace which really helped me get on with my revision, I would sit for 7 hours straight on a tiny stall selling unique bags, the stall was often quiet which was the time I would sit revising. I passed second year with really good grades which I was really proud of.

Third Year of university was definitely the most difficult (as you would imagine), as well as a crazy amount of work, I also decided it would be a good idea to move out of my mum’s house (the house that I’d lived in with my family since I was born) and move into an apartment with my boyfriend, Luke. It was extremely stressful to say the least and thinking back now I’m so surprised we actually got through all of the stress, but we did!

As well as moving; I had an exam, presentation, 10,000 word Dissertation and a Systems Design project where I had to design an outside broadcast truck (from schematics and layouts to power and equipment) plus a 6,000 word write up to go with it. I found the Systems Design project the hardest, it was so stressful & I would be sat for hours and hours trying to get my head around what I had to do next, and then there was panic that I was doing it all wrong, all my uni friends were going through the same as me and we often had moments where we would crack & text each other crying laughing at the most random things.

Overall at University I graduated with a 2:1 in Media Technology which I am extremely proud of, I think if it wasn’t for putting my head down in Second year I wouldn’t have got the grade I did, although to my surprise, I did acheive a 1^st for the Systems Design project which I was extremely shocked and proud of.

My university experience was not about going out and being a real ‘student’ getting drunk every night, I went to uni for my degree and now I’m very happy I achieved the result I wanted. I wouldn’t change anything about my experience at Uni and it’ll always hold some good memories for me, Ffion, Kim, Amy & Shaf, you lot helped me through uni a lot! Thanks guys x

Graduation came around & I was so proud of myself and my friends that we’d all got to the final part of University together.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my University experience, probably not as detailed & wild as some people’s uni life but I really enjoyed it.

Katie xo

Becoming Vegetarian

On the 4^th May 2015, I was sat watching one of my favourite tv shows; Gogglebox. In this particular episode it had a clip from the programme Bear Grylls; I’ve never watched any of the Bear Grylls shows but I’ve heard what they’re all about. The clip showed a group of girls trapped on an island looking for food & trying to live off basics. The group of girls were searching a particular part of the island for food, this is when they spotted a pig innocently lay down; they literally dived on the pig to kill it and eat it.

I know for a fact this isn’t exactly how pigs and other animals are killed for human consumption but I’m guessing it isn’t far off. Just to see this little animal so innocent, then to be slaughtered in the most disgusting way seriously knocked me sick. The way it affected me made me realise I really didn’t want anything to do with killing animals and by this I decided to never eat meat again, two months down the line and I’m still vegetarian.

This was a quite a shock for most of my friends and family but everyone has been so supportive which I never thought, I basically thought people would laugh at me or say I’m just being silly or fussy but everyone I’ve spoken to really respects my decision. My mum doesn’t really understand why I’ve become veggie, she once said to me whilst in Nandos “You’re not having chicken? Its only small” which made me laugh so much but no mum, I don’t eat chicken no matter the size ha!
 My dad has been really supportive which actually surprised me the most, every time I see him he asks how I’m getting on & seems really interested in what I’m actually eating now, he’s even said to me he wishes he could do it too.
 My boyfriend Luke has been the most supportive, he was there the night we watched Gogglebox & saw how I reacted to seeing the pig being slaughtered. When people have doubted me (basically say I won’t last as a vegetarian) Luke always stands up for me & says he knows my determination & knows how serious I am about it.

The night I watched that show I actually cried for the poor pig, it made me see things from a completely different view, basically a view I never ever thought I’d see. I always liked the ‘idea’ of being vegetarian but I always said I’d never be able to do it & here I am.
 I found becoming veggie much easier than I expected, as for Quorn as a substitute I’ve realised there is so much of it I’m not keen on, Quorn Mince is just not the same as Beef mince so I stay away from it. Quorn Sausages, on the other hand are the best sausages I’ve ever had!
 

Although I have only tried Linda McCartney Peri Peri burgers I really enjoyed them & intend to try so much more of the range.

Three questions I get asked a lot;

What do you eat?
I eat the same as meat eaters just without the meat! Haha

Are you doing it to lose weight?
No, apparently it’s a healthy lifestyle but it just means I end up eating more cheese & bread which will not help me diet at all! Haha

Do you not miss chicken or bacon?
To be honest, I’ve forgotten what they taste like so no, I don’t

I hope this blog post gives you a bit of an insight to why I decided to become vegetarian. Please let me know if you’ve recently become vegetarian, it’d be nice to be able to talk to others about it!

Katie xo

Photography Day