That's My Cupcake!

For all who know me, it's no secret that I love to bake. So much so, that I've long envisioned one day opening my own little cupcake emporium. It's incredibly frustrating, and difficult, to find simple, exciting new recipes but I managed to find a delightful little magazine called, quite simply, Cake Decorating. I frantically searched high and low for the mag in literally every shop I walked into for a few days before the temptation got to me and I ended up subscribing.

Issue One came with a gorgeous gingham cardboard cupcake stand, two differently-sized butterfly cutters, and pink glitter. A godsend, if I'm honest, considering I've paid upwards of £3 for decorating glitter before! The easy-to-follow instructions in the mag have excited me beyond all reason, leading me to believe that I absolutely will ensure I turn my family into a family of cake and biscuit addicts!

I wasn't able to restrain myself from snapping up the second issue when I saw it in my local shop! This girl loves her baking too much to simply wait a few days...

Issue Two came complete with three reusable icing bags and nozzles. I've read mixed reviews about the bags online, but I'm sure anything is better than the disastrous bags I used for my Mother's Day cupcakes which literally exploded and ensured there was more chocolate icing on me than there were on the cakes!

I rarely rave about anything - especially magazines! - but it's rare that I feel so excited about a product. I've long waited for something that shares my enthusiasm about baking, decorating, and sharing and it's finally arrived in the form of Cake Decorating. I'm that one step closer to cupcake delirium.

An ode to (500) Days of Summer...

I'm about to sound incredibly hipster-like, but I've always loved The Smiths, long before (500) Days of Summer entered the realm. That's primarily because my mum had epic taste in music and passed that on to me, and partly because I went through the stereotypical miserable-teenager stage which had me listening to The Smiths, Joy Division and The Cure almost continuously. Morrissey and Johnny Marr shall forever be gods in my mind.

I was 18 when a little non-linear film entered my life. I was just beginning to leave my miserable teenager shell and grow into an adult (some may argue I'm still stuck there almost three years later, but we'll leave that for another day). Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel brought the characters of Tom and Summer to life and, for once, my kooky little indie-self suddenly became the 'cool' thing. Most indie kids would fall apart at something like that happening, but I completely celebrate it.

Anything that enables people to discover new music or experiences I'm all for. Any film that features a dance sequence to a Hall & Oates song deserves to be immensely popular and celebrated. And as I sit here alone on a Saturday night watching this film, I'm suddenly revelling in my kooky, indie, Smiths loving self. Especially now that people understand it's not a phase. It's simply who I am.

Well hello there...

It's been a while since I updated this lovely little blog. Bad Amy! I admit, I've been too busy for it. How incredibly terrible of me!

A lot has happened since our last meeting. I've gone and got myself a real job! Yes it's still an evil job, and one that consumes my evenings and weekends, but it's a real job with real people and - perhaps most importantly - real money. The funemployment is over, and I admit I have shed an imaginary tear at that thought, but now I can begin moving on to bigger and better things.

On top of that, my months and months of trying has finally led to the creation of Chasing Alice! Not many people are particularly interested in my little side project, but I'm trying my hardest to get people to notice. I'm all for more contributors, or feedback. Alice isn't just for me to chase, there's magic for everyone out there!

Making waves...

Okay, 'waves' is the wrong word. But Chasing Alice is up and running. Yes, the name is terrible but it was the only thing my awful brain could come up with at 3am. It won't officially be up and running for a few weeks yet - leaving enough time to hopefully find some contributors. I believe that everyone has a voice, a positive one, and have hopefully created an environment where people will be able to express that voice. Chasing Alice won't be my site, it will be yours. It will belong to anyone who reads or contributes to it.

Although the project is in it's infancy at the moment, it will eventually become a creative hub where people can write, sing, photograph, draw or whatever to their hearts' content. Sort of a sharing place where the contributors will detail things that inspire them, or just simply share favourite memories, music, books, etc. in the hope that other people will also feel enlightened or inspired, and thus creating a little environment where people are free to express themselves through the arts.

If you have anything you would like to submit, or perhaps any questions you would like answered, the Chasing Alice team can be contacted through http://chasingalice.tumblr.com/. Yes, the site is pretty bare at the moment, but that will change with your input. Make 'Alice' the site you want it to be!

I’m laying in bed, watching Philosopher’s Stone, and avoiding the important conversation I’ve been meaning to have with myself. It’s an all too common conversation and I’m absolutely dreading the thought of having to have it again. Instead, I’m distracting myself with Harry Potter and all the glorious childhood memories it’s bringing back. Back then, I wasn’t such a confused, neurotic individual. Instead, I was convinced that magick, in all of it’s glory, truly existed. I spent my days pretending I was Alice, searching for the rabbit hole every where I went. When I wasn’t desperately trying to be Alice, I instead created my own characters. I would bribe my younger sister into playing with me, forcing her to live out my imagination in front of any family members who would sit and watch for longer than five minutes. I would write stories, countless stories, about the most bizarre things. Some of them were pretty awful (including one ‘novel’ written aged 5 about a boy called ‘Charlam’. I couldn’t pick between Charlie and Adam, so he was stuck with the name Charlam. There was a whole series about him!) but some of them truly captured my warped imagination and limitless optimism. And thinking about all of this has got me thinking: What happened to our imaginations? Why does all of that magick and wonder have to disappear once we become adults? Why do we need to grow up? I’m not too keen on that school of though. So I’ve had an idea. One that will keep me amused, entertained, and enthralled. Send me your favourite stories of childhood imagination to my inbox. Your stories will remain private unless you express that you want them published on my blog. I’m fascinated to hear your stories. Will we ever grow up? Should we ever have to? Let me know… Don’t be shy!

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It's 2012! We made it! I made it! I've developed a new fondness for exclamation marks!!!

Seriously, I can't believe that we have made it through yet another year. 2011 wasn't the best year (it wasn't the worst year) but I'm shocked I made it through relatively unscathed. And I sat down today to write out my New Year's Resolutions. Thinking that I'd only come up with two or three, my notebook suddenly had a three-page long list of resolutions. Some are slightly obvious (get a job, become healthier, quit bickering with Val) but some are slightly bemusing, even to me. It's incredible what your mind can come up with when you're not forcing ideas out. 

I doubt 2012 will be my year (after all, I'll still only be 21 at the end of it) but I've got a good feeling about the year. Maybe it's because I feel liberated from the god-awful job I found myself in last year, maybe it's because I honestly feel safe and comfortable with the people in my life, or maybe it's just because I know it's finally my turn to have an amazing year. Either way, I'm not going to think about it too much (another New Year's Resolution - Stop overanalysing everything).. I'm just going to enjoy it and hope that this good feeling lasts. It's been a while since I've felt so happy, I'm gonna cling on to it as much as possible.*

*Give it three weeks and I'll probably be saying "2012 is The. Worst. Year. Of. My. Life." It wouldn't surprise me.