Time To Get Organised

Hello Everyone :)

One of my goals/resolutions for this year is to get organised and to STAY organised for the WHOLE year! Most years I say that I want to get organised and get my life together, but then I usually fail by the end of January...if I even get that far!

I knew that I had to do something differently if I wanted to keep it up this year, so for Christmas I asked for THE most amazing planner/diary so that I can keep a check on what I'm supposed to be doing and when I should be doing it. I also got The Happiness Planner, which is something that I've wanted for a very long time! 

So with the help of both of these things, *I'm hoping*, I will have a very productive and organised year!

This planner/diary is incredible! As soon as I laid eyes on it, I fell in love...and I never thought that would happen to me...with a diary.

But anyway, this is called the Ban.do Sunshine Academic Diary 2016-2017, and it is glorious! I can't say enough good things about it, so I thought I'd write it all down...

I got this planner from John Lewis, after looking for SO long to find it in a UK shop and at a reasonable price, which I finally found here. It costs £26 (which I thought was pretty reasonable as it literally plans out your whole life for you) but you can find it on their own website here as well.

The main focus of this diary is to get your life in order and to make it a whole lot easier. Each month has a "month to view" section, kind of like a wall calendar, and then it splits each week down to have a week on each page. There is plenty of space to write in all the stuff that your busy life entails. But one of my favourite parts about it is that THERE ARE STICKERS!!!! 

These stickers just make this diary a lot more fun! They are so beautiful and well made and are in a wide range of designs; from aeroplanes to nail appointment stickers - whatever you're doing in life, there is a sticker for it (there are also additional stickers that you can buy, if you run out or need some extras).

My favourite part about the whole diary is the colourful design and how easy it is to use! I get a diary every single year, but this by far has to be my favourite one I've ever had!

So to any of you looking to get organised this year, or at least look like you're getting organised (haha!), then I would say that this is the planner for you! It's easy to use, has stickers, and is a nice and usable size (in a5).

Now, this is my favourite thing I think I have ever been given in my whole entire life! This is The Happiness Planner!

I got given this for my birthday last year, in August, but I was waiting for the right time to use it; like a significant thing to happen in my life, or the start of a new month. But with each new month came new challenges and I soon forgot all about this bad boy. However, as it is now 2017, I thought what better way to start off the year than by using my Happiness Planner.

You can get one here, and they have many different designs to choose from, you can also decide the length of your diary too. So you can go for only 100 days (like my one), or you can get the 365 day one. But they are all beautiful. The prices vary, depending on which one you want, which website you get it from, and what country you're in, so make sure you do your research before you buy one!

The main focus of this planner is to "focus on what makes you happy". The whole idea of "do more of what makes you happy" and all that jazz has always been something that I've tried to focus on, so this planner is absolutely perfect for people trying to make the most of life and getting all they can out of it.

The planner starts with "The Happiness Roadmap", where it asks you 13 questions about how you feel right now, about the things that make you happy and unhappy, what you want to get out of this planner etc. Filling these out really helps you to analyse the things that trigger your happiness and unhappiness.

Before starting the 100 days of happiness process, it asks you to rate how you feel, with a scale from 1-5; 5 being the good feelings, and 1 being the bad feelings. Then it begins...

Each week starts with a weekly plan, so you can see what you're up to this week and so you can prioritise your time wisely.

Each day has a quote to start off, for example "The best investment you'll ever make is in yourself. Never stop exploring, learning,experiencing, and becoming a better person every day" - Mo Seetubtim. This is such a great feature as it gets you thinking as soon as you open the page!

You then fill out what you're excited about for the day, what your main focus is, what your exercises are (still not sure if this means physical exercises or mental exercises, but anyway), and what your meals are for the day. This again, just helps to plan out your day, and keeps you organised.

It then asks you to fill out your schedule and make a to do list.... Now if you're anything like me and you LOVE to make lists then this feature is incredible! I just love the feeling you get when you cross off all things you have on your to do list.

Then at the end of the day it asks you to fill out the good things about the day and what you hope for tomorrow, already making you excited for the next day - I love it!

At the end of each week there is a weekly reflection page where it asks you to rate how you feel again, what the good and bad things were, what you learned, what/who you're thankful for and what you want to improve on for next week.

I just can't say enough good things about this planner! It has changed my perspective and my thinking on life in such a short space of time. It just gets you to focus more on the positive parts of life rather than the negative, and gets you to work on the negative parts so that they don't always have to stay negative!

It has such a fun and beautiful design and makes every day a joy. I wake up excited to write in it!

I would recommend this to anyone who is wanting to make the most of life and is wanting to increase their happiness - this planner will definitely do it for you!

Are you planning on getting organised this year? If so what planners/diaries do you recommend for doing so? Leave me a comment, I would LOVE to know!

Have a great week!

Jess x

The 5 Seconds Of Summer Experience

The fab 4

Hello Everyone :)
(If you haven't read about my experience at Wembley Arena leading up to the concert, then I suggest you read that one first here - also the show I went to was the 12th of June 2015)

WOW OH WOW
I think this is the most excited (and nervous - I don't know why ok?!) I've been to write a blog post ever ;)
Just to give an overview, 5 Seconds of Summer are the most incredible performers and you can tell that they give 110% into all that they're doing and that is so refreshing to see, despite them having performed these same songs night after night.

Firstly I would just like to start by saying that 5 Seconds of Summer create such an amazing and hyped up atmosphere before the show has even started with the songs that they play in the arena. With songs such as Back in Black by AC/DC, Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley and The Final Countdown by Europe, it helped to build up all of the excitement that every single person was feeling in that one place.

The support act "Hey Violet" weren't really to my taste, but I will give it to them, they got the crowd going and extra excited for 5SOS. I think they're just not for me - but each to their own :)

AND THEN IT WAS TIME

As soon as the lights went out and the countdown began, the arena erupted into a sea of screams and excited faces (me being one of them). Countdowns at concerts always add to anticipation - after waiting 337 days for this concert, we're now down to the final 60 seconds and nothing else matters in this moment apart from this.
And then that first guitar strum was heard and I've never heard screams like it.... And then the first drum beat was heard...... And then Ashton appeared..... And then the other boys did too..... And then fireworks and pyro started going off left right and centre..... And then they started playing End Up Here and everyone lost their chill.....

The first few songs were full of energy (such as the oldies but goodies Out Of My Limit and Heartbreak Girl), and the 5SOS lads' enthusiasm completely matched the crowds' - we built each other up and it was a beautiful thing to watch!
Then came the new song "Permanent Vacation", and I swear in that moment I had never been so hyped up. During this song 5SOS like to split the crowd into 3 different sections to get the chants and claps going. My side was Michael's section, with him calling us "my babies - my children", the middle section was Luke's and the other side was Calum's. Together, we were one mighty noisy beast.

Little Lukey

After a few more songs came Long Way Home, which is one of my personal favourites from the album. For this song Luke came forward to the little bit of stage that comes out - and the other boys were in complete darkness, it was little Lukey's time to shine! Here, he got the crowd to help him sing the opening of the song, which he then stopped singing and just let the crowd sing. And the look on Luke's face was so special, he looked so proud of the crowd for helping him out.

Rejects comes next, and if you are familiar with how a 5 Seconds Of Summer show goes, you will know that this is the part of the show where they bring a fan up on stage to play guitar. So someone from the floor section was chosen and she took Michael's guitar and began strumming. She claimed it was meant to be "You Give Love A Bad Name" by Bon Jovi but I would have to disagree haha! Although it was very entertaining and made me extremely jealous when she got a sweaty hug from all of the boys :(

Then after my all time favourite 5SOS song (Heartache On The Bug Screen) came the emotional section.... This section included Wrapped Around Your Finger, Amnesia, Beside You and Everything I Didn't Say.
The first time I ever listened to Wrapped Around Your Finger it was raining heavily outside, I was laying on the floor and then this song started playing. And I just started crying out of nowhere, and ever since that day this song has been one of my favourites and I always hoped that they would add it to the setlist AND THEY DID! This song was probably the one I was most looking forward to hearing live because of the emotion it has, and the guitar in it is so incredible. When doing it live, there are also a few note changes (my personal favourite coming from Luke) which add to the hype of this song, and also Michael's guitar solo is one you must pay attention to!

The muscles *insert heart eyes emoji*

Amnesia was also one of the songs I was most looking forward to hearing live because I feel like it sounds so much better live. I find that I can't even listen to the studio version of it because it just doesn't live up to the live version and I'm left disappointed (but I do love the song!). During this song, the crowd typically put the lights on on their phones and hold them up in the air and it creates the most amazing atmosphere. The crowd were also insanely loud at this show so they sang the lyrics back wholeheartedly! They kept stopping singing to just listen to us sing their lyrics back to them. It must be the most insane feeling.
And the harmonies in Beside you and Everything I Didn't Say were enough to make my whole body feel like jelly. Also Calum's bass solo in the beginning of Everything I Didn't Say was the most adorable thing because he just looked and sounded so vulnerable.

Also, Pizza happened....... That is all.

The 5SOS lads also did an awesome cover of Green Day's American Idiot. It really shows off all of their musical talents individually, with drum, bass and guitar solos. I don't think I've ever seen a crowd as excited as they were during this song.

Next was Kiss Me Kiss Me which is a song that I was never too keen on from the album (I know, shoot me). But hearing it live has completely changed my opinion of the song, I can easily listen and enjoy it now and that is the power that hearing a song live has! Just before the breakdown of the song, or as Michael described it "We're about to go full metal on your ass", Michael also told the crowd to jump and go crazy, and asked "can you do that?". But with me being crippled for this concert, I screamed back "NOOOO" and I recorded it and it makes me laugh every time haha!

Then came She Looks So Perfect, which they tried to make out was their last song, and some people did believe this as they attempted to leave but then they came back out aha!
This song is always a goodun live because it's the one that everyone knows and everyone gets involved with, and it's just a great environment.

Encore time!
Good Girls came first and it was just as energetic as if it was the first song that they had performed of the night - that being extremely energetic!
Finally, the song that everyone had been waiting for was performed which was What I Like About You. Honestly, this song is the most lively song I have ever seen live! Everyone just went crazy and partied like there was no tomorrow.

The final bow :(

Then it was time to come home :(
And everything sounded like it was underwater and I couldn't talk just over a whisper as I had sung/screamed so much, but that is when you know that you had a great time ;)

Michael doing his thing

And here are just a few added extra details for you all; this show was filmed for their DVD which added to everyone's excitement as we all wanted it to be the best show possible (even though Calum still forgot the lyrics to Don't Stop...).
Niall from One Direction was at this show too, but I found this out when I got home, and he was stood like directly under where I was sat, but it still made me happy because he loves 5SOS and they love him - it's a beautiful friendship!
At one point in the show, Ashton asked everyone to hold up their banners and "art" as he called it. So I lifted my knee/leg into the air and waved it around because my surgeon did a damn good job on sorting my ACL out and I wanted them to know hahaha, I am so weird.
Finally, at so many points during the show Michael would look out into the crowd with so much love and awe in his eyes that it made me feel so proud of him. It was almost like he couldn't quite believe that this was his life, and that made me feel really happy because we (the fans) had put him on that stage and had made him feel that way. It just makes me feel good :)

So I had one of the best nights and it was all thanks to the lovely lads that are 5 Seconds Of Summer. They just put so much effort into each song and it makes everyone in the crowd so pumped and ready for the next song.
This is my experience of my 4th 5SOS show, you can leave me a comment about your experience of seeing 5SOS, or if you're going to see them soon leave me a comment of when your date is, I would love to hear from you :)
Stay positive and keep on being you x

A Concert With A Knee Injury

The limited edition poster for the
Wembley shows

Hello Everyone :)
For the readers that are familiar with my blog, you will know that I had knee surgery in the last 3 months, but for those of you who aren't too familiar I'll give a little bit of background information.
So about 10 months ago I tore something called the ACL. This is the Anterior Cruciate Ligament and it basically prevents over-rotation in the knee, and allows you to be able to run, jump and change direction suddenly. After an accident at gymnastics, I tore this, and 3 months ago I had surgery to fix it. The rehab process is rather extensive and takes around 9 months to just about get back to normal - so going to a concert, I was obviously very sceptical!

5 Seconds Of Summer are one of my favourite bands ever and they've put on a damn good live show every time I've seen them - which is 4 times now ;) They are just so energetic and excited on stage that the audience vibe off them, and have the best night ever!
And this time was no different....

Ahead of my attendance at the concert, I emailed Wembley Arena (where it was being held) about potentially moving my seats. This is because my seats were incredibly high up in the arena - and as I was going to be on crutches, I needed lots of leg room, which would not have been possible in my original seats.
They got back to me and told me that I had to print off the email and then on the day of the concert report to the Box Office to see what they could do. As this was left on rather an ambiguous note, I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but I knew that I obviously had to go!
I left that whole situation alone as there was nothing more I could do for now, so I started to prepare for the concert!

My VERY excitable countdown ;)

Once the day had arrived (the 12th June 2015), it was like a dream come true! After 337 days of waiting, the day had finally arrived and I was very blooming excited!
I spent the day in and around London as I had some time to kill and the weather managed to stay dry *hooray* so that was a bonus. Although the tube was rather difficult at rush hour and with me being on crutches, people weren't always the kindest...
But this couldn't dim the amount of excitement that I had for what was to come.

Wembley Arena :)

On my arrival at the venue (which is bloody beautiful, may I add), we headed straight to the Box Office - I got there about 1 hour before the doors opened just to give myself enough time to sort things out. Here, I showed the woman the email and she took my old tickets and exchanged them for brand spanking new ones.... WHICH WERE MUCH CLOSER THAN MY OTHER ONES AND I HAD LOADS OF LEG ROOM, HELL YEAH! We were also at the front of our section, so it meant that no one would be in my way of seeing the 5SOS lads if I needed to sit down. I was honestly so so thankful that it actually worked out for the best, and I'd be able to get a better look at 5SOS ;)
All hyped up and happy, I then crutched my way over to the merch stand (which was outside), where a woman who worked at Wembley told me the queue inside was much smaller and it may be easier considering I'm on crutches. So inside I went, and I got all of my merch and whatnot, then me and my sister sat down until the doors were open.
Once we had sat down another woman who worked at Wembley approached us and asked us if we wanted to go up to the Rewards/VIP lounge for free as they had some upgrade tickets left, and it may have been more comfortable for my knee. So of course we said yes! This woman was super nice and she showed us where we'd have to go in to the arena, and was asking us about 5SOS too and how to pronounce their abbreviated name aha ;) The lounge was super nice and comfy and it was great to be away from all of the madness!
Then 6:30 came along and it was time to take our seats in the arena....

Living that VIP life ;)

Ok this post turned out to be way longer than I anticipated, so I'm going to split this post into 2 halves ;) This half is more of an appraisal to Wembley Arena as they were so lovely to me and really catered for my needs so that I could have a great night. I'm honestly so thankful for their service and kindness! But the next post will include LOADS more about 5SOS and the actual show itself, so look out for that!
Leave me a comment if you've been to see 5 Seconds Of Summer before, or if you're going to see them because I would love to hear about it.
Stay positive and keep on being you x

5 Seconds of Summer Album Review

WOW.

JUST WOW.


Ok, I meant to upload this post a few days after the album was released at the end of June but as per, life happened and I forgot. BUT I am here now and that is all that matters! Before this post gets flowing, I would just like to apologise in advance just in case this gets a little crazy or over the top but hey it's a great album so it's ok.

First of all if you don't know who 5 Seconds of Summer are (where the hell have you been?!), they are a pop punk/pop rock band from Australia and have completely dominated the world of music and rightly so as their debut album proves. The commercial release of their single "She Looks So Perfect" saw this band gain their first UK number 1, as well as numerous number 1's across the world. This then sparked a much larger interest in them from fans around the globe and resulted in these boys becoming one of the biggest bands in the world.

I ordered the deluxe fanzine edition of the album with the T shirt.

Their debut self-titled album "5 Seconds of Summer" is a perfect compilation of new and old songs that were adored by so many, including myself. This automatically made the album a winner with their undeniably dedicated fans. With songs such as "Heartbreak Girl" and "Beside You" often being crowd favourites during their live shows, it was clear that these songs had to make it to the album! Some of the newer stand outs being "English Love Affair" (which I can see being a right corker on their arena tour next year) and "Long Way Home".

My personal favourites from the album would have to be "Long Way Home", "English Love Affair" and "Never Be". For me I think these are the stand out songs and when I first heard them I fell in love. Once I heard the clip on Instagram of "Long Way Home", I knew that it would be one of my favourites! The concept of the song is just so sweet and I thought that it would sound perfect driving along the beach with all the windows down. And of course, how can you not love "English Love Affair"?! I don't think I've seen/heard one person say that they didn't like this song! I can only imagine how crazy this is going to be on their tour next year, and I am very VERY excited to see it. Finally, "Never Be" is such an adorable little song. Right from the first verse, with Luke's innocent vulnerable voice, I am sooo done. And then the chorus comes along and I'm about ready to explode, basically I just love this song a lot!

And I know reviews are meant to have an opposite opinion or whatever, but with this album I genuinely can not think of any faults! And that is being completely truthful! I know I know, I'm so biased and blah blah but this album is incredible and I feel like there is something on it for everyone.

3 Word Review (of each song):
1.) She Looks So Perfect - Classic, Crowd favourite
2.) Don't Stop - Rocky, Punky, Energetic
3.) Good Girls - Can't beat it!
4.) Kiss Me Kiss Me - Anthemic, Future hit!
5.) 18 - SO PUNK ROCK
6.) Everything I Didn't Say - Sweet, Strong vocals
7.) Beside You - Emotional, Perfect, Cute
8.) End Up Here - Energetic, Personal favourite
9.) Long Way Home - Perfect car song
10.) Heartbreak Girl - Gotta love it!
11.) English Love Affair - Favourite on album
12.) Amnesia - Calum kills me
13.) Social Casualty - Anthemic, So punk
14.) Never Be - Luke kills me
15.) Voodoo Doll - Always a favourite

AND BREATHE.
*Sighs* Sooo, aha! I think it's safe to say that this album is amazing and I believe that you all should buy it! (Which you can do so here) And if you're reading this, I'm hoping that you feel the same way. Anyway, if you've read all of the above then CONGRATS, I hope you enjoyed it. Also, if you've heard a song or album recently that you think is incredible, that you think I should listen to, then please leave a comment :)