My Concert Experiences

Considering I'm 17, I'd say I've been to quite a few concerts. My first concert was in 2012 and overally, I've been to 4 and have 2 coming up in 2015, so I don't think I've done too badly. So I've decided to explain to you how my concert experiences were as they were all very different.

1. Ed Sheeran at Le Trianon in Paris, 18th November 2012

For starters your probably thinking 'Paris??? But you live in England??'. Well as you can imagine, in 2012 Ed Sheeran was just really rising to fame with his first album, so everywhere in England sold out pretty quickly as all the venues were pretty small. So my mums friend had the idea 'why don't we go to Paris?? They're not sold out there!' So we did. My friend, her parents, my parents and I all went to Paris and I'm so glad we did. The venue only held 2000 people, and we were standing, so we got an AMAZING view. The opening act was Passenger, who most of you know now as the who sang 'Let Her Go' which he hadn't released yet, but did perform. Anyway,for a first concert experience at age 15, this was pretty amazing. Also, it was on my birthday! Which was another reason we chose to go to this concert in Paris.

So although our feet hurt for standing for so long,and a girl in front of us fainted, Ed was INCREDIBLE and I mean incredible. He probably sounds better live than in the studio, which shows he's an amazing performer all round. I'm still not over this concert and doubt I ever will be.

We were so close!

2. Capital FM Jingle Bell Ball at the O2 arena in London (I can't remember the exact date) around December 2013.

The Capital FM Jingle Bell Ball is one of those things which happen around Christmas and you have multiple artists that perform. So I decided I might as well go, no matter who's really performing, as I'll get to see a load of people for the price of one. If I can remember correctly, I saw Olly Murs, Union J, James Arthur, Disclosure, Naughty Boy and Sam Smith (together), Ellie Goulding, Tinie Tempah and Katy Perry. I might be missing someone out, but they are the ones I really remember as I don't have any photos so I can't remember exactly who was there. But this was also VERY good. I wasn't a particularly huge fan of anyone but it was still an amazing show. Sam Smith was there, and he's an insane hit now,but back then he'd only really done 'La La La' so everyone was shocked by how good he was live. However the shock of the night was how amazing Tinie Tempah is live. He was AMAZING and it's a shame I don't have any videos, but he got the entire arena on their feet and jumping, which was amazing. Everything was amazing! Although, I'd say this concert was the least enjoyable of the 4 I've been too, it was still a lot of fun.

3. One Direction at Wembley Stadium in London, June 8th 2014.

Yes, I went and saw One Direction. Yes, I am a fan of One Direction. This concert was insane, for more reasons than one. I went there with my friend, who is borderline obsessed with One Direction, and I was a fan too, and it was the day before my maths GCSE exam. (We both passed maths, so no motherly lectures please). Wembley Stadium fits 80,000 people so you can imagine I was nervous about 80,000 screaming girls. But it was a lot of fun this concert, as you felt like you weren't being judged at all, and that feeling is so great. Anyway, the supporting act was 5 Seconds of Summer, who I absolutely LOVE so when I found that out I was ecstatic.Their performance was amazing,and really pumped us up. And then One Direction came on. Like I said, it was INSANE. Their was a power surge when they came on, and the whole Wembley shopping complex had a power cut. It was such an amazing atmosphere throughout the whole concert.We were singing along to every word, and they're actually really good live. Like, genuinely. At the end of the night, my ears were ringing, and that'show you know you've been to a brilliant concert. (PS: They all looked good as hell. I'm not even ashamed to say). This concert was probably the most fun out of all of them.

Our seats (not too bad)

Panorama during 'Little Things'. Sooooo pretty.

4. Ed Sheeran at the O2 arena in London. 13th October 2014.

Yes, I was so enthralled by Ed Sheeran the first time, I went to see him again. I wa not dissapointed. After Ed's second album came out (which is amazing) I just thought, I have to go see him live again.I HAVE TO. So two of my friends and I (one of those friends I also went to One Direction with) went up to London on a Monday to go see him. This was the first time I'd been to London without a parent, so it was pretty terrifying but completely worth it. It was a much bigger crowd this time,around 15,000 but this made no different as Ed was still there with just him and his guitar. The entire concert was amazing,and 5 people proposed throughout t it. 3 of those during 'Thinking Out Loud'. It was insane, you'd just hear a random screaming from one side of the arena and BAM a couple is engaged. The thing I love about Ed Sheeran concerts is the age literally ranges from 9 to 99. You get all sorts of people there,and it's all just such fun,and no-one is judging you. You don;t get any snobby fans with Ed Sheeran, they're just all there to see an amazing artist give a great performance. This was probably my favourite concert of them all. PS; It was Saint Raymond who was the supporting act and he was amazing! Everyone should check him out!)

We arrived like 3 hours early. So we spent a lot of time on the floor.

He's so small compared to the first time I saw him:(

Possibly the coolest photo I have ever taken.

So those are all the concerts I've been to, and I've been very lucky to be able to get seats to all of them. They were all very good, but the 1D one was definitely the most fun, and the Ed Sheeran ones were the best overall, the second one moreso than the first. However, I enjoyed allof them which is why I have got two concerts planned for this year.

I'm going to see Ed Sheeran again. Yep, a third time. However, this concert is in Wembley Stadium, so I can literally say I've been to every stage of proper concerts that Ed has done. I'm going with my Mum as no-one else could afford to go, and it's in June or July I think. I can't really remember if I'm honest.

In May, I believe, I'm going to see 5 Seconds of Summer. They supported 1D but this is the first time I've seen them headlining and I'm SO excited. I absolutely love their album and I just can't wait to se them perform all my favourite songs. I'm going to se them at Wembley arena (not stadium) and I literally can't wait.

I hope you liked reading about my concert experiences and I would defintely recommend going to see both Ed Sheeran and One Direction, especially if you're umming and ahhhing about it, JUST GO FOR IT.

I love concerts as they have the most wonderful atmospheres. There's nothing more beautiful than a thousands of people coming to share in a musical experience.I can't wait to go to more and more concerts as I get older,as I don't think you ever really grow out of concerts.

Much Love,

RubyLauren xx

Liebster Award

I've been nominated for the Liebster Award by the lovely Bekah (thank you so much btw)! This is so weird as I literally thought all the page views on my blog were my own, but there's actual people that look at it! Woah! but anyway...

These are the rules;

1. Thank the person who nominated you.(Again, thank you)

2. Answer the questions from the nominator

3. Nominate other bloggers (with less than 200 followers)

4. Create 11 new questions for nominees to answer

5. Notify nominees through social media/blogs

1. Your favourite thing about blogging?

My favourite thing about blogging is probably the fact I can post whatever I want to/things I enjoy talking about and no-one judges me! That's pretty cool.

2. You favourite make up item you've ever bought?

Collection 2000 Gothic Glam Lipstick in Revenge. (I may do a post about it) It's the shade of lipstick that makes me feel like I can do anything!

3. If you won £100,000 what would you spend it on?

I'd save loads of it for university money, and probably buy a car and go on holiday to Greece and NYC!

4. Who influences you?

Lots of people influence me...other bloggers, my family and friends, various celebrities. It depends what I'm being influenced on!

5. What is your favourite song at the moment?

Either Bad Blood or Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift (1989 is INCREDIBLE and I am completely addicted atm)

6. Who is your celeb crush?

I have SO MANY,but my main ones are probably Zayn Malik, Zac Efron and Young Hugh Grant and Leo Dicaprio

7. If you could meet anyone, who would it be?

Probably Louise SprinkleOfGlitter as she seems like the most lovely person on the planet and she really inspires me.

8. Your favourite make up brand?

MAC for an 'expensive' brand,and Natural Collection by Boots for a cheap one. They're pretty much the only two brands I use

9. What is your favourite TV show?

At the moment? Pretty Little Liars

10. Why did you want to start blogging?

I kinda wanted to start a youtube channel all about lifestyle/travel/beauty but don't quite have the confidence, so I started blogging!

11. Where is your favourite place to eat out?

Wagamamas. 100%

Now I nominate...

Mostly Demure

E for Emily

Oh So Daisy

And your questions are?

1. What's your favourite thing about where you live?

2. What would your dream pet be?

3. If you got 3 free holidays to anywhere in the world, where would you go?

4. Who/what inspired you to start a blog?

5. What's your favourite season of the year?

6. Which TV/Movie character/s would you like to meet in real life?

7. First thing you look for in a romantic partner?

8. What job would you like to have in the future?

9. Favourite sweet/candy?

10. What's your favourite clothes shop?

11. Favourite album?

Thank you for reading, and I'll see you again on Sunday

Much love, RubyLauren xx

New Year, New Beach Hut?!

So my family have been on a waiting list to get a beach hut in my area for around 6 years, and then finally, it the very end of last year/beginning of this year, we finally got to the top of the waiting list and got a beach hut! It might not seem like the most exciting thing, but when you live in a seaside town you sort of take the beach for granted a bit, but now we have the beach hut,we don;t have a choice but to use it! 

We went down the beach to see it the other day,when it was sunny but super cold, and I took a few snaps! So enjoy!

View along the beach from our hut!

idk, i thought this was a cute shot

the previous owners of the hut left some really cute decorations and bits in it
for us, which was incredibly lovely!

cute little sign

even more cute bunting

view of the sea from inside

view from outside (a little bit scruffy)

my niece checking things out!

I really can't wait to spend hours on the beach in the spring/summer with friends, family, or even on my own! I've always loved going down the beach,and now I can spend even more time down there!

And as an update, I'll most likely be posting weekly rather than every couple of days, as I've got tonnes of college work to do pretty much all the time. So you can expect posts every Sunday!

Thanks for reading!

Much love, RubyLauren xx

Goals For 2015

It's that time of the year where people start making New Year's resolutions, and I have made some in the past, but never have I kept one. So instead I'm going to set myself reachable goals to achieve throughout the year. I feel like this is a better way to do things, so then you have something to aim for throughout the year! So I thought I would share the goals I'm making, so I'm more determined to achieve them!

1. Get good AS Level grades, and apply for suitable universities.
This is something that I REALLY want to do. I recently got pretty good GCSE grades this summer and I'm hoping that I can carry on the spell of good grades with my AS Level exams. The universities I want to apply for are not easy to get in to, so I want to achieve good grades so I can have a chance of getting in to these universities. It's going to be a lot of work, and quite frankly already is, but I'm hoping I can push pass the immense stress and use it to my advantage. At the moment, I'm hoping to study for a BA in linguistics at university, but that could change by the time I end up applying. So that's what I'm aiming to apply for in December, so watch this space to see whether I actually for it or whether I completely change my mind, as that's very possible.

2. Lose 1 more stone of weight and feel more body confident.
This is something I am doing FOR MYSELF, just to confirm. I've lost two stone over the past two years, so I'm hoping another stone will be achievable. I'm tall, so I don't want to lose too much more as it may become a health risk, so I'm aiming for a nice healthy weight. In 2014, I became more confident in my body as I lost weight, and there's just little bits of my body which I'd like to be just a bit flatter. All I've done in previous years is eat much more healthily, as I used to eat a horrendous amount of junk food. I know how to lose weight sensibly, as I've been doing it for a couple years, so I'm confident I can lose this last stone in a healthy, sensible way; which is also why I've given myself a year to do it. My self-conciousness has dropped dramatically over the past couple years, and I can't wait for it to be at a level at which I am fully confident in myself and my body, and I hope that happens this year. No, actually, it will happen this year.#Motivation

3.Keep this blog going.
This is a much smaller goal than others, but I really want to achieve it. I've tried started blogs and journals and even youtube channels before but it hasn't lasted. Whereas this one will. I'll try to be more regular with my posts as the year goes on, but I'm only starting out right now. I will get better with the format of my posts,and my photos will become better quality eventually. But, my main goal is to just keep it going. Keep posting, and lets hope I'm still here in December

And lastly, my most important goal,

3.Be more positive in general.
If you know me beyond this blog, then you'll know I am pretty pessimistic and emotionless. It used to be something I was sort-of proud of, as it's easier to go through life not worrying about being let down or showing emotion in front of people. Whereas now I've decided, no. I want to have a more positive outlook on things. I've had a pretty tough 2014, so I've decided that 2015 is going to be a good year. It's going to be full of happiness, fun and optimism. I'm going to make 2015 a good year,despite the stress of AS levels and university applications and just the general stress of being a teenager. It'll be a good year, and I hope to document this on this blog. I know this sounds very hippy-ish and a bit naive, but I don't care. 2015 will be a positive year.

Thank you for reading, and I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2015!

Feel free to let me know about your goals!

Much love,

RubyLauren xx

The Most Wonderful Time of The Year: Christmas Funzies

My Christmas this year was pretty much 3 days long, seeing three different groups of friends and family on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, It's probably too lengthy to describe what I did in words, so I shall describe using a few pictures to summarise my Christmas period. These pictures are mainly of Christmas day, as I didn't get many on the other days!

Now, one of my favourite things to do is decorate both the house in general but also the tree. This year we went for a 'subtle chaos' theme on our Christmas decs, and I think we did pretty well.

Artsy shot of a decoration in the christmas tree

Cute little window stickers on the back door (Excuse the garden)

Ho ho ho!

One of my favourite decorations, it's just so pretty!

  

Even the cats get involved in making the house
festive!

I did have a picture of my christmas tree but it's incredibly bad quality and doesn't do it justice.

Now comes Christmas day! Here in England, we celebrate it on the 25th December, becasue I know some other countries celebrate it at different times in December! 

One thing I was very please with first thing on Christmas day was my make-up.I spent AGES putting on fake nails on Christmas eve, and then painting them, and I think I did pretty well. I went for a pretty natural look, simply because I couldn't be bothered. Other than the fact I couldn't find my brow kit (cries inside) I thought it went well.

Both nails and make up in shot by doing a stupid pose.

All artsy and that again, and showing my dizzily festive jumper

Now, this year was quite an odd Christmas as it was SUNNY. Yes, a December day in England that wasn't particularly cold and/or drizzly! Amazing! So my family and I congregated outside, as it's a tradition in my family to all have breakfast round my house on Christmas morning.

BUT this was a very exciting day, as one marriage, one pregnancy and one beach hut were announced! So it was all very fun.

Bit of bubbly on the patio

The mother laughing on the patio

My niece and her 'friend' Tinkerbell.

Later, most of my family left, but my sister, brother in law, niece and I suppose niece-in-law,but she's more of a cousin, stayed for lunch and into the evening. I didn't do much at all the rest of the day, and nothing particularly photo worthy.

So I hope everybody reading this had/is having a wonderful christmas time! If you don't celebrate christmas then I just hope you have a lovely end to the year, 'Happy Holidays' I suppose. I wish everyone the best and hope you really do all enjoy yourselves. And if you want, let me know how your holiday period was via the comments!

Much love,

RubyLauren xx

Cheers!

New Blog Name? (rubylaurenlives)

I have changed my blog name!

You're probably thinking 'you've only changed one word, whats the point?'
The point is I've realised I feel quite restricted. I realised I want to do random posts about anything I wish to, and feel like I can't do that if I'm just a travel blog, with a travel blog name. So hence, the change from 'rubylaurentravels' to 'rubylaurenlives'.
I haven't really traveled much yet, and I felt limited on the amount of travel posts I could do, but if I just have a general blog, I can post about things I really do have knowledge about and/or other things I enjoy.
Obviously I'm still going to post travel type posts, but there will be lots of other posts as well!
I apologise for the sudden change, but I feel like it was needed.

Much love,
RubyLauren xx

Get to Know Me Tag!

So, basically, this week I've had a busy week with college and various other things,so haven't had time to make an in depth travel post unfortunately. However, I didn't want to let anyone down so I decided to do a little 21 question get to know me tag type thing!



1. Are you named after anyone? Not really. My mum had a babysitter when she was younger whom she absolutely adored called Ruby, but I think she just liked the name and didn't specifically me after her


2. When was the last time you cried? Probably at some ridiculous TV Show or movie, I can't really remember, but it was some time ago.


3. Do you have kids? Nope


4. If you were another person, would you be a friend of yourself? I'd like to think so, but I'm not sure. I think it'd be the type of friendship where you love them to pieces but sometimes you just want to shake their shoulders and tell them to be quiet for a minute. We all have that friend!


5. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Yeah, I do. Not in a mean way though, only with friends and family:)


6. Will you ever bungee-jump? No, I'm scared of anything that has the possibility to make me want to vomit. I can't stand fairground rides, let alone a bungee jump!


7. What's your favorite cereal? Not much of a cereal eater really, as I can't really have milk, but I used to love Frosties or chocolate Shreddies.


8. What's the first thing you notice about people? Hair, eyes,shoes. And in that order. You can tell a lot by the shoes someone is wearing.


9. What is your eye colour? Browny-green, it depends on the lighting.


10. Scary movie or happy endings? Can I have a scary move with a happy ending, or am I being too difficult


11. Favorite smells? Fruit Fusion and Cotton Yankee Candles, and anything topical-y basically!


12. Summer or winter? Winter! Jumpers, fluffy socks and hot chocolates are my life


13. Computer or television? Computer, as you get more TV Shows on a computer than you do on TV!


14. What's the furthest you've ever been from home? Florida, I think, that was the longest flight anyway!


15. Do you have any special talents? Not really, I'm pretty average at most things!


16. Where were you born? England


17. What are your hobbies? Listening to music, binge-watching TV shows, practising make-up, and hanging about with my friends (mainly in Brighton)


18. Do you have any pets? Yep! Two cats: Sally and Maisie


19. Favorite movie? I don't really have a favourite movie, but I love The Breakfast Club, Love Actually and ALL the Harry Potter movies. There's so many more but those are my main ones:)


20. Do you have any siblings? One half-sister (same dad but different mums) who's a lot older than me!


21. What do you want to be when you grow up? At the moment, a speech therapist, but that could change. But by the time I have grown up, I want to travel to as many places as I can


Thank you for reading this post! My next one will be all about my Christmas as it's very soon (eeeek) but I'll have a travel-y post after that one! See you soon!


Much love,


RubyLauren xx