Q&A WITH LISBON

I had the pleasure of chatting with LISBON! 

A four-piece band from Whitley Bay, and whom, lead singer Matty, I attend university with. 

If you haven't heard of them already - you will. (You can thank me later.)

Their 21 night UK tour is coming up, and they've already smashed multiple festivals throughout 2015. 

Most definitely ones to watch and it's guaranteed you'll not be able to resist falling in love with their bouncy, alternative pop sound. 

(Psst: My personal fave is RIO!)

Give them a listen on SOUNDCLOUD and find them on FACEBOOK

SPEAKING OUT AGAINST EMOTIONAL ABUSE

I found it hard to start this post, with it being a very personal/sensitive thing to write about and also a pretty awkward thing to accuse someone of. Let's be honest, no one appreciates those people who whine on and on about relationship problems constantly, but this is something that has taken me 2 years to not only get the balls to speak out about but to also actually realise what was going on. 

Obviously there's always going to be people who will judge, honestly I don't care, I spent the last 2 years being judged. I'm writing this because it's about something that is more common than we all think and something that needs to be spoken about more. 

To people who may be quick to comment or pass judgement, or people who think it "isn't a big deal" ... it is a big deal. Just because someone doesn't physically harm you doesn't mean it isn't abuse. It is abuse. Until you've been in a situation where everything is controlled and manipulated to the point of exhaustion then you can't comment on what it's like.

There is also those people reading this who will have been through/currently experiencing the same thing. This is why I am writing this post. I'm not looking for sympathy, I don't want nor need it because I'm the happiest and most confident I've ever been and back to the person I was previously; but I do however want to raise awareness and if even just one person reading this post recognises some similarities in a relationship they may be in themselves and it helps them, then this post has been a success!

MY TOXIC RELATIONSHIP

I'm writing a feature about toxic relationships for a university project and it got me thinking about a past experience, I realise this is a little more personal but maybe you can relate!
...

I’d always been a one for things that are bad for me, y’know, drinking too much, staying out too late, the naughty crowd at school, carbs, and it turns out my taste in boys wasn’t much different, I loved a bad boy and to be really honest I was never a big fan of all the lovey-dovey stuff, it never really appealed. Maybe that was because I had been hurt before or because I was much more concerned with going out with the girls and having a good time. I’d never had a real relationship, I’d “dated” but the sparks never lasted long and they were always the wrong sort of boy. Typical me. I should have known though that if you play with fire it’s only so long until you get burnt.

ANOTHER CASE OF 'NICE GUY SYNDROME'

Recently I've seen a lot of hate directed towards girls from men, or should I say ... boys, on social media especially. I feel as a young woman myself, we put up with a lot of, well, shit basically, from the opposite sex; and at times it feels like we just can't win. 

Yesterday I seen "man" post a link of the photo below posted by another "man", with plenty more "men" jumping on the band wagon in the comments. It went a long the lines of saying all girls complain of not being able to find a nice boy and girls need to get over themselves because nice boys do exist but we think we're too good for them, it then went on to say that with out make up and fake hair and nice clothes and sucky-in pants and fake tan that we are actually all really ugly too so we're no better than anyone and we have no right to be choosy because we're actually naturally ugly so ugly people should take what they get.

RIVER ISLAND INTERVIEW

For as long as I can remember I've wanted to work at River Island 1) because I spend all my student loan in there and 2) I'd have no problem picking out the uniform. 

After my trip around America, it came to my attention that I am very very very poor. Not poor as in your friends ask you to go out and you say "oh no I can't, I have literally £3 in my bank" but really you have about like ... £50, you're just playing it safe, not that kind of poor, oh no. Literally, I have £3 in my bank, currently, right now. So, safe to say, I not only want but I need a job.