Overview of Download Festival 2015

So, Download Festival! This is the 4th year in a row I've gone now, though I had been before that too as a camper.

On the Friday we were hyped to set off so we got up quite early, put ourselves in our best rock festival outfits and were in the queue to get in by 12.00, ideally, as the gates were about to be opened! We ended up waiting in the queue for an hour and a half...ouch! They have a new system of cashless payments which require your tickets to be registered to the wristband you are given, and it turns out it takes a while x.x
Once we were finally in though we set about exploring. Not too much changes between years but you have to explore about to make sure, right? ;p And one of our party hadn't been before so it was a learning curve for her too. We didn't really have any plan to see a particular band until Lacuna Coil so we had a good afternoon wandering about looking at the merch and seeing random bands we passed.

One of the highlights of the day was getting to see Five Finger Death Punch. They had a great show last year and it had encouraged us to look up their music and we've become fans XD This year was another good show! They played quite a few I knew and we left feeling good for seeing them x3
Later on as we were watching Dragonforce the rain began. We'd been expecting it so we weren't super disappointed but after not being able to get into the tent we decided to go find a poncho in an attempt to at least stay a little drier. Unfortunately we later found out we missed their collaboration with Babymetal which was a shame. Face's hair stayed up really well in the rain surprisingly but after a while the rain became too much and we actually had to push it down so he could wear his hood XD I'd really wanted to bring my camera in to get some decent quality pics but I'd wimped out at the last moment which was good really as now it was safely back at the hotel, staying dry without me having to baby it! It does mean that all these pics were taken on my phone though, hence the not-so-great quality x.X
The rain eased off later, not enough that we could dry off, but at least enough that we could watch Black Stone Cherry and Slipknot without getting loads of rain in our eyes! They were both good shows too, Slipknot is always awesome though. We had the massive plus after the bands had finished of being able to trudge back to the car and go back to the hotel for a warm shower and dry clothes and beds. Just that night made us remember why we don't camp anymore!

It rained all night and into Saturday, where when we woke up we just weren't willing to go get drenched again. We looked at the lineup and although there were bands I would've liked to have seen like Parkway Drive and Hollywood Undead, there wasn't anything I was willing to get drenched for, and the others felt the same. So we first went to hang out in a Loughborough Wetherspoons for lunch, then we were going to go mooch around Nottingham again but on the way there we learnt there was a major incident in town holding up all traffic for nearly an hour each way, which would've made it pretty pointless, so we went back to the hotel. I broke out the 3DS and hung out with the others in the lobby area as they all played pool and ate sweets x3 I got a game in too, and it wasn't long before we realised we had better get going if we were to see any of the bands we had planned to go in for!

When we got in we saw some of A Day to Remember, then walked over to drop off all these cups that the others had collected last night! If you collect cups you get a pound for 10, and they were trying to save up for some merch xD They'd done pretty well, making about £25! We watched Marilyn Manson for a while before noticing that Muse's show had started a little early so headed over there.
Even if it had been raining solidly we wouldn't have missed out on Muse, they're such a big band and we'd not seen them before, but luckily the weather was mostly calm and it was a brilliant show! I know there was quite a lot of sniffing going on around the internet this year that Muse shouldn't have been there, but judging by the crowd and their reaction, they were very welcome! It was a great show and we went back to the hotel happy that we'd not given up on the day completely, and ready to pack up all our stuff to put in the car the next day (fun!).

Sunday was looking a lot drier and as we were booted out the hotel at 11 we went straight to Download to see who we could see, although there was really only one band I was interested in for the final day! We wandered about and checked out the stalls more as we'd not had a really good look before that. On our way over to the other side of the area I decided to drag everyone into the fourth stage tent (previous years this has been the Red Bull tent) as it had begun spitting, and we watched LTNT, who I'd never heard of before but were really good! I really like the atmosphere in the smaller tent so it only improved the band, one I will definitely be looking up soon x3

We browsed some more and got some dinner, I was super impressed by this one place that did Katsu curry that I had to take a pic of the place just so I remember to look it up again next year! In fact it's something I think has really improved over the years at Download- the variety for food available and it's higher quality rather than the usual standard of festival food xp

Then came the band I'd been looking forward to all day- Yellowcard! Having not seen them before I was really looking forward to seeing what kind of show they put on, and they didn't disappoint! I had a great time, as did Face, even though I'd had to drag him along to watch, he even admitted halfway through 'that they weren't so bad'! Haha. They didn't play one I'd really hoped to hear but the rest of the show was good enough I'll let them off ;p

Then, all too soon, it was time for the final mainstage headliner, Kiss. None of us are keen on Kiss, but they headlined a few years ago when we were still camping and we walked away, then I watched what I could see of the fireworks from our tent. I always regretted not staying, even if just to watch the show itself, so this time I was determined, even though everyone else was ready to leave. I made them stay and I think they wer alright about it in the end as we all got to watch the finale of fireworks x3
It was a brilliant weekend, even with the weather not being top, I can't wait for next year already! Download is like home.
Did you go? Would you buy your tickets without knowing the lineup like we do? Let me know! x3



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Project Wednesday ~Pokémon Alpha Sapphire

This week I wasn't sure what to write about actually...since I finished my current project, the Thai Smashbook, I haven't really been working on anything else crafting-wise. I'm still in the process of editing the video too so I couldn't post that like I'd planned either :x But then I realised, even with going to Download festival, I have been focussed on something else: my 3DS and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire!

Yep, I love games, who doesn't, right? I'm not really very good at them though so I wouldn't really call myself a 'gamer', more of a handheld player ;p I don't know what it is, but unless the game is super simple I'm just not good at proper console games (I'm super excited for backwards compatibility for 360 games on the Xbox One though so I can play Viva Pinata again XD). My favourite console is nearly always by Nintendo, though I have flirted with the Playstation hendhelds on and off ;p And my favourite franchise? Pokémon!

I got Pokémon Alpha Sapphire for Christmas 2014 but didn't start playing it till January, where I had a few weeks stint battling the first four or so gym leaders. Even though this game is a remake of the original Pokémon Sapphire, I played it so long ago that I didn't really remember the storyline and it feels like a whole new game, with lots of new features as well as the fun of playing with old pokémon I haven't had a chance to battle with in a long time- like my starter Mudkip, who I named Liek ;p After a few weeks though I got distracted and put it down for a while.

I next picked it up when we went on our mini holiday to Wales, where I had a bit of time to play as we sat around relaxing in the late evening and had no reception on our phones! I managed to get through a couple more gym leaders while I was there and bring down a couple of dens of the bad guys, Team Aqua. Aren't I good? ;p I think this game is even more set for younger kids that previous games though as in times when I would've normally found it difficult and had to slog train to beat gyms or get through certain parts of the game, I just breezed through as all my pokémon gained large amounts of experience from the Exp. Share and my attacks seem to pull even more critical hits that ever before. It's played on my mind that it makes things a little too easy but at the same time I've enjoyed being able to get on with the story rather than having to spend hours in the grass battling low levels to raise my stats.

I put the game down for a while around the time Dad got back, but over Download I took it with me again, as I remembered again that phone signal around there is terrible for me too XD I had a good couple of nights while everyone was asleep battling and taking out the last couple of gyms and discovering all the new features they'd put into the game. On our last day of Download I was so absorbed in the game that I even played it all the way there as Face drove, something I usually make sure I do as per tradition! I was battling the Elite Four but didn't get to complete the game until I got home the next day.
It was a struggle, my team did it! We beat the champion and got to go into a second story arc which (without too many spoilers) allowed me to go on to save the pokéworld (again) and catch a couple of legendaries, woop! I even managed to save my masterball, though at this point I'm not really sure what for ;p

So that was as far as I got up to yesterday, my team is getting stronger and stronger and even though I've now completed the second story arc there's still stuff to do, the proffessor gave me a Chikorita earlier so he's got to be trained and I've still got to fill up my pokédex, and I've got to go on this ferry to see what the story behind that is!
Sorry I wasn't crafting this week, but if you want to see more game reviews like this let me know!



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Away Around Download

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, but I'm sure you'll understand- I was at Download festival all day! In fact that's where I've been since last Wednesday, sort of. It's been an awesome little getaway, as Download always is x3 I'll give you a rundown of the first couple of days before we got the main event:

On Wednesday we set off from home to get to our hotel. (Yeah, we're those kind of festival-goers...) we didn't get there til about 4 so after a little unpacking and doss we were off out again to nearby Loughborough. This is part of our Download tradition- because we don't spend the first couple of days in the campsite anymore, we still go on the Wednesday to enjoy ourselves and get hyped for it x3
So Wednesdays involve going to Loughborough to visit Moomba- an awesome Australian restaurant. We all ordered the 'backpacker's combo'- made up of a kangaroo skewer, wild boar sausage and a citrus and herb chicken skewer, then you could pick a side to go with it of your choice and get a mixed salad too. The others swapped out their salads for another side and the restaurant were fine with that. I got greedy and ordered an extra side of coleslaw too, I remembered it being really good last year :x So after all that I was dying- I had to sit back and relax for a while XD
That night when we got back to the hotel I dyed my hair again, still aiming for blonde but the ends won't let go of their ginger tint!

On Thursday we decided to break away from tradition to check out Nottingham. It's not that far away and we knew there'd be loads to do- should we find it! We found the high street and popped into a few shops, even finding a Blue Banana to get some hair dye for Face.

We then wandered around and found a cave entrance in a shopping centre! So we went for an explore down there, which was an interesting if not very festival-like way to spend an afternoon XD I never knew that Nottingham was based on sandstone that the residents carved out to make extra space in their houses or make cellars, among many other things, but I learnt a lot about it while we went round underneath the shopping centre!

We moved onto more expected things- the pub! We went to 'Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem', the oldest pub in England. It was really interesting as we went round the place and read all the little plaques about it's history, and wandered into all the rooms, many of them dug out of the sandstone cliff the pub was rested against. We got some food there and sat around for a while just soaking in the atmosphere before heading back towards the hotel as the others had booked to go Go-Karting, another tradition! I decided to miss out this year but as I went to collect some stuff from the hotel so I could sit and watch, I got a call saying that they weren't going to bother. It turned out there were far too many people there and the usual 4 hour karting sessions was going to be more like 40 minutes. It just wasn't worth it. So we went out as a group to try and find something else to waste away the evening with. After over an hours driving about we came to the conclusion that unless we wanted to go to the pub there just wasn't a lot to see without us already knowing about it x.X We tried good old Google for ideas and came up with the cinema, and as we all wanted to see Jurassic World that's what we did! It was a great film too, I really enjoyed the whole thing which is pretty unusual for me :]
When we got back to the hotel it was pretty late but Face needed to dye his hair so it would be ready for Download the next day, so we got onto that! We eventually were all done about 3am XD But his hair was luminous green so I guess it was a success!
The next day was the first day of Download, but I'll tell you a little more about that tomorrow...



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Project Wednesday ~Thai Travel Smashbook

Here it is guys, I finally finished my Thai Smashbook from my holiday to Phuket in 2013! Wow, this thing has been a while in the making, mostly due to my own procrastination (of course) but I'm so pleased it's all done with now! I thought I'd show you through a few pages in lieu of the video I'll make when I get back from Download.

I actully tried to prep this book a bit before I left on the holiday as I was intending to fill it in day-by-day as per a pinterest pin I'd seen that made it sound all so simple. Yeah. I forgot I'm just not that great at being out the loop, particularly when I'm on holiday! I don't want to shut myself away and play with paper and stress about writing when I know my family are enjoying themselves exploring a new place! So saying, I did manage it for a few days- I stuck in the 'Beware of Airship Pirates' printable before I left then stuck in the relevant flight stuff in the airport and plane. Yep, I took this thing in my hand luggage!

This was a page a little further in- we'd been getting our exploring on around some of the sights of Phuket. Here we visited Chalong temple- it was so beautiful, and had so many intricate details. We had a great time looking at everything there and getting way too warm from the heat of the Thai sun. We found a good way to cool off though- not far away was a beach so we went swimming! I couldn't believe the Thai sea was so warm, it had no chill at all yet was still so refreshing. And moped-ing back to the hotel in our wet clothes was actually fun too!
The right hand page of this set features lift up photos which have details and more photos stuck underneath, but I kept this page pretty simple :]

Face and I found a club that suited us to a tee while out exploring one night when the others were ready for bed (good old nocturnalism xp) and spent a few hours in there admiring the decor while watching a guy sing some rock and metal covers. It was a good way to spend an evening!
The page itself was really simple, but I actually really liked how it came out. I found the cards on the right in some stuff that my Dad was about to throw away and figured they'd come in useful somewhere, and this page was born x3

One day we decided to go out on a day trip to something you couldn't get to by moped- James Bond Island. Sadly Face couldn't come as he'd managed to sustain some pretty serious sunburn and wasn't feeling up for anything much, so it was just my Dad, sister and little niece. Still a good group! We had a great day being taken on a long boat, in a canoe and finally to see the island where we went into the water and got some pictures taken by a friendly fellow tourist x3
I bought a postcard for this page and there's writing on the back with more details about the trip. I also have some more lifting photos to the right with even more photos and details. I didn't feel that all the actual pages in the smashbook suited the trip sometimes, like this one with a travel van, but I just sorta covered them mostly when I didn't feel they were fitting with the theme XD

After two awesome weeks it was time to go back home. I collected some paper stuff on the way home in Abu Dhabi which is what I used to try and give this page a little more interest than repeating what I'd already written for the outward journey. As ever, I also ganked a menu from the plane :x
Well, that was a pretty quick rundown but I hope you enjoyed it, there will be more featuring soon so pop back to have a look x3



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Dossing at Download

Galaxy Skull Jumper: Soho's ~ FFDP Tee: FFDP Website
Cross Plugs: Amazon ~ Bronze Goggles: Blue Banana
Bow Suspender Tights: eBay ~ Swallow Shorts: Soho's ~ Wellie Boots: Blue Banana
Download Festival is nearly here and I can't wait! I'm already thinking about what I'll be wearing, but know that I'm not very adventurous so I thought I'd put together a little list of what I'd wear if 1. I bought everything I wanted and 2. I didn't feel the cold as much as I do XD I love festival wear, but at the end of the day I dress for warmth and practicality- I'm alway lugging around so much stuff incase someone wants anything from a paracetamol to a cheesestring, or I may want to take a photo with one of the film cameras I've inevitably taken along. It's a major fault, I admit, but I can't bring myself to go with just my wallet in my back pocket as I see so many others doing *sigh*
And to be fair, I do plan on a couple of these this year- the goggles I bought at Comiccon will definitely be going, they are fairly similar to these Blue Banana ones. And I almost certainly will be in band shirts, it's something I can't seem to shake from my teens XD I'll probably end up buying a Five Finger Death Punch shirt while I'll there though as they are one of the bands I've not long got to know and I currently don't have one of their shirts!
I love the Doc Marten-esque gumboots too, how awesome are they? They are even a good price at around £12.
One of the best things about Download though is the atmosphere- people just don't care what you're doing so long as you aren't hurting anyone doing it, and so that's why this year, as all the years I've gone before, I'll go happy in the knowledge that even though I'll be loaded down and I could look so much better, no one cares anyway XD
What are your festival essentials? Let me know! x3



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Sunday Catchup ~Family Time

So it's been a busy week for me! When I look back on it, it feels like so long ago I was doing stuff on Monday, yet the week also seems to have gone pretty fast.

Monday was Face's Mum's birthday and so we got up early and went up town to see what we could find that she may like. (This is always Face's way- terrible! XD) We actually did pretty well considering we went up with practically no ideas. We had a bit of a mooch before going for breakfast, but apparently food was what was required as once we set back onto our task we found a few things that were spot on, nice! Mid afternoon we headed to our workplace, as we'd arranged to have the birthday meal there! It seemed like a really weird idea to me, but Face was confident and we spent the afternoon setting up the table and chatting to co-workers. Even on days off I can't get out of this place! As everyone arrived we showed them to the table and they all seemed pretty impressed and really seemed to enjoy themselves and most importantly, Face's Mum loved it and the presents we'd found! Woop!
Tuesday the weather was still bad so I spent the day indoors playing with pages of my Smashbook, I'm so close to finishing it now! Nearly always a good way for me to find the motivation to carry on XD

By contrast, Wednesday was beautiful, the weather has finally turned which was great as it was Face's birthday! We got up quite early as he decided he wanted McDonalds for breakfast, we made it there with a minute to spare, just about :x We went up to his Mum's after and had a bit of a chat for a while before gathering the family and heading off to spend an afternoon in the arcades at Stourport-on-Severn x3 It's not a particularly big place, but it has plenty of 2p machines and that's all Face needs so if he's happy then I am! It turns out his family are pretty big 2p machine fans too so everyone enjoyed winning tat keyrings XD
Thursday the weather was getting ever better and I took advantage by sitting outside in the sun writing in my diary before I had to go to work. It was so sunny I even had to go get my shorts on as I was overheating in my black trousers! *crosses fingers for it to be similar at Download fest!*

On Friday I had the house to myself but I decided to go out an develop a film I finished on Wednesday from my Konstructor camera. While I waited for that, I nipped to pets at home for some food for the dragons and then home for a while. I'd worn shorts all day but it suddenly got really cold so I was pretty pleased to get into my work uniform for a change! I collected my prints too and they turned out really well, I even had a few shots from Tokyo in the mix! Really made me think I should've taken it around with me more...then I remembered how much other stuff I'd already been taking with me everyday so was pretty pleased that I at least got these shots XD
Yesterday I was by myself again and it turned out to be one of those vegetating days, not good for my productivity at all. I did spend a little more time than usual with my pets though so it wasn't a day totally wasted.

And today although it's been nice out, because of my inactivity yesterday I made myself stay inside and spend more time on my Smashbook! I was so close to finishing it too but just ran out of time before having to go to work...so that's what I'm off to do now! It'll be nice to have something completed before Download...then I suppose I'll have to get onto another travel journal XD
Have you had a busy week? Or like me, another busy week next week? I can't wait for my next two days of work to pass me by!



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This Time Last Year

This time last year...well, after my trip to Tokyo, I was so hyped up, but luckily I had plenty to do back in the UK to come down gently XD

Not long after we got back was Cosford Air Show. It's super local to us and I do try to go every year, if I can ^^ It was just me and Dad and we did what we always do- pack way too much food and drink and find a good place to watch from a local country lane XD Cheapskates for the win! We sat around for nearly 4 or 5 hours with the car radio tuned into the airshow broadcast so we even knew exactly what was flying and what was coming next. There were loads of cool planes but of course the Red Arrows are always one of the highlights x3

We got a few day trips in too in June and one day Dad had to go out to visit a mate in Bangor, but he only had to be an hour or so. As I'd managed to worm the day off work I went too. While he visited I went for a little explore up the beachfront and then we had the rest of the day to ourselves. We decided to move on from Bangor and went to Conway, looking around the walls and over the town. It's a really lovely place, especially with the castle overlooking everything.

We then went on to look at Llandudno, I'd not been there before but I can see why people like it as a major seaside town. I particularly liked the pier, where we wandered to the very end and watched the sea for a while. There were loads of small jellyfish in the sea for some reason, I don't know if there was some sort of migration going on (do jellyfish do that?) but it was cool to see and we even spotted this massive one bobbing about!

Another trip out took us to a more local destination for an evening, exploring an old quarry pool. It's really interesting as the water is truly blue, but for some reason I didn't get a good shot of it, just this one of us wandering through the woods on the way back at dusk. I thought it was pretty atmospheric so here it is x3

Of course June is the month of Download, our festival of choice x3 2014 had beautiful weather too with only a couple of spots of rain and a great lineup, so as ever we had an awesome weekend seeing bands new and old. My particular favourites were Bowling for Soup and the Offspring <3 Can't beat old school early 2000's! I can't wait for Download next week already and just looking through the pics I took last year is getting me hyped to go again!
Have you got much planned for June? I've only got Download '15 at the moment, but I'm sure I'll find plenty to do! If you've got any suggestions, feel free to comment ^^



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Project Wednesday ~Gardening Round Two

I thought for this Project Wednesday I'd let you see the progress in one of the longer term projects- the garden x3

Since Dad's been back quite a lot has changed, both front and back. I've given over the reins a lot as the weather hasn't been nice enough for me to get out (I like it HOT or at least not windy and likely to rain every 5 minutes...) and he has been keen to crack on. Where I'd left bare patches of dirt out the front, Dad has actually got around to putting some bedding plants in, so it should be pretty floral around here once summer actually arrives ;p

Out the back the greenhouse is looking a lot more empty but what lives in there is doing really well! These little tomatoes were ones I bought on special for about a pound for 4 and look at them now! On the other side the plants in the growbag aren't growing quite as fast as I would like, but patience...it's still early yet! I swear this little courgette hasn't been trying at all though...

I got super keen just before Dad got back and bought a polytunnel so I could try and get some vines growing strong before autumn, so there are three plants in there- a courgette, squash and cucumber. The cucumber was the only one I didn't start from seed and although it seemed to love its new home at first, just lately it hasn't seemed very happy. I'm not quite sure what its deal is. The problem with gardening is so many different things can affect plants x.X I'm keeping an eye on it anyway and hoping for the best.

The onions I planted only a month ago are getting on now, happily getting some greenery going and hopfully putting some effort into getting bigger bulbs! The brown onions I planted a few weeks before them are also doing well, I'm not sure if you can tell, but they are definately bigger than the white onions planted a few weeks later!

And last time I was telling you about the garden I was trying another project, something I'd seen in vague form on pinterest; stacking pots x3 Well, here is the finished item, and so far I think it is a pin success! I hope to see the little trailing plants get bigger over the summer and trail down, covering the faded pot a bit XD At least the snapdragons have got some flowers and height, I think it should turn out pretty well overall!
Are you tending a garden? Have you been having any problems with wilt this year? I'm hoping that maybe I just got a little over keen on the watering than something more serious :x I'll let you know anyway :]



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