Camera Obscura: Do It Again

They do indeed Do It Again... the (sometimes overly) sickly sweet vocals of Traceyanne Campbell return with the cheery indie pop that Camera Obscura is so famous for. The release comes with news of a new album, Desire Lines, hitting the shelves (or, in a more boring world, the shiny MP3 download buttons) at the start of June this year. Like their previous album, it may be more of an indulgence to listen to one or two tracks at a time rather than the whole record in one go, much like a box of chocolates. For now, savouring this sweet track will be enough to keep me going 'til the full release...

La foi dans la mode

Ellie from La foi dans la mode got in touch a little while ago about a Liebster Award - thank you Ellie. Here are my responses from her questions, which you might find interesting too!

1. Favourite piece of clothing?
It's got to be a dress - probably my black and cream ASOS skater dress I got for my birthday, I really love wearing it. Sadly it's now only being stocked in maternity, but if you're preggers, I would heavily recommend it!

2. First blog you ever followed?
Design*Sponge has got to be the first proper blog I followed - without really knowing what a blog was at that point!

3. Your claim to fame?
I once got into a bit of a fight with Theo Paphitis on Twitter over his misuse of the English language. The backlash was something else... in my defence, I didn't know he was dyslexic!

Click here to see the tweet and more...

Cheap as Chips

It's getting closer to summertime (finally), and my Relay for Life run, so on both counts I'm trying to get fit. Not in a crazy-gym-extravaganza kinda way, but more in the tone-up-that-tum way. I think most girls and guys will find at some point, their tummy overhangs their jeans just a teeny tiny bit - I'm at that stage now. Easter chocolate definitely did not help.

So I'm trying to tone up in two ways, the first of which is by eating healthier. My aims are to eat five pieces of fruit and veg everyday, cut back on snacks (mainly the sneaky crisps and chocolate) and drink a lot of water.

Right now, I'm at the point where a glass of water is like my phone; I feel lost without one. But the water goal is easy; water's free. Even in my uni, there are drinking water taps (if you know where to find them, and keep a bottle handy!). The bit I'm struggling with financially is the eating element.

Fruit and veg is so expensive! £2 for 4 apples is not good value, Tesco! It takes me long enough to work out how much an individual apple costs because of the bizarre mixture of "by weight"/"by apple" pricing, let alone earn the money to afford them. Why would anyone go to such lengths to buy an apple anyway? Especially when you can ditch the whole apple idea and buy 12 packets of crisps is £2.50 - whereas 12 apples would cost you over £5?

In circumstances such as these, I get crazily fed up with supermarkets. Give us back our greengrocers and independents! "Every little helps" is not applicable when junk food is as cheap as chips (a pun that beautifully illustrates my point). I hope the good people at the Bank of Students know why we're all into our overdrafts... we're trying to be healthy!

Relay for Life!

Yay! This will be the first tick on my 21 before 21 list, and I'm really proud to be doing it for such a wonderful cause.

Every year my university sets a Relay for Life course around campus and this year I've joined up with a team of people from the SU to run a total of 24 hours between us. All the money we raise will go straight to Cancer Research UK, a charity very close to my heart.

I'm going to keep this bit short and sweet, as I really don't like being hindered for money, and so to avoid being a hypocrite, I'm simply going to put my sponsor link HERE. I'm still going to run around and donate my money whether I get sponsors or not, but I didn't want to miss this opportunity.

Thank you for even reading this blog or looking at the photo, as that in itself raises awareness.

- B x

Dan Croll: Compliment Your Soul

This song is very much out of the blue - I've never heard of Dan Croll before, but as soon as this danced its way into my ears I knew I had to share it. Both the song and the video are a bizarre but intriguing mash up of styles, and with the sugary-sweet lyrics (what are you after, Dan?!), I'm going to keep my eyes (and ears!) peeled for more of Dan's music. You've got yourself a new fan, in the shape of me!