I Love London

I know so many people say this, but I love London. Everything about it, from the size of it and knowing that there's always something to do, to the tourist attractions that never get boring and the hidden gems that the locals know about. I'm lucky enough to live in South London so Central London is only a short train journey away, and I'm so thankful that I get to live in such an amazing city.

I visited Central London yesterday for my birthday and went on a surprise trip to the London Dungeons and also, on a very different spectrum, the Shrek experience. I highly recommend both of these, although the faint-hearted may want to reconsider the dungeons! 

Whilst walking along the Southbank I took a few photos, even though the weather was very cold, wet and grey (like every time I seem to visit Central London!) I thought I'd share some in a blog post because there's way too many for Instagram!

                             Along Southbank 

 

                        A grey day in London

                                  Southbank

                            

 

                           Near the OXO Tower

  

                                 London Eye

 

                          The lights inside the O2

I can't wait until it's warm and sunny in London so I can get much better pictures, I feel like the grey doesn't do it justice! 

Thanks for reading,

Daniella x

It's not a phase!!

So last night I was thinking about how I was 20 in a week's time and even though I've grown up so much since I was 14, I still love my bands. Most people would assume that it would just be a phase that lasted a few years, but no, not me! I thought I'd use this post to share some of the stories behind how I discovered some of these bands, because I find it so interesting hearing about other people's experiences!

Age 12/13, JLS

Now I don't count liking JLS as part of my band phase because this was before I became in deep for bands, and I was just a fan of their music. This was the first time I can remember actually thinking 'I have a favourite band' and I guess it was the start of things to come! 

 

Favourite Album: Jukebox

Age 14, The Wanted

I was 14 when I discovered The Wanted. They had their singles 'All Time Low' and 'Heart Vacancy' out on the radio and although I liked these songs I never really paid much attention to the artist behind them. My sister decided to buy their album one day, and whilst on a family holiday to France, when we couldn't access the radio in our car, we listened to their album on repeat. From that moment I was hooked. That same month both my sister and one of my friends developed crushes on two of the band members and so all talk turned to The Wanted. I remember sitting in the park during the summer holidays, buying the latest teen magazines just because there were posters and articles about them in there. Those were the days!! 

Anyway, I'd like to say that I managed to resist the band members, but no, instead I also developed a crush on one of them! 

I was luckily enough to see them live back in 2012, which was my first proper concert and it was amazing!

Sadly they're currently on a break and working on solo projects which aren't all in music, but I'm still holding out hope that they return! 

 

Favourite Album: The Wanted

Favourite Member: Nathan 

Age 16, One Direction

One Direction, where do I start?

I'd liked their music since their 'Up All Night' album was released, and I decided one day to put my sister's album onto my iPod to give it a listen. I remember cleaning my room whilst listening to it and instantly thinking how good it was! 

The 'Take Me Home' album was even better, and was the soundtrack to Year 11 and my last year at high school. However it wasn't until late 2013 that I starting getting into the band members and wanting to find out more about them. I desperately wanted to go to their 'Where We Are' tour but I just couldn't afford it. Two years passed and I had finished 6th form and compulsory education forever. I spent several months looking for jobs and during this free time I turned to Tumblr and YouTube where I spent my days watching 1D videos and I fell down the rabbit hole, I was obsessed! 

I got to see them on their 'On The Road Again' tour in 2015 and it was the best concert I had ever been too!

Again they are currently on a hiatus and I really miss them! 

 

Favourite Album: Midnight Memories

Favourite Song: Little White Lies

Favourite Member: Harry (but back in the day it was Zayn) 

Age 17, The Vamps

I don't exactly remember how I got into The Vamps, all I know is that I had the biggest crush on one of them and I became obsessed with their first album 'Meet The Vamps'. It was the soundtrack to my summer in 2014 and I played it on repeat! 

I've been lucky enough to see them live five times so far and I've even very briefly met them at their book signing. I'm still determined to meet them properly one day though! 

I'm actually seeing them in May on their tour and this time we have Wow Pit which I'm so excited for! 

 

Favourite Album: Meet The Vamps

Favourite Song: Wild Heart

Favourite Member: Connor

Age 19, The Tide

Through The Vamps, I discovered The Tide. The Tide are The Vamps' first signing to their record label and have supported The Vamps on their past couple of tours. I properly got into them last year after meeting them at The Vamps' last tour and realising how nice they were! 

Since then I've met them once more, and seen them four times! 

They don't actually have an album out yet, but I think that's on the cards for this year which I'm really excited about! 

 

Favourite Song: Naked

Favourite Member: Levi

Age 19, 5 Seconds Of Summer

I've liked 5SOS' music now for a couple of years but since they've recently released their B-sides and rarities, I've been listening to them a lot more because these songs are so good! In my opinion, these are some of their best songs and they were my soundtrack for on the way to work back in December and January! 

It's also made me pay more attention to the band members, and I've watched several interviews with them. I'm really hoping that they tour some of these songs because I desperately need to hear them live! 

 

Favourite Album: The B-sides and Rarities

Favourite Song: The Space Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Favourite Member: Ashton

I realise this post is pretty long but as you can see I'm pretty passionate about music! 

Thanks for reading!

Daniella x

Things I Love!

I feel like I've never really done a post on the things that I'm passionate about, the things that sum me up as a person. I thought this would be a good post to do to get to know me better, and to give a feel for the things that I hope to be blogging about! So without further ado, here's some of the things that I love!

1) Music
Anyone who knows me well (or just at all) will know that music is my main love. Not performing music- I'm not that talented! Just music in general. The way it makes me feel. The way I can connect with an artist through their lyrics. The way my memories and moments in my life can live on through a certain song. I honestly love it so much and spend nearly all of my free time plugged in to Spotify.

                                                           Last month's Spotify playlist

2) Concerts
Hand in hand with music, are concerts. It's fair to say that concerts are definitely my happy places, somewhere that I can just forget about the world and all my problems, and just live there in the moment with some of my favourite bands/artists.

                                                   The Vamps 2016 'Wake Up' world tour


3) Meeting band members/YouTubers
I've been lucky enough to have met several of my favourite band members and YouTubers over the years, and honestly they were so lovely. The feeling that I had after meeting them is one of the best feelings ever, especially when you see them in concert after and feel like you have a special connection even though you only met for a few seconds.

                                                           Meeting Austin from The Tide

                                                       Meeting Brendan from HomeTown

4) YouTube
I've been watching YouTube religiously now for 4 years and still love it as much as ever. I feel like I can connect with the YouTubers as they have a lot in common with me and just come across as genuinely nice people. My favourite types of video are vlogs as I find it so interesting seeing what other people do in their lives, and quite often I take it as inspiration for things I can do in my own!

                                          Nothing better than catching up on YouTube

5) Travelling
By travelling I don't necessarily mean leaving the country, I just mean exploring new places. I've been lucky enough to travel to new cities in the UK these past few years as before that I'd never really been up North. I love the feeling of experiencing this new place, and feeling like you've left your troubles behind, even if it's just for a night. In 2016 I got to visit Bristol and Birmingham, with even more adventures to come this year as I'm going to Cardiff, Dublin, Mallorca and possibly even Oslo!

                                             Off to Birmingham for The Vamps' book signing

6) Taking Photos
Now I'm not the best at photography, in fact my camera is just the one on my iPhone, but I love it nonetheless. I just love catching a memory and knowing that it has been preserved forever. I especially enjoy taking photos of landscapes, cities and sunsets. This past year I've been obsessed with printing my photos off as polaroids and sticking them on my wall. I just like having physical copies and knowing that I have them safe to look back on at any time. I'm currently saving up to buy myself a proper camera so I can improve my pictures even more!

                                                  Sunset over Greenwich a few weeks ago

                                                      A little side street near Oxford Street

There you go! As you can probably tell I'm quite the fangirl! I hope you learnt a bit more about me in this post, and as I said before I hope to blog more about these things!

Thanks for reading!

Daniella x