so with the year about to end

here i present the 100 things i wanted to do in 2008 (originally on my myspace) and whether i have succeeded or not!

1. buy lots of different tights in lots of different colours. yeah i got that pretty much covered :)
2. get a subscription to nme well i get it saved for me at the newsagent so i guess so!
3. buy a cd. instead of downloading all my music from limewire. sadly, this was never going to happen.
4. take lots of old clothes to oxfam again, sadly not!
5. sort out my socks and put them into pairs. i don't wear socks anymore
6. increase a shoe size. still size 2/3, my baby feet are here to stay :(
7. decrease a dress size well there was a brief point over the summer where i was a certified size 8, sadly i'm back to a 10 now
.8. learn to use a compass properly i was never the outdoorsy type!
.9. go camping leeds fest baby!
.10. go to a youth hostel again, this was never going to happen.
.11. learn to curl my hair. it looks shit, but at least i've done it.
12. have a proper nice kiss with someone but not want to get emotionally attached afterwards. plenty of these. plenty of kisses where i did want to get attached as well. they were pretty special.
13. read a book that will make people think i'm clever. the bell jar, oh yes
14. find all my old babysitters club books and throw them away. yes. goodbye kristy et al. miss you mary anne.
15. save up a fiver a week for my leeds fest ticket. does it count that i promised my parents i'd pay them back...
16. get a proper job. yes :) working at lush made my summer.
17. get served alcohol in as many places as possible. well i think its safe to say i managed that one!
18. find my guitar. was on the top of my locker, ha
19. learn to play it. three chords!
20. form a band and write a half decent song. no, i wrote a lot of poems though.
21. learn to walk properly in heels. yes, i could give posh spice a run for her money
22. get a car. sadly i didn't become a millionaire in 2008
23. somehow pay for insurance and driving lessons. well i got driving lessons...
24. start buying accessories for sixth form. seeing as i decided to go to college, this point is moot.
25. become less of a lightweight. i can hold 5 archers and lemonades now, not just 2...
26. decrease the volume of my voice by a few notches. HAHAHA.
27. pass all my gcses. 3 a* 4 a 2 b, i was pretty proud of myself.
28. drink lots of coffee and white wine. too much of both.
29. talk about books to a person in a book shop. did it with mel in waterstones. she loved phillipa greggory as well, but didn't like meg rossoff.
30. watch amelie all the way through. did so in french. i miss mrs slack.
31. apply lipstick properly. yes, dita von teese eat yer heart out.
32. convince a randomer i'm french. no, but one day i will!
33. be in a play.pirates of penzance, i proper miss it!
34. stop taking so many myspace quizzes. i don't go on myspace anymore really.
35. bitchslap someone who deserves it. miranda at owen's ha, okay well maybe she didn't deserve it...
36. paint my bedroom. it's now black and gold.
37. go a week without crying.i hardly ever cry anymore.
38. turn down my ipod a bit so i don't go deaf. it's now at half volume, unless i'm feeling really crunk.
39. have a lovely party. no :( 2009, for the big eighteenth though!
40. cook a meal for the family me, cook?!
.41. somehow persuade someone to take me on a topshop spending spree. merci maman :)
42. hug people less. i know that sounds stupid, but i'm an overenthusiastic hugger. no, you can still find me cuddling everyone at any oppertunity.
43. try vindaloo. no i tried balti though...
43. find my "Beatles" badge. found it, and promptly lost it again.
44. somehow find a way of making the corn exchange re-open. it's a foodcourt now, bleurgh
45. eat less at mcdonalds no
.46. ditto burger king.no
47. ditto kfc. no
48. ditto nandos.no. i really am a chubby little shit.
49. limit my consumption of salsa to a jar a week. i have now moved up... to three jars.
50. get my braces off. aah ,mes dents sont beaux.
51. stop my constant bitterness about the happiness of others. i think i've managed this :)
52. buy a pencil skirt. it's grey and black and pretty.
53. go see the wombats. done, they were great.
54. go see jose vanders. twice, she was wonderful.
55. go see other bands, lots of them. lots and lots of them :)
56. tell my mum and dad i love them every day. i always do this now, even after we've had a fight.
57. learn the school song off by heart. oh aye, miss you wakey girls.
58. buy a classy mascara. some bad gal from benefit :)
59. sleep a lot more. i now sleep too much.
60. find a gay best friend. well i'll always have ryan. although he's not gay. but he still counts.
61. watch marie antoinette until i learn it by heart. je suis princess antoinette, watched this too many times
62. decide whether to take politics or drama for a level.drama. we all knew it was going to be!
63. apply liquid eyeliner beautifully. yesss, i'm a make up supreme now.
64. not touch a drop of cider. i thought my chavvy days were over until i sucuumed to a can of magners...
65. find a shop that sells small bags of cool original doritos. wood street, wakefield. i was dead happy. i squealed "i can cross that off my list. people looked at me strangely.
66. becoming alluring. alluring is something i'll never be :(
67. read a book in starbucks. no, i really wanted to do this as well!
68. find a new historical obsession. no, the tudors are still firmly wedged in my heart.
69. ;) unfortunatly i am still (almost) as pure as i was this time last year.
70. go out clubbing.SHAKEY WAKEY.
71. go a week without the computor. facebook stole my soul
72. keep secrets. partially.
73. get drunk in january. done so at my new year's party, the bluebell with the fryston lot, and at owen's party.
74. not send anyone a valentines card in february. i still hate valentines
75. buy a new umbrella in march. thanks primark
76. put flowers by naomi's tree in april. it made me cry but i had to do it. think about you all the time, sweetheart.
77. be clever in my exams in may. not as clever as i could have been.
76. put up my paddling pool and have a pool party in june. it rained and rained and rained
77. sleep until 12 in july. every day.
72. buy a suit in august. chose college so again, moot point.
73. make a good start to my AS levels in september. i think i'm doing pretty well so far!
74. dress as anne boleyn for halloween in october. i went as a flapper
75. hold someones hand during fireworks in november. no :( my paws were cold! i want someone's hand to hold.
76. buy lovely christmas presents in december. i hope everyone liked them :)
77. get so drunk i can't remember anything in the morning. ben's house. from the videos i've seen i was a total embarrasment.
78. make my mum and dad customized t shirts for their anniversary. i forgot! but next year for the big 25!
79. renew my attendance at the gym.pah. have you seen my belly?
80. stop listening to westlife. not only did i not stop listening, i went to see them live...
81. find some blu tack and stick up my bansky and pete doherty posters.
.82. go a day a fortnight without make up, to replenish my skin. i don't bother at weekends anymore.
83. make myself a salad. yummy cherry tomatoes, oh i am a chef.
84. use more semi colons and brackets. (i tried to do this as much as possible; i found it hard)85. somehow meet jk rowling or pete doherty. i'm still waiting
86. visit versailles again. no but versailles 09 with the blands!
87. take a tram. no, many buses though.
88. buy an itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini. primark didn't have any, szrd.
89. laugh everyday, in every situation. hahahahaaaa i did my very best.
90. use up my juicy lucy friendship cards. i still have a couple left for some lucky people!
91. have a solo shopping trip, just me on my own. many times, i am now skint.
92. take less posey pictures. lots more.
93. take more "natural" pictures. lots more
94. discover new bands on myspace. it wasn't as fruiful a year for music as 2007 but still i found some beauties.
95. delete all the phone numbers of the people i'll never need to talk to. no, hello boy who i pulled on holiday 2 years ago, hello random people in clubs, hello friends of parents. let's all get together sometime for a drink.
96. do my own laundry. never.
97. learn to like mushrooms. they still repulse me.
98. do my work experience in a school. i loved every second of it. highlight of my year, well one of them. can't wait to be a teacher.
99. borrow more from the library. got more fines as well.
100. when i feel the tears coming on, smile, bite them back, and remember how lucky i am. this went pretty well. i'm happier now.

as you can see, a pretty good year's progress. i'm proud of myself, but i won't be making another list for 2009. i'm going to take each day as it comes and spend it with the people i love most. life is all about surprises, after all.
my last blog for this year most probably as i jet off at half 4 tomorrow morning to tenerife. have an amazing new year everyone, i hope 2009's a cracker. drink too much, laugh too much, kiss too much. in the immortal words of mcfly: baby we won't ever die, because we're the young, we're alright.
a bientot, victoria x

un jour a whitby

so today was the whitby trip with liv and my parents. i totally heart that place, we managed to do all the sightseeing touristy bits within about two hours :D. me and liv ventured into the dracula museum, however, being the only two people in there scared the shit out of us so we ended up running through screaming, and ended up escaping via the fire exit. so much for being a vampire lover- sorry edward but i think i might pass on the fang loving from now on! we had fish and chips in this really quaint resturant called trenchers- it was totally art deco and i felt a bit 1920s! there was quite an attractive man working behind the bar however, so me and liv left our appreciation in the guestbook ;). i forced liv to climb up the 199 steps with me, counting each one as we went. unfortunatly i only reached 198- i guess a B in maths gcse doesn't count for much these days. of course, at the top was whitby abbey, so we had our customary tourist pose at the ruins. it's the most amazing gothic building, and i can see why so many writers take inspiration from the town. it seems almost never-changing, you could be in whitby in the 1800s and the town would be mostly the same- a coastal sleepy hollow. there's a real mysterious aura about the place that sets it apart and i can't wait to go back- hopefully in the summer- and explore some more. we also found the cutest little patisserie in whitby, amy, this photo is for you:

i love love love olivia as well, she makes every day a gigglefest and she's just one of the most easy-going, kind-hearted people i think i've ever met. it's strange how we've bonded so quickly, but now i don't think i could go through college without her. i know we've got many more adventures like today to come!

so now i'm packing for my jollydays, which i am beyond excited for. one week of sunshine (i hope), sand and sea! and alcohol and sexy spanish boys and most importantly getting to spend it all with francesca. the new year promises to be vair exciting, i've never been clubbing in a foreign country so that will be a new and interesting experience. knowing me i'll make a complete tit of myself but that's par for the course these days. i'm slightly worried about the work i'm going to be missing- my king lear coursework is looming over me like a black cloud, but a girl has to get her kicks somewhere and there's no way i'd rather be sat in college learning about the bard (god knows i love him) than sat on a beach watching the sun set.

www.gracepicksroses.blogspot.com - a blog by my beautiful amigo gracie. www.ourbland.blogspot.com - a blog my beautiful amigo amy. check them out if you're reading this :) they're good reads!

soon, i'm going to post my 100 things i wanted to do in 2008 with analysis on whether i did/did not do them (and the reasons why). it's always interesting to look back, but it's also interesting to look forward as well. 2009 is going to be a big year, i just know it. it's the year i turn 18 which is going to up many (alcoholic) doors, it's the year i have to pick my university (LONDON BABY. please) and it's the year prince harry will realize that his girlfriend is a blonde slag and that he'd be much better off with a 5"2 brunette from yorkshire who could help him enjoy the finer things in life. okay so the last one isn't too likely, but i can dream!

and on that note, this dreamer will take her leave! a bientot, victoria x

insomnia

insomnia is something i pretend i'm suffering from to give me an excuse to not go to bed. i'm absolutely shattered but my mind is still ticking on like a little clock, so i figured i'd blog because i don't want this to get neglected before i get started. in fact that's going to be one of my new year's resolutions, along with the following:

1) actually lose weight, or at least eat healthily. i can't believe i'm the heaviest i've been for all of 2008 and i'm going on holiday next week. this makes me very frustrated. yes i know as "modern self-empowered woman" i shouldn't care about wobbly bits but danggg i wanted to look good in a bikini.
2) not smoke again. okay i'm hardly a smoker anyway, but it's a slippery slope and i don't want my "good private school girl" image to completely die out on me. i don't want to disappoint my parents anymore than i've already done over the past 12 months, so my having-a-drag-when-someone-offers habit is stopping officially.
3) keep in touch with old friends, looking at old pictures of the gang circa 2006 made me realize that even though i fully love and want babies with all the new friends i've made at college you can't just ignore ones you've left behind. people like emily and owen live literally 5 minutes away and yet i see them once in a blue moon which makes me sad.

last december i made a list of 100 things i wanted to do before the year is out, i think in the new year i'll copy and paste them in and see how far i got. something's telling me not very, but i know i did a lot of fun and productive stuff in 2008 which hopefully made up for it. the year's ended pretty much, and although it would be nice to say i've grown and matured as a person, i don't think i have. possibly i'm slightly less self obsessed and bitchy, but even that's stretching it. i live in hope of one day becoming something like one of my heroines, because mr darcy was never going to settle for caroline bingley over elizabeth bennett.

whitby tomorrow for a day with the parents and another best girl, Liv. I haven't seen her for a little while so i'm tres excited about spending the day wandering round little vintage shops and climbing the 199 steps. whitby is absolutely one of my favourite places- SO much more enjoyable than chavvy scarborough so it should be a good day out. i also like long car journeys- it gives me the chance to find songs on my iPod that i didn't realize i had and to watch beautiful yorkshire scenery out of the window.

i'm feeling the stirrings in me to write another poem, it's been ages since i wrote one. the last one was the best i've ever written, totally cathartic at the time, although it's far too personal to post. however that was way back in the murky summer so for all i know my creative spark has died out.

so i figure at the moment i'm writing to no one in particular, so i'm going to put this address as my facebook status, even though this blog looks dull and boring and is nowhere near ready for general viewing. ah well, one must start somewhere. i've actually found writing this to be nice and sleep inducing so i'll take my leave and retire! a bientot, victoria x

mistletoe and wine and introductions

so yet again i'm entering into the forays of the blogging world, hopefully a little more succesfully than last time- a year 11 "gossip girl" rip-off that was sadly neglected as i realized that our little drunken gatherings and primark shopping sprees couldn't compare to blair's nate/chuck dilemma, or the latest marc jacobs hanging off her arm.
so i'll give it another go.
perhaps a formal introduction is in order, although these always feel awkward and unnecessary. hello. my name (in full) is victoria elizabeth finan, named after two great queens. i'm 17, which i'm finding to be an interesting, if not slightly strange age to be. currently i'm residing in yorkshire, although i hope this changes in the next couple of years depending on if i can find a university mad enough to accept me.
the reason i started a blog is because quite simply i love to write... anything. poems, stories, reviews, essays, text messages, facebook wall posts, you name it, i'm writing it. and it seemed like time i vented some of my angsty writer's frustration where someone with little to nothing better to do can read it. i've been inspired by a couple of great blogs- galadarling's iCing springs to mind- and i'm kind of hoping i can follow in their footsteps, although knowing me it's a pretty tall order.
so today i'm pondering over christmas and how sad it is that i'm more excited over the january sales than i have been over the festivities. checking topshop's website i see about sixty (no exaggeration) coats that would look so much better adorned over me than on a coat hanger gathering dust. i'm hoping against hope that the blue tartan beauty with a velveteen bow on the collar might have been cut- it was £130 last week in york topshop and even with my christmas money i can't afford to go splurging, paticularly as in 5 days i'm jetting off for a week of mindless drinking in tenerife with one of my best girls, francesca. archers and lemonades don't come cheap these days, paticularly as mine's a double and my father has quite rightly refused to pay for my boozing habit himself. sad times.
looking forward to starting my new books- grandma bought me madame bovary and anna karenina- that woman has good taste (okay, i picked them!). after rereading the twilight saga for the fourth time, it's time i got into some serious reading habits again. i've gotten pretty lazy over the past couple of months, going for a harry potter or twilight far too often as an easy option. time to challenge myself, as a prospective literature student it's going to look pretty woeful on my personal statement if i can only say the only classics ive read and enjoyed are all the austens. that reminds me, i've got a picture of dorian grey to take with me on holiday as well. it's going to be heavy handed serious stuff on the beach side for me!
one other thing- if there's one thing i recommend these holidays if you've got nothing better to, rent "a very long engagement" by jean-pierre jeunet (same director as amelie). i watched it the other night and loved it, the cinematography was beautiful. the battle scenes were comparable to those in atonement, disturbingly harrowing viewing. with the adorable audrey tautou as mathilde the heroine, i recommend it sincerley, espcially for language students such as myself. might post my full review of it sometime, however it's in french so when i've got half an hour to translate it back...
anyhoo i think that will do for a first blog post. time to start doing daily outfit photos and the like, arrgh. if only i had some decent clothes. must get working on that one.
a bientot, victoria x