Yum yum yum, cookies!

I adore chocolate chip cookies. Here's how to make some:

Ingredients:
75g margarine
75g sugar
drop of vanilla essence
100g chocolate chips
1 small egg
150g S. R flour

Method:
1.Set oven to Gas 4 180 C
2.Grease baking tray
3.With a wooden spoon, cream margarine and sugar together until soft and creamy.
4.Beat egg and essence in basin.
5.Gradually mix into the mixture a tablespoon at a time.
6.Change to a metal spoon, and gently fold in the sieved flour, half at a time.
7.Add the chocolate chips and mix.
8.Place teaspoons of mixture on baking tray.
9.Bake approx. 10-15 mins
10.Cool slightly, place fat on baking tray and then enjoy!

From The Girl With The Notepad :)

Shoes, shoes, shoes

On for the post of today! Here's some gorgeous shoes I've found and have to share!


H&M, £39.99




New Look, £29.99




Republic, £29.99




Topshop, £30.00



H&M, £19.99

Your fave?
From The Girl With The Notepad :)

An Arranged Marriage

Are you guys getting sick of my stories? I hope not, but hey, tell me if you are. I don't want to bore you! I wrote this when I was in a thoughful mood:

My bare feet touch the ground softly, and my thoughts swirl. It’s dark, but lit by the moon. I steal away to the river and sit, staring out at the water. There’s a slight breeze, cold, but that doesn’t matter. What is cold to a few minutes of peace? A few minutes of freedom? A few minutes to imagine myself into the girl I used to be.

But I’m not a girl anymore, even though I am but sixteen. For I am married. You can’t be a girl when you’re married. At least, that’s what my parents tell me anyway. My parents tell me a lot of things. They were the ones who explained to me the rules of my religion. Rules which clearly stated, they said, that I had to have an arranged marriage.

But I don’t understand. Marriage to me brings to mind the words of love. Trust. Compassion. Not arranged. The wedding day should be filled with love, not with solemn faces. On the wedding night the bride should be celebrating with her husband and her family. Not sitting by a river at midnight, in a flimsy white nightgown and bare feet, while her husband snores in a house a mile away.

The smoothness of the water calms me and my agitated mind. But, oh, what I would do to slip off my clothes and go swimming! I’d swim until I found my soul mate, someone who would take me away from rules and a husband who I didn’t relate to, to a magical land where everyone can do as they please.

Maybe he’d be a merman.

I tear my mind away from my daydreams. I think about the day I’ve had. How everyone had gasped when I refused to do the ‘Kiss the bride’ bit. I don’t care. And I don’t understand how my parents can think its okay to commit a sign of love with a person you don’t.

The breeze picks up his pace, and blows flower petals to me, which get caught in my hair. I shake them out, sighing. I guess it was time to go to home to my husband.

So I stand up, smoothing out my nightgown. Then I blow hundreds of kisses to the ripples in the water, because it is the only thing I have ever truly loved.

I can’t change the situation I’m in. But I can truly say I have now found peace in myself.

What do you think?

From The Girl With The Notepad :)

I've been a bit creative...

A bit of a different post today! For a school project I have to make a shoe bag, and I decided I am going to make mine for my little sister. We were all told that a shoe mood board would help us with the designing process, and here's mine: (inspiration is my four year old sister, btw)

Have you ever made a mood board? Do you know what one is? If you're thinking of making one, if it's for deciding a style for a party or even redesigning your home, here's how to get started:

THINGS TO MAKE YOUR MOOD BOARD BETTER:
.A piece of card (A3 is best, but A4 works too)
.Lots of magazines
.The Internet (for google images)
.Little pieces of fabric
.Colour charts
.Buttons, thread
.Stickers
.Wrapping paper


^^^All of these things are on mine!


TIPS WHEN DOING YOUR MOOD BOARD:
.Decide on a theme beforehand. ALWAYS.
.Get ALL the things you need in front of you, (all the materials and pictures- including those you've printed on the Internet, plus scissors, glue and tape)before starting.
.Start with big pieces of material or big pictures first, then layer the other ones on top. This will prevent the smaller pictures from being covered up by accident.
.I didn't do this in my mood board this time, but I have done it for others: look for related words in magazines and newspapers and add them in to really make your mood board interesting.

I hope I've inspired you to start your own mood board whenever the next designing task faces you! What do you think of mine?
From The Girl With The Notepad :)

Love bug

First of all, I would like to pay my respects to all 9/11 victims and families. May you all rest in peace.

Today I have a poem. It's about luuuuuurve <3

I must have been bitten

Because my cheeks are too flushed

If this person doesn’t speak to me

I always feel crushed.

I have a disease

Because I have too sparkly eyes

My heart beats so fast

It wouldn’t cope with a surprise.

I must be ill

Because my face is too bright

It looks like it’s under

A beautiful light.

I need a doctor

Because I can’t stop going pink

One name keeps tumbling out my mouth

Before I’ve got a chance to think.

I’m under a delusion

I’m desperate for a hug

Guess what the problem is?

I’ve got the Love Bug.

From The Girl With The Notepad :)

Songs I wish I'd written...

I love my iPod. It's way more important to me than my phone. Here's some songs I wish I'd written, because they are so amazing:

Don't you think the words have so much feeling?- The Only Exception, Paramore

I LOVE this song. It's so good if you're depressed.- Fascination, Alphabeat

Amazing song for if you're on a train on bus, I don't know why!- Yellow, Coldplay

What's a song you couldn't live without?
From The Girl With The Notepad :)

The bus story.

This story idea has been in my head a while now, and I think it's time it saw the light!

The School Girl
The bus is here. Finally. God. There is no point being on time for a bus.
I get on, and it 's pretty full. Full enough for there to be only five seats left. But which seat to choose? Next to a fat woman taking up one and a half seats, or a seat at the back next to a loved-up girl and her boyfriend? Not forgetting the frowny business woman, the man talking to his chocolate bar, and the beautiful teenager talking on her phone.
I choose the teenager, and she seems to look with pity at my brown, thin hair, my fat nose, and thick eyebrows. I sink into my seat with a sigh of longing.

The Beautiful Teenager
I snap my phone shut, and sigh. A girl of about 13 or 14 sits next to me, and I look at her with a urge to shout, "Don't EVER get a boyfriend!"
I can't believe John dumped me. He was my best friend as well as a boyfriend. And now he's fallen for the prettiest girl in school, and dumps me by the phone? The loved-up girl niggles annoyingly into my mind, the one who's sat at the back of the bus with her boyfriend. It's so unfair. How come she gets a boyfriend when I just got dumped?

The Loved-Up Girl With The Boyfriend
Matt's trying to kiss me again. It's so embrassing. Why does he try it on in public all the time? I'm sure we're annoying the other passengers. That gorgeous girl sat at the front gave me quite a glare.
I like Matt. I do. I just don't really love him anymore.
I wish I was strong, and independent, like that business woman over there....

The Business Woman
I frown with annoyance. Another rejection! I replay the interview over in my head. I thought it had gone well! Am I really so bad in person? I've been trying for almost a year to get a job now. I can't live in my parents house forever.
I bet that man in front of me has a job. I'm sooooooo jealous, even though he's obviously a bit weird.

The Man Talking To His Chocolate Bar
Stop it, stop it... Am I talking out loud again? People are looking at me as if I am. Okay, just put it in your bag. PUT IT IN YOUR BAG.
But somehow I can't. Somehow the chocolate bar is making its way to my mouth....
I wish I was fat again. Really fat. So fat, that it wouldn't really matter if I kept eating food. I bet that fat woman sitting near the window has no problems with calories. She's probably really happy.

The Fat Woman
Are people staring at me? I hate going out of the house. I always get stares. People saying out loud or in their heads. Fat, fat, fat, fat, fat.
It's not even my fault. It's not fair. Before the illness, I has a figure just like that cute schoolgirl sat next to the teenager. She looks like a daydreamer. Dream on, little girl. Life chucks a bunch of stuff at you and sometimes takes your figure with it...

And so the bus goes on, taking the people and their worries with them. If only we knew what people were thinking.......

Leave some thoughts!
From The Girl With The Notepad :)