March Playlist

I CANNOT BELIEVE IT’S ALREADY APRIL. It makes me very happy because my birthday is fast approaching! 

So after uploading my February playlist, I realised I really need to broaden my music horizon, and listen to other songs that aren’t from musicals (not that I’ve listened to musicals any less than I normally do…)! So in March I tried my very hardest to find new music I love. There’s still mostly songs from musicals, but I’m taking steps, people. Baby steps.

~Divide album- Ed Sheeran (I literally love every single song in the album so I couldn’t pick just one!)

~Beautiful Little Fools- Jorja Smith

~Liability- Lorde

~How Does A Moment Last Forever- Beauty and the Beast Soundtrack

~Pulled- Addams Family The Musical 

~Issues- Julia Michaels

~Symphony- Clean Bandit, Zara Larsson

~Make Me (Cry)- Noah Cyrus

~Hopelessly Devoted To You- Daisy Clark

Love Grace xx

My Family’s Favourite Musicals

First things first, I’m so sorry for being MIA… I could try and make it better with excuses, but I won’t bore you! Anyway, I’m definitely going to get back into the blogging schedule. I really love blogging and I’m really grateful for the followers I have, so I’m not giving up on this blog.

 I’ve been wanting to do this post for so long now, after My Musical Theatre Life‘s blog post inspired me to do something like this.

You’ve probably had enough of me blabbing on about my favourite musicals, so today I asked everyone in my family about their favourite musicals! 

My Fair Lady                                                                                                                                                                    

Dad

“I always wanted to sing ‘On the street where you live’ live on stage. Henry Higgins’ songs are great, I love the irony of ‘Why can’t the English?’ and ‘A Hymn to Him (why can’t a woman be more like a man?). I also love the touching sentiment of ‘I’ve grown accustomed to her face’.

I completely agree! It’s really fun to watch it with Dad because he knows nearly every word! I love every song, I also love how feisty Eliza Doolittle is! A timeless musical….

Les Miserables

Mum

“Les Miserable has ‘Bring Him Home’ in, which is one of my favourite songs. I’ve seen it live so it always makes me appreciate musicals on the stage. Another reason I love it is because for my birthday and anniversary one year, the kids all bought the dvd for me and we watched it together.”

Such an amazing musical! I’m very jealous she has seen it on stage… I think it’s one of the most powerful musicals there are. It’s incredible that they can express these emotions with no dialogue, but with only singing and beautiful music.

La La Land  

Ben (Brother)

“A near perfect modern spin on an decades old art form!”

I absolutely love this musical. The story. The musical. Everything! The Audition song has to be my favourite.

Singin’ In The Rain

Josh (Brother)

“Singing in the rain!! It’s da best as der is splashing n water n rain n singing, it’s just da bezt!”

Josh is 24 and in University. Yet he still can never give me a serious answer. But I also love singing in the rain!  I love that it’s such a happy musical. A classic.

Mary Poppins

Anu (Sister-in-law)

“I’m going to say Mary Poppins as it reminds me of my childhood and brings back lovely memories.”

I can’t remember this musical much because it’s been so long since I’ve last seen it. but I do remember how magical it is. It’s a mysterious yet really upbeat musical.

Moulin Rouge

Alex (Sister-in-law)

“I love Moulin Rouge! Romance, comedy, timeless songs and a tragic ending. An emotional rollercoaster!”

I’ve never actually seen this musical, or know any songs from it, But it sounds good!

Oliver!

Emily (Sister)

“Oliver. I love the time period and the songs. It’s gritty and horrible at times but then they all break out in song. Amazing!”

I watched Oliver! for the first time not long ago. I was amazed. The story had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. The music and choreography brings a whole new amazing element to Charles Dickens story. So good!

Sunshine On Leith

Alice (Sister)

 “My favourite musical is Sunshine On Leith, because it’s the best and it makes me happy!”

If I’m honest, this is definitely not one of my favourites. But she loves it! It’s definitely a happy musical…

Me

I can’t possibly choose! All of them are my favourite.

I really enjoyed writing this post, I found it really interesting to find out their favourite musicals. It’s crazy how one musical can mean something really special to one person. It’s why I love them so much!

Love Grace xx

Chocolate Chip Welshcakes

Hello lovely people!

Last week, Wales celebrated St David’s day. My favourite part of the day has to be eating far too many welshcakes, but it’s okay because you can just blame that you’re patriotic and not greedy. Right?

So I wanted to share with all of you my welshcakes recipe! Traditionally, welshcakes are made with raisins, but I’m not a fan of raisins so I replace them with chocolate! So feel free to use raisins if you prefer. As always, this recipe is vegan! So let’s get on with the recipe…

You will need:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup vegan butter
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1/3 cup-1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 tsp cinnamon 
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• A splash of milk of choice

Measure all of your ingredients into a large mixing bowl, apart from the chocolate chips. 

Then it’s time to get your hands dirty and rub the mixture together with your fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add your chocolate chips (or raisins). Add a small dash of milk, just enough to bind the mixture and stir it in. It should be dry enough so that it doesn’t stick to the bowl, but wet enough so it can be rolled into a ball.

Flour up your work surface and your rolling pin. Roll the dough out until it’s about 1cm thick. Use your cookie cutter to cut the welshcakes out.

Heat up a griddle or a non-stick frying pan and grease it with a little butter. Wait until it’s heated up nicely and then place your welshcakes on to cook. Cook them just so they’re golden on each side. Be careful not to burn them as I did with my first batch!

Once they’re all cooked, sprinkle caster sugar on top of all of them and then they’re done!

 

These are seriously so yummy. They definitely went down well in my house! Let me know if you’ve decided to try these out, I’d love to know what you think.

Love Grace xx

International Women’s Day.

 “The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights,” 

I know it’s a day late but happy international women’s day!

International Women’s Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. International Women’s Day is all about unity, celebration, reflection, advocacy and action. International Women’s Day has been occurring for well over a century – and continue’s to grow from strength to strength.

I am so proud to be a woman. Do you realise how incredible you are? The world needs women. It needs women who build eachother up, and not tear eachother down. It needs women who bring up children to be good, honest and compassionate people. We have divine qualities that make us who we are. 

Nothing saddens me more than when girls do not know of their own worth. I think especially teenagers constantly put themselves down and think that they are not good enough. In a world where you have to be stick thin, flawless, beautiful and talented to be seen as ‘perfect’, it is hard to think you’re good enough. Nobody is perfect, and who can decide what ‘perfect’ actually means? I hate when people always want to be someone else, there is only one of you in the world so WHY would you want to be anyone else? Love who you are, love what you look like, and just love you!

Liv Arnesen said “When you feel your heart beating hard or your blood running fast, you have found something important. Create room for it.”. She and Ann Bancroft were the first two women to cross Antarctica on foot. Despite them being ridiculed and criticised, they were determined women and made their dreams come true.
Miriam Makeba said “I’m going to go on singing, telling the truth.”. Growing up, her family was poor and she had to work as a servant during the time of the apartheid in South Africa. She turned to her music and eventually became a very famous and talented singer. She testified about apartheid in front of the world and stood up for what she believed in. Nelson Mandela said “Miriam’s music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us”

Fe Del Mundo was the first woman woman admitted to Harvard Medical School. When World War II began, she returned to her home country Japan to help. She established a medical centre called The Children’s Home. She established many medical centres and continued to help and heal people even until the grand age of 100! She was a grand breaking doctor and humanitarian.

Sophie Scholl was a German girl, when she was 12 she joined the girls wing of the Nazi Party to support her country. As she grew up, her and her brother began to realise the horrific things that the Nazis and Hitler were doing. They formed a group called the White Rose and in 1942, they wrote an anonymous essay criticising the Nazis. Sophie bravely scattered the leaflets everywhere she could. They kept writing leaflets until the sixth essay, when they got caught scattering them. They were sentenced to death and Sophie said “I did the best I could do for my nation. I therefore do not regret my conduct and will bear the consequences”. She and her brother were killed shortly after. Sophie is famous for her courage and commitment to peaceful resistance in the face of tyranny.

Feel inspired yet?

I could go on forever talking about all the empowering and amazing women from the past but I’ll stop myself here!

Not only have there been inspiring women in history, there are inspiring women I have in my everyday life. My mum, my sisters, my friends, and all the women from my family continue to inspire me in everything they do. I sometimes stand in amazement at the things women are capable of.

Do something amazing. Create your own story, do not let others write it for you.

I am proud to be a woman.

Love Grace xx

My February Playlist

Can you actually believe that another month has come and gone? It actually feels like yesterday when I was walking to a beach one very cold night to light fireworks on New Year’s Eve…

But, with a new month comes different ideas! This month I’ve decided I want to do more posts on music as it’s something I really really like as I’ve said MANY times before. So today, this post is my February playlist! I’ve tried to write down all the songs I’ve been loving, the songs that have been tirelessly going round my head, and the songs I just can’t get enough of! Also, this month, most of the songs may be from musicals…

The very little amount of non-musical songs~

How would you feel- Ed Sheeran

Million years ago- Adele

Musical songs~

I still believe- Miss Saigon

Don’t rain on my parade- Funny Girl

I know where I’ve been- Hairspray

Audition song- La La Land

As long as he needs me- Oliver!

And I think that’s about it (I guarantee I’ll think of about 10 more once I publish this post.)! I hope this post hasn’t bored you, it’s hard thinking of fun things to write about every time!

Let me know if you want me to do a march playlist (although who am I kidding, I probably will anyway!)!

Lots of love, 

Grace xx