31 March 2013

March 2013


1| One of the many adorable old pictures I found of my Mum and I on Mother's Day
2| Reunited with my ladies at Easter
3| My adorable cat has taken to dishing out kisses, super cute

As I'm off to Dorset in a sec (yesterday by the time this is published) I've scheduled a round-up post for you; gotta keep the blog ticking over while I'm away at my grandparents and the internet is a foreign concept. I'm going to get really good at sudokus and be completely up-to-date with Coronation Street, fantastic. 

I'll be frank with you, I've had a pretty rubbish month as a whole, especially towards the end. That being said, I've had loads of support from good friends and family, and of course my adorable ball of fur Millie - I know I've thanked you all 100 times already, but honest to god you're all amazing and I love you loads. Less than two months until I've officially finished university and get to move on to pastures anew, which may be completely terrifying but I think I'm ready to embrace some change. This coming month promises an absolute mountain of university work, plenty of sleepless nights and stress-induced panic attacks, but fingers crossed I'll get everything under control and life in Sheffield will be much brighter. I think my little trip to Dorset, then a few more days in Nottingham will give me a lovely little breather before the madness that is to come.

29 March 2013

I'm bypassing my Friday ritual this week on behalf of once again not getting around to going to the cinema </3 A week of trips to and from Sheffield for four hour shifts has been time consuming and tiring, but after this evening I have just over a week booked off; and relax. Tonight should be quite fun as JUNGLE LION are playing, a local ska band who I've seen a few times at venues across Sheffield (check out a review I wrote about them here - the night was called Off The Record). It'll be a very very busy shift and I doubt I'll be finished cleaning up until about 2am, but it's always fun to have something to dance along to whilst pulling a few pints.

Tomorrow morning I head back to Nottingham, then straight on to Dorset for a few days. I cannot wait at all. A little holiday is exactly what I need right now.

Too much Fall Out Boy often inspires moments of forgetting I'm not 15
Instagram: @tashafranek

27 March 2013


I don't particularly like blogging when I'm down in the dumps, but after failing to shake this awful melancholic state for the past three days I've decided it's best to just resume as usual and get on with things. Couldn't possibly abandon my beautiful blog when I'm so close to hitting my first 100 followers. It's mad to think that I've attracted any attention at all to something which really is just a small piece of my life. I'm glad to know that a few people enjoy reading what I have to say, gives me a little hope for my future endeavours with writing - thank you to all of you who read and compliment it, it means an awful lot. 

Whilst wallowing in my current emotional state, I've been really enjoying the "sultry, melancholic ambience" (as put by a friend with a very reliable opinion on music) of Bonobo's The North Borders. The perfect soundtrack to your solitude or a calm inducing, de-stress lullaby, - I recommend any readers with a taste for electronic or chill-out music check it out right away. You can listen HERE

Let me know what you think?


24 March 2013



#Fbloggers I need your help.

I have the absolute pleasure of being my dear friend Becki's +1 to her brother's wedding. Which of course means a new dress. The problem is, every dress I have found is either black or white, the two big "no-no's" for wedding guest attire. Could I get away with a little monochrome? It is 2013 after-all - I just don't want to seem like a big rebel, I haven't met any of her family before, they might think I'm a bit of a dick. This dress is the best I've found that doesn't seem too offensive or out of place at a wedding;



I love the shape of the top, the print of the skirt, and the edgy-spring feel that it has to it, which is pretty apt to say that so far our Spring has been a little out of the ordinary. I know it's predominantly black, but I just don't think I can pull off anything short and pastel, which seems to be my only other Spring-Wedding outfit option. Teamed with some chunky black heels, a signature 90s choker or two and some sort of sparkly head piece, I think it could look pretty hot - though a second or third opinion would be super wonderful (help please).

Ps. Being back in Nottingham is perfect. I'll blog about how beautiful and brilliant my besties are really soon.

22 March 2013

Film Club Fridays
Django Unchained 



On account of being completely consumed with university work and life dramas these past couple of weeks, I haven't actually gotten around to going to the cinema at all, so have decided to post a quick review of the mighty Django Unchained which has had everybody raving this year. After promising about seven thousand different people I would go with them to catch it at the flicks, I ended up missing out entirely. I couldn't quite wait to be able to afford the DVD, so last night my house mate Nathan and I finally got around to seeing what all the fuss was about, whilst gorging on Dominos pizza.

I'm quite the Tarantino fan, one of my all time favourite films being True Romancewhich although is directed by Tony Scott you can tell was written by Quentin. Django Unchained screams Tarantino from the off, a quality that I love in a director, especially when their work is so brilliantly stylised. The over-indulgent cameo towards the end wasn't really working for me, felt a lot like he was just stepping in to cover a role because the actor was missing, and putting on a silly voice, but that could have just been me. Also it was long. Since when have films become three hours long? I mean, I genuinely really enjoyed the film, but I still found myself checking the time. I don't think my attention span has the capability of lasting that long, regardless on the quality of the film. Anyway, back to how excellent it was. I adored the pairing of Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx, both excellent actors playing brilliant characters, they seemed to bounce off of each other and have a fun kind of chemistry. Plus when did Foxx get so damn foxy? I have no doubt that I'd swoon too, if he called me "little trouble maker". DiCaprio didn't look too terrible either to say he's aged so horribly, the facial hair is very becoming of him. I also loved the comedy elements in it too, my favourite part being the Ku Klux Klan bit with the bag masks. I won't ruin it for anybody who hasn't seen it, and I realise that it doesn't sound like something I should find funny, but it is supposed to be, don't worry. It really tickled me.

I'm sure you've probably all at least seen the trailer if nothing more, but here it is:


I am really gutted I didn't get to see it on the big screen, I imagine it was all the more dramatic and theatrically gruesome. I'll definitely be giving it another viewing soon, I don't think you can ever get everything from the first watch. This evening I shall hopefully be paying a visit to old favourite, The Showroom, to catch Stoker. Perhaps you will be in for a more up-to-date treat next week!

20 March 2013


My new tattoo choker and yin-yang necklace arrived in the post today, so I decided it was only fit to don my most outrageously 90s apparel and pose like a diva. I took the snapshots on webcamtoy, cause I adore this effect, it's so brilliantly "girl power".

Three more days before I get to go home for Easter. I can't wait to get back to the sanity of Nottingham for a while and catch up with my girls. I also have plans to arrange volunteer film work and magazine internships, start tidying up my portfolio, and set up another blog which will potentially become the makings of my very own e-magazine. I'll keep you up to date with how that one goes, I've been trying to set something up like this with friends for so long, but after a run of unsuccessful attempts I'm going it alone.

No rest for the wicked.

18 March 2013


This afternoon I suffered an early bout of mid-life-crisis in M&S, hysterically assessing my life over a fuck-off "medium-sized" Cappuccino. Sophie and I were cafĂ© crawling our afternoon away, catching up and exchanging boy dramas, when it suddenly became apparent that I am becoming old before my time. Worries that I should not be facing for at least another ten years have been filling my psychotic little head for a while now, but laying it all down on the table certainly made me realise that I've gone mad. 

I've never been one to think about the future further than whether to crack open a bottle of red when I get home from university, but as of late I've been having a few 5-year-plan related issues. Not the usual sort of, i-don't-know-where-i'm-going-to-be-post-uni issues that I have struggled with a little as graduation creeps horrifyingly close, but worries that I have now reached the age where everybody is already cluttered with commitments. What happens if I never meet anybody to settle down with? What happens if I've missed the happily-ever-after boat where everybody holds hands and has babies and detached houses? What happens if I never get my Chaise Longue? 

I think a lot of the blame has to do with EVERYBODY around me getting hitched and having children. And it not being ridiculed. 2/4 of my ex boyfriends are engaged now, one of whom has a baby boy. My facebook time line is filled with pictures of diamonds and out-grown baby boots for sale. I figure there must be something in my sub-concious telling me I'm missing out on all of the fun. Or that now I'm reaching the end of my 16 years of education (christ) I need to join the rest of the world in marital bliss - if I haven't already missed out on all the best potential suitors by dicking around getting a degree when I should have been on a husband hunt. Anybody who knows me personally will think this hilariously out of character, this broody nature has snook up on me almost over night, and I'm sure it will pass again just as quickly. Sophie was very quick in reminding me that I am only 21, and that I don't really like children, or men, so I'll probably be OK even if I do end up a lonely spinster. And as I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm actually having loads of fun in my current situation, even if it has its complications. After all, when has anything fun been straight forward, and vice versa? I managed to push my crazy aside by spending my spare change on sweets  and linking arms with Sophie like fifteen year olds, reminding ourselves that its still 2007 in our minds anyway and we don't need no man.

17 March 2013

A very busy couple of weeks has led to an abandoned blog.
Tonight/tomorrow things will resume as normal.


A million thank you-s to the hottie on the left for making it all surprisingly enjoyable.

1 March 2013

Film Club Fridays:
The Breakfast Club


This week I was very fortunate to be able to watch The Breakfast Club not only for the first time, but from one of the original 35mms on the big screen. The Showroom cinema offers a special screening each week on a Tuesday night, under the title of "Cult Tuesdays". As I'm both a student, and a member, the tickets are ridiculously cheap, and the atmosphere is always brilliant as it's packed full of filmy-types.

The Breakfast Club is an 80s classic that I'd been meaning to get around to watching for years, so the opportunity to see it in its full glory was not one to be passed up. Directed by John Hughes, this "brat pack" film continues to ring true nearly three decades after its release. Celebrating youth, in all of its teen-angst-glory, the plot is simple and predictable in the most perfect way, a real feel good, high school classic. The soundtrack and wardrobe of the whole film is so brilliantly 80s too - I was instantly coveting everything that the kids were wearing (especially Bender's fingerless gloves, plaid shirt and oversized denim jacket combo).

For anybody who hasn't seen it before, here is what I believe to be an original trailer:


I completely forgot to take photos of Sophie and I enjoying ourselves, but we dressed up for the occasion and I treated us both to a glass of wine, as I'm a darling and know how to treat my woman. I have a few films on the cards for this week, if I don't totally drain my overdraft tomorrow night.

Pinch, punch, first of the month to you all.