2011

good evening! so 2011's finally here :)

so as you do on the last day of a year, i was thinking about my new years' resolutions and i was really thinking about what i want from 2011 :) i don't usually make new years' resolutions because come on, nobody ever keeps them! and anyway most people's new years' resolutions aren't really resolutions, they're challenges they set for themselves. for example: to do well in my gcse's isn't a resolution, it's a challenge because you're not really resolving anything. (thank you dictionary.com :P) 

but anyway, i thought i'd join in with this little trend and think up some resolutions i'd like to make for myself and here they are :

- to try and make the most out of every day

-to try not take anyone or anything for granted

-to try and be a bit more adventurous with foods and maybe even try sushi

- to try and work a little harder in school to get the best grades that i can

- to write a cv good enough to get a summer job

- to try and get a look on lookbook that gets 100 hypes.

and finally to try to keep this blog going for the whole of 2011. 

as you've probably noticed, all of my resolutions are to try and do something.. and you might be thinking that if you want to do something to just do it! but the way i see it, as long as i've had a good go at it and i've put my all into it then that's the best that i can do so i should be happy with it :) the one to put a look on lookbook that gets 100 hypes. that means that 100 people have liked the look. i haven't really been bothered with my lookbook and have just uploaded random photos but i really want to try and get one :) also my first resolution to try and make the most out of everyday, is because everyone has those rubbishy days where they just graze all day, don't do any work and don't do one productive thing, and my resolution isn't to say that i wont have any. but the resolution is that after it, i feel like i've had a nice relaxing day other than done nothing :)

i googled the most popular new years' resolutions, to try and find out what majority of people want. and i was less than suprised to find that on this particular website (http://www.43things.com/resolutions/most_popular) 1177 people have made the resolution to lose weight. 602 people want to fall in love which i think is quite sweet. and i really like that 558 people want to read more! i actually finished a view from the bridge on wednesday and i'd really like to discuss it with someone else who's read it :) anyway back to the new year.

i'd also like the reminisce on some of my best memories of 2010 all of which include enjoying the year with the best friends and family i could dream of!

- thinking about the day when i stayed up to wait for a spectacular friend's grandma to call

-laughing at a lady near taunton station who had "SEX" tattooed on the back of her neck 

- many fantastic dinners cooked by mother mckenzie

- getting numerous amounts of days off timetable to do stuff related to my fantastic trip to ghana in february

- discovering lee evans which provided millions of laughs

and there are so so many more that i can't list!

i don't know what you'll be doing when the clock strikes 12 tonight. but i'll be sitting here in the living room, watching the fireworks on bbc with my loved ones, (excluding janelle who's back at uni :'( ) which is sort of tradition. which is what we do every year and i love it :) drink a tiny bit of champagne before i don't like the taste and marcel and my dad halfies it and drink to the new year :) 

so that's it from me for 2010. and i wish you the very very best for 2011 :) ronan xxxx

thursday

hello :) so todays thursday, as you know :P, and i had another lovely relaxing day at home except to go to athletics. i was struggling to think of something to write about today since apart from play shrek on xbox, cremating some sausages and drinking fancified pink lemonade, i didn't really do much. so i decided that to entertain you, i'll copy my lovely friend bergue, and do a quiz.

so firstly i googled "fashion quizzes" and came up with some spectacularly un-fashion-y type quizzes, so i scrolled down to find http://www.funquizcards.com/quiz/fashion/ this website. 

for starters, the "fashion quizzes" start with a quiz called "am i ugly" which i think is a problem! what is you are ugly? this quiz isn't going to make you feel any better really is it? and if it says "by joe you're a stunner" then it's just lying and that's not gonna help the poor person :P :(

anyway, i decided to carry on with the website and do a quiz and i picked, "how well groomed are you?" quiz. which looked like the safest option that wouldn't end in tears. 

but when i got the the actual quiz i was rudely surprised by these obtrusive questions! :(

1. when you go out somewhere, your hair are (grammatical error there) a. well styled and tied up. or b. messy, at best. so i picked b because it's most truthful. i don't style my hair or tie it up much so to click that would be a lie.
2.are your clothes washed and ironed always? a. yes absolutely, b. not always. well my clothes aren't always ironed! so my only option is to say no :/
3. are your hands and legs smooth and shiny? a.yup, b.not always. welllllll my hands :s. this is implying that i shave my hands which i most certainly don't! and i mean, like any other girl my legs aren't always shiny and smooth! what's the point if i'm gonna sit at home and watch tv all day? even if i do see friends then they don't care so this one had to be a not always for me.
and as you can see.. it went on like this, and you can clearly see why i chose the answered i did because i don't floss. although i brush my teeth every day.. (promise :P) i don't floss so i can't lie and say yes because i don't fill the exact criteria!
and my result was......

oh no you di'ent! i must try to be better groomed?! you.. are telling me to be better groomed even though you were drawn on paint? i don't think so :P
the problem i have with this is that if i was sad enough to believe this then i would be crying my little eyes out here! i think i create a good impressed around people thank you very much!
then the biggest insult about this is that i have a choice to share on facebook! why on earth would i want to share on facebook! to tell all my friends that i need to be well groomed? i don't want them getting ideas into their heads!
anyway, i think that's proved to us both that online quizzes are crappy, and has amused you somewhat at least :) tomorrow's post will be more interesting i promise :P bye for now! ronan xxx

fashion favours and flops

hello, how're you today then? :)

i had a very lovely relaxing day with the ones i loveee :D but janelle went off to uni which sorta confirms the end of the christmas period :( and i'll miss her of course 8-)

anyway, to cheer you up knowing that school and work is looming, here are some fashion designers, clothes, and flops :)

1. an affordable everyday brand... the ugly kids club. http://www.theuglykidsclub.com is one of those websites where everything is cheap, cheerful and nice. but all overly branded. -> specimen a. UGLY KIDS CLUB. tee. all the tees on the website are pretty much like this. but it's a bargain at only £12. i'd totally wear this and it could look nice tucked into a pencil skirt, with high waisted shorts or a nice bodycon dress underneath :) verdict - ****. 4 stars.



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2. http://www.drjays.com . is an american website that has the hottest, most famous american brands but there are always some flops. on good websites.

specimin a. rich kids club glasses. for approximately £10. you could own these spectacularly hideous glasses. joy.  the fact of the matter is that they're not actually that bad! i was just ex.pecting more from the "rich kids club". even if i didn't like it and it was full of dimante mumbo jumbo it would be more impressive than these tacky aviator shades!
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specimin b. dereon. shake your derrière in your dereon ;). is beyoncé's brand. and everyone loves a bitta beyonce! but i was pretty disappointed when i found these...
i refuse to believe that beyonce would wear these!
the shorts aren't hideous but i just.. the tacky logo on each back pocket... and the classic fold up just don't go.
the shirt as well, i doubt you'd catch beyonce in that rag. harsh maybe but think about it. i'm right :P
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specimin c. beats by dr dre. are dr dre's headphone brand. and for a pair of simple plugs.. £140!
yes seriously. it's like dre.. you're really not cool, hot, or good enough to be selling over £100 headphones!
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but among all this crap and excluding the whopping import taxes you can get caught up in, drjays actually have some nice picks. including some akademiks jeans that i've had for about 3 years and they're still going strong! so my drjays rating is ***"- 3 and a half stars.
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3. beatrix ong. http://www.beatrixong.com i found beatrix when i was looking for new designer on this. and i actually really like her. she's got some really cool shoes! only problem is that they're at designer prices.
the ones on the right are £348, and the gold ones are £199, down from £278.
so there i was thinking that i'd found a really cool new brand that if i ever become rich, i know what i'll be buying (along with my christian louboutins, diggerland theme park and roberto cavalli dresses) until.. i came across these..... poo in a shoe things.. that beatrix is trying to rip off for £580! lol of the century! but suprisingly, people are actually buying them.
this is what happens when people are paid too much! unless you genuinely like them.. :P anyway. i guess no designer will create a line that's 100% to everyone's taste! so taking that, and the overpricedness into consideration, i give beatrix ong ****. because i absolutely love the lets dance shoes:)
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4. vivienne westwood. http://www.viviennewestwood.co.uk/shop
i wanted to have a look at vivienne westwood's line because i've seen a couple pairs of her shoes and loads of people always rave about her! but all i knew of her that in marcel's words "she's just a hag". so i had a looooook at the website, and i was... indifferent to the stuff. i mean not all of it is great but it's not awful! bit disappointed that i didn't love or hate it.
see i love the blue dress on the left. but i hate the red one on the right....


i'd give even these peeptoes a go! but you'd have to kill me to get  me in those revolting boot shoe thingies.
so because of that, i'd vote vivienne westwood ***. 3 stars. because i neither love, or hate majority of the stuff. and it's out there. and i like that :)




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5. and final... apple bottom jeans.. boots with the fuurrr ;) http://www.applebottomsuk.com
i had to do a bit about apple bottoms just because i found the most hilarious photo ever! but first, my opinion.
i quite like apple bottoms, i mean i don't really have the most appley bottom but i quite like the brand. majority of the stuff is wearable paired with the most un-apple-bottom-type outfit eg. an apple bottom hoodie with a topshop dress. but yeah. i quite like these jeans, and they're actually quite reasonably priced, and in the sale about £30 a pair. i like the little sparkly bits on these. and they have a really wide variety of sizes! the quality of the denim is good and they look quite pretty :)
but, like most other brands.. they do have some flops. eg. these ridonkulous grey... worn..wall-like.. drain looking jeans! i don't know if they're meant to be flattering,
but the model surely makes them not! the jean looks like it finishes with the ankle and makes the legs look stubby because  of the pumps that the model is wearing. they also are hipsters but the shot makes the model look like she had a bit of a.. protruding stomach and that gives the effect that the front of the jeans where the button is looks horrible.
taking all this into consideration, ignoring the horrible jeans and basing my judgement upon the fact that apple bottoms actually have some nice gear.. my verdict is ****
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i hope you've enjoyed reading today! and to put a smile on your face, i'll leave you with the most hilarious apple bottoms model ever. complete avec saggy bootay! ronan xxx

shake that ass. watch yaself woo shake that ass. show me what you're working with.

my day in photos & a review 'cause i couldn't help it ;)

never done this before, but as promised- here's my day in photos.

i woke up

at 12 30 on the dot.

brushed my teeth.. and all that jazz.

then decided what to wear
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my outfit --- h&m much.

okay today, my outfit was coincidentally all from h&m,  except my jacket, shirt thingy :)
the top is tucked in, £7.99. not in stock any more but very similar to http://shop.hm.com/gb/shoppingwindow?dept=DIV_DAM_TOPS_ALL&modelnum=799361&type=matching .  it's a really good comfortable top and i think it looks nice :) the stripes as you can see start mid-chest. and are the same width. a little tip i always do is when wearing something high waisted with tights, i always tuck my top into the tights because it smooths your edges down and the top doesn't slide or move around when you're wearing it. 
my skirt was £7.99 also, it's not on the website and i got it quite a while ago but they usually have this type of skirt in stock. it's high waisted and quite thick so it would pull in any wobbly bits :P it's quite short but because it's quite plain, it leaves you to dress it up so it can definitely look smart! topshop also have a version which is £22. http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=33057&storeId=12556&productId=965285&langId=-1&sort_field=Relevance&categoryId=208530&parent_categoryId=203984&sort_field=Relevance&pageSize=200 . and it comes in a variety of colours. i in fact have it in light pink and the difference between them is that, the topshop one has a zip at the back, and it's also made of a slightly thinner material.my necklace isn't in stock any more and was sort of a one off, but i really liked it :) it was £2.99. h&m have really good affordable clothes and jewelery that are good quality.  i have a size 6 and it fits a little tighter as a topshop size 8, but the waist size of the topshop one is better for me. it's also slightly shorter.
my necklace isn't in stock any more and was sort of a one off, but i really liked it :) it was £2.99. h&m have really good affordable clothes and jewelery that are good quality. 
my shirt if you were wondering was from camden, i got it at a random stall for £15 a few years ago and i wore it because it's warm and goes over pretty much anything :) camden's good for finding bits and bobs that last you forever!
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back to my day
we got into the car

i grabbed a snack

whacked capital on

drove to stratford

enjoyed the show

popped to asda

had a giggle at matt's book. and reminisced beano and dandy days

bought dinner

homewards!

that fish turned to dinner ;)

scrubbed up :D

time for relaxxxingg

had to be!

and of course some jamming to end the day ;) thanks for reading & bye for today!

ronan xxx

ice skating at tower bridge, bergue & cosmo website review

gooodd evening :) hope you had a lovely day! 

december 27th isn't really a significant day at all is it... it's sort of just the day after the day after christmas. when you eat christmas leftovers, flat lemonade and DIY bucks fizz, cracking open the tired looking christmas crackers that are left. but hey! it's sale time! i only like christmas sales online. in store it's just too busy, everyone's in a rush and there's ALWAYS a fat smelly man towering over you on the train who seems to find something very interesting down your top. no thank you!

                instead today, i went ice skating with dad, janelle, marcel, siobhan and aaron (siobhans boyfriend). which was great fun :) it was meant to start at 1 30. so of course we got there at about 1 35 - always being late of course. and i sat smugly putting on my own white figure skates while the others faffed about with their hire ones :P anyway, we got onto the ice -dad at the side watching lovingly with a smile on his face as usual- and started skating. we noticed a very rowdy bunch of short, shrieking american girls in cheerleading jackets slipping around on the ice.
                 so we were having our fun skating around, me showing off just a tiny bit. 'cause you have to in those situations! and i was skating around, playing games with janelle and marcel when the americans bombarded me and surrounded me! "teach us a trick!" they screeched, "you skate! you have those fancy skates on! we wanna see a trick!". i don't like being forced to be the centre of attention so i looked to my janelle for help but unfortunately got none. "we're american!" i thought, REALLY?! i'd never have guessed with those american accents and american varsity team plastered accross your backs! "we're only here today, show us a trick!" i really didn't want to do one. the picture of the egg coloured in is exactly what they looked like! "we're cheerleaders! tell us your name we'll screech it!" didn't look like cheerleaders to me! imagine 10 of those eggs surrounding you and refusing to leave! i'm not american. i'm not used to the forwardness! but in an attempt at getting them to do, i did the most anti-climaxed unimpressive hop EVER in the history of ice skating. even i was embarrassed at the poor poor quality of it! but, it did get them to go away even though they "don't believe that's the best you got!" they left about 5 minutes after ending the ordeal! and at the end of a session, we all went on our annual trip to kfc and then finally home for a slap up meal of leftover christmas stuff and delicious roast lamb before watching eastenders. (why wont janine die?! by the way. and connor resembles billy goat's gruff)

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bergue. 
i wanted to have a short, separate little section for bergue. bergue is one of my closest friends amber. (amber - ber - berger - bergue) and being the frienddd that she is, has also started a blog, because i asked her to for moral support when i started mine :D and she did! http://dougallovessugarlumps.blogspot.com/ it's hilarious, just like her (occasionally :P) and i just wanted to thank her for doing it for me, and really being a great friend :) oh, it's called dougal loves sugar lumps because of a little song we made up for the magic roundabout. it's a kids film yes, but it's great ;)
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cosmopolitan website.
okay so, i don't know how many of you read cosmo but it's a monthy magazine. it's the same sort of mag as glamour and elle. i get it all the time because it's such a good read! it's got loads in it and it's so easily readable! but i wish i could say as many good things about the website.
for starters i think that cosmo could appeal to such a wider audience but it narrows it down so much by putting so much sex into it! i mean you go on the website and it's the first thing you see. and if i didn't have older sisters who opened me to the big wide world of glamour magazine when i was 8, then my mum would probably have a problem with it now!

the website looks good which is fine, and it's very easily navigatable ( think i made that word up but still :P)               
  this next picture is of the fashion section. the main page. obviously because i'm interested in fashion it's the main part i'd visit. but it has a picture of lady gaga wearing something. or not wearing something and then a big "hot or not" sign which the readers vote. 
i wont say i didn't vote, but i don't think it's very fair because it's encouraging people to be judgmental. and if lady gaga does see it, it wont make her feel great to see how people think of her. people forget that celebrities are people that have feelings too.
                     this next picture is just the rest of the page. it's good because it pretty much shows what the fashion and style section is about. straight forward. bosh. done. and that's what most of the site is like which is why i think it's good but could be improved.
the next bit of the site that i want to mention is the beauty section and i want to mention it because although a minor detail that probably only i notice, i think it's really important. 
it's the editor's pick, and it's a "swish wish pantene" competition type thing for readers to send in their photos and you can see who can "swish their hair" best.
the problem i have with this is that it would be very hard for me to join in with this because i can't actually "swish my hair"
you can probably see what i'm getting at here. but basically what i'm saying is that unless you have european/straight hair, it's virtually impossible for you to swish and sway your hair all silky smoothly like cosmo is saying here. and the problem i have with that is that cosmo is excluding people with curly, afro, "black", tough or even just thick hair from this which i really don't like. 
i know its not purposeful and i'm definitely not saying that cosmo is racist or anything like that but little things like this is what drives people to try and thin out or straighten their beautiful thick hair, to join in with these sort of little games. you might now be reading a magazine and notice it more, or notice that all the hairstyles that they rave about, minus one or two are all for people with straight hair and that is the only thing i don't like about cosmo and similar magazines and the website proves this. all the photos of the girls swishing their hair have long straight white hair and i'd hate for people to think that that's the only beautiful kind of hair. 
anyway, before i start ranting on and on :P i better get to bed! tomorrow i'll be doing my day in pictures so stay tunedddd! thanks for reading :) ronan xxx

boxing day, my new nail set & cheryl cole vs alexa chung

happy boxing day everyone :)

 hope you're as comfortable as i am sitting down to watch eastenders, hoping that janine dies for sending stacey away! :P  anyway, my day started at about 12:40pm this afternoon. i rolled around trying to get back to sleep for a little while before disappointingly realising that i really needed the toilet. theres goes that amazing dream i was having. great. but in the spirit of christmas i jollied up, and sprung downstairs to see who was awake and as guessed. i found siobhan lying on the sofa watching vampire diaries, and dad with a massive smile on his face (as per usual) pottering about in the kitchen. 

my rendition of ronan playing sims. ask for a copy ;)

i had a look in the kitchen and retreated to the living room with my breakfast - a flexi-jammy dodger, (whether it was meant to be flexible i don't know), a spidey brand orange and a glass of "breakfast juice". i don't want to know why it's called breakfast juice and not juice belonging to an actual fruit :P anyway, siobhan said that i could play sims! so that entertained me for the next few hours and i definately think it's a great game! i mean the dance moves have gotten better for one ;) 

anyway, after hours of fun on sims, ( my game freezing, losing my progress and having to redo it all) i had another wonderful christmas-type dinner with les mckenzies and sat down to try out my new nail painting kit thing i got from siobhan :)

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rio professional nail art kit - £19.99 - amazon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rio-Professional-Nail-Original-Colours/dp/B000R56P7K

the set comes in a little box, but my computer is being stubborn and wont let me upload the photo :) anyway you get 8 colours, yellow, red, white, blue, green, orange, silver and gold.
here are pictures of what i did with mine.
the polishes they give you are very very fast drying which is excellent because you don't have to wait long for your nails to dry in between putting layers on. the set comes with lots of ideas on ways to paint your nails and also; gold glitter, dimantes and a spare brush.
i'll take you through my steps:
1. i cleaned my nails
2. i painted on navy nail polish ( that came with the set) with the largest brush. i put 2 layers on so that the colour was solid and not translucent.
3. i painted on red smiley faces with the medium sized brush.
4. i outlined the smiley faces in white, with the detailing pen which resembles a very thin ink ball pen. i was really happy with the outcome... of my right hand anyway :P so voila. that is the rio fine nail set and i'll definately be trying more styles and i'll put photos up when i do :)
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alexa chung vs cheryl cole style wars
okay so everyone knows alexa chung and cheryl cole for modelling and presenting, and they both have similar styles. but i thought it would be interesting to see that although they wear similar things, who wears them better.
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cheryl cole - at 11 got into the royal school of ballet -> girls aloud member  -> turned "i corrll it faive stahh ceer foh ghreet brettesh heer" (loreal advert model- i call it 5 star care for great british hair)-> and judge of one of the worlds most popular talent contests. and i think she's great! she's been through so much this year as most of you already know; a hard divorce with major speculation, contracting malaria, being named a racist for not letting gamu get through on the x factor, and she still seems to look great with her million dollar smile :)

in the picture far left i think what cheryl's wearing suits her. although i don't really like the way that the shirt fits into the skirt because it's tucked in and a bit puffy but not baggy enough to look purposeful. then as the skirt is straight and not a pencil it doesn't give her much shape.        i love the checkered dress and can't fault it :) same for the next photo (leather looking trousers) the outfit is simple but nice and the blue cardi and red shoes give it colour.    the next 2 are probably the only outfits that i really don't like. cheryl just about pulls off the "you've been tangoed" orange but then the heels and leopard print bag.. hmm. the next one of the white skirt, i go with the "legs or cleavage" rule and not both cos it has potential of looking a bit... trashy. and in the white dress i think there's a little too much of both for and it ends up not looking very classy. next, i like the simple blazer-jeans combo and it looks like a natural style choice for her like the last outfit too. i personally don't like the last outfit because i hate the jacket :P it's just not me, but i think it suits her :)

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alexa chung - started out as a model for storm model management when she got scouted at reading music festival when she was 16. but after 4 years she quit because she felt that it made her too self conscious and turned to journalism. and then got into tv presenting in america and currently in the uk when she's not going to gigs of her boyfriend and lead singer of the last shadow puppets - alex turner. but her style is bold, trendy (gosh i sound like my mum :P) and cool and i really love her style. i really like the way she puts things together (usually) and in fact i actually have the skirt she's wearing in the photo on the left! (mine's red ;) American Apparel)

you can't really see the outfit far left but i like the blazer :) i like the plain top and necklace to jazz it up combo also.
 the second picture- i hate peeptoe shoes. i think the old lady down the road with scraggly toes ruined them for me haha. but i like alexa's black and white theme. i prefer shorter coats on myself and i think the outfit would've been nice if it was short but it suits alexa here.
the third outfit is just a coat but the stripy top underneath that you can sort of see shows her personality and the bag is lush. brown goes with everything ;) and i really like the double breasted buttons on the jacket.  4th outfit - i'm not sure about the skirt. like for one of cheryl cole's photo's, i think the outfit would be nicer if the skirt was a pencil. because it'd give her more shape. but i love stripes and i like the shoes too :) i don't actually like the 5th outfit. i hate the jacket for reasons unbeknown to myself but i love the shoes. and in the last outfit, i absolutely adore the colour of her jeans! sort of indigo-washed-colour. and they suit the clumpy shoes :P but i don' really like the coat. cape type coats are nice but this one looks like a horrible shawl that an antique store threw away! :)

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so alexa or cheryl.
i found a picture of each that i think they both look lovely in :) it's quite a hard one but i think the winner for me is alexa because overall i prefer most her outfits. this lace dress looks lovely on her and would be most flattering to the majority of people. 

although i also love lots of cheryl cole's outfits, there are more that i don't like than there are for alexa chungs. i'd love to hear if anyone else has other opinions though :)
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thank you for reading and i hope you enjoyed my blog and had a lovely boxing day! tomorrow i'll be doing a little review of the cosmo[politan] magazine website :)
that's all for now, ronan xxx