Point Design Placement

Wow so a busy 3 weeks. I am well not into this 9-5.30 business! I like my sleep faaar too much. I am very much a rubbish student and getting up at half 7 everyday has nearly killed me! I literally get home, make some tea then pass out haha. Fail! I did loads of stuff mind you, heres a few of my favourites...

Brief: Logo for a "back to school" leaflet for "the factory shop"... use factory shop logo. has to look like a real school badge... embroided. "Top marks for value". Basically I had to design a logo for a leaflet just to jazz the page up a bit I think...



These were my first two designs. The logo had to be school themed so I did pencil crayons to make it colourful and fun. Factory shop logo is blue so I made the badge blue so it was specicific for factory shop...

Top marks for value needed to be the focal point
colours needed to be more black and goooold (badsong)



I made it so the pencils were draaawing the top marks for value. I also wanted it to look a bit like a chalk board as thats to me what the type looked like so I made it white. I used my old love for the swirly type also to make it a bit more my style and changed the colours to gold... (yak but you gota do what the client wants not what you want... thats what I have learnt... ohhh no haha.)





My next brief was for a christmas leaflet so i had to come up with some kind of Christmas theme, something different to snowflakes, that worked as a background. Something for the background could be taken and used as an icon to highlight price points. I didn't want to do your typical Christmas theme so I decided to use a dorky Christmas jumper, meant to be crap but I think they are excellent haha :D



This was my initial jumper design I thought it would would alright as a background if you worked the type into it...





This would be what I would use as an icon working the price into the pattern?
Personally I quite like this design, though I don't think it's very factory shop... I just enjoyed creating a design that I actually liked!



I attempted to make the piece more factory shop using the blue of there logo and making it abit darker so that is wouldn't distract from any products put on the page but not sure it would really work. I just like it as a piece



My next Christmas idea was to just make some wallpapers with Christmas themed illustrations. These would be behind products for the shop so it wouldn't take away from them. Christmas coloured:






I actually used these wallpapers for my gift guide and they seemed to work quite well.


Next idea was using lights. Looks quite fun and bold but not very factory shop again.










Leaf wallpaper for Autumn leaflet.




My next task was for the point design itself. They create little mailers that they send to clients, for example they had created a coffee cup specific for the point design with "freshly brewed ideas" and then in the cup they had like a duck, which is their kind of logo. They had a few of these like bright ideas that was a lightbulb box and soupa ideas which was a soup tin. My task was to design something like this which looked like one thing but inside had a little slinkey. The slinkey represents that they "bend over backwards" to help sort of thing. I liked the idea of "Fresh" designs as I thought it was something quite appropriate to what ive been doing myself with my cookie types and i thought that the slinkey could almost be a cookie in a bag. I also thought of other "Fresh baked things" and decided in the end to do a little cupcake box and where the cupcake would be, you get the spring:



My first plan design was a sticker than would represent the freshley baked designs and keep the box shut... This is my logo. I actually really rather like it and might use it for my own stuff!!!





This was my cupcake box. The point design logo and colour choice then with my freshley baked designs. I think it looks pretty cool though it is heavily my style rather than that of point design. It would work well as my mailer if I actually worked there though :D








Brief: Logo for a PR company. Name: PR talent training or PRTT... work alongside an exisiting logo for clothier lacey. Lime green and purple:




I bloody hate designing logos, I am crap at them so this is my efforts.








This is my favourite logo and how it would look with the exisiting logo.













Design for a buisness leaflet for cross. Represents Vienna.







Jacksons is a law firm who wanted to create a logo for a new project: They came up with 3 names and wanted a couple style and colour of options for each of the names. Again I suck at corperate identity so this was my efforts:

Lineslineslines

First sketch for a t-shirt...Ross has touched it up/sorted it out on illustrator and I rekon we are on to a winner! The designs are nearly readyyy! :)

Swirly swirly

I was looking back on the work I did for into the woods and decided I actually really liked the type I had drawn so I decided to have a blast at doing something of this type that could work for Spread your Wings. We decided that it would be good to have logos in a couple of varieties. One can be seen on the "You make me fly" piece which is Ross' type logo. I did a hand drawn one that could maybe be seen on a future website or something:






I liked the swirly type and almost wanted it to look loose and free. I wanted it to again be quite cute and fluent, to give an alternate to the computerized logo which is very structured. I think both would work well for the brand and either could be used depending on the purpose though the type one I can vision being used the most.

I liked the logo design and my into the woods work so I did this design thinking about how I could take the type style and use it on a t-shirt. This is a bit plain for a SYW t-shirt but I just wanted to see if I could get the style to work at all. I quite like this, I think it needs fine tuning but its down as a future idea for sure :)

Drive my Soul (LIGHTS)

Ellie Goulding- Wish I'd stayed

There is some really amazing music out at the moment. New female singers seem to be emerging everyday and some of them are really bloody brilliant. Their lyrics are really inspiring and some of the CD designs/ general artwork are awesome. I'd say this music helped inspire the following designs. Sitting and listening to their songs made me just want to draw some stuff and this is what I came up with:

(crap colour again, think black) So when I get bored I find myself drawing ridiculous amounts of lines and filling entire pages of nothing but lines so I decided to make these lines into something. Listening to LIGHTS I got thinking about space and the world and exploring so I decided to create a piece inspired by space and planets.



I wanted to create some kind of sky design. I really like just pictures of the sky, stars, staring and the sky and that feeling of peace and calm so I did this. It's fairly simple but I like it. I was listening to Ellie Goulding at the time and her lyrics "Sky of Diamonds just for us" really helped inspire the piece. Ellie Goulding is just bloody amazing, I don't think I will ever get bored of her album. I went to see her recently and she also seemed generally nice. She started bashing away at this drum in the middle of "Salt Skin" and the passion and enthusiasm was just incredible. Shes going to be massssive.


This was a t-shirt design combining the other pieces I'd done and thinking how I could make it Spread your Wings esque. I'm happy with this piece, its vibrant and stands out. It's fairly over the top but I like it that way, I think a t-shirt should be quite ott so its striking. It involves the theme of flying in several ways, birds, space, general happiness. :)

Never felt more like singing the blues

Little logo I did for Spread Your Wings. Thought it would be quite cool to have some kind of character to make the brand recognisable. The owl represents the whole Spreading your wings thing being a bird an all ;). I choose an owl not only because they are cool, but they have meaning to my brother an I We used to go watch Sheffield Wednesday together as kids (their mascot is and Owl). Both of us are scared of animals but actually have a like for owls. Owl City is a favourite band of both of us. The songs and lyrics actually have saved our lives a few times haha. I wanted our owl to be quite "cute" almost "cheesy" so as to give it a kind of personality but also show the light hearted side of the company. I put him in high tops to represent this and the style which our t-shirts would probably be seen with. I like this little guy... hes a neat guy.

Cookie love

So I got bored one day and had this brain wave of creating cookies but in type. Fresh to death and all that

Initial design, fairly simple... minimal colours...

Spelling out things in cookies... used more colours, more 3d, stands out a bit more...



I did this design inspired by a Spread your Wings philosophy. It was intended to be a t-shirt design... Not really sure it's a t-shirt but it looks pretty sweet I feel (sweet... get it ;))





Fortune cookie/ cookie monster (excuse dodgy colouring)

AMERICA!

To America, and Beyond!

I have always been a massive America fan. I love all things America... All my favourite TV programs (with the exception of Skins) are American. My favourite music, clothing companies, food... I just love it! Until this recent trip I have only looked longingly at Tv and internet, wishing I could be there. So when my friend Jodie Weeney (Sweeney really, but a miss spelling on her twitter account created a rather entertaining nickname) asked me to join her on her summer travels, I could only jump at the opportunity! A selection of cheap flights, and a variety of relatives dotted around America meant our trip was possible.

We began in New york. (MorePhotos//MorePhotos2) I had watched the city appear in film after film, program after program and had only thought about how insane it looked. But it wasn't until myself, Jodie and another pal Coop were stood in the middle of Time Square being pushed from every angle, staring up at buildings so high, they appeared to disappear into the clouds, that I realized how unbelievable it really was.

(sign in the tourist info place. A wall was full of post its in which people wrote there hopes and dreams on it. These are then released into Time Square at midnight on New Year. Awesome)

(Not a great picture but some of the wall.)



Our first day was spent really discovering where things were. Like real tourists we booked ourselves one of those sight seeing buses and in all honesty it was money well spent.

It dropped us to all the places we would want to go and drove us past all things we could want to see. Our first "Loop" as they are known, was the uptown loop which took us around all the seemingly rich areas of New York. My favourite sight was the met, remembering scenes from Gossip Girl :P...
I had not anticipated the amount of rain New York produced, so there I was strutting round in shorts and sandals freezing my ass off and looking like the ultimate tourist...so we decided to go to Madame Tussauds to seek shelter!
(MorePhotos)
After some time molesting wax celebrities (Weeney not me) hunger stepped in so we went to Hard Rock cafe. As nice as it was, its a bloody rip off and didn't provide many options for my veggie pal!

Day 2: We went to the Empire State. Everyone has asked me since if I was scared or if I felt sick but really my only thoughts were "Wow". Stood 86 floors up New Yorks tallest building looking down over the entirety of the city, I couldn't help just feel completely overwhelmed. It was one of the most incredible things I have seen in my life. Ridiculous buildings, yellow cars flying round, people looking like tiny blobs, I can't even begin to write or explain how amazing it was... words are not my thing and I cannot do it justice. Even photos can't explain the feeling but at least helps illustrate the sight.......

Our next Loop was the downtown loop, we went all round Greenwich, chinatown, Soho seeing some of the most incredible buildings and sights. Everything was just so big and high I literally got neck cramps! Soho was probably my favourite part of New York. Slightly quieter than Time Square, full of amazing shops. I was particulary excited to spot Topshop, but was not so impressed that the prices were almost double what they are in England! Barmy. This was where the New York style became more prominent, I saw some really incredible outfits and clothes and the fashion designer in me loved it! Well, I loved everything...I was looking round completely in awe of everything. Even looking into a window of basic New York buildings was insane, reflections creating patterns and shapes that just amazed me.







Evening came and we returned to Time Square just to check it out by night. Once again I was completely speechless, I have never seen as many lights and colours and over the top signs in my life. It was wonderful... truly mind blowing. We went into some of the shops too. I was drawn to Toys R Us, being a massive Toy Story fan, it was covered in advertisements for it. As we went inside we saw an actual Ferris wheel, working, moving Ferris wheel, in the middle of the shop. I have never seen anything like it!




(Because I am a loser)


(An advert for peanuts had me excited, PEANUTS! I don't even like peanuts but I've never wanted a bag more in my life!)

We quite clearly looked like tourists, probably due to my catching flies mouth, so were regularly offered tickets to shows and stuff like that. One guy was particularly funny so we decided to take him up on his offer and purchased tickets to a comedy club. It was awesome, really really funny and also really nice to just sit down and have a drink (virgin since we are only babies in America!)

This guy was probably my favourite. Marina Franklin; "Just touch that shit motherfucker"

Day3: We were staying a hostel next to Central Park so we got up nice and early and wondered round for several hours.



It was amazing really, the contrast from the buildings to the park, it just felt so quiet and peaceful. The park is completely man made, bar the stones but still just really nice and relaxing. We saw joggers, and dog walkers and even groups of woman and babies doing group exercise programs, it was weeeird but I loved it! The park is flipping massive, but just beautiful and another sight that just took my breath. (I know I keep repeating myself but I honestly can't explain how good everything was)

(Driver of a horse and carriage thing which we went on)






We took one final look around Soho and on to see the Statue of liberty via the Staten Island Ferry, it was infact rather small but it was a cracking view of New York from the waaater.



It was a glorious day, much warmer and brighter than the previous few days. It was nice to see New York in the sun, though we seemed to constantly be in the shade with the buildings protecting us!



Our final sights to see were Grand Central Station which was beautiful and another sight I had seen on Gossip Girl ;) I am aware it has more to it than that (its in madagascar and Lady Gaga loves it obvs...jokes...) but I am a Gossip Girl fan and the first ever scene was set there! Then we went over to the NBC studios and just as we arrived Jimmy Fallon and Bradley Cooper were coming out having just shot Fallons show!

Our First (and only sadly) celebrity spotting! Our final part of the trip was the night loop on the tour bus. We went around New York, Manhattan and Brooklyn by night, seeing all the lights and streets and buildings in all their glory. Time Square is cool by day, but by night it is completely breathtaking. Colourful, vibrant and just absolutely indescribable.


California gurls!

The next part of our trip, day 4 if you will, was a plane to LA BABY! We arrived at LAX and was greeted by Jodies Aunty Joan. I was rather nervous about meeting her but like every other American I had met she was an absolute delight. She drove us to her apartment (in Ventura which was about an hour away from LA) along the seafront, seeing the sand and sea was so exciting. The sun was just setting so there was a gorgeous glow in the sky and it was still so warm. Already things were so different from New York, its strange how different places in the same country can be, but I forget just how big America is. We headed to the local store in which Joan bought us Bud Light with Lime! (Screw top too!) It came like that and was by far the best beer I had ever had (excluding strawberry beer,mmmm)







She also got us Ben and Jerrys which they practically give away there, none of this £5 shit like it is over here! We got Peanut brittle which was amazing. America gave me a new love for all thing peanut butter... mandms, icecream, cupcakes nomnomnom! I slept on the sofa but it was really comfy and I fell asleep while J was jibbering away on the phone to her Mam with Chelsea Lately (hero) buzzing in the background, so I must have been tired.

Day 5: I woke up to the sun beaming down illuminating the room. It was 7am and I was awake and getting dressed, no complaints, no yerning for longer in bed! A new me!
Once we were all ready Joan ushered us to the car before we began a long journey to San Francisco!
Photos!
I'm the kind of person that doesn't mind a car journey, infact at times I think the journey is sometimes more fun than the location. Perhaps thats because of where I'm from, driving round is often more fun than sitting in the place. Anyway, we were on our travels and I was literally speechless. I understand now why LA and the surrounding areas is called "The Hills" my ears were popping driving along the highway. We were going through mountains with lakes, every few minutes there were giant billboards on the side of the road which only made me laugh with their utter cheeseyness.
We stopped for breakfast at Joans son Jons, Jodies cousins house. Breakfast was amazing. My Mam is not the best cook bless her but I can't say I'm a Gordan Ramsey myself, basically I'm no food expert but that shit was top noth! So I'm sitting at the breakfast tabel of this gooorgeous house, I mean, looks like it could be on the hills goergous eating this amazing food and I can't help but look at these people and just feel so jealous. Jealousy isn't an emotion I tend to experience often, I'm never really that bothered but there in that moment, I was green! Glowing like the bloody hulk!

The journey continued with Travie Mccoy and Taylor swift singing us sweet lullaby's via le radio. We met some rather interesting characters on our pee breaks, including your basic looney tune that looked like a prozzy until we finally reached our half way destination, Di's, Joans daughter/ Jodie's cousins. It was another beautiful house, huge with a pool! 4 kids, 3 boys a girl and a dog. It really was the American dream... Once again the people were just lovely. I immediately felt welcome and comfortable. We had some tea and Joan had told them of our love for Bud light and Lime (true English alcys :|) so we had that to accompany it, mmm. We went to watch the eldest boys, Tyler, baseball game which was ace, though sadly we didn't get to see him play. I sat in the bleachers, sipping my mountain jew watching and shouting at a game I barely understood but had an absolutely brilliant time, I felt particularly American! It was also rather refreshing to see and be with a family that generally liked spending time with each other. Jodie had me in stiches telling me stories of her childhood and I also couldn't help but be amused by some guy eating and spitting out sunflower seeds. Madness. We returned to the house and Jodie and I sat up with the two eldest boys talking and comparing all things American and English. I felt educated. I also learnt I am a failure at life because I had never had A. a burretto, B. IHOP, and C. because I like dominoes pizza! Bummer huh? We watched a program also, that had Carlton from the Fresh Prince of Bell Air as a quiz host I was SHOCKED as he appeared to be quite the chubber!


Day 6: We continued on our travels, although I could have settled in right were I was for quite some time.
After a brief run in with the police (seriously) we were sent on our way. I think our accents saved us and his face softened as soon as we spoke "Oh are you English" "Yes we are kind sir, whatever is the problem" (He thought Joan didn't have her seat belt on... she did)


(A different run in)

Finally we arrived in San Fran. This was really my first Caliornia city I had looked round and I loved it. We did your "basic grand tour"... As much as I liked New York, it was far too busy and full on for me. After all I am a small town girl (living in a looonely world) ahem... San Fran had a much more relaxed approach to life. The streets were busy, but at a slow pace. It was actually really quite cold though, breezey...We wondered round, checked out some of the shops before heading for some tea.



This bad boy, was the best pizza I have ever had! It was so good and Jodie and I were wetting ourself at the guy who served us who we nick named Mr Jim. Long story... Anyway, it was a long day so we went back ready for a full day of shopping the next day! We were staying with another relative of Joans who were once again absolutely delightful.

Day 7: I awoke to a small child watching me sleep. The people we were staying with had two little girls. We had arrived back so late the previous night they had been asleep, so when I woke up one of them was curiously eyeball pauling me, obviously wondering who on earth is sleeping in my bed! After a quick chat I showered and we were on for day 2 of San FranDISCO.
We started in chinatown, which is similar to many other chinatowns I'm sure but ace none the less. Lantern lights hanging from the buildings, colours, Manga style art. The shops sold some really cute knic knacs and we purchased copious amount of incence and green tea for Joan as a thankyou as she mentioned she liked them. We thought we should try and experience the chinese/japanese culture a bit so we had sushi for dinner. Jodie being a veggie had some rather nice tofu. I on the other hand, meat eater that I am, thought I'd go with what I know... Having had Tesco version sushi before I thought, "oh you know what I like the tuna one" So I ordered my Tekkamaki forgetting that this was real sushi. I was presented with raw tuna. I attempted to eat, but really, I just wanted to vom. Fail! My cumcumber one was nice though! Note to self... I am a veggie in regards to Sushi!

After Chinatown we went to Union Square for some serious shopping! Nike Town, Levis and several hours and dollars spent in Urban Outfitters we headed to Haight street.




Oh, not before we stopped for the best banana milkshake ever mind...Haight street is a sort of hippie area of San Fran. It had loads of cool shops and just had a really chilled out vibe to it. Groovy and all that. We went to this shop Kidrobot, it sells like designed toys, really cool ones. I'd seen Katy Perry using a giant doughnut in attempt to hide from photographers (funny man) so I already liked it before I actually looked at the stuff...



I purchased a Key ring which was like a pick and mix type thing. Basically you get the box with a Key ring in but you don't know what you're getting. I ended up with pancakes which I liked as I'd had my first taste of real American pancakes and maple syrup the previous day so it was a nice memento almost :)



There was also a loyal army shop. They sell some pretty funny t-shirts... Cute stuff with little characters on and that. I got a t-shirt with loads of clouds on. I decided to get a T-shirt from each of the cities I went to, unlike, I wanted t-shirts that represented the places I'd been. Intent on starting my own t-shirt company I felt it was a pretty cool thing to collect. For my San Fran t-shirt I got a loyal army one with loads of clouds on to remind me of the smog!



The final stop on our tour was the Golden Gate Bridge, quite the San Fran landmark. Too me it almost looked like a far cooler version on the Humber bridge! :P



Day 8: We began our return to Ventura. Another long drive but we stopped along the way. First stop was this little shop Joan wanted to show us, Apple Barn. It sold loads of cute little cooking things and note pads and stuff like that. My mother would have bloody loved it. I bought my Dad some apple marmalade as it sounded interesting and Jodie got her Mam this muffin set which later caused quite the problem at the airport security! Got some bloody good cookies from there too.



Anyway after a brief stop there we contined on our way to our second stop...Pismo Beach.



We sat on the beach for a while gathering a tan and had a bit to eat (fish and chips obvs as we were at the beach. Minus the fish being with a Veggie) I tried salt water taffy. A. Because it looked pretty awesome B. Because of Friends! Our third and final stop I am slightly vague on because I had just woken up from a nap. A nap in which Jodie insisted on taking horrible pictures of me! No, they will not be put online, ever. But at this next place, these people were trying to sell brambles by some crazy made up name and people were falling for it! Madness I tell the! One of the funniest quotes of the holiday came out during this stop. Jodie was showing me how her camera was taking weird pictures (didn't have a clue what she was talking about tbh) and Joan was walking towards us and got caught in the shot. As Jodie was later looking through her pictures Joan saw the picture she had been papped in and screamed "WOAH TALK ABOUT BIG MOMMA" Jodie and I were in hysterics for quite some time and that moment gave Joan the forever famous name of Big Momma. What a hero. :') It still cracks me up even thinking of it now!

Day 9: Our final day with Big Momma :'(. Our final car journey took us to Calabasas because of Jodie's love for the Kardashians. She wanted to see the Dash store. Having never watched the Kardashians I had no idea what I was looking at but Jodie was as giddy as a small child so I was happy to see it. (That was until we were driving round for an hour and I was boiling my ass off). Anyway we had frapachinos which were a regular part of our diet (despite the 300+ cal count) and I also tried peanut butter MandMs. Not peanut, peanut butter, faaaar better! The second those bad boys arrive in england, the second I'm on a first class ticket to obeCITY!



Big Momma took us to her niece Shelanees who had said we could stay with her (Saving us on another hostel stay yay!) She lived in LA in a condo, and I didn't really know what that was but we arrived to a what I shall describe as a massive apartment! Another ace place to stay that totally kicked the New York hostels ass! She offered to drive us to Rodeo drive which is the street with all the swankey shops on it.



I was grateful enough to have a lift when she rolls out a bloody Lexis. Neat Huh! So J and I wondered round the shops feeling like we were on the Hills or something (someone actually asked if we were locals which I bloody loved despite looking like the ultimate tourist with a massive SLR hung round my neck!) before hunger set in. We went to this place called Sharkeys and I had my first Burrito which was not only deeelightful, but was a thing to cross of my "what makes me a fail" list! Yay! After that we went to crumbs bakery and got some MASSIVE cupcakes (peanut butter obvs)...



Obviously we had a healthy eaten pattern on this trip. Surpised I walked home and didn't waddle! We met Shelanee in a bar. Dressed in short, t-shirt and sandal I felt rather out of place when we wondered into this swankey bar. My inhibitions soon subsided as we watched the Lakers win the NBA Championship! I have always been a bit of a basketball fan but watching the game surrounded by excited Lakers fans was awesome. Shelanee suggested we drive to Hollywood and see if anyone was selling any good t-shirts (perfect for my collection) So there I was, sat in a Lexis, roof down, wind in my hair, driving through Hollywood staring at all the bright lights and excited people. It was just incredible. People in the street came up to the car and high fived us everyone was just so excited and happy it was just a really amazing feeling. I'm moving to LA. That was all I could think and that is what I will bloody do! Day 10: The Beach! Being in America 9 days and still having legs that resembled milk bottles was starting to get to us abit so we thought the only option was a day at the beach gaining a golden glow to make greek gods jealous (or a basic glow that made our pale skin a little less striking!) We went to Santa Monica, on the way Shelanee showed us Venice





I wish we had had a bit more time to explore but it was nice to just see it, seemed like a pretty cool place! She also showed us the canals where some of Valentines day was set which was pretty neat as I did rather enjoy that film, despite the love of my life Eric Dane being gay. With Bradley Cooper of all people :'(.





She also drove us past the house of Dr Preston Burke off of Greys Anatomy. I'm a massive Greys fan (thus my love for Eric) so I was rather excited. I don't even like Burke so I can't imagine how I would have been if it was one of my favourites :) Aaanyway, onto the beach! We stopped off in forever 21 for a spot of shopping, it was a must really, they don't have that shop in the UK and I love the website. 2 hours later we emerged with a variety of new clothes and headed to the beach.


Summer of colour :)

On this day, I met my first rude American. A homeless person none the less. A homeless person we bought a slice of pizza! We were sat, minding our own buisness, enjoying our mozzarella slice. She was sat on a bench barking "Buy me some pizza". I can't say I wasn't afraid, but I am afraid of most things... Anyway we decided we should get her a slice as it was rather cruel to sit and eat ours infront of her. Jodie went back into the shop with our change and she marched in after her. She bought the slice and handed it over... "Buy me some water too". Now, I wasn't expecting her to get all Toy Story Alien "you saved my life, I am eternarly grateful" on us, but a bloody thankyou wouldn't go a miss.



With that we stormed down to the beach and mellowed in the golden sands and blue seas. Though me and the seas are not the best of friends. I was there happily jumping around in the waves like the 20 year old child that I am when the sea knocked me over and took my bloody shades with it! Shades that cost me £5 but suited me and meant I could hide my shrewy heyfever riden eyes whenever I needed to. Bloody sea.



A place I wanted to go while in LA was the Santa Monica Pier. I'd seen it in a varitey of films and TV programs, none the less the Hills where Spencer proposed to Heidi and in 90210 where Mr Matthews is all drunk and stuff. Yes I am a loser and like all crap programs, but I wanted to see this pier anyway so off we went. We decided to go on the Ferris Wheel and I got my Speidi on and asked Weeney to marry me as we reached the top, romantic huh? hahaha!





The day drew to a close and we headed home. I thought I was upset with the sea, but that was nothing to how I felt to the sun... Shelanee picked us up and within half an hour of being in the shade my skin began to prickle and I looked to notice I was bright red like a lobster. Then I looked over to Jodie and my anger to the sea returned as I wished I had my shades to shield my eyes from her glowing skin. Sun burn at its worst. We were both horrifc, English tourist who should have been plowing on the factor 50 every 5 minute but didn't, factor 20=fail!

Day 11: Suffering from rather bad sun burn we started our day at the local pharmacy buying out all their suncream and after sun. We then went on to our first day at Universal Studios.



Just like most theme parks it was full with over the top signs and characters wondering around. I wasn't overly pleased by this as I am in fact rather scared of people dressed up of stuff. It really freaks me out, I mean, whos in there? For example, there was a couple of the characters from this new film "Despicable me"and they're tiny so all I could think was 'omg who is in that?' I just find it weird!



Anyway we were wondering around we found the Jurassic park ride. The end of the ride involves a massive drop into water which I thought looked thrilling, this was when Weeney drops the bomb that she doesn't like rides! Who goes to theme parks when they don't like rides!? Good news is I appear to have superb powers of persuasion and managed to get her on everything I wanted to go on. Most the rides were like, virtual stimulations and not crazy ass rollercoasters so it was all fiiine in the end. Minus the horrific pains of the sun burn!



There was a Simpson ride that was a giant Krusty land which was awesome but the ride itself hurt like a bitch, thrashing you around in a 3dtype simulation. Pretty cool though.



We bought a couple of those dorky cups, you know the ones with characters on the top. I quite fancied the Bart Simpson one but it was a bit costly so I opted for the Rugrats one. That was when I noticed how much I resembled Chuckie. Cool as ever. They proved to be a good investment after my 5th rasberry ice tea, it made carrying the giant loser cups around all day totally worth it.



It was a sweeet day. My favourite ride was the studio tour itself, it was really interesting to see how some of my favourite films were put together :)







It was a long day so we went for a wonder round the area where Shello lives to find some food. Neither me or Jodie were really hungry so we ended up stopping in the local store and buying some bread buns and cheese slices and making cheese slice sandwiches, classy huh? We then settled down infront of the TV to experience some American TV. This meant Jodie forced me to watch several hours of E including Kourtney and Khloe taking Miami "bitches" (which I hate to admit I enjoyed) while she lathered herself in copious amounts of after sun. I have never seen anything like it. But at the end of the day, shes my looobster :') haha

Day 12: Hollywood!



We got the subway Hollywood and began all the tourist delights, looking at the stars and celebrity signings, was fun picking out our favourites! I was rather excited to see Adam Sandlers hand prints as he my faaavourite actor! I just think hes so bloody funny!



We then went up the hollywood highlands place to check out the hollywood sign. It was far off over yonder but it was exciting to see it none the less

When wondering round we walked passed a shop called "the cobrasnake", I'd seen some photos online by a guy named the cobrasnake which I thought were sweeet so we had a wonder in. Turns out he had started this shop so I was quite excited to have a mooch round! The guys working there were absolutely lovely and we ended up chatting to them for a while whilst playing on old school pacman. I surprised everyone, including myself, with my bad ass pacman skills and I ended up getting a high score and because of this got us some free drinks and stickers (yayyy) I could have spent the whole day in the shop it was so chilled out and cool and like I said the guys were just so welcoming and friendly. They even invited us to a party, total bummer that we wernt old enough to go because I'm sure we would have bloody loved it!



Anyway after a day wondering round Hollywood we headed home and got ready to go see TOY STORY 3 BITCHES! I was soso excited! Toy Story was a film that actually defined my life. I remember sitting and watching the first one at the tender age of 6 (maybe) and thinking, this is incredible. The graphics, the animation, it was all so fresh and exciting and I was absolutely amazed. As a kid I was always drawing little characters and making up little stories with my toys, when I watched Toy Story it was like someone had ran round my mind and made a film out of it that was brilliant and hilarious and even better than everything I had imagined. The second one came out and I was dubious second versions are never as good if good at all but I loved it just as much. I couldn't wait for the third! We went to City walk to see the film, which is next to Universals but free. They put as much effort into the walk as they did universal. Even the most mundane of shops (a flip flop shop) had signs and advertisements that were just totally over the top, bold, exciting, just really incredible! So for an hour before we even went into the cinema we were lost in the completely mad world. The sun was just going down so as the evening progressed the more vibrant the signs became. I loved it. I also got my final part of my t-shirt collection, a Lakers top :)







So we finally made our way into the cinema armed with our 3D glasses. We had spent so long wondering round all the amazing shops we were pretty much last into the cinema forcing us to sit right at the front. I felt as if I could literally touch Buzz, I'm surprised I didn't reach out and attempt to. What a hero. The film was absolutely brilliant. Whitty, interesting, entertaining, everything I wanted it to be. I even criiied! haha :) I've enjoyed being smug having already seen the film too.



Day 13: Second visit to universal. We went round again just filling in all the gaps we had missed on our previous visit. It was much more comfortable since the sunburn had passed. We did the studio tour again but sat on to see the other sights so to speak. For example we were closer to the Desperate Housewives set and we could see it better which was cooool. I showed my Mam the pictures when I got home and she was rather jealous being a big fan haha :)




We arrived back mid afternoon and Shello was readying herself to go for a hyke in the hills and invited us along. We didn't hyke since Jodie had brought no hyke worthy clothes (I mean, I don't know if you can class vans as hyke worthy which was all I had but they were certainly better than sandals) but we did go for a wonder around. For such a little fellow I thought Weeney would be fairly fit, but I've never seen anything like it, puffing away and moaning about being sweaty, so we settled ourself on a bench and looked out over the hills. Shello returned and then offereed to take us to see the Hollywood sign.



My camera chose this moment to run out of memory space but I got more photos that I could possibly ever need (all 2644 of them!) We ended our day in a nice little restuarant. The waitors were all struggeling actors or musicians or something so they burst into song from time to time which was entertaining, they were actually rather good. I had lasgne which was lovely. Shello informed us of her age and I was flabergasted! I still don't believe her infact, I wish I had iDed her haha :)

Day 14: The last day. I can't say I was happy about this in the slightest. Most holidays, my final day I am quite ready to go home. Ready for my own bed, friends, and not living out of a suitcase. I think I would have traided all my clothes in to stay a few more weeks and I bloody love my clothes. I really like this t-shirt company Johnny Cupcakes and I knew there was a store in LA. On our drive through Hollywood on our first night in LA I had spotted it in West Hollywood on this street called Melrose Ave which seemed to have a variety of cool shops along it so I was excited to go and visit it. The place was really cool, it had an arty, creative feel to it with paintings on walls and cool fliers dotted around. Oddly enough, nothing seemed to be open. It was around half 10/11 but seemingly the shops didn't open til a bit later on. Seemed like my kind of place, nice lie in and that.















Thankfully Johnny was open so I spent a nice some of money in there getting myself and my brother some t-shirts. I really like the extent Johnny, the creator, goes to in his designs...The shop itself is awesome, set out as a giant cupcake store with the t-shirts on display in fridges and the t-shirts themselves are wrapped packaged in cupcake style boxes. Amazing.



Anyway most of the other stores were shut so we didn't get to wonder round as much as I would have like. But inevitably it was probably a good thing, saving me some dollar, dollar I don't actually have! Shello took us for one final spin around, showing us all the sights we had yet to see and really making sure we got to see everything. She drove us to the bus to get the plane and I have to admit I was quite emotional, I didn't want to leave. I felt settled there, happy. It was such an amazing place to be and see and everyone just made me feel so comfortable. I'd spent the previous few months really stressed out and quite unhappy with certain things so it was wonderful to have two weeks where I really just felt relaxed and happy. I had to most wonderful two weeks and writing this now I can't surpress the smile spreading across my face. It was an amazing experience, one I am certainly glad I went on.



"These streets will make you feel brand new, these lights will inspire you"... fact.