Literacy, Paper Aeroplanes and a Girl Crush

Anyone that knows me will tell you that I am not a big reader, my imagination is non-existent and I very rarely get the time. If the opportunity arises I would always pick an autobiography because people fascinate me.

If anyone knows me really well they will tell you that I have a slight girl crush on Dawn O’Porter. She first appeared on my radar around 2008 when she did a documentary on Dirty Dancing, which is one of my all time favourite movies. I loved the way she talked about it and how it was a part of her childhood, I connected with her instantly. I’ve followed her career since then and loved all the other documentaries, webcasts, crazy You tube videos and tv work that she’s done. Most of all, I love her Twitter. She is so honest and real and tweets about her love of food and her pets and Roy from the IT Crowd.

When Dawn announced she was writing a book I was really looking forward to seeing what it was all about. Then she announced she was doing a book tour and Glasgow popped up on the list and I was so excited at the thought of meeting her. A few years ago she did something really lovely for me and I wanted to say thank you to her in person. On Tuesday I got my chance.

She arrived in the book store with her lovely Dad and was waving to all the people in the queue, a few minutes later she started the signing. As uncool as it is to admit I was really nervous when I walked over to her. She was lovely and hugged me then asked who the book had to be made out to, when I told her Clareybear she got back up and gave me another hug and was chatting away about how nice it was to finally meet me! OMG. We chatted for a few minutes and then got a picture with her. I was lucky enough to speak to her again once the signing was over and even asked her Dad to adopt me, turns out his rates are very reasonable 😉 Cheers Big Bill!

Once I got home I was back in Mum mode. I got Miss B organised and in bed, tidied up and cleaned the kitchen and then settled down to read. I read it in a few hours and it had me hooked from page 1. It is set in the mid 90’s and follows the story of 2 different girls who become friends for life although there are several obstacles along the way and the story is told from each of their view points. I loved the stories of both girls and how tormented they were in their own ways. I also loved the pop culture references about reading Smash Hits and listening to Blur on the radio. Oh and the shell suits, god help us, the shell suits. The main theme of the book is the love story between the girls and it is so real it makes it easy to tune straight into.

I laughed, cried, sympathised and felt for the girls and I definitely identified with one more than the other. My high school years were horrible and it made me think a lot about my own teenage life. I coasted my way through school trying to keep out of my peers way as much as I could, keep under the radar and out of sight. When I left high school in 1997 I was a mess and felt like a total failure, I wanted to hide away from the world and wasn’t sure how my future would pan out. Thankfully there was light at the end of the tunnel and I turned my life around and now when I look back I don’t recognise the 16 year old me at all. While I was reading I wanted to shout out to the girls “Don’t worry, you will be fine I promise” and I meant it too.

Needless to say, I love the book and my girl crush on Dawn is now even stronger than it was before. So I would just like to say Dawn O’Porter you were even lovelier, sweeter and prettier in the flesh than I was expecting. Thank you for writing such a great book and I can’t wait for the next one.

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Walking with Dinosaurs

A few weeks ago I was browsing Ticketmaster to see if there was anything coming up for us to go and see when I noticed that Walking with Dinosaurs was coming to the SECC.

I managed to get us some tickets for the Saturday show and we decided not to tell Miss B and have a surprise day out.

When we got to the SECC car park Miss B started trying to guess what we might be going to see and the first thing we saw was a picture of Girls Aloud who were playing that night.  At first she was super excited because she thought she was going to see Cheryl and Kimberley but thankfully when she found out we were going to see some dinosaurs she was equally excited.

I wasn’t sure what to expect and when we went in to the SECC there was a large piece of set in the middle of the floor that Miss B said looked like mountains.

The story was narrated by Huxley, a Palaeontologist who took us on a journey though time specifically through the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.  It started with some dinosaur eggs that then hatched and lovely little dinosaur babies popped out which was quickly followed by one of them getting eaten by a big dinosaur.  It really set the tone for the rest of the show and I’m glad it wasn’t sugar coated for the audience which had a lot of children.

The story through time continued with all different species of dinosaurs appearing and I realised at one point I was staring at the dinosaurs like Miss B was, all starry eyed and in awe.  The models were spectacular and although I could see legs in the smaller ones and the driver underneath the bigger models, I was mesmerised.  They were so realistic,  the way they moved around the floor, the way the skin moved

The production was great, the music and video screens built the story up around the props and dinosaurs and there were even inflatable plants and flowers to help the story come alive.  The creatures came out one by one and got bigger each time ending with the T-Rex which was Miss Bs favourite.  A baby T-Rex came out followed by its Mum who was protecting her youngling from a predator.  After a very tense fight between the big dinosaurs Mummy T roared and it was so loud it echoed through your chest which was then followed by a kitten like squawk from Baby T trying to imitate her.  The whole place went crazy and it was a real crowd pleasing moment.

I must admit that I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did but it was a great family day out and I would definitely go and see it again.  If you get the opportunity to go I can’t recommend it enough.

Here are some pictures of our day out:

Pretending to be a T-Rex

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