2014 has certainly been a roller coaster ride of a year. I started it by changing my diet and becoming vegan. I waved goodbye to The Stand Comedy Club and became the Press Officer at The Edinburgh Playhouse. I suffered a pretty bad case of mistaken identity with a certain football manager. Gary Lineker sent my Twitter into meltdown. I found my face splashed across every newspaper in the country. I lost count of the number of Twitter trolls who called me ugly and told me to die. I got mentioned in a Buzzfeed post. Graham Linehan tweeted a link to my blog. I started writing for Huffington Post. I drifted apart from some of my friends, and gained some amazing news ones. My heart got bruised on too many occasions. I met BJ Novak. I watched three of my beautiful friends get married. I saw Taylor Swift and Lena Dunham live. I started blogging for the Metro website. And I saw more musicals in the past 12 months than every other year put together. Here's to 2015 being filled with amazing friends, more adventures and no football managers!!!

Veganuary

This week I was asked to share my story for Veganuary. The month long pledge aims to show people how easy it is to be vegan, and let them see the benefits of following a vegan diet.

If you want to read my story you can click here to visit the Veganuary website or find it below.  

My vegan journey began on the 1st January 2014 when I decided to take part in Veganuary.

I was brought up eating meat and animal products until I made the decision to become vegetarian when I was around 13 years old. Until the end of 2013, being vegan was never something I had even considered. But once I started looking into the dairy industry, I knew it was the right thing to do. It seemed ridiculous that I would protest about killing animals for meat, yet be perfectly happy to eat ice cream and cheese knowing that dairy cows are suffering just as much. I had no idea that they are regularly given antibiotics and hormones so they can produce 10 times more milk that they are naturally meant to. Then I looked into the conditions hens are kept in to produce eggs, and realised that being vegan was the only option for me.

My transition to becoming vegan was pretty easy because I was already vegetarian. People often ask me if I miss meat, but it’s been so long since I’ve eaten any that I can’t even remember what it tastes like. I’ve never eaten a steak or any big joints of meat, and I’ve never even had a McDonald’s burger. I guess my meat intake was so low anyway that it doesn’t feel like there’s anything to miss out on. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss some non-vegan foods though. My first Easter without being able to eat bags of Mini Eggs was a bit of a struggle. I also miss being able to have cheese on toast and order a Domino’s pizza whenever I want.

One of the many positive points about being vegan is that it’s completely opened by eyes to food I never thought I would eat. It’s pushed me to try new recipes and experiment more in the kitchen. I’ve become an expert at making waffles and pancakes without any eggs, and most of the time you wouldn’t be able to tell my chocolate cupcakes are also egg and dairy free.

I've found most people have been completely accepting of my decision, even if some of them struggled to understand it at the beginning. For a while, it seemed acceptable for people to question my choices but not okay for me to ask them why they fill their stomachs with alcohol and junk food on a daily basis. However my best friends have been fantastic and don’t mind me dragging them to vegan restaurants every time we eat out. I’ve found plenty of places in Edinburgh and Glasgow where I can eat vegan versions of my favourite foods. There’s even a takeaway beside my work that will put vegan cheese on pizza for you. I’ve also found normal restaurants to be really accommodating offering to make me soup without cream and provide alternative desserts when everything else on the menu contains dairy.

Being vegan was never something I thought would become a permanent lifestyle choice. However one year in and I’m healthier than I’ve ever been and my diet isn’t hurting animals or damaging the environment. And as things stand at the moment, I can’t imagine ever going back.

2014

2014 has certainly been a roller coaster ride of a year.

I made some pretty big decisions concerning my career and diet, lost some friends, gained some better ones, got mistaken for a football manager, and my heart got pretty bruised along the way.

I guess the first major thing happened in January when I decided to change my diet and become vegan. I said I'd give it a year, but it's something that I'm going to carry though 2015. I feel healthier than I have in a long time, and lost a few pounds that I'd been trying to shift for a while. It's opened my eyes up to foods I never thought I'd eat, and now I've become one of those people who could eat kale for every meal. I discovered just how accommodating restaurants can be to dietary requirements, which was the one thing I was concerned about. I've also realised how amazing my friends are because they let me drag them to vegan restaurants and never complain once. 

So life was ticking along pretty normally until March when this happened....

It still feels completely surreal and almost like it didn't even happen. I can't quite explain what it feels like to have that amount of attention in such a small space of time. I still remember coming out of a hospital appointment and having messages telling me The Sun were parked outside my flat waiting to speak to me. Then the next morning I woke up to find myself splashed across every newspaper you could find.

It wasn't just the media attention that was difficult to handle. My Twitter followers increased by 2,000 and with it came some pretty horrible comments. I found the extreme ones easier to brush off, but the constant stream of people telling me I was ugly took a good few months to shake off. It's now been 9 months since it happened and I'm still getting the odd tweet about it, but luckily it's nothing like it was before. 

One of the best things to come out of the whole thing was Graham Linehan tweeting a link to this blog. Then the Huffington Post got in touch to ask me if they could post it, and asked if I wanted to start writing for them. I've written quite a few posts now that you can see by clicking here. The one that seemed to get the most attention after my David Moyes one, was this one about Scottish Independence. It ended up getting 2k likes on Facebook and over 300 comments which was a little overwhelming to say the least. I know it wasn't the most amazing piece of writing, but I do still take it very personally when people comment on things I've written. I guess having thicker skin is something I need to work on a lot next year. I've had a bit of a writers block since then, but 2015 is going to be the year of putting my writing first. 

In April, I left The Stand Comedy Club and moved a few minutes along the road to take on the role of Press Officer at the Edinburgh Playhouse.

It's been a pretty big jump up from what I was doing before, but I've loved every second of it. I've always been a fan of musical theatre so to work for the biggest theatre in the UK is pretty amazing. There's nothing like standing at the back of the audience watching Defying Gravity to make you feel like you have the best job in the world.

It's the first job where I've been able to travel a little, and I get the chance to take journalists to other venues to see shows. I feel like I've really pushed myself out of my comfort zone and for the first time in years I feel really confident in my work. I've also made some great friends at the theatre which makes going to work lots of fun. 

This year, I also got to attend three wonderful weddings. Due to being skint and no one at either wedding knowing each other, I wore the same dress to all three. 

In July, I got hang out with my best friends from high school and watch our friend Lisa get married. It's strange to think we left school over 10 years ago, yet we can still hang out like nothing has changed and have lots to catch up about. 

In August, all the uni girls came together to watch Jen get married. Her wedding was special because I know her husband well, and it was lovely to see them so happy.

Then in October, I got to see all my old work colleagues from The Stand at Eva's wedding. Her wedding was exactly like I'd want mine to be if I ever get married, and it was just nice to catch up with people I hadn't seen in a while. 

2014 was also the year of getting to see people I never thought I would get the opportunity to see live.

I saw Taylor Swift in February!!! I know people make fun of me for liking her so much, but I don't even care. She is literally my favourite singer, and she sings about things I have written in my diary. In fact sometimes I'm convinced she's secretly read it and written about every situation I've found myself in.

I also got the chance to see BJ Novak and Lena Dunham this year. I wish I had a better photo of Lena, but the ushers kept telling us to put our phones away every time we attempted to take a sneaky photo.

Last month, I took on another blogging job for Metro. I've only written two blogs so far on Bond Girls and Zoella, but it's going to be something I do a lot more next year.

I think that pretty much sums up 2014. So here's to 2015 being filled with just as many adventures with some of the best friends a girl could ask for. 

So I guess this is how 2015 is shaping up so far at work. Wicked is still here until the first week in January and then we've got some great musicals over the year like The Bodyguard, Shrek and Dirty Dancing. There's some really good music gigs too with Paul Weller and Nick Cave both performing here in the first half of the year. And I still get to work on comedy shows because Alan Carr, Billy Bailey and Kevin Bridges are all making an appearance.

Christmas in London.

London was pretty much all about Covent Garden, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Harrods, Selfridges, Planet Hollywood, Five Guys, Camden, Cookies and Scream, and the London Aquarium. 

Stop criticising Zoella – does it really matter if she had help writing her book?

When the Girl Online goes offline, you know there’s something really wrong.

 

And that’s exactly what Zoella aka Zoe Suggs did yesterday.

 

The girl, who shares her world with her 2.6 million Twitter followers, has decided to take a temporary break from the internet following the revelation that she had help to write her record breaking debut novel.

 

The official line from Penguin Random House is ‘to be factually accurate you would need to say Zoe Sugg did not write the book Girl Online on her own’.

 

This was also backed up by Zoe who said on Twitter: ‘Of course I was going to have help from Penguin’s editorial team in telling my story, which I talked about from the beginning. Everyone needs help when they try something new. The story and the characters of Girl Online are mine.’

 

So who is this mystery ghost writer?

 

It’s been suggested it’s Siobhan Curham. It was her appearance in the book’s acknowledgements that first sparked the rumour mill about how much Zoe contributed to the book.

 

But while Zoe may have had help to put her characters and ideas into book form, it seems like the 24 year old has had to put up with an unfair amount of criticism, especially considering she’s hardly the first person to have had assistance writing their novel.

 

And if you ask me, Zoe really hasn’t done anything wrong.

 

Yes, she didn’t write the book entirely herself. But this wasn’t a ghostwriter’s book that Zoe simply stuck her name on the cover of.

 

Are you telling me that you would turn down a book deal if your publisher offered to bring someone on board to help you write it?

 

No, I didn’t think so.

 

And as for a ghostwriter not getting proper credit, they took on the job knowing exactly what they were doing.

 

Whatever your opinion on this is, there’s no denying the success that Zoe has achieved with this book.
 

And while there might be an army of trolls out there to bring her down, it seems there’s an even bigger army of her loyal fans who will support her so she’s back to being the Girl Online in no time.

* You can also read it here on the Metro website.

There's a lot of things happening at the moment, so I'm trying to make more effort to update this blog with what's actually going on in my life.

Work is still very much all about Wicked. The reviews are all in now, and most of the press work has been done. However we do have a few special things planned for the next couple of weeks which will AMAZING if it all goes to plan.

This week I got to go to a meeting in Edinburgh Castle. I've not been up at the castle for at least 10 years or so, but it's just as magical as I remember. And the views you get over Edinburgh are pretty incredible. 

On Thursday, I had my first work Christmas event of the month. We went up to see Slava's Snow Show at the Festival Theatre. It's one of those shows that no one can explain, yet everyone seems to be completely in love with. You do have to be sitting in the stalls to get the best experience, especially when there's giant balls like this being thrown about.

On Friday, I had some post work drinks in Basement in Edinburgh. I have no photos, but it's fast becoming my favourite place to drink. 

I spent Saturday in Glasgow eating some delicious vegan food. I was told to be ready for 11am, wrap up warm and be prepared for food. We arrived at one of my favourite vegan haunts in Glasgow and tucked into pizza  and chocolate Oero cheesecake. 

Bond might be back, but isn’t it time we dropped the Bond girl?

A couple of weeks ago, I submitted some previous blog posts I've written to Metro who were looking for some new bloggers to come on board and write for their website. 

I got an email back asking me to write a test blog for them. I did that, and they seemed to like what I had to say. Fast forward two weeks and I've just had my first piece posted on their website which you can see here or read below.

Bond is officially back.

Spectre – the 24th film in the series – was announced with a photocall in London this week. While all eyes in the room were on Daniel Craig who is returning to the role of James Bond, there was another woman on stage stealing some of his spotlight.

If you’re not familiar with Monica Bellucci you soon will be. The Italian actress is set to become the latest Bond girl to grace our screens.

She’s also making history in the process by becoming the oldest Bond girl in the film franchise. At 50 years old, she takes the title from Honor Blackman who was 39 when she appeared in Goldfinger.

But, while there’s no denying the popularity of the Bond films, is there really still a need for the Bond girl?

When you think about the role, you can’t escape the image of Ursula Andress walking out of the sea in Dr No. Yes, it’s an iconic image that worked all those years ago. But is that really the image of a modern woman?

In the past few years, feminism has become a huge talking point in the media. There’s also been an increase in the number of strong woman on our screens, so it’s almost insulting that it’s not being reflected in one of the most popular movie franchises of all time.

Sure there have been a few independent female roles in the past couple of films like M and Miss Moneypenny. But neither of these woman were technically Bond girls.

The role of the Bond girl has been reserved for the character that only really has one purpose on screen, and that’s to be the object of Bond’s affections.

While they were might be a lot more to their character, we don’t ever get to see it. Instead it’s hidden away under skimpy outfits and suggestive names like Pussy Galore.

It seems like we’ve become so used to the role that we’ve almost just accepted it that where Bond goes, a beautiful woman will be paraded on his arm.

I’m not saying that we have to drop the role altogether, but this old fashioned image couldn’t be further removed from how woman actually are.

And if Bond wants to move forward, then it’s about the female characters on screen were treated with a little more respect.