She loved a number.

In January 2014 alone, there were 23 people killed on Irish roads. That's 23 lives cut short. That’s also 23 families destroyed, 23 people left without a best friend and some children left without a parent. 

It's easy to look at the number 23 and see nothing but a number. But when you know one of those ‘numbers’ you’d do anything to bring them back.  I always felt for those who knew victims of road accidents but it wasn't until this year that I truly felt the devastating effect it has on people. 

​When I felt my friend's shoulders shaking in my arms as she wept I realised exactly how real every single one of those numbers are. She loved a number, her friend had died on our roads,a young man's life cut short.  She was in shock, we were all in shock. His family has been shook forever. They'll learn to live with it in time but they'll never get over it, nobody ever does.  

She cried, I cried, a lot of people cried. A lot of people will continue to cry. At first in public, at wakes and funerals. Then in private, every day. With time they'll become less frequent, but tears will always fall for him, at Christmas later this year and at family weddings 20 years from now. As long as people who loved him live, tears will always fall for him. He may be down in the death records as just another number, but it’s not just his life that’s over.

We all know how important road safety is but I don't think we truly realise it until we are effected by it. When it happens, when someone you know or  loved, is needlessly killed on the road you want everything to change. Your first extinct is that all cars should be taken off the road, forever. With time, you realise this is unrealistic so you move on to the roads. You want every single road in the country to be rebuilt, twice as wide, as straight and as safe. Then you want the speed to be gone. You want every car to be replaced with new, slower ones that cannot go any faster than 50kmh. Unfortunately, very few of these things can or will happen realistically. You know that after this tragedy that you will always drive carefully, never testing limits, be it those of speed or alcohol levels in blood. But you know that the tragedy that has effected you will not affect everyone. The day after your loved one dies, people will still get into their cars and drive too quickly and people will still drive their cars after drinking. There will be days when you'll want everyone to experience the tragedy of someone they know or love dying on the roads. You know that if everyone loses someone they love then chances are that we'll all drive carefully.

When someone dies on the road, there is no time to prepare. Yes, you can comfort yourself that they didn't have to suffer a sickness but you can also tear yourself apart with the fact that if they hadn't gotten in that car, they'd still be here. It is an extremely hard situation to find comfort in. You can only hope that your loved one is one of the lucky ones who is killed instantly instead of suffering for hours. Someone has to identify the body. Someone has to see their loved one in an sometimes unrecognisable state, something that you wouldn't wish on our worst enemy. 

I got meningitis yo.

Greetings earthlings,

As you may have noticed, I have not a written a blog post  here on Planet Lo in a long time.
There are two reasons for this. Number One- I had blogger's block, I simply couldn't think of anything to write about. Number Two? I got meningitis. Yup, the ole meninges got inflammed and knocked me for six.

How did I get meningitis? I have no idea. But someone obviously wanted me dead, I'm watching you all...
To put it simply, I woke up in the middle of the night with the worst headache imaginable and persisted to vomit continuously.(lovely I know)....the rest is history. But thankfully, 8 weeks later I am finally back to myself, and ready to blog! (Thanks to my wonderful Mother and the hospital staff!)

 

I wasn't sure what picture to put with this post....so I put one of my face? Proof I'm alive I guess? Oh, and I got new specs. 

If you've stuck around all this time then thank you! If you.re new to Planet Lo then welcome!

Sickness aside, I have some news for ye!---Planet Lo will be getting a major makeover in January and I'm so excited for you all to see it. I also have some other very exciting news that I can't wait to share with ye! All will be revealed in January.  

On a serious note, meningitis is quite a serious illness, early detection is key, it is very important to know the signs. Click HERE to visit the ACT(an Irish meningitis prevention organisation) webpage to learn about the signs and symptoms.
I'll be back soon with a new post :) 

Stay classy, 

L xx

20 Things to do before you turn 20

Greetings earthlings,

As usual, I shall start things of with me apologizing for being so bad at this whole blogging thing. I'm sorry for my absence of late. A combination of work, wisdom teeth extraction, writer's block and general laziness saw me abandoning you all. This won't happen again I promise!

I turned 19 on the 27th of May. I've only one year left of being a teenager and I plan to make it a good one! Although to be honest I'm not dreading turning 20 next year as I'm just happy to be alive! I think birthdays should always be seen as a great thing no matter what age you are. However I do get it. I get that birthday especially the one that marks the end of your teenage years can be upsetting. I think the reason people can get bit upset at birthdays is because they start to think of all the things they want to accomplish but still haven't.
That's why I'm going to set myself the '20 Things to do before you turn 20' challenge. This way, although there will still be a lot of things left that I want to do I will have at least 20 to appreciate.

 Me as a young Spring chicken and me now just after I turned 19. Apologises to my friend Annie who I rudely cropped out of the pic!


Because it's my last year of being a teenager I want to make sure I set myself some fun things to do. That said, I need to throw in a few 'grown up' accomplishments so that when I turn 20 I'm not absolutely terrified of being an actual adult in the real world.

I will of course be documenting each of these tasks right here on Planet Lo so you can all follow my journey.
Are you facing your last year as a teen? Your first? Maybe the last year of your 20's, 30's.40's? Whatever the age, it doesn't matter, everyone can benefit from setting themselves tasks for the year ahead. So if you're up for it, do it! Make a list of things you've always wanted to do-and do them! Follow me on twitter at @PLANETLO1and let me know how you're getting on with a tweet or with a pic! Or you can leave a comment right here on Planet Lo.

I'll be doing one of these tasks roughly every two weeks, depending on the task in question. I will be adding to this 20 Things To Do Before You Turn 20 series every second Sunday on Planet Lo.Finally, a bit of direction!  In between these posts you can expect my general waffle, but hopefully I can develop more of a genre. We'll have to wait and see!
Thanks for stopping by :)

Stay classy,

L xx

 Me as a young spring chicken and me shortly after I turned 19. Apologizes to my friend Annie who I rudely cropped out! Hopefully I won't have aged so drastically in my 20th birthday pic!

In which I am a useless blogger.

Greetings earthlings,

To those of you that are loyal enough to have stuck it out long enough to read this post: THANK YOU. Also, I am VERY sorry. My absence has been a very poor performance on my part. I fear that a  useless blogger is what I have become. I abandoned ye for weeks with no explanation. There isn't even a picture to accompany this post. That's how useless I've become. 

But....

The exciting news is that Planet Lo will soon have it's very own URL! Also, I will be announcing a beauty giveaway once  I return as I feel I owe it to ye all to do something nice. I will be back soon and hopefully Planet Lo will be better than ever. Please bare with me another few days, you've lasted this long! 

Stay classy,

Who am I to tell you to say classy? No one really. Heck I just abandoned you all for weeks. But still, it never hurts to be classy. 

L xx

Homegrown and chemical free

  

Greetings earthlings, 

I come to you today with some top quality music. The reason I wanted to share this music with you all is because it is music by two Irish bands from Galway (where I live).
I think its important to support your fellow people in their pursuits wherever you may be from.
Also, I know a lad in each of the bands so really I'm just fishing for brownie points here.

First up is  Rofi James 

Rofi James is made up of Ronan Flaherty, Jamie Murray and Evan Maloney.

Formed in 2012 the three lads have a unique sound, the drum box played by Jamie Murray in particular sets them apart from other bands. They're messers which make their live performances great fun, definitely no lack of energy from Rofi James. If you're lucky enough you might even catch them tucking into a post gig kebab up town in Galway at 2am.
Click here to listen to their new single Love Shot on youtube or here to listen to it on Spotify.
 Love Shot is now available to buy on iTunes.

The lads are also great at promoting the Irish language.
 Check out one of their songs through Irish here

It's a super catchy tune so make sure to check it out!
Also, check out their facebook page here



Next up is  Fellow Strangers 

Fellow Strangers is made up of Ado Lyons, Wayne Foy and Mike Burke.

Think Mumford and Sons mixed with Passenger and you get these guys. They were formed during the Summer of 2012 so although they're still new to the game their top quality vocals along with brilliant song writing makes them a must have for your ipod. What I like about these guys is that they don't know how good they are. Mind you, that may change! ;)
They're currently working on their debut EP and are hoping to have it ready by the end of the Summer.
Here's a taster of their music

Click here to listen to the lads live in Galway

Click here to listen to their song Julia.

Check out their facebook page here


Both of these band are made up of normal, unassuming talented guys. They're not manufactured bands they're 100% homegrown and do their own thing completely. Simon Cowell only wishes they were his puppets.

Now when the lads hit the big time you can be a hipster and claim you knew them way back when ;)
You're welcome.

Stay classy,  

L XX 

PS- That isn't Fellow Strangers actual logo up at the top. The picture is the same but the font they used is much nicer. I messed up the photo when I imported it and couldn't get their font to fit in so had to but in my own ugly one, my bad.

April Favourites :)

Greetings earthlings,

Ok so I've read a lot of these monthly favourites blog posts and I like them. That said, there is one thing about them that really annoys me. The cost of their content.

Yes, we would all like to have enough money to buy  tons of expensive make up clothes and anything else we fancy but in most people's case this is not realistic. sure know that in my case it is not. After reading these posts I ended up feeling jealous and bitter. Bringing me right back to my toddler days.

Because of this I have decided to start an affordable monthly favourites post every month(obviously).

I have decided not to put anything that cose over 15 euro in the post. And even better, some of the things are free!

So without further adue here are some of my favourite things from April! :

Beauty Products  

1. Rimmel BB Cream (8.75 in Boots)

I know, I know, I'm late hopping on the BB cream bandwagon, oh well at least I finally got on!
I love this stuff. Its feels really light on my skin which I love. It's not amazing with regards coverage but I find that if I use a bit of concealer before hand my skin looks perfect when I put the BB cream on.




2. Ted Baker Body Spray (7 euro in Boots) 

I love perfume but they are way overpriced in my opinion. If I ever do have a perfume I like to save it for special occasions and go with a body spray for everyday use. I love smelling nice and this stuff smells great. I'm always concious of the two things few people are going to tell you: That you smell bad or that you have smelly breath. This is why I am always covered in body spray and chewing gum.





3. John Frieda Frizz-Ease Daily Miracle Treatment- part of a 2 for 10 euro deal in Boots.  

I've been looking for a hair product that will protect my hair from the hear aswell as nourishing it and controlling frizz. This is it. It does exactly what it says on the tin. I've been putting in my hair while its still damp and I've really noticed an improvement in the condition of my hair.








Tv show 

Sherlock.
I recently started watching Sherlock on dvd(its broadcast on BBC) and I fell in love with it. As the name suggests, its a show about a detective. I am usually too much of a scardey cat to watch anything that isn't ridiculously light hearted so I'm quite proud of myself that I enjoy Sherlock. The script is extremely well written. The storylines are great and I found myself on the counch with my sister screaming our plot guesses at the television. We were of course, wrong every time.



Book  

Along came a stork by Marisa Mackle.
I got this book for 5 euro in Dunnes Stores and haven't looked back since.
I've been trying to ease myself back into reading and this is the perfect easy read to do just that. The storyline is as the title suggests, its a bit ridiculous and predictable but thats excatly why I love it. Its set in Ireland which makes it hilarious to read. I like to support Irish writers if I can so I'm happy to buy and recommend this book.












Food  

Technically this isn't a food, its a drink. I titled this category food as opposed to drink because I thought if you saw drink you would think I'd be naming my favourite alcoholic beverage of the month. Which I shall not, as I know that all of you are not over eighteen and I do not want to receive any emails from angry parents blaming me for their childs downward spiral into the world of alcoholism because I introduced them to some sweet spirits! Wow that was a long winded introduction to Green Tea. Yes, that is my favourite drink at the moment. But just the one with Lemon and Echinacea, the other one is vile.

Song 

I've been listening to a lot of music recently so I've decided to pick three songs. I've been really into remixes of late which is odd as I used to hate them. Yay for growing as a person.

Here are the songs I've been loving this month. (click on the song title to listen to them)

Destiny's Child Say My Name Remix

Passion Pit-Carried Away

Rihanna Stay Remix

I have decided to save the best for last.... 

Hottie Of The Month  

Sorry but I couldn't not include this category.
My hottie of the month for April is Zac Efron.
Zac has grown up gooood.
Feast yer eyes.

Sorry this post was so long, if you managed to get this far, thank you!

Stay classy, 

L xx

Spurhaaaang Buhraaaakeeers

Greetings earthlings,

I went to the cinema recently. I went to the cinema recently and came out wishing I hadn't gone to the cinema. Why? Because I saw Harmony Korine's latest movie Spring Breakers, or as James Franco's character Alien likes to call it 'Spurhaaang Buhraaaakers'.

I'm not going to lie, the only reason I went to see this movie is because Selena Gomez was in it. Seeing as I was 15 years old in 2009, all things Disney Channel related run deep in my veins. As cheesy a channel as it is, myself Miley, Selena and The Jonas Brothers go way too far back for me to ignore them now.

This movie was labelled Selena's 'breakout movie' in which she would shed her 'Disney good-girl' image once and for all. Irioncally, Selena ended up being the good girl in her group of friends in the movie. Although she did smoke joints and drink underage, her antics still didn't compare to those of the people around her.

So why did I not enjoy this movie? Quite frankly I think one would need to be high to enjoy this movie properly. Perhaps, that was the director(Harmony Korine)'s intention. God knows his repetoire would allow it.

Basically, I didn't enjoy the editing done on this movie at all. The chance from shot to shoty was extremely choppy and distracting. For the first 10 minutes or so my friend and I exchanged confused glances as if to say 'are you seeing what I'm seeing?'. Eventually we had discuss what was happening and we came to the conclusion 'it will probably cut to normal scenes soon?'. Alas, it did not. It stayed in trippy mode for the entire movie. Whilst we had the bravery to sit it out for its entirety, not everyone around us did. About half way through we saw a man in his 50's leave. Then, about 3/4 of the way through we saw a woman in her 30's leave. I only wish I had had their sense.

Not only was the editing and the portrayal of the movie itself offputting but the storyline was shocking. Fair enough, make a movie about a few college girls going crazy on Spring Break but at least make it light hearted and easy to watch. What I had to sit through was like The Da Vinci code of Spring Break movies. The ending really annoyed me. It was like someone had forgotten to type the second half of the script. There was no real climax to the movie it seemed to just be the one concept stretched out for an hour and a half.

The acting was grand. James Franco was too good if anything, I was certain his creepy character was following me home whispering 'Spurhaaang Buhraaakers' in my ear. Selena was good too in fairness, then again with a face like that she could have the script in her hand for the entire movie and no one would care. Dare I say it, I'm not even sure if Vanessa Hudgens was acting. Those of you who have seen the movie will know that this is not a compliment. The other two main girls were pretty bland and forgettable, hence me not being able to remember their names.

I'm sorry that this post has been so negative and hey maybe some of you really enjoyed the movie. If you did, I take my hat off to you! I also urge you to seek help for your drug use.

All in all, I would not advise you to go see this movie. Unless you enjoy looking at topless women, in which case go for it, you will not be disappointed..

And on that note, I'm off to watch Love Actually for the 45th time.

Stay classy,

Lxx 


Let's be twitter friends xx