Jackie Emerson's TEDx Talk - Wow.

Wow. That's all I have to say. I struggled to think of a creative title because I am just lost for words after watching a certain something on YouTube.

As some of you might know, Jackie Emerson is an 18 year old singer, songwriter, actress, and inspiration.
Yes, she is one of the most inspiring people I have ever known.

Today I was stalking my favourite celebrities' twitters, as usual, and I stumbled upon a link on Jackie's to a talk that she did. I nearly didn't watch it, I didn't really know what it was going to be about, but then I thought, why not? I didn't have anything else to do. So I watched it, and I am so glad I did.

It was all about holding onto your inner child, as the title of the video suggests. I felt that what she said was so relevant to me and it really made me stop and think.  Straight after I had finished watching it, I wanted to go out and do something, something for me.

To finish off, I want to thank Jackie for doing this. I personally think that it is incredibly inspiring. I truly, truly admire Jackie.

Please watch it, you'll be doing a huge favour for yourself.

UrbanNerd.xo

A Celebration You Can Help With.

Amandla Stenberg. October 23rd. 14 years old.

If you ask me, October 23rd is one of the biggest days of the year. Yes, it is the darling Amandla Stenberg's 14th birthday. Fourteen, that just seems so grown up! Even though I'm already 14 and am still very much a kid...

Anyway.

Yesterday I cam across a tweet about my hero's birthday, and it got me extremely excited, fangirl mode, if you will.

THIS. A girl on twitter, @maddy_merz is making a birthday video for Amandla. I just love the idea of this, because if Amandla sees it, SHE MIGHT ACTUALLY SEE YOUR FACE. Oh my gosh.

And because I love Amandla very much, I wanted this girl's video to be the best it can, so, that's where you come in. 

Now, I know that not everyone will actually know who Amandla is (if you actually read my blog though you damn well should), but those of you Tributes most definitely would.

If you are a fan of Amandla, what are you waiting for?! Send in a picture!

There's some more information for you here, if you need it.

Happy early birthday my dear Amandla, and may the odds be ever in your favour.

UrbanNerd.xo

CAPTURED - For Your Inner Writer.

I recently discovered that the fabulous The Book Critic over at bookfangirling.blogspot.com is having a writing competition!
It is called CAPTURED, and it is a short story competition.

Basically, she has given you a picture of a scene out of The Hunger Games and you have to write a short (a maximum of 2000 words) FanFiction about it.

The prize is that she will promote your blog/twitter/tumblr or any of that type of thing for all of November! Also, the winning story will be featured on her blog!

All of the rules and everything else you need to know is here.
You should definitely check it out and get invloved! I know I will, if I find the time and motivation! Haha. I think it would actually be a great opportunity, as I don't usually like writing, but because it's about something I love then it should be fun!

I can't wait to see the winning entry, and if you decide to give it a go, good luck!

UrbanNerd.xo

The End Of My Day Was A Little Grey.

First of all, I want to congratulate myself for making a creative title and also including a pun in there, go me.

Last Tuesday, the season premier of Grey's Anatomy was on. When I saw the ad saying that it had been 'fast-tracked' so we got to see it the same time as America, I was so excited, but geez, the ad nearly made me cry!

You see, in last season's final episode, some of the doctor's had been in a plane crash and my favourite character died. Sob sob. And my second favourite character, they were in love, sigh. But the guy, Mark, didn't really confess / realise it until when she, Lexie, was dying. So yeah, it was really sad.

And then, next thing you know, the season premier was on and Mark was in a hospital bed!

And long story short, he wasn't showing any signs or recovery, and his 'wishes' were that if after 30 days he wasn't get any better, he wanted them to turn off the life support. 

So at five o'clock on that day, after 30 days of no recovery, they all gathered there, in his room, on the seats outside, and sat with him while he died. ALL THE WHILE I CRIED MY EYES OUT.

Sorry for yelling just there, my emotions just took over.

And so that's why the end of my Tuesday wasn't too good. But you should still watch Grey's Anatomy because it's amazing.

Also I now am so desperate to meet Eric Dane to make sure he's alive and okay.

UrbanNerd.xo

A Bit Of Change Is Aways Good.

I know I haven't been posting recently, and I apoligise for that. I've decided that I'm going to make a few changes around here. One of the main ones is the frequency of my posts. I used to blog every single day, but recently I've found that hard. So, now, instead of posting every day, I'm just going to post once or twice a week. I think that will suit me better, and that way I think my posts will be better too. It's just a bit of a trial, I'll try it out for a while and see if I like it, if I do I'll keep it like that, if I don't then I'll try something different.

I'll still be doing a Quote Of The Week every Monday though.

One of the main reasons for this change is a lack of motivation. I've really been struggling to think of good things to blog about lately, so that's where you can help. If you have any ideas for an interesting topic that I could blog about, I'd love to hear it!! It could be anything, it could be some thing you've experienced or a lesson that you learnt. It could be a tutorial on how to bake a cake or do your nails, it could be absolutely anything. So if you have any ideas, you can tweet me at @UrbanNerd_ or leave a comment below. Or, if you have an idea but you don't really want people to know that it was from you, I have an email address for this blog that you can send it to. Just ask me for it and I'll be happy to tell you.

UrbanNerd.xo

You've Got To Be In It To Win It!

The other day there were these people on A Current Affairs that were just talking about winning competitions. They entered every single competition that they saw, and gave us some tips on how to win things. For some reason I found this very interesting, and I immediately got out my iPod and wrote down these notes. There wasn't many, but I thought I'd share them with you anyway!

-When entering a competition where you have to send in your entry by mail, use a small envelope!
-When entering a competition where you have to send in your entry by phone or text, send in your message right on 12 o'clock in the afternoon. Right on the dot! They just said that for some reason this is the luckiest time of the day.

So this got me thinking, have you ever been lucky enough to win a competition? What is the best thing you have ever won? Drop me a comment below or tweet me at @UrbanNerd_!
My favourite thing that I have ever won would probably be The Hunger Games poster that I won last month, I wrote about it here.
There's also this competition going on at the moment and the prize is absolutely SPECTACULAR! I haven't entered yet but I'm really excited too, and I know I probably won't win, but YOU'VE GOT TO BE IN IT TO WIN IT!

Hope this helped just a tiny bit.

UrbanNerd.xo

Racism, Really?

Something that I absolutely hate is racism. Why does it matter what colour someone's skin is, or what country they originate from? How does that make them a bad person? How does that make it right for you to judge them?

Everyone's different, different hair, different eyes, different interests, different house, different clothes, different family, different skin. Who cares? That's what makes the world interesting. Imagine how boring it would be if everyone was the same! It's like if I came up to you and teased you because you have blonde hair or green eyes.

So before you judge someone because of their skin colour, or their race, or their accent, talk to them! Chances are you could learn something about them, about their home country, anything!

Never judge, never hate, be you, be great.

UrbanNerd.xo

Bad Lip Reading

Yesterday all these people were talking about some Bad Lip Reading thing. I had absolutely no idea what they were on about, until someone showed me this video..

THIS IS ONE OF THE FUNNIEST THINGS I HAVE EVER SEEN.

Now, whether you're a Hunger Games fan or not, your sure to love it. What they've done, is gotten scenes out of the movie and done funny voice over sort or things. It is so good! But it's really clever, it actually looks like that's what they say. It's really hilarious.

I suggest you watch it all and also check out some of their other things on YouTube, Bad Lip Reading. Plus they've got a Facebook and a Twitter!

Yay, a goat.

UrbanNerd.xo

Twitter VS Facebook

There are so many social networking sites nowadays, Tumbr, Instagram, all that kind of stuff. But I would think that the two most popular would be Twitter and Facebook.

Now, everyone that uses these sites would know that they are quite different, and everyone would have their opinion as to which one is better.
So today, I'm going to give my point of view, and share some of what I think are the pros and cons of Facebook and Twitter.

I was actually going to make this post 'Three Reasons Why Twitter Is Better Than Facebook', but I didn't think that would be fair, so I went with this instead.

So let's get down to business..

Twitter
Pros:
-You can choose what sort of people you socialise with and what you see in your timeline. By this I mean the sort of people that you follow. For example, I obviously love The Hunger Games, so most of the people I follow are either actors and actresses out of the movie, or fans just like me. I find this really great because I don't have many friends in  real life that have read the book or even seen the movie, so it's good having people on twitter that I can talk to and that will relate to how I am feeling when something exciting happens in our fandom, like somebody being cast as character in Catching Fire, or a competition being announced.
-You can tweet as much as you like. Twitter is made for saying what you want to say, when you want to say it. There is no limit on how much you say, well there is, but you'd have to be a pretty avid tweeter to reach tweet limit.
-It's a good way to talk to and find out about what your favourite celebrities are doing. When a celebrity tweets, it's always fun to tweet them back with plenty of meaningless tweets, but it's amazing when they reply.
Cons:
-Pretty much anybody can see what you post.
-You don't always know who's behind an account. Because there's people from around the world on Twitter, you won't know everybody, obviously. So sometimes it's hard to know whether it is safe to talk to them or not. Most of the time, they're just friendly kids that wan't to talk to you about your many interests or obsessions,  but you've got to be careful.

Facebook
Pros:
-It is more private than Twitter. You can choose who can see your things and how much they see.
-There is no limit on how long your statuses or messages can be!! On twitter, your tweets can only be 140 characters long, and some times I find this a bit restricting. So Facebook is good if you want to write longer things and get your point out.
Cons:
-Like I said before, barely anyone that I know is a fan of The Hunger Games, so if I post something like a photo or a quote on Facebook about it, no one will understand. It's kind of annoying sometimes.

And there we have it!! Personally, I prefer Twitter, as you can probably tell because the Twitter section is probably about twice as big as the Facebook section, haha.

So what's your opinion? Do you agree with me? Do you think Twitter is better than Facebook, or the other way around? Or maybe there's a whole other social network that you think beats both of these!! Let me know what you think by dropping me a comment below, or tweeting me at @UrbanNerd_.

I'd love to hear what you all think!!

UrbanNerd.xo

Wouldn't It Be Easier Being A Boy?

Wouldn't just be easier being a boy?

You wouldn't have to worry about how skinny you are, or how short your dress is, or how long your eyelashes are, or how perfectly your hair sits.
You could just throw on a t-shirt and shorts in the morning and you'd be ready to go.
You wouldn't have to worry about putting make-up on because if you don't people will probably judge you.
You wouldn't have to worry about having to be perfect all the time.
You wouldn't have to worry about being stereotyped all the time.

I think things would just be easier being a boy.

UrbanNerd.xo

A Little School Project.

Lately, in English, we have gotten piles upon piles of work. And the worst part is that they have been assignments, so I actually have to put some effort into them.

The latest topic that we've been working on is politics, and we have to make up our own little make believe political party. On Monday we are actually going to have an 'election' so we have to make a speech on what we stand for and all that type of stuff. Another part of the project is that we have to make some merchandise pieces or other things that promote our party.

Mine is called The Justice Party, and for one of my items to promote it I made a website!

I really just made another blog but I've tried to make it not look too much like a blog..

Anyway! I'd appreciate if you could take a look at it, just tell me what you think, give me some feedback. It's not really anything special, but still. 

Go to partyofjustice.blogspot.com to take a look at it, and please tell me what you think!!

UrbanNerd.xo

To Lighten The Mood..

When you're in not so much of a good mood, nothing can cheer you up better than a good laugh. And with my new found love for YouTube, I have found the perfect source of plenty of giggles.

This video is so funny. It is made by the hilarious Jack Quaid and Nick Williams (out of Neon Albatross) and I laughed quite uncontrollably when watching it. It has a bit of cursing in it, so if you are around other people then you might want to put some ear phones in, that's what I did, and I got a fair few strange looks.. but oh well! I got a good giggle out of it.

Jenna  Marbles would have to be the most hilarious girl on the planet. This video is one of my favourites out of all of hers. And this one also has a lot of swearing in it, so you will definitely want to plug in those ear phones, but it's pretty darn funny.

The boys in my class played this in science the other day, and I think it's funny because it is just so stupid. Like, seriously, who would ever think of making a video about NARWHALS?! But it is safe to say that Narwhals are now my favourite animal.
WARNING: Tune may be stuck in your head for days on end, watch at own risk.

So they're my top videos to get a bit of a laugh at, and now for an extra bit of news that might 'lighten your mood', well it definitely did with mine..

AMANDLA STENBERG FOLLOWED ME.
Yeah, that's right. Oh. My. Gosh. I still can not believe it!! Ahhh, it was so exciting! It wasn't on my personal or my blog account, it was on my fan account, oh wait, I mean, ACCOUNTS! Yeah! Two of them! You see, I have heaps of fan accounts on twitter, including one for Amandla and one for Jamandla! Jamandla is the name that Jackie and Amandla call them selves, by the way. It's kind of like their friend ship name. 
So I got home from school on Wednesday, and you know, went on twitter, checked out all the latest gossip. Then, I worked my way down my list of accounts, my Hunger Games account, my blog account, then to my Amandla account! I went into my mentions, and BOOM. 'Amandla Stenberg follows you'. I was like, "FREAKIN' WHAT?!" I thought it must have been a fake account, until I went on to the page and saw the amount of followers it had and that I already followed it..
I ran into our study and started screaming and crying and all of those crazy type of things. When I finally calmed down, well, sort of calmed down, I went into Amandla's follow list to check that I wasn't making it all up, AND I SAW MY OTHER ACCOUNT! And then all of the screaming and crying started all over again.
You guys know how much I love Amandla, I love her a lot, and two days later I still don't believe it happened. For real, someone that I love, adore, support, and someone that I look up to noticed me! ME! Just an ordinary girl that has a lot of love to give. Ah, it's so incredible.

So yeah. That's just my news. Hope it kind of made you smile and the videos made you laugh! You should all definitely check out some more of Jack Quaid, Jenna Marbles and even Neon Albatross on YouTube!!

Drop me a comment down below or tweet me at @UrbanNerd_ and tell me what makes you laugh or smile!

UrbanNerd.xo

Just A Little Gift For You Hunger Games Lovers

The other day my English teacher, we'll just call her Mrs. D, told me and my friend that she had decorated her daughter's room with some Hunger Games images that she had found. Now, Mrs. D knows that we are huge Hunger Games lovers, so she said that she would email us the images in case we wanted to print them out as well.
I saw that she had sent them the other day, and I love them. So, I thought I would share them with you! Just in case you wanted to print them out and decorate your room too!

Here they are..

I just have to say, I love this one. It's so simple but I think I like it so much because I just love Rue.

Something else I really liked about this is the notes on it. Now, in the movie, Katniss and Rue's Mockingjay calls are a little different. These notes are the actual notes to the tune, but I don't know whether it is actually Rue's, or whether it's Katniss'. I think it might be Katniss', but that's still uber cool.

I like showing off and telling people that I can play it on the keyboard, also because I can't whistle.. hehe.

Oh I love this one too! This one is for all of you that are both Tributes and Potterheads!!

And I really like the colours in this one.

And there we have it! I hope you like them and you might even stick them up in your room! I know I will be!

Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favour!

UrbanNerd.xo

My First Ever Blog Award!

Yesterday I received my first ever blog award! I didn't even know this type of thing existed, but I want to thank The Book Critic for awarding it to me! It means a lot!!

One of the rules for receiving this award is that I have to answer 5 questions that I was given. Here they are!

1. What was the last book you read? Was it good?

The last book that I read was actually The Hunger Games! And as for the was it good? Of course it was! I was re-reading it, obviously, it's the second time I've read it. I absolutely love it. Love, love, love.

2. What was the last blog you read? What do you think of it?

The last blog that I read was Chocolate For Inspiration. It's a blog about books and I love it!!

3. What are your favourite TV Shows?

I really like murder investigation type of shows, so I love Castle and Bones. I also really like Greys Anatomy and New Girl. I like a lot of shows, but they're some of my favourites.

4. What is your favourite genre of book to read?

Hm, I like books that keep you in suspense, that make you want to keep reading at the end of a chapter. I read a book a while ago, it was a few years ago in fact, called Silas and the Winterbottoms. I'm not sure what genre you would put it under, but I really loved it, it was my favourite book until I read The Hunger Games!

5. Did you like reading in primary school?

Yes! I really loved reading in primary school, I used to read every night as soon as I got home. Then as I moved into high school I didn't read as much, but then as soon as I read The Hunger Games..

Thanks again to The Book Critic for giving me this award!!
I don't actually read many blogs, not because I don't want to, I just don't know how to find good ones! So if you run a blog and you want me to check it out, leave the link in the comment box below, I'll be happy to take a look at it! Or if you have read someone else's blog and you like it, you can tell me about that as well.
So anyway, the five blogs that I'm going to award this to are the ones that I have read, but I really like them all so they do deserve them. And it sucks that I can't give one to The Book Critic because her's is my favourite blog! But anyway..

1. Chocolate For Inspiration
2. Kitsch Snitch
3. Hakuna Peetata
4. What's Stopping You?
5. One Girl, One Life

And to those five people that I chose, here are the rules!
1. Make sure you thank the person that gave you the award and tag them in the post!
2. Ask the next five people five questions and answer the ones that you were given.
3. Award five people of your own!
4. Remember to post the rules!

So here are the questions for you guys..
1. What is the one thing that you always do when you have some spare time?
2. What is your favourite song at the moment?
3. Why did you start a blog?
4. What country are you from? Where would you live if you could live anywhere in the world?
5. What's your favourite thing to blog about?

And there we go! I've really enjoyed writing this post, I hope you've enjoyed reading!

UrbanNerd.xo

I love gifs.

So the other day, I saw this completely awesome post on someone elses blog, and it contained a heap of gifs.
If you don't know what a gif is, just google it. They're awesome.

So when I saw it, I was like:

And then I was like:

But then I was like:

And then she told me how to put gifs in posts, and now I'm like:

Because:

Still.

And now I'm like:

Because I love gifs.

UrbanNerd.xo

Thankyou To All My Readers!

I've probably said this a million times, but I'm going to say it again! I really can't say it enough, I love and appreciate all of you!! All of my readers mean so much to me!

I get so many confidence when people tell me that they like my blog, or when I see that I have a certain amount of views on a blog. It means SO much!!

All of my readers and all of my followers on twitter are so kind. They always give me some feedback and I think that's really great.

So I just wanted you to know, if you're reading this, THANKYOU SO MUCH! I appreciate every single person that reads my blog and it means a lot to me.

UrbanNerd.xo

Hunger Games Cast Appreciation Day.

So today I was helping my friend with some homework she had. And it sounds really funny, but I was actually enjoying it. Why? Because it was on The Hunger Games! After she'd left I thought, I really want to watch it now. So I did. And I realised how absolutely amazing all of the actors and actresses in it are. 

I thought they all deserved some appreciation, they deserve a blog post. 

I have to start with Amandla Stenberg. Her performance as Rue was absolutely phenomenal. When Rue was killed I actually cried. She was that good. And if people think that Amandla wasn't absolutely perfect, they should probably go eat some Nightlock.

Alexander Ludwig. Alex did such a great job as Cato. He portrayed the character in so much depth and even though Cato was quite evil, towards the end we saw another side of him. I really loved this and I thought he was fantastic.

I don't think anyone would make a better Thresh than Dayo Okeniyi. Some of my favourite scenes in the movie were ones with Thresh. I loved it when Cato's knife got stolen, and he took it out on one of the other tributes, but then we see little Rue hanging up by some straps on the roof and she has it. But the thing I love about that scene is when Thresh sees her up there and gets this cheeky little grin on his face, it just makes me go 'aw'!

For a 12 year old, Willow Shields is such an amazing actress. She portrayed Prim so perfectly, she was just so innocent and seemed genuinely scared. I just couldn't help but adore Prim and I'm sure I'm not the only one that felt so many different emotions when her name was reaped. When she was saying goodbye to Katniss it was just so so sad. Willow was amazing.

Isabelle Fuhrman was absolutely perfect as Clove. And when I see perfect, I mean perfect.  The scene in which she almost kills Katniss is one of my favourites in the whole movie. She just seems so evil and cunning, I really loved it.

I loved Jack Quaid as Marvel. He was just so goofy, in a way, and it was like he brought a lot of himself to the character. The snippet we see of Marvel's interview was my favourite out of all.

Thanks to Jackie Emerson, Foxface is now one of my favourite characters. Even though she didn't have many scene in the movie, when she was on the screen she was perfect. 

Josh Hutcherson was an amazing Peeta. No matter how hard I try, I can not imagine someone else being Peeta. He portrayed the chemistry between Peeta and Katniss perfectly.

Jennifer Lawrence. Flawless. There are no other words for her. There is no way anyone else could ever be Katniss, she is the one and only. There is just something about Jen that just makes her so likeable. She just brought so many different emotions to her character. I loved her so so much as Katniss, words can simply not describe it.

I love ALL of The Hunger Games cast. Every single on of them. Even the ones I didn't name, I still love them as much as the others. Leven was a perfect Glimmer, Elizabeth an amazing Effie, Woody was a hilarious Haymitch, and Lenny such a serene Cinna. All of the cast is so wonderful.

They all deserve some simple appreciation.

UrbanNerd.xo

Confessions Of A Blogaholic.

Alright, I just have a few things I need to say. Nothing big! So don't worry, but just a few little things.

First off, I apologise for the font in the last post! It was different to all of the other posts and it looks a bit out of place, this is because I wrote it on my iPod and it just didn't want to go to the right font.
I was typing it last night, it took me like half an hour because it kept glitching, and then the whole thing just disappered. I was so angry! So then I had to type it again and it took me forever, but at least I got it posted eventually!! Anyway, that's the first thing.

Next, comments. The first time somebody commented on one of my posts, I was in class. I wasn't actually meant to be blogging, but I couldn't help myself, and we weren't doing anything important anyway. So when I saw it, I like screamed. It was so exciting! I know you might think that's stupid, but when people comment on my posts and means that they are acutally reading them.
So, next time you read one of my posts, if you like it, let me know! I need to know if I'm doing okay, I need to know what I should do more of and what I shouldn't do at all. So that's just something to keep in mind!

Also, running a blog is hard. Like really hard. Especially because I want to post something everyday. But I have heaps of homework at the moment and it's quite hard to find time to post things. I do try my best, but some days I just won't be able to blog, and this just makes me disappointed too. If I don't post one day though, don't fret! I'll try and do two posts the next day or maybe the day after that.

I posted a recipe last Friday, you can take a look at it here, and I got quite a positive response from that, so I was thinking of doing one every week or maybe every fortnight. So if you have a recipe that you would like me to share with people, you can tweet it to me at @UrbanNerd_ or leave a comment below. It can be everything from savoury to sweet, or maybe even a yummy drink! Just let me know if you've got one!

Lastly, I want to thank you all. Thank you for simply reading my blog. I love the fact that people actually want to hear what I have to say! It feels so good getting all this positive feedback. You are all so kind, so thank you for that. THANKYOU ALL FOR EVERYTHING!

I really do appreciate you all.

UrbanNerd.xo

Don't Forget To Go Orange!

Did you go orange today? I did! As it was a school day, and we have a uniform, I unfortunately couldn't dress head to toe in orange, but I still embraced the orange and wore an orange ribbon, orange ear rings, and I painted me nails orange too!! I even bought a delicious ORANGE juice from the canteen at lunch just to add that extra little touch.

How about you, what orange attire did you wear today? Or maybe, depending on where you are in the world, Thrsday the 6th might have only just started for you! In that case, what are you going to wear?

Don't miss out on promoting this wonderful cause, dive deep into your wardrobes or raid the fancy dress cupboards if you must, and find something orange to wear!! 

Remember not just to wear your orange for just one day, we're going orange until September the 9th!!

Tweet your orange pictures to the No Kid Hungry twitter page here. 

Or post them on their Facebook page here!

And make sure to take a look at their website here.

I hope you all get involved and take part by going orange for No Kid Hungry!

UrbanNerd.xo

Give it a go.

If you're doing something new, if you've got some opportunity that you're lucky enough to do, if you're not that keen on it, just give it a go.

You'll never know what it's like until you give it a go. You might even like it! Chances are you probably will.

So if you're doing something and you're not sure if you're going to enjoy it or not, don't just give up. Have a go and see how you do. If you don't like it, well now you know. And if you do like it, well then that's even better!

Just give it a go.

UrbanNerd.xo

My Bucket List!

There are so many things that I want to do before I die, too many things to list probably, but here is my top 5!


1.  Meet Amandla Stenberg.
I absolutely must meet her, she is my role model and I just find her to be so inspiring.
I'm not sure how I'm going to do this, because I live in Australia, but I am extremely determined.
Amandla is so so gorgeous and if I ever met her I would tell her how much I look up to her, but I would probably not be able to get any words out.
This is definitely number one on my bucket list.



2. Hug an orangutan.
For years I have been so in love with orangutans.
They are just so cute, and when I'm older I want to go to Borneo or Sumatra for a little while and help look after them. It would be an absolute dream come true to hug an orangutan.



3. Learn how to whistle.
This one might sound a bit silly, but I can't whistle. No matter how hard I try, no matter how many different ways my Dad tries to teach me, I just can't do it.
I really want to learn how to whistle, I'm actually kind of jealous of those people who can.


4. Write a book and get it published or appear in a movie or TV Show.
I would absolutely love to have a book published or appear in a movie or TV Show.
I think just the idea of people reading something that I have written, it's just so cool, and I guess that's why I love writing this blog so much.
Also, even if it was just as an extra, in a TV Show or movie, I'd still love it. I know this will probably never happen, but I really want to be an extra in Mockingjay (the third book in The Hunger Games series that is being made into a movie in two parts). It would actually be that amazing.


5. Learn to surf.
I think learning to surf would be so awesome!! Surfing looks like so much fun, it looks tricky, but still, I'd love to learn how to do it. I might stick to riding the waves on my boogie board for a little while though.

So there we have it! The top 5 on my Bucket List. Also, not further down would be to meet the rest of The Hunger Games cast, I would love to meet all of them, they seem to be such great people and I love them all.


What would be number 1 on your Bucket List? What have you always wanted to do, but haven't gotten around to it just yet? Let me know by tweeting me at @UrbanNerd_ or dropping me a comment below! I can't wait to hear.

UrbanNerd.xo

The Pencil That Was Red.

'the pencil is red'

This one tweet, made a whole fandom explode into chaos, and it created a whole new fandom of its own. A fandom of red pencils.

Today, Monday the 3rd of September, 2012, was the day that Josh Hutcherson changed the way that we look at red pencils forever.

Okay, so all he said was that there was a red pencil, but all of us went crazy. And by us, I mean the 'Hutchers' and 'Tributes'. We all changed our twitter names to 'red pencil', we made trends to do with red pencils, we even made fan accounts for red pencils! Like seriously, how extremely ridiculous is that?!

But the thing is, just by something so simple happening, we all came together and had a lot of fun. We obsessed over something, but we enjoyed it. In a way, it kind of brought some of us closer together. 

Yeah, to you, it probably sounds really stupid. But it's true! I had so much fun this afternoon, and it was all because of a red pencil.

May the red pencils be ever in your favour. 

UrbanNerd.xo

I Appreciate The Chips In My Bag Of Air.

So today, I opened up my packet of delicious air, to find that there were some out-of-place doritos in there! What a lovely surprise.

Sarcasm. That's what that is. Complete, and utter sarcasm.

There were seriously only like, eight chips in there. And they were like, crumb-size.
This happens every single time I have chips. I get more air than stuff that I can actually eat. It's actually kind ridiculous if you ask me.

Luckily, there was a 'customer service number' on the back, so I'll make sure to call them up and complain.

I'll make sure to tell you how I go. Wish me luck!

UrbanNerd.xo

Thankyou Amandla.

So, a while ago I wrote a post about my role model, Amandla Stenberg.

Yesterday that post reached 100 views, and I was absolutely over the moon.

I tweeted to Amandla saying that it had reached this milestone and that she inspires me very much, and guess what?

She retweeted it!! This was super duper exciting. When I went onto twitter and saw it, I was so pleasantly shocked. 

Since then, that post has received another 75 VIEWS! Which I think is absolutely amazing. It never would have happened though if it weren't for Amandla.

So, I want to THANK YOU AMANDLA. For not only retweeting, but for being the inspiration behind the post, and also my inspiration in life in general. I couldn't ask for a more perfect role model.

I'm hoping that her retweeting my tweet means that she might have read the post. This would be a dream come true, so I'm going to be an optimist and say she did.

If you want to take a look at the post, click here.

and if you want to check out the special tweet, click here!

Thankyou Amandla.

UrbanNerd.xo

Happy Father's Day!

So today, in Australia, it's Father's Day!
I don't know if it's Father's Day in any other areas of the world, but if it is, Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

I love my Dad. He makes my lunch every day, he buys my favourite magazine every week, he some times lets me beat him in table tennis, he's just an all round top Dad.

I want to thank him for always putting up with me, even though it's probably difficult some times. I want to thank him for just being the best Dad he can be.

Happy Father's Day, and I love you Dad!

What makes your dad special? Leave me a comment below or tweet me at @UrbanNerd_!

UrbanNerd.xo

No Kid Hungry.

So yesterday I heard of a thing called No Kid Hungry.

No Kid Hungry is an organisation in America that is working towards stopping child hunger.

Currently, 16 million kids in America are at risk of hunger. Every child should be able to eat a meal three times a day, seven days a week. But that's not that case. 

Even though I am not from America, I still think that this is a great cause to get behind. Children all over the world should be able to live their lives on a full stomach.

From the 6th of September to the 9th, wear orange in support of No Kid Hungry. You could wear an orange ribbon in your hair, orange socks, or even head over here and buy an orange shirt and some fabulous orange sunglasses.

There are many young celebrities helping to promote and get behind No Kid Hungry, one of them being Amandla Stenberg. That's how I found out about this whole thing, Amandla posted something on twitter.

And other people won't know about it either, unless you help out and spread the word. Visit http://nokidhungry2.org/ and @nokidhungry on twitter and let everybody know.

This is such a great cause to get behind. I hope you all do take a look.
#GoOrange for no kid hungry!!

UrbanNerd.xo

Amandla Stenberg going orange for No Kid Hungry.

Brilliant Brownies.

Alright, I suck at cooking. I can't even get toast perfect, but one thing that I am alright at baking is these wonderful caramel and chocolate brownies! They are seriously delicious, so I thought I'd share the recipe with you all now!!

Just before I start, because I am from Australia, all of my measurements are in grams and such, but if you use different sorts of meausurements, you can go here to convert the weights!!

Here's what you'll need..
-375 grams of Dark Chocolate bits.
-200 grams of chopped butter.
-3/4 cup of caster sugar (188 grams).
-3 eggs.
-2 cups of plain flour (500 grams).
-1/2 cup of white chocolate bits (125 grams). You could also use milk or dark chocolate, your choice.
-380 gram can of Caramel Top 'n' Fill.

And here's what you need to do..
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Again, I am from Australia, so if you measure temperature in Fahrenheit instead of Celsius, this would be 356 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Grease a tray, approximately 4.5 centimetres deep (go here to convert lengths), and 21 centimetres by 31 centimetres, with baking paper.
3. Put the dark melts and butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave them, uncovered, for 2 to 3 minutes (or until melted). Make sure you stir them every minute. I prefer to use a stove to do this step, but you can do whatever tickles you fancy.
4. Stir caster sugar into the melted butter and chocolate.
5. Stand for 5 minutes.
6. Add eggs, 1 at a time. Make sure you stir after you add each one.
7. Stir in the flour.
8. Fold through the white chocolate bits (or whatever type you decided to use) and the Caramel Top 'n' Fill.
9. Put the mixture into the tray you prepared earlier, and bake for approximately 40 minutes. The way you will know if they are cooked, is if you put a skewer into the centre and it comes out with crumbs hanging on to it.

And you're done! Now all you've got to do is let it cool and then cut them up! You can either cut them into neat little squares, or what I like to do is to use lots of fun shaped cookie cutters! A bonus with the cookie cutters is that there a lot of little leftover bits that are great to have a nibble on, haha.

Enjoy!! I hope you give these super yummy brownies a go! If you do, tweet me a photo of your creations at @UrbanNerd_ or tell me how you went in the comment box below!!

UrbanNerd.xo

Back To The Future..

Ten years ago people thought that  we would have hovering cars and floating dinner tables. They couldn't have been more wrong.

Yeah, now we have machines where you can just tap the screen and it plays music, and you can talk to people on the other side of the world with just the touch of a button, but not so many things have changed since then.

I can't actually imagine our lives being any more evolved, like, what's the next step up from an iPhone?!

Realistically thinking, I doubt we are going to have phone chips implanted into our brains and flying elevators.

But wouldn't it be cool if we did? One thing I have always wanted is a teleporting machine! It would be absolutely epic. 

I'm actually really curious of what the future will be like, what do you think? Do you think we will have flying cars and all things wonderful? Leave me a comment below or tweet me at @UrbanNerd_ and tell me what your ideal future is!!

UrbanNerd.xo

Appreciation.

Sometime today, whether you be at school, or if you're going out with friends, or even if you won't see your friends today, just find a way to talk to them. You should tell them that you areso lucky to have them, that you really love them and that you are so lucky that they are always there for you.


Because really, what's more important than your friends and family?


Sometimes your friends don't think that you appreciate them as much as you do, so it's really important to let them know.
Try to imagine a life without them, your friends and family, I sure can't.

UrbanNerd.xo

Question Time!

So, I thought for this post I'd do a bit of a Q&A! I have had a few questions asked by my lovely followers on twitter, plus I've made up some myself that I thought you might want to know!

Here we go..

-How old are you? I am 14 years old!
-When is your birthday? My birthday is on June the 5th, so it has already been this year.
-Where are you from? I'm from Australia, and live in the state Victoria!!
-Do you have any pets? Yeah, I have two cats, a dog, two hens and a fish!
-Why did you start this blog? Good question. I was talking with a friend that was thinking about starting up a blog, and I thought that it could be fun to share my ideas, opinions, and just all of my stories too!
-Do you have any brothers or sisters? I have one older brother.
-Who is your role model? Amandla Stenberg is definitely my role model. You can find a bit more about her here onecrazylittlethingcalledlife.blogspot.com.au/amandla-stenberg!

So they're just a few of the questions I have been asked lately, if you have any more, I would love if you tweeted them to me (@UrbanNerd_) or leave a comment below!!
Also, I'd love to get to know some of my loyal readers, so how about you answer some of these questions in the comment box below?

UrbanNerd.xo

A Compliment A Day..

You know those days when you're just feeling a bit down, and nothing seems to be completely going your way?
I'm sure we all have them.

Well, I have a little mission for you.
Everyday, I want you to give someone a compliment. It could be as simple as 'your hair looks nice today', or, 'I like the way you've done your make-up'. It can really be anything. Just try to give a different person a different compliment each day.

 It could make them feel so much better, and you know what? It will make you feel better too.

-UrbanNerd.xo

What A Lovely Surpirse! PART 2 - The Hunger Games.

When my Dad picked me up yesterday, I knew we were going to the post office, but I saw that he had two slips, not just one..

He told me that something had arrived at home for me too! Geez, I never get any mail, not even from the bank, but yesterday I got three things in one day! And they pretty good things, I must say.

So when Dad said that there was something at home for me and another thing at the post office, I knew what it was. Not too long ago, I won a competition on another blog (christinafarley.blogspot.com if you want to check it out), but I didn't know when it was going to arrive, so this was another great surprise.

Here is what I got..

A Hunger Games Lanyard! Perfect to put some keys on and show off to the world. Hehe.

The Hunger Games Official Movie Companion. This book is so good. It's like The Hunger Games DVD special features in book version, which I absolutely LOVE.
It delves deeper into the world in Panem, and has 159 pages of wonderful photos and information about the movie and where it all began.
I haven't yet finished reading through it, but I think it's just as hard to put down as The Hunger Games itself.

 And now for the pot of gold, drum roll please!..

Katniss' character poster! This would probably be the most exciting bit in my opinion. I absolutely love all of the character posters and I think they're all so gorgeous, especially Katniss' and Rue's.

I was super duper surprised at the size of this thing! It's actually really big, and it's double sided! I seriously love it and I'm so thankful.

I've got it sitting on our full sized table tennis table, and also, in the picture below, I've sat my Hunger Games book next to it to show you how big it really is!!

Thanks Christina for all of these amazing prizes, and make sure all of you check out her blog! christinafarley.blogspot.com.au.

UrbanNerd.xo

What A Lovely Surprise! PART 1 - Sportsgirl Fan Of The Month!

So, the other day, we got a slip in the mailbox saying that I had something at the post office that I needed to pick up! This was quite exciting in itself, I never get any mail!

So yesterday, after school, Dad and I headed down there and I got such a lovely surprise when I saw that it was a little parcel from Sportsgirl!! I knew that something from them would be coming soon, because I was fortunate enough to win Sportsgirl Fan Of The Month, but I also knew that something else was coming and I thought it was going to be that. You see, I only found out that I won their Fan Of The Month a few days ago, so I'd like to thanks Sportsgirl very much for the amazingly quick delivery!!

When I got home I ran excitedly into my room and started to excitedly open and unpack my little gift. Inside of the postage packaging was this super cute little bag that contained all of the goodies.

So I got a few little bits and pieces. There's a cute little Sportsgirl heart USB, which will be really handy for school next year. The was also a nail file, note pad, bag tag, iPhone cover, and some sunglasses. These sunnies are super cool and trendy. The frame is actually clear and the lenses are tinted blue, I really love them.

Now for the good stuff! Forgive me, I don't have the best camera, so the photo's aren't of the greatest quality, but if you want a better look at some of these items, check out Sportsgirl's website at www.sportsgirl.com.au

In my little pack there were two different types of eyeliner. Now, I don't really wear much make up at all, but I tried some of this stuff out last night, and I really like it.

So, the bottom eyeliner, To The Point, is a liquid eyeliner and it's probably my favourite. It has quite a thin tip so it makes application really easy. You can buy this from Sportsgirl for $9.95.

The top one is Draw The Line eyeliner. This one has a thicker tip and I just discovered that at the end it has a 'smudger' and a sharpener. I'll have to try and figure out how to use them, haha. The Draw The Line eyeliner is water resistant and sells also for $9.95.

Yeah, the photo below is pretty blurry, but it just shows you the different thicknesses of the two eyeliners.

The next thing is this yummy smelling body exfoliating scrub.

I actually bought this for my bestfriend for Christmas last year because I really liked it, so it was nice to get this in my pack. It's obviously gritty, but not so much that it hurts when you use it. It smells really good, a bit like musk or something, you can buy Scrub Up exfoliating scrub for $9.95.

Then there's this gorgeous Pout About It lipstick. I received the colour Fruit Tingle. It applies really easy and it's such a nice colour. It's a bit more pinky than in this picture but it is still a coral colour. I just read on the Sportsgirl website that this 'moisturises and protects' so that's a bit of a bonus. This one also retails for $9.95.

Next is this Give Some Lip lip gloss in Summer Holiday. It's a bit of a watermelon sort of colour and it smells like vanilla, yum. I was just testing a few of my things out and discovered that this gloss actually looks really nice on top of the Fruit Tingle lipstick. This sells for $8.95.

So that's what my wonderful Fan Of The Month goodie bag contained, thanks so much Sportsgirl!!

Check Sportsgirl out on twitter; @Sportsgirl.

-UrbanNerd.xo

Take Some Time To Smell The Roses

I know I have had a lot of adults tell me to 'take some time to smell the roses', and I have always just replied with a sarcastic 'yeah sure'. 

But today I discovered that this was completely true.

I was at my Grandpa's house, and I was sitting on the couch near the fireplace. The flames were flickering inside of the glass door and there I was, just staring. I think I was just in that sort of trance where you are deep in your thoughts, and when you suddenly come out you realise that you look kind of dead, not moving a single muscle, not blinking. So when I finally did arise from this hypnosis, I instantly saw the fire, and it was captivating. The way the flames were moving, how they were vanishing just as quickly as they were appearing, it was really fascinating. I was intrigued.

Then, when we were driving home, there was the most beautiful rainbow that I have ever, ever seen. It was so bright and vibrant, and it instantly brought a smile to my face. The colours in it were so magnificent, the thirty or so picture I took of it did not at all do it justice. For the whole trip home I didn't once take my eyes off of it.

When we finally did get home, I realised that all of these natural wonders were just amazing. I don't know why it took me this long to see that, sometimes, you really do need to take some time out to smell the roses.

UrbanNerd.xo

Try 27 Dresses On For Size..

Today I thought I would do a little review of my favourite move. Enjoy!

This review will discuss the wonderful film, 27 Dresses, directed by Anne Fletcher. This movie stars Katherine Heigle, as the main character, Jane Nichols, Malin Akerman as Tess Nichols, Edward Burns as George, and the high-spirited James Marsden as Kevin Doyle.

This film takes a funny look at a woman that is always a bridesmaid, and never the bride. There are a lot of twists and turns along the way that will keep you hooked until the very end.

Jane is a woman who loves weddings. She has been a bridesmaid twenty seven times, and she struggles to say no. At her latest wedding attendance, she meets Kevin Doyle, who is determined to meet her again.

When Jane’s sister, Tess, comes home from overseas, she goes to a work party with Jane and meets her dreamy boss, George. They instantly feel a connection, but the thing is, Jane is secretly in love with George.

With a shock proposal, near fatal car crash and a string of lies, will Jane make it down the aisle with her dream guy, or will she always just be a bridesmaid?

Jane has worked for George for many years, and in that time, she has fallen madly in love with him. She has never worked up the courage to tell him how she feels. Jane’s feelings are intensified and even more complicated when Tess comes home and falls for George, too.

Kevin Doyle is a writer for the local paper and he writes a weekly column about weddings. This, of course, is Jane’s favourite part of the paper. Jane and Kevin have a chance meeting at a wedding Jane is being a part of, and Jane instantly dislikes him. With Kevin’s determination to meet Jane again, could this develop in to something more, or will Kevin stay just as the person who writes the columns?

Tess Nichols is one character that I loved to hate in this movie. She was self-centred, and she didn’t care what lies she told, or who she hurt, as long as she got what she wanted. One of the worst things she did in the movie was to her mother’s wedding dress. Jane always wanted to have a wedding just like her mother’s and father’s, especially now that her mother had passed away. But when Tess is given her mother’s wedding dress, she takes it to a bridal shop to get it cut up, basically, and bits and pieces of it got put into a new dress. I thought this was an outrage, as it was such a sentimental piece to not only Jane, but her whole family.

The main idea that this movie is trying to convey is that you should be honest with the people that you care about, instead of trying to be someone that you’re not. It also points out that you should always have some time for yourself, if you can make yourself happy, you can make other people happy too.

This film is a ‘RomCom’. It takes a funny and quirky look at someone whose romantic life doesn’t always work out for her.

One of the highlights of the films was when Jane tried on all twenty seven of her bridesmaid dresses. The costumes were really well made, and they varied a lot in style. She had a cowgirl themed dress, a Hollywood themed, an underwater outfit, and many more. It was really funny and enjoyable seeing all the weird types of weddings people had.

Overall, I would rate this movie three and a half out of five stars, and I would definitely recommend it for someone who wants a bit of a giggle.

UrbanNerd.xo