Mid Year Non Beauty Favourites

Welcome back to my Mid Year Favourites Round Up. On Monday I shared with you my Mid Year Beauty Favourites and today I'm back with my five favourite Non Beauty Favourites of the year so far.

I feel like I need to write about this first non beauty favourite all in capitals. My favourite thing of the year so far has to be the night me and Jasmin spent stood in the O2 singing our hearts out to Shawn Mendes. Jasmin so kindly surprised me with tickets back in January and in April we sang like our lives depended on it. I hadn't been to a concert in a good five years and whilst I was initially nervous to be surronded by so many people but as soon as Alessia Cara and Shawn Mendes came on, I lost all my inhibitions and let my inner teenage self out. I want to say nothing will top that night but I'm finally, finally seeing Carrie Underwood on the 4th July and to say I'm ridiculously excited is an understatment. Having waited ten years to see her live, I think it's safe to say it's going to be just as good if not better than that night at the O2.

Oh how long I'd been waiting to see this film. I was already a huge fan of Taron Egerton from the Kingsman's franchise but after watching Rocketman I'm a even bigger fan. Taron Egerton absolutely smashed it as Elton John, capturing every little eccentric flair of Elton's perfectly as well as portraying his rise to stardom, coming to terms with his sexuality and then his slight downfall due to addiction smashingly. And don't even get me started on the soundtrack. I knew Taron Egerton could sing but damn that man can sing. To this day I still like to belt out the soundtrack to help me get through life's most mundane tasks. Bennie And The Jets, Pinball Wizzard, Take Me To The Border, Rocketman and Tiny Dancer are sung so beautifully by Taron. If you haven't already seen the movie or listened to the soundtrack, I highly recommend checking them out. You won't be disappointed.

When it comes to Ariana Grande's music I find it to be very hit and miss and that's all due to my personal taste but when I heard Thank U, Next in it's entirety for the first time I was hooked. I can't say I have a favourite song but I do have several that I can listen to a million times a day without getting bored. I was going to list them but I can't because as I try, I remember another that I love and essentially I'd end up giving you the whole track list. I'm dying to see her live in October but I have a feeling that it's not going to happen and I'm really sad about that.

I couldn't do a Mid Year Favourites and not mention the record breaking film that was Avengers Endgame. Well I easily could as I spent three hours alternating between sobbing my heart out, cursing the Russo Brothers, gasping in shock or laughing my ass off. There was a reason that Endgame was the Number One movie in the world. It ended this particular phase of the MCU beautifully. Set up the many of new phases well and gave us all a chance to have a movie with many a memorable moment with all of our favourite characters. I'd love to go and watch the rerelease that's coming up but I don't think I can go through all that heartbreak for a deleted scene and a post credit scene. Thank god for the internet.

I feel like this last one's a cheat but they go hand in hand and I couldn't talk about one without the other. Cinemax's Strike Back reboot came back for a second season and it was the best season of Strike Back I've ever seen. It was obvious that the whole cast and crew put so much effort and work into making it the best season yet. And alongside Strike Back, two amazing women called Kelsey and Debs started the Sit Rep Podcast. Packed with an amazing breakdown of the episodes, hilarious behind the scenes facts and cracking interviews with the cast and crew, Sit Rep became the need to listen companion to Strike Back Silent War. And another amazing thing that happened in conjunction with Strike Back and Sit Rep was that I was asked to be a guest on the season wrap up episode of Sit Rep. I was nervous as hell but it went so well and I'm so proud of myself for taking a step out of my comfort zone. All the episodes of Sit Rep are available on Apple Podcasts so if you're a new fan of Strike Back and want to learn more about the show, I'd highly recommend giving them a listen.