Sugar Sugar

Hello! 


I haven't posted in a long time as I have been REALLY busy with assignments and school work. Now I am counting down to our Spring holidays - only one week to go!


This weekend my family and I went to the city to do some shopping. We got a little sidetracked and decided to go and have an ice-cream! Naturally, I had to photograph the moment as it was perfect for the latest Kids Click theme, 'Delicious'.

A Delicious Ice-Cream

Image taken by me, Maddy, aged 13.

Thank you for having me, Simoney!

Big Al certainly enjoyed his ice-cream, which was caramel flavoured. I loved mine too, which was chocolate and caramel.

All this sugar eating got me inspired to post a song about sugary sweets, and the song Sugar Sugar by The Archies was the perfect choice. I originally didn't know of a song about sugar or ice-cream, so my Mum suggested this song. Upon playing it, I recognised it from the Bee Movie.

The Archies are virtual garage band formed by Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones, a group of fictional characters from the animated TV series, The Archie Show. Ron Dante, Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge performed the vocals for the characters.

Sugar Sugar was the 'group's' most successful song, becoming one of the biggest hits of the bubblegum pop genre of 1968 to 1972. It reached number one on the pop charts in 1969, sold over six million copies and was awarded a gold disc. It was ranked in Billboard's Hot 100 as the number one song of 1969, the only time a fictional band has ever claimed this spot. I can see why the song was so popular, because the beat and words are very catchy.

I hope you like Sugar Sugar as much as I do, and that all the adults out there enjoy reminiscing about the days of The Archies as much as my mum did...





Linking with my Mum's Sunday Song linky party.

Thank you for having me, Mum!

Well, thank you for visiting my blog! Please come back soon! 

I hope your day is sweet,

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Hello! Thank you for visiting my blog!


As you may have read in some of my other posts, I have been snowed under with assignments. At one point, I had eleven due in the same week! I thought this was rather silly, so I took a photo of all my homework and assignments to share for the latest Kids Click theme 'Silly'.

A Silly Amount of Schoolwork

Image taken by me, Maddy, aged 13.

Thank you for having me, Simoney!

I had Science, English, Chinese, German, Christian Education (CE), Music, Health and Physical Education (HPE) and Art homework and assessment, and cello and piano practice. That's a LOT, don't you think!? At least I had a 350g block of Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate to get me through my assessment!

Well, this hectic assessment period is basically over for a while (thankfully!) and I am in a very good mood. In fact, I am in a somewhat silly mood! And what better way to celebrate a silly mood than a silly song!


Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is the world-famous song from the Disney musical film Mary Poppins. 

The song was written by the Sherman Brothers and sung by Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. According to Richard Sherman, co-writer of the song with his brother, Robert, the word 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' was created by them in two weeks, mostly out of double-talk. The roots of the word have been defined as: super- 'above', cali- 'beauty', fragilistic- 'delicate', expiali- 'to atone', and docious- 'educable', roughly equaling 'atoning for educability through delicate beauty'. It has been defined more simply in the movie, with 'something to say when you have nothing to say'. 


I hope you enjoy this super-silly classic!





Participating in my Mum's Sunday Song linky party.

Thank you for having me, Mum!

Well, I am off to relax after my stressful assessment period. I hope you have a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious day!


I hope your day is sweet,

Another Sunday Song

Hello! I am sorry I haven't posted in a while - I have been very busy with school work and assignments.

As you may already know, I play the cello and I love classical music. The string ensemble I belong to at school has recently started rehearsing an amazing piece by Karl Jenkins called Palladio. Both Mum and I love Karl Jenkins and Mum has even done a Sunday Song with his song Adiemus.

Karl Jenkins is a Welsh musician and composer, born and raised in Gower village of Penclawdd in Wales. He was giving initial music lessons by his father, who was a local schoolteacher, organist and choirmaster, and began his music career as an oboist in the National Youth Orchestra of Wales. He later studied music at University College, Cardiff, and went on to post-graduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with Alun Hoddinott and met his wife and musical collaborator Carol Barratt.

Jenkins has gone on to compose multiple songs, the most popular being Adiemus. My favourite, though, would have to be Palladio. I just love this piece, especially the cello accompaniment... listen out for it in the background! I have put in a clip of the original version and also one played by one of my favourite string groups Bond.

This is the original version of Palladio. I absolutely love the image used in this clip - it goes perfectly with the song!



This is Bond's version of Palladio, only it is called Allegretto.



I would love to know which version you like best. I would have to say I like the original version, but the Bond one is fantastic as well.

Linking with Sunday Song.

Thank you for having me, Mum!

Well, I am off to do some more homework. Thank you for visiting my blog!

I hope your day is sweet,

Thinking of the Holidays

Hello! Thank you for visiting my blog!


Just a quick post today. Lately I've been thinking about all the lovely holidays I have been on with my family, so I went looking at all the photos we have of these great trips. One of my favourite holidays was when we went Europe for the Christmas holidays a couple of years ago. One of the places we visited was Paris and, naturally, we went to the Eiffel Tower. Although we didn't venture to the top, we had a great time looking up at the giant tower from the ground and taking photos. You can tell how cold we were, despite the beautiful blue sky!

On Holiday in Paris  

Image taken by me, Maddy, aged 13.

Linking with the latest Kids Click them 'On Holiday'.

Thank you for having me, Simoney!

I also thought I'd share a Sunday Song with you, and when I came across this song by Madeleine Peyroux called J'ai Deux Amours I thought it would go perfectly with my picture of the Eiffel Tower. I hope you enjoy it!



Linking with my Mum's Sunday Song linky party.

Thank you for having me, Mum!

Well, I am off to do some more school work and get ready for school. Please come back soon!


I hope your day is sweet,

A Sunday Song from The Karate Kid

Hello and welcome to my blog!


It's the last day of the holidays today. We have done so many fun and exciting things over the last three weeks. Most recently we went to see The Karate Kid starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. 

It was a fantastic movie, about a boy named Dre Parker, played by Jaden Smith, and his mother who move from Detroit to China. Dre is bullied by a tough and nasty group of kids, and the janitor, Mr Han, who is played by Jackie Chan, teaches Dre kung fu in order to restore peace through a kung fu competition. If Dre wins, the boys promise that they will leave him alone. Along the way, Dre befriends a Chinese girl named Mei Ying, played by Wenwen Han, who is an amazing violinist and also Dre's crush. Throughout the movie, Mei is rehearsing for an audition and the piece she is playing is absolutely beautiful. I went home that night and discovered that it is called Nocturne in C-Sharp Minor. I then found a clip of Joshua Bell playing this beautiful piece and thought I'd share it with you for my Mum's Sunday Song linky party.

Joshua Bell is an American classical violinist, born and raised in Indiana. At four years old Bell began violin lessons after his mother discovered that he had stretched rubber bands across the handles of his dresser draw to pluck out music he had heard his mother play on the piano. He took to the instrument and at fourteen Bell appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti. He studied the violin at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and received an Artist Diploma in Violin Performance. He has been named an “Indiana Living Legend” and received the Indiana Governor’s Arts Award.

Bell has now performed with almost all of the world's major orchestras and conductors and performed the solo part on John Corigliano's soundtrack for the film The Red Violin. He was also featured in Ladies in Lavender and made an appearance in a movie about the power of music, Music of the Heart, with other notable violinists. I hope you enjoy Joshua Bell playing this song as much as I do!




Well, I had better get ready for school tomorrow. I hope you get a chance to see The Karate Kid - make sure you listen out for this song if you do!


I hope your day is sweet,

A Sweet Sunday Song

Hello and welcome to my blog!


Recently we went to the movies to see the latest Shrek movie, Shrek Forever After (you can read a review at my brother's blog) and, as always, we had to sit through an endless amount of advertisements. I was patiently waiting for the movie to start when a promotional add for Channel 7 came on. I immediately perked up when I heard the beautiful song used on the add. I later found out it is called Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap.


The Temper Trap is an alternative rock band from Melbourne, Australia, formed in 2005 and made up of Dougy Mandagi, Jonathon Aherne, Lorenzo Sillitto and Toby Dundas.

  
The group's debut album, Conditions, was released in Australia in June of 2009 and was ninth on the Australian ARIA Charts. From that album, multiple songs have been featured on television, movies and movie trailers. Sweet Disposition was featured in multiple shows and movies, including (500) days of Summer, Greek and Skins.

I absolutely love Sweet Disposition because it is inspirational and motivational and is generally a sweet song. I thought I'd share it with you so you could enjoy it as well, but also because it is called 'sweet disposition' and this title goes perfectly with my blog title! I hope you find it as sweet as I do!



Linking with Sunday Song at 5 Minutes Just for Me.

Thank you for having me, Mum!

Well, thank you for visiting my blog! Please come back soon!


I hope your day is sweet,

My First Blogging Award

I got tagged! Michelle from Heart Search awarded me with the Pure in Heart award! Thank you so much Michelle!

The Rules: 

1. Post about the tag
2. Pick 10 bloggers who deserve this award
3. Leave a comment on the blogs of the people you tagged letting them know they were awarded
4. Answer the questions along with your post.

1: Apples, Oranges or Bananas?
Oranges!


2: How many siblings do you have? 
I have a brother, Big Al from Big Al's Books, Games and More.

3: How old are you?
13

4: Do you live on/in a prairie, woodland, swamp, city or other?
I live in a suburb.

5: Scissors or glue?
Glue

6: Describe your dream house.
A big house on a massive block of land. Everything would be extremely organised and the furniture will be French Provincial.

7: Is your room clean?
Always - everything has to be organised and neat. If it's not, I will have to make it exactly how I want it. You could say I am a bit of a perfectionist...

8: If you could be a movie character for a day, who would you be?
Princess Mia from the Princess Diaries movies.

9: Italy, Greece, France, Spain or England?
Greece - I think the country is absolutely beautiful.

10: Do you sleep with a stuffed toy (BE HONEST!!!!)
Yes, I sleep with a stuffed toy pug dog (and I am not ashamed of it).

11: Gum, chocolate, or jelly beans?
Chocolate, of course!

12: What is your favorite book?
I really like all the books of the CHERUB Series by Robert Muchamore.

13: Favorite ice cream flavour?
I like all ice-cream, but I would have to say chocolate chip cookie dough.

14: If you had to eat one type of food for two weeks, what would that food be?
My favourite Asian salad.

15: What is your favorite Olympic sport?
My favourite Olympic sport would have to be gymnastics.

16: If you woke up and discovered that you had turned into Miley Cyrus for the day, what would you do? (note: I'm not a fan)
I would formerly apologize for all my mistakes, take singing and acting lessons, and put on some clothes!

17: Describe yourself in three words.
Opinionated, perfectionist and musical.

18: What chore do you hate?
I hate it when I have to stack the dishwasher.

19: If Elmo came into your room with a gun, what would you do?
I didn't know Elmo had a gun!


I am new to the blogging world so don't know many bloggers, but I would like to award the following -

• Big Al from Big Al's Books, Games and More
• The Three Sisters from 3 Sisters, 365
• Natasha from 5 Minutes Just for Me
• Sir and Miss from Jazz and Popsicles
• Johanna from An Old-Fashioned Girl
• Tati from Polka Dot Pantry Sweets
• Simoney from Kids Click
• Alexandra from Visually Alex
• Melody from A Rose in God's Garden Photography
• The ladies of Mod Style Lounge

Since I have just answered all these questions about me, I thought I would share a photo of myself and link up to the latest Kids Click competition theme, 'This is Me', and also iheartfaces, a weekly photo challenge.

Thank you for having me, Simoney!

Thank you for having me!

We went to a local picnic spot on the Brisbane River and the weather was beautiful and perfect for taking photos. I love the reflection in my sunglasses!

This is Me!

Image taken by me, Maddy, aged 13.

I also thought I'd share one of my favourite songs with you - Viva la Vida by Coldplay - and link up to my Mum's Sunday Song party. 

Thank you for having me, Mum!

Coldplay is an English alternative rock band that was formed in London in 1997. The group consists of Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion.

Viva la Vida is Spanish for 'Live the Life' and the lyrics to the song contain many historical and religious references. The song has inspired a great deal of debate about its meaning and people have claimed that the song may be about various subjects, such as the French Revolution. No matter what its  meaning, Viva la Vida is an inspirational song and it contributes significantly to my love of music. Let me know what you think of it! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!





Well, thanks for visiting! It is school holidays know (YAY!!!) so I can post a bit more often, so please come back soon!


I hope your day is sweet,

My Bond to Music

Hello and welcome to my blog!


It is a long weekend here in Brisbane so that means I can really relax - no school on Monday!


As you may or may not know, I love music. I play the cello and piano and I also sing in my school's choir. I am also in a string ensemble at my school. In about two years the top music groups at my school will be going on an overseas tour, but they haven't told us where yet. I am already excited - I hope I get to go!

I love listening to orchestras and I especially love listening to Four Seasons by Vivaldi. But one of my favourite string groups is Bond. This contemporary group is made up of Tania Davis, Eos Chater, Elspeth Hanson and Gay-Yee Westerhoff.

Bond was formed following a conversation between music producer Mike Batt and promoter Mel Bush, after Batt suggested to Bush that they should put together a string quartet consisting of "four beautiful, talented musicians". Bush pushed ahead with the idea some time later, recruiting producer Gareth Cousins to help choose the line up and define the band's sound. Eventually, Bond was formed and the group has now sold over four million records and been described as the best selling string quartet of all time. Explosive: The Best of Bond is the group's latest album.

Bond is best known for their electric playing style and their modern twist on classical music. I absolutely love all of Bond's songs, but one of my favourites would have to be Explosive, which I will share with you today as my entry in my Mum's (Natasha from 5 Minutes Just for Me) blogging party, Sunday Song.

I hope you like this song to. Let me know what you think! 





Well, thank you for visiting my blog! By the way, I finished The General! It was fantastic and I highly recommend it! 


I hope your day is sweet,

My First EVER Post!

Hello!

Welcome to my blog, Maddy's Sweet Life! I plan to share with you all things that make me happy - the things that make my life sweet. I will post photos I have taken, share some recipes I have tried and love, participate in a few blogging parties and discuss some of my favourite books and songs.

To get me started I am going to participate in my Mum's (Natasha from 5 Minutes Just for Me) Sunday Song blogging party.

The song I would like to share with you today is called Building a Family by the talented composer Mark Isham. I first heard this piece whilst watching the movie No Reservations starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart and Abigail Breslin.

The movie is an adaptation of an original script by Sandra Nettelbeck, which served as the basis for the 2001 German film Mostly Martha.

Mum said that the music is also in the movie Life as a House starring Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Hayden Christensen and Mary Steenburgen. I haven't seen this movie because I am not allowed to watch anything rated M15+ (R in America), but Mum tells me that it is very thought-provoking.


I hope you like this song too! Let me know what you think!



Thank you for reading my first ever blog post! I hope you enjoyed it!

I hope you day is sweet,
Maddy