Whoopey!!

It is officially 2012 and for some reason I am supposed to take this opportunity to make daft promises to myself which will make me a better person! Whoever said 'new year, new you' is a dickhead. I'd say that if you are that intent on changing something about yourself, you'll do it as soon as the idea comes to you..

If you suddenly decide in the middle of September that you are gonna lose some weight and lead a healthier lifestyle and are truly serious about it, then you'll start right there in September. You won't put it off until January 1st because it says somewhere that the next year in your life should be different. I don't know what magic is supposed to be behind January 1st, but I'll let you know now that there isn't any. Some advertising student made it up so that the sales of exercise videos and equipment, as well as gym membership would sky rocket.  In fact, it's been shown that most people break their NY resolution within 10 days of the new year.

So, besides that little rant, I wanted to make this post about Christmas. It came and went without and major issues and even the minor ones were incredibly minor. I think because this was my first time being away from home for so long, coming home for Christmas seemed like a present in itself (that's quite deeep) ((so deep infact, that it has three e's)). I was so happy to be home, as any of you who had read my last 8(?) posts would know that I was more than happy to do anything and everything that was asked of me. This coupled with the fact that my mum had just had some awesomely robotic surgery made me a daughter from heaven :)

Christmas morning dawned and the mature adult in me woke up at a reasonable time - 8:45 and instead of opening all my presents, I sat in an armchair and read a book until everyone else woke up. I thought that since I hadn't asked for any present and therefore everything that was below the tree was a surprise, I would wait until the lady who bought them awoke so she could experience the sheer joy of watching me opening them. 

When mum finally feel out of bed and came to open presents the fun began. I honestly love watching people opening their gifts rather than getting my own as I like to know that what the were given is something that they really like. You CAN tell whether or not someone is faking a look of happiness and when they do I try to be discreet and not mention it. Considering that I'm on a student budget I think I did well with my Christmas shopping for the family this year. Or as we say in Enfield - the fam. Brother's 1 & 2 received - zilch, but they will get something nice for their birthdays. Sister got a Westlife calender and a DVD of some sad old movie about a doggie. Mother got tickets to see one of her favourite comedians, an apron with Wonder Woman on it and the obligatory set of books. Father got desperately needed clothes and some books. I did not, however, do so well on the boyfriend front. One angry birds t shirt which included little thought and a Lion King DVD which he already knew about. He will however also be getting something awesomer for his birthday than the drivel which girlfriend gave him for our 2nd Christmas together. 

So, here is Christmas - 

When Santa Got Stuck Up The Chimeny

I had my first tutor meeting with my year tutor today. She also happens to teach me 2 out of my 4 modules. I was expecting her to just go over our January assignment with me and ask me if I was having any problems but no, it was a bit more intense than that.

She had planned to go through every little detail of the past 4 months of my student life. She started with my mid term assessment, which she reminded me, doesn't actually count towards any of my final marks. It was just a little bit of stressful fun to see how well I was grasping the course. Apparently I grasp the course at a B grade level which I wasn't too disappointed with considering I really had no idea what I was talking about when I wrote it. She then killed my happy little mood by telling me that if this piece was being considered as a formal assessment I would have failed because there were no references in it. To cut a long story short, I don't see how/why you would reference something if you didn't go on to use any of the information that you read in your essay. 

After that she pointed out that I'd missed 10 classes. Not 10 of her classes, but 10 altogether out of the whole term. Which, I know isn't wonderful but it isn't terrible either. HOWEVER! I was then told that I had one of the worst attendances in the whole class, which just can't be true. Especially considering that there are a number of girls in my class who we all forgot about because we hadn't seen them since the induction week. When the do randomly turn up there is that moment of confusion when you wonder who the bloody hell is sitting at your table talking to every one. I pointed this out and the tutor had to check the register just to see if there were girls in the class like that. (I say girls because there is only one guy in out class and I love him so I'll probably mention him by name ) Made me sad :(

BUT I go home tomorrow so that makes me incredibly hap hap happy :) I'm also surprised that I managed to pack in such a short space of time :) - 49 minutes for your information! I'm not looking forward to the incredibly early start I have to get to the airport and I'm a little nervous about getting to the airport and seeing how much my luggage weighs. So if anyone is at Stansted tomorrow and see's the marshmallow man wandering around - it's just me :P

It's cold outside...

Frosty the Snowman

I am in a brilliant mood today.

I came home to find 2 lovely little letters on my kitchen table. The first was a Christmas card from J. Day @ The Ramblings of Charlie Brown wishing me a lovely holidays and welcoming me to the postcard campaign. The second was the actual post card from Julie over @ According to Jewels. Both the card and the postcard were lovely and both are now pinned on my notice board.  I'm not sure if they arrived quickly or not, the post mark says 05/12/11 so it took just little over a week to get here from Philadelphia and Redding CA. I was so pleased to receive them, I love getting hand written messages rather than an email and when it comes from a total stranger, well that's a bonus :) 

On another note that is closer to home - I'll be home in 4 days :) and I can't wait. I spoke to my mum this morning and it's made me even more excited to get home. Being home will mean proper food that isn't pasta( not that there is anything wrong with pasta, but there are only so many ways you can eat it), a nice warm fire, hugging mum, lots of present to wrap, hugging/annoying Emma/Sammy, seeing the doggies and the new one, hugging daddy and food that isn't microwaved. Not that I microwaved a lot of food (mainly because my dished don't fit in the microwave we have), but because you can't beat a proper home cooked dinner. 

So, 12 sleeps til Christmas and I still haven't finished my shopping, I still need something for my dad, something substantial for my brother - joke toilet paper just doesn't cut it - and somehow, get something for Tom Tom and perhaps a little something more for Boyfriend. Jeese, if Christmas is this stressful now, how bad is it gonna be when I have kiddies? Although, it will get all it's magic back when I have kiddies, all that Santa malarky and what not. 

CHRISTMAS!! CHRISTMAS!! CHRISTMAS!!  CHRISTMAS!! CHRISTMAS!! CHRISTMAS!! CHRISTMAS!! CHRISTMAS!! CHRISTMAS!! CHRISTMAS!! CHRISTMAS!!  CHRISTMAS!!      CHRISTMAS!!      CHRISTMAS!!     CHRISTMAS!!

Amazing art?

GIMME NOW!!

Bye Bye!
Drives me nuts!


That's all you lot are getting for now. Enjoy!!

Do They Know It's Christmas?

Do they? DO THEY??? Hmmm??

Of course they bloody do. Okay, I dunno what that was all about but it came into my head and made me sing a little. I've made 2 good friends on my course and we decided that we'd go for some xmas drinks on Monday night seeing as we won't see each other before I leave for home on the 17th. It was awesome.

We went to Nando's which everyone around here keeps ranting and raving about, but it's just  nice chicken joint. So if you like chicken, go to Nando's :) I had a nice spicy fillet burger and some chips with pita and red pepper dip to start. Was so good, but as usually I spilt some down my hoodie. Go me! We then went to an O'Neills for a few and then moved on to Wetherspoons for some more. Needless to say we spent the entire time laughing about the silliest things ever. They spend their lives making fun of my accent and I spend my time making fun of them in return. No need to guess who I'm moving in with next year, hopefully. 

After my little nocturnal stint I finally made myself go back into class at a normal hour and find out that the 3 weeks of classes I was hoping for are actually finished. Turns out that since we've finished all of the teaching weeks that they had planned they're letting us leave a little early. Which would've been great if we didn't have 2 days left at our placement, if they's moved these 2 days I could've gone home earlier than I am. 

My schedule from now until I go home looks a little like this, 

1. Placement tomorrow
2. Shopping in the evening with Boyfriend
3. Friday -tutorial and  rugby social dinner (I am +1)
4. Cinema or something nice and cheery in the evening with Boyfriend.
5. Thursday 15th - placement again
6. Friday - final tutorial

I'm really looking forward to getting home, I should have a boat load of presents to wrap when I get there which makes me very excited! I think I'll have all of the ones that I've bought plus any that mum's bought for other people and if sister and other brother can't be arsed to do their's I get them too :) Happy happy times 

Twinkly

Santa Claus is coming to town!!

Technically, it's the 6th of December which means that I have missed 2 days of the month. :( Although! It's not because I didn't want too, simply because I couldn't find the time to do it. The 4th was a Sunday and I was visiting some family of Boyfriend's and it was a loooong day. want the short version?

Supposed to meet Boyfriend at train station at 10:51

Boyfriend was not there

Walked to house to meet boyfriend anyway

Knocked on door - no answer

Spare room curtains closed

Car gone from driveway - Conclusion - Boyfriend asleep!

Waited outside in the sweet December chill for over 2 hours until Boyfriend's family came back from shopping.

Woke boyfriend up and had fun picking on him for the rest of the day. 

Result of boyfriend feeling bad for leaving me outside alone in the cold. A Happy Feet 2 toy :).

So that's my excuse for not blogging on Sunday. My excuse for Monday isn't anywhere as good - I just couldn't find the time for it. Mainly because  went to uni, finished at 1, came home and slept until 6. Woke up just as Boyfriend was leaving for rugby training, watched an Austrailian movie about John Bunting and then had dinner, at 10:30 :P

 I don' think I'm being nocturnal again, probably the anaemia kicking in again. When we got back from Boyfriend's families I slept from 10 pm unitl 3am, woke up long enough to have a wee conversation that went like this,

'So, what's a bum bear?'

'A what now'

'You were talking to me about bum bears earlier then just ignored me'

'I don't remember, I was asleep'

'But you said it like you were awake'

'That's why it's called sleep talking, so what exactly did I say?'

'You just came out with 'bum bears' and I asked 'what's a bum bear' and you went 'what?' and then you said 'no, nice bears.' 

'Oh, I dunno what a bum bear is. Sounds fun though.'

I've informed boyfriend that when I talk in my sleep it's always fun to talk back because it usually starts a conversation that I have no recollection of in the morning which makes the whole situation even funnier for him. I've warned him to watch me in case I start sleep walking again. 

So, I'll give you 3 links today. One for the 4th, 5th and 6th, obviously.

1 - Number 1

2 - Letter 2

3 - Flippity flippity flop

Elf and Safety

4th post in a row, I'm getting pretty good at this :) 

I made the mistake of having some coke (the drink) before I wanted to go to bed, which was a terrible idea as I couldn't actually get to sleep. So I watched some TV in the hopes that it would make me tired and that I'd finally fall asleep. No chance apparently. I'm, trying to connect this post to Christmas in some way, but after watching Insidious I can think of nothing more than terrifying demon things. Which aren't Christmassy at all. :(

The only reason I mentioned the movie is because it actually scared the living wits out of me. (all the dead ones are still there) It'd a very rare occasion when a horror movie actually makes me jump when I'm supposed to. Usually I jump when a cereal box gets knocked over, not when you see the killer standing below the bedroom window and then disappearing. The movie finished quite a while ago, but it has shaken me and my teddies just aren't big enough to protect me this time. I'm supposed to be getting up in a few hours to go visit some people and I don't see me getting to sleep, so I might just stay awake and get some more coke when I wake up.

I figured out to make it Christmassy.... What are you'r favourite movies to watch at Christmas? Do you have any traditions? I like watching ELF, but I guess most people do, it's just so damn funny. And of course, The Nightmare Before Christmas has to be watched. I know that every year when the TV listings come out, I sit down with a pen and mark every movie that I'd like to watch. It usually ends up being aroun 30 of them and most of them are on at the same time, then I have to consult with the rest of the family to see who else wants to watch the same movie, or who else has a movie on at the same time as one that I want to see. Then there's the rush to see who could watch a movie in their bedroom instead of in the living room and do we have an aerial for the TV that works? Where can we set it so you can get the best picture? ITS MADNESS!! 

And do we watch the Queen's speech or not? I don't think we do. I think my mother watched it. I know I've never watched it. What does she even say? I like the Queen though, I think she'd be an awesome little granny to have. I always want to know what she keeps in her handbag? Does she have normal Granny stuff, like old tissues that she licks so she can wipe your face? And a boiled sweet or two floating about in there so she can clack them against her teeth? Or does she have a tazer to protect herself. I'd also like to know what the Pope keeps in his hat. I reckon it's a bottle of whiskey with a straw coming out of it so he can have a wee sip every now and then :P

Linky link - It's so prickly

Deck The Halls!

I saw a post by Mynx about her Christmas tree and it made me start thinking about decorations. I quite liked her post about her decorations and how she has special ones and how she buys new ones, it's a nice little tradition to have.

So, I was wondering, when IS a good time to put up the decorations? I know in our house, my mum likes to wait as long as she can before she puts them up and she likes to take them down as soon after New Years as she can. I love putting up the decorations, well, I like doing the tree. I'm not too sure about all the other stuff. I do like the odd singing Santa around the place. And of course, I love my little mini tree in my bedroom. 

I like keeping my tree simple. I'm not a fan of tinsel unless it's all the same colour. When we were kids we used to throw whatever came out of the box onto the tree and it usually looked like a group of drunken elves had thrown up on it after the Xmas party was done. Last year however! Thomas and I got to do the tree and it looked quite nice. All red and gold and simple. I can't wait to get home and do our tree. I hope they save it until I come back! But they probably won't cos they don't love me :(

I started my shopping the other day. I've managed to get a few things for my mum and dad. Nothing too exciting though. And I have no idea what to get the rest of them. :( I hoping that because I'm a poor student they won't expect much from me. Maybe I could make a pasta picture for them :P I do have lots of pasta. MMMMMM, I want some pasta now :) I like Christmas a lot. 

Here's your link for today. I found it completely by accident a few months ago and can't get it out of my head, so enjoy!

Sparkly!!

'Oh Come All Ye Faithful'

So, it's the 2nd of December and I have no idea what to write about... Lemme think for a bit (19: 28)

OOH! Winter Wonderland! So Hyde Park Winter Wonderland is cool - ish. I went there on Tuesday evening and had a very nice time, once I'd gotten over the ice skating fiasco.

Boyfriend thought it'd be a lovely romantic thing for us to go ice skating together, because it's Christmas and whatever. I didn't want to go at first cos I thought it was going to be expensive, but then we realised it was gonna  be £20 quid for the both of us cos, we're students and stuff :) I was still a bit worried. I've never been skating, so I was a bit scared and yes I did whinge - a lot. 

So, we got there, I panicked some more, beat myself up by saying that I had to go skating cos boyfriend paid and put the damn things on. Of course we had to pick the seats farthest away from the ice rink, so I wobbled like a baby giraffe to the queue and panicked some more. Cutting a long story short - I couldn't do it. I was far too nervous. As you might know, I can barely walk in my on flat shoes, on flat, fry ground when I'm sober. So trying to skate, on ice, in ice skates just wasn't going to work at all. 

So, here's you link for today...

It's special :D