Bringing in the New Year!

This will be mainly pictures and I don't have many from New Years because it was so hectic and busy that I just forgot to get my phone out haha. But I do have a lot of photo's of me and my sister so I'll do an OOTN :)

2012 Highlights (from top left going clockwise)

Me and Charlie - My 18th Birthday Party (May)

Me, Beth and Chris - Harry Potter Studio Tour (September)

Me, Chris, Zoe, Chloe - Danum Sixth Form Leavers Ball (June)

Me, Bee, Leah, Kitty - Uni Nights Out (October)

Chris, Me, Harley - KOS 2012 (July) 

New Years Eve Celebrations

Now you can't see much in the picture above because I was having to take it quick because it was dead on midnight. This is our tradition each year at new years, we go outside as soon as the London Countdown hits zero and we stand in the middle of the street and sing 'Auld Lang Sye', its pretty funny. The first few years we did it other people from other houses joined in but now it just ends up being us but its still just as good, plus all fireworks are let of simultaneously.

My OOTN

Converse All Stars in Marroon

Primark Wet Look Leggings

Primark Black Vest Top

Primark Deep Wine Blouse

'Big Sis' Heart Necklace

Sister's OOTN

Converse in Purple

Primark Wet Look Leggings

Matalan Cross Top

'Lil Sis' Heart Necklace 

Hope everyone had a good start to the new year!

J

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES!

This year Christmas has been brilliant this year because I've got to spend a lot of time with me immediate and close family. As I've now moved 2 hours or more away from my hometown, Doncaster, its quite hard to keep in touch constantly with family but Christmas, its the time of year for family togetherness. 

Well Christmas Eve, we have a tradition that me, my mum, sister, auntie, uncle and 3 cousins all go to 'The Cumberland' which is a pub just up the round from me. We've been going there for a good 7/8 years and its always a right laugh (my Yorkshire dialect really came through in that sentence haha). Well this year was no different, we went up early afternoon and stayed till early evening (haha, no we're no alcoholics). But, it was also a little more special as my loooonggg childhood friend, Charlie, came up especially to see me know I was back from uni for a while which was great as I'd not see him since my uni leaving party. We played the usual card games, Chase the Ace and Snap, and like usual, I was out first and lost (I'm not all that good at card games haha). Unfortunately, I didn't take any photo's of it as I was too much into the family time.

So onto Christmas Day the biggie - as you can see from the size of the writing haha. Now both me and my sister are older, we don't get up as early as we used to on Christmas to open presents however, I do have the thing where I have to be asleep before midnight on Christmas Eve cos I like to wake up on Christmas (I'm strange haha). 

So onto the presents I got off Santa ;) aka Mummy :D - it was good getting presents this year because I haven't been at home so meant so much more...

I actually bought this necklace for my sister but looking at it, you'll realise I have my own half to. Its so cute! We were wearing our necklaces all day yesterday and they'll be handy when I'm at uni and separated from Beth, my "lil sis"

New heels and there nude in colour so will go brilliantly with everything AND there wedges so there comfier that heels like stilettos which I sometimes struggle to walk in haha

A wonderful new collection of children's books - all of which will contribute to my Christmas work (my English journal). Also, being a trainee teacher I have to start my collection of quality children's literature so I think this is definitely a good, standard start to it.

[All Dinosaur] Calendar, Dot-to-Dot book, Top Trumps cards, Planet Dinosaur DVD, Jurassic Park DVD Triology, Volcano Making Kit

Now here is the collection of dinosaur items my mummy got me. I've always liked dinosaurs but since going to Natural History Museum and watching more documentaries on dinosaurs, I've become more and more obsessive with them so I got all this. I've always been a little geeky and dinosaurs and volcanoes are particular interests for me including any other natural disasters (don't laugh at my geekiness haha.. I have to be slightly childish to be a primary teacher haha).

This was a surprise and I know we have the Harry Potter collection in the cupboard singularly because we've bought them as family presents each and every time they've come out because we're big Harry Potter fans but mum surprised me with my very own HP collection. As the DVDs at home of the "family" DVDs I've not been able to take Harry Potter to university with me so this was perfect and I can take it back to uni with me :D

Tom Daley Calendar and Autobiography

No need to say anything else other than... OOOOOOFFFTTT!

Discovery USB Microscope

 This was recommended by my Science tutor at university because it would be a good addition for my teaching supplies collection. Its a microscope which attaches to any laptop or computer and magnifies whatever you put under it (just like a normal microscope).. this is going to be useful in the teaching profession as it'll allow me to magnify children's work and other small things.

New ankle cowboy style boots!

Eyeshadow palette fro my sister :)

I GOT MY CONVERSE! There so gorgeous! Just the right colour for me, I absolutely love them! And will probably wear them all the time haha - both me and my sister got Converse for Christmas this year :)

Well we alternate where we have our Christmas dinner each year, normally its at our own house or grandparents. This year, it was our house as our grandparents were heading to my auntie and uncles house therefore, we had my other auntie and her 3 kids round for dinner, it was all quite hectic as we don't have a very big house.

Pictures from the day.. I didn't take many as I was too busy.. Less and less photo's are being taken each year at Christmas now :( ..

Cousin Dan not liking the fact he didn't win the cracker haha

I also never win these :( I have to cheat just to earn my Christmas hat haha

Cheers everyone! (Dan is so cute with his juice in a wine glass -.-)

Julie will hate me for uploading this but it makes me smile and shows how mad my family is haha

A nice photo of us :)

Cheese and Biscuit course like a picnic on the rug haha

The annual sister Christmas photo <3

Posing as usual ;)

Love this photo - I love my mummy <3

This is a corker of a photo too :D - pulling faces, typical us :)

Family photo <3

Christmas Pj's! - Its tradition to be bought pyjama's for Christmas.. As you can see, my sister has 1D ones *rolls eyes*

Now as a family we have a few traditions round Christmas which are highlighted in this post but another one is what we do on Boxing Day. On Boxing Day we traditionally remain in a pj's all day and watch films and mainly just chill, recovering from the hectic day before. 

This year was slightly different as the films we've watched in years previously as normally, we'd begin to watch any DVDs we got for Christmas however, this year we just watching films that were on the television. So this year we started by watching Land of the Lost which was the first time we'd seen it, it was hilarious haha.. Love Will Ferrell! Next, we watched the last hour of Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging which is something we went to the cinema to see as family but its still just as funny each time you see it haha (if your reading this and haven't see it, I recommend you see it!). The Spiderwick Chronicles followed this on E4+1 which was again, a brill film and we really got into it even though we were meant to be playing a game we'd got for Christmas, Call 'Em All (you probs wont know that but I'll take pics of the whole family playing it on NYE). Miss Potter was the next film we switched on which was a gorgeous film portraying Beatrix Potter's life and tribulations in being an author in the early 1900s. Hitch ended our film marathon which was played on Watch but Will Smith is a fantastic actor and I seem to love anything hes in like MIB 1,2 & 3, I Am Legend and of course, Hitch haha.

We had a little snack picnic feast on the carpet and it was funny because my mum was struggling to sit on the floor and eat.. It was the standing joke at this time but these are the pictures of our Boxing Day picnic feast:

A selection of garlic mushrooms, onion rings, mini fajitas, chicken satays (which Beth ate most of), potato skins, crackers and cheese, chips, pasta and sweet treats. It was all just so yummy!

And you can see my present stack in the distance haha.

However the bad news is that I'll be leaving you all hanging until the new year as I have a lot of uni work to complete and very little time to attempt to complete it. I'll be seeing friends back home and spending more time with my family. 

I'll fill you in with all the news on the new year and all my new years resolutions in the new year.

Until then :)

I hope you all had a great Christmas and I wish you all the best for the New Year!

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, whichever you prefer

J 

Looking back...

Its nearing the end of 2012 now (and apparently the end of the world haha) and I thought I'd look back on the past twelve months and see what my highlight from each month was.

Be warned: this may be heavily photo-based!

January

This was a good year for the Stallard family; two bigggg birthdays in one year. The first was this one, my aunties, she turned 40 (as you might be able to see from the badge) at the end of January so we had a pretty big party to commemorate it. I love this photo of my and my auntie Julie however, I do look taller than her, which is weird to look at haha.

February

February was when me and my friends, Chris and Harley, booked our first holiday abroad without our parents! For me, this was another 'biggy' because I hadn't been abroad for 7 years either, I'd been on city breaks to York and London but nothing more.. so it meant a holiday just abroad for me in 7 years. I remember I was soooo excited this day; just needed to buy a passport then haha.

March

This was the first house party I'd held in a pretty long time. I'd gone through a rough patch within the previous six months and needed something to take my mind off everything and this was the perfect solution. In addition, it was the first house party that I had where my mum left me in charge of the house which was even better as it allowed me to be more independent.

April

Now, this is a hard one.. A pretty jammed packed month.. They will be more than one event this month haha..

Hairspray: the school musical. This was was a memorable time as it was the final school music I would be in after 3 musical prior to this one. They had all be just as memorable as each other, some more than others.

My 18th Birthday: a persons 18th birthday is an unforgettable time for everyone as it marks a new chapter in your life. Its the time when your legally an adult and begin to think about where your going to take your life. This was the time when I was stressing over A-level exams, getting into university and just everything else a teenager stresses about. My 18th birthday was a big deal for my family as I am the eldest so we had big celebrations with friends and family to mark to occasion.

Grandma decorated the outside of my house.. She has an act for that!

May

Danum Sixth Form Leavers; this was when I officially left school/sixth form for real. It came around so fast! Although the work load and pressure sixth form put on me, I loved every minute of it and how it made me grow so much more as a person. Sixth form prepared me for university life, it was when my life changed dramatically from year 11-year 13 and a time when I could just hang with childhood and new friends.

A time I will never forget.

June

Diamond Jubilee: we had family celebrations for this again during the Jubilee weekend. It really has been a good year for the Brits and I am proud to say I'm British and a total royalist so why not celebrate the Queen's achievement with a party!

This was the first time I took part in the Race for Life and it was truly rewarding. It gave me a sense of meaning as I was raising money for charity. I've raised money before but this combined charity work with exercise which was brilliant for me. I will definitely be doing this again! Race for Life 2013 here I come.. (I will prepare myself with more pink things too.. Like a tutu).

I love watching athletics and there is nothing better than the Olympics and what was even more brilliant was that they were held in my home country but in the capital, London. 

This was when the Olympic torch passed through Doncaster and I made sure that I was to witness this brill thing!

GO TEAM GB!

Sixth Form Ball! I went to the Year 11 prom but the sixth form ball was a step up from this; this was when we all were legal and could drink alcohol!!! Oh yes ;) haha.. but not only that, having been in the same school since being 11, some of the teachers you had known for years so they become a staple part of your life.. This was when you said by to them also.

This was the real goodbye.. Bye Bye Danum! :'(

This month clearly had a lot of goodbyes as this was also when I said by to playing the Double Bass. The Double Bass had been an important part of my life since me being in year 5 and saying goodbye to it was quite difficult. The pictures above have been in the blog before and are of my final Doncaster Music Centre concert. I am sad to never be returning. 

Bye Bye Music :')

BUT.. I have got a letter recently which says I will be receiving a certificate and money prize for all my contribution to the Doncaster Music Service :)

 

July

This was the return of one of my previous bass partners, Phillip. He is a year older than me and had been in Australia for nearly a year so the people closest to him got together and planned a surprise welcome home party in a pub in Doncaster. It was a brilliant party and a great catch up with a good friend.

Now onto one of the 'biggies' of the year: a parent free holiday!!! This was a major life goal of mine and was definitely something I wanted to do before I went to university as I wanted to have a little burst of independence before heading off into the big wide world of university.

August

A-Level results night! This was a good reunion as everyone that was off to university soon went out into the same bar/club for a good night out. I wasn't going to go out to begin with but thankfully, I got persuaded to go and thank god I did. A-Level results is definitely all about the night out; either to drown your sorrows or celebrate. If you've read my other blog posts you'll know by this time, I did not have confirmation if I was into university or not.

September

HARRY POTTER STUDIO TOUR LONDON! I love Harry Potter and nothing will ever change that so getting the chance to go to London to see all the film memorabilia and props. We took one of my best friends with us for his birthday present and he absolutely loved it too so that was another bonus. I think everyone ought to experience the tour if your an avid Harry Potter fan like me.

THE MOVE TO UNIVERSITY! Wow! This was such a big step for myself in particular as I am naturally a shy person but I knew university would start to change this about me as I wouldn't be able to by shy in my chosen career of teaching. I am close to all my immediate family and it was so emotional to leave them all behind in Doncaster to fend for myself in Ormskirk. To be honest, I was primarily afraid about the people I would be living with because in my opinion, I'm a little geeky and yes there's nothing wrong with that, but I thought the people I would be living with would be prim and proper and not like me at all. However, moving to university has broaden my knowledge of people who live all over the country and I met Kitty! Kitty has honestly changed my life, she is like me on same many levels. She can be the life and soul of the party but shes also down to earth and blunt. It was good that I'm living with her because she introduced herself to me on the first say whereas I wouldn't because of my shyness. Honestly, looking back on life now I can't believe I haven't known Kitty all my life and I do not know what I'd do if I didn't have her with me now. Love you!!! We'll be in touch forever!

October

Halloween is good fun every year but this year was extra special as it was all set in the on campus SU bar, The Venue. It always a good time when you get to dress up and have a laugh. Halloween allows that freedom at least once a year.

November

You might recognise these photo's from a previous blog post but this was when I went back to Doncaster for the first time since moving away to university. This was great as it was just like results night, all my year from sixth form were out on the town partying and I didn't get into till nearly 4am! Haha!

ME AND KITTY! I LOVE THIS GIRLL!

These photo's have also been on my blog before but this was another highlight of November; going to the midnight showing of Twilight! I went with Hannah and Kitty, both of which I admire dearly and which I can talk to about anything. I can't believe both of them know so much about me and we've only known each other since the end of September.

THE BIG REUNION. I was looking forward to this since me and Chris booked it while we were in Kos. It was like a week-long summer clubbing holiday packed into the 2 nights. During this weekend I got to see Katy B and DJ Fresh live.. Both of which were awesome and I will never forget. This was an indoor festival not to miss!

December

To be confirmed.. Probably will be Christmas Day 2012.

J