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 

CHRISTMAS IS NEARLY HERE!

So as you might guess from the post title, I'm starting to get slightly excited for the big day. We all go on about it all year and yeah, its only a day but I love it. 

Now is the best time of the year because its all about family! Yeah, every year I look forward to opening presents and seeing what I've got from Santa ;) but who doesn't? Its a natural human emotion.

But.. I've become so much more excited since I've returning back to my hometown, Doncaster, for the Christmas season. The uni course and profession I've chosen is probably one of the most intense you could find.. but I love a good challenge haha.

Meet my Christmas fishes: Marvin and Nemo

 Okay, so if you follow me on Twitter you'll already know but I've brought my flatmates fish home for the holiday season. He lives closer to uni than I do but was getting the train home so couldn't take them on the train, therefore asked me and because I'm generous.. I offered.

(I'm so scared they'll die though, I don't have a good track record with fish, my last one committed suicide..)

This is my Christmas tree at home and now I'm at home seeing all the decorations, I feel slightly more Christmassy than I did this time last week. However, being a uni student and living away, the Christmas spirit doesn't come all that easy (unless you have placement in a school where their really Christmassy themed).

Now, I haven't got a photo of this but I've been pretty naughty! I met up with my two best friends, Chloe and Chris to exchange Christmas presents and we all opened them, only two days before the big day. What the heck? Wanted to open them together.. Well I got some really cute gifts from them including: nail varnish (love it!), slippers (in one of my new fave colours, dark wined colour), chocolate (always a necessity), eye shadow palette (with some glitter - great for the Christmas season), nail care kit (good for me as I'm always doing my nails).

I'll try to upload pictures of these after Christmas sometime :)

Christmas Nails

 Well I've been appointed sort of family nail painter! And I've decorated everyones nails with glitter.. Glitter nail varnish and real glitter.. I had a ball!

Although it was very messy!

These are the finished nails :)

 My Nails :)

 

Sisters Christmas Nails :)

 

J

Assignment Jitters

As you can probably guess from the post title, I'm having a bit of a stress out about my first university assignment. Having just come back off placement in Wales, its all been up in the air about what the assignment entails and how I need to set it out and stuff because obviously, I've never wrote a university assignment before. However, university haven't properly told us these things so I'm still crapping myself about whether I'll get it right or not.. I'm wanting to do well on this first assignment to boost my confidence for future ones. And yeah yeah, I know you'll all be thinking "well the first year doesn't account to anything, you just have to pass".. but I don't wanna be one of those people that only just passes. I like to exceed (I know that might seem big-headed haha). 

Well having missed a week full of lectures, I've been filling my time up catching up with those lectures that I missed while in Wales but also deciding what areas I will write about in my assignment. I need 3 areas but so far I've got 4 to read about: Inclusion, Observation, Assessment for Learning and Behaviour (I know only education students or teachers will understand these areas haha). To get ready I went to the library at 10pm last night and got a whole load of books.. I'm pretty prepared for it now :)

These are all out the library.. 12 books right there!

Then my own personal collection of books.. I'll be using some of these too!

So last night was quite productive for me.. I've now got all these books packed in a box ready to take home next week.. However, I've just realised I'll need a selection of other books too, to keep up-to-date with all subjects and here portfolio task.

My course just got a whole lot more intense very quickly!

Well in order to cheer myself up last night, I made some paper Christmas decorations for my room to make up for my limited time at home before Christmas. I'm not feeling that festive as I'm not going home until the 22nd so I literally have a day before Christmas Eve.. I've not wrapped any presents or anything.. It just doesn't feel like Christmas..

Well here's what my desk area in my room looks like now.. :)

  

As you can see I have paper chain, mini Christmas tree and single Christmas card. The card has a cute story to it though, its from ones of the children in the class where my placement is in Wales.. It was so cute when I got it from her.. and look its addressed to Miss Stallard!

So cute! (for confidentiality I've cute the name of the pupil off)

J

Christmas Wants

Now the title of this post might seem a little selfish and that I just want, want, want but I don't. Secondly, I know its only end of October but living away at uni means I've had to start thinking about it now as I can't just air it to me mum whenever :'( miss you guys!

So some of the things I've mentioned:

1. Maroon All Star Converse

I've been wanting some proper sturdy pumps so chose converse in pump-style. Both me and my sister want Converse for Christmas this year but she wants the Hi-Top ones in a blue colour and I want these. I am aware these are quite a common colour of Converse but I don't care because at the moment, I wear a lot of top this colour or which have this colour in.

2. Straighteners

 I really wanted to GHD straighteners but the hairdresser that comes to our house says she wouldn't use them as they basically fry your hair so is getting me some similar which are much nicer on your hair. As you all probs know, I have pretty curly hair and the majority of it is tight ringlets and can take hours to straighten with rubbish straighteners, plus I don't straighten my hair that often so I would like to keep my current healthy hair.

3. Bigger Winter Coat

 If you've been following my blog you'll know I'm studying at Edge Hill University which is pretty far North West compared to my hometown Doncaster. Well, let me tell you something, the weather in the North East is shocking! I used to think Doncaster had grim weather but since being up here and realising it is permanently colder than anywhere in Yorkshire, I am grateful for my childhood in Doncaster. I am definitely wanting a coat with more padding in for the winter ahead of me haha.

4. Discovery Microscope

This has been recommended by my Science tutor at university and will be a great addition to my resource bank for my years of being a teacher. It is a webcam-like piece of equipment that can by connected to any laptop or computer via USB and will show anything I happen to be magnifying on the computer screen for the children to see blown up. It will be useful for many Science lessons I will be teaching in my teaching career.

5. Books

I know these books will seem a little childish to many people but they are required both for my course and reading to put into my readers journal for the English part of my course. I read both these books as a youngster and both are good quality books which will be helpful within my chosen career path. Love these books!

6. Big Bang Season 5

I already own the first 4 seasons on DVD so season 5 will complete the current collection. I love Big Bang Theory and never grow old of watching them that is why I've brought the first 4 seasons to university with me :)

7. Tom Daley Calendar

There is literally no more to say than ooft. Tom Daley is one fitty! Just look at that bod! Not only that, he represents our country in various competitions and of course, the Olympics! I did watch him closely in the Olympics, who wouldn't in that uniform ;) haha!

8. CKIN2U

 This perfume is inspired by my very stylish flatmate, Kitty. She has a lot of Calvin Klein perfumes but shes recently bought this one to add to her collection and it smells divine! I got bought 'CKONE Shock' for my 18th birthday by my auntie and I love it, its one of my most desired perfumes but its running out now even though I only wear it out on nights out and special occasions. So this will be a good addition to my perfume collection :)

9. Thomas Sabo Bracelet & Charm

I've had my eye on a Thomas Sabo bracelet for a while and seen as though I already have a charm bracelet that I got as a present for my 16th, I thought it'd be nice to get a simple rope one with a singular charm. In addition, due to my musicianship and specialty in music for primary education, I saw a music related charm to be the best suited for me.

I've asked for other things also but none I can really talk about properly because there personal to me or just course books and things that I desperately need but can't afford.

What you getting for Christmas?

J