Meal Out

Just a short post this time to share with you how I've been spending my last couple of days in Doncaster. Now some people don't return to uni till the end of January but I start up Monday again because I started my proper professional practice on 21st January so need to get some more lectures and seminars in.

Well unfortunately I was unable to go out for one of my best friends, Chloe, birthday as I was ill and suffering at home.. Therefore I met up with her last night and went out for a lovely meal for a good catch-up.

Here are a few pictures from last night, although I didn't take many because me and her just got talking for ages and although we went out for the meal about 5.30pm, I didn't get back to my house until nearly 9pm.. Just in time for CBB launch night haha,

Ready to go: dressed wearing my new coat I got for Christmas - fake eyelashes on although it doesn't look like it haha

My meal: Cajun Chicken Burger topped with Bacon and Cheddar Cheese with Chips and Coleslaw.. as you can see, I've took the tomato out my burger because I don't like them haha.

Chloe's Meal: 5oz Steak with Chips, Onion Rings, Mushroom and Peas - personally I don't like Steak as I only really eat Chicken but Chloe had no complaints.

My Pudding: Warm Chocolate Brownie with Vanilla Ice-Cream

Chloe's Pudding: Syrup Sponge Pudding with Custard

Me when I got home

So the picture above you might be able to notice that I've started loosing weight and you can start to see it now, especially on my face, according my auntie and uncle haha - so happy about it!

Hope you've all had good Christmas holidays and if your off back to uni for exams or still completing assignments.. Good luck!

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 

Back to the Motherland!

What a weekend its been returning back to Doncaster for the first time since I left for university; its definitely been a roller coaster of emotions. The reason I've come back to Yorkshire this weekend is for my sixth form's presentation evening which is basically where everyone returns to school for one last evening of speeches and the presentation of our A-Level certificates.

So lets first tell you all about my journey back to Doncaster on Friday. Well, as you all know, Friday's are empty for me as I have no lectures so due to packing my suitcase the night before I got up, got ready and left my flat at university at 9.20am (pretty early for me!). Firstly, I was required to take the EdgeLink bus to the bus station and walk to short distance to the railway station. On arrival at the station I realised that I couldn't use my 16-25 railcard before 10am, fortunately I only had 15mins to wait until 10 so got a return ticket to set off from Ormskirk at 10.05am. The train required me to make 3 changes :( and by 11.22am I was only just setting off from Liverpool Lime Street station towards Manchester Piccadilly! By now, I was getting fed up of switching trains, having to find seats and lugging my suitcase around that I honestly.. nearly fell asleep on the train and would've missed my stop if my grandad hadn't rang me. So, my final train was from Manchester to Doncaster; the ironic thing was that I met with a friend from sixth form at Sheffield stop, who was changing there to come home for the same reason I was.

So, the presentation evening was interesting. It was brill seeing my past year; music friends; childhood friends; there was a substantial amount of people there which made it worth the while for going. After going up onto stage to collect my certificates and be congratulated my former teachers it was time for the traditional post-presentation evening event of going into town with all old friends and partying!

So, lets see the photo's from that night! By the way, according to my auntie, I'm starting to lose weight and she can tell now so I don't know whether anyone else can but I thought I'd share that with you as I'm proud that my cheerleading is finally taking its toll :D

Well yeah, my goal now is to achieve my goal dress size of what I was in year 11, before I let myself go and get too comfortable. I will get there!

Hope your all good

J

Holding a SUCCESSFUL car boot :)

This post isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea but after completing something like my tenth car boot this morning I thought it would be nice to share how I cope with the early morning, hagglers and tiredness.

I've been doing the occasional car boot with my Auntie Julie for the past 2/3 years and when your there earning money from what you perceive to be "junk", it gives you a great feeling. However, when you have to do all the boring stuff like packing the car or setting up your stall its tiring and you begin to think 'Is it really worth it?'. After this mornings successful car boot and managing to earn approximately £65 from old "junk" I thought I'd bullet point the things I think are most important when performing a car boot yourself.

First of all, although car boots are rewarding in the long-run, they are the most depressing thing to be taking part in at five in the morning. When your having to set your alarm at 5am the night before the car boot you just think 'Why am I doing this to myself (again - in my case)?' but still continue because now you've packed the car and things, you have to follow through.

 

Jessica's Car Boot Advice

1. Make sure the car boot is on! To me, this goes without question. However, in Doncaster the car boot is held regularly every Sunday morning from January through to December but I'm not positive whether that's the same at all other car boots as I do know places that only do a 'one-off' car boot.

2. Be selective. Being selective doesn't mean throwing out everything you think is rubbish because trust me, at a car boot, anything goes. What you think is useless and no-one would want, surprisingly, people buy those things, even if its only for rock bottom prices (it all adds up in the end). On the other hand, there are particular items which don't sell as well on today's car boot markets; for example, videos are outdated and often don't sell; books are temperamental, it just depends on the people you have at the car boot on that particular day.

3. Pack the car the night before. Doing this gives you more sleeping time, and you may be sat there like so? But don't forget, in order to get a good spot at the car boot, you need to be setting off at approximately half past five in the morning meaning your up at 5am. On top of that, if you still need to pack the car up, thats meaning you probably would have to be up an hour before that too! Who wants to be up at 4am to stand in the cold, selling your old items until midday. Thats a longggggg day.

4. Take a 'float'. I know some of you are sat there like, why you taking a big advertising vehicle? Well this is 'car boot slang' for loose change. You need to collect as much loose change as possible but remember to count how much you have so you can work out the profit at the end of the day. Most people will attend a car boot with change as they know things are cheap but other bring cash like £5, £10 and £20 notes (which can get annoying when your having to copper up to give out change).

5. Avoid price labels. Having labels on items puts potential buyers off. You may think it saves time and when your drawing in a big crowd you don't want to be answering five different people asking 'how much?' but the interaction between yourself and your customers gains their trust, therefore they will potentially pay more money for items.

6. Never go alone. This is simple. It is boring if you are sat in your car boot behind all your items and your there all alone. Myself, going with my auntie lets us have laugh and joke all morning so the time passes more quickly and we work well as a team. However, like us, if you have a mixture of items from both your houses, my advice is to take two cash containers so you get the money for what is sold of yours. Its the easiest way to pocket cash.

7. Research your items. You need to check how much approximately your items are going for on sites such as eBay so it gives you a good background how much things go for second hand. Also, check how much things are which you believe will be worth money, tricky things to keep an eye on are: records - some are worth a fortune! and at the car boot you'll only get at the most a £1 a record, Disney DVDs - me and Julie have made this mistake once, Disney DVDs are sold at no less than £15, you won't get that at a car boot but don't let it go for a pound or two.

8. Be approachable! Its not nice when you have people sat presenting a stall with a mardy look or look like they don't want to be there. In contrast to that, don't be too forward.. Things like playing music and shouting deals out to oncoming customers is off-putting and isn't going to increase your sales as it alienates people.

Don't be afraid to do a car boot from this big list, its a really rewarding task to take part in. Some things are not enjoyable to do but you have to do them to seek the other rewards.

 

Car boots are fun!

J

Surrrpriseeee!!

Being in many orchestras has led me to become friends with people who don't attend the same school as me or hang in the same friendship groups. Well, one of my friends from orchestra, Phillip, had a gap year in Australia and returned to the United Kingdom in the past week. Friends and family of his planned a big surprise party held at Liberty Grill in Doncaster Town Centre that took place last night, 8th July 2012.

Originally, people had doubts about how well it would be pulled off and whether Phill would end up with any idea of what is happening. Thankfully, it all worked out for the best and Phill was completely and utterly surprised by the event, and that was a great face to see!
Here are a selection of photo's taken from the event, enjoy!

Me & Grace

Phillipp doing his speech!

Phillipp & Me

The "Bass" section with Hannah

Me, Phillipp and Grace - The Basses

Alice & Me

It was great to be a part of something this extraordinary and lovely to see Phill again for the first time in a year!

J

Olympic Torch reaches Doncaster!

What a momentous, once in a lifetime experience. The day which the iconic Olympic Torch passed through my town, Doncaster in South Yorkshire. It has been approximately 70 days since the Olympic Torch was first lit in Athens and its now passed through Doncaster which was an amazing thing to see.
I know some people who didn't even bother going to see the Olympic Torch passing through and if you ask me, that was a stupid decision to make as it will more than likely, never happen again. Well, here are a selection of the photo's I took on my phone as I went to see the torch and followed it up Bennetthorpe onto Leger Way. Hope you like!

LMFAO leading the Olympic Torch Parade

Torchbearer down Bennetthorpe



Olympic Torch Relay 2012



Torchbearer of Leger Way



Torch is nearly here..

And, I got an amazing video of the Olympic Torch Kiss!

I hope you get to see or have seen the Olympic Torch too!

J