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 

Freshers Fever!

Edge Hill University Freshers is set to be a big, messy one! After receiving my welcome pack to the university a couple of weeks back I have been getting gradually more excited for Freshers week. So I thought for my post today, I would blog about the events I am most looking forward to and what you guys have to look forward to as I will hopefully blog about them all.

As you can see, its a pretty busy schedule (already bought my wristband for entry to everything!)

Well, the picture above is a little unclear and you can't really see what is happening each night so I've done close-ups of the events I'm particularly looking forward to. The only down side to all these events is that my course has compulsory lectures/seminars in the first week starting at 9am, booo!

A glow party! After partaking in a glow party while on holiday, I know this will be just as good if not potentially better. There has been talk on the facebook groups about paint canons and stuff so I'm still stumped about what I ought to wear, grr! People said on holiday to wear clothes you didn't want to get ruined but they didn't ruin.

 

 Jameela Jamil.. Originally, I didn't know who she was but after reading the small paragraph, realised who she was and thoroughly looking forward to her. I don't know her as a Radio 1 DJ but I occasionally watch T4 so have seen her on that so that's appealed to me for Freshers.

Ormskirk Town Takeover (with fancy dress)... I love the name of this, it feels almost like we're taking over the whole town forever haha. Yes, for me, Freshers week would not be complete without a fancy dress event. The theme: Emergency Services! Well I've been looking over emergency services fancy dress on eBay, as recently I've become a very keen eBay-er and I have a few potential outfits in mind, the one currently highest is FBI, although if needs be, I do have a nurses outfit to fall back on.

 



Silent Disco, eek! I am sooooo excited about this after my first silent disco which was Kos' signature silent disco. Silent disco's have so much more possibility in music range as each of the DJs are so different and will appeal to anyone's music taste. The one I went to had boy bands, current chart hits and 90s clubbing stuff like 'We are the children of the night' (was hilarious!). I eagerly anticipating this and it will either live up to my expectation and the last I went to, or majorly disappoint.

Jay for Inbetweeners! This has to be the highlight of Edge Hill freshers week 2012 due to it just being Jay.. from The Inbetweeners. I love The Inbetweeners and the movie, neither will ever get old to me as each time I laugh out loud at the same things. He's going to be DJ-ing (didn't even know he was a DJ) like which may mean people wont be getting photo's with him but my target for the night is to attempt to get a photo with him if possible, that will be awesome.

 

 

Well moving to university is getting ever the more close now and the wait is seriously starting to kill me. Having a load of things packed in boxes in the back half of the room is taunting me to the fact that I'm not going next week of something. The things really are starting to pile up in my house...

 

 

I've even started packing up my shoes, bags, toiletries, hair products and makeup in my room which I don't use all of the time but do need on nights out and things like that. I'm waiting for my grandparents to bring a suitcase round so I can pack full but I suppose there's no need to pack over 3 weeks before moving day. Also, my room is beginning to look a little bare seen as though I've started removing some decor and recreational books to read between educational stuff.

 

Countdown: 23 days to go!

 

Countdown with me guys! I hope everyone moving to university or staying at home and commuting is looking forward to the next step in our lives, eagerly anticipating what the future holds just like I am.

 

J

Jubilee Weekend!

I want to start by saying: Nice one Queeny! Giving us all a 4-day weekend for being on the throne for 60 years. Cheers!


Never in my life have I been up on all the information about the royal family but this Diamond Jubilee and the recent Royal Wedding have made me aware of a couple of facts about the Royals, such as:

1. The Queen is 86 years old.
2. The Duke of Edinburgh is not Prince Charles
3. The line of succession of the crown.
4. Names of members of the Royal family
5. The Queen's second name is Windsor: Elizabeth Windsor, Charles Windsor and best of all Harry Windsor (Harry-Wins-Her) - made my day!

And other useless information like; the name of the Queen's Corgi dog, who was coronated in 973 and more.


You may be asking how I've managed to acquire all this random information and recall it all on here, well the answer is that I put together a quiz and was required to know all this, but more about that later.


Saturday 2nd
There's not much to say about Saturday other than I went to town with my friend, Chris to window shop for my upcoming holiday to Kos. When we returned back to mine, we were chilling with my mum and sister watching 16 & Pregnant when I chose to show him my pre-prepared quiz for the following day. Well he taught me some things: that Prague and Istanbul are now countries, London have never held the Olympics before and the Olympic flamed is kindled on that mountain in Greece called Mount Rushmore (minus the 'e').


Sunday 3rd
Rain. Rain. Rain. That's nearly all that can be said about Sunday but did do the well-known British thing, and have a BBQ. What better day to have it, than a day we are confiscated to inside the house, cooking in the oven and on the hob.
Regardless of the weather, we didn't let this ruin our family Jubilee celebrations. We had a few hiccups during the day, the first being at 5am when the gazebo collapsed from the weight of the rain water on top. My grandma had spent the previous day trimming up the garden and gazebo with bunting, flags and red, white & blue balloons (grandad had spent ages blowing up 15 balloons) which unfortunately burst on collapse, leaving 8 to be reused in the house. It's quite comical thinking about it now but grandma, being as patriotic as she is, was devastated that all that effort had gone to waste - so all the decorations were moved inside.
So, my auntie was in charge of entertainment and took the easy route by booking a bouncy castle for the day. But with the rain and cleaning products on the bouncy castle mixing together, we all know what happens, foamy bouncy castle! Other entertainment she provided was the creative crown making for all the children, which I was made part of as well, the reasoning being that I am soon-to-be a trainee teacher. We sat cutting out the crowns to then colour and decorate with feathers, foam stickers and unusually, googly eyes! (courtesy of my cousin, Dan). My auntie also delegated making a quiz (as mentioned earlier) to me, although I didn't mind as I was able to play around with Microsoft PowerPoint and take on the role of quiz master. I incorporated different rounds such as: Jubilee & Olympics which are very currents events as well as other like: Music, Flags and General Knowledge. The quiz went down well and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it as I made sure there was something for everyone, ranging from One Direction to Nursery Rhymes, Flags of the United Kingdom to Kazakhstan or Mongolia and identifying music by John Williams to Rossini.


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Front cover of my home-made BBQ quiz

In the background all day we had on the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, watching the Queen sail slowly past all the iconic London landmarks with millions of people worldwide watching. It was good seeing thousands of boats from all around the world sail down the Thames alongside Her Majesty, celebrating her 60 years on the throne. My favourite part of the Pageant really had to be the last boat to sail the Thames which held the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which played music I have played myself.

Monday 4th
Well, to put a downer on the whole Jubilee 4-day weekend scenario, I was forced to return to my revision after having 3 days off and have 4 exams next week. So I got stuck into it, varying myself between English Language and Biology. However, it was a very leisurely day for my mother and sister who spent the whole day in their pyjama's and my mother also remained on the sofa, wrapped in a fleecy blanket - what I would give for my exams to be over (only 17 days to go).
In contrast to my revision, we sat as a family to watch the Diamond Jubilee Concert in the evening. My favourite just had to be each of the comedians as they all made me laugh, notable performances from Alfie Boe & Renée Flemming and Kylie, gorgeous piano playing from Lang Lang and legends such as Tom Jones, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney. I also found it amusing how the Queen never emerged out of the palace until 9pm (we all know she's spent the day in her slippers lazying around).


Plan for Tuesday 5th
More of the same really. More revision for English Language, Maths, Biology and Music exams that are all next week - my teenage life is sooo wild! And I will be catching up with the MTV Movie Awards which had to be recorded due to the Jubilee Concert. Oh, and you can't forget watching the carriage procession in London with the Queen with ceremony at St. Paul's Cathedral.




Lets add 3 more years Queeny and you'll be in line with Queen Victoria - and maybe even reign longer than her. 






Just one final thing to add to this Jubilee weekend. Well it wouldn't have all been possible without the Queen so she paid a short visit to our Jubilee BBQ on Sunday....


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Family photo with the Queen

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Sneaky peck there ay James?

J