3 Months

It has officially been 3 months since I have been blogging everyday, which according to my calculations makes this blog my 90th consecutive blog... Wow!

When I first started the blogging challenge in December, I honestly didn't think that I could do it for more than 2 weeks, let alone a month and never in my wildest dreams 3 months. I think the most exciting thing since achieving my one month, and then my two months is the idea that in 10 days time, I will have posted 100 blogs in a row without missing a day.

Insane.

I know I'm not quite at that milestone yet, but I wanted to take this time to thank everyone who has been reading religiously (regardless whether I force it upon you every day or not) and has supported me with kind words of "I liked your blog" or giving me blog ideas. It means so much to me to have a small cohort of regular readers.

So, thank you and as always I love you, I'll speak to you tomorrow and I hope you all have a lovely day!

xxx

Lecturers are People Too!

Since being at uni, and in fact being at school, I have always forgot that teachers/lecturers are people too. They have their own life, their own goals, struggles and their own fears. Whenever I look towards a lecturer, I always think that they are scary people who get annoyed at any question that us undergraduates put towards them; that their time is wasted by teaching us.

I know this is a wrong way of thinking because like any teacher, if they didn't enjoy teaching, they wouldn't do it- or at least that holds true for most of them. So, whenever I pluck up the courage to ask them for help or their advice, it always comes as a shock to me how lovely and helpful they can be without any sign of being irritated or pissed off at me for having asked. It always shows me that instead of the reality that they are unfriendly and unwilling to help, I have mentally constructed them as some sort of villain for whatever reason.

The other day I emailed a professor who I had only been taught for one lecture and therefore did not know me at all to see if she could help me given her specialism was in the field of linguistics that I was doing for my assignment. I told myself the age-old saying of "nothing ventured, nothing gained" and knew that the worst she could do was say no- I wouldn't have lost anything. But to my utter surprise, she actually emailed me back with a response that went beyond my expectations. It was amazing. Not only did she give me references that I could work with, but she also offered to lend me her book. 

Referring back to my comment that she had no clue who I am, or what type of person I am; it astounded me that she had been so kind, generous and willing to help. It was one of those moments that threw me and made me proud to be part of this species that we call the human race. 

I forget that people are just like me and you out there that are some of the kindest people. Maybe I'm singing the woman's praises too high, but the small gesture of kindness put me in the best mood all day. 

I challenge you all to show a small act of random kindness to a stranger today and feel good in the knowledge that a small act of kindness can go a long way!

xxx

Beauty Blog'ish!

I have said this many of times on other subjects but I seriously think that the problem I have with jewellery can be considered as bad as an alcoholics problem. Is there any jewelaholic anonymous meetings that I can go to? I seriously think I need it.

A couple of years ago, my jewellery collection was non-existent but as time has gone by, I have slowly but surely collected a heck of a lot of jewellery; namely necklaces. Two new rings came through the post yesterday and before you judge me, they were £0.99 on eBay with free post and packaging- hardly breaking the bank.

I thought I would share with you, a little bit of beauty/jewellery...

Firstly, yesterday I decided to paint my nails and chose a hot/Barbie pink colour from Revlon called Sweet Tart...

 Now that winter is almost over (hopefully), I thought a nice bright coloured nail varnish would help me get into the mood of spring/summer and surprisingly, I really like this colour.

Next come my very cheap, and what I think are very lovely rings from eBay that I think go well with the pink. There's something I really love about the colour combination of the pale, teal'y colour of the ring on the right with the bright pink. They're my new loves!

And even with new jewellery, I can't forget my old ones that I love so much. Below is a shot of just a few of my necklaces that have a quirkiness to them that I just love. I'm never really one for plain, and simple necklaces. Whenever, I get a new necklace, it has to have an element of slightly weird but definitely wonderful. And also, another eBay ring that is slightly older than the other ones... If you haven't already guessed, my jewellery style is a little weird, a lot of quirk and a hell of a lot of pretty! Add in a little bit of vintage and BAM! I'm a very happy lady.

If anyone of you would ever be so kind and buy me a present, I absolutely adore and want this necklace. I thought about buying it the other day but I told myself that the only way I could get it is if I found the enthusiasm to walk into town (30 minutes in the cold), or if I could find a free delivery code- but neither were on my side because I still don't have it. I love it, though, probably more than I should.

Hint, hint... ;)

http://uk.accessorize.com/view/product/uk_catalog/acc_2,acc_2.3/3821201000

Love you all, as always. What is your jewellery style? Do you like mine? Let me know, if you want, I'd be very interested to hear!

xxx

Reasons Why I Want to Teach

As I have all told you around 2 months ago, I got accepted onto a PGCE course to teach primary school children and I know that this is the most stereotypical job for girls who do an English degree. I have therefore comprised a list of reasons why I want to teach so much.

♥ Lifelong dream.

Teaching isn't for everyone but apparently it has been the only thing I've wanted to do for a very long time. Besides my pipe line dream of becoming a best-selling writer, there's nothing else I can imagine myself doing. I used to write registers when I was younger and pretend my teddies were my students giving them work to do etc. Apparently, it's in my blood. Whenever I say I want to be a primary school teacher, everyone always says how much I fit the mould; whether that's a good or bad thing I'll never know.

♥ Children are cute.

I would be lying if I didn't say that one of the reasons I want to teach is because of how cute children are to me. Some people hate children and some don't; I am definitely the latter. There's something magical about making a child smile and knowing that their joy and innocence is shown on their face; that their happiness is completely transparent for all to see. They're so innocent and just want to be accepted and loved; it makes me miss the times when someone can be your best friend in a second without all the troubles that come with growing up. 

♥ I want to make a difference.

So many jobs nowadays focus on the means of making money or scamming people out of money, i.e. big corporate businesses. But to me, if there's anything that makes this world go round, it's  not how much money people make, but the way we can do things to make people's lives better. Many people would say they want to be rich and have everything they've always wanted and dreamed of, but if I can change a little child's life path to be better, that's worth more than thousands of pounds.

♥ Children are our future.

It's such a cliché thing to say but it's true. Our future will depend on those that are growing up and being taught now. I want to make sure that our future generations get the best possible foundation in life to be successful and motivated. We talk about how few people nowadays are motivated to work and yet we don't do anything about it. We try to make up for our downfalls when really we should be eradicating those downfalls straight off; we should be thinking about prevention rather than a cure. If one child gets left behind in primary school, they'll develop a self-fulfilling prophecy to never achieve their full potential. I wanna be there to motivate and encourage children to reach the stars and achieve. I want to help make our future generations the best they possibly can be.

Whether or not you share my view about wanting to teach, these are my reasons for wanting to do so. I want to make a difference in life in any way I can and I think this is the best way that I can do it. Life isn't there for making shed loads of money, it's there for doing things that you love and enjoy. 

Don't confuse success with how much money you make, success is how happy you are at the end of your working day. Do a job that makes you happy.

I love you all, as always. Have a wonderful Monday, time is flying by so quickly so remember to savour every moment of happiness you get.

xxx

Favourite Songs At The Moment

Music is forever changing, and there's never a time when a new song isn't coming out or a new trend isn't sweeping the nation. Although I like mainstream songs, and the ones that are in the charts, my music tastes generally become a little "old-fashioned" to the likes of people nowadays.

My favourite songs end up being those that have been out for 5-10 years already, and sometimes even longer. And you know what? I really don't care because I love them and that's all that matters.

I thought this lazy Sunday, I would share with you some of my favourite, albeit not necessarily new, songs that I have been loving recently. I want to know if you share my love of these songs and what your favourite songs are at the moment.

So, without any further ado, here are my top 5 (in no particular order) favourite songs at the moment:

♥ Pink - Give me a reason

♥ The Fray - Syndicate

♥ Ben E. King - Stand by me

I keep singing this one around the house and it's been stuck in my head for ages- I love it.

♥ Les Misérables - Do you hear the people sing?

♥ Coldplay - Fix you

And that's it! Those are my favourite songs, or the ones I am most likely to listen to at the moment. Have a relaxing Sunday and I hope you have enjoyed listening to my little playlist. Love to you all

xxx

Where Is Spring?

The other day, there was glorious sunshine, with blue skies and a refreshing, light wind that whipped past you as you walked.

But very recently (in the past couple of days), there's been a blanket of clouds over the sky, a bitterly cold wind and no sun in sight. I thought that winter was finally thawing out and giving way for some lovely, springtime weather but apparently we're back to square one.

I can't wait for spring to finally come and the weather to get warmer. I miss the sun. There's nothing like walking out in the sunshine, in minimal clothing enjoying the rays and the smiles that everyone has on their face. The problem with winter is that you enjoy it up to a certain point and then you just want the lightness of spring/summer back. I certainly won't miss the frown that everyone wears when it's freezing.

At the same time, I know I shouldn't be wasting my days away with wishing it was months in the future because I will look back on these days with fond memories and wish that they had gone slower. I know that every day is precious and regardless of the weather, each should be enjoyed to the max, which I aim to do.

Have a lovely day everyone, and make sure you do something that gives you one of those uncontrollable smiles/laughs.

Love you all,

Nicole xxx

Friday I Have Missed Thee...

TGIF!

I am so happy that tomorrow is Saturday and I can have a lie in. 

I am positively knackered this week from the weekend before where I had a massive work schedule that stretched for 10 hours each day (Fri, Sat and Sun) followed by really late nights (4am) and early mornings (9am) and long days of lectures followed by extra work afterwards.

My body aches.

I like to moan. It's fun. And I know people have more stressful days and I should count myself lucky for being at uni and having gotten to where I have but girls are allowed a moan about things every now and again. This is my moan.

I also realised today that there is only a month until uni breaks up for Easter and this is blowing my mind. Crazy. The second Easter is over, there are only a couple of  weeks left of lectures and then there are exams. And then that's it. I'll be done.

I don't want it to end. I'm trying to make the most of the experience, yet the more I try to go out and have fun, the less I do work and so there's a delicate balancing act that I'm trying to do and failing a little...

God, I'm not ready to graduate.

Love you all, hope your Friday feeling is as good as mine, I will speak to you tomorrow. In the words of Michael Gray:

"I can't wait for the weekend to begin..."

xxx

Lash! Lash! Lash!

I do love a good night out in uni. There's nothing like it.

I pre-drink and have good nights out at home but somehow the atmosphere pre-drinking and in the club is completely different at uni and I love it. It's going to be one of the things that I miss when I leave soon. The ability to go out, have an amazing time, stumble home and then regret it the next day when you're sitting in a lecture knowing you need to pay attention but thinking about how much you want to be asleep instead. 

Love it.

Last night was the first time I've been out in a long time- I have drunk but they have been house parties, not a proper night out in a club etc.

Today, I feel rotten and I have 3 hours of lectures that start at 10 following by a meeting with my lecturer about my assignment. I really hope that I can stay away long enough.

Welcome to the student life! :P

The second I get home, I'm getting in bed and doing nothing...

My Dream Wedding

Every girl wants to feel amazing on their wedding, and the majority want to feel like a princess. Given the fact that Valentine's Day has just been and gone, and the world is still on the romantic high, I have given my future wedding a little thought.

Sad, I know. But I'm a girl, what do you expect?

I haven't really given much thought to this and to be perfectly honest, I say now that I won't end up being a Bridezilla, but I think I really will. One of my biggest traits is that I'm stubborn and I also don't like to be wrong. That can be a recipe for disaster.

As I began thinking about what I want my wedding to be like, I realised that although I want all the la-de-da traditional wedding aspects (long, white dress; potentially a church; a cute little flower girl; bridesmaids who I have known all my life and the "prince" etc etc), I don't really have any specific ideas about what I want. I think the only thing that I would be most particular about is the dress.

I wouldn't mind being married in a church, or in a nice registry office or even abroad just as long as all my family and friends could come and celebrate with me...

So, I took to the internet as every person should (and does)!

This is what I came up with for my potential dream dresses...

I realise that I don't want anything too meringue-like, or too over the top. Something elegant, potentially A line, but also potentially something a little simpler and understated...

God only knows what sort of design I would want, but I found three separate styles that I liked the look of and here they are...

Each has elements of traditional wedding dresses without being too "look at me" because let's face it, I do not like all attention on me knowing that every girl is judging me... 

I won't be married for a very, very long time but it's always something girls think of regardless whether they are 5 years old, 20 years old or even 30...

If I'm still blogging when I get married, I'll make sure to share you what I pick out. Then we can compare whether my ideas/style of dress has changed or not.

Have a lovely, albeit cold Wednesday! Love you all xxx

I Hate Myself

Late night confessions are the truth that I'm afraid to say out loud during the day...

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate myself to an extent of not wanting to be me, but there are huge aspects of me that I really don't like.

 I'm selfish, a hypocrite and a bitch.

I hate myself for being those three things and I try so hard to be better and yet I am always drawn back to realising that I never change. I try and project an image of perfection to people to try and cover up all the scraps, dents and chips I have because I know I'm far from perfect. 

Sometimes, people chip away from the perfect veneer I have covering me, to reveal the sad, damaged girl inside that I wish would just go away. I can't handle it.

 I need to be better.

Talking Apes

Happy Monday morning!

As you all know, I'm a linguistic freak, loving everything language based. For your morning today, I wanted to talk to you about whether or not any other animal can have language that is similar to ours. 

I'm going to get down to the real nitty gritty parts of language and so I don't mean speaking and speech. By language, I mean the ability to transfer a message that is meaningful, can be creative (new words added, new sentences never heard before) and whether they can refer about something from the past/not present in front of them.

There is only one type of animal that has the potential and perceived capability to do this...
Primates- our closest related relative. 

Primates without evolution are never going to speak to us, it's a fact.

The reason for this is that their physiological aspects of their vocal tract is just not developed enough to be capable of producing human sounds. Humans developed a vocal tract through the evolution of us standing up that elongated our vocal tract and gave us much more room to move our tongue to pronounce sounds.

Fun fact: a newborn baby's vocal tract resembles that of a primate and therefore is one of the reasons they don't speak- they physically are unable to until they grow and their vocal tract develops into that of a humans.

Many researchers over the years have managed to teach a number of Chimpanzees and Bonobos (a type of Chimp) to learn language by using lexigrams. (An electronic symbol board whereby the symbols do not match or have any resemblance to the word; these are taught and used to communicate.)

They have found that they can learn language and some, namely a Bonobo named Kanzi, have gone to extraordinary lengths to put together symbols that are taught separately in order to create two-word utterances highlighting the fact that they really understand the language. It's not just mimicking when they can create such language without explicit teaching.

Not only that, but there has been evidence that they understand the discourse of language in that we have set rules about the way in which we have a conversation for example turn-taking. This shows that it's not just a case of learning hundreds of symbols and words but rather they have learnt the internal structures of language that makes language unique...

This is extraordinary to me and to many other people that are interested in whether or not humans are the only mammal with language.

I have a video below that is fairly long of Kanzi using lexigram and language to communicate and if you wish to take a look, I'd be interested in your reactions.

I personally do not like that these Chimps have been made to learn language that isn't needed and think it is cruel that us humans are so self-obsessed with our own ego that we forget these animals have a life too. Remember, these Chimps have to endure hours and hours of intensive training all day every day for years; it's not something for their own benefit but rather for our own curiosity.

I hope this subject hasn't been too taxing on your brains this Monday morning and if it has, it might just wake you up for your day ahead :P

xxx

Stressed Again!

I had a couple of weeks that didn't have that much stress placed on me. 

That's enough, apparently.

After my exams were done, my whole body collapsed in a sigh of relief knowing that the stress was over for a couple of weeks. Well, apparently a couple of weeks has decided to fly by without me saying it can, and I'm back to being stressed again.

I have 3 assignments due in by the 22nd March- kindly Hollie has informed me that it is only 4 weeks and 5 days away. Now, I spent all of yesterday planning and finding journals for one of them, and another I had been sorting out since last week but the final one is nowhere near planned- which is in first and most complicated, might I add.

The moral of this story is that if you want to avoid being snowed under with work, and stressing out then you need to start earlier. I have been saying this line since I started uni that next semester I will be better and I will start earlier... and yet here I am in my final semester still leaving things.

Never mind, I'm one step ahead of people who start it a week, and sometimes a couple of days before the deadline. 

I don't like stress and I don't like the feeling of running out of time.

I need to do well in these to make sure that I secure my 2:1 at the end of the year. Even though I have a 2:1 overall, I can't slack now and throw it all away.

Now this blog post is finished, I am going back to planning extensively with hopes that I can begin writing it the middle of this coming week after I have had time to research and whatnot.

Wish me luck my little ducklings!

xxx

I Want to Travel

Uni is almost over. PGCE is just around the corner. A real, full-time job is next.

I don't want to grow up.

In part, I want to go get a full-time job and have money of my own to do whatever I want with it. But I want to still be young. I am only 20, will be 21 when I graduate, and beside Cardiff and the places I've visited on holidays, I've never really travelled. I know it's the stereotypical line of students "I want to travel." But I do.

I want to be able to do it whilst I still can. And yet, to be able to do it, I need shed loads of money that I don't have. To get money, I need a full-time, well-paid job = ultimately a teacher. But the problem is that once I become a teacher, the likelihood of me upping sticks and travelling is unlikely. I'll get stuck into the rut of working, and finding a place to live that it won't happen.

I wish I was rich.

I need to seriously think about what I want to do with the upcoming months and year. And if travelling for 2 weeks this summer is all I can afford, I want to try and save up enough money to do so (providing I can find myself a job in this terrible economic climate). And if that doesn't work out, I can always do my PGCE for a year, qualify and go next summer. 

But I want to go!

I want to experience the world.

Come experience it with me, we can go on a Blogger adventure... Who's with me?

xxx

Technological Wonders

Internet. Where would I be without it? Lost.

However sad my answer to that question is, it is completely true.

Living away from home at uni, I can't even begin to imagine about how I could've possibly gone these last 2 and a half years without the technological advances that have allowed me to keep in contact with everyone back at home and those people in my life that aren't even in the same country any more  I have the Internet to thank for my continued strong bond with my friends and I am so grateful for that. We talk almost every day and I love it. The friends I have made at High School are the friends that I hope to keep for the rest of my life and technology allows me to do so. No doubt without it, we all would've gone our separate ways and have been just a distant memory...

Not only am I thankful for just the internet for IM, Facebook and Twitter where I regularly keep in contact with my friends, as well as blogging of course- but also the smaller technological advances such as mobile phones. The ability to pick up my phone and call my Mum whenever is a life-send. I don't think I would've been able to cope with being so far away if I didn't have the ability to just ring, text or tweet my family and friends. We're connected miles apart.

And going back to uni, and studying- the thought of not having the Internet to look up journals or books from the comfort of my own home seems preposterous. I can hardly stand working in a library as it is and I generally just go in, locate the book on the computer system, get a shed loads of books and come back out. But having to trail up and down the aisles to look for the books would literally be a nightmare. The time of writing an assignment would triple.

People moan and whine about how bad computers and the Internet is and how so many people waste their time away on it, but for me; it's everything. I love that I can talk to my friends, see what they're up to and feel connected when I'm so far away. 

It keeps me sane and makes me happy.

So thank you geniuses who have made my life a heck of a lot easier with the technological advances they have invented. I salute you!

Now, without the power of the Internet, you'd all miss my amazing *sarcasm* blogs ;)

Good day to you all, xxx

Happy Valentine's Day

The day of love and couples is upon us...

I feel a little sick.

Only joking, I want to wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day whatever you're doing and hope that you let all your loved ones know that you love them dearly.

For my Valentine's Day, me and my housemate have a tradition since we met each other at uni. Every year for the last 2 (this will be our third) years, we have gone out together for something to eat, followed by a date at the cinema. It's so nice to be able to spend the day with my best friend and I love and get so excited for our Valentine's Day date. Yesterday, we made some Valentine's cupcakes and today, after dinner out, we are taking a trip to the cinema to watch Les Mis. There's nothing like crying on your Valentine's Day date...

It draws me back to what I said before about Valentine's Day not being made solely for couples any more. There's so many things for people to do if they are single. Just because you're single doesn't mean there aren't heaps of people around you who love you. Have a friend Valentine's Day date- I highly recommend.

Have a wonderful, perhaps romantic, day but if not; just have fun with the people you love. That's all that counts

xxx

How to Spend Valentine's Day Alone

Well, look at me just jumping on the economy driven, commodity-laden holiday of Valentine's day and carrying on the theme for lots of blogs, days before the actual day. 

There's nothing like milking the system for everything it's worth...

WHAT?! :/

Anyway, it's Wednesday now and I must admit, I watched this video a couple of days ago (Thursday to be exact) but I love it, and I wanted to share it with you guys given the fact it's useful, and I think it might just help me out a little too.

A blog with limited Nicole in it, everyone shout YAY for how lucky you guys are today... Don't worry, I'm gonna get you back tomorrow with an extra long rambling blog.

DailyGrace on Youtube is hilarious, if you like her in this video, you should check her out because she makes me happy every week day...

Love you all! And in true Grace style... BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! 

xxx

Am I Selfish?

Are you the worst kind of selfish if you haven't realised that you've been beyond selfish in the past?

OR

Are you simply not selfish at all, only human, but are made to feel like you are selfish?

These two questions have been plaguing my mind recently and I have no clue what the answer is. 

The funny thing is that we're all selfish, in one way or another. It's human nature to put ourselves above those around us and in essence that is what being selfish is. Sometimes being selfish is the only way to get by, not because you want to be selfish but because others are. Other people being selfish makes us need to be selfish in order to not be taken for a mug and to stand up for ourselves rather than just being a doormat. 

But there's a difference between the normal level of human selfishness and then there's the selfishness that makes you a horrible person.

I admit that in the past I have been moderately selfish, but I have always believed, rightly or wrongly, that I am a non-selfish person on the whole. I have always strived to be considerate and put others above me that have resulted in negative effects on me. But recently, I've been noticing little things that make me feel like maybe I have been too selfish without even realising. And if I haven't realised I've been selfish, doesn't that make me the worst kind of selfish? And if I am the worst kind of selfish, does that make me a horrible person?

Hmm.

Thoughts like these make me self-conscious about who I am and how I come across to people. I would like to think that I am a genuinely nice person that people want to be around and know that there wouldn't be anything I could do out of malice. But is that reality or just a warped sense of reality that I wish were true?

Who knows.

I shall ponder some more and think about my life a little to see whether or not I can answer my questions. For now, I guess I will be a little bit more self-aware of what I do to try and eradicate any selfishness..

Well this got a little out of hand on the philosophical front... Way too much for a Tuesday morning!

Love you all,

Nicole 

xxx

Valentine's Day Ideas

I know it is only the 11th February and there are a couple more days before Valentine's Day but if you haven't already given the day lots of thought and made plans, I have the perfect solution for you. 

Granted, I don't like Valentine's Day all that much given the fact I believe you shouldn't just have one day where you have to tell the person you love that you love them, but I know that generally life gets in the way of making sure those people know you love them and so I understand why we have it.

I have compiled a list of things you can do for Valentine's Day to make your loved one feel special...

♥  Breakfast

It's a Thursday and so chances are you have to work but waking up that little bit earlier to bring up breakfast to your loved one in bed sets the whole day off with a loving overtone. You can cut toast into a heart shape or you could cook them a fry-up, as long as it's one of their favourite breakfast, you can't go wrong. Unless you both have this idea and then your plan is ruined...

♥ Handmade Gift

I am a sucker for receiving something that is handmade. I love the thought that someone has spent the time to make something for me with me in mind. Whether this is a list of reasons why they love you, or a scrapbook detailing your love story so far or even a home-made card- it screams more to me than just stopping off at a shop last minute to buy a card and a bunch of wilting flowers.

♥ Dinner

The ever so popular dinner date is always a favourite for Valentine's Day. But this doesn't mean it has to be out to a restaurant. In fact, you could set up your own little restaurant in your house. Pay a younger sibling, or cousin to be your waiter and it could turn out to be extremely special, intimate and very loving; especially if you cook yourself. Just don't burn the food...

♥ Evening Out

Just because the general protocol is to go out for dinner on Valentine's Day, doesn't mean you can't mix things up a bit. If you met in a certain place, or enjoy doing a certain thing together- spending the evening after work doing this could be just as romantic. Candles, chocolates and roses aren't just the go to for VD. This relates back to doing something personal and special like the home-made gift.

♥ Say I love you

One of the most important things about Valentine's Day, once we strip bare the commodities of it, is the fact that it's a day to tell people how much you love them. This doesn't have to be strictly fora  romantic relationship, but simply telling a friend how much you love and appreciate them. Take the time to translate this message across to them even if this is as simple as through words.

Whatever you're doing this Valentine's Day, whether you're in a relationship or single- just because there's one day that outlines you must be romantic and whatnot doesn't mean it's the be all and end all. If you're waiting for the right guy to be with, be proud of that fact and not just sad that you don't have someone to spend VD with. Being in a relationship is not everything. Make plans to do something with friends because sometimes having great best friends are more important than any guy/girl will be to you.

xxx

Happy Chinese New Year

It's officially the day of Chinese's New Year.

This year it is the year of the...

The traditional celebration and message for Chinese New Year is to reconcile, forget all grudges and wish peace and happiness for everyone. It is a celebration that marks the cleansing of all old ill-fortune and negativity in order to make way for wealth, health, happiness and good luck for the oncoming year.

 As opposed to our New Year, the Chinese New Year is generally a 15 day celebration starting on the first day of the new year with a new moon and ending 15 days later on a full moon. The Chinese's New Year is based on the lunar and solar movements hence the great importance of the new and full moon. The traditional lantern displays occur on the 15th night and is called the Lantern Festival.

Chinese traditions date back for years and years and typically on New Year's Eve, there is a feast with the presence of the spirits of their ancestors, which symbolises family unity and honours the past and present generations.

Just like any other celebration, the main message is to be happy, and be thankful for health.

I wish everyone a very happy Chinese New Year :)
xxx

Blog Takeover

So seeing as a certain Miss Ryan has been bugging you, her readers, everyday non-stop for the last two months she has come up with a novel way of making you feel a little better. 

Me.

I am Hollie, the person she blogged about on Thursday, but I will say no more on that matter, because basically that was one of the most embarrassing things she’s ever done to me; even if I did secretly love it. I imagine this blog is purely to get my revenge, tell you all about Nicole and her flaws. That’s just the thing, Nicole actually doesn't have any. She’s such a cow.

I've known Nicole ten years now; meeting on the first day of Year 7. God knows where that time has actually gone; it only seems like yesterday this tall, giraffe-heighted eleven year old strolled into the classroom but we've made so many memories since then. I accompanied Nicole to her first ever concert, The Script and we swooned over Danny. I'm actually gracing her with my amazing presence next month when we go to see them again. We've spent a whole week in Wales together, with the gang, getting burnt to smithereens and Nicole actually managing to give herself sunstroke…In Wales… I actually don’t know how she managed that, but she somehow did.

I feel like I can tell or ask Nicole anything, even things I wouldn't even ask my own mother and she wouldn't judge me. She’d just be her usual calming self and try to help me through any situation and I’d do the same for her. I feel like she’s one of the only people who can cheer me up and when I'm pissed off and I know for a fact I can do the same, it’s been proved, many times.

I love our late night chats on good old MSN, I don’t have a clue what we talk about at times. The chats I have with her are honestly about the most random of things, and we have been known to stay up until the early hours of the morning talking. I miss her, and the others when they’re away at University so having things like this helps us keep in touch J

This has more or less been a love declaration hasn't it? It’s like Nicole’s passed away and I'm here celebrating how much of an amazing friend she is to me. It’s true though, she is honestly one of the nicest, loveliest people you’d ever have the pleasure of knowing and I'm happy that I met her all those years ago.

Love you Nicoleeeeeeeeeeee xxx

Now this whole blog seemed so wrong that I was nice to her. I’m now going to go back to the old, sarcastic Hollie that everybody knows and loves. So thank you for letting me take over your blog Nicole, here is a little present and message for you…

From Nicole: Love you too, Hollie. Thank you for hijacking my blog for the day :D xxx

I Miss My Nan

Since my Nan passed away on July 16th 2011, I have struggled with accepting that she's no longer here. My lowest moment was between July 2011-January 2012 where I literally cried myself to sleep every night I was that devastated by my loss. Gradually over the months to come, I got better and cried less even though she was still in my thoughts every day and I had my ups and downs of sadness.

Recently though, this devastation feeling has returned and every time I think about her, I begin to tear up. The hardest moments are when I am trying to stop myself from crying in public whenever I think of her. I have had countless times recently where I have had to turn away from my friends in order to stop them from seeing me tearful. If I see an old lady that resembles her, I tear up at the wishing that she was still here. I don't know whether it is because I am more emotional in general given the stress of uni and the fact it's my last semester or the fact I'm going to be graduating soon and she never know I have or I have realised that so much time has gone past since her death.

It feels impossible that it'll be 2 years since she was still here with us in a couple of months. 

I just want her back; my heart hurts whenever I think of her.

I miss her so much ♥ 

"I would do anything for another minute with you, 'cause it's not getting easier... You will be folding stars."

Obsessions...

This blog idea came about one of my friends and her recently new yet overwhelming obsession. I shall talk more about this later. It got me thinking about obsessions that we have that we either grow out of or are only fleeting obsessions for one day right the way through to the obsessions that almost take over our life.

For me, these are my current and ongoing obsessions...

♥ Chocolate

 It's a love affair that I'm sure will continue for many, many years to come. 

♥ Men

I also have a couple of obsessions over people, including my beloved Michael Bublé who just happened to announce the other day that he was going to have a baby with his ridiculously, gorgeous wife... I'm not jealous! The Script, namely Danny, who I am going to see on 22nd March at o2 Arena. Excited.

♥ English

I have an obsession with English and writing; generally things that people find mind-numbingly boring but I find fascinating. If you let me, I would talk your ear off about the things that I find so interesting...

♥ Jewellery

 I have countless amounts of necklaces, earrings and rings and find it impossible to wear them all. I really need to get control of my need to buy new cute jewellery every time I go into Accessorize but I love the shop too much.

And the other general things that people are obsessed with, apart from shopping. I dislike shopping. I never have the money for it, for starters; followed by the fact I can never find anything that looks nice on me. I have an image complex...

Now, onto my friend who has recently become the most obsessed I think a person could ever be. Her Achilles Heel is Hollyoaks; the Channel 4 soap. Moreover, her obsession lies with the resident gay couple, Ste and Brendan. Now, don't ask me why she loves them, but there is something about the two of them that makes her go loco every week night at 7:30 well into the wee hours of the morning.

I have watched Hollyoaks a handful of times and have not seen the appeal of them in the slightest but it makes me laugh at the tweets she comes out with during the specified time. Not only does she love them, she has turned into a crazed-love fool pervert. If you ask me, reading her tweets makes me laugh  and shake my head at the same time. I love how she has created a little group of people on Twitter to share her passion with. It's super cute!

 She is the epitome of obsessed from laughing hysterically at 'Stendan' related things to literally crying... She loves them, there's no denying that. I love this obsession for how funny it is and how much happiness it brings her. I do love happy best friends :)

But having said that, I don't really understand the obsession as such. Plus, Brendan looks creepy with his moustache, like he'd come and attack you in your sleep... (Sorry, Hollie but it's true!)

Hey, we're all crazy people with weird obsessions. Let me know some of yours, you crazy kids!

Have a lovely Thursday- and thankfully it's almost the weekend!

xxx

We're So Blessed

We always end up forgetting how lucky we are in life because of a recent argument with a friend, or a negative thing that has happened to us. But we should never forget.

We should never forget and take for granted the small things that make us so lucky in this world. One of my modules this year is about Communication Disorders and how people communicate who are not typically communicatively competent. This ranges from people who have gone through strokes or dementia (aphasia), those that have lisps/stutters, blind/deaf/inability to speak right the way through to those born with Downs or those who have had an accident and ended up in a vegetable state. People forget how much we need communication. We literally strive to communicate with everyone- people around us, our children as babies and even our pets always asking, what if they could speak- what would they say?

Learning about their huge struggles with things we do everyday without even thinking and how much their life has changed since then is so eye-opening. Some of the most suicides are over the fact that people are bullied for simply having a lisp... Isn't that a fact that is terrible to hear? How could something that we would consider insignificant and small compared to being deaf/blind/unable to speak be so damaging to a person's life.

It makes me think and want to remember that we shouldn't be feeling sorry for ourselves if we don't get our way, we should be counting our lucky stars that we still have the ability to see, hear, and speak to those around us.

If you're ever pitying your life for something that is insignificant, ask yourself the question of:

♥ What would life be like if I had to rely ONLY on my smell and taste to communicate with people around me?

♥ What would life be like if I was cognitively the same and competent, but after an accident, my body wasn't able to move the way my brain told it to? 

It's something that everyone should be aware of, and something we should remember.

Our lives are not hard. 

Yes, they are challenging at times but put next to someone who has suffered a stroke/has Downs/gets frustrated with a lips/stutter, our struggles are like molehills compared to their mountains.

We should never underestimate how lucky and blessed with are with our health.

We should never take our life for granted!

This is all I wanted to write for today's blog, it moves me more than I can ever imagine because I have personal experience with some of these issues. 

Be thankful ♥ 

xxx