Happy Chinese New Year

I just wanted to say a really big Happy Chinese New Year 2014. It's come around to that time again when we are celebrating a new year when in Western society, the new year has just begun. It's funny how we've sort of adopt different societies' celebrations purely because it means we get to celebrate. I mean, who doesn't like to celebrate and have a reason to be happy? Especially in January. I don't know whether a lot of you celebrate Chinese New Year in the sense that China does but if you do or don't, you still have an understanding that each year, there is a different animal on rotation.
This year, it is the year of the HORSE! There are 12 animals because they used Jupiter as a constant and Jupiter orbits the Earth every 12 years and therefore the 12 animals represent this and get changed each year according to the rotation.

People that are born during the year of the horse are said to be energetic, bright and intelligent/gifted with great communications skills. People born during the year of the horse are also said to enjoy the limelight. You little showstoppers! Generally, they are cheerful, popular, talented and enjoy entertaining. Sounds like a pretty good year to be born in.

I was born in the year 1992 and that makes me born in the year of the Monkey. This suits me a little more than I thought it would. If, like me, you were born in the year of the monkey; we are fun and loving people who are always cheerful and energetic. We are also very clever! But as sociable and diplomatic as we seem, monkeys can be very deceptive and hide their opinions beneath their sociability. Unforutnately, we can't hide our emotions- which is very true for me. If you look at my face, you will instantly be able to tell what I'm feeling. It's a terrible thing to have. But that's me!

When my two sisters have their babies, my nieces or nephews will be a horse. That's kind of exciting!

For Chinese New Year, we are going to have a Chinese and celebrate with some fortune cookies to bring in the new year. There's a funny story tied with our little tradition to eat Chinese on Chinese New Year because a couple years back, I wasn't keen on Chinese food and so I got really annoyed when Mum and Dad bought it for dinner. I had a little moan about how we weren't even Chinese so why were we eating Chinese food. And then that moan came back round to bite me on the butt when I figured I actually did like Chinese food and now everyone always reminds me of the moment I moaned about eating Chinese on Chinese New Year... Oopsie.

Are you doing anything for Chinese New Year? What year are you in the Zodiac calendar? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy Chinese New Year my friends!!

Love, Nicole
xxx

Things People Say on Buses

Having been enrolled in Kingston University since September, I have taken around three buses a day, every weekday for the last 5 months. On average, that's around 60 bus journeys a month if my maths if right. That's a lot of bus journeys and considering buses are probably my least favourite public transport, I'd rather not think about how many hours I have spent on the cramped and sometimes annoying tin can! But the good thing about spending so much time on buses is that you get to eavesdrop on conversations that people have during their journey. Sometimes, these conversations are between friends, sometimes between strangers and sometimes, weirdly to themselves. Overhearing conversations is hilarious.

If you're ever on a bus, please listen in to some conversations and it'll keep you entertained for your entire journey. I'm probably in someone else's list of funny things said on buses but here are a few things that I've noted down since I decided to do this blog about a week ago...

♥Can I get a return?
Now this isn't really a conversation so I've already flouted my blog topic BUT this is something I regularly hear on the bus from people. Now I don't know whether or not they are new to London or not but I have NEVER heard of being able to get a return on a bus in London and it makes me giggle everytime they ask. It makes me wonder whether that was their first bus journey in London/Kingston and then I wonder further about why they might be there, what are they doing?
London does not offer return bus tickets because it means they wouldn't receive as much money as they do now, the money grabbers!

♥Where does this bus go to?
Now, I don't know about you, but whenever I'm going somewhere different and new where I don't know the area; I always research the bus that I need to take in order to get to my destination, and I research extensively. Maybe that's because I'm a little bit of a worrier but it does make me laugh when people get on the bus and then don't know where the bus goes OR when they need to get off. Completely lack of planning on their part. And there's a lot more people that don't know where the bus goes or where to get off than I thought.
But unfortunately, on Monday, I became one of these people because I knew I needed to take the 463 bus but I didn't know which side of the road I needed to be on. Also, to make things 10x harder, the bus was in a section of hail and ride and so there wasn't a bus stop to check on my handy Bus Checker app. I know, disastrous. And what's worse is that I had to get off the first bus because it wasn't going where I wanted to go. How shameful!

♥Talking about their test scores.
I get a bus that is overran with school children because that's how they get to school in the morning. The bus stops right outside their school so I don't blame them. But it's also a school that is rated very highly and all the smart children go there to extend themselves. So, the theme of their conversation is always about test scores and grades they received. No word of a lie, one conversation I overheard was mocking a child for getting 7/10 when everyone else got 10/10 in Physics. Now, becoming a teacher I should find this as a good thing because the children obviously care about their education but at the same time, I also feel a little sad about it because those children obviously have so much pressure on their backs that they aren't even really allowed to be children. It's a lose-lose situation, I guess.

♥Weather.
This is generally the conversation between strangers and most of the time, if not all, there is an elderly person involved. I find these conversations endearing and I love talking about the weather with a stranger on the bus. It gets a little lonely spending so much time by yourself on a bus so it's nice when you see a smiley face or someone that actually wants to interact with the other human beings. I had a lovely conversation with a middle-aged woman about the weather and how rainy it was. We also spoke about Australia and how crazy the weather is around the world. And you know what? It put a smile on my face when I got off the bus after a long day. It's nice to be friendly.

♥Diet.
This is probably the worst conversation I have heard on the bus between a group of three teenage girls just because it's so evident of what our society values and it makes me a little sick. I listened to the girls talk about going on diets and trying to eat as little calories as they could in the day. No word of a lie, the girls actually had a little competition about who had eaten less the day before. And it turned out that the girl that had eaten the least also had fainted that day, which she said wasn't bad because it was just the once. I mean, what the hell? What has our world come to? It makes me so angry and then so sad to think that this is what girls think is a good thing. It's not and I wanted to say something to them but I got too scared.

And those are some of the things that people talk about on buses. It's quite interesting to listen to people when they're talking because there are some people that hardly talk on the bus (me) because they don't want people listening in and then there are some people that really don't mind what they talk about or who is listening. You could probably guess that I also like people-watching.

I'M NOT A CREEP!
xxx

Late Night Lecture

This is a little bit of a misleading title but today, everyone get your shocked faces out, I have to stay for a lecture til SIX PM! That's late. I feel like on top of my travelling, getting home at 8PM is unacceptable. There will be loads of you that don't end work/get home til then most days but for the majority of people, especially at uni, having a lecture til 6 is the only thing they have that day. Thankfully, I didn't start til 11AM this morning but that's still a very long day. And I had a test :(

 I am a little bit tired of going to uni now, it's come to that time in the year when you are so sick of the course. I love the course, don't get me wrong because the content is so different and I really want to learn everything there is about teaching but after having been in education for so long that I'm kind of ready to be out and into an actual job. By the time I start actually teaching, I will be begging for the lack of responsibility in the course but I just want something new. I'm ready for the challenge and I just want to take on the responsibility of a class and to make a difference to people. It's also that time in winter when you just don't want to move from your bed because it's so cold and wet. It's a horrible time of the month!

AND it's getting colder. I'm not good with winter and although it's nowhere near to how cold it was in Cardiff without heating but now that I have to be outside without the comfort of my layers and layers of clothes underneath a onesie, dressing gown and the duvet, it's not fun. And standing on platforms when it's freezing is not fun at all!

I kind of hope that it might snow recently just so that I could have a snow day because the trains won't be running if there is too much snow. I'm such a child. But a good child because I refuse to take a day off when I'm perfectly well enough to go in; I need a good excuse to bunk. I know, I'm a nerd!

Also, hello Wednesday, I'm glad we're getting to the right side of the week, the happier time when the signpost of the weekend is in sight!

Babbling much? I know. That was a little bit like a brain diarrhoea session. Too much graphics? SORRYY

LOVE YA!

xxx

Another Poll Time

I love blogging and I love blogging everyday but recently, I've been really busy and I don't know if you've noticed but my blogs have been pretty rubbish. That's just because by the time I finish uni, I'm knackered and I don't have the energy to write something spectacular.

So, I'm handing the responsibility over to you, my readers (all 3 of you) and I want to know your opinion of this blog. Let me know in the poll below what you think I should do!

I love you all and I'm excited to see the results

xxx

I wanted to embed this poll in my blog post but I couldn't for the life of me figure it out :( I'm a techno crappo! To the right hand side, you should see the poll so I hope you take the time to click the button.

Motivational Monday #37

This is one of the cutest motivational quotes that I have seen. I love the colours and the design. The drawings are so simple but they look so cute. And the message is so true. You got to keep going even if today is hard because you never know what is round the corner. Keep the hope and you'll find a brighter day tomorrow.

Today, I am at a school for a week to learn about assessment and have more experience in a school and although I think it is a good thing to go to different schools; it does seem a little pointless. I love going to see how different teachers teach and how different schools are ran but the course changed this year so that we have 6 weeks more at school placement and 6 weeks less of lectures. This ultimately is good because the more school time is better but there is so much to learn that the days are so packed and rushed that the information we need is not delivered in the highest quality. I am not way saying that the university isn't doing its best but I think that for next year, a little more care needs to be taken when deciding what needs to be done for lectures and out of phase weeks,

I'm going to take this week as a big opportunity and make the most of it. It's something that will give me a lot of valuable information and if its not that great or exciting, I need to always look towards tomorrow because I never know what might be flung my way. 

Smile because as the Annie song went, the sun'll come out tomorrow! Or at least, it'll figuratively come out.

This isn't a very good Motivational Monday, I appreciate that but the picture was too cute that I couldn't not use it! ADORABLE!

xxx

Winter Weather

This time last year, we were covered in a lovely white blanket of snow with freezing temperatures. But this year, it seems that God has had enough of snow and has wanted a rather milder, wetter winter. Outside, it's not that cold because it is plus temperatures and even then it is around 10/11 degrees celsius meaning for this time of year, it's exceptionally mild albeit still feeling a little bitter in the mornings.

I like rain. It may sound weird but I really do. I'm not keen walking in it most days especially if I'm walking around to get somewhere but I do love watching it when I'm inside. Even if it is when I'm at uni. There's something very satisfying about watching the rain run down the window and not getting wet. 

Although, yesterday, the weather went a little crazy. As a family, we went out for a late lunch/early dinner at the Harvester and whilst Mum had gone to collect my sister, she came across a load of traffic because a tree had been blown down. The trains were cancelled and the lightning lit up the sky. It was insane to hear the stories from people. But a little exciting too. For most people, torrential rain is devastating due to flooding because of the recent experiences across the country but I love watching it and on those days when you're not feeling your happiest, it's great to stand out in it. 

I wanted to show you a couple of pictures that I saw today from people across the country. They really are some spectacular sights!

London

Birmingham

Waterlooville

(These pictures are not my own and credit goes to the actual photographers.)

And apparently, the wet and windy weather is set to continue during the week. How exciting. Don't get too wet people. And stay safe wherever you are!

xxx

Masterpiece

Most of the time at uni, I have a lot of work based lectures which last 3 hours each lecture. It's a lot to take in because you are simply being talked at for 3 hours and expected to keep your attention and make notes throughout the entire thing. I'll have you know, when you're tired, this is almost impossible. So, when I have lectures that are more hands on like Design and Technology and Art, it makes uni go a lot faster and is a lot more exciting. 

Yes, that blob in the centre is meant to be a bee.
Also, I needed a glove because my thumb has a pretty nasty burn on it :(
The last thing I wanted was to get clay in it. Ouch!

Yesterday, I had art and we were doing clay making. At first, we had to make a pot of some sort. So, I started making a thumb pot but then I got bored of it, mainly because it was so simple and it meant I had to put a design on the outside. If you know me, you know I'm not that creative in what I can do and so I decided to change the brief a little and created this little flower. I told the lecturer that it is in fact a pot of some sort and she seemed to like it, so that was a bonus.

But my favourite part of the lesson was the main part where we need to create a scene from a popular children's book. Most of the other groups were doing Hogwarts and that seemed fun but Anneke and I wanted to do something a little different. Can you tell what it is?

I think it turned out super cute and it was so much fun to make albeit at times, it was a little stressful! I loved it. It was the perfect way to end a long and tiresome week. I bet you wish you were clay making on your Friday afternoon!

Today, the family and I are going out for a late lunch/early dinner at the Harvester and I can't wait. I absolutely love it. Their salad cart is to die for. I started some of my essay yesterday but it was seriously boring as sin and so the 700 words I wrote makes up for the day off I am giving myself today. It works out.

What are you planning to do today? Let me know in the comments below. I would rather like to know how boring my days are compared to your exciting lives.

Love you all, have a super fantastic, spectacular day even if you're just staying in and chilling.

Until tomorrow, my beauties

xxx

SleepBot Review

I don't know about you, but I always find that when I wake up with an alarm, I feel so groggy and tired still than when I wake up naturally. I recently had a little moan about this to my friends but I have to get up between 5:30 and 6AM every weekday, which is too early for me! One of my friends suggested that I download the app SleepBot which tracks you in your sleep and wakes you up at the moment you're at your lightest sleep during that time period to emulate the most natural wake up that you can have with an alarm. I had so many questions about how it would work but I'll hopefully fill you in on some of the things about the app.

Firstly, you need to put your phone next to your pillow on your bed so that it can track the movement of you in your bed. This means that every toss and turn you make, it will feel it, record and track it the entire night. The key thing that needs to happen for the app to work is that you need to press that you are going to sleep for the tracking to start. Furthermore, you also need to be able to set your alarm at the LATEST that you can wake up and click the smart alarm button on the main app page. This means that it will track your movement half an hour before the latest time you can wake up and it will then wake you up during that time when you are at your lightest sleep.

When you wake up to the alarm, hopefully not feeling too groggy, you need to click waking up so that it stops recording. This data will then be compiled into a graph that you can look at to see how much you moved at which times during the night. I think it's fascinating to see how still you slept or on the flip side, how much of a wriggler you were. The more you wriggle, I would suggest, is the time that you're at your lightest sleep- most awake. So if the majority of your sleep is still, I'd say you had a pretty good nights sleep.

As it tracks your sleep, it calculates how long you have slept. It then has a "debt" counter to see whether you are getting enough sleep every night. Over 8 hours, and the number will be a minus number to say that you've had enough sleep and do not need to make up for anything. But if you have had under 8 hours, the number will be a positive and this suggests that you need to sleep longer to make up for the time you did not get.

The other feature that I absolutely love about this app is that it will record the sound during the time you are logged in for sleeping. This means that if you have always wanted to hear what you do in the night, i.e. snore or sleep talk, it's perfect. Once again, you need to log in that you are going to sleep for it to start recording and you also need to click on the tick where it says record sound so it knows you want the sound to be recorded. I suggest if you are going to record your sound, plug your phone in otherwise it will lose a lot of battery, which is not ideal.

I absolutely love this app and use it even without the alarm simply just to track my sleep. I think it's intriguing as well as extremely useful. I have been feeling better waking up more naturally and I think if you need that little bit of help. Give it a go! I love it.

xxx

Overwhelmed

I knew this course would be a lot to do in the year because of how much information and practice is squashed into too few months but I didn't quite realise how stressful and overwhelming it would be. There are days that I feel like I'm breezing through without a care in the world, going to lectures, having fun with my friends and going home to watch TV as a break from working. But other days, and this is more recently, I've been getting so wound up by what I need to do during the day that I can't wind down. I am either worrying about essays, thinking about job applications or completely crumbling over the fact that there's too much to do. And when I stress, I don't tend to get lots of things done.

I get up at 5:30/5:45AM every morning and am waiting on the train platform at 7, I then don't get back home until around 6 at night which means that by the time I'm home, I don't want to work. But I know I have to, this means that I get so worked up about needing to work that I generally start crying. It's a fact. I feel like I'm just trying to keep my head above the water and failing at the moment. I don't know whether it's because I can't do it or I'm overcomplicating it but I'm knackered. And I know people do the job everyday and people are more tired than me, but for me I'm not just physically tired, I'm emotionally and mentally tired. I have so many things to think about.

And it's bad because when I'm out with people having fun, in the back of my mind I'm constantly thinking about what I should be doing instead. I know I need some time to myself but where I'm not quite sure what I need to be doing for any of my essays due to lack of communication at uni, I can't bear the thought of losing hours out and about when I should be working.

I'm overwhelmed, overworked and underchilled out. (I know that's not a thing but I really can't be bothered to think of anything else).

So if you know me in real life and I'm not planning things to go out or I don't reply back to your texts quickly or ever, OR I'm constantly saying I can't go out, it's nothing personal. It's just a little Nicole meltdown. I don't mean to, it just happens. Essays make me crazy because I know how rubbish I am at them! It's just too hard.

Life is hard.

Rant over. Feeling sorry for self over! I apologise, haha!

xxx

Scary Headteacher Interview

When this was put to us a week ago, the only piece of information we got was that it would be an interview practice with a headteacher. It was compulsory and we had to pick a time slot. Up until this morning, I was scared to death. I couldn't think about anything other than the fact I would be doing an interview with a real life headteacher judging me on whether I'd made a good teacher or not.

I dressed up in my favourite green dress, the one that I convinced myself was lucky because I had nailed the PGCE interview in it. And I went in an hour earlier just in case for some reason the trains or buses stopped running. I had a massive case of butterflies and this made me feel sick to the stomach. It actually felt like I was going to puke.

And to make matters worse, there was going to be 5 other people on the course in the room with me. Talk about scary and intimidating. And then the headteacher came in, and the second she said hello, I knew that it would be too bad. I was still, however, very nervous about answering questions given the fact I have limited experience for both interviewing  and being in a school.

We all took a question and answered it as if we were in an interview setting and although I got a little embarrassed by saying my answer to a whole group of people feeling very vulnerable, it wasn't too bad. And in fact, she said that it was a very good, detailed answer, which put my nerves at rest a little more.

The thought of now taking a real interview still scares the living daylights out of me because I know it'll be real and they'll either offer me a job or say I'm unsuccessful! It's scary stuff. But I know that my nerves and fear is not something to be negative about. Essentially, they are negative emotions but the reason I'm feeling them is because I care about how well I do. I want to be a teacher so much and get a job because someone thinks I make a good teacher. I'm passionate about it and I know that anytime I'm in that situation, I know I need to remind myself of that!

It's going to be a couple of months before I have to interview, but for now, I know I need to start looking for jobs soon because by the time Easter comes, it's going to be all guns blazing for starting the job interviewing process. I'm not sure I'm ready to be a fully fledged adult with my own class. I can't wait but in some ways I could wait forever to jump over this first huge hurdle!

Scary times!

xxx

Word of the Day

I learnt this word today in my lecture and I thought it was pretty greaat!

Punctiluous - meaning to pay great attention to detail. 

Synonyms = precision and deligience.

I don't think I'd ever use it in everyday conversation but I feel like if I did, I'd be quite the upper class socialite. Fairly fancy. Oh-la-di-da!

xxx

Motivational Monday #36

Today has been dubbed Blue Monday and that is because apparently, it is the most depressing day of the year. Primarily this is because people are running out of money and the payday  is too far away but it's also because we're in the thick of winter and the sight of any sunshine and warmth seem so far away. It's also because after Christmas and the New Year, there isn't that much of a big occasion to look forward to other than Easter and the summer. AND given the usual depression on a Monday, it doesn't serve to be quite a good day.

This morning, I didn't think it was either. I accidentally dropped my phone getting out the car at 7AM this morning and had walked across the road without realising. Thankfully, Mum hadn't left yet so I legged it back across the road once I had realised and recovered my phone much to my fear and worry. It's a strange thing losing things, isn't it? It wasn't just that my phone would have been lost, but sometimes it's easier for me to put my cards in my phone and so they would have been lost too. From now on, I'm taking a proper purse instead. Anyway, my little episode this morning told me to not look so negatively at things that happen. Bad things will happen but you gotta look at the positive.

Now, I agree this is much harder to do than it is to say. BUT rather than looking at the whole of life as a positive, perhaps instead of harping on at the negative instances that happen, we should instead look at the positive things that happen. Even if this is one thing that happens during a day. We may all be running out of money and things at home might be stressed/depressed/angry/difficult BUT there must be something good about the day that has made you smile or thank your lucky stars. The instance with my phone is the thing that I'm looking on the bright side of AND the fact I got to come home early. I never get to be home by 3 anymore.

And also, we shouldn't buy into the whole media frenzied day that has been publicised as the day when we're all going to be sad and depressed because it might not be the case. Sure enough, people might be struggling but that doesn't govern everything in our lives. Plenty of people today have been happy and it's been sunny, without any rain, which tells me that this Blue Monday crap is a little bit of a made up story.

I say Blue Monday should have a new meaning where we can look up at the sky and literally see the blue sky rather than the murky, horrible, dull, grey clouds.

Just change your way of thinking and make sure that if you are having a bad day, just look for that one small positive to give you a smile. Look for the good, don't just expect it to be handed to you. It's all in the mind!!

LOVE YOU!

xxx

Les Misérables Review

After months of waiting, I finally got to go see Les Misérables at the West End, in the Queen's Theatre. Before we went and saw it, we went for dinner at Chiquitos and I had a yummy burrito but I was so excited for Les Mis that I gobbled it down so quickly and caused a belly ache. When we were sat in the audience waiting for it to start, the excitement and buzz that was going through me was phenomenal. I love all the songs and the story of the musical that I couldn't quite believe that I was finally seeing it!

And then it began! It began and through the whole way through, I was blown away. It was amazing and I can't believe how talented all the actors were. To begin with, it was such a simple set but they utilized all the space that they could have. It wasn't a very big theatre given only one column of seats for each row and such a small stage but it was fabulous. They had a turntable in the middle of the stage that moved around whenever they needed the set changing and I really liked how they kept it simple.

The costumes were great, lighting and general acting was great. But what went above and beyond was their singing. They could belt out all the songs with what looked like such little effort. I couldn't believe it and I actually ended up holding my breath throughout some of the numbers because they were so breathtakingly beautiful. They were sung with such precision and passion that you could feel the tension and emotion in the air. It gave me goosebumps and sent chills down my spine even though I was boiling. That is the sign that shows me how brilliant someone is.

Obviously, the story is such a bittersweet, sad one and I loved the highs and lows and how they managed to contrast the sad, emotional scenes with the more lighthearted ones. I laughed, and I was shocked. I must admit that I did cry. I almost cried many of times but the very end, I couldn't help the tears that fell. It was such a highly charged performance and one that can be easily related to.

It was such a spectacular viewing that as soon as it finished, I wanted to go and see it again. I give it 5 out of 5 for the whole experience. If you love the story, please do me a favour and go see it. It was sensational. 

And now, the only thing that I need to figure out now is what I want to go see next in the theatre. Does anyone have any ideas? Suggestions?

Have a wonderful Sunday! 

xxx

Today Is The DAY!!

I've been waiting for this day since October.

I have been bursting to go and see the theatre show since I booked the tickets.

And after so long, the day has arrived when I'm going to go see it.

I going to see Les Misérables!

So exciteddd!

xxx

Geography Fieldtrip... Boring!

This blog was meant to be able my Geography fieldtrip today around London which was fun. We walked around a lot and we had a lovely curry.

But before I knew it, on the way home, I found out that my other sister is having a baby. If you caught my other blog about becoming an aunt, you'll know that my eldest sister is already pregnant, due in March but now I'll be an aunt TWICE in 2014. My second niece or nephew is coming in late July and I can't wait.

Top baby is due in July- the newest edition and the bottom baby is due in March.

It's going to be so exciting seeing the two little ones growing up. Many have said that it is like buses with babies around here. You wait years for one and then two come at once. I can't wait to meet the two new editions to the family. I'm too excited. Many have said that I'm OTT but I really don't care! I can't help it.

I also bought my eldest sister, due in March, this cute little book to record the first couple of months of her baby's life. It's super cute!

 I CAN'T WAIT!!

xxx

First World Problems

As I travelled home today, I wondered about what I would write about for today's blog. I hadn't pre-written this one today and I knew that I didn't have anything interesting to say. Today was my uni friend's birthday and we had a fun little birthday lunch complete with opening presents, cake and sweets, which was lovely! And then afterwards we went to the pub for a drink. It was lovely but I knew that it also meant I would be home a little later. It's terrible I know.

Anyway, I hit the jackpot with the first bus only having to wait a minute or two for it to arrive and then the first train was only 5 minutes away. Brilliant. My luck was apparently on my side today. And then, I couldn't believe my eyes as I looked across from the platform to catch my second train. And shall I explain why I couldn't? Normally, there is 1 minute to get from one side of the station to the other (which is generally impossible) and so when I saw that the train wasn't there, the hope inside of my sparked and I thought, what if it's been delayed and I might be able to catch it? So I literally ran across to catch it and I was right, thankfully I got on that train which meant not having to wait half an hour for the next one. Result!

But that's where my luck ran out really because I missed the connecting bus which meant I had to wait 15 minutes for the next one. And what's even worse was that I couldn't get any signal to send messages NOR could I use the Internet to check when the bus was actually coming with my live update app.. I know, it's terrible. I was not in the best of moods when the bus casually pulled up what seemed like HOURS LATER...

And then I thought about the real issues in my life and that's the fact that I'm pretty darn ungrateful. It's stupid getting so mad that I missed a bus that comes on time (most of the time) on a regular schedule and that I also got mad that my smart phone was not working... The real problems of the world are far more serious than my first world problems based on materialistic, selfish things. And then I felt bad.

It's terrible that we think our lives are hard but when we stick it up against the stark opposite reality for others in other countries, it's silly. It's silly to get so mad about insignificant things. But I can't help it. I wish I was more selfless and didn't let things like that wind me up when I know how lucky I am.

I guess we're all human and that means we can't be perfect. I can get mad and moan about my first world problems and know that it doesn't mean I don't know of other problems or appreciate how lucky I am. And that understanding is what we need to have, not to be too PC and not moan because although our lives are not terrible, BUT at the same time, we still have a right to be mad at things in life.

Right?

xxx

First Ever Manicure!

Whenever I heard people talking about going for a manicure in the past, I've always thought they've been just a little too up theirselves. But since I've had limited time to myself during uni and this PGCE course, I have changed my mind. Yesterday, Anakin and I went to the nail salon and got ourselves a manicure.

And there are several reasons why I loved it:

1. I love painting my nails.

2. I like being pampered.

3. Getting a manicure means number 1 and 2 are fulfilled without even moving a muscle.

4. There's a bigger selection of colours and designs i.e. I had a dark blue matte nail varnish. How cool!

5. They give you a lovelyyy hand massage.

6. You get to have a fun day out with your girl friends.

7. It's only £10 with 10% discount, which meant it was only £9. Bargain!

8. I just love it!!

If you've never gone for a manicure but have thought about it, do it! And just because you might say "I've got short nails" you can still get a pretty colour manicure. It's fab!

Next time, I'm going to have a french manicure and see how it goes.

xxx

What To Do When You're Out of Blog Ideas

I'm not going to lie. This happens to me alot. The longer that I've written a blog every day for, the less I have to talk about. In fact, the more boring these blogs have become especially since I reached my optimum year blogging. It seems that I have reached my goal and therefore, I have felt a little less excited about my blog. Although, when I get a really good idea, there's nothing that can stop me from writing it. The trouble I find is that I find myself getting more and more busy or more and more tired that the last thing on my mind is to sit in front of a laptop and write my blog. It only really takes 10 minutes but it's the whole thought process that makes me spend ages writing.

Many of times I have stared at a blank blog post and wondered what I could write about knowing that I could easily give up on the whole blogging every day idea. It's a very appealing thought to not have to write a blog every day but I know that if I didn't, I'd feel lost as well as feeling a deep sense of disappointment in myself. I've done it for so long and I really do enjoy writing. I used to write stories but now I feel like that part of me has gone, and this snappier, shorter blog writer has been put in her place.

SO, if you're like me and you've run out of ideas for blogs, here are some quick tips to help you think of something:

♥I always do a cheeky Google search.

I'm not opposed to looking to others to tell me what might be a good blog post idea. I skip over most of them because I just don't have enough smart brain cells to tell you how to work something amazing. Instead, I just tell you things about my boring life and give you tips that you probably know already. 

♥Think about what you've done recently.

Most of the time, you've done something pretty cool but just glazed over it because you don't think it's exciting enough. For example, my beautiful friend Hollie is doing super well with her healthy eating and losing those extra pounds that she isn't happy with. And for her, I think this is amazing. It's something that I could never stick to and I think she's really strong for being able to commit to something like that. I'm super proud of her and it's those little things that make excellent blogs. When I'm reading blogs, I want to get a sense of what people are like behind their words and personal experiences are perfect for this!

♥Go away from your laptop.

The worst thing ever is to try and force yourself to think of something. The majority of times, your thoughts will be crappy and your blog will be below par. WHICH is mostly what mine is like! Just go and do something unrelated to your blog and I'm sure you'll have a thought when you come back to it with a fresh mind!

♥Ask a friend.

Hollie is so good at telling me blog ideas on what I should write. I love them and always steal her ideas in order to write my blog so the exciting ideas, you can thank her!

♥See what other people are doing.

If you're stuck, have a little browse of other people's blogs and cheekily borrow their idea if you like it. The beauty of the Internet is that you can share and borrow things- it's the exact platform for sharing and igniting your creativity. If you don't want to copy something exactly, find something you would like to do for your blog and change it a little to suit your needs and your niche.

♥Just share your day.

It might be a boring blog for a day but not every blog is going to be exciting. 99.9% of my blogs are rubbish, let's be honest but people come back to your blog to see what you're up to. There's nothing wrong with a little low key blog from time to time!

♥Write a "what to do when you're out of blog ideas" blog.

;)

I hope you've enjoyed this blog and see the irony in my last point. Oh, how hilarious I am, I know!

I'm currently so tired and it's only Tuesday. I don't get how I can get enough sleep in terms of 8 hours but still feel like I've not slept a wink. Annoyinggggg.

xxx

Not So Motivational Monday

I'm on strike from sending motivational messages today because of:

It's the first day back to uni in weeks and it means yucky early wake ups ALL week!! I try not to moan because I know how fortunate I am, but this makes me SAD!

That is all.

xxx