Motivational Monday #51

I'm one of those people that does like to be by myself a lot more than most people. I've never been too needy that I always need to be in contact with someone whenever I'm alone. I m quite happy to immerse myself in a good book and forget that other people even live around me. Don't get me wrong, I do love company and sometimes I do crave it but I don't necessarily need it all the time.

But sometimes, this is a bad thing too. Sometimes because I don't necessarily need people around me, I get a little antisocial and find myself not wanting to go out. It's a little weird but I could probably find an excuse to not go out for multiple plans simply because I wanna spend the day alone on the sofa. I'm a little lazy too that doesn't bode well for being social

I'm out dog walking with my friends from Uni today but I must admit that i did have a little thought to cancel so I didn't have to move BUT I thouht about how much more I would enjoy the day if I got to spend it with my friends. 

Sometimes, you need to forget about the effort it might be to do something and think about how much better you'll feel afterwards. And this relates to almost everything that you do- you may not want to get off the sofa and do some exercise rather than watching TV but instead of thinking about how much effort it is, think about how much better you'll feel after.

Just get it over and done with and do what is needed. You'll feel a lot better after. For me, this is actually being a human being that isn't lazy to be social. I'm terrible...

Have a brilliant day. Stop your excuses and get on with it ;)

Love youuuuu

xxx

I miss you

Woah. It has been an absolute age since I properly blogged and I can't believe I've waited this long to get back into it. It's absolutely crazy to think that I blogged everyday for about a year and 3 months and then the second I broke blogging everyday, I sort of gave up... I hate giving up and this last absence of blogging has been the ultimate giving up on my part.

I miss writing blogs and having people say to me "I really liked your blog yesterday!" The truth is, I've just been lazy and partly boring. It's hard to find something to talk about each day when your life isn't really that exciting. I'm not going to say I will definitely, but I am going to try and blog regularly because I miss you guys!!!

Summary Sunday

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! It's a great day to celebrate how much we need our father's in our life and the great things they have done for us! It's a father's love that helps us to grow big and strong believing in ourselves whilst maintaining an element of excitement and happiness- there's nothing like a good old Dad joke that keeps you young, no matter how old you are. You can't help but laugh at them!!

I hope every Dad out there has a brilliant day and for those that have lost their father's, remember that they are never far from you for they are always in your heart! I love you Dad!

xxx

Now, for a quick little Summary Sunday to look back at my life from a whole year ago- I bet I wasn't doing as much then as I have been doing this week. 

Let's find out!

9th June 2013: Cake Pops

http://nicolespearlsofwisdom.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/cake-pops.html

10th June 2013: Motivational Monday #8

http://nicolespearlsofwisdom.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/motivational-monday-8.html

11th June 2013: Obsolete Words

http://nicolespearlsofwisdom.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/obsolete-words.html

12th June 2013: Shopping Truths

http://nicolespearlsofwisdom.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/shopping-truths.html

13th June 2013: 21st Birthday Throwback Thursday #4

http://nicolespearlsofwisdom.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/21st-birthday-throwback-thursday-4.html

14th June 2013: I'm So Excited

http://nicolespearlsofwisdom.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/im-so-excited.html

15th June 2013: The Lion King Review

http://nicolespearlsofwisdom.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-lion-king-review.html

Oh, I remember going to see The Lion King in theatre- I absolutely loved it. I really need to go and see it again when I have money!

I hope you all have a brilliant Sunday and ignore the fact the sun has gone. Enjoy the rest of the weekend my beautiful butterflies!

Love you lots,

Nicole xxx

Happy Birthday to Me

You know it's going to be a good day when this happens at school... The kids were so lovely and made me a card and sang happy birthday to me about 5 times throughout the day. For a birthday at work, this has to be one of my favourites. I've had a ball.

Who says Friday 13th is an unlucky day?

It's my birthdayyyyyy!

"I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22!!!!!!!"

(I couldn't help myself, I had to do it)

Pre Birthday Fun

Tomorrow is my birthday and today has pretty much set me up for an amazing day tomorrow and an amazing weekend to follow. So, my day started with me being very nervous and putting my trusty old lucky green dress because I had my joint observation today. I was so nervous because this was one of the biggest observations as it was the last one. To make matters absolutely 10x worse, we were having a special visit at school today from our very own Deputy Prime Minister- Nick Clegg. The children were buzzing and I was dreading it.

Thankfully, I went in really strong and the children were wonderful. I managed to show myself in a good light and even though some of the children needed telling off, I could also show him my behaviour management. Perfect. I was so relieved when I had finished that I could have jumped for joy!! I feel incredible. Now, I just have my final conference to see how well I do and voila, placement is over!

Next, after school, my teacher treated me to a lovely manicure at the nail salon and I felt terrible for not paying so I'm off to Tesco after I post this blog to buy some yummy cakes for us tomorrow lunchtime!

And THEN, I came home to my beautiful new Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 that I splurged out on the other day. I think I deserve it. Now with my birthday tomorrow, it's safe to say, I am absolutely loving life. 

Such a good day!

How's yours been? 

Love you all

xxx

Successful P.E Lesson

Now, I'm not one to brag but I had a brilliant P.E. lesson and observation yesterday. I was initially so scared because I am not a fan of P.E. and the thought of managing the behaviour of 32 children on the field makes me nervous.

But, when I got out there on the field and the children were all sat before me, I was able to channel what I know about good teaching and apply that to P.E. I made sure that I showed progression when I was introducing what I was doing including where my lesson slot into the grand scheme of P.E. and where it would take them. 

Some of the boys thought they would be clever and tell me that they already knew how to bowl over arm and therefore didn't need to know how to bowl underarm but I watched them and they realised that they couldn't hit the target with their underarm bowling. Once they got off their high horse about being a boy and knowing more than me, they settled down and actually practiced the skill.

My teacher observing me gave me 7 strengths and only 2 targets where 1 of them was to have simply explained why they took one step forward- to balance them. It was so much better than I thought it would be and I can't believe how well it did go.

One more observation to go and then my final conference. It's all coming to an end!

Really Busy Week

This week is one of those weeks where the push is going to shove and I will be spread too thin that I may crack in places. I have two weeks left at school and next Tuesday, I have my final conference with my ULT that will decide my grade and ultimately decide whether I have QTS at the end of this year. This is so much pressure because if I don't get QTS, the job that I managed to secure for September will not be my job and I'll have no prospects for the future. That literally scares me the living daylights out of me because I just don't want to think about not passing my school experience and not getting QTS.

On top of having my final conference, I need to make sure that my school experience folder is complete and that everything that I need to put in it, is in it. Including everything that I potentially may have slacked on. It's hard to constantly come home and do work that you don't want to do. It's hard but I try and force myself to do it because otherwise it goes on top of you. Teaching is hard enough, standing in front of the class is difficult but dealing with the paperwork afterwards is equally hard. Especially if you haven't had a good day at school- sometimes I think I'm the worst teacher in the world and some days I don't think I'm far wrong with that judgement.

Anyway, today I have a P.E. observation with my teacher and if you know me, you know that there is no P.E. liking bone in my body. I don't know how to teach P.E. and so we'll see how it goes tomorrow (I'll let you know!). I'm hoping it goes well because I know that if it does, I have another observation on Thursday and I definitely won't feel good about being observed again in the same week if it doesn't go well.

My observation on Thursday is my last observation but is a joint one. Not only will my teacher be observing me but so will my ULT. EEK. 

So much pressure!

And then my birthday weekend will definitely be spent trying to sort out my folder for my final conference. There's so much to do and so little time. I'm freaking out just a little.

How's your week looking?

I'm hoping it's a lot less stressful than mine

xxx

Motivational Monday #50

Wowee, we have reached 50 Motivational Monday blogs. That is absolutely mental. It's one of those milestones that makes me realise how far we've come on this journey. That is 50 weeks of motivational messages every week on Monday... Almost a whole year. Crazy! I wonder how many more Motivational Monday's there will be. I know that my next achievement would be reaching x amount of number of pageviews and reaching a round number of blogs- perhaps 1,000 blogs. That would really make me lose my words with astonishment!

This is one of the things that I need to remember on those days that I just think there is no point. It's true that whenever something small goes bad, we look to all the problems in our life and make our mood worse by counting them all up and putting us in a terrible mood! But when we have those moments, I know we should all take a step back from our anger at whatever it is that is happening at that moment in time and think about all the positive things. We should be counting the blessings in our life above the problems that we think mount up too much. 

Make sure that you look towards the rainbow instead of the rain.

Also, let this make your day- yesterday we were on our way to Bognor and we saw this in the sky:

It's a rainbow in the clouds?! WHAT?!

I googled it and this is what it says it is:

Cloud iridescence is the occurrence of colors in a cloud similar to those seen in oil films on puddles, and is similar to irisation. It is a fairly uncommon phenomenon.

If parts of clouds have small droplets or crystals of similar size, their cumulative effect is seen as colors. The cloud must be optically thin, so that most rays encounter only a single droplet.

How interesting.

xxx

Summary Sunday

Oh my! My Sunday has been quite a day. We started the day off at Toby Carvey's all you can eat breakfast at 9:30, until about 11. And then, we made a last minute decision to go to the beach because it was so lovely out that it would have been a waste of a day to not have enjoyed it! So, we headed down to Bognor Regis and stayed there lounging in the sun. We've only just got back and yes, I've got a little bit sunburnt... Oh dear, ha!

Let's take a look at what I was doing or thinking about a whole year ago:

2nd June 2013: Realisations

http://nicolespearlsofwisdom.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/realisations.html

3rd June 2013: Motivational Monday #7

http://nicolespearlsofwisdom.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/motivational-monday-7.html

4th June 2013: Saying Goodbye

http://nicolespearlsofwisdom.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/goodbyes.html

5th June 2013: I Hate Maths

http://nicolespearlsofwisdom.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/i-hate-maths.html

6th June 2013: Throwback Thursday #3

http://nicolespearlsofwisdom.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/throwback-thursday-3.html

7th June 2013: Pass

http://nicolespearlsofwisdom.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/pass.html

8th June 2013: Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows

http://nicolespearlsofwisdom.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/sunshine-lollipops-and-rainbows.html

And so you've heard about my week in blogs from this year if you read my blogs from this week and now you know what I was doing a whole year ago!!

xxx

Body Conscious

This is something that I have wanted to blog about for quite some time but I didn't know how well received it would be. You see, I am a fairly skinny girl. I always have been and this has always been at the centre of my milestones in life- from being called anorexic by my friends in Primary school to governing how I dealt with my Nan's death. It's a big part of my life, and I think that now I'm older and the world is a lot more body conscious than it was, it is having a bigger effect on me.

As a fairly skinny girl, I find it hard to explain to people my body issues because I feel like people will judge me for being too conscious about myself especially when people say I don't need to be. If I'm feeling fatter than usual and I say so, I always get greeted with negativity. I'm not saying I'm fat by any means but in terms of me and my size, there are days when I feel fat or I don't feel happy with my shape, naturally.

It seems that in life, especially for women, there is such a pressure to be perfect that whenever I look at myself there is ALWAYS something that I don't like. And it seems like the thing I don't like change from week to week. Sometimes my issue with my body stays for weeks, sometimes for a couple of days and sometimes for months. I've never looked at my body and been completely happy and I find that hard. I find it hard to explain that to people as well. I don't know why I can't just stop picking at my body but I don't think that I'm alone at all. There's always something to not like...

At the moment, my body conscious issue is my thighs- I look at them and just see them being fat. I used to have a real issue with eating and losing weight when my Nan died because I wanted the control. I got very skinny and I got very strict with what I ate and more importantly what I didn't eat. I think since then because I was the skinniest I've ever been, any weight I've added back on has been quite a shock to the system and this has made me a lot worse with judging myself. I feel like I've got a double chin, bingo wings and flabby thighs... Whether this is true or not. 

Now, I know saying this, I may cause myself a lot of aggro and a lot of people will be mad at me, but I don't intend for this blog to be something for people to hate me for. I want it to inspire people. I want people to read this and realise that just because you see yourself one way, it is not that everyone sees you in the exact same way. Which of you would have thought I had those insecurities or worried that I had a double chin/flabby thighs/bingo wings? So you see, your eyes don't always tell you the truth. You see what you want to see, not necessarily what is in front of you.

Once again, I hope that this is not received badly. I like to share my life with you all and that includes my hang ups and it means that I'm admitting I'm not perfect, I have insecurities and I'm not always happy with myself.

Don't hate me! I need to love my own body too!

Love you all.

Enjoy your Saturday. Having said all that, I'll probably grab some chips for dinner and secretly hate myself after I've eaten them! I had fruit today so I guess that equals it out. Yeah? Ha!

xxx

Maleficent Film Review

Besides not being able to pronounce the name of the film without someone else coaching me on the correct way and the fact I still get the name wrong when I did say it, I did enjoyed this film. The film is based on Sleeping Beauty and stars good old Angelina Jolie in it. Let me just tell you, her cheekbones are razor sharp in this film and with her close ups, you definitely get a good look at her!

I have a feeling that this film is going to get very mixed reviews. There are going to be the people on the side of loving it because it involves all the factors such as fairytale story, a twist in the original story and Angelina Jolie. And there are going to be some other people on the other side of the spectrum and are going to laugh at the storyline plot and hate it. I'm more on the side of loving it because I am the ultimate Disney lover.

Let's start with the main storyline. When it first started and there was a girl with wings flying around, I did think to myself- what the hell have I gone to see? But once I realised that the film started pre-wicked witch, I was very intrigued by what would happen with it! With the popularity of Wicked and telling the story of the witch before the original story, I knew that I was going to like it because I do like seeing people from a good light. I always want to believe that people can be good underneath and they aren't just born evil. 

So the story follows a girl called Maleficent in the magical land and tells you the story of how the wicked witch came to be (the one that cursed Aurora in Sleeping Beauty). And there are parts of the film where I wish it had be different in the plot but it was a good watch and the CGI effects were good. Although, the amount of close ups by Angelina Jolie could have been reduced by about 50%... I think the majority of the pay she received for the film was based on the stare that she could give to the camera.

It's one of those films that will split people and whether you like it or not, I don't think it was the greatest film in the world that I would tell people that they HAVE to see it. But it was still a good film and if you do want to go see it, make sure that you are the type of person that loves Disney and loves a twist in an original story. It's good, I did enjoy it and I didn't feel like I wasted my money. Although, I don't rate 3D films because they are a waste of money in my eyes... Other than the occasional wing flying close to you, it's no different to normal but it is expensive. It's a pretty big joke.

So, there you go. Not a resounding "you must go see" film and if you were to ask my friend Alice or Hollie, they would say don't waste your money. But Rachel and I liked it and I say if you were planning on seeing it, go on an Orange Wednesday to make it cheaper. Then let me know what the verdict is on the film.

I love you all!

I need to go and write up my lesson evaluations. BOREEEE.

xxx

Wordless Wednesday

(Because I'm lazy!)

Comment below!

Would You Rather Tag

This is another tag that I found on the Internet that is generally addressed on YouTube but seeing as I am far too ugly and annoying to ever video myself answering these questions AND I have a pretty good blog, I thought I'd do it for you today! So, if you would also like to do this tag and you have a blog- go ahead and link your blog down below in the comments. If you want to make a video- do it, put it on YouTube and also link it down below in the comments. And if you have neither of the above, just write your answers in the comments below and I would loveeee to read them all!

1. Would you rather walk around all day with your skirt tucked in your underwear or be seen wearing a really see through dress?

I think, it would totally depend on what I was wearing. If I was wearing a good pair of underwear, I wouldn't mind that much wearing a see through dress but if I wasn't, I would totally prefer having my skirt tucked into my underwear because it would only be my bum. BUT, if I did have a see through dress on you'd be able to see my bum AND other private areas...

So, my final answer:

I'd rather have my skirt tucked in my underwear!

2. Would you rather have to sit all day or stand all day?

I always want to sit down but when I sit down for too long, I get bored. But I think, I'd rather sit down all day because then even if you have a numb bum, it is nowhere as near as having hurting feet and not being able to have the release of being able to sit down.

So, my final answer:

I'd rather sit down all day!

3. Would you rather forget to put mascara on one eye or forget blush on one side of your face?

Now this one is really tricky because either way, you're going to look a little bit like an idiot. Now, if you don't put that much mascara on, not putting mascara on one eye wouldn't be the end of the world AND it wears off really quickly so nobody would even notice. But if you put on loads, it would be a massive difference and look ridiculous. Then again, blush is the same sort of premise. I think that because I don't put blush on this is fairly easy because you can put on small amount of blush and it not be very noticeable. ESPECIALLY considering I would probably get embarrassed, blush and go red/pink anyway so no blush is required to even it out.

So, my final answer: 

I'd rather forget blush on one side of my face!

4. Would you rather drink an entire bottle of ketchup or run into the guy who broke your heart on a bad hair day when your skin is freaking out?

This is one of the easiest ones that could have been on the test. I love ketchup and I hate being seen with bad hair and bad skin without being seen by the guy that broke my heart...

So, with ease, my final answer:

I'd rather drink an entire bottle of ketchup!

5. Would you rather be able to date any celeb you wanted or wake up with perfect red carpet-worthy hair?

The celebrity would probably break my heart anyway and dating a celebrity would include being photographed by the paparazzi and that is not good because I have many flaws that I would not want put on magazine covers whereas you can not go wrong with having perfect hair every day- that is something out of dreams!!

So, my final answer:

I'd rather wake up with perfect red carpet-worthy hair!

6. Would you rather be able to run at 100 miles per hour or fly at 10 miles per hour?

Both of these would be pretty darn cool. Running 100 miles per hour because you could be wherever you wanted in no time but flying 10 miles per hour, a lot slower but you could fly! How crazy would that be? This is a toss up between wanting to get places really fast but running or flying. Considering the fact that I like my feet touching the ground (I'm scared of flying) and I'm also scared of heights, my answer is surprisingly easier than I thought it would be.

My final answer:

I'd rather run at 100 miles per hour!

7. Would you rather be forgotten or hatefully remembered?

Oh, this one! No one wants to be forgotten but do you want to be remembered and hated? If we look at this in terms of Hitler. He has never been forgotten but everyone (or at least most sane people) hate him. Do I want to be Hitler or do I want to be a soldier in the war that nobody knows but helped to save the world? I couldn't stand being remembered and hated, I think that has to be one of the worst things ever. I don't want to be hated by anyone whilst I'm alive and so I definitely don't want to be hated even after I've died.

My final aster: 

I'd rather be forgotten!

8. Would you rather be the most popular kid in school or the smartest kid in school?

Well, I was neither but my whole past answered this question. It doesn't even need to have an explanation.

I'd rather be the smartest kid in school!

And now it's your turn. I really wanna see your answers OR if you have a really good would you rather question, let me know and I'll answer it ASAP! I love this game. I used to play it with Charlotte back when I was at uni and had too much time on my hands.

I love you all.

Happy 3rd June... Because every day should be celebrated :)

xxx

Motivational Monday #49

You know what? I am guilty of not appreciating the things that I have in life. There are so many things going on in the world that are terrible where people are literally living in hell, if there were a place. And I look at my life and yeah, I have bad days but I am so lucky. When I read this quote, it made me realise that when we are having such a bad day, we should look for the small joys in life that show us how very blessed we are!

You're alive!

Yes, Monday is not the favourite day of the week but we should count out lucky stars that we get to still be around to experience Mondays! We should be blessed that we have a strong beating heart that gives us all the reason for us to keep going with life. To cherish and to enjoy the Mondays we have left. Our hearts will not always beat and therefore until the day out hearts stop beating, we should be valuing every single second of every single Monday we have. There will be a day when your Monday's have run out and you'll be begging for another just so you can live another day.

I know it's a bit morbid to think about the day when we no longer have a beating heart but until you have experienced loss and thought really about how delicate life is, you can't truly appreciate being alive.

I love you all.

Don't give up and really don't wish your Monday away. Love your Mondays because Mondays are a sign that you are alive and can hate the start to the week.

I'm glad you're alive!

xxx

Hello June

Bonjour my beautiful people. I have had quite the day and this is only the first of June, which I have a feeling will be a very busy and stressful month!

♥1st June - Today, I went to Reigate for the second part of my friend's hen party. The night before she had been camping with her friends from home and she had invited the girls from uni to come to Reigate for a picnic. I had an absolute blast but the only problem with Reigate is that there is only ONE train every hour between Reigate and Redhill. And that meant that me and my friend waited an hour for a train journey that was only FOUR MINUTES LONG! Absolutely insane. It was worth it though.

♥2nd June - Back to school after a whole week off and it's going to be very hard to get back into the whole teaching malarkey. Whenever I finish for the week, I get very nervous for Monday in case over the weekend I have lost my teaching ability. So, you can imagine what I'm like going back to school after a whole week. What if I can't do it?!

♥4th June - I am going to the cinema with Hollie, Rach and Alice to see Maleficent. I actually can't wait. I love everything Disney and another remake film about Sleeping Beauty is what we need!

♥5th/10th/12th - These are the dates of my final observations which I am not going to think about... Moving on swiftly!

♥13th June - IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!

I don't know about you but I'm feeling 22!!!

♥20th June - I end my placement and it marks the last full week that I have on the PGCE course. It's absolutely mental to think that I have done a whole year and will be *hopefully* a fully fledged teacher!

♥25th June - My last day ever on the university course!! I can't wait.

And that's it. That is my June, which is eventful and exciting.

What is your plans for June? I hope you are making it fun.

xxxx