August!

Hello 1st August. I was meant to blog earlier and do the whole cheesy "pinch punch first of the month" but I didn't because two little boys came and kept me preoccupied all day. First, we dropped the cats off at the vets to get their injections, then we played in the garden before their naps. After that, I created a 'picnic fairy' for the boys to wake up to and we sat in the living room having a picnic with our lunch that the 'picnic fairy' left for us! Then we went to the shops and it was such a busy day that I almost forgot to blog.
Not only did I have a busy day with my little nephews but I also had to do my sister's gel nails for her holiday. I bought a cheap UV lamp to cure gel nail varnish and I've been practising on my sisters. I'm doing quite well with doing them- the only problem is that my nails are shocking since I had acrylic nails on so I'm waiting for them to get back to being healthy before I apply more crap to my nails.
Although it is the month that everyone associates with summer, it rained today- typical. Anyway, this is what I'm doing for the month of August!
- 2nd August: This is Jacob's 2nd birthday so I will be spending some of the day with this little dude and eating cake (which is my favourite thing ever)!
- 3rd August: We are going to see Aladdin in the theatre, which should be amazing. I have heard some good reviews about the show and I love the Disney film so I hope it lives up to my expectations- I shall let you know afterwards, as always!

- 4th and 5th August: I go to an exercise class called Clubbercise, which is basically a fun dance based class to keep fit. I don't really go for losing weight but it is so much fun that I do love going anyway.

During August, I am going on holiday to Cyprus, which I can't wait for. My legs are currently the exact shade of milk so it is not a good look to get them out- not that we have much chance of that anyway with the weather.

I don't have anything else planned really throughout the month that are set plans because now that I'm off, I live day by day not necessarily planning it all.
My friends and I are planning a trip to the cinema at some point to see Finding Dory and we also want to go crazy golf. We'll see when we fit those in!
I hope wherever you are in the world that your weather is much better than it is in England right now. England seems to get confused by the concept of summer and doesn't actually get the memo that it's meant to be sunny and hot. Never mind, summer is always about the sun and a tan but it would be nice for one year to live up to the season.
What are you doing this month? Let me know if you want, in the comments below- I sure do read them!
Also, before I go, I've been loving this song (Shawn Mendes- Treat You Better)  and the girl that sings this cover sings it so beautifully that I had to share it with you! I found Georgia on Youtube a couple months ago and when she sang this cover, I fell more in love with the song!

Bye for now

Lazy Sunday

Yesterday was such a long, yet exciting day at Peppa Pig World. It took us about 1 hour and a half to get there, taking 3 separate cars with a limited signal in Southampton and a little cloud but we all made it there. It was incredibly busy with so many little children. I thought I would share with you my most favourite picture of the day- me, my sister and Jacob (the early birthday boy). We were in the exciting ride on Grandpa Pig's boat. It was very thrilling...

The other thing that I would say is that unless you have lots of little ones, Peppa Pig World does get boring- naturally as it is for little humans and not adults. It is so precious seeing their joy when they catch sight of one of the characters as well as going on all the rides. The theme music that constantly plays throughout the park can bugger off because it gets too annoying!!
As part of this blog today, I thought I would give you a bit of a summary of this week- I have managed to blog most days but I wanted to anyway. It's the last day of the month, which is insane thinking about. I shall do a 1st of August blog tomorrow to let you know what my August looked like!
Monday- I crapped my pants thinking about my driving test and grilled my dad on the worst roundabout where I live- there are way too many exits and too many lanes and that's without mentioning other drivers that literally cut every lane at any opportunity. I also babysat my nephew Jacob, who I adore!
Tuesday- I crapped my pants again with my driving test but thankfully passed with flying colours! I also went to see Tarzan with my friends- you can see my review for this using this link: http://nicolespearlsofwisdom.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/the-legend-of-tarzan-review.html

Wednesday- After having such a busy day yesterday with my driving test and my cinema date, I chose to spend this day lazily. I took a couple of driving adventures and even did my first solo drive, which was both scary as hell and exciting. I even put the radio on - how very cheeky of me!
Thursday- I went out for some drinks with my friend from school who had left last year. We had such a great year working together and I was devastated when she left but it makes me happy that we still see each other- what was meant to be low key drinks at 6PM turned into drinking until half 11 and then rushing to catch the last train home... Oops.

Friday- I don't think I actually did anything... Ultimtely lazy day.
Saturday- Peppa Pig World
Sunday- Cleaning my room. I feel like Sundays are always reserved for some sort of cleaning or tidying... It's just the rules.
I feel very lucky that I get to spend this part of the year off of work and take time to just look after myself. I'm really trying hard to not think about work or do work because I know that once it gets back to being September, I'll be back to being stressed. I also take this opportunity to blog again, which is why every half term/summer holidays, I go back to blogging regularly. I just wish I could sustain it throughout the term!
Never mind. I love you all as always!

Peppa Pig World

Yes, you did read that title correctly. I am a 24 year old girl and today I am spending the day at Peppa Pig World. Do not ask me what is at Peppa Pig World because I don't actually know but it's all in the name of love.

On 2nd August, it will be Jacob's 2nd birthday. It seems so crazy that 2 years ago, he was a tiny little baby in my arms hours old. 

Where else better to go than Peppa Pig World when you are 2 years old? I'll let you know what it is like and if I recommend any of you to go- probably not for anyone that does not have children unless you really like Peppa Pig... I hope it doesn't rain... (yes, I did prewrite this blog because I've got to get up really early to travel 1hr 30 mins to get to Peppa Pig World- the dedication is real!) Have a great Saturday! I know I will with Peppa and George!!

Also, this is my 800th blog- how crazy and what a blog to commemorate this achievement!

The Legend Of Tarzan Review

When I first saw the initial photos of Alexander Skarsgård as Tarzan, I immediately said to all of my friends that no matter whether they wanted to see it or not, we were going to see Tarzan when it came out. I could not miss the film that came with that body. I mean, oh my goodness- surely this is what dreams are?

As soon as I came out of the cinema, I turned to my friend and asked where I could find myself a Tarzan- something about the possessiveness and the primal feeling he gave searching for the woman he loved. Nothing, not even hundreds of men were going to stand in his way. The film is good but part of it is just playing on the hearts of women with all the shirtless scenes and the hot make out sessions that they have.

When I first heard that they were making Tarzan a 'live action' film, I thought they were going to remake the Disney classic. I absolutely adore the original Disney Tarzan but with Alex in this film, I love this one just as much! I was surprised when my friend told me before I went and saw it that it was a continuation- which I didn't really understand when she first told me.

I was even more confused when the film started in what looked like old London with Tarzan/John Clayton in a suit in a grand manor with servants. I did question whether or not I had come in the wrong cinema screen.  So basically, the premise of the story is that John Clayton left Tarzan behind and his mother and father were very rich, which he took over from after he found and married Jane. Then a proposal came for him to return to Africa to help stop the slavery of the African people and tribes.

The film then changes to the African setting with Tarzan meeting with his old friends- humans and animals. Unfortunately, as always, there is a bad guy that takes the one thing that Tarzan would do anything for- his wife. The rest of the film is about Tarzan doing anything he can to get her back. As you could predict, it involves the classic Tarzan noise, swinging from vines and you guessed it, topless fighting and running.

What a man!

I loved this film because not only did it tell the story beyond the Disney film but it also was so emotionally charged and it felt like the characters were real and the emotions they were feeling were real. Call me a hopeless romantic if you will but I truly did feel like he would do anything for Jane. Also Margot Robbie is an absolute babe!

5 stars from me! Go and see it 

I Did It!

Today was the day that I finally passed my driving test- I had to take a cheeky selfie to prove to everyone I did it. I also managed only 1 minor during my driving test, which I thought was amazeballs. It made me so happy to have passed today.
Unfortunately, I would've loved to have said I passed first time but I didn't. This was my second attempt at passing and when I first failed, I truly thought I was the biggest failure out there but now that I've had time to process it, I don't mind. I don't mind that I failed first time because just because you pass first time, it doesn't mean that you're a better driver. My first failure was because of another road user (a large van) did not follow the road rules and as a consequence made my right choices a major. On the day, I was devastated- as my family and friends would tell you, but now I think, so what?
And actually talking to other people, not passing first time is far more common than passing first time but people don't talk about it. So if you're out there and feel crap because you didn't pass first time, know that it doesn't matter! It doesn't mean you're a bad driver, it might've just been the circumstance, weather or your feelings. It's fine to pass second, third or even fifth time!
I'm so happy that I can close the chapter of learning to drive and move onto a new challenge and adventure. What that adventure is, I do not know!
Yippee. What a great day it is!

10 Things I Have Learned Since Being a Teacher

I've been teaching for 2 years now in Year 1 and I am classed as an experienced teacher- next year I am solely leading year 1 but along the way, I've learned some things that are very important.
It is now the summer holiday so I have plenty of time to think about where things went right this year, where things when wrong and what I could've done differently. Hindsight is such a beautiful thing isn't it? In the moment, you'll make a decision and you'll think it is the right one but when you look back on the situation with a clear objective mindset, you see that there are other things that could have been done. I guess that's just life!
I composed a list of things I have learned being a teacher and although there are way more than 10, I thought it would get a bit boring if my blog was 101 things I've learned since being a teacher. Moderation and limits is one thing that I've learned- know when to stop.
So here they are:
1. There is nothing more annoying than a child elongating your name and saying it over and over again. Hearing Missssssss Ryyyyy-aaaaannnnnn several times a day makes you really hate your name. Although, it does annoy me, I've learned to ignore it and I think that's the only thing you can really do in the situation.
2. You're an amazing actress. I used to think that I was really bad at acting at school and I really did hate drama in front of others but since teaching, I've had the best acting job of my life. I don't know how many times I have wanted to burst out laughing at something a child has said and yet kept a straight face or been handed something disgusting and not reacted the slightest. Someone give me an Oscar!

3. Empty your pockets before you do your washing. I don't know how it happens but somehow I come home with half the class in my pockets. Children love to find things, give it to you and in the moment, the only thing you can do is put it in your pocket and then you forget about it. 4. Teaching is one heck of a diet- you're so busy throughout the day that you completely forget to eat. It's great when you want to lose weight.
5. Children are the most loyal humans you will ever meet. It doesn't matter if you're having a bad day or if you have put children on time out, they will always end the day with giving you a big smile and loving you no matter what. Now, I'm a big believer in not being a child's friend per say- yes, I have fun and am silly with them because they are children but at the end of the day, if we end the day with them disliking me because I've been teaching them right from wrong, I've done my job. It's about teaching them and not always being liked.

6. Take time to just have fun and join in with their learning and their play. It's extraordinary how much of our job is governed by numbers/data and objectives but at the end of the day, children also need to be taught how to be children and cooperate during play. Don't forget how old your children are. The government will always push children to their very limits and you should push them to achieve their potential but teaching is not always about that end result- take the time to remember how old they are and change your day according to this. Take those moments to let them be that age.
7. Don't let planning, marking and the rest of the paperwork take over your life. I know it's hard to say but if it isn't done, the world will not end. Find a sliver of time from somewhere else or change your plans. It's important to know when to stop work and remember you're human and have a life as well.
8. There is a time when the talk of, sight of and smell of bodily fluids will make you uncomfortable but not want to vomit yourself. Breath through your mouth, put a big smile on your face and deal with the job in hand. It's not a nice thing but it gets part of routine after a while!
9. Don't worry. I used to worry so much about every little thing from fitting everything into my day to having a perfectly quiet classroom to having a successful lesson every time but now I've realised that although it would be a lovely life to have that, it's simply unrealistic. Yes, most days, you want successful lessons but not all children are going to learn at the same rate so there will be days when nothing seems to go right and no matter how many different ways you teach something, the children still don't get it and it's FINE! That is okay. You're human, it's allowed. Don't forget that you're not working with machines, you're working with tiny little humans with their own thoughts, feelings and experiences.
10. Regardless what anyone says, teaching really is the best job in the entire world! I do love teaching.

Those are the 10 things that came to mind when I think about the things I have learned over the past 2 years. It's not to say that I don't forget to remind myself of these things during term times.
Have a great day! :) xxx

Nostalgia

Oh heyyyy!

Yep, you've got it. It's the holidays so that means Miss Ryan gets enough time off of work to even give my blog a second thought and when I give it a second thought, I always miss it and come crawling back to it. I come crawling back, begging for anyone to read it like a sad little lost puppy begging for its owner to come and find it...
Summer holidays... Doesn't it feel good? (Sincere apology to those people who no longer get to feel the excitement of a summer holiday)
Anyway, today has been a pretty chilled day- it's been a day, in fact a weekend, filled with a little sense of nostalgia. So I feel like a blog to tell you about this nostalgia is in order.

Yesterday I traveled out of London to go and visit an old Uni friend that I hadn't seen in what felt like years. It is crazy to think that I left Cardiff Uni 3 years ago. How bizarre is that?! We went walking along the canal and it was so lovely to chat to him about everything that has happened recently and reminisce about our uni antics. We went for a pub lunch and chilled before I came back to London.
This really set the tone for my weekend as I just kept finding my mind wandering back to the past and people that I have lost along the way and those that I have been lucky enough to hang onto. I think the fact that I have never had a year without a summer holiday with endless hours to fill time with thinking makes me always gets nostalgic around this time. All this thinking did make me realise that I'm actually pretty good at keeping friends- from my primary school best friend, to my high school best friends and even friends I have found along the way on the Internet.
It also made me realise that I am finally getting old... Not old old like a granny but I am not longer a teenager or even a young adult. Now with my job and my savings for the future, I feel like I'm actually an adult. Luckily for now, I'm not yet at the adult stage of my life when I can say I have a husband and children but we'll take those steps slowly.
I do miss being young and somewhat innocent. I miss lazy days where I don't my mind wandering to other responsibilities in my life- I can just spend all day on MSN talking to my friends late into the night. 

I guess those days will always hold fond memories in my heart but there's something about the inability to go back that makes them special and untouchable. 
Okay, enough with this all. Such a strange rambling today but it felt right to blog. Can't blame creates itself when it feels right!
I'm outta here!
Just to end this blog- here I am as a mermaid. (I'm a little bit obsessed with Snapchat filters at the moment- don't judge me because I make a badass mermaid!)

Quick Update

Hi my beautiful flowers,

I always start these blogs the same after I've been away for a while- I know I haven't blogged in agessssss and it's because 1. I run out of ideas for blogs- especially when I blog everyday and 2. My life is always hectic. It is always busy with work things, trying to catch up with my friends as well as learning to drive etc. It means that blogging gets put on the back burner.

Right now, it is Friday night and I am shattered. Even though this week was just a 4 day week, somehow it was extremely tiring. I think it had something to do with the weather because quite frankly, children find it hard to cope when it is hot and this week has been warmer than it has been in a long while. It's lovely.

So since we've blogged, I've been still learning to drive- I've had multiple mock tests with my instructor which I have passed all three, which makes it seem possible. I have booked my test and it is relatively soon so I'm looking forward to that whilst also being scared poopless!

I've been trying to do the 30 day squat challenge and right now, I'm on day 14 and haven't missed a day or a squat. It bloody kills and some days, I look at my legs and behind and really like the changes and then other days I look at my body and hate it. I've said before that I have a really bad relationship with my body and this is one of the reasons why I can't decide!

I've been working hard at work as always, trying to balance pushing my children to meet their targets and letting my children be 5 and 6 year olds and enjoy their time at school. It really is a hard balance especially since the government pushed up their expectations. Poor kiddos.

I have been going to lots of films and dinners with my friends, which is such a lovely relief from the daily mundane routine. But other than that, I really haven't been doing all that much, which is why I never really blog because I have said everything there is to say about driving, working and seeing my friends in previous blogs.

For some reason tonight, I really just wanted to blog. Before coming on here, I listened to this cover on Youtube which you should check out. I absolutely love this song and I never really listen to it but I do that on purpose. I hate overplaying songs because then I end up hating it but whenever I listen to this song, I fall in love with it again!!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and maybe I'll blog again soon. Until then :) xxx

Saturday Shop

I feel like when I go shopping, I always have something in mind that I want to get- today was a new nail varnish. I get infills for my gel nail overlay but this week I have to wait a week more to get them infilled as I am going with my sister next week the day before she goes to the Philippines. The only problem with waiting another week was that my old varnish had already started to come off and I knew that waiting another week, they would be worse.

I bought Sally Hansen 'Plums the word' which I really like. It is a cross between a dusty pink and a lilac colour and I usually go for really bright colours but wanted something a bit more subtle without going nude- it was the best compromise.

So, I got that nail varnish and then walked around the shop and found some chocolate, which obviously I had to have because I am a self confessed fatty. Whilst I was browsing, I found this cute hipster glass jar. I really liked it and thought that it was super cute so naturally, me being the random shopper that I am, I had to get it. I am currently drinking a lovely cold coke out of it. Delish!

To end my random shopping trip blog, I thought I would jump to another random subject, which is Snapchat. I never really use Snapchat for its true use- sending pictures to other people, it really is just used to amuse myself. During the week, I played around with the different filters that they have and came across the alien one. I had to try it out and because there is a filter where it distorts your face, I decided to try and make the most ugly looking alien there ever was and you know what? I think I've achieved that!

And I wonder why I am still without a partner? Looking like that, I thought I would get one without even trying, right?! I figured that sharing that picture would take a lot of guts because it is hideous and I hate sharing any ugly photo of myself so for anyone that doesn't know me, I had to put up a nice picture as well as people could see I'm not that ugly!!

Everybody say CHEESEEE!

Have a lovely Saturday!

Township Review

I go through stages of obsession; most of the time, these obsessions have to do with watching TV shows because I love watching the stories unravel and the mysteries be revealed. Occasionally, I end up having an obsession with a game. Before, I wrote a review on my last obsession with a game: Criminal Case and I do still play that game from time to time but not religiously every day. My sister introduced me to a new game, which I have become very obsessed it.

It involves running a town- you start with some shops, houses and farming places and slowly but surely, you grow you town and add to it putting in various houses, various factories to make different goods as well as community buildings that help to expand your population. Below are some screenshots of my game play to help me explain what happens in the game. So you come to the main screen and you see where all your buildings are- you can change the layout and add in different decorations for your own pleasure and wants.

To get money, you can fill create goods in the factories using the crops that you grow on your fields. These goods can be used for many different purposes- you can store them and sell them to people as individual items or there are orders that come in from the people that live in your land. To fulfil an order, you need to have all the goods that they want and then the helicopter delivers their order which in turn gives you money and XP points.

Alternatively, you can send your goods via the train station. When you fill all the carriages of your train, it goes away for a certain amount of time and brings back building materials- these are essential for building more community buildings, which helps to increase your overall population. You can't add in more houses until you have more community buildings.

It's quite frustrating a times trying to fill an order or fill the train so there are two options for you- for each train, you can ask someone for help and your neighbours can fill the carriages for you. But if you can't wait, there is also a great community building that you can add to your town which is the city market that updates every 5 or so hours and gives you new goods that you can buy- sometimes the things that you need!

Overall, I really enjoy the game because you can leave it for a day if you stack up the goods you want to make and when you return to it, your goods will be made and you can build/send trains/send helicopters straight away. The only thing that drives me crazy sometimes is the length of time it takes to make a certain product or the amount of objects it takes to start making goods.

It's perfect for me because I forget to play games during the day so I only ever play them when I'm at home so I usually stack up the goods orders in the morning quickly and then when I get home, I can sell them/send the trains etc to get more points. It's not demanding either because although you wait for your goods, they don't spoil if you don't pick them up in time; it just carries on as if you had never been gone, which is great. I hate the games where the food spoils or the crops die if they aren't collected by a certain time!

I love this game and if you wanna give it a try, let me know how you find the game! If you have a different game that you are loving at the moment, I would love to check it out so leave me a comment. :)

xxx

World Book Day

Today, Thursday 3rd March 2016, it is World Book Day. Around the country, there are plenty of schools that are either participating or planning a range of fun activities that are centered around books.
Before I get into the impact that books have on myself I thought I would give you some background information on the day so that we are all a little bit more informed about life...
World Book Day was created on 23rd April 1995 by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. There is a freaky connection that date and the fact that the day is centered around books as that day is actually the anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare- probably one of the most influential people that shaped writing. Of course he wrote plays but his work inspired the production of so many great bestsellers and poignant love stories!

Books to me is a way to find pleasure, comfort and acceptance. Sometimes in life, we don't find time for ourselves when we really should- reading for me is that time that I can take to indulge in something I truly enjoy. From turning the page, to reading new sentence constructions to delving into a new character's mind and life, I just love the entire reading process. I must say that my love of reading definitely came from reading when I was younger.

I am one of 6 children and it's safe to say that time with my mum was very limited. It was always with another sibling or 10 seconds caught when she was in between jobs. The one thing that my super mum did make sure we did was read, and that meant that my mum carved out time in her busy schedule to read with each and every one of us. Now, the last few of us that read with mum always had a sleeping mum who would wake up and ask us questions every now and then but the real thought and actions touched my heart and made me love reading.
I wanted to list some of the books that truly shaped my love of reading as a child:
1. Biff, Chip and Kipper.

These characters were legends when I was a child because almost every book that I read early on had Biff, Chip and Kipper in them and even now when I find a book in my classroom with these characters on, it makes me feel so happy! I love them. Now there are books with better pictures, story lines and looks but these books will always be special to me.

This book was literally my favourite- I can still remember the story and what some of the pages looked like!

2. Any Roald Dahl book.

When I got old enough to read these books, they were a staple in my reading material. The worlds that this author created is incredible- I can't believe that one man could be such an inspiration and have that big of an effect on so many children. It is safe to say that I am not the only one to have loved these stories as a child. I am currently reading Fantastic Mr Fox to my class because I loved the story as a child and I adore seeing them become immersed into the story with me!
3. Jacqueline Wilson.

This too was a staple in my reading- it was the in thing when I was a child and anybody who was cool, was reading Jacqueline Wilson. I remember owning so many of these stories and having the books so tatty and ruined because I had thumbed through them so often!
What are your favourite book memories? What are your favourite childhood books?
Let me know!!! xxx