What to do?

Hey,

Quiet day today at the nursery, was a bit bored actually. Plus another girl started for this week only as work experience so I was kinda extra. Meant I ended up being sent upstairs to the baby room because one little one, Samuel, had only started last week and keeps bursting into tears and calling for his mama every time he hears a door open or close. Which happens a lot.



So yeah, it's a bit wierd trying to interact with babies. I'm better with the 'older' kids (2-4 years) and thats only because I'm not good at talking and not expecting a reply! Babies just sit there and ignore you, the older ones will at least answer if you ask them a lot or interact with you.

I got shown how to change nappies, and then legged it back downstairs in time to help out for lunch and stayed there! Hehehehehe...

Tonight I had a meeting with my chapel's new minister. He wanted to talk to the 'older young ones' - eg 17-25's. Basically he wants to know who wants to become new official members of the chapel, which is fair enough, but it's brought up a few dilemmas (pic).

I always went to chapel when I was younger because first of all I liked it when I was younger, and secondly my family, namely my dad, wanted me to go. I remember getting bored of it and eventually convincing my dad to strike a deal with me that while I was doing my GSCEs I only had to go to the 'Gymunfa ganu', which happens every easter. Then when I was doing AS and A Levels I whittled it down, and then started working the occasional sunday, then moved away to Uni. Now though they know I'm back and I have no excuse. Apart from me working weekends.

So I kinda had to own up to the fact that joining at the moment isn't something I really want to do. I find it extremely hard to reconcile religion with the science I have studied for the past 10 years. I also just don't think I believe anymore, which is kinda integral to going to chapel. So I completely honestly said that joining wouldn't change anything for me, my friends there accept me as I am now, being a full member wouldn't change anything but it's still not something I want to do right now. I want to do it because I want to, not because it's something I know I should do or something I know others want me to do.

Difficult to balance when my Dad is a Deacon and I haven't told him yet. He's aware I'm struggling, and I know he doesn't believe in a God, he thinks the old testament is a well written story that's meant to help us, but he believes that there was a person like Jesus who did devote his life to doing things for others, and that's what he believes in. It just doesn't work for me at the moment. The closest I can come to it is to say that the very first atom that popped into existence at the beginning of the Big Bang was God, therefore everything is God, and I can get my science in there as well. I dunno, needs some work!

Also found out that I failed one of my final exam and I'm not sure whether appealing to resit it would change my degree classification or not. Awaiting a reply from my tutor.

xx

The Shame

Hey,

I'll put my hands up, this week I've been awful. Was so tired every single day that it was the last thing on my mind, so apologies.



I've been dabbling in a little scrapbooking, some letter writing, and some cardmaking, simple things to make time go faster until it's a decent time to go to bed (around 10.30). I've bought myself a new TV (See pic) which is quite cool, but took aaaaaaaaaaaages to set up, and now im having to try and get used to such a big TV (my old one was tiny, around 15" i guess, now the picture looks all stretched to me)!

Been making waves in work, turns out I'm the only one who is trained to take out watch links, and the store I'm working in normally sends them away. Which means that a 10 minute job turns into a 4 day ordeal. Bugger that. New equipment is apparently ordered and I'm starting to train people how to take links out. I'm also hoping to change the way they file everything and plan their tasks for the week because at the moment it's shoddy and takes about 10 minutes to find something's location, then more time to find what you want. Not good.

The children's nursery is going pretty well, it's getting easier for me to talk to the children (which was my biggest problem) and I'm getting used to making sandwiches en masse (4 loaves of bread at a time). Apart from that, not much to say really, I've literally been waking up, going to work, coming back, eating, staying awake, sleeping, waking up, going to work, coming back....

Today is my 9th day in a row of working, and my day off is on friday, can't wait!

Spot the Theme

Mooooo :)

Still still busy. Kids are remarkable aren't they? I've seen injuries today that made me wince and the kid didn't even pause for long enough to start crying. Then again, they do also burst into tears randomly over the slightest thing, or start biting/pulling hair out/running around/fighting over toys. All in a day's work I guess :)



In other news, I've been randomly promoted to Officer in a crew in a game I have been playing for years sporadically. My stats in the game aren't great as a result, and I only joined the crew as a stop gap on a whim because their based in Wales. Pic from this blog here. After buying something from the captain yesterday and having the tiniest chat, I'm now officer. That means I can command my own pirate ship and go out and attack. If I knew how to!! And that's the problem, I have absolutely no idea how, so have no idea how this guy could even think I know enough to be in that position. Hmmm.....

Pic up later, really really tired and its time for bed. 10.30pm. Oh dear

xx

Still busy

Hallo,

Long day today, plus no day off in sight until a week friday, fun times!! So tired in fact I'm going to put todays picture up when I've had a little sleep.



One of today's highlights; buying a Peter's Ham and Cheese slice, only to start eating it and finding out that it was actually a Steak and Onion slice. Wooo!

xx

My Car

Busy busy,

Been working, and starting new volunteering placement tomorrow, full catch up later.



Found what car I want - M15 Noble.

xx

Relaxing Day

Evening,

Today I have been mostly doing nothing. Well, watching TV anyway. After being quite happy and not watching TV for 3 years, Tom's present has plunged me into couch potato-ness, I'm now a Dave and BBC3 channel fan. Always have loved BBC3 but this is the first time I've been able to mix and match so much and it's good fun!



Debating what to do regarding my letter writing situation over the summer and next few months. I want to send my friends some letters but I also want to have a nice writing set/paper to be able to do so, and I'm also fickle so I don't know whether to spend or not. We shall see what turns up on Ebay and whether it sways me or not :)

xx

Howdy

Been busy, very busy!

On monday I spent the day tidying and shoving boxes out of sight and out of mind, while waiting for Tom to appear. He was meant to be getting the train then the bus to my house, but had a slight upset on the bus and got off on the wrong stop bless him, so I walked to meet him which was good. Then my dad came home from work and my family, tom and grandparents to my favourite restaurant, Pizzeria Vesuvio.



We had a lovely meal. I skipped the starter and had some salted bread instead which is always lush. Then I had an amazing spaghetti marinara dish with king prawns, crayfish, cockles, and prawns in a tomato sauce - heaven basically. I had the same dish for the first for my 18th birthday and I managed to finish it. I had it again and failed, then again for my 21st and managed to finish it again. It took me a while, everyone else had finished and were waiting for about 5 minutes but I was determined I wasn't going to waste it!! We then went home and I opened my cards/presents from my family. My parents gave me money to put towards a new TV and my aunts and uncles kindly sent me some money.

On tuesday I travelled to the nearest bank, then got some Rose Cava on the way home. My present from Tom had arrived while we'd been out. A new shiny twin tuner freeview PVR which is awesome and is currently being used :) Thank you! We then opened the cava and half hour later Leah and Oli arrived. Then we went to the Carpenters pub that my Dad had recommended for tea, it was pretty nice. I had scampi and chips which I haven't had for years. Took me back.

We then went to Asda and bought 2 crates of 18 cans of Carling for £16 for the guys, and some black Smirnoff vodka for Leah and I. We then went home and played on the wii for a while, getting increasingly better at bowling and WarioWare - which may be the most random game ever invented.

Then on wednesday we took a trip into swansea to meet Adam who had come down from Cardiff on the train. Then Tom, Angharad and I went on the bus, and Leah, Oli and Adam drove home in the car (no room for us all) and picked up some booze for Adam in Asda on the way.

We then started drinking (I bought 3 bottles of wine for £10) and us 3 girls shared the wine. We had a chinese too, which was a little confusing but never mind, and then by 8pm we were all drunk and getting ready for the taxi which was at 8.15. In the rush to get out I somehow managed to leave both my credit card and phone. Was highly annoyed.

We started off in Revs, bought a rack on 30 shots (see pic), and had 2 pitchers of cocktails. Tom also bought me a Cosmo and I'm afraid I knocked it over and lost half of it - sorry Tom. We then went to Monkeys which was dead, so we left and headed to Oceana which has recently opened. It's hellish confusing, loads of rooms on different floors. Finally made our way to the Disco Room, and spent a happy 3 hours there. Had a major nosebleed at one point which was not appreciated. We then got some food, a taxi and collapsed in bed at 4am!

All in all I had a fab time, and I want to say thank you to my friends who made the effort to come down :) Thank you!!

xx

Drunken Nights

Morning!

Big update to come (and pictures) but no time right now, speak soon



xxx

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Hello,

I'm 21 today!



Pic from here. That is all :)

xx

Birthday Meal

Hey,

Scheduling this post in advance to avoid another missed post! Today's been busy, trying to lug around all my stuff and forcing it into places just so that it's out of the way and I can go back to it over the summer and sort/chuck it all out.



Tom's coming over in the afternoon, not sure if by car or train yet, depends on if he can get any petrol. Then in the evening we're going for a meal, all 8 of us in my immediate family and Tom, to my favourite restaurant (a lovely italian) which should be good. Tomorrow then Leah and Oli are arriving to stay for the night (which means I've also got to tidy my brothers room), and we'll be going out for a meal too.

Then on wednesday I have to bus into Swansea (an hour trip) to meet Adam and Heather who are coming down from Cardiff and staying the night at mine on my bed settee in the conservatory. Then we'll all bus back, meet Angharad who's sleeping on the floor or settee, and start getting ready slowly, having some food and some drinks, then taxi into Swansea for a night out, starting off in Revolutions (see pic)!

It's gonna be a busy few days!!

xx

Again...

Evening,

Been kinda shit lately haven't I? 50 minutes late :(

Just finished watching Rent and I thought it was fantastic. Been an Idina Menzel fan since I found out about Wicked and youtube'd it to find her Tony awards performance. Give it a go sometime.





In other news, started in the new store. Everyone seems very friendly and incredibly laid back. We'd have a row for just standing about in my old store. Apparently the manager (who wasn't there today) is more like the old store. One person even said 'can you jump on the tills love, I'm having a bit of a gossip'.

Been a long day, and nowhere near unpacked. Night

xx

Hungover and Home

Evening,

Last night was the summer ball, and it was fab. Today was the hangover and moving home day and it was crap.

Yesterday was super busy, I reckon I walked about 30,000 steps (have a pedometer but couldn't wear with the dress). We walked into town at 9.45am, got the dress, then spent 3 hours looking for shoes, a bag (see previous post), something for my hair and a shirt for Tom to wear with his thank-god-for-the-internet green tie.

Tom spotted a fab bag, gave up on the shoes. Went home after grabbing some of these;



Both of us were a little fed up by then. Milled around for a while gradually getting ready, then realised that Topshop hadn't taken the tag out of my bag so had to quick march back into town.

Showered, straightened my already straight hair, started putting my eyeliner on (I leave it 'settle' for a little before topping it up and shaping it). Swapped presents with Hannah who gave me a lovely little wooden trinket box with some lush hand made Fairtrade earrings in it, in a little recycled newspaper from India which was fab. Found out I got a provisional 2.2 for my degree (more on that another time) and generally milled about drinking Magners and black until Tom came over.

Tom came over with some cans, and I gradually got into my quite tight dress. Then Hannah and Dave came over all dolled up and we finished off the Magners. Hannah looked stunning, they both did actually! Then around 9 we left and went to the place, there was a fairly large queue to get in, and then we got to walk up the red carpet into the main Ball Tent which is where Pendulum was dj'ing later on, and where the bar was. Was very cool.

Then navigated the portaloo toilets - ever tried peeing in a posh dress with boning?! And met up to buy some drinks and to have a bit of a wander. Then went to see Scouting for Girls and having lots of chats which was good, I saw some people I'm really going to miss. Ended up dancing to Zane Lowe's DJ set which was fab.

Got home around 3.30am, Tom hurt his knee otherwise we might have stayed out longer, ate and fell asleep. Was up at 7.30 to go back to mine to start packing because I had done nothing the day before!! Just about managed to pack and get everything out by 10am - thanks George for helping!! Then had to say goodbye to my little room which sad to say I will miss, which made me upset but controlling it, and goodbye to Tom (until monday!) which made me cry. Dad didn't say anything though so I may have done a good job of hiding it. I still had my make up on from the night before, didn't have a chance to take it off until just now, 10pm!

Got home, dropped off my dress to the dry cleaners (It had HUGE stains from a spilt double vodka and coke) and went to Tesco's for some food. Came back and got introduced to Fred, our new HUGE fridge - seriously, we spent £150 on food and the fridge isn't even full and it was mostly fresh food). Then put the shopping away and had a little chat with my Mam, set up the wireless on my laptop and on the wii, then Dad came home and we had tea. It's my parents' 22nd anniversary today. I'm now in bed and shattered but impressed that I've done this well on 3 hours sleep!

Time up sleep, then get up, shower and start job in the new place tomorrow - scary, wish me luck!!

xx

Sleepy Sara

Afternoon,

Sleepy Sara was up at 8 in order to go to town and try and get some last minute things. Was hoping to buy some new shoes but didn't manage to find any. I have awkward needs, I can't wear heels because of my ankles, and I can't wear flat shoes without them having a strap because my feet are very shallow and narrow. The ones I have fit okay but leave me in agony after a little bit. Fingers crossed it will be okay!



Got myself a new bag too (Pic from Topshop website, £20), credit cards taken a bit of a beating recently!!

xx

Itchy McItchison

Hallo,

Last night ended up in an impromptu 8 hour drinking session. Was good fun, tummy's a little wobbly today but pretty good considering I did a fair bit of mixing. Tom reckoned it's the most drunk he's ever ever seen me. I did throw some baguette at an 'official looking person'. And then for the birds...



Pic from Stone House Bread website.

Skin's still horrible. The less said the better. I don't want to go to the ball now because I don't want people to look at me and feel sorry for me, or worse, assume my skin is normally that bad and that I don't do anything to control it. I do, honest!!

xx

Sunburnt!

Hallo,

First off, 'Mud phobia pig gets its own boots' was reported in the news. The sceptic in me isn't sure if it's true or not but the picture is cute anyway. This is taken from the BBC website, and credited to Ross Parry agency.



Went to Ask yesterday for a meal for our 1.5 year anniversary. Was really quite nice, but the biggest surprise for me was the bill, not half as much as I was expecting - Always good!!

I had a lovely mushroom dish, can't remember the name but it consisted of mushroom puree with cheese and whole mushrooms in ravioli, in a mushroom and white wine sauce with some mushrooms on top! I like mushrooms :) Plus on our first proper dinner date Tom and I went to an italians called Lorenza's and I couldnt decide whether to have the chicken and mushroom dish or the all mushroom dish, and promised that I would try the mushroom dish next time I went back. Well I haven't been back since but it was a nice complete(ish) circle last night!

I can't quite believe it, but I managed to burn yesterday while walking outside yesterday for a grand total of 10 minutes. Gutted. I'm already swollen and bright red and covered in angry unbelievably itchy skin. Going to go well with a green dress :(

xx

Back!

Hello!

Internet is finally returned to normal, fingers crossed it stays that way. What have I been up to...



Worked my last shift in Cardiff sunday, was fired up on a mixture of pro plus (only one, not a coffee drinker) and flu tablets and got everything I needed to do done in record time then filled out 80% of the displays which needed doing and now look pretty. So that was all good, a nice way of them to remember me, maybe. Plus on my way out after handing in my locker key Beth handed me a little card that everyone had signed for me which was really sweet, thanks guys.

Yesterday I finally decided that if I could get hold of a tailor to alter my dress and that there were still tickets available that I would go to the University's Summer Ball. Having not been to one since I was 18, thought it would be a nice ending to uni. So after dithering for a few days finally made up my mind and legged it into town to hand my dress into the tailors shop. They can just about get it done in time, yay!

So this here picture is my little dress - which in itself has been a point of contention! Just the process of buying it took 2 months, having tried it on randomly and fallen in love I then agonised over buying it because of it's price tag until Tom incredibly kindly bought it for me. Thanks Tom!! Then the whole tailoring thing... you get the picture.

After a very long day walking around town trying to find a matching colour tie or green shirt for Tom which proved fruitless, because of having this horrible cold/flu thing I'm permanently shattered, so I jumped in bed for a little nap before going out to the last big student night out of the year.

Woke up and the room was pitch black, I knew something was wrong, and by my side was my phone glowing blue which meant that it had crashed and the alarm had failed to turn on to wake me up. Slightly panicked, I leapt out of bed to try and turn on my laptop quickly to find out the time (dark, no watch, other alarm clock has already been packed and sent home). 12.29am. I was meant to be going out at 10pm.

I was a bit annoyed that no one (Tom) had tried decently to get hold of me when they knew that I was planning on going because it was the last night out. So was not impressed when I then got a text saying 'I've been here for 2 hours already'. Woop de doo!!

Speed dressing and makeup, running down the road, finally got there, 2 shots of tequila and 2 double vodka's to catch up. Was a good night, didnt achieve that much of a drunkness level thankfully, but was not sober either, plus the DJ was really really good which is unusual for the union. So all in all a good night, slightly marred by the fact that there just wasn't enough of it and that there was nowhere open to carry on partying. Ah well, pound a pint tonight!!

xx

PS. Happy 1.5 year anniversary honey xx

Having Issues

Morning,

Having health and internet issues at the moment, hence why I decided to leave yesterday's post as it was. Woke up at 6am yesterday, stayed awake until 5.30pm, then fell asleep until 10.30 when Tom rang to wake me up (for the second time!). Since then I've been wide awake and completely unable to sleep.



Why? Having breathing and nose issues for starters. I'm not sure if I'm coming down with tonsillitis or not, but my upper throat is killing, and I've now developed a raging cold. One nostril streaming, the other totally blocked. Nice! Picture taken from here.

My last ever shift in work today. In the Cardiff Branch. I'll be sad to leave. Hopefully I'll settle into the other store nicely, because this time I won't be transferring back! I'm also hoping my uni network sorts itself out pronto, at the moment I'm relying on a very faint wireless which is known to disappear for several days at a time!

xx

Oops

I'm half hour late in updating. I blame my phone call with Tom :)



Hello! Was up all night packing about 2/3rds of my room into bags and boxes. Although not quite as many boxes as in the picture, and definitely a lot more bags! (Pic from A Better Box Company.) Then my grandparents and Tom came over and helped lug it all into the car for it to magically disappear. It always takes 2 full car loads for me to move in and out! Moving back home on saturday - tis all becoming a bit too real and scary for my liking now :(

xx

Party Time

Evening :)

Last night was good fun. The hats went down pretty well, apparently I looked like Dogtanian from the Three Musketeers, all good! Plus miraculously I managed to keep it and no one stole it!



Picture of the Cardiff Uni's Main Building for you today :)

We started off fairly early (for students) at 8.30, then went to the club around 10.45ish. I managed to be a dick and somehow spill and entire glass of double vodka and coke straight into my lap - not a nice feeling, or a pretty sight!! Leah and Oli had to go home early because Leah wasn't feeling too good (hope your feeling better now!) but she still lasted till nearly 1am which is awesome, and then we started dancing.

The club we went to, Metro's, is an underground place which plays (on wednesdays) 'alternatives and old skool cheese' with doubles + mixers for £1.29 - can't go wrong with that!! Only problem is that it has a reputation for being dingy, mainly cos it's underground and because of that heat and smells don't escape. Last night it was so unbelievably hot the sweat was dripping off the walls and ceiling. I'm not making it sound very appealing here am I?! Hehe :)

Off to see Sex and The City in a bit, speak tomorrow

xx

Today's Event

Evening,

Today's event is a celebration of my turning 21. Nearly. In Cardiff. Basically, because my birthday is after the term has finished, I won't be around/have a home in Cardiff so the Cardiff partying is being done tonight, the Swansea partying in a few weeks when I'm at home. Tonight's theme? Hats/headdress.



Last year's theme was a burlesque/gangsters. I think this is a bit more accessible, plus a fair bit cheaper, my corset for last year cost £125! My hat was 10% of that :)

xx

The Big Eye

I hadn't forgotten today's picture :)



Taken from this website, it was the astronomy picture of the day on May 10th, 2003. It shows NGC 7293: The Helix Nebula. Original credit: NASA, WIYN, NOAO, ESA, Hubble Helix Nebula Team, M. Meixner (STScI), & T. A. Rector (NRAO)

xx

Left Hanging

I'm not quite sure what to do. Because I slept all day yesterday I've been awake all night and for the past 2 hours I've been battling an overwhelming urge to do something. Something typey. Like uni work. I think this whole end of uni thing might take a bit of getting used to. It's the first time I'm going from education to nothing, instead of end of one year in education to the next with a convenient break in between.

It's annoying because I'm not actually sure what I want to do. I get the feeling I should be writing letters or sorting out something, very bizarre.

xx

Monday Blues

Evening,

Not feeling so good today. Just been really weak, completely shattered, my eyes feel like their trying to pop out of my head, and like someone's attacked my forehead with a tin opener, which isn't relieved by sleep. Won't be going out tonight which is a shame but can't be helped. Big night wednesday and I need to be well for it - my Cardiff 21st night out. Some explanation needed, my birthday isn't until later in June but I will be at home then so having a night out in Cardiff with all my uni friends first :)



Thought I'd pop a pic of two nutters 'raving' to Kernkraft 400 on saturday night :)

Hopefully will be feeling better tomorrow xx

Yesterday

Where to begin?

Exam went okay, could have been a lot worse considering. Decided that Leah, Oli and Tom were coming over mine around 7.30 for a chinese and some drinks before heading out to the union.

Tom turned up with 8 cans, I had 1.5 bottles of wine, Oli and Leah turned up with 8 cans and 1 bottle of wine too. (Thanks guys for paying for the chinese too!) Food was really nice, and then as we got tipsier and tipsier, the giggles and toilet trips got more frequent, culminating in several hilarities, including Tom wearing a bikini, Oli and Tom raving in the dark using lit up mobile phones, Leah's wonder at 'miracle make up' to name but a few :)

Went to the union around 11.30ish, bit of a queue which wasnt really appreciated but did move really quickly fair play. Had a drink taken off me for being a little too drunk to think in advance and not pour a shot into a drink while stood at the bar, but then I think if I was that drunk I shouldn't really have been drinking more anyway, plus it probably saved me from a hangover.

Decided to go home, got chips and gravy on the way (mmmmmmmmmm!) and then had a little bit of a heart to heart chat with Tom (thanks Tom!) cos I was feeling quite upset about the whole 'end of uni thing' along with several other issues. Finally got to sleep around 5am (sorry Tom!) and woke up at 5.30pm. Thankfully, no sign of a hangover, which I am incredibly pleased about!

Got home around 7ish, and threw out 11 cans, and 3 bottles of wine. Leah and I each drank over a litre of wine - wow!

xx

Balloons

Thought I'd post this first and separately because I don't want to miss a picture, but I also think that yesterday deserves a post of its own :)



This is a picture I took during Muse's performance at Cardiff CIA in November 2006 :)

xx