025. Missing my brother

On Saturday it's going to be my little brother's Interment. It's been over two months since he drowned yet sometimes it still feels like yesterday. 

In a way, I'm dreading the interment. It'll be the last thing we do; we've been through the waiting game, we've given him the best funeral we could and now it's the final thing we'll do for him. I have no idea what it's going to be like, when my grandad died I wasn't there when his ashes were buried at the crematorium.  Kieran won't be buried there though - he'll be buried at the church we've gone to since before he was born; in their garden of remembrance. I find it fitting that he'll be there - he'll always be a part of our church, and he'll be close by when we're there too. 

I miss him; not in the same way my parents do - he was their son, not their brother. I was his older sister and although I've been strong for the past two months, I think my walls are beginning to crumble. It's still so unreal that my brother has gone, what was 3 siblings is now 2, but I know that he's up there unaware of time going on. He won't be missing us; he'll be outside of time - somewhat like doctor who I guess; and he'd love that analogy. 

I never know who I should tell about him. I'm still at a point where I don't like telling people - not because I don't want them to know but because I feel guilty for burdening them with it. I've joined the Christian Union at university and when getting to know people a question they often ask is: 'how many siblings do you have?' I respond two. I always will have two siblings, and I'll always be the middle child; I often don't explain that I have two but one isn't with us anymore. I don't want people to treat me differently because of Kieran's death and I don't want people to feel bad for asking such a  normal question. They aren't to know what I've been through, and I'll tell people when I feel ready to. 

I don't explain how he died or when either. If people want to know, I'm fine with them asking me; I won't cry about it and I'll tell them the facts. I recently told one person that I've met at the CU about it; he asked why I wasn't going to be at the meeting on Friday. However, I double checked that he wanted to know and that it wasn't a happy reason for missing it. I didn't even tell him outright; I'm too conscious of the fact that saying to someone 'my brother's dead' is harsh as they obviously are not going to expect it. So I meandered around the point until they got what I meant. And in a way, I do feel better that I've told someone at the church I go to in Aberystwyth. If my walls do break down, and the floodgates open whilst I'm at a service; someone will understand why without me having to explain it through my tears. 

So Saturday is going to be a hard day for me and particularly for my parents. But I know that God will be there with us and I have my friends who will look out for me when I need them to. 

24. it was only just a dream

I have no idea why I've decided to write a blog post about a dream I had, but it was pretty weird (yet quite cool at the same time) and I just feel like I should share it with you all (of course)!

Look at how cute he is!! :')

Basically, I'd gone to a comedy gig for some random comedian with my mum and two brothers, when they announced that there was a special guest coming on to do the supporting act - Tom Felton (Yes, I realise that he's an actor and I have NO idea why my brain decided that he should become a comedian for the reality of my dream). I was obviously mega excited at seeing him in person, as he's pretty handsome, and I think all throughout his acting career as Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter, I've liked him best. (He's so adorable in Chamber of Secrets, I was 8 when it first came out, so I guess I thought he was pretty cute even then!) 

Then for some strange reason, the scene changed to a swimming pool, and Tom was doing that strip thing like Tom Daley does, down to his swimming trunks, (Yes, my brain is seriously messed up - don't judge me!) and invites the whole audience to go swimming (miraculously we all seemed to be in swimwear at this point). So of course, everyone does because, hello, it's TOM FELTON! Why wouldn't you?

*fangirl squee*

Everyone was in the water (I don't know what happened to my family at this point) and they were doing like water dancing and everyone was trying to surround Tom, and I was trying to not become all fangirlish, because I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate getting mugged by a huge amount of people in a swimming pool. Or maybe he would? I don't know.

But then, HE CAME UP TO ME! Yes, I was in shock in my dream! Next thing I know, we're like best of friends (WOW! I wish!) and my mum appears, so I ask if I can have my picture taken with him. (I'm aware we're still in a swimming pool, I'm confused too). So anywya, I do have my picture taken with him, quite a few as we're now best friends, and we do the whole pulling faces thing (well, I do anyway) and then my mum says we have to go (NOOOO!!) However, he gives me a hug and says 'See you tomorrow?' and I'm just there like :O, before I remember that,I will see him tomorrow as I'm going to see his comedy gig! So it's all cool. I'm then miraculously in a room (fully dressed) waiting for my brothers to appear, and mum says to me that Dad's got my school books out of the car (so I'm guessing I was like in year 11 at that point?).

Then I wake up, thinking what the hell? (And feeling jealous of my dream self for becoming best friends with him!)

Tara

P.S. Apologies to Rob who had to listen to my first hand account of my weird dream. Although he gave me some insight as to why it happened, as I said he looked a bit like Draco Malfoy if his hair was blonde, and he practiced the smirk :)

23. result!

Today I got my Semester One results back from the five exams I did in January, and I passed them all!

Two of the exams had been essays which I had mostly been worried about, particularly one of them as it was an unseen exam. I think what I struggle with at university level is remembering references, as for A Level and GCSE I could just write without having to worry.  The other three exams had been multiple choice - and luckily Aberystwyth University (or at least my department) doesn't penalize you for getting an answer wrong! Although the multiple choice exams had been in modules that I didn't understand as well (due to them being pretty scientific), I'm good at remembering facts so I did okay.

My results! :D

I'm glad that I didn't fail any of them as I would hate to have to do resits, especially with having more exams in May, and I think I'd be really stressed. However, I think that in May I'll know how best to prepare for exams as I've done some now, so although I didn't get the highest grade in any of them at least I know what works when revising.

Another result I got last Saturday was my Driving Theory test which I passed first time. I wasn't too nervous about the multiple choice part because I'd done quite a lot of revision, but I was a bit worried about the Hazard Perception as it all depends on when you click, and after one of the clips where my score had been given 0 due to 'clicking too often', I was really apprehensive and thought I'd failed it. So when I got given my results, I was so happy! I walked from the test centre back to my flat with a HUGE grin on my face. I felt like such an idiot!

I think I'm fairly lucky when it comes to exams as I don't get too freaked out by them like other people do. I just remember to keep a clear head in the exam and not to panic too much, so that I'm able to focus on what I'm supposed to be doing there and then, rather than worrying about whether I'm going to do well or not. I hate waiting for results though, and after exams I over-analyse and compare what I wrote or answered to other people's answers. Some people think I'm stupid for thinking negatively after results, and expecting to fail, but in a way, I prefer it, because then when I don't fail I'm really happy, and if I do end up failing, I won't be too disappointed as it's what I was expecting (stupid plan, but it kinda works).

What are your thoughts on exams and revision? :)

Tara

22. thinking of me

So, I've seen this on quite a few blogs (some being 100 things, other's being 50), one of them being Natalie's and I figured I might as well give it a go. I apologise you all discover I'm really boring :3

1. My birthday is the 24th July
2. My favourite film ever is Titanic
3. I don't have an appendix :(
4. I've had the chicken pox twice
5. My favourite number is 7
6. I support Manchester United
7. I have two brothers
8. I love American TV shows - Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, 90210, The Vampire Diaries
9. I enjoy reading pretty much any kind of novel
10. I love Lord of the Rings
11. And Harry Potter
12. I play the trumpet and oboe (officially)
13. I love summer 
14. I'm a geography geek
15. I wish I'd taken History at A Level
16. I'm a very fussy eater
17. I take those chewy vitamins
18. My favourite fizzy pop is Lilt
19. I like watching Pointless (just to try and guess the answers)
20. I go to Aberystwyth University
21. I have a job at McDonalds
22. My hair is naturally very curly :(
23. I hate writing on normal-lined paper, I always buy the narrow-ruled stuff
24. I love cats
25. My favourite animal is a dolphin
26. I've adopted one since I was about 6
27. I'd love to go to New Zealand
28. I get seasick
29. I love legendary characters like Merlin or King Arthur
30. The last film I watched was The Little Vampire - reliving childhood memories
31. I want to go to Belfast just to visit the Titanic Museum
32. I used to be considered as 'chavvy'
33. I wish I kept in contact with people more
34. I've never been out of Europe
35. I really want to go on a safari
36. I'm still learning to drive
37. The last film I watched at the cinema was Les Miserables
38. I love Eddie Redmayne and Hugh Jackman
39. I've always wanted to be a teacher
40. I miss my cat when I'm at uni
41. I have no idea what my favourite type of flower is
42. I don't like foods with bits in (yoghurt, most fruits...)
43. I used to be an Air Cadet
44. My favourite colour is blue
45. Hot chocolate is the only hot drink I like
46. I love shopping at New Look
47. I have brown eyes
48. I was born at 12.23pm
49. My favourite TV programme when I was little was the Teletubbies
50. For my Year 6 SATs, our teacher made us do 'brain gym' to Peter Kay's 'Is this the way to Amarillo?'
51. I've learnt French since I was 4
52. I hate wearing high heels
53. I love custard creams and malted milk biscuits
54. I usually call malted milk biscuits, 'moo cow' biscuits
55. A dream I think I'll always remember is one about a tiger coming into my room ready to eat me
56. I really want to visit Paris again
57. I used to want to have braces
58. I love lime shower gel
59. I use Nina by Nina Ricci perfume
60. I have a world map up in my room at university
61. I keep a memory box
62. I love reading actual books, cos I like the feel of turning pages
63. I'm usually cold
64. I have my ears pierced twice
65. I used to want to have my belly button pierced
66. I cry at a lot of films
67. I don't eat red meat or fish
68. I used to have really blonde hair, but it naturally got darker
69. I was going to be called Tamara, but with my surname it became a bit of a joke
70. I have a fear of spiders
71. I'm also scared of clowns
72. I used to love thunderstorms, but now I'm not so keen
73. I feel guilty about not being an organ donor, but I want to be cremated whole :3
74. I love roast parsnips
75. I'm struggling to think of 100 things about myself
76. I can't curl my tongue
77. I wear contact lenses
78. I love the sea
79. One of my embarrassing moments is when I knocked over a tub of rice krispies at this band weekend, and everyone just laughed at me
80. When I was little, I used to pinch myself and blame it on my older brother so he'd get into trouble
81. I nearly fainted at the Tinie Tempah concert I went to
82. I love rereading my Meg Cabot books
83. I brought a cuddly toy to uni - his name is Mr Moose (original, I know) and my boyfriend brought it back from Sweden for me
84. I love The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
85. I'm a lightweight
86. I only really like alcopops
87. I love the sneezing panda video on youtube
88. I'm a Christian
89. Ever since I went to Denmark when I was 9, I've always wanted a Ford Focus (it was our hire car)
90. I've never tried a cigarette or drugs
91. I love sunbathing but I'd never ever use a sunbed
92. I'm currently reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
93. I talk way too much
94. I kind of liked it when my parents always dragged me to castles and old houses when I was younger
95. I've done my Bronze Duke of Edinburgh
96. I have no claim to fame
97. I love vinegar
98. I'm like a little kid when it snows
99. I go fangirlish over quite a lot of stuff
100. I'm surprised that I managed to complete the full 100.

21. valentine’s day

This post is the first time I've used Windows Live Writer to upload, so hopefully it’ll go okay *fingers crossed*

The roses Rob bought me -
my first ever flowers!

Valentine’s Day – to be honest, I do see it as a bit of a scam because those with partners should show their love all year round, instead of just on one specific day of the year, but I don’t mind it to be honest. Admittedly, I do have a boyfriend to spend the day with, but even when I've been single on Valentine’s Day, it doesn't bother me too much, so I don’t get why people moan non-stop about it. I saw a Facebook status in the days leading up to Valentine’s Day saying how they've always been single, and would someone be their Valentine even if it’s just as friends. Fair enough, but I do think that asking for a Valentine on Facebook in a serious way, just seems a tad desperate and it makes you seem like your attention-seeking.

Gossip Girl Season 4 - more
hours of Chace Crawford
to watch ;)

My Valentine's Dinner

This year, me and my boyfriend decided that instead of buying mega-romantic presents (I didn't want any chocolate!), we’d buy each other presents that we actually wanted. So I bought Rob the first series of Game of Thrones on DVD, and then (because he’s a boy and I know he would have probably wanted some chocolate), I did buy him a chocolate heart from Thornton's with ‘Happy Valentine's Day’ on it. And he got me the fourth season of Gossip Girl (yay!!) and Titanic on DVD as my copy stopped working. Plus, Titanic is my favourite film ever, and he knows this. As a surprise he also bought me some roses, which I genuinely wasn't expecting, and he cooked me dinner, which was originally supposed to be a surprise but I guessed the food he was going to cook me (I guess with me being a fussy eater it’s kind of difficult to cook for me) but he also bought some Shloer as I’m not a fan of wine (or any alcohol apart from alcopops and they’re not really romantic).

Next year, when we’ve got a flat together I think it’ll be easier to celebrate Valentine’s Day as it’ll just be the two of us, without flatmates barging in when we’re cooking etc., and Rob will probably be able to surprise me a bit more without having to worry about annoying other people.

However, although we do make a deal out of Valentine’s Day, we don’t just celebrate the one day a year. We look forward to our anniversary as well as enjoy being with each other every day. Because to me, that’s what love is about, and that is what makes a good couple. The people who enjoy being with each other all year round, and appreciate each other every day, instead of just buying them presents on the 14th February.

Tara

20. mishap

When editing my blog, some of the posts became out of sync - I'm not sure how, and being no technical genius, I have no idea how to get them back in order. 
The blog number are correct, so #13 and #15 should be in their respective places rather than ahead of #19.
If anyone knows if there is a way to fix this, please let me know - many thanks
Sorry for this :)

Tara

13. being home

So, Christmas 2012 has passed, and we were all around to see it - so I guess that's a good thing. I came home from Aberystwyth on the 15th Dec, where my mum picked me and Rob up from Telford to save us changing trains etc in Birmingham. I was glad about this cos I hate changing trains especially with my luggage (I'd tried to pack sensibly but I always seem to pack way too much stuff!)

I had work on the Sunday as I was covering a shift for a friend - the communication at McDonalds is awful so I haven't been put on ANY shifts at all - quite annoying when I actually wanted to work to get some extra money over Christmas.

On the first Friday back, I went to Ashby (thankfully just the pub - although it was mega busy) with some of my friends from school, and it was good to see them again. I didn't drink very much and I had to go fairly early as due to living in the opposite direction my dad came to pick me up - which I thought was fairly good of him as he'd probably wanted to go to bed!

I went to a couple of church services over the Christmas period, one which was introduced by the new vicar - The Crib Service. This seemed to be aimed at really young children, but it still portrayed the story of Christmas well. The other one was a family service, that I've gone to as long as I can remember - Christingle. The Christingle service is always good, and we get given Christingles which symbolise different things. I play in the music group at our church, and normally when we ding one of the songs by candlelight, they leave some lights on so that the music group can see to play - this year they didn't so it was quite difficult to see the music. I always plan to go to Midnight Mass - the service that's held Christmas Eve night, and goes over into the morning but I think that I'd probably fall asleep as I'm not good at staying awake when I'm supposed to!

I'll probably write a separate post on my actual Christmas Day and Boxing Day as they were fairly packed, as I spent time with both my family and Rob's. After Christmas and Boxing Day had passed everything was slightly more relaxed. I went to see The Hobbit again, this time at the IMAX cinema in Birmingham - so it was on a much bigger screen. Unfortunately is begun to come down with something, so I found it difficult to watch as I had a huge headache throughout. This illness meant that I spent the New Year in bed asleep, instead of enjoying it with Rob.

I'll mention New Year's Day alongside Christmas and Boxing Day, but since the new year, I've met up with Natalie and Steph, (we were all at band together) when we went to the cinema to watch a film ( yes, it was The Hobbit again - this time in 2D so it was a different experience for me). We almost managed to get away with having three large tango ice blasters for free, but due to our honest nature, we paid for them. Watching The Hobbit with Nat was definitely an experience as she kept doing her fangirl squee, which in turn made me go hyper over it (even more so).

So, I go back to uni next week and in a way I'm looking forward to it although I'm dreading the exams - I have 5!! 2 essay based ones and 3 multiple choice ones. Hopefully will do a post on Christmas Day specifically soon! :)

Tara

15. birthdays

On Sunday it was my younger brother, Kieran's 16th birthday. Although he has turned 16 I still think of him as like a 13 year old. I swear the last few years have flown by. It still seems like yesterday that I was in year 11 taking my GCSEs and making decisions about what I wanted to do for A Level.

I bought Kieran Cars2 and contributed towards some of his skiing gear that he had to get for his ski trip to Austria (with school) in February half term.

For his birthday we all went to see Rise of the Guardians in 3D, which although a cartoon, wasn't as bad as I had expected it to be. Plus, as Hugh Jackman was the Easter Bunny, I got to listen to his voice, as well as Chris Pine's (he did the voice for Jack Frost). It's not a film I'd recommend to everyone as I know a lot of people aren't into children's films or cartoon animation (I'm still a sucker for kids' movies). But if you do like that sort of thing, then, why not go and see it? (Or, if you like these kind of films secretly, wait until it's out on DVD and then watch it).

We went out for a meal after the film too, to the Tamworth Wetherspoon's. I love Wetherspoons (there's one in Aberystwyth) as it's good food and not extortionately priced!! I had a chicken burger with bacon and cheese! Yummy!

Yesterday was Rob's birthday, so this morning when he'd finally woken up I made him open his presents. He'd gotten some comedy DVDs as well as some CDs and music. Most of the day was spent being lazy, but in the evening his parents took us to Prezzo in Swadlincote. I wasn't sure what to have as usually at Italian restaurants I'll have pizza to be on the safe side, but for once I had spaghetti carbonara. I hate eating spaghetti because it goes everywhere, so instead of attempting to eat it correctly (by wrapping it around my fork), I just chopped it into small enough bits and scooped it up. Much easier! I didn't manage to finish it all as there just seemed to be so much pasta! Normally at uni, I have about half of what they had served up. For dessert I just had a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream which was pretty nice. 

After the meal we went back to mine, where we just relaxed and watched Sunday's Ripper Street. However, before having gone out to Prezzo, Rob's parents gave him the cake, which had these really cool candles that flashed numbers, so they set them for 19. They also played the 'happy birthday' tune - which would have been good if they weren't out of sync!

19. do you hear the people sing...?

I know that this is rather a late post on Les Miserables, as it came out almost a month ago here in the UK, however, due to going back to uni prior to its release (and only having one screen in our cinema), it wasn't shown in Aberystwyth until the 25th January (a whole two weeks after it first came out!) 

However, this did allow me to read the book, prior to seeing the film, and although it took a while to get into (Victor Hugo - you are very descriptive and detailed), it meant that when I went to see the film, I was able to understand thing much better. The book was brilliant though, as it allowed me to understand the characters much better, but I was desperate to see the film. My friend had already seen it twice by the time it was shown in Aber, and her squeeing over Eddie Redmayne, just made me impatient!

Rob was somewhat skeptical about going to see the film (I don't think my listening - and singing along - to the soundtrack helped) but I dragged him along anyway, with the promise that I'd try and not sing along to the actual film. And I have to say, it was worth waiting for! I LOVED IT! Hugh Jackman was brilliant as Jean Valjean, and I can understand why Tom Hooper wanted to cast Hugh as him. I think that all the actors/actresses chosen to play their characters did them splendidly, and I have to admit, I really enjoyed the comedy of the Thenardiers (played by Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter). Anne Hathaway's version of 'I dreamed a dream' got me in tears, and I think I was crying for the majority of the film (maybe reading the book and knowing what to expect wasn't a good idea).

I loved the enmity between Javert and Valjean too, and both Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe had brilliant singing voices - both powerful (especially when they needed to be). Gavroche (Daniel Huttlestone) was brilliant - I love that little guy, he set the tone of the June Rebellion just right, but my favourite character had to be Marius (particularly in the film - in the book he was a bit of a douche for a while, and it annoyed me!) probably because he was played by Eddie Redmayne.

I could probably do a whole post about Eddie - I think he's my favourite actor at the moment - as he's just brilliant. For 'Empty Chairs at Empty Tables', he managed to convey the emotions of the song throughout, and it broke my heart. I know that since Les Mis has come out, a lot of people are like, 'ooh I love Eddie Redmayne', but he was amazing before Les Mis, as the first thing I saw him in was 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' back in 2008, when he played Angel (mine and Natalie's fangirl obsession began then).

I don't want to spoil the film for anyone who hasn't seen it, but basically it's amazing, and I think everyone should see it at least once! But take tissues! I'm going to see it again tomorrow (Rob agreed - he actually enjoyed it!)

Enjoy the pictures :)

Tara

Cosette (Amanda Seyfried)

Javert (Russell Crowe)

Fantine (Anne Hathaway)

Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman)

Marius (Eddie Redmayne)

Eponine (Smantha Barks)

Cosette and Marius (definitely jealous of Cosette)

Enjoras (Aaron Tveit) and Marius!

The Thenardiers (Helana Bonham Carter
and Sacha Baron Cohen)

Marius (again!) :D

And once more, just because I can :)

18. let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Just before beginning exams, and the rest of country was suffering from having tons of snow, Aberystwyth finally got some, even if it didn't last long down by the sea.

I'm usually in two minds about snow, as when it's on the ground, I love it, and I get excited about it like a child, (usually by deliberately walking where no one else has, just so I can leave my footprints) but I'm not a huge fan of when it's lasted for days, or it's constantly snowing. I guess that's something good about living by the sea, as if we do get snow, it's not likely to last long - so I made the most of it whilst I could!

Looking out of my kitchen window,
and first discovering
that it'd snowed!

 Luckily, I'd revised for the exam that I had in a couple of days, so I was able to go out and about in it, and it even began to snow fairly heavily at one point, although due to the previous snow already beginning to melt, it didn't stay.

I'm kind of glad that it didn't stay around for a week, like it apparently did back home, because it would have made going to exams difficult, and everywhere would have become icy!

However, since all the snow has gone, we've just had a lot of rain and windy weather, with the waves crashing over the railing on the seafront and throwing stones on to the pavement. I love watching the waves, and I don't mind the sea spray, but sometimes the wind and rain can be a bit too much. It gets annoying that I can't really ever do something nice with my hair, because the rain will just make it go all bleughh (disadvantage of having thick, curly hair).

On the seafront, looking towards
Constitution Hill

Looking out from Rob's window,
and seeing all the snow on the hills!

In a way, I don't think I'd mind if it snowed now, because even though lectures are back on, it's not exams, and it'd be nice just to be able to go out and build a snowman (I never managed to last time). However, I think I've had enough of cold, wet weather, and I can't wait for summer to get here - sunbathing and maybe having a BBQ on the beach! I think I just want some warmer weather!

Tara 

17. our animal friends

R.I.P Beesley

I felt I should write a post about my pets, as on Monday, one of my family's German Shepherd's passed away on the operating table due to having a ruptured splenic tumour (tumour of the spleen). It hit us all quite hard, as we'd got him via the German Shepherd Rescue place, (as his original owner would no longer be able to look after him) exactly a year before he died. His name was Beesley, and I honestly hoped that his year with us was brilliant. I felt quite bad, as I'm more if a cat person, and so I've never bonded as well with our dogs as the others. This Christmas I'd actually begun to bond with them, only to have bad luck take Beesley from us.

Beesley and Breeze together :)

We have another German Shepherd called Breeze, who is much older than Beesley was (he was around 8), and she suffers from arthritis. We got her a few months after Beesley, so we've had her for less than a year. She likes lying down a lot, but when she's about to go in walks, her high pitched barking begins - which can give you a headache.

KitKat I have to admit is my favourite pet. We took him under our wing, after his previous owners (who lived on our street) moved house, abandoning him. We'd begun to feed him, and we even paid his vet bills for when he had to have an abscess removed from one if his eyes. This means he only has one eye, but that doesn't stop him chasing after newspaper or playing with his toys. After he'd been to the vets, we still weren't allowed to own him until he'd been declared officially abandoned by the RSPCA. My mum didn't want to see the little fellow go, and to be honest, I don't think any of us did.

My boyfriend Rob, with my
one-eyed cat KitKat

My family have always had pets, even before I was born. In total we've had 8 cats (including KitKat), 2 dogs, 1 rabbit, 3 guinea-pigs over the years, and we may have even had some fish. We usually get out pets from rescue places, or if not, they're usually strays or the animals left in pet shops because no one wants them. When I'm living away from home, I'd love to have a couple of pets, because I think that they just make the house a happier place to be!

16. planning ahead

Well, for 2013 I have a few plans for what I want to do, and I hope that writing them down will make them become more definite, and that way I can keep track of my progress.

My new trainers :)

Prior to going to uni, I had plans that I'd join the gym there, go swimming or jog along the seafront - anything to keep me fit as in the past year I had put some weight on. I'm not fat or anything, but I'd like to get back to how I was before as I felt more confident then. However, due to my lack of trainers, I went for a jog once (in pumps) and it wasn't exactly comfortable. So mum purchased me some trainers, and therefore I hope to lose some weight by the summer!

I'm also planning on eating slightly healthier. Towards the end of last term I began to have some broccoli with most of my evening meals, and I have weetabix in the morning so I hope to continue that. I might buy some cheap pure orange juice so I can have a glass every morning to increase my vitamin C intake, and maybe get some chocolate milkshake powder to increase my calcium intake (I'm not a huge fan of milk on its own). Hopefully, I'll be able to keep this up because I know I'm not a mega-healthy person and I want to try and be a bit more healthy.

I also hope to keep up with my blogging. Unfortunately at university, nothing very interesting seems to happen, and I know I've blogged quite a lot over the Christmas period, but hopefully I shall find some interesting things to talk about. I also hope to update a couple of my posts by adding photos to them, which I haven't done yet, due to writing posts on my iPod and not my laptop.

'Dracula' by Bram Stoker,
my Kindle Touch,
'Captain Corelli's Mandolin'
by Louis de Bernieres 

Finally, I'd like to get back into reading. I always read a lot of books when I was younger, but the past couple of years I haven't had as much time just to read for leisure. Although I'd like to reread a lot if my 'teenage' books again, I'd also like to read some of the classics that I couldn't get into in the past. Currently I'm reading JRR Tolkien's Return of the King, having read the previous two books since the start of January. I'd like to make it my aim to read at least 100 'grown-up' books, or books that are quite long, before 2013 is out. I think having my kindle will help a bit, as it means that when I'm at uni I'll have a lot of books that are fairly accessible to me.

Tara

14. christmas and new year

So, here's the post I promised I'd write on my Christmas and New Year. I know that it's been a while since they happened, and I'll probably have another post to later as it's my little (and I say little in the sense that he's 2 and a half years younger than me) brother's birthday today, and we're going out to the cinema and for meal.

Christmas Day

My Nina Ricci 'Nina'
perfume

This year is the first year we've had dogs at our household for Christmas so instead of beginning to open at presents like previous years, we had to wait until 9. I'd woken up fairly early for once (half 7!!) so I made sure I had some coco pops for breakfast as our family tends to have mince pies for breakfast (which I think are disgusting). Just before 9 my older brother (Aidan), his girlfriend (Beth) and my nan turned up. This meant that unwrapping presents took way longer than usual as normally there are only 4 or 5 of us, and this year there were 7!! I got quite a few presents this year including: Nina Ricci 'Nina' perfume, some toiletries, an atlas and a jigsaw puzzle globe (in 3D - to increase my brilliantness at geography hahaa), some chocolate (of course!) and some money/New Look vouchers as well as other stuff! I didn't get any fictional books this year which is quite unusual but I'm guessing it's because I got a KindleTouch for my birthday in July.

My new slippers!

After opening presents I got ready to go to Rob's as this year I was having Christmas dinner there. I always feel bad when it comes to dinner time as I don't like the traditional Christmas dinner as such, so I have to have something different. This year Rob's family was having to cook me some chicken (as I don't like turkey), so I had that with some broccoli, parsnips (I love parsnips - why do they only seem to appear at Christmas-time?), chipolatas, roast potatoes with gravy! Yummy! Even for pudding I have to be different as I ding like fruit cake (and therefore Christmas pudding). I had some mini Melt-in-the-middle chocolate puddings with custard! Rob's step-dad actually managed to do that thing where you set the Christmas pudding alight (something which never happens at home! I think mum always uses too much brandy), so that was pretty cool to watch. I got some more presents whilst I was at Rob's - from him and his parents - which was good cos I like it when presents are spread out throughout the day. I got some DVDs including War Horse (when I watched it, I cried - lots!) and Rob also got me a really pretty necklace :D

My 3D Globe Puzzle

The rest of Christmas Day was spent relaxing really, watching the Doctor Who special (which compared to the previous episodes this series was really really good! Actually looking forward to watching it when it returns) and just eating some chocolate!

Boxing Day

One of the games we
played

Boxing Day morning and afternoon were spent at Rob's just chilling and watching one of his comedy DVDs that he got. But around 4pm we got picked up in order to go to my Nan's house for Boxing Day tea and games. My nan always does a little buffet with sausage rolls and breadsticks (which is what I usually eat when I'm there!) This year, both of my brothers and Rob got these games which are easy to play with large numbers (there was 8 of us, so madness often occurs) so we played some of those in teams of 2. At 9 the Christmas special (and start of series 3) of Miranda was on, and as the majority of us watch it normally we watched that. I enjoy going round my nan's because it's a chance for the whole family just to have fun!

New Year's Day
As I said in my previous post, I was ill over the new year, so instead of seeing the year in at midnight I was fast asleep in my bed. I'd originally been planning on spending it at Rob's but I'd felt so awful New Year's Eve, I went home in the hope I'd feel better for the next day. Luckily I did feel better to an extent. The headache I'd had continuously since the Friday (28th) had lessened so I felt that so long as I had paracetamol with me, I should be okay. Rob's parents picked me up at around half 10 and we headed north to the Keighley & Worth Railway (in Yorkshire) for the Mince Pie Special train. One of the stations along the line (I think it's Oakworth) is where The Railway Children was filmed (the one filmed in the 80s?). I was tempted to do the whole 'Daddy! My Daddy!' thing but it'd probably have looked a bit weird. We were also in Bronte Country so when we got off at Haworth station, people could go and see where the Bronte sisters used to live. The day out was good, and in the evening we went out for a meal at The Charnwood Arms. Luckily, if I cut up my food into tiny pieces I was able to swallow it without too much difficulty as I'd been struggling to eat with a swollen throat.

So, there you go. My Christmas/Boxing Day as well as my New Year's Day. I'm quite surprised that I've managed to write it so soon after I'd said I would. I'm usually hopeless when it comes to things like that!

Tara