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
Friday, 8 February 2013
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!
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
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
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
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| Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) |
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| Javert (Russell Crowe) |
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| Fantine (Anne Hathaway) |
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| Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) |
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| Marius (Eddie Redmayne) |
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| Eponine (Smantha Barks) |
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| Cosette and Marius (definitely jealous of Cosette) |
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| Enjoras (Aaron Tveit) and Marius! |
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| The Thenardiers (Helana Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen) |
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| Marius (again!) :D |
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| 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!
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).
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
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!
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| Looking out of my kitchen window, and first discovering that it'd snowed! |
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).
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| On the seafront, looking towards Constitution Hill |
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| Looking out from Rob's window, and seeing all the snow on the hills! |
Tara
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
17. our animal friends
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| R.I.P Beesley |
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| Beesley and Breeze together :) |
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.
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| 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.
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.
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
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| My new trainers :) |
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.
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| 'Dracula' by Bram Stoker, my Kindle Touch, 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' by Louis de Bernieres |
Tara
Monday, 7 January 2013
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
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.
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
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
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
Christmas Day
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| My Nina Ricci 'Nina' perfume |
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| 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
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| My 3D Globe Puzzle |
Boxing Day
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| One of the games we played |
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
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