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!