Life in a list

Back in May, while I was in that weird limbo stage between Uni and being an actual grown-up, I wrote a Bucket List for my blog. Some of the things on there I won't be able to do for years. Others are a working progress. However, in a short eight months, I have managed to tick a few off!

Get my blog to over 10,000 views

At the time of writing this, I currently have 13,473 views! I may have to set myself a new goal if this keeps up. I am nowhere near the big league bloggers but I am pretty impressed with my total :)

GRADUATE UNIVERSITY

 I already did a whole blog post about my Graduation here so I won't go on about it too much. Last year I graduated at York Minster with a 2:1 in Primary Education, just saying ;)

While we are on the topic of Graduation, this one might also be appropriate to tick off...

Not fall over on the stage at my Graduation

Actually have afternoon tea at Betty's

At the end of our Uni days, a few of us went on a big tourist day of York. We were a little hungover from our Primary Ed Ball so it wasn't long until we needed a coffee boost. Not quite an afternoon tea but I'm counting it!

Learn more awesome yoga stuff

Since starting work I haven't been doing much yoga at all. I loved my few months of freedom where I had the chance to spend hours doing yoga everyday. I learnt a lot and I hope I will make time for more yoga in the future.

Love my Career

2013 was the year I got my first teaching job. I'm now one whole term down and I still love being in the classroom every day. It is definitely a difficult and time consuming job but I can't imagine doing anything else.

Climb a mountain, even if it's tiny

Back in October, I went to Ingleton with Ryan for the day. He convinced me that walking up Inglebrough would be a good idea! After lots of moaning (on my part) we finally reached the top. It wasn't till now that I realised I'd actually climbed a mountain, although it was a little one.

Visit the major European cities

After a free trip to Paris with Uni friends and a city break to Barcelona with Ryan, I can say this one has definitely been started! I am eyeing up places in Germany next :)

Never stop trying new things

Pick up new hobbies 

Hopefully this one will never ever stop. To name a few, I've learnt about gardening, climbing and even geo-caching. Fingers crossed that in another eight months I will remember to look back again and see if I've met any more of my goals or learnt something else that I didn't expect!

The story of a broken waffle.

Hello 2014! Oh and it's Sunday ;) back into the usual routine at last now that I've calmed down from the holiday madness. I was meaning to blog a little earlier than this, however there was no internet at Ryan's Mum's house (which is where I have been all week). I had a lovely time spending New Year in Essex. We visited London but chickened out of staying for the fireworks because the last train home would have been a massive rush.... I'd much rather be snuggled up in my pyjamas on New Years too! New years day was spent orienteering in a LOT of mud :) as well as watching Harry Potter, my favourite!!

While at Ryan's, we watched Jamie Oliver's festive feast program. I was practically drooling everywhere at everything he made, especially his waffle with maple syrup and home-made hot chocolate. Back in Harrogate a few days later, and the recipe was on his website. So I thought I'd give it a go :)

This is how yummy they are supposed to look...

Jamie's griddle pan waffles

à la Jenny

It all started off very promising. I gently heated some milk while I made the hot chocolate mix; I even enjoyed getting mucky fingers while grating the mountain of chocolate. While that was simmering nicely, I got to work on the waffle mix which was really quite simple! 

With the griddle pan heated and butter melted, it was ready to go. The mixture poured in and spread out delightfully and it all looked very promising. You have to wait ten minutes to cook one side which is rubbish for someone as impatient as me. I was clearly messing with it, caught on camera...

I am also wearing my Sitka cardigan that I ordered from the Surfdome sale.

Ten minutes down the line, it was starting to smell cooked underneath but it was still as gooey as ever on the top. It was definitely a 'to flip, or not to flip?' moment. I opted for flipping and my waffle went quickly from this...

...to this!

Not the best start to my culinary year! After trying to salvage the waffle with some maple syrup, poor Ryan suffered through a few stodgy mouthfuls. At least the hot chocolate was yummy. After going back on Jamie's recipe I realised there are a LOT of comments at the bottom from other people who have tried. I wasn't the only one who ended up in this predicament and it seems the baking powder is to blame! Maybe there is hope for my baking skills yet :)

Becoming Human

After two months of monotonous eat, sleep, teach, repeat (thank you Fatboy Slim for inspiring that depressing motto) it is FINALLY the Christmas holidays for us teachers. I must say that I am NOT sorry that I have a blissful 16 days off from work for Christmas. I have worked hard and most definitely deserve every second of holiday us teachers are offered! I'm going to spend my two weeks actually having a life as a human being once again :)

I haven't been back to Wolverhampton since July when we jetted off to Spain for our family holiday. Currently I am sat in my parents living room, in my spot, as if I'd never even left. It's not very often that the whole family is together nowadays since both me and Nikki left for Uni. It's nice to know that we all just slot back into life as a family unit and we are still all as mental as always.

Sisters at Christmas Dinner.

Padre passing out the pressies!

Even though my Graduation was over a month ago now, I finally decided that I'd like to buy myself an ipad mini with the money I was given. In my typical ditsy fashion, I decided this on Christmas Eve. Luckily the shops weren't too busy and I was in and out of Argos in under 15 minutes! It's not going to make me the most sociable person to be around but I am excited to start face-timing friends and keeping up with social media! The main purpose of buying it was just for chilling out :) listening to music, playing games reading blogs and magazines in the evenings after school. I am an apple/tablet/any kind of technology novice so please send app recommendations this way!!!

I'm not a massive Boxing Day sales lover to be quite honest. You will never catch me setting my alarm for ridiculous o'clock to try and nab a bargain... that I will most likely not even wear. However when I saw that Surf Dome had up to 60% off, I had to check it out. As well as selling awesome stuff, they also offer free delivery and returns in the UK, which always makes them a winner in my book. I ordered my self two lovely cardigans that should have been £80 each! I need some new knitwear so obviously made some sensible sale choices. I love Roxy clothing so the black, chunky knit from Quicksilver was instantly added to the basket! Sitka was a brand I'd not heard of but their slouchy, green cardigan was right up my street. After some googling I found out that Sitka is a Canadian surf/skate shop with a pretty cool website. Who'd have known eh?

Sitka - £30.38

Quicksilver - £35.98

As well as all these lovely treats I was buying for myself, I'm not sure if you noticed but it was Christmas yesterday! I thoroughly enjoyed using the new ipad to check out all the presents my friends had received and all the yummy food they were scoffing!! Every year me and Nikki make little piles of our gifts down the sides of the sofa and take a picture. Here is my little stash of goodies...

My Christmas haul included the traditional Jenny presents: plenty of chocolate, socks, perfume, DVDs, a calendar for next year and some girly smellies (this year from Lush). My big presents this year were some cosy reindeer pyjama bottoms and  purple gillet from Fat Face. I also got these beautiful Blowfish boots that I've had my eye on since October half term! Ryan wouldn't let me buy them then because I couldn't really afford them. He was right though :)

My favourite surprise presents were a Merry Marshmallow Yankee Candle and a gorgeous Elephant teapot from my friend Sam. Usually I would opt for the Christmas cookie scented candle but I'm glad my sister discovered this one. I'd actually forgotten to put this on my list this year so it was really nice to open this and inhale the creamy scented goodness on Christmas morning! I must have talked a lot about elephants and tea this year, or perhaps Sam just knows me really well :) I didn't even know elephant teapots existed. I also got some lovely wintery-spice teapigs tea bags to go in it, amazing!!

 

Right. Let's take a MASSIVE step away from all things Christmassy now as you have most probably had enough. As part of my 'becoming an actual human being' plan over the holidays, I really want to get back into yoga. I have neglected my practice a LOT since I started teaching. That's a lie, it's actually none-existent nowadays. I must admit I have been awful at doing anything outside work apart from the odd plans on a weekend and that needs to change in the new year! I got a bit excited (and very geeky) looking at yoga apps on my ipad. I decided to download the Yoga Studio app for £1.99 because it has ready made classes, hundreds of poses and you can custom make the classes to suit you as well. I also used the schedule section to timetable in classes for myself until the end of February!!

While I'm not at work I don't just intend to be glued to the ipad. I'm just talking about it a lot because it's my new toy... promise! I do actually want to go outside, do stuff and talk to people. I'm meeting Dally for a drink tomorrow after months apart; we will certainly have a lot to catch up on! Then for new year I'm off to spend New Year with Ryan's family in Chelmsford :)

OMG, totes going to have an awesome time in Essex ;)

The most wonderful time.

December is a special month for most people with the build up to Christmas. It's a time for spending time with family and friends and spreading the holiday joy. However December is doubly special for me because it's also my birthday!! I didn't post a blog last week because I'd spent the weekend celebrating with friends and didn't have time to sit and write.

With a birthday so close to Christmas it's always difficult to decide how to celebrate. It's tricky for friends and family to buy two lots of presents too. I'd asked my family for money because that way I can spend it on nice things through the year rather than overloading on goodies all at once. That didn't stop my nearest and dearest buying lots of lovely gifts and staying up with me to open them all at midnight! They were all really thoughtful presents and I couldn't wait to use them! Even my Mum had sent me a little box of Lush goodies so I'd have something to open.

As well as adorning the living room with all my birthday cards, Amy and Tom sorted out some beautiful decorations for our flat. Our tree looks gorgeous dressed in silver and white and there are twinkly fairy lights all around. I think this year I've recieved the MOST Christmas cards ever. Who knew teachers were so popular? Ryan fashioned a card holder out of string for me, which is now being weighed down by ridiculous amounts of Christmas loveliness!! 

It's hard not to be in the Christmas spirit when you work with thirty-one children every day. When I'm not tearing up at them singing Silent Night I'm a storyteller, church attendee, directer of the play, Santa drawer, advent calendar manager and of course their teacher as well! It's been an exhausting month with everything going on; the tiredness has actually felt endless! But I can't imagine working anywhere else. 

If the Christmassy excitement of my class wasn't enough of a reward, they definitely spoilt me with Christmas goodies. I had the odd few presents through the week but today was a massive influx of over-sellotaped, doodled-on loveliness. It is a good job I like chocolate and candles! 

With today being the last day of term I can finally switch off from work and fully embrace the festive season. I'm looking forward to driving home for Christmas (no pun intended) and tucking into plenty of mince pies and mulled wine with my Family! I'm sure you'll hear from me again before the 25th but I hope you are all enjoying the build up... no last minut

How time flies

Those who know me will back me up when I say I'm not the soppiest or most romantic of people. I'm not one for public displays of affection or posting love-birdy type things accross my social media accounts. However, this week I quietly celebrated six months with Ryan. I'm not a month celebrator but I think half a year is quite significant and I can't believe it is here already!

Not many people really knew about us when it all started, as University had just finished and everyone had started to move back to their homes accross the UK. Usually everybody wants to know the ins and outs of everything but it was really nice getting to know each other in the Summer, at a time where I didn't many responsibilities. 

We've spent loads of time together; jetting off to Barcelona after just two months, camping in Wales and lots of little day trips too. Ryan is living with me at the moment which makes it easy to spend weekends and evenings doing fun things (when I don't fall asleep after work that is!). I think we do have quite a lot in common but a lot of differences too which keeps it interesting. I definitely think I've got a new best buddy as well as a boyfriend :)

As well as being a friend, he has also been with me through a time where I moved home and started my first teaching job. Ryan knows the names of all my pupils, listens to all my ridiculous stories and makes me cups of tea on the days I come home and just need a good cry. He even made an appearance at graduation too :) He's definitely a winner with my Mum at the moment.

Even though this will probably give him a big head, I have learnt lots too. Ryan knows loads about growing food, cooking food and all the ethical background stuff too. He also loves climbing so I've had a go at that too. I am a total novice! Last week my arms ached for three days afterwards!! I'm not sure if I've taught him anything, but I am slowly working on his awful DVD choices.... never date a film and TV graduate! 

I always get asked how we actually met. York St John students often recognise him from the SU because he works there, but can never comprehend how we actually met. Weirdly we met on twitter! I trawled through my twitter feed yesterday to find you the first lot of communication... not that romantic haha! After tweeting me on the YSJSU twitter account, Ryan followed me on his personal account. Months of tweeting later and we ended up in Evil Eye, chatting over apple strudel cocktails.

Six months later and here we are! It seems such a short time when I look at some of my University friends who are years into relationships and some are even engaged! But you have to start somewhere... watch this space :)