Being outdoorsy

I feel like I haven't blogged in absolutely ages seen as I have been busy at Carlton Lodge Outdoor Centre; pushing poor children into lakes and climbing up massive wooden poles takes it out of you I tell you! Pretty impressed that me and Emma managed to climb to the top of the big wooden post in the picture below and actually stand on that platform with NOTHING to hold onto before being yanked off backwards. That was nooooothing compared to what they did to us in October though. On our last day they put our clothes in a massive bag and hung it over the wobbly rope bridge for us to try and get back! Obviously we ended up in the lake :) I've had a blast though and got an immense tan! I was expecting a waterproof day on Tuesday but it was actually hotter than Hawaii!

The sunny weather has got me very very very excited about my Summer plans, despite my slightly burnt bits!  I am finally in the Royal loving spirit as my Mum has decided to have a Jubilee party :) I was getting quite annoyed about the amount of foreigners parading round York wearing various union jack inspired attire; though this could be because I was power walking back from the train station and had a typical English grumble on. However I am now going to have to don my finest red, white and blue outfit and enjoy some tea and cake in the sunshine.

I am off to Chester zoo with James on Friday which is obviously REALLY exciting :) I haven't seen him for 6 weeks now because of us both being super busy at Uni ...PLUS It's our first little road trip together because I am driving!! dkjnfksnfkw EEEEP! As it's for his birthday we are going all out and treating ourselves to the outdoor BBQ at Cafe Bembe... it's not obvious I have been trawling the website in anticipation is it? And if that wasn't enough animal antics for me, at the end of August me and the famalam are going to Edinburgh zoo so I can see the Giant Pandas!! I am torn between wanting a long relaxing summer or wanting it to hurry up so I can go and see them :D

Last Wednesday I was expecting to feel some sort of relief for handing in my final assignment of second year but I am still not feeling it! Maybe it's because I am waaaaaaaaaaay too full of excitement to possibly feel any other emotion! Only one more day at Uni to tie up some loose ends and then I can start preparing for two weeks in Lanzarote :D WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Go fresh.

Hola amigos :) Summer is so nearly here, yet I am still waiting for the Sun to make an appearance in York. Come on, I miss your big yellow face! I have still been enjoying my newly acquired time off despite the typical English weather; I need to make the most of it before I spend another week at Carlton Lodge Outdoor Centre for placement. I have been loving the bike path I found, York is super bike friendly so I can nip to the shops if I've run out of anything instead of the usual fifteen minute walk. I can also use the path next year as it runs right behind my new house :) hopefully my new bike will look a little like the one below, baskets galore!!!

The one thing I actually despise about the last week of the semester is the fact I have NO good food left. I find myself making really weird meals; I had a whole tin of beans with bacon for tea the other night... come on now, what is THAT? After much deliberation about how I would make meals out of what I have left in the cupboard I worked out the least amount of stuff I needed to buy to make actual substantial meals. This meant I could afford to buy a few extra bits so I could try out some recipes :)

Innocent's Beetroot and Chocolate Brownies

These should come with a 'pink hand alert' as when I'd finished boiling and peeling the beetroot (wearing rubber gloves of course) I looked like something off the True Blood title sequence. Some people may be thinking 'eeeurgh why would you ever put beetroot in a cake?' Well my dear, because they taste awesome! The beetroot makes the brownies sooo moist that they melt in your mouth when you eat them. I was a bit scared when it was wibble-wobbling at me as I got it out the oven but they really do taste amazing.

If you fancy giving the beetroot a whirl in your brownies, there is a similar recipe on the BBC good food website here :) the only differences are that they use a LOT more beetroot (I only used one beet!) and that they included flour instead of the ground almonds suggested in the innocent recipe.

Incredible Egg - Egg Frittata Muffins

I hadn't planned on making these but I was perusing pinterest while I was waiting for my brownies to set (back when I thought that could happen) I saw this yummy looking recipe and decided to whip some up for dinner. They are basically scrambled egg in a muffin shape :) but you can chuck in whatever you want; I used peppers but you can have courgette, bacon, onions, sausage, broccoli, whatever! I had to guesstimate the measurements as I was only making two but they are sooooo easy to make that they turned out okay.

Sainsburys Red Lentil Curry

When I used to shop at sainsburys, waaaay back in first year (so old now :'( waaa) I used to pick up some of the little recipe cards. You know those 'feed your family for a fiver' ones? Yeah well, they used to catch my eye and then end up at the bottom on my very disorganised utensils drawer. I spotted this one on Friday when I was sprucing up my cupboard and wanted to give it a try! It was delicious :) lovely and tomatoey with just the right amound of spice! The recipe makes enough for three or four people so obviously I had a lot left over to freeze too :)

I have been storing recipe ideas on my pinterest so look out for more of my culinary expertise over the Summer :P also....

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY TO JAMES!!!

Sorry that I can't be there to celebrate it with you <3

 

See ya.

It is a very emotional time in my life right now; my second year at University is practically over and I'm nearly a dreaded third year! I have had such an amazing year at York St John, I've worked my socks off as well as enjoying so many different things that I will cherish as memories forever <3 It's scary to think I only have nine more months of education left until I become a proper grown up with a professional job!!

It was the final assignment hand in for us Primary edders yesterday so obviously that warranted a night out in good ol' Yorkie!! Feeling a little delicate today thanks to a certain friend supplying me with free drink vouchers all night long :P but it's nothing a Subway won't solve when I pop into town later :)

I can't believe we only have another year together to whinge about assignments and lesson planning!

There is only another week left of the Cruse/Emerald Street girlies living together as well :'( Jade is moving out to live with her boyfriend and the rest of us are moving to a new house in our third year! I feel like I've know them all waaaaaaaaaaay longer than two years and they definitely won't be getting rid of me with ease :D

I have so many exciting plans for Summer but I'm definitely going to miss everybody!!

March to your own beat

Yet more procrastination has been occurring this weekend, I am most definitely the procrastination Queen this year as I haven't wanted to do any of my assignments! I've just got back from one heck of a bike ride to Morrissons and back; it doesn't sound that long but when you are me and you get lost trying to find the entrance to a cycle path then it become a enormous journey :( at least I have an excuse for the tea and millionaire shortbread that is sat on my side!

It was Leah's last day of second year on Friday so I spent the evening celebrating with her that she had finally finished (and wallowing in the fact I haven't). We went for a meal at Zizzis because we thought we could get two courses for £10.95. Turns out that you can't on a Friday but they do offer 25% off your bill for NUS cardholders, score!  There was sooooo much good food to choose from but I settled for the penne della casa which was IMMENSE :) Zizzis is my new favourite restaurant fo sho!

image source

We also popped along to an Art Exhibition and I felt all sophisticated and worldly haha! Leah's friends from her course had organised an exhibition of their work because they wanted to have more freedom with what they were doing, rather than just doing what they needed for Uni. I thought it was all pretty amazing to be honest, even if the purpose was lost on me a bit... "movements of Dada through Minimalism to Neo-expressionism and Pseudorealism"... um what?

After my evening off on Friday I was meant to be getting on with my own Art and Design Tech assignment yesterday. However in usual procrastination fashion, I skyped, chilled, chatted on the phone and bought some cool new high tops that I've wanted for ages now I had permission from Mamma and Papa bear. I can be creative through my footwear right?

I wiiiiiiiill get my work done, it's just that the fun making part is over and now it's the boring writing part. Two thousand words to justify why I made a reusable shopping bag and painted a polar bear... climate change was my theme... only one thousand, nine hundred and ninety five words to go!

The Enormous Crocodile

I'm really proud to say that I have officially gone one month make-up free :) Not counting nights out though, which I have had a grand total of three! Such a geek I know I know. I can't say it has been easy though, my skin is still a pain in the bum and I am still waiting for it to clear a bit more. However I am impressed with myself for getting this far :D

After doing so well I have decided to purchase the witch hazel tinted moisturiser. I have used the witch hazel gel before and it is really kind on skin so this had already put the witch products in a positive light for me. Most tinted moisturisers are basically a mix between moisturiser and foundation which is okay but still not too healthy for your skin. Everyone is raving about these BB creams at the moment but don't even get me started on those! Witch tinited moisturiser is anti-bacterial, uses witch hazel to prevent spots and apparently keeps your skin matte. Sounds really good right? Thats what I thought so I went and bought myself a tube from Superdrug today for just £2.99 on offer (not forgetting my extra 10% discount). The light shade was a pretty good match for my skin but with only three different shades this could be a tricky one over the Summer!

I am officially back on my healthy lifestyle obsession after being stuck on my rubbishy Easter diet due to my never ending assignments and being in need of chocolate rather more often than usual! I had a stomach bug over the weekend but I am all better now and this has spurred me to get on with a healthy eating plan and drinking lots of water! Must remember my body is a temple.... that should work... hopefully :)

After all of the assignment palava these past few months I might just become a permanent hippy and run off to live with the elephants for a more peaceful life. I hope everyone has been watching BBC Planet Earth Live by the way! I have been glued to my screen watching Moja the Lion, Swifty the Meerkat, Gremlin the Monkey and of course the Elephants :) You could even get on twitter last night and suggest names for the new baby elephant.. COOL HUH?

The young calf is part of the 'Writers' family so I tweeted that she should be named Dahl in dedication to the 'Enormous Crocodiles' that had also been on the show last night :P witty I am!

Jelly Bean

Sundays were made to be a pyjama day, most people don't even see the morning time (which makes me question how the saying 'easy like a sunday morning' came about). I usually hate sitting around doing nothing and I get really cranky if I'm sat around in front of the tv for too long but today is going to be different! There are plenty of things I could be doing while still keeping in line with the slobby Sunday rules. The most important rule being that I must stay in my pyjamas for most of the day, if not all of the day. Why not?  I have the house to myself so I can roam around looking as gross as I like :) I still have a few jobs to do around the house and assignments to be getting on with but you know what? It feels soooooooo much better doing them in massive fluffy socks with dogs on, drinking a cup of tea and watching episodes of Hart of Dixie.

Another good thing about Sunday.. well this Sunday in particular, Planet Earth Live is starting on BBC!! I love watching animal programmes; since Frozen Planet finished there has only been Inside Natures Giants on Channel 4 where they dissect the poor animals :( though I did learn all about how a joey gets into a kangaroo's pouch and why they call it a jelly bean.. fascinating! Planet Earth Live starts at 19:50 tonight so I hope you all get watching it :) Richard Hammond is presenting too which is always a winner. You can find more about it all here.

If you are interesting in a team dissecting Natures Giants then there are a few episodes available on 4OD heeeeeeeere.

I think I'll enjoy watching Planet Earth Live with a Sunday Dinner and perhaps some red wine. This of course means cooking my first Sunday Dinner at Uni since February but it will be soooooooo worth it :) I can't turn down Yorkshire puddings! Sunday should be a day of good food don't you agree? I was contemplating trying to make a poached egg for breakfast today but the concept of creating a whirl pool in my pan is quite  frightening; no thank you BBC good food! So rather than actually making breakfast, I am writing this blog post with a rather grumbly tummy. Definately just going to enjoy a bowl of cereal :D

..... it's allowed, it's Sunday!

Shed Seven

I think I might have permanently damaged Dally after only one night in York. I can't say York is a particularly crazy place compared to other cities I could have gone to for University but there are some awesome bars here as Dally found out last night!

Her trip started off quite well as we had a go at making hand-made veggie burgers! We used a recipe from my innocent hungry? book which I had wanted to try for ages but the recipe supposedly makes 4 burgers; way too much for me! We made a complete mess of my kitchen with sweet potato floating about in the sink, grated courgette and halloumi EVERYWHERE and a little sprinkling of flour to top it off. The recipe made absolutely loooooooads of burgers; if I had made four out of that mixture I would have had burgers the size of my head!! Here is the finished meal, complete with plastic plates, alphabet letters (the only shaped potato for teachers of course!) and a classy pint of  rosé.

After a few hours watching Sammy's music buddies perform at Uni we got round to introducing Dally to Evil Eye Lounge. There is no way I can possibly explain how many different cocktail options they have so here is the drinks menu for you to have a gander at! I decided to play it safe with an 'Apple Strudel' which was so so so so so yummy! It was like apple pie in liquid form; zubrowka vodka, apple schnapps, apple cider puree, apple and elderflower.. amazing! Dally on the other hand decided to go all out and order the 'Shed Seven'. I tried to warn her but noooooo she happily orders a drink that seven different kinds of rum, absinthe AND grenadine in it! Absolutely insane!

It is safe to say that Dally isn't feeling too healthy this morning haha, still in bed at 12:30! I'm happily sat here eating numerous breakfasts and wondering what we are going to get up to day :) our tour of York is definitely going to be cut down a bit!

It is seriously May?!?!?

I hope everyone managed to say their white bunnies this morning :) I sneakily got mine in at midnight :D but after a lovely sleep it has only just sunk in that IT IS MAY! Already! I have three and a half weeks left of my 2nd year at Uni, how insane is that? I don't think I am mentally or emotionally prepared to become a 3rd year :O I actually entered panic mode last night with all of my assignments looming :( however I managed to conquer my big important assignment! also looking at this monkey helped...