This could be paradise.

As much as I'd like to get my brain into my usual blog writing zone, I'm finding it utterly impossible to choose a topic. I have so many happy thoughts floating around in there so I thought I'd share what's been making me smile instead...

One - Valentines cupcakes

For Valentines day I made a deal with James to give home made goodies to each other. Despite the fact he didn't hold up his end of the deal (he took me out for a fabulous meal and a film instead so I let him off :P) I still loved making these valentines cupcakes for him! My house mate Sam let me borrow her cupcake recipe book and off I went in search of the most romantic cakes I could find. I did have to tweak the recipe slightly and you can find my amended version below.

Here is my finished creation, they looked good and tasted even better!

Ingredients for the cake:

80g (2.8oz) butter

1/2 cup of caster sugar

1 egg

1 cup of self raising flour

1/3 cup of milk

1/2 teaspoon strawberry favouring (originally vanilla)

1/4 cup of white chocolate chips (originally milk chocolate)

Ingredients for the topping:

80g (2.8oz) butter

1 cup of icing sugar

1 tablespoon of cocoa (I added more and more until I liked the chocolatey taste)

Haribo sweets to decorate (originally fresh strawberrys)

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.

2. Line a cupcake pan with 12 cupcake papers (24 mini ones). 

3. In a medium sized bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fuffy. Add the egg and mix well.

4. Add the flour, milk and flavouring and beat until well combined.

5. Fold through the chocolate chips.

6. It's time to cook so you have time to wash up heehee!

7. Mix together the butter, icing sugar and cocoa until combined well. (This is where I slowly added more cocoa until I liked the taste)

8. Use a spoon to put a decent dollop on each cake. (Use a piping bag if you're a super keen chef!)

9. Decorate with yummy sweets and you are done!

Two - Spring is near

I am so excited for the weather to warm up! I love snow as much as the next person but I like being able to go outside and run free without the fear of Bambi moments. I wanted to go on a boat ride while I was in Southampton visiting James this week but I decided it was still too cold :( so instead I am planning on having a bike ride this weekend even if it rains :)

Cue a dorky picture of me enjoying the outdoors haha! Also a funny picture for those who didn't know me with blonde hair.

Three - Getting my snozzle stuck in a book

I finally finished the first book I have been reading on my kindle! WAHOOOO! Sanctus by Simon Toyne was possibly THE longest book I could have chosen to read, I reckon it could give War and Peace a run for it's money. I blogged about this book a couple of weeks ago as it has been keeping me company on the bus to and from placement and it had me baffled! I managed to get to the end of the 184 chapter book while I was on my five hour train to Southampton and I didn't want to put it down once, such a good twist at the end! I have already pre-ordered his sequel The Key which is out on April 12th; just in time for some Easter relaxation.

Four - actually re-living a movie moment

Now this one is taking be back aaaaall the way to last wednesday which is a feat for my memory! I'm guessing loads of you have seen the film Valentines day? Well I decided to re-create the moment when Jennifer Garner's character teaches her class about St Valentine... aaaaaawh! My year three class are currently learning about the Romans which links in perfectly with Emporer Claudius and the story of St Valentine. They absolutely loved it and a few of them even made valentines to take home for their families :)

Now in the spirit of all the Valentines celebrations (even if I am a little late) I leave you with a Beatles classic...

All you need is love :)

the bear necessities.

Hola my dear blog readers! Apologies for the lack of posts recently, I have been super super busy with placement; think 5:45am starts and 9:30pm bedtimes! But I wouldn't have it any other way of course :) Us primary ed students are tough cookies despite the never ending list of assignments and placement we stay as optimistic and positive as ever. Seen as I have an evening free I thought I'd have a girly pamper session, make a lovely cup of tea devote a Blog post to my many strategies of dealing with the copious amounts of work and still having plenty of energy and a smile at the end of the day :)

Mid week subway; formerly known as subway Friday
The girlies that I'm on placement with and I decided that to keep us going through the five week block we would have one lunchtime a week devoted to enjoying a freshly made, delicious sarnie from subway. Originally this was to coincide with the Friday feeling but that meant we would have to wait all week for our happy buzz. Sooooo for Lauren's birthday we moved our Subway feast to Wednesday and it was decided that a mid week treat was much better and we still had the weekend to look forward to!

Watch Matilda
Teacher in training... definitely want a bit of Miss Honey in my life to get me inspired! When I get down, I hum this to myself.. instant mood fixer

Surprise visits from the boyfriend & the home made valentines agreement
After a hard first week of placement and the freezing cold walk home from the bus, all I wanted to do was face plant my pillow and sleep for the entire weekend. I walk round the corner and James was waiting outside my house, huge grin and flowers in hand. What do I do? I cry. Yeeeeeep I have a nice little sob until I realise we are still stood in the freezing cold and I hadn't bothered to open the door. I'm so glad I didn't have to spend my weekend alone, that he can put up with craziness and he is such a sweetie travelling all that way to come and cheer me up <3

Last Valentines day we cooked each other dinner but this year we are going for a 'home made' theme. I'm thinking of baking some delicious valentines cookies or cupcakes and making the most glittery card you would have ever saw :D if anyone has some good recipes or any other home made gift ideas please let me know!


I am definitely addicted to these scrummy things right here!

Glorious skinny soup - SO YUMMY! They are packed full of interesting flavours and keep me full all afternoon. SO far I've tried the Goan Vegetable and the Aztec flavours.. watch this space for my thoughts on the others.

Innocent smooth orange juice - Simple and sweet, I got some while it was reduced to 99p in Morrisons but I will probably still buy it full price as it is so refreshing and absolutely NO pulp. WINNER!

Read a good book
This isn't teacher talk, this is me genuinely loving to read. Ever since I got my kindle for my birthday reading has been so accessible to me, I can just wack it out whenever I fancy getting lost is in a story for a few hours. I've been reading Sanctus by Simon Toyne and I must admit I am well and truely lost! I'm half way through and I have no clue what is going on at all, it is so intriguing I just have to keep reading. This is a must read for any Dan Brown fan as it is full of religious mystery, puzzles and adventure.

Now this is how you promote reading books when your on primary ed....

Sing and laugh at stupid adverts
I love adverts and I don't even care :P The cheesy music and the random ideas can result in two minutes of magic that just brightens up your day, not just your programme viewing. Here are my favourites at the moment...

James Villa Holidays - Um what's not to love about this song? Without a doubt I will tap tap tap my toes to this one.

Sainsburys - I just love love love this one! It's so simple and natural and I love singing along to it with Leah.. even if I do get my birds and my bees mixed up ;)

The happy egg company - I just saw this one today but who doesn't like happy chickens eh?

Inspirational stuff
I am a total sucker for this one; every single cool quote I find I have to save, just in-case I may want to read it again some day. I even copied down something that was written on the fridge during a New Girl episode (dfnnfjwenfewi best programme eeeeeveeeer)

'Teachers send children home with more to talk about that homework.'

Pretty neat huh? Here is some other random rubbish that I've pinched from various blogs that I read that you might find inspirational toooooooo....

Stay tuned for more of my pondering of life :)

x

Five things...

...that I'm wishing for right now.

1. That teaching practice goes well - I start my five week placement on Monday and I am so excited! My year 3 class are the sweetest bunch of kids ever so it is always an amazing day. I have loads of fun ideas and lessons planned so it's sure to whiz right by. I'm even bringing out all the French I learnt in secondary school so we can learn all about 'Le Petit Chaperon Rouge' - That is little Red Riding Hood to you and I!


2. For the weather to warm up - I am a fan of winter don't get me wrong, sometimes I can't think of anything better than to stick on a woolly jumper and fluffy socks, warm up Shaun the microwaveable sheep and continuously drink tea. I am just so booooored of this weather :( at the moment I leave the house and it is dark, I spend all day in uni or on placement then I come home when it is dark, where has the sun gone?!? I am over my dream of snowy streets, bring me the milder weather.


3. That Nikki geeks out at her uni interviews - I think I'm such a lovely sister for including her in my wishlist when these spaces should be reserved for me :P Confirmed interviews at Chester University and Birmingham City University; now it's a case of using the natural Davison charm hahaha good luck Nic!ola (for those who are unfamiliar with the African click language called Xhosa; this is my click version of Nikki's name)


4. For my hair to grow - Growing out my Frankie Sandford style crop has been such a palava! It only has one inch to go until I officially have a bob of all the same length.. COME OOOOOOOOOON 


5. That I can fast forwards to Valentines day - I am so very much excited that I get to spend Valentines with James this year! With us both being at Uni we are hardly together for important days like anniversaries and birthdays but this year I actually have time off to go down to Southampton and visit him :D I am so lucky that half term coincides with Valentines day but to be honest I'd have still been excited if it was just any old day!!

I'm thinking of making 'Five things' a regular post so look out for the next one!

xoxo

xoxoxox

The New Girl; my new year's new thing.

Greetings :) Sorry I haven't blogged in a while! It has been my first week back at University and I have been really really busy. I was in school on placement for two day at the start of the week which involves a delightful hour and a half coach ride to and from Middlesbrough as well as many hours of my teaching goodness. My Uni work is going to be my priority right now as I have a five week teaching placement and loads of tasks and assignments due before the Easter break. Anybody that is in my group at Uni has the pleasure of watching me deliver an assembly all about fruit and veggies on Monday!

Both my house mates have been busy bees with their end of semester work as well but we still have time to take a break and enjoy ourselves. We went out for an after Christmas meal to Vodka Revolution as they offer 50% off on Mondays and have some fancy new cocktails; the big jug of love is the way to go in 2012!

As a treat between our work, Sam and I decided to watch the brand new comedy 'New Girl' that just started on E4 which is AMAZING :) we couldn't control ourselves and watched the first four episodes online as they are already half way through the series in America. Zooey Deschanel's character is the future me according to Sam as she is a teacher and she is a tad weird.. ok a LOT weird.  Here are our top five moments so far..

Schmidt happens!

To start with I wasn't keen on Schmidt as he seemed a little bigheaded but the douchebag jar obviously keeps him nice as here he is defending Jess and her fondness for silly hats.

Stop it!

What happened to Coach? Gone after the pilot :'( pure comedy genius

Hey Jess, I live in a photo booth now &&& the Jess suppression

The guys wanted Jess to try and be normal when she becomes Nick's fake date for the wedding but with all the guy's drama that ensues, she is the most normal even with her quirks.

Peepee and bubbles gigglescream

All I need to say is that we definitely laughed out loud. Then re-enacted it a million times

The feelings stick

I needs to get me one of these! Looking forward to seeing some of Jess' other teacher props in the future episodes :)

Ciao!

xxxxxxxxxx

The importance of being idle...

I have had possibly one of the laziest starts to a New Year than I ever thought possible. My sister Nikki and I have practically lived in our matching leopard print onsies and eaten most of the leftover Christmas chocolates; there are plenty of fudges spare though because we think they are bleeeeeaaauurgh!

I have finally started to get my bottom into gear and do something productive with my life, such as writing this blog post ;) Here are a few of my latest musings...


What Christmas present have I actually used the most?
Today was the first day I have actually done something worthwhile as my teaching planning was long overdue! So I spent my day looking at a whole manner of information on Romans, soil, 2D shapes and plays. This sudden organisation made me utterly thankful for my new Song Bird Filofax which has allowed me to sort out my life for the next 6 months; Jenny levels of oragnisation! It also helps that it is in a beautiful purple birdy pattern which makes it more likely that I will use it, simple minds eh?

Are there actually any good places to eat in Wolverhampton?

Me and my friend Dally always have a Starbucks date or a lunch date whenever we are both home from Uni  and our next one is tomorrow and I thought we should try something new (how cliché with it being new year and all. tut Jennifer). It took me aaaaaaaages to find somewhere that actually looked decent and had a menu worth looking at; Dally is a veggie so we have to make sure there is enough variety for her aswell! Finally I came accross this Eat in Wolverhampton guide which has loads of places to choose from whether you want a fancy restaurant or some good ol' pub grub. There are even some printable vouchers at the end that offer 2-for-1, £5 off or save 20%. We decided we would try Walkabout as they had the most interesting menu, they even serve Kangaroo! I have been there plenty of times as a bar/club so it is about time I sampled their daytime delicacies.

Am I even excited to go to the pantomime tomorrow?

If any of you are from Wolverhampton, or watch 'Have I got news for you' then you will know why I am concerned about this matter. Apparently there are no Dwarves in this production of Snow White. Instead there are children, with dwarf masks, with pre-recorded dwarf voices. I am very concerned indeed. Watch this space!

Is there such a thing as too much Harry Potter?

One of the most exciting Christmas presents I got this year has got to be the Harry Potter Lego game for the Wii! Me and Nikki had the first game last year and it is sooooo addictive; there are so many things to unlock and we literally could not rest until we had got 100% and unlocked Lord Voldemort!

I also got my tickets for the Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour which I have known about for months but I  am now even more ridiculously excited about this!!! I am definitely going to save some birthday money to buy myself a wand or some bertie botts beans :D :D :D Nikki has been checking the updates all Christmas and it has been revealed that you can walk down Diagon Alley, sit in Dumbledore's office and even visit Hagrid's Hut. AMAZING!!!!!

and to top it all off, I have watched philosopher's stone, half blood prince and prisoner of azkaban all in the past week.

People are never too old for the sealife centre!

I went to the Sea Life Centre Birmingham with James as our last date before we both went off to Uni and embarked on our long long long distance relationship and now we are going again. I'm thinking of making it a yearly tradition. I know that we are going to spend hours in the glass tunnel watching all the fishes swim past and hoping for a glimpse of the GIANT TURTLE! James is more interested by the sharks but I know he understands my weird fascination with turtles :) Here is a piccie from last year..

What ever happened to Kate Nash?

I used to quite like her. I was sorting out some old things in my room and found her album in a box under my bed. Let us listen..

Is blogging the future?

Both my housemate and my boyfriend have blogs now thanks to me :P here they are..

http://eat-laugh-live.blogspot.com/

http://bucklandbets.blogspot.com/

I hope you all like my new layout design.. it took me forever to find that little piece of me.

Until next time

xxx