Achoo, achoo, achoo.

Since last week's blog post, I have spent my time being ill. I was feeling pretty darn invincible when I managed to avoid the dreaded cough that both my Yorky housemates had. Then I spend two days at home and it's lurgy city. I haven't done much interesting stuff because all me and Nikki want to do is slob in front of the TV so instead I'm writing about how I'm attempting to rid my self of the snotty ghoul before I morph into a Scrooge at Christmas.

Eat soup

I love soup during my healthier days but when you have a cold it can be like warm liquidy magic. Chicken noodle soup is the recommended healer but it's really gross :( I'd much rather tuck into a beef broth, mulligatawny or a loyal tomato.

Tea 

Another one of nature's magic healers; tea never fails to make me feel better. I know you are meant to take it without milk when you are ill because dairy makes you extra mucusy.. eeeeurgh. However I was just looking up cold cures, to make me sound super smart, and they say you aren't meant to drink caffiene! Maybe I'll be sticking to boring water with honey, lemon or ginger instead.

Rest & Relaxtion 

It's so tempting to snuggle up in your onsie and stay in bed for hours on end when you are ill. It's true that R&R and a bit of time is the best remedies but as my Mother says, you also have to 'shake your feathers'. You should try and leave the house and get some fresh air... especially if you STILL have Christmas shopping to do.

Festive Animals

This was just to cheer me up. Look at their little faceeeees, naw! :P

Furry & Woolly goodies

I know it's nearly christmas but you should totally buy something new and cosy. There is always a woolly jumper adorned with a cute woodland animal or some super snug boots on the wish list. There is absolutely NO excuse, even if you are ill! With the dawn of internet shopping you can get yourselves some amazing new Dr Martens just like me in two days ;)

Vitamin C 

This is soooo not fun, orange juice just tastes minging when you are ill and it stings your poor throat BUT you need those vitamins to get you into tip tip present opening shape! Its important to eat stuff too (remember to avoid dairy for your disgusting mucus!) because you will just feel horribly weak and lethargic otherwise. I just had a curry hoping it would unblock my nose.... very disappointing.

Cold fighting goodies.

Ibuprofen, paracetamol and cough syrup are now your best mates. Stock up on tissues, vapour rub and olbas oil too. Unfortunately, Tom Hardy wasn't included with my kleenex :( 

Favourite things

Do something you enjoy just to take your mind off it. Read a book, play your wii games or use all your fancy gadgets before they get replaced on Christmas day with new exciting ones. To be ultimately lazy you can just watch your favourite film. Festive ones are especially effective

Keep Warm & Snuggly

Your onsie will only get you so far towards your dreams of cosy, snuggly warmth. I highly recommend that yourselves a hot water bottle or a hottie; sadly I mean a microwaveable animal and not Gerard Butler.

Sleep

Nature's best cure :) yay!

& finally...

DO NOT act like Sheldon Cooper. You will have no friends left and your family will probably hate you a little bit secretly. However, I think it is perfectly reasonable to demand a rendition of Soft Kitty when you are feeling particularly yuck.

Twenty One.

So I am finally at the the top of the hill, well not really but it feels like it! At least when I turned 18 I could pretend I had three more years until I had to become a proper adult and be all sensible, but now I guess I will have to... naaaaaaat! 

Uni (nearly) Birthday

My uni friends were totally amazing for my birthday, going above and beyond! I am definitely not as nice and thoughtful as they are, so I will have to get my act together for their future 21st birthdays! And... ahem.. a few 23rds ;) I was surprised with a lovely Viking Pandora charm, to remind me of York, from Emma, Tom and Sofia.. you guys are so sneaky :P and Sam made me a giant mince pie birthday cake which was awesome and tasted so yummy!

The best buds came with me to Leeds for a little bit of shopping before falling into Slug & Lettuce for lunch, cocktails and free champagne. When I found out the German Market was on, I knew we had to go and check it out because I love the one in Birmingham. There were loads of cute stalls and I wish I had the money to buy everything! Instead I settled for a chocolate marshmallow for 80p while some of the others dug into fried cheese, bleaaargh! Emma got a bit excited when we found an American sweet shop that sold Jolly Ranchers; she has been on the hunt for them since she tried them in Boston :) Lets just say we all had bright red or blue tongues for the rest of Uni. 

Home Birthday

I have such a top mum for managing to organise such a lovely 21st birthday for me so close to Christmas! She got everything I asked for; family, posh birthday cake, champagne, plenty of food and then mulled wine to drink while we watched fireworks and played with sparklers.

I woke up to a cup of tea in bed while I opened my cards and presents from Mum, Dad and Nikki. I was literally wetting myself with laughter at the '21 years of Jenny' scrapbook that Nikki had made me; full of pictures of me doing daft stuff! She also got me a cosy fur lined Jack Wills hoody and a Buddha charm to add to my Pandora. My parents got my favourite perfume and a cheque that frankly made me feel a little sick haha!!

Usually for birthdays I only spend it with my Mum's side of the family just because we always have, but for my 21st I wanted everybody there. It was really nice to celebrate with both sides of the family at home, even if I am the worst social butterfly in the world; my sofas are so comfy, you just never want to leave them haha. I was absolutely spoiled rotten by everybody that came, I was really overwhelmed by all the cards and presents.. who knew 21 was such a big deal eh?!

I had some really thoughtful gifts but I couldn't take pictures of them all or you'd be reading all day long! Below there's some personalised champagne from my Auntie Jo and Uncle Allan; they are the family champagne experts so it's all pretty exciting. I had a Pandora Jewellery box from my Great Aunty Rose and when I finally managed to open it, inside was this beautiful Pandora Necklace and charm.. flabbergasted doesn't quite cover it. My Auntie Chris gave me money as well as some yummy sounding Hotel Chocolat truffles, mulled wine flavour... amazing!! 

& you are never too old...

...for a kiss from Santa or a cuddle from Mum.

A massively, gigantically and enormously huge thank you to everyone that made my birthday as special as it was.

xox

Westward leading, still proceeding.

The best of all the months! it is the season to be merry after all, didn't you know? I'm getting all excited now that assignment time is so nearly over, I can almost feel the tinsel and smell the stuffing. The title of this blog is very fitting, not only because I dressed up as a king on Monday, but because I will be heading back home, west (and down a bit) for Christmas :D only my second time home since the summer! 

December is super special for me as I am a December baby, I am hitting the big two one this year, scaaaary. Getting so old; dear God, we don't need to add any more numbers, I promise I'll keep it just between me and you. I'll be heading home bright and early on the 14th so I am home for my birthday on the 15th :) my mum has been working hard at getting a nice little family party sorted with fireworks, mulled wine, champagne and lots more of my favourite things. 

Of course I am a little bit more partial to a little December loving, but who doesn't love Christmas!? The decorations and lights are up, York has turned into crazy town and snow is in the air. How cute are the decorations in our SU conservatory? :) so what else is it about December that makes me grin like a loony..

When I am finally a teacher the nativity season will be in full flow. So what is the harm on getting in on the fun even though I don't have my third year class yet? I give unto you, a king from orient and his gold haha, I even managed to have a snuggle of Jesus later on :) at least this year didn't involve carrying a crying three year old dressed as a donkey.

I love Christmas songs, but sometimes they can get on your nerves when every single shop is blasting out the same ones.. yes I already know santa claus is coming to town! I have been on the search for some more unconventional Christmas tunes on spotify :) here is what I have found, hope you enjoy!

Last year I used a game that the Body Shop had on their facebook to transform my profile picture into something rather beautiful. It looked a little like this...

This year they don't have it anymore but I still wanted a festive facebook photo! I had to go on a hunt for something similar... I found the  Fotor christmas overlay and the Nandos Christmas app for android, that do just the trick! This is just ultimate procrastination really but ah well :D

SANTAAAAAAAA... I know him!

Yes it's time for you to watch all your favourite Christmas movies unashamedly. I have already made my way through Love Actually, The Holiday and the best of all of them, Elf! There is just something about Will Ferrell  running around in an elf suit, eating maple syrup that just screams YAY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

It is time for Mince Pies and Mulled Wine, two of my favourite things of all time. Confession time... I had my first mince pie in October. In my defence, Sam convinced me to buy some at York food market when we passed our QTS tests; I couldn't say no now could I? Since then Ive had boxes of the things from Asda, Morrisons and Greggs. What about the mulled wine? Well, that just feels like love in my tummy.

I just LOVE Christmas jumpers, guys look so cute and dorky in them, it makes my heart melt :) especially Seth Cohen! OC lovers will be fondly reminiscing about Christmukkah right now hahahaha. Adam Brody actually shares my birthday too :) (yep I am a total celeb stalker) apparantly December 15th is where it's at. 

ADVENT! I am sorry Mum, but I don't wait until after breakfast to eat my chocolate now.

It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

A little self reflection..

about why I am probably still single

This is not going to be a big emotional rant, do not worry my friends! As if I would ever do that anyway ;) Instead I have come up with a selection of some of my many quirks that are potentially a turn off to most of the large variety of males available on the planet. However I do have a theory that, because I'm not a dog or a cat person, God has to have a human for me somewhere.

Harry Potter obsession

I should wear my deathly hallows necklace at all times as a warning to potential mates. Obviously.

I am super duper busy

I have two weeks left of Uni and assignments before Christmas so it's set to be a hectic time. Add to that my volunteering jobs at Oxfam and YMT, throw in a bit of personal statement writing and job applications, spice it up with some washing up and cleaning for house viewings, pour in a few pints of Christmas/Birthday organisation and present buying,  maybe a dash of a social life... et voila... so I have time for dating, um, never?! Get me some wine, pronto.

I am a teacher

So I have chosen to spend the rest of my working life with children, acting like a total weirdo and bringing home an array of odd objects whilst probably being covered in glue and glitter. I currently have a moveable clock face, a waterproof world map and a Gruffalo puppet floating around my bedroom. Honestly the Jess Day comparison just gets stronger and stronger...

"I have to get to school cause it's astronomy day and I'm dressing up as Galileo, so I have to put on my beard."

Sometimes I like to sing and dance to Wuthering Heights

I loved studying Wuthering Heights for my English Lit A level but Kate Bush definitely got me through the exam period :) She has been popping up now and again on my spotify playlist just to cheer me up at assignment time.

The way I eat jaffa cakes

It's a well know fact that the orange jelly is the BEST part of a jaffa cake. So you should nibble around the edge and eat the sponge first because that's the worst bit. Then you can peel off the chocolate and be left with the beautiful jelly goodness. However I think it's kinda weird that I now give my spongy bit to Tom after the nibbly bit because that part is his favourite.

My Borat accent

and it's not even just a Borat accent, it's loads of different accents that just pop out without warning. It's so bad that even a friend of mine was worried about meeting her (now ex) boyfriend's parents after hearing an accent of mine!!

My brain consists of approximately 50% film and TV quotes

 Unfortunately I have one of those brains that just stores really useless quotes and they always come out at inappropriate times. Great if someone has watched the film. Awkward if they haven't.

I like to watch the adverts

I'm sorry but some adverts are just pure genius. Sainsburys have a knack of making you want to belt out their song, John Lewis make you get emotional and e-on make you thing life is grand; all in the space of five minutes! Once you get past all the PPI and loans rubbish you find some gems like this....

I am pretty geeky in general

Sorry guys but this is a girl who likes to read, listens to rubbish music, gets excited over food deliveries, understands the jokes on 'Big Bang Theory' and has many more nerdy interests.

I am insanely optimistic and upbeat, especially in the morning time

This really should NOT be a reason, but some people just don't dig the constantly perky. I on constantly switched on and usually excited about one thing or another which I guess isn't something that pessimists or miserable people generally like to be around :P 

I like karma, Star-signs & all that hippy-dippy rubbish

Usually I am quite black and white, especially when it comes to giving advice to others. But there is a whole other side to me that's always wondering if there is some greater being... I just can't seem to close off the options :) I carry around a pocket-sized Buddha and lucky gems when I want to have a good day. I get quite excited when I am star-sign compatible with a guy (not that I ever tell them that pahaha) any Leos, Aries' or Sagittarians wondering around???

I reeeeeeeally like tea

Just this week Tom called me a Grandma because of this but I believe you can be young and still enjoy the taste of fancy tea! Earl Grey, Ceylon, Darjeeling, English Breakfast... get in my belly! Whittards are selling this AMAZING mulled wine instant tea at the moment but it's super expensive. Lucky for me I have a fellow tea addict friend who has bought some and offers me the occasional cup ;)

I have an irrational fear of wet wooden spoons and velvet

They just make me cringe so bad! On the plus side I am pretty good with spiders :) I am the resident spider catcher in my house. It's never quite like this though...

So yeah. I'm a pretty awkward human being! But fingers crossed I find someone who can deal with me, preferably before I'm 80 hahahaha :)