Pancake Day

Pancake Day (aka shrove Tuesday) is such a great day, one I really missed the last two years being in Canada. This year everyone was determined to celebrate pancake day, all day pancakes have been popping up all over the place and most people had some kind of pancake feast planned for tonight. In my little world Tuesday night is CU night (Mary's College Christian Union) it's when the Christians in my college meet, split into small groups, join together hang out, "fellowship" it's good, every college in Durham University has one on Tues night then at the weekends (and random other times) the whole of Durham CU do things together. As Cu fell on pancake day Sarah (aka Sur-ruh) nominated me to be pancake rep. So challenge 2 of the week....

To make pankcakes for 40 people using a Mary's college pantry.....

I have to admit I cheated a little on this one and bought a few things but I did assemble...this is the creation (because pictures of food are cool!!!)....

They were yummy! Nutella crepes with rasberry sauce and strawberries. Afterwards some of us crammed into one of the pantries, put some tunes on and hung out while Mark made pancakes for us...What a star Mark is! A Very fun evening! The small group (aka impact group) part of CU was really good too, Looking in Rev 3:1-6 together about how the church at Sardis lived of it's past reputation, it looked like it was getting things right but God knew most of them weren't. They were doing things but not really letting Christ Live through them or letting Him be seen. It talks about how they do good things but leve them uncompleted. Lots there to be challenged about in my own life!

Under Construction

I am learning that remaking a blog takes time and odd things keep happening that I don't really understand. I keep trying to grab a few minutes here and there to work on it because it's kind of fun but it quite quickly can get frustrating. I am thinking...At the rate I am going....it could be a while, especially since I have 3 essays due before the end of term. I wish I knew how to wrap "under construction" tape across the front of my Blog but I don't...oh well we can just imagine it is there.

On a slightly more optimistic note.......
Today Annika and I went for a run. We missed Naomi. Naomi can't come at the moment because she has very sore arms and can't do much with them, she's doing a degree in music, and plays flute and piano so sore arms isn't too great of a thing for her. We've all been a bit hopeless at keeping up with running recently actually. Well I guess Annika has been doing pretty well but it's been a while since we all ran together. This is where the optimistic note comes in (incase you were questioning it's absence so far) I have only run once in the last 3 weeks but today.....not only had I not backslidden (fitness wise) I was able to jump up 3 weeks in the running program from what I was doing last time. I was very impressed with my body, it proved once again I underestimate it (so I rewarded it with a cookie) I am realizing that any problems i have with running are really not physical, my body is pretty strong, it's my mind that's weak and thinks I can't do it and fights to give up, the rest of my is normally fine. I guess it's like a lot of things.....(philosophical moment).....you often THINK you can't do things or THINK you want to give up and you can make you thinking seem very rational and logical but really if you just keep on pressing on you can and on the other side (aka end of the run) not only are you so happy you did push through but also, when you look back you realize it was really never as hard as you thought it was at the time. 5 minutes into the run today the thought of running for another hour seemed crazy but at the end, looking back it really didn't seem very long and it felt so worth it. I think that's going to be how it is with university for me. Right now another 2 years seems like a very long time but I think at the end I'll be so happy I did it, I'll treasure the memories from these years and 3 years will feel like it's flown by.

Unimpressed...very, VERY unimpressed

Yesterday I was playing around with things on my blog to show what can be done but not really intending to change much.....like a sensible girl I had a copy of my template saved just to be safe. So I was done, my blog was the same, all was good, I deleted the saved template from my desktop. I guess somewhere in the deep memory that is blogger something I done was on record because when I published a post earlier my whole blog format changed to a candy floss pink colour (argh) and nothing was saved or redeamable. I really don't have time to re-do it all so I've put this up temporarily and at some point I'll finish it off and sory out all the links and stuff. If you're not linked anymore I haven't stopped liking you....I'll try and get around to it......oh well, these things happen.

Because pictures of food are cool (apparently)

Ok so here is the mission (should you choose to accept it...) to host a dinner party for ten people on a student budget (sort of)in a Mary's college pantry! Our pantry includes...
one small fridge (no freezer)
a sink
two small (not very hot) hot plates
one kettle

The added challenge being the list of allergies within the group...The list is long!

but I am a girl who likes a challenge and was wanting to do something interesting. I decided to do a Mexican meal because it really isn't something we eat much of in England and I thought it would be cool to learn to do and fun for us to try because most of it none of us had ever eaten before. Also I have a great resource, the ultimate cook book....No not Nigella Lawson (although that it my fave actual cook book) I'm talking about Andy, who inspired me a bit, and was there to walk me through a couple of things. I also had lots of friends to help out (especially Naomi and Nicola) which was fantastic. So we ate...

LOTS of yummy chicken (a couple of kilos, crazy how much 10 girls can eat)
guacamole (avocado is deff one of the funnest foods to work with)
a few types of Salsa (the mango salsa being the big fave)


and all the other bits and bobs you would expect tortilla chips, dips, sour cream, wraps etc....but I think the biggest hit (and idea that I have to forward credit to Andy for) was the butternut squash chorizo sausage thing. I didn't think it was going to work because we didn't have the right ingredients but I made some stuff up and it was great. Helen and Annika made real Mexican Sangria which was lush with lots of fruit in it.

Desert is the one part I can take credit for...I think the simple things in life like Jelly (aka Jello for my N.American friends) is always good, especially with chunks of Mango, Lime and mandarins.




So that was our dinner party, I know that cooking a meal might not sound like a terribly exciting to all of you who cook regularly but for us planning, doing and enjoying something like this is. We eat 'mary's food' everyday and we are thankful for it but it is just so good to cook something and eat something different for once....very exciting!
we also played lots of party games (introducing the girls to the wonder that is 4 on a couch and psychiatrist...Ffion also did some cubing) Then headed downstairs for a Mary's College Ceildh.

I am including a video of the Ceildh so you can see a bit of what it's like....Unfortunately there was hardly anyone there as you can also see....Oh well!

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My secret of success for students

Recently I have been sharing my tip for success over late night study stress with a few of my friends and the reports have been positive so I thought I would publish it......Dry Kelloggs special K red berries!!!!!! When you are against a deadline and staying up till all kinds of crazy hours reading and studying etc. it's inevitable that you get the munchies and imperative to have sustenance. This is where munching on dry cereal works really well. Now I admit cereal doesn't really compare to chocolate but it does have it's good points,

1.No sugar high (followed by a crash
2.You can nibble for ages and not get far down the box
3.99% fat free
4.you never know when you will get a surprise of a red berry
5.you can eat and work because it's not messy
6.it makes you feel like you are being healthy
7.it has tones of vitamins and stuff (according to the box)

disclaimer: cereal is not a real solution to stress, just physical hunger!!!

Learning something new

SALSA Simplemente!
So last night Annika comes running into my room telling me about Salsa dancing lessons in Durham she has found on the internet "and they start in 30minutes, let's go" so spur of the moment we decided to go and had such a great time. There must have been close to 40 couples there for the first part (which is the beginners lesson) but then more come for 'improvers' then the lights go down and everyone just salsa dances and practices the steps they have learnt in the classes. During the lessons you switch partners every couple of minutes so you get to dance with lots of different people which is great, it was also fun because most weren't students and it's nice to spend time with non-students sometimes. It was so much fun, I'm really excited to go again next week and learn more.

Being (officially) 21

What a great day, I have just loved it. So many cool suprises and treats from waking up this morning and nearly falling through all the "happy 21st birthday signs" accross my door and outside the room, to mysteriously appearing crates of coca cola ("from Canada") and a million little things inbetween. It was quite a pampering day to be honest. I slept in, had Cadbury's Turkish Delight chocolate and a cup of tea for breakfast, went out for coffee with my cousin, went for a massage at the spa, indulged with gift vouchers at body shop....lots of lovley things. This evening I went out with my friends which was such a fun time (and such yummy food and wine).....I let Naomi tell you about that........

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So a really great day, Lots of wonderfuil gifts and cards. Thanks to everyone who made it so special!!!

Valentines day

Before now Valentines day has mostly been exciting because it's been the day before my birthday.....This year however it's become more of a day in it's own right....a day, I have to say, I like quite a lot! Beautiful roses and delicious Belgium chocolates from a very special someone. I never knew how much a bouquet of roses could make me smile......Wonderful day!

This evening we had a "singles (and far, far away boyfriends) party." Pink champagne, chocolates, deserts, girlie movies etc. It was really fun!

It's getting closer!!!

Just 2 more sleeps

This is a tea set I got from my auntie....I think it's probably the cutest tea set in the world!!! Thanks Auntie Sue!

Being (even more) almost 21

Last night we went out for a family meal (minus Adam &fam) to Pizza Express. The food was great (especially the starters and deserts) the children had the biggest ice cream fudge sundaes I have ever seen (and I'm sure Joff broke some kind of record for consumption of icecream.) Balloons, a loud rendition of Happy Birthday and a competion as to who could balance the spoon on their nose (which I officially lost)

Pride and Prejudice

I think this has always been my favourite story, I LOVE the BBC/A&E version (also known as the Colin Firth walking out the lake version) but today I got my very own copy of the new movie and I am very excited! If you haven't seen it you could check out the trailer
Here's the link....

trailer

but the real thing is much better
In other news......I am home for the weekend to celebrate the big 21 with my family.

Our new house

Here are some pictures as promised, unfortunately my camera broke when we got there so there aren't many and they were mostly take on a cell phone so the quality isn't too good either...

Today Naomi and I went to have a look around the house now that we have SIGNED FOR IT and it is ours for next year. We do like our little house. It has a tree in the front garden (which apparently has very pretty pink blossom in spring) and apple and pear trees in the back garden (and a vegetable patch.) When you walk in the hall way is a nice size, it is purple with a light carpet and it has the dining room table in it. To your right is the door to the first bedroom, then the door to the living room. The living room is kind of a cool shade of light green with hard wood floor and a wood fire place. If you go straight through the hallway you go into the kitchen which is newly fitted and a pretty good size, all the appliances are new which is great, at the back of the kitchen is a utility room (for washer, drier etc. That leads to the back garden. Upstairs there are another three bedrooms and a bathroom (which is quite a loud colour but nice because it's very clean.) That's about it really, it's quite a simple little house but we're excited to move in and make it home. Today we were looking at all the bills, things to sign over, what to do when the electricity cuts out etc.... Oh there's lots to learn but I am quite excited about the whole thing. Now it's all sorted the end of June seems like a very long time to wait to move in.

Ollie

I realized that there are pictures of every single member of my family on this blog (in some place or other) BUT there are none of Oliver. Today I am righting that wrong!

This is Ollie, he is almost 8 and I think he's pretty cute!

Being (almost) 21

Well I am loving that my friends decided to start my birthday off 10 days early, it's like one big long birthday, next weekend I am home to celebrate with my family and then back up to Durham to celebrate the actual day with my friends....Well you are only 21 once!

My friends had done such a good job of keeping last night secret, I had no idea what we were even doing anything until the night before, I didn't know where we were going till we were half way there (when I found out it was the Gala theatre) but I still didn't know what for until we were sat in our seats. The clues had been very cryptic indeed!!!! They took me out to a Jazz night in aid of a children's charity. It was such a good night, I love jazz music and especially enjoyed staring in awe at the sax solos (if only.....) I thought it was so sweet that they would do that. There were 8 of us (Naomi, Annika, Helen, Helen, Nicola, Rachel, Cathy and me.) A highlight of the night was that Annika and I ordered cocktails and then discovered the colour of the cocktails matched our outfits!!!!! It was very exciting! Another thing that made the evening really great was that there was a raffle. They read out the names of the winners from the stage and my name was drawn. I won a voucher for a neck, back and shoulder massage at a spa in Durham. So it was a great night, such a good surprise and a really fun way to kick off the celebrations!!!

Being Blue

I noticed my friend April had done this test and posted her results on her blog so i thought i'd try.....I'm blue....



You're blue — the most soothing shade of the spectrum. The color of a clear summer sky or a deep, reflective ocean, blue has traditionally symbolized trust, solitude, and loyalty. Most likely a thoughtful person who values spending some time on your own, you'd rather connect deeply with a few people than have a bunch of slight acquaintances. Luckily, making close friends isn't that hard, since people are naturally attracted to you — they're soothed by your calming presence. Cool and collected, you rarely overreact. Instead, you think things through before coming to a decision. That level-headed, thoughtful approach to life is patently blue — and patently you!

Here's the link....

what'syourtruecolour?

Venetian Carneval

Well last night was fun! I thought I would throw a couple of pics on the blog for you all to see.














(girls if you want copies of these just drag them onto you desktop or I can e-mail them to you)