Macaroons!

Everywhere I look there is macaroons, everywhere! I was watching TV the other day and there they were, I was in a shop the other week and there they were, I was surfing the web and there they were. Now I've never actually tried a macaroon before but the look of them draws me in and they are something I've wanted to try for a while. However, it seems they are more of a thing in America than they are here in the UK and there isn't any shops local to me that sell them so I decided to attempt to make some for myself and I'm quite proud of the results. 

Mmmm macaroooons :P

Update On Life

I nearly started off this blog post saying "not much has happened since I last posted" but that is a complete lie. One major thing that happened is that it was my 18th birthday and I was surrounded by my friends and family that I love lots and lot! I had an amazing day/night and cannot thank everybody enough for that. My main present was my skydiving which was in one of my previous posts so all in all I had the best 18th birthday ever and I want to be 18 forever! I need to fly away to Neverland so I never have to grow up now. 

The day after my birthday me and my friends received some absolutely devastating news and that is that one of my close friends was diagnosed with breast cancer. She'd known for a while about the lump but the doctors had completely missed the fact there was cancer inside of her which is pretty rubbish of them but I guess at least it is found now. She is only 18 years old and it's so shocking for someone of such age to be diagnosed with that type of cancer however, her age is on her side and me and my friends are going to be by her every step of the way.

Today in England was results day. Now for most people them receiving good results would mean getting A's B's and C's but after my ordeal with how A Levels went for me, anything above a U is good. I started off in the first year with two U's (two fails) but they allowed me to carry on into the second year and I really kicked myself up the arse and got my brain into gear. The two subjects I picked which I get U's on were Psychology and Sociology and I did really struggle with them as I'm not that good when it comes to exams and both these subjects were fully exam based with no coursework what so ever. So in the end with getting C's and D's on each modules of the exams I came out with C,D,D which I am proud of for myself and my abilities.

Tonight I will be going out to celebrate with all my friends as they've all got into the uni's they wanted and I'm so proud of them all! One of my friends did even better than she thought she would and is now completely changing the course she wants to do to something harder (crazy!!) It's a shame one friend can't be celebrating with us tonight but she is in our thoughts and well on the way to a speedy recovery as nothing in her boob will get the better of her as I won't let it.

So proud of her! xxxx

Chocolate Fondue

So life at the moment is pretty simple now, not many plans or anything to do, all the exciting stuff is out of the way until my birthday. My dad decided that at the weekend it would be an ideal time to clear out the garage, free up some space and get rid of the unwanted clutter and in the garage we found a chocolate fondue set that hadn't even been opened! It was from June 2010!! 

I went to Asda and bought some Milka chocolate and mini marshmallows and set myself up a little chocolate fondue date for one

I don't really have much to say about it other than it was lush and chocolate fondue would definitely be a good thing to have for a movie night or a pamper evening!

Prom Nails

The very final school celebrations arrived and I hadn't really planned on doing anything exciting with my nails, I was just going to coat them in a simple pale pink/nude colour to match my bag and shoes however after downloading the 'Beautylish' app on my iPhone and scrolling through the nails section, one design really caught my eye - Nail Caviar. 

I thought I'd give it a go, it looked pretty simple, really effective and eye catching. So I popped down to Boots and found a Nail Caviar kit which was perfect.

I also purchased a L'Oréal Nail Polish in White. To begin with I used this white as a base coat and put it on all my nails.

Once that had dried the next step was to do the caviar. In my Nail Rock kit was some glue and silver/white micro beads. The next step was to put a layer of the Nail Rock nail vanish on my nails, this acts as a glue for the beads so there is no need to let this dry. I did this one nail at a time, I coated my nail in the glue and then dipped it into the micro beads. This step is very messy and the beads go everywhere so I recommend putting a plate underneath to keep the mess together.

 And here is my final look.

All the products I used

 I was really pleased with how they turned out and they got lots of compliments at prom however when I awoke the next day I found that the majority of the beads had fallen off, therefore it didn't really last long but it's a great look for a one off on a night out.

Scarecrow Festival

Every year, the village I live in hosts a 'scarecrow festival'. This is where people from the community get creative and make some fun and exciting scarecrows and I have to say as bad as some of them were... they were all pretty good! The photos were taken on my iPhone so the quality isn't that brilliant but here is a few of the scarecrows that we saw.

This was actually a buffalo or something? But for any Pretty Little Liars fans out there you will understand the reason for the face!

Not quite sure what was going on with this one.. it was one riding a bike and I'm not sure if by the time we had got to it, it had been damaged or if it was actually meant to look like somebody had crashed into a tree. I was rather fascinated by the 'Groovy Chick' bike because as a child I was OBSESSED with Groovy Chick! I didn't even know it existed anymore.

Hehehe I got stabbed

Awww, a dinner date with Kermit and Miss Piggy!

'GO COMPARE'

Had to get a picture with Postman Pat since there is also 'Jess the cat' sat on top of the postbox!

Overall there was around 80 scarecrows placed around the village and it was a really fun day and for once the weather wasn't too bad for Britain so the day wasn't spoilt by rain. Because as you will know, if you live in Britain it is impossible to organise an outdoor event without having to cross you fingers for good weather!

Best early birthday present EVER!

For my birthday this year my mum and dad had asked me what I wanted and skydiving is something which I has been on my mental bucket-list for a while now so I thought since this year is my 18th and is a 'special' birthday, I would ask to go skydiving. My mum and dad been the kind, generous parents they are paid for me and my dad to go.

It was hands down THEE best experience I have ever encountered. We picked a day in June to go and the past few weeks the weather had been glorious however, the forecast for Saturday wasn't looking too good but we kept our fingers crossed and even though it was cloudy at the start of the day.. the weather actually was half decent!

Even though it sounds like something so extreme, during the whole of the day I wasn't scared or nervous at any one point. At the start of the day while we were waiting to be briefed I was just so tired and ready for bed - I'm really not a morning person. Then we got our briefing and it was just a case of waiting around until it was our turn to jump. 

We didn't end up landing in the landing zone but instead landed in a field rather far away where the crops were taller than me but it was an incredible experience and the staff at Hibaldstow were amazing - everyone was so lovely and funny. If anybody is every contemplating skydiving I definitely recommend it! Skydiving has by far been the best event of my life. A big thank you to my mum and dad and Skydive Hibaldstow!

Decluttering

I cannot stand it when I feel so 'cluttered'. After my recent exam stress my room became an absolute tip and with all my free time I decided it's time to declutter. I went to my box with all my nail vanish's in and decided that is where I would start.

I got all my nail vanish's together and put them into a bag and began on my mission.

You can see by the state of half of these that this clearout is long long long overdue. During this clearout I found nail vanish's I never even knew I had!

Now with the majority of these nail vanish's I could just shake them and they would return to an acceptable state of 'nail vanishness' but this one was beyond fixing - definitely one for the chuck pile. 

This is the final keeps pile. The majority of these were simply my recent purchases and the main reason for the ones that went in the chuck pile was they were gloopy and had reached the end of their lives.

This was the final chuck pile. As you can see most of them look in a terrible state and that was the main reason for them being thrown away. Apart from the green at the top, I'm not sure what possessed me to ever purchase that but I certainly am not a fan of the colour.

It's always a great feeling when you finally get rid of something that is taking up too much space, it's nice to now be able to look at my nail vanish's and know that when I choose the colour I want, I will be able to apply it without being devastated that it's ran out or it's too thick.

A Stroll In The Park

School if officially out for me now, Monday 10th June was my final exam I was to ever sit. The past few weeks have been rather hectic for me which lots of things going on in my life causing my head to feel like it was about to explode. So as a sort of celebration of my freedom and also to make the most of the glorious British sun we've recently been having me and my friends went for a stroll around Pugney's Country Park. It's basically a large lake but it looks pretty cute when the sun is shining down on it. It's one of them places that when you are there, you feel far away from home and it's so peaceful, feels like you are away from the real world.

At certain times during the day there is a little train that takes you around the park for a small fee however, we were too late for the train but we did go to the little station which has a great view of the lake.

It's a great place to go for a run too, the path is flat and the trees provide you shade and there are also picnic benches nearby so you could have a lovely picnic in the sun however, you have to be careful of the birds that may come and attack you.

As you get about halfway round the lake there is a viewing shed. It is completely black inside which little slits that you can look out of, they provide a great view of the lake and it's a great photo opportunity.

It was certainly very peaceful and a nice getaway for a few hours of the day. There are plenty of people doing water-sports on the lake during the day too. There are plenty of places which provide great photo opportunities and just a short walk from the lake there is a castle ruins which is also fun to go look round, explore and climb. Overall it's just a peaceful, relaxing, fun place for people of all ages!

The End Of An Era

After spending my whole life in education which has taught me everything I know about the world, it's all over. I've spent the last 14 years of my life in a some form of school and now I'm officially free. The past 7 years of my life in high school have been amazing and I've met some people who I love dearly and not only until Friday 24th May did I realise this. 

The class of 2013 has certainly had its ups and downs through the past 7 years. Fall outs, break ups, fights and heartbreaks but I wouldn't have changed any of it for the world. I started out in year 7 as a little girl who didn't have a clue where I was going in life or what was in store for me and seven years down the line.. I'm still in that position but just a little older than before.

To celebrate the fact we made it through high school me and the rest of the year went on a pub crawl around our town. Overall there were 12 pubs on the list - this certainly sounds like something which could turn out messy. I went to my two lessons Friday morning then sat around until 12 o'clock for our final leavers assembly where we had an amazing presentation which reflected our days at the school. We then waited until two o'clock for everybody to say their goodbyes and off we went on our pub crawl.

The first pub clearly didn't expect 50 students to pile in at 2 o'clock and were rather under staffed. The bar man is then moaning saying he could do with some help and one of my friends who is a bar maid at her local pub shouts that she can help and he surprisingly let her.

We then moved on to the next pub and waited for a few teachers to join us, they stopped by had a drink and then we swiftly moved to the next pub. It seemed that every time we was going from pub to pub the rain would start which was rather unfortunate but the weather did pick up a little as the day went on.

The day went by rather fast and with all my friends around me no longer sober I felt it was a good idea to be the designated photographer for the night. (I was on antibiotics and was therefore not drinking) 

Here are a few pictures from my final day

This woman was extremely rude

25 Facts About Me.

1) I smile while I sleep.. unless I'm ill

2) When I first wake up, if you have a conversation with me I will not remember it if you ask me about it later on

3) My favourite number is 8

4) I am petrified of the sea, when seaweed touches my leg it makes me so on edge.. I'm scared one day that 'seaweed' may be a dead body

5) I could sit and smell burnt out candles all day

6) I am the worst when it comes to having money.. I cannot save my money at all

7) I don't really have any idea what I want to do with my life so I'm applying to be a Disney Character at Disneyland Paris

8) I enjoy mountain biking

9) When I go to Subway I ALWAYS order a 6" Meatball Marinara, toasted with cheese and light mayo sauce on Italian bread

10) I have a slight addiction to onesies.. I own 5!

11) I have an extremely low tolerance to cold weather, whenever I am cold I will be in a bad mood

12) If I had to credit myself for being good at anything it has to be procrastination and making a mess. You will know I have been somewhere as there is a little mess of my things left in a circle

13) I am mostly honest and if I have a problem with someone I will talk to them or confront them about it

14) I am extremely shy when I meet somebody new and struggle to find conversation

15) I plan to do Camp America one year

16) I much prefer giving people presents than receiving them

17) I cannot stand the feel of cotton wool.. it makes me cringe like crazy (taking nail vanish off is a nightmare)

18) I prefer christmas over birthdays

19) I'm not a fan of ice cream - I have extremely sensitive teeth and ice cream doesn't help that situation

20) I'm a 'go where the wind takes me' kind of person

21) I have my key on a necklace and keep it around my neck - I'm hopeless for remembering the important things

22) I have 3 brothers who are all older than me

23) My favourite TV series are Pretty Little Liars and How I Met Your Mother

24) I get bored very easily

25) I don't regret much but the one thing I do regret is getting my hair cut short - it's taken forever to grow back and it's still nowhere near the length it once was

Here Flushy Flushy Flushy.

So on bank holiday Monday I purchased Fishy for my fishbowl. What a pigs ear that was!

It quickly became clear that my original fishbowl wasn't ideal for holding an actual fish. The water immediately became murky and I knew something wasn't right. I washed and rinsed the gravel a hell of a lot of times, washed the no fishing sign but it still didn't solve my issue of murky water. 

It was apparent that this fishbowl is not healthy or ideal for my little Fishy. The small opening at the top meant that there wasn't enough air circulation and poor little Fishy was becoming starved of oxygen! I then went out and purchased a plastic fishbowl with a grey plastic rim to go around the top. This was definitely a lot more convenient and Fishy was transferred quickly into this bowl and immediately looked ten times happier. I thought that was going to be it but oh no...

Fishy then began to swim at the top of the bowl making bubbles and what seemed like gasping for air. I wondered what this was and after a bit of googling and reading 'THIS IS NOT A GOOD SIGN' I panicked and after looking around found these oxygen tablets to put in his bowl. So I did exactly what it said and it seemed to do the trick, Fishy was back to the bottom of the bowl pretty content. My mum came into my room Monday morning and said to me "Wahey Jess, you've had Fishy a week, you've proved everyone wrong."(Nobody thought I could last a week with a fish) I turned round to her and said the day isn't over with yet. It seemed my pessimistic attitude was right. Fishy was back up to the top of the bowl gasping for air. Not only that but the pinch of food I had put in Fishy's tank was untouched and I knew something wasn't right. It seemed like whatever I would try, nothing would help Fishy and I just began to assume that Fishy enjoyed swimming to the top and making bubbles. 

It always seemed to be the yellow flakes that Fishy never ate so I put some other coloured flakes in the bowl thinking Fishy might eat them but he left them untouched. Later on on Monday night I went upstairs and had a quick check on him and it was quite a shock to see Fishy laying sideways at the top of the tank. However, his mouth was slowly opening and closing and the little bit of hope I had left in me I put straight to use. I turned to my dad and said "We can revive him!" We filled up a bowl of water, put some fish treatment in and scooped Fishy out with the net and into the bowl of water. He floated straight to the top and laid on his side. It was a sad moment as Fishy laid there. 

It was a fun week that I shared with Fishy and I feel devastated knowing Fishy was suffering but I feel it was out of control.

R.I.P Fishy ♥

Obviously with only lasting a week I have lots of Fish food and also two fish bowls. I attempt to give it another shot and I am going to purchase Fishy ll. I have done a little more research into Goldfish buying and it seems a lot of Fish don't survive as they are all ridden with diseases when you purchase them.

Here Fishy Fishy Fishy.

For a while now I've been working on my bedroom. I was aiming for a 'beach' theme so chose bluey colours to work with. I got so far and ran out of ideas and what to do next and trying to keep it with my beach/union jack theme (there seems to be a lot of union jacks in my room). I finally decided on a little feature which was going to be a traditional fish bowl. After 'fishing' around for one I finally found one that was the perfect size for my room.

It obviously doesn't look much there but that was my starting point. I then needed to fill the fish bowl with something that was going to add a little colour too it.

Now my room is swayed towards pastel colours so I choose to buy some light pinky/purple gravel to fill the bottom of the fishbowl to liven it up a little. But it still looked pretty empty and needed a little feature inside it so after a little looking around for different things to put inside it I found this sign that says 'no fishing' on with a friendly looking shark just chilling in front of it. 

After sharing these ideas with my friends they all had the same reaction.. "Won't it just look like your fish has died?" Which was a valid point to put forward. After taking it into consideration I thought maybe a little goldfish wouldn't be too much trouble to have swimming around in a friendly little tank, so off I trotted to Pets At Home to buy a fish however, their policy is that I need to have a filter for my 'tank' so they wouldn't allow me to have a fish and I had to therefore go to my local garden centre where they sell fish and bought one from there. 

The pinky/purple gravel

'No Fishing' Sign

I am a little worried that Fishy may be lonely though and may have to purchase another fish to keep Fishy company.

Happy Swimming!

♥Fish Bowl - Marks & Spencers

♥Gravel - Pets At Home

♥'No Fishing' Sign - Pets At Home

♥Fishy - Local Garden Centre

Disneyland Paris

So recently I went on my last ever school trip to Disneyland Paris and I have to say, it may have only been for a few days but it was certainly the best school trip I've ever been on. Now I don't know what it is about school trips but you can go where ever and have the best time (I once had to go on a geography residential and had to stay in a youth hostel yet it was quality) but anyhow bordering on the age of 18 and I can safely say... you are NEVER too old for Disneyland.

We had to meet at midnight on Sunday night/Monday morning to set off on a 12 hour coach journey to Paris which I was dreading but it turned out to be fine. However, waking up on Sunday morning at around 8 and not managing to sleep until 1 o'clock Tuesday morning did have it's effects as I nearly slept for a whole day when I was back home! 

After an extremely long coach journey we arrived at Disneyland but we were too early to check in so we left our bags in the hotel and headed straight out to Disneyland which thankfully was 5 minutes away and then the fun began.

One of the first things I did when I arrived at Disneyland was purchased some Minnie Mouse ears to get me into the Disney mood. We then went off to explore, experiencing all the rides and meeting characters (which seemed to be hidden away). It was clear blue skies in Paris and was rather warm when stood in the sun but the temperature dropped rapidly once it became night and when watching the firework display I thought I was going to catch some serious illness. Lack of sleep, not enough layers and an extremely low tolerance to cold weather is a bad combination, I couldn't wait to get back to the hotel to sleep in a king size bad all by myself.

After a nice refreshing night it meant waking up to day 2 of exploring Disneyland Paris. The previous day we had a free meal with this token we received as part of our package and it turned out there was one spare which led to a competition to see who could win the final token. The competition was to see who could get the most pictures with Disney characters and after standing in a queue for nearly over an hour we decided we would let somebody else fight for the final token however, we did have some fun photobombing some peoples photos so we could get pictures with other Disney characters such as Daisy duck but unfortunately my friend has them pictures and not me. It turns out we ended up winning the competition but we gave the token to somebody else as none of us were extremely hungry.

I still didn't learn from the previous night about the dramatic drop in temperature as day turns into night and once again suffered during the firework display in the freezing cold but I had purchased a minnie mouse blanket to keep me a little warmer this time. 

Here's a few tips/recommendations if you are planning a trip to Disneyland Paris.

♥ The parisians can be extremely rude, don't lower yourselves to their level and be rude back just smile no matter how much they may have got on your nerves because after all... YOU'RE IN DISNEYLAND.

♥ The Rock N Roller coaster is a must if you like rides. Also check out the Space Mountain ride too.

♥ We went in February and were lucky enough to have nice weather but I can imagine how busy it is in the summer and I'm not queues for a lot of things would be worth it so plan the timing of your trip carefully.

♥ I had a lovely lunch at 'The Lucky Nugget' in Frontier Land so I recommend to go there for some food.

♥ Wrap up warm or take a lot of euros after I had to make an emergency spend on my Minnie Mouse blanket which wasn't exactly the cheapest - then again, not much is cheap there.

♥ Something I missed out on was the 'Small world' ride which seemed to have been a big hit for my other 18 year old friends so maybe try that out for a little bit of fun but don't waste your day queueing.

♥ The 20th anniversary parades were so much fun, by the end of them I knew the songs and was singing and dancing along. They're a must watch!