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.