30 Days of Pinterest: Day 15

I had great plans for today, crafty plans. Which all fell apart when I found myself awake into the early hours, just as the sun was rising. So I decided to get up myself, meaning hours later in the middle of the day I fell asleep. So here’s day 15, 3 hours too late but complete with cute animals to make up for it (you can’t be mad when there’s cute animals). Cause some days all you need is to look at some cute animal pictures and feel all squishy inside!

Not sure where the picture is from,it just links to Pinterest. It is from this video though.

Holding hands!! Too cute for words! (via CuteOverload)

I can’t see you!! (via Srslycute.com)

I seriously want to catnap this cat! Frank is beautiful! (via Everybody Loves Frank)

I love the happiness and joy in this picture! (no idea where it’s originally from, here’s a link to my pin).

(via Julie Persons Flikr)

How EWE doing?! (pin here)

Holding hands part 2!! (can you tell I like the holding of hands?). (via fuckyeahkitties)

The Good and The Bad

It seems that recently, most my posts have been apologies about not posting that often. Sorry about that. I don’t know what it is, I’ve lost my mojo or something! I’ll try and try again to get back in the swing though.

This time of the year is probably my favourite and also least favourite months. I have the bad things:

-It was around this time that my Nana died. I was very close to her and it still upsets me.

-It’s also coming up to the anniversary of my friend Mags.

-The weather getting worse and the days shorter don’t help with my mood really, it really brings me down.

-All this is made worse by not having a job.

Though on the flip side, there’s generally lots of good too! Like:

-It’s my birthday soon!

-The weather is great snuggling and cosy weather.

-Halloween! (my favourite holiday but I’m not sure what my plans are this year *sadface*)

-Christmas is just around the corner.

-I love autumn and winter foods!

So I’ll try and buck up a bit more. I still have a backlog of stuff to right about. And please, if you have ANY Halloween costume ideas, let me know in a comment below!

The beginning of my epic quest

If you’ve been following any of my New Year’s Resolutions posts, you’d have noticed that I’ve been doing pretty well for most of them. In fact, this week I reached my 3rd resolution; Read 25 books. However, I’ve made no headway with resolutions 5 (eat more fruit and veg) and resolution 6 (Lose weight). I do make some progress in January but it all fell apart. I’m at the stage where I need to start concentrating on this.

It’s not that I don’t know what I have to do. I know it too well, eat less food and exercise more. It’s not that I don’t want to do it, I deep down do. It’s the motivation, I just can’t find the motivation to start. It just seems like such a big mountain to climb. Though I’m almost certain that once I’m in a routine and enjoying it, it’ll be half the work.

I don’t know how much I’m going to blog on it. Or what I’m even going to do this quest. All I know is that I’m going to use August to get a start and grip on all this. If you have any suggestions for me, be it how to get more fruit and veg into my diet to exercise ideas (I plan on using YouTube exercise videos, as well as other things). I’d love to hear all suggestions! Wish me luck!

Decluttering my room (and life)

I warned you all last year, I’m a horrible procrastinator. This time last summer I swore that I’d clean my room out. And did I? No, I bloody well didn’t. Don’t get me wrong! It was tidied and cleaned a bit throughout the year (Despite what others around me might say and think!), but I never got down to it and cleared out all the junk. Two weeks ago, I started this epic quest, to get rid of everything that’s no longer used, has any use or that I’ve grown out of. And boy is it amusing!
It turns out that not only am I a serious procrastinator but I’m also a major hoarder. These do not go hand in hand, it’s just a good thing these are in some weird balance, cause if they weren’t I’d be on an episode of Hoarders or something. We moved into this house in 2001, so it could have been a lot worse. Let’s take a look at what I’ve found in my room so far.

1. Instruction Manual for a Walkman! Bear in mind I was 9 when I got a Discman. So I haven’t owned a Walkman for 14 years. Why the hell do I have an instruction manual for this?! (On a side note, I was on a train in February and I spotted someone using a Walkman. And not in an ironic hipster kind of way. Unless this was a hipster granny. Hmmm, Hipster Granny, sounds like a comic book…).

2. A bunch of Christmas cards from when I was 10 and upwards. Completely useless! Although hilarious to read as so many people could never spell my name right. Something I’ve addressed in the comments of this post by CherrySue.

3. Speaking of hilarious, I have some letters that my now 17 year old cousin sent me when she was probably 7 or 8. Bless! I’m debating scanning them up on Facebook to show her, but I’m not sure if she’d like it or not! (Hi Emma!)

4. Magazines dating back to when I was 12 or so. Yep, teeny magazines that I have no use for anymore. As well as plenty other magazines from the last 10 years that I probably don’t have any use for but keep on to just in case I want to read them again (rarely happens).

5. Beanie Babies. I haven’t counted them, but probably a billion of them (or like 30 maybe?). While I have no issue throwing away magazine and cards from my childhood, I’m not sure I can part with these. Or at least some of these. I spent ages building up my collection and some that were gifted to have very sentimental.

This is just scratching the surface of what I’ve found. Old clothes that no longer fit. Books that belong to my Aunt, some read, some still unread. Stacks and stacks of blank CDs that have been filled with all sorts of music and no labels on them. College notes from last year. I’m still expecting to find some Junior Cert notes when I dig deep into my storage space! I’m sure there will be a part two of this, once I get some more cleaning done. Not sure when that will be, I have loads of, em, more important stuff to do (like write blog posts, bake and play computer games…).
Pictures from here, here, here and here.

2nd New Year’s Resolution Update!

I figured since 6 months has passed, I’d do another update on my New Year’s Resolutions. Here’s my original post and here’s the 1st update I made in April.
1. Cook 12 savoury/dinner dishes
I’ve made two more dishes to join the Asian Chicken Noodle Broth and a fish pie. Vodka pasta and turkey spinach burgers. So four out of twelve dishes made. I need to pick up the pace here!
2. Make 12 new sweet dishes
I’m doing a little bit better in the sweet department. Up to April, I had made chocolate mousse and green velvet cupcakes. Since then I’ve made Oreo Cupcakes, Rocky Road and Chocolate Marmalade Cake. So five out of twelve. Sheesh, I really need to get in the kitchen more!
3. Read 25 books
I can safely say I’ve made the most progress with this resolution. Out of 25 books, I have read 24!! Woo! I have several more on the go at the moment and I will keep going throughout the year. I’m really enjoying reading again, which is great!
4. Watch 50 films I’ve never seen before
I’ve doubled the amount I’ve seen since April. I’ve now watched 20 films. Mainly DVDs and TV films with 6 trips to the cinema, 5 DVDs rented from the library (and another one currently ordered) and 2 documentaries.
5. Eat more fruit and veg
I always forget this is a resolution, I need to cut it out and put it on the fridge
6. Lose weight and exercise more
See point 5 for details
7. Write more on the blog
I’m trying!
8. Get a job
Check! Need to start my search again!
In the last post, I mentioned how I had done a sewing course. I had finished it just as I started work, so I’ve had no time to do any more sewing, so hopefully now I’ll be able to knuckle down and finish that bag strap!

Update

Put simply, May wasn’t my month. It started off well, with my boyfriend’s return from Oz but quickly went downhill. I was involved in an accident. Something I luckily managed to walk out of pretty much unharmed. It could have been a hell of a lot worse though. So it’s because of that I haven’t been inspired to post anything here. I have a list of things as long as my arm to write about but zero motivation for the moment.

Besides the above, here are some other things I’ve been up!

-Finishing up work, just a few more weeks left before it’s all over. I really need to start thinking about my next move!

-Reading. Lots of reading. Just finished the new book from Dave Gorman called ‘Dave Gorman vs. The Rest  of the World’. Makes me want to play Connect 4 or something.

-Using things up. It’s something I meant to write about before but never got around to it. I don’t have any particular loyalty to beauty brands, when something new comes out I want to try it. That leaves me with loads of unfinished bottles of shampoo and shower gel. It all gets used up in the end but it sure takes up a lot of room. For the month of June I’m going to try use up as much odds and ends as I can. And also not buy anything new unless it’s all gone and I need it. So far so good!

-Pinning. It’s addictive

That’s about it really. Boring right? May turned me into a hermit. I have lots of other stuff to write up, I’m hoping this will help get the creative juices flowing again. I also have so many blogs to catch up on too! I’ll hopefully get around to that by the end of the week.

Foodie Friday: Scones

 

I’ve been so busy and uninspired when it comes to blogging these days. It doesn’t help that I’ve discovered 30 Rock and any free time is spent watching that. I have loads I want to talk about but when I sit down to do it, my mind goes blank. Forgive me!

Two weeks ago I woke with an unbelievable craving for scones. Brown scones specifically. I used to eat one everyday when on work placement and nothing beats a warm scone that slightly melts butter!

Scones (White and Brown)

Makes 9-12 (depending on size)

Ingredients

225g Self Raising Flour (For brown scones, use 125g Self Raising Flour and 125g Coarse Wholemeal)

150ml or so milk

Pinch Salt

25g Caster Sugar

25g Butter

1 egg, beaten

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas 8. Sieve flour and salt into mixing bowl and stir in caster sugar.

2. Rub in butter.

3. Add enough milk to make a soft dough. Turn onto floured surface and knead to remove any cracks.

4. Roll out lightly to a thickness of 1 inch. Cut scones with a cutter dipped in flour.

5. Place on a floured baking tray and brush the scones with the beaten egg.

6. Bake for approximately 10 minutes and allow to cool slightly on a wire rack.

 

Tea and scones, how very Irish! Except, if I may quietly confess…… I’ve never had a cup of tea before.

Apologies!

It’s been a month since my last post, so sorry about that! During the middle of my Kitchen Challenge Week, I got sick and couldn’t complete all the dishes I wanted to make. Then various other things happened, such as going to London and Oxford for a weekend, friends coming home after being away all summer and preparing for my driving test, that I just neglected writing and pushed it to the back of my mind. Until I was asked yesterday about new posts and thought that was the push to start writing again!

I have loads of ideas to write about, especially cooking and baking posts, which I’m excited about. I’m happy to say that I have completed the ‘Cook 12 new dishes’ part of my New Year’s Resolution, but will continue to try making new dishes.

More proper new posts to follow this, promise!

I have a secret....

I'm a serial procrastinator. Ok, so maybe it's not that much of a secret to some people but I'm hoping that by admitting it like this it will help me recover some of my much missed motivation.

I used to be seriously organized and motivated but all shreds of that are long gone. It's gotten so bad that the self confessed magazine queen that I am has bought a few magazines the past month and instead of devouring them in one sitting like I usually would, they are still sitting there half read (though that could be because I'm getting bored of reading the same articles over and over again, that's for another post methinks). I think the saying 'If you want someone to do something for you, ask a busy person' is so true, I have a list of things as long as my arm to complete, some so easy and yet seeing as there is no real urgency to complete them and I haven't got a lot on my plate right now, the list keeps piling up. I need some sort of deadline to put on myself so right here and now, I vow that by this time next week I will have cleared that list.

One of those things on my list is to clean my bedroom. Sounds easy enough but believe you me, it's not. I came home from college and just kinda landed my stuff in my room and that was it. Bags and boxes have become covered with more bags. My wardrobe might as well be completely empty, seeing as the floor has now become the wardrobe (though at least Tim the Clothes Camel feels loved and used). I would take a picture to put up on here but the holy mortifying shame is too much for me to handle. It's strange, I love the rest of the house to be clean and tidy and enjoy doing most household chores but when it comes to my room, that has never been the case. I think that needs to be the main thing on my list, declutter this room. In doing so, I hope that it will help me declutter my mind and kick start that motivation. Wish me luck, I'm going to need it!