aLittleBlonde BSc (Hons.)

I did it, I finally made it to graduation!!

Well at least that's one thing I can tick off my 22 before 22 list...

(BSc)

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My first day of freedom

Today is my first official day of freedom having handed in my dissertation on Monday and my last essay yesterday. I cannot believe I've actually finished my degree, it doesn't seem real! What on earth am I supposed to do with myself now?!?

Well I decided to make myself a list and just make things up as I go. So what's today's plan? Well first up I'm think a couple of hours catching up on other people's blogs, and working on things for my own, then perhaps a quick jaunt to the shops, followed by a little baking, maybe coffee with a friend (we need to test the baked goods you see) and then a bit of cross stitch in front of the tv or perhaps I will dig out my poor old springtime throw which is languishing somewhere in the bottom of my craft cupboard.
Edit: now I've realised I first blogged about the springtime throw a year ago today, I think I'd better go and dig it out!

I have an awful lot of things to share and an incredibly long lost of projects to be working through, not to mention my list of 22 things to do before my 22nd birthday which I am officially supposed to be starting today and shall be posting an update of tomorrow.

Anyway I shall love you and leave you and hope you are having an absolutely marvellous day. What are you up to? I'd love to hear!

PS I am of course listening to this on repeat at full volume and dancing round the house like a nutter! At least until my house mates return from their exams/uni that is, then I shall be silent nutter and contain the dancing to my room ;)

Today...

 

...I handed in my dissertation!

 

 

 

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Going into hybernation

 

Hello! I just wanted to drop by quickly to say hi and to apologise for my sporadic posting over the next few weeks. Yesterday was my last official day of contact time at uni, so now I've just got three weeks off in which to finish off my dissertation and other bits of coursework and then I'll be all done! How scary is that? Those three years have gone so quickly, yet it seems like I've been at uni forever.

 

I can however promise that, although I may be away from my blog a little more than usual, I'll still have lots to share when I get the time. For example these rather yummy biscuits which I'm in the process of perfecting. I'm also working on a 22 before 22 update which I'll hopefully put up over the weekend as I have a day off(!!!) booked into my study schedule on Sunday.

 

So bye for now and hope to see you soon,

 

 

PS You can still find me hanging around on twitter and instagram whilst I'm away. I find thy are great sources of procrastination!

 

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That Friday Feeling

Apologies, yet again this failed to post when it should have. What gives blogger? Anyway...

Yep, you've got it, today I've got that Friday feeling. Just where exactly has this week gone? I remember selected highlights from my day off on Monday and my high-speed shopping trip on Wednesday, but aside from that its all just blurred into one. In fact I wouldn't be at all surprised if it turned out this week was actually only 3 days long! My dad has a theory about extending and condensing time, maybe I'll tell you about it some time. After all he is one of life's great pontificators!

It's scary to think that next week will be week 7 for Sussex students. That's half way through the autumn term of my final year! Although scary, I'm reaching the point now where I just want to get on with it and speeding through this year is absolutely fine by me! Bring. It. On.

I have so many little snatches of things to tell you and no time to do so before I find more to talk about over the next two weeks (there are exciting things afoot!). So, it appears we are heading for a bit of a Friday mashup - are you ready?

The C word.
I am desperately trying to be a good girl and not mention the C word until at least after bonfire (it's a big deal where I live - just do a google image search for Lewes bonfire), but trust me I am finding it really, really hard. I've got craftiness and new projects a plenty to be telling you about, but I'm being very strict with myself and holding off until November, at which point I shall probably explode like a veritable festive glitter ball. Although to be fair, there'll be so much going on here between now and the beginning of November that I doubt I'd have time to show you an awful lot of what I've been up to c-word wise anyway!

Although I will give you a couple of sneaky peaks of preparations...

Aren't the evenings beginning to get really dark now? I've been trying really hard recently to plan out stuff I need to get done and work efficiently through the day so I can get a bit of time off in the evenings. That's all well and good, but that often means that by the time I eventually get round to blogging its too dark to take decent photos and when it's light enough I'm inevitably busy! I fear more organisation is in order. Either that or a non-energy saving lightbulb.

As I've already alluded to, the next 2 weeks are going to be busy. I've got my dissertation project to finishing planning, an ethics form to submit, bonfire and my mother is coming to stay. There are also several over-ripe bananas languishing in the fruit bowl that need making into something. It's either going to be very quiet around here or you won't be able to get rid of be because I've got so much to say!

I had thought I'd tell you about my little speed-shopping trip on Wednesday  but I think I've kind of said enough for one day. Instead I shall write that up and schedule it to post automatically over the weekend. Ooh get me. Let's see how that one turns out!

Happy Friday, 

aLittleBlonde

Instagram - A month in pictures

I am now on Instragram! You can follow me at @alittleblonde1 to see what I'm up to, click here or on the button in the sidebar to find out more. (By the way, isn't that followgram thing cool? I have a QR code!!)

Since joining instagram I've found myself taking a lot more photos which is a nice little bonus in my book. If only my poor old iphone didn't struggle so much to open the camera app every time I want to take a photo. It really is a little frustrating to have to wait about 90 seconods every time you want to take a photo, especially when the subject in question is poised to run away and moves at the last minute...

This little guy (there is a squirrel in that bin  promise you!) was so cute and patiently sat still for so long whilst I waited for my camera to boot up. You can't really blame him for getting a little camera shy and diving for cover at the last minute really, can you? I don't know what it is, but there seem to be even more squirrels than usual on campus at the moment. Anyway, I digress...

I would like to announce a new feature to aLittleBlonde - monthly instagram mosaics! So here we have it- this is what I've been up to in the days since joining instagram...

Running from the top left: a Bakewell tart complete with heart shaped cherry l peppers harvested from the garden l my version of burger and chips l my new parsley plant on the kitchen windowsill l rainbow seen from y bedroom window l portobello mushroom burger with pesto & mozzarella l a little photo shoot with a very squishy doggy l they make Percy Pig Juice! l my house mate made enchiladas for dinner l Gloria chilling again l a little shopping trip into Brighton by train l this dog could sleep for England

I apologise that it's taken me until the 11th to post these up, as opposed to doing so at the beginning of the month. However, as you may have seen I was a little preoccupied with all the loveliness!

Are you on instagram too? If so feel free to comment with your username or a link and I'll give you a little follow back.

Happy Thursday, 

aLittleBlonde xx

It's the final countdown...

So this week marks the beginning of my final year. Excited? Mmm... A little bit very terrified? Umm, yeah...

It's hard to believe it, but this is the year when not only do I get to chose all my modules (bar the one compulsory one), but they also let me loose on real people. Yes that's right, aLittleBlonde is being released into the world (with some academic supervision I may add!) to conduct her own experiment! Right now I'm still very much at the rabbit in the headlights, 'oh my gosh what am I going to do' stage, but I'm hoping that feeling will begin to subside over the next couple of weeks as I talk with my supervisor and attempt to get my ideas in line and on track. As of today I do have a little bit of an idea, although I seriously doubt my little idea will actually even remotely resemble the finished project that will hopefully be just a somewhat distant and hopefully painless memory come this time next year.

So it's the start of a new academic year, one in which I have convinced myself that organisation will be the key. This is going to be THE year, in which I am going to get EVERYTHING done, whilst experiencing manageable levels of stress and still finding time to cook myself proper meals and indulge in the occasional baking session to boot. It would also be good to squeeze a little bit of crafty time in there too, but I think we can both see where this is going...

Despite the excitement and stresses a new academic year can bring, I think we can agree that there is one thing that everyone looks forward too - new stationary!

It's the new pens, the pads of clean blank paper, the folders waiting to be filled with notes...

...and look, my first roll of washi tape!

I really am a bit of a sticker addict too.

And do you know what one of my favourite parts is? The ceremonious filling in of the academic diary/wall planner. I have to say I did have a bit of a moment when it came to writing this rather grand word on my wall planner though.

Come July, barring flood, fire and disaster I will hopefully have three little letters after my name. Wow. That really is pretty cool, you've got to admit it.

Happy Monday,

aLittleBlonde

School's Out For Summer!

At log last, as of this morning, the exams are all over and I can now finally have some much needed time off to do as a please. Well, when I say do as I please... it's a pity that has to be campus based as my exam finished at 11:30 and I've had to hang around campus all day for a rehearsal tonight at 7:15, but never mind. At long last I've been able to sit and just stare out the window, catch up on a bit of blog reading and scroll though facebook without the familier pang of 'haven't you got something better to do?' guilt. Lush. The funny thing is, after all that fantasising about everything I could do now the exams are over all I really want to do is curl up ad go to sleep and then maybe sit staring into space for a little bit. I think my brain hasn't quite caught up with the fact that it's technically the summer holidays now, so it needn't do anything intllectual unless it wants to untill September!

Not that I plan on vegetating and wasting away my freedom though. No, I've got plans, lots and lots of very vague and unorganised plans, but plans none the less. So, what's first on my end of exams bucket list?

1. Sit in the sun with a Cappucino milkshake and a bar of bourneville, admiring the need to do absolutely nothing at all. Check. I do think it's funny that it's chucked it down over the last few weeks, yet the day I finish my exams the sun comes out. What perfect timing!

2. Get back into my blogging mojo. Check. Well, at least on my way anyway. This counts right? I have so many snippets of ideas and photographs from the last few weeks that never quite made it to proper blog posts because of severe lack of time. It feels a bit like the moment's past to tell you about it now really, seeming as it was so long ago. But then again it seems a waste not to do anything with the photographs. Perhaps I'll have to do a quick catch up photo collage post in the next couple of days, just to prove that I didn't completely forget about you during this exam season!

Well, err, the next couple of things on my summer bucket list aren't actually acheiveable within the constraints of a few hours hanging around on campus, so that seems it for my progress for today, but 2 points down, that's not bad going for a couple of hours. Even if the points where somewhat easy to acheive!

So, I've now got 2 whole days ahead of me to do whatever I wish with before heading to work (not uni work I hasten to add!). What to do with myself?
Well I have several lists which seem to be getting longer by the hour in my trusty little pink notebook...

Saving grace - my little pink notebook and pink tictacs!

It really has been invaluable over the last few days. Once my brain gets working I don't really have much choice over what it spews out. It appears my brain only really does on or off. I can add additional stuff like exam revision, but I simply cannot stop blog ideas, lists of creative ideas and shopping lists from forming as well. I've had to keep my shopping list with me pretty much at all times while revisng, simply so that I can write stuff down before I forget, so I thought it was time to start writing down some of my more interesting and creative thoughts into this notebook so that they too don't suffer the same fate. The good news is it seems to be working and it's filling up fast!

Maybe it's my brain's equivalent of the 'inbox full' message you get when you need to clear out a few emails before you can except anymore. Maybe it's my brain telling me it's full and needs emptying a bit before taking in any more information? It certainly feels like I get the blue screen of death somethimes...

Anyway, I digress. So what to do over my couple of free days? Well maybe I'll have a go at acheiveing some of the things in my little pink notebook? Or maybe I'll just catch up on sleeping, all the tv I missed and read my book. Who knows. What matters is that I don't have to really do anything over the next few days except maybe go to the supermarket and do some washing. Bliss. Lovely uncomplicated, non-taxing bliss.

Anyway, I do hope I find you all well and you're all out enjoying the sun. Hopefully it will stay like ths for the rest of the summer now. I know, ever the optimist, but it would be nice wouldn't it?

Thankyou for listening to me waffle on about the veritable mountain of uni stuff I've had over the last few weeks, it's been much appreciated, and I promise normal service will resume as of... well... now really!

I promise to be back very soon, aLB

Here Comes the Sun...

Sorry it's been a little quiet around here recently, it's exam season so revision, exams and work are taking up every single waking hour (and some of my dreams!). It feels like these exams have been going on forever now, what with the random summer and then this spell of deepest darkest winter, it's been quite funny sat by the window watching the word go by.

I've had some good exams, some distinctly dodgy ones, broke the printer in the exam room twice, had a somewhat stressed train journey from Dorset yesterday to be back in time for this morning's exam and experienced walking across campus at 9am on a bank holiday Monday morning on the way to an exam - it was soo peaceful it was unbelievable! (and yes, they really did go there. Why not schedule an exam for 9:30 on a bank holiday?)

We're nearly there now though, only 2 exams left, spread over one and a half weeks and I've finally allowed myself some time off! That's right, after my exam this morning I came home and did absolutely nothing except mess about with my laptop and watch Harry Potter! At last some head space!

Anyway, I shall stop boring you with my exam related antics for now and leave you with this photo that I took the other day. It seemed somewhat apt at the time given that I had just got back from what was hopefully the worst of my exams.

This seems to sum up my life at the moment, but still brings
 a smile to my face, thanks Mum!

So that's it for now, hopefully normal service shall resume shortly once I have a little more time on my hands! Apart from anything else despite not posting, my brain has been going into overdrive with potential posts and project ideas, even if I haven't written any of it down yet. I have however still been taking a few photos so need to find something to say so that I can show them to you! The problem with having found so many lovely blogs to follow is that I am starting to get real hankerings for a proper camera to play with and pretty things to take photographs of. A lovely idea, but a rather expensive one which I'm not sure I'd necessarily use.

Thanks for listening to me ramble on about my boring exam ridden life, it's much appreciated!

A mini milestone

Yesterday marked a mini milestone in the uni year. Whilst many unis across the uk and a lot of my friends (jammie dodgers!) are breaking up for the summer, here at my uni we've still got 5 weeks of term left. Five. Whole. Weeks. Four of which for me contain exams. Is my uncontrollable excitement at what the next 5 weeks entail not just brimming over and beaming out of your computer screens?

Anyway, this weekend marks the middle point of the last term of second year, which means that yesterday I went to my last lecture of the year. Woop! No new stuff for me to learn - unless you count revision that is. But of course I should already know all the content from this year right? Because revision is simply looking over all those detailed notes you made for yourself when exams were still a distant alien concept and on just glancing at your notes all that information should come flooding back, crystal clear and 100% factually correct. Ahem.

More importantly, yesterday I handed in my last piece of coursework of the year, now that really is something to celebrate!! It was 6 days early as well, which never happens, but I figured if I had loads of exams to revise for I better get it done and out the way earlier if I could.

So whilst I was doing the last oh so tiring corrections and an entire structural revamp of my essay I found myself playing with a piece of pink tack. Then surreptitiously stabbing it with a pen... And then I noticed what I had in front of me was a little bit of art and with a little bit of embellishment could be made into something pretty...

I've never been one to doodle, as I seriously lack artistic talent and I can't seem to be able to disengage my brain enough to just start drawing and see what it turns into. I have to say I was fairly proud of my own mixed media take on Doodling!

I also come across this on my travels in to uni to hand in my last piece of coursework. It seemed so apt set up outside the media, film and music building. Making a statement, but not invasive at the same time. It so does annoy me when you get installations and bits of art that just seem to scream for your attention and not necessarily in the right way. This grabs your attention just enough to make you pause, but doesn't feel like it's pointing out how culturally inept you are. I simply cannot stand art that makes you feel uneducated, like you are somehow missing 'the point' of it. I like what I like and often I can't tell you why!! But this I like.

I'm heading back to to lovely Dorset for a few days tomorrow so I can spend some time revising at my parents house, so apologies if things are a bit quiet on here over the next few days. But then again, now I'm getting into the blogging grove I may find I end up blogging more whilst I'm back home, we'l have to see.

Here comes the sun...

At last, a break in the rain clouds and some actual, real, warm sun that lasts more than 10 minutes! Just a pity that I had to spend the day cooped up at work really, but never mind, at east it's starting to feel like spring at last! Having said that I've now definitely set myself up for a rainy day tomorrow now haven't I?

The last week has been a bit of an odd one, and not exactly the most productive one on record. I had originally intended to have Monday off to do a bit of shopping and catch up with myself and then spend the rest of the week doing some exam prep and revision - a different exam every day. As you may have guessed from my post on Tuesday, things didn't quite pan out the way I expected, with life seeming to get in the way at every turn! Never mind, what's done is done and this week wasn't a complete waste of space revision-wise, it just didn't quite match up to how much I was hoping to get done.

On the plus side I did manage to start a new project with the wool I bought the other day, which I will be telling you about very soon, just as soon as I can get outside in the sunshine to take a few 'work in progress' photographs. I thought I had made a good start during what free time I've had, but working it out just now has revealed that I'm still only 0.0138% of the way through. Impressive, huh? Needless to say it is a rather large project, so my efforts so far do seem somewhat insignificant to say the least.

It being a Sunday I've got a shorter day at work tomorrow, so hopefully it will be lovely and sunny again. I don't start work until 10 on Sunday, so when it's a reasonably nice day (even if it is freezing!) I sometimes like to leave for work a little earlier and take a detour to the market that pops up next door to the shop every Sunday - an activity that sometimes needs to be accompanied by a trip to costa on the way, purely for medicinal purposes you have to understand, I have to have something to stop me from freezing over on fresh Sunday mornings. The accompanying caffeine kick and sugar rush can't do much harm either

So I wonder what tomorrow will bring? Another sunny day, a trip to the market and a spot of new project photography, or a dash to work whilst trying to avoid the puddles, a quick glance at the real hardcore stallholders and market-goers who show up whatever the weather and curling up on the sofa after work, complete with wool and a brain & behaviour textbook?

The former sounds much more appealing to me, but either way I hope you all have a lovely relaxed sunday, come rain or shine, and indulge in a little sunbathing/puddle jumping on my behalf.

Yay, it's the Easter Holidays!

So, the Easter holidays have finally arrived and I now have a whole month off! A whole month - four weeks of freedom, 28 days, one twelfth of the year. That seems ages right? Think of how much I can do during that time! All the places I can go, jobs that have been niggling me for ages I can finally get done, all the time I can spend with my friends...

Although I suppose it is now Wednesday, so after a weekend at work and a couple (literally!) of days at home I now only have 3 1/2 weeks left. And I'm sat on a train at the moment on my way back to my uni home to work for the rest of the week and over the weekend. Add to that the fact that I'm still working in Sussex every weekend and have rehearsals over there one night a week...

Oh, and I have an essay to write and a lengthy stats exercise to do. And I suppose if I've got exams next term I should probably do some reading and revision in preparation. So that's 6 courses to revise at, let's say a day each, plus 2 pieces of coursework at maybe 3 days each, so that's 12 days. Plus 11 days spent at work - 23 days. And 3 days gone already - so 26. 
So that leaves me with the grand total of 2 days to spend relaxing, shopping, attempting to get my life straight and seeing my friends. Wasn't I going to decorate my bedroom at some point as well?

4 weeks really isn't all that long is it?

Oh well, onwards and upwards, at least the sun is shining...