A Good Monday

Monday marked the first day back at University for me which meant the first day of doing something that didn't involve tv and pjs in a month. 

Most people seem to hate mondays because it's the start of the week and it means getting back to work but mine was surprisingly good this week! 

I thought it would be good to actually say why incase any of you think you can incorporate any of these points into your lives too and make your days better!

1. I gave myself time to get ready.

I usually find myself rushing in the mornings but I found that I had loads of time by waking up half an hour earlier than I usually would and just taking my time over everything. It made a great change and I started the day off happy and not already tired from having to walk fast to my lecture!

2. I only had one lecture.

This obviously helped, but it was also really interesting (beginning of my Augustan Rome module - yay!) so it was exciting to relearn A level content and new material as well! The lecture was held in a theatre room as well so there weren't any desks to lean on which made it feel quite informal which helped with the relaxed feel from the morning!

3. I got extra work done.

I decided to write up my notes from last semester's modules on my laptop so I have them saved somewhere else and it's helpful going over the work I did again with the handouts. I managed to get through about 4 lectures which was great!

4. I took a break when I got too tired

Instead of pushing myself to exhaustion, I had a nap or watched a bit of a film when I got too tired or distracted, meaning that when I worked, I was paying my full attention and the work got done faster and went in better than it would if I was falling asleep.

5. I snacked healthily

I'm usually the one who goes for the sweets and chocolate but as I'm actually trying to stick to my goals this year, I decided to have a healthier lunch and snacks. I ended up having a small handful of pistachios, garden peas and an apple, then some grapes later on when I got peckish again. I actually didn't feel as sluggish and my blood sugar was better controlled so it's good all round! 

6. I dressed comfily

I find it easier to work if I'm comfortable with my outfit - it was comfy but not lazy which is perfect! It was also warm which is good seeing as it's still freezing and wet at the moment! If I'm dressed up like I sometimes decide to, I find it harder to work well as I'm not as comfortable physically so I don't sit around a lot. 

7. I had good conversations with people

I have a tendency to just sit in my room and work constantly but I made sure I went into the kitchen and spoke to whoever was in there and it made me feel better in general!

8. I didn't work right up until I went to bed

Usually I go to bed straight after turning the laptop off which means my brain is still fired up when I'm trying to sleep - I found it helpful to read a bit before as it made me feel a bit more tired.

I hope I can continue some of these every day as it really made a big improvement to my usual routine! What do you guys do to make your days better?
Jess xx

Food, glorious food!

For this time round, our topic for the Blogger Challenge is food!

As I don't have a lot of spare time on my hands, I don't get the opportunity to cook much but when I get the chance, I love it! I'm actually not bad either which is always a good sign with Uni and having to cook for myself looming over my head!

As I wasn't really sure what to do for this post, I've decided to find links to recipes of sweet food/snacks I would like to try and make at some point in the future!

White Chocolate Candy Corn Popcorn

I was obviously going to include this - an improvement on my current favourite treat!

Pull Apart Cinnamon Roll

I love cinnamon and this looks so nice! I can't wait to make this one day!

Pink Lemonade Doughnuts

You may have realised I have a bit of a sweet tooth...these sound amazing and I assume they can be made with any fruit juice!

If you guys try any of these, tell me how they go!
Jess xx

Challenge post five.

General Life

Everything is going pretty great at the moment. My UCAS has been sent off and I'm so happy! I have 4 emails from the unis to tell me that they've received my application which is so great but so scary! I just have to wait to see if I have offers now!

I went to college early today and got a costa with one of my closer friends which was amazing! We had a really great chat about loads of things and the christmas drinks came out today so that was super exciting! I love the Christmas drinks and food, they always taste so yummy and are absolutely perfect for this time of year. 

I'm loving college at the moment in general, we aren't getting much homework which is nice and the work is interesting and a lot of fun so I want to learn more! I'm doing my english coursework this half term, meaning I have to read and analyse a couple of books as well as the book that we are taught in class. It's so much fun getting to choose the books and question to do for my coursework - as long as it relates to identity, I can do pretty much any question I feel fits my books the best! 

Instead of choosing from the list we were given, I came up with my own question! 

To what extent do the writers of your chosen texts suggest that failure to live in the present inevitably leads to obsession and isolation? 

I think it's such a great question that fits with all three books and I'm so happy me and my teacher managed to verbalise my question after explaining to her what I wanted to say! 

My three books are: Translations by Brian Friel

Jezebel by Irene Nemirovsky 

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

If you read these, or the blurbs, they sound like they would have nothing in common but they're all fantastic for this question! I'm actually really excited to properly start my coursework now!

Sorry I'm not blogging much at the moment, there isn't much to talk about! I'll start posting some reviews of my half term purchases soon though!

Jess xx

My current food favourites.

I always seem to find new food and drinks that are completely amazing but I've never seen before!

1. Fox's Caramel Caffe Thins

My grandma sent them over and they taste amazing. They have a really nice texture and have a really strong caramel taste which I was really happy about because caramel flavoured things usually aren't very strong. They're apparently made to dip in coffee so I might need to try that sometime!

2. Nutri-grain soft & fruity - Strawberry

I got one of these off my brother before he eats them all on his sponsored run tomorrow and they're so yummy! They're healthy too which is always a positive!

3. Ribena Pineapple & Passion fruit

I had this a couple of days ago and I fell in love. I love tropical flavours and this is probably my favourite tropical drink to date.

4. Waitrose seriously fruity Sicilian Lemon sorbet

This makes me miss being in Sicily where you could get proper Sicilian sorbet on every street corner. This is a really good replacement though. I ate half of the entire pot because it's so addictive!

5. Cupcakes

I've had a thing for cupcakes for a while, I find them so pretty! This was one of, possibly the best cupcake I've had. We're getting a new car tomorrow and when we were at the dealership last weekend, they let us choose a cake so I got this strawberry flavoured one. It has edible flowers and glitter and tasted just as good as it looks. The cake was also really soft and wasn't dry at all which some cupcakes are so this made me really happy!

Obviously there are more, but these are my most recent finds and food loves!

Jess xx

Life is Art.

"I think everything in life is art. What you do. How you dress, how you love someone, and how you talk. Your smile and your personality. What you believe in, and all your dreams. The way you drink your tea. How you decorate your home. Or party. Your grocery list. The food you make. How your writing looks. And the way you feel. Life is art. - Anonymous.

Birthday birthday birthday!!! Yay!

So it was my birthday on Wednesday and it was just perfect! I got some really lovely presents which were fabulous (pictures to come further down!) and I went out a couple of times!
I went to lunch at Maison Blanc, and it is literally my favourite restaurant/cafe ever. It's a tad expensive but SO worth it. Their cheese and ham crossaint is to die for. I also took away the cutest little Easter bunny cupcake, it was pink and strawberry flavoured and the icing sparkled! It tasted so good!

How adorable is that?! Shame that one of the feet broke in the box!

I also went out to tea with my family at a local (ish) restaurant and that was also fantastic! We go there on special occasions and I decided to have something different from the ribs this time (mainly because it wasn't on the menu), but I had belly pork instead which was divine, and it had some of the best crackling on it that I've had in a long time! 
Even though I knew about quite a few of my presents this year due to me picking out quite a few of them (Crew warehouse sales always have the nicest clothes but you always need to try them on just in case!), they were amazing! The presents I didn't know about were also great, my family and friends know just what to get me!

Navy & white cardigan from le parents, Crew warehouse sale.
Teal cardigan from my grandma, White Stuff.
Fan photo album and white pen from Lauren, Paperchase.
Navy star scarf from parents, Crew warehouse sale.
Fox scarf with button details from grandma, White Stuff.
Navy patterned scarf from Zoe and Cecilie, not sure where from!
Aren't they all gorgeous?!

I love that I got 3 new scarves, even more to add to my rapidly growing collection which makes me rather happy!
My auntie got me this Radley purse and I love it so much, it's unreal! it's made to look like a letter!

Absolutely love the address and the Radley dog on the stamp, so cute!

The stitching on the back is even done to make it look like a letter!

I went out driving at Mercedes Benz world yesterday and it actually went so well, I'm super happy! My provisional still hasn't shown up yet which is annoying but I'm quite glad that I still get to drive around on their road track instead of being on the road with proper drivers; I'd be too scared!
I did my extended project presentation on my birthday too which was so scary...I hate talking in front of people like that, I always mess up or sound really shaky! My teacher said I did pretty well though which is always good!
I got an email this morning (well, Thursday, but I only saw it today!) from the ceramics teacher at college that my pot has been fired! I get to collect it on Tuesday which is awesome!
On Friday, I went to Café Nero with my friend Katie and this guy I've seen around (new friendship acquired!) and she showed me a game called Happy Jump. It's honestly more addicting than Malteasers. It's like Doodle Jump but much more awesome because you're a JELLY. You collect coins to buy items for the jelly, you can even change to cupcakes or ice cream! There's even a Zombie jelly which is just awesome! It's just adorable. You have to avoid flies but the only way to kill them is to eat an apple and zoom through them with your added speed! It's probably going to turn in to my app that I turn to when I get bored! The best part is that it's free!

One of the most addictive games in existence...

Today is one of the few days that I've half taken off as a relaxation day. I did some work this morning when I actually got up...(accidentally missed breakfast because of this...oops!) and now I've had a long shower, taken my nail polish off, eaten some birthday chocolate from my grandma, browsed Pinterest and written a long overdue blog post! I'm going to paint my nails light blue in a bit too, it's either a cute Spring colour or a cold Winter colour so it fits with the stupid English weather at the moment which seems to be fluctuating between the two!

Best chocolate ever - thank you Grandma!

I'm going to a UCAS convention at Reading University with college which will be great fun! I get to sit through a talk about English at Uni (no intentions whatsoever of doing that but college forced me to go to one...so I picked the most interesting sounding one) and then one about Oxbridge which should be fun...kind of! I really want to go and talk to the reps of the Unis and get prospectuses though, that will be interesting!

I'm beyond happy that it's the Easter holidays on Friday, it'll be nice not having to wake up super early every day and then revising with a hot chocolate whilst sitting on my bed!
Jess xx

Pinterest!

I have a new website love!
Pinterest is a bit like tumblr without all of the crazy fandom stuff. If you find a picture you like, you 'pin' in to one of the boards you have created on your wall (not sure what it's officially called but you put boards on your wall, right?) and you can re-pin other people's pictures, add your own and then others can re-pin those! It's rather addictive though and all of the pictures on there are so pretty...it's like my nice wish tumblr filled with the things I wish my blog looked like if it wasn't a multi-fandom mess!
I find loads of recipes, quotes, famous pieces of art, unknown art, doodles, clothes, room designs and loads more on there so it's just fantastic!
If you don't have Pinterest, get it! If you do, follow me at TheAdorableDork as per usual!
Jess xx

P.S. Sorry about it taking so long to upload a new post, I have crazy amounts of work and revision. Expect the next post Friday at the earliest!
P.P.S. I also found out that I get my January exam results back on Thursday - EEP. I'm so unbelievably nervous, I'm certain I failed biology.

Bon bons and sherbet dip!

It's always a market on Thursdays in town where I go to college and there's always a really awesome sweet stall! Nearly every week, I buy a bag of blue raspberry bon bons because they're my favourite and they're just amazing! They're one of my favourite non-American sweets! Those and Alphabet sweets and Rosy Apples...so good!
I also had a sherbet fountain today! I haven't had one in so long and they're still so good!!! I miss all of the awesome old sweets, they used to be the best!
I've got ANOTHER sore throat/cold so I feel a bit cruddy...early night I think!
Jess xx

Valentine's Day

So! The day of love has arrived, and ironically, people either love it or hate it!
I personally have a bit of an apathy for it...it can be an equally nice day if you don't have someone because it gives you an excuse to watch soppy rom coms and eat masses of chocolate! I just don't like the idea that there is a day where you're meant to show how much you love someone by how much you can spend on someone...surely it's just the market trying to make money out of people? If you're in a good relationship, you shouldn't need a day to prove you love someone, you should do it anyway!
A reason to love Valentine's day is the yummy food that comes out of it, namely the limited edition Starbucks hot chocolate, Strawberry chocolate kiss. It's hot chocolate with whipped cream and strawberry drizzle on top. It's so good, if a little bit sickly when you reach the syrup that sunk to the bottom...

So yummy!

Now on to another holiday, Easter! The malteaster bunnies are back...and this time they've brought out baby bunnies! They taste so good and they're so cute! They actually taste like malteasers instead of being like the big bunnies.

How cute?!

 

Just as a show of how small they are!!

 

I've finally finished my English essay for my coursework! I'm so happy because it's slightly under the word count, meaning I can use the remaining words on my creative writing piece! It's the reason I haven't had a life over the last few days so I'm happy it's over! I still need to mess around with the referencing but it won't take very long so I'm super happy!

Amazingly, I haven't been feeling totally bogged down by work which is strange, I think because I'm not worrying about it as much, I'm not feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work. I also wrote down everything I have to do so when I've completed stuff, I can cross it off the list and feel better because I can physically see how much I have left.

 

Yesterday, I found an online magazine called Sweet Lemon, it's fantastic! It's only been running since late 2011 and has 8 issues but each issue has roughly 100 pages, and online it takes quite a while to get through! For me, who likes older fashion styles made for people around 5 years older, I'm in love with this magazine that's built for young women. It has so many interesting articles and granted, it is aimed towards University graduates so I'm not really right for some of the articles, but most of them are awesome! There's a lot of interesting interviews with bloggers and successful women and lots of fashion based things which is really cool! I like looking through the picks from the different editors because they all have such different styles! It's good because it isn't the typical magazine telling you how to look better, what the latest celebrity gossip is etc. It's just different! Maybe because it's run by bloggers (including College Prep!) so it's put together like loads of posts! Whatever it is, I love it!!

 

I've managed to find my friends birthday presents, some up to 6 months late! I'm genuinely hopeless at finding presents so I'm really glad my mum has shown me the website where they're from! I can't post what they are because I know they read my blog! (Hi Katie, Julia and Phoebe!)

 

Anyway, I'm off because I've run out of interesting things to say!

Jess xx

 



Food for Thought (random thought of the day)

*random, rambly, nerdy post ahead*

Because of my cold, I keep losing my sense of smell and taste. It makes me realise just how much of our taste comes from the textures we feel on our tongue when we eat! Also, our tongues can still detect the sweetness/saltiness of the food so it feels like we're tasting what we're eating, when in reality, we're just feeling and getting whether its sweet/salty. The actual flavour is only a teeny part of food! So much more is involved which I find awesome! 

I also think that if you've tried the food before, our memories put the flavour in our heads so it's like you're eating normally! Obviously that sounds like you're just tasting it normally, but if you can't smell, you can't actually taste!

My brain thinks of the weirdest things sometimes...So!!! Enjoy a little insight to what goes round in my head daily! 

Jess xx