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*plays Eminem - Without Me*

309 days. That is a ridiculous time period to have gone without writing a blog post considering I enjoy it so much. I've been saying for months and months that I will blog again...I never have. I have all these ideas and have done absolutely nothing about them!

I used write what I thought other people would like to read and a little of what I wanted to write about. I would stress myself trying to think of ideas other people would like and end up not blogging at all for long periods of time.

Well, that's going to change. 

I have opinions, controversial views, stories to tell, events to go to, a list of idea's to work through and a completely revamped blog. I really have no excuses!

So what's been going on since I last blogged? 

Well, the biggest changes are probably that I have been completely vegan for nearly a year, I successfully attained my 2:1 BSc Psychology degree with honours, went to my graduation ball with my stunning pals and I'm now back in uni working my way through an MSc Forensic Psychology course. Apparently 4 years at university wasn't enough for me. Now, because an MSc isn't enough to keep me busy, I still volunteer with St Andrew's First Aid, work for Ambulance Scotland as a first aider and volunteer with Victim Support. I love all of these jobs! They certainly keep me busy but I get to help people physically and emotionally and spend the majority of my time with one of my besties so what's not to love?

Apart from that I've seen the stage adaptation of The Kite Runner, The Addams Family: The Musical Comedy twice, been to a caravan with my pals, redecorated my room, seen and met dodie (with a lower case d) and bought a lot of stuff I probably didn't need.

Don't worry, there will be exhilarating posts about it all coming soon. 

So what's coming next?

Well, now you mention it, I'm off to see dodie again in a couple of days and I'm finally meeting the SacconeJoly's next month! This has been a long time coming and I'm buzzing! So that's at least another two semi decent posts to look forward to! As I mentioned before, I have a list of post ideas written out. These idea's range from hauls to book/tv/film reviews to food posts and everything else in between! Now, it may be laughable but I want to attempt blogmas again this year! I have been successful once and it will happen again!

Watch this space.

Blogtober Day 1 | Where have I been?

Hey there! It's been a while since I blogged but I am back and ready to blog! 

6 weeks is a hefty break I know but believe me, I definitely needed it. Getting organised for my honors year at university has been a lot harder than anticipated. I am doing Psychology at university and 4th year presents me with all the captivating, yet challenging modules. From now until December, I will be doing Forensic & Criminal Psychology, Developmental Psychology and then working on my Research Dissertation. Then from January until April, it'll be Counselling Psychology, Mental Health Psychology and completing my Research Dissertation. All these modules require a number of books and a lot of background reading. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy all the reading but it is a great deal more time consuming now compared to last year.

Apart from university, there has been a little drama within my personal and family life. Nothing to worry about really, just a bit of a wobble. Supporting each other whilst we work through this wobble together is one of the main reasons we've managed to stay together. My family had to come first.

It's been a frenzied few months but things are finally getting back on track. Right now, things are good; I'm organised with my university work (for now) and my family is slowly but surely getting back on track again. I can direct some of my focus back onto blogging again! And, what better way to drive back into the blogging world than with Blogtober?!

I have a lot planned for Blogtober and I can't wait to share all my ideas with you all. It's going to be a busy month with lot's of different posts, so keep an eye out!

xxx

Update | Where Have I Been?

20 days. I haven't blogged in 20 days; that's nearly an entire month! I know that way back when I first created my blog I took a substantial (7 month) break but that was at the beginning; I was still learning. That's the excuse I'm going with anyways! The end of June and first couple of weeks of July were extremely busy for me. I was planning and organising my 21st birthday party, I got a second job and I was a volunteer first aider at the Beyonce concert at Hampden Park and at T in the Park again this year.

I'll start with my 21st birthday party, which was organised for July 2nd (2 days before my actual birthday). A party is very stressful to organise and can be quite expensive. I knew exactly how I wanted the hall decorated and what type of food I wanted to provide for guests, it was just a case of sorting it all whilst sticking to a budget. Despite the initial stress and panic, everything came together nicely. There was a couple of little problems here and there but overall it was a success and everybody had a good time. There will be a post up about it all shortly.

Secondly, I got another job. As I have mentioned before, I am a volunteer first aider for the Scottish charity St Andrew's First Aid. There are hundreds of first aiders that dedicate as much time as they can to this amazing organisation and through one of them I was lead to an owner of a private ambulance company. Not only did he employ people for his company, he was looking for somebody with first aid experience and a caring nature to provide palliative care for a gentleman whom he was close friends with. I got the job and a position within his company. I was over the moon about this as I am a naturally caring person who is always keen to learn and expand and enhance my skills and experience. The gentleman was lovely and even though I only got to meet him about 6 or 7 times, I'd grown quite fond of him, we got on quite well. Unfortunately, medical complications resulted in his passing shortly after I began caring for him. 

Finally, T in the Park. Last year, I was a first aider at T in the Park and it was the best experience of my life. I had all my close first aid friends with me, I was kept constantly busy from early morning until very late at night and I treated A LOT of people with A LOT of different (and sometimes odd) injuries. Despite there barely being enough time to sleep and eat, I absolutely loved it and could not wait until T in the Park came around once again. This year I would be providing first aid cover at Hampden Park for the Beyonce concert first (which was INCREDIBLE) and then heading straight through to T in the Park. As a first aider this year, I wasn't actually that busy in comparison to last year (which is a good thing) but resulted in me being a little bored at times. Nevertheless I still ended up covered in mud and god knows what else. It was still a long weekend that's for sure. I left my house at 8am on Thursday 7th July and didn't get home until 10pm on Monday 11th July. I was filthy from head to toe and completely exhausted! Once I recovered from T in the Park, there was still the small matter of cleaning all the equipment we had taken to T in the Park in the first place. You'd think we'd left everything lying in the rivers of mud the entire weekend with the state that some the equipment was in. Nevertheless, it had to be cleaned. It took a couple of days to clean everything properly!

As you can see, I have been kept very busy over the last couple of weeks. I am not using that as an excuse but it has definitely been a learning process for me. In future I should have extra blog posts written and ready to upload for times when I do become busy. Incidentally, I am going to be kept fairly busy until the end of July as I have a funeral to attend and yet another festival to provide first aid cover for. I do have blog posts planned out so I'll have them written in advance all ready to be posted for you guys to read and (hopefully) enjoy.

xxx

Easter Goodies & Lent Update :)

My family isn't religious, so for us, Easter is just a time to spend together and have fun. I am allergic to chocolate so over the last three years my mum has given me some sweets instead, however, this year she decided to do something different.

As kids get older, the anticipation and excitement of Easter fades. When I was younger, my brother and I could barely sleep the night before, knowing that in the morning there would be Easter eggs and an Easter egg hunt waiting for us. We would spend the day visiting family and friends ending the day with a takeaway dinner and watching a movie together. Since my brother turned about fourteen or fifteen (he is seventeen now) we have barely done any of the Easter activities we used too. This year my dad was working away and it would literally have been a case of wake up, see what goodies we where given and get on with our day. I didn't want that to happen this year. I went out and bought my mum a necklace and a giant Ferrero Rocher - as a change from the normal Easter egg - because she never really expects anything special for Easter. On Easter morning I came downstairs to the goodies shown above. My mum had definitely surprised me with Golden Cinnamon & Cherry Pop Tarts, a selection of the cutest, most adorable lollies ever, Haribo gummy sweets, heels from New Look and the outfit consisting of a pair of orange, brown and cream patterned, flowy, chiffon shorts and a cream crop top with subtle floral detailing, both from H&M. When my mum first told me that this Easter she was going to do something different, I told her not to spend much money, as it was only Easter. She has gotten good a the bargain finding because the shoes where £7 and the shorts and top where £5 each. I am very grateful for the gifts my mum purchased and I'm sure she liked the ones I picked for her because the Ferrero Rocher was demolished within a few days and she has worn the necklace on many occasions since. My brother didn't want to do anything the rest of the day so he stayed home whilst a lemon tea and minestrone soup was enjoyed by me and mum at a local cafe. 

I know some people don't understand why I participate in Lent if I am not religious in anyway and I don't mean to offend anybody as I just do it as a personal challenge. The past few years I have found the challenge easy despite giving up a substantial amount of things. This year I decided to give up bread in addition to other items. I have done a previous blog post explaining all about my challenge so if you want to know a little more you should read it. I would love to say that I found this years Lent a challenge, however, I did not. I found it pretty easy which might be surprising to some but I guess everybody is different. Maybe next year I will find something that will challenge me.

Thanks for reading about my Easter and how I got on with my Lent challenge. As I have said before, I am finished university until September now so I can and will be dedicating a lot more time to blogging so please follow my blog xxx

Update :)

Whoever said the first two years of university is a breeze better be wrong because the amount of coursework I have had over the last month has been insane.

I am a little bit annoyed at myself for not blogging at all during March as I had quite a few posts planned out and I was eager to write them. Unfortunately, I have had quite a lot of tests, coursework, group projects and reports to complete for university and that had to come first. For me, I finish my second trimester of second year studying Psychology in two weeks time, so I will be able to focus a lot more on my blog which I'm excited to be able to do because I love writing and posting.

Another thing that has also been a little bit of a problem and taken up quite a lot of my time and attention is my general health. I have been having migraines again despite not having any in three and a half years (since discovering my allergy to chocolate), I have had random sickness bugs and a few bouts of anxiety as well which isn't too good. I do currently have a bad head cold and a mild throat infection but I feel nearly back to normal - I just hope I don't get ill again anytime soon.

Anyways to make up for the severe lack of blogging in March I plan to kick of April with a bang! My first few posts are going to be a three part haul along with my March Favourites and a Lent Challenge Update, with many more posts to come :)

Keep an eye out for an April full of blog posts :) xxx