Believe it or not I am actually writing a really long blog post to be posted soon. I wanted it to go up yesterday but I didn't finish it so here is a quick replacement one! I hope you'll like the long one, it just takes a while to think about everything. I'll give you a clue, it's a response to the recent buzzfeed article concerning '18 things A Brit Will Miss in America'.

But for now, what can I talk about???

Black Friday madness in England.

It seems the Black Friday tradition of sales galore has passed over the Atlantic. However, not very well. Black Friday in America actually shows deals whereas in England, the shops pretend to give deals. I have seen so many Nexus 7's for sale at the discounted price of £159 - down from £199! WOW WHAT A DEAL. However, if you do your research, this is an old Nexus 7 and was retailed at £159 in 2012. So there is no deal. It is exactly the same price. And one can buy an old Nexus 7 for cheaper than that in a local store. SO THIS IS NOT A DEAL BUT A SCAM. Many shops have tried this new technique on Black Friday and it feels very cold hearted and cruel, pretending to SLASH prices when really there is no difference. Some things were on sale - I bought 2 Xmas pressies on a Black Friday deal which were great bargains - but most things weren't.

I also find it funny how after a day when everyone is meant to be grateful for what they have, they rush out to tackle one another to get to shops? Does this make sense?? There are fights, squabbles and tears just over a few items of discounted clothing (P.S they will probably stay discounted all weekend - most shops do this now!) This bad behaviour travelled over the atlantic very successfully. There were loads of articles over fights in shops in England and police being called. It made me want to slam my head into the desk in despair. Really? Really? Where has everyone's dignity gone??

Well I guess this is just the start. With Xmas drawing closer.....I bet the shopper's violence will just get worse.

x

Right now, my friends are all eating thanksgiving dinner together. Betty and Laura are in the lovely Sacramento, all cosy and eating turkey (I am guessing).

I am rather jealous. I am snuggled up with a duvet, it is freezing outside and I have four crackers and a stir fry today so my stomach is rather hungry (something I now continuously have to put up with). I have a hot water bottle on my legs, the heating doesn't work and there is a large cup of tea by my side. I look to my right and see the foreboding pile of books I have yet to read to start my 3000 word essay that is due in next year (yep, I am that prepared folks!). So yes, I am rather jealous.

My last thanksgiving was rather funny and un traditional. I went for a run with Betty in the morning, tried to contact Mikey to say the Cheesecake Factory was closed and did he want to do something, had a lasagne lunch (which tasted rather rough), saw one of my 'best friends' flirt with the guy I told her I liked, saw that girl and Betty leave to go for a dinner (they asked me to go (the 'friend' did) but I had to wait for Mikey to see if he was free anytime soon). That friend got pissed off as she thought I was just going to go after my crush - by the way she had a boyfriend at this point - but no, I waited in my apartment for Mikey, and played basketball briefly with a deflated ball.

Later in the evening, things picked up. I did go over to my crush's apartment (BTW this is Andy if no one had cottoned onto that already - hehehe :D) and played on the Wii. It was really fun. We then waited for the Spanish boys to cook their turkey. Said friend and Betty returned later in the night. Said friend began questioning me over how long I'd been in the boy's apartment *roll eyes* -  I was so naive! - and we ate raw turkey. Yep RAW. The Spanish boys claimed that they did this all the time at home and that it was fine. Raw turkey is apparently a Spanish delegacy. Hehehe. Well I didn't get ill and it was an odd thanksgiving, but it is one I'll never forget. Just wish I'd got to contact Mikey as I feel he could have felt left out :(.

But anyway, this year I am grateful for so many things. I am grateful for Andy (hehehe, sorry had to put it in), grateful for my family and friends, grateful for the amazing new friends I made on my Year Abroad, grateful for my year abroad opportunity, grateful for my doggies, grateful for my health, grateful that I still have the motivation to work my arse off even when the future isn't looking bright, grateful for my warm pjs, grateful for my cups of tea, grateful for Ryvita crackers and chocolate spread, grateful for the swimming pool (OF SAN DIEGO :'( I MISS IT), grateful for 'Doctor Who' and 'Sherlock', grateful for Adobe Premiere Pro and grateful for how much this year has taught me. I have grown up a lot yet when a rather evil person was removed from life, my hope and faith in humanity came back, so I haven't quite lost my gullible and vulnerable side. And I am grateful for that because I was starting to turn into a different person - a harder, tougher and more disbelieving one. And I never want that to happen again.

I love you all

Happy Thanksgiving x

I just want to buy all the sports clothes I can. Especially from Nike. They all look so amazing and I WANT THEM ALL. On Tumblr they all have really cute slogan tops and I want one. I also want a sports bra. I just want the bright colourful sports clothes and I want to exercise and run around in them and feel good about myself. Instead I am usually tugging at my clothes as the others around me in the gym look so glamorous whilst I stand there awkwardly. Ah well!!! When I have the money right?

I'm not that interested in any dresses etc at the moment as I want to get them when I reach my target weight. A little reward for me, kind of thing. At the moment I have to find a tape measure to measure myself for my friend's wedding and I am dreading it! I don't want to give my measurements yet when I have such a long way to go before I hit my target weight!!! But she said she would alter it by next summer if I lost weight, which kind of sounded like a challenge in my head, so I was immediately geared up and ready to continue this hard long battle down 'safe' dieting hill.

I had my first Juice day yesterday (planning on doing one a week). It was ok. i got hungry but the smoothies were nice. It is too expensive to make my own as I would have to buy a blender and all the fruit each week so I just buy small bottles of smoothie for that day. I cheated by having soup in the evening but in these cold cold cold winter days I think that'll be ok. It's still all very cleansing. It's weird how much you wish you could chew something though whilst you are on a juice day.

Anyway, small, rather uninteresting update from me! Hope you're well x

Hi There!!
First apologies for not writing in so long (particularly due to my November promise). I do have good reason for that. First, I am extremely busy with work but the real reason is I went back to Warwick and left my charger in Bristol! Sigh! What a nuisance. So I'll just add on extra days at the end of November.

So firstly I want to talk about Doctor Who. So if you don't like it or don't want spoilers, turn away now and look away. I love Doctor Who so much and this episode brought back so much of my obsessive feelings for it. I believe it was utterly amazing and deserved to be watched by all. However, I will try and be a bit less like "IT WAS ALL AMAZING" in my review and actually give a proper review. I will however lay it out in bullet points so not quite like a proper review.

So my favourite moments from the episode :-

Peter Capaldi Debut
A few seconds. That is all it took for me to fall in love with this new Doctor. Literally a few seconds which made my stomach jump and my heart race. The introduction of a new Doctor is always hard. Peter Capaldi had already faced some critics believing he was "too old" to be the new Doctor. But those few seconds banished those thoughts from anyone. Personally, I love Capaldi, I saw him in the show 'Fortysomething' and I have seen a few episodes of the 'The Thick Of It' and he is a fantastic actor. AND HE IS A LONG TERM FAN OF THE SHOW! Which means he will be awesome and dedicated. But yes, those few seconds, were amazing and literally I couldn't stop raving about it after the show. Powerful entrance. *ROUND OF APPLAUSE* to Steven Moffat.

What happened to a princess cake, a movie and a couple of pizzas? That used to be the most supervision I ever had to do for my little sister's birthday parties. I was in charge of ordering pizza and making sure she didn't damage the DVDs. Now....not so much.

My sister had a house party. My parents left (trusting my sister more than me then in terms of house parties!) and I was left to run the household. To be honest you would think there would be less to do as my sister is 19 and all her friends are 18/19 so they hardly need a babysitter. Exactly, they don't....until alcohol gets the better of them.

Food Everywhere
It seems that my sister's friends enjoy throwing food....um just about everywhere. I found rolls on the floor, crisps everywhere, bits of peanut getting stuck in my foot and pizza curled up beside the spa. The dogs had a field day as they ran around trying to snag a few treats. Think they felt a bit sick the next day though. I ran around with a dustpan like a little mosquito chasing people.

Spa Antics
I have had many parties involving our amazing outdoor spa. It is an amazing place to socialise and it always feel glamorous drinking wine in the Spa. However, my friends and I remain fully clothed. A bikini may not cover up much but it covers up enough....

Sick
Do I need to go on? But to be honest I felt really sympathetic for the poor ill girls as they actually all seemed nice and had clearly just drunk a lot because they were nervous or didn't quite realise how much they had drunk till the last and fatal minute.

Sticky Floors
As everyone ran in from the house, to the spa, and back out again the floor slowly got stickier and stickier. Soon you couldn't walk on without the "SPLURP" sound. It was a disaster. I was getting stuck to the floor and Saxon hated it. This involved a lot of mopping after everyone had gone to bed and then more mopping the next morning!

Broken Glass
The occasional dropped glass is understandable but when one is thrown down as the girl jumps up and down in excitement....it isn't so amusing. It was thrown with such force as well it meant the glass went everywhere. I am very grateful to my friend Will for cleaning up the most of it! Very nice of him. Whilst the girl who dropped it began insisting she wasn't drunk.

Tonsil Tennis
Another activity that is rather rare at my parties. However, lusty 18 years olds have a mind of their own ( a mind set I clearly missed). A lot of kissing. A lot of manoeuvring around kissing couples. A lot of heartbreak from other girls who potentially liked the boy now kissing someone else. Oh the drama.

Cold 
The door was constantly left open to the outdoors as people rushed in and out for the spa. Us sober ones got cold very quickly as we were not wrapped up in our alcoholic blankets. I wore a coat for 3/4 of the evening.

Injuries
One boy sprained his ankle falling into the spa (sober, believe it or not). I got punched in the face by my over hyperactive sister who thought that would be a hilarious thing to do as I made her friends tea and tidied up, and a girl had a bleeding ankle (we are not too sure why).

Cleaning
The majority of people were tucked up by 2am, 3am the latest. All fast asleep. Including my sister. I was downstairs cleaning until 5.15 in the morning. I didn't even manage to finish it all but I thought it was presentable when Mum walked in the next morning (even if her shoes made a slight weird noise as she stuck briefly too the floor - this was after 3 mopps!)

At the end of the day I enjoyed myself. I like looking after people and all of Becky's friends were nice people. It was definitely fun to watch, like a visitor to a zoo. I also felt quite nostalgic as I realised my sister had got so old. However, I also felt so grateful because the wildest thing to happen at my party was that someone fell asleep in the study....
x

Happy Birthday to my little sister. She is now 19, in school and so grown up. So proud of my little sister! She is with someone who is apparently lovely (I haven't met him yet!) and she is very very happy. She is a gorgeous girl, has a healthy attitude towards life and health and I love her humour to pieces. We are so different but she is my little sister and I'm so proud of her. She is one of my best friends and I confide everything with her.

This morning I took the Megabus to London. I met up with my Dad and sister in St Paul's and he took us out for lunch for a Japanese meal :D It was lovely. I had prawn soup and it tasted scrumptious and so different to all my diet cracker bread meals I have been having of late.

I got treated to a second meal later on as my parents took me out for dinner :D it was lovely :D. They were chatting away and my Mum was so happy to see me. It was flattering :D. She hadn't seen me in six weeks and you'd think after not having seen me for four months at a time whilst I was in the US she would be used to it but no :D Which actually makes me all fussy inside. It was a nice compliment. And despite what she thinks I had missed seeing her too.

My dogs went crazy when I came in. They were running around like crazy. Bonnie quickly got bored but Saxon is my dog and consequently acted out of the ordinary by running around, jumping on my chest, licking my face and not letting me get up. Made me laugh so hard.

I wish Andy was here though. He can never come home during term time so that sucks :( but I will hopefully see him soon! x

Only in America have I found a student tumble dryer works! All the others are rip offs.

You have to pay £1 to dry your clothes and when you take them out, they are wet, so you have to buy a drying rack too at an extra cost....so really there is no point in drying  your clothes but you tell yourself "This time will be different, this time my clothes will be dry" and no, they are not. And due to the cold temperatures, your clothes don't dry very fast on the drying rack so you find yourself uncomfortably getting into wet socks, underwear and clothing the next day and walking outside to brave the cold - AHHHHHHHHHHHH

You could put your clothes in for another dry? Yes, well you could. I did this once and quite a few of Andy's clothes shrunk a little so it's either wet or tiny clothing? Which one would you prefer? It's a tough choice. And also putting your drying in for another cycle is not a cheap affair when you have just paid £5.40 for the privilege to wash your clothes.

I believe the tumble dryers are deliberately set to an extremely low setting just so that people do put them in for another spin. It's not dependent on how many pieces of clothing you put in because this morning I put in less clothes than I ever have and I swear they came out wetter. The tumble dryers also take longer than my parent's old old old one so I KNOW it is a set-up.

Also they never put coin machines in the student washing rooms. This is deliberately so people spend more on the washing machine than they are meant to as they never give back change. It also means I have to go out and buy something deliberately in order to get change.

Ohhhhhhh the woes of student life. I guess it's better now I actually have a tumble dryer though. In Second year, I didn't have one and my housemates didn't believe in putting the heating on so therefore my clothes were like ice ALL THE TIME. I dreaded washing day. Literally dreaded it.

Rant over!

(I updated my other blog gymsloth.tumblr.com too so go check it out if you want!)
x