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Ooooh Shiny.

Look, new layout! Shiny!

See, I may have neglected my blog a little but you know, I'm taking care of it now. Alongside the many other projects I'm currently undertaking, I felt a little blog update would bode well.

Also cause I want to do a shameless self promotion. On my own blog. Yeah, deal with it.

I mentioned in my last blog about my 365 Project which I've been keeping up with. I've also been redecorating my room - painted the wall purple and I'm going to get a wall sticker. Which now that I'm here I must mention. I've been looking through hundreds of pages of wall stickers and while there are some very nice things, I just can't find one I like. There is an option to get your own quote/sentence with a maximum of fifteen words. So I was wondering if you have any ideas of what would look good on a purple wall and has a relatively nice/philosophical meaning or just a quote that you'd associate with me, then please leave it in the comments or let me know on any other website you might find me on :P

Anyway. I mentioned another secret project in my last blog and having finally sorted that out I am here to tell you what it is. It's called The Cupcake Connection. It's a baking blog, it's my baking blog. Since I have been known to be the cupcake queen, I feel it's apt to start baking my own cupcakes. I got a recipe book and plan to make all the recipes in that book as well as other random things I find on the interwebs. So I suggest you click here and go check that out. I already have a recipe up.

So while you're enjoying that, I'm off to attempt to finish 50 million other things on my current to-do list. I promise I'll be back soon with something interesting to say, hopefully.

Sami
xox

Reflections on 2010/11

I was about to start writing this blog then I got some hunger pangs and decided to have some Nutella on toast.

So now I'm eating Nutella on toast while typing this blog to you. It's good. I bet you want some now. I'll give you five minutes to go make some. Now go.....

Usually people who post blogs about the old/new year are all "I had a shitty fucking year so here's my resolutions for 2011". I am one of those people who stopped making Resolutions a long time ago. They were never realistic enough for me to even attempt to complete them and a friend once said, why wait for the new year to start something? Do it now, this very minute. That was on some idle Tuesday afternoon in the middle of the year.

So really, while the start of a new year gives you a good timing point to start something, with the new year in tow, if you really wanted to do it, you'd be doing it already. Ironically, I will be starting a project myself come 12:01 on January 1st. More about that in a moment.

To be honest, 2010 has been an alright year for me. I've had some mainly financial difficulties but I've gotten through it and I'm surviving, just about. I turned 21 in 2010 which to be honest, feels no different than being 18 but I did manage to complete quite a few of the things on my 21 list, not all of them on time of course and I'm still trying for the ones not ticked off. I've lost some friends along the way and made some new ones too and so all in all, like every blooming year, it's sometimes shitty and sometimes not.

Also, I know my blogging has been particularly shit this year but I have a life, I'm 21, remember. No, I'm kidding. I do intend to keep blogging through the new year and while my "i want to start a new blog" itch has resurfaced I can't be arsed to think up a new name or redesign for the layout and so I'm just going to stick it out on here. Of course, I don't have a frequent posting schedule and probably still won't because, this is my last semester before I graduate and that means its Dissertation time. I do hope to post more Future Husband letters which I have seemingly failed to keep up with.

One of the things that is scaring me the most about 2011 is the fact that I graduate. I have spent a lot of time recently looking into Postgraduate study and considering doing a Masters before the fees properly rise/the world ends in 2012. Yes, I'm joking about the world ending, what a load of bollocks. I just hope that I am able to make it through this semester without killing somebody, or throwing a computer out the window. I have been sitting the past few days doing coursework and attempting a bit of revision but I just am not feeling the whole study-mode. I think it's cause I'm at home and when I'm back here It's like a holiday for me cause I don't live here permanently anymore.

Anyway, as well as graduation in 2011, I don't really know what else to be expecting. Of course I have entered into a new relationship of the romantic-type variety and I'm hoping that keeps blossoming into something nice. I also hope to keep my friends alongside me so that when my dissertation is going horrible, I can be all FUCKING DISSERTATIONS, HALP. That's all I really need them for. Yes, I'm kidding again. I love my friends to pieces. Also, my family, who provide a warm, food-filled house and bed at the weekends. As well as some quality entertainment when they learn waxing and decided to do it on each other. It's a female household, what can I say. I also love my cats who have been teh inspiration behind many a blog this year when my brain was lacking fuel of any other kind. I also, sadly lost one of them this year in the throws of an angry dog. While that wasn't a very fun time, she was a very old cat and while she didn't die peacefully, she is at least in peace now.

Moving on, I do have several projects lined up this year alongside a disseration, graduation and general life-figuring outness because well, I'm insane pretty much. Basically, they involve me doing things either once per day, or once per month and are things I've been thinking about doing either since last year or since I discovered my love of them and now I've finally decided, what the hell, why not. I can't promise I'll be any good at it, or even keep the momentum going but I'm sure as hell going to try.

Anyway, I've kept you in suspense long enough. So I am going to tell you only about one of them for today.

I have decided to participate in project365. Project 365 is basically a photography project where you take a photo for every single day of the year. I have a camera that hasn't seen much use and I have always been interested in photography and want to attempt to make use of the camera much more and hopefully I will learn new things by doing so. This kinda stemmed from a conversation with my father nonetheless who when we were talking about how there are no jobs and I've no idea what I'm going to do when I gradute, he reminded me of my old love for the old photo taking/poserness and said if I tried hard enough I could probably easily find something to do with that as a back-up plan. So Project 365 is kind of a way for me to take a handle on that side of things as well as document my life for a year, and an important year it will be nonetheless.

I have already started a profile on flickr featuring some of my old photos that I thought were in some way half decent and will upload more there throughout the year as well as one my project365 profile. Both of which you can find here and here. There is nothing on the 365 profile yet as it's not yet January 1st and I haven't taken any.

I am not going to tell you about my other project just yet because it depends on certain circumstances which are currently out of my hands but may be fixed within the next few days. I will keep you informed, of course.

So anyway, I wanted to post this blog to inform you that you can find me in other places on the interwebs this year, as well as facebook and twitter, or you can email me at samiandthecity@gmail.com.

Also, I failed at wishing you a Happy Christmas - I hope Santa was good to you - he was certainly good to me. So instead, I am here to wish you A Very Happy New Year. And I'll see you on the other side of midnight.

Love as always,
Sami
xo

On Writing and Music.

Hello folks,

I know it's been a while once again since I've posted and this time I don't really have an excuse because I havent been doing much of anything. Though I packed up and moved home for the Christmas break, almost got snowed in, almost fell on my arse at least 100 times and built a snowman. As well as hanging out with friends and seeing them before the holiday period truly begins.

Anyway, It's been at the back of my head all along saying 'BLOG WOMAN BLOG!' so here I am, a bit late in the evening but an update's an update so be happy about it! Moving on, what I want to talk about today is Writing. I'm an avid follower of a lot of people on Youtube, it's an amazing community of people who make music, write books, educate you on the environment and the sexual mating habits of random animals and other interesting things. There's also a whole community there dedicated to making Harry-Potter related music called Wrock which stands for Wizard-Rock. I am a big fan of Harry Potter and like most of the Wrock music but just the other day, one of the big bands called The Ministry of Magic released a new album and posted some of their songs on youtube with videos.

One song has particularly struck a chord with me and I haven't stopped listening to it basically since. If you're interested, click here and go listen! Anyway, this got me thinking about how amazing it is that people were so taken with a book that they wanted to make music about it. Similarly, there is Trock which is Time-lord Rock based on the Doctor Who series, which is also quite good. Listening to all this stuff and being able to relate to it, as a music fan and as a fan of the books made me want to write something amazing so taht one day someone will want to make music based on something I've written.

I mean the Nano Novel I wrote is a bit of a shambles at the minute, I haven't finished it yet but I know where it's going. However my inner editor is absolutely dying to get out and fix everything because as I've been writing it I've been like 'that is so stupid, it needs fixed' and now that the pressure of Nano is gone, I'm having to resist the urge to let the editor out with the red pen.

I know I'll get there eventually, it's just the timing of Christmas right after Nano makes everything twice as hard and twice as insane. But I'm determined to finish the novel before the new year so I have at least you know, 5 days before my exams start to study for them. Ahh flip sakes, the life of a final year student.

The other thing is that sometimes I feel that saying 'I want to be a writer' is a bit gay and then I start questionning myself about it and wondering if that is what I want to be because I don't write everyday and I don't seem to write anything I feel is good enough. You hear all the time that you should write everyday and I seem to be discovering more and more people that write poems or short stories and are amazing at it and I get a little discouraged about it all. I just don't know where it's going to take me, if anywhere and I don't really know what else I would like to do with my life.

Anyway, I mainly wanted to post about the music and writing correlation which seems to have turned into a bit of a rant! Anyway, please feel free to comment on anything and also what the hell should I blog about! I've had blogs for like 3 years and I'm running out of ideas for things :P

Sami
xox

NaNoWriMo and Life Updates.

I know, say what you want, I'm a bad blogger. But while you've been busy complaining about my lack of blogging, I've been writing a novel all month, so there :P. I finished earlier this evening with a current total of 50, 124 words. By all means, the story is not finished yet, it's barely even begun but I had to ramble on for 50k about something so shush :P. I am very pleased to have won this year as I failed last year and was more determined than ever to win again! I couldn't have done it without the help of the Nanoers in the All-Ireland chatroom as well as my housemate Jesse who was full of useful information about demons and other magical beings when my brain decided to die. So many thanks go out to all of you.

In other news, last time I blogged I said I had ticked off another thing on my 21 list. I have since ticked off a further one. Those two things, which I can happily tell you now are: Go on a date - On halloween night I went on a date. Suffice to say, things have worked out very well and I'm quite the happy chappy. The other one I've ticked off is getting a job. My dad knows an owner of a restaurant and they happened to be looking for staff and hence, I got a job. Which is another reason why I'm quite cheerful these days because there was a point during November where I couldn't afford to live and now I can. It's brilliant :).

November has been a bit of a mental month for me. The first two and a half weeks were full of stress due to coursework essays needing to be done and handed in. I had three to do, I got two done the first week and handed in and the second week when I was in the middle of doing my essay I recieved some bad news. My cat whom I've had since I was 3 was killed in the throws of an angry dog. This news was really upsetting and I was unable to focus on my essay for a while and ended up with an extension. I got it done eventually and was then able to come back to NaNo and end up where I am today. As well as these distractions, the two I mentioned above were quite good at distracting me at points but I through raw determination, I made it across the finish line and a day early too!

So there you go. I was waiting until I made it across the finish line to post about everything because I thought firing it all out in one go would be better than wasting time writing here when I could be writing NaNo. But I'm alive, I'm happy and I hopefully will post more often now that Novembers over and the crazy times have died down. Of course, don't hold me to that.

Hope things are well with all of you,
Sami
:)

NaNoWriMo and Other Non Important Stuff

Helllllo blogosphere.

I am not even going to bother explaining where I've been to be honest, you don't want to hear it and I don't want to type it. So on to the exciting stuff.

I've posted before about NaNoWriMo which stands for National Novel Writing Month for you newbs. The aim is to write 50 000 words in 30 days. No editing. Just write, write, write! Once you get the words down then you are good to go. It's insane and everyone who does it is a crazy fool, so since you're reading my blog, go go go: www.nanowrimo.org

Also, my own wordcount for Nano at the end of day one is 48. Lmao. I am in the process of writing still but I am having to work on coursework these first two weeks and its really important as it's my 3rd and final year. I know Nano will be on the backburner til I do that so unfortunately my count wont be as great for a while.

As for the other non important stuff. I hate coursework. I ticked off another one on my 21 list, but Ill let you guess what one that was. It is freaking colllllld. I like fireworks and I had an amazing Halloween weekend which I shall give you an update about eventually.

So yes. I just wanted to post about Nano really.

See yeeeee.

21 by 21: The Final

So I am now officially 21. I had a party at the weekend to celebrate and had a great time being surrounded by people I love and having a jolly old time together. Since my actual birthday was on a Monday, I had uni lectures but I spent the evening having a laugh and a few quieter drinks with more of my best friends. A lot of people have asked me why I didn't go out to celebrate but to be honest, I'd rather spend the time with my friends talking and laughing rather than screaming over loud music and trying to push past strangers all night.

Anyway, as you know it was my aim to complete a full set of 21 things by the time I turned 21. It is unforunate that I didn't get to complete the list in its entirety due to life constraints but I do feel like I accomplished things that I set out to do and so for your pleasure, here is the list. If the action is scored out it means I have completed that task. If I haven't, then there will be an explaination beside it as to why not.

1. Learn to Drive - This is due to the fact that I didn't have any money this summer to try and learn. However, I did purchase my provisional license and plan to start lessons soon.
   
2. Get a Job - Dear god, you all heard me rant and complain about the lack of employment over here so this one is no part of mine, i sent in at least 20 application forms and had 2 interviews and no one wants to hire me.
   
3. Be able to play Expert on Guitar Hero - Well, I was playing Guitar hero in my uni house then realised I wouldnt have it for the summer so never got to complete the game. I can play a healthy medium though. Stupid orange button.
   
4. Write something publishable - For me, writing takes time and effort and inspiration and I didn't have much of any of those, however, I do have a big story idea in research stages so hopefully something comes of that! :)
   
5. Make a new friend
6. Reconnect with an old friend
7. Read 50 Books (and subsequently, post the finished list here)
8. Make a photo album containing photos of friends and fun times.
9. Keep a notebook of quotes that I like that I have heard/read throughout the year.
10. Get another tattoo
11. Save £1000 - Again due to the lack of job and saving skills I have.
    
12. Visit another country
13. Get an O2 number
14. Master one recipe to perfection and post it as a blog!
15. Buy something from a designer label (Prada? Jimmy Choo?)
16. Go to a concert of a band I enjoy listening to.
17. Learn to speak a different language or how to play an instrument. - I think you should all let me away with this one considering I posted an Italian phrase of the day everyday for a month :P I do know a lot more italian than I did before. La bella donna!
    
18. Go on a proper date (like, for dinner, with a boy I like and whom likes me :P)- I just haven't found someone to complete this one with yet. I did actually have a date planned for last week but the guy postponed as he had something else to do but here's hoping I can complete this one soon!
    
19. Have a spa day with someone.- This was again due to the lack of funds. But I do want to got to the spa with a friend and have a massage and stuff!
    
20. Try and have a successful blog with readers that comment (who are more than just my personal friends and family).
21. Fall in Love (Here's hoping!) - Well, I knew this one was unrealistic when I wrote down. I can't just put a time limit on love and expect it to happen. However, while I may not have found a lover to love, I found and made plenty of friends and family whom I love dearly and wouldn't be able to survive without. So this is for them.

So there you have it. I did just about half of my intended things to do but as you can see life got in the way a lot of the time and I was just unable to compelte them unfortunately. But here's hoping I can complete them in due course. By christmas maybe? Hmm, should I give myself a "10 Things by the 10th day of christmas?" Or something? What do you think?

Thanks for sticking around and keep coming back for more future husband letters and general sami-rants about life.

Sami