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

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
:)

I almost forgot.

I almost forgot that I was doing BEDA hence this quite late night post. I dont really know what to say today as I almost-forgot and didn't manage to plan ahead. Oh life.

So I was just on the Etsy website and it popped "This website has detected that you are in Italy. Would you like to view all prices in Euros?" Um...if only I was in Italy, man. Ohhhh that's just reminded me about my 21 list and how one of those things is to learn a new language. I've always wanted to visit Italy and learn Italian, I dont know what really sparked my interest but it just appealed to me and since I have yet to complete or even start this, I have decided (
literally just now) that I will learn Italian alongside BEDA this month and at the end of every post I will state what I have learnt that day. Except since it's now near 10pm and I have no idea where or how I'm going to learn Italian, I'm going to leave you with an Italian phrase I know and enjoy:

"La Bella Vita" it means "A Beautiful Life". I think I'd like that tattooed on me one day.

Now I'm off to hopefully find a website to teach me Italian. Anyone know of any or can teach me?!

Until Tomorrow (which I promise will be better than this!)
Sami

21 List: Update.

So I started this blog with a post listing 21 things I'd like to achieve by the time I'm 21 and it's been a few months and people are starting to ask questions. I know it seems like I'm not acting on many of them, but these things take time and I'm doing little things that you might not be aware of so I decided an update about them was necessary, just so you know that I'm not a complete failure of a person. So here we go -
1. Learn to Drive - waiting on my provisional to arrive!
2. Get a Job - have applied several places, have interview in morning.
3. Be able to play Expert on Guitar Hero - i fail at this one.
4. Write something publishable - bleeeh.
5. Make a new friend - Made new friends at University.
6. Reconnect with an old friend - Reconnected with people from my past :D
7. Read 50 Books (and subsequently, post the finished list here)- My current total is 5 and I'm waiting on more to arrive for me to read!
8. Make a photo album containing photos of friends and fun times. - photos are being taken when I'm out and about.
9. Keep a notebook of quotes that I like that I have heard/read throughout the year. - Yeah, I'll start this one eventually.
10. Get another tattoo - to be done asap.
11. Save £1000 - I hate money. Hopefully the job will help with this one.
12. Visit another country - I'm going to England in September and hopefully somewhere nice in summer.
13. Get an O2 number Done this at New Years when I got a new phone :)
14. Master one recipe to perfection and post it as a blog! - I think I'm going to master the art of vanilla or chocolate cupcakes. Which would you prefer?
15. Buy something from a designer label (Prada? Jimmy Choo?) I bought a Swarovski Crystal Butterfly Necklace.
16. Go to a concert of a band I enjoy listening to. I'm going to see Paramore in June :)
17. Learn to speak a different language or how to play an instrument. - Ah bollocks, I forgot about this one.
18. Go on a proper date (like, for dinner, with a boy I like and whom likes me :P) - I have been offered a date but I didn't like the guy so I politely declined! Any other takers?
19. Have a spa day with someone. - Yes, to be had soon.
20. Try and have a successful blog with readers that comment (who are more than just my personal friends and family). - Well, here I am, updating, only 8 days after my last one, I'll get there eventually!
21. Fall in Love (Here's hoping!) - Well, this one has always been doubtful.

So there you go. Out of a possible 21, I have completed 5 and started most of the rest of them. So I don't think I'm doing too badly. But really, if you know, you want to donate to teh Sami fund, or take me on a date, or teach me a new language, or how to drive, I'd definitely appreciate it! Do you lot have any goals for this year? Share in the comments!

21 By 21.

So, I know I'm not the most regular blog poster ever, but hey, It was the end of semester and I am sick. I've also been racking my brains lately for something to write about it when it occured to me that next year, I am going to be 21 and that's a significant age in anyone's life. So I came up with the idea of having a list of 21 things I want to do by the time I'm 21. So then I spent days racking my brains with things to put on the list and tonight, I finally finished it. Most of them are feasible ideas, I should hope. So wish me luck. Here's the list!

1. Learn to Drive
2. Get a Job
3. Be able to play Expert on Guitar Hero
4. Write something publishable
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
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.
18. Go on a proper date (like, for dinner, with a boy I like and whom likes me :P)
19. Have a spa day with someone.
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!)

Did I mention, I'm 21 next September? So I have like nine and a bit months from when this blog post goes out! Haha. I promise now that I'm getting better and have more time on my hands, I will post more regularly, or well, I'll try! :P

Sami
xo