A Good Day

I have been eyeing up the new seasonal drinks in Costa for a couple of week now and i finally had 

one!

Me and my mum had a few Christmas presents to get and I really needed to get out of the house so we went into town. When we got home i started thinking about the day and realised that everything went according to plan and i was really excited! so i thought i would share my day with you.

Starting with the boring stuff, i got up, lead in bed for 30 Min's telling myself i needed to get up because i was hungry and lying there wasn't going to get my stomach to stop rumbling. So had some food and then did some biology revision, fun! I am currently doing biology posters for revision and i managed to finish one, yay!  then had a shower, washed (it was very necessary) and dried my hair. with a 20 minute rest in between the washing and drying, to give my arms a chance to recover.  I then had some lunch, jacket potato with spaghetti hoops :)  somewhere in there i changed into actual clothes (not pyjamas or a towel).

Now the fun stuff, mum came home from work and we went shopping! only went in about 3 shops but it was fun, we had a good chat about unimportant stuff and got everything we needed (Christmas shopping complete!). we stopped off in Costa and both had one of their orange hot chocolates! Oh My Makeup it was good! and ye i did just change OMG to OMM, i think my version is better (and awesome)  and that's how it tasted ommmm, it was just like a terry's chocolate orange!

hope you had a good Monday 

- Jess 

It's Christmas shopping time!

It’s November, we can talk about Christmas now right?!

I can’t believe its November, this year has gone sooo fast!

Its been a while since I did a post and I apologize, a lot has been happening in my life and it has taken up a lot of my time. But a few days ago I got an email about winter savings from UNIDAYS ( free online student discount system) and it has gotten me super excited!

So I thought I would do a post on gifts for Christmas. I wont be able to share my top ideas as I know my family read this and I don’t want them to find out what I am getting them :)

Ok so lets start

1. The Tech Geek and the Phone Addicts: I have been seeing these everywhere lately and i think they are an awesome idea. its a emergency mobile charger. There are loads of different kinds but for me two stand out. One is a phone case that doubles as a charger, called the Juice Jacket (for iphones), it is said to double your charge. It is a sleek and flexible case offering edge to edge protection while offering full access to all buttons and ports. It is currently £34.95 at PC world.

The other is called a Juice Cube, this compact cube is designed to slip into your bag and provide power for your Apple device or smartphone if you run out of battery life and can’t get to a power point. You charge it through a USB cable (provided) and then attach it to your device with one of the 8 universal connectors when you’re in need of a charge. And it comes in several colours ;) It is currently £24.95 at John Lewis. 

2. The Make-up Geek: Benefit do some incredible beauty products, they also do some incredible gift sets, part of their website is called sweet shoppe which has a load of gift sets for every girl. One is fun size flirts ( they all have awesome names!) which is a limited edition set of beauty best sellers for £29.50. ALSO this is on feel unique and atm they are offering a free benefit product with this item!

 Another is sweet tintations which is their best tint products from £19.50. But hurry as i don't know how long these products will last!! 

Feel unique also do great gift sets for men and women, to name a few; Bare minerals get started kit, Yves Saint Laurent Touche Éclat Gift Set, Elemis men grooming solutions kit and a Jean Paul Gaultier "Le Male" Eau de Toilette 75ml Gift Set.

3. The Fuss Pot: Two words, GIFT CARD. For the music fanatic, Itunes, the fashion guru, their favorite store, if they don't have one (or you don't know it) I would suggest House Of Fraser as they have so many brands. And for the extreme fuss pot? as i live in Bristol my suggestion would be a Cabot Circus gift card, this can be used in any of the stores in Cabot Circus (shopping center in Bristol city centre). I'm sure that shopping centres all over the country offer this so don think that its limited to Bristol. 

OK. I am not sure what websites that I have mentioned have student discount but if you go on to the UNIDAYS website they have a list of all the places that offer it online and in store. 

I hope this has been helpful and given you some good ideas.

Stay awesome.

- Jess 

So... Whats next?

This week, people start going back to school. From next week they start going to/back to university.

So...what's next for me?

Well, this past summer I was ment to take my year 13 exams and then next week I would have been off to university. 

That didn't happen. I was extremely ill for the month leading up to and during the exam period, so I was unable to take them :(

So as of this week I will be starting year 13 again. At home. I spent last year learning the material needed to pass my exams, but just because I understood it, didn't mean I could remember it! (Bad short term memory, curtesy of ME). So this year will consist of me doing everything I can to get all of that important info needed to stay in my brain. I am doing two A-levels, Biology and psychology. I will have to write an essay at the end of one biology exam and at least one in each psychology exam! Why did English have to be my worst subject! 

Anyway, that's what Is about to happen to me, what's about to happen to you? 

- Jess

My Week In Pictures #1

Had a great week this week. Went down to my Nan and Grandad's again from Sunday to Thursday and had a lush time. 

 Trying out Special K Cranberry and Almond Granola. Had it with fat free yogurt and strawberries.

Yummy.

 OMG. Hot Chocolate!!!

Beach time Baby. 

This is my feet ;)

Did too much. Didn't get out of bed until 1pm.

Three hour car journey back home. 

Doctor Who!

- Jess

School stress #1

The stress that schools put on their students is enough to make anyone break into a million pieces. Add to that a chronic illness and all hell will break loose.

I understand that schools/sixth forms/colleges are under a lot of pressure; they need their students to do well in exams as their funding kinda depends on it.

But that doesn't mean that they should put all of that pressure onto their students!

We are already under so much pressure, whether that’s from your family (them pushing you to do your best, but pushing you that little bit too much), or yourself (you want to do the best you can possibly do).

You don’t need you teachers making you do tests every week and them threatening to kick you out of school if you fail!

I was diagnosed with ME/CFS in year 8 (I was 12). During my secondary school years there were various problems with the school, mainly regarding my attendance.

Honestly, I don't think they ever really grasped the fact that I was really ill!

Most of the people my parents had to deal had never even met me to see the bags under my eyes, to see how pale I was, to even ask how I was feeling!

I took 5 GCSE’s, maths, double science, English language and ICT and RS combined to make the fifth.

This was recommended by the ME/CFS clinic, and my attendance at year 11 was around 25%.

I had to teach myself a lot of the information from the textbooks at home as I would be so far behind the other students in my class that i wouldn't be learning the same information as them.

This meant that when I was well enough to actually go into school and attend classes I was forever playing catch-up. I had no idea what was going on in the lesson, had no idea what the teacher was talking about. This made everything very hard.

I am a very positive person, (I think most people with chronic illnesses have to be) and quite easy going and that situation make me stressed!

But....

My grades:

Maths- A

Double science- B

English Language- C

And ICT/RS – D

Extremely pleased with myself!!!

This was a couple of years ago now, but the other stressful school things that have happened after this would have made this a very long post so i will be doing a school stress #2 at some point. 

please comment with your experiences with education, would love to know what other people have or are experiencing

- Jess

The Seaside

There’s something about the seaside that makes me feel better.

 

I don’t know if it’s the food, the smell of salt in the air, the hypnotic repetition of the waves crashing against the rocks or being able to burying your feet in the sand.

My grandparents live in Cornwall and whenever we visit we spend almost the entire time by the sea.

We go to lands end and do one of the coastal walks along the cliffs so that we can look over the edge and see nothing but the ocean.  We eat pasties and freshly made donuts. Yum.

And I have to say, walking as exercise is one of the easiest to do, you can walk anywhere and everywhere. No equipment is needed. You don’t have to spend hours in a gym trying to get just one step closer to looking as fit as the people you are surrounded by.

But walking with views like this!

It is just incredible. It makes you smile and all of your worries just fall away.

I would recommend going to the seaside. Even if it is cold and windy. curl up in a blanket with a flask of tea and just watch the tide go in and out.

- Jess

P.s. i leave you with another poem (well part of a poem)

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide, welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

- Still I rise | Maya Angelou