I've mentioned before that I have a real weakness for mini eggs (although I'm not fussy; that weakness goes for almost any form of Easter-related chocolate come to think of it). I had a few spare mini eggs lying around the kitchen so decided to bake a few little mini eggs nests for my family. I'm not the biggest cake fan around but I love eating the cake mix (no regrets here) and if I am going to eat cake, it's going to be a cupcake and more often than not, one that I enjoyed baking. The cakes are super easy to bake and the butter cream nests were purely butter and icing sugar, mixed together with a splash of trial and error and a lot of taste testing along the way.

So as I greedily inhale about four of these little cupcake nests, I can safely say I'll be baking these again. A lot. In the lead up to Easter. And probably beyond. 

Jade x

Despite having lived in the UK my entire life (minus a tiny stint as a toddler where I lived in Amsterdam), I still get ever so excited to spend a bit of time in London. Coming from a dead-end town, London just feels so current and alive so I relish any chance to visit the country's capital. The place in question this past weekend turned out to be Covent Garden, where a few friends and I spent almost all of Saturday afternoon. After a little walk around the market we headed for food, feeling more than a little famished (London'll do that to you). As is often the case, we were on the lookout for anywhere that we, as a mixture of graduates and students, considered to be reasonable (aka a little restaurant where a meal was under £10!)

 

It was almost accidental that we stumbled across All Bar One, a little bar and restaurant tucked away a few hundred metres from the market. We were initially making a beeline for TGI Fridays - a place I still have yet to try out! - but the pull of food with the bonus of some celebratory cocktails won us over. Now I'm not the biggest foodie ever but determined to continue broadening my palette, after a quick perusal of the menu I opted for a delicious chicken and basil wrap (with added fries, because every indulgent weekend needs a few fries on the side, right?) The whole meal was exactly what the doctor ordered after a busy morning of trains, tubes and tons and tons of talking.

 

 

After stuffing our little stomachs, we swiftly moved onto the drinks menu where you're almost spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing a cocktail. A stickler for summery fruits, I opted for a raspberry daiquiri which was lovely, if a tad too strong for lunch time consumption! All Bar One also offer the chance to have a cocktail in a teapot for two or more people to share; very Mad Hatter-esque!

We only had to wait ten or so minutes to be seated and the staff were superbly attentive. We lucked in by arriving at the time we did; by the time we were half way through eating, it was getting busier and busier by the minute! It's definitely somewhere I'd go and eat at again, if I can remember how we found it that is. Geographical genius, I am not.

 

Last week I was lucky enough to travel to Amsterdam for the first time since I was a baby. I lived out there for a couple of months when I was little but sadly (and unsurprisingly) cannot remember a thing about it! I am so glad I got to visit the city again though, it is one of the prettiest cities I think I've ever visited! Despite only being there for approximately 48 hours, we managed to cram so much in! We took bikes around the centre of Amsterdam; took obligatory photos on the 'Iamsterdam' sign; visited Anne Frank's house; went to a club; saw the Red Light District; visited the Red Lights Secrets museum and finished the trip with a pretty intense bar crawl! I also finally bought a beautiful little crystal pendant necklace after blogging here about how much I wanted one! I also bought a souvenir from Anne Frank's house, which was an experience I am so glad I got to do. We realised as we walked through that we were visiting on the exact day of one of Anne Frank's diary entries, the 11th April, making it 70 years to the day.

The only downside? The coach journey was a bit tedious at times - sleeping sitting upright will never be easy! - but all in all, a great few days! Another country I can tick off my travel list, and one I would definitely go back and visit again. Now for the rest of Europe!

Jade x

As seems to have been the trend this year, we effectively had two Christmas days this year. Due to family commitments and weather problems and a whole host of other reasons, our usual family arrangements for Christmas couldn't go ahead so we rallied and had a celebratory get together on the 23rd as well as the 25th.

 

Both days were full of fun times spent with family but as always went far too fast. It was nice to know for me personally that this will be the last Christmas that I'll spend as a student! I know gift giving isn't the foundation of Christmas but I like treating those I love and it's hard knowing you can't afford to match what you have received. So although the thought that in just one years time I will have graduated and will (hopefully!) have been working for a couple of months is very, very scary, it's also going to be a pretty welcome change. Bring it on!

 

I could not have been happier with the gifts I did receive - a lot of which were to do with keeping me warm in my house at uni! Perfectly practical! I also received a few DVDs I've been waiting to buy for ages, some new little earrings as I keep losing mine and some little stationery bits (ever the writer!)

 

Here a few Christmassy snaps, including obligatory yet very appreciative present pictures:

 

 

I wish everyone a very happy festive period and a fantastic new year too! I have already decided on my new year's resolution - it'll be making its way into a blog post soon! Let me know any of yours

 

Jade :)

It's been a busy few weeks but I've finally finished my exams meaning second year is over! In true celebratory style, I headed off to Paris for a long weekend which was absolutely fantastic. I've been a little bit obsessed with Paris for years and the city didn't disappoint - I could have done with triple the amount of time though, as there was so much I wanted to see. We did see most of the main tourist attractions though..

 

Check out my Instagram (Jadey_face) for a few more Parisian pictures. Aside from visiting Paris, the last 12 months have been pretty eventful. I made this post on a vision board just over a year ago and I actually achieved a lot of what I set out to do!

 

 

I didn't quite get a summer body (attempt number two starts today!) but I did take up YouTube yoga and managed to keep it up for these last 12 months. I also went to Paris (finally!), I got back into creative writing and choreographed my own ballet solo. So all in all I think the vision board was pretty successful, which is why I'm spending the rest of the day making myself a new one.

 

Also, I noticed I reached a massive 70 followers on GFC! I never thought anyone would want to read anything I wrote so an enormous thank you to anyone who has ever taken the time to do so :) I know I'm usually a bit of a sarcastic self-deprecator but I really do appreciate people reading and repsonding to what I do. Really, really.

 

Happy summer everyone,

 

Jade :)

 

 

I'm at that stage in life where I'm just feeling terribly lost. I have one year left of my degree and no idea what I want to do after it. In fact, I often feel like I don't want to do anything after it. I'm a creature of habit (and probably a tiny bit OCD) but I like doing things that I've already done. When I go to my lectures I always leave at the same time and aim to sit in the same seat. I like having a routine - I always start with my left arm when I'm in the shower and I always eat my roast dinners one food at a time, in the same order (sadly these examples are just the tip of the iceberg.)

 

In short, welcome to the odd but mostly monotonous and prosaic insight into my life.

 

What the above might have subtly suggested is that I don't really like putting myself out there. Doing that requires making changes and my body no longer copes well with trying something new or different. To be fair, I don't think it ever did but as children we are, on the whole, far more adaptable. It's like I've hit the ongoing dilemma - the desire to move on to new aspects of life and make the most of all the great opportunities we're lucky enough to be offered, coupled with the overwhelming nausea inspired by the fear of rejection. The not-knowing how something is going to pan out.

 

I've had a lot of knock backs this year, as I'm sure everyone has. I'm not entirely sure how it's even possible to have done so, but my confidence seems to have dropped even lower than usual. Which is making it even harder to accept that in just over a year, I'm going to be graduating. The thought of having a job itself isn't too worrying - I've had a one before and I know that although I get horrendously nervous, I can cope. (Eventually.)

 

I think I'm more concerned about being the new girl, about not being up to scratch (and that's if I can even get a job once I graduate.) Basically I think I have a bit of an inferiority complex and yeah, it does stop me doing things because I'm scared I won't be good enough. It's like The Smiths say in their beautifully woeful song 'Ask':

 

"Shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life you'd like to"

 

 

But sometimes I am brave. Sometimes I push (well, force) myself to do things I wouldn't usually do. And sometimes it's great and I feel so much better for it. But just as often (if not more often) it's horrendous, I get knocked back and I can feel myself bitterly reminding myself why I don't do this. Why I don't put myself out there.

 

Take internships and summer jobs. I've applied for a few over the last few months and like a lot of people I've been constantly rejected. And every time I think to myself that supposedly comforting saying of get knocked down 7 times, get back up 8. But I have to say that the older I get, the harder it is to get back up.

 

But then I think to myself about the many, many people who have it worse than I do, which usually results in some guilt-induced eating, but then I pick myself up, dust myself off and dive back into my routine. It's a bit of a vicious circle really; anytime I break out of my norm, the moment it all goes wrong I become even more fastidiously repetitive than before. I guess I'm just scared that it's getting harder to shake off these confidence knocks, but in reality as soon as I leave university they're probably going to become even more commonplace.

 

So what's the answer?

 

I think I'm still trying to figure that out. I'm just not one of those incredibly effervescent people who gets over things terribly quickly (I have a lot of flaws - just saying.)  I will say it helps to have a really good set of friends. They have a habit of finding incredibly amusing YouTube videos that definitely help to take your mind off things. I tried only pushing myself for things I really wanted, to lesson the frequency of rejections but as it turned out, this only serves to make rejection less familiar and all the more painful. So at the end of this very wordy post (sorry) it seems I can offer very few tips (sorry again!) But I guess because I'm still on this learning curve myself, I'll let you know when I know.

 

Deal?  Deal.

 

(And just in case, like me, you're stressed out by exams, feeling low about life or just in general need of a pick-me-up,  my brother showed me this video and it tickles me ever such a lot. I'm not even a massive fan of the movies!)

 

 

 

Enjoy,

 

Jade :)

 

 

 

 

It's like a miracle (and not only because a line from one of my favourite films can finally be applied to my life!) Yesterday I very spontaneously booked tickets for a long weekend in Paris! My best friend is currently living out there for her placement and I've been meaning to go for ages, but with uni during the week and having dance on the weekends it's been hard to find any free time. I handed in my last essay yesterday and in true celebratory style, bought a £50 return bus ticket to Paris!

 

I still have one exam to get through but knowing I've got something to look forward to a mere 3 days after my exam will hopefully be enough to get me revising hard. I've never been to Paris but I am in love with everything French so I'm so, so excited to be going (even with the 12hr coach journey each way!)

 

Has anyone ever been? I'm only out for the weekend but I want to do as much as I can! Any recommendations?

 

Jade :)

Last Thursday was my university's annual dance ball and in typical dance girl behaviour, everyone got fully dressed up. With one exception (no guesses who!)

 

That's kind of half a lie. I did get dressed up, I just didn't wear a dress. Pretty good compromise I thought. I wore my faithful golden sequin shorts, my favourite long-sleeved blouse and a blazer (which, three hours later, I would sweatily regret.)

 

 

 

 

I love, love, love my blazer. It has 3/4 sleeves which is perfect for me as I always roll long sleeves up and the colour is, whilst a bit more girly than I usually dress, brilliant for summer. Having said all this, it is NOT good for getting a little bit tipsy and dancing like Beyonce. And to make matters even worse, Binky from Made In Chelsea came to the club we were all at and I had a photo with her looking horrendously sweaty!

 

 

Nevertheless the night was probably one of my favourite nights out this year at uni - everyone was on top form and to put the cherry on top, I was lucky enough to win three awards during the presentation at the ball! I've been feeling a bit disillusioned with my degree and with life in general recently so winning those really did cheer me up - I feel like a very lucky girl!

 

 

 

So even though I did feel a bit out of place being the only one not wearing a dress, the dance ball was - as it always is - a top night and I am so glad dance is such a big part of my university life. Especially since I'm currently in midst of a ton of coursework deadlines and exam prep - right now anything is a welcome distraction and dance is definitely top of that list!

 

Good luck to anyone else with deadlines and exams coming up - not long till summer now!

 

Jade :)

Despite the fact that we moved house just before Christmas because of uni I haven't actually spent that much time in the new house. As a result, I have yet to really make my room mine. So given that the weather hasn't been particularly (read: at ALL) spring like, I've been mostly indoors the last couple of days. Which has been a bit boring but seeing as my motivation for uni work has been very absent (I'd nearly go as far as to say worryingly so!) I took this prime opportunity to shift my room around a little and I think I love it.

I haven't changed the colour scheme since moving in to my new room but the cream/beige combo actually kind of suits me. I might decorate it in the future but for now, I'm more than happy with it as it is. My fairy lights are all cream and white anyway so in the evenings my room looks ever so cosy. I'd almost go as far as to say it's looks cute.

But by all means, see for yourself..





It's not particularly big or bright or impressive but now it feels more like it's mine. I love my big old bookcase: it has all the ornaments I collected as a child, all my dance trophies I'm incredibly proud of and all the books and DVDs I pore over on Easter holidays like this when the weather decides to punish us all.

I was bought the 'bonjour' mat as a birthday present from my two best friends from home and it really is me all over (especially now it's had me stand all over it. Poor joke. I'm sorry). I'm kind of obsessed with the idea of Paris - it seems so beautiful and I think part of the reason I like France is because ballet originated from there and that's probably been my favourite dance discipline in recent years. I also have a poster of France in my room; it's in the same place as in the picture below, the only difference is my bed is now directly underneath it. I liked the idea of having the fairy lights near my head - I'm a really, really bad sleeper. I'm talking the type who still uses a nightlight (embarrassing, or what?)


As a room it's quite understated but I think that's a large part of why I love it (along with my dog, who seems to be spending an increasing amount of time in it this Easter.) Now I've got it feeling more like my room, I'm a little less inclined to do back to university - I'm a returner in halls this year so it really doesn't feel homely at all. But it's only a few more months until I'll be back home (bringing with me a ton of uni stuff that I'm certain is going to ruin my room here!) Plus, I'm moving into a house for my final year at uni and I am so, so excited! Who knew interior design could get a girl so happy?


 

The whole of February seems to have literally flown right by me and the month isn't even over yet. It's an odd sensation because so very much has happened but at the same time, I feel like I almost haven't been present for most of it.

 

 

 

In short, February has been a blast.

 

February was always going to be fast and furious this year as three opposing events were all scheduled to occur. To be fair, I could happily of evaded two of them but alas, such is life.

 

So what happened in February? Firstly, I very reluctantly turned 21. I AM OFFICIALLY OLD and anyone who says otherwise is either not yet 21 or in some sort of denial. Aside from an intense hatred for celebrating my birthday, the day itself was borderline bearable this year. I had extra dance rehearsals on the actual day (BONUS) and my mum came up to spend the day with me which I have to admit was lovely. We went for dinner and I naturally ate far too much and had to run (on an incredibly full stomach) all the way across campus to make it (not quite) on time for even more dance. I don't think I've ever felt so full or so sick.

 

I was incredibly lucky though and got a few lovely little gifts from friends and family that I absolutely adore. Happy Jadey.

 

 

The start of semester two however made for a not-so-happy Jade. And not for want of trying. As much as I get bored terribly easy of doing absolutely nothing, starting new modules and learning new things just hasn't held as much appeal this time around. Still, we can't have it all and since the third event is probably going to be on the highlights of the entire year for me, I'll take a bit of degree-related despondency 

 

Unsurprisingly, February's final event is dance-related (what isn't?). As part of the university dance club, we hold an annual dance show for three consecutive nights in February and this year absolutely topped every other for me. If I'm totally honest, I pretty much threw myself into the deep end of dance because at times, it felt like the only really positive thing happening. It's certainly where I attain the most enjoyment and couple that with becoming disillusioned with my degree and despairing over turning 21, I decided to fill every spare hour doing something to do with dance.

 

The pros to this are that I am, without a doubt, the closest I've EVER been to having abs. Not most people's greatest life aspirations but I'm still excited. And I'm aware that this is rapidly becoming the most vomit-worthy 'I love dance' blog post ever but this year has been such a confidence boost that I find it hard not become some sort of soppy simpleton.

 

Because I - the shy, sarcastic, socially awkward soul - got on stage, in front on actual, real people and danced a solo I'd choreographed. It's not a big accomplishment in the grand scheme of the Earth's history but coming from the girl who, for most of her childhood, simply refused to even speak to people, it kind of feels like a big deal.

 

It proved to me a number of key things that I hope I don't ever forget. The most important one is that the stage is definitely my home away from home. I'm not some am-dram, super talented performer. I'm not the best ballerina or the most talented tapper and I doubt very much I'll make a career out of dance. But there's something so fantastically freeing about dancing on a stage, in having the knowledge that people are watching you - whether it's as a soloist, as a duet or group piece or part of a larger ensemble. And it's weird, because I am naturally such an anxious person but somehow all the hours of rehearsals and practice suddenly come together and the fear of disappointing people (dance teachers, the rest of the team, the audience or in other words everyone else alive) dissipates and all you're left with is energy and enjoyment and exhilaration.

 

So I'm exaggerating a little (guilty little English student). To sum it up succinctly, February's been fun because I've spent it doing something I genuinely love. I love the friends I've made, I love the things I've learnt to do and I love the costumes and craziness that comes part and parcel with it all. And yes, I'm aware that dance isn't for everyone but if you can find something you enjoy doing half as much as I enjoy dance, then I would consider your life well lived. I don't have many life tips to dish out but that one's golden.

 

I hope all of your Feburary's have been full of fun too :)

 

And all I can with is this: March, it looks like you have a lot to live up to.

So yesterday I went down to the Olympic Park to watch the first morning session for Athletics and it was absolutely amazing. Despite having to get up at 5:30 in the morning, everything about the day was worth it and seeing Jess Ennis compete was so inspiring, as was seeing all of  the athletes, especially the rest of Team GB. I used to do track and field but stopped about 3/4 years ago and now I'm so eager to get back into it when I head back to uni - I even went out running at 7am this morning! (Now just to keep this motivation.. challenge accepted!)

I know now everyone was able to get tickets so I thought I'd share a few pictures from the day and hopefully inspire other people as much as yesterday did for me.

It did rain for about 5-7 minutes half way through the session and my brother joked that at least all the international athletes and spectators would get a full English experience! When it rained they played Rihanna's Umbrella around the stadium - very appropriate! I did take another 80 or so photos (and that's hardly any for me!) but I think those three sum up my day pretty well. Thankfully we had a lot of sun for the rest of the morning after the little rain storm and it was so exciting to be in the audience and just feel the support for all the athletes, British and everyone else.

Full crowd!

Now I'm just going to cross my fingers (and toes and probably arms, legs and eyes) that Jess Ennis gets gold but in my eyes, she's already a winner. And instead of singing God Save Our Queen (I'm not a massive monarchist, no offence Queen Liz) I will definitely be screaming for our team. GO GB!
Anyone else heading to the Olympics? Or already been? If you can get tickets, do it! I'm so glad I've been part of this momentous occasion. And if not, make sure you watch even a bit of the TV coverage, I think it's so inspiring to be healthier and live a better lifestyle :)