no car, no money, no lessons.

life teaches you things the hard way. we had been intent on getting me to drive asap on returning from our holiday....but, having spent a week mulling over hundreds and thousands of car ads (autotrader and pistonheads were certainly the most looked at), we looked at insurance. and we died. quite literally. how on earth can one afford to be insured. it's absurd, nearly £1,500 for a learner driver. my heart skipped a few beats when i saw the rates. on top of that: tax and the car itself! HOLY MACAROLI i thought to myself. so we've had to put off my lessons till next week. fingers crossed we can get a decent car next weekend. MrL is away again till thursday and then again the whole of the following week. i guess this is how life will look like from now on for the next 8 months.

tomorrow i'm out in town to look for a job. i'm fed up of not having any money, not being able to get things i like..we've totally cut down on all our spending. this week i shall be living off tesco value food. yay. there's always time for a first in life...and this is it.

i really don't care what job i get as long as it pays me each week i'm onto it.

xoxo

engrossed in studying the highway code

yes, you read correctly, i've been soaking up all the info i need to know before i set off to the streets on north england in a car. i haven't yet started driving and in a way i'm kind of glad.. i would love to have some pre-lessons from MrL but my driving instructor has forbidden it! she says i'll just pick up bad habits and she'd love me to not know anything as i'll learn everything the 'proper way' from day one. however, i'm not so sure that's a great idea. i would like to have the basics under control so i don't get stressed out on how to start and stop. what do you think?

for the first time EVER i have painted my nails red. i used rimmel's rapid ruby and although the brush is incredibly huge, the tapered brush made it easier to keep the rounded shape avoiding square ragged cuticle area.

so, as i stress about my driving lessons, i hope you're all doing well and enjoying the end of the summer!

xoxo

home at last

after what seems a lifetime, we're back home. we had a fantastic week in poland (wed - wed) the weather was fab and i totally chilled out with the Mr, my parents and sister. we had a HUGE dinner for my gran's 90th that lasted...wait for it.... 7 hours!! what a day. food food food. i look like a barrel now. thank you very much polish food. may the diet begin!

straight after we got back from poland at midnight, we had to set off to portsmouth in the morning for a cousin's wedding. it was beautiful. words cannot explain how gorgeous the bride looked and how amazing the reception was too. i had such a wonderful time. and we stayed at the hotel which was mindblowingly stunning. we set off on saturday and stopped over at L's mum's for a quick catch up followed by staying over at his sister's place. we looked after her cat who is crazy! but it made us want a cat for ourselves so much..we've started looking at rspca and cat protection places round here in the north. i can't wait to have a furball of my own! we returned home last night after stopping over at L's dad's to see his sister who has come back to the uk for good from dubai.

we had a brilliant time, the hard bit now though is to return back to reality and normal every day life. plus, we have to come to terms with the fact that we will not be going away for a holiday this year again. and the fact that L will now be busy from sept till april and then i won't see him till october. it still doesn't seem real. i need to get my driving lessons going but i need to pass my maths qts first! fingers crossed for tomorrow guys! i need it.. ugh.

how have you spent your summers? hope everyone is well

xoxo

finally...home bound next week

so we've finally found out that MrL's holiday has been approved so we shall be going to the ball! (well, my gran's 90-th, in Poland!)

just booked the tickets and i'm super excited

yes, buying them such last minute has cost me an arm and a leg but i really want to go somewhere this year and home it will be. that's the only holiday i'll be having. meh.

and i finally gave back my chelsea shoes from topshop...and got my photo done for my provisional licence, so the ball is finally rolling. and how horrid do i look in my pic? ew. the 'no-smile' rule is ridonculous. i look like a murderer and i'm wanted. tragedy. won't be flaunting my licence to anyone. no way!

how are your passport/licence pics? as bad as mine? i doubt!

what a weekend

MrL returned from his charity walk and it all kind of started from there.. he sat himself (or rather lay himself) down on the sofa and took off his socks. and it was clear to me that we'd be making a trip to the A&E. after trying to clean up the mess i told him it doesn't look 'great' and that maybe we should go to the hospital. he agreed. no argument, no nothing, we just went which goes to show in how much pain he must've been in. as you all probably know, men NEVER go to the doctors so going to A&E without a fuss was somewhat a miracle. we left at about 1:30am (he got back at midnight saturday). it was a nightmare. full of drunkards, smashed noses, 'broken' legs, wrists and cheekbones. old lady in agony and us. doctors were called to a resuscitation somewhere in the hospital, so A&E was literally dead for an good hour or more. we finally got to see the doctor who gave MrL antibiotics and suspected stress fracture (even though it didn't show up on the x-ray). as we headed out to leave, the sun was out, birds were chirping and it was bitterly cold. 5am. i am utterly disgusted by the amount of time we had to wait at A&E and at the complete ignorance of staff members towards the old lady in agony who was sat behind us, crying her eyes out, moaning in pain and most obviously suffering on the eyes of everyone, yet nobody bothered to do anything. i am appalled. yes, it was saturday night and maybe i should have expected that, but i seriously hope they have something like 'secret patient' at A&E so they really know what service (or lack of) is available at some places.

sunday we spent catching up on things, watching top gear, f1 and the apprentice 'final' (it was incredibly hard not spilling the beans and keeping a straight face when he kept coming up with who will win!). we dog/house-sat and had a lovely sunday dinner at the local pub (didn't take any photos but such a beautiful place). we relaxed with a foot spa and medical aids from NHS (thanks to L's step-mum) which hopefully will relieve L's feet aches and pains.

today, i'm sat at home, bored, again. L's at work (!!) and i'm trying to clean the house. obviously failing miserably as i'm sat here blogging instead.

hope everyone's had a good weekend. any stories from A&E?

proud

MrL has completed his charity walk in holland and i am SUPER proud of him. he called me every day and with each day, i could hear in his voice less and less enthusiasm and eagerness. i tried to do my best in cheering him on over the phone, but he's finally done it. and on a plus note he'll be home tomorrow night! apparently his feet are swollen, he can't walk on his left foot and it's all 'blisters galore'.

i have an abundance of apples and bananas in my kitchen which is just screaming out to me to make some sort of crumble or cupcakes.

i do however need to go and give back those topshop chelsea boots..i've decided they need to go. i think i might spend the refund on all those h&m jumpers ;) and while i'll be 'in town' i'll pop into superdrug and boots. i can also hear estee lauder calling my name..... oops!

still haven't bought my tickets to poland. my only holiday this summer. like last year. when will i finally go away to greece for my summer hols? or spain? italy? france? australia...? dream on. since MrL is going on tour in april, i'll be alone till october, so no summer holiday next year either. guess i'll have to wait till 2013.

what are you fav/dream summer holidays?

xoxo

away from home

currently child/house/dog sitting. don't know how i got myself into this mess..desperately trying to think of things i can do with a 12 year old girl for the next two days. hm. it's raining out. the fridge is full - this might call for a kitchen cook up!

other than that, MrL is trudging on with his charity walk in holland. his feet are falling apart - let's face it, 50km every day for four days..that's a LOT of walking to do. still, he has to last till friday and then he's coming home. i have a feeling he will be pretty hurting and he'll be pretty grumpy (ie i think i'll try not to get in his way and try not to 'mummy' him too much!)

hope everyone's well. any accomplishments you'd like to share with the world?

internet shopping

it has been a thrilling day for me as i had two packages (in fact three - unexpectedly!) coming to my abode today.

the first was from tesco. i did my shopping online. because i don't have a car and it was pouring down sunday/monday, my fridge was looking dreadfully empty i needed food. so i got it this morning. all in the time slot so no complaints there. they changed two things for what they had available which was fine by me. however..the bread they gave me goes off tomorrow, so do all the other bakery things that i got. i'd made the mistake of ordering a 6 pint (!!!) bottle of milk which goes off on friday - wtf? how on earth? so silly. will have to make something that uses a LOT of milk. pancakes? cakes? muffins?? apart from those few bits, the whole things was great! delivered straight to my doorstep (the gent was kind enough to bring the crates into my kitchen) oh - it was meant to be all packed in bags (which it wasn't) but i guess that's ok, however i do think i paid extra for that...? hm.

on to my second shop - topshop.
i went to the 'local' topshop here and the shoe selection they had was pretty shocking. maybe 5 pairs? tragedy. so i went online and found two chelsea boots that i fell in love with!! so i whipped them up into my shopping basket and ordered them for today. and i got them - i ripped the packaging open and they still looked great! i put them on and my face dropped. they just looked horrid.. now i don't know whether it was my jeans, leggings, pale legs, shorts, but they just did not suit me, AT ALL. i chucked them aside and sneered at them and wondered "why?" i returned to twitter and got some of the best advice from a lady under the name of @Miss_Merx "give them back. Nothing good ever came of uncertainty. Get your money and get something swoonful for your feet" i agreed - tomorrow they will be gone. back to topshop.
but now...i'm really trying to fall in love with them again. they're still shoved by the corner but their wallowing is calling and i desperately want to find something that will make them look good on me. off i go to get a pair of tights....

how would you style your chelsea boots?

the third package is for MrL i believe it's something from his company

i have also made yet ANOTHER purchase. no thanks to twitter and a particular blogger lollipop26 i've succumbed to buying the black focco bag from this ebay seller. i cannot wait till i get it. but i promise, this is the end of my internet purchases. i need to get my tickets to poland (prices are constantly rising but i still have to wait for MrL's holiday leave letter from work - grr!)

what have you bought online?

p.s. oopsies - i forgot that i have another mini package coming (nyx jumbo pencils bought on a blog sale ;))

p.p.s JUST had a look at the h&m collection and i've built up a nice collection in my basket. but i will not buy. i have no money :( well i do, but i need to stop this online buying spree. but oh my - have you seen it? i want to buy every jumper they have!!! eek!!

cry

i'm stuck at home. bored. jobless. alone. stressed. foodless (just did my shopping online at tesco - that's what you get when you don't have a car and it's raining outside and your fridge is empty). raining, gray, cold. i could go on. but you get the picture - is this summer?

just talked to a friend (a fellow NQT from uni) and she's told me about her class and school where she's starting work in september.
i couldn't hold back and i shed a tear.
i wish i could say that too - MY classroom, MY pupils, MY school.
instead, i'm sat at home calling teacher agencies to get something going for september.

i've realised that i NEED a driving licence. i spent hours (no joke) registering to get a provisional licence on directgov. what a waste of time and a load of bs. but it had to be done. once i'd finally managed to get to the end, they said that they had to send me SOMETHING by post (what it is, i have no idea and i can't find out) and that my application is not yet complete until i send the post thing back. super annoying.

the wii has become a close 'friend' of mine over these past few days..

sad much? yes.

xoxo

bag lady

i've still got a few bags that i need to unpack. only problem is, is that i have nowhere to put the things away, they are typical'on-your-desk/ in-your-office' type of things. i'm lacking both here. no desk, no office. so nowhere to put my things. i've already stashed my paperwork in the single bedroom and it doesn't look great.

no luck on the job front. am i really not good enough for schools up here?

Mr L and i have come to the conclusion that i have to do my driving licence. i will need to borrow a couple of thousand pounds from the bank. i just hate being in debt - already crappy as i had to take a student loan to pay off my uni.

oh, i must tell you - I'M OFFICIALLY A FULLY QUALIFIED TEACHER in the uk!! woop woop!! in fact, Mr L came all the way from harrogate to celebrate with me. he took me out to a restaurant and then we popped over to the cinema to watch a highly romantic film, namely.. transformers! i had such a wonderful evening. it's ever so lovely to spend time alone with L, away from home and going on 'dates'. brings back good memories!

the weather was glorious today! at last. i'm having horrendous problems getting tickets to poland from up here, as my trian/bus tickets do not work with my flight times :/ totally don't know what to do...

i'm dying to get a certain pair of shoes from topshop but i cannot get them due to my being rather skint and jobless. might get L to take me to the centre tomorrow. might take a trip to topshop just to check them out in real life.

L is so busy, he wasn't supposed to be around at all this week but he's been round three times!! he comes back tomorrow and come saturday he leaves to holland for his nijmegan walk. OH. and today, he received an official letter that his squadron is being deployed to afghan in april. no comment. i'm still trying to comprehend and letting it sink in.

xoxo

bricking it

for tomorrow i find out whether or not i passed my essays :/ which results in my passing the course (or not). oh gosh. let it all be over now!

xoxo

and so i have moved

and hell am i glad to be out of that house in london.
after a hellish few months, i've finally made it up north.
life here will be so dramatically different. work will be hard to find, new friends to be made, NQT year to be commenced and day-to-day putting up with MrL! what a crazy life i have.
i'm utterly ecstatic, enthusiastic and enthralled about this new life of mine. i was going to write 'wish me luck' however, i don't need any. i already feel lucky (how sad i hear you say? hah!)

as i have now all the time in the world, i have decided to start up my 'Today I Saw' blog. Go and have a look... Link!

xoxo

Am i, am i, MIA?

a bit, yes, in fact very much so!
school, planning, resubmitting essays and lack of sleep is what my life has been consisting of since half term.
there really is nothing to tell. only that i have just two more weeks of school left! i cannot wait till it's all over.

that's it guys. my life is pretty boring at the moment.

i want my life back.

please?

xoxo

a day filled with tears

just getting some really rubbish news back from a school i was putting all my hopes in. not teh best news, one might even say it was simply 'bad' news. i didn't even get shortlisted for the interview on thursday. their complaint? i hadn't specified enough info about my catholic ethos. gobsmacked. totally and utterly incomprehensible to me as i had stuffed my application with catholic schools i'd been to and volunteer work in such school and how i would like to bring that ethos into my own classroom, the values that i cherish and live by. i really felt like asking 'what should i have written' but i knew it wasn't the time or place to do so. so i put the phone down with tears running down my face. i just felt lied to. i didn't want to believe it. i now am starting to feel overly stressed about actually finding a job up north. i'm starting to wonder whether i will find a job. and so the tears flowed more so. just the though that i'm not having much luck and that i could be jobless after putting everything into this course..makes me feel like a failure. i might have to think about alternative ways of earning some money..maybe private tuition? god knows i'd rather be in a school but maybe i might have to look at all my options.

right now, i have to do my weekly planning (x3: literacy, numeracy and thematic) plus 15 session plans. on top of that i need to rewrite 3 essays for uni (2x maths and 1 literacy). off i go. goodbye xoxo

glee addict...

i absolutely loved this weeks glee...the songs were so damn good!! absolutely stunning renditions of some true classics, and the whole theme of 'prom' me like-y :) go watch if you haven't yet!

ok guys, i'm on twitter and have been for a ridiculous amount of time so get your butt on the move and get yourself over there (@omasia) start tweeting twitteristas!

also, tomorrow (or rather today) i'm going on a trip with my class and i have the nicest group to work with - so happy :) i really love the kids i'm working with - such a joy! i think i love this whole teaching job ;)

i can't sleep.
i slept too much in the afternoon.
ah well...

i love Lewis. just thought i'd say that out loud. ha. i wonder if he'll ever read this (even if it is in 10 years time...)

xoxo

saturday musings

i woke up and saw what a beautiful day it was, so i decided there was no way i was going to stay at home all day. i went out. to oxford street.

~ clinique superfine eyebrow pencil - check
~ h&m shoes and handbag - check
~ zara red shopper handbag - check
~ starbucks mocha frappucino - check!

what a day :)

xoxo

drunkenness on a friday night

never thought i'd get so drunk after school on 3 cocktails. jeez. horrible horrible stuff!! i had to go to bed when i got home to sober up! tragic.

did my planning today with my teacher breathing down my neck - so so stressful :/ but it's done. i have so much to do for next week! better start planning my sessions tomorrow!

boring-weekend-ahead alert.

xoxo

tired.

school is really tiring me out. i even napped today, straight after school from about 7-11. how awesome is that. now i'm awake and i can finish off my planning for tomorrow. worse thing is, i have to spend tomorrow morning planning the whole of next week which i've never done before and i will have my teacher breathing down my neck overlooking my planning skills. how stressful. not looking forward to it at all.

i will really try and get my session planning done this weekend so i can chill out a bit more during the week. i know it's such a crap way of spending my weekend, but i'd rather that than have to do all of it all week.

i can't wait to go up north for half-term.

letting off some bloody steam...

i guess being annoyed is what you get when you live in shared accommodation. i know i'd be a complete dunce if i started taking my bread and jam into my room. but leaving it out in the kitchen, on my shelf, obviously does not keep away other people's hands. to the point - i have no bread for tomorrow's lunch. someone has been helping themselves to my bread. i'm peed off. it's annoying that i now have to buy lunch tomorrow in a silly corner shop (which tastes naff) but what can you do apart from slamming the fridge door and whacking plates about and cursing under my nose. that's me - just not bloody bold enough to tell someone that i'm pissed off because they've taken my food. is it just me, or is it really normal for people who have known each other for a few months to just 'help themselves' to anything in the kitchen, even when they know i am a bit anal about my things. i don't like people thinking 'what's mine is yours'.

i guess i'll get over it by tomorrow evening.

i guess i'll just put up with it, seeing that i won't be here and won't have to deal with these things after mid-july.

it's just that i'm working so frigging hard, i have hardly any time to do much and i just like things to GO MY WAY.


am i overreacting? dramatizing the whole situation? i'm not sure anymore.



on a brighter note: i had a WONDERFUL day today! brilliant lessons (maths and science) got my marking done and planning all up to date (still!) i'm so impressed with myself - i'm doing ok with all this work. yes, it's time-consuming and i get tired, but i'm giving it my all. and it seems to be paying off!

tomorrow, however, i KNOW i will have a crappy PE session and prob an even worse literacy lesson (poetry.....with year 1. imagine that :/...)

fingers crossed i get through tomorrow.

and that i get over my food snatchers.

xoxo

sunday shopper

after working hard all day on saturday making resources for my maths sessions this week, i decided to treat myself today. what better way than with a bit of retail therapy!

i was intending on leaving at 11 to be at the shops for 12..well, knowing me, i made it for a disappointing 2pm.. and i headed to the MAC store on church street and i bought my first ever product - the studio finish concealer! yay! i haven't used it yet, however i did test it out in the store and it cover my blemish on my hand so i think i'll be pretty satisfied with this product, definitely happy that i got this. i then strolled over to h&m and exchanged a pair of shorts that i had bought a few weeks ago..i had to get a size 14 ;) now now, i haven't gotten 'bigger' i just prefer my shorts to be a bit looser on me. i also grabbed a lovely little beach dress (very see-through) which will come in handy when i go on my holiday to greece (a girl can dream, right?). lastly, i snatched up a cute little skirt that tpuches my knees (very important when working as a teacher) it's striped with yellow, red and blue horizontal stripes. so pretty!

i went to boots and nearly got Cliniques' All About Eyes cream. however, i changed my mind just in time! £21 seemed a little overpriced. instead i headed towards the skincare section and picked up the garnier tinted roll-on for under the eyes and a day eye cream (2 for £12 - bargain!) and no, i didn't get origins vitazing either.. i still have 3/4 left of my Clinique moisturiser, so i'm totally ok with that!

i have so much work for this week!!! never thought teaching was so stressful and time consuming :( but it's all worth it in the end. two more weeks till half-term, two more weeks till half-term....

xoxo