2009.

2009 has been a year of two halves. Or indeed two short thirds of university/London, one long third of Summer/holidays. In 2009 I returned to the city, acquired a cineworld card (♥) to fill my days, frolicked in the snow, took part in a creative writing weekend, joined the W.I., made new friends, went to Denmark, rushed to complete my first year portfolio, sat my first year exams, went to Denmark, took part in Race for Life, packed my bags and came home again, went to Turkey, passed my first year exams, spent numerous hours drawing pictures and running around with small playscheme children, spent too much time in car-parks, went to Prague, acquired a house and three amazing housemates, went camping (but sadly no festivals), hit a couple of horrible rough patches, moved back to London, turned twenty and went to Venice. In 2009 there were train journeys and postal stamps, iplayer sessions and lectures, face paints and skype chat, turkish baths and tie-dye, tears and laughter and (recurring theme here?) a lot, a lot of squiggly-wiggly nerves.




And there I thought I'd struggle to find photos I hadn't used already! Now, off to buy some Babycham, pick an outfit for tonight and beat up some Crunchies with a rolling pin. Happy New Year. I hope 2010 is everything you want it to be :)

Chris Kringle.

Merry Christmas, everyone.
In true Jess fashion the Christmas traditions began bright and early on Christmas Eve. I went home, went drinks shopping with my dad and then did my usual last-minute rush around Llandudno, despite my earlier assertions that things had changed. There's something quite exciting about Christmas Eve shopping, anyway. A special kind of festive feeling that only comes with frantic running and grabbing at shelves :) In the evening we drove to Conwy and moseyed over the bridge to sing carols and see Santa Claus. This year Father Christmas sounded a lot like Johnny Vegas, which was something of an improvement if you consider the various drunken St. Nicks of Christmases gone by. We found Charlotte, et al. (Charlotte and I have major finding each other skills. One time we went to Bonfire Night in Eirias Park armed with very large sticks :)) and watched the fireworks, which were fairly impressive. On the way home we drove through Llandudno Junction in search of the house of many Christmas lights, but when we arrived we found it in darkness. Sad, bad, recession times these are. Before bed I got ready for the real Santa's arrival (I ♥ Christmas, do no judge me). I took a small sherry glass out of the cupboard and my mum told me, "I think Santa would like a bigger glass than that." Santa, I told her, will get what he's given.

On Christmas morning I woke at a fairly early hour and we clomped downstairs en famille. We swapped presents and ate breakfast (pan au chocolat and twiglets ♥) and then I dressed in Christmassy garb (a combination of reds and greens and reindeer socks) before lunch. I got so many lovely presents this year, these are some of the favourites I found pictures of on the interweb:

I also got some amazing cookie cutters, a Very Hungry Caterpillar badge set, earmuffs, a DVD or two, cozy slippers from Vicki and a handmade monster from Hannah. For lunch we had chicken and duck (breaking the mold since '08), along with the essentials: pigs in blankets, roast potatoes, etc. In the evening we settled down to some Christmas television with Doctor Who (oh my) and Dad's Army. Then Charlotte and Harry came to visit and we exchanged presents (popcorn maker and Cath Kidston stationery and pretty room decorations) and played an epic game of Trivial Pursuit. The verdict = everyone hates my dad :)

Today I arranged my presents in display formation, watched some more television and had a belated Christmas day treasure hunt. Tomorrow we're off to Durham in the snow and Hamlet is on the download :) I hope you all had a lovely day.

Deery Me.

One busy, dizzy Christmas week. Have some highlights:
Avatar with Harry and Charlotte, amazing film. Christmas Meal = Penrhyn Bay/ "hoi-Sean sauce"/ crackers/ clip-on moustaches/ duck and chips/ Wetherspoons/ £4 coins/ soda water/ drinking songs. Lit meal at Pizza Hut, visiting at Nicola's house. Pantomime = Pepper Pig/ Craig Revel-Horwood/ "Hello, Mr Chunks"/ scary dwarves/ slush puppies/ "one smart fellow, he felt smart"/ Riverdance/ Paris on camera/ tickety-boo fantastic accents/ Mulberry. Secret Santa = gingerbread house/ Aydin's/ £1 reindeers/ felt Murray/ space-hopper/ Merry Madagascar/ Arthur/ vol-au-vents/ sleeping bags and fimo ♥

Listography.

I love listing things, plain and simple and although I've known about listography for quite some time now (buying three books in as few months, for example), it didn't occur to me until today that I should begin my own (click on the pretty pictures to seee). My, there's nothing finer than detailing your day to day with bullet points and a header. Oh and next time, I might actually document something other than 'Things I Want to Buy'.

Nativity!

Reasons to feel Christmassy:

ONE: Christmas night out in Llandudno. Everybody is home again :)
TWO: Waking up to a layer of snow two days in a row.
THREE: Watching Nativity with my parents. It was all very lovable, particularly Martin Freeman in his glasses and his cardigans ♥

Days of Xmas.

unpack
Amazon orders
pub quiz
Chester shopping
Avatar
town
Christmas Market?
Nativity/Christmas Carol
stitch and sew
Chinese meal
Lit meal?
panto
Gran arrives ♥
Hannah's house/Secret Santa
gingerbread houses
Conwy Castle
CHRISTMAS DAY

I like having my Christmas plans in order :) Also, pyjamas + central heating + electric blankets. Did I mention I love my home?

No place like home.

I am so home right now and I am loving it (despite the fact that the snow began to fall the literal second I left London. I hope it doesn't stick, I am jealous like that). While I wait for the brand new Family Guy cum Star Wars film (is it really called Something, something, something dark side? Brilliant.) to buffer I thought I'd catch up on some blog. The how and the where and the why of life back in Cymru, if you will. The trip home was frankly awful. As usual I had far too many bags (one filled entirely with presents, how Santa am I?) and this proved a massive problem when public transport was involved. Bus + tubes + broken up escalator at Euston did not make for a pleasant journey, nor did the last minute dash for the half past two train. Aching muscles were aplenty and I couldn't find my Elf DVD. However, I made it home eventually and that's the main thing. Since arriving back I have divided my time up nice and evenly; bit of food, bit of sleep, bit of felt frog making (frogsessed). On Sunday I went to Vicki's house with Hannah and we caught up on all things GBC and this afternoon I went to the Pen-y-Bryn for a sumptuous welcome home lunch. It was so very nice to see everybody again. Oh, I am absolutely ready for Christmas right now. The tree is up, I went to the Eirias Carol Concert last night with Charlotte and I'm going last-minute shopping in Chester on Friday. For the first time ever though I am prepared. Bought and wrapped and all tagged up prepared. No rush, no whizz-round-the-shops-on-Christmas-Eve panic. Just sit back and revel in the constant central heating and the fuzzy reindeer ears and the panto and the present giving. It's a lovely kind of feeling.

+ Oh home. I just completed a tele-survey about the Welsh language, on the basis that the operator sounded a little like Joanna Page from Gavin and Stacey, brill.

Masquerade.

It was Gabby's twenty-first birthday on Thursday, so I stayed in London until Sunday in order to partake in the celebrations: Sandwich on Wednesday, bit of shopping on Thursday, party on Saturday :) The masquerade party has been a work in progress since our trip to Venice in November, what with mask making and costume planning on the part of Gabby and Alice. I on the other hand, bought my mask from Accessorize a good hour or so before the festivities began. Fail. The highlights of the evening included clinking around Central London with Iceland's own brand alcopops stored in my bag, vodka jelly, extreme food colouring, running clumsily down the road to buy M&Ms from the corner shop at midnight, wearing nothing but a ball gown, a coat and some slippers and ARTHUR ♥. Isn't he amazing? Thank you Alice.

Finally!

1. I have discovered the joys of internet shopping and now I finally realise why students have no money. So far I have bought some amazing cookie cutters from this website (unicorn, lightening bolt, rocket, dinosaur♥) and a whole lot of Christmas presents too. What's more, my Christmas wish list currently = anything from here. Pop Art camera, please Santa.

2. Sure, I mentioned it a few months ago now. But Where the Wild Things Are finally came out (in the UK) on Friday and after a busy day at university and a busy evening of coat hunting I went to see it. It was sweet and a little magical and I'd still love me a onesie. Here, have some more pictures. Then buy me a Max doll and I'll never speak of it again :)

Sublime.

Oh my, one week to go. Today I went to the V&A Museum with Victorians for a SCHOOL TRIP ♥. It's been far too long and we didn't have to crocodile our way there. I enjoyed the theatre and fashion galleries and spent far too much time and money in the shop. I bought four Sublime Stitching kits: ¡Lucha Libre! Spaced Out! Monkey Love and Vital Organs. I want to embroider something with Mexican wrestlers for Gaz's birthday. Any suggestions?

Snow Ball.

Um, perhaps I should have reserved the 'bah humbug' title until after the Christmas Carol themed ball.

I won't go into too much detail about the horridly frantic day I had on Thursday. Let it simply be said that text messages, the London Underground and estate agents were all involved at one point or another. And apparently I'd sooner buy a frog jumper than a ball gown :) However I located a dress in the end and come four o'clock on Friday I ran from my creative writing workshop shouting, "TRAAAIN". There's nothing I hate more than the race from New Cross to King's Cross or Euston, but somehow I managed to make the quarter to five train and acquire a seat amid all the businessmen. I made do with catching my breath and reading the paper until I got to Cambridge.

Harry met me at the station and we wandered into the town centre, catching up in super sonic speech and cutting each other off at equal opportunity. There was some story about the boat house that I still don't know the end of. I dashed into a couple of shops before they closed and bought a pair of last minute shoes in M&S. Then, off to Harry's new room, which in reality looked very much like his old room (mess and all :)). I gave it a bit of a polish before Charlotte and David arrived and Harry ironed his suit. Then they appeared in a taxi and I showered and changed into my dress and then the Selwyn Snow Ball was go.

Well, sort of. First we had to queue in the rain with a single umbrella and a few mince pies, but we made it inside eventually. (Knock knock, who's there? Interrupting starfish. Interrupting star... :)). In the course of the evening we ate doughnuts, figured out the one-way system, wandered out into the cold more times than I cared for, ate chips, drank milky cocktails with Dickensesque names, watched a magician, listened to a band or two, gambled in the casino, drank a few too many free alcopops, drank hot Pimms and attempted to drink vodka from a 'luge', danced in the silent disco and sang along to a host of Christmas tunes.

I had a lovely time. My only wish that Harry hadn't left so early the next morning. I miss that boy.

Bah humbug.

Fear not. The title of this post does not reflect my real-life sentiments. I actually feel like this: "It's CHRISTMASSS", in true Slade style of course. Yesterday = the first o'December and as a result my official xmas countdown has begun. After university I packed my bags and set off for Oxford. It was dark by the time I arrived and the lights were all a-twinkle on Cornmarket Street. I popped into Borders (which, whaa? is shutting down? I hate you recession.) for my first wintry Starbucks of the season (caramel hot chocolate, om nom nom). There's something about those Christmassy red cups that makes the £2.85 completely worthwhile :)

Hot chocolate in mittened hand I set off for Keble, where I met up with David. We went to the Eagle and Child (Tolkien and Lewis were 'ere) for dinner and then we moseyed on over to Wadham College to watch Snow White and the Seven Vertically-Challenged Treasure Hunters! ft. such favourites as Charlotte Hindley and the Bee Man. Afterwards, we went back to David's room where we played iPhone Trivial Pursuit, Mario Kart and Crash Bandicoot, watched Family Guy and ate Dominoes pizza. We then realised it was LATE and so we stayed put, rather than venturing out to Charlotte's house in the dark and the cold (thank you very much for the loan of your bed, David). In the morning there was more Mario Kart and Sonic the Hedgehog, then I set off back to London after a nice panini lunch. Continuing in the xmas spirit I might watch Disney's Christmas Carol this week (the title of this post, explained at last!). I fear it will ruin all things Jim Carrey/Ebenezer Scrooge, but there again Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a grumpy old man in a nightgown.