SUMMER-ARY (JULY/AUGUST)

I’m actually dying of the cold right now and have been up for 3 hours feeling restless. I feel disgusting but since I’ve been a slob all summer, I might as well write a blog post.

Usually I would write posts late at night but to be honest I haven’t been staying up as late as I used to, I’ve also been busy during the day and kept putting it off. So here you go...a SUMMER-ARY of my holidays. 

Aaron and Diane’s Wedding

Highlight of my summer was of course, Diane’s wedding. Diane is like a family friend/sister to me since we were both young, and I was privileged to be asked to be her bridesmaid back in July. This past year and a half, you’d soon see the wedding was all I talked about - it was fun having days out for bridesmaid dress shopping and the like. The wedding itself was superb - it was wonderful to see so much planning come together so beautifully. 

The couple got married at our church, a lovely service complete with flowers which coordinated with our dresses and a pretty little bicycle outside.

The weather was perfect, probably the warmest day of the summer. We went to the Silent Valley and took photographs there. Then we headed to the reception in a LIMO! (One of my favourite parts) And enjoyed a delicious meal after more photographs at Canal Court Hotel in Newry. After a video and slideshow, we danced the night away. I can’t seem to put into words how perfect the day was. Many congratulations to Aaron and Diane!

Fused

I took part in Fused Summer Scheme again in Newcastle this year. This is the 3rd year I’ve been a leader and I was involved working with P.4 - P.7 age group. It was different than previous years due to having no American team from Lexington, Kentucky, so it was originally meant to be made up of Northern Irish leaders. However God provided us with a team of 11 Americans from Washington and Oregon. It was really fun to work with different people, plus a bonus was that some were Doctor Who and Sherlock fans! As usual it was wonderful working with the children, some familiar faces, and also some new people too. A great way to spend two weeks of my summer.

Art

Remember last year I worked on a mural in my local village? Well this year I helped create a big fish at our Village Fete. Ashley and Susan created the structure beforehand and during the fete, we encouraged children to glue tissue paper and get a photograph of themselves taken to stick inside the fish. We only had a few hours to decorate this one, so it was rewarding to see the fish ascend down the steps and around the fete. It was so much fun, I love working on creative projects like this!

Friends

I’ve had a number of awesome days spent with some incredible people. Rebecca and Emma came to my house for a sleepover and tour of Mourne. A group of us also celebrated Hannah’s 21st birthday on Cranfield beach with a BBQ and singalong. I met with Seb, Dave and Becca in Belfast for a catch-up and Cosmo. I had a housemate meet-up and saw Uncle Gordon a few times too. I also caught up with James last week and had many, many Container Parties.

It’s been excellent, however I’m losing three of incredible people - Kerri, Rebecca and Emma! Kerri and Rebecca have headed to U.S A to study for the year and Emma is leaving for Spain in a few weeks! I shall miss you all dearly but good luck and have a wonderful time. :D

- Claudia x

ROOM (2)

Lack of blogging about university (or anything at all for that matter) this past year has made me very sad. However I had my hand-in’s today so I can proudly announce that I have got my life back! It’s already May and this afternoon I thought I better take a few photographs of my bedroom before I begin to move out. (Last year's post here)

Unlike last year’s post, this year I moved into a house with 5 other girls. I must admit, I like this room better than my room at home - you’ll see why now...

Reason 1: My room is GINORMOUS

The biggest room in the house. Although sometimes cold in the winter months. (Saying that, I’m usually too warm than too cold so it hardly bothered me.) But what's behind that door, you wonder?

Reason 2: A WALK-IN WARDROBE.

Reason 3: Posters everywhere!

Due to the generous wall space, both in wardrobe and out, I can have lots of posters on my wall! This room has 6 posters up! This little table area is where I keep my beauty stuff. The Doctor Who and One Direction poster was bought by my friends for my birthday, yay!

Reason 4: Double BED!!

I never had a double bed before but they are AWESOME! Fergus and Harold the terriers say hello, they live on the bed and make me feel better. :D And of course, the Andy Warhol cushions have returned.

Reason 5: Study Area

This desk has been a life-saviour this year as I worked. Although I miss looking out the window like last year in Cranagh, I ordered a big corkboard and decorated it with everything I love. Have a look:

Such things which may catch your eye here is my BIGBANG calendar, 16th Birthday Joe Jonas card from Jordan, a drawing of a Princess that a P.3 gave me in Tutoring for Schools, BIRDS, autographs and cute cards. c:

Short post yes, but I have returned, with many more updates of my boring life to come!

Talk soon,

Claudia

20

Last Wednesday marked the unfortunate end of my teenage years, that’s right - I am now twenty! I find this very hard to believe, but believe me, I have no intentions of becoming a sensible and responsible adult anytime soon.

I was fortunate to have more than one party too! Since my birthday fell during the week I celebrated one with family, one with university friends and one with my home friends.

On Tuesday 5th, Hannah, Emma, Rebecca, Seb and myself went to Yoko Noodle Bar - a popular and delicious restaurant at Coleraine Jet Center. They didn’t disappoint, as my Crispy Honey Chili Chicken was amazing!

For desert, I chose brownie (they gave me two, wow) which was served on a plate which gave out steam?? We were amazed by this. 

Following that, we went bowling at the Jet Center which was so much fun, best bowling trip in ages! 

After Christian Union the next evening, I was finally allowed to open my presents! My housemates and classmates joined together and bought me a whole pile of gifts - which ranged from Sherlock on DVD, jewelry and One Direction merchandise- to a comb, M&Ms and a hot water bottle! 

On Saturday, my friends back home went to Italian restaurant, Villa Vinci in Newcastle. (Yes I have ate out a lot this week..) The 12 of us enjoyed a choice of pizzas, pastas, burgers and spaghetti bolognese. I was surprised by a birthday cake, with many thanks to Kerri and Elizabeth!

Outside I was target to the Birthday Bumps. Oh dear...

We returned to my house for a night of party games - probably the best games of Mafia, Fishbowl and Consequences played ever!

Thank you to...

Hannah St - for INCREDIBLE present choosing and organising.

Emma H - for choosing the ever-so-gorgeous One Direction poster.

Rebecca - for choosing the most amazing cracked nail polish.

Sebastian - for a wicked game of The Sims and Eyetoy on Playstation.

Alison, Danielle and Shannon - for an amazing meal cooked on Wednesday.

Charlene - for a lovely walk on my birthday with Hannah in Portstewart.

Rachel - for the really cute scarf!

Tina - for her impression of James Bond (I’m an actor...) haha!

Aimee - for such a pretty present, especially the little book!

Hannah S - for the most amusing conversation at dinner on Saturday.

Laura - for buying me a beautiful gift even though she couldn’t attend the party.

Elizabeth - for being absolutely wonderful all the time.

John - for creating the most disturbing consequences game ever played.

Mark - for making everyone laugh with his transvestite Beyonce impression?

Kerri - for deleting all my photos!! LOL jk - for buying me a beautiful hat!!

Kathryn - for doing the most hilarious impression of Stephen Hawking I’ve ever seen.

Alison and Hannah (for buying me the most beautiful bird ring!

Emma - for never failing at buying me the most disturbing and brilliant presents. AHH.

Thank you to everyone who made my 20th birthday one to remember! 

- Claudia

LIAM DAY

Hello!

Another quick update on my celebrity watching! Last Monday (28th January) famous actor Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List 1993, Batman Begins 2005 and Taken 2008 to name a few) took a trip back to his home town of Ballymena, County Down - which so happens to an hour away from where we study at University! Not wanting to miss the opportunity to see someone so famous (and Hannah to meet the man of her dreams), Rebecca, Emma, Hannah and myself travelled early Monday morning to see if we could catch a glimpse of the movie star.

Although we arrived in Ballymena at the ridiculous hour of 8am, after a yummy McDonalds breakfast and a few hours of retail therapy, we were excited to see Liam at the Town Hall. It rained horribly for the majority of the day but that didn’t put off a crowd of over one hundred people gathering.

Our early start did not go to waste! The four of us found a place at the front of the barrier which gave us a perfect view of everything that was happening. However it also appeared to be an opportunity for the local news too! We got interviewed four different times and posed for endless photos. Although it felt really awkward at first, it was a good laugh.

The weather magically cleared up and just after lunchtime Liam appeared! The camera men went crazy trying to get photographs and we were also snapping away, praying he’d do a round of the barrier. Unfortunately we didn’t get to shake his hand, never-mind get a photo with him! However it was very exciting and I took some photos with my new camera.

When we arrived home, we made sure to catch all the news and by 7pm my Facebook newsfeed was filled with notifications that I was on television!! I’m very awkward on camera but thankfully, they cut the majority of the interview out. We appeared on UTV (below), BBC Newsline and RTE and also some photos appeared in a local newspaper and the BBC website. Here's the clip from UTV - I am on at 0:28 seconds! 

All in all, it was a excellent day and a great way to start Semester 2! Many thanks to Rebecca, Emma and Hannah for making it so much fun!

Lots of Love for Liam,

Claudia

TRAVEL

Trying to get this ‘Summer’ meme finished off - I’ve actually nearly finished off all the questions, hooray! Today I’m looking at Places I would like to visit.

Seoul, South Korea

I feel I know far too much about Korea so would actually like to visit the country to see what it’s really like. Photos of the capital city of Seoul look so pretty!

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France

It’s ridiculous that I’ve never been to Paris yet - and it’s always been in my head to see Paris - somebody please take me!

Harajuku in Toyko, Japan

This place looks absolutely insane. After following Toyko Fashion for a number of years, I’ve realised that I’d love to see a whole street of people dressed like this! 

Toronto, Canada

Always had an odd appeal to go to Canada - even more than America actually. Toronto looks like a dream city to live in.

Great Wall of China, Beijing

Not sure if I could hike it - but it’s definitely something I’d like to see with my own eyes. Going to China has always been a dream of mine!

Disneyland, Florida

Curse my lack of traveling! I’ve never been to Disneyland - despite wanting to go since I was a little girl - it’s not fair.

Tiffany’s, New York

“It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there, not with those kind men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets. If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany's, then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name!”

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

It looks so grand and magnificent!

Rome, Italy

Rome is a beautiful place - and I love pizza. I can’t imagine any other reason to want to visit it than that!

A PHOTO POST...

I was dying for Emma to post hers because I knew she was doing this meme but she forbade me to do it before her. Now that she has posted hers, it is now my turn.

Oh! I really should explain myself, Yes, this is another meme post that was stolen from the almighty tumblr. This time you need to answer with pictures. Let's begin.

Post picture/Give short appearance description:

I feel like such a prat taking a photo of myself, but here you go.

I look stupid but this was the best out of the selection that were taken.

Favourite mythical creature:

I don’t think I know any mythical creatures. This is a stupid question. Here is a unicorn.

Popular series you don’t like:

I hate Charlie Sheen.

Favourite animal:

Zebras are the coolest! I saw them at the zoo and they just are so awesome. I also love a variety of birds too.

Biggest Fears:
Public Transport, Spiders and being forever alone.

Things you like to collect:

Autographs!

No, these are not autographs, I know. But I don't have any photos of my autographs but plan to take some to show you in a future post - where I'll discuss how long it took to get a response etc....

A random interesting/weird fact:
Do you know why DVDs have larger cases than CDs, despite them holding the same type and size of disk? The manufacturers made the height and width of DVD cases to match that of VHS so stores didn't have to change their shelves for the switch. What a fun fact!!!

 Favourite Gaming Console:

Xbox360 - although I haven’t played it as much as I used to, still like it though.

The next part is more interesting...I promise.

CONTAINER

This past few weeks I’ve been cleaning and redecorating the container. I wish I had taken before and after photos because to be honest these photos do not look impressive. Anyway here are the results. Click on the photo for greater detail!

The Container: In case you didn’t know, I received the container as a Christmas present one year. (Weird, right?) Dad bought numerous containers and he got two free. The other one is vile and used for storage, but this one got lucky and was transformed into my second home. And no, I’m not spoilt - Mum wants to use it as a new office when I leave home.

I collaged many walls with magazines. This was the most time consuming.

I also had numerous snapfish photos leftover so I made a mosaic on two walls.

Those are the Andy Warhol cushions I was given for Christmas last year. The purple sofa is actually a fold-up bed and the blue one was donated by my Uncle Gordon when he was moving house.

I FINALLY put up the Audrey Hepburn canvas, which had fallen many moons ago. The Doctor Who poster is meant to represent the Jared wall, but he really hasn’t had much say during the redecoration process. I spend much more time in the container than he does. The Doctor looks like he’s dancing to Ring Ding Dong though.

More snapfish! This time it is all landscape pictures. This wall still needs to be completed but I have ran out.

I attempted to do a frame wall too because I found a stash of photo frames and I think this turned out effectively. I still need two A3 sized pictures.

Super Junior Clock: I made this clock in my very boring last summer. Always thought it looks kinda cool, but I’ve been criticised that it never tells the correct time. It’s telling me it is Ryeowook past Heechul but it really should be Eunhyuk past Siwon.

Now for the “Office” side of the container. The table shown is just used for studying or writing. There is another older table which is used for painting. I think the walls here could be improved upon but I used all my pretty pictures on the other side.

The Flying Cat: James and Jordan thought it would be a good idea to hang the cat puppet on the light. It hasn’t been moved since. And although I know it’s there, it never fails to frighten me if it hits me on the head.

Shelf: Hurray! I brought out the shelf which used to stay in my room and now have all my art supplies neatly on it.

I am in possession of a Barbie bin with my name on it. I love my bin!

- Claudia