Always make the effort...

I think it's important that we always make the effort in every part of our life. It could be anything; our education, our job, our relationship, our goals. If we always know that we tried, did our best and put effort into everything we do we can never feel guilty about the outcome.
It's not easy to put the effort in all the time, not unless you really want something and are motivated. We feel guilty when we know we could have done better. I feel that way about many things, but I know there's no one to blame but myself.
It also goes that if you're going to do something you should do it well. If you choose to help some one you shouldn't do it half-heartedly, you should show someone that your happy and willing to help. If your working for someone, doing a job, you should be the very best of whatever that role is that you can be. If your in a relationship and you love someone you should never stop showing them that. If you've got a goal to achieve something, it's up to you put the work in to getting to your goal.

Daily Diary: 18th March

This morning seems like such a long time ago. It felt like more than a day had passed between the time I said goodbye to Michael this morning and the time we spoke on skype later tonight. Last night was so short it feels like just a dream, but an amazing one at that. I miss him already. It was like as soon as I realised he was actually here, he was gone again.
I can't wait until next week. Twelve days together is going to be unbelievable. It'll be great to show Michael the places where I grew up and where I love most.

Daily Diary: 11th March

Most days are pretty similar; get up, go to lectures or labs, come back to my room, attempt to get some work done, make myself some dinner, spend far to much time on the internet and watching youtube videos/tv programmes...and the part I spend all day looking forward to, talking to Michael on skype. Those days, for the most part, are quite boring. At a later date I won't remember anything specific about what happened. It takes something special to make a day memorable. I remember everyday me and Michael have spent together. Each and every one of those days was special, more than special but I can't think of a word.
He came to stay this weekend. It was special for no more than the reason that we were together. He left this morning and tonight we were back to talking on skype. It doesn't feel right, we should be together. I can't wait until the day that we do move in together and can be with each other everyday.

Not as good as it looked on the plate (as this was leftover), but this is what Michael made on Saturday. Minted lamb courgettes, with potato dauphinoise.

Daily Diary: 5th March

Though it did not last long enough, I slept well last night. I slept peacefully, happy, with so much hope for the future. With Michael, we've talked about our hopes and dreams and made plans for the future. The way we talk about these things and both want the same things gives me hope that one day they can happen, that our dreams can come true.
It was a bit bright outside walking to my lecture this morning. It was also quite possibly warm enough for me not to have been wearing my scarf, although I think that's just habit. The weather's lovely today and I hope it continues until the weekend. It does seem a shame that i'm spending the day sat in lecture theatres.
My favourite subject that we're currently studying at University is cell biology. It's been interesting learning about the various organelles within the cell and the processes going on. When I turned up to the lecture this morning and found out it was a lecture on photosynthesis I instantly lost interest.
We unfortunately had the same lecturer talking about a similar topic for the next lecture. He put on the slide show of the presentation but found the writing was a faded grey colour that we couldn't read. He then went to change this but didn't know how to get out of the slideshow. The only thing it seemed he knew how to do on the computer was to press 'Ctrl' + 'Alt' + 'delete'. So the next 5 minutes were wasted waiting for the lecturer to work out how to use a computer.

Daily Diary: March 1st

Michael, my boyfriend, came to stay with me last night. It was short but sweet, and i'm so happy that I didn't have to wait another week to see him again.
He didn't arrive until around half past seven last night. It wasn't until a couple of hours later that we decided that getting something to eat was a good idea. Michael made a sausage casserole using what little food I have stocked in the kitchen. I tried to help out where I could and it turned out tasting very good. Whilst it was cooking in the oven we went down to Asda quickly to get ingredients for dessert, also made by Michael. Both were very filling and I couldn't eat that much.

Sausage Casserole...tasted very good!

Shortbread, mascarpone cheese, honey and blueberries...yummy dessert!

 It was a late and sleepless night, but I didn't mind as I got to spend the night laying beside the person I love more than I can believe. When the alarms started going off in the morning I spent about an hour trying to get Michael to wake up and get out of bed. The last thing I wanted was for him to leave but I knew he had to. The worst part is saying goodbye, I hate it. I spend the following days missing him and looking forward to the next time that we see each other.
Right now i'm in a lecture on metabolism. So far the lecturer has spent the first 20 minutes repeating the second half of the last lecture. Then he's just amazed me by including photos in his presentation slides! Usually it's just black writing on white slides...boring!

Daily Diary: 25th February

I lay in bed this morning debating whether to drag myself out of bed to go to a 9am lecture or get the extra couple of hours sleep I really wanted. I got up. I went to the lecture. It was definitely not worth it!
When pretty much all a lecturer does is to read out what is written on the presentation slides you just think what was the point. I could quite easily sit at home and read a presentation, I don't need them to do that for me.
Then had to go for another blood test this morning. Fourth one in three weeks, starting to get fed up of them.
Made myself a very nice toasted cheese and ham sandwich for lunch, so good I wanted another, before heading out to the next lecture.
After the lecture a couple of my class mates were talking about the various states of falling asleep during a lecture. I could totally relate as very often it's me who feels like that, but for some reason I was quite awake and actually paying attention today. I even made some decent lecture notes for a change!
We then had a lab, which seemed to go on forever but in fact only lasted 3 hours.
Now my feet ache and I really can't be bothered to do any more work. I have to though.

My Thoughts on The New Year

It's the start of another new year, 2013...that sounds strange. I had the most wonderful start to the year, and I really hope the rest of the year continues to be just as amazing.

Although I believe that if there's something you want to change about yourself, your life, then there's no better time to make that change than right there and then. You can give yourself a fresh start at any time, start over. Every day is a new day, another chance to make that day and everyday after better than the ones before. Even though I think this, I do also think that the new year is a good time to reflect on the previous year and think about what you would like to achieve and improve on in the following year to come. Which is why I wanted to use it as an opportunity to write about the things I would like to do this year.

Put more time and effort into my studies at University.

I want to do well and get a good degree from going to University. In the long term it will make it easier to get to where I want to be in life, what I want to do. I find it hard to be motivated sometimes and don't always enjoy doing the work even though the topics being studied may be interesting. I know the work has got to be done, but I always get distracted far too easily and end up doing other things. So simply for my own benefit, I would like to put more time and effort into my studies so that I can do the best that is possible from me and I know I will pleased with myself if I do.

Don't be so lazy and be more organised.

 Sometimes I feel like I'm far too lazy, which is not a good thing! I want to be more motivated, do things there and then not keep putting things off. This means being more productive, using my time better, not thinking "I'll do it later" but get things done now. I would also like to be more organised. Not just as in keeping my notes organised so I can find everything...I'd like to think I do that pretty well already, but a more organised life. Making plans and sticking to them, that way I would get a lot more done.

Make healthier choices and cook more.
Quite simply, I would like my diet to be healthier. One thing I would like to do is to try and incorporate more vegetables into the meals I make. I would also like to to aim for three proper meals a day and less snacking. I would like to try out some new and different recipes and for most of my meals, to make everything homemade. I used to not buy any cakes, biscuits or desserts and just make them myself. I would like to do this again as it normally works out cheaper and healthier.

Experience new things.

This is something I want to do a lot more of this year. Doing things I've never done before, going to places I've never been, meeting new people, trying foods I've never eaten before, learning new things...experiences, creating memories. I'd love to travel, see another country, another culture. Do a lot more of what I love, maybe find new things I enjoy and love. I'd like to have a lot more moments which make me just think...wow.

Read more.

Reading is something I remember always enjoying. Reading fiction books for pleasure, quotes to inspire, a factual article which interests me and makes me think about something. Reading can teach you something new, take you to another time, another world, inspire you, make you feel something. For all these reasons, I would like to get back into reading and read more often in my spare time.

Write more.

I've always written a lot. When I was little I loved writing stories, I remember they would go on forever and never have an ending, I would just write and continue the story as I imagined it. Then throughout most of my teenage years I loved to write song lyrics. I would write them about anything, things I dreamed of, feelings I had, things that had happened. I have whole notebooks just full of songs I've written. Then last year I started writing this blog and found that I loved writing about anything, my life, my thoughts on things, experiences. I would love to write more. It's a way I can be creative and express myself.

Take more photos.
If you knew me well, you'd probably think I'm crazy to say this, that I already take too many photos. Recently though I've been taking hardly any, in fact my camera is quite rarely used nowadays. I used to take a lot and really enjoyed it so I would like to get back into it. I'd like more to look back on, just for the memories. I'd like to get some more photos printed and create another album. I'd also like to take some more of those photos I can just be creative with and proud of for how they look.

I know that changes don't happen overnight and it's unreasonable to think these things can happen instantly, but I am going to try to work towards doing these things over time.