How I Was Productive On My Day Off

This week is one I have been dreading since the start of semester - the week of the statistics midterm. It's not that I don't enjoy statistics, because, as surprising as it may sound, I do I really like analysing things and finding out what's significant and what's not, what I don't enjoy is the 4 tedious hours of class every week, the exam, and the midterm test. Our test goes for 2 hours and for this test we are using the oh-so-lovely-and-simple SPSS (that one was sarcasm) (previously our tests have only been paper-based, and assignments were SPSS based). However, in saying all of that there is something good that comes of of statistics midterm week - no stats lecture!, which for me means I get an extra day off!

After an hour of getting up and procrastinating I decided to tackle my to do list for the day (note: my bullet journal in the photo below is looking much improved since I first started it). 

Despite the cold weather, I simply wasn't in the mood for tea today, so I decided to prepare myself some strawberry water in this cute little jar cup I got a few days ago (actually I got a whole set, but the others are currently storing stationery on my shelves). I know the whole putting-fruit-and-veggies-in-water thing has been a really big thing lately, but it's not as overrated as you might think. Until the start of this year, for me, it had become one of those things that you mean to try out someday, but never do. But one day I watched my friend drinking some one day and got jealous at how delicious it looked, so I made some for myself when I got home that night, and haven't looked back since!

I spent the morning working on my essay for sports psychology (and finally reached the word count!), took a break for lunch, and then came back to my desk to get my readings for the week done.

I successfully ticked everything in my bullet journal off for today, which I'm really happy with. I'm going to try and force myself to take the evening off doing study, and just relax a bit, play some games, maybe watch a few episodes of Dance Academy or Young Dracula (hehehe). I must say I'm rather proud of my efforts today, and I hope this post has inspired you at least a little to make good use of your days off.

Cake Decorating

Ever since my friend and I were in year 12 together way back in 2013, we have wanted to open a bakery together. In our form group at school we made cakes for everyone's birthdays, and decorated them all individually. Looking back now, some of the cakes probably looked rather average, but you have to start somewhere right? Recently I have been getting back into using fondant to decorate my cakes and when I was over in New Zealand over easter this year my aunt taught me a whole heap of new fondant and cake-making skills.

The image below is of a selection of the tools I use to decorate the fondant cakes. The rolling pin and the pink knife were presents for my mother's birthday, and everything else has been a really worthwhile investment.

These two cakes are from when I was over with my aunt. Although I know I still need to work on my writing icing skills (the cake on the left) I'm pretty happy with how it turned out overall.

The cake below is from just after we arrived home and I was teaching my mother and sister how to decorate with fondant. We used all the tools and actually had a lot of fun.

My friend and I are hoping to keep on improving our skills in the hope that one day in amongst our music (her) and psychology (me) work that we will be able to buy some land and set up the bakery we've been dreaming of. And as corny as that all sounds, I'm really looking forward to it!

A Trip to The Shire

I've always loved fantasy stories - they're enchanting, and they take you to a completely different world filled with magic, and fantastical creatures, and beautiful dresses. Last Saturday my family and I were lucky enough to get to visit one such world - Hobbiton, the place where all the Shire scenes from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were filmed. I have been a fan of The Lord of the Rings since my family first moved to Australia 8 years ago, so it was quite an exciting trip to make. In fact, the first time I watched the films was on the 24 hour plane trip over here from London.  It was a really awesome experience, and kinda neat that it was filmed there since my mum grew up in that area.

I've never been on a fantasy film set before, so this trip was truly something different to anything I had ever previously experienced. It makes me really want to get back into acting again!

Keep scrolling for my photo tour of Hobbiton...

The tour begins at Gandalf's Cutting, which is where you see Gandalf and Frodo ride in the cart at the beginning of the first film.

My sister standing outside a Hobbit hole.

The gardeners do a wonderful job of looking after the gardens, and keeping them beautiful for the copious amounts of people who walk through Hobbiton every day.

The Party Tree where Bilbo celebrates his birthday.

My sister and I outside a Hobbit hole.

A stunning view of part of Hobbiton. The building across the other side of the river is the Green Dragon where you can get ciders, beers, and ginger beers. I choose to have a cider, which tasted rather nice.

Bilbo Baggins' home.

The attention to detail was simply spectacular. Every single Hobbit hole is different, and many of them have little outdoor displays as well. The one in the photo above is a cheesemaker Hobbit's home, but there were others as well including bread baking and painting.

Sam's home.

My sister and I.

The Green Dragon.

I hope you enjoyed this photo tour of Hobbiton. I'm not saying anything more on my trip than this because I don't want to spoil every surprise! If you're ever in the area, I would definitely recommend that you visit!

Quick Tips: Fitness When There's No Time

If you're anything like me (and I think a lot of people are) then there are always excuses not to exercise - 'I can't afford the gear', 'I don't have time', 'I don't know how', 'I can't be bothered'. And honestly, those are all excuses I have used in the past. However, I truly believe that where there's a will there's a way, so over the last year or so I have been coming up with little ways of improving my fitness on a day-to-day basis. Now, these are things that you don't need expensive equipment, or clothing for, things you don't always need an hour to complete, because I know from personal experience that they are complete exercise turn-offs. Instead they are fairly uncomplicated activities which can easily be incorporated into your daily routine.

1. Stretch, or do yoga poses when you watch tv.

This has honestly been one of the most advantageous things I have started to do. When you watch tv, generally you're just sitting on the sofa stuffing your face with chips. How about challenging yourself for one week, or one month, and seeing if every time (or most times) you sit down to watch tv, you hop onto the floor and practice your stretching or yoga poses while you watch.

2. Every time you walk past a certain place in your house, do a certain fitness activity.

This is another good trick because it doesn't have to feel like you are doing 'actual' exercise. For example: 'Every time I go into the kitchen I will do 10 star jumps', or 'Every time I walk past the tv I will do 10 wall push ups'.

3. Walk up the stairs instead of taking the elevator.

This one is easy! And if you happen to work on the 34th floor of a building, and can't manage 34 flights of stairs (who could?!), then just walk up one, or two, or five. Challenge yourself to walk one extra flight a day.

4. Create a '10 Minute Fitness Program' for yourself.

If you have this written down somewhere easily accessible (eg. the wall above your desk, on the fridge), then you will be more likely to follow through with it. If you are unsure what kind of activities to squeeze into 10 minutes, then have a snoop around on google for some good ideas.

5. Get up and walk!

If you are a student, or if you have a desk job, you will find that you spend the majority of your day sitting down. To rectify this, make sure you get up every hour and go for a little walk (obviously not in the middle of a meeting, class, or lecture), but just whenever you've been sitting at your desk for a while. This will help get the blood pumping, and will also help with your concentration, so you can better focus on the task at hand.

So there you have it folks. My quick tips for exercising when there's no time, or when you're just plain lazy like me. I hope you find this useful, and drop me a line if you have any other techniques you use which you'd like to share.