Wetsuit

So after months of deliberating I finally took the plunge and bought a wetsuit. Trying to find one that wasn't going to cost me an arm and a leg was a struggle as well as trying to find one that i liked the look of. Lets face it no one looks good in a wetsuit but you want to look the best you can. I decided to buy a wetsuit after i had looked through all the triathlons I wanted to do this season, as they are all open water swims starting at 750m, so to enter you must wear a wetsuit. I have already seen 3 that I want to do as well as 2 of the ones I did last season, and of course I am going to attempt the great pier swim which is a mile and a half swim.
So by the end of summer I should get my money's worth.

When i got home from work and saw the box from wiggle of course i was super excited as i wasn't expecting it to arrive until the end of the week. After dumping all my work gear on the kitchen table I opened the box and found they also sent me this gift. Thanks wiggle. You're the best.

go and visit www.wiggle.co.uk

Raspberry, cranberry and white chocolate muffins

A recipe that I adapted from Nigella.

A recipe set in bullet points so its easy to follow.
Remember always prep your ingredients before starting.

Muffin cases
300g plain flour
2tsp baking powder
150g golden caster sugar
1 egg
1tsp vanilla extract
225g (whole) milk
50g (melted) butter
100g approx. fresh raspberries
100g approx. dried cranberries
100g approx. white chocolate

Preheat oven to 200c.
Chop the raspberries in half and the white chocolate into chunks.
While the oven is heating, mix together the flour, baking powder and sugar.
In a separate bowl mix together the milk, egg and vanilla and finally the melted butter.
Stir together the wet and dry ingredients.
Finally mix in the chopped raspberries, dried cranberries and white chocolate with a spoon so the raspberries aren't damaged to much.
Spoon into 12 muffins cases and cook for 25 minutes.

I hope you enjoy them.

The beach

I was walking along the beach with the puppy and my parents, which was a nice way to spend a sunday morning, i notice this safe in the mud. In Southend you get lots of things washed up along the beach, seaweed, clothes, glass bottles, but mainly rubbish, but that's normally nearer the town centre where all the tourists head, well the little tourists we get this time of year.

Now when i saw this safe i wondered whether it would have an interesting story like the one on Titanic or it is just an everyday safe which fell off a boat. But then who has a boat these days that needs a safe? It's not like everyone can afford to have a boat and go down river for a day trip in the sunshine and spend the day watching for seals and even the odd dolphin as the go up and down the river like something from a Victorian novel.

Sunday

So it's Sunday, and like always I spend the morning at work. Of course a good shift because there's no managers to keep and eye, so everyone is more relaxed. Today my colleague C gave me a new word. Effervescent. Now I am not one to shy away from my faults, one of them being my lack of variety of vocabulary, so C being a kind guy that he is is giving me a word of the day to remember and use. Effervescent - fizzy, animated. 

Now I've finished for the day, and learnt a new word. I go see my parents because its nice to have a proper meal on a a Sunday, and my fridge is bare, well except all the cheese I bought because it was on special, but that's irrelevant. So most people are spending the day with their mums treating them to gifts and cards because its the right thing to do, even though is a Clinton holiday. Luckily for me my Mumma didn't want me to get her anything so saved a fortune there. Instead we are quiet happily drinking beer and watching rubbish films on the telly.
Because let's face it its what Sundays are for.

Looking to the future.

So next week I have an interview for university, and I can't help but worry, and become anxious. For as long as I can remember I've always wanted to be a nurse. So when I didn't get accepted last time my world fell apart, I thought that I had no future. As I teenager when things don't go the way you plan, of course it's the end of the world. I thought i was forever stuck working in Tesco hating a life with no challenge or excitement.

I was lucky enough to leave that life in Tesco and start new, working in a nursing home, building myself up, learning new skills everyday. Finally after two years of being a health care assistant (HCA) and gaining so much experience, that, looking back on i wouldn't change. I have finally plucked up the courage to apply to university again and hope this time is all goes to plan, as I have outgrown my job as a HCA and there isn't enough challenge for me, so it really is the right time to move on.

Now I will be going as a mature student, who'd have thought being 22 would count as being a mature student. I have normal worries for someone like myself who has been out of education for a while, that I won't be able to keep up with all the assignments and the academic side of the course, but also whether i will be able to fit in with the other students who have chosen the same career path, hoping that i can study and still work because living is so expensive these days. But the most important thing i have to remember is that, anything worth having isn't easy to get, because what's life if there is no challenge.
I believe I will do well because other people believe I will do well.