My Favourite Book Series at the Moment: Patricia Cornwell Scarpetta Series

I'm an avid reader and I love reading murder mystery books, which is weird as I hate gory films. It's probably because I can make it as gory as I want to it be. With some gory films it has to be as gory to make the film work but with books I can imagine it to be gory without all the action of blood spraying out etc.

One of the best things I have is my kindle, I love it. I love the fact that it's thinner than a normal sized book and can hold 1000s of books. I have the old version, the one with the buttons and is a bit bigger. I'm not overly bothered about touch screen and as it's not bigger than a normal book it's just fine. I've read some of other genres which I have on it. for example, Twilight and Eragon which I did enjoy. However, I'm not an overly fantasy book lover. I do enjoy them for a while but I always love going back to murder mystery books. Like James Patterson and Sue Grafton for example.

At the moment I'm reading Patricia Cornwell's series involving Dr Scarpetta as the main character. She's a female Chief medical examiner, in other words, she autopsy's the victims. At the moment there's 20 books in the series with another on it's way this year.
I started the series at the beginning, as over the years I have read random, out of order, books from it and decided that it was a good idea to start from the beginning.

They are well written and I've found myself getting into the stories and have fallen in love the characters. I like these books so much that I found myself tearing up at certain parts, I love that I get the chance to understand the characters. Not many books I've read make me like the characters as much as this series does. I've also found that most of the books are hard to decipher and include many twists and turns.

At the moment I'm reading the 11th book of the series and it hasn't disappointed me yet. The case in this book, like others in the series, leads on from the last book which I've also enjoyed as it's not skipping multiple years, it's fairly consistent. It helps the reader stay in tune with the characters and see the characters grow. For example, in the first book you meet Lucy, Scarpetta's niece, who's 10, in this book she's 21/22 so I enjoy the fact that I've read about her growing up and the difficulties she'd faced whilst having a well known Aunt.

I mostly only read at night before I go to bed and lately I've been falling to sleep quite quickly so I'm not getting through this book as quick as I normally would.
I would certainly recommend this series.
I'm also not sure what books I'm going to read afterwards.

xx

London

I had a lovely time in London with Mike :D 

I didn't go shopping as I don't have that much money so we went and saw the sights. Here's some pictures :D

The room. 

We stayed at a Millennium Copthorne Hotel in Knightsbridge as Mike works in one in Sheffield and could get half price. We stayed for two nights, had breakfast included as he also got us upgraded, dinner each night and some drinks for £184 for the two of us. Not bad. I did feel very out of place there as it was quite swanky. Felt like I needed to wear a cocktail dress for breakfast. The hotel was lovely and right round the corner from Harrods and the subway.

 Harrods. 

I had to get a picture with one of these as they are taller than I am. We went to Harrods three times. It's like a maze in there. I want a Harrods pet but the french bulldog was £3,000. Little out of my price range.

 Covent Gardens.

I thought this was going to be a garden. It wasn't. These eggs were all over so I had to get a picture with the Lindt Bunny as I love them :D

 The Subway. 

We spent quite a lot of time on the subway on Wednesday. We got an all day pass so we could go anywhere. I love that they are everywhere, so easy to get anywhere in the city. I would not have liked it when it was rush hour or on a weekend. It all reminded me of American Werewolf in London. Corny but great film. We also decided to take the stairs to the exit at one point. Bad move as there were about 100steps. My thighs killed after. 

Camden Market.

I liked this place a lot as it was really cute. I did find it funny that most of the stalls sell the exact same stuff. Must make it hard to sell some of the time. The weather was nice so it was lovely to walk around. 

Tower Bridge

 We walked across it as well to go see the Tower of London, was nice to look out across London.

Big Ben.

We came out of the subway that emerges at the bottom of Big Ben and wondered where it was. Typical tourists. Also got there at the time to hear it chime which was nice.

 Houses of Parliament. 

Not much to say about this. I'm not into politics but was nice to get a picture of it all across the water. This reminds me of Sherlock Holmes where he jumps out the window.

London Eye. 

I did want to go on this but Mike's scared of heights. Well he isn't but he thought it was a waste of time and money. Again, nice to see it on the water front. Plus it was getting a bit cloudy at this point.

Buckingham Palace. 

We only went to see this as we had an hour to kill before we went home. Weird to be that close to the Queen's house.

I loved my time in London with Mike, was a nice getaway. We ate nice food and walked. A lot. Next time I'm thinking of making Mike book a Copthorne hotel in Paris. :p 

xx

25 Facts

So I've decided to try and post once a week. I haven't really done much this week so here's 25 facts about me 

1. I'm 5'4", however the gym scales say I'm 5'3.7" :(
2. I don't like a messy plate so when I eat eggs I have to cut the white off first, then eat the yolk all in one so it doesn't break
3. I hate my handwriting, looks like a 12 year boy's
4. I like reading murder mystery
5. I'm still a bit scared of the dark. When I have a nightmare and wake up, I try and go back to sleep as fast as possible because I think something is going to grab me. 
6. I'm both an introvert and an extrovert. Sometimes I like my own space but when I'm with other people I can be quite outgoing
7. My favourite animals are monkeys and tigers
8. I've always wanted a pet monkey
9. I have Vitiligo which is a condition that causes depigmentation of sections of skin. In basic terms, I have white patches of skin on my body. 
10. If I go anywhere, I always get a postcard and write on the back the date and who with 
11. I would love to go to Africa 
12. Tigger is my favourite character
13. I love watching films.
14. I do not like scary/gory films
15. I love tea, but not as much as I used to 
16. I love the colour pink, but used to hate it
17. I regret quitting gymnastics when I was younger
18. I quit everything
19. I have never tried cigarettes or drugs. Other than caffeine, alcohol and prescription drugs. 
20. I used to be a picky eater, but getting better
21. I don't like food touching on a plate
22. I used to eat food in sections
23. I'm awful at maths
24. I am a dog person
25. If I don't have to get up, I won't.

xx

Restaurant Review: Loch Fyne, Sheffield

First, this is not a professional review in any way. This is me, just describing a lovely night, in a lovely restaurant with my boyfriend. 

So basic story, I was going to Sheffield to see Mike and I had told him that I had booked a restaurant for us to go to. However, he had heard bad reviews of it, so he had a look for a different place to go. I told him that I would like to go somewhere a bit nicer than normal and out of the immediate area. He came up with a few suggestions and I thought the Loch Fyne seafood, bar and grill sounded nice.

It's interesting that I don't think I've been to a restaurant that specialises in sea food so I was quite keen to go here. It's a bit more expensive than I'm used to, being a student pub food is about as good as it got. It was about a 5 minute drive from Mike's house which is good and looks very nice from the outside driving past.

As we walked in, we had to wait for 5 minutes or so before being seated. Not a problem as they did apologize and were very friendly.  In this time, I noticed that there was a fresh fish counter. Which I thought was brilliant, they explained that you could go and choose what fish you wanted. That showed me how fresh the fish was, as it wasn't frozen or already cooked.

They sat us in a lovely little conservatory overlooking Sheffield. The servers were extremely friendly and quick at getting anything we wanted.

We chose off the set menu which was 3 courses for a set price and a glass of wine.

I had:
Starter- Thai Fishcakes with Sweet Chilli Jam
Main- Scottish Aberdeen Angus Char-grilled Burger
Dessert- Baked Apple Pie
Wine- House rose

Mike had:
2 Loch Fyne® Oysters- Traditional, on ice and Grilled with lime, herb and garlic breadcrumb, I was meant to have the grilled oysters but pussied out at the last moment.
Starter- Cullen Skink
Main- Scottish Aberdeen Angus Char-grilled Burger
Dessert- Crème Brûlée
Wine- House white

Me and Mike have a good thing going in this relationship. If we go anywhere to eat I normally choose different things than Mike. As I don't normally finish everything, Mike being a big eater eats the rest. It's a good deal.
I get to try a little bit of what he gets and he eats the rest of mine so I don't feel bad leaving food.

The meal was lovely, the fish cakes weren't what I was expecting but they were nice. The burger was so moist however, I forgot to ask for no mayo but Mike was nice enough to give me the top to his burger. He does like me occasionally. The pudding was huge, they don't skip on the portion sizes. I thought it would be a slice of apple pie, nope what I got was a small full pie with ice cream and a small jug of custard. Overall, the meal was delicious and I would go again. They even do money off vouchers for the a la carte menu which is a good way to get people in. It came to just under £50 which isn't bad.

I was going to try the Fish, your way part of the menu where you choose the fish, what way you'd like it cooked, what sauce or salsa you'd like and 2 sides. It sounded really nice but decided on more food for a similar price. However, if we go again, I'd definitely go for that.

I also love the website, it's easy to get around and the layout is clean and simple. One downside is that it doesn't include prices. I love the animation at the top of the page.
http://www.lochfyne-restaurants.com/

Was such a nice night, I like being more sophisticated sometimes.
:D
xx

New Plan of Action

So at the beginning of the year I suggested some goals for the year, I've failed both :(

I still have no more patience with people, however, I am learning to just keep my mouth shut when small things bother me. If my dad wants to make excuses and not just except responsibility for things, so be it. If Jonathan doesn't want to move out, even though he's 29, has a house and just can't be bothered to get it finished, so be it.

Also my other goal of finding a job and moving to Sheffield has been put back a few months. It's amazing that finding out one detail can make a plan go so much quicker. I want to become a teacher but I need experience. For ages, I've been looking for courses to become a teaching assistant (TA) so I can get some experience to apply for a PGCE. I thought that TA courses started at an entry level so I've been looking for entry level courses to then do level 2. However, not the case. One of the leaders at the Guide unit I volunteer at informed me that the start level was level 2. Duh!

So now that I know that detail, I've enrolled on a part time TA course. Found out about and enquired about a course on a Wednesday, got information back on the Thursday, enrolled on Monday, started on Tuesday (sound like that Craig David song :p) so yea, 30 week course and I have to have a placement. I sorted that out on the Wednesday after my course. Going back to the junior school I went to 12years ago, feel so old!

It feels good to finally start working towards my career. In hindsight, I should have picked a teaching degree but hey ho, I didn't know what I wanted to do until the last year of University. Typical!

I wanted to go on holiday this year but that might be a bit difficult now. However, I'm off to London next month with the boy :D Pictures to follow :D

xx

New Year

I'm not going to say that I'm making resolutions as I never keep them. Instead I'm going to say goals as I might keep to them better.

A couple of years ago, I used to be so care free and happy all the time. However, for some reason, I've stopped being so happy and have been quite miserable. As a result, my first goal is to be more positive and patient. I'm quick to temper and I'm very impatient when people don't understand, so that's my first one.  I especially need this goal with my family and boyfriend.
I work in a shop so I always try to act happy even when I'm not and sometimes it can be quite difficult, so maybe if I try to be more positive I'll be a happier person in general.

My second goal is to get a good job and move back to Sheffield, I do enjoy the job I have now, but it's not a career. I think from being at University on my own, I have become quite independent and moving back home has not been the best choice. I think for the sake of my relationships with my family, I need to move out again. Me and my dad have very similar temperaments, so we clash quite often and neither of us will back down. 

I don't think having loads of goals is good as trying to change too much is difficult and to be honest the goals I've set myself do include a lot of change. Moving out to live properly, on my own, in a different city with a proper job is scary. :s

Much love
xx

Another update

An update on how my goals are going. 

Here are the goals I set myself to achieve:
Lose 1/2 a stone by my birthday (2lbs to lose in 2 weeks, easy :s) (Completed)
Lose a stone by Graduation (It's in November so shouldn't be too bad) (Completed)
Run 1/2 a mile on the treadmill, none stop. (Completed)
Run a mile on the treadmill, none stop. (Completed)
Run a mile and 1/2 on the treadmill, none stop. (Completed)
Run 2 miles on the treadmill, none stop. (Completed)
Lose 1/2 a stone (Wasn't by my birthday like I wanted it to be but oh well)
Plus I've completed run a mile and a half and 2 miles. 
I've also completed 2 and a half miles as well. 

I've now completed:
Lose a stone by Graduation (Before I planned as well. I've lost 16lbs overall :D)

New goals:
Run 3 miles on the treadmill, none stop. 
Learn to do the splits (I gave up on the stretches so need to start this again)
Lose a stone and a half (Only another 5 Ibs to go)

Another thing that I've started now is my owl cushion. Woop! About time. Got the shape cut out and most of the material. Just need to figure out how to use a sewing machine, find the eyes and get some stuffing :D 
I'll post a picture when I've finished it :D 

xx