I Graduated!!

Yes, you may now all call me Hannah Norman BSc. Please feel free.

Graduating is the best thing, and it turned out that even an aggressive letter from the university angrily telling us that we could NOT wear bow ties didn't dampen the day. I felt like I was in Hogwarts for the day (and green hood = slytherin which everyone knows would be the most fun), and it was just so lovely to celebrate with my family, friends and lectures who all made my final degree possible.

After a lovely (and mostly sunny) day celebrating in my gown and forcing my Dad to take more photos of me, I reluctantly gave it back and we headed out for dinner. If you live in Aberdeen and are looking for somewhere for a special meal, I thoroughly recommend Rustico. The food was SO good, the atmosphere and staff were lovely and it was just such a happy end to a happy day. 

I am now relaxing at home for the summer before I move to London in October to start a masters at Imperial. Life is good and the future is exciting. 

Freedom at last

So I am no longer a student. I finished my last exam a week ago and am currently trying to work out what to do with the rest of my life. If anyone has any ideas please let me know!

This past week I have been busy with an interview that meant I had an overnight adventure to Leeds, saying goodbye to the wonderful Ella for a month, and attempting to organise and pack. Luckily I have still had time to enjoy the sunshine and relax a bit. Here are some pretty photos I took on a trip to the beach.

Birthdays and Balls

I am in the final stages of my degree (seriously, don't talk to me about how soon my exams are, it makes me feel a little sick...), and this means that I have been taking excuses to get out and about.

A couple of weeks ago it was my friends birthday, and we took a bus to a small town about an hour out of Aberdeen called Banchory. We walked for most of the day before finding a pub to eat a massive dinner, it was great fun and a nice change to get out of the city and relax.

The River just outside Banchory

We saw a tree creeper near here building a nest

We walked to Crathes Castle which is a proper fairytale castle, turrets and all!

Last night I got all dolled up and went to our biology ball, which was a lot of fun. It's the only ball I have been too while at uni, and I am glad I got to experience it. Ceilidh dancing is a lot of fun, even if you do end up sweaty at the end of the night! I don't have photos because I trusted my camera with my friend who took many close ups of her food and the tablecloth. You know who you are!

Now time to dive back into university work. See you on the other side!

A Busy Month, Hair Dye and a Broken Jaw

So I have been mega busy all through February and it has made me become a lazy blogger (also nothing interesting happens if you are constantly working and then sleeping). However I feel like I need to start March off with a quick life update to kick start my writing again.

So firstly this month I experimented with a semi-permanent dye to keep my hair bright in between root touch-ups. I decided to use the Bleach London hair dyes because they look really cool (probably a silly reason but oh well) and I really enjoy the way it massively brightens my hair without affecting my hairs condition. Just make sure you have old towels to dry your hair because it does stain when wet, and buy some cheap gloves because it doesn't come with any.

See they just look so cool! tangerine dream is a red-ish orange which fades in a couple of washes to a lighter orange.

My hair freshly dyed today. I looked a a photo of when I first dyed it in November and it is SO long now its exciting! Motivating to keep growing it.

So my slightly strange smile in the photo above is probably due to my next update. Last Thursday I was feeling a little ill, and whilst shopping in Morrisons I suddenly felt really sick. Turns out that feeling sick and sweaty and blurry vision actually means you are going to faint not be sick. I learnt that the hard way, by falling hard onto the concrete and smashing my face up.

Turns out I broke my jaw, cut my chin right down to the bone and chipped four teeth. Very dramatic. After a night in hospital, three stitches and a weekend of feeling very sorry for myself I am now back to my normal self. Except I still need to get my teeth fixed, which I am looking forward to because broken teeth suck, and dreading because pain. 

So now my life revolves around the fact that I can't eat any food that requires chewing and look slightly awkward when I smile... Although its going to be a long time before I can eat a burger so I don't really have many reasons to smile...

Lovely get well soon flowers from my friend Ella (who had the traumatic experience of a fainting friend) and orchids from my Mum and Dad. These definitely brightened me up!

The lilies are flowering now and they are beautiful, I love lilies they are probably my favorite cut flower.

My chin stitches are now out and I am going to have a scar to commemorate the occasion!

So that is pretty much what has happened to me this month. (probably a lot more happened but breaking your jaw tends to overshadow other stuff).

I am actually pretty busy these next few weeks, I am visiting Glasgow next weekend to see Fall Out Boy which is mega exciting (!) and at the end of the month I am going home for an Easter break. So I will try and take some photos for here to keep you updated.

OH I also wrote a blog post on my science blog yesterday that I am quite proud of, check it out here and I will love you (also its interesting)

Welcome to 2014

We are now over a week into the new year, and we have been bombarded by the usual 'New Years resolutions' telling us we all suddenly need to loose a stone and stop drinking. Normally I just tell myself halfheartedly that I should probably get in shape and help myself to another chocolate, but this year is a pretty important year for me. In the summer I will graduate from university (as long as I finish this dissertation by next Friday, shh...), and then hopefully move to a new city to start the next step in my life. It doesn't really feel right to set resolutions I know I won't keep when I have no idea what the future holds. Instead here are my positive ideas to make sure I live this year to the full:

1. Be healthy. I am never going to be an exercise freak, its just not my thing. But maybe going to the pool more regularly is a good idea and I should stop making excuses. I already eat really healthily (tonight excluded because I ate a huge bowl of pasta), and I need to remember that and not feel guilty about treating myself.
2. Have fun. I am nearly 22, life is pretty awesome. Sometimes I get so bogged down in working hard and worrying about the future that I forget to live in the moment. 
3. Love myself. I was a terrible teenager for having zero confidence with the way I looked, but it gets old and there comes a stage in your life where you have to realise you are never going to become a swimwear model. I actually love the way I look and I think its time to look in the mirror and admit that in my own way I'm pretty beautiful. 
4. Embrace the opportunities. This is a big one this year, because I have no idea what is coming. I want to travel, I want to work really hard on the subject I love and I want to explore a new home, wherever that may be.

This year is going to be awesome.

Motivation

Today I have spent my entire day inside in my comfy leggings, chain drinking green tea, trying to write. I have reached the stage in my education where noone is standing over me telling me to work, and whilst I really enjoy the responsibility, it can be hard to stay on track when you are all cosy at home and twitter is but a click away. I got thinking today, how do I motivate myself?
Obviously there is the 'imagine when you graduate, it will be all worth it' approach, and in the long term this does help. But lets be honest, that seems a far away goal at the moment and an extra hour in bed is right now. And my bed is so comfy.

Basically me right now

Eating is great for my motivation (although it might partly be that the making of the food allows me to take a break). Right now I am baking brownies for me and my friend to eat tomorrow when we are trying to write.Basically, any form of healthy eating has pretty much gone out the window at the moment, and it is not going to end well (especially with Christmas round the corner...)

I also think that getting away from work is helpful. I have decided to keep at least one of my days degree free, meaning I can have a lie in, go for a walk, meander round the shops, whatever. At least I have that one day to chill out so I don't loose the will to live.

Friends are also important. I have three really good friends who are also all stressing out over their dissertations, and there is no greater therapy than all sitting together at lunch moaning about a graph that won't do what you want it to. Trust me.

So whilst I am enjoying slowly becoming a hermit, tomorrow I am going to go and sit in a computor room without the distraction of food, twitter and facebook, and write. Wish me luck.

A Catch up With Friends

This week has been a busy one for me, in the nicest possible way. I finally started working on my dissertation in the lab which was really exciting, and managed to get all the uni organisation stuff out of the way. But, I also had time to hang out with some of my lovely friends and have a proper catch up.

Me and a couple of friends decided to meet up for lunch at a cafe they have just discovered in Aberdeen, called Cup. If you live in Aberdeen I completely recommend it. The decor is insanely cute, the food is yummy and the loos are Alice in wonderland themed! We all had iced tea which came in glass teapots with ice underneath to pour the tea on when it had brewed. I had a goats cheese and roasted vegetable panini which was yummy, and came with a gorgeous salad full of fruit and a tiny cup of soup. And we managed to have a well deserved gossip as well!

Updating Old Tins

I am not the most crafty of people, I tend to have ideas and then never manage to actually get round to putting them into practice. But I was watching an old room tour on youtube by Zoella (watch it here, its really pretty, and makes me feel guilty for being untidy), and I was inspired by her idea to use old tins as dressing table storage. I finally picked one up at a carboot and my Dad gave me another, but I didn't want to put my jewelry in them because they were a bit rusty inside, so I decided to line them.  

This is everything you need: PVA glue, olive oil, a small container, scissors, felt, a gluestick, a pencil and your tins.

The blue floral tin was three pounds from a car boot.
Felt was two pounds for two sheets from a local haberdashery shop, I am sure John Lewis or somewhere similar would sell it if you can't find any in independent shops.
I think you can get the glue from somewhere like hobbycraft but I have a massive tub which I am pretty certain has kept me going in craft projects for my entire life (not even exaggerating).

Remember to cover your surface with newspaper so you don't glue anything to the table.

If any of the tins have hinges, rub a little bit of olive oil over them to loosen them. 

draw round the base of the tin onto the felt and cut out the shape.

spread glue thinly on one side of the felt and then carefully lower it into the tin, pushing down any creases.

The base finished. Make sure the felt completely covers the base.

Next trace a strip that is the height of the sides. Once again spread the glue thinly on one side and carefully push the felt all around the sides of the tin.

The finished inside. I overlapped the edges of the felt to make sure the tin was completely covered.

I also lined this tin in the same way. I left the inside of the lids unfelted because they will not touch the jewellery inside and I think it looked nice without.

After updating the tins I decided that my dressing table needed a bit of a makeover if they were going to have a proper effect. As you can see below, it is extremely messy! Because I live away at university most of the year my bedroom at home is mainly full of rubbish from when I was younger. So after clearing out the drawers and sorting what to keep, throw out and try to car boot, my dressing table looked much more sophisticated.

My dressing table was just covered in makeup and jewellery, making me appear the least organised person ever.

Ta dah!

I'm using this tin to store my jewellery in

I even plugged in my old fairy lights, its so pretty now! 

 I'm really happy with the tins, I managed to find them fairly cheap (I would recommend car boots, because vintage shops tend to overprice things in my opinion. Also I love a bargain...). Overall the whole project cost me under five pounds! This has definitely inspired me to get crafty more often, and maybe to make my room a bit more stylish and organised. We can but hope.