A night for networking!!!

Every year PAWS-Public Awareness of Science and Engineering, hold an awards evening in recognition of Science Broadcasting.

Being that i am a Science Communication student and our lecturer used to work for the BBC, every year we get an invite to the awards and the free drinks after! This is the first year i have been since it's the first time I've had the chance as, luckily, I'm on top of my workload, and the fact that i graduate next year (ahhh!!) and Smokey has boosted my confidence, in that i actually felt i could go there and get something out of it other than just complimentary free booze! I even had cards made to hand out with my contact details on!

The evening was thoroughly enjoyable, and some of the films and documentaries that won awards were very good, and some were...not quite so good! The drinks reception after was also very enjoyable, i got the chance to talk to a number of the winners, who all seemed to be French! As for networking, fingers crossed that was a success too- i gave my card to a broadcaster/journalist who said she would keep me in mind if anything i could help with came up. And if she was as serious about that as she was pleasant, then I'm hopeful!

The keynote speakers in hot discussion about the topic "A New Age for Science and Broadcasting". For some reason the word "sexy" was mentioned a lot!

We don't let distance get in the way!

Sunday day was spent mostly recovering from Jennie's party, so i basically slept most of the day, watched X Factor and ate some left over cake from the party. However the evening was spent having a romantic meal with my gorgeous boyfriend over Skype- despite the 1000's of miles between us!

I wore a polka dot evening dress and Smokey looked dashing in Red Sea Rig dinning wear. We sat down to enjoy a meal of chicken pie and potatoes for me and a sausage pizza for Smokey.

Despite the fact we can only do these sort of things over Skype at the moment, it was still a lovely lovely evening. With back ground music of Nat King Cole and Michael Buble, and of course Smokey's favourite, Meatloaf, and with me serenading Smokey every now and then, it was a great Skype date!

Who says that distance means you can't enjoy a nice romantic meal together? Because i definitely believe we are evidence that distance really doesn't matter! And it 34 days we will be doing it for real!

Puttin' on the Ritz

Saturday saw the arrival of Jennies 21st 20s themed birthday party, and 11.30am that morning saw me heading off to the hairdressers to start getting ready for a party that started at 8.30pm! My hair was finished by 1 o'clock so i headed back home looking every bit the 1920s woman! Whilst i waited for Jennie and Guy to come and pick me up i did all the usual things you do whilst getting ready for a night out; painted my nails and did my make-up. I would be getting dressed with Jennie at the suite the hotel, in which her party would be, had given her for her birthday.


We arrived at the hotel at just gone 4 o'clock, and met her parents Chris and Sandra and the 5 of us started setting the room up for the evening festivities! We had lots of 20s images and pictures from other 20s themed parties we had been to all over the walls, six up lighters around the room which changed colour in time with the music and lots of other little bits, that all added together, by the time we had finished, made the room look great!


After setting up the room it was time to finish getting ourselves ready so Jennie,Guy and myself headed up to her suite for pre drinks of gin and tonic, which later just became gin as the tonic had run dry!

Jennie and i ready to dance the night away!

The whole evening was great! Everyone looked and it was lovely to see everyone had made such an effort with their outfits, and the looks at our efforts from other hotel guests was very amusing! All in all it was a night of great company, great music, an amazingly yummy birthday cake and of course, lots of gin!

i know this picture isn't from Jennies party, but the very gorgeous guy in the middle couldn't be at Jennies party, although he was there in my thoughts and heart.

A rather festive week

It may still be November, but the appearance of the Christmas Coca Cola advert on TV means i can now be excited about Christmas in public, whereas for the past couple of weeks I've been listening to Christmas songs secretly in my room!

So the arrival of festive spirit in our house means i have spent the week making festive cakes with lots of cinnamon and other Christmassy spices which filled the house with that lovely Christmassy smell, getting the tree and lights out of the shed ready to be put up, writing a few Christmas cards and singing Christmas songs on Skype to Smokey. And on top of this my Tesco club card vouchers arrived so I've been deciding what to spend them on (i know this is very sad but literally don't care).

The excitement doesn't end there either, as it's Jennie's 21st birthday party tomorrow! So I'll be throwing on my t-bar shoes and 20s style dress, and once again modelling that oh so fashionable 20s hairstyle Finger curls! Stay tuned for pictures!

Remembrance Day

The weekend of Remembrance Sunday, i was staying in Dunmow, so i attended a service in the street by the war memorial, with what looked like everyone who lived in Dunmow and the air and army cadets. It was a lovely service and it finished with the singing of the National Anthem.

I also attended the Remembrance Day service at my university chapel at Royal Holloway. Unlike the service i attended in the morning, i left this service feeling annoyed and disgusted. The singing of Jerusalem and the National Anthem was not aloud for fear of upset international students. Now before everyone takes out their fury at the international students, I'd like to point out that it was the white, English middle managers who made this decision. No international students had been asked if they would be offended (even if they were though, this is a British country so expect British church services if you come to study here) so these middle managers, really were panicking for no reason as there was nothing to say that they would be offended. The service should have had all the trimmings of a proper British Remembrance Day service, and if anyone was offended then it could be dealt with after- in that they could have been told " well you are in England, what did you expect?"

On top of this, i was also shocked to see the that the majority of choir that would be singing at the service were not wearing a poppy, i think i saw 5 people at most, out of a 20 or so strong choir who had bothered to show their respects and get a poppy!

I left the service feeling angry and let down by the university, a British university, funded by British tax payers but where anything British is omitted just in case someone, who is a visitor to this country, gets offended.

A lovely way to spend the weekend

Having just got back from a lovely weekend in Dunmow with Smokey's mum, it seemed like a good idea for a blog update!

Friday after my favourite lecture, and i mean favourite in the loosest of terms, i jumped on a train and headed for Dunmow to stay with Smokey's mum for the weekend. Luckily i just missed rush hour on my journey, so made it in good time, and without having to stand from a lack of seats at any point!

After being picked up from Stansted we took Woody for a walk, who even though is old and isn't always overly friendly, looked excited to see me (well i like to think so!), and headed to the fish and chip shop to get some chips to go with the salmon we had put in the oven before we left. Feeling rather full and very content after our meal the evening was spent watching Corrie, which seems to be full of scandal at the moment with everyone kissing everyone, and after a long day of travel and work, we headed to bed after the news and a piece of cake and cup of tea we had for pudding.

My wake up call Saturday was Woody barking, so i was up at 8.30. Sleepy eyed and snuggled up in Smokey's dressing gown, which on this chilly morning i was thankful he didn't take to Egypt, i went downstairs for a breakfast of Alpen and orange juice. The plan for the day was a shopping trip to Freeport, and despite the fact i have no money, i was still looking forward to a look around the shops, even if the only shopping I'd be doing was window shopping!

Deborah bought some lovely presents for Smokey for Christmas, and we laughed at the fact that she had chosen a lovely gift for Smokey that i myself had nearly bought for him a few weeks earlier! After a good look around the shops, and a pot of tea, hot chocolate and some complimentary truffles courtesy of Thorntons, we headed home for a lunch we definitely needed! A lunch of pork pie, leftover chips heated up from the day before and some salad was incredibly tasty! Although standing in the kitchen preparing it i was reminded of the summer i spent when Smokey was there, and i must admit i felt a tiny bit of sadness as our routine was missing a rather gorgeous person.

The rest of the day was spent having a nap, getting to skype with Smokey after his Internet was finally fixed, and then later on in the evening making dinner (some very nice sausages from the butcher's) and sitting down to watch X Factor and Deborah teaching me how to Crochet. I went to bed weary after a fun filled day of shopping, lovely company and some more lovely food, snuggling up in Smokey's dressing gown again.

Sunday being the last day of my visit and of course Remembrance Sunday, today was spent paying our respects at the war memorial with the rest of the community in Dunmow, and counting ourselves lucky that we were only enduring the cold of the morning air rather than those who died for us and who we were remembering. After, we headed home for a cup of tea and a lunch of tomato soup and a crusty roll, perfect for the dismal day it had turned out to be, with the raining pattering on the window as we enjoyed a hot bowl of soup.

After Deborah very kindly dropped me off at uni, sparing me of the horrible Sunday train service, and as it is Jennie's birthday, the rest of the evening will be spent celebrating her 21st at Megna and then i'll finish my eveing in my usual way- on skype to Smokey:)

Editing, wine, a lack of fireworks and a 90 year old hairstyle

The British Isles: A Stroll Through Geological Time, is all edited and apart from putting in some music, it is all finished! I am very excited about this I usually take quite a relaxed approach to the editing part of a project, as in i do it the night before, so this is quite an achievement for me!!

It is even more of an achievement since the night before the day I spent editing was lost in a blur of white wine and some very nice food cooked by yours truly! After we walked to the green, only to discover that there was no fireworks display this year, we decided to camp out in the pub and thought it would be a good idea to buy more wine en route back home! Apart from some people being very sick and sleeping in the bathroom, and some people getting upset about missing a certain gorgeous boyfriend, it was a very fun night!

Today was a hairdressers appointment from the past, when I finally donned that most fashionable of 20s hairstyles, finger curls! So my day was spent looking in every reflective surface I walked past and thinking about how amazing I looked with my new, or should I say old, hairstyle!

I finished the day having a meeting with my palaeontology lecturer to discuss my third year project. I won't bore you all with the details, I'll just say that it is going very well and I finally have a method for quantifying for data!

Sealed With A Loving Kiss

When the postman comes i always get excited at the prospect of a letter from my nan and grandad or my Tesco club card vouchers (yes i know it's sad getting excited about club card vouchers!) coming through the letter box and falling onto the mat. But today the postman brought a much more exciting letter, one that feels like I've been waiting forever for, a letter from my gorgeous boyfriend!

Skype calling is amazing, and my daily Skype chats with Smokey are always a highlight of my day, but there is nothing like getting a letter from someone you love, and being able to hold and feel close to the sender, and read the words i love you. It well and truly brought the biggest smile to my face, and i have already written a reply and will go to the post office to send tomorrow.

Sealed With A Loving Kiss.

Musical Obsessions

I go through phases of being completely obsessed with different musicians and bands. First it was the Beatles, Spandau Ballet, George Formby Michael Buble (I'm still slightly obsessed with them) then the Guys'n'Dolls soundtrack and the Moulin Rouge soundtrack, and now it has come around to that time where i fall in love with Einaudi all over again!

As i write this i am currently listening to his album Nightbook, which i had the pleasure of going to the London leg of his tour to promote. To say that it was amazing would be an understatement, it brought a tear to my eye and I'm sure it did also to some of the guys who i went with!

If you haven't heard of Einaudi, i would strongly suggest a visit to YouTube for some musical enlightenment!

And now to get editing!!

My third year science communication project is a geology radio programme celebrating the diversity of geology the British Isles has to offer. After getting all of my six interviews done in record time (one day) i finally got around to putting them all onto the computers in the studio so i can start the tedious task of editing, cutting and pasting it all together again to make, what will hopefully be, a feast for the ears!

All that needs to be recorded is the fillers (my words of wisdom in between the interviews) and i need to get the music for it, which consists of Mendelssohn and Elgar, and it shall be finished!

Stay tuned, will hopefully put some snippets on here as a sneak preview!