My Ultimate Life Goals!

Hey All!

Lately a lot of of things have been going on in my life that have lead me to rethink things, what I want to do, who i need in my life and so on; blogging is a great way for me to get my thoughts in to some sort of logical, sensical order, so this is why I’m doing my ultimate life goals post. I’ve never been the type of girl who dreamed of being famous, I never wanted fortune, flashy houses, or loads of fans falling at my feet. When I was a young whipper snapper I didn’t even want to be a princess *shock horror*. I wanted to be a genius, maybe a great pianist or be fantastic at playing clarinet, I just wanted what everyone wants; to be able to live normally and earn a good wage in a job I love. Obviously the genius thing hasn’t worked out so far but I’m doing great in what I’ve chosen to do and my ultimate life goals have changed so much over the years i can’t even attempt to plan anything or set any goals in stone because nobody knows what life will throw at you. So, after a long an arduous introduction on my part (sorry for that) These are my, current, ultimate life goals!

Get through University with a decent grade - I think this is pretty common goal for most students at uni, I've given up on trying to be the A* student mainly because I'm pretty atrocious when it comes to exams. Unless my uni course is going to be all coursework like a BTEC course I'll be over the moon coming out with a C grade to be honest! 

Financial Indepencende - This is something I've always wanted, I hate the thought of having to depend on a partner or family member for financial support, from being young this has always been one of my main life goals. I think it's also important to note that finding a job that I love is very high on my priorities list, I spent so much time hating school and sixth form that I do not want to hate the job I end up with. Regardless of pay, in most circumstances, it's more important to find a job I love than anything else but for the moment I'm enjoying my college course and flip flopping between jobs I might want.

Get Married - I think it would be absolutely wonderful to find someone, fall in love and get married; it's not an essential life goal for me but it's more of a 'ideal world' type goal. Also one of the other main reasons I'd love to get married would be purely to plan the wedding because I LOVE event planning. 

Have Children - This is a top of my priorities list to be quite honest. From being very young myself I've always been  quite maternal, always known I'd make a good mother and as I've gotten older I've only gotten more sure that I definitely want children at some point. I'm also quite resolved about the fact that at least one (preferably my first) of my children should be adopted, I've very strong opinions on adoption but that's a matter for another post. So children are definitely a priority. 

Be Happy - Finally the only think I would really like in life (other than children) would be to be happy. Happiness is so important in life and life without it isn't worth a damn if you ask me. I want to get out there and do fun things, spend time with family and good people, take impromptu road trips, dance sing and generally live. Being happy is my main focus and priority at the moment and I believe more people need to make the effort to be happy, see the goodness, fun and positivity in life more often. 

Thanks for reading everybody and I really hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know some of your life goals, I’d love to hear from you!

Love Katherine. X

Post Break Ramblings

I'm back baby!

Hey there everyone, as you al know I've been away for a week or so, this was just a really short break because I had a bit of work to do for college this week and I was panicking about getting all that done as well as trying to make time for blogging, it's just wasn't doable and unfortunately I can't just take a break from college, so I've been absent for a while, and I'm sure you've all missed me very very much ;). 

So, here's a little update about what I've been up to. Last weekend I made a point of getting as much work as possible done so I would have this week as pretty free, I managed to get everything done quite well and pretty quickly. So, I ended up relaxing for the rest of the weekend and finishing a couple of my favourite stories in the Skulduggery Pleasant Armageddon Outta Here book, this particular favourite was 'Get thee behind me Bubba Moon', a fantastically frightening little story I must say, not unlike the Salem's Lot type storyline. On Monday it was pretty normal, Tuesday the same and that was when I got the news that I didn't have to re-do my last assignment as I'd achieved the distinction criteria thankfully! Since then my week has been free but I've been spending quite a bit of time with friends. On Wednesday it was my friend Annie's birthday (Annie of mockingbird vocals.blogspot.com) so I went over with her pressies, we did make up tutorials together and were generally girly which was so much fun. We did a bit of singing together and I also helped her set up her blog that I help with in the day-to-day running, I also set up her boyfriends blog (pausefordthought.blogspot.com) although his is still pretty sparse post wise I'm sure it'll be up and running in no time. Oooh also on Wednesday night I helped Annie dye her hair a lovely shade of blue! It looks very mermaid-y and I really enjoy dying or watching people have their hair dyed, no idea why. 

Thursday I was back at placement as it was as wonderful as ever, I've fallen in love with each and every one of the children there and the whole team have welcomed me right into the fold of their little family as though I'm one of their own and I'm also getting much more responsibility whilst I'm there which I'm loving, I've mentioned in previous posts that I love children and I love working with children so I'm in my total element whilst I'm there. 

Now, yesterday was definitely the highlight of the week because me, Annie and Adian (her boyfriend) went down to Whitby for a day out! Whitby is my all time favourite place to visit and I'll be posting on the later on in the day so watch out for that post! Due to the fact that I'm posting al about that later of I shall keep this really brief so as not to giveaway some of the details. It was a brilliant day and I couldn't have spent it with better people. 

As for this weekend I'm ill AGAIN! So I'm going to spend today and tomorrow getting my blogging back on track reading and catching up with The Voice UK! Thanks very much for reading and I hope you're all having a wonderful week!

Love Katherine. X

Last Week Summary and This Week's Plans

Hi All!

This post is a little late as I usually post it on a Sunday but I wasn't in the blogging mood last night so I ended up reading instead... unforgivable I know. Anywho, as many of you will know last week it was half term for those of you at college or school or whatever, and for most people it's a lovely time to rest and relax... not for me this time. I thought I'd been busy at college lately but I haven't had a minutes peace this week. No rest for the wicked I suppose. Monday and Tuesday were spent attempting to get an assignment done, it wasn't a particularly difficult one but I had to explain to job roles in the children's workforce, 4 pieces of legislation that affect looked after children and evaluate regulatory bodies al in 1,000 words; for me that was like climbing a mountain because I really struggle when it comes to writing a little about a lot, you've probably all gathered that I tend to babble quite a bit.

So, those two days were literally full of research and coursework from the minute I got up to the minute I went to bed, no lie, it was a thrilling 48 hours, I can tell you that for nothing. I had planned on spending Wednesday just relaxing and reading or cross-stitching something that involved me not moving and drinking lots of tea. Well, that didn't work out, my elderly uncle came over on Wednesday morning and I offered him a lift home so he wouldn't wait for the bus in the rain. I was about 1/4 of the way there when I was pulled over by a massive tuck, the driver got out and told me I had a flat tyre, this came as a bit of a shock because it must've gone down during the night as I had planned to take my car to the garage to get a slow puncture fixed in the tyre on Thursday, it happened a day earlier anyway. When I checked it, it was pretty bad so I thought I'd get myself through to the garage right away, which I did. In the waiting rom for 20 minutes before the mechanic came in and asked me when my last service was, September last year and everything came back perfect. No, no, no, no. Turns out all of my tyres were below the legal limit tread depth and my break pads were over 95% worn, which is not exactly safe. My usual Richard Hardie garage in Durham had either not checked my car properly (important to note it's not even 2 years old yet and I had been twice about brake issues before!) or they'd given me correct info. So I ended up going back to the garage on Thursday and having my brake pads changed and all 4 tyres changed. That took up Thursday too. Friday I went to a house party with my three closest friends and ended up having an extreme fun night in which funny videos and pictures were taken. I completely lost Saturday to sleep to be honest which was much needed after Friday. With all my work finished and myself recovered from Friday's antics I was determined to read all day Sunday... No. i had at least 7 people from my college class asking me what to do on this assignment despite the fact it had to be handed in today (GO NERDS). Lord knows why people leave things so late. So I ended up spending my day on the phone to people explaining it properly. No reading done again. I must apologise for my very long rant about my week haha.

This week is really short, today and Tuesday is college and college is closed on Wednesday for staff training so I'll be getting my cute butt down to work and spending sometime with the kids there on Wednesday and Thursday! Eeek very excited for it :)

I believe I'm going for a meal on Friday with a friend from college and no doubt I'll organise something for Saturday to keep me occupied. I'm very hopeful that this week I will actually get some reading done haha!

Thank you all for reading! I hope you're all having wonderful weeks and had a fab half term!

Love Katherine. X

Weekend Summary and Next Weeks Plans

Happy Sunday everyone!

I hope all is well with you all today? Yes? Awesome. This week has been an odd one to say the very least, jam packed with Valentines Day reminders and plans with friends. As per usual I started my week off my getting up at 6am everyday for college, as if 6am even exists it's far too early. Anyway, Monday my class did the CPR training session for people within the college and we managed to get around 140 people trained in hands only CPR, it was oodles of fun, some girls in the class dressed up in fancy dress, others were manning the free cake stalls, we had the Vinnie Jones 'Stayin' Alive' DVD clip playing on repeat on one stall and some music playing on another while me and 3 other girls were stationed each in front of an Anne doll (dolls used to simulate CPR) I was teaching child CPR. There was also a baby/infant CPR doll which was interesting to watch how it's done on a child. That was fun, also me and a good friend made extremely impromptu plans to go swimming on Monday night which was great, I absolutely love swimming and it was such fun to go; we also ended up going on Tuesday and Wednesday night too so I'm thinking that I'm going to add Monday and Wednesday nights to my exercise plan, as I'm still sticking to that resolution. 

Thursday I was back at work with the children which was as lovely as usual, I absolutely adore it there and I can honestly say I never expected that I'd love it as much as I do. That's got me thinking about having my own children at some point in the nearish future, but for now I'm quite happy looking after others' children. Friday I wasn't feeling my best so I stayed home and tried to get an assignment done that I've got to do over the half term, I had a mini-meltdown over that because I'm struggling to cut my work down and there's a 1,000 word limit on the report part and I always write far, far too much. NOTE TO SELF: Work on that. 

However, I've given up on that and I ended up reading Skulduggery Pleasant Death Bringer which i hope to finish tomorrow. Yesterday I went out for a meal with a friend to a restaurant in Durham called Sambuca which was lovely, me and my friend had a three course meal each (starter, main, dessert) a soft drink and a coffee all for £14 which was in my opinion really great for the quality. I'll definitely be going back there. Today I'm chilling again with my book and some Disney films later on.

Next week is pretty eventful, I've made plans to clean my filthy car tomorrow which is a pretty big job considering it hasn't been cleaned out since Christmas Eve 2014. I'm also going bowling on Tuesday with a friend from college and her boyfriend/his friends for her birthday which I'm really looking forward to, Wednesday I am going to start that assignment have to do and Thursday I'm at work then over to another friends house as it's his birthday and me and his fiancée are planning a little party with one of our friends to come up and have a house party type affair the next day. Friday is also a half day at work too which I'm looking forward to. Next Friday another friend is coming up to see me and two others for that house party which I'm extremely excited about as it's always a great laugh when we are all together. I swear I am doing nothing when it comes to the weekend though, I'll be exhausted after this week haha.

What are you all up to this week? Whatever it is I hope it's fabulous! 

Love Katherine. X

My Future Tag!

Hey everyone! 
I've been thinking loads about my future lately considering I'm starting to gather info on the Uni I want to go to, writing my personal statement and thinking about having children because I'm working with them and I've decided a good way to get my thoughts out would be doing the future tag, so here we are. There's 10 questions and I will answer them as honestly as possible and in as much detail as I can muster today (I'm feeling kinda lazy). 

1. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? I see myself working as a social worker managing fostering and adoption, a couple of children, hopefully I'll own my own home and be married or at least be in a relationship with someone I truly love.  
2. Do you want to get married? I would really love to get married at some point, I've practically planned my whole wedding down to the last detail. I've even picked a colour scheme, ivory and deep crimson as they're two of my favourite colours and I think they look really elegant at weddings. 
3. Do you want to have children? 1,000,000% yes! I've wanted children since I was a child myself but I'm hoping to have my children in my early/mid twenties. Unfortunately I may not be able to have children naturally but I've always wanted to adopt at least one child so either way I'll definitely be having a baby at some point. :)
4. Do you want to move? If yes, where? I've said in a previous post that I'd love to live in the country, maybe in Scotland or Ireland, I'm a home bird so I think if I move I'll make sure my family move too or I'll say where they are. 
5. What would your dream house look like? I don't think my dream house would be anything flashy to be honest. I like the idea of having a house thats big enough for all the family and a couple of annexes for my parents and grandparents to live in so we can all live where we want in the country but still have space. I'm a neat freak so it'll be neat and tidy all the time. 
6. What is your dream job? My ultimate dream job would be to own my own successful bookshop or private daycare/nursery. However I am quite content to settle for being a social worker managing fostering and adoption. 
7. What are 5 things you want to do before you die? In no particular order, I want to have children, I want to see my family happy and content, I want to own my own home, preferably own a bentley (they're my favourite cars!) and I want to visit Ireland.
8. Are you scared of the future? I'm not scared of the future, I'm more scared of running out of time to do the things I really want to do. 
9. What's your biggest dream you'd like to achieve in life? Some people might lath or scoff at this but I want to be a good mother to any children I have and make my family proud of me in whatever way I can. 
10. What would be the ideal age for you to die? I don't think any age is ideal to die. I just want to enjoy every single minute I have left.
I tag everyone to do this, if you read it have a go!


Love Katherine. X

What Have I Been Up To?

My night is sorted!

Hi All!

I haven't posted in a while now and, once again, I'm very sorry about that but I've had so much going on right now I literally haven't had any time to myself at all. 

I mentioned few weeks ago that I'd started my college placement working with children in a local daycare centre, well I've been there almost everyday whenever I can simply because I love it there so much. I've fallen in love with a couple of the children there and they're practically my best friends whenever I'm there and oh gosh they're so adorable! I initially started going more often to get my hours up quickly as I need a minimum of 100 hours before placement ends, I wasn't too keen on the place to begin with but I think that was because I was nervous and slightly intimidated but now I feel right at home each time I go and I'm being given more responsibility which is wonderful. Also I've been offered a job later in the year once a couple of girls leave which I'm so excited about, I'll definitely be snapping up that position mind!
I went on a date with a friend (non-romantic) I met at a Sunderland Uni open day last year which was nice as I haven't seen him in ages, although I doubt it will be happening again soon because of both of our work/college commitments which is a shame, I'm glad I got to meet up with him thug because when we're together it's a right laugh. 

Also I've had a few things to organise with college, as a student representative for my class I've been running around helping my tutor organise parents evening, attending meetings as there have been a few serious bullying issues I've had to report, thankfully they've been sorted now, I'm extremely stubborn when it comes to out college's bullying policy. Also I did a reading/demonstration session with some people in my class who might want to study health and social care too. Finally at college, as well as trying to get all my assignments sorted I've been helping my tutor arrange a campaign to train as many people as possible in hands only CPR which will take place at my college on Monday morning/afternoon, I think it's a fab way to raise awareness about Heart Month and also it definitely will help everyone involved out on their CV and personal statements. :)

So, as you can all tell it's been pretty hectic this week and probably will be until next Wednesday (half-term) but I honestly think I'd be lost without having lots to do, I'm a pretty active and practical person to the more I have to do during the week the better. 

Now it's the weekend I am definitely taking the time to relax and have some much needed me time; unfortunately I'm poorly again (what is wrong with me at the minute?!) so I'm in bed at the moment tying this up although I have a lovely evening ahead planned, my grandma is making me stir fry for tea and I have Ben and Jerry's Phish Food Ice Cream for later. My candles are ready to go, my hot bubble bath is running with my lovely lush smellies, and my onsie is laid out ready for me, as is a damned good book to read. So after I've written this post I shall be off to enjoy my evening and I hope you all are too! Hopefully I will have a couple more posts out these next few days, if there are less than usual I'm probably with all those adorable babies at work!

Thanks for reading and thanks for sticking around even when I was less than active on my blog this week! Have a lovely night all!

Love Katherine. X

Weekend Summary and Next Weeks Plans!

Hi everyone!

This week has been much busier than usual as I've had college and work, which although it has been lots of fun, has been very stressful. 

So this week I got results back from my last couple of assignments and both were fine so thankfully I didn't have to re-do any, but our class was given 3 different assignments to do, two of which are pretty heavy and we need to start referencing all of out information which is a pain in the neck to be honest. Out of the 3 assignments I managed to get 2 done within a day which I was really pleased with because it's given me this weekend off before I have to start my new assignment tomorrow evening. That was Monday through to Wednesday, I also had my first day of work/placement on Thursday which I was really apprehensive about becauseI haven't done childcare is a very very long time so I was pretty worried about that. I shouldn't have been because the whole day was just wonderful, I even ended up working on the friday from 7:30am to 6:00pm, the atmosphere at work is just so relaxed and all of the children are adorable and really easy to look after, I was even offered a permanent part time job there! I'm definitely taking that once I get my NI number sorted properly which should be roundabout August. 

So the week itself had been pretty busy and unfortunately I've not had as much time to blog although I am doing my best to blog at the very least once a day. 

This weekend has been all about relaxing and unwinding. I'm a major stress head and I've been struggling with the amount of things i've had to do lately, my tutor tends to rely pretty heavily on me to direct the class when she isn't there and she's been off a bit this week, so if any of my classmates have needed help they've come to me and it can be pretty hectic sometimes. This led me to thinking that because my last proper holiday was in 2012, that I should probably think about booking myself and maybe a friend a nice short brea  sometime in February or March just to get away for a while and really get ourselves well and truly chilled out. Basically, this weekend has consisted of me listening to Celtic Woman, Carrie Underwood, reading my favourite books and looking for holiday cottages around the Cornwall or Devon area, I've found a very nice one but it's £183 for 3 nights and 4 days which isn't exactly in my budget just yet although I'm definitely going to geek somewhere if I can't book that right away. 

Next weeks is hopefully going to be a bit slower than this week as again I have college Monday through Wednesday and work on Thursday. Tomorrow I'm meeting Aymie for coffee and starting any and all assignments I get tomorrow to make sure that I stay on the ball with them all. I believe that set of the week is just college stuff, reading and hopefully I'll manage to get out to Waterstones on Friday and buy myself some lovely new books!

So, that's m week/weekend in review and my plans for next week, what's everyone else up to or been up to this week? Thanks for reading. 

Love Katherine. X

Work Placement Hints and Tips: Making a Good Impression

Hi All!

Recently I've not had much time to post anything on this blog so for that I have apologies, as many of you will know from a previous post I'm currently studying Health and Care at college (and loving it!); well after three months of settling in, getting used to assignment formats, making friends and quickly grabbing myself the student representative position for my class, I can finally say the part I've been most excited about has finally arrived. Placement! From day 1 all of us on this course knew we would have to do at least 100 hours of practical work experience, excluding simulation ward time, so all the girls in my class have not stopped talking about where they would like to work and how excited they are. It's a really exciting time for everyone, particularly the younger girls in the class who have just finished year 11 and are being thrown into the world of health care work.

Well today I visited my place of work placement  for a taster and it was fantastic! Some of my peers have gone to residential care homes, GP surgeries, Primary schools and day care centres for severely disables and vulnerable people. Where did I go? Well I get to work in a local Butterflies Day Care Centre for babies and children between 4 months and 3 years old, and admittedly it was a difficult day dealing with 23 young children with no official training and 2 other staff members on hand but WOW it was such fun! Before the fabulousness of today got going I and the rest of my class was extremely nervous to start work placement, one girl was convinced an old person was going to beat her with their walking stick! So I thought it might be helpful to make a short post on how to deal with first work placement nerves and the best way to make a good first impression on your employers.

1. Introductions - It's always a good idea to introduce yourself a few days or even a week or so before you first start work, this gives the impression that you're enthusiastic and eager to start work positively. Get yourself acquainted with whoever it is you'll be working with so it doesn't seem as scary on the day.

2. Induction - Usually your place of work will give you an induction the day you begin work but its always a good idea to ask a few days before you first go. This will help you get to know your way around, and you should find out about fire procedures, fire exits, bathrooms, staff rooms, lunch rooms and so on.

3. Questions - On your initial visit to your place of work it would be helpful to ask any questions you need to know, what do you wear? Who do you report to? What happens in an emergency? What time do you start and finish? What is the lunch and break situations? Make sure you cover everything you can think of so you are completely prepared for the first day.

4. Look Smart - Obviously placement isn't a fashion show and you really don't need to look like a model but looking smart and professional with help give the right impression to your employers and clients you'll be meeting. Often employers will ask for black trousers, leggings or knee-length skirts/dresses if they're modest, along with pumps or appropriate heels. Depending on the work you may be given instructions about how to wear your hair, for example, because I am working with very young children and babies I was told to tie it up so it cannot be pulled.

5. Get There Early - Getting there early shows that you are alert, prepared, willing and eager to get started and you'll definitely make a good first impression if you're punctual!

6. HAVE FUN! - It's really important to stay professional but remember while you're getting your experience just enjoy the time you have, it is an experience after all and you are bound to meet some lovely people and learn valuable skills from your time. 
I hope this has helped someone out there. 


Love Katherine. X