It's not like it's a chore or anything...

I honestly don't get why I find updating this bloody blog so difficult. I think maybe because I get so wrapped up in reading other peoples blog and muttering my opinions to myself (though not in a psycho way...) that I forget that I have an outlet. Well, here goes it again I rather suppose. Currently I'm about to have some well deserved down-time with my cat, green tea and a lovely jubbly documentary on the evolution of rooms. That actually sounds kind of boring, but it is in fact rather fascinating seeing the slow transgression of necessity based rooms evolve into what we know them a today.

In TV related news, I'm going to be updating up my drama page. Once that's done, feel free to leave me suggestions or comments on what I should/have watched! Besides dramas, I would like to get into make-up reviews and now that I have upgraded cameras my picture quality should go up rather exponentially! I'm also going to be updating the 100 things page...

I do hope this is in the slightest of ways somewhat coherent, I'm typing this up whilst enjoying "Bad Boy" by Big Bang. I cannot accurately describe how much I love that song. Out of curiosity, has anyone listened to all of TVXQ's new album? I find I'm slowly coming around to really liking slower/ballad-esque songs and, while the album has many club songs, there a few on it that are really good. Till next post!

Late but not forgotten!

                The title is also the opening line so please insert that here as well. Done? Good, now onto the content! This post will have about 12 picture by the way (in case you were looking at this on your mobile, both my blogs have been formatted for that- though I only know how it looks for the iPhone, sorry!). I won’t bore you with the details of the airports, flights or hotel (ours was directly across the street from the resort).

 So, day one! Once we finally got into the resort (there’s two gates you have to go through which was a bit confusing the first day) I dragged my dad in the direction of the signs that were taunting me with what was to come. He wanted to look at the other parks, but I was getting antsy because Hogwarts castle is on a hill so you can see it looming over everything from the entrance of that area. It was excruciating-we got lost twice and then dad stopped to wander down this little promenade thing that was super close and cut across to the Jurassic Park area so I had to content myself with looking at this-

patience paid off!

But then we finally got there and I was greeted with these wonderfully topsy turvy buildings! Hogsmeade! It was wonderful, even though I was sweating  and the rooves, they had the soundtracks from the movies playing through Hogsmeade. As soon as you come through the gates you're greated with Hogwarts Express which would make gentle whistle noises and even blow steam! Right from the start I was impressed with the attention to detail. You could even meet the conductor (which I did two times but I have a better picture of that on day two)! Everything was wonderful, but all that walking and sweating in the Florida heat (my Canadian acclimatised body was freaking out, the type of heat we get is more humid and not so dry) made the perfect excuse to get some Butterbeer! An excuse I used quite a lot now that I think about it...

Convinced my Dad to try some Pumpkin Juice- in the Three Broomsticks they also served Pumpkin Fizz (which we didn't get to try)

It wouldn't capture on camera but they had a video an with effects it really did look like a moving poster of Sirius, same clip from the movie!

There was a moving and screaming mandrake root in the shop window, I found it precious but others seemed to find it tiring

Brought along Philospher's Stone, we went after the last movie came out so I thought it would be poetic- the beginning at the end. Ignore me and my sentimentality...

I also saw some Pumpkin Juice in the cold compartment on the side of booth and convinced dad to get some. I only wanted to try some but ended up with the lot- he thought it was too sweet! This coming from someone who grew in England spending his pocket money on sweets-for one of his birthdays I made him a full pie sized & extra deep Bakewell Tart with fairly sweet jam and he ate it in one sitting... My verdict of both- freaking delicious, give me more! The Butterbeer was rather sweet (which I liked but others might not?), but also really tasted of butterscotch AND THE FOAM ON TOP TASTED OF BUTTER WHICH SOUNDS KIND OF GROSS BUT AJOSHDKIZBDD HAPPINESS. Just to reiterate is was really quite delicious. The Pumpkin Juice I think would have tasted nicer warm (it was essentially apple cider with a bit more spice). They also had Pumpkin Fizz at the Three Broomsticks, but I had already ordered some Butterbeer by the time I saw it on the menu and couldn’t convince dad who went straight for lemonade. I imagine that would taste nice, mainly because I liked the original flat version. I do know someone that tried it and didn’t like it, but really enjoyed the Butterbeer, so who knows what you might think of it…?

I also made my first proud purchase there! Being the lovely and generous person I am I bought two postcards- one for a friend who has never been (all our other friends have) and one for my cousin (who also hasn’t been). You can get them stamped with a Hogsmeade insignia (you can also buy stamps and have them mailed) so I got both postcards done.

Forgive my stupidly tired face and lack of makeup, it rained everyday so I saw no point in putting any on

I forgot to mention, when you get Butterbeer you can either get a plastic cup or a stein that says Butterbeer. The stein was kind of expensive (don’t remember because dad actually bought it for me) but they consider future drinks ‘refills’ so there's a discount. Now that I'm home and unfortunately I have no Butterbeer to keep it happy I thought I’d make a use for it and keep pencils in it on my desk.

While I didn’t go on any rides that day (the best ride lurking within the depths of Hogwarts castle, the exquisite beauty that kept catching my eye), we certainly made up for it the next day.

Till the next post!

My house's beautiful banner in the Triwizard Tournament area!

Livin' tha thug Uni lyfe

      Now that my first semester is winding down I finally have a bit of time to myself & to blog! I've been working tirelessly to ensure that my marks are up to scratch to be able to apply for the London 2012 semester at my Uni. I'll write up the posts I promised about WWoHP + my American shenanigans in Orlando and set them to post over the next few weeks. I'll also do some more '100 things' and general update posts~ I feel like I finally have things to talk about and ideas to discuss so please stay with me :)

     Also, on the advice of my mum, I've started a new blog about all the performances I attend (I see at least one ballet every year with the occasional opera or play) entitled "The Knob blog". Yep, mum came up with that crackin' name and I made the blog 5 minutes after! I'll be seeing Romeo and Juliet this Saturday (it closes Sunday) and although I don't know how to properly review performances I'd like to not only keep a record of all the wonderful performances I get to see but also try to offer a less formal review for people who are unsure about seeing a play/opera/ballet/etc. Going to these places or even talking to my friends I realise that a lot of people my age don't even think about attending these things- and although I understand that they sometimes are rather expensive a lot of places offer incredible discounts for students. Maybe it's just me but, I think it terribly unfortunate that students don't take advantage of discounts, even if it is only once a year.

   Now that I've championed the arts (how befitting that at Uni I'm in College of Arts!) I'll leave you with a link to the new blog (I'll still be posting on here still, if that wasn't obvious) and the knowledge that I'm editing pictures in Photoshop and typing up my memories of Orlando. You guys will get that content and I will stop be lazy should probably not promise that so fervently.

http://thenobbyblog.blogspot.com/

Let me remind you that it is still under construction, please be gentle!


****Edit: Seen as though I just about update this blog I've decided to delete the aforementioned new blog and just post everything on this one till I get into the flow of things****

Cassi's Great American Adventure 2011

Even though I got back into Canada Thursday (the 4th) afternoon I haven't posted anything- the reason being I don't actually have any pictures with me on my camera (my dad has them all, naturally, as his camera is the nice one and he is the one that did photography at art school). I will be getting them this weekend though and will post them over the next week or so, this post is just a teaser for what's to come! By the way, dad and I had a 3 day pass to the Universal Resort and then 1 free day for whatever before we came back to Canada.

• Wizarding World of Harry Potter day one = discovering Hogsmeade and all it has to offer-including looking into the many shops and trying my first glass (plastic souvenir stein) of Butterbeer and Pumpkin juice (verdict in future post)
• Wizarding World of Harry Potter day two = walking around Hogsmeade again, meeting students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang (and finding some fellow Whovians in the most unlikely places!!) plus more Butterbeer (guess my future verdict post has a bit of an obvious outcome)! And of course going into Hogswarts and going on the Forbidden Journey! As well as eating at the Three Broomsticks like a proper witch and trying another version of Butterbeer (and what will my verdict of this one be you wonder?)~
• Wizarding World of Harry Potter day three = Triwizard Tournament fun, hearing the Frog Choir perform, dad and I taking full advantage of the 'singles' line in Hogwarts (wait till you hear how many times we both went on the Forbidden Journey!), seeing a wand demonstration at Olivanders and nearing the most insane roller coaster in the HP section- the Dragon Challenge
• Visiting the Kennedy Space Center (centre centre centre) and seeing the Star Trek exhibit

Well, that's what will be coming to this blog in the next week, hope you'll stay tuned! Now I'm off to take my dog for a walk and then enjoy a peach, read some blogs and try to come up a plot for a radio play I'd like to put together.

More of 100 things!

(~this is a schedule post that hopefully has worked out~)

Part III is here!

1. Enjoying the garden on my balcony (I planted everything from seeds and it's surprisingly gratifying seeing it come to fruition~)
2. Sherlock Holmes (Granada, BBC and of course good ole written word canon!)
3. Libraries (the only time my mum's ever lost me was in a library- I got distracted by some encyclopedias on mushrooms)
4. Reading by candlelight (I know it sounds dreadfully hipster and it does get your eyes after a while, but it's a lovely experience- and I've already got glasses so there is point in trying to save me eyes)
5. Little notebooks (I kind of collect them...)
6. BLTs. Wut? Bacon is delicious.
7. Caleb Landry Jones. Seriously, you should hear his music~
8. Fresh from the dryer comforters. Seriously, what's better then nestling down into a lovely smelling plushy warm blanket?
9. Having good tv shows on DVD. Ads really irritate me...
10. Christmas. I like food and pressies. But I don't think many people don't :)

A day in the life of

(~this is a scheduled post that hopefully has worked out~)

A bit of babble about things that are nice-

1. Sherlock (BBC version)
2. Ginger and soy salad dressing with lettuce grown in my garden
3. Grimm faery tales
4. Long painted nails
5. Typhoo in my Doctor Who mug

Just some things that have been a part of my summer life recently :)

After so much time, I wonder, would you still remember me?

Uuuuur, so I got lazy and haven't blogged in ages, but hey ho! I'm here now! I'll definately be having some interesting posts in about two weeks on account of me heading off to Orlando, Florida for one week- next week! My Dad and I are planning on staying for 5 days and visiting The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (we'll be staying on the Universal Studios Resort) and Disney World~ I'm actually getting quite excited as I've never been to either places! So stay tuned for Cassï's Great American Adventure 2011~ I've already started to drink pop (I've never been a fan and at the risk of being dreadfully stereotypical, I'd rather not have to feel uncomfortable drinking water I feel uneasy about when I could just drink pop in lieu of). I'll also have a go at a scheduled post or two!

Continuing on with 100 things!

Here's Part II!

1. Bright pastel coloured nail varnish for spring
2. Fall (for the beautiful colours and the variety of clothes one can wear)
3. Winter (for stepping on frozen leaves and watching the snow sparkle as well as spending time with family and cooking and baking huge meals)
4. England. it's always great to go over and
5. Watching one of my good friends play Pokemon. She really gets into it.
6. When my dog sneezes. It's really cute! Don't judge...
7. Watching British comedies in my mum's bed with a warm cuppa
8. Listening to my granddad talk about his life (maternal)
9. Listening to my grandma talk about her life (paternal)
10. Hearing the birds outside my window and wondering what their life is like

Now I'll take my leave eat the choccies my mum's trying to give me.

Catching up isn't so hard to do...

Enjoying my last day of freedom from school (which really isn't as bad as I'm sure it sounds) and trying to figure out what I want to do with this blog. I follow a lot of fashion blogs & well... 'slice of life' blogs? Pretentious sounding, really, but that's the simplest way to describe some and have come to the conclusion that fashion blogging really isn't for me. Not that I'd really posted anything relating to such, but for future reference I won't really be talking about such things. Instead I will be talking about food & books. & languages. & telly. & perhaps music. & other things I find interesting.

So, we'll see (or read, rather) where this goes. & seeing as though I got into my top Uni choice for the programme I want, there will be a lot (can I stress A LOT) of reading, writing and studying of languages. 5 to be exact. English (Majoring in lit), German (minoring in German studies- so excited for some of the courses & opportunities included in this), Old English (you may want to consider this similar to English, but it's not. As in you wouldn't be able to understand probably around 95% of what is being said unless you took a course. Now Middle English, that is Shakespeare &ct so that could be understood), Latin (I am doing English lit) and finally, but certainly not least, I would like to continue my studies in Japanese. We'll see how that goes because I read on the site that the German classes have daily quizzes to make sure you're retaining everything. I may or may not come out the other end of this degree with broken tear ducts from crying and a life expectancy of 25 from stress. But I want my Ph.D & that means doing an Undergrad first! That & my parents would disown me if I didn't do some kind of higher education- rightfully so, though! I would be the 3rd generation Ph.D by the way- not that that influences me. Much. Seriously though, what an achievement!

I also want to be somewhat involved in student life and would love to take part in the archery classes and fencing classes (and maybe some of their martial arts classes, I got a decent belt in Karate). Maybe even some clubs to liven things up a bit. I'll also be reconnecting with a certain friend that moved away and will hopefully be attending my Uni as well, so busy but exciting times await! But this post is getting texty and I want to update some of the labels, so, till next time! Which won't be to far away from last time. Having a spare period when you've taken intensive courses apparently doesn't mean you have the time to blog except for when you make the time. So here goes.

Pile o' pages

Typing this as an old special of DW plays out and definitely feeling the love. Lately I've been feeling apathetic, generally disconnected and lonely (rather sad, non?) and have decided to throw myself into a bit of reading to try and combat this. So, I've picked up a copy of Animal Farm (dubious thing to read about given the mood but hey, I don't mind a bit of Orwell) and have once again cracked the spine of my copy of Wuthering Heights (...wow, my choice in books is interesting). I've also decided to compile a list of things I want to do before I die (also a bit morbid) as a way to clear my head a little and see where I want to go in life. Well, mildly depressing post is mildly depressing-and a bit short, but hey ho! I've got eggs to poach with gob loads of HP sauce to drench them with, so, till next post!

PS. Just found out that PBS has a YouTube account where they have full episodes of some of their series! Now on Episode 2 of The Last Enemy starring Benedict Cumberbatch (they reason I thought I should watch it, not going to lie) and also has Robert Carlyle. Defos worth a visit to poke around and see what else they have! I sound a bit like an ad....