Meatballs

I love home cooking, who doesn't?! I am very luck that my mum is an amazing cook, like seriously she is awesome at it, everyone agress!


I love doing new things. It's fun and it's exciting! I also love cooking and therefore love trying out new recipies!.

Thomas and I randomly decided to make meatballs the other night They were yummy!!!! We made them with mince, onions, mixed herbs, garlic and rosemary! Yum Yum Yum!!

We are such fat pies we made enough for four people but ate the lot between us. No wonder im turning into a balloon!

Apparently students aren't meant to cook We are meant to eat take out and ready meals.....yeah we do....doesn't mean we can't try our hand at cooking every once in a while!

Nana's 70th

To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old. 
Oliver Wendell Holmes

My Nana turns 70 years old today. What a mile stone. Looking at her you would never guess she was 70 at all, she is still a wee stunner.

We had a birthday party for her at my aunt Lyns house. It was brillaint, we had the whole family there. We even managed to get in contact with our Nana's sisters who live in Canada and Australia. The Birthday girl was over the moon.

Like I said, she certainly does not look seventy, nor does she act like it. She still loves going to her wee club and getting on the stage to sing, she could also out dance any young clubber any day.

Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. Leroy "Satchel" Paige

I love having the whole family together it give off such a feel good mood.

There was a massive spread of food that everyone had joined in to make and it was yummy. I ate loads!!!! Seriously I gained about to stone, thank goodness I was wearing leggins otherwise I would have burst through my buttons.

The cake was lovely. We knew she would be expecting a nice cake so uncle Michael took charge of that. However, he thought that it was too nice of a cake to put candels on, so we decided to play a little joke. Michael brougt out a plain cake with a candel on it for my Nana, nothing fancy at all, safe to say she had to force her wee smile a little. However, she was delighted when the real cake came out and it was gorgeous.

The grand kids worked together on a present for our Nana, she wanted a new phone, with specific requirements It HAD to be a 'flippy' one, it HAD to have a camera and it HAD to have big buttons so that she could see the numbers she was pressing, My cousins found her the perfect one, not only did it meet all the requirements but it was lepord print and also acted as a mirror. However when she first saw it in the box she did think it was perfume... silly Nana.




We also decided to make her a scrapbook. It had pictires from her childhood, her kids childhood, her grandkids child hood and right up to the present. A poem of hers was also included. She loved it.

Teenage Nana

Nana and Papa's Wedding Day

Happy Birthday Nana.. we all love you loads.
xxx


Leanne x

Scared to Check My Bank Balance

'Money, Money, Money, must be funny, in a rich man's world'

Seriously, the aspect of money is bound to be funny for a rich guy, he just walks up to an atm, checks his a billion figure bank balance, then has a wee chuckle to himself at the poor student beside him who is driven to an emotional breakdown from her own pathetic balance! Seriously I am that student, it’s horrible.

I hate checking my bank balance; I think it is an actual fear! Every time I got to do it I get nervous, my heart beats faster and I have a wee mini panic attack inside. It’s horrible!

Students have it the worse, trying to live our lives before we have to settle down into the working world, get married and have kids. We don't want to be sitting at thirty years old, in a well-paid job thinking to ourselves about all the stuff we could have been doing but just don't have any time for now.  Money only stretches so far. I know we all get loans but then all we have on our minds is the aspect of being in thousands and thousands of pounds worth of debt.

My bank offered to send me a text each time my bank balance went below £100. The smart, money cautious person would have said yes. Me? Well no way did I want that!!! I would freak out once the message came through and then run to the bank machine just to make sure the text message wasn’t lying!

Why can't we all just be millionaires???

Leanne x

Lunch with the Girls

I recently went out for a wee girly lunch for my friend Emma’s birthday. It was great, just chilling with the girls. As I live in a house of mainly boys, and as much as I love them all, it was great to just have a few hours of girly time J

We went to the lunch buffet at China China and it was amazing! I would highly recommend it to anyone, great value for your money as well! Even though we are all girls we had are plates fairly stacked each time we went up, big fat pies we all were! The ice cream machine baffled us all. Poor Patsy had this long white thing hanging in front of her!

                                                                       

The conversation was full of gossip as you’d expect, something which guys would perhaps refer to as a gloriously indiscreet bitch-fest, but no we are nice girls, who feel the need to highlight each other of other people’s business. From music, to boyfriends, teachers and old friends the conversation was hilarious.  

                                                                 Emma and Patricia

When you think of a girly day out and a guy day out, they are somewhat very different. Guys would not be able to comprehend how sitting down for a nice lunch and then going for a wee drink would be exciting and fun. They would see a guy’s day as playing pool, grabbing a burger, drinking beer and betting pints on games.

I love having wee girly catch ups, and I am defiantly in need of them more often!

Leanne x

MTV Titanic Sounds!!!

Friday the 13th... it's meant to be unlucky. Naaaaaaaah, not when you’re about to see Pixie Lott and Olly Murs, live on stage on the same night!

MTV has returned to Belfast to host a night of live music for the 100th year celebrations of the infamous Titanic. With artists like Sean Paul, Katy B, Rizzle Kicks, Pixie Lott and Olly Murs, the 16000 tickets sold out in a flash!!

Any spare time before and in-between the acts were danced away by a DJ, which kept the crowd lively and warm!

Pixie Lott was the first act to perform. I myself, along with many others, thought she should have appeared later on in the concert but still, what away to open the show!.

With her famous legs on full show she certainly made the majority of the boys (and a good few of the girls) a little over excited! She was excellent live!

Rizzle Kicks stormed the stage. These guys really impressed me. They were so good live and ran about like a couple of five year olds on a truck load of sugar!

They rapped out ‘Mama Do the Hump’, ‘When I was Youngster’, and finishing with ‘Down with the Trumpet’ was awesome!!!!! They were super cute too J The wee dude they had on the trumpet was also a great wee entertainer.

Sean Paul claimed the stage next. I’m not generally a fan of his so I honestly didn’t pay a great deal of attention to him. My cousin, however, is a fan and thought that he was great. Suppose I would too, but all I heard coming out of that mic was ‘blah blah blah’ at the speed of light! He also had a weird friend with a strange voice constantly asking us ‘Do you love Sean Paul?!’ Ah, No!!!

Katy B, what an underdog! From what I heard not many people were expecting much from her but that didn’t stop her OWNING that stage though!! Pitch perfect, energetic and a wee stunner, BRILLIANT!! I loved her! The wee ballad she did mid-way through was unbelievable, I wish I could remember the name of it L We were also treated to a worldwide exclusive of her 2012 Olympic song! It was epic!!

Girls screaming, girls crying, girls fainting, that could only mean one thing......Olly Murs had graced the stage. The hype and reaction to him was phenomenal!!! Seriously, his name was being chanted by the crowd long before he came on!! O what a joy he was. The wee cheeky chappy was out in his granda style, singing his heart out. Who ever thought wee Olly from the X Factor would be so famous, eh? Everyone loved him, his dancing was too funny and genius at the same time. At one point he got the whole crowd singing… ‘If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands’ Brilliant!! He was a great way to close the show, with Rizzle Kicks joining him for their number one collaboration ‘My heart Skips a Beat’.

Overall, I had an amazing time! It was an amazing concert!! I couldn't decide who I wanted more, Pixie or Olly? Hmmmm threesome :)

It will be played across all MTV music stations from the start of May onwards. So if you were there, watch it as you may be on TV!!!!!

Leanne x

Leave Students Alone

There are normally two very different views of Students. Some people like to think they are reckless, careless individuals who eat, sleep, drink and occasionally roll into uni when they HAVE to. They think they spend all night, every night, downing drinks, taking shots, clubbing and doing God knows what else.

The other view is that uni students should be mature adults studying 24/7 with a stack of books so high they can’t see over it.

In all fairness, these two types of student do exist. However, everyone seems to forget about us in the middle, the ones that study hard but also party when they can, they one who know the meaning of the word balance!

It’s not surprising that people only view students as either swots or drunks seeing ass these are the only two groups who ever get any attention. Just the other day there was a story in the newspaper of 200 drunken Manchester Students trashing a luxury yacht, drinking heavily, smashing bottles, running around naked and horrifying the other 1000 adults and children on board. This is not a great example of most students; also there is a great chance that this story was exaggerated for the media. Seems that exaggeration and misleading pictures are always used to portray students in a bad light.

On the night of our results in 2010, we were all at Box and our head boy was sitting outside  eating food with a friend, someone took a picture of this and it was on the front page of a newspaper the next day, claiming they were ‘blocked’. Funny when they were perfectly fine…I’m sure there were plenty of people in the club who were drunk but it is unfair that everyone is made out to be like this.

Not all students spend their lives getting drunk and creating chaos, there are even rumours of the government chainging the drinking age to 21 in my eyes that will not work. The level of underage drinkers will just soar sky high and we will have more people wanting to rebel against the system. Most studentsare well behaved and mature, people just like to create something out of nothing in aid of gossip.

Not all students are mental, very few of them are, theres no need to judge them. Just leave them alone...

Leanne x

Return of Steps was Certainly No Tragedy

Any real 90's kid will remember the legendry band that is STEPS!! With Vibrant colours, cheesy lyrics and catchy tunes they were loved by all. My good friend Emma recently went to their reunion tour conert so it felt right for her to me my guest blogger and do a wee review, enjoy..

After a long absence from the UK music scene, hit 90s pop band Steps did not fail to impress on the opening night of their reunion tour in Belfast. Claire Richards, Faye Tozer, Ian ‘H’ Watkins, Lee Latchford-Evans (whose six-pack wowed the audience) and Lisa Scott-Lee finally put their differences aside, delighting the sell-out crowd at the Odyssey Arena.

The night started with a performance of ‘Here and Now/You’ll Be Sorry,’ with the five band members appearing on stage inside glass cases. After welcoming fans old and young, including ‘the new generation’ described by Faye, the crowd enthusiastically grabbed the chance to join in with some of the group’s most famous dance routines. Needless to say, the noise level soared as the whole arena danced along to hits such as ‘Love’s Got A Hold On My Heart’ and the legendary ‘5, 6, 7, 8.’

In an exciting ‘solo section,’ each member of the band performed a song of their choice, with H’s energetic performance of ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ really getting the crowd going. Claire proved once again why she was the lead singer during the band’s heyday, with a stunning performance of ‘I Surrender.’

The most emotional moment of the night came during the group’s performance of ‘When I Said Goodbye.’ Claire, who alongside H was widely blamed for the band’s split, failed to hold back tears as the reality of performing live with Steps once again seemed to hit her.

During a fun-filled medley which included songs such as Stomp and ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen,’ the dazzling costumes took centre stage. The colours were bright and vibrant, adding to the party atmosphere. With countless costume changes taking place throughout the show, the crowd were kept well entertained during breaks by muscular male dancers.

As the show drew to a close, the highly-anticipated hit ‘Tragedy’ was performed. As ‘Tragedy’ was the song that gave Steps their big break, it was only right that it was kept as the final song. It was amazing to see an entire arena join together to perform the iconic dance moves made famous in the 1998 music video.

All the critics who mocked Steps and the idea of a reunion tour must surely now be eating their words. With a number one album and TV series under their belt since the long-awaited reunion, Steps have certainly proved the doubters wrong. I can safely say that the Belfast show was one of the most exciting and enjoyable LIVE concerts I have been to, and I can guarantee that the thousands of men, women and children who were also there would agree!

Emma Boyd

If you liked what you just read, check out Emma's blog. Her main topic is sport and it is a great read :) Even if you aren't that into football check it out anyways and learn some facts that you can amaze your boyfirend/ guy friends with :) http://emmaboydfinalwhistle.blogspot.co.uk/

Easter

Easter is here and it feels so strange. When I was a kid I used to get so excited for Easter Bunny to arrive!  Who wouldn’t love a cute little bunny bringing you chocolate!?

These days however, it doesn’t excite me that much at all. Easter Bunny still brought me some Easter Eggs which was great, but what was missing was the excited butterfly feeling I usually get in my stomach. Seriously the pains of growing up sucks!!!

Like the Christmas Party, my cousins and I gather every year at my nana’s house for a wee Easter celebration. It is always great fun; he always sets us out a wee Easter egg hunt in her back garden. However, normally not all of them are found as she has hidden them so well that she can even find them!

OOOOO look what I found!

What Jenny and I found...

I love times like these when family are all together, as we grow older it’s hard to make time for each other but we ALWAYS make time for these parties!



Wee Macie excited for her Easter Egg hunt!

Anyway, I hope you have all enjoyed your Eater weekend, and had great fun with your family and friends. Try not to eat too much chocolate!.

Leanne x