Snow cold!

Yesterday was cold. 

I mean really cold! (It even snowed!)

After a morning of revising I headed to Carmarthen for the Scarlets U18's trials. Although I was only there to watch this time as I'm out with an injury (trapped nerve in my back). It was very weird standing on the side lines as my friends and team mates trained. As the weather was so cold and rainy people were literally turning blue! I'm not even joking. For that reason and for the reason that the pitch was so boggy they had to call off the trials/training half an hour early! I can honestly say even though I had two pairs of sock and wellies on - my feet have never been so cold in my life and I've been to the Ice Hotel in the Arctic Circle!!! 

I've been playing rugby for nearly three years now and I absolutely love it! I play for both Carmarthen Quins U18's and for my region which is the Scarlets U18's. I have also represented my country in the Wales U18's Women's squad just a year and a bit after starting to play the game. I love the physical and both the social side of the game and I think that it's good for people to do something out of school so you can interact and meet new people and make friends with people that you don't see everyday. The opportunities I have had through the game of rugby are incredible. From playing for the Scarlets (which we have supported since year dot)  playing for my country against England in Guilford,Surrey, training in the Centre of Excellence in the Vale in Cardiff (where the internationals train) and meeting rugby heros of mine such as Sam Warburton and Jamie Roberts and of course meeting people from all over wales and making new friends.  

Here is one of my favorite pictures of me playing rugby from a game I played just before christmas with my club (Quins) against Newport at home in Abergwili.

 I scored by the way! 

We're bakin' a cake brotha'

Last Saturday I baked a cake for Owen's birthday.

What I thought would take like an hour took more like 3! I followed Nigella Lawson's (what a woman!) Devil's Food Cake recipe! We took it up to Aberystwyth last Sunday when we went up and visited him and I had a piece. OMG the dark chocolate icing and centre was magnificent! Even though I only had one piece because after all I had made it for my brother and I left it in his flat so him and his friends could eat it  - it was delicious! I don't think it was because I made it (well maybe!) I think it was just down to Lawson's incredible cake recipe skills! 

So as promised here are the pictures of the cake making process (which was so messy it made my new blue and strawberry apron brown as a result of the masses of dark chocolate!) and the finished product. Enjoy! 

Yummmy! 

Why hello there!

Over the last couple of days I have been sooooo busy. 

My exams are nearly over. I am incredibly nervous for the results already as an university place depends on it! So that's what I've been doing for like 5 hours every day is 

revising, revising, revising. If you've read my very firs posts you'd see that that is what

I've been doing for over a month now - just revising. It really does stress me out - big style. So to kind of release the huge bundles of anxiety and stress that build up inside me I take Hendrix for walks. So as you can imagine I have been going on so many walks recently it is unreal. It's weird really because it really does work - exercise calms you down. Even though I've known this for a while as when there are no exams, I have rugby training twice a week along with a game on Sundays as well as hockey training and games with my school and county. I know that all of this training helps me relax about my huge bundle of school work that just keeps increasing! So yeah I love exercising for the fitness, feel good factor, socializing, de-stressing and for competitive reasons. I think it's good to be involved in sports as well as school as it helps you to organize and prioritize. 

I'm sorry if I've bored you with my stressed out talk! 

So I'll get you up to date with recent going ons. 

Last Thursday (18/1/2012) I interviewed First Minister Carwyn Jones which was kinda' crazy! Let me just say I didn't interview him on my own I interviewed him as a part of the BBC School Report as I am one of four Editors in the project. It's cool really that he took time out of his, what I can only imagine is a 'busy schedule!' running a country to talk to us and be so patient. So, Diolch Mr. Jones! 

Monday I had my A-level English literature exam! I was (again) so nervous! My hand was literally trembling when I was opening the paper, but soon i settled down. By the time I finished (we had 2 1/2 hours) my hand was so sore! The exam was on Chaucer's 'The Wife of Bath' and Shakespeare's 'King Lear'! I hope I did well! 

Over the past couple of nights I've been on the laptop discovering new (to me) and awesome music which I'll update you on in another post with my top 10 songs of the moment! 

This is a picture of me and the Welsh rugby captain - Sam Warburton! Woohoo! 

Best Friends for ever and ever . . .

Late last year my Mam and Hendrix went on 

a little walk with one of my best friends - Carwen's - mum and 

their dog Romeo! 

As you can see they hit it off!

This is quite strange actually because whenever we take Hendrix

to a place where there are other dogs he seems

to just go on the attack! (In a nice way of course!) It's like he

has to be suspicious of every single dog - Like a ninja!

However, he has seemed to cool down lately. 

I guess that comes with age and he's now the grand age of 

5! 

Notice that Hendrix is on a lead! 

He doesn't listen to mammy and daddy when they call

for him. So in till then he'll be on a lead for all

of his walks! 

Pen Blwydd Hapus!

Yesterday was my brother Owen's birthday.

He was 21. 

Some facts about turning 21 - 

1 ) You can get married without parent permission (In The US)
2 ) Drinking age in the USA
3 ) You can gamble in the USA
4 ) Cows graze in the wild in groups of an average of 21 cows

Number four is my favorite even though I'm not 

a great fan of cows.

The others don't really apply to us, the citizens of the UK, 

as we can do all of the above (1-3) at the age 

of 18. 

Yaaaay - I love card games so lets go gambling! 

(Is snap a gambling game?! If so I'm there baby! Got to love

a bit of snap. Although on occasions the pressure

is just to much and I yell snap at the most random

time even when my hand is no where near the cards or when someone places

a 10 of clubs on a 2 of hearts!)

On second thoughts I think I'll just stay on the slot machines!

Owen and I when we were around 8 & 5 respectively at
the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff watching Llanelli take on Ebbw Vale!


Yesterday we went to Aberystwyth (where he's in Uni) and had a
light lunch at Spartacus. (forgot my camera!)
I also brought him the chocolate cake I slaved over
saturday afternoon! (Pics to come!)
And by the way it was delish - and I'm not the only one that said so
Mam, Dad, Owen and his flatmate said so also!

So all in all a good day.

Pen Blwydd Hapus

Olympics 2012.

So I guess there are (at the time of writing) 

187 days in till the London Olympics of 2012.

Last October I went with my school 

as a part of my Geography A-level course to London

and to visit the olympic park

in the East End. 

Also on this trip we went and saw

The Lion King on the West End - AMAZING!

(Which by the by was quite a random thing

to be doing on a Geography trip! But I aint complaining!)

Before we came home we also ventured to 

the new Westfield shopping center in Stratford. 

It was huuuuuge - so huge we had 3 hours

to spend there and we only 

got round to visiting around 4/5 shops! Or maybe 

that was just us spending ages in Forever 21!

The report of our trip was featured in this month's 

school monthly news letter. 

Here it is. 

Outside our hotel - which had the most extraordinary view of the Tower Bridge!
I'm somewhere in the back right of this photo - I think you can see my hair!  

Just Chillin' by the Olympic Stadium!
From Left: Cerys, Me, Savannah, Nicola, Bethan, Ruth and Matthew. 

  X

À Paris

Yooooo 

This summer I hope  to see Severine! 

(My friend from Paris)

I haven't seen her for . . .

I think more than a year! So am looking forward to it. 

We met quite randomly around 3-4 years ago when she attended

a summer school in town and 

she needed a place to stay. As my mum knew the people 

organizing the whole thing she came to stay with moi. 

Here are some pics of when I went over to stay

with Sev and her family. 

Lovely supper with Sev and the Fam in Paris. 

Crusing along the Seine. 

Just chillaxin' outside the Ritz

Disney land! Whaaat!? Mickey mouse hot chocolate cups! Whaaat!?
Cool. 

How to make a bed around a dog.

If you have one lazy dog who doesn't care

for moving when you're actually trying to make a bed. 

Then this guide is for you. 

Step 1. Grab yourself a dog and a bed

Step 2. Place bed sheets over dog when attempting to but duvet in the sheets. 

 Step 3. Air the sheets and make sure the duvet is in the sheets properly by continuously throwing the duvet in the air. 

Step 4. You're mission is complete and you're in possession of one proud and smug dog.

Guess what . . .

. . . Sunday was a beautiful day also! 

Yaaay for sunny (but very cold) crisp and fresh days! 

Sunday was a day of revision, revision, revision. 

It was also a day of reading the sunday papers in the shiny sun and 

blue skies. 

It was also a day of searching for flights to the USA. 

Whaaaat?!

(Oh and a day of doing an hour of ballet related pillates in the living room

with my new exercise dvd - 'Barreworks exercise with the ball' - OUUUCH!)

P.s it was also a day of the final episode of the new series of Sherlock! Arghhhh it was AMAZING! 

Pp.s it was also the day of the final of the Lakeside Darts! - Very exciting times in our 

household!

Good Glorious Mornings!

Saturday morning was so b-e-a-utiful. 

The sun was out for the first time in ageeeeeeees! And Mr.Frosty-man

frosted Mr. Frog of garden fame. 

Just wanted to share the beautiful crisp winter's morning with you!  

Yummy . . . I've got love in my tummy!

I'm a big fan of baking and cooking in general 

and last night I decided to cook

me up some vanilla cupcakes complete with pink vanilla

icing!

Personally, and according to the parents, they were

delish! I think this baking has come 

as a result of watching to much of the 

Great British Bake off! 

Splish, Splash Henz was takin' a bath . . .

Yooooooo

So yesterday Hendrix and I went for a walk once I 

came home after my first (of four) exams. 

It was such an awesomely beautiful day and the country side looked

great!

That's one great thing about living where I live.

I know that we're far from all the shops and it takes forever to get anywhere

but you can just walk out of the house and clear your head

in the peace and quiet of the fresh air. 

As it's been so rainy over the past couple of days the roads

were covered in mud and the hedges were just

like sludge. Hendrix was well 'appy about this!

His little legs were covered in mud so there was only one thing 

for it - BATH! Not one of Hendrix's favorite things!

Vote for me . . .

Yooooo

So the other day I received a letter through the post from the local council. 

It was a letter notifying my that they are registering me so that I 

will be able to vote as soon as I turn 18! 

For me this is quite exiting!

Although it does kind of worry me as I know some people of

my age and even a year or two older that

are not really fit to vote on anything really and especially not

the future of our country! 

I believe that it is incredibly important for us

{especially us girls} to use our vote wisely as so many women and men

fought to have the rights we now take for granted in the 

21st Century. So vote people and vote wisely! 

      

Lights, Camera, action . . .

Yoooooo (:

So I'm back in school and my exams begin on thursday! Arghhhh! It's an English literature poetry and drama exam - 2 and a half hours of it! I'm actually looking forward to it in a way because as soon as I'm finished with my exams I can relax and I'm going on holiday!

Last week on friday morning I went up to town in order to do some filming for a welsh childrens news programme called Ffeil. I also did some filming with them at the beginning of the year because my friend - Carwen- is a platinum ambassador for sport in Ceredigion and they were interviewing her about the 2012 olympics.

Here are some pics {which i took off of of my TV} of the last time I was filmed for Ffeil with Carwen.

Swansea, oh Swansea . . .

Bonjour

Yesterday I decided to have a day off from revision and joined my mam and dad as they went car shopping in Swansea . . . If only I had £100,000 in the bank I'd be soooo incredibly cool driving around in an Audi R8 V10 - the definition of 'OMG SO LUSH!"

Before making the journey back home we decided to order a Vietnamese take-away from the Uplands area of Swansea. Let me just say it was AWSOME! I'm a big fan of Asian food in general. Be it chinese, Indian, Thai . . . but we never have take-away asian food apart from, on occasions, Indian, because my mam is a very good oriental cook. 

Even though the place was a bit out-dated and was incredibly small and possessed no mod-cons, I have to say it was one of the nicest meals I have ever had. Thanks Vietnam of Uplands Swansea. 

X

Dear, It's time for tea!

Shwmaaae

So, yesterday I decided that I wanted to go into town and have something to eat. We decided that we weren't really in the mood for lunch so had tea instead. When I say "tea" I don't literally mean drinking tea, well not for me anywho as I'm not a big fan, I mean some cake! We got to town and ran some errands then eventually when it came time to sit down and have some tea nearly everywhere was closed! I guess that's what you get for living right in the middle of the country side! After deciding to go and buy a cake from the bakery and take it home we remembered about one little place. Y Pantri is a small cafe in town where you feel like you're literally in some old persons kitchen in that it takes a while for the food to arrive, but you don't mind because you are constantly entertained by the people that are in there and the conversations they are having! 

I had a lovely jam and cream homemade scone which was warm and melt-in-your-mouth yummy! 

x