University has made me a slob.

Happy New Year everyone!

 So, its a new year, and a new decade too! Its also my first post in a very long time. I want to apologize for the irregularity of my posts. I will try to get better with this.

After a rather hectic festive season, I now find myself back at University, with twice as much work to do and I still find myself wishing I could get on SL more often.

I'll log in tonight, to explore, and perhaps hang around the Forum Cartel Hangout, hoping people will turn up who I can chat with.

But first, I wanted to give you a quick catch up on my RL.

I have a bit of good news to share. On December 21st my mother got married. She's pagan, so the 21st was a special day for her. They've been together for a few years, and have been through a lot to get to the big day, but everything went really well, even with the odd hiccup.

I managed to accidentally let the dog loose in the morning, which caused a bit of chaos as we ran around in deep snow in our long dresses trying to find him, but being the funny dog he is, he managed to return just in the nick of time.

They had a small ceremony in the Registry office, with only immediate family, and very close friends, then we went to a local cafe. The owners are good friends and they offered to close the doors and let us have the place to ourselves. She cooked us all a very nice lunch (Normandy Chicken with proper chips - the vegetarians had a very yummy vege curry) and we all sat with my mulled wine and wassail, took lots of pictures, they cut the cake, and then waved them off to their honeymoon in York.

It was a very happy occasion, and when I saw them again on Christmas Day, I could tell my mum was over the moon. I think he is definitely the best thing to happen to her in a very long time. I'm wishing them many years of happiness together.

Christmas was very nice. I only spent a couple of days at home, which was a good thing. It wasn't long enough for any arguments, or disagreements, so it was a very happy few days. I got to see my sister, who I miss like crazy, and my grandma cooked the best christmas lunch I can ever remember her making.

I cooked a not-quite-Christmas dinner for a few friends at my flat at University, which was a very good night. Lots of booze was drunk, everyone stuffed themselves silly on very good (if I do say so myself) food, and we played Buzz, which is a quiz game on the playstation.

I went to a house party on New Years Eve and got roped into playing a game of Articulate, which has now become one of my fave games. We stood up for the countdown and sang Auld Lang Syne - which noone knew the words to. we took a break for playing the Wii, and went back to articulate - which didn't finish until 4am. A fantastic way to welcome in the New Year.

I haven't made any New Years Resolutions this year. Everytime I do, I manage to fail them, which makes me feel bad, so this year there will be no feeling bad.

I seem to have settled into the student lifestyle good and proper now and I'm loving every moment of it. I'm living off pasta and pizza and bowls of sugary cereal - when we have milk in. My life revolves around sleeping and lectures, and everything is done at the last minute. I always seem to have booze in the fridge, even when there is no bread in the cupboard, and the kitchen looks like a bomb has hit it. My bedroom is so messy that it looks like I've been robbed. Yes, I've turned into a student slob.

I'm planning on doing some cleaning tomorrow, since I seem to be the only person who notices things need tidying up, and I might even get some baking done. It all depends on how late I wake up tomorrow.

Last week I made Banana Muffins - I'll try and post the recipe in the near future, along with my recently discovered toffee sauce and the Cherry Chocolate Brownies I made for Christmas gifts.

I've rediscovered my twitter page, so I'll probably add a sidebar widgety thing to this page if I can find one.

Finally, I want to share some more fairly big news. Some of you might know that I was thinking about studying in America next year. Well, I handed in the application form this week.

If I pass this year and provided (once I get hold of the complete cost rundown) I can afford it I will be studying at South Dakota State University next year. If it all goes ahead I will be travelling over (on my own :-S ) this August, and staying until May/June. I'm hoping there might be a chance to get an extention on my student Visa so I can go on a bit of a tour of the US, since I've dreamed for so long of visiting and I want to see my family.

Ok, well I think thats it for now. I hope you all had a great holidays :-) I'll probably be back later after I've had a wander in SL to share if I find anything, or managed to take any cool piccies. If not, I'll try not to stay away so long next time ;-)

xxClairexx

(Images are from Free Digital Photos: Image1 Image2)