The warped world of women.

There's sometimes brief moment's in my life when I think that it would just be easier to have been born into the male brotherhood. Then I usually come to my senses and remind myself that being female is just far too much fun. 

Women are without a doubt the strangest and most complex creatures on Earth. We laugh, cry, scream, cry, eat, stress, laugh, cry some more, whinge and then cry even more throughout our lives and we can be somewhat bi-polar characters in every day life. Well I know I am anyway. It never fails to amaze me how we have the incredible ability to be on such a high and then ultimately turn into a raging bull in the space of around 5-6 seconds.

We spend a good 75% of our time bitching with our fellow sisterhood about the opposite sex and how 'inconsiderate' they are.. however I can't help but feel that sometimes they put up with A LOT. I always find that if one of your friends has an argument with their other half, you can't help but gather and discuss how this male has overnight become the new Judas of this day and age. We're harsh and we know it. 

One thing in particular that I find women are experts at is the modern art of stalking. Whether that's on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or in extreme cases driving past their houses (which I am shamelessly guilty of) We know every thing and we are everywhere, you poor poor sods. We have this incredible ability of A) finding out your life story in less than 5 minutes B) catching you out using dates, specific times and overall taking advantage of your stupidity and finally and most importantly C) finding out the A-Z of your new girlfriends life. Which may I add could be the loveliest of humans but we'd still find fault and ultimately dislike her. You don't stand a chance against us, we know everything.. and if there's something that we don't know we probably will within a few days of hard grafting. 

Secondly we over analyse EVERYTHING, that includes the kisses that you put on the end of a text message (yes we're that sad). If you usually put 2-3 and you send 1 we will undoubtably question this within 2 seconds and in some cases get rather shitty about it. 
We let our minds wander on a daily basis and a good majority of us always have the future in mind rather than the present. If we meet a good looking fellow and there's potential for a relationship it's extremely hard to resist changing your surname in your head to theres, choosing your marital home location, what date you'll marry and what you'll name your first born. Slightly crazy you may say, but it's just the way we're programmed.. We plan ahead, a lot.. 

Something else that I feel is essential to point out is that we are forever going to be waiting for Noah Calhoun aka Ryan Gosling to turn up on our non existent porch and declare that he 'wrote us' every day for a year. Boys you don't half have a lot to live up to. I also feel that I should state that if you do not intend on taking us out on a lake, in a small wooden boat and then suddenly declaring that "It wasn't over, it still isn't over" then you are indeed fighting a losing battle i'm afraid. If you find yourself needing inspiration on how to go about 'wooing' a lady, then just watch The Notebook, coincidentally with a notebook and pen and take some serious notes. 

Lastly, when we're all dressed up and looking all very glam and well groomed, please don't ever think that it was an easy task. It was a female military mission. We do not just throw on some makeup, slide into a dress and give off a natural sunkissed glow, it's bloody hard graft. 
Fake tan is done the night before to ensure best possible results, hair is gently pre-curled, nails and toes are precisely painted, eyebrows are perfectly groomed and plucked, makeup is delicately applied to the best of our abilities and above all else we've usually nearly gouged our eyes out in the attempt to stick the dreaded fake lashes to our eyes. (which may I add is one of life's most patience testing of tasks!) 

We're crazy ladies and granted not every woman is the same but secretly we're all guilty of one of these things ^ 

Oh and a wink ;) is never just a wink it's either an invitation or a suggestion.. or in some cases a suggestive invitation. You know exactly what you're doing.. cheeky bastards. 

Lucy ;)
x

Life

Sometimes life just seems to get on top of you. We worry about the stupidest of things, we panic that we're skint until payday, that there's not enough hours in the day and at the moment I just feel like i'm just having a few things to worry about! 
Since my University interview nearly a week ago i've become a tad obsessed with checking my emails. It just feels like it's taking forever for them to get back to me, i'm expecting the worst and anything other than that is a bonus! 
When I went for my interview for Liverpool John Moore's University, it was one of the most nervous experiences I think i've ever had. I think it might have been because I wanted it so badly, which is quite odd for me seeing that i'm not usually one for being 100% sure about something. I always knew that I was going to love the city but to say that I fell in love with it would be an understatement. This is what now makes it ten times harder, i'm literally praying that I get in otherwise I will be well and truly devastated. 
Obviously I really want to become a nurse, but the idea of studying in Liverpool just makes it even more exciting for me! 
Fingers crossed (X)

Secondly on my 'Lucy's Worry List' is my new diet. A few days ago I started 'Herbalife'. A meal replacement diet that focususes on eating foods high in protein. I'm actually starting to enjoy it now but if i'm honest I am finding it hard to adjust. I'm the type of person that just can't see how drinking a milkshake can class as a 'meal'. However I am determind and i'd never just give up after a few days. 

Apart from that life's not too bad. Sometimes it's just better to write things down, I find it helps a lot! That's that then I guess. 

Lucy 
x

I love my job!

Since starting my current job in May it has well and truly opened my eyes to so many things. I've always had a 'caring nature' and I guess I always knew that i'd eventually work in care. Even now I can't believe that I even got the job, I was so so nervous and had zero experience with caring for elderly people. Thankfully they must have seen that I had potential of some sort and I truly am forever grateful that i've been given this opportunity. 

I currently work for a large American based care company that provided elderly people with an outstanding level of care. It's seen as the best that money can buy and lets just say that it's far from cheap, the building itself is so impressive, even now I look around and think just how lovely it is. 

I started working upstairs with people who required minimal assistance and although I thought it was lovely, it wasn't quite right for me. After five weeks I was asked if I wanted to try working downstairs on 'Reminiscence', a secure unit for elderly people suffering with dementia and other mental health issues . I reluctantly agreed and admittedly was so scared and anxious to be there, I'd never had any experience with mental health and even the thought of it scared the life out of me. 

My first day downstairs was a blur of challenging personal care, strong characters and a somewhat fear of never knowing what someone was going to say to me. That was the day that I completely fell in love with the place. I knew within an hour of being down there that I was there for good and that I was only going to love the place even more. 

Skip seven months and I still love it as much as ever. I'm extremely lucky to work with such an amazing bunch of people and people that I know for a fact will be friends for life. I've met some of my best friends there and as a whole we're more of a family than friends (that includes my lovely residents!) I try and convince myself sometimes that I'm not totally in love with the place, but I am, I really am. I've developed such an amazing understanding of dementia and have experienced first hand not only what it does to sufferers of the illness but to their families that still desperately cling on to the person that they used to be. It's such a cruel disease and it's heartbreaking to witness someone forget every aspect of the life that they once used to know and love. It's hard not to get incredibly attached to some residents and you can't help but feel like you have lots of lovely adopted grandmothers and grandad's. It is such a rewarding job and I feel so blessed to become a part of the their lives, a life in which you are such a big part of, due to them not being able to remember their once most precious of family members. Even though i'm hoping to go to University to study nursing this year, I will forever be truly grateful and honoured to have been given the opportunity to become a part of my residents lives and to have met such amazing friends along the way! 

Lucy 

x

The stresses of a girls holiday.

I'm around 95% sure that the whole 'booking a holiday' process is one of the many things in life that truly tests our patience. I'm saying this because i've virtually been glued to my laptop since 11am, that's almost 4 hours of solid holiday searching! 
It's never actually occurred to me since today that searching and booking a holiday is just another great stress in life. I used to judge holidays as a whole purely based on the size of the hotel's pool, unfortunately things aren't that simple now! 
This summer i'm hoping to go abroad with 3 of my closest friends and although the idea of that is of course exciting, it will without a doubt bring many heated discussions.. 
We all seem to have very different idea's as to where we'd like to go but of course we'll have to compromise seeing as Lauren has put her foot down solid on going anywhere that doesn't have 'a bit of culture to it'. I have to admit I almost agree with her, although her 'fantastic' idea of going to Barcelona was met by my speedy reply of "Uhhh i'm not going to bloody Barcelona" I like a bit of culture but walking around a city on a sightseeing trip is not my idea of a 'relaxing holiday'. Sorry Lau, it's a resounding no. 
Charis however is keen to go on the ultimate 'girls holiday' which basically means one of the following: Magaluf, Ibiza, Ayia Napa, Kavos, Malia or her personal fave Zante. This of course is met by Lauren's "I don't care, i'm just not going somewhere like THAT where every other person in Britain will bloody be". She has a valid point. Poor Rachel however is about as laid back as they come, we could talk her into a holiday to Outer Mongolia and she'd agree and being the girl she is, still make the best of it! 
I'm still painstakingly flicking through pages upon pages of holidays that quite frankly confuse me a tad. Do we want all inclusive? Half board? Self catering? What star hotel do we want? How much do we want to spend? What about passports? Airports? Insurance? Suitcases? Getting to and from? Spending money? - it truly is enough to just say "bugger it, we're not going." However the search must go on! 
I've got a feeling we'll end up going somewhere like Portugal or Tenerife, somewhere that has the perfect mixture of everything.. and somewhere that for Lauren's sake doesn't run the infamous boat parties. We both agreed that we'd throw ourselves overboard if ever in that situation (so i'm guessing that's off the cards) 
We'll find a solution i'm sure and i'm pretty sure we'll all be able to compromise in some way. The best place to discuss it is in the pub, drink in hand, notebook at the ready.. so that's the plan for next week! 

Happy Holiday Hunting! 

Lucy 
x 

The world of blogging / 2014 ambitions

Right this is it, and yes i've said it countless times in the past but this is truly it. I've always loved the idea of blogging but due to utter laziness and always worrying about having a lack of things to say, i've never done it. I've always felt that blogging would be hugely beneficial to me seeing as I'm an avid list maker, doodler, note writer and all around lover of all things writing. I guess a blog is sort of essential for someone like me.
I'm not promising that i'll blog every single aspect of my life (i'd probably bore you to tears anyway) but I will however try my very best to blog about the good things in my life. The things that make me laugh, the things that I love and ultimately things that I can look back at in the years to come. On that note New Year, new 'blogging attitude'. 

I'd be lying if I said that 2013 weren't good to me, yes I had rough patches and those pesky tricky mishaps, but that's just life and you can't expect it to run as smoothly as a babies arse all of the time. I made amazing memories, visited places that i'd always dreamed of and most importantly I feel that I really grew up in 2013. As cliché as it is I really found myself last year (says everyone) but i really did. I learned that with a positive attitude and a good ol' sense of adventure that I was able to do just about anything that I set my mind to. 
If the truth be told I used to be borderline petrified of being anything more than a stones throw away from home, but now i'm not so scared. 

I've got huge plans for 2014 and some of which may even be a little bit too grand and ambitious but bugger it, i'll give it a go anyway. 

Here's just a few of my ideas that i've jotted down: 

• Go to Magaluf with the college girls (completely out of my comfort zone but i'll give it a shot, plentiful shots.. shots of vodka no doubt!)
• Go on holiday in the Summer with Lauren, Charis & Rachel 
• Have a weekend in Amsterdam (a tarot card reader told me I had to go!) 
• Drive down to Brighton 
• Go camping with friends 
• Stay in a cute cottage somewhere 
• Do something drastic with my hair
• Stick to a healthy diet, lose some weight and just keep active 
• Get some tattoos (well overdue)
• Get a puppy 
• Hopefully get into Liverpool John Moore's University to study Adult Nursing.
• Adding to that ^ Move away from home 
• Start saving for my Australian Adventure
• Book a last minute trip to New York around Christmas time.
• Continue to enjoy every second of my current job
• Take way more photos! (cannot even stress this enough)

And finally..

• Continue to appreciate every little thing thats just so right with my life. 

Lucy 
x