What's For Dinner?

So I'm quite a keen baker/cook. Not always a successful one but certainly a keen one. I can't always make things quite as extravagant as I would like given a certain lack of finances but I do like to make an effort, try new things and I definitely have my favourites! Today I thought I'd take the time to explore my favourite food blogs and YouTube channels and perhaps introduce some of you to a few new ones.

> Half Baked Harvest

Can I start by saying how much I wish I had Tieghan's life! I mean you just have to see where she lives! That aside Tieghan creates truly delicious food. You can rely on her to create tasty healthy eats, my favourite comforting winter foods as well as all the naughty treats and desserts you could want! She posts something new pretty much every day so there's no way I'll ever be able to cook everything of hers that I want so I shall have to make do with drooling over my keyboard! If you only check out one of my suggestions please please PLEASE make it this one!

> Sorted Food

Now I have already dedicated a small blog post to these guys so I won't talk about them too much. Just know that they're one of my favourite food channels on YouTube currently. They make a wonderful mix of videos (main courses, desserts, treats, food challenges, you name it), their recipes are easy to follow and the presenters are wonderful to watch!

> DeliciouslyElla

Would it really be a food blog post without mentioning Ella? (Although I feel I am possibly cheating a bit since I'm not entirely sure this can be classed as a blog?) I'm not at all vegan or vegetarian and in fact I'm probably far from as healthy as I should be but I am working on preparing healthier meals and as such DeliciouslyElla provides the perfect starting place. She does have some wonderful recipes but for me what Ella provides most of all is inspiration. After a quick scroll through her recipes my willpower and determination to eat better for my body rushes in and I vow to make salads for dinner the rest of the week!

> Jamie Oliver

I love Jamie. End of.
No not really end of. Jamie has been a long time favourite for so many reasons. His recipes vary from simple and delicious to a little more complicated show stopping pieces. His channel features these recipes so you can cook along with Jamie as well as guest collaborations, tips and tricks for your cooking. He also has a drinks channel for parties, weekends, hard days, easy days (wait I'm not an alcoholic I swear!)

> Broke Ass Gourmet

Poor student. Cheap, delicious eats. Need I say more? Other than; very charismatic author nope, no further explanation required.


I would really love to know some of your favourite foodies! Obviously I haven't branched out very far with my selection. To be honest I'm a bit scared of finding too many wonderful recipes. I simply can't cook them all! Can I?

Now the tough question is what to have for dinner!

xx
nzunigirl

August Playlist

I feel as though I have deprived you all of some excellent music whilst I have been once again absent! I am half tempted to do a first half of the year round up. But I won't. I'll simply give you the playlist I currently have and we'll pick up the usual rhythm again in September.
This is probably an odd list. Half is slow and I guess slightly soulful to suit the miserable weather outside. The other half is poppy and upbeat to combat the winter blues. I guess pick your mood?


Haunted - Maty Noyes
Heathens - 21 Pilots
Run Baby Run - The Rigs
Poison - Felicity
We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off - Ella Eyre
Wrong - Max ft. Lil Uzi Vert
Shipwrecked - WoodzSTHLM ft. Ji Nilsson
Cherry Lips - The Katherines
Comfortable - Lauv
Insight - WRENN (This girl has such an emotional voice! I love it)
Free - Broods
Thief - Alexander Jean
Oceans - Coast (This song makes me want summer so incredibly badly!)
Around - Russell Elliot
Gemini Feed - Banks
Paraffin (Acoustic) - Meadowlark

As always follow me on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/user/morganc08) I'll probably be listening to lots of dance music in an attempt to dance myself warm!

xx
nzunigirl

To try and to fail?

- 21
- flatting for 3 years now
- can cook
- almost finished the degree
- keeps the house relatively clean, buys toilet rolls, occasionally cooks vegetables and has insurance
- adult?

wait a second; adult?

I remember being probably 16 and thinking about the future, as I am prone to do, and imagining myself to have finished my degree, be on my way to a successful career in a field related to my degree, healthy relationships with both friends and a boyfriend (lol), travel plans underway etc. etc. etc.

Have I achieved any of these? Well I suppose I do have a good group of friends, in fact I have a great group of friends and when we all manage to get our busy schedules to line up we have a great time (money allowing)!
As for the rest of my expectations; am I a failure for not meeting them or were they just entirely unrealistic in the first place? For a long time I felt like I was a failure. Every time I struggled to pay rent or bills or get together enough funds to feed myself I had no idea how to pluck up enough courage to go to my parents for help. I felt like I had failed for not being able to afford the things I needed.
Finished my degree? Nope, not yet. Changing my mind throughout my degree put me behind; both temporally and financially. And to be honest, I'm not even sure how much I like my degree. Am I going to use it? Do I want a career relating to ecology and biodiversity and a minor in history? Either? Neither? Do I want a career in something wildly unrelated such as politics. Ok, definitely not politics but perhaps still something unrelated to anything I have learnt during my university career.
Currently I am doing childcare a few days a week. I used to work as a telemarketer but the downsized and now I'm close to not even earning enough to pay rent and bills each week! Jobs are tricky to get I've found. I am under-qualified for anything requiring a degree, given that I'm still finishing off one paper for it. I'm also overqualified for most of the entry-level, minimum wage type jobs. It seems employers are a bit scared I won't hang around for long once I get my degree, which, to be fair, might happen. So I'm not left with a lot of options. I do look for jobs and apply for lots of jobs each week don't get me wrong, but if you know of anything suitable let me know! I don't really want to give up my childcare job since I love the family but sometimes needs must! For now my parents are helping me out financially (I'll be able to eat properly this week!) despite how much of a failure it makes me feel. My dad says I'm too young to have total money worries and I suppose I am incredibly grateful!
Travel plans of course rely on my financial situation so currently they are non-existent :(
So based on my original list all I am managing to achieve is healthy relationships with my friends (I won't even mention the boyfriend aspect lol).
Is it fair to say I'm a failure based on this list? I think not. 21 year old me has a much better understanding of the world than 16 year old me (and probably a more cynical view) and thus I think a review of what I am achieving in life is in order. Knowing what I now know I don't think I am a failure but given the word count I am sitting on I think I won't delve into that today!

If you've manage to stick with this mildly depressing post I applaud you! I really encourage you all to look at your life and to reevaluate your goals and achievements. Things change, the world changes and you change! It is entirely unfair to beat yourself up over things to set out to achieve even a year ago! So take some time to realise that the only way you're a failure is if you label yourself as one!

Love yourself!

xx
nzunigirl

I; disappointment.

Is it safe and right to call this a fail? I mean a little over a month is a bit of a fail isn't it. I have once again disappointed myself with my lack of blog posts for A MONTH! Yes, it's not as bad as my previous hiatus's (hiati? How do you spell that) but I would like to sincerely apologise for my absence and once again make (empty) promises to try harder.
I had grand plans to make many Christmassy themed posts, and with only two weeks left until the big day I should sign off this apologetic post and get started on something with actual, interesting content!
xx
nzunigirl

p.s. along with my blogging fails I wrote a total of 1237 words for NaNoWriMo. November was not my month,

NaNoWriMo

Greetings!
Just a short one today sorry...

For those of you who don't know NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and the aim is for both amateur and professional authors to write a novel in a month (fairly self explanatory right?) It's a legit thing with a website and sponsors and an organisation which works to provide everything they possibly can to make your writing process easy. Each region has a representative who organises writing meet ups etc. and provides extra motivation. Basically it's the best possible month long writing event!
Anyway this is probably my fifth year now of wanting to participate (but every year previous has been too busy with school exams) and I'm finally doing it!
Although when I say finally doing it I haven't even started yet and I am five days in! It's been a struggle finding a premise I want to run with. All previous writing attempts start great but fizzle out a couple thousand words in. The longest book I've ever written was about 40,000 words if I remember correctly, but not even halfway done.
I'll keep you updated (i.e. let you know if I even start! which I hopefully will!) but I just thought this post might inspire some of you who need that extra nudge to start your bestseller!
Is anyone already participating or has previously participated? Let me know in the comments!

xx
nzunigirl

October Playlist

*Usual can't believe how fast the month has gone. OMG it's almost Christmas. Yay for Christmas but wow where has the year gone*

Let's get into the music.

Ok so its been a while since I last wrote one of these which means there's a lot of great music I haven't had a chance to die over! So briefly I'll let you know what I've been loving the most over the past few months.
Firstly Halsey! This girl is just my ultimate goals! Can I be her/ her bff? Also can I have her voice? And her eyebrows!!
Also I've been listening to the  Harry Potter soundtracks whilst I've been studying and it's been great! I love classical music for studying to but sometimes it gets a bit boring so somebody suggested movie scores. And of course I chose HP!! Also I can pretend to be Hermione and really get into my study :P

Ok so onto music for the past month:

Hello - Adele (obvs... Queen!! Can't wait for the album!)
On My Mind - Ellie Goulding (also Queen! also can't wait for the album!!)
Something In The Way You Move - Ellie Goulding (I wasn't sure if I should include all of her new singles but I couldn't pick my favourite!)
Lost And Found - Ellie Goulding
Army - Ellie Goulding (ok so this is my favourite but I still love the others too!)
Alive - Sia
Me & My Girls - Selena Gomez (I love her new album, I sort of didn't want to but it's really really good! I limited myself to top three for this list though)
Hands To Myself - Selena Gomez
Kill Em With Kindness - Selena Gomez
Hide Away - Daya
Love Me - The 1975 (This sounds so.... retro? I guess? I dunno. Its quite different but I love it! haha see what I did there?)
How I Want Ya - Hudson Thames, Hailee Steinfeld

As always; follow me on spotify (https://open.spotify.com/user/morganc08) and I'll catch ya next post!
xx
nzunigirl  

My Mad Fat Diary

No this isn't my mad fat diary. Given my blogging track record we all know I would be terrible at keeping a diary. I just wanted to quickly have a chat about the incredibleness that is this E4 series.

To quickly summarise for those of you who haven't seen it the show centres on 16 year old Rae who suffers from a mental illness and is constantly battling it. Rae is overweight, under-confident and struggles to fit in. When she returns from a four month stint in a psychiatric hospital she struggles to hide her problems and fit in.

Told from Rae's point of view the audience is provided with a real insight into Rae's world and her issues. The cliche's that typically appear in any show centering on a mental illness barely rear their ugly heads here and instead we are presented with a beautiful, sometimes all too real look into the self-confidence issues that plague many people today. As we follow the story, Rae (and us as an audience) soon come to realise that everyone is battling their own demons.

The story is about more than self-discovery and self-acceptance. It does more than promote positive body images and self-loving.
For me the show helped me come to terms with the fact that it is not a burden to tell your friends your troubles and ask for their help. Rae feels like she's alone but  she has a solid group of friends who were always there for her if she only went to them!

Yes the show can be a bit depressing and hard to watch at times but it is also rewarding and well worth the pain.

I realise I have made a very poor attempt at enticing you all to watch this show but if you get nothing else from me please just give this show a go! You won't regret it.

If you have any tv show suggestions for me leave them in the comments!

Stay true to yourselves
xx nzunigirl