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

Looking Forward

About this time last year I wrote a post about finding the things that make you happy and today I wanted to make a short post about finding something to look forward to. Similarly to finding your happy things finding something to look forward to can help keep you focused on being happy when things are tough.
When I get down I usually feel like things are never going to go up again and it can make it really hard not to spiral even further downwards. Something I've started doing recently is making lists of things I have to look forward to so that even when things are bad I know they will get better because of said things to look forward to.
I thought I'd share the list I have currently. I keep mine on the wall beside my bed because that's where I usually curl up when I feel sad but you can of course keep yours wherever you want; maybe even take it out with you to keep you happy during the day. I encourage you to all make your own, even if you're currently in a very positive place; you never know when things may get to you and you may need the list to keep you focused on being happy.

My List

> The return of all of my tv programs - You may remember back to the last post when I said it helped having something I was excited about watching when I was having a bad day

> Summer is arriving!!!!

> Halloween - It's super soon and even though I'll be working that night I'm still excited!

> Christmas - Further away still, the most wonderful time of the year! Even if it doesn't snow.

> The end of exams! Still close to a month to go but time seems to be flying at the moment!
> I'm in a play over summer and rehearsals just starting and I'm very excited for the whole process to get underway!

So these are just a few of the things coming up that I'm excited for. 

Let me know what you're excited for
xx nzunigirl

Recipe: Steak Puff Parcels

In my flat we LOVE this for dinner. Honestly it's delicious and not entirely unhealthy if you leave out the chips.
This recipe is taken from countdown. You can find the original recipe here.

Serves four


Ingredients:

• 500ml Oxo beef stock
• ¾ cup Homebrand tomato sauce
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1Tbsp smoked paprika
• 575g gravy beef or chuck steak (or any cheaper cut of stewing meat, I usually use topside because I prefer less fatty cuts of meat)
• 2 Tbsp oil
• 1 onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 rasher Signature Range streaky bacon (I often leave this out because we're cheap :P)
• 2 sheets Homebrand puff pastry
• 1 Tbsp milk 

Method

Mix together stock, ½ cup tomato sauce, brown sugar, ½ Tbsp paprika and salt. Pour into a saucepan, add steak (ensuring the liquid covers the meat) bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 3 hours or until the meat is falling apart.

Remove from the stock and set aside. Place 500ml of the stock in a clean saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes until thickened.

In a large frying pan, pour oil, add remaining paprika and onion. Sauté gently for 2 – 3 minutes until soft and translucent. Add bacon, cook for a further minute or so.

Preheat oven to 200°C.

Shred steak into bite sized pieces. Toss into the onion and bacon and mix well. Cook for 5 minutes then pour over the thickened sauce. Mix well and season. Remove from heat, set aside and allow to cool.

Take your puff pastry and cut in half. Place a large spoonful of your steak mixture at one end. Using a little water wet the edges of the parcel then take the other end and close it. Seal the edges with a fork.

Continue until you have 4 parcels. If you like you can brush with milk. Place on an oven tray and in the oven. Cook for 15 minutes or until golden and crispy. 

Serve with veggies and fries if you wish.

Sorted Food

Hello all!
I just wanted to quickly tell you about a YouTube channel I am obsessed with! This is the sort of channel I wait with baited breath for their new videos to be uploaded and I have the notifications turned on for them on my phone. That channel is Sorted Food (in case the post title hadn't given in away).
You can find them here https://www.youtube.com/user/sortedfood (go subscribe; you won't regret it!)
They're a food channel (in case that wasn't obvious) and they make all sorts of food, most of it is quite simple and easy to make even for poor students. It is presented by four fairly charismatic men (who aren't that bad looking to boot).
I won't go in to too much detail; I'll leave you to explore their channel yourselves.
I challenge you to pick a video and cook along with it! Myself and a friend are making these tomorrow so I'll let you know how we get on!

Do something for yourself today!
xx nzunigirl

NZUniGirl makes return to field... but will it last

And here today we see the grand return of fan favourite nzunigirl.  Her return has been long awaited since her unexpected departure from the realm earlier this year. Her unstable past in the game has this reporter wondering just how long she'll be able to keep up her performance. Fans are hoping she'll be able to find the motivation to not let them down again.

This just in; nzunigirl promises to stay on track.

"I'm back and I'm in for the long haul this time! I have four posts already written and as soon as this press release is over I'm off to write two more! I'll admit I've been quite the slacker in the past, I have some issues with commitment but with summer approaching and a bizarre change in personality I truly believe that I'll be around for some time now."

The floor is now open to questions.

> "Have you got any exciting posts in the making?"

> "I have some more recipes and my monthly playlists. A few one offs are in the works and I am hoping to start writing product reviews as well."

> "Where have you been?"

> "I took a casual trip to the moon"

> "Will you take a photo with me?"

> "Perhaps after this question and answer session has finished."

> "Can this question and answer session finish?"

> "Yes please."

Well this reporter is certainly underwhelmed by those responses but only time will tell just how committed nzunigirl is to her blog. This reporter is only one among many hoping she will stay.

Procrastination Crumble

The first in my short procrastination series (i.e. a lot of recipes for things I've been baking as a way to put off the pile of study i have to do.)

The Crumble

1 cup flour (I use plain but you can use wholemeal if you wish)
1/2 cup brown sugar (you can use any type of sugar that you have but I prefer brown)
75 grams butter (room temperature - which in my flat means soften slightly in the microwave)

Mix together the flour and sugar then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. It should stick together if you squeeze it into a ball but should also crumble when rubbed (like the name)

Put it on top of your stewed fruit then bake the whole thing in a preheated oven (180 - or in my oven roughly 210 because it's a piece of crap) for roughly 35-40 minutes or until the top is well cooked and golden. I also like to sprinkle the top of my crumble with the same spices I used in the fruit for some extra pizazz!

The Fruit Base

I made an apple and rhubarb crumble (for which I will post the recipe) but don't feel you have to adhere to this! There are so many variations you can try. My favourite is apple and berries.

Apple and Rhubarb -

3 large apples
500 grams rhubarb
1/4 sugar
1/4 water
pinch of spice (e.g. mixed spice or cinnamon or whatever else you feel works!)

Finely chop the apple and rhubarb and place in a saucepan with the sugar, spices and water. Bring to the boil, then lower heat and summer gently for 10 or so minutes or until the fruit in tender. If your saucepan is small it might pay to stir it occasionally to let the fruit at the top have a chance on bottom (rude). And that's it! You could also blend this up to a puree if you felt like it or you have some leftover.

 Delicious!!!

June Playlist

Nobody has ever said I'm 'with it' when it comes to music. I have an eclectic taste and I don't care if you don't enjoy my music; when I have the aux cord I Have The AUX Cord!! Here's what I've been listening to if you're looking for something potentially new....

Inside Out - Avalanche City
I Know You -  Skylar Grey (just pretend it's not from Fifty Shades and we'll be good)
Which Witch - Florence + The Machine
Queen of Peace - again, Flo
Delilah - Flo
The rest of the new Florence album... (most of these aren't on youtube yet but you can get them on spotify)
Hey Mama - David Guetta ft. Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha & Afrojack
Fly Honeys - Jamie McDell (supporting Kiwi music aside- this chick is great!)
Nobody Love - Tori Kelly
Someone New - Hozier
Home II - Dotan
River - Ibeyi
Cannonball - Kiesza
Pretty much anything by Fallulah but especially Give Us a Little Love and Bridges (and Out of It if I'm allowed a third).

As always, find me on spotify (https://open.spotify.com/user/morganc08) and keep smiling :)

xx nzunigirl

Hello.... again.

Wow. So I have spectacularly failed at my grand return. Embarrassingly, shamefully, woefully so. And I won't lie to you, I feel like the only reason I'm back is because exam season has descended upon me, bringing with it a cloud of procrastination (and comfort eating - but recipes to follow!). It has been four and a half days since lectures finished and I am already looking for more inventive ways to ignore my fast-approaching doom. Procrastination started off well with the entire first season of Scrotal Recall (good but I'm not sure if it would have been as good if my stats book hadn't been sitting on the desk glowering at me) and the first two seasons of My Mad Fat Diary (incredible! Definitely nothing to do with the Ancient Greeks Yasou'ing me through my backpack. Please go and watch this and whilst you're there tell e4 to hurry up and bring out the third season). I watched From Prada to Nada (not worth it unless you're deep in the unforgiving depths of procrastination) the BBC's 2009 mini-series of Emma (enjoyable) and season 3 of Misfits (which just isn't the same without Nathan). I did a pub quiz and I've tidied and I've made a crumble and now in a quest for a new way to avoid study I have turned to my much-neglected blog. It really deserves better than me but alas we always find a way to return to each other.

If you're wondering how my resolutions are going, they're sort of not (well I assume you know my blogging resolution never got off the ground). Life gets in the way you know...

This really is just a quick hello to say that I have three (THREE!) posts already written up ready to be posted and with over a week until my first exam I am sure to be able to schedule at least a month of blogging so you're stuck with me until then!

Stick around as I'll be posting my crumble recipe as soon as I've made another one to photograph.

Until then,
Do Everything You Do With Love

xx
nzunigirl

A Grand Return

I will not bore you with my apologies and excuses and instead jubilate with you in my return! (is jubilate a word? According to my spellchecker it is not but we shall on with the jubilation regardless!)
Now this is going to sound a bit weird (because I'm usually the most normal person on the internet... yeah right!) but I tend to make my "new years resolutions" in February. No I don't follow a religion that recognises the beginning of the new year in February or anything I just have this strange belief that I stick to my resolutions if they aren't your average 1st of January ones. I have a couple of theories to do with this that I shall list below and then I'll give you a run down of what the actual resolutions are.

I never ever ever stick to my New Years Resolutions. Ever. I reckon its something to do with the actually failing being less important. The majority of people do fail their resolutions, it's almost expected. But, a February Change Decision is much more personal. I set goals for myself or make changes and I stick to them because it's not a society-pressured resolution but rather a conscious decision to make a change.
For instance this year I want to lose 10kg. I know you're not supposed to set weight loss goals but I'm gonna do it anyway because stick it to the man. I obviously will make healthier lifestyle choices as a means to achieving this goal as well as giving myself some fitness targets. At the moment I'm loving Blogilates. She makes some excellent workout calendars and has fun, easy to follow workout videos.
(I'll post a whole bunch of links at the bottom of the page) She's also currently hosting a dietbet. If you don't know what dietbet is I'll link it below also but basically you pay (bet) to lose 4% of your weight but there's a forum and its incredibly social and everyone is very encouraging. It's a great environment for weight loss. I hope to see some of you there.

Another goal is to obviously keep on top of this blog. I really would like to start a channel with recipes and such and am just working up the courage to get behind a camera!

I want to do more (so someone please hire me so I can afford to do more!) and I want to document my life a lot more. I am very camera shy and so rarely document anything I do but I want to start snapping away more so I have a lot more memories to store away in scrapbooks.

I have other small changes I want to instigate but won't bother detailing them all here. I'm also getting behind Glitter Gives. If you don't know what this is about check out this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksv_FoT3Lw4 (I'm sure there was another video about this but I can't seem to find it. If I do I'll link it in the comments for you). I absolutely ADORE Louise Pentland and she really inspired me to help those less fortunate than myself (which, for all my grumbling, is a lot of people.) I haven't figured out the best way to do this yet so if you have any ideas let me know.

Now I rather think I've prattled on for long enough but I hope I've maybe inspired some of you to make your own February Changes (for the love of all things delicious can somebody please think of a better name for this as well!)

Keep Laughing
Xoxo
Nzunigirl

Links:
Blogilates - http://www.blogilates.com/
                   https://www.youtube.com/user/blogilates
Blogilates Dietbet - http://www.dietbetter.com/games/60437