Monday 16 July 2012

13. 18 at last!

The Mancunian sheep is officially an adult guys, wheyy! Me being epic (only kidding), I was both the chef and DJ at my party and decided to break an 18 year tradition by cooking non-Indian food at my party :O My Mum and her friend really wanted to help but I wanted to prove that I could be the hostess with the mostess so for the main I made fajitas (the Old El Paso kits are really good but the salsa wasn't really to my taste. It is better if you chill it before serving in the fridge for a few hours. Thanks to Asda who do superb margherita and vegetable pizzas for £2 each, I didn't have to spend ages making my own :D I also made pasta and realised that despite being able to make a whole range of curries, I never really make pasta. I didn't really have a theme because it's just too much effort although I did consider a Where's Wally/ Harry Potter theme for the past year. Enough food talk because some of you who might be reading this a few days after publishing will probably be fasting so good luck! I shall move on to talking about my presents- I received several perfumes including the Beckham one called "initimately" which smells lush as does the body lotion. My friend Misbah bought me a superb personalised mug which had a photo of me and was like a film poster <3 I've just realised I've not got a photo of the mug but will take one and put it on the next post. I received 4 boxes of chocolates so will have plenty of fun eating them :D A surprise present was a Cath Kidston bag off my Mum which she had told me to buy for her last week but she's so sneaky because it was actually for me! My extremely talented friend, Lauren gave me a framed picture of Where's Wally and I which had only taken her an hour to draw :O She's incredible. Lauren also bought me the ultimate Where's Wally book collection which will provide me with weeks of fun :D It has all 7 Wally books! We had plenty of fun singing and dancing but I think my guests were sick of me playing Cheryl's Call My Name and singing my heart out to it. I don't actually know what happens to me when that song comes on but at least they enjoyed Mama Do The Hump, the Cha Cha slide and LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem ;) The V.I.P at my party was John Terry (no, not that innocent footballer who scores very important penalties for Chelski), I'm talking about John Terry the pinata. Regular readers will probably be familiar with Ryan Giggs who was the V.I.P at my 17th who is unfortunately no longer with us after a tragic accident in my back garden last year. Unfortunately , when your Mother is a Chelski fan, calling your pinata John Terry is not wise. She wouldn't let us batter him so basically he's still alive and he was just used as a bowl for some Celebrations sweets at my party :| I could go on and on about my party but I think it would be better if I just summed it up with a few photos:

Mum, Me and Misbah :)

Misbah and I, she's so cute!


Mum and Madihah who I can't thank enough for doing my
hair and nails and making me look less like Hagrid!

Madbo <3 She's like the big sis I never had!


These girls complete my life, genuinely have no idea
what I'd do without these 3! :')

Ronald and Severus

Aww Guy and Ana, our lovely neighbours!



Aww Paul and Gloria!
How cute!

The sparkler on my cake looks like a bunsen burner


It looks more like a sparkler here

Peggy and John bonded


Naughty Peggy!
Well I hope you've all enjoyed reading about my 18th birthday, until next time, take care!
Mancunian Sheep x

Monday 9 July 2012

12. Superb second week of summer

Hello everyone, I hope you're well! I thought that I should stick to my promise of updating you all on a weekly basis. So despite a busy weekend (they say there's no rest for the wicked) I thought I should share my personal highlights of this week. Now although I did mention a lot on Wimbledon towards the end of the last post, I feel I owe it to the BRITISH number 1 and the first British Wimbledon FINALIST in 74 years, Andy Murray to be deeply praised. Although some may argue that I have a biased view being a hardcore Murray fan, I know many fans of Federer and other players who have been converted by watching the quality of tennis that Andy has been playing over the past fortnight. The stamina and maturity of the 25 year old was clear to see in his quarter final match against Ferrer, semi final against Tsonga but most importantly, against Federer in the final. His knee had caused him some problems last week due to several falls but he kept his cool when he looked to be in trouble against Ferrer and also against Tsonga during the 3rd and 4th sets. Today, to win the first set against Roger Federer (the best man tennis has ever seen) in his first Wimbledon final is no mean feat. I am so proud of Murray and so should every British citizen and Murray fan across the world. It was absolutely heart breaking to see how upset Murray was but he really silenced his critics today who have accused him of being emotionless in the past. He is such a genuine person who doesn't let all of the fame get to his head, as is Federer which is why a 7th Wimbledon title could not have been won by a better man than him. Well done to both Federer and Murray and I know that both will return next year and for many years to come and Murray WILL win Grand Slam titles including Wimbledon if this year's performance is anything to go by. This moment will stay with me for the rest of my life, as it will for millions of others but the passion Murray has for tennis will be paid off when he is lifting the trophy at Wimbledon.
http://bit.ly/MffTLn
We love you Murray, we do!

In other news, I have been busy shopping for a birthday dress which thanks to New Look I found after 3 hours! The vintage shop where I got my dress for the Adele concert let me down but hey, everything happens for a reason! I LOVE my dress, it's just perfect and it's nice to be able to fit into a size 10 ;) I will post photos on my next post. Also, I didn't watch the Wimbledon final alone, my two very good friends, Misbah and Sammia came over and we baked cupcakes which my friends beautifully decorated with pink buttercream and hundreds and thousands. We also made banoffee pie but it was difficult to slice as it was quite crumbly. During the match, we were sick to death of how frequently deuces occured and every time we moaned, the game would end up going to 5th deuce. There was one particular game during the Wimbledon final which lasted over 18 minutes and it went to 10th deuce. I was seriously contemplating writing a will at that moment.

Other than that, this week has been mainly spent at home due to the glorious Manchester rain. I did make fajitas for the very first time. I decided to make a trial batch to see if I was any good at them so they could be included on my birthday menu. The Old Del Paso kit is a life saver! Also, in my previous post titled "Wimbledon amongst other things", I mentioned the novel "Frankie and Stankie", as a result of my love of biology, I have stopped reading that and have now started reading a non-fictional book titled "Survival of the sickest" which is superb. I recommend it to anyone who suffers from anaemia, diabetes or hemochromatosis in particular as it views these diseases from a positive perspective which is rarely done. I have read the first 2 chapters so far because Wimbledon has been such edge of the seat tennis that I couldn't bare to miss a moment. I have realised that I didn't mention the women's singles. I am really pleased that Serena Willams has won her 5th Wimbledon title because she truly deserved to. She is probably one of very few female players I can watch because the noises that Azarenka and Sharapova make leave me feeling suicidal. In the previous post, I mentioned photos and videos from community day but apologies as I have not had the time to upload them but will try my best to get it done for my next post which will predominantly be about my 18th birthday!

I thought as a little treat I will leave you all with some music. They are very different to one another, I've fallen in love with the first track after it appeared on a television advert during England's Euro 2012 campaign. The second track should cheer you up after Murray's defeat not that you should be upset by his performance in the slightest but I know his speech had the majority of people at the All England Club as well as many others including myself in tears. I discovered the second track on the BBC Three show "Britiain Unzipped" which was presented by two gorgeous and talented young men: Greg James and Russell Kane. Feel free to comment below on any of the topics discussed in this post or elsewhere in the blog.



Love Mancunian Sheep x


Sunday 1 July 2012

11. Wimbledon amongst other things!

Hi everyone! I hope you've all had a good week, my first week of the summer holidays has been rather productive. As well as being a total couch potato and watching non-stop tennis, I've been busy painting the kitchen ceiling, baking (this week I made some meringues and rice pudding) and gardening. With the odd weather that we've had this year, there was a lot of grass in the front garden most of which I've managed to remove. Now all that is left is to prepare the soil to plant some petunias and herbs. I've had green fingers from a young age and gardening is also a great workout. My legs were aching after two days of gardening! As well as being a domestic goddess, I have attended two brilliant events in my first education free week, they are my lovely friend Lauren's 18th birthday party (regular readers will know more about Lauren) and I also watched the Olympic torch being carried through my local community. Here are some photos of both events:


The 2 gorgeous Laurens and I <3

The Olympic Torchbearer and a local resident
Also this week, I had my hair cut, yes the full fringe has returned, woop woop! Following the advice of my hairdresser, I've decided to grow my layers out because I fancied a change after 3 years of having layered hair. I went back to my sixth form on Friday for community day which was great! I participated in Zumba with my friend like last year and got incredibly overexcited when "Call My Name" and "Single Ladies" by Cheryl Cole and Beyonce respectively came on. As well as Zumba, my friends and I watched the college talent show aptly named "Xavs Got Talent", some of the acts which personally stood out for me were a boy who covered "Candy" by Paolo Nutini, a girl who sang "Kids" by MGMT and a boy who beatboxed for about 10 minutes without his lungs collapsing amazingly. Unfortunately, I haven't recharged my digital camera since but I will post some photos and videos on the next post.

Now as the title of this post mentions Wimbledon, I of couse have to mention how much of an Andy Murray fan I am! If any of you are tennis fans, I would love to hear from you so feel free to comment below! Murray has been on top form during the tournament so far and especially last night (during his third round match) when he and Baghdatis were pretty much neck and neck statistics wise for the first 3 sets. It was dreadful to watch Murray fall several times because he looked to be in a huge amount of pain however he really amazed anyone who has previously doubted his ability in the 4th set. Although closing the roof made conditions more difficult to play in, the 36 minute break proved valuable for Murray and the final 2 games of the match he won in approximately 5 minutes. Enough about Murray, Rosol shocked the world when he beat Nadal but Wimbledon wouldn't be Wimbledon without its twists and turns. Even Federer looked to be in trouble but he came back from 2 sets down against Benneteau to win in style. Another thing which I love about the majority of tennis players is how classy they are, despite losing or being exhuasted after playing for 2-4 hours they still stick around to sign autographs. You may think I'm easily impressed but this restores my faith in human nature. Not forgetting the women's tennis, I discovered an incredibly talented young lady called Laura Robson during the first Wimbledon match I watched this week but unfortunately she was knocked out in the first round. However despite being only 18, she was playing very well. No doubt she will return to Wimbledon next year stronger and better. I tried to watch a bit of Maria Sharapova's match however she makes too many weird noises and it's really off putting -_-

I couldn't help myself, ;) oh Murray, we love you, we do!


In other news, I booked my practical driving test but I'm not telling anyone when it is except my lovely instructor that is, I haven't even told my Mum because I don't want anyone to know if I fail and everyone's expectations will put a lot of pressure on me. Anyway, I have shared my first week of the holidays with you all and I hope you've enjoyed reading. I myself am going to spend the rest of this evening reading Frankie and Stankie. I'm only on the first chapter so I will tell you more about it next week and let you know whether it's a recommended read. Take care and have a great week!

Love Mancunian Sheep x