Double Choc Chip Cookies

Heyy every1,

So when I came home from school today I ran straight up to my room, tidied it, got changed, grabbed my electronics and dashed back downstairs!

I was going to bake something that I must say is one of my definite weaknesses, an apple crumble!! I can remember getting all excited when I smelt that apple-cinnamon smell this delicacy brings to the house as my mum took it out of the oven. Eating it with some tubby custard in front of the tv. ooh those were my favourite evenings :)

Anyway you're probably thinking, "Hold on Anna I wanted to see a cookie recipe and instead your talking about apple crumble?"
Yeah I know, I did bake a crumble today, however, you know those recipes you get at the supermarket for free? well I think this was one of them :D It turned out all right but too crummy.

So I decided to make another one of my specialities, double choc chip cookies :D

This one is from a recipe book called "secrets of aga cakes".
I hope that the next time I'll be posting a baking post, it'll be one of my own creations, I don't know if I'll manage it but we'll just have to see then won't we ;)

So let's get on with the recipe then shall we!!

Ingredients:

• 100 g butter, softend
• 75 g caster sugar
• 75 g light muscovado sugar
• 150 g plain flour
• 1 egg
• 25 g cocoa powder
• 100 g white chocolate chips (or chocolate of your choice)

You'll need two baking sheets, greased.

Cream together the butter and both sugars in a bowl with a wooden spoon, until soft and fluffy. Add the flour, egg and cocoa powder and mix for a few moments until a dough ball.

Stir in the chocolate chips. Then form into small balls and place on the baking sheets.

Conventional oven:

Bake in preheated oven 180°C for 10-12 minutes.

Remember: Any recipe with egg in will not keep for too long, so eat within a couple of days or freeze.

And after a long hard work of 15 mins they were ready to go into the hot steaming oven. 

They came out like this:

and then popped them into this cute cookie tin:

Should I take medication? -Mental Health

Heyy every1,

This is something I had to choose myself, I had no one that I knew of who was on antidepressants or any other medication considering mental health.

So I thought for all of you out there who also, like me didn't know what to expect I'll give you a little over view of my experience with Fluoxetine also known as Prozac or Sarafem.
Maybe for those who know someone taking medication for the well-being of their mental state, you can also get an idea of what it may feel like for them.

This is just my experience. It won't be the same for everybody!

I had reached a time in my life where I felt stuck, this had been going on for a good year and a half and I had been in therapy but things didn't seem to get better. My psychologist suggested I'd go see a psychiatrist (a doctor who specialises in mental health). I went there a couple times, first I tried some sort of homoeopathic pills and then we decided to go a little higher. After a few tests I took, my doctor suggested fluoxetine and we started at a low dosis, I still am on quite a low one now.

At first I felt really tired however my psychologist said that it isn't a side effect and I was probably getting too little sleep. But I know for sure it came from the medication because I always go to bed around about the same time, same goes for waking up.

I also had a dry throat but all of these things stopped after about a month.

Pros:

1. I finally found interest in most things after being so down and lying in bed on regular afternoons. So now, I do archery again which I absolutely love! I'm on a waiting list for horse riding lessons! And next school year I'll be learning the drums and guitar.
2. I don't mind waking up in the mornings. I get out of bed on weekends at round about 9 am, I used to get up at 11. Usually I'm also quite excited to see what the day will bring before it was a chore to do anything really.
3. My mood swings balanced out. I would have huge highs and eventually sink into these dark lows and now it's all-round ok.
4. Less arguments with my parents. We are all thankful that there are people out there who really care for us, often they don't know what's going on and how to react so for me medication kind of reassured them that I'm going to get better. That I'm getting help and know that I'm in good hands. This obviously also depends on your doctor. But I'm sure no one would want to go to a doctor they're not entirely comfortable with.

Cons:

1. I don't feel like I'm me any more. It feels like I'm two people. Someone on the outside that's influenced by the medication and believes everything is fine and the one on the inside that's still the insecure little girl like before that feels just as she did before. It's not like two different moods that switch it's like faking it but you can't help it. Don't know if that made any sense, can anyone relate? 
2. It feels like the medication is slowly wearing off. I am on a low dosis, but the aim is to gradually take less but I think I have to take a higher dosis considering the circumstances I'm mentally in.
3. I am quite dependant on them. If I forget to take them I realize my mood dropping and I can get very cranky :D

I would advise you to try everything that's possible, try to get help, try new things, maybe go see your doctor or a therapist but if nothing works, do give medication a go.
I'm sure, if you do really want to get better anything is worth a go!
No matter the side effects or trouble you may have to go through, you can't lose anything from trying. If it doesn't work try something else. Just make sure you do talk to someone or at least keep someone informed about your new plans and thoughts and not keep it all to yourself, talking can mend so many wounds on it's own already and with the help of a family member or friend the little steps you take won't be so frightening because someone is right beside you encouraging you to carry on!

Hope I could help some of you out there!! See you soon!
  

Young people and drinking..

Heyy every1,

My glorious new phone has arrived, yippie!!
It's copper!! Will write a review once I've got the hang of it all which I suspect should be quite soon!

Anyway I thought I'd talk a bit about my weekend! Well maybe just ramble a bit about a typical situation that happens around here at a festival. Just kind of wondering if it's like this everywhere or only here. :D

From Friday the 3rd till the 5th of July a festival took place in a small town.
One of those typical Bavarian festivals, so yes that means beer and lederhosen!
I actually have a pair! :) However this time not a lot of people wore them, they just wore some nice summery clothes :)

Around the town centre there were little stations, each one had a band or a DJ. There was an Irish pub with a lovely band of three, my boyfriend and I sat there with my parents but after a drink my little sister was tired and fed up with it all so they went home.

After that we went to a place where more younger people were standing and we stood by a group of my friends, talked and then some of my friends would turn up extremely tipsy and would hug me and dance. The legal age to drink wine and beer here is 16. Most of the people were 14.

Yes there was security and the police did walk past but there are also the over 16s who would be there to buy the drinks for the ones who were still under age.

Basically all I'm trying to say is, why is it sooo cool to drink under age?
There were arguments all over the place. Some were lively and others got all cranky. It was not a pretty sight!! And smoking is really cool around here too! I can't stand smoke at all. People are allowed to do whatever they like however they also need to think about their parents! Who are going to be held legally responsible!!

They thrive on the excitement of the possibility of getting caught!
What I had in England which they don't have around here is the DARE program.
At school a police officer comes weekly and tells you all the side effects and the chemicals of drinking, smoking, drug use and so on. The best part was the chapter on peer pressure.

Around here peer pressure is definitely a problem! Especially for the boys!
Last year at this festival I was in the wrong area, this year it wasn't at all like that but a year ago I really had nightmares and weird flashbacks that drove me crazy from what I saw.

I really want to have a kind of DARE program here! It taught me so much and it was child friendly!! Ever since I was 9 (year 5) and had those lessons, I've been so aware of some of the many damages these things can do. And because most people start drinking and smoking so young it ruins their brain cells which are developing!

I will try to get my school to start something like this so they can try to help children to stop giving into peer pressure and prevent them from using these substances at such a young age!

Surrounding yourself with happy people

heyy every1,

today I want to write about something I've been thinking about a lot.
One thing my Father always said to me was "Leave the friends that hurt and the right ones will come". For a long time I was scared, not about having no friends but that if the people I feel that don't treat me well and I do decide to leave them, that I'd be rejected by well, everyone.

To clear things up this was definitely NOT the case. This school year I felt as if my friends weren't interested in me any more so and I had a small but helpful plan. So if you still go to school the first thing I advise you, is to not sit next to your best friend when you get to choose where you sit at the start of the school year!
This not only helps you when there's trouble between friends but also you get to know other people in your class a lot better!
I had the pleasure of sitting right at the front behind the teachers desk, next to two of the most friendliest people ever!

These two girls have a lovely mind set. They all think positive and look on the bright side! I've just about come out of a dark corner in my life and finding people that respect me, listen and make you laugh really helps. Of course no one can be happy and positive all the time, that's totally normal and understandable, take a little step at a time and gradually everything will slowly fall into place.
Now I know for many people with depression for example, it's not all about friends, often you just don't feel anything or you don't know what's wrong but ever since I've had the lovely support of my family and feeling accepted in my class I mentally feel a thousand times better.

I know you're probably thinking that it's not a good idea to depend on people to make you happy. I am not saying this at all. I believe that happiness isn't a choice and I've always had riots with people who say it is!
However when you see these positive people living their lives you see their inspiration and at least for me, I found things that I enjoy in life and it gave me so much hope and I find myself thinking, Hey! I can be like that too! I want to share this happy feeling with others and help them out like these and many other wonderful people have helped me! By showing me that happiness is precious but also the key to life.

It's unbelievable how much one person can affect your life, find the one that leads you to light instead of pushing you back into your bedroom corner!

That's all for now, good night!xx