Liebster Award!!

So this week has been a super happy one, despite work being crazy and winter returning full force a lot of positive and lovely things have happened, I've been offered a new role at work (scary and exciting), I saw Ballet Rambert with my mum and her best friend and I've confirmed details of my trip to the Czech Republic in a couple of weeks time. 

I'm sure you would all agree that that all makes for a pretty good week, but one thing has added some fluffy blog related icing to my happy cake. Two lovely ladies have nominated me for the Liebster Award. Two, in one week definitely a lovely surprise. Thank you both so much!

Lovely lady number one was Angela from Cuddles & Cartoons who blogs about her gorgeous family, go check her out and while you're there check her Saturday blog link up This Made Me Happy, it's the happiest place in blogland!

Lovely lady number two was the adorable Steph from Norbly who blogs alongside her two sisters about everything from college, to running, to getting to grips with blogging. Again, go check her out!

Now on with this award stuff, rules for the Liebster Award are:

• Acknowledge the blogger who nominated you and display the award
• Answer 11 questions the blogger gives you
• Give 11 random facts about yourself
• Nominate 5 - 11 blogs you think deserve the award (try to make sure they have 200 followers or less)
• Let the bloggers know you have nominated them
• Give them 11 questions to answer

11 random facts about me:

1. Show me any large empty space and I will dance around it for hours
2. I learnt Russian for 3 years but can only say vodka and spiderman
3. I suffer from anxiety yet people say I am the smiliest person they know
4. Ice cream is my weakness and is the ultimate bribe despite me being lactose intolerant
5. Until I was 12 I though kidney beans were actually tiny kidneys - I still feel uncomfortable eating them
6. My family compete over who has traveled to the most countries - I'm on 16 so far
7. The thought of traveling with a suitcase is terrifying to me, my backpack is like my travel safety blanket
8. My best friends have all spent at least 3 months abroad, this summer it's my turn
9. I have broken every phone I've ever bought within 3 days of buying them 
10. I can't function without a full 8 hours sleep
11. I wish I could do magic, juggle anything that would let me become a street perfomer

11 Questions from Steph (Angela didn't add new questions)

Who do you look up to most in life?

There are a lot of people I look up to but I probably look up to my granddad most, and love to hear new stories about his life. He traveled all over the world, America, England, India and Africa teaching. He was a Quaker and stayed true to his roots all through his life. He was honorable, truthful, brave and wonderful to his children and grandchildren. Whenever I find myself ensure of what path to take I try to think what he would have done.

What is your favourite book or movie?

I am torn between two very different books, first the Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell and the film adaptation as well both inspire me to make a change in the world and remind we why I want to go into education or youth work. On a lighter note, my favourite book to read to children at work is definitely We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, there is nothing nicer than getting to see the excited looks on their faces as we act it out.

What's one hobby you wish you spent more time on?

Dance. Definitely dance. I always loved it but haven't taken time to do even one class in at least a year.

Name your favourite memory.

My favourite memory is the first time I really traveled on my own, waving good by to my best friend in Dresden as I rushed onto a train to Prague, an entirely last minute decision. I had no idea what to expect, no idea what currency I needed and no idea where I was going to stay. It was terrifying and exciting all at once, at that moment I realized I was addicted to that feeling 

If you could do one thing to change the world, what would it be?

I would create better provisions for children, young people and adults with additional needs and disabilities. Working with the group I do I am acutely aware that there is a great swathe of people who are not provided for because their need is not so severe that they are already provided for but too severe to be suited to inclusive activities. 

What's your favourite thing about yourself?

My favourite thing about myself is my ability to stay positive and happy to support others no matter what life throws at me.

Name one place you want to live.

America. More specifically New York. Cliche I know, but if I could live there for even 6 months I would be very happy.

How many places have you traveled to, and which was your favourite?

As I mentioned before I have traveled to 16 countries. It s definitely really hard to choose a favourite, New York is definitely up there but I think Germany may be my absolute favourite. I just love the culture and lifestyle as well as the cities and landscape.

Where is home for you?

Home is Newcastle, in North East England. I split my time between three houses as my parents are separated and i'm currently saving for my own place. I wouldn't say that any house is home in its own right but when I'm on the train and I cross the bridge into Newcastle I always feel instantly at home.

The best food on the planet is...

Mexican. Fajitas, Nachos, Enchiladas. As long as its spicy, veggie and I can get a side of salad I am one happy chicken.

Biggest pet peeve.

Spoilers. If you tell me how a book or movie ends I am so far from happy its funny, well not funny to me!

Blogs I nominate

Winnie Ann @ Monochrome Cool

Megalin @ My Random Lovelies

Nicola @ Nic November

Desiree @ Love Desiree

Emma @ Frills & Doodads

Questions for the blogs I've nominated

1. What is your happiest memory?
2. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
3. Tea or coffee?
4. Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
5. Biggest pet peeve.
6. If you compared yourself to an animal, what would it be?
7. What made you decide to start blogging?
8. The best food on the planet is...
9. Describe yourself in 5 words.
10. If you had one extra day a week what would you do with it?
11. Where is home to you?

Simple Spinach Soup and a Slice of Crazy

Oh Monday why are you always popping up and kicking Sunday out of the party, he's a chilled guy you should let him hang out with us more. Thanks to you yesterday was a loooong day filled with far too much work and not enough fun. Even though the sun was shining and I got to walk skip merrily into work eating fruit salad, and some of my work involved making beautiful flower baubles in the sunshine. I still somehow ended up spending 12 hours in an office building dragging very heavy boxes from room to room, all on that one fruit salad, and a slice of microwave pizza. Not what I usually call fun if i'm honest.

Now I complain a lot, but I do really love my job and sometimes 12 hours moving boxes and gluing petals and decorating tents just comes with the job. I'm also really lucky to be very good friends with all of my colleagues. That said when spending almost half a day in work I've managed to find some pretty sweet ways to entertain myself. A few of the bizarre games I found myself playing yesterday were:

Secret dance party - A classic when decorating the inside of a tent. Zip the door shut, pop your iPod on loud and dance until someone comes to investigate where the musics coming from. At this point you have two choices, awkwardly switch your music off and apologize for the noise, or invite them to dance and decorate with you. Job done twice as fast.

Hide and Seek - A slightly less productive game I like to play, especially when people don't know they're looking for you. But also a great way to find some peace and quiet to send some emails. A highlight of this game is the look on peoples face when you emerge from your hiding place. Beautiful.

Building a box fort - Okay so this one was less intentional. I was looking for a box in the corner of the room, it might have been at the bottom of the pile. Before I knew it I may have found the box I wanted and also have found myself fenced in behind the boxes.

Well there you have it, a slightly bizarre list of ways to have fun at work. I should probably also add that I played most of these games with my boss, as we were all starting to feel the stress of far too long away from the sunshine. In most other circumstances you probably shouldn't hide from people, build forts or dance to drastically loud steps songs.

Anyway I may have gotten a little distracted. Even though my day was horrifically long and I ate far to little, I still managed to have a delicious and healthy tea. This soup is one of my favorites and it's ridiculously easy to make. I'd made a big pot of it on Sunday and frozen half to eat later.

I didn't quite remember the whole recipe + photo = blog post thing.

As I'm a minor disaster I completely forgot to take picture as I went along so that's really all you're getting photo wise. But, I assure you it is oh so yummy and will make you feel superbly healthy.

Ingredient wise it's all pretty simple and should be stuff you just have hanging around in you're cupboards.

200g Spinach

2 big Potatoes

2 sticks of Celery 

2 cloves of Garlic

1 Onion

200ml Vegetable Stock

Plain Soy or Greek Yogurt

Now you get to see just how easy this recipe is, these ingredients should make you around 4 bowls of the stuff, enough for at least diner and lunch . 

First you want to chop your potatoes, celery, garlic and onion into nice little chunks and stick them in your pan. 

Next cover the vegetables with your vegetable stock and simmer for about 20 minutes on a medium heat.

Once those vegetables and potato have soften up a bit add your spinach to the pan. (it might look like you have too much for the pan, but it will shrink in no time and fit perfectly).

Simmer the soup for a further ten minutes, stirring frequently. 

After the ten minutes have passed let your soup cool slightly before pouring it into your blender (or getting your hand blended) and blend the soup so that the vegetable chunks have mixed in.

Finally, pop your soup into  a bowl and add a blob of whichever yogurt you choose. This bit is entirely optional but adds a slightly bitter bite to the soup, that cuts through the flavors nicely.

And there you have it, super simple spinach soup in less that 40 minutes. I had mine with think slices of read covered in butter.. just to ruin the healthy vibe. The soup is perfect on a colder evening but is a nice transition soup from winter to spring. 

Now, go whip yourself up a bowl and let me know what you think. And hey If you decide to comment back with a slice of crazy as well I'd be over the moon to know i'm not the only crazy cat around here this less than sunny Tuesday morning!

Monday Letters

Sunshine + Bubbles = Spring, yeah?

Dear Spring, Thank you so much for turning up early this year, but can we at least try and stick around. I don’t want any of that April showers nonsense. The sun has been shining all weekend and I don’t think my little heart could take a cold spell any time soon. Dear Neighbours, I know it sunny and you want to start barbequing but kindly think of us poor souls, who are working. The smell is making me oh so jealous! 

Dear Work, Why do you have to be at your busiest on the weekend, and why do you only have indoor events when I want to be outside. Dear Kind Lady Yesterday, I can’t believe you gave me an Easter egg just for doing my job. It was so kind and lovely of you. Thank you. 

Dear Hudson, I’m already getting excited for our comedy adventures on Friday. The weekend seems so far away, hurry up and come home! 

Dear Rambert, I am so excited to see Rooster at the Theatre Royal on Tuesday. It has been far too long since I’ve watched dance just for the enjoyment. Dear Martine, Thankyou so much for keeping our trip to see Rambert a secret from Mum. I can’t wait to see her face when she realises where we’re going! 

Dear June, Hurry up and get here I can’t contain my excitement for America. 

Dear Molly, Stop writing these letters. You have 2 hours before work and you want to get out into the sunshine first!

Dear Weather, It was pretty cool to see you hailing from  what seemed to be a cloudless sky but please don’t try that kinda crazy on me today… I need the sun!

Dear Anyone Reading This, Sorry for the cop out of a post. It’s sunny and my brain is over worked. I promise I’ll show up properly tomorrow with actually thoughts and actually stories. 

Dear Monday, Let’s do this!

Yours sincerely, Molls xxx

Happy Happiness Day Happy People

That's right girls and boys today is officially the United Nations International Day of  Happiness. A day dedicated to pure unadulterated happiness, encouraging us all to go out and notice those things that make us happy. Now, as I've said before, I am a massive believer in stopping to smell the roses in our day to day life. Sometimes life can feel too hectic, or like there is not enough time to find happiness in our day, and while I like to think that we can all make time for noticing the special moments everyday I fully support a day dedicated to reminding us of its importance.

87% of people said that they would rather live in a world with the greatest happiness and well-being than a society with the greatest wealth. I for one couldn't agree more, we've all heard the saying "money doesn't buy happiness." But in a society so dominated by consumerism  and demand it becomes increasingly easy to forget that and start to think that we cannot be happy without the latest iphone, shoes or tickets to the hottest gig. It saddens me slightly that 42% of people said that they would choose their "money and financial situation" as one of the three things that are most important to their happiness.

Heck, even on blogs and in lists designed to encourage us to step away from societies expectations and find happiness in the little things we are told that enjoying a muffin at a local coffee shop will rejuvenate our sense of satisfaction, a day at the zoo will fill us with excitement and that taking a trip somewhere will fill us with cheer.  And yes, while I agree that all of those things are filled with joy and that at times are happiness can be affected by money there are a thousand more things that will bring us happiness without spending a penny.

Research showed that most people, 80% would rate their relationships with their family or partner as the most important to their happiness followed closely with health at 71%. For me these figures begin to restore my faith in our society and remind me that certain values for many people still remain key. In my life I try very hard not to let my happiness rely on expectations of others and to seek peace and contentment from within. However, family and friendships remain central to my optimism, and nothing brings me greater peace of mind than the knowledge that my family or friends are safe, loved and happy in themselves.

Cancer awareness makeupless selfie, with
the not so baby baby bro

Today I have tried to make extra time to share the delight of happiness with anyone and everyone I met, I smiled at strangers on the bus, helped people who looked lost and spent an extended lunch break giggling with colleagues at work. There were two things that also happened today that definitely added to my sense of pride and pleasure today. As well as being International Day of Happiness, the 20th of March also marks my youngest brothers birthday and today he turned 16 - I'm not sure I want to believe it, but I am so proud of the mature, thoughtful yet exuberant man he is becoming. Spending the evening eating gorgeous Italian food and joking with my brother and sister have left me feeling wonderfully contented with life.

The second thing that has brought the biggest smile to my face began with something I just could not understand. Yesterday, my facebook news-feed exploded with hundreds of 'naked' selfies all in the name of cancer awareness. At first I thought this was another facebook fad, with very little practicality in terms of combating cancer or raising awareness. I was wrong and I couldn't be happier. As the pictures continued to appear allover my laptop, and status' started popping up left, right and center either for or against the campaign I began to understand. For every selfie uploaded people were donating £3 to Cancer Research UK but more than that everywhere I turned people were discussing cancer, reminding people to check for lumps and offering their support to people effected. Reading the news today I was amazed and awed to see that in just 24 hours more than one million pounds had been donated to Cancer Research UK and the number is still rising.
  

Now that is news that should bring a smile to even the most pessimistic of heads. Its a reminder that every little move we make has a consequence, an often unseen reaction that can truly impact on peoples lives. I say that we each carry that thought in our hearts, and that having embraced today we take it as a lesson to happiness a priority in everything we do. What do you really know about that stranger on the street. Maybe that smile brought them fleeting happiness for the first time today.

If you are happy, you can share the happy. Your smile can be the most powerful thing you own. Think about today, remember today, and next time you get a chance share that smile. 

Quick and easy Nutella mini muffins!

I've been dreaming about this recipe for thelast couple of weeks and have finally got round to making it for you. These little muffins are easily the cutest and simplest cakes you can make, with only 3 ingredients and whatever toping takes your fancy. I first came across the recipe when I was living in halls and aldi had giant pots of Nutella on offer, safe to say that was not an offer a flat of students could pass up and within a couple of days we were practically swimming in the stuff.

The basic muffin mix is insanely easy, all you need is a couple of eggs, some self-raising flour and of course a jar of Nuttela! Normally this would make about 12 regular sized muffins, but I decided to spice things up a little bit this time and make mini muffins. I was also feeling just a little bit inspired by my weird and wonderful pancake concoctions I'd made on pancake day. I'd decided to forgo the usual combination of lemon and sugar on my pancakes and tried Nutella with banana, Nutella with blueberries, Nuttella with walnuts... To be honest I had Nuttella with anything and everything.

So, now you know the inspiration behind these tasty little morsels I think we should get down to it and start cooking. So grab your bowl and your wooden spoon, stick on your apron (you know things are gonna get messy!) and turn up the cooking music, I was loving a bit of queen and had a great time singing along much to my families dismay.

Right, we're all ready then. First of all you want to grab all your ingredients

250g Nuttella or about 2 thirds of a regular jar.

175g Self Raising Flour

2 Eggs

Blueberries, M&Ms, Walnuts... Whatever you're topping your muffins with.

Now turn that oven up to 180 degree Celsius and grease a muffin tray, I was making mini muffins so obviously I used a mini muffin tray but it's up to you.

Next you want to mix your Nuttella and your eggs together in a bowl until they're nice and blended. Try not to eat too much of the Nuttella is it moves from jar to bowl. The mixture should start to look all silky and luxurious at this point. 

Once it's all nice and blended you need to stir in your flour, to begin with it will mattify the texture but with enough mixing you'll find you have a bowl of glossy chocolate goo. 

Spoon the mixture into your greased muffin tin filling each space about 3 quarters full. 

Top each muffin with a sprinkling of your chosen topping, chopped walnuts added a savoury twist to mine, while blueberries added a slightly bitter bite and the M&Ms were just perfect, but what isn't made better by them!

Once this is all done pop that tray into the oven for about 10 minutes, or until a scewer comes out clean. 

That's it, you've officially got some mini muffins on the way. Turn up the music some more, lick out the bowl and use your spoon as a microphone, before you know it those ten minutes will be up. When they're ready leave them to cool for 5 minutes  and then pop them out of the tray and enjoy.

There you go. They're tiny delicious mouthfuls of chocolatey cakey-ness so why not pretend you're a giant while eating them, not that I did that or anything... Now go away and whip yourself up a batch and then hop back over here to let me know how they went!

24 hours in London

I love London, always have and probably always will. Living in Newcastle, pretty much as north as England can get, I’ve always found it to be so much more exotic than my home town and have been visiting a few times a year for work, shopping, or just a change of scenery since I was about 15. Last week I had the all-important embassy appointment at the American embassy. Now as we know, last week wasn’t exactly perfect what with the being ill and the lots of work, but somehow my sleep deprived self-managed to survive the 7 hour coach and get the visa stuff sorted.

My trips to London always seem to be short but sweet, and this time I found myself in the capital for a grand total of 24 hours. I’m being serious, that’s from getting off the coach right through to getting back on the coach. Take off from that the 2 hours spent at my appointment and a good 8 hours sleep, we’re down to a mere 14 hours to eat, drink and be merry see the sights. Okay who am I kidding I was merry and saw the sights.

Having such a short amount of time I wanted to stay somewhere that was in easy distance from the coach station, the embassy, having been to London many times before ease of sightseeing wasn’t top of my list. After trawling countless websites trying to find somewhere both affordable for a student, but not a hostel (I needed to get a good night’s sleep!) I eventually found the Victoria Inn, in Victoria, for a good price with reviews that didn’t sound too bad. Now I don’t know if my expectations for hotels are really low, the last hotel I stayed in didn’t have running water in the main building, or if previous reviewers were just harsh critics but I was pleasantly surprised. The hotel was in a nice location, clean and had friendly staff on reception 24/7, although the room was on the small side there was plenty of space for the night and a bed each. A cooked breakfast was also included in the price, a total novelty for this cheap skate traveller.

Our megabus arrived into London at 15:00pm and we headed straight to the hotel to drop our things and freshen up, before heading on out. Now I know most people would recommend getting a tube pass if you’ve got such little time, but being on low student budgets we opted to walk and I think we definitely still saw plenty.

We set off without any real plans other than to make sure I knew the route to the embassy since I’m brilliant at getting lost if I have a deadline. In true form, the half an hour walk from our hotel to Grosvenor square took us nearer an hour, by which point we just wanted to eat food and window shop, so we wandered along oxford street played house in John Lewis (yup, that happened) and bought the most delicious coconut and chocolate orange cookies from Ben’s Cookies. Seriously, why don’t we have them up north?! 100% recommended.

After our playtime on Oxford Street we strolled down past Piccadilly Market which was just closing but had some cute and quirky things, through St James Park, just as the sun was setting and up into Westminster where we of course got to admire the houses of parliament and big ben. No matter how many times I visit London I still find myself visiting Westminster just to look at the grandeur of the buildings.

 After our afternoon exploring and sightseeing we ended up at Loco Mexicano, a small Mexican restaurant just a 5 minutes’ walk from our hotel in Victoria. As you’ll learn Mexican is definitely my favourite type of food, and to be honest nachos, fajitas or anything with salsa is instantly the way to my heart. The food was gorgeous, nachos and fajitas to share were devoured in minutes, it was cheap and had an offer on cocktails.. What more could we want?!

The next day after the embassy appointment we met another of our friends and headed along to the south bank. It was a beautiful spring day, and deceptively hot – I actually managed to get sunburnt in the few hours we were out there! The south bank is another of my favourite places to pass time when I’m in London. I love just wandering along watching people bustling about their business and you can guarantee on a gorgeous day there’ll be plenty to watch, from photo shoots and interviews to street performers and bands, it’s all going on.

After enjoying the gorgeous sunshine, eating ice cream and watching plenty of street theatre we headed back to Victoria to pick up our bags and get a bite to eat at giraffe – yet again one of my favourite restaurants and another chain I wish we had back home!  By three pm, exactly 24 hours after I’d arrived, I found myself hugging everyone goodbye and climbing back up the stairs for another 7 hours on the coach back to Newcastle.

I had the most fantastic couple of days, and it was brilliant just to get away and clear my head, add to that the fact that my visa got approved (hello, America!) and I think I can say it was one of the best trips I’ve had in a while. It reminded me that while we quite often scoff at being a tourist somewhere we know, actually if you take even just a little time to explore you can find excitement round even the most familiar of corners.

Imagine the worst, live the best

Two weeks ago I posted my first ‘magic moments’ post, all grand intentions, it was going to be a weekly post, filled with positivity and plans for the week ahead. I didn’t want my Mondays to just be the same old weekend recaps – I mean I don’t think my weekends are ever even exciting enough for a recap. But as someone who suffers from anxiety I am always looking for new ways to find the silver lining in situations and to make sure I’m getting the most out of my weeks. Hence, Mondays magic moments… now 2 weeks have gone by and as I mentioned last week just kind of, didn’t go to plan, and I’ve got to rethinking the weekly post. It’s now going to be a monthly post partly because my weeks aren’t that interesting and mainly because I like the sound of monthly magic moments better, so check back in a couple of weeks to see how I’ve got on in my mission to add a little bit of happiness to my days.

entirely unrelated duck and daffodils - spring is here!

Magic moments don’t have to be created through goals or challenges though, and I am a firm believer that even the most negative or worrisome of tasks can have positivity buried within them.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve had a fair few jobs to do both for work, Camp America and just day to day life that have been causing me anxiety. A good example is my embassy appointment last week, It was a new situation, in a new environment with something pretty important relying on me completing everything successfully – my visa. Safe to say, I was pretty darn nervous. Equally my friends were sick of hearing me whinge on about all the possible things that could go wrong, what if I slept in and missed it, what if I couldn’t find the embassy, what if they decided they didn’t want me to get a visa. Yup, there were a lot of worries going through my head and a fair few sleepless nights over something that I now know to be not even a little bit tricky. However, amongst all my worrying I found myself hearing the same thing over and over again from well-meaning friends.

“Don’t worry about it, think positively”

Now I don’t know about you but I’ve heard that advice a million times in my life time and I’ve never quite got it. To start with, if I’m half way through a panic attack and imaging every possible horrific scenario – how exactly do you expect me to suddenly start imagining everything going perfectly? And on the occasions that I did think ‘positively’ and imagine success I was often faced with disappointment at the other side. If the reality of the situation didn’t live up to my imaginary one I was left feeling distinctly let down. The reality could never live up to the imagined.

So, I propose another way to approach those anxiety ridden situations. I thought that doesn’t force you to think positively, in fact some might say its negative. For me though, it works.

“Imagine the worst that can happen”

Now we’ve all heard the saying ‘what’s the worst that could happen?’ which challenges you to consider what could go wrong, but is often presented to you in as an offhand comment. I know I often hear “Now Molly, don’t worry so much, think positively, what’s the worst that can really happen?” I don’t know why people even ask me to be honest; I can definitely create a worst case scenario.

I say screw them. Imagine the worst that can happen, and I’m talking the absolute worst. Going to school with no clothes on, calling the teach mum and peeing yourself all in the same day worst. Imagine that hideously horrible event, feel every emotion, genuinely live that worst case scenario in your head. It’s a safe happy place, mines normally filled with cute pictures of cats and lavish travel plans, so if you can test out things going wrong anywhere your imaginations a good place to start. Act out all the different scenarios in your mind and test out all the reactions you could have and come to terms with any unknowns in the situation.

I know it sounds like a negative attitude but I’ve found I can then tackle whatever event is worrying me with a new sense of confidence. No matter what happens I’ve already lived through the worst, I know I can handle it because really, our imaginations are capable of concocting far worse scenarios than the real world is ever likely to show us. If you can survive your own imagination you can conquer your fears and step out into the world ready to take on any challenge.

You should always try to find the positivity in the negative and turn the fear into a magic moment. I’m learning increasingly that nerves and excitement are one and the same they both fill you with the adrenalin needed to take on a situation, and equally (at least for me) dread at what is ahead. I think that as long as you handle your nerves successfully then both can be crucial parts of moving forward, and can even prove to be the energiser for your success. I can think of countless presentations at uni that I’m sure looking back, wouldn’t have been half as good had I not had those nerves there reminding me to try my best.

This has felt like a weird post to write, and ironically one I’ve felt pretty anxious about, to lay out one of my coping methods for criticism on the internet feels far from safe. Yet in an effort to seek new ways of understanding my anxiety I wanted to open up and put it out there. I would love to know if you have any tips for overcoming nerves or anxiety. Do you think positively, or like me, find imagining the worst a better strategy?

That week where I just fell off the internet

Hi. Hello. Nice to speak to you again, long time no see. 

Umm, so I feel I should apologize. You see just last Friday I was here telling you all about my ‘oh so exciting’weekend ahead. Blog wise I was all set to spend my Sunday writing up ‘magic moments’ for you and was geared up to tell you about my adventures planned for the week. It was all going rather great if I may say so, I mean look at my tipsy jolly face Friday night, just back from a beautiful gig and getting ready to be stuffed full of midnight pizzas.

Unfortunately that was the only photo taken of what was a lovely night. Not only did I get to spend the evening with my bestest who was up visiting from Leeds but I also got to see a local folk band, Gilded Thieves play live for the first time in months and have a sneaky drink with some of them. I’ll post a full review of their gig next week, but safe to say they were fantastic as usual!

Sadly that was the point when my week took a bit of a nose dive. The next morning I woke up feeling slightly more hungover than I should have been and Saturday became a write off, by Sunday I was feeling no better, in fact by Sunday I was almost certain that I had the flu. Now I’m normally quite good at powering through illness, and this week that was definitely necessary. I had 2 full days of work planned and a trip to London for my embassy appointment at the end of the week, I could NOT be ill. Sadly though Ill I was, Monday was slept through and although I managed to get into work on Tuesday evening I drank a lot of tea, watched a photo shoot and did very little else before heading home and crawling straight back into bed.

Now any sensible person at this point would be cancelling their 6am coach for the next day and at the very least booking a later one, my embassy appointment wasn’t until Thursday. But no, little miss clever clogs here arrived home at 11pm Tuesday night and preceded to pack her bags crawl into bed and get up at 4.30am the next day, sneezing and ill. I waited for 40 minutes in the cold morning fog and eventually got on my megabus.

See, dedication right there, and I thankfully managed to get another few hours of sleep on the coach and woke up feeling ever so slightly better and ready to play bus games and explore London for a couple of days. I jammed as much as I could into those 2 days before getting a late night coach back Thursday night, and battling power cuts all day Friday to catch up on work. Subsequently when I woke up this morning with a shock remembering that It has been WAY over a week since I’d shown this here blog of mine even a little bit of love.

So that is where you’ll find me right now, curled up on the sofa with a cup of tea happy as a llama in a bow tie, getting my blog on. I promise to make up for this week’s lack of blogness with plenty of adventure recaps, thoughts, and review as well as the first in my little series of why I chose Camp America, because fyi I officially leave in just 96 days… So much excitement! 

And on that note, I’m going to leave you all in the capable hands of Miss Saturday, I hope she treats you well and Mr Sunday is good to you too. Have a gorgeous weekend my lovelies and catch you all on Monday.

p.s. I have definitely learnt my newbie blogger lesson... blogging is like cooking, always keep some spare posts chilling in the freezer just in case you don't have time to whip up something special... that is how cooking works right?

Oh. Hi, Friday…

So here we are, Friday. The first day of the weekend and I’m showing up late as usual.  I’m letting that slide though because this week has been pretty darn wonderful if I’m honest, and well we’re all aloud to be late to class some of the time. I had great plans to blog about some slightly deeper things today because while this week has been lovely on a jolly, fluffy, rainbows and unicorns level, it has also been good on a slightly deeper level. I’ve taken on a few challenges this week in an attempt to work on my anxiety and touch wood the week seems to have been a success.  While my intentions were good, that post is definitely not what I’m bringing to the party today because, well these snap chats pretty much sum it up.

These went on for quite a while!

Yup. I am one big massive barrel of excitement right now, and not just because it’s a Friday. This Friday is an extra special Friday after a solid few weeks of work, work and more work my bestest square is coming home for the weekend!  By excited I’m not just talking little levels, I’m meaning dancing around my kitchen all day and actually enjoying doing laundry. I couldn’t get to sleep last night for planning all the things we could do in 24 hours. I’ve been awake since 6, although that may have something to do with me forgetting to cancel my alarm.

I think sometimes we just need to spend time with that person that knows us inside out. Who gets all of our random jokes, and will never judge you for your quirks or silly moments. Considering all of my best friends have spent time living abroad at some point means that I’m used to waiting far too long to see them. Facebook and Skype are our lifelines and we can pass hours just chatting. So even though she is only coming 2 hours up from Leeds we’ve never really got over that long distance way of handling things, and any chance to meet up is filled with nonstop chatter and catching up on anything and everything we might have missed.

So, apologies for the pause in thoughtful blogging but my mind is just too full.  We plan on fitting everything we used to do in our college days into one night, gigs, food, dancing and of course a sleepover with as many carbs as we can handle and a Skype call to our other bestie of in the land of Canada.

Now let’s all #backthatazzup and get ready for the weekend with this classic that we will most definitely be dancing to tonight. What’s your weekend jam and just how excited are you for this weekend?

‘What Would You Pack For a Weekend Away’ – Trek America Competition

Weekend getaway in Budapest

So today’s blog is dedicated to Trek America and stage one of their brilliant #blog4trek competition. As I explained I am a little too obsessed in love with America, my first degree was all about American history and literature, as a kid I would literally beg for our family holidays to be in America and the number one tip top highlight of my wanderlust list is to go on the ultimate road trip across America. So, you can imagine when I started looking at their trips I was practically drooling with excitement, and then panic because I needed one damn good blog post to win that trek!

‘What would you pack for a weekend away?’

That’s all they want to know. Now, in the past this would have been tricky. I was a notorious over packer with my whole house + the neighbours sink stashed into my bulging backpack, but I’ve thankfully developed a simpler travel style. I’m now a firm believer that for a weekend away you need very little more than the clothes on your backs, a toothbrush, your passport and maybe a little money.

How did 2 girls actually need that much stuff, and that many shoes?!

However my top 3 things to pack are:

• A sense of adventure

Get yourself lost in the city, take some side streets (they’re often cheaper) and try all the exciting things you stumble across!

• Camera and journal

I’m fairly certain you’re going to want to remember your weekend so snap some photos on your camera or smart phone and use any down time to jot down funny moments, memorable places and any other bits you don’t want to forget.

• A capsule wardrobe

Just the basics, a couple of neutral tops, a pair of jeans or skirt that can be dressed up or down, comfy but smart shoes and some jewellery to accessorize. You can always buy anything extra while you’re away, functional and a nice souvenir when you return.

And that’s all folks, grab that bag and enjoy your weekend! What are your weekend essentials? Is there anything you agree or disagree with?

Monday's Magic Moments

As I’ve said before, the next few months are pretty hectic with work, planning and visa applications demanding a lot of my time and causing a fair bit of stress and anxiety. These aren’t emotions that are alien to me, I’ve in fact spent and I’m still spending a lot of time working on ways to manage the ways I deal with such issues. Recently I’ve been focussing on limiting the stress inducing factors in my life. The luxury of my job is that, unless and actual event is happening, I can work pretty much wherever I want, whenever I want; with the exception of regular meetings and sessions.  I’ve been using that to start a little later on a Monday (an actual cup of tea in the morning is lovely), work a little later some nights if I want to meet friends during the day and sometimes just work from home hanging out with my part time pups. While sometimes the stressful things are the most important ones and I find myself just needing to suck it up and get on with it I have also discovered that if stress can’t be cut it can surely be balanced out. For every stressful moment I am striving to achieve at least one joyful moment.

So that’s where I am now. Monday morning, looking back over the week gone by and counting up those magic moments. Did Monday feel more blessed or stressed? How was my Friday, was the weekend one to be remembered. Sadly, the past week was definitely more on the stressed side, with time spent in dreary passport offices and battling with terminally slow embassy websites. It has given me one thing to be thankful for, this post, in fact this idea, Mondays post will now be a collection of my ‘magic moments’ from the week before and any goals I have for the following week. If I can list just 7 mini goals for the week ahead (that’s just one a day) that could add happiness to the day, whether it be a small moment or a bigger completion of a once stressful goal, I may just begin to see a happier less stressful perspective on my week. Although last week I didn’t list 7 goals I do still have a few moments that I would say I was thankful for and that reminded me to smile.

The magic moments gone by.

Isn't she just the cutest.

Last week I spent time with my little brother and my sister’s new puppy. Being an ‘aunt’ to that little pup is just so much fun and she never fails to bring a smile to my face, whether she’s racing around chewing on anything in site, begging you to take her on a walk or just sleeping on the sofa, she adds a brilliant element of life to the room and gets everyone talking and laughing.

This Giant cup of hot chocolate, it was honestly bigger than my face! While waiting for my passport last week I found that I had 4 hours to kill in Durham, and while I could have used it to explore the beautiful old town the weather was definitely against that idea. Instead I bought a new book (Canada by Richard Ford, I’m about a third of the way through and thoroughly enjoying it by the way.), found a comfy seat in a coffee shop, and curled up with that gigantic hot chocolate and a cake for 4 hours. It was a perfect afternoon of chilling, and while in the past I might have stressed out about all the things I could have been doing with that time, instead I just embraced every second of it. It was lovely!

He wore that hat for a good 20 minutes!

So it would seem this week has been a little bit dog themed. On Friday night my adopted pup Bobby came to stay for the weekend. He is primarily my friend’s dog, but because of her hectic lifestyle over the past couple of years we have developed an arrangement in which we dog share so that both Bobby and her get time to chill. I love it when he comes to stay as I get nonstop cuddles and have an excuse for walks in the park, not that I should need them. So there we have it my happy moments from this week. Now for the challenge a look at what could make the next week even more magic!

Magic moments mini goals.

• Cook something new, whether it is baking, cooking or just throwing together a fancy salad. Cook something from scratch and then sit down and enjoy.
  
  
• Meet up with someone I’ve not seen in a while. Lots of my friends are at universities in cites up and down the country, living abroad or working fulltime so we rarely get a chance to meet up, but with people home this week I want to make it my mission to see someone, and actually spend time with them, whom I don’t see that often.
  
  
• Visit somewhere new. A new restaurant, café, bar, park, shop, you name it, it counts.
  
  
• Do something on my own. Anything, just enjoy the time spent with nobody but my own thoughts.
  
  
• Have dinner with my mum. Sit down, home cooked dinner.
  
  
• Keep my room clean and tidy for the week. Maybe not the most joyful but if I succeed it would definitely make me feel happier to see a tidy space day in day out!
  
  
• Paint my nails. It has been weeks months since I last actually sat down and painted my nails. Not only does that mean they look a mess but the thought of sitting down and painting them pretty colours is now just about the most exciting thing I think of!
  

There we have it. Seven goals for seven days filled with magic moments. Would you believe that I found this bit really tricky, to think of things that would make me feel less stressed, or happier, was almost the most stressful bit of this post. I know that I want them to be things that make me feel something, excitement, or calm, or happiness, but it is so hard to think of things that will have that effect without having tried them before. So this list is more of a list of things I hope will have the desired effects. Who knows, maybe this will always prove a challenge or maybe as weeks go by, finding 7 things to sprinkle joy into my life will become easier.

If you were to pick just one thing to add a magic moment to your week what would that be?