Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Midnight Ponder, ft. Kitten.

I'm sitting with the kitten in the first few minutes of the last day of the year and we're reminiscing about 2013.

My highlights include: Dubrovnik, Glastonbury and bringing Cosmo home.

His highlights include: chasing his tail in the shower, sitting in the sink and hunting a daddy-long-legs in the porch.

Here's the naughty little critter's version of events:


He does like music...

Beautiful...

So being an adult is difficult, isn't it? Why didn't they teach you that at school instead of trigonometry? We could have done with a warning and a few lessons in how to deal with hardship graciously. Nonetheless, F.Scott Fitzgerald posits an interesting conundrum of a metaphor:


So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.


How can you move forward when you're still stuck in ideas, events, tragedy of the past? 

I hope 2014 brings you all health, contentment and adventure, in whichever form you deem fit for you right now.

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Sunday, December 29, 2013

Sunday Round-up

Perfect day for a wedding in London yesterday
Today doesn't feel like a Sunday at all because no days around this time feel like a specific day. In fact I almost forgot that Sundays are my Sunday Round-up post day. What makes a day feel like a day? Sundays are usually sleepy, as today was. Sundays are usually surrounded by family, as today was. Sundays are usually peaceful and unnerving all at once, with the impending doom of Monday madness lurking. As today was. So why didn't today feel like a Sunday? Strange one.

This week I have been:

Reading: these interesting pieces on grief, Dove and abortion.

Shedding tears at: this video of Beyonce making a dream come true for a lovely little girl and this video of an inspiring love story (thank you lovely Christina for showing me the latter)

Watching: Raised by Wolves, written by Caitlin Moran and her sister Caroline. It's a sitcom based on their upbringing and the pilot was well worth a watch. I also finished watching the final series of Him & Her. Good stuff.

Cooking: a Christmas dinner for eight. Best one I've done yet, didn't burn too many things, only messed up the timings sliiiightly. Thumbs up.

Showing: American visitors around London. It was fun to go around the sights taking pictures of somebody who actually wanted photographs for once!! (Blogger problem??!)

Wearing: my new penguin onesie, complete with penguin feet. On Christmas day whilst I cooked, and for about three days straight afterwards too. Kitten was pretty terrified of me for a while, not least because I was the same colour as him, but he's warmed to it now. Cosiest outfit ever. Unfortunately doubt there'll ever be the occasion to wear it outside these four walls, but I'm gonna be working on that...

Looking forward to: wearing my NMP3 t-shirt, finally!!

I'm off to have a curry with some school friends this evening and will have some more family time over the next couple of days. How do you plan to spend your last few days of 2013?

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Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Kitten-Human Time


Cosmo and I spent some quality kitten-human time over the weekend. We played, we painted, he practised his hunting, we wrapped up presents, did some scrap-booking, listened to some London Grammar. You know, all the usual stuff. I can certainly tell he is growing up into a fine, young cat. He's more obedient, doesn't try and trip me up on the stairs too often and lounges about like he owns the place. This is his first Christmas and contrary to popular forecasts, he has not torn apart ANY presents under the tree, nor has he knocked over or tried to eat the tree itself. Hooray!

Wishing you all a peaceful Christmas xxxx

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Monday, December 23, 2013

Surprise Party



For M's birthday this year, his friends held him a surprise party.

Sometimes in life you reach points where your world pretty much stops for you. You spend all your time consumed by one thing, you don't quite understand how everyone goes about doing their usual day-to-day things, still laughing, still smiling, still obsessed with the trivial, when you feel like your world is falling apart and struggle to remember how you used to also be like that. M is pretty good at coping with less than favourable situations, but nonetheless a hard time is a hard time, right?

So, in an overwhelming act of kindness, it was wonderful to see all the people who care about him most come together to show him how much he is appreciated. A room in the local pub was hired out, a buffet ordered, a cake baked (and decorated like a child, I know...sorry), banners and balloons displayed and a good 30 people or so waiting to jump out and shout "SURPRISE!" when M came in, thinking he was just having a drink with a couple of friends. Wonderful. What was extra special was that M had noooooo idea at all. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

How do you feel about surprises? Have you ever been thrown one?

PS. My cake had raving reviews despite the child-like decorations (those worms do taste pretty good though) so if you are interested in the recipe, you can find it here.

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Sunday, December 22, 2013

Sunday Round-up

From here

This week I have been:

Listening to: London Grammar (you're all going to be shocked any Sunday I don't include them in my round-up now aren't you?!), Bastille, the Mumford&Sons/Laura Marling collaboration with the Dharohar Project, Daughter - all the good'uns.

Fascinated by: this story of a boy who paid 4p for a £600 supermarket shop and donated it all to charity. What incredible initiative shown by somebody so young. Be active!

Enamoured of: the Educating Yorkshire Christmas Special. The story of Musharaf and Mr Burton makes me cry every time (5:41 onwards).

Admiring: Malala Yousafzai's UN speech. Oh to be that articulate.

Training: my kitten. He passed level 1 of Beeta's Bootcamp this morning and now holds the title for Master Hunter of 2013. I shook his paw to congratulate him and he has been celebrating this afternoon by skating in the sink, eating lamb and sleeping by the radiator.

Completing: law exams.

Taking: a rest from law and scrap-booking whilst listening to inspiring women on Youtube

Watching: "Celeste and Jesse Forever" on Netflix. I hadn't watched a film in a little while so treated myself on Friday night with a full two hours wrapped up in a blanket on the sofa with this film. It was better than I thought it was going to be. A half-refreshing story at least.

Dreaming of: Paris.


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Friday, December 20, 2013

Stealing a glimpse


Here's a photo I had forgotten about, on a walk that had slipped my mind, on an afternoon that was bright and mellow at the same time but I might be wrong as it might not have been the day I thought it was. London is glorious in the summer sunshine, but it is equally as magical in wholly different ways in the winter. In winter, the city sometimes feels like it is all squished together, wrapped up in rustly brown paper and tidied up with twinkly lights and ribbon. I'll try and remember to take a similar shot next week on this same walk, not least so I don't forget the moments I stop and think "Wow, I'd like to capture that glimpse for eternity".



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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Blacks Burgers

This post is wayyyy overdue and I have probably eaten about 57 burgers since, BUT a couple of months back, M and I had some celebrating to do. It had finally been a good day at the hospital after countless disappointments in the weeks before so when we got off the train home from London, we followed our noses to the enticing smell that was Blacks Burgers.

Naughty handfuls of yum.


I must say our burger choices were probably the best we could have made. I had cheese and bacon because that is the ultimate combination and both those ingredients make anything better. Especially days when you've been using an old school calculator for an entire afternoon and have numbers-induced fury. M had a chorizo combination.

Chorizo is a superior sort of meat, isn't it? I feel like if it had a facial expression it'd be a sort of smug one with gleaming eyes and thoughts of how it has perfected the succulent/chewy balance.

Anyway, the flavours worked but I wasn't entirely persuaded by the burgers themselves.


I haven't had a reallllyyyyyy good burger in such a long time. Some friends and I tried Burgers and Cocktails (a Giraffe restaurant spin-off, I believe) which is a short walk from Bond Street station, and they were okkkkk (cheese and bacon again so yes we're doing a like for like comparison) and we all know how disastrous my Meat Liquor venture was, so I'm itching to try a Patty & Bun creation. Does anybody know what the best time of day to go is so that you don't have to queue much/at all?

But yes, back to Blacks. The chips were nice, the onion rings could have been crispier but the pièce de résistance was the chocolate milkshake. Holy moley, it was deeeelicious and beautifully presented as you can see.


So yes, the staff are kind and helpful, the choice of burgers is pretty extensive and I at least recommend you pop in for a catch up with friends over milkshakes. They also do some good lunchtime and student deals if that suits. 

Where do you recommend for an excellent burger? And more importantly, when shall we go and try them out?

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Sunday, December 15, 2013

Sunday Roundup (Links edition)

From here.

Instead of the usual "here's what I've been eating, drinking, listening to" spiel, this week I'd like to share some links of interest with you that I have come across (mostly via Twitter). So grab a cup of tea and some biscuits, have a read and let me know what you make of this list...

- This list of two-worded advice  - which one resonates with you? What would you say?
- Sticking to the momentary theme of advice, Rachael shared Mary Schmich's take on life. I really like it.
- Horrendous views from Richard Drax MP in response to a constituent asking if he would support the No More Page 3 campaign. I'm glad I didn't get the same response when I spoke to my MP about this but blimey, this is disgraceful.
- Are you a people pleaser? This article was a nice little reminder that it's okay to look out for yourself.
- This one's a bit naughty, but only because it's to something I featured in... the final instalment of the "Why I Started Blogging" series on The Bloggers' Lounge.
- The confidence this girl oozes, especially in the context of the words she speaks, is inspiring and should be applauded. I wish every girl understood that it is okay to be passionate about this enough to speak out. It affects half the population after all. Passivity is awful.
- Cat's crafty tutorials are always awesome, but this one is particularly stunning.
- A motivating little boost from Jessica about why comparing yourself to others is a pointless exercise.
- Freya's Tale of Two Rings is just lovely. A perfect sentimental tribute.

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Thursday, December 12, 2013

Learning from your subconscious

from here

You know those mornings you wake up in a right old mood, still angry and upset from the dream you've just abandoned?

I keep getting them and for a while have been trying to justify to myself that I am indeed entitled to feel however I like about them - whether that's angry, sad, upset, bitter, annoyed - even though they were just the product of my subconscious's imagination. I'll think about people I know in a certain way, I'll be annoyed with my boyfriend for the evil deed he committed, I'll feel sad at the tragedy that struck and fluttery from the adventures that I probably wish were real. I'll be on a high from feeling of flight, the planet I danced around via log-flume and racing car, the love that was shown, the concepts that make complete sense in my head only. I know they haven't happened. I know they're partly made-up, partly a worry, a hope, an observation from your current living state.

I don't believe in suppressing these feelings. They may stem from things which are intangible when I am awake but to smother their existence is to deny a part of you which is ultimately the most powerful - your mind.

The quotation above assures me that actually it's fine to accept the emotion you've been dealt by whatever trigger, whether that's a dream, a story, an event. In any case, bottling something up is bound to leak eventually when you feel vulnerable and weak. Revel in your feelings. Not for a long time though. Don't let them consume you. Pick yourself up, learn from what they've taught you about what is important and move forward. But, don't ignore them. Your subconscious can play tricks on you, but sometimes it is trying to tell you something important that the "real" world won't.

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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

A superfluous ultimatum

Found here

Which is the better situation to be in:
 - to be really motivated to do something but not have the physical capability to do so; or
 - to have all physical capabilities of doing something but not have the motivation to do so?

(And why do we create these comparisons and ultimatums anyway?)
It's always at times when we lack something, we crave it. If it's right in front of us, if we have the opportunity to do it at our disposal and discretion, it is often ignored, overlooked or rejected.

For example, if I was fully capable of walking to the gym right now and working out for an hour and then walking back again, I would probably come up with some sort of excuse not to go. Too cold, too wet, too tired. But now that I find myself in a situation where walking for half an hour each way, let alone exercise in between is an impracticality/impossibility/not a sensible course of action, I wish I could have it even more and the mundane irrelevances of the former scenario, like weather, do not even enter the equation.

Teaches you to be more grateful and proactive I suppose.

What do you reckon?

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Sunday, December 08, 2013

Sunday Roundup

from here


Listening to: London Grammar, Daughter, Damien Rice

Focusing: with Rainy Mood

Admiring: these perfectly-timed photos

Drinking: plenty of tea, too much black coffee to meet deadlines in my half-recovered state

Eating: a bag of treats from M&S a friend of mine brought over last weekend to brighten up being at home

Signing up for: the 2014 Blogger Challenge, hosted here - are any of you taking part?

Reading: SRA Accounts Rules. Thrilling. Also, this incredibly insightful article by Christopher Hitchens about Iran. I wish there were more positive pieces like this written about Iran. I contributed with this piece here (which was also my first post on this blog)

Feeling: sad that we still live in a world where a person revealing their sexuality makes headline news

Thinking: that as a person in my early-20s, I have not experienced anything even a fraction as impacting in politics as those in South Africa, and many other places worldwide have. It is pure luck which society we are born into. Having relatives my age in Iran is a constant reminder of this.

Have you encountered any revelations this week?

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Saturday, December 07, 2013

Treble Clef #1: London Grammar

 from here. text added by me.
I've mentioned before how London Grammar songs grab my soul, soothe it and twist it into pretty patterns. I cannot stop listening to their album "If You Wait" and the lyrics above come from a song called "Stay Awake". Your next port of call should be "Nightcall" for the most evocative four minutes of your day so far. Imagine having a voice that is capable of rousing a person's innermost feelings and causing the hairs on your arms to stick up in admiration and captivation . Do you know that feeling?
----
This post is the first in my "Treble Clef" series, during which I hope to share with you musical notes and inspiring, lyrical magic that will captivate you as much as they do me.

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Wednesday, December 04, 2013

Staying in Hospital: What to Take



They should have signs like this dotted around hospitals. (Original source unknown)
This photo makes me laugh because I have a theory that the world would be a very different place if mirrors didn't exist. I scribbled down my logically thought out argument for this in a notebook some years ago and if it resurfaces, I will let you know of the ins and outs but here is the general gist - No mirrors, therefore you're unlikely to know what you look like (unless you caught sight of yourself on something naturally reflective like pond water on a particularly lucky day). Not knowing what you look like, therefore severely reducing the likelihood of you comparing yourself on a superficial level with those around you. And think of the impact that would have on confidence, relationships, stigma and prejudice. 

I realise that that is a ridiculously simplistic theory with hundreds of flaws, but do you see the point I'm trying to make? It is unimportant what we look like in the grand scheme of things. But we are socialised to believe that there is a certain way to care for your appearance. Don't get me wrong, I'm aware that we have created social norms for tidiness and hygiene. But when you're stripped back and vulnerable, in hospital for example, what does it matter what you've done with your outsides aesthetically; it is the internal treasures that are keeping you alive. 

It is entirely possible that I am speaking absolute nonsense and this may be an occasion where my thoughts haven't splattered in ink as coherently as they flow in my head. Let me know what you think.

In the meantime, here are my suggestions for what to take if you're going to be staying in hospital.
  • Something to pass the time as you wait for your surgery/procedure, such as a relatively easy-going book, magazine, tablet, newspaper, sudoku puzzle book, a deck of cards...and so on and so forth.
  • Comfy clothes or pyjamas/nightie in case the gowns are too itchy or if you're craving home comforts
  • Slippers
  • Any medication you usually take
  • Any documents you might need such as hospital letters
  • A bottle of water for when you are finally allowed a drink post-procedure
  • Toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, period equipment and other toiletries
  • Wet wipes for when the nurses don't have time to help you wash in bed
  • Hand gel
  • Something which makes you feel warm inside - I chose Twining's Double Mint Sensation tea bags to escape the terrible cups of tea the catering services make, but you could take anything which makes you feel more at home.
Most staff will be wonderful to you, others will be more pressed for time, but usually people want to help so if you need anything don't be afraid to ask. As I pointed out in a post last week, don't underestimate the kindness of strangers. And if you're like me and you enjoy a quotation (or gazillion) found on Pinterest, try living by the mantra "Never suppress a generous thought". I have that stuck on my fridge. I like to think that if everyone had that stuck on their fridges too, we'd all have more of a spring in our step. 

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Tuesday, December 03, 2013

Silver Linings


Today was one of those days that started off badly. It still has the potential to continue going badly. But I feel calm in the eye of the storm and the storm isn't a serious one anyway. Perspective is a good reminder. If today works out, it works out. If it doesn't, I have very much tried my best under the circumstances and in these sorts of situations, that's all you can do. Anyway, I found some silver linings and wanted to record them because they helped or made me smile.

1. A logical, supportive and motivational chat with  my Dad about how to tackle the day
2. Loving, supportive words from M and my Mum to keep me going
3. Dad coming home with sesame snacks for me, like he did when I was little
4. The beautiful postcard above, received from my lovely friend in Paris

Little, but important things to smile about. Nice things tend to stand out more against the troubling things. Maybe I wouldn't have appreciated them as much on a non-troubling day. And maybe that's a silver lining in itself. And it's only the afternoon. AND I have another post scheduled for you for later. And and and and and and and.

What has cheered you up today?

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Sunday, December 01, 2013

Taking Stock #3

Found here
Taking Stock is a series I found here. I'm beginning each of my months with this reflective little exercise and invite you to do the same too. Make you sure you leave your link in the comments section below if you do take part so I can have a read!

Making : progress
Cooking : infrequently
Drinking : oodles of water and mountains of tea
Reading: a chunk of fiction to break up the non-fiction stints. Currently, The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling and The Hobbit by Tolkien.
Wanting: peace
Looking: at what's in front of me and nothing more
Playing: Crash Team Racing on the PS1. Mum was sent on a treasure hunt into the loft and managed to dig it out. I try and play it standing up, stepping from side to side, to get blood flowing. People have actually suffered fatal DVTs from playing video games for too long.
Wasting: nothing hopefully. I think everything this month was completely justified. Tears and time included.
Fixing: my body!!!!
Deciding: to be brave about what I take on and to have a can-do attitude.
Wishing: I didn't have coursework to do whilst still recovering from an operation...
Enjoying: books and flowers the most.
Waiting: for the general anaesthetic to wear off still...
Liking: that I've received five bunches of flowers in the last ten days
Wondering: how my life might start to be different now
Loving: the comfort of a hot water bottle at night
Pondering: the joys of tax law
Considering: a change in approach
Watching: Made in Chelsea...
Hoping: my operation will have a positive long term effect
Marvelling: at how exhilarating it is to feel cold, crisp air for the first time after being cooped up indoors for nearly two weeks
Needing: love and attention
Smelling: flowers, candles, anti-MRSA soap
Wearing: hospital gowns, pyjamas, silly outfits, outfits that make me feel happy, my old brogues from six years ago which are still my favourite
Following: my instincts for the moment
Noticing: how completely poor-average people can be
Knowing: who and what to focus my energy on
Thinking: too much about things which upset me and not enough about fixing myself
Feeling: frustrated at points when my body feels like it's going to fall apart, but happy that it's making so much progress
Admiring: how flipping incredible it is that a minimally invasive operation is how the surgeons twisted, stretched and poked a balloon into my deep veins. Aside from the pain/physical effects, the only thing I have to show for it is a bruise. I mean, whattttt?! Incredible, literally incredible.
Buying: presents, presents, presents and comedy tickets for January
Getting: better
Bookmarking: recipes to try on cold December nights
Opening: difficult doors
Giggling: at how my Dad has a joke for every situation and however much I find them silly, they are a reminder of comfort, love and what "home" means.

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You can find Taking Stock #1 here and Taking Stock #2 here.

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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Lessons Learnt in Hospital

Flowers are 100% a perk of hospital stays (From here)

Thank you all so much for being so caring and supportive over the last week. Your messages and little checks on me helped tons. My operation to help alleviate the symptoms of my DVT went well as far as we can tell for the moment so I'm doing my best to feel positive in this tricky period of recovery. I am now home but being in hospital was quite a humbling experience for me. It wasn't my first time but the characters I met during this stay were much more significant to me as they were going through similar versions of my condition. There was a bit of a community feeling going on in that respect. I noted down the following during my hospital stay last week about the little lessons I have learnt, some more meaningful than others...
  • It is important to feel appreciative of the fact that wherever you are in your journey, there's always someone else who is only at the beginning of the turmoil. Feel lucky that you've come so far.
  • The longer you're on a ward, the more vocal you feel entitled to be. The lady next to me has been here a couple of months and she's definitely self-elected leader of this bay's pack.
  • You can pretty much never trust the custard served.
  • Try not to underestimate the kindness of strangers. I had a difficult time a couple of nights. The first, a couple of family members of different patients came over to my bed, gave me a hug and some tissues, helped me out with my legs and chatted to me until I felt settled. The second time, it was 4am, the other patients could tell I was having a hard time when I called for help, and despite the fact that they were in ridiculous pain themselves and I'd probably woken them up, they mentored me through the next bit, telling me what medication to ask for, to breathe deeply to keep calm and counted with me to focus my mind elsewhere. It was comforting to be amongst people who cared that much, despite their own troubles.
  • People who work in hospitals have such demanding jobs. I'm sure some of the doctors who treated me didn't leave the hospital at all the entire time I was there. Their families must get fed up but they must love their jobs.
  • Being able to open your bowels normally is an utter luxury I tell you.
  • Visiting hours are an uplifting time, with the breaking of routine and noise and colour from outside, except when you see the lonely people and feel sad that nobody is with them.
  • Life is much better without a fuzzy head, especially when it means you can read. Books are marvellous transporters.
Have you realised anything new recently? How do you cope with being in hospital?

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Saturday, November 23, 2013

b & w #2




I - The Royal Academy of Arts' pretty outside (and inside a pretty gift shop)
II - Vacuum cleaner penguins and Wii Fit polar bears
III - Please mind the gap between the hour of the day and my ability to function

You can find the first instalment of b&w here.

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Thursday, November 21, 2013

Guest Post by Sallytangle: The Perfect Day



The perfect day is just as important as being able to bake the sweetest sponge or the crumbliest biscuit.  A day so full of good and glory has the ability to fix everything you need it to without you ever having to tell it. And it needn’t be complicated.  Often the simplest days are the most perfect.

You will need:

Sunshine.  And bags of the stuff.  You can’t be sad, or feel unwell or miss anyone quite as much when Mr Sunshine rears his pretty little head.  Fact.

A wide open outside space.  As lovely as looking through a big window all curled up and cosy inside is ideal, nothing beats fresh air in your lungs.  Any space will do but the bigger the better. 


Some form of exercise.  You can be alone, be a little twosome or a big and whopping group of people but getting out and moving your lovely limbs does no end of good whatever you are doing.  Circus tricks and acrobatics are not essential.  Just do what makes you feel good.  Your two feet are as good as anything else. 

The Method:

Get up and fill your tummy with your favourite breakfast.  At the moment I am partial to a slice or three of cranberry and raisin bread, toasted with butter and a little cup of lady grey tea with lots of milk. 


Wrap up warm in as many layers as you can squeeze into.  I am currently loving all things tweed and tartan and spending my day in a little kilt, navy oversized knit, clumpy boots and tights is pretty much perfect.  Mittens and furry Cossack hat also usually feature heavily. 



Once you have found the widest most beautiful open space you can muster, do what the bobbins you like.  This week I have been interrupting my usual laps of our local park with frequent stops to marvel at beautiful autumn colours, dreamy amber afternoon skies and the satisfying crunch of leaves underneath my feet. 


These sorts of days don’t take too long to put together and they should keep for at least a couple of weeks in your lovely little head.  And they are perfect relief when life feels like it gets a bit too much and you are careering towards Christmas at break-neck speed. 



Note:  A huge and warm thank you goes out to the beautiful Beeta for allowing me to write for her wonderful blog.  This blog is one of my very favourites to curl up on these darker evenings and get a little bit lost in.  This girl's words are beyond beautiful and it’s a very special honour to feature here for a moment!

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I was absolutely chuffed when the lovely Sally from Sallytangle agreed to write a little something for my blog whilst I'm away. Look at how stunning those pictures are - can't believe they're on my blog!! I told you I'd leave you in exceedingly good hands! Sally's blog is my favourite at the moment. Words can't really do her photography, beautiful descriptions or clever ideas justice so make sure you pop over to her blog and sample some of her genius for yourselves. Thank you very much, Sally. 
- Beeta

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Monday, November 18, 2013

See you on the other side...


Don't you find that you spend time dreading some weeks and they just pass you by? I've had a few of those recently and somehow they disappear without giving you a chance to even attempt half of your to-do list. I'm not convinced that there are enough hours in the day at the moment. I've been trying to work pretty hard in the last couple of weeks to get on top of my studying as tomorrow morning I will be going into hospital for a few days to have an operation and will have to take a little bit of time out to get better. Don't worry though, I'm leaving you in some very good hands with a very exciting guest post scheduled for you all later in the week. Keep your eyes peeled! I'm so excited to share it with you.

Tonight I'm taking a night off of studying and going to see a comedian I have recently been enjoying - Bridget Christie. I'm sure it'll be the perfect way to distract myself from what's coming tomorrow! In all honesty, I haven't even had time to worry about it and I'm so excited that it might be the solution to a lot of my symptoms I just can't wait to have it done. I've never had an operation before - have any of you? Any advice or top tips to calm the nerves would be much appreciated!

Have a lovely week, enjoy the guest post and I'll update you on my operation adventures as soon as I'm home again.

Oh, I almost forgot - my little kitten, Cosmo, is featuring over on Katie's "Perfect Pets" series today. Make sure you pop over and have a peek at him aged around 4 months. He's grown so much since then but he gets cuter and cuter each and every day.

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Sunday, November 17, 2013

Sunday Roundup

Found here via Pinterest
This week I have been:

Buying: books. I annoyed myself by forgetting some paperwork when I visited the hospital earlier this week which meant that I had to make the hour round trip again later in the day. To cheer myself up, I popped into a charity shop on my walk home where they were doing a deal on their books - 4 for £1.99. So naturally I picked up eight and carried them home in my arms like my many paper babies. It was such a treat and I am chuffed that I picked up so many good titles including....Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling, White Teeth by Zadie Smith and Any Human Heart by William Boyd (the TV series of this was magnificent). All in excellent condition as well I might add.

Reading: The Hobbit which I also picked up in my spree. I've never read this before but my two BFs (boyfriend and best friend) love these books so I thought I'd see what the fuss is all about.

Practising: advocacy. I had my advocacy mock this week and after the way the practice had gone the week before, I was worried it was going to be just as awful. I'm pleased to report it was a million times better, I passed and now feel confident for the real thing which is in a month. Moral of the story - mocks exist for a reason.

Listening: to London Grammar (well obviously), Florence and the Machine and the Arctic Monkeys.

Spending: time with my best friends in the whole wide world <3 <3

Eating: Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut and the world's best chocolate and vanilla cheesecake. You lucky Instragram followers will have seen...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. They were meant to give me energy to keep going with my uni work but knocked me out instead and fell asleep uninterrupted the whole night through. Think I found the cure for sleeplessness guys...

I may be a little absent next week for reasons I will reveal in due course but keep happy and strong everyone. I'm a big advocate of what Ovid's said up there xxxx

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Friday, November 15, 2013

The view from within

Original source unknown. Found here via Pinterest.

It's funny how the days I wake up feeling awful and so not up for facing the day, quite often turn out to be days where I feel peaceful if I end up spending the day by myself. It's almost as if I need to leave my house, or between whichever four walls I wake up in, the zone of sluggishness and negativity, and emerge in the hub of happening, watching people go about their days with purpose, breathe fresh air and feel the cold against my face and hands. And have thoughts and realisations like the ones I am putting down on paper now. 

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Sunday, November 10, 2013

Sunday Roundup

Found here
This week I have been....
Planning: the In Thing for Cancer Research
Listening to: London Grammar, Daughter and Laura Marling
Watching: Made in Chelsea
Smiling at: finding my blog on Bloglovin's list of up and coming personal blogs
Worrying: an awful lot
Drinking: orange flavoured hot chocolates to warm up my insides
Buying: (and building) a desk from Ikea

I was meant to be in Berlin this week seeing the Arctic Monkeys but the silver lining to not being able to go after all is that I had more time to do uni work and time for a date with M.

What was your silver lining this week?
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Saturday, November 09, 2013

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: THEN & NOW at Beetles + Huxley



A few weeks ago, one of my lovely old university friends and I met in Piccadilly for a much needed catch up after the summer. You know when you live in the same city as somebody but somehow don't manage to see them anywhere near as much as you would like to - silly, "life" getting in the way... - yep S is one of those. I think my new year's resolution will be to see more of my closest friends because that is what "life" is, not textbook after textbook.

We went for some soup and then wandered around the market stalls outside St James' Church. It's a great live music venue by the way if you ever get the chance to go. I saw Laura Marling there quite a few years ago and it was enchanting.



Beetles + Huxley is a little gallery in a road opposite the church, specialising in photographic prints. We knew there was a National Geographic exhibition going on so a stop there was a must. Unfortunately this one has finished now but take my word for it, the photos were just spectacular. Here are a few of my favourites...

David Doubilet Here
Sam Abell Here
Stephen Alvarez here
How privileged the photographers must feel to have been able to use their skill and talent to capture such stunning natural scenes.

Have you been to any exhibitions recently that you would recommend?
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