General week chit-chat

This post isn't a particularly exciting or even particularly well thought out one, but I just wanted to share what I've been up to over the past few days which has stopped me posting :)

Saturday & Sunday 

I worked ALL DAY BOTH DAYS. I work in a residential home for young people with special needs and challenging behaviours which I absolutely love love love, but after two full-on days I was quite ready for a hot chocolate and bed.

Monday

Even though it was my day off I got up early & went into Norwich, the city nearest to where I live (I'm a country bumpkin through and through) with my mother bear. The main reason I wanted to go into Norwich was to make a cheeky purchase of a new camera (!). I decided I didn't want anything too fancy, because quite frankly I would NOT know how to use it, and they can be a lot of money to spend on something whose buttons and knobs would bamboozle a camera newbie. After talking to the sales assistant in John Lewis, who was so lovely and helpful, I decided that a bridge camera was probably the most suitable option for me at the moment, and opted for the Samsung WB1100F. I haven't really had a proper chance to play with my new toy so my opinions are on hold so far! But I particularly liked the fact it had a Wi-Fi connection so I could put pictures on my laptop easily, so get ready for some very picture-heavy blog posts. ;)

After making my very exciting purchase, we went for lunch. We have a bit of a tradition, and always go to the same place - a burger joint called Captain America's. If anyone is ever in Norwich I'd definitely recommend paying it a visit, if you like all things 60's and USA then it's almost certainly for you! We also had a mooch round some of the charity shops. There is a huge British Heart Foundation store that was full of furniture, and I fell a bit in love with a gorgeous dresser. Sadly I drive a Nissan Micra, not a van, so we said our goodbyes. 

Since we were in the city and had both read the book, my mum and I decided then to go and see The Fault in Our Stars. It was so, SO good, and definitely lived up to the book! We both cried our eyes out, as did everyone in the cinema. After the film ended we went to the toilets to get some tissues, and saw at least 10 other people from that screening doing the same haha.

Tuesday

I had work again on Tuesday, so a fair bit of my day was taken up with paperwork and other such delights. However, in the evening I went back into the city and met up with my gorgeous friend Sara. After pondering long and hard about where to go for dinner (our friendship is partly based on how much we hate decisions!) we decided to go to T.G.I's round the corner. We both had ribs and a bottomless coke, and it was DELICIOUS. Even more lovely was when we finished off the evening with Earl Grey tea and catch ups back in Sara's flat. Dinner and chats is definitely my idea of a perfect evening.

Wednesday 

Yesterday I woke up early and made a start at Sorting My Bedroom. Since my boyfriend was coming down from Leeds to stay that evening, I felt I couldn't leave it in the state it was currently in (I honestly can't express the horrorful state. Even I must admit it was VILE). So armed with bin bags and boxes, I enlisted the help of my dad and got cracking. There's definitely still heaps and heaps to do and sort, but at least now I don't have to perform an elegant deer-like leap to get across to my desk. 

After a morning of "sorting", I was thoroughly ready for a break, so I went on over to my friend Anna's house. Since she goes to Uni away as well I only get to see her in holidays :( she is definitely one of the most lovely and funny friends I have, so it was great to see her and catch up with her :) especially when it's over a mini-milk.

After I left my boyfriend told me his train would be late, I popped over to my friend Josh's house to see him. Our tradition when we see each other goes as follows: I pick Josh up from his house, we go to Tesco's, buy some salted microwave popcorn, Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough ice cream, and chocolate fudge brownie Frijj milkshake. We then take our feast back to his house, and put on a horror film. The only change to our tradition last night was that Josh had already been to Tesco and had the goods already ;) what a good boy *pat on head for Josh*. After scrutinising IMDB for horrors (most of which at least one of us had seen - the good ones anyway!) we decided to go for A Serbian Film, which neither of us had seen. I had to leave to pick up my fella from the station before it ended, but it was HORRIBLE. I'm tempted to google the ending, but quite frankly I don't think I even want to know where that film was leading. Is it possible to un-see things?!

Thursday

Aaaaand that brings us to today, folks! Ben is currently fast asleep still so I left him to his fly-catching and snuck back to my laptop to write this. I'm not sure what we're doing this weekend yet (today I have the second half of root canal treatment so I think fun might have to be postponed until tomorrow, boo hiss). Whatever we end up doing though, I'll be sure to christen my new camera ;)

Becoming the very best that you can be.

Sometimes life gets stressful and you don’t have a lot of time alone with your thoughts. But since I finished my 3^rd year of Uni last week (YAAY!) I’ve had some time to relax and recover, and in wedged in that a bit of thinking time - and in that time I decided on some “life tips” for myself. Nothing revolutionary, or even particularly interesting – but I think they might help me J

·   Before you say something, ask yourself if you’d be embarrassed to have it repeated.  I don’t think there’s a person on earth that hasn’t said at least one thing that in hindsight they are quite ashamed of. Whether it’s a catty comment about a friend, or a joke that could actually be perceived as quite unpleasant. But once it slips out, it’s so easy to get repeated and even passed back to that person. It’s the old “if you haven’t got anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”. Solid advice by Thumper from Bambi there. I know when I say something nice about someone, even if there’s no way they’d find out, it just makes me feel good J so do it for that selfish reason if none other! ;)

·     Try and be a bit healthier. Notice I say “healthier”, not healthy! I am very much someone who loves curling up with pizza and ice cream and completely depriving myself of that may be good for my hips, but would almost certainly make me very sad! But sometimes too much fatty/sugary foods makes me feel gunky, I’m afraid I have no technical term for it. It ends up making me feel lethargic, has nasty effects on my skin and I just generally end up feeling yucky on the inside. I try and balance this with some salads and substituting chocolate for fruit, but I want to start doing more exercise. I love horse riding (which does take a surprising amount of physical effort, despite everyone who says the horse does all the work!) but I want to start going to the gym more. I stopped going this year because my workload and placements stepped up a LOT this academic year, but now it’s summer I have no excuse. Exercise classes keep me motivated and I always leave with endorphins fluttering around me J boxercise, let us get reacquainted.

·         Be someone YOU’D like to spend time with. By that I don’t mean stop being yourself, or pretend to be someone you’re not. But I think it’s easy to assume people will always be there for you, whether its friends, a partner, family. But taking people for granted is something that causes the destruction of so many relationships. If you think of a compliment, say it. If something someone has done has made you smile, tell them. Small gestures mean so much, and even a text message that takes 20 seconds to compose has the potential to turn someone’s day around. If it’s something you’d appreciate, chances are someone else will too!

·         Be grateful for small things. This is bordering on cheesy, and I don’t want to get my snorkel and get too deep now. But I am henceforth going to try and focus on the little positives of my day than the little niggles! I am very much someone who can get bogged down by little worries, and blow them up into big things in my mind rather than thinking “oh well, happened now!” which would be a much healthier thought process. Instead, I want to focus on all the lovely things that happen every day that we take for granted, whether it’s a nice meal, a quick phone call with a friend, or even just some nice weather. It doesn’t have to be a day with a trip to Alton Towers to be amazing/ memorable.

·   Turn negatives into positives. A long and stressful day at work can dictate and ruin your whole day. Or, you can think “I have accomplished so much today and worked so hard, I’m proud of that”.

"The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our cicumstances"

- Martha Washington