52 List Super Post

So as you've probably noticed things have been a little quiet around here lately! I've been enjoying some downtime with family, but don't think I've forgotten you - I'll be back with vengeance before you know it. As a result of my own darn laziness, I'm a whole MONTH behind on the lovely Ema's list project (not even counting this week!!). I'm a terrible person but to make it up to you here is a 52 List SUPER POST to start the week off...

1. Time spent with my girls.
2. Using Richard's shoulder as a pillow and his good night kiss on my forehead.
3. My little puppy, his cute little wrinkle and when he curls up on my belly to go to sleep.
4. That 'I'm home' feeling and time spent with the family.
5. That 'job well done' feeling.
6. When the sun breaks through the clouds and it seems like you can see every sunbeam.
7. Disney films and soppy love films.
8. Good books read on the sofa accompanied by cups of tea.
9. Waking up on weekends with no alarm, the sun peaking through the curtains.
10. Christmas - my favourite holiday, there is no time of year I love more!!

The 52 Lists project is organised by Ema over at Made in Hunters. See her list here.

1. Start and finish my dissertation.
2. Polish up my Russian - yep my flights back to the motherland are all booked and paid for! Expect more posts from Russia with love on our return to Moscow!
3. Getting final year pre-reading done and bracing myself for a year of being chained to a desk in the library.
4. Move in to my new house.
5. Go away for a break with Rich (maybe camping :) )

See Ema's list here.

1. Turning 22 (who wouldn't want their life dictated by a Taylor Swift song for a whole year?!)
2. Going back to Moscow to see it in the sunshine rather than the snow!!
3. Seeing my little baby puppy (expect an update on the little rascal soon!)
4. Seeing my little sister performing - She's got Alice in Wonderland lined up as well as a drama competition at her school.
5. Returning to Bath in August (god I've missed the South West!) - Cider for all :D

See Ema's list here.

1. Negative thoughts
2. Worry
3. De-motivation
4. STRESS
5. Lots of junk!!

See Ema's list here.

52 Lists: List your favourite blogs and why.

Ema created this list to combat some blogger on blogger hate she'd seen building on social media and to spread some love. To list my favourite blogs? This was indeed a toughie! I follow 132 bloggers on bloglovin and to narrow it down, well...you can imagine!! One of my favourite parts of blogging is reading what everyone else has got to say, seeing what lives everyone else has chosen to live and being inspired by the projects of others. 3/4 of the blogs I follow are lifestyle or travel blogs and this is most definitely reflected in my list. So without further ado (and in no particular order!)...

1. Cider with Rosie.
   I'm pretty sure that this lovely lady features in most 'favourites' lists. Her personality shines through her blog which has such a genuine voice and style. From her gorgeous little dog and her stories about life with her Mr To Be, to her picture perfect days out, her posts brighten peoples days (especially her 10 things that have made me happy this week!). I'm looking forward to following on with her wedding planning in the near future!
   
2. Awash with Wonder. What can I say about this woman? She's a powerhouse! Her blog is so raw and honest and really gets down to the nitty gritty topics which punctuate this funny thing we call life. Beautifully written, it's opinionated without being alienating and shows an insight in to her really colourful life. It always has me nodding along in a 'that's so true' fashion. I can't wait to follow her move across the Atlantic - I know she'll be a busy bee, but please don't forget about us!
   
3. Landlopers.
   So many travel bloggers are sugar coaters and fact givers. Not Matt! Despite being a 'luxury' travel blogger (who are usually the worst of the bunch), he gives you a sense of what a place is really like, its colours, its scent and above all what he was feeling as he visited. His blog is so readable, and many of his posts have been 'favourited' in the hope that one day I can visit the wonderful places he's revealed to us. If this little space could grow up to be half the blog that Matt's is, I'd be one happy bunny.
   
4. A Beautiful Mess.
   This is the first blog I ever followed! What can I say about A Beautiful Mess? As much as I'm a traveller, the thought of having my own little house one day just warms me up from the inside. A Beautiful Mess is like craft/DIY porn. I swoon over all their little projects and file them away in my future interior design head. However, I fear that if I actually got round to making anything, it would turn out like one of those Pintrest Gone Wrong crafts, but a girl can dream, eh? Rich best hide the power tools.
   
5. We Took The Road Less Travelled.
   I just adore Casey's blog. A girl after my own heart her blog is wordy and wonderful. Based in Germany, with her RAF officer Mr, their German and European adventures have me wanderlusting all over the place! I was so rooting for them in the weeks up until they received their next posting and I really hope Casey continues writing after their move back stateside!
   
6. Cocktails and Caroline.
   This blog is written by probably the most glamorous person I've never met! Her blog just oozes London girl about town. As a Londoner myself, her posts always have me scribbling down places to visit when I next return home. Hundreds of venues, honest reviews, mouthwatering cakes (she only owns a baking company too!!) and the cutest dog Mr Jimmy Chew himself, if you want to live London Luxe vicariously, this is the place to do it!

The 52 Lists project is organised by Ema over at Made in Hunters. Check out her list here.

52 lists: List the moments you will always remember.

This post has been sitting in my drafts for well over a week now. I guess it's been hard to narrow down a lift time of defining moments in to a list of just a few.  I did my best but I can't help but look at it as being far from comprehensive - there are just too many things unsaid! But I'd rather have a life choc-full of too many moments to share, than one with not one story to tell. 

So here goes, the non comprehensive list of moments I'll always remember.

• I couldn't have been older than 5 or 6 when we spent my birthday in a caravan in Cornwall. I remember waking up to open my presents and noticing a huge box! My dad had bought me a punch bag (the kind with a metal stand and a circular ball on the top). In the end, I got so good at punching, I could punch the ball right off the top of the stand (not the idea but hey, I was strong!)
  
• Crying my eyes out when I let go of my Barbie kite that I was flying on the beach and my Auntie Karen gallantly charging up the cliff face (BAREFOOT) after it AND getting it back. If memory serves, it was too mangled to fly again but SUPER KAREN!
  
• Christmas at my Nan's house when my cousins and I were little, playing chocolate boardgames after dinner.
  
• Singing solo in the Royal Albert Hall in front of about four thousand people, royally screwing it up, coming off stage and not being able to go back on as I felt so physically sick!
  
• In Chile, walking home with Nick both more than slightly worse for wear after one to many pisco and cokes and stopping to look at the stars, one eye closed, with one thumb over the street light.
  
• Being on a train to my job as a Sales Assistant in GAP and getting the phone call to say that I'd got the job as a Thomson and First Choice Holiday Advisor (rep, to you and I). I was grinning from ear to ear when I arrived and couldn't tell anyone why!
  
• One of my first proper dates with Richard. After he picked me up, we got lost and drove in circles for about 2 hours, having to stop every 10 minutes as an urgent warning flashed on the car dash board. Knowing I love Christmas, he intended to take me to a carol concert in the beautiful Wells Cathedral - which turned out to be a full on Catholic mass! After the getting lost palava, the second stop (ice skating) was cancelled as the rink had already closed. The cutest plan, ruined by bad luck!!
  
• My hair freezing SOLID after a bright idea to go out in Russia, in winter, with wet hair. The purple legs were also a highlight. 

The 52 lists project is organised by Ema over at Made in Hunters. Check out her list here.

52 Lists: List the things you will do today.

Guess I kinda missed the boat on this one! This list was sent through to us on Monday, presumably with the idea of being a list of wonderful bank holiday plans. 

No bank holidays for us in Andalusia I'm sad to say! Even though my lovely Mr was over to visit, I was working for part of the day, but we didn't let it spoil our fun. 

Without further a do, I shall share with you what we DID on Monday - as its far interesting than any of the boring teacher/adult stuff I have to do to day, let me tell you! 

I apologise for defying you list title, but that's just me - I'm a rebel (read absolute nerd being ironic).

(OR the things you did on Monday cos you don't check your emails as often as you should)

1. Got up at 8 (leaving Rich to snooze) and planned the day's lessons (3 adult classes and 1 kids group)
   
2. Booked a table at a local restaurant so that Rich could try Andalusia's famed choco.
   
3. Went out on a walk in the countryside around the village, showing Rich the olive groves.
   
4. Stopped for a cold drink in the hotel in between my village and the next - walking in 35 degree heat is thirsty work.
   
5. Toddled along to the restaurant to find we were the only people there, had to interrupt the waiter's viewing of a tv western to order.
   
6. Received way too much food and were disappointed by the choco - it's a hit and miss game at the best of times.
   
7. Went home to teach whilst Rich burnt himself to a pleasing strawberry colour in the garden.
   
8. My colleague shooed me out of my final class with the instruction 'Go have fun'.
   
9. Not one to not follow orders, I did a quick change, and Rich and I hopped on the bus to witness the opening of the Feria (pictures to come!).
   
10. After the light switch on of the main gate and a whistle stop tour of the main public casetas (tents full of drinking and dancing), we settled down for a glass of Rebujito (the traditional drink of the Feria - Manzanilla wine and sprite).
    
11. We had to have a power walk back to the bus station in order to catch the last bus back to the village (3am). When we arrived, the bus station was dark and locked.
    
12. A authoritative stranger (dressed suspiciously like a bus driver) told us that a security guard would come to let us in soon. Everyone assumed this was our driver.
    
13. As minutes turned in to half an hour, the small crowd that had gathered began to disperse in to shared taxis, giving up hope.
    
14. We stayed for a further 10 minutes with the authoritative stranger, before he revealed that he was in fact a feria security guard rather than the company representative he had led everyone to believe he was. DOUCHE!
    
15. We bundled in to a taxi praying the meter gods would be kind (I live a fair trot from the centre) - in the end, we paid the bargain price of 15€.
    
16. We flopped in to bed at gone 4 in the morning, and forwent setting the alarm.

The 52 lists project is organised by Ema over at Made in Hunters. Check out here list here.

52 Lists: list the things you'd do if you won the lottery.

I think it would be a funny thing to win the lottery...I mean, its something that so many people dream of, but really, when presented with a totally life changing sum of money, I think most people would struggle with what to do with it all. I had some inner turmoil just writing the damn list (which shows I would be absolutely useless!). Truly though, I don't think I'd go mad if I had a lot of money - the main thing I was thinking when penning this was 'surely there should be more things here than this?!'. I enlisted the help of my friend Sam, who wasn't helpful at all but came up with a rather spiffing list of her own (posted as a bonus list below - it was too good not to share!).

As for me, Iguess all I'd want would be to make life more comfortable for myself, set some dreams in motion, look after the people who matter most and try and help some others along the way.

1. First things first...pack up and ship out for a luxury villa holiday with all my family,the Mr and my closest friends. Yes there will be copious amounts of wine and food (cooked by someone else of course!) - girl's got to celebrate ;)
2. Look after my family - pay off mortgages, put some away for my sister in case she wants to go to uni...
3. Buy my dream house and decorate it exactly how I'd like it.
4. Buy a little hotel or guest house...I can just picture how I'd have it - something intimate and friendly!
5. Start to check off the travel bucket list. So many trips, so little time.
6. Actively help out some good causes - not just throw money at them but organise galas and public events, be hands on.

*BONUS LIST* written by Sam.

1. Save many monies for my small sister, and disperse them to her as needed.
2. Buy my father's house.
3. Buy my brother his turtle called Mr T (he has wanted that for a really long time).
4. make a park with flowers and a river and giant chess sets and picnics on demand, with also nice music and sunshines and it would be called the sharing garden for all.
5. Go to the theatre many times, to see all the things with all the people I love.
6. Replace my pot of peanut butter which leaked all over everything.
7. Only eat nice food and drinks from now one, like really nice.
8. Do some sensible and loving to the world things such as savings and giving to people that need it.
9. Go to all the places everywhere!
10. Become a mermaid.*

*Note from Grace: nothing like making realistic goals in life, eh?

The 52 lists project is organised by Ema over at Made in Hunters. Check out her list here.

52 lists: list what you're grateful for.

• for my wonderful family, all the love and support they have given me over the years, and for the happy childhood I enjoyed with them.
  
• for the relationship I now have with my sister, we didn't always get on but now we are crazy together and its fun.
  
• for my crazy friends with whom I share secrets, rants, laughs, tears, meals and wine.
  
• for my amazing boyfriend and the happy relationship we share even across the miles.
  Separated in distance but never in heart.
  
• for the amazing opportunities I've had: studying at a great uni, living abroad...
  
• for the people I've met around the world who made new places feel like home.
  
• for the memories I made, the photos I took and the albums I made.
  
• for the lessons I learnt about life and about myself along the way.
  
• for being healthy, if a little chubby!
  
• for the promise of big adventures yet to come.

The 52 lists project is run by Ema over at Made in Hunters. Check out her list here.

52 lists: list your perfect weekend to do list.

• Waking up on Richard's shoulder, not a alarm in sight.
• Looking out of the window and finding a sunny, cloudless sky.
• A lazy brunch out - eggs royale and an iced tea anyone?
• A day trip - a quaint little village, the beach, the woods...wherever the mood takes us.
• Dinner in a country pub with a chilled class of pinot!
• Spending the morning preparing a whole bunch of BBQ food, having friends round in the afternoon to share it.
• Spending the evening in front of a well stoked chiminea to take the bite off a summer night.

The 52 lists project is organised by Ema over at Made In Hunters. Check out her list here.

52 Lists: List the things that kick start your soul

I wasn't really sure what to make of this list title. As I put pen to paper, what came out were the things that give me one of two things:

a warm fuzzy feeling in my tummy

OR

that 'ready to take on the world'/'refreshed' feeling

So here they are...

1. Lady Grey tea in a vintage teacup.
   
2. Warm spring days (the kind where you can leave your jacket at home).
   
3. Spending hours in the kitchen chatting with the girls about nothing and everything. How I miss those!
   
4. Using Richard's shoulder as a pillow and his good night kiss on my forehead.
   
5. Seeing a picture of my little puppy's face (he is so photogenic I could die!) AND when he curls up on my belly to go to sleep.
   
6. That new town feeling - when everything is new to discover and time is stretched before you.
   
7. People watching with glass of wine in hand with tapas on its way.
   
8. 'I love life' days - where nothing can flatten your mood!
   
9. Planning the next adventure.
   
10. Walking by the river in the sunshine.
    
11. That 'I'm home' feeling - after a long stint abroad, you start to miss the little things about life in your home country. In your first few weeks back even the simple things are so exciting!!
    
12. That 'job well done' feeling.

The 52 lists project is organised by Ema over at Made in Hunters. Check out her list here.

52 Lists: List the things you want to do before you die

This list comes at an eerily appropriate time. Just the other day I was watching the film 'The Bucket List' (you know...the one with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman?!) and thinking if I was in their position what things would I put on my list. Then it occurred to me - it seems silly to write a bucket list when you're coming to the end of your life! Why not write one when it's all just beginning? Then its not morbid....it's a game plan. So 52 lists, you've done it again...making me think about stuff!

1. Get married and start a family.
2. Have a little house of my very own to decorate and to entertain in.
3. Find a something I truly enjoy and do it for the rest of my life.
4. Find true happiness.
5. See a bit more of this planet we call home (Can I have a separate travel bucket list?!...I'll post it as an appendix :P!)
6. To do have a life that I can look back on with pride.
7. Go skydiving.
8. Stand on top of a mountain.
9. Dive a ship wreck.
10. Watch a sunrise and a sunset on white sandy beach (Caribbean?)
11. Spend a night in a ridiculously fancy hotel and order room service (think The Ritz, Claridges)
12. Win a prize.
13. Learn to cook!
14. Take my parents and my sister away on a holiday.
15. Find a hidden talent.

The trouble with this list is that it could go on forever! There are so many things I'd love to do and so many things I want to achieve that list is just a glimpse of all the hopes and dreams I have for myself. I suppose that's allowed - at 21 you've got your whole life ahead of you, and I intend to LIVE it!

The 52 lists project is organised by Ema over at Made in Hunters. See her list here.

52 Lists: List your spring to do list.

1. Make a dent in my dissertation. All that needs doing is converting a pile of half finished research and unanalysed questionnaires in to 5000 words of coherent Russian. 
   
2. Schedule some time on this little blog of mine. Writing all the posts I've got planned for you lovely people, learning the art of design and joining the daunting world of social media!
3. Start being more career focused. First step might be to work out what I'd actually like to do with this crazy life of mine!
4. Make some plans for summer. A career related placement, more study in Russia, settling back in to life in Bath? What'll it be??
   
5. Patch together an outfit for the April Fair. Flamenco dresses start at 150€ (more than little out of budget for an outfit I'll only wear once) - time to get creative!
   
6. Read a book or two on my Kindle. It's been laying dormant, gathering dust for far too long!
7. Elect my final year units for University. And maybe get a head start on the reading...? or maybe I'm being too optimistic again!
   
8. Get on top of the piles of paper scribbles. From grammar notes to new vocabulary on the back of napkins, need to get it organised, digitalised and learnt!
   
9. Play tour guide. Spring brings a lot of visitors to my lovely town of Seville - best get trip planning for the parents and the Mr.
   
10. Take time to stop and smell the roses. Spring is one of my favourite times of year and it often passes me by unmarked, overtaken by deadlines and stress. This year I'm determined to LIVE IT!

The 52 Lists project is organised by Ema over at Made in Hunters. See her list here.

52 lists: list the things beside your bed.

*pre-warning: my room is a mess so nothing is where it should be. I wish I could say that this is an isolated incident but unfortunately I am a slob.

1. a big mug of lady grey tea.
2. bowl with crumb evidence of my mid-afternoon cake snack (got to balance out the exercise somehow!).
3. my favourite picture of my boyfriend and I.
4. some fossil aviator sunglasses.
5. No7 dry skin rescue (acting as aftersun for my recently burnt nose - damn you 34 degree Sunday)
6. my make up bag and the Front Cover weekender set.
7. my Bath Uni diary (barely used).
8. Jodi Picoult's Picture Perfect (unread).
9. a bag of clean washing yet to be put away.
10. my pjs in a ragged heap.
11. my kindle (charging lead still poking out the bottom).
12. Cambridge Complete First Certificate Workbook with answers (I may or may not plan my lessons/do my marking in the comfort of a duvet fort - guess you'll never know!).

The 52 Lists project is organised by Ema over at Made in Hunters. See her list here.

52 lists: List the things you want to make

1. A cup of tea to warm my chilly hands!
   
2. better use of my time - I'm such a procrastinator/lazy bum! I have a pile of dissertation work and Spanish books to work through but spend my life clicking through the internet mindlessly, or spending a million hours to perfect on one tiny task.
   
3. at least 100 DIYs for a whole range of things - from light up headboards to cross stitch necklaces! I always favourite them but never get round to actually making any of them: 1. I don't have anywhere to put interior design related DIYs (which are my faves) and 2. I am horrifically clumsy and would probably do myself and injury with any kind of craft tool.
   
4. banana cupcakes - unfortunately someone ate the last banana, dammit.
   
5. new friends through new hobbies - though I'm not sure 9am fitness classes are the best form of socialising!
   
6. more amazing memories during my year abroad - I'm planning a list of road trips as long as my arm to explore the south of Spain, when they will come to fruition nobody knows!
   
7. a game plan - as the end of third year comes creeping, the dreaded word career has to enter my vocabulary as the prospect of fourth year job applications loom. More importantly, I have to plan how we're going to celebrate my lovely Mr's special birthday later this year, and a holiday to celebrate graduation when it finally rolls around.

The 52 Lists project is organised by Ema over at Made in Hunters. See her list here.

52 Lists: List the ways you can love yourself more

It's a sad reality that in today's society the hardest person to see the best in is yourself.

If we heard a friend saying negative things about herself, we'd be the first to come up with a million reasons why she was wrong yet we don't think twice about our inner negativity and the way we beat ourselves up. Sometimes it seems like we have a vendetta against ourselves.

These last two lists have been the hardest for me. List your best qualities? What qualities?! It was far easier to reel off 101 bad qualities and that list was a fairly half-arsed attempt at finding anything to be proud of. As for this list, I can see what would benefit me in the long run - not a list of quick fixes but a list of lifelong habits that need to be broken. It will take motivation and hard slog - both of which I have little energy for at the moment, but I hope one day soon, I'll stop fighting with myself so much, take a breath and reassess.

Without further ado,

1. Stop the worrying from holding me back.
2. Take a bit more care of my body - a better diet, a bit more exercise.
3. Have a mental cleanse - out with the negativity, being thankful for what I have and putting wheels in motion for the future.
4. Stop with the perfectionist problems - I'm only human after all. 
5. Take some time out for calm before bed, switch off and read.

Do these things resonate with anyone else? How have you shaken yourself out of these bad habits?

The 52 lists project is organised by Ema over at Made in Hunters. See her list here.

52 lists: List your best qualities

1. I am a constructive advice giver.
2. I'm always about to listen to your rants, share in your excitement and commiserate when things are kinda crummy.
3. I am a excellent translator of Samlish/finder of lost words.
4. I am a great steak eating companion (though don't be shocked if I put away a whole 14 ounce before you've had half of your 8 ounce).
5. I usually cook to feed the entire street, so there is always food for you if you'd like to join me!
6. I am trip planner extraordinaire.
7. I am a great procrastinator - if you need stuff to distract you, I'm your girl.
8. I give great hugs.
9. If you have excess wine, I am always there to finish it for you.
10. I am infinitely childish - Disney movies, duvet forts and colouring? I'm there! 

The 52 lists project is organised by Ema over at Made in Hunters, take a look at her list here

52 Lists: List the good things about your town

Ask a languages student about their town...go on, I dare you! Your reply could consist of:

1. grumbles and groans as they try to select a town

or

2. a list of 3 towns with pros and cons of each one. 

We are children of the world - we have our home town, our uni town and the town in which we currently reside, which one would you like a summary of?!

Despite the fact my uni town (Bath) and my current town (Seville) are both infinitely more interesting, I have chosen to delight you with a few facts about my home town.

If anyone asks me where I'm from, my automatic response is London. 1. It sounds far more glamorous. 2. Avoids the 'I've never heard of it, where's that?' scenario.

I, in fact, reside right out in zone 6 (the wild outer fringes of Greater London). In reality, two steps left and I would be in Kent! It's not the best of places, it may have a bit of a reputation in the area but it's home! So here goes...Orpington represent.

via

1. Due to the lack of any decent shops on the high street (it's a charity shop and estate agent haven), we have an abundance of amazing restaurants. Most notably: Fiesta Mexicana, Xi'an Chinese, Ephesus Mediterranean.
2. Jo Johnson is our MP. He is Boris Johnson's brother (Mayor of London). Occasionally, this brings the floppy haired, walking disaster zone to our lowly town, which is good for comic value, if nothing else.
3. Nugent Retail Estate, which has bought both Nandos, Debenhams and TK Max in to our lives - enough said really.
4. Our Wetherspoon's on the High Street, normally frequented on Tuesdays (for Steak Club), which is rough but always welcomes us for hours on end, with our sometimes questionable topics of discussion.
5. It's proximity to London - A 15 minute fast train out of this dump, YAY!
6. It's where I grew up and made some of the best friends a girl could ever wish for.
7. No matter how scummy it is, it will always be home.

The 52 lists project is organised by Ema over at Made in Hunters. See her list here.

52 lists: List your to-do list this week.

As a participant of this project of ours, what I am about to say may sound slightly perverse. 

I am totally averse to to-do lists

...I know, I 'll give you a second or two to recover from the shock. 

About a year ago, determined to be a more conscientious, hard working student, I purchased a to-do list book (from Paper Chase, no less!).  I had grand notions of productivity and imagined feeling that satisfaction that to-do list pros describe when talking about crossing out completed tasks. Alas, my flirtation with the idea was short lived. I got no pleasure out of it. The lists got longer and longer, the ticks of completion appeared less and less often and I got more and more stressed.

It turns out making lists doesn't suddenly give you the superhuman qualities that the perfect version of you would possess. 

Bummer!

As an ESL teacher, you often don't have a clue what will happen hour by hour (or even minute by minute) but some how time still passes: classes work out somehow and you survive another day. Days pass, the week ends and a lot of the time you don't know where it went or what you did! A dreadful cycle - one I definitely need to snap out of quick!

Maybe a to-do list intervention is needed to find a balance between all my lives? My ESLteacher/placement life, my study/dissertation life, my explorer life and my social life (which is currently non existent). Just for you guys, I'll give it a half hearted bash!

1. Sort dissertation work in to my new folder and do questionnaire analysis up to question 8.

2. Do something blog worthy then write about it (I was rained in all weekend!! Andalucía has 0 wet weather activities)

3. Crack on reading 'The Book Thief' in Spanish.

4. Open the grammar book.

5. Paint my nails (to prevent biting them all off again - damn nervous habit!).

6. Spend some lazy time with an eye mask on (the poor little buggers are so tired!)

7. Find a group general hobby/friend making activity and vow to take part next week. 

8. Make the Banana and Nutella Cheesecake before I eat all the Nutella with a spoon!

9. Find some activities to add to my games box for the children at work.

10. Work out a way to celebrate Valentine's day long-distance (Idea's of Skype dates welcome!)

The 52 lists project is organised by Ema over at Made in Hunters. See her list here.

52 Lists: List the things that make you happy you're alive

Being consciously grateful for the things you have is something that easily missed. Often time runs away with us, life gets in the way and the things that bring a smile to our lips are often the least prominent in our memory when the day is done. This week's list is one to remind us what we're here for and when all is said and done what makes this crazy roller-coaster we call life worth the ride. 

• After a hearty dinner, sitting in the living room surrounded by family for collective wine and tele time.
• Craziness with my sister - be it animal attacks via what's app, blanket sofa snuggles or random ramblings and sing-alongs. 

• Being able to pick up the phone any time of day or night, from anywhere in the world and knowing there will always be a friend ready to celebrate or commiserate at the other end of the line.
• Catching myself smiling when I think about Rich, how I love that boy...

• When little puppy Max is in a cuddly mood rather than zipping about like a mad thing making a mess!

• When they both decide that life is a bit too much and collectively nap on top of me.

• Knowing that whatever crazy things I decide to do with my life, I have the best people in the world to support me on my way. 
• The wonderful experiences I have whilst living abroad - the people I meet, the cultures I am welcomed in to, the sights I am lucky enough to visit.
• The opportunity to learn everyday - skills through university and things about yourself through the university of life!
• Writing almost every day.
• Tea time (preferably in Lady Grey in vintage china, with or without a tea-for-one sized teapot!)
• Always planning the next adventure...

The 52 lists project is organised by Ema over at Made in Hunters. See her list here

52 lists: List your favourite quotes.

When those pretty pictures with life affirming quotes appear on the news feeds, I am that girl that hits save. I am a full on quote hoarder (the contents of my pictures library stands as a testament to this!). I don't know what attracts me to them - maybe the fact that the perfect one is always on hand to commiserate, to enlighten, to encourage. There are several quotes that I'd like to think were true and others that I'd like to try and live by. Some of the most famous quotes were, at one stage, just one guys optimistic way of thinking. I guess the world needs a bit of optimism and that's why these things get passed around the way they do!

Here are some of the quotes that adorn my picture folder. One of these days I'll get round to making some quote wall art so I can see them every day (and hopefully be inspired to be as great as these guys were/are). For now I'll have to make do with sharing them on my little corner of the internet!

• 'Dreams don't work unless you do'
• 'There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind' C.S. Lewis
• 'Don't confuse your path with your destination just because its stormy now doesn't mean you aren't headed for sunshine'
• 'If everyone were cast in the same mould there would be no such thing as beauty' Charles Darwin
• 'Wherever you go, go with all your heart' Confucius
• 'It always seems impossible til its done' Nelson Mandela
• 'Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain'
• 'The greatest relationships are the ones you never expected to be in, the ones that swept you off your feet and challenged every view you've ever had'
• 'Life is not about finding yourself, its about creating yourself'
• 'Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.' Matsuo Basho

The 52 lists project is organised by Ema over at Made in Hunters. See her list here

52 Lists: List the things that remind you of home

This is an interesting list topic for me, the girl with wanderlust. Travelling so much makes you take a look at where home you define home to be. Is home your country? Is it where you grew up, your familial home? Is it where you lay your hat (or, as someone who looks awful in hats, your suitcase?)? To me, home seems to encompass all of these things.

Though I don't spend as much time as I'd like there, here are the things that remind me of my familial home in London.

• Arriving in to London Paddington and thinking 'I've missed this place' then 10 minutes later, after being elbowed in the face on the Bakerloo line, asking myself 'why did I miss this place again?'.
• Being woken up with a cup of tea, which is always left to go cold when I doze off again.
• The busy gaggle that arrives around 6pm after a day of work or school (my dad smelling of concrete, my mum weighed down my office papers and bags of food shopping, my sister with her headphones in).
• Bank holiday BBQs usually cooked by Dad...under an umbrella in the rain - such is life in the UK.
• Singing - along to musicals or at random intervals most likely in sync with my sister.
• Blanket snuggles on the sofa.
• Together times: family dinners around the table and cramming on to sofas for customary tele watching.
• (Much to my mother's dismay) messy bedroom floors (mostly mine...but my sister now seems to be catching up).
• The glint of the street light through my blinds at night time.
• The fridge inspection that takes place each time I return home (food that I didn't have to buy/have missed on my travels...score!)
• Going for steak on Tuesdays with one of my only friends that still lives in my home town.

52 lists is a project organised by Ema over at Made in Hunters: check out her list here.

52 lists: List the things you do on a rainy day.

With the weather been as it has - for those of you that don't live in the UK, it has been DIRE! - I think Ema has picked an apt topic for this weeks list...

Being a lady of leisure until my next placement starts, most days are rather chilled but rainy days are particularly lazy affairs.

1. Resolve to not leave the house under any circumstances.
2. Stay in my pyjamas, slippers and dressing gown all day long.
3. Snuggle under the duvet until hunger or thirst drive me out of bed.
4. Drink a cup of lady grey.
5. Catch up on day time trash TV (not that I will have missed much!)
6. Spent more time than is sensible on Bloglovin.
7. Dream of sunnier climes and plan ridiculous holidays I can't afford...
8. Put off all generally sensible ways I could spend a day in the house like sorting out the paperwork or doing other boring things I have to do now that I'm an 'adult' (inverted comma's as I use the term rather loosely).
9. Plan to become a domestic goddess and have illusions that the Nigella recipe I will be making later might actually turn out like the picture.
10. After *insert cooking related disaster here*, sit down with a glass of wine and vow to one day have someone to do the cooking on my behalf.