Happy New Year!

p.s. sorry the last post felt a bit rushed!

I even forgot of ex's and oh's...

Much Love!

xoxo

The New Year's Post

As promised here is my list for the new year! I've started with the most important, and probably the most boring. I'm also currently working on a new look so apologies for its slow progress, I'm not so great at web design, especially on a macbook!

1. Achieve a 2.1 in my first year finals (Work hard)

2. Get some work experience for over the summer

3. Run more

4. Improve my cooking skills and memorise a few recipes

5. Finish reading the books on my reading list for 2011 (see below)

6. Keep up-to-date with Damselfly

7. Purchase a camera and take photos of things that make me happy.

8. Listen to music more, and start writing music again.

9. Learn to Surf

10. Play hard.

Good for the Soul!

Before the new year's eve and the completion of my list of goals for the up-and-coming year I nearly always write some kind of list of books I want to read. Sometimes it is lovely to put aside the legal books and much time for another type of reading, reading for the soul! It is more than likely I will read these and more but these 5 are key. I have just placed an order online for these books and I simply cannot wait until they arrive and I can get started!

1. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

I saw one of my flat mates reading a copy last November and suddenly longed for a beautiful edition like hers to read. Yes I know it sounds shocking that I have come this far in life still without having read 'Jane Eyre', I thought about reading it last year but ended up just watching the BBC adaptation instead. I did read Wuthering Heights last year and thoroughly enjoyed that so what is one more bronte novel to add to the collection?

2. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier

I have just finished 'Jamaica Inn' by Daphne du Maurier; it is a book set deep in the heart of the Cornish countryside and I figured it would be nice to read something set in my home county. I touched on 'Rebecca' briefly during my study of Gothic Literature during A level English Literature but I cannot for the life of me remember the story. I am excited about this read.

3. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert

I haven't watched the movie but its got fantastic reviews. I am very old school when it comes to watching movies based on books. The novel must always be read first. I did this with Dear John, The Time Traveller's Wife and My Sister's Keeper this year. Just so you know;the books are ALWAYS better.

4. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh

This is completely new to me, I know its a classic and that it literally about it. I'll let you know my thoughts after reading!

5. Appetite, Nigel Slater

So this is non-fiction. It is actually a cookery book, or at least a book about food. I have come to rather enjoy cooking whilst living by myself. I would like to improve and my father swears by this book. I had a flick through of his copy last night and I love the way Slater doesn't just hand over a book full of recipes, instead he encourages you to think for yourself and experiment.

Much Loves

xoxo

Food Baby

In typical fashion I ate far too much over christmas and the food seems never ending! Roast Goose, ham, mince pies, sausage rolls, cheese and christmas pudding with cream... I need to chill out and eat less again. I lost weight at university last semester, I don't want to lose the progress I made! I am so desperate for a run currently and a game of netball but its dark, icy and cold outside and during the day I'm working! Until that glorious moment when I can slip on a pair of trainers, stick on my ipod and jog out the door I will sit and imagine the flat toned belly I so desire for the summer!

Every year I write a list of goals for the year. I'll publish my list on here this year for all to see, lets home I achieve a couple, I completed a few last year. I have been jotting ideas down steadily for the last couple of weeks, the beach body will definitely be on there.

I love new year, don't you? Its one of the best feelings in the world when the clock has just struck 12 and I feel I have a whole fresh slate. Starting a fresh is such a lovely idea and moreover looking to the future, the new friends you're going to meet and the adventures you have to come.

Very much looking forward to it! Anyway... ramble over,

xoxo

The Images in my Mind

Images can have such a powerful effect on the ways we think or feel, the ways in which we create goals for ourselves or dream dreams. Here are some images that give me inspiration, hope and help me dream dreams right now...

When I was 16 my family had a reunion in the Lizard, Cornwall, we all stayed in this pretty hotel with its own private beach. It stood at the top of a cliff and looked out towards the sea. It was a beautiful weekend, perhaps one of my favourite memories of my extended family. On the wall of my hotel room was this photograph by Robert Doisneau, Le Basier de L'Hotel de Ville. I love it so much that I took a picture of it on my then mobile. I love the hustle bustle of life around a moment frozen in time in the lives of the lovers.

I have always been a fan of Tiffany. No matter what others say, it will always represent the dreamy elegance I long for. As I was flicking through copies of Elle magazine this christmas it was this advertisement that stood out. The Dress, the City, the early evening and the Man, it is a beautiful moment.
I love the paintings of Jack Vettriano they all tell stories of romance, passion and empowerment. I have this one on the wall of my room at University, its entitled 'The Road to Nowhere" but when I look at it I feel quite the opposite. It inspires me to work hard and the be the woman in the bold red suit walking bare foot on the beach beside her man.

xoxo

A Sincerest Apology

I am so sorry for not posting. Life has been so busy the past few months. Here are a few updates anyway. Yet another apology for the poor quality photos, still haven't got around to buying a proper camera yet so I'm using my blackberry to take photos!

This is currently my life at the moment, sad as it may appear. Law degrees are SO time consuming. It is far harder than I imagined it would be, I'm loving every second though... most of the time. Currently I'm working on my first piece of marked coursework, it is starting to drive me a little insane.

I have a massive pin board in my room, I've covered in it things that make me happy in the world and things that inspire me.

As its nearly christmas, my flat made our own christmas decorations for the Asda smartprice tree!

This is my home. When it is sunny we sometimes go down the beach and play in the sea.

Will post again sometime soon!

I can't believe its nearly the end of my first semester..

xoxo

A Sincere Apology

It has been manic since moving here. I am in love with the beach and the chilled out artistic lifestyle. London can wait a couple of years. I am home. I will post piccars soon and tell you about some of the quirky things that happen here. At some point I'll invest in a camera!

Much love!

xoxo

We're packing to leave come on let's go, no no not you! Books are always first you know!

Subtle Disney reference there. I'll let you work out which movie. Books were indeed the first thing a packed for university. Unfortunately everything didn't tumble into one suitcase like it did in the movie (another clue for you). I'm a little worried about where I'm going to put it all. everything I've packed is an essential... I promise.

muchos love!

xoxo

Footwear for Frosty Mornings.

I have inherited from my mother two principle weaknesses in finance, the first is shoes and the second, handbags. Unfortunately I have not a great deal of cash in the old bank account to satisfy these two expensive passions. I have however bought a couple of pairs to take with me to university and make may appearance at early morning lectures a little less shocking. I am still on the search for the perfect brogues though. Too many women in the UK have my size and too few brogues are being produced!

Secondly I wish to further delight you with a new discovery I have made. To be precise, the recent collaboration between UGG and Jimmy Choo, perhaps one of the most exciting partnerships I have come across this year. Just check out these beautiful boots! I don’t care what people say, Uggs are absolutely the most comfortable footwear I will probably ever wear. Be it a little clumsy looking, you certainly can’t go wrong in a pair of these.

They're so b e a u tiful!!!

xoxo

Things English Literature has taught me.

Life is pretty hectic at the moment, I enclose my deepest apologies for the lackage of blogage. I am off to university a week today so my days are filled with the hustle and bustle of working, reading, packing and saying farewells to beloved friends. I enclose a post I wrote a couple of weeks ago, its a little rough around the ages (I was experimenting really). As I am going off to study Law I regret I will not have the time to spend reading the classics that I have come to love, here are a couple of things I have learnt along the way though:

Never throw all your hopes and dreams, heart and soul into a case in the civil court.

Bleak House, Charles Dickens

Don’t fall in love with your best friend and then marry someone else for his money. The consequences will always fall on the children.

Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

Books, no matter how fantastic they are, are just stories. The minute you try and place that drama in your own life, drama will take place and it won’t have a positive effect!

Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen

Feigning death was always going to be a risky affair.

Romeo and Julliet,William Shakespeare

NEVER shoot down an Albatross.

Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge

The job of creating life by means of science was never intended for mankind. We are far too selfish to play God.

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

and one I cannot take any credit for in the slightest;

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young man in possession of a large fortune must be in want of a wife."

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

xoxox

If you go down to the woods today..

you may find me walking my German Shepherd.

xoxo

Sometimes I dream of being a flower girl

I'm not a particularly artistic person, but I do have an undying love for beautiful things. Usually I buy them (when they are affordable), I never make them. When my friend came home from a festival this summer with a beautiful floral head wreath I just had to have one myself. So we took a trip to Hobbycraft and created what follows. I loved mine so much I made another.

I made this one as a gift. I love the colours.

So simple to make! Just time consuming..

Equipment

xoxo

I'm thinking of emigrating to a warm country..

Here are the last photos I'm posting of Turkey. I've just realised I've not posted many of the beaches.. you'll just have to use your imagination. They were stunning, the water was like a swimming pool and so crystal clear you could see the fish swimming around you. I miss the heat, England is slowly getting colder, damper and duller as autumn closes in.

The tourist area was full of sleezy bars. This made me giggle.

I wish this outfit was mine, it is in fact my friend, Hannah's. She got her beautiful Maxi-dress of ASOS.com, here.

This photo does not give this place justice. We discovered one of the most beautiful beaches in the world just a 15 min bus ride away.

Standard evening: Drinks, Phase 10 (such an amazing game) then out to the cheesy bars.

Dem Bar was the local's bar in the area. The live music each night was beautiful.

The BEST sandwich in the world. Cucumbers, Cheese, Onion, and Tomatos.

This made us laugh. Casual dogs settle down for a night on the beach.

The shop outside our apartment, Alibaba's!

These shops were everywhere, walls of 'genuine fakes'. The merchants tried to get us to go in claiming it was a 'turkish Primark', I'm not sure if they realised they were insulting their clothes more than advertising.

I love this.

A ground floor flat in our apartment block had all this semi-feral cats. New born kittens!

Turkish dancing at the Dem Bar.

Another stunning beach we visited at the Police Academy.