New beginnings and Happiness

Hello, hello my wonderful friends! Lack of internet and lack of inspiration means I had a little bit of a break from here. I'm actually feeling really grateful that I had a few days without any internet because it allowed me to sort my head out. I got back into reading, I got myself a job (biggest achievement last week by far) and just managed to clear my thoughts and focus on what I wanted to gain from this next academic year.

As some of you may know I moved back to university a little of a week ago now. I started my second year of lectures today and something just feels different this year. I feel so much more focused and happy with myself. I've moved into a house with 3 fellow English students who also happen to be some of my absolute best friends. As you can imagine, that makes for a pretty lovely environment to live in. I have an adorable little attic room that I've decorated (within reason considering it's a rented property) and made it my own little slice of "me" that I can escape to and feel utterly at home.

*cue photo evidence of cute room and not-so-cute happy-as-larry me)



I think it's so important to create a space that you can escape to.  No matter how small the room that you're working with is (mine is very small as I live in the attic so 50% of my room is only accessible if I crawl) it's just incredible how much of a difference it makes to come home to a cosy area to work or relax in.

Happiness is a state of mind that, to some extent, can definitely be a choice. Since moving away from home this year, I've decided against dwelling on homesickness and instead focused on everything I can gain from this year. I want to challenge myself to do 8 things that scare me, whether they're big or small, to help myself grow and develop and also to attack my anxiety head on when I don't have anyone but myself there to tell me I can do it.  Having this little corner of my own in which I can control everything is so so valuable. I'm surrounded by photos of my loved ones, my favourite dvds and books, flowers and candles and lights. And I can confirm that having your own space can make you as happy as can be.

I hope you're all happy, in whatever you're doing in life! Expect to hear from me more often, in uplifting (hopefully) posts about life, books, recipes and lots more!

Until then, lots of love

Devon Adventure: Hill Forts and Mermaid-y Meandering

Welcome back my darlings!

Today I'm documenting my favourite day of the holiday last week. I think the best days are made up on spontaneous decisions and not following set plans. That way you're never disappointed with the places you find, and somehow you end up finding gems that you would've have even thought to look for.

Wednesday started off with a trip to Dawlish which wasn't half as nice as we were expecting and we ended up spending much less time there than planned. That meant our plans for the day were a little bit sparse, We headed to a National Trust property and then out for some cream tea to fill up the day until mid afternoon.

Next up, we decided to head over to Dartmouth Castle. This area was so so so beautiful. We ended up not paying to go into the castle, but instead we explored the surrounded area, which consisted of a hill fort, the castle's cove and a more hidden, more whimsical cove further down the coast. The rest of this post is going to be a little post card blog full of the beautiful things we saw that day.

I've also been thinking, I've sorta found myself a little lost with this whole blogging thing and I'm gonna try and go back to basics. I'll still be posting my little adventures, but I'm also going to be sharing my favourite recipes, some bits and pieces of advice and other life-style related things in an attempt to find myself again, so I hope that's alright with you guys!

p.s

I have no idea why there's so much white space under this post...

It won't let me delete it either..

Sorry!

x

Devon Adventure: Coastal Coves and Pretty Places

Hello and welcome back!

I've just returned from a week in Devon and I was going to daily blog each day like I did when I went to Scotland.  However, me being such a scatter-brained lady, I forgot to take my laptop away and therefore I had no way to document our adventures! So, instead I'm going to document a few days of activities per blog post to catch you all up on where I've been and what I've been up to!

Myself and my parents rented a beautiful coastal apartment for the week, overlooking the sea. We were in Bigbury-on-Sea which meant we could also see the lovely Burgh Island from our balcony too (so, naturally, I was singing Ben Howard songs all week).

We leaped straight into it and went exploring early in the morning of the day after we arrived. We found a beautiful cove called Ayrmer's Cove and my dad and I spent the morning clambering over seaweed covered rocks, finding rock pools and exploring.

However, this cove wasn't quite what we were looking for, so after an hour or two, we moved on to find somewhere else. That's when we fell across Hope Cove, another lovely little place that's well worth a visit.

Thankfully we were also blessed with the weather!

The following day we dud a bit of inland exploring and wandered into Totnes and then went on further to Dartmoor. This area of Devon is honestly the loveliest, everywhere we visited was beautiful!!

Somehow whenever I go somewhere and  I see flowers, they always end up in my hair. Dartmoor is covered in this beautiful purple heather and I just couldn't resist. This gorgeous rocky place was a little discovery we found en route to Hound Tor medieval village. We ended up never finding the village and we just spent the afternoon rock climbing and taking pretty pictures. It was an awful lot of fun!

Totnes is also definitely worth a visit. It's one of those towns with a real free spirit/hippie-ish vibe, wih organic food and outdoorsy shops everywhere. I was in heaven, I'd definitely recommend visiting there if you're in the area!

Well, that's today's update. Pop back tomorrow to read about my absolute favourite day of the holiday!

Until then,

Hello, September and Hello Autumn!

~disclaimer: none of the images in this post are my own, links to where I found them on pinterest will be under each image~

(x)

Oh me, oh myyyyy, is it September already?! They really weren't lying when they said the older you get, the quicker your life shoots by. I've always hated September. For as long as I can remember I've always dreaded the return to routine after six weeks of pure blissful nothingness. I hated how it was the only dead month left of the year (as I have an event in each month from after September) and because of that, it always draaaaagged.


BUT

As you all know, I'm now striving to be a positive little ball of happiness (wow, that sounds way more annoying written down than it did in my head) and I'm embracing everything that September has to offer. I'm thankful for those September days where the sun is shining high up in the sky but it's not really hot, and I can just about get away with wearing a jumper over my dress without wearing tights. I can go to some of my favourite places that are always packed in summer and find that no one else is there because everyone has gone back to school and I don't go back to university until the end of the month. The days are the perfect length in September don't you think? The sun rises not too early, but not too late that you're leaving in the morning in the dark. And at night, you can still enjoy an evening walk, but get to see the sunset at a reasonable hour! And of course, September is the first official month of Autumn and I've never met anyone who doesn't like the burnt orange cosiness that Autumn brings. So all in all, September really isn't the miserable month I have always seen it as. It's a much misunderstood, warm, cosy, tea-and-jumper-filled month. And I'm going to embrace it.

(x)

Are you excited for Autumn? Enjoy your last moments of summer before school starts up again, I know I will be doing! I'm off to Devon in my last week of freedom and I'll be posting about it an awful lot, so expect that from this weekend onwards! Sending you all love and cosy hugs!