A Week at Home

Post dissertation euphoria lasted a whole weekend, with celebrating, shopping and relaxing with my other newly free friends. I then headed for home for a whole two weeks of relaxation (bar the impending doom of my future, obviously) before I have to start getting up at 7.30am for lectures again (I'm a student, that's practically the middle of the night for me).

The weather at home in Norfolk has been excitingly grim, but I have still managed to visit some of my favourite places (as well as spending pretty much an entire afternoon putting the world to rights with an old friend). Here are a few rather brooding photos of a couple of my days out.

A rather rainy Southwold from the bottom of the pier.

Minsmere nature reserve, looking beautiful but slightly lacking birds

Another part of Minsmere, showing the diverse habitat for the birds there.

A bracing walk along the beach at Minsmere.

As well as Southwold and Minsmere, I have also been to Snape Maltings where they have some lovely craft shops, and for a bit of a shopping spree in Norwich. It is so lovely to come home and visit beautiful places that already hold many happy memories for me. And also have my dinner cooked for me, that's a pretty good perk as well.

Moonlight and Shooting Stars

Last night everyone on the internet was talking about the northern lights, so me and my friends decided to head down to Aberdeen beach in the middle of the night and see if we could see anything. 

It was a beautiful night, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the moon was so bright that we didn't even need torches. We spent over an hour on the beach looking for the northern lights but had no luck; we were too close to the city to get away from all the light pollution and apparently they were really faint anyway.

But it was a magical night, the beach was beautiful in the moonlight and I wished on a shooting star. It reminded me to take time out to appreciate the world and to take any opportunity to do something spontaneous. 

Take the chance to marvel at the world, it can be rather beautiful.

Welcome to 2014

We are now over a week into the new year, and we have been bombarded by the usual 'New Years resolutions' telling us we all suddenly need to loose a stone and stop drinking. Normally I just tell myself halfheartedly that I should probably get in shape and help myself to another chocolate, but this year is a pretty important year for me. In the summer I will graduate from university (as long as I finish this dissertation by next Friday, shh...), and then hopefully move to a new city to start the next step in my life. It doesn't really feel right to set resolutions I know I won't keep when I have no idea what the future holds. Instead here are my positive ideas to make sure I live this year to the full:

1. Be healthy. I am never going to be an exercise freak, its just not my thing. But maybe going to the pool more regularly is a good idea and I should stop making excuses. I already eat really healthily (tonight excluded because I ate a huge bowl of pasta), and I need to remember that and not feel guilty about treating myself.
2. Have fun. I am nearly 22, life is pretty awesome. Sometimes I get so bogged down in working hard and worrying about the future that I forget to live in the moment. 
3. Love myself. I was a terrible teenager for having zero confidence with the way I looked, but it gets old and there comes a stage in your life where you have to realise you are never going to become a swimwear model. I actually love the way I look and I think its time to look in the mirror and admit that in my own way I'm pretty beautiful. 
4. Embrace the opportunities. This is a big one this year, because I have no idea what is coming. I want to travel, I want to work really hard on the subject I love and I want to explore a new home, wherever that may be.

This year is going to be awesome.