Making me happy this week.

1. Summer evenings - so much more potential than the winter, a bike ride or a long walk have been our activities of choice recently.

2. Hanging out the washing, something I have always found comforting and not something that is usually possible at uni, but thanks to my favourite boy, I now do my washing for free at his, and it smells so good when it has been hanging outside in the breeze. 

3. Listening to old music: James Blunt and Busted have been our nostalgia of choice this week. 

4. Excitement for a trip home next week, and seeing the family which I cannot wait for! It's been far too long and I have missed them all so much, can't wait for sister catch ups and kitty cuddles. 

5. Pretty skies at night. Something that will never get old. 

6. Adventures that are yet to happen - also getting excited for all of Lulu's upcoming travels. 

7. Wearing dresses without tights and dipping toes in the sea.

8. Feeling grateful for people coming into your life at the right time. And appreciative of the friendship shared.

9. Dodgems: a small part of the summer ball but definetely one of the main highlights.

10. Yummy healthy meals making us feel good. 

The Annual Neighbourly Camp Out!

[Disclaimer: this is a post I wrote in August and forgot to publish. Thought I might as well now]

Every year for the past few, all our neighbours have spent one weekend each summer camping together, we cook over a fire, find big hills for sunset watching (then subsequently miss the sunset usually), toast marshmallows, go for long walks, climb and swing through the trees on makeshift rope swings, stargaze, giggle, and chat long into the night, singing and strumming by the fire before we all get as warm as we can in sleeping bags and begin again the next day.

It is wonderful. It's so nice to escape the city sometimes, breathe fresh air, forget any worries and log off the internet.

This year, we headed to Hampshire for the weekend and set up camp in the woods (but not too far from the loos!) - it was gorgeous and felt like we could be in the middle of nowhere far far away from the city.

Here are some photographs from our trip:

Things that happened this year: the synchronised wake up, the tooth brush dance, the 'Fresh b-m' joke, guitar strumming into the night, the time when we got seen frolicking by the owner and he eventually joined in which had us in hysterics, singing the sound of music, going for long walks, a visit to the town to pick up ice lollies and to find the house we always dance in front of, getting the rope swing stuck over the tree, having our camp invaded by random strangers one morning as they got lost when walking the dog, lots of lovely conversation and singalongs and funny games. I have so much love for this crazy bunch of people and am very happy that they always let me gatecrash their camping trips :)


Are you a fan of camping? Any funny stories to share?

A week in my happy place: Suffolk.

For as long as I can remember, Suffolk has stuck out in my mind as a place that is happy, from childhood, where we would make the drive on weekends to my grandparent's house, the landscape changing through the car window from cityscape to rolling fields, from cars to cows, and it felt like entering a whole new world as a kid.

I still get the same excitement as we drive down the motorway towards the sea, for long days on the beach, the perfect homemade ice cream, the crunch of the pebbles beneath my feet, early morning walks, the sound of the waves rolling against the shore, bike rides through the woods, reuniting with our family and seeing old friends. 

This year, we got to spend a week in a small fishing town on the North Sea called Aldeburgh (where we also stayed last year and love!), despite being little, it oozes charm, has some lovely shops, friendly pubs and the Sea! 

I was lucky enough to get to invite along a friend so we spent our days rowing on the meare, going on sunset bike rides, swimming out to sea, trying out all the pubs, and meeting up with lots of friends and family and very cute little cousins (A, you really perfected your 'greeting of relatives that aren't related to you!), it was so much fun, from the sunset walks, to the card tournaments, kayaking in the evening looking out to sea and talking late into the night with wonderful people, it was so relaxing yet we did so much. It was happy and I'm so thankful for it. 

Love Eleanor.

Life Lately.

Life lately has been a mixture of busy and slow. Some days, I don't stop until I get to bed and other days, I read my book and laze about wilting in the sweltering heat and not quite knowing what to do with myself.

click on the image to enlarge.

The past month or so has been filled with exciting things, beautiful sunsets, evenings at the park taking silly jumping photos, blue cloudy skies, long overdue lunches with family, work days in pretty office blocks, poolside afternoons with my 'sistuh', picnics with mini union jack flags, sleeping cats, pretty flowers, gorgeous sunsets, spontaneous gigs (Hudson Taylor), sunset bike rides, a phone switch-over, walking the streets of London to find ivy covered houses, cats trying to find cold places to sleep (like the garage floor), a trip to Bristol for my sister's graduation, a rooftop pool swim, exploring Bath for the afternoon, finding a strawberry one-sie for my strawberry obsessed friend, trying out Wahaca for the first time (and loving it), cloudy sunday at the golf driving range with the neighbours and city beach sunsets.

But it has also been filled with anxiety of what is to come, of the new stage of life I will start in September - another new city filled with people I don't know. I am excited though, about the prospect of doing a degree I love and hopefully trying new things and making new friends. We shall see!


<3

Video: July 2013.

July was awesome, full of summer sunsets, outdoor swimming, visits from faraway friends, lazy hazy days, dancing, picnics in the park, running through fields, being touristy in my own city, reuniting with old friends, giggling fits, my sister's graduation, a day trip to Brighton, a gig or two, many bike rides and lots of good fun with friends. 

A few favourites this month: 

Music: The Kings Parade

         Kimberly Anne

Books: 'Before I met you' - Lisa Jewell

'N-W' - Zadie Smith

I'll miss you, July.

<3

#29 of the 30 Day Snap | Birthday Cake!

Read more about the series here and here.

Day 29. 

In the evening, we had a little birthday dinner for my Dad and I with all the family (except my sister since she's away) and my auntie had got us this lovely cake (with bunting - yes!) 
My cousin was given creative license on how to do the candles on the cake so he chose to add together my age and my dad's age which is 73 and put that many candles on the cake, plus a 0 for a joke! 

It was such a great evening sitting out in the garden (because it is now warm enough!) chatting, eating wax covered cake (we had to pay a price for that many candles) and playing the board game version of 'Would I lie to you' which caused much hysteria! 

<3

#25 of the 30 Day Snap | Summer Evening.

Read more about the series here and here.

Day 25.

This evening, my mama and I went to a local park for taking lots of jumping photo session, climbing hills, looking out at the London Skyline and watching the sunset. Beautiful night :) 

What do you like to do on a warm summer evening? Any traditions or ideas? Feel free to share! 

<3

#14 of the 30 Day Snap | London Skyline and best friends.

Read more about the series here and here.

Day 14.

Yesterday was so wonderful, we spent the afternoon in Greenwich, climbing up the hill to the top of the park to see the view of the London Skyline, it's amazing how far you can see, notable sights being: the Olympic stadium, the cable cars, the shard, St Paul's Cathedral and Canary wharf. It was so sunny and warm, we nibbled on strawberries and old fashioned sweets and chatted up a storm. I love these girls, it's so nice that we can just pick up where we left off even if we are apart for ages.  

What is your favourite way to spend a sunny afternoon with friends?

<3

#11 of the 30 Day Snap | The Cotswolds.

Read more about the series here and here.

Day 11. 

Today was a day that my Mama and I set aside for ourselves to spend some quality time together (since we both had the day off work), we had originally planned to get the train down to Brighton but when the weather forecast predicted 'rain, rain, rain', we decided to pick a place where it was supposedly going to be warm and sunny. 

We considered Norfolk (a firm family favourite but too far for the day), Dorset (recommended by a neighbor but also a bit of a trek) and a arty day visiting some of the galleries in London (have done that a lot) but in the end, we decided on the Cotswolds, for a day of country walks, tea rooms and frolicking in fields, why not? 

We visited the parts of the Cotswolds that are in Oxfordshire and Warwickshire (mainly because that is where we happened to end up) stopping at: Moreton-on-the-Marsh (to browse the market and pick up some sweeties for the road), Stow-on-the-wold (for lunch in a cute little tea room and a browse through the shops), Lower Slaughter (for a walk to a mill and a wander to see some sheep), Upper Slaughter (to take silly photos in a field of rapeseed), Bourton-on-the-water (for a dragonfly maze where we got very lost) and finally Burford (for a quick cup of tea before we headed home) 

I highly recommend any of this places if you are looking for a typical English village, they were all very pretty and we felt like we had stepped back in time. It turned out it wasn't too sunny (though we saw the occasional bit of blue sky peeping out from behind the clouds) but we had a great time anyway, my mum is great fun to be around and we had a lot of laughs while 'making memories' (our cheesy family slogan we use to make each other laugh when we get lost or end up in a less than ideal situation e.g. stuck behind a van of pigs for 10 miles while driving in a foreign country - this actually happened.) and also felt very quintessentially British the whole day. 

The photo I chose for today was this, it is me at one of the 'top 10 lunch spots in the UK' for 2013, but I didn't have any food on me to pose with so pretended to eat my camera instead. It made us giggle at how ridiculous I look, but it kind of sums up the day's silliness, so I like it. But RIP to my camera (pictured in the above photo) - the lens is now pretty much broken, it still kinda works but I have a feeling that in the next few days it will stop. So, have bought a very reasonable one on ebay as a replacement, excited for that to arrive this week! 

And I love a good road trip, don't you? We had Ben Howard and Bruce Springsteen blasting all the way there. Love it! 

Hope you are enjoying the 30 Day Snap, I'm enjoying following along with other blogs too :) 

                 What did you do today? Do you like road trips? Have any fun traditions on them? 

  <3

#7 of the 30 Day Snap | Sunset Bike Ride.

Read more about the series here and here.

Day 7.

This evening, I went on a sunset bike ride (so good for the soul), then sat in the park and watched the sun go down while chatting to one of my best friends on the phone and making plans for the next week. Also, want to say a HUGE congratulations to my wonderful big sisstuh ( http://frauleinlouise.tumblr.com/ )  who finished her degree yesterday! (Love you!) 

Tell me if you are doing the 30 Day Snap in the comments? 

<3

The start of summer.

Has anyone else been loving the sunny weather this week? 

I feel like it's the start of summer. This week has been full of bike rides through the woods, walks beside the water, sitting outside with friends, reading in the sunshine, baking, making homemade guacamole for picnics, playing football with my cousin, exploring Cardiff for the first time, running through endless green fields at sunset, wearing summer shoes, stopping off at cafes for cloudy lemonade (my favourite), lying on the grass looking up at blue skies and watching the cats enjoy the sunshine. 

I'm excited for so many more weeks like this in the summer. Especially when some of my friends get back from uni and are around a bit more. Most excited for: picnics, bbqs, outdoor swimming, day trips to the seaside, the possibility of visits from friends from abroad (Ash, I'm looking at you sistahh), road trips, family time and exploring different parts of London. 

<3

Life Lately....

Across from L - R: ITALY: travelling across Italy with multiple suitcases and a guitar on my back,
a last afternoon with my friends in Cremona,
 ENGLAND: tea, reunited with my cats, beautiful spring sunset,
a cool design on the outside of the tube, Grandma and Grandad,
Richmond park with Danielle, delicious homemade salad,
spring blossoms at the park, Me at the top of a high ropes course for guides,
 tea on a early morning volunteering mission in the Chilterns.

The last two weeks have been strange as I made the decision to move back home to London from Italy. It had been a long time coming and the bad (my job) had begun to overrule the good (my friends, travel etc.), which was a shame, since the good was so awesome! I don't regret the decision, but I do wish there had been another way to stay a little bit longer.

Adapting has been strange, and it has taken me a little while to feel normal again. But I'm happy to be back, seeing friends and family, stroking cats, and making videos. Plus, I have the added bonus of knowing that I have a place at university to start in September doing the course that I want to! Life is Good and I'm excited for my friends to be home for the summer soon!

Listening to: Clouds by Zach Sobiech
Such an inspring and heartbreaking story but take the time to watch, it will make you think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDC97j6lfyc - the song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NjKgV65fpo - the documentary

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