9 nice, and 3 slightly bad things | June and July

Internet, I am a fireball of excitement, even though my should-have-been-winning sweepstake team, Spain, were knocked out of the bloomin football by Russia today say whaaaat? Nonetheless I cannot be got down, as this afternoon I booked my 30th birthday treat with Will, and bloody hell I. cannot. wait.

If any of you have ridden the on and off rollercoaster which is this little blogspot, you might remember two and a half years ago I surprised Will with a trip to New York. I literally met him for lunch with a suitcase I had packed with his clothes, and told him we were getting on a flight to the big apple. It was amazing, and I know he sort of wanted to do a huge surprise for me but then he was being all indecisive and got me to make the final decision and I am so glad he did. Mainly because I love all the control and planning, but also, now I have almost 2 months to just get more and more excited.

As we've been away quite a lot this year (24 hours in Tokyo blog post coming soon, hopefully) we've decided to trade air miles for luxury and are going here - we're staying in a hut which is also a suite with a roll top bath one night, and then the next we're staying in the posh manor where a michelin starred chef will design us an individual menu. Annndd it is 25 minutes from Stratford upon Avon so I am hopeful we can squeeze in some Shakespeare on the way home. I KNOW. Can I even think of 3 bad things for this post, when my mind is so clouded by pure elation and anticipation of all the food, and spa, and chill time? (Spoiler: Yes)

9 nice (and 3 slightly bad) things | January and February.

Normally I begin these 9 nice things list with a whole expansive waffeling on the state of the world (ie. my musings on Trump and Brexit) or mental health (mine, mainly) and arguably now, 2 months since I last posted, is as good a time as any to give everyone (well my 40 subscribers and my mum and dad, hi guys!) a thorough update on my life, but I have stumbled across a playlist I made in 2013 for Will when he was in Australia, and my need to "jamm" (if you will) along is taking up 99% of my attention. So without further adieu 9 nice things (and 3 bad things) January which is all I have brain capacity for currently:

9 nice things and 3 slightly bad things | September and October

Happy Sunday gang! Hope you are having a lovely one. I've been to Birmingham this weekend, and now I am using Will being out of the house dropping his niece at uni as an excuse to buy things for my next homeware DIY attempt he would not approve of. Mwahaha. Enough of the cackling, 9 lovely and 3 mildly bad things from September:

9 nice things, and 3 slightly bad things | July and August

So I have just got back from a chicken wing festival (!!!) and decided this was as good a time as any to boot up this little baby again.

Well a good time as:

1) I only have 1 more wedding and 1 more hen do this year, so I have time in my weekends to waffle on the internet again now they are not filled with pedal-bussing round London in 30 degree weather (my friend Alice's hen do, mid June), falling in a river (Katherine, last weekend) or being videoed violently pushing a stranger out of my dance space, as I, high on sangria and jaegerbombs leap onto a hay stack as part of my interpretative single ladies dance at Vida festival in Barcelona (Katy, beginning of July). And that is not even mentioning my wedding antics, which were not much more refined despite the evening wear.

2) It is also my birthday in 2 weeks on Wednesday, and this is my prime place to subliminally (or not so subliminally) convince Will to get me a cat. (Ahem). WILL GET ME A CAT. Thanks.

You'll see I am back with an old blogging favourite, a little gratitude list, because it is good for us to count our blessings, don't you know. I try to do these - when I am not taking accidental 3 month blogcations - every other month, looking back at lovely things, looking forward to lovely things etc etc etc. Despite the despondency of that last sentence that is what I will be doing here and I do actually like writing them; how.ev.er: in the interest of making this blog as authentic as possible I wanted to also list some slightly bad, or at least slightly annoying things, as a reminder to me and anyone who reads this, life isn't always instagrammable all the time and that is normal. Like, guys, tbh I'm not always falling in rivers or shoving strangers from my dance space. Sometimes my life is just not that glamorous.

9 nice things | March & April

It is tricky typing this post out today, a) because I massively over predicted how much of a spring day it is, and definitely should not be writing this from the garden armed with an iced (what was I thinking) tea and therefore my hands are going numb making it physically hard to type; and b) because I am not feeling so nice, so writing about nice stuff feels fake and silly and makes this emotionally hard to type. See what I did there.

My crazy irrational panic attacks have definitely made me say no to things and stopped me doing stuff. Sometimes, this can be the right thing to do. Sometimes if I say yes to too much, and rush around too much, all the attempts to be in 2 places at once and not enough time catching up on life admin/sleep/ just doing nothing can mean that too much cortisol (the stress hormone, not as I first thought, a mouthwash brand) pumping around me makes me more likely to feel jittery, and make me more likely to have a panic attack. One of the first things I was told to do when I first started getting help was to just do less. Learn to say no, and put less pressure on myself.

However, sometimes I say no to things because I am scared. Because they take me out of my comfort zone, and make me afraid of being afraid. I always like to tell myself when I say no to something, when I opt out of something that could be fun that it is the former reason and not this one. That I say no because I am looking after myself, I am making my anxiety better, not giving into it and making it worse. Well this weekend I struck out, and there is no way I could argue it was because of the former reason, it was hook line and sinker just me being scared of what might happen in my own head. And I missed out and I let people down and meeurgh.

9 nice things | January and February

Sort of weird to sit here writing about some nice things I bought in January, whilst some crazy bloke with a pretty small political mandate is doing some pretty crazy things. 27% of the eligible US voters chose President Trump (a little more than 27% chose Hillary Clinton) so why he thinks he can, by himself, without any approval from congress or the senate do something that so undermines the tolerance, freedom and immigration that the US was built on, blows my mind. Seems like a good way to get yourself impeached to me. I also think it is seems bizarre he chalks this up to being part of the war on terrorism - not just because the countries he's picked has nothing to do with the 9/11 hijackers - but mainly because this seems to be exactly what terrorists want. To divide us, to disrupt our lives and to make us believe they are what Islam is. But anyway, in this time when the stench of all this crazy crap is going on in some ways it can seem silly, but I think it is just as important as ever to stop and smell the roses. So without further adieu some little roses for a Sunday afternoon:

9 nice things | November and December

Like a fair proportion of the world, I don't think I will remember November 2016 as the best ever month. Whether you were pro Trump or anti Trump, living in the US or watching the election with baited breath from the outside, a divided country (perhaps world) where neither side can fathom and sympathise with the side of the other doesn't feel like a good thing. And, without sharing something which isn't mine, against the backdrop of this world tragedy, someone I love more than anything also experienced their own personal tragedy. Another thorn in the side of November. But without the dark, you can't see the stars and all that, and however bad a day is, or a month there are always things to be grateful for, though I acknowledge that is easier to say when I am not a US citizen, and the personal tragedy is not mine.  I am going to start with the money can't buy bit of 9 nice things this month, because it seems odd to follow that intro with a list of clothes I purchased (though don't worry you can scroll further down for that)

9 nice things | September and October

9 nice things September

Vassos Alexander, of the Chris Evans BBC Radio 2 Breakfast show which attempts to ease me out of bed each morning, says that September is by far his favourite month. (Yeah, lets just gloss over that I am the only twenty something in England to listen to radio 2. Apart from Will, who is forced to listen to it too*.) For a long time I have not been a fan of September, because it means my birthday is over, as are my summer holidays. But now I don't get a cushty 6 week plus summer holiday anymore (waaaa) I sort of see what he means. September is a pretty good month, it is sort of the best of Summer and Autumn - you can still wear sandals, and can maybe host the odd barbecue, but you don't feel sweaty 40% of the time, and in the evenings the dark outside makes you feel all cosy, and that you can sit inside watching TV and drinking a hot chocolate with marshmallows while getting excited for Christmas, if you wanted.

So without further adieu, here are the 9 things that put the cherry on top of my September:

9 nice things: April and May

So I've tweaked the format of 9 nice things slightly, as

a) doing it once a month when I am only publishing weekly meant this blog was sort of just becoming a list of nick nacks under £20 I bought at anthropologie and

b) I thought as the whole point of 9 nice things was to take a moment and appreciate the little things in life, it would be perhaps even more mentally healthy if I was get all excited about the lovely month to come, as well as reminiscing about the lovely month I just had. Feel like this will be especially important and necessary in say January. But May, May, beautiful May probably doesn't need me to sit down and put something on the internet for me to get all riled up about its arrival. It is the beginning of summer, and after such a not only rainy but hail-y April I am super ready to greet its lovely sunshine face. Please do have a sunshine face, yes May.

So basically, from now on 9 nice things will be happening every other month, and cover nice things coming up, as well as nice things that have happened.

9 nice things in April

3 materialistic but lovely things:

The red off the shoulder tassle dress pictured above (£14.99 H&M, only available in store now) which I cannot wait for it to be warm enough to wear, so I can float around South London carrying as many food babies as I like, still looking cute and classy thanks to its volumous floaty fabric.

You may have noticed me waffleing on about waffles multiple times in the last few posts, that is thanks to this waffle maker (£27.95 amazon) which means Sunday mornings no longer mean filling the house with smoke as I attempt to cook a pancake, but standing back and drinking jasmine tea, as the waffle maker does its work. Plus, you can make waffles relatively healthy - swap wholemeal flour, add seeds, add fruit, I am practically Deliciously Ella right?

Despite the fact that I spend approx. 25 minutes standing on the tube commuting, I am still feeling calm and getting through loads of big books thanks to a subscription to audible (£7.99 per month, audible). Has revolutionised my rush hour!

3 wonderful blog posts

I've recently discovered Hello I'm Flawed a hilarious anti yet pro blog, blog. Yep, I don't know what that sentence means either. Just read it, ok? Caroline hasn't been active on it since March 2015 but I am hoping now she's moved on from editor for Cup of Jo, she'll be back, as I am running out of reading all her old stuff.

Lemon curd and chia seed pudding. *insert drooling, whilst still feeling dignified and healthy emoticon here*

This DIY chevron bench looks impossibly professional and I am desperate to give it a go. One step up from my Beautiful Mess adapted copper pipe console table though no?

3 things money can't buy

Ok, so actually it takes quite a lot of money to buy an expensive gym membership but the point is exercise can be free, so I am not too much of a fraud harking on about gym memberships under the "money can't buy section". This month every working day bar 2, I've hit the new gym I joined, and I feel so good for it. I've done a couple of more challenging workouts, but really it has just been so nice to start my weeks with a Monday morning yoga class, and use my lunch hour going for a swim (and a 3 minute steam)! Has got me totally addicted to exercise again - I think you always think exercise will be horrible (and tbh I don't find it super easy at the time, my yoga teacher had to ask me to try to look serene last week) but you get such a good feeling afterwards. I reckon as long as I ride that good feeling all the way to my next workout, I'll never stop!

Getting up early - I am fully on a 6:15am - 10:15pm day in the week now, and even though I feel like a grandma when I slip out of drinks at 9:30, or make a bed time tea at 8 some days, it is making me feel like I have so much more time in the day!

So I looked all over the internet to try and find that bird, sounds almost like an owl but also like a pigeon who makes that sound on summer evenings? I have no idea who they are, but oh my they are out and about and chirping away and it is just making me so excited for long summer evenings lounging about in the garden. (Plus another excellent thing is in my search attempts I found this website. What a relaxing playlist for a party and/or doing some yoga no? Right now, I am typing this to the harmonious chirp of a "Rustic Bunting" )

And 9 great things to look forward to in May:

Bare legs - hello that entire section of my wardrobe

Not one but two long bank holiday weekends

Longer evenings, maybe even going to bed when it is still light!! (I know, I am so cool).

Al fresco eating and drinking - bbqs! Also, does anyone know where I can get a copy of Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal's bbq recipe book, Grillenhaal? Sure I didn't dream it, I am not that witty asleep or awake

The smell of cut grass (cutting the grass, less fun)

International museum day - museums across the UK are open late with lots of special events on to celebrate International Museum Day on 18th May. Last year, Will and I went to an excellent and creepy free talk at the Old Operating Theatre. Check out Culture24 for what is going on where.

I am saving up to buy this dream dress from & other stories as my May present to me

I'm also looking forward to a day trip to Manchester to visit my pal Sally, I plan to hit those Northern Quarter vintage shops hard.

It is my one of my uncle's 60th birthdays the end of May, and I am so looking forward to a massive family get together, and party-ing with some peeps who observe my 10pm bedtime...

I don't think you're ready for this waffle.

PS. Why 9?

Bottom left photo of Chia seed and lemon curd, from Port and Fin. Bottom right of chevron bench from the Jungalow.

Nine nice things - September

So it is that time of the month again, or more accurately, it was over 2 weeks ago, when September actually ended, to do my monthly 9 nice things post. Also not sure I can refer to this as "the time of the month for my monthly post" when it has happened only once before, but it will become an established monthly series goshdammit.

I hope everyone has had lovely Septembers, and indeed lovely weekends. As I sit down writing this it is Sunday morning, and I am hangover - albeit not cold- free, on my second hot chocolate ready for a day of pottering before heading out to Sticks n' Sushi in Wimbledon tonight. I've had such a lovely weekend full of brunching, and vinyl shopping, and failed cinnamon roll making, with a little dancing and prosecco thrown in for good measure. Plus yesterday evening, I had double pie for dinner (steak for main with mash, apple with custard for dessert) so that was just the cherry on top of the cake (/pie). Feeling in such a tiptop mood makes this happy list even easier to write, but whatever mood you find it in, I hope it has something in it to perk you up!

3 Lovely things you can buy for under £20

1. A purse (/pencil case) with a little Je Ne Sais Quoi -£20 Anthropologie

See what I did there - the purse has both a "little je ne sais quoi" in the colloquial sense, and also in the literal sense. I spotted this baby at Anthropologie a while ago, but was like hmm can I spend £20 on what seems to be a pencil case? And then in a wave of wrecklesness I bloomin did. And I love it, I use it in my handbag to ensure I can easily get to all the little important things (like eyeliner, pens, keys) rather than having them get lost in the sea of receipts and scraps of paper. And everytime I do, it makes me feel like a sophisticated, cool and yet humourous young woman. Excellent.

2. This little cactus - £4 B&Q

I feel like I am betraying a lover here, as I am on the internet advising people to buy cactai from other places than my homeware kindred spirit, Ikea.

Ikea has always been my cactai shop of choice, my boyfriend and I have had many an argument at the plants system where he has insisted I don't look after my existing house plants enough and they are attracting flies, and I have insisted I can never have too many cactai.

But this time, sauntering through B&Q this little chap caught my eye, and I cheated. I bought a cactus from B&Q and I am not even sorry. Not that I am a cactai conneseur, hell, I can barely keep them alive, but this one seems like a pretty good one. And it comes in quite a good quality and boho chic terracotta pot, which I think looks pretty nice on my table. Hell, I am now thinking of buying one of their massive £20 0nes, just yet to win that argument with Will.

3. This dining room light - £18.99 Ebay

Since Will and I moved into our little South London flat, we've been awkwardly eating dinner, and entertaining people in our dining room under a lampshade made of the previous owners wedding photos. Bit awkward. Our dining room ceilings are over 3m high, and the lampshade wasn't just a lampshade but fully attached to the wire and the ceiling so everything would have to come down at once. So, because of this debaucle they didn't take it down for when they left, and we didn't take it down for over. four. months.

I kept looking for the perfect light, and then I broke and just didn't want to be under other people's wedding photos anymore and ordered this one from ebay on a whim. And dya know what I am pleased as punch with it. You can pick one up here.

3 Lovely blog posts I loved

1. Lean Living Girl's Fig and Honey cake

One of my favourite things about Autumn (in a humongous list of favourite Autumn things because I love it so much) is Tesco's seasonal fruit pot. Figs, plums, blackberries, yum. Figs figs figs. Cannot get enough of them. So any suggestions of how to get more of them, by eating them in meals and puddings and not just as a snack are welcomely received.

If there is another thing I love perhaps more than the Tesco's seasonal Autumn fruit pot, it is the "healthy cake". Inspired by all those hip health food bloggers, I have started making all my favourite cakes and replacing sugar with maple and date syrup and honey, and all the flour with buckwheat (with varying degrees of success). This cake on Lean Living Girl sounds like a dream - cheese, figs, cake and apparently healthy. Come to mumma.

2. Take Courage - Our Bedroom

Cat has long been one of my biggest blog crushes, and I love her home interiors. Her new home in Rochester seems absolutely beautiful. I love her bedroom, shared here, which made me immediately regret all the interior decisions I made on my own. The unfortunate thing about Kat's blog is that she bought a place a couple of months after me, which means I can't quite copy her in time, but hey inspiration for my next place!

3. Jenny Purr - What would you do with an extra hour in your day?

A inspiring post about cutting the crap and having more quality time in your day. For me personally, although I do like sleeping, I reckon I am more of a lark than an owl - if I stay up an hour later than intended I spend the time (at best) clicking through facebook and buzzfeed lists and (at worst) feeling worried and anxious. If I get up an hour earlier, it puts me in a great mood for the day, I do something productive and good for me. Which brings me on to the next thing on my list...

3 things money can't buy that I loved this month

1. Blogging breakfasts

Partly inspired by Jenny Purr's article, I've started getting up and going to bed a good 45 minutes to an hour earlier, and it is so nice!

Gone are my days of running down the road eating nutella on a piece of toast! Nowadays, I get up, do a little bit of yoga, have a shower and get dressed, and then make myself a yummy breakfast and sit down and write Loner. Lover. Friend.

It has helped me carve out the time in my day to write this blog that I've been struggling to find for the last few months, and it puts me in such a better mood on the way to work.

Breakfast is also the meal of the day when I am most inclined to be healthy, so I figure I should take advantage of it! My favourite breakfasts on rotation at the moment: overnight bircher (oats with apple juice and coconut milk popped in the fridge overnight, and then I stir yoghurt and fruit in in the morning); porridge with my Dad's homemade blackberry jam and cinnamon stirred in, smushed avocado on bagels with chilli and chia seeds and good old peanut butter on toast (sometimes with some pomegranates sprinkled across too for good measure). All washed down with a hot water and lemon. Laaarvely. Also, cheaper than Pret!

2. Cooking dinner

To go down the theme of meals, September really was the month I started cooking dinner more - nothing fancy, but more effort than a vegetable stir fry with a salmon fillet in the oven, or pesto and pasta which were my previous go-tos. Having a bigger kitchen (and indeed a dishwasher) in my new flat has made putting a little more effort into teatime so much easier. I sort of love that it gives me a little routine as well, a plan for the week. I leave one day out of the planning so I can spontaneously take up a drinks offer, but if I have to come home one day as I have pulled pork cooking deliciously away in the slow cooker, well it just isn't that bad.

Even nicer is that our proper dining table arrived in September and sitting in our now (I think) lovely dining room, chatting away with Will every night is such a great way to forget all the work stress. It is so strange, it has sort of made me realise we didn't have as good quality chats before as we do now, with a bottle of red wine and a plate of homemade dinner, chatting about everything from childhood tales of breaking out of primary school to buy sweets (Will not me, I was too good) to who will win Strictly...

3. Autumn

How could I do a favourite things in September post without mentioning the season which is my favourite : Autumn. I say this, as the season changes from Summer to Autumn, I am getting properly excited with the first morning chill in the air, the turning of the leaves into such glorious colours, the fires and the candles and the fabulous outerwear and cinnamon in everything... however, I am not sure whether I don't just get excited with every change of season. In my head right now, I feel like I never anticipate a change of season like I do Autumn, but I can vaguely recollect that feeling when things get a bit summery, the evenings draw longer and you start having enough time to come home and eat dinner outside before it gets dark, do I feel just as excited then? Or with that first wash of blossoms and daffodils? I can't remember, all I know is I feel so tremendously ready for Autumn now. Bring on the hot chocolate, bring on the velvet everything, bring on the snuggly nights watching all the good lead-up-to-Christmas TV, bring on the wooly jumpers. Oh Autumn, it is good to see you.

PS. Why 9.

Copyrights (middle row only, the rest are mine) - from left - Lean Living Girl, Take Courage, Jenny Purr

Nine nice things: August

Long time, no blog. Again. Sorry, anyone who is still out there!

And this time I don't even have Pretty Little Liars as an excuse, because series 6 has finished and OMGweknowwhoAis.

Even though I have been tres absent from this blog, I have however been thinking about a new series of post I would like to do, which although doesn't easily fit under my "loner", "lover" and "friend" categories I am going to nonchalantly file under "loner".

We all know the benefits of being grateful, the internet is crammed with advice to keep gratitude diaries, to change your passwords to words or mnemoics which make you feel happy every time you logon your emails, to count to ten and think of 10 things you're grateful for next time you feel like you have to go cry in the work loos; basically we know it is a very powerful thing for our minds, practising gratitude...

So I want to start my own little gratitude list or grateful flow, each month, I call it "9 nice things", cos I really don't think there is anything else like this out there in blogosphere.

Ok, I am being a sarcastic. I know there are zillions of "Happy Mondays" and "Five things" and "Ten things" and "Friday Favourites", but those are some of my favourite posts. I love seeing those little snippets of other people's life, especially the good bits that make them cheery, and all the nice stationery and mugs on show.

So I am throwing my own monthly post in to the "favourite things" mix.

Why 9 you say? Well mainly because 9 pictures look best in a grid and I enjoy the alliteration, but also because "9 nice things" will be made up of 3 groups of 3, as follows:

My 3 favourite blog posts from other people's blogs from the month.

3 nice things under £20 that I've bought because I have a penchant for capitalist materialism.

3 things which money can't buy to show there is more to me, and indeed more to life than capitalist materialism, however much fun it is to own a whole dresser top full of expensive scented candles.

So without much adieu I give you "9 nice things August". Wahoo.

Nb. normally these will be lovely short little bite sized posts, sorry for all the introductory waffling this time.

3 Lovely Things you can buy for £20 or under

• Isle of Skye Candle Company Bog Myrtle and Mint candle - £20

So one of the things I was off doing when I was not blog writing, was galavanting around Edinburgh at the annual fringe festival. It was the nicest of nice times, and as a little souvenir for my flat, I picked up this little wonder from the Isle of Skye Candle Company Edinburgh store on Victoria Street (just off Grassmarket). It smells like a dream and my grown up homeowner side is satisfied I have another good quality scented candle in my life, whilst my immature side sort of loves that is has the word bog in it.

• The New Bohemians: Cool and Collected Homes by Justina Blakeney - RRP £21.99 (but on sale in plenty of places like here and here)

LA interior designer Justina Blakeney has long time been a gal crash of mine, I bloomin love her instgram feeds: @thejungalow and @justinablakeney, and all her fabulous hashtags #plantsonpink, #facethefoiliage, #jungalowbytheriver. Her book does not disappoint, lots of big glossy pictures of fabulous homes filled with amazing plants and textiles, and clutter-less bohemian style. There also some pretty nifty how tos in there, all in all it has been plentiful inspiration for decorating my new flat this August.

• Ban.do August 15 - December 16 planner - err $20 (+infinite postage, package and customs charges)

So I came across this planner on Liverpudlian blogger Jemma's Dorkface blog back at the beginning of August and realised I needed it in my life. It is an organiser (and I have loved those ever since I was 8 and bought a purple filofax), it has little notes already written on telling you you are pretty and encouraging you in your daily pursuits, it has stickers which are cartoons of girls taking selfies in kitten ears, it is just an all around a dream planner.

Mine is the "Florabunda", which is now sold out in this size (though they do a bigger one too) but I enjoy the other two designs too, and they are still available (and the insides are the same, which is the best bit).

The less dreamy bit is that even though it basically only costs a tenner in pounds sterling, actually to ship it to the UK is $25 and the fun doesn't stop there as if you read the small print HM Revenue and Customs wack on a lovely customs charge (£17) which ban.do tell you they are not responsible for. So basically, it shouldn't really be in my under £20 list, as it cost me ridonculous amounts to actually get my hands on it. I justified it to myself by purchasing a couple more bits from ban.do at the same time, but to be honest (and even though anyone reading this, particularly my mother might point out that this contently paying more than something is worth just because I want one is the root of my money problems...) I don't regret it. It really does make me feel more organised, it is the perfect size to make lists and plan your days but still fit cosily in your handbag, it just makes me so happy and like a super organised yet cool chick every time I look at it. And if that lasts til December 16 then £10 + £12.50 postage + £17 customs charges isn't that much to pay for that much happiness- is it (mum)?

3 Lovely blog posts I've loved this August

• Madeline Shaw's Halloumi and Strawberry salad

August has really been a month that I have overwhelmed my instagram feed with health bloggers and nutrionists and I am really loving it. I think it is giving me a welcome brainwashing into wanting to eat just lots of fresh vegetables and healthy breakfasts and the occasional raw cacao chocolate brownie.

Although I love them all, quite a few of them are vegan, which is a problem for me because I love cheese and meat. Which is why Madeline Shaw is probably my favourite, as she eats both cheese and meat and is just so inspirational and lovely that when I am at work and it all is so stressful and overwhelming I've started taking 2 minutes to go to the disabled loos just to look at her instagram feed and I think it immediately calms me and makes me thing damn it I can be as together as her, I can. Please don't tell my manager.

This recipe, which is also in her book "Get the Glow" (which again, I love so much, because I really do love her to an extent it is bordering on creepy) is cheese and strawberries. Basically my two favourite things combined in one delicious dish. There are not enough fruit and cheese dishes out there I think, props to Madeline for I hope starting a wonderful fruit and cheese revolution.

• A Beautiful Mess' Copper Table DIY

So this is a little belated, as this post initially went up at the end of June but I have been taking an accidental blogcation haven't I. Plus, I actually did this DIY in August so it sorta counts. I am over the moon about it. I actually used some Maths and changed the dimensions so it was more of a console table and fit in this pesky alcove behind part of my sofa. I also used pine and stained it walnut to go with the rest of my furniture a bit more nicely, and I just love it. I cannot believe I made it with my own fair hands, nor can my guests who come round when I point it out to them (and I do point it out to all of them because I am so damn proud).

A little picture of mine, below!

• Your Inspired Action's "57 reasons to love being alive"

Again, a slightly older post (sorry, I'll get better) but it was the main inspiration behind the next section of this little August gratitude list, and actually I just found it a generally quite inspirational and cheerying post. Go have a read and feel lovely.

3 Lovely Things money can't buy

• Weddings (ok so in some ways you could argue this is something a lot of money can buy but just go with it please)

I went to my third and final wedding of the summer at the beginning of August, and I just love them. And not just because of all the pretty dresses and free booze and humongous cheese platters that seem to be all the rage at weddings at the moment and appear around 10pm when your dancing feet are getting tired and your cheese loving belly is getting hungry. Though I do love all those things. But more to the point they are just wonderful days filled with so much happiness, such a feeling that your part of something important - I love that wave of emotion when you turn round and see your friend in her wedding dress walking down the aisle to greet the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with, who looks as pleased as punch. I am so glad I am coming up to the "wedding age", and I am super grateful that friends want to include me in their special day.

• Birthdays

It was my birthday in August and I loved it! Never regret turning a year older I say, it is better than the alternative. (And when I say "I say" I mean, I say that copying the clever person who said that in the first place, I obvs didn't coin that phrase.) I just love birthdays, and as I've got older (and the ratio of the value of my presents to the amount in my bank account is no longer as favourable as it was when I was 9 and got £2 pocket money per week) although I still love presents and being spoilt, I gotta say actually my favourite thing about birthdays is just getting to celebrate with my favourite people. And demand they watch musicals and romantic comedies with me, and they don't get to argue back. (Looking at you William).

• Dr. Oliver Sacks

I feel like if I am starting a series of post about gratitude, then it is all too fitting to mention Dr. Oliver Sacks, the famous English neurologist who passed away aged 82 at the end of August. Revealing he had terminal cancer in the New York Times in February, he said something that has whirred around in my head ever since first reading it "I cannot pretend I am without fear" he said, "but my predominant feeling has been one of gratitude. Above all I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that is in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure." So there you go, a whole list of things money can't buy to remember to be grateful for today, articulated so beautifully by a man who left the world better for him being there.


Here is to a lovely rest of September!

PS. About me.

Copyrights:
top row - me (though the top left is a picture of the new bohemians, I didn't take the original picture obvs)
middle row (left to right) - Carolyn Hope, abeautifulmess.com, madeleineshaw.com
bottom row - geniusquotes.org, me, Jurgen Frank/Corbis via theguardian.com