What the doctor ordered

And when I say what the doctor ordered, I actually mean what Ross ordered.

Today was overwhelming.

Another early morning of getting up in the dark (I hate that!), 

another morning of work, 

another afternoon in the library, 

another intense session of thrashing out ideas for my dissertation, 

and an sweep over of pressure knowing that if I want to keep a promise to myself, I have to work harder than ever. 

So when I got home and I was playing at been a full blown Negative Nancy - again -  

Ross hugged me, rubbed my shoulders, made me dinner and told me to go and watch a cookery programme whilst I have a bath. (That man knows me well)

Throw in a couple of bath bombs, a scented candle and an early night and you've concocted a sure fire way of making me relax. 

Sigh.

Also, when did I get to be old? 

Weird. 

Friday notes

Dear Old Man & Old Lady, 
It's been pretty sunny today, so I was feeling warm anyway, but seeing you two together warmed my heart too. Sorry if it was inappropriate of me to take a picture of the two of you, but you reminded me of my grandparents and that was precious.
Sincerely, 
A heart warmed passerbyer
PS. Were you not too hot in your jumper old man? Just wondering.

Dearest darlingest Momsie & Popsical, 
That's a reference to Wicked by the way. You know, the musical. Just letting you know that Ross & I booked tickets yesterday to go and see it in December, so that you can be adequately jealous. I know that you will be.
Lots of love, 
Your daughter that is not ashamed to rub my good fortune in your face

Dear late September weather, 
You have been so pleasant the last few days. You even encouraged me to take a walk today, and if you knew the size of the hill I have to climb to get to park, you would know how much of a big deal that is. Anyways, I'm grateful for your late visit. Stay a little longer if you like. You're definitely welcome.
Gratefully, 
A lightly sun kissed friend

Dear Greece, 
We will keep hold of your weather while you try to sort out your Euro crisis. We know, we know, we're doing you a favour - the sun would only distract you, and you have some important decisions to make. You can thank us later.
Good luck, 
A sunny England

Dear Annie, Katie, Grays, & Sally, 
I miss living with you, my friends. I wish that I could still call you my housies. Do any of you want to go to Red Hot Buffet next week, for a night of catching up and over eating? (Sounds like perfection, no?)
Kisses and hugs, 
Your nostalgic friend.
PS. CHLOE, this offer extends to you too!

Dear blog friends, 
Thank you for being here today (name that film)! I appreciate you very much.
Faithfully, 
B

xoxoxoxoxox

Hugs & kisses to all involved!

A continual search for balance

In the past I have fallen into one of two categories.

1). Insanely, possibly even manically busy.

Sometimes I give myself lists of jobs that I have to do, that day.

I choose to say 'give myself jobs' rather than just work through a list of stuff that I have to do, because like I already said, when I'm busy, I get manic/insane.

If I have an essay to write, I'll make a list of everything that I need to do to get it done.

Just usual stuff like...

- make a note of which books I need from the library

- get said books from the library

- find quotes/things to cite

- etc, etc.

And then I'll add on stuff like...

- do the food shopping

- clean the bathroom

- put on a load of white washing

- empty the bin

- etc, etc.

Stuff that I could deffo put off doing whilst I spend time working on my essay.

But I add it on anyway.

And if I don't get everything on my list done that day, I feel like I've let myself down.

The second category that I often fall into is

2). Completely lazy bum.

This is pretty self explanatory, but I mean to the extreme.

I'll sleep long past the time that Ross has gotten up and gone to work and then when I do get up, I'll just transfer myself from the bed to the sofa and catch up on Come Dine With Me.

All day.

And then it'll get to the end of the day and I'll realise that I've literally done nothing more than vegetate on the sofa and I'll feel terrible.

Like I've let myself down.

Now, I realise that these are two pretty extreme situations and even though I do find myself in either one of them fairly regularly, my life isn't like that all time.

What makes me happiest is when I have a balance between the two.

So after some subconscious doing and some very conscious thinking, I came up with a list of things.

A list of things that if I just complete each day, I can feel like I've achieved something. 

If I have nothing to do one day, I can make sure I do these things and the day isn't wasted.

If I have loads to do each day, I can just quickly work through this list and then anything else that I manage to do is a bonus.

Either way its win/win.

So because I'm in a giving mood today, here's my list.

1). Wash my face. 

(It probably seems like a weird thing to have one my list, but if I'm feeling particularly lazy in the morning, I skip this off and if I've had a hectic day I go to bed without doing it.)

2). Say a prayer of gratitude.

3). Search for truth. 

4). Go to bed with a sink empty of dirty dishes.

5). Take a photograph. 

One at least, more if I get the chance.

6). Spend some time outside.

Even just taking out the rubbish counts, because I've found if I literally stay inside all day I start to get cabin fever. A little bit.

7). Make dinner

8). Spend some time with Ross.

Amour/Deteste

Yes, I am wearing my pretentious pants today and using French words in my regular everyday speech. 

C'est bon, non?

Today I'm hatin' on....

Aching feet,

whiney toddlers,

a slight altercation with the car

and strawberry juice on my white top.

It's not all bad though.

Today I'm loving...

coming home to the smell of jacket potatoes in the oven, 

affectionate toddlers, 

smoothies, 

helium balloons

and Harry Potter. Tomorrow. Midnight. BOOM.

Dough-nuts

So we're just getting to the end of dinner and I remember that I didn't make any brownies, like I'd planned to.

Now, if it's just Ross & I for dinner, it's pretty rare that we have dessert.

But when we have people over, like we did last night, I feel bad if I don't serve something sweet at the end. 

Like I've somehow short changed my guests into coming over for dinner and literally only giving them dinner.

Surely that is not what a good Mormon hostess does.

Aren't we supposed to have homemade baked goods in our house at all times? 

Anyway, so we finish dinner and Chlo mentions that her & J-rad had Krispy Kremes yesterday.

Now, I love a good doughnut as much as the next person, but even I would draw the line at driving all the way to either Manchester or Preston just to get my doughnuts fix. 

So I said, "what?! You went all the way to Manchester? For a doughnut?"

Turns out they hadn't.

A Krispy Kremes had opened up near Ikea, which is only 10 minutes away.

Only-10-minutes-away!

Right then, I knew that I had dessert sorted.

Krispy Kremes for all!

 Honestly, my happiness was just about ready to spill out of me when they brought warm, glazed doughnuts to everyone waiting in the queue. 

Seriously, there are few things more delicious than that.

Lemon meringue pie, in doughnut form.

Genius.

Whoever thought of that needs to knighted.

At least.

Recipe for a successful Tuesday

Listen carefully...

When it's a random Tuesday and you don't really have any plans, here is what to do.

1). Pick up one friend.

2). Take said friend to the home of another friend.

3). Gently force one of the friends to try sushi for the first time. 

It might be a bit scary at first, but its worth it. I promise.

4). While you wait for other friends to arrive, make banana bread.

5). Whilst the banana bread is cooking, dress up one of your friends in a snuggie.

You have to get them to put it on backwards, because then it looks like they're rocking a cloak.

Harry Potter stylee.

6). Get another friend to pretend to be Dobby the house elf (you can choose a different elf if you'd prefer) and take a photo.

 7). Once you have the photo, send the boys in the group to Asda to get supplies.

Whilst they're gone, make and eat sandwiches.

I would personally recommend cheese salad with hummus on brown bread.

8). Whilst your still waiting for the boys to get back, play the piano and have some sort of group sing-a-long.

 9). When the boys get back, jump into the hot tub and eat at least three ice lollies each.

One Vimto lolly, one Refresher lolly and one vanilla/toffee cone.

10). During your time in the hot tub encourage the entire group to speak in 'special' voices and use lots of hand gestures.

11). When it's time to go make sure that you have lots of good songs to play while you drive home.

Sing quite loudly to said songs throughout the journey.

12). Pick up your hubs from work/

call in at Costco/

drop one friend off at her house/

go home and make tomato risotto.

 13). Go to the driving range with your hubs.

13b). Take lots of photos of him.

14). Go home and sleep for at least eight hours.

PERFECT DAY.

Peel offs

Sometimes we like to do face masks.

Well, let me be clear about this.

 I like to do face masks and so I force Ross to do one with me.

Even though I have to force him a little bit, once he has one on, he takes it very seriously.

He talks through his teeth and if you make him laugh he gets very, very cross.

On a slight side note, when it's drying, don't you think that he looks like a mannequin?

Also, don't you think that our friend Jamie looks like Vin Diesel?

On a completely unrelated side note, it's my birthday this week.

Saturday, if you were wondering.

♥

Shine/Life metaphor

The shine in the these photos is pretty obvious.

Obvious but beautiful.

I love how in the second photo the sun literally looks how a 7 year old would draw the sun.

A big yellow ball with glorious rays shining from it.

Perfect.

And on a cheesy note, I love how these photos can be a metaphor for life. 

Even through the thickness of the trees the sun is still shining.

Pretty brightly and beautifully I might add. 

The little things

1. Dominos completely messed up our pizza order, but we got money off, so all is well.

2. Tomorrow is Friday.

3. I'm almost half way through my placement.

4. A little boy that I work with who has a great Polish accent and always says "this is not gooood" asked me if I would be back tomorrow and when I said yes I would and all next week too, he said "gooood because I would miss you." 

It's no wonder I get so attached to the little bubbas that I meet on placement.

5. The amazing names that they give to different shades of lipstick and nail varnish.

My current favourite lipsticks are mulled wine and showbiz. 

Can you tapas this and iris I was thinner are my nail varnish faves.

Iris I was thinner is possibly my favourite name ever.

And possibly going to become my new mantra.

6. Remembering random times in the sun with friends.

Times just like the ones in the photos.

7. The fact that I have a real life legitimate reason to go Costco tomorrow.

A real reason as apposed to my usual just wanting to go.

Why I will never have 13 children

Yesterday I started a placement in a children's centre in a pretty deprived area of Leeds.

I'm working in the pre-school room, with 13 kids, some of which don't speak English as their first language.

(I now know how to say toilet and drink in Polish. Thumbs up.)

Yesterday was a lot of fun. 

Basically I spent the entire day cutting & sticking, reading stories, kicking footballs, cuddling crying children, colouring, dressing up and playing at Princess'.

(Having a group of kids all chanting Princess Rebecca while running around you waving their arms is really something.)

Today was the same.

But all that fun, with 13 children is TIRING.

Last night I was asleep by 9:20pm.

Seriously.

And I slept right the way through until my alarm went off at 7am.

Seriously.

I'll probably do the same thing tonight.

Seriously.

Nosey parker

I love to people watch. 

I like seeing people and wondering about what they're thinking and what's important to them right at that moment.

More than I love to watch, I like to listen in on people's conversations.

I'm sat in the cafe at university right now, wasting time after my interview (it went well by the way) but before my group meeting. 

I have three hours to kill.

There's a group of four people sat next to me.

They're talking about the most randombomb things from playing Nirvana in the clubs and people getting carried away, to an exam they've just taken (they all did well too by the way, they're pretty sure that they all got firsts), and dreams.

This is what one girl said.

"About five years ago, I had this pair of shoes that I loved, but I lost them.

Then last week I had this dream.

In my dream I was looking for this pair of shoes and I found them.

But then I woke up and I was really sad because in real life my shoes were still lost.

But because I was sad it made me really determined to find them.

So I looked for them for about half an hour and then I found them!

How amazing is that? 

Dreams can be so inspiring."

Yes. Yes, dreams can be so inspiring.

Another similar thing happened last week while I was in the toilet at Asda.

I was already in the cubicle and a little girl and her Mom came in and went into the cubicle next to me. This is what went down.

Girl: Mom, I want a toilet that has a roof.

Mom: There aren't any toilets with rooves here honey. These toilets are in what they call  cubicle stalls.

Girl: I want a toilet that has a door all the way to the floor.

Mom: Honey, none of these toilets have doors that go all the way down to the floor.

Girl: Why?

Mom: Because if a little girl like you came to the toilet by herself and got locked in, they could crawl out from underneath the door.

Girl: But what if they were fat?

Mom: Then it would be really tricky.

Pause.

Girl: Woah, its gone really dark.

Mom: That's because you've got your eyes closed.

That conversation happened for reals. 

It is not embellished or made up at any point.

The last part really cracked me up.

I had to flush the toilet so that they couldn't hear my laughing. 

Also in the same toilet trip, whilst I was in the cubicle, a man walked in and very loudly said "WHOOPS! Wrong one. No urinals. SORRYYYY LADIESSSSS."

I couldn't make this stuff up.

There's a different group of people sat next to me now.

They're speaking in a different language.

I obviously can't understand.

Such a shame, because they look so interesting. 

Some little notes

Source

Dear University, 
Whilst your Headingley campus might be quite beautiful, and whilst I love to think of days during the war when you were a hospital and not a university yet, I will be glad when it's this time tomorrow and I don't have to think about you and your assignments or essays or presentations or projects.
Just for a little while.
I promise I'll come back in September.
But until then, it's not you, it's me. 

Dear Pizza Express, 

Thank you for giving me dough balls. 

That's all.

Dear friends that I shared dough balls with today,

(Not that I shared any dough balls, I just mean who also had dough balls today)

I had such a nice time with you this afternoonish evening.

I send love and thanks to all involved.

Dear Ruth & Louise, 

Tomorrow I will hand in two massive assignments and you will mark them.

Please be kind, generous and then generous some more.

I would really appreciate it.

Dear Mom & Dad, 

I know that your probably reading this, so please pray for me tomorrow.

I have an assessed interview and a video presentation. All in one day.

I've been referring to it as the day or reckoning all this week, so you know it really is quite a big deal and I'm not being dramatic.

PS. Thanks for making me.

Dear sleep, 

Please come to me quickly tonight. 

My interview is at 9am in the morning and I need to be focused.

Plus it probably wouldn't look too professional if I yawn through out the whole thing.

Especially seeing as it's been filmed!

Lots of love, 

Becky

4 day weekends are the bomb

The bomb diggity bomb. 

Four day weekends are even more rockin when you have two in a row.

The one just gone was a family fest

and the one coming is going to be a London road trip with our bestest buds.

I am so excited. Seriously.

Anyway, on with the weekend catchup.

 This is what happens when I try to be artsy...

 One of my beautiful nieces, Amellia. Did I mention that she's beautiful? Like a porcelain doll.

 Oh crud, another wannabe artsy photographer shot. How did this get here?

 My nieces and nephew are so freakin cute and so well dressed. 

I feel pressured to have uber cute stylish children. 

I think I will. (Don't worry though Mom, not for a while.)

As a little bubba Ross looked exactly like Jared.

Actually, a few weeks ago Ross told someone that Jared was so cute that if he showed them a picture they would want to disown their own children...

The best thing about where Ross grew up is the BEACH! Saweet. 

The sea was miles away though, which is a bag full of suckage because it was unseasonably warm and I wanted to swim. 

Well, I wanted to at least get my feet wet.

 I really liked the fact that my brother has this up in his bedroom. 

Rich will be old enough to go on his mission in two years. 

The thought of that makes me feel sad and old.

Did I mention that my brothers are STUDS? 

Also, Ross looks like he has a hunch back.

He doesn't.

I think green is Heavenly Father's favourite colour. 

It must be, right? 

How can there be so much green and it not be?

 I love how small Ross is in comparison with this picture. He's quite tall in real life.

 Ross suggested we had a competition to see who could throw the furthest. He also suggested that to even out the playing field, I could throw with my right hand and everyone else had to throw with the opposite hand to what they write with. This is a photo of my attempt. Would you be surprised if I told you that I still didn't win?

 I want to frame this photo. Even though I'm stood like a loser. 

 ♥

Camera phone catch up

I've heard it said that the best camera is that one that you have on you. 

I don't doubt that that is completely true. 

But would you please take a look at these camera phone pictures and tell me that compared to my regular photos the quality doesn't make you a little bit sick. 

I should always, ALWAYS have my real camera with me and never be forced to use my camera phone.

But let's be realistic. I couldn't have used my real camera to take some of these photos. 

Like the precious (sneaky) photo of one of my lecturers and his sweetbomb neckerchief. 

Ross in his wedding suite. I'm going to brag and tell you all it's a Hugo Boss. (True story)

He is so freakin handsome. 

This is the photo that flashes up when Annie calls me. 

Check out the colour of her hands compared to her face.

She has the worst circulation. 

I have no idea what to say about this picture. 

An interesting/creepy fact about it though is that I remember I wasn't wearing any underwear when I took this. (HA!)

We'd been swimming and I went to the swimming pool with my cozzy on underneath. Being the dimwit that I am I forgot to take underwear to put on afterwards.

Again, not a clue what to say about this. And I don't even have an interesting/creepy fact to share either.

Emily had a spray tan. 

Compared to her I look like I have vampire skin. 

This is what happens when my brother lets me cut his hair. 

I would love to report he kept it this way. 

He didn't.

Well, actually my Mom wouldn't let him. I don't know why.

I don't feel like this needs an explanation. 

Basically, I love Friij, The chocolate brownie edition.

When Emily & I go to Pizza Hut, we have ice cream for dessert, and basically become ice cream artists. 

(In my head, I;m saying artists like arteests.)

 Costco. Precious Costco.

 I love Costco. Precious Costco. 

I would live in, precious Costco. 

If they let me. Because I love Costco. 

Precious Costco.

 Somehow, Ross managed to get a potato with cheese, beans, and chilli.

It looked disgusting. And it smelled disgusting. 

He liked it though.

I did this! I was so flippin proud! 

I'm not sure why we bought a dart gun & target. 

Sometimes our coolness is just inexplicable.

This is one of my lecturers. 

He is seriously cool. Seriously.

Check out his neck scarf. That is sufficient proof of him being coolbomb.

At Easer, we have hot cross bun scones.

They are saweet.

This is what happens when I leave Ross alone in ikea.

He didn't even move when children were hovering around...

I made this. And I am so proud of myself.