Thirty 🎈and 2000 Followers!🥳

Hey Loves!

How are you all doing? I hope you’re embracing July but I am wondering where the sunshine has gone! I’m also quite shocked that after this week, we have one full week left at school. I’ve not seen the majority of my colleagues since March and I do miss them. Such strange times indeed! I’m so glad I’ve got you guys really.

First of all, I was really surprised to notice that I’ve got 2000 followers now! Wow!! 2000 of you lovely people like my small patch on the internet. Thank you so much! I’m so grateful and honoured. You’re all awesome!

So this week I turned thirty! The big 30! It sounds silly but I’m genuinely shocked. Where has the time gone? I don’t feel any different really. Should I? I always strive to be the best I can be so in that sense nothing has changed. Anyway, before this turns into a barbled stream of consciousness of what I should be feeling and thinking, I wanted to share with you some snaps of the day and my list of 30 things I’d like to do in the next year. It’s changed a fair bit due to the current epidemic but I am fairly settled with it now. I like a list so this was a perfect present to myself!

30 Things I’d Like To Do In The Next Year
– Go to a book signing of a writer I like
– Read all 23 of The World of Peter Rabbit Collection books
– Visit a new country
– Make a donation to charity
– See a show on opening night
– Plant a tree
– Explore somewhere new in the UK
– Sit in row 1 on a plane
– Re-read all the Harry Potter books
– Visit Red House
– Visit a castle
– Name a star
– Watch the sunrise
– Record a video for my future self
– Eat at a Michelin star restaurant
– Write a sentence every single day for a month
– Have afternoon tea at the Ritz in London (or equivalent)
– Go to a Christmas market
– Achieve and maintain target weight
– Complete the Banksy Trail in Bristol
– Have a zoo keeper experience
– Stay in a National Trust cottage
– Read one of the ultimate classic novels
– Write a story about the animals that visit us at home
– Buy a milestone handbag
– Buy the site for my blog
– Do a random act of kindness
– Leave a note in a book for someone to find
– Read a book published on my birthday
– Adopt an animal

I’m quite pleased with the variety in that list. I’ve been doing parts of this before my birthday. I’d plan visiting new places to break up the terms but of course, lockdown prevented most of that. You all know that I’ve been re-reading the Harry Potter books and reliving my childhood youth with that. I spent a day reading the Peter Rabbit Collection and made a decision about which my favourite is: Mrs Tittlemouse. I found my visit to Hill Top so inspiring last year. It’s magical seeing the places that inspired such amazing tales. They’ve been a staple of many childhoods, that’s for sure. Lastly, I donated my birthday money to Mind, a charity that is very close to my heart. If you’d also like to donate or research the work of the charity, click here.

It would be awesome if my fellow blogging friends could recommend a classic read for me. There’s so many but what do you think is the ultimate classic? What would you suggest for that?

If you’ve got any suggestions for anything in the list, let me know!

Lastly, please join me to celebrate my birthday by having one of my favourite things in the world: cake! Mine was seriously cute! 🦔

Take care everyone! I’ll be back for more reviews soon!

Big love all xx

Bye 2019! Hello 2020!

Hello Loves!

I can’t believe it’s New Years Eve. I think I say this every single year but I’ve no idea where the time has gone. I’m sure as I’m getting older, time is going quicker. Is that just me?

Besides, I’m not really a fan of New Year. I’m not really sure why either. It’s always been an evening well spent with family and a glass of fizz. I guess one thing I’m not such a fan of is the fact that New Year seems to be a time when people tend to make bold statements about how they’re going to change and they usually fail by the second week of January. For me, I wanted to try and read 100 books again this year. Amazingly, I succeeded! I read a total of 105 books.📚

My 2019 reading list:

Abrahamson, Emmy: How To Fall In Love With a Man Who Lives in a Bush
Ahern, Cecelia: Postscript
Alderton, Dolly: Everything I Know About Love
Anderson, Sophie: The House with Chicken Legs
Beckerman, Hannah: If Only I Could Tell You
Blake, Sarah: The Postmistress
Brahmachari, Sita: Where the River Runs Gold
Braithwaite, Oyinkan: My Sister, The Serial Killer
Buchan, Elizabeth: The Museum of Broken Promises
Bythell, Shaun: Confessions of a Bookseller
Campbell, Jen: Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops
Campbell, Jen: The Bookshop Book
Candlish, Louise: Our House
Candlish, Louise: Those People
Child, Lee: The Midnight Line
Child, Lee: Gone Tomorrow
Chirovici, E.O.: The Book of Mirrors
Clanchy, Kate: Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me
Coelho, Paulo: Manuscript Found in Accra
Coleman, Alistair: Angry People in Local Newspapers
Cooper, Roxie: The Day We Met
Cormier, Robert: Heroes
Coules, Bert: Flowers for Algernon
Cumming, Laura: On Chapel Sands
Dashner, James: The 13th Reality Journal of Curious Letters
Dickens, Charles: A Christmas Carol
Didierlaurent, Jean-Paul: The Reader on the 6.27
Eliot, T.S.: Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats
Fargher, Anna: The Umbrella Mouse
Feret-Fleury, Christine: The Girl Who Reads on the Metro
Fforde, Katie: A French Affair
Fletcher, Carrie Hope: All That She Can See
French, Kat: A Summer Scandal
French, Nicci: The Lying Room
George, Nina: The Book of Dreams
Greene, Jayson: Once More We Saw Stars
Greer, Andrew Sean: Less
Griffin, Anne: When All is Said
Griffin, Kate: Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders
Gustafson, Michael & Uberti, Oliver: Notes from a Public Typewriter
Han, Jenny: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Han, Jenny: P.S. I Still Love You
Han, Jenny: Always and Forever, Lara Jean
Hanks, Tom: Uncommon Type
Harris, Anstey: The Truths and Triumps of Grace Atherton
Hazard, Leah: Hard Pushed: A Midwife’s Story
Hislop, Victoria: The Return
Hislop, Victoria: The Island
Hislop, Victoria: The Sunrise
Hislop, Victoria: Those Who Are Loved
Jakobse, Mette: The Vanishing Act
Johns, Ana: The Woman in the White Kimono
Kawaguchi, Toshikazu: Before The Coffee Gets Cold
Kay, Adam: Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas – read twice – October when published and December.
Kerr, Judith: The Tiger Who Came to Tea
Kinney, Jeff: Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Getaway
Kinsella, Sophie: I’ve Got Your Number
Kinsella, Sophie: I Owe You One
Kinsella, Sophie: Christmas Shopaholic
Kirby, Carolyn: The Conviction of Cora Burns
Koch, Emily: If I Die Before I Wake
Lane, Andrew: Young Sherlock: Death Cloud
Mackesy, Charlie: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Maguire, Gregory : Wicked
Meehan, Thomas: Annie
Mercer, Jeremy: Books, Baguettes & Bedbugs
Morpurgo, Michael: Pinocchio by Pinocchio
Murata, Sayaka: Convenience Store Woman
Noble, Elizabeth: Letters to Iris
Norton, Graham: A Keeper
Parry, Ambrose: The Way of all Flesh
Pentland, Louise: Wilde Women
Priestley, J.B: An Inspector Calls
Rauf, Onjali Q: The Boy at the Back of the Class
Rauf, Onjali Q: The Star Outside My Window
Roper, Richard: Something to Live For
Rowling, J.K, Tiffany, John & Thorne, Jack: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
RuPaul: Guru
Salisbury, Martin: The Illustrated Dust Jacket 1920-1970
Samader, Rhik: I Never Said I Love You
Shaw, Dale: Painfully British Haikus
Shepherd, Andy: The Boy Who Grew Dragons
Sims, Gill: Why Mummy Doesn’t Give a F***
Smith, Alex T: How Winston Delivered Christmas
Sorosiak, Carlie: I, Cosmo
Steadman, Catherine: Something in the Water
Stempel, John Lewis: Still Water: The Deep Life of the Pond
Stempel, John Lewis: The Glorious Life of the Oak
Stempel, John Lewis: Meadowland: The Private Life of an English Field
Tate, June: Born to Dance
Thomas, Angie: The Hate You Give
Tyce, Harriet: Blood Orange
Valentino, Serena: The Beast Within
Walliams, David: Fing
Walliams, David: Bad Dad
Walliams, David: The Boy in the Dress
Walliams, David: The World’s Worst Teachers
Walsh, Rosie: The Man Who Didn’t Call
Watson, Christie: The Language of Kindness – A Nurses Story
Wilkinson, Sheena: Star by Star
Williams, Beatriz: A Hundred Summers
Williams, Laura Jane: Our Stop
Wood, Laura: Under a Dancing Star
Zouroudi, Anne: The Messenger of Athens

Looking back, this list brings me so much joy. I started the year with The Language of Kindness and I ended the year with rereading Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas, both of which are about the NHS. I have such amazing memories of my holiday reads from my summer break in Cyprus, Hislop being a firm favourite of mine.

Another thing I’m really pleased about is the mixture of fiction and non fiction. Surprisingly, non fiction has been something I’ve read more of over the past two years so I’d like to keep that going into the next decade. Finally, there’s a few titles here that are Children’s Literature. I’m really proud of the fact that 2019 was the year I set up and successfully ran the Accelerated Reader Programme in my school. Getting boys into reading is so important so there’s some titles here, namely Walliams, that make me smile because of the conversations I’ve had with various students about it.

So, what is on the agenda for 2020? Post more! (Hopefully…) Another 100 books – or try to! I’m going to make sure I jot down what I read in each month too so I remember the journey rather than just one big list. I did try and complete another reading challenge this year, picking one of the titles from the Waterstones Book of the Month list but I missed a couple of months. I’d like to complete another reading challenge but I need to research more. Any ideas? I’ll keep you posted on this! The current pile looks like this:

Also, personally, 2020 brings me a promotion at work to Head of Department which I’m super excited about. AND, after a lot of hard work and time at the gym, 3 stone lighter. Let’s hope I can keep this up.

Lastly, just a shout out to you all, my faithful blogging friends. Thank you for being there every step of the way, for sending me messages when I’ve vanished off the face of the year and checking I’m alright. I wish you all a Happy New Year and a peaceful 2020. Let’s do this!

Big love xx

1000 Followers!

Hey Lovelies!!

I hope you’re all well and having a productive week. I was working away today when I noticed the following notification:

I’m genuinely gobsmacked! I can’t quite believe it nor can I really understand it. However, I am truly grateful. I’ve met some amazing bloggers here. It’s a community I feel privileged to be a small part of.

Some of you fabulous people have been with me since day one when I really had no idea what I was doing. I just posted about random books and places I’d visited, almost like an open memory book. The acceptance and the support is really humbling.

To my first followers and those who are always so active, thank you for being patient when I disappear, for recognising my returns and letting me know that it’s ok when life gets in the way. To my newbie followers, thanks for joining and spending time here. I hope we become wonderful blogging pals. To those I’m yet to meet, I look forward to making your acquaintance.

Without sounding like a broken record, thank you. To celebrate I bought myself this amazing unicorn mug. (Ignore the end-of-work hair and tired eyes!)

Big love xxx

900 Followers!

Hey guys! 

Happy Saturday. Today I realised some really exciting news… I’ve reached 900 followers. I genuinely can’t believe it. When I started my little blog I don’t really think I had any idea what I was doing really. I read a few books, visited a few places and thought I’d just write about it, almost like an online diary. Little did I know what I would learn and who I would stumble across. 

Today I had a day away, I popped to Newcastle to see the amazing Souter Lighthouse. Despite the spirals and the stairs, it was amazing. The views were lovely. I got lucky and saw a rainbow. 

I’ve never been in a lighthouse before but it really is awesome! I highly recommend it actually. On a sunny day you can see for miles. I enjoyed seeing the tide come in. There’s something about hearing the sea against the rocks; the continuous ebb and flow. I even took a smooth pebble home to remember my little trip. 

So, 900 followers and a trip to a lighthouse. Not bad for a quiet September Saturday. 

Big love to you all. Thanks for being a part of my journey. 

Xx

600 Followers!

Hey guys! 

Happy September!

I can’t believe it but my little space on the net has now got 600 followers. Thank you SO much. I’m really grateful. 

I started this blog as a bit of a memory thing or archive I guess for books and places I’ve been etc for myself. I can’t believe what it’s turned into. However, to know I’ve got some lovely, talented bloggers stopping by really makes my day. I really admire so many of you! 

So, thanks for sticking around and putting up with me! 

To mark the occasion I’ve added a photo of me in Marco Pierre White’s infamous chair from his Stratford upon Avon restaurant. It’s pretty amazing – the food not my photo! (Apologies for the dodgy sun tanand laughing-screwed-up-face look…but at least it’s natural!)

I hope September brings you lots of happiness as ever! 

Big love xx

Blog Birthday & 500 Followers

Hey guys! 

So, I woke up to two amazing notifications this morning….

Firstly, my little blog now has 500 followers!! What?! That’s crazy! Thanks so much everyone for stopping by and just being a huge part of my blogging experience. I can honestly say that this platform is so supportive and welcoming. It’s just a lovely community. I’m so lucky to be a part of it. 

Secondly, yesterday was my little blogs birthday! A whole year on WordPress. I can’t really believe that either! I can’t believe I was asleep when these notifications came through. Nevermind. Happy birthday (and 1 day) to my little space on the internet. I have big hopes for the future and I really hope you will all stick with me to see it happen. 

I started this blog to keep track of what I’ve been reading and doing, a little online diary as it were. But, I never expected to learn so much from different people, from all walks of life. I’ve seen photos of places I’ll probably never get to experience. I’ve heard about books that we are all passionate about, shared our memories and experiences of them, as well as our dislikes. 
Finally, I just need to say… 

Big love x