Christmas Presents

The real point of Christmas is the amazing times you share with friends and family, and I am so grateful I had so many wonderful times which I have already documented in detail. But… the presents aren’t half bad either! My friends and I are quite big on presents but this year my parents and I exchanged gifts as well, which was unexpected but really nice. I’ve felt incredibly grateful integrating these new and lovely items into my life so I hope it doesn’t seem vulgar of me to share them.

Gifts From Friends

Cute twine, a half-head cat mask (I’ll have to share photos of the completed mask!), adorable notebooks and the biggest most beautiful book of Peanuts comics I’ve ever seen. My pals know me well. This is actually just a selection of the gifts my wonderful friends gave me: other gifts included an emoji cushion, a beautiful blue and red dress, afternoon tea, Prosecco, an adopted zebra (!!!), a Peanuts coffee pot, beer pong and tickets to a show. Pretty perfectly Laila. <3

The chocolates are actually from my students; I also received a chocolate Santa, perfume and tickets to a play from some of my other pupils. It sounds cheesy as teaching is it’s own reward, but it’s also a job that requires a lot of extra work around the edges when you’re not technically “at work”. It’s certainly not expected, and so I always feel so much gratitude to the pupils who give cards and presents to acknowledge this at the end of the year.


Gifts From Parents – Sailor Moon

It was only a few weeks ago that I mentioned my deep and unfaltering love for Sailor Moon. This year my Mum came through with the absolute motherlode of Sailor Moon goodies! We’re not big on presents in my family so to receive so many things which were all so perfectly suited to me was wonderful. Above you can see the Sailor Moon accessory set (mirror, bag and hair tie), earrings, locket necklace and cleaning cloth – SO perfect for glasses wearers like me. My Dad gave me a new camera lens which is perfect for close-up images such as the ones in this post…!

Gifts from Family

These socks are from my Mum and they are super comfy! My Auntie gave me this beautiful gold scarf and the glittery golden bow is from a cousin. I wear something in my hair every day and the gold bow was/is perfect over the festive season. I also received a giftcard from my Auntie which I’ve yet to spend – I’m terrible at remembering to use up gift vouchers so I’ll need to remind myself.

So there we go! I feel so incredibly lucky to have been given so many lovely things! What did you get for Christmas this year?

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Slogmas: A Review

Good morning! Before I chat about Slogmas I’d really quickly like to ask you if you could take a few minutes to fill in my reader survey – it would mean the world to me! I’ve never asked you guys to fill in anything like this before and it would really help me to know what is and isn’t working on this blog. Thank you!

Ok, so back on the 30th November, I was house-sitting in Oxford and seeing a lot of people posting about the start of Blogmas. “Hey, why not”, I thought to myself. “I could use a challenge.” I decided to post a piece of content everyday: somedays a song, but most days a blog. I had planned to do a video but NO WAY I GOT TIME FOR THAT. I’m sure blogging seems like a very low level activity to a lot of you and you’re probably wondering why a daily post should seem like a slog. I don’t know much about the blog-writing habits of others, but for me, most posts take a few hours minimum.

So to embark on an entire month of daily posts with nothing scheduled or planned in advance, during a month where I was also undertaking a number of big personal and work projects, was pretty foolish. I like the idea of Blogmas (or Slogmas), as being a way to thank your readers. It gives me so much joy to know somebody out there reads the little ideas I throw out into the world.

Day 1: Slogmas

Day 2: Christmas Wishes

Day 3: Sailor Moon

Day 4: Rose’s Song

Day 5: Quizmas

Day 6: How To Stay Safe At Night part II

Day 7: Highbury

Day 8: Under The Mistletoe

Day 9: Christmas Cleaning

Day 10: Oxford University Museum

Day 11: Christmas In Oxford

Day 12: Pitt-Rivers

Day 13: Oxford Mini Guide

Day 14: Blue Blue World

Day 15: Christmas In Kingston

Day 16: How To Have A Cheap Christmas

Day 17: A Christmas Song For Somebody

Day 18: Happy Birthday Dad

Day 19:

Day 20: Christmas In Covent Garden

Day 21: Leadenhall Market

Day 22:

Day 23: Boyfriends

Day 24: Driving Home For Christmas

Day 25: Christmas In London

Post-Slogmas:

Day 27: This Christmas

Day 30: Walking In A Winter Wonderland

Day 31: 2K15

Well, it certainly was a slog. There were a few days in the middle where I thought “this is ridiculous”, and yet I kept on; childishly, stubbornly. There are two BRILLIANT reasons for missing Day 19 and Day 22; the best date of my life and one of the most important dinners I’ve had this year, so I hope you won’t resent me too much for missing those days.

I think the post I spent the longest time on was either Day 3, which I poured my heart into, or Day 31 simply due to scrolling through the archives and choosing which photos to use. I think either Day 3, Day 24 or Day 27 were my most honest, and Day 17 was by far the most personal. I don’t think I’ve ever hesitated pressing “Publish” before so that was a first for this blog!

Thank you so much for enduring, and hopefully enjoying Slogmas along with me! If you read along or had a favourite post then let me know. :)

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

It’s been a couple of years since I last went to Winter Wonderland, a pop-up free attraction that takes over Hyde Park every winter. Each year it grows bigger, to the point where it’s now basically a free Christmas theme park split into different “lands”; Santa land, Fairy land, Bavarian village and so on. Markets, ice-skating, mazes, rides, food and drink; it’s all happening! Obviously as it’s free entry and in Britain, the whole purpose is to get royally trashed. One of my favourite “adult” experiences is getting drunk and going on rollercoasters; it’s the best!

Last time I had the opportunity was back in Tokyo DisneySea, so obviously the trip to Winter Wonderland revolved around stopping off at the pop-up bars and little bar cabins. We made a beeline for the carousel bar which spins around as you drink, before grabbing a couple of mulled ciders and riding the Ghost Train rides. I absolutely love fairground rides! Even if you don’t fancy paying to ride the rollercoasters, just wandering around the twinkly lights and decorations whilst feeling increasingly hazy is a pretty important part of any London Christmas. Let me know if you’ve been!

Christmas In London

Merry Christmas to you all!! I hope you’re not fed up of these “Christmas In….” posts yet. This is the last one and the longest one! I’ve had a crazy few festive weeks running around London. It’s such a beautiful city this time of year. I’ve been here my whole life and though in many years I get tired by the constant crowds, it is hard not to enjoy the pretty twinkling lights everywhere and festive wreaths adorning everything.

I’m a big fan of roast chestnuts and mulled wine so the pop-up street vendors are a personal favourite of mine! These photos are from a variety of places; I don’t always take my camera out but I’ve managed to snap a few bits and pieces from Spitalfields, Selfridges, Hackney, Oxford Street, Leicester Square, Picadilly and Regents Street on my travels. I hope for any of you readers who have never been to London at Christmas this provides something of an idea!

Previously: Christmas in Covent Garden / Christmas in Oxford / Christmas in Kingston / Leadenhall Market

Driving Home For Christmas

    The last couple of days have seen me spend a lot of time in my car. Hours and hours on the M25 and the A3. You forget how useful a car is. Driving home for Christmas. Driving your best pal to his new girls for Christmas. Driving your oldest friend to his parents for Christmas. Driving your housemates cousin to the airport for Christmas.
My car has been filled with so many peoples bags, presents, decorations, shopping, food and last minute buys that I feel like I’ve been heading up Santa’s sleigh. Cheese, party shoes, keyboard cases, wrapping paper: all rattling around in the boot next to half a bottle of Baileys. Tis the season! Here’s hoping you and yours make it home safely for Christmas, too. X

 

  
    
 

Leadenhall Market

Leadenhall Market is a beautiful 14th century covered market in the City of London. The distictinve red, cream, gold and green decor was designed all the way back in 1881. Though the colour scheme is the same all year round, it’s one of my favourite places to visit at Christmas because it lends itself so well to the festive colour scheme! I’ve been coming since I was 16 and I haven’t tired of it yet. The market is quite small and tucked away in the middle of the City, so it’s the kind of place that often gets held up as a “hidden gem” – these days it’s not so much of a fruit and veg market as it is a row of luxury shops and eateries.

I dragged along with me my most recent companion of choice; with him being a Harry Potter fan I was so excited to tell him that the market was the location for the Diagon Alley scenes in the first two films. Production moved to Borough Market after that but it’s still a must-see for any fan. Although to be honest, I’m not a massive fan and the giant Christmas tree, mulled wine sellers and gorgeous fairy lights make it such a perfect place to go anyway!

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A Covent Garden Christmas

Covent Garden is one of my favourite spots in London despite being a tourist hell; it’s home to the Royal Opera House, the Moomin shop, Laduree (exquisite macarons), Magma, Pop Boutique and one of my favourite cafes, Cafe Boheme. I tend to shy away from the more touristy areas but there’s a certain structure to Covent Garden that means even when it’s rammed with tourists it never feels as claustrophobic as (for example) Oxford Street or Trafalgar Square.

We went to see the festive decorations and it was a complete cliche of an experience. Chestnut macarons in the church gardens, mulled wine whilst listening to the string quartet, and of course, scurrying up the winding wooden stairs to the Moomin shop to look at their adorable Christmas collection.

It’s such a lovely area; if you manage to avoid the flagship Apple store and don’t spend too many hours enthralled with the buskers then I’d definitely recommend Covent Garden to put you in the Christmas spirit. Companions recommended… after all, surely nobody hangs that much mistletoe by accident?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Christmas Song For Somebody

I’ve written a lot of songs for people in my life. I’ve written some songs for people that aren’t in my life, and some songs for people I’ll never meet but have impacted my life in a big way anyway. I’ve written songs for friends, lovers, exes, family, idols, teachers. But as far as I can remember, nobody has ever asked me to write a song for them. This Christmas, somebody asked me to write them a song. I gave myself half an hour and sat down and wrote a song. This is the song for somebody.

When the circus comes to town

Or when Christmas rolls around

Like when gourmet cheese is on the high price shelf

Like when beds are freshly made

Or the day when you get paid

Or you finally for the first time watch the Christmas movie ‘Elf’

 

Hosting Quizcats nights you miss

Writing stupid songs like this

Or a tender kiss beneath the mistletoe

Like unpacking food from bags

Getting dressed in finest rags

These are all the things that make me feel aglow

 

Though it hasn’t been that long

You still asked me for this song

Which is really pretty cheeky, so I’ll use the time to ask

Will you make me feel “amaze”

Or set my heart ablaze

Or catch a falling star, jump sharks, complete some other cliche task

 

Whatever answer that you say

I am grateful for each day

I hope it’s not discourteous to want some of your sweet time

There’s a warmth that’s in your smile

Makes me hope you stay a while

You might become a favourite of mine