friday fives / just a minute: september

These images felt quite autumnal to me, and so apt for the beginning of September - the beginning of autumn, already.

5 photos come this week from the amazing photographer Anna Amphigorously.

And it's that time again - here's Just a Minute for  September...

This month, I am...

Reading... The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell, Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon van der Booy and Caitlin Moran's fantastic How to be a Woman.

Buying... silly amounts of dresses (I blame the bad shopping infleunce of my friend Lauren!)

Listening... to Ed Sheeran. I think I may be a little in love with his music.

Watching... can I say nothing? I hardly have time for TV at the moment!

Loving... exciting thoughts about the future...

Planning... fun weekends with friends :)

Do you want to join in with Just a Minute? I found this on Daydream Lily's blog via August Street, and it's a lovely little monthly activity. Feel free to join in - and make sure to send me a link if you do, so I can see what you're up to at the moment!

friday fives: italia

I'm off to Italia! I leave this morning, and will be spending a lovely week lazing about in the sun and exploring Tuscany - Florence, Pisa and the surrounding areas. I am so very excited!

Just a very quick post today, but hope you like these five photos of beautiful Italy - and more to follow when I get back from there myself! Have a lovely week, everyone.

5 photos

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2. Two
3. Three
   
4. Four
5. Five

friday fives

5 photos this week from wonderful flickr user A Twitch Upon The Thread's photostream. These images reflect what would basically make my perfect weekend - books and exploring the countyside. Love it.
I've had a real urge to go fruit-picking lately, hence the top photo; I think some fruit is still in season for the next few weeks, so I may well do a bit of research to find out where I can go to get my hands on some strawberries, raspberries, or whatever else they have. Not sure if there are really any fruit picking farms around London, though, so I may have to venture further out into the Surrey countryside... we'll see.

5 things that made me smile this week:

1. The most perfectly relaxing weekend with my boyfriend last weekend, including a delicious pub lunch on Sunday
   
2. A long walk in the countryside with the boy after said pub lunch
   
3. A very fun night out with my work colleagues on Thursday
4. A lovely lunch with work colleagues today
5. Booking a very gorgeous hotel for my holiday to Italy in two weeks' time!

5 things I'm looking forward to in the coming week:

1. A very lazy weekend at home, for the first time in a long time
2. Holiday shopping (anyone know where there are any nice hats on the high street at the moment?)
3. A few dinners and drinking sessions with lovely friends
4. Going wandering in lavender fields this weekend
   
5. A couple of secret, very exciting things going on at the moment - life is good...
   

friday fives

5 summer-inspired photos this week from flickr user f-fotografie - German photographer Julia Flot's flickr photostream. Have a look at more of Julia's work on her official website - she's incredibly talented!

Why the summer inspired photos? Because I've booked flights, and shortly will have booked a hotel too, for my summer holiday - to Italy!
I'm flying out to Pisa with one of my closest girl friends (who's currently living the dream, staying with a family over there by the sea near Rome and teaching them English - so jealous!). We're spending a week doing Pisa, Florence, Lucca as well as most likely a trip to the seaside... and I cannot wait!

5 things that made me smile this week:

1. Arranging holidays, of course



2. Cosy pub lunch with my family last Sunday



3. Taking the dog for walks in the lovely Buckinghamshire countryside last weekend



4. Getting a few exciting emails



5. Interviewing the fantastic photographer Chris Craymer this week

5 things that I'm looking forward to:

1. Seeing Carlos Acosta Premieres Plus in London tonight



2. An impromptu trip up to see my boyfriend this weekend



3. Drinks and fun nights planned for next week



4. Catching up with old friends next week, eventually!



5. My holiday... of course!

friday fives

5 photos:
this week all from Flickr user Cristina Hoch's 'the forest' set, in celebration of the fact that I'll be going for lovely long walks in the countryside very soon - going to lovely rural Buckinghamshire for the weekend!


5 things that made me smile this week:

1. Securing an interview with the amazing photographer Chris Craymer - so excited to interview him!
   
2. Birthday celebrations with friends in London last Saturday
   
3. A lazy pub lunch last Sunday
4. Having today (Friday) off work!
5. Exciting thoughts and plans... :)

5 things that I'm looking forward to this week:

1. Getting out of London for walks in the Buckinghamshire countryside with the dog when I go to visit my grandparents this weekend
2. A rather fancy big family lunch planned on Sunday
3. Lazy evening in with the boy tonight
   
4. Catching up with friends I haven't seen in a very long time in the evenings next week
5. Seeing the amazing ballet dancer Carlos Acosta (for the second time in as many months!) in his new show next Friday

How have your weeks been?

fives

I have some news! I'm now contributing to the rather lovely Cellardoor Magazine's blog, hopefully on a weekly basis. I've written my first blog post for them this week on the best place to get a cocktail in London, and would love to hear your feedback! You can have a read of the blog post here. :)

Anyway, back to the weekly fives, which sneakily aren't on a Friday this week. The five photos this week from lovely Flickr user TeresaQ's photostream; such a great photographer - and I love the girl's white lace dress! I'm having a bit of a thing for lace at the moment...

And as for other fives:

Five things that made me smile this week:

1. Finding a very cute little tearoom and having tea there with one of my besties
2. Making birthday plans
3. A very lovely cocktail making session with a very good friend
4. Fun dancing after the cocktail making session!
5. Watching the Wimbledon final last Sunday - although am still a little sad that Rafa lost!

Five things I'm looking forward to this week:

1. My birthday. I am so very excited!
2. My birthday party next Saturday, joint with one of my closest friends and an opportunity to catch up with a lot of lovely people
3. Dinner and catch ups with an old friend on Monday
4. Further catch ups with friends on Thursday
   
5. My work's summer party - basically a half day off work and an excuse to enjoy a BBQ - on Friday. How exciting!

just a minute / (very exciting) friday fives

So I start this month with some very exciting news - I've been promoted at work this month! I am now an Account Executive - and very pleased about it!

In other news, another month has apparently flown by; here are the friday fives for this week and Just a Minute for this month.


Five photos from my month

1. Banksy print I saw in Bristol last weekend
   
2. Cupcakes (an essential part of any month)
3. A ticket to the ballet Romeo and Juliet at the 02 Arena - amazing!
4. A little leaflet and goodie bag from the Life in a Day premiere I went to a few weeks ago
5. Ice cream - summer's here!

Five things that made me smile this week

1. Getting promoted!
2. Seeing two old friends together for the first time in a long time
3. A very nice weekend in Bristol
4. Sorting out birthday plans
5. Errr, can I say getting promoted again?!

Five things I'm looking forward to this coming week

1. Enjoying my boyfriend's birthday present (tickets to a show) with him tomorrow
2. Watching the Wimbledon final!
3. Seeing one of my besties for dinner early next week
4. Seeing another friend for dinner late next week
5. Booking a much-needed holiday!

And this month, I am...

Reading... Great House by Nicole Krauss, and some old Philippa Gregory novels again

Buying... Lots of dinners out, birthday treats and holidays

Listening... to Motown, my usual random selection and a variety of my boyfriend's car cds

Watching... the new series of True Blood - so excited that this is back!

Loving... my new job title ;)

Planning... the next few weekends, afternoon tea and birthday celebrations


Want to join in with Just a Minute? I found this on Daydream Lily's lovely blog via August Street, late last year, and it's a lovely little monthly activity. Feel free to join in - and make sure to send me a link if you do though, so I can see what you're up to at the moment!

a little bit awol / delayed fives

Oh what a week...

Hello hello. I am sorry for a week's absence - I even missed posting the Friday Fives for the first week in ages, and I hold my hands up to being a bit of a rubbish blogger. Excuses? Well apart from running around London and working hard as usual, I was also feeling a little under the weather (bit of a cold), a little sad (long story) and just generally very very tired - I think my 12-hours-a-day-out-of-the-house and out-all-weekend-every-weekend lifestyle finally caught up with me.
In truth, I think I was just too tired to blog, and felt like all my inspiration had gone (and that right there is the problem with an inspiration-based blog... when you're tired and the inspiration in your life goes, so do your blog posts!)

But it wasn't all bad last week, as you'll see below - because here are a few very delayed Friday Fives, presented to you with a little apology for lateness and a promise to be back on form from now on :)

Five Photos

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Five things that made me smile last week

1. Going to a film premiere on Tuesday - lots of fun! Life in a Day is an amazing film; review to follow on the blog shortly :)
   


2. Going to the ballet! I saw the amazing Romeo and Juliet by the Royal Ballet at the 02 arena, and it was just beautiful. We had some impressive seats (right by the stage!) and it most definitely rekindled my love for ballet all over again.



3. My friend coming to stay with me for the night on Friday - was lovely to see her and catch up, gossip and giggle together



4. More cocktails in teacups! Another trip to lovely London bar Bourne & Hollingsworth with some uni friends - it was lovely to see them!
   


5. Making some very exciting plans with some very lovely friends - birthday plans, holiday plans, weekend mini-break plans...
   

5 things that I'm looking forward to this week:

1. Seeing the amazing-sounding Merchants of Bollywood at Sadlers Wells on Wednesday night



2. A little road-trip to Bristol this weekend to meet the boyfriend's parents. Ok, perhaps the meeting-the-parents part isn't exactly something I'm 'looking forward to', but Bristol itself should be fun?!



3. Two days off work, and a three day week!
   


4. Catching up with old close friends
   


5. Celebrating my boyfriend's birthday with him on Thursday evening :)
   

friday fives

Flowers, sleep, dresses, books and tea... what else does anyone need for a perfect lazy weekend? Just a short friday fives this week as I'm still a little poorly :(

5 photos

1. link
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4. link
   
5. link

5 highlights of the (unwell) week

1. My cousin's baby shower last Saturday, full of lovely Jamaican food and rum punch
2. A lazy Sunday evening takeaway with friends (though possible the source of the illness!)
   
3. Getting into an amazing book (Never Let Me Go - review to follow once I've finished!)
   
4. Feeling better
5. UK Tennis season starting - the best time of the year
   

5 things I'm looking forward to over the next week

1. Going to the Queen's Club tennis finals on Sunday!
   
2. Seeing my boyfriend
   
3. Going to see the new X-Men film (embracing my inner geek!)
4. Dinner with a friend (I feel like this is on my things-to-look-forward-to list every week, apologies for the repetition!)
5. Going to see the ballet Romeo and Juliet - now only just over a week away!
   

just a minute: june / friday fives

How is it Friday again already? And JUNE? The weeks are flying past at the moment!

I also have two weeks to catch up on with the Friday Fives, since Blogger was playing up again for me last week... hopefully this post will work though! :)

5 photos

1. link
2. link
3. link
4. link
5. link

5 links:

1. Penguin Beach - a new exhibit that's just opened at London Zoo!
2. An amazing panorama of Paris
3. Creative spaces - a gallery of art studios
4. The best 100 opening lines from books
5. A gallery of bookshelves from The Guardian
   

5 things that made me smile the past little while

1. A (rather messy) cocktail-making session with friends last weekend
2. A dinner date in London with my boyfriend incorporating, of course, cocktails in teacups
3. Lovely tapas in London and celebrating a bestie's birthday in Brighton
4. Two trips to comedy clubs in two weeks: one to see stand-up, and one to see an improvisation comedy group. Both amazing!

And another 5 things that have made me smile lately

1. Seeing Barack Obama's helicopter flying over London
2. Lazy dinner dates with friends
3. A four day week this week
   
4. Work going well :)
   
5. Treating myself to a few new dresses for payday!

And 5 things I'm looking forward to:

1. Summer!
   
2. My cousin's baby shower this weekend
3. Going out for a curry soon with friends - it's been too long!
4. Researching yoga and ballet classes to go to after work
   
5. Wimbledon and Queen's Club tennis starting

Since it's also (crazily!) the beginning of June, it's time for my little monthly blog feature, Just a Minute.

This month, I am:

Reading... Her Fearful Symmetry by Margaret Atwood. I've also loved The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox this month, and am moving on to Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert next.

Buying... lots of summer dresses, and lots of things in various shades of blue, apparently

Listening... to Einaudi, and Latin music, as always

Watching... The Apprentice, and new Louis Theroux documentaries

Loving... the fact it's nearly summer, and that I'm getting into writing again.

Planning... writing projects and summer plans


Want to join in with Just a Minute? I found this on Daydream Lily's lovely blog via August Street, late last year, and it's a lovely little monthly activity. Feel free to join in - and make sure to send me a link if you do though, so I can see what you're up to at the moment!