Life Lately

Life has been a bit crayzay over the last few months!! 

After 3 long months, this time next week, I'll be in the hospital having my first ever operation. It's freaking me out to no end, I feel like I'm going to throw up every time I think about it, but I know my knee will finally be fixed. 

I didn't know what it'd be like to be on crutches; to have my leg in a massive brace; to be incredibly restricted in pretty much every aspect of life; to be in this sort of pain. 

But it's all going to be better soon!

Autumn has well and truly hit London. The clocks have gone back an hour. The days are darker earlier. There's that autumnal chill in the air. The leaves on the footpath are scattered for what seems like forever. 

We've approached the end of the grueling first term back at school, with extreme levels of exhaustion and stress. 

The spiders have been out to play in backyards. And in our case, as of last night, four wee mice have resided in our kitchen - more on those antics later!

Flower markets have been visited with friends. Pubs have been calling our names after long days at work. 

Sunrises have been marveled at in awe. 

And mustache beds have been slept in. With mustache pjs. Life won that night!

I should theoretically be able to post some more 'insightful' posts over the next 6 weeks, as my butt molds its shape into the couch.

Stay tuned...

Is London really where my heart is?

Coming to you from one homesick Kiwi, with a love-hate relationship with London.

Sometimes I'll miss home...

And sometimes I won't.

It took me well over two years to allow myself to know and feel that it is OK to miss home. Living on what is literally the other side of the world didn't sink in for a while - I don't know if it ever will to be honest.

But the longer I've been in London, the bigger and stronger those pangs are and get; 

It is OK to miss my friends and family. 

It is OK to want to be back there... sometimes.

I've only been back to New Zealand once in three and a half years. That one visit was a real test of me. 

Could I move back home within a few months and enjoy life? Will I be happy? Will I still have friends? Will things just pick up from where I left off? 

Nope.

I got home wanting to come back to London straight away. But I had a long six weeks ahead of me. Things got better; I saw more friends and family, went to more places, chilled out more, enjoyed life at a slower pace. 

But London had called me well and truly. 

I'm definitely not saying life is easy at this end. There are always going to be good days and bad days, regardless of where you live. 

The challenges. job opportunities, friendships, life experiences - all make someone a better person. 

All in all though, I do still feel torn between the place where my heart is and the place where my life is.

The best little city in the world. 

It'll keep you breathing

When my sister and I were younger, we'd lie on our lounge floor, as still as we could, to see if we could feel the world spinning. We were convinced that we could and thought it was the best thing ever.

Nowadays, sometimes that world spins just too damn fast.

The craziness of the life-spinning takes over and makes you feel like there's not enough hours in the day; you can't quite get everything done and when the overwhelming backlog of really important stuff mixed in with all the mindless crap gets too big, you wish time would stand still. 

For just enough moments. 

Enough time for you to gather your thoughts, cross a few things off that mile long to-do list, decrease the mindless crap pile, get those really important things tended too, and to just breathe. 

Breathing is important, but I find it's often forgotten. Smelling those figurative and literal roses seems like such a treat and the thought of that quickly gets pushed back onto the to-do list. 

Remembering the important things in life - those special magical moments that only you might treasure, the little things that make you happy and smile and all warm and nice and human, they're one of the most important ingredients in life's magical mystery. 

An important ingredient to remember. 

It'll keep you breathing. 

That time when Mother came to visit!

I was super lucky to have my beautiful and wonderful Mumma come and spend time with me in London after chaperoning by darling Grandad to Glasgow. 

We realised we only had 5 days in London, in between going to Devon, Bath and back up to Glasgow, so we made the most of it!

We visited the Poppies at the Tower of London..

Ate some delicious food in Convent Garden...

Visited the Kaffe Fasset exhibition at the American Museum in Bath..

Had a lovely time in a little seaside town called Bude...

And of course caught up with some family!

It was lovely to see my Mum and Grandad again, as well as all the other rellies who are spread out over the country! 

Thanks to everyone putting up with me being miserable most of the time!!

Friendships - they can be there one moment and gone the next.

I wrote this post a few weeks ago, in the midst of a mind-destruction. I've just come across it now, and although the 'flow' isn't really there, I still 'feel' it. There's been no editing, just truth telling.

Sometimes, scratch that, a lot of the time, it makes me sad that I'm not friends with those I was closest too and loved to the moon and back, a few months ago, a year ago, a lifetime ago.

We all change. People pop into our lives for different amounts of time, giving us what they've got. We take them in, breathe their happiness and friendship, then POOF!! They're gone.

Some stay, some go.

What makes me sad, is the fact that some of those people weren't meant to go. They might have moved, fallen off the face of the earth, fallen out of friendship, it doesn't matter. The fact is, is that they're gone. And at the end of the day, they're still gone.

There's always hope. There's always that little glimmer that wills you to grasp at an opportunity, to have it all back. But something has changed in one of you. Something that tore you both apart. In hindsight, it's probably for the best, but in this time, right now in the present, there's no understanding what has happened. She said this, I said this, it goes on and on and on.

Girls are horrible. Going to a high school of 1700 pupils, I was at times, not the nicest person. I'm no saint. I try my hardest not to moan and talk behind people's backs. If I have a problem, I'd rather talk to that person or ignore it. Girls can be absolutely wicked, manipulative and just plain old mean. I had more boy friends than I did girls at school, mainly for this reason. And because I liked running around playing soccer or rugby at lunch times.

But as an adult, as someone who has had to grow up rather quickly, girls are still mean. Yeah sure, boys can be just as mean, but they lack that cattiness; that bitchiness; that "I always have to have the last say, so will use your own problems against you, just to smack you down, stomp on you that little bit more". 

I admit, I have been a bit slack in keeping in contact with people from back home, family members included. What I didn't realise when I first moved to London, was that life goes on. It simply just keeps on going on. My friends didn't have time to email me back, to facebook me, to skype. Then when I started working full time, I didn't have that time either. Sure, we can make time, but then where's the time to do that?

All in all, I do have an amazing group of friends. It might be small, but they're the most precious, magical, special ones. The ones who I'd drop anything for, do anything for, and be there for them no matter what. Whether they're close by, a bajillion miles away, they're still those precious, magical and special ones.

A year ago...

A year ago, I was about to board my flight back to London.

I had had an amazing 6 weeks in wonderful Wellington, with a quick trip up to Auckland.

I hung out with some of my favourite people, met some fellow bloggers IRL, and soaked up the beauty that New Zealand has!

I still can't believe it's been a whole entire year. Since I've got back, there has been many ups and downs, health issues, work stresses, you name it. But I love being able to look back on previous blog posts and photos, reminding myself of how lucky I was to go back to my little windy city and enjoy my time there. 

I do actually really kinda want to go back right this second, but just for a holiday. London's where my life is for now, but I'd really like to sit down, chat, hug and be close to those special humans! 

You coulda been getting down to, this, sick, beat!

Loving on this song! 

Not only has Taylor Swift made me want to get my hair cut short like hers, she looks like she's having awesome amounts of fun in her video clip!

That time when the power went out

The other morning, I woke to my housemate faffing around getting ready for work. I couldn't hear the usual grind of the water pump or the shower spraying against the wall; I checked the time on my phone and realised that it wasn't charging. 

The power was out.

This was all fine I thought. The last time it happened, we had just blown a fuse. As I rolled around in bed hoping the fuse would get flicked back on, I get a call from my neighbour asking if our power was out as well. Turns out the whole street was out.

In my half awake, half asleep state, I was trying to figure out what to do. It was now 7.45, I had no intention of getting up this early, let alone be a human and do responsible human things. 

Do I call the power company? Could I even remember who we had our power with? No. So that option went out the window. 

Maybe I'll make a coffee whilst I try to figure out life. No power to heat the kettle. Goodbye potential day-saver option.

Meh, I'll just check Instagram and Facebook on my phone until I figure something out. Phone was nearly flat and I probably should save the battery, just in case.

Oh I know, I can use my laptop to peruse the internet for some day time fun activities. No freaking wifi and a flat laptop battery.

With all my options very quickly going out that wide open window, I went back to sleep. There was basically nothing else I could do that would be productive and enjoyable at now, 8.30 on a Wednesday morning.

The whole point to this, is that it really made me realise how much we take for granted things like electricity. It's a constant in our everyday lives, we don't see it ever, but we sure use a heck of a lot of it. We rely on it to work, rest, play and live in a massive variety of ways. I almost toyed with the idea of embracing the whole "no power thing" and getting creative with ways in which I could spend my day - but I knew it'd be fixed. 

I like that I live in a house with no T.V. We didn't have a microwave for nearly a year and a half and survived just fine. I like it when I go on holiday and there's no wifi to connect to, so you're detached from the world that is social media. I like living what I like to think is a 'simple life', but electricity - I need you! 

The holidays are here!

The summer holidays have sped around that long corner of a school year and I now have a glorious five and a half weeks off! 

This school year has definitely been my favourite one out of the last three, but it didn't come without a stressful cost. I sat and passed my GSCE Maths exam and managed to sit and pass two more exams in English and Maths as well as compile a super-nearly-killed-me portfolio for my teacher's registration! But this year the kids were different. They were even cuter, even funnier and even lovelier than the last two classes I've had. Don't get me wrong, I've loved majority of the kids in all my classes, but this year I was able to form special bonds with them all. Their progress has been soooo evident and makes my heart swell that little bit more, knowing I've actually taught them. 

In September I start my Teacher of the Deaf course which is two more years of fun, stress and learning. I'm pretty excited to also be starting my British Sign Language course in September as well! 

Anyhoo, over the last week I've been seeing a lot of Cara as we partake in some sweet sweet London culture, along with Rachey poo as well! 

We've endulged in some pretty choice dance moves at a silent disco on the Southbank and saw some awesome bands play at The Scoop as part of the More London Summer Season!

We've gone to support a fellow co-worker and friend in a hilarious play!

And drunk jugs and jugs of Pimms! 

This weekend, my darling Grandad and Mum arrive from Wellington into Glasgow, and it's only 9 WHOLE SLEEPS until I get to see my Mumma again when she comes down to London!!! 

Our days are filling up fast with seeing family over the country and in London, going to Bath to see the Kaffe Fasset exhibition, going up to Scotland, and me and my Mumma having some quality time together! I've been super lucky since I've moved to London and have seen one or both my parents each year, but with studying and the waiting for a date for my sister's wedding, I don't know when I'll next be back in New Zealand! 

Take care lovely ones!

That time we went to Disneyland!

Boy, this really one of the happiest places on Earth! We had amazing weather, amazing company and an amazing time! Up there with one of the best days ever! My favourite ride was Space Mountain 2, a crazy roller coaster in the pitch black, my favourite purchase was my Pluto hat and the light, firework and little movie show at the end was tres bon! 

That time we went to Devon

8 "ladies"

2 cottages

8 back massages

A steam room and spa pool

Life won! 

Life's Latest

In between remaining a human, working full time and still trying to enjoy life... Here's what I've been up to lately!!

I have now passed both my maths and literacy skills tests! The literacy wasn't too hard, it was more the nerves that got in the way! The maths on the other hand - well that threw me. It's not my strong point at all and it was and is up there with one of my all time proudest moments!

Now that that's out of the way, I can very happily also say that I've been pretty lucky to be accepted onto the Teacher of the Deaf course! I have been lucky enough to have this opportunity - so bring on the next two years! Yes, that's two more definite years in London (sorry parentals!) but I cannot wait! And better yet - I get to do it with a pretty cool chick who I work with too!!

Lapping up the sun at any chance I can get has been pretty bon - especially when it's with some pretty choice people!

Making Pimms has been fun! Drinking it was even better!

Getting disposable cameras developed to have lifetime memories of an amazing trip to Paris was heaps choice!

Now I have the anxious wait for tomorrow's second to last observation and portfolio to hand in before I'm a registered teacher in the UK. Eeeeek!

Wish me luck!

Things I'm Loving!!

This week I'm loving...

Disneyland

I've said it before and I'll continue to say it again - this place was more than awesome! p.s so was my Pluto hat..

Gluten and dairy free goodness

I went into Planet Organic the other week to buy some more magnesium supplements and whilst I was at the counter, I came across a to-good-to-be-true muffin. Boy was it delicious!! It's times like these, where I'll pay £2.99 for a muffin that I can eat and be sooo simply happy about it all!

New Shoes

I've been mega loving on these new shoes from Asos so much that I bought a pair! 

Admittedly, I've just bought a second pair for when they 'run out'. They're the prefect white leather spring shoes!

Pavement Parties

Whilst walking to work the other morning, after a glorious sunny weekend, my inner child in me couldn't help pass up the opportunity to skip, hop and a jump, along the hop scotch drawn by some sweet children!

It's also been a week of high-waisted skirts and plimsolls!

Studying in the sun

I knew my inner self would be mad as heck if I didn't exit my house when it was 23 degrees. The downfall was was that I was studying for my literacy and numeracy skills tests (which are the biggest ball ache ever and a complete waste of time - well they allow me to get my UK teachers' registration - so not all wasted - but still unnecessary!) so after a knock on the door from my lovely neighbour, we both mooched on down to the park, so I could study in the sun and she could have a nap. It was a win win situation if you ask me! I got quite a bit of study done and got quite a bit of sun on the ol' shoulders and back who have been very deprived of vitamin D having had three winters in a row!

Oh, and I was also able to take some sneaky fun shots!

Finally

Part of the studying has paid off! I passed my literacy skills test today!!!! I was so proud and happy! I just need to keep the positive headspace, the motivation to continue studying, and the will to need to keep it all going for my maths test next week - needless to say, maths is definitely not my strong point! However, the social calendar is sacrificing so I can hopefully pass it in one test - not three!

Linking up with one of my most special friends in the whole entire world...