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...

Things I'm Loving!

My latest lovings are....

Celebrating my birthday

This year, I had a lovely 3 nights of celebrations! I went wining and dining with some of my nearest and dearest to Cottons Rhum Shack in Shoreditch, which was some seriously delicious Caribbean grub - and pretty strong Mojitios (which I accidentally mistook for a Margarita..)

My lovely cousins Martin and Dugald bought me 12 dozen ciders for my birthday...

My lovely friend Julia organised for a few of us to go and see Arc Iris. They're a freaking awesome band and were even awesomer in real life! 

And then of course I celebrated at a pub, The Hawley Arms which so happened to be the pub where Amy Winehouse used to hangout at!

Friends from NZ!

I've loved having Andre and Nic stay with my for a week before they went travelling for a few months! I grew up with Andre, he's more than a brother than a friend! 

Andre and I in 1993 and 2014!

Pretending to be a local showing these two around London!

Sun!

London had what they might call 'a heatwave' the other week, so it was super lush to be able to sit in the park catching some sweet sweet rays!

Cherries that look like bums

There's no explanation needed!!!

Egg moments... there's always one

I've just come back from 5 days in Paris for my lovely Sara's hens weekend (more on that soon!). We had secretly organised to all get Disney t-shirts for when we go to Disneyland as a surprise for Sara. Mine I ordered online didn't arrive in time, so a rush to Primark the night before we left was needed! Low and behold - we couldn't find them anywhere! Then when we did, the 10 looked massive, so did the 8 (they were baggy style t-shirts) so I thought, well yeah I can squeeze into a 6, especially if they're meant to be really baggy! As the man was folding it to put into the bag, the top just looked a little bit strange. As Cara and I were waiting for our train back home, it dawned on me that it was the neckhole - it was sooo tiny and there was nooo way my massive head was going to fit through it! Luckily I was able to cut it bigger at home, as well as cut a big hole in the back... and then I could get it on!

The photo doesn't do the original size any justice, but you can get the jist from the size of the label to the size of the actual hole!

Note to self : just get your normal size and deal with having a baggy t-shirt.

Linking up with my gorgeous Meg!

Things I'm Loving!

During the last crazy-busy, hectic, unwell weeks, I've been loving...

Sun and cider!

Hanging out in Greenwich with the lovely Rachel, enjoying learning about stuff and then drinking wine as a reward! 

Baby chicks

We got some chicks for a few weeks at work! They arrived as 10 little eggs and we now have 9 cute-as-anything little chickies tweeting! It was pretty awesome seeing some of them hatch - it's pretty amazing to think a chick that big comes out of an egg that small! 

Catch ups

I was lucky enough to have a quick catch up with Lynnie over a bottle of wine! She was in London for a night before heading back to Melbourne. It was fun and hilarious chatting about the antics we'd get up to when we worked together in Wellington!

Bananas

Apart from bananas being one of my favourite things and a pretty awesome superfood, turns out they also rule even more when they're on a pair of shoes! I've just gone and bought a second pair for when these 'run out'! 

Fresh sea air

A couple of weeks ago, Erin and I went to Brighton. It was my mission to go swimming and I made that happen. It was definitely freezing but coming from a girl who used to spend all summer at the beach or river, I was in desperate need of 'going for a dip'!

Skype
I really can't boast about how awesome Skype is, especially when my nearest and dearest are the furtherest away they could possibly be, nearly. I started this weekend with a conversation that lasted over two hours and covered a wide range of topics, with one of the most special people to me!

And lastly...

I'm in love with this song, this band, and all things them at the moment! 

Dirty Paws but Of Monsters and Men

Linking up with Meg!

Things I'm Loving - the sunshine edition!

Another week, another list of loving!

First things first, this is my new turn-up song - Wings by Little Mix

After working my first full week in year one with the deaf kids, I'm completely wiped! It's a massive challenge that I'm not really enjoying, but there's seven more days of it for me to complete before I start the course properly to get my QTS. So it's been hard but nice to find the lovings this week.

The sun has been a-shining over here this week. It was a lush little treat to sit in the park with my neighbour on Sunday, catching some rays and enjoying the view of nature in full swing!

With the daffodils in full bloom and the blossoms starting to show themselves, my walk to and from work has had a slight, but pleasant, change! 

 This is one of my all time favourite buildings in London. And more so when the sun is shining on it! As you can see, I've snapped it a few times, it's that awesome!

This isn't quite sun related, however it is bright yellow... Basically my Mum sent me this photo via what's app, saying she had found it in a box of my stuff in their shed. I was 9 and it was for a 60's dress up day at school! 

There really are no words to describe it. I'll leave you to ponder if in fact I am a massive egg or not! 

Linking up with ma home girl

Things I'm Loving!

As I sit here, nose in full stream of snot and head pounding, my week has been like a pick 'n' mix bag. 

Firstly though - listen to this song. It's a goodie...

It all started with discovering this massive bruise on my shin. How it happened - I have no idea! Needless to say, it's a pretty good one!

Things then moved up in the world for me with a few of my favourite breakfasts/lunches/teas being made. All gluten and dairy free!

What was meant to be a 'good idea at the time', turned into a massive egg moment. And the ruining of my classroom carpet. Basically I picked up the water tray to empty it, hurt my back and dropped it, jumped up onto higher ground as I watched a lot of water simply go everywhere.

Note to self: definitely think before lifting a full and heavy water tray, with a bad back, and water that was very blue. I'm not looking forward to bumping into the school caretaker on Monday morning...

I loved getting sent through some of my Nanna and Grandad's old photos. My Mum messaged me a few during the week and looking through them all, spotting similarities in other family members, seeing their adventures and sometimes just having a chuckle, was some of the best medicine! 

This is one of my favourites of my Nanna and Grandad - I can spot myself in both of them! And the one of my older sister Rosie and me in Finland - just a bit of cuteness right there! 

Finally, I'm loving big time on the sunshine we've been having in London lately. And daffodils. You can't forget them. They're happiness right there. It was the best pick-me-up after working stupidly long days over the last two weeks.

Just look. So much happiness! 

Linking up with my best home girl

Things I'm Loving - What I've learnt this week...

What I've learnt this week is that... 

- Kiwifruit and mango are delicious together!

- Sundown-tree silhouettes are pretty lush

- My health has been suffering a lot these past months - the newest addition is a possible bacterial infection in my stomach, which in turn has left me with really bad gastritis.

- How awesome it is to work in such a supportive environment, with such lovely people. 

- Polar bears dancing are pretty cute

- really silly memes are actually pretty hilair. Totes hilair in fact.

- Avicii are a pretty awesome band/group, with my latest favourite song being.. Hey Brother

linking up with my home girl who I miss way too much

Things I'm Loving - The Half Term edition!

This last week I've been on half term. It's been a glorious week off; I had intended to have lots of 'couch' days as I'm soooo freaking poor until payday. However, this didn't actually work out as I had planned! 

The Photographers' Gallery

A friend and I popped along to the Photographers' Gallery to check out their latest exhibition. We saw some awesome photos from David Lynch, Andy Warhol and William S. Burroughs. At a £4 entry fee, it was a pretty good deal to see some awesome artists. It brought back memories of using Andy Warhol as an artist model when I was doing 7th form photography at school! 

Andy Warhol

David Lynch

The plan of all plans

A group of us from work had decided that it'd be fun to go to the London Dungeons during half term with some 2 for 1 vouchers we had. This didn't end up happening after discovering that it was going to be over a 2 hour wait in line! So we decided to explore London instead! With 2 Kiwis, 1 Ozzie, a Canadian and an Englishman, we were all set to have loads of fun! 

We started off with attempting a selfie beside Big Ben - SUCCESS! 

Cue the awkward photo bomb by Westminster Bridge...

We walked up past Downing St, past the horse guards - where the horse scared surprised us all with attempting to get into my bag! - carried on down The Strand, The Mall, meandered our way to The National Gallery to get a glimpse of Van Gogh's two Sunflower paintings, which are together for the first time in London in 65 years! 

We popped into the National Portrait Gallery to sneak in a cocktail in their restaurant up on the 4th flour, which also had amazing views of London! We went through to Trafalgar Square, Leicster Square, China Town, and ended up in Soho at the Tucan Pub where the wine started flowing all very nicely! 

The Toucan pub's Guinness bar stools were ever so fun and ever so heavy! We headed to the Maple Leaf, a Canadian pub, to watch the hockey, then stumbled to a few more pubs before heading home at 11! 

This has got to be one of my favourite photos of the day - simply because these lions aren't the easiest thing to climb onto! Cue most of Trafalgar Square getting a loving view of my pants as I was pushed up onto the lions, and then as soon as we were both up we were told to get down.. booo! 

It was probably one of the best days I've had in London! I'm actually the 'worst Londoner' who lacks in a sense of direction, knowing where places are, but it was the perfect day to pretend I knew things, explore a city which has become my second home, and spend time with some awesomely crazy cats!

Linking up with the lovely Meg for things I'm Loving!

Things I'm Loving - Latest Lovings

Oh hey there, poor neglected blog!

As per, I have a list as long as my body if reasons and excuses as to where I've been, what's been happening, the lack of committing to my blog - but no one really cares enough for those! So here's my latest lovings!

Maths exams

I've just started the long painful and hard process of work in order to get my QTS (qualified teacher status - basically being a registered teacher in the UK). First up was sitting my GSCE maths exam. I'm not a maths person, it was my weakest subject at school, so this was a rather daunting exam to sit. With the help and support of some close friends and work colleagues, I managed to get 83% in the exam!

And if that wasn't awesome enough, my school made me a giant low key certificate which I was presented with at our whole school assembly! It was slightly embarrassing, however, I'm so glad and happy that I work in a school who appreciates me and the hard work I put into my job.

Safari Pete

We had this choice as man come into work called Safari Pete. He brings an awesome collection of animals with him, for the kids and teachers to hold, and chats a bit about where they come from etc. I was lucky enough to get to hold a baby crocodile!

New shoes!

I love shoes! Especially these fun shiny coloured ones! I think if I was a shoe, it'd be something along the lines of these ones!

And these boots are my new favs as well! My lovely friend Julia has the same pair, so we're totes matching now!

COFFEE!!!

There's a lovely little coffee place in a Tescos that I pass on my way to work and they do the best flat whites! I feel super cool as well because they know my name and order now!

Care packages

I've had an insane migraine for two weeks now, the first week was awful! I've never had one last this long before or been this bad! So it was such a lovely surprise to get this wee package from my Mumma the other day!

Linking up with the lovely Meg!