Smiling on Sunday :: Five.

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This week has been one that's been full of second-hand stress but also excitement at the prospect of new beginnings and an(other) upcoming mini-break.

I'm not sure I know how to feel about finishing up my first proper grown-up job knowing that it's something that I wanted for such a long time. I'm really grateful for the opportunities they gave me and for the people I've met who have become friends. While I do feel sad about the state that it's in and leaving, I know it's the right time for me and it marks the beginning of something different.

I think it has been kind of difficult to find things to smile about this week because I've spent so much time feeling generally stressed and annoyed but there's something to be said about finding the good in bad situations.

IRL:

• Making plans for Northern Ireland - It's been pretty fun to pick and choose where we're going for our upcoming trip, naturally Pinterest has been a great help. I'm especially excited about a proper day in Belfast, as well as getting to spend some more time with some of Moon's extended family and maybe even go on my first ever fishing trip!
• Moving on to pastures new - As I said above, overall I'm not sure how to feel about it but I feel very excited about the progress that it all symbolises, maybe this time next year I'll be a real grown up
• Visits from friends - Even though we didn't manage to get even close to getting the whole 'gang' together last weekend, I do feel pretty blessed to have the friends that I do. As a self-confessed actual moody cat, I sometimes feel amazed that I've been able to maintain these friendships. It probably has a lot to do with what a great guy Moon is but I'm quite thankful for that too so...

Must-Try Recipes:

• Mexican Street Corn Croquettes - This is one I'm going to force myself to make before the day is done. I've been a bit obsessed with corn since my birthday dinner at La Bodega Negra and have wanted to try corn fritters for ages. This is the most hassle-free recipe I've found, does look like I'll be sourcing some panko breadcrumbs today though
• Blackberry Pie Bars - September is blackberry season and while I've not managed to find any brambles yet, you can bet I'm on the look out. Picking fruit is all well and good but foraging is all the more fun if you have a neat recipe to back it up
• Melty Ham, Brie and Peach Toastie - There aren't many words I can find for this one and I know it's not really a recipe but if you can ever go wrong with anything related to melted cheese I'd like to hear about it

Lovely Links:

• Clare's post about losing weight was a pretty brave one and I really feel for her both generally and because I had a similar kind of healthy-living epiphany at the beginning of the year
• Bee from Vivatramp's How to Get Out of a Reading Slump tips were really good. Having got back into the reading swing of things over the summer, it's nice to see that there are other people out there who slack in the book department sometimes too. After reading academically (yes, we do that on Photography degrees too) for such a long time up until I went away to Portugal it had been such a long while since I'd read book after book like I used to. Admittedly I put off reading my last book for quite some time but I'm hoping to be on to the next one once we're on the plane to Ireland
• How wonderful is Film4's re-brand? I must admit that I do skip over Film4 as a channel a bit because... well, films with adverts doesn't appeal but as a full-time film appreciator, their upcoming 16 shorts are really intriguing. Not only do they look stunning, they'll be full of cinematic references and the photo-nerd in me almost can't handle the fact they'll mostly be edited in-camera - can't wait!
• Emily Blincoe was featured on Mashable this week. I have followed her Instagram for a while now, I think I found her through one of The Dainty Squid's Friday Favourites posts, but I thought it was about time I shared her with you. Her work is just so satisfying to look at, I hear she's working with brands like Target now too which is so awesome
  

:: Have you entered my giveaway to win tickets to the Royal Berkshire County Show on the 20th September? ::