Our Great Space.

The longer days and the recent sunny weather have really made me appreciate our garden a lot; the outdoor naps, the barbecues, it's pretty great. The amount of time I've been spending outside has also made me realise how much time Moon must have spent on his own while I was working at the cinema and he was working a regular 9-5. I really don't think that I spent even half the amount of time sitting on our lawn last year and I'm fairly certain the weather can't have been really all that bad, I think I was just always on the go.

Now we're spending pretty much every weekend together, doing things, seeing people and really using our spare time wisely, even sleeping in counts. I'm not quite sure when or how we got here, but it's quite nice actually.


I finally have French lavender in our garden and it seems to be taking to our (terrible) flower bed too, I hope it grows and grows!



I wish our strawberry plants would give us more strawberries, we only got a few - still much better than last year's mouldy offering - and even though they were only small, they were so sweet and juicy, much nicer than any I've had from supermarkets.



Even though there are ants, alfresco dining is pretty great.




Broad beans were the only thing we could grow last year, and they seem to be thriving again this year too - at least I can definitely grow something ♥


The sunflower that I didn't really look after last year has come back, and with 5 flowers, I can't wait for them all to be in bloom.


I made us refreshing fruity drinks last weekend as at that point it was far too early for Pimm's o'Clock, I knew saving the cocktail accessories from Turkey was a good idea. I can't get enough of mixing the Blood Tonic Cordial from this month's Flavrbox with fruit juices, it makes them extra sweet, with a little mediciney twang in the background, so good!




I guess all that fluff means she's extra hot at the moment, she hates us suncreaming her nose and ears and only walks so far before slumping down - a little pathetic for such a young cat but her recent wuss-puss tendencies also seem to mean she's much more affectionate in this heat too.



Just because we happened to bathe her last weekend - she wasn't happy at the time but seemed a little revitalised afterwards, the cutest E.T I've ever seen.
Being able to lay out on the grass with a pillow and a book, admiring the vegetables and plants we've actually been able to grow this year make me really appreciate how stable things are at the moment, yes, it's not perfect but I'm much happier than I was a year ago. Maybe it's the heat talking, but I just feel good - but still grumpy, and I thought you should know that.

In other, less wispy news, I've entered Belvoir Fruit Farms' Wildlife Photography Competition, since I last checked I was third on the leaderboard, so your vote would be very much appreciated, if anyone even read down this far that is...

Happy.

As cheesy as it sounds, and despite how appallingly cringey the earlier posts on this blog are, I am quite pleased to have kept this going. It has been really useful both to refer back to and as a general visual outlet. I was reading a well-known blogger's blog the other day and she was talking about how it will be a nice thing to look back on when she's older and maybe even able to share it with her kids. I think that's kind of a nice thought, and I'm already quite glad to share this now too.

This week my view count has picked up and I actually feel as though I'm talking to someone, hello!
So I thought I would share with you that I'm feeling positive and happy, particularly as I've mainly been feeling unmotivated and sluggish previously.

Here are some things that have made me happy this week.

I might actually have got to grips with driving, and I'm more excited than scared about three-point-turns and reverse parking.

I'm actually able to write on here and update it with apparently readable content.

I now have motivation to start applying for things properly again.

I'm going to Portsmouth tomorrow.

The sun is shining!

My favourite American shows are back, with just The Walking Dead left to wait for.

(via Sophie Spils)

(via Keep Calm Arsenal)

(via 8:Swim)

(via Passion for the Music)

(via Models Own)

(via Verbal Vomit)

One thing that made me angry this week:
My favourite band is The Maccabees and I was unable to get tickets for their upcoming October/November tour because they were selling exclusively out of record stores who declined telephone orders, meaning you had to get the tickets in person. Rough Trade sold out by the end of Saturday.
This sales structure was based upon keeping booking fees down and keeping the shows more local, despite the fact that most ticket sales still involved a booking fee. It was a nice idea but now I am left without a ticket, I'm having Maccabees withdrawal symptoms and I need to hear some new songs, they're so good live and always have really fun support acts. I am hopeful that they will have another, larger tour once their new album is released in the New Year. This just bugged me because I've not seen them live for a long time and haven't heard any new material in a long time and now I have to wait even longer.

Birthday Partay.

Ok, so I didn't take that many at my party - but hey, photography is like work to me, yeah?
It was a great afternoon, I really enjoyed it and I'm so thankful to everyone who came.
A full set of photos can be seen on Facebook because if I put all the ones that I like on her each post would be tremendously long and the whole blog would be mega cluttered.

My cake was huge, I think that there's still loads left, despite all the guests having been fobbed off with some. It was really tasty though.

Once I got back from a few drinks at the Kings Arms - and after realising why I cut myself off from my friends at home for a bit - I set off some sky lanterns with Moon and my sister. It was quite cool to do it myself, just remember that I'm not a copycat.

© Ruth Johnston 2010.

Pat on the back.

My marks have come through now, I'm pretty pleased with myself because it's means I've averaged a pretty solid 2:1 for this year, I'm so happy with that, even though they're not 'confirmed' yet, I shouldn't imagine that they'll change too much for the final grades. I'm also happy with how I've done not only because it's much better than my overall mark last year, but also because I was feeling so nervous/not good enough, but I've just had proof that I am, that 57 is a bit annoying but now I can concentrate on doing even better next year.

Maybe it won't be so hard to get a job when I finish, I am actually alright, academically in any case.