Small and 10 happy things! #13

Why hello there! 

I know I haven't done one of these lovely little lists in a while but it's not for lack for good things, honest! In fact it's almost the opposite, what with my birthday and Rome before that I just haven't gotten back into my usual routine of writing the great things down! 

I've found that I really missed that reflection time where I look at all the big and little things that make each week unique and special. This is such an important skill I think, to be able to come away from a week thinking. 'Thank GOD that's over', but then being able to step back and realise actually there's always little moments that made it worthwhile. After all, we are alive and there's always good in every day.

Right, philosophical ramble over, here are the 10 things that made me happy this past week! 

1. Bank holiday Monday off! It was my birthday too so that was a double whammy of excitement! It was so nice to be waking up on Monday with my family (and presents obvs!) and knowing I had nowhere to rush off to.

2. Delicious froyo on Monday. What is a birthday without my favourite frozen treat?! Nothing, is the answer. When boyfriend and I got back to Altrincham we wandered over to Yogberries in Hale for an extra large of our favourite yoghurt! Beats cake any day.

3. Getting my spiralizer!! This has just been a dream come true. I did a spiralized carrot pasta and it was immense! I can't wait to do more and more.

4. A lovely Friday night in. Nothing wild, just me, boyfriend, some delicious cooking and the fantastic Gogglebox.

5. My friend Charlotte's pre hen do on Saturday. Apparently this is a thing now but I went to her house in Wakefield for a get together BBQ so that we could all get to know each other before the hen do in Malaga in a couple of weeks!

6. An impromptu trip home to Sheffield. I took advantage of needing to be in good old Yorkshire on Saturday and made a pit stop at home. It was great to see my Mum and sister and to have some big cuddles and catch ups. Always a lovely boost before a week of work.

7. Trying out my new squash racket! One of my presents from my boyfriend was a squash racket. We play so often but I have kept renting one which is not cost effective so I finally got my own. I wanted a bright pink glittery one but apparently they do not exist?! So my perfectly aesthetically adequate green one has been an absolute winner so far! 

8. Seeing beautiful blossom on the way to work. I was so giddy when I saw this I just had to stop and take pictures! All I can say is thank god none of my pupils saw me, they wouldn't have let me forget that in a hurry! 

9. Watching some really fun travel videos on Youtube. Expedia does these really good 5/10 minute travel guides on all different cities in the world. They're really informative and totally wanderlustworthy. I'll warn you though, you might end up adding places to the just highlight you'd never in a million years want to go! St Petersburg?! Now officially on the list.

10. Getting belated birthday presents. I got my boyfriend's sister's present just this weekend as she lives down south and it always makes me happy to spread out the birthday excitement! She got me the Deliciously Ella book as well which is pretty much on everyone's shelves on wishlist at the moment so I can't wait to get cracking with some of those gorgeous recipes!

Those are things that have made me smile in May. To be fair, I just love this month for so many reasons so you'll be hard pressed to see me unhappy but still, it's nice to sit back and take stock of the big and small things that make our lives what they are.

What's made you a happy chappy this past week?

Lots of love and other smiley things,

Sophia

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Small and 10 happy things! #12

Well hello there! It's April! And wow is the sun shining! I had a lovely last week of March and there were lots of happy things to round up so here we go! :) My ten last happy things of this month! 

1// Seeing the amazing Easter egg creations at school. The kids pulled out all of the stops creating their scenes using eggs. We had an 'Egg Sheeran', The Owl and the Pussycat and a solar eggclipse!

2// Finishing work for the holiday on Thursday, Thursday! 3.15pm rolled around and I waved goodbye to my class (who were at this stage climbing the walls ready for the break!) and all the teachers just collapsed into giggles and chats about Easter holiday plans! I am really lucky to be in such a fun and supportive work environment. It makes the tough days so much brighter.

3// Getting a lift back to Sheffield. Boyfriend's mum had come over to visit on Thursday and she offered to drive us home with all of our stuff which was just so nice. The convenience of going door to door makes cars so worth it sometimes!

4// A totally blissful Good Friday. My mum, sister and I all went to the cinema early doors in the morning (that's how we roll) to go and see Cinderella. It was absolutely wonderful but I've already banged on about it enough here I know!

5// My grandma sending me a hilarious photo on Whatsapp. I am so thrilled she has taken to the technology and it's so nice that we can share all this silly little moments even when we're apart.

6// Reading The Wrong Knickers. This book has been making me laugh and laugh this week. If you are in your 20s or you've lived through them you will identify with this book! It's an account of The Telegraph writer Bryony Gordon's 'decade of chaos' she calls it and I must admit, it make me thankful for my stable, almost boring lifestyle!!

7// Discovering chamomile tea. Tried it once and hated it but I gave it another go this week and loved it.

8// Getting gel nails! I had my nails done for the first time ever and I am completely in love. I can't believe how good they look, how they've not chipped at all and that they're actually MY nails! A lovely little holiday treat that I think I'll be needing to do more often!

9// Being back at home and sharing a room with my sister. Most people would hate this but my sis and I now share a room (and a bed!) whenever we both happen to be back in Sheffield at the same time. We absolutely love it and it's like having a sleepover with your best friend every night.

10// Champneys spa weekend! My sister, mum and I spent the Easter weekend at Champneys, which is brilliant piece of heaven on Earth! I came away never wanting to leave as usual. I will probably do a more detailed post at another time so I won't delve in too much now but suffice to say, a spa trip is always a good idea no?

How was your last week of March? Did you have a lovely Easter weekend? What did you get up to? 

Lots of love,

Sophia xxx

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Small and 10 happy things! #11

Happy things this week!

What a crazy, hectic week this last one was. As my boyfriend is still on medication all hours of the day I feel like we're in a bit of a haze. My sleep's obviously been affected too and it's made the week feel like a blur. 

That being said here are the things that have made me happy these past seven days!

1// A great Zumba class on Monday. I had a different instructor to usual and I actually do prefer this one, I feel really bad saying that but it's true! She's just a but more energetic and uplifting and her mood boosts me. It a great, revitalising way to kick off the week and I really enjoyed it.

2// A mid week pick me up visit from my Mum and sister! My mum was bringing my sister home from uni in Chester and on the way back to Sheffield they picked me up from work, drove me home and came to visit briefly! It was lovely to see them both and it was a perfect way to break up the working week.

3// A brilliant, relaxing Friday night with my boyfriend. We did nothing but cook and lounge in front of the tv and I loved every minute. 

4// Finishing The Luminaries! This monster of a book has completely engrossed me from start to finish and I was so glad I had a really good amount of time this weekend (thanks my travels) to finish it off!

5// Being slightly splurgey...my friends are bad influences! When in Liverpool this weekend with my old uni besties we all turned in to such enablers. I bought new underwear (all Disney, no sexy Vicky's secret this time..) books and one of the new  (gorgeous) DKNY perfumes, the peach one if you're interested! I also bought an eos lip balm so I am officially a cool human being...

6// A book haul, I picked up The Wrong Knickers by Bryony Gordon and The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman. They have been on my wishlist for a while and when I saw they were on buy one get one half price at WHSmith I just jumped! 

7// Seeing some of my favourite people and having a DELICIOUS meal in Liverpool. Good food and good friends, is there anything better in life? We went to Gusto on the Albert Docks which was fantastic. If you live anywhere in Liverpool or the Manchester/Cheshire area there's quite a few dotted around so look them up! 

8// Having some really fun discussions at school about the Easter story! The kids were so engaged with it and asked such meaningful questions, a very inspiring afternoon of work.

9// Having a really lazy Sunday. I managed to get a nice early train back, the clocks turning helped that's for sure, so I was back in Altrincham with enough time to have a full Sunday there.

10// Altrincham food and drink festival at the market. This place is such a buzzing hive of activity! There were so many different stalls with incredible foodie friendly gifts and street food and for this weekend only there was even a demonstration from a Michelin chef! Very exciting!

How was your week? What have been your highlights of March so far? 

Lots of love,

Sophia

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Small and 10 happy things! #10

Time once again to round up the happy things of this this week! 

I've spent the majority of the last seven days missing my boyfriend while he was been in hospital so if I'm honest it's certainly not been the happiest of weeks on the whole. However, there's always something to smile about on this blog and the week ended up finishing with a wonderful surprise!!

1// Having Taylor Swift/Spice Girls morning dance sessions! Without boyfriend around I've been getting ready for work on my own so I've made it into a little solo dance party every day, totally pumping me up for the day!

2// My grandma buying me a new little cuddly friend. She picked up this adorable bear for a pound in a charity shop this week and gave it to me as she felt bad for me having to be home alone! Even though I am a proper adult I love cuddly toys so it was so sweet that she thought of me in what was quite a lonely week (at the start anyway...)

3// Receiving a lovely card in the post. Again something to do with that fabulous grandma of mine. Her bestie Joan sent my boyfriend a get well soon card this and she dropped a little surprise one in there for me too! She's absolutely wonderful and I feel like I have a whole group of OAP pals thanks to my AWESOME gma.

4// The solar eclipse. This was just pretty cool for everyone no? It's times like these when I really love my job. Sharing the eclipse with my class and showing them the live feed and watching their expressions made it so memorable for me. It's one of those moments that they'll remember where they were for and I feel really lucky that I got to help make it special for them. It was special for me too as I got to indulge in my Brian Cox obsession at my place of work... ;) added bonus for me!

5// Having an evening off watching It Takes Two. Please tell me someone else has heard of this adorable Mary-Kate and Ashley film? They made it when they were about 5 and it's basically Parent trap except the kids aren't related. At all. I know. If you can get past the fact that these two identical twins are cometslt unrelated then this is a really sweet movie where a rich girl and a poor orphan meet by chance and decide to set up her father and her orphanage running lady (definitely can't think of the official job title!) It's a 90s classic and I whole heartedly recommend it. Like I would any Olsen movie, tv show, tbh. Mega fan here.

6// Ending the week with the wonderful surprising news that my boyfriend was coming home from hospital! We made a delicious red lentil curry (our FAVOURITE dish) and just kicked back and watched 24, it was wonderful.

7// The beautiful sunshine this weekend. I'm feeling in such a good mood because of it :) It just makes everything (and everyone) nicer!

8// Cuddles in bed. I have experienced what it's like living alone and I am not doing it ever again if I can help it. It was so lovely to have someone to wake up to again, I have really, really missed it.

9// Buying two DVDs this week. Call me a big spender!

10// Cross country phone calls with my Portuguese fam. I am so looking forward to seeing them on my annual trip and it was so nice to have a good old catch up with my grandma and grandpa.

So all in all a week with a very happy ending. This week was also international happiness day on Friday and I am going to make a concerted effort to carry over that happiness and the gratefulness was that this week has brought me into the rest of the month (and beyond!) 

How was your week? What made you smile? I hope you enjoyed the sunshine! 

Sophia :) xxxxxx

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Small and 10 happy things! #9

A bit of a crazy week which has ended with a lot of hospital visits so it's all been a bit unexpected! Everyone's fine it's just my boyfriend has a severe eye infection which is needing 24 hour, on the hour care. Despite a worrying week on that front I have managed to have some highlights (always looking for silver lining!) so here are my ten happy things from the last seven days!

1. Boyfriend doing a mini shop on Monday for all my supermarket essentials despite being so poorly! This is even more amazing now knowing he's been admitted to hospital since. What a kind soul.

2. My tutoring sessions going really well on Monday. Started the week off nicely!

3. Getting picked up from school on Friday by my grandma (feeling like a kid again!)

4. An amazing and inspiring course. On Thursday I went on a teaching behaviour course and it was so fantastic. The speaker was incredible and it was so invigorating and interesting! Plus it was at Man City's stadium so that's another Manchester sight ticked off! 

5. Being back at home in Sheffield with my mum and sister this weekend. This was already planned and with boyfriend in hospital it was great that I wasn't in the house by myself!

6. Having a buffet lunch with my family for my Dad and grandma's birthdays. My grandma put on an amazing spread (as she always does) and we all had a wonderful catch up with some quality time. She and M&S make one hell of a team!

7. Going out for a birthday meal that same evening for one of my best friend's birthdays. It was so nice to catch up with everyone and it was lovely to have some good food and conversation with some of my nearest and dearest. They have all offered so much love and support during this time too which has made me feel so lucky.

8. Mother's Day celebrations. Mum, sister and I all went to the cinema together. We saw Focus and thoroughly enjoyed it. Even the scenes where Will Smith had a shirt on... ;)

9. Watching The Inbetweeners movie while doing some weekend work. Does this movie get anyone really in the mood for summer? 

10. Getting a wonderful, surprise gift from my Dad. He, out of the blue, got my sister and I a gorgeous package from Champneys spa (aka our favourite place on Earth) full of products and an official teddy bear! I can confirm the bear has been christened Clarissa (she is fancy after all) and she is extremely soft and has settled in perfectly with the rest of my cuddlies. Yes, I know I am old. #noregrets

So how's your week been? What's made you smile? This week has really shown me to appreciate every small little thing so let's hear some of your little surprising gems! 

Lots of love,

Sophia x

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