Life over the past couple of months...

The past couple of months have been a bit of a whirlwind-crazy time. I took all of my final exams in 9 days (stressful does not begin to cover it), packed up my stuff, spent a manic afternoon cleaning our house (hey black mould...), had the best night out with everyone on my course, watched the sun come out after coming home from said night, moved out the same day, moved back in at home, filled 11 binbags of stuff to donate/chuck out, booked up the rest of my flights (16 days to go!!!), and started volunteering 3 days a week at the charity my Mum runs. Busy bee. Shamefully I didn't pick up my camera at all during the month of May, but I did snap away quite a bit on my phone.

left// library times. right// sunny park view from the library. best.seat.ever.

left// boredom = covert picture-taking in the library (yes I had the same seat, because I'm a nerd ;). 

right// lunch in the park 

left// the view from my bed, little bit in love with light leaks at the minute. right// morning coffee. Perfect. 

left// the one thing I miss about my room in Sheffield? That skylight. Because those sunsets? Amazing. right// (more) coffee. Because coffee. 

left// library snacks (chocolate overdose) right// discovering that I have a weird knack for flicking beer mats onto the top of pint glasses. Who knew?

left// the biology building in the sun. right// ducks in the park during a lunch break (these were nice ducks, not  the giant mean ducks that stole my yoghurt and attacked my knee. TRAUMATIC)/

left// working. right//colour coded notes make all the difference

left// sunny evening walking home. right// crazy light in the sky one evening 

Life has been busy and full. So many changes, good changes, exciting changes. I'm glad to be back. 

Pin it Forward!

I am a huge Pinterest fan & I've been using it for quite a while now (since early 2011?) Somewhere around there anyway - I managed to get hold of an invite around the same time that I started blogging. I didn't really 'get it' to start with, but now? Now I am hooked. When I got the email asking me to be a part of the UK campaign I was really excited - I think it'll be great to have the whole experience a little bit more tailored.

I always find it a bit hard to explain exactly what I use it for - does anyone else have this problem?! I guess the simplest way to put it is that I use it to collect ideas to refer back to and as a source of inspiration. I try to only pin stuff that I really love or that I think are really helpful. I also try to only ever pin images that link to original sources - sometimes this means hunting around a bit to find it, but I think its so important that the creator of an image is credited. My favourite board right now is my Photography Inspiration board - its a collection of images that I find really make me want to improve my photography and give me ideas for different things to try etc. Its also really helping me to refine my own style - identifying what I'm drawn to in other images is helping me to steer my own work in the right direction.

Something else I love about Pinterest is being able to follow other people who have similar interests/aesthetics to me - I know there are all these 'rules' about not flooding other peoples feeds, but personally I love it when someone I follow goes on a pinning spree!

As part of the campaign I also get to hand you over to three other bloggers! First up is Nina - she blogs here and pins over here. She's a wallpaper stylist and there are so many colour/pattern combinations to check out on her boards! Second up is Hayley who blogs here and pins here. She has some great looking baking recipes - I've currently got my eye on a couple of cookie dough recipes! Last (and by no means least) is Laura who blogs here and pins here - I'm a particular fan of her 'Inspired Living' board - so many ideas for houses I'll never be able to afford...

If you haven't signed up for Pinterest yet then you can do so here - and please leave me your links!! 

a breather.

I don't have a whole lot of time at the moment for photography, but I've been spending the odd 15 minutes or so between revision and bedtime going through some old pictures. When I'm in revision mode I tend to become completely single-minded and only capable of thinking about work, but taking a tiny bit of time to just create something is good for me.

My hometown is beautiful in its own little way, especially as a storm comes in and the sun goes down.

Bank Holiday Fun

The title of this post is somewhat ironic, because my bank holiday was most definitely not fun. Productive? Yes. Fun? Not so much. I finished off my last ever piece of degree coursework, made a dent in my revision and spent the hottest day of the year so far stuck inside reading about global warming. Fitting, no?

I always turn into a really miserable person around revision time. I resent the fact that I've spent 99% of my university education being lectured on the importance of 'original' thought, novel experimental design and understanding the holistic nature of biological, geological and environmental processes, only to be examined using what basically amounts to a memory test. It makes no sense to me. I feel like coursework is a far superior method of assessment, it enables analysis of an issue from an angle that makes logical sense to the author, and allows an exploration of the literature that is pertinent to that chosen angle. Logical.

But hey, I'm probably just a bit bitter because my inability to remember names and dates puts me at an immediate disadvantage in exams where referencing is necessary ;)

Despite Bank Holiday monday being somewhat dull, my Saturday was awesome. Mum & Kev came up to collect some of my stuff (I move back home in 4 weeks - scary!) and I spent the afternoon hanging out with them. We went to Wetherspoons for lunch (always a good idea), I ate far too much & we discovered that my dressing table probably won't fit in the new car. Oops. I don't really mind living away from home too much, but I do miss hanging out with Mum so its always nice when they come to visit.

On Saturday evening R, James & I spent the evening on a bat walk with one of the post-doc researchers and a local ecological consultant. Maybe not everybody's idea of fun, but I really enjoyed it. They gave a couple of presentations about British bats & then dished out bat detectors so we could 'hear' them hunt. It's pretty incredible to listen to, especially once you get the hang of it & can start to tell the difference between different species. I took my camera, but nothing really came of it - bats are quick and I didn't want to use flash. The reflection of the pub lights on the lake was beautiful though, there's something almost magical about the sun going down in the summer.

What did you get up to this weekend? 

Spring is here!

Elizabeth is running an amazing 'blog every day in may' challenge, and although I won't be blogging every day in May, it really couldn't have come at a better time! I have a tendency to stress, a lot, about exams. I end up in this weird frame of mind where I can't actually concentrate on anything that isn't work (because obviously if I'm not sleeping I should be working) but at the same time, I can't actually concentrate on anything that is work related, because my brain just really wants a break. Its a problem. I'm getting better at balance and all that, but at the end of the day I just really, really, really want to graduate with a good degree (and thus begins the vicious cycle of 'oh my god I need to do more work' all over again). Its fun times around here people, fun, fun times. 

However. Back to the point of this post... This challenge is perfect, because I'm really trying to make sure that I have 'off' time as well, but sometimes I just can't come up with anything interesting to write about. I mean, there's only so many ways I can write about spending 14 hours of my day revising the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis. Right? Right. 

Today we're supposed to be writing about our favourite things about Spring. Of which I have many. I love flowers (obviously, because plants are my favourite). I love hanging out by the pond in the park. I love ducks (especially when they quack because its hilarious). I love not having to wear a coat. I love that feeling of being warmed by the sun, when you feel like the warmth goes all the way through to your bones. I love blue skies. I love fluffy clouds. I love waking up to light streaming through my window. I love the lighter evenings. I love green leaves on trees and the sounds of birds singing. I love the simple little things that just make life better. 

But this year, more than ever before, I love that feeling that things are just getting started and that the whole summer is just waiting to be explored. 

Summer Ball

James, Me, Holly, Hazel & Rich

Last Thursday was the Biology Society Summer Ball, we've never been to a formal dance while we've been at Uni so we all promised to go to this one, since its our last year. It came a little bit earlier in the semester than I thought it would be, so Mum had to post me my dress, shoes and jewellery (thanks Mum!). Hazel came over to ours a couple of hours early to get ready, but getting ready really doesn't take us that long so we pretty much just listened to The Eagles and drank Amaretto.

When we arrived we were handed a complimentary Mojito (never a bad thing), found a table and had our pictures taken. I skipped lunch because I knew I'd be eating loads in the evening, so my stomach appreciated the food being served pretty soon after we arrived. We somehow managed to pick the table that got served first (bonus!) and we also seemed to have far more table wine than anyone else. Definitely wasn't complaining. The food was amazing and I was full by the second course. I don't like throwing food away though, so obviously I had to eat the other two courses as well...

We spent the rest of the night drinking wine and dancing. It was such a good night and I'm so glad we went. I took my camera, but it was one of those nights where it didn't really occur to me to use it that much, so I'm really glad we had some 'proper' pictures taken. R thinks we look like the cast from a dodgy US murder-mystery sitcom. I can sort of see it. These guys are my favourites. I may be looking forward to finishing Uni, but I know I'll really miss them.

Monday Motivation: Who do you want to be?

It is estimated by the Oxford dictionary that there are approximately 3/4 of a million words in the English language. I find it truly amazing that out of all of the possible combinations, an inconceivably huge number of combinations, one of those combinations can come into you life and speak straight to your soul. It can be a quote, a song, a poem, part of a conversation you overhear or a flippant remark. It can be anything.

A 1:55 in this video Arnold Schwarznegger says "ask yourselves who do you want to be? Not what, but who?"

And it really struck a chord with me. It may seem like such a painfully obvious statement, but its a question I forget to ask myself. Constantly. But it shouldn't be, we should never stop asking ourselves who we want to be, and answering that question doesn't have to mean that we don't like who we are. It doesn't mean that we need to have a list of things that we want to change, or that we need to become somebody else. It just means that we're recognising that we're a work in progress, that there's always ways for us to grow. It means that we recognise that we can be better in ways that are meaningful and extend beyond job descriptions and inconsequential social labels.

What I am doesn't matter. But who I am? That is everything.

Watch the video. Soak it up. And tell me, who are you?