October Favourites.

1. Big and baggy jumpers: In my opinion there is nothing more cosy and perfect for autumn than jumpers. Just the thought of wearing a oversized jumper, with a vest top underneath, leggings and fluffy bed socks while lounging on the sofa watching TV with a mug of a warm drink cupped in my hands -with the sleeves of the jumper pulled over them of course- makes me feel all warm and satisfied. Those are the sort of days I really look forward to.

All I need now is a long weekend, -or the Christmas break, but that's quite a while away yet- some praline syrup to add to my mochas and a stack of DVDs!

2. My university course: I know it's still early days but so far I'm loving my BSc course and loving my uni life in general. The independence is great, the content is great and the majority of the staff are pretty great too. I'm particularly loving my courses 'specialist unit' which is 'Psychology & Criminal Behaviour'. So far it's been fascinating and the added knowledge the lectures bring is equally as interesting, if not more so sometimes.

3. Commuting: For the past month I have mainly been commuting to and from uni on the bus. At first I found the journey long and tiresome, but now I've started to really enjoy it -although it can still make me yawn a few times regardless of the time of day. The funny thing is, now that my month's bus pass has expired and I know what my timetable is like, I will no longer be getting the bus. I'll now be commuting in on the train because it's easier, quicker and the trains come more frequently. It will work out to be a little more expensive than the bus, but it'll be worth tweaking my expenses.

4. Woolly hats: Similarly to jumpers, I think that woolly hats are perfect for this weather and that they help to make an autumn day feel a little bit more perfect and complete. You may find that second part a little strange, but it's true! It's hard to explain, but I just feel that woolly hats and autumn go hand-in-hand, and that when I'm wearing one I just feel really happy and autumnal. Woolly hats just complete the 'out and about' autumn look and they make you feel content as you walk down the street in your own little autumnal world with toasty ears.

5. Dry roasted peanuts: this one is simple enough. They're just such a quick and easy snack, not to mention delicious as well!

6. Gel eyeliner: I've been wanting to try out gel eyeliner for a while now, but never been quite brave enough to invest in some. That has all changed now though! With the Boots giftcard I got for my birthday I bought myself some gel eyeliner, and I've got to say that I'm loving it so far. My first attempt wasn't great -it was okay but nothing special- which I guess is to be expected; and my second attempt went really well. So I think I'll be sticking to gel from now on instead of liquid.

7. The Hard Rock Café: Although I've only been once I just had to include the Hard Rock Café in this month's favourites list. Everything about the place is amazing! There's rock n' roll memorabilia everywhere, the music they play is great, the food is really good and the drinks are to die for -especially their Pickled Tink cocktail. The experience and the meal are both without a doubt worth the wait and worth the crowd.

"OCD" by Neil Hilborn

This is a bit of a different post for me, but I could not resist sharing this with you. 

This is my favourite poem. Every time I watch this video -which has been multiple times since I discovered it in August- I get chills. His words and performance are just so raw and full of emotion. It's incredibly moving in my opinion.

I hope you enjoyed it at lest as half as much as I did.

-Hannah.

My Birthday Weekend.

As some of you may be aware it was my 20th birthday on Sunday. I went home on Friday evening with my boyfriend in order to 1) spend my birthday with my family, and 2) go out the day before my birthday with my boyfriend for one of my birthday presents.

It was a little bit of a rush on the Friday evening to get home. I have a 4pm to 5pm lecture on Fridays, meaning I get into the bus station at 6:15pm. So in order to save a bit of time my boyfriend picked me up from the bus station and we headed straight to my house, just over an hour away, from there. The best part about that evening once I arrived home was that my cat , Jess, met me halfway up the footpath to my front door. I thought it was really sweet and I made me really happy because I've missed having her around -I think, at least I hope that, the feeling was mutual.

The next day Brandon and I were off into London -Hyde Park Corner specifically- where I was treated to lunch at the Hard Rock Café. The place was absolutely amazing! I loved looking around at all the memorabilia on the walls and telling Brandon what song was being played and who it was by. We were sat under one of John 5's guitars after our 40 minute wait for a table was up. I had the California Chicken Club sandwich, a Pickled Tink cocktail -which was delicious- a bit of a Berry Margarita and some of Brandon's chocolate brownie -this too was delicious.

After we'd finished and paid the bill we headed over to the Hard Rock shop next door. I spotted a few things I liked but didn't say I wanted them as Brandon was giving me the impression that as soon as I spotted something I wanted he'd buy it for me. I'm not one to get boyfriends to spend money on me -even when it is my birthday- and after the total cost of our meal there was no way I was letting him spend any more money on me.

From there we walking to Hamley's and then had a wander around Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Street before heading home on the bus. We spent some more time with my family doing nothing in particular -I got to open one birthday present which was The Breakfast Club on DVD- and then went over to my Nan and Grandad's in order to head off to bed after having a quick chat with them about each other's day and opening my present from Brandon -a Red Sox home shirt(!!!).

The next day was my birthday and I was awoken by my boyfriend shaking my slightly and saying, "It's your birthday!" over and over again because he's just that cute, aha! Once we were washed and dressed we headed back over to my house where I opened all my cards and birthday presents. Apparently I was too slow and meticulous for everyone's liking, but oh well. Then soon after it was time for a big family dinner, a Sunday roast! As it was my birthday I got to chose what meal we had so of course I went for a roast beef Sunday lunch with plenty of Yorkshire puddings! Once that'd had a bit of time to digest it was onto the birthday cake. I opted for the same cake I had for my 16th, a chocolate dinosaur shaped cake from Waitrose; half of which ended up coming back to my uni house with me.

That pretty much sums up my 20th birthday weekend! I had a lovely time and really enjoyed it. This was probably one of the best birthdays I've had so far.

My First Official Week As A UoB Student.

So technically last week was actually my second official week as a university student. But it was my first week with proper lectures as during my first official week all four of my lectures were purely introductory. Hence why I'm counting my second official week as my first.

A lot of people have had issues with their timetables, but thankfully mine sorted itself out -with the help of the timetable team, or whatever they're called- relatively quickly. My timetable isn't the best but it could be a lot worse. I have full-ish days on Mondays and Wednesday; I get Tuesdays off; and on Thursdays and Fridays I have to go in for an hour in the afternoon.

Although I have yet to be set any work in my tutorials there has been a fair bit of talk about my certain tasks and assessments that will go towards my final grade in each unit. Some of the deadlines are in November; one of which is a literature review, which makes me a little nervous as I don't think I've ever written a lit. review before. All my other up-and-coming things don't seem quite as bad though, so that gives me some piece of mind -I'd be freaking out already otherwise.

I've met some really nice people on my course. Almost all of the people I've met are on my specific course. I find that a little amusing because there are so many students in all of my lectures from other psychology courses, so it's kind of funny how all the Psychology and Criminal Behaviour people I know have managed to find each other amongst the 200+ crowd.

That's all I can really think of to write. If you have any questions or want me to add/tell you about something else relating to my first week of uni feel free to leave a comment asking! :)

September Favourites.

I'm aware this post is a little on the late side. I apologise for that, but unfortunately my induction week at uni had me run off my feet!

• Blogger - I must admit although my blog on here is just starting up, I'm really loving the site and my general blogging experience. It is a little hard to think of stuff to write about at times, but I think I'm doing okay overall. Hopefully you like it and think that my posts are improving!
• Living away from home - I wasn't sure how much I would like living away from home, or how easy I would find it. I've got to say that I'm pleasantly surprised by my experience so far. The independence is great. There are a few little hiccups every once in a few but that's more to do with my housemates than anything else.
• Philadelphia cream cheese - I've always loved Philadelphia but rarely ever had it. My mum brought me a pot of it in the little fridge-filler shop she did for me before I moved out and our love affair has been rekindled. My particular Philly favourite is a Philly and tuna pasta sauce that I make. It's delicious!

Those are my main three favourites over the last month. I know it's a short list and therefore a short post, but I honestly can't really think of anything else I'd consider to be a favourite of mine over the last month -that I didn't already mention in my 'August Favourites' list.

October.

October is here and I couldn't be happier about it! October is by far my favourite month; so many good things happen over the course of this month.

In my opinion, October marks the official start of autumn. I love autumn -so much so I used to want to call my daughter Autumn if I ever had one. The leaves turn so many different and beautiful shades, and when they fall from the trees you get to hear that satisfying crunching noise as you walk through piles of them in your ankle boots. You get to layer up and wear cosy jumpers, woolly hats and thick scarves whenever you go out. You begin to appreciate the warmth of a Starbucks to-go cup and you also know that their Christmas coffees aren't too far away -I'm personally a die hard praline mocha fan.

There are some days in October that I consider to be both important and special. My birthday is in October, as are my Nan and Grandad's birthdays. These are obviously important days to me, and what I like is that each birthday is special but also acts like a little reminder of what's to come as we count down to our following October birthdays. Another important day for me in October is mine and my boyfriend's anniversary -I don't think I really need to elaborate on this one. And finally, the final day of October, Halloween. I absolutely adore Halloween! Not in the sense of Trick or Treating or going to fancy dress parties and getting drunk. I mean in the sense of the atmosphere and fun surrounding the day. Nothing makes me happier than carving a pumpkin or two, watching Halloweeny films, dressing up and seeing the effort some people put into their own costumes. It's just so much fun!

I hope you guys enjoy your October as much as I'm going to enjoy mine!
-Hannah.