What I'm Loving Right Now

It seems summertime is when all my time is eaten up by countless trips home, social events and actually going out with my boyfriend.

It was only a mere few months ago that I remember complaining to my housemate that I never do anything on weekends. I just sit at home and watch TV.

But, now, I don't honestly remember a weekend that I haven't been busy.

Today is the first day in ages that I feel like I can get back to my usual self and slob out. Except, because I haven't done it in a while, it feels wrong and I have all this pent up energy spent on doing nothing.

Eh, who am I to complain?

Here are the things I've been loving recently:

1. One Tree Hill - yes, I've given in and am re-watching it for the third time. I just can't seem to get enough of all the drama and twists in this ridiculous programme. I had to find something to fill the PLL-shaped hole (although I am watching series 7 of it, but weekly episodes is never as good as a full on binge).

2. Travel confidence/striving to better my anxiety again and again - This goes hand in hand with the following point but it deserves its own mention to be honest. It wasn't all that long ago that I felt jittery and worried about leaving the house, even for work, let alone letting it all go and just going everywhere and anywhere I get the opportunity to. Beckenham, home, Faversham, Oxford. It may not seem a lot to those accustomed to just following their heart, but I'm proud of myself for how far I've come and how much I can truly push myself.

3. Oxford meal with Adeel and his work colleagues - Last Friday I left work at 4 o'clock, headed to Paddington for the first time and caught a train to little ol' Oxford for a three course meal in a boathouse. It was amazing. I'm going to do a full post about it later down the line, but it deserves a quick mention as I just loved it. Take me back.

4. The City of Mirrors - mannnnnn, this is also going to get its own post in review format but this book! Final instalment of Justin Cronin's vampire, end-of-the-world trilogy and it was as good as I could have hoped and better. READ THEM.

5. Runtastic - hey, look who's kept it up and hasn't given in to laziness again?? I'm actually loving it, it's hard work and a killer on those muscles, but the feeling of completing 1-2 miles twice a week is the best feeling ever and this app is a huge motivator.

6. Empire soundtrack - I'm always looking for new music since joining Spotify and the Empire season has not long finished and I found myself craving to hear Jussie Smollett's lovely tones. Powerful and You're So Beautiful seem to be my favourites at the moment.

7. Counting down the days to moving out - okay, so we haven't set a date or anything for actually moving in together, but it is getting nearer and nearer to our presumed month at least. I just cannot wait to leave this shared accommodation and live with my best friend and boyfriend. Sure, he'll probably drive me nuts at some point but, God, give me that any day over sharing with someone I completely loath.



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Study Soundtrack

It's been such a hectic week with the amount of work we've been given this year that I haven't had much of a chance to blog. So, I thought it would be a good idea to post a personal soundtrack I like to use when studying as I've been doing a lot of it recently.

I tend to prefer music with no lyrics, film scores if you like, or something relaxing and quiet. They're all from my favourite films, obviously, which I do find can tempt me into watching them, every single time. Yet, I have managed to avoid them and get a lot more work done than I would if I had listened to something upbeat.

Obviously, I don't get through all of the albums below, but I like to mix and match depending on what I feel like listening to.

Number 1 - 

The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture). 

The scores to these movies are amazing, I absolutely love them and I cannot wait to buy The Hobbit soundtracks too! One of my favourite tracks though, which I hadn't realised was even a soundtrack to the film, is Annie Lennox's Into The West.

Number 2 - 

Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture). 

Again, I just love the soundtracks to this series - I can picture the scenes to specific bits of music perfectly, although quite distracting especially with Johnny Depp in my head! My favourite bit is definitely when Will & Elizabeth get married on the ship; the accompanying track I Don't Think Now is the Right Time is perfect.

Number 3 - 

Harry Potter (Mask Plays Music from the Motion Picture). 

Some of the tracks on this album are a little scary, even without the connecting images (although Harry Potter in itself is not scary, the scenes with the Dementor's and Lord Voldemort in Philosopher's Stone are quite terrifying!), but I love it nevertheless. The Christmas tracks are my favourites by far.

Number 4 - 

P.S. I Love You Soundtrack. 

This just makes me want to go to Ireland and explore and fall in love all over again. It's so relaxing.

Number 5 - 

Twilight Soundtrack. 

I know there's a lot of controversy about this film in general, and I agree that it's not the best vampire film out there (Underworld!!!), but it's soundtrack is beautiful. I love the piano melodies especially, even if Robert Pattinson is not actually playing them.

Also, similarly to LOTR, I didn't realise Robert Pattinson actually had a song in the film. Although it is not the soundtrack piece it's still worth a listen (Let Me Sign).

And finally - 

A recent purchase, is Gabrielle Aplin's album, English Rain. 

Even though this is an album with lyrics, I find I can still concentrate enough to get work done. It's a stunning album and is very calming. I especially love the track The Power of Love as we are in the lead up to Christmas.

I hope you try some of these albums out, I know they're probably not to a lot of people's tastes but they're worth a listen!

What albums/sounds help you to study?

:)

Obviously none of these images are mine, they are the original artworks for the albums.