The Best of February 2014

I don't usually post monthly "best ofs", but I've done quite a lot of little things this month that have made me smile. So much so that I figured a blog post would help me to remember that in future!

The month started out with the boyfriend taking me out for dinner for my birthday (a month and a half late I might add, though the thought was still there!) to Prezzo, where neither of us had been before. I got the 3 course treatment AND wine - I was clearly taking full advantage!

After months of unnecessary stress and confusion, we were finally able to sign the contracts for our new house for next year! I can't wait to be living just a minute's walk from the city centre with 2 of my favourite girls!

I spent a few nights in this month with the girls, ordering a takeaway to watch the BAFTAs and the Brit Awards! Both nights were fab of course!

I've celebrated 2 birthdays in February, which of course, mean nights out! 

We went to a bar in town that specialise in beers, where I was given a coconut flavoured one. It pretty much tasted like Malibu, but the best thing was its presentation!

February of course means the dreaded Valentines Day! No, I'm not single, but I happen to be with a guy who has a high intolerance of the day! We went out with a group of friends on the actual day, but I got made a lovely dinner the following day instead!

Towards the end of the month was his birthday, and I got invited out to dinner with his parents. Now, this wasn't the first time I'd met them... Where we were together before, I'd met them a few times already, but not since we'd broken up. I'm about as socially awkward as they get, but I found myself really enjoying the night (though this could be due to the wine consumption...) and even got a hug from them at the end of the night. Cute. 

To end this post, I thought I'd share my greatest love: Food! One of my favourite places to go in Canterbury is the Chocolate Cafe. It's such a cute little cafe, and the atmosphere is spot on. And as you can probably guess from the name, their speciality is everything chocolate! 

Chocolate & Raspberry brownie. 

White Hot Chocolate. 

Strawberry & Chocolate Crepe. 

I hope your month was as good as mine! If you decide to do a similar post, feel free to leave your links in the comments section! 

Box Swap Goodies!

If you're an avid reader, you'll remember I wrote this post back in January, about the Valentine's Box Swap I was involved in. Last week, I received my box, from the lovely Lily & Ella from Grace to Grace, which to be perfectly honest, put mine to shame!

The box was beautiful, with a cute message on the lid, and they even sent me a little card with a Valentine's message inside! You girls really outdid yourselves! My box for them (I was only given the name and address for Lily, so I was actually unaware that Ella was involved too! Sorry about that!) was put in an envelope to save money on postage (I am a poor student after all!), and made my own little card out of coloured paper! Not quite as fancy as this, huh!

When I opened the box, my eyes were treated to a bundle of multicoloured tissue paper, and this is what I found at the bottom! A Rimmel Colour Rush Balm in "Not An Illusion", a L'Oreal Super Liner, a Maybelline 24 Hour Colour Tattoo in "Pink Gold", a Barry M Crystal Glaze, and a TON of Mini Chupa Chups lollipops! 

I love everything I got, I can't thank you guys enough, and I'd recommend any of you to take part in a box swap if you get the chance! 

Vulnerability

I’ve been struggling for the last few months with the feeling of vulnerability. Not wanting to do or say certain things so that I don’t have to feel like the “weak one”, even though me holding back doesn’t stop me from actually wanting to say or do those things. I’m still vulnerable on the inside, it just doesn’t show as much on the outside - who am I kidding, it still shows!

I was reading Hannah’s blog post about coping with a breakup, and I’ve never related to a post this much before. Not only did it remind me of how I felt after my breakup over the summer, but also how I still feel now, even though we’ve been back together since September.

Feeling so attached to one person is scary. It was scary when our relationship ended, as I felt like I’d lost a huge part of myself, but it’s still scary now. To think that I’m sharing my life with this one guy, who I can’t even be sure feels as strongly about me as I do him, just makes me worry that it could all shatter, just like it did last time. Maybe even more so.

Investing so many feelings and emotions into one person makes you vulnerable. It makes every tiny thing bigger than it actually is. If he doesn’t text you back, it makes you worry that he’s losing interest. If he doesn’t talk to you as much as you’d like, it makes you worry that he doesn’t care enough. If he doesn’t tell you how he feels enough, it makes you worry that it’s because he just doesn’t care about you at all.

All of these insignificant worries are all because of vulnerability. Opening your heart to someone can be a truly wonderful thing. It can make you happy beyond belief, to know that you have another half to make up your whole. To have someone that you care so much about that you’d drop the world for them, and know that they’d do the same.

But at the same time, my fear of being vulnerable has prevented me from saying what or doing what I really want to. Maybe it’s a fear of rejection, or a fear of showing how much I care… It’ll leave me exposed…

There’s nothing wrong with letting your guard down and showing people how you feel. You just need to break past that barrier of fear and weakness which unfortunately, is a lot easier said that done.

The Great Gatsby

For the third topic of the 2014 Blogger's Challenge, we've been given the chance to write a book review, something completely different for my blog in particular. I've always loved to read, and I was that kid who instead of coming home and playing outside or running riot, I'd be curled up on the sofa, reading a book. I'd go to the library every two weeks and pick out an armful of books that I would get through until my next visit. Although I don't read as much now, I still love to pick up a book every now and then, and just lose myself in another world.

As you can probably tell from the title, my review is going to be on the classic The Great Gatsby. It was written in 1925 by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a truly fantastic writer, I might add! Every sentence is like poetry. I first read this book for my AS English Literature exam, 3 years ago, but recently re-read it for my Film & TV Adaptation module for uni. I completely forgot how beautiful this book is.

I can't do the story justice, but a brief summary would be that it follows Jay Gatsby's longing to relight the flame between him and now-married Daisy. Gatsby is without a doubt one of the most beautifully flawed characters ever written, in my opinion at least!

I wouldn't be able to do the story justice by reviewing it, so instead, I'm going to write some of the quotes from the book, subtle life-lessons from Fitzgerald:

"Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope"
"I like large parties. They're so intimate"
"There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired"
"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the Fall"
"There is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind"
"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly to the past"

If these aren't reason enough to read it, I don't know what is! And the best thing? You can download the book for FREE from the Kindle store on Amazon. You can download it onto a Kindle device, or with the Kindle App on smartphones, PCs or Macs (my preference; it has a bigger screen!). I hope you all love it as much as I do!