10 things that make me happy

1. Having some alone time.It may sound sad but I really enjoy having time to myself to think about things and just relax. As much as I love spending time with my family and friends, I think having time to be alone with your thoughts is important.
2. Sundays evenings. I have a little pamper session on most sunday evenings to unwind and prepare me for the week ahead. I then watch films in bed (most likely something with either Meryl Streep or Grace Kelly in) with a massive mug of tea and, of course, biscuits.
3. Costa dates with my bestie; it's when we usually have our best talks.
4. Reading books that you can't put down. Worthy mentions go to The Picture of Dorian Gray, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Fault in our Stars. (Can you tell I'm a literature student?)
5. Watching the sun go down on the beach in Greece. It was beautiful.
6. No makeup days. Any girl who claims she loves wearing a face full of makeup 24/7 is lying. Letting your skin breathe feels so good.
7. Seeing my grandparents every friday. I'm so close to them, and I'm grateful for everything they've done/do for me.
8. Meals out with my best friend. We recently went to our favourite Chinese restaurant for results celebrations; it's kind of become tradition.
9.Lazy days where all I do is catch up on YouTube videos and drink copious amounts of tea in bed.
10. Days out with my mum; whether it be lunch, shopping or even just a chat over tea and cake. I'm so close to my mum so spending time with her is the nicest thing.

What things make you happy? Share them in the comments!

Welcoming September and the Last Year

I can't quite believe that it is September already, where has the year gone? On the 4th of this month I go back to Sixth Form, which means it'll be the start of my last year in school (I can't lie, the thought makes me extremely happy.) I wanted to make a post at the beginning of my last year, and set myself some goals for the academic year ahead so that I can look back on them and see if any were achieved. So, without further a do...

- Get into university. It's an obvious and standard goal for people my age but this year my biggest goal is getting into university (preferably my first choice) and studying a degree I enjoy.

- Finding a balance between work and social life. Last year I hardly went to any of the events organised by the enterprise team so this year I'm going to make an effort to attend more of them. 

- Stop Comparing myself to others.  I'm so bad at this. I need to stop focusing on how everyone else is doing and just concentrate on myself and my own success. 

- Spend more free periods doing work. Although I worked through most of my frees this year and didn't actually have many frees where I was just sat doing nothing, that was mainly because I'd deliberately leave all my homework to do in frees. Not a smart move. This brings me onto my next point...

- Do homework on the night it is set. I started off really well this year but as the year progressed I started leaving homework till a couple of days before and I was buried in work. I'm going to make a conscious effort to not let that happen again by completing my homework on the night it is set. Getting it out of the way is the best thing to do, because I can't even count how many nights I spent worrying over work that I hadn't started.

- Stay organised. Dear me, if only you could have seen the state I was in this year. I had random pieces of paper dotted all over the place and I had various notes from different subjects in the same notepad. One word, shambles. This year I need to make sure I file away all my paperwork and notes and stay organised. I can't be rummaging for hours to find that one piece of paper that had everything important on it again this year. Just, no. I'm hoping that if I buy a lot of cute stationery, it'll encourage me to actually use them. Am I the only person that does this?

It feels so bizarre that I'll be going back as the eldest in the school. It always feels like there's another year group above you, but this time I really am in my last year. Crazy. 

I hope that any of you starting Sixth Form or even High School in the next couple of days enjoy it, and good luck!