May Memories and Alphabetical Instalment no.5

Hello, Hello, Hello my dear readers,

I hope this blog post finds you faring well! Now sit down, grab a beverage of your choice and read on to find out what I got up to in the month of May (It wasn't all just work I promise!).

I am sitting here able to write this blog post because I am now free! Free from revision and free from essay writing and it hasn't quite sunk in just yet. Yet we are very far into June so I apologise for the delay in getting round to polishing off and publishing this blog post. Hopefully now that things are settling down a bit I'll get a chance to become annoyingly blogging prolific again! So you can add that to your summer wish lists :P

There is a famous saying that 'a picture speaks a thousand words' and whilst in reality photos are inanimate objects and them speaking at all would be kinda creepy I do think a bit of a photo selection and short description is the most fun and quick way to catch you all up on my May exploits! So here we go:

1. Essays and Exam and Celebrations 
   
   
   

   

   I spent a large amount of the later half of May stuck in the library with my nose in a book or frantically typing on my laptop on order to push past essay hell into freedom. Let's hope it was worth it!

   

   After the horror that was my first 3 hour exam on a SATURDAY at 9AM I had a wonderful time refuelling at the delicious Bloo88 and de-stressing with course friends. 

2. Foo Fighters Concert 

   

   After Dave Grohl's recent injury and subsequent cancellation of several tour dates I feel even more incredibly lucky to have gotten the chance to see the wonderful Foo Fighter's in concert in May. They were a band I had always wanted to see live whilst I was growing up and they certainly didn't disappoint!

   
   

   

   Also meant that I got to spend quality time with the wonderful Jess and Tom who are some of my best friends at Uni and have helped me get through a tough year so celebrating concert style with them was fab!

3. Food and Friends

   

   As essays and revision slowly took over my life in May regular food breaks were needed for energy and also the opportunity to interact with other human beings! Me and Nic made the most of this with a Pizza Express offer one night. Mmmmm

   
   

   

   I also had a lovely end of term netball meal which was a great way to say goodbye to so many wonderful ladies that have made Thursday afternoons so fun this year. Also a great opportunity to try out a new fav haunt The Anchorage. 

   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Supernatural Parody and Getting Twitter

   

   May also saw the release of one of my fav YouTube duo's new projects as The Hillywood Show released their Supernatural Parody to the world. I haven't been able to stop watching it since!
   I also broke my vow to never get Twitter in May as part of revision procrastination and it has become a bit of an addiction for me now... 

5. Cinema Outings - Pitch Perfect 2, Mad Max, Far From the Madding Crowd. Theory of Everything, Wild

   

   Anyone who knows me knows when I'm not found with my head in a book I'm usually found watching something and love going to the cinema as much as possible. I was lucky enough last month to review Far From the Madding Crowd for my uni paper as well as see The Theory of Everything and Wild at my Union's excellent Film Unit topped off by my friend Lucy's Pitch Perfect 2 birthday celebrations and a spontaneous library recovery cinema trip to see Mad Max with Robin. All films I highly recommend you check out!

6. Election 

   

   Those of you who know me and have me on Facebook witnessed my growing political enthusiasm around the general election last month and the extreme disappointment following the result but I was so proud to see the number of people who turned up at polling stations to make their voices heard and firmly believe that we can encourage positive change by keeping our government accountable and continuing to use our voices. The fight doesn't end when the ballots are counted folks!

   
   

   

   Each day is a new opportunity to shape our world.

7. Colour Run 

   

   I mentioned this more in my last blog post - which you can check out here - but last month I ran a 5k to raise money for the amazing mental health charity MIND which is super close to my heart having suffered from depression, suicidal thoughts and self-harm myself. Very proud and thankful to say that I managed to raise over £100 in doing this! Thanks for your support :) 

   
   
   
8. Other Activities

   

   I also went to the local Sheffield food market and had some amazing mini Dutch pancakes with maple syrup and cinnamon, mmmmm!

   
   

   

   Also some Darts banter with Tom!

   
   

   

   Lovely celebrations for Emma's birthday!

Survived Eurovison for the second time with some lovely folks and very happy with the Italy result!

In Alphabetical news we have to start the process off the letter 'I' which on my poster stands for Inspire Kindness. This is something which I strive always to do. Being kind is not always easy but it is always worthwhile. I am a firm believer that small actions can go a long way from dropping a long-distance friend a text to know you're thinking of them, holding a door open for someone who is carrying loads, telling a cashier/waitress/etc  thank you and meaning it, cheering someone up with a bunch of flowers on a bad day or a thousand other examples of little acts of kindness. These are sometimes hard to do when you're tired or stressed but even when they aren't openly acknowledged they are appreciated and eventually all the little acts of kindness you do will become rolled up into how you are thought of as a person and others can start a chain reaction of good things in their own lives. Just as we are inspired by wise words of great political leaders or influenced by the tv/book recommendations of our friends so to can the way we live our lives influence and inspire others in theirs bit by bit so why not make it something beneficial and beautiful like kindness? (Think I may have gone overboard and a bit preachy here but you get the idea!)

I <3 this!

In relation to the letter 'J' there is the maxim to Join in More. This is definitely something I've made a concious effort to do in my second year of university despite everything else that has been going on and how busy life has gotten. To take risks and say yes even when sometimes when you just want to curl up in bed with some ice cream and a boxset rather than meet up with your friends or take a spontaneous trip out. There will be things that you regret in life and a large portion of those are missed opportunities so by joining in more you can reduce the number of these and have a lot more fun doing so. For years I was more inclined to hide away, refuse invitations, not being a recluse but for sure not putting myself out there when the opportunity presented itself.  Yet more recently I have taken the leap to turn nice conversations into hanging out and budding friendships, joining new societies and not fearing that things will go wrong. I think joining in more is some thing everyone should try at their own pace. It's scary at first and but it pays off. May was a time that reminded me how lucky I am with the people and opportunities I have in life because it was joining in more that helped me to be happy and find them, and I can't wait to see what joining in brings me in rest of the year. I'll post a blog post soon on a couple of exciting things I have on the imminent horizon...

This quote doesn't directly fit with joining in but I found it and couldn't not use it!  I think it shows that when you do join in, live life freely, try new things or just be you can discover new things about yourself and I love that :)

Thank you so much for reading this post and supporting my blog in general, it makes writing it that much more enjoyable.

I shall be back with more regular updates now that exams and essays are out of the way so make sure you head back here to Observations of A Fictional Girl for a new blog post coming your way soon.

Much blogging love,
M xx

Songs of the Post: Foo Fighters - Best of You and Arcade Fire - Month of May