Top Ten - Things Making Me Happy

I had so much fun with my last post, about my top ten reads of this year, that I thought I'd make another list! This time, the things making me happy. Off we go.

Again, in no particular order..

1. Jaffa cake muffins. N had a bit of a craving over the last week and a bit for jaffa cake muffins. He, no lie, looked in about 8 shops for these damn muffins without any luck. Then, randomly, in a service station outside of Warwick, on the weekend, he found them AND they were on offer. Had one for breakfast, and it was marvellous.

2. The world cup! I'm not really big into football. I really only watch international games like the World Cup and the Euro ... one. You know the one I mean? But seriously, the World Cup has taken up so much of my time this past week! I watch the games even if I don't know anything about either team. But the goals! and the yellow cards! and the red cards! and the referees! It's been so much fun. What will I do with myself when it's all over? That's right - Wimbledon!

3. No more studying! Did I mention that my exam took place last Monday? I may have mentioned it on twitter, but I don't think I said anything here. I feel really good about it though. The essay and short-answer questions seemed fair and I was pretty well prepared for it all. But! Now I'm finished, and apart from this thing in August (something making me very UNhappy) I don't have any studying to do until September! All this free time :) Don't know what to do with myself (except watch the football!)

4. Author events! I haven't been to many author events, but, wonderfully, there are two in the near future that I plan on attending. The first is being hosted by Tales on Moon Lane and has four very fab authors that I cannot wait to meet! 28th June, details in the link above.

Keris Stainton, author of Della Says OMG! (OMG! I ADORED this book. And have followed Keris's blog for years now)

Luisa Plaja, author of Split By A Kiss, Extreme Kissing and Swapped By A Kiss. (I LOVED Split By A Kiss and have her other books on my pile to read next. She reviews over at Chicklish, one of my favourite YA book blogs)

Simmone Howell, author of Notes From A Teenage Underground and Everything Beautiful. (Just read Notes From A Teenage Underground, and ADORED it, have had Everything Beautiful on my wishlist for months!)

And Sarra Manning, author of Let's Get Lost, Guitar Girl, Pretty Things, Diary of a Crush series, Fashionistas series and Nobody's Girl! (One of my favourite authors ever. I have a post coming up entitled 'On Sarra Manning' where I do a lot of gushing.)

I am SO excited.


And the next makes me almost stop breathing. John Green at a event in Waterstone's Piccadilly on the 14th of August! John Green, author of some of my favourite books: Looking For Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and Paper Towns. Plus the co-author with David Levithan of Will Grayson, Will Grayson. squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

5. asamum reads - I really love the Internet sometimes. Especially when things conspire to bring people together, like me and the lovely lady who blogs over at asamum reads. We met on a book swapping website, but now email each other regularly about all sorts of things. And what's wonderful is that we read and are excited about the same sort of books. So it's become this wonderful book-sharing partnership. Not only is it fantastic to have someone who I can email personally about all the wonderful books I'm reading, but also two people on a hunt for similar books means twice the success. Everyone wins. :)

6. My birthday. I'm not normally excited about my birthday. But this year feels different. It's a little more than a month away... I used to hate my birthday being in the middle of summer. It meant I was never able to bring cupcakes into my school classes for everyone, nobody really remembered it, nobody would be around to celebrate, etc etc. But things have changed. Whilst N might not always remember how old I'll be (N a few days ago: How old will you be on your birthday this year? 26? ... 25? Me: *dies laughing*), he at least always remembers the date. I'm actually going to be excited this year about birthday cake and balloons and the boys singing Happy Birthday to me. I've finally embraced the little girl in me who loves being the centre of attention.

7. Plans for summer - The summer holidays are almost upon us! And come September, my Eldest boy will start primary school and my Youngest will start at nursery two mornings a week! Ahhhh! My babies are growing up so fast, this summer feels like it should be momentous! Something celebrated and made the most out of. So I'm planning the activities. Weekends mean trips to Legoland and Blenheim Palace and Pooh Country, the zoo. But weekdays are for me to organise. Teddy bear picnics, scavenger hunts in the park, play dates with friends. I'm hoping it's a great summer.

8. Ice lollies. Or strawberries and icecream. Need I say more?

9. Littlest. Littlest always makes me happy, but lately seeing the excitement in his face as he's able to starting saying more and more just makes me extra special happy. He's just reached that point where he's ready and absolutely desperate to say more things. It's exciting times. The photo above is the boy doing his version of thumbs-up. Makes me giggle.


10. Books. And what kind of list would this be without books? Here are the two ambitious piles I have on my bedside table that I'm most looking forward to. The first are adult books, which I haven't been reading much of lately (but I've really wanted to!):

Lighthousekeeping by Jeannette Winterson
The Invention of Solitude by Paul Auster
Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman
Blindness by Jose Saramago (shame he had to die for me to bump this one up the list :( )
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon
Matrimony by Joshua Henkin
Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth

And the second pile is mostly YA with one sneaky adult book:

Swapped By A Kiss by Luisa Plaja
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace
Unhooking the Moon by Gregory Hughes
Extreme Kissing by Luisa Plaja
Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Wintercraft by Jenna Burtenshaw
Wasted by Nicola Morgan
Fire by Kristin Cashore

I'm hoping to have a better balance of books by reading alternately between these two piles. Unless that doesn't work, in which case, I won't! :)

What's been putting a smile on your face lately?