November Favourites

December is here! *insert bemused gripe about time flying here.* And this is my hundredth post - can you believe it? November was packed and December is shaping up to be even more hectic, meaning I've only managed to post once or twice a week lately. Even so, I'm still enjoying this little space of mine and am thinking about how to improve it next year.

November absolutely galloped past me. Despite feeling that it was so brief, I still have lots of moments to share with you. This month I've enjoyed...

Picking up a free pumpkin from behind King's Cross the day after Halloween and spending all day transforming it into a pie! 

Missing my tube stop once or twice thanks to a certain podcast. I was a few weeks late to the Serial party, but as soon as I tuned in I was hooked. Miho, Lulu, Lisa (fantastic bloggers all three!) and I were chatting about this on Twitter and we're all unhealthily hooked. Truly compelling listening. Go and check it out for yourself! Tamsin Lim takes no responsibility for the addiction that may or may not ensue following episode one.

Discovering a quiet little rooftop lunch spot just a stone's throw from the hustle and bustle of Oxford Street, overlooked by a monumental Ukrainian Church. How did I not know about this place? It's a bit too cold to eat outside now, but I'm keeping this in mind for next summer!

Melting over the most adorable hedgehog video from Wildlife Aid. So cute, and the graphics are beautiful! Makes me want to help urban hedgehogs (and possibly adopt a domesticated one?)

Jumping up and down with excitement at the first frost. Yes, I'll technically have been an adult for a full five years as of tomorrow, but I'll be a winter child forever! The novelty will wear off as soon as my dad needs me to de-ice the car.  

De-frazzling my brain at the end of the day with various cinematic and televised delights. In particular I enjoyed Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, which ticked all my boxes where it came to drama, sci-fi genre and a dying Earth. Noisy, with jawdropping visuals and hints of 2001, I felt as if I was in a rocket or flight simulator. I also binged on Les Revenants - not your typical TV show about the walking dead... And lately I've been watching Remember Me, another creepfest about a vengeful ghost that seems intent on wreaking havoc across Yorkshire! 

Allowing myself to be bewitched by the Christmas windows. Every year my family drive down to Oxford Street to check out the Liberty and Selfridges Christmas displays, and this year is a good 'un - with a sparklingly enchanted forest at Selfridges, and nautical-themed windows at Liberty that tie in with their history, the shop having been constructed from the timbers of two ships!

Skywatching more than usual. The morning light has been amazing this month, and the cold weather always brings interesting cloud formations with it. I thought this particular sky looked almost like marble.

Guzzling all the chai lattes I can get my mitts on. Not like proper chai tea at all but made using a chai-flavoured syrup, they're milky, frothy and sweet, and the perfect way to ease into the afternoon, I think. I find the ones from EAT, Timberyard and Gail's particularly comforting.

Noodling my way across London and the North. Yup, this was truly Noodvember. (Can you tell I'm all about the neologisms today?) I ate tonkotsu ramen at Bone Daddies, Tonkotsu Selfridges and United Ramen, and a very pleasant char kway teow at Tampopo in Manchester. Tampopo is a film about creating the ultimate bowl of noodles, so maybe finding perfect noodles will be my goal for 2015!

November, you were lovely, but December, I'm ready for you and the foodie carnage you're about wreak on my hapless, unwitting body. Because...I'm having four birthday dinners this month. That's right, folks - a waistband-expanding three celebratory meals this weekend and then another when my sister comes back from uni in a few weeks! And then, Christmas lunch, the mother of all festive foodie blowouts. Better factor some workouts into my goals post for this month...

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Monthly Goals: November

It's already November 6th and I can't believe how quickly this month, let alone the year, is speeding by. Last night I watched the local fireworks from the comfort of my living room. And with Bonfire Night comes the one month mark until my birthday! (Get ready for me to blabber on about this all month long, people - I bloody love December. Might have something to do with all my presents for the year coming at once...) And before my birthday I'm always itching to do a little self-improvement. So let's get down to business! As usual, first we'll see how I did on my goals from last month *quakes*. This is just like Parents' Evening all over again...

OCTOBER GOALS

• Apply for 5 jobs per week •

Ok, this one went down the drain as soon as I started my work placements. Penguin and Blue Rubicon were really fun, but I was so swamped that I ended up crawling home exhausted every night, probably more tired than I was during finals. I applied for a couple but nowhere near as many as 5 per week, so I'll be continuing with this goal this month. 

• Read 5 scary novels! •

I seem to be good at ticking off my book-related goals! I read my requisite 5 scary books, and you can see what I thought of them here. I kind of want to read at least one scary novel a month - they're so addictive!

• Continue to learn Spanish •

Again, this one went out of the window. I did fairly well towards the beginning of the month, racking up a 16 or 17 day streak with all my languages on Duolingo, but after I started suffering from the most stubborn cold ever (three weeks, guys - I need sympathy here!) the streak quickly fell by the wayside. I'm not going to let this one slide, though - I want to get my Spanish up to at least a basic level so this one is officially appearing on my goals list for a second month in a row.

• Get rid of things I don't need •

I've begun to clear my wardrobe of the summery things I didn't end up wearing this summer, and my bookcases are next. I have so many that they're spilling off my two floor-to-ceiling bookcases into piles on the floor, so I've started putting the rejects to one side to sell on Amazon or give to charity.

• Build up my stamina •

Another goal, another defenestration...I totally failed at factoring the promised runs into my routine, but I did manage to do a couple of workouts each week, so I think my stamina might have improved, if only by a little! I'm really interested in the nine week Couch to 5k plan though, as recommended by Lisa. This one isn't going to get swept under the rug!

So yes. I was a bit fail this month with my goals. I'll chalk it up to my lack of a regular schedule, running around town at two different work placements as well as starting a part-time job. Hopefully as soon as I have a stable routine I can put these goals into action! I'm going to cut myself a little slack this month and go for four instead of five: here's what I'd like to accomplish this month.

NOVEMBER GOALS

• Establish a regular blogging routine •

I didn't post as much as I wanted to in October and have ended up with a backlog of seven posts that really should have gone out last month (drat). I'm going to try posting three or four times a week to see if a Tuesday/Thursday/Sunday or a Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Sunday schedule works best with my lifestyle.

• Teach myself how to use the manual setting on my Canon •

I'll come clean here: I completely suck at using manual. I'm lazy and usually just flip the settings to automatic or no flash. This month I'm going to look up YouTube and online tutorials to try and finally sort out how to use manual. If anyone knows any good tutorials, please link me to them - I'm so useless at using my camera properly!

• Try out 3 new things •

This one's a bit vague, I know. It's kind of a get-out-of-jail-free card for this month's goals, and might mean trying out a new restaurant or bar, attempting a brand new recipe or even learning a short new piano piece. I'll report back next month, hopefully feeling that I've mixed up my routine and been a bit daring in the interim!

• Persevere with Spanish •

I'm going to get back into Duolingo and continue to learn español! I really love languages and would love to add Spanish to my list. I found the vocab fairly easy to learn last month because of my Italian and French, but haven't quite got to grips with the grammar yet. Maybe one day I'll be as good as Beth and Sam...

What do you want to tick off your to-do list this November?

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