What do you find beautiful?

Beautiful: 'Pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically'


The sea with its deep blue rolling waves

Puppies 

Tall, dark, handsome guys

Cake

Friends meeting after a long time apart

Rowing on perfectly still water 

Hugs

Music

Autumnal trees

Sunsets

Sunrises

Forests

Lakes surrounded by mountains

Guys with facial hair

Making someone laugh

Christmas trees covered in lights and decorations 

London

Kindness towards you 

Giraffes

Rainbows

Walking along the Thames at sunset 

Entire movie days lying together on the sofa

My friends

South Africa

City skyline

Parks in autumn 

Kind strangers in the street

Snow

Books 

Horses

Stationery

2am dancing in a club with close friends

A perfect blue sky

Jewellery 

Nice eyes

Countryside walks

Travelling 

Harry Styles

Dolphins

Pizza

Charitable people 

Playing scrabble with my mum and a few glasses of wine

Confidence

A kind heart  

Ryan Reynolds

Being selfless 

Smiling

The arrivals area at the airport

Best friends

Cocktails on the beach in Portugal 

Family holidays with lifelong memories

Love. 

This post was inspired by a youtube social experiment video I stumbled across during a late night binge watching session. I loved hearing what people found beautiful, and generally it wasn't appearance or looks but an actual thing. There is so much hate and anger in the world it was nice to see some happiness, love and beauty. This blog post is just an attempt to help to spread some beauty! 

What do you find beautiful?

Thanks for reading!

Charlotte

XO

Life Update: Uni

Almost a year ago to this day I wrote a blog post about growing up. This was just as I'd had confirmation of my gap year placement as a rowing coach after I'd missed my grades meaning I missed out on uni. I had thought my life was over and uni became a fairly distant thought in my mind, until I had to redo my UCAS of course. But I am now finally able to say I'M GOING TO UNIVERSITY.

The evening before results day had been very relaxed, perhaps due to some rather strong mojitos and a much needed catchup with a very lovely friend but as soon as I got home I knew a relatively sleepless night was waiting. I spent a lot of the night trying to hold off a panic attack as I almost rehearsed how I'd feel after I knew I wasn't going to uni again. I tried to think of what else I could do instead of uni, perhaps more coaching? or an internship? Or just go straight into the world of full-time work. I didn't know what I'd do or how I would face my parents but either way I was 98% sure I wasn't going to university. 

Well how wrong I was! I woke after 3-4 hours on and off sleep to a text from the University of Surrey informing me that my place at Surrey was confirmed. I refused to believe it was true so I immediately checked UCAS and to my complete and utter shock it was. I was going to university. Straight away I ran into my parents' room to wake them up and tell them the good news. I have never felt such relief than when I saw the acceptance on UCAS, I didn't even care what was in the envelope of my results now. It didn't matter, I got into my first choice university! Despite really working hard I didn't go up significantly in Biology but I did go up 10marks in Psychology which I was so happy about as that's what I'm studying. 

Shortly after the university confirmation I was given my accommodation and thank god I got an ensuite room. Tt's located near the multi-million pound sports park which I'm certain I will be spending the majority of my time in! Soon I began finding flatmates and people on my course which I'm sure is going to make the initial moving in and meeting everyone so much easier. I've met one girl who is super similar to me and is on my course so we're hoping we are neighbours! The next step is buying everything for my room, I'm trying not to go crazy and just get essentials but I'm so excited to decorate my room with cute fairy lights, photos and make it nice and homely! 

While I am so excited for this new adventure, to meet new people, start training properly again, be nearer to London and actually be learning again I'm also kind of terrified. I'm not scared about surviving on my own because I did a pretty good job of that this year. But this year was different, I was on my own. I was moving to a job where I was the only new person and there weren't many other people my age or in the same situation as me and in a way that was easier because I didn't feel any pressure to be someone or do things. Most of my friends were older than me, with a lot of them getting engaged and married (making me feel extremely single!). I didn't mind the age gap because I've always been someone who feels older than they are so it was actually nice to be the youngest. But there is now a part of me that feels fitting in with people my age will be a bit more difficult. I know I'm not the only one who has had a year out and there are a lot of 19 year olds starting this year but I keep worrying I won't fit in. I know it's ridiculous but it's just how my brain works. I know there will be so many different types of people at uni and I'll find a fab group of friends on my course, in my flat, from rowing or whatever clubs I decide to join yet my stupid over-thinking brain sometimes makes me feel like I won't. 

I know once I've moved in and we start Freshers' Week I'll be absolutely fine. I probably will get homesick but I've got wonderful friends I can FaceTime and I know I'll make some great friends as soon as I'm there so I know I'm not alone. There will be other people who'll get homesick or will have similar thoughts to me so I know I'm not alone there either, I just need to get to uni and get on with it before I can overthink it anymore! Although I have got Bestival to get through first and I am extremely excited for that! 

Everyone has told me that university is the best experience of your life and I can't wait to start my new adventure! It's reassuring that all my friends have had the best first year at university so let's hope it bodes well for me too! Wish me luck! 

Thanks for Reading

Charlotte

XO

An Afternoon Adventure 2.0

Another free trip to London.... do you really think I'd say no to that? 

On a rather summery but windy day about 2 weeks ago I ventured down to London again, is time to explore Tower Bridge and the surrounding area as, despite it being a tourist hotspot, I've never really explored it. 

I took the Metropolitan line to Baker Street where I then changed to the Jubilee line and got off at Waterloo for what I was told would be a quick walk before reaching the Thames. It might have been shorter had I not started walking in the opposite direction to start with but the walk ended up taking me around half an hour through some rather dodgy streets! Eventually I found London Bridge, completely missing Borough Market, a place I've wanted to visit for so long, and wandered down through Southwark to Tower Bridge. 

One of the main reasons I wanted to visit this area was to visit one of the Team GB fanzones. The day I visited was one of the bigger rowing days of the Olympics and I thought it would be nice to watch some of the rowing on the bank of the Thames with a big group of people. So after walking as fast as I could and working up quite a sweat (nice) I got to the fanzone to find the screen wasn't working. Disappointed, I ventured to Leon and ordered none other than the halloumi wrap of course, took it to a bench on the side of the river and watched the rowing on my phone. It was a struggle not to get really excited when I watched Katherine Grainger and Vicky Thornley bring home a silver medal in the women's double. A few races later and a lot of iced tea later and I needed the loo (TMI? sorry). Now usually I'd have thought this issue was easy to resolve, hundreds of coffee shops and restaurants in London there must be a toilet in one of them? Well you'd be wrong. A 2-3 mile walk and 20 coffee shops later, I found a Costa near St Pauls Cathedral which had a toilet. By this point me feet were starting to really hurt and I was so dehydrated I was thankful to find a coffee shop anyway!

Feeling relieved and refreshed I walked back over London Bridge and smelt the most incredible food smells and realised I was near Borough Market so I decided to see what all the fuss was about. There is little I love more in the world than food so subsequently there's little more I'd love to stumble across than a food market as extravagant as Borough Market. Some of the food I saw (and smelt) made me want to buy the entire stall. But I knew I was going for a meal soon and not wanting to ruin my meal I decided just to stick to tasters, including a venison burger which was delicious. What I enjoyed more was that this burger stall was directly next to a vegan stall, the irony. 

Unfortunately my time in Borough Market was cut short and I could almost definitely have spent an entire day there trying everything from every stall but I was on to my next adventure. I walked (yes more walking) back to Tower Bridge and bought tickets to go up to the glass viewing point. Because I'm quite an active person and perhaps slightly crazy (and extremely impatient) I decided we would walk up the stairs to the top instead of waiting for the lift, something I would not recommend after a heavy week of training. At the point I thought was half way up I could feel my legs burning, at the actual half way point I wondered why I didn't have more patience but at the top I realised the view was worth it. From one side I could see all the way down to Greenwich where the O2 arena was sticking up above Canary Wharf. On the other side, the London Eye, St Pauls and HMS Belfast. Both sides have a glass floor which allow you to see down to the river and the road below, when tall boats come under it is the prime view to see the bridge open and close, something we were lucky enough to see. 

Just a selfie above the Thames

By this time we were hungry so made our way to Shad Thames to scope out the options. In the end we chose Ask Italian, mainly because we had a discount code, we're not cheap at all! An Aperol Spritz and mozzarella sticks later I actually felt like I was in a foreign country it was such a beautiful evening! The food was delicious and the evening sky was turning a beautiful shade of purple/pink so we wandered down the river bank slowly. 

Back at the fanzone the screen was finally working and a review of the day's Olympic competitions was on. Of course when the rowing was on I was completely engrossed and totally oblivious to the changing evening sky, the increasing wind and the loud music coming from the bar area. By this time it was around 10pm and definitely time to leave as we had a long drive home but it was another one of those moments which made me fall deeper in love with this magical city. 

I'm so excited to be moving closer this year (YES I GOT INTO UNI PEOPLE, more on that if people are interested to hear about it) AND I'm going to make sure I visit even more and I'll keep you updated on my afternoon adventures!

Thanks for Reading

Charlotte

XO