50 Things That Make Me Happy | Tag

I saw this tag a while ago now on Jennie's blog, Sailboat and although I wasn't tagged I still wanted to give it a go for the simple reason that it never does any harm to remember some of the little things that make us happy! Have a look at some of the things that make Jennie happy here.

1. Proper belly-laughing.

2. That feeling you get when you finish a book.
3. The smell of coffee, lavender and turf fires.
4. Countryside excursions.
5. Extended family gatherings. 
6. Smiley babies.
7. Second-hand bookshops.
8. The feeling of fresh, clean pyjamas against your skin.
9. The satisfaction of being able to stand in a body of water in my welly boots and not get my feet wet.

10. Waking up to a blanket of snow outside my window.

11. Irish trad music, especially when it's live.
12. Spaghetti bolognese.
13. My grandparents.
14. Horse-riding.
15. Climbing into bed at night after a long day.
16. Learning new words.
17. Swimming in the sea.
18. Period dramas.
19. Dewy winter mornings.
20. Taking photographs.

21. The smell of books.
22. Putting on a brand new pair of socks for the first time.
23. Watching Buddha (my hamster) eat out of my hand.
24. Buddha, in general.
25. The buzz of big cities.
26. Eating out.
27. Being reunited with my school friends.

28. Decorative editions of classic books.
29. Poetry.
30. Miniature animals.

31. Dining alfresco in warm weather.

32. Tea and traybakes.
33. Buying gifts.
34. Starry nights.
35. Camping trips.
36. Christmas dinner.
37. Bursts of inspiration.
38. Playing 'fetch' with Heidi.
39. The feeling of being wrapped up warm in winter.
40. New, blank notebooks.

41. Singing.

42. Drives with my family.
43. My memory-foam mattress.
44. Finding seaglass on the beach.
45. Growing plants.
46. C.S. Lewis.
47. Having freshly painted nails.
48. Buying new books - this appears to be a running theme!
49. Frozen yoghurt
50. The Lake District.

I would like to tag Hayley, Tamsin, Shannon, Imogen

And of course, any one else who would like to do this tag!

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The Christmas Tag!

It's only 11 more days til Christmas!! SO, I thought I'd try and get my blog into the Christmas spirit for the first time thus far (whoops) and do the Christmas tag! I haven't been tagged to do this yet but y'all know how much I love a good tag so I guess I just took it upon myself.

1. What is your favourite Christmas Movie?

Quite a typical answer but I do absolutely love The Holiday, I normally end up watching it quite a few times over the Christmas period! I also love Love Actually, Little Women, and watching the Harry Potter films (especially the Philosopher's Stone) around Christmas time. I'm not sure if anyone else knows of this but there's normally this film called "the Ghost of Greville Lodge" that's on TV around Christmas time and I watch it every single year.

2. Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?

When my sister and I were little, we'd be so excited for presents my mum sometimes used to let us open the smallest one on Christmas Eve but as I've gotten older I much prefer waiting until Christmas morning.

3. Do you have a favourite Christmas memory?

I'm not sure I really have a favourite Christmas memory. I remember one year when I was around 10 or 11 I spent Christmas Eve night at my aunt and uncle's house who are big into Monopoly and the three of us played all night. I'm sure that sounds like an absolute nightmare for anyone who hates Monopoly but I just remember it being so fun.

4. Favourite festive food?

I'm not hugely into festive food really, I don't really like Christmas pudding or mince pies or anything like that, though I do always really really look forward to Christmas dinner!

5. Favourite Christmas gift?

I've gotten loads of lovely presents over the years from friends and family though a present that sticks in my head was the Hunter wellies I got from my mum a couple of years ago.

6. Favourite Christmas scent?

This is quite an Irish-y thing I think, but I love the smell of a turf fire! Also, that lovely piney Christmas tree smell.

7. Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?

I think Christmas Eve is probably my mum's favourite day of the entire year so she always made it really special for us when we were little, leaving notes and food for Santa and his reindeer. Nowadays we normally spend the night in watching films in our pyjamas eating chocolate, I guess that's kind of a tradition!

8. What tops your tree?

A star!

9. As a kid what was the one (crazy, wild, extravagant) you always asked for but never received?

Nothing too extravagant that I can think of, but for some reason I always used to ask for a Sylvanian Family set every single year! Santa never brought it though, I don't know why!

10. What's the best part about Christmas for you?

There are lots of things I love about Christmas but I think my favourite is just spending time with family and friends and eating lots of lovely food!!

I'd love to read your answers to this tag! If you've done it feel free to leave a link in the comments! :)

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The Harry Potter Tag

[Source]

Hey everyone, I'd seen this tag floating around a bit, especially over the course of this summer and I just thought I'd give it a go since I love Harry Potter and tags are always fun! Doing it has really inspired me to reread the books as well which is what I think I'll be doing over the course of this year! So without further ado:

1. Which is your favourite book?

For a long time my favourite book was the Half Blood Prince. I just loved all the background into Tom Riddle's family and Lily Potter's as well. I was so disappointed when the majority of it didn't even make it into the film and also by how the inferi looked in the film as well- they're supposed to be reanimated corpses but they just looked a bit like Gollum from LOTR... Not what I had envisioned. I ultimately lost a bit of my enthusiasm for THBP in general after that but I still think the book is great. I really need to reread it soon.

2. What is your favourite film?

My favourite film is a definite toss up between the Deathly Hallows Part I and Part II (though leaning more towards part II), if the two were just combined into one massive film it could well be my favourite film of all time. After the book came out it quickly surpassed THBP as my favourite, firstly because I was just a massive Ron/Hermione shipper from very early on and it was like all my wildest dreams were coming true, but also just because it's so different from all the other books with them no longer being at Hogwarts.

3. What is your least favourite book?

My least favourite book by far is The Chamber of Secrets. To me it just doesn't really serve much of a purpose as part of the overall series as the other books apart from the introduction to the concept of horcruxes. 

4. What is your least favourite film?

Again, The Chamber of Secrets. I just don't find it as exciting or relevant as the rest of the books/films.

5. Parts of the books/films that made you cry?

I cried by eyes out when Sirius died and also, of course, when Dumbledore died. Especially when Harry is looking down at him and his glasses are askew. It just broke my heart.

6. If you could hook up with any character, who would it be?

Cedric Diggory, hands down. Robert Pattinson looked fiiine in The Goblet of Fire.

7. Who is your favourite character?

Albus Dumbledore. Not even just my favourite from the books but one of my favourite fictional characters period.

8. Who is your least favourite character?

Dolores Umbridge. She really gets under my skin. Not a big fan of Lavender Brown either, for obvious reasons.

9. What is your favourite line?

"Ah music" he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here!"

Preach it, Albus Dumbledore.

10. What would your Patronus be?

I'd like to have an Icelandic horse. I just think they're so majestic but still so wild and untamed. I think they would make a beautiful patronus.

11. If you could have the resurrection stone, invisibility cloak or elder wand, which would it be?

Probably the invisibility cloak. Not sure I could handle the responsibility of the other two.

12. Which house would you be in?

Ravenclaw I think, since they're known for their love of books! I also got sorted into this house on Pottermore.

13. If you could meet any member of the cast, who would it be?

Obviously I would love to meet Daniel, Emma or Rupert but I also love Emma Thompson and I think Helena Bonham Carter would make for some pretty interesting conversation!

14. If you were on the Quidditch team, which position would you play?

I get really easily confused in team games so I'd like to be a seeker since your objective is fairly simple.

15. Were you happy with the ending?

Yeah I was. I was a bit taken aback when I read it at first but actually when I'd processed it I was glad that there was the sense of finality at the end of the series and that "all was well".

16. How much does Harry Potter mean to me?

Harry Potter basically defined by childhood years and were the first books that I ever really cherished. I owe a lot of gratitude to J.K. Rowling for the many hours of escapism I found in the world she created.

If you're a bit of a potterhead yourself I'd love to see you doing this tag!

Hope everyone's enjoying their weekend!

disclaimer: all images property of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc unless otherwise stated

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A Little More Liebster Award

I'll confess, I've already done the Liebster award before here but over the last couple of weeks I've been nominated a few more times and just thought I might as well give it another go! I'm actually a big fan of this tag, just because I think it's a great way to get involved in the blogging community and to give smaller blogs a bit more exposure.  So, a massive thank you to Bolanji from Velvet Row, HB from Preetiest and Roseanne from All Things Rosy for nominating me! However, instead of completing each set of questions I picked a few from each that I thought I'd be able to answer well. It was really hard because there were some very interesting questions asked but I finally managed to round them down, I hope that's OK! The blogs that I've nominated are also listed below as well as the rules!

1) What's one book that you would recommend to your readers? (HB)

Well, my favourite book ever ever ever is 'Surprised by Joy' by C.S. Lewis (author of 'the Chronicles of Narnia'). I read it over the course of a term at uni this year bit by bit during my weekly trips to the laundry room, which quickly became my favourite reading space- mostly because, for one, they have sofas in there which we didn't have in our accommodation and it's one of those things you don't think you'd miss, but you do. 

Basically this is an autobiographical novel chronicling Lewis's childhood and adolescence in the context of his early experience of Christianity and his eventual 'coming-to-faith'. It's quite a heavy read and maybe not for everyone, but if you have any interest in C.S. Lewis as a person this book is a truly fascinating and candid insight into the man himself, as well as a really interesting commentary on the sensation of 'joy' as Lewis understood it. 

I also appreciate this book a lot because of the fact that C.S. Lewis grew up in Belfast not very far from where I did so I know of a lot of the places he makes reference to in this book and it's really interesting for me to see the contrast between the Northern Ireland Lewis describes at the turn of the 20th century and how I know it to be now in the modern day.

2) What was the best birthday party you've ever had or attended? (HB)
This is a great question! You know, I've never been to a really wild or amazing party that's really stuck in my mind but I remember when I was younger I had a friend whose parents had a huge house in the countryside and he and his twin used to have these big birthday parties where all the kids in our class would just run mad around the house and play big games of hide and seek and truth or dare.

3) What's the craziest dream you ever had? (HB)

I have pretty weird dreams basically every night! I can't really think of one really crazy dream but I remember I dreamt the other night though that Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones invited me to the cinema but I couldn't go because I didn't have any money and I was gutted! I also had a dream recently that Jennifer Lawrence was just walking around my local park but I had to go home before I could have a proper conversation with her... Brief encounters with celebrities seem to be a running theme in my dreams, haha! Does anyone know what this could mean?!

4) What is your favourite season and why? (ATR)

I feel like every season has it's own pros and cons and I do like different aspects of every season, but it has to be said that my overall favourite is definitely autumn for its crisp mornings, rainy afternoons, cosy jumpers and welly boot weather.

5) Who do you aspire to be? (ATR)

Mostly I aspire to be someone who is happy, content and secure in herself and who doesn't need the affirmation of others to feel more "complete". I want to be a good friend and an encourager who treats others as I would like to be treated. I want to be someone who cares about things.

6) What is your favourite fashion era and why? (ATR)

Would it be too cliché to say the 1920s? For the simple reason that it was such a damn sexy and glamorous period in history. I'm constantly hoping and praying for some sort of jazz/flapper culture revival.

7) Where do you see yourself in 5 years time? (ATR)
In 5 years time I think I'd like to be having the time of my life in a job that I love, maybe living in London with my best friends or in a steady relationship but we'll just have to see!

8) Where are you happiest? (ATR)
I feel like it's the company that makes a place for me. I love being out in nature and spending some time alone with myself but I'd definitely say I'm happiest just having a laugh with my best friends! 

9) How did you choose your blog's name? (VR)

My blog's name is meant to be a play on words combining the word 'alphabet' (as in like, writing, as in like, writing a blog? Get it??) with my name (Beth) thus, 'Alphabeth'!

10) Do you play any musical instruments? (VR)

Yep! I'm self-taught on guitar and have been playing it for 5 years now. I can also play the ukulele and a teeny weeny bit of piano. I also took singing lessons in music theatre style up until grade 5 but then had to stop so I could focus on my GCSEs!

11) Favorite kinds of blogs? (VR)
My favourite kind of blogs are lifestyle blogs just because I love being able to nosey into other people's lives!

The Rules!

I'm sure most of you are familiar with this tag by now but just in case, all you have to do is answer the 11 questions set by the person who has nominated you and then tag a few other blogs with under 200 followers to answer 11 questions of your choice. They can be any questions at all whether lifestyle/beauty related or otherwise! But don't forget to give a little shout out to the person who nominated you!

I've nominated a few of my favourite smaller blogs that I read on a regular basis. A lot of these girls are on the cusp of 200 followers so I'm sure they've probably already done this tag or have at least been nominated before but no harm in giving it another go I suppose! They're all great blogs/great girls so you should definitely give them a wee read!

My nominees:
1) Jemma from  Jemma in Words

2) Imogen from Imogen Scribbles

3) Hannah from That Girl From Norfolk

4) Alannah from Kissing Winter

5) Hannah from H.R.H

6) Amelia from Stripey Jane

My questions:

1) If you could give a piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?

2) Do you believe in ghosts?

3) Tell us about your first best friend.

4) Has there ever been something (a book, a film, a person, an experience?) that dramatically impacted your life?

5) Tell us 5 random facts about you.

6) What would you do if you weren't afraid?

7) Do you have a favourite quote?

8) What are you most looking forward to right now?

9) Heels or flats?

10) Describe your dream home.

11) Where is your favourite place to be?

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Liebster Award | Tag

I am so chuffed to have been recently nominated for my first tag, the Leibster Award by MeganRoisinn! Basically this is a tag designed for small blogs with under 200 followers to gain some recognition in the blogging world. When someone nominates you they will give you 11 questions to answer and then you can in turn nominate another list of small/new bloggers to answer your 11 questions- I don't know if I explained that well. But here are Megan's questions:

1. What is the most expensive item in your wardrobe?

Umm, I really don't have many expensive clothes or anything. I think the most expensive item in my wardrobe is my Jack Wills gilet that I got for Christmas a couple of years ago and that was around the £100 mark but that's it really!

2. If you could interview one musician/band who would you chose?

Oh my, I don't really know because there aren't many musicians I really follow personally. I really like Ellie Goulding as a person, she seems like a nice girl, so probably her.

3. How much do you focus on how 'successful' your blog is?

I really have no real ambitions for this blog, I just started it as a hobby and something I felt would be constructive for me to do but I do think having some sort of readership, no matter how large or small makes blogging a lot more worthwhile so that's all I'm really concerned about in terms of my blog's 'success'.

4. You can only buy own-brand food at one supermarket for the rest of your life - where do you go?

If it weren't for the expense of it I would choose M&S mostly because of Percy Pigs but also because they do really nice bolognese sauce (If you've never tried it you should) but because I'm a student I'd probably say Sainsbury's just because it's way more affordable and I've been shopping there ever since I came to uni.

5. If you could have any breed of dog which would you pick?

Ahh this is a really hard question because I love dogs! There are so many breeds of dog I would love to have, at the minute I have a bit of an obsession with dachshunds because they're so tiny and cute. Though one of my friends has this amazing Old English Sheepdog who's gorgeous and I think I'd really like to have one of them at some stage in my life.

6. If you had to chose another name/URL for your blog what would you go for?

I really have no idea, maybe something from a piece of literature. My tumblr url is tirralirrabytheriver which is from the poem The Lady of Shalott by Tennyson. 

7. Are there any magazines that you buy religiously?

There are none that I buy religiously as such but I really like Glamour and normally get it to read on the plane when I'm going to and from uni.

8. Where is the furthest you have travelled on your own?

Completely on my own, just to Spain whenever I was au pairing.

9. If you could only wear flats or heels for the rest of your life which would you go for?

Definitely flats. I am not a very graceful creature and comfort trumps everything for me usually.

10. If you add up the amount your every day makeup costs you how does it make you feel?

It kind of surprised me how much it all costs all together but I don't really mind because normally it all does me a good few months and I see it as a small price to pay for a bit of confidence. 

11. What was the last fiction book you read for fun? Enjoy it?

I recently read Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence. I really liked Lawrence's sort of philosophical commentary in the book but I'm still processing my overall impression.

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So my questions are:

1) If you could live any place in the world where would it be and why?

2) What is your favourite childhood memory?

3) If you could be stuck in a lift with one famous person, living or dead, who would you choose?

4) If you could be any animal what would you be?

5) Do you have any strange talents?

6) Why did you start your blog?

7) What did you want to be when you were younger?

8) If you could travel in time would you rather travel into the past or into the future?

9) What's your favourite type of sweet?

10) What's your favourite season of the year and why?

11) What's the strangest thing you've ever eaten?

and my nominees are:
Miglė (Meet Me on the Balcony)
Ellen (Ellen Under Water)
Jess (Louise Amber)

Hannah (Go Exploring)
Jasmin Charlotte (JasminCharlotte)
Alexandria (Mirror, Mirror)

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