OCTOBER'S FLOWERS.

Playing a little bit of catch up right now, here are last month's flowers which were these cute little asters, reminding me a little of daisies and "You've Got Mail". 

DAILY OCTOBER.

...nearly.
I intended this month to try and post a photo on Instagram every day. I'm sure I've said before but I love looking back through old photos and this is such an easy way to do it. Although I missed a day or two here is a summary in photos of what my last month or so looked like. 

RECIPE/ AUTUMN GALETTE.

As usual I have been loving all things seasonal so a few weeks ago a made a squash galette. It's basically the easiest type of pie you can get and it was delicious.

MY LEEDS/ LIGHT NIGHT

Once a year in Leeds when it's starting to get dark, something called Light Night happens... not that I was really aware of this despite living here for 5 years! All over the city buildings open their doors to the public and sections of the streets are closed off to host art installations all about light. We were only free to squeeze in one or two pieces on display but it was a fun and different way to spend an evening. Check out the rainbow room and a light parade with a massive owl (which personally I thought was the double of Hedwig) below. One of my favourite pieces was the projection in with window of 'Nation of Shopkeepers', very cool.

I love that there always seems to be going on in Leeds whether I know about it or not!

NEW COVENT GARDEN MARKET.

While in London visiting Jeni, we took an early morning trip to do some flower research for the wedding which is less than two weeks away now(!). Armed with coffee, scarfs and a notebook we made our way round asking questions and placing orders to pick up the day before the big day. By the time we arrived over half of the stock was gone but there was still plenty to choose from thankfully and I was in my element. I love flowers if you haven't already figured that one out and it's probably a good thing we were 200miles from my house or a lot of these would have come home with me. Can't wait to get my hands on these and start making button holes and bouquets as part of my bridesmaid duties! 

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LONDON.

A week or so ago I caught a train down south to spend a few days with one of the best. Jeni is getting married at the end of this month (!) so a couple of us got together to celebrate. In amongst celebrations we ticked some wedding jobs off the to-do list, walked all over the city, admired the view and took in the Autumn vibes, YAY! 

Can't wait til the big day.

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INVITATION. 

ALL PACKED UP. JUST ONE OR TWO BAGS...

SUNNY LONDON.

KINGS CROSS STATION.

YES FOR AUTUMN.

MY FAVOURITE. I LOVE THE LIGHT AND THE TREES.

SUNSET IN THE CITY.

EXPLORING THE LEE VALLEY.

LOVING THIS.

Here are a few things I have been loving since my last one in this series (and it has been awhile!)...

instagram account who doesn't love a bit of portraiture and something a little bit different on my daily feed.

website proving very helpful recently.

short series so interesting!

book (thanks Kate).

quote which has been feeling very relevant recently.

ZACH & FRANKI.

More and more recently I've been enjoying making little videos. As I'm sure I've mentioned before it is something that I like to do, mainly selfishly, so that I can look back on a day and relive all the moments I remember or may not have remembered. Something we have been doing for years as a family is watching back old home videos and reminiscing on hilarious moments that probably would have been forgotten without a camera being around. Not only do I love watching back the few short films I've made over the past few years but I really love the process of putting them together. It is by no way something that I consider myself skilled out and the clips are often far from perfect technically but I appreciate the challenge and the chance to improve with each one and as imperfect as they may be, they are still memories worth keeping.

Last month my big brother got married! It was such a fun day, I loved it a lot. Naturally, I couldn't resist capturing a little bit of it so here are about 5 minutes of Mr &Mrs Roberts wedding day. 

Z&F from indiacarolinajoy on Vimeo.

LAUZERTE.

Even though summer is pretty much a distant memory right now, I still have some final photos to share!

During our time in France we took a morning out to Lauzerte, a medieval town about twenty minutes from where we were staying. It was pretty deserted so we were able to wander the street undisturbed. This was one of the few ventures we made and it was well worth the trip. 

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THE LIST.

So back on New Year's Day 2013 I made a list. I first wrote about it here but seeing as my time was up earlier this month, I thought it was time to take a look at it again...

Some I haven't done, some are works in progress but on the whole I think I've done pretty well. A few I decided that I didn't want to do anymore (which I think is allowed..I made the list, I make the rules) and others just weren't possible and I didn't want to do half-heartedly. The reason I set myself these goals was to actually allow myself time to try some things I'd been wanting to do, challenge myself and have fun! Some I've loved and will keep doing, others have been less enjoyable and I probably will stop here. I've included the full list below if you fancy reading it. I've also linked any related blog posts and my thoughts about them. This is more for me to look back on so feel free to skim over all the detail!

I don't have any plans to start a new list specifically but I'm really glad that I did it. Lets just see what life after 25 holds.

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one. Start a blog  You're reading it! It's been going for over two years now and it's been one of my favourite things I've done on the list.

two. Visit America This one hasn't happened for various reasons but it is still something I want to do so will be ticked off sometime in the future. 

three. Graduate  Done!

four. Take more photos using my camera rather than my phone Again, this blog was a way for me to do this and document the past few years.

five. Have a dinner party I really enjoyed doing this one. As a child I loved it when my parents had dinner parties and I would love to keep this one up, especially when I have a bit more space for it.

six. Take up ballet again I completed a 10 week course to try and remember everything I learnt from ballet growing up. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with classes this Autumn.

seven. Travel around Europe This has been another favourite of mine to do, I've loved taking advantage of the cities so close by and making the most of my days and weeks off. See blog posts Ireland. Italy 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,  Brittany.  Amsterdam 1, 2, 3. Switzerland 1, 2, 3. Portugal.

eight. Make a quilt  Done!

nine. See Taylor Swift with my sisters We went back in February 2014.

ten. Read 25 books* see lists below

eleven. Watch 25 films* 

twelve. Knit a scarf as seen here.

thirteen. Write a poem

fourteen. Learn how to play a song on the piano

fifteen. Learn how I play the guitar a work in progress but I'm counting it 

sixteen. Have a herb garden I have had one..it died but will be renewed as soon as I have somewhere to keep it that has enough sunlight

seventeen. Get a pet This would be the one that I decided that I didn't want to do, even a short-term token goldfish. Maybe I'm just not a pet person and I'm totally fine with that.

eighteen. Run a mile without stopping I don't go running anymore but in the past few years I could quite easily manage a more than a mile.

nineteen. Make a video Another one I have really enjoyed doing. You can check them out here, hopefully more will be coming.

twenty. See a play I picked this one.

twenty one. Relearn my GCSE French

twenty two. Drink a whole cup of English tea one. whole. pot.

twenty three. Learn all the countries and capital cities in Europe and where they are

twenty four. Learn a letter from the bible off by heart
twenty five. Visit the Harry Potter studio tour and it was great.

BOOKS

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R.Tolkien
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
1984, George Orwell
The Catcher and the Rye, J. D. Salinger
The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
Pilgrims Progress, John Bunyan
On the Road, Jack Kerouac
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
The Lord of the Flies, William Golding, 
The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne Frank
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Goldem
The Princess Bride, William Goldman
Moby Dick, Herman Melville
Bleak House, Charles Dickens
The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin, Mark Twain
Ghostwritten, David Mitchell
Saturday, Ian McEwan

FILMS
The Graduate
The Godfather
Pulp Fiction
Schindler’s List
Casacblanca
Saving Private Ryan
Cinema Paradiso
Braveheart
The Big Lebowski 
Trainspotting
A River Runs Through It
Roman Holiday
Psycho
6th Sense
Manhattan
Midnight in Paris
The Descendants
Silver Linings Playbook
Liberal Arts
Untouchable
Delicacy
Paris, Texas
The Shop Around the Corner
The Guardian
Top Hat

SEPTEMBER'S FLOWERS.

This month's flowers were a birthday gift from my youngest siblings, thanks guys!

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