10 Things That Make Me Smile :)

1. Old Books
I love old books. The feel of the thumbed pages, the illustrations, the crumbling covers and the way they look all lined up on a shelf. I have quite a few childrens books ranging from the late 1800's to the 1960's and I find it fascinating how the way that literature speaks to a child has evolved and changed over the years from strong didactic tales of morality to books that are solely for entertainment, adventuring and amusement.

2. Trips to the zoo
I took this snap at Edinburgh Zoo of a sea eagle who seemed to be posing ready for my photo. I love a trip to the zoo, you could go to the same zoo and every time you'd see different things.

3. Vintage Inspired Kitchens
The perfect backdrop for an afternoon of baking is a vintage inspired kitchen!

4. Doodling
I love doodling, there's something really theraputic about it, especially when you can totally switch your brain off and let the pencil do the drawing.

5. Vintage Roller Skates
I adore my vintage rollerskates from Rokit Vintage. Luckily I have a skating buddy and we frequent the promenades and seafronts from Hastings to Eastbourne!

6. Brighton Lanes
There's nothing that makes the summer more summery than a lovely trip to Brighton Lanes for a spot of shopping in the weird and wonderful shops. On my recent trip I discovered the brilliant Dollydagger boutique.

7. Period Dramas
I've been making a lot of resources for school and to make the endless cutting, sticking and laminating less tedious, I've been watching a lot of period dramas... I watched Downton Abbey again in preparation for the upcoming second series. I absolutely love Maggie Smith's character and the interaction between the "upstairs" and "downstairs" characters.

8. Creativity and Cakes
I love that there is so much creativity and baking inspiration out there. Being a blogger I find myself constantly in awe of my fellow bloggers and tweeters and their baking skills!

9. Positivity
I think a positive mental attitude can do wonders for any situation. Some of my friends may be going through times of uncertainty in the post-uni job hunt, others may be feeling the pre-september nerves before starting their first teaching post, but keeping positive is the way through it all, that, and drinking a lot of coffee ;)

10. Churros and Chocolate!
When I lived and taught in Spain for a month I became dangerously addicted to these crispy doughnutty delights dunked in gorgeously thick hot chocolate.... YUM! Here's an amazing little churros recipe from the lovely Thomasina Miers.

I love old and antique books

One of my great passions is for books, I haven't got enough room in my house for all of my books and some are boxed up and stored here there and everywhere. But what I love more than anything are old and antique books. There is something wonderful about owning something that someone else has loved, like a little window into a past world.

I love how old books quite often have inscriptions and notes inside them like little clues into history. I bought the book above "Princess Ottilia" published in the 1890's from a little antique book shop in Rye and it sent me on a little quest... I spent ages trying to read the inscription and I took it to my mum, who is researching our family tree and has had more practise at reading the writing from the 1800's. After deciphering the writing and a little detective work, it turns out that I might even be related to the owner of the book! It was given to a young girl who lived on the outskirts of London in the 1890's. It was given as a prize at the local baptists church for a competition. There was only one girl living in that area of London at that time who it could possibly have been! Needless to say me and my mum were rather excited about it. What are the chances of wandering into a little bookshop a few towns along from where you live to stumble upon a book that was owned by one of your ancestors?

Another little beauty of a find; today I bought a book from the 20's called "the Weekend Book" for 50p. It is a lovely, and at times hilarious, window into the past. There are suggestions for the best poetry to recite to your family on the weekend, songs to sing together around the piano and parlour games. It also gives information about what birds will be singing in your garden, and star constellations that will be seen at different times of the year... even how to avoid "breaking the law" whilst walking in the countryside (bizarre). But my favourite section is the "food and drink" section with tips for the housewife to treat her family on the weekends and how to entertain guests.

"Weekend cookery should be either very quick, a good meal produced in half an hour, or very slow, put on before you go off to tennis or to lazing" (the second sounds more like my weekend!)

The section on using Tinned Foods is particularly amusing... "Use tinned foods, but disguise them. No one should ever suspect that they are tinned." and "remember to always add some fried cucumber cubes to your Heinz tomato soup" (how very bizarre...)

Sandwich suggestions... "When you go picnicking you will, if a pastry hand, take little pies full of good mixtures, but the average provider of picnic fare trusts to sandwiches, good drinks, salted almonds, nuts and perhaps raw steaks and bacon to be cooked over a camp fire on sticks. This is rather amusing because the food usually falls in and gets ruined. So be sure that the sandwiches are good!"

When attempting to supplement your diet from nature's larder... "DON'T cook and attempt to eat young bracken shoots because the Japanese do. What suits the hardy races of the extreme East may not suit you." (haha!)

So, my parting message to you all will be, go out and find yourself a good old book! As much as I love browsing the shelves of antique bookshops, often my best buys and favourite books have been hunted out in charity shops in Leeds and Sussex. So, you needn't pay a fortune... 50p will do it!