B3THANY READS

Dear Santa, So, it's Christmas Eve. I imagine you're pretty busy right now but... You know I'm your favourite earthling so you won't mind making some time in your hectic schedule to read this, right? Here on my blog I have already written about the bookish things I want for Christmas, but there's something else. There's a few more presents that would make me super happy on Christmas day, but there's a catch. They're not things you can buy. They are Christmas wishes. Here they are: Please may you help me learn how to properly dress myself? I'm fed up of wearing clothes I don't particularly like just because it's something to wear. I want to look nice and feel myself. I need to be way less awkward over the phone. Can't stand it. Please can I have some more confidence? Can you help me get a hold of my anxiety? Yes, it's gotten better in the past year but it's still very, very prominent in my life. Pretty please? I...

I did this post last year so I thought I would keep up the tradition and do it again this year! 1. Read 10 books Last year, my goal was to read 15 books (which I managed!), but I don't think I will be able to achieve in 2019. I will be in my last year of university, working on my dissertation, playing lots of badminton and doing exams... So I would be happy if I read 10!! 2. Reach C1 level in French I'm currently on my year abroad in Switzerland in order to improve my French for my degree. At the moment, I'm probably a strong B2 but I would really love to gain confidence and proficiency before I go back to uni in September. Fingers crossed! 3. Dissertation  I mentioned this before, but I will be starting my dissertation when I go back to uni in September. All I ask of myself is that I get a really good start, decide on my topic and work really hard. I'm actually looking forward to going back to uni and uni work so hopefully I can do this one! 4. Trav...

Inspired by Spotify's 'Your Top Songs of 2018' feature, I thought I would go through the soundtrack to my year. In total, I listened to 101,410 minutes of music on Spotify this year... So, I'm going to try to whittle it down to my top 10 songs I had on repeat for the past 12 months! 10. From Now On, The Greatest Showman This film was super popular this year so it's no surprise that this song is in my top songs of 2018.  I saw the film in the cinema with my sisters and absolutely loved it! I especially loved this song - it made me cry! (Unpopular opinion: this song is ever so slightly better than This Is Me). 9. Love Will Tear Us Apart, Joy Division Obviously I had heard this song way before 2018 but it has a special place in my hear this year. I was working at Next over the summer for some extra money before my year abroad. One day, my dad gave me a lift to work in our convertible Mini Cooper - we had the roof down, sun shining and blasting this song ...

Following on from yesterday's post, I thought I would come up with what presents I would give to my favourite characters from the Shades of Magic series! Well, the characters that are still alive... *sobs* Lila Firstly, I would give her 'Great Women Who Changed the World' by Kate Pankurst. Yes, I know this is a children's book but I just feel like Lila would really enjoy it. Also means she can use it to brush up on her English! Then I would give her a really good map and compass. At the end of the last book she sets out to sea with Kell (which I love), so she needs the best equipment she can get. I thought about giving her a new pocket watch but realised it would only be a disappointment and remind her of what she lost... Not very festive. Kell Kell definitely needs something to remind him of Maxim and Emira while he's travelling. So, I would give him a photo frame for him to put photos of his family into. We know Ke...

The Shades of Magic series is the first series I've read in its entirety in a really long time. I think the last time I read a series from beginning to end was when I read the Percy Jackson series at age 11ish. So, I thought I would dedicate today's Blogmas post to all my thoughts and feelings about V.E. Schwab's trilogy! (Be warned - major spoilers). I found out about this series through Hannah's ( A Clockwork Reader ) YouTube channel, and I always like the books she recommends so I trusted her on this one as well. It took me almost 5 months to read the entire series because I like to space things out and give myself variety in between books. What's cool is that you can see the seasons changing in the photos of the books I took! A Darker Shade of Magic Photo taken on Totland Bay, Isle of Wight First up, 'A Darker Shade of Magic'. When I first started reading this book I really liked the mad King George character from Grey London. I thought he wa...

I'm pretty sure everyone's favourite thing about Christmas is the food. Or at least it has to be in your top 5 favourite things, otherwise that's just illegal. So, as I'm spending the run up to Christmas in another country, I thought I would talk about what I like about Swiss Christmas food in today's Blogmas post! Crepes I know, I know. Crepes in Europe are basically an all year round thing. But there's something extra special about them when you get them at a Christmas market. There are so many choices, there's always a long queue of people excitedly waiting for their treat, and it warms you up in a very sugary way! I always get the chocolate crepes (NOT Nutella), and here's one I had at Bulle's Christmas market. Churros Here's another Christmas market speciality. Churros! I know they are originally from Spain but for some reason Christmas markets in Switzerland are littered with churro stalls. Every time you turn a...

This is the last instalment in my mini-series, so here are my family's Boxing Day traditions! Boxing Day is dedicated to our extended family. We have a very relaxed morning and then usually go over to our cousin's house just after lunch time. We sit around, chat and play games for a few hours until it's time for dinner. Dinner is usually left over turkey and all the left over extras from the day before which is dreamy. After dinner we play more games and then we do presents! Boxing Day is a very relaxed day, so that's all the traditions we have in our family! ***** What are your Boxing Day traditions?