Things That Make Me Happy #4

With the ominous feeling in the air recently and all the depressing stuff going on in the world I feel like I need a little dose of optimism in my life. I'm kicking that off with a Things That Make Me Happy post and following it up with two weeks of Re-Readathoning, that should do the trick!

As ever, thanks to the wonderful Ellie of Lit Nerd for encouraging us all towards positivity!

1. Rhys' Birthday 

Turning 30 in style,with some kind of shooting game..

Brioche blood orange ice cream sandwich

On Monday, a bank holiday here in the UK, Rhys turned 30 and we celebrated! We were originally going up to London but predictably the car decided it was going to break and have to be in the garage for a few days so we didn't end up doing that. Instead we bought a day bus pass and went exploring, starting and ending the day at ice cream parlours (our two favourites - Melt in Margate for a mid morning snack and Morellis in Broadstairs to round off the day) with a trip to a retro arcade and pinball parlour (Dreamland in Margate) and a little seaside walking in between. We did a lot of giggling, a lot of staring out of windows and ended the day with very wet feet (it tipped it down all day) but smiling faces.

2. Garden produce

I'm so loving the garden at the moment. Our first year as proper garden owners has had its ups and downs produce wise, but we've done better than we expected to and even succeeded in growing blueberries! I've been reading gardening books and Grow Your Own magazine this week to try to get some knowledge about what you do with your garden during the winter... Meanwhile we're planning to make mixed fruit jam with the small crops of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries (golden and normal) from the garden plus blackberries we've picked. We'll see what it tastes like...

Our blueberries!

3. Ninja Book Swap 

Ninja Swap is back again! I've been going on about the Autumn Swap all week on twitter, but sign up is open til September 14th if you'd like to join in. I love the swap so much. It's so much fun meeting new people and sharing the love of books, plus I always add tons of books from my partners wishlist to my own... You don't have to have a blog to take part, just an active online presence (twitter,tumblr,goodreads etc). You can sign up here.

4. Discovering random farm shops

Rhys being confused about the random selection of animals!

Today we were driving home and took a different route, as Rhys is apt to do when bored of the motorway, through country roads. As we were driving we saw a sign for a farm shop and thought we'd stop off and have a look. Farm shops are one of the best things about living in (or at least near!) the countryside and we love to support local ones as much as possible. However once we'd parked the car we saw that not only was this a farm shop but also a tea room, playground and working farm with animals you could go and visit including emus, geese, ducks, rabbits, horses, cows, sheep and pigs! Unfortunately it was 4:30 by the time we arrived and they closed at 5 so we only had time for a quick shop visit, a run around to the animals and five minutes on the swings, but we will be going back again soon to spend more time there. 

5. OTSP Secret Sister

I've mentioned this before on the blog but today I received my September parcel from my Secret Sister. This month is Rhys and my fourth wedding anniversary and she made us such a lovely, thoughtful parcel for it! She discovered that we both love Dr Who and are both musicians and she made this gorgeous artwork which is the sheet music of the Dr Who theme tune with a rather well known Doctor's face over the top of it. She also put it in a frame to match something she sent me last month and I just love that she thought about it this much! If you're reading this, secret sister, you really didn't need to worry, we are both so happy with our present! Then she got me a 'Shut Up, I'm Reading' mug which is so so like the 'Go Away I'm Reading' mug that I've wanted for years and I LOVE it and am going to use it for everything from now on, and finally a lovely little bookmark :-) I am so happy and spoiled and coming home to find the parcel was just the icing on the cake today. 

My amazing September parcel

Lots of other things have made me happy this week, these are just the major ones and as always it's done me good to sit down and think about them again. What's made you happy this week?