The Girl is back....with an award!

And so I'm back, from outta space, I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face....

Wait.

I feel like I'm stealing someone else's words.

Very early this morning a very folorn Girl waved The Americans goodbye as they got on a train to travel down to London to catch their flight home. I can't believe it's all over. It only seems like yesterday that I started boring you all with The Countdown and making plans for them coming here.

I could have gone in to work today but I made the smart decision and booked today off as holiday too. I knew I'd be in no mood to do work today. Although maybe I could have done with the distraction.

There's only one thing I could turn to when I felt this sad...

The hoover.

And various other cleaning products.

I now have a glistening flat (not that they made it horrendously filthy I would like to add!) but still have the blues.

So I knew what I had to write about today. Not what we've done over the past week or so, there'll be posts for that in the next few days. I need to write about something happy and uplifting and it just so happens I had just the thing hanging about in my drafts. I wrote this just before The Americans came back from their travels in Paris and didn't have time to post it before now so now is its time to shine!

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Sometimes my intense nosiness tends to get me in trouble.

Not this time.

When I said I’d be catching up with all you guys, I meant I’d be catching up with all you guys. As in, reading every single post I’d missed over Christmas and new year. No reading the latest post for this girl, I went back to Christmas Eve and did not finish until every word had been read.

And I’m incredibly glad I did.

Because if I hadn’t I’d have missed something which would make me very VERY happy indeed.

For I was tagged in an award by miss H. Hurrah!!

(cue dancing on the spot and clapping of hands)

So apparently I have to list 10 things that make me happy. This is harder than it looks. Did I go for silly little things? Was I going to sound too materialistic? Should I go for deep, earth shattering, profound pieces of information? I decided that the best course of action would be to just be me. And the fact is that there are some very silly things that make me happy. I went for things that give me that warm little glow inside, in fact the things that make me want to dance on the spot and clap my hands.

SO. HERE WE GO. (Please note these are not in order. I was going to try and rank them but quite frankly they all make me happy in different but equally pleasurable ways.)

1. Fred and Lily – Obviously they have to be in here. How can they not make you happy? Look at that picture! If it doesn’t make you smile just a tiny little bit then you seriously need to see someone because you have mental problems. Even though they’re technically not mine, I couldn’t love my own cat more. (Is it getting creepy that I’m talking about them as if they’re children?) And although at 4am, when Fred is licking my face and wanting me to get up, and I admit I want to throw him against a wall, I remember that he’s only doing it because he loves me (and not purely because he just wants someone, anyone, to get up and feed him) and how can that not make you happy?

2. Cross stitch – sad but true. It relaxes me. I like the process of slowly seeing a picture come to life before your eyes. I like making something that’s personal to somebody and of course it’s great to see them touched that you’ve spent time over something for them.

3. Crisps – I just love them. In every shape and size. And that salty, crispy goodness just makes me feel....HAPPY! I can’t get enough of them. Monster Munch, Doritos, Pringles, Sensations, Tyrells, bog standard Walkers, Skips, Discos, Squares. I. Love. Them. All. I like the crunch of them, I like licking the salt from my fingers and when I get to the end of the packet I’m genuinely disappointed. I couldn’t not include them on this list.

(And to prove how much I love them I have taken this photo of what delights are currently in the kitchen cupboard. Shortly after this photo was taken the Roast Beef Monster Munch disappeared.)

4. My camera – I get stick for having it with me all the time but I ignore these people. Because these are the people that text me before a night out and say “Have you got your camera?” I am the official documenter of all nights out, if it wasn’t for me nobody would have a record of the fact that they have friends and have been places. And yes I may be annoying and shove my camera in your face at every opportunity but really, don’t you want to remember that one time when you were waiting for that bus in Manchester? I think so!

5. Marmite – Hello, didn’t you see what I bought in London? Much the same as crisps, it’s all about the salty goodness. I have Marmite pretty much every single day and have been known to actually feel a little panicky when I’ve opened the cupboard door to find that there’s none there. I eat it with a spoon. None of this spreading a thin layer, I lay it on my toast like jam. I have it in pancakes on Shrove Tuesday – don’t knock it until you’ve tried it! I have it with bacon. I have it with cheese. I would have it on a crisp if I thought that it was in any way socially acceptable (also you’d need a pretty sturdy crisp to dip into Marmite, it’s tough stuff). AND it’s rammed full of B vitamins. Those are vitamins that actually make you happy. Obviously it should be on here.

6. E-mails from friends – I get so many rubbish e-mails – the junk that pours through my inbox is insane, adverts for penis extensions and Viagra, pleas for help from someone in Nigeria who wants to put £8 million in my bank account, the latest herbal supplement that will help me lose weight. The list is endless. So when I get an e-mail from a real life person then that makes me insanely happy. E-mails that make me particularly happy are ones from American Girl because that’s the main way we keep in contact. I see those and get myself settled in with a cup of tea to read what’s been going on in her life. Another friend of mine recently started e-mailing me at work too – those e-mails are brilliant. I see that I’ve got an e-mail and my heart initially sinks because work e-mails are usually rubbish and then when I see it’s from her I do a little hand clap (inside my head obviously) and read what she has to say. Usually something stupid like “How’s your day going?” but it can make all the difference to an otherwise dull day.

7. Books – Where would I be and what would I do without my books? I can’t imagine being without one. In fact I very rarely am because there’s always one in my bag. I’ve waxed lyrical about this before I believe so I won’t bore you again. But I love them. I love them in all shapes and sizes. Paperback, hardback, fiction, biography, I. Don’t. care. If it has words in it I’ll read it.

And this is what I have on the go at the moment...

8. The boyfriend – I couldn’t really leave him out could I?! Seeing as without him there wouldn’t be a blog (even if it ended up not really being about him) I think he deserves a place on the list. Don’t worry I’m not going to start gushing about how perfect he is, he isn’t – especially at the moment because he gave up cigarettes for New Year and is not a particularly wonderful person to be around at the moment – but I can’t deny he makes me happy!

9. Coming home – A year ago I was starting to think that I was never going to get out of my Mum’s house (I actually think she was starting to think the same). It was getting depressing – it’s not fun to spread your wings and fly off to uni only to have them clipped the second you come down to earth. Mum and I get on great but I was 25 and desperate for my own space. Now that I have it it’s the best thing on earth. And I know that technically it’s not ours, it belongs to Mr Landlord, but it’s home to me and there’s nothing better than coming home from work or coming home from a trip or just coming home from the shops and knowing that when I get in I can do whatever I want and just relax.

10. Blogging – OBVIOUSLY! I do enjoy the bloggagement. Can’t get enough of it. If I could I would write all day about the boring minutiae of my life and post it up here for complete strangers to read and then go and read about other people’s lives and comment on them. I like that this is my thing and mine alone. I like having this space to say whatever I want to say. But more than anything it makes me very happy to have my ‘bloggy friends’ who actually read and comment on the often ridiculously boring stories of my life. In fact when I get a comment on one of my posts I go sky high – a combination of Happy Fact Number 10 and Happy Fact Number 6!
So there we go.

I’m happied out.

And now to pass the happiness on to some other people:

1. Curious Cat at The Curious Cat
2. Petit Filoux at Petit Filoux
3. Pink Cat at Pink Cat, Custard & Cake
4. Trish at Schemmelhos
5. Susie at Itch2stitch
6. Diane at Heartshaped
7. Flicka at Flitterbee
8. Hayley at Ceriselle
9. Lucey at Lemonade Kitty
10. BLONDEDESIGN at BLONDE DESIGN

So there you have it! Go go go!!! Make your happy lists!

And in the meantime you'll have to bear with me (again) whilst I catch up on your blogs.