The Summer of Love

I've just finished an incredibly indulgent and summery read. I happen to know that at least two other people (my Mum, and my Sarah) have shared in this particular indulgence, as Mum gave me the book to read, and Sarah squealed when I told her I was reading it, and was extra-pleased because one of the main characters is also called Sarah. But I thought I would share it with a slightly wider audience. The book is called Wedding Season, by Katie Fforde, a favourite author of mine whose books I can drink up in very few sittings. They are all incredibly cosy, romantic, fun and relatable - Yum. I'd recommend them to anyone (ok, probably any girl, though there might be the odd chap out there who'd find it entertaining...) after a light and easy summery read. You can read them in the evenings and pretend like you're on holiday, even though you don't actually have a long summer holiday, and are having to get used to the working world where you have to be at work at 9am the next day. *sigh*.

(...momentary nostalgia for this time last year, when I was in the middle of two months off between finishing my exams and starting my job, and had little to do but read summery books and watch Gilmore Girls...)

Mum gave me the book to read almost as a joke - I was home for 24 hours last weekend so I could go to the wedding of a dear and beautiful friend of mine, Debs. I honestly couldn't have been more excited for her, or in awe of how stunning and radiant she looked as she walked down into the church.

Pete and Debs, with Suzi.
Credit to Felicity Woolman, whose photo I have stolen.

The joke of the book was not that I'd been at a wedding that weekend - that doesn't really deserve a book. The jibe was more at the number of weddings and hen parties I'm attending this year.

Me and Mica on her big day, back in May
Credit to Rhoda Lawes for the photo

Some of you may know that I was a bridesmaid for my friend Mica's wedding [above], almost two months ago now (how that time's flown!), which is one of eight weddings I've been invited to this year. Sadly I'm only able to attend seven of them, as I can't get to the one in Paris; and many of them have had/will have hen parties that I have the privilege of attending as well. In fact, I drove straight home to Northampton for this wedding from the hen party of the wonderful Claire [below], having been at her housemate Hannah's the weekend before. And we haven't even gotten to the two housemates of my own who are getting married in July, and September...

Claire, woderfully adorned in Port Meadow

My Mum told me that everyone has a year where all they do for the summer is go to weddings every weekend. I thought she must have been exaggerating, but now I see that this is actually quite likely, and I have genuinely planned my one-week trip to Switzerland around going to various of the weddings this summer. The book I mentioned earlier centres around three friends: a wedding planner, a dress maker and a hair and make-up stylist, and the ins and outs, and ups and downs of their lives, running their own businesses, dealing with demanding clients and their own relationships as they facilitate the big days of others. Having spent much of this year on the inside of what planning a wedding looks like, it was an entertaining read to notice some of the same things in the story about different brides that I have this year. 

Up until last year, in all honesty I'd had very little to do with any weddings - everyone I knew was either already married, or nowhere near married - and then suddenly, as if by magic (a shop keeper didn't appear) a bajillion of my favourite people got engaged. And a couple more have been added since then. It's been an amazing year, really. It's so exciting to see so many excellent people settling down together, and making that commitment, and being absolutely stunningly beautiful in the process. 

For any of you out there concerned for my emotional well-being, you can be assured that all of this hasn't actually given me a hankering of my own to bride up and settle down with anyone in particular (if anything I've got itchy feet to go out and storm the world under my own steam at the moment...), but as a final related laugh (having loved and photographed already this post) this picture did strike a particularly entertaining chord. Especially as I'm already twenty-two.

TTMMH #5 (Port Meadow)

I think that apart from the Botanical Gardens, which hold a ridiculously special place in my heart, Port Meadow is my favourite place in Oxford. I only post this in advance of OUBG because I was up at Port Meadow a week or so ago, so it's on the brain. But isn't it just *divine*? I'm pretty sure I took this a few years ago, back when I was living in North Oxford so pootling down to PM with my camera on a more regular basis, but it hasn't really changed at all...

Here you are, TTMMH #5, Port Meadow (larger than usual, because it's more impacting that way) :) :)

TTMMH#4 (Amanda and Hayley)

Rather than things, today's TTMMH (that's Things That Make Me Happy, remember? :)) are two excellent people. These are two people who I've grown up with, Hayley [right] since year 2, and Manda [left] since year 5. 

This photo was taken last time I was with them, at New Year 2012 - hooray, look fireworks! This photo makes me happy because it reminds me of an amazingly fun evening, and these two incredibly special people who I just don't get to see or speak to enough, now that we all live in different towns/cities.

But nevertheless, I give you TTMMH#4 - Amanda and Hayley, two of my most favouritest school friends that there are <3

TTMMH #3 (Dylan)

Ok, so if you're friends with me on facebook, the context of this little dude is the guy who regularly has hilarious conversations with me, called Dylan, which I have no choice but to document for you all. This photo was taken about 6 months ago, so he's obviously grown since then, but it makes me so happy, his little grinning face! I give you TTMMH#3, my personal pastor's eldest kid: Dyls.

TTMMH#2 (Max)

The next in my TTMMH (Things That Make Me Happy) series is this little critter, Max. 

He is a chinchilla (for those of you not in the know.)

We've had him for over ten years now, and he lives and my parents' house back in Northampton. His twin sister, Pepsi, belongs to my big sister, so I'm not allowed to like her as much...but this little [old] guy is a constant delight of my life. I think you'll agree, he's lush, right? Behold, TTMMH#2.

Things That Make Me Happy [TTMMH] #1 (nail varnish co-ordination)

I realised today that there are so many things in life to which I exclaim 'Oh, that makes me happy!'. Today was a REALLY simple one: I realised that the trousers I'd put on were a perfect match for the 'green-fingered' nail varnish I was wearing. Aren't those moments just so joyful? When you realise you're accidentally a stylistic goddess?...*ahem*...

SO, I decided that I would try and document (as part of the 'love' and 'photograph' elements of this blog) a whole load of the things that make me happy :) Thankfulness and gratitude of the things around you is always a good thing, hence being active in it.

They are in no particular order, ie. the order they appear has no correlation with their importance to me (clearly #1, 'having your nail varnish match your trousers' is not the actual, most exciting, thing in my life, but it's a good place to start because it triggered the thought!)

So, here we go, TTMMH#1 - Today my trousers matched my nail varnish. :D

And so it begins...

Graduating with Gusto

So, as of yesterday, I'm finally able to say that I have graduated from Oxford University! Hooray!  It was a bit bitter-sweet graduating on Sunday - most of my yeargroup graduated the day before, all together, so I didn't get to join in the mass celebration in the same way; but, on the other hand, I got to graduate with three of my favourites, and the ceremony only took 25 minutes as it was just a little, college affair. It was so lovely - I'm really not a fan of long, official things, so it was great to have the experience, but in a contracted fashion! It turns out we'd actually been graduated the day before at the big official do, in absentia, but we got to go through the motions the next day for the lols of it.

The day began with my twinny (not actually my twin, for those of you who are confused about my familial make-up, but my friend Heth, who happens to rock the March 28th birth along with me), who'd been staying with me for the weekend, and we were soon joined by the actual familials. We then bussed ourselves into town (not a favourite past-time of mine, but it would have been weird to cycle alongside them all...), and headed to Jesus.

First off, we collected our gowns from Simon, in the chapel.

Putting on the gown
Thanks to Jenni G for taking photos

EXCITEMENT!
Thanks to Jenni G for taking photos

 After that commenced a nice long session of taking photos and general milling...such fun! 

Finally allowed to *wear* the mortarboard, along with a photo-smile...
Thanks to Dad for taking photos

Joyful with Heth and Emma
Thanks to Jenni G for taking photos

Before the ceremony we had to have our briefing in hall from the Dean and Deputy Dean of Degrees. The Dean began 'It is essentially our job to guide you to the Seldonian Theatre to receive your degrees...though if I'm honest, if you can't manage that on your own then you probably don't deserve them...', which set the tone nicely for the very relaxed next couple of hours.

The ceremony itself was a delight - a nice little speech from Krebs (largely about the future, and how we need to look after the planet - Biologist appreciation there), then we each had our names read out, and walked to the front to receive our certificates. This was a great time to listen out for excellent names - full names read out, of course. I certainly don't think I won, but there were some corkers. I mean, who needs two middle names?! The Deputy Dean of Degrees, who read all our names out, I think is wasted in her current role, and should instead be on some tv competition like X-Factor, or something. She was amazing. Boomy. "Emily....Victoria....STURGESS...!".  I felt epic going up to get that certificate. Epic, I tell you.

This is my overly-excited 'I have a degree' face
Thanks to Dad for taking photos

Attempting to warm up my big sib
Thanks to Dad for taking photos

After the ceremony we went back to college for a drinks reception (drinking champagne in a gown - it's just the taste of freedom, really...! I had a rush of trashings nostalgia as I felt the bubbles go straight to my head, and my knees...), then had lunch in a big marquee tent on second quad. It somehow managed to make second quad feel massive. Our surprise was that I was one of three students with the privilege of being invited to bring my guests to sit on High Table with our college priciple, Lord Krebs. The likely explanation for this is because I'm a Biologist, which is Krebs' subject, so we had a nice bit to do with him over our time there, so I was someone he knew - but it was still a surprise, and a treat!It was fun to get back into the formal-dinner mind set, which I haven't done since I left last year; and it gace me a little posh Oxford-y thrill to work my way through the cuttlery from the outside,in, and make polite conversation with intelligent grown-ups I didn't really know. So Oxford. So nostalgic.

I'm now feeling incredibly emotional...having gone through the official rigmarole, and had a really fun graduation day that had been preceeded by a really fun couple of days catching up with everyone who was around for theirs too, I've now had a quiet day to reflect on the fact that my time at Oxford University is really officially done now. I've got the certificate to prove it, and everything. 

I think I can honestly say that the three years I spent there were the hardest three years I've had so far, all things considered; but they were without doubt the best. I am so proud of what I accomplished - and thank God daily for the strength He gave me to get through everything. And I'm so proud of what all of my friends have achieved too, it was quite a journey for us to have walked together.

Krebs mentioned in his speech how once you become a member of Jesus college you never leave. While this is a technical truth, I think I'll feel it too. Even when I don't have friends still in college to pop in and see, I think I'll always feel like I belong there. People say that people don't find community in many places anymore: well, I've definitely experienced one right there.

Ok, I'm sure I'll spend the rest of my evening being nostalgic, but to cheer things up at the end, I'll provide you with a Victoria Wood song that had me and Heather in stitches this weekend. "I liked big muscles, you were thin and lanky; I liked nice manners, you were far too cranky; you blew your nose and then looked in your hanky..." - It Would Never Have Worked.