The Happy List #25

So the last week has been pretty fun...it was also jam packed so I feel like I could sleep for a thousand years haha. So this is gonna be a long one! Tomorrow I'm off to Ireland for a week to visit my grandparents, I haven't been for over two years due to the whole being ill/transplant thing so it's going to be so special to go back and explore with these new lungs of mine - I can't bloody wait! But here's what's been going on lately.

Dream house in Brighton

1. Day with family at the park. I love spending the day with my family and it's a tiny thing but I played bat and ball with my little cousin which I haven't been able to do for years. That's the thing with transplant, you notice small differences that make the world of difference.

2. Newspaper article. The Daily Mirror featured my story last Monday, which you can read here if you want to! They're currently backing an opt out system when it comes to organ donation in the UK, as currently you have to sign up to join the organ donor register but an opt out system would mean presumed consent unless you decide to 'opt out'. It's explained more in the article but the hope is that with a change in the law more lives will be saved, as three people die a day on average waiting for an organ transplant which is a shocking statistic.

3. Cooking. Since going veggie I definitely have become less lazy when it comes to cooking and apart from the washing up part I've been really loving it! I've found some great recipes on Pinch Of Yum that aren't just vegetarian if you're a meat eater.

4. Brighton. I spent a couple of days in Brighton househunting (it's so hard!) and it was nice getting more acquainted with the place. When I'm at home I panic so much about the big move but when I'm there I just feel so excited and I can't wait!

5. Blink 182. My teenage dream came true on Wednesday when I went to see Blink 182. Yes I missed Tom, but he chose to leave us haha and Matt Skiba is as good a replacement as we could hope for! But mainly it was really special to see Travis Barker play, the man is like a machine. Also I got to meet Meg which was fab after talking for so long! She's amazing, it felt like we were old pals <3

My namesake bar

6. CF Clinic. I went back to my old CF Clinic on Tuesday to get my annual review results (it was all good, yay!) and I saw my consultant. He last saw me the day I got shipped off the to the Brompton on ECMO so it was amazing to see him and thank him for everything he did and I think it was nice for him to see me well without any tubes etc attached to me haha. He made countless phone calls and stayed all night trying to get me a bed at the other hospitals and I'm so grateful to him, my other brilliant consultant and the whole CF team for working so hard because I wouldn't be here without them. Of course he totally played all that he did down, but he is brill. I don't miss being ill all the time but I do miss seeing my CF team more regularly, they're like family! I got lucky with that lot.

7. Tonight, Josephine. On Friday night me and some friends went out to Tonight, Josephine at Waterloo. Obviously the name meant I kinda had to go and also just look at their insta. It's a tiny place but super cute and the cocktails have the best names. It's best to book before you go and if you sign up to their mailing list you'll get a free cocktail which is always nice. It was so much fun, I really recommend it - perfect place for a night out!

8. Dunkirk. I worked at the museum all weekend which was really fun but by Sunday night I was needing a bit of me time so took a solo trip to the cinema (I do it a lot and it's not as scary as you might think haha!) I saw Dunkirk at the IMAX and it's so worth paying extra for because it looked stunning. I have a round up post of the films I've seen this month so I'll elaborate more then but for now I'll let you know I left the cinema sobbing, which was highly embarrassing but I couldn't control myself ok?

Lana, Lana, bo-fanna, banana-fana fo-fanna, fee-fi-fo-manna, Lana!

9. Return of Game Of Thrones. As if this wasn't going to be mentioned. I won't add any spoilers but what I will say for now is I'm excited for Arya this season and also I kinda fancy Euron a little bit (I can't help it, I'm sorry!)

10. Lana del Rey gig. She is like never here so it was incredible to see her perform live. She was actually brill too, I know she gets slated a lot but I think she sounded dreamy and even better in real life. I'm so not technical so I don't know how to explain it but her records have a lot of things going on in them, like production or whatnot I don't know, but when she is a bit more stripped back she's just out of this world.

So that's the latest that's been going on! I'm going to try and get my act together and schedule some posts for when I'm away but you know I can't make any promises haha. Tell me what you've been up to!