November Reflections, Highlights and Favourites

Helloooo everyone!

It feels so bizarre to be writing my last post for November already, because my next blog, even according to my usual blogging schedule, will be day one of Blogmas and when Blogmas ends, that will be it for the year and we’ll be moving onto next year. 

How insane?!

Time is always such a funny thing – it can sometimes feel like it’s going so slowly, and then suddenly you look up and it’s as if it’s raced past. That’s why I’m really glad that I’ve stuck to doing these monthly reflections. Even though it doesn’t help that feeling that time is shooting by way too fast, it does help me slow things down and remember the individual moments. So on that profound note, let’s get right into this month’s favourites shall we?? 

Favourite book – The Cornish Cream Tea Christmas by Cressida McLaughlin

I actually had the time to read one or two non academic books this month! Well, had the time is a bit of a generous description. More accurately, I squeezed in reading a chapter or two a night this month and somehow managed to keep it up without falling behind on other work. 

This one book I read, based in Cornwall, spoke to me from the second I picked it up. It’s about an eco-consultant who loves food and Christmas!! If I weren’t studying education I could have literally been reading a possible fictitious version of my future! I won’t spoil anything for you, but it is a delightfully sweet story all about discovering secrets, making great new friends and seeing what the magic of Christmas (and Cornwall because it’s magical there too apparently) can do. Definitely a great wholesome read for anyone looking for a festive romantic fiction book. 

Favourite film – Shang-chi and the legend of the ten rings 

Sadly I didn’t get to see this film in the cinema as I’d hoped, but I did get to watch it at home with my best friend Emma, complete with hot chocolate takeaway burritos and fluffy blankets so in a way is that better than going to the cinema? 

Again, I do not want to give any spoilers for the film, but it was a great watch! It’s quite different to previous Marvel films, but I think that’s because it’s a lot more martial arts based than lots of heavy duty weaponry and shiny armor. As someone who did martial arts for years (I have a black belt in Karate actually – fun fact), I’m always very appreciative of the skill involved and also I think martial arts can look so beautiful and graceful which this movie really captured! Plus the friendship between Shang-chi and his best friend Katy is just awesome. If anyone else has watched this film what did you think?? 

Favourite series – Young Sheldon 

Before assessment work got too crazy, I actually managed to watch Young Sheldon at the start of this month and let me tell you I loved it! I’ve watched Big Bang Theory many times, but when I first watched it, Sheldon as a character frustrated me a little before I fell in love with him. This was definitely not the case with Young Sheldon. I think the main reason is all of his eccentricities are just a lot more palatable as a kid – it almost comes across as cute! This series was also really fun to watch because it’s always interesting seeing a character’s backstory, especially considering Sheldon does allude to it quite a bit in Big Bang Theory – so I can’t wait to see how the series continues, cause apparently there are at least another two seasons coming! 

Favourite moment – Winter Ball 

This was a tough one because again there were some truly amazing moments this month. It was my best friend’s 20th, Durham hosted the UK’s biggest light festival Lumiere and we all went to see it, I decorated my flat (maybe not as significant as the other two but we all know how much I love Christmas), my parents came to visit me and lastly, my college hosted its Winter Ball, which took first place as number one because it was my first college ball (quite sad to say as a second year but better late than never).

The Winter Ball was quite a weird mix as the dress code was black tux and ballgowns, yet there were fairground rides for us to go on, and then pumped up dancing in the ballroom but it was still really fun! There were some hysterical bumper car races, lots of dancing, freezing cold walks there and back, but overall a truly fun night with my college friends. I also got the chance to wear the same dress I wore for my matric dance (prom) back in 2018, which happened to fall on my one-year anniversary with my boyfriend – so it was quite magical to wear that dress again. 

Eco-friendly challenge feedback – food for thought 

This month I tried to focus on minimising meat and dairy, eat vegetarian as much as possible, eat and shop locally and minimise food waste. How did that all go?? 

• For minimising meat and dairy, I’d say that went really well! The only dairy I consumed this month was fat free yoghurt for breakfast (but I have only eaten half a tub of it) and milk for my oats in the morning. Minimising meat also went quite well I’d say because the only meat I ate was if I went out for dinner, or if it was in one of my home cooked frozen meals. 
• On the note about meat, being vegetarian also went quite well I’d say! I didn’t really cook anything with meat this month, and if I was using my batch frozen meals I’d already cooked, I opted for vegetarian ones. My pitfall here was the week my parents came to visit because we tried out quite a few restaurants (all local) but they had some tantalising non vegetarian options I couldn’t resist
• Eating and shopping locally was great! I tried to buy my fresh produce from the indoor market as often as possible, unless they didn’t have what I wanted. I bought my pantry staples from the Zero Waste shop, and whenever we went out for dinner, or out for coffee, it was to a local or family-owned small business. 
• Lastly, food-waste was also quite manageable because I’m very cognisant of how much I’m cooking so the only food that is ever ‘wasted’ are vegetable peels/rinds and things that I can’t really use as all the food that I cook never really gets wasted. The only food-waste I had was this smoothie I got that sadly went all gross before it’s best before date and I had to throw it away.

So that was my month! It’s quite crazy to think that my next post will be kicking off Blogmas (speaking of – don’t forget submission deadline for guest posts is tomorrow!!!) but I’ve really enjoyed my busy November, and can’t wait to get cracking with what is looking to be a busy festive December too! 

How was all of your November? Do you have any favourites, highlights or reflections you’d like to share? Did anything special, or just particularly interesting happen? What are you looking forward to most next month, besides Christmas?? Let’s chat in the comments section!

Lots of Love

Blondey on a Mission xxx