Micro Pleasures (11-20)

11. Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies - a heavenly recipe by my housemate/wife. 

12. Tea and scones at Tartine, Tooting.

13. Clean sheets over a memory foam mattress surrounded by a thousand cushions. Yes, my bed is my happy place. No, you may not join me here.

14. The following songs: Titanium, Gravity, Earned It.

15. Quotes about womanhood and women and being OK with who you are. This one especially rang true for me lately. I AM WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR, etc.

16. Spontaneous trips away. In the past few months I've done Berlin, Paris and Edinburgh. Next up we have Belfast and Glasgow. Possibly Cardiff and Amsterdam.

17. Thick socks and fluffy blankets.

18. Five Guys burgers. Fries cooked in peanut oil accompanied by a bacon cheeseburger with hot sauce, peppers, onions and lettuce. Be still my beating heart.

19. Strange Sunday night activities. One such activity recently being to write names of people we have loved on paper, and attempting to burn them as a mark of letting them go. The paper wouldn't light. It was a hilarious failure.

20. Books about London. This one is my favourite.

Micro Pleasures (1-10)

From the hedgehogs on my bedsheets, to the box of teabags by my kettle, to the gothic mirror I found in a junk shop in my third year of university, and have carted with me everywhere since, I'm constantly surrounding myself with things that bring me little moments of happiness. 'Micro Pleasures,' as The Goddess Experience would call them. The debris of a life well lived, as the older generation might say. 'My stuff' as I'd go about it.

On Saturday, Thom suggested we begin a 'gratuity jar,' to put some positivity into our collective lives. This escalated to become a colour coded 'gratuity calendar,' with a different coloured post it note for each housemate and then, for me at least, it became an idea for a blog series. Much like the '100 things that make me happy' lists I put together way back in another life, these posts will be used to document the things that bring me joy, or pleasure, as the title suggests. Because what better way is there to combat loneliness and romantic drama than to take stock of the things in life that make you crazy happy? No better way, that's what. Absolutely none whatsoever.

Here goes nothing...

1. My four legged feline friends. Erm, can we just take note of how tiny Charlie looks in Thom's arms? I love this.



2. Sanctuary spa candles.

3. Photography by David Bailey.



4. The blackboard in our living room. This is where we leave each other notes. Random, ridiculous notes. Mostly just quotes, really. And ripped out pictures of Taylor Swift with 'long live the queen' scrawled across them.

5. Movie posters on bedroom walls.

6. Receiving a text message from someone adorable.



7. Proper pyjamas. Yes, this is what I mean when I say I'm going to 'slip into something more comfortable' - eat your heart out gentlemen.

8. Time spent on the sofa with housemates, discussing absolutely everything, watching Big Bang Theory, and eating our weight in Camembert.

9. Camembert. Baked and served with crusty bread.



10. This necklace. Because it is exactly my taste in jewellery, and because Sam gave it to me for Christmas, which just shows how well she knows me. I've worn it every day since.