I slept in, remembered when I woke up that I’m supposed to be at my friends bday party tonight in a flat I dont have the address of, still need to bake her bday cupcakes, wrap her present and get her a card, find out if my bff is going so we can share a bus/cab/walk the hidiously long way from the bus station to the flat (got the address, looked it up on google maps, it’s miiiiles!! And I need to be on the bus to Edin in …4.5 hours. Woo. Hoo… Oh and I also need to get out money, top up my phone and buy drink to take with me. RAAAHHH!!! Not to mention I’m already 5 minutes late for work and I’m sitting here writing this instead of getting ready =S

Should probably go…

I know it’s technically still summer but in Scotland it seems to already be heading full force into autumn. There’s leaves on the ground and the light is starting to change into that magical autumnal crisp blue during the day and amazing golden orange light in the late afternoon. I would say it’s getting colder but weather/temperature is hard to gauge here, one minute it’s near tropical, the next you’d think it was the middle of december!! 

Autumn is definitely my favourite season so my wishing it to be sooner might be making me think it’s getting more autumny (just made up a word haha!) than it actually is! It’s just so magical and beautiful and I can’t wait!! 

So, in preparation, and to maybe help me stop obsessing over it since I won’t have to keep reminding myself of it, I decided to make a list of all the things I want to do this Autumn. Some are fun, some are completely seasonal and others are just general goals. Here goes…

1. Take evening classes to retake my Highers in English, French, possibly Biology and Maths.
2. Knit a scarf for me and maybe some baby clothes for my cousins ickle one (due in October!!!)
3. Find a new job.
4. Go walking in the woods with my besties, take lots of pictures and kick leaves around.
5. Make apple cider!
6. Eat stewed apples with cream and cinnamon.
7. Make and eat pumpkin pies (maybe the plural of “pies” should only apply to the making, not so much the eating haha!)
8. Take lots and lots of pictures of friends, family and autumn things.
9. Go pumpkin picking with my friends and carve pumpkins together.
10. Have an awesome halloween party!
11. Once I’ve found a job, find a flat either just for me or for me and my bestest!
12. Eat lots of candy corn. Although after watching Psycho and learning that they’re Norman Bates’ favourite treat, I’m not sure how I feel about them haha! Eh, they’re yummy!! He has good taste.
13. Make lots of autumnal soups.
14. Start piano lessons again.
15. Learn to play guitar.
16. Plan the Christmas shopping trip to York me and my friends have been talking about for almost a year =D
17. Buy/make lots of nice, cosy, cold weather clothes; scarves, hats, gloves, coats, socks, jumpers etc.
18. Have a baking day with my bestest.
19. Watch as many NFL games as I can, they’re on at like 1am here… Definitely watching the Bears first game of the season or the first one they show here.
20. Find somewhere I can do a herb walk, learning about different plants and herbs and their uses. 
21. Find somewhere we can do apple picking (legally lol)
22. Make toffee apples!!!
23. Get outdoors as often as possible.
24. Make halloween decorations and costume (obviously this list is not in chronological order)
25. Collect leaves and pine cones to make either an autumn wreath or another cool autumn display/decoration with my friends.
26. Have a bonfire and make s’mores.
27. Read a lot, especially books that are spooky/ghost related like Wuthering Heights.
28. Develop my documentary idea, do research, write up treatment, look into potential interviews etc.
29. Make pinecone bird feeders with pretty ribbons to hang them from.
30. Have a movie and bake night with my best friends, make lots of cookies or other baked goods and watch as many dvds as we can! Artsy or full on cheese, anything goes.
31. Learn to quilt and start to make one for winter (knowing me it’ll probably be for winter 2020…)
32. Take a road trip with my cousin. Just thought of that one but it’d be fun, we could go antiquing and hiking and stay in these swedish katas that aren’t too far from here. 
33. Write hand written letters.
34. Volunteer somewhere working with kids, I enjoy it and it’s good au pair experience.
35. Try to encourage my family to sit at the table for dinner every night. 
36. Get a seasonal drink at Starbucks (there’s not one nearby but Costa’s sucks so it’s worth the distance) and drink it outside in the cold, crisp, autumn air, preferably somewhere with lots of leaves on the ground!!

It’s annoying me that there’s an odd number but I can’t think of any more. If anyone else has any ideas please share them!!

xx

Ok, I know it’s early. Very early. But Halloween is my second favourite thing (Christmas being my favourite) and last year I didn’t have time to make and do everything I had planned.

Last year was good, I decorated the whole house and made it as gory as I could, my best creation being the bathroom decor. I took inspiration from Psycho (I hadn’t seen the film then, I saw it for the first time a few months ago when a local cinema was showing it - amazing!!). I changed the normal lightbulb for a red one, splashed fake blood all over the shower doors and wall and left a knife (with fake blood on it) lying in the bottom of the shower. The red light really made it work, the whole room was blood red, my 9 year old cousin (who I didn’t know was coming, I thought it was just going to be adults, hence the extra scary decor lol) refused to go to the bathroom alone. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures of the house at night when it was looking its best, but here’s a couple of photos of the shower from the morning after the party:

Also, in the room next door (my brothers room) we set up an ipod and speakers with scary sound effects so when people were in the bathroom or waiting to get in they could hear screams and other horrible noises coming from his room. 

This year I’m thinking of expanding on last years efforts by doing the same decor in the bathroom but also hiding an ipod and mini battery powered speaker in the bathroom with the psycho murder scene music on repeat. I looked on amazon and there’s quite a few for under £15 which is pretty good, especially since I could use it all year round. I might also take out all the usual bottles and stuff and replace them with spookier versions… I’ll need to think about that a bit more though.

So, what do you think? Any ideas of how I could improve my idea? Or have you made your own Psycho bathroom? Lemme know and send pictures if you have any!!

xx