I hope you read that title in the tune of My Favourite Things from the Sound of Music, because that was absolutely my intentions here. But unfortunately I don’t have any whiskers on kittens or brown paper packages tied up with string.

Nevertheless, there has been a couple of things that I’ve really enjoyed recently and wanted to talk about but none of them had enough to say to be an entire blog post, so I’m following the trend and writing a monthly favourites blog. I’ve tried to pick something out across a variety of categories.

Playlist – I’ve spent a lot of time in the uni library recently, getting my reading done and more recently, trying to bash out some important coursework. In the necessary endeadvour to find some focus, I’ve reverted to my high school revision strategy of listening to instrumental music, and the calmer the music, the calmer my mind – or so I hope. The Peaceful Piano playlist on Spotify has been getting me through long days in the library, drowning out the noise of other studious humans (and some annoyingly chatty ones) whilst keeping me sane.

Homeware – Everyone loves a candle and I am obsessed with this one, it makes me feel so calm and cosy which is exactly what you want when the weather is getting colder and coursework deadlines are looming. The Coconut Blossom candle from M&S smells delicious!

TV  – I’ve picked a couple of classic good ‘uns as my favourite programmes at the moment because I’m so excited to have them all back. GBBO, The Apprentice and Strictly Come Dancing being back on TV is definitely one of the advantages of autumn coming around. I’m a big BBC fan (still stubbornly pretending GBBO didn’t do the switch cause it’s almost the same…) and they’re certainly delivering so far. GBBO is getting so good, surprisingly little Liam has pulled it together, so I’m now updating my final predictions to Steven, Sophie and Liam, since Tom was a let down. The Apprentice is still pretty fresh but the candidates are some real big characters so I’m looking forward to watching the fallout in the next few weeks. Strictly is so fab this year, I am in love with Debbie McGee, that woman is my goal for when I’m her age. Also loving Aston, Mollie and Joe.

Drink –  As we come into Autumn, everyone wants to feel seasonal and festive. Out come the cosy knit jumpers, blankets and cinnamon on, in and around everything! Unfortunately, and shockingly to many addicts, I cannot drink coffee. If you are like me, anti-café and a little jealous of everyone getting their hands on a PSL, do not worry. You can order a Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate to get those spicey, cosy feelings! It may be duplicating the amount of ‘basic’-ness but it is delicious so who cares?

Streaming – I’ve got two pretty different series here to rave about. The first is on Netflix and is absolutely hilarious.  Jack Whitehall: Travels with my father has genuinely had me laughing out loud so many times. The comedian decides he wants to complete his unfulfilled of going on a gap year and brings along his 70-something, grumbling father. They travel across Asia and get into some crazy situations, I would definitely recommend the watch. My second recommedation is an Amazon Prime series called Z: The Beginning of Everything – about the life of Zelda and her relationship with F. Scott Fitzgerald. I love Fitzgerald so it was very interesting to see that sort of background, plus Amazon series’ are absolutely stunning, they’re like blockbuster movie qualities of cinematography.

Podcast – It may sound a little gauche but it is obscenely hilarious nonetheless. There is a podcast called My Dad Wrote a Porno on which Jamie and his two friends read and critique his father’s ridiculously written erotic fiction novel series. It is honestly golden and is actually a massive thing, with over 80 million downloads and celebrity guests from the likes of Elijah Woods and Daisy Ridley and loads more. You have to listen to understand but if you like a little bawdy humour, go for it!

Food  – I have been living for asian food recently, I can’t get enough! From Yo Sushi to Bar Soba, Ting Thai Caravan to Wagamama’s, I want it all. Cravings were definitely satisfied by those restaurants as well as making my own curries at home!

Miscellaneous – A bonus random item that I am absolutely loving right now are my new tap shoes! This semester I started taking tap classes and I’m so excited. Tap is my bucket list dance style and since hanging up the taps as a 5 year old, subesquently losing all my memory of skills, I am buzzing to be tippity tapping again!

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Let me know if you give any of these a go and definitely let me know about anything you’re loving this month, I would love to find some new faves!