Wouldn't it be nice...if everything was celebrated like this!

This is quite a special post because for me it is one of a kind and never to be repeated topic! It is a post about my graduation day. I graduated from the University of Kent yesterday (12th July 2012) with a BA (Hons) Drama and English & American Literature degree, and it truly was an amazing day.

We were all up bright and early for the day and we couldn't believe our luck with the weather; it has been on-off thunder storms for most of the week but for the majority of the day on which I graduated it was gloriously sunny! This made the day, which was already a fantastic one, even better. I was also incredibly lucky as I got to graduate in Canterbury Cathedral because of the university I attended which made it all even more special for me.

So here are some pictures from the day that I thought I would share. For those outside of the UK who don't know, here we don't have graduations below university level; we only have them on the completion of a degree so it's a very important, significant, and often one of a kind, day.

(Me on the steps outside the cape and gown collection area)

(Canterbury Cathedral, where the ceremony took place, in the background)

(Walking through the Cathedral grounds to register)

(In the cloisters before the ceremony)

(Having just received my degree in the Cathedral)

(A glass of celebratory champagne with lunch)

The cape and gown I wore is specific to the University of Kent and the degree that I completed. The hood worn over the cape is silver, to denote that I was receiving a Bachelor's level degree, and the centre triangle was yellow which denotes the faculty which in my case was Humanities. That is the academic address for my university but other than that we were required to wear smart dress. The dress I wore was a floral peplum pencil dress from River Island that I bought in the sale for a bargin price of only £25! Then my shoes are my go to, fail safe, black lace court shoes that I bought from ASOS about 3 years ago.

It really was an amazing day. The ceremony itself was very formal but was so grand with a wonderful amount of pomp as it was in the Cathedral! It took place on the fourth day of ceremonies and was the first of three on the day itself. There were over 300 people graduating during my ceremony and I was number 123 to go up, shake the Chancellor of the University's hand, and receive my degree. Also John Lloyd CBE, received an honorary Doctor of Arts in recognition of his contribution to broadcasting and he made a fantastic and hilarious speech. The whole day really was quite surreal though. We all worked incredibly hard for a minimum of three years towards this one day and I couldn't quite believe I was finally there. It was thoroughly enjoyable though, something amazing to cross of my '21 Before 22' list, and it is wonderful to finally be able to say that I am now officially a graduate.

Bye for now:)

xxxxx

Wouldn't it be nice...if even more of us joined in Sprinkle of Glitter's 'Love of the Day'!

Now if you don't know who Sprinkle of Glitter is then be ashamed of yourself. Well don't be, but I love her and she brightens up my days and puts a smile on my face with her blog posts and YouTube videos so I feel you should all go check her out (not in THAT way...dirty minds). Basically Sprinkle of Glitter is a yummy mummy beauty blog/vlog type lady who shares her love of cosmetics, interior designs and anything sparkly with all of her chums on ther internet!

She has begun a new series on her blog called 'Love of the Day' in which she has a different object for the day and everyone shares a love of their own. Monday is clothes:

(The lovely Louise also known as Sprinkle of Glitter: Image from her blog http://sprinkleofglitter.blogspot.co.uk)

I thought I'd join in with the series and share an item of clothing. I've chosen to share this white fit and flare dress from Oasis and there's a bit of a story behind this dress! I bought it to wear for my graduation but then found a dress I loved more (and that was substantially cheaper) so returned it as I thought it was a bit pricey just to keep. However now I can't seem to stop lusting after it and I feel I might have to re-purchase. Unfortunately I'm struggling to justfy a situation in which I would need a white dress (I can be a little bit clumsy and feel white is a bit of a risky colour for me!) and it's still the same price it was when I returned it for being too pricey. I feel this dress and me are not meant to be. I do love it though. Any opinions on the dress!?

I really like this idea for a series so might do a few more posts if they prove popular!

Bye for now :)

xxxxx

Wouldn't it be nice...if the weather could make up its mind.

So here in the UK we are not blessed with the best weather; we all know this but every year when the weather is bad in the 'summer' we still moan. We Brits are good at moaning. And queuing. We are the best at queuing. Back to the weather...so as soon as we really got into the summer season and June began it also began to rain, pretty much non stop. I had been at home and have returned to Uni for the final week of term to see friends and to make sure everything is sorted and in order for my graduation. So I left basically all of my summer clothes at home, having checked the weather forecast and seeing that it was going to be bad weather all week, and I happily poodled back to Uni with a suitcase full of jumpers, jeans, a few dresses for nights out and some t-shirts for layering.

All I can say is thank goodness I packed some t-shirts because it's lovely weather here now! I'm incredibly happy the weather is perking up as my birthday is coming up and I'm meant to be having a BBQ so sunny weather is greatly appreciated. However I now have minimal clothes for this week which are actually of any use. You can also pretty much guarantee that as soon as I get home and am reunited with my beautiful summery clothes that it'll start pouring down again and it'll be back to the winter wardrobe for the rest of the summer.

I do love the UK and being British but I only wish our weather was a little bit more decisive. It can't seem to decide whether it wants to be summer, winter, autumn or spring so is throwing us daily between them all and just hoping we'll keep up! Yes, wouldn't it be nice if the weather could make up its mind but then again we are British and nothing really dampens our spirits; one of the most iconic images of the Jubilee celebrations in London will forever be the Royal College of Music Chamber Choir who sang on top of a boat in the Flotilla on the Thames that housed the the London Philharmonic Orchestra:

(Image from http://troghead.blogspot.co.uk)

The whole situation was frankly bonkers. 1 million people stood on the banks of the Thames and many more tuned in at home to watch over 1000 boats of all shapes and sizes sail down the river. It poured with rain (of course) and we watched these young singers belt their hearts out as they stood like drowned rats on top of a floating orchestra in front of the Queen singing to and for her (you can see the video here). And my goodness we all felt proud. Now that's true British spirit, and it wouldn't have been quite the same had it not been pouring with rain.

Bye for now :)

xxxxx