6 things that make me happy.

I got tagged by Gracie in a linking chain blog thing to list six things that make me happy. :) Sadly I do not have enough followers to tag back, but I'm going to make the list anyway. So here we go:

1. Books. I love to read; there are probably about ten books that I could read time and time again which will make me happy, especially if I'm feeling down. Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games (although that's a push :p), a fluffy Marian Keyes novel, High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, The Lovely Bones, Middlesex, Special Topics in Calamity Physics and The Luxe novels usually do the trick. I adore escaping into another world, and I always, always, always carry a novel with me. I love talking to people about books, and introducing my friends to books I know they'll enjoy.

2. Drawing and art. I barely have time for this anymore, but it is one of the things which truly relaxes me. I mostly draw people, from life and those I make up. I'm planning on uploading a few drawings sometime soon. I didn't draw this one below, but I love it. Klimt's The Kiss, from my last post, is fast becoming one of my favourite paintings.

3. Animals. I love animals, especially dogs. We had a cattle dog cross, Bonnie, for a while when I was really little, but when I was about five, we got Begby, an apricot coloured Chihuahua. He was grumpy, viscous and foul-tempered, but he loved a select handful of people. Begby died last year, at age thirteen, and I missed him terribly. But Szilveszter and I have Bella together; she's my orange puppy, and she's mental, and always always happy to see me. She brightens the worst of days with her floppy ears and giant feet. Rosie, my family's much loved new Chihuahua, is exploited for her good nature, and quite often gets dressed in a variety of outfits, the most popular of which is her England jersey. However, I believe that may be because she's too fat for all the others! And then there's Murray, our Russian Blue kitten. He's technically my sister Hannah's, but he loves everyone. And he loves soap suds. I really miss Begby sometimes, but all the animals make me really happy. Also, Begby only ever had one toy. Well he thought so. That pink thing in the picture, Puffa. Only he had two the same; he was so attached, that one had to be washed while he played with the other.

4. Planning (or talking about) going to Europe. I'm so excited, I can't wait, but at the same time, I'm really enjoying just researching and reading about all the places we could go to! London's one place in particular I'm really looking forward to...How can you look at this photo and not imagine being in a plane preparing to land in the city??

5. Music. Both playing it and listening to it. I play violin, and though I wasn't particularly good by the standards at my school, I enjoyed it and have been learning since I was 10. My favourite artists are Coldplay, Lily Allen, Placebo and Garbage, and I love some dance tracks too. I went to see Coldplay earlier this year, and it was fantastic to see them live. I've listened to their music every single day of my life since I was about 12. The best part of their concert was probably Fix You, although they had the entire crowd enchanted the whole evening. This picture was taken during Lovers In Japan. They are all multi-coloured butterflies; they came down in different waves of metallic and fluroescent over the crowd. Jess and I collected a few after the concert.

6. My boyfriend. He always knows exactly what to do to cheer me up when I'm down, or how to fix it when I'm stressed. I'm lucky to have him. :)