7 days, 7 things

So here's another regular weekly feature I'm throwing your way. I enjoy reading round ups of people's weeks so I thought I'd give you my own take on the good, bad and the ugly of my week just gone by.



1. Starting my blog has been a pretty big milestone of the past week! I began posting last Wednesday and have been loving it! I love writing about something that isn't a topic for a University essay, and I love interacting with you guys in the comment section and on Twitter (@whtlrblggdnxt) even more! Knowing there's a few of you out there that enjoy reading my little rambles really does make me beam like the Cheshire Cat.

2. A not so positive of this week has been essay writing. With being an English student, we don't really have January exams, just January essays (along with essays every other freaking month of the year). We just get significantly more essays in January. I'm currently plowing through a 2,000 word piece on the psychology of learning and will be moving straight onto a 4,000 word one about language and meaning straight after. Not to mention a research proposal for a project I have coming up in March time. Don't even get me started on the two that are due after those three!

3. Finally admitting Christmas is over has been a little tough for me. Sadly I'm still in "spend all day in my pyjamas scoffing chocolates and watching films" mode. Hopefully I'll snap out of it when I get back to my uni house (I'll be there now as you're reading this) but until then I'm going to have one last night binge eating before the chocolates and films get swapped for salads and essays.

4. A positive this week is how much my skin has been loving my new skincare routine (expect a post shortly). After being so self-concious about it for so long, I finally decided to up my game and invest in some well raved about products, which my skin is now raving about too.

5. Getting out-bid on ebay is the worst isn't it?! I had this absolutely gorgeous Topshop silver pleated midi skirt (if anyone finds a similar one let me know!) saved to my watch list, and I'd placed my bid well before a week of the ending time, and also put a maximum bid in to ensure no one would beat me to it last minute if I wasn't by my computer. Having been the only bidder on this item all week, right up until the last few hours, I assumed this item was going to be all mine. Funny enough, Saturday night rolled round and I wasn't by my computer. Guess what, someone beat me to it last minute. And the worst thing? They outbid my maximum bid by £1. Let's stop talking about it. RIP silver pleated midi skirt :(

6. A small but personal milestone was also reached this week. I fell ill around this time last year with what the doctors thought was glandular fever. After numerous blood tests and inspections, they decided it was not glandular fever but tonsillitis so gave me tablets to cure it. After the problem came back as soon as I finished the tablets, I returned again only to be told it was probably laryngitis. Same happened again, this time they told me pharyngitis. I felt like the problem wasn't as far down in my throat as they kept suggesting so after becoming a little sick of taking tablets that weren't working for almost 4 months, I decided to self-diagnose myself, not always a good idea, but in this case it was. I spent a while googling my symptoms, cancelling out what it couldn't be and writing suggestions of what it could be (there were a lot of similar problems but nothing exactly the same, only diagnose yourself if it's exactly the same!). I eventually stumbled across something that was exactly what I'd been feeling. Turns out I had anemia (I was right!), so I took myself back to the doctor and asked them to check my red blood cell count, which was low as I predicted. He suggested the correct dosage and I popped myself off to the chemist. After another few months on iron tablets (which brings us up to where we are now), I've been feeling much better and haven't had any fallbacks since. I decided to go and try and give blood again this week, I was a regular donor before the anemia but haven't been since due to knowing I would be turned away because of the low blood count. I booked myself an appointment and popped down last Wednesday. If any of you are new to giving blood, they test your haemoglobin upon arrival to check you have enough iron to be eligible to give blood. As usual, I failed this test (the blood either floats or sinks in a solution) and had to have a sample taken, which is what happened the last few times I went due to my iron being too low. I sat waiting nervously as the nurses took a sample from my other arm and did all sorts of fancy tests on it. Turns out I failed the test due to my iron levels being incredibly high (you can fail from too low or too high) and was eligible to give blood again! I'm so happy that they're back up to normal and I'm no longer feeling rubbish. Yay! So sorry for the huge paragraph!

7. I'll keep this one short and sweet. Broadchurch was on again. Need I say more?


What have you guys been up to the past 7 days?


Laura x