Reasons to be Cheerful: Half Term #R2BC

Thanks to Jo at Ojo's World for hosting again this week and welcoming back the founder Michelle. Its lovely to read everyone's happy posts each week. Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) Charts

A really pleasant surprise to have gone up in the world on the Tots 100 Index with a rise of 32 places to be back in the 100s:

Obviously the quality of my posts in making up for the quantity!

2) Getting Healthier

As shown in my race post and Muffin Top Monday I am not only getting slimmer but fitter! Definitely a reason to be cheerful.

3) Student Life

I actually had a day on campus this week. It was lovely to feel like a real student and its a beautiful location in Lancaster:

Reasons to be Cheerful Back to School! #R2BC

Thanks to the wonderful Jo at Ojo's World for hosting in August and taking good care of everything. The hosting is back to me for September so its time to share my reasons to be cheerful:

1) Mintfest

This weekend was the Mintfest Street Theatre festival in Kendal. We enjoyed lots of fun over the Saturday and Sunday. There were oh so many reasons to smile:

2) Back to uni!

Twenty years after completing my MA I officially went back to university this week. It's both exciting and nerve-racking to be starting teacher training at my age but on a campus like Lancaster and at a lovely village school there are plenty of reasons to be happy:

3) Being lucky

I won a Facebook/Twitter draw this week from our local shopping centre. So now I possess a deluxe art set and I've been enjoying spending my voucher at Rymans on stuff for uni! Just goes to prove that these competitions are genuine.

Keeping this short and sweet as I am shattered after starting my course... Please join us and share your happiness and grab the badge if you would like it:

<center> <a href="http://beckywilloughby.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Reasons to be Cheerful" src="http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/o585/LakesMum/6894b786-0238-4650-8556-714fdbb64aa2_zpsef0827cd.jpg"/></a></center>

#TheGallery Youth

Not joined in for a while so time to have a go! This is me back in 1993 at my graduation from Swansea University having just scraped a 2.1 in Geography:

 

I look so pleased with myself! Three years of hard work had paid off and I was going to be starting an MA at Leeds University in Human Geography in the autumn. University was a great experience with not only studying geography, geology and Italian in my first year but taking up rugby too! Not sure I have really used my degrees since then as I fell into working in IT but a fascinating subject to study. The fact I got field trips to Portsmouth & Tunisia and a term in Paris were definite bonuses.

 

Who knows if my children will follow in my footsteps. I was lucky to go before tuition fees went through the roof. Such a shame if future generations are priced out of university. This was my amazing 21st birthday cake which celebrated my love of rugby and the university: