So firstly, I broke my toe. The word "mangled" was actually thrown around by the A&E doctor. But to get over it, I got 2 for 1 birthday cocktails at B@1, the most amazing birthday brownies made by my mum, and a lazy sunday curled up on the sofa with Scout before coming back to London.
I also got to go to Pinkberry yesterday for FroYo (: in between trying on every single coat in Westfield.
So overall not too bad a start to the year (:
Instagram: hellieeee
(I borrowed some pictures from the Lovely Kieran, instagram: kieran_howells)
So that happened. In other news, I've moved (: more on that later, and it's nearly my birthday. It feels weird because I'm gonna be old, but at least I'm still a student, not a proper adult aha.
I have become completely OBSESSED with make up lately.
So today I took my first ever trip to the Mac Store, which was very exciting, wanting to pick up some eyeshadows. I wanted something I could wear everyday, so neutral colours, and I thought that I would get one light and one dark to wear together.
After a lot of swatching and deliberating I settled on Phloof! and Shale.
Phloof! is a "Frosted Off-White" according to Mac, and I think it's so pretty. I was torn between this and Shroom, which I think is quite similar, but in the end Phloof! seemed slightly less white. (And also the name is adorable.)
Shale is "Mauve-Plum with subtle shimmer", which is basically bang on the money. I went in thinking that I would get Satin Taupe, but ended up with this instead which is more purpley.
They are both so beautiful and I can't wait to wear them (:
Listening to The All-American Rejects has made me very nostalgic today; I feel weird.
A lot of my fondest memories and the strongest feelings of nostalgia always come from the worst times in my life. I wonder why that is.
Recently I have found my self spending a fair amount of time in the Beauty Guru part of youtube, and one of my favourite things that they do over there is 'favourites' videos, where, unsurprisingly, they talk about their favourite beauty products of that month.
This gave me the idea to start writing blog posts about my general favourite things of the month. But when I started to list ideas for my first post there were so many that it would be a very long and overwhelming post, so I'm going to make posts about individual things whenever I feel like it.
I like this way better because I think giving each thing it's own entry makes it even more special (:
So my favourite thing for today (mainly because it is the only one I have managed to take a photo of so far) is my new bunny lamp
I've been lusting after this one by Heico for a year or so now but it is waaayyyy too expensive for my little student budget. So when I saw this miniature version last week in Urban Outfitters for only £8.00 I was very excited, and my lovely mum bought it for me (:
It's so adorableee!! And therefore it is my current favourite.
I've joined the channel 4 "Try Something New" New Year Revolution! I'm going to do a small mission every day throughout January, and this is where I'm gonna talk about it.
I started a little late, on the 4th day, but here are the things I've done so far:
The first mission I completed was to say "yes" to everything I was asked that day. I happened to have woken up feeling really dizzy and generally not good that day, so the only thing I was really asked to do was stay and bed all day and dry to feel better. As you can imagine this was pretty easy, and so towards the end of the day I decided to ask myself to do something. Going out in public by myself is something that I sometimes find really difficult, I can usually do it but it makes me feel anxious and stressed. So I decided to ask myself to go to the shops, for no particular reason, and try to be as relaxed about it as possible.
It actually went surprisingly well; I made myself walk slowly and take in the air and the things around me, not to get worked up if people were walking near me and not overtake them to try and get away from them, and not get angry when people in the shop were being slow or getting in the way, and it worked.
I ended up feeling way better from the fresh air and just getting out of the house, so far so good.
The second day required me to smile at everyone I saw. This challenge I found much more difficult. Partly because this is the kind of thing I find hard anyway, I generally tend to avoid eye contact with people, particularly strangers, but this challenge made me realise how many other people in the world feel this way. Almost all of the people I attempted to smile at wouldn't look up from the pavement, or even deliberately averted their eyes as soon as they accidentally met mine. Another reason this wasn't the easiest challenge was because, I was doing my smiling while I was walking into town to meet and friend, and then I got stood up. So I wasn't really in a smiling mood. (She made up for it with lots of lovely sweets and chocolate the next day (: )
Mission 3, "The chef's surprise", asked me to go to a restaurant and order something completely new from the menu. Being a poor student, and not a big fan of eating in public places, I decided to go for a cheaper, supermarket option. I already had plans to see Rachel that day, so she helped me with the verdict on our chosen exotic food: the dragon fruit..
I also bought dried goji berries, but I wasn't really a fan. Because of their colour I was expecting something like cranberries or raspberries, but they tasted more like weird raisins? Maybe I kind find a recipe to use them in.
Yesterday's mission was to try a new form of entertainment, and again I decided to go for something cheap and that didn't involve me going outside: tv. So I watched an episode of "Take Me Out", which is this weird dating tv show where poor single men are paraded around and judged by overly dressed up and fake tanned women. Not something I will be watching again. But it did make me think that I should check ITV player for things to watch, rather than just my usualy BBC iPlayer and 4od, so that's something.
I might not have been a great advocate for this revolution so far, but it is fun (: My profile is here.
I feel so up and down right now, and today has been simultaneously pretty good and fucking terrible.
There aren't enough hours in the day to do everything that I feel like I need to, and yet I seem to spend the majority of my time sitting around doing nothing. Or nothing constructive.
Everything today has been kinda rubbish and negative, so instead of whining about that here are some really cool things:
I saw this tee shirt last weekend when out christmas shopping with my lovely friend Ellen (: It's from urban outfitters and is actually in the men's department, but I am completely in love with it. I wanted to BE Kelly Kapowski when I was growing up.
Christmas present to myself maybe?
While I was in Urban Outfitters I got myself this adorable (if slightly impractical) card holder(: aaaaand this bag from H&M..
The bag strap is this weird silver metal chain thing, but I'm thinking of changing it to something else, maybe a black ribbon?
Retail therapy is definitely the best way to deal with uni stress aha (:
"I used to feel so alone in the city.
All those gazillions of people and
then me, on the outside. Because
how do you meet a new person?
I was very stumped by this for many
years. And then I realized, you just
say, Hi. They may ignore you. Or
you may marry them. And that
possibility is worth that one word."
- Augusten Burroughs
Hii Blog,
So I've been pretty busy with life things lately, like moving out for the first time, and starting a degree in Fine Art, and turning twenty. Y'know.. no big deal.
I've been here for over a month now, and I really like it (: I feel at home here. I love being a new place after living within the same 3 square miles for almost my whole life, and I feel happy and at home every time I come back to my room.
This is my desk, as it is right now, with all my photos up on the wall above it (:
It was a little weirder than I thought it would be at first, to be away from home and my family. Everything seemed really draining in the first few weeks, and I was surprised to find myself wanting to visit home after only three weeks.
Even now, its Friday night, and almost everyone I know here has gone home for the weekend, and I'm torn between going too or staying here alone. It's not much trouble, or money, for me to go. I don't really want to spend the weekend alone. But on the other hand, I have work to do here, but mostly I just feel like I shouldn't go home. I don't want to admit to my family, or myself, that I miss home more than I thought I would.
On a happier note, I really love my course. The people who work around me, and on the course in general have been so friendly to me and are really interesting people. Having my own space to work has been amazing too.
Something I'm working on right now with recycled paper.
So yeah, byyee Blog (:
“Your life is not an episode of Skins. Things will never look quite as good as they do in a faded, sun - drenched Polaroid; your days are not an editorial from Lula. Your life is not a Sofia Coppola movie, or a Chuck Palahniuk novel, or a Charles Bukowski poem. Grace Coddington isn’t your creative director. Bon Iver and Joy Division don’t play softly in the background at appropriate moments. Your hysterical teenage diary isn’t a work of art. Your room probably isn’t Selby material. Your life isn’t a Tumblr screencap. Every word that comes out of your mouth will not be beautiful and poignant, infinitely quotable.
Your pain will not be pretty. Crying till you vomit is always shit.
You cannot romanticize hurt.
Or sadness.
Or loneliness.
You will have homework, and hangovers and bad hair days. The train being late won’t lead to any fateful encounters, it will make you late. Sometimes your work will suck. Sometimes you will suck. Far too often, everything will suck - and not in a Wes Anderson kind of way.
And there is no divine consolation - only the knowledge that we will hopefully experience the full spectrum - and that sometimes, just sometimes, life will feel like a Coppola film.”
I recently found these two videos while re-watching old Vlogbrothers videos
It reminds me of some of the things Rachel wanted to do for her 'appreciation' project, specifically the tasks in the "Random acts of kindness" book like "Plant a flower in someone's garden", which is the one that I liked most.
This is something that I really want to do, but like John Green I'd be really nervous to actually go right up to peoples doors in case the opened them before I got the chance to run away, and we don't have the same kind of "mailboxes" here for me to TP.
But "planting" the lollies in people's gardens, or even public land is such a cute idea, and easier to do, so maybe I'll try that one.
Soap Rings
Part of Korean artist's Jewellery as Second Skin series. As you wash your hands, the ring slowly disappears leaving your hands smelling like a drop of perfume.
“… a sensory experience [that becomes] an unconscious ornament.”
