Chicken Soup for the Soul (or something like that)

We all have those things we do to make ourselves feel better. Some shop, some go for a run, some comfort eat. I personally clean, tidy and rearrange my room - I'd shop more if I could but I always end up with a case of buyer's guilt (not that it stopped me buying the shoes from this post). 

Like I said in my last post, this week hasn't been great, so I've arranged a trip to Manchester for a couple of days to see my housemates and take advantage of a couple of stress-free days. I plan on re-organising my room, with a theme of blue, white and grey. Having a clear out is cathartic, as my mum says, so I plan on completely gutting my room, and starting afresh. Nothing major needs doing, just a change of bedding and a few other touches.

I went up to Ikea this morning and bought the two sets of pillow cases (plus an extra pillow), a matching fitted sheet, and the cushion, which came to the grand total of £7, staff discount and finding a gift card in my room does wonderful things for my bank balance. I placed a cheeky order with Urban Outfitters last night and purchased the Alice in Wonderland duvet cover, on sale for £30 - half price - here (use the code UO10 to get an extra 10% off)

Something a little bit different is needed as my room at the moment is quite neutral, and although £30 is pretty excessive for a duvet cover, I know the end result will be worth it, plus it was way too cute to pass up on. 

Next on my shopping list is this lamp (everything on my shopping list will be from Ikea, as I work there I get discount, so I may as well use it) as I don't actually have a desk lamp, which is ridiculous. I also plan on getting a few bits for the kitchen, a few sharp knives, new pans and some new crockery. I have way too many plates in Manchester so I plan on bringing them all home and buying myself a new, fully matching set.

I'm going to pack up all of the unnecessary clutter, clean everything and sort my room, and self, out. I always find that an organised room can help bring about an organised state of mind - perfect for the start of a new academic year. Motivation always seems to strike when everything is tidy.

The plan of action regarding my current state of mind is simply to be patient (for now). I know it won't last forever, so I shall be keeping myself busy and trying not to wallow. Enough tears have been shed this past week, it's time for a clean slate. A few deeps breathes.

Tonight I'm tackling my room here, which is a complete tip, with my sister. Mum ordered a skip (do not ask) so literally everything unwanted is getting chucked in there. Very cathartic indeed.

Thanks for reading x

A Much Needed Catch-Up and Explanation

Completely unrelated photo, but how cute is my doggy?! We went walking.

I promised to post at least once, so that is what I'm going to do. I feel it's time I offered an explanation as to where I've been/why I haven't been posting as regularly. It's nothing drastic or anything like that. I have just been really busy!

A few weeks ago I wasn't feeling myself, I was down and, honestly, felt a bit shit, so I took a break from the internet and took a step back to look after myself a bit more. Then last week I just had no desire to blog, which was fuelled by a complete lack of inspiration. That paired with the fact that I haven't had a day off work since last Thursday (damn you Ikea), I just simply couldn't be bothered.

Safe to say, I am feeling a lot happier now, probably helped by the fact we've had a few sunny days and I've seen more of my friends. They are a fab bunch.

However, this week I have wanted to blog, but simply haven't had the time! Like I said, I haven't had a day off at all this week - I worked a 13 hour shift yesterday - ergo, no time. This is sounding like an extremely lame excuse, but hey ho. I am exhausted - I just spent the last half an hour soaking in the bath and then beautifying myself as some maintenance was greatly required! Hello smooth legs, clean hair, and neat eyebrows, I've missed you. 

Tomorrow is my day off, and I will be spending it with a pretty lovely guy going to see The Dark Knight Rises (FINALLY), eating Mexican food, and doing a bit of shopping, no doubt. I'm then going round to my friend's house where a group of ladies will be watching films and scoffing a ton of junk food. Although, I really must start some dissertation work soon, September is creeping ever closer.

So this is a bit of a pledge, I will be blogging normally soon - hopefully next week. I'm also going adventuring with Lydia again on Tuesday and having a catch-up as she's been in France for a week, I can't wait!

Anyway, I'll shush now. I hope you are all well, and I will speak to you guys soon! 

Thanks for sticking around!

Much love, xxxx

Self-motivation Pep Talk

image source: I'm guessing Rudy Francisco(?) but I found it on Tumblr, as always

A bit more of a personal post I guess. This past month hasn't been my personal best; I've let a lot of things that wouldn't usually bother me get to me, I've had a crisis of confidence and just generally felt a bit down. July is going to change that, it is the month of motivation and hard work, because I am flat out refusing to say 'I can't do this' anymore, because I CAN, I'm pretty sure I'm boring my friends by being a mardy arse a lot of the time too.

July means sticking my nose in books and actually reading. I have read one book on my list of books I wanted to read over summer. One. How pathetic. I am also going to keep nagging the people who have said they'd give me work experience to give me start dates so I can get prepared!

This month I have been bored, which has led to wallowing and lack of motivation. I am ridding myself of envy, and having a little bit more faith in myself, because I can do this, I can live the life I want to live and be ridiculously happy doing it!

I got my second year university results and achieved a 2:1 in all of my modules apart from one, which I predicted anyway, and I am overall extremely happy. I cannot wait to go back so I'm going to start my dissertation studying next week to give myself a kick-start. I also booked my driving test today.

A bit of a ramble I supposed; sometimes I find it necessary to write things down to actually motivate myself. Plus I really loved the image of definitions, how cute is it!?

What do you do to re-motivate yourself and get yourself out of a slump? 

Thanks for reading xx

Five Steps to Happy

image by Marc Johns

When I feel a bit down there are a handful of things I do to try and get myself back into a positive frame of mind. I haven't been feeling tip-top recently, but now I'm feeling more like myself again.

1. Take a long soak in the bath. I always have a long pampering session in the bath. I exfoliate my body, get my hair squeaky clean and relax. I try to make myself feel as pretty as possible. I don't think anything ever feels as bad after a long bath.
2. Cry if you want to. I'm not much of a crier. I internalise my feelings a lot of the time, but sometimes you just feel sad, and you just want to cry. I found myself crying on the train the other day, just because I needed to. Bottling up the need to cry is never good, in my opinion. I just let it out. There has been many a time where my dad has looked at me and asked what the matter was, and I've just said 'I feel sad' and cry. There's no rhyme or reason to it, just let it all out, even if that means sticking on P.S I Love You and crying over the fact Gerard Butler dies. Wallow in it, for just a little bit.
3. Play happy music. When I've finished wallowing (I don't like wallowing, I give myself an hour or two before I try to snap myself out of it) I put on happy music. For me it's Motown music, or something like Rilo Kiley, something you can dance to. Find me a person who is sad when listening to Motown, and I'll give you a liar. You just can't be sad whilst listening to The Drifters, or Otis Redding. It's impossible.
4. Sleep it off. To be fair, sleep is often my solution to everything. A good night's sleep always makes things feel better. The cliche things always look better in the morning is a cliche for a reason, after all. Even if it's just an hour's nap, or a 10 hour mega sleep, nothing can be quite as terrible after some shut-eye.
5. And if all that fails, ESCAPE. Get out of the house, even if it's to go for a walk by yourself where you stick your headphones in, walk and cry until it feels better. Just escape your sadness for a little while. It may be there when you get back, but it won't be as strong. Get out, eat nice things, jump on a train and go somewhere new. I come to Manchester a lot when I want to escape, it's my little place where I feel happiest and most content. Talk to people - even if it's not about why you're sad, just talk. I'm not often on for sharing my sadness, but sometimes it's all that helps. Escape yourself for a while. Have fun. Focus on the good things in your life. There are better things out there than what is making you sad. I promise.

This is just what I do, because most of the time, the reason why I'm sad isn't worth being sad about. It is trivial. If it's down to a person, it's their loss, if it's something else, it probably isn't that important anyway.

Thanks for reading x

Words to Live By

all images taken from Tumblr

'Let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences'

At least I strive to.

edit: these prints (and others) are for sale on Etsy here

Who Are You? An Identity Crisis.

My first printed article in the local newspaper

Bit of an open question I know, but recently I often find myself wondering 'who really am I?'. I've fitted into a lot of different boxes growing up, and whilst I don't like the idea of labelling somebody, labelling gives a solid identity which I feel I have lost whilst growing up.


People are sectioned off because of their music or fashion tastes, their sexual preferences and even their race. At the moment I am finding it difficult to define myself and figure out where I want my life to go. I think that I am a pretty eclectic mix of many different things, I don't have set interests, I would say that my main 'likes' are books and discovering new things, whether that be a pointless fact on the internet, or sat in a lecture theatre learning about Walt Whitman. I have a vast music taste, and don't really have a set 'style'; I'm forever trying out new things.


Upon completing the second year of my degree (sob) I'm trying to figure out where I want my life to go. I still feel like the little 15 year old girl from high school who was shy and used too many exclamation marks, not the 20 year old who is studying for, and in a year will have completed, a degree (and still using too many exclamation marks). It's both exciting and terrifying. I feel like I should be much more grown up than I am, although, if I look objectively, I am probably a lot more capable than I think I am too. I was once told off by a teacher who told me to stop being so down on myself and comparing myself to everyone else. I think she had a point.


At the moment I'm having an identity crisis. I think I know my career path - publishing - but it is difficult to decide when I can't seem to secure any 'proper' work experience. However, having completed work experience placements where I had to write articles, which I dreaded as I have never felt myself to be a decent writer, I found myself enjoying it, I squealed when I saw that an article of mine had been printed in the local newspaper, and was even happier when, after my first day of a new work experience placement, I saw that my first article had been put on the website almost instantaneously (link here). I can't see myself in a job where I will have to solely write, I still feel like I want to immerse myself into the world of publishing and copy-editing. I'm literally taking any opportunities that happen to pass my way. I enjoy writing, hence this blog, but I struggle when it comes to writing about things I have no interest in, or no knowledge of.


As for image consciousness, I am trying to be a bit smarter, but as a girl that wore band t shirts and jeans for about 3 years, it's proving difficult. Whilst being a Uni I have discovered my 'style' I guess. I just find it difficult to merge a sense of professionalism and a sense of myself in my clothes, it's an over-used cliche, but I always dress for myself. I fear looking boring.


At this moment in time I am stuck between wanting to remain a student and live an easy life and growing up, finding a fab job and eventually, starting a family. I'm focusing on building my CV so I can find my dream job, and studying hard.


How would you define yourself? Do you ever have days where you have a crisis of identity? How do you get through it?


Thanks for reading x

Thought For Today

'If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.'
- Virginia Woolf


'The man who is aware of himself is henceforward independent; and he is never bored, and life is only too short, and he is steeped through and through with a profound yet temperate happiness.'
- Virginia Woolf


I have a bit of a love affair with Virginia Woolf. Recently I've been feeling a bit lost, so these quotations resonate. 
I hope you're all having a lovely weekend (so far). x

Random Ramble: Decisions, Decisions.

Tonight I've made a decision about the direction I want my blog to go in (pretty sure this post is a bit anti-climatic. I apologise.)

I've been uhmming and ahhing about where I want my focus to lie, be it beauty, fashion, books, lifestyle. I've decided that I'm never going to be a 'fashion blogger' as I don't have the time, nor can I really be arsed to take daily OOTD photos. Although I do want to include a few in the future. If my sister will take my photos for me (Colette, if you're reading this...)

I've decided, upon reading Blair's blog that I want to focus a lot more on literature. I'm an English student, so reading is a huge part of my life. I'm really loving reading again at the moment, so I want to include it a lot more.

Basically, my blog isn't going to have one focus, there will be bits and pieces (hopefully) of all of the above, but I definitely want to focus much more on the literature/lifestyle posts. I want to start taking more photos (currently thinking of buying a load of disposables for summer, opinions please?!) and documenting things a bit more.

Obviously, when I buy new things/find a new product I like/wear an outfit I like, I'll post about it. I'm not an OOTD girl, I hate having my photo taken, nor am I knowledgable enough about beauty to be a beauty blog.
I'm a new blogger and want to share snippets of my life with all you lovely lot who read my rambles.

What do you think? Is this mish-mash a good idea, would you want to read more of my crap? (ha!)

I guess I'll just see where this takes me :)

Thanks for reading x