Spinning

Today was the first sunny day I've actually been able to enjoy in ages, and I managed to get sunburnt on one arm. Fantastic, I look ridiculous. But anyway, here is what I wore today.

Action shot!

Dress: New Look

Shoes: Dorothy Perkins

This dress kind of reminds me of this one that I wore the last time we had nice weather, except it's not quite as grown up. And yes, I'm aware I'm wearing stripes again. One of these days I'll branch out a bit. Maybe.

Anyway, exciting news. I have an iPhone now and I fully intend on being really obnoxious about it and instagramming everything in sight. I do love jumping on the bandwagon!

Mellow Monday

After one of the worst weekends at work that I can remember in a long time, it's nice to have a day off to put my feet up (which is actually necessary because they are in so much pain). My parents are currently about a week into their holiday in San Francisco. I am insanely jealous, especially with this horrendous weather we've been having. The sun did come out for a bit over the weekend (whilst I was working, naturally), but it has been pouring down all day so far so summer is still yet to arrive in the UK. Which is annoying, as we're now halfway through July.


Speaking of being halfway through July, that means I should have read more than half of the books on my 30 books list for this year. I am nowhere near halfway through. In fact, I'm still reading It, which is rather lengthy and Stephen King seems to be taking an awfully long time getting to the point. I think I'm going to have to start reading several books at once to make any sort of dent in the list. I probably should have picked 15 books instead. Oh well, hindsight is a wonderful thing.


Last week I went to see the new Spiderman movie, which was awesome and not just because Andrew Garfield is oh-so pretty. I also watched Never Let Me Go the other night and then my heart broke into a million tiny pieces. 


And finally, this is currently my favourite video on the internet.


Song of the Day: Reasons Not To Be An Idiot by Frank Turner


Currently reading: It

A hint of summer

I don't want to alarm anyone, but the sun has been out today. I wore a SKIRT. Of course, I've now retreated into jeans and a hoody because it got cold and rainy, but still. Sunshine.

Top: Next

Skirt: Matalan

Shoes: New Look

Hairband: Dorothy Perkins

The first thing my boyfriend did today was tell me that my t-shirt had a hole in it, because he is oh so hilarious. As you can see this outfit is another demonstration of my love of stripes, I am obsessed. I have about three tops similar to this but I can't bring myself to get rid of any of them because I've convinced myself that there's some original detail on each of them (like the bow and cut-out detail on this one), and I can't bear to part with any of them. Basically, I have a problem. Also, this hairband has hardly left my head since I bought it the other week. And it was only £2! Bargain.

A lazy outfit post

If you live in the UK, you'll probably have noticed that it's still raining. Therefore, I haven't been outside all day. And because we've been having a lot of these days, an awful lot of my outfits have looked like this one:

Cardigan: Matalan

Top: New Look

Jeans: Dorothy Perkins

There's been variations on this outfit, of course, but the main components (as in jeans and a t-shirt) have remained the same, and I thought it would be a bit boring to photograph everyday. If the weather doesn't improve soon (which in all likelihood, it won't) I might recreate some of the outfits I've worn out recently but didn't get a chance to photograph, like what I wore on my birthday, for my Grandad's birthday meal, and even what I wore to the cinema yesterday was quite nice. Which reminds me, if you haven't seen it yet, go and watch The Amazing Spiderman. It's good. No offence to Tobey Maguire but Andrew Garfield makes a much better Spiderman.

Is this summer?

I can't believe it's July already. When January rolls around, you think the year is going to go so slowly, but before you know it you're over halfway through. My mum got back from Saudi last week, and this morning my dad also returned, and I can smell a Sunday lunch cooking as we speak. It's good to have them home.


Yesterday the Olympic Torch passed through my city, so my mum and I went into town early to avoid the road closures as we needed to do a little bit of shopping. After leaving M&S and heading back to Sainsbury's we got caught in a torrential downpour which left us soaked through, despite having an umbrella. As a result, I felt cold for the rest of the day, then had to go to work and missed the Andy Murray match at Wimbledon.


We watched the live feed of the Olympic Torch relay through the city. We decided not to venture down to see it in person for fear of being caught in another freak shower, and also crowds of people preventing us actually seeing anything! As soon as I stopped seeing places I recognised, I lost interest and went back to the tennis.


In other sporting news, I'm hoping that Italy win in the Euro 2012 final tonight - I got them in the sweepstakes at work so I'll win the money if they can beat Spain! Fingers crossed.


Song of the Day: Does He Love You? by Rilo Kiley


Currently reading: It. Longest book ever (or it feels that way).

Remember me?

I have been super busy, and that's about the only explanation I have for my absence. I haven't had a chance to do any outfit photos, but I have been shopping, so here's a little 'What I Bought' kind of blog post.

Possibly the most beautiful wedges I have ever seen in my life. I got these from Marks and Spencer's yesterday morning, right before me and my mum got caught in a torrential downpour. I used to think I was far too cool for M&S, but they have such pretty things in there at the moment...

...like these skinny jeans (which I definitely should have photographed on a dark background). My lovely mother bought these for me as a belated birthday present as I didn't know what I wanted before. They are so very pretty.

Finally, I bought this denim jacket from Dorothy Perkins. The last denim jacket I had is too big for me now so I was in the market for a new one, but so many of the ones in the shops at the moment are cropped with 3/4 length sleeves, but I wanted a proper sized one with full-length sleeves. This one fit the bill pretty perfectly.


Anyway, hopefully I'll get around to doing an outfit post soon!

Writer's Block

I've been suffering from Writer's Block lately when it comes to my blog. Occasionally I'll think of things that would make great blog posts, but then I never know how to start them, or I'm not in the mood, or I feel like I can't quite form a coherent opinion on whatever subject it is I wanted to write about in the first place. And then I read Suzy's post about a recent article on Jennifer Aniston's anti-aging regime, and the pressures put on women by the media to look good, and all of that got me thinking about self-esteem. 


I've never thought of myself as a particularly self-conscious person. Don't get me wrong; I'm still a girl, and when I was 14 and 15 I never thought I was pretty at all, and was constantly comparing how I looked to how my friends looked, and thinking that no boy would ever want to go out with me, etc etc, you know the story. But when I was 16, I finally got a decent(ish) haircut, I got contact lenses (which I had wanted for ages), and I generally just gradually began to feel more comfortable in my own skin. Pretty much ever since then, I've never been overly worried about my appearance. Sure, I still have days when I don't feel like I look that nice, but I think everyone has those days, and it doesn't really bother me anymore. In that respect, I feel incredibly lucky because I know of people who are cripplingly self-conscious about their appearance, and no matter how many times they're told how gorgeous they are, it doesn't really matter, because that kind of validation first and foremost has to come from yourself.


I definitely wouldn't want to go back to how I thought of myself when I was 14 years old, but self-esteem isn't just about how you look, it's also how you feel about things that you do. English was always my best subject at school, and I loved creative writing. I would sit at my desk with my hand-me-down laptop and write all sorts of silly little stories, or chapters of a book never to be written. And a lot of the time they'd never really go anywhere, I probably wouldn't show them to anyone unless I was particularly pleased with it, but I was confident enough to just stop over-analyzing everything I was writing and just...write. But now, at 23 years old, I can't remember the last time I wrote something that I didn't delete shortly after. I can't remember what it felt like to be able to just write without constantly stopping to re-read everything. It's annoying because I know that that's the only way I'm going to get better, but now I just don't feel confident about my writing, and I worry that I'll never be good enough. And isn't that what self-esteem is? Just feeling good enough?


However, if past experiences have taught me anything, it's that I won't always feel this way. Although I don't feel confident in my writing right now, I do feel confident that this feeling will pass, and that at some point in the (hopefully) not too distant future, I will be able to sit down and write, and just see where it takes me.


Song of the Day: Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac


Currently Reading: It