keep the love lights glowing, little girl's got the blues

My exams are over!! The benefits of taking art are endless, one of the best being a whole subject less of exams, so I finished a lot earlier than people doing four academic subjects. It's kind of good and bad - good as I have time to focus on sorting my life out, and bad because only a very small number of my year have finished too, so I have a feeling I'm going to be spending many days just waiting for everyone else to finish so we can all hang out without the obligation to revise and study dampening the mood.
Today was my second day of sort-of freedom; yesterday was spent sleeping in (I haven't been able to for months) then meeting some friends for a celebratory meal out at Five Guys in Covent Garden. Today has been slightly less exciting so far - I went for a run this morning (I actually went for a run. I am so proud of myself - the main thing stopping me before was the fear of seeing people I know, but realistically who is going to be hanging out near me at 7.30am?!) then got some photos developed, went on a little trawl through the charity shops, and spent way too long watching Parks and Recreation (my new addiction). These are all from the two cameras I got developed today: one from around september time, then the rest all from the last few weeks.

An outfit from a revision break trip to the park a few weekends ago. I wore a top and skirt from Beyond Retro and a jacket from Rokit, and also I bought a new pair of the old cat eye sunglasses I used to have about two years ago!! I bought them from the exact same shop in Portobello Road ages ago but broke them whilst playing water-volleyball on holiday (the struggles of trying to wear sunglasses/play sport never ends) and couldn't help buying them again when I saw them. To be honest I rarely ever wear them on my face - I use them more as a hairband to keep my hair out of the way.

As is clear from the above photos I have spent way too long in the same room recently (the first few are all from a revision break which involved using up a camera from september without moving from my desk). I'm pleased I've been keeping up with my journal properly for once - I never thought I would, but I have started to adore it's tiny size and much prefer it to the larger moleskines I used to use. It's somehow so much easier to fill, and easier to sneak on public transport to draw strangers.

There are also two photos from my hotel room in Swanage from around September time, and my recent sketchbook for my art exam project (as usual, fabric everywhere).

The first photo was planned out so much by me (without my friends knowing) and I have spent the last month hyping it up to myself in my head, however it didn't come out quite as dramatic as I had planned - if only I had aimed a little more to the left. I still credit my attempt though, at least I tried. I always try to take candid pictures of my friends and this was probably the only time I've been able to do it without being noticed. The second photo is from the bar my friend was playing an open mic at, the third is a shop on Portobello, and the fourth a very typical selfie (I can't open my eyes in photos. It's known as the 'ellie face' and is all anyone ever gets from me on snapchat) from a day working at the library and ending up spending 6 hours with friends trying to revise poetry and drinking coffee instead. The final two are from yesterday, and my celebratory Five Guys burger and then a cool bejewelled sewing machine in Rokit. I hope you are all having a good week - I can hopefully get back to posting actual posts now! Also good luck in your exams if you haven't finished!