and here we are hand in hand now

Sunday evenings always seem to go on forever, almost as if time slows down just to let you endure the weight of the week ahead that little bit longer. This Sunday has been a relaxing one, as Mother's Day meant a cosy family catch-up and lunch out, and I have a school trip tomorrow  so I don't have to worry about work and lessons for one more day at least.
The last week has been slow and peaceful - the aftermath of crazy deadlines has been relaxing, and has given me time to catch up with friends, get some art done, and generally attempt to sort my life out ahead of the craziness of the upcoming exam & revision season that's heading my way.

I wore a very 'me' outfit today, which made a nice change as college recently has reduced my wardrobe to comfy jumpers and loose patterned trousers as I just haven't had enough time to put proper outfits together. I wore my leopard print top and new shirt from Beyond Retro, with a skirt from Urban Outfitters and my favourite mustard platforms from The Whitepepper. I also wore my little fox necklace from Ladybird Likes for the first time - foxes have always been my spirit animal (we have the same colour hair) and so I couldn't resist buying this little one when I saw them for sale.

 The bracelet is from Hirst Antiques, and was my present from my mum for my sixteenth birthday. I am seriously loving wearing jewellery at the moment - I think being able to dress up in it all day on a Saturday has made all other outfits feel incomplete without some crazy earrings or loads of necklaces and rings. For some reason, I like my jewellery to have meaning - all of my rings are from different people, either my mum's from when she was my age, a present my best friend bought me from a market in China, a black onyx one from work that I wore for my cousin's wedding, or a teeny heart ring a lady at an antique market gave me for free. I think it's probably to do with my obsession with memories. Who knows.

Anyway, on Tuesday after college I hopped on the tube and met up with Mona in Brick Lane, which was such a lovely way to spend an evening. We have been trying to meet up for ages, and finally managed to pull it off. It felt so nice being out with another like soul, wandering around one of my favourite places, drinking hazelnut lattes in cute cafés, taking photos and enjoying the unusually moderate temperature and rainless sky.

We spent the unfortunately very short (if only I didn't have college!) time exploring shops, discovering we have very similar music taste, and trying on crazy patterned outfits in Beyond Retro. In retrospect, we should have organised a little shoot if we had had more time! It was lovely though, and reminded me that you really can get a lot done in one day if you put your mind to it.

I wore a jersey dress from Topshop over a cream top with layered pendants from The Astrology Shop in Covent Garden, scarf from Blitz, coat from Etsy and bag from Rokit. The 'Birth of Venus' socks are from Topshop, and made me unbelievably excited to finally own them (I've been trying to get my hands on a pair of art socks for what feels like years).

I took some film photos, and Mona took photos too so I'm sure more will be on this page over the next week or so (as usual I have loads I need to get developed. I've taken to carrying a disposable/film camera around with me 24/7 so literally live in snappy snaps).
Hope you have a good week!

just trying to let the sun in and open up my eyes

This week has been the longest and craziest week I have had for a while, and has left me feeling incredibly tired, dazed and confused but none the less excited for Spring (which seems to be almost upon us at last!) Trying to catch up with half-term/missed work from Wales has been daunting, and has had me up until the early hours most nights trying to meet deadlines. AS levels were originally easy to manage but all of a sudden have become really intense and stressful. It's not too bad though as I do like my subjects...but even so after spending about seven hours in total on our coursework essays for English with my friend yesterday I think I have actually forgotten how to write. Oh well.
In other news I have this last set of photos from Margate to post, from our last two days there (and my first set of film back from my new little Olympus Pen). I wore a skirt and top from Beyond Retro with an old shirt of my Mum's, a Topshop bag and coat and shoes from The Whitepepper.

My new-found love of necklaces is still going strong - I've always felt that I look weird in low-neck tops and so layering some necklaces seems to solve the problem. I also just love wearing jewellery at the moment and it's easy to pick up some little stones or charms to wear from places you visit.
Anyway, on the Tuesday I went to the Turner Contemporary Gallery to see the 'Self' exhibition, as it tied in perfectly with my current project in art. Also, the Gallery is free to visit, which makes a change as sometimes in London you end up paying quite a lot to get in to some art shows. The Gallery itself was beautiful, with huge glass windows, natural light and sea views, plus the chance to watch Felicity Allen as the artist in residence work on some absolutely amazing portraits of inspirational women for an exhibition in March (which I am definitely going to go back and see). While I was there she was working on a portrait of Rosie Wylie, and it took all of my self restraint not to just sit and watch the entire session.

The exhibition was really good, with work by Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Gilbert and George, Lucien Freud, Georg Baselitz, Maggi Hambling and many others. I could probably have spent the entire day browsing and sketching but managed to drag myself away with the promise of lunch in the same pretty cupcake cafe we had eaten at before. We then went for a wander and a drive and ended up in Broadstairs, an old coastal haunt of mine that was crazily nostalgic to come back to.

Broadstairs was just as quaint and picturesque as I remembered, and I spent a long time watching the sun set over the sea and wondering what happened in the time since I was there last, before getting a traditional box of fish and chips to eat on the way home.
I also found a charity bookshop and got way too excited about the whole 50pence book thing. All I can say is I think I am sorted reading-material-wise for a good few months.

The next day was our last day, and was spent wandering around the shops for the last time before heading home. I wore a leopard print top from Beyond Retro with a striped jumper from Primark, old leggings of mine and my new jacket from a vintage shop in Margate.

Over the last two days I used up my first roll of film in the Olympus Pen I had bought on the first day, and I am actually so pleased with how they came out! I still need to get used to the settings (as it's not an SLR there are no aperture or focus settings) but it can produce some really good photos if used right. Also, it shoots half-frame - meaning for every roll of film I buy I can take double the amount of pictures, and they print with two photos per normal frame which I love.

1: Rosie, Felicity Allen // 2: Felicity Allen, cafe door // 3: cafe, cafe door // 4: coffee, cake

5: Emin graffiti, houses // 6: trees, fossil shop // 7: fossil shop, fish and chip shop sign

8: old curiosity shop // 9: Broadstairs beach // 10: Broadstairs beach

11: beach, fish and chip shop // 12: fish and chip shop, Rosie on the beach // 13: coffee

Hope you all have a lovely week!