Current Favourites

Current Favourites

Wednesday, 18 April 2018

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Is it just me or did January feel like it lasted 100 years and February, March & most of April have flown by in seconds?! If you've read my previous blog post, you'll know that I've kind of "turned over a new leaf" this year, so I thought that I would share some of the things that I've been interested in so far this year.

Everything I know about love - Dolly Alderton
This book has literally changed my life. I know it sounds very dramatic and a little bit unbelievable but it's true. It is the perfect mixture of comedy, drama, sadness and pop culture references - so actually, it's an accurate portrayal of real life. I read the book and I just thought, "I don't know if I want to be this woman or want to be friends with this woman." I even bought it as a birthday present for my best friend! I honestly think that every single person can take something away from Everything I Know About Love.

A Series of Unfortunate Events
NOSTALGIA ALERT! I used to fucking love these books when I was younger, I remember getting the thirteenth book as an Easter present one year, so when I first found out that there was a Netflix series based on them I was wary. I put off watching it for a long while and it wasn't until season 2 was released that I finally decided to give it a go. It's bloody brilliant! I binged the whole 2 seasons in a few days. Neil Patrick Harris is a genius and the children are brilliant actors. 10/10 would recommend.

Mitchum deodorant
This is pretty random but I needed to include it because it has been my most repurchased item of 2018 so far. This deodorant is the best deodorant I have ever tried. That's all I have to say really.

Amazon tapestry
If you're on a budget and you can't really afford to paint the walls or buy lots of expensive wall art, tapestries are the answer. I have 3 which I rotate depending on the season or how I'm feeling. I recently bought one on amazon for like £8 which is an absolute BARGAIN and I love it. It covers up all of the hideous marks on the wall next to my bed (most of which are red wine stains from a time that I drank a ridiculous amount and decided that I would keep a glass of red wine on my window sill in case I got thirsty through the night. Needless to say none of the wine made it in to my mouth but a substantial amount made it on to my bed sheets, up the adjacent wall and down the radiator - 10/10 would not recommend) and looks surprisingly chic for a £8 Amazon jobby.

Alice & You dress
I am addicted to ASOS. I admit it - I have a problem (especially now that they've introduced by now, pay later AM I RIGHT). I ordered this dress from ASOS a few months ago and I just love it so much.  I hate how a lot of plus size clothes can be muted tones (mostly black, let's be honest) and just, well, a bit boring really. Alice & You are such a great plus size brand - the clothes fit great and I love how a lot of they're stuff looks kinda Boho, 70s style.

Charlie Binbags on Twitter
If you haven't heard this story PLEASE check it out on Twitter... Basically, last month a homeless man named Charlie was given a mobile phone & decided to join Twitter. In just 10 days he gained 20,000+ followers through sharing his story and offering tweets of positivity. Since then he's got a job, is helping to raise awareness around homelessness, has caused LOADS of people to donate to homeless charities and continues to use his Twitter profile to spread positive vibes. With all the negative shit going on, it's beacons of light like this that truly warm my heart. And also reminds me why I fucking love the internet (sometimes).

It's been a while...

It's been a while...

Tuesday, 10 April 2018

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Today I interviewed a woman on camera about a course that she's doing at my work. Last year I never would've been able to do that.
I cannot believe that it's been nearly a whole year since I last posted. It seems that everything and nothing has happened in the past 8 months. It's been a relatively uninteresting year so far and yet I feel like a completely different person. I have the same job and I haven't really achieved anything superficial - apart from having a different hair colour and a new tattoo, but inside it's like I've evolved in to this fresh, new version of myself. 2018 has definitely been the year that I have 'found myself' and funnily enough, it didn't take a life-changing trip to India like I originally thought it would (I literally told my friends a few years ago that I was going to go on a life changing trip to India where I would stay away from social media and be at one with the world and afterwards everything would make sense). In fact, I don't really know what it took. I can't put my finger on what's different - on what I've changed. At the end of last year I reached a bit of an all round low where I was drinking more than usual and not wanting to go to work and whenever I got drunk I ended up arguing with one of my friends/family members BIG TIME then hysterically crying (not fun for anyone involved to say the least). But the first 3 months of 2018 have been the complete opposite. I'm not drinking very often and when I do I'm happy and I realise when I've had enough and it's time to go home; I'm loving going to work - in fact, I actually look forward to it. I've started appreciating myself and I've kind of realised who I am in a way.

Things that I've realised and now love about myself:
- I love that I'm passionate about politics and whenever someone says something that I inherently don't agree with I get a rush of adrenaline and find it really hard to keep my mouth shut.
- I love that I'm a feminist and I don't feel scared to admit it anymore - in fact, I want everyone to know. I want to send a group email to everyone I've ever passed in the street or tell everyone over the tannoy system in TESCO or get a massive tattoo on my forehead that reads "FUCK MISOGYNY".
- I love that I'd rather sit and listen to Rod Stewart & Phil Collins (as I am right now, this second) than anyone in the charts right now.
- I love that I'm enthusiastic about fashion even though society tells me that I should hate my body.
- I love that I cry nearly every day at work because of articles that talk about homelessness/child poverty.
- I love that when I get into a TV show, I get fully invested, following all of the actors on Instagram and wikipedia'ing them (usually to unfollow them in a few months when I forget why I followed them in the first place).
- and I love that now I'm self aware enough to recognise all of these things.

What is it with society making us seem like utter twats if we congratulate ourselves on anything? Like when we do well in an exam and we feel inclined to say "oh I wasn't expecting that, I didn't really revise" or if we achieve something and we say "I was just lucky, really." This year I'm saying FUCK THAT! Every single day I surprise myself by doing things that I never thought I could do and I'm sure most other people do to if they'd only take the time to notice. I'm celebrating the things that I love about myself and the things that I achieve, no matter how small they are.

My tips for new graduates!

My tips for new graduates!

Wednesday, 2 August 2017

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Remember when you were little and you used to say "I can't wait til I'm grown up" and now all of a sudden you're grown up and you've graduated from university and life is strange. Yeah, same. I honestly cannot believe I've been graduated for an entire year! It seems like only yesterday that I was moving in to halls. My advice to anyone starting uni this year: just enjoy every minute of it, because it was the fastest 3 years of my life!

Although it seems like the year has absolutely flown by, when I think about it, a lot of stuff has happened. Stuff that I'm actually proud of. I left uni with next to no experience in what I actually wanted to do, an irrelevant degree and not much going for me to be honest. The first few months (few meaning, like, six) I was waking up most days to a rejection email and it was TOUGH. You kinda start to feel like you're never gonna get a job. I think that's something that university doesn't really prepare you for - how tough it is on the outside world. I don't know about anyone else (maybe I was just ridiculously deluded) but I left university thinking that my degree would give me a bit of an edge, and maybe it did, but not enough to land me the job I wanted. Anyway, I spent the next 7ish months working internships for next to no money and struggling financially but I honestly am so grateful that I had that time to actually LEARN. I learnt so much about the job that I wanted to do, about myself as a person and about the big wide world of work. [You can read about my intern experience here].

Fast forward to right now, I have a full-time (fully paid - hurrah) job doing what I want to do. It's not EXACTLY what I want to do but at the end of the day, I'm only 22 years old so I have plenty of time for my career to grow. AND as of 2 days ago, after four years of financial struggle, I got out of my student overdraft.
So my advice to new graduates would be this:

1) Apply for anything and everything
Obviously, experience is everything. If you have little experience on your CV, apply for internships. It is annoying to be struggling financially, but it's only temporary and it will pay off in the end.

2) Don't give up
I was told this constantly when the rejections were getting me down (see here) and tbh, it got pretty annoying. I was all "EASY FOR YOU TO SAY WHEN YOU HAVE YOUR DREAM JOB SHUT UP" but, like, seriously don't give up. As cliche as it sounds, if you work hard things will work out.

3) Every tiny bit of experience counts
EVERYTHING. If you want to go in to social media (like me) try to build a decent following on your own channels and put them at the bottom of your CV.

4) Be realistic
Speaking from experience, if you're just out of uni with next to no experience and an irrelevant degree - chances are you're not going to get a job at the BBC.


I know a lot of this stuff is pretty obvious but I can't express enough that I've been there. There were times when I felt like utter shit but it worked out in the end just like it will for you. And I'm not there yet, my ultimate goal is to move to a city and work in a big, fast-paced company but I know that I have time for that.

Feel free to comment your graduate stories below, I'd love to read them!