February

01-01-16//After a job interview that left me in tears, a fun flute choir session at the Sage, Gateshead

02-02-16//Tulips

 03-01-16//Funky trousers that brightened my day up

04-01-16//Cinnamon bagel and tea after getting mock results

05-02-16//It was friday, the sun was shining brightly, I was wearing no makeup and I got a letter from Alice. As you can tell, I was happy.

06-02-16//Lunch (that purple stafff is beetroot humous)

07-01-16//Des promenades avec mon chien

08-02-16// THIS PHOTO IS HORRIFIC IM SORRY (its supposed to be the lights on the quayside)
 09-01-16//My sisters bday

10-01-16//These flowers always make me smile as I walk out the door

11-01-16//Readin'

12-01-16//Ignore the dirty windows omg

13-02-16//New trousers

14-02-16//The beach

 17-02-16//I dressed up as a star for a fancy dress party, unfortunately I missed the copious amounts of glitter I used. I painted yellow stars on my legs with acrylic paint, wore a pink sparkley dress and drowned my facial features in iridescent sparkles.

18-02-16//Fresh walks on the beach

19-02-16//A delicious lunch with Alice

20-02-16//Blossom

21-02-16//A picnic on a walk

22-02-16//Avcoo

23-02-16//Late winter evening

24-02-16//Quotes in my diary

25-02-16//If I ever can't find something to photograph, I choose my window

26-01-16//English

27-02-16//Partyinggg

28-02-16//The BEST breakfast

29-02-16//Unfortunately, I would have been happier without this extra day. But, a typical evening treat.

Another month fini, where is it going,
February, upon reflection, has been quite a trial but I am looking forward, although I am not really sure that's what I want to be doing.

Highlights:
-Pleasing mock results
-Drastic haircut
-Meeting new friends
-Fancy dress party
-Seeing the author of one of our English texts, we thought it was going to be a bit of a pisstake as we hate the text but it was really informative
-Spending the day under duvets with my pals
-Getting back into running (kinda)

Read:
-The Road to Wigan Pier-George Orwell
-I am Malala, Malala Yousafzai
(neither yet finished)

Have a good March,
Katie x

Instagram

Short Hair

For what feels like forever, I have been toying with the idea of getting my hair cut short. 

Okay, this isn't short but compared to the scraggly metres of locks I had before, this is drastic.

So am I loving it?

Currently, not really. I think it makes me look annoyingly young and my head look out of proportionally huge, but I think I will grow to appreciate the shorter look.

So, here are 5 great things about having short hair:

1) It doesn't get in your food when you eat (gross but a true problem of having long hair)

2) It takes half the time to wash, dry (who has time to dry their hair?) and straighten 

3) It's a change and change is good

4) My hair is no longer a mass of split ends and is actually healthy

5) I can still do plaits  

Alas, it is a trivial matter, after all it is dead and will inevitably grow back (those two factors don't really go hand in hand).

Do you prefer having long or short hair?

Katie x

Currently: Drinking: Nutella hot chocolate//Reading: The Road To Wigan Pier-George Orwell//Loving: Spring sun//Lusting: peace

Musings

To fail: verb (used without object) to fall short of success or achievement in something expected, attempted, desired, or approved: "the experiment failed because of poor planing."

Everyone has experienced a feeling of failure in some form. And sometimes this feeling of failure eats away at you for days and days and days on end.

And its not even failure anymore, its a fear of failure.

The thing you are fearing failing begins big, something scary, something that maybe a fear of failure should be evoked by-take big exams for example. And you worry of the implications of not passing this exam and the feeling of failure this may lead to. And then it trickles down to not meeting other people's expectations growing narrower and narrower until it affects every little thing.

You skipped one revision session, the failure demon grows a little bigger. Someone else has done work you haven't, the failure demon gorges on this. And then it becomes things that aren't even related. You didn't manage to run before school, you have failed. You ate a chocolate bar, you failed. You didn't drink 8 bloody glasses of water: You. Failed.

And this is what I am experiencing at the moment.

I wish I could get to the bottom of this fear of not fulfilling myself. No-one has ever said  I must achieve or I must be slim or I must get the outrageously high grades that run in the family.

But I did.

It's fueled by a whirl-wind of low self esteem and comparison and people's misconceptions and needing to have a voice and the only way I can find this voice and have people realise what I am capable of is to succeed. In everything. And even, opening the envelope of my mock results (which I was shocked by) the euphoric moment was temporary. Its all just doubt now.

So for now on, until I can find a way to cope with the demons of failure, I shall be at my desk surrounded by a sea of paper and books and post-it notes with innumerable lists on with my mind lost in Soviet culture, expectations and fear.

But its okay, we'll get there one day. 

****

How do other people cope with pressure and failure? I can't be the only one!!

Katie x
Currently: Listening: Tom Rosenthal-Diablo//Reading: Us-David Nicholls//Loving: Tea//Lusting: this bralette/this one/this one//Looking forward to: Seeing Alice again

January

01-01-16//A New Year's walk 

02-01-16//Sister (lookin moody)

 03-01-16//Fire

04-01-16//A letter to Elise (after a lovely one from her)

05-01-16//Kings Cross Station, London

 06-01-16//Westminster Hall, Prime Ministers Questions

 07-01-16//Eyeliner struggles and a weird forehead

08-01-16//A Friday Lunch

09-01-16//A delicious breakfast that started a crap day (recipe)

10-01-16//January Afternoons

11-01-16//A parcel from India (the things in the back are poppadoms btw)

 12-01-16//Candles in the bath

 13-01-16//Sunrise

 14-01-16/Crying in the snow, dying over a french exam involving a description of how to improve potatoes and a history exam. A cup of tea to celebrate A-levels.

15-01-16//A walk at Whitley Bay

16-01-16//Mum's birthday and the failed Swiss roll

17-01-16//Typography

18-01-16//fairylights (because all pictures of the Quayside looked crap)

19-01-16//Roger's Birthday

20-01-16//New passport pictures (ew)

21-01-16//The mess of my desk epitomises my life currently

22-01-16//Quilliam Brothers with great company

23-01-16//A moody January saturday

24-01-16//New shoes

25-01-16//Us-David Nicholls, I am enjoying it but its slightly gloomy

26-01-16//There are going to be a lot more sunset pictures

27-01-16//Mail from Elise, they always make me so happy

28-01-16//Tom Rosenthal escaping me from the realms of French

29-01-16//Our Friday night refuge, 4 hours spent eating cake, drinking tea and playing Bananagrams (same cafe, same seats and same company as last week)

30-01-16//A rubbish day so some grainy daffodils to make things brighter

31-01-16//Fabric shopping to make some cushions, blinds and a makeup bag. HOW CUTE ARE THE SQUIRRELS

Highlights: 

- Evening's in Quilliam Brothers

- Milo's party (not pictured unfortunately)

- Prime Minister's Questions

- Good Friday lunches w/ mum

- Various trips with my 3 favourite people

- New Year's day

- Sunday washing up & dancin' to trashy music

Listened:

- Tom Rosenthal

- George Ezra-Angry Hill

Read:

- David Nichols-Us

How has everyone's January been?

Instagram-Twitter-Bloglovin'

(please feedback on this January update-too many photos? not enough text? I wanna get it just right which will obvs take a while but feedback would be so greatly appreciated!!)

DIY// Smoothie Bowl

In London one of my favourite places to go is 26 Grains in Neal's Yard, they sell smoothie bowls and fancy porridges-of course they are delicious but tbh I just go for the aesthetics...

I decided I wanted to recreate the smoothie bowls because I'm so bored of muesli so here's how I did it (they are actually so super easy to make)

For the smoothie:
1 banana
A large handful of frozen red berries (I like them frozen because I think the fresh ones make smoothies go kinda funny)
Fruit juice (I used orange and raspberry)

I put it all in the cup thing the hand held blitzer came with and blitzed it all up until it was smooth.

Topping:
Sunflower seeds
Almonds
Dried cranberries
Homemade granola (see a recipe here-pluggin')
Banana
Satsuma segments

And that's it-of course you could alternate it and put anything on top really-this is just what we had in the cupboard.
A super yummy breakfast that really doesn't take that long!
Let me know if you recreate-
Katie x

Twitter - Instagram
(if you go on my insta you can see what I had at 26 G)

p.s I am doing a photo a day this year (or at least I am trying to) and I was thinking about doing a round up at the end of each month on here? Idk would it be boring to see 30/1 photos every month-let me know

p.p.s my friend Elise has blog and I was trawling it today and I remembered just how amazing it is-you should deffs go and check it out here - she is literally the most creative person everrr

p.p.p.s I went to the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday to see Prime Ministers Questions and it was so so interesting and the Houses are so amazing-maybe I'll do a post about it? As I write this I'm cuddled on the chair with my dog (who's trying to push me out) and I'm very content.

ok bye

New Year's resolutions

A new year, a new set of goals and resolutions...

1. Get my hair cut short
2. Take a photo a day
3. Drink more water
4. Think positively
5. Try not the stress about small things
6. Do my Grade 5 flute exam (you've been preparing for ages, stop putting it off)
7. Spend less time online, it's toxic and I need to live in the real world
8. Beat 2015 reading total (25)
9. Blog more and about what ever I want
10.  Get outside (whether it's running, walking, cycling...)
11. Don't fail French
12. Maybe learn to drive?
13. Get a bloody job

What are your resolutions?

Katie x

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