Showing posts with label Lifestyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lifestyle. Show all posts
Friendships need to be nurtured, maintained especially over time - when distance is at play. They should be appreciated - not only on your dark days but happy ones too. It's important not to take them for granted, because time and lack of absolute contact can lead to their down fall. Over the years, I've picked up tips and ideas of how to keep friendships fresh and constant. So here are a few ways to help keep your friendship strong over the years ...
You've spent what seems like forever carrying out your university work, or working all day at the office, and you can't wait to come home and just unwind. A much well-deserved break, if you ask me. Life gets so busy sometimes, and it seems like a list of never ending chores. But it's so important to take some time out for yourself every once in a while, and give yourself some time to re-energise. It's been proven that taking a break and letting the mind wonder, helps increase productivity as well. Everyone has different ways of relaxing at the end of the day. Here are just a few tips to help you find yours!
I'm homesick for a place that just doesn't exist. My heart lies divided in two places. The place I grew up in, and the place I live in. They both hold memories dear to me. My childhood home holds my friends and my family. Those evenings we spent by the park, playing around the swings and talking about moments in our teenage lives. Those days spent watching movies around the dinner table, with a bowl of my mother's homemade chilli popcorn shared between my parents and I. Now my world holds the independence I always longed for, but never could find in that old hometown of mine. It comes with it's own structure and responsibilities - words my young teenage-self use to avoid like the plague. Instead of waiting for my mother's home made dinners, I create my own with recipes I've discovered on the internet. I make my own flavours with sauces and peppers from the local supermarket across the road. Life is different now. I love it. I do. But then ...
Then comes the feeling of nostalgia. Old friends and places I no longer can visit. Roads that use to be 10 minutes away - within the grasp of my feet - are now three hours away, down a long road which I can not follow. Going back wouldn't help - since people are scattered and following their own path miles away. So I look ahead and find unfamiliar but friendly faces to converse with and become companions on the journey ahead. We talk and we laugh - long hours into the night. With words spoken, and thoughts unsaid. Memories in the making, changing our statuses from acquaintances to friends over time. It does not replace, but it helps to erase, that lingering ghost that calls me to look upon my shoulder, at memories from years before. I still reminisce, but not as much as before. This place I'm living in is slowly becoming my home.
So torn between the world I live in and the world I grew up in. I'm missing a place that doesn't truly exist anymore. So I call up my friends in this new town I've been calling home, and decide to have a movie marathon till 2am to take away these home felt blues. And in those moments I know, it'll pass. As I look upon the faces of the people I have come to know, I feel a tenderness that can only be described as being home. And then I truly know. That one day, I no longer will be homesick. I'll just be content with this small little place I've come to live.
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Inspired by my own university experience, I decided to create something that was poetically reminiscent of that time frame of when you're in transition. That period of time, when you've moved to a new town - far from your hometown - and are being to create a new life there. Even if you haven't experienced it just yet, you may do some day. Weather it's for university, a job in a foreign city, or maybe you'll be married and moved to a different country. It's human nature to look back over our shoulders at the past, whilst still trying to creating memories and moments in the present. Who knows maybe you can relate?
I hope you enjoy it! Any thoughts?
Back when I first got into the early forms of blogging on Livejournal, I remember doing a tag called 101 things in 1001 days - which is exactly what it sounds like. Completing 101 tasks that you set out to do in 1001 days. Funny enough, I don't even remember half the things I wrote on that list! Let alone if I accomplished half of them. So I decided to redo this task, and actually achieve most if not all on my list. Second times the charm, right? So without further ado, lets get this show on the road!
Like many people out there, I loved One Tree Hill growing up. It had everything a successful television show should have - drama, romance and heart. From Lucas's insightful quotes, Brooke's sassy nature and the unstoppable Naley (Nathan and Haley for all you newbies!), One Tree Hill never failed to entertain me. But even after all these years, there is still one story line that I can not understand or even being to comprehend. One storyline that I will never be able to truly accept.
You've just woken up after a long restful sleep, and are getting ready for the day. After wiping away the sleep from your eyes, it's time to get your make-up on. As you reach for your foundation to set your facial masterpiece in place, you notice that your everyday power foundation almost to the end. You find that the foundation is breaking into several little pieces inside the container. What are you going to do?
It's that time of year again. You're surrounded by deadlines and exam preparation, and you so desperately can't wait until it's all over. Then you can truly find your peace of mind. But why wait until it's all over? You need something in between to tie you over between study breaks. Trust me - I know. Even though it's been a year since I was in my final year of university, I remember ever so clearly how stressful it was. There was so much going on, and so much to do. Here are a couple of ways to help relieve the mind, after a long day of working.
I've always found it so amazing how music has the ability to take you back in time to a particular moment in your life - to that very moment - when you truly fell in love with a song. So much can happen in a lifetime, and yet those three minutes of a melody can you transform back into that young child you once were. It's always lovely to hear songs from the past. So - in no particular order - let's take a trip down memory lane, and rediscover the long lost songs of our youth!
The Oscars are known for their recognition on visual storytelling, and for the fashionable attire. It's what journalists and showbiz enthusiasts look forward to every single year. But how many people have been paying attention to what the speakers at the event were saying? Some of the speeches given this year by the winners were absolutely golden. And yet - I haven't heard or seen anything much about them since. So in honour of those incredible speeches from this year's Oscar winners, here's their moment of glory!
As a creative, I know how difficult it can be to get ideas to start new projects - or even finish existing ones. Sometimes you just need a bit of inspiration to get yourself in the right direction, especially if you find yourself facing a creative block. So weather you are a writer, a blogger, a graphic designer or an artist, here are a few ideas to help you find inspiration.
Still struggling to find gift ideas in time for Valentines Day? Don't worry about it. I got you covered - all curtsy of the wonderfully talented creatives on YouTube! It's always giving presents to the people you love. Valentines Day doesn't have to just be about that special someone. It can just be about the people you love having in your life, from your friends to your parents - even your cat if you have one! So for all of you still searching for some last minute gift ideas, here's a few ideas to help you get started.
As a teenager whenever I went shopping, I would always pick out items that caught my eye - weather it would be an adorable dress, a graphic tee or a pair of faded jeans. My shopping habits were always so spontaneous. I never really took the time to build up the essential items of my wardrobe. So as I was flicking through my closet the other day - filled with patterned and stylised clothes - I realised how very little simplistic pieces I had. Clothes that I could pair up with almost anything and everything. I decided I was in much need need of a shopping trip - going back to basics. After all every girl needs their essentials, don't they?
Stretch-Knit Tank, Forever 21, £3.00 / Classic V-Neck Tee, Forever 21, £3.00 / Navy Utility Shirt, New Look £12.99
Grey Basic Crew Neck Cardigan, New Look, £9.99 / Jersey Leggings, H&M, £5.99
Basic Brown Pumps, New Look, £7.99 / Satchel, Primark, £8.00
So tell me, what are your fashion essentials or must haves?
I remember when I booked my place to see Cassandra Clare - the creator of The Mortal Instruments series - at Waterstones almost four year ago. I was absolutely excited, and yet terribly nervous. I had never been to a book signing before in my life, so I had no idea what to expect or even what to do. Looking back now - after attending roughly five book signings- I really don't know why I was nervous to begin with! So for all of you newcomers, here are some pointers of advice to help you get started!
This year I've decided to participate in something pretty awesome! My lovely friends over at Allison Leighann and October June decided to create a wonderful tag for the year, called A Year Of Happy, where every month on the 15th you're given a task to complete - which just inspires joy and happiness throughout the year. It's ever so thoughtful and optimistic, that I just had to participate! This month's task is to ...
" Write a love letter to yourself. Write all the reasons you're awesome, write down your hopes and dreams for the year ahead, any resolutions, heck, write what you had for lunch. Share why you're grateful for 2014 and what you want to achieve in 2015. Share whatever you want - it's your letter."So without further ado, here is my letter to myself. I hope you enjoy!
So today, I'm going to do something a little out of ordinary. I was tagged by the lovely Britney from HerStyle Media to do this tag called 10 Questions, where I just basically answer questions about myself. Then, I tag 5 other people to do the same with a set new of questions created by me. So let's get started!
When I turned 22 almost two weeks ago, I couldn't help but reminisce on past birthday's. In those young years, I remember the excitement that each birthday held as I turned a year older, and the anticipation of gifts and birthday wishes from friends and family alike. I remember being roughly 10 years old, and declaring to the people around me that I was 10 and a half. I also remember being terribly annoyed if anyone said anything otherwise. But yet somehow as we get older, we find ourselves reluctant to state our ages - with no mentions of in between fractions. We feel glad and blessed if we look younger than what we actually are, as opposed to older. As time passes we vividly embrace those memories that bring us closer to so called detrimental nostalgia, that stops us from seeing the positives yet to come. Here comes my theory called the Peter Pan Effect.
When I was in Year 7, my English teacher gave my class an assignment - to write a letter to our future-selves that we would open in our final year of high school. At 11 years old, I remember thinking it was a strange concept. I couldn't imagine myself five years down the line as a 16 year old young adult, ready to take on the world. What would I want to say to myself? What would I want to know? I remember writing that letter so clearly, and also the day I opened it. Its a memory that I've always held very dear to me. So when I came across this tag on my Bloglovin feed, I instantly jumped right at that opportunity. What better what to honour that memory than writing another letter to my future self. I'm also at a significant point in my life where anything can happen, and with that, you can't help but wonder where life may take you. So without further ado, here is the letter I'm sending to my future self 10 years from now ....
So today, for once, I'm going to talk about something a little bit different outside the world of media entertainment and creativity. There was a time in my life during my years at school when I thought, 'by the end of my university years, I will know exactly what to do with my life. I will have almost everything figured out, and it'll have all come together by the time I approach adulthood.' Now, almost several years later, I'm in my third and final year of university and ... I'm still trying to figure it all out. The amount of days I have left towards post-graduation life is continuously growing smaller and smaller, and turning 21 ... is just another one of those milestones that just signifies adulthood.
Those questions that I've always wondered about; what I want to accomplish in my life, who I want to be, my intended plans for after graduation, are kind of haunting me at this very moment in time. But here is the simple truth - no one on the entire planet has the exact answer to all of these questions. Even if they do, the answers they have aren't set in stone. You never really know where life can take you. It's pretty unpredictable. What I failed to realise back then is that, having a plan isn't always the best thing. You never know what's around the corner, and having a plan or your eyes focused on one section of the road can stop you from seeing other things come your way. For some people, things come early on in life. For others, it comes at the most unexpected moments. It's just the way it is - serendipitous. But that is the beauty of it all. You never know what will happen and when it will happen. Your age does not define you, or the time you will reach success. Age is literally just a number, it is you who gives it meaning. To assume that you will have all the answers by a certain age, is to assume that by that particular point you will understand exactly how the universe works - and no one has managed to do that. It's okay not to know where you're going, time and experiences will help lead you there.
So, as I turn 21 this week ... I vow to focus on the now. I vow to focus on present, instead of living in a future, which I'm helping to shape by living in the present. Tomorrow bring what may, today is all I know. And for that I'm happy, because the future is full of bright opportunities and chances that I have yet to come across, memories that I have yet to make, and experiences I have yet to live. Just thinking about the possibility of that is so exciting. To be open to new experiences, because you never know where you're going, and who or what you may find along the way. Striving for the best forever and always!
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