Book recs from 2020

I wrote this back in January, but completely forgot to post it, must be because of how busy life is right now !! Anyway, if there was one year to get through books, it was last year. I found reading, aside from going for walks and watching tv was the only thing to do, and I got through a lot! So in light of the ongoing pandemic, I thought I’d share some of my favourites, enjoy x

The year of magical thinking - Joan Didion

This was the first book of the year, and the second I’d read of Didion. Whilst I couldn’t resonate with the grief she wrote about, it was a beautiful depiction of it and well worth a read.

White Teeth - Zadie Smith

A cult classic as many call it, I finally read this for my one of my uni modules and loved it. It depicts London through a series of three families, and delves into questions of race and identity in a multi ethnic society. I still can’t believe Smith started to write it whilst she was still at university, but it shows what a brilliant and natural writer she is.

American dirt

If you like tense / suspenseful reads then you’ll love this. It deals with the reality of migration through a story of a mother and son fleeing Mexico to start a new life in America. Whilst it’s a fictional novel, it really highlights how real and innocent people endure this experience and how traumatic it is, and how there shouldn’t be a question of people wanting to exist in a safe environment.

Where the Crawdads sing

I couldn’t put this down !! I read this in two days because the story was just so beautiful, definitely recommend if you like a happy/ romance style of book. (I’m especially excited to see how it comes to life as a film).

The Catcher in the Rye

A few years late with this one, but I’m so glad I finally read it. It’s a funny read, because the events happen over one night and it drags out a lot of mundane tasks, but at the same time its quite sad as it portrays a boy coming to terms with with loss of childhood and the emotions that come with that.

Never Let me Go

I think I liked this, but I’m still not sure? The style of writing annoyed me, a lot of the things the characters said felt quite silly/repeated, and the ending was strange, but I’m including it because I can appreciate how most people found it emotional (maybe I’ll have to watch the film to like it even more).

Between the world and me

A very short yet powerful book, I found it so insightful and interesting. Rather than urge his son (who he’s writing to), to stand up and fight against the racial injustice in America, he clearly depicts the reality of racism existing and the dangers of believing in the American dream, using his experiences of discrimination throughout his life to impact his son and reader.

Half a yellow Sun

I read ‘Americanah’ last year for uni and it’s one of my favourite books, so I’ve been loving reading the rest of Adichies writing. This one dealt with similar themes as Americanah, but its wholly set in Nigeria as opposed to America.

Christodora

This was definitely a long, but powerful read, it depicts lives affected by HIV and Aids, drug abuse and mental health issues. I absolutely loved the plot of the book, how it was set in New York, and how it identifies the brutal matter of the Aids epidemic in the 80’s.

The colour of Law

Another non fiction, this was a very insightful read in light of the BLM movement and I recommend everyone reading to see the examples of racial discrimination within communities that aren’t as explicit as other forms.

Intimations

I liked how easy and quick this was to read. Smith wrote it during the early months of the lockdown in the UK and explores the questions of how to deal with an unpresented (I’d ban that word if I could) situation, and the emotions and reactions that come with it.

Slow Down.

Natural disasters, environmental decline, world wide pandemics and political injustices. This is what the past year seems to have been made up of, and amid the current state of the world, the coronavirus has put us all to a halt. I wont lie, this time last month I remember speaking to my flat mates, being certain that it will all pass and nothing fatal will come from it. Obviously now I know how naïve I was, maybe because I/we haven’t lived through something which has affected us all in such a profound way and now are in the midst of an historic event. I remember speaking to a couple in Heathrow who, two days into their four month world trip were trying to catch a $$$$ flight back home before the borders shut. After this I started to realise of impactful this could be to everyone. Right now I’m sat at home, feeling grateful that my family and friends are all healthy and okay. At the same time though, there’s still a (selfish) part of me thinking things like “I’m so annoyed that I cant go out to my favourite café”, or “Its so sad that I cant even plan things for the summer because this might still be going on”, and its made me realise how much we take for granted, and how grateful I am for the people that essentially keep society afloat (medical staff, supermarket workers, delivery drivers etc). I don’t want to dwell on it all, as I feel as though the media/social media has been a huge bearer of information and fear which has resulted in a lot of anxiety and uncertainty.

Until the world can start “spinning” as normal again, I’m going to try and make the most of being home, albeit not being able to the normal things I usually do, but slowing down and adjusting to the new normal. ( Most importantly, staying ! at ! home! )

LEMAIRE

Lemaire, the Paris based fashion house by Christopher Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran, has become one of my favourite labels. After seeing pictures of their ready to wear lines on Vogue’s archive a few years ago I became obsessed with the minimalist aesthetic their clothing has. In turn of over the top pieces and shows, the brand has a certain classic feel to it, using a neutral palette and simple designs to create timeless pieces which have really influenced my style to be more simple. Its also made me stop buying into fast fashion so much, as I obviously don’t have the money to buy into their brand, yet I’ve used it as way to thrift more and buy pieces I know will last longer and are better quality.

Catching Up - Part Two

Part two of the last post <3

All the changes

Long time no post ! I’m wiping the dust from my keyboard to write this, as the last few months have had some changes to say the least. I enjoyed the last of the sun in Seattle before flying to the UK at the start of September. Most of the time was spent catching up with family and friends and preparing things for uni, and then I went over to Spain which was so lovely. I also went to Holland to visit my uncle and his wife, who moved to The Hague last year after living in Australia and it was so nice to see them and explore The Netherlands. I was able to cycle my way round The Hague but also did a day trip to Amsterdam and walked as much as I could to see as much as I could. Some of my favourite things I did whilst I was there was going to the Rembrandt museum, seeing Anne Franks house, walking along the canals, go to the Mauritshusis museum and obviously spending too much money on coffee. It was such a great few days and I cant wait to make trips more regular there (thanks Mark and Sara !!). (I put my film up from when I was there but might do a separate post on some of the things I did there).

With all the travelling that has happened, there’s also been a lot of changes as well. I’m officially a student at the university of York, and even though the move to the US was a huge life change which has helped me grow and be open to new challenges, coming back to UK to start university, while my parents and brother are all in America was hard. In a lot of ways, I was skeptical about starting here because I didn’t know if it was what I wanted, but I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t try it so here we are.

In a lot of ways, turning 20 this year seems to be different than other birthdays, because I never imagined this is what life would be like when I was turning 10. But I’m excited to see how I’ll adapt to these new changes, and I’m also liking studying again, even though I considered going into work, I know I wasn’t ready to enter the world of adulthood (lol). Anyway, here’s some pictures I neglected and forgot to put up from the summer in my last few weeks in Seattle. Niamh x

Film from Cananda

Continuing on from my last blog post, I thought I’d include some of the pictures I took whilst in Canada. I much prefer film to digital as I like the finish better and the contrast of light and dark tones, as well as being more sentimental with a physical photograph than a digital one, enjoy x

7 days of summer

The last week entailed a fun trip up to Victoria, British Columbia to meet some of my families closest friends who were visiting. We spent a long weekend there, travelling to Edmonds for the ferry to Kingston and then a ferry to Port Angeles (having a look at where twilight was filmed because why not) and eventually reaching Victoria. We stayed in North Saanich, just north Victoria on Vancouver Island, in the most insanely beautiful house which was surrounded by miles and miles of trees overlooking Canada and the surrounding islands. Most of the weekend was filled with exploring the island, going to sidney and some of the towns on the coast, seeing Victoria, dowtown, Beacon Hill park and Fisherman’s warf. Most of the mornings and evenings though were spent enjoying the house, because of the view it had and how quiet the surrounding area was. After making our way back down to Seattle after the island hopping journey home, the rest of their week here was spent travelling around Seattle…

Many mornings were spent drinking tea in the sun here and the at night we’d watch the sun go down whilst making dinner.

We went for breakfast at a diner on Queen Anne Avenue, and then went over to Alki Beach, one of my favourite places in Seattle, and spent a few nights at Golden Garden’s park (my all time fave).

We also went to Discovery Park, walked over to Kerry park for an obligatory picture overlooking the space needle and water, went into downtown and stopped off at the Pink door (has the best food and Italian inspired interior so I’m sold there). There was also other things we got up to, I had my first ever s’more which isn’t that exciting but I couldn’t have a summer in America without trying one…

Some thoughts on LA

July marked my first ever trip to LA. Los Angeles has been one of my top places to visit in America, so naturally I’ve spent a lot of time looking at flights and trips to go when my mum suggested going for my birthday. Aside from the generic pictures of palm trees, acai bowls, star spotting and Venice beach on tumblr and Instagram, I hadn’t got a clue on what to think of LA. Many of my perceptions of places come from my parents. Being quite well travelled people (they compete about who’s visited the most countries, my mums winning on 60) I’ve grown up hearing stories about their experiences. The last time they visited LA was 30 years ago, and while my dad said it was one of the most fascinating cities in the world, my mum expressed how scary it was at times.

We stayed just on the outskirts of Venice, on a road called Abbot Kinney. After arriving into LAX and being greeted by the famous rush our traffic, we made base at the airbnb, where the host Katarina introduced us to her family of pets. 2 dogs, a cat and a bunny, what a start. We walked down along AKB, where the overwhelming feeling that we were walking in a ridiculously perfect Woody Allen film came to mind. Buzzing little cafes, cute beach shacks that made you feel like you were in Byron Bay, unbelievably overpriced clothing and ‘‘vintage’’ shops and way too many matcha and wellness based stores, all ran along this tiny strip in the colossal landscape of LA. In the evenings we cycled down to Venice Beach and walked got pizza and spoke to people who were travelling around or lived in LA.

On my birthday we went to a place called The Butchers daughter, which really sums up some of the stereotypes LA has. Having seen pictures on instagram of people taking pictures of pristine plates of Avocado toast and acai bowls where the coconut bowls made you feel like you were a surfers town, it was a fun experience to go there, but really I think you’re just paying for the place itself and not the food. Having made our way down AKB, we also ventured out to West Hollywood, and walked all along Melrose place. I didn't realise how huge LA was until we took a 40 minute uber ride to get there, (where i thought the tiny gap on google maps was small enough to cycle there). Beverly Hills and hollywood were great places to visit, the huge stretch of Melrose as well as the seemingly small side streets which held the quaint Spanish inspired bungalows which had palm trees shading and creating patches of shadow and light streaming through. I think I actually preferred walking around a lot of the residential areas a lot more than doing typical tourist things (mainly because I was on the look out for vintage mustangs).

The one thing that's not great in Seattle is the shopping, not because it’s bad but it feels like a chore going into downtown and being greeted with traffic and hills which make me feel like I’m running a marathon. LA though was the retail therapy I’ve been looking for (I sound like Carrie Bradshaw). Whilst Venice had lots of independently run brands, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood had some of my favourite shops to look through. Reformation’s prices hurt my soul but the trying on experience was something new, the vintage shops were amazing, particularly American Rag and Republique, and then there high street places like other stories and COS. The walking wasn't any different though, minus the hills, everything is so stretched out so despite our goal to walk as much as possible, uber remained the saviour.

It was an amazing few days, and it feels crazy to be a short plane journey away from such an amazing city. There are so many things to inspire you there, obviously the sunshine and beach would make anyone happy, but i think people there, besides the materialistic aspects of life , are so different an have so much motivate and influence them. Sometimes I can’t wrap my head round things like people my age going to university there, as it has such a unique feel to it. Of course no where is perfect, walking down the side streets of venice when it’s getting dark probably wasn’t a great plan, and of course like Seattle, the amount of people living on the streets is awful considering the amount of wealth there. It really emphasises the divide a lot of major cities face, and how although from the outside, with pictures and constant coverage of how fantastic LA is, there’s so much that needs to change and people/families that need help.

(I won't end on a deep note though, I annoyingly have a wanderlust for LA now and I'll be back soon)!!

The islands on film

Here are some pictures I took whilst being in the Suan Juan islands last week. I went with my family and our friends who were visiting for the weekend and absolutely loved it. There are about 172 islands and reefs in San Juan County, and most are full of forests, wildlife and hidden treasures which you wouldn’t expect from the mainland and fast paced city life of Seattle. We went to Friday Harbor and Roche Harbor, which were some of the most picturesque places I’ve ever visited, and went on a whale watching tour and unexpectedly saw a humpback whale come past our boat. It was an amazing experience to learn about the marine wild life around the Pacific North West, and how passionate people are in researching and ensuring the safety of these creatures, particularly the Orcas. I also loved seeing the islands that surrounded San Juan and being able to go up into Canadian waters!

Some Ireland snaps

I went to Ireland in March when I was back in the UK to visit my cousins, who i hadn’t seen in way too long and whilst I put my film pictures up, I had pictures from my phone that I’d taken over the weekend so I thought I’d share them here. (Shoutout to my lunatic cousins who adopted me for the weekend xxx).

1. I flew into Dublin to meet my cousin Sophy who was coming from Galway, and after lugging around Dublin trying to find her (it was saint P’s weekend bear in mind) we finally found each other and made our way to a cute little coffee shop which Soph had a voucher for. We had Kombucha and these raw energy bites (health you know) before going to my cousin Kate’s house who lives in Dublin and let us stay with her :)

2. Sophy had a collection of vouchers from her birthday to use in Dublin so we went to this amazing veggie restaurant where we ate the boujiest, most sophisticated round of meals I’ve ever had. (Who knew you could make a leek taste so good). We had some drinks then went back to Kates house where Sophy demonstrated some of her yoga moves, the usual.

3. Saturday morning, we got ready and headed out to get the train from Dublin to Bray, got a coffee on the way, stopped to see the climate change protests around Dublin and then caught the train. We walked from Bray to Greystones, which was a good 2 hour walk by the coast. By 4 we’d arrived in Greystones, ready for my first Happy Pear experience, and my expectations were met by the most amazing plate of food (we both got the buddha bowl). Leaving with a food baby and never needing to eat again, we left the Happy Pear happy and ready to get the train back to Dublin to catch the bus to Kilkeny.

4. By 10pm we’d arrived in Kilkeny; I caught up with all the rest of the family, and Saturday was filled with catching up with my cousin Roison and walking around Kilkeny’s town center. We had a great evening filled with a trip to Aldi to get some food essentials, a great dinner and watching loads of cheesy rom-com’s. The best night :)

5. On Sunday I was heading home, so after demolishing my breakfast in the matter of 2 minutes after we lost track of time, I caught the bus to the airport for my flight!

The Reserve.

When I was looking for the best places for coffee in Seattle, I was given a long, long, LONG list of places to visit, luckily for me. One place that stuck out amongst the list of small and large , independent shops and chains, was Starbucks Reserve Roastery and tasting experience. I had never heard of it before, and instantly was met with countless articles and reviews, expressing how ‘not all Starbucks shops are equal’.

Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room. The worlds first new type of store Starbucks offered, it combines coffee production, menu tasting and architectural ‘whimsy’.

I’ve been there several times now, and each time I’m amazed as to how impressive not only was the expansive coffee selection and menu, offering exotic and unique types, but also the 15,000 square foot interior. Instead of a cramped coffee shop, with limited seats, seemingly irritated uncaffeinated people and fluorescent lights, your’e met with a sleek wooden design, and glass and brass details from designer Liz Muller. Impressively, a small starbucks team travelled through Europe for a week looking at coffee houses with small roasters, to try and translate their vision for the new store into a larger scale in Capitol Hill, Seattle. It’s no surprise that with the amount of money that went into building this ‘vision’, forty baristas from around the world moved to Seattle to work there. The two large roasters are capable of handling over half a ton of coffee per hour, and even imports the bakery items from Rocco Princi’s bakery in Milan.

The only negative thing I have to say about it though, is how expensive it is. Instead of paying, say $2.50 for a cold brew, you might pay $6 depending on extras you might want, thanks to the small batch roasting (and clever ‘one of a kind marketing’). It’s definitely not a quick ‘pit stop’ place where you can grab a cup and go, but in reality that’s what makes it so unique, as you’re paying for the experience of being in one of only a few of the stores in the world. It might be a tourist trap, full of overpriced merchandise and groups of people wanting a picture to show how they’ve been there, even if ironically they have glass of wine or a beer and not a coffee, but its a cool place to visit.

Sand dunes

Seattle has been blessed lately with some beautiful weather. It’s still quite weird to be a quick 10 minute drive away from the beach so most afternoons I’ve found myself going down to one of my favourite places, either Alki, Golden gardens or Discovery Park - definitely spoilt for choice. It’s so refreshing to sit there, not having to wrap up with 10 layers like I did a few weeks ago when spring hadn’t fully made its mind to come out yet, and just people watch. I actually went on the best bike ride with my cousin when my family was over a few weeks ago and we rode along the coast through Alki’s town. It had a mix of the cutest, quirky little craftsman houses and huge contemporary mansions with big yards and flowers blooming all around them. Seattle has a lot of hidden towns like that out of the city, which is probably my favourite thing about it here.

I’ve been switching between my film and digital cameras, although because film developing has stripped my bank account dry, I took these on my digital over a few days!

The Wes Anderson love

Wildwood crest, New Jersey - Tyler Haughey

A train, Norway

Hotel, Petra, Jordan

The North Korean conference room

Hotel saratoga, Cuba - Ron Beinner

Apartments, Hong Kong - Michael Wolf

I love love love Wes Anderson. I’m sure it’s been talked about a thousand times but when i found the subreddit r/accidentalwesanderson, I was obsessed with scrolling through the countless beautiful photographs from around the world.

I’ve watched Fantastic Mr Fox too many times, loved The Isle of Dogs (my mum didn’t feel the same way), as well as The Grand Budapest hotel and Moonrise Kingdom. There’s a sort of surrealism in these films, and the photographs above which have an element of Anderson’s style to them, depict how amazing the world is. He’s one of my favourite film makers and I think the visual elements of his films, through colours, tones, symmetry and set designs in his work make him an artistic genius (as a lot have probably referred him to).

The daily bowl

One of the things i’ve loved about having more than 10 minutes to spare in the morning is being able to make a half decent breakfast. Instead of a sad looking bowl of porridge or a cereal bar on the go, I’ve been experimenting with different types of breakfasts from blogs and cookbooks I’ve read. Some of my favs are…

• The nakd kitchen

• Deliciously ella

• The happy pear

• Lucy Watson

• Avant garden vegan

Here are some of the (extra) meals I’ve come with in the mornings.

What my bowl looks like most days // Porridge, almond milk, chia seeds, cinnamon, mix. Top with any fruit in the house, probably frozen berries and some kiwis and some type of nut butter/seeds //

Another porridge bowl // Topped with apple, strawberries, PB. The best combo.//

For warmer days // Frozen banana, berries, water/almond milk, hemp seeds (Gotta get the omegas in) Top with seeds, homemade granola and berries //

If I’m craving cereal '// Homemade granola, basically taken inspo from this fancy one i found in wholefoods that I refuse to pay the crazy price for. Have with almond milk + banana/ berries.//

The last porridge bowl // Rasberries and apple, SUCH a good combo.//

Portland

I visited Portland in January and never got round to writing about it for some reason, probably because I couldnt be bothered to sort through the mound of pictures I’d managed to accumulate in the few days I spent there. Oregon, a 30 minute flight from Seattle is described quite often as Washington’s sister. The only thing seperating them is the, well, names obviously. A person i had a conversation with about the US said that every state is like a little distinct country (except Wisconsin in his opinion). Oregon and Seattle share that North Western uniqueness, the trees and the greenery, and the mountains, and of course, the coffee. In another conversation I had, when i’d mentioned I wanted to visit Portland, I was told ‘Its like Seattle… but 30 years ago I guess’.

Hello, spring

Welcome back ! I’ve seemed to neglect this blog whilst hardly even starting it properly, but the last few weeks, months have been pretty hectic. Instead of rambling on, i’ll simplify what I’ve been up

• I visited Portland (post will be coming v soon)

• Ive seen the extremes of nature from the Pacific North West, sun, snow, rain, storms?

• Read some good, and not so good books

• Visited a few galleries

• Tried to expand my taste palette in the extreme hobby that is coffee tasting in Seattle

• My brother came up from California for the weekend

• Spent too much money on processing film

• I went back to England, went up to York, across to Ireland to see my cousins, and down to Spain for a few sunny days

• I got my work visa approved! Yay

• I spent too much time in bed, looking out the window at the good weather because of food poisoning

Since returning to Seattle, there doesn’t seem to be a bitter slap of cold on your face when you go outside, and there are cherry blossom trees popping up everywhere, which make the days where Seattle used to feel like a snow globe, trapped in a blanket of cloud not so dull anymore.

Spring is one of my favourite times of the year, not just because the weather starts to brighten up but because of peoples mood changing. I’m a strong believer that weather affects mood. So, instead of going home with the sun going down at 4.30, Pike Place market is flooded with people in the sunshine buying flowers from the market, people are out having drinks in the bars on the streets (yes on the street), swimmers in the sea and sunbathers are spread out on the pebbles.

LOVE

4 days in vancouver

Back in November my mum had to travel away for a week with work, so my dad and I decided to go to Vancouver, considering how close and cheap it was to get there. I’d heard nothing but great things about the ‘Salt water city’ as some refer it to. The North shore mountains, the unique beautiful placement of Vancouver island and the mix of the unique high rise buildings from the stunning agriculture and wildlife was just some of the things I'd heard about it, this not including the rich ethnic diversity of the British Columbian city along with the lively art scene and friendly people. I was also looking forward to travelling to Canada for the first time (and seeing whether i could finally spot the difference from a Canadian and American accent).

Day 1 - We were up at 5am to catch the 7am Amtrak train to Vancouver from King Street Station. After 2 uber’s cancelling because they couldn’t work out the road leading up to the house, we arrived with surprisingly some time spare. The whole journey from Seattle upwards was straight forward and not stressful in the slightest, even with the 2 hour delay on the train the views passing the Cascade mountains kept your thoughts preoccupied with how stunning the views were. We arrived into Vancouver at around 11/11.30am, making our way through the border after having to throw away the food I’d brought :). Anyway we checked into the hotel and made our way out to have a look around the area. One thing i didn’t anticipate was just how big Vancouver was, so really it was hard getting around to all the places I’d taken down to go to because we walked everywhere. Vancouver’s downtown area though was really something else, the architecture of the high rise buildings took a mix from modern 21st century styles to traditional Edwardian styles. Beyond this was the extensive range of restaurants, coffee shops, cafes, independent and Canadian chains spread out all across downtown and the bay areas. One thing that I loved was how much cheaper it was compared to Seattle. It wasn’t until too long when I’d finally found the Vancouver art gallery, which was just opposite the UBC campus, and I spent a few hours in there. I really love exploring different galleries, especially seeing what the cities own artists have to offer. There was a stunning ‘Couture Beyond’ exhibition by a designer called Guo Pei who used traditional and contemporary design aesthetics to create ‘haute couture drama’, each design attributed to an archetype of female royalty. After convincing myself I didn’t need another Schiele book from the gift shop, the day was pretty chilled from there.

Day 2 - The next day Vancouver was blessed with sunny skies, so my immediate thought, head to the beach. We got some breakfast at a bakery ‘Tartine Bread and Pie’, which gave us good coffee and great granola (and didn’t charge $15 for some avo toast). After this we headed beyond China town, the area we were staying in and towards English Bay beach. Now being a beach fiend at heart, I’m easily impressed by any coast, but there’s something different about the Pacific North West. The cascade mountains stretch along the horizon line and whether its so clear you can see the peaks of the snowy mountain tops or the clouds are lying as a blanket on them, it takes my breath every time. We walked all the way along the beach front towards the harbor and south from where we were. We stopped off at ‘Tractor’, one of the many ‘health food’ chains in Vancouver but they did great sandwiches despite the over used slogan. When we headed back towards downtown, we ended up in the east side district, where the buildings were a lot more traditional to the high rise, modern architectural styles in downtown. Many of them had rustic stone work features and parisian styled roofs to them, and most of them were home to some Canadian brands I’d never heard of, my favourite being Oak + Fort which had the most amazing range of modern minimalist pieces.

 Day 3 + 4 - The weather turned on the last day, so the walk around Stanley Park quickly became a drenched one. We moved away from the coastal trail and walked through the forest paths passing Beaver lake and the lost lagoon, and spotted a group of black squirrels so that was definitely a weird first. We took to shelter from the rain by bouncing from coffee shop to shop, and ended up in a lost maze that was in fact the CF Pacific Mall. Neither of us anticipated it to be so big, and we realised this after ending up underground, walking in a straight line past countless shops for a good 20 minutes. As the time rolled round to get the train back home, we were told by the train conductor that it’d been cancelled and the whole train had been transferred to a greyhound bus. This delay, nor the awful weather on the last day though ruined the trip in the slightest; Vancouver was a dream and is definitely somewhere I’ll be returning to!

4 months in.

Hey! I’ve started this blog as a capsule of photos and thoughts from my gap year in Seattle. I finished my A levels in June time last year, closing the chapter of my school life and whilst I am going to university to study English in September, I decided to take a year out to experience living in the US. It was a complicated decision by my part however after months of deliberating whether to put off student life for a year, I finally decided that having the chance to live on the other side of the world in a new city was an opportunity most 18 years olds don’t get, leading to my family packing up everthing we had collected in our time living in England.

Starting a blog has been something I have wanted to do for years, however with the pressure of A levels I couldn’t find the time to put aside for starting one. It also makes me reflect on what I’ve done whilst I’ve been here, and I cant help but think how little I’ve created over the last few months, compared to how much i was writing, drawing, painting etc at school. Last summer consisted of travelling a lot, spending some time in Seattle to find a house and figure out how to get from one district/island to another, and then going to Spain for a few weeks which was well deserved after a year of STRESS. Forgetting exams ever happened was fun while it lasted, but when September came around I found it weirdly different how I wasn’t preparing myself to go back to school. It was refreshing to not spend the first few days of September in a boring routine again, but moving to the other side of the world, to a completely new city was the craziest thing I’ve done, and while it was exciting, I found it weird to not be in a type of ‘routine’ as I had been for the last 18 years. I realized how much I depended on my phone and social media in the first few weeks to make up for the lack of a routine, because I didn’t have a set time for everyday, waking up, working, eating, sleeping, it all changed, and I didn’t know what to do with myself. Whilst the weeks here have been fun planning the least expensive things to do (in the most expensive place to live ever), im hoping to create more like I used to this year. This is why im starting this blog, so I can have something to focus my time on, writing, producing and sharing pictures so I can still have a creative outlet whilst keeping an online space that I’ll hopefully look back on in years to come. Enjoy!!