Martha Marcy May Marlene

Not only because the title includes my first name am I championing this new film but look at the film's lead! She is beyond stunning and charismatic in the film's trailer that I re-watched yesterday in my marathon trailer viewings!

Here is the latest reason why, Elizabeth Olsen, in The Row, absolutely gorgeous and sporting a look from her sisters' fashion line. Sisters, fashion and movies are some of my absolute favourite things!

I am so excited to see Elizabeth perform in in this movie!

There is something just so sweet about her smile! (Huffingtonpost.com)

Being Productive...

Being productive is like working out... you delay delay delay as much as you can but when you finally get around to it you feel so much better.

There are several things on my 'honey do' list .. the honey in this instance is my productive alter ego. Tomorrow I work 7-4, so an early night is required but I am going to do at least one productive thing on my list.

I'll leave you with this great photo I stumbled upon that is quite a clever ad that really speaks to my current mood...

Buns and Things

I just wanted to put this video out there, because the bun look is something that I am totally taking ownership of living in the city. With the amount of hair I have, travelling on the, oft sweltering and always encapsulated, tube can cause any number of problems.
- Overheating is number one. A list, I know, but, I am serious my hair runs amok and is an entity in its own right...
- The frizz factor. I am glad that some people are embracing this whole east london scruff thing, but I am trying not to concede.
- Lipstick, lipgloss, lip balm, no matter what is is lip product in addition to my face creates a magnetic pull only my hair can answer (happily just my hair so far...) I am not taking about a straggling strand gently attaching itself, I mean one wrong tilt of the head and a curtain slaps onto my freshly moistened lips for ride. This is maliciously encouraged by my mode of transport... a train from either direction does the trick.
- Overall, it is simply mayhem, the approaching trains catch my hair in a very unsexy, malicious windswept fashion, smothering nearby travellers and/ or suffocating me in the process.


Alright, this may have been a bit overzealous, but I have a serious relationship with my hair. I have finally gotten to a place where I no longer have a triangular nest perched atop my head, accenting the lack of definition of my rounded pre-teen jawline. Nor, have I recently bleached my hair with peroxide at an elementary school sleepover, and no, I am not pulling out the braided pigtail wrapped into my very own Princess Leia motif either. This particular post was to simply share my newfound love of the bun! I spent most of my teens with a freshly cleaned, sopping wet, head of hair yanked straight back, parallel with my ears, into a bun. In an attempt to re-create what I thought was the quintessential early 2000s 'messy bun' of rural Prince Edward Island. Lets just say this did not promote the drying process and this tightly wound ball would remain partially damp until I removed it in the evening- lovely, I know.


I could go on and on about this topic, I am sure that i could write a book about the saga of my hair... I may share a few more stories later, one involves a near death experience, but, today is all about the bun. Its necessity, and my newfound appreciation and more adult interpretation of it. 


Back to my original point, here are some screen caps from a Coco & Lowe video, they're Toronto-based bloggers that I just came across today (The Toronto factor also made me a little nostalgic as well, having gone to University there). 

This is my next hair 'to do'.

This is a SERIOUS bun, no messing around, they make a pantyhose doughnut stuffed with sock.

Finally, try this Enormous Bun! I plan on it.

Tuesday News Day

Tuesday started off a little rocky, I had a terrible sleep and got started a little later than planned.

But then I was off to Regent Street to drop off a bunch of CVs which went alright but I don't know if I will be getting any calls- it seemed most stores I was interested in were not looking to hire, sadly. Though I did get to have a great chat with a display girl from Anthropologie- it made me really want a job even more. Working with clothes, displays and merch would be great to have and then an internship on top of it all.
I am hoping sooner rather than later as my besties arrive in just over two weeks. woo woo - but I am broke as a joke so it is a bit stressful.

Currently, I am watching the, so far, boringly acted story of The Kennedy's. Hoping it will soon improve as I am quite enamoured with the time period and the whole idea of the Kennedy family.

Tomorrow I am going to call up some contacts that I received last week for magazines and see if there is anything open at their publication and how to go about doing it. I am going to follow through with their advice and then I am off to drop off more resumes/ CVs and get some groceries.

All the best-

Wednesday Date

Wednesday started off a little later than planned as I could hardly drag my buns out of bed- but once I did I got several new applications completed and then hopped on the overground to go see Sandy for a coffee on Brick Lane!

It was a great time. Lots of chatting was had, we stayed until it was closing time and then ran across the way for some take home sushi, that we hurriedly devoured upon arriving back at her flat..Sadly, this still includes the grungiest roommates around- luckily they were not in at the time as they are referred to as 'the funk' by both sandy and Josh. A very a propos name I must add as they are beyond smelly and dirty as far as I can tell with my boots still on in their living room, because there is no way either of us is placing a sock- let alone bare foot in any common living space.

After a lovely evening of sharing interests and anecdotes Sandy walked me to the nearest station and we said farewell. Although I had planned to be back in my hood in time to get groceries- this was not the case so I scrambled back from the station in a bit too much darkness for my liking and greeted Alexia and Phil who were having their usual Wednesday romp and dine.

I retired to my quarters sent off a few more e-mails and then was about to complete my final bedtime rituals when I swung my feet off the bed and in my periphery do I not spot The Largest black spider I have ever seen in real life. I smashed it continuously only for it to slowly unfurl before I suffocated it with tissue from the box I have been bludgeoning it with. I ran up the stairs with its carcass and flushed it, twice for good measure, and then had so much adrenaline flowing I could hardly fall asleep!

Usually, I am not squeamish about bugs and arachnids alike but this one had real personality and just made me think how many of these babies are cruisin' around my new abode.... nnnasty

Undoubtedly, today I am up late- but to a sunny, gorgeous day in London, and I have yet to decide what I will do with it!

Clear skies and clear minds- off for an adventure!

Tuesday Love

Today's joy was the conversation I had with my sister Lizard!
It went on and on that's for the lateness

She is checking in with me tomorrow so we can go back and forth about what we accomplished.

My plan:
Créma Coffee for 9 am with my laptop (and cord) and applications for jobs

Groceries: make list prior to

Afternoon hang with Sandy and/or celebrate Kat's last day of class.

Mama Love

Spoke to my mom after a long day of searching jobs on the web and hanging around the house - which was a bit disheartening as I am hard on myself it seems.

The new plan is to e-mail her everyday with one thing that brought me joy,  one thing that made me happy. I am also going to share these findings here accompanied by a photograph if I have one to share.

Today will be my first instalment. Not sure what it will be yet but I will have it posted by the end of the day.

Sunday Night Dins

Stuffed mushrooms, roasted potatoes, salad and lots of wine. 


My lovely roommate and surrogate sister Kat made us all a delicious meal. We were accompanied by our other roommate, and four more friends to enjoy these lovely concoctions. A very international bunch, from Canadian, to American, Dutch, Austrian, and French this fact made the post-cheesecake game of Ring of fire particularly difficult (ex. card 10 'Cat- egg- urry' and card 9 'rhyming'). 


This lovely evening was followed by a sleepover including horrible youtube videos, more wine, and then my bed and box spring were quickly found in the conservatory as I excused myself to go to the washroom. Soon enough we crashed off our £2.99 bottles of wine.


In the am we strolled like a crew of ragamuffins off to the Goldsmiths Café for a traditional English breakfast fry-up. I wish that I had taken a photo to truly convey the state that we were in cropped pants, track jackets and borrowed pink pajamas were involved. 


Now I am off to do some job applications that I have promised myself that I will apply to 22 fashion jobs today. Also, I am speaking to mama tonight so this need to be done before we meet. 

FASHION THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

I'd like to leave you with this thought, Men styling their hair slicked to the side. David Beckham had this lovely 'do hidden under a loose beanie, paired with the tattoos and khakis it just makes me so pleased. (dlisted.com)

boyfriends in the band

Went to a gig tonight with roomies, their friends and a boytoy. It was a pretty good time Kat had coconut beer and LOVED it! Then we had an adventure home... involved lots of walking and being shunned by many a bus and cab driver until we finally got home about one spontaneous dance party, two kebabs and two hours later.

Need to reply to some messages and actually do some applications tomorrow! yayay
xoxo

What do I want to do while I am here!?

Besties come soon I need to have a gig in place and start planning what we should do

OoOoO La Babay

I have about 16 different tabs open with job opportunities. I need to apply woop woop! I love the fact that there are so many opportunities... now just to convince these people to of how amazing I am!!!
:)

Fingers crossed for the apps I've sent off already

Nighthawk

Just spent the day eating Thai food and then off to a foreign film with friends. Quite lovely. Then back to the pad to put away all my freshly cleaned laundry.  Supreme excitement I know.

I've also been spending some of my time here in London trying to get into a job that I would love and pay me for it. At this rate pouring pints seems to be the the most productive alternative, as I will have been abroad for a month this week and the fash gig is still on the horizon... somewhere, please someone realize how awesome and hard-working I am. Thank you.

Trying hard not to be discouraged and negative - but I don't know about you but doesn't it seem that when people expect you to be schlubby, procrastinating, or down it just reinforces you own negative self-image. In my case it does anyhow, but luckily now I have recognized it and I can work and flipping that around.

Off to not expecting others to make my way, or ruin my day.

Own your choices, and don't be afraid to make mistakes and get out there!
xo

Good Evening London

I am just here lazing on a couch in the glorious English city of London.

Highlights so far:
I got rhubarb yoghurt, rode on the top of a double decker twice, went across London Bridge, rode in a black cab- with a cabbie who totally had the perfect gruff British accent you would expect from one of the 'black cab sessions' intros, and of course went for a traditional English breakfast!

I am just getting settled, hopefully meeting a prospective landlord and getting all of that settled so I can have all of my contact info sorted for insurance and job apps.

Here's to getting there and now to getting along with it all.

Holy two weeks have passed already! Finally off to Halifax to get the final piece needed for my Visa app

Had a lovely chat with my baby sis last night on Skype which is always refreshing to see a little munchkin face! And she had to show me some new tops she had gotten but didn't have anyone's opinion on them yet. I loved that.

So planning to make plans... watching UK video clips to get in the spirit and finally doing some Laundry, yes I do believe that capital L was necessary. I hadn't done any laundry in the longest time.

So here's hoping for clear roads and and smooth sailing... now off to make a solo roadie playlist!

Darlings!!! Progress

I am extremely excited to say that today I have submitted and completed the first part of my Visa application off to finish up the next few details tomorrow!

I am starting to feel a bit of encouragement and enthusiasm concerning the future

I hope the new year brings me some more motivation and excitement!

So thrilled at this moment and my friend wrote to me just as I finished printing out my assessment- serendipitous!

Feb 8th. The day. The goal

New Year

Hellllooooo

At home again, feeling under the weather and contrary to your first inclination it is not due to the festivities of last night's annual debauchery.  I gave it a good effort with a congested chest and a stuffy nose, but my voice did not stand up to the late night as well.

About to do my visa apps and coerced myself to just go to London and get going with my life (GOAL arrive before Fashion Week as to make myself indispensable.. muhahah). So long little Island, it's been a decaying experience, in concern to my soul that is.

Love and luck in the new year.