Monday 30 September 2013

Chelsea Boots

Along with updating my winter wardrobe, I'm also on the hunt for changing my shoe trend. I have Nike Blazers, Dunks, Air Max, Converse and Vans. To clarify - all I wear on my feet are trainers. Many different colours and heights to be fair, but nonetheless trainers. I need some new shoes to wear which will get me through winter. Last year I bought two pairs of Chelsea boots from Primark and they're great - they have no heel which is ideal for those of us who are taller, and they're really comfy. One pair are red/burgundy velvet and the other are leopard skin. This year I'm on the look out for some blander ones - hopefully plain black or grey toned. 


I love the velvet ones but they're not that practical - along with only matching when I wear burgundy or grey tones they're pretty thin and I'm certain will wear out quickly. I have the same problem with the leopard print ones - they match with even less and are pretty thin on the toes. At £6 a go I can deal with that, but this winter I'm after some tougher, thicker ones which will last me a few months at least. I found these ones online and I think I'll try and find some not too expensive similar ones on my shopping trips!



Friday 27 September 2013

On the hunt for winter clothing.

I've come to the conclusion that I always wear the same things. I either wear black tights with black or denim Topshop Joni shorts, or I wear my black disco pants. After a year of convincing myself I would dress well at college (we're going back to year 11 resolutions here) something has to change.
Luckily, this revelation came at exactly the right time, and by the right time, I mean payday. My general aim was to find more winteresque outfits, mainly plain things which would match with the majority of my clothes already. Although payday comes every two weeks, a fortnight can seem an extremely long time with no funds. Because of this, I went out with intention to spend about £30 on getting some basics. It's not that I don't like spending money, it's just that when I start, it is so much harder to stop.
I'm in no shortage of t shirts - I have nearly a whole wardrobe rail dedicated to them so the real aim here was to find bottoms rather than tops. My main issue is that (as previously complained about) I don't like jeans. I don't mind black jeans, but what's the point of buying loads of pairs of the same thing? With the exception of comfort, black jeans realistically don't differ too much. I'm still hankering for a pair of black Joni Topshop jeans however my thighs disagree.
One trend I do like lately is patches on jeans. I'm not fond of the whole 'double denim' idea so disregard the top half of the picture but the jeans shown are great. The only problem with them is the style - as much as I would love to have legs the same shape as this model's I will be a realist here and accept that they are not.
It may seem odd to opt for skinny jeans when my legs resemble rhino legs at the best of time but I find that these actually bring some shape rather than just creating an elusion that my legs aren't what they seem. Again, being a realist, this just makes me look like I can't be bothered to find nice jeans to wear so I tend to avoid baggy jeans like the ones to the left.
And back to the shopping trip! The word "SALE" caught my attention so, like a dog to a bone, I walked into H&M. Now, I have differing views on H&M. In my opinion, it's a shop where you either find the contents of next season's wardrobe or nothing whatsoever. This time though I was lucky (I'm pretty certain my bank balance would disagree here). I found the nicest jeans/jeggings (another label I try to avoid) in blue denim with leather patches on the knees. Not only are they ideal, they are also NOT JEANS. Jeggings are somewhat renound for their 2011 fashion craze but they are so undeniably comfortable that I'm prepared to risk abuse. The leather patches are great too - if they were entirely blue I wouldn't have bought them because of the colour - I'm not really a blue jeans person either. Or any other colour except black actually, but the leather patches added a vintagey feel and mean I can pair them with literally anything.
I got some other stuff in H&M which I haven't had a chance to photograph yet - a short sleeve basketball style top with a tiger face on it which I wore with said new jeggings yesterday and a long white shirt/dress with an evil eye type of design on it. Photos to come!
On a spontaneous decision I went into Peacocks. I'm not sure why, since I haven't really been into Peacocks since I was about 11, but Becca wanted to have a look so I followed her in. This just goes to show that I should shop around more, I came across the nicest harem style pants - ever. There were some black mock leather ones I saw in Primark which did nothing for my shape so I didn't buy them - on a whim I bought the Peacocks ones. The picture here does them no justice at all; in person the blue is brighter and lighter, and they are far more baggy in person than online, which is also great for those of us with huge legs, i.e myself.
They're described on the website as 'patterned trousers' however I think the description would be much more accurate if they were called 'harem pants' as that's exactly what they look like in person. I haven't checked the label but I'm pretty confident they're just cotton which is the only downfall - I would like them just that little bit more if they were roomier and just had more stretch I guess. The photo on the right is also taken from the website and shows the same trousers in their other colour - yellow..ish? They're more ochre than yellow itself but I'm not complaining. I nearly bought those ones instead except the blue ones have this amazing way of making my legs look potentially skinny which the ochre ones lacked to do. The actual photo is much more realistic with the size/bagginess aspect compared to the stock photo though. I paired mine differently - I wore them with a black folded sleeve crop top, chunky gold necklace (as always), burgundy beanie and black creepers with blue and white lacy socks. I was paranoid the trousers looked the wrong length - past mid calf but not quite long enough to look like 7/8s trousers, but no worries there. The creepers definitely helped with the illusion of slim legs which is always appreciated.
Photos to come later for another WIWT post!

Monday 23 September 2013

It is nearly a week on and I am still struggling with my Personal Statement.

"after I have completed my Journalism degree I would like to go into Journalism"
"after completing my degree in the field of Journalism I would like to do a postgraduate in Journalism"
"when I finish my Journalism degree I'm going to abandon everything and live in Goa as a nudist"

The final paragraph is where it all comes together, only to come to a dramatic halt. Writing about Journalism and taking a degree in the same field kind of hints that Journalism is what I wish to go into (correct, if you hadn't guessed up to this point). So why I have to write about postgraduates and finding work and using all my new found skills is beyond me. I haven't even taken my A2 exams yet - I don't even know if I can actually do a Journalism course until next summer, but I'm already expected to know what I wish to do after I've finished said degree.

Personally, I'm quite happy with the fact I know what I want to do a degree in. At the ripe old age of 17 and a half my concerns are more tailored towards illegally purchasing alcohol and getting home from parties rather than looking at postgraduate average salaries and finding the best degree location in the UK. Although I've known I want to do Journalism for about 4 or 5 years now I hadn't actually started researching and analysing universities until a few months ago. And why not? Because as previously said, I have more pressing concerns. Right now, my main one is actually passing the exams I need to get into university!

I agree that a Personal Statement is important - exam marks are subjective at the best of times and downright ignorant at the worst, but having to fit my future into 4000 characters is never going to be easy and as a result of that I think there should be other methods available for 'testing' (as it isn't called but pretty much should be) for a place. For example, someone could be an amazing musician (sadly not me) but have no writing skills and not get into their university of choice on that basis. Along with this, said musician could have terrible flu on the day of their practical exam and consequently miss their grades on this too.

This makes me wonder where those internet 'buy your Personal Statement online' people come in. Did they gain a degree in this? Did they fail their results and end up missing out on university? Surely it can't have been from a bad Personal Statement if that's what they've resorted to doing for a living. On the other hand, they could just be undernourished students looking for an extra income. We'll never know.

Most universities look for people with flair, or creativity, but fitting that into the boundaries of college experience, 'relevant work experience' and out of college activities require more than flair - more like a blue moon type occasion. It's the issue of fitting everything necessary in but also allowing room to show what you're really like. Being an aspirational Journalism student I should be good at this type of thing however this is where the 'aspirational' part comes in. How am I supposed to apply skills I haven't yet learnt?

Sunday 22 September 2013


  • ALT-J - TESSELLATE
  • ARCTIC MONKEYS - 505
  • CANTERBURY - SEEN IT ALL
  • DEAF HAVANA - IN DESPERATE NEED OF ADVENTURE
  • DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE - I WILL POSSESS YOUR HEART
  • FOALS - MILK AND BLACK SPIDERS
  • IMAGINE DRAGONS - AMSTERDAM
  • THE KOOKS - SEASIDE
  • LOWER THAN ATLANTIS - MIKE DUCE'S SYMPHONY
  • THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS - MY MISTAKES WERE MADE FOR YOU
  • THE MACCABEES - NO KIND WORDS
  • THE WOMBATS - 1996

Sundays are days for relaxing, for catching up on sleep, for coming to terms with the rest of the week. Sundays are lazy, slow days, by which at the end you're waiting for Monday (sometimes!) to come along for the week to start again. I've had such a busy weekend seeing old friends and new friends at different parties, so I'm absolutely shattered right now! I got home this morning and went to sleep and since then I've been Ebaying and attempting to sort university choices out, I'm sure it's obvious which one has been more successful. 
There's quite a variety of music in this playlist - the songs as a whole are pretty chill and perfect for a typical Sunday in my opinion, however the genres covered differ quite a lot from Deaf Havana to Alt-J and The Kooks! All of these songs are from my favourite artists which really highlights my diverse music taste - have a listen and you may discover a new artist you've been missing out on (you're welcome). 

Thursday 19 September 2013

September wishlist!


September is a difficult month to shop in because the weather is so changeable. I like to think I would wear any of these pieces no matter what the weather - within reason of course!

  1. Topshop Joni jeans in Black - £36
  2. Topshop Quilted Longline Bomber Jacket - £79
  3. Black High Top Converse - £59.99
  4. HYPE Mystic - £24.99
  5. INDCSN 'Kill Yourself' Beanie - £24
  6. Stussy Sport Link Crew - £40
  7. Ebay Thick Gold Chain - £5.79

#OOTD1

Last Christmas my dad bought me a Nikon L120. This was all well and good except for the fact that it was faulty. My fault in the matter was not realising it was faulty and thinking it was my own fault, and as a result not getting it fixed in time. Its warranty is now up and I am currently stuck with my old Fujifilm camera, which does the job but sadly that is all. Because of this, the quality of my photos won't be amazing, nor will the camera angles. Despite this I still feel I should occasionally upload What I Wore Today posts, so here is the first one!


It was a cold, cold day in mid September when Georgie awoke. Putting her outfit together she looked for an ideal outfit which would suit the weather, maybe jeans, maybe a jumper.. maybe disco shorts.

 (One of my biggest problems is finding weather appropriate outfits which as you can tell I fail miserably at.) 

I guess the hat is slightly Winterish, except for the fact that I wear hats whatever the season, hmm..
I wore this to College, albeit briefly seeing as I was only in for Psychology (Thursdays are good days too.) I don't really take much care in my outfits to College because i have little time in the mornings and I would rather sleep than take ages picking out clothes.






The hat is from River Island, my top is Vans and bought either from their website or Ebay, I'm not entirely sure! My shorts are American Apparel Disco Shorts in 'Charcoal'. Tights are probably from Primark/Asda/Sister's drawer and my gold necklace was a bargain - £4 from Primark! You can't actually see in the pictures but I wore the outfit with white platform trainers, similar ones can be seen here.

Charity Shops VS High Street brands

"Aside working and college I spend a lot of my time shopping." Not an especially inspiring statement, I'm sure you'll agree. The main difference is that when I say shopping I mean charity shops, not Topshop and River Island. As much as I would love to devote my shopping habits to those shops, my bank balance and inability to spend money means I'm more restricted to the local charity shops.
Not that I have a problem with this - charity shops are so much more interesting than high street shops. Not only will you find things that no one else is wearing (although I did wear a vintage St Michael shirt at Reading and walked past a guy wearing the exact same one - this was a complete one off though) but you'll also pay a fraction of the price. There's a certain art to charity shopping - you can't go in specifically looking for something. It's okay to have a vague idea of what you're after but set your sights too high and you'll come out empty handed.
Last year I fell in love with vintage jumpers after buying a Topshop 'Vintage' jumper from their flagship store on Oxford Street. As nice as the jumper was, I'm not sure it was worth the £40 I handed over for it. The jumper itself was also a lot itchier and longer than anticipated and I ended up selling it on ebay, albeit for nearly the same as the RRP.
The great thing about where I live is that it's filled with old people. In my opinion, old people with great fashion sense but that's subjective. As a result of this, my chances of walking into a charity shop and finding fairisle, vintage jumpers was pretty high. I think the most I ever spent on a jumper was £6 and all the ones I bought were definitely worth the money. The good thing about charity shops too is that most of the time vintage stuff is what it says on the tin - vintage. This may mean that it's been around for years and years, but it also means the quality is high enough for it to withstand these years of wear - a crucial difference to that of the previously mentioned Topshop jumper.
This year I've been wearing mainly street style - oversized, patterned shirts with chunky gold necklaces and either disco pants or shorts and tights. As you've probably guessed, this was my target when charity shopping. I thought I'd share some of my favourite shirts I've collected over the past few months.
 I can't remember which charity shop this was bought from but it was £3.49. Funny how I remember the price but not the shop! My dad used to have loads of shirts like this and my sister and I always cringed/laughed at the patterns on them, yet now I'm sourcing my own ones! I usually wear this shirt tied up how it is in the photo, with a thick gold chain and either black high waisted shorts or disco pants. It would also be good in the Winter tucked in to high waisted black 7/8 jeans with high tops and a hoodie.
The other shirts shown below were all bought from various different charity shops around my local area. The burgundy one and blue/gold one are both St Michael which is vintage M&S, and I'm slightly ashamed to admit the bottom two are from Topman! The main difference there though is that in store they would have cost £28 each whereas I'm pretty certain I paid around £6/£7 for the two of them.

I think a lot of people have a problem with charity shopping because of the 'pre owned' stigma. In one sense though, the majority of things bought have been worn at some point. A dress in Topshop? There's a high chance someone will have a least tried it on before you bought it. With charity shop clothes most of the time the item has been washed/cleaned before it's sold on which means from that point of view, charity shop clothes are cleaner.
Being a student I don't have much time to deliberate over the quality of clothes but that's comparison aspect I previously touched on. As much as I love Topshop clothes, their quality is appalling. On the other hand, most of the charity shop things I've bought have lasted me ages without ripping/gaining holes/stretching like most high street brands. The reason for this is because most high street brands work by mass production so little care is taken with regards to actually processing the clothes. It is just as simple to buy Topshop/River Island from charity shops, but at this price, bad quality can be accepted. I for one won't settle for spending £22 on a t shirt and it ripping within a few wears!
Once you know where to look and what to look for, charity shops are fantastic for anyone looking for original outfits on a small budget. I would go as far as saying that my favourite outfits come from charity shops, purely because no one else wears the same thing. Often I've been complimented on clothes and asked where they're from, only to smugly reply "from a charity shop."

A Personal complaint about Statements

For the past 15 minutes I've been sitting at my computer trying to write a personal statement. I've googled 'Journalism Personal Statement', I've read through some of my friends' applications and I've even (albeit eventually) tried to write my own. But, nothing. I find it so easy to write whatever comes into my head, unfortunately in the current day and age this won't get my into my University of choice. Apparently nor will sending off a short message saying "please take me in, please, please, I promise I'll work hard, I'm quite intelligent I promise!" (not that I'd consider that anyway..hmm).
Bribery, begging, pleading.. none of these methods will get me into uni. The only method it seems is actually just writing the statement.
My biggest problem I think is having nothing to talk about. Us Brits are brought up to play down our successes and focus on our bad parts. All well and good for modesty but absolute rubbish for when it comes to selling ourselves. It's the same with CVs and Cover Letters. There is a thin line between selling yourself and showing off and so far no one seems to have sat comfortably on that line.
I remember going to Turkey a few years ago with my family and swimming out to sea with them. Once you've got a certain distance out, a pipe/line stops you going any further. The problem going further? You risk the chance of swimming into boats. I feel like I'm in a similar situation with my Personal Statement. My sister, Jennifer, and I reached a perfect equilibrium by balancing on top of the line - this way we could succeed at both crossing the line and also not getting chopped apart by boats at once. This is the metaphorical line I need to somehow reach.
As previously said, I have no problem just writing away, it's only when I have a purpose to write for I struggle. Given a topic specifically I am fine - it may take a few minutes and possibly a few drafts in order to write something worth reading but realistically I can be done pretty quickly.
I think that the character count also inhibits me when I'm writing a Personal Statement. I have little faith in UCAS patiently sitting there copying and pasting each applicaton into a character counter however obviously in order to appeal to them I should aim to stick under the limit (4000 characters if anyone was curious). 4000 also doesn't sound like a small number but for anyone who hasn't yet tried, squeezing the whole of your future ambitions and plans into 4000 characters is quite a task in itself. The fact that I'm also applying for Journalism makes it doubly difficult in my opinion as not only do I have to write a good Statement, I also have to write proving I can write whilst writing about my ambition to, in one sense, learn to write.
I guess anyone applying to university will struggle with their Personal Statement for the same reasons that I am; it's difficult not to show off, it's difficult to stick within the limit, and more importantly for me, it's difficult to stop blogging and start actually writing.

Tuesday 17 September 2013

Streetwear/Shopping list

Those who know me will know I'm not your typically girly girl - this applies to my dress sense, my humour sense and just about everything in between. Much to my mother's dissatisfaction there are very few (if any, thinking about it) items of pink clothing in my wardrobe, or skirts/dresses for that matter. I have a topshop denim skater skirt and a few patterned ones from charity shops - usually cut up, usually frayed, usually the result of spontaneous post college pre work shopping and a couple of dresses I bought to wear on holiday but most of my wardrobe is filled with t shirts and shorts. Not especially suitable, you may be thinking, considering British weather showing itself off to it's very finest right this minute.
The great blue British sky as documented fresh from my bedroom window

I feel that considering this is probably the peak of British September weather I should invest in some more weather appropriate clothing, so I've been trawling the ends of the internet in order to find some new clothes
.
I have a problem with jeans, in that they either look great but depress my purse too much, or they look terrible but are well priced. I did find the nicest Topshop Joni Jeans which sadly fall under both hurdles - slightly too expensive and the main problem? They look terrible. I have what my mother calls 'Soulsby legs' which is her polite way of saying hereditary chubby legs. As seen if you click the link, said jeans are modelled by a girl who would be the winner if not close runner up of The Owner Of The Best Legs To Wear Jeans contest. Alas, mine are nowhere near.
As it stands, I usually wear Disco Pants which are pretty much posh, comfortable, socially acceptable leggings or shorts and tights paired with a t shirt. From creeping Google/Pinterest/Tumblr I've found some more Winter suitable outfits which I'm aiming to buy in the near future. (All sources unknown, pictures taken from Google Images)




I own a lot of beanies already (12 in fact) and because the outfits are pretty simple they can be paired with loads of different things. The bottom right jumper for example, in the photo it's paired with jeans but for alternatives it could be worn with a buttoned up denim shirt underneath or tucked into paperbag style shorts with a gold chain. I do need to find a new coat to wear this year but I'm stuck trying to find one I can pair with different things and one I will definitely wear! My current 'to buy' list so far consists of:

  1. baseball style winter coat
  2. lightweight camo jacket
  3. bottle green vans
  4. cable knit oversized jumper
  5. collar tips 
  6. levi denim long sleeve shirt
Later on or another day I'm going to do a whole other post devoted to trainers simply because they're what I spend most of my income on!

Listening to my playlist adequately named 'Playlist'

It has been approximately 10 hours since I last wrote and I'm in the exact same position I was then - that is, sitting on my bed, still wearing my pyjamas, still procrastinating.
Tuesday is a good day because I'm only in college for an hour and a half, despite the amount of time it takes me to get there. Living in Dunstable has many drawbacks; all the shops are shut, the only bus bypassing my house comes once every 70 minutes and the majority of my friends live elsewhere. Consequently, I have to plan my mornings/afternoons/days around bus timetables. This would be tolerable if Arriva bus service was reliable. I can deal with occasionally waiting 20 minutes later for a bus (this is a complete lie, follow me on Twitter for daily anger fueled Arriva updates) but when it's a day in day out situation any sane person will start to complain. Sadly, Arriva are clearly used to this sort of thing and do nothing whatsoever.
One of my friends told me I should write a post about Arriva bus service because of the infrequency/rude bus drivers/apparent lack of concern for leaving on time, and purely by writing about my morning it has accidentally happened. I guess seeing as right now I would usually be either waiting for a bus or sitting on a bus it's pretty accurate time-wise however I'll be honest - I wasn't planning on spending my morning complaining (for a change).
My Tuesdays are also quite predictable and they go like this: Get up/get dressed/resume position in bed/plan proactive things to do and think about them whilst staying in bed. The problem here it seems is that although my mind is very productive, my body is not. Hmm. Maybe I should invest in some of those spiritual books that promise to engage your mind, body and spirit. Only if I could order it online from my bed though.
Today though seems to be proving different (so far). It is now 10AM and I am up, dressed, make upped and sadly, back on my bed. However, the main difference here is that instead of tweeting I am actually blogging which I like to think is slightly more proactive. Furthermore, I think today I might do a fashion piece. I'm not quite sure what of yet though. Most of my 'good' ideas come from leaving my brain to puzzle it out and let inspiration come to me. Some may call this laziness, I call it forward thinking (forward, as in fast forward to when my brain wants to think). I think I'll finish getting ready and try and focus my brain on a fashionesque journalism piece.

Monday 16 September 2013

The birth of 'Don't Get Gee Started'

Mixing work with pleasure is something I find to be an oxymoron, yet journalism would prove to do just that. One of my 'friends' at college (I use the term friend lightly as a) I don't especially know her and b) I don't especially like her) was once told that "you should never work a day's work in your life doing something you don't enjoy." This bad advice was unfortunately taken, and to this day said girl remains unemployed yet hopefully deliriously happy about it. This is all well and good when you think about it, except for the fact that enjoyment is a currency rarely used within this country. For example, enjoyment may be an aspirational quality however it doesn't pay for petrol, or cinema tickets, or food. On the other hand, a few hours spent irritating people over the phone per week (aka what I currently do for a living) pays up surprisingly well and as a result I can have somewhat of a social life.
The point I'm trying to make here is that, as a teenager, work is never going to be something done for a laugh, or to kill time, or for any purpose relating to 'fun'. Work is simply something done as a means of gaining an income and consequently making the pre-full time employment days slightly brighter with the help of the aforementioned goods. So why people my age (17 and counting down every day of it) stick to unemployment for the sake of "oh, well, I would find it really boring" yet still complain about having no money is beyond me. This is where journalism comes in.
I won't say that since I was born I've aspired to be a journalist, because that would be lying. Contrary to popular opinion, not all journalists lie to earn a living and my desire to be one of those is great. I have, in one sense, wanted to go into journalism for a long time, based on the fact that I love English, I love writing and I can talk for England. I feel journalism would also suit me because of the mixed hours - I woke up at 6:22AM this morning and it is now 11:39PM. Although I am ready for bed I am procrastinating to a great extent purely because actually moving is too great an effort now, hence the late night blogging. I feel that if i got myself into the journalism field it would be mixing work with pleasure, hence the first sentence of this post.
I also think that as a first post this should have more introductory qualities rather than me complaining about people at my college and having a personal statement-esque approach to journalism.
I am starting this blog as a means of logging my interests. With regards to journalism specifics, my interests are pretty broad. While I love magazine journalism, in particular writing columns, I also find broadcast journalism incredibly interesting as well as radio journalism. There is the slight drawback of hating the sound of my own voice but I am sure this could be overcome simply by not listening back to the show or perhaps adding one of those alien/celebrity voiceovers first. [I'm now imagining me reading BBC news (aim high) with an alien voiceover and laughing to myself.] I guess overall I'm most interested in both fashion and music journalism, so realistically those will be the main points spoken about within this blog.
The name is two tailed - originally it was going to be called 'Don't Get Me Started' on the basis that whilst talking about what I could blog about my friends commented on my talent for complaining, along with the fact that my full name is Georgina Rose Darling (fit for BBC/1900's period drama already) shortened to 'Gee'. By mixing the two and luckily gaining the realisation that not many bloggers are both a) frequent complainers and b) nicknamed 'Gee' I managed to draw the lucky straw with the name. And so, 'Don't Get Gee Started' was born.