Tube musings

I am sat on the train amongst loads of French people. They appear to be laughing over an umbrella and saying things which involve rolling their 'rs' frequently. Not that I've got anything against French people of course (one of them keeps staring at me). It's just these lot seem fairly.. Enthusiastic about something as mundane as getting on the tube. We're currently somewhere between Bank and St Paul's (who even knew that was a place?!) and they're all hysterically laughing and pointing. There's one guy sitting next to them not saying anything, I'm trying to decide if he's their quiet friend or just an equally bemused tube rider.

I crack open my crisps and they look over, bewildered as to why I would do such a thing. Mentally, I am shrugging my shoulders at them. This diet is going well so far (ultimate sarcasm) as today I've had two chocolate digestives and now a packet of salt and vinegar crisps. I will continue to finish my crisps. I have pasta in my bag as well but I can't quite bring myself to crack open co op's finest pasta, complete with mini fork. A sort of one man picnic I suppose. 

The trouble is, if I don't eat my pasta now then when can I have it? This is an untimate first world problem and to my dismay I can't even eat it sitting on Oxford Street, judging by the drowned rat-esque fashion everyone seems to be sporting on the tube. I think the chance of gaining a seat is also akin to Topshop giving out trolley dash vouchers, ie not very likely.

(The quiet guy has now said something to the rest, I'm assuming he is actually one of their mates and not just fluent in French). 

A guy has now just come and sat next to me, despite there being a wide selection of seats available. I smile at him as if to say 'WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO SIT NEXT TO ME THIS IS BRITAIN WE ARE AWARE OF EACH OTHER'S PERSONAL SPACE ISSUES'. I don't think he quite grasped the message behind my smile as he just smiled back. Hmm, next tactic?

The tube is gradually getting emptier despite our growing closeness to Oxford Street. I'm trying to subtly pinch pieces of chicken out of my pasta salad now. One of the French women just gave me a disapproving look but now I am too hungry to care. Nonchalantly, and with all the speed of a starving monkey, I cram a last piece of pasta in my mouth before closing my bag, putting my phone in my pocket and arriving at Oxford Circus tube station.

(Note, I'm not in actual fact on the tube anymore - I intended on posting this on Friday when I was actually on the tube but alas, Blogger has decided that it's more relevant 52 hours later).

London's best hidden vintage shop

I love London. I love charity shopping. Unfortunately, put the two together and you're at a dead end. The problem with London is that because it's the capital city, not only are rents high but (to be fair, probably a result of this) so are the prices. In one sense it's understandable - if rents are twice the price as outside of London it's only reasonable for the prices to be as well, it's just a shame my bank balance doesn't take this into account.
 Vintage shops in London are the worst for doing this, price wise. Don't get me wrong, some of the best vintage clothes can be sourced in London because as previously mentioned, it's the capital. If you're willing to pay higher prices, the basement level of Oxford Street's Topshop is home to some of the best vintage clothing designers imaginable (check out The Ragged Priest, for example). If though, like me, you're lacking funds yet still want vintage clothes, further out of London is the best, especially the east end!
The East End Thrift Store (EETS) was a stroke of luck I found out about a few years ago. Since then, it's grown in stock size and unfortunately price, but only slightly! The shop itself is split into two parts - the bigger of the two is 'fill a bag' style; you buy either a £10 or £20 bag (depending on the desired size) and literally throw whatever you want in the bag until it's full. Then you pay your money and walk out with as many vintage clothes as can fit in the bag (the answer? quite a lot). A few years ago the £10 bags were the only option but at the size of a small bin bag they were definitely worth the money. Nowadays, EETS seems to have got a lot more popular so the £10 bag has shrunk to a much fairer shopping bag size.
I've been there pretty much every time I go to London (aka quite frequently) and I always walk out with some great stuff. The brands there vary from Levi and Wrangler to old, vintagey American brands. There are thousands (no exaggeration) of plaid shirts, leather jackets, tea dresses, shorts, jeans, t shirts. You name it, they've got it. The amount of stuff I've picked up from there over the years and been complimented on is far higher than my Topshop clothes have received (which could say a lot about my high street taste to be fair). I've posted a few photos of some of the great things I've picked up in the last few months!

Vintage Disney dungarees I bought back in summer - they look better with a belt, unlike the photo.

How cute is Tigger though? I've never found dungarees the same, anywhere.

Fresh from "Pooh Women" direct.

I worked out in total this cost me a grand £2

My most worn jumper - ever. St Michael's vintage and £3

It's such a fab colour and it's so thick and warm!

More Disney themed items (I spy a pattern here) £2.50 cute t shirt

This is so cute and kitsch

In difference here we have "Disney Kids" not "Pooh Women"

The colour of this is so bright - perfect for teaming with jeans on a cold day

I still can't figure out what this says but it was £2.50 so who cares?

I love the design shown on it, it's so original.

And here we have yet more Disney merch! £2.50 well spent.

I think for once I bought a generic Disney jumper, woah. 

Slightly faded yet all the more retro looking

It's still fluffy on the inside, aw

My favourite purchase! Topshop Mom jeans' identical sister - I can't get over these

THEY ONLY COST ME £2.50 SOMEONE HOLD ME

They are pretty much exactly the same (is that an oxymoron?) as the Topshop ones.

(Except for the fact they're Lee's not Topshop)

(PHOTO TAKEN FROM GOOGLE IMAGES)

(PHOTO TAKEN FROM GOOGLE IMAGES)

(PHOTO TAKEN FROM GOOGLE IMAGES)

(PHOTO TAKEN FROM GOOGLE IMAGES)

EETS itself is tucked away down a little courier road named 'Assembly Passage' in Stepney Green. If you're going from St Pancras Station get on the Hammersmith line and sit on it until you're in Stepney Green. The road it's on is ridiculously easy to miss as the sign is on the other side of the road (ie on the same direction you're walking from) so keep and eye out because it's worth waiting for! Check out their website and Facebook page for events and updates!

healthy meals/weightloss

'Dieting' is a phrase which brings either one of two reactions upon me. Sometimes I'm great, although my actual 'diet' technique involves eating as little as possible and exercising loads i.e not very healthy. Alternatively, if I'm in a good frame of mind I put dieting right out of my head and pretend I'm happy at my current weight. Which, for the record, I'm not.
My weight has fluctuated so much over the past two years - back then I went and lost 26lbs easily without actually having to make many adjustments. To be fair, I was going through a really bad period in my life and not eating/exercising was a way to gain control. When my life improved, I started eating again, and put loads of weight back on! Typical!
When I was with my ex, we were too lazy to cook half the time so we just made pizza and stuff and I put back on the weight I'd lost, again.
Now, I'm halfway between my highest weight and my lowest weight, aiming to lose more. When I lose weight, I'm happier. I'm more focused and goal orientated and mentally, I'm in a better frame of mind. This time though I'm aiming to do it a healthier way.
One thing I'm aiming to use to motivate me is uploading my meals/recipes. Hopefully if I keep doing this I'll get into the habit of it uploading and I'll stick to this healthiness plan. We'll see I guess!

Lunch: homemade tomato soup with grilled chicken and salad

Breakfast: satsumas, yoghurt and hot chocolate.

It's pretty easy at the moment because it's half term so I'm not at Sixth form which means no early mornings. If I wake up late, I don't get hungry, is that weird? It works to my advantage though because it means I can eat less which means less calories! I'm trying to eat more fruits and vegetables and meat rather than carbs which is all well and good except occasionally I'm getting lightheaded.
Some of my favourite things to make are grilled chicken salad, simply because I love chicken and it's so filling, and salad is so colourful and also filling. Mixing stuff like tinned tomatoes with garlic and onion and being blended makes great soup and it's usually around 60kcals assuming you don't add oil or anything. Add herbs and spices and boil everything together for about 15 minutes and then blend it - so filling and so low calorie.
Options hot chocolate is one of my favourites if you're craving something sweet - there's loads of different flavours like belgian chocolate, white chocolate, mint madness, a hazelnut one (of which I can't remember the actual name) and they're all between 40-50kcals!
Also, 'crispbakes' (I get mine from Sainsbury's) are big, round circles of goodness. If we're being technical they're made of wheat flour but they're the perfect mix between sweet and savoury and can be topped with pretty much anything. The Sainsbury's ones are 39kcals and the Morrison's ones are only 29kcals, so go crazy!
Hopefully as I discover more healthy foods and upload more recipes I'll start to lose weight, I'll keep updated!

#OOTD2

I look so cheerful today. This isn't even an OOTD if we're being honest; I tried to upload it last night (at about 1AM so technically I guess it counts as 'today') but blogger's being shit and won't let me upload photos from my laptop. I thought it was something to do with my internet connection so I went to bed with the hope of uploading again this morning. Still no luck! I've resorted to uploading everything via my tumblr and 'upload via URL' for every. single. photo. Time consuming stuff as I'm sure you're aware! I really like this outfit, it's not the usual kind of thing I'd wear - I'm usually always in shorts and tights but my only clean tights had some massive rip at the top and if I'd had worn shorts it would be visible, so it had to be a dress! I recently bought myself a new Zara leather jacket too which I'm in love with, one of my pet hates about leather jacket is they're either restrictingly tight or too baggy around the shoulders/arms, but this one has elasticy fabric stuff (technical terms there) between where the sleeves end and the body starts, as well as on the wrist cuffs, which is great.

I'm not sure why I'm looking so cheerful here

New Huf socks!

Dubious looking makeup smudge on my dress *sigh*

Another mirror selfie (don't hate me)

I also bought some new Huf socks recently - I'm not sure whether they're genuine or not, the packaging was exactly the same as the genuine ones I bought a year ago, however those ones cost me £15 inc postage and these ones were £3.99 + postage, so there was a pretty huge difference in price! Quality wise they're identical too so whether they're dupes or not doesn't bother me. I got them off Ebay here - they say you get a random colour of about 12 so I was lucky getting the colour I wanted. They also come from China which means long delivery time but if you're after Huf socks and can't justify spending £15 on a pair of socks, go for the dupes!

My dress (only the bottom half can be seen) was from H&M a while back - I bought it with the intention to wear it all the time, however sadly this is the second time it's seen the light outside my wardrobe. Ah well.

I wore the dress with my BOY LONDON t shirt on top. I didn't want to wear the dress alone and thought if I wore a black and white t shirt on top it would look better, and hopefully, it did.

Paired with the trusty new leather jacket and my New Look/Converse dupes, off to work I went!

Current favourites

Everyone seems to be fully getting into the Autumn/Winter (already?!) spirit, and I'm still here clinging on to the remains of summer. I've never been a Winter person, I'll be honest. I'm much happier strolling around at 9:30PM when it's still warm wearing shorts and a t shirt, rather than huddled up around a campfire drinking hot chocolate and freezing to death telling horror stories. For one, I'm terrified of horror stories, but we're going off track entirely here.
There are however a few good aspects of the coming seasons, and this year especially has seen some good stuff happening. I thought I'd make a list of my current favourites I've discovered recently to somewhat improve the dreariness of this season.
Favourite album: Arctic Monkeys - AM. This album is so reminiscent of their old stuff, songs such as Do I Wanna Know? remind me strongly of their Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not days. The album as a whole has quite a wintery feel about it I think, but with contrasting songs from Knee Socks to Mad Sounds, the album is great to put on whatever mood you're in!
Favourite Book(s): I've been reading a lot lately, something to do with having loads of spare time, especially on trains! A few really good (but very different) books I've read recently have been Before I Forget - Melissa Hill, An Enormously English Monsoon Wedding - Christina Jones and How I Live Now - Meg Rosoff. In terms of plot they're all really different, but great reads. I'm also halfway through The Half Life Of Stars - Louise Wener, which I think I'll review properly when I've finished as, so far, it's amazing.
Favourite Film: Everyone knows that Autumn is the season for watching old movies and drinking hot chocolate - if you're not doing it at least once a week you're spending the season wrong. My DVD collection is sadly lacking in many good films, so I've been creeping amazon for old favourites to watch this time of year. The latest one I watched? She's The Man. It's such a great film for motivation and killing time (ultimate opposites there which makes it versatile) and it was probably the best £1.27 I've spent in ages.
Favourite Food: I feel like I should stick to tradition and say something like tea (which I actually really dislike *gasp*) or mince pies, fit for early Christmas such is this country! My favourite thing to cook at the moment though is soup, which I guess still fits with the season. Our house is lacking a blender at the moment so any soup I make comes out suspiciously thick, however once I've invested in a blender I like to think I'll be able to make more soup and possibly upload recipes! Soup is fantastic because not only are there so many different options, it's healthy and fills you up, perfect for slimming down before Christmas!
Favourite AW13 Craze: Tartan is everywhere at the moment. The shops are full of it, blogs are full of it, the only blog which isn't at the moment is mine! I think the most tartan I've got at the moment is a scrunchie. I've been looking for a cute tartan dress but so far I haven't seen any. I'd love to be able to pull off wearing tartan trousers too but I don't have the figure for it, although if I keep making soup I may do at some point in the future!
Favourite Event(s): I'm slacking now. I love Halloween but so far I have no plans - this needs to change! I have so many outfit ideas but no one to go out with and wear them! This is one of the major flaws of being 17, I'm legally allowed to cruise around England as long as I don't enter any of the clubs, but that's another matter!

I guess when you look on the bright side, there's actually loads happening this time of year. We still have Halloween, Bonfire night, Christmas, New Years, and then 12 days after that, my 18th! (Clearly the most important one..)

Channel 4's 4Talent day in Great Yarmouth

So today I was fortunate enough to go to one of Channel 4's 4Talent days, based in Great Yarmouth. Originally when I applied I had little hope of actually getting a place; they say on the website if you don't hear back from them within a few weeks you haven't got a place because of the large number of applicants, yet somehow I received an email (three emails actually, either they were very confident about offering me a place or there was a glitch on the system, I'm going for the latter) inviting me to attend today, 24th October! I personally live about 4 and a half hours away from Great Yarmouth meaning this was a somewhat spontaneous trip.

As I had work last night I was unable to get a train down (up/sideways?) until this morning, meaning I was up bright and early at 4AM! I left the house at about 4:30AM when I was dropped at Liverpool Street Station in London where I boarded my first train to Norwich before transferring to Great Yarmouth. One thing I have definitely learnt today is not to drink large coffees before attempting to sleep. Instead of counting sheep I counted chairs: if anyone was curious there were about 880 seats on my Greater Anglia train this morning at 6:00AM. Nonetheless, I remained awake for the whole journey. I arrived at Great Yarmouth Station at about 8:40AM and got into my taxi. About 30 seconds later (slight exaggeration) we pulled up right outside the Hollywood Cinema, where the event was taking place. Straight away I was excited, and clutching my train tickets in one hand and my nerves in the other, I walked inside.

The first thing that struck me was how friendly everyone there was. I could smile at people and instead of them glancing back at me and leaving me wondering what I'd done wrong, people actually returned my smile! In fact, two girls saw I was standing on my own and came over and spoke to me, we got chatting and they helped me find the room I was supposed to be in - definitely a welcoming start! Along with the unlimited free coffee/tea/cappuccinos it was looking to be a good day. We were given a welcoming talk from Priscilla Baffour who introduced us to the day and basically told us the ins and outs of Channel 4. After this there were the options of four workshops; originally there were supposed to be three but to my utmost surprise and pleasure a Journalism workshop had been added! This was brilliant news; being an aspiring Journalist (as I repeated to my taxi driver later in the day) this workshop would be so beneficial and definitely something to help me gain experience. There were other workshops on option offering experience with green screen effects, maximizing CV and cover letter potential and finally pitching a new programme, but I decided the journalism one would be best for me.

The talk was led by Jules Mccarthy, a BBC journalist who has worked in the industry for 15 years now. She was great. If ever there was a journalist I've met who I would aspire to be like, it would be her. The talk itself was so inspirational, and Jules is such a lovely woman which meant that any questions or queries you had could be answered clearly and in their entirety. Throughout the workshop we covered topics such as broadcast journalism voices, how to cover a topic briefly yet fully, interviewing skills, along with improving ourselves as a whole - the very first task was making lists of things we were good and bad at, and how these could benefit/hinder us as journalists in the future. The whole talk was incredibly inspirational and just heightened my desire to progress into the journalism field especially.

 After the first half of the workshop we were given talks from Charlie Gauvain of EyeTV and Mike Hughes of Mustard TV. Both talks covered topics such as how to break into the industry, how to impress people and unconventional methods of drawing attention to yourself in the right way! Although I personally prefer the writing side of journalism the talks did pique my interest into broadcast journalism and production too, so hopefully in the future I can gain some experience in these fields also. We had a lunch break (also provided by Channel 4, aw) and then the workshops continued. We practised the skills we had worked on previously and did some mock broadcast announcements which were great fun. After finishing these there was a Q&A session where we were all given the opportunity to harass quiz all the industry professionals on any general media queries and then the day was wrapped up. I didn't get the opportunity to take many pictures throughout the day; although there were a lot taken by the 4Talent team which I will provide links to when they're up! I did however take a walk around Great Yarmouth afterwards to reminisce from previous visits and took some photos there.

Editing and recording broadcast journalism from unconventional mediums (iPhone cameras)

Broadcasting my hopes and dreams, fresh from Great Yarmouth's pier arcade

Our first task - publicising our talents and personal criticisms before decorating the wall with them 

One of many Channel 4 4Talent TV screens where we were shown mini clips and show reels

Industry professionals during the Q&A session

Reminiscing Great Yarmouth

Pirate Park by the shore!

Arcades along the promenade 

Great Yarmouth seems to mainly be filled with arcades - straight up approval here

Couldn't not have a go, unfortunately this is where my talents end (I didn't win, surprise surprise)

In desperate need of Disney toys.

The Channel 4 4Talent day is a great experience for anyone trying to break into the media industry. This day has just proved to me that although talent is important, there is a huge aspect of 'it's not what you know but who you know'. By networking and spending the day learning from industry professionals, I've learnt so much about how to progress and showcase my talents for the future. I have made new friends who share the same interests as me and generally, had a fantastic experience in Great Yarmouth!

New hair!

Being someone who gets bored easily, it's never a good thing for me to keep my hair the same for too long, or there are drastic consequences! Yesterday was one of those days. I've had the same hairstyle for a year and a half now, when after falling out with a close friend I dyed my hair dark brown from its natural light blonde and pushed my fringe aside for a centre parting. The opposite has happened now, as you may notice from the pictures! I decided, somewhat spontaneously, to cut my 'fringe' into a short, 90s-esque fringe. I think I like it. I was so nervous at first - having had the same hairstyle for over a year (quite an accomplishment for someone who used to change every few weeks) it felt incredibly unnatural and slightly sad cutting off my finally-long-enough-to-tie-back hair. It had to be done though, or I would have ended up dying it again, and as much as the colour of my hair is great, the length isn't. I've been trying to grow it for years now and after getting half of it chopped off it's actually going somewhere now, i.e down.

I'll be honest, most of these pictures are just me taking bad selfies as an excuse to upload on here. I tried to get my fringe from different angles and consequently there are some very unflatting photos among them! I was aiming for my fringe to be a couple of centimetres above my eyebrows (which desperately need plucking, maybe not a good day to cut a new fringe in?) and I actually quite like the length it turned out! The only problem is my fringe grows ridiculously fast unlike the rest of my hair, meaning I'll have to trim it every other week I think. Generally though I'm pretty happy with how it turned out considering I cut it myself!