September Loves

SEPTEMBER LOVES

Exciting times, dear readers. I have found time in this crazy busy week to write a post. I can't convey to you how happy I am about this, because as I've been harping on a lot recently, at this precise time in my life I happen to be very, very busy. I'm the social sec of the UoM BlogSoc (it's going really well too!), I've been helping out at the Freshers Fair, preparing for placement, mentoring, been in and out of uni, seeing lots of people at all times of the day and night, and for the next month I'll be going to and from Liverpool, four days a week on clinical placement, as part of my course. It just feels like a never ending whirlwind, a tidal wave that's carrying me onwards and upwards before my feet have a chance to touch the floor, a rollercoaster that you can't get off once you've strapped yourself in for the ride. I never appreciated the merits of a daily planner till now, and I have a new found appreciation for the people who are eternally busy, constantly in motion. I honestly have no idea how you guys do it. Right now I constantly feel like I'm forgetting something. I have to do lists scattered here, there and everywhere. I keep waking up in the night trying to remember everything I have to do. I feel like I can't sit still because something somewhere needs doing. And I kind of want it to all just sloooooow right down. Real, real slow would be perfect right now. But unfortunately life is about to switch gear and things are about to get shaken up all over again, so all I can do is get on with things, stop moaning and simply enjoy this rather peculiar time of my life.

And as I said previously, I'm so happy that amongst the madness I've managed to find this little pocket of time to sit down and write a post for you lovely people. I want to tell you about ten things I've been loving this month, and give you a flavour of what my life's been filled with, aside from those crazy to do lists. I don't currently have the time to sit and write about them all individually, so I thought I'd mesh them all together into one big melting pot of love, so that you can get an idea of what is making me happy in my life right now, and hopefully some of those things will make you happy too. I would write more, because honestly there is sooooo much I want to write about, but I need to get to Lidl to do my first shop of the year and then figure out how to use the kitchen surface as an ironing board. Crazy times. Crazy times indeed. But I want to remember them. I want to remember this strange but amazing time in my life. I want to remember the thoughts I had, the things that inspired me, the people who played a part, the music I listened to, the places I went, the clothes I wore, the things I did. No more complaining. Just a whole load of loving and appreciation. So with that, buckle up for the ride and here we go!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

001. Zara Trench CoatThis Zara trench coat. When I happened to come across it I was strangely drawn to it, and it surprised me because I don't normally go for coats like this. But after recently getting inspired by the whole Audrey Hepburn simple, classic, chic aesthetic, this gorgeous little coat reminded me of times gone by, Parisian vibes, and I just knew that if I wore it, I would never have a bad fashion day again. It's the kind of coat that makes the outfit. It's so effortlessly cool and sophisticated, as well as being incredibly versatile and practical. And as soon as I put it on, strange as it sounds, I just knew that it was the one. This is the coat that I have unsuccessfully been looking for year after year. The coat of my dreams. I adore it. And if I find the time next week, in between wearing this coat every single day and night, I'm going to write a massive gushing post about my love for it. 

You can buy it here!

002. Pangaea Festival

I went for the second time last night to the infamous music festival that is held at my university three times a year. With it being Neverland themed, the different stages were adorned with trees, there was a pirate ship stuck somewhere, everyone was dressed up as pirates, mermaids, lost girls and boys, animals, warriors and everything in-between, and it was quite simply amazing. The experience of going for a festival at your university of all places, and then walking in to this incredible electric atmosphere, only to see all these thousands of people dressed up to the nines, and music blasting out from everywhere, is so surreal it's almost hard to get your head around. And last night we were lucky enough to watch artists like Bipolar Sunshine, Wiley and the amazing Example, and that atmosphere was just insane!!! UoM students sure know how to party, and things like Pangaea are a great way to bring everyone together. And though the University of Manchester has many pros about it, I think that Pangaea Festival might just be one of the best. 

http://www.pangaeafestival.co.uk/

003. Whitworth Art Gallery

Last Saturday I had a quick amble over to the Whitworth, which just so happens to be five minutes away from where I live this year, something that makes me rather happy indeed. I haven't been since waaaay back in March, so seeing as I had recently arrived in Manchester again, I thought it would be a good idea to pay it another visit. I love the Whitworth because it's not too big, but it's not too small. It's just the right size. The artwork is also so diverse, unique, interesting and varies across so many different mediums and artists too. It's a little bit here and there, a big mix up of so many different things, lots of different creative inputs to inspire you. The building itself is so majestic, the perfect blend of old and new. The Whitworth Park location only adds to the magic and beauty of the gallery. It's a little piece of heaven just off Oxford Road, and I feel so lucky too have my local art gallery be one as amazing as this.

http://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/

004. My Housemates (btw I am clothed in this photo!)

This year, after a bit of a mini housemate crisis, it now gives me immense joy to say that this year, I now have the privilege of living with two of my good friends from last year, and a girl from Hong Kong who came over here to do her postgrad and needed somewhere to live. And between us. we have somehow managed to create the happiest, most loving, kindest, amazing, laughter filled house I have ever known. It's no secret that I had my fears about this year, and what it would be like living here together, but it makes me so ridiculously happy when I realise how well it's all worked out. When I'm walking home and I realise that I get to come back home to these lovely people and this lovely little home. Or when I get to walk to uni with two of my best friends. Or when we cook dinner together, and all sit at our little breakfast bar to eat together. Or when we have these amazing conversations about the difference between Hong Kong and English culture. Or when we get to invite people round to our little home too. Or when one of us starts laughing at something, and then the others follow one by one until we're all sat there crying with laughter. It's just amazing, and I have never felt so grateful.

005. UoM Blog Soc

This week we had our first social at Kosmonaut in the Northern Quarter, and it went so incredibly well. Better than we ever could have anticipated. Naturally before hand, when we were handing out leaflets and talking to people at freshers fair, we just didn't know what to expect at all. Would people even turn up? Would they enjoy themselves? Would our location work? Would it be a success? Would they like our ideas? We're trying to do some thing differently this year, make some much needed changes and try and grow a strong, supportive, welcoming student blogging network here in the amazing city of Manchester, a big feat none the less, and this was our first chance to put our plans into action. Make change happen. Very exciting but very nerve wracking too. Which is why, when our first social came to a close on Friday evening, we all walked away feeling like we were on top of the world. The social was a resounding success. People were mingling, there was this excitement in the air, so many people passionate about blogging or wanting to become a part of it, and honestly I've never had so many interesting, amazing conversations in my life. I forgot how satisfying those deep, meaningful conversations can be. And it was so lovely to get to know all these new people, find out what's inspiring them, what they want to use blogging for, what it means to them, and it made me so hopeful for the future and what's to come. What we could make happen here in Manchester. And if you're reading this post, and you want to get involved in BlogSoc too, then please take a look at our Facebook Page and come along, get involved!

You can join UoM Blog Soc here!

006. New Music (as usual)

I haven't had the time to seek out lots of new music, but there's an awful lot of amazing music out there that's somehow managed to find its way into my life, much to my life. Songs I'm adoring right now include...

1. On My Mind, Ellie Goulding

2. High By The Beach, Lana Del Rey

3. Elysium , Bears Den

4. Lion's Heart, Eliza & The Bear

5. Levels, Nick Jonas

6. Tiring Games, John Newman

7. Gibraltar, Beirut

8. What Part of Me, Low

007. Microsoft Lumia 435

Just before I came back to uni, I decided it was time to upgrade from the previous years' Nokia brick (not that it was hard to upgrade from that monstrosity) and venture out into newer and more modern territories. I also missed Instragram to an extent that I'm ashamed to admit, as did I want to be able to feel more connected with the rest of the world and my generation in particular. So with that, I decided to get a new mobile phone, and although I came rather close to being swayed by the now notorious go to mobile of choice, the infamous iPhone, I decided at the last minute to go for a Microsoft Lumia 435, of all things. Where is the logic in this decision? Well there is none, really. The camera isn't as good as the iPhone, the music player isn't as good as the iPhone, it doesn't have that wonderful Apple interface or links with the iTunes store. But surprisingly enough, I don't actually care. I bloody love my new phone. I love its chunkiness, I love the font, I love the interface, I love how easy it is to use, I love the fantastic battery life, and most of all, I love that I can now Instagram to my heart's content once more. I'm in my happy place, thanks to this gorgeous phone, and if you're looking for something a little different to the atypical iPhones, then I'd strongly urge you to take a walk on the wild side and take a look at the Lumia!

You can find our more about it here. 

008. My wonderful friends

Almost every day,I find myself feeling so incredibly grateful that I have the friends I do. Somewhere along the way, I have somehow managed to meet a whole range of amazing different people who I'm lucky enough to call my friends, and each brings something to my life I never even realised I was missing. I often feel like I have to pinch myself, because I just can't believe that I have the friends I do. That I even met these people in the first place, and they liked me enough to want to stick around and keep our friendship going. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to wake up tomorrow morning and realise it was all a dream, but the beauty comes from realising that real life is better than my dreams. All of this is really happening. I really am lucky enough to be surrounded by all these great people, people I may have met more recently, or on the converse have known for such a long time. People I see all the time, to people I only see sometimes. People who know me, and I know them, inside out, or those who I'm still getting to know. I love them all!!

009. The art of conversation

I previously mentioned this, but this week I've been lucky enough to have some really, really good conversations, and when I was thinking about it the other day, I think I must've spoken to over 100 different people this week alone. I've had so many different conversations about so many different things, and amongst them I can think of five or so in particular that were really, really memorable for all the right reasons. They were conversations where your really feel like you're connecting with the other person on some other level, and it feels like the realms of possibility are endless. Where you speak your mind, say what's in your heart, express yourself in a way that's not always easy to do so in every day life, share a piece with another person, who in turn shares a piece of themselves with you. We spoke about real things, things that matter, subjects that are normally not adhered to or are often left unspoken, and the conversation was so incredibly interesting and thought provoking too. It didn't feel menial, a way to pass time or avert an awkward silence, a conversation occurring out of force. These conversations flowed naturally, easily, and you know they're something special when afterwards you leave feeling almost refreshed and excited about life. It feels like you've gained something from the conversation, weird as it sounds. You don't need anything else in life when you have conversation, and the ability to speak and express yourself. And it's reminded me how good it feels to talk to people, and how truly wonderful the art of conversation is. 

010. Manchester

I'm assuming you know by now how much I adore Manchester. There's been too much gushing on this blog to count. And it pleases met to let you know that my love for this marvellous city has quadrupled since I've been back. There's been numerous times these last two weeks where I've found myself quite literally in awe at this city. I walk around it in some kind of glorious haze, almost feeling the electricity, excitement, life of the city soaring through my veins. And it blows my mind continually that I have somehow been lucky enough to end up living in a city like this. That I have a home in this city, and that this city is a home to me. There really is no place like Manchester. And I know everybody says that, but it's true. London, Birmingham, Nottingham, Edinburgh, all these major cities, they're all great in their own way, but Manchester is something else entirely. In my opinion, it's the best city in the world. And if you ever find yourself nearby, I urge you with all my heart to take a stop in Manchester and immerse yourself in this truly brilliant gem of a city.

V&A Pattern Bonanza

V&A PATTERN BONANZA 

With university commitments back in full swing, and with my four week block placement looming incredibly close on the horizon, finding the time to sit down and blog has and will be rather difficult for a while. As has it been hard finding the time to seek inspiration and write down all my ideas. There's just so many things to do, organise, think about, get sorted, as is there the normal ups and downs of life to contend with, and as always seems to happen in these situations, where there's a lot going on all at once, my mind seems to go into some kind of overload. It's like my mind refuses to act logically and efficiently, and just make sense of things, do a spot of compartmentalizing. In my mind it all feels like one big jumbled up, swirling mess and so it's easier just to take each day as it comes, instead of even attempting to try and comprehend everything that's happening as a whole. And naturally blogging is always unfortunately one of the first things to take a back seat, during times like these, much to my dismay. I imagine that if I was more proactive with managing my time better, I probably wouldn't feel like that so much, and I would probably get a lot more done and at a much quicker pace too, but at this point in my life I'm just not that kind of person. I think I even kind of like how that swirling pot of things to do feels, as do I like jumping in head first, eyes closed, doing what I need to do one bit at a time and just hoping for the best. Something of an organised mess, I suppose.

Anyhow, back to the whole point of this post. Though time dedicated to blogging, seeking blog inspiration and looking through potential ideas has been poorly allocated by myself, rest assured there is a growing pile of blog posts I want to do in the next couple of weeks or so. This post is one of them. In fact, this post idea has actually been in the pipeline for a good four months or so. The inspiration came from one of my many visits to the awesome Manchester Central Library, when I found the most wonderfully captivating book bursting with prints, courtesy of the V&A museum down in London. I'm a sucker for colour and pattern, and books like this one just blow my mind, hypnotise me completely, cause pure sensory fulfilment, and I pour over every page devouring it from top to bottom. It's like visual creative juice to my system. It causes a domino like chain of ideas with the ultimate result being this overwhelming desire to create. I love it. The simplicity, the easiness, the intertwining of colour, the gorgeous repetition. And because some of my other blog posts involve talking about some pretty heavy subject matters, the honest kind written straight from the heart and take hours to perfect, I thought it would be quite nice to do a light, colourful, inspiring, art focused post. Something to clear the system. Something to inspire you. Something so pretty to look at. Something to calm you down. Even if you just take five minutes out of your day or evening to peruse some of the patterns I've included below, I hope you find it a rather pleasant experience, and I can't wait to write some more posts for you lovely, lovely readers very soon!

-All images and artwork copyright and ownership belongs to V&A Museum-

http://www.vam.ac.uk/

A Flower For This, A Flower For That

A FLOWER FOR THIS, A FLOWER FOR THAT

This morning I was scrolling through my Instagram feed (I have become addicted once more), and happened to come across these rather gorgeous photos created by the Dutch design duo Daniera Ter Haar and Christopher Brach, from Raw Color design studio. Entitled 'Blossom', the series sees branches of beautiful flourishing blossom suspended in mid air by dainty white thread, and framed against an assortment of bold, vivid , different coloured backgrounds. It's a real treat for the eye, a wonderful idea, and I adore the contrast between the assertiveness of the colours and the fragility of the flowers, as well as the stunning aesthetic colour combinations. As soon as I saw the photographs I just knew that I had to feature them in a blog post somewhere. They were too lovely not to show you dear readers. Hence why I sat there for a while, wondering just what I could do with these photographs, whilst at the same time I began thinking about all these things that are going on in my life right now. As you can probably guess, somewhere along the way, inspiration struck and the two separate thought pathways integrated into one. Voilà. I decided that for each photograph I'd include a little paragraph about something that's happening in my life right now, or has happened, as well as some of the things I've been feeling. It's one flower assigned to one aspect of my life, and I'm not sure if this idea will work at all but I'd love to give it a go and see what you think!

-All photographs belong to Raw Color and have been linked to their original source!-

001. I now feel like I've fully adjusted to living here in Manchester again, as well as my new home. I said it before on my last post, but I'm so, so happy to be back. Just walking down the streets today it felt like coming back to where I belong. Where I'm meant to be right now in my life. It's easy to worry. It's easy to wish I was back home, living that comfortable life and never seeing what could lie beyond it. It's easy to be afraid. But today has made me realise that coming here was the best thing I ever could've done. Forcing myself out of my comfort zone has done me wonders. Being brave and conquering my fears has made me stronger, wiser, more at ease. Giving myself this amazing chance and opportunity to change my life has so far been 100% completely worth it. So in the words of Clean Bandit, there really is no place I'd rather be. Manchester, I adore you.

002. Yesterday one of the strangest things ever happened to me. In the whirlwind space of ten minutes, and in an unforeseen twist of events, I found out firstly that my friend has had to pull out of the house, and secondly that I now have a new housemate from Hong Kong instead. Never in a million years did I imagine that this would happen. By second year you think you've met all the new people you're going to meet. You think you've got everything sorted. No more surprises. But lo and behold, as I found out yesterday, uni is one big unpredictable ride, though I'm certainly not complaining. I've learnt it's so much better to just go with that flow. Don't resist the changing tides, ride along with them. And anyhow, my new housemate seems really lovely, and I actually feel really lucky that I get to experience a completely new culture and language first hand, as well as have the chance to help my housemate with her English, show her all our customs and traditions and also this wonderful city of Manchester too. It's sure going to be one heck of an interesting year!

003. This year I'm the social secretary of the University of Manchester's Blogging Society, which is another thing I never ever expected to happen to me in a million years. Blogging is something that I've been involved with for five years now (how times flies!), as I started off by helping one of my best friends, who is always one step in front of the crowd, with her blog. Gradually I became confident and passionate enough to dabble with it on my own, creating numerous blogs that explored a lot of the things I loved. However it was only with this blog, my beloved Moustashie, that I really began to take blogging seriously. I started using social media exposure, stopped being afraid about people actually reading what I wrote, I committed myself to writing at least three weeks a week, and I made a conscious effort to always be on the hunt for subject matter. As a result, my blog became something that I'm so incredibly proud of, as has it lead me down other avenues too, such as with BlogSoc. My passion for blogging has swelled massively over the last few years, and I really believe in its merits so strongly now, that I knew I simply had to take the chance to become even more involved in the blogging community. And so far, it's going really well. I've been meeting lots of lovely new people, discussing some exciting ideas and changes, making things happen, and just getting really involved with the whole experience of helping to run a society. The future is our oyster. The potential is limitless. Manchester blogging scene we're coming for ya, so watch this space!

004. Sometimes I feel kind of overwhelmed when I look at things for my degree course. Yesterday evening lots of documents went up online, and I was pouring over them thinking how the hell am I going to do this. IT MAKES NO SENSE TO ME. I don't know what I'm doing. Why on earth have I chosen to do this as a career?! I guess it just freaked me out rather a lot, because I still feel like a child and yet I know that I'm an adult now, and I have to take on those more grown up responsibilities. You can't just sit colouring in pie charts or writing creative stories about a trip to the seaside forever. Shite hits the fan. The going gets tough. The work gets harder. But on the converse, I am lucky in that I am doing something that I love. The job I'm training for, my dream job, doesn't just comprise of mounds of that awful, dull paperwork. There's so much more to it. So many more amazing, wonderful, soul fuelling things that I get to do alongside that. Things that make it all worthwhile. And anyhow, as I always conveniently forget, the whole point of me even being here in the first place is to learn all these things that I don't know yet. I'm here to lean, they're here to teach me. And once this part of my life is over, I'll know exactly what I'm doing, as will I be freed up and equipped with the skills, knowledge and passion to pursue all the things that interest me, and that I adore most. 

005. Now that I've settled back into the swing of things, and the upheaval has died down to reveal my new life, shiny and exciting and waiting just for me, I feel like I'm retuning back to the way I was feeling these last few weeks. And what I mean by that, is just before I moved back to Manchester, I realised I was becoming rather restless. This summer has taught me a lot of really important things that have very much changed who I am as a person, and it's changed in a way I feel I can't go back from anymore. These changes are permanent, and in order to accommodate them, I need to switch things up a bit in my life. What used to do before, what was enough for me then, just isn't enough now. It isn't okay any more. It doesn't do the job. Things need to change. And literally just before I moved back, I felt like I was right on the cusp of those changes. So poised was I to set that ball into motion. I was so ready. But then I had to leave home, leave familiarity behind, and deal with the whole moving into a new house fandango first. Hence it felt like all that energy, desire, drive, that increasing restlessness just vanished. Evaporated into thin air. I had other things to think about, and no time for those big, life changing feelings. Right then I didn't want to make big changes, I just wanted to take it one step at a time and do things slowly, safely, comfortably, till I adjusted all over again. And I worried that I wouldn't feel that awesome life changing fire all over again. Would it ever come back to me. But now, like I said, I feel that time has come around once more. I've got this down. I'm raring to go. The fire is back. It's time for change. 

006. The last thing I want to talk about is the contrast between expectation versus reality. Maybe it's because I've been on my own for a few days, I don't know, but I've found that I've been going on social media a lot recently. Over summer I managed to abstain from it pretty nicely, but once again I've somehow found myself emerged within it again once more. And surprise surprise, the results haven't been too great. Don't get me wrong, I love being from this generation, but one of the worst things is easily that overbearing need a lot of us have to share our lives with everyone who wants to peek in. We all want to have that perfect life, and we try our best to make it appear so. Out of nowhere spring these overwhelming expectations and pressures to live the good life all the god damn time. You constantly find yourself comparing and contrasting your life to that of other people, and set all these impossibly high expectations for yourself. You somehow convince yourself that everyone has a better life than you, and so the downward spiral starts. It's horrible. I don't know why we do this to ourselves. And because I feel I'm someone who likes to stick out from the crowd, be stubborn, do things my own way, embrace who I am, someone who wants this life to be enough, someone who prides herself on being independent, strong enough to walk alone, it frustrates me that I get like this. I don't know where these insecurities stem from, and how they develop so effortlessly, but I just wish that I could turn it off. I love my life. I love all that I do. Everything in my life makes me happy. I like who I am. I know that what I have is enough. I'm proud that I have the courage to stay true to who I am and how I want to do things. I just want to kerb this microanalysis once and for all and just go fook it. I'm happy. I hope you're happy too, I really do. And hey you know what, let's all just be happy in ourselves, and happy for one another, and have all that be enough. It would be rather nice.