NYEE2K11!

I guess that this will probably be my last post of 2012, so I thought that I would make it a big one.

(via HelloGiggles)

I don't think I'm really doing anything for New Year's Eve, as per usual, but I'm saving my energy for the whole year so it's irrelevant that I happen to be spending New Year's Eve just like most Saturday nights rather than with my spread-out friends as I would want to...

I suppose I should finish off this year the way that I would plan to start any new year, with my resolutions. I dislike the assumption that people who make resolutions end up breaking them (and therefore become depressed about it) within the first few weeks. Maybe I will break them or fail in the first few weeks, but it might be spectacular, and I have a whole year to come back to it and achieve it if I want to. So here are my goals for this time next year.

1. Get a job.
This one is a pretty big deal and integral to doing what I want ever, I don't want to be on JSA any longer than I have to. I hope that the New Year brings more prospects and the chance for both further work experience and the chance to earn some cash.
2. Make it so my someday home is just my home, i.e. move out.
Both this and the first are linked, as fine as I am with living at home, I would be happier with my own space, my own kitchen, my own lounge, it will be great and it will be mine with my things. Probably the worst thing about 2011 was moving home and back to just having a bedroom, which is fine for the holidays but not great for any longer than that.
3. Spend less, way less.
I'm coming to terms, hard and fast, with how important it is to save money and how I need to not live so hand-to-mouth. It's lame not having any money for big fun things like trips and holidays but more dresses that I will ever wear in a year, I don't even have anywhere to go because I spend all my money.
4. Do at least one creative thing every week.
I had wondered whether it would be a good idea to begin a '52 Week Project', but that feels a bit too forced and camera-centric. Additionally, I also think that I do need to keep myself creative in other areas, start drawing more, making things and even watching more films, plus if unemployment continues, at least it will keep me active.
5. Pass my driving tests.
With my theory test looming, I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that I'll be able to pass and have a car by Easter, I'm still a bit wary of it but not nearly as scared as I was before I started driving. I need to do it and most importantly, I want to, it will be fun.

Other than the standard 'drop a dress size' that comes with the calorific season that was Christmas, I don't think I'm asking myself to do anything particularly unachievable. This is going to be the year that I turn into an adult, probably.

(via The Dainty Squid)

Awesome time-lapse/stopframe video of the view from Eirik Solheim's window. Captured in 2007/8 but still a pretty nice way to see away 40 seconds, and people are still reflective in 2011/2 are they not?

(via The Dainty Squid)

All the Buzz Satchel, Modcloth, $79.99


Bronx Lace Dalmation Brogues, New Look, £69.99
V. high on my wish list, other than those (now discontinued) Minnie Mouse creepers from Lazy Oaf, these are the most awesome shoes of this kind that I have seen. I think I need them and it's important that I have them.

This is probably the last 'new to me' film of the year that I will see and man, did I make it a good one.
I picked up on it thanks to Verbal Vomit's 'How to Be A Hipster' post. I figured that, apart from Garden State and Donnie Darko, that I liked all the other films mentioned so I may as well give this one a go too. URGH, it's too perfect, I've already downloaded the soundtrack and am keeping some serious tabs on Glen Hansard. Who knows? Maybe I am a hipster... #fangirlend

I think I'll round up this post with a final Verbal Vomit related recommendation. 'The Internet Owns Me' is v. relatable both to how I feel after using the Internet for extended periods of time and in relation to my 13-14 year old self, who totally 'had a website' which is definitely probably still discoverable in the deepest, darkest depths of the internet, not to mention the Myspace days; guess who always unnecessarily had the best one? Yep.
If you're willing to check out the above post you should definitely look at the rest of her blog, it's awesome and she posts some of the best links to things through the medium of her neat drawings. Run by Hannah Hillam, an American illustrator, it's probably one of my favourite illustration/lifestyley blogs at the moment.

Verbal Vomit.

Well, I suppose that's it. Finito, done and dusted.
Tomorrow I think Moon is making Mexican food and I'm going to be forced into watching Black Dynamite, something I probably wouldn't have any scruples about if it hadn't be quoted to death at me despite the fact I have never seen it. #goodjob
If I'm not going out, just as long as I get to watch the fireworks, I don't mind.

I hope that you have a very happy new year, and would like to thank you very much for reading. ♥

695: Why 2011 was nice.

I don't know what happens to people when they say that they had a bad year. Really? Your WHOLE YEAR was bad, literally nothing good happened, at all? I'm talking about people I know and not people who are in disadvantaged situations, but maybe these people do generally have shitty years and I'm just fortunate.
2011 has been quite good really, there have been boring bits and frustrating bits and scary bits, but I've achieved a lot and I'm really quite happy about that.

Obviously, come Sunday everything will be new and fresh and there will be a whole year that's ready for tackling. But, I'll talk about that another time and I'll share with you, in no particular order, eleven things that were nice for me in 2011.

1. Getting to go on a few holidays and get away from home, and England in some cases.
I practically started the year in Disneyland with my sister, which made for a magical wintery getaway as well as a test to my organisational skills.
I also took my second trip to Glastonbury and now know, that even with mud, it's still the best place to be in the last weekend of June and that we need to get the postcode for the other carpark when we go in 2013.
I've basically been to the other side of the world, with my first trip to Hong Kong in 4 years, it was hot and busy but there's so much to do and despite the tormenting guilt of the inability to speak Chinese despite my heritage, it was one of the best holidays I've been on in my life.
I've been to Cornwall more times this year than I have in my whole life, which is twice by the way, which incidentally (just to round off this paragraph nicely) is the same amount of times I've been to France with my second trip being to Brittany at the end of the Summer. Here's hoping that my eyes are opened further and that I can not only see a bit more of the world in 2012, but also some more of what's in the garden of England.






2. Learning to drive.
I'm not there yet but I've finally made the first steps to another one of those things that you just have to do before you're really a grown up. I'm so excited that by this time next year I could even have my own car, weird.

3. Graduating.
This is probably high on every 2011 graduate's list this year. I'm so pleased, I did it, I got a decent grade and, best of all, I didn't fall over in front of the world and Sheila Hancock.

4. Getting really pretentious and fangirly over films.
Discovering new films and new-to-me films this year has been one of my favourites. I've found a new favourite film magazine and would love to think that I knew my stuff.

I also watched 'The Notebook' for the first time this year, annoyed that I understood what all the fuss was about, was hoping that it would be bad and that I wouldn't cry for the last half an hour.

5. Making the most of social networking.
This is the year I found my feet and started using social networking 'as a tool' rather than just to dip in and out of stalking people I know through other people. I've actually networked, I've managed to somehow gain some kind of readership to this blog and I think it's all helped me find a style, both in terms of my writing and how I take photographs now. I sort of cringe at the difference between now and when I started this blog, who even was that person?

6. Unemployment.
Sometimes I feel as though all I go on about is how shitty it is and how demotivated I feel, and that all still stands for most of the time, but without being unemployed I wouldn't have had the time to do some of the great things that I've achieved this year. I'm lucky and I definitely still want a job, obviously, but I've gained a lot of practical knowledge of how to behave virtually and in person and I hope that at some point I can put everything I've learnt into practice and someone will take a chance on me; because you know, I'm great.

7. Using my camera more.
Nowadays it feels as though my camera never leaves me, or at least I always have some kind of camera to take a photo of something. Before, when I was studying Photography this was the furthest thing I wanted to have, taking photographs was for work and nights out, I never felt like I did anything in between. Now I'm realising that I can make things interesting and talk about things like I never did before and it makes me quite happy. I know my way around my camera now, and what settings to use and which lenses, something I probably should have spent more time doing while studying...


8. Stopping biting my nails.
I never wanted to be one of those middle-aged women who still bit their nails and couldn't wear red nail varnish. Now, thanks to sheer willpower, I hopefully won't be. Not only did I stop biting, I've also become pretty nifty in the nail art department, creating awkward yet flattering talking points with passers by.

9. Five years with Andrew Moon.
That's got to be some kind of big deal, right?

10. Work experience.
2011 was the year of Ruth Johnston's work experience, with a great opportunity with the NUJ at their delegate meeting, at which I met some smashing-great people who have made it onto my Facebook friends list. I also continued working with The Village Voice and Malden Fortnight as well as completing a two day work experience period with the organisers of the London Street Photography Festival and winding up the working year with a sweet internship on the picture desk of travel/in-flight magazine publishers, Ink Global, so that was pretty awesome. In between that I also shot my first wedding and a set of headshots, as a real photographer. I would hope that when all of this is taken into account, along with my bucket-load of interviewee experience, I'll be able to be employed at some point in 2012.

11. Managing to not have to make the same New Year's Resolutions for next year as this year.
And that's a pretty great feeling.

Photography Nerds are the Best!

I'm not talking about people who buy the latest lenses and cameras every 2 months, because due to my current financial situation those people are douchebags and can go in the bin for the time being. I'm talking about the ones with camera-related merchandise. Photojojo, was definitely a website made for those guys and I'm actually a bit sad that everything is so reasonably priced.

I think you should check it out if you're into (only slightly) novelty cameras, different accessories or just general camera-shaped things, because camera's are pretty. The main Photojojo website also posts cool tips and tricks to try out and make the most of your budding or advanced photography skills. Not only are the prices of items really good but even to the UK, shipping from the Photojojo store is really affordable, starting at just $12.
Photojojo
Photojojo store

Here's some of my favourite things I found whilst browsing the Photojojo store.

Digital Time-lapse Camera, $149 — Link.
I've kind of been lusting over this one for a while, when I first saw it on The Dainty Squid. Time lapse is so fashionable at the moment, I seriously am considering this one, I'm just waiting to have something fun to use it for.

Underwater Digital Camera, $35 — Link.
I am all about taking pictures all the time, but much less about getting sand on lenses or - even worse - inside cameras. This looks very similar to the 35mm camera I picked up for $HK90 in Hong Kong but it's digital, so there's much less chance of getting severely ripped off by Boots. Maybe the price of this one will mean there could be ones at a similar price brought out in the UK. That would be exciting as underwater housing is ridiculously expensive, rightly so really, but not really a necessity overall.

Lens Pillow, $59 — Link.
These are so cute and you can pick either a Canon or a Nikon, depending on your camera preference. It would be much better if they were about 3 times the size, but I still think they're a neat idea, for the photography enthusiast who has everything.

Keep Calm and Snap On Print, $15 — Link
These are a definite contender for my office space in my someday home, I think I'm going to have to be careful not to overload the place with 'Keep Calm'-influenced merch.

Colour Lens and Flash Filters, $15 — Link.
These appeal to the photographer in me, and appear to be a lot more durable than pieces of acetate that I've previously used.

Film roll USB, $20 — Link.
Unf, why not?

693; Christmas, babe.

I've had a lovely few days eating, drinking and being merry, perhaps a bit too merry on Christmas Eve. It's been great, and I've received some great gifts and it's just been really relaxed. I've seen more films unintentionally in the last few days than I have in the last few months and no one got me a diary re-fill so I'll be spending the last days of the year feeling a bit lost.

Anyway here are some photos that I've taken over the three-days worth of festivities.
Food.

I figured it would be easier to section food off as it is one of the main parts of the celebration, I feel so fat right now and I don't even think I was particularly unhealthy or greedy either. The amount of roast potatoes left over, both here and when I went to Moon's was amazing, unf. The salmon and scrambled egg was a serious sight for sore eyes (literally) on Christmas morning, wasn't quite a fry-up but it definitely hit the spot. And ofcourse there's the mandatory turkey-dinner shot, because I had to. I managed to some how get forced into eating sprouts this year. FMChristmasLife, being with Moon means I'll probably have to cook them if we ever have our own Christmas.. #fattyrantend

I took way less photos than I wanted to on Christmas Eve but pubs in Dorking are dark and were super busy so I was pretty hesitant.

Table decorating went off without a hitch! But I'm very unhappy with Paperchase's snowflakes, as with sequins they get everywhere and unlike sequins they weren't that attractive once separated from the mass in the vase. The candle, which was pretty good after being used last year was also kind enough to leak wax, yes, candles can do that now.

I know these don't look that special but I made them for Christmas last year and I'm quite proud of how they've lasted so well, not too shabby for cardboard tube, wrapping paper and sequins.

At the tender age of 10, my cousin managed to bag herself a mobile phone for Christmas, it's quite a neat one too and she loves it, soon she'll be into boys and makeup, I feel so old!

We actually managed to sit down and watch the Queen's speech on Christmas day, and it was quite nice because everyone was so quiet while she was talking.

Gifts:

I didn't do this last year but I've seen a few other blogs that have and I got quite a few good presents and I've been doing a lot of sharing in recent months so there's no reason why I shouldn't share now. Moon got me some wonderful gifts, including tickets to see The Maccabees at the end of January (such a babe!), a lovely bracelet and the quilted jacket that I posted on here, so he'd done his homework and gets major boyfriend points.

So, this is definitely going to be a Christmas gift that going to get major use. My sister picked these up from eBay for me, and they're pretty great value for money. While I love surprises, I'll admit that I may have given her the link to this one to make sure that I would get them. I found them on Hannah Curson's blog, when she did a really cute post about her and her own sister's adventure into Christmas nail art. I can't wait to give them a go but I'm feeling so overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choice, I just don't have enough fingers!

This is what my friend, Lucy, got me for Christmas, sadly I don't use my compact even half as much as I used to so it's currently housing my phone, just because it's cute and might stop me from accidentally making my phone ask me to 'SAY A COMMAND', Blackberry users, am I right?

These are a pretty great pair of socks that I got from Moon, you may be reminded of previous socks I've liked or lusted over. And pugs, d'awhhh. ♥

My cousin made everyone's presents this year and she did a pretty bang-up job, I now have another addition to my slow-growing collection of cushions.

Ignore the adorable spelling error, Moon Vistaprinted a calendAr for me, with lovely photos he picked and chose from Facebook of nice times.

Thanks for making it this far, and if you're not all Christmas'd out by now, I'll leave you to enjoy The Maccabee's Home Alone medley performed for Zane Lowe at Maida Vale. It's brilliant, you filthy animal.