Almost Friday.

Today is not a good one, I feel rubbish and I can feel myself feeling more rubbish as time goes on. Looks like it's pyjamas, tea and soup for me then. It's definitely going around but it means missing out on Nandos with work this evening, which is just about the worst.
Powering through just isn't doing it, which is why I'm at home feeling sorry for myself.


[via Daily Frenchie]
I'm really hoping that I feel better soon as I have some lovely plans for the weekend, the way it's looking at the moment though, I'll be going even if I'm dosed to my eyeballs with ibuprofen. The weekend of Oxford's Gathering Festival is almost here and I'm excited even if the outlook is a little grim at the moment.


The line-up is great and I'm so excited to see Dry the River again, even more so after being recounted Moon's brother's great evening with them in Portsmouth last night. It looks like it will be a great opportunity to see some new music, as well as see Spector and actually know who they are! 'Enjoy It While It Lasts' by Spector is one my favourite albums in a while and I found myself listening to it on repeat when it was first released.
I'm also looking forward to Bastille, The Staves and Lucy Rose - as well as having a peek around Oxford as it's somewhere else I've never really visited before.

I hope you're feeling a little more healthy than I am, everyone seems to be moaning about being ill at the moment, I guess it's just that time of year.
If you are feeling under the weather then here's a picture that will hopefully at least cheer you up. It's Frank the British Bulldog pup, one of our visitors to the office on Tuesday, what a ladykiller.

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Photo A Day April: Day 11-12

I would have kept up with this properly if I hadn't been so unwell yesterday.

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Day 11 — Where you ate breakfast

I didn't eat anything yesterday, I managed some spaghetti hoops at around 9pm, but that certainly wasn't breakfast time. So I'm using this photo because it's where I spent most of yesterday, feeling sorry for myself. I'm so happy that all I have today is a sore back.
Day 12 — Stairs

This was a funny one, I thought about maybe making it a bit creepy but I'm settling for a tired cat instead.
I wonder if I'll miss stairs living in a ground-floor flat.

#782

This is a blog showcasing a few photos from my Easter Weekend. It's definitely all come crashing back to reality. I am so ill, and so are the rest of my family, apart from about two of them. Now when the twins are grown up, all I will remember of my first encounter with them is how they gave me the worst stomach bug I've had in forever, damn child germs, I've been in bed all day. I'm only emerging because I feel slightly better, not normal, but a bit better, still incredibly achey.

I'd like to ask for forgiveness in advance, the photos from when I was out at the pub were particularly blurry because for some reason I set the ISO to just 400, which doesn't mix well with dingy pub lighting. I hope you had a good Easter bank holiday and aren't seeing in the post-holiday period riddled with disease.

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This is from Thursday's quiz, where we came second! Due to it being busy, we won a grand total of £15 in prize money. It's going back on tomorrow's quiz, which I hope I'll be better for.


I was pretty unhappy when I wore these on their first outing but now their probably the second-comfiest pair of flats that I own.
Thanks, ASOS.



This is all the freebie salad Moon was given from work. I must say that it's a perk I didn't know that I wanted, but one that I enjoy. Isn't the packaging devine? It received great reviews from my family when it was served on Easter Monday, a lot tastier than 'standard salad' apparently, so there you go.



My Gran has been going through her old slides, apparently from the late 60s to early 70s she doesn't really have any physical prints as everything she shot was on slides. I've mentioned before my admiration for my Gran's photography skills, and it was a really neat and communal way to look at the images. The projector is from Boots and still going strong from when Gran was shooting all these photographs, the photo-geek in me was more than impressed. She also has a hand-held projector, which looks something like this, but after it was repaired, some numpty broke it again, it was a bit hit though and another interesting way to take in photographs.


I honestly didn't spend every evening in a pub, this was a funny old night.


On Sunday, Moon, Chris and I drove over to Pease Pottage's car boot, which I'm sure would be incredibly if we hadn't picked one of the drizzliest days ever. I'm hoping that if this coming Sunday offers up some warmer weather, I'll be able to snap up some bargains.


I kept leaving my window open and Moon kept being cross. ♥


Chris' mum asked him to get some parsnips, Pease Pottage didn't have any. Am I wrong to think aubergines are more obscure than parsnips?



Like I said, sorry for the terrible pub photos, but this burger was delicious, no one else really liked theirs.



I picked up these from Dorking's carboot, they were vile, I've firmly learnt my lesson.






Walter


Gilbert


Who would have guessed that such adorable people could essentially wipe out an entire family.

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Urgh, back to my pit I go. I only hope that Moon wasn't another victim, he doesn't take being ill very well and it's only the second week in his new job. We're getting reference forms for the flat sent out this evening, our move date is as early as the 15th, I don't think it will not be weird until I'm actually living there.

Tuesday Tabs #8

I haven't got any recent news for you this week, nothing very exciting is going on, and I'm ill so I'm actually pretty happy that that's the way it is really, means I have an excuse to me a bit less frantic. I have a couple of leads and have applied for a couple of things, but not heard back and I guess there's a huge part of me that is trying to hold back pinning my hopes on this job with Alamy, because it would be sweet, but the next call-back would only be for a second interview, I don't know.

I mean it's pretty crummy hunting for a job, and I'm articulate, creative, nice and a fast learner, among so many other things, I just don't know what else I can do at this stage, and there will be new graduates soon and surely that's just more competition. I just want something that isn't another internship, and I think it's ridiculous that that's a pretty big ask. Still, like I said, I'm ill so I can put off worrying for a little bit.

Here are some neat finds from this week, I'm pretty sure I've outdone myself, there's so much to share, and here was me thinking that I had been avoiding computers.

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(via Banquet Records)

On Thursday, as you may have seen, Moon and I were lucky enough to catch an intimate in-store gig at Banquet Records in Kingston. As I said at the time, I didn't want to ruin the atmosphere so only took one photo and nothing else. Luckily, Banquet were videoing, and we found this at the weekend, so I can show you how beautiful Dry the River are, especially when unplugged, so amazing, I was blown away. You can even spot Moon at the end, and me, but you have to really look as I'm a bit small.


Atalanta By Atalanta Weller Mexi V-Front Shoes, £210, Urban Outfitters
These are such beautiful shoes and there are so many reasons why, I'd so love a pair to call my own. Sadly they're sold out of size 5s already, but here's hoping that they'll be around for the sale.


Lila Ice Skater Woman Necklace, £18.17, SPRITZ Design
I did a quick search and this necklace and others available from the above Etsy shop were the closest I could find the the amazing necklaces and pins that I saw in Porta in Brighton, I'm not satisfied with this find but I thought I'd share this will you to give you an idea, I hope to keep looking, until I'm able to get back down to Brighton.

(via Hello You Creatives)

The sound in this is pretty great, the whole thing is actually pretty great, but I can't fully explain why, it's just great.

(via Young Creatives Network)

Badges from the series Eat Fast, Die Young from Jiggery Pokery.


Wooden Kite Necklace, £23, Stolen Thunder Boutique


Cool Sweaters T-shirt, $20, Threadless
Super sad that the girl version of this is sold out in my size, but how cute is it? I think that I definitely have too many animal-related clothes so it's probably a sign, but that's the beauty of these posts, I'm still able to admire things like this from a distance.


Orange Zip Messenger Bag, £25, River Island
I'm slowly turning into the kind of girl who's never satisfied with her handbag, I mean, I was but then my perfect River Island bag decided to have a 'my zips only going to work half the time' attitude and it just makes me a little bit sad and this one is nice.


Darlingtonia Foxy Moccasins, $129, Red Velvet


Bow Tie in Pumpkin Patch, $18, Red Velvet
I've been thinking a lot about collars and bow ties, obviously they're a great solution to adding a bit of life to an old outfit, and I would really like one, but they always seem to look a lot better on other people. A simple design like this could sway me, I think I might have to get Etsying.

(via Efren: The Dream Closet)

The guy in this photo is such a babe, I wonder about it's original source as the Tumblr I found this on is a horrible one which plays unnecessary/awful music when you open it.


House Lamp, £59.69, Hannah Nunn


Both: Layla Amber Handmade Creations, £4 each


Trust Your Instincts, £12.98, Ashley G
It was pretty difficult to pick just one print I liked as I pretty much like all of them, I was brought to Ashley G's Etsy shop, through this week's apparent 'blog of the week', A Beautiful Mess.

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Link love: ♥

Modcloth's The Style Aquatic Lookbook — Such a fun lookbook, with adorable photographs showcasing Modcloth's latest bathing suits and jewellery, Summer isn't as far away as it currently seems. Things like this only further add to my envy that Modcloth isn't over here in the UK, I doubt I'd be able to find such cute swimwear anywhere else.

A Beautiful Mess: Home Tour — Elsie, over at A Beautiful Mess treated me to a serious load of interior porn when I was browsing her blog and stumbled on a series she did about the home she shares with her husband. It's beautiful, their lounge is something else and the tiny details are amazing. If my future nest is even half as lovely and stylish as this one, I will be more than happy. The combination of original artwork, vintage, up-cycled and kitsch is everything I love in interior decorating.

Grandma's Fabrics — I'm currently waiting for the cushion inserts I ordered from eBay to arrive but I'm obsessed with fabric at the moment and this Etsy store has so many cute and different ones to choose from. I'm already on the look-out for fabric for my next project, but I need to cool it and find out if I'm as good at sewing as I think I am first.

5 Tips for Lifestyle Photography — I should start paying more attention to my Bloglovin' account, so I can keep up with A Beautiful Mess more regularly, although it is pretty great to bulk-read. This list of tips for lifestyle photography is really well put together with beautiful images, particularly helpful when considering what kinds of photos to take for blogs, but also great tips for photography generally.

Harry Draws Pictures' Big Cartel — Lovely original prints and this great junk food cushion.

Dear Ryan Gosling

DIY Dixie Cup Garland — Something on my to-do list, a really great tutorial to create a cute 'lampshade' fairylights garland, it seems pretty simple and fun to do, can't wait have the space to give it a try.

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On the plus side of this illness, for some reason my hair hasn't looked this great in ages. Don't forget I've listed a ton of stuff on eBay, and there's only one more day to go, check it out.

You mug!

I'm really ill, which is a total bummer because I had planned on doing a few important things, ironically one of them being registering with the local GP, but I'm too sick to leave the house, so things are on hold. I only hope that I'm a bit less snotty and achey for my driving lesson tomorrow as my test is in less than a month, don't ask me why I booked it, I don't know either.

I'm placing full blame for this lurgy on my sister and Moon's brother, I can't blame one or the other as they seem to both have the same thing and have been ill for the same amount of time, and I've been near both of them, my immune system was doing so well until about 11pm last night, unacceptable.

In slightly more fun news, I finally got around to taking part in the 'Yours & Theirs' project this week and my image is up on both their Facebook and blog, so I'm pretty chuffed.
The theme was 'Your Favourite Mug', and this is the photo I entered.

This is neither my mug, or even a mug I use, it belongs to my Gran and it's the one I give to Moon whenever we're there for a cup of coffee. It's so funny and difficult to hold, as well as being ridiculously tacky, but it's definitely one of the best mugs I've seen.
I'd love to take part in similar projects as it was so easy, perhaps a downside being that 'Yours & Theirs' is Australian; it would be great to be part of something a bit more local, for no other reason other than to have another, more focussed outlet to share my work.

I'm going to give this week's theme a shot too, it's 'A Place You Like to Go', and if you're a long-time reader of this blog you'll know there are quite a few places that I like to go, a lot, so I'm sure I'll be able to get around to capturing something.
Here are a few of my favourites from the 'Your Favourite Mug' entries.

Lucy White


Candice Wilde


Alana Dimou
Why not give it a go yourself? It's so much fun to see people's different takes on such simple subject matter. If you know about any similar UK projects I'd also love to hear about them.

Bung.

My nose is so blocked, and I had the worst night's sleep ever, mainly because my mouth was mega-dry for most of it. A cold is much worse than being actually ill, I wish I'd just get the illness already.
I don't want to do anything tonight, I'd like to go outside today though, it's so sunny for the first time in ages.