And breathe...

When your colleague suggests taking in some lunchtime culture it's a difficult opportunity to pass up. When you find out that that culture involves an exhibition where 'a lady breathes on some paper and shows the results', it's difficult to get excited about it. With that being said, you can sort of find yourself regretting that initial feeling.


'And Breathe...' at the Old Fire Station showcases part of Jayne Wilton's 'Drawing Breath' body of work, in which she creates physical, ephemeral sculptures from human breath. It's much less gross than it sounds and it was actually kind of beautiful.


[Sing 1 & 2]


[Expire]



[Breathe]


[Drawing Breath]
It's been ages since I've visited an art exhibition much less found any new art that I actually enjoy. Sometimes finding things visually pleasing can boil down to something as simple as whether you would hang it on your own wall, and I definitely would. 'Sing 1 & 2' were my favourites in particularly though I really liked the simplicity of the whole exhibition.

'And Breathe...' is a small exhibition of just 7 pieces but I'd definitely recommend visiting if you're around Oxford before 14th November.


[Crowd]


[Blow]


Arts at the Old Fire Station has a range of shows and exhibitions throughout the year, as well as featuring an adorable shop featuring work from independent UK artists and designers and hosting workshops and classes, it's a really neat public space.

'And Breathe...' runs until 14th November 2015 at the Old Fire Station gallery, Tuesday - Saturday, 11am - 6pm, and it's free!

Have you seen any inspiring art exhibitions lately?

Lunchbreak Browsing.

The novelty of being pretty much in the centre of a city has yet to wear off. It's so nice to be able to take full advantage of my lunch break and do a bit of mooching, it really helps that Oxford has so many places to explore too!

One of my favourite things to do happens weekly on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and that's the Oxford Giant Market, a food and vintage market in the Gloucester Green market square.



It's a great place to pick up really tasty dim sum and there are quite a few fun shops and cafés dotted around the outside, including The Old Fire Station, which holds entertainment and arts events and even includes a cute art shop that sells indie prints and jewellery.

I still had my camera from snapping at the Lush Christmas event so I took the opportunity to take a few pictures, I even managed to pick up Dolly's namesake record for just £1, something that pleased me no end - it helps that it's a pretty nice cover with cute spiel on the back too.








A big part of me hopes this guy is still there today - might be one of my biggest regrets not buying him. WHATISHE?!










I just read that there's going to be a more vintage/retro focussed market happening on Saturdays from 8th November onwards so that will be great for Christmas and allow for a more thorough root through all the hidden treasures(!)

It's slightly less glamourous and a lot smaller than Spitalfields, but so much more affordable and less like money for old rope, I definitely recommend swinging by, if only for the dumplings. ♥

Three Weeks in Oxford.

I can't believe it's been three weeks since I started working in Oxford!


I feel like I'm completely used to the walk - it only took me 20 minutes the other day(!) - and have finally got a hang of my bearings. As someone whose internal compass is wrong almost all of the time, that second part is a pretty nice feeling.

As I mentioned before, we've now changed our route, which means we're less panicked and actually, the walk is much more enjoyable too so everything is just much less stressful than I foresaw it being when I first started coming here.



I'm not sure how strange it is that as well as driving in and then walking to Oxford City Centre, Moon and I are also having lunch together - there's part of me that knows it is a lot of time to spend together, particularly as we live together as well - but it's quite nice to have a lunch-buddy and we haven't run out of things to talk about yet. It will probably all change when winter comes and it's too cold to sit out but it's nice to not do those kind of things alone, despite knowing it's probably something we'll probably get judged for.

As I quite like my own space and time alone, I've been making a bit of an effort to do things apart where we can, which seems like a strange idea but absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.



As a city, I quite like Oxford, I mean it showed its true colours a couple of weeks ago when I witnessed a busker get both bitten on the face and essentially mugged, but overall it's changed a few of my ideas about where we'll be thinking of buying a house in the next year or so.

It's a great place to have a camera, with every other corner having a picture-perfect scene all laid out for you, and a lot of that's just the architecture!

I was feeling a little overwhelmed towards the middle of my second week, I think because September seemed to rush by and so much has happened in the last few months. It might be a little while before I start to feel completely settled but, as I've said before, it's quite nice to see things piece together and just be able to take things in, even if that part of things is taking a bit of time.

I've Got Friends, I've Got Family Here.

On Monday, Moon and I went to our first gig in ages, bit of a mistake given that it was on a school night after busy days for both of us but we powered through.

We were at the O2 Academy Oxford to see Eliza & the Bear, a band I discovered back in January when I refused to listen to anything but Xfm. I've mentioned them a couple of times before on here and they've become regulars on my Spotify playlists as time has gone on.

Without meaning to sound too mushy, they're lyrics and sound are just really uplifting and they're a pretty great band to turn to when I need that little lift. After listening to their recordings for the best part of a year, it was the actual best that they were even better live. Opening with 'Friends', I was dancing from the start of their set to the end and despite Moon's scepticism, the fact that they're that bit heavier live, he actually might have fallen for them. So good job, guys, you've won yourself a new fan.

Supported by a local guy called Jack Little and (my bargaining tool for getting Moon to come) Pixel Fix, it was a really enjoyable evening and makes me excited for the live shows we have coming up in the next couple of months, after no festivals and even longer since we've been to an actual gig, I don't know why we left it so long.

Highlights for Jack Little included his song, 'Zombie', about putting your phone away, something I'm probably slightly of guilty of but something that definitely gets annoying when you're at a gig and 'that popular' song comes on, it's the video-takers I hate.

Moon and I also loved Jack's little mate who clearly thought the world of him and was singing along to every word, the cutest ♥.

He might get it a lot but as a 'guy with a 3/4 guitar', it's hard not to make the comparison between him and Ed Sheeran, which I hope works in his favour and doesn't mean that he's missed the boat, you know, since Ed Sheeran is bigshot sellout now.

I knew next to nothing about Pixel Fix other than recognising the name. They're not what I would usually listen to but they put on a good show and their between-song patter was pretty good.

Pretty pleased I managed to get this one. \o/