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?

How Pinteresting #3.

Halloween and Bonfire Night are over, which means Christmas is coming, and for the last few weeks I've been researching different fonts for Christmas cards and cute wrapping ideas, I can't help it – I guess I'm just the kind of person who really does love Christmas.

Christmas is going to be pretty great this year, it looks to be the first one that I'll be spending officially at my mum's house, we won't be having turkey and it will be the first time I'll be seeing my sister since August - Facetime and Skype only do so much of the job - I'm really looking forward to it more than usual and there are lot of other festive things to take in before the big day too!

As well as Christmas and thinking about how to wrap presents I haven't even bought, I've been wrapping myself up - frosty mile-long walks from the car into work don't really allow you to make a choice about that part - and thinking about all kinds of winter warming food.



1 // Wrapped + Sewed Christmas Wrapping – Love the idea of shaping gifts into fun Christmassy shapes. I don't think I'd get away with this kind of intricate wrapping with Little Doll around (she's quite the helper) but isn't it adorable?
2 // The Perfect Chicken Noodle Soup – Another easy-to-pin recipe from the delightful, Design Love Fest, I really like this simple twist on traditional chicken noodle soup, the photo-styling is pretty great too.
3 // To the Moon & Back Playroom – Pinterest is a goldmine for cute kid's clothes and great playrooms. I know I'm not at that part of my life, but actually that's not the point, I'd rather have some of these spaces just for myself.
4 // Steamy Kettle – I've been wanting to try photographing steam myself but this photo, even though I've got a (less romantic) electric kettle, sums up my feels for November weekends perfectly.

You can follow me on Pinterest: here.

How Pinteresting #2

I wasn't sure whether I would be doing this again, but I must admit that I'm feeling a little run down this week and I wanted to post something! It's all a bit annoying given that tonight I'm off to see Dry the River (for the 11,000th time), I'm doing my best to power through but there's no doubt that Sunday will be made for relaxing - I do hope to feel well enough to get up to Greenham Common at some point though, it feels like it's been almost a year since our last visit and it's perfect for this wild weather.

We're finally getting our changing of the seasons here but well, it is October after all. I do love different things about each season but as a summer baby, warm weather will always be where my loyalties lie. That said, being wrapped up and coming into a warm house from the cold does provide a lot of satisfaction.

I've found that in the last month, with the weather actually being all over the place, it's been hard to get into a theme on Pinterest lately. It still feels a little too early for Christmas (although that event is getting scarily closer) and it's not quite autumnal enough to start banging on about frost, changing leaves and pumpkin everything — that said, the clocks go back in a couple of weeks and I tried my first ever pumpkin bread this week so only time will tell...



1 // The Most Breathtaking Views of Beautiful Earth from Above — That title isn't a lie, some of these are pretty awesome. I think next year, once I'm back on my feet after throwing all my money at becoming a home owner (WIP), I'll start to get serious about updating my kit, everything I have Photography-wise is so old now and although I love it and actually don't fancy getting rid of it, I know it's time for a change, especially if I'm likely to be taking on more event photography at work (yeah, so that's something that might be happening).
2 // Watercolour Mural — I feel like I've had wedding thoughts and inspiration coming out of my ears lately, and I'm not even having one. This from my point of view isn't intended to be that weddingy and is actually something I like on more of the home décor level, such a simple but pretty idea.
3 // Mirdinara, Breeze — I feel like this .gif, with its hypnotic ways, epitomises autumn, I wish I knew the original source so I could find more - that's the real trouble with sites like Pinterest and Tumblr, it's very easy to get lost.
4 // Russian Dogs by Lili Chin — I've seen these illustrations floating all over the place for a while but when I finally uncovered the original source and discovered there was a Russian dogs version, I found my favourite. Borzois are fun but obviously I picked it due to the samoyed, I can't get enough of those guys are the moment.

It was a little harder than it should have been to sift through all the motivational quotes I've been pinning lately (even visual pick-me-ups can do the trick), I figured this was a slightly more interesting selection and better for a good, old-fashioned link-up.

You can follow me on Pinterest :: here.

Why Don't You Do Photography?

[source]
With a new job comes the obvious questions – where will you be working? who's it for? what's it doing?

I find it a little difficult having done a creative degree that I still have to justify myself despite a few years working real, grown up jobs now.

My last job was in online retail and I used pretty much every skill I had going, including those learnt on my degree - there was a bit of studio and lifestyle photography involved - and that's great, jobs like that are hard to come by. With that being said, it doesn't mean there won't be a time to move on.
It was time to move on, the future of the company wasn't heading in a direction I wanted to join them in so I grabbed what I could at the time.

My new role as a 'Digital Marketing Executive' will hopefully help me add to the Marketing skill set that I want to build upon, while still allowing me to pursue the design aspects I was furthering in my old role. There probably won't be any Photography involved whatsoever, and I'm okay with that.

I guess when I left University I had idealistic views of freelancing or picture researching, then I also wanted to move out... I didn't really have the confidence to do those things back then and I'm probably much better now but at the moment, Photography is my way to de-stress and unwind.

Obviously I'll never say never and Photography is always going to be important to me, but my degree taught me so much more than how to take pretty pictures. Maybe, now realising at 25 that I'm more interested in Creative Marketing and Social Media makes me wonder whether it was the right degree to do but I will always maintain that 18 year olds don't know anything and certainly don't think about seven years down the line. It was right for me at the time and a degree is not a be all and end all of anything.

I think my 'career' has just ended up where it is by chance and while I hope I'll always be able to stay creative, I still feel kind of weird about justifying myself while making this new transition. Truthfully, if someone said I could take photographs of my cat all day, I'd jump at the chance but I can't see that being a readily available opportunity. Right now I'm genuinely just all good with 'doing me' and going wherever the next couple of years takes me. I want a mortgage and that grown up stuff, you know?

Sunset by the Canal

Earlier evening light always makes me wish I'd made the most of those dusk moments during actual summer. A Sunday sunset walk by the canal was perfect for catching up and talking about life.

Hopefully commuting from Oxford will allow for an hour like this on a weekday evening.

:: Have you entered my giveaway to win tickets to the Royal Berkshire County Show on the 20th September? ::

Smiling on Sunday.

[source]
It's been what feels like an absolute age since I've shared anything other than my weekends on here, I did have grand plans to do a bit more with this little space of mine but sitting at a computer all day makes me want to get as far away as possible from a screen once I get home and have time to do what I enjoy. It's a shame but I guess it's just how it goes and I've been seeing it more and more as the blogs I follow grow up with me.

Still, I like having this as a creative outlet and the Internet is a fun place to hang out on occasion so even if this doesn't become a regular thing, I thought it would be good to share a bit of love and some fun things I've found recently.


Books getting turned into films before they've even been published is something that doesn't really sit well with me. Don't get me wrong, I love films but usually enjoy the book counterpart better when it comes down to it. A trailer for a book is the neatest idea though and something people should consider more often. The Meaning of Maggie by Megan Jean Sovern is definitely on my to-read list, what can I say, I'm a sucker for good design and that cover and trailer just got me.


I love this sea bass bag from Don Fisher, it even has a boney fishy lining.


Cereal Magazine has been on my list of 'must subscribe' magazines for a little over a year now. I still haven't got around to it, but love reading their blog so much. With my current severe case of wanderlust and plans to actually, finally book a trip to Iceland for November, their photographs are really making me feel inspired.


Fritha from Tigerlily Quinn got engaged last week and her engagement story is lovely. It's a two-parter and I was on tenterhooks after reading the first half. I'm not quite at that stage where I feel ready to go through anything similar but I can't help but feel a little mushy.


I'm determined that once we move from our little flat here in Newbury that most of the furnishings will be nice, neutral wood. I think this make up station from iSkelter is a good place to start.


It's certainly wedding season, and like I said, I can't help feel mushy but this wedding shot by Rachel Thurston looks kind of perfect, right down to the homemade mini golf.


Must admit that I'm a little over the whole 'abandon porn' thing, but Kaylah from The Dainty Squid has always done it so well and this abandoned amusement park does look like a great place to do a bit of exploring.
Other links:

• 43 Things That Will Actually Make You Feel Old - Buzzfeed - home incessant lists - always one for making you remember you were once a 90's kid
• This Article of Cast Members Reminiscing About 'The Life Aquatic' - Most things Bill Murray have my full attention
• These Wise Words sooth my anxiety
• Theron's (of Maddie on Things fame) website makes my whole heart sing. His Instagram is pretty dreamy too, full of sweet portraits of Maddie and the fun they have on their adventures

I hope that you enjoy the rest of your Sunday and that Monday isn't too hard on you. ♥

FMS Photo A Day | June

I've known about Fat Mum Slim's Photo A Day Challenge for what feels like absolutely ages now and I always start them with the best of intentions but have never finished one.

However, after completing my #100HappyDays Challenge and with what looked to be an exciting, sun-filled June, I figured it would be a breeze, and hey, it totally has been. I've treated this with a little more care and thought than I have previously and like to think that it's paid off. If nothing else, it gives me something nice to share with you as we come into July.


1 // 'Joy' - Jumping for joy while having a little walk around Bagnor.
2 // 'Doing' - Work, work, work.


3 // 'Family' ♥
4 // 'Ordinary'


5 // '11 O'Clock' - Very important elevenses.
6 // 'Adventure' - Evening Walk in Richmond Park.


7 // 'Pattern' - Beautiful bunting at the Wealden Times summer fair
8 // 'T is for...'


9 // 'We Live Here' - The arrival of summer always brings a new appreciation for our garden.
10 // 'Flying' - Probably my laziest one, I wanted some nice birds but I couldn't find any :(


11 // 'The Beginning' - Alliums starting to show us what they can do.
12 // 'Pastel'


13 // 'Simply' - My most simple one.
14 // 'Cross' - Hard to find too so settled for the cover of my holiday read.


15 // 'Lovely' - Our lovely Portugal villa.
16 // 'In the Shadows'


17 // 'Peaceful'
18 // 'Quirky' - Playing Newmarket with bottlecaps for coins.


19 // 'Habit' - Sangria Time.
20 // 'Yay!'


21 // 'Here I Am' - Paddling in the sea.
22 // 'Growing' - Fingers crossed we will have actually grown our own tomatoes from seed this year.


23 // 'In This Moment' - Hometime with Dolly.
24 // 'What June Looks Like' - Nothing but blue sky.


25 // 'Sun Flare'
26 // 'Dreaming'


27 // 'Loving'
28 // 'Bed'


29 // 'Delight' - A sweet afternoon with Moon's ma in Dorking.
30 // 'The End'
I quite like the idea of prompts for this kind of thing rather than random photo taking, just as with 100 Happy Days was about finding the good in things, it's kind of satisfying to have a bit of a theme. I found that checking the prompts at the end of each day and again in the morning made it much easier for it to stick well and truly in my mind, as well as allowing me to think through what I was going to do.

Have you ever taken part in any 'Photo A Day' challenges? Do you have any others that you've come across, I'd love to hear about them.
I'm starting July's Photo A Day today, will you be joining in? I'm pretty excited to do it with my brand spanking new phone too!