My birthday has crept around again, which calls for another excuse to don our finest nineties attire and hit the town. Yes, I am perfectly aware we did the nineties last year but there is no better fancy dress theme in my opinion - it's basically just exaggerating my own style which is both super easy, and super fun.

Birthday celebrations start tomorrow with a family meal in Nottingham and will hopefully continue through to the following week. As well as the night out that I have planned with work, Sophie will be coming over from Whitby for the weekend which will make everything extra special. We're considering getting our first matching tattoo, in typical birthday fashion; I'm such a sucker for a tradition. I really didn't expect to get excited about turning 22 but this is turning out to be a lot of fun, and maybe even worth all of the money I've spent on accessories!

Stoptober

I've never been a full time smoker but I am certainly partial to a menthol cigarette every now and again, whether that be to relax a little or for the social element, as many of my associates are smokers. I don't think I have ever been addicted, it's always just been because I quite like them, and much to the despair of PSHE teachers worldwide, it looks super cool. Never the less, I have decided to participate in "Stoptober" this month to save myself a little bit of money, encourage my health fix, and please my mother. This morning I handed my cigarettes over to a friend and told my colleges the good/bad news, dependant on their views.

I don't think it's going to be particularly difficult, unless it turns out that I've been lying to myself this whole time and I am, in fact addicted. Saying that, I did just scroll through a few pages of people smoking to look for a good photograph to borrow and I'm not ready to kill anybody just yet.  At the end of the month, if, or should I say when, I complete it, I'll buy myself a little present with the thirty odd quid I would have spent on cigarettes. I suppose there is a chance that I won't bother buying any more after that, as it does all seem a big waste of money and unnecessary upset to my lungs for something that I don't need, but I'm not going to make any promises just yet. 

Re-vamp

I've decided to give the blog a well deserved clean-up and start to use it properly as a demonstration of my writing as well as being an on-off diary to keep people updated on my life as a graduate. Due to work/social life commitments there may be a bit of a back-log on making the older posts fit the new layout, so if you do happen to be checking through old posts, please don't be too offended by the scruffy over-sized photographs - I will get around to it soon.

I can hardly believe that September has already come to an end. I'm sure I'll continue to repeat how fast this year has flown by - flicking through my old posts has made me very nostalgic and envious of the wonderfully lazy student life I led at the beginning of the year. Although things have changed enormously, I am beginning not only to settle into my current life-style, but to start making serious plans for the future, which will potentially shift and shape my life towards the way that I'd love it to be.

From here forth expect a more attentive blogger, appreciative of all comments and queries, always interested in your stories and grateful to hear feedback on my own. I might even add a few more jokes.

Playsuit - Cow | Choker - Twirly Trinkets on Etsy | Lipstick - Rimmel Kate Moss #001

Let me know what you make of the new layout, and thank you very much to Maira Gall from Adorable Designs for the hard work creating it. For the next couple of weeks I'm sure things will continue to shift around a little, with new pages and features added, so keep your eyes on the updated look. Thank you for your patience ever faithful readers, peace and love.

Beacons 2013

As this post has been so dramatically delayed I figured I'd just post you a few of my favourite photographs from the weekend and a link to the words I wrote about the festival for September's issue of Now Then magazine.

Check out the review here;
http://nowthenmagazine.com/issue-66/live/

There is a whole other disposable to develop but Sophie is such a busy woman these days I figured it would be best not to wait.

Also whilst I've been a little absent from the blog I've hit 10,000 page views. Loads of love and kisses to all of my nearest and dearest who check up on this all of the time, and to the readers I might not know so well. I hope this is as mildly entertaining for you as it is for me.

Thank god for tomorrow. Back to Nottingham for one night only, to eat Thai food with my favourite London lady and our mothers, then get very drunk on whatever I can get my hands on. I can't wait for hugs and kisses from my friends and family, it's been a very lonely week.

If anybody caught the overtly emotional writing I posted earlier in the week, I apologise. I'm not much of a poet, and drowning in sorrow quite clearly doesn't get you anywhere.