Tuneful Tuesdays

India post is coming up! I've been so busy since I got back I haven't felt like I've had time to do anything much! Looking for a place to live, catching up with friends and sorting out the next holiday have all been priorities.

This piece is by a Danish madmen called Langgaard, who is a modernist composer. Although a symphony it's only 5 minutes long and I was introduced to it by the BBC Proms the other night. Me and my dad saw another of his symphonies last year and really enjoyed it. This was just as excellent and featured four tubas right at the front of the stage.

The fact that the symphony is called Ixion isn't a mistake - it's named after a Greek who, after he died, was attached to a burning wheel and went round and round it for eternity. It also has much to do with Sisyphus, who had to roll a boulder up a hill and just as it reached the top, it fell down again. If you listen, you can hear that the tune is continually built up, only to come to nothing (or to be interrupted by the tubas). But don't worry if you can't hear it - the tune is pretty great anyways, regardless of any intellectual rambling!

Hope you enjoy!

INDIA!

So on tuesday, I'm going to India for the very first time! It should be an amazing experience and a bit of a culture shock so I'm really looking forward to it. Since last time I've just been getting ready for it - buying clothes, travel insurance, trying to spend as little as possible (cos that's worked out...) and things.

I was also up in Warwick for the Summer Party where Noah and the Whale performed! Unfortunately I couldn't take that many photos because both mine and my boyfriend's phones died and we didn't have a camera on us (fail). Then on tuesday,  I got my degree results! I'm going to graduate with a 2.1 BA in Classics and my dissertation got my highest mark of my uni career! It also came third in my year's dissertations! I was so pleased and since then I've been enjoying life too much to blog. I was on such a life high because of that and I couldn't stop dancing around (and drinking too much champagne).

Other things that have happened this week: my sister got into uni to do nursing, a friend's 21st, new camera, playing too much Triple Town and Tiny Tower on my iPhone (seriously.addictive).

I will do a massive post when I come back from India (maybe a few) and hopefully I'll get a few outfit pics! But for the mean time, I will do a tuneful tuesday, since I've missed the last one and will miss the next few and also below is a kinda outfit post (from my friend's 21st so I may have been a bit drunk...).


So I think my last tuneful tuesday pretty much summed up my mood for the last week or so, but this time I'm gonna go to one of the first proper bands I got into when I was about 15 or 16 (yeah I was late to the party but I was brought up on 'classical' music and yeah I hate that word buuut that's a story for another time).

Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Zephyr Song:

And, outfit pic/drunk pic:

Top - present, Skirt - present

Yes, there's an arm in the way but that's just how these things go. I'm not really a fan of fussing around editing photos (hashtagoldtech) and you can see the outfit perfectly clearly. I actually really liked this outfit, both parts are presents from my boyfriend and it was a great clubbing outfit. I generally prefer to wear separates when out, rather than dresses because I don't go out thaat much so there's no point having that many dresses for clubbing with (with which to club?). 

Anyway, I hope you all had a lovely week and I will be blogging in a couple of weeks time (if I don't get horrifically ill anyway :P). There wil also be Graduation Day photos coming. Watch this space.

Week round-up

Hey guys,

I've been pretty busy this week so feeling much better! I've put up adverts to teach Latin so that I can make some money before India (at the moment it's probably going to be about £40 but at least that's something!) - if anyone knows people who want Latin tuition in the London area then let me know!! :P. I also went to a friend's 21st birthday, which was the first time I've been clubbing in London and it was pretty fun! (Moonlighting Club in Soho).

 But the highlights of my week were the Picasso and British Modern Art exhibition at the Tate Britain and a John Cage concert I went to last night! I went to both with my dad so I've had some really good bonding time with him this week.

The Picasso Exhibition was actually really interesting - some of the painters like Duncan Grant didn't really come off that well compared to Picasso, but it showed how deeply influential Picasso was to everyone, from Francis Bacon and Henry Moore to David Hockney. The highlights of the exhibition, in my opinion were the Marie Therese painting, with beautiful mirroring curves, Guernica, a horrific anti-war piece and any of the Henry Moore sculptures because they are just beautiful. I would really recommend going because it's a really good and varied exhibition. It's running to the 15th July and here you can find more information! I also found out some new things about Picasso, which was pleasantly surprising, like the fact that he designed costumes for the ballet.

Marie Therese by Picasso

And as I said, last night I went to a John Cage concert, as part of the Spitalfields Music Festival. The concert was performed in a church and it was absolutely beautiful! I particularly enjoyed the Four Solos for Voice 93-96 which was a really amusing piece of music and the tenor had perfect comedic timing! To describe it the programme said it was a piece that was like channel changing on a really bizarre evening of TV. The singers have ample opportunity to improvise, since rather than normal music, it's performed within three sorts of time brackets and they are given the sense of pitches to hit, but no actual notes (I think). So, for example, the tenor had to make a buzzing sound like a fly between 1m30s and 1m45s. Unfortunately it's a bit of an obscure piece so I can't find it on either youtube or spotify but if you can hunt it down it's really worth it. 

The last piece was called Hymns and Variations and it was stunningly beautiful. It was based on 18th century hymns, with notes elongated, missed out or placed at different pitches etc and there were no words as far as I could make out. I think Cage is my new favourite composer and I can't wait for the notorious 4"33 at the Proms this year! 

So all in all, I've had quite a cultural week I suppose and next week I am going up to Leamington to get my Finals results (and my degree classification), as well as for the end of term Summer Party! Exciting times. 

What are you up to this weekend?

Tuneful Tuesdays.

This is one of the most uplifting songs ever.

Love it so much - it reminds of good nights out and touring with my youth orchestra!

Lazy days.

Hey guys,

Just thought, now that my phone has finally decided to sync to my computer, that I'd share some of my post-finals fun in picture form!

Cigars, new skirt, the boyfriend after his last exam, punting, cocktails, Harrison Birtwistle's signature!!!,
lego batman (present for the boyfriend after his last exam!

I can't really post any pictures of anybody else without permission but there was also champagne, lots of beer, the boyfriend's PPE curry (lots of pennying and some tequila) and lots of other fun stuff! Such a good time but now I have to think of something to do between now and INDIA!! 

FINALS!

Hey guys,

After a bit of a random hiatus from the blog due to my exams and then due to the period after that I have come back to share things I have learnt from doing finals and the period immediately after.

1) Never do a science subject. I had three exams in a week and my housemates had 6 exams in 6 days, most of which were half 9 exams. Ouch. Plus, they have another year.

2) In that week of finals one can go from hyper to depressive in the space of two hours. This was not fun.

3) Friday the 13th Parts I - IV are surprisingly good (but Part V - eeehhh).

4) Going home to 'rest your liver' involves drinking at least one pint a night.

5) Oxford 'trashings' are way more fun. My boyfriend got buckets of water thrown over him and then proceeded to down a bottle of champagne. I went to the pub with friends and my sister and then got drunk watching Eurovision.

6) The latest part of A Song of Ice and Fire is not as good as the rest of it. Some of the characters were superfluous and the sex bothered me for the first time. Also, cliffhangers are so unfair.

7) David Copperfield is really really sad. But very good.

8) Cheesy club music is the best in the world. I Am The One and Only, the Cha Cha slide, Call Me Maybe = yeeees.

9) You do feel kinda empty once all the celebrations are over. There's a whole summer ahead and it has to be filled with stuff (or at least mine does). Luckily, I've got my boyfriend coming back home soon, India and a trip to Europe with the family to look forward to!

10) It is a mixture of feelings but just enjoy it and the way forward is to get very drunk and not think about the future for at least a few weeks! It's a really strange time because all of your friends are moving on into jobs, masters or travelling and growing up! But make the most of it!

I know it's a pretty random list but it does encapsulate my last few weeks pretty well. How were your end of year exams/finals etc?

More soon!

Tuneful Tuesday

Heeey guys,

I hope everyone is having a better time than me - I am under so much stress with my uni finals that I haven't had time to do much with outfit posts and stuff! I am finished on saturday though so after that I'll be posting more often!

This week I'm choosing two songs and one of them goes back to my childhood favourite movie and the other a film that I never chose to watch as a child but discovered that it has the best song ever! The first is Colours of the Wind from Pocahontas which I absolutely love and the second is Be A Man from Mulan which really is one of the best songs. Since starting finals I've been reverting to Disney to cheer me up and it's really working.

So here you go - hopefully it's a blast from the past.

Outfit Post

Next week my finals start and I get seriously stressed about these things! Nothing really helps except getting out of the house for a walk occasionally so I just have to get through it with my stash of cookies, coffee and apples and my rescue remedy (which totally works even though my boyfriend thinks that kind of thing is bullshit...).

Anyway, last weekend I went to see my boyfriend because I won't be able to see him for about three weeks. We went to a Disney bop, had a seven course meal (with matching wine, I'm not pretentious - it was all in good fun!) and hung out, watching Game of Thrones and stuff. Such a good weekend, especially compared to this weekend, which will be revision central. Still, in under two weeks I will be able to say that I've finished my degree in Classics and can look forward to a lovely long summer! Whoop whoop.

WAAAALL.E

Top - River Island, Skirt - hand made, Sunglasses - H&M

Hope you're all having a better week than me and have something fun to look forward to at the weekend!

Tuneful Tuesdays!

Hey guys,

Photos of the weekend are coming soon - but it was so much fun! The last fun one until after exams :(. Sooo much work to do this week and next week, but after that I'm freee!

The band I'm featuring this week are one that I literally only found about today through a friend on facebook. It's really not normally my kinda music, since it's kind of progressive rock or something or other, but this album actually works because it's really chilled out and easy music to revise to. Also, it's mainly just guitar so yeah - it's all good:

Have fun listening and I'll be back soon!

Doggies!

Hey guys,

Here are some pictures of doggy cuteness before the weekend! Yays. Today is actually the start of my weekend and tomorrow I'm going to a bop at the boy's college. Theme is Disney so I'm thinking Dumbo or Wall.E which means borrowing a large amount of cardboard and paint. It's basically a party in the JCR with three types of mixer so should be good! I'll hopefully get some photos of me on my own - I don't really want to put up people without their permission.

Anyways, here are some photos of the doggies - there are actually some more but I'll put them up later when I remember to get them off my phone!

Tuneful Tuesdays

Hey guys,

I haven't been listening to that much music this week - been trying to catch up on my Mark Kermode podcasts instead! (Really great film review podcasts - recommend downloading them). But I eventually decided on Mad World, which featured in Donnie Darko but is actually by a band called Tears for Fears who my dad introduced to me a long time ago. The film is great and the band have a few good songs, so here it is!:

Will try to post some doggy cuteness tomorrow! Goodnight all and hope you're having a good week :)

Election Night!

Hey people,

I'm staying up tonight waiting for the London mayoral elections to be declared and I'm really hoping it's soon. At the moment it's kind of got boring, but earlier it was cheering up my revision since Labour were practically sweeping the floor with constituencies and Nick Clegg being completely ousted as a result of the coalition!! But anyway, I'm sure not everyone is interested in UK politics so I'll stop.

I just thought I'd write a post while I was waiting the results. I went to see the Avengers movie on wednesday and although the tickets were a bit of a rip off, the film itself was pretty good actually. I don't know anything about the comics/background of any of the characters so I was kind of going oh that guy is the Hulk or whatever throughout the film. The story was pretty straightforward though and once I got the hang of it I really enjoyed it! I still don't know what ScarJo's character's power was, or who the crossbow guy was and what his special power was. He seemed to just run around with a crossbow? Any ideas? Robert Downey Jr is always good though, so that kind of made up for it and has encouraged me to see Iron Man. It wasn't the best movie I've ever seen but it was good fun and despite some people's comments, I do quite like 3D

 This weekend I came home to vote and tomorrow we're going to visit my grandmother who has a puppy (although it's grown up now) so expect a whole lot of cuteness on this here blog really soon! Meantime, I can show you pictures of the English breakfast me and the boy went for at an American diner like restaurant in Leamington, some flowers and a nice bar in Leamington as well:

Outfit from the weekend - quite boring maybe but I do love this jumper so much!

One of the walls of the Diner shows a map of the famous Route 66!

Dockers 'Big Breakfast". The bacon is the best in the world!

Pic of what some of the Diner looks like

Pub/Bar in Leamington - I think it's called the Duke.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!!

Tuneful Tuesdays!

So yeah I'm ten minutes past 12 and therefore it's technically wednesday but whatevers. I can't miss tuneful tuesdays! Today I'm going to post something that I have always loved and it's from the classical side of the music I listen to. I was brought up on classical music (I don't think that's the right term because it's all so different anyway but I just go with it) and I used to be very ashamed that I loved it and knew nothing else. I completely by-passed the 90s music scene - while everyone was listening to the Spice Girls, I was listening to Tchaikovsky and others.

But now I don't care about that anymore - if people are going to judge me then they're obviously not my true friends and not worth the time of day. I always try to encourage people to listen to 'classical' music because I think that it makes you feel something - it's not about words, it's just pure emotion and it can just tap into you in a way that more modern music can't (for me anyway). It's not elitist and it's not boring - it's beautiful if you listen to the right stuff.

Anyway, I bring you something from the Finnish composer Sibelius. He's somewhat of a Finnish hero since he is the only famous composer to come from there and he wrote a piece of music to his homeland, which is called Finlandia. He's not a Classical composer, more of a Romantic one (there are four categories - Baroque, think Handel, Classical, think Mozart, Romantic, think Debussy and Modern, Stravinsky).  I suggest you all check Finlandia out if you want something shorter to listen to, but what I'm going to choose for today is one of the best pieces of music of all time - his fifth symphony. I really do urge you to listen to the whole thing. I'm not going to tell you what it's about, or give some kind of musical criticism because that's not really that important - as I said it's about emotion and stuff. If you want to listen to the whole thing on youtube then you have to click and load each movement - it's a shame but it's worth it. It's also on spotify and iTunes (though obvs you have to pay for it) where you would not get the breaks.

Getting up

Anyone who knows me, knows that you generally won't see me before 11, or even 12pm since I sleep lots and feel like I need about 10 hours. It's an unfortunate trait that I received from my father, who can sleep through screaming alarms. My sister used to punch my mother every morning in thanks for waking her up for school. My mother dealt with this by grabbing the duvet and running away. I can honestly say that I have never punched anyone for trying to wake me up but I am extremely grumpy in the morning and can't stand any cheeriness. I have become well known for this issue and am laughed at constantly by my mother, boyfriend and friends.

I really do want to break this habit - it's not a serious one like an addiction or anything, but I feel like I am losing a lot of my life by just sleeping all the time. I have tried to break it several times but it doesn't help at uni when lectures start at 12 or 1 and you don't have much structure to your day. Next year I'm starting a PGCE and will be teaching in primary schools so I will have to be getting up at 7 (if not 6) everyday. But I don't want it to be the huge, cruel shock that I feel like it's going to be and have been looking up tips on how to get up, which I am going to attempt in the next few weeks. So here are the ways that I am going to tackle this thing:

1) My alarm will be across the room (I tried this once and I just jumped straight back into bed, but still).

2) A glass of water by said alarm to drink (apparently it makes you feel more awake).

3) Wind down in the evenings by turning off all electronic stuff half an hour before bed.

4) Try going to sleep earlier (maybe 11/half 11).

5) Getting up at a consistent time every day, regardless of whether it's the weekend.

6) This is the last one - I will have a to-do list of things so that I HAVE to get up and do them during the day.

With the last one in mind, I made my own to do list, based on this tutorial here, I didn't have a ruler and I made mine on paper, but I kinda stuck to the picture, rather than following the tutorial:

Sorry for the poor quality - I've only got my iPhone camera at the moment. I can't afford a new camera at the mo and my last one died a while ago! The good quality photos on here come from the boyfriend's DSLR. Anyways, how do you get up in the morning? I'll be posting pics from my weekend soon.

Classics and Mary Beard

I'm writing this while waiting for my boyfriend to turn up this weekend. I'm too impatient to actually do any work, besides now I've finished one section of revision I really don't want to start another!!

After hearing about the hullaballoo about Mary Beard's appearance on her latest programme on the BBC and also being a Classicist, I thought I'd check out the series. For those of you who don't know, Mary Beard is one of the known faces of Classics - she's written several books and lectures at Cambridge University (I think at Newnham College). Along with Bettany Hughes, she is doing a great job at reminding the world why Classics is such an important subject to study and how much they affect our lives even now.

Not sure if I'm allowed to put this up - Mary Beard in her documentary on the BBC.

I'd like to say I actually do like that red coat.

Anyway, instead of criticising the documentary itself, some reviewers have turned on her appearance and many have said that she is too 'ugly' for TV, while I know that she can fight her own battles , I still have something to say about this subject. I watched the programme and was shocked to find that she looks absolutely fine, I mean, sure she's no fashionista, but that's not her job description. Instead of her appearance, what came across was her love for the subject she was talking about and her enthusiasm to make the general public understand the culmination of her life work. I think it's time to stop judging these people for what they look like and actually listen to what they're saying! She is NOT too ugly for TV and even if she was, I wouldn't care. I'd listen to her words, enthusiasm and review the content of her documentaries.

Being a Classicist myself (although I'm obviously nowhere near her stage of intellect) I knew quite a lot of what she said already, but this is not the point. A lot of people wouldn't know this stuff - sure we've heard about the gladiators, the bloodthirstiness and the Empire, but the question that this series is tackling is what was the everyday Roman like? That is something that IS an interesting question and one which isn't explored as much. To me, Mary Beard looks like a perfectly lovely, enthusiastic and mature woman whose programmes make the Classics available to the average person.

Documentaries, not hers in particular, was one of the reasons I took up Classics. I remember watching a programme with my mother about Alexander the Great, which made the whole expedition seem extremely exciting. Now that I'm actually studying him, I've come to realise that I enjoy writing about the literature way more than the history. I love Greek Tragedy in particular and would recommend anyone to go and see one if they can because you don't need to know anything intellectual about them to make them move you. Oedipus Tyrannus at the National Theatre was one of the saddest and most moving things I've ever seen.

We made a promise, we swore we'd always remember

As you can see I'm still listening to Springsteen - the Born in the USA album! I know that everyone is doing pastels/colour blocking and whatnot, but I don't really care. My 'fashion aims' are not to be ground breaking, I just want people to comment and say that I have a good fashion sense (because I think I do - though you can feel free to disagree!). You can have a good fashion sense without trying to be different all the time. The whole point of fashion, for me, is to look nice and feel comfortable in my own skin. I don't like having masses of attention so if I like an aesthetic or something that everyone is doing at that moment I won't not do it just because it's everywhere. I will still be wearing these jeans in a few years time, when people are less bothered. I'm really good making good use of my wardrobe and making sure things I generally only buy stuff I like! (That said I have bought things that are lying at the bottom of my closet...oh dear). Anyway, the point is to have fun and not let stuff get to you!

H&M jeans and sunglasses, Charity shop shirt

Tuneful Tuesdays

I was in Oxford at the weekend, visiting the lovely boyfriend. We did a lot of drinking, hanging out and watching Game of Thrones and Mad Men. Mad Men is literally the best thing on TV right now - everyone should watch it!! I have more issues with Game of Thrones than the boyfriend does, at least in the last season, but this season is actually going pretty well so far. We also went out for dinner last night at a pub called The Red Lion, near the station, which does good mojitos and good food.

Anyway, this week, music wise, I'm going for an old American favourite by the name of Bruce Springsteen, but I didn't want to one of the songs everyone knows - like Born to Run, so I've decided on a  track from his new album. The whole album is pretty great (me and the boy are obsessed at the moment) but I thought I'd go with Jack of All Trades, which is a bit melancholic but then Bruce does tend to go from being proud of being American (with Born in the USA) to criticism of the USA. It's a weird dichotomy that seems to exist in America - patriotism mixed with frustration or maybe that's just me being judgemental or whatever? The English are much more cynical, sure you get patriots but generally we like to moan about everything, which means that patriotism is less of a trait.

I also find it interesting that Americans see the road and driving as being synonymous with freedom (like in Born to Run for example, sticking with the Springsteen theme) because it's such a huge country so you can just drive and drive. Here in England you are always surrounded by people, towns, houses etc, so it's not really a thing. Enough of my rambling though, I'm sure I'm the only one who finds it interesting! Here is the track:

I hope you enjoy it!

Thursdays

Hey people,

This morning I was so bored of being cooped up in the house that I decided to go for a run. A good idea some might say, since it relieves tension and stress (not that I am stressed, just bored). However, every time I go running something awful happens - usually I feel like I'm going to faint, but today I just was sick. As I came into the porch - I'm so classy like that. So anyway, I decided that running is definitely not for me and that I'll stick to swimming, or badminton. I'm never sick when I do either of those things and they're way more fun. At least I feel graceful swimming and you don't get all hot and sweaty. Badminton is also better because you can have fun with friends (or father, if you're like me) while exercising! What is your favourite sport?

Anyway, rant over. I don't have much more going on in my life except for the endless learning of texts for exams in about a month. I have settled into a revision pattern, even if when I started I got slightly hyper and the only successful thing I did was peeling an orange. I did paint my nails a pretty colour to amuse myself though - ohhh the levels of boredom one descends to. Anyway, I am actually revising pretty well at the moment and am writing this in a ten minute break (which may turn into twenty). I am also steadily getting through the X Files, which is amazing! Season 2 is off to a great start and apparently it gets better and better so yays. I hope you're all having a better day than me!

Nail Fun!

From my run this morning (before I was sick...).

Tuneful Tuesdays

Anyone who knows me, knows that this would be inevitable since it's one of my favourite songs:

So good! Also, just for the funsies, here's a picture of me in my new sunnies, yeah I'm cool...:

Hope you all have a lovely day!

Monday Evening

Hi guys!

I haven't really been up to much these past few days - just revision (moved on to Alexander the Great, the joy...). I also came back up to university. Me and my parents went for lunch in a pub and then for a walk in some wood looking for bluebells, before I got dropped off at my uni house. I have already made a revision nest. I am surrounded by easter egg chocolate, mandarins, coffee and notes. My browser has about ten tabs open with all the stuff I should've read during the year but never got round to! Term hasn't even started and I'm sooo looking forward to the end of finals, when me and the boyfriend can go punting, drink and party!

As I mentioned last time, I'm going to India in the summer and I bought a sari last week to wear to it. It's from some random shop in Southall. I'm really excited about going because I've hardly been out of Europe and never to Asia! I'm going to be just north of Delhi and it's going to be 45 degrees, so I'm not sure what I'm going to wear - cue fashion crisis. I need to get some cotton shirts/tees and some long maxi skirts/dresses, although I'm thinking about making my own skirt when I get home from term. I really need to actually start using my sewing machine and a maxi skirt is a good thing to ease into it all again.

 I made my first clothes purchase in months today to cheer me up, since yesterday I was feeling a bit depressed about being back here and having to revise for like two months solid. The mint trousers and the sunglasses are from H&M.Tonight I've kept myself busy by revising and watching Made in Chelsea (guilty pleasure) so not feeling too bad and it's bed time soon anyways cos I've really got to learn how to do early mornings (by which I mean getting up before ten hah). I also bought a badminton racket because me and a housemate will hopefully be playing sometime this term and I forgot to bring one from home.

Sunglasses and trousers from H&M

Pub for lunch!



What are you up to this week?

Tuneful Tuesdays

Hey guys, here's another taste of the music I am listening to. I'll give you something that's slightly more accessible/easier on the ears because I know that The Minotaur is a bit hard listening, though I still love it. This time I'll give you something from Mumford and Sons, who I saw live last summer at Glastonbury!! They were so so good and they are releasing a new album soonish, but in the meantime here's one of their songs from the first album:

I hope you enjoy it! I'm off to go shopping with my mum to get a saree for an Indian wedding I'm going to in the summer! More on that next time.

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter everyone!

I hope everyone is enjoying all the chocolate you received! (I personally have a headache, even though I'm trying to restrain myself!). I've been a bit out of the loop in the blogging world this week because I wanted to spend as much time with my boyfriend as possible before he went away on holiday (lucky sod!) to Marrakech. That and revision has been taking so much of time that I haven't really had a chance to do anything else. But I have finally finished going through most of my texts for the exams now, just got to revise Alexander the Great, which is less fun that it seems and some other texts in English. Whoop whoop!

Today we, in true tradition, got our easter eggs, painted our own white eggs and then had an Easter egg hunt around the house! Fun times. We also watched Pygmalion which was very good and then Mary Poppins. I have finally got an iPhone again after about three months, so you can follow me on instagram now :). My username is chescah so please add me!

Here are some of my instagram photos, cos my iPhone is an old make, slightly broken and sothe lock button doesn't work, so I can't take a proper screenshot, boo.

Easter fun, I did Jesus on the cross, with Mary Magdalene, if you can't tell what the right one is. I'm not religious - I just thought it would be thematic:

 

Random shots from Instagram:

What are you doing this Easter Sunday?

Tuneful Tuesdays!

Hey there,

It's time for the second installment of sharing my musical interests with you guys. Just a quick post cos I need a bath and then I'm meeting my mum at the National Portrait Gallery so we can hopefully get in to see the Lucien Freud exhibition! It's all sold out online and I don't know how much chance we have of getting in (waaah).

 Anyway, this week's music is rather long, so you don't really have to listen to it, but if you have time to spare/are revising etc then I would look up Birtwistle's The Minotaur. I wrote my dissertation on this opera so it's a very personal entry for me. The music is quite hard to get to grips with but it's so worth it because it's completely amazing! I could tell you lots and lots about the piece but basically have a go and don't be scared of not understanding it, just let it wash over you!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Hey there!

I'm supposed to be revising the Antigone by Sophocles (/translating the bits I didn't do in term) but instead I'm procrastinating on facebook, pinterest and other things. I do think that students learn more about creative ways to procrastinate than they do about their actual degree/A-levels or GCSEs. There is always something better to be doing!

This weekend was all about procrastination, my friend came over on friday night and we watched the X-files, which everyone should watch cos it's awesome. Although this led to a discussion as to why they put Gillian Anderson (Scully) in those terrible pant suit things. It's so bad cos Dana Scully is too cool to be wearing shit clothes. We also watched a '60s horror called Peeping Tom, which I would recommend. How is your weekend going?

Anyway, here is a spring outfit and a hairstyle I was experimenting with, plus one more from Scotland I stole off the boyfriend (denim shirt was a present and the skirt was from a charity shop. The hat I randomly picked up off the floor after a fancy dress night out. Judge me all you want but it was clean, obviously unwanted and I was drunk - I think it might have originally been from Primark, which makes it even more classy:

By the way, follow me on pinterest here!

I'll take the high road

Hey there!

I’m back from Scotland, to find that the weather has travelled with us to London! (Whooop). Here are a few shots from the holiday taken by my boyfriend and me. Hope you enjoy them and they prove that Scotland was warm and sunny (although perhaps not in the sea…). We ate so much good food and spent a lovely time with the boyfriend's godmother, seeing Paul Merton and visiting art galleries. It was a nice refresher from revision, but now it's back to work! What are you doing with your week?

View from the house

Me and the boy: I'm wearing a charity shop
 shirt and a self made skirt

So so cold. But worth it!

View of the sea!

Tuneful Tuesdays

Hey guys. Is everyone enjoying the sunshine as much as me? I'm in Scotland for a few days to revise (hah) and chill for a bit so I am really enjoying this weather and apparently when I get back to London it's going to be the same! Wahoo. Just a quick post today, introducing a feature of the blog Tuneful Tuesdays! I will share one piece of music a week that I'm particularly enjoying at the moment or always enjoy, since I like to think that I have a wide range of music that I listen to (you may agree or disagree though!).

Today's post is from the band The Gaslight Anthem, who are strongly influenced by Bruce Springsteen and are in fact friends with him. This is my favourite track, hope you enjoy them as much as me:

Geometric

Heya! I'm just sitting downstairs waiting for my sister to come home so that my mum can sleep easy. Exciting times. Today I just spent translating some Latin (The Apoclocyntosis by Seneca if anyone knows it) and laughing at the jokes in it like the geek I am...Seriously though, if you know anything about Claudius' reign then it's extremely funny (I'm too cool).

Just to let you know that I'm on pinterest here if you're interested in following. I'm finding it really good to keep track of films and stuff I like - not to mention clothes I want!

 Here is another outfit for you, I actually really like this one, despite the fact that my hair looks very blue. This was some random day in autumn when it wasn't too cold and I decided to dress up. I was in Oxford with my boyfriend (since he's the one with the DSLR). New new outfits and more recent photos will be coming soon when I get a new camera/iPhone. For now it will just be old shots.

I really like this jacket even though I haven't worn it that much. What do you guys think of it? I was wearing these shorts and some guy told me to pull them down because I looked disgraceful. I don't think they're too short though, they just about pass the-bend-over-and-see-if-your-bum-is-hanging out test.

Do you guys go on pinterest/think it's good/bad? Let me know if you're on it and I'll follow back!

Bye for now x