Hi! It's been a while hasn't it?
I took a moment away from blogging and posting on social media for a while after a lots of emotional ups and downs. Between a few family issues and a breakup, as well as work piling up on me, I felt very burnt out, as if I had lost my purpose in life or the direction I was taking. I had to give myself a moment to gather myself, understand who I am and what I want to do in life. Throughout all of that, I simply didn't want to post about the negatives, so I just didn't post at all haha! I think it was better that way.
Right now, I'm feeling pretty good about my life. So I wanted to share a few things and hopefully, I can get into the habit of oversharing again. I missed posting my list of loves, talking about idols and fashion, or generally talking about my life into the void of the internet. Here's a little life update ^^
💻Working
I'm currently in my third and final term for my Masters degree! I'm in the middle of writing my dissertation, where I'm focusing on the potential growth of the UK high street in relation to fashion retail, and specifically how we can use experiential marketing to re-build the many high streets that have been left desolate for a number of factors like covid or government incompetence haha. I'm hoping that this research can open up a larger conversation on the responsibility businesses have to improve the quality of life of the people they rely on to make their businesses run. It's a really exciting project that I think will be a good foundation for my career as a visual marketer.
Alongside that, I got a promotion at work, so now I'm an Assistant Store Manager and Lead Visual Merchandiser :) I would like to eventually make strides towards working with the brands marketing teams, so I'm going to continue documenting my contributions to the flagship store, focusing on the visual marketing and kpi improvements in the hopes it helps my case when a new position at the head office is open to me.
Alongside that, I've also been looking into what I can do to improve my portfolio. I have a lot of work from my masters degree, but I want to develop my personal projects more, and lean into the freelance side of my work. So I've been working with a few local businesses to develop their branding or social media, like a little consultant I guess, and it's been very fun! I also want to try freelance blogging/article writing or even copywriting, because the last few months have shown me that I'm pretty good at typing over 1000 words in a couple hours. We'll see how that goes.
✈ Going
I visited the south of france again with my sister. She lives in Sheffiled, deciding to stay there after uni, so I don't get to see her and do fun things as much as I'd like with her anymore. So we made this pact that we have to go on holiday somewhere together each year. It was so lovely to spend time with her lounging by the beach and trying local fruit at the markets. Seeing kids finish school and immediately go to the beach felt a little surreal. It made me wonder how different our lives have been in comparison, living in London all of our childhood.
Getting away from the busy cities was so theraputic. Out hotel was quiet and had a beautiful view. It was hot but we didn't fry haha. We lived on baguettes and croissant's and cheese and it was delightful! We had a little too much citrus I think ahaha! The lemon juice in Menton was delicious and the strawberries in Nice were incredible! We also made a visit to Monaco and of course my fangirl side kicked in as we walked the GP track circuit while watching all the cool cars go by. We also browsed the castle grounds which were very cute!
After a week of fun, we went back to paris to attend Japan Expo and see my favorite idol group, Sakurazaka46 perform! I got to meet my oshimen and many of the other members and speak to them. I was an awkward mess but I managed to tell them I've been a fan since Keyakizaka and i'm visiting from the UK, and they greeted me warmly and thanked me for supporting them for so long. I coud have died that day with no regrets haha! The performance was great and I heard a lot of people in the audience discover them for the first time, so it was a successful live show!
I also went to Copenhagen with some friends on my masters programme! It was a super chill few days where I got to live out my travel girl aesthetic and eat lots of delicious pastries! The city was so clean and everyone was so lovely. I was actually pretty nervous about this trip because the girls I was closest to in class both dropped out of the trip due to health issues, and I find it pretty difficult to make friends. My trip started on my own as I had to catch an earlier flight to the rest of them, but when I met up with everyone, they greeted me so warmly and immediately started making plans with me.
It made me happy to know they actually wanted to hang out with me. Sometimes I let my anxiety get the better of me becasuse cliques develop so quickly but I was so grateful they all genuinely wanted me to hang with them. The girls I spent most of my time with also spoke about how nervous they felt and they also considered themselves loners in the class which is hilarious to me because they're all so sociable! We visited museums, went on a boat tour, explored the city, ate some lovely pastries and partied away with very cute danish guys haha. Of course, we're fashion students so we spent a day shopping!
I got to do lots of research on sustainable fashion companies and te imapct we have as fashion marketers. I visited a few upcoming desginers studios and made some connections. I also made friends with a designer who surprisingly went to the same uni as me for our bachelors and we graduated the same year together! He's amazing so you should check out his designs here.
✌ Doing / 📺 Watching
Spending time with friends had kept me grounded the last few weeks. I met up with my disney besties again, and we had the most delicious crepe's while they caught me up on the latest gossip from my previous workplace. We also met up to celebrate birthdays, but I was feeling a little sick that day so I had to leave early rip. But it was nice to catch up them all if even for a little while. I left disney almost 4 years ago now and it's amazing how close i've remained with them all. They're truly one of the best people and friends! We've planned a few more play dates, some in the parks and maybe a cruise too! It's all so exciting haha
I met up with my best childhood friends after a long time and watched the starting of the Formula One season. It ended just as I had expected with a Max win, but it was still fun to enjoy a nice pizza and chat with them about everything and nothing. We also met up to watch Poor Things at the cinema, which was a very weird but interesting film. It reminded me that some of my favorite films are just as weird or avant-garde like this. After Poor Things we went to Karols and watched Physical 100 season 2 finale, which honestly was so rewarding because (spoiler) I didn't want the firefighter guy to win haha! We enjoyed some beigel's from the best bagel shop in london too!
I took myself on a solo trip walking throughout london before heading into work. I forgot how much I enjoy walking and being a little tourist in my hometown. It makes me lucky to say that London, for better or worse, is the hometown I grew up in, and theres endless things to see here! As much as I think i'll most likely have to move out of London or to the outskirts (i'm aiming for Richmond), I find it hard to imagine myself not being able to roam the city at a moments notice.
I've had a lot of time to chill and meet new people too... 💖 We're taking things slowly but are both enjoying each others company a lot. Honestly, it's been nice to not feel anxiety over relationships and just enjoy the feeling. It also allows for me to focus on my studies and work while he focuses on his own projects, and when we're ready to meet we have so much to talk about until. We don't even notice the time until we start yawning and falling asleep beside each other haha.
Alongside a bunch of good food and cute shopping dates, we've gotten through a lot of shows together haha. We watched Bridgerton season 3 which surprised me because I didn't think he'd be into that haha. I'm so excited for part two! We also watched My Hero Academia, a re-watch for me, I was just there for the cuddles really lol, but we watched it together on facetime before our first date. I also re-watched a few episodes of Jujutsu Kaisen, Atlas, and most recently Dead Boy Detectives which I LOVE right now! It's so camp and gloomy but fun and heartwarming. I love all the characters and it makes me want to read the comics too. We've got Naruto planned soon but I don't think he can handle 500+ episodes lol
Oh yeah, I also cried my fucking eyes out watching Hometown Cha Cha Cha. Why didn't anyone tell me the last few episodes were so incredibly SAD?! 😭
📚 Reading
I told you guys I'd get back into reading! Haha, I never thought I would see the day either but I've really enjoyed getting stuck in a good book again. I'm currently reading all the popular pinterest books that I bought and never got around to. I really enjoyed The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, and I'm currently finishing Persuasion by Jane Austen. I'm about to get stuck into another one, so I'll keep you updated.
🎧 Listening
My music playlists haven't really expanded much honestly, but there have been a few standouts. I've also been dwelving back into my childhood favorites, so This is what dreams are made of, Say Ok, and So Good have been on repeat! I've also had old school kpop on repeat too, Insomnia by Realslow, Haru Haru by Big Bang, and Y by freestyle, makes up my chill kpop veteran playlist.
Idol songs have been on repeat too, Sakurazaka are always on my repeat playlist but I really like NMB's newest song. I've been watching a lot of idol graduation concerts that I missed due to focusing on my studies, so I guess you could say i've been listening to concert setlists lmao. I just finished watching Tsubaki Factory and Morning Musume graduation concerts, and yes I cried! a lot!!
I've kinda just let spotify pick what I listen to throughout the day now. When I'm not actively looking for new idol songs, I just let whatever mix spotify comes up with guide me through each activity or errand I have. It seems to work well, I've found some songs and artists I never would have discovered otherwise. It did make me laugh when I heard LOVE & JOY playing on the discovery playlist.. Spotify doesn't know how that song raised me back in 2009 on youtube!
Until then,
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