Cuppa Catch Up: Welcome
Hello there! I’m very excited to be writing my first ever guest blog post, and even more excited that I get to feature here on twentysomethingmeltdown and help Gwennan out whilst she’s on holiday! As this is my first guest blog post, I thought that it would be best to introduce myself (in the hope that one day I may be back here again!). You can find me over on www.jesslouisekeen.blogspot.co.uk, which has been the home to my blog for over two years now. I set my blog up at the end of my first year at University, as I always enjoyed reading other people’s blogs and watching YouTube videos (not that I’ve made that leap yet) and wanted to start my own as it looked like lots of fun. Alongside this, as I was living (and still am) in a city 200 miles away from the small village I come from and where my family are, my blog has become a great way for my family to see what I’ve been up to!
I would put my blog under the genre ‘lifestyle’ hence the title ‘A Slice of Life’, as my blog covers anything and everything! I write about things I’ve been up to, different trips I’ve been on, recipes I’ve tried out, and different DIY’s. I like to run different series, one of which is entitled ‘Cuppa Catch Up’, of which this guest post will be a feature! This series enables me to round up what I have been up to throughout the month, and see what readers’ have been up to themselves. One thing that I love with my blog is being able to see what I was up to this time last year, or the year before.
So, onto the cuppa catch up! It works by you and I grabbing a cup of tea – be sure to pick a snack like I have! – having a ramble about what I’ve been up to, and you can let me know what you’ve been up to in the comments. The past few weeks have been a bit hectic as I handed in my final University assignment (and therefore finishing my degree!), packed up the room that I had been living in for the past two years, moved house, and now have my dog Tilly living with me and Tom (my partner). Tilly is a Miniature Schnauzer who I was lucky enough to receive for my 18th birthday (big thanks to my mum’s aunt and uncle, as without their suggestion of ‘what has Jess always asked for’ when my parents were deliberating what to get me for my 18th , I might not have Tilly!) and whilst I was at University she lived with my parents. Now that I have finished uni and have moved into a house with Tom that allows pets, I am finally living with her properly! Our house is now coming together after a couple of weeks living amongst boxes – having my parents come up and build cupboards reeeeeally helped solve this issue – and now it’s feeling a lot more homely and ‘ours’. I think our main concern is where we are going to store our massive DVD collection, as one bookcase is nearly full of them and that’s without all the ones from my parents’ house!
Now that everything is coming together, I am enjoying spending some time with Tilly and Tom and generally having nothing to do, which is fantabulous. The last three years of University have been super busy, not to mention the two A Level years before that and the two GCSE ones before that! As I’ve been working since the age of 14, this is the first time in 7 years that I’ve actually had completely spare time. At the moment I’m browsing the world of work, but not desperately searching for a job as I want to be able to enjoy a lengthy break that I know I feasibly will not have again (see ya summer holidays). I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet that I’ve ‘left education’, and I’m not sure when it will. I’m graduating mid-July, which I’m looking forward to – I think I’m one of the only ones who are! The idea of graduation terrified me last year, but after working last year’s graduation week, I managed to pick up some tips (safety pins are a must) and seeing how happy everyone was made me feel better about mine. I think it will mostly sink in that I’m not going back to University, when come September, Tom and many other friends start their Masters and therefore return to University and I don’t. I loved my degree, and in my first and second year I couldn’t understand people who were like ‘I can’t wait to finish’, but throughout my third year I was in that boat! It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy what I was doing, but I reached the stage where I had had enough of writing essays and despite enjoying the majority of books that I had to read, I am now very much enjoying reading what I want to read, and not technically having to read anything. I think after working over the summer I was in the mindset of ‘I could be doing this full time now’ and going back to the University way of life was a bit strange. On the subject of reading, are there any books that you would recommend I take a look at? As I’ve been so involved in reading course texts I’m a bit out of the loop in terms of what’s come out recently and what people are loving. I like most types of books – but nothing too scary please!
Internet has finally been installed in our house (hoorah) and it was strange living without it for a while. Luckily in between moving in and the internet installation, Tom and I went back to Suffolk for a week, and during this we travelled down to Surrey for my cousin’s wedding, and it was such a beautiful day. I love going to events where you can properly dress up – I wish there were more occasions to! I absolutely love this dress from Topshop, I previously wore it to the University’s English Society’s end of year ball, and would have loved to wear it to my graduation but I don’t think I can wear the same dress to every occasion in a three month span. Trying to find a dress for graduation took a while but I finally found one from Asos! I know I wanted a colourful dress, as I didn’t want to wear a black one under a big black gown. I’m just hoping that it’s a good day weather-wise for graduation so we can take some photos in the park!
A massive thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings, and I hope you enjoyed it so that you’ll pop on over to visit my blog and take a look at my other posts. Thanks to Gwennan for allowing me the opportunity to feature on her blog, and I’m excited to see what everyone else is going to write. In true fashion to the cuppa catch up posts: What have you been up to recently? Let me know!
Love Jess xxx
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