My Month In Photos - July 2016.
We're resuming a semblance of normality on twenty something meltdown with a regular feature on my blog in it's new format (which I love) which has only been going three months. Normally I'd do my monthly round up on the last day of July but well, I had guest bloggers and I didn't have my shit together and whadda ya know it's today and that means you'll have two monthly photo diaries in August. I spoil you I really do.
What I Did:
I went on holiday! Basically that was it. It'll come of no shock to you who read the blog on the regular that I went away for the last fortnight of July because I banged on about it enough! I'm doing some posts on my time away later this week but I had such a glorious fortnight in good old Blighty! I stayed on the Hampshire/West Sussex border and we county hopped, moseyed into Berkshire, revisited our old haunts in the heart of The New Forest and explored The Isle Of Wight for the day too. It was sunny, it was hot, it was blue skies, it was full of history and fun and cream teas and my photography game was seriously improved by it all. Other than that at the beginning of the month I crammed in a bunch of time with my niece, went on an impromptu date day with Joss to IKEA, had my university flatmate down for the day and visited a local National Trust property too. A pretty sassy month I'm sure you'll agree.
What I Watched:
One thing I do not do on holiday is miss TV. Me and my dad are massive TV buffs and seen as we didn't have a record function on the cottage set, there were a number of days we were pegging it home from a meal or a day out to catch a programme. Call us what you will. The Last Leg finished a few weeks ago (boo) but is returning for the Paralympics next month (yay). Taskmaster on Dave was just as good as series one and I was gutted when it finished but it's been confirmed for season 3 which I am massively excited by! Other than that I've been keeping up with Man Down which is insane and hilarious and The Living & The Dead which is HORRIFYING. Like I have to watch something funny after it because it freaks me out so much. In other news The Great British Bake Off has been postponed for Rio 2016 which is in equal parts fine because I love the Olympics and dreadful because I love GBBO more. One TV show I recommend you watch which only started last week (the next one is on tonight so make sure you catch up) is Wasted on E4. It's about a group who've come home to Somerset from uni and basically have no life plan and spend all their time pissed or high but the main characters spirit guide is Sean Bean who plays himself/Ned Stark and is fucking genius. Film wise I watched some corkers. I saw Ghostbusters in the cinema which was HILARIOUS and put to bed any worries you might have of would it ruin it having 4 female leads. Shocker, it didn't. I also watched Deadpool on DVD which was hilarious and two B movies; Grizzly and Zombieavers which were quite literally insane. And not in a good way. But in a good way because lol B movies.
What I Worked On:
Understandably as I'm sure you can imagine, I took a break from work when I was away so I haven't done a lot. I closed my Etsy shop for the fortnight (it's back open for business and you can treat yo self here) and I have put my illustration website on hold as I want a major revamp so it fits in with my current branding for my shop and this little blog. Whilst I didn't work I did complete #The100DayProject which I am doing a full roundup of later this week but I looooooved taking part in and loved the results of my project. I am a bit sad it's over and my illustration Instagram account feels a bit empty now it's over so I'm looking forward to taking part in it next year and looking for some new challenges to do for now! If you know of any, hit ya girl up.
What I Chatted About:
Like I mentioned in yesterday's post, whilst I was active on social media to an extent, I did treat my holiday as a break and I didn't take part in any chats and boy oh boy did my Twitter suffer for it (more on that tomorrow). I don't even know what the topics were for chats, I legit only used Twitter for replying to comments, FF and promoting my guest bloggers but I am looking forward to getting back on the chat wagon - I feel there's a whole bunch of girls I haven't caught up with in ages! I have however been chatting to my pals and organisers of #BloggerPitP basically every day and there is so much exciting stuff being planned for you all! We do still have spaces left so if you want to join us in Hyde Park on August 20th get reading Sarah's post and drop her a message!
What I Blogged:
Well uhhhh I didn't........ No that's not strictly true, although it feels like a lifetime ago that I did any typing for my blog, I did actually post myself for the first 14 days of July. I decided seen as I was hosting guests on my blog for the last 17 days, I'd make a bit of effort myself and post consistently for the first fortnight so you'd have an exciting month of every day content. Whilst I might not have been consistent (posting at 9pm looking at you), I did keep to my word and you had a shiny new post by me for the first two weeks. My most successful posts this month were actually little insights into my life which was nice because whilst I talk about what I've done that week etc, I don't always get too deep into much more so it was nice to have such a good response to Having A Quarter Life Crisis, How Long Distance Worked For Me and celebrating one year of my little business! I also did some bullet journal posts and a few freebie printables which you can find and save for later on Pinterest! Obviously the bulk of the work was done for me this month when 17 beautiful bloggers saved my bacon and said they'd post on my behalf whilst I was away. I'm going to do a big soppy thank you later this week to all of them but they're posts really were the best thing about this month.
What I Bought:
So fun fact for you all, this little section used to be titled What I Loved and was dedicated to sharing some of the blogs I have particularly enjoyed the past month but my 7 Things I Read Online series seems to be edging toward all blogger orientated as the weeks go on so I've changed this little segment to suit. I don't have a lot of disposable income, most of my money goes towards my measly savings account and running my car (FU petrol prices) but every now and then I treat myself to a little something from Ebay or I buy something I need for my business or my blog. in July obvs I saved a bit of money to spend on holidays and I even managed to come home with some of it which is nothing short of a miracle. I will be doing a little holiday haul in my Friday Favourites but some of my bargain purchases included cold shoulder tops from Primark, Paperchase postcards, LOTS of new notebooks, a few trinket trays and a watering can in the shape of a flamingo. I named him Rico. I also finally got my hands on the issue 9 of Blogosphere magazine and I ordered this double buckle belt from Ebay which was a steal compared to the ones I was eyeing up on ASOS.
And that ladies and gentlemen (mainly you ladies, I know my demographic) was my July. Keep your eyes peeled in the next week or so for more information on my guest bloggers, my holiday and what else I got up to. Probs featuring a lot of photos of the blue sky cos lol this is Britain after all. Got to make the most of it.