Clip Clop

Haven't really been up to much this week. Done a little bitta school work. Some history and some textiles. Ive also been preparing some presentation boards for my mam and dads work about my trip to Peru seen as though both companies gave me donations. One of the agreements was that I would do something when I got back. So I've just been sticking some of the photos that I got printed onto big sheets of card and writing little captions explaining what we did when we were there. So overall, not a very exciting week really.

Here's an outfit photo from earlier on in the week with some of my new purchases from newcastle at the weekend. Excuse the messy bedroom!





Top - H&M
Khaki bottoms - Primark
Khaki and leather bag - H&M
Clogs - Primark

Nailed it!

Today was pretty boring. Mam and Dad have had their holidays and they were back to work today so I was home alone with nothing to do and most of the friends holidaying in some exotic country. Bummer. Thought I would paint my nails which had a tiny amount of unpicked polish in the middle of them as they hadn't been done since Peru. Tried out a new polish I got a while back but never used. I used Chester Square by Nails Inc and the Albert Bridge topcoat by Nails Inc. I got the colour in a collection set but thought it looked too dark so never used it but when I did, it was lighter and brighter than I thought.




Maybe it would be better in autumn/winter as it is slightly too dark for summer. To be honest though, it doesnt feel much like summer in the North East anyway, its so bloody cold! Overall, quite like the colour. I've always liked Nails Inc polishes; I reckon they go on really well and most of the time only one coat is necessary which is a great when short in time.

Spent the rest of the day watching various daytime TV from Project Runway to Football Icon 2 (yes, I actually love this programme) to the good old Come Dine With Me omnibus. Get in there! Now off to watch Big Brother. Wow, isn't my life exciting! x

WAY AYEE MAN!

Took a trip into Geordieland yesterday with mam. There were loads of sales on which confused me because I'm pretty sure they were on not so long ago. Not complaining like. Anyway got some nice cheap things. Bought two pairs of shoes, some black brogues from Topshop for £7 down from £32. Already have some brown ones but I thought for £7 why not? They'll be good for when it gets nippy and maybe for school. Also got some tan wooden clogs from Primark. They do look cheaper than other version, obviously that the problem with Primark stuff, but thats only on close inspection and again, for a tenner why not? Got a brownish/creamish cable knit and some skinny belts from Primark too. Also got a really cute bag from H&M. Will post some pictures soon. Off to watch some Sherlock now. Shame it's only on 3 weeks. Oh, and the guy who plays Mr Holmes is called Benedict Cumberbatch. Couldnt invent a cooler sounding name if I tried.

The Runway Edit

So, received my copy of Elle in the post the other day. And with it, my favouritest? supplement; the catwalk magazine. I love looking through all of the top designers collections at fashion week and noseying at all the little things from the invites to their shows right through to the music the models strut (or hobble) down the runway. I always seem to favour the more simple collections and after a quick glance many of the collections this season are just that.



I also bought ELLE collections magazine for the first time. I've always wanted to buy it but when it came to the £6 price tag I had to question whether it was really worth it for 'just another magazine'. However, I'm a total convert to it. Love the arty way they present everything, also like the mix of pages full of photography with the interesting articles and interviews. I think it may even help me creatively with my textiles coursework, well fingers crossed. Which would make it well worth the £6 per season price tag I reckon.

Through looking at the magazines and the LFW website, personally, the collections I love are Sass & Bide, Erdem, Richard Nicoll and Christopher Kane at LFW, but I also liked the simplicity of Celine, Stella McCartney and Chloe at Paris.



Going to Castle Calling festival in a few weeks, so I've been madly listening to the bands that will be there especially Darwin Deez. Ahh, his music is so summery, can't wait to see him. Reckon it'll be pretty good, here's hoping it'll be nice weather!

Ahhhh

August has arrived. Heatwave here we come, hopefully. Okay, so I haven't blogged for a while. The parents went away for a week to Cornwall (I could have gone but thought I'd get slightly bored) so I had a free house again but this time for a WHOLE WEEK! They left on Friday night, didnt really do much the first two days. On Sunday night, my brothers band, Eagulls, had a gig in Durham so me and Fran went to see it. They were soo good, bit heavier than I usually listen to but I really enjoyed it. Check them out here www.myspace.com/eagulls. Wore my new denim shirt/dress thing from Urban Outfitters, turned it up and wore with black jeans and my brown brogues.
Had a great night overall, the other bands were pretty good too. Monday we had our first Tennis session of the year haha. We tend to play every summer so we started again. We're not bad but its just something to do for a very little amount of money, like 50p. Still hadn't seen the new Twilight film, was in Peru when it came out so me, Sarah and Emily decided to go see it, Orange Wednesdays and that. Friggen cinema had a powercut though! Took a detour to Nando's though and had a nice tea. Thursday, had a BBQ round my house. Was another good night, I was pretty good on the grill i must say. Food was eventually possible to eat after about 1 hour cooking. Some of em stopped over and spent pretty much the whole of Friday tidying up before the 'rents came home. Here's some pics of the night.

Took a day off school on Monday to go down to Leeds. It was my brother's graduation but there was only tickets for my mam and dad and I didn't really wanna pay to sit for an hour and a half watching strangers get up and collect a piece of paper. Snoozefest! So, I'd decided a few weeks ago that I'd bring my friend Megan and we'd just go shopping, as I do love Leeds for shopping, it has everything! Went straight to Urban Outfitters (there aren't any near me). Absolutely love that shop, especially how they blast out the music. Looked around for ages and got a short sleeved denim shirt for myself, and a bracelet and necklace for Alex's birthday present as I was in Peru for hers (which she liked by the way). Also looked at some vintage shops and got a cute re-made top from Blue Rinse. Will probably post pictures of these items at a later date.

Went back to sixth form on Tuesday after having over two weeks off for Peru. Wasn't a very eventful day. It was sports day on Wednesday for the lower school; sixth form didn't have lessons so I stayed off again. Went in today to go on this shitty walk to a river then came back to school for a BBQ. Was pretty boring again so got a lift home just after lunch. Now gunna try and catch up on some textiles work that I missed. Oh and here's some more Peru pics. Might put a few up each day rather than hundreds at once. The first photo is from a class of kiddies that we worked with for abit and face painted. Aren't they cute? And the second photo is Fran, Me and Emily, after we'd climbed to the top of the mountain that we were working on. :) x

Oh Peru

Peru was amazing. Best two weeks of my whole life. Loved every minute of it. The experience opened my eyes to poverty and the extremes that can coincide right next to each other. I would like to think the trip has changed me in certain ways, but who knows, I think I'll have to give it a little longer to find out. Felt like we were there for about 1 month, rather than just two weeks; we did so much in the time and we never sat still. Since, I've got back I've literally done nothing and have been soooooo tired.

Did loads while we were but had two main projects that we worked on for most of the time. During the week, we worked at the barrio Raucana's school. We dug up parts of their football pitch and re-concreted it, and also planted trees and painted many murals. We were kinda swarmed by the children at the school, they've never seen English people before, so they constantly asked for our autographs and photos with us on our cameras. We did little craft classes with them, taught them a few English songs (head, shoulder, knees and toes and the hokey kokey) and played some simple games with them. Mainly activities that didn't require too much Spanish speaking, as we hadn't really nailed that part yet.

On the weekend, we would travel to a different area of Peru called Carabyllo. The livelihoods of the people there were even tougher than with the children at the school and nobody ever visited this place, so a big group of English kids looked even stranger to them. Our work here involved levelling out a section of the mountainside and making it suitable for a building of some sort. We also planted trees and plants, made steps to make it actually accessible and again worked with the children.

Can't really explain how I felt throughout the trip as I went through so many emotions. It still gets me though how the Peruvians were so warm welcoming, friendly and happy with what they have even though they have absolutely nothing whereas wealthier people can always find something to moan about. Although the whole trip was memorable, the attitudes of the people will be something that will stick in my mind for the rest of my life.

As soon as I got home, I wanted to be back in Peru. We've all agreed we'd love to go back and although we wont get the opportunity with sixth form, I'm sure we can figure something out ourselves. Cannot wait until that day comes, but for the time being, I have enough memories to keep me going. :)