Sunday Catch Up #7

Gosh well it's definitely been a long time since we've met in this kind of circumstances hm? The majority of these photos haven't even been taken this week due to my horrifically mediocore social life as of recent times (damn you university), but this does kinda show you what I've been up to lately. As I've recently posted about Brighton anyway, that was omitted as I thought it might be overkill to talk about it again, as much as I'd like to.

Clockwise from top left:

1. Seeing Marine & The Diamonds at Camden Roundhouse with some really good pals a couple of weekends ago
2. Some gorgeous lil cacti friends found at a gardening store in Chelsea
3. galavanting aroudn the London Aquarium on a Late on Valentines day
4. selfie-ing it up & loving the way my brows be looking in this photo
5. as I was home for this weekend just gone, obligatory beach photo of Seaton as I made mum visit the beach with me (gotta make sure the sea is still there, right?)
6. Lastly, some little pick ups from Revlon, including this super awesome brow pencil/gel combo that is actually a good shade for me, shock horror.

I'm really upset that I haven't been keeping up with these as they're super nice to look back on after a couple months have passed, so expect more! (fingers crossed)

Thanks for reading!

Shore Projects Watches

I love watches as much as the next person, but for many years I just didn't own one. I'd had plenty when I was younger, but they had either been broken, or I'd just plain given up on wearing them and they'd been left to have the battery run out. Now that I'm meant to be more adult, I thought it was about time that I really considered treating myself to a professional looking watch to make myself look like I'm more in control of my life then I actually am.

Therefore, when trailing through other blogs and instagrams I happened across Shore Projects, a company that not also desings gorgeous watches, but watches that can be customised, I kind of fell in love. You can choose any watch face that you want from the various 'Phases', and all the watches themselves are named after seaside towns of the UK, hence the 'shore' of their name. I really liked this touch a lot, especially coming from a seaside area myself. You can then combine your choice of watch with nearly 30 straps, and they are updating their site with more pretty constantly! (if you check out their front page there is a teaser for some new wool straps which look gorgeous!)

I absolutely adore my watch, and there hasn't been a day since I bought it that it hasn't been fixed to my wrist. I bought Poole, as it seemed the most adaptable to any way that I wished to wear it, however I've recently been drooling over Lulworth and Salcombe for the little pops of colour they could add. Everything about these watches is gorgeous, to the little details on the face, the gorgeous packaging, everything. Each strap comes in its' own little box with a small bag, which you can see in the picture above. When I had some problems with my order, I also got a reply super quickly and the team were so helpful, so I'm so thankful for that too!

I currently have 5 straps, as I bought a gift box that came with four (now seems to only come with three I'm afraid!), and also got a free one for my birthday in the lovely birthday present scheme that they do. I have three leather straps, as I thought they would be the most versatile and professional looking for when I use it at work, I then bought a silicon strap in orange for use when I'm on field work, and lastly I bought a light blue canvas one too! All the straps are so well made, and to change between them is ridiculously easy. As you can see in the photo below, the leather ones definitely show the wear a lot more, but I really like that kind of used look that leather gets, so it's a plus for me!

I would definitely recommend giving them a follow on their instagram also, as it shows the different combinations you can make using the straps and watches.

Thanks for reading

Megan x

Loving Where You Live

WARNING: RAMBLE POST 

This is a bit of an odd post for me, as the topic is something I've only really come to think about in the last year, mostly as I haven't been able to do it. What I'm talking about is realising how great the place where you live is, and realising that although you may not have everything you wanted, it has a lot of things that you will probably miss when you're gone.

For me, I'm from Cornwall, and I get told a lot that it must be wonderful to live there, that it's so beautiful etc etc. However, Cornwall has a lot of flaws. Personally for me, there were no gigs, little shops, there isn't that much of a youth culture of things to do and if you do want to do anything you're gonna have to travel quite a way to do it. Before I could drive this was a massive problem, and involved a lot of public transport/asking parents for lift, but in the last year it's become a lot easier. If I want to go proper shopping, the biggest place is probably Bristol which is so far away I've only done it once, and even then it wasn't for the shopping first (it was actually for a gig hah).

Basically what I'm trying to say is, for a lot of my earlier teenage years I felt like where I lived isolated me from doing a lot of things, and I was extremely lucky to have parents that took me to gigs all over the country and drove me places and all that malarky. However, when I moved away for a large part of a year to live in London, somewhere the near opposite of Cornwall, I definitely started to appreciate it a lot more.

I realised I missed Cornwall so much more than I realised that I would. I missed being able to see the sea from my college, I missed the fresh air and the nice drinking water (bleh London water). I missed the quiet of my bedroom and seeing the countryside everywhere and god damn it I even missed getting angry at clueless drivers in the lanes around my village. I'm not trying to say I didn't enjoy my move, in fact I completely loved my opportunity to go to London and I'm so excited to go back and move in with my friends. I definitely think moving has opened my eyes to how beautiful Cornwall is, and I definitely appreciate it more.

Moral of blog post: Explore and try new things, and you'll probably appreciate what you have a lot more!

These photos were all shot at a local woods on my way to work, a place I'd never really thought about how beautiful it was until recently, so I thought the pictures were quite relevant. Also a shot of me running and attempting to be healthy as an extra bonus!

Thanks for reading my silly ramblings, I hope it made sense to someone.

Megan x

Dublin Zoo

This post is 1000% just a post for me to show off some really cool photos I was able to take on Iszy and I's last day in Dublin, in which we visited the gorgeous zoo that is situated within Phoenix Park. It's a lovely place, and is surprisingly large for an inner city zoo, and the range of animals and the vastness of the habitats was a pleasant surprise for me too. They had a really large African savannah area, and all the other habitats were reasonably large and all the animals seemed quite happy. Although most were dozing in the heat when we were visiting, but anyway, thought I'd share some photos that I also took with my new camera. I'm really quite proud how some of these turned out, especially as I was determined to take all my photos on the manual settings to work on getting better grips on working my camera. I hope you enjoy!

There was also a snow leopard (!!!!!!!) and wolves (!!!!!) but both were asleep and I couldn't get a good enough photo of them which was very sad. I hope you enjoyed my collection of photos!

Megan

Guinness Store House - Dublin

Quite a few weeks ago now my good friend Iszy and I jetted off on a superbly cheap trip to Dublin on just a week and a bit notice. Obviously we had an amazing time, so I felt it was round about time I got off my butt and started typing up what we did during our time there. First up, but what we actually did on our 3rd day in the city, was visiting the Guinness store house! It's truly inescapable, you can't go anywhere without it being in your line of sight and signs for Guinness are everywhere. It's one of the largest breweries in the world, smack bang in the middle of Dublin, and it's definitely worth the trip as the visitor centre is quite a spectacle in itself (and you get a Guinness at the end!)

The museum is set across several floors, that takes you through the whole journey of Guinness, right up to all the advertising that Guinness is well known for. Everything is lovingly presented with lots of homages to Arthur Guinness himself and what makes Guinness so special. I'm not even that much of a fan of the drink but I was still drawn in by all the displays and really enjoyed the 2 hours or so it took us to travel through the whole thing. To top it all off you get a lovely well presented Guinness in the top floor of the building, which allows a beautiful near panoramic view of Dublin, which is well worth the trip in itself!

And oh look, here is a pic of me posing with my lovely drink of Guinness at the top of the building I was speaking of. Look at that view! I spent so many photos trying to get the focus on my camera to play game but eventually gave up and settled for this. Apologies for the near creepy smile.

Stay tuned for some more posts from Dublin in the next few days!

Playsuit: ASOS (told you I'd wear it a lot)

Shoes: Nikes

Bag: My trusty Topshop one

Thanks for reading!

Megan

Kew Gardens

So, guess who has finished their first year of exams and therefore university?? I am now home which is absolutely ridiculous as it just feels like the other day that I was moving up to London and yet here I am back home again!

Anyway, the purpose of this post, I went to Kew Gardens the other day, despite the adversity of the District Line being shut, my parents and I managed to get there without much disaster that usual ensues while travelling.

The gardens themselves are so huge, I'd never really considered something so big could be so near to the centre of London. All the flowers were mostly in bloom, some bluebells were even in bloom in the conservation area that was modelled after British woodlands. The glasshouses were also phenomenal, the sheer amount of plants inside was ridiculous. The design of the actual buildings is so intricate, and although they look like they need a good painting they are kept in such a good condition. In fact, one was shut for renovation when we were there so maybe they're working their way through the older ones and doing them up a little bit!

Look at this cool staircase though! 

Giant redwood, that's only 1/3 of the size the American ones grow to!

Clothes wise, I wanted to be comfortable so I wore this playsuit from ASOS Tall, which is this beautifully stretchy material and has the nicest design ever. The sleeves are flared and so long that in the photo you can't even see my hands, and as someone who has longer arms, this rarely ever happens, so I was quite happy with that! I love love love this playsuit and I can see myself slowly relying on it for a go to piece throughout the summer, it's just fantastic.

Hat: ASOS

Shoes: M&S (old)

Thanks for reading!

Megan

5 Spring Songs To Get You in the Mood

Feeling Springy yet? No? Let me give you a little hand...

First up, some Temples whose sounds is so spot on summer that I thought we'd kick off a spring playlist with some, just so you're even more in the mood. It kicks straight in to that awesome melody and it reminds me of festivals and although it's not quite summer right yet, this can make spring feel like it is.

Next up is Pelican, one of my favourites from The Maccabee's newer album, great driving music, great chill out music, great music to listen to while you're just having a good time.

I'm seeing the Wombats next month after so many years of waiting for them to come of their sort of hiatus, and I'm not at all disappointed by the music they've been bringing out, this being my personal favourite. I'm looking forward to playing this loudly while driving when I go back home!

Learn to Fly by the Foos is an instant classic, and as I'm volunteering at Glasto this year I thought I'd pop this in for another little bit of summery vibes, and you can't go wrong with a song as upbeat as this to get you into the springtime vibe.

Frank Turner is the love of my life, it's no secret, and this song is one that makes me feel a lot happier than before I listened to it. Really cheerful, get up and go kinda stuff. Nothing beats a bit of Frank when you want to be passionate about something.

Haim are such a good band, and it's great to see some all girl bands being so successful (song with Calvin Harris? hell. yes.). I think this was the first song I heard by them, but the whole album gets me in a great mood for some spring cleaning or revision (hah)

Lianne La Havas supported Bombay Bicycle Club about 3 years ago when I saw them in Plymouth, and although I never really listened to her back then, I love her voice, and how unique everything she does sounds compared to a lot else there. Really chilled.

Echosmith are an awesome, up and coming band that made it big with this happy little song which reminds me of other stuff but I really can't remember what? I love the whole album that this is off too.

Fall Out Boy wrote a song about dancing like Uma Therman and you didn't expect me to include it in my list?? As if.

Superfood is awesome. This song is awesome.  Cool.

I feel like the words 'chill' were used far too much in this, and I apologise, but seriously, Spring is great for chilling out with your friends while getting hyped for dem exams and then summer woo!!
Hope you like.

Notes Coffee House

As always I'm on the hunt for a new place to go that's different and not a pret a manger. This little hidden gem of a coffee shop is just off Trafalgar Square, and on the way towards Leicester Square. Inside is quite bare, with a lot of the plumbing and lighting wires on show, yet still with quite an elegant touch to the furnishings. The only problem is that seats are quite limited, but there's always the takeaway option!

Obviously the coffee is amazing, and although quite pricey, the cakes are absolutely to die for, and it's worth it just for that. (get the carrot cake, it's awesome)

Apologies for lack of updates that may occur soon, I misplaced my phone the other day so now only have an old brick phone, so I'll have fewer spontaneous pictures! Hopefully all will be sorted soon!

Megan x

A Day At Brick Lane

The other day, armed with my trusty camera, I head to the Brick Lane and ate a whole lot of superb Mexican food...

God damn this place was amazing. Brick Lane itself has always been a bustling place to purchase vintage clothing (of which I did not buy any at all), and it's also well renown for shops such as Rough Trade East, and it's obscenely large number of Indian restaurants.

However, defying all of the general expectations, my friend and I instead went to this quirky looking restaurant called DF/Mexico. It's quite small, and we sat on one of those large communal tables which gave it a really nice open plan feel. You order similarly to how you would at Nando's, and your food is then delivered to your table really quickly. My favourite and definitely the most unique thing about this place was the choice of refillable drinks that included your usual suspects of coke, sprite etc but there were three unusuals:
Horchata, Hibiscus and Lime & Chia.

I, of course, made it my mission to try all three, and although I found some of them quite overpowering (horchata I'm looking at you) they were all definitely worth the price considering they were unlimited refills! 

Anyway, onto the food: It was good. I had the veggie tacos option, got food everywhere and enjoyed every single second of it. Chilli chips were gorgeous, and my friend ordered a side of their sweetcorn which also tasted like it was made in heaven.

Need I say more? You need to eat here right now.

Megan

Having Greenery Around

On Valentine's Day (I know, ages ago) Luke and I took a trip to our local garden centre in Camden and had a little walk around looking at loads of different plants, from flowers to shrubs to cacti. It actually got me thinking, especially a couple of weeks later and now a proud owner of my own cactus, that it really does make a difference having a plant in the room. Here are a few of my thoughts:

They make every room look nicer

As I currently live in quite a small student room, having a cactus in my window, to me, definitely makes the place feel more homely and attractive. I've placed it in a white flower pot with little hearts around the top and it makes my windowsill look so much more attractive (and hides all the mould hiding around it)

Adds more colour

again, poorly decorated white walled room with curtains that look like they were taken from a vintage store jumper, but like, a really bad jumper. Therefore this adds a lovely little pop of green and makes everything else look a bit less nasty.

You have to look after it

Probably not a plus for some people, but for me, I really like the knowledge that I'm looking after something, even if it is a cactus that requires looking after every 3 months or so. It's nice to be able to check up on it and see how it's grown over the period that you've owned it. Obviously flowering plants are much more substantial showers of growth so a purchase of one of those might be better next time. However, I thought I'd get myself into looking after plants slowly to begin with!

It can be a substitute pet

Bit of a weird one maybe, but as I'm used to always having pets, not having one know feels pretty weird I have to say. Therefore, having something else living and breathing, albeit not moving, is still pretty comforting nonetheless. Is this really strange? I don't care.

What do you think? Could you for man absurd attachment to a plant like I seem to have? Give it a try!

Louisiana Art Museum

Just a half an hour train journey outside of Copenhagen, in a rather calm suburb, Louisiana hides, perched on the seaside and looking completely inconspicuous from the outside. Once you walk through the entrance and start walking down through its galleries, you soon realise that you're instead walking through a warren of art and sculpture, and the building itself is just as rightly deserving of being a work of art itself.
Corridors between the separate wings are mostly glass, allowing you to look across the large garden spotted with statues and sculptures, ranging from traditional, modern and down right bizarre in style. Art within can be mini shows focusing on one artist in particular, or collections that were donated to the museum itself. While I visited Richard Mosse had a collection of photos taken in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the civil war. The photos were taken on a film that turned all the green colours to bright, vibrant pinks and this created some phenomenal photos and a rather haunting film also.
The cafe here is amazing, and just as you think you've reached the end of the museum, you discover a whole new room and an underground gallery filled with 100s more pieces of art. Quite an area was actually shut when we visited, as they were installing a new gallery, as they always seem to be up to date with brand new galleries and I'd definitely be wanting to go back if I'm lucky enough to visit Copenhagen again.

Nearly everything in the grounds was some form of art, including the structures in the photo above, and this winding path that lead us to the view over the sea, which was an art installation! This whole place is like another world, and it is 10000% worth the little trip out of Copenhagen if you're staying for more than a couple of days and you can bring yourself to leave the city for a couple of hours.

Would you visit Louisiana?

Megan x

Lego Store at Copenhagen

As Lego is from Denmark, it is completely unsurprising that there is a rather massive store in the centre of Copenhagen. You enter and there's a massive dragon made of lego winding in and out of the walls. There's also two lego people, one dressed like one of the Danish royal guards and one on a bike which is perfect for a bit of a selfie!

The shelves are completely stacked full of all the different types of lego sets, from Marvel Avengers, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Ninjago and loads of others of lego's own brands. This place is immensely cool, the staff were setting up one of the new Lego Marvel pieces that was recently released when we were visiting, and tourist favourite Nyhavn is faithfully recreated within also.

The whole place has a lovely friendly vibe to it, all the staff are really helpful. It's got basically every kind of lego that you could ever wish for, and it's perfect for the little souvenir! 

My step-dad nearly bought this ship, I was gutted that he didn't as it looks amazing! Ah well, next time. Thanks for reading!

Megan