Lust for Life

My weekend has consisted of going to see the Perks of being a Wallflower (who didn't?), making t shirts, climbing trees in town at 7 o clock at night and gallivanting off to London as a spur of the moment thing. I rarely make plans or have a social life and things are usually planned to minute detail, but this weekend was different. I felt like I didn't actually waste the past two days of my life, and I'm not feeling deflated because of the weekend coming to an end because 1) I'm very tired and 2) I WENT OUTSIDE OF MY HOUSE. So on Saturday I went and watched the Perks of being a Wallflower, sour cola bottle sweets and pick and mix in tow. I knew from reading the book that it would be good. Stephen Chbosky wrote it and directed the film so it was bound to be, it was his creation in the first place, and I knew before seeing it that I'd overthink it and analyse it for the following few months and that I'd leave feeling strange - Emma Watson with an American accent alone is enough to cause this. I keep blurting out really philosophical questions catalysed by a 4 hour long conversation that  I had a few weeks ago with a friend that spanned everything and anything strange from the size of the universe to whether we all see the same colours or not and my peers are sick of these said questions, blurting out WILL YOU SHUT UP before I've finished saying something that boggles my brain, and after seeing this film there are a torrent more questions like these floating around in my mind, I'm quite meticulous with detail. Anyway go and see it.

It inspired me and the friends I saw it with to live more in the moment, I don't know. So we bought some brownies and discussed catching a train somewhere in the summer without a plan while climbing trees (attempting). This sort of escalated into catching a train to london the next day, and weirdly it actually happened. We didn't expect it to but I found myself on a train at 7:50 this morning with Amber and Flora. Heck, at 1 o clock we were cycling like maniacs on boris bikes down the strand trying to avoid being pulverized by taxis and buses fighting their way through the pot hole ridden london thoroughfare. If that's not Carpe Diem don't know what is. We cycled from Spitalfields to Soho where we went for lunch at an American Diner. 

In a tiny music shop somewhere in Piccadilly maybe.

Outside of the diner.

Menu.

Le front.

Flora back in the music shop.

Floras burger.

Flo's milkshake and jukeboxes that were on the bar and you could pick songs!!! However I'm not technologically competent so I didn't even attempt to try and pick one.

My boot, skirt, floor and a seat.

Flora and I. I have my hole patch on my mohair sweater. It's only the third time I've worn this jumper but It seems like more from my blog. 

Neon Signage!!!

'No dancin' in the aisles'.

Artsy angles guys ~ooo~

The best food in existence. Amber's waffles.

Condiments and straws.

 I have a tonne more pictures but I thought that may be enough! We also went to oxford street where we went in the flagship Topshop that supplies maps to help you navigate the FIVE FLOORS - including a built in cafe in the store, mayfair - where we visited fortnam and masons and felt entirely out of place when we went up to the fifth floor that we now know is exclusive to billionaires only, however there were eyeball shaped chocolates that I'd have been tempted to buy if it weren't for the price, knightsbridge where we went to Harrods and saw a load of monsters waiting for Lady Gaga to arrive at 7.30, I so wanted to stay but due to fickle things like school we had to leave at 6.30, and we also passed through the tourist traps like piccadilly circus and trafalgar square. I didn't eat dinner because of how full I was after going to Ed's diner. I had a chicken burger and brownies for dessert. It was so so so so so so so good, fully recommend due to both the food and the cheery waiter who kept singing along to the music.

These below are from Saturday, it made sense for me to put the ones from today on first, because I'm chronological like that obviously.

In the toilets at the cinema. I've become sort of interested in bathroom aesthetic actually just because of the colour schemes and dated-ness of them all. That totally isn't Mary-Ann climbing on a loo to torment Flora in the next one over.

Frankie and a toothpaste machine.

This is one of the t shirts I made! It says 'Teen Witch' on it with a pentacle that has old celtic symbols in each section majig, I cut the end off to mak it shorter. I also made a HOLE one and a LOSER one. 

The necklaces are vintage. The one that I call my eye necklace was 33p and it's of my best purchases ever.

You can't really see the celtic symbols as they're pale and in grey but still.

Phew. Hope you had a good weekend and can attempt to enjoy school this week despite the monotonous drone of it all. 

Hollie

Brush and Floss

First of all, thank you for the response to my zine! I think I have 10 people now, and I will aim to get it sent out by next Monday. I also made my first two etsy sales so I'm a happy human right now, despite school tomorrow. I've decorated my folders and books but it's too late to take and edit pictures so I'll do that tomorrow with some glorious pictures of my locker which I'll decorate like as soon as I get to school and upload them then. Tomorrow isn't even a proper day, we go in at half past one and get our planners and timetables and leave at half past three, so that's good. 

The pictures below are from a disposable camera I got developed on Saturday, it's mainly two days out. 

"i wore a 70s brown/yellow floral shirt with a spoon collar and a 70s brown/yellow circle print skirt both of which looked like dorky wallpaper prints and a 50s pink mohair sweater today and we cycled and went to the lake in throop and went on a walk and took pictures and had a picnic there and there were cows and we picked flowers and climbed trees and then this evening we went and watched fireworks on the beach and ate chips in the cold and ate candy floss (cotton candy) and wasted 2ps in the amusements and watched a queen tribute band and this is what teenage life should be like everyday"

Is what I wrote on Tumblr on Friday, and it was a truly lovely day. Half of these pictures are from then (the ones with me in them basically), when I went out with Flora, Lizzie and Frankie and the others are from when I went to a pick your own with friends called Becky and Laura. 

Laura.

Our strawberries.

13p strawberry lolly.

Frankie with flowers in Throop.

Becky and Laura.

Frankie.

I really love mohair/angora right now so I ordered a 50s hot pink jumper made of it from EBay, it's what I'm wearing above. It was £6, and my skirt is actually a dress that I chopped the bodice off of because it was too small, it was also from EBay for £5.20, and the shirt you can only see the collar and cuffs of was from a vintage shop for £10. The saddle shoes are red or dead and have awesome heart cutouts on them.

Have a good first school term i guess. 

Hollie

Zine Ziney Zine Zine

School starts on Wednesday, it is now Sunday night. But guys I have really been cramming things into this last week of summer, since my last blog post really. After 3 weeks of basically sleeping, eating and intermittently being creative when it hits 10.30pm, I have actually been sociable and have left the house before 10.30 on four consecutive days. 10 points to me.

I also started and finished a zine. The 'and finished' part of that being the most emphasised. I must have started a gazillion of them and not ever finished. But I have. So here is the cover.

It's called 'Teenagerms' and is about youth, growing up, age and stuff like that. I'm not cool enough for ask for people to contribute because no one would, so it's just stuff by me in it. I am unsure as to whether I'll make a second issue or not. I'll photocopy it part colour part black and white. It's 18 pages long, 20 with the covers included, and consists of collages, art (if it can be called that), ramblings and a playlist, too.

Here are some scans to give a sort of preview. 

I don't want to give too much away so these are only four pages. 

Comment here if you want one, and I'll send like, up to 10 copies for free anywhere in the world. I will put it on Etsy too once I've used up my stamp budget on those 10 so if you want one you can buy it for like the smallest price ever which will basically cover postage and that's it. You can send me your address to my email or message it on Tumblr, which are both linked at the side. 

Here are some youth themed pictures and some of my back to school stuff, because an amalgamation of thinking about school and the thought that I won't be young forever inspired this zine, so it makes sense to share it, too.

Oh, and this song is the Rookie theme song for August and it's called Teenage Girl (it's even cohesive with the idea of this zine how fantabulous) and you should listen to it. Go.

http://soundcloud.com/clembutt/teenage-girl

The playlist I made for this zine is on my 8tracks here http://8tracks.com/hollielillian/teenagerms

Commence pictures

Top:From Tumblr. I like the sort of 'young lady' make up desk aesthetic, and there's a barbie in there for childhood toy good measure. Bottom: A picture I bought at a car boot called 'Jen's 10th birthday party'.

 I made this crown at 1am the night before sports day, to wear on sports day. It has pipecleaners, flowers and tacky plasticky beads on, so it's more of a junk crown, and something a toddler would find very attractive. 

 From LIFE magazine. 50s/60s high school students. Others from Tumblr.

60s students. 

My sister was bought a candy necklace making kit by our grandma. On what planet does candy jewellery not equate to childhood.

I liked this for the lipstick drawing and young love sort of idea. I don't know. I wish I knew what it's from though.

Another cheesy picture of my face.

I bought the My little Pony annual in the first picture at a car boot sale for £2 a few weeks ago.  

My skirt with candy on it.

I also have posts planned n stuffs, which is exciting. I will show you my room and have a collective mopey end of summer holidays post on Tuesday with  at least some aesthetic value as I have a lot of film from the past two weeks to get developed. I also bought some beyond wonderful clothes. Basically life is pretty good right now.

Can I also tell you how painful it has been to use candy throughout this for consistency. Candy is a cooler word though, it just feels weird being British to call it that.

Tally ho!

EDIT: The 10 free copies of my zine have gone but I will soon be putting it on Etsy asap!

Celestial Vomit

I've been interested in celestial stuff recently, as in stars and moons and planets, even gemstones and anything with glittery, paisley, witchy/cosmic vibes, so there's a lot to fit in. I bought two old 90s copies of  the National Geographic on a whim from EBay for something like £2 for both and one had a spread with stars and glittery light it's cool.  There are gazillions of copies of the National Geographic on EBay so go and creep on them yourself; I've been visiting the library at school companion-less to admire the pictures in them, and I have attempted to photocopy them but at school there is just one solitary black and white photocopier so you can't appreciate the marvellous pictures in full colour. Anyway, I have some of my own now so I can photocopy them at my leisure and cut them up as I please. I also dug out heaps upon heaps of old Sugar or Shout magazines to annihilate with the scissors I wield. That sounds exaggerated but the magazines really are massacred once I am done with them. That sounds bad too, but there's a gist I hope you can detect in there, somewhere perhaps.

I also found glow in the dark space stickers in paperchase for a pound which are rockets and planets with rings and stars and moons which I bought. 

I had a sort of outfit that I wore last week that combined space-y sort of stuff and I did photograph it but the pictures didn't develop - darn you film. 

These pictures are from my Instagram of that day though.

This is in my room which I have changed round loads recently and  when I've fully finished it which I plan to have done by the end of tomorrow I'll post about that but this is basically 3 gemstones I ought at Moors Valley probably when I was 5 or 6. They were out of those machines where you insert a pound and it's like lucky dip which one it dispenses (I'm not the only person in the world who knows about these machines am i?)  I can't believe I haven't lost them to be honest. Then there's the green bottle which annoyingly has it's cork stuck in the neck of it, and a candle and the corner of my 70s mirror I got for £2 that my mum despises but 'understands why i like it' which makes no sense. Then a tiny bit of my Lula record, a grannyish photoframe, the refection in the mirror,a rose garland I made myself and lace to cover my radiator.

These show my Mary Quant moon and star stockings I got from EBay and glittery tights from Accessorize for 50p I wore underneath with them. I think they should make a pair of tights that are glittery and feature moons and stars so I don't have to intermittently yank up the stockings because they did fall down often, and to avoid mocking by my father for wearing two layers of tights on a hot day. The red ring was from a car boot sale for £2 and the amethyst one was my grandma's in the 1960s that she has entrusted in my possession. The shoes are my school shoes but the most witchy I own. They're high heeled and everything and cost £1.99 from EBay.

I'm about to update the side and design of my blog too so hopefully it will look better, there'll be links and everything, how snazzy.

Thank you for reading and hello new followers!

You, you may say i'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one

Today is the first day in a week I've ventured out of the house for reasons other than to do my paper round (that I complete for a measly £1.50 a day). I went to get a disposable camera developed that I've carried round with me since March time. I have found beforehand that I would buy a disposable camera and use all the exposures within 24 hours, then get it developed and not be all too happy with the results, so I decided to take longer to use them all which definitely works for me. I do have actual film cameras but I find them quite sporadic in when they decide to work, or maybe it's just me, also disposables are easier to carry and I like the point and shoot aspect.

I have been making the odd thing though like patches and those plastic bead things that you iron together to decorate folders and my locker with. Decorating folders is sort of a summer holiday tradition for me, I've done it two summers on the trot now so I'm going to keep it up because the ones I cover in fabric tend to disintegrate after a year of school so I need to re do them. I have a couple from year 10 I can use in year 11 though. People always comment on them and it's cool to have something aesthetically beautiful on your desk to admire during a tedious lesson of any description, and all the teachers call them 'pretty' and stuff or just look confused, which is perfectly acceptable, so I'll do that next week.

These are just the photos from today because otherwise there are far too many and they wouldn't be chronological or relevant.

They were all taken on my paper round this morning, as you see, after one and a half years of it I have chosen my favourite houses and analysed a lot of them, too. The two I got my sister to take pictures of me in front of have lovely white picket fences and flowers and are lovely and pretty. I hope they didn't see me taking the pictures.

My sister's arms.

My feet. I know the picture above this sort of looks like a continuation of this but it's actually two different houses - I just lack poses.

Is this too Intrusive I hope this isn't intrusive?

 This wasn't intended to be an ~outfit post~ but you can see my clothes so the Starsky and Hutch t shirt was from Etsy for £16 and I made/altered the trousers which were originally St Michael's but I bought them from the Salvation Army for 50p with my nifty volunteer-ee discount. They were a size 16 and straight legged and I literally cut them up and remade them using the fabric so really I sort of made them - in one night may I add; I am proud of this. I wore this outfit back in June for a Geography trip to the beach and felt uninspired today so donned it again. I was going for black, white and red vibes but the pink flowers within these trample all over that so just pretend they are red too.

These pictures are to emphasise my love for picket fences and flowers.

Opening scene to Blue Velvet vibes.

This was in a folder called 'Puke' on my computer so I don't have the source.

Thank you for reading and have a lovely day!

An ode to August

How it's August already is unbeknown to me, time flies far too rapidly, I'm not ready to grow up and be full swing into my GCSE's next year which are like serious business. I have been on holiday and returned though, I went to Malta which was scrupulously hot, but it was pretty none the less which meant I could ignore the fact I was otherwise dying to pause and admire the foreign surroundings, and we also went snorkelling which was the best experience ever in spite of imbibing far too great a quantity of salty seawater which did lead to indiscriminate spluttering all the while trying to keep yourself afloat (and all together causing a raucous and looking rather too attractive for your own good).

I read the perks of being a wallflower (original i know) and spent the majority of my money on maxibons, but I did buy a few typical tourist souvenir-y things too.

When I finished my book I didn't really have much to do in the room in the evening, there was a TV with minimal amounts of channels available and despite the Olympics on German Eurosport ceaselessly being shown (and being watched by my father, and no, Malta isn't in Germany), it is tiring having to listen to commentary in a different language or similarly, watch BBC world news (in English this time) repeating the same news stories monotonously for 5 hours or so. To obtain wi-fi, I had to sit at the foot of the door of the room where the ground was just cold, callous tiles, I could reside no where else otherwise it would disappear, and despite eventually coming to the realisation I could drag a chair to be situated at this exact point of the expanse to be all ~connected to civilization~, it gave me backache so I gave up with that. I used the free paper supplied by the snazzy 5 star hotel and a pen my mother had in the humongous beach bag she lugged round all day everyday to attempt to write, because I think it is a dying art, it's sad it's regarded as nerdy to read even in a public place, and I've wanted to use all these words I've been learning (It's my summer project to learn a word a day). I've scanned what I ended up with below, and the new journal in which I shall try to endeavour to continue creative writing in. I'm giving 'extra large' pictures a spin.

I moved stuff around in my room and bought a red 70s suitcase yesterday which this is all spilling out of/inside.

I'm aware that my watch thing sticks out and it's annoying.

 So I mentioned I moved things around in my room a bit, partially because having a Tumblr has inspired me to do so, partly because I wanted to do something before I had Tumblr (it was on my summer project list that I made beforehand), and partly because my mum, and I quote told me this morning "Hollie, you need to tidy your room, it looks like it's in one of those hoarders programmes". I swear it isn't that bad.

I'm trying to sort out some links to my Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and other social network-y things on the side of my blog which I shall add soon if you want to come and stalk me elsewhere.

Here are some old pictures that I bought yesterday at a car boot that are sort of relevant to the writing you know.

The top one here is my favourite. It looks like some sort of victorian play, they are dressed up all ethereal and elfen, like pixies and faeries but it's eery too because of the age of the picture. Basically I love it.

Sorry if you looked at those and some gave you neck-ache; i tried scanning individually but it took forever and I was going to crop them and save them so they were all individual files but I haven't got round to it.

Thank you for reading/being here/following!

Hollie