January:

02.01.16

Today was a lovely day spent with some of my favorite people doing some of my favorite things. 

I planned to meet Ellie, Jess and Ruby at Omni, a cool new cafe/restaurant I had been to with mum just before Christmas. It used to be a sandwich shop I would go to for lunch when in high school but had recently been bought by friends of my disability support tutor (what a small world!). All the food was inspired by the owners travels around Asia and its lush there!I got up extra early to sort out Ellie presents (Because I couldn't be there for her birthday party) and it seemed a good a time as any to give her 21 gifts. She really liked it and I was so happy :) We ate and then walked down to the coast where we grabbed a coffee. 

 When I got home me and mum sat down to watch Gone with the Wind, something which we had been very excited to do all Christmas brake. It was the last chances I would have to hang out with mum before she went on night shift and would spend all day sleeping. As we watched we ate risotto and I painted. I am particularly pleased with this experiential piece; I don't usually do portraits as I find faces very challenging but I am really inspired by these expressive brushstrokes and very stylized final result. I will defiantly be producing more works like these. 

03.01.16

Its so weird to be back. Cooked tea for mum as she needed to spend the day sleeping in preparation for her first night at work, and so walked to Sainsbry's to get ingredients. I was just making a fried rice. It is so odd to come home and walk paths I used to walk almost every couple of days. I have no idea what its going to be like when I come home for summer, to stay permanently, or rather, until the next thing comes along. I'm beginning to realize I don't want to live in or around Newcastle at all. There is nothing for me here... 

06.01.16

I spent today chilling at Emily's house and making art along side Emily who was writing an essay for uni and Bethan who was working on her A Level project. I ended up staying for lunch and tea and then the three of us went to my house so I could do more henna for them. Bethan got a lift home and me and Emily spontaneously ended up making mug cakes and watching a couple of films. Her and Kyle were recently broken up at this point (...not that that lasted very long... im so mad...) so we talked it out and had a really lovely day. She then went home, but not before convincing me to go on one last Thursbay with the girls before I headed back to Leeds!

This is a photograph of some henna I did on Emily's foot a few days earlier which I am particularly proud of, I'm getting better!

14.01.16

I spent all day doing dissertation until Adam sent me a text asking If I wanted to join him for a pint and then go see The Hateful Eight at the Light cinema. I needed to priorities my school work so I missed out on the pint and met him at the film. I really enjoyed the film, which was much more of a psychological story than an action packed adventure - I like that! I snuck in drinks and gave Adam a couple, so to pay me back we went to the pub after. Because Adam was leaving within the next few days I tried to think of a place he might not have been to before and so took him to The Angel, a real working mans pub in some back ally off the main shopping street in Leeds. The place has its own brewery so there are limited options but its cheap and the drinks are good. We discussed the film for a while before we were joined at our table by a group of working class men on cocaine. They were very nice and we had many interesting conversations, particularly with a guy about our age who was doing a law degree whilst also owning two of his own businesses. He was very interesting and extremely fucked up on coke. 

When the pub closed we were invited to join them back at one of their apartments in the city but we decided against it (stranger danger and all that!) and instead went to Sela bar round the corner, another bar Adam needed to drink at before leaving. We got a pint each, found a table and ended up catching the end of this random band's set. They were very american/rockabilly inspired and were awesome! We made sure the bar was clapping and cheering enough for two encores! All in all a very good day x 

17.01.16

It snowed! It only lasted about 24 hours but I think snow is so beautiful and makes everything look so magical. Old places suddenly look new and I find that really exciting! 

26.01.16

Yet another random selfie. This one was taken in the privet disabled student study room in the library which are my new favorite place! Dissertation sucks, but when you can book your own little space in the library for a couple of hours to work on it it becomes that little bit better. 

December:

03.12.15

My studio Space at the height of its messiness <3

04.12.15

08.12.15

Scouse Amy is a star! I was struggling with my dissertation, not knowing where to start and she told me how she had helped her mum when she was writing her dissertation a couple of years ago. She said I should get huge pieces of paper and use them to structure my research. So I did and it works amazingly! I have scribbled all over it and it made a lot of things very clear in both the structure and content of my work. I have put them up in the kitchen so I can see them whenever I am pottering about in there, keeping a pen close by so that if anything pops into my head I can quickly write it down. It has also encouraged me to work in the kitchen which is nice :) 

09.12.15

10.12.15

14.12.15

Went round to Charlie's house for tea (which was lush, even though it was meat I really enjoyed it) and we all ended up getting our hair done. Myself and Sinead had both been invited round to help Charlie dye her hair and so Sinead was on hair duty and I made cups of tea. In a spur of the moment type thing Sinead ended up getting dip-dying her hair and I let my fringe be cut - if I do say so myself, we both came away looking fabulous - thanks Charlie! 

15.12.15

Because Viki came back for graduation we met up at the beer tent at the German market to re-live old times. It was so good to hang out again!

 17.12.15 

Met up with Adam and his girlfriend Amanda, who is visiting over Christmas and New Year. I met them at a bar on call lane I had never been to before called Brooklyn Bar. Me and Amanda both ordered cocktails while we were there and this one was particularly beaut! We went to a couple more bars but some asshole full on jammed my face in a cake (don't ask) so the mood of the night was a little dampened. Because I wasn't really dressed-to-impress anyway I didn't really care about the cake thing and was still down to go to more bars. We went to Bellgrave before heading back to ours. Adam and Amanda are so easy to chill out with :) 

18.12.15

24.12.15

As per tradition, Christmas eve is spent with my girlies <3 I met up with Jess, Emma, Ellie and Ruby at Sugarloaf where we ate brunch before taking a stroll along the sea. We walked as far as the promenade would allow, where it lead us to a tiny slither of sand. We played that game where you chase the sea and then promptly run away from it as soon as the waves sweep back in. It was just like being a little kid again, except the penalty for loosing this version of the game would be freezing cold salt water in my Dr Martins. The more hardcore version of the game involved a wall which would always be hit by the wave. The game was to run as far along it while the wave was out and run back before the water inevitably swept back up to the wall. Acting like a kid is always fun, and if you cant do it at Christmas when can you!

In this spirit we then went to Whitley Bay's play park where we hung out on the swings like teenagers and climes the rope diamond like kids. Emma had to leave at this point but myself Ellie, Jess and Ruby decided to go to the pub for a drink. We found a crossword to do and had one drink before heading home. Mum, Jim and Dad were all at home ready to begin our traditional Christmas eve festivities: party tea and Christmas films! Rory popped round to exchange gifts and we hung out for a little while. 

Although I had a fab day the night somehow went a little bit wrong and me and mum ended up having a big fight. I wanted to make up but she wanted to go to bed angry. At least dad was cool. 

27.12.15

Novermber: 

06.11.15

12.11.15

October:

12.10.15

This is the view from my level 3 studio space. I love it! I have a corner spot with a plug and I'm sat with Charlie, Laura and Sinead :D Its weird tho think this might be the last time I have an official studio space for a long time... 

 13.10.15

Happy Birthday Aaron! For his birthday Aaron hired out a posh venue and we played pool and drank discount cocktails all night. It was a really fun night, even though I didn't really mingle and stuck to hanging out with Adam, Amy and Courtney. We all got Aaron's dad to buy us shots and and even though Amy and Courtney had to leave early-ish because they had work early the next day me and Adam stayed out a bit longer, considered going out to bars and then walked home.

16.10.15

Fruity at the union, not usually my scene but Courtney was visiting and im always a little bit surprised at how much I enjoy myself. Its gross and loud and full and hot and cheap but its something every Uni-of student must attend at least once in the University career. I hate to like it but its just so Leeds xD 

19.10.15

The view from my bedroom window looking particularly lovely. 

20.10.15

In fisrt semester of last year I went to trampolining almost every week. It is such a good stress relief! I would like to keep going but now that Amy has lest uni and is no longer a coach there and with dissertation and degree show looming I don't think I can commit to it. 

23.10.15

The last time I spoke to Jess she told me she was going down to Brighton to visit Emma and that I was welcome to join her. At first I was unsure, I was having a shit time at this point and didn't really feel up for it, but after mentioning it to mum, she said I should absolutely go. With mums encouragement I decided to book the journey, a train to Kings cross, catch the tube to Victoria Station where I would meet Emma and Jess (who was taking the Mega Bus). Mum mailed me an Oyster card for the underground and offered to pay for my train tickets as part of my birthday present, I was very grateful. 

The moment I got to London I knew I had made the right decision! I had booked my train so I could arrive a bit early and proceeded to go to the British Library and the Wellcome collection. I then caught the tube to Victoria station and met up with the girls. It was so cool to hang out just the three of us again, just like old times; the tripod :) 

We wandered across the city on foot, made our was to Buckingham place and grabbed a drink in the park where we could continue to chat and catch up. We must have wandered around for hours! After a few more hours of wandering around, going to random places and spending a good 45min in Hamleys, we went to itsu (a kinda lunch-time sushi place) where we waited until their after 8 deal in which all of their pre-packaged stuff was half price. We feasted on delicious food all for under a fiver before heading back to the train station, traveled to Brighton, caught the bus to Emma's house and stayed up until 5 in the morning listening to reggae, drinking and talking, joking and bitching. I kinda felt like I was in high school again: young and carefree.Im so glad I went!

24.10.15

25.10.15

Before leaving brighton I wanted to go on the beach and see the famous pier. It was a nice day for it but I feel sorry for anyone who thinks this is a beach. Its not. beaches have sand. There was this little kid making piles of rocks and as I looked at him all I could think is how much more fun he would have at one of the beaches in the North East where he could actually build a sand castle! haha oh well, cant miss what you never had I suppose! 

It was a nice last day with Emma and Jess. Emma said goodbye to is at Brighton station and me and Jess traveled to London whew, on arrival, we found a cafe between Victoria station (where I would catch the underground to Kings Cross) and Jess' Mega Bus pick up point. We had a coffee and then parted ways. The weekend had gone without a hitch and I was surprised at myself for how accustomed I have become at traveling alone. As I attempted to get my readings done for the next day I had a complete breakdown on the train and ended up calling mum in the train toilets in tears. That was the day she told me I needed ot go to the doctors about my mental health the next day. Which I did. 

28.10.15

After Uni, Sinead invited myself, Charlie and Laura to hers for tea. We ate, we drank and all in all had a lovely night! Laura left really early which was a bummer but the banta was good! Sinead had mentioned to me that her mate was having a party that we were all invited to. Seeing as we were already a little beyond tipsy, I joined Sinead and Nathan to the party.

I would not be lying if I said that Sinead really downplayed the scale of this party. The way it was described to me was  I was imaging a standard house party, nothing special. No, this was a 'Skins Party'. All the bulbs in the house has been replaces with red bulbs, the basement had been completely transformed into a rave, there was a DJ and light show and the walls were covered in patterns painted in neon paint. We ended up partying for until the early hours and I think I stole some poor guys alcohol after I either drank all of mine or mine got nicked ... I cant really remember the details haha.. xD     

 29.10.15

Standard studio selfie one night when the studios were open late and I was the only one left in there. I blasted Streetlight Manifesto's The Hands That Thieve album and ran around the studios photographic my work. 

30.10.15

What the club looked like....

...what the club felt like. It was awesome! 

Makeup still looked good at the end of the night: Success! 

31.10.15
Birthday Night Out

This Halloween was defiantly a success! I went to the Union's event with Amy Smith and Adam, which played literally the best and most perfect music to celebrate my birthday! I spent the night singing my heart out to 90s and 00s anthems, all the music which has been made during my 20 years of life :D While we were standing in the queue, midnight hit and Adam, Amy and a few other people next to us sang me happy birthday the moment I turned 21. It was very cute and probably extremely annoying for anyone nearby but I didn't care! The whole night went smoothly, apart for a couple of hour in which we lost Adam, but we found him again before the night was over. The only person enjoying the music more than me was Amy, who every time a new song she like came on (so, every time a new song came on) would look me dead in the face and say something along the lines of  'OH MY GOD ROSIE KILL ME', 'OMG THIS SONG! STAB ME IN THE FACE' or 'HOLY SHIT BURY ME ALIVE' hahaha she so dramatic I LOVE IT :P This was one of those rare night were everything is cool and there inst really anything to worry about and everyone is just there to have a good time. I didn't really even drink that much because I was too busy dancing and singing. We finally went to bed at about 6 in the morning after walking home and chilling together in the kitchen for a bit :) What an amazing way to bring in my 21st year of life x