Hello from the other siiiiiide.

Roll-neck jumper, camel suedette skirt, heeled ankle boots: all c/o TU Sainsburys. Catarzi fedora hat: £25 (now on sale!). Oasis embellished leather clutch: £9, with staff discount.

Hello, 2016! I've been umm-ing and ahh-ing over whether to do a "round up of 2015" style post like I did last year, but seeing as the big one-five was actually a pretty crummy year maybe it's best to let that one lie. In short: it all started pretty well, but stress levels hit an all time high, resulting in some serious side-effects on my health (both mental and physical), and who really wants to read about that? I was determined to see in the new year with a drink in hand surrounded by plenty of people to make sure I didn't wallow about, and one stupid journey later we were toasting the first hour. Even if it's just one night, for me there's something about making sure your year starts as you mean to go on: happy, carefree, and surrounded by friends.

Back to the present, 2016's been alright so far. Made myself some cheese scones, bought a Mulberry handbag, drunk a litre of hangover cure in an hour - not much for me to complain about, my bank account however... Here's to a new year of treating yourself right, and just plain old treating yourself.

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Take it back and then let it go.

eBay blanket cape: £19.99. Jack Wills blouse: £60 (now £24 in Black Friday sale). Nine by Debenhams jeans. Karen Millen boots: £25, sample sale.

I've never been that person with the Five Year Plan. When people were deciding their GCSE options based on their parents' decision to study medicine at university, I opted to go for what I enjoyed. When my past relationships have taken a "let's decide dates" turn my #goals have been a little more vague. And god help anyone who has to buy me a present because I'll definitely not be able to give you any guidance. I'm the sort of person that makes personal decisions based upon what I like, what I want, and what is fun. Right now. I'll be the first person to hold my hands up and say 'okay, I'm not thinking about kids and weddings', but I can guarantee to be your first port of call for anything happening, good or bad, big or small; I've got a few boarding passes to Paris and crumpled up receipts as physical proof.

It's getting to the time of year when people are asking me what I 'like'. It's my birthday next week, so have had a fair few queries as to what I want to do, what I'll be doing throughout the week, what presents I've got in mind, etc. I've always been one to have a fairly low key celebration, inviting a few people over for drinks before heading out (normally not remembering coming home), but this year I don't want anything. Call it odd, but I really don't want a marker of this coming of age. Having a birthday in December is tough as it is - people are busy, booking a large table has to be done months in advance, and it's really bloody cold - but this time round I've come to the conclusion that, really, it's not worth the hype at all. Maybe it's getting old (don't hate me, anyone over 27), or maybe it's just coming round to the conclusion that there are more important things to do than celebrate the passing of time.

But, if there is something I like doing, it's spending the afternoon in a country pub (The Hare in Roxwell, shown above, is a personal favourite), and generally avoiding outside life at all costs. It is, after all, the little things rather than the big displays of ostentation that count.

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I only call you when it's half past five.

eBay blanket cape: £19.99. Rust playsuit: c/o lessthantenpounds.com. Karen Millen boots: £25, sample sale. Mac "Ravishing" lipstick.

Could you be any more cliché? I may be minus the red cup and faux fur hat, but this girl loves a theme. If there's one theme that keeps cropping up when I think about this blog, poor segway aside, I sometimes (read: quite a lot of the time) wonder whether there's much point of keeping this blog going; I don't have the best photos, don't really 'know my angles', only just about keep blogging regularly and weep a little bit every time the mail app starts on my laptop. Yet I know there will always be that "what if?" part of me (and that "you better not bloody give up, you weakling" part of me) which pushes me forwards a little bit longer. I try new ways to take photos, and hope to have improved just a little from last year and the year before. I try new things, even if it's simply adding a bit of information about where the photos were taken or adding in more lifestyle elements. And, possibly most importantly, I try to pop something up I'd like to read myself. Whether it's four paragraphs cracking jokes about dressing like Blair Waldorf or a set of photos that are so tumblr it makes me feel a little queasy, I do hope there's a little something to make you smile. Even if I'm not able to produce a pumpkin spiced latte. Which are disgusting, imo.

PS, last chance to enter to win Newbury Racing tickets and a John Lewis voucher! >

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Tongue-tied and breathless.

Warehouse leather jacket: £1, sample sale. Warehouse check shirt: £1, sample sale. Oasis Isabella jeans: £27. Hobbs boots: £40. Asos fedora hat: £25. Jaeger clutch bag: £25, Freeport Braintree (similar).

Hello, is it a mid-week post you're looking for? Regardless of the answer (or if you're reading this on Saturday), this is exactly what you've stumbled across. I'm not one for blogmas, vedj or whatever weird acronym is magicked up next, but I'm feeling blogtober and am aiming to get two posts up a week for this month only. Which either sounds:

a) lame. But then again, you're the one reading it;

b) not that much effort. You try working full-time, having a 37.5% abv social life and then touching your laptop post-collapse at home; or

c) superhuman. The one I'm going for, as I cough myself into oblivion.

Depending on the audience*, I tend to tell people I'm from Chelmsford. This is true - I do live here, sleep here, write this blog post here. But aside from vegetating in knitwear of an evening, my trips into town don't really consist of much more than heading to the station before the sun's even risen or a rare trip to the gym. To mix things up a little, my mum and I headed to Chelmsford Museum as they had an exhibition (strong word, it was a room) on about the history of swimming costumes. It's an odd little museum, featuring a lot of military history, shout outs to Marconi and some taxidermy, but there's a lot to be said for day trips that take less than half an hour to travel back from. A trip down the road calls for ultimate comfort, so I plucked my skinnies from the top of the pile and learnt a little bit more about where I live. Some people (I'm looking at you, Dickens) may have thought Chelmsford was "the dullest and most stupid spot", he might not be far wrong, but apparently Hendrix played here once, who knew? 

*Never ever tell boozed up men you're from Essex. Ever.

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My life in print.

Oasis V&A Collection Kilburn culottes (ish): £5, sample sale. Collective white t-shirt. Primark faux leather jacket: £10 (similar). Oasis loafers: £4, sample sale. Mulberry belt: gift. Vintage bag: 50p, jumble sale. Necklace: from Claire.

If there's one place I look to for peace and quiet in London (other than the City at the weekend), it's the V&A Museum. It may be a ball ache pain to get to from East London, but once you emerge from the underground, there's nothing like the relief of walking through the main entrance under that chandelier and walking among display on display of history hosted in just one building in South West London. So, when someone started the sentence "I'm definitely not supposed to tell you this yet, but" I was pretty bloody excited. In case you haven't heard - Oasis has teamed up with the V&A to create a perfectly printed collection, and I want it ALL.

I picked up the Kilburn culottes in a sample sale a month or so back (I was after the Shoreditch trousers but my rail rummage didn't come up trumps this time) and after the initial 'how the hell am I meant to wear these?!' thoughts, I decided to throw all caution to the wind and just go for it. This much print needs to go with something plain, so my ol' faithful white tee was an obvious choice. A warm brown instead of black seemed like the perfect accompaniment, and one of my best Primark finds finished things off with a little pastel flair. I've picked out a few of my favourite V&A Collection bits below, but do let me know if you've spied anything you'd fancy adding to your own wardrobe.

ps, I'm currently at Glastonbury! Phone free, carefree, and probably not hangover free, I'll be back ASAP, but keep an eye on Instagram for a few snaps on my return.

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