Why I decided to move to Manchester.

Missguided pyjamas: £30. Glasses: c/o Miki Moko. Phone case: c/o Paperchase. Caudalie eye cream (swear by it). Sally Hansen cuticle oil.

Whoops, I did it again. Long time readers of this lil blog might know I've got a rather annoying particular habit of tending to up sticks every once in a while, and this is a perfect example of me having itchy feet and thinking "I know exactly what will fix this". So, here I am, roughly 230 miles away from home, making a new start in a new city, and doesn't it feel great?

Why change is good

I'm not the kind of person that takes kindly to being tied down (I can hear my good friends howling at that comment as I type it, they know). An overpaid psychologist would probably put it down to my home breaking up when my parents divorced a while ago leaving me with no real base on which I can manifest nostalgia, or I can work it out for free and say that was something of a wake up call. Shortly after, I moved schools, went to uni, moved house, moved abroad, networked, interned all over the place and worked my arse off to wind up in what I've had people tell me was a "dream job". As someone determined to make the most of things to stop life being a bit crappy, falling into a job that required using Greater Anglia every day (insert sicky emoji a thousand times) seemed a bit... lame. The insane amount of train delays gave me some rare time to wonder what the hell I was doing - when I wasn't working on my phone, of course. The real turning point for me was when I was out for dinner with three friends in similar jobs, and I just... crumbled. It may have been over dessert, but there's no pun intended. It had reached the point where I was working so much I'd made myself ill, and it was the combination of incessant work and not being able to afford to live in London which had driven me to that point. So, instead of whining about it, I decided to give myself a kick up the arse and use LinkedIn for something other than seeing what my old schoolfriends were up to. I found out about the job I'm currently at when it was retweeted onto the work account's timeline - it'd seem I'm so good at my job I see everything, what lark!

Why Manchester was 'the one'

"But... Manchester? Really? That seems a bit extreme" said every southerner ever. It's really easy to fall into the mindset that London is the be all and end all of the world when it captures so much of the media's focus, it's a busy ball of amazingness and generally it is bloody fantastic. But, and this is a big but for people who've never stepped north of Watford, that doesn't mean the rest of the UK is a grey landscape to be Avoided At All Costs.

When I was feeling a bit out of odds at the beginning of university, I decided to (surprise, surprise) go somewhere else. I'd spend pretty much every weekend in a new city, trying out Sheffield, York, Cambridge and, you guessed it, Manchester. But, when I got into things in London, it honestly felt like I'd have to put up with it forever, because the job I did simply didn't exist outside of the M25. What a pickle. So when I saw that tweet come up, I sent an email that very evening, arranged an interview the next day, had two trips to Manchester (even I'm amazed I managed that one in peak trade) and in the new year I had a job offer. I do love proving myself wrong, it's very satisfying.

Preparing to move

I've treated moving to Manchester exactly the same as I treated moving to Munich, just minus the 4am alarm. I've booked myself into an airbnb for the meantime, and am viewing flats with a view to rent for the immediate future. I've been asked a fair few times if I'm intending to buy while I'm here as houses are considerably cheaper than their southern counterparts. There is that possibility (because whatever it may look like on instagram, I don't actually spend all my money on crap, just a little bit of it), but I'm going to stick it out for a bit and see how I get on with this city before making such a massive investment. And a pretty permanent commitment, at that.

Living in Manchester

In a slightly different attitude to Munich, I'm taking things a bit more slowly this time round. Rather than throwing myself into nights out and discovering every bit of town, there's definitely a much more chilled vibe (that, or I'm getting old). Getting used to a new company and their way of working is always going to take a little time to adjust, but I can already tell that this was a good move - and I'm not saying that just because they bought pizza for us on Friday (but maybe a little bit). I've found myself a great place to stay in a really convenient location, and things are looking up on the new flat front too - keep those fingers crossed for me! I'm not sure whether Manchester will be my forever place, but I'm not ruling it out completely...

Have you ever moved cities? I'd love to know if you've got any tips for me in the comments below, or you can just say I'm cray like 95% of my friends, but I've definitely heard that one before.

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Don't forget who you are.

Ribbed polo neck and denim pinafore dress: c/o Fat Face. Hobbs monk shoes: £69 (similar). Marks and Spencer bag: £43. Tatty Devine bunting necklace: made by myself!

Scheduling is the poor man's time travel (bear with me, it kinda makes sense). I'm sitting with a fresh brew writing this on a Thursday lunchtime, knowing it'll be published on Sunday morning, and you'll be reading this maybe that day or in 2019 or whenever. In the interval of 72 hours, I'll have packed my bags, decamped Essex in favour of Manchester*, probably had a minor panic attack on the train as it leaves Euston and thought of pancake day approx 93 times. So, as you read this I'll be fuming at how bloody cold the North is, when in reality I'm chilling listening to a bit of Radio 1. In the past. See? Sort of like time travel.

East London, in a roundabout way, has a similar feel. I'm not an eastender by any stretch of the imagination, but I am firmly rooted there in quite a few ways. Last week I met up with Kristabel and we headed to Pitfield Street's eponymous café for a coffee. As we sat looking across the street I kept thinking of how lots of time paths crossed along this street - obviously not whilst we were talking, because that's weird and a little bit rude. If I were to turn right, I'd end up pacing the well-worn track back to my old place of work, via the local, home to plenty of breakdowns and a fair few hurrahs. Turn left, however, and you'll work your way up to the church my grandparents were married in, their first home and the bakery my cousin still works in to this day. Of course, you'll all have a vested interest in going straight ahead and ending up at the Breakfast Club because their huevos rancheros is amazing and 100% #instagrammable. And there I was sat, wearing some clothes from the brand where I had my first job. One part funny, one part kinda reading into this 100 times too much.

*With the slight upheaval, there might be a bit of change here. I've got a few posts scheduled, but can't guarantee things will be running like clockwork in the next few weeks+, so please bear with me while I sort my life stuff out. I'll inevitably be tweeting and gramming, so see you there in the meantime!

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Look at what you just saw, this is what you live for.

Zara coat: £30 (old, similar). French Connection jumper: £21.50 (on sale, similar). Marks and Spencer cord skirt: £17.50 (on sale, similar). Oasis heeled boots: £17 (on sale, similar, court heel version).

When it comes to most things, I know what I want. I may be a bit iffy on the 'general life' scenario (job? where to live? what toppings to have on my pizza???), but Actual Things? Got it down. I've never really been one to wildly experiment with clothing, Blair Waldorf bright tights period excluded, and since the age of 16 I've slowly been building a wardrobe of classics that I've been wearing ever since - I've documented a lot of them here. Handily, this means that sales are my thing. Occasionally I'll get caught up in the thrill of bargains and I still haven't donated that red shift dress which doesn't suit my body shop to charity (luv u), but more often than not I'll get something I know I'll love forever for a fraction of the price. And, in my opinion, why pay more when you know you can get it for a little less and save the difference for cocktails and Oyster top-ups?

If you're looking for a list of sale shopping tips (praise be to someone who is more organised than me), then I'd 100% recommend heading to Megs' blog, but in slightly chaotic fashion, here are my things to look out for:

STYLE NAILED
You can have too much of a good thing. Just because your wardrobe is 90% Asos (guilty), doesn't mean you should rule out everywhere else. Instead of trawling through every. single. site. because we've all got Take Me Out to catch up on, just head to Love The Sales which keeps everything in order, so you can browse for whatever you're looking for across hundreds of brands. That perfect military coat will be yours, don't you worry.

A 'WEAR ME FOREVER' WHITE SHIRT
I seem to go through these like no one's business, but one that fits is the most important dress-up dress-down basic that you'll never stop wearing.

A BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER WINNER SKIRT
As documented above, I love me a good A-line skirt. I picked up this one in M&S on boxing day, and it's been popped (heh) on ever since. I like tucking in a turtle neck knit for the kind of ootd which'll suit most occasions with the right pair of shoes - even smart casual.

IT'S A COVER UP
Notice how it didn't actually get cold until well after the January sales had started? Retailers for some unknown reason don't seem to understand that no one's interested in buying their Spring things as soon as January rears its grey head, but it works in our favour as pretty much every single coat will be on sale just as the temperatures dip.

WELL HEELED
Your shoe wardrobe is probably about to hit new heights. If you're anything like me, it's a small miracle if your shoes last any longer than a season or two, so now's the best time to update your collection. Before diving in, just check what actually needs to be replaced (I needed a new pair of smart black boots, and had my eye on these Oasis babes for at least four months), and maybe, just maybe, treat yourself to a pair purely because they're pretty. Because shoes.

Post written in collaboration, but all magpie tendencies my own.

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