Evening and chill.

How to Chill The Fuck Out

It's been a long ol' process, learning how to chill out. I'm not 100% there yet, but I've been learning how to let go and generally stop being a ball of stress at all times. I still get massive FOMO and let tasks build up, but these are the small steps I'm taking on the daily in order to make sure that I have my shit together and keep functioning like a, well, functioning human being.

Plan to wake up early.

Massive disclaimer here: I am not a morning person. I find my prime hours of activity are between about 8 and 10pm. That said, I am slowly weaning myself onto a normal person's bodyclock.

When I wake up early, there's a weird sense of accomplishment that I get from completing tasks and activities before I've started the commute to work. This means that I don't feel like things are unachievable by the time my PC's booted up, as I've already started to boss the day. Do you see my logic?

I say "plan to" rather than "do it", because there's no way I'm waking up at 5.45am every single day, even if my alarm's set that way. Even if you snooze your alarm, it's totally a-okay because no one's that good at life every day.

Treat yo' self.

Whether it's Fat Friday (definitely a "thing") or an evening of having your phone on do not disturb and catching up on the Real Housewives of Cheshire, everyone needs a lil something to look forward to.
For me, I like to indulge in an evening out of the loop. As said above, I live in a constant state of FOMO. I say yes to a lot of things, just in case I miss out on a funny story or one of those you-had-to-be-there-moments. I look forward to an evening out every once in a while where I can vegetate in front of my laptop, watching youtube videos while I treat myself to a skin treatment and sort my nails out.
I've been a long time fan of Antipodes, so when they got in touch a few weeks back I knew that these guys would have something to help on one of my chill out days.
Today is the last day of Organic Beauty Week (I know, who knew that was a thing?), so I've been testing out their Aura manuka honey mask for just over a week. I've been having quite a few issues with my skin recently due to a new hospital treatment, and this little tube of goodness has been helping to settle my skin regardless. It's very gentle and the results aren't dramatic, however long term use has shown rejuvenated skin and a less patchy complexion.

Take ten minutes to develop a routine.

Morning and night, there are little things that I can do on autopilot. Once you've developed a routine, you don't even have to think about what you're doing, meaning you get some time to think whilst still doing something: multitasking like a pro.
For me, this is my skincare routine. I talked about my evening skincare routine a while back, and it's just gradually progressed, new item by new item, to a very similar one today. Both in the morning and the evening, I take a good ten minutes to cleanse-serum-moisturise my to-do list. As I go through the motions, I work out that day's plan of action and work out my priorities.
Once I've got it sorted in my head, things are a lot more manageable.

Switch off at least one evening a week.

From reading a minimum of two books a week when I was at university, things came to a stop. Or rather, things fell off a bloody cliff. When we drove home from Liverpool, I just stopped reading. From being that weirdo bookworm kid who used to read a book on her walk to school (not good when you're as clumsy as me, fyi), it was odd to have gone cold turkey.
However, I've recently been getting back into it, and it's definitely helping to clear my head further. The internet is an absolute overload of content and conversation, and it's easy to get sucked into trying to catch up and add your own voice all the time. Rather than getting sucked into that hammed up hamster wheel all the time, I've been taking one night out a week to get stuck into a story and concentrate on that one thing fully.
Recently I've read the Miniaturist by Jesse Burton, and now I'm onto the Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling. Next on my list is Tess of the D'Urbevilles, which I recently salvaged from an old unread reading list pile.

If you've got any more tips on how to chill out, definitely let me know @rebeccacohen on Twitter. Other than that, here's hoping that everyone's doing a-okay.
Because, as always, there's nothing worth crying over, unless it's a video of baby pandas.

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MAN > SHF

A Culottes Jumpsuit and Embossed Watch

Let me just hold backspace for a bit.

I have a habit of leaving my emails for about three weeks, then replying en masse. It's not a technique I'd recommend. In fact, I'd actively dissuade you from adopting this method, as it's only going to make you stress and piss people off. Either way, when I got an email from the babes at Olivia Burton asking if I wanted to head to an event in Sheffield I was mid-way through typing a "cheers, but I live in Manchester" reply before deleting it all and saying "oh, go on then". 

Sheffield is one of those cities I've always loved. No beating around the bush, it's a solid 95% because of Arctic Monkeys, but it holds its own right too. I applied to university there way back when, and even though I didn't attend full time I did go a fair amount to visit my friend Selena. Last time I went was back in 2011 for an Arctic Monkeys gig (surprise surprise), and I've just never had a reason to go back.

Now I live up North, it's not hard to be a daytripper. Yes, trains are few and far between, but they're cheap as chips. That day I met up with Kavita to discuss what she'd been up to since we'd last seen each other. Sheffield weather was behaving, so we ate outside before heading into town for a quick walk around. I then headed to Meadowhall to visit boutique Goldsmiths. I was very lucky to be treated to my very own Olivia Burton watch, which has been personalised with my name: it doesn't just tell you the time, it also helps you out of tricky situations. You can get this done online, but it was super quick in-store.

Fast forward to the next weekend, and Laura and I were picking our brunch spot for the weekend. Not feeling a 45 minute (!!) wait for Alabamas, we just went round the corner to Allotment. One of those "should I eat where I drink?" establishments, but I am so glad we went in. Honestly, the eggs benedict comes highly recommended from me, and I've tried a fair few platefuls of it in my time.

Laura was kind enough to snap a few photos of my outfit before it proper peed it down. New fave combo of a culottes jumpsuit and anything chelsea boots that I picked up for a mere £7 in Zara. Of course, paired with my faithful leather jacket and a fedora hat.

What I Wore

Olivia Burton watch: c/o. Warehouse culottes jumpsuit. The Kooples leather jacket. Zara metallic chelsea boots: c/o Liverpool ONE. Topshop fedora hat. Urban Outfitters bag.

Where We Went

What's on Insta

Sunny skies in the steel city today 🔥🔥 #Sheffield #travel #summer

A photo posted by Rebecca (@rebeccacohen_) on Aug 7, 2016 at 9:11am PDT

Yesterday's kiwi special (apparently) mince on toast with @shewearsfashion #sheffield #acolorstory #green

A photo posted by Rebecca (@rebeccacohen_) on Aug 8, 2016 at 10:21am PDT

Get in me. 🍳 Brunch with @chambrayandcurls #eatmcr #brunch #manchester #food #breakfast #capturemcr

A photo posted by Rebecca (@rebeccacohen_) on Aug 20, 2016 at 4:15am PDT

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Moving to Manchester: six months on.

Moving to Manchester: Six Months On

And some completely unrelated photos to go with it.

Okay, okay, seeing as I moved on 6th February it's nearer the seven months mark, but I'm gonna go with it, as six seems like the bigger "landmark". But doesn't time fly when you're having fun and drinking the Northern Quarter dry? Since moving to Manchester, there've been a few changes, and I thought where better to word vomit have a look back than here? This blog's seen me through moves to Liverpool and Munich, so here's to bulking out the Manchester chapter.

Whereas my last two jollies had a very definite end date (in Liverpool I was there to study for three years, and my contract in Munich was for six months before landing back with a jury service-shaped bump), moving to Manchester was always going to be a little different. With no specific end date, this one could be a little more permanent. I've been focusing more on getting to know the city centre with brief excursions out, and working out whereabouts I fit in. There was that day towards the end of my first month where it had rained/snowed for the twentieth day in a row and I broke down via whatsapp to Georgia saying I hated it here... but I'm now happy to report that's one of the very few dips I can report since moving to Manchester. Plenty of people have asked when I'm planning to move back South like I've had my moment of madness. Although I don't see myself being here forever, I'm certainly nowhere near done with this city and plan to be here for a good while yet. And hey, while I've got my Railcard, it's max £60 to get back to Essex.

Of course, completely upending your life doesn't come with hiccups. Although the rent sector may not be as cut-throat as London's, things still move quickly. Finding somewhere to live proved pretty tricky, but eventually Laura and I settled just outside the city centre. Up to that point I've been staying in airbnbs (the good, the bad and the ugly), which was emotionally straining on top of starting a new job/city/everything. Thankfully that bit's over, and we've been in our apartment for six months, exactly this time. As I'm not sure quite how long I'll be staying here for, I haven't gone crazy in the furniture department and it's hardly swamped in homewares, but it's definitely feeling a little bit more like home. If you fancy, you can see a little of what it looks like here. I like the area we live in as it's a fifteen minute walk to Piccadilly station (or ten, if you're late for your train and prepared to sweat a bit), close to the Norther Quarter and removed enough to not feel like your pores are clogged with pollution every second of the day. Little mercies.

Surprise, surprise: I'm another one of the multitudes of bloggers who've ended up working in Social Media. I don't reeeeeally talk about my job online that much any more; there are plenty of other people who are happily authoritative on the subject so I'll let them get on with it. This was my principle reason for making the move. I'd started applying for a new job about this time last year, absolutely convinced that I'd simply be moving to another place in London. When I saw this one come up on Twitter, I applied that evening and arranged to come up the next week. Soon enough, I was booking trains and making stuff happen. Manchester is known for its fast fashion, so I wasn't worried about making the move. Yes, I work for a young company, but I've no concerns about its continued success. And that staff discount goes a lot further.

Blogging has taken a bit of a backseat since moving to Manchester, but these things happen and I don't have any concerns. I'm not prepared to quit and take up blogging full time, nor am I in the position to do so. But I do want to keep things ticking over here to continue this little journal I've had since I was at uni. It'd be a bit weird to just... stop. Manchester bloggers are a great group of people, and I see Clare and Laura a happy amount. Basically, I just need to work out what I want to do with my blog, and then maybe I'll create a plan of action. Who knows what'll happen?

I do, of course, have moments where I wish I were based in London. I can't just pop on the tube to get to a networking event, and have to mute whatsapp groups when they're talking about plans for Friday. There is a lot going on in Manchester, but there will always be those greener grass moments. 99% of the time I'm so busy in the here that I'm not concerned with whatever's going on a couple of hundred miles away, but it'd be a downright lie to say it's not hard at times.

TL;DR? Moving to Manchester is happily one of the best decisions I've ever made, and this city seems to have adopted me quite well. And I've sort of started to say Northern phrases, which is really, really weird.

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