WOW Festival 2016

WOW Festival 2016

A couple of weeks ago I attended the WOW (Women of the World) Festival on the Southbank and it was bloody marvellous. I'm not going to lure you in with words right now as I have gushed about the festival for a whole 11 minutes on my YouTube channel - HERE.

If you went, pop my a comment with your opinion on the festival, atmosphere and speakers below :)

Don't be so hard on yourself

Don't be so hard on yourself

Hello, I’m 29 years old and alongside most people my age, I’m partial to freaking out.

I currently live in London, in a two-bed flat (read: cupboard) with one of my best friends, I have a great job and a great group of friends. All the things that genuinely make life great. Why the sporadic freak outs then Ashley?..... Well, pressure. Not pressure enforced on me by anyone else, it's self conflicted. It's not switching off, it's constantly checking my phone, it's allowing myself to freak out that I should be doing more and doing it better.

For example, I received an email from my yoga teacher, I say that like I am truly connected to the yoga world, I’m not – I’m a flailing member. I’ve attended around five times in the past six months, which is why I emailed in the first place 'I'm sorry I missed the lesson, I'll make it Monday, blah, blah blah'… the reply simply said ‘don’t be so hard on yourself'.

My yoga (yoda) teacher was right, I am hard on myself. I irritate myself for not creating more, exercising more and generally not doing more. I berate myself for not moving quicker, for not being more motivated before / after work, for not losing weight, for being horrifically bored when I set foot in a gym and for allowing myself to binge on Netflix (and cheese and pizza and cider).

What’s with all the pressure? And it's not just me, (no whiners / self pity here) all of my friends (especially the ones taking the journey to the ever approaching 'dirty thirties') are feeling it one way or the other, right alongside me.

In generations before ours, at 29, your life would be pretty much ‘sorted’ – you would typically have a job, a house, a marriage and probably 2.4 children. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I am cut out for half of those things, I am still unsure whether having kids will be something that I do and getting married in the traditional sense doesn’t particularly appeal either… but I can choose not to do that, there is no-one to push me to get married, there is no-one looking at me in disgrace for having sex out of wedlock and that fact on it's own, is incredible.

Now, we are so privileged – we have the world at our fingertips, the opportunities for what we can achieve and strive to achieve are endless. The choice on whether you want to settle down, have kids and get married is completely open – you can choose exactly what you want from life, people are pushed to make the decisions that are right for them and it’s fantastic.

We need to embrace all of the opportunity laid before us, the opportunity that people have fought for us to have, rather than being intimidated by it and we need to use it wisely to change our own lives and the lives of people around us. 

I've told my subconscious and it's pressure to get lost, I'm doing ok, and so are you.

**Just so you know - I realise that I am coming at this from a very privileged viewpoint!

Refresh Repeat

Refresh Repeat

Procrastination solely fuelled by the internet is a new hobby. Refresh repeat, refresh repeat, refresh repeat.. the internet constantly offers new content to seduce my brain and concentration every second.  The internet is like an irritating friend - it wants to talk a lot, be the centre of attention and basically draw your attention away from any task you were about to complete.

Pre-internet obsession, my procrastination capabilities were still pretty strong - I would quite happily clean my kitchen, organise my book shelf into alphabetical order, re-organise my book shelf to group colour groups (Pinterest innit?), sort of my wardrobe, eat dinner, bake a cake (eugh, baking)... I wonder if there are strange creatures out there who don't procrastinate? Would they be allowed to be counted as 100% human if they can complete a task straight away?...

*Just so you are fully aware, I made the above graphic whilst procrastinating about starting another project. Yep, that's right guys - I procrastinated by designing a graphic to show the ways I procrastinate. Yep.

Lumiere London

1.8 London by Janet Echelman

Lumiere London

Roads are closed, streets are busy and lights have taken over London town. Tonight was the start on the 4-day light festival 'Lumiere London'.

I wrapped up in all the clothes I could find and eagerly wandered down (looking like a well-dressed sumo wrestler, 5 layers is normal right?...) after work to see the lights turn on. The lights are all over London, we started at Oxford Circus because, a). I was eager to see Janet Echelman's floating, jellyfish cloud creation, and b). I wanted to walk in the middle of the road on Oxford Street without fear of death.

Janet Echelman's '1.8 London' was a firm favourite - beautiful, ethereal and based around an impact created by a Japanese earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

"Such was the strength of the vibrations, the earthquake momentarily sped up the earth's rotation and shortened that day by 1.8 microseconds"

All of the pieces I oogled were incredible and I am still itching to see the telephone box aquariums around the city...

The festival runs from the 14th - 17th January, if you are in London, drop everything and go.

Lumineoles

Keyframes by Groupe LAPS

Trainwreck, A Run Down

Trainwreck, A Run Down

Firstly, I adore Amy Schumer - I think her comedy, her mentality and general outlook on life is spot on. It shouldn't be the case at all, but when somebody comes along who is willing to be bold, speak their mind and ultimately be themselves, it's overwhelmingly refreshing.

Which is precisely why I was beyond excited for Trainwreck. I watched the trailer repeatedly, giggled madly and told everyone I came across about how good this film was going to be. Now, I get it, I built this film up to the top of the top - the rom-com to end all rom-coms.... and it kills me to say that I was disappointed...

I liked the character Amy's attitude - she was successful, had a great flat, great friends, a great job and  was single - and not sad single, not a single girl constantly on the look out and pining for a partner to make her life complete... she was single, happy and content enough in herself that she could date, call the shots in her own life, have sex freely with exactly who she wanted and be happy with it.

I enjoyed the fact that Amy went on a few dates and didn't (in standard rom-com behaviour) fall at his feet - there was no last name squiggling in her diary, no mooning conversations to her mates just pure, realistic pessimism.

The film diverted from that direction slightly... There were parts of the film that made me laugh out loud (yes LOL, but writing LOL makes me feel nauseous) but parts of the film were just a bit uncomfortable and not in a good, self realisation way. There was a lot of emphasis on the fact that her sister got married, her sisters husband was portrayed like an oddball for following 'the well trodden route', there was an intervention and a dance scene, oh god, a dance scene - I get that this film was designed to mock the standard rom-com story lines and stereotypes, but there was something just slightly 'off'.

I have been partial to a Judd Apatow film in the past and that is exactly what this feels like - Apatow rather than Schumer, should have been Schumer.

Have you seen it? Am I talk a load of bull? Tell me..

The Lily Allen Effect

The Lily Allen Effect

Sometimes you need to channel Lily Allen, this day happened to be one of those days.

This particular evening, I was making the trip to Surrey for dinner and drinks. I decided to get dressed up for no reason whatsoever, sometimes no reason, is the absolute best reason. I have been on the hunt for a pair of trainers for a while and couldn't quite bring myself to cave and get the Nike Free Runs, instead I decided on a pair of Adidas Sambas (mens - the women's selection just didn't cut the mustard..). The whole outfit selection, including a hipster half bun, felt very 2006 and I loved it.

The night consisted of steak, great company, good music and cider tasting (a bit like wine tasting but if you spit the cider out, people pelt you with apples - don't waste cider kids...). I know it's August so it is actually meant to be warm, but I am still amazed when I can sit outside at 11pm sans a coat / blanket / duvet. The only thing making me want to relocate indoors was the apple tree, that kept dropping apples uncomfortably close to my head - I survived, but only because I was supporting apple kind with my choice of booze...

Until next time :)

Dress - HM, Trainers - Adidas

Jude's Giant

Jude's Giant

If you ask a small person to draw something, they just draw it. 

You ask a person over the age of 16 to draw something and you witness something entirely different, I think it can be described as panic. Sheer panic, anxiety and a sprinkle of stress.

There is the stress that it won’t look good, that somebody can draw it better, is it anatomically correct? Have I researched into the subject? Has somebody drawn something like this before? How do I start? I think I need to clean the house before I start... Do I have the correct tools for the task? 

But children just draw. I miss that. I miss the sheer enjoyment of just drawing without thinking about it or feeling like I need reference images to use so it looks 'correct'. When you are small you approach drawing armed only with your imagination, if you are asked to draw a dinosaur, you draw a dinosaur how you think it looks rather than worrying about if it is correct. You draw a dinosaur with three heads, a colander for a hat and a smaller dinosaur for a necklace, just because. 

This is what we should still be doing, not just in drawing but in every situation. We need to enter a situation armed only with our own ideas, voices and choices - there is no need to let what other people think or what other people would do cloud the situation.

As Roald Dahl once said ‘Growing older is no excuse for growing up’. Hear, hear.

Doing things you know you shouldn't.

This isn't going to be one of those posts where I suddenly feel the need to purge my soul and reveal that I was a shoplifter when I was a teen (I wasn't) or one of those kids that sat in the graveyard drinking three litre bottles of 'White Lightening' (that however, I was). 

It is more a case of realising that I do things I know full well I shouldn't on a daily basis, examples of this strange behaviour can / may include:

• Watching sad films (*can also include -listening to sad music) when feeling down, knowing full well it will only allow me to wallow further into the cave of sadness.
• Buying something that I know will leave my bank balance looking sickly.
• Disliking some people without any need.
• Losing touch with people.
• Feeling sorry for myself. W A L L O W I N G helps no-one.
• Eating the entire contents of two sharing bag of salt & vinegar kettle chips (this example was donated by a pal...obvs)
• Listening to the Twilight audiobook for a third time when I am not a crazed teenage fangirl (also donated by a pal..)

All relatively normal human behaviour and when I realise I am doing it 'those things I know I shouldn't' I chide myself for being a complete mard-arse. (for the non-Northen folk - 'mard-arse' - spoiled, sulky, sullen, having a tantrum, being a whinger, being difficult OR go with the Arctic Monkeys, they summed it up rather splendidly) 

So, that (as they say) is that - tell me your secrets...

I also went to Highgate Cemetery - more on that beaut later... but for now, I thought they added (quite marvellously) to my dramatic mood.

On Sunday, I Was Chosen

Skirt - Miss Selfridge, Shirt - River Island, Socks - Primark, Boots - Dune, Coat - H&M

On Sunday, I Was Chosen

Sunday was Father's Day and nothing says 'happy Father's Day' like a pint of scrumpy by the Thames... am I right?...

I am not the most logical of dressers, if I get an outfit that I want to to wear in my head then I have to wear it. Whether that be a floaty dress in tornado like wind or a short skirt / socks combo in the hot heights of UK weather (wishful thinking BUT it was bloody hot, muggy some would say). I still felt mighty cool in my seventies get up, drinking my cider - hence the sassy pose I seem to have adopted. You can't see it, but my eyes are smiling.

I thought I had taken a huge amount of photos, having too much fun to keep snapping,.. obvs.

I had such a nice time celebrating Father's Day, which ended with a Greek feast, supplemented with wine and epic quotes from an eight year old, including 'this is just paradise on a thousand plates' - the most poetic and flowery thing I thinkI have ever heard.

Oval Farmers Market

Oval Farmers Market

I should have posted these agesss ago, because for one - the outfit photography is ten times more beautiful than what usually graces my blog, and two - the Oval Farmers Market is one of my favourite places to be in London on a Saturday morning and that is something that needs to be shared with the world (aka the internet).

This particular Saturday I met Amy (Vintage Reflection), her lovely, snap happy boyfriend Dave and her wondrous dog Coco (who she is lucky I didn't steal...) for breakfast. I really should branch out, but every time I walk over the market threshold, I am drawn to a cheese filled toastie and a coffee. Nothing wrong with loyalty.

Anyway, back to the market - I love this place, especially when I have a slightly fuzzy head from a little (too) social Friday night, the cheese, coffee and sheer wholesomeness of the farmers market evens me out again. There are so many characters in the market tat draw me back week after week - the lady on the coffee stand is always up for a good o'l chat, the older gent who sells jams makes my heart swell every time he asks me to try his home made jams and the guy on the 'giggly pig' stand just adores what he does and sells every time type of sausage going (all delicious obvs). Everyone grabs local groceries and breakfast and finds a spot on the ground to catch up with pals and eat.

Anyway, next weekend - rebel against the hangover, drag yourself from lying in your bed to lying next to a cheese toastie on the grass near Oval station. You won't regret it - brownies honour.

Dress - Dahlia, Mac - HM, Backpack - New Look, Boots - ASOS

Outfit pictures by Shooting Dave.

BERLIN

BERLIN

So, I haven't been around here recently. There was a break up, many, many months of drinking and dancing and being single with my most wondrous friends. Life feels like it should again.

All that was topped off with a trip to BERLIN with two of the lads. So, lets talk Berlin - that place is just magic. We took a long weekend, hopped a plane and booked into (my very first) Air BnB apartment in the trendiest of trendy districts - Kreuzberg.

Along with Canada, Berlin was a place I had never been but always thought that I could live. I was entirely correct, moving to Berlin would be no hard decision. I could easily slip into the arty culture and easy, laid back way of life. Nobody seems to take life or themselves too seriously - happy faces and beer consumption all around. The one difficulty would be the lack of cider...

A big part of the culture in Berlin is drinking / partying and we did our best to really explore that side of things. One of my biggest loves of this culture was the fact that people just wandered around with bottles of beer, drinking is something Berlin enjoys rather than binges on. We had various bars make us Espresso Martinis, we drank tequila, we drank bottles of beer on the metro and attended a rave in a disused swimming pool.

OK, can we talk about the clothes? Jeeessss Berlin knows how to do vintage and second hand. The moment we entered 'Humana' (a gigantic vintage store in the centre) we dispersed and didn't unite again until we had armfuls of clothes to try on and prance around in - safe to say we all left the store worrying about only bringing hand luggage... always a rookie mistake.

The one slightly mental choice we made was to partake in all of the super sad / super emotional parts of Berlin and its history on a killer hangover. Still, it was an important part of Berlin to take in - if it was on a hangover, then so be it.

Food was consumed, art was seen, history was remembered, beers were drunk, laughs were had, life happened.

Winter Lookbook Video

Winter Lookbook Video

I have filmed a winter lookbook, basically swanning around in my camel coat in the cold!

Hope you like - please watch, like and subscribe to my channel here - Ashley Fauguel YouTube