Beach Combing // IN WINTER?

So It was snowing today, and what did I go and do, I went to the beach. My current project has led me to looking at shells and other natural structures and i'm not going to find any while i'm nice and warm in my house, oh no.

So I set off on my rather cold adventure, and hopped on a train to the nearest beach which is only around 15 minutes away. I was looking for textures to photograph such as pebbles and worn down broken shells. Shells being the other thing I was looking to collect.

Despite the temperature it was a great little trip and I achieved what I wanted, although it did go dark really quickly as we are in winter here in the UK.

Considering that I only decided to go beach combing this afternoon I was in pretty good clothing for it. Today I was wearing my slim indigo jeans by ASOS, a check shirt from Primark, a knitted sweater by FatFace my navy overcoat from Matalan and my chocolate brown boots by Mantaray. All keeping me as warm as possible. The boots were a great decision for treading in the pebbles and sand thankfully!

I also got some pretty amazing shots of the coast line too, ultimate Instagram opportunities when your the only one crazy enough to be on a beach on a winters day!

Packing For The Weekend

So I recently got back from a 2 day break as I needed to travel to Manchester and London for a couple of interviews as part of my university application process. Whilst I spent many, many, many hours on trains in the past 48 hours I had a lot of time to think about my blog and the style I want it t have and the sort of posts i'd like to write.

That's when I had the idea to write a post on weekend packing, because lets face it man or woman you always end up with way more than you need, but not this time! I stuck to these guide lines myself for this trip and I took just what I needed.

1. Sturdy Bag: The first thing you're going to need is a decent bag for your stuff to go in, you could carry a suitcase, but the chances are if it's only a weekend stay you're going to be doing alot in only a few days. I'm using a leather laptop bag by Kenneth Cole. It's a great sturdy bag made of leather so it's moderately rainproof. Another great thing is that it has 2 handles at the top as well as a shoulder strap if you have anything else that you may need to carry. The zips on mine served fantastically especially when I was in London on the tube because I wasn't worrying that I would drop anything or have anything taken out of it. It was also really good when it came to carrying things (that's good right, I mean- it is a bag after all?) Yes, but with all the added slots and compartments it was really easy to caryy 3 notebooks, my iPad 2, A clean shirt, socks, toiletries, charger, earphones, pens and many more things that I could stuff in any ounce of free space.

2. Minimal clothing: I was only staying over for 1 night, so most of my outfit could manage being worn 2 days in a row, in fact the only extra item of clothing I took was a clean shirt and socks. I stuck to basic colour schemes of blues, blacks and browns which can be worn in any occasion (bearing in mind i had 2 interviews.) They were also pretty comfy and considering that in the space of 2 days I was on a train for about 11 hours, intense I know!

3. Bare Necessities: If you don't NEED it, don't bring it! As far as toiletries went I bought shower gel when I reached London, and I only really had vaseline and a small can of deodorant those of which could've gone in my pocket if need be.

4. Extra is OK: So I can safely say that I am a notebook hoarder, I see a notebook, I buy it. Simple. So I carried 3 with me for my 2 days stay, and bought an extra 1! WHY? Yes, I could have survived with just my everyday pocket diary, but I didn't want just that. So remember to actually take some things with you, it's fine to have a few extra bits. Maybe leave your houseplants where they are though, ok?