goodbye holidays.

Hello!
Wow those holidays flew by. Although seven weeks sounds like a lot it really isn't and it's surprising how little you can do in that amount of time. Something that I've discovered about myself these holidays is that I really hate relaxing and falling out of routine, I love being productive, getting things done and sometimes I even like studying (?) So I found these holidays kind of threw everything out of whack.
However, I'm so pleased that I had this time to just chill because my head does feel really clear now and having this time basically in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by country air was a really good contrast to the city that I'm in 24/7 during the school term.
In the summer holidays I attended my first wedding - which was such an amazing experience, I stayed in a shipping container house with my friends, watched several good movies (and several bad) I learnt about the moon and the stars and spent plenty of time staring at the sky. I ate lots of amazing vegan food and cooked *a lot* of mushrooms and beetroot. I spent time with some awesome people, took photos, published several blog posts, swam in a shipping container pool, danced in front of other people (which I never thought I'd do) had several family dinners, played card games into the night and slept in almost every single day!
Here are some more of my highlights;

01
Music 
For every holiday I make a playlist which I add to throughout my time away. I think music is the best way to remember an amazing time in your life and if you ever want to relive those memories all you have to do is put your playlist on shuffle and listen.
You can listen to my vines playlist here which is majority AURORA, vbnd and Sticky Fingers but now every time I listen to it I can almost see myself chilling in the hammock or going for a walk in the vineyard.

02
Sunlight & Shadows
Something that I was really interested (borderline obsessed) with taking pictures of this summer was the amazing dappled light and shadows that I would find, especially at the place we're staying in the countryside. There's something about the shadows made by the trees in our garden that was really relaxing and super pretty to look at.

03
Sleepins & Books
Essential for any good holiday; a mixture between long sleepins and reading binges. This summer I was reading The Gone Series by Michael Grant which I've found equally captivating and horrifying (if you don't like gruesome books, don't read this series!)

04
Dressing For The Holiday
Depending on where you're going obviously dressing in appropriate attire is super fun and mostly based on the climate of where I've been staying it was dresses, shorts and obviously dungarees (my new obsession)
I was wearing dungarees or pinafore dresses for pretty much my entire holiday (especially those pink corduroy ones! ^) I love thrifting dungarees and there are loads of awesome pairs on ASOS.

I'm extremely nervous and excited for all the big changes that I'm going to be facing this year and I can't wait to get back into the rhythm of the school term and all of my old habits. I'm also really looking forward to creating so many new habits, meeting many new people and falling in love with many more things!

What were the highlights from your holiday?
Bella.

"The best portion of your life will be the small,
nameless moments you spend smiling with
someone who matters to you."
- Ritu Ghatourey

favourite things / the month of january.

Hello!
Today I thought I would share with you some of the things that I've been loving lately because I've been feeling inspired by all sorts of things in the month of January!
I went through a stage last year where I just wouldn't read any books and really struggled to give a book my full attention but recently I've re-discovered my love for reading. My two current favourite reads are Read This if You Want to Take Great Photographs by Henry Carroll which I would recommend to anyone who's interested in photography. It's such a handy little book and has some really awesome photographs in it to get inspired by too!
The second book is My Paris Dream by Kate Betts. I'm not gonna lie I did only buy this because the cover is actually stunning (I mean look at it) but I've really been enjoying reading it this summer.
Then of course when I'm reading my books and relaxing I need a good pamper routine and what better brand to use than Aesop (surprise!) I seem to have quite the collection of Aesop samples growing and I just love trying them all out.



Hair! Ever since getting more blonde done in my hair I've been loving styling it and trying new things with it. I think my favourite at the moment is definitely having it strait. I have naturally really frizzy / curly hair so straitening it does take a while but it's so worth it. I've also been pinning lots of different hairstyles onto my Pinterest. Some of my favourites are this, this, this and this.

In terms of music I've been listening to the Beats1 radio shows and loving it, there's nothing better than discovering new music, which Beats1 is great for and my mixtape is currently 54 hours long so you could say it's going well! I've been listening to a lot of AURORA too, I just love her music so much and it's so good to sing along to during long car rides etc. My favourite songs would be Warrior, Runaway and the MK Remix of I Went Too Far.



As you would have seen on my Instagram lately I have been obsessed with my new glasses from Oscar Wylee that I was gifted for Christmas. They're super cool looking and literally go with every outfit (so you'll probably be seeing them quite a bit)

I've been watching Negative Feedback on Youtube which makes me want to get a film camera SO BAD. I really like the way George edits his videos and his photography style has been inspiring me a lot recently. I'm currently waiting for my Negative Feedback zine to arrive in the mail too which I can't wait for!
What are your favourite things this month?
Bella.

"Your handwriting. The way you walk.
Which china pattern you choose. It all gives you away.
Everything you do shows your hand. Everything is a self-portrait.
Everything is a diary."
- Chuck Palahniuk

my desk.

Hello!
Today I thought I'd show you around my desk area a bit as I've finally got it to a point that I'm really pleased with.
My desk is kind of a sanctuary for me and somewhere I spend a lot of time. I know that I work a lot better when my space is tidy, organised and looking nice.

I have an ikea trestle desk so there isn't really anywhere to store practical *not so pretty* things so I found a felt box from LetLiv that I keep all of my school / everything else stuff in. I also have the smaller matching felt box on my desk for things like washi / paperclips etc.
For a bit more storage I found this amazing Wooden Pegboard from George and Willy. They're New Zealand based and they make the most incredible furniture and bits and bobs ever, I'm probably their biggest fan and I can't recommend this pegboard enough. I keep things like books, plants, candles etc on the shelves of my pegboard and then hanging off one of the spare pegs is a small Aesop bag, for no practical reason!
To the right of my trestle I have my massive and ever growing collection of Yen and Fete magazines and a couple of Frankie's (although sadly all of the colourful spined issues have been banished to my wardrobe)
My biggest tip when it comes to styling a desk space, no matter what size is greenery. I find having plants and greenery around me especially in a place of creativity and work, like a desk, is so important and makes me so much happier. You may have seen on my Instagram stories I love buying big bunches of green leaves and plants and distributing them in different bottles and jars throughout my bedroom.
Then to tie it all together with the most recent addition to my bedroom I have this amazing Jasmine Dowling print in a Country Road frame. I love this print SO much and it just matches everything in my room so well!

I hope that my desk space gives you some inspiration or ideas for your own and let me know if you'd like to see more posts similar to this one showing you different corners of my bedroom.
Decorating and styling my spaces has always been a hobby of mine so it's nice to be able to share it with you!
Bella.

"If you see beauty in
something, don't wait for
others to agree."
- Sherihan Gamal

a letter to 2017.

I just spent four days with my closest friends sleeping in a shipping container house. Stargazing, making salads, snacks and *lots* of pasta. Surrounded by a vineyard and the sound of rain on the container roof, we talked, we laughed, we played board games and barely spent any time on technology, in fact I didn't check my Instagram once. And it felt great.
Although I love to take photos and connect with people over social media and blogging, sometimes there's nothing better than disconnecting, living in the moment and just being.

A lot of people have been focused on the bad things that happened in 2016 but instead I want to think more about the good, what's to come, what I'm going to work on and how I'll better myself and the earth that I walk on in the new year.
I guess these are my new years resolutions;
I want to focus more on myself and what makes me happy. Not in a selfish way but sometimes I forget to put myself first and I get so caught up in what other people are doing that I can lose sight of what I really love and the things that make me truly happy.
I want to seize new opportunities and not shy away from the things that challenge me. Last year I found myself falling back into a bubble of anxiety that was so hard to break when I started high school. I started saying no more than I would like and this year I want to do the opposite.
I want to appreciate the simple things. Things like meditating, walking, stargazing and music. Things that are so simple that I sometimes overlook them.
I want to be creative and inspired by the world around me. I love creating content for this blog or my Instagram and in 2016 I felt like I somewhat neglected these things that bring me so much happiness. This year I want to make my love for taking photos, videos and making art my priority.

I really feel like this is the year of self love and taking care of yourself, I was watching this video the other day and loved the quote that Nina used, "your reality is a reflection of your strongest beliefs." I really love the idea that we all have the power to create our own reality, negative or positive by the actions we take and the energy that we give off into the world. I also really loved this video by Cartia, who's one of my favourites as she talks about the importance of turning every situation, even negative into a positive learning experience which I'm really going to try and live by this year.

I guess I'm kind of having that start of year overwhelming feeling. We've just finished with 2016 and already it's time to start all over again and that's a little scary and a lot exciting. I plan to treat each day as a new page in the novel that is my life and I want my story to be full of fun and excitement, happiness, adventures and challenges. 365 new pages and I really can't wait!
What are you excited for this year?
Bella.

"2017 is the year of creativity, confidence and new beginnings.
It's the year of adventures, radical self love
and the year of me."
- a letter to 2017.