tumblr diary

october - december

Something my friend Gina does every month or so is to show a little snapshot of what I've been looking at, what kind of images are cropping up over again. Whilst I'm here: I want you all to go and read Gina's blog. She posts about art and fashion and books and all things inbetweeen, and I really love her style of writing.

So in October I wanted green bedrooms, bismuth crystals and never-ending boxes, circles within circles, seas and skies, holes and towers pyramids.

In November I was making my own blue pigment, and gifs. I wanted crystals and buildings shaped like crystals, steps and shapes that are like steps and geometric things. 

December was the month I realised the depth of my blue-love, along with all things concentric, geometric, and textured. Water and shiny things (buildings and paintings) and my own frosty walks featured.

If you're into these kind of things, maybe you like blue skies and seas and weird crystals too? Go have a look at my tumblr, and show me yours. Maybe I'll make this a regular feature...

http://philhellenic.tumblr.com

spice is nice

Kitchen Spice, £8.39

Just in case you're wondering, this is what my room smells like. You might not have been wondering, but here is the knowledge anyway! My mum got it for me as a little back-to-uni goodbye-gift, and again for Christmas. We both agreed that it really smells like our house. The Yankee Candle website says it smells orange, clove, ginger and cinnamon. My mum has these jars in our house with oranges in with cloves and cinnamon in, and a lot of food comes with a liberal helping of ginger, so it is just perfect, and its so lovely on a cold day.

hever castle

More photos unearthed from my archives! I had every intention of showing you these photos, but I've had a very busy few months, what with it being my final year and all! Deadlines are approaching fast, but I'm desperate to keep up blogging. These are from Hever Castle - it feels like a genuine medieval castle, its amazing! I went there late last summer with my friend Gemma, and it was a lovely day out. Had a relaxing drive back, stopping at garden centres and weird little towns purely because they had a Waitrose! I'm really craving summer this yea  - I need a bit of sunlight in my life.

spending cuts

[This picture doesn't have much to do with this post, I just took it out my studio window the other day and I really liked the orange windows.]

So I need to place myself under a bit of a spending ban. That means no more clothes or frivolous makeup purchases, and to stop buying as much in charity shops because I think I am quickly becoming a hoarder. Anyway, that is  beside the point. I had to move back home for a little bit because of a few weeks, because of some health issues in my family, including myself. So I'm back home, which saves money on food, but I haven't decided whether or not I will be going back to my uni home yet, so I'm currently still spending money on rent, and commuting into uni so I will be spending more on petrol.. with an upcoming trip to Venice at the end of February, as well as deciding to take some unpaid leave from work because of the stress that I've been going through with everything.. well I need to save money. Taking a few weeks off work means I'll be down over £200, so I need to recoup this somewhere. I have a lot of money saved, and my student loan but I don't want to dip into my savings, and need to stop using my loan for frivolous purchases!

So, that means no spending, until I go to Venice. That means my two coffee a day habit at uni will have to stop, plus stop buying expensive drinks from the canteen and breakfast when I can't be bothered. This will save me between £2-£8 every day! Making lunch and taking a bottle of water will be cheaper and healthier, so I need to do that. Looking at my makeup collection I know that I have absolutely way too much makeup and beauty things, so there is no-way I need anymore. I told myself I would only buy "essentials" (ie, when I run out of something) but then I found myself buying a new foundation and a new moisturiser which cost me over £50 altogether... ugh. 

Anyway, Tabitha over at ScaredToast does Diary of a Spendaholic where she marks down how much she is spending every week and I think writing it down will really help me see how much I'm wasting, hopefully. So I'm going to try and write down in my diary how much I'm spending to help motivate my saving! 

Does anyone want to join me in this venture? Hopefully, I will keep you updated with my amazing progress, haha.

rainy day inspiration

I've had these photos sitting in my drafts for a while now, and I told myself I was saving them for a 'rainy day'. Because I do love autumn and winter, but sometimes you need to be reminded that it will end and the sun will come out. Today is that day. 

My dissertation is due in tomorrow... there is nothing I can do now, but wish me luck!