Frankly Vic | UK Photography + Lifestyle Blog

I dare you to reach out

2014-02-18T21:12:00.000+00:00

En route to Corcovado National Park. Its a tough hike but I had incredible company and we got each other through.

Although I don't believe we should ever place our emotional happiness entirely in the hands of other people, I think its fair to say that having amazing people in your life can completely change it. I also believe that the people around us shape us and influence us in a myriad of ways - some of which we don't really notice or understand. There a million different articles out there telling us how to get rid of 'toxic friendships' or gently ease 'the negative friend' out of our lives, but I don't think I've ever seen anything that tells you how to hang on to the good ones.

Some of the best advice I've ever been given is that people come into our lives for a reason, a season or to stay (the wise words of my mother, of course). Friendship, like so many things in our lives can be transient and fleeting. Sometimes this is okay, and sometimes its not. Sometimes the circumstances are beyond our control, but sometimes they're not. Friendship requires effort on both sides, and I think we can all be a little bit guilty of forgetting that sometimes. I recently finished reading 'The Flinch' and there were a couple of sentences in there that really resonated with me.

"Go through old text messages to rekindle dormant friendships. It can be awkward, but that's the point. You will make an impact by choosing to do what makes others nervous"

So I did. I spent this evening texting and emailing people I haven't spoken to in a while, people that I never really wanted to lose touch with but kind of did anyway. It was awkward. Of course it was. When you haven't spoken to someone in 9 months it feels a bit odd to just email them and say hi - but what do you really have to lose? When you compare it to what you could gain its a bit of a no-brainer.

So I dare you. I dare you to go through your Facebook friends, your email addresses, your phone or your address book - say hi to an old friend and see where it goes. Reach out. Make the effort. Let someone know that they matter to you.

a creative challenge

2014-02-16T20:51:00.003+00:00

Winter has this tendency to send my photography into hibernation. Its not a conscious decision, but somewhere around Christmas I usually notice I haven't picked up my camera in a while. I then make an effort for Christmas and tail off again until the days start getting a little longer. I blame it on so many different things - lack of light, the absence of leaves (seriously, I just don't think trees look the same when they're naked), the non-compatibility of gloves and a camera - but in reality these are all just excuses. I find summer photography easy, it comes naturally. I'm a summer girl, I love warm weather and blue skies, 4am when the sun is streaming through the windows and 10pm when the light is finally starting to fade. Bare feet, bare legs and the way the woods look when they're full of sunshine.

Staying inspired when I'm not particularly inspired is a little bit more difficult, but its good for me. I think its good for us to push ourselves creatively, to explore out of our comfort zone and lose that fear of producing 'bad' work while we learn new things. Its easy to stick with what you know and what you're good at, but what good does that really do us? To be honest, it doesn't, not at all. It encourages us to be lazy and stick with whats always worked rather than trying out different ways of approaching things.

I don't want to be lazy. I want to learn, and grow, and change. As an artist, as a photographer and as a person - I think its important. I've always shied away from photography challenges before, using the excuse that you can't 'force' these things. To an extent I still feel that way, but I also believe there is a big difference between forcing yourself to do something and challenging yourself to do something. So I'm challenging myself, to a picture - every single day until the official start of the summer. (That's June 21st in case you were wondering...). I'm also challenging myself to share a picture, every day, until the start of the summer. Taking a picture will be the easy part, but sharing it? Not so much. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I'm not comfortable with sharing things that I'm not proud of.

But sharing publicly will keep me accountable, and I think I need that. So I'll be posting on Instagram and tagging things #wintermojo (original, right?), if you want to join in then I'd love that & I'll be ~~stalking~~ keeping an eye on the tag just to see whats going on. I'm pretty excited about this.

thriving in January

2014-02-09T20:49:00.002+00:00

Thriving in January was many things, but if I had to sum it up it was about making the effort to replace comfortable with good. It was setting an alarm for 6:20 on weekdays to work out before work. Sleeping in is comfortable, but fitting in half an hour of movement? That's good. It was putting Zak in the car and driving somewhere different just to take photo's. Chucking my wellies on and walking him in the woods behind the house is comfortable, but making the extra effort to spend a little bit of time behind the lens? That's good. It was pushing myself to change my nightly routine so that I'm reading before I go to sleep rather than mindlessly browsing Pinterest or getting frustrated by Candy Crush (I'm a little bit addicted). Lying in bed with an electronic device in my hand is comfortable, but getting lost in a good book? That's good. It was trying to get back into the habit of writing, and photography, starting to tackle some of the bigger projects on my list and checking off some of the things that have been on a 'to do' list for ages.

It wasn't at all about less. It was all about more. More of the things that make me feel alive, inspired, productive and happy. Living intentionally, not comfortably.

a hello to writing

2014-01-27T20:48:00.001+00:00

Lately I've been thinking a lot about what it means for me to truly 'thrive'. What do I need? Or more importantly, what don't I need. What are the things that leave me feeling energised and inspired? When am I happiest? How can I shape my life so I that I am the best version of me that I can be? These seem like big questions to answer, and I suppose in many ways they are. But big questions don't necessarily need big answers, or complicated answers. Its often the little things, the simple things.

Like writing. It doesn't have to be complicated, or deep, or particularly meaningful - or even make any sense. Its just something I've always enjoyed. I was a story writing child, a (mostly depressing) teenage poet, an embarrassingly bad songwriter. I'm a sporadic journal writer, an obsessive list maker, and for most of my university life I was a semi-regular blogger. Lately I've found myself completely out of the habit, and its a little bit sad that life has got in the way of something that's always been an outlet for me.

But the wonderful thing about habits is the way you can get back into good ones, and break out of the bad ones. So I'm saying hello again to writing. And hello to any of you who have stuck around, I appreciate it, I really do.

Down by the river

2014-01-13T21:14:00.002+00:00

Remember when I was crossing my fingers for a clear day this weekend? Clearly the weather gods were listening because Saturday evening was absolutely breathtaking. I checked the sunset time, packed my wellies and the dog in the back of the car and headed for the woods. We walked, and we walked, and we walked a bit more. Through the woods, and next to the fields and then back along the edge of the water. I took pictures and Zak danced around my feet trying to persuade me to throw stones. He dug holes (everywhere) while I tried to catch reflections in wet sand and when he got bored of that he decided that a mud bath was a Really Good Plan (he regretted this later when I gave him a bath...) We walked back through the woods just as the light started to finally disappear and by the time we got back to the car the sky was that deep kind of purple that only hangs around for a few minutes before the dark sets in.

If felt good to be out. To breathe cold air and to feel my fingers slowly freeze around my camera. To chase light through the trees and to capture those last fleeting moments of sunlight. To feel the high of knowing that there's magic stored in the memory card while you drive home. The lack of light in this country in the winter makes me cranky, but evenings like that one kind of make it all worth it.

Around here #1

2014-01-10T21:52:00.004+00:00

My first full week back at work felt long, but also kind of good. When I first started it really bothered me that I wasn't doing something that used my degree, but I enjoy it - and there's a lot to be said for not dreading going to work when you get up in the morning. Not a huge fan of driving to and from work with my lights on, but I am a fan of watching the sun set from my desk so that's a bonus. On clearer days the sunsets have been pretty spectacular recently, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to get out with my camera this weekend.

A lot of hot chocolate has been drunk just recently, its just the right weather for it, you know? There's nothing quite like curling up in bed with a good book and a giant mug of hot chocolate. Its the simple things. I'm also loving Redbush tea at the minute, so much so that I can't even remember the last time I had a 'proper' cup of tea. Tragic really.

Plans for this weekend include picking my camera up, a couple of long walks with Zak and an attempt at making banana bread (anyone know a good recipe?).

I'm also listen to this song about a million times because I'm a tin bit obsessed and I think its hauntingly beautiful.

One little word in 2014

2014-01-02T22:29:00.000+00:00

I'm not really one for making New Years Resolutions, I believe that if you want to make a change or set a goal then you should do exactly that - waiting for a particular time of year just seems like another way of putting things off. That said, there is something about January that just feels shiny and new - and it feels appropriate to put something new into motion at this time of year. For the last couple of years I've jumped on the 'One Little Word' bandwagon - and its something that I really believe made a different to the way I approached life. Not all the time of course - like anything there were times when I was more conscious of them than others - but they were definitely there in the background. 2012 was about being 'fearless' - trying new things, pushing myself out of my comfort zone and generally trying not to let silly little things hold me back. 2012 was the year I booked a solo trip to Central America and California, so I think that worked pretty well... 2013 was about choice, I chose 'choose' both as a gentle reminder to myself that I have a choice in how I respond to everything and anything that happens, but also as a nod to fact that I knew a lot of decisions were coming up.

This year I felt like I needed something more organic, less about trying to force direction and more about acceptance and reflection. More about gratitude for what I have, and less about trying to change things. Change is good, but change for the sake of change isn't - and sometimes I'm aware that I get a little caught up in the mentality that standing still is a bad thing and that in order to be successful we need to be constantly moving. So this year isn't all about doing more, pushing harder, making choices or preparing for big decisions.

This year is about thriving. Emotionally, physically, creatively, spiritually, nurturing relationships and building new ones, savouring the small things and living with greater intention.

In 2014 I will thrive. And I'm excited about it.

Life like the ocean

2013-11-25T20:42:00.000+00:00

Hello again internet, its been a while.

I could make excuses about life, and starting work and 'being busy' - but the truth is I just haven't felt like writing. I tried to force it when I got back this summer, but sometimes forcing things just doesn't work. Sometimes things just need to be left.

The older I get, the more I am finding that my life has a rhythm to it that I am rarely aware of. It ebbs and flows. Periods of change, of constant action and full schedules are followed by periods of quiet, of space and of unassuming existence. Periods of creativity, of ideas and of a mind that doesn't slow down are followed by a lull.

And that's okay.

Transitions

2013-10-06T13:17:00.001+01:00

“How strange that the nature of life is change, yet the nature of human beings is to resist change. And how ironic that the difficult times we fear might ruin us are the very ones that can break us open and help us blossom into who we were meant to be.” - Elizabeth Lesser

A lot has happened in the last 5 months. I sat all of my final exams, I left Sheffield for good and moved back home, I prepared for the trip of a lifetime, I spent 8 weeks away from home - the longest I've ever gone without seeing my family, I experienced things that challenged my perceptions and things that reinforced them, I flew to a city I'd only seen in photographs and explored it on my own, I visited a place that I've dreamed of for years, I climbed mountains, I slept under stars, I watched the sun go down at 30,000 feet only to fly across the Atlantic and watch it come back up again, I came home, my best friend turned 21 and moved away, I spent hours writing job applications and then I started work.

5 months ago my days revolved around lectures, revision and friends. Hazel used to come over in the evenings and we watched movies, drank wine and ate chocolate. Rich and I would spend hours in Western Bank, breaking off to buy flapjack and get attacked by ducks in the park.

4 months ago I'd been home for 4 days. All of my stuff was everywhere and I was trying to figure out (a) how the hell I'd accumulated so much stuff and (b) where everything was going to go and what I was going to do with it all.

3 months ago I'd been in Costa Rica for just under a week. I'd already been eaten alive by mosquitos and the noise of the jungle at night was strangely familiar. I was falling in love with living so simply and learning to develop a healthy hatred of ants.

2 months ago I left a hotel room at half 3 am and boarded a plane bound for Atlanta. I spoke for 5 hours to a man who moved his family from Florida to Alabama so his kids could grow up somewhere slower and safer. I was so hungry in Atlanta airport that I ate McDonalds and actually enjoyed it, and then I chatted to an Irish woman all the way to San Francisco. She found her husband when we got off the plane and he explained to me the cheapest way to get to my hotel. Then I got a taxi anyway because I was exhausted and it was by far the simplest option.

A month ago I'd been home for less than two weeks. I was spending my days looking for work and getting frustrated because everything I really wanted to do required the one thing I didn't have - experience. I was enjoying being home, but hating the fact that I had nothing 'figured out'.

Now? Now its Sunday and tomorrow I'll start my 4th week at work. Its not at all what I thought I'd be doing when I graduated, but its a good job and I enjoy it. I still don't have anything 'figured out', but I think I'm slowly starting to realise that it doesn't really matter. I'm also starting to realise that the funk I've been in the past few weeks is because I've been trying to resist all this change. Not the external change so much, but the internal change. The shift in perspective and outlook that I've had over the past little while. For so long I had this 'plan' of what I wanted to do when I graduated, and for a while there I was beating myself up about the fact that it didn't really work out. But actually, now that it hasn't really worked out at all I've realised that where I am now is better. So much better.

So now I'm just trying to figure out this new normal, and I think I might actually be getting somewhere.

Costa Rica: Turtle work & the end of week 1

2013-09-22T22:06:00.000+01:00

* WARNING - This post is incredibly picture heavy.... I couldn't narrow them down!! *

The Carate satellite camp was established so that there was a brief period (3 weeks) in which a group of volunteers could focus exclusively on turtle conservation. This involved both beach patrols and hatchery/nest predation prevention work. The two beaches we were working on sadly experienced high levels of human nest predation which meant that it wasn't really safe to patrol the beach at night - so we only ran morning patrols. Although less likely to see turtles on the morning patrols, they're just as important because they provided us with data about how many turtles had come up the beach the night before, whether they'd successfully laid eggs, some indication of what species of turtle had been about and also information about the size of the turtle.

Morning patrols left at 5:15, so alarms went off at 4:15 to give us time to have breakfast/pack bags etc before heading out. It sounds (really) early, but because we're in bed not long after dark, I still got plenty of sleep! My first patrol was on Wednesday morning, and I absolutely loved it. Its hard to explain the sense of excitement you get when you see turtle tracks for the first time - even without seeing the turtles themselves, just knowing that they were there is incredible. Whenever we found tracks we recorded the following information: the sector (all beaches we worked on were split into 'sectors' of 0.1km), width of the tracks, whether the tracks were symmetrical or asymmetrical (which gives an indication of the species) and if the female was successful in laying eggs, or if it was a 'false crawl'. Female turtles are incredibly picky about their nesting sites, and they often dig several holes before they find a satisfactory nest site. If the turtle had nested then we recorded the distance of the nest from the sea, and also from the vegetation. All of the data we collected was fed back into an international turtle database to try and improve global understanding of their nesting behaviour - which was really rewarding because it actually felt like we were contributing to something 'bigger' that had wider significance.

The other work we did was centred around protecting nests and maximising the chances of eggs hatching and the young surviving. On Wednesday afternoon we walked down to one of the eco-lodges by the beach - a place called Finca Exotica. There we were introduced to the local turtle conservation programme Cotorco and a woman called Phoebe Edge, who devotes her life to sea turtle conservation. Listening to her talk about the work she does was truly inspirational - I have a lot of respect for people who dedicate their lives to their passion like she has. She spent an hour or so chatting to us about all things turtle & then we wandered down to start work on turtle meshes. The name is a bit misleading, they're more like grids than meshes - made out of bamboo and held together with wire. They're placed over nests to prevent dogs digging the eggs up, which is a really serious problem - particularly on beaches where dogs are just allowed to roam free. Mesh-making was hot, hard and itchy work. Sawing through bamboo, splitting it with machetes and then tying it all together - but we soon got into a rhythm and started making them up pretty quickly. Such a simple idea, but it really does make the world of difference!

Thursday morning was spent clearing the hatchery of vegetation ready for it to be used this year. Nests that are considered 'vulnerable' will be moved to the hatchery for the incubation period and then returned to the nest site just before they're ready to hatch. Its really important for baby sea turtles to make the journey from the nest to the oceans by themselves - they pick up chemical cues from the sand that then enables them to return to the same beach when they themselves are ready to nest. So each time a nest is moved, the position of the nest is recorded and the hatchery is divided into grid squares so the eggs can be returned exactly where they were initially laid. Once the hatchery is up and running, there is a community initiative which pays local people to 'guard' the hatchery - thereby discouraging poachers and encouraging local people to make an income from protecting turtles rather than exploiting them. Its a fantastic example of community engagement in conservation work and it seems to be working excellently.

On Friday afternoon before we headed to mesh-making, one of the local guys (Fernando) took us on a walk for no particular reason. It was ridiculously uphill the whole way - the kind of uphill where you need your hands to help you up. By the time we'd finished climbing we were level with circling vultures and the views were absolutely incredible. Rainforest and ocean was all I could see.

Saturday morning it was time to leave! Time was odd the whole time I was out there, each day seemed to last forever but the weeks absolutely flew by. I know that makes absolutely no sense, but its just how it worked. Okay?!

If you have any questions about sea turtles then please feel free to ask!

Costa Rica: The first day at Carate

2013-09-10T10:52:00.002+01:00

Tuesday morning. My first time waking up in the jungle. I'd slept a lot better than I thought I would, and when my alarm went off at 5am I was good to go. I was part of a group being sent down to a satellite camp further west along the coast at Carate, and the collectivo goes in that direction anywhere between 6:30 and 7am. With the exception of milk powder and cheese occasionally on a friday, we were a vegan camp - so breakfast consisted of porridge made with hot water. I put far too much water in my bowl & so it resembled oat soup more than anything else... tasty.

Waiting at the collectivo stop// Views from the collectivo

This time I was determined to actually be able to see something from the collectivo, so I hopped (climbed) in first and staked out a place at the front. There were already a fair few people in the back, so I didn't get a seat - but standing was perfect. The back of the truck was just high enough that I could see over the cab, so I had a pretty amazing view. The ride to Carate was just over an hour, but it didn't seem that long at all - there was so much to see. Jungle gave way to farmland as the landscape flattened, then we were back into the jungle as we headed further away from civilisation and towards the ocean once again. The camp at Carate only ran for a few weeks (three I think?) so I was really lucky to get the chance to stay there. Carate is much closer to Corcovado National Park than the main camp at Piro, so although the wildlife seen there is pretty much the same - everything is so much more abundant. Its incredible how much difference a few miles can make.

Carate beach

The actual 'camp' at Carate was the staff house of an eco-lodge, so we stayed 'indoors' and slept on bunkbeds. I say indoors... but most of the walls were actually just mesh, so it still felt like you were outside. I think the mesh was supposed to keep the bugs out, but it wasn't that successful! After ditching our stuff in our respective rooms, we headed down to the beach for a beach clean-up. (I'll be writing more about this later, because I feel that it deserves its own post - its something that really got to me while I was out there.) The walk to the beach was about 1/2 hour along the road through the forest, and I found it stunning every single time I walked it. Although it was overcast, it was still hot (even at 9am!), but the fact I was a hot mess didn't really bother me because the views I had were absolutely unreal. We didn't spend long on the beach - just short of two hours, but we filled several rubbish sacks and walked a couple of kilometres before heading back for lunch.

A Halloween/Moon crab shell I found on the beach - the colours are amazing! // Leafcutter ants going about their business // There is colour everywhere in the forest

Lunch was followed by a long walk in which we attempted to locate a waterfall that one of the locals had mentioned - unfortunately we were unsuccessful but it was my first real walk in the forest and I couldn't get over how many different shades of green there were. So beautiful. I spent most of the walk wishing I knew more about tropical plants and birds so that I could identify what I was seeing! On the way back to camp, I saw my first group of monkeys - Squirrel monkeys - it was unbelievably surreal to look up and see them swinging around. I loved the fact that they seemed just as fascinated by us as we were by them

Squirrel monkeys! // So many shades of green

Peurto Jimenez & a first look at camp

2013-09-04T11:25:00.000+01:00

1-3 = more pictures from the plane window, left is the view from my tent & right the view from where I sat in Carolina's

Landing in Peurto Jimenez was an interesting experience. We were flying over the sea, started heading towards land and then all of a sudden we were flying crazy low over the forest and then sort of fell out of the sky onto a runway the other side of the trees. I loved it. The 'airport' was a runway, surrounded by a chain-link fence and once the pilots had handed us our luggage, we let ourselves off the runway. We were met by one of the camp staff - Elle - who was absolutely fantastic and one of the most hilarious people I've ever met. Loved her. We hung around a bit at the 'airport' for the next flight to get in - there are two airlines that fly internally to PJ and the next couple of people had flown on a different airline to us. Once the troops were assembled Elle walked us to the main street, which isn't really too far from all the other streets because they don't really have a whole lot of town there. A short walk it may have been, but the combination of the heat and carrying two (heavy) rucksacks made it feel like I'd walked for approximately 473 hours by the time we got to the restaurant.

The last picture (on the right) shows the view from the restaurant - I loved the fact that all of the buildings were so open there. Even 'inside' felt like outside because you were seldom shut away completely. The restaurant/cafe we stopped at is called Carolina's and served the best lemonade I've ever tasted. If you ever happen to be in Peurto Jimenez, I highly recommend it - and the food is good too. There was even free WiFi so I had the chance to check in with home and let Mum know I'd got there safely.

We'd missed the morning collectivo (local bus) so we had to hang around until half one (ish) to catch the other one our of town. Elle advised us to buy plenty of snacks & wellies if we could get hold of them, so we headed to the supermarket to stock up. At just gone 1, we all piled onto the collectivo with our stuff to head to camp for the very first time. Piled is definitely the most accurate description, the collectivo was basically a cattle truck with benches along the side, but the amount of people and stuff that squeezed on was incredible. The ride to camp was just over an hour, and I was stuck right in the middle of the collectivo so I didn't really see a great deal. I even missed out on a sloth. A sloth. Disappointed does not even begin to cover it!

Once we arrived at camp we didn't really have another moment to ourselves! We arrived about 14:45 and the rest of the afternoon was taken up with presentations by the head of science and OSA Conservation who we would be working quite closely with. The evening went by in a bit of a blur - I don't really remember it that well! I do remember that Pip and I were in a tent by half 7 and that I refused to get up to go to the loo in the night because I was paranoid about standing on a snake.

The start of the story

2013-09-02T06:00:00.000+01:00

I'm not really 100% where to start with this whole 'getting back into blogging' thing, 8 weeks is a long time to be away in a world where things are old as soon as you hit publish. More than that, I'm not really sure where to even start - I've had the most incredible experiences, met amazing people, seen things I never could have imagined seeing and I feel like I've been on a journey that's far deeper than just miles physically travelled. If I'm honest, my uncertainty about where to start is more of an uncertainty about whether I can find the words that do the memories justice. And there are so, so, many memories. And so many pictures.

So I'm starting at the beginning, and I'm not sure how long this story will take to tell. More likely than not it'll be governed by how quickly I sort through the pictures (probably slowly). Having said that, there are less pictures than I anticipated, particularly of Costa Rica. Still a lot, because old habits die hard, but less than I thought for sure. Some parts of the world are just better when you're not seeing them through a viewfinder. Sometimes living the moment is more important than recording it, y'know?

I left England from Heathrow airport on Sunday 30th June at 12:15, on the aisle seat of the centre row of a Boeing 777, flight number AA39 and bound for Miami International. Remember how I met some of the people I was going with in London over Easter? I met Scott just before security & after an awkward 5 minutes where we both stood there trying to figure out if it was indeed the right person we said goodbye to our respective families and cleared security. I remember the whole morning, the drive to the airport, the coffee with Mum and Kev as a bit of a blur - I'd spent a year looking forward to this trip and after months of planning the last few weeks seemed to rush away and I was suddenly standing in an airport.

We met another couple of girls in the departures lounge, grabbed a meal deal from Boots and then stood in front of the departure boards waiting for our gate to be announced for approximately 400 hours. True story. Flight 1/11 was a good one, I was sat next to a really friendly couple on their honeymoon (also headed to Costa Rica) and although I missed out on lunch (don't eat your meal deal 5 minutes before they serve lunch, you won't be hungry...), dinner was actually pretty tasty.

We had just over 2 hours in Miami, but by the time we'd cleared immigration, gone through baggage control and re-checked our bags through to Miami there wasn't much of it left. One thing this whole experience has taught me is that time is weird in airports, I'm convinced they are magical places that do strange things to the passage of time. At the gate for flight 2 (Miami > San Jose) we met up with another 3 people & headed for San Jose. It was a shorter flight but seemed to take just as long as the last one, maybe because I'd been travelling all day but I think anticipation had a lot to do with it as well! By the time we landed in San Jose I was tired & so glad that I'd booked an airport hotel. My rucksack even had its own double bed ;)

My alarm call came too early Monday morning & I'm not entirely sure whether I answered the phone properly or just mumbled incoherent rubbish at the poor receptionist. Oops. The internal flight I was catching left at 8:20, we met for breakfast at 6:30 & caught the shuttle to the airport so we were there an hour in advance. We didn't need to be there an hour in advance. Nope. Calling it an airport is a bit of a stretch to be fair... While we were in the 'departures lounge' I was conned out of 13p by a security officer who "wanted to see what English money looked like". Lies. Our plane was small (it had a propeller!) and the flight was short - but amazing. It was my first real look at Costa Rica, and we flew low enough that we could see the ground the whole way. We flew beside mountains and over forest, across fields and over the ocean. It was hands down the best flight I've ever been on, I think I'm definitely a fan of small planes!

Camera's were allowed and it took me a fair while to whittle down those 'out the plane window' shots, I tell you. Tough stuff. There is so much I could write about sorting through pictures and deciding what to keep, but I'll save that for another day ;)

Leaving on a jetplane...

2013-08-22T12:48:00.001+01:00

Several jetplanes actually, 5 if I'm being precise. As I write this I'm waiting to board number 4, sprawled over several chairs at gate number 3 and simultaneously wondering how overpriced the apple juice opposite me is, and why my ears still haven't popped. This is the home straight - San Jose to Miami, then on to London Heathrow. It feels both right and wrong to be heading home. Wrong because 8 weeks have absolutely flown by and I can't quite believe its been that long, and right because it seems like ages ago that I had that giant mug of coffee in the airport with Mum and Kev. I can't wait to see them and bore them to death by repeating the same stories a thousand times.
The last 8 weeks have been the most incredible adventure and it all seems a little bit surreal when I think back over it. I've experienced so much, seen so many new things and learnt so, so much. I'm so glad that I kept a diary and took hundreds & hundreds of pictures, because I want to hold on to all of those moments. Forever.

Finishing up

2013-06-26T21:56:00.001+01:00

Summer evenings are my favourite. That golden glow that lights the world up, sets the sky on fire and makes the world look magic. Things have been busy around here, I fly on Sunday and have been finishing up and getting everything sorted. I'm excited. I'm nervous. I have no idea what to expect. But I absolutely can't wait. The furthest I've travelled on my own so far has been Sheffield to Bournemouth, so Costa Rica and California is quite the adventure. Quite the adventure. 4 days to go.

Life over the past couple of months...

2013-06-14T22:09:00.002+01:00

The past couple of months have been a bit of a whirlwind-crazy time. I took all of my final exams in 9 days (stressful does not begin to cover it), packed up my stuff, spent a manic afternoon cleaning our house (hey black mould...), had the best night out with everyone on my course, watched the sun come out after coming home from said night, moved out the same day, moved back in at home, filled 11 binbags of stuff to donate/chuck out, booked up the rest of my flights (16 days to go!!!), and started volunteering 3 days a week at the charity my Mum runs. Busy bee. Shamefully I didn't pick up my camera at all during the month of May, but I did snap away quite a bit on my phone.

left// library times. right// sunny park view from the library. best.seat.ever.

left// boredom = covert picture-taking in the library (yes I had the same seat, because I'm a nerd ;).

right// lunch in the park

left// the view from my bed, little bit in love with light leaks at the minute. right// morning coffee. Perfect.

left// the one thing I miss about my room in Sheffield? That skylight. Because those sunsets? Amazing. right// (more) coffee. Because coffee.

left// library snacks (chocolate overdose) right// discovering that I have a weird knack for flicking beer mats onto the top of pint glasses. Who knew?

left// the biology building in the sun. right// ducks in the park during a lunch break (these were nice ducks, not the giant mean ducks that stole my yoghurt and attacked my knee. TRAUMATIC)/

left// working. right//colour coded notes make all the difference

left// sunny evening walking home. right// crazy light in the sky one evening

Life has been busy and full. So many changes, good changes, exciting changes. I'm glad to be back.

Pin it Forward!

2013-06-06T22:39:00.001+01:00

I am a huge Pinterest fan & I've been using it for quite a while now (since early 2011?) Somewhere around there anyway - I managed to get hold of an invite around the same time that I started blogging. I didn't really 'get it' to start with, but now? Now I am hooked. When I got the email asking me to be a part of the UK campaign I was really excited - I think it'll be great to have the whole experience a little bit more tailored.

I always find it a bit hard to explain exactly what I use it for - does anyone else have this problem?! I guess the simplest way to put it is that I use it to collect ideas to refer back to and as a source of inspiration. I try to only pin stuff that I really love or that I think are really helpful. I also try to only ever pin images that link to original sources - sometimes this means hunting around a bit to find it, but I think its so important that the creator of an image is credited. My favourite board right now is my Photography Inspiration board - its a collection of images that I find really make me want to improve my photography and give me ideas for different things to try etc. Its also really helping me to refine my own style - identifying what I'm drawn to in other images is helping me to steer my own work in the right direction.

Something else I love about Pinterest is being able to follow other people who have similar interests/aesthetics to me - I know there are all these 'rules' about not flooding other peoples feeds, but personally I love it when someone I follow goes on a pinning spree!

As part of the campaign I also get to hand you over to three other bloggers! First up is Nina - she blogs here and pins over here. She's a wallpaper stylist and there are so many colour/pattern combinations to check out on her boards! Second up is Hayley who blogs here and pins here. She has some great looking baking recipes - I've currently got my eye on a couple of cookie dough recipes! Last (and by no means least) is Laura who blogs here and pins here - I'm a particular fan of her 'Inspired Living' board - so many ideas for houses I'll never be able to afford...

If you haven't signed up for Pinterest yet then you can do so here - and please leave me your links!!

a breather.

2013-05-16T22:26:00.000+01:00

I don't have a whole lot of time at the moment for photography, but I've been spending the odd 15 minutes or so between revision and bedtime going through some old pictures. When I'm in revision mode I tend to become completely single-minded and only capable of thinking about work, but taking a tiny bit of time to just create something is good for me.

My hometown is beautiful in its own little way, especially as a storm comes in and the sun goes down.

Bank Holiday Fun

2013-05-06T22:13:00.003+01:00

The title of this post is somewhat ironic, because my bank holiday was most definitely not fun. Productive? Yes. Fun? Not so much. I finished off my last ever piece of degree coursework, made a dent in my revision and spent the hottest day of the year so far stuck inside reading about global warming. Fitting, no?

I always turn into a really miserable person around revision time. I resent the fact that I've spent 99% of my university education being lectured on the importance of 'original' thought, novel experimental design and understanding the holistic nature of biological, geological and environmental processes, only to be examined using what basically amounts to a memory test. It makes no sense to me. I feel like coursework is a far superior method of assessment, it enables analysis of an issue from an angle that makes logical sense to the author, and allows an exploration of the literature that is pertinent to that chosen angle. Logical.

But hey, I'm probably just a bit bitter because my inability to remember names and dates puts me at an immediate disadvantage in exams where referencing is necessary ;)

Despite Bank Holiday monday being somewhat dull, my Saturday was awesome. Mum & Kev came up to collect some of my stuff (I move back home in 4 weeks - scary!) and I spent the afternoon hanging out with them. We went to Wetherspoons for lunch (always a good idea), I ate far too much & we discovered that my dressing table probably won't fit in the new car. Oops. I don't really mind living away from home too much, but I do miss hanging out with Mum so its always nice when they come to visit.

On Saturday evening R, James & I spent the evening on a bat walk with one of the post-doc researchers and a local ecological consultant. Maybe not everybody's idea of fun, but I really enjoyed it. They gave a couple of presentations about British bats & then dished out bat detectors so we could 'hear' them hunt. It's pretty incredible to listen to, especially once you get the hang of it & can start to tell the difference between different species. I took my camera, but nothing really came of it - bats are quick and I didn't want to use flash. The reflection of the pub lights on the lake was beautiful though, there's something almost magical about the sun going down in the summer.

What did you get up to this weekend?

Spring is here!

2013-05-02T22:05:00.000+01:00

Elizabeth is running an amazing 'blog every day in may' challenge, and although I won't be blogging every day in May, it really couldn't have come at a better time! I have a tendency to stress, a lot, about exams. I end up in this weird frame of mind where I can't actually concentrate on anything that isn't work (because obviously if I'm not sleeping I should be working) but at the same time, I can't actually concentrate on anything that is work related, because my brain just really wants a break. Its a problem. I'm getting better at balance and all that, but at the end of the day I just really, really, really want to graduate with a good degree (and thus begins the vicious cycle of 'oh my god I need to do more work' all over again). Its fun times around here people, fun, fun times.

However. Back to the point of this post... This challenge is perfect, because I'm really trying to make sure that I have 'off' time as well, but sometimes I just can't come up with anything interesting to write about. I mean, there's only so many ways I can write about spending 14 hours of my day revising the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis. Right? Right.

Today we're supposed to be writing about our favourite things about Spring. Of which I have many. I love flowers (obviously, because plants are my favourite). I love hanging out by the pond in the park. I love ducks (especially when they quack because its hilarious). I love not having to wear a coat. I love that feeling of being warmed by the sun, when you feel like the warmth goes all the way through to your bones. I love blue skies. I love fluffy clouds. I love waking up to light streaming through my window. I love the lighter evenings. I love green leaves on trees and the sounds of birds singing. I love the simple little things that just make life better.

But this year, more than ever before, I love that feeling that things are just getting started and that the whole summer is just waiting to be explored.

Summer Ball

2013-04-30T07:43:00.000+01:00

James, Me, Holly, Hazel & Rich

Last Thursday was the Biology Society Summer Ball, we've never been to a formal dance while we've been at Uni so we all promised to go to this one, since its our last year. It came a little bit earlier in the semester than I thought it would be, so Mum had to post me my dress, shoes and jewellery (thanks Mum!). Hazel came over to ours a couple of hours early to get ready, but getting ready really doesn't take us that long so we pretty much just listened to The Eagles and drank Amaretto.

When we arrived we were handed a complimentary Mojito (never a bad thing), found a table and had our pictures taken. I skipped lunch because I knew I'd be eating loads in the evening, so my stomach appreciated the food being served pretty soon after we arrived. We somehow managed to pick the table that got served first (bonus!) and we also seemed to have far more table wine than anyone else. Definitely wasn't complaining. The food was amazing and I was full by the second course. I don't like throwing food away though, so obviously I had to eat the other two courses as well...

We spent the rest of the night drinking wine and dancing. It was such a good night and I'm so glad we went. I took my camera, but it was one of those nights where it didn't really occur to me to use it that much, so I'm really glad we had some 'proper' pictures taken. R thinks we look like the cast from a dodgy US murder-mystery sitcom. I can sort of see it. These guys are my favourites. I may be looking forward to finishing Uni, but I know I'll really miss them.

Monday Motivation: Who do you want to be?

2013-04-22T22:07:00.001+01:00

It is estimated by the Oxford dictionary that there are approximately 3/4 of a million words in the English language. I find it truly amazing that out of all of the possible combinations, an inconceivably huge number of combinations, one of those combinations can come into you life and speak straight to your soul. It can be a quote, a song, a poem, part of a conversation you overhear or a flippant remark. It can be anything.

A 1:55 in this video Arnold Schwarznegger says "ask yourselves who do you want to be? Not what, but who?"

And it really struck a chord with me. It may seem like such a painfully obvious statement, but its a question I forget to ask myself. Constantly. But it shouldn't be, we should never stop asking ourselves who we want to be, and answering that question doesn't have to mean that we don't like who we are. It doesn't mean that we need to have a list of things that we want to change, or that we need to become somebody else. It just means that we're recognising that we're a work in progress, that there's always ways for us to grow. It means that we recognise that we can be better in ways that are meaningful and extend beyond job descriptions and inconsequential social labels.

What I am doesn't matter. But who I am? That is everything.

Watch the video. Soak it up. And tell me, who are you?

The MP3 experiment

2013-04-21T08:40:00.000+01:00

I didn't take my 'big' camera so I had to make do with my phone. This park is unbelievably gorgeous in the sun.

Earlier this week (Tuesday) Hazel, Rich, Holly, Owen, Wenhui and I took part in the Weston Park MP3 Experiment. It was organised by the Union but inspired by the Improv Everywhere events. We had to sign up a couple of days before were emailed 24 hours in advance with a link to an MP3 track to download. We were meant to sync our phones/watches/whatever to the clock on the Union website said (I forgot) so that everyone could press 'play' at the same time. We got there a little early and spent a good 5 minutes trying to figure out who else was taking part and why we'd been asked to wear particular colours. We were also asked to bring an umbrella, a pen, a banana and a plastic bag. I still have no idea why we needed a pen, an umbrella and a plastic bag...

So 6pm rolled round and we pressed play, some crazy music came on & we started being given instructions by a super creepy mechanical voice (named Dave). Wenhui and I were sharing headphones and we didn't realise that I'd pressed play about 10 seconds after everyone else... until everyone else froze and we were still attempting to walk backwards without walking into anyone. Oops. The whole thing last about half an hour and it was such a laugh. It didn't take long before people who weren't involved figured out that something was going on, but there were some hilarious looks of confusion to start with. At the end of it all, everyone taking part met on the concourse and there was a BBQ and music etc. It absolutely made my day when they played "I knew you were trouble" and everyone made the goat noise. So. Funny. Have you seen the goat remix? Its hilarious.

We spent the rest of the evening in the pub that overlooks the lake, where I consumed the most horrifically disgusting pizza I have ever come across. On the flip side, the bar staff had absolutely no idea what they were doing so when Hazel went to get us drinks she managed to get us 2 pints of cider for £2. Bargain. The free chocolate fudge cake I was given when I complained didn't hurt either...

It was so nice to just get out of the house, away from my desk and just hang out in the sun. More evenings like this please!

Recent thoughts about blogging

2013-04-19T20:49:00.000+01:00

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post. But isn't it gorgeous?

Recently I haven't been blogging very much, and I've really missed it. I know a lot of the stuff I write on here is just silly little bits and pieces, but I really do love keeping a record of my life like this and it bugs me a little bit when I get out of the habit. Mainly I haven't been blogging because I've been spending so. much. time. at my computer already. I know people get bored of students 'whining' but I'm finding this semester so, so stressful and I seem to have a never-ending list of work to do. When I decide to call it a night the last thing I feel like doing is opening up blogger and writing yet more words. Its sort of paradoxical really because I end up even more stressed because I'm not doing the things that I usually do to chill out. It's a problem.

I've also been feeling a little bit disillusioned about the whole blogging community as of late, which all came to a bit of a head last Sunday during the #lbloggers chat. Annie was hosting and she had some brilliant topics, but somehow people ended up discussing blogging 'rules' and what you 'should' and 'shouldn't' do (in their opinion) if you wanted your blog to be read... Erm, what? Isn't the whole point of a lifestyle blog that its about your life, about you, a space that's yours. Some of the points being made were completely ridiculous & it just made me really, really sad. Especially comments along the lines of "I won't read a blog if I can't see pictures of someone's face". Sorry? Do we judge the merit of someone's writing on their physical appearance? I understand that a picture might make some people feel like they 'know' you a little bit better, but some people (myself included) just aren't comfortable with their mug being plastered all over their blogs. Does this mean what we write is any less interesting? That our opinions are any less valid? It shouldn't.

Another point that made me pretty mad was that of 'FAQ' pages. Come on guys, really? I can understand having an 'FAQ' page if you write about/do something (for a living, as a hobby etc) that people generally ask questions about, and I don't have a problem with that. A lot of FAQ pages just seem so contrived (to me anyway), I mean seriously, have that many people genuinely taken time out of their day to ask you how long you and your significant other have been together. Really? Or is it more of a 'things I think people should know about me because I think they're interesting' page. Which is fine, I actually kind of like that type of post - but don't make out that people ask you that frequently because they probably don't.

This wasn't really intended to turn into a rant about blogging, but obviously I needed to get this out here. Bess wrote a far more eloquent post on this, which I thoroughly recommend if you've ever thought this way about blogging (or just read her blog in general, you won't regret it).

a heart like summer

2013-04-13T22:38:00.000+01:00

Me? I'm a sunshine girl. I mean, don't get me wrong, there's a powerful beauty in the transition from summer to autumn, and there's magic in hot chocolates & blankets in deepest December. I love all of the seasons. But my heart? My heart belongs to fluffy clouds and endless skies. To warm rain and bare feet. To long, light evenings and dinner eaten in the garden. To evening walks and being woken by sunlight streaming though the window. To the kind of warmth that only comes from the sun heating your bones and the simple pleasure of a cold glass of water. To lying on the grass, feeling like the sky goes on forever and eating breakfast right at the end of the garden because that's where the sun hits first.

These shots were taken last Saturday, on my last evening at home. Mum, Kev and I took Zak for a walk & I got lost when I stopped to take a few pictures. I guessed that they'd walked mine & Kev's normal running route so I took off with my camera to catch up with them. Turns out they'd gone back for me, so I spent 15 minutes running round the woods hugging my camera so it didn't get damaged. Good exercise but I probably looked a bit mental ;) The sun was out, and it was late(ish) and it just felt like summer was well and truly on its way. It made me happy in a way I haven't felt for a long time, and I realised just how much this seemingly endless winter had got to me.