Defining a style.

To my lovely readers,

I have really come to envy those who have their personal ‘style’ and way of living defined to every detail. I envy those who know exactly what they enjoy doing, what sort of movies they like to watch and books they like to read. I’m especially jealous of those who can express their particular style and personality with the way they dress. You can look at them and know immediately that they’re the sort of country-kid that enjoys reading and writing. They’re the sort of person that you can imagine siting at their desk for hours on end, a steaming cup of tea next to them and soft music playing in the background as they scribble down their thoughts and feelings 

I’ve always longed to have a style and have spent many years experimenting in the hope that one would stick, but alas, none have.

I began actually caring about what I wore when I was about 9/10 years old (in year 5). I decided I wanted to be a goth, so every non-uniform day I would come dressed in all black, wearing silver lipstick with heavily rimmed black-eyeliner-d eyes and my hair slicked back into a ponytail. I looked awful.

Then when I finally realised that this look didn’t work too well for me, I moved onto my neon phase. This involved wearing extremely brightly coloured, patterned clothes that clashed and made people squint when they looked at me. Not too great either.

me a couple of years ago during my 'neon phase' - what was I thinking??

After that phase, I went onto the ‘I don’t really give a crap but I do’ phase which I feel like I’m still stuck in now. It mainly consists of wearing massive woolly jumpers and t-shirts over a pair of jeans almost every day. It’s not too bad – you could definitely call it an improvement from the other phases I've been through, but I still don’t feel completely satisfied.

At heart, I’m quite a girly-girl. I love pampering myself, putting on make up, pink, pretty objects and watching romantic movies in my pyjamas. But I wouldn’t really fancy dressing in frilly skirts, pink vests and high heels every day. But of course, there are elements of this style that I adore.

You could also say I’m a bit of a tomboy as well though – I love getting muddy and messy, I quite like the ‘dragged-through-a-bush-backwards’ look and I live for jeans and Converses. But again, I wouldn’t define myself as a ‘tomboy’.

I also combine elements of the ‘sophisticated, classy, smart/posh’ style when I want to. I love to wear sharp blazers, shirts, chiffon and high-waisted skirts and trousers in pastel colours. However, I definitely would not class myself as a ‘sophisticate’.

this is the sort of thing I wear nowadays - shirts, leggings, jeans, big t-shirts, jumpers - not the most flattering clothes I must admit.

This is my dilemma! For so long, I’ve been desperate to pinpoint my exact style. However, I’m yet to have my fashion-epiphany, so until then, I’ll just have to accept my love for mud, jumpers, white chiffon, silk and obscene amounts of black eyeliner and embrace this ‘individuality’ that I have seem to adopted. 

Lots of love,

Ellay xxx

Christmas time!

December is probably my favourite month of the year. There is this constant anticipation for the 25^th, lots of planning, decorations everywhere, and cheesy Christmas music blaring out of the speakers in every shop. It’s so festive and everyone’s generally in a much happier mood as well, which is a bonus :) 

Friday was the last day of term at school for me and it was completely holiday-orientated, it was great! We started off with a whole-school music competition, lots of different groups performing songs and ballads. Typically, my team, or ‘house’ as we call them, came last, but ‘it’s not the winning that matters, it’s the taking part!’ but I didn’t take part… so that mantra doesn’t apply. Then we had our annual Christmas pantomime done by the lower sixth (my year), which I again did not take part in, but I was secretly jealous of the amazing costumes and hairstyles involved!

Then I went out for a lovely lunch with four of my friends and we enjoyed some final jokes and banter before going our separate ways for a few weeks, travelling off to different parts of the world and doing different things.

I’ve been disappointed in myself this year though. Normally the excitement has started building up and the decorations are all over the walls and furniture by the end of November, but the tinsel box hasn’t been touched, nor have many cards been sent off and the Santa hat remains stuffed at the back of the cupboard. 

But despite my un-festive spirit this year, there are many, many things that I’m looking forward to doing now that it’s the Christmas holidays…

Christmas movie marathons

A bunch of mates, mugs of hot chocolate, blankets and a stack of Christmas-related movies – the majority of what I’ll be doing this holiday!
Movies in my pile include (and I’m all for cartoons and kiddy ones)…

♛The Polar Express

♛Elf

♛Love Actually

♛Shrek The Halls (so brilliant…)

♛Fred Claus

♛Home Alone

Wrapping up

Fashion-wise, winter is my favourite month. It’s all about the layers, the hats and scarves and gloves, the jumpers, the snuggly boots. I love wrapping up all cosy and warm and looking like I’ve stepped out of the house in half of my wardrobe.

Snow

I absolutely adore snow; I could spend all day in it if it wasn’t so cold :P And obviously, there’s only a possibility of waking up to a white blanket of the stuff in the dead of winter. A snowy Christmas day, for me, is like a dream come true. There’s just so many magical and fairytale qualities to snow, it’s just amazing and I think it really completes the ‘Christmas experience’.

My dog loves snow!

Christmas songs

A Christmas playlist full of cheesy, oldie songs is an important ingredient to the perfect Christmas.

Some of my favourite are…
♛  Fairytale of New York – The Pogues

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9jbdgZidu8
♛ White Christmas – Michael Bublé

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OsgqpnuizY

♛  Shake Up Christmas – Train

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-8VCL4uSUc
♛  Christmas Lights – Coldplay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1rYmzQ8C9Q
♛   All I Want For Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXQViqx6GMY

The food

I think most people can agree that the food around Christmas time is some of the best all year! I honestly look forward to the turkey, crispy roast potatoes, stuffing, ‘pigs in a blanket’, mulled wine, Christmas pudding and trifle for months! My family and I rarely eat meals together, so it’s a rare treat to have my parents, brother, grandmother and uncle huddled round the table in front of the fire with our little paper crowns on, pulling crackers and digging in to some delicious nosh.

The decorations

Who doesn’t love having their house covered in tinsel and paper chains, with a massive green tree in their front room? I also love going past houses covered in those pretty blue and white fairy lights with wreathes hanging on the doors and lit-up Father Christmas and Snowman faces in the windows!

And of course… the presents!

The exchanging of gifts on the 25^th is the perfect end to the Christmas period. As nice as it is receiving them, it’s also just as satisfying seeing someone’s face light up in joy when they open the present that you bought for them!

What do you enjoy about Christmas?

Lots of love and hugs,

Ellay xxx

(all photos are mine, taken last winter)