Watching / Reading / Listening

W A T C H I N G

t e l e v i s i o n . 

For most of the year I'm not a big TV watcher, but the beginning of autumn brings with it a plethora of TV dramas. It's become a bit of a tradition for my Mum and I to watch as many of them as possible together. Admittedly most of them aren't great, but it means we can roll our eyes at each other at every ridiculous plot point.

National Treasure - This was incredibly well written and made for really uncomfortable viewing.
The Great British Bake Off - I'm rooting for Candice.
The Missing - If the last series is anything to go by, this is going to be a confusing rollercoaster but I'm so ready for it!
Paranoid - Quite possibly the worst of the bunch, but we're determined to make it to the end.
Him - Not the best thing I've ever seen, but I'm only one episode in.
The Level - It's up there with the contenders for most ridiculous plot line, but we're so far in we've got to see it through.

y o u t u b e .
DietBlond
ExtraSunbeamsJess
FleurDeVlog

I've been thinking about getting Netflix for a little while, but I'm not sure it would be a good move for my productivity levels. I'm also notorious for starting a series and then never finishing it, mostly just googling the end to find out what happens. I know, I'm the worst!

Next month I have a date with the cinema for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I haven't been to the cinema in years, so I have to admit that I'm pretty excited for that overwhelming popcorn smell and some overpriced snacks.

- R E A D I N G -

Antigone by Sophocles
Antigone by Jean Anouilh
The Burial at Thebes by Seamus Heaney
Let Them Eat Chaos by Kate Tempest (if you missed it, I one million percent recommend watching this: Performance Live!)

Next on my to-read pile: Hold Your Own by Kate Tempest and illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

- L I S T E N I N G   T O -

p o d c a s t s .
Accused
Undisclosed
Witch, Please

a l b u m s .

For a while I was doing a pretty good job of listening to a new album every day, but then I fell into a My Chemical Romance trap and I was too busy reliving my teenage years to listen to anything else. I've also discovered that I'm quite particular with the music I want to listen to and aside from a few gems, I was finding everything else I was choosing to be a little bit samey. So far this year I think I've listened to around 130 new albums, which is about 120 more than I listened to last year. I currently have Banks' The Altar on repeat, so once I've fully exhausted that one I'm going to make more of an effort to discover some more new things to listen to.

The Altar - Banks   ♥   To The Hilt, Gemini Feed, Lovesick
Femejism - Deap Vally   ♥   Smile More
Speak For Yourself - Imogen Heap   ♥   Goodnight and Go, Hide and Seek



What are you reading/watching/listening to at the moment?
xo

Everdine: Frozen meals that look and taste like real food!

Written in collaboration with Everdine

Everdine is a service will deliver either eight or twelve wholesome frozen meals to your home or office. Every ingredient is responsibly sourced, the meals are designed by their own professional chefs, and most just need 10 minutes in the microwave before being ready to eat.

For me, and I know for many others, the subject of food isn't always as straight forward as I would like, so I must say that I'm not wholly on board with the 'clean eating made simple' tagline. I understand the premise behind clean eating, but I can't allow myself to think about it too much because I know I would end up using it as a tool to begin severely controlling what I eat. I also struggle with the connotation that some foods are inherently clean while others are, presumably, dirty.

But I do completely understand what they're trying to communicate and why they've chosen to use this word. I'm just going to choose to ignore it.

Each meal is contained within a cardboard sleeve, which details the ingredients, cooking instructions and nutritional information. I'm sure most of us have either eaten or at least seen a microwaveable frozen meal at some point and they never look particularly great, so I have to say I was really pleasantly surprised by how these look like actual, real food.

As they're cooking they also smell like actual, real life food. My mum came over one afternoon and she honestly thought I'd been cooking something from scratch. But honestly, these aren't cheap so for the price they really should look and smell good.

Depending on the plan you choose, each meal costs between £7.50 and £8.50. For a regular microwave meal this would be expensive, but the quality is there and I found that the portion size was pretty perfect. It's unlikely to be something you would rely on every week, but for particularly busy periods in your life, or perhaps as a gift for a new mum I definitely see the benefits.

By dinner time it's pretty dark here now and I wouldn't have been able to snap any photographs, so instead of having my selection of meals for dinner I've had a week or so of really brilliant lunches. Putting together this review has actually made me realise how uninspired my lunches have been recently, and how much more energy I have during the afternoon when I've eaten something fairly substantial. It's an area of my life I should probably put a little more effort into.

I can honestly say that I liked every meal on my menu. I wouldn't necessarily have every single one of them again, but I liked the variety. My favourite was easily the Singapore noodles (last picture), followed by the chickpea and vegetable tagine (first picture).

With a few minor modifications Beatrix also got herself a new little hideaway in the form of the cardboard box everything was delivered in, so we were both pretty happy bunnies.

I've never tried a service quite like this before and I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a really great experience. It's even given me the motivation to experiment in the kitchen a little more as lunchtime rolls around.

If you want to give Everdine a try, I have a code that will give you £30 off your first box: IN1SAILORJENNIE

Have you tried Everdine, or a service like it before?
xo

Some New Things.

Aside from life's essentials and a few books here and there, most of the things I've been buying this year have been for little Beatrix. Sometimes I think she eats more than I do, and she seems to really enjoy playing with new toys once, only to then ignore them until the end of time. She's cute though, so it's allowed.

As I've navigated through my twenties I've become quite good at only buying things I really need or really, really want. It's pretty much the only thing I am quite good at, so at least I've achieved something. I'm not really sure why I'm writing this but, books not included, here are the things I've bought for myself this year.

P H I L I P   G A R D I N E R   P O T T E R Y   M U G

My boyfriend recently took his dad on holiday to Cornwall and he brought me back this brilliant mug. I have a real thing for tactile objects and this mug is the ultimate example. It has very quickly become my favourite hot chocolate mug and I love it a lot.

D I A N N E   T A N N E R   T E N A C I T Y   C O I N   P U R S E

I've admired Dianne Tanner's work for a long time and I'm so happy to finally have a piece from her collection to call my own. It's just the right size for the ridiculous amount of cards I seem to have accumulated over the years, and it's pocket sized so I don't have to take a bag out with me if I don't want to. The quality is top notch and, as you can probably tell, I'm a huge fan!  

O H   M Y   C L U M S Y   H E A R T   T I N Y   S T U D   E A R R I N G S

I don't wear a lot of jewellery but when I found myself wanting a pair of tiny silver stud earrings Oh My Clumsy Heart had exactly what I was looking for. I've also admired Sophie's work for a long time and it's wonderful to be able to support independent businesses, even if it's only in a small way.

P O P   V I N Y L

All I can say is that it's a really good job I'm not hugely invested into any other films, books or TV shows because there's something strangely hypnotising about these little plastic figures. I'm sure it's got something to do with the design of the boxes and how neatly they all line up next to each other.

I've had Dumbledore for a little while and after I knocked him off my bookshelf (I foolishly took him out of the box knowing how clumsy I am) and broke his glasses I told myself I wouldn't buy any more. And that was going well for me. Until they made Neville holding Trevor. Trevor's little legs dangling down were just too cute to resist and I caved. Then I caved again and got a Dementor because it looks truly terrifying. And then I figured that since it appears I'm collecting these things now I should definitely get Luna because, well, Luna needs no justification.

I'm probably not going to collect every single one from the series because I don't think I really want a million versions of Harry in various different outfits, holding different things. But I can see me ending up with one of most of the characters. Unless they make Luna wearing her lion hat, because there's no way I'd miss out on that.

It also seems I'm collecting the three parts of the bloody Hogwarts Express now too, because I saw the part with Hermione in it in person in Forbidden Planet last week when I was in Manchester. I'm justifying it because I don't have Harry, Ron or Hermione yet and the versions that come with the train are from The Philosopher's Stone when they meet for the first time and they're adorable.

Do you any collect Pop Vinyl figures?
xo

October: Until Now, Until The End

- October, Until Now -

1. I made a trip to Manchester for my first MA tutorial. I didn't say anything too ridiculous, but I did nearly fall over getting there. Think baby giraffe trying to stand up for the first time and you'll get a bit of an idea as to how silly I must have looked. I really can't go anywhere without doing something ridiculous but it's fantastically liberating being able to laugh at yourself without feeling embarrassed. It was also really nice to meet some of my fellow students in person. Distance learning can sometimes feel like quite a solitary experience, so it's nice to be able to put some faces to names and remember that we aren't completely alone as we're furiously writing our assignments as deadline day fast approaches.

2. I'd never been to Manchester before so I booked a hotel and Mark and I stayed overnight. We had an evening together in the city and it was really lovely. We went for dinner, we walked a lot, Mark had multiple cups of bubble tea and I did a little bit of damage in the poetry section of Waterstones. We also went to the Vogue exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery, which is well worth a look around if you're in the city, and we both left feeling very inspired. It was also wonderful to be able to see some of L.S. Lowry's work in person there.

3. After deleting the Instagram and Snapchat apps from my phone, I've rediscovered my love for Tumblr. When I was little I had a scrapbook and would spend hours cutting and pasting things into it, a skill which became useful when I began studying photography and we had to put together sketchbooks showing our inspiration, thought process and journey to producing our final images. There's something very beautiful about having a place to virtually paste a bunch of images that I really love, or that inspire me in some way, that I can look back on.

4. Charlotte from Fox Socks has started a new project called Blog Socks, which you should drop by if, like me, you know that there are a bunch of wonderful, unique blogs out there that you haven't stumbled across yet. I was honoured to be one of the first people Charlotte interviewed and I know that Blog Socks is going to add many new reads to my subscription list.

5. I'm going to be writing a post for Everdine at some point over the next week or so, but the box that they sent everything inside has become a new bunny retreat for little Beatrix. I've filled it with shredded paper and hay and she looks so cosy when she's in there, I'm actually a little bit jealous!

- October, Until The End -

1. I must spend an afternoon reading the new illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets before the month is over. It's always been my least favourite of the series, for reasons I can't really explain, but I'm really looking forward to reading it again alongside Jim Kay's incredible illustrations. It feels like a real gift being able to read a much loved series again, with a whole new, unique vision. I've already had a little peek inside and there's an illustration of Dobby that is just so perfect it almost makes me want to cry.

2. Carve a pumpkin. Under the thickest layer of fog I used to think, what's the point? It's only going to go really icky in a few weeks. But I'm beginning to see the point again. It's about doing something. Being enthusiastic about something. And just feeling something.

3. Give myself permission to fail. Somewhere along the way I've learnt to be my own worst critic and it's both useful and deeply unhelpful depending on the situation. Sometimes I have an idea I want to pursue, or a concept that needs some ironing out, but I never actively work on it because in knowing the first version isn't likely to be what I think it could be, I instinctively want to avoid trying and failing. I'm not scared of failing, I know it's how we learn and grow, but I am always slightly worried about investing time into the wrong thing. It's like my time is running too quickly through my hands, which is strange because I fundamentally believe that it's never too late to try something new, or to change your mind. So I'm giving myself permission to spend time doing something, even if nothing ends up coming from it.

Has October been good to you, so far?

xo