Scrapbooking

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the most artistic person in the world. I think the artistic gene skipped me and went straight to my sister. I'm creative, sure, but it's words rather than colours or pictures or... anything like that.

So I know my scrapbook isn't the prettiest in the world, but it's very therapeutic and it's something I'm really enjoying at the minute. For years I've kept a "memory box", if you like, full of random souvenirs and random things that mean stuff to me. I've got important things like the funeral orders of service from my grandparents' funerals (x3), I've got things from ex-boyfriends, birthday and Christmas cards, tickets to sports events, music events, theatre events etc... Photos, tickets to university nights out, random photos and wristbands... Lots of random stuff, anyway.

And it was getting a bit cluttered. I'd been given this gorgeous scrapbook several years ago (I can't even remember who gave it to me now!) and hadn't even touched it. So I figured, with all this time on my hands, and with everything from high school and university all finished now, this would be a good time to start work on this.

I'm pretty pleased with it so far, although my memory box still seems to be as full as ever. Oops! If you're interested (and even if you're not!) here's a couple of pages I particularly like so far...

Some bits from a family holiday to South Africa in 2005/2007. Probably bits from both - I can't really work out what's from when. That's me and my sister in the bottom photo. She's 18 now, all grown up!

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These are from a school cruise in 2004. We went to Greece, Egypt and Turkey, and it was an amazing trip. The photo in the top corner is of Leanne, my best friend from school who I don't see nearly enough these days because we both moved away to study, and now she's planning to live where she studied, which makes me sad. She's still wonderful though, I love her lots!

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And this is from when I went to see Muse play at Wembley - twice. Once in 2007 and once in 2010. Amazing both times! There's a bit of a story behind my 2007 trip, so if you'll indulge me a moment more, I'll share it with you:

I was due to go with my boyfriend, James. We split up, and he gave my ticket to his new girlfriend. Fortunately my friend Alison (top corner) knew someone with some spare tickets, so we went with Leanne and had fab seats (much better than if I'd gone with James, which was even better!). It turns out that the person who gave Alison the tickets was my current boyfriend, Ollie, who went (I think) with his then-girlfriend. How strange! And how strange that our paths didn't cross then!

Anyway. Enough chat from me - I've got some serious scrapbooking to do this evening!

Dresses. Pretty, pretty dresses.

Well you all seemed quite interested in my off-topic, "I don't understand clothes" post the other day.

I nearly had to post a follow-up. My boyfriend got me a ticket to a summer ball that they're having at his university, and my first thought was "oh god, what am I going to wear?!"

But actually, I got really lucky. I was feeling a bit rubbish yesterday so decided to head into the city to clear my head and get some fresh air... and I came home with a dress. It's really pretty, and it was only £20! (And it's got the boyfriend's approval, so it's nice to know I won't look like a fool...)

I'm not one to put photos of myself up all over the place, but I might make an exception, because I'm really excited about it. And I'm kind of proud of myself for solving this dilemma all by myself. Normally I drag my mum out... or rather, she drags me out and I get stressed because I can't find anything I like, or I feel really fat in everything, or they don't have the right size, or.... well, you get the picture. I'm not good at buying dresses, let's put it that way.

I will probably need some clothes advice soon though. I'm starting a work experience placement at a literary agency in London on Monday, and have NO idea what to wear. It's complicated by the fact that there's a party in the evening... Ugh. I'm really excited about it though. I'd done quite a lot of work in literary agencies last year, and so it'll be nice to get back into the office, you know?

All that aside, this is my pretty dress. Isn't it lovely.

(Apologies for the bad-quality photo. My housemate took it for me on my phone. That's a comment on my phone's quality as a camera, rather than my housemate's quality as a photographer, by the way...)

(Also, apologies for my horrendously smelly slippers that are trying to get in on the action. They're not the prettiest things in the world, are they.)