I'm in Essex gurl

*annoying dun dun dun bit*

So yesterday the only way was Natasha Barker. And on her day of birth, she decided that she wanted nothing more than to see all of her friends dressed up as complete tools like the simple minded stars of TOWIE. Alix and I translated that as complete and utter tack-fest.

We hit the chavviest, most sequin infested cheapskate shops we could find, hunting down the most horrific ensembles (matching of course) that we could find.
And, even in my own humble opinion, we most definitely succeeded.
Here is the dazzling evidence:

I smashed my tanning goal, and achieved the most glorious orange glow that even David Dickenson himself would have been proud of. Set off with my emebellished white floaty number and a Snooki sized beehive, I was well and truly representing my roots.
Eurgh.
I literally don't understand how people can tan for nights out, let alone every day. It's the most ridiculously tedious lengthly procedure that I found thoroughly miserable. I guess these things have to be done in the aid of a birthday party!

It was most definitely a winning day yesterday, when I was out shopping with my nan (cupboard, fridge & freezer are now well and truly stocked to the point of bursting), I found out that we were able to pay the deposit for our third year trip to China. A WHOLE WEEK AND SOMETHING BEFORE LOANS ARE DUE IN!! Argh.
After the most rapidly sent email ever and an urgent phone call to the mother I paid my £100 deposit, so I am definitely on my way to Bejing in January 2012.
SO EXCITED!!!!!!

Great Wall of China, Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Ming Tombs and much more to come!

Considering I've been on a plane once, to Spain, which was an hour, the ten hour flight and jet lag is going to be something of a shock I reckon! Definitely worth it though.

9 months and counting!

Farewell to the Fairground...

...or hello, seeing as it's just arrived.
And hello to Southampton, which is where I am once again, after a perfectly acceptable coach journey free from smelly people but abundant in air conditioning. 


Me and Alix enjoyed a laavely sunny afternoon yesterday, strolling around, stopping at various places for food/beverages/ice creams. There was slight devastation when the ice cream man DIDN'T HAVE ANY SPRINKLES but I just had to get over it, whilst weeping into my naked ice cream cone.

Prue came to meet us and we paid Miss Natasha Barker a little visit to wish her a verrry happy 22nd birthday!! Which we are going to celebrate in true style on Tuesday at the event entitled:
The Only Way is Natasha Barker
Reem times ahead. I hope to be so bronzed my ethnic origin is actually thrown into debate. 


We then took a trip to the fair. Pikey alert.
We wasted many precious pennies, got battered and bruised, and a few tears were shed (mainly of laughter) but it was a gigglesome time.
APART from the bumper cars....mine decided not to go forwards, but instead to spin in a continuos circle. It was very embarrassing when small gypsy children were whizzing past me and I could do nothing but  whirl around on the spot. So much for a nice little cruise. 


My healthy eating kick (after putting on a ridic amount of pounds at Aceville) started today with a glorious home-made salad. This was no ordinary lettuce and cucumber affair, I went all out. Well and truly pimped that veg.

Sickeningly healthy

Me and Alix and the cause of our injuries

Prue and Spongebob (she won him out of one of those impossible claw machines. Jel)

 Prue and Alix, before Prue nearly died of pure fear

Someone do all my uni work for me now?

Thanks :)

Lucky

I did something interesting today.
What better to do on a Saturday afternoon that get yourself some ink.

I decided to get a celtic-style four leaf clover on my wrist. I'm part Irish, so that was where the whole clover part came in, repping the heritage. Four leaves also stand for the four members of the fam, cute eh. Lastly, who doesn't need a bit of luck now and then?

Here it is right after I got it done. Slightly swollen and red. My arm looks bizarre, not like a limb in the slighest

Et voila, here it is now. And you can actually tell it's my arm this time, win

And a close -up shot. It's still pretty swollen but not as red

I didn't really know what to expect, because you get such different reactions from people about how much it hurts. I think I have a pretty high pain threshold...some of the time. When it comes to purposeful pain like piercings anyway. If I stub my toe I cry like a baby.

It wasn't painful, it was a bit uncomfortable. But not unberarable. Like sitting against a really hot radiator, it burns but you bear it anyway because it's that kind of enjoyable pain?

Anyway, I'm really pleased with it, £25 and an afternoon well spent. I say an afternoon, it took about 2 minutes, I literally didn't believe the tattoist when she said she'd finished.

Nowwww I want more...oops.

But it's not something I'd rush into, I wouldn't get something just because I liked it or because it's in fashion. I've been thinking about this for ages and I'd have to do the same with the rest, but I'll definitely be in contact with the needles again ;)

Gold Lion

I went to the zoo.

We saw some meerkats

 And another one, posin'

 An albino wallaby

 I fed an elephant! Not this one, but its friend.

 There were some giraffes

And we got to feed some of them too :)

I do love the zoo. Especially on a gloriously sunny day as has been the case lately. Sorry for being obscenely British, but as soon as the weather does anything remotely interesting it becomes the main topic of conversation for anyone. My friend pointed this out to me as we were strolling around Colchester, observing its strange inhabitants. People pass each and for the brief moment they have in which to converse, the one thrilling subject they bring up is the presence of the sun. 'Lovely day isn't it?' Oh yes, now that you mention it, it is ridiculously warm isn't it? My retinas do feel slightly burnt after staring at that big yellow ball in the sky...

So it's been a whole week...life :

- I had my last day at Aceville. It was so weird waking up this monday and not going through the routine I'd gotten so used to. I have come to realise, I love routine. Organisation is awesome. All the girls signed a card for me, and I got a huuge box of goodies. Plus, they said they'd be happy to have me back again in the summer, so I won't be away from my beloved desk for too long hopefully...

- After spending FIVE HOURS in the hairdressers, I managed to have my hair dyed 3 times to...the exact same colour. Which although quite annoying I also found quite impressive.

- Mine and Alix's Essex weekend was interesting. Riverside (motherfucker) hotel was alriiight. A bit rough around the edges but it served its purpose. The toilet made for an excellent vomit vessel the next morning. Hangover from HELL. But millions of hours of Jersey Shore made up for it. I got Alix hooked, mua haha.

- I went to visit my friend Bob for a few days, we had a laavely bbq (I provided a gorgeous salad and Pimms) and went to Colchester Zoo, hence the animal piccies. Lots of sun, films, Xbox, tea and general giggles was had, as always.

- I've only got one day left at home in Essex then its back down south on Sunday. Which thanks to all this Easter/Royal Wedding business (which I am so sick of I will literally vomit the next time I see a Union Jack) is a heck of a palava. 6 changes on various buses and trains means that I'm going back to the ol' coach...please god let the air con be working and there be no passangers on board who have odour issues...

Oh and I have ten tons of uni work to catch up on. Loving life.

Broken Record

DAY 9

It was most definitely a treaty day today. My favourite kind ;)

There was a beauty sale at Aceville today, which I'd been hearing good things about practically since I arrived. Lots of high end designer brand products, make up and body, are knocked down from their usual ridiculous prices to just pounds. I was pretty excited, but wasn't prepared for the chaos that was to come...

At lunchtime, 1pm dead on, a surge of all the girls from the craft offices swarmed next door to the other titles' headquarters. And layed out on tables were piles of make up, creams, lotions and potions. Usually polite girls turned into vultures, grabbing products with insane speed and loading up carrier bags to the brim. I was on the look out a new face powder and an eye cream for the mother.

I spent just £9 and when I totalled the RRP's of my purchaches it came to a HUGE £108.88!!
And here's what I nabbed for myself:

 Glo minerals redness relief powder (for the sister), Barefaced mineral foundation (in Promise), Lily Lolo mineral cover up (in Blush Away), Lily Lolo mineral blusher (in Ooh La La), Lush Dream Cream, Lush colour supplement (in dark yellow) and a Natorigin eye pencil (in black)

After the recent beauty buzz on mineral make up, I'm excited to try my products out to see if they live up to the hype!

It was another busy day as we're about to go into press week. I wrote up another four big projects, and read over some more proofs. Definitely going to be sad to leave tomorrow, I've really got on well with everyone and I love my little desk :( It will be nice to have a bit more sleep though, not that much is going to be happening this weekend with Alix coming down!

When I got home there was another little pressie from my parents...

The new Harry Potter DVD! In a limited edition Dobby case, to add to my collection ;)



AND...

Home made chocolate and pineapple cupcakes, really a treat for the Aceville girls but I had a cheeky few ;)

Just had a quick trip to the hairdressers, as I need a major barnett rehaul.

They took a sample of my hair to test in a bleach bath, as I'm planning on going lighter for le summer. Fingers crossed it doesn't dissolve...I also had a skin test, ridiculous as I've dyed my hair literally every month since I was 12. If all goes to plan I will have perfect hair by Saturday afternoon! :D

Word Up

DAY 8

And what a day it was.
SOSOSOSOSO busy!
It's getting to the final stages now, so everyone's really hectic. There's all the copy to finish, then proof reading it a billion times, making the final edits, editing the final designs...the list is endless!

I feel really lucky to be able to see all the time, effort and processes that go into publishing a magazine, it's really given me an insight into the practical world behind all this fancy writing we do on my course.
And thankfully it hasn't put me off wanting to pursue a career in journalim, only made me more inspired to ace my degree so I can get a top job!

I completed writing and editing two double page jewellery projects, and did a little interview feature about the rising trend in typographic jewellery, which I thought I'd show you some of.

I've always lusted after a tatty devine name necklace, but the hefty price tag has always put me off. Researching for this feature I found that there are so many other options out there, all playing with fonts and words to create original accessories that do the talking for you!

This pieces are from the Etsy store TICKETTE, which was founded by two student friends, Tal and Ellia. They've redefined the meaning behind jewellery by using the piece itself to express what it is, as in their 'earring' earring. I love their doodle necklaces too, which are all totally original as they're free-hand scribbles which are made using fine metal-work techniques.

Toronto based designer Berdene uses symbols in bold, bright plastic to create statement pieces that transform things we read and write everyday into something wearable and unique.

Stars & Scars takes inspiration from everyday phrases and is also influenced by celebrity culture, for example, she made a Charlie Sheen 'winning' necklace shortly after his crazy breakdown. Who doesn't want one of those?!

And here's the Tatty Devine name necklace, which I still go as far as designing, and then close the page sadly when I realise I don't have the pennies to spare.

Sighhh...to be limitlessly rich eh!

Monster

DAY 7

It started off well...naaaaat. I decided to just ignore the fact my train was coming and realised its existence as it was about to pull away. Luckily, someone else was equally as retarded as me and managed to prise open the doors with a bizarre super-human strength that both impressed and frightened me.

There were some freaks on that train though.
For instance, 2 men, literally downing cans of Carlsberg. This was before 8am. I felt sick on their behalf.

I did a lot of proof reading today, which is quite an arduous task but of course vital to publishing any professional material. Then I got to go to the design studio to instruct them on any further edits, and admire their ridiculously rapid skills on Quark, a programme which I utterly despise.

And nowww I'm writing up some projects and features for another Aceville title, Make Jewellery. Which is quite appropriate, considering my recently developed obsession with crafting my own accessories.

I finished Jersey Shore series 1 yesterday, boo!
So now until season 2 finishes downloading at a tortoise-paced rate, I'm at a loss as to what to do this eve.
Probably get my snooze on tbh.

Speaking of tortoises, in the Metro this morning there was the cutttttest thing ever that made me want to throw Hector out of the window in favour of one of these:

Tim the grape-sized Tortoise!

I knooww they're a really rare Egyptian breed and illegal and everything, but if I really, REALLY want one then that means I should get one right?!

Flash Delirium

DAY 6/1

So it was back to the horrific wake-up time today as I started my second week at Aceville. I'm not gonna lie though, I definitely leapt out of bed when my alarm went off. Alarmingly, I bounded straight onto my laptop but as it's a large pile of junk anyway I'm not too fussed.

I wrote up some more projects today, this time for July's issue which is so weird as it seems aggges away. The weather has been more than appropriate though, so it's been easy to write about long summer days and hot beaches.
THAT IS UNTIL TONIGHT.
Hello rain. I'd forgotten about you, the worst form of precipitation.

I also got a chance to see the first mock-up of my copy now that the design team have added the pictures and funky fonts and laid it out.
So exciting!
It's all looking really good so far, a few more last-minute edits and it'll be ready to come out mid-may :)

One drawback though...I have to provide a picture to go in the magazine and after desperately scouring Facebook I realsed that:
50% of the time I have facepaint/stupid costumes on
10% of the time I'm wasted
10% of the time I have innapropriate, ridiculous coloured hair
10% of the time it's a picture of me as a baby or my dog, which my mum has tagged.

So my sister just tried to take a nice one of me, all smiley and that, but I have an unfortunate condition which means that when I grin I look like Michael McIntyre.
So I've given up for now...they can just use a picture of a cat or something.

Too lazy to take an outift picture, plus feel hideously depressed after the failed photo sesh.
Dark, dark days.

Get Outta My Head

SUNDAY STYLE

Seeing as it's a Sunday, the day of rest and all that, I thought I'd take a break from the usual wordy posts and do something a bit different, which I'm thinking about making a regular feature. It's pretty standard blogging practise; I'm going to focus on one person's (i.e. a celebrity) style which I've particularly liked this week, and do a little 'how-to' on how to emulate one of their looks.

I'm gonna start with my ultimate style crush, Fearne Cotton. She ALWAYS looks good, she manages to pull off outfits that would leave most people looking like a circus clown.
She stays true to her own views on fashion and tastes, and always looks original compared to some of the manufactured celebs out there.
She of course has her own range at Very.co.uk, which has key pieces influenced by the season's trends but with her own spin.
I like the fact that she often wears clothing from smaller, less well known brands on TV appearances (Celebrity Juice for example), and doesn't give in to following the crowd.
Add to that gorgeous hair and flawless make-up, and what's not to love??

Serious hair envy

Working the faded-colour trend for her own line at Very

Here she is working one of this seasons hottest new/old trends; the coloured skinny jean. Once the staple part of any 16 year old emo's wardrobe, they've made a come back this year in more muted, pastel shades to give a more classic spin.

My internet is being digustingly slow atm so I'm trying to source pictures for my little what-to-wear but alas, it's being a mega fiend.

The best place to find a similar pair of lemon coloured skinnies is Cheap Monday at Asos, and Amerian Apparel are best for jersey basics, to get the layered look that Feane has here.
Hopefully next week the internet will permit me to do what I actually want!
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday :)

Spanish Sahara

View over Crouch End, London, from the Ally Pally hill



Ahh the weekend. A time for lay ins, full english breakfasts, and general laziness.

I didn't have to wake up until 9 today, which would have been an arduous task before this week, but now was a welcome relief from the pre-dawn starts I've gotten used to.

Me and the mother had a good ol' wander round the craft show at Ally Pally, which was huuuuge! It was jam-packed as well; you'd be surprised at how sharp some of these meek little crafters elbows become when they're cramming to get the first look at the bargains!

She spent her hard-earned dosh from making cards/wedding invites on some lovely bits to add to her stash; taking my insider knowledge on the best products to buy of course ;)

I got some gorgeous little charms to get my jewellery making started. I couldn't wait to start making one as soon as I got home, and this is the result:

I used some coloured crystal beads to jazz it up a bit. I'm slightly obsessed with owls atm so HAD to have this one, and I'm such a tea-a-holic that this little tea-pot made me laugh and I couldn't resist it.

Got a few more including an anchor, a dragonfly, and a skull&crossbones (nice and gothic) but I'm gonna wait until a cheeky visit to Hobbycraft to get some more beads and maybe some black leather cord...

I cleaned out Heccy this afternoon, and he's currently working off the wotsits (his new favourite treat) by having a run around in his ball, aided by my doggy Nelson.
Here's a piccy of them togeths, it looks like they're looking at each other - too cute!

I hope everyone's enjoying soaking up this glorious sun!
I'm jel of everyone having bbqs...ours got rusty so we had to bin it :( Already had a Maccy D's though and daddy's going to the chippy later ;) So can't complain!
But I've definitely already put on about a stone being at home...oops.
Gonna have to get my healthy eating back on when I get back down South...naaaaaaat!

Friday

DAY 5

So...hello heatwave. Welcome to England, so nice of you to join us...IN APRIL?!
What is this madness, we have well and truly messed up the planet if the supposed WETTEST MONTH OF THE YEAR is like this!
Don't mistake this for complaining, it's glorious but just ever so strange.
I guess I shouldn't question and enjoy, as is often the best method to take in life.

So it was the end of my first week at Crafts Beautiful today!
What a week!
I've had a love/hate relationship with the trains; we've fallen out and made up again and now we're on speaking terms and the relationship is fairly steady.

BAD start to the day, my oj decided to create a nice little swimming pool in the bottom of my bag so everything was lovely and moist. Not what you want, but in this weather who really cares, it dried in like 30 seconds/3 hours!

I wrote some more news stories today.
DID YOU KNOW Mr. Pritt Stick, (yes, he has an actual title), the undisputed king of all that is adhesive, is now environmentally friendly?!
Epic news, I know. Take a moment to process the information.
Nah I may mock but I'm still having so much fun, and it's all good practice, especially as the stories are only about 70 words and being concise is not my strongpoint!

In other, more exciting news, today was...
wait for it...
CHEESE DAY.

I couldn't hide my excitement when I was informed that all the upstairs team brought in a different cheese, with one person suppling the crackers aka 'The Cracker Kid'. And then you basically stuff your face with different cheeses all day.
It was as glorious as it sounds.

I also wrote a couple of the giveaway stories, and then as I had done everything I needed to do I was allowed to go home an hour early!
So I was able to get my tan on for a while at the station ;)

I'm so exhausted now though; I fell asleep on the train and woke up at my stop literally as it was about to go. I would have been in London hating life if I hadn't.

I totally forgot to take an outfit picture today! Just got into my pjs without thinking. It was nothing spesh anyway, just a long vest top, denim shirt and tights!

In some VERY exciting news, Alix booked our hotel for next weekend!

Baha because it would have been £70 to get a taxi back from Colchester, where we're going out, on saturday night/sunday morning, we thought we may as well pay £50 and stay there AND get a full english brekkie in the morning! Sweeeet like tropicana, as she'd say.

NOW of course it's time for Jersey Shore. I'm so addicted, it's unreal.

And tomorrow I get a (sort of) lay in then me and the mother are going to Ally Pally! Very excite to start building my jewellery making collection.

Hope everyones start to the weekend was good!

Laters taters.

Sun Comes Up

DAY 4

So summer seems to have arrived and neglected to tell us.
What another wonderful day, which I actually got to enjoy on my lunch break, in a 'secret garden' which was actually a patch of grass by some flats. But a pretty patch of grass nonetheless.

I finished writing up all my copy! It's now in the hands of the design team, and I'll get to see what it looks like printed up next week!
I was allowed to write the leader, which is the introductory paragraph to the booklet. AND I got to sign it off 'Seoana Sherry-Brennan, Editorial Junior'.
Whey hey ;)

Now I've been assigned to write the news stories for the MAIN magazine. I'm going up in the world! Next week, editor!
Baha it's exciting how much I've been allowed to do, kinda scary but it was such a good feeling handing my copy in knowing that it's going to be read by thousands of crafters!

Lizzie gave me some really cute russian doll beads after I noticed them in one of her features and I made a bracelet with them when I got home from work. (After stuffing my face with 24203 grams of food first of course.)
Here's another (v. poor quality) picture:

I'm gonna look for some more beads when I go to Alexandra Palace for the craft fair on Saturday. By I, I of course mean mummy ;)

Here's what I wore today. Quite a neutral colour theme, to match my slightly dreary mood due to my extreme tiredness. It of course improved when I got into work <3

Vest top, H&M; Jumper, Sainsburys; Shorts, H&M

Now once again, Jersey shore & bed time. I don't mind the quiet (aka excrutiatingly boring) evenings this week, as next weekend will be pretty mental when Alix comes up. EXCITED MUCH.

Laters taters.

Wednesday*

DAY 3

And what a glorious day it was. Everything seems better in the sun doesn't it? I think it was the hottest day ever recorded at this time of year (according to the Metro). I'm definitely wishing I didn't leave my sunnies in Soton now! :(

The trains were behaving themselves again, so I was at work nice and early. It gave me the chance to watch The Wanted's latest video. No, I am not a fan. I hate them. Why they exist/have made it in the music industry perplexes me. But me and my friend Louise take great pleasure in mocking them, and she told me I had to watch their new vid for it's pure stupidity. It provided me with countless chuckles, but also left me cringing in my seat as they tried to be 'funny' for Comic Relief. Well done for the charity work guys but it still doesn't justify your total lameness. Not to mention the song SUCKS so bad.

Anyway work.
 I started off by helping Natalie finish off the styling shoots from yeserday. She was once again a fountain of ridiculous stories and general hilarity. Once I'd done that it was back to my projects. I had all my copy proof read and had to add a few extra details and then tomorrow they'll be ready to job bag!

Ahh yes, today I learnt the joys of job bags. After re-labelling about 7297324. My first menial task, but I still enjoyed it cos I read all the features inside!
Basically you put your text in an envelope with any pictures needed attached and label it. Then it goes to the design team who work their magic and voila! A shiny new magazine.

We went for lunch in a cafe by the river (/sludge pool) today to enjoy the sunshine. I swear, I must be working up some mega monster appetite because all I seem to do is eat! Though, it's hard not to be tempted, there's always a cake lurking around the office for some reason or another.

So here's what I wore today, another shocking picture of course:

Vest top, Topshop; Waistcoat, Lauras (cheeeeeky); Trousers, New Look, Necklace, Vintage

And here is my crafting debut!

Exciting, I know.

It's one of the girls, Tanya, birthday coming up so I thought well, I'm working at a craft magazine - I should make a card!

Luckily being the obsessive craftee she is, my mum has an endless supply of cards, papers, ribbons and embellishments, so I had a limitless choice.

Here is the finished project, a vintage inspired design focussing on the current nature trend in craft. (Baha)



I <3 craft.
Someone get me a blue rinse and some beige clothes please.
NO crafting is trendy. Just look at the number of blogs focussing on it!
Why buy products you could just as easily make, and add a personal touch to?!

Now its time for Masterchef, The Model Agency, Jersey Shore and bed. With a dash of brownies and cream in between.
Perfection.

*Yes this is a song, and not just a day of the week. My title theme continues!

Photoshop Handsome

DAY 2

So after the hellish nightmare that was yesterday's journey, I was prepared for the worst today.
The signs seemed bad as the ticket machine kept angrily spitting my money back out at me. First it didn't like my £20 note, so I bought a hot chocolate to get some change. THEN I gave it too much money?! which it hated, so once again it rejected my dollah.
Thankfully I managed to get my ticket just as the train pulled up (on time!)

First change at Shenfield, about a 10 minute delay. Not too shabby.
Second change at Colchester, 10 minutes until a train to Hythe - ON TIME!
Public transport has redeemed itself...for now.
Getting my money back for my ticket yesterday cos I was more than half an hour late which is a pretty sweet deal!

I met the girls (from the station yesterday) at the level crossing, where we walked in the blustery misery that was today's weather. We were about half an hour early, so I got comfy at my desk only to be evicted by the real occupier. And so I moved accomodation, to a much more roomy desk downstairs with the Making Jewellery and Let's Knit ladies.

Once again I ploughed on with my projects today, got 7/8 written up in the morning. It's quite (dare I say it) cheesy writing; my music journalism lecturer, who despises mine and Maisies work for being too 'flowery' would probably tear up the copy but hey - it's what they want and I'm having tons of fun providing it! I then spent the afternoon in the photography studio!

I got to help Natalie, the Editorial Assistant and all round lovely person, style the shoots for the upcoming issue. Styling craft products might not seem exciting but it was actually quite fun to do, and a nice challenge trying to show everything off to its best.

I also got to help pick some prize winners AND I would have been living the dream and starred as a hand model in a demonstration BUT my garish nail varnish just wasn't suitable :( There's always next time though ;)

It was generally just a massive laugh, we got pretty much all we needed to do done but still had tons of fun, mainly from Natalie's hilarious anecdotes.
She works as a waitress a few nights a week and overheard a couple talking about Aceville and volunteered herself, as an employee, to answer any questions they had.
Little did she know, she was talking to the editor of British Food Magazine and her husband, one of the longest serving editors at the company.
Brilliant.

Add that to stories of grannys spelling out expletives in Scrabble and before I knew it, it was 5.30 again and time for home (aka bed)

I'm having a brilliant time, and I feel really lucky to have landed such an awesome placement :D

Here's another outfit piccy, it sucks cos I hate taking photos of myself and I also happen to be terrible at it.

Spotty dress, H&M; Leopard print jacket, H&M; Clock necklace, Matalan

I wore this with my brown leather and (fake) shearling boots.

5.45 might be disgustingly early but I'm looking forward to another day at Aceville!

Nighty night :)

Sleephead

Work Experience at Aceville Publications - Day 1

Neverbeensotiredinmywholeentirelife.com

OMG what a day. Such a crazy mess it feels like a whole week has passed since this morning! Though, this morning was a LONG time ago.
I was up at 5.45. Never have I seen that time of day (more like night) unless I haven't been to bed yet.
I was at the station at 7 o' clock, ready to begin my journey to Hythe. But alas, the trains weren't ready to make that trip for me.

My first train, due at 7.07, was delayed by 20 minutes. I got to Shenfield for my first change and had to wait another 15 minutes to leave to get to Colchester. Which is where the real trouble began. The train for Hythe was due to arrive at 8.16. 8.16 came and went. The train was delayed unil 8.50. I was due to start work at 9, so had come to terms with the fact I was going to be a few minutes late. That, I could deal with.

What I couldn't deal with was then getting on the train, only to be kicked off it 10 minutes later because the doors were broken. And then being told it had been terminated completely. After a horrific four hour journey home last night, I was ready to damn all of public transport to hell.

Cue a panicked call to Aceville, where the wonderful Natalie told me not to worry, 3 of her colleagues were stuck at the same station as me. So, armed only with the knowledge of their coat colours, I went off to meet them. The three lovely ladies and myself decided there was no point waiting ANOTHER hour for a train, we would get a taxi!

And so, only 40 minutes late, I arrived.

I was immediately greeted by the editor of Crafts Beautiful (the top selling craft magazine in the country) Sarah Crossland, who told me I'd be working with deputy editor Lizzie. We went to the meeting room where I was given my first task. Not putting the kettle on, not photocopying, BUT writing the copy for a project book which is to be given away with the June issue.
WOW.
Pressure much?!

Nervous, but excited, and clutching an armful of envelopes containing ready-made cards, I sat down at my desk (so cool!) and began typing.

I've got until Wednesday to write the copy for 18 projects, I got 7 done today so I should be on track!

Admittedly I'm not the craftyest person, it's my mum that subscribes to the magazine and has been making cards as long as I remember, but I'm really enjoying it! I get to be creative with the titles, standfirsts and introductions which is so much fun to do! And I think I'm gonna be able to write the intoductory page to the book and have my piccie in (cringe) which is pretty awesome!

Asides from the work itself, everyone is lovely! It's such a friendly and relaxed atmosphere, and it's awesome to see how a magazine goes from research, to writing copy, taking photos (they have their own studio), to subbing and then next week I'll get to see the design process and then watch it go to print!

I'm sooo tired though, I got in at half 7 so that was pretty much a 12 hour day?!
Insane.
Glee and then bed for me!

Here's what I wore, just to include some cheeky piccies (took on my sisters digital camera as she stole her Canon this eve, bitch)

 Blouse, Primark; Chinos, New Look

Brogues, Next

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, keep your fingers crossed the trains are behaving!