The Wrong Knickers by Bryony Gordon: A book review

Scowling the non-fiction shelves of Euston station looking for the next book to fill the emptiness in my morning commute and my night time routine, I stumbled across this copy and thought it sounded like a laugh. On that 2 hour train to Manchester, I couldn't put it down, not even scathed by people beside me, looking alarmed at the title 'The Wrong Knickers', I was too engrossed. 

The story line follows Bryony through her twenties to early 30's on a whirlwind adventure (without sounding too Enid Blyton) of a career, boys (mainly boys), friends, drugs, sex, food and happiness in a discovery of realisation that your life will not pan out how you dreamt it, but the journey brought you self actualisation and a book deal. 

Critics are calling it the new age Bridget Jones, and I wholeheartedly concur, although I would say she is also a cross between Bridge and a grown up Georgia Nicolson (from the Angus, thongs and full frontal snogging series, for those who live under a rock). However be warned, only read this book in public if you are comfortable spluttering and snorting with laughter in front of on-lookers. For me, reading this book and giggling quietly to myself was not only fun in itself, but a revelation. How often do you see people genuinely about to wet themselves purely by what they are reading, and thats what this book did to me! The disastrous attempts at being the 'cool-girl', the numerous cringeworthy dates/ sex-capades and embarrassing tales left me in stitches and even better, left tube goers flocking to different seats, because heaven forbid I laughed in public. 

It was even weirdly relatable, it was like she was living my life, but doing it better. It started as her being a 22 year old (my current age), living on bethnal green road (my current address) with a best friend called Sally (my current housemate), the job I longingly crave for (working for a magazine) and crazy single girl nights out (not too fussed about this one for now, boyfriend and all). She became a writer for the magazine, and like most bloggers who don't have the bottle to pose for the camera in their OOTD but take to their blog to write, thats my dream job. For years I've wanted to write a book, and it almost felt like she was ripping the words from my mouth, but with greater conundrums and anecdotes and fuck up stories. By page 50, I was getting down right freaked out! But the pages turned and the plot changed. As Bryony progressed into her later 20's, the similarities faded and what was left was more hilarity, gossip, drama, and a rather happy ending.

The only downside to this story, of which I always find being a pessimist, is that I started to get irritated by how much of a f**k up she was being without doing anything about it. I'm putting that annoyance down to my uptight personality and inability to do anything spontaneously, so maybe more a pinch of envy more than anything. 

If anything this book inspired me. It made me realise I want to write, it's what I really enjoy. It's also an easy read, one that doesn't require much thinking, which is perfect for a half asleep journey to work. A thorough recommendation and a 4 out of 5 star rating from me. 

Thanks Guys! 

Official Grad

If you're around my age, and have friends at uni, your FB newsfeed over the last few weeks will have been filled with flying mortar boards, happy families and robes. If not, you can only imagine how annoying it is after the first few, but after hundreds of 'friends' graduating, it is just too much. 

However, I'm going to bore you all with my special day pictures, because after three long years, and so much stress and hard work, I finally graduated with a 2:1 in International Fashion Marketing (with a 1st in Financial Management) and I couldn't be prouder of myself. 

As soon as my mum saw me in my attire she burst into tears crying "My little baby!" which was sweet. 

There was laughter and gaiety amongst friends, champagne and ceremony selfies. It was just the best day and I didn't want it to end. 

I am currently on holiday (back in the cayman islands) so I won't be posting for a week or so, but I will have plenty of photos to bore you all with next!

IOTW #3

 I haven't done one of these for a while, but here are my most recent instagrams.
The first is my gas bill from today. Its 2p. Sorry what?!
Then a funny tbt from back in the day, playing around on my balcony, modelling, with a spear... as you do.
Then my lovely OPI red apple shade, I left this colour at home whilst at Uni, so it was nice to get back to it and try it on again.
Then a lovely picture that I drew when I was younger, such a talented youngster. Nat.
I went to the dog races (protesters step aside) for my last night in Manch, it was a fun night and a good send off.
The next picture speaks for itself.
Then my uni building, which I will actually learn to miss.
My glitter pimp skeleton, who has been with me since my first term at Uni, I couldnt throw him away, so gave him to some friends who have another year left.
You've all seen the last picture, its from my summer ball.
And there you have it, some of the weirdest and most random pictures around. 

Labels

Now I know fashion is all about the now, and I know fashion blogs are all about pictures these days, but I'm going to take you back in time, by about 2/3 weeks a.k.a 2/3 'fashion years' and I'm actually going to write something. I could put some pictures up of what I'm wearing today just to get into the popular pages, but that's not what I love to do, I love writing. And I know time and interest levels are low for a lot of you, but I greatly appreciate anyone who takes time to sit down and read, and I hope I'm not too boring!

Any whoo, on with my story. So during Easter break at a house party, I was talking to some guy whilst my best friend looked on and occasionally joined in. The small talk was pretty dull and I wasn't being particularly charming, (how charming can you be drinking vodka lemonade out of a bottle) but out of the blue, in the midst of chat and laughter, my friend turns to the guy and says "it's fine, Emily is shy and intimated by people." I have never seen someone's face drop so fast, and I could physically feel my face go red with embarrassment and anger. WHO SAYS THAT?! Especially after I've known this guy for 5 minutes! And this got me thinking, are these my labels? (ohhh, very Carrie Bradshaw-esque).

Some people define themselves with designer labels, the style is reflective of your personality, shining through to your exterior. But do we ever really think of what other people label us as? The interior labels. Some we tuck under our clothes, some we let ourselves be marked with all over, the metaphors are endless. 

Maybe if you have an interview, one of the corny questions is, what 3 words best describe you? Of course you're going to pick the ones that are right for the job and don't reflect you at all. But it turns out 2 of mine are 'shy' and 'intimated' whats the other one? 'awkward?!'. It turns out these are the labels my friends have for me, but have never said to my face. 

Now I'm not bragging, but since the beginning of Uni, my confidence levels of rocketed, and I may not be the most socially abundant person, and I have no bloody clue how to 'network', but who really is without putting on a bit of a fake smile and working their magic?  

I've learnt over the past year or so, that people still label me as the person I was 3 years ago. I'm not gonna lie, she was moody, obnoxious and a bit of a bitch! However, after realising this, I made the conscious effort to change, yet people still know me as that girl. 

Well not anymore! Change is nigh, I will not be marked down with old labels. Changing people's views of me now will be hard, but with my Uni life coming to an end, its time for new beginnings, so here's to new labels, let's hope they're better than the last.

What are your labels? Are they different to what your friends think? 

Goodbuy - Missguided Dress

A few posts ago I did a mood board showing a Missguided dress that I had ordered. 

After a bit of trouble with delivery it came on the day (yesterday) of my friends birthday 'do' and luckily it fit so I wore it. 

One of my blogging pet hates is shoddy quality outfit pictures, so I am not proud of this, especially as its my first! 

The dark background, the fact it was taken on my phone, as well as the fact I was a little worse for wear by this point doesn't make for good viewing, but you guys get the gist I'm sure. 

However, I promised you guys a photo and here it is. 

I have to admit the dress is lovely and definitely a good buy.

Hope you guys like it!