Self Isolation To Do List

This post was written on 30/03/2020

Like many people I’ve been finding it hard to stay motivated during this time. When you are at home all day every day it can be very easy to spend hours watching Netflix, playing the sims and wearing only pyjamas. That is fine some days, at the moment it is important to care of ourselves. That’s also mostly what I’ve been doing.

We may never this much time to be creative, so this is this perfect opportunity to make the most of it. Starting a creative project can also give you some normality and help you cope mentally.

To help myself (and you) stay busy I’ve decided to write a list of things that would be useful to do during the lockdown. 

WASH MAKEUP BRUSHES AND BEAUTY BLENDERS

Seems like an easy task, however, it needs to be done right? It’s not something I do often enough. So this is your official reminder to do it now.

START A BLOG AND WRITE BLOG POSTS

If you don’t already have a blog, what a more perfect time to start one? It’s a great way to practice writing, share your point of view, be creative and make friends and join a new community.

DO SOME BAKING

This is not something I’m very good at, however, I’m very good at eating them. I think I’ll probably stick to making fairy cakes from a paw patrol mix. Hopefully, you’ll be able to make something better than me.

WORK ON PINTEREST

As a highly visual person, I love Pinterest. It can help to get creative juices flowing. You can also share your own photos and use it to get more traffic on to your blog.

DRAW AND PAINT (DIGITAL AND TRADITIONAL)

I have so many sketchbooks lying around that aren’t being used from previously studying art. Although I’m not very good at drawing I do find it very therapeutic. There a lot of programmes and apps to work on digital drawing. Personally, I use adobe illustrator, but sketchpad is a great free website. 

HAVE A SPRING CLEAN

Not to sound like your mum, but this is the perfect time to tidy your room. If you don’t do it now when will you?

WRITE A DIARY

As we are living through a major historical event, it may be useful to write a diary of your daily life. In the future, people might find it interesting.

WORK ON PHOTOGRAPHY

Photography isn’t my strong point, so I’m going to get some practice in. You can take pictures of flatlays, products, plants, pets and other things around your home.

READ SOME NEW BOOKS AND REVIEW THEM

You can do this on Instagram, twitter, YouTube or a blog. I love discovering new books to read.

2019 Goals

Happy New Year angels!

The idea of 'new years resolutions' seems quite scary to me, they seem a bit unrealistic and I have a huge fear of failure. However, I am a very ambitious person and setting goals seems a lot less scary.
For once I actually have a really good feeling about this year. I'm not putting too much pressure on myself but I think some good things are going to come my way in the next 12 months.

1. Read more
When I was younger I was a big reader but now I don't read at all! I'm going to set myself the challenge of just reading two books a month, which doesn't seem like a lot but adds up to 24 books at the end of the year. Reading is great escapism and it's something I really enjoy, so I think this is something I will definitely achieve and will also be fun. I won't lie, this did start by reading Rose and Rosie's Overshare book.

2. Survive second year and be on track to graduate with a good degree
Unfortunately, 2018 has been quite a difficult year for my mental health and as a result, my university work has suffered. I'm so passionate about fashion and what I'm studying (read a bit more about my university experience here) but depression has made me less motivated. I'm determined to get my degree though, I can and I will do it !

3. Get a tattoo
This is something I've wanted to do for a couple of years, but I am such a cry baby and I don't think I could tolerate the pain. I've had a few piercings and when I've been there, the the noise of a tattoo needle actually nearly made me cry! But life's way too short, plus I'm in the minority of gays that don't have a half sleeve of roses on their arm.

4. Get some work experience
So I'm due to graduate in just over a year and whilst that's soooo scary, I just want to take some baby steps to get to where I want to be, and try and get a couple of short work experiences before the end of 2019.

5. Work harder on my little blog
This little blog, The Fashion Femme has felt so neglected over the last few months and I'm determined to change that. Because the truth is, I LOVE writing. I feel like I can get my feelings out and truly express who I am. My blog is like my baby and I'm ready to put in the work and give it lots of love (I have quite a few posts in drafts already)

6. Celebrate my 21st with my friends
I know this sounds quite small, but historically I haven't really done much for my birthday and I don't think I've celebrated with friends since maybe my 13th? I know, sounds crazy right?! But this is a special birthday, so we should do something special. Hopefully get dressed up for some classy afternoon tea then a good old sesh. Only one year off feeling 22 like Taylor Swift, can you believe.

7. Who knows....?
So guys, just between us girls. I think 2019 might be the year I get in to a relationship. You can't plan for these things to happen, but I would love meet a nice girl, go on dates and fall in love, maybe adopt a cat... I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, but I'm a hopeless romantic. In any case, I'm going to make more of an effort to meet people, even just as mates is good.

What are your goals and plans for 2019? Whatever they are, I hope you crack on with them. If you've got any 2019 goals blog posts please do share, I'd love to give them a read. Have a good one babes you'll hear from me again soon, cya

20 Things I've Learnt In 20 Years

- Care less what other people think about you. You will find people who will accept your uniqueness and weird personality.

- Let people come to you. Don't waste time trying to attract other people it just doesn't work that way, you will meet someone amazing eventually. It's not worth putting in the effort for someone who isn't really interested.

- Work hard at what you're passionate about. I'm working hard at my fashion degree and trying my hand at blogging which I've always wanted to do. If you want to start a blog... go for it!

- Accept your body. You're not going to have the same figure you had when you were fifteen, and that's completely okay. Get rid of old smaller sized clothes, accept that your body has changed and you've moved to a different clothes size. Realise that being healthy, happy and having curves is really beautiful.

- If you want to dye your hair pink, do it. If you want to cut your hair, do it. Hair dye always washes out and hair grows back. For that matter, get that piercing, get that tattoo. Why not? Life is short.

- Sex is nothing to to be ashamed of, it's amazing and natural. Growing up sex related things were so taboo, but the older I get the more I realise that most people enjoy sex and talking about it (within an appropriate setting, obvs) is really good

- Create, create, create! Take pictures of all the beautiful things you see around you, sketch designs, write blog posts, learn new creative skills to expand your knowledge. I've found I'm happiest when I'm creating things.

- Always be kind and look out for people. Simply just texting someone asking how they are and saying your thinking of them can make a world of difference to their day as sometimes you have no idea what people are going through. If you would want people to check up on you, be sure to check up on them.

- Your family is so important, appreciate them and take time out of them as much as you can. Phone your Grandma and ask how she is.

- Seek help for your mental health issues. Honestly, there are people out there who will do anything to help you. You are not going through anything alone. Never feel like you are a burden on anyone because that is definitely not the case.

- Your queer as fuck, you like girls. Liking girls is 100% okay.

- As cheesy as it sounds, usually the best way to make a friend is to be a friend. Be nice to everyone. Smile-which is quite difficult because I generally smile as often as Victoria Beckham does.

- Wear whatever you want, growing I used to some really weird things, wearing a lot of vintage, clothes for charity shops. Now a lot of people dress like that, so don't be afraid to dress differently, you're probably starting a trend!

- Listen to your parents, they (often) know what they're talking about.

- Diets do not work in most circumstances and will just create a vicious cycle of restricting and bingeing. Lead a healthy lifestyle, eat veggies and exercise, but if you want that pizza- eat it.

- Be nice to your brother. He's quite nice really.

- Sexism is very much alive and well in 2018, there's people out there (men and women) who honestly believe that women are second class citizens and they are so wrong because this world would fall apart without women, and we have no where near equal rights!

- It's never too late to take up a sport, I joined a football team at 19 and it's the best thing that ever happened to me, both athletically and socially.

- Tampons > Sanitary pads. Pads are, in my opinion, horrid. It's fine if you prefer them though!

Thanks, for reading babes, I know it's a long post and I've definitely still got a lot to learn!

My University Experience and Advice For Freshers

Hi babes, welcome back to The Fashion Femme and thanks for stopping by. In this post I will be talking about my first year at university studying Fashion Buying and Merchandising at the Manchester Fashion Institute at MMU. I have honestly had such a great year academically and socially. If your starting university this year, or plan to go in the future, I hope this will be helpful! There are so many different fashion degrees these days, maybe buying is the right option for you?

Studying Fashion

When I tell people what course I do they usually say, "what's that?!" well basically, I've been learning creative skills to be able to put together fashion collections (which comes very easy to me) the business side of the retail industry and fiance and costing. Which included a maths element, which is definitely not my favourite subject! It's not an easy course, takes a lot of hard work and determination. 

However, I have really enjoyed it, my favourite module has been Business Communications as I have learned about different retail brands, pr and marketing and social media which has strengthened my passion for blogging.  Having a bit of knowledge of Adobe programmes, like Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign can really help you out on any fashion course, as everything is digital these days.

It's important to pick a course you are passionate about, obviously you need to get a job at the end of it, but you will be studying this for 3/4 years so you need to really enjoy it!

One of the assignments I really enjoyed was this one where we had to research the target customer of missguided, create trend boards, research fabrics and look into costing to build a collection. It's important to immerse yourself in fashion industry, so sign up to drapers, retail week, read WGSN and all different magazines.

I'm so excited for Level 5, learning more product development and applying for placements! Hopefully I will spend half my placement in London, half in Manchester working in a buying office or in Marketing. It's been my dream since I was doodling designs in primary school to work in fashion, now it's slowly starting to happen... eeek!

Joining a sports team

 - Very happy considering we got beat 6-0?
One of the best pieces of advice I can give to to-be freshers starting university is join a sports team. You will meet (hopefully) an amazing group of people who you will become close friends with, which is especially good when you have moved to a new place. I decided to join football at university and that's honestly the best decision I could have made. My football girls are amazing and I don't know what I would have done without them! Not only do you get to play a sport, there a nights out every Wednesday that are literally epic and if your team is anything like mine, pub night on Thursday and most other nights of the week, tbh.

So if you've always wanted to try rounders, cheerleading, pole dance, rugby, equestrian, have a look at the sports fair. You will have the best year ever! Which brings us to the next section...

Going on tour

Most athletic unions at universities in the UK go on TOUR. Where you, all your teammates and all the other clubs in the university go to Europe for a week to play sport, that's what you tell your mum anyway. It's basically like going to Ibiza, but with the uni football girls and you spend the whole time writing obscenities on each others arm and forcing vodka down freshers throats.

Plus, it's fancy dress every night, seeing the nightlife of Croatia whilst dressed as a carrot, or a Pokemon is not an experience you get very often. Also initiation isn't so bad, it's on the beach and your steaming, and deffo worth it to meet all 10/10  rugby girls/boys/whatever floats your boat- lets face it.

Living in Halls/Houses

Sooo, I didn't have the best experience in halls, hopefully you will have better experience than me. I think the best advice I can give is make the best effort you can to make friends with your flatmates, such as creating a group chat, ask them about their plans for freshers and try to arrange nights out, etc. 

If you're really not happy with your flat, go to the accommodation office and arrange to move as soon as possible. Also don't rush into signing a contract for a second year house, and make sure your really happy to live your housemates.

Final words of (sort of) wisdom

Any other questions or if you want to have a chat about anything, tweet me @melxssajordan, I will reply as soon as I can!