A Beginning, An End and Somewhere In-Between

My life has been a series of predictable chapters.

At the beginning, my parents held my hand and guided me down the garden path. It was simple - play group, primary school, secondary school. Packed lunches, patted heads, words of reassurance, nods of acceptance. Easy.

Then came a choice - but looking back, it wasn't really a choice. There was another destination in mind - that destination being a degree - but I got to choose which path I wanted to get there.

And now for the first time in my life, I don't know where I'll be in six months.

Have you ever taken a step back and thought about how big the world is? How many people there are to meet, how many places there are to go, how many things there are to see? It's weird and wonderful but also extremely frightening. I feel too young - the ripe old age of 21 - to fully comprehend the consequences of my decisions.

I know I want to write. That's all I've ever wanted. But getting there is tough. And there's no one holding my hand anymore. It's not a garden path...it's a forest, gnarled branches and sweeping undergrowth. It's unknown territory.

But if things are to progress, things are to change. And for change to happen, something must begin and something must end. So in saying goodbye to the best three years of my life, I'm allowing myself to move forward, no matter how hard it feels.

To starting something new, finishing something old and taking life one step at a time.

• 5 Things I've Learnt Working On A Make Up Counter •

If you've ever worked in a shop, you'll know what I mean when I say retail work is ...interesting. If smiling and being preppy for 8 hours a day wasn't a struggle enough, someone decided that it would be a good idea to leave me with the responsibility of doing people's make up...

• A Cheers To Permanence •

AKA My tattoo experience.
I caved.

• Pretending For A Little While •

Don't even say the dreaded 'A' word. I can't even contemplate the possibility of summer ending just yet...

• Qui N’avance Pas, Recule •

On occasion, my life upgrades to moderately interesting. Interspersed upon the mundane, the lackadaisical, the inevitability of the dull the dreary the downright dismal, I do something worthwhile. And when the wind blows in the right direction, I go somewhere worthwhile. This time, my worthwhile happened to be Arles. 

Arles is a city in the South of France. It's nothing luxurious, but a corner of the world where it's beautifully sunny and indisputably French. After ten days I was set out to move out there, but alas, Cardiff will always be waiting for me...

• The Spencer Hastings Shirt •

Of course I posed in front of a bookcase. It was inevitable.

SO all everyone can talk about lately is Pretty Little Liars, social media is practically being suffocated by talk over the reveal of A and who had been torturing the girls all this time (I was so convinced it was Dan Humphrey)...

• To Tattoo or Not To Tattoo? •

Getting a tattoo has been on my bucket list for far too long.

 At 14, I wanted a inked peace sign on my wrist. At 16, I lusted over an infinity symbol on my hip bone. Shortly after, I wanted to get a sun tattoo while I was on a clubbing holiday with my friends. And THANK GOD I never got any of them, definitely not my thing now...