Sunday, December 23, 2012

Home for Christmas

"Home" for the holidays in Missoula. Christmas will always be that much better at my mom's house in snowy small town Montana. But as I've traveled from Salt Lake City to Portland to Missoula in the past couple weeks, I realize more profoundly just how uprooted I feel. Salt Lake doesn't feel like home to me. Portland feels like home, but I've accepted that I will never live there again. And Missoula feels like the memory of home, a place that used to be home, but is now simply familiar and comforting without the feeling of coming home

Now it's people who feel like home to me -- Greg most of all. After a year away in London, I hate being apart from him. Perhaps it's because I suddenly feel like I'm drifting without him. After all, I moved to Salt Lake City for him, and he's the anchor that's holding me there. It's a weird feeling, not knowing where I belong. I want so badly to carve out a little Meg-sized niche in SLC but I don't quite know how. Maybe with the new year will come some inspiration as to how to make friends in Mormon land. I know I'm being a bit melancholy considering it's almost Christmas, but what are you gonna do.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Outfit no. 33

Skirt: F21, jumper and shoes: New Look, shirt: wholesale-dress.net, glasses: Ray-Ban

If it isn't one thing it's another. My camera's battery died while taking photos today, and obviously I'm too lazy to sit and wait for it to charge and finish taking pics. At least I got a couple okay ones! Victory.

We're supposed to be dressing in "business casual" again this week and once again I display my complete ineptitude when it comes to business casual. Business? Casual? Most of the girls at work seemed to be wearing dress pants with basic tees and cardigans or blazers. Is this what I should be doing? Huh. I just figured it would be okay if I steered away from giant leopard-print platforms and sheer or something for the week. Although I guess I concluded that blasphemy was okay when I got dressed this morning. (Is it blasphemy if I just think crosses look cool but want nothing to do with a Jesus tacked onto it?) What even is office appropriate I don't know.

Last night I downloaded League of Legends because I've been saying I want to learn to play it for months, and finally Greg kicked me into gear. He plays it all the time with his friends and I was like "Greeeeg I wanna plaaayyyy" but he kept telling me I'd hate it. While also encouraging me to play it. Mixed messages!? Anyway, he finally said "just download it and I'll teach you!" And I replied, "I'm gonna suck so hard at this!" and he said, "Yeah. Yeah you are." :| LoL, I'm gonna SHOW YOU WHO'S BOSS (by which I mean lose one game and then cry disconsolately into my Coke Zero). Do any of you play LoL? Is it awesome? I hate strategy games so I have a feeling I will hate it... but you never know.



Monday, December 10, 2012

Outfit no. 32

Dress: River Island, jumper: H&M, booties: Blowfish (very old), coat: New Look.

I tweeted that I'd wear a bodycon dress today... so I did... but then the shoes I was planning to wear with it went out the window, as did everything but the need for comfort, so here we are! It is also snowing and really cold outside so there will only be one photo today. I am the worst.

I got these Blowfish booties from my parents for Christmas back in college, so maybe... 6 years ago? Christ. That's ridiculous. I basically only wanted them because they were called the "Hobbit" bootie and of course that was back when they were one of the few styles that Blowfish was offering. They're so, so so comfy though; pretty much the most comfortable pair of shoes I own. It's like wearing slippers all day! Which is obviously why I wore them.

This coat was purchased last year at the Chimes shopping centre in Uxbridge, after realizing that I was freezing to death and that I didn't have a proper coat for winter in London. It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment purchase, but I absolutely love this coat! It's fleecy and soft, and super warm. Maybe not the most chic or stylish coat ever, but I managed to shove it into my luggage when I moved back to the States instead of getting rid of it, so I guess that means something.

I've been listening to a lot of One Direction lately and I don't know what that says about me or my life.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Cecily at the Fox Hunt

How kind of you,” said Cecily, noticing that the Viscount Hembly had spotted them and was making his way near. He looked like a huge red growth on top of his horse, his considerable girth sliding from side to side as he rode towards them. For a man in his sixties he looked uncannily like a giant baby, his thinning hair standing up in a tuft at the top of his head.

Are you quite all right, Cecily?” asked Nettie, her eyes wide with concern. “You've gone rather pale.”


~

Whenever I feel I need a break from writing, but still want to think about my characters (when do I not want to think about them, really), I usually end up drawing them. Yesterday I came across this coat on tumblr, and knew I had to put it on Cecily. So here's my crappy version of it (I didn't use a reference, obviously -- references are for LOSERS!), with Cecily looking understandably horrified by the approaching Viscount Hembly. Although if I'm honest... Cecily looks like this pretty much all the time. Especially when she's around the Duke, who is constantly offending her with his badly tied cravats and disheveled hair.

And now I am off to draw the Duke next. Have a wonderful evening! x

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

SLC Writers Group

My ~Writing Station~ aka bed.

Last night, as I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, I went to the SLC Writers Group for the first time. I've been craving some in-person writerly discussions and workshopping lately, not to mention straight up old-fashioned social activities, so I forced myself to go. I'd been eyeing the group for a while on facebook, but finally decided that last night was the night.

I was so, so nervous beforehand. I was pacing the house and clutching at my knotted stomach, gurning and wailing. But I kept telling myself: if I can move to London on my own and give my writing to a bunch of strange Brits to read and critique, I can probably drag myself across town and sit in a coffee shop for a couple hours with new people. So I did. I got lost twice on the way there, but I found it at last, and I'm so glad I did! It was exactly what I needed.

Have any of you attended or taken part in a writing workshop? If so, then you know basically how this went. Everyone went around and talked about the pieces they'd read from the previous meeting -- what they liked, what didn't work, and what the author could do to fix it. I just sat there and listened, as I hadn't read any of the pieces they were workshopping, but it was great to see how they worked as a group. I was actually a bit surprised and really happy to see how serious everyone was about it, despite the friendly, casual atmosphere. Tangents happened, and people went off topic regularly, but it always came back to the writing. Everyone's feedback seemed to be thoughtful and detailed. These were writers, and they knew what they were talking about. I had no idea what to expect, really, so it was wonderful to find that I could get a lot of writerly help from this group! Plus it seems like it'll be a lot of fun.

I'm really disappointed because we're going to be out of town for the next two meetings, so I won't be able to share my feedback or bring in my own writing or read more of the group's pieces. Gutted! I will be attending this week's write-in, however, which should be cool -- they meet every week at a cafe just to write. Which seems like a pretty awesome idea to me, and I'm looking forward to it!

I'm just so happy to have found a group of people who seem like they're a lot of fun, but are also ready to buckle down and get some serious writing and critiquing done. This is exactly what I needed! I could spend my whole life just hanging out with writers and talking about writing and and and... I am gonna go write now.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Outfit no. 31

Dress: New Look, cardi and necklace: F21, boots: Blowfish, glasses: Ray-Ban

A question I often ask myself (i.e. almost every day) is, would this be a practical outfit if today is the day I'm transported to a magical world wherein I must have many adventures and save the realm from a tyrant queen? Usually the answer is no. I'm not sure what kind of getup is suitable for adventures in a fantasy land, but it's not this. I imagine some sort of jeans/sneakers/sweater combo would be most practical, but as I'm never going to wear jeans no matter how likely I am to fall through a dimensional portal, dresses and ankle booties will have to do.

After all, Virginia went around in a mini-skirt and a hoodie. Although I'm pretty sure she was also sporting Docs or something, so she was okay for off-roading and climbing the occasional beanstalk.


I always wear this dress and completely forget that the seam on my tights never fails to show through. So dumb and annoying! I need to fix that somehow. It's not even a dress I particularly like, but I wanted to wear burnt orange, so I had no choice. Alas!

I'm starting on draft four of my manuscript today. I got some really great feedback from my friend Rachel (who, incidentally, I met for the first time in Heathrow Airport -- yay internet friends!), so while I wait on further feedback I'm gonna tinker around and see what I can do. Yay writing!

Speaking of writing, I found a writers' group here in Salt Lake City that meets twice a month for workshops, and every week for write-ins. I'm super excited about this, as I've been missing my fellow Brunel MA writers something fierce. I love being around other writers and creative types; they're so inspiring. Tonight I'm just gonna sort of sit and listen, and meet everyone, but I'll definitely try to attend some write-ins and hopefully make some writer friends. I'm nervous, but also super excited. I'll let you know how it goes.