Cheesy post incoming

I've been in a weird headspace for the past few weeks, as I've been traveling a lot, and the holidays are always good for putting one off-kilter. Which isn't to say it was a bad weird headspace... but weird it was. I've moved almost once every year for the past 3 years, and over the holidays I found myself revisiting every place I lived in before London. Which, admittedly, is only two places... but now I'm in Salt Lake City, and I still have a hard time remembering what the hell city I'm in at any given moment.

Anyway, all that traveling was bizarre psychologically. It brought me back to a city I love, and to a town I love but could never live in again. And it made me think about all the changes and moves and all the things I've done since 2010... and then I had a dream.

It wasn't anything too special -- I just dreamt that I was still in London, and that (just as in real life when I had the dream) it was almost Christmas. But instead of being happy that I was in London in the dream, I was angry and frustrated. I missed Greg and I was frantically trying to find cheap plane tickets so I could fly back to the States to be with him for Christmas. I kept saying, "I'm over London! I'm done with it!" All I wanted was to be with Greg again. Okay yes blah blah it is a sappy dream, but it made me realize something. I may miss London, but I'm happy to be back home, to be with Greg again. I realized I'd go anywhere in the world for Greg. I'd even (god forbid) follow him back to Montana if it came to that (sorry, Montana). It was so nice, though, to have that dream and realize consciously that I'm glad the way things have turned out, and I wouldn't go back to London for anything. Not right now, at least, and not without Greg.

And then I had another tiny epiphany in Vegas, hanging out with Greg and all of his Salt Lake friends for an entire weekend -- I don't want to leave. I kept thinking to myself that I was going to be so sad when I had to move away from all of them... but then realized, wait. I'm not moving away in a year. I can stay as long as I want. I've been so used to making friends in new places with the knowledge that I'll be moving away soon, and it's so relieving suddenly being in a place where I can settle in comfortably and not worry about saying goodbye to people immediately. It's honestly a huge weight off my shoulders, a weight that I didn't realize was so heavy.

It's been an incredible few weeks, but I'm super glad to be home. All I want to do right now is settle back into my routine, write, read, play some video games, and hang out with Greg. I feel doubly contented with life, even if I'm still lonely at times. At least I know that I'm exactly where I want to be. I wouldn't change a goddamn thing, and it feels fucking awesome to be able to say that.

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.

Oktoberfest

Yesterday Greg and I went with some of his friends to Oktoberfest, which was up Little Cottonwood Canyon at Snowbird. It was exactly what I needed! Chilly air, good friends, and good beer. I tried a mixture of the Wasatch Apricot and Raspberry wheat beers first, which was extremely good! Everyone try this. Later we got Honeyed Apples, which were hot apple cider with Barenjager -- painfully good. The best part of the day had to be my Bavarian Bratwurst in a pretzel bun! They had some amazing Bavarian food; I wish I could go back and try all of it!

Later in the evening, after freezing our asses off up in the mountains, we sat in a friends' hot-tub and warmed up. It was a super fun Saturday, but I'm ready to sit curled up in a blanket for the rest of today. Sunday is for being as lazy as humanly possible.

Temple Square

Dress: Amazon (gift from Mom), belt: F21, shoes: New Look, necklace: Topshop, bag: River Island.

Let's start with a cheeky outfit photo. Greg and I went to see the LDS Temple in downtown Salt Lake City today, because I was super curious about this crazy temple I kept hearing about and I wanted to blog about it because frankly I need something interesting to blog about. This is what I wore. Obviously. Last time I wore this dress I styled it the exact same way, because there are only so many ways one can style a red tartan dress without looking like an idiot. Remixing is for losers! (What is "remixing," anyway? Isn't that just... what normal people do with their clothes? Wear them more than once? Why give it a gimmicky name? Discuss.) Note the bag that does not go at all, but was solely worn because my DSLR fits inside it. Do not judge my Christmas colors.

ANYWAY the real purpose of this post is to talk about the bizarre culture that is LDS, or Latter-Day Saints, or... whatever I don't really know and if I try to say knowledgeable things I'll end up sounding like a jerk. Let's just say I'm really intrigued by the strange religious culture in which I've suddenly found myself. 

Firstly, it's really clean. Disturbingly so. As Greg and I walked to Temple Square we saw an old guy sweeping the sidewalk. I don't know what he was sweeping though, because it was flipping spotless. Mormons, what are you?

Secondly, right by the Temple there is an LDS Office Building, an LDS Library, and a shopping center that was built with LDS money. It has incredible fountains, you guys. There's a creek inside the shopping center with fish inside. It's frightening how nice it is. And all the men there are wearing white shirts, ties, and have really short gelled hair. :(

Still, the whole spectacle is pretty interesting. I have problems with pretty much every organized religion I'm aware of, but you gotta hand it to the LDS -- they get shit done. They're loaded and organized as hell. And they go around in pairs on bikes wearing adorable streamlined helmets!

Salt Lake City is a pretty strange world, but I'm ready to embrace it. I guess. Even though there's no Wagamama.

SLC Style

F21 shirt; Primark skirt, belt, & earrings; New Look shoes; H&M hat; River Island necklaces (from Lucy).
Whenever I'm unemployed I make outfit posts. That's how this goes I guess! I've also, if I'm totally honest, been super inspired by Molly McIsaac's new style blog, The Geeky Peacock. Gahh, fashion and geekiness, perfect combo! Actually you should just go read her blog instead of mine, because it is just flat-out better. Okay now that everyone is over at Molly's blog, I'm gonna write to myself yay!

I've been a bit bored here in Salt Lake City for the past few weeks. It's been much better this week, but being unemployed is never fun. The good thing is that Greg buys the groceries and pays the bills, so I get to edit my novel and look for work while he's at his real job wearing a tie and everything. It's pretty awesome if I'm honest. I really miss London, though. I was reading Natalie Off Duty, who's apparently in London now (or recently was), and had a hard time not breaking down after looking at all of her wonderful photos from Shoreditch and Brick Lane. I miss it so much, but I'm focusing on the positive things here in SLC. For instance: my amazing boyfriend Greg ♥. IHOP. Proper cookies. Video games! Etc.

It's kind of silly because I really had no reason to get dressed today. I haven't left the apartment since Monday, but I rather like it that way. I get to live in my own creepy writing world, wander about in pajama shorts and t-shirts, and sing along to Robyn at the top of my lungs. Admittedly amazing! If a bit repetitive at times.

  

Anyway I found this hat buried in Greg's closet when I returned from across the Pond, and I'm super excited about it! Totally forgot it existed. Gonna wear it every day forever. And Lucy gave me this amazing pair of necklaces from River Island in a lovely British care package at the airport just before I left. I cried shortly thereafter, of course. She said the necklaces were to help me be more Steampunk, and I'm trying hard to reach the ultimate Steampunk goal. Thank you, Lucy my crumpet! If you're all keen, I'd like to keep doing more outfit posts on my blog because IT IS A GUILTY PLEASURE and I have a lot of clothes. Yes? No? Could not care less either way? Let me know! Or send hate mail. Whichevs.