At Your Door

I am officially free from school for 2 weeks! Since it's the last week before Christmas, I've been feeling really unmotivated and have just been super duper lazy. It is safe to say that this past term has been ridiculously busy, so I'm very glad to see the end of it! In these next 2 weeks of Christmas holidays, I plan to relax (a lot) and attempt to revise for my upcoming mocks -- but mostly just relax!

It feels really weird to think that I've just completed my last ever winter term at school. And after the holidays, this next term will be my last full term at school. Even though I literally can't wait for university, a part of me will also really miss my time at school. I've been here for over 6 years and in that time, I have changed a lot, learnt a lot and I really do think that I owe a lot to the school. It still feels so weird to be in Upper Sixth - the fact that I'll be done with school in 6 months still hasn't really registered in my brain just yet... I'm excited, but the sentimentalist in me who lives on nostalgia is desperately trying to make the most of these last few months!

Anyway, speaking of university, here is some more news for those who would like to know: As I had suspected, I got rejected from Oxford University a few weeks ago. With fierce competition for my chosen course of Economics & Management, I knew that it was going to be difficult to get one of the nine interviews at Christ Church college, especially since I knew that the admissions test had been horrific! Obviously, I'll always be a bit disappointed for not getting an interview. But when I really think about it, the closer that it got to the applying-to-uni stage, the more doubts that I had about Oxford. But regardless of such doubts, I applied anyway, because I felt that I owed it to the eight-year-old me who had dreamt of becoming an Oxford student. However, now, I realise that maybe I loved the IDEA of Oxford more than the actual prospect of studying so intensely for weeks on end, plus there were aspects of the course that I really wasn't interested in. So, in hindsight, I'm actually quite relieved that I didn't get an interview from Oxford - I suppose it just wasn't meant to be!

In other news, the week after my rejection from Oxford, I got an offer from LSE(!!!), much to my surprise! The opportunity to study Economics at the London School of Economics seems like too great an opportunity to pass up. Currently, I'm trying to weigh up the pros and cons of LSE vs. UCL - it's going to be such a difficult decision to make!!! It'll definitely be a good excuse to make a trip to London and visit the two universities again though, so I'm looking forward to that. :-) The prospect of studying in London become more attractive as the days go by. And on that note, here are a few more photos from my trip to London a few weeks ago so I can reminisce some more!

I'll definitely try to post a little more regularly over the Christmas break & show you all what I've been up to in recent weeks. Hope you're all well and looking forward to Christmas & New Year! I can't believe it's almost 2014... Where has the time gone?!

Chloe. X 

P.S. I watched 'Stuck In Love' recently and fell in love! I strongly recommend this film, it is so so so good! The soundtrack was absolutely superb, full of Bright Eyes & Conor Oberst which instantly makes it a good'un. Two members of Bright Eyes, Nathaniel Walcott & Mike Mogis, created a beautiful song called 'At Your Door', which I've successfully listened to about 50 times since first hearing it in the film. It is such a lovely song, so go listen to it!

London

I went to London last Wednesday for my offer-holder open day at UCL... Is it really cheesy to say that I fell in love with London all over again? (Yes.)

The day didn't start off as planned though, as I found out that my train to London got cancelled in the morning. Cue me stressing out and trying to prevent the oncoming panic attack that I really didn't want the rest of the population to witness. Miraculously, I managed to stay quite calm, even though I was anything but calm! Once I'd gotten to Birmingham New Street, I managed to locate a friendly member of staff who told me that there was a replacement service from Moor Street. (...Aaaaand breathe!) I honestly wanted to hug that woman, but luckily for her, I exercised some restraint and hurried along to Moor Street station.

*Note to all: ALWAYS arrive at train stations at least 20 minutes before the departure time, just in case you find yourself in a situation like mine and end up having to walk to a different train station, or have to buy another ticket or something.

So luckily, I managed to get myself on a train to London at long last! And as luck & coincidence would have it, I actually got the same train as my friend, with whom I then spent the morning in London! We arrived at Marylebone station and just walked round London, eating our lunch in the lovely Regent's Park. Since it was early on a Wednesday morning, it was pretty quiet, which is quite a rarity in London. Then we hung out in Waterstone's near Euston and then headed to our Open Day at UCL's Economics department.

Upon arrival, we sat in a small lecture room and tried to make eye contact with other students who had also received Economics offers at UCL. I finally managed to pluck up the courage to talk to a few people and soon after, we were given a talk about Economics at UCL and later had refreshments and got to chat with some current students and lecturers. Finally, we got to have a tour round the UCL 'campus' and got to look round the main quad and the iconic UCL main building! All in all, I got to meet some really lovely people and honestly just fell in love with the place. The atmosphere, location and general feeling at UCL was incredible. The course is pretty much perfect and suits my interests down to the ground. Plus, the students are all so diverse and come from different backgrounds, which is something that I'm really looking forward to at university; the social opportunities and active student union also sounded great. Overall, I could really picture myself getting involved with everything that UCL has to offer and really enjoying my time there!

After the open day, I headed out to meet a friend who is currently studying Biochemistry at UCL! We hung out near UCL and then headed to UCL's Print Room cafe, which is a really cool cafe with decent priced coffee (by London standards!) It was so good to have a big catch up with her for a couple of hours. But before I knew it, it was time to head back to Euston station and get the train back home. I don't think I've even been more sad to leave London before... Now that I'm at a point where it's quite likely that I'll be living in London next year, I just love it even more. Hopefully I'll be back there soon enough.

^^^ London ^^^

^^^ Coffee with friends at The Print Room cafe! ^^^

So, that was my UCL open day experience! I hope you liked it :-) I have some more uni updates to share with you next time. Hope you're all well & speak to you all soon!

Chloe. X

Another Story

So I appear to have done the impossible (not really -- I'm just being melodramatic) and I've finally applied to university! My application officially went off quite a few weeks ago, on Friday 4th October. It was a really strange and scary moment, but an exciting one too! After weeks of drafting and redrafting my personal statement, as well as agonising over my university choices, it's really nice to have it finished and out of the way. In the end, I applied to study Economics & Management at Oxford and then pure Economics at UCL, LSE, Bristol & Edinburgh. I honestly love all 5 of my choices and would be extremely happy to attend any one of them, although I have to admit that my joint absolute favourite dream universities would be Oxford & UCL.

Since I first thought about sharing my applying-to-university experience on my little blog, I've actually received some news from my uni choices! I received an offer from Bristol University on Friday 25th October, which was an incredible feeling and such a nice surprise during the half term holidays. To have a uni actively want you to study their course is amazing. Bristol is a beautiful city and a fantastic university, especially for my chosen course of Economics!

However, my uni application process is not over yet! On Wednesday 6th November, I took the TSA admissions test for Oxford. It's basically a 2 hour test comprised of 50 multiple choice questions (problem solving and critical thinking questions) and an essay. Even though I felt as prepared as I could possibly be, it all kind of just went horribly wrong. I completely ran out of time, panicked throughout, found the questions impossible and just let the pressure get the better of me to be honest. My chosen course of Economics & Management is the most competitive course at Oxford, so chances of an interview are slim. I applied to Christ Church college, which only has 3 places for E&M, so I won't be holding my breaths for any good news. I'll most likely find out whether I have an interview in a few weeks (late Nov. - early Dec.)

Despite feeling pretty deflated about everything, I've just tried to push the idea of Oxford out of my head now. To be honest, for a few weeks, the idea of uni had just kind of escaped my mind as I didn't think I'd be hearing anything else for a while. However, last Wednesday, I received an email from UCL!!!!! In this email, they said that they were inviting me to an Open Day and that they intend to give me an offer! Basically, UCL have a policy that all applicants must attend an Open Day/interview day prior to receiving an offer. Luckily, I'm not required to attend an interview and the open day will just be a chance to hear more about the course, ask any questions and get a tour of UCL! That's gonna be happening next week on Wednesday 27th November and I am beyond excited! As I mentioned before, UCL is my joint-favourite university and I feel so incredibly lucky and happy to be expecting an offer from them! I'm also looking forward to having an excuse to roam around London for the day!

On another note, it feels like my life right now is both insanely busy yet boring at the same time. Feeling tired all the time isn't great, but I guess it's good to keep busy now that it feels like the goalposts are finally in sight and uni will be here before I know it -- or so I'm told. My offer for both UCL & Bristol are A*AA, so I'm gonna need to work my socks off in order to achieve that. However, I promise you that my life is not all work and no play. In fact, I did venture into town last week to see the German Market and eat pretzels with my friends, which was a lot of fun! However, I'm now nursing a terrible sore throat and drowning my sorrows in cups of tea, cough sweets and cheese on toast!
  
^^^ The German market!!! ^^^

^^^ Pretzels ^^^




^^^ I love Birmingham this time of year ^^^

I admit, this will probably be a pretty boring post for most of you, but I just felt like sharing my applying-to-uni experience and give you all an update on how I'm doing! I literally can't wait for uni and I'm so excited for it - September 2014 can't come soon enough!


Hope you're all well!
Chloe. X

P.S. I am obsessed with The Head and the Heart's new album, Let's Be Still. I have had their song 'Another Story' on repeat for the past few weeks. I highly recommend that you check them out.

Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit

I saw Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit a few weeks ago with my sister & friend at the Institute in Birmingham. After buying tickets way back in August, this night had been long-awaited. So, despite being exhausted after a long school day, I was so excited to see Johnny Flynn for the first time, after having admired his music for many years. After school & freshening up, we made our way to town to grab a bite to eat first. It was decided that we would dine at Urban Pie -- and so we did. Following the meal, we made our way down to the Institute to queue up! We managed to get a pretty good spot right in the front row, though it was off to the right side. Nevertheless, it provided a good view for the rest of the night.

The two support acts, Cosmo Sheldrake and Marika Hackman, were both fantastic. Truth be told, I'm always wary of support acts as it can sometimes be a bit of a drag waiting for the main act to come on stage. However, both of them gave stellar performances, despite being on completely different ends of the musical spectrum. It was refreshing to see two such talented musicians! Since the gig, I've actually found myself looking up their music on Youtube and have been listening to a great deal of their stuff! I highly recommend Cosmo Sheldrake's 'Rich' and Marika Hackman's 'Bath is Black'.

Anyway, back to the gig... Finally, Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit came onto the stage in a very modest, unassuming way -- totally unannounced. So much so that I almost missed them entering the stage as I was preoccupied with chatting to my friends. Accompanied by his band mates, Cosmo Sheldrake and his sister Lillie, Johnny Flynn was absolutely wonderful. Their setlist was perfect, combined with a mixture of some old favourites as well as a couple of new ones from the new album, Country Mile. 'Bottom of the Sea Blues', 'Murmuration' and 'The Lady is Risen' were all so so so good. My heart literally melted -- okay, not literally -- when he sang The Wrote & The Writ. It is one of my favourite songs ever ever ever and I couldn't quite believe that I was standing there listening to this man sing it right in front of me.

Two highlights were when he sang 'Howl' and 'Barnacled Warship'. Both songs truly demonstrated just how talented Johnny Flynn is, with his multiple-instrument-playing skills in full force. The way he played that trumpet & violin had me in awe all the way through the songs. A few other firm favourites, including 'Brown Trout Blues', 'The Water' (as a duet with his sister, Lillie), 'The Box' and 'Tickle Me Pink', were all met with resounding applause from the audience. At the start of the encore, everyone was shouting out songs for him to sing... Naturally, I had to request one of his new ones, 'After Eliot', which is just one of the most beautiful songs I've heard in a long time... And lo and behold, he actually sang it! (Later on, I found out that it was already on the setlist, but I can dream that he had actually acknowledged my existence, haha!) After a perfect finale, in which they played 'Eyeless in Holloway', the post-gig blues were kicking in pretty fast. At the end, we stuck around for a bit and managed to get hold of the setlist from the stage! Such a perfect way to end the night.

Here are some photos:

  

^^^ The magnificent Johnny Flynn ^^^

Practically every single one of my favourite days/nights has involved live music in one form or another. There is something so incredibly special about watching your favourite musicians perform, especially when they perform a song that you've replayed so many times in your head and committed to memory. Nothing in the world can top that feeling (in my humble opinion).

Anyway! I hope you're all well and good. I've been a bit MIA on the old blog front again, but with the stresses of UCAS and university applications behind me (which I'll be talking about in a little update post soon), I can hopefully sit down and enjoy a few of my favourite blogs.

Lots of love!

Chloe. X

Bottom Of The Sea Blues

This past month has been hectic, just as I'm sure the next few weeks will be as well! I'm applying for university next week. At this current moment in time, I have only 3 of my 5 choices made. I still need to complete my personal statement and receive feedback from my teachers. It all seems a bit ridiculous that it's all happening so soon... I suppose it finally means that I'm growing up! I just wish I wasn't so fickle and indecisive. I'm definitely gonna have to have all my choices made by the weekend! Wish me luck! So amidst the return to school and being thrust into the A2 syllabus, it hasn't really left me much time to blog! I feel terrible for neglecting this blog, but at the moment, blogging is literally the last thing on my mind. (That sounds really bad... But better to be honest, I suppose!) Hopefully, once my uni application is in, I'll be able to relax a little bit and get back into the swing of things. :-)

Anyway... A couple of weeks ago, I was feeling really fed up and sick of my overgrown hair. My last haircut was well over a year ago, while on holiday in Taiwan. So, I decided to just cut a load of my hair off. I really like this new cut, it feels a lot nicer and I think the length is quite flattering. TA-DA!!!

In other news... I've got tickets to see Johnny Flynn on 8th October! At the moment, I'm making do with his new singles. 'Bottom of the Blue Seas' is beautiful. Can't wait for the new album.

Hope you're all well! Sorry for this boring post, but thought I'd give you all a small update. :-)

Chloe. X

An Oxford wedding

Waaah, I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted! It's been a hectic few weeks since my last post!

Last weekend, on Friday 2nd August, I was a bridesmaid at my aunty's wedding. It was the most amazing day. She got married in Christ Church cathedral at Oxford University (where she studied). The ceremony was beautiful and I feel so, so lucky to have been a bridesmaid for my aunty whom I absolutely love as I'm so close to her! It was so funny because Christ Church college is a major tourist hotspot since it was a major inspiration for the Harry Potter films and there were sooo many tourists there taking photos of us. It definitely felt like we were celebs getting "papped", haha. The rest of the night was wonderful with the reception held inside Oxford Town Hall, complete with great food, great company and lots of dancing! The following day, on Saturday 3rd August, was the Chinese ceremony and the food was just amaaaaahhhzing... Such a wonderful weekend with my whole family. :-)

This past week, I've been spending loads of time with my extended family who have come over to England to visit! So it hasn't really left me much time to blog... Which is both a good and a bad thing! I wish there were more hours in the day to document my life as I go along, as I'm afraid of forgetting the little details... But sometimes, as I have recently found out, it is equally okay to just 'live in the moment', even though that sounds super cliched!

Nevertheless, I'm really enjoying life at the moment with the fine weather we're having in England at the moment, plus lots of fun with the family. I'm staying in St Albans at the moment and have been spending time in the local area, as well as sightseeing in London and also theme-parking it up at Thorpe Park!!! (Absolutely loved it there. It's so funny 'cause I'm such a wimp in my day-to-day life, but when it comes to rollercoasters, I have absolutely no fear haha).

Anyway, I promise that once I have time, I'll be back to post some more photos of the wedding & other bits and bobs. For now, here are just a couple of photos! :-)

^^^ Inside the beautiful Oxford Town Hall for the wedding reception! ^^^

^^^ Confetti just outside Tom Gate, Christ Church college, Oxford ^^^

^^^ After walking down the aisle to Pachelbel's Canon inside Christ Church cathedral! ^^^

^^^ Tom Tower! (Also, look at that glorious blue sky...) ^^^

^^^ The married couple in Tom Quad! ^^^

^^^ Another confetti shot!!! :-) ^^^

It's been a really fun summer so far... So fun that it has really flown by. Results day is in 4 days... :-( And I only have a few more days of freedom before I'm back to school on August 29th. Gonna go back and try to make the most of it!!!

Hope you're all well! :-)

Chloe xxx

Summer's For Stampeding

I went to the Summer Stampede at London's Olympic Park a couple of weeks ago on Saturday 6th July. It was hands-down one of the best days of my life thus far. I made the way to Stratford in London with my sister to meet up with 3 of our very good friends. It was a perfect, gloriously hot, sunny day with barely a cloud in sight. I'd never visited Olympic Park before, or even been to Stratford in London before, so it was a new experience in itself!

So, on Saturday, I had the pleasure of seeing: Bear's Den, Haim, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Ben Howard, Vampire Weekend and Mumford & Sons (!!!) When I think about this line up, I just want to cry a little because I just want to relive this day over and over and over again, like a perpetual Groundhog Day... only, in a good way.

At the start of the day, we got into Olympic Park at about 12.30pm. We ate first and chilled and looked round the grounds before heading over to see Bear's Den at 2pm. We stayed towards the back at the start and soaked up the atmosphere, it was just so nice to be there standing / sitting in the sun (and getting thoroughly burnt in the process, haha). Bear's Den were fantastic, I loved that they played a couple of the songs that I knew & loved ('Isaac' and 'Pompeii') - I can see them becoming hugely successful in the future. They really were a great start to the day.

Then came Haim! They were soooo much better than I thought they were going to be and so good live! I'd listened to a few of their songs before, but was kind of indifferent about them. However, it was fantastic when they played 'Falling' - sooo good. Afterwards, in the 30 minute break, we headed to grab some water from the taps, but the queues were ridiculously long haha. I definitely don't want to relive those haha, but we managed to get back to our spot in time for Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros! Alex Ebert was so charismatic and engaged with the audience by getting some lucky people to dance with him, asking them questions, etc... He was hilarious. When they sang 'Home', the atmosphere was... electric. Jade Castrinos was brilliant too, her voice was sooo good & complemented his so well. They make such a good pair & I enjoyed their set so much.

Ben Howard came up next and I had been waiting for him all day. Besides Mumford, he was the act I was most looking forward to perform. He was everything I'd hoped for & more!!! His voice was magical and he appeared to be so introverted and didn't say very much in between songs, but when he sang, I literally melted (no, not literally). He played quite a few new songs, as well as some of my favourites 'Only Love', 'The Wolves' & 'Keep Your Head Up', but I would've liked if he'd played 'Old Pine' or 'Gracious'. Nevertheless, he was absolutely amazing and I'd love to see him perform again soon! Also, I loved how he tried to toy with us at the start of the last song by pretending to play a new song, but in fact, he played 'The Fear'!!! Such a wonderful song, one of my all-time favourites.

Next, Vampire Weekend were absolutely fab!!! They played a load of their old & new stuff, loads of which are great to listen to in the summer, including 'Unbelievers', 'Holiday', 'Everlasting Arms' and 'Giving Up The Gun', as well as the classics 'A-Punk' and 'Oxford Comma'. They were so energetic and quite fast-paced which got the entire crowd in a good mood for Mumford. They are an absolute must-see live as they're wonderful.

And lastly... Mumford & Sons!!! They were absolutely, ridiculously, wonderfully brilliant. They were funny, full of character, ridiculously talented & performed every song to perfection. By that time of the day, it was getting dark & the sort of fairy-lights were getting turned on... The atmosphere was incredible. Again, they played a mixture of old & new songs - 'Babel', 'Little Lion Man', 'Love of the Light', 'I Will Wait', 'Awake my Soul', 'Hopeless Wanderer', 'Timshel', 'Dust Bowl Dance', 'Winter Winds', etc., much to the joy of the entire audience. During Mumford's last song, The Cave, confetti started shooting out from the stage and I felt... something close to the meaning of the word "euphoria", I imagine. I can't really describe it without sounding seriously corny / cheesy / clichéd, but it was the most amazing feeling.

At the end, everyone (minus Bear's Den) came back up on stage to play one last song: Fleetwood Mac's 'The Chain'. It was the perfect end to the night & I feel so incredibly privileged to have been able to get tickets to spend this day with some of my best friends & enjoy this day. I can't quite believe that this was 2 weeks ago - what I would do to be able to relive it right now...

Photo overload to follow:


 ^^^ Outfit: Topshop dungaree skirt, stripy top, Ray Bans, Cath Kidston bag (borrowed) & loafers ^^^

^^^ Typical festival flags :-) ^^^
 
 ^^^ My friends // Beautiful fairy lights ^^^

^^^ Me with my lovely friends :-) ^^^

^^^ Haim!!! // Friends during Mumford's set ^^^

^^^ Fun in the sun & applying sun cream haha // India Bourne! ^^^

^^^ Ben Howard! ^^^
^^^ View of the stage from the queues for water // Vampire Weekend! ^^^
^^^ Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros! ^^^  
^^^ Me & my friends during Bear's Den's set ^^^

^^^ Mumford & Sons ^^^
^^^ Confetti during 'The Cave'! ^^^
^^^ Mumford & Sons ^^^

 Whewww. Finally finished this huge Summer Stampede round-up post, haha. Sorry it took 2 weeks! In other news, I've finally finished school for the year!!! This summer won't be quite as relaxed as I'd like since I need to write my personal statement... complete all the rest of my UCAS application... All of which seems to be on hold because of results day (which is less than a month away, eek!).  Nevertheless, I am determined to try and enjoy this summer now that all of my family are over to visit & my aunty's wedding which is only 2 weeks away! Exciting :-)

Hope you're all well! Can't believe that this heat wave we're all experiencing in the UK is still happening! Let's hope it sticks around for the summer!

Chloe xxx 

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

After having the same blog header for over 3 years now - when I first started my blog - I felt like a change was in order. Much like so many things which are constantly changing in my life, I feel that I have to embrace it. It's the only way of making change any more manageable or easier to deal with. This year has seen quite a few changes: The move from secondary school to sixth form has been huge. I love the freedom and I've loved making new friends. After feeling like I'd been stuck in a rut for a while, it's been nice to adapt to new and better things. However, there have also been times where it's been pretty hard, what with the difficulty of A-levels, the added responsibility of now being a "young adult" as opposed to a glorified "kid" and generally just growing up.

In spite of the fact that I've always thought of myself as a bit of an old soul - usually being described as 16 going on 60 - my recent week at work experience in a proper working environment, coupled with 2 hours of commuting each day, has made me realise how much I ought to relish my school days as much as possible, while I still can.

Nevertheless, like I said, I have been trying to embrace change as much as I can. There is no point in dwelling on the past - or so I've been told - because if you do, life has a way of becoming overwhelming and daunting. And that's not what life is about!

In fact, one of my favourite quotations is: "Things change. And friends leave. And life doesn't stop for anybody." 




Chloe xxx

Holidaaay, oh a holidaaay

Currently, I have Vampire Weekend's "Holiday" stuck in my head (hence the title). I was so so lucky to see them live on Saturday at Summer Stampede along with a whole host of other bands (full post coming up soon). It was such a fantastic day and I keep on flicking through my photos and videos to relive that wonderful day!

Anyway! Enough gushing... The past couple of weeks have been pretty hectic. I stayed in Oxford with my uncle for a few days. I was mostly working on an essay, but also spent lots of time with my baby cousin who is simply adorable. I also attended Oxford uni open day which was beautiful. All the students were so lovely and I also made a new friend. All in all, it was a really lovely day, despite the ridiculously high pollen count which caused my ridiculous eyes to puff up to the size of golf balls as my hayfever returned with a vengeance!

After a few days in Oxford, I went to St Albans to stay with my aunty & her fiance, which was also lovely! I had a few days work experience at Barclays bank in Canary Wharf and then also went to UCL and LSE open days, both of which were amazing. I will count myself seriously lucky to attend any one of these universities.

Whilst travelling in and around London, I was often far too preoccupied with my surroundings to be bothered with lugging my camera round with me, hence the following bombardment of phone pics:

^^^Starbucks latte // Beautiful skies in Canary Wharf^^^

 ^^^West Hampstead (one of my fave places) // The London docklands in Canary Wharf^^^

 ^^^Gap & DKNY denim, Kurt Geiger loafers & random stripy top // More West Hampstead^^^

 ^^^Swanky reception at 1 Churchill Place // Barclays^^^

 ^^^Iced caramel macchiato (my fave drink) // Travelling on the tube^^^
 

^^^ New dungaree dress // LSE Open Day ^^^ 

In other news, I mentioned this a couple of posts ago, but I wrote a dumpling guest post for Molly of My Name Is Yeh! I was so happy that Molly asked me to be a part of this and I had such fun making these pork dumplings. If you would like to have a read and look at what I conjured up, please click here!

After 2 weeks away, I'm finally back at home and planning to spend the next week relaxing and trying to get some reading done!

Hope you're all well and enjoying the summer wherever you are! Here in England, we've kind of struck gold with the weather lately, which has cheered me up no end!

Chloe xxx

New Beginnings: New URL!

Hi everyone!

As I said before, I changed my blog name and have finally made the decision to change my URL as well. I think I've just outgrown the blog that I first made over four years ago and it was indeed time for a change.

I'm not really sure if this will affect the accessibility to the blog and whether you'll still be able to access it or not. Fingers crossed it won't affect it too much.

Anyway, my new blog URL is chloe-tam.blogspot.com 

It's just a lot simpler and to-the-point, i.e. it's my name, haha. But anyway, hope you all can continue reading...

I've also joined Bloglovin!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin 

Chloe xxx

Something New

After 4 years of having the same blog name and feeling like I was somewhat stuck in a rut with this blog, I decided that a change was in order! With a little bit of spare time as I'm now off school for three weeks, I decided to change the blog round a bit. It's definitely a work-in-progress and there are a lot of things I want to change, but it's certainly a start! 

I first decided to change my blog name and I went with the name "Chloe Says...", because I wanted this blog to be more about my words and the things I say and the photographs I take that seem to do all the talking for me. I want this blog to mean something, both as a creative outlet and a place for me to just express my feelings whenever I want. I want to make my mark.

Anyway, today I went into town to pick up a couple of Economics books for summer reading. I walked into Waterstones and it was such a great feeling when I picked up a book that I wanted with a sticker saying "Buy one get one half price" - literally made my day. (It's always the littlest things). After that, I walked round the shops and browsed the sales. I haven't been shopping in so long and it was so busy and warm, but it was nice to be able to just mooch around the shops. I didn't really see much that I really liked (which was within my price range), but I did buy a lovely light blue denim dress/pinafore from the Topshop sale as I had some vouchers :-) I can already tell that I'm gonna be wearing it non-stop this summer!

Lastly, I stopped off at the fantastic Chinese supermarket in town. I am currently working on a dumpling recipe as I was kindly asked by Molly from My Name Is Yeh to be a guest blogger! Thus, I was on a mission to buy some dumpling dough and also some sesame oil... I decided to wing it with my rusty Cantonese "skills" and managed to get what I came for. All in all, a very successful day!

I ended up making dumplings at 10.30pm with my sister... And have just been putting the post together at 2.30am. What is my life coming to? Anyway, here is a sneak peak of my dumplings:

It was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to some more recipes sometime soon!

Chloe xxx