I hope everyone had a fabulous christmas and new year! I had a lovely time and was lucky enough to get some really nice pressies including a new tripod for my SLR, a new diana mini and external flash to go with my diana +, some nike/adidas running gear and two gorgeous veggie cooking books, so i’m really excited about cooking up some feasts to share with you. In other news i’m moving to London in two weeks… sooo excited!!

Recently I’ve been out and about loads, exploring London and seeing some beyond amazing live gigs!! Shpongle, one of my all time favourite psychedelic artists had a ONE OFF weekend of performances at Camden’s Roundhouse which I managed to snap up tickets for back in May time! If you haven’t heard of Shpongle, give them a try. I am a HUGE fan of psy-trance and psychedelic ambient music, and Shpongle mix up the two a little but have a hugely unique sound like I’ve never heard before. I’ve been listening to them for 3 1/2 years now and can’t get enough – they never fail to transport me to another world beyond reality! I was lucky enough to see their set at Glade festival 2006 but the live gig was EPIC! Loads of mad performances and costumes, it was like listening to electronic sounding music but watching a live band…. Magic! The night continued to be amazing as we trekked to the after party located in the tunnels of a random car park, consisting of all night dancing to more of my favourite artists (Younger Brother, Juno Reactor, Eat Static, and many more!)

I also managed to snap tickets up for Fever Ray’s ONLY UK gig the hmv forum in Kentish Town, London… You must have all heard of Fever Ray by now but if you havn’t GO AND DO IT! Again their weird and unique sound just hits so many buttons for me… overall a captivating night starting with a supporting cello performance by Múm’s Hildur Gudnadottir followed by a spot on performance by Fever Ray. Amazing drumming, with the eerie, cold, and powerful vocals of Karin Dreijer Andersson with some great costumes that really reminded me of Where the Wild Things Are! I just had to post Anika Mottershaw’s photos above as my camera battery died, and hers do capture the atmosphere perfectly.

I’ve also had the pleasure of seeing Bat for Lashes for the first time too. I’ve been listening to her for 3 years and just think she is amazing!

Have you been to any amazing gigs lately??

I thought i’d share some of my Autumn adventures… so to give you some background on this visit, since leaving Uni I have decided to take on the challenge of getting super fit as this is something I never considered myself as or thought I could be! I’ve been training hard 5/6 days a week, and taken up running. In May 2010 I will be doing the Three Peaks Challenge in order to raise money for Help for Heroes! This challenge consists of climbing the three highest peaks of the UK within 24 hours – Snowdon in Wales, Ben Nevis in Scotland and Scafel in England! This is super hard and will include climbing one mountain in the dark!! If you have a couple of quid to spare, please please sponsor me so I can reach my £450 target!

So to get a tiny feel for the challenge, my lovely parents decided we’d go and climb Snowdon in Wales! The trip ended up being a right mission as we are at the other end of the country, thus had to get a B&B for the night before! Unfortunately on the way to the bottom of the mountain, the car got damaged and broke down!! We had to sit in a hotel all day waiting to get rescued by the RAC while the gorgeous weather and surroundings teased us! If I hadn’t been in such an amazingly beautiful place I don’t know how I would have stayed so positive :) If you ever get a chance to go, please do – it is one of the most beautiful places I’ve been to!

Welcome, welcome! I have been working on this new layout for sometime now.. reason being I previously didn’t have much knowledge of wordpress, so I have now learned a whole new skill and coded my own theme! I hope you like! I was going for something a little more professional than my previous portfolio layout….

(above, my previous portfolio layout)

So, what do you all think? Is this font too small? I weirdly LOVE constructive criticism so tell me what you do an do not like! I’ve been getting quite into reading blogs recently and I’d like to join the community please :) I hereby promise to put as much effort as I can into keeping my blog alive and healthy! Please subscribe! You won’t regret it! I will be posting regularly with my inspirational findings, my current exciting projects and new work, interesting places I visit, veggie cooking recipes for you to try too, my fitness progress and advice, crafty stuff, new music, Spotify playlists and maybe I’ll even blog about some of my previous festivals and traveling trips if you’d be interested?.. As I have not yet had the opportunity to do so! Let me know what you’d like to hear about!

I am currently working on an illustration for the header of the blog, but I was eager to get it all up and running first as I am still applying for placements and jobs :) I’m sure we can cope without a weird goggling character staring at us for a little while longer, eh? I’ve also sorted out my workspace a little and been making some crafty letter blocks… check it out!!

Have a gander at my portfolio, with some new work featured from my recent freelancing! Also come back soon as I have some more projects coming up… an illustrative CD cover and a painted wall – two of my dream design jobs already!

Big Love!