L I F E S T Y L E | The Post-Grad Move Back To My Hometown

As I've mentioned previously, two weeks back I left my gorgeous Southampton student house to move back to my hometown of Woodford, which is ideally in Greater East London, a perfect location for a budding creative like myself. Despite having always wanting to move back to London, leaving Southampton was absolutely heartbreaking as I had to leave behind my boyfriend, some incredible friendships and a job I had loved. I also fell a little in love with the city itself. I know a lot of other graduates are in the same position right now. For me, it was one of the hardest things I think I've ever done. However, I'm already back in Southampton this weekend visiting James, so of course I'll always be back and forth to my adopted home city. I just wish it were possible to live in two places at once.

Moving back home after four years of living completely independently has been a little alien to me, but of course it's been rather nostalgic as I'm once again surrounded by childhood and teenage memories in the area I grew up. In typical blogger fashion of course I've documented absolutely every step, so here's a few snippets of my first few weeks back in London.





Waking up for the final time in my Southampton home with my life packed away at the end of my double bed and then falling asleep in my childhood, tiny, single pine bed 112 miles and a good 2.5 hours away from where I had woken up that morning. That night I actually rolled over and fell out of my bed in the middle of the night where I'm used to the space of a double bed. I'm not sure how much longer I can bear sleeping in such a tiny bed, so I'm constantly scouring my local Gumtree for a new one. The first few days consisted of a lot of crying. A lot of crying. Although it's wonderful to be home surrounded by my family, I felt unbelievably sad to have left Southampton. Those few days were bleak and it was hard to fill that empty, numb feeling in my stomach.



The next hurdle was this mountain of and finding a place for it all, which didn't help my misery much. I had a room double the size of the one I have now whilst I was in Southampton and all of my stuff didn't even fit in that room, let alone this one! I know every girl says she has a lot of clothes. But... I HAVE A LOT OF CLOTHES.




Upon returning home I had almost forgotten there had been a new addition to the family in my absence. Meet Stanley, a Netherland Dwarf bunny with a love for fluffy toys and carrots. We had a lovely evening curled up on my bed watching baby bunny videos on YouTube and playing with Boo, before Stanley decided to piss and poop all over me. I think he hates me, but I'm working on it!



Two old timers who were there before I left home were of course ready to greet me with their daily shenanigans. Meet Toffee (the toffee-coloured staffie, funny enough) and Dude (yes, Dude). Together, they make the perfect double act. Toffee is a typical, sassy, fiery redhead who keeps the laidback, lazy Dude in line. I always panicked that my pups would forget me once I moved away as I would be away from home for months at a time, but of course they didn't!



Moving back home with my never-ending material possessions has been a bit of a squeeze, so to try and make a little more room I started rummaging through my childhood bits to part with. Instead of being productive I found myself sucked into a world of nostalgia as I chanced across old photos, my favourite toys and objects I had almost forgotten about. I made the wonderful discovery of this untouched Busted pencil case and my folder of Pokemon cards. It's safe to say, both of those went into the keep pile!



The second weekend at home, my Mum, sister and me rose painfully early on the Sunday morning and dragged ourselves to our local car boot to start selling our stuff in order to make some room in the house for my return. Technically it was an absolute disaster as it did not stop raining, so my sister and I fashioned ourselves some stylish carrier bag hats, as seen above. We left the car boot early with only around £20 profit but a lot of laughs had been gained that morning too! When the sun finally showed it's face once again earlier on this week, Stanley and me made a little bit of progress on our friendship as we sunbathed together for part of the afternoon. Well, that was until he decided to freak out and run up my face to try and sit on my head, covering me in scratches in the process!



As a serial sunbather, I think it's safe to say Dude enjoyed the moment of sun we had that afternoon too!



On Tuesday evening, I attended a blogger workshop with Toni in Central London, which was my first blogger event since moving back. I found the whole evening truly inspiring and eye-opening as it's my dream to be a freelance creative someday. I truly think that talk was the kick I needed to stop my moping and take advantage of the fact I was living in London once again. The next morning I secured an internship with Oh My Love.



In order to solve my dilemma of having to swim through an ocean of clothes to exit my bedroom, I've hit my Depop account hard. I've been ruthlessly selling my wardrobe with a fair bit of success. Although several pieces have crept their way back into my wardrobe including this cream lace dress. Maybe I'm not as ruthless as I first thought! If you do want to take some of my clothes out of my hands then you can follow my Depop account here. I still have a million and one more things to list too.



I've been busy organising collaborations with lots of brand to feature on Fox & Feather too. My 'to blog' pile is looking a little daunting, but I'm determined to conquer it. I'm hoping to persuade James to shoot some outfits for me this weekend if the weather is on our side! I've got to say I'm feeling a lot more positive than I was two weeks ago. Moving back home isn't actually as bad as it seems!


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