Personal: My Life Lately.

Hey, my lovelies!

 

Long time, no blog it seems- compared to the past few months where I had been managing to blast out 12-15 blog posts, this month I seem to have disappeared from the blogosphere completely, and it was only when a friend messaged me to check if I was still alive as I hadn't posted on Twitter or Instagram for a week that I thought I should check in and write a little post about where I have been.

 

At the end of last month, I got myself a new job to scrape in a bit of money which takes up four to five [often full] days of my week. Whilst I know so many bloggers who often balance full time jobs and manage to maintain their blogs perfectly well (kudos to you!), working full time hours whilst juggling my blog is something that is brand new to me, and whilst I fully intend on adjusting to a routine that allows me to do both, it is taking a little getting used to, especially since my days off are usually spent catching up with friends and taking part in festive activities (I haven't even found time to start my Christmas shopping yet- Eek!). That said, I haven't given up my blogger duties completely- Some of my spare time has been spent attending blogger events and organized trips for brand campaigns including an exciting trip to Edinburgh with Mocks and a very spontaneous day out in Liverpool, so I still have plenty to tell you all about when I find a moment to sit down with my laptop and sort through the hundreds of photos!

 

In the New Year- after the busy Christmas period has passed- regular blogging should resume, but for now I will try my best to write a blog post at every free opportunity I get. I will also try to do a better job of keeping my Instagram and Twitter accounts updated, so feel free to follow me over on those!

I hope you will all bear with me whilst I pull myself together, and I hope you are all having an amazingly festive December so far!

 

How do you balance your blog with work?

 

Frances xx

 

 

Frances Cassandra Turns 3!

Happy Blogger-versary to me (well, actually it was yesterday but I was super busy so I couldn't write this post until today)!

 

Three years ago on the 22nd of November, I was wrapped up in a duvet in the flat I was living in at University, probably avoiding writing an essay on how digital media has changed the world (or something like that) whilst reading an old school Fleur De Force or LLYMLRS blog post and pondering over whether anybody would be interested in reading my rambles, should I start writing them down in my own little corner of the internet. Alas, as I designed my own tacky leopard print header (cringe) and took photos perched on the window ledge of my flat as that was my only source of decent lighting, never did I think that three years later my blog would have over 2,000 subscribers and 750,000 clicks.

 

Since birthdays only happen once a year, I am dubbing it perfectly acceptable to make this blog post sickeningly cliché and say that blogging has impacted my life immensely. When I was nineteen, I was terribly shy, preferred the comforts of home and familiarity; not to mention the fact that my idea of "style" was my jeggings, converse and whichever t-shirt was clean and falling off it's hanger in my wardrobe. Now, one of my favourite things to do is meet new people at blogger events, and I have been forced to adopt two new rails in my bedroom to accommodate the abundance of clothes I own thanks to the many amazing brands that I have had the opportunity to work with and my fellow bloggers who influence my ever-changing style and urge to go out and buy another garment that I don't really need. I've also developed quite a taste for travel and rushes of adrenaline after blog opportunities have granted me the chance to tackle two of my biggest fears; travelling to another country alone and also jumping out of an airplane from 14,000 feet.

It hasn't always been thrills; there have been a few personal hurdles in my life over the past few years that have temporarily dimmed my passion for doing the things I enjoy, but it's the above things plus a plethora of other pros that have made me realize that keeping my chin up and carrying on writing is the best thing that I can do for myself. And I will be starting to make YouTube videos soon, either just before or after the New Year... It's a promise this time. ;)

Now, everyone likes to drag their birthday celebrations on for as long as possible, which is why I have prepared four days of giveaways to say thank you to you lovely lot for reading my blog; whether it be for the past three years or the past three days, Frances Cassandra wouldn't exist without your support.
So thank you very much, my lovelies and I hope that I can continue producing content that you all enjoy reading- keep an eye on my blog over the next few days for the chance to win some fabulous prizes!

Here's to another amazing year in the blogosphere!

Frances x

Personal: Why I Write.

 I don't normally like incorporating tags in to my blog but after seeing this one floating around the blogosphere and eventually being tagged by the lovely Sarah (Saloca in Wonderland), I thought I would give it a go. It's a little bit different than your usual tag post and I actually find it quite interesting to get to know the creative process behind people's blogs.

What am I working on?
Right now, I am working on bringing my blog back down to its roots a little bit. I mentioned in a blog post last month that I originally started my blog just for me, as a way of writing down my inner thoughts. This is why I am trying to intertwine some more personal lifestyle posts between my outfit posts and product reviews; my blog is an extension of me, my interests and my personality and I really want this to show.

I am also preparing to take the big leap to YouTube. It has been a long time coming and I have finally mustered up the courage to ramble at my camera in a few failed attempts at filming a video over the past couple of weeks. Unfortunately, this is due to a few technical difficulties, but as soon as these are sorted you will be able to watch me (and my awful accent) in all my awkward glory. Watch this space!

  How does my writing differ from others in my genre?

I think that most bloggers eventually find their niche, whether it be outfit posts, recipes, beauty reviews, DIY tutorials or a combination of a few things. However, I am a dabbler, an experimenter, and I have many passions in life ranging from fashion, to music, to healthy living, to travel, so the spectrum of topics I cover is wide because, as mentioned above, my blog is an extension of myself and I don't want to miss anything out. I hope that this way, everybody will find something that they are interested in reading when they click through my posts.

Why do I write?
I have always loved writing. When I was little I used to spend entire days penning short stories and pretend magazine articles, and I absolutely loved the creative writing parts of my English classes at school. I also think that it is because of this that I find writing to be the easiest way for me to express myself. Whether it be a quote I've read somewhere, a song or letter I've written or even a text message or email, I have always found it easier to speak my mind by text instead of voice. So naturally, when I discovered there was a way to share my thoughts, loves, hates and ideas with people through the medium of writing, I really took to it.

How does my writing process work?
In all honesty, I don't have any kind of organised routine when it comes to blogging. I have tried an endless amount of times to find something that works for me but I much prefer to blog about whatever I want, when I want to. Whenever I have tried to schedule blog posts in advance, I either get too eager to publish it or I re-read it after a few days and I hate it, so I find that it is better for me to spend a good few hours perfecting a blog post that I feel inspired to write at the time and publishing it straight away. Lately, however, I have found it very beneficial to always have a notebook to hand to keep track of what PR samples I have received and what events I have lined up so that I can plan the rest of my content between posts of a higher priority.

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Now, I never know who to tag in these kinds of posts so I am not going to, but if you have done this tag then please link me to it as I have loved reading them! 

Why do you write?

Frances x

What I'm Currently Loving: Music

So, I originally didn't have a blog post planned for today but I have been lay in bed watching music videos for the past couple of hours (I know, I am the epitome of wild, I know how to spend my Saturday nights) and I got the urge to write something, so this is a bit of a spontaneous one.

Something that I haven't spoken about much on my blog is music, which is strange as it has been one of the loves of my life since the age of twelve or thirteen, when I watched School of Rock for the first time. I begged my dad to buy me a bass guitar (I was far too hipster at this age to go for something mainstream like the guitar) and I decided I was going to be a rock star one day. Whilst I am still working on that dream ( ;) ), I have taught myself how to play the bass and the guitar (I would learn every instrument if I could; I would LOVE to be able to play the piano and the cajon), sang in the shower (and whilst tidying my room, and whilst stuck in traffic in the car, etc, etc, there may even be cringey clips of me singing floating around on the internet, but we'll save that for another day) a lot and developed an undying passion for attending concerts and festivals. 

Not a day goes by where I don't listen to music, and one of my favourite things to do is scour the "browse" and "discover" tabs on Spotify for new, budding artists, the current most popular songs and the golden oldies that I had forgotten about. I am an open-minded person when it comes to music; there isn't a genre that I don't like and I don't have a favourite either. It is all down to opinion, of course, but I define a "good" song by the way it makes me feel, whether it's an upbeat melody that makes me want to move, a lyric that I relate to so much I could have written it myself, or the passion in the artist's voice that makes the hairs on my arms stand up. I have so much respect for artists who write their own material/ play their own instruments and I love analysing the meaning of songs.

So, since I am currently having a music video marathon, I thought I would leave you with a few (just a few, I could go on for days!) of my current favourite songs, artists and music videos at the moment, which I will no doubt have ruined for myself by this time next week from listening to them on repeat.

George Ezra- Budapest

Magic!- Rude

Michael Jackson- Slave To The Rhythm

Sia- Chandelier

Nico & Vinz- Am I Wrong

Kodaline- High Hopes

Kodaline- Love Like This

Thao with The Get Down Stay Down- When We Swam

Jagwar Ma- Uncertainty

I hope you love these songs as much as I do, and maybe you have discovered something new?

What are your favourite songs at the moment? I'd love to know!

Frances x

A more personal kind of blog post.

When I first started my blog, it was only for me. It was just me and my laptop in my little flat at University, writing about things that I love to pass time between lectures. I was just so fortunate enough that people found my blog and liked what they were reading, and over two years later I am still here, 2,000+ followers and over half a million views strong (thank you) and there's nothing I've been prouder of.

One thing that I miss, however, is the more personal aspect of my blog. Before it became more public and I started telling my friends and family about it, many a night was spent rambling through my fingertips about my deepest thoughts and dreams. In some ways I can be quite an introverted person (although I don't really consider myself an introvert); I don't open up to people easily and sadly, I've never had one of those friends who I can call at 2AM for a chat, or invite over at a moments notice, so to me, this was almost like the same thing.

This is why I want to introduce these more personal posts to my blog again; not too often, just whenever I feel like there's something I need to talk about, whether it be something that has happened in my life or something in the news. Lately, I've had a lot on my mind and nowhere to release it, resulting in sleepless nights and miserably slow days. Some of you might think, "but you just said you don't open up to people easily, so why are you writing on your blog which thousands of people might read?", haha. Here's the thing, I don't expect everybody to read these posts and I assume those who do will click because they are interested. One thing that scares me about talking to people about my problems/thoughts is the almost instantaneous reaction that they could give. I don't have to worry about that through my computer screen, but I can still take comfort in knowing that somebody has read what I have to say. That, and since I do have an audience, I like to hope with all of me that talking about some of the topics that I might cover may help somebody else. I know that I wouldn't be doing this without the encouragement from other blogs that I have read. 

Anyway, now that we've gotten all close and personal, I may as well give you a little insight in to myself. Throughout my life, particularly my teens and now my early adulthood, I have been a very anxious person and a massive worrier, whether it have something to do with trusting a person, what others think of me, where I am going in life or even whether that pain in my stomach could be something more serious. This anxiety is probably the thing that I hate the most about myself as, whilst I am usually good at ignoring and hiding it, it has often hindered my overall well-being and happiness. However it is something that I am working on every day. If you follow me on Instagram or my personal Twitter, you will have seen that I post a lot of quotes on there that I have come across which constantly inspire me to have a positive outlook on life, be the best person I can be, help others and quite frankly, just keep my shit together. So, I thought I would share a few of my favourite ones in this post for if anybody should need a pick-me-up (A lot of these have come from Regina Brett's column, "45 Life Lessons and 5 to grow on").

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Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

Forgive everyone everything.

Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Stay in touch with the people who will.

The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.

Follow your heart but take your brain with you.

When life presents you with the opportunity to grow together with someone, you must take it. 

What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?

Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

The best is yet to come.

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Sorry for such a serious blog post on what I usually like to keep a happy and humorous blog, girls! I promise I'll be back to regular programming from my next post! :)

Frances x

Week in Instagrams #2

I did one of these posts a couple of weeks back but didn't keep it up as I found I didn't always take enough photos to make a worthy Instagram post. I am going to try and keep it up now though!

 

1. Went to Ikea and came across these tea lights that were only about £1.67 per pack. They smell amazing too!

2. Have an assignment due today so a few hours were spent in the library last week doing research. So boring.

3. Popped in to Superdrug when I was finished in the library to pick up the MUA Love Hearts collection nail polishes. You can see swatches of them all here.

4. Subway breakfast- Bacon, egg and cheese sub. Best start to the morning.

5. 11 degrees with highs of 16? It was almost summer.

6. My first creme eggs of the year, way overdue. These were the only things keeping me together on a very stressful day at uni.

7. Bought this animal print sweater from Select. Absolutely love it!

8. Had to go into the TV studio at uni to set up our TV set for our assignment this week.

9. Our set, half way finished. It's supposed to be like a manor house, still need to add a fire place, some portraits and other bits and bobs to make it more homely.

10. This is what I really went to Ikea for. Attempted to build it on my own...

11. ... And succeeded! A proud moment for me, I'm normally useless! Haha.

I hope you enjoyed this post, will take more photos for you this week :)

If you would like to follow me on Instagram, feel free! @FrancesCassandra

Would you like to be a Guest Blogger?

Hey girls,

Due to personal reasons, I may not be blogging as much as usual for the next couple of weeks (a great start to the New Year, I know :( I am really sorry!). So I am looking for a few lovely bloggers who would like to write a guest post for me whilst I am gone. Your post could be anything beauty or fashion related; a tutorial, a review, an outfit you have put together, etc.

If you are interested, please email me at francescassandra@hotmail.co.uk telling me what sort of post you would like to do and we will work something out :)

I am really sorry that I am having to go on this hiatus, but it is something I really need to do, sometimes things happen unexpectedly and you need to take a break to feel better. I hope you understand, I will still try and get a post up every now and again, and I will be back as soon as possible!