Sundaze 115

Hey loves! How has your weekend been so far?

Mine has been action packed, and I’m pretty excited to have a Sunday that’s completely free of plans. (Bar watching One Punch Man, getting our groceries for the week and drinking a whole lotta coffee, that is!)

I’m finally recovering from a springtime cold, and can’t wait to be able to breathe normally when I sleep again! Of course my recovery definitely wasn’t helped by a 5am wake-up call (of my own doing) on Friday for Taylor Swift’s big reveal. For the record, I love her new song, ME! But who’s surprised, eh? In fact, this blog is founded upon a whole lot of Taylor Swift lyric-titled outfits, a sprinkling of Harry Potter love (I blogged the final two film releases!), and so many K-pop and K-beauty nonsensicals. What can I say? I’m always ahead of my time 😉

But seriously, I once even had a Taylor Swift blog series.

Instagram creativity!

This week, I’ve felt inspired to really push myself when creating on Instagram.

Much like I’ve found a really great groove with my blog again, I’ve had a few breakthroughs when it comes to the ol’ photo-sharing app. First of all, I’ve remembered to treat it just as that: a place to share photos. Nothing more, nothing less. Ultimately, my written ~content~ can be saved for here and I prefer it that way.

Instead, I’m re-wiring my brain to solely shoot images and/or edit them for the app. I quite like theming them in a cohesive colour story, so I’ll continue to do so, but I’m done with the polished images and only pulling out ‘perfect’ shots. Have one of me eating an apple while waiting for a bus, or sat on a muddy field with my dog.

I want it to feel like when you meet up with a friend after a holiday and you swipe(d) through your photos to share what you’d been up to.

Earth Day… and then some

It was Earth Day on Monday!

And, let’s face it, every day should be Earth Day. By now I’m sure you’re up to date with the Extinction Rebellion movement in London and I am all for it. We need to take action right now to protect our beautiful globe. It’s been said approximately 31937401384 times this week but we need a billion people making changes imperfectly, rather than a handful doing it perfectly.

I bang on about this sort of thing all the time, but this week I also discovered a few more ideas:

Karma: One of my colleagues introduced me to this fab little app, and I can’t wait to make better use of it. The app is designed to help businesses tackle food waste and lets you buy unsold food at half price. So, if you eke your lunch break out until 2pm, you can nab a bargain, or pick one up en route home. Download it for iOS or Android.
Depop’s #NothingNew campaign: By now I’m sure none of us are strangers to Depop, the popular re-selling site. Aside from the constant annoying messages(!!), they’re currently pushing a #NothingNew campaign and willing more people to buy secondhand clothing as well as sell it. I’ve got my eye on SO many things at the moment, and I’m really going to challenge myself to buy more on Depop.

A British-Chinese bloggers’ meet!

Yesterday I popped into London for a much-anticipated British-Chinese bloggers’ meet-up! A group of us have chatted over Twitter for several months now and so we made a master plan to all meet up and properly get to know each other IRL over some food.

We went to my long-time favourite Tombo in South Kensington for a spot of poké – miso aubergine for me! – and to drop into a few shops along the way. I’m hoping to make these meet-ups more regular and more inclusive, so if you’re also a British-Chinese blogger and you’d like to be included in any future plans, drop me a message!

Links I’ve Loved

Cult Beauty have 20% off Milk Makeup until midnight! Shop now; the discount is automatically applied at checkout. (Affiliate link.)
Alone time is such a rarity these days; Jaye shared 12 things to do when you have time to yourself. Bliss.
I’ve been drafting a post all about this topic, but The Cut published an insightful feature all about leather and just how sustainable, or isn’t sustainable, it is.
Love & Lemons continues to kill it with the recipes. This Creamy Pomodoro Pasta sounds delicious!
Planning a trip to Japan? Eat Your Teacup shared three must-visit day trips to add to your itinerary.
Or perhaps you’re heading to London, in which case What’s Hot?’s guide to a Harry Potter weekend will be your port of call.
I’m desperate to pick up a set of Carly Rowena’s new workout flash cards to inspire my pre-summer workouts!
Tamsin of Cupful of Kale has done it once again: how tasty does her Tagliatelle Puy Lentil Ragu sound?!
Erica’s photos from Hong Kong are nothing short of stunning. Take me back…
Lastly, THAT article on The Atlantic: influencers are abandoning the ‘Instagram aesthetic’. What are your thoughts?