Check In

So I've been feeling so under the weather I've practically been moving about on my hands and knees. Work is incredible (as usual) but it's the bits in between I'm finding a bit hard... but it's nothing netflix and ice cream can't fix.

On another note, something I'm pretty darn pleased about is what I wear. I don't like to obsess over it too much, but I find that aiming for style has greatly improved the way I shop. I've always loved clothes, but since I was about 18 years old, I used to shop like a maniac - it's a pink tutu with green pom poms for a fiver !??!! I've GOT to buy it !!! - which meant my wardrobe became loaded with shite. Coupled with usual teenage concern about whether I was attractive/why I didn't look like that girl, she's beaut/why I looked like an undeveloped ogre alongside my peers, I hopped from trend to trend, going against the grain of what I was really comfortable in. I grew up (thankfully) and started buying quality over quantity and minding less about what other thought.

That being said, here is a paltry offering of some of my outfits over the past few weeks, which do not reflect the fact that I pretty much live in jeans, a white button down shirt, ankle boots and my biker jacket because apparently I have 28 year old male living inside of me. That reads all wrong, but then I also have the mental maturity of a prepubescent schoolboy. 

Also, shout out to winters in the North Hemisphere, serving us precisely 30 seconds of sunshine a day and gifting us with next to no lighting for indoor photos.

Outfit 1: Monki Mongolian Fur Jacket, Topshop Skinnies, Dr Martens, MTWTFSS Weekday Tote

Outfit 2: All Saints biker, Urban Outfitters Shirt, Topshop Boutique jeans, Pieces boots

Jacquie xxx

Stimulus | The Dapper

The Dapper Rebels of Los Angeles, photographed for LIFE magazine, 15th July 1955. 

Saturday Chill

Made sure to have a super chill Saturday, because on Sunday, we started shooting our documentary. It's already on of the highlights so far since starting here at the Beeb, I've learned so much and met so many people. After flapping about how useless I felt on set amongt such professionals, I finally gotten a grip on day 2 and I'm actually feeling like a member of the team.

I also seem to be coming down with the flu, but I brought powdered wheatgrass with me, because I couldn't face 4 days without a green drink and yes I am totally aware how ridiculous that sounds.

10 Questions

As opposed to the usual word vomit that I like to decorate my little corner of the Internet with, I thought it would be a welcome change to complete one of those bloggy type challenges as I was tagged by the lovely Linn (thanks love!).

1. Who is your biggest role model and why?

Well, we stumble at the first question. Ignoring the obvious answers such as my mum/nan/pet Chihuahua, I have several women I look up to. They each have different careers, but all of them are united in being 100% themselves, unfailingly standing out with their striking personal presence and projecting their views unapologetically with an enviable poise I can only hope to acquire one day. In no particular order:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Oroma Elewa, Solange Knowles, Taiye Selasi. I have so many more.

2. Which TV show would you like to feature in and who would you be?

Although I work in TV, it takes a lot for me to fall in love with a TV drama - I respond quickly to lulls in storylines or contrived drama by switching off. Now, there's one show that stole my soul from the first scene and that's House of Cards. Frank Underwood is one of the most gracefully diabolical characters to sulk across the small screen. His bloodthirsty desire to be at the top makes for compellling TV. I would sell a lung to 90-year-old chain smoker to be on this show - I even heard Kevin Spacey stays in character the whole time when he's on set?!? I would be the lowly intern (art imitating life, eh?) silent, appearing docile and willing, all the while gathering enough intelligence to hatch my own plan to take over.

3. When are you most creative?
Funnily enough, ideas creep into my mind at the most sporadic rate, and I recently bought a notebook and pen so I can jot my ideas and brain waste on the go. I will say, I feel the least moved to create anything when I'm sad. When I'm low, everything shuts down and I can't bear the idea of eating, let alone creating something to be consumed by another person. So everyday is an effort not to be sad, because black holes only suck life away.

4. A favourite movie? A favourite book? A favourite song?
Goodness me. Because fuck rules and regulations, I'm answering this with more than one option. I love City of God, Blue is the Warmest Colour, Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, Taxi Driver, American Beauty - I love films that use more than the dialogue to tell a story: be it the camera angle, lighting or music. Anything by Chimamanda, White Teeth,  Ghana Must Go, Things Fall Apart, His Dark Materials, Harry Potter, Toni Morrison (I'm looking for more books to read!). College Dropout Kanye West will always have my heart, R and B from 2002 - 2006 (the golden teenage years, full of sprouting hair and disappointingly small mammary growth), Drake, anything on my Soundcloud Page, Brainstorm, Twerk Music, girls with guitars, Sza, Mr Lamar etc

5. What does your handwriting look like?

I'm not that deep... it's the lyrics to Frank Ocean's new song... he's back!!

6. How do you think life will be in 5 years?
This question scares me a little/lot/majorly. How about unecessary pressure, eh? Well I don't know where or who I'll be with, but I'm on the path I want to be on right now. I'd like to have lived in another country for 3 months or more, because there's nothing like being in the unfamiliar which familiarises you with yourself. I hope to have tricked a human man into spending copious amounts on time with me, by exchanging bodily fluids at regular intervals, enjoying raucous laughter and evenings spent comparing our beards. I hope to be living in a place with lots of light, wooden floors and white walls, because growing up in a pokey new-build has made me desperate to spend the rest of my life in something opposite. I hope I will be much happier with who I am, having done away with the pathetic habit of comparing myself to people.

7. Which blogs do you follow daily?
I'll change this a bit to people I like to stalk online: Bim Adewunmi is my hero. Sandra is delightful. Evelyn from the Internets is as funny shit. I definitely follow more blogs, and have a shameless thing for Swedish girls (why so effortless? Why? And they all seem to have their shit together??)

8. Describe what feminism means for you in three words
Being myself, regardless.

9. What song would be the soundtrack to your life?
Find your light
Don’t hide from what you areAnd rise before you fallAnd hope for something moreLive if you really want toLive if you really want toLive if you really want to
All my life my dreams just seemed so far awayAnd now it’s like they’re here to stayI hold it close to me
We were meant for something bigger than thisDon’t ever try to dismiss yourself cause you don’t have to

10. What's your guilty pleasure?
Internet shopping, indulging my imagination and throwing shade.

I tag anyone who stumbles across this here blog of mine.

Jacquie xxx