happy

I hope i'm not jinxing anything by actually writing it, but this week has taken such a turn around and i'm actually really happy!

Today i've managed to secure 4 weeks full time work back at the pharmacy I've been working at for around 4 years during A levels and university holidays. I know it's not like its the full time first step in the career ladder that i've been desperate for over the past few weeks, but considering I was at the Jobcentre yesterday applying for some desperate hope of a little bit of money to keep me going, it's brilliant! Hopefully i'll be able to get a few steps back towards the black in my student account and it'll pay towards some little future adventures.

Also as suggested in my last post, I have met a lovely potential new love interest who is coming to visit me at the end of the week. It was going to be for the afternoon but now he has unexpected plans so it'll just be in the morning for a bit of brunch and maybe a wander around Leicester. It's exciting that finally a guy is making an effort, as he seems to be really keen to still try and come despite his change of plans. Today I also got a text from an ex-Leeds-date who I had quite a lot of feelings for. He was texting to ask me whether it was true that I had left Leeds as he'd only just heard (only 2 months after i've left, congrats.) It makes me realise he was definitely such a twat and didn't care about anything past his pay rises and work hours. Meeting lovely new people finally makes me realise it and I don't need him anymore. Ha. (It was so good to send him some anger and let it all out in response too!)

Other good news... I'm working on a little freelance project for a Leeds bestie. I'm currently updating the Leeds University Union Swimming and Water Polo website and blog so that they are hopefully more attractive to new students and potential sponsors. It's been a little tricky getting it going as the platform they were using was a ridiculous template site... but hopefully I'm getting there by moving it over to the Blogger/web platform and i'll post a link when it's up and running!

I've been getting so inspired by all the London Olympics coverage on TV this week too. Who'd have actually thought i'd be so into it! The swimming is incredible, I haven't been able to keep my eyes of Lochte and Phelps since it all kicked off haha. But it's been spurring me on to have some really good sessions in my home garage gym, which makes me a lot happier too.

So all in all, it's looking like things are taking a much happier turn after the other weeks!
Lots of happy love,
Becca xx

a well overdue catch up

Oops i've been so bad a keeping my blog up to date with everything at the moment, sorry! Last time I posted was before I graduated, so firstly he's a few photos from that...

The few days away for it were a real roller-coaster of emotions. The actual ceremony was so lovely. I was so nervous about walking up to collect my degree that I couldn't fully sit and enjoy it, but when I took it all in later, I realised how special it had been. My aunty from Scotland had watched it on the live feed on the internet from her home in Scotland and completely burst into tears when my full Scottish name was announced and I went to collect what I've been working for 16 years in education for. It really was such an emotional moment, but it was right at the end, when they gave us all such a long and loud applause and cheering to all my class, thats when I felt myself wobble and want to cry.

I won't say much about the rest of the few days. It was difficult and my close friends know how upset and emotional I felt about it all. To be honest it's still something i'm trying to deal with and it's quite difficult. Highlights of the few days though were relaxing in the Hotel's perfect pool, sauna and jacuzzi - some of the men by the poolside where beautiful. And our special graduate tasting meal with 6 absolutely delicious courses was perfect. It was literally the best meal i've ever had and the restaurant and the service was brilliant. Salvo's in Headingly, Leeds definitely deserves all the awards and credit they have received and I would fully recommend them.

So, what else has happened since then? I've been doing lots more graduate job hunting. It\s been really frustrating to apply to so many things and keep getting to enthusiastic about opportunities to then not hear anything back. I really hope that it's because i've been applying the day that jobs get posted and so there are lengthy deadlines before I hear back. But i'm so impatient now to get my new life started and make plans on a new place to live and a new job and to make some new friends. I just really want to get out of Leicester and the family home.

We've had a few Leicester nights to keep us sane. I haven't got many pictures unfortunately. But it was great to see Gary again from Spain when he came to visit Hicks. My favourite night out recently though has definitely been Thursday's trip to Lincoln to finally get to see the little city that Kat J has been living in for her uni years and to see her house and where she goes out partying.

I was really disappointed at first that not everyone could come and join me. But after the few weeks i've had I was so looking forward to getting away that I embraced it anyway and it was great to spend some time with Charlie after its been so long! We smashed it on Rock n Roll Bingo...

(This was our TUNE of the night!!)

And also we went to a few of the bars in Lincoln and met some interesting characters. I managed to meet a really lovely pilot who i'm quite excited about. Although it's difficult to get excited about meeting anyone at the moment when I don't know where I'll be living in the near future.

I wore a new top I bought with the Debenhams voucher i've been trying to spend for months. I'm a bit obsessed with peplums at the moment, so I hope they don't go out of fashion too quickly!

Peplum Top, Warehouse

So thats a very brief update. I'm sure theres lots of stuff I've missed out since the last post but as I say, its been a roller-coaster emotionally the past few weeks so my heads been a bit everywhere. Hopefully, i'll be a bit more settled now and be more prepared to update this blog.

Lots of graduate love,
Becca xx

graduation shopping take two

Hiyaaa, this morning my mum drummed up the courage to take me out graduation shopping into town again after our absolute disaster last week, which included a random woman smirking at me and telling my mum "oh, we have one just the same" ...as if i was some stroppy toddler that couldn't hear her. Possibly the most embarrassing moment shopping ever. I wanted to punch the woman.

What my mum didn't tell me yesterday though, was that she had to be back in the office by like 11, so our lovely shopping trip had to start at 9am. Fantastic.

I've had a really fun morning though. We bought some really nice grad shoes which I needed. I originally wanted black, but then I decided on a more nude colour. We ended up buying this pair from New Look, which I think are perfect. I really didn't want too high a heel, because i'm already practically throwing up in fear of tripping up on my way to collect my degree, cringe. Also, because they're nude i'll have a legit reason to not wear tights. Anyone who knows me knows my mantra, "err, I don't believe in tights."

Shoes, New Look

Then as I said, we've decided to not get a new dress for the actual ceremony, because I already have a perfect black Warehouse one in my wardrobe. So instead i've been buying an outfit to wear to my posh graduation meal the night before in Salvo's. Whilst mum was off buying my "surprise" Pandora bracelet for graduating (she got nervous about buying it last week and so had to ask me whether that would be what I wanted... er, yes!), I went and found a skirt i've had my eye on for a few weeks in River Island and decided it would complete the outfit with the peplum top. So, I persuaded her to buy it of course!

I've taken a few fashion blogger style photos of me wearing it with the outfit I have on today, which is also a River Island quite casual top, a Primark vest underneath and Miss Selfridge feather earrings. Very high street haha. The photo quality is a bit rubbish, I really wish my old SLR still worked. I'm definitely going to need starting to save up for a new one.

Skirt, River Island

Sorry, bit of a fashion heavy post this afternoon! I do love a cheeky bit of fashion though! I'm actually really looking forward to my graduation at the end of the week now. It's all starting to build up and finally i'm actually going from nervous about it, to being excited about finally wearing my robes and celebrating with the champers.

Lots of grad fashion love,
Becca xx

saturday night

Just thought i'd share a short and sweet blog post about our Saturday night in Leicester. We had such a fun night going to a few bars, having too much wine and having a dance. I'm not gonna say too much about where we went to, because i'm starting to get a little internet stage fright at how international the hits and visits to the blog are and so shouldn't just be giving out details on how to find me (i've been watching too many channel 4 documentaries on that sort of thing!) Although it is nice that people are interested in reading it!

So here's a few pictures. And a few of the tunes that they played in one particular bar that resulted in me losing my voice yesterday. In fact the whole of yesterday was a bit of a write off, but definitely worth it to have a big catch up night with Claire, Chloe and Sally and obviously to be back out in a certain favourite venue with the original leicester team! Also it was really nice to bump into a few other favourite leicester faces.

I wore the new River Island peplum top I was talking about buying in my last post, although I'm not sure how many more wears it'll get if I continue my usual night out behaviour. I struggle to wear white without fake-tanning up and then i'm a little unstable after polishing off a bottle of rose wine. Both factors nearly proved fatal on the first wear, but thankfully, I have a mother who's a genius with her stain removal tactics haha so I should still be able to wear it to my graduation meal.

And the yelling of every single word of these two tracks, meant no voice yesterday:

Lots of leicester drinking love,
Becca xx


(oh and P.S for anyone wondering from my last post, I chose not to take the interview due to driving limitations, which is such a shame, but i'm definitely going to start driving lessons again as a result of it it - and everything happens for a reason, so i'm sure something else will be around the corner soon.)

i'd do it again, yolo.

So... exciting news since the last post, I have a job interview on Monday for a great graphic design and photographer position with a lovely national fashion company based in Leicestershire. I don't want to give to many details about it yet on my blog, in case Google search words gives me away before I've had a chance to sell myself in the interview. But its a really exciting opportunity. Although, I may have to consider whether its practical with my complete inability to drive (really need to pass my test.) Here's a little hint at the company:

Its definitely news I needed this week as I was in a complete mard and meltdown with not hearing back from any companies from countless applications and also spectacularly not being offered any holiday shifts back in the pharmacy I've been working in for 4 years. I was so down about not even being able to get back in my little counter assistant role that I normally just waltz back in to whenever i'm home. I guess my crazy luck with part time employment dried out.

Also I had a nightmare shopping afternoon on Wednesday looking for a graduation dress. It suddenly really hit me that I wasn't really looking forward to the actual day because of not being with my actual course friends this year and not being able to celebrate with Chloe or the law lot who all graduated this week instead. But actually now looking over photos from all their special days, I am a lot more excited about just having a lovely day with my parents and actually getting rewarded for my hard work.

I've decided to wear a smart black dress that I already have from Warehouse a few years ago. And instead I'm going to buy a really pretty top I tried on in River Island which I'll wear on my night out tomorrow and also to my graduation meal the night before my ceremony at Salvo's. it has a really nice beaded collar attached although River Island always over complicate things and it has a difficult cut out in the back just where my bra strap is. I'll probably hide it with either hair, or my Zara blazer.

River Island

Yesterday, I met up with the girls for a few "casual afternoon meet up drinks." It ended up me stumbling home at gone 1.30am, £60 down and roughly 5 cocktails, before 6pm just starting off the 12 hour session. It was crazy that it took such a drunken crazy turn but it was so nice to be out again with Grace after her years in Thailand and Swansea, and obviously Bowls was on top form too. My favourite quotes were definitely, "i'd do it again." and "SO ARE YOU GOING TO GIVE ME A JOB?!" Brilliant. This is one of the Blackberry snaps from the night, no proper camera ones uploaded to Facebook as of yet. I feel, probably for the best!

Looking forward to another cheeky night tomorrow and a huge catch up with Chloe and Claire and their lovely Leicester friends.

Lots of exciting news love,
Becca xx

mid week loves

I've been job hunting pretty much relentlessly since i've been back from Spain so this afternoon i'm taking a break and going graduation dress shopping in Leicester with mum. I'm planning on going for a really smart black dress that I can double up as an interview/work dress (if ever such occasion arises.) 


Here are a few black dresses i've had my eye on online. I'll see if they're in store but i guess i'm open to different ones, so i'll happy to just go with what town has to offer.

Topshop, River Island, Warehouse

Also another few mid week current-loves whilst i'm on the bloggo before I go out.

I really love this tuneee at the moment. I've got a bit of a secret love for rap and all this. I secretly really like Jamie T, The Streets and Plan B. I first saw Plan B perform this song on Jools Holland and apparently he was still writing and piecing the track all together right up to his performance on the day of the Jools recording. I really love when it breaks down into "the youths that are out every day, looking for the devils pain." Brilliant.

Also on a huge love for white interior design. I so want my own apartment at the moment so I can decorative it amazingly, but i'm a bit stuck for the indefinite future back in my bedroom i've had since I was 6. I went on a mad de-clutter-spree last week and took town train tickets and various things that had literally been stuck on my wall since 2007. It was weird to take it down after so many years, but it feels so much better to be de-cluttered. Now, I want a white apartment. Please.

(images all sourced from various tumblr accounts!)

And finally today comes the reaally sad news that Moylesy is leaving Breakfast radio. Wah, I don't know how much more change I can take haha! But it links to another love, as Grimmy is filling Chris's legendary shoes, which is such good news. I love Grimmy's humour on his show, so hopefully it'll be good. But it's still gonna take a while to get over the loss of Moyles.

That is all,
Lots of mid-week love,
Becca xx

job hunting

Eugh, I was going to absolutely go to town on a generic post-university whinge on how rubbish life already is after university and how hard it's going to be over the next few months to get a job whilst getting in more debt and watching everyone else go back to uni or go travelling or start their amazing new jobs. But then I decided nobody wants to hear that/will probably hear it all over the next few months of cheapest pints at the pub anyway. So instead i'm going to use my rising blog popularity (I'm really surprised and flattered at the amount of pages hits and followers internationally i've already recieved) and promote my new online portfolio, in the hope that someone out there will employ me... eventually!

Yesterday whilst sending off another round of job applications for a mix of entry level jobs and internships I decided that it might be better for employers to be able to see my work with a single click onto a website rather than having to download a page-heavy pdf document. So I set up a Behance account.

For those who aren't really involved with the design-y world, Behance is an absolute babe of a website. It features thousands of creative portfolios from advertising and branding through to fashion, editorial design and photography. They have a real mixture of top-of-their-game professionals through to amateurs, design students and graduates like me. I've been browsing the Behance network for years, in fact I think I used it back in my AS level Graphics days, so that means probably about 5 years. It's great for looking up other peoples work and getting inspiration, but I guess it's also a really great platform to promote your work too.

So here is my new Behance account: http://www.behance.net/RebeccaBuchanan
If you're a member of Behance, it would be great if you could get involved and 'follow' my profile. But for now, here's a few images of my work from the online portfolio. Keep an eye out for more projects i'll hopefully be adding to it too, as it's still only a small selection of my work throughout the 3 years.

Also here's a few of my current favourite projects on the Behance network from other designers. Currently i'm on a bit of a editorial design hype, so apologies to the bias towards beautiful magazine design!


Art Direction of WAD Magazine, by Le Creative Sweatshop
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Art-Direction-of-WAD-magazine/4336227

Nevertheless 04, by Atelier Olschinsky
http://www.behance.net/gallery/NEVERTHELESS-04/4239499

W, by Marino Thorlacius
http://www.behance.net/gallery/W/3747023

(I definitely recommend this last photographer. this set of photographs is beautiful! ...after you've seen my work and recommended me to all your employer friends of course.)

Lots of enhanced design love,
Becca xx


P.S I'm currently available, whilst job hunting, for any freelance branding or advertising projects. For details of my skills or experience please contact: rebecca-buchanan@hotmail.co.uk)

reading list

Hellooo! Bit of a book nerd post today... It's still raining and wet and i'm still bored and horribly depressed at being back home in Leicester without a job or friends living in a reasonable distance to this stupid village. I've been reading quite a lot due to circumstance recently. I don't normally read much, but i'm actually really enjoying getting back into it. It kicked off again when I found myself in Leeds for the final 2 weeks on my own, then I carried it on whilst on holiday sitting around on sun loungers or on the beach all day and now i'm back home and at a bit of a loose end again so theres been plenty of time to read here too. Here's what i've been reading...

The Time of my Life - Cecelia Ahern

I mentioned I was reading this in a previous post. I actually really enjoyed it! As I already mentioned, P.S I love you is one of my favourite books, the film was so so disappointing to watch after I read the book. It took a while to get into The Time of my Life. I normally like a pretty realistic novel where you can actually imagine what's happening to the people and Ahern takes a bit of a metaphor quite far in this book as the main character actually meets her "Life" as a man who she then has to work with towards making him better - through making her actual life better. It sounds strange but I actually got really into the quirky work colleague characters and her past relationship. I really like the way Ahern builds characters and makes you really get into it. Fully recommend it, as long as you work past the initial weird metaphor situation.

Summer with my Sister - Lucy Diamond

This is the first of two books I bought for reading on my holiday. I accidentally ended up reading most of this up in Leeds before I went so I only had a few last pages to read by the pool but it enjoyed it. It's a more realistic novel about two estranged sisters brought together through the loss of a job. It covers the whole difference between a fast paced and cold lifestyle in a city to the friendly lifestyle of living in a countryside village. I didn't find I cared as much about the characters as I did with an Ahern novel, but I still really wanted to find out how it would all tie together. Without giving too much away, it had a really unusual and sad family secret that brought them together.

Rosie Hopkin's Sweet Shop of Dreams - Jenny Colgan

This was my main holiday read and if i'm really honest, throughout probably the first 2 thirds of the book I was reading it out of having to, rather than wanting to as i'd already read my other book. It's set in a Derbyshire village which are near Leicestershire and I felt the whole thing went a bit overboard with over romanticising life in a rural village and was all a bit ridiculous. But then I did get into how it would all pan out and whether Rosie would stay in the village and take on the sweet shop permanently or whether she'd go back to her London lifestyle (accidental similar theme going on in my holiday reads.) The best part of the novel was the links back to her Great Aunt's romance during the war in the 1940's, which were more suited to Colgan's over imagination I think rather than modern day village life. This last passage in the book though was really good:

"People think love should be popping candy; always surprising and exciting and fresh to the mouth. Or like dark chocolate; mysterious and adult and bitter. Or the tough candy shell of a Minstrel, waiting to be cracked; the friable crumbling burst of a honeycombe; spiky as peanut brittle; as painful as a shard shard of toffee.

I feel like love is caramel. Sweet and fragrant; always welcome. It is the gentle golden colour of a settling harvest sun, the warmth of a squeezed embrace; the easy melting of two souls into one and a taste that lingers even when everything else has melted away. Once tasted, it is never forgotten." - Jenny Colgan

Fifty Shades of Grey - E L James

Now I have finally given in to the big book hype going on at the moment. I borrowed this off Hicks (soz name and shame!) after she read it on holiday. I've only read the first few chapters and so far its not too racy at all, although i've heard it gets a lot worse. I first heard about it from my mum and then I felt embarrassed going to buy it after she was gossiping about it, saying its meant to be really graphic, but I can't not join the hype, I want to know what all the fuss is about. I think she thought I was a bit mental for telling her I was reading it last night, awkward... Haha, i'll let you know how it goes!

So thats my little fiction update. Sorry, full on nerd post today. If any blog readers have any recommendations for my next read, give me a shout!

Lots of fictional love,

Becca xx

"...BACKA?"

Oops, its taken me a very long time to get back onto my bloggo, sorry guys!

I've been back for a few days and i've been trying to adjust back to horribly boring and damp life in England after an amazing week in Spain with 3 of my best friends. It's difficult to write about the whole week because all the days seemed to merge together, but we have loads of funny memories and great nights out and we took loads of photos. So i'll share just a selection of my photos and a few of the memories and leave the rest of what happened to the saying... "what happens in Benalmadena, stays in Benalmadena!"

Ice Bar - After a cheeky explore around the streets on night one to just get a little taster of what was out there, we came across Ice Bar which we'd read about so decided to go in and see what it was about. Turns out it was a really small room, with no one in there, absolutely freezing beyond belief and slippy surfaces you couldn't put your drink on. A hilarious experience though!

Night two we discovered the "24hr Square" a selection of bars and clubs that were mainly for English tourists with English music and cheap drinks... right up our street. We celebrated by wearing various hats, dancing on a bar, stealing tequila shots and meeting a stag party which became quite a feature of the week... (I still want to punch the man in the Hollister top, Kat J's face reflects this perfectly.) We also found the man in the red top in the first of these 3 pictures, lying in a heap, passed out in the next bar. This may have been his last conscious photo that night!

Benalmadena Marina - When we weren't on a night on the square we would go for a more chilled out one in the bars or a restaurant on the Marina. This area was so nice and some of the yachts and boats were incredible! It was like a mini Marbella and we were told it was where the rich Spanish would go to shop or eat and they had really fancy apartments surrounding the harbour.

Migel and the Spanish crowd - We met a crowd of Spanish men a few nights into the holiday who were staying at our hotel. Migel was the first who came over to try and speak English to us but then the rest joined us. Apparently they were policemen... hmm...! But we had a laugh, until they then insisted on playing knock door run or banging on our doors on their way back in at 7am... haha, we quickly had enough of them! (the one standing in this last picture looked like a bald Ricky Martin.)

Benalmadena beach and balcony views - A few scenic shots, as most have been night out pictures! We loved our few from the balcony and had some perfect days on the beach chilling on sunbeds (whilst constantly batting off "chicken lips" comments from looky looky men) and playing ball in the sea.

Euro Final - on the last night we watched the Spain vs Italy Euro final, which was amazing to be in Spain at the time. Of course they won 4-0 so it was such a good party atmosphere to be out in for our last night! We got into the spirit and bought some Spanish football tops off of a looky looky man and painted our faces with flags. Because it was the last night I fully went for it and met some quite interesting characters ...haha! But our fave from the night has to be the guy from Texas who was very friendly! We also managed to sneak a lot of pizza and chips from a closed take away and in return for this favour, i stole their hat. Fair deal i'd say... haha!

So thats a selection of the memories, I'm sure theres lots i've not mentioned! I cant believe how much of a difference it is being back home... today the news is predicting a months rainfall in one day... the worst areas affected being the Midlands, fantastic!

But in other news since I got back I got my uni results which I am very proud to announce that in 2 weeks time I will be graduating from the University of Leeds with a ||i degree classification (thats 2:1 in normo language!) I'm so pleased because I had convinced myself if may have been bad news and not what I really hoped to get, but all the worrying was for nothing and I feel so proud. I got a 70 awarded for my dissertation, which is a first class dissertation which I am completely over the moon with! I now can't wait for the actual graduation ceremony so that I can properly celebrate with my parents and all those 16 years of education in my life have ended so well!

Better get back to building an arc so that I can survive this weather,
Lots of post-spanish love,
Becca xx