Author: Samio

Things I’d Like To Do More Of In 2019

Create Art

When I was younger (I’m talking pre-teens), my hobby was always focused on or around art. It sounds somewhat vague but if you would have asked me what my hobby was when I was younger (aside from singing and writing *cough* masterpiece, stage plays for myself and my friends to perform), I would have answered with ‘art’…Creating art, doing arty things and basically taking a huge leaf out of Neil Buchanan’s book and making art, out of basically anything I could get my hands on, was my thing. And I mean, anything. I went as far as ‘collecting’ the insides of toilet rolls, which I’m pretty sure drove my Mother mad at the time. But I never knew when my next creative project would require such unique and versatile props, and let me tell you, the middle of a toilet roll came in handy for a number of my ever dynamic projects.

Moving into my teens I thankfully abandoned the hoarding of loo roll middles. Long gone were my days of creating ‘art’ out of random bits of cardboard, which had been stuck together with PVA glue and professionally finished off with a bullet proof coating of Papier-mâché…but my love for creating did not subside. If anything it grew and with it so did my passion for drawing and painting.

I’m going to boastfully toot my own horn here, and proclaim that I was very good at art growing up (if I do say so myself – but so did my art teacher *toot, toot*). I loved to consume art and I loved to create it. I even used to have a boy in high school pay me to do his art homework because he wasn’t very good at it and, well, I was…but we won’t get too much into that adolescent fraudulent activity in today’s post.

Basically much of my life growing up revolved around being arty and in particular drawing and painting. This lasted right up until my university years…and then, I stopped. I’m not entirely sure why. I guess it’s that age old thing (excuse the pun), of getting older and ‘no longer having time’.

Then into my 20’s my hobby and outlet for being creative evolved into my blog, which then evolved into my job…and then I wound up here, in my late 20’s and hobby-less.

I think it’s important to have hobbies and to be able to tune out to something that isn’t just work related all of the time. Whilst I love my work, I also love having something else outside of it, or else work can become too all consuming without me even realising it. So in a round up to this rather long winded summery, I basically want to get back to creating more tangible art. The stuff that’s non-work related, on paper, or canvas, and maybe even something I can hang on my wall if I fancy. We shall see.

Do More of My Other Hobby

Okay, I tell a lie. I do have hobbies, which I do still practice, I just don’t think I spend enough time on them as I should do.

Another one of my hobbies, which I wish to spend more time on, is acting. I actually got back into it for the first time in a loooonng time, this year. I did two short films this year and I have to admit, I was very rusty getting back into the swing of things. But, it didn’t matter, because ultimately I had fun, and that for me is what it’s all about.

I spoke about ‘things I maybe could have been but wasn’t’ in a previous post a few months back, and an actress, was one of the things I’d mentioned. Acting has always been a passion of mine, which I went as far as to study at university. And whilst I don’t pursue acting as a career, it’s still something I haven’t lost my love for. It’s almost a passion I forget I have until I exercise it and then my love for it comes flooding back. For me it’s such a great escape from the real world, when I’m learning a script, developing a character and then performing. I really do enjoy it and after having got back into it a bit this past year, it’s definitely something I want to do more of, purely for the enjoyment of it.

Drive

Now this next one is not a hobby, in fact, I’ll go as far as to say, it’s not something I particularly enjoy. I don’t hate driving but I wouldn’t say it’s something I’ve ever been excited to do and I certainly don’t have ‘fun’ doing it. Quick back story, for those of you who don’t know, I passed my driving test back in June . After having put off having driving lessons for years and years…and years, I finally decided to bite the bullet back in March and learn to drive. I surprised myself and actually flew through my lessons, and then surprised myself even more when I passed first time. It’s just another example that it’s never too late to learn something new, (even if it’s something you’re not that interested in). Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely glad I learnt to drive but I still don’t have that eagerness or excitement to get in a car and actually drive anywhere.

I’ve neglected my (no longer so) newly learnt skill and I’m still not confident enough to drive on the roads without someone in the passenger seat (preferably Damien – although I’m pretty sure I make him nervous).

The hard part is over. I passed the test. I have the little pink ID and all that, I just need to get off my butt, or actually get on my butt more, and off my feet, and get on the roads! So this year, I need to get back to practicing and building up my confidence driving. I know it will benefit me in the long run and then I won’t have to always rely on Damien to drive us when we need to do a big shop and I’ll be able to go homeware shopping whenever I like too. An excellent benefit.

Write

Well, here I am, writing. Technically, my self proclaimed mish-mash of a job title that is ‘blogger/creative’, implies that I spend the majority of my time writing and whilst in some ways I do (emails are the bane of my life), I actually don’t, in the way in which I’d like…

Blogs are making a comeback. There, I said it. How do I know? Because I said so! Okay, I don’t know, but even if they’re not, I know I want to write more, and my blog is the perfect place for me to do just that. I know this comes back to my job, but I also want to continue to write more of the personal, more diary style posts (like this one) too. Hence me writing right now, because if you hadn’t noticed, this little corner of the internet has been getting a bit more action than usual recently and I have to say, I’m pretty happy about it.

Along with my 100 other, partially abandoned creative related hobbies that need dusting off, writing (surprise, surprise) is also one of them. So to bring it back to my initial point, I’ll be doing more writing here and offline going forward this year.

Exercise

Now before this sounds like a cliche ‘new year, new me’ segment, it’s actually more a case of ‘new year, more of last year me’. Okay that sounded rubbish, but maybe you get my point. I’ve mentioned a few times on the blog about how Damien and I started PT sessions back in August, and if you follow me on Instagram and watch my Instastories then you’ll definitely know that we have since become avid bootcamp/gym goers over the past several months.

I’d go as far as to say it’s actually changed our lives, the whole, getting into fitness thing. It’s been a small, yet at the same time big life change and we’ve just added a new element into our routines that includes working out. Having the PT was just the push we needed to get us into the swing of things and I couldn’t recommend JAG fitness enough who have helped Damien and I so much. For someone who has a job which at times can have no real-routine when it comes to work, it’s actually nice having the routine of working out. For me it helps me mentally as much as it does physically, if not more. It serves as a great time out for me and when I start my morning with a workout I feel like my day is off to a good start.

Read

And if I didn’t already have enough things I wanted to do more of, here is one more. Read. I want to read more books and even more blogs too. I used to love doing a lot of both but in the past year or so I’ve done very little of either.

I feel myself wanting to revert back to my old ways and slow things down a little. It’s often hard, with social media and the online world, as everything is quick and in your face. As it’s a big part of my job, I often feel obliged to constantly been involved in the online world and it’s hard to digest everything, and if I’m honest I can find it quite overwhelming.

Switching off from social media over the festive period has made me realise how much I value my uninterrupted time spent offline too. Things like reading a good book can easily get pushed aside for mindless scrolling and in the end I rarely come away with anything of value. I wouldn’t even say I’m that bad for spending too much time on my phone but I still want to cut it down even more.

Sometimes it’s so easy to procrastinate when working alone from home, or at least, it is for me anyway. When ideas or thoughts just aren’t flowing the way in which I’d like them to, to enable me to work, it’s all too easy to pick up the phone and have a scroll. If anything it can leave my mind feeling more congested and out of sorts than it did to start with.

I’ve come to the realisation that I’m always going to be somewhat of a procrastinator, that’s just how I am…but rather than filling that inescapable procrastination time with nothingness, I may as well fill that time doing something that I actually enjoy and which fills me with something useful. And so, I’ve decided to fill those moments with reading. Be it a chapter from a book I’m currently reading or an interesting article or blog post. I at least want to fill my ‘idle time’ with something that gives me a little more back. So I think reading is a good replacement for that, plus it’s something I thoroughly enjoy when I get into it.

Yesterday I picked up my first book of the year – it’s one that my mother passed onto me a few months ago and I still hadn’t got around to reading. I finally started reading it and I couldn’t put it down. An hour later and a few chapters in and I was ready to get on with some work. The best thing is, unlike when I procrastinate on social media, I didn’t wind up feeling bad about the time wasted, because it didn’t feel like time wasted at all. That saying is true; ‘the time wasted doing something you love isn’t time wasted at all’. I must remember that one this year.

Samio x

January 3, 2019
A Brief Overview of My 2018

It’s 6:23am on Saturday morning.

I found myself waking up sometime before 6am and then couldn’t get back to sleep. I felt wide awake at the earliest time I have done since before the festive period began. I’m normally an early riser but over the Christmas holidays I’ve been sleeping in until 9am most days, not to mention the very hungover boxing day where I didn’t manage to wake up until midday.

Now my bodyclock seems to be springing back into action. Reverting to it’s pre-Christmas behavioural pattern…maybe due to my subconscious being more ready for the new year than I am. So I unsettled myself from my the comforts of our bed and a still slumbering Damien, and made my way downstairs. I’m now sat in my favourite spot on the sofa, feet up, wrapped in a blanket, with a piping hot brew by my side, laptop on my lap and hot water bottle to boot.

I love this time in the morning. I know, I’m the strange person who loves an early morning, but there’s something about being up whilst most people are still in bed, that I really enjoy. It’s mostly silent and the dim hum of a TV next door is the only faint sign of activity and a clue that I’m not the only person up at this time on a Saturday morning.

I can hear the irregular, yet relaxing drum of rain outside and I find myself feeling reflective.

I hadn’t planned on doing any sort of re-cap post this year. It’s not that I don’t want to look back, I mean, this really has been a great year, however, I didn’t feel I had time, nor was I particular bothered to try and squeeze it in. I have already done a private recap but that’s more of a reflection of my metacognition over the past year, as opposed to a chronological timeline of the things I’ve done.

As I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve been on full holiday mode over this festive period and so any form of blogging related activity wasn’t initially on the cards. But, isn’t it funny how, as soon as you take the pressure off, the exact thing you feel like doing is that thing that you’ve told yourself you don’t need to do.

Anyway, like I said, I’m awake at an abnormally early time for the festive period, or for a Saturday full stop I suppose, and feeling reflective, so whilst I have the time I might as well utilise it. So, without further a do and pro-longing this already very long introduction, whilst whizzing through my calendar that I have to hand, I’m going to share a brief (as possible) overview of what I’ve done this year, month by month. Here goes…

January

1. I started the new year hungover after a very fun and drunken New Year’s Eve gathering at our house.

2. The second week into January I took my second driving theory test (after having failed the first one in December) and this time, passed.

3. I went on a big walk around Dovestones one Sunday with one of my best friends, Charlotte. We declared that we were going to start a walking club and then never made it to month two.

4. I saw friends quite a lot (I had a number of coffee dates) and I went on 3 nights out (according to my diary), one of which consisted of bottomless brunch. It’s January, who am I? This year I’ll attempt to do better and consume less alcohol during the month of January.

5. I also went to a Vegan food festival, which has just reminded me about the most amazing falafel wrap I think I’ve ever had. It was by the Otto-men and it was next level!

6. Blogger related – I worked with CollectPlus, Cluse and Cath Kidston (which is a brand I’ve loved since I was a teen, so that’s a childhood dream fulfilled right there).

February

1. I saw friends, went to some launch parties, had two nights out and went for bottomless brunch again!? (This time for my Mother’s birthday – Honestly, I’m just as surprised as you are, this is the first time looking back at my diary in a year, and I have to say it’s very revealing).

2. Modelling related work – I shot a TV Commercial and did a shoot for Go Outdoors.

3. Blogger related work – I worked with Flybe (but unfortunately didn’t get to leave the country, however I did get to film a fun guide of my home town, Manchester for them). I also worked with French Connection, River Island and TK Maxx again.

4. Damien and I joined the gym after a long absence.

March

1. I started driving lessons.

2. Blogger related work – I worked with Hatch, Cult Beauty and worked with Polo Ralph Lauren andTed Baker for the first time.

3. I had gel nails done for the first time ever – sounds small but after years of nail varnish, it was life changing!

4. I spent time with Damien during a week he had off work and we also worked on the house.

5. I also had quite a few meetings and saw friends.

April

1. I shot a short film, which I acted in.

2. Blogger related work – I worked with Kahlúa, Monki and Ace & Tate, for which I filmed one of my favourite (and possibly most creative) videos this year.

3. I saw friends, went to events and had my first BBQ of the year.

May

1. I Took part in a panel with a group of actors, comedians and journalist as part of the Pilot Light film festival at HOME in Manchester. We did a reading of a Sex and The City script as all POC cast (I was Charlotte, to whom I gave a ridiculously deep Yorkshire accent, which luckily the audience found hilarious because I have no idea where it came from). The read through was followed by a panel discussion/Q&A talking about the lack of diversity in TV and film.

2. Blogger related work – I worked with Cath Kidston and Ted Baker again. I also worked with Reiss, House of Fraser, Gap and Tesco for the first time.

3. I did what would be my last ever modelling job before leaving my agencies (although at the time I didn’t know it).

4. Went for bottomless brunch again! (okay this is actually making me laugh now, I hadn’t realised how frequent my bottomless brunches were until now)

5. Damien and I hiked up Kinderscout.

June

I talk lots more about my most momentous month of the year in this post here. But to summarise:

1. It was my birthday!

2. I went to Wales for the weekend with 3 of my best friends to celebrate my birthday and we climbed Mount Snowdon (which I hadn’t done in years prior to that). It was followed by a night staying at my friend’s family cottage and drinking lots of prosecco in our PJs into the early hours. We had so much fun and it was a perfect way to spend my birthday.

3. I passed my practical driving test first time – hurrah!

4. I left my modelling agencies and officially became a full time blogger and creative.

5. Went to see the showing of the short film I’d been in earlier in the year.

6. I got box braids for the first time ever.

7. Worked with Oasis, Ted Baker & Kate Spade.

8. I went to Spain for a girl’s holiday.

9. Damien and I went to San Fransisco, followed by Portland for my friend’s wedding – for which I was maid of honour (also a first).

July

1. We returned home from our holiday to San Fran and Portland.

2. Saw friends and went to London with Onyi.

3. Worked with Adobe Lightroom, The Sports Edit, Links of London, Havaianas, CollectPlus and Ted Baker again.

4. I was a guest on Kat’s Put Yourself First Podcast.

August

1. Our friends came over to stay from Malaysia.

2. Damien and I began PT sessions.

3. Saw friends and went for Afternoon Tea for a friend’s birthday (makes a change from bottomless brunch).

4. I went to London and Liverpool for meetings and events.

5. Worked with Ted Baker and TK Maxx again.

September

1. Worked with Sweaty Betty, Abercrombie, Hush clothing, Aquis and Ted Baker.

2. I saw friends a lot, went out for friend’s and family’s birthdays. I also went for bottomless brunch!

3. I was a guest on Kat’s Put Yourself First Podcast again.

October

1. Went to see the play Future Bodies at HOME.

2. Went down to London for some events.

3. Worked with Ted Baker and CollectPlus, Ace & Tate and Cath Kidston again.

4. Went to Bruges for the weekend.

5. I went down south to The Wilderness Reserve on a blogger trip with Next.

6. Went to a wedding.

7. Saw friend’s and celebrated my friend L’Oreal’s birthday.

8. Went to Malaysia and Damien proposed!

November

1. Worked with Marriott Hotels and Ted Baker.

2. Went to watch the play The Maids at HOME.

3. Hosted a wine night at mine with the girls.

4. Spoke on a panel for the Calling All Curls event.

5. Went to Amsterdam on a girl’s trip for the weekend to celebrate two of the girl’s birthdays.

6. Went to a dinner event with Feel Unique.

December

1. Worked with French Connection and Boe gin.

2. Had a fun Christmas meal with the girls, where we exchanged secret santa gifts and followed it with a wine night in.

3. Ate approximately 12 mince pies within less than a week (true story).

4. Continued on working out but definitely eased off the routine over this past week of Christmas.

5. Had a very boozy and fun Christmas eve spent with My family.

6. Had a very boozy and fun Christmas day spent with Damien’s family.

7. Had a very hungover boxing day, spent at home, on the sofa. We watched 5 films within this period.

…and I think that is just about it, according to my calendar anyway. Of course I’ve only really skimmed the surface on this one and may have missed out some things that weren’t pre-planned, hence won’t have been written in my calender, but, all in all, it’s been a great way for me to re-cap and realise some of the fun things I’ve done and what I’ve achieved in 2018.

It’s been an exciting year but I must admit stressful at times. There have been emotional highs, and lows. But overall I feel so grateful for the opportunities, experiences and fun that 2018 has brought. I’ve worked so hard but also played hard too and got to make more amazing memories with lots of my favourite people. I’ve pushed myself creatively and created a lot of cool stuff that I’m really proud of.

I think 2018 will always be a special year for me looking back, as it’s been a momentous one for me personally, in more ways than one. There have been a lot of life changes, a lot of challenges overcome and I’ve learnt a lot about myself and the things I want to focus more on going forward.

It’s not completely over yet. We still have a few more days left until the year is out and I’m going to make the most of them. I should have one more post going out before the end of 2018, but if I don’t catch you before then, have a good end to the year and great new year’s eve whatever you get up to.

Samio x

December 30, 2018
Thoughts For The Future & Not Really Having A Clue

I wrote this post yesterday whilst in the bath and shot these self portraits today, whilst not in the bath…

I’m currently in the bathtub. I’m writing this from my phone, which is a precarious task when holding your life device (as I’ll aptly call it) only centimetres away from a deep pool of water, but what can I say, I’m a dare devil.
 
I’m wallowing. Wallowing in this deep pool of warm steamy water (ahhh relaxing), and wallowing in my thoughts. I’ve come to the realisation that I don’t actually know what I’m doing with my life. Now that’s a tad dramatic, I do know what I’m doing with my life (at the moment at least) and I have to say I’m very happy with how things are going with said life thus far, but, as today I’m feeling a tad dramatic, I’ll refer to these emotions in a dramatic way and make no apologies for it.
 
I think what I mean is that whilst everything is going in the general direction I had hoped this year, and if anything surpassed expectations (which I’m so flipping grateful for), I’m also now questioning the direction and what path I’d like it to take me on going forward. It sounds somewhat cryptic and I honestly don’t mean it to be, because there’s not actually that much to it. I just have a lot of thoughts and a lot of ideas and sometimes I struggle to process them all and determine which is of highest priority and importance in my ‘shit to get done in life’ list.

I think sometimes the things that are projected onto us from the outside can sometimes muddle up these ideas we have for ourselves and our own journeys. I’m very empathetic when it comes to people’s emotions around me, so maybe I’m susceptible to other people’s life projections too. If that makes any sense? I never find myself wanting what other people have and I’m always so grateful for what I have myself, but I feel I’m maybe still influenced by others actions more than I realise.
 
I can sometimes find myself heading in a direction and then I think to myself ‘wait, what, this isn’t where I’d initially intended on heading’. Sometimes this can be good and sometimes this can be bad.
 

I always tend to become very reflective around this time of year, as I’m sure maybe you do too. I look back and look forward. I think about my achievements, what’s brought me joy and what I’d like more or less of going into the new year.
 
It’s important to check in with ourselves. I think today I’m just having one of those deeply reflective days where I think to myself ‘what next’, and what do I really want without the ideas, thoughts or actions of others influencing me.
 
I think it has something to do with the new year being seen as a fresh chapter, as if we wake up on January 1st reborn and brand new. As we all know, it’s nothing like that…in fact, my January 1st will be the furthest from that as I’ll likely wake up hungover (I cannot deny it, I will be no fresh daisy/spring chicken). But overall the general consensus is that the new year is a time for goal setting and starting something new and so whether we abide by that or not, it can still tend to lead most of us to feel reflective of the time passed.
 
Now in my own head I’m just trying to prioritise what these ‘goals’ and next steps might be. There’s a lot I want to do but I’m not going to overwhelm myself with aiming for everything all at once – I can be a tad unrealistic like that.
 

I guess I’m sharing this for me but I’m also sharing this for you too. Whilst on the outside someone’s life can appear like they have it all figured out, I think deep down most of us are all just trying to figure out what works for ourselves, as we go along, or at least I know I am and I’m not afraid to admit that sometimes I feel I have no clue. Sometimes I feel like a super cool boss woman who has it all together but then others days I completely do not. Whilst I’m grateful for who I have, what I have, and what I’m doing in life I still have days where I’m like ‘what is going on’, but then, don’t we all?
 
If, like me, you’re feeling a bit unsure where to project your focus for the new year because you want to do all of the things (and let’s face it there aren’t enough hours in the days, so we’ve gotta break it down), or maybe you don’t actually want to do any of them…then maybe it’s time to ask yourself ‘what do I really want?’…and ‘I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want!’ (Sorry, inappropriate intersecting with a Spice Girls lyric there, I just could not resist)…but in all seriousness. Check in with yourself and ask yourself the question. Focus, prioritise and hone in on what’s really important to you, away from all the noise…I think that’s what I’m going to do.

So I’ll wallow in the bath with my thoughts a little longer, but that’s my rambling brain dump for the day. Hopefully you took something from it, even if it’s just the knowledge that I managed to bash out a blog post whilst laying in the bath and didn’t drop my phone – hurrah!
 
Samio x

#SamiosSelfPortraits

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December 21, 2018
Realising The Power In Saying No

I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago and whilst waiting to take some fitting images to go alongside it, I decided to pull out these images from a trip I took at the start of October to the Wilderness Reserve. So bare with me whilst I play catch up on the blog images but I liked these ones too much to not share. Onyi and I snapped these before dinner on the evening of our trip and they actually look rather festive, so quite fitting for now…anyway, in this post I just wanted to have a chat and share some recent thoughts and feelings…

I’ve been getting better at saying ‘no’ a lot more recently. In some aspects of my life I’ve often been quite good at saying no but then in other areas of life, I’ve been all too keen to be the yes man (or should I say woman).

For example, with my work I’ve always wanted it to be something I enjoy and so I have no qualms about saying no to things that maybe pay well but aren’t right for me. I understand this is a luxury to be able to say no to things but at the same time it’s something that I think is so important when working for yourself in the way that I do, where people are basically putting trust in your opinions.

I can be quite stubborn and if something I’m being asked to do for a job doesn’t feel right I’ll always dispute it, and if I’m being asked to work on something that isn’t the right fit, I’m never afraid to say no. I always know it will be worth the wait to work on something else that does fit right, which in turn I’ll enjoy a lot more and put my all into in return…On the other hand, when the types of things that are the right fit and I am keen to work on, come along all at once, I find myself all too easily saying ‘yes’ to everything. Before I know it I’m feeling as though I’ve bitten off a little more than I can chew trying to juggle it all as my own little one man band.

The same goes for social engagements. I’ve spoken before about how much I love spending time with friends and loved ones, so I am very social in that sense. If it’s an event with strangers then I’ll easily say no if I’m not in the right mood but if it’s a gathering with good friends I’ll mostly always say yes and make time for those important to me. Before I know it I have a full social calendar and if the work is busy too, then I’m back to back, burning the candle at both ends.

This is something that I find happens with me every now and then. It always seems to creep up on me without me even realising that I’ve taken on too much until it’s too late. When collaborations that are the right fit come along, it can be hard to say no, even if I am already really busy. Then when friends want to see me in between, in fear of being a let down, I continue to say ‘yes’. Before I know it I can find myself struggling to juggle it all, leaving little time for myself to well, just have to myself.

This happened again quite recently. I was saying ‘yes’ all too often and ‘no’ hardly enough.
I think my subconscious snapped before I actually did. As usually when I have too much on my plate I don’t actually realise that’s the problem and so my stress can manifest itself in other ways. I’ve never really been an anxious person in the past but these past months I felt anxiety creep up on me and finally I realised something had to give. So, after what I’ll just describe as a ‘stressful period’, I learnt to start saying ‘no’ more.

It sounds so simple. One little, two letter word, ‘No’. But each time I turned down meeting a friend for a coffee, or planning a much needed catch up, I’d feel so much guilt creeping up on me. I didn’t want to be a bad friend. And as someone who mostly works from home with a ‘flexible’ schedule I’d feel the need to over explain myself when I would say no to something. What I had to remind myself is that it’s actually okay to have time for yourself. Time to breathe. Time to not do work, not see friends, and be alone, and if you like, do nothing.

The same goes for work. Like I said, I’ve always been okay with saying no to the things that don’t feel right but to the things that do, well that one has always been a little trickier. Feeling overwhelmed and stressed to breaking point was (although awful to experience) the sign I needed to just slow things right down. It’s also made me re-assess and re-prioritise what things are really important to me in all aspects of my life.

Although saying no to certain things was hard at first, the more I got used to it, the more I felt myself regaining control and the less overwhelmed I felt. It’s not about saying no to everything but just saying no to more things. Allowing more time for myself is something I’ve realised is so important.

Saying no to work more and learning to become okay with it has been quite a freeing experience. Sometimes I forget that I’m self employed and it’s only myself cracking my own whip. I can choose to take on as much or as little work as I like. You have to define your own success/balance/happiness. I’ve realised I can’t do all of the things, all of the time and whilst being what you’d maybe describe as a driven extrovert, I still need time to be alone, recharge, and well, rest.

Saying yes to things is so celebrated but hardly anyone talks about what happens when you say yes too much. I’m adventurous, I get FOMO too easily, I love my work and I’m very social, so being a yes person comes naturally to me, but I tend to go too much in one direction and not enough in the other. I found myself turning up too much for everything and everyone else and not enough for myself. But alone time/doing nothing time is very important and I’ve realised that actually I don’t thrive off of being non-stop, back to back busy.

These past few weeks I’ve felt myself re-balancing. I feel a lot calmer. I’ve seen friends but then booked out time for myself too. I’ve said yes to work that I’ve been excited about but then turned down work and other opportunities that I know I don’t have time for. I’ve regained the power in saying no and I’m feeling a lot more balanced and happier for it.

Samio x

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December 19, 2018
4 Festive Boë Violet Gin Cocktail Recipes

This post is sponsored by Boë Gin

I love this time of year; The festivities, the food, the drink, THE COCKTAILS! I say it as though the festive period is the only time I get into cocktail making and drinking, it certainly is not, however it does make a great excuse to do more of it, and so I’m all for it.

As friends and family know all too well, Damien and I love playing host over the festive period. Why venture out in the cold when you can have friends over and stay in and get merry instead. With Christmas fast approaching, we’re already planning food and drink for some of our festive gatherings over the coming weeks, including my all time favourite, New Year’s Eve!

If there’s one thing I love around Christmas time, it’s bringing the party to our home. I love gin and I love cocktails, so I’m really excited to be working with Boë gin on this post, and when they got in touch I instantly knew that I wanted to get my gin loving creative head on and create some fun, festive cocktails to share here on my blog…I can’t take all the credit though, Damien and I both took the time planning (and drinking) these cocktails, so let’s just say that they have been tried and tested. In the process we’ve come up with something to suit each of our tastes and hopefully yours too!

Violet Martini

We thought we’d start with a twist on an old classic, the twist being fabulous flavour from the Boë violet gin of course. Damien likes the more bitter and stronger cocktails and so a martini is right up his street. Whilst the martini making method remains the same as the classic for this cocktail, the Boë violet gin makes for a fun and modern twist. As someone who tends to favour the much sweeter cocktails, even I found myself liking this one, as you can really taste the distinct violet gin coming through.

What you’ll need

• Boë Violet Gin – 50ml

• Vermouth – 15 ml

• Blueberries to garnish

The Method

1. pour the Boë violet gin and vermouth into a mixing glass with ice and stir until cold

2. Strain into a chilled martini glass

3. Garnish with blueberries and serve

Scottish 75

If there’s one drink I love nearly as much as gin, it’s prossecco, so I thought, why not combine the two. This cocktail is very much inspired by the classic, French 75. The original cocktail dates back to World War 1 and was first created in Paris (believe it or not), originally using champagne and gin. I thought a fun twist on this would be to use prosseco and Boë violet gin, bringing it right up to date with modern times. Any ‘why Scottish 75?’, I hear you say! Well, quite simply, Boë gin is made in Scotland and so I thought the name was rather fitting…and I have to say I think I’m on to a winner with this one because it is soooo good! Maybe I’m bias but just try it for yourself and see!

What you’ll need

• Boë violet Gin – 50ml

• Prosecco – 150ml

• Lemon Juice – 1 tsp

• Sugar Syrup – 1 tsp

• Lemon Peel and Morello Cherry to garnish

The Method

1. Pour the Boë violet gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup into a cocktail shaker with ice.

2. Shake well until shaker becomes frosty and then strain into a prosecco glass.

3. Top up with prosecco and then gently stir

4. Add lemon zest and morello cherry to garnish

Violet, Orange & Cinnamon Punch

I wanted to create a cocktail that for me really encapsulated the essence of Christmas, as cheesy as that may sound. I love the flavours in mulled drinks around this time of year but I actually tend to favour cold cocktails. I guess this makes this one more of a punch as it’s quite fruity but with a nice hint of cinnamon. Damien and I both really enjoyed this one and Damien in particular named this one as his favourite. I know we’ll be making these again in the very near future that’s for sure.

What you’ll need

• Boë Violet Gin – 50ml

• Tripple Sec – 50ml

• Cranberry Juice – 75ml

• Orange Juice – 75ml

• Cinnamon Stick

• Orange Peel and Cinnamon Powder to garnish

The Method

1. Pour the Boë Violet Gin, triple sec, cranberry juice and orange juice into a cocktail shaker

2. Shake well until shaker becomes frosty

3. Pour into a tumbler glass over ice

4 Add orange peel, a cinnamon stick and sprinkle with cinnamon to garnish

Candy Cane

I really had fun coming up with this one. I wanted to create something that was sweet, festive and fun. Whilst I like my good old classics, I can occasionally be a sucker for a novelty cocktail when I’m out. The best thing about making your own novelty cocktail at home is that you don’t have to pay the fancy cocktail price tag and you can have fun making them for all your friends too. This is the perfect, post Christmas dinner cocktail to impress your family with. I wanted this one to taste like sweets and so I’ve gone for a super sweet concoction and I think it turned out pretty well (if I do say so myself), it actually tastes like a delicious liquified sweety with novelty candy decor to boot.

What you’ll need

• Boë Violet Gin – 50ml

• Raspberry Liquor – 15 ml

• Lemon Juice – 1 tsp

• Suger Syrup – 1 tsp

• Lemonade – 150ml

• Candy Floss and Candy Canes to garnish

The Method

1. Pour the Boë Violet Gin, raspberry liquor, lemon juice and sugar syrup into a cocktail shaker with ice

2. Shake well until shaker becomes frosty

3. Once cold, strain into a large gin glass over ice

4. Top up with lemonade

5. Add candy floss and candy canes to garnish

So there we have it, four festive and fun cocktail recipes, brought to you by yours truly, using the deliciously wonderful Boë Violet Gin, with help from my wonderful assistant and hand model, Damien. Right, after all this talk of cocktails I’m off to make myself a Scottish 75, what will you be having?

Samio x

December 14, 2018
Penang Travel Diary

This is part two of my Malaysia travel diary. You can find part one from our time in Kuala Lumpur, here.

We took the four hour drive from Kuala Lumpur to Penang on Friday afternoon. Most people make the journey by plane which only takes an hour, but what can I say, we’re wild. Anyway, our friends who live in Kuala Lumpur had visited multiple times before and so they knew exactly where to take us, and so on the Friday night after arriving, we headed to Red Garden Food Paradise. It’s basically like a foodcourt frequented by the locals, selling cheap beer, every type of food you can imagine and cheesy live entertainment. I really enjoyed it. As like with the rest of Penang, the vibe there was super chilled. That’s what I enjoyed most about our little weekend in Penang, how incredibly relaxed it was.

I took a backpack as luggage for the weekend and basically ended up living in the same denim short and flip flops combination, with a change of top for the two and a half days we were there. Penang felt like the place where locals go on holiday. It was no frills and completely relaxed and that’s what I loved about it. We just got to have a fun weekend, hanging out with our friends, eating and drinking and chilling out.

Samio x

China House – I loved this quirky little spot. We went for brunch and Damien and I both went for the vegetarian nachos.

Sixth Sense – This clothing store was one of our favourite finds whilst wondering around the streets of Penang. There are actually two stores in Penang and over the two days we went into both, shopping for a lot longer than we’d expected whilst we left the guys outside.

Bora Bora Beach Bar – We headed here on the Saturday for lunch and then ended up staying in this very spot all evening.

December 13, 2018
Kuala Lumpur Travel Diary

I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to get round to putting together this blog post. It’s crazy how it’s already nearly been six weeks since we returned home from our holiday in Malaysia. I shared a little bit about it in a previous post where I talked about ‘The Proposal Story’. If you haven’t read that one yet, you may want to have a little re-cap. You can go and check that one out here if you fancy.

Our trip to Malaysia was purely a holiday and the first completely relaxed, work free vacation that Damien and I have had together in quite some time. I think part of the reason for me being so delayed in putting together this post is because for me it was quite a personal trip. I remember even after getting engaged I didn’t want to immediately announce it on social media because I was just enjoying being in the moment and having those days during and after just for us. I guess the same goes for the rest of the trip, it was nice to take time just for us, to relax and re-charge stress free with no obligation to share anything online. We got to spend quality time catching up with our friends who live over there and we had so much amazing food (seriously, I would go back to Malaysia just for the amount of good food they have on offer), we could have easily stayed for longer.

I wanted to share a bit of a photo diary from our trip. I’m going to be splitting this post into two parts as we also spent a weekend in Penang in the middle of our trip, but that post will be up not too long after this one. Anyway, here’s some from our time in Kuala Lumpur, one of my favourite holiday’s yet.

Samio x

I really should have known when walking into this hotel that Damien had something special planned. We stayed at the Banyan Tree in Kuala Lumpur and the views from the room and the bathroom were amazing.

Batu Caves – The reality is that although a stunning temple monument, Batu Caves is over-run with tourists. It’s to be expected but what’s not to be expected and quite upsetting to see, is the amount of litter that is left. We saw everything from monkeys chewing on bottle caps to plastic bags. When we saw a group of people gathered around to take pictures of a woman who had let lots of pigeons land on her, we knew it was time to leave.

Our friends took us to a super laid back, no thrills curry house called Kanna Curry House Bandar Menjalara. The food was served on sheets of banana leaf style paper and dished out in front of you and it all tasted amazing!

I didn’t take pictures of half of the amazing dishes we had whilst in Malaysia (mainly because I was tucking into them quicker than you can say ‘bon appétit’), but oh my was the food good. In fact I don’t think we had one bad or even mediocre dish in the whole time that we were there. One thing I will say though, is service in Malaysia is slooooowww. The concept of fast food does not exist and you’ll be lucky if your meal comes out at the same time as everyone else’s on your table, but once you get used to that, you’ll just be happy that you get to constantly tuck into tasty meals.

The night markets.

Chocha Foodstore – It’s a hard one to call but I think this may have been my favourite place that we ate whilst in Kuala Lumpur. Okay, I’m torn, it’s a toss up between here and Kanna Curry House Bandar Menjalara but it’s a close call. Loved the food at both but Chocha Foodstore wins on aesthetic and the curry house wins on affordability/great value for money.

We stayed at our friend’s apartment for the rest of our time whilst in Kuala Lumpur. Their pool area was amazing and we definitely made the most of it.

December 12, 2018
Partywear Investments – 3 Festive Looks

This content has been produced for advertising purposes in collaboration with French Connection

When transitioning into the festive season, I often tend to find my overall style moving more towards a dressier vibe. I find myself re-kindling my love for black and whilst this may seem an obvious and somewhat safe choice of ‘colour’ for the winter season, I see it as the perfect way to play around with laying whilst styling together a mixture of different textures at the same time.

This is my favourite season to dress for, and I play dress up with my outfits on an almost daily basis. I’m quite often going from daytime meetings, straight to evening events and so I love putting together looks that can easily take me from day to night too.

French Connection has such a strong collection of beautifully designed partywear pieces and I feel they have really ticked all the boxes this season with a diverse and standout selection. I wanted to put together some partywear looks to share with you that really highlighted this, and showcased the rage of their new collection, whilst still being very much me. Like I said, I really do love playing dress up over the festive season. For me it’s all about having fun, experimenting and playing with textures, and oh my does French Connection have some gorgeous textures in this collection. From faux fur, to sequins, this really is a winter collection that has it all…

With that in mind, the Northern Quarter made the perfect backdrop to shoot the pieces from this collection, as French Connection as a brand has a strong creative background, with great craftsmanship and quality going into each of their designs. It ties in perfectly with the area of the Northern Quarter, as so many creative businesses have previously inhabited the space. It has also become a hub for the fashion conscious, who not only want to look good but invest in quality when it comes to their garments too.

Something A Little Different

When heading out for festivities during winter, there’s sometimes that fine line between wanting to get your glad rags on in order to be the belle of the ball, and wanting nothing more than to head out wearing the cosiest piece of knitwear that you can find in your wardrobe…apparently French Connection have decided you can do both this season, and I’ll tell you what, I’m all for it!

Now I’m no stranger to French Connection’s knitwear, I practically lived in one of their jumper’s last winter and let me tell you, they really do know how to make a cosy pullover. Something I’ve noticed that French Connection does very well time and time again, is a standout knitwear piece. I love the attention to detail that’s put into designing these types of items, from wonderfully embellished sleeves, to in this case, a decadent mesh skirt. The mesh panel is meant to be floor length, however as I’m 5’9, this comes up slightly shorter on me but I still love the way it looks, and it creates such a wonderful silhouette when given movement.

I decided to do a little bit of layering with this look, so I went for these velvet skinny jeans underneath. I feel the two pieces complement each other very well and I love the mixture of textures with the mesh panel and satin hemline of the jumper flowing over the velvet trousers. Not only do the two pieces combined look great, but of course it provides you with another layer of warmth too, which is always an added bonus at this time of year.

I felt a heeled boot finished off this look perfectly. I love this pair as they provide just enough height to elevate an outfit, yet they are still practical and comfortable enough to walk in. They are certainly the type of boots that you can wear from day to night with ease.
For the bag I thought a pop of metallic would work really well. This structured faux croc silver bag is one of those ultimate partywear bags that will go with a multitude of outfits. I prove this point as you’ll see it also works perfectly with the next two looks…

Velvet Jeans | Knit Dress | Silver Bag

Something Effortlessly Simple

This next outfit is one of those ones that I can easily see myself wearing from day to night when I have no time to go home and change in between, yet I still want to look effortlessly glam.

I was first drawn towards this wrap jacket, with it’s gorgeous jacquard print. Each festive season, I always find myself fitting some form of tailoring into my partywear collection. I feel a good blazer/jacket can instantly dress up any look and give it more of an evening vibe. I love the quality and fit of this French Connection piece, with its robust fabric and chic yet effortless wrap design, it’s one of those pieces that you could easily have in your wardrobe for years and pull out winter after winter.

For this outfit I made use of the velvet skinny jeans once again.They are such a comfortable pair of trousers and yet the fact that they are velvet instantly makes them look party worthy. Again, I teamed these with the boots as I feel the two work perfectly together and also do wonders at elongating the legs.

The buttoned-up shirt gives the look a slight masculine edge, whilst this gorgeous faux fur cuffed cardigan adds the finishing touch. I’m a little bit in love with this cardigan and whilst again it’s another cosy piece, it also looks effortlessly luxurious and unashamedly glamorous too!

Velvet Jeans | Shirt |
Wrap Jacket | Faux Fur Cuff Cardigan | Silver Bag

Something To Sparkle

No festive, partywear look book would be complete without at least one standout glitzy piece. French Connection actually have more than a few to catch your eye this season, but the one in particular that took my fancy was this beautifully embellished sequin number. This dress is the showstopper, the one to dance the night away in and likely still find yourself wearing it the morning after. It’s the ultimate party dress and one that will make you feel a million dollars (or pounds).

Again this is another beautifully designed piece with a modern take on the classic sequin party dress. It’s a dress that needs little to no accessorising, and so I’ve simply let the dress do all the talking with this look by pairing it with black heels and the (I told you so!) versatile silver party bag.

Sequin Dress | Silver Bag

So there we have it, a selection of looks for the party season, with something for every vibe and occasion. Now I just can’t wait to begin the festivities!

FC Link

December 3, 2018
A Big Little Life Update – The Proposal Story

As we stepped out of the doors of Kuala Lumpur Airport, I felt the warm, sticky heat hit me and I knew I had finally arrived on our long awaited holiday.

I was somewhat inappropriately dressed for the weather. Having just stepped off the second flight in what had been around a 16 hour journey in total, I wore sweat pants and a cosy jumper, which felt less cosy and more suffocating in the morning heat.

We took an hour long taxi ride to the centre of Kuala Lumpur, where we finally arrived at our hotel for the night.

As we stepped into the foyer of our hotel and took the lift up to the reception, I immediately felt underdressed. I knew Damien had booked us into a nice hotel for the night but this place was quite a bit fancier than I had expected.

We had an early check in into our room (thank goodness!) and as we stepped inside I was instantly wowed by the views, not only from our room but also from the bathroom, as the bathtub was host to the most incredible views of the city.

I was impressed, to say the least…and yet I was still completely oblivious of what was yet to come. You see, we’d planned our trip to Malaysia to go and stay with Damien’s best friend who lives out there. It had initially been my idea for us to get a hotel one night to stay in the city, and so when Damien said he’d gone ahead and booked us somewhere, I had no suspicions whatsoever.

Damien had told me he’d booked us in at the restaurant on the top floor for dinner that evening, and I was more than happy to spend the night at the hotel as I wanted to make the most of it.

At dinner Damien mentioned wanting to go outside to take photos from the roof terrace after we’d eaten. Then after we’d finished our meal he brought up wanting to go outside again. I was nursing a large glass of red wine at this point and didn’t quite understand why he was being so persistent. I could see he was eager to go outside and supposedly get a shot of the view, so whilst I was slowly enjoying my wine, I suggested he go on without me. He was insistent that I go outside with him and he then said he wanted me to come out with him so that I could take a photo of him in front of the view. This was unusual for Damien as he never asks for photos but I didn’t think much of it (as the views were amazing), and so I gulped down the last of my wine and we headed outside onto the roof terrace.

The views of the city were even more incredible at night. We were completely alone outside and so it was nice to just take in the views together. I finally took that picture of Damien that he’d insisted we come outside for and then he offered to take a photo of me. We switched positions and as Damien began to take some photos of me he got down very low and at this point I was thinking ‘why is he taking a picture at such a ridiculously low angle when he’s meant to be getting the view in the background’. In that moment he put down the camera and produced a little box from his pocket, which he then opened and presented to me as he said the words ‘will you marry me’…

I was completely taken by surprise. And of course, my answer was yes. I think for the next hour or so I was in a daze. I kept looking down at the ring and couldn’t quite believe we had just got engaged. I’d never even looked at engagement rings before so it felt strange to now be wearing one. It couldn’t be more perfect though and I honestly mean it. Apparently he’d been planning it for months and I’d been completely unaware. I won’t go into every little detail but he had the ring custom made and every little thought that went into it made it perfect.

And now we’re engaged. It’s now one whole month since that magical night in Malaysia and I’m still getting my head around whether it’s best to say fiancé, boyfriend or partner. I’ve never been someone who’s longed for their wedding day or been eager to get a ring on their finger. I’d just always thought since meeting Damien that we’d be together and that was it, and that is how it’s been, thus far. Being with someone who’s company you never tire of and you have such fun with means the time really does fly. Some may say it’s long overdue but I say it’s worth the wait as it’s just another chapter in our ever growing story and I couldn’t be happier.

Samio x

November 22, 2018
Bruges Travel Diary

13.10.18

I’m writing this from bed on a very lazy Saturday afternoon/evening. I’m currently in Bruges and I’ve just awoken from a long nap. I don’t remember the last time I napped during the day but I’m currently treating this little weekend away as a holiday in more ways than one.

Yesterday we arrived in Bruges at around 3pm, after a very long journey from Manchester. We took a taxi, a plane, a coach and two trains, all in the aid to get here. We hadn’t quite anticipated the length of the travel but in the end, when stepping off the train in Brugge (as the locals call it), we wondered along the quaint cobbled streets and we realised it had all been worth it.

This is my first time in the city, and my second visit to Belgium after having visited Ypres a few years ago. I knew some of what to expect and had already presumed there would be a great amount of beer and waffle consumption, but it seems we have all already somewhat over indulged. By this afternoon, after returning to the Airbnb for the afternoon (the place where we are staying is perfect by the way), we found ourselves each retreating to the bedrooms, or the sofa, and for me, I wound up in bed having a nap, which has led me here.

This evening we hope to go out and explore more of the local bars and pubs, as our Airbnb host already recommended a couple to us when greeting us on our arrival yesterday.

So far, we’ve already had some great food at a local restaurant, which was recommended to us by our AirBnb host. We went to a local place called De Verloren Hoek, where I went for for the skate, which was served with salad and mash potatoes and oh my was it good.

Then today we wound up in another great little spot for called Sanseveria. The speciality there is bagels and if you’re a fan then I’d definitely recommend this place.

14.10.18 – 12:40

We’re currently on the train from Bruges heading to Belgium. Our flight home isn’t until the evening but as the journey back it quite long, we decided to split it up a little by leaving Bruges early to spend the afternoon in Brussels before heading home.

I’ve really enjoyed our little weekend away in Bruges though. Whilst we were only there for a short time, it’s also felt long, but in a good way.

The weather has been amazing this weekend, which has been lucky, as its October but its felt more like the middle of summer, with highs of 24 degrees. Yesterday we sat out in the sunshine sampling beer and ate alfresco at one of the oldest pubs in Bruges during the evening (it had been there since 1515).

I think one of the things I’ve been pleasantly surprised with on this trip has been the food. It’s not that I expected anything bad but let’s just say on my last visit to Belgium I purely survived on a diet of French fries and waffles. Whilst neither are to be sniffed at (I mean, who doesn’t love waffles and fries) I’m glad that we’ve also been able to enjoy a verity if of tasty food, including the onion soup and cheese on toast that we had at the pub last night – it was delicious.

Whilst we have overindulged in rich foods, I’ve enjoyed everything we’ve sampled during being in Bruges, including the beer, which is a surprise to say I’m not much of a beer drinker. I’m glad though that I’ve been able to get my favourite cherry beer on tap (which is the norm for here) and something I wish they did back home – although it’s probably for the best that they don’t, as I can drink that stuff like it’s juice.

Right now I’m looking forward to getting off this train and stretching my legs. Let’s just say I’m glad that we’ve decided to split up the journey and I’m looking forward to seeing a bit of Brussels too.

20:30

It’s much later on now and we’re currently sat in the airport waiting for our plan to arrive. I feel full to brim and we’re all so, so tired but we had a great time visiting Bruges. It was also nice to stop off in Brussels earlier for lunch, but after a lot of travelling and waiting around, I think now it’s got to the point where we’re now all just ready for our own beds. I forget how tiring weekend city breaks away can be, especially when lots of travelling is involved like with this one. However I don’t regret taking the trip as it was a delight visiting Bruges and it’s somewhere I’m sure I’ll be visiting again in the future. Bye for now.

Samio x

October 22, 2018