THE WEEK #6 | "HALLELUJAH THE SUN" & THE PARKLIFE OBSESSION

Lots and lots and LOTS of snaps this week. So grab a drink and enjoy.

THURSDAY was our first proper sunny day in ages, luckily myself, Tanya and Tash had planned to hang out. Of course, our day started in TOPSHOP, where I nabbed the khaki dress above which came in handy when I started to overheat in my dungarees...resulting in me doing a lil switch over in the middle of the park. Grabbing some lunch, we headed to the local park and spent the majority of the day lazing about in the sun, talking and cultivating our new alter ego's, Tha Wizard, Tuff and Peter Pan [thanks to the Wu-Tang name generator].

I love public parks, it's a great place to just chill and people watch which is exactly what you need sometimes. I honestly had the best time with Tash and Tan, it's so nice to hang out with people that make you belly-laugh and make you feel totally comfortable to be yourself.

THURSDAY EVENING resulted in an extremely spontaneous trip to a playground. Yeah, I'm nearly 20 I promise. Hanging out with Daisy [left] and Bam [right]. We look exhausted in the snap above but it was a great way to end the day.

SATURDAY was another ridiculously sunny day, so of course I headed back to the park. There just so happened to be a medieval faire on but I was more interested in catching a tan, snoozing in the sun and reading my book. Afterwards I headed to this quirky, spooky little magic store and nabbed myself the "relaxed Buddha" key-ring [the lady in the store said that's what it's called, please don't give me shit if it's wrong - but I'm always curious for more info on it] and this ace emerald stone necklace.

SATURDAY NIGHT involved Bam, Daisy and I heading to our local pub/bar type thang and having a couple of drinks. I am definitely an enormous advocate of pubs and bars over clubs [call me a granny if you will], of course the night wasn't without drama...but then when is it ever?

Let me know if you enjoy more photos/less writing or vis-versa. Today I fell asleep in the sun and woke up extremely tan, thanks Dad for the foreign skin/absorb the sun and go brown genes. Then, Dadda Lenihan and I whacked out the BBQ, beer and listened to DIIV. 

Keep your eyes pealed to my blog this week, there are some exciting posts dropping. I hope you've all had an ace week/weekend. 

THE WEEK #5 | CHATTED UP IN NOTTING HILL + RED WINE & SOUTHBANK

THE WEEK is back. It's getting hectic in my life again and that means this series gets a little more interesting. 

THE WEEK started with a desperate attempt to rectify my hair. I know, "why didn't you just got to BLEACH LONDON or the hairdressers to start with?"...well, it's me and I never do things the easy way. We're getting there. Even if it's taking a heck of a lot more ££ and time than I'm willing to part with.

Then, on TUESDAY Maddy [aka the ying to my yang, the bizzle to my nizzle] came home from Uni, which consisted of us trying really hard to get a nice snap together [which is impossible].

On WEDNESDAY I was back in Epping, which is becoming a regular occurrence and it happened to be a real beautiful day. Thanks to a certain person, I've kind of fallen in love with this little corner of the world. 

FRIDAY began with a little strangely. I came out of the tube at Notting Hill and some weird old guy, dressed in a white tunic asked if I had a YouTube channel because I could be more popular than Beyonce and J-Lo [at this point I was waiting for camera's to appear and it be a prank] then he continued to say that I should be in a L'Oreal advert because I was so beautiful and my hair [which is an absolute disaster, so that chat up line didn't even remotely work] *then he did a weird hair flick with imaginary hair* and that when I'm rich I should fire my boss....thanks for the advice mate, it makes 100% sense. Then he asked if I wanted to go for coffee/give him my number. One day, one day I'll attract normal humans. 

After that wonderful experience, I met Maddy and we went to my favourite charity shop on the Globe and I nabbed an absolute dream item [I'll reveal all soon]. Hopping back on the tube we hit up Oxford Street and I spent £££ in TOPMAN and got ridiculously stressed over grown men getting in my way when I'm trying to buy their clothes. 

After dinner, we headed to a little garden hidden behind Southbank with a bottle of wine. It was supposed to be a really classy, Tumblr thing, but of course it ended up with us drinking red wine out of plastic cups and getting a little worse for wear. FRIDAY finished at sunset with me and Maddy extremely drunk on the Millennium bridge staring at the sunset and getting a little overwhelmed over just how beautiful our city is. I mean look HERE. Then, after parting ways at St Pauls, Maddy heading back West to Uni and me back East, home - I had to tackle London Liv > Shoreditch extremely drunk which was an absolutely mission. Luckily, I made it. 

THE WEEK #4 | A ROUGH START BUT IT GOT BETTER

There's no fancy snaps today guys, it's just a stream of conciousness, the usual layout will be back next week. 

I've not been myself for a while. This happens sometimes. I just go down, really quick, out of nowhere. Last week the sun was shining and I was so damn happy but within about 24 hours I just felt the depression creeping back. I suppose in a way, I'm lucky it's not consistent but when it hits, it hits hard. There have been things going on lately in my private life that have just been getting me down as well as that, I've become really unhappy with my figure after all the hard work I put in at the end of last year I've just gotten lazy [but then it's not as if mind state has been promoting motivation] and Monday it just hit me. I just couldn't be bothered anymore, so I went to bed at like 6PM and cried myself to sleep. How lame. Two things I never ever do are cry and/or go to bed that early, I'm a 2AM kind of girl. I think it did me the world of good as it kind of got it all out, whatever 'it' was, but at the same time it's exhausting getting to that point and picking yourself back up all over again. This happens to me every few months. Again, as I've said in posts before I am in no way trying to get your sympathy 'cause at the end of the day, we've all got shit going on - but I want you guys to get to know me and all the 'real life' stuff in these #TheWeek posts. 

Anyway, after a rough start to the week, I took a 2 day break from social media and believe me that did the world of good. When I'm down, I always go looking for stuff that almost reaffirms why I'm sad and on the internet - it's not hard. You guys know I've started my new job and I was there all day on Tuesday, I got to work with the loveliest lady, Alex, who's just as fashion-mad [if not more so] than me and we just had a really productive day. Just taking that breather and stepping away from the web did the world of good, even if it was for 36 hours. 

On Wednesday, I met one of my closest and oldest friends Maddy in Notting Hill and we just spent the day hanging out. You can see some snaps HERE if you fancy. After a little explore around the Notting Hill Portobello area, we headed up to Regent's Park and one of my favourite lil corners of London, Regent's Canal [insta picture: HERE]. I'm in the midst of writing up a post with some snaps of the area, so I'll tweet or instagram the link when it's up [both: @TheLenihanLook ]. I then headed back to Shoreditch to hang out with the boys at their place.

 I've got a couple of questions on Tumblr as to why I don't really ever mention or instagram about my hangs in Shoreditch or the boys. The reason is, it's my happy place, it's where I go to escape shit and it's just a corner of my life I want to keep private, plus it's not their world. Sometimes you've just gotta have a place you can go that is your own, away from everything. 

I've come out of it quite quickly, which if you suffer from depression is always a "am I going to go back down twice as hard" but I'm feeling so productive and motivated at the moment, which I'm trying to make the most of. I'm feeling really refreshed and I've got some cool ideas I'm working on for TheLenihanLook and now I've got my head back in the game I'm hoping to upload a lot more. I'm also working on something really special at the moment but I'm keeping it top secret [how annoying of me] but I cannot wait to start sharing little snippets. 

I'm not really sure what this post was but sometimes it's nice to just ramble away, even if no one reads this, it's done me some good to reflect on the week. 

Here's to a much better 7 days. 

How's your week been?

Oh and this time next Sunday I'll be in Kingston with just an hour until I see All Time Low at an acoustic gig - yes, that is the sound of me exploding internally with excitement. 

THE WEEK #3 | "USE MY PHONE CAUSE I GOT THE MONEY...NO WAIT MEMORY"

Right; let's start by saying I know I've been averaging a post per week lately but there's been a lot going on to get my head around mentally & I will fill you all in as soon as I get it straight. BUT good news [whether you care or not] is that over the next week, there's going to be a heck of a lot of posts coming your way. 

SO *plug* if you wanna keep up, gimme a lil follow over on Bloglovin HERE.  

ANYWAY, The Week is back and this week, I actually had a life.

[there's an explanation to the 1st row/on the right photo - read bellow - it's a piss take, I'd never do that stance seriously, I'm no Madonna]

 

1] A little #TBT post to the night of my 19th bday. It was like 2am or something stupid when I took this photo. Don't get me wrong, London is insane regardless of the time of the day but there's something about it at night that I love. Also, the moon looks so rad in this shot. 

2] *TAKING THE PISS* We were on our way home from a night out and I thought the lighting was really cool, so I said to Amber to take a picture and it came out as "use my phone cause I got the money" but I meant "because I have memory and you don't"...so long story short this pose is the "I GOT THE MONEY" pose. Cool story. 

3] On the last train home as per, but this wasn't your usual shitty city train - it was like the Hogwart's Express ladies and gentlemen. I also found the whole "quiet carriage" extremely difficult.

4] Yes, that's the same James we watched preform at a different venue just a couple of weeks ago *groupies r us* but he's a real good pal of mine and he's also insanely talented. 

5] I am going to bang on and on and on about this extremely pose-y selfie because this was a one-take-wonder lads. Usually selfies take me a good 30-40 attempts finishing in "I'll settle for that one" but BAM I was obviously in tune with Kate Moss that morning.

6] On Monday, my mate Kirsty and I took our pups for a little puppy-play-date. It's coming up to three years since I rescued my wolf-pup [Monty aka the German Shepherd] and it's whizzed by. What a legend. 

7] Let's start by saying I HATE seeing animals in cages. It really doesn't sit well with me but I found myself bored and in a pet shop and made friends with this parrot called Wally. He didn't like me but I loved him...ironically the story of my life.

8] Probably THE funniest situation of the week. I love charity shops, you can get books for like 10p in em, so I was in one, with my chewy drumstick and I went into this little cupboard decked out with books. ONLY TO FIND SOME OLD PEOPLE GETTIN' FREAKY. So I took a selfie. Duh. 

Hope you guys enjoyed this #TheWeek edition.

Keep tuned for LFW posts to come and of course more OOTD's! 

INSTA - TUMBLR - BLOGLOVIN'

THE WEEK #2 | THIS WEEK SUCKED

January was just going too damn well. This week just sucked. Luckily it got better, but it was just one of those weeks.

1] I hate to admit this because we all know how Taylor Swift makes me feel [extremely uncomfortable] but Blank Space is an absolute anthem [especially when drunk] so I caved and purchased it. That's it T-Swizzle, 99p and that's all you're ever getting from me. 

2] In the midst of random snowstorms, these Dorothy Perkins sandals were a risqué purchase but they have got me dreaming of spring regardless. Keep your eyes pealed because I'm pretty darn sure there going to be in a million trillion OOTD's to come. 

3] In a desperate attempt to organise the chaos that is my wardrobe I rediscovered an entire cupboards worth of clothes that I'd completely forgotten about. I'm not 100% sure this helped the overall cause, but look at it this way...there's plenty of material for new blog content...literally *not even sorry for the Dad joke*. 

4] For a brief 10 minutes there was enough sunshine to make me completely forget we're in January. Also, how rad would it be if my legs were actually that long and skinny? Damn you shadows. 

5] Reunited with the love of my life, Jack Daniels on a last-minute Friday night excursion. 

6] *MELTDOWN* The tickets to see All Time Low at their acoustic gig in Kingston arrived and I went into meltdown. I cannot believe I am gunna be seeing the guys, let alone at an intimate gig. Bummed out it's the "early show" but I will be seeing my soul-mate Jack Barakat none the less. 

7] Saturday night we planned to head into town, but apparently all trains were replaced by buses. If you know me, I will literally walk bare foot across shattered glass instead of getting a bus. I hate 'em. In an attempt to soften the blow, in our drunken state we headed to the back of the bus and [although I complained about it smelling of Nans] pretended we were on tour. #TOURLIFE.

8] The first last and only photo of the weekend. 

Next week is shaping up to be a whole lot better than this one but it can't always be brill can it? 

How was everyone elses' week?

THE WEEK #1 | THE BOTTLEMEN, THE BANDS & THE OBNOXIOUS SUNNIES

2015 is all about the evolution of TheLenihanLook and as part of that, I want to make more lifestyle type posts. Yanno the ones where I give you a peak into what I get up to, rather than the odd outfit post here and there. I'm going to try to post a weekly round up every Sunday, with some snaps and chit-chat about what the week involved. I can't promise it'll always be that exciting, but that's life right?

1] On Friday evening, I saw one of my good pals James Burrage and his band, as well as four other acts preform in Essex. The venue was the coolest darn bar I've ever been in, going down into the basement with all exposed brickwork and mismatched chairs we saw the boys preform and hung out with them afterwards seeing the other acts. I also [partially] fell in love with the guitarist in E-Mute and his insane man bun. They're also the nicest guys, [we made friends] and I can't wait to see them play Camden next Friday. 

2] The obnoxious shades. Taking a little trip into town, I stumbled across these ace mirrored tinted sunglasses from New-Look and although one of my friends Kirsty refused to walk beside me, I'm in love with them. We also may have made a little pit-stop to Maccas in which we drunk milkshakes and I created a band name/logo on a napkin, yanno as you do. 

3] Hanging out of windows in Shoreditch to take snaps of sunsets. 

4] On Monday, I went back to Sixth Form which was very strange. Something big is happening in my life at the moment [all to be revealed soon] and I needed to tie up a couple of things. Pretty tragic that I had to wear a visitors badge at all times.

5] Tan. Guys, if you haven't seen Tanya London's artwork, what the heck are you playing at. I was blown away when she surprised me with this illustration of me. [The crazy ass hair is pretty accurate.] You can view her stuff on her Insta|HERE or her new Blog|HERE, please go give it a look she's so damn talented. 

6] Probably THE most exciting half hour of the week, getting tickets to see Catfish and The Bottlemen for their gig at O2 Brixton Academy in November. I am so obsessed with this band, The Balcony has surpassed many an album and made in into my top 3 of all time. The boys are so darn cool and I cannot wait to see them live. In scarier news, by the time I see them, I'll be 20. 

7] This week I've rekindled my love for charity-shop and vintage shopping. Luckily there's never a shortage of ace places to go and have a snoop. Sometimes I really do wonder why I pay ridiculous ££ when I can pick up a mens sherling jacket for £15. I'm planning on writing a post all about charity shop bargains very soon, so keep your eyes pealed. 

Some very exciting things were thrown into the mix this week and I can't quite talk about them yet, but when I can you guys will be first to know. 

Happy Sunday everyone, what did you get up to this week?