Category: Fashion

So I recently turned 22, on the 28th July to be exact, and it’s safe to say I was not very happy about saying goodbye to being 21. Nevertheless I’m taking it in my stride (or trying to at least) and thought I’d do a bit of a reflective post. Writing about 22 things I’ve learnt seemed like a good idea but I quickly realised that I haven’t actually learnt that much and this post was admittedly a bit of a struggle. Hey ho, here’s to another 22 years of learning!

1. Sometimes chillies look the same as runner beans, but they are not the same thing.
I learnt this the hard way. At a friend’s 21st birthday last year there was tons of delicious Indian food on offer (yum) so I obviously piled my plate high with curry and what I thought was green beans – I actually said out loud ‘ooh green beans’ in front of the caterers whilst scooping them onto my plate. As you can probably imagine I tucked into my meal and thought ‘omg this curry is so flippin’ spicy’ so like a rational person would, I had a ‘green bean’ to ‘cool my mouth down’ or just give it a break from the heat of the curry. After eating about 6 of these green beans and wondering why I wasn’t feeling any better, with my stomach in agony, mouth on fire and actual sweat starting to drip off me, my friend pointed out that in fact I was actually just eating chillies. Not my proudest moment, but a lesson learnt none the less.

2. Nobody has a clue what they’re doing.
The older I’ve gotten I’ve realised that everyone is just winging it and there’s no handy little guide about how to adult. It’s just trial and error, and then usually a bit more error.

3. Extreme sports are not for me.
Or anything extreme for that matter. Bungee jumping? No thank you. Parachuting off a plane? No way hell. I’ve had a high sense of self-preservation since I was little so anything where I could die I steer clear from. I’ll get my adrenaline rushes elsewhere thank you very much.

4. If you’re making an Apple Crumble don’t forget the apples.
Learnt this one the hard way too unfortunately. Decided to make this lovely dish in our cooking class at school and was looking forward to bringing it home for everyone to enjoy after dinner. But it wasn’t meant to be – once it was in the oven and I started cleaning up I noticed my apples were still sitting wrapped up in my cooking bag. It wasn’t the nicest Apple Crumble I’ve got to say.

5. Never go to bed angry or upset.
It’s never good to wake up to negativity. I can never sleep when I’m angry anyway, and if I’m upset with someone that usually turns into me being pissed off that they’ve upset me in the first place! I’ve learnt that you should always try and resolve any arguments before you go to sleep if you can.

6. People who judge your taste in music are the worrrrssst.
Yes I like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones but you know what? I flipping love a bit of ABBA, Miley Cyrus, Backstreet Boys and even a bit of One Direction. Leave me be.

7. I will never say no to pasta.
It doesn’t even matter what time of the day it is, I love pasta so much that I would eat it for every meal if I could.

8. Anxiety is a bitch.
Big time.

9. How to tell if someone does (or doesn’t!) fancy you.
This is something my 17 year old self struggled to come to terms with! As they say, they’re sometimes just not that into you.

10. You can’t please everyone.
So seriously don’t even try. People like different things and have different opinions so you shouldn’t feel bad about having your own.

11. Just because people seem nice, doesn’t mean they are.
Most people are lovely, but some people just pretend to be and can be really nasty when you truly get to know them.

12. Chocolate and Cheese are two of the best things in the world.
I feel like this one is pretty self explanatory.

13. Worrying about things doesn’t actually help anyone.
Easier said than done but we’ve all been there. Worrying about something we know we can do absolutely nothing about. Of course that doesn’t stop us from worrying. Sometimes it’s even worrying that we’re worrying so much that we start to worry about worrying so much. And so on and so forth.

14. Mixing your drinks causes nothing but pain and regrets.
I feel like I need to be reminded of this every Friday night. I suppose I’m still learning this one. Although to be fair, I do know not to do it I just do it anyway. Yes I’ll have some wine please, followed by a few proseccos and more than likely a couple of malibu and cokes. Maybe even a vodka lemonade. Will I regret it in the morning? Definitely. Am I still going to do it? Probably.

15. I can’t draw to save my life.
I realised this early on in life but it’s something I really wish I could do. Annoyingly my sister inherited the artist genes in my family. I once tried to draw Frankie Cocozza (anyone remember him?) when I was about 14 because I fancied him when he was on the X Factor. I was impressed with the start of the drawing because I thought I’d got his hair pretty much bang on, but unfortunately when I went on to draw his face he looked like he’d been in some sort of tragic accident. I’ve not tried again since.

16. How shit Twilight actually is.
Yes, I was once one of those 14 year old girls obsessing over Edward Cullen and asking my parents to bury me with my Twilight books (VOM). Thank God I didn’t die during that phase because I hate to think of myself underground with that shite for all of eternity.

17. How to do a winged liner.
Finally after 22 years I have finally perfected it! I’ve got it down to a T now and can do it in a matter of seconds. Practice really does make perfect folks.

18. There is ALWAYS two sides to every story.
This one is worth remembering – never come to a conclusion about something when you’re only half informed. I’ve never really understood people that do this but there’s too many of them.

19. Animals are just the best.
We really don’t deserve them. I can honestly say I feel so much happier and less stressed out if I’m around an animal – they’re literally the only miracle I need.

20. Your gut is right pretty much all of the time.
I should really listen to it more because most of the time its spot on.

21. Time goes far too quickly.
I feel like I left school about 5 minutes ago. How can I have been a graduate for over a year now? I don’t understand. Why is my hair grey and why am I in an old people’s home?

22. I have so much more to learn.
I think we all do really.

DRESS | ASOS

SHOES | ZARA (unavailable, similar here)