I really hope you’re all well and looking after yourselves out there! I’m back home at my mums as I type this blog post, and I’ve had the kind of week that my soul has been craving for months…
I love living in a city but it did make lockdown feel extremely intense at times – it’s been lovely to be back home in the little village I grew up in, spending time with family, taking long walks, and just generally being.
I feel as though so much of this year has been about surviving and so many of us are just utterly exhausted and in need of a break from reality. Looking out my bedroom window at home, all I see are trees and field for miles – I already feel myself slowing down and worrying less about work and being productive. There’s just something about being home that grounds me and reminds me who I am at my core. Without the busy city and all of the adventure and chaos that it brings…
In Manchester, I see the trains and trams travel by from my bedroom window – it’s two completely different worlds that I feel myself torn between. I’m forever trying to find a balance between all of the exciting city lights and then the small countryside life that I find myself equally drawn to. I’ve always said that my dream existence could be to live in a house with a huge porch by a beautiful lake, but then my ideal city centre would be a maximum half an hour drive away. If lockdown has reinforced anything, it’s that being close to nature is just as important to me as being close to a city with art, and culture, and opportunity. Neither really makes sense to me without the other. I feel a bit empty when I’ve had a little too much of either…
These images were taken in one of my favourite parts of Manchester – a street that I’ve walked down in many different outfits over the past few years, and one that I will always associate with my blogging journey and all the ups and the downs it’s entailed. This Realisation Par dress made it’s debut for the first time! I treated myself to it for my birthday earlier this month, and I’m pretty smitten with it. I love how light and floaty all the Realisation Par pieces are, and I can’t wait to wear this bare foot on a beach sometime in the future…
I’m spending this Friday painting my mums porch area and front door – it feels nice to be helping her with something productive after so long of not being able to hang out together. She picked a sage colour for the front door and I can’t wait to stand back and look at it when it’s all finished later this weekend. There’s something quite symbolic about painting it during this time – a sort of mural of the time we reunited, and an ode to the safe space I can always come home to…
Photographs taken by Catherine Booty
Dress – Realisation Par, Blazer – The Frankie Shop, Shoes – Stepney Workers Club , Bag – vintage Celine
SHOP THE LOOK
That dress is gorgeous!
Mariya | https://www.brunetteondemand.com/