On Serpentine Shores Style Swap

And finally, BREATHE SARAH. The madness has ended. This week has been a very therapeutic week in contrast with previous weeks/months. Although the weather has been moody and changeable (which doesn't bother me one bit), the Ocean listened to my pleas and took pity on me; as I couldn't make it home to Cornwall, it sent Cornwall to me. On Saturday, George's family came to visit and this week, my dear friend Alex from the On Serpentine Shores blog caught the train all the way up and stayed at our little flat with us. 

With the mizzle pouring down in droves and the little lights twinkling in the rain, we took refuge in a coffee shop nearby, which had a window seat with cushions. I made a mental note to come back again with my laptop to write the next chapter of my novel, and we sat there, George, Alex and I talking creative business plans, all things Cornwall and weddings. Alex is getting married in September and I am delighted and honoured to be her bridesmaid. Over the next couple of days, we explored the Christmas markets several times, spoiled ourselves with Burgers from Bath's best gourmet burger bar 'Shwartz brothers', visited the canals, had cosy lazy days indoors working on Alex's wedding invitations and meeting with my wonderful friend Jess from Jessica Cece Blog for a girly night in of Chinese food, Haagen Das ice cream and Ponyo. 

One thing we were rather excited about was the concept of a 'style swap'. Alex and I have very different styles; hers is a very distinct combination of earthy and sophisticated and mine is... well, I'm not quite sure what mine is, as it's all over the place but it's a definite contrast.  

Alex loves styling things and I love trying new things! It was a win win situation, really. We had rather a lot of fun trying on each others clothes; I've never worn a playsuit in my life, the closest thing would be dungarees, but Alex suggested her green floral all-in-one from Zara and the moment I put it on, I admit I felt rather suave. I have a tendency to not wear the most flattering of clothes but the playsuit fit like a glove and George was very appreciative of it indeed. The foresty green went with my hair and although the playsuit wasn't something I would have ever taken notice of in a shop, I fell in love with it and it was with a heavy heart that I gave it back to her at the end of the day. 

I really enjoyed the style swap; it's like a form of acting combined with dressing up. You get to almost be somebody else for a day. I've always admired Alex's distinct style and I felt confident and even mature wearing her style. I'm sorry Alex, I might have to order this suit off Zara now! 

It made me so happy for Jess to meet Alex too. Jess has been one of my closest friends now for about 6 years and although I've only known Alex in the flesh for around 7 months, we've quickly become incredibly close. I think that's what happens when you meet someone who you just have a natural affinity with. We value the same things, both have a love for arting out and playing with our cameras AND we love books. Quite frankly, we spent a lot of the time staying up into the early hours of the morning talking about Harry Potter and what Hogwarts houses we we would place people from our community into. Alex has also become good friends with one of my other best friends Jack as they used to work together and it makes me so delighted that I can merge my community of people together so that it grows and blossoms for them too! 

I am such an advocate for community, in Cornwall, George and I have an extremely strong sense of community and it really strengthens our sense of wellbeing. I think it's a common occurrence in rural, village life, and it has its down points (which are more comical than harmful!) such as everybody knows  everyone else business, but its benefits are so much stronger. I absolutely LOVE walking down the beach and bumping into people I know, or on Christmas day in Coverack, we all meet at Noon at the harbour to swim together and dry off by the roaring log fire in the lifeboat hut afterwards. We share village fetes together, festivals together and we grow older together. It's beautiful. In a lot of ways, community feels like family, and George and I really value that sense of place within it. He's often called upon to help out with the pantomime, or fix peoples computers and even volunteered at the primary school for a little while. I really enjoy it when neighbours and friends just randomly let themselves into the house, bring cake and put the kettle on and wait for George's stepmum to come home from work or one of her walks. I think community is beautiful, and strong and it largely defines me as a person. One thing that I struggle so much with here in Bath, is my lack of community (Even though I'm slowly building a little one through work, my classes and the HP society) but it's not the same and it's not just my pathological need for the wild ocean and it's tossing waves that lures me back home, but the smiles of the people I recognise and love. Like the people that came to visit last weekend, whom despite not really being blood relatives of ours and being vastly varying ages to our own, felt like family. 

 I love this photo of Alex. It's a sneak peak from her part of the style swap which you will have to keep an eye out for on her blog! This is a completely natural portrait and I feel it accurately reflects her fun,  inner goofball side. I love these kind of portraits of people, the fun, relaxed and natural documents of their lives and personalities. 

PLAYSUIT: ZARA |  BOOTS: RED OR DEAD | HAT: FATFACE | SCARF: FATFACE

Friday has rolled around and ended what has been a Mr Kipling cake week (exceedingly good, or so the slogan says). The weather is mild and feeling far from wintery. For a moment, I believed winter had come the other week but I'm yet to see any frost at all and so my hopes and dreams of snow seem very far away and unattainable. Alex and I have dreamed up some rather excited plans and aspirations for this coming summer and I'm filled with trepidation and excitement to work on my novel and plan an array of creative work. Looking at these pictures, it's hard to believe it's just days now until Christmas. I guess this is how people in Australia and California must feel! (only they have much less rain) For now dear people, I wish you a wonderful weekend filled with snuggly lie ins and tasty comfort foods.