Wednesday, 30 September 2015

An Open Letter to my Childhood Best Friend

To my childhood best friend,

First of all, you know who you are. For a lot of my childhood I felt quite out of place, and you were the one person that made me feel that little bit more...'normal'. So this is for you. I honestly could not thank you enough.

I look back on childhood memories with you with such fondness, y'know. 

When I met you, aged four, I never knew how much of an impact you would make on my life. Luckily for me, you turned out to be my closest friend for a decade. You were one of the two people back home who I remained in constant contact with when I moved to India, and to this day I genuinely don't know what I would have done without you during that time. I'd look forward to going on MSN all day, going on webcam (which was all the rage back then) and having Mum telling me off for staying up too late. Our online catch ups were a blend between us genuinely trying to catch up, and a competition against the ever-inconvenient time difference. The day after I moved back home, when I saw you again, it was like nothing had changed. I'd moved six thousand miles away for two years and yet when we saw each other again, it felt like I'd never left. That instant feeling of acceptance after a difficult couple of years was just...unbeatable. Completely indescribable. 

I recall when you struggled to write back when we were first learning how to do so, and we used to share a chair so I could hold your hand to guide the way. In return, you'd keep me company, telling jokes that only the two of us found vaguely funny. I remember vividly this time when were eight or nine when we were making a leaflet for elderly people and decided that the only thing that would appeal to them is the offer of apple juice. I don't know why we found that so funny at the time, but it has stayed with me over the years as one of the happiest memories from my childhood.

When were seven years old and moved house,  and I begged your mum to keep you at our school. Somehow she said yes, despite the fact you lived down the road from a new one. I was chuffed to bits the day I found out you were staying. I would have been seriously unlucky to lose close contact with you at that age, as I don't know what I would have done over the following few years without you. 

A few years later, when we were ten years old, for some unknown reason we entered the school talent show with a couple of our close friends. Half of contestants on the show sang Leona Lewis' ever-lasting (and at that time, newly released) tune Bleeding Love, whilst our rendition of Hannah Montana's Nobody's Perfect somehow got us second place, which was rather fitting considering it was far from well...perfect. I'd been a shy and introverted kid at school for eight years and you, along with the other two girls, encouraged me to go for something and tackle something I was afraid of - performing in front of other people, and more significantly, rejection. That feeling of being scared to death for those three painfully long minutes will never leave me, but neither will the sense of relief when it was all done and dusted, voilĂ , never to be endured again. 

I don't want to say we've lost contact completely, but we haven't seen each other for a couple of years now and I definitely feel a you-shaped void in my life. We've both changed and evolved so much, yet through everything you've been one of the most supportive people in my life and well, I'm grateful for your existence.

You deserve the absolute world.

I miss you.

Thalia

P.S my 'moral' of the story is appreciate the people you have and don't let them go. You can go two, five, ten years without seeing people, but if they're a good'un nothing will change. Make the most of all of the special people you meet. 
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Wednesday, 23 September 2015

21 First Day of University Thoughts


So a couple of days ago I started university. I don't want to speak too soon but so far it's been fab - better than expected, even. The people are lovely and I'm in that ~place~ at the moment when I'm just elated that a) I somehow even got into uni and b) chuffed to bits that I'm spending my time studying a subject that I want to study, as opposed to English Lit (which I was advised to study so many times by so many people over the past few years!) Freshers week has been a slightly unusual experience as a student who doesn't drink much (correction: hardly anything), isn't huuuuge on partying and doesn't live in student accommodation, but I'll touch on all of those things at a later point. All in all, it has been such an interesting experience so far and I'm looking forward to what is coming up in the next few months.

Trying to capture my thoughts in the present as opposed to in a month or so, here's a lil' list of what on earth was going through my mind on Monday. There's 21 listed as I y'know, wouldn't mind getting a 2:1 at the end of this experience and (more importantly) I couldn't really think of any more 'thoughts', as ironic as that sounds.
  1. Nervous. Don't be nervous. But my gosh I'm nervous.
  2. I hate the Northern line. Why did anyone think the branches were a good idea/easy to navigate?? 
  3. I hope I'm not the only Londoner.
  4. I believe I am the only person here from London. 
  5. Literally everyone is from such a cool place and I have travelled from the not-so-awesome territory that is zone 4 suburbia.
  6. Obviously it had to rain on the first day. Bloody brilliant.
  7. Why would anyone construct a building in the shape of a triangle? I'm so lost. I'm standing here, lost, thinking about how lost I am. 
  8. YASSS they sell pizza. I have made a wise life choice in coming here.
  9. Oi that pizza was bloody delicious. Three slices has me feeling satisfied, albeit a bit on the stuffed side.
  10. I really hope I'm not the shortest one there.
  11. Y'know I could try out some sports? I might as well?
  12. Having seen a few of the sporty students, I definitely think I'll give this sport thing a go.
  13. Cheerleading without pom poms and chants? Wicked. 
  14. I've never been naturally athletic, but whatever, I'll try out some rock climbing. Nothing could possibly go wrong.
  15. I couldn't have possibly stuck a worse landing from that. Climbing's alright, I guess, abseiling, however, is another thing altogether. My landing was so crap it received a giggling response from the people below. Fab. 
  16. I. Can't. Breathe. Rock climbing is deceiving. Far harder than it looks to the outsider. I’ll use my asthma as an excuse, it’s okay.
  17. I'm not sure if I regret taking a free backpack or not.
  18. Correction - I definitely regret that decision.
  19. Not the most helpful thing when you go to someone wearing a student ambassador top to ask where something is and they tell you to "walk down this corridor and at the end you'll find a bunch of people wearing red tops. Ask one of them."
  20. It's so weird that for years all throughout secondary school people yap on about uni like there's no tomorrow and then one day it's like shit, I'm here
  21.  Fingers crossed this year is a good’un.
Thalia
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Sunday, 20 September 2015

Key Piece: The Casual White Shirt

white shirt new look (link)  ripped jamie jeans topshop (link)  small grey bag h&m  black desert boots clarks (link)  nails rimmel midnight rendezvous  watch casio silver mini (link)  ring river island (similar)

Before I purchased this shirt about a month ago I question how I lived on a day-to-day basis without it in my wardrobe. A casual white shirt is just one of those essentials that everyone needs, y'know? Versatile, comfy and easy to dress up...an absolutely killer combo in my eyes. The one I'm wearing was a steal at fifteen quid from New Look, but there are so many options out there to choose from. There's another couple of options below that I could easily encourage me to click 'Buy' if I wasn't desperately trying to stick to a student budget.


    new look  oasis  miss selfridge

Outfit-wise I've gone for a super comfy vibe, pairing the shirt with my favourite (and probably over-worn) pair of ripped jeans and my new pair of desert boots that I somehow got for free through work. Working in retail can have some benefits, you know! This is the sort of thing I shove on everyday, very simple in terms of colour scheme but well...I like it. And no matter what impression you may get from the media/other people, as long as you like the outfit you're wearing, that's all that matters. Rant/motivational speech aside, I'm absolutely obsessed with this piece and couldn't recommend a casual white shirt more.

Now the challenge is to see how many ways I can wear it before the English weather inevitably becomes too cold/miserable/yuck to wear anything other than huge coats and jumpers...British gals, I know you'll feel the pain.

Thalia
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The Relaunch


Why hello there!

Whether you're an old reader from my fashion galaxies xo days, a new reader, a family member or a friend, hello there - I'm so chuffed you've somehow stumbled upon my new site.

I've been wanting to properly relaunch this online space for about a year now, but wanted to truly put in some time and effort into it as opposed to continuing making content I was only 60-70% satisfied with. I'm a complete perfectionist, so a half effort was never really an option for me! I'm going into an exciting time of my life at the moment - I finished my A Levels back in June and now I'm just a day away from starting university. Honestly, I think there's no better time for a fresh start.

Tales of Thalia is a space that will evolve with me as I tackle the next few years head-on, featuring a mix of lifestyle, fashion, beauty and travel posts. I've been blogging on a regular basis since I was fourteen (you can read more about my blogging history here) and never plan on giving it up completely. It's reached a stage when I can't really imagine not doing it, and the past six months I've been off studying/sitting exams/working my butt off I've missed the positive and productive feeling blogging gives me.

I won't continue rambling on for too much longer so all I will say is that I'm looking forward to the future and what I have in store for you!

Thalia
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