Sometimes blogging can be super easy. You get all these ideas and spend hours writing and planning and posting and interacting and you can get a tonne of stuff scheduled and it feels amazing.
And then there are times like where I am now. It’s a little like blogger’s block but it’s feels more like blogger’s fatigue mixed with life falling on top of me. It’s not like I haven’t got ideas – I feel like I have a billion of them but I can’t get any ideas out of my head. Every time I open up my laptop and fire up Evernote or my notepad, my mind goes blank and then something else more important (like bills or cooking or work) crops up.
I haven’t lost my love of blogging but with the massive upheaval of my life recently I’ve kinda run out of steam.
January is notoriously hard for everyone and though it’s a good time of year to start afresh, that doesn’t mean you can stop making or starting resolutions once January 31st hits. So I’m going to try and turn over a new leaf in February. I want to shake off this blogging funk and find my mojo again.
Hello from Oxford! I’m all moved in and am already looking out the window to find things to do to occupy my time in a brand new town. Luckily there seems to be plenty to do in Oxfordshire, so here’s my little bucket list of things I want to tick off over the next few months.
Museum of Art & Archaeology, Beaumont Street, Oxford (www.ashmolean.org)
Located right in the city centre, the Ashmolean is just one of Oxford’s many museums I’m keen to hit up. The museum houses permanent collections of Ancient Egyptian, Anglo Saxon and Chinese art, and is currently home to the William Blake exhibition.
As well as the usual tourist-y parts of the museum, the Ashmoleon also hosts free Live Friday night events after hours and an array of cultural talks and workshops.
There’s no shortage of green space in Oxfordshire, but right on my doorstep is some seriously stunning parkland. Owned by Christ Church college, Christchurch Meadow is a stretch of parkland which borders the River Cherwell and Isis. Though it’s technically private land the meadow is open to the public during the day and it looks like a really beautiful place to walk and relax. I’m hoping it’ll be even nicer for Summer picnics, weekend runs and a good spot to see the University rowers go by.
Decent traditional pubs and cosy bars seem to be dime a dozen here in Oxford. So what makes the Eagle and Child in Jericho in the centre of town so special? Well, the place is a must visit pilgrimage for any bookworm, as it was formerly frequented by CS Lewis and JRR Tolkein when they were writing both the Narnia and LOTR series. Tucked away on the corner of St Giles Street, it’s a rather unassuming place with a quiet charm. I’ve already walked past it a few times on my way to and from work, so I’m looking for a good enough excuse to pop in for a drink!
Slightly further afield from the main city, Bicester Village is an mini mecca for any fashion lover. This outlet designer shopping is a mere train ride away from Oxford itself and looks like it could be the perfect treat day out. And with brands like Alexander McQueen, Michael Kors and Vivienne Westwood you can bet I’ll be making my way down there at some point!
Blenheim Palace
Woodstock, Oxfordshire (www.blenheimpalace.com)
And for something a little more adventerous further afield is the beautiful Blenheim Palace. Best known as the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, the heritage site has over 2000 acres of parkland and gardens. The palace itself (currently the home of the 12th Duke and Duchess of Marlborough) hosts some seriously impressive architecture and stately rooms. As well as their regular tours of the palace, special exhibitions (Blenheim’s currently hosting installations by the artist Ai Weiwei, which I’m keen to see!) there are also bigger scale shows and festivals towards the Summer months.
Fingers crossed you’ll see some of these places and more pop up on my blog in the coming months!
Keeping up with my favourite resolution for 2015, I want to start posting about some of my favourite links and bits to share the love around the blogsphere. So, welcome to the first of what I hope will be many editions of The Sunday Share Out!
Katy (Little Miss Katy) lists off her top 5 favourite children’s books. It’s a topic that often neglected in the book blogging community, so it was really lovely to see some of my own favourites on the list.
I adore of all of I Am Galla’s blog posts (and they always make me miss New York oh so much), but I really loved his little photo diary of East Williamsburg and Buskwick. The Pine Box Rock Shop bar reminds of the one I visited with my cousin last year.
Monica from Miss At La Playa shares some New Year’s resolutions for Instagram. As self confessed Insta-addict, I’m definitely guilty of some of the cliches, so taking on some of her resolutions will be a good step to up my Insta-tography game.
If you aren’t already subscribed to Lucy’s (Teawiththreesugars) Youtube channel…WHY NOT? I’ve been a little addicted to her Vlog Everyday In January (lovingly nicknamed VEDJ), especially her little post on accomplishment and achievement.
Jen’s year in travel post has honestly given me a serious case of the wanderlust bug. In addition to her exciting travels overseas to Hamburg, New York and Spain, she’s also include her mini stay-cation trips to Edinburgh and the Lake District.
Speaking of New Year’s resolutions, there’s been an explosion of them in the blogsphere of resolution posts, but my favourite I’ve seen is Rosie’s. I love the idea of setting a word goal to centre around and her word (‘balance’) is a fantastic one to focus on.
Sophie’s informative post about not quitting your day job is frankly quite brilliant, honest and so worth a read for anyone thinking of potentially moving from full-time work to full-time freelance blogging.
After shifting half of my books to Oxford I’ve been considering my TBR more closely lately. Alexa gives some fantastic tips on how to cull your mounting TBR pile, which I’ll be implementing ASAP!
