The Manic That Has Been The Last 6 Weeks

Ever since our plane touched down in England, my life has been a non stop whirlwind. Regarding work I'd been working almost every day. Why you may ask? Our store was one of only five others that were being remodelled. Exciting stuff, I know. It meant that the store was being turned upside down whilst builders, decorators, surveyors, brand managers and very important high rankers from the flagship store were in and out every minutes meaning we had to be on our very best behaviour. To top it all off, we also had model store and our mystery shopper plus the launch of the four new A/W10 trends.

Trend 1: Rough Diamond. Inspired by the 60's, this trend is filled with leopard print, camel colours, brogues & kitten heels, lots and lots of red, bows galore and complete with smokey eyes and backcombed hair.















Trend 2: Into the Wild. The name says it all; over sized knits, ragged faux fur, clogs & boots. But this trend has its own little twist. Into the Wild is all about mixing rough, over sized accessories with pretty pieces underneath - that's delicate dresses, crystal detailing and flowing fabric for that fairytale feel with tousled hair and crimson lips to finish.






















Trend 3: Dark Nouveau. My favourite trend as it is the complete opposite to how I usually dress; a miss match of grunge and glamour - consisting of every shade of black alongside greys, crimsons and deep purples, the main pieces include leather shorts, skirts & jackets, slouchy knits and sparkling jewellery with tattoo inspired prints and a lot of lace alongside a large dash of kohl.






















Last but not least, trend 4: The Ousiders. With similar pieces to that of Into the Wild, The Outsiders supports, well the whole outside look; plaid & tweed, a splash of fur, jodpurs and riding boots and again some oversized knits, anything remotely relating to the British countryside sums up this trend.





















So far, my A/W10 Wardrobe consists of a beige trench, leather jacket laced with fur, lace tights, military boots, black, grey & crimson nail vanish, oversized knitted cardigan, grey brogues, bow earrings, a leopard print coat, boots laced with fur, a black waitcoat with a lace back, a collection of vintage over the shoulder bags, leather shorts, a strapless lace dress, a huge supply of eyeliner and an embellished headband to top it all off. My wardrobe is almost complete.

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Outside of work, I attended two leaving dos which were thankfully more enjoyable than sad and also had to begin getting my things together for university. Away from work, I was busy out enjoying seeing my friends who were all finally back from their travels and there was also V festival.





















V festival was indescribable. Saturday was filled with sunshine, cider and the most amazing artists around. We managed to get through the gates at 12.05 and walked straight out onto the set of The Pretty Reckless which I'm glad I managed to catch as we watched the teen rock out in a teeny tiny dress complete with suspenders to one of current favourite tunes Make Me Wanna Die.

After grabbing a quick lunch of cheesy chips we headed over to see Passion Pit perform on the main stage, who were my new favourite up & coming band. Nothing beats hearing The Reeling, Little Secrets, Cuddle Fuddle and Sleepy Head performed live by Michael Angelakos, who bizarrely reminds me of Roy from the IT Crowd.

Next, we headed into the Virgin Union Tent to see another of my new favourites, Chew Lips. Why are they one of my favorites? They are currently in Topshop's playlist and although I should be fed up hearing them at work, in fact I love them even more. On an even sadder note I realised I knew every single lyric to every single song performed. Tigs, the singer of the group was most mesmerising to watch as she pulled out some crazy dance moves in her shimmery silver hot pants to Salt Air, Play Together, Solo, Slick and Karen.

Briefly stopping to top up on cider the next act we saw was Temper Trap. Certainly not a one hit wonder, Fadar was one of my top summer tunes, in my eyes better than Sweet Disposition. We then sprinted over to Ellie Goudling who was beyond sensational, was extremely surprised at her incredible drum solo. Running back and forward between tents we somehow managed to get just six rows from the front for Florence and the Machine, with a lot of pushing and shoving the view we had was fantastic and so was her performance. What I had been exceptionally surprised at was how good the bands and singers were live, but Florence topped every live performance of the day.

Thankfully we'd already had the pleasure of seeing Kings of Leon perform so didn't have to make the gruelling choice between them and David Guetta and we were beyond happy we got to see one of the most incredible sets I have ever experienced at V festival. The atmosphere at his set was like no other, and although in a tiny dress and jacket at ten that evening I should have been cold, there was no one in that crowd that wasn't sweating. Everyone was dancing, jumping and raving to the most outstanding hits; it was like being in an outside club and I didn't want it to end. The base, the lights, oh and the laser, firework exploding robots were the cherry on top of the performance.

Although I didn't want the day to end, I was so glad we heading home to our own comfy beds that night and not sleeping in a tent, as boring as that sounds, I knew I didn't want to wake up with a hangover after a short nights sleep on a lumpy ground. Bring on tomorrow.

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Today, we decided to take it a little easier. We sat in the sunshine with of cider and pizza slices and waited for Plan B, who started off with Faith SFX, an incredible beat boxer and ended with his old school song Charmaine. Just as it was starting to rain, we were thankful we were headed over to the Virgin Union tent for Eliza Doolittle's set. Not only were we right at the front, in the middle but I was also approached by a scout from Select models which made my day.

We went to see Jamie T next, who unfortunately we weren't too impressed with so headed over to see The Kooks, who are a classic favourite and thankfully didn't miss Naive and She Moves In Her Own Way.

We then rocked out to Calvin Harris before completing a toilet, food & drink stop and heading back to see the Prodigy. All I can say is I'm glad we didn't make it to the front. The audience were insane, no one knew whether it was rain, beer or worse that they were being covered in but no one cared. Everyone was completely smashed and bouncing off each other, it was the best way to end such an amazing weekend.

Day 14 - Home Sweet Home

Over night my feelings had turned to anger, and after shoving my clothes and bits & pieces into my suitcase I stormed down to talk to Nick about why he hadn't showed. As soon as I saw him in all his gorgeousness I couldn't feel angry and tried to hold it together as I walked up to him. He read me like a book and immediately ran towards me and held me tightly. As he asked 'where were you', I couldn't help feeling confused. He explained how he'd waited from just after nine until quarter to ten and thought I'd changed my mind about coming or was lost so he'd headed into town to see if I had lost my way but decided to head back in case I'd just been running late. We must have just missed each other within minutes and I soon found myself cheer up a little as I realised he hadn't stood me up. He gave me his email address and gave me one last hug and a kiss on the forehead and wished me a pleasant flight.

I spent the next hour or so sitting on the beach with my feet in the sea, listening to some sad but relaxing music. So, I hadn't had a holiday romance that I'd hoped for, maybe I should have 'gone for it' but at the end of the day he had a girlfriend and even if that night had gone well, maybe it would have been even harder to say goodbye. Now, what I wasn't looking forward to was exchanging the sun for rain, the beach and scuba diving for work and endless cocktails for coffee to get me through the day.

Leaving was difficult, no one likes to come home and thankfully I managed to sleep all the way home on the flight. Once touching down in England, we were welcomed with a heavy down poor of rain. We were home.

Day 13 - Last chance

I jumped out of bed this morning looking forward to the last day of the holiday, this time less nervous and more anticipating the day ahead spent with Nick. This was my now my third dive in two days and this mermaid was really getting the hang of it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Nick had no other divers for the day and today it was just me and him. Under the water, I lost myself again but this time Nick pointed out corals and fish he spotted, making me laugh several times which was difficult to control underwater.

After the mornings dive, I felt a huge wave of sadness, knowing that this time tomorrow I would be leaving for the airport and more so, a feeling of regret for not asking Nick out sooner, which crept in as he ran around the centre spraying me with a hose. As we showered out the back together, sounds more kinky than it was, he turned around and asked me if I wanted to go out with him that night. I calmly replied 'yeah, go for it' whilst inside my head I was screaming oh my God, finally! We agreed that tonight he would meet me in Playa Del Carmen at 9.30, after I enjoyed a final meal with my family, before he picked me up on his motorbike(!) and took me out to a few bars etc. He gave me a cheeky smile and a wink and said 'he'd show me a good time' which sounded more than promising.

Once out of sight I ran off down the beach to tell my family the good news, which my sister was extremely jealous about and I spent the remainder of the afternoon pampering myself and planning what to wear. Once at our last meal, I was way to overexcited and nervous to eat anything and made small talk whilst daydreaming over how the night would pan out. The journey was supposed to take just fifteen minutes so I headed down to the bus stop at 9.10 to wait for a bus which were supposed to appear every five minutes. It reached 9.15, then 9.20 and I was beginning to get into a bit of a panic as I didn't want to spend money for drinks on a cab, when finally the coletivo bus arrived which cost a mere $3. The only glitch in our arrangement was that I didn't have a phone to contact him if I got lost or late, but Nick explained it would be easy to see where to meet (a shoe store at the end of the bus station) and he'd wait all night for me if he had to, (I know, what a sweetheart.) The bus seemed to take forever as it stopped at every single stop along the way but I finally turned twenty minutes late and couldn't wait to run up to him and give him a huge apologetic hug.

Once off the bus, I wandered down to the end of the bus station to find a small alley with many closed down shops and a small shop selling shoes and belts. But Nick was nowhere to be seen. By now it was very, very dark and there were not many people around as the main strip was a ten minute walk in the opposite direction. Instead of waiting however, I decided that Nick couldn't have meant here as it seemed too isolated and headed off into the main town in hope I would see him on his motorbike. I soon realised, being a young, blonde female, alone in a foreign country was not a good idea, as men leered and shouted at me in the street. I soon started to panic, as I do as it was now an hour since we were supposed to meet up and it was the final straw when a Mexican man asked if I was a prostitute, the cheek of it! I sobbed, assuming I had been stood up and headed back to the hotel.

Crying my eyes out, I ran into my parents room and they hugged me whilst I explained what happened. They suggested I should have got his number beforehand and used a pay phone, which would have been a sensible idea but of course I had been too overexcited to think about that. My last night had been ruined and I went to bed feeling betrayed, hurt and embarrassed.