Finally, LUSH!

See all that stuff at the edge of the bed?  Those are documents, course reading, new SIM cards, and other general sorting out that I need to deal with today.  Now let's open up the frame a bit and see what I'm ignoring that with...

Yep.  Why tackle important things when I can type at you about the things I got at LUSH yesterday?  After being in more university induction meetings for most of the afternoon, I trekked out to Stratford, home of the Westfield shopping center.  Which is seriously, the best and most dangerous place I've been in London.  Because they have all of the stores you could want (except Muji; they really need to get one of those in there).  Going there also reminds me how student poor I am BUT ANYWAY.  Stick to the program, Marion.

One of the things I was most excited about moving to the UK was the rampant availability of LUSH shops.  Yeah, sad, I know.  There wasn't one near Indy, and the one in LA was so far out from me:  it would have taken over an hour on public transportation to get remotely close to it.  So when I ran out of conditioner this week, I knew where I was taking my dollah-dollah bills notes with the Queen's face on it.

I don't know if you've ever been in a LUSH, but the employees sort of pride themselves on being able to talk about their products for ages.  The two girls that helped me were super friendly though which is something else I appreciate about LUSH--some places that have fancier products I can feel intimidated by.  But at LUSH, I know they want my business, but I'm also not afraid to say no to them.  I will say that when I asked if I could get a sample of one of the lip scrubs, even after I had committed to buying a full-sized product, the saleslady seemed a little reluctant.  I know that they don't want people barging in and requesting samples and then never purchasing anything, but they were already gonna get my money.

While I didn't get the lip scrub sample I asked for (felt too awkward to bring it up again), I did get--without specifically requesting, mind you--Blousey and Happy Happy Joy Joy.  The first is a shampoo that to me smells kind of like banana bread.  It's supposed to be good for colored/damaged hair so should suit me well.  HHJJ was what I almost purchased, but I wasn't in love with the scent.

I ended up going with Roots, which isn't even a conditioner really but a hair treatment.  The mint smell is what tipped me over.  I was a little worried that it might be too heavy because it is a pretty thick paste and I usually try not to put conditioners too close to my scalp.  But I used it today and my hair feels noticeably softer.  Hope it continues to perform as such!

Do you have any favorite LUSH products?  Or are you like former-me and have yet to experience the nice that is lalala LUSH?

Cheatin' cheatin' cheatin'

Here's the thing about watching films.  Or videos.  Or an episode of television.  I can't not watch it.  It can't just be on in the background.  I inevitably stop whatever I'm doing, plop down on my bed, and look.  I can't not look.

Care package from Nora.

Nora is a subscriber-turned-friend.  She contacted me after seeing my stuff on YouTube, saying she was also studying abroad in the UK.  We met up in London back in November/December for a lovely evening strolling around Oxford Street--which was all light up for Christmas at the time.  And it was also with her that I bought a locket from one of the stalls at the Christmas market by the London Eye.  Is that Southbank?  I can never remember.  Anyway.  Nora is honestly one of the nicest people I know, and she sent the most adorable care package to my house in Indiana.  Online friends are gems, man.

Enclosed was a letter, fancy chocolate (the way to my heart), a wind-up seal (because why the hell not), a pressed penny from M&M World, and a handmade Deathly Hallows tank (!!!).

Letter from Marlous.

Marlous, creator of the ever-aesthetically-pleasing Last Days of Spring blog, sent me another letter as a part of her letter writing project which she documents here.  Her eye for design has me seriously envious.  She was kind enough to include a little creative starter kit for me since in my last letter I complained about being a prolific writer but a bit of a crap decorator.  Your next response will be coming from London, Marlous!

Sheboygan.

Morning! So in typical Marion fashion, I have folders and folders of pictures sitting around that I need to decide whether or not I'm going to put out into the world.  My family life's been doing a bit of a shuffle over the past six months, and one of those changes has been my dad buying a house in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.  He asked me to go up with him and my grandfather to see it so we three piled in the car one balmy July weekend and made the four hour drive up midwest highways.

Sitting in my largely empty, unfurnished room in my flat--I'm trying to make a connection here.  About both places being empty, but with the promise of potential.  About my dad and I both seeking out new starts and making them happen for ourselves.  And the difference I feel in my new place and how I felt watching him in his new place--and that's as far as I can describe it.

Words from places.

Good morning.  I think this is just going to be a good old text post.  No pictures.  No mishmash.  Just words.

I've been wanting to blog for ages.  Essentially since I've relocated to this neck of the woods again.  But I've mostly been keeping my writing to myself.  It's a different sort of writing, you know?  I mean, this is a different sort of writing because, while a lot of it is mostly for myself, I'm also aware that I'm not the only person who's going to be reading this.  I don't like to think of it as writing for an audience, but I suppose it kind of is.  I'm not trying to be inspirational or entertaining.  I guess sometimes I like sharing what I like in the world.  Does this makes sense?  Can I just move on from the meta and get on with the story?  Yes, okay.

So in the Netherlands I found myself wanting to write about culture shock.  Because I guess I had a bit of it this go around.  I was in the Netherlands visiting Sanne in mid-August, for clarification's sake.  What was weird was when I touched down at 6 in the morning and made my way through customs in the early morning grey and then sat in the train station/meeting area of Schipol, I felt normal.  And I was weirded out by me feeling normal.  Because here I was in a new country with a trolley stacked full of my worldly possessions.  Waiting on my internet friend I've now been friends with over four years.  And none of it was phasing me in the slightest.  I mean, I was excited that the life I had been waiting on for months to begin was finally commencing.  But usually with me there is more nerves and suppressed panic.  But no.  I just felt like I had a handle on things.  And my calm-cool-collection weirded me out more than any of these other big things I was doing.

So I mentioned culture shock, yeah?  Well I found myself a little unhappy my first couple days in the Netherlands.  I think it was having to deal with unfamiliarity all the time.  For example, going to shops and having to speak English was causing me terrible anxiety.  And whenever Sanne and I would have to ride to town and we'd go on bikes.  All those little things add up to really wind you up and make it hard to enjoy yourself.  But I powered through.  And I have to say that putting your head down and barreling through things, as sucky as they may be, is really the only answer to anything unpleasant in life.  I'm still trying to get this in my head.  I don't listen to myself, my own advice.  Even though once I grit my teeth and just went through with things, my time in the NL really started to be wonderful.

And I'm still frustrated that I didn't blog everyday while I was there because Sanne and I did so many things!  So much train travel and vegetarian meals and ice cream and cycling and dancing around to Childish Gambino.  But I want to get on to some London stuff.

So I've moved to London.  As permanently as permanent can be for a student.  I've transferred to a university here as a second year, still doing the film studies thang.  Also I'd like to say hello to the people I met at Summer in the City who said they read my blog.  There were a couple of you, and that was just the nicest thing to be told and I thank you!

I've just been having the nicest of days.  Days also really blur together here.  I never know what day it is.  Probably because I'm bouncing between places and don't have the structure of university upon me yet.  My life just feels like one giant errand.  Not in a bad way.  But it just disorients you in terms of time.

For example, I can't remember if it was yesterday or the day before that Rosi and I had one of the nicest days ever.  I'm thinking it was the day before because yesterday was key copying, Sainsbury's, skipping parties, Schnapps, and Kinder bueno.  So on the nicest of nice days, Rosi had her stuff transported from her mum's house to our new flat.  She hired one of those man-in-a-van deals, and the guy was really, really nice and helpful and didn't break the bank.  And then I got an IKEA desk off of Gumtree for FREE.  And it was right down the road.  Actually I gave the guy a pound for his trouble of bringing it to the corner.  Spreading the cheer, you know.  And someone shared a song with me and it was very good and nice and I got to listen to it while sitting in the windowsill of my new room in my new flat.  And earlier that day, Rosi and I went around to charity shops to look for some houseware things, and I got two bowls, a mug, and a cheese grater all for £4.  And one of the shopkeepers was this grizzly old man who picked up my cheery yellow teacup and said, "This is just an empty mug!  What am I supposed to charge you for this."  He could have been Olivander in his rickety old shop.  Okay, I'm just gushing now.  But just know that things have been good.  I'm good, and I hope you're good too.