In which Demi goes there and back again.

A belated happy 2014 everyone!

(...pauses for odd stares)

Ahem. I realise I am beyond late, but quite how we're nearly mid-February I'm not sure. Last time I blinked it was New Year, and I was stood in the wind and rain and cold as close to the South Bank as I could get (not very, since we got waylaid by a pub and had to make do with watching the fireworks through gaps in the London skyline).

Now I'm home, home home, back in the North, and my London life feels like a dream. August to the end of November, as well as a hefty chunk of January - gone in a flash. I had the busiest and best, best, best time, making new friends and reconnecting with a whole bunch of people from University. There was an immediate shift daan Saauff (that's 'down south' for those who don't understand my pretty accurate imitation of my dire southern accent) in September 2012, after graduation, but I was part of the second wave - people who, like me, had been figuring things out for a year, or had been tied up in a four year course.

Jumping in at the deep end, I stayed with a friend of mine for the first week while I checked out potential rooms, and ended up living in the quiet area of Raynes Park with three complete strangers, who turned out to be ridiculously nice. Bonus! For a city-phobe like myself it was perfect - a fast train route straight into Waterloo, enough shops in nearby Wimbledon and Kingston for me to spend my non-existant income, and my best friend close enough for after-work visits. Yes, my darling Elf made the jump down in the September, and together we explored Clapham (Infernos and Aquum owe me some of my dignity), ate incredible food in Balham (and most other places actually) and spent a ridiculously fun afternoon meeting one of my writing heroes in Kensington at a film and comic convention.

Oh Aquum...

My adoptive southern family

Elf (R), her friend Natalie (L) and myself

My adorable little Raynes Park room

A family trip to Kew Gardens in the summer, when my parents brought down (more of) my stuff

Yes, yes he does. One of my favourite PR stunts, I moved down only a couple of weeks after Murray's historic Wimbledon win, to find that the local Morrisons had replaced their name to acknowledge his achievement.

I couch-surfed for longer than I probably should have in January - it's a good job Elf's housemates have practically adopted me at this point - until I had to realise that my drained bank account spelled out only one thing: H-O-M-E-T-I-M-E.

So with two more solid PR placements under my belt, I must admit I was disappointed to leave London empty-handed in terms of a job. A couple of near misses and several 'let's keep in touch' open endings have me furiously applying while supplementing myself with freelance work for my first placement.

[FYI, if you're interested in beauty and want to get some amazing behind-the-scenes interviews with top make-up artists, from Bourjois and Bobbi Brown to the legend behind The Lord of the Rings (I genuinely nearly died of excitement when he wrote back to me), then check out Warpaint, which I write for!]

SO, while I recalibrate myself and dust off the ol' blog (and journal, and writing notebooks - they've all been in a drought too), I'll leave you with a couple of songs which are currently being repeatedly blasted from my room, much to my family's frustration joy.

They've missed me really. xo.

'Can't Remember to Forget You' - Shakira ft. Rihanna. Two of the sexiest ladies on the planet, and two of my favourite female vocalists. Joy!

'SuperLove' - Charli XCX. Bubblegum pop perfection.

'Girls' - The 1975. I caught these guys at Dot to Dot Festival last spring, and they were amazing, even though they were suffering with sound tech problems.

'Happy' - Pharrell Williams. Because who doesn't love this song?

In which Demi fawns over Frascati

I've been extremely lucky and been on two incredible holidays this summer - one with my family (minus my older brother) and one with my gorgeous friend A., before we are separated for the first time since we became friends aged fifteen.

Firstly, to Frascati. Just south of Rome, Frascati is rustic Italy at its finest. Barely anyone in the town spoke real English, apart from the lovely staff at our hotel, and was mostly made up of restaurants and a scattering of boutiques. Oh, and an incredible gelato parlour which was never anything but heaving on an evening. During the day, when we ventured out for lunch, the place was sleepy and deserted, shimmering in the midday heat as the locals (wisely) took shelter indoors. But on an evening, the place exploded with people; gossiping teenagers, shrieking children, couples - old and young alike - sat on the steps of the church, simply watching the world go by.

We did venture into Rome for a day, as it was only a short train ride away. It was beautiful and interesting, but my attention was massively crippled by the intense heat; we'd coincidentally picked the hottest day of the year to make the trip, and sight-seeing in baking 42 degree heat was painful - literally, as I got physically burned when I sat down on the baking black seat of the tour bus. I'd love to return in the spring or autumn... definitely not summer. There's a reason people escape the city in the summer months.

Castel Sant'Angelo

The Vatican

Our beautiful 16th century hotel

The biggest and most delicious pizza everrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

It was, as it turned out, the hottest week of the year so far. Which, for two easily burning Britons (AKA my dad and I), was not ideal. It was so hot that after the first couple of days the hills began to ring with the sound of fire sirens, as local fire teams raced to put out the fires that were springing up left, right and centre. Fire planes, like enourmous canaries, swooped scarily low over the hotel grounds multiple times a day on their way to the nearby lake to fill up. It was pretty worrying, and the best we could do was keep checking in at the hotel that we weren't in any danger.

Other than the minor fire worries, it was a week of relaxation and de-stressing. My parents from their busy lives, and me from my surgery two weeks prior. A week of slowly, carefully excercising in the pool (and a somewhat doomed attempt to hold off the carb calories; Italian food is incredible).

More importantly, it was the first family holiday we'd taken in a while, for various reasons. And, it felt like, the first time this summer we were able to really relax and just be a family again, since the months of June and July had been so hectic and fractured. I wish my brother had come along too, but he chose to stay at home.

Next up... Malta mayhem with A. xo.

In which Demi is a jet-setter.

Another blogging delay, I know! I suck. In my defence, I spent a lovely (albeit scorching hot) week in Frascati, just south of Rome, with my family, followed by a week of seemingly non-stop catch-ups, day trips and general time wasting with my friends and family.

And today I am off to Malta for another week, with A.! We booked it after I'd spent less than 24hrs at home, after the mysterious and rather scary lump put a massive dent in our America travel plans. We're celebrating our last summer together, before she swans off to London to live the high-flying life, in her gorgeous new flat in Clapham. Not that I'm jealous or anything. Although I don't envy the fact she's locked into a contract where she deals with tax every day. Ick.

More in a week. Photos, news, book/film reviews galore, I promise. xo.

In which Demi dusts off the keyboard

So, you may have noticed there's been something of an almost-three-month hiatus here. Which is  quite unlike me, I'd like to think; I got into the swing of blogging a lot more this year - or so I thought - but I had enough bumps over my Easter holiday in April to send me careering off the track.

My bad.

So what, you might ask, caused this diversion? Well, to be honest, it was a number of things.

Essays (three of them. Big ones too). Reading (when am I not?). Doctor's appointments (enter mysterious and rather scary lump, stage left). Being smitten and/or embarrassed (over the cute and funny design guy at the magazine, who somehow made me revert to a 14 year old with a crush). Magazine elections and two new issues (the timing of the last two could certainly have been better, but loved the year as a whole). Summer placement interview at a great PR company (which I didn't get, due to my unavailability thanks to mysterious and rather scary lump). Celebrating the end of my degree (lots). Getting drunk (lots). Met a boy (sort of. Three years ago, technically). Films and Grey's Anatomy (my treat for finishing). Grad ball (beautiful). Results day (2:1 BA in English Studies, thrilled). Goodbyes (lots of them). A wedding (my cousin's, in Dingle, Ireland... beautiful, but far too remote). Trip to see the boy (romantic). Graduation (surreal, but lovely). Two early birthday celebrations (hilarious and very different). Surgery (damn you, mysterious and rather scary lump). My 21st birthday (two days later... not ideal).

Forgive me?

I'm now laid up in bed a lot, resting and/or being generally lazy after my operation, so I'll try to fill in the gaps of some of these events with some quick, belated posts. I've got a ton of photos to sort out and upload, so they'll probably make an appearance, along with some insights into my post-university life. No idea what they'll contain - mainly because I don't feel like I've properly finished. It all seems rather surreal. Once my results come back from the lab, I'll also finally be able to make some decisions about The Future, and what it shall contain.

...For now though, I'm going to curl up and watch New Girl I think. Hope you're all enjoying your summer so far, wherever you are. xo.