Since 10am this morning I have been sat here wearing headphones in my own flat because the new owners of the flat opposite decided to renovate their whole fucking apartment (I know, how dare they).

Yup my butthead and I finally ventured to one of the many beaches that exist in the Netherlands! When I was first told of the beaches "just outside of Amsterdam" I smiled politely but thought '...It's probably just Dutch Margate'.

Don't get me wrong, many a fun time is to be had in Margate or Brighton or Hastings and all of the other seaside towns. But if you're going to reach into your vocabulary for the word 'beach', you're bringing forth images of St Lucia, Malaysia, Hawaii etc. ...and you're telling me this exists in the Netherlands?



Yes I did think they were exaggerating. However once we arrived in zandvoort aan zee; the sun was blazing in the bluest sky ever, on my first Friday off in nearly a month and there was sandy beach as far as the eye can see (which is far-ish).



It was gorgeous! I wasn't in Dutch Margate, I was in Bali.

To tone down the exaggerations a little ... it kind of WAS Dutch Margate. There was still fish and chips and buckets and spades - but it was alongside a chic-ish looking beach side restaurant and stylishly dressed beach compadres (beautifully illustrated by the men sat behind me). People on their paddle boards in the sea and actual boats, youguise, I just never expected to find this here. 

Also apparently Bloemendaal beach, which is only 10 mins away (by tram) is even better. It's a shame that we made this beachy discovery in what ended up being the final weekend of summer. Never mind ay, here are more pictures:

Writing a 'J' and 'A' in the sand

Getting eaten by Dr Zoidberg and then pretending to be Dr Zoidberg

Farewell photo at the end of the day. We'll be back next year!

P.S. If the title doesn't make any sense to you please allow me to cleanse your ear drums

Family

Friends

Some have made an effort to stay in touch, others haven't. You do start to see the people who were only around out of convenience rather than an actual need to have them in your life. I've got to admit that I don't feel too negative about this, for obvious reasons and also just because, that's life!

Personal Growth

So unless you've been living under a rock you will have heard about the various advances made regarding wearable tech. Google has ventured onto the scene with it's glasses and Apple hopes to change your life with a watch. And now there's Ringly, a company that has taken wearable tech down a refreshingly stylish route.

"Ringly creates jewelry and accessories that connect to your phone and notify you about the things that matter most. Put your phone away and enjoy the moment. Ringly connects to your phone and sends you customised through vibrations and light, creating smart jewellery and accessories that keep you effortlessly connected to the things that matter most."

Their core belief is that "technology can be more discreetly integrated into our lives", here for it. And it doesn't hurt that they look cuter than two cute things. All we need now is a compact mirror for skype and the ability to have conversations via the mic on the ring. Then all my Totally Spies fantasy will have officially come true.

Find out more about them.

You can buy me one if you want.

Technically Valentines Day was yesterday but who cares! I hope you had a nice day regardless of your relationship status or the Valentines Day status!

I'm not really a picture taking person (I used to be!) so I don't have much from yesterday. The picture above is of a hazelnut latte I got at a coffee shop outside of Chancery Lane station, I ended up running early so I thought I would get a coffee while I waited. It was yummy BUT I was more so excited by the fact that I had chocolate numbers on my coffee. I was quickly informed that it was "just a stencil", but for a second I thought that maybe my coffee had been made by a wizard, and it was a magical few seconds.

My 'valentine' and I have been together for coming up to five years now and honestly I'm not one for these days which get hyped up to ridiculous levels so Clintons Cards can sell a few more cards than usual. So, I initially said lets not bother doing anything - we changed our minds closer to the date (for other reasons) and low and behold it was impossible to get dinner reservations before 10pm.

Instead of stressing, we just said we would go with the flow and my V-day ended up consisting of ping pong, cute walk through the deserted financial district of London (which just shuts down on the weekend), motherfucking BURGERS, drinks, movies, more drinks and lots of lurrvin. All in all a really nice day!
How did you spend yours?

Like I never left (because I didn't). In the event that you actually care - this is what I wore to work today. My Baseball knowledge is laughable but I asked my (amelican, yes amelican) uncle if I could have one of his baseball jerseys I think in December 2013, The answer was a resounding NOPE, but then months and months later my uncle and aunt surprised me by getting me this for my birthday in June.

Sentimental tears aside, I did initially envisage the jersey coming down to my knees, because obviously when I tried on my uncles', who is 6ft 2, it was a litttlleee longer to say the least. ...Are you guys still with me? I know this is some inane bullshit but I really like this top. You're still reading!  Anyway long and short, I like it this length.

Also a bonus extra cute point is that my initials spell out the word J.E.T. which is why I think they got me the Jeter jersey.

Now i'm sure that I've significantly changed your life, I'll be leaving now.

Day 7: Your pet hates



I don't have many pet hates (lies).

• I hate people spitting on the floor
• I despise slow walking in busy places
• I hate when people try to run on to a train just as the door closes (like no one has watched Final Destination before)
• I don't like seeing stray hairs in water
• I don't like when people mix rubbish - like putting old clothes with food etc.
• I don't like strangers accidentally making physical contact with me when i'm in public

Those are my major ones.

Read day six.

Day 6: Your 5 senses right now

1. I can taste the dinner that my younger siblings made for everyone this eve
2. I can see the stupid 'Walking Dead' on my TV right now. I don't want to watch it but my sister has it on and I can't be bothered to move
3. Right now i'm touching the keyboard and I can feel this sofa under my butt
4. I can hear the stupid Walking Dead programme. To clarify, i'm sure it is a well-made and interesting programme but I'm a bit of a scardy cat and I don't like to watch these things!
5. Right now I can't really smell anything. Just Oxygen - which is pretty perfect!

Day 5: 10 songs you love right now



In no particular order, just what I've ended up listening to a lot recently:

1. Kendrick Lamar - Sing about me
2. Breach - Jack
3. Stromae - Ta Fete
4. Kanye West - Black Skinhead
5. Dusty Springfield - Spooky
6. Alive - Skindo le le
7. Buju Banton - Untold Stories
8. SWV - Can we
9. Ed Sheeren - Sing
10. Azealia Banks - ATM Jam (Kaytranada Edition) (FIREEEE)

Day 4: What are you afraid of

Day 3: Your favourite quote

"I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass" - MAYA ANGELOU

You can read day two nyaso.

Day 2: 20 facts about you

Okay, my name actually is Jade i'm a twenty-something gal who lives in London. Next year I'll be moving to Amsterdam so my current life consists of saving and saving and more saving. I have three sisters and one brother - i'm the oldest and best sibling (obviously). I love music, I can play the piano and I am learning how to play the drums (currently on a break - long story). I also love silence and alone time so I can let my brain breath. I'm a psychology graduate but I currently don't actually do anything that relates to that degree, except for when I lurk on message boards for people with personality disorders (which I hope isn't offensive - I enjoy reading about the disorder from their own point of view).

I am in a relationship with a great human being, it'll be four years in November since we started being all lovey-dovey with each other.

I have a cat named Caesar who is always catting around like a typical cat.

I consider myself a feminist, which isn't something that's always very popular to claim because of untrue connotations but take from that what you will.

I think that should suffice as an introduction.

Photo!:


Bye.

You can check out the 31 day challenge here.

As someone who once prided themselves on 'discovering' and being a part of the newest technology available, as soon as it was available, social media is one of those things I have grown up using.

Having a dad who is heavily into computers meant I was using them at quite a young age and using them as a way to be social is second nature, from my foray into chat rooms, taking part in conversations with people that may or may not one day feature on 'To catch a predator', to  message boards to diary sites like Xanga, you name it I probably still have an account on there.

Coming from heavily using these sites at a time where I would almost feeling embarrassed by it in general company, to now living in a society where it's looked upon as odd to not be on at least one social networking site, has left me in a position where I'm beginning to analyse my usage of these websites, and coupled with my background in Psychology - I can't help but wonder how these interactions are shaping us and what we're gaining from it.

Currently a new social media site seems to pop up every 5 minutes, instead of being quick to join I now feel the weight of past sites I've joined calling me to question why the hell I need to add a new password and login to my memory bank. Not being so easily swayed to join newer sites makes me begin to question the ones I am using at the moment.

Subjects like this have been done to death, with scientists tentatively explaining how 'notifications' act as a drug, giving us a feeling of pleasure which then causes us to repeat the behaviour to get said feeling of pleasure again, thus the cycle begins. We are being told that the way we are using this technology is causing us to have shorter attention spans and they're changing the way we communicate in 'real-life'.

It's not hard to see the affect this has had on our lives. Go out to dinner with your friends, sit down at the table and one of the first things you'll see is everyone do is put their phone on the table ... and every iPhone user knows that they offend St Steve Jobs if they dare to sit down to a meal without taking a picture first.

I don't really want to talk about that, I don't have Instagram as I own a Blackberry (a serious mistake), although I definitely understand the appeal of the website, as a long time user of websites such as picnik.com and now picmonkey.com - filters and editing images (with little Photoshop knowledge) has always been a fun past-time. It's obvious the way it's put a barrier up between actually experiencing something in the moment instead of taking a picture/tweeting to experience it later with your followers.

It is weird how society is gradually changing in that way and in that sense I'd like to talk about the growing trend of nude blogs, specifically on Tumblr. When it was first announced that Yahoo had bought Tumblr, one of the main questions was; "BuT wHat Of ThE PoRn BlOgS??!!". Most readers of these articles and even most Tumblr users appeared to be surprised to hear of this thriving community of Penis's and Vaginas', but within it's clean aesthetic and pictures of townhouses and rainbows are many a gif and image that you pray to God are tagged with NSFW as you browse in 'safe mode' sat in your office.

Sex is prevalent on Tumblr and the site has seen an emergence of various sex blogs created by the average Joe or Jane, staying anonymous, they provide a more 'normal' side to the world of porn but also from a very intimate view point. Most popular among these sites are the couples blogs who share their sex lives with their followers through stories, photos, videos and gifs. These sites are like catnip to our Big Brother generation who could seriously put 'Lurking' under a key skill on our CV's. It's something like not being able to look away from a car crash, not because it's a negative thing but because they're sharing such private acts that we wonder whether should we be privy to.

It's the actual act of taking a picture during sex that baffles me. It's one of the rawest acts humans partake it, within a society where we are ever so conscious of our every move and thought, sex breaks that mold and more natural aspects take over, taste, touch - you're able to let go. So during these moments, I wonder at what point does the camera get pulled out? Do you begin to perform for the camera and in turn the audience who you know will be viewing the images/video later? The irony being that during a moment of such social intimacy you're not actually there in the moment experiencing it. Does the quality of the experience then slightly become dependent on how many 'reblogs' and 'likes' the picture receives?

With generic porn, somewhere in our heads we are aware that at one point the director called 'cut', but with these images it's the idea of real intimacy that makes them more interesting to view... but in the way that it's  now more common to watch concerts through a mobile phone screens rather than with our own eyes, I wonder if social media is again infiltrating intimate experiences in a way that takes away from how special the act is in itself - even if it is a one time thing to never be seen again.

Don't get me wrong, I see the appeal of the sites, and the majority tend to be body positive and fairly arty, but living presently and not for future rewards is something I'd like to see more of. I feel like our current use of social media has begun using us.