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12 In home/ lifestyle/ school

organised space organised mind

chunky-gold-chain

Of all life’s simple pleasures, a good spring clean and clear out is one of the most satisfying!  I’d put off the task for a while, but now it’s over and done with I’m feeling all organised and ready to go.  These next few months will probably fly by (hopefully, anyway) so I thought a clear space without too much unnecessary clutter would make life a little easier.  Now that a whole load of miscellany has made its way to the recycling I’m wondering how my cupboards ever shut; it seems I have hoarder tendencies to keep hold of things ‘just in case’!

animal-print-shoes-hm-jeans

During my epic clear out I unearthed a few items that surprisingly haven’t made it to the blog yet, beginning with these ‘cow shoes’ as they’re known in my house.  They’re from River Island and aren’t the most comfortable shoes on the planet, but I think the cow print makes up for it!

chunky-chain-necklace

As you can see from these shots my room is mostly pretty neutral:  I’m by no means a minimalist person but I prefer the feel of a blank room to which I can then add little splashes of colour and detail.  Not sure I’d keep up with a proper colour scheme – one mismatched box and the whole place looks a mess!  Maybe I’ll do a room tour once I’ve added a few more touches?

boots-no7-lipstick-mulberry

Seeing as my first exam is only 63 days away, I thought it was about time I went through all my folders and organised everything together in one place.  Organisation is the best form of procrastination, I tell you!  It’s totally justified too, since the best work couldn’t possibly be done in messy conditions, in my opinion anyway.  If anybody’s interested, I might share a few of my revision strategies and that kinda thing over the next few months as I’d like to think I’m OK at motivating myself to just get on with it!  I’ve pretty much scheduled myself to within an inch of my life, but I feel like that’s the best way to manage fitting in school and family and boyfriend and blogging and workouts and (hopefully) 2 minutes of downtime.  😀

brunette-with-messy-bun

Obviously I know that GCSEs have always been a lot of work, but I can’t help but feel that the ever increasing workload is maybe not quite right.  People I’ve spoken to that sat their exams only a couple of years ago have said that it was different even then: not staying at school until 5pm repeatedly and not starting intensively revising so early, and that was without the extra subject that we’re doing this year.  Whilst I appreciate and am very grateful for the tons of extra hard work that the teachers are doing for us (every single one of my teachers is ridiculously helpful and donates loads of their own time to us), I don’t know whether it feels a little overkill in a way.  We’ve basically been told to put the rest of our lives on hold until after the 23rd of June, which stops us from throwing ourselves into other pursuits for the time being.  I don’t know if it’s a good thing to limit 16 year olds in this way!  Of course I’ll just have to suck it up and get on with it, but I do find myself getting ever so slightly annoyed sometimes at how our worth and future seems to depend on grades!  Maybe that’s a rant for another time.

very-messy-bun

lily kate x
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12 Comments

  • Reply
    Naomi
    9th March 2014 at 9:07 pm

    Love the necklaces and the shoes, Lily! You are looking gorgeous as ever.
    And staying at school til 5pm is ridiculous! I definitely never did that, ever… But maybe they have high hopes for you and want you to do the best you can 🙂 I went to a big school where there was a mixture of kids and we were given a few revision classes here and there but pretty much left to it! I didn’t really start revising until about 6 weeks before my exams. I passed them all but didn’t get straight As, but I tell you, it really doesn’t matter – as long as you get what you need to do what you want to do next 🙂
    Naomi xo

    http://www.whatnaomiwrote.blogspot.co.uk

    • Reply
      lily
      9th March 2014 at 9:16 pm

      Thank you Naomi! Piled on the necklaces to add a little sparkle 😀 The teachers have definitely cranked it up a notch this year, they want us to achieve the best we can and it seems they’re doing everything possible to ensure that happens! There are 180 of us in my year, so it is a pretty big school, but we’re all still having tons of extra revision sessions (sometimes before school and in holidays) and lots of coursework catchup. Everyone says that it doesn’t even matter as long as you meet the entry requirements but I can’t help being a perfectionist haha!

  • Reply
    Carys
    9th March 2014 at 9:30 pm

    Wow, I love your outfit Lily, you look beautiful! I’d also be interested to know how you motivate yourself to revise – I always find myself procrastinating and then stressing so much when I do get round to it, so I can’t focus for very long. You seem so busy though, I don’t know how you fit everything in!;)

    • Reply
      lily
      11th March 2014 at 6:39 am

      Thank you Carys! I’m very much a ‘get it over and done with’ kind of person, and I like to feel that I have a good few hours of revision under my belt before chilling out. I guess if you tell yourself that by procrastinating, you’re making your revision go on later and therefore giving yourself less time for relaxing, then that’s one way of thinking about it! I may do a post on this topic sometime soon though, so watch this space!

  • Reply
    Rinica
    10th March 2014 at 8:18 pm

    Love your outfit here, love the statement necklace. In all honesty in the ‘real’ world as they call it it’s all about Maths and English, I used to work in HR dealing with recruitment and literally like we sifted through applications and the senior staff were more interested in the people with experience then qualifications! I’m sure you’ll do great either way, it seems like your very focused and motivated so I’m sure you’ll be fine 🙂 x

    http://subjectbeauty.blogspot.co.uk

    • Reply
      lily
      11th March 2014 at 8:02 am

      Thanks Rinica! Yep I’ve been told that Maths and English are basically all that matters a few years down the line haha. I can imagine that an employee with experience is far more valuable than one with all the qualifications. Hopefully all will go well!

  • Reply
    Amy
    11th March 2014 at 8:51 am

    I love your shoes!! You look fab, gorgeous photos

    Salted Roses // UK Fashion Blog

    • Reply
      lily
      11th March 2014 at 3:47 pm

      thank you Amy! Think these shoes might be on the blog a few times in the near future!

  • Reply
    M + K
    12th March 2014 at 6:01 am

    Those shoes are gorgeous! Lucky you re-discovered them! We agree! Although some say that doing badly at school doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world, sometimes it does feel that way, doesn’t it?!

    Side note, you look so much like Jennifer Lawrence with your hair up

    http://www.mkstyleramblings.blogspot.com.au

    • Reply
      lily
      15th March 2014 at 9:52 am

      Aren’t they just! It does feel like everything counts on grades at the minute but I imagine they’ll quickly be forgotten about afterwards. ++ Wow that is quite the compliment! I was told I looked like her loads of times when the first Hunger Games came out haha 😀

  • Reply
    Matthew Pike
    13th March 2014 at 9:25 pm

    You’re staying at school till 5pm?! It’s been a while since I did (and properly failed) my gcse exams but there wasn’t so much pressure on us. Though it does sound like you have some wonderful teachers and some good old will-power so you’re heading in the right direction.

    • Reply
      lily
      15th March 2014 at 9:54 am

      I am indeed some days! It’s actually not so bad most of the time, I end up just chatting to friends and teachers whilst revising and it’s pretty chilled. My teachers are great indeed so hopefully all will end well!

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