HOW TO HYGGE IN HOT WEATHER

 If, last Christmas, you went anywhere near a bookshop or the pages of a magazine or lifestyle blog, you'll know that the Danish art of Hygge (Hyu-Gah) was the big Winter trend, In case you were under a rock Hygge translates very roughly to a cosy comforting atmosphere and appreciating simple pleasures in life, and all the articles and books about achieving this blissful state recommend big log fires, cosy blankets, hearty soups and calming hot drinks.

Even though it was a massive marketing gimmick, I do really believe in embracing the Hygge lifestyle, and spent the winter surrounded by candles and soft throws, making sure I had a warm comforting space to come home to after a long day at work or out in the cold. But everything I saw in the Hygge lifestyle can be translated to a happy and calming summer, so I thought I'd share tips on staying hygge in the heat.

RECENT READS 001

Here in the UK, we've been enjoying a surprisingly long and balmy spell of summer, a perfect opportunity to get some reading done in the sunshine. Here are a few recent reads of mine that I feel deserve a mention, and the book I'm currently enjoying. 

I D A H O - Emily Rusckovich's debut novel is an extraordinary meditative piece, exploring the repercussions of a family tragedy from several perspectives. The writing is glorious and the ways in which she plays with elements of time and memory will leave you speechless.

SUMMER IN COPENHAGEN

Having not left the country since my trip to Paris in the New Year, Alex and I decided it was high time we went on an adventure of our own, and spent three days in the beautiful city of Copenhagen, Denmark. Despite the grizzly early morning start and the packed flight, the journey went smoothly and we arrived in the City in time to enjoy our first evening there. We were very lucky in that we had inadvertently visited the city during a week long jazz festival, and so spent hours exploring the city with music everywhere, from a big band performance in the heart of the city, where we climbed the Round Tower and had hotdogs from one of the 50+ stands (tofu hotdogs ftw) to a lone saxophone player on the waterfront where we spent the last hour of sunshine sat with beers and watching the world go by. 

ON CREATIVITY AND BEING 'ORIGINAL'

 I think it's only as you start becoming really serious about being creative that you suddenly fear being unoriginal. As a young teenager I wrote fanfiction and ripped off other people's ideas with zero shame or compunction, I loved playing in other people's worlds and reworking their ideas. But during my earlier twenties, when I decided seriously that I wanted to write novels and stories, I suddenly developed this massive complex around originality. It became the most important thing that my work seemed completely organic, and like nothing that had ever come before it. I discarded whole ideas and passages of written text because it felt derivative of something I loved. At one point I tried to write fantasy, but gave up because I had just read Game of Thrones and I seemed unable to write anything that didn't feel plucked straight from the pages of that series. 

NEW YEARS IN PARIS

For my first post, I thought I would just take myself down memory lane and talk about how I started off 2017. In Paris with my very best friends, staying at one of their houses with her parents and boyfriend.

We'd all been to Paris before and none of us are the tourist type so we didn't do a huge amount of deliberate sightseeing, rushing from one attraction to the next, and instead spent a lot of the time walking through parks and finding places to eat, and playing games in our pyjamas in a beautiful Versailles apartment. Nevertheless you can't walk around Paris in winter without being drawn into some of it's sights.

Of course the Shakespeare and Company Bookshop was on all our 'To-Do' lists. Given that we're all big readers, the chance to visit somewhere with so much bookish history was one we couldn't miss. Taking photographs of the inside is not allowed, so all I've got for this segment is the same basic ass shop front shot that everyone else does. We'll survive I'm sure. The inside is big but crowded with people and high bookshelves, with the ground floor being a commercial bookstore and, up a narrow flight of stairs, another floor full of old books and information about the history of the shop.