adventure diary + summer.

Summer. It's hinged on impossible realities, expectations and perfectly filtered action laughter. If you're anything like me, you will have fabricated the perfect summer in your head with the helps of Alexis Ren and Jay Alvarrez and pretty much every other American travel video maker. 

Life isn't always what social media makes it out to be. "Summer" can be achieved for little to no money, good music and even better friends. I challenge you to drop the idea that everything you do needs to be like what the pictures portray. Because that isn't always REAL.

Travel to your local city; laugh at your best friends; jump in to the freezing ocean. Adventure is out there- no matter where you look.

-J

P.S. please subscribe ;)

i just wanna be a rock star.

This a little something I wrote the other day on a long and pondering train journey inspired by the song "Rockstar" by A Great Big World. As always, interpret as you wish.

There's a lot of talk about 'life is what you make of it'. That you should quit your stifling city job and go and live, immerse yourself in this elusive freedom, sell all your clothes and wear bare-feet as you skim the pavement. Because that's living, isn't it? That's adventure. 

What you aren't told is that working to feed a family, eating an entirely boring meal of oven chips and chicken nuggets is living too. I struggle a lot with adventure and the unknown and how all I want is to run across a field with my skirt hitched way above my knees. Unfortunately, this isn't practical. It's not realistic, it's a fantasy thrown at us by social media. That's living, they say. 

But what I can't? What if I'm working in a job that I don't love, just tolerate. What I like my overpriced handbag and my overcrowded streets and crooked smiles from watery friendships? What if I'm stuck with deadlines, car horns and aeroplanes in the sky?

-J

get happy now.

Hello! I often get asked what I do to cheer myself up when I'm having a bad day. The most wonderful thing about happiness is that YOU can create your own. It's a choice, everyday.

So here it is, my list of things I do to 'get happy' (all photos are my own, taken from my Instagram @oceanpainter_ ) ;

1// An instant pick me up involves sunshine, duvet, fairy lights and my laptop. Tumblr, Pinterest, Youtube, Netflix... something that I can relax in to and smile. My favourite TV programmes are Pretty Little Liars, Once Upon A Time, Glee and Sherlock.

2// Escapism. Reading. Anything that can transport you in to a different reality.

3// Literal escapism. I've developed a habit of disappearing in to nature when I feel lost. There are countless amount of times I've plugged my ear phones in and just ran. It is honestly the most liberating feeling in the world.

And even if you don't have a field or woodland to escape in to, just walk. Discover a new neighbourhood- sit on the grass and watch as the cars go by. Be at peace with yourself in that moment.

4 // Pennying is my favourite hobby. I like to skate during sunset hour. We have this big hill where I live with a little pathetic patch of woodland yet with a setting sun it becomes the most magical place on earth. I challenge all of you to take up a new hobby.

5 // I dream. Dreaming of adventure and all the amazing unknown things to come is so comforting. Life is going to throw so much excitement your way so embrace the changes and relish in the new waves of inspiration that come with it.

Because ultimately that's what it all comes down to. YOU. Don't rely on someone else to make you happy. Create your own ocean, paint your own canvas (and every other cheesy metaphor in the book) because f*@k it, this is your life.