October 2016 / ChloeHarriets

Autumn Walks

Monday 31 October 2016

If you follow me on Instagram (@chloehayfs), you'll know how much I love Autumn. Autumn is by far my favourite time of year, to the extent the excitement gives me butterflies in my stomach when I notice the first signs of leaves falling, and temperatures dropping. I love how colourful the world becomes, I love stepping on crisp autumn leaves, and feeling that crisp cold air against your face, I love the clothes, I love being cosy inside, and being chilly outside, I love wrapping up in jumpers and sitting by bonfires, and Halloween, and the oranges, and reds, and did I say I love autumn leaves?! As you can probably tell, everything about this time of year makes my heart happy - I just love everything about Autumn.

Lately, I've been enjoying appreciating Autumn and taking myself on some Autumn walks, along with my camera to get some snaps of how beautiful everything is this time of year. So I thought I'd share my love for Autumn through the view of my camera...

You can probably tell I think Mother Nature is just a real babe this time of year by the excessive number of images (it took a lot of narrowing to get to this many!)

As I'm enjoying playing with my camera more than ever, one of my favourite things about Autumn this year is capturing the beauty of it through my camera lens, as you can probably tell!

What's your favourite thing about this time of year?

creative writing personal poetry

October in Poetry.

Friday 28 October 2016

04.10.16

As I built up the courage

to utter the words

you laughed,

in my face

So, my

I miss you

will go unheard.

_______

05.10.16
I became wrapped up in myself
Because you wouldn't allow me
to be
wrapped up
in you

Bitter makes selfish
through and through

_______

05.10.16
I am proud of all these raw, honest things that
I do,

So laugh,
all that you, please
Because, gleefully
I'm laughing too.

Mock me, block me, but your
bitterness
won't stop me.
Genuine lips turn to smile
Because I take pride when we say
I've got my own
style.

______

05.10.16
As I longingly wonder over the intricate
delicate details of your day

And ponder helplessly over the windows,
Winding, whirls of your brain.

Selfish, you say
As thoughts of you drive me
Insane.

_______

05.10.16

We should be still

You're an ocean, your waves come

crashing in

I'm the jagged rocks

which slowly crumble

at these careless forceful encounters. I

turn to dust.

The elements change their mind

there's a change of heart

in the air

The wind stays, frozen.

Together we are still, as the rock

embraces the

steady ocean.

There's more than beauty in this lack of

motion.

_______

06.10.16

The girl who was always stuck in her

head

Found herself present

In a moment

An unforgettable, unmemorable minute

While her head lost it's vision

Based on hearts decision.

Her head came down from the clouds

Blissfully ignorant to the rain and thunder

So loud

Hearts were beating louder

With the loss of all power

by entangled bodies

And forces claiming

kisses

Fingertips drawn to

touching

Bodies laughing

aloud.

The only moment to remove her head from the

cloud

For once her head was quiet

and the world was

loud.

_______

08.10.16

I cannot decide whether it's twisted

Or beautiful

that you inspire me enough

to write broken poetry of

hurting hearts

And feel world's apart

As I sit in M&S

Over coffee and cake

I tremble over every mistake

_______

08.10.16

I guess, there's not really anything special

about

that you sometimes felt like sharing

And sometimes you didn't

No messages hidden

Just meaningless, emotional rhythm

_______

08.10.16

It's somewhat comforting, to think our version

of fate

Was more dependent on alcohol intake

and planned mistake.

_______

16.10.16

I hate to admit

I have a feeling

about

you

My gut tends to tell

white lies of loneliness

but I hope this time

it's true

_______

16.10.16

I hope you know

I wonder

How your mind

is keeping

I do not ask

My questions don't feel welcome

As in spite of kind communication

It's some sort of probation

We both know

Arguments always arrive

_______

24.10.16

I realise I don't like the thoughts which fill

your brain, those little habits, the

company you keep

It's more the way

your name rolls off my

tongue

and how comfortably I can lay my head upon

you stomach

hoping you don't suppress a need

to twiddle my red hair

amongst your dirty

fingers.

bloom book estée lalonde Featured photography reading

Bloom by Estée Lalonde

Thursday 27 October 2016

I recently read Bloom by Estee Lalonde, and as I found myself unable to put it down (it only took one day to read from cover to cover), so I wanted to share my thoughts with you.

Firstly, this book is damn beautiful. The titled part of the cover is made from a gorgeous textured fabric, the image of Estée on the front is lovely, she just looks like her (you know what I mean right? Or am the only person who think we sometimes look like our personality in photographs?), and the colour of her jumper on the front carries through to the inside cover of the book. The aesthetic of this book are on point and I think the cover itself is a good reflection of Estée and the contents of the book.

I've watched Estée's videos and read her blog for years now, I feel as though I've really seen her grow into herself on camera, and I feel as though she's an old pal (sadly she's not!), and this book represents her truest version of herself through and through.

The book is split into the sections: life, people, work, beauty, fashion, home, travel and food. Each subject covers a wide ground. The book talks about serious topics such mental health and more light-hearted stuff like styling hair.

The book is very honest throughout, and Estée shares a lot with the readers than she hasn't already shared on her Youtube and Blog, such as her relationship with her dad, and her struggles with mental health, all of these things she shared in her book only made my respect for Estée grow and made her seem so much more relatable.

The book is very well written, I think sometimes when Youtuber release a book there's a stigma which surrounds it, and people assume they're writing a book because it will sell, whether or not they can write - well I'm telling you that Estée can write. Her words were engaging and the content was interesting throughout (hence why I read it in a day).

I found myself emotional as I read letters to Estée from her mum and partner Aslan.

I also loved hearing more about Estée and Aslan's story. You know there is something special about a relationship when someone is willing to move to another country which they've never visited to be with someone - reading this made me see what relationship should be and understand that when you know, you just know. Their love story is just really really lovely.

Estée talks a lot about finding yourself, and 'blooming' into who you're supposed to be in this book, and that's something I think I've realised is really important, and has begun to impact my day to day life as I trying to be the truest version of myself.

This book is also very beautiful - it's filled with lovely photographs which are all very personal to Estèe, that fit perfectly where they're placed. The layout of the book and the images chosen just really work, you can see the thought that has gone into it!

Bloom is really something special! I'd recommend picking up and having a flick through, take in the words, and appreciate the beauty and work that's gone into it.

autumn coat coconut lane fashion fashion blogger Featured leopard print office ootd outfit outfit of the day topshop winter

Leopard.

Wednesday 26 October 2016

I've recently been on the hunt for a new coat, I was in desperate need as the ones had just weren't cutting it. I popped into Topshop one day and this one caught my eye, and I knew it would be a great addition to my wardrobe but wanted to be sure, so I decided to go away and think about, and it seemed it was something I couldn't stop thinking about, so I knew I had to go back in and get it.

Leopard print in so on trend at the moment, and also never really goes out of style. Considering I was in need of a new coat and didn't have any leopard print in my wardrobe (shocking I know) this coat filled two pretty big holes in my wardrobe.

I'm between sizes, so decided to size up and go for a slightly oversized look. I think it's always good to go a little bigger in coats, it means you can fit chunky knits underneath and it also gives off an oversized and androgynous vibe to the look which I love.

I decide to keep the rest of my outfit fairly simple, as the coat is statement enough. I wore it with my grey high neck dress from Boohoo - it's a really simple piece, but I think cut gives it a sophisticated edge. I like the grey against the leopard print, as it brings in more depth to the outfit, but it's monochrome so compliments the printed coat.

I paired this with plain black tights to keep my legs from getting chilly, and these cutest little black ankle boots from Office which have a same, circular heel which I love (unfortunately the boots are no longer available, sorry, similar here).

To finish the look, I popped on my Tom Ford specs and a NARS Lipstick in the shade Heatwave, alongside a couple of cute little rings I got from Coconut Lane, (where you can get 20% off with the discount code chloeharriets20, go go go!) and my much loved Urban Outfitter backpack (old, similar here).

What do you think of this outfit? I love this coat so much, I'm going to be wearing it constantly!

annasbrownies baking brownies Featured food recipe salted caramel yummy

Salted Caramel Brownies | #annasbrownies

Tuesday 25 October 2016

In my Tanya Bakes cookies post, I touched on how extremely rubbish I am at baking, and how it's something I'd like to be able to enjoy and hopefully be okay(ish) at. I found myself feeling the need to bake once again, so I thought I'd share is how I go on.

Rather than turning to a recipe book, this time I took to the world of blogging to decide what I was going to make. One of my favourite bloggers, The Anna Edit posted a salted caramel brownie recipe on her blog and youtube channel, and as it looked truly delicious (I mean, who doesn't love anything with added salted caramel?) I decided to pick up the ingredients and see how it turned out.

I began by referring to Anna's blog post to get my ingredients ready. It didn't require loads of different ingredients so that gave me hope that it wouldn't be too complicated, and I was right.

I then popped on Anna video and followed the steps - I found myself pausing the video and going back a lot to check I was doing the right thing - but that's the beauty of youtube, I was able to watch the same parts over and over as I needed.

The thing I loved about the video, is that Anna makes it very clear she is not an expert and she was winging it just as much (well probably not quite so much) as I was when it came to baking.

Making the brownies was fairly simple, it took melting some dark chocolate and butter, and then mixing in flour, sugars, eggs and vanilla extract.

Once everything was all mixed together, I just needed to pop it into a lined baking tray and spoon in my salted caramel.

Once all the caramel was in, I simply took a chopstick (it was all I could find, okay) and swirled the salted caramel around the brownie mix, which left a pretty pattern, that looked a hell of a lot more complicated than it was to create! Such an easy way to make the brownies look a lot more impressive than they really are.

Then, of course, all that was left, was baking the brownies, so I just popped them in the preheated oven - and when they were done I took them out and chopped them up.

I cut the brownie into quite big squares, and still had more than the recipe was intended to make - not that I minded, of course, they were so yummy!

They brownie came out a lovely texture, crispy on the top and soft and moist (sorry if that word makes anyone cringe) inside. The salted caramel added a sweet, and salted twist to the flavour to the brownies and went nice and crisp once it had been baked.

I was seriously impressed with these brownies, they were so simple to make, and I think they're one the tastiest things I've ever baked - I'd definitely recommend giving them a go, your taste buds can thank me later! You can find the recipe I followed here.