So this week I've been procrastinating. A lot. I have essays which need writing and books that need reading for when I get back to University after Easter but I've decided that I need a break. Otherwise what is the Easter break for, right? I mean, it is called the Easter break.
My week in pictures focuses on the things I have been doing this week when I haven't been staring blankly at a copy of Macbeth. I went to the theatre (technically last week) with my parents to see a production of Little Voice at the newly restored Robin Hood Theatre. It's a tiny theatre and super cute inside, with the original, old-fashioned seating; their version of Little Voice was certainly impressive, too, especially considering they had such a small cast!
Earlier this week I managed to catch up with some old friends when I went to a friend's Easter barbecue. It was a sunny day but as the party went on into the evening, the bonfire kept us toasty! Talking of sunny days, I took the blossom photograph in my garden this afternoon. It's been so lovely and warm these last few days and it's finally feeling like Spring! I think the spring blossoms around at the moment must have inspired me to buy myself a new floral print duvet, pictured above. Urban Outfitters were offering another 20% off in their sale and so I took the opportunity to buy some new bedding and a few bits for my room. (I can't wait for them to arrive!)
Today I decided to do some baking after seeing lots of friends uploading Instagram pictures from their kitchens and so I chose to bake some peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. They are entirely unhealthy and 100% guilt-inducing treats, containing mostly sugar and carbohydrate, but they are so super tasty that I just had to make them. The recipe is pretty simple to follow, too. You just need to throw all of these ingredients into a bowl and mix: 175g butter, 100g caster sugar, 220g dark brown soft sugar, 2 eggs, 85g peanut butter, 60ml water, 1tsp vanilla extract, 200g plain flour, 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 160g porridge oats and 170g plain chocolate chips. (See what I mean about the calories?!) Bake in an oven pre-heated at 180ºC for 8-10 minutes until slightly golden.
This week I've also read a couple of interesting articles about Instagram and the 'selfie' generation that I seem to part of; it seemed fitting to talk a little bit about this as I post my 'week' in five Instagram photos. After reading this article on manrepeller.com, I've realised that I'm one of those annoying people that she doesn't like. I love a good Valencia haze over a picture of a cupcake or a sunset or, better still, a book I'm 'reading' and I add sickly-sweet captions (not ironically) beneath them, often accompanied by an emoji. This article, featured in i-D magazine, explains it perfectly. Posting such images is a way of branding ourselves and both the subjects and the filters that we use are a way of manipulating that brand. I think all of us are a part of this, whether we are doing this consciously or unconsciously. Every time we go on Twitter or Facebook we do the same. We are portraying ourselves in a certain light through the things we post, the things we 'like' and the things we share. Though aren't we doing the same thing in person, too? The clothes we wear, the way we speak, and the things we find interesting are all part of our personality, so surely our online presence needs to have a sense of ourselves in there somewhere, too? Portraying a perfected, or idealised, version of ourselves online doesn't really matter that much, does it? We are the curators of our online presence, quite literally when it comes to Instagram. And I'm #sorrynotsorry about it.
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