PHOTO DIARY | Amsterdam

March 20, 2020Leave a comment

Hi there, long time, no write (again!)
Life has been getting in the way as per usual, I’ve been undergoing my training to become a Secondary School English Teacher and that in itself has been a whole bag of mixed emotions, driving me away from my hobbies and of course, my blogging.
Now, with the whole Coronavirus pandemic – 2020 really shook things up here – there’s this eeriness present in the World where literally everything and everyone is coming to a halt, something that myself and I bet many of you thought we would never witness in this generation.
With this, of course jobs, careers, schools have all been effected in some way and therefore, has interrupted my life schedule too. I was supposed to be on a School placement for the rest of this academic year, that of course has come to a standstill and now, the whole of mankind is just sat here in this weird limbo of not being able to do much “until further notice.” Scary times. However, the purpose of this post was not to actually talk about the pandemic (we get enough of that on the news and social media) but this time off actually allowed me to catch up on blog posts that had been sitting in my drafts folder since last year that I thought to finish…and it’s nice to actually reflect back on times where Coronavirus was just a Black Mirror episode or movie blockbuster.
Hope you enjoy…

From July 2019:

Were our eyes deceiving us? For once in our drizzly, downpour of a country, England was finally able to enjoy a proper Summer!! Literally, from viewing people’s Instagram and Snapchat stories, I legit could not tell if they were abroad or just chilling in their back gardens with a barbie.

Throughout this blooming gorgeous chapter of sunshine, my siblings and I flew a little ways down south of the Globe for a little weekend getaway to Amsterdam! So, I thought I would share a little photo diary of what we got up to, along with a few little tips you may want to know if you’re planning a little visit over there yourself…

Day 1

We set off early from Manchester airport and as soon as we landed in the Netherlands, we stepped out of the airport and our priorities straight – checked in at the hotel and headed for FOOD!!

PANCAKES AMSTERDAM
So, courgettes, smoked chicken, coriander all embedded into a sweet pancake batter and cooked like a crepe…also not forgetting a mango chutney dipping sauce – this was a combination of ingredients I wouldn’t have even dreamed about putting together, but oh my word, it was actually amazing!! The perfect balance where sweet meets savoury, my sister opted for the full sweet taste of Nutella and ice-cream (and I personally feel like she massively missed out!)

And then we swiftly moved on to see some sites!!

Canal Boat Ride

Day 2

CAFE WINKEL 43
Best Apple Pie in all of ‘Dam…
…Oh Winkel, firstly, what a name! But my oh my, for a girl that is not a usual Apple Pie kinda lover, Cafe Winkel 43 managed to convert me. Shoutout to my girl May (AKA Doddsy, AKA Mad Dodds, AKA Legend) who was lucky enough to live in Amsterdam for a while and recommended this little gem to us.

Day 3

Happy Tosti
The cutest (and most healthiest) breakfast place I ever did dine at…

MAMA KELLY AMSTERDAM

Some Trip Tips

You need to Pay to Pee…
…in majority of places. Even the Mcdonalds we went to had a wee lil’ turnstile to get to the loo, so I would definitely advise to always carry some spare change around.

Check the Weather! And dress accordingly…
…or should I say, check the weather again! We had checked what the weather would be roughly a week before we had set out to leave and it was forecast rain and lots of clouds. It lied, the weather channel lied to us. Thus bringing me to my next point….

Don’t peddle boat in 30 degree weather (in a denim boilersuit!!)
…emphasis on the ‘boil’ because heavy perspiration was an un understatement. It worked off all the food we ate though!

Anne Frank…
…She is one VERY popular gal. Although viewing the Anne Frank Museum was one of the main activities we had set out to do, our little unorganised selves weren’t aware that tickets were only available online now! There is an extremely slim chance to book tickets on the morning you wish to visit as they keep a percentage of tickets available to buy but of course there’s an online queue and it’s basically impossible. So, learn from our mistakes and book 2 months in advance!

Bikes, bikes and more bikes
…Throw your green cross code out of the window here because you never know when or where one of these little buggers will pop out from and clip you out of nowhere. It made trying to get an insta photo hella hard I’ll tell you that!

Funky smells
…for obvious reasons you may or may not already know, as marijuana is legal here. If you would like to avoid getting high, do not visit any places labeled “coffee shops” for coffee, stick to cafes and restaurants 😉

If you would like to watch a little video I put together of the trip, you can view it here…

Keep safe,
I x

HEY IRAM, HOW’S IT HANGIN’?

March 19, 2019Leave a comment

It’s no secret that I am the worst at keeping up to date with blog posts – I know life gets in the way and people go on blogging breaks etc. but jeeeez Iram, 2 years since my last post?? That, I’ll admit, is shambolic.

So, without further ado, instead of dwelling on any details of what I got up to in the last two years (nothing that exciting, I can assure you) – let’s just get stuck back in…

…Welcome to a brand new post!! This is one I am really proud of and one that I know my Mother would be so, SO proud of too. Mam, if you’re reading this (which she most defintiely is – she’s obvs my biggest fan) brace yourself because you’re in for such a treat!

Over the past few weeks I’ve probably talked the ears of off all my co-workers, friends and family about my best purchase to date in my whole entire life and that is…drumroll please….A wardrobe!!! I know, not that exciting but this isn’t just any wardrobe guys, this here is my DREAM WARDROBE. The babe that is IKEA had allowed to me finally, FINALLY bring forth some organisation into my life that has been loooong overdue by allowing me to customise and design my own space for all my gajillions of clothes. This is the first time in my life I’ve been this organised, like, EVER – so naturally, I obviously want to tell the whole world.

So, I thought I’d share a few tips I learnt on the way for anyone else who wants a wardrobe re-vamp!

You ready? Here we go…

HANG SMART & SKINNY

Once the wardrobes were all fitted, it took me a while take in the this giant blank canvas. Initially in my mind I had it all worked out of where I where I would want to put jeans, t-shirts, where I want to hang my dresses etc. but once everything was built, everything I had planned in my mind just flew out the window! So, I was back to square one and quite overwhelmed with all this empty space – the irony right? – so in the end I was like, Iram you have to start somewhere…and I did!

Now, without sounding too dramatic here but the backbone of this whole operation was the HANGERS! I cannot shout out enough of how amazing these particular hangers I bagged from Wilkos are – and a pack of 10 cost me just £3! I’ve linked them here.

They are versatile for both trousers and tops/dresses and are a stunning coppery/rose gold colour. Also, the fact that they are really skinny meant I could fit in waaaay more clothes into a small space, BUY SKINNY HANGERS PEOPLE, they are the way forward.

Whilst transferring everything into the wardrobes, I realised that all the years I’d spent working in retail folding and hanging had really shone through! Whilst watching a few epidsodes of Marie Kondo and several folding trials and errors, my wardrobe was finally coming together and rapidly filling up!

I had to keep reminding myself that if I place something somewhere, it wasn’t then permanently glued down, I could re-jig and move things as and when I needed to! And to be fair, that happened a lot which was perfectly fine to do if it meant I was finding the perfect home for that particular garment.

READ BETWEEN THE CLOTHES

If like me, you have a whole plethora of T-Shirts, particularly graphic tees and slogan tees – I’ve found out a simple folding method to fold them all in a way that you can see the graphic/writing on the tee. Observe Iram Ahmed in her folding phase…

…And Ta-Dah!! You have a sea of tees all neatly folded and colour coded!

Folding them this way is a method I like to call Read your Clothing – this is seen in quite a literal sense with the tees where the majority of them have slogans, phrases, quotes etc. but reading your clothing is all about having an easy access to that specific piece you want to wear that day. This folding example allows you to see ALL of your T-shirts at a first glance from when you first open the draw, and from there it’s just an easy grab and go 🙂

…and this doesn’t just stop at t-shirts! I’ve carried this through to my sweats and pyjamas too…

JEAN-IOUS FOLDS

Following on from how to read your clothing, I’ve also adapted this into my jeans!
Take a look at the clip of below…

Now, I am aware that towards the end of the clip, the stack of jeans doesn’t look all that neat. The way I have folded these is purely down to more practicality reasons instead of visual perfection.

If you have a lot of jeans, you are bound to have some pairs that are really similar to each other – but of course, to you, they’re not. You might have one pair that may be an inch longer than the other which of course only you would understand. So, when you are looking for said jean, you don’t want to get confused with other similar looking jeans which therefore may lead to you destorying your whole pile of neatly (ish) folded jeans.

…This is where my method comes in!

See how all my jeans are folded so that the labels and tags on the inside are visible and facing outwards? This therefore allows you to view the style of the jean instantly i.e. your Mom’s from your Skinny and Straight Legs etc. as well as also being able to view the size.

For example, you may have a blue Skinny, 28W 30L Jean but you’re really feeling that you want to wear your blue embroidered Skinny, 29W 32L Jeans that particular day. So, here we have two blue jeans that will look similar when folded. However, because you used my amazing folding method, you have an easy access to reading the tag, so you know exactly which ones to pull out! Easy peasy 🙂

Okay, and now we are onto our final little installment … the FINISHING TOUCHES.

To give my wardrobe a break from all the heaviness of the clothes, I decided to incoportae some of my books and little decorative pieces to lighten up the insides and give the wardrobe amd clothes some breathing space too!

To achieve this, I tried to be as minimal possible and the key is to not overcrowd the space – just because there’s a gap doesn’t mean you have to fill it. As I am majority of the time all for maximalism, this is one of those rare moments where I feel that less is actually more, shocking, I know.

And there you have it! Probably the most organised post I have and will ever write in my whole entire life!

Now I’m ready for Netflix to notice me so I can start my own show, move over Marie Kondo …

…Folding freak out – I x

Wishlisting over on ASOS

January 15, 2016Leave a comment

http://www.asos.com/Monki/Monki-Roll-Neck-Slouchy-Jumper/Prod/pgeproduct.aspx?iid=5868769&cid=2637&Rf-200=16&sh=0&pge=1&pgesize=36&sort=-1&clr=Darkgreymel&totalstyles=85&gridsize=4

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So, over the past couple of months I’ve done a fair bit of grafting in the world of work and today I woke up to find I had been paid not just from one of my jobs but BOTH of them! Say whaaaat! I promised myself that when this day arrived that I would be a good girl and not buy anything (I had this whole save, save, save state of mind thing going on) but it’s as though I have this natural instinct (that I have no control over whatsoever) and before I know it I’m immediately reaching over to my laptop and the pretty pretty clothes and shoes on the Asos website are staring straight at me. Then I’m sat there thinking how did this happen? I don’t know what’s going on? But then something else inside of me pipes up and is shouting out things like; ‘you deserve this”look how amazing those jeans are’ *adds to saved items* ‘you already have the perfect shoes that will match that top, get it.’ *adds to saved items* And the process never ends! Does anybody else get this way too? This battle with yourself? Anyways, moving away from my personal psychoanalysis… here we have my top picks from Asos at the moment that have already made reservations in my wardrobe. Just click on a picture to shop it, there’s a nice little variety on there and with this ongoing, freezing cold weather situation, a lot of it should keep you snug as a bug! I’m obsessing over the navy and powder pink colour combo and have recently been introduced the beauty that is the cylindrical heeled boots! If any of you have any favourites yourself, share them with me! Because I’m filthy, stinkin’ rich dontcha know? *she exclaims with wishful, delusional thoughts.* Oh, and don’t forget to take a peek over on my Instagram to see some of these pieced together in full outfit form (when they eventually arrive that is) 🙂

Happy shopping! xo

All images shown in this post belong to ASOS

Confessions of an English Literature Student: October

November 5, 2015November 5, 2015Leave a comment

Gather round peoples…it’s the second instalment of the confessional chronicles!

So this post has been in the making for a while, but it’s here! Better late than never right? So, to keep you guys updated with the shenanigans of my 3rd year, I’ve decided to show you through monthly posts because let’s face it, it’s only uni and my life isn’t interesting enough to read about on a very frequent basis. I don’t want to be that person who dedicates a whole post about what I had for breakfast that day (that’s what my Instagram is for) 😉 As it is now November (that rushed its way over to us with no intentions of slowing down – I swear, all I did was blink and October was over!) I am going to show you a brief October diary of the ‘settling in’ stage I experienced at uni at the start of the year. Also, a mini autumnal photo-shoot I shot of places around my university, as we say good-bye to the leaves for the last time this year – oh, oh, wait, did you hear that? Yeah, that was the sound of my heart breaking a little inside. I’m so not looking forward to winter.

The First Day

You walk onto campus and you sense this nervous, lost and scared feeling. It isn’t coming from you but from the emotions of the Fresher’s that have left this sensation lingering in the atmosphere. You of course sympathise for the young Fresher, understanding the fact that you were in those shoes not too long ago. You don’t feel sorry because of the fact that they’re new and lonely, no of course not, but for the dreaded ice-breaker sessions that will be coming their way. God, them bloody ice-breaker sessions! Where EVERY tutor in EVERY class will assign EVERYONE to do. The whole, turn to the person next to you and tell them 3 fun facts about yourself but one of them has to be a lie, the other person has to guess which one is the lie. Anybody had that one before? You haven’t met this person before, so for all you know every single fact they tell you could be a lie! The worst part is trying to guess the fact that is a lie, because you don’t want to offend anybody if they say something that is completely ridiculous and you obviously assume it to be a lie, but then it turns out to be a true fact! So you’re sat there basically looking like a mug. Why do they put us trough that, eh?

So this year you count yourself lucky as you don’t have to go through any more ice-breakers because by now you should be ‘familiar’ with everyone, and you are familiar with everyone…everyone being those who are just your friends. It’s not like you choose to be anti-social with everyone else, you try to make conversation with somebody you haven’t spoken a word to in the past two years (and you don’t really know their name) but then they look at you as though you have trespassed some invisible territorial piece of land of theirs. Rude. But you tried.

Classes are in session

Currently reading:
– Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (20th Century Writing module)
– The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri (Scriptwriting module)

You walk into your first class thinking things are going to be so chilled, calm and cool, it’s the first week and you will be eased back slowly into being able to hold a pen and write on paper (because you haven’t done that all summer.) But boy, you were so delusional.Wrong, wrong and completely wrong! As soon as you sit your ass down in that lecture theatre everything comes at you at a billion miles an hour. Assignment briefs, deadline dates and … the dreaded DISSERTATION.

Welcome to third year folks.

The reading list you so very well prepared yourself (debatable) magically has two new books added to them! And your like ‘OMG’ and you flashback to a couple of weeks back where you tried to read just one of those books (the smallest one as well) and ended up watching the movie instead. You had followed the book while watching the movie, so that sort of counts as reading it, right? You’re panicking and think you’re going to have to up your game a little bit now and (with a miracle) squeeze in those two mysteriously added books into your reading agenda somehow. Buying them first might be a good idea.

In classes, there is a discussion on the book you were supposed to have read, but you’ve only managed to read the first couple of chapters. Your tutor asks you to discuss it with the people around you. Now, there’s two ways this can go down. Scenario 1 – The person you are paired with has read the book in the summer and then re-read it in preparation for this class just last night and knows the plot inside out, understands every character’s feelings and thought of every philosophical theory about the book. Scenario 2 – You’re paired with someone who has read the blurb of the book and you can’t get no conversation out of them whatsoever. Here you have a fine example of two ends of the student spectrum. Then there’s you. Stuck in the middle. You smile, nod and throw in an ‘Oh yeah of course, I agree’ now and then in scenario 1, trying to bring the conversation back to the bits you actually did read to make yourself sound more intelligent. In scenario 2, I suppose you just talk about what they did over the weekend.

As you can see from what you have read, I should totally be a representative of the university right? I just can’t get my head around as to why I haven’t been approached by any of the faculty members yet! Okay, I couldn’t even type that with a straight face. Oh! And I hope you all have an absolute blast tonight for Bonfire Night (sorry, these puns are even starting to irritate me) that is if you are doing anything interesting tonight. I for one am debating between going to the local firework display show and seeing the show through the lens of my camera, or sitting on the sofa in front of the TV with a Chinese take-away, and as I am typing this, it’s kind of a no-brainer.

Until next month guys for the next part of the Confessional Chronicles…

Bad Punned Student out ..x

Some Seventies Sass

November 2, 2015November 3, 2015Leave a comment

Just taking a moment to appreciate the sibilance in the title right there, I look at things like that and sometimes think to myself, ‘Gosh Iram, you’re so creative!’ Aaaaand the moment’s over.

So, It’s November already?!?! Which means I am so desperately trying to make the most of Autumn before the big freeze sets in and I’ll be buried under a blanket (most likely a duvet) whilst sat in front of the fire with a mug of hot chocolate watching shows on Netflix (by the way, still not over the fact that The Office US has been removed. It’s actually quite painful to talk about). There may be some possibility of crying and stressing over a few Uni assignments some time further down the line, but let’s not focus on that just now.

October flew away too quickly from me and a race has begun between me and the falling leaves. They’re still floating about spreading all their vibrant colourfulness, but I have still have too many autumnal outfits with too little time! I’m always always always spoilt for choices when it comes to Autumn, there are waaaay too many trends that I am in love with and I wish I could wear every single one of them all at the same time, but that would be a little ridiculous, even for me. So I have to keep telling myself ‘C’mon Iram, one outfit at a time.’

And ta-dah! Here is one of them… It’s belted, which is where I immediately think I can eat a little extra at dinner and not have to worry about the bloating situation that will occur ‘cos all I gotta do is loosen up the strings a little. It’s denim! Denim and I have an all-love kind of relationship, so no complaints there. It has pockets, meaning my phone has a new home for the day instead of being shoved in a bag. Overall, it releases all this inner sassiness I assume I would have had if I was strutting my stuff in this babe of an outfit during the seventies era. Basically, it’s the jumpsuit of my dreams! Three Trends Alert: Denim, Layering and Suede! Those boots just tie the whole look together and add an extra seventies kick (pun intended) to the outfit.

Hope you guys enjoy these shots of me trying to be candid and that against my neighbour’s garden wall (I’m sure he didn’t mind), whilst my sisters waited for me in the car with the windows rolled down, shouting at me to hurry up so we could get going. I swear, professionalism is dead these days.

Outfit details are all posted at the bottom of the post!