Hold tight, count to three, gotta stay close by me

I think this picture sums up everything that was fantastic about my Christmas.

I’ve never been so excited to give presents before; John Lewis ran an advert about a little boy who just couldn’t wait for Christmas and was restlessly counting downthe days until the day finally came. Instead of rushing to the tree to unwrap his gifts, he rushed to his parents’ room to give them their present from him, and that’s exactly how I was for the whole month!

At the pub I work at home, a few regulars came in on Boxing day after watching the football at another pub and were telling me about these two guys who instead of wearing their Newcastle shirts were donning ridiculous, matching, reindeer cardigans. To which I had the pleasure of informing them that those two guys in the ridiculous, matching, reindeer cardigans were in fact my Dad and eldest brother!

Matching festive cardigans? Always a great present and sure to make you and your family the talk of the town.

So what have I been making of the new year?

I always stare out of the windows when I’m on trains, and every time I’m travelling to Waterloo I always notice this extremely colourful complex of buildings out of the window with WWW.MAKESPACESTUDIOS.CO.UK protruding from the roof. And every time I see it I always think ‘hmm, I really should check that out when I get home’. And every time it completely slips my mind until the next time I see the studios. This went on for months until just before New Year’s I finally checked it out.

One of the studios belonged to a costume and styling team, so I got in touch with them about maybe doing some work experience with them. I’m doing a design course but I keep on feeling like I’m much more interested in styling and costume, so this team would be perfect for me to work with. So I was over the moon when they arranged for me to come in on Thursday for an interview!

After a good hour or a few of playing dress-up and helpful input from my housemate, I found the winning you-should-absolutely-hire-me outfit. The heels were £20 New Look (sale, aw yeah!), trousers £10 from a street market, top £3.50 from Cancer Research and the necklace and bracelet both came from the RSPCA.

Now these were buildings I’d only ever seen from a train, so when the directions called for me to go down an alleyway then ascend a pink and black staircase I stopped knowing what to expect...

Upon walking in I was greeted with walls coated in doodles and colours, odd sentences scrawled all over the place and a long, narrow, winding corridor. To top it all off it was at 8.30AM and I was the only soul there, so I was creeping around in an eerie silence.

I snuck a couple photos of the studio's communal area...

Now I’m not Alice, and have never fallen down a rabbit hole as far as I know, but this was definitely the closest I’ve been to it!

I met with the team’s assistant who looked through my work and CV, she asked me questions, I asked her questions, we shared a giggle… so I think that went well. I made sure to add that I spent 3 years styling the windows at the RSPCA shop and that I make a great cuppa, both of which I’m sure were equally impressive to her.

I heard back on Friday night that the team would like me to help out for the next three weeks on a re-cast of a production they’re doing, so at the moment I’m just feeling like the cat that’s got all the cream!

So apart from a bastard of a cold that’s bothering me, 2012 is going pretty well for me! I shall keep you posted.

Much Love!

Sarah

xx