Dressember

DRESSEMBER IS A COLLABORATIVE MOVEMENT

LEVERAGING FASHION AND CREATIVITY

TO RESTORE DIGNITY TO ALL WOMEN.

You may have seen my post about doing the Walk for Freedom with A21 the anti-human trafficking charity, this December I am supporting them once again. The idea of Dressember is that you commit to wearing a dress everyday of December, all thirty-one days. In doing so you raise awareness for women and girls who have been trafficked and don't have a choice in what they wear.

Believe me wearing a dress everyday is hard and there are times when I want to put on a nice comfy pair of jeans but I resisted that so far. For me the challenge will be wearing a dress on my upcoming days of hiking during the holidays, I will probably wear jeans. The idea is that you wear a dress even when it's inconvenient and you don't want to. This really is hard and I have a lot of respect for women. On cold and windy days, which in St Andrews there are many, wearing a dress is a horrible experience. When the wind blows your skirt up and everyone can see your knickers, you lose a little dignity. But that's why I am doing this challenge.

There are thousands of women all over the world who don't get to decide what they wear. Their dignity is not under their control. They are exploited for their femininity. We wear a dress to stand for the inherent dignity of women. 

You can follow along with Dressember at dressember.org and on instagram as @dressember. You can also follow the Just Love UK Dressember blog, a different member from groups all over the UK is posting each day about why they are doing Dressember. The posts so far have been really good and we've nearly reached our fundraising target!

I'll update this post as December comes to an end. Just two weeks in and my thoughts and views are already changing.


(picture is from @jennakutcher on instagram)

Everyday Emily

You might be familiar with Bees H is for Happy lists on her great blog, Everyday Emily is similar to this, but also pretty different. I want this to be a place I can write about all the great, mediocre and shit things that happen to me. 

Bears Den @ Queens Hall, Edinburgh
If you've not heard of Bears Den I would recommend you immediately start listening to them, they're going to be big. This was my second time seeing them and once again they were amazing. The lead vocals, harmonies and instruments, especially the banjos, combine to create an incredible live performance. Enhanced by acoustic sets, including one where they perform in the audience! A few of my favourite songs are Don't Let The Sun Steal You Away and Stubborn Beast. 


VSCOcam 
Any budding iPhone photographer or anyone who is on instagram will recognise VSCOcam. I have too many photos on my phone and a good number of them have been edited using the VSCOcam app.The base app is free and the additions are cheap. Follow me here!

Second Year
I have been back at university for a month now, and I am officially an ancient history and archaeology student. Changing my degree was a huge step that my mum wasn't too happy about as I am no longer getting a language degree. However I could not be happier and cannot wait to spend countless weekends in trenches looking for old things. 
This year I've been way more involved in student life and societies, as I have the time to do them now. Excitingly I am part of a new student society called Just Love, which involves looking at human rights injustices from a Christian perspective. Our first event is the Walk for Freedom, which is for a really good cause and hopefully we raise more awareness for it. My workload and general busy-ness this year has increased but it's all good because it's all for a good reason.

Music
I know that I already mentioned music when I wrote about seeing Bears Den but they merited their own section. As part of Coffee House Sessions Luke Sital-Singh came to perform a short set at my universities student union. He was really good and the cafe was packed, although he didn't sing Benediction which is my favourite. I've also loved The Weeknds album Beauty Behind the Madness and Darwin Deez' album Double Down.