ACCOMPLISHED // CAPERNWRAY

Photo from Tessa B. of our Library

My Castle. Ich bin einen princessen. 

Our beautiful room. The one with the balcony in the last picture

For this blog post, I've decided to tell you about life at Capernwray. It may be a slightly boring one so bear with me :)

Walking into the 20th century manor house, I searched around overwhelmed and exhausted. Three months later I wouldn't have ever guessed that I'd be surrounded by friends and feeling like I was at home. The castle-like house I live in produces frosty mornings followed by rainy afternoons but is stuffed with an incredible amount of Godly, warm people. My roommates are like sisters and each individually contrasts the other to create a mosaic of personalities. We are night owls in denial. Meaning we all are in bed soon after lock up(10:45) but then proceed to chat and giggle like the 18-year-olds we are. Waking up we all crawl out of bed as late as possible and drag ourselves to breakfast on a good day-that’s if we wake up for breakfast. 

We then prepare for class. Preparing means cuddling in our blankets until we hear the bell that tells us we have 2 minutes to be in class and then running down to get in before the RA marks us as late(has only happened once!). The average day contains 6 lecture periods, usually one of which we meet in a family group, interactive group or discussion group. At lunch we eat our large meal which almost always contains potatoes in some shape or form and have pudding(dessert) that most definitely contains custard- the glorious, dairy-filled, sweet cream sauce we pour lavishly on a variety of different crumbles. 

The night brings two more lectures and the day is completed with supper(which is actually a snack) that’s hot chocolate and something sweet. If you are noticing that there are a lot of sweets in our diets, it’s because there is.  

Capernwray Lectures teach me new things about who Jesus is on the daily. I really love the teachings and how we are encouraged to be thinking Christians rather than mindlessly obeying ones. I am really comforted to know what kind of person is behind the religion that I have devoted my life to. Some of my favourite teachings involve getting into the original greek and hebrew in the Bible. The language provide incredibly more context and description to all the books. I love that my lecturers come from science background mixed with theological studies. It provides the knowledge that science doesn’t disprove God but depicts Him. I also enjoy that some questions we have on what we believe will always remain unanswered until we meet He who created everything. One lecturer pointed out the importance of staying unified as Christians; “Let us make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). This means that wether you are arminians or calvinists, sensationalists or non-sensationalists,  or any other theological position that you may hold that seem controversial, we are collectively Christians. 

Peace and Love(in a biblical way),

TIREDNESS // EDINBURGH // SHOES

Photo Cred: Katrina V.

Photo Cred: Jonathan!

The trip started with a scenic three hour drive in a nauseatingly driven bus. With gravol thrown back, the movie “Atonement’ brought us through the trip. Arriving into Edinburgh, we gasped as we crossed the Northbridge over to our drop off point. The Old Town buildings were monuments to old european architecture. The weekend followed a relaxed schedule in a small flat off of the Edinburgh High street. With seven girls and countless guests we kept ourselves up late enough to dread getting up in the morning. 

The issue with this dread was that it fled quickly with the awaiting day. We awoke the first day to a delicious homemade breakfast courtesy of the incredible Katie and the cozy cuddles courtesy of my bedmates Kat and Keltie. The first day we shopped too much, visited Edinburgh castle, and then roamed the National Gallery. 

Sunday morning we walked 45 minutes to an incredible church called “Destiny”. The worship was incredibly filling and uplifting even though I didn’t know half the songs. 

To continue our day, we trekked up the very large hill called “Arthur’s Seat” in 30 minutes. At the top, the wind furiously blew around us in an attempt to throw us off the cliff. We listened to incredible music and watched the sunset. It was the highlight of my trip. With another 30 minutes down, it made an hour and a half of a hike. We walked around some more at night, and then made it home by 9:30. We realized as we got home that we had been walking for the entire day and we almost died of exhaustion. 

Because it was our last night there, we decided to complete our Scotland adventures with a screening, at our flat, of Braveheart. Starting the movie at 11pm was probably not the wisest idea. All 15 people ended making their way out around 2am to walk back to their hostels. The feeling the next day was blissful exhaustion. Edinburgh is my new favourite city and I could not be happier with my choice to go there on travel weekend. 

We stopped at Primark everyday and I got a sick pair of shoes and some awesome Scottish flag socks. So much Primark it’s crazy!

At first, we were all bummed to go home. Then we realized where home was and it was uplifting. Our home was a castle in England-not too shabby!

Can I just say this:
I LOVED EDINBURGH AND I'M SO HAPPY TO BE WHERE I AM!

Cheers,

EXHAUSTION // ARTISTRY // PURPLE PURCHASE

Photo Credit to Darlene Andrews

Photo Credit to Darlene Andrews

The dress, scarf and hot water bottle: Primark / 

The skirt: Forever 21 / The Mac sleeve: V&A

This week has been a whirlwind that's left me in its dust. My mind spins when I think of all I've viewed, purchased, and appreciated in the past 7 days. This week, I have managed, with the generous guide and help of my aunt and uncle, to appreciate the production of Jersey Boys, scrutinize through the Wedding Dress exhibit at the V&A, admire impressionistic artwork, complete an all day shopping trip on Oxford street, and create a Macbook Air sleeve out of a tea towel, some batting and a button! I'm nodding off as I write this post so my apologies if some of it is incoherent!

A definite highlight of this week- out of the many activities accomplished- would be this morning's trek to the Tower of London. Dragging myself out of bed ripe and early to beat the crowds, my aunt and I took an extensive tube ride to the Tower, which featured an incredible art installation to commemorate over 800 000 deceased soldiers. The poppies are displayed cascading to be perceived as rushing blood. The number of ceramic poppies is astonishing.

Our exploration of the Tower commenced with a swift goal of viewing the crown jewels. What is usually an hour long wait was a one minute walk through the rooms which lead into the appreciation of the largest diamond in the world. At a whopping 530.2 carats, the Cullinan I glistened from a golden sceptor. In my opinion, the entirety of the crown jewels are, well, unnecessarily decorated. One thing is for sure: the question of "Is this a need or a want?" definitely did not cross their mind when they decided to make a 546 pound punch bowl made from gilded silver that never once was used. Anyways, the trip continued with an amusing tour given by a decorated retired military man who educated me on the gruesome details of execution in the Tower's past. The afternoon was completed with a beautiful stroll around the Tower's wall.

Above is pictured of my shopping haul from an amazing store called Primark which is comparable to nothing and my best description could not do it justice. It's as if H&M, Forever 21 and Zara all combined in style and dropped their prices by 10%. I filled my bag and then looked down, realized I had limited packing space, and ended up investing in a purple dress that fit nicely into an already bulging bag. (The "wellies" I received earlier in the week did not help the packing process either!)

Merci pour votre temps,
(Thanks for your time!)

LONDON VIBES // SHAKESPEARE // BLACK & GREY

Photo Credit Philly G.

Photo Credit Philly G.

My cousin Katy and I made it to London after a long day of travel which included the usual awful feeling of jetlag accompanied by sore muscles from an unscheduled run through the Chicago airport. We took on London by storm and, with the gracious help of my aunt and father, we navigated around spotting famous areas and being incredibly astounded by all the amazing views. (incl. The Big Ben, St. Paul's Cathedral, & Buckingham Palace)

Our second day was one to be remembered. The air was light, the jet lag was dissipating and Comedy of Errors was playing in the Globe theatre. With our £5 tickets, we became 'groundlings'. We experienced the play standing, up close and leaning on the stage while the actors almost stepped on our hands and startled us with their comedy. It was thoroughly enjoyable.

Katy left this morning so today I rummaged around London with the help of my aunt. We viewed art at a collection house that featured several beautiful Rembrandts and got home in time for dinner and cappuccinos. London is spectacular.

Inspired by the Londoner look, I wore my 'kimono' type overlay from F21 over a long sleeve, high waisted AE jeans and Chelsea Boots from somewhere in Germany. The locals here dress classily and a well tailored suit is often seen. If you get passed all of the tourists, the London vibes are calm, introverted and, outfit wise and otherwise, meaningfully composed.

Cheers,

ANTICIPATIONS // PREPARATIONS // LIGHT NEUTRALS

The pressure of this first blog post is looming. Not only because I feel incessantly narcissistic for starting a blog but also because of the fear of commonness in greeting the general public. The simple "hello world" has been overused so I'll start by simply saying:

Welcome to the confused, slightly deranged, humorous mind that embodies Chez Hannah.

If you don't know me-which, in all seriousness, you probably do-I'm heading off to London for a bit then North England for around 6 months. This grand adventure inspires me to create meaningful outfit plans, crazy schedules to see all of the museums and amazing architecture London has to offer as well as a list of all the places I have to eat, drink coffee, or sip a cuppa tea.

My trip to England in a few days brings crazy anticipation, and the need for intense preparations. Because of my love for clothes and addiction to stalking recent runway shows, my favourite of the long list of things to do before I leave was the need for some basic clothing staples and to chop off my long, straggly hair.

Along with the new cut, I'm sporting Mango's jeans and sweater, and Converse runners. The outfit itself is a mild attempt to create an in-between season combination. Hopefully my next posts will include more inspiring pieces like the NYFW's runways have. Needless to say, if I weren't going to London in a few days, I would most likely be more upset that I'm not in New York.

Also, my apologies that I am not a model and my thanks to my brother, Andrew for the photography and my parents for owning a garage to take pictures in front of.


Thanks for reading,