Gal time for a good cause

I’m a massive fan of spending time with incredible women – no surprises there. I’m pretty blessed to have very strong female influences in my life, including friends, family, colleagues, fellow bloggers and a whole load of others, but sitting down and spending time with them properly doesn’t seem like a regular enough occurrence.

Recently the lovely Lucinda (she’s the sassy as fuck ginger one that pouts like a pornstar – I’d highly recommend following her on Instagram), decided to throw a #PinterestParty in aid of Simon on the Streets, a local charity which helps the homeless. You’ll probably have heard of the charity as they arrange for people to sleep rough on the streets in order to raise money and awareness for what the homeless go through every night. It’s one of those ‘hell no, I wouldn’t do it myself’ situations, I’m more than happy to donate to the cause as I have so much respect for everyone who does a sleep out to raise money.

Lucinda went to one hell of a lot of effort, not only by finishing unpacking everything in her new flat the night before, but by baking a million and one cakes for the blogger squad to come over and enjoy. This is like next level gal time as it’s all for charity and it was a bloody fantastic afternoon where we got high on sugar and drank Pimms from teacups.

What I really loved about spending time with these ladies (and also all of the other incred women in my life) is that they’re bloody intelligent and diverse and opinionated and as we all sit in a similar social circle, we also all know the same people. We all have those friends who you only talk to about certain things, whether it’s work or boyfriends or a shared interest, whereas these women literally cover all bases. You know you’re in for a good afternoon when conversation can jump from Brexit to Tinder, via feminism and everything else.

Having strong female influences is really bloody important when you’re in your 20s. For me, living independently, moving to Leeds and starting my career job was when I started to work out who I was, what I wanted and what I stood for (and also the shit I really do not stand for), and I have definitely been shaped by the people around me. They inspire confidence, they make me feel valued and I like to think they make me a better version of me. A shinier version. And I like that.

So big loves to Lucinda for putting on such a fabulous afternoon, not only for the money you raised for charity and for the pounds I thoroughly enjoyed gaining that afternoon, but for making me sit back and think how bloody lucky I am.