Being the Fat Friend | Fat Friday

hey there,

As I am reading and writing about female friendships for my dissertation, the idea struck me to consider my position as a friend, mainly my position as the Fat Friend™. I've been the Fat Friend most of my life, even though I only got labeled "fat" around age 7 or 8. But what is it about being labeled the Fat Friend that makes it different from being just "the friend"? This week's Fat Friday article will dive into that.

New Feature: #FatFriday

hey there and happy Friday,

I've been thinking about how to return to blogging for a while now. I kind of disappeared after I said I was gonna be posting weekly again lol, but I majorly underestimated the pressure I was under at the end of the semester. Summer is fully upon us now -as my sweaty back can account for- but I still have my dissertation to write. With two months to the deadline I don't know how frequent my posts will be but I hope by introducing this feature, you'll at least have something to fill your Fridays.

So what is this "fat Friday" thing I set up? Fat Friday posts will range from anything surrounding body positivity to food, to fashion, to tv shows.. Basically they're your regular old blog post but with an emphasis on my fatness and how it plays into my life.

If you are new to body positivity and fat positivity please understand that fat is just a descriptor, there's nothing negative about being fat, like there's nothing negative about having red hair, or short legs, or no patience to deal with children. It merely describes a part of my body. Many people see it as a bad thing, an unhealthy thing, a personification of laziness and disgust, which majorly dictates how fat people are treated: how I am treated.

I hope you'll enjoy coming on this journey with me, I am very excited to have a place to talk about these things and hopefully present a platform from which you can find out more about body positivity.

See you next week!

Yonna

72 Hours in London Travel Diary

hey there,

About a week ago I went to London for a quick 72 hour weekend stay, prompted by Darren Criss' concert on the 20th of April. If you remember this blog post from a few weeks ago you remember that I've been a fan for a long time and this concert was kind of a Big Deal™. I've been to London a handful of times so whenever I visit now I don't need to see all the highlights anymore. This weekend was all about having fun and getting to see my friends. Due to some freak accidents we had one ticket left, which I jokingly offered to my best friend Michaela. I say jokingly because this girl lives in New York so no way was that going to be feasible right?! Well, the airfare gods and parents had other plans and after a nine hour delay there she was: ready to spend a weekend with me in London. Wondering what we got up to in London for a 45-72 hour layover?

Yellow, It's Me

hey there,

can we take a second to talk about Beyoncé's Beychella performance please? Because she did that! She really just did that. For an hour and 45 minutes I sat there in bed watching her write history through her greatest hits. I'm envious of people who managed to write more eloquently about this because I'm honestly so lost for words. The whole production was ***Flawless from start to finish, not like you'd expect anything less from queen Bey.

Now if you know me irl you know I hate the color yellow- I have ever since I was a little girl. I once read it had something to do with the amount of colors you can see and the more you can see the more you hate yellow. Regardless of the science, yellow is not a color I like on myself or to surround myself with (think a yellow couch). I love everyone else in yellow, but it was never something for me... until recently. Now I'm not saying  Beyoncé had something to do with that, but Beyoncé definitely had something to do with that. Her Beychella performance was a vision in yellow, like the Queen Bey she is. Inspired by her I'm sharing three of my favorite and recent yellow additions.

Through the Looking Glasses

hey there,

when I went back home for Easter I had a long To-Do List, most of which consisted of catching up on sleep and clearing out my old boxes. Something else that was on the list was to get my eyes tested. I had been having trouble focusing on my reading if I had to do it late at night. My concentration was off and I couldn't bare to look at my screen for a long period of time. Whilst eye drops certainly helped with the dryness that resulted from the staring contest I had created with my screen, it wasn't the be all and end all. So there I went full nerves to the Ace & Tate store in Rotterdam to get my eyes tested.

Turns out I am farsighted, only slightly. It's not terrible really, it's to be expected when most of your family has had to wear glasses from a young age. Doesn't mean I liked it though, I was quite upset. Thankfully I have some great friends who talked me down: not a big deal, barely anyone has perfect vision these days. So I got over myself, but was immediately faced with the next hurdle: actually having to pick a pair of glasses. In store I quickly reached a consensus: most frames available are not suited to my round face shape *shrug* on to the next thing.

Two Albums I'm Listening to on Repeat

hey there,

I'm always asking for music recommendations for flights, hikes, and down time, but I rarely dish them out. It's not that I don't have songs that I love to share, it's mostly that I listen to the same four songs on repeat. I've done this ever since my glee days, where once a new Blaine song was released you bet your ass I'd have that one song on repeat until new songs were released. I managed to get the glee cover of Animal by Neon Trees to 200 plays in like one or two days. C o m m i t m e n t. While that behavior hasn't changed, I have broadened my range to more than one song on repeat. I know right, what a feat!

My music taste ranges from pop to indie and then some. Most of my song knowledge nestles itself in the glee era: they introduced me to some great bops and then I ran with it. If that's not your deal that's fine, but please share some of your faves with me!

Winter Highlights

hey there,

It's April, it's spring, it's lighter outside, and it's getting warmer by the week. All round good improvements considering what 2018 has been so far. Since I've been away from this blog for most of 2018, I thought a recap was in order. I had planned for this post to go up yesterday, but forgot to schedule it before I left to visit my friend in Nijmegen. Now it gives me the perfect opportunity to throw in terms such as 'throwback Thursday' and "#blessed #grateful" like the true millennial garbage that I am.

If I'm being really honest I'm already looking forward to the summer. How much I'll actually get to enjoy it is another question because I'll be stuck writing a dissertation, but that's a problem for future Yonna. Let's instead focus on the past, in true history grad student style, and let me catch you up on some of my favorite moments,

Sharing the #aesthetic on instagram

hey there,

Happy Easter, happy April Fools, and happy return to this blog! It's been a while, but I'm back with regularly scheduled twice weekly post on Wednesday and Sunday! I don't have a reason for my absence other than that I just didn't feel up to it. Now that the weather has changed, my mood has too and this includes my willingness to shoot blog photos.

This Sunday's post is all about my favorite social media platform: Instagram. I enjoy following aesthetic instagram profiles and trying to keep up themes. I've had various 3x3 themes for over a year now, but recently decided to stick to three photos per theme. I noticed I stopped posting what I wanted and instead started posting what "fit" and I don't want to filter myself in that way. This doesn't stop me from lusting after beautiful feeds though. I very much admire what people are able to create and share. Whilst brainstorming ideas for blogposts Gabriëlle came up with the idea to recreate some. And as a regular passenger of the hype train I decided to hop on and roll with it.