sketches from a life

[danielleolavario]

hi! 🥰 my name is danielle. im a lover of fashion, books, and good lighting. i mostly post on here, but you can also find me on instagram. 

[danielleolavario]

in honour of the cold we’re experiencing in london right now… im reading this compilation of short stories by sylvia townsend warner.

hope you’re all warm and toasty in your beds with a good book too. or someone you love!

feat. my bedroom

[danielleolavario]

ive figured it out.

think of it as a salon. every friday for one year on earth’s orbit, you will find me on this website with a short soliloquy punctuated by my own photography. the salon comes with a complimentary drink and virtual charcuterie in the form of recommendations – short stories, recipes, videos, anything and everything im enjoying at that moment. although these recommendations will be comprehensive in nature (it doesn’t take much to impress me) one thing you can be sure of is that they will always be tasteful and full of charm. i’ve found that there are a non-negligible number of people who like the things i like, so maybe you will too.

this week, for example, i would like to draw your attention to the mogford prize, an annual competition for short stories involving food and drink. i believe they are coming out with a compilation book. i have a pretty fraught relationship with food. cooking doesn’t come naturally to me (but am learning). i either eat too little or too much. out of all the arts, culinary is the most difficult one for me to connect to. but these stories make me see food in a whole new light – as things that delight, rather than sources of grief and stress. one of the best books i’ve read this year has very much the same feel – the gastronomical me by mfk fisher.

so that’s how these posts are going to go – at least once a week for a year, usually on a friday. now, it’s your turn to send me your best related recommendations. i look forward to starting this journey with you.

[danielleolavario]

hate to be the bearer of bad news, but i learned just this minute that the mogford prize has permanently closed. i am deeply heartbroken – but all the more reason to buy the book!

[danielleolavario]

am i blogging again?

over the past few days, i’ve been contemplating whether or not to start blogging again. i used to keep one as a teenager, back in the tumblr hey-days of 2011-2012. at 15 i had no problem being an open book – i talked about my life in sometimes excruciating detail. looking back, many of my posts were often too personal. now, i struggle to figure out where to draw the line between showing and hiding myself. how much should i tell you? how much should i keep?

maybe i don’t have to worry too much though. blogging in those days was like throwing a bottled letter into the open sea. i had no one to talk to but myself – i had no engagement and gave rise to no conversation. who’s to say i won’t have the same experience now? but if im getting as much response as if i were to write my thoughts down in a diary, then what’s the point? why do i feel the need for an audience?

i dont have answers to these questions. still, there is a certain easiness, freedom and satisfaction i find in blogging that i simply dont find elsewhere. so here i am writing again simply because it’s fun. let’s figure all that other stuff out later.

[danielleolavario]

london, summer 2022

[danielleolavario]

london, summer 2022

[danielleolavario]

lyon, 2020

[danielleolavario]

lyon, 2020

[danielleolavario]

nightcrawls, london. october 2022

[danielleolavario]

i’m tryna move tf out of london but it’s so hard 🥲

[danielleolavario]

bereals from this summer

[danielleolavario]

[danielleolavario]

galway market, 20/8/22

[danielleolavario]

books from this summer

[danielleolavario]

i want to own my own home so bad, man. to have my own space, decorate it how i want to, fill it with art and plants, invite people over for dinner parties and soirées and salons. im not looking for a mansion. i just want my own place with a bedroom and a kitchen and wood floors and lots of natural light. i want to read there. i want to adopt my first cat there. i want to listen to my music, loud on sunday afternoons. why is this so much to ask for

[danielleolavario]

notting hill, 11/9/22

[danielleolavario]

connemara, 20/8/22