2 Years Of WTF - The Best Of!
HBD WTF ✰
In my 26.5 years on earth I’ve thought of endless projects and business ventures, convinced myself it’s what I’m destined to pursue and then immediately forgotten about them. I’ve honestly never been good at sticking to things, I get bored or distracted easily and then just give up. Yet, just over two years ago I had the idea to start WTF, I read a couple of newsletters and knew Substack would be the best platform to publish on. Fast forward 2 years and despite all odds, here we are - on WTF’s 2nd birthday! I published the first ever WTF on this exact day two years ago, and this is my 89th newsletter.
WTF was posted bi-weekly in 2023 but changed to weekly at the start of 2024, which also means I published a newsletter every single Monday for a whole year. These stats may not seem that significant to anyone else, but I feel immensely proud for putting something out there every week. However, milestones can be a weird one for your brain. Substack has grown an insane amount in the last two years and there are now endless publications out there, it’s almost impossible to read everything you’d like to. It’s too easy to compare your growth to others and get caught up with numbers or leaderboards, but I try to remember that I started WTF as a creative outlet to post whatever made me happy. So I keep reminding myself not to worry about subscribers or statistics! That being said, I do want to say a huge thank you to everyone who subscribes to WTF - free or paid. I appreciate you all so much and it means the world that you all make time to engage with whatever I decide to publish each week.
All the above considered, I headed to my nearest party shop and whipped out my business card to buy myself this giant hot pink ‘2’ balloon. They didn’t have any balloon bags so I carried it home loose and kept getting a mixture of smiles and concerned looks from strangers, I assume they thought it was for my child. Which it basically is! Then I had to commemorate the occasion with an old school photo-booth shoot, so please enjoy below.
I wanted to use the rest of this weeks WTF as a way to round up some of my favourite newsletters from the last 2 years. A mixture of ones that were super popular, some that ‘flopped’ (but I loved) and others that are just fun. So in no particular order, here we go!
Being Horny Is Making A Comeback
Back in 2022 I was on holiday in Amsterdam and absolutely heartbroken that tickets to see the internet’s favourite boyfriend - Tucker Pillsbury aka Role Model - were sold out. Partly because I love his music, but mostly because he had one of the best pieces of merch I’ve ever seen and I am truly a sucker for good merch. Please see below for said, iconic…
Definitely in my top 3 WTF’s ever! It took me the longest to research and complete, and honestly I was pretty proud of it! I’d really love to publish some more long-form pieces in 2025, it just takes me a while to get all my thoughts together. I’m super grateful to anyone who sent in quotes, and also Quinn VA ‘BadInfluence’ for such an insightful and eloquent interview.
Has Social Media Ruined Reality TV?
My first ever experience with the world of reality TV was watching My Super Sweet Sixteen, Pimp My Ride and LA Ink when I was probably only ten years old. Three shows that I would still happily sit and binge endless episodes of because the nostalgia is so comforting. I urge you to reminisce and watch the montage below if you need a little refresher of just how good it really was…
Very fun to write, and IMO deserved more love!!
Top Tips For Hosting A Pinterest-Worthy Dinner Party
When you get to your early twenties, you quickly realise that staying in can often be more fun than going out. Dealing with busy bars, bumping into people you don’t really want to see and ridiculously expensive taxi’s home are all forgotten, and you usually end up with a hell of a lot less hangxiety. Dinner parties are the new house parties, and I wanted to share my top tips to hosting the cutest, most Pinterest-worthy affair on a budget.
This one must be good because someone copied it basically word for word, picture for picture, and published it on their own Substack! (Don’t worry, it was swiftly deleted)
What Are People Actually Wearing IRL?
Our algorithm’s do a really good job at leading us to believe that everybody dresses the same, and that when you leave your house all the outfits you see will be a representation of whatever niche corner of the internet you’re on. However, when I do go out wearing something inspired by trends I’ve seen online, it’s often met with strange looks and snide…
My most popular WTF ever! I can’t even explain how much I enjoyed going out into Brighton and researching for this one, I’d love to do something similar this year. Maybe in a different country? Let me know if you’d wanna see that!
26 Things I've Learnt In 26 Years
WTF is having a reshuffle! I would love more of my longer pieces of writing to be available to everyone on Substack, such as newsletters like todays, so I’ve decided to make some changes. Paid subscribers will still receive access to WTF every Monday and hopefully some bonus editions coming soon. Free subscribers will now receive newsletters more sporad…
There’s some really solid advice in here, but also I’m only 26 so I’m unsure of how much I actually know.
Fandom Dressing Has Taken Over
A quick starting note from me to say that all money generated from paid subscriptions for the next month will be donated to Medical Aid For Palestinians 🇵🇸 Whether that’s existing subscriptions, or any subscriptions upgraded from free to paid within that time frame - whether its the monthly £3.50 or annual £35. You can upgrade your subscription by clicking the button on the paywall below (just scroll down a little, under the second paragraph) 🇵🇸
Another “flop” that I really enjoyed writing - take a read if you have a spare 5 minutes!
WTF's Handy Guide to Brighton
One of the messages I get in my requests all the time is you guys asking me for recommendations of where to eat, shop, wander or drink in Brighton. I’ve only lived here for four years, but I do feel like I can give a good list of my personal favourite places, even though I’m sure there is so so many more I’m still yet to find. I wanted to compile them i…
This is one that still gets lots of views and is so handy to link people to - but could definitely use a few updates. I should post a 2.0 this summer!
The (never ending) Journey of Finding your Personal Style
When I originally started toying with the idea of launching WTF, I asked my Instagram followers what topics they’d want to see me chat about the most. ‘How to find your personal style’ was highly requested and I immediately tried to push it to the back of my list. Until very recently I felt as if I had no idea what my personal style was, so how could I …
An oldie but a goodie!
"If Hell is a Teenage Girl, Then Heaven is a Woman"
Much like many of us, I spent my teenage years desperately trying to look, feel and act as old as possible. I wore make-up, dyed my hair as soon as my mum would let me, got my nose pierced at 16 and even got my first tattoo at 17 thanks to my fake ID. Whatever age I was, I spent most of my time idolising the girls who were just a few years older than me…
Basically me in my feels about being a 20-something girl for 1,207 words.
Sharing My Fave Carrie Bradshaw Looks!
A few days ago Sex and The City turned 25, and as outdated and problematic as some of the storylines and conversations are, the style is truly timeless. I’ve re-watched all six seasons more times than I can even recall, I remember being so young and borrowing my aunties DVD’s of each individual season, then getting my own bright pink box set for Christm…
Had to share some love for my favourite show of all time!!