life

something different about his face, his happy smile seems out of place

This weekend I have mostly cheated on fashion with furniture. Might aswell call me Carrie. Usually we can only make it to IKEA on a bus (and are therefore limited to napkins and tealights and whatever we can carry), but this weekend my brother came up to visit and took me to IKEA in a van. We got the cabinet we’ve wanted for ages. The boy and I got suitably annoyed with each other when putting it up (who can erect flat-pack furniture without a row?) but now it’s happy days. We also got some new bed linen. And the usual tealights/tea-towels/endless-amounts-of-tupperware/blankets/straws. Properly stocked up. And now I shall sit and look at the cabinet all evening. And then get into crisp, brand-new, freshly-washed sheets. Who needs a trip to Russell and Bromley when IKEA is on the menu? (Ha. I know, I know. I hear you scoff. Plus, I have fallen in love with some boots. Think my Russell and Bromley investments might have to become a yearly affair).

Now I don’t mean to bore you, but this post wouldn’t be complete without pictures of my new crush. And a couple of the weekend thrown in too.

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literature, photography

who loves the rain, who cares that it makes flowers?

Those of you who follow me on twitter will know that I’ve just speed-ordered (thanks, Amazon) and speed-read (couldn’t-put-it-down-obsessed) David Nicholls’ One Day. And also anyone who knows me will know that I’m a sucker for anything a bit Brit-flicky/rom-commy/mushy – so the book was right up my street. But on a serious note, I did think it was great; so easy to read, so addictive, very subtle in places, I laughed out loud a number of times and I also cried (sobbed), I love a good bit of 1990s social/historical context (in other words, a bit of Britpop), and the characters were entirely realised. And yes, I am going to watch the film; it won’t be as good as the book BLAH, but Jim Sturgess will make up for that in swathes, I’m sure. But yeah, read the book (and weep).

In other news, I bought some sunflowers a couple of days ago. They have DROOPED. Word has it that I shouldn’t have cut them, or that I should’ve cut them more so the vase could support them, or that I should’ve wired them (seriously – who would think of that?). But it’s nothing that a piece of string can’t sort out (if I had some string). For now though, I have droopy sunflowers (if it’s good enough for Vincent, it’s good enough for me). Oh, and we have cushions with buttons! I sewed buttons onto our massively dilapidated cushions, so they now have 16 out of 16 buttons as opposed to 2. Good.

Must dash to work. By the way, my London photos are being developed, so restaurant/cocktail reviews will be winging their way to you shortly. As for this photo, it’s tenuously linked by the fact that she’s got a flower on her hat. Can I get away with that?

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fashion

row your boat through the oceans deep and wide

Whenever I get my hands on a new magazine, I have a very particular routine. On my first round, I simply take in the aesthetics of each page and might read a header or two; second round, I read anything that particularly captures my attention, but only skim-read as I take the pages in again; third round, I read it cover to cover. So, having divulged my obsessive routine (one of many, I assure you), I thought I’d take you on a little tour. This time, it’s Vogue September 2011: Round One. These are the beautiful aesthetics which stood out to me on first sight in my first round (and, incidentally, are the reason I love Vogue).

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food

i’ll be the wind, the rain and the sunset, the light on your door to show that you’re home

Hello. It’s been a while, ay. I’ve had a week’s holiday, you see; celebrated my birthday and headed down to the homeland with the boy in tow. It was suitably lovely and booze-fuelled and I had my hair cut, at last. We spent some touristy-type-time in London (the boy’s a real tourist, after all) and we also popped down to Brighton and nearly got blown away. The wind was so strong that we had to find shelter in Jamie’s Italian – it’s definitely a cut above the usual and I highly recommend.

We went to some rather trendy, lovely and as yet untainted places in London – I will fill you in further on all of that once I get my photographs developed. Couldn’t possibly tell a story without those. But for now, a few clues from my phone…

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food, life

who loves the wind? who cares that it makes breezes?

Oof, I’ve finally updated my wordpress – it takes me ages to succumb to any sort of computer update (creature-of-habit/don’t-like-change). It’s awfully odd round here now. My font’s gone all type-writery and everything on the screen has spread out really far. It’s throwing me right off my thought pattern. Still, anything to get me away from a constant stream of dreadful news. A shocking state of affairs, quite frankly. Where do we go from here, I beg? But anyway, other than listening to the news and nomming on generous helpings of leftover lasagne, I’ve also spent time catching up on my reading à la Sylvie Vartan. Well good. Shame about having to work later.

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