Break Over.

Wow. It's been far too long since that last post...

And such a lot's happened!

I've had balls, garden parties, birthday celebrations, homecomings, reunions, and I've started work! The 3 week (ish) break was unintended, but probably needed. Last term was a bit of a rollercoaster, and I needed to take a bit of a breather, get time to myself, and readjust to being a) a Londoner again and b) free of exam fear!

I suppose I should also tell those of you who've been so supportive these past couple of months, I got through it... And I got a high 2.1 including the highest mark in the year on one of my papers. (Same one I came top in last year... Woop! CV heaven! ;-D) My dissertation, as I knew it would be, was my lowest mark, but it was still respectable. Thank gawd. Panic over!

I still don't know for sure if I'm going to be in Cambridge or London next year as the business school are extreeeeeeemely disorganised, and I'm amidst plans to turn my house into a building site for 5 months, so our home is being cleared of 20 years of hoarding. Clothes are amongst the victims of the mass-clearout, as are board games, books, and bin bag after bin bag of paper... (All sent to charity or recycled of course! ;-D)

So all in all, it's a little stressy around here, but the clear-out's actually really cathartic, and it's all nothing compared to Cam in exam term haha.

The job, as a press assistant with an extremely lovely bunch of people is going really well 1.5 weeks into a long haul. I'm slowly but surely learning the ropes (I think) and am loving every minute of it. I've fallen in love with quite a lot of our pre-Fall stock (including a darling little mint Acne jumper), and am absolutely knackered at the end of every very full day. I'll try to talk a bit about it in future posts, but I'm not sure at the mo how much I want to keep the blog and the job separate, so will be treading quite lightly for a while.

Woah, that's a hell of a lot of writing, so I'll sign off now... I'm also going to zero my Google Reader so I can just start again commenting on people's blogs as at the mo, the thousands of unread posts are just a tad daunting!

Photos to come tomorrow.

Love Xxxc

Eeeeeek re. Summer

Yikes.

I think I just agreed to work for Browns at the press office from 22nd June to 2nd October...

I've just given up the Ghana plan until Christmas, as it seems to fit better with my travelling partner and I's plans. This meant that when I was asked to change from 10 to 15 weeks interning, this afternoon, I Could Not say No!

OMFG!!! - I'll be working during London Fashion Week! (And through some of the others...)

Hugely hectic and high pressure, but I have to admit... I JUST CAN'T WAIT!

Too excited to do my essay reading.

8-D

Xxxc

Freaky Test Thing

Ok, so going through my blog reader, I stumbled upon a reference to Colorgenics, a personality test which tells you things about how other people see you based on colours 'you feel most in harmony with'... 

All but one blindingly wrong paragraph was spookily accurate, according to several of my bemused mates... 

Apparently I strive to make a good impression, like to understand how people react to stimuli, am decisive, proud and an emotional risk-phobe, and have 'strength of mind' enough to be 'true managerial material'. 

Haha. Good thing I'm (*cross fingers*) doing the Management Studies Tripos next year!

Have a go! 

Xxxc

Bank Account Battering?

Since the shoes proved mildly disappointing, I am currently waiting for DHL man to pick up my Net-a-Porter returns package... He has 10 minutes to arrive, before he's late for a 2 HOUR time slot! Bah humbug. I can't afford to wait after 6.30 as I'm off out on Union Business! Very annoying. Especially after such amazing service from N-a-P itself! :-S

So what did I do? Post-shoe disappointment, I went and got a pair of trousers on Browns' website... Ann Sofie Back in the sale. I will post them if they are successful. I ordered a medium which is apparently a 12, but I'm not humungously hopeful that they won't be normal-person-8 lol. We shall seeeeeeeeeeee!!! 

I also have a new LOVE, but I can't bring myself to spend $78 (plus postage) on a necklace... Even if it is beeeeeeyoooooteeeeeful! (It's from Bona Drag by Miss KK)

Xxxc

Love for Literary Feeling

Jumping on the Clothes Horse's beautiful bandwagon... I love bookshelves. When I go to a lecturer's office for a supervision, nothing fascinates me more than taking a gander at their bookshelves. One thing in this place that makes us lucky (in my view) is all the lovely lovely space for books. I have 11 good sized book shelves in my room... Far more than I could fill with the books my parents allow me to lug back and forth, but I do my best!

So... Up first we have my two 'down time' shelves... Top Shelf: One half filled with dvds (a strange and mildly embarrassing selection of Studio Ghibli cartoons, Buster Keaton silent loveliness, Star Trek films, chick flicks of an extremely unintellectual nature, and lots of French films), the other half, with juice (and alcohol out of the picture... Such a student eh ;-D)

Bottom shelf: Holst - The Planets score, psychology books, bibliophilia and fashion interviews, my Ghana guide, a bit of (soc and bio) anthropology and some 'classics' - I believe we can see Tolstoy's War and Peace...

 

Now we have a little further along the same bookshelf, missing out Mitford, Golding, Dante and Rillke, we come to my depressing Russian novel, Kapuscinski and Tenessee Williams obsessions, part of my Cambridge Pocket Shakespeare collection, Henry James spine chillers, the obvious Austin, the Bride of Lammermoor and Wuthering Heights... The stripy spine is a book of ghost stories. The rest of this shelf contains marshmallows and a lot of books on sewing and costume, a book on Mikhail Baryshnikov and my college's 500 anniversary book.

Next up, we have my 'everyday' bookshelf... The one with academic books; my own and library ones. They're made up of lots of archaeology, a few tomes of theology, a bit of art history and a few biographies and historical accounts. We also have my BRIGHT folders, some of my birthday cards, my Fresh Horses DVD for a moment when I can justify the procrastination, pictures of my cats, my Greek orthodox rosary, lots of post-its, some NARS and paul and joe make up, my CdG perfume, rescue remedy and my notebook stash. No particular order to that. FIT huh! ;-D

My room mate and I really are different in too many ways to count... One of these ways is in our bookshelves. Firstly, my room has quite a bit more book space... Secondly, we have completely different book-taste! Lookie-see...

See! Lots of scary science and management... Though some of those management tomes might work their way onto my shelves next year since I'm (*crossed fingers*) taking it for part III... What a strange thought!

Lots of DVDs, a few art materials... And the Badger-Pooh! I got these (Squirrel, Deer, Beaver and Badger) for myself and my closest friends a little while back... Mine will probably be shown in my next room post...

Bookshelf organising aside, I really am a bibliophile... I love spending hours in book shops... Independent, new booksellers or Dusty old booksellers. Just no high street chain, thank you very much! My favourite places have to be Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street and John Sandoe Books off the King's Road, both in London. The former is an amazing building, filled with travel writing and fiction mostly, but they have a gorgeous 2nd hand gallery above the Western Europe room. John Sandoe is probably where my heart lies... I've been going there since, well, I was pushed around in a pushchair! We used to live in Chelsea, on the KR itself, and it still feels like home to me. I try to make a trip to John Sandoe about once a fortnight when I'm home, as the people in there are so amazingly knowledgeable, and I've known several of them since I was teeny-tiny... They can find anything, from anywhere too!

I also love to read books about books. If you ever want a quick and uplifting read, Anne Fadiman's 'Ex Libris' is a beautiful little collection of essays. And looks cute too!

Finally... If you're ever in a bookstore with me, get out of the way... I'm a fiend when it comes to buying the things. Always have been, always will be. 

At least I don't buy Mills and Boon by the bucketload anymore!!! (Yes, that was a middle school phase...) Hehe ;-D

Xxxc

I Like Bright #2

I like bells. 

Bells are necessary for my happiness.

Bright bells are even better.

These two circlets normally hang over my desk, and I swing them in a playful manner far too often. Both were gifts. The silver was brought back for me by a good friend, from India, and the multicoloured string was given to me by an American shopkeep in a little new age-y store in Lucca, Italy. I was on my way home from a month in Tuscany, a little heartsick, a little lonely, and wandering was proving a tad demoralising. But when I stopped in this shop, initially to try on some ballet pumps (that I regret not buying ;-D), I ended up chatting for nigh on an hour with the lovely 50s-ish gent. We covered topics like my dig, San Fransisco, the Tuscan countryside, and my love of bells. I couldn't resist tinkling the display on my way out, and he very generously gave me one of the strings... It's a little big to wear often as a bracelet, but it's presence in my life always makes me smile, and remember that there's good to be found in every new experience, and that talking to people is the most wonderful pastime in the world...

Then, we have my diary... Stickers and post-it yummyness. The everyday admin happies!