New Day, New Sun, New Photoshoot!!!

Hello all,

I'm still terribly behind and about to get more so as "exam fear" hits... Please bear with me while I try to balance huge amounts of work for finals with retaining a presence in the blogosphere. Will try to post 3 or 4 times a week still, but might remain behind on my Google Reader and replying to comments for a while. It's not that I don't love you and really appreciate you all commenting, but I just can't find the time to do everything! :-(

Anyway, apologetic rambling (it's getting to be a habit now...) over, it's time for A NEW PHOTOSHOOT!!!

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do. I'm half crazy, oh for the love of yoooooou!

The outfit today was far simpler than usual. Or at least not as crazily coloured/patterned! It was sunny so out came the legs, and I've been on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster since Friday, so I needed some sartorially-induced-equilibrium...

I'm wearing a Zara top - bought in Florence, GAP men's cardigan, very old TopShop denim skirt, 2-tone Converse, vintage purple sunglasses, one of my myriad, anonymous tote bags containing revision for post-shoot, belly dancer's bell belt from Nomads in Cam and the interlinked, silver and gold, cast-hearts bangle I was given by my godparents for my confirmation... And my new favourite nail polish, which, in case anyone was wondering, is Manga from Miss Sporty!

In case anyone was wondering where I'd got to since the last post, I was in Oxford. I got to spend a bit of Saturday with the Lovely Lovely Claire from The View From Here, who has been my longest running commenter and blog friend, and we finally - after about 2 years - got around to meeting up when I was conference-ing in her uni town! 

We had an absolutely lovely few hours, sipping fancy fizzy drinks and munching chocolate coated coffee beans in "The Vaults" and then went shopping around town. She got some lovely things, including a gorgeous blue zipped top that I covet TREMENDOUSLY. I managed to be hugely indecisive and not quite fit perfectly into the couple of things I almost got. But we had a FANTASTICALLY lovely time. I managed to be out of it enough to leave the photography up to her - I really was Completely sleep-deprived, (see earlier rollercoaster comment and below photo - zombie!) and wish I could have been more on top form, but it was an excellent few hours spent in each others company, gossiping and getting excited about clothes together. Both of us will admit we're definitely solitary shoppers usually, but rather enjoyed the bloggers-together experience... At Last! Someone who understands! Someone who gets the need to be adventurous and who sees all the possibilities inherent in clothes! She's also covered the day on her blog, with pics of her purchases and an even less awake, touristy photo of me! (In case anyone was wondering, I was wearing a C&C California tee I bought in NY about 5 years ago which has held up SO well, a GAP men's cardie, an ICB silk pleated skirt, the fabled lace tights and Kate Kuba white leather boots mentioned in Claire's blog post...)

*Thanks Claire... Here's to our next jaunt! ;-D*

So a good weekend... My confirmation also went swimmingly, and I had a blast with all my family down. I was wearing my New Favourite Dress which I will endeavour to post if any of the photos came out well, and if they ever make it to me - they're on the parental camera...

Wish I had more energy, but I think that's all for tonight! I've become someone who goes to bed before midnight... Scary times!!! ;-)

Hugs,

Xxxc

Since you were all so patient...

It's a PHOTOSHOOT DAY!!!

Yay!!! Also, it's T-B's 22nd birthday today... So everybody think good birthday vibes for him! He has hardcore revision supervisions this afternoon, so is not having the best birthday this time. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVELY!!!

Red, White and Blue...

Lots of images... Sorry ;-D 

This is probably my favourite photoshoot so far, which is saying something! 

So, I'm wearing a Topshop skirt, anonymous cream seamed lace tights, Kate Kuba blue suede heels, falling apart and well loved Venice tee I bought there aged about 12  - the first visit of many - I've tried to find the same shirt since but no luck, vintage navy suede belt, gold rose necklace from Clares Accessories, GAP men's cardigan and my vintage tooled leather bag.

We went for a wander across town to the Granta meadows, Darwin Island and the bit of the river past the sluice. It was excellent fun. And we saw ducks and cows too! The latter roam free on the meadows... That got me childishly excited! You'd think I didn't grow up with a farm behind my house! (Remind me to post a pic of me in green overalls with a pitchfork some time! ;-D)

I also just wanted to say thank you tonnes to everyone who's been so supportive these past couple of weeks... I've really, truly appreciated it. This place, in exam term, can get horrific. I've now got 3.5 weeks til finals, so stress is going to set in again in a week or so I guess. Joy of Joys. But I'll try to post at least a few times a week as I hated being away SO much!

Oooooh, and I *think* I'm also going to be the fashion editor for our uni newspaper in Michaelmas term of next year (that's October to December). How cool!!! I get pieces every week and a twice termly glossy magazine to produce!!! Woop! Now I just have to hope I get on my 4th year course ;-D - which involves revising... Hmmmmm. Maybe I should do that now...

Right. I'm off. Going to the theatre tonight, and off to a conference in Oxford (and seeing the lovely Claire while I'm there) for Friday and Saturday, and I'm getting confirmed on Sunday! (I have the BEST outfit...) So, family's descending. Actually, rather yay! Thus posting might be sporadic, but I'll do my best. Twitter-ing is likely, especially as I may need an outlet for yeeeeep-ness, as staying with the *I-shouldn't-have-this-crush*-crush - Oops! (Before you say anything... It's totally platonic, blah blah blah. Seriously. There are many reasons as to why it's a DEFINITE should-not-would-not-could-not situation... Some of which some of you may have picked up on, but I won't go into detail lol.) Got to love my dramas! ;-D

Also, one final thing... I'm featured on Layers of Meaning as part of the Through Her Eyes series, throughout May. The first post came out on Wednesday, and there'll be three more. If you click on the button in the sidebar, it'll take you to just the series' posts, so check it out if you like! :-D

Hugs!!! 

Xxxc

Weekend of Loveliness Series - #2

As I said a couple of days ago, I'm splitting the photos from Saturday into 3... This post is basically a bit of a love letter to London, so please stay with me on this one as I post some of my favourite places.

Every day in Cambridge, I miss London a little bit more. Don't get me wrong, this place is beautiful, but after three years of being surrounded by academia, and it permeating Everything you say and do, and being ground down by the constant deadlines and made ill by the lack of real routine but essays, I miss home like hell. I miss the variety; the constantly changing landscape; the feeling of being in a place where you can go anywhere and do anything at any time; the fact that it's so eclectic and eccentric and whatever you do, you're accepted for being the person you want to be, rarely judged, left to get on with your life; the joy of the fast pace and the discovery of something new... It's not the place for everyone, but it's the place for me.

I love things like this... This house is basically just one room thick. I think it's to accomodate the railway line, but it's slim sillhouette fascinates me. It's like one of those dollhouses that only had one room so you could display everything framed by pretty windows. I love it when old buildings are renovated and they leave up the facade but completely knock down the building behind... We get that a lot, especially in the City - like this building that is opposite my mother's office near the Royal Courts of Justice:

Don't let the grey put you off... This was taken ages ago, on my phone,  on a rather foggy day in central London - rather industrial, isn't it ;-D

This is one of the candy coloured houses from where we did Saturday's photoshoot... Walking down here always makes me feel like I've been transported to a little mediterranean fishing village, and each of the houses is a different vibrant pastel shade. It's pretty much directly of the King's Road, and if you get a chance to wander down here, it'll put a smile on your face! :-D 

This is the old Michelin (tyre company) building, that's now a Conran restaurant, Bibendum. I love this place as on the side it has tiles depicting classic cars from the early 20th century... An absolute gem of a building, made all the sweeter by the stained glass and the flower stall out front...

Just one street up from the photo two back... These painted shutters remind me of parts of Italy where the past seems omnipresent but corrupted. (In a good way - at least here - I think...) I can see colonialism + 90s Brighton + 80s Miami combining in one house's facade ;-D Got to love the attempts at Palm tree growing too. I think this road is opposite the KR starbucks (- the 2nd one you pass, if you're walking from Sloane Square tube).

I LOVE the windows of Joseph on Brompton Cross at the moment... This window display is on the opposite side of the road from Chanel, and I have to admit, it distracted me from my usual bag drooling ;-D How kwl is this!?!? Especially with the sky reflection too... The display is basically a cityscape on the heads of the mannequins. Freaky but uber-immense too! Especially considering the gorgeousness of the clothes too. I didn't get a chance to inspect the clothes as we had to move on to photoshoot-ness / getting the car, but I hope it's still there when I'm next around!

British town and street layouts are like none other I've encountered... Everything's just so squished. Siena is the only other place I've been where things are such a beautiful mishmash of old and new, but in London I guess it's all just a bit more grey. And I'm biased anyway ;-D

All the above photos are from the Chelsea area, but I promise that's not my only hangout... I'm also a big South Bank girl - find me in the summer, stretched out in the park by Gabriel's Wharf; eating the butternut squash and goats cheese salad in Riviera restaurant; hidden in the dark watching an old movie at the BFI or rummaging through the book market outside. And there are many more places besides, from the South Bank to Westminster, Euston-wards, Marylebone, Notting Hill, Carnaby Street and many more. We just didn't take photos of them this weekend!

Right. Back to dissertation gloom...

Xxxc

Lies.

Now, I know I commented somewhere that I wasn't going to blog until I'd got these essay deadlines out of the way...

But I may have told a fib. Not on purpose. I was FORCED by T-B to go out and "play pick-chas!"

So. There you have it. I have no will power. Please excuse the fact that my skirt is unironed! ;-D

I like swinging from trees. Trees make me happy.

In these I'm wearing: 

- Zara cardigan bought in Florence... (I do find it funny that I can never find stuff I like in British Zara, but take me there in Italy, and I come back with a suitcase STUFFED with Zara clothes!)

- Hermes skirt that I found in a charity shop... (From the cherubs / eyepopping primary colours / nautical print, it's got to be 80's) 

- Eley Kishimoto shoes, bought in a sample sale at BStore last year... (Some of my favourite shoes ever, and despite the humungous heel - so so so comfy!)

- Topshop tights, Primark bag, Toy Watch and Macrame flower necklace bought in Florence... again! (I wandered into a tiny little craft shop, where the lady made things on a board in front of you. When I went in, she was giving lessons to another woman and they were chattering away in Italian, made me sit down - by gesturing madly at the chair and patting the seat, and proceeded to carry on with the lesson. I sat there for about half an hour before deciding I needed to carry on with tourist-ing! There were loads of lovely things, but this one caught my eye...)

Please excuse the large numbers of photos... T-B takes too many that I like. :-D He's trying to 'improve' you see, as the camera's relatively new. Any views on the photography will be appreciated from his quarter, as I'm not letting him put any of the me photos up on facebook. Personally, I think he's amazing at taking photos of people. His vistas are ace, but some of these come top on my favourite pictures of me ever; and that's hard since I HATE photos of myself and get really antsy when the camera's out. This is another reason for doing this -someone else taking my blog photos - thing. It'll maybe help me get over my photo hangups... Cross fingers! ;-D 

Hmmmmmm. I should probably go do some work. I have a black tie alumni dinner tonight, that I've spent the last month organising... So no time to work post-6pm. And it's almost 2 now. Sigh.

Xxxc

Night at the Museum

So last night I spent the evening shepherding kids around the archaeology museum in the dark... It was really truly surreal. Cambridge does a 'twilight in the museums' event where all the uni ones shut off the lights and do fun games. Ours involved picture cards and torches, finding which objects details on said cards came from. 

I have to admit I had quite a lot of fun, though by the end of the 3 hours, I was fecking freezing, as I'd left my coat upstairs. Oops!

Having been in my Eley Kishimoto heels all day, I stashed a pair of black flats in my bag to aid not-falling-down-holes-in-the-dark. Turns out I could have kept the heels on - I'm more agile in them anyways. See the scarf-necklace red-layering fun below...

The bit of the outfit seen here consists of Hobbs blazer (nicked from the mothership), Topshop Batgirl tee, Tibetan stole from Nomads in Cam, a charity shop silk scarf and red metallic beads bought in Florence for a euro. The unseen details were my grey Acne jeans and Eley Kishimoto shoes. (Though I wore M&S crease toe flat pumps in the gallery...)

 
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!

Drinks, Driving and a Darling 'new' Teeshirt...

I've had a week of being down-in-the-dumps and staying in, missing people, post finishing at the Summer School, and have just started being sociable again! Leaving behind the cat and Murder She Wrote...

None of my home friends are being particularly approachable at the mo (comes from spending the first 2.5 months of the summer away or working 24/7...) and my 'rents, who were supposed to be away on holiday, but for various reasons aren't and have been underfoot, have been driving me INSANE!!!

So, I got out. Dinner and quite a few cocktails with my workmate La on Tuesday (outfit post will eventually surface... along with the full story), and yesterday, I went to the pub with another workmate... We had a brilliant time - him drinking two small glasses of red wine (classy ;p), me on one cider and then lime and soda as I was driving.

Anyway, I wore the following outfit:

- Acne Hex Royal Grey Jeans (new pair I got on sale at their website to replace my old faithful, but falling apart and a tad too big, slightly darker grey pair I've had for YEARS), two tone converse (denim blue and shell/salmon pink tabs from office) and massively oversized print tee I bought for Є1 at a rag-stall in the market by the Capella Medici in Florence... The tee was to be tucked in and the (almost down to my elbows) sleeves rolled.

Post-sedate-pubbage, I agreed (after much persuading) to let my (graduate) mate, who has never learnt to drive, have a first 'driving lesson' a la moi down one of the private roads around the school we live in... It was hilarious! I don't think my little Clio will ever forgive me, but a little bit of clutch abuse was worth the obvious enjoyment he got out of it... I was hanging onto my seat in paranoia, but it was a great laugh. He didn't once crash into anything!!! Hehe. We did 1st and 2nd gear and speed bumps. Not too bad for a first timer eh! Regardless to say, it was approaching midnight, so we thought a longer lesson would have to wait for another time...

New Favourite

As I start dressing for the new season (it being freezing in August an'all, on top of the shops being filled with A/W goodies, the nicest of which will be snapped up by Actual Autumn), I find myself using one particular item a great deal.

I bought it in my local TRAID about a week before I trotted off to Italy, and had no idea it would become such a staple!

Said item is ticks several 'trend' boxes, according to glossies such as Vogue and Elle etc lol, such as being mid-calf-length and mustard... Despite the fact that on the surface such a description doesn't exactly lend itself to instant lust, I LOVE IT!

It is probably from the early 90s or late 80s, but is in great condition... It goes with Loads, and it's colour is actually really easy to wear!

Worn here with a navy Zara cardigan, bought in Florence. (I always find stuff in Zara abroad, but never at home!!!) Please excuse the mess at home and the - as usual - wierd colour in the photos...

And... the Cat loves it! Hehe.

It has even prompted the resurfacing of my gorgeous sample sale Eley Kishimoto shoes! (Pictured with cat and sadly neglected sewing machine...)

I've done quite a few outfits with it in the past week, and will have to post some more, so you can see how versatile it actually is!

Sigh... Xxx (a lovestruck) c ;)