Green Light at the end of the dock...

Now I'm the first to admit that I've been crap at this blogging malarkey of late... It's been bloody ages since my last post, and I haven't even been checking in on other people! Naughty huh.

I've been working at my internship since the end of June and I think that I just needed to separate work and play a bit. Inspiration has been oddly lacking, and I've been madly dashing from one "London thing" to the next, so updating online hasn't exactly been a priority!

My life of late has been hectic to say the least, filled with lots of time with friends, theatre, film, art and yummy food. Claire from The View From Here is teaching me how to bake, and life's really rather satisfactory.

Work's fun as I work with lovely people, but I have come to realise that as much as I love fashion and clothes and making visual statements through my wardrobe; creating a character, I don't want to make it my career... Which I guess is why I haven't been online. I need a bit of separation between work and play.

However, with fashion week coming up, and work being frenetic, I thought now would be an *ideal* time to start blogging again (see the slight sarcasm?)!!! ;-D I won't be around commenting too much, but I'm going to try to post content more often.

So. Where to start?

Well, first up, I have a couple of reviews and an update on my current addictions:

1) my name necklace

Okay, so Sex and the City is a looooong way gone, but I got sent a Cassiopeia name necklace by the lovely people at mynamenecklace.co.uk! Exciting times. I shall put up a photo as soon as I can, but my camera is currently not exactly working. It's silver and I wear it several times a week. It makes me smile! It's good quality and came in a lovely purple gift box too. I'm a sucker for pretty presentation... The only reason I don't wear it every day is that as far as jewellery goes I usually prefer gold, and I wish I'd asked for an 18" not a 16" chain, but overall I'd really recommend this website if you are going to get one! I certainly love mine, and if I weren't completely broke I'd get myself another one!!! I rather like the acrylic necklaces like this one. So thanks to Steve for getting me involved!

2) borders and frontiers teeshirts

Again, everyone's got one of the Tavi tees by now, and the Igor and Andre blog ones are doing the rounds too - and you all look GORGEOUS! But since I haven't been online much lately, I thought I'd just spare a moment to wax lyrical about these tees. These are my favourite basic wear-with-anything-anytime tops. I wear them to work with skirts and belts and on the weekends in city or country with jeans or dresses. The cotton is so thick and yummy and though they blatantly don't exactly make me look stick thin, I love them anyway... The adorable Drew even sent me this lovely specimen new one that, bad me, I'm not sure which blog it belongs to, but I adore, which again I will have to wait to put pictures of up as camera = dimwitted. I am also *loving* Rumi's one and have had a long term crush on the one by Bonjour Girl... Wish (as usual) I wasn't so darn broke!!!

3) lots and lots and lots of theatre

My life of late has revolved around shows... I love that the calibre of things being put on in and around London this summer has been so high. As I had saved up to enjoy my time at home, I've done a tonne, and loved every minute of it.

A few highlights:

Dominic Cooper in Phedre. Love Racine. Love his arms. Sigh.

Ian McKellen in Waiting For Godot. Perfect. Bumbling through Beckett. A Class Act.

Arcadia... Just a lovely play.

The Mariinsky Ballet at the Royal Opera House - not technically theatre... The Homage to Balanchine was amazingness personified, and their Sleeping Beauty was breathtaking.

Jerusalem at the Royal Court. I've loved Mark Rylance since he was artistic director at the Globe, and he's just AMAZING. Such stage presence. Such a beautiful voice. Such a great play.

I've also been to a lot of Proms - managed 5 concerts in one day on the bank holiday!!! And a lot of film... Anyone who gets a chance to see Mid-August Lunch SHOULD!!!

Okay, enough rambling now. I should sleep. I'm off to the Tate in the morning bright and early to see the Futurism exhibition with one of my closest friends who has been away in Edinburgh for a month... Woop!

Night. I promise there'll be more pictures next time!

Xxxc

I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down...

So I come home for the summer, and have to move out again in the space of two weeks...

Hmmmmm. Not ideal. Basically, our entire house is being rebuilt around us over the course of 5 months for reasons far too dull to go into, and all furniture / books / clothes etc that we don't use on a regular basis has to either be chucked or put into storage! Of course this was the plan, until my roof sprung a second leak, waking me up at 4am during the other morning's thunder storm... So now I am moving out, and into my old maths tutor's house ( - she's also one of my mum's best mates - ) for a while... Of course, this would be fine if my room wasn't Stuffed With Stuff, and we had more than 24 hours to do it.

Thus, all of this is why I might be a little lax on my posting every day rule for a while, but I'll do my best!

Anyway, life chat over with...

And onto some of the promised (for weeks) photos...

This post is dedicated to the finalists garden party, given by the Master of College in his gardens... Think Pimms and reminiscences and commiserations about how screwed we all are with the current economic climate haha. It was great fun actually, and I'm afraid it's a dress you've seen before ;-D - This wasn't a photoshoot in athe usual style, as obviously, T-B was taking photos of the event, not just me and my crazy outfits, but there were quite a few nice photos anyway!

- Oh yes, I'm just so serious... (And the old dude in the background is "The Master". Lovely guy.)

- Me sticking my tongue out in photos may be replacing the ubiquitous twirling ;-D

- How kwl is her dress?!?!

- The amazingly comfy, if slightly out of focus shoes, which cost me £15 quid in M&S and I wear ALL THE TIME! (Either those or the same ones in black which I also have :-D) - Oh, and evidence, that I don't iron my clothes hehe!

- The only full length shot... How serious do I look? ;-D


The outfit, elements of which have all been used before, was: Vintage handmade dress, M&S sandals, GAP shell pink cardigan and Vintage tooled leather bag, with my ToyWatch and BarryM purple nail polish.


So there you have it... Garden partay numero uno. Sorry it's taken me so long to post... I really do love this dress...


I'd had such a rushed morning before this, having overslept into a breakfast meeting, so I had to rush out in jeans and t-shirt and no make-up, knowing full well I had two garden parties later. Of course, I was late to both... And looked rather the ghost having just shoved on the first make up I could find, i.e. my going-out-foundation, and no blusher... (as I'd left it in T-B's kitchen cupboard. Don't ask!)

It seems weird to think that I've been gone from Cam for 2 weeks... It's also amazing how much one changes on starting work and settling back into big-city life. I'm much more routine-ised, and my style's subtly shifted; probably partly due to the environment I'm working in, but also because of how I'm feeling I guess... Up until yesterday, I had no idea what was going to happen when I've finished my internship in October. I was basically still waiting on an official decision from Cambridge's Business School as to whether I had been accepted onto their Management programme for 4th year. If not, I would have to get on applying for more internships and jobs in fashion PR and Marketing which is probably the career direction I'm going in...


And yesterday, the crisp white letter headed Judge Business School, University of Cambridge came in the post... And I've been accepted! So back to the 'Bridge in October. I am really excited, though I was quite ready to get on with "real" life... Scary eh!


Right. As usual this was supposed to be a short post, so I must be off!


Xxxc

Yo.

Short, low maintenance post today, for a number of reasons, none of which are really bloggable. I Have had an absolutely lovely day on the whole, as I had two little social occasions that were uber nice.

Skipping out of the office at about 2.15 ( - we have late lunches due to starting late and finishing late - ), I went to meet the beautiful Claire from The View From Here, fresh off the train from Paris, for a lovely sushi lunch, sitting in one of London's myriad grassy, tree filled squares/parks... She had even brought me Jalouse Magazine and MACAROONS!!! Love the girl :-D

- How sophisticated does she LOOK! Despite the heat, poised and elegant ;-D

- Then we have me... A little bit of perspiration, a little bit of crumpling in the clothes department, a little bit scattier than my So-Parisian-Chic-It-Hurts friend ;-D (Wearing a TopShop playsuit, TopShop oversized tee and M&S sandals... The sandals are one of my best summer buys. I have them in black too. So comfy and so so useful! Who'd'a thunk it?!)

It was great to have a gossip and hear all about the Parisian sales and her Immense purchases... One in particular I was particularly excited to hear about, but I'm sure she'll be blogging about that herself soon enough and don't want to spoil the surprise! ;-)

But all too soon, it was time to return to work... (Whoever invented one hour lunch breaks was a mean old sod who obviously had no social life!) The office was boiling, but we have developed a Starbucks habit for Frappes - make mine a berry one - late afternoon... Delish and uber-cooling. Yum. This heat certainly makes you a little lazy... Though today it wasn't too much our fault as, having had most of the day sans computer or printer/photocopier (don't ask), we had a massive rush in the last hour to get all our sendouts and emails done before home-time!

Upon leaving the office, us three press gals and our photographer friend rambled for a London-Heatwave-Post-Work-Thirst-Quenching-Pub-Drink (£4.05 for a G&T?!?! Feck!), round the corner from the office... Was supposed to be going to see Transformers II, but had decided this morning that as much as I love my home mates, I wasn't shelling out £8 for a crappy film lol.

So all in all, a nice day, but a sleepifying one...

Will try to get around to a more interesting post tomorrow; but until then; a couple of Look Book images:

- This girl reminds me a bit of Louise Brooks crossed with Daisy from The Great Gatsby... Loving the autumn leaves too. Crunchy looking!








- Want her hair!!! And that back drop...



(Really Loving the Black and White aesthetics at the mo...)

Xxxc

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

It's been aaaaaaaaaaaaaages!!!

Hello all :-D

I'm finally free, and rested, and I'm going to try to get back into the swing of things blogging-wise... Woop!

For starters, we have the extreeeeeeeeeemely unflattering photos of me sans-makeup, sans-sleep, sans-sanity post-last exam... (See my pink keyboard that I typed all my exams on! ;-D)

I was actually the last person to finish, which kinda sucked, but now I'm done, and am leaving, and it's slightly scary but reeeeeeeeally exciting! :-D I've got a summer intern-ing to look forward to, and going home to one of the most exciting, confusing, large cities in the world, and I'm so so so happy about it. No idea what results, or the end of the summer has in store, but for the first time ever, life's plan is uncertain, and that's kinda insanely amazing.

Do I sound mad? Probably... ;-)

So anyway, since the champagne (which I'm actually allergic to, but I took piriton allergy tablets so I could celebrate traditional-style ;-D), I've basically just been sleeping... A few bits of admin here and there, but mostly snoring away!

However, last night was technically the beginning of May Week, and the fun of balls and garden parties, so I started it off with a bang at Robinson May Ball... It's one of the less formal ones, but was great fun as I went with some of my closest friends and we ate SO MUCH FOOD! Hehe.

*There had to be a twirling picture... ;-D*

Great start to the week ahead... I was wearing Jigsaw dress (shock), Wolford stockings, Kate Kuba heels, Zara clutch bag, borrowed scarf.

SO much fun. Right. I need to get changed and run to a garden party. Yay!!!

Xxxc

Sunny wanderings...

Well, I'm three down, one to go on the exams front... Next one's on Tuesday, and I have to find some motivation deep within to get back into revising after crashing for a couple of days since my 3 exams in 27 hours typed with crippling pain from the RSI.

My viva 'exam' is basically going to be me bitching about the exam timetable lol. I don't think they've gone too badly overall so far, but considering in my third paper I was so knackered I could barely type, let alone form cogent arguments to the best of my ability on my best paper, so will probably get a low 2.1, when I should have got a first, is annoying to say the least.

Ah well. I've given up on the idea of a fourth year and just want to get this done so I can go home and think about jobs etc lol. Plus, most of my friends are already finished or finish in the next couple of days, so I'm really champing at the bit to be done. Then again I know nothing for Tuesday's exam, so should probably do something about that quite soon haha.

Anyhoo... Moaning aside, T-B and I did take some time out the other day to do a photoshoot, while it was still sunny ;-D

Purple days and Purple ways...

Truly low maintenance summer-ness... I'm in my trusty, slightly worse for constant wear two-tone Converse (- can't see my colour combo, but kinda jonesing for a brown and orange-tongued pair. hmmmmm -), TopShop tee and dress, Toywatch, vintage purple sunnies and my MapTote.

Funsies. It was pretty much straight from this shoot back to work... Euurggh. I really should be getting back to work tonight. Blah. I know nothing about the Anglo Saxons. Sigh. Long long long 5 days ahead. But once it's over, I have a BBQ at our dissertation coordinator / college fellow's house (he has the cutest kids) - not sure he knows quite what he's doing having 20 just-finished-finals undergrad archaeologists turning up at his house, but he's a good laugh as are all the other dept fellows who'll be there, most of whom just get drunk with us, so... Yay! First archaeology lash in a looooooooooooong time!

Then I have the WONDERS of May Week and May Balls to look forward to... (Ignoring my viva exam on the last day of May Week lol.) It's going to be weird, as pretty much everyone is going their separate ways. Slightly scary prospect really. Sigh. But that light at the end of the tunnel - Finishing - is what's keeping me going at the mo.

Sorry I'm still not around much... I'll try to amp up the posting, and get around to returning to Google Reader and returning comments sooooooooooon! I miss you guys!

Xxxc

Sleepy... But PHOTOSHOOT!!!

Hey all,

Exams creep ever closer - they start with one on Monday, then two on Tuesday, then I have a week before my final final on Tuesday 9th - and I'm so unprepared. But never mind... Sleepiness pervades, but I'm just popping in to post up a photoshoot we did a few days ago. 

This is one of my favourite outfits - because it is made up of my favourite charity shop find ever, some of my longest serving shoes, and the cutest cardie in my wardrobe! Sorry for the generic-streets venue. Exam term doesn't leave much time for photoshoots in the nice places - only in the bits in between! ;-)

So...

I love yellow... Really??? Never... (Captioned)

- "Alex, there are *People* around!"

- "Alex, stop taking photos like a paparazzi!"

- "Alex, I'm ignoring you!"

- "Alex, you still there?"

- "Alex, seriously, what are you doing?"

- "Alex, can I twirl with shopping bags? No? Why not?"

- "Alex, you're a meanie..."

- "Alex, whassat???"

- "Alex, there's a cute boy over there... Stop taking photos so he doesn't think I'm a tourist!"

*Please excuse the shopping bags.* We didn't quite think the order of the afternoon's activities through. I lugged these (and dragged TB) to a book launch and then for photos, for no real reason, since the supermarket is actually, technically, on the way back to college from all these places. Hmmmm.

Anyway, I'm wearing: vintage, handmade floral dress bought at Sally Ann's Salvation Army store in Cam; Pringle cardigan (the seams are stitched in pink and green, which you can't see here, but is just the cutest detail ever!); Kate Kuba suede heels; vintage, purple sunglasses; vintage, tooled leather belt; Maptote Cambridge (Mass.) bag and Lady Luck Rules OK brooch. 

On that note, I really must get back to the library. Life's very dull at the moment. But got to keep going... for another two weeks. Sigh.

Then, I'll be back properly, with a vengeance ;-D

Hugs to all,

Xxxc

Images, as ever, taken by Alex Tatton-Brown. Thanks to Pamela Jane Smith.