Wednesday, 10 March 2010

An Oxford Education


I have been to Oxford once before when I was much younger. It was raining hard and my lips went blue from my lack of foresight to have remembered a coat in Winter. It wasn't a particularly fun experience but from beneath the paper-thin cardigan wrapped around my head like a turban, I stole glances of beautiful architecture, nook-&-cranny side streets, scores of sit-up-and-beg vintage cycles and the most stylish students I had seen outside of London.

Like a little elderly couple, Edward & I like to visit villages and towns in the UK at least twice a year- we ticked off Stratford Upon Avon/Brighton last year.

With a little nagging from me, Ed booked us a couple of bargain £5 return rail-fares to Oxford for the bank holiday weekend in April and we're staying in a Pub B&B with pretty rooms and a magnificent roaring fire. It's perfectly placed next to the river and only about 5 minutes walk into the centre of the town so we may even hire bikes. I happen to have the balance of a drunken foal so if anyone thinks this is a terribly bad idea do let me know.


Link

But this is where I need your help!

I would love your recommendations for things to do & see whilst we're there.
Shops to rummage in, cafes to crash in, any tourist oddities you love and restaurants and bars to get tipsy in.
I know not everyone will have been there, but even if it's a heard-it-through-the-grapevine-type tip off, I would love to hear it.

I know of at least two bloggers whom I love- Ingrid of And So Say I... and MJ from Dreaming Spires, are from Oxford so I can't wait to hear their suggestions.

Also, just as a sidenote, I'm thinking of re-jigging my layout and graphics so if any of you lovely people have any ideas, I'd love to hear them too- particularly about header graphics. I love my text but would adore some illustration to accompany it.

P.s Happy Wednesday everyone, the weekend is calling!

Sunday, 7 March 2010

Some sort of haven.

So, who is sad that the weekend is over already? Raise your hands. Yes me too, incredibly so. I am desperate for a holiday now, only 2 months and counting thank goodness.

And hello to new friends! I've had quite a few new followers recently, so thank you. It really is quite a surprise to me and every lovely new person is so encouraging.

Anyway, I woke up with a hideous, looming hangover this morning so my Sunday consisted of nothing very productive at all which is always somewhat depressing. I did make a beautiful carrot cake with cream cheese frosting which helped soothe my head a little.


Yesterday however, turned out to be very fruitful! Ed had the day off, unfortunately a rarity in his job, and we ended up spending 2 hours and a sneaky bit of cash in Homebase & Sainsburys.

Basically, it all started with us signing our tenancy for another year which made me a happy bunny. To celebrate, we thought we would do something pretty to the flat and make our mark on it. We decided to paint the kitchen cupboards to brighten it up, and went with a duck egg blue shade- ultimately one of my favourite colours for interiors!


Our kitchen is the one part of our flat I really don't like- it's tiny, with hardly any worktop space, ugly appliances and exposed wiring- so anything we could do to make it slightly more appealing was welcomed.


I don't have a before, because I'm simply too ashamed, but this is the after. We also added new handles but it took hardly any time at all and cost us just under £20 for the paint, brushes and handles. (Apologies for the microwave- I wish you could buy cheap attractive appliances!)



Homebase also had some great budget home buys. These velvet cushions are beautifully plump and luxurious and were a mere £10 each. I'm also on the lookout for a pretty throw, can anyone recommend anywhere to get one? I may need to hotfoot it to Ikea, but its such a chore.



I know people like having a nosy and it proved popular last time, so I thought I'd share my favourite part of the flat. We have these shelves in our lounge and when we moved it they were a conspicuous shade of dark brown, so we spent a good few hours repainting them. It was definitely worth it though.

They now house our books and a lot of my tat- it's a running joke that one day they will probably collapse under the weight of all the stuff I cram on to them.

And here is an inspirational picspam for you! All kitchens and dining rooms because I long for my own big dine-in kitchen, and everytime I see Kirstie Allsopp's country pile, I go emerald with envy!









Friday, 5 March 2010

Amyzing.

A massive, shiny, bejewelled congratulations are in order.

My BFF Amy from WolfWhistle has unanimously won the Grazia FROWer writing competition! I was at work when she text me and I tried my bestest not to scream in front of my colleagues.



The below article is on the FRONT PAGE of the Grazia site! I'm so excited for her and she absolutely 100% deserved to win.

And the winner is *drum roll*… Amy Marks, whose brilliant report on Erdem’s show was a hot favourite with the judges.

“Amy’s report was so well written” says Henry Holland “I like the way she had detailed descriptions of colours, styles and shapes, and also referenced the appeal of certain aspects [of the clothes] to different parts of the audience.
She knew her stuff, and by describing the venue and really giving a feel for the place, she made it sound like she was actually there…”

So who is our FROW-er? Let’s let Amy tell you herself..

“I'm studying Fashion Journalism at the London College of Fashion and I'm about to graduate. I'm 25 and have been writing my blog Wolf Whistle since September 2008. I focus on the things that excite me (and sometimes those that disgust me!) and I'm definitely drawn to extremes - extreme headpieces especially!

I love grey, purple and gold, Erdem, Luella and Derek Lawlor, jewellery in the shape of an A, giant bows, vintage dresses, wedge heels and everything Alber Elbaz touches…”

Read Amy’s winning show report here.

And her genius blog Wolf Whistle here.

So huge congratulations to Amy who wins a £1000 spending spree to splurge at the home of accessible designer fashion www.my-wardrobe.com, AND two FROW tickets (of course!) for next season at London Fashion Week, courtesy of the British Fashion Council.


And how great is her prize?!? I'd already be making my wish-list!

If you aren't already, you should definitely follow her excellent blog WOLFWHISTLE because in the words of Grazia, it really is 'genius' and I love her!


Tuesday, 2 March 2010

Purses at the ready.

Attention Londoners: Let's Get Ready To Jumble this Sunday!



I received a lovely email from a lady called Alice last week asking if I would kindly mention a jumble sale extravaganza that is being held this weekend. I didn't hesitate in obliging and in telling her I would definitely come along for the thrift.

The details are below and they have an excellent Facebook page here (from which I pilfered the photos) with all the details.

Also, if anyone fancies going let me know! I would love a little meet-up :)


Let's Get Ready to Jumble! The Spring Clean

Date: 7th March 2010

Time: 12:00 - 18:00

Venue: Bar Music Hall, 134 Curtain Road, London EC2A 3AR

Entry: Free!

Let's Get Ready to Jumble is a proud Spring Chicken.

And while we are definitely big fans of the mulled beverages, gloves even indoors, and a jolly good snowball fight, we are UBER glad that Winter's left the building, and Spring is now just round the corner.

In celebration of Spring's arrival we will be getting together, among the daffodils and new baby chicks, for a Sunday afternoon jumble.

More of the vintage that you love, more of the cakes and crafts that you crave, more books, more bric a brac, more records; more more more! How do you like it? Jumble style.

As always, it is FREE FREE FREE.

Huzzah!


And just as a footnote, anywhere with boxes labeled like the below is a winner in my book!


Monday, 1 March 2010

London Fashion Weekend

London Fashion Weekend: The Lowdown.

Beautiful origami display at Ghost.

Saturday was Day 3 of London Fashion Weekend at Somerset House and the day of my first real blogger meet-up- my nerves were working overtime that morning and I had no idea what to expect. As it turns out I had nothing to worry about, the girls were all lovely and I felt right at home. Can you believe it?! Nice fashion bloggers almost sounds like an oxymoron but how wrong I was.

Courtesy of Michelle and Siobhan at 3mobilebuzz, we met bright and early Saturday morning and given our mission- to tweet the events of the day via the brand new HTC Hero’s and INQ Chat’s we had been loaned. And yes, it was as easy as it sounds. It didn’t take us long to master the art of twitter on our new phones and then there was no stopping us. I’m sure our followers had LFW overload this weekend!

For the event, the floors of Somerset House had been turned into a fashion labyrinth- with boutiques and brands taking over the various rooms and halls and a huge tent with a Champagne Bar, Elizabeth Arden Makeover Lounge, Toni & Guy pop-up hairdressers and of course, the catwalk. We had been presented with a free goody bag and tickets to the catwalk presentation and were free to browse around as we pleased.





The INQ Chat, twitter machine extraordinaire!

The first thing we all did was rush to find the Luella stand like ravenous animals, and everyone spent a long time deciding what to buy. There was no question of walking away empty handed!



Amy of WolfWhistle & Michelle from 3mobilebuzz with the fabulous Luella bags on offer.

It certainly was quite dreamy being surrounded by brightly–hued lace and glittery things. Nearly all of the girls bought a lovely bag, but I decided against it, as there were none that I loved enough. I did however snap up the monster tee I had been lusting over for a mere 25 bob.




At midday we all settled for the catwalk. It was really entertaining and the clothes were beautiful and even though at times it felt a bit ‘Fashion for Beginners’ it still covered the three most popular trends for Spring/Summer- Candy Rock, Swallows & Amazons, and Vintage Glamour. It also showcased the entire Betty Jackson S/S 2010 collection, full of pieces that filled me with lust.













Anyway, this post is long and I hope you don’t get too bored reading it but I had a lovely day and below are the wonderful ladies I met on the day. We’re already planning our next meeting!

Clockwise, from left to right-
Fiona of SaveOurShoes
Carrie of WishWishWish
Lindsey of Be Gorgeous
Katie of Katie The Unicorn
Frankie of Swell Vintage
Natasha of Natasha Baillie Vintage and of course, Amy of WolfWhistle.

You should be following them all, because they are truly awesome! It wouldn't have been half as fun without you, ladies. Thank you!