Thursday, August 30, 2012

Hipster picking

Having recently joined the Tumblr community, I am astounded. I have found the perfect sociological phenomenon. Here are Tumblr lurkers in a nutchell:

their ideologies - skinny, caked in make-up, covered in studs and pierced in compromising places

their idols - Linsday Lohan, Emma Watson, Jennifer Lawrence

their image - smoking, wearing those Jamie Campbell boots, compulsively dying their hair

their loves - cats, crucifixes, instagram photos of nothing in particular

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Back from Florence!

Why hello there! So basically with my trusty guidebook and camera, I discovered two vital things about Florence:

1- no angry shopkeepers, despite the hordes of tourists
2- awesome street artists (i.e. people selling art in the street. Somehow I don't think anyone would get away with spraypainting Brunelleschi's masterpiece)

... And I though I'd give you the classic list of top 5 Florentine moments:

1 - climbing the Duomo Campanile - when I got to the top I had it all to myself because everyone was over on the dome.

2 - Coffee on the roof of the Uffizi (there's the usual overpriced cafe once you have finished the museum tour) - the view is great

3 - Having mind-blowing lemon sorbet at the foot of San Miniato al Monte (before climbing the hill and listening to Gregorian chants)

4 - The view from San Miniato al Monte

5 - Seeing David for free after 8 o'clock and having him all to yourself...









Wednesday, July 11, 2012

I AM A LUDDITE

Readers! Terribly sorry to have neglected you! Unfortunately I have been sucked into the vortex that is Tumblr.

Do stop on by > Caterpillar, Caterpillar

It provides a better solution to my musings than this. Like the inboard I keep in my room, crammed with scraps of random paper and postcards.. Henceforth, this blog will be reserved for what I like to call my 'grassroots journalism', pretentious though it may be. We shall see.

Anyway, back to my being a havoc-causing traditionalist. I love to write, as you may have already guessed. I write all sorts, but I was just thinking how there is a disparity between the speed of my thoughts and that of my pencil, when I am writing by hand. However, when I write on a computer, I always always get distracted. Therefore, I want a typewriter. I love the sound, I love the rarity and the clumsiness of it, the clack-clack ting! but above all I love the purity of function. Multitasking is a fallacy of modern invention, and I don't want it. Any thoughts?

Hope you are all enjoying your summers -
Cendrillon

Sunday, June 10, 2012

DESTINATION - AU FIL DE L'EAU

Set back from the Riviera, near Nice and north of Cannes, find this little gem. Known as Clue d'Aiglun, here is Pammukkale - this side of the Dardanelles. The limestone is carved from centuries of flash floods, so take a plunge in the aquamarine.






ON THE AGENDA: LONDON SPECIAL


London is abounding with culture this coming season, due to the, you guessed it, Jubilee. Therefore, to kick things off - The Queen Art & Image at the National Gallery. Follow that up with the V&A's British Ballgowns, book online; the British Museum's Horse: from Arabia to Royal Ascot and Shakespeare: Staging the World






Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Best of British

As it's the Jubilee, I thought I would put together my very own "Best of British" top ten:

1. Shakespeare. There's an exhibition at the British Museum opening in July, be there. Also, Dickens (the 200th anniversary of his death this year!), the Bronte sisters, Keats, Hughes.

2. Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles, Minstrels, Skips

3. British strawberries

4. William Morris

5. The V&A

6. Tartan - dressing rebels since the 1960s

7. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings

8. Marmite (although 50% of the kingdom hates it)

9. Fish & chips

10. Red buses!


A funny bunch, really, aren't they? As previously mentioned, a nation of football fans. The height of culinary excellence with shepherd's pie and battered fish wrapped in newspaper. King sof the cheeseboard with cheddar... However, birthplace of one of the most important popular culture phenomena of the past thirty years (J.K. Rowling), and the most incredible sweets known to man :)

Sunday, June 3, 2012

REFLECTIONS ON A JUBILEE

The British are a funny bunch. Some close friends of mine are taking to the streets today in Union Jack or crown tights and colour-coded jewellery. Deep down they are just a nation of football fans.

The dismal drizzle today is 'failing to dampen pageant fervour' on the Thames, according to the Guardian. What kind of a flag-waving headline is that? We watch seasoned Londoners and country bumpkins alike don their anoraks just to wave stripy napkins on the ends of chopsticks at a sparkly boat. And don't you love it?

See you there. I'll be the one singing the Marseillaise.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

HAPPY {JUBILEE} WEEKEND!

Today: not much happening.
Tomorrow (Sunday 3rd June): Royal barge procession
Tuesday: Royal carriage procession!


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Monday, May 28, 2012


'I don't write for children. I write' - Maurice Sendak


PHILOSOPHY

I believe that peaches have the ability to heal. I believe that sunshine is good for the soul. My gods are Macneice and Keats and Kipling, Hughes, Plath, Fitzgerald, Tolkien. My heroes are Simba and Aslan, Harry (and Ron and Hermione), Heathcliff, Tristan, Isolde, Arthur, Audrey, Max and his Wild Things, the Velveteen Rabbit, Helen of Troy, Tom, Jerry, Achilles - and they have been my constancy. And as long as there are secret gardens to be found, Rochesters to be won, children who require Narnia, and a land where the bong-trees grow, that shall be my ideology. I believe that careers are a figment of the 20th century, the age of chivalry is not yet dead, hope is the ambrosia of all dreamers. Above all I believe that there are revolutions yet to be had.


- Ava Heywood

Sunday, May 27, 2012

FREE & SUMMER 2K12 TO-DO


So you know that feeling when you're just completely and utterly liberated? Well, I've got it now...


With summer approaching, here's what I want to do:


1. Master the art of macaroons



 2. This - just found myself a little polaroid camera for none other than £5 on Saturday



3. Some crazy-ass jewellery

4. Frocks galore


5. Yes - learn how to drive



Tuesday, May 22, 2012

THE WEDDINGS: RECAP & FAVES


I had so much fun preparing this series - please excuse the volley of posts all on the same topic. So, let's sum it up: we had the hipster wedding in Paris (Un Peu Bobo), where Baroque takes on new colours; the unconventionally chic wedding in California (Un Peu Rock) with wedges and netting, the southern wedding (On Dirait le Sud) with subdued colours and an olive orchard, the fresh spring (Delicatesse Printaniere) with whites and greens galore, the hippy one complete with teepee (A Very Hippy Occasion), the classic French country party - white dress, champagne, chateau (Oysters and Champagne), and finally the beach wedding (Nouvelle Vague).

So it was fun. I got to indulge my inner little girl by making wedding inspiration boards. But then I think, we all talk about having the perfect wedding, and suddenly it occurred to me: what exactly is that? What makes your wedding perfect? Is it the guestlist? Is it how good your skin looks or what the groom wears? Is it the seating plan, the menu, the centrpeices, the flowers, the flowergirls, the lace, the hair - what? Why does it matter? Is it really going to be the most important day of your life?

I am a firm believer in eloping. Enough said. I'll be signing a piece of paper for my wedding, and maybe I'll have a party afterwards. I'll be frightfully tasteful and wear black and smoke from a cigarette holder and dance until the early hours of the morning and drink absolutely nothing but champagne, and it'll be worth remembering. I might have flowers and I might not have a something blue, I certainly won't have a veil and I'll wear flat shoes. There will be really amazing burgers and lots of gorgeous men in black tie.

What do you want your ideal wedding to be like? traditional? unconventional?









THE WEDDINGS : THE DRESSES


 So here are a selection of my favourite wedding dresses encountered over the course of my travels - with this short lace number in first place. I love it.






Monday, May 21, 2012

THE WEDDING {7}: A VERY HIPPY OCCASION










THE WEDDING {6}: NOUVELLE VAGUE

So, getting married on the beach is established stereotype by now, I know. But that's because there's something so appealing about getting married to the sound of waves, and then beach fires, dinner on the sand... Enough said. Breezy, simple shapes for this one and a fresh colour scheme. I love the idea of a big, chunky plait. Doesn't she look happy? You could be, once again, unconventional, and wear these cute lace espadrilles, or you could go barefoot...