Monday 31 January 2011

Work-Wear Wednesday

For creative gals. (Late winter, 'Brora' themed...)

I had a play about with some Brora look books and created some outfits I would really like to wear! I like to think I have constructed a few cool looks. Think wholesome but with black nails, dark eye-shadow and black knickers... mmm. I now desperately desire a pair of suede desert boots to wear to the office.

Tales from Russia,

With love. (Rush Hour.)

On my commute this morning, the slight frost on the ground caused me to spare a thought for the commuters over in Russia, I read an article about it recently.

From Dec- mid Jan Russians experience day long winter nights, with the sun only glowing very faintly for a short while around midday. Along with the distinct lack of sunshine, temperatures often reach -40C, a (literally) skin freezing temperature. Outdoor activity is minimal, and the cities and towns are virtually empty. The flickering lights in high-rise concrete flats, and ghostly foot-prints in the snow are the only evidence of human life.
These brutal icey conditions beat in the veins of the nations art, literature and psyche. It is something which I have always been fascinated with, although I prefer to centre my thoughts on the romance of enduring a hardship rather than the difficult reality of it. I just like to think of the fur hats and copious amounts of vodka.

(photo by Simon Roberts)

(illustration by Ivan Bilibin from Russian Wondertales)

Happy first of February everyone! Spring isn't far now.

Yesterday Don't Matter..

Because it's gone.. (Ruby Tuesday - Melanie)


My weekend included a trip to Oxford, which constisted of a lot of Sunday newspaper reading, cups of coffee and cafe stops. But, mostly importantly, a visit to the Ashmolean Museum which holds a fantasticly vast world art collection; one which seemed to be a compression of my entire History of Art degree!

I thought that today I would share these pretty postcards, from a temporary exhibition of Lucian Pissaro's prints. The orginals were printed at the turn of the century in England, although, I think you can tell that Pissaro had left his heart in France!
I thought they might make a rather sweet alternative to a sickly valentines cards! (Feel free to save them, print them etc.)
(click on them to see the post-card size image!)

Sunday 30 January 2011

'Where Those Two Sleepers Are..'

Sunday night poetry.

I have had a long Sunday, a little too long for my liking. I am looking forward to getting into bed tonight; I have a feeling I will be missing it once I start my new job this week!
So, enjoy this sleepy poem, imagine it being spoken in a low, hushed voice...


The Sleepers - Sylvia Plath

No map traces the street
Where those two sleepers are.
We have lost track of it.
They lie as if under water
In a blue, unchanging light,
The French window ajar

Curtained with yellow lace.
Through the narrow crack
Odors of wet earth rise.

The snail leaves a silver track;
Dark thickets hedge the house.
We take a backward look.

Among petals pale as death
And leaves steadfast in shape
They sleep on, mouth to mouth.
A White mist is going up.
The small green nostrils breathe,
And they turn in their sleep.

Ousted from that warm bed
We are a dream they dream.
Their eyelids keep the shade.
No harm can come to them.
We cast out skins and slide
Into another time.


(photos found on tumblr,) Goodnight everyone. Sleep tight. See you in the morning.

Saturday 29 January 2011

Dark Evening Driftings..

..on a Saturday..


Another freezing midwinter night is ahead of us and I don't feel like going out much at all. Instead I am opting to stay inside with with a moody black and white film and a glass of something to make my head feel a little hazy.... Enjoy your Saturday night, whether your getting cosy or braving the cold and falling off your high heels, all are very good options.

This ever so cool illustration is by Caitlin Shearer

Friday 28 January 2011

Versatile Blogger Award!

TGIF!
Ah, this Friday started well as I was, very kindly, awarded a versatile blogger award by Kendra over at Piece of Cake. Peace of Mind.


So, here are seven things about me:

1.) The thing I need to work on is being on time, I am frequently late which is an infuriating character trait.

2.) I could watch the film 'Julie and Julia' over and over again, it's my guiltiest pleasure.

3.) I must learn how and when to say no to a glass of wine; my inability to refuse wine is both part of my charm and demise.

4.) I have perfected the art of poaching an egg, but am dying to learn how to make a the absolute perfect cup of tea and perfect cup of coffee (I practice everyday.)

5.) It is very important to treat yourself once in a while, I just got a pair of silk shorts to congratulate myself on a new job. I felt guilty about it, until my friend reminded me that I deserved them.

6) I love grocery shopping, (although I loathe Tesco) and buying things to cook for other people.

7.) My best advice - hit delete on all your negative thoughts, they drag you down.


So, I pass on the award to:

Live Alone and Like It.
Flossy Blossom
The Cheeky Cafe

Bonjour Frenchie
Nineteen Twenty

Thursday 27 January 2011

'I don't know these people'

... I guess they're in love with each other and with punkrock.'

Yet another collage! I have had one or two people asking how I made my header. (I cut out lots of pictures from magazines and layered them together with glue, then peeled bits away.) I did it a few years ago as some kind of art experiment.
The 'punkrock' quote came from a 'Lee' jeans advertisement. It was really cool, and I kind of wish I hadn't torn it up!



(please use these pictures!)

Tuesday 25 January 2011

(Toast) Work Wear Wednesday..

For creative gals.

I have been lusting over the toast winter catalougues for a good 5months now, and am being well and truly tempted by their January sale as their glorious clothes are now (dare I say it) relatively cheap. More snow is forecast for the UK, a good excuse to get cosy and buy more winter-wear.

I never knew that I needed these billowy harem pants or jersey churidars before. My head tells me that trousers with elasticated waistbands are best avoided. But, the toast girls just look so cool in their art studios and atop mountains... they would make me buy anything.
Toast, the marketing mavericks, have long since captured my heart, but now they get my purse as well!

(Hope you like my collages, I encourage you to use them but please link me!)

A Day In Hope...

..that flickered in you.. (Smoke Fairies, Summer Fades.)

I have some celebrating to do! I suggest you do the same, even if it's celebrating for the sake of celebrating! Earlier on in the year, someone told me to:

'raise the bar and you'll rise.'

And, it's really true. So cheers everyone; to good luck, golden hearts, impending long days and open minds!


(picture is my own scan, feel free to use it, but credit me if you remember!)

Monday 24 January 2011

They'll Try to Keep us Apart..

And they’ll try, they’ll all try (Grizzly Bear, I live with you.)

Everyone seems to talking about it. Blue Valentine. I found it heart breaking, it certainly screams out the pitfalls of young love. The blindsided nature of it, the idealistic hopes and dreams of a desperate young couple; who are victims to change.

However, I remain optimistic, it's not all doom and gloom. I like to focus on these words, said by Jeff Bridges when asked: 'What's the secret to a long marriage?' He answered, '

The madly in love' thing has a lot to do with it. What I didn't count on with this whole marriage thing was that the passion, the sparks - it gets better! I was thinking it was going to go the other way, but it gets cooler and hotter at the same time.'

What did you think about Blue Valentine?


Sunday 23 January 2011

Love In the Asylum

Dylan Thomas.

It's that time of the week. I'm spending Sunday afternoon, in a dimly lit room reflecting and thinking. So, take it easy and take some time. Enjoy this poem from Dylan Thomas's The Map of Love (1939, a collection of short stories and poems.) I love the broody, haunting nature of this poem. Dylan is one of my favourites, expect more.

Love in the Asylum
A stranger has come
To share my room in the house not right in the head,
A girl mad as birds

Bolting the night of the door with her arm her plume.
Strait in the mazed bed
She deludes the heaven-proof house with entering clouds

Yet she deludes with walking the nightmarish room,
At large as the dead,
Or rides the imagined oceans of the male wards.

She has come possessed
Who admits the delusive light through the bouncing wall,
Possessed by the skies

She sleeps in the narrow trough yet she walks the dust
Yet raves at her will
On the madhouse boards worn thin by my walking tears.

And taken by light in her arms at long and dear last
I may without fail
Suffer the first vision that set fire to the stars.

(I can't credit the photos, as I don't know who the photographers are.. but.. would love to know, if you have any information...)

Saturday 22 January 2011

What's our plan?

Oh you know they won't understand..
Some photos for a Saturday night.

I'm off to celebrate a friends birthday with a few drinks, shortly. Although, I'm still not dressed and don't know what to wear. If you're off out for drinks tonight, don't forget to toast to being young, (no matter what your age.)



Hit the photos for the links.

Friday 21 January 2011

Selling you my fears.... ON EBAY!

I was a dreamer. (Villagers, Becoming a Jackal, again.)


Since the storage space in my room is somewhat limited, I have decided to put a few of my old clothes up for sale on ebay. These are things which I used to love but just don't wear anymore, as I am no longer a scruffy student and tend not to wear such brightly coloured clothes.
I have little clue how to use ebay and am very confused by the bidding system. Which is probably a good thing for bidders as there was no reserve on any of the items. Over the past week I have had my sister and parents despairing as they tell me for the seventh time how the bid system works. And, equally, friends looking at me with furrowed brows as I display my confusion.

Neverthessless, I have some good things on offer, including a Reiss jumper, Kate Moss dresses and.. a few barely worn party items. I have a feeling that ebay clear-outs are going to become a regular thing. It's insanely addictive.


Tuesday 18 January 2011

Ready To Start

Clothes and things for working gals.

I currently work in a combination of dusty art shop, and equally dusty jewellers studio. Nonetheless, I am pining after future office wear. I am due to attend a 'bi-annual' meeting this afternoon, however, thankfully can get away with my usual oversized layers and messy hair. My chosen professional world is centred around disfunctional artistic sorts, so clothes speak more 'easy creative type' than 'blood-drinking business type.'

This edit from UK Elle magazine is going to be the starting point of my first regular feature. As 2011 is going to be the big career lift off year, I thought it about time that I shed my scruffy student attire, and think more about work-wear. (Of course, it will all be done on a shoe-string, as I am only a barely paid intern.) I am already the proud owner of the satchel featured, it was a birthday present.. one that will last me forever.

To begin, some street style, for a creative girls. (Scarfs are essential for icy January days/nights in London.)


Hit the images for the links.

Monday 17 January 2011

FREE stuff, 'I'd Like the Company of Your Smile..

you don't have to say a thing.' (Kevin Ayers, 'May I' -slightly creepy, song of the weekend.)

I found these (FREE) downloadable Valentines cards and I can't wait to send them out, Here's the link..


Saturday 15 January 2011

How I Benefit From You Being Here..

Lending You My Ears, while I'm selling you my fears.. (Villagers - Becoming a Jackal.)


If you've stumbled upon this blog whilst on your way to a more glamorous web destination.. don't go, I plan to do some regular features on my blog, it's going to all be very good. So, keep your eyes and minds wide open, and stay here.



I hope you had a lovely Sunday afternoon. I try to always be at home around 4pm on a Sunday, in time for the only couple of totally guilt free, empty, alone hours of the week. I tend to light a scented candle and listen to the radio. It's the best time to think about the week just gone and the week ahead... Enjoy these quiet Sunday photos...(found at various locations on tumblr.)

(Although, I can't possibly fault how incredibly awesome a Sunday evening of the best chat and a heart on fire can be..)

I feel like the shadows

I don't even bother for (Warpaint, Shadows.)

I got some tarot cards for Christmas and have been practicing reading them a lot. It's looking quite likely that this will end up being me in 40 years time...


Photograph found at the 'Hey Hot Shot' photo competition blog, by Jennifer Garza-Cuen.

Tuesday 11 January 2011

In the morning..

I'll call you. (Bon Iver, oh so compulsory with anything snow related.)



It's only the start of January and it's gloomy and grey outside. Instead of wishing for warmer climes, I'm longing for the powder up in the mountains. Ready for days of snow boarding, lunch in the snow with a paper cup of mulled wine. Followed by long nights next to open fires, inside log cabins with lethal cocktails.


Wednesday 5 January 2011

I don't know just what it's all about..

but put on your red pajamas and find out.. (The velvet underground- some kinda love.)


I'm still relishing in the luxury of having a whole years worth of untouched days ahead of me. So, here are a few words on the new year, from an utterly brilliant role model of mine; Jarvis Cocker:


'This years going to be like one big party. We've been waiting so long for this, the fact that we're together, vibing off each other everyday - just finding that I'm more into you with every passing day, it's just going to get better and better.

Let's start as we mean to go on.'



Tuesday 4 January 2011

Thankyou notes and stamps.

I printed some lovely (FREE) note-cards to send thankyou notes on. Thankyou notes are a nice way to show your appriciation and ensure that you get a good Christmas present next year.

I used these:





Click on the pictures for the links. I printed them onto thin white card, using best quality print settings!