a tale of love

Vogue did a recent shoot focusing on Romeo and Juliet.  It was just too beautiful to resist.

christmas time is here

one of my favourite Christmas film is A Charlie Brown Christmas. The main theme is that Charlie Brown is repulsed by the commercialism of this time of year and goes in search of the true meaning of Christmas.   He does so while directing the school Christmas pageant.  I know it's old and full of morals but Charlie Brown, Linus, Snoopy, Lucy, and Schroeder will always have a place in my heart...

"Maybe Lucy's right, of all the Charlie Browns in the world you're the Charlie Browniest..."

little plastic people

on Saturday SJ and I were doing some Christmas shopping and went into Waterstones to find a book his Dad had requested. On one of the tables, where books are stacked high in themes to lure unknowing buyers was a book called Little People in the City: The Street Art of Slinkachu.

I thought I recognized the art from the cover so I picked it up and with a squeal of "This is so cool!" I made SJ wait patiently as we flipped through the whole book. The artist's concept is to create tiny, about 1/83 scale models of people doing ordinary and not so ordinary things in the city and then to glue them down near where these actions would occur and then to walk away from them. I'm not sure why exactly they are so appealing, maybe it is the thought that whenever I hurriedly walk I may pass unknowingly some tiny person battling out life on a smaller scale.

Cash machine

Same Old Song; Covent Garden area

Same Old Song; Covent Garden area

Rush Hour

Rush Hour

Dear Son, near Victoria

Dear Son, near Victoria

At the end of our Waterstones visit I had renewed my love for bookstores and we decided that we needed that little book on the little plastic people.


See his blog here

tuesday inspiration: the english patient

I remember when my parents first saw The English Patient and couldn't stop raving about it, the music, the story, Ralph Fiennes and Kristen Scott Thomas. Years later I saw it myself and I couldn't help being sucked into the wartime story of love in its many and varying forms. Jealous love, lustful love, caring love, compassionate love.... they are all there. I especially enjoyed Kristen Scott Thomas' vain and yet sincere emotions for Almasy, and her reserved yet somehow seductive costumes.

snow and questions

it snowed a bit this morning, the first snow of the season that I have witnessed :)

some nice news today as well ;)

penguins

when I was little and would get sick one of the movies that I would always watch was Mary Poppins. The perfect mix of fantasy and reality.

the penguins were always my favourites.

christmas

Christmas time at the shop

christmas tree

pirate ship

crystal drops

westfields

about a week or so ago Chloe and I took a day off and headed over to the new attraction in West London: Westfields.

This humongous American-style shopping centre opened in Shepherd's Bush (just outside of the congestion charge zone) and has turned into a huge success overnight.  Since I grew up around these kinds of huge malls I had an idea of what it would be like, but since I have also turned into a pseudo-Brit I was definitely overwhelmed when we got into the place.  

It pretty much has every British/European store you can image from all the high street parades, as well as designer stores, grocery stores, and a food court.

The Village, where are the designer shops are located.

The second floor; you can get the scale from this picture.

C.Alberry

Shopping bags.

Monsieur Lapin at the end of a long shopping day with his big bag of carrots ;)

Overall, it was very cool to go around once, but it is not very nice when it is very crowded and unless you are addicted to shopping, it's just another condensed shopping area.

But it is nice to go once in awhile.

warmth

all I can think about right now is different ways to stay warm.  Winters over here are not very fun weather-wise.  Lots of rain and very cold, strong wind.  The least a girl can do is try to bundle up and stay warm.

cozy.

bundle up

Current outside temp: 34 F

Today: Mostly sunny, high 47 F

So winter seems to have suddenly arrived.  It is windy and cold in London, with that cold that seeps into your bones no matter what you do.  It probably doesn't help that I am not a big fan of central heating and that the shop door is open all day, but there are always ways around it.  For example, yesterday Chloe brought me down a small space heater, which made a world of a difference.

The transition to winter was only official yesterday when it started to hail at 6pm.

One good thing is that I think I have inherited some of my father's warm bloodedness.  As soon as I begin to warm up, either with a sweater, a space heater, or a blanket, I warm up quickly and soon I have turned into a thermal ball of heat.  

This I am grateful for.

tiles oh tiles

At work we have a bit of an obsession with tiles, only the beautiful ones of course ;)

Most recently we have been surfing through ebay and by luck have found some very good finds.

The first was this Sherwin and Cotton, c1895-1900, "Village Belle", a very rare and collectable tile that was modelled by George Cartlidge in a rich cobalt blue Majolica glaze and in great condition.  It is a large tile, 6 x 12 inches.  What is very funny is that we had seen this tile before about a year ago when we went on a tile mission to a fireplace scrapyard, but the owner refused to sell it to us for any amount.

This one will have a place of honour in Chloe's new kitchen.

The original two designs

And then yesterday we had a bit of more luck.  This time there was a tile that David really wanted to win for Chloe for Christmas, and again, the ending price was a lot lower than it would sell for normally.  

Nice finds.

back

I'm finally back from being away for so long. A number of complicated factors (moving house, Decorex, vacation) added up to me not having internet at home for weeks, but now internet is up and running and I can post again!

new york fashion week

One of the things that I love the most about fashion week is that you see lots of fashionable women out and about and strutting their newest finds.  London fashion week is coming up soon!

Red dress and those cute 50s heels.

I like the strange combination of the avant-gardish dress with those llbean look-alike boot-heels.

Pretty yellow.

Sequin dress dressed down with grey boots.

I like the black crocheted dress with blazer.

Simple and chic.

Fall florals.

Big black blazer.

Simple outfit made funky with a long fuzzy vest.

Comfy but stylish.

Lauren Hutton, I think she's so effortlessly chic and the picture of someone who has aged gracefully.