Brighton: A Day of Running and Cheering (Mainly Cheering...)

Brighton: A Day of Running and Cheering (Mainly Cheering...)

One of my best pals lives in Brighton (oh hey Simon *waves*), so it doesn't take much for me to jump a train to the beach. This time, I was going with a purpose - head cheerleader. Simon was running the marathon for the second year on the trot and wanted to beat his personal best.... challenge accepted - I grabbed my pal Milla, warmed up my vocal cords (and northern accent, cheerleading switched me into full northern mode 'go on love, you can do it') and went to shout words of encouragement very loudly.

I suppose pom poms would have been more appropriate attire, but I went with pink velvet boots - let my feet take part in the action, you know? I loved the whole day, marathons bring out the best in humanity. Everyone standing on the sidelines was cheering (genuinely) for every single person that had made it to the last mile and you could see it in the runners face that it made every bit of difference. We saw one guy who looked completely ruined but the determination to finish was driving him on, we all started chanting his name and it was like he had been re-fuelled! He started running again like a complete badass.

Simon conquered the marathon and managed to beat his personal best (we obvs made it happen), we ate a lot of chips and I managed to locate the coat of dreams in the Brighton Marks & Spencer. The day was a good'un.

Top - & Other Stories, Jacket - Missguided, Pants - Topshop, Boots - ASOS, Earrings - Toujours Toi Family Affairs, Ring - Made be ME!

The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden

This has to go down as one of my cheesiest blog post titles of late, but I am a big believer that a bit of cheese (food and sentiment) is needed at times.

Anyway, you've seen this garden before (ruining the titles promises), it's one of my favourite places in South London. It's always gloriously overgrown and peaceful - it really does feel like the garden has opens itself up just for me. I like the quieter, less showy and more genuine parts of London, it's places like this, that make me feel calm and at home here.

A couple of weeks ago I invited a couple of pals around for a late breakfast and since the ever so shy sun made an appearance, we took our brunch catch up to the the garden - since it was me and Amy (Vintage Reflection) wandering, taking a few sneaky shots of the days artfully prepared outfit was always going to be the natural progression. I call this my 'grown up toddler' look, any childlike behaviour is a bonus and only accentuates the look (just in case you were going the restyle...)

Any secret places in London you know about? Leave them below and I will explore.

Trainers - Adidas, Jacket, Top & Brooch - Second Hand, Dress - Topshop

Walking With Dinos

Walking With Dinos

Oh Sundays, glorious Sundays - I wish there were so many more of you in the week.

This particular Sunday was spent dino spotting in Crystal Palace... yes, you heard that entirely correct - dinosaur spotting. Crystal Palace is a wondrous place - it has foregone the usual route of chained restaurants and big superstores - they have instead embraced independence. I would take a quirky coffee establishment over a Starbucks any day, big bravo CP.

The Palace has a pretty fun history, apparently when the park first opened in 1852, a full dinner party for 12 people was held inside the 'Igaunodon'... oh to be alive in a time in 1852 to feast amongst the extinct. We did manage to blow some bubbles, drink some cider and eat a few snacks whilst viewing the creatures, same?

This also happened to be a typical England Sunday - flipping between extreme heat, icy wind and rain, which is where 'the flasher' comes in extremely handy. I have begun to live in this coat (I am sure you must have noticed its overwhelming presence by now...) and I am happy in my new habitat, it appears to just 'go' with everything and makes me feel a bit like Batman in the wind - all things I am pretty happy with.

Go to CP and report back? Until next time...

Making Hangovers More Fun

Making Hangovers More Fun

Hangovers are not fun, fact.

On a hangover day, I retreat into a cave of darkness, eat KFC, watch Netflix and just write the day off as a bad one. Last week, I decided to buck that trend, leave the house and actually enter society. If you are going to join me and be one of the 'brave one's' who leaves the confines of the bed then there are four things you absolutely need to do:

1. Shower, that booze scent is probably going to follow you around for most of the day but any attempt at masking that is definitely the way to go.
2. Put on a fancy outfit, including shoes that will brighten most peoples days (sunglasses are also a must).
3. Hair of the dog, always. 
4. Take a pal on the journey with you.

I had a few reasons that taking a 'write off' day wasn't going to work, for one it was sunny, but more importantly, I was absolutely desperate to take my new shoes out for a walk. Me and Milla entered the outside world, nursed and beer and then went for a jaunt around our local park. Anywhere you can walk into and you feel like you are wandering into some type of magical land covered with wild flowers is a good idea any day.

This was also the day I found my dream winter coat in the newly refurbished 'Jim Dandy' vintage shop in Camberwell, you will see her just as soon as I can wear her without collapsing into a pool of sweat. Fate it appears, came a'calling.

I felt better, Milla felt better and the shoes were welcomed into my life.

Top & Pants - Topshop, Shows - ASOS, Sunnies - Vintage, Bag - TK Maxx

On Sunday, I Was Chosen

Skirt - Miss Selfridge, Shirt - River Island, Socks - Primark, Boots - Dune, Coat - H&M

On Sunday, I Was Chosen

Sunday was Father's Day and nothing says 'happy Father's Day' like a pint of scrumpy by the Thames... am I right?...

I am not the most logical of dressers, if I get an outfit that I want to to wear in my head then I have to wear it. Whether that be a floaty dress in tornado like wind or a short skirt / socks combo in the hot heights of UK weather (wishful thinking BUT it was bloody hot, muggy some would say). I still felt mighty cool in my seventies get up, drinking my cider - hence the sassy pose I seem to have adopted. You can't see it, but my eyes are smiling.

I thought I had taken a huge amount of photos, having too much fun to keep snapping,.. obvs.

I had such a nice time celebrating Father's Day, which ended with a Greek feast, supplemented with wine and epic quotes from an eight year old, including 'this is just paradise on a thousand plates' - the most poetic and flowery thing I thinkI have ever heard.

BERLIN

BERLIN

So, I haven't been around here recently. There was a break up, many, many months of drinking and dancing and being single with my most wondrous friends. Life feels like it should again.

All that was topped off with a trip to BERLIN with two of the lads. So, lets talk Berlin - that place is just magic. We took a long weekend, hopped a plane and booked into (my very first) Air BnB apartment in the trendiest of trendy districts - Kreuzberg.

Along with Canada, Berlin was a place I had never been but always thought that I could live. I was entirely correct, moving to Berlin would be no hard decision. I could easily slip into the arty culture and easy, laid back way of life. Nobody seems to take life or themselves too seriously - happy faces and beer consumption all around. The one difficulty would be the lack of cider...

A big part of the culture in Berlin is drinking / partying and we did our best to really explore that side of things. One of my biggest loves of this culture was the fact that people just wandered around with bottles of beer, drinking is something Berlin enjoys rather than binges on. We had various bars make us Espresso Martinis, we drank tequila, we drank bottles of beer on the metro and attended a rave in a disused swimming pool.

OK, can we talk about the clothes? Jeeessss Berlin knows how to do vintage and second hand. The moment we entered 'Humana' (a gigantic vintage store in the centre) we dispersed and didn't unite again until we had armfuls of clothes to try on and prance around in - safe to say we all left the store worrying about only bringing hand luggage... always a rookie mistake.

The one slightly mental choice we made was to partake in all of the super sad / super emotional parts of Berlin and its history on a killer hangover. Still, it was an important part of Berlin to take in - if it was on a hangover, then so be it.

Food was consumed, art was seen, history was remembered, beers were drunk, laughs were had, life happened.