Oh the horror!!!!

Last night I found a mouse dropping IN MY BED! I must move, I must move now!
So disgusting...I want to cry.

Passion for print

Image from 100 layer cake

Did I tell you how much I just love stationary? And did I tell you how much I love receiving and sending post?! It's not ideal at the moment as there is a postal strike here in London, but if I had my way I would get married or have babies quite regularly just to send out these lovelies.
An invite on oncewed:



And how great is this card from Enormous champion:



My love of blogs doesn't only consist of designsponge and fashion blogs, but I heart all of the many print blogs out there like Beast Pieces and Oh so beautiful paper

I'll leave you with another wedding stationary from Dolci Odille below:

A quick update

Wow have I been busy!
Our house guest has moved to Fulham so the house is back to normal (sort of). We have other house guests now, ones that just won't go away! Mice! It's terrible!

My friend Stephanie called me Friday to say she scored tickets to an Arsenal football (soccer) game. The stadium is down the street from my house and I had never been to a match so of course I gladly excepted. We had great seats although she told me yesterday that the colleague who passed on the tickets was sadly sacked!



We, as in Belen and I, booked tickets to go to Berlin in November. I can't wait, she's been before and really loved it. We are staying in this hostel whose name I cannot pronounce in the much sought after Mitte district. I hope to go to the Jewish Museum Berlin and I heard of this great wine bar, Weinerei. Finally my boss whose obsessed with the Berlin wall and Berlin in general recommended Rodeo Berlin to dine.

And this weekend I cannot wait for a spa date with the gals. We are going to probably the poshest spa in London, The Sanctuary. Can you believe they have a sleep room with low frequency sound wave beds?! Although I'm very excited nothing can compare to my favorite spa in San Fran, Kabuki springs. We will then be 'ladies who take tea' at Brumas (photo below). All in all I forsee a perfect Sunday.

Fashionista heaven by way of a blog

I found this photo on one of the many fashion blogs I've been scouring lately, like this one: Jak&Jil. It's a fashion revelers delight, like the Sartorialist, but not. This photo so reminds me of a herd of giraffe, or sheep (yet beautiful black sheep). Rush, rush, rush to the shows.

There is also Sea of Shoes, this gal is living the life of dreams with her shoes in Texas. It looks like she gets her style from her mother.

And of course there is always the fabulous fab: Fabsugar.com , brought to you by my friend Samantha (second from the right).


One blog leads me to another and to another and so on. There are some that are so utterly imaginative, some where the writing is fab, but the pictures are not and some whose content and photos overwhelm.  Is this heaven  (there is something for absolutely everyone) or hell (how many photographers/writers are out there)?!With all these new blogs popping up, and this stream of constant new information, I can't help thinking, how can one keep up?

Animal treats

I just found these works of art on Etsy.com .



I've bought the elephant print above by Grand Ole Bestiary for my bathroom as I love elephants and black and white photos.



Others like this one above by Berkleyillustration's I imagine in a young child's bedroom wall as an old family portrait looking down on ones faux ancestry. While being grand I find them quite comical. It makes me think a business man is really a bird or a polar bear in a suit! We are all animals (roar)!

A few visits to the bar

Last week was a bar/pub filled week due to a visit from Belen's friend Vanessa.
Wednesday and Thursday we were out and about going to The Green (two for one cocktails are always a good thing) and Keston Lodge which is filled with character though the beers are a bit pricey.

Saturday we hit up the bars around Spitifields/Brick lane. Commercial Tavern is one of my all time favourites. They were playing loud show tunes, Doris Day style and the lingering sunlight of summer cast its warm rays through their huge windows upstairs (photo above).
The Ten Bells was second on our list, a place where Jack the Ripper used to have a few and where there was an unusual large amount of people lingering about. The pub happens to be next to Christ church where a wedding was taking place with Tony Blair in attendance (think posh dress and beautiful head gear from the ladies). We got a nice view of him and the other guests and then carried on to The Light Bar

I've got a few more up my sleeve like: Tart Bar They make delicious cocktails which are two for one on Tuesdays/Wednesdays.
And, a newly discovered small little place with character that my friend Emma took me to called Bar 23 . The DJ mixed some great music, it reminded me of home. It's website doesn't do it justice.

Read worthy: The Winter Vault

Anne Michaels is one of my favourite writers, her newer novel, The Winter Vault is beautifully written though sorrowful. Not as lovely as Fugitive Pieces, her first novel, but still a must read.

Bits from the book:
'The market at Wadi Halfa was a place where every human whim had found a shelf. It was a catalogue of desires, a market of the broken and the lost, haunted by the hopes of both buyer and seller.'

'But no one said what was surely simple and obvious: you need flowers for a grave. Flowers were the very first thing we needed. Before bread. And long before words.'

'He had not said what he wanted: send me a signal across the river, by lantern light or bird call, come under cover of darkness, I will know you by your smell, come with the rain.....'

London living: oh the little things

The good:

Hearing someone on the street say 'you bloody checky bastard'
Arriving to the bus stop just as the bus you want pulls up and opens it's door to you
The normalcy in going for a quick pint after work
The diversity of people, each area has it's own diversity, it's own pocket.

My coworker/friend Stephen said, 'London grew organically, it's not on a grid, and I like that'.

The bad:

Hearing your neighbours above you singing kareoke late into the night
Waiting for the bus while three buses pass you going the opposite direction
London is kind of dirty and its customer service is appalling.

Haitian remembrance: Première partie

Last night I had a flashback to Haiti, the rebellious country of sunlight and poverty stays with me still. I don't think it wants me to forget it and I don't want to because it was so significant to me before, during, and after the whole six month Peace Corps experience.

Transportation in Haiti was at times frightful and at times liberating. One could catch a ride by flagging someone down on the road, jumping in any car. Other times I would be with a group of people standing straight up in an open flat bed truck, holding on for dear life, rocking with all our human bodies thinking when one slips, we all will fall into the hole stricken roads.

Once I was on a windy mountain road journey (the tree barren lands of Haiti are more mountainous than the Swiss Alps) sitting next to the bus driver who was drinking a Colt beer at 11 in the morning. It's early, I told him and he cackled back.


I've recently connected with fellow volunteers. Ben, a great guy, posted a photo (see above) of our volunteer group during our training. The photo was taken on an old school bus we took up the hill to visit a monastery. On our way up, the bus turned into a driveway and then reversed back. Instead of reversing and stopping, the bus continued down the hill backwards. The driver's brakes failing, we rolled down a hill, collected speed and then collided into a tree in front of a small haitian house (thankfully the tree was there or we would have killed someone). There were a few cuts and pinned legs amoung the group. We piled out and walked the rest of the way up. The bus driver still charged us. This was Haiti.

I will always remember the rides, squeezed between smelly arms, holding tight. I remember the people I randomly met, being a white face, being different. I will remember the tap taps (public transportation) and the chickens I shared a ride with and the banging on the side of large vehicles signaling a desire to get off. I wanted to get off, I wanted to leave the island most of the time I was there, but when the time came, when we were forced out because the government fell, when we were told we had to go, I didn't want the ride.

The Globe theatre

Who: Belen and I plus my co-workers Magnus and Anna
What: An American experience at the Globe theatre. B was a bit disappointed it wasn't Shakespeare, as was I.
When: Last Friday from 7 till 10:30 (the play was long)
Why: Because Magnus got the best seats in the house and none of us had ever been.

Check out their website here

'We have it in our power to begin the world over again’
Thomas Paine's Common Sense, 1776, referenced in Barack Obama's inauguration speech, 2009.

A New World brings to life a world turned upside down by notions of freedom and liberty. American independence and French revolution, battlefields and bedrooms, prisons and printing presses are all brought to the Globe stage in this compelling story of a remarkable man.

This world premiere celebrates the life and loves of Thomas Paine with songs, music and a huge carnival spirit. The much-acclaimed writer Trevor Griffiths is best known for his landmark play Comedians and Oscar-nominated screenplay Reds.

Swaptastic!

I kept calling it the wife swap even though no wives were involved, well actually maybe a few. What I meant to say was clothes swap or swishing (not a fan of this name) and I am loving this fairly new trend among my peeps in London.

Last night was the second time I went to a clothing swap at a friends house and it was BIG. My co-worker Rose and her flatmates Laurion and Anna hosted the event at their home in Clapton. The thing about Rose is that she’s got a lot of friends! Except for a friend I brought, she had a gang of twelve lovely ladies bounding into the house bearing wine and clothes that they no longer fit or wanted anymore.

The night started with a few drinks outside in the garden. Yesterday we had a freak spell of warm weather and it was lovely outside. There was a lot of laughter and excitement and everyone was super friendly. My mate and I reflected post swap how very strong/independent and intelligent each female individual seemed.

After drinks in the garden we moved to the clothing, and were there quite a lot of frocks! It was a hot mess of arms, shirts, shoes, perfume, scarfs, wine, and smiles. ‘Whose is this’ someone asked, ‘who cares,' another retorted, it’s yours now!' 'I've never been to a party like this!', Rose's friend Steph exclaimed. After awhile we all felt we were unable to really see all of the great pieces in the many piles so Rose held up items to ohhs and aahhhs and ‘I’ll take that’s’. Items we didn’t want found a place in a huge bag bound for the charity shop. We finished the night outside. Many a friend put on their new clothes, my friend Emma wore her three new flowing skirts all in one go.

I, as my mother always says, 'made out like a bandit', with two bracelets, a jacket, a few tops and even a little bottle of perfume. A clothes swap party is a great way to meet new people and get new clothes for free. I'm definitely looking forward to another.