Catching Up

since thursday...

drinking peppermint tea by the fire with matthew, avoiding the horrible weather

one of my great uncle's medals

saving the peonies that grew in our garden from torrential rain

waving off my girlfriends to their holiday in ibiza
vintage silk scarf, topshop flower earrings and top from forever21 in new york

going to this year's "city of culture" to sort out my passport and see the gustav klimt exhibition

sitting on the dock, eating packed lunch with vicky

visiting the international slave museum

wandering around liverpool, spotting these funny banana shaped sheep

drinking myself stupid at matthew's 18th

admiring his little sister liz
topshop dress and french connection shoes

crashing and burning, and going to bed.

I'm giving up on alcohol until further notice.
I've also set myself a challenge - no new clothes for a whole month, starting on 1st July (this means I can buy secondhand stuff, go to charity shops and vintage boutiques, be given handmedowns and presents...but not buy anything brand new off the highstreet).
I'm so tired of being disappointed by shops and brands, just finding out that you can't trust anyone to produce clothes morally or ethically. It's not as much a protest as a project that'll hopefully make me feel better about myself. I don't need any new clothes, especially ones made by people not getting paid a fair wage for them.
If all goes well, I'll see about keeping it going through August. Expect a progress report later on in the month.

Art Foundation Exhibition

my favourite piece - The Future of Antiquity

Pippa Jane Jewellery - amazing origami/spirograph inspired pieces (do not wear when wet out) and she does bespoke; you can choose the paper (some she screen prints herself), the design, the size and the item. ask for contact details. i've got my heart set on a ring, pictures as soon as it's in my hands.

my pictures are pretty poor - i blame having to use dad's old olympus instead of the canon powershot. took some acclimatising, sorry!

Tag, You're It

"RULES: List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring (i'm interpreting this as summer). Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to."

Alright - Supergrass
I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend...etc - Black Kids
There She Goes - The La's
Paper Planes - MIA
Radio Christiane - The Virgins
Turn A Square - The Shins
Me And You - Slow Club
Learning To Fly - Tom Petty
Pin - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Rally - Phoenix
Island In The Sun - Weezer


i'm not very good at choosing, and eleven rhymes with seven...
playing by the rules is boring, so please just tag yourself if you wish!

i went to an exhibition at college last night, pictures to follow later.

Charmed, I'm Sure

i was meant to be going to manchester with my friend abi today, to trial the Helmut Newton Photo Machine on its last day in the Arndale Centre. however, the last week of exam stress, stupid sleeping hours, overindulgence on friday and a busy day yesterday all took their toll and i ended up sleeping for 12 hours straight. so instead, i'm going to bake a cake with my friend nicola. but not before a bit of online ogling.

before finding So Charmed, i had never wanted to spend so much money in so short a time. that changed after seeing piece after piece of interesting imaginative jewellery. the stylised site is so much fun to browse through too, with the collections christened the names of groups any girl would like to sign up to. i tried and failed to choose a favourite between poets and pirates and punks and thieves; too many nice things!

moose lodge (pirates)
(we have a pair of antlers on the wall in our house - i first thought they were from an animal hunted for sport but they're from a deer killed for venison)
chicano debutante pin (debutantes)
(right now, i'm really interested in jewellery reminiscent of the mexican day of the dead, like the hairclips and brooches by the tiny little girl - yes please)
who killed cock robin necklace (thieves)
("i," said the sparrow, "with my bow and arrow" - i love english folksongs, i wonder how true the legend is that this poem is about robin hood)
squeezebox (rockstars)
(one day, i don't know when or where, but one day...i will learn how to play the accordion. hopefully one a little bigger than this)
victorian grrls (punks)
(she's wearing outrageous millinery and listening to The Hives - we would be friends, if it wasn't for the century or so between us)
le cage aux trixie (poets)
(i could never keep a real bird in a cage but this necklace would prove the answer to my pet prayers, AND my cat couldn't eat her)
death and the maiden (pirates)
(i find it ironic that robert schubert, the composer of death and the maiden, most likely died of syphillis)

i wasn't interested in the princesses or innocents collections. the marie antoinette rings are lovely and very delicate, and i've always had a soft spot for miniatures. but other than the handcrafted accordion and the adorable birdcage , i found myself most interested in the more macabre items. just like when i was little, and i used to read book after book about mummification whilst my classmates looked on bemused. let's just put it down to a morbid fascination with death. i should have been a victorian.

i should probably get out of my pyjamas now...

P.S. the tiny little girl just opened up her own etsy so you can get your hands on her skull brooch at a nicer price than the debutante chicano. go look!

A Very Long Day

days after nights on the town often are, but today being the summer solstice and the longest day of the year made it even more obvious.

FRIDAY

blouse - sister handmedown (vintage)
knitted vest - secondhand
skirt - charity shop, altered
brooch - family jewellery
shoes - Docs



i finished my exams yesterday and went into town to celebrate, such a good night. you know this for fact when you're still smiling, even after a half an hour walk home around 4am when the dawn is breaking and you've been forced to remove your high heels.

if only i had just come home from portugal that afternoon - i'd be wearing cute feet-friendly woven flats like vicky.

whilst out, i spotted a few dancers donned in denim jackets. this blast from the past hitting everyone's wardrobes has made me think long and hard about my feud with the dreaded double denim disaster. the possible peace pact has also been fueled by seeing fashion-foward sites like childhood flames and the capricious club displaying denim in anything but dated style.

the lovely caroline; "you do realise that by wearing that, you are automatically ascended to fashion royalty in here."

a nice boy named andrew; "it's from a charity shop near newcastle...i know, i'm cool."

the after effects of last night's revelries were, contrastingly, not cool. lucky for me, vic lent me a nice head-splittingly patterned jumper affectionately christened "the zach morris jumper" after the delightful (often denim clad) blonde boyband-esque hero of '80s tv series Saved By The Bell.
i came home, queasy but comfortably cosy, and collapsed. after the healing power of cocopops and a long hot shower, my boyfriend came to pick me up and we went to our friend's 18th. now i think i've earned the right to hit the hay. even if it won't be totally dark for another hour or so. damned solstice.

(apologies for the constant alliterating, i'm not sure what's come over me. maybe it's a last sling at my english language exam...)

Tatty Divine

so, instead of annotating my print out of Euripides' "The Trojan Women" for my imminent drama exam, i'm salivating over Rob Ryan's collaboration with Tatty Devine. i remember in high school, my friend hope and i used to fantasise about Tatty Devine jewellery and when my sister lived near Brick Lane last year, i visited their shop for the first time and brought her back a brooch, shaped like an envelope addressed back to them.

there are six beautiful limited edition pieces in the Rob Ryan collection, which i could probably never wear (even if i could afford them) because their messages seem too intimate to wear around your neck or pinned to your chest. pairs of birds, a heart that lists what it loves and an eye weeping tears that tell a little tale...they're like little love notes, secret whispers that i feel like i shouldn't hear.

"we must have cried
every type of tear
tears of joy
cold jealous tears
hot tears of fun
i even cried whilst
writing these words
but they were all good
every single one
little drops of me and you"

look here to see them for yourself; make sure you visit the rest of the site, and check out the sale. bees and bowties and kisses galore, at a much more student-friendly price. kind of.

UPDATE: see here and here for more ryan talent; blatant new found favourites.

General Studying

i had an exam today, so i went into college. it's odd to think soon, i won't have a reason to go back. i'll miss this nice rusty man, he lives outside the art department. he once was shiny; now he's not so pristine, but he has much more character.

top and silk tie - recent handmedown via great aunt (vintage)
skirt and bag - ancient handmedowns via sister (Primark)
leggings - H&M
socks - dad's
shoes - Miss Selfridge

my friend went on a date tonight, we're eagerly awaiting the report. whilst she was getting ready, i realised just how many romance-related items there are dotted round her room...but i can't complain, as two of the cupid-inspired culprits are the brooches i made (modelled by emily and sophie).

the first is made from PVC and felt scraps and old lace trim, the other from cut-offs from an old top, stuffed with foam.







two embarrassing things happened today; somewhat ironically, in view of this necklace, i was locked out of my house and when walking home, part of my skirt was caught on my bag...
good job i wore leggings.

today overplayed: me and you - slow club

D-Day

today, i felt a little...whimsical. hence the unicorn earrings.

top - H&M handmedown
shirt - SwapShop
jeans - Topshop
belt - thrifted
scarf - ???
earrings - carboot

for fathers' day, dad and i went to a local culture festival. WYJO (wigan youth jazz orchestra) were playing, my friend matthew is their vocalist - listen here. and sorry for the poor sound quality.
here he is, all smart in his Savile Row suit.

we had a cream tea after lunch with mum's cherry scones and clotted cream, raspberry jam and strawberries.

this is my dad. i'm very grateful to have him for a father. most of the time.

happy fathers' day! (or as mine christened it, daddy's day e.g. "daddy, i love you, can i have a car?")

Mundane

until exams are over (next friday at 3.30pm, not that i'm counting the minutes), it seems like the days when i don't go out and do something are long and boring, filled with things like washing clothes, watering the tomatoes or waiting for the gutter-cleaning man to turn up. basically, anything that takes me away from revision. however, there are nice little bits that make boring days bearable.

wearing something nice always makes me feel a bit better.
as does a guilty pleasure here and there, like watching the gilmore girls.

tonight i went to a 21st birthday of an old friend's sister and then to a housewarming party, and after that to pick my dad up from a rugby dinner. nothing like a room full of rugged men calling you sweetheart to make an average outfit feel like couture. even if i did just smile, say nothing and walk my father tipsily to the car.

top - secondhand
jeans - Topshop
belt - sometime in the last decade
shoes - New Look "con"verse
bag - SwapShop
necklace - Me&Yu
and please pardon the red eye.