Another year

Things have been a tiny bit rubbish for me recently. I've been ill and then ill again- a wicked double dose- and had to abandon my holiday in Portugal and fly home. Oh, dear. But, hey, nevermind, I'm on the mend and it's my birthday today. And I've got such an amazing family and such wonderful friends that I'm feeling a little more smiley today and thankful that I'm so lucky.

These cupcakes are HUGE.

This is a gorgeous limited edition cup and saucer designed by Julie Verhoeven. A gift from my husband!


And a lovely gift from Tiffanys from my dear friend Rhianydd and a bracelet from another fantastic friend Louise that I shall use as a charm bracelet. I've wanted one for a long time.

I'm very lucky.
And the All Saints jeans I had from my mum split in a potentially embarassing place due to a fault in the stitching so I took them back and got a refund. Then I saw them in the sale a week or two later and so bought a new pair for half the price! I spent the other half on another pair with a different print so now I have two pairs! A faint leopard print pair and a faint zebra print pair. I love them and wear them ALL THE TIME. Like I used to wear my stone washed skinnies with zips up the legs all the time when I was a little girl back in the 80's. Anyway, so far it's a very good day.

Glastonbury was beautiful!

Back from an amazing weekend at Glastonbury! I had the best time and the sun actually showed up and hung around for a very respectable amount of time. I always book into a hotel (in theory camping kinda appeals to me but in practice I pretty much despise it) and so a drizzly and muddy Friday didn't worry me too much, but then Saturday was GORGEOUS! I loved it. I saw some fantastic bands. Goldfrapp blew me away. Alison Goldfrapp looked great as usual and her voice is amazing live. They came on at about 6.30pm and it was that lovely time of the day when the sun is begining to sink a little and everything is golden and hazy and gorgeous.


Foals played in the rain on Friday but were so tight and put everything into their set.

There were so many other great bands. Vampire weekend were so good, definitely one of my highlights, as was Seasick Steve, Amy Winehouse, Neon Neon, and The Raconteurs. Plus, my brother in law's girlfriend had a vintage clothes stall by the Pyramid Stage and so I even managed to do a little shopping. And when I say shopping I mean she very, very kindly gave me a couple of things I had my eye on for free! How could it get any better?

To keep and to treasure...

It'll be our first wedding anniversary soon and in honour of the occasion we've bought this painting from artist Amanda Blake. I adore her work. It has a vintage feel and is soft and muted and a little magical.
I think it would be nice to invest in something beautiful every anniversary. Something to keep and to treasure.

Zooey, looking as perfect as ever in this amazing dress.

I went to a wedding on the weekend. It was such a gorgeous day and the sun didn't stop shining. The day had a 'film' theme and as I was sat on the Breakfast At Tiffany's table I got to wear a tiara and a huge sparkley ring all through the meal. There was also a Moulin Rouge table, a Top Gun table and a Batman table (which was accessorised with, amongst other things, a cat mask not unlike the Luella version which I was a little jealous of. A good idea don't you think? I wore this Johnny Loves Rosie headband with a huge flower.
And a silk dress in this print. Don't you hate wearing heels on grass? I'm wedged in about 3in here.
My lil' brother is getting married in August and I haven't yet decided on an outfit. Got any ideas? Any suggestions gratefully received.

Too much, too many?

I'm tempted by the pink Rayban wayfarers. Except that I think they're way overdone. But aren't they sweet? Would you?

Lust in the movies

This morning I was first in line with my popcorn and Diet Coke for the midday showing of Sex And The City the movie. Nearly two and a half hours later it was all over and I was left feeling overwhelmed and yet a tiny bit disappointed as I wiped a tear from the corner of my eye. I cry at almost anything in movies by the way, but this film got me more than once, when I visited the ladies at the end I wished I'd bought my sunnies to hide my bleary eyes, rather embarrassed to be caught weeping at what was, really, an extended advertisement for designer labels, coffee shop chains and Vogue magazine. But, oh what a beautiful advertisement! At the beginning I was eyes agog at Carrie's loved up life with Big- the most amazing Penthouse appartment, the most gorgeous shoes, the BIGGEST WALK IN WARDROBE EVER. It was all painfully perfect. But of course it doesn't last. Not to give anything away that the trailer doesn't.
The materialistic elements of the film are true fashion and lifestyle porn for us girls and guys who love to shop, play dress up and drink champagne (or Cava depending on the state of our overdrafts) and you can easily lose yourself for an hour or two in a blur of Westwood, Vuitton and Chanel. However, I was disappointed in Carrie's style, she's lost nearly all of the eclectic fun in her fashion sense. It was all grown up labels nearly all the way. I left the cinema with little inspiration. Nothing new or exciting. Just stuff you can buy if you're loaded.
The film is darker than the series, which is probably a good thing in order to maintain the drama over the length of a feature film, but it seemed to me that the girls don't seem to have much fun anymore. The dialogue was as snappy as usual but it didn't make me laugh much. I was too busy drooling over apartments and shoes and crying over... well, go see the film.
I, for one, plan on opening a bottle of Cava tonight.
And the plans for my version of Carries walk in wardrobe (the original, from her East Side apartment, not the uber movie version) are coming on nicely. It mostly consists of a distinctly unglamorous sounding clothes storage system from Ikea, which should be arriving sometime at the beginning of June.
Yum.

Kissing Wilde

When ladies (and some gentlemen, I'm sure) visit the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris they like to leave their kiss on the headstone of Oscar Wilde. It's covered in a smattering of lipstick kisses. But apparently the fats in lipstick make it impossible to remove from stone. Is it vandalism or a romantic show of love and respect?
I haven't left a kiss on Wilde's grave. I don't wear lipstick and I think it would be more elegant to leave a note perhaps, or just blow a kiss. But I think he would've adored it. After all, he was the man who said;
'Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.'
'Life is too important to be taken seriously.'
and
'There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.'
I wonder why Wilde has inspired such devotion amongst people today? Is it because he was ahead of his time, and we see him as being like us? Hedonistic, pleasure seeking, vain and shallow, but with buckets of charm, passion and, of course, his renowned wit.

I just can't help myself...

Having no self control when it comes to the high street I've been spending money I haven't got once again. But when it's buy-one-get-one-free in Topshop it's a crime not to have a little look. Unfortunately that little look can be fatal especially when last month's pay failed to materialise in my already malnourished bank account. And so I returned home with this studded dress and the shoes below for a sum total of £25.But the most exciting purchase was the All Saints jeans my lovely, lovely mum bought me for my birthday (which is two months away...). They're a leopard print with an black over-layed dye and ever since I saw my brother in law's missus with a pair I've been obsessing over them. And now I've finally got my mitts on them! Haha!

Tagged

Miss White of White Writing tagged me for the six quirks meme. So here goes...

The rules are:
1. Link the person(s) who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules in your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.

1- I wake up in the dead of night and see things that are not there, like spiders all over my bed, a hand holding a spoonful of sugar over my head and a floating pair of knickers. Not all at once though, that'd be weird.
2- I passed my driving test a long, long time ago and haven't driven since. I'm no good.
3- I've not ever, never killed any living creature on purpose. Not even a fly, not even a slug or a spider. I once killed a caterpiller by accident but I'd rather not talk about that.
4- Every time I go to the States I get stopped and interrigated at immigration by mean men who accuse me of a crime I didn't commit back in the late nineties in NYC. It lasts about an hour then they let me in. They won't tell me exactly what I'm supposed to have done which is very annoying. But I definitely never did it.
5- I got married in Vegas. There's more to that story but I haven't the time or the inclination to go into it.
6- Things break off in my hand all the time. I break things all the time. I lose my keys/mobile/cash card all the time. I'm always late.
That last one was supplied my ever loving husband. Cheers darling.

These things are surprisingly hard aren't they?
And now I'm gonna tag these ladies. (Actually I'll add that bit tomorrow as I have a DVD to watch.)

But here's the first pic of Audrey as Coco Chanel in anticipation of the forthcoming film. Looking forward to seeing the finished thing in 2009...

Time flies...

Oh, how fast a month flies by. Usual excuses for not posting. How boring it is... work, decorating, studying- humdrum. All my good intentions out the window. But now I'm back! Although I'm just off for tea and to watch weeks and weeks of Sky Plus-ed Gossip Girls at my friend's house so tomorrow will have to be my first real post...
But I've just finished this book by Sophie Dahl and it's very good and very lovely. I was impressed. (Now I'm giving myself away by admitting that I've had time to read a book but it was read in the car on the way to London and back, so there.)

Oh la la!

I've been watching way too many films that are set in Paris. In fact, 'Don't rent anymore films about Paris' were the last words my guy uttered as he left for work this morning.

Amelie, oh, it's my all time favourite. I don't care if it's sappy and 'feel good', it can only be miserable sods who don't want to feel good when it comes to Amelie. I love the story, I love the colours, the green and red theme- you'd think it'd look ugly but it doesn't! It looks divine!
Before Sunrise and Before Sunset- again, such beautiful films. If you haven't seen them then do. Both star Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy who meet in the first film and fall in love during a sublime day spent in Paris. The film finishes with them promising to meet again in six months. There's not much plot, just walking and talking but it's fab. Watch it. Watch both.

We've also just watched Paris J'Taime, a film made up of 18 short films by 18 directors. It was watchable, but not mind-blowing. Cute poster though.
And lastly Two Days in Paris. An enjoyable enough way to spend an evening as long as you have wine or chocolate, or wine and chocolate.

My favourite things to do in Paris
Eat macaroons.
Sit on Pont Neuf in the sun and eat cheese and baguette and drink wine.
Sit outside cafes in sunglasses and people watch.
Browse the thrift shops and spend some euros.
J'adore.

Miu Miu at TK Maxx Thrill

I think this bargain is the best I've ever had. Miu Miu trousers in the clearance from £349 to £23. How beautiful is that?
Otherwise eating ice-cream with maple syrup and drinking ginger cordial with fizzy water. And I started 'training' for the Race For Life. Which entails me putting my trainers on instead of my wellies when I take Lola for a walk and every so often breaking into a trot.

Nesting

Doing up my house has been a long and drawn out saga with a lot of procrastination, a little hard graft and a few tears (due to a traumatic carpet experience that occurred last week- according to the carpet guy I bring a whole new dimension to carpet fitting). But it's slowly taking shape now and I've been inspired by the blogs of stylish homely types to take on a few projects.
This is something I've been wanting to do for, oooo, around three years now.
Turn this-

Into something resembling this- image taken from Famille Summerbelle
Now I've posted about it I might, just might, get around to doing it in the dim and distant future.
Love Anna X

I love specs

I love Tatty Devine's jewelery and my current fancy is their glasses necklaces, particularly the Jarv Specs Necklace below which are HUGE. The size of actual glasses in fact. Jarv Specs Glasses £35


These are adorable too if you'd rather something a little more subtle.

Then there's these nerd-tastic 3-D specs.

And these bubblicous heart shape glasses.
Let's be honest, I want them all.
Love Anna X

Hand drawn text is miles better than Times New Roman

Here's some new work produced by my husband for Goldlion. It's a hand-drawn piece containing the titles of all the tracks on the Velvet Underground album The Velvet Underground and Nico. We've both been hung up on hand-drawn font for ages now. I love creating beautiful, unique text that's so different to formal text.
Plus, my winning badges have arrived from Stereohype and I'm very much pleased with them! I'll take pics asap. We've just ordered a badge making machine for Goldlion so we can experiment with a load of new designs when it arrives.
Love Anna X

Julie Verhoeven- so inspiring...

Once again I've turned to my beautiful Julie Verhoeven books for inspiration. She creates the most beautiful images. Julie studied Art and Design on a Fashion Diploma course and began her career by working for Galliano before setting out as a fashion illustrator and textile/accessories designer.




I have two of her books, Fat Bottomed Girls and Julie Verhoeven. These books are beautiful, beautiful and her images manage to be both lovely and dark at the same time. I think her stuff is so unique, don't you?
Love Anna X

Burgers and a new dress

Wednesday night has been turning into date night recently as last week we went to see The Long Blondes play in Cardiff (which I've been meaning to post about and might still yet) and last night we went down to the Bay and had ourselves a Gourmet Burger and a Corona at this place (which was nearly as empty as it is in the pic).
City Bar and Canteen, Cardiff Bay

I wore the dress I bought at the last Blind Lemon vintage fashion fair in Bristol. To be honest I only bought it cos I felt I had to buy something to justify the trip up there (I wasn't really in shopping mode as I hadn't got in the night previous till around 5 and I'm much too old to handle those kind of dumb drunken shenanigans AND get up first thing) but now I'm glad I did. It's a nice winter/spring crossover dress, good with thick woolly tights but moving away from the black, black and more black that I've been drawn to this winter. It was cold down the Bay though so I thanked my lucky stars I hadn't ditched the thick tights and winter coat just yet.
The burger was fantastic (veggie and camembert, no beef for veggie me, no way) and by the time we'd got to the City Bar I had to undo my belt in order to fit my Corona in (bloke's fault- he insisted we needed two side orders of fries- have you seen the size of the burgers at GBK? They're the high rises of the burger world.) And then I woke up at 2.15 am shaking my bloke's arm and saying there were rats on our bedroom ceiling, I blame the garlic mayonnaise.

Love Anna X

Neon Neon

Gruff Rhys of the genuinely super Super Furry Animals and music producer Boom Bip have come together to form electro pop collaboration Neon Neon. Their debut album Stainless Style hit the shops on Monday. This album is all about the life of 80's motorcar mogul and general cad John DeLorean who's probably best known (to me anyhow) as the guy who designed the car in Back To The Future.










The first single I Lust U is a sexy little number and I've been beeping along to it's synth-y sounds all week. Check it out here. Gruff's vocals are always lovely and they work as well here amongst all the electro-tweeking as they have anywhere. Very much recommended by me.

Love Anna X

I won something!!!

Guess who won the Stereohype competition for a series of badge designs? ME that's who! And I'm over the moon chuffed.

Love Anna X

The rain just keeps on coming down and my feet keep getting wet and I just can't wait till Spring. I love winter and getting all cosified, putting my pyjamas on at 6pm, lighting candles and drinking hot chocolate with a good book BUT NOW I WANT SOME SUN! My sunny clothes are calling out to me Anna, Hellooooo, put me on, you'll feel soooo much better but not with pneumonia I won't.
But what's to stop me planning, eh?

Things to do this summer.
1- Glastonbury. Had a ball last year. Even though it rained and was muddy and my thighs took a battering (you try walking through 6 types of knee-high mud constantly for three days). And I'm (extremely) lucky enough to get guest passes. Highlights for me were The Klaxons, CSS, The Killers, Bat For Lashes and Amy Winehouse.
Lovefoxx from CSS at Glastonbury 2007

2- Make my garden beautiful with lanterns and candles and comfy places to drink wine at night. This one is doubtful to happen as my garden is currently maybe the ugliest garden in town and it's main usage is as a place for my puppy to do a poo.

3- Make art.

4- Swim in the sea. Which is something I haven't done for a long, long time. And you just can't beat it really.

5- Take lots of Polairoid photos. Did you know they're going to STOP MAKING POLAIROID FILM!? That sucks.

Ahoy there

My cute Primark dress with a Topshop necklace. How refreshing are blue and white stripes? And vertical stripes are much kinder than horizontal, unless, of course, they're distorted by wayward lumps and bumps... How long till Summer now? Got to get on that cross trainer fast.
And here's my pup Lola who is HARD WORK. But lovely lovely lovely. So worth it.

Love Anna X

Christina

Christina

After swearing off too-cheap-to-be-true clothes because of the whole someone's working for a pittance in some hell-hole to make this piece of tat thing I went to Cardiff's Primark on Saturday and suddenly came over all strange. How can you not walk through there and not get a dry mouth and sweaty palms as the realisation hits you that you can be on trend for so many of Spring/Summer 08's looks by only spending about £12.99? Damn that place... I did control myself somewhat through and emerged with only two of the 300 pieces that I tried on. I think it's hard to keep a clear conscience when it comes to fashion and I end up feeling guilty about so many things (mainly spending what little money I've got when I've got a mindless shopping induced head rush on) but clothes and fashion and dressing up make me happy and so I'll have to try harder to reconcile the shopper and the ethical consumer parts of me. That's what's so nice about second hand, what with recycling and all. So watch out British Heart Foundation, I'm a-coming...


Love Anna

I've been watching...

...Factory Girl, about 60's style icon and Andy Warhol's darling Edie Sedgwick, and Control, a movie about Ian Curtis, messed-up lead singer in 70's band Joy Division. Let's just say you wouldn't want to swap places with either of them however cool they look with a fag (I could crack a joke here about Warhol here but I meant I'm sure you know I mean cigarette)






















Both are definitely worth a look. Guy Pierce's Warhol for Factory Girl is utterly creepy and has left me compelled to read his autobiography. Factory Girl doesn't paint a pretty picture of him for sure.

Other than that I've been steadily making my way through the Sex And The City box set aiming to have watched them all by May when the movie hits our multiplexes. Of course it's my favourite TV show of all time and of course I can't wait till May and of course I've seen the new trailer that gives away basically the whole plot and so here are some much publicised Carrie outfits from the forthcoming film.

And here's her closet. I'm going to have one just like it real soon and if my other half is reading this then I AM HAVING ONE AND I WILL KEEP IT TIDY, OK?

Love, Anna

Hello,

The fashion gods were being very sweet the day I picked up my Miu Miu trousers from TK Maxx last week. I adore a bargain and I've been on a roll lately. But these were in clearance can you believe and I got them for next to nothing. Major thrill! But seeing as they're about two foot too long I have to wait for a lady who happens to have a throat infection to get well enough to take them up for me.
Over in Milan Fashion Week D&G are making me wish it was Autumn/Winter 2008/9 before we've even had our fun in Spring/Summer 2008.


Loving the tartan tights clashing with the dress prints, loving the seventies vibe, loving the frills and the flares. A little Ali McGraw, Love Story don't you think?


And I can't wait to be a hippy-rock-chick-military type like the Gucci girls. Plus Gucci gave us the best boots I've seen in, oooo, days...
Because I adore Desperately Seeking Susan and I always wanted a pair of those shit hot boots she trades in her jacket for. (Was never sure about the jacket though.)

Love, Anna X