Friday, next week and Lev Tokmakov; vintage illustration crush

Really loving these soviet illustrations by Lev Tokmakov from 1973...

Lev Tokmakov

Found on Where the Lovely Things Are. Originally uploaded by 50 Watts.

I'm also loving the fact that its Friday, that this very busy week is nearly over, that I sent three articles off late last night after spending all my evenings working on them.  That the sun finally came out this morning making my recently grey and drizzly walk through Soho bright and lovely. That I had a coffee from Kaffeine that felt free (I'd paid for weeks ago). That tomorrow I'll be heading off on holiday for a week, that I'll be seeing my family and baby brother, that I'll be camping (wish us luck!) and reading and walking and crocheting. Yes.

I hope you all have lovely weekends cherries. 

P.S When the bride and groom return from their honeymoon (see post below)  i'll speak to them about putting more of the photo's I took of their wedding on my blog, it really was lovely! 

  

Lately; wedding, walks, writing

Lately; A wonderful, colourful, wedding in a lighthouse; dancing in bare feet until the second we had to leave, feeling full of love for our friends.

Ice lollies and long walks.  Hammering rain followed moments later by dazzling sunshine.  Playing with fabric in my hair. Baking French baguette with roasted red pepper and tomato tapenade on one night, on another; leek fritter and smashed roasted potatoes with greek yogurt and garden peas. Busy days at work. Spending all my evenings tapping away at my laptop on a couple of writing projects, Bossa Nova on the stereo.

Life is good. Busy and a little on the skint side, but we're wearing it well, I think

Cendrillon The opera; Free London adventures

Nelson's Column and the big screen

On Wednesday we saw the Opera Cendrillon (Cinderella), streamed directly from the Royal Opera House to a huge screen in Trafalgar Square. An excited hubbub hung in the air as people drank wine and laughed and spread out food on blankets and a cool, slightly exhilarating breeze blustered around the square. It was much more relaxed, and infinitely more preferable to going to the actual opera, in my humble opinion.

My mister arrived, we briefly queued, were given a plastic poncho and inflatable cushion each (which we were ridiculously excited about) and found a space in the already heaving square. We unpacked our blankets and extra layers and ate a delicious dinner of French baguette with chorizo and feta cheese. Then the screen flickered and it started. The powerful voices of the singers reverberated around the nearby buildings, the spine tingling was frequent and we were amazed at some of the range in the voices. We hadn't reckoned on the skill of the acting involved either, it was engaging and funny, quite camp at times too. The performance was only heightened, in our opinion, by the frequent farting noises emitted from the movement of inflatable cushions against the concrete... 

I liked this colourful outfit

"Art not Oil". It is a shame that BP sponsors these events.

Snug as a bug in a rug; wrapped in my favourite National Trust recycled wool blanket (only £12!)

A Poignant moment.... Parp!

This is the beginning of our explorations of free things to do in London this summer. I was a student here so Free London is an old friend, really, it's just that I haven't had to call on her for a while.

I'll be visiting the 'Watch This Space' festival on the Southbank which I've visited many times before and seen some incredible live performances (One year I found myself roaming down the Southbank amongst hundreds of people, acrobats, moving wooden sculptures, actors in rotating cages and flaming torches: Truly amazing) I'll be frequenting The Scoop too for free film screenings and theatre, and visiting some of my favourite free museums and galleries too. I'm gutted that I'll be missing the Barbican Weekender and the Trans Siberian Marching band- go if you can, it sounds brilliant.

If you know of any other free festivals, talks or events happening in London this summer, I'd be ever so grateful if you could let me know.



Thanks lovelies

Picnic, cupcakes, Blognic

 Lots of lovely patterned skirts

 Blognic bicuits baked by Rob and Andrea of Lotus Events (whom I regretfully did not meet)

Sparkly Cupcakes baked by Tori

Me, Ray, Lynne and Becky


Blognic, on Sunday was wonderful. It was lovely to meet Michelle, Alexis, Katie,  Tori,  Lisa, Marianne and also Lynne and Becky who'm ive conversed with online for quite a while now so it was so nice to finally meet them both properly. I wasn't feeling very well (Thank the Lord for Ibuprofen)  so didn't get round to speaking with as many people as I wanted too, but I still loved meeting some familiar and not so familiar blog friends. Thanks Lynne and Ellie for putting on a lovely event.


I was also struck by how brilliant this blogging community is. I'm so grateful to be a part of it, and appreciate each and every one of you for coming to say hi, so thank you.... Ok, enough of the mush...

Wooed: Mexican patterns, bright colours.

Currently being drawn to really bright colours, and particularly Aztec and Mexican prints.... 

Image: Lena Corwin's Aunts Huipulls, pinned to my 'Homestead' Pinterest

Image: Painted wall by Bonnie Tsang, pinned to my 'Homestead' Pinterest

Image: Rugs by Maya Hayuk

Art by Alexander Kori Girard pinned to my 'Homestead' Pinterest

Image: Painted furniture from Hus&Hem, found on Pinterest

Gorgeous room from Sixth Street Design found on Pinterest (Pinterest doesn't link to the actual post so I cant credit the image- sorry)

Image The Good Hood Store,  pinned to my 'Homestead' Pinterest

Painted logs, from the Artful Parent, found on Pinterest

Image from 30 Media Tmblr found on Pinterest

Zing, pop, whizz, bam! 

These patterns cheered me up yesterday (Feeling much better, thanks for your well wishes.) 

Life and a Home made Birthday present

Coming home from the sea last week was tougher than I thought it would be.  I returned to an incredibly busy and stressful week, both at work and home, as well as the prospect of a skint few months (ah the joys of husbands freelance work).  All of this managed to manifest itself in another bout of Tonsillitis, which I tried to deny, in vain. Waking up at 2am unable to swallow my own saliva kind of sealed the deal (gross, sorry).

London can seem cruel when you don't spend money on her, and our lack of funds had me moping for a couple of days.  But, whilst cocktails, Gin Palaces, roof bars and new restaurants are off the cards for the time being,  I can however visit free museums and galleries with a packed-lunch and a flask of Tea; we can attend some of the hundreds of free events in London this summer and we can explore more of London's green spaces. I can spend more time crafting and writing and we can pay some attention to some little DIY projects for our flat.  I am making the most of it. I am. 

So, rather than going out on Friday, we cooked dinner for friends. My mister and I made a Turkish feast which we cooked over a couple of days and gobbled up at our tiny table with 4 of our bestest. It was lovely, much cheaper than going out and probably nicer too as we were really able to talk and our friends faced only a short stumble home afterwards.

It was one of my best friends birthdays on Saturday, but rather than buy presents I made them instead. I spent most of the day crafting away in our spare room, nursing my sore throat and listening to the radio whilst I played with tissue paper, masking tape and embroidery thread. Heavenly.

 My makings resulted in this stack of presents...



...which contained these goodies...



More specifically; home made toasted Cumin bread (Birthday bread!) in a an embroidered floral bread bag, which can be reused.





...a colourful mini pompom garland using left over tissue paper which I put into a box that I re-covered with vintage wallpaper.





...and of course cake. I made two cakes, in fact, on Thursday evening; one for Fridays dinner party and one for my friends Birthday. I chose a Yogurt and Pistachio recipe which went down a storm and has become my new favourite cake. Although, due to getting ill and being over tired, the cake making was somewhat dramatic. I finished them eventually around 11.30 pm after using every single bowl in the house,  wailing at my mister about the lack of STIFF PEAKS, almost crying over eggs, and laughing hysterically, in a sticky mess, at my impressive am dram....anyway...

On Saturday morning, after clearing up Friday's leftovers, I decided on a whim to cut the cake into 'cakelets', using a cookie cutter. This resulted in small, neat,  easy to eat, super cute cakelets. Without the usual cupcake cases you can see the pretty green flecks of pistachio in the sponge, too. The yogurt makes this cake unbelievably moist and creamy. If you are looking for a slightly unusual but utterly delicious cake, this bad boy is your friend.





The presents were all little gestures really, made with love rather than pennies. But I think they were received well.

So. Here I am, off work sick (boo), forced by swollen tonsils to rest, read magazines, pin away on Pinterest, and gather myself together a little. 

P.S. On Sunday I also attended Blognic, but more on that later

The town, the glass house... Jersey part two

The days we spent on the beach were my favourite in Jersey. However, we also spent time visiting other places which were almost, almost as pleasurable. 

We pootled around town, wondered in and out of bookshops, visited café’s, bistro’s and old pubs that sold local ale. Tea rooms, farm shops, a wonderful very old haberdashery; with old cabinets and high ceilings and that gentle slightly musty smell of old fabric. Lovely old fashioned staff too, it was like stepping back to Victorian Jersey.  Garden centres with wonky, wooden glass houses; Rays dress was camouflaged against the flowers.  Afterwards, pottering around the garden planting the flowers and plants we had chosen, (I’m now unable to recall a single variety!) then stepping back to admire our work. 

Cereal in the garden on most days, reading for hours at a time on the sun loungers, happily nodding off for an hour or two. Slow cooked Jersey Bean Crock at my misters aunties house; hearty, surprisingly delicious. Fresh crab sandwiches at the beach shack, and on our last night, fresh lobster and white wine at a restaurant right on the sea front. I was schooled in lobster eating etiquette, and we were surprised to see fireworks over the bay- a farewell gift from the island just for us (or so I like to think…)

And now I’m back. Despite the backache from the airbed (my arch-enemy), despite the patches of sunburn, I feel tanned and totally rested; It feels as as though I absorbed enough sun to last a while; almost like it's still in my skin, and I plan to hold it there for as long as possible.