Tuesday's Tees - Madewell

Madewell has a v.varied selection of tees on their site. I really love the the film reel tee. And the linen one, it's looks so comfy. Plus I'm v.much liking all the scalloped edges.

l - r :

tearose stripe/ linen v-neck

film reel/ indigo ink

soft lace/lace cut-out

ship sketch/ painted lacebloom

Moriarty

This is Moriarty.

Two weeks ago, whilst at work, I called Mitch on my lunch break. Almost the first thing he said was: "Guess what I've just bought! A hamster!" Apparently he'd been thinking about it for a while but had of course failed to mention it to me, because "you'd have said no!" Which is true. I'm not going to lie, I  was pretty annoyed that I hadn't been consulted. However, as soon as I got home and met our new resident I was smitten. I've never had a pet before, my sister is allergic to animal fur so pets were a no-no when I was little and at uni I was, for most of the three years, unable to look after myself let alone another living creature no matter how small. A lot of my friends had hamsters when they were younger so it sort of feels like I'm a bit late to the party. But, as the old saying goes, better late than never.

He's not your typical brown and white hamster (as you can see), his fur is more grey in colour. V.shy when when he first arrived but I think he's used to us by now - letting us feed and handle him. We got him a ball to run around the flat in - which he seems to love.

When he's awake (mornings and evenings) he darts about with impressive speed for someone so tiny - hence all the blurry pics, it's very difficult to catch him standing still. Even when he eats he sort of quivers. I am amazed at how much he can carry in his pouches, plus he looks super cute when his cheeks are full (once they were so full he couldn't fit into his little house)! It's only been two weeks but I love this little guy.

And yes, we are big fans of sherlock holmes although there's nothing evil about this Moriarty :)

nice things in the post

I love getting stuff in the mail, clearly not junk mail (leaflets, soooo many leaflets) or boring mail (I'm looking at you Orange) or potentially serious looking mail in brown envelopes (*cough* revenue and customs) or bills (leave me alone student loan people, I have nothing for you!). I'm talking about the good stuff - unexpected letters, postcards and things I've ordered off the glorious internet. Recently I've had a bout of good mail which I thought I'd share with you.

Chelsea boots - eBay
Fabric and dress pattern - The Village Haberdashery
V.cute, unexpected card from my sister.

Have you had any goodies arrive in the mail lately?

February: short but oh so sweet

It's been a bloody good month, jam-packed full of fun things. Some of the highlights:
My birthday (the actual day and the weekend house party obvs!)
Meeting my cousin's baby for the first time (he's only a month old - so cute)
Catching up with a friend who I hadn't seen for the longest time
Valentine's Jerk Chicken
Going to the theatre with my sister
Going swing dancing with Mitch
Getting to know our flat's newest resident (more on that soon)

Also, I started up my 4 things challenge. It's only been going for a couple of weeks but I'm already making a conscious effort to change my ways:
De-clutter - I sold some old clothes on eBay (and made a tidy profit to boot).
Health - water consumption is up and I've been walking lots too!
Money - I've just payed off my silly mistake from a couple of years ago so the slate has been wiped clean. Saving can really start in March.
Do More New - as mentioned above, Mitch and I went to a Swing Dancing lesson at Drink Shop & Do on Monday night. It was v.fun but super hard. Everyone (teachers and participants) were so friendly and eager to help. They're having another lesson next month and I highly recommend it - the dance party was cool too and worth staying for after the lesson. February saw my first yarn bombing experience and I also made my first ever pie! It wasn't v.photogenic (hence lack of pics) but my god it tasted good. More pies I think...probably involving some sort of strong cheese and vegetables...

All in all Feb has been the fresh new start I needed for 2013 and it just keeps on giving, it's end is kinda like the gateway to spring!

Tuesday's Tees - it's been a while...

a random assortment

geometric from Rumplo

summery crop from Supayana

pretty florals from Annie Greenabelle

galleon print from Orla Kiely

v.cute stripes and neck tie from Dear Creatures

cool flecked tee from Topshop

ok, it's not a tee but it's fabulous - both front and back - from Annie Greenabelle

cosmic bleached tee from Urbanoutfitters

super casual from ASOS 

diet pills and the UK wedding show

I'm going to keep wedding talk to a bare minimum on here, that said, this post is sort of about weddings but it's mostly just me having a rant.

Last Sunday Mitch and I went to the UK Wedding Show held at London's Excel centre. Overall it was pretty much what I expected, lots of stalls trying to get you sign-up to/buy stuff, people in the wedding biz talking at you, collecting email addresses and giving out countless brochures and leaflets. We'd only gone to the show because A) I was curious and B) we thought it might give us some ideas for our day. Suffice to say, I found the experience rather terrifying. As we entered the show a big lovely 'Bride' sticker was slapped on me, which served as a beacon for wedding biz people to pummel me with a barrage of questions about 'the big day' - photographer, venue, catering, make-up, dress, hair, entertainment for the guests, chair covers (I do not understand this one in the slightest). I realise they were just doing their job, and a couple of them seemed genuinely nice, but as we haven't really started planning anything yet the constant questions just served as an overwhelming reminder that there's tons of stuff to organise. Needless to say I was super happy to take a seat away from the stalls to watch the fashion show, which was by far the best part of the day. It was great to see a variety of dresses (even if they were all waaaay out of my price range) on models of different sizes. It's definitely given me some food for thought...

If the fashion show was the highlight, the event's low point revealed itself in the free 'goody bag'. Amongst lip balms, perfume sachets, more leaflets (so many leaflets!!!) and gems for your nails, there was a box of diet pills. Yes, diet pills. What The Actual F**k.

A 37 day 'treatment' of diet pills recommended, no less, by 'french doctors' (so many things wrong with that sentence alone). For a minute I thought: 'maybe I'm overreacting, they're just another thing to ignore like the nail art set'. But no it's not ok to give out diet pills like sweets. It sends a terrible message to brides-to-be, that message being "you need to loose weight for your wedding and here's a quick fix to do it". What if someone wasn't even thinking about slimming down for the big day, those little pills, filled with what looks like sawdust, may make them think that they should loose weight, the UK Wedding Show clearly thinks we all should. And surely, if you're interested in looking and feeling better about your body for the wedding, you'd do some some exercise and eat more vegetables not take diet pills! I was and still am horrified, much like everyone I've told. I don't think I'll be doing another wedding show again, Mitch and I (along with support from our friends and family) will be just fine figuring it out on our own.

A couple of non-offensive things we also saw that day...

One of the wedding dress stalls sold only vintage pieces. There were some beautiful lace ones but alas I'm not quite the right shape for a vintage number. It didn't stop me admiring the jewellery though - how about those pearl earrings in the clam shaped box! Fabulous, no?

Please excuse  my crappy phone photography. Upon leaving the excel centre we got  a spectacular view of the Air Line with the setting sun glinting off the suspended carriages. This picture really doesn't do it justice. It looked like something from those future concept sketches from the 50s and 60s. I'm yet to go on it but one day I will, I'm guessing the views are pretty good.