A holiday in London

I took this Mon to Wed off just because I felt like a bit of a break. The original plan was to go somewhere beachy like Portugal, but seeing as I had a spent a lot of money on lunch at Fat Duck and am already going to Paris next month, I decided to stay in London. After all, how often does one take a holiday at home?

I had all these grand plans to do lots of things, especially doing more touristy things, like visit the Victor & Rolf dollhouse exhibition or see the Skin+Bones exhibition, but I never got round to them. Instead, I:

• Got a much needed haircut by a cute Japanese hairdresser at B:Zar (he made me feel so shy and giggly)
  
• Had a very long and indulgent facial
• Went to the gym twice (lots of mums and old ladies during the daytime!)
• Walked around Old Bond Street and admired the beautiful clothes in Prada, Louis Vuitton, YSL and Gucci
• Got a mini-tour of London in a cab as we rode from Chinatown to Sloane Square...awful traffic!
  
• Had a great night out at a jazz club called 606. A jazz violinist played the night we were there, and he was fantastic
• Stayed home riveted by the Ivanovich vs Dechy match

I'm so not ready to go back to work tomorrow.

TopShop 2008 Fall collection

I've always been slightly puzzled by almost everyone's reaction to TopShop. There are some nice and fashionable items, but I've always felt the quality doesn't justify the price tag. Even now that I've moved to London and have access to the wonderfully huge Oxford St store, I'm still not very convinced by the outpouring of TopShop love (I do admit that the vintage and shoe sections are worth looking through). If I'm spending that kind of money, I'd much rather go to Jigsaw, Massimo Dutti or a little independent boutique.

However, the new release of photos for TopShop's Fall collection as seen on Fashionologie has me almost convinced to brave a trip to the store once it's out.



The wonders of great styling and lighting!

This June, I am into...

Lamp chops for lunch on Saturday

Wearing: outfits that involve the black studded belt a la Sarah Jessica Parker in SATC, Verbena body lotion from L’Occitane
Eating: at Fat Duck (what.an.experience.), lunch at home on Saturdays
Listening: Jazz – I’ve been introduced to a great shop called Fopp
Watching: Sex & The City, Ouran High School (again, it never fails to make me laugh), Last Scandal
Enjoying: the sunshine, compliments from random strangers, playing dress-up at pupe.jp
Planning: things to do in London on my days off, what to do and eat when in Paris next month

Flowers in our garden

It's been getting warmer in London, and without even really realising it, I've been wearing less and less layers over the last few weeks.

What this also means is that the flowers in our garden have bloomed. I stepped out into our backyard one day and was greeted to a profusion of all these beautiful flowers and felt I really should take pictures of them before it's too late.

This is just one of the many reasons why I'm so glad I moved here.



Roses


Peony



I think these are pansies


Busy buzzy bee in our bottlebrush tree

By the way, I claim absolutely no credit in the cultivation of these flowers. We have a gardener who comes in and makes everything look pretty. I just step outside and admire.

Notes about Sex...

...& the City:

• Very audible moan from audience when we are treated to first view of Carrie's walk-in closet. Sigh.
  
• Those blue Manolo Blahniks? Yuk, yuk and yuk.
  
• Charlotte's pregnancy clothes? Yawn. The outfit she wore to the fashion show was lovely though.
  
• Carrie's make-up in her Vivienne Westwood wedding gown was way too harsh and made her look a lot older.
  
• Items of the movie? Long string of pearls, black studded belt (I've bought the lookalike from ASOS), extremely fierce towering black gladiator heels
  
• Talk about product placements. I wonder if they can scream the name Louis Vuitton any louder.
  
• Jennifer Hudson's role was pretty much a complete waste of space.
  
• I really want to buy a new dress and a new handbag now.
  

Capturing the Fat Duck

I am really looking forward to this Sunday, because we have managed to secure a lunch reservation at Fat Duck. After reading so much about molecular gastronomy and seeing all the 'Best in World' restaurant lists, my mouth is practically salivating in anticipation.

By the way, did you know you have to book exactly 2 months in advance, and that even just getting through the phone is in itself a feat? Just for this, I'm going to make sure I wear nice nice and bring my camera to take lots of pictures.

ShooStories: Everything's peachy

Can you believe the last time I did this was almost 2 years ago? Apparently I'm not very good at photographing my shoo collection. Incidentally, the last shoo featured has unfortunately died and gone to shoo heaven last April. You will however be glad to know that at least it died in the most glamourous of cities: Paris, where it apparently couldn't take the strain of being walked around in. Luckily, I had bought a new pair of shoos that very same day, and it was a simple case of wearing my new shoos immediately.

#30 *Fresh!*

The Shoo: Lovebirds (I didn't come up with that name, Nine West did)
Circa: end May 2008
Where: Shoe Studio in House of Fraser, Richmond, UK

The Story: Now that I've moved to the UK and don't have a car anymore, I've had to hang up most of my heels and rely on flats instead. This being the case, I am constantly on the lookout for pretty but comfortable flats to wear to work, dinners, shopping and just basically everywhere. I still refuse to wear sneakers, because my feet just don't seem to be built for them.

The office is fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) situated along the high street, which means almost everyday when I walk to M&S or Pret a Manger for lunch, I pass by a whole slew of shops like TopShop, French Connection, Nine West, Gap, Jigsaw and Comptoir des Cotonniers. Most days, I'm good and can resist temptation, but on this particular day when I was walking in the back cobbled lanes of Richmond on my way to buy a birthday present, I spied that House of Fraser was having £20 off certain Nine West shoos. Unable to resist a bargain, I scooped up these babies, rationalising that the colour is a great neutral and will go with so many outfits, doesn't look like anything I own, and on top of that, is flat, which will mean I'll get lots of wear out of it.

Comfort-wise, they aren't too bad, considering Nine West is a bit of a hit and miss with me. No blisters so far, but I've been quite judicious in my wearing. The next thing to do now is devise outfits to go with them.

In Stockholm for Easter: Vasa Museet

After hearing about a 17th century warship which sank about 15 min after it was launched, and how the entire ship was discovered and re-pieced together almost intact almost 300 years later, I knew I had to visit the Vasa museum.

Imagine how it would have looked back in its day with all the magnificent colours!

In Stockholm for Easter (trois): Saluhall

I've just realised I never finished uploading photos from my Stockholm trip, and since they're already in Photobucket, I might as well post them.



Being the greedy pig I was and having read about Saluhall, I made sure to plan that into our itinerary. Saluhall is in trendy Ostermalm, in a large and light airy building with lots of stalls selling fresh produce. We wandered around admiring all the food, and finally settled down for lunch at Lisa Elmqvist, where I tried gravlax for the first time.