Reading

I've almost finished the third book in this brilliant trilogy, "His Dark Materials," by Philip Pullman. I'm completely hooked!

On a farm in Vermont

Freja Beha for Chanel Fall 2009

(via Refinery29)

Project

I want to make some flags like these,
in Liberty floral prints, to hang along our back fence with some fairy lights for a summer party.

(image via lobster and swan)

Luciano with Luciano

Last friday night I went for dinner in Picadilly, at the Marco Pierre White restaurant, Luciano.

I loved it. The dining room is spacious but not impersonal, and there are gorgeous, slightly risque, photographs on the walls. It's all very slick, high-end, and cool.

The food was stunning - I had fish, which was the best I've had since I've been in London. Beautiful flavours, light, fresh, delicious!

Luciano

What I Learned at Trinity College Dublin

* The College was founded in the 1590s, but none of the current buildings are that old.

* The library was built in the same style as Wren's library at Trinity in Cambridge, but by a different architect, and the extraordinary Book of Kells (c 800 AD) is housed there.

* Irish students don't pay university fees. EU students pay whatever their fees would have been in their home country (by reciprocal agreement). International students pay very steep fees (somewhere around 35,000 euros p/a).

* The 'new' Berkeley library is in the brutalist style. I really like it, especially the porthole windows and curved glass.

* Alumni include Jonathon Swift (Gulliver's Travels), Bram Stoker (Dracula), Oscar Wilde, and Samuel Beckett (Waiting for Godot).

Me Next Week

Ha - I wish! But I will be at the beach.
A whole week in St Tropez ahead.
(image via modelinia)

Crazy Bear

One of the things I love about London is going to places which you would never find on your own. A girlfriend at work has been giving me lots of great tips for little hidden gems. This one, which is in a side-street beside Tottenham Court Road, is quite fun. In the bar, there are booths/nooks padded with red leather which are quite fun to sit in. In the restaurant, you sit side-by-side rather than opposite each other, which I also quite like. It's very dark, and I've never seen such a huge menu, but it was fun. Excellent cocktails. Oh, and the food was good, but a little on the pricey side.

Crazy Bear, Fitzrovia

Foodie Heaven in Dublin

I had some time to wander around in Dublin, and armed with my Wallpaper* City Guide, I found Fallon & Byrne, on Exchequer Street.

It's a food emporium, with fruit and veg, deli, cheeses etc. I had brekkie there one morning, which was delicious (fruit, yoghurt and granola - clearly in a mood for being healthy), and the coffee was very good. Downstairs there's a fabulous wine bar with big wine barrels and bottles lining the walls.

In the Studio

Props from inside Cindy Sherman's studio.

(via style.com)

I've always loved her Untitled Film Stills,
some of which you can see here.

Green-house

Here is the shot by Tim Walker of Coco Rocha, in the miniature green-house referred to in my earlier post. Cool, no?
(image via Oh So Coco)

U2, Live at Croke Park

Phenomenal. Absolutely amazing to see them in their hometown, with 80,000 passionate Irish fans. My favourites were Sunday Bloody Sunday (the Irish pride and spirit was overwhelming!), Where the Streets Have No Name, and One. The light was incredible as the sun went down, and the tradition of asking everyone to hold up their lit-up phones, so that the whole stadium was glittering, was magic. It was, without a doubt, the best concert I've ever been to.

Props

This store has just opened, selling props from fashion shoots and catwalk shows. There's a customised Union Jack by John Galliano, and a miniature green-house from a Tim Walker shoot with Coco Rocha. Might have to pop in for a look...

SHOWstudio

Crafty

Sock Yoda by Brigid Howard (via The Guardian)

Love

This is brilliant: The Selby

Automat

I had dinner and drinks last night with two gorgeous girlfriends, at Automat in Dover Street, Mayfair. It's a classic American-style diner, with lovely wood panelling, black and white tiled floor, booths, warm lighting, and it's just COOL.

We had burgers and cocktails, and it was delicious!

There's also a bar downstairs, which is apparently a-mazing, but we didn't check it out this time.

All Dressed Up

Pre-Dublin Poetry

I'm going to Dublin this weekend. Very excited!

TO AN ISLE IN THE WATER

Shy one, shy one,
Shy one of my heart,
She moves in the firelight
Pensively apart.

She carries in the dishes,
And lays them in a row.
To an isle in the water
With her would I go.

She carries in the candles,
And lights the curtained room,
Shy in the doorway
And shy in the gloom;

And shy as a rabbit,
Helpful and shy.
To an isle in the water
With her would I fly.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

(via poetry-archive)

Listening To

Jacqueline Du Pre

Pub Club

Some pubs I've been to recently:

The Windsor Castle. Great beer garden, low ceilings, proper English pub. Named because you used to be able to see Windsor Castle from the windows upstairs. It's in Notting Hill, near Holland Park.

The Angelic. High ceilings, long bar, tall glass windows, wooden benches. I went on a date here, and it was perfect... It's in Angel.

The Raven. Friendly, relaxed, good outdoor section. Good little local pub. At Stamford Brook.

BFI

There's a really great bar in the British Film Institute, at South Bank. It doesn't show up on the website for some reason, but it's cool: dark, low couches, cool crowd. At the back and around the corner there was a DJ playing, with a giant screen projecting a film. Everyone was just standing around watching, which was a bit odd, but I guess it was like performance art. I liked it a lot.

Ryan McGinley

Another favourite fashion photographer. Dreamy.

Website here

Coveting

Christopher Kane dress (via style.com)

Quotable

This is a funny series of quotes, from the Guardian. Entertaining.

Did I Say That?

My Two Favourite Views

Top: Home

Bottom: Home away from home

Love

Fifi Lapin, the world's most stylish bunny

Troubadour

I had lunch with my friend Dave at this place on Sunday: The Troubadour, in West Brompton/Earl's Court. It's a funny old place, with collections of antique beer mugs and tea pots in shelves around the walls, tin signs (vintage advertisements), beer bottles as vases on the tables, old records framed on the walls, and large mottled mirrors.

Simple fare - bangers and mash, mugs of coffee - but a nice, cosy and friendly place to meet a friend for a late breakfast or early lunch.

Richard Long

Richard Long, Heaven and Earth, at Tate Britain.

His work is inspired/created by his long walks, all around the world. He changes the landscape in some very small way, for example, by scuffing a line in the ground (as seen above), or by turning stones on their side, or placing them in lines or a circle, and photographs the result. It's a very simple idea, but quite effective, and quite beautiful. He also creates artworks out of maps onto which he's tracked his walks, as well as some indoor sculptures. Those are less effective, I think, but still quite nice. There were also walls painted in mud, and poems, consisting of not much more than lists of what he'd seen or where he'd been.

His website is here.

Brighton Rock

Pollock Fun

This site is fabulous - create your own masterpiece in the style of Jackson Pollock.

Jackson Pollock by Miltos Manetas

Star Gazing

This is a very cool website:

NASA's Image of the Day

Prada Forever

From Prada's Lookbook, Fall 2009.
(via fashionologie)

On the same topic...

Since I'm on the topic of books, this is my favourite book-shop in London so far. Daunt Books at Holland Park.

I also like Books for Cooks at Notting Hill, which is a book-shop dedicated to cook-books, with a cafe at the back where they cook using recipes from the books.

Recent Reads

Powerful, thrilling, and moving. It's about pushing yourself to the limit to feel the ultimate rush; the danger in going so far for one moment of bliss or release. I've actually never read any Tim Winton before, and I'm now excited to make my way through his back catalog. Reviews etc are here.

Another intense and powerful read, about a man who designs for himself the perfect, American-dream life, only for it to be shattered by the transformation of his daughter and an event that he finds difficult to understand. It is completely compelling, energetic, and fascinating. I enjoyed it a lot. It is part of a trio of books by Roth. I've read The Human Stain, and the other novel in the series, I Married A Communist, is on my bookshelf waiting for some attention.

Desert, Sea

Top: inside a Desert Castle near Amman
Bottom: looking across the Dead Sea to Israel

Gavlar, Pamelaaaaa

"Gavin is an ordinary boy from Essex; Stacey is an ordinary girl from Barry, South Wales. They’ve spoken on the phone every day at work for months but they’ve never actually met… until now."

Gavin and Stacey is hilarious. Very, very funny.

I especially love Pamela - Gavin's mum. Here's her character description:

'Gavin’s mum, Pam, is in her early fifties and has been married to Mick for 26 years. She adores her only son, Gavin – her “little prince”. Pam is an Essex wife who doesn’t have to work and who loves a good party. She’s glamorous and fun to be with, and still has a great relationship with Mick. However, she can get a little hysterical when her lively imagination starts to run wild. She also loves Camilla Parker Bowles.'

Couture snap-shots

Lagerfeld taking his bow at Chanel (via The Cut)

Backstage at Givency (via style.com)

Meat market

Smithfields, in the city, is the old meat-market in London. It's one of the oldest markets in London: meat has been bought and sold there for more than 800 years, and it's housed in a fabulous old covered market place, which has been recently refurbished. Because the butchers work all hours, there are 24-hour cafes open, good for a 4 am bacon sandwich after a big night out... (I'm told).

On Charterhouse Road, next to the market, is a great cafe/bar/brunch venue called Smiths of Smithfields (SOS). I had breakfast there before my hair appointment yesterday - delicious, and good coffee. It's apparently quite famous. Cool web-site too.

SOS

(image via google)

Cath Kidston

I've become a little bit obsessed with Cath Kidston homewares. The prints are super-feminine, and you can get everything from tea-towels, to oven-mitts, to make-up bags, to towels (I have a baby-blue with white polka dots bath towel), to kids clothes, to sheets and doona-covers.

Cath Kidston