Deep Breaths

My next job is a period one, Georgian in fact, and my costume fitting is supposed to happen this week. I have eaten sooooo much this last 4-5 days that I'm a tad apprehensive about the corset fitting section!

I love doing period work, for obvious reasons, it's pure dress up. Although you do get to see why the ladies of the time wore smelling salts bottles on necklaces as the corset can make you come over a bit funny a few times over the day - that can be awkward!

I'll try and remember to take photos at the fitting.

 "Wearing a corset certainly changes your state of mind."
- Radha Mitchell

And the Winner is...

Some of my favourite 2010 Emmy Awards frocks courtesy of Style.com

Kristen Wiig, designer unknown

Rose Byrne in Gucci

Eva Longoria in Robert Rodriguez

Jennifer Carpenter ( & Michael C Hall), designer unknown

Jayma Mays in Burberry

Kudos due for a terrific award show opening skit - goes to prove almost everyone wants to be in a Glee Club.

“The best color in the whole world, is the one that looks good, on you!”

- Coco Chanel

I think she just needs a cold shower

Anyone seen the ad for Beyonce's perfume Heat - it's ridiculous!

I know sex sells (broadly speaking) but this just seems OTT. I like Beyonce , what's not to like? -  she's incredibly talented, works hard for everything she has achieved, is not a media whore, keeps her private life private, all this demands respect whether her music appeals to you or not. But this is just unnecessary writhing, sweating and stalking.

All I'm saying is - I think it could be classier.

To be honest the fact she's even releasing a perfume disappoints me, I appreciate the celebrity perfume market is lucrative but it's all a bit predictable and sooo done. I am not a 'fan' of Beyonce, I'm an admirer, I like her work ethic, I think it's a rare thing in today's world of instant celebrity.

If you ask me this ad campaign is a result of the Gaga syndrome, since her 'arrival' a lot of her peers seem to feel they have to step everything up in a desperate attempt to garner as much attention*. An old rule of acting is the smaller and more truthful you are the more of the audience's attention it attracts, big and loud gets boring very very quickly.

There's a theatre exercise that always proves this point. Two people on stage and the audience have to physically point at who has their attention. At first both actors will start jumping around, waving their arms and being loud, eventually one will tire or realise that the smaller and more truthful they are the more fingers are pointed their way.

P.S Don't even get me started on Gaga - I remain bemused by the multiple layers of hypocrisy her 'mission statements' present.

*

"Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else."
- Judy Garland

A Haul of Presents!

I just wanted to share some of the gorgeous presents I was given for my birthday as they really are so beautiful!

A seed box filled with seeds and a 'grower' kit

A bird box!

A butter soft leather clutch w/ chain handle

Cath Kidston sewing threads

One of 2 large hurricane lamps

A stunning piece of art inspired by the poem 'Wild Geese' by Mary Oliver -  made by hawkandfallow

I was also given a lovely book (Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann), a potted lavender, homemade cupcakes, fudge, nougat, balloons Agent Provocateur socks, an 'I'm with Stupid' Mug, a bag of lollipops, a fire red houseplant, the wish lantern and an 'A' candle,

Did you ever hear of a girl so spoilt!?

My Birthday Soireeeeee!

bit dark but it brightened up...

 Yesterday I had an absolutely gorgeous little birthday barbecue/garden party.  It was a casual, relatively last minute affair but I was overwhelmed by the amount people who battled the multiple tube line closures to get to us and boy-oh-boy I was showered with beautiful cards and gifts! Each indivdual card and/or pressie was so thoughtful and perfect.

I genuinely wasn't expecting anything at all - I always think the fact people come to toast your birthday with you is a gift in itself, everyone's so busy and nobody wants to travel across London at the weekend but turn up they did and I had a ball!

We had dressed up the garden with the bunting I had made, the lanterns and fairy lights my lovely friend L had lent to us and my wishes for sun seemingly answered, we fired up the barbecue.

I served 2 types of cocktails (Jasmine Delight & Gin Fizz) out of teapots into my new little Frost French glass teacups. The cocktails and cups went down a storm, I made several teapot loads throughout the day.

The Big One did one of his infamous quizzes and despite a controversial scoring debate 'The Asian Connection Team' won.

A round of ice-cream cones, complete with strawberry sauce and hundreds and thousands later we lit all the candles outside and R&K gave me the beautiful gift of a wish lantern. I wrote my wish on it, lit it then we all watched as the lantern floated away carrying my wish high into the night sky.

There was rain, making us each grab cushions and rugs and run in (several times), but that just seemed to add to the party spirit, people set up camp in almost every room and then would mingle. I just floated from space to space chatting to everyone I could.

It was one of those perfect parties where people drop in throughout the afternoon/evening making the dynamics in the group constantly change.

I am so very lucky to have (so many) friends from all different walks of life and each of them seem to love meeting and chatting to each other whether it be for the first time or not.

I love my friends, they are my family and when I have days like yesterday they each make me feel that I am family to them as well.

Thank you to you all, you made my birthday, each and every one of you!

"Friends are relatives you make for yourself."

  ~Eustache Deschamps

Birthday Gal = Spoilt Rotten

It was my birthday on Friday and I got spoilt RoTtEn! 

The Big One made me my very favourite breakfast - kedgeree and I ate LoAds of it!

He had planned a bike ride and a delicious Carluccio's picnic but the weather was not playing ball so we went for a local wander, got some bits and bobs for my birthday BBQ/Garden party the following day...

 

Choosing ribbon for my bunting

We then came home to eat the (enormous and scrummy) picnic on a rug in the living room while watching a movie we rented. I loved loved loved it! I could barely eat for grinning ear to ear.

The film we got, "Everybody's Fine', was filed in the comedy section - MIS-file - it was a lovely film but my giddy aunt how we wept! Cleansing though...

After mopping ourselves up and as much of the scrummy picnic and wine as we fit in our tums we put our spanking new breakfast bar together and pottered about. When you work as much as I do a day to do anything you want with no obligations is heavenly.

He had also booked a table at one of our lovely local restaurants for 9pm but by 8:45 we were both still utterly stuffed so decided rather then eating for the sake of it, to instead postpone it to Wednesday evening, stretching out my birthday celebrations - result!

Here's the fantastic present he gave me - I'm going to find the perfect frame and get it up asap.

"Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time."

~Jean Paul Richter

Make Yourself Comfortable and Watch Something Beautiful

written and performed by Kate Tempest

directed by Joe Roberts (aka The Big One)

"Cos nothing's more real then doing right after year's of doing wrong"

-Kate Tempest

 

Plant then Eat your Greens

My little garden is growing vegetables....

Our ENORMOUS Pumpkin Plant, kindly gifted to us by R&K

All my hope rests on this little pumpkin blob

Baby lettuce anyone? Just wait a leeeetle bit longer...

And carrots, onions, potatoes and beetroot to go in this weekend - oh yes,there's a veritable feast of goodies growing in my garden!

"All human wisdom is summed up in two words - wait and hope"

-Alexandre Dumas Pere

Bunting Boost

Leading to the garden from the kitchen we have a little 'lean-to'. So far it has been used as a bit of dumping ground while we find places for things (why does the unpacking of a move take soooo long!?). Recently I set my mind to turning it into something pretty.

Fairy lights and bunting were my first port of design call and after a long Friday evening of cutting and hand sewing I got 6 metres of bunting up!

That ivy is mocking me, it knows it's a 'cutting down' chore I am putting off

Apologies for the dark pics - August weather hasn't been as planned so far..

It's certainly a start!

Next is hanging baskets....

"May I admire you again today?"

- Duckie (Pretty in Pink)

Paper Tags and Teddies

One of my next roles is playing a 1940's evacuee, I'll have to start my research soon but today I was just flicking through a basic search of images, they are so striking and beautiful.

They all look they have no idea what's happening. Their parents must have been terrified for them, hoping they were doing the best.

 

 So many of those kids will have never seen the country before, never been out of London. All they seem to have is a Teddy and a Satchel each.

This has really whetted my appetite and I'm genuinely looking forward to doing some thorough research on this period.

"Everybody thought that they were the last one to be picked."

-Betty Posner

 

Facing a Wall of Inspiration

I have started a collage of images I like around my dressing table mirror. It's helping me define and focus my schizophrenic style.....plus it allows me to throw out a load of magazines that I have been hoarding.

There's still another stack to go through...and a whole lotta wall!

"Fashion fades, only style remains the same."
-- Coco Chanel

My Light needs Shade...

I still need lampshades - my flat is full of bare hanging bulbs because I can't seem to find anything I;

a) like

b) can afford

I am on the hunt...

re-surface.net $350

Colin Chetwood £95

Helen Minns £85

The Hare looks a bit dead though...

Heals £55

The French Bedroom Company £150

Bhs £56.00

"There are two kinds of light - the glow that illumines, and the glare that obscures."

~James Thurber

Gary's Garden

I noticed today that Gary the Cat clearly approved of the garden's developments, he loves chilling out on his new lawn, watching....the wall.

"Contemplation seems to be about the only luxury that costs nothing."

- Dodie Smith

Green Fingers = Muddy Nails

When we moved into this new flat the garden was a WRECK!

It was so overgrown we could barely find it! Our previous home shared a garden with 2 other flats, one of our neighbours enjoyed gardening so much and he turned it into a stunning cottage garden.

It was gorgeous to be in but you did feel that you couldn't partake in the actual gardening as it was his baby, so when we moved in here, we I was delighted that I could have my very own garden to develop just the way I liked.

And boy did we have a job on our hands! After a LOT of weeding and pruning (thank you Phil, Penny and James!) we discovered that we had 4 badly done gravel pits, one ugly central tree and not a lot else so we decided to use as much of the gravel as we could rescue and make a seating area at the back, a path leading and dig the rest over to plant.

Plodding along with our plan we got a surprise call from HawkandFallow one Thursday - she was at a Pop-Up shop in Clerkenwell selling her delicious cards and the organisers had carpeted the shop with grass turf. At the end of the 3 days they needed to get rid of it so did we want some for our garden - YES INDEED!

I got there on the Sunday, wrapped as much as I could carry in bin bags, hailed a cab and took it home to lay and religiously water for 2 weeks, hoping that it would survive being on concrete and trampled on for 3 days.

After much TLC, a big garden centre shop for flowers and gravel we have a baby garden!

I've planted a few bulbs also which will hopefully grow up to reveal beautiful flowers next Spring. 

It's young and still a bit bare but it's full of promise.

"In my garden there is a large place for sentiment.  My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams.  The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful." 

~Abram L. Urban

The Big One's Premiere!

The Big One's very first short film, 'A Line in the Sand', is premiering tonight at Rich Mix on Bethnal Green Road.  It's a short, beautifully realised film, written and performed by the incredible performance poet Kate Tempest and directed by The Big One (although that's not his professional name).

I have been a witness to all the intense planning, creativity, dedication and downright hard work that has gone into this remarkable film, the result really is a thing of beauty.

If you are about, or know of anyone in the area who fancies a look-see then it'll be screened at 8:45 this evening and it's free entry.

The film is featuring in a night of performance poetry hosted by Apples and Snakes which all kicks off at 7:30pm. It's bound to be a great 'talk about it afterwards' night so don't miss out!

'Performance poetry is poetry that has been written specifically to be declaimed in public, as opposed to poetry that really belongs on a page and is simply being read out. The difference is a subtle one: performance poetry may rely more heavily on rhyme, insistent rhythm or a narrative thread. And the poet, too, will be aware that he or she has an audience and will make some concessions to them. For some poets, this means leaping about; for others, a little eye-contact can suffice. Performance poets, indeed, come in many forms: some have thoughts to share, whilst others wish to display their verbal dexterity, or simply entertain. You could argue, too, that they are perpetuating the oral tradition that is fundamental to so many cultures.'
- Apples and Snakes website