Under The Tuscan Sun?

I'm currently trying to work out if I can afford to go and lie somewhere hot post-graduation, but in a dream world, in 43 days I'll be wearing this and lying under the Tuscan sun! Isn't it the most glamourous thing you've ever seen? Love. I'll take one in each colour... Just as soon as I've won the lottery!

Tooting My Trumpet, Again...

I know, I shouldn't brag, but I'm so excited about this -- I was snapped again! Amazingly, I was just heading home after handing in my dissertation! So that look of exhaustion mixed with a two-week-long cold, chest and ear infection is ALSO mixed with jubilance! I'm looking pretty scruffy, especially since my jeans are splattered with nail polish, and not in a cool, intentional way... Still, I'm wearing one of my most favourite pieces, my Ralph Lauren cashmere cape. It's the most glorious, cosy thing -- the fashion equivalent of wearing a blanket in public!

This second picture is from another day -- I've been collecting vintage, and high street, gold jewellery for a few months now, trawling ebay and ASOS and such for unique pieces. I absolutely love wearing tons of gold jewelry to give an outfit an edge. Like a madpie, I luuuuuurve things that sparkle!

offthegrid

This is the best thing I've seen in ages...

Advanced Style: Age and Beauty on Nowness.com.

My First Street Style Shot!

This is so exciting! Sadly, I look a touch manic - taking a coffee break after hours and hours in the library! But - yay! Dream realized! Thank you to Louisa, Edinburgh's own street style snapper! (link)

It's been a while...

This is going to be an absolute must-see for us street-style addicts. What a a trailblazer!

World Book Night!

I was selected as a Giver for World Book Night (the highlight of my year so far) and was devastated to see this article in the Guardian - ‘World Book Night branded ‘misguided and misjudged’ – quoting independent book shop owners complaining that it will be damaging to their trade.

Well, firstly, they seem to have missed the point of World Book Night. The biggest give away of free books ever attempted is surely exactly the event where, overheads be damned, a million people will celebrate the joy of reading, the glory of the written word and the, frankly, VITAL practice of friends, family and strangers sharing and recommending books!

Secondly, if these booksellers could draw themselves away from spitting at Kindle users on public transport long enough, they would realise that there is huge potential here to harness a whole new wave of book-buyers. Someone gives you a free copy of The Blind Assassin by Margret Atwood, and your eyes are opened to the genius of Atwood’s writing. So, naturally, you go along to your local bookstore and ask for another Atwood recommendation. This seems like such a blindingly obvious scenario, and one to be HUGELY CELEBRATED, that it is heartbreaking to me that these noble booksellers are taking such a mercenary and uninspired view of the event.

The absolutely amazing Jamie Byng (who is an Edinburgh University English Lit alumni, I believe) who bought out Canongate in his mid-20s (!) and is the man responsible for publishing “two obscure books written by a little-known Chicago lawyer named Barack Obama” (God, Byng makes my heart all nutty and excited) and has now initiated this wonderful event. Defending World Book Night, he says:

"The key thing surely is to embrace the possibilities that it offers, which are enormous and forward-looking, rather than cynically dismiss the idea before it becomes a reality."

Yes, Mr Byng. Oh, and will you marry me, please?

The content of my box of free books with be Seamus Heaney’s New Selected Poems, and as I feel that I’m running out of overzealous adjectives, it will suffice to say that this collection of poems has given me hours and hours of joy, and I am thrilled to have an opportunity to share that joy with others. It is my fervent wish that, out of my 48 books, one will surprise and delight the reader enough to begin a lifelong love affair with poetry.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see…

Mossbawn: Two Poems in Dedication by Seamus Heaney

1. Sunlight

There was a sunlit absence.

The helmeted pump in the yard

heated its iron,

water honeyed

in the slung bucket

and the sun stood

like a griddle cooling

against the wall

of each long afternoon.

So, her hands scuffled

over the bakeboard,

the reddening stove

sent its plaque of heat

against her where she stood

in a floury apron

by the window.

Now she dusts the board

with a goose's wing,

now sits, broad-lapped,

with whitened nails

and measling shins:

here is a space

again, the scone rising

to the tick of two clocks.

And here is love

like a tinsmith's scoop

sunk past its gleam

in the meal-bin.

A Seriously Budget Bouquet

Things you'll need: Flowers from the Tesco bargain bin (these were £1.79), an empty 2l bottle of Evian & a short piece of ribbon

I am totally broke at the moment, but I am also trying to make my desk a calm and comfortable place to work. This morning in Tesco I found these gorgeous flowers for only £1.79! I came home and realised that our little rental flat didn't come with any vases, so I cut an empty Evian bottle in half with a kitchen knife (beware of cutting yourself, obviously) and tied a piece of ribbon around the middle! The result is not too shabby, considering it hardly cost me anything!

It's Spring, OK!

I decided this weekend that it is spring. I am sick of winter and winter has made me sick (but I’m taking Vitamin D – sunshine tablets, so I’m all good) and as a result, I am declaring it Spring already. I know, it’s still January, but if you guys just play along, perhaps Ma Nature will do the same…. Are you with me?

Here are some pictures from the archives to get you in a Springy mood…

Sleep is Good!

I know, I know… Another TED talk. But I am someone who has suffered from insomnia on and off since I was 15 years old. Arianna Huffington is absolutely right. Sleep is everything. I have recently been put on Melatonin which is helping, I think! I recommend sleep to cure almost everything. So… Yay, for TED, once again!

What a Way to Start the Year!

Dear Reader(s), another unforgivably long absence in the face of unrelenting Christmas merriment. And here we are, a new year and a new start for all of us. I can think of no better way to begin 2011 than with the most painfully glamorous video/collection/people you could possibly imagine gathering in one room. It is, of course, Tom Ford’s first collection. Enjoy, and may this year bring you glamour and excitement in many forms! -- Just Another Blogger xo