Day of disappointments

It was a day of disappointments but a ray of sunshine did come through at the end.
Now to add onto all of this I am a bit sick the moment and I am extremely busy with work (Christmas, late trade and sales - eww!) my body is exhausted and wanting Christmas to be here. But you see if Christmas arrives too soon then I won't be ready in time! Life is such a catch 22!
So back to my day...I had a few appointments to get through today, one being my dress for the engagement. I recently found a vintage shop that reproduces vintage gowns and I picked out an amazing white one hoping for it to be remade. So I trekked into the store, after speaking on the phone prior with the sales assistant saying that this would be possible to do. When I arrived the seamstress started saying in a very round-about away that she can't remember the dress and that she wouldn't be able to do it. I became very disappointed. I only have 4 weeks until the party and now I had to start from scratch! I think the most annoying part was that at first I was told that this could happen and that was the reason why I went in.
So I decided to leave and dragged my feet behind me in search for a new dress! Walking around Brick Lane in the rain I went into a few of the vintage stores, but nothing was nice....until I came across House of Vintage.
Shopping for me has to be a whole package. A beautiful store, lovely garments and amazing staff. I love when someone who works there offers thier help and opinions and gives you ideas. I was very impressed by this store, there were so many dresses that I LOVED! But finally I got it down to two.
Two gorgeous dresses in vivid colours, but that two had to become one.
And this one, I love!

Step inside...

Four months ago we moved into our place in West Hampstead. I wrote about our Mighty Move here and introduced you our area and showed you our flat. Now I want to take you inside and welcome you to our room.

I have spent a lot of time searching car boot sales, charity shops and collecting pieces from the many places I have travelled.

Step inside and enjoy!

I wanted to keep our room crisp and bright as London can be quite dark and dreary. I used white linen that was very simple and kept the bed decoration very minimal.

The furniture we brought from ikea and is dark brown with clean lines. We brought two side tables and a large tall boy, which just fits all of our clothes and belongings.

The cushion I brought in Sardegna. The type of tapestry is traditional to the area and is in a gorgeous bright aqua with cream. It adds a pop of colour and detail to the room.

My reading book always sits by my bed, so I can read it just before I go to sleep. Currently I am ready Gok Wan's biography. Prior to reading this I was reading The Help.

The lamps were left to us by the lovely Anne Maree and fit perfectly in our room!

Little comforts, like my new slippers sit by my bed and candles are used to create a beautiful aroma in our room.

There is a white desk against the window to have a separate place to work. It is lovely to be able to look out the window to the trees and soak up the sun (when it's there).

My stack of magazines! I have always had a stack somewhere of magazines (remember my flat back home??). I have always and will always be a magazine reader, I love them. I love the way the pages feel, the glossy images and I love being able to tag the pages when I love something on there.

The bowl is my latest travel find. This one is from Barbados. It is a fish scale bowl that I picked up at the Friday fish market. The fish market gathers all the Bajan people together to enjoy all different foods and music.

My desk contains my laptop, my notebooks and some pictures I have collected. The large one is from Rome from the Mario Testino exhibition and the small one of Marilyn Monroe is from the National Portrait gallery Goddesses exhibition .

The candle in front was a 'gift' from my friend Darren.

Next to my desk is my vintage suitcase from my friend Emily. I absolutely adore this bag. It helps to remind me to always travel.

The mat is also from Sardegna and uses the some traditional techniques as the cushion.

My tall boy (large drawers) is filled with all my trinkets and jewellery. I display most of my jewellery so that I always have it handy to style up my outfits.

The vintage mirror was one of the first home items we brought.

We found it at a charity shop in West Hampstead and it really helped set the mood for our room. The hand and owls I also found at a charity shop and I find them to be really unique and quirky. I love coming home and being able to put my engagement ring on one of the fingers.

The cross we carried with us all the way from Australia. It helps to remind us of our roots back home.

This is a view out of one of our windows. I think its really sweet. It is nice not having a huge building or wall in front of us. At the moment there is one mirrored frame with a picture of my nephews. Love them!

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our room. It is nice to be able to show it to you, so you know where I have been hiding out for the past few months.

So, what do you think?

polka dots and fur

After a week of amazing sunny and hot weather, London turned cold and when I say cold, I mean cold! Days were a top of 13 degrees. Now, I know that is not cold to someone who has lived in London their whole life, but for an amateur like me that is freezing.

So on Saturday my attention turned to keeping warm and thinking of coats. After having a fabulous morning of breakfast with my man we wondered towards Notting Hill and stumbled across a vintage store. Upon entering I fell in love with a vintage fake fur! After taking quite a bit of time trying it on (yes, my man was getting very annoyed) I finally purchased my coat and felt instantly satisfied.

So, on that Saturday night to keep warm I layered up my fur, teamed it with my polka dots and felt very A/W 2011....
The best 25 quid spent in a while!

I am sure this coat will be making a lot of appearances

Day off!

Now what a day off! At first I was slightly disheartened. After 6 beautiful days of sunshine and lots of heat, Thursday brought rain. My morning exercise plan went out the window but I was out of bed and knew I had to make the most of my day. I headed out and opted for a beauty treatment due to my upcoming trip to Croatia(jealous?) and then snuck into Zara to have a 'look' at what was new. So maybe not the best idea as I purchased a gold cardigan but I did come out with a bargin, 10pound trousers, that's a steal! - fantastic part of the day #1.
After my quick shopping trip I started to make my journey home and to my delight on the side of the road in Notting Hill was this amazing vintage table. So I throw my new clothes in my handbag and picked it up, jumped on the bus and then walked it home. I have to say my arms are paying for it today - but fantastic part of the day #2.
When I reached home the rain had finally disappeared bringing out a small amount of sunshine. I thought to myself, what can I do?
So, a week or so ago I mentioned to the team at work about lamingtons and to my surprise they were not sure what these were. So my idea, make lamingtons!! And did they go down a treat. Fantastic part of the day #3.
All good things do come in threes!

The 10pound trouser

The table from the side of the road and caught the bus with me!

Yum! The lamingtons

I'm back..and what a busy few weeks!

Wow! It has been some time! And firstly I apologise. We recently moved move to our first share house accommodation in Finchley Road and all the amazing creature comforts we had at AM's were not there and this included internet. So due to not having the internet I was unable to fill you in with all that has been happening.

So what happened when I left off last??

Well as you heard above we moved to our first temporary share house accommodation in the North West of London. Such a convenient place to live, so close to work...ah that's right I got a job! Have been working there for a few weeks now and have been training, meeting new people and just trying to enjoy London working life. In between all this we managed to get a weekend away to Brighton. Brighton is great! I love it there. It brings you back to your childhood playing arcade games, eating fish and chips, searching around for ice cream and digging in the antique shops in the area (where I found art deco plates - score!)

We had another few 'firsts' in the last few weeks - we went to our first music gig (an American band called Mona), saw our first football game (Fullham vs Arsenal) and put a deposit down on our first permanent rental flat! Fingers crossed all goes well and we move in mid July. In time for a few of our visitors to stay (Marija & Brando) but just missing out on others (Mum and Dad included - whoops).

The next few months are looking to be busy from visits from friends and family back home and hopefully potential trips away, which will all ultimately depend on work giving me the time off.

Here's to the next few weeks and lots of interesting reads for you ahead!

V-I-N-T-A-G-E, what does it spell? VINTAGE!!

So as you all know I adore vintage and sadly had to leave behind the majority of my vintage clothing, mostly because they would not be practical for London weather. The thing is I miss them so much! So seeing I am so sad and I cannot get them off my mind, I have decided to start scouting for more!

Now, I want great vintage pieces but not at ridiculous prices and I want pieces that are going to suit my lifestyle here.

Going to Camden the other I found a vintage market which was quite reasonable and had beautiful pieces - this place encouraged my wish list.

Piece 1 - Turban - any colour, just an amazing hair piece to dress up an outfit, think SJP in Sex and the City.

Piece 2 - Felt hats - camel or black or a bright colour to stand out.

Piece 3 - Long sleeve dress - any long sleeve vintage dress that sits below the knee.

Piece 4 - Flare jeans - dark, super flare jeans - check out all style blogs asap!

Piece 5 - Anything green! Pants, shift dress, tank or scarf - sorry Lou, I love green!

So now the mission begins...