Alice
At the awkward late 20s stage, only minorly disillusioned by living and working in London.
I just wanted to start with a little thank you to all my readers, you very kind people who read most of my posts, or at least click into the link and have a quick look. I know who some of my biggest fans are (you know who you are), and am always pleasantly surprised when people say, 'I've seen your blog' or 'I've been following your blog', I do realise putting my thoughts, opinions and images, including quite a few of me, out into the internet ether is quite an indulgent pastime, so thank you for sticking with me 😍.I think the most important part of blogging is keeping true to who you are (I know this sounds a bit hippy happy), but I do hope that I am keeping in line with this thought, I know bloggers sometimes get a bit of a bad rep (free stuff, free holidays, bad attitude).I started my blog when I was unemployed and in need of a creative outlet / some structure to my day. I wrote about all the things I got up to with my day, (really all the things) and discovered that there were many other people also not in full time employment, who were on all sorts of exciting non-conventional 'career' paths. So I asked if I might be able to write about them, and many people said yes, which has been amazing. I have always been hugely grateful to the people who have been willing to give me their time, and tell me all about their new business, or current venture. It has been greatly enjoyable - thank you!Going forward I am aiming towards writing about British brands, and promoting emerging British design, art, artists and start-ups - of course ones that I like! I hope my posts on Young British Designers, Arabella London Swimwear, and The Other Art Fair have been interesting and inspirational emerging British brand reading so far, there is lots more of this to come. I will also be featuring an artist once a week for a set period of time, currently Peter Vaughan is sharing his wonderful story Safia Sails. And of course there will continue to be a smattering of garden posts, because really, I think there is nothing better than some nice flowers to cheer you up once in a while, as you are sitting glumly staring at your computer screen at work 😘.So do keep reading, there is lots more to come, and for this week, below are 4 British brands who are all currently available to buy from A Luxe Story's pop-up in North London - 42 Rosslyn Hill, Hampstead, NW3 1NH. Click on the images to find out more 😍.And have a super bank holiday weekend!!Alice 💕
Emily
2 and a half years out of University, and the glamour of London working life is fading rapidly.
Pump it up
This week, I have decided to be a positive Patricia, an upbeat Ursula and a constructive Carol. So in the spirit of that, my post will be focused on my achievements in the last seven days.Firstly, for every appointment, meeting and interaction that I have attended, I have either been early – or bang on time. I’m an optimistic timekeeper and as a result often tend to arrive a bit later than intended. But this week, a miracle happened. I was nearly an hour early for a friends’ leaving drinks – luckily she was there and we actually got to chat which was very nice as at these things it is easy not to speak to people. Then, later on that evening, I made it to supper at the agreed time (rather than half an hour late) and a couple of days later I arrived early to another drinks. All of these took people by surprise ‘you’re here already?!’ so I concluded that it’s actually better to arrive a little bit late to give people time to prepare for your stellar arrival.*Caveat – after writing this, I did arrive about 6 minutes late to supper with Alice and her housemates due to an overrunning prior engagement. However I was not the last to arrive and therefore it doesn’t count.Second positive of the week, was that for the very first time EVER, perhaps in the history of man – I bought a dress without trying it on first and it fitted. I was killing time (being early for supper) and popped into & Other Stories to check in on a dress I had been eyeing up. I found my glittery friend, but the queue for the fitting room was obscene so I had a choice, leave the dress and come back and risk it being gone, or impulse purchase and return it if it did not fit. So being the reckless risk taker I am, I decided to purchase. When I got home later that evening, I put it on just to see. And too my surprise it fitted exactly right. This literally never happens, it was fate. There’s no way I’m returning it now.THE DressThirdly, I learnt how to pump tires from a YouTube video (whilst on the side of the road) and dodged purchasing a bicycle pump, when the friendly man at Evans pointed out that there are actually lots of free ones lying around. My tires have got a bit soft recently, and I have noticed that cycling has been a bit harder. So after work I went to my local Evans to sort it out. But instead of selling me some large and over priced bicycle pump, the man pointed out that there was a pump just outside the shop for general use. So I went outside, got up a YouTube ‘how to’ video and set about pumping my tires. I think it worked, but I was very pleased to realise that there are these handy pumps lurking around the streets of our great city. I also stumbled across one at Baron’s Court tube (for all you West Londoners). Very useful and cost effective! Perhaps I will start a pump watch …On a less positive note, I wanted to air my gripe about the latest fashion ‘trend’ – what is the deal with mules? I don’t mean the animals, I have no issue with them. I mean the open-toed shoes. Literally everyone in my office is click clacking around in them. I can’t tell you exactly why I don’t like them, I think it’s because they are a weird hybrid of the hated kitten heel and the heinous slider. It’s just wrong and they look exceptionally tricky to walk in. It’s like the platform flip flop, but without the toe bit keeping everything on - disturbing and unnatural. The only plus being, if there was some sort of emergency we could all outrun the mule wearers, as they stagger along behind. But if you do want to indulge in this fad, I hear M&S stock a nice pair.
Susannah
About to graduate from University, excited for intrepid adventures into the real world.
Susannah assures me she is writing something for this week.....coming soon. (A quick update - she is still in Scotland with one exam left to go and her post exam soaking, and then the excitement (carnage) of grad trip).
