12...

When I started writing this post it was all, "If I see 2011 around here again I'm going to kick its arse out of the door, slam it hard, barricade it and run away screaming." But then I realised that makes no sense in the context of the blog, because I don't really blog about personal stuff. And let's keep things positive, hmm? Then I thought I can easily get away with glossing over 2011 by making

UH, DECEMBER...

Merry merry...
♡♡♡♡♡

HOLIDAY TREAT...

I am the Christmas Awkward Photobooth™angel and I come bearing holiday treats from Family Affairs! Holiday treats is when different pieces go on sale each day going up to Christmas. It's kind of like an advent calendar, except when you open up door number 22 you get me and the lovely metallic striped Fellini blouse, which is subtly festive, no? It's 30% off today ONLY here  - and it's the first

THE LIGHT...

I finally understand why someone would want to live in a loft.

{Johanna Burke's home © Grace Villamil / Freunde von Freunden}

ACCIDENTAL WISH LIST...

MHL Margaret Howell Guernsey pocket sweater, Celine bag (jus keep dreamin), Minimarket hat,

National Trust blanket (I own it, it's tres chic and it's only £27), L'Econome veg knife, Musgo Real Orange Amber Cologne,

Le Creuset square grill, Sermoneta gloves, Farmacia Santa Maria Novella pot pourri (this smells really...specific - kind of like Vicks Vapour Rub?)

Diana Vreeland The Eye Has

REPORTS OF MY DEMISE ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED...

I've been here there and everywhere - well, apart from here evidently. Does two weeks without a post constitute internet death still, or are things more flexible these days? I have only this paltry handful of Instagrams to offer the internet today. Tomorrow, we'll see. Or the next day.

BLOGGERS + CATS...

I was tempted not to tell you who the owner of these cats was and let you guess. (The feet are a good clue.) 







It's not really accurate to call Maria just a blogger. Art director, stylist, photographer, writer, printer, publisher, online and print creative visionary powerhouse or something might be getting closer, but isn't very succinct. You can probably tell I've been a bit of a fan of 

POESY...

Clemence Poesy and Jalouse are always so good together - I think so anyway, or maybe it's that I don't really look at Jalouse unless Clemence is on the cover! You can download the whole November 2011 issue here.






November 2011
1: ph: Mason Poole, 2: Clemence's scrapbook from the filming of Jeanne d'Arc 







May 2009
Ph: Emeric Glayse



October 2007
Ph: Keiron O'Connor

FOG...

More late autumnal pictures - sorry - it's just about all I can manage at the moment, but without the energy to write much I still feel the need to document, even if it's a bit boring for you. I've dealt with having to take my car in for repairs every weekend for the past month or so by setting up a task/reward scenario. There's a place nearby that does really good bacon sandwiches

WINTERS PAST...

Some pictures taken between 2004 - 2009 around the hood. 2009 is incidentally when I got an iphone. I do miss having a decent little camera that I can pop in my pocket and take random pics with. Must sort that out. Looking through my iphoto it's clear that post 2009 my picture taking fell off the edge of a cliff. These pictures were all taken on my old Panasonic

LONDON...

Here's a little London itinerary I wrote for Fathom - it's essentially where I'd take you if it was your first visit to London; as opposed to where I'd take your granny or your annoying little brother.

Read it here.

NOVEMBER...

{Photos from other Novembers 1,2,3, in Greenwich great park and 4,5, the Kent countryside not far from London}

FAVOURITE SHOP IN THE WORLD...

This is my Christmas wishlist - and all from one shop. I've been familiar with the branch of Nauticalia in Greenwich for years. It proclaims itself "the first shop in the world", being the closest shop to the Meridian line. It sells among other things: decorative ship's wheels, ship's cats that dogs always bark at in the window, green (starboard) and red (port) lanterns, compasses and a variety

EAT YOUR GREENS...

Anyone who's been reading this blog for a long time might remember that a few years ago I rtudied macrobiotic cooking - it's true! That was when I was going to Paris a lot - try doing your macrobiotic cooking homework in Paris - it's like a sick joke. While I got bored with the strictness of it, felt life was too short not to have a little brioche once in a while and was frustrated with the whole

AT FRIEZE...

I arrived at Frieze slightly irritable that due to a series of events I'd ended up going at the weekend, when the hardcore art people have gone, replaced by families with strollers, the parents of which probably studied fine art before they got jobs in media and started dressing like Jamie Oliver. This put a dampener on my intent to snap pictures of interesting looking people juxtaposed with

LEAVES ME GASPING FOR BREATH...

Anndra Neen jewellery. So insane, it might have given me pleurisy. Or that could be entirely unrelated. The sisters behind Anndra Neen also have quite a nice little flat.

THINGS I {LOVE}, OCTOBER...

I'm doing away with the "like" for October; this month it's actual love. Maybe it sounds all swishy, but then some of these things are pretty swishy themselves. Beware that I'm about to gush massively about girly stuff.

My first love is: matte velvet. I've never been that drawn to shiny things. The walls of my flat are painted in flat eggshell, the woodwork is matte enamel paint - I'm just not a

THERE WAS LIGHT...

{my photos}

L'INSTANTS...

{my photos}

BLOGGERS + CATS...

Bloggers + Cats returns after an extended summer hiatus - listen, you can't make cats stick to a schedule when there might be patches of sunlight to recline in or plant pots to sit in. OK, it was me sitting in the plant pot, I mean extending the summer break. 



I first admired Andrea's cats on flickr - so much personality - and I knew I'd hit the jackpot when on locating her email address I

PARIS SIGHTSEEING...

At Gare du Nord on the taxi queue sprint from the Eurostar I see a driver holding up a sign for "Mr J. Cocker." No time to turn around and look for him, that line waits for no one!

On the Pont des Arts Diane von Furstenberg is wearing two watches and saying, "Ahhh, on de breeedggee?"

Fashion people who'd packed at the beginning of fashion month pre-Europe wide heatwave were still committed to

3 SECONDS OF 12 HOURS...

The recently opened to the public National Archives garden early yesterday evening. 



At Candelaria a bit later on. Mmm, mmm tacos...mmm weirdly spicy yet cucumber-y cocktail. 



Somewhere in a mist shrouded northern France early this morning.

OUI...

{my photo}

METEORITE DREAM...

When I first saw the autumn/winter '11 Family Affairs collection back in February before I wrote the press release for it, I got that witch vibes feeling and felt really, really excited. To me it's a new direction that I love and can't wait to wear. (SS12 continues the direction and is on fire - but that's top secret for now). I mean, I loved every collection before, but this one has rocket

AND THE WINNER IS...

Sara, who recommended reading Jose Saramago, without even knowing I'd just been to Portugal! Saramago's name has cropped up a few times in the past few months, so that's where I'm headed first.

But it's a shame I only have one book to give away because I'm sure I'll take up many of your recommendations, thank you so much for sharing them. And it's interesting to note how many of us have read the

SEPTEMBER LOOKS LIKE...

End of the roses



Bonus amusing vintage 80s Japanese shirt label




Cats in the hood - suspect behaviour

{p.s. I'm so happy I managed to re-downgrade Instagram's horrible update by taking the old version out of the trash.}

{p.p.s. You can still enter the giveaway until Tuesday}

CHANEL GIVEAWAY...

© Chanel

Ha, got your attention there. While I'd love to give you a 2:55 bag or a couture jacket, this is a book giveaway, and a good one at that. You might remember when I reviewed Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life by Justine Picardie when it was published this time last year, and I was lucky to be invited to Claridges to meet the author and learn more about the book. The paperback edition

FOND FAREWELL...

Lisbon







Cabo Espichel





Jeronimos Monastery



Peniche





Obidos

I'll just keep posting pictures of Portugal here forever shall I? OK, good. No, these will probably be the  last, though I'm sure I could keep going for another 5 posts or so. The Portuguese don't seem to be given to shameless self-promotion, so I'll do it for them. I would like to return to Portugal asap and

TILES, PORTUGAL...

CAMEO...

This summer was nicknamed the summer of exploratory boozing - in which - against buffeting rain and wind, last minute calculations of unpredictable bursts of sunshine and frantic weather forecast checking we managed to beat the elements (or just go with them and wear coats) to meet up every so often and have a very convivial time. There was always a drink, and each time it was different: red wine

SEASONS...

September always feels like the real beginning of the year to me. Who wants to make resolutions, stride forward and make things happen in darkest January? I never do, but September does that for me. You won't find me bemoaning the end of summer because - we don't have one here, though I was lucky to feel a little bit of sun in Portugal and I'll bet they still have some over there. But August

LISBON PART 2...

There is no filter on this photo. That is the actual colour of the sky in Lisbon. Also if someone had told me Lisbon had such a thing as a neo gothic lift with original wood interior designed by an apprentice of Gustave Eiffel that looks like it stepped out of 1900s Paris (Elevador de Santa Justa) I might have booked my ticket there sooner.




I had always thought that Pasteis de Belem (or

SIGH OF RELIEF...

We interrupt our wall to wall Lisbon related programming for a moment for very good reason because it seems that Emma Fletcher, designer of the much missed Lyell, which sadly closed its doors last year is now the designer of Tocca. And look at the fall/winter collection! I'd recognise that handwriting anywhere...








Now all I need to do is work out how to get my hands on it, especially that

LISBON PART 1...

I had wanted to go to Lisbon for a long time, because it was the one place in Europe that had always remained a mystery to me. Even if I knew a few things about it: it has trams, it's hilly, it's near the sea, there are pasteis de Belem, bacalao, I never had even a slightly clear picture of what the city might be like. I made a decision a couple of years ago not to research it, not to find out

OLÁ...

More soon! xx

PAIRS...

Geranium {Essie} and turquoise...
Rose and rainbow cloud in my friend's garden...
Torrential rain outside the Coach & Horses, where I had a lovely dinner with Olivia, Lauren and Jean and little fluffy clouds I can't remember where or when...

A SHOP!...

WHAT I LOVED...

SOLACE II...

I realise that by posting these pictures I'm at risk of finding myself on the PR mailing lists of The Sheep Herders' Association, Young Farmers and Cattle News (I already get sent anything and everything to do with horse racing, because I once mentioned a Shetland pony. For clarity's sake: I do not need to be kept up to date with all the sheep/farming news - though I wouldn't say no to a