Blue Skies and Goodbyes

I’m home! After 2.5 weeks in California I am back on home turf. Well, I’ve been back about a week, but it’s only that I feel human again. Jet lag is not my friend and heading straight into work the day after you land doesn’t leave much time for photo processing and tending to blog. Anyway, explanations aside I thought I’d start sharing a few pictures of my travels, starting (in no particular order) with Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz was filled with beach, board-walks and palm trees – all so very different to England. The sun was shining and the town was buzzing, we managed a go on the 1910 big dipper that is made from wood and manages to throw you around like any ride today. Everything was so colourful and inspiring, there’s nothing like a bright blue sky to capture the colours of the fair.

The overall trip was amazing, the trip of a lifetime doesn’t even cover it. Escaping from reality and getting to spend 2.5 interrupted weeks with Miles was such a treat. We saw so much, did so much and ate so much it’s going to be really hard to do it justice in pictures and words. I feel very lucky to have had the chance to travel and saying goodbye to the blue skies and California was pretty hard. More holiday pictures to follow, I promise. I also spent the weekend revamping and changing my flat about so I need to take some snap to share. I really hope everyone has had a great start to May – have a lovely week! x

J’aime France

I’m not usually one to post personal pictures of myself and friends on my blog, but my recent trip to Port Grimaud in France was pretty good fun so I thought I’d give it a mention. Not least because I holidayed with fellow blogger LittleLjBigApple (now There and Back Again).

We ate and drink our way around the whole town and a little of Saint Tropez too. There was lots of crepes, Italian food and lots of rose (possibly a little too much on one or two occasions). We soaked up a lot of sun, I swam in the sea with a little help from my friends (this is a huge rarity as I am terrified).

All in all it was a lovely getaway, a much needed escape from London life. It was also Miles’ birthday whilst I was away, I got him a ticket to join us for two nights which was lovely, I couldn’t imagine missing his birthday, especially after 6 years of always spending our birthday’s together.

Beautiful Budapest

I have been very absent despite saying I was going to blog more. I’m finding having no camera, plus not massively creative surrounds a bit of a drag. I have been galavanting a little over the last two months, I went off to Athens with my work peeps – which was amazing! I also went on a anniversary trip to Budapest with Miles, we needed to celebrate 6 years together in some way.

We had a blast, Budapest is super pretty – with some amazing places to eat drink and chill out. Most of our time was spent at city spas, slurping goulash and drinking stupidly reasonable champagne cocktails. There were some really cute place to eat around the city, everything was so reasonably priced too. These photos are from Marvelosa, a kitch, shabby chic, tiny cafe located on the Buda side of the Danube.

We also managed to eat at the super cool, 1970’s communist inspired, Menza. The atmosphere was great, drinks were strong and the atmosphere was buzzing. If you’ve not seen the interior of the famous restaurant you need to take a peek here – so unique! Well I fell in love with Budapest, it’s similar to Paris, however a fraction of the cost and has a little less pomp. I’ve just got back from the South of France, more holiday posts to follow.

Le Chandelier

I had to share the photos and a tip about the wonder that is Le Chandelier, in East Dulwich. Not only is it a beauty but it also serves a mean cup of tea. For all tea fanatics this is a massive plus!  We opted for Silver Needle Jasmine tea – yum! 

As the name suggests this little restaurant/cafe is stuffed full with beautiful vintage, glass chandeliers. The ceiling is dripping with them and it really adds a lovely atmosphere to the place. The rest of the decor is French shabby chic meets Turkish bath house – strangely it works really well and is very  pretty.

In keeping with the real shabby feel all the china tea cups are vintage and miss matched. All very chintz and incredibly cute. They offer loads of great food from afternoon tea to yummy weekend brunch. Dulwich is bursting with great independent shops and Dulwich Park offers recumbents to hire. Miles I spent the rest of the afternoon tearing around the park on a crazy side-by-side tandem – lots of fun!

Back from the Sun

So I am back from my holiday in Mykonos Greece and I really did have the best time. It was amazingly relaxing and just what I needed (I hadn’t had a week off since Christmas). We stayed at the incredibly cool Mykonos Theoxeina, it’s a Design Hotel and boy did it live up to it. The picture above is taken from the lobby area all the inside was designed by interior designer Angelos Angelopoulos and it was all so beautiful I had to share it.

I love the colours it made me want to rush home rethink all my interiors to a blue/green scheme. It’s an amazing 1960’s hotel that was amazingly true inside to it’s exterior architecture. It was so nice to stay somewhere that not only was amazing in service but actually inspired you.

If I could have bought one thing home with me (apart from the sun) it would have been this chair. I fell in love with it, it was in our room and the fabric was so cute and shabby chic. Speaking of shabby chic I think I was the only person on the beach with a Cath Kidston ‘roses’ towel and beach ball – if only I could have got my hands on the lilo in time I could of really gone for it. I am now busy getting excited about Autumn – there are so many exciting fashion things on at the moment, I am emerged in catching up after being without the internet for a week (and during fashion week!).

Off to Barcelona!

I’m off to Barcelona with work tomorrow so I am a little bit excited. Though it suddenly dawned on me that I had done very little preparation into the best independent shops that the city has to offer. So now I am desperately looking for places. However came across this lovely and I just had to share. Dudua is a super cool handmade boutique in Barcelona, however you can purchase their wares online the website and blog is adorable – Check it out! The knitted muffins above are in the online store and are too cute for words! The Pietari Posti prints of the leaping deers are also adorable – I think I may have to make a purchase.

Anyway if anyone knows any good places to check out please let me know I would love to know your suggestions. I must get some sleep now as I have a bad cold (thanks Holly) and it needs nursing before the trip – Buenos noches . x

The Hummingbird Bakery

It has been a great weekend, really busy, but I have managed to pack so much in it has been really satisfying. On saturday we headed north to Crouch End to pay a visit to a restaurant that serves up the best American/Californian breakfasts this side of the Atlantic, called Pick More Daisies. The food was to die for, it was seriously worth the 1 hour trek. Crouch end also has some great shops, it really is an independent shop honey pot. The icing on the cake, quite literally came when Miles and I decided to head over to South Kensington to The Hummingbird Bakery for some Sunday afternoon tea and cupcakes. Well, diet coke and cupcakes.

The Hummingbird Bakery is one of my favorite places in London, it is so damn cute! The colour scheme is bubble gum pink and brown and it does shabby chic very well. It is much more than just aesthetically pleasing – the cakes are totally dreamy. The vanilla frosted cupcake is yum, very smooth and really fluffy sponge. I love all the cakes, I love the shop, I love the displays, basically I just love everything about it..

So if your in London Hummingbird is really worth a try, their sponge is hard to beat for fluffiness. Plus the guys and girls serving you get the best uniform. They get little pink sweat tops with Hummingbird written across it – super cute!We finished our afternoon off with a 3 mile stroll around Hyde Park, it is so beautiful. The sun was setting, and the Serpentine was shimmering a gorgeous slate blue hue. The ducks were out and the leaves were all off the trees it felt like the perfect warm up to Christmas. Ice skating at Somerset House soon, I can’t wait…. now that will be Christmassy.

Greenwich

I have been so busy of late it has been impossible to sit down and blog or even find some inspiration to blog about. This is by no means a moan, I love being busy but the last couple of weeks been very exhausting plus I have had a severe chest infection. Anyway, enough of that as it all worked out in the end. So, Miles and I finally managed to steal some leisure time this weekend and headed to Greenwich for the day on Sunday – and what a day it was. I really don’t know how to do Greenwich justice in words, it is so beautiful and there is just so many interesting things to see and do. I have to stress if you love unique markets (like I do) then Greenwich market is the place for you. We visited about three separate markets in total, and the place is not that big. They all sell a mixture of things including vintage furniture and clothing (hence the photo above), exotic foods and handmade crafts.

After all the markets and shops I couldn’t ignore Miles’ plea’s for food any longer so we made a b-line for The Gourmet Burger Kitchen, The burgers are amazing and they really do come piled high, so high they require a knife and fork. I had the chicken burger with camembert and cranberry accompanied by chips with satay sauce (very nice). Enough about the food, we had to walk the dinner off so headed to the naval college to see some sights. It is situated right on the bank of the Thames and you really feel somewhere else, it’s light and airy and very Parisian.

We then made the most of the good weather and headed up into the park, we stopped off at the mini boating lake and hired a pedal boat. It was a first for me having only ever experience oars! It was awesome. Then up to the observatory it’s quite a trek, but the view at the top is totally worth it – it could rival the London eye. Overall, an amazing day, Greenwich is so cool and the things to do are so varied. I will come back again soon, hopefully with all belongings (wink, wink Miles). Ok the alteria motive coming through – I want to live here please!

Away Days

I have just got back from 3 days away in Salcombe, Devon, I was visiting Holly in her new abode. The weather contrast has been a bit of a shock since coming home. I left very sunny spells for dirty grey skies, constant drizzle and some mild flooding. I think the weather change occurred somewhere just outside of Reading, as the train passed through it left the weather behind. Anyway enough about the poor British weather. So, I spent many hours on the train to get there as I live in Kent but when I did finally arrive Holly and I got straight to it, the shopping. I use this term ’shopping’ in the loosest sense as I am currently the poorest thing ever. So what I did was some serious ’shoe-string shopping’. In Totnes the main destination was the shop to end all shops, Gazebo. This is a shop which sells a comprehensive collection of Greengate (finally). The stuff is like gold-dust in the Uk.

The picture above is a collection of just some of Gazebo’s great window displays. This is just what I could snap from the outside (I am always too scared to ask to take pictures inside). The inside is rammed full of curious objects and the latest Cath Kidston and Greengate supplies. Not to mention the Orla Kiely mugs and the very extensive collection of Rice products. Gazebo was great and really exciting, however not good when you have no money. I did manage to grab a bargain pale blue spotted Greengate sugar bowel to add to my collection and a lovely new season Cath Kidston iPod case (both so pretty).
 

We did do more than just shopping, with views and beaches like this to see there was lots to explore. We walked and walked, and walked some more but it was all worth it we saw some good beaches and some good dogs (just for you  Holly).  Then we got the ferry back across the estuary, I loved this part I think it’s all the splashing waves and wind in the hair. Anyhow, I ate very well thanks to a lot of ice cream, pasties and Holly’s Ma’s cooking- all in the holiday spirit. 

Ok, this is turning into an essay length post. So much to say and not enough time or space to say it. Last thing was my little study of sea plants (see above). I have a strange appreciation for plants that can rough it at the seaside, they are all hardy and so over-looked. Anyway they proved to be an interesting photography subject. I think the strange fascination comes from Geography at school (strange huh?). All round lovely trip, thanks Holly. See you in the smoke!