I LIKE THIS...

{It's Getting Late by Massy Tadjedin for Miu Miu FW12}



{And behind the scenes of the Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott shot ad campaign}

LOCATION...

I had a fun assignment taking photos of my friends' beautiful house for a locations agency recently. It's available now as a space for stills and film shoots. I wonder what will be shot there? Can't wait to see Unit signs round the hood and Winnebagos parked all down the street. Excitement!

There are more photos of the house and the listing here.

I WANT IT NOW...

Oh thanks Valentino, for giving me an extremely ungracious Veruca Salt style meltdown. These were supposed to be MY shoes, I was willing to save up for them and everything. I would've preferred the red patent low heels they had in the show but I can't even find those for sale anywhere in the world.  Actually the black suede ones are kind of beautiful, first pic. Want them. Want them all. Now.

SUMMER SNAPS...

10 YEARS WITH LOLA...

Today marks a decade since I brought Lola home from the cat rescue. She wasn't a kitten when I got her; she'd already had a litter of kittens, which is how she'd ended up on death row. We're not sure of her actual birthday, so this is her official birthday. In ten years she's gone from being a batshit crazy insane psychopath to a less batshit crazy insane very sweet, utterly contrary, endlessly amusing, incessantly demanding, scrupulously self-cleaning, badass sidekick and snuggling companion. And she's still full of surprises: it took me ten years to realise how much she loves wearing hats (see sombrero).

Happy Birthday Loly!

HiP AUGUST LONDON...

In case you don't follow me on the Twits and missed the link there, {here's} my August London events round up for HiP Paris. And feel free to inform me of any er, hip upcoming September events I definitely need to know about.

So far this month in London I've really been enjoying eating at the eponymously named Jose and Pizarro in Bermondsey Street. I think I prefer the more casual tapas at Jose. Last night I ate white peaches with parmesan, slivers of courgette in vinegar and seven spiced poussin at Ducksoup; then I think I really enjoyed seeing Roy Ayers at Ronnie Scott's, but I drank ten too many cocktails and the whole night from then on is a chaotic blur. Apart from that August has so far seen a few trips to Franks in Peckham, to Ombra and various other Hackney locales - the usual. It's still only the 14th of August? Tomorrow is a very special day. I'll try to remember to tell you why then!

A cold glass of Fino, olives stuffed with fresh pieces of orange, garlic prawns and I might be having a torrid affair with the Pluma Iberica at Jose (that's the plate of raw meat.)

ONE MORE...

One more photo from Paris last month, before I resume normal blogging activities. Although, I'm not sure what normal blogging looks like anymore. It's all gone a bit weird, hasn't it? I mean, the internet/blogging side of things. Instagram obviously has a lot to do with that, but as wonderful as Instagram is, I can't write on it. But I don't seem to be writing much here anymore, and I don't want this blog to turn into a list of links to articles I've written elsewhere. Can people even be bothered to read combinations of words that aren't tweet sized anymore? And what will happen if everyone stops blogging and you lose touch with people you were internet buds with? If you're like me, there'll be a core of people you met through blogging that you've become good friends with, some you meet up with once in a while or when you're in each others cities, others you've met once or twice and then a whole swathe of people you're blog friendly with, but who, if they stopped blogging tomorrow you'd never see again and you only know them by their blog name. What about them!? And then at some point in future you'd go wandering round Sydney or Rekyavik or somewhere wondering if you've just walked past their house or are sitting next to them at a cafe they mentioned three years before. Am I the only one who predicts these tragic scenarios?! (I don't follow everyone on Twitter, I hate Facebook and I often don't put 2+2 together with who's on Instagram or Pinterest unless the name is the same.)

 I've been carrying around two rolls of film to get developed for the last couple of weeks - the last months have been so busy in the best possible way, but I feel like I haven't shared much of that here. I might have shared stuff about Paris or Rome, but home sweet home London hasn't got a look in here and that, unbelievably, is where I've been having the most fun. Now I've been stopped in my tracks - first by a pulled neck muscle, now by the grossest, most spectacularly germtastic cold I've ever had. So I'm going to sit here and think about what to do with this blog now, which turned seven years old last week.

HI...

 Here is an unwinding spool of Instazzes from July in no particular order except chronological, which it seems pertinent and useful to post here on the assumption that there might be one or two people left in the world who aren't checking Instagram every three seconds. I guess it really is summer, even if the weather doesn't often feel like it. A summer of eating, drinking, friends, children, animals and getting in the sun whenever there's a bit of it.