The Den

I think I've previously mentioned how much I love Todd Selby's photos. He captures the most incredible interiors from talented & creative people from all around the world.

Recently, one interior in particular caught my eye, I adore it - Myf Shepherd in New York City.

Isn't it insane? I love it, it'd be like living in a den. You'd wake up & never want to get out of bed.. which is a good thing.

 Here's the link to all the photos if you'd like to see a little more. (You do, you do, you do!)

Listening toooo: 'No Adventure' by Spector who were AWESOME at Reading festival. Insanely good. More on that in another post though... I can't find a link to the song so here's 'Chevy Thunder' by them which is also great!

Flower Pressing

Villard de Lans is one of the most beautiful places when it comes to flowers. They're everywhere, fields full of different flowers are scattered everywhere for tourists & locals to swoon over.

So I decided to steal some... well pick some.

I'm not totally sure on how you're supposed to press flowers, but this method seemed to work. Once home, I laid them out on a piece of paper on my windowsill & let them dry for a little while before piling a load of books on them... how delicate.

After about three days , I checked back on them and they were beautifully flattened.

All that came after that was arranging & sellotaping them in place. I love how they can make an otherwise plain page look beautiful.

Also that text on the paper I used, is an extract of a book that a good friend of mine has written. She is 17 years old & very talented. One day this book will be published, watch this space!

Listening toooo: 'Treading Water' & 'Humming Bird' by Alex Clare 

(I'm still at Reading festival as this post is published, so if you don't hear of me again...I've been eaten by a pack of wolves whilst camping, not to panic anyone or anything........) If not, then hopefully I've been to see Alex Clare, woooooo - hence the little obsession.

Melting, Markets & Le Mont Blanc

Here is the last mish mash of photos from our holiday in France.

They include E & I playing tennis in the sweltering heat (E wearing jeans was not a good idea), one of many trips to the market, the morning after the storm in our village & our view from the plane... Le Mont Blanc!

All the french markets we saw were not only lovely to look at (despite me not liking cheese...) but also very inspiring for my A2 Art which carries along this theme.

The flight home was calm & quick, seeing this pretty sight was a definite bonus. Le Mont Blanc peeking above the clouds.

Also as a little update, I'm off to Reading festival tomorrow!!!!!!! (Yes that many exclamation marks are definitely in order.) Bring on the smelly days of brilliant music & good company. And it's such perfect timing to celebrate AS (and one A2) exam results too.

Listening tooooo: 'Better Off' by Haim, 'Daniel in the Den' by Bastille, 'High Hopes' by Kodaline, 'Radar Detective' by Darwin Deez & basically everyone that's going to be at Reading...

Equestrian Adventure

Whilst in France, my cousins, E & I (oh how very gramatically correct...) decided to go on a 'balade a cheval' in a nearby forest. Seeing as none of us had been riding for a long long time, this was a little daunting but very exciting.

The stables were small but very picturesque and as we waited for our horses to be ready & rested, we had a chance to pet the smaller ponies who were adorable. I wanted to hide one and take it home with me, but they were slightly too big for my pockets...

Once our horses were ready, we set off for our walk/trot in the forest.

It began very bumpy with a steep descent into the entrance of the forest but as we got to the softer grounds, I stopped thinking I was going to fall off & started to relax a little more (you wouldn't be able to tell I had had lessons a few years back...). It was lovelyyyyy, especially in the depths of the forest!

The next day, we all woke up sore & achy but it was worth it - its a really nice way to discover the the area in a relaxing way.

Listening toooo: 'Homesick (Ghost)' by Radical Face over and over and over and over and over again...

Brocante

Even though our holidays mainly consist of meeting up with our family, in the mornings we tend to explore on our own. On this particular morning, we went to the village just above ours for a Brocante -basically a car boot sale with no car.

As its a little moutain village, the locals are pretty hot on their winter sports so there were loads of skis, snowboards & I even found a perfect pair of ice skates. Sadly plane weight restrictions meant I couldn't buy them...

We even spotted a parapant landing nearby, one day I definitely want to do this.

It was really nice to roam around in the morning sun, looking at the stalls & listening to the music being played by a local musician.

I loved the trees too.

Listening toooo: 'Papoutai' by Stromae - another song I discovered in France, once again the dancing is sweeeet!

I Would Walk 500 Miles (kidding, when's my flight?)

I'm back from a 2 week holiday in a petit trou perdu guys (a teeny tiny town in the French Alps). The town's claim to fame: 1968 winter olympics. WOOO, I'm starstruck as you can tell.

These two weeks an opportunity for eating (loads), drawing, painting, horse-riding, tennis-playing, swimming, spa-ing (this is a new thing for me), exploring & best of all, meeting up with some of our French side of the family. Here's a little summary...

First of all, say hello to my new obsession with pretty shadows.

When we're in France, we always seem to eat double, snacks are like meals & meals are like feasts. I kid you not. I always have to stock up on my favourite yoghurt which isn't sold in England (here's a photo) & the best juice ever - Danao, not to mention French bread - of course.

All three of these essentials were present at our little picnic.

Whilst we were there, the weather was glorious which meant Emilie & myself could go for walks with our sketchbooks. On the way we came across this lovely bunch of cows.

On one of the evenings, E, myself & our French cousins went to the town centre for a concert outside, it was blues music, but they mixed in some well known songs too. There were loads of people watching, all the restaurants around the stage were jam-packed and the roads were filled with people watching (and dancing).

More about France coming, but for now, here's what I'm listening tooooo: 'Happy' by C2C - my cousins helped me discover this song, and maaaan it is good! Blast it out & dance!

Ellie's Flower - Filled BBQ

Yesterday was a weather for BBQ's. I say yesterday but when this is posted I'll be on holiday - good planning, eh?

It just so happened on that day Ellie was hosting one in her garden. Her mum kindly cooked the meat whilst we caught up with each other & explored her flower-filled garden (it really is so pretty).

Being a vegetarian at a BBQ isn't ideal, but I was pretty happy to find there was pizza instead, mmmm.

The table was filled with tasty delights (including my hummus!)

The games then commenced. Spoons was a definite favourite. If you've never heard of it, here you can find how to play it.

It gets exciting when you use forks instead of spoons....

For the rest of the afternoon we played frisbee and sat on the grass eating ice creams, discussing our summers & the birth of the new royal.

Oh and did I mention she kept chickens? Pretty cool pet, I know.

Listening tooo: 'Marathon' by Tennis & 'Something Good Can Work' by Two Door Cinema Club

Hummus anyone?

After all this hot weather, my friend Ellie decided to host a BBQ. So I thought I would make some dips to bring along. 

They're much quicker than cooking most other things & the recipes make loads! I had at least a jar full of every dip & 2 jars for both the hummus (orange dip) and the green pea dip (the green one)! Personally I think they go best with breadsticks or naan bread, but I guess you can use them for anything.

All the recipes came from the BBC food website, so here are the links, from left to right:

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Green Pea Dip & Cucumber and Mint Raita.

Listening toooo: The Family Jewels album by Marina & The Diamonds

Swimsuits Are For Swimming

I need to buy a new swimsuit. I naively thought this would be a pretty simple task, but no. For some reason, the majority of affordable swimsuits are either plain with a good shape, or have beautiful patterns with awful shapes. Whyyyyyy?! All I want is practical & pretty.

The requirements: A fairly high neckline, pretty pattern & I need to be able to dive, swim and race in it. I've found some on pinterest, so they must exist.

After hours & hours of searching (no exaggeration) I found my selection.

1, 2, 3

Out of this selection, as much as I love the low backs, my favourite was the 3rd swimsuit from Urban Outfitters. The pattern is perfect, its got  high neckline & a really cute little cut out detail. Perfection.

Listening tooo: 'Sun' by Two Door Cinema Club. I cannot stop listening to this!