Guess where I'm going in November....

I am so excited! But also a little scared! I don't like the cold but this is cool enough that I will get over it.... Joanna Lumley recently visited this country to see the Aurora Borealis. Kate and I found a great cheap deal via Ryanair (yes, I've found another lovely enthusiastic travel buddy (-:). Now, where's that Helga hat?

Autumn in London

Jessica, Kate and I met up in Leicester Square to go and eat Yum Char (Dim Sum) on Saturday. Here's Jessica about to tuck into some chicken feet. The waitress is writing down what she's just laid on the table for us.

The selection is more or less what we usually find, apart from the variation in shrimp dumpling on the top left - it has peas and is a bit Japanese-style in that it's lightly fried. Jessica is one of the nurses from work. She kept saying that the dumplings are much bigger in Vancouver, Canada, where her family is living. I ate lots of my favourite shrimp dumplings nicknamed 'jellyfish' in my family, and Kate savoured her favourite pork char siu buns. She enjoyed them so much we went to find some to take home. We also found some interesting things called 'wife pastries' and colourful tiger rolls.


Kate is my 'twin' at work, she's an occupational therapist from Australia. People often mistake us for each other, especially the one occasion we both had our hair in ponytails and were wearing similarly striped tops by coincidence.

After lunch, we wandered through to Hyde Park and walked down the Serpentine. There were plenty of people out enjoying the sunshine.






We came across the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain and also the Peter Pan statue.

Kate spied the Swan pub hidden behind the trees for my animal pub collection. Keen eyes.

Today I discovered that Wood Green was blockaded for a Farmers' Market, which was pretty cool. There were some fresh organic fruit and vege, cheeses and baking, and jerk chicken.
I had fun just winding my way through the people and smelling interesting ethnic cooking.

I love that this is happening!

Found through Yarnbombing.

Sart and Art

I regularly look at the Sartorialist's site out of curiousity to see what Scott has his eye on in Europe and in the US. Usually I like his picks, but they aren't anything I could wear. But today I think this one would be a nice autumn outfit. Wish I could handle killer boots like that! She is so cute and the look looks effortless.

Each winter, I think I can pull off a winter hat. But I hate hat hair and static so I hardly wear them after I make or buy them. An exception being the 'Helga hat' Mum made for me from a design I sketched. I love the design to bits, it's a crocheted hat with Princess Leia buns and plaits that make it look very Viking. Ah... I have to learn to crochet.

Snuggling under my new winter duvet. I went late night shopping after work and finally picked up the feather duvet I've been coveting and now I'm toasty warm. Almost the end of the working week! I am having a tortured relationship with my locum agency. They act all friendly and helpful but they lose your paperwork and try to pull the wool over your eyes and awful stuff like that. Rrrrrrrrr.

Here's a cute London artist - watch her clip 'My First Crush' on YouTube, too!

Monday,Monday

Today was one of the days that made me think I shouldn't have gotten out of bed! Nothing has gone horribly wrong but the problem is that a lot of things haven't been right. On the plus side:

-Cold is almost gone and I have Dim Sum/Yum Char to look forward to with my colleagues on Saturday
- I have some loose plans to do a daytrip to Oxford the following weekend.
-I've discovered how yummy British crumpets are. They're huge (about the size of an English muffin) and fluffier than the Golden ones at home.

Hope your week is going smoothly!

Walker in the Weekend

It was another stunningly beautiful day in the capital today, and Clare and I finally managed to make to to London Bridge to see the Tim Walker exhibition at the Design Museum before it closed. We're both recovering from colds so life has been a bit sedate these last few days.



Tower Bridge was looking pretty in the sun.



I like the Lavazza ads in the Tube at the moment. Here's a new one. The mood for the weekend was set with this window display in Selfridges. I saw this on Oxford St on Saturday while hunting out some basic work clothes. I've also been watching Project Runway Season 5 on Youtube thanks to Pip! Spending extra time in bed was not wholly a bad thing as I also figured out how to get Adobe Photoshop on my computer and also uploaded some lovely new fonts (hence the new header). Also, congratulations to cousin Tiffany on her new Etsy store, Muntedkowhai which sells pretty crochet necklaces.



Here's Clare at Southwark Cathedral with a neat sculpture. I like her outfit today!



Here I am with one of my favourite Tim Walker pictures.



A giant camera for Clare's Dad...



Tim Walker's pictures are so wonderfully British. Anushka of Magic Fingers did a lovely job of journalling and sketching her visit to the exhibition... I just had some fun with the giant props and gawping at everything this time. I felt a bit funny taking photos of photos but I was in good company. One girl had a manual camera and I was a bit surprised, it's not so common these days - strange aye! I think I will save up and buy the book 'I Love Pictures' for my future (who knows when, but it's good to dream) house. The copy I picked up from the library in NZ had a different cover though... it featured the red mini in the woods, which I prefer. Postcards don't do justice to the photos. Walker's images are touchingly evocative and nostalgic, yet quirky and fresh.
















PS: just for you! Found this on the return journey just before the train came. It reads 'leave the cleavage to the ladies'. Have a great week! I'll sign off here and catch some sleep so I'll be fresh for Monday back at work.