Make a House a Home

Or flat, in our case. We moved into our North London flat in January, and as a result of being newly graduates, paying London rent prices and moving into an unfurnished flat, it has taken a while to get it sorted. For the first month we were sleeping on a mattress on the floor and eating off paper plates, but I kinda liked that.

Nothing we have got costs the earth, and nothing really matches. But I kinda like that too.

The latest decor addition has been this AMAZING map which our friend and graphic designer made for us. My geography skills are frankly disgusting, and I've wanted a world map for a while but hadn't seen one I liked. I got the idea for this off Etsy and then Ryan just biggered and bettered it x10000, and petsonalised it with places we've both lived and been. Pretty good ehhhh?! Get in touch with him through Twitter if you want any more info: @RyanJLissamore.

The Wedding of the Year: DIY Wedding.

You know that feeling you get after Christmas, when you're sitting there on Boxing Day eating cold turkey sandwiches and realising that soon the tinsel's coming down and you've got to go back to work...? Well that's how I'm feeling after the wedding of the year. Sob.

After over a year of preparation and giddiness, (you'd have honestly thought I was the one getting married) my brother finally got married to his beautiful bride in Shoreditch, in what honestly had to be one of the best days EVER. Not that I'm at all biased.

My now-sister-in-law is one of the most creatively talented people I have ever met, and what she can't do with a bit of fabric and a sewing machine, frankly isn't  worth knowing. She's a crafty whizz-kid.

The theme was beautifully handmade and vintage, without the twee-ness that can be associated with it. Neutral colours, simple but beautiful details and handmade decorations made the day perfectly beautiful and personal.

I'm starting to realise that maybe, just maybe, the £30,000 I like to think I'd need to spend on my wedding might actually not be needed. Here's how they did it:

She handmade the invitations, bridesmaid dresses, the bunting, the place settings and the seating plan, and customised her dress with a simple sash to make it unique. They borrowed table cloths from grandparents, and asked family and friends to make their signature bakes for a cake table. Flowers were bought from a flower market, put together by family and placed as centre pieces in glass bottles collected over the year, and they asked friends to head over before the ceremony to decorate the venue.

The result was a beautiful, traditional and stylish wedding that had so many personal touches I could've cried. And did cry. Obvs.

The invitations...

Place settings and napkins...

Shake Shack

Whenever I hear the words 'Shake Shack' I can't help but sing 'shake shack, sh-sh-shakee shack' in my head. (Grease style...geddit?!) But that's by the by.

The hype.

Wednesday night was time for me to pop my shake shack cherry and try the new burger joint that has had SO.MUCH.HYPE. Basically, the American chain opened its first UK restaurant in Covent Garden last month, and along with the opening of fellow US joint Five Guys, prompted an actual burger frenzy on my Twitter feed.

The verdict.

The chips were great, the burger meat was fine (I'm a bit finnicky when it comes to burger meat), the salad was fresh, but... it was just a burger. And a slightly soggy one at that. What most excited me was the promise of their revolutionary frozen custard... chocolate frozen custard with hazelnut brownie, chocolate pieces AND sea salt is pretty much my idea of pudding heaven but, ohhhhh it came out just like chocolate chip ice cream. I don't like being critical but I can't help it. I'm sorry. Please feel free to violently disagree with me and tell me where to shove my burger snobbery.

The apology.

Like I said, it was good, (I don't want to be mean shake shack, you had very lovely staff) but I think they've just fallen victim to OVER HYPE.

In other cheerier news... My sunflower's still clinging on to survival, and my bespoke map has finally arrived! Will show y'all next week.

x

Hen Dos and Dont's

With a week to go until the wedding of the year, this weekend was HEN DO TIME!

And ohmygoodness was it good.

Friday night was family night, which can be summed up with a Jamie Oliver-trained chef, quilt making and ten bottles of champagne.

Wearing: Topshop leopard print dress

Saturday was friends night, which can be summed up with jelly shots, incredible fancy dress and some serious shape-throwing.

Mime artist, minus the beret because my head's too round.

We headed to Madame Jojo's in Soho, where the hen herself ended up storming the DJ booth covered head to toe in horrifically brilliant 80s wedding paraphernalia, and getting 'escorted off' by the bouncers. Before falling asleep in said club. Job well done, non?!

Hen dos:

Do something really memorable and family-friendly. We all decorated a square of material to get made into a patchwork quilt...

Have LOTS of fizz to hand

Buy in LOTS of pizza for when you get in...

...and LOTS of bacon for the morning after

Get dressed up!

Hen don'ts:

Buy cheap face paint. IT DOES NOT COME OFF.

Be afraid of dodgy costumes and even dodgier dancing.

Put the hen to bed when she gets in. Apparently this is not in no way acceptable, and you will be met with furious protest...

My Mum was in town for the hen do, and I took her to The Blue Legume in Islington for dinner on Thursday night, which I can highly recommend. Lovely interior, great menu with some lovely fish dishes, and really friendly staff.

Beetroot, goats cheese, asparagus and dill risotto. Mmmmm.

Friday meant Borough Market and shredded duck sandwiches. I can't for the life of me remember which stall they were from, but they were beauuutiful. Quacking good?!

That's really bad isn't it? Sorry.

x

August Wishlist

I won't always blog about lists I promise, but I thought I'd share with you my August wishlist, because, well it's full of lovely things that I really really want.

Also, I'm using it as a way not to forget things I spy on the internet. I'm one of those online browsers who's like 'ooh I like that', then go into a shop and can't remember for the life of me what it is that I liked. So hear it is: my imaginary if-I-had-lots-more-money wishlist for this month...

1. I love love love this. It's from Oliver Bonas which is a store which I've only just discovered for its gorgeous home section. I think what gets me is the map lining. Slightly above budget, this might have to be a future DIY project...

Oliver Bonas - £89

2. Inamo: An oriental restaurant where you can interact with your table. The illustrated menu gets projected onto your table's surface, you can see inside the kitchen, discover the local neighbourhood and even order a taxi home. It blows my mind.

Inamo Restaurant, Soho

3. Cut out boots have to be the perfect Summer/Autumn transition shoe, and this Topshop pair are pretty much perfect. I have FAR too many summer dresses that need a good old toughen up. 

Topshop - £70

4. I always nag my Mum for not keeping her old clothes, and this is another example of why! Mum, take note. These 'Mom' jeans from Topshop are perfectly retro, and printed with mini fast food. I do love a good mini print, and these are just all round fun. Ok so I'd never wear them, but that's not the point!

Topshop - £55

5. Urban Outfitters is another favourite of mine for home ware, and I loooove this range of letter lights. I think I'd like the whole set, and arrange my name above my front door...

Urban Outfitters - £40

6. Recently Zara has been battling with Topshop for my affections, and I think the neon strap detail on this otherwise plain dress is great. Toughened up with the Topshop boots and you could definitely get away with wearing this during the notsosunny days. 

Zara - £29.99

x

Bucket List

I am a sucker for lists. Give me any excuse to write a list and I am ALL over it. I have daily lists, monthly lists, work lists, shopping lists, things to do lists, places I want to go lists, birthday present lists... you get the idea. The only trouble is, I tend to write some on paper, some on my phone, some on my iPad... I leave a trail of lists wherever I go.

I created a bucket list in 6th form, put it in my purse and forgot about it. I refound (is that even a word?!) it whilst at Uni, edited it to be slightly more realistic, and once more lost it in the depths of my purse. Until now! Ta-daaaa.

I LOVED rediscovering it, and if you haven't already made one... then make one! I was quite disappointed to see I'd not managed to cross anything off yet, (I was tempted to add 'create a blog' just so I could cross it off), but it's just powered me on to get off my bottom and get. things. done.

I don't really think bucket lists should necessarily be shared willy nilly as there's something a little bit private about them I find, but here's a wee little taster of mine...

1. Learn another language

2. Have a wall made entirely of buttons

3. See a giant tortoise (not in a zoo)

4. Drive a Lambretta

1. I did A-Level French but I'm pretty sure this doesn't count...

2. One day.

3. I LOVE tortoises.

4. See, in my head this makes me look like a super gorgeous Italian girl, and everyone would go

   'ooh look, there's that girl with the Lambretta...' every time I whizzed past. HA.

Motto of the day: List your life. But don't worry if you don't cross them ALL off,  as then you'd have nothing to do...

x

This Week's Obsession: Eggs and Teacups

Last night I got treated to dinner at a new restaurant that's opened just off Oxford Street, called Whyte and Brown.  I read a review on it in Time Out magazine and was intrigued by its 'chicken and egg' concept. But this 'aint no ordinary chicken shop lovely readers, oh nono, there's not even a hint of Nando'sness in sight.

The restaurant is nestled (no pun intended), in Kingly Court off Carnaby Street, which is a great little location for a restaurant like this, and the interior is decorated beautifully.

To start we shared half a dozen chicken and pancetta croquettes, which were gorrrrgeous. Creamy, crispy and all round pretty pretty great. I then had a risotto ball (there was definitely a spherical theme going on), served on a bed of wilted spinach with... A DIPPY EGG INSIDE! Okay so I think the technical term is soft-boiled egg, but you all know where I'm coming from.

Steve (I don't know how to refer to him on here?! ... he's my boyfriend, but let's just stick with Steve), right, anyway... he chose the brick chicken, which was served as chicken three ways with homemade gravy and the most incredible mash. (Which I ohsokindly helped him out with).

Despite being ridiculously full of chicken and egg, I can NEVER turn down a pudding. I am addicted to sugar, and ordered their take on the classic Eaton Mess for dessert.

It came served in the biggest bowl known to man, was full of meringue and berry goodness, and sprinkled with lemon flavoured popping candy. Yes, popping candy. I don't really need to say any more. For two of us (including a glass of wine), the bill came to around £45.

Mumma Shaw's visiting next week and I'm dragging her back there whether she likes it or not. Their chicken and leek spaghetti and homemade brownie is calling...

In non-related food news, I bought these gorgeous teacup earrings yesterday by Layla Amber from Magma in Covent Garden - are they or are they not the cutest earrings you ever did see?

I'm genuinely a bit in love with them! Make sure you check out her website - I've already decided my Christmas list is going to be a good 86% full of her products.

Anyway, I'm off to make a clutch bag out of a book... 

x

Church Street, Cats and Vintage Finds

It's weekends like this when I realise and appreciate how bloomin' good London is. Yes the tubes are sweaty, buying a large glass of wine makes me shed a little tear, and  I'm never home from work in time to watch Eastenders, but you can at least count on always having somewhere new to explore, or something new to do.

This weekend Toni (from the rather marvellous blog 'Oh hey Tone') and I went for a little wander down Church Street in Stoke Newington. I'd been recommended it by a couple of people, and recently read that it's one of Leona Lewis' favourite places in London. I was sold. Anyway, it's definitely as lovely as everyone suggested - full of antiquey vintagey cakey goodness.

Oh hey wind. 

We stumbled on a gorgeous little cafe called The Fat Cat for coffee, and somehow ended up getting quite involved in their cat-style-x-factor. I think. I'm still not entirely sure to be honest, all I know was that I was lured in by a mocha and ended up leaving after voting for a cat named Frank...several times.

Dirty Blonde is a great little shop for some vintage finds - I picked up these raaaather amazing pair of shorts, which I'm almost definitely going to wear until I'm 70 (impulse buying is one of my strongest qualities), and Toni found a beautiful Valentino wool blazer for a steal at £30.

So basically, I think the moral of this story is to visit Church Street. Lovely people, lovely shorts, and apparently even lovelier cats.

x