get your zombie on

If you're free and in London this bank holiday Monday, come and visit Zombie Rockin' at The Lexington, Angel.

There will be lots of stalls selling zombie goodies - including a few of my friends: Nicola will be selling cute gory accessories, Kaiser will be selling papier mache sugar skulls and screenprinted t-shirts, Emma will be selling her monster plushies, Joe will be selling his kitsch cards and Kate will be selling her gorgeous rockabilly fascinators.

There will also be all sorts of ghoulish activities, with a film screening and plenty of music (plus I think I heard a rumour about a bit of burlesque!) in the evening.

The FB page is here, if you want more deets.

In anticipation, my desk has been covered in things like this for the last week or so:

It looks as though it will be an ace day out! Hurrah!

visiting the orchids at Kew

Last week my granny and I had a South London Adventure - we visited Kew Gardens to see the last of the orchid exhibition before it closed.

They were really rather spectacular, and brightened up the otherwise rather grey day.

Here are some of my favourites:

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the rest of the gardens - inside the hot house, the cactus house, looking at all the David Nash sculptures, and after some effort we finally found the tiny hidden-away Bonsai house - woo!

I'd forgotten how much there is to see at Kew! When we normally go there it's to have our big annual family picnic, and we don't normally do much wandering round due to the size of our group, so it was a nice change to go with just granny and explore the gardens properly :)

Finsbury Park balloons version 2

Since writing about the pretty balloon mosaics at Finsbury Park station, I've wanted to make some old-fashioned style balloons inspired by them, but had no real idea what exactly I wanted to make.

As usual when I'm not sure what to do, I started fiddling with a few bits and bobs in my studio... and came up with these little do-dahs:

What do you think of them?

I've made some of them into brooches, but I'm not sure if I should make more of the same or try to develop a better way of making them, or just not bother making any more and keep the ones I have as personal trinkets.

Any suggestions gratefully received!

inspiration: Finsbury Park balloons

Sometimes when I'm on the tube I like to get out earlier than my stop, at Finsbury Park. It's one of my favourite stations, and it's largely because of the amazing mosaics on the Piccadilly Line platform...

{♥} {♥} {♥} {♥} {♥} {♥}

I had always wondered why the balloons were there, and having lived in the area for the last 5 years and never hearing anything about it, I decided to look on the interwebs. Clever ol' wikipedia says this:

"When the Victoria line was built in the 1960s, the walls in Finsbury Park station were decorated with mosaics of hot air balloons and duelling pistols, which can still be seen. This was based on a mistaken identification of Finsbury Park with Finsbury Fields, which was used by Londoners since medieval times for archery and sports, and also associated with 18th-century duels and one of the first hot air balloon flights. However, Finsbury Fields actually occupied a location close to the present-day Finsbury Square."

Silly people not doing their research properly! Still, it means we get some of the prettiest London Underground mosaics right on our doorstep. I really love the pronounced round shape of the balloons - perhaps I'll try to recreate them in paper and tape and sparkly bits...

Have you seen them? Do you have a different favourite set of station mosaics?

jubilee weekend days out

This weekend is Jubilee Weekend here in the UK - and here's a little rundown of some of the things I am planning on doing/seeing/going to:

Friday

"Celebrating the Queen's Jubilee with the launch of Emma Block's Illustrated Tea and Cake Book. Drop by for a complimentary cuppa courtesy of Tea Pigs and a slice of cake baked especially by our booksellers. All cake sale donations will go to the Evening Standard's Get London Reading charity." 

Jubilee Tea and Cake Launch Party

3pm - 10pm

Watermark Books

London Kings Cross Station

Saturday

"Join us on Saturday the 2nd of June for a truly East End knees up! We’re celebrating the Jubilee with our very own “Street Party”. You’ll have everything you need to celebrate and we’ll be doing it in a “1950′s” style from traditional games, DJ (Tony Tunes will spinning some vintage tunes!), face painting for the little ones, our very own ice cream van, lots of vintage shopping to themed craft workshops but most of all with a good dose of fun!"

Jubilee Street Party

Wood Street Market

Walthamstow E17

Sunday

"The festival has been organised by the local community and will be happening on the Sunday of the Diamond Jubilee Bank Holiday, so expect some bunting action to be occurring. The festival features live bands and DJ sets, a tug-o-war, zumba, a street mural, a bouncy castle, a cake-making contest, and more."

Victoria Road Festival

Walthamstow E17

Phew, it's all rather Tea and Cake themed, non?

If you fancy joining me at any of them, let me know - the more the merrier!

happy birthday Big Ben!

Today marks the 153rd anniversary of the first ringing of Big Ben in Westminster.

Despite having been born in London and spending most of my life living here (minus about 10 years in the middle when I was living in the country or at university), I don't think I have ever visited the clock tower in Westminster, let alone seen Big Ben in action.

As all Londoners know, the name Big Ben refers to the bell inside the clock tower which stands at the north end of the Palace of Westminster, rather than the tower itself, which is simply known as Clock Tower. Many believe the bell was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, who oversaw the later stages of the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament, including the installation of the Great Bell, which is inscribed with his name.

I didn't know it before today, but Clock Tower is home to the largest four-faced chiming clock in the world, which is pretty neat. This alone makes it yet another London-based activity I need to add to my to-do list for when I fancy being a tourist in my own hometown.

And now that our history lesson is over, let's get on with looking at the pretty things:

a change of scenery

I've been able to think of little else since writing this post, and I think it's about time I made a move. I do love it here, but there are a lot of things I don't love or need any more:

• I could do with somewhere smaller and cosier
• somewhere more colourful and less big and white
• somewhere with carpets to save having to sweep the floor every single day
• somewhere I can make feel homely
• and since the flat is entirely open plan, I could do with more doors and rooms!

So far, while living in London I have stayed in the North - and there's where I would like to continue to be. I've done North West and I have done East but I have never done North East - perhaps that's where I should look to go...

Not only could my postcode be a reminder of a mid-90s boy band*, but I would also be super close to Miss Kazatron...

Walthamstow, here I come!

*East 17 with their most excellent hit and 1994 Christmas no. 1 single, 'Stay Another Day'

must have Monday - my dream garden

Ever since I moved to London I haven't had a chance to live in a house with a garden. Affordability may be a minor aspect of it, but it's mainly because I am rather partial to apartment living.

I like living high up: I like the views of the city from my studio, I like the way the sun streams through my window in the mornings, I like having an excellent view of fireworks on bonfire night and, not in a weird way, I like being able to watch stuff going on around my building.

Lately, I have been dreaming more and more of having my very own garden. I am, at least, a little realistic in that I don't have dreams of acres of land or gardens containing babbling brooks, or any other romantic stuff... though I wouldn't say no to just a little wishing well, perhaps.

There are a few pretty things that I would really rather like to have in any future garden I have, and as I imagine it is most likely to be a very small garden or a balcony of a flat, I have found some nice small things that would fit in even the most compact of outside areas.

♥ hanging terrarium by Score + Solder

♥ bee hotel by Wudwerx - I love me some bees

♥ brass sundial armillary globe

♥ butterfly house

♥ verti-plant

♥ cottage bird house

without forgetting, of course, just a few of these...

{image source}

do you have a garden? what are your must-have garden-y items?

my annual expedition to the Swedish Christmas Fair

As the sun was setting over north London (16:06 - can you believe it?), I was sitting on a train journeying towards the Christmas Market at the Swedish Church in Marylebone. It was the first proper Christmassy thing I have done this year, and now I'm super excited about it all, and am increasingly tempted to 'Scandinavia-up' the festivities this year.

I was very well behaved - I only bought one box of pepperkaker biscuits, an advent candle and a pretty wooden robin ornament - but there were plenty of other tempting Swedish goodies: housewares, nyommy food and pretty textiles to name but a few!

Now I'm back at home with a snuggly kitten and a nice cup of tea, munching on pepperkaker, listening to Abba and thinking about Swedish gingerbread houses...

{1} {2} {3}

If you're interested and free (short notice I know, sorry), the last day of the fair is tomorrow.

written in the stars

Now the clocks have gone back and it's getting much darker much earlier, I was kinda hoping it would mean I'd have more of a chance to gaze at the stars, but sadly not.

All that blooming British cloud and London smog is putting a damper* on things :(

These pretties will have to do for now...

{constellations notecard} {written in the stars} {starry blue necklace} {ursa major paper dolls}

{sleeping under the stars} {fly me to the moon locket} {starry owl} {constellation heart garland}

{great bear earrings} {fireflies print} {constellation bat} {the great bear notecard}

{polar bear collage} {constellation greetings card} {she has stars in her head} {great bear pillow}

{see the treasury here: written in the stars}

*I always thought the word was 'dampener' but the internet doesn't agree with me -
what do you think? Damper or dampener?

Nest: a cosy, crafty hideaway

I was very recently introduced, by my knitter-extraordinaire friend Sarah, to the wonderful hidden treasure that is Nest.

Nest may well look like a normal knitting shop, but it's much more than that - the lovely ladies offer one-to-one tutorials, various classes and courses, as well as a knitting and crochet group who meet every Monday and Friday to knit together, while drinking tea and eating cake.

It was to one of these that I was invited, and first had the opportunity to take in the splendour of the place - the beauty of the yarn-filled alcoves, the cosiness of the little crafting nook and the shelves covered in lovely handmade goodies.

As my knitting is pretty rusty and my crochet skills non-existent, I decided to buy some merino wool tops plus a couple of ludicrously sharp needles and have a little go at felting. Pictures will come as soon as I have actually made something!

If you're in the area, I recommend you check it out - and let me know so I can come and play too!

the museum of broken relationships

When I first heard about the Museum of Broken Relationships I knew it would be the kind of thing I had to go and see. It's not that I enjoy sharing other peoples' heartbreak, I just think it's an interesting concept for a travelling museum. Well, that and it sounded like the kind of thing I could get really pretentious about - I do so love discussing art shows in a bitterly ironic way. Damn those three years at art school - they've ruined my genuine enjoyment of art!

In each city where the exhibition is shown, the museum puts out a "call for donations" - an opportunity for the heartbroken to get rid of items that hold memories of a failed relationship. The objects are displayed alongside their stories, including information like dates and length of the relationship, and while some are just a few lines of poetic text, some are long tales of a love affair that was never to be. With a mix of poignant, beautiful and tragic stories, the exhibition is a bit of an emotional roller-coaster. I saw at least two people crying.

As you would expect, some objects are paired with sagas of great loss, some with tragic stories of young love, but some of the objects and stories have a slightly creepier, darker side to them. The main space in which the exhibition is held is dark and warm, with the objects displayed all around you - most on fabric-covered lit-up boxes but some are hanging from the ceiling above you, which just adds to the odd atmosphere. It's not an uncomfortable feeling exactly, but somehow you feel as though you shouldn't really be seeing this stuff and, of course, it's the most personal stories that create the weird sense of voyeurism.

Sharing the space with these objects and their stories are a series of large, intricate hand-cut papercuts by Alice Bray. The combination is very effective - the delicateness and fragility of the paper creations complements the delicateness and fragility of human emotion.

It's incredibly profound that despite the range of items, from the mundane to the lavish to the ludicrous to the plain odd, despite the lengths of the relationships, despite the country of origin, despite the value of the objects, they all manage to represent such similar personal stories and remnants of a broken relationship.

The Museum was originally created in Croatia by Olinka Vištica and Dražen Grubiši, and although it has a permanent home in Zagreb, has travelled all over the world.

This is the first time the exhibition has come to London and it is currently spread across two venues in Covent Garden - Tristan Bates Theatre and 38 Earlham Street.

The Museum of Broken Relationships is open until 4th September - for more information see the gallery info here.

afternoon tea - Swedish style!

Earlier today I had the pleasure of taking high tea with my friend Sarah of Fingers and Toes - a blog largely about cooking and knitting. This was to be no ordinary high tea though, this was high tea - Swedish Style!

Sarah had very kindly invited me to join her at a pop-up Fika parlour in central London which had been organised by Visit Sweden to promote the area of Skåne in Southern Sweden.

We turned up at 12:30 (in the rain, good ol' Britain) to find that Soho Square had been transformed into a little picnic area, surrounded by a white picket fence, with a large white marquee at one end. Under the marquee there were some handsomely-table-clothed picnic benches, at which we we were invited to sit. We were given a special blend of coffee (courtesy of Swedish roasters Löfbergs Lila) before being brought a beautiful cake stand full of tiny Swedish biscuity treats.

{image source}

The lovely serving ladies, in traditional Swedish dress, told us the history of Fika as we sampled some of the delicacies. The term Fika comes from the Swedish word for coffee, fik. In the early 19th Century, coffee was banned in Sweden because it was too much of a stimulant. This ban was lifted in 1822 and since then it was was even more important to take part in Fika, literally meaning 'coffee break'. Small biscuits were soon added to the tradition, and because the ingredients for biscuits were still so expensive at the time, the larger the selection of biscuits you could offer your guests, the more wealthy you would be thought. There was a lot of competition between hostesses, but the custom is to serve 7 different types of biscuits with your coffee.

The 7 types of biscuits we enjoyed today were made by Jan Hedh, the famous Swedish chocolatier and patissier, in his bakery in Malmö, in the southernmost province of Skåne. His own favourite of the biscuits we were served is the 'vaniljdiamant' (Vanilla Diamond), for which his recipe can be found here. Other Swedish favourites are 'kolabröd', a crispy toffee biscuit, for which a recipe can be found here, and 'havrekakor med russin', oatmeal and raisin cookies, for which a recipe can be found here.

If you're interested in sampling some Scandinavian treats for yourselves, check these out...

Nordic Bakery

Scandinavian Kitchen

Fika

West London Adventure

Since it's almost the end of the summer holidays I decided to go and have a bit of a play about in West London with Miss Susie the other day. We caught the overground train in North East London and whizzed all the way to West London, all without going underground even once. Our destination was Shepherd's Bush - the fabric shops there are legendary and we deserved a bit of a treat.

We started our adventure in Westfield shopping centre, as it is right next to the station and Susie had never been there before. I should have remembered it was full of toy shops - oh dear, not the safest place to start for two silly girls who loved playing with silly toys. It didn't take long to find something incredible, check it out:

It's a kitty with troll hair! KITTY TROLL! There is also a monkey and a puppy in the pack - plus a little brush so you can brush.their.hair. Wonderful! I had to have it, and I'm sure you can see why, non? As well as that, I got some Ocean In My Pocket (I know right, how did I not know these existed until now?) because the little jellyfish, clam, seahorse and their other ocean friends were flocked. Yep, a flocked jellyfish. How could the day possibly improve?

...other than with ice creams and a wander down to the market...

We slowly walked through Shepherd's Bush market in order to take in all the pretty things. I love that it's the kind of market where the stallholders are friendly and welcoming and not offended if you don't buy anything. I always feel a bit guilty walking around looking at all the stock and then leaving without making a purchase, but the guys in these stalls were completely OK with us just looking. The lack of pressure from them didn't stop us from buying all the pretty things though - beads, ribbons, pom-poms, fabric and fancy trimmings. Although I spent *cough*waytoomuch*cough* I'll just show you my two favourite purchases of the day:

The chevron-y ribbon is glittery and lovely and all good.

The Venetian mask fabric might give me nightmares, but I had to have it - just look at it! If anyone fancies something beautifully hideous made out of it, do let me know - I bought rather a lot of it in my excitement.

By the end of the day I was a very tired bear and when I arrived home I didn't have the energy to part Yoyo from my new purchases. Looks like she'll be keeping the pretty yellow polka dot fabric then. No cushions for me.

return to London

Pulling into King's Cross station you wouldn't have known anything was wrong in London. Even when I was walking home from my local tube station in South Tottenham, there were no signs of the devastating riots that had taken place only days before.

As I had been in Edinburgh for the weekend I was unaware of what was going on back home, until I started receiving text messages from concerned friends asking if I was OK. I told them that yes, of course I was OK, why wouldn't I be? And it was only then that I discovered what had been happening in my neighbourhood, only a mile or so from where I lived. Naturally, my first concern was Yoyo, who was being looked after at home by a neighbour, and almost an entire evening was ruined worrying (unnecessarily, thank goodness) about her and the neighbours. Some friends in my apartment block assured me she was fine, and that our road hadn't been under attack at all.

In the Wikipedia and Facebook updates I started receiving, it became evident just how much went on over the three days of rioting and looting, and as soon as I heard any areas of London reporting any incidents I was straight in contact with anyone I knew who lived nearby. Thankfully they were all OK. I was especially worried about my friend Maria who is a Community Support Officer in Croydon, where I had heard many of the fires were. She was on patrol on one of the worst evenings, but she wasn't involved with any of the incidents that were reported.

While I was away I heard from a great deal of friends I had not heard from for some time, asking if I was safe and offering to put me up if I wanted to leave the area for a couple of days. Although sad that I hadn't heard from them in so long, I was touched that they had contacted me and offered support during such a difficult time, which would have been a million times scarier had I actually been in London.

After all the stories of riots, vandalism, arson and looting we also heard the reports of communities rallying round defending their neighbourhoods and it made me proud to be part of my little community. Had anything happened closer to us than it had, and thank goodness it didn't, but if it had, I have no doubt that my neighbours, the local people and business-owners in our little area of West Green would have fully supported each other. It's been 5 years since I moved here, and a lot has changed in that time, but I feel more close to the local community now than I ever have.

The entire weekend has been horrific and utterly awful, but it is encouraging to see that community spirit is alive and well in the capital, as well as elsewhere in the country, and that so many people are willing to give up their own time in order to help clean up the devastated areas, and donate items to some of those who have lost their livelihoods.

Riot Clean-Up

Post Riot Clean Up

Riot Wombles

#riotwombles

#riotcleanup

an overdue re-acquaintance

We met on Argyle Street in the rain, and amongst the sea of dull black umbrellas I could spy S's red tartan one a mile off.

My red umbrella by Annette Mangseth

Down Carnaby Street we trundled, avoiding the puddles and the hordes of tourists who looked as though they were thoroughly enjoying the unpredictable British weather, until we reached our destination: Patisserie Valerie. Assuming it would be packed full of people escaping the rain, we were pleasantly surprised when we had a selection of tables to choose from, and decided upon one in the centre, strategically facing away from the gateaux.

Unfortunately, due to our various ailments, neither of us could investigate the delectable-looking cakes, so we satisfied ourselves with more sensible options - quiche for the lady and scrambled eggs for me. Sitting in our damp clothes, with rolled-up trouser legs and wet umbrellas at our feet, we had a proper catch up. It felt completely natural and easy chatting away, relaying all the events of the year so far, despite the time we'd spent apart. It's pretty incredible when you can be so far away from someone for so long, and yet still click right back into place when you do finally see them again. It was lovely, and we both felt comfortable in the situation (which is weird since we both find social interaction a little difficult), and it made me feel a lot better about all this stuff.

octobuddies print by Annie Bach

Our hunger satisfied, we walked back towards Liberty, stopping by the boutiques in Kingly Court (finding it something of a challenge walking past Candy Cakes without going inside for a closer inspection) and the splendidly colourful and alluring shops on Carnaby Street.

In all my years of living in London, I'd never actually been to Liberty until today - the Mock Tudor façade seemed a little too opulent for my simple tastes - but had I known earlier that the store was partly built using timber from two ships (HMS Impregnable and HMS Hindustan in case you were wondering) I would probably have gone there long ago! Back in April there was a television programme about Liberty on BBC2 in which a bunch of designers, some stereotypically comical and eccentric, attempted to sell their work to the Liberty buying team. The show didn't necessarily portray the buyers terribly well, but since watching it I have been hoping for a chance to glimpse inside the lush interior. I was not disappointed. The stationery room alone was enough to make me a very happy girl indeed. But then, stationery is somewhat an obsession of mine.

We left the temptation of the store after having had a nice long browse, and after adding many of the items we'd seen to our mental Christmas Lists (it's not too early to start thinking about Christmas, right?). Unsure of where we actually wanted to go, we just walked and talked and all of a sudden found ourselves at Piccadilly Circus. As neither of us are keen on large groups of people we removed ourselves from there with haste and nearly got driven into by a motorcyclist outside Trafalgar Square station. Clinging to each other in alarm we decided it was high time we had some more tea.

The day went ever so quickly, as days of re-familiarisation often do, but I'm so glad that we did it - it had been way too long. Instead of keeping people away, it's even more important at the moment that I get back to the place where I used to be. It's friends like those, who even after months apart are the ones who you feel most comfortable with, who are the ones you need to keep around.

Just in case you're reading this, I thought I should let you know:

letterpress print by SweetDee

covered in beeeeeeeeeeeees!

It must have been a very proud moment for my mother when at the tender age of 4 her daughter declared that she was going to be an artist and a beekeeper, and that was how she was going to make enough money to one day buy her a canal boat. Ah, the dreams of children are so delightfully naive!

The "being an artist" thing has continued into adulthood, and though I'm not quite there, I'm not doing too badly. The bee thing only lasted a couple of years, but has recently returned...

Living in London, I figured that keeping bees was probably not the easiest thing to do. I have been researching the possibilities of doing such a thing, however, and discovered that not only is "urban beekeeping" flourishing in the capital, but London bees produces the most super delicious yummy honey ever. I was concerned that perhaps London honey might be a bit icky from all the pollution and car fumes and stuff, but apparently it is wonderful: there's a chap named Steve Benbow who has hives on top of Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly, and jars of his honey sell for £13 a pop! It must be good!

Much as my neighbours and I would l.o.v.e. to have a couple of hives atop our studio building, I don't think our landlord would share our enthusiasm. I'm pretty sure that even the promise of free honey wouldn't change his mind. Looks like I'll have to just adopt a beehive for now then, and my long-held dreams of being a beekeeper may have to be postponed until I have a home with a garden.

But you don't think something as insignificant as that would put an end to my current bee obsession do you?? No way! Look at all these beeeeeeee-y things I found...

click on the image to be taken to the treasury on Etsy

Oh, and on one final buzzy note...

teeeeeheeeeeeeheeeeee!

London souvenir swap - wanna play?

One of the most fun games when you live in London is pretending to be a tourist. It's one the greatest pleasures in life, and despite having lived here for years it never fails to amuse and entertain me. Don't get me wrong - I never play the game to mock people or to upset people, I just love the idea of being a tourist in the city in which I grew up. Plus I LOVE souvenirs.

I doubt many people would agree with me, particularly Londoners, but there is something gloriously wonderful about the tiny, tacky, kitsch-filled shops that line the south end of Oxford Street, and I just can't get enough of them. In the first few years I was here I tried my hardest to avoid these shops and the hordes of tourists that frequent them, but lately I have been sucked-in and just can't keep away. I blame the Royal Wedding. Disappointingly, after spending hours ages in these shops I have still not found a Will and Kate snowglobe. Perhaps I should just make one myself (but that's another project for another day).

Since taking part in the tacky souvenir swap with Kam from Campfire Chic, I have been spending more time than is healthy looking for wonderfully hideous London-y stuff. I was recently asked to take part in another souvenir swap, so what better excuse to head to the centre and peruse the shops y.e.t.a.g.a.i.n. I'm sure they're going to start recognising me soon.

I arrived at Marble Arch bright and early in order to miss the midday swarm of tourists. The shops were only just opening up, but having been there so many times I knew exactly what I was looking for so it didn't take long to whiz around the store picking up trinkets. By the time the whirlwind of glitter I had left in my wake had died down, I was already onto the next shop.

So it went for quite some time, and after purchasing almost everything on my list I decided that what I really needed was a heart-shaped magnet of Will and Kate. It's not like it's a problem... I could control my obsession if I wanted to...

No pics of the other goodies yet, but I'll post pics when they have all been sent off!

If you aren't in London and would like some hideous tackiness, do let me know and I'll see what I can find :)

making friends at the international alternative press festival

I accidentally spent £40 at the International Alternative Press Festival on Saturday.

There were so many unique, interesting and generally awesome comics/zines/books/publications/original artworks/oddities, I could have easily spent a lot more. Plus it was the day after payday, so how could I possibly have resisted all that nice new money in my bank account?! And it wasn't wasted, I got masses of stuff...

...and had lots of lovely chats with various lovely people. I have a list of email addresses of people I said I would email and blogs I said I would check out, so I shall be doing a lot of that this week. What an excellent way to spend a week off work!

I was accompanied by my first-born cousin, though it was actually her suggestion so perhaps I was her chaperone? Either way, it was a mighty splendid affair and we had a great time making friends, getting inspired and eating falafel.

As always after this type of event/experience, I am feeling all energised and enthusiastic and motivated and can't believe I have never thought of writing/drawing a zine before now! Perhaps that can be a monthly project some time later in the year... and it shall be about Eurovision or unicorns or lemurs or snowstorms or dinosaurs. Or maybe a mixture of all of the above.

BTW if you're in London and interested in what else is going on this week, check out the Alternative Press calendar and takeover. Oh, and there's a zine sleepover on Thursday 2nd June...

a splendid royal wedding

The Royal Wedding this morning was soooooooooo good!

- the dress was stylish and elegant;

- the service was beautiful;

- the cake was awesome (chocolate biscuit cake no less!);

- the bride and groom looked so utterly happy!

I spent the day with my granny and my cousin, and watched the entire thing from 9am until 8pm! We discussed the ridiculous headwear of some of the guests, sat in excited silence through the main ceremony, and "ooh"-ed and "aah"-ed in all the right places.

We ate cucumber sandwiches (on white bread, natch), scones with cream and jam, strawberries and cupcakes, and drank Will and Kate tea: a good ol' proper English tea party!

Afterwards, we drank Cava and toasted the happy couple when they kissed on the balcony (twice!) - it was all incredibly splendid!

Did any of you watch it? What did you think?