Good Things.................

 

This image found on Pinterest is fueling both Nicci and I at the moment. We are in midst of developing some (hopefully) exciting plans and this sentiment is giving us the get up and go we need to get started!

Lucy

xx

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It's my birthday this week (on Thursday) and for some reason I'm not feeling all that birthdayesque. I'm a massive fan of birthdays and normally get very excited about my own and others.

As I will be over half way through my twenties and definitely should be slightly more grown up than I am now, I'm doing a very bloggery thing and setting 6 goals for my year of being 26.

1. I want to make a quilt, a proper one that can be treasured and handed down to any future children I may be lucky to have. Does anyone have any quilting tips?

2. Carrying on with the crafting theme, I want to make a piece of clothing, possibly a dress? I have made various cushions etc but never a piece of clothing. I have a whole stack of vintage clothing patterns and I am determined to use one of them to make something for me to wear.

3. I hope that this is the year I make a few good strides in my career. I am currently at a bit of an impasse  when it comes to work (I work at a dance charity) and I want to decide exactly what course it should take.

4. I want to aim to reduce how much I buy from the high street and other 'first hand places'. I love secondhand, charity and vintage shopping and I already don't spend too much on the high street but I want to aim to consciously keep this to a minimum.

5. Eat well! I go through phases of eating well but I want to aim to make this a constant thing. Damn you chocolate and cake! (I am in no way going to stop eating these items, just make it less regular!)

6. Be tidy. I am not the tidiest of people and when I was younger I just assumed one day I would grow up into a tidy adult. Whilst I have grown into an adult, I am definitely lacking in the tidy stakes. Luckily for me I live with a very lovely tidy man who tends to tidy up my messes. We have a housework split (I do all the cooking and he does all the cleaning) but I need to make sure I put my clothes away, tidy my life crap and keep things organised!

Hopefully these aims will help me to have an awesome year of being 26 and will make turning 27 next year a lot more fun!

Let me know if you have any advice on my goals and is there anything you're hoping to achieve this year?

Lucy

xx

For Freya, just because

Just how perfect is this picture? Freya is the biggest Elvis fan we know, so when this picture popped up on our Pinterest feed we knew we had to share it for her, and you guys too of course. Enjoy!

Nicci and Lucy

Xxx

 

Recent Reads

I don't know about you but I always have to have a book on the go, it certainly livens up the tube ride to work and helps me to relax in bed at the end of the day. Here are a few of our  most recent reads...

Grace: A Memoir by Grace Coddington.
I have already blogged a little about this book here. The memoir is really well written and it's interspersed with illustrations by the author which are beautifully whimsical. If you have an interest in Fashion and or Vogue then this is a must read for you.

On the advice of Nicci I read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte.
I am already a fan of the other Bronte's sisters books, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre are two of my favourite books of all time. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall has all the hallmarks of a Bronte sister book, scandal, drama and a very strong central woman character. It is an excellent read and it made me miss my tube stops which is a mark of an excellent book!
Lucy
xxx

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The Diary of a Provincial Lady.
Now I freely admit that I bought this book entirely based on it's oh so very pretty cover! But admit it, so would you? However I was most pleasantly surprised to find it entirely captivating and almost impossible to put down. Even though it was first published in 1933, and the main character is a married mother of two, I found myself really relating to a lot of the situations she gets herself into. This is one of those books that I know I'll come back to time and again.
Nicci
xxx

Inspirational Lady- Lauren bacall

A while ago while back at home, I found this unassuming looking book lurking at the bottom of one of my mum's moving boxes. I decided to start reading it thinking it would at least pass some time if nothing else, and became totally enthralled by Lauren bacall's life story and her love affair with Humphrey Boggart.

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The book is full of tales of old Hollywood glamour and has an escapist quality I love in a book, but it also has a gritty realness to it and covers all the good and the bad  of Bacall's life. This is a well written and captivating autobiography that I would highly recommend to anyone, even if you're not a huge fan of Lauren Bacall you will be after reading this.

Nicci
xx

Inspirational Lady - Grace Coddington

I am currently reading Grace: A Memoir and I am slowly falling in love with Grace Coddington. I was already fan of hers from watching the September Issue and reading various interviews. She is proving to be a good old read.

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And as you can imagine from the Creative Director of American Vogue, the book is lovely to look at as well!

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 Also I think I'm being brainwashed into liking orange more and wishing I had ginger hair...........


Lucy

xx

Some Books I Read

When I was little, you could not get my head out of a book. I would often not hear people talking to me, I would bring books to the table at meals, and I would take them out and about with me - even if I wasn’t going to get a chance to read it I had to have it with me, just in case. I think reading for study can take the pleasure out of reading a bit, and since finishing my MA this summer I have rediscovered that joy and total absorption I had when I was wee. So I thought I would share with you some of the books that have won my heart. I don’t claim to be any kind of expert, so these are just the opinions of one former bookworm.

When I saw the film trailer for Life of Pi this autumn, my first thought was, well that looks absolutely wonderful, my second was hmm think I’m a tad behind the rest of the world. If a film is being made of a book you have bought but haven’t read, you probably need to bump it up the list. So I did, and I see why they went with the film. I felt so uplifted and so saddened by that story of pure survival. The storytelling and imagery were just wonderful. It does still make me a little blue thinking about it now though. Not sure if they’ve thought this big epic 3D movie through...although the Oscar nominations seem to prove me wrong!

Before that, I played catch up in an entirely different way, reading Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre in quick succession, two of those books that so many people talk about (and Kate Bush sings about) but I still just hadn’t found the time to read. Both are brilliant and frustrating and heart breaking. I disliked pretty much every character in Wuthering Heights, but could not stop reading just hoping and waiting for the tiny flicker of hope you get at the end. And is it wrong that Mr Rochester is in some ways me dream man? Jane Eyre is my new hero, just plodding through a hard life but with such wisdom and sense of self. I am now planning a trip to the Bronte country to see if I can’t find a brooding chap hanging about, and if that fails hopefully some inspiration for genius. 

And also look at the cool dudes adorning my book mark.....

Freya

xxx