18, 19, 20 and invisble 21 in London!

Warning!  Picture heavy post!  Although, why I should be warning you is unclear to me.  If you're here, you're obviously here to look at something, so it may as well be the pictures since according to my employers people go straight for the snaps and only read the first three paragraphs of anything.  So.  If you're only going to be reading the first three paragraphs of this, I hope you enjoy unfinished narrative.  Let's try again:  Warning!  More than three paragraphs of words.

The weekend found me in London where I managed to meet my mother and have the best time.  As those of you who've been following know, I greatly miss home and it was great to have a little (Chinese) ray of Singaporean sunshine with me.  I've decided to divide this post into several sections just to make it easier reading (and writing), so bear with me.


Outfits:

18

Knit top and skirt - Primark.  Tights - M and S.

Face - nowhere to be found, or surrounded by soggy, just-washed hair.

I travelled in this simple, comfortable ensemble.  I have to tell you guys, I'm going to be delighted when 30 for 30 ends, simply because I'm ready to wear some new stuff.  It feels like I'm living out of a very large suitcase, even though I have to admit, it's teaching me lots of things.  But who cares about teaching right now.  More about that next time.

19

Spotty top and Rugby stripes - Primark.  Black tights - Cotton On.

Shoes - Shu Time.  Bag - Lesportsac.  Earmuffs - Accessories.

I know this looks a little crazy, but I liked it.  So sue me.  I'm bringing mixing prints to an all time high!  The old man in the background clearly approves.  My mother took this picture, bee-tee-double-you.

20

Dress - Spitalfields.  Cardigan - Tesco.  

Belt - New Look.  Tights - Marks and Sparks.

 

21

Nil pictures, because once again, boring to the point of a coma.  Gold knit top, denim shorts and purple tights.  If it sounds like a repeat of outfit 10, that's because it was.  That's one problem with doing 30 x 30 while travelling, it's like a suitcase within a suitcase.

I usually like to change my jewellery up madly each day, but for the purpose of packing light, I wore the same ensemble daily - my Swarovski starfish pendant and plain silver hoops.

Food:

I've said before that this isn't a food blog, but I've had some of the most marvellous food in London, from really tasty stuff my relatives cooked, to things my mom and I went out to eat.  I had my first proper Chinese meal in months, and a beautiful lemon meringue cupcake from Hummingbird in Soho.

If you love cupcakes and have never been to Hummingbird, I'd highly recommend it.  They do, if you're lucky, a peanut butter and chocolate cupcake that had me writhing on the floor.

Explorations:

My mom was particularly excited about checking out Portobello Road, so I went with her (even though I'm on a shopping ban thanks to 30x30) and we had a lovely time.  There were shops before we even reached the market that were selling amazing vintage branded costume jewellery (try to digest that if you can) and the market itself, rife with antique knick knacks and jewellery is a lot of fun to browse.

Oh, and get a load of the beautiful colour-blocked houses along the roadside!

The other place I went exploring was Derren Brown's exhibit at the Rebecca Hossack gallery.  If you have the slightest interest in Derren Brown, you may like to know that he paints, and bloody well too.  I'd been following his paintings on twitter for some time (he posts pictures of the paintings in progress and it's amazing work) and was thrilled when I found out he was going to be showing in London when I was there!

I took down the gallery address and trooped down very excitedly, got lost a couple of times and then found it.  Glory be!  It was like looking at old friends because I felt almost as if I'd watched him paint them.  We had even seen (on twitter) a version of the self-portrait with a parrot on his head that eventually got scrapped.  So it was just great to see the paintings in person and be able to take in every delicate little brushstroke and the creamy canvas.

Derren painted Rufus.  When I first saw this, I just about died and went to heaven.  It's like my two favourite people in the world got together and had babies.  (Technically, they might be inclined to.)

Beautiful self-portrait - check out the detail on it!  He is usually so good-looking, dapper and mischievous that I like this introspection quite a bit.

His parents.  I can only draw stick figures of mine, but the dad has a lovely head of curly hair.

Judi Effin' Dench.  I love her.  LOVE.

The man with no name.

A fangirl. 

I was so excited to be there (and a little bit shy) that I took a secret portrait of myself with Dame Judi.  I really really wanted to take my own picture next to Derren but I was terrified of the curator (who was actually very very nice but looked too expensive for me, if you know what I mean) and the thought of her laughing at me as I stood in front of D's portrait deterred me.  In fact, I was so scared she would engage me in conversation about the pieces that I RAN AWAY.  Read that again and *facepalm*, please.

 She had already started asking the other visitors and I was worried I would have nothing interesting to say apart from a horrid, loud, gushy, "I love Derren!  I want to marry him!  Would you introduce us please???!!!111".  And when the artsy pony-tailed guy she'd asked replied in a completely nonchalant way, "I don't even know this dude.  What does he do again?" and looked round coolly at the paintings, I made a painful inner squeal and bolted for the door.

Shopping

I know.  I KNOW.  I'm not meant to be shopping because of 30x30 but the way I see it:

a)  It doesn't count if someone else pays
b)  Pajamas don't count.

Who's with me ladies?  Am I right or am I right?

I have been lusting after David and Goliath pajamas ever since I first saw them on New Year's Eve.  If you don't know the shop, you can check out their website here.  They make the cutest printed pajamas and tees and Dhany got some the last time he was up.

My mother made me a present of some money and so I decided to get myself a couple of jammies because I just LOVE anything with a cute print on it, and I'm really excited about wearing these to bed, ludicrous as it sounds. 

For starters, they are very expensive.  If you are not the kind of person who is willing to shell out for PJs, skip it.  The pants are £25 alone.  But, if you are like me, and you don't mind dropping a little extra for some special sleepytime goodies, then by all means, go for it!

 I took pictures of a couple of prints that were in the shop, and debated for a long time which ones to get.  I was particularly enamoured with the PB and J print obviously, but didn't think the colour was as cute.  I finally settled on these two designs:

What do you think?  Cutest jammies ever or what?  I especially like the double elastic at the waist because my $10 Cotton On ones are all stretched out and bleh, so I hope these ones hold out well and prove to be worth the price because I have my eyes set on a whole new set the next time I go! 

PS  I am the short pencil, obvs.

Okay, I think that's all I can do right now, even though I have to warn you that I also did an immense Lush haul in Covent Garden.  However, as I would rather this post did not become the size of the Rig Veda, I'll leave you to enjoy it for now, with the promise of a beautiful Lush haul and review of a couple of things on the horizon.

Thanks for reading guys, it makes me so, so happy to know that you do and I like to know even more that you enjoyed it.

Pip pip!