I’ve Moved!

Hello!!!

If you’re reading this post then please know – I’ve moved! I’ve taken the plunge and moved to self-hosting! This means that if you follow me via the wordpress reader, or via e-mail, you’ll need to re-subscribe over at www.tapeparade.com to keep up with me. You can keep up with my blog via Facebook, Twitter, Bloglovin, Feedly and e-mail subscription via my new site, so hopefully there’ll be some way we can keep in touch. The subscription options are all in the left sidebar!

 

Thanks for sticking with me, and see you over there! :) x

A Brunch.

 

Work With Me!

Hello! I’ve decided to offer advertising on this here blog. Below you can find my stats and what kind of advertising I’m offering. 

Hey, Let’s Go For Brunch!

A  LONDON MEET-UP

Hola comrades, this is just a quick little post to tell you I am organising a tiny little meet-up in a few weeks time! I previously “organised” a meet-up for some of us London #TheGirlGang members and it was quite fun (Emily thought so too). You don’t need to be a girl or a blogger to come but it kind of worked out that way before…

On Being A “Bad” Blogger

Hey Laila, author of this blog!

LEIA: You Are What You Write

I feel like this week in particular there have been a number of problematic posts and comments flying around that present a lot of backwards, harmful and upsetting views. Everytime this gets pointed out there is an inevitable backlash from the author, normally along the lines of “Why are you getting so crazy at me?”, “I meant it as a joke, everyone knows that” or “lol you need to chill out”. This is wrong, damaging and irresponsible. Failing to acknowledge the problem is avoiding accountability for your words.

Valentine’s Day + Give-Away!

I’m reviving my old “Laila Likes” series which died an unceremonious death about a year ago… essentially it’s just a list of things I like! I wanted to share a few things on a vague Valentine’s theme as I bloody love Valentine’s Day. I’ve also got a little giveaway because I love you too!

I think love can be so complex and to me it’s often confusing, but also thrilling and exciting. Why not have a day once a year where you can celebrate the simpler side of things? And on a practical level, what better excuse to spend a night in writing songs about all the boys you’ve met and daydreaming about Domhnall Gleeson?

HEELS

Heels are the one item of clothing I struggle to buy vintage as I have HUGE feet. These new beauties were just £12 from Office (still available!) and they’re very high, but so are all my high heels. It’s like everything in life – I don’t mess around, so if I’m going to wear heels I want the highest I can find!

LOVE POETRY

I am a voracious reader and I have a huge soft spot for love poetry. John Keats is my favourite of favourites (as I’ve discussed before) and this very well-thumbed collection of his best poetry is constantly by my bed for any required reading. The poems veer from his incredibly smutty teenage output (sample quote: “Ye tight little fairy, just fresh from the dairy; will ye give me some cream if I ask it?”) to his oft-quoted heart-wrenching later output when separated from Fanny.

CHOCOLATES

Valentines cliche alert. Lindt were kind enough to send me this box and to be honest, chocolate doesn’t get much better then these heavenly mouthfuls. I’m sure we’re all familiar with the chocolate Lindt bunnies; why not go for something a bit more grown-up for Valentines Day?

VINTAGE LINGERIE

I only shop vintage or secondhand with all my clothes, but I have a particular weakness for snatching up vintage nightwear. I rarely wear them to sleep in, instead preferring to waft around rehearsals and soundcheck in dressing gowns, because they’re comfy and why the hell not. The red dressing gown I’m wearing in these photos is my absolute favourite!

ELDERFLOWER GIN

Physical relationships are all well and good, but I’d like to know what relationship can really be more fulfilling then that of a girl and her gin? I make the best G&Ts in North London (YEARS of practise) and the recent discovery of elderflower gin has been a treat.

GIVE-AWAY

I’ve got a beautiful vintage 60s nightie to giveaway and IT COULD BE YOURS! I’ve also got a copy of John Keats love poems and some chocolates too (you’ll have to source your own gin). The nightie is lilac with pink tie straps, so it will fit a range of sizes from roughly 6-16 (measurements below). My apologies if you don’t wear nighties or if these sizes do not work for you; I hope to have some more giveaways in the future! This is my first one ever and I think poetry plus vintage nighties is about as TAPE PARADE as it gets.

---

 

TO ENTER:

1. Make sure you’re following on Bloglovin, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Soundcloud etc – each platform follow counts as one entry.

2. Either RT the below tweet, or do your own tweet about the giveaway (with me tagged and this post linked) for an additional entry.

3. Leave a comment below saying where you’re following/how many entries. That’s it!

Give-away is open for a week and is open internationally (although please note if you’re not in the UK I can’t include chocolate… add that to the shopping list with the gin…) – I’ll announce the winner next Thursday evening and all being well you should receive your prize in time for V-Day :)!

Valentines Day likes PLUS A GIVE-AWAY!!!!! https://t.co/GMATy6uhSD pic.twitter.com/BBuJfwMPJG

— Laila ✨❕ (@tapeparade) February 4, 2016

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

 

London #TheGirlGang Meet!

Hi guys! This is just a quick post – if you haven’t heard about #thegirlgang yet then check it out! The Girl Gang was set up by my dear friend Jemma from Dorkface and is such a brilliant and supportive community. A few of us Londoners thought it might be fun to have a little meet-up – so this is just a quick post to invite you!

We’ll be meeting this Saturday at 12pm at Barnyard London for brunch, then wandering down to the Photographers Gallery for around 2pm. After that, who knows! It’s not a big official event with goody bags or anything, but I hope it will be fun and everyone’s welcome. I can’t wait to meet some of you!!

I would ask if you’re coming for the brunch part then please could you let me know in advance as we need to give numbers for the table :)