Indian Ocean

1st photo. Bandana, shorts, vest top – all boys and belonging to housemate. Shirt – £13, Beyond Retro.

3rd-5th photos. T-Shirt – $5, Buffalo Vintage, Portland, Oregon. Skirt – £10, Amy Winehouse Foundation pop-up shop.

I feel like every time I go to the sea it’s obligatory to document it. These beachside outfit photos are nothing compared to last time I was in Mauritius but without my trusty photography steed (James) or any adequate packing time I had a random assortment of both clothes and photos to go through.

I’m normally straight into the sea and swimming around with the fishes in Mauritius, and this is the first time I can remember NOT swimming out into the sea. The beach was lined with volcanic rock; the huge, porous black rocks you can see in these photos. Volcanic rock is my favourite rock to have by the sea; they are smooth and often flat on top, they hold onto the suns warmth (perfect seats) and also dry out quickly. British rockpools tend to be jagged-edged slippery deathtraps in comparison..!

I was astounded by the amount of different animals living between the rocks. As we all know by now, I’m obsessed with animals so I was in my element exploring. The sandy floor was lined with sea cucumbers, sea urchins, seahorses, baby flying fish, mudskippers, anemones, sea slugs, baby octopi and starfish. And this is all packed into a space of a couple metres! The main reason I didn’t want to wade out into the sea to swim was because I was terrified of destructing a whole ecosystem with my giant human feet, or worse, destructing my giant human feet on the backs of the spiny sea urchins. Instead I spent hours clambering amongst the rocks, taking time to observe and trying not to disturb.

Autumn in Mauritius

September and October aren’t normally the times of year I set off for the Mauritian sunshine but that’s how it happened this year. It was slightly odd digging through my jumpers and winter dresses to find all of my recently packed away summer clothes; coupled with our last-minute booking I had some bizarrely mismatched outfits in Mauritius that I would have never thrown on in London. But then again, it’s holiday: time to live in the moment and just go with it…

This is a slightly random assortment of photos, I’ve already told you why I was there and my thoughts so as you might expect documenting the trip and everything we saw wasn’t really first priority for me this time around. I’ve written a lot about Mauritius before (LINK SPEW), it’s a pretty amazing country with lots of tiny islands to explore and a crazy geographical range; mountains, rainforest, woodland, beach and city. People often describe Mauritius as paradise; I’m completely biased of course but I definitely agree, aside from the natural beauty of the landscape (JUST LOOK AT THE VIEW FROM OUR FLAT IN THE TOP PHOTO) it’s got an endearing charm all it’s own amongst the welcoming people and ramshackle little towns. All in a country smaller than London!

We stayed in a flat near to Port Louis (which I’ve posted about before here), the capital of Mauritius and home to a lot of my family as well as some of the most evocative buildings I think I’ve ever seen. The colourful, slightly dilapidated constructions always stick in my mind when I’m back in the UK. Last time I was in Mauritius James and I stayed in a super-fancy hotel (post here) so it was a totally different experience this time sharing a flat with my Mum and Dad, especially as it’s been about 8 years since I last shared a house with my parents/spent longer than a couple of days with them. Again, it’s holiday, time to just go with it…

Artemis in Chinatown

I have to confess, I have no idea what’s going on in these pictures. I mean, I know that James took these hilariously candid photos – angles, much? – and so much for that coveted full-body shot,James has obviously had enough after 2 years of diligent photography. We were clearly in Chinatown, but why were we there and when was this? The last few weeks all blur into one summer holiday style blur of no schedule, endless evenings and sunshine. I’ve recently completed slam-dunked myself in the relationships department as well and that’s involved a lot of gin, songwriting at 3 in the morning and feeling like a twat (without sounding arrogant, that’s pretty rare for me), so I’ve been all over the place.

ANYWAY, I wanted solely to show off my Artemis t-shirt (completely inspired by Winnie).  I am a massive Sailor Moon fan and have been contemplating a post showing off all my Sailor Moon stuff. The sleeves are long and it’s very high but I wear it defiantly anyway: ill-fitting, poorly-styled Artemis is better than no Artemis at all. This skirt is from a thrift shop in Portland last summer during my big America trip. I was wearing it on the plane ride where I met a man I ended up proposing to a few weeks later in New York (since immortalised in song). I’ve talked before about associating all my clothes with people I met or spent time with when wearing them – it’s nice that sometimes the clothes live on after the people. When threads endure…

Greaser

These photos mostly serve to show you my Lazy Oaf greaser dress (£10 in one of their amazing sample sales) which features a pattern of records, bequiffed dogs, hair grease and a PAIR OF SHOES I OWN. That’s right, a pattern of fictitious objects designed to emulate a certain mood actually contained a PHYSICAL ITEM I OWN. I was struggling to find two-tone brogues that were vegan, so I bought a black pair and just painted certain sections white. The result wasn’t particularly neat but I like them anyway.

Recently I’ve been getting really into brogues; they started being fashionable in about 2007 but it’s only since 2011 or so that I’ve liked them (recently in Lailalanguage). I’m mostly influenced by the men in my life; James, Danilo, my Dad and at least half of Quizcats have all been known to rock a brogue. I’ve got massive feet anyway and have been borrowing shoes off my male friends all my life (James and I are exactly the same size). I wish there were more vegan brogues out there! I think in general what I wear is far more influenced by the boys I know rather than the girls – that might sound weird as I wear a lot of skirts and dresses but boys always seem more put together and smart than girls to me, I think there’s less room for error because they have less options. Who influences your style?

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Kate Bush

Last Tuesday I was sat in Hammersmith Apollo watching my favourite living female artist on stage. After a 35 year stage hiatus, Kate is back. Kate Bush represents so many things to me. An artist who isn’t afraid of books, history and academia as song topics. An artist who makes uncompromising visuals to accompany her art. An artist unafraid of seeming a bit weird. An artist who embraces her voice and her instrument, however unorthodox soprano and piano may be. A woman who embraces being a woman in a mans world. A woman who doesn’t get her kit off but instead sings about sex in an intimate, adult way. She just represents so much to me that I’d like to one day represent to somebody else; the music we make is very different but I feel a sense of kinship with her story-telling, her looping vocals, her layered music, her piano-playing and her poetic lyrics.

I’ve long been dancing around my room (and later on stage) to the songs of “Auntie Kate” so naturally snapped up tickets to Before The Dawn – I’m going to a further 2 concerts of the run including the closing night! I took along my two favourite people and wore all my favourite clothes. It was amazing. Thank you Auntie Kate, and see you again soon.

Due to the no video and photo message Kate posted I’m offering you a video of myself performing Kate instead!

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Temple Square

Temple Square is a huge complex in Salt Lake City where most of the headquarters for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are based. I think Salt Lake City is best known as a Mormon town and so naturally it’s a place with a lot of history and somewhere I wanted to visit. The grounds were very beautiful; I was really taken with the gorgeous flower arrangements everywhere. We were lucky enough to be there on a beautifully sunny day; the huge white temple literally looked like it was glowing and the soft breeze amongst the flowers helped to create such a feeling of tranquility.

We were able to go into each of the buildings to look around and learn more about the history of the area, and even hear the renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearsing which was pretty magical! Given how busy my trip was overall I really relished being able to just wander such a calm and peaceful area freely and have some time to reflect by myself.

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Lower East Side

These photos were taken in a small park down in the Lower East Side. My first stop on the Lower East Side was the Bowery Ballroom, where my beloved Amy had her first ever US show (I share an office with the man who organised it so I know all the details!). Speaking of which, guess which fellow North Londoner might be following in her footsteps this time next year?

Cats in Cardiff

Dress – £5, Daisy Street (sale). Shoes – £6, New Look (sale). Cat face bag – £3, Camden Market. Bandana – £3, Hobo’s Vintage. Cardigan – £28, Rokit.

I had such an awesome time in Cardiff wandering around the cute shops and trying out all the local bars with my friends. I had to include a picture of the stunning arcade rooftop (above) and this beautiful light which reminded me of antlers (below). It was actually in the local Revolutions which if you don’t know is a chain of bars in the UK. The Revs in Clapham is quite grim but this one was so pretty inside, I was in complete shock!

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Here I am with my cat face bag, aka the bag that everyone has! I bought this bag about two years ago in Camden Market and over the last year or so I have seen it all over London and on a number of blogs also! I always feel a bit weird putting stuff in as you’re literally placing items in the cat’s head. I’m wearing a gold brooch from Vintage Zizou and a pink bandana from Hobo’s Vintage, both bought earlier that day! I rarely buy anything on impulse (unless it’s my shift at the charity shop…) but it’s always nice to get a souvenir or two from a trip away, right?

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