Islington

A couple of years ago James and I came up with “James And Laila Day” as a way to keep our close relationship despite our increasingly busy schedules. We see quite a lot of each other anyway – it helps that we work together and live about ten minutes apart – but why not have an extra day out for the hell of it?

This was actually one of the worst JAL Days in history. I’m pretty sure I was still hungover from NYE and we ended up sacking off shopping on Oxford St as it was rammed (unsurprisingly) as well as chucking it down with rain.

We decided to stay local in Islington instead! The best part about staying close to home was an afternoon dash home to change my extremely wet feet and tights and digging out my boots :) Apart from the thawing out/outfit change, our day involved brunch at Sawyer & Gray, shopping along Upper Street, dinner at Joe’s in Kentish Town and a trip to the Boulougne Bar, our local Victorian gin parlour. Plan B worked out a lot better!

PREVIOUSLY ON JAMES AND LAILA DAY: CAMDEN // SAILOR // CHRISTMAS // LUTYENS HOUSE // HALLOWEEN // KENTISH TOWN // CHINATOWN // CAMDEN PASSAGE // COUNTRY FAIR

Crayon Christmas

As you may know, my best friend in all the land is James and we “celebrate” James and Laila Day once a month: an entire day we spend together doing fun stuff. Unfortunately my grand plans for our December day (Christmas shopping in Covent Garden, PCC cinema and meeting Santa) went out the window due to kidney infection, but in true heroic style James took matters into his own hands and arrived at my family house bearing gifts and festivities to salvage the day. Amongst the many things he turned up with was A BABY CHRISTMAS TREE. It was by far the best surprise I’ve ever had, I’d been at at home feeling very un-festive and pathetic and James totally bought the Christmas spirit into our house. The best part is I can keep the tree in the garden and bring it in each year!

We ventured into town to do some christmas shopping (I normally leave mine until the 24th, so the 23rd felt very early and prepared) and then had a fun evening wrapping presents and trimming the tree with Christmas TV flickering away in the background. Having James around for these fairly mundane and domestic activities makes me think what it would have been like growing up with a sibling and just constantly having another person around. We also made this festive recording of one of my favourite Christmas songs. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Winter Wonderland

 I don’t like Christmas. There, I said it! It’s strange as I love cheesy tack and pointless schmaltz, but from the age of 7 the only feeling I can remember having towards Christmas is one of resigned boredom. The idea of owning a Christmas jumper in a non-ironic way or eating a mince pie whilst wearing tinsel just makes me want to cringe in a corner for several hours. Add to that the fact that London seems to grind to a halt and you’ve got my least favourite time of year!

However, in an effort to reverse my usual yuletide gloom, I’ve made a list of the most festive experiences I can think of (chestnuts, ice-skating… baubles) and with James on hand to supply childlike enthusiasm and glad tidings, I’m attempting to overcome my inner Scrooge. I donned my snow-queen headdress (actually an untwisted candleholder) and we headed to Winter Wonderland to crank up the merriness. In between cracking up over some of the weirder animatronics and screaming my lungs out on the Ice Mountain roller-coaster, I did genuinely feel a (small) festive glow wandering through the market area and looking at the pretty fairground attractions. The fact that it’s free to walk around the whole place is impressive, and if you’re in London I’d recommend it for a seasonal stroll even if you’re festively-challenged like I am. I’m glad we decided to go on a school day as I imagine it could get pretty rammed once the school holidays are here!

If you have any recommendations for quintessential Christmas activities then let me know and follow here for part 2 soon.

Coat – Urban Outfitters, £60 (sale plus 20% off!). Brogues – James’. Tights – Forever 21, £3, sale. Scarf – Marks & Spencers, gift (years ago). Bear ears bag – Urban Outfitters, £10 (sale). Thing in hair (DIY destroyed candleholder) – charity shop, 50p.

Kentish Town

James and I had a rare Sunday off and I had all these grand plans for a jam-packed day of action and adventure. I think this is what happens when you don’t have weekends or a normal working schedule; you see a window of opportunity and go insane trying to make the most of the day! However, as it was a day off  I predictably slept for hours, and by the time James and I bothered to leave the house we decided to just head ten minutes down the road to Kentish town rather than trek over to East London. I was initially annoyed at failing in my original plans but cheered up considerably following a breakfast that involved dessert and a very fruitful trek round the charity shops. You can see my purchases above (accompanied by James). The book is amazing and the polo neck is so warm!

I’m wearing one of my many, many purchases from the charity shop where I work – it’s covered in the kind of ridiculous 80s print that makes me laugh (chains, hooks, iron rods and pearls… that classic print combination) and it was a mere £1.50. £1.50! That’s cheaper than nearly everything in McDonalds! James jokes that every Friday is “New Outfit Day” as it’s the day after my shift and I invariably have new clothes. He’s got a point, but it’s hard to feel guilty when everything is secondhand recycling, incredibly cheap and contributing to a good cause. I never shop on the high street or online but if I find something I like in a charity shop I do tend to just get it (funds allowing!) because you might never see it again: too many times I’ve had the depressing “return” to a charity shop for that one singularly amazing item, only to find somebody worth more sense has snatched it away in your absence.

Saturday

Hello everyone! These photos are from last week when I spent a very rare Saturday off work and miracle of miracles; it was sunny! We headed to Tottenham Court Road, ostensibly to buy a banjo from Hobgoblin but in reality we just wandered around the local area, eating food (local cafe), buying food (Holland and Barrat), eating more food (Wagamamas), buying more food (Chinatown), eating more food (Haagen Dagz in Leicester Square)… it was a great day and I also came away with two recipe books from Waterstones. It was so bizarre seeing how rammed Oxford Street was on a Saturday! The nice things about working weekends is I take my days off during the week and exhibitions/food shops/cafes/public transport are all far quieter at 2pm on a Tuesday meaning I forget how busy London gets!

This is my new shirt (along with about 30 others) from the charity shop where I work once a week. I seem to return from every shift with 2 or 3 new amazing items which I couldn’t possibly leave behind. I already own about 4 other gingham items (although none in pink, so it’s justified, right?!) but this shirt is made from such a soft cotton I couldn’t resist. These are my favourite dungarees which I have had for about 4 years. The overall effect was a bit “farm girl” I suppose but whatever; it wasn’t quite warm enough for a t-shirt so this seemed a good in-between outfit!

Check shirt – Gap via charity shop, £2. Dungarees – Rokit, £20. Trainers – Comme des Garcons via charity shop, £6. Sunglasses – €4, supermarket in Greece.

Polkadots & Plimsolls

 I’m not really a fan of pastel colours but this minty polka dot dress won me over, mostly because it has A CAPE. This minty turquoise colour has become a favourite of mine in recent times, I don’t know if it has been a trend recently but I seem to see lots of people wearing knitted jumpers in a similar colour. The dress is from ModCloth and was brought by my auntie last time she visited. These photos were taken by the glass building in Camden, as one passer-by commented I blended in pretty well with my dress!

I’m also wearing my new plimsolls. Plimsolls (and studded boots) are my default shoe, and most of the pairs I own are about 5 years old, inherited from my grandma (and therefore a size too small) discoloured and full of holes. I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than £5 on a pair before, but this summer I decided it was time to invest in something better. That’s where these plastic plimsolls from Melissa stepped in! I purchased them for £22.99 down in Covent Garden (who are very open to haggling) and have really enjoyed having shoes that retain their colour and shape for more than a week. The red soles remind of Sonic the Hedgehog (probably my favourite game character) and being made of plastic they feel super springy as well;  very different to canvas shoes! What do you guys think of plastic shoes?

Camden Day

Last Friday was James And Laila Day! Regular readers will probably have read about James before as we spend so much time together. In the absence of any kind of formal anniversary we decided to start James and Laila Day – one day per month devoted to not working together and instead hanging out and having fun. As it was my turn to plan James and Laila Day I decided to share some of my regular haunts with James. I live and work in Camden and it’s always been this bit of London that feels most like home to me, despite being born and raised in the south. I go for a daily walk around the markets and often stop in after work on my way home as well.

We started off the day with an amazing breakfast and then wandered down to the market stopping at all my favourite food shops on the way, including my favourite ice-cream shop. I follow a very weird diet and it can be hard to find foods I can eat, so I’m very lucky we live by some awesome health food shops.  The first couple of pictures are taken down this little road with brightly painted houses. There’s about five of these pretty coloured streets on the route from James’ house to the market, in my head I call them rainbow roads and they remind me of the town in Edward Scissorhands.The rest of these photos are from Camden Market! Camden is divided into about 6 different markets and once upon a time each bit of market had it’s own specific focus; these days they do broadly stock variations of the same thing but there’s still some individual flavour between them. The three biggest markets are Camden Locks (arts and crafts), Stables Market (subcultures and imported fashions) and Horse Tunnel Market (vintage and antiques). It was such a gorgeous sunny day and even though I visit the same places every other day, it was fun sharing that part of my day with James. I should be employed as a tour guide as I know the whole layout so well by now.

After the market we went to Honest Burgers for dinner (no photos!) and whilst the chips and drinks were amazing the no-meat option was essentially a vegetable pakora in a bap; definitely not recommended. We also went to our favourite pub and the cinema, needless to say we were pretty tired when we traipsed home later but happy and content. It’s so important to spend quality time with your friends, especially if (like me) most of your close friends also double as artistic colleagues. It’s easy to fall into the habit of just hanging out post-rehearsal and never doing activities purely for fun so I’m so glad we started this tradition. Here’s to the next James and Laila Day!

Lutyens House

I hope all of you have been enjoying the gloriously warm evenings we’ve been granted this summer! It’s so lovely to be able to stay out in the sunshine late into the day. These pictures were taken at Goddards, a beautiful country house in Surrey. The house was designed by renowned architect Edwin Lutyens  and for most of the time it is private to the public and kept for reservations. James and I were lucky enough to be invited to a dinner at the house with members of the Lutyens trust and took the opportunity to explore the beautiful home usually off limits. It was a gloriously golden evening when we arrived and the stunning gardens were filled with dappled rays of evening sunlight.

Edwin Lutyens collected many interesting objects throughout his life which have found their way into the home, such as the beautifully ornate door knocker pictured below and the rare stag heads decorating the bowls room. It felt like every room was filled with yet another unique treasure! The living-room also featured a hidden door behind the curved bookshelves, originally put in to allow a small person to crawl through and clean the windows behind. Old houses have such a feeling of adventure, don’t you think? Especially when filled with as many quirky details as Goddards!