A quick warning that this is a very colourful and photo-heavy post – Notting Hill is just so pretty!
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Tag: Laila
Happy Cave Day
Happy Easter! The day we celebrate spring, eggs, flowers, bunnies, baby/dead Jesus, flowers, the dairy industry and most of all, caves.
Birthday Day Out
It was my birthday last week and as I’ve already documented my thoughts on the whole thing, it’s time to share what I actually did! My birth “day” actually spanned about 5 days as I had gigs before and after the day itself, plus a big meal/pub night with all my pals at the weekend. Continue reading
Christmas Presents
The real point of Christmas is the amazing times you share with friends and family, and I am so grateful I had so many wonderful times which I have already documented in detail. But… the presents aren’t half bad either! My friends and I are quite big on presents but this year my parents and I exchanged gifts as well, which was unexpected but really nice. I’ve felt incredibly grateful integrating these new and lovely items into my life so I hope it doesn’t seem vulgar of me to share them.
Gifts From Friends
Cute twine, a half-head cat mask (I’ll have to share photos of the completed mask!), adorable notebooks and the biggest most beautiful book of Peanuts comics I’ve ever seen. My pals know me well. This is actually just a selection of the gifts my wonderful friends gave me: other gifts included an emoji cushion, a beautiful blue and red dress, afternoon tea, Prosecco, an adopted zebra (!!!), a Peanuts coffee pot, beer pong and tickets to a show. Pretty perfectly Laila. <3
The chocolates are actually from my students; I also received a chocolate Santa, perfume and tickets to a play from some of my other pupils. It sounds cheesy as teaching is it’s own reward, but it’s also a job that requires a lot of extra work around the edges when you’re not technically “at work”. It’s certainly not expected, and so I always feel so much gratitude to the pupils who give cards and presents to acknowledge this at the end of the year.
Gifts From Parents – Sailor Moon
It was only a few weeks ago that I mentioned my deep and unfaltering love for Sailor Moon. This year my Mum came through with the absolute motherlode of Sailor Moon goodies! We’re not big on presents in my family so to receive so many things which were all so perfectly suited to me was wonderful. Above you can see the Sailor Moon accessory set (mirror, bag and hair tie), earrings, locket necklace and cleaning cloth – SO perfect for glasses wearers like me. My Dad gave me a new camera lens which is perfect for close-up images such as the ones in this post…!
Gifts from Family
These socks are from my Mum and they are super comfy! My Auntie gave me this beautiful gold scarf and the glittery golden bow is from a cousin. I wear something in my hair every day and the gold bow was/is perfect over the festive season. I also received a giftcard from my Auntie which I’ve yet to spend – I’m terrible at remembering to use up gift vouchers so I’ll need to remind myself.
So there we go! I feel so incredibly lucky to have been given so many lovely things! What did you get for Christmas this year?
Boyfriends
Boy friends who are stuck at home ill in bed feeling rubbish, but give you a hug as soon as you open the door because you had good news. Boy friends who punch the air for you. Boy friends who buy you lunch and tease you about the little things. Boy friends who buy you water and boy friends who bring you wine.
Boy friends you shared a bed with because there was no room on the floor and it was the worst house party in history. Boy friends you shared a bed with because you were too upset to go home. Boy friends you shared a bed with because they came to hang out but sometimes you need to stay in bed all day and watch The Herbs and that’s ok too.
Boy friends just in time for Christmas. Boy friends who go to the pub with you because your date was late. Boy friends who hold up three Christmas jumpers each so you can try on a dress behind them in a busy market. Boy friends who tell you that you have to get the dress because any date would ask you out instantly if he saw you in it. Boy friends who buy you the dress because you’re broke and you can’t see what they see and there’s a hope that maybe one day you’ll get it; who knows if that will ever happen but it’s nice anyway. Boy friends who’ve known you forever and boy friends who’ve known you a month. Boyfriends.
Tewkesbury
If this outfit looks a little familiar to the last post it’s because I was only away for 5 days – so just took one coat and bag! I’m always amazed at bloggers who manage to generate 2-3 completely different outfit posts on a single weekend trip; how much stuff are you guys taking? It impresses me as I’m way too lazy to carry my own stuff and never pack anything heavy or bulky. I’m sure that will change when I get my own entourage..!
This dress is a rare new item and it was a Christmas present; I love velvet and I love red and I really love short dresses so it’s a winner all round. I got the coat from a charity shop and including dry cleaning it was a grand total of £14! Everyone describes it as red but it’s more of a very dark orange.
These photos are from Tewkesbury – the main attraction is the stunning Tewkesbury Abbey, but we spent a fun afternoon exploring antiques shops and tea rooms. That was kind of the timetable for the whole holiday if I’m honest – I’ve never really been on that kind of slower-paced, meandering holiday and so it was quite novel for me and a really different experience. I especially loved strolling along the river; I tend to think of London as quite green and full of nature (typical Londoner…) but there’s none of that woodland brand of stillness that I found in the Cotswolds.
Isle Of Wight
I don’t think I ever would have visited if my grandparents hadn’t moved there 8 years ago, but now it’s become a place I know quite well. During my most recent Christmas visit I took my two James’ as a sort of comfort blanket. I’m very, very lucky to have such wonderful friends. I get on well with both my parents, but there are some members of my American family who genuinely trouble me! I knew the Christmas visit would see me arguing about something at some point and I needed my two knights in shining armour to act as my own suit of armour.
Family aside, it was a really lovely few days spent in the Isle Of Wight. I took very few pictures apart from this bracing walk in Quarr Abbey, a peaceful (still operative) monastery in the north of the Isle. We wandered through the ruins of the original monastery, exploring and adventuring through original doorways and under broken arches; now display cabinets for mossy boulders and occasional skulls. It was nice to have some time just the three of us, away from my problematic family. We spent most of our time in the big shared family house playing chess and watching films or at my grandparents place; playing the piano, listening to my Granddad talk about Vietnam and Kenya and celebrating his 90th birthday with a huge elephant-shaped cake.
LDF Launch Party
London Design Festival was about a month ago but I just finished sorting all these photos from the launch party! C4CC (the space where I work) hosted a series of workshops and talks. WOLF PACK (aka my business) contributed a workshop and I also helped to co-ordinate the events, along with the other C4CC residents.These photos are all from our super-snazzy launch party. There was banoffee pie, free Camden Hells (my all-time favourite beer), group singing, super-cheesy dance floor music (courtesy of yours truly), a super-cute dog, merkins and even a short set from me and Danilo. Some of you may remember this frantic post which I published on the day!
I haven’t discussed C4CC in much detail before but both of my major enterprises are based there (WOLF PACK and the brand new Quizcats) are both based at C4CC, aka the Centre For Creative Collaboration. It’s an incredible place filled with lots of innovative start-ups, small businesses and creative enterprises. It is an amazing place; there’s constantly new people coming in and out and I’ve met so many inspiring and wonderful people since working there.
Some of the residents who featured at the party (and are pictured) include:
AOI Sheep – who created the sound-reactive projections that displayed whilst Danilo and I performed (video here).
London Loo Tours – who entertained us with a toilet-themed quiz.
Guerilla Science – displaying a variety of merkins, latex nipples and bum hole paint.
Grow Up – Sophia from Grow Up helped to oversee and organise the LDF events.
Youth Media Agency – helped us with the amazing promo.
Madeline Trigg – organised the whole thing!
ELX Art – curated the downstairs exhibition (the incredible black and white pieces).
Cinter – incredible design time, helped install the exhibition and created the hanging logos and boards.
I’m wearing an American Apparel skirt, DIY studded tights (now dead – note the massive ladder), Irregular Choice cat shoes and my favourite Ginny shirt from my beloved Family Affairs.
TAPE PARADE 