Walt Disney Studios

The happiest place on earth! I last visited Disneyland Paris aged 17 for work purposes and I didn’t get to leave the main park, so the Studio Lot was my first stop this time. It’s a bit smaller than the main park and felt a bit more adult as it’s home to all sorts of film production based attractions, as well as a Pixar section and a mock-up lot featuring bits of film set and props. I’m not sure little kids would be familiar with all of the set pieces (Umbrellas of Cherbourg? The Twilight Zone?) but I was in my geek element!

Magic

Sometimes you meet people and they make everything feel magic. Those people who can immediately lock into your brain and understand. Maybe you sit around picking out constellations together. Maybe they make streetlights seem beautiful. Maybe they turn hours into adventures. Maybe they drive across two counties to look after you when your kidneys give up even though you can only communicate through squeaking and tears. Maybe they remember every stupid thing you have ever said to them when you yourself have long forgotten. Maybe they can count to ten.

Maybe they pop into your life for a few days per year and then vanish into the ether again, leaving your world rearranged and fluttering. Maybe they are next to you all the time, an endless source of magic for all your boring days. Maybe you’ve never met them, but you can feel them so keenly they’ve had a huge, life-shaping impact on you anyway, channeling their own magic into your words, your thoughts, your attempts.

The people you meet for an hour and know you want in your life forever. The people who inspire you just by turning up. The people you can’t possibly let go of even though you understand the lesser power of your own potential magic. They’re not always yours to keep. That’s just the way it goes sometimes.

Dress of dreams

We were wandering around Cardiff when one of my friends noticed a shop selling brightly coloured sequin maxi dresses and said “Laila, your dream shop is here!”. I ran inside only to discover the most BEAUTIFUL dress I have ever seen nestled on the back wall. Peachy satin corset, sequinned lace flowers, frilly bows and diamnate ruffles leading into a lengthy feathered train; what more could any self-respecting fairy princess want?! The very friendly shop assistant told us it was the only one of it’s kind and had never been tried on. I pretty much leapt into it when I found out it was in my size and she kindly let me cavort around in it long enough for all the boys to get bored and head to the bike shop next door.

I always loved fairies and princesses and the bigger and more whimsical the better! My Pinterest board of dreamy clothes has a lot of frilly fantasy items and my love for princess clothing has led me to amass quite the collection of second hand wedding dresses over the years (sadly no groom in sight) and probably a few more tiaras than is necessary for a freelance musician and volunteer charity worker. Sadly I didn’t have a spare £365 to add this particular number to my collection, but rest assured as soon as I can I’ll be back to snap it up for future gigs, carnival parades and midnight dances with charming members of fairy royalty… well, I can dream right?

Facebook/Twitter/Bloglovin/LookBook/Pinterest/Flickr/Soundcloud