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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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?

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Nightmarket

Hello! I have just got back from holiday so apologies if you were wondering where regular posts had gone! I tend to blog about things a day or two after they happen; I know some bloggers save photos up for weeks but I find it feels really irrelevant to do so. Something else is bound to happen and I’d rather live in the moment! However, these photos deserved to go up as I keep promising more food posts about my strange diet.

These are actually at Camden “Night Market”: essentially just Camden Market open a bit later on a Thursday, with a slight variation on stalls and a Backyard Cinema residency (including an amazing screening of one of my favourite film, Almost Famous). I don’t follow any listings or event mail outs because in my experience anything advertised or listed as “the place to be” is never the place to be (also who has the time to trawl through all the events in London?!), but presumably Night Market was quite heavily promoted as it was heaving!

So, FOOD. I’m completely obsessed with Chin Chin Labs as you can tell from my hilarious ice-cream face; the staff always have the best recommendations and flavours change every week. I was sampling Walnut Whip ice-cream with peanut brittle in the above photos.  Later on we “shared” Dutch Pancakes from this adorable stall I’ve not seen before. Fresh strawberries and warm baked goods is so good! I’ve not had such tiny pancakes before; they were almost like waffles in texture. I also left with a massive bag from Cupcakes and Shhht who make the best crumbly cookies (treat breakfast).

P.S. I’m wearing the mythical cardigan of the sub header and also this new skirt – it doesn’t go but it arrived in the post this morning and I whipped off my other skirt and threw it on. As if I have the time or inclination to change clothes when I’m already wearing them! skirt – Modcloth, gift. Spiked lion cuff – Stella & Dot Limited Edition (similar), gift.