Marrakech, je t'aime beaucoup

I was in Marrakech recently... and fell in love, like the middle-class Western cliche I am. I always knew I'd love it - it's exactly the right balance of tranquility and insanity to keep me happy. It's the most beautifully 'shabby chic' place I've ever been, a scruffy city at the base surrounded by true luxury and fabulous mountains. I'd go back there in a second and, if this journalism lark doesn't work out, I'm fully planning to gather up all my savings, move out there, buy a riad and life in the glorious splendour of the most exciting city outside of Europe. Just fabulous. Here's what I wore when I was there...

Turban and ring (throughout) - Topshop

Sunglasses - my mother's; scarf - H&M; shirt - Appletree boutique; skirt - Topshop

Leotard, trews and shoes - Topshop; Jacket - River Island



Leotard - Topshop; Skirt - River Island; Shoes - Topshop; Cardigan - Forever 21; Fez - Souk

Hattie Loves (and is ridiculously talented)

These little snapshots above are of my very dear dear old old friend Hattie's amazing work. She's a genius with textiles and has recently started her company 'Hattie Loves' - and is already taking the world by storm. Although I've only whacked in a couple of pictures, literally everything she does is amazing. If I had half the talent she did, I'd be happy. Have a gander at her amazing trinkets here, you absolutely won't regret it.

Back... With a Vengeance.

Okay, so I'm back. Probably not with a vengeance but here I am, for the first time in 8 months. Oooops. I have had what have probably been the busiest 8 months of my life. I did my dissertation (FUN) and finals (even better fun), moved house, settled in to said house, got sacked from waitressing jobs three times (impressive), moved to London (east, classy), started a MA and got a job at the BBC. All in all, knackering. I've barely had time to think. I would love 2012 to be full of peace and quiet but no. I'm sure this will be an even busier time. Oh joy! To cope with the madness of it all, I thought I'd start bloggin' again. Genius. So here's hoping my vengeance is justified!

Toodlepip for now xxx

Ps. Some other things I have been doing in my lifetime-long sabbatical, in no particular order...

Lying down on fairground horses, as you do. Not at all sick-making...

Pretending to be dead at a hallowe'en country house party. My mother hates this picture!

Being Michael Caine in 'the greatest film of all time'...

Getting a puppy! She is called Agatha Christie and she is the love of my life, in dog terms anyway

Threw my graduate hat thing (mortarboard?!) in the air. And left Warwick forever. Thank God.

Became an absolute champion boater wearer. Ooo, I do love a good boater!

Nails du jour: Pirate

Ahoy there! (My ahoys are justified today!) Here are some pirate-y nails I did for my friend. You can tell it's my friend as we have very different hands!! They look an absolute mess - no idea why I hadn't tidied them up before photographing them but I think they were a cute idea nonetheless. I love pirates - I often long to run away to sea and when I go on Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney (haha), I get rather too excited. I even thought I might get married on the ride - but I can't think that there would be a single man in the world who would agree to that - unless I went all pirate-y myself and tied him up. My brain - dear oh dear!

♥ Saskatoon

Nails du jour: 1950s

Ahoy ahoy! I'm really trying to get back into blogging regularly (ish) but it's proving rather difficult as I've just moved house (from Kent to Sussex - a huge distance!) and I have to come to the local university (Hastings - haha) to use the internet - ahhh the joys of no internet connection at home. I am also in the midst of writing my dissertation (on fashion, what else?) and am trying desperately hard not to fill the entire thing with Adam and the Ants quotes a la 'I'm the dandy highwayman'. I'm already enough of a laughing stock at the Warwick history department without Mr Ant himself helping me to cause the entire faculty to burst into simultaneous laughter over my 'interesting' writing style! Anyhoo, back to the nails. I did these for the history ball (I seem historically obsessed, oh dear) which was 1950s themed. They look horribly untidy (I blame the camera) and the car is hi-de-ous but apart from that they were quite a success and went down a treat. Hope they float your (1950s) boat like they floated mine. Back to dissy town. Toodlepip darlings, ♥ Saskatoon

Fruit Friends

Here are my 'fruit friend' nails; I did them myself (it took a lot of patience - but only about half an hour) and was inspired (perhaps bizarrely) by Miranda's fruit friends. As I tend to eat fruit rather than keep bananas and apples etc as friends, I thought I'd put them on my nails. Cunning!

Toodlepip for now,

♥ Saskatoon

Cath Kidston-esque nails...

Just a quick couple of snaps of my latest nails - and I did them myself! I have a LOT of time on my hands and it's a sort of habit. I started off with a couple of coats of Models Own Beth's Blue (a personal favourite) and then used a few of these pens from amazon. They're out of stock at the moment but at £17.99 (ish) for 60 pens, I couldn't recommend them enough! Perhaps I'll do a step by step 'how to' but for the time being, it takes perserverance and... oh, about an hour. Have a crack at them, I so love Cath Kidston nails!