Simplicity...

1. I'm loving getting back into reading and writing again. It's coming along slowly slowly. I'm going to make it a mid term goal of mine to try and join a cool new book club.

2. Simple pictures attached to quirky taglines that make it SO much more.

3. I'm loving Gabi's bikini style on her trip to Vegas Baby!

4. Cool rings worn like this, recently seen styled on Ashley.

5. A selection of previous magazines I've bought and collected. TRYING to keep them in PRISTINE condition, but my continuous reading and flicking of pages is making this hard.

5. My Life!!

6. Every day before I go to work, I get up a whole hour and 15 mins earlier to make lunch for the day ahead, with a strong coffee before sitting down to relax with my daily episode of One Tree Hill... I had the finale on this morning, so here's hoping the next season starts tomorrow, otherwise I'll be at a loss over what to do! Sleep, maybe??!

7. Mary-Kate and Ashley: Two modern style icons of my generation. The fact they're identical twins just makes them even cooler. It's in my long term plan to one day own something from their slightly less expensive line, Elizabeth & James, but who knows, I could end up shopping for a suit in The Row one day instead of Primark!

8. The £175 'Shola Bandage' REISS dress that Kate Middleton wore to meet Barack and Michelle Obama at Buckingham Palace alongside Prince William. This gorgeous woman does NO wrong. The Reiss website actually crashed due to high demand of the dress, and just like her electric blue 'Issa' engagement dress, I have a feeling this one will be sold out for WEEKS at a time.

9. Looking around for ideas and inspiration to restock my 'medicinal cabinet.' [NOT LITERALLY] My medicine cabinet is what I refer to when I talk about beauty products. Yes, I have a usual routine and products that I like to use, usually working on/off so at the moment they seem to be a little tempramental so now more than ever, I'm more than tempted to try something new but am understanding that for quality and long lasting, professional wear, you have to pay the price. I've also been reading up on skincare tips and more and more am inclined to believe in the sheer importance of starting beauty from WITHIN.

10. A healthy fridge is a happy fridge :-) - Its National Vegetarian Week this week, so I'm keeping up my vegetarian/vegan kick. Veganism is quite hard, so at the moment I'm finding a cross between the two is pretty good for me. My diet now includes cheese and milk, but I try and keep cheese and yoghurt, and CARBS!! to a minimum if I can. I believe treats and snacks are also important, recently I've been snacking on these a bit too much, nuts especially, but I had a wheat free, gluten free and dairy free chocolate brownie two days ago and it was surprisingly good!! When I go out for coffee I usually switch to soy milk as its been proven that cow's milk can stimulate acne on the skin, as well as eating soy cheese or extra light cream or cottage cheese as opposed to the hard yellow stuff. My weakness is cheese twists - I'm a savoury gal!!

11. I can't get over how much I love this ENTIRE look on Ashley Tisdale. If it was hot enough, I would happily live in this outfit each and every day!!

I forgot to remember to forget...

I REALLY like Amelia Pontes blog. Its cool because the nice thing about blogging and social networking is that you read blogs, maybe exchange a few tweets with a random person, and all of a sudden, you can imagine that if you ever met them, they'd be so cool that you would end up being best friends immediately - but this is certainly the deal here - I like Amelia's straight talking. She posted about this really cool screen capture from author and novelist Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road' [which is also being made into a film with Kristen Stewart] So, I especially like this little quote here which sums things up nicely;
"This isn't a real picture, but a screen grab from book, The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. It's the story of a man and son traveling down the disaster stricken roads looking for food and hoping for survival. Early in the book I came upon the words above and they struck my gut with truth. Memory is taught to us as being this thing that just happens outside of our control, but the older I get I see how we control what we remember. We hold onto the hurtful past to soothe our fears and insecurities in the present."

- Amelia Pontes

Just thought I would give you a little bit of an insight into what I'm loving book-wise this year so far.



1. Currently on my table is....

The Beauty Myth - [Naomi Wolf] - An insight into why the beauty industry today seems so fucked up when representing what is and what isn't beautiful - the problem is that images of perfection have slowly been whittled down to strict and uniformed images of unrealistic proportions that, at one point or another, has managed to leave all of us wondering 'WTF!' and eating a gallon of Ben and Jerry's ice cream in the wake of discovering we'll never aspire to looking like a supermodel. What is hard to realize, however, or at least for me, that upon seeing pages upon pages of these images EVERYWHERE through the mediums of the mass media, especially magazines and billboards, is that these images are manipulated 95% and do not represent what that person actually looks like. This book helps you to change your perspective on how you think about the beauty industry, and more importantly, will help you rediscover how you feel about yourself.

2. Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro - I'm re-reading this book just because of the beauty of it and the way the story is strung together. What strikes me most is just how deep Ishiguro delves into each individual character, making sure their voice is heard, developed and evolved at the end of the book whilst making for a truly engaging and heartfelt read.

3. Eating Animals - Jonathan Safran Foer - Actresses and Vegans Natalie Portman, Olivia Wilde and Alicia Silverstone have all sworn by reading this book and what this book represents. It's not a book that advocates vegetarianism or veganism - it doesn't at all, but what it manages to do is to present strong, factual evidence and up to date news about the meat industry, what this means, and then weighing this up against a vegetarian lifestyle. What attracted me to the book even more was how candid Foer is when talking - he doesn't start the book as part of a diet fad, but on hearing his wife was pregnant, he wanted to see if there was a better way he could re-educate himself and educate his son about the ways of eating and what it means to eat meat in today's society.

4. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen - For some, it may feel like I re-read the same books when looking back at this blog. If you think so, you're right. I do - I have this childish habit of re-reading a particular book, especially when it's been made into a film and is coming out soon. This is one such case. The film features Oscar winners Christoph Waltz and Reese Witherspoon as August and Marlena, the successful ringmaster and his star attraction of a wife, the difficult relationship they have, and a suddenly orphaned veterinarian named Jacob Jankowski, played by Robert Pattinson. The trailer looks amazing.




Here's a few things I'm Loving.....

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women--mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends--view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.

Nancy Mitford - The Pursuit of Love

I bought this book in Waterstones a few months back, and regrettably it's still on my bookshelf, waiting patiently to be read.... but never fear, I will get to it eventually. I first came across this book in ELLE Magazine [Yes, they have one page dedicated to a 'culture' section] when Sophie Dahl recommended it as one of her favourite books, and it encapsulates the same mindset I hope to have when reading it...

"The book is so romantic and frivolous; I don't know a young woman who has read this without imagining being Linda, sitting weeping on her suitcase, or being rescued by a Frenchman. Reading her books is like drinking hot chocolate."

- Sophie Dahl

Love In The Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

There have been many love stories by many great authors. Shakespeare with Romeo & Juliet, Sparks with Noah and Allie, etc. But sometimes there are just certain lines that bind you to a certain book, willing you to read it just for that one line, no matter what the summary, no matter what the plot, no matter how long the book is in quantity or what it may lack in quality. Love In The Time of Cholera is known by many to be a book that has captured many hearts so I'm looking forward to reading it.

Other books I'm eager to read are the following:

1. Bodies - Susie Orbach
2. The End of the Affair - Graham Greene
3. The Corrections - Jonathan Frantzen
4. Birds of America - Lorrie Moore
5. Both Ways is the only way I want it - Maile Meloy
6. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
7. The Razor's Edge - W Somerset Maugham
8. Beware of Pity - Stefan Zweig
9. The Spy who came in from the Cold - John Le Carre
10. Tender is the Night - F Scott Fitzgerald
11. Blow by Blow - the story of Isabella Blow - Detmar Blow & Tom Sykes

Things making me smile... [Book inspiration - Topic: Different ways to explore L.O.V.E.?


1. Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, and Steve Carell in Crazy Stupid Love

Emma Stone is my [current] girl crush. Ryan Gosling has always been one of my [many] man crushes for being one of those rare actors that I literally feel like he can play each and every role he's been given perfectly, and so far in his career, he's never misjudged any of his choices so far. This time around, he's taking a break from the slightly intense [Blue Valentine], the slightly weird but moving [Lars and the Real Girl] and the incredibly loving [The Notebook] to play a good looking player helping a friend out with marriage trouble before falling in love with the one girl he can't get. What do you think?

2. Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Eva Mendes, and Guillaume Canet in Last Night

Last Night is a film that explores what love and fidelity really means. Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington play a young married couple who are both faced with the prospect of being tempted by a sudden chance meeting with an ex-boyfriend and trying to resist the temptations of a fellow co-worker and the tangled webs they weave in trying to figure it out.

Remember Me??

Yes, I'm back!! I apologise for my lack of blogging..... there really is no excuse..... but anyway, the important thing is I'm back! I've basically been working a lot and haven't had time to commit to my blog the way that I really would have liked.
So, anyway, here are a few things that have made me smile that I thought I would share with you since I've been gone...

1. Coachella Valley Arts and Music Festival


I love twitter because so many people interact with each other, especially about Coachella. 'The Hills' and 'The Lo Down' author Lo Bosworth quoted it as 'the best weekend ever' and HOUSE Actress Olivia Wilde was obviously jealous she couldn't attend, as was I. But not just jealous - INSANELY jealous, and to make matters worse, Lauryn Hill played a set. LIVE. I guarantee one of these days I will get out to Los Angeles and dance around just as enthusiastically as Vanessa Hudgens did.

2. Coveting Chanel


Anytime I see a Chanel bag, something inside makes me melt. Its one of those things that once you get, you know you'll keep it forever. I'm happy to wait around for it, but I know when I get it, I'll hold onto it and treasure it forever.

3. Broken Bells - The High Road
I love this song - it's completely mellow and perfect to listen to whilst doing your day to day at the weekends. This is my first broken bells song that I've actually listened to and can't wait to hear the rest of the album. Listen!!


4. Abercrombie and Fitch Store, Burlington Gardens, London
This place is the best place in London for single ladies to go to for the best part of an hour, and the worst place for people in relationships, as the first thing you think of, going on simple physical aspects only, is surely there's no way my 'normal' boyfriend will ever measure up, and for about ten seconds you'd be right. All the guys who work at this store are blessed in the looks department, so much so, you feel like tracking down their parents and shaking them by the hand, and not only that, since all the REALLY good looking men just stand, smile and dance at you whilst smelling of the signature A&F cologne which takes things to another level, somehow I felt completely nonchalant of the fact that I was spending £54 on denim shorts.

5. Pictures that make me smile
Sometimes all you need is to take 5 minutes out of your day to look at a series of pictures to make your day immediately feel OK again. Pictures do this for me. So here is a small set I'm loving...



5. New Cookbooks inspiring me from season to season -



I love Sophie Dahl as a cook, and as a model - but always love trying out her recipes. Her previous effort, 'Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights' and her TV show, was always a guilty pleasure for me, along with a glass of white wine and some almond Green and Black's Chocolate. Even though I have recently changed my diet quite drastically and become a vegan, I'm sure I am still going to find beautiful and easy to follow recipes that I can cook and eat with voracious pleasure from season to season, as this book will of course, aim to point out. Even though I am a vegan, I am partial to a tiny bit of meat and I have been eating the odd meat dish, as I don't see my vegan choices as a diet, but as a long-lasting lifestyle choice, or for as long as possible so I reckon its OK for me to embrace my carnivore animalistic side from time to time and indulge in a burger or some good old fashioned fried chicken.... but in the meantime, when I'm a vegan, I feel like I'm eating as healthily as I can, so I'll be taking my recipes from here as often as possible!
This description of the book from publishers Harper Collins is my favourite...

A beautiful seasonal almanac of inspired recipes from model turned writer and cook Sophie Dahl. Speckled with musings, anecdotes and intimate memories, Sophie’s latest cookbook offers budding gastronomes scrumptious recipes and tantalising glimpses into her glorious past, filled with polo-necked exes and Indian ramblings, and covetable present.

Having honed her natural instinct for combining the best that every season has to offer, From Season to Season is Sophie at her passionate best. Sophie captures the comforting abundance of Autumn with her Squash and Parmesan soup, the redolent warmth of a summer garden in full bloom with Grilled Peaches with Pistachios and Ricotta, and the burgeoning crispness of Spring with Butter Lettuce Lobster and Pea Salad. Sophie’s guileless charm with just a hint of a glamorous older sister’s worldly wisdom has seen her move gracefully from one career triumph to the next, winning her countless fans with her first cookbook, Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights, published alongside her successful first BBC cookery series, The Delicious Miss Dahl. Stunning photography and Sophie’s delightfully quirky illustrations make this lovingly crafted hardback the ideal gift for anyone who relishes good food and a bit of indulgence.
2. Plenty - Yotam Ottolenghi

Yotam Ottolenghi is a world renowned chef and although not associated with vegetarianism, this book brings together a collection of his best vegetarian recipes.

With his fabulous restaurants and bestselling Ottolenghi Cookbook, Yotam Ottolenghi has established himself as one of the most exciting new talents in the world of cookery and food writing. This exclusive collection of vegetarian recipes is drawn from his column 'The New Vegetarian' for the Guardian's Weekend magazine, and features both brand-new recipes and dishes first devised for that column.

Yotam's food inspiration comes from his strong Mediterranean background and his unapologetic love of ingredients. Not a vegetarian himself, his approach to vegetable dishes is wholly original and innovative, based on strong flavours and stunning, fresh combinations. With sections devoted to cooking greens, aubergines, brassicas, rice and cereals, pasta and couscous, pulses, roots, squashes, onions, fruit, mushrooms and tomatoes, the breadth of colours, tastes and textures is extraordinary.

Featuring vibrant, evocative food photography from acclaimed photographer Jonathan Lovekin, and with Yotam's voice and personality shining through, Plenty is a must-have for meat-eaters and vegetarians alike.

3. The Kind Diet - Alicia Silverstone

Words can't explain how awesome I think this book is!! I've loved Alicia ever since I saw her in Clueless, and even though she hasn't really managed to make her mark quite as strongly or resonantly since, she's still a comedic actress who deserves to be acknowledged for this fantastic cookbook. Alicia has been a vegan for a long time, and splits the book into several different themes, all in a very in depth but laid back way which doesn't pressure the reader into believing that in order to embrace veganism, you have to live on a boring diet of beans and soy curd. That is simply not the case. I can't wait to read!