I am a Very Bad Blogger. I keep making notes in my trusty moleskine for posts I would like to make, and then promptly falling asleep the minute I get home and never getting round to it.

Winter is sapping away all my energy. I’m sleeping a lot without getting any real refreshment, and I’m finding it increasingly hard to concentrate or actually DO anything. I’m making a bit of an effort to Sort My Life Out (definitely justifies capitals there) and hopefully this weekend will see the birth of a shiny new organised, awake and focused me.
Step One involves a massive tidy up of the house and garden (our neighbours complained – to our landlord- about us having bottles in the garden awaiting recycling. Err, what?) which ever fails to make me feel better. This will be followed by a wardrobe clear out…and I badly need it. I’ve forever had this dream of owning a beautiful and stylish capsule wardrobe with many items to be worn in many different ways, and instead I have two double wardrobes heaving with topshop sale errors and too small dresses. I’ve been hugely inspired by my recent finding of The Clothes Horse and the linked post is perfect inspiration for mixing up the pieces I already have and getting a new wardrobe without any shopping! Which is important, as I will never have any money again after my purchase of this baby:

So beautiful. It was half a Christmas present from my Grandma, and half a present to myself for surviving the year (which hasn’t been great, really). Only problem is our lack of correct screwdriver meaning it’s currently still in its box. Sob!

And before I go (and I promise I won’t disapear into the ether this time), here’s a photo of my little kitten, Professor Moriarty. Not so little anymore! 7 months old and showing definite sociopathic tendancies, but we love him.

Some of you may already know about my (vague, mostly tea making related) involvement with Records on Ribs, a record label that offer all of their music free for download in a variety of formats under a Creative Commons license (see their manifesto for more info). Today marks the release of To Leave a Mark, the stunningly beautiful new album by Les Etoiles, inspired by his hometown of Bridgnorth, Shropshire. Described by the label as ‘a beautiful evocation of this place, its joy and tragedies, the town as a container of people, times, love and loss’, it’s already gaining fantastic reviews and I urge you to download it now (I repeat, for free!). If Dave’s voice doesn’t melt your heart, nothing will and you are probably a robot. While you’re there, check out some of the other artists too – there’s some excellent stuff for all tastes from the obscenely twee to ‘transcendental riff worship’. What’s not to love?

If you are lucky enough to live in Robin Hood land (erm, Nottingham), the launch party is at Jam Cafe tonight from 8pm and is free, free, free! Jam also serve delicious cakes, tea & beer so all in all, an idea way to spend a Friday night. The brilliant El Heath will also be playing, & ROR djs will be playing records from post-punk to kraut and everything in between. Bring your own records if you want to join in!

“‘To Leave A Mark’ never overplays its message; with eleven tracks taking up less than thirty minutes of music. Its mood may be subdued and sad but it contains a warmth and richness that will provide comfort to anyone who has returned to a familiar scene, only to experience a strong sense of loss.”
Leonard’s Lair

(ROR would be delighted if you want to feature them, this album/event or any of their other releases on your blog/site/whatever: please put the link in a comment if you do so!)

Please bear with me whilst I make changes to my blog…it desperately needs an update, but due to a lack of time & having forgotten all my knowledge of CSS it may take a while. Unless I can convince my boyfriend to help me.

Oh, for some creative computer skills!

While I’m tucked up in bed with my tea, & a kitten snuggled at my feet (snoring, as well), I thought I’d share some of my favorite blogs on the wide wide interweb with you. Places to visit if you’re feeling low, or in need of inspiration, or just bored!

(image from Swamibu on flickr.

♥ Colour Me Katie I absolutely, 100%, guarantee that this will make you happy on the greyest days. I think I’m in love with her (and her beautiful cat).
♥ Daydream Lily lots of beautiful things to look at & nice words to read.
♥ Kris Atomic I’ve been following Ms Atomic for quite some time now, and her illustrations are absolutely beautiful & full of fun. Definitely something to brighten up a rainy day!
♥ Fashion fashion glorious fashion! Mme Robot also has a side in style consulting, something I’d like to try out once I get out of this penniless rut. Urgh.
♥ Matouen Peluche a new one to my daily blog roll, full of both beautiful illustrations & lots of inspiration.
♥ My Little Stitches Rose is one of the most insanely talented craftsters I’ve ever come across, and she’s years younger than me & it’s sickening. In a lovely way! Go look & be amazed – I swear we’re going to hear more & more from this one…
♥ Operation Nice. I’m not even explaining this one. Just go & read & let it restore your faith in humanity…

That’s all for now folks! (oh, & if anyone can tell me who did the illustrations for (500) days of summer I’d be ever so grateful…)

Due to a recent misfortune at the hands of a hairdresser I now have a feathered (yes, FEATHERED!) thin, sorry for itself little fringe when my usual preference is for a chunky, below the eyebrows, blunt as hell number that incorporates half my hair. So, I’ve been torturing myself with pictures of much nicer fringes whilst wondering if I can get it fixed at my appointment on Monday. Fringes like this:

(image from Nylon magazine)

Oh, Zooey Zooey Zooey. I want to be you. I saw (500) days of summer last week and truly & utterly fell in love – with both her & Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who I’ve embaressingly been crushing on since his 3rd Rock From The Sun Days). I’d been discussing only recently how so many films I love capture a certain time period for a certain group of people – Can’t Hardly Wait, Ten Things I Hate About You for the 90s & well, every John Hughes film for the 80s – but there were none that capture US right now, and that I could show someone in the future and go Yes, this is how it was for us indiekid twenty somethings in the first decade of the 21st century. Then along this film came. I don’t think there’s many of my friends who couldn’t identify with that film, whether with the Summer or Tom character & it captured all the little things which seem to define relationships today. C’mon, try telling me that you DON’T run round Ikea pretending you live there, mess around in second hand records shops or fall in love with people based on what’s on their ipod? I most definitely fall into the Tom camp, with my irritating habit of falling in love, hard, with complete strangers & calling crises meetings about the most ridiculous things (at least, I did before I met the love of my life) & at least one of my friends has come out as a Summer. Of course, I was always going to fall in with this film. Two of my favorite actor/resses, a soundtrack of twee loveliness & a B&S reference within the first fifteen minutes? Go see it, and you just try not to smile stupidly & skip all the way home.

(In other news, my boyfriend has just brought my a cup of tea & announced that he is now addicted to Project Runway. He’s only watched it once. Is it actually that good?)

Life has got suddenly, amazingly rubbish right now. I’ve been a Very Bad Blogger and I doubt it’s going to change anytime soon, as I seem to only have bad news to share (despite an amazing weekend with a lot of the best people I know).
What I want to know is:

Can anyone cut hair who wants to do mine for free?

-and-

Where can I get exceptionally cheap glasses? (boyfriend broke mine, and they aren’t repairable. And I wear contact lenses but have an eye problem at the moment which means I basically don’t have vision in my right eye. It’s really unpleasant).

Sigh sigh sigh. I hate this being a grown up lark.

The weather here in England is APPALLING. I have a cold. A cold! And it’s August. Grey days make me tired & miserable so it’s a good job I’m off out tonight with Alex to eat 40% off sushi and see Inglorius Basterds at Broadway Cinema with orange wednesday.

It’s no coincidence that both those things are being done on the cheap, as recently pretty much all my pennies have been going on house stuff. Including, no less, a Henry Hoover (they had no Hetty’s, I was sad) and a router so that I actually have wireless internet in my house. It’s been so long without it (a year) that I’d forgotten what a luxuery it actually is to browse ebay from your bed, or listen to spotify whilst tidying your room (OK, that’s something I’d never actually managed before as spotify is a fairly new invention, at least to my knowledge). There’s also been kitchen thing purchasing, huge food shops – despite going into our third year of living together, this is the first year we’ve lived entirely on our own and so we went a bit mad in Tesco buying ice cream and wine and pretending to be grown-ups* – and lots & lots of cleaning equipment. There’s still a long way to go before the house actually feels like ours, but we’re getting there. I’m hoping to get down to some good ol’ crafty business once the cleaning is done and provide us with blankets, cushions and more. It’s amazing having our own space at last, although it has resulted in slightly demented behaviour like pretending to be an ant and discussing the possibility of turning our dining room table into a pirate ship.

I’m also looking for some prints to put up in our lounge/dining area but Etsy is being very uncharacteristically barren of inspiration for me. Any reccomendations anyone?

* Sssh, no one tell us we ARE grown-ups….

So, I have the dreaded swine flu. I’m glad to announce that it’s really not all that bad, bar the huge acheyness and tiredness after any activity (including getting up to get tea – WOE).

Luckily, my two boys (one with four paws, one with less) have been looking after me and combined with all the well wishes and haribo I feel quite loved and special. I have, however, been completley unable to leave the house and so have taken to trawling the internet compiling wish lists in my head. And then! I remembered that it’s my birthday in less than a fortnight and so compiled a birthday wishlist instead (much more productive). And here it is:

Owly tote, $7 from rainbowswirlz on etsy. I love all things owl related, the only dilemma being what colour to choose? (I think red)

Personalised birdy necklace, $28 from polktadotmagpie on etsy. (Sadly, these don’t ship to the uk and so I shall never have one. Snif!) I should point out that I’d have one with my name on fairly obviously, not Ethan or Sofia (lovely names as they are).

Juana heels from French Connection at Kurt Geiger, £19 down from £100!! These combine every detail I could want in a shoe: super high heels, platform sole, straps and studding. I think it’s love!

Beautiful, beautiful typewriter necklace from Paraphernalia. I thought I’d lost the chance to own one of these when the seller disappeared from Etsy but then found them again recently, much to my delight. I could quite happily own every single piece from their website and never need an other necklace again.

Musical rainbow necklace, £20 from Supersweet . I might neglect my musical abilites these days, but it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t wear a reminder of them round my neck!

Phew, my little flu ridden body is exhausted now. My rants about ageism on Radio Four and musings about the ethics of clothes swapping will have to wait for another day…

p.s. (my boyfriend has an article on the Guardian website this week. Proud!

An unexpectedly costly (but well worth it) holiday in Barcelona for the Primavera festival earlier this month has left my purse rather lighter than I would have liked, and just when the shops are filling up with summery loveliness to tempt me too. I’m making do with a cup of tea and internet browsing to fufill my consumerist needs instead. (I was going to make a joke here about window shopping – get it, window? like, on a computer? – but I couldn’t make it scan and also, I use a mac. Joke fail.)

I’ve suspected this for a while, but now it’s confimed: Matalan has grown up. Once favoured by mums everywhere for cheap bras and ill fitting jeans, a delve into their website shows just how much things have improved. Take these two dresses, for example; I love a good floral frock and these are no exception:

£25

£20 – cheaper than topshop and equally lovely!

Seriously, how good would these look with some pretty gladiators and a headband? (And a raincoat, if the current British ’summer’ is anything to go by)

In other satorial news, I’ve recently found myself inexplicably and strangely drawn to that most divisive of fashions, the jumpsuit (and also Zachary Quinto’s eyebrows, but that’s a post for another day). In my head, a black silk jumpsuit with killer heels and a lot of eyeliner looks like an amazing outfit, but in reality I imagine I would look like a dumpy extra from Ashes to Ashes.  I’m sure the perfect one for me must be out there, but my hunt so far has been fruitless. Watch this space…

Barely a twelvemonth after
The seven days war that put the world to sleep,
Late in the evening the strange horses came.
By then we had made our covenant with silence,
But in the first few days it was so still
We listened to our breathing and were afraid.
On the second day
The radios failed; we turned the knobs, no answer.
On the third day a warship passed us, headed north,
Dead bodies piled on the deck. On the sixth day
A plane plunged over us into the sea. Thereafter
Nothing. The radios dumb;
And still they stand in corners of our kitchens,
And stand, perhaps, turned on, in a million rooms
All over the world. But now if they should speak,
If on a sudden they should speak again,
If on the stroke of noon a voice should speak,
We would not listen, we would not let it bring
That old bad world that swallowed its children quick
At one great gulp. We would not have it again.
Sometimes we think of the nations lying asleep,
Curled blindly in impenetrable sorrow,
And then the thought confounds us with its strangeness.
The tractors lie about our fields; at evening
They look like dank sea-monsters crouched and waiting.
We leave them where they are and let them rust:
“They’ll molder away and be like other loam.”
We make our oxen drag our rusty plows,
Long laid aside. We have gone back
Far past our fathers’ land.
And then, that evening
Late in the summer the strange horses came.
We heard a distant tapping on the road,
A deepening drumming; it stopped, went on again
And at the corner changed to hollow thunder.
We saw the heads
Like a wild wave charging and were afraid.
We had sold our horses in our fathers’ time
To buy new tractors. Now they were strange to us
As fabulous steeds set on an ancient shield
Or illustrations in a book of knights.
We did not dare go near them. Yet they waited,
Stubborn and shy, as if they had been sent
By an old command to find our whereabouts
And that long-lost archaic companionship.
In the first moment we had never a thought
That they were creatures to be owned and used.
Among them were some half a dozen colts
Dropped in some wilderness of the broken world,
Yet new as if they had come from their own Eden.
Since then they have pulled our plows and borne our loads,
But that free servitude still can pierce our hearts.
Our life is changed; their coming our beginning.

I studied this in Year Ten English and I remember my best friend Becky drawing a picture of horses stampeding while my teacher read it. It’s been in my mind ever since but only recently have I actually tried to find it. And here it is.