the enchanted hunters

Cheers, big ears

2012-04-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, it's the smallest things that make me smile the most. I've never been an animal print fan but I couldn't resist this faceless little Urban Outfitters make-up bag (dying tulips: stylist's own).

"St Petersburg travel tips"

2012-04-16T12:08:00.003-07:00

I always wondered why Russian novels seem to go round in circles, tied up with their own doomy red tape. I felt a bit doomy myself last Sunday when we returned from St Petersburg but, the more I tell the stories, the more people laugh, and it strikes me as funnier and funnier. So. Here's my long weekend or, rather, a series of tips for those wishing to go there. Don't expect it to be

We broke free

2012-03-14T11:34:00.001-07:00

I've been hiding for a month. But I've also... Been to Yayoi Kusama's bizarre, brilliant show at the Tate Modern. It keeps selling out, but worth a trip to see an artist who can move from delicate, surreal, minutely detailed images to constructing huge fabric boats and self-conscious pop art happenings involving a horse and some polka dots. Bought this peachy/goldy sparkly jumper. I love it,

Anything Goes

2012-02-06T13:13:00.000-08:00

After falling for silent film (and award magnet) The Artist, I realised I'd bought but not read a biography of the Twenties last year. Lucy Moore's 2008 Anything Goes opens with a line that's far longer than anything I'd usually quote but goes some way to explaining why I'm enjoying this book so much. Here goes: "What made me decide to write about the 1920s in America was an increasingly

On insomnia

2012-02-05T06:29:00.000-08:00

I've always liked dreams, whether it's Dali's proper lush sequence in Spellbound or someone droning all over Twitter about wearing a squirrel outfit in their head last night. Hate 'em? You're probably zzzing all over your keyboard. Best skip this post. Perhaps I like dreams because I've never been a good sleeper. My mum says that, even as a baby, I used to fight my way through to the morning. I

Invincible Summer

2012-02-01T12:28:00.000-08:00

Matthew Kaven Brooks knows what I'm thinking. Found via the marvellous Sandra Beijer.

Hobbs NW3

2012-01-28T07:49:00.000-08:00

Some London postcodes say a lot. Like WC1 (jazz hands pubs, bad noodles), E8 (too many flat whites, ludicrous hair) or N22 (motorised scooters stopping in front of buses to shout at the driver, resigned passengers). Hobbs must have been keeping a close eye on Whistles last year, because, although the nanbrand's young diffusiony range NW3 has been going for a while, it's only starting to look like

Hastings: Seaside Secondhand & Dishermen

2012-01-15T12:22:00.000-08:00

I love the English seaside, especially out of season. No idea why, but I like overcast pebble beaches, eating candy floss on benches, deserted crazy golf and gaming arcades. So a surprise pre-birthday weekend away to Hastings and St Leonards-on-Sea, next door towns full of bric-a-brac shops and Formica tabled fish'n'chip places, was very well chosen indeed. Here's the view from my bed at the

Only Shallow

2012-01-09T13:44:00.000-08:00

You know those days when you're throwing your hands at the keyboard as fast as you can for twelve hours straight, pausing only to throw your hands at the keyboard and CONSUME? Last Friday was one of those days. I bought this: Whistles lurex jumper And this: Dress with '3' print, NW3 And this: TBA at Urban Outfitters, reduced to £40 Yes, I know (and I'm using this post to shame myself into

Three-book break

2012-01-04T14:00:00.000-08:00

This Christmas, I mostly read and, for once, they were all corkers. Wise Children Another Xmas holiday side project was working on a V&A book about Hollywood's Golden Age so I found this Angela Carter book in a Crouch End charity shop at just the right time. It's a rich, dense, dazzlingly mad romp through the lives of the Lucky Chance sisters, Dora and Nora, through their time hoofing it in

Revert to type

2012-01-02T10:11:00.000-08:00

I was going to write one of those end of year round-up blogs, like I did last year, but, what with everything else that's happened in the world in 2011, my stuff seems like hubristic small fry. Yes, even more hubristic than having your own blog in the first place. Next year, I'd like to be proper cracking at my day job (working on the wonderful Google Places). I'd like to write more and write

Curtis Brown Creative course

2011-12-26T11:26:00.000-08:00

2011 was a crazy up and down kind of year for me, but one of the undoubted highlights was doing the Curtis Brown creative course. Run by mega-agency Curtis Brown, whose clients range from David 'One Day' Nicholls to Twihottie Robert Pattison, it's a twelve-week novel writing course that first ran in April. I didn't apply for it then, but talented old Catherine Bray did, and reminded me to apply

Free Crappy Portraits

2011-12-24T06:26:00.000-08:00

I just got the best Christmas present - a picture of me, done by Free Crappy Portraits! And, yes, there's nothing like seeing a list of your likes (rendered beautifully as a desk full of Jason Schwartzman and a yellow dress I'd love to own) for making you realise you're a megacliche. Happy Christmas!

Feliz Navidad

2011-12-20T15:09:00.000-08:00

Every year, my housemate's brother Juan makes a Christmas video with his friends. Last year's video was a fluffy take on Telephone. This year, it's Katy Perry getting politicised. So fun; hope you like them too.

November/December

2011-12-13T12:02:00.000-08:00

As usual, I'm sliding towards the end of the year at breakneck-speed and no time to blog, so here are a few things I've been up recently. There was me thinking I'd been a total hermit... In the spirit of joyless efficency I'm going for a kind of head girl look this autumn, which really comes from only wearing cardigans and collars. Last week I worked out my Krakow misery holiday memoir cardigan

Cruella de Vil does disco

2011-11-19T07:15:00.000-08:00

My two loves of the week - one, a ridiculous new Cruella de Vil does disco top from Jaeger Boutique. Secondly, last night my friend and I were allegedly DJing but actually talking about Gwen Stefani. She reminded me how much I love this video; the song's proper pop and the looks (platinum finger waves, Oxford bags, powdered faces) are perfect. The shadows running down the hall!

Beauty & Essex

2011-11-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

I've only gone and got myself a new job working on Google Places for my beloved old London. Last week, I went over to New York to meet my new team and, as you'd expect from types who make their living knowing all the best places, the NY community ladies showed us a fine time. My favourite, helped along by a heartbreakingly blue sky, was brunch at Beauty and Essex on the Lower East Side. From

Stuff I've Done

2011-11-07T12:47:00.000-08:00

As a bumbling Brit, self-promotion doesn't always come easy, although even having a blog is obviously an indication that I'm vainer and more of a show off than many of my countrymen. So, y'know, here are a few things I've worked on recently (subliminal message: BUY MY BOOKS)... Those talented Domestic Sluttery ladies have brought out this book, Cheat Your Way To The Perfect Lifestyle, which

Hanna Melin's 'nana necklace

2011-11-03T02:00:00.000-07:00

Another day, another impulse purchase from Lik + Neon. Hanna Melin is (or, rather, draws) Bananaman! Buy online here. I'm eyeing up the mixtape print.

Henoween

2011-10-31T02:09:00.000-07:00

Hen parties. Even the phrase makes my face curl up in memory of spendy weekends wearing the same hat/t-shirt/amusing headgear as a big gang of women you don't know too well. My friend Kate got married back in May, when I was overdosing on chorizo at Primavera Festival, so six of us went away this weekend (she's honeymooning in January, just to spread out the celebrations even more). Kate loves

Pounds and Drums

2011-10-11T14:30:00.000-07:00

The country. Not great for listless teenagers or snacks past midnight; great for calling your mum without the wailing po po starting up right by your ear and, closest to my heart, charity shops. This weekend's trip to see Caitlin Moran and dear old national treasure Jarvis Cocker at Cheltenham Literary Festival took in a few choice chazzas of my youth and what treasure they turned up. A heavy,

Pale September

2011-10-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

Oh dear. I never wanted to be one of those bloggers, the ones that begin a post by apologising for how absent they've been, but after two weeks (the shame, the shame) it's unavoidable. So what's my excuse? What have I been doing this September that's better than blogging? I moved house. Again. Why, yes, that is twice in three months. It's worth it though, because my new place is lovely and

Eleven Objects

2011-09-14T06:03:00.000-07:00

The circularity of Fashion (the kind that refers to itself with a capital) always amazes me, and sometimes the thing that goes around and comes around is more welcome than others. Thanks to my Mad Men hips, I can take or leave trouser suits, but dresses, brogues and Peter Pan collars can stay forever, thanks. I heard about Eleven Objects on White Lightning's instagram (follow her, it's a world

My Band T-Shirt

2011-09-06T12:14:00.000-07:00

Back in the Nineties when I was, objectively, the least cool teenager in Gloucestershire, this flammable pale blue football shirt was one of my prize possessions. Ian Wade and Jude Roger's site, My Band T-Shirt, tells the stories behind all those raggedy bits of fabric that show the world who your favourite bands are. Read mine, about Blur at Mile End in 1995, here.

Autumn

2011-08-30T15:09:00.001-07:00

I put this shot of my silly new leprechaun shoes on Instagram the other day and Caroline replied that it was a properly autumnal picture. Leaves, tights, proper shoes not sandals...I can't deny it. As someone with skin the colour of milk jelly, I've always liked autumn, even when it comes much too soon. Reasons why: * Hibernation. Coming home in the evening and not leaving the house for