Around the middle of week two, something unlocked in me and I was able to find stillness for long enough to start producing work again. Now I get about four hours a day when I can write, think and be a little productive. So I figured I would use some of that time to share some things on here that have been inspiring, have made me smile or have made my life a little more comfortable through this.

For my first post, I would like to re-introduce you to my friend Maurice – you might remember seeing his photo diaries on here a few years back. He is now working on a photo documentary project called Tijuana Teens. Through it he sheds light on the unique life of teens living in a border town, experimenting with dual cultures and forging an identity. His work is a mix of candid party shots and styled shoots taking inspiration from his own teenage years spent between Los Angeles and Tijuana.

Click on the images to view the full photo.

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Casa Perfect 2.0 was Elvis’ old Los Angeles home, I may have to dig out some photos for you… This new one is a 70s dream land, complete with coral wall to wall carpeting, linen wallpaper and beige brick accent walls. With my interiors hat on, I got to do some actual shopping at Casa Perfect for some clients and it was a fabulous out of body experience.

I won’t go into too much detail right now as I have to drink my morning smoothie and head to NOEIN HQ, but I leave you with some photos of yet another Los Angeles dream house, filled with insane design pieces. Enjoy!

A big thank you to my friend Allan from Bungalow5dk for capturing me in my natural habitat.

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So I did what anyone would do, I reached for a pair of jeans, a tee-shirt and a sweat shirt and called it a day. Did I love my look? Nah. Did I feel like it represented my personality? Nah. Did it excite me? Naaaaah. But it looked alright. I could have thrown on some accessories but I didn’t bother. Why should I? 

And this is how I realised I was in the midst of a mid-life style rut. I didn’t see it coming. Didn’t think it would happen to me. I used to tell people what to wear for a living. Then L.A. happened, my time in the fashion industry seems like a distant memory. The shine of the sequins and Atelier Swarovski crystals is dimming in my mind. I’m left with faithful basics. Bit boring.

I consulted with the oracle (my girlfriends group chat on WhatsApp) and we concluded I just needed to try everything. Even stuff i had snubbed before. Stuff I thought wasn’t me. 

I am trying EVERYTHING. From any brand. Any shape. Any print, colour or style. I even tried Stitch Fix (plot twist: it was awful – they sent me a full Karen outfit, I didn’t even open the box and sent it back). I tried on all the dresses from ASOS. Ended up keeping one. My family is the official jury of this experiment and they get regular fashion shows. I feel sorry for them but they indulge me. 

I am also trying to re-appropriate my own stuff of course. I put together whacky outfits just to see how they feel. Some of them have felt pretty good, some… didn’t make it out the door (of my closet). 

So I ask you, my 40-something readers – I know you are there somewhere- what do you wear? How do you deal with such feelings? How do you keep shit fresh? Tell me in the comments or slide in my insta DMs.

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Fast forward 28 years, I find myself on a plane to the Big Apple where I am going to spend a few days with some friends from London. It’s my life and I’m living it! NYC and I are about to get reacquainted. We both aged since we last met… NYC went the botox and extreme plastic surgery route (post-gentrification, chain stores and developers dreams), meanwhile I just let it all hang loose.

It started pretty well, I was blasting the Beastie Boys’ “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” as I came off the red eye from L.A. (seemed apt), and as my Lyft turned the corner on Queens Blvd, the Manhattan skyline appeared, skyscrapers lost in the morning mist. It surprised me as I was daydreaming about the strange landscapes I’d observed during the long flight.

We flew over Kentucky – or maybe it was Kansas? – and I saw a flower shaped network of towns. It was so quiet down there I wanted to land and hug these towns. I made a mental note to go back there on a road trip. On my plane there was a vampire, a washed-out rockstar and a guy dressed like Jeff Koons’ gold Michael Jackson statue. 

In NYC, the air is sticky and warm like hot toffee pudding. Quite different from what I have grown accustomed to in Los Angeles. Here the air feels like a freshly opened oven. I guess if Los Angeles is a sauna, New York is a steam room.

Driving through Flushing Queens, the Beastie Boys get replaced by the opening credits of “The Nanny“. I quickly take inventory of all of her outfits in my mind. That should provide me with some inspiration for my own outfits during my stay. Feels good to be in a stylish place. Los Angeles is stylish in a lazy way. Works for me most of the time, I am definitely of the jeans and tee-shirt or jumpsuit persuasion.

I don’t really know what to think of NYC. I expected to walk around Williamsburg and sit at cute cafés, rummage for vintage clothes, ponce around between meals and wander into Manhattan. Except in my head obviously the place is empty. Well, not quite empty-empty, but L.A. style empty. Just buzzy enough.

I was eager to see some of the sights again and had a few museums and foundations sitting on my bucket list: the Tenement Museum, Donald Judd Foundation and Noguchi Museum. Above all, I wanted to eat my way through the city because that’s how I like to travel.

The museums and foundations were akin to a religious experience. The Tenement Museum was a truly magical, introspective experience about immigration in the States. This is something I think about often, coming from a family of immigrants on both sides, and having lived as an immigrant in the U.K. and now here in the States. The Donald Judd Foundation and Noguchi Museum went straight into my top five favourite places in the world…

We had the best breakfast at Russ & Daughters, Michelin star Szechuan cuisine at Café China – I also had sad pasta salads on the roof of my hotel when the city’s energy became all a bit much for me. My hotel room was tiny, like a little nest, bed cosily framed by a large sliding window. I retreated there happily at the end of a long day wandering around. I could watch the sun set over Brooklyn from my bed as people went about their lives, a few stories down.

It turns out, New York isn’t the one for me. I used to love the buzz of a massive city. That excitement brought me to London, but I grew out of love with London and fled to the West Coast where life is slow and easy (on most days). New York reminded me of all that I left behind. The long days, the crowds, the weather… This trip reminded me why I don’t miss it. Why Los Angeles is the one for me. For now.

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OMG you guys. It’s been a while. It may have even been a while and a half, I am not even sure. I fell asleep and I woke up and it was the year 3076, blogs were obsoletes and I was actually deceased. 

Yet here I am. Ever the crafty one, I built a time-machine in 3076 (yes from beyond the grave) and I beamed myself back to 2019. I found a tiny 11″ laptop and a sofa and I figured: why not?

I came back here to ask you and ask myself some very fundamental questions, such as: do I even still like triangles? Are they a thing? Were they ever? Is my cat really stealing the dog’s food?!? Well yes, it would appear that greedy f***er is stealing my dog’s food!!!

You know what though? I missed writing a blog. Instagram is insta-boring, I can’t deal with writing stuff (meaningful or not) on my phone’s tiny keyboard, while fighting with predictive text and going cross-eyed / blind. Some people do it great. It’s just not my thing. I realised it doesn’t actually need to be my thing. I can tell other people how to do it. But for me? Meh. 

Wanna know what’s not so boring? My life. It’s been full of action in the past million years since I last wrote on here. Not sure why I stopped. Lack of time, lack of motivation, severe burnout (I did ride this pony for over a decade) – a great collaborative effort. Now I live in Los Angeles, I told you that already, I guess it hasn’t been that long after all… See ya in 30 years! Only joking.  Maybe. 

The truth is I was just sitting here replying to some work emails (yeah I haven’t just been living off of my royalties all of that time) and my mind wandered over to wordpress. I felt like I might have to “update some plug-ins”. And indeed I did. But clearly I needed to write something. 

And here I am, a few paragraphs further down the page, trying to figure out how the new wordpress works while trying to figure out what I can even tell you about my life. Are you even interested? Do I care? I guess time will tell. I feel excited about blogging again like I did in 2007 though. Writing for my mum and a handful of friends was nice. A happy and carefree place I wish to reclaim now. I may have made a few new friends along the way, some of you have been following me from platform to platform for many years, like as many goombas running after Mario. No, I am not wearing red dungarees, but this could be arranged. No, there probably won’t be an outfit post to prove it, you will have to take my word for it.

GAWD, it feels good to hear the familiar tappity-tap-tap of my macbook keyboard. It is SO good. So so good. 

So where do I begin/begin again?

Did you think I was going to start with a heart to heart? A wholesome overshare? I thought about it. It will come in time. I have a lot to catch you up on. Life has been weird out here. It’s been quite the ride. I met some awesome people, I met some toxic people. On balance it worked out though. 

Oh I know where to begin! I went to NYC last week. It was my first time back there since I was 12 years old. That’s a whole 28 years ago. I can’t even tell you if it changed as I don’t even remember what it was like then. I also can’t remember what I had for lunch today. Actually scratch that, I can. I had kelp pesto noodles, they were delicious.

Back to NYC… I didn’t love it. I might write a whole post about it, because it deserves an explanation. So perhaps that’s not the first thing I should be telling you.

Perhaps I could tell you that I started a cool company with a friend. It’s called NOEIN. It’s fairly new, but doing well. Working with a friend is endlessly rewarding too. She’s so smart and the perfect partner. It’s really hard to catch up after that long, isn’t it? Maybe I will just skim on a few things and then dig deeper over time. 

We bought a house. Looks like Los Angeles is our real home now. It’s nice, has a yard for the dog, beams for the cat, bedrooms for the humans and a great view over the hills and the Golden State Freeway. The perfect way to fuel my imagination. I love looking at cars and imagining what people are doing and where they are going. Most likely they are thinking “how much longer must I be stuck in traffic? Do I now live in my car? Is this my life?” but who knows. 

I could tell you about my discovery of American culture and people, about the general weirdness of Los Angeles. I probably will. But not now. You will have to check back in. I can’t give it all up on the first date now, can I?

 If you’ve been around for a while, hope you are doing great! If you somehow stumbled upon this page, welcome. This blog used to be quite organised and with great added value. If that’s what you are after, you should go visit my friends’ blogs instead. I intend on reviving this site mostly to host the ramblings of a mad woman (dis me) and occasionally chat with you about things we all care about. I might even invite a guest or two here and there, who knows. 

This is just a platform. Welcome (back) to my platform.

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