SMALL BUT PERFECTLY FORMED

Why hello there and I'm terribly sorry for my absence of late. I've started a 9-5 job, been on a holiday, been busy exploring London and now, recently, started looking for a new house...

WHICH IS COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE!!

Why, fellow residents of London, do you all have to be moving just when I want to, as well?

I mean really, that's so selfish of you.

Anyway I've been getting some serious house inspo from the likes of Pinterest, Refinery29 and Dezeen...and all I can think of is how I might just buy a van, pack up my shit, leave it at my parents house and run away with my toothbrush and a clean pair of pants.

Or, living in this pretty perfect tiny house could be another possibility...

See more of this idyllic place after the jump.

WHY EAT SALAD?

Um yes to that. If chocolate is salad, then I can eat as much of it as I like, right?!

Well I mean everything in moderation but not salad, surely not salad. 

Those leaves that contain basically nothing but water and air.

Tasty only with a good dressing drizzled over them. 

Just the naked leaves?!

Not really my cup of tea.

Chocolate that takes on the guise of a vitamin though?

Now that, that is something I can get behind.

Check out my latest (and first!) review for Riddle Magazine, which sees me raving about the simplicity of a chocolate bar full of vitamins, right over here.

I'm just kicking myself that I didn't think of it first.

Pic from *WELL SAID* on @ivrashton Pinterest

MONDAY MOTIVATION #22

Because no-one's bad-ass, multi-million pound, female empowering empire was.

Busy trying to create my own empire right here but realising that it's going to take time so

I. Must. Be. Patient.

You know they (that is the people who know stuff) always said patience is a virtue?!

Well I've always called bull**** before.

I'm as impatient as they come and I just want everything to happen now.

I don't want to have to wait for someone to email/call me back or wait for the right job/man/puppy to come along you know?!

But then I read this quote and realised, it's ok, because even

Beyoncé wasn't built in a day.

If she can't even do it in a day then I've got no chance. 

So I might as well sit around in my gym kit, trawl through Instagram for more #recipes and (at least try to) patiently wait.

For more Beyoncé inspo, head over to one of my favourite brand's blogs, FrankBody, to see how they rule like Queen B.

Pic from *WELL SAID* on @ivrashton Pinterest

A FINE LINE

Playing with darkness and light.

A trick of the light is never an accident of the darkness. 

Weird that. 

Darkness is just an absence of light.

But then surely light is simply an absence of the dark.

Why is the light always given a power over the dark?

Who said the dark was less powerful than light?

Darkness conceals the secrets and the light reveals them.

Who's to say which has the greater power?

Pic from *SUMMER MOODS* on Pinterest

BATHIN

Nothing quite beats a good soak. It can cure even the worst of moods/hair days/spots.

You name it, for me a bath fixes it.

Now, I thought that sadly I was going to be moving out of bath season but no, the English weather system seems to have gone mad. 

Snow...in April?!

Guess I'll cherish my baths for a little longer.

More inspo after the jump

MONDAY MOTIVATION #21

Just seeking some wisdom from Mr Bowie on this Monday evening as I head into a week of final exams at school.

Two tomorrow and two on Thursday. 

Crazy to think 6 months is already up and as of next week I will officially join the unemployed ranks of twenty-somethings in London all struggling to find a job/get shit together/feed themselves.

I'm trying not to think about it really as it seems to be a rather daunting few months ahead.

But as Bowie so wisely pointed out,

I don't know where I'm going from here,

but I promise it won't be boring.

Pic from @ivrashton *WELL SAID* Pinterest

DUSTY WALKS

Fav girl, fav brand. Taking a wander along an empty road, kicking up dust in some bad ass biker boots, majestic desert mountains as the backdrop.

Equipment's latest campaign makes me want to run away to the wilderness, albeit clad in silk shirts, ripped jeans and cowboy boots. 

I love the breezy effortlessness with which the photographer has captured Caroline. It looks like they were the easiest moments to shoot, the sunlight perfectly silhouetting her at points and then illuminating her at others. 

Safe to say my next holiday begs to be more desert than beach but we'll see how long this English freezing weather holds out as I might just change my mind.

For now though I'll long for candy striped shirts and baby soft cotton tees.

Check out the video of the campaign here to see for yourself how amazing the girl, the clothes and the landscape go together. Oh and to catch a glimpse of the sweetest dog ever.

Seems a pretty perfect woman to showcase to celebrate International Women's Day. 

Caroline de Maigret 

Equipment Spring 2016 Lookbook

More after the jump

IN MY CALVINS

Sunday afternoon, going into tea time, excuse me while I slip into my matching underwear set and arrange my hair artfully on the pillow...

Ha sure, right because that's what I'd rather be doing. Not hugging a mug of tea dreaming of which biscuit I'm going to dunk in it.

Excuse the cynicism. Because I actually really love this campaign for Calvin Klein Spring/Summer 2016. I don't really know why. But I just think it's shot so beautifully and the tag lines are just so clever.

It was shot by Tyrone Lebon, my latest photography obsession. He shot a recent editorial in last month's Vogue on location in Jamaica and it was beautiful and effortless in one moment. And I think that's what he's captured in these photos.

The effortless of wearing Calvin Klein. 

What do you do in #yourCalvins? Something perhaps a little more ambitious than tea drinking?!

More shots after the jump

SCANDI CHIC

A weekend away...just what the doctor ordered.

End of January, rainy, dreary, grey and who's super sensible and booked flights before Christmas?! In the sale!! 

Uh-huh, oh yea, that's me (insert smug looking emoji face).

Copenhagen baby, here I come!

Friday lunch to Sunday night - a whistle stop tour, a girls mini break, a few days to eat, drink and try and soak up some of that Scandi style that pictures so beautifully capture.

For now I'm attempting to cram my life into an x by y by w dimensioned holdall (carry-on bag only)...and it's not going so well...so far I have three outfits, a toothbrush, one pair of (hopefully) non-laddered tights and five pairs of pants...

I'll let you know how I get on on the fashion front.

I won't be posting on here but I'll be on my Instagram , obviously.

See you on Monday!

Oh and I realise that Camille is French but her style is just so Scandinavian - and her and Pernille together are just perfection.

Pic via Pinterest

GREEN FINGERS

I'm not sure why but at the moment I am craving a bit of greenery in my life.

No no, not the obligatory green juice Instagram shot but real living things.

Plants, trees, grass, anything that isn't grey in colour, I'm up for.

Maybe it has something to do with living in a city. Probably more something to do with the freezing weather we're having sucking any sign of life out of the ground.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan of those days where the air hurts your chest but the sky is a piercing blue and the sun is low in the sky.

But green plants?! You just can't beat 'em. And nothing lifts a room like a plant.

More plant porn after the jump.

EARN YOUR STRIPES

It is from my sick bed that I write. Me and the rest of the world right?!

Why is it, second week into January, when everything is picking up, when the to do list is ever lengthening, that one always ALWAYS gets sick?! 

I'm bored and kind of hungry but not really. And completely addicted to The Affair. 

Not all bad I guess.

Also stumbled across this incredible shoot from last months British Vogue. Making me dream of being sun kissed and wrapped in a big striped button-down shirt. Oh and shot by one of the most amazing photographers in the bizz.

P.E.R.F.E.C.T.I.O.N

Vogue UK Jan 2016

By Alasdair McLellan

See more of my love of stripes over on @ivrashton Pinterest *STRIPES*

SHIRT ON SKIN

Ok I'll admit it. 

Right now I'm not thinking about the million and one things I've left myself to do before school starts again next week. And I'm not thinking of my best friend's birthday present that I still haven't got or the fact that I just spent the money I'd saved on a top I do not need. 

And I definitely am not thinking about the open box of Lint chocolates sitting on top of the microwave...

No, I'm thinking about this campaign. About the simplicity of its beauty, of the two women who feature in it and the perfect shirts that adorn one of them.

Kate and Daria. 

A match made in genetic heaven.

Why oh why do my mirror selfies never ever look quite this good?! Even if I do try and filter them in black and white. 

Enjoy the rest of this beautiful shoot after the jump.

Meanwhile those chocolates just seem to have fallen into my lap...resolutions?! 

Oh leave me in peace. It's the weekend.

NICOLE

Meet Nicole Huisman.

She's awesome. I know you're going to like her.

IT AIN'T WHAT YOU'RE EATING

Stumbled across this poem on the amazing Man Repeller blog the other day and it just rang so true of my summer, in which nearly all my socialising revolves around food.

There's nothing better than getting everyone together and devouring dish after dish of home cooked food and Pinterest-inspired cocktails.

So thank you to the Man Repeller's Writer's Club for a poem that perfectly encapsulates my summer.

The best meal I ever had
wasn’t a meal
it was a Bloody Mary
every morning the summer of 2013, to be exact.
A mason jar full of vodka and heart-friendly polyphenols
with my best friend in the heart of our college town;
High July in Alabama and as at home as anyone can ever be.
I had a crush on every bartender in the restaurant.

The best meal I ever had
was spaghetti
sprinkled with inexplicable bits of bone
under a metal awning on a hillside in Greece.(It was the best meal ever
because my grandfather,
with crinkly, mischievous eyes,
told my brother he ordered him beef
and later revealed it to be lamb genitalia.)

The best meal I ever had
was a bowl of ramen in Paris
with a new friend, in a city I had run to
to soothe the wound of being a post-grad.
The broth was mainly butter, bad for your heart but good for your soul.
We both woke at 4 a.m. with a stranded-in-the-desert thirst,
and yet, every Sunday, a text: “Ramen?”

The best meal I ever had
was the morning after New Year's Eve
back in our hometown during our first year of college
at our favorite high school restaurant.
We began 2011 in giddy, morning-drunk laughter
because under my bootcut gray sweatpants I was wearing the only shoes I had:
glittering, black, pointy-toed stilettos.

The best meal I ever had
has happened many times.
It happens whenever my dad lowers his crab cages
into the murky Severn river
and we drink cheap beer and get Old Bay in our eyes
and I marvel at his picking skills, and feel grateful that he taught me.

You see, I could rhapsodize for days
about burrata, mille-feuille and tender medallions of ostrich,
crunchy golden beets, smoked bacon with caramelized bourbon sauce
and really anything in the sandwich family.

But ambience is nothing without conversation
and appetizers fall flat without affection
and after 23 years of loving food,
there’s one thing I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt:
It ain’t what you’re eating,
it’s who you’re eating it with.

Pic via *GARDENS* on Pinterest

MONDAY MOTIVATION #19

Lacking in inspiration this Monday because all I've been doing for the last week is staring at a keyboard. And a computer screen. And a book.

Appreciating this clever arrangement but unfortunately the only thing out of control is the amount of hours I spend staring at these precise keys.

But in three weeks time this will all change.

Countdown to dissertation hand in is on.

I am ALT of CTRL.

Pic via *WELL SAID* on Pinterest

SEXY MULLET

This hairstyle is one that I rock almost daily, the only solution to a bad hair day/windy day/can-I-really-leave-the-house-with-my-hair-like-this kinda day.

And all of a sudden it is having a 'moment,' models on shoots and fashion-y people are looking oh so effortlessly undone.

Whether your hair is long or short or straight or curly, this is every girl's solution.

So next time I scrunch up half my hair in a top knot in the library computer room I will remember that this is what all the cool kids are doing.

Pics Tumblr, Pinterest

ALMOST THE WEEKEND #12

Today's tune and the first of 2015 is an oldie but goodie that never fails to put me in a good mood.

Even if the only things I can see on the horizon are looming deadlines and a whole lot of (really quite boring) reading.

Oh well. Down my book goes. There's nothing like a quick musical interlude.

Baba O'Riley - THE WHO

Pic from *SUMMER MOODS* on Pinterest

ALMOST THE WEEKEND #11

Stuck in the library, endlessly reading incredibly dull books and the Coldplay album Ghost Stories is the only thing getting me through.

Although it is short (only 40 mins) it is the perfect music to work to or simply to take a time out from the monotony of essay writing.

This song is my absolute favourite on their...and the Kygo remix of it isn't too bag either.

Midnight - COLDPLAY

Pic from *TRAVEL* on Pinterest

THREE STRIPE

The three striped wonder that is Adidas.

Stan Smith, Superstar, Gazelle...they have become the only brand to rock on the streets.

Channelled by Isabel in her campaigns and rocked by Phoebe, what other compliment do they need?!

I've got my eye on a pair of Superstars myself...but for now I'm just contenting myself trawling through all those luscious snaps on Pinterest.

Pics Tumblr & Pinterest

ALMOST THE WEEKEND #10

Back to uni, back in England, back to some amazing music at the moment.

Love this new song, kind of dancy but can still lie in bed and just enjoy it...slightly hungover as I am today.

Or alternatively grab your skateboard and some friends and head off down an open road...not that I've ever skated before of course...but I can still think it's unbelievably cool no?!

Changing - SIGMA FT. PALOMA FAITH

Pic. from *SKATER CHIC* on Pinterest