Tiny Tiger Tidbits

Look how cute. I was roaming Hounslow today and just so happened to stumble upon a Tiger store! It’s a little dangerous for me knowing it’s there… Who knows how much money I’m going to spend purchasing little unnecessary trinkets like a tiny grater or a tea-light lantern? (A lot, I figure.)

But, I was overjoyed to find it today because I was on the desperate hunt for storage. How exciting, eh?

I found these gorgeous pentagonal wire baskets – I figure I could use one for mail and one for make-up palettes, or whatever else I find astray.

Tiger: Black and Chrome coloured baskets. £4 each.

I also found this orange hanging basket: the last of its kind. In the store, the rest of them were black. I had to snap up this little beauty before someone else could get their mittens on it!

I’m going to use this as an ‘essentials’ basket: it’ll hold my keys, my purse and a couple of other important things that I forget more often than I’d like to! Practical and stylish, no?

Tiger. Orange hanging basket. £3.

I'm still playing around with where I want these (I have a lot of naked shelves I need to fill!) but this is where they will live for now. I think they're tidy, hassle-free and I love the minimalist look of the pentagonal baskets juxtaposed against the more rustic look of the orange hanging basket. But I feel like they belong together because they have the same symmetrical wire look. Like basket cousins maybe!

Weee, love all around.

L.

(The link will direct you to the Tiger Stores website, although you will not be able to purchase anything online. You can only purchase items in store. There is information on where the closest Tiger store to you will be :) Also, as a disclaimer, this post is not sponsored.)

Ripped Jeans

Bonjour!

(For some reason, I had an overwhelming urge to say, 'farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye!' ...But that's not how it goes, is it?)

Back to the point: I've been wearing jeans a lot for just lounging about in the house in. I'm basically treating everyday like a Sunday at the moment. That isn't necessarily bad, because it was on one of these 'Sundays' that I decided my jeans were just too, well, boring. I very rarely buy a new pair of jeans (just because the jeans I do buy are from Topshop and boy do you get a lot of wear!). I decided instead to tszuj* a pair up!

I nominated my black Jamie jeans to go under the knife (or in this case, scissors) because they have faded to a charcoal-kinda black and so looked a little more worn than the others. This, I think, added to the whole effect of distress which was a win win.

If you want to see this process or are just curious to how well they turned out, I decided to give my hand to editing (or attempting to).

Please do go check out the little video I mushed together (it is only 39 seconds long! yay for efficiency, amiright?)

Thanks a bunch in advance. I owe you all a smile of appreciation.

L.

*tszuj or ʒuʒ in IPA form. y'know that word that's a complete ball ache to use in written form but utilised daily (or for me, anyway) in day to day life? the symbols that look like a 3 that grew a lot during puberty are pronounced like the 's' in casual. hope that makes sense. you know what I'm talking about, right? derp.

Kina Grannis

...way back when I was a young'un, (I mean even more baby-faced than I am now) I stumbled upon a lady called Kina Grannis. I watched her 'Gotta Have You' by The Weepies cover with her sister, Emi. I watched her cover of 1234 by Feist. I got hooked.

When you're starting out at high school as I was then, people often underestimate how far little things go. And week in, week out, watching these videos on YouTube were my little sanctuary at 6 o'clock in the evenings. This was so far back that you could actually e-mail Kina herself and request shout-outs to be posted at the end of her videos (a random message, a birthday wish etc) and I did this several times. I ordered a signed copy of her first LP Stairwells: it was the first thing I'd ever ordered online. I used my dad's card. I fudged a lot of it up. (Who knew Address 1/Address 2 meant the lines of your address and not to put two different addresses 'just in case'?!?!)

 I think the thought of ever seeing her live was a little crazy because a) she was from Cailfornia and b) I was 11 and lived in the remote countryside of England.

But hey, crazy can. happen. My decision of going to university in London has blessed me with so many opportunities and the one I have cherished the most is watching (AND MEETING, EEEK) Kina Grannis. This is the modern fangirl-tale. Kina announced her return to England after two years (the last time she was here, I was merely but a fifteen year old child living 3 and a half hours away from London by car) and I rejoiced. Like, full on screamed 'hallelujah' into the ceiling of my room and memorised the date and time of the sale. And it was done.

If you still haven't heard of Kina Grannis, you're really missing out. Her compelling tone matched with the acoustic companion of her trusty guitar will bring you to your happy place. And it's brought the likes of Ellen Degeneres to hers too. Her new album, Elements, has such an attitudinal edge to it. It can't be described in a way that will do it justice, so maybe take a listen for yourself right here?

I do, of course, have a signed copy of Elements as well, and I'm going to try to make this a tradition.

Elements is the whole reason that Kina (and her wonderful husband/talented musician Imaginary Future) came to England/Europe. Their show was beyond amazing.

It was held at The Tabernacle in the Borough of Kensington/Chelsea.

Imaginary Future (aka. Jesse Epstein) was an astoundingly awe-inducing opener. He has such a charm, charisma and wit that emanates into the crowd, and then pauses time with his tranquil-toned voice. It's really, really captivating. You should definitely check out his music - my favourite song just so happens to be 'I Knew This Would Be Love' (*wink*).

Kina Grannis. *Deep breath* She was mind-blowing. She sang a couple of oldies and ended the show with The One You Say Goodnight To. It felt so surreal to have her stand a metre away from me. She brought Kate McGill (of Meadowlark) on to sing backup for a few of the songs and the harmonies felt like they could melt if they were touchable. I don't have enough words.

I also attended a free show at Westfield's (Shepherds Bush) as part of the Westfield's Present scheme. It was pretty spectacular and a good crowd of Kinerds were there to show their support. She played a lot more oldies which made me feel all kindsa nostalgic! Like, literally, my feels.

Here are some of the pictures I took and I might mush together the footage and create a little video. We'll see eh. Thanks for making it all the way to the end of this blogpost. I hope you're now a fan.

L.

Inconsistency

There are many inconsistencies in my life at the moment. And I'd like to share them with you.

Oh, where are my manners? Hi!

The first and foremost little hiccup is my inconsistent posting. A lot of people find excuses for this but I have to admit I've just been busy. Hopefully this summer will bring on a bunch of new and exciting blog posts for me to enjoy writing and my audience (which is growing post by post, thank you!) to enjoy reading. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Doesn't sound like a word anymore does it?

Anyways, I do solemnly swear to finally commit to this hobby and, fingers crossed, improve my blog for all the better :)

Secondly is my inconsistent location. I am currently at home in the middle of the countryside and it's such an antithesis of where I spend most of my days: London. Apart from the obvious hustle and bustle and, well, smog, the most prominent difference is company. I find myself spending a lot of time alone and not really having much at hand (apart from stroll the streets and look at the fields... *yawn*) to take the boredom away. There's probably going to be a +/- correlation with blogposts here somewhere.. haha) And as anyone blessed enough to have their parents live in their family home, too much of a good thing... (help. me.)

Within London is an inconsistency in itself: where I live. I'm fresh out of halls and have just obtained a flat. Me oh my, am I a grown up already? My recently savaged box of Alpro chocolate soya milk says quite the contrary...

I feel like whilst it is a huge relief to have a place waiting on my return, the stress in the meantime is a burden like no other. Okay, maybe it's parallel to the educational-doting comrades who survived the battle of A-Levels in that the whole summer is spent just waiting... (if you hold your *unconditional sign high up in the air and shake it in my face, get out. Also, congrats.)


Now I just need to put my "up-for--manual-labour" lapelled blazer on and get myself another job to fund my expensive decision to go to London. Funny how Bangor university got the last laugh.

All's well and good though and this is just my LONG winded word-vomit-style slur about schtuff. See you soon with a little (belated) piece about my long time love, Kina Grannis!

L.

Boxpark Shoreditch and Whole Foods

Shame on me for lack of consistency, but at least I can rhyme?

It's been a while, hasn't it? The month of May has brought on a plague of stress via exams, moving out and copious expenses for travel home/a deposit on a house/summer plans. Wah, cue breakdown. But, amidst all that anxiety-inducing nonsense, I have found time to indulge myself in the city I so keenly craved to belong in.

I visited the Boxpark and Whole Foods on two different days, but I felt that although they were both amazing experiences, they just didn't have enough meat for a blog post each. So much goodness in one great (here's hoping) blogpost.

First and foremost, Boxpark. A little background, if you will: Boxpark is situated in Shoreditch (ooh la trendy) not too far from Brick Lane. It's unique in that the pop up 'mall' is made solely of shipping containers, giving birth to the name. 

You can see more photos of my day on my Instagram!

I decided to visit Boxpark after stumbling upon the DumDumDoughnuts Instagram and oh lordy am I glad I did.

(Sidenote: DumDum Doughnuts are BAKED spheres of deliciousness and so worthy of a try they even sell them in Harrods! Ow fancy, eh guvna?!) 

The main reason was indeed to sink my teeth in the calorific joy that is a Dum Dum doughnut, but I stumbled upon many gems on the way. A tiny Nike store, a Gap, little boutiques that sold far from mainstream goodies? Yeah yeah YES. But my favourite, by far, was The Guardian coffee shop. Yeah, it's affiliated with The Guardian newspaper (tablets on the coffee table, woah woah, let you access news on the Guardian webpage for super efficient learning-on-the-go) but it's quaint and eccentric in its own right. 

Fuhfuhfuhfirstly, friendliest. staff. ever. Lookit, they posed for me.

Secondly, great mocha. No frills, straight to the brain caffeine. *Shiver*.

All you could possibly need in a coffee shop, no?

What about the other part of the collocation, 'food and drinks', ya say? Let's talk about Whole Foods shall we?

The Whole Foods I visited was in Piccadilly Circus, but if you want the holy grail, check out the one in Kensington... but only if you're ready for it.

I think that in this case, pictures will definitely speak louder than words and you can just soak in all the goodness. I have a feeling we all know about the Whole Foods fad. (If you don't, let's let the most reliable* Internet source give you a couple of their best answers... 

closed parenthesis. Hahaha.

Now onto the gooooooodddd stuff.

Seriously? Did an aisle in a supermarket ever look as good to you? Nah.

I hope you enjoyed this blogpost on, well, mainly things you can digest.  But let's not pretend that 1) I do anything but eat and 2) you don't either. 'Til next time.

L.

A Student’s Life For Me: Preparing for Uni.

These are just a couple of things I wish that someone had told me before I went to uni. I thought I'd share the wisdom so that you'd avoid the same mistakes I made (don't worry, I turned out alright).

1.     Do take a look at all the banks that offer student accounts and do your research! Don’t be naïve and choose one that gave out a free railcard last year simply for that reason. I did, and ended up with a taste-card instead. Rookie error.

2.     Do think ahead – don’t pick up your cutlery and pans in a last minute dash. You waste so much money when you “desperate buy”.

3.     Do remember that to feel at home, you’re going to probably want to personalise your room. That means cheap fairy lights from Amazon or the latest A2 poster of a topless model or a big old ball of blu-tac.

4.     Do save those pennies for a rainy day. Although your overdraft might pull you out of the deep end a few times, you can’t always rely on it. If you have a little safety net, you’re not going to need to drink Blue Lagoon just because it’s the cheapest from Spoons. Ew.

5.     Don’t bring all of your clothes. If you’re lucky, you’ll have a little rail in a tiny wardrobe to put your threads and not much else. (Plus, the less you bring, the more you can buy!)

6.     Do sign up for an NUS (if you think you’ll benefit from it) and get an Advantage (Boots), Nectar (Sainsbury’s) and Tesco (…you can figure it out) card. They’re free and they slice off the pounds in more ways than you think!

7.     Do set up two e-mail addresses (if you don’t have two already)– one for important messages (firstname/lastname/@_______ not mrschanningtatum/mrchanningtatum/dudewheresmymail or anything that, y’know… is fun) and one for all your Student Beans goodness, email confirmations for tickets and that completely unnecessary ukulele you just purchased.

8.     Don’t skimp out on Fresher’s. Buy a bunch of tickets and if you don’t want to go to any, sell them! Obviously don’t buy a whole week’s worth… unless you think you can handle a seven day rampage.

9.     Don’t think you’re invincible. You’re going to get sick and your parent isn’t going to be there to bring you soup. Sob. Actually, to be honest, I was really upset about this.  But you can whip up a chicken noodle or a bacon sarnie just as well as they can.

10. Do go to Fresher’s fair and take a look around. Activities are sure to give you a break from assignments and revision and heck, you’ll even make a bunch of friends. The bonus of attending this crazy convention is that, lean in.. no. a little closer.. YOU GET A BUNCH OF FREEBIES. Pens, tote bags, pencils, sticky notes and much more useless items that you definitely need. I guess you could also practise saying ‘no thanks’ now that you’re the target demographic for just about anything. Oh, and don’t forget to sign up to the local GP whilst you’re there.

Happy Uni-ing, prospective students. And best of luck with your exams.

L.

Ryan Gosling

Listen: if you have a soft spot for the male gender, then you probably fancy Ryan Gosling. No? Good. One less person I have to fight off.

I feel like I fancied Ryan Gosling before the whole 'hey girl' hype - I was oblivious to it until last year, when everybody made Memes to encourage revision. How dare you prostitute my Ryan like that! Nevertheless, I loved him through and through. To make it official, my dear friend Alice bought me a 'Mrs Ryan Gosling' mug which I whip out in case a person ever gets out of line. Yes, we belong together, this is serious stuff.

…Through all the Etsy Gosling earrings and the commercialised Ryan tops, I've stood tall. I've stood away. But let's just say my wardrobe is slowly becoming infiltrated.

Exhibit A - a great present from my lovely friends, Franzi and Pug Sarah (…her real name is just Sarah, hahah).

Does it not look like I have no legs?
Excuse the derpy expression.

Oh what. It reads (at the bottom where my shorts (Topshop)

RYAN GOSLING

If you find him or look-a-like please contact me

Genius.

I wore this outfit on my first trip to, *drumroll* Five Guys. YUM!?!

I got the bacon burger with grilled onions, a still peach Fanta (I know, excuse me?!? right?) and a 'Little fries'. Big shoutout to my lovely friend Em for taking me. It was gloriousness. I've had better burgers but if I had the opportunity to roll around in a bed of little fries, I wouldn't pass it up. Each piece was so delectable I had trouble keeping my saliva in my mouth. …Just when you thought I was oh so lady like. Deal wit it.

L.