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.

OOTD - 4th May, 2014

It is a beauuuutiful day in London - sunny, a cool breeze in the air, perfect for, well. I thought it was perfect for going to the cinema. The weather is a waste on me, I know.

I went solo to go see The Other Woman. But after a little mix up with the times (my bad) I saw Bad Neighbours at Vue in Islington. Great film! And so much eye candy (Seth Rogen, I'm talking about you. Hahah)

Anyways, I took a couple impromptu snaps before I hurried out the door. 

Apparently I like to touch my face

Black. Surprised?

My basic black top is from Topshop (? like, £8ish)

My jeans are from Topshop (Jamie, £40)

My belt is also from Topshop (£18)

My necklace is from New Look (??)

My Kimono (which I am in love with) is from Forever 21 (£9.75)

My trainers are Adidas

L.

OOTD

Two posts, one day? Well, let's not get a little crazy shall we.

This one is a quick post, just to show you my birthday outfit. I actually changed 3 times yesterday…

The first outfit was a pair of Topshop Mom jeans and a mauve Topshop jumper with three quarter lengthed sleeves. This was for running to university to hand in a physical copy of my assignment.

I then had plans to go to The Fragrance Lab (that my flatmates ever-so-kindly bought for me for my birthday!) and so wanted to dress a little more, well, truth be told, black. Haha. I wore my black Topshop Jamie jeans, black docs, a black, plain vest top from Monki and over that, a little crop crochet top from Topshop (…but it was in white, dun dun dunnnn.)

The final number is a new welcome to my wardrobe family, from Monki. I've never been brave enough to pull these off because I'm quite short, and I felt like it would only make me look shorter. I, however, do not think it does. *Fingers crossed*

This little one piece jumpsuit, as I said, is from Monki. It only cost me £20 which made me and my pockets tres happy! It has string waistband to cinch in your tummy but I decided to put a Topshop belt over the top (which I already had, but cost me almost as much as the jumpsuit… ludicrous, I know!) and a gold cross necklace, also from Topshop. My bag and jacket, are, would you believe it, from Topshop too :) PAYING WAGES amiright?

L.

Borough Market

It seems a bit unforgivable that I live in close proximity to Borough Market, but have yet to write about it in my blog post. I hang my head in shame. But don't fret - for I spent my late Saturday morning enjoying the hustle and bustle with my good friend Kiara.

We set off at around 3, which seemed like a 'safe' time to go. By safe, I don't mean protection from obscure weapons or burly looking members of the public that are far too sketchy to hold conversation with. No no no. I mean, safe from tourists.

It was not.

(I can't quite be so judgmental against tourists because I'm not a "proper Londoner" - I myself am just an 8 month-long tourist. I feel like I can classify myself as 'one of the people' after at least one year. Am I straying from the point? Yes.)

Despite the chaos of Borough Market on a Saturday and feeling like nobody knows how to walk properly, it's worth the trip every. single. time.

I felt a little too lazy to make lunch so I decided to silence my stomach by taking a trip to one of the food stalls. We perused the long line of selection until I had made my choice: The Boston Burger. Yeehaw. I was drawn in just by its name: the smells, the look, and the sound of the beef patty sizzling on the grill were all salivating bonuses that were definite deal sealers for me. At £5 (£7 if you want a double!) the Boston Burger is your non-standard, 'special' burger. It's no McDonalds fake or Burger King wannabe… it's the Macbook among Dell's, if you will.

Mouth watering beef. Melted ooh-la-la stilton cheese. Wiggle-inducing rocket (and I don't even like rocket!). Eye-opening onion chutney. All of these flavours tucked tightly in a white bun? Can I get an AMEN?!

Don't mind my tuft of hair. It can't be tamed.

Chow dat burger.

They also do a sausage equivalent?!?! If that's not
diversification, I dunno what is.

Seriously, great stuff. Especially when you had a tummy full of alcohol the night before.

We then perused a couple more stalls and the vitamin D soaked into our skin. Yay for a natural mood boost!

We ended our little trip at a juice bar. I hadn't yet tried these juices, but the smell of crushed fruit and veg emanated from the stall made it a done deal. I wanted the apple, mango and cucumber juice but they had no cucumber?! In a market?! Surrounded by vegetable stalls?! Shame. The juice I had (pineapple, mint and something I can't remember… oops. Turning 19 must be affecting me already.) was so refreshing but I didn't like all the mint leaves that made themselves comfortable in between my teeth. Ew. But at least it was fresh, and for £4, was a nice treat. My tummy did feel the tinge of acid after a while, but it can make do.

I had such a nice time at Borough and all though it is so close and the novelty has kind of worn out, it's still such a pleasure to visit with company. Yay for food-orientated activities.

L.

Fragrance Lab?!

Hi! Hope that this blog post finds you well :)

And I hope you keep reading on because I did something super unique today, and it makes me feel all squiggly inside! For my birthday (which is actually today) my flatmate friends bought me the Fragrance Lab experience! SQUEE, right? If you, (like me, only 5 hours ago) don't know what the Fragrance Lab is, then please, allow me to explain.

Basically, it's a pop-up exhibition (kinda) where you walk through multiple rooms with the guide of a schmancy new Sony MP3, smell a bunch of odours (some great, some not so great) do a little wandering and leave with a fragrance that entirely sums you up as a person. Or y'know, attempts to.

I skipped a much-needed revision session to head to Oxford Street for 1pm. It said to arrive 10 minutes before and thanks to Bond Street Station being closed (typical…) I was flustered and a little clammy when I got there. Attractive, I know.

…side note: what was attractive was Matt, one of the team who helped me get started. ah.

Anyways, they make you take a brief personality questionnaire and then they hook you up to the MP3 and you listen to a lovely lady tell you to walk up the stairs and guide you through the rooms.

See, I'm a little fumbly. I don't think this was necessarily the best option for me, audio tape, because I tune in and out of what people say. For example, in one room was a collection of objects - some abstract, some old, some funky and minimalist etc. etc. She said to find the 3 …somethings. And smell them? How was I supposed to know what I was looking for in a room full of things. I think I fudged that bit up.

I also smelled cat glands. YUM.

Anyways, in between rooms, to clear the previous smells, you smell coffee beans. I LOVE THAT SMELL. Unfortunately, my perfume did not smell like coffee beans.

The penultimate room is effectively the shop window with a smoke machine, a couple of brass copper tubes and sand - I watched as shoppers peered in to look at me talking to this stranger. A little uncomfortable but all part of the fun. I was greeted by a 'technician' who is supposed to figure out the last little kinks in your journey. He asks you questions about the rooms, what you thought, and just makes general conversation. He asks you to smell a couple more things to get it just right and voila, you're done.

I then got taken into a final room where this technician tells me about my own personality (like bud, I've been living with myself for 19 years, I think I know…) and I'm finally faced with my fragrance. I grab the paper stick a bit anxiously and take a whiff.. Alright, I say. "It smells like the baby cologne I had when I was younger." He replies oh, and says that I must have had my scent figured out from a young age then. In reality, my Mum put baby cologne on all of her kids before school, haha.

After coming full circle, I'm finally told about my perfume: how a pretty big deal French man made it himself, (only 1 of 2!) unlike some of the others that are made by his wife and his prodigies. It makes me think, though: this perfume isn't really unique if it's already pre-made? It's just the one I seemed to sway towards the most, is it not?

But it was such a cool and unique experience and I'm glad I was a part of it.

If you'd like to know more, check it out on their website right ---> here.

L.