Edinburgh

Edinburgh is one of the most amazing cities I have seen since being away. Its is so full of history and incredible buildings and Edinburgh castle is definitely in my top 3 favourite landmarks that I have seen in Europe! Apparently its one of the most haunted cities as well and I walked through graveyards at night time and went on ghost tours of underground vaults where people lived and died centuries ago. My Auntie took me out for the day and I couldn't have asked for a better personal tour guide - her knowledge of the city was impeccable and I learnt so much! We went to Edinburgh castle which was way bigger inside than I thought - you need a full day in there to see everything. I saw my great Uncles name in the book of war heroes that had died in action - I forget that I have family history in Scotland and was so proud to see his name in the book. We saw the 1pm gun go off and boy did it go off!!! Nearly dropped my camera!! We followed that by a hot lunch before heading to Mary Kings Close which was like a movie set and one of the highlights of my trip - its hard to believe that its a real place its just so old! As quoted from the website:

http://www.realmarykingsclose.com/

Buried deep beneath Edinburgh's Royal Mile lies the city's deepest secret warren of hidden streets that has remained frozen in time since the 17th century.

For hundreds of years the true story of the Close has remained untold - until now! In the company of an expert guide, you can explore this unique site and experience what it was really like for the people who lived, worked and died here.

So I really recommend doing this if you ever get to Edinburgh! The ghost tour was really freaky too, you do that at night time and a guide takes you round showing you where witches were killed / the stories behind it and then stories of the ghosts that haunt the underground vaults (which you are in when being told!!) so yeah it was just fantastic!

I had an afternoon exploring myself and made it to a printmaking workshop that I wanted to see but I ended up getting lost and heading back to my Aunties a bit earlier - I shouldn't be alone in a city even with a map!!!

Saturday night I got to catch up with my Kiwi friend and we went to a traditional Scottish party where I was persuaded to take part in the dancing side of things…. after a rocky start of being spun too fast and falling flat on my butt (which more people saw than I would have liked haha!!!) I ended up getting the hang of it and had a blast!

So all in all I had a fantastic time away and I can't wait to visit this incredible city again!! 

Family Reunion

After 18 years I finally made it back to Scotland where the majority of my family live on my Mums side. I think that until you have lived away from your family or in my case grown up without them you can't really understand how strong family bonds are - like you know you love them but until you have been apart its hard to understand just how much they mean to you. I know this cause I've known my whole life how much I love and care for my parents and brother but now that I am away from them its just something else. So when I went up to Scotland as a 25 year old Kiwi woman to see a family that remembered me as a 7 year old child with an English accent I couldn't  help but wonder what it would be like. But that family bond kicked in instantly and it was like I had never left - I could see the children I knew in my cousins now adult faces and when we were together it was like I had never been away and I just had an absolute ball with them! I met all my gorgeous second cousins and again with them it was just instant love and for the first time in my life I had more than a couple of family members around me and it was one of the best feelings I have ever had - I waited so long for it and wasn't disappointed. I have never laughed so much and it was nice to be looked after for a week (my Aunties are like duplicates of my Mum!!!) and it was so interesting to see all the similar traits they had, learn about my family history and see where my Mum grew up. My family are barking mad but you just have to dive right in and become part of the madness which I did without hesitation - I really can't wait to go back up and see everyone again!!

Vintage Shop

Today we left work at 10am, jumped in a black cab (oh yeah we did!) and went to Holland Park where we spent an hour in a collectors vintage shop. The drive there was so nice and the surroundings were quite like Ponsonby in Auckland! We were greeted by a beautiful dog that kept hitting me the whole time I was there if I stopped patting her… there were such gorgeous one of pieces of clothing there as well as drawers filled with lace, trimmings and scarfs all from the early 19th century! Nice way to start the day!

My Placemat in John Lewis

Popped into John Lewis today to buy some stockings and got a photo with the placemat design I did all the way back in New Zealand! So cool seeing it there! Of course I bought a set for the house :) On the subject of stockings, when I arrived back at work and announced what I had bought there was some excitement from the boys in the office and I then learnt that stockings in England refer to the naughty thigh-high lace kind and that I must refer to the kind I got as tights and only tights (hehe). So thats trousers instead of pants, tights instead of stockings, wellies instead of gumboots.... 

Kempton Park Markets

5.30am on Tuesday morning, my lovely alarm goes off. That morning I got up early to head south of Wimbledon to Kempton Park to meet my fellow work colleagues and explore the vintage markets for inspiration for the next collection. So with my Starbucks in tow, jacket and snood I set off on the train at 6.45am. These markets were just fantastic and there was so much to see! Times like that I really wish that I owned a house here and could fill it up with all the beautiful furniture that was there. I found a beautiful large mirror with an incredible antique detailed frame for only £35!!! You'd pay more than that for a cheap nasty one from Ikea! There was so much nostalgia there, I saw a series of Beatrix Potter books which brought back such nice memories, there was real knights armour / swords, antique guns which my brother would have loved (that sounds bad haha) and just lots of beautiful handmade clothes and accessories. Vintage and antiques aren't really my thing but after visiting these markets my thoughts on that have changed and you just really admire the handy work and talent that went into creating all the pieces there. I even nabbed an angora / wool handmade cardigan for £5!! It was a cold drizzly day but we had delicious hot jacket potatoes for lunch, I have a new found love for food since I have been here especially hot food! Will have to watch the waistline over the next few months…. yeah, right!

Regent Park

One of things I'm really pleasantly surprised about with London is the beautiful parks that can be found throughout the city. I have one near my work and when the sun is out (emphasis on the word 'when' haha) its really nice to have a walk around or eat lunch there. Hyde Park is also beautiful and it was the first park in London I went to with Kate (miss you!!!!!) when we first arrived here in May. Last weekend I ventured to Regents Park with a friend from NZ and it was just stunning, the Autumn leaves were in there element and I have never seen such beauty in the Autumn before. So if your planning on coming to London its worthwhile to venture into a few parks, have a picnic and see some squirrels too! 

V&A

We also went to the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum) http://www.vam.ac.uk/ which was by far my favourite place that I have been to in London. William Morris is one of the most well known English textile designers and has been such a huge inspiration to my design work and I can't describe how fulfilling it was to see his original work in REAL life and not through the pages of a book. We had lunch in the most beautiful room that was designed by him and it was a real 'take a moment and absorb it all' experience for me. The V&A have excellent exhibitions and the ones we saw were The Power of Making which was really interesting and focused on crafts and making things by hand and not with machines - there has been such a boom and re-focus on handmade items over the past few years and it was a really worthwhile exhibition to see. The second was called Postmodernism - Style and Subversion 1970-90 which was focused on fashion and accessories. Such a worthwhile place to visit even if design isn't a key area in your life - you'll be inspired no matter what field you work in!

Exploring London with Work

After a hugely full on month with fashion week we were able to have a bit of down time and go and see some beautiful art galleries and exhibitions in London. We saw so much inspirational work and got a lot of photos for future reference. We went to Tate Modern http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/ and saw an inspiring exhibition by Gerhard Richter and there was so much more to see - 5 levels of exhibitions so I have to head back there at some point. We also visited a gallery and saw original art works by Picasso, Magritte (who I did a study on at uni) and Andy Warhol, the prices were through the roof (£10 million a piece). I also saw a sculpture that looked exactly the same as one I had seen at Vatican City a few months back only this was a flat circle not a sphere shape like the other and when I read the description it turns out that they were both made as a series and the chances of seeing them both in a lifetime are pretty slim so that was pretty cool too!!!! 

Ikea

Oh Ikea, how we have grown to love and hate you at the same time!! Over-priced cheap quality furniture that you have to put together yourself yet its conveniently set up in show rooms so you can see how it looks when made and is delivered to your house… which is kind of essential when you don't have a car and depend on public transport! Its a one stop shop - you can go there and in one visit order everything for a perfectly functioning house! Thanks to handy-gal Nikki I got my chest of drawers set up no problems, the only 'oops' was the base ended up upside down so you can see the speckly wood instead of the smooth surface wood but we just like to think it was made with love and love has its imperfections!! I'm pretty sure they are opening one in Auckland which at first will be exciting but I say stick to The Warehouse and Briscoes! How we miss those stores!

Origin Craft Fair

http://www.originuk.org/

I forgot to mention this incredible craft fair that I went to a few months ago with my friend from uni. We were both so inspired and left with so many ideas that we wanted to focus on / work towards in the future. My friend Emma from work was exhibiting there and her stall was just fantastic! You can check out her website / blog at http://emmabradbury.com/. The fair is located at the Old Spitalfields Market and is only on once a year. Its really close to Bricklane as well which has fantastic (and super busy) markets every Sunday - theres also great restaurants there and I still have to go for a curry there one night!