Love at first sight

Yesterday my mum came to visit and we went to two of the few vintage stores the city has to offer. In the first one we called at, we had to listen for about 10 minutes to the saleswoman - who was beyond tipsy - rambling on about how ethical real fur actually was. All this because I winced when she mentioned the hat I was looking at was made of real fur. Maybe I should have added that my concern was not only ethical but also practical, but I just wanted to end this burbling of hers as soon as possible, especially as it was very hard to remain unflinching and refrain from laughing when she kept mispronouncing words and so on, all this accompanied with richly-scented breath. My mum and I tried not to exchange looks for fear of bursting out laughing. In the meantime, my mum made a few attempts at taking the conversation onto a different track with a couple of "oh, look at this nice handbag" thrown away here and there, but the fuddled yet congenial saleswoman kept on. When she eventually stopped talking, we had to leave and laugh it out, even though the boxy shop had some cute cintage designer pieces we didn't have time to examine thoroughly (because thrifting is all about thorough, scientific examination indeed!)

In the second, hippier store, my mum was fascinated with the very 80's looking (because they were) fairisle sweaters and at the back of the shop, I literally squealed when I saw this adorable handbag made of thick embroidered tapestry. It was love at first sight. I didn't even go through the usual questions "do I really need it?" and so on, it had to be mine and all this customary reasoning seemed useless and completely irrelevant!

Books I want to read

Because I am entirely devoted to my PhD corpus and feel like reading something else is a case of high treason (even though I'm committing such a crime right now and have done so many a time... ahem) or at least some silly way to waste time on something that is not vitally relevant to what defines my life at the moment (did I just say silly?), I often have to postpone reading books I come across or hear about. Here is a brief list of books I'd love to read as soon I have more time away from preparing seminar lesson plans, reading for my thesis, exam marking or conference paper writing (the latter I should be doing right now instead of writing about what I should or shouldn't do!):









And this is only a ridiculous glimpse of all the books I'm hankering after and that are cramming up my shelves!

I wish...

I wish I could stop worrying about every little thing,
I wish anxiety wouldn't stop me from doing things I have to do and should enjoy doing
I wish I could believe people's compliments
I wish I could plan ahead peacefully
I wish I could stop procrastinating (like I'm doing right now!) and start doing things that matter instead of postponing them for fear I might not be up to the task
I wish I could learn to enjoy the moment
I wish I could start to live instead of dreaming up my life
I wish I could stop being testy
I wish I could stop wallowing in self pity!
I wish I could simply speak up my mind no matter what
I wish I could shed this perfectionism
I wish I could feel the same in real life as I do in fiction
I wish I could start to live as I should and liked


image credits http://photocompetition.hispeed.ch/seo/photo/243719/bulles_de_savon /bulle_savon_etang_eau_bulles_rond_ovale_sphere.html

Lady of Shalott where art thou?

So many words I want to say, so many things I want to do
Inside my cocoon, unopened pupa, fragile and brittle,
A touch of frost, a wave of heat, a drop of dew,
excuses,
unripe, uncertain, meandering,
when does the butterly finally spread its wings?

Yet clichés all work and fail,
the whale and the aeroplane,
Why should they all be meant to mean
the life, the signs, the plasticine,
childish and true, our fears oppressive,
our burden both cumbersome and necessary,
the meaning, the night, the flight,
oh dear, what if we were right?

Ins-PIE-ration (I know...)

Another inspiration retro & vintage-wise is Anna Friel who, I think, somewhat looks like Zooey Deschanel. I remember being fascinated by her outfits when I watched Pushing Daisies more than a year ago. Here are a few examples...









and she totally pulls off an otherwise grannyish patterned dress! Amazing ;o)

The Guardian & Sartorial advice

This article from the Guardian is so funny & sarcastic! Another reason why this newspaper is among my British favourite

The 10 rules of summer dressing: Here's how to stay cool this season,

by Jess Cartner-Morley

The Guardian - Sat 05 Jun, 2010 12:03AM GMT

1 Tights/Bare legs: British summer fashion is a kind of collective madness. From about early May – even if, as with this year, it is actually still slippers-in-the-morning weather – we all have to dress as if going to a picnic. Wearing black opaque tights in summer, even if the skies are gunmetal, marks your card as a killjoy and a wuss. Hey, I don't make the rules, OK? Deal with it. This, my friends, is why God invented cropped trousers. Unflattering they may be, but think of them like stabilisers while you adjust to getting your legs out, and pray that 20 minutes a week in the gym doing half-hearted lunges while watching MTV will get you Gwyneth Paltrow's legs.

2 Playsuits: Awful name. Sounds as if the wearer should be banging a rattle on the table while covered in ketchup. But then, in America they call these rompers, which is worse. Absolutely nothing wrong with a playsuit, so long as you realise it is entirely impossible to convey the smallest amount of authority while wearing one. And no, banging the rattle harder won't help..

3 Sunglasses: Deciding which sunglasses to buy is simple. First question: are you the sort of person who remembers to put your sunglasses back in the case and back in your bag when you take them off. Second: do you cultivate friendships with the sort of people who will surreptitiously check out the side of your sunglasses to find out the designer label? Third: is your self-esteem affected by the name inscribed on the plastic arm by your ear? Unless you answered yes to all three questions, put a £20 cap on the purchase and buy yourself something useful with the difference.

4 Harem pants: It's tough, keeping up with fashion. You'd think wearing unflattering trousers would be enough, but no: you also need to wear the right kind of unflattering trousers. And so it was that at the precise moment in 2007 when skinny jeans reached their tipping point – probably when you started wearing them – the fashion-forward abandoned them in favour of a new type of ridiculous trousers. The harem pant was first launched as the drop-crotch trouser, a style that mimics the effect of a toddler with a soggy nappy. Even fashionistas, it turns out, have some self-respect, and the drop-crotch was refined into the harem pant. The moment you start wearing them, the cool people will stop, so why bother?

5 Maxi dresses: The further a hem gets from the knee, the more difficult it is to wear. It makes surprisingly little difference if the direction is going up or down. If it works, a maxi dress might give you that insouciant Angelina Jolie look, without even having to shave your legs. If it doesn't, you will look like Matron from an Enid Blyton book. To err on the side of Jolie, remember the golden mantra of impact: shoes and hair. Repeat after me: shoes and hair. Shoes and hair. Got it?

6 Holiday packing: Most people spend too much time and money buying new clothes for their holiday, and not enough time packing the actual suitcase. The packing has as much impact, and is cheaper, although admittedly is less fun. This is the time to indulge your inner fashion nerd: lay out everything in outfits. Allow sufficient time, and come back a couple of hours later to reassess – there will always be at least one thing that you realise instantly you won't actually wear.

7 Clogs/Sandals: The only positive benefit of the return of clogs to fashion is that, by comparison, they make gladiator sandals seem both flattering and comfortable. Gladiator sandals are, of course, neither flattering nor comfortable: they make all but the most photogenic of feet look like slabs of undercooked meat, and the law of averages states that if you crisscross a hot pair of feet with 14 leather straps, then at least one of those straps is going to rub. But the alternative, this summer, is to wear clogs. Oddly, there is nothing that accentuates a tree trunk leg quite like attaching a log to the sole of your foot.

8 Swimwear: The only sensible way to choose swimwear is to ignore all photographs posed on models. Buying a bikini because it looks good on Lara Stone is no different from buying a pair of earrings because they look good on her. It's not your fault; the presence of a to-die-for body on the page messes with the balance of your brain. It's a proven fact.

9 Summer weddings: It is your duty as a wedding guest to look nice. Not look nice as in look attractive, but look nice as in look as if you are nice. The point of a wedding, you see, is that the bride gets to act out her perfect married-life scenario, to be the best-looking girl, the centre of attention, surrounded only by guests who will gush and whoop and give her presents and tell her husband how marvellous she is. And why not? It's one day – give the girl a break. Your role is to look decorative in the album and add to the aura of wholesome, cupcakey gorgeousness. Any fashion that hints at negativity (wonky Belgian avant-garde charcoal raw-edged felt tunic) or potentially-threatening-to-the-smug-married-order vampishness (Versace slit-to-the-thigh numbers à la Hurley) are strictly verboten.

10 Tribal trend: Wearing "ethnic" is sartorial code for, "I am much too serious to bother myself with fashion. I choose jewellery that looks a bit like something you'd find in an obscure gallery of the British museum to show how cultured I am. My female friends wear artisan scarves and consider themselves evolutionarily superior to women who wear diamanté." The tribal trend is an attempt by fashion designers to combat this. Good luck with that.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2010

Suit yourself!

To celebrate (wow, that's a big word and has to be taken ironically of course!) the revamping of this blog, here is a video of hilarious (what am I saying AAWESOME or rather legen-daaaary) Barney Stinson from How i Met Your Mother.

Retro perfection

Don't you just love the quirky retro touch in this video? It reminds me of 1950s musicals. But I'm even more wowed by Zooey's outfit, I just love that full skirt (or is it a dress?) & cardigan. Perfect! It makes me think of this Primark skirt I saw and stupidly put down because i found it, well, too... full! And for a couple of quids at that. now who is the fool? Ha!

Note to myself

When/if? by chance, I have time to do some cooking again (apart from scones) here are some recipes I definitely have to try! (after revising my maths i.e table conversions taken from the internet - aren't we living in a splendid era?!)

I love tea!

I heart tea! (How surprising given the title of this blog, hee hee)

I love its colour, both light and intense, like a sweet forbidden liquor.

I love it even more when milk adds its soothing hue, especially the very moment when you pour it into the cup (err, mug, please!) and this undescribable cloud-like texture that dissipates in the twinkling of an eye, but what a magical experience!

I love its taste, of course, especially Earl Grey, my all-time favourite that has never disappointed me (...so far)

I love the cute little cakes and biscuits, often colourful (like Battenberg, mmh, so fanciful and even puerile but soooo tasty!) and most of all scones, that go with it and that make the perfect afternoon cream tea, and even better is to share it with your lovely friends & family.

Beside my love for English tea (I'm so nostalgic about my last year in London), I adore tea-inspired jewellery, so childish & quirkily funny and so refined at the same time, don't you think?

Thanks to Anna's lovely blog, I even started to like (almost love?) Mondays

So, just look on the bright side of life, as the Monty Python would say & start enjoying Mondays :o)

Irish brunette

A video from super-talented Lisa Hannigan (no longer in the perhaps too overwhelming shadow of Damien Rice... I adore him too, though!)
by way of apology for my long absence.
Hope you'll like it!

I'm not very fond of Topshop's jokes!

Argh, I was so excited to receive my parcel from Topshop today... But my enthusiasm quickly vanished when I realized, horror-struck (yes horror-struck indeed, fahion is a serious business, remember?) that the luuuuverrrly (à la My Fair Lady song) cameo necklace (adorned with a key & clock) I had ordered had been turned into an über-tacky "love" pendant necklace. First, I thought of a joke, not a very good one, though. Now I'm waiting for a reply from the customer services. Come on guys, how can you get your love's and cameo's mixed up, eh? But the terrible thing (or should I say tragic?) is that the coveted necklace is now no longer available from the website... And as I won't be in the UK before another 3 weeks, I'm not very hopeful.
Still, I just thought the "love" trick was very ironic. If they did love me, why would Topshop send me a "love" necklace instead of the one I wanted?

So if anyone comes across this fab necklace, I'd be very grateful if you could think of me!

Well, enough about futilities (and parentheses) : oops, I did it again!
Tschüss then (yes, that means I've run out of things other than vanities to say!)

Carrrrrdiff!

I'm so happy: spring break means London escapade (as usual now, why did I have to leave London in the first place, whhhyyyy????) and a daytrip to Cardiff, the nation of the Kingdom I haven't visited yet and I'm sooo excited! (One month and 6 days to go)
Maybe I'll stumble across a local Myfanwy or a Daffyd, if I'm lucky & if he's "out" of his village... Enough about Little Britain. Well, actually no, it's never enough, isn't it?

(Note to sensitive/prissy people, do not watch this video, I decline all responsibility for what may happen to you, thanks)



Well, gotta go now, I'm almost too tired to go to yoga class but I'll go and breathe from the nose all right (i.e the exercises we're doing at the moment, well it's just my 2nd taster class & I must admit that sadly, it has had no effect on me so far - I'm still as stressed as before, with sore muscles, at that. Am I just a hopeless case?!)

Vintage interlude

I realized this blog lacked pictures and you can see for yourself that I'm not a professional photographer, no need to even specify that! Yet, I like that out-of-focus effect...

Why vintage? Because that bag comes from my gran's (straight from her old wooden cupboard, if you wanna know) and I had an absolute crush on that tapestry fabric thingie as soon as I saw it. It was in pretty bad shape but thanks to modern technology (ahem, by this I mean smelly cleansing products) it was rejuvenated.
Quite a few times, on my shopping trips in London, sales assistants asked me where I had found that bag, hee hee - my gran rocks!

Here, it is accompanied with two of my now-favourite pairs of shoes (among too many others) that I like to wear with it.

Oh my! (again)

OMG, I can't believe it's been almost 2 years that I haven't posted any *effing* thing in there and have just let this blog decay...
The thing is, I'm busier (lazier?) than ever and anyway, I'm not that sure I've had any faithful readers in a while, so I'm just a prey to that "what's the point" existential stuff - blogwise, of course!
To defend myself, I spent such a nice year in London, but such a time-consuming one as well, that I just didn't feel like using my precious spare time blogging but rather exploring the world and, of course, work on my thesis but that doesn't count as spare time, does it?!

Actually, I have been much engrossed in fashion blog reading lately and as I love fashion, trying out outfits etc, I've been blessed and I'm even thinking of turning (perverting?) this blog into one of those, and yet again, I'm not really into showing myself around like that especially as I wouldn't appreciate being recognized - given my position - by this, I mean job, not social standing or anything of the kind, don't get me wrong, I'm not that full of myself!
Well, you never know, among the 2 monthly readers of this blog, one of them might be one of my students, lol.

So, to match my current mood, here are a few links to the blogs I like to peruse:

http://mahayanna.wordpress.com/
http://www.leblogdebetty.com/
http://www.misspandora.fr/
http://seaofshoes.typepad.com/
http://ledressingdeleeloo.blogspot.com

... Yes, you may say that my superficial side has cropped up and is now out in the open, sorry! But you could actually reply that fashion really is a serious business.
Enjoy, anyway. Not that these bril' girls need advertising, some of them are already very famous in the world of fashion. Sigh.

Oh, and I just wanted to have a thought for Alexander McQueen who died today, he was such a great artist, quirky and so British, rest in peace.

I'm in an Italian mood!

Hi there!
I know I haven't posted anything in a while...Been pretty busy!
Here is an old tv ad featuring a funny Italian guy!
By the way, let me explain why i'm in an Italian mood. It's just that i've been teaching "French as a foreign language" at university this summer & many of my students came from Italy & they were all very nice & funny (as well as those coming from other parts of the world, of course!!) So here i am, pining over the "loss" of my students. But i've got over it now & i'm soon to teach at the university of London, i.e to brand new British students! So, gotta go back to my stressful packing (i have to move out in less than a week) & PhD conference paper writing (that i'd ideally love to finish before leaving...) & to tears-inducing friend-gathering-for-a-last-goodbye event!
Enjoy the video (in French, though I think it was originally "imported" from Germany)

I've managed to split myself into 2!

Oh my god, I'm so exhausted...
Let me explain, and keep in mind we are on a saturday, i.e supposedly a relaxing day, when you can indulge in some trivial things to do & can allow yourself to linger a little...

Well, I had to get up at 8 am, i know, it's not so early but i'm not a morning person & have had many days of early waking-ups-without-a-proper-good-night's-sleep...So, i had to get up (quite early for a saturday) to go to university for a course that goes along with my job as a volunteer in a non-profit organization (dealing with education & social inequality). When i arrived, there were only the two of us and when the coordinator arrived she told me she had sent me an sms to tell me the meeting was actually to take place 30 minutes later. Well, never mind that; that mishap actually allowed me to meet another PhD student like me, very nice (just like me again, hee hee!), with whom i probably hadn't talked with if i had arrived on the "legal" time. The course was not that bad, though not highly informative, nut after the 1st hour, it became a bit boring (i felt as if i were back to high school, hearing about stuff everyone knew, or should at least).

Then, i realised once that my mind had been wandering off, and when i came back to the solid reality, i realised that this daydreaming could probably be a good thing to make time go faster... So i started conjuring up some memories & other things that inhabit my imaginary world (from Six Feet Under to Virginia Woolf) but then i realised my imaginative world wasn't enough to escape this & i felt even more disheartened...
There was also this conference taking place at university at the same time and which i would have loved to attend (i had already been there the day before & really wanted to pursue my discoveries ;)) so for some time, what soothed me was the thought of being able to attend the colloquium on the afternoon & listen to interesting talks about the reception of Shakespeare in the Victorian period & its refashioning by Oscar Wilde. So i told the coordinator that i had to attend that conference & finally was "released" from the afternoon session... The thing is, the other PhD student seemed aroused by this idea & also quit to go to the conference: now i'm feeling like some devilish literary missionary or proselyte, hee hee!

Well, after that i had to hurry to give a course to my student, but met some friends on the way, & unluckily didn't have that much time to talk.
Well, the long day is over (as Norah Jones would say), even though i managed to go & try on a pair of boots and buy a cameo-necklace on my way back after my lesson!

AND NOW, I'M IN DESPERATE NEED OF A CUP OF TEA! (yeah, i know, i'm so British on that matter!)

From a soon-to-be-expatriate teacher

Oh, god, I've just spent almost 6O euros on books this afternoon... All in less than an hour at that. I went to the library to pick up a book by Leonard Woolf I had ordered and then perused over a few books in my favourite British bookstore/coffee shop and found another one & then went to another library for French titles and found two by Flaubert, one entitled "Journey to the East" and i couldn't help thinking it might be useful for my thesis & anyway, i like Flaubert, now I just feel like acquiring his complete letters cos I keep coming across great quotations precisely from his correspondance. On my way to Flaubert, I saw the wonderful picture from "Lust Caution" the latest Ang Lee film, and I just thought that would be a pale transcript or synopsis from the movie, but it was actually the short stories on which the film was based, i'm so stupid, i didn't know the film was an adaptation. Now i'm secretly praying to find some link with the stories and my PhD subject, since the British writers i'm studying are within a trans-cultural dimension. Anyway, I keep telling about my books-imbued life... & i hope soon expatriate. I'm all focused on my teaching assistant application right now & i went to meet the English assistant from the university i'm applying for this afternoon, even though he wasn't that enthusiastic about his home university & city (i.e London!!) at first... How can you not be thrilled by London? He said he was a bit tired of it & I couldn't help replying to him with that famous quotation (by Woody, I guess) "When you're tired of London, you're tired of life", but he immediately contradicted the latter bit; hopefully i hadn't ran into a prematurely depressive student! Anyway, he gave me much information, making up for his apparent lack of enthusiasm, which was nice & fueled my already strong desire to go there. Let's pray I'll be chosen (well, it sounds like a religious assumption, the choice lies on the university commission). Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Exhausted or just bankrupt?

I feel so worn out...Why? Well, don't you guess? I've been shopping. Not that long actually, I'm no longer used to spending hours on end of rambling from store to store; still... I've been indulging in some shopping orgy (even though the term is a bit strong, I'm usually quite sensible & think twice before buying something, with the risk of seeing my hoped-for piece of clothing disappear, which happened twice in less than a month!). Well, I was supposed to prepare my tomorrow "intensive course" but one of my "students" wasn't available so the course is postponed... I also have to go on reading extensively for my thesis, there are so many things I want to read (and need to get hold of, incl. Chinese books that haven't been translated, but I may have to put this one aside...) & I'm meeting my supervisor next week.
Apart from that, I went to a conference last week-end and discovered a yet unchartered academic building at the other end of Aix, pretty lovely actually! On my way to the university annex I came across an old lady who stopped to tell me something. At first, I thought she was just asking me for directions, cos, yes, another troubling & upsetting thing in my (quite uneventful) life is that i must unconsciously carry some signpost saying "i'm a tourist agency, for enquiries, ask me"... So, she started to speak but i was in a hurry and didn't really catch all her words. The terms "fortune teller" reached my ears, and she started to unravel her "prophecies", which stirred my inner laugh, when she said things like "you're pretty, you'll be very lucky in your love life", and which completely destroyed her credibility and struck me with its falseness: my love life is simply non-existent! Well, of course, if she can see my future, there's still hope!
Right now, I'm so into my British-mood (kind of England-sick) that I spent almost an hour on Sainsbury's grocery store online, just to browse the incredible range of teas, and the typical biscuits...How pathetic is that? (But among them are custard creams, one of my favourites, just after scones, my all-time favourite) that we can't find here except in a bookstore picturing itself as British (am I being nasty, here?) where the owners aren't warm at all and where you pay 3 or 4 times the normal price. Yet, there's another British bookstore-coffee shop in the city which is so cosy and makes great, original teas. And I really need my shot!

Don't you dare "madam" me again!

I'm facing serious existential questions nowadays, or existential crisis even... I'm a bit troubled by the fact I'm being addressed to as "madam" in shops and so... Well, it depends, once, a salesman said "madam" and then "miss, rather, sorry"... Hum. As John Cage - aka "the Biscuit" - in Ally McBeal would say (yes, I've indulged in some Ally episodes over the Xmas holidays, i must admit it), so, as he would have it: "I'm troubled", I really am! I mean, I've always looked younger than my age and that used to annoy me a lil, except when I could get reduced fees in museums or fairs, but that was hardly worth the existential trouble. And now, all of a sudden, I look like a madam, though ringless and unmarried, which makes it even more ironic. Help?