Revenge Friday- PoMo bike tour and second hand purchases

 Hello darlings, 

I hope you have had a good week. As part of my like revenge life, I am trying to do more like culture things and tbh I will go and do what I like regardless if anyone wants to come with. So yeah Thursday night after work I went for dinner and to a small exhibition opening for Close to the Hedge. It is an exhibition of photographs of bushes/hedges and it was in Deptford at the Gareth Gardner gallery. Defo if you are in Deptford the next week, check them out. I would say do not go out of your way because it is only small. I went for dinner beforehand at this really nice Italian restaurant called Marcella. It had quite a small menu of small plates and pasta- it was relaxed and I was on my own so I was just sat at the bar chatting to the lovely staff. So that was good fun.

Second Hand Purchases

I have recently made a two second hand purchases. I picked up this camisole from the charity shop. It is actually nightwear but I think it is actually really cute and I will probably wear it with (surprise) jeans and some ballet flats. I like the way it cinches at the waste. I was actually examining it when I got home and the fabric has some text printed on it which says 'I'm in demand because I am never late, to start a job or keep a date'- huh?

Then I brought a dress on vinted. It didn't look like much in the images on Vinted- it didn't convey how lovely it is. I had a google and I found a picture of a runway model wearing it to the 2017 Victoria Secret show. She looks gorgeous in it. 

Image Source- FASHION Magazine

It arrived and I am so pleased with it. I quite like that it isn't too fitted or short- it looks more relaxed. I love the lacey bits on the shoulder, so fun. I will wear this with a pair of black heels in the evening or some summer sandals for a day look.

The brand is Club Monaco and the body of the dress is 100% silk. Both items totalled to under £20 (£3.50+£16) which is quite fair.

Revenge Friday

So my dad has recently been organising and researching a bike ride architecture tour. He wanted to do like test run on Friday and because I couldn't be there on the actual day of the bike ride I thought I would join him on the exclusive preview. We started in Bank/ City of London, went across the river and along the south bank to Greenwich and back to Tower Bridge via Isle of Dogs. It was loads of fun.

We had to skip over a lot of the buildings from Greenwich because we had gotten so side tracked that it was actually getting late.

Here are two of the buildings we looked at...

So China Wharf  (the red building in the image) was one of the buildings on our ride this was built around 1986-8

I used to walk past this a lot as a child and I never noticed that one of the balconies is a boat- such a revelation.

Then this the Isle of Dogs Pumping Station- its basically a sewage pump built 1986-1988.

Then after the bike ride, I had like 20 minutes at home to get ready and then I had to go out again to go to an event at the Barbican, it was author Kate Atkinson doing readings accompanied by BBC Orchestra. So yeah I really enjoyed my day.

Lots of love,

Happy hippo x

Revenge Friday- trying new places in London

 Hey darlings x

I haven't posted the last few weeks because I had a death in the family which was very very sad. But this post was sort of written over several weeks. 

Haul

I have been doing a bit of shopping over a few consecutive weeks because the weather has been just so miserable recently and I started a new job so I wanted some like smart wear. However, I am quite particular about what I buy.

Recently, I have been following Andrea Cheong on Instagram- if you are not familiar with her she talks about clothing quality and sort of advises about what you shouldn't purchase and what is a better alternative. I always thought it was me being fussy when I was shopping but actually Andrea is reassuring me that I do actually deserve better. I defo recommend checking out her insta.

 I went shopping a while ago at The Glades and I sort of set out to get a pair of straight/wide leg tailored trousers but nothing was looking right on me. I definitely want to keep looking for the wide leg trousers, I think it is a really nice look. Anyway I did pick up a pair of work trousers they are quite slim and are in a pinstripe fabric. These are going to look so cute with a white shirt and ballet flats. 

My new pinstripe trousers and red jumper x

I brought this red jumper from the charity shop. It was in the menswear section and they had like a whole selection of colours. They were all like the nicest cashmere silk blend. I have worn this loads.

Then, I got this red long sleeve top from Monki. I love this and I have worn it loads- love the details and it looks quite sexy. Ignore my hair, I just got out the shower.

I have always loved this style of boot and because my feet get chilly at work, I decided to purchase these for work. However, when I got home, they did not go with anything I owned... fuck. I will keep them though because I really like them and hopefully I find something to wear with them but yeah I am kind of annoyed at myself. I think they are quite classic so, I am sure I will get round to wearing them.

I wrote a few blogposts back that I fancied a new fair isle jumper and I ended up purchasing this one and it is perfect. I am so pleased with this, it looks so cute with jeans and will look cute with some ballet flats when the weather is warmer.

TV, Film and Podcast recommendations

I have totally run out of podcasts to listen to because I am quite specific about what I like. I like something investigative but not like a dark true crime. I don't really like the format of multiple presenters, it is like not relaxing to hear people fight to talk over each other. Then I also don't like anything motivational because podcasts are like my unwinding before bed thing, like if its motivational I might jump out of my bed and start cleaning my room or something.

Call me by your name (Netflix)- This is a really lovely film. It is a film about a young man/ teen (Elio) who lives in Italy during the summer with his family. His father, who is a professor, has a colleague stay with the family. Elio and the colleague like form like a bond. It is very aesthetic and so makes you want to go to Italy and just vibe and read books. It is sweet.

Giphy.com

Louis Theroux Meets Pete Doherty- This is on BBC Iplayer and it was actually quite interesting. He discusses a lot of like his past with drugs and the stories are... crazy. There is quite a dark part where he discusses a death of a party-goer who attended a party he attended. There is a very funny part where he gets like heartburn or something- idk what was going on.

The Parisian Agency (Netflix)- This is like some light reality TV. It follows a family run luxury estate agents based in Paris. It is nice for a bit of escapism because the properties are quite gorgeous. But yeah this is good watching and I always like to watch things in French because I sort of hope (naively) it is good French language revision. 

I am also ashamed to say that I have been watching the Robbie Williams docuseries on Netflix. 

Revenge Friday (a week back)

I have been sort of researching some places I want to go in London; I have written it down in a list and I am starting to tick a few off. 

On Thursday night I went to L'Esgargot in Soho which is a French restaurant and it has a really nice atmosphere, lots of artwork on the walls and sort of old school. It was really lovely; I went with my partner after work. I think I need to go back because I didn't actually have the l'esgargots (snails); I didn't fancy a whole dish of them to myself and my partner is a stricter Vegetarian than me, so he wouldn't want to share. 

Then on Revenge Friday I went to Peckham. I went to a restaurant for lunch with my friend. It is a Persian vegetarian restaurant called Persepolis and it was delicious. My friend and I shared some meze plates, harisa halloumi and they have like a nice drinks menu. We defo ordered too much food but yeah it was good.

Then we did something a little off-piste; we went to a zine fair in Peckham Levels. If you don't know what a zine (or fanzine) is it is basically like a self published magazine, printed in typically small editions with quite a niche or specific subject matter. I did look through a few and they looked fab but I am not good at talking to new people because I just think in my head they are going to like dislike me or I am going to offend them idk. 

We then looked round some second hands shops on Peckham highstreet. Although neither of us got anything. We then went back to hers for a cup of tea and we watched Thirteen (2003) which I had not seen before and I actually quite liked it. It is very dark and it is quite disturbing given the age the girls are meant to be. The story is of a girl who befriends a cool girl from school and they end up sort of spiralling into drug abuse and reckless behaviour basically.

I had a really nice day: it was fun to explore Peckham and always so lovely to see my friend.

Lots of love,

Happyhippo x

Ventimiglia Market Day + purchases

 Hey guys x

So as I explained in my last blogpost I was going away in the Easter hols to see my sister in France. I am now back from France. It was a really nice hols. On the last full day of the holidays we went to Ventimiglia which is a small city in Italy close to France. It was a really peaceful train journey there and back because it runs along the coast- so scenic. We went on a Friday because that is when they have like a massive market, which sells like all sorts of stuff (leather belts, cashmere socks, clothes) and then there is a like a covered market in the town which sells like Italian produce. It is a border town so it has loads of tobacs and alcohol shops. It is both charming and gritty.

So first thing we did was to have a browse of the sea front market. My sister brought a really cute leather clutch bag in like a cow hide print which is totally Kate Moss vibes. I had a look at a store selling cashmere cardigans and I picked up a cute hoodie with zip.

I love the cable knit details. You have no idea how snug this is; it is so nice. 

Then we went to another store that sold bootleg designer perfume for €3. I got Chanel no5 and I think my sis got Coco Mademoiselle. We got a table cloth for our grandma. Then we decided we wanted some lunch. 

 my sister liberally putting the parmesan on ;)

We went to quite a sweet restaurant where we had a glass of prosecco and some pasta. My sister had a delicious cheese gnocchi and I got a really good artichoke raviolli.

Yeah they had like loads of these perfumes which smell identical to the real thing, they just come in slightly odd packaging. My dad had serious fomo when we told him about the market in Ventimiglia, so we have promised we will take him next time.

Then we decided to do a bit more shopping in the town. We went to Tezenis which is a really nice underwear shop and yeah we picked up some knickers.

We then went to the supermarket where we just picked up some olive oil and a really cool gift for our mum for Easter. After browsing the boutiques we stopped for an Aperol spritz. We sipped it while battling the elements (it was so windy) and the street sellers.

Then we took the train back to Nice. Yeah and again it was such a scenic train journey. So beautiful. On our walk back to the apartment we walked past the scene of the accident (on our last trip to Ventimiglia we did so much shopping I slipped over- luckily no prosecco was harmed in the incident).

Anyway, I  hope you have enjoyed reading about my trip to Ventimiglia. Italy just has a brilliant vibe. I will probably have another holiday post coming soon- I think it will be like holiday pics and a haul because I did buy quite a lot in Nice. Let me know what other posts you want. 

Love you lots 

happy hippo x