Columbia Road Flower Market

I love London early on a Sunday morning. The streets are eerily quiet and all the more beautiful for it. The man and me decided to take advantage of the free parking on a Sunday and have an early morning drive to Columbia Road Flower Market.
This is a great London experience with a feast of delicious smells, sights and sounds of the East End. The stalls are stocked with a gorgeous array of flowers and plants at very reasonable prices and there is a really friendly atmosphere. I recommend you get there early to beat the crowds (the market is open from 8am to around 3pm), however if you can hang around until later you are sure to bag even more of a bargain. Make sure you leave time to explore the charming independent shops that line the streets, everything from antiques to cupcakes. It's also another great place for people watching!

My purchases...

Happy Weekend!

Well, I have put on my shoes and I am definitely ready for the weekend (I love that Calvin Harris song)!! I am hoping for a relaxing weekend with a trip to Columbia Road flower market planned for Sunday, which I will tell you all about next week. In the meantime, check out this great photo of a wannabe bearskin guard I saw walking across Westminster Bridge last week. The tourists thought he was for real and he was lapping up all the attention. You can't see on this photo but that bag he is holding is actually an Iceland carrier bag...classic!

The Great Frog and The Spider Ring

I love jewellery, especially rings and after deciding to add another to my collection I knew exactly where to go. The Great Frog on Ganton Street (just off Carnaby Street) is an amazing jewellery shop that specializes in unique, edgy, hand carved pieces. I could have bought them all, however I am rapidly running out of fingers!

Festival Brazil - Southbank Centre

There is a great festival at the Southbank Centre until 5th Sept bringing the colourful, vivacious culture of Brazil to the streets of London. There are loads of great events and activities going on including live music, short films and a Rio carnival samba show (bank holiday weekend). When walking past the other day I got caught up in the samba rhythm of a live band whilst checking out this fab installation - a social project inspired by everyday life of the favelas. Loved this, the colours were fab...

London Ambassador for 2012 Olympics

After a great heads up, I decided to sign up to be a London Ambassador for the 2012 Olympics last night. This involves being on the streets of London during the Olympics offering all sorts of advice to tourists, from travel routes, place to eat, things to see/do and generally promote this great city and everything it has to offer. Anyway, it is not in the bag just yet, this was just an initial sign up. The selection process will start next year and I am sure they will be inundated with volunteers. Think it would be a great experience and really cool to be able to say that I was part of it all. Well fingers crossed! Check out what Boris has to say...

Fashion arrives at Waterloo…Topshop @ LFW

With London Fashion Week fast approaching (Sept 17th - 22nd) it was announced yesterday that Topshop will be hosting their show from the former Eurostar Terminal at Waterloo – how cool does that sound?! The TS Unique collection never disappoints and was one of the highlights of the AW10 line up in February, featuring a long list of my winter wardrobe must haves. This collection will be hitting the shops in line with LFW where you will duly find me spending my hard earned pennies! Check out these images for a few of my future purchases…

 Everything a jacket should be this winter...Aviator styling, Shearling, Caramel leather...delicious!

You can't go wrong with a good chunky knit jumper this season

A great winter coat...shoes are great too!

Love the owl print on this maxi dress

Images by Marcio Madeira / FirstView.com on Style.com

The Cineroleum... Pop-up London film experience

Being a huge film fan I am always on the look out for new cinemas/experiences to indulge my love of the silver screen. So I was really excited to hear about The Cineroleum earlier today. Located within a derelict petrol station on Clerkenwell Road, this hand built cinema will be screening a collection of classics including Rebel Without a Cause and Night of the Living Dead from this coming weekend until 12th September. The project aims to highlight the potential use of derelict, urban spaces around the UK in a fun and creative way. Check out their great site for more info...

Image from The Cineroleum website

Paradoxal

I am a sucker for a good nail varnish, so when the new AW10 Chanel colour Paradoxal launched yesterday I hotfooted it straight to Selfridges. When applied, it has a gorgeous grey/violet hue with a subtle sparkly shimmer as the light hits it. Although this isn't limited addition I recommend you buy it quick, as no doubt the first batch will be sold out by the end of the weekend!

Happy Weekend!

As usual the week has flown by with the reward of another glorious weekend ahead! I will be heading to Brighton beach this weekend - I am clinging on to the last of the last days of summer! I will also be checking out these fab courses that the V&A are running from September. Can’t think of a better venue to study the arts, can you? Hope you have a good one!

A happy photo... part of the jewellery collections at the V&A. I love my rings!