cosy cosy

I hadn't actually heard of Pull and Bear before coming across this shoot - but a tiny little bit of research shows that they're a Spanish chain of fashion stores, focusing on urban, casual clothing.
I love this shoot from their Autumn/Winter 2010 lookbook; cosy and atmospheric, I love the black and white, the fairy lights and the chemistry in the second photo.

Talking of cosy, it's still so cold outside and I'm still trudging to work in wellies. I do wish the snow would go away...

pastel cool

Time for a peek inside Southgate, a lovely house I found online here.

I love the wallpaper in the top left-hand corner of the first photo - gorgeous, isn't it? I also love the top right-hand corner of the first photo; green walls contrasting with white doors and white tablecloth, contrasting again with lovely dark brown tones of the bench and plant holder. I'm very much a fan of the lovely pastel tones in this house - love the greens and blues.

What are your colour preferences in a house - pastels or brights?

christmas came early

Please ignore the fuzzy photos - thanks to the iPhone for that!

One week til Christmas now - how crazy is that?! Where has this year gone?

I saw Richard this weekend for the last time until after Christmas, and so we did present exchanges yesterday - we always open our presents together instead of waiting for Christmas day. I bought him lots of Lindt chocolate (our favourite), Inception on DVD as he loves it and tickets to a night at Komedia, an amazing comedy club in Brighton and our former local weekend haunt when we lived down there.
And in return, I got some great pressies - Lindt chocolate, lavender aromatherapy bags which he knows I love, some very lovely shower gel and, amazingly, a Cath Kidston tea set. I've wanted it for ages and ages and turns out he'd been very observant and had picked up on my hints!
I love it - the florals, the colour, the fact that it's for drinking tea and the fact that it can hold quite a few cups' worth. Been using it almost constantly!

Have you had any early Christmas presents yet? What are you hoping for this year?

flickr find friday: vicki king

Happy Friday!

Stumbled across this amazing photographer earlier this week and just had to post. Vicki King can be found on flickr here and her photostream is full of gorgeous, soft, whimsical photography.

Vicki is studying a BA in Photography in London (no wonder she takes such beautiful photos then!) and she also has a lovely little blog here too.

dresses, gardens and mansions

Stumbled across this gorgeous shoot from Harper's Bazaar Mexico - love the combinations of dresses, dreamy expressions and gorgeous mansion/gardens location.
What do you think of it?


It's been a very busy week so far - lots going on both at work and at home! All very good fun though, and luckily the snow has pretty much gone now (a massive relief after last week) so my journey to and from work is now resembling some form of normality again at last. Midweek and I'm already looking forward to the weekend - got lots of Christmas shopping and catching up with people planned, and seeing Richard on Sunday for the day which should be great - a day of catching up, browsing museums and dinner is on the cards! I also can't believe how close it is to Christmas now - where has the time gone?!
How has your week been so far? What've you got planned for this weekend?

just a minute / december

Photo credit


Just a Minute is back! I enjoyed doing this little activity last month and so thought I would do it this month too. As mentioned last month, I found it on Daydream Lily's fantastic site, via August Street.


So, this month I am:

Reading...... Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks. I'm slightly over halfway through it, although I will admit to being hesistant to read it at first - I generally end up disliking popular, raved-about books as I feel like they're so built up and there's the expectation that they'll be amazing, so I often feel let down at the end when I don't love them as much as I expected to! It is well on the way to being one of my favourite books.

Buying........ apps for my new iPhone, christmas pressies and theatre tickets

Listening......... to my usual eclectic mix, spiced up with quite a lot of French music, after my lovely break in the South of France this past month. If you haven't heard Desolé by Sexion d'assaut, or Alors on Danse by Stromae, you really need to.

Watching...... PEEP SHOW. My favourite show, and I'm so so very excited that it's back. Plus, The Apprentice, of course.

Loving.......... reminiscing about my lovely time in France, and the thought of 9 whole days off over the Christmas period.

Planning...... a trip to Rome in February/March next year. So excited already!



Want to play along? Full details on the game as posted originally by August Street are here...

mile end

Photo link

Ah, I've fallen in love with this house, called Mile End - and I love the macro in the first picture. It's a bit of a strange house, really, as all the rooms seem to be different. Some light and airy and white, with big sash windows, and others dark and shadowy with low dimmed lights.
Which room is your favourite? Which feature?

By the way, it's so snowy here at the moment! We have about 8 inches (20cm) here at the moment, and I've been snowed in the past few days! Will post some photos soon :)

Pudding Porn

Why is it that whenever you're trying to eat sensibly (for a change), you find yourself craving things you know you shouldn't really eat - in particular, I've been craving rich, extravagant desserts all day, like the ones I had in the New Forest.
And that reminded me - time to post photos of one of the most delicious desserts I've had in a long time. I went to a gorgeous little pub, had the most amazing Sunday Roast, and then ordered this rather impressive trio of English desserts for pudding. Consisting of sticky toffee pudding, chocolate sponge cake and the rather humorously named but gorgeous-tasting spotted dick, it was quite a combination (and rather a lot of food!)

What pudding porn have you had or been craving recently?

The Sunday Read: Gifted Magazine

How gorgeous does this magazine look?

I stumbled across Ez from the lovely Creature Comforts blog has created a beautiful winter gift guide in the form of Gifted Magazine. Free and available to browse online, this is definitely worth a read for a few minutes before bed; packed with ideas, craft projects, interviews and, of course, gift suggestions, the work she's put into the magazine is evident.

Bit of a different Sunday Read, as I usually prefer books, but, oh well - life is busy at the moment and a magazine is all I have time for!
Do have a read anyway - it is most definitely worth it!

Ten Things Thursday: Tea Cups

This week: Tea Cups
1. (above) the tea cup and flowers


2. the soft lighting tea cup



3. the lemon tea cup



4. the floral tea set tea cup



5. the messy artistic tea cup



6. the pillar-box red tea cup



7. the tea stand and flower tea cup



8. the strained tea leaves tea cup


9. the different kind of tea cup



10. the one-of-my-favourite-necklaces tea cup (photo not mine)


What's your favourite tea cup?

And what's your favourite tea at the moment? Mine is Pear and Guava - delicious!

just a minute / breathe

photo credit

Saw this lovely little monthly activity, called Just a Minute, on Daydream Lily's gorgeous site, and decided to join in! Will be posting these once a month, roughly!

So, this month I am:

Reading...... Possession by A.S. Byatt - have only just started this but really like it so far!
This past month, I've read and finished Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada, Rebel Heiress by Fiona Mountain, Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult and Cold Earth by Sarah Moss. Watch out for all of the aforementioned books in a Sunday Read post over the next few weeks!

Buying........ actually, I'm being good and not buying too much. The odd dress here and there, and I'm on the hunt for a nice new pair of boots. Starting to buy Christmas presents too!

Listening......... a mix, as usual. Katy B, Charlotte Martin, Tinie Tempah, Einaudi and Chambao.

Watching...... The Apprentice. TV genius. Plus Don't Tell the Bride, Strictly Come Dancing, and the odd bit of X Factor here and there. Also, have just seen that the new series of America's Next Top Model has just started, as well as the new series of Desperate Housewives - yay!

Loving.......... the rapidly approaching Christmas period, and that I'm going to France in three weeks to visit one of my best friends for four days!

Planning...... my new writing blog and all the writing to be posted there: have a look at it at http://clairemarieslight.blogspot.com - my new shiny blog for features, reviews, comment and so on.


Want to play along? Full details on the game as posted originally by August Street are here...