Return

So the Balmain x HM bag has arrived and I don't like it at all. Blah. It's waaay bigger than I imagined and the gold details just look as of any crap-quality H&M bag that costs £15. Disappointment. Well well, it's just to send it back. Or actually I'm going to go to H&M in Hammersmith and return it, quicker that way. So if you want to buy it - you know where there's a spare one!

BTW in my next post I'll show you my pineapple that has finally arrived... I's soooo goldenly, fabulously, stylishly amazing :)

Back to Basics

"A girl should have 80% basics and 20% fluff in her closet."

How often do you go out clubbing? And how often do you want to leave the house looking sharp i.e. not wearing a super short mini dress in sparkly sequin? I KNOW it's a lot more fun to buy a party dress but let's get real, it's the item in your wardrobe you probably use the least.

To have good basics mean that they are also interchangeable - you can mix and match and wear them all together some way or another. To me that means black, black, black, white. Maybe a splash of colour somewhere but it would have to be in a really good material. Coloured clothes to me often look very cheap and the same goes with print. I think it takes a trained eye to spot what could be a good print and I have to admit I'm not quite there yet. I love it when girls mix print with print but I just tend to look like a clown when I make an attempt. Which brings me to another point; all clothes and trends are not for everyone and if you don't know how to pull it off - just don't.

Here is my complete list of basic wardrobe essentials that I feel lost without:

Crisp white tee

Loose black suit trousers

White loose-fit shirt

Black pencil skirt (preferably ribbed to get those nice cuuuurves)

Black leather biker

Super skinny, high waisted black jeans
Black or nude pointy heels
Clutch suitable for AM & PM
The perfect black blazer (still on the hunt for this myself)

Other than these wardrobe essentials, all you need is a red lipstick, red nails and silver stud earrings.
You are good to go my friend.

Balmain x H&M Suede Tote

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it but I set my alarm on 8.50 yesterday morning to not miss the Launch with a capital L. The Balmain x H&M collab obviously.

I was met by this default message on the screen and it stayed like that. I applied for some jobs, watched a few episodes of Masterchef US, had a couple of boiled eggs. Around 2 pm (!) I finally got on the website just to realise that everything was sold out (not a big surprise). Except for this lovely dark green suede bag which has the old-granny-vibe which I actually like! And I managed to get it! Was it worth 5 hours of persistently refreshing the page? Probably not. Will I do the same thing for their next collab? Hell yeah.

Now I just have to wait and see how it looks in real life. Delivery date 10th November. I'm a little concerned about the gold details, if it's made out of the same crap material as H&M's other bags it's a no go. Worse comes to worse I'll sell it for double the price on eBay ;) Woop!

Balmain x H&M - £149

Pineapple Wall Sconce

I had dinner at the lovely restaurant Rock & Rose last week to celebrate my boyfriend's sister's 18th birthday. The food was amazing as always - if you haven't tried their glazed ribs yet you know what to do. For those of you who have been there you know the decor is incredibly over the top and oozing rock glamour in a tacky way that actually works and it feels expensive. Imagine how a cheesy rock legend would decorate their bedroom with skulls, roses and candleholders everywhere. More is more basically.

Those of you who know me probably have no idea that I'm very interested in interior design and antiques (on a very amateurish level). As I've never owned my own flat and moved between different countries quite a lot, I've never wanted to invest in furniture as I didn't really see the point. Once I do however, I'm going to carefully select things that can stick around for a while and have personality, rather than going to IKEA to buy everything in the same make (I'll still go to IKEA though, for the meatballs). I feel like I'm going off topic here; I'll write more about all that some other time.

What I'm trying to say is:

THIS!!!! This amazingly golden, matte, sharp, handmade candleholder was hanging on the wall next to our table. I'm obsessed. After 3 glasses of wine I even waved the waitress over to ask her if there is anyone who knows where it is from or who's made it. She did not. No one did. I left the restaurant happy as it was a great night, but the pineapple was stuck in my head. And today I found it. 

This baby is made by interior designer Abigail Ahern. Turns out she's an internationally known designer who's been mentioned in both ELLE and The Guardian for her creations. She runs two London boutiques as well as a well-known interior blog. Who would have known. A wall sconce like this costs £100 - find it here.

My pineapple is now on it's way home to me.

Illness & current cravings

So my Halloween weekend consisted of me being ill and lying in bed feeling sorry for myself. I literally didn't move Saturday except for when I dragged myself to the kitchen to eat some bacon. I was meant to work but had to call in sick which is such a dick move, especially on a Saturday, ESPECIALLY on Halloween. I wouldn't have had to dress up if I went, I already looked like a zombie :)

So what do you do when ill? Internet shopping! In this case it was only internet browsing as I'm currently craving such expensive pieces. Nothing I would buy on impulse.

Some girl wants to buy my Prada bag on Depop (will come back to this amazing app at another time) and I instantly started looking around to see what my next designer bag upgrade could be with that money. It needs to be in a timeless design and a settle colour that you won't get tired of and that can be used all year round. At the moment I'm snowed in on these two Chloé Faye models in black or nude. On the other hand I would like a standing up tote, On the third hand I still love my Prada Saffiano in Cameo/antique rose... We'll see what happens. Anyhow - these are my absolute top cravings at the moment.

Chloé Faye Small £790 - Mytheresa

Chloé Faye Medium £1100 - Net-A-Porter

Little Mistress tulle skirt - ASOS £50

Larsson & Jennings CM Silver £225 - Larsson & Jennings

Tory Burch Logo Stud Earring £47 - Nordstrom

Paris Photobomb

Bonjour!

Two weeks ago-ish me and Lloyd went to Paris to work at a massive Canon exhibition - Canon EXPO 2015. Our friend and my fellow Swede Linda is the Events Manager so she took us on board and oh my god, what a week. It was hard work and long days but just as much fun. I had never been to Paris before and considering red wine and cheese are my two favourite things in the whole world, it's safe to say I enjoyed myself.

The food, the atmosphere, the buildings; everything was beautiful. And this is gonna sound very lame but to walk around in the dark to then look up and all of a sudden see the Eiffel tour blew my mind. It really is huge and a majestic building. Linda got us VIP tickets so we got to skip the whole queue and take the lift all the way up. I'll say this though; it was incredible up there but I am never doing that again. I didn't know I was scared of heights - I know know (the video on Lloyd's phone is good proof of that). Shat my pants. It's just not natural to be that high up and a building that old, you know what I mean?

We also worked at a private gala dinner for Canon VIPs in Le Louvre, how cool?? The whole museum was closed for everyone else and it was a truly impressive night. The actual cast from Les Miserables, Beauty & the Beast and Phantom of the Opera performed during the night as well.

I can't wait to go back to Paris and I recommend anyone to go if you haven't been already! The visit made me understand the French people a little bit better. Them acting superior to others made a little bit more sense, however they are still pretty annoying ;)

Inside Le Louvre.

After work drinks.

Amazing steak restaurant where I had my first ever chateaubriand. So. Damn. Good.

The main entry to the massive exhibition at La Villette.

Looking up at the Eiffel tour from inside the lift.

Tourist alert! 

Champs-Elysees.

We tried snails - don't believe what people say it was HORRIBLE.

Fois gras & a charcuterie board on Champs-Elysees.

Gorgeous Paris.

At the top.......

Linda & Richard smooching!

French balconies.

A hidden gem! Amazing food & atmosphere.

Anyhow, to get the chance to be a part of and work for such an incredibly successful company as Canon was a great experience and I think it inspired both me and Lloyd. I've never been as determined to get a new job as I am now and I think he is too. I've fallen out of love with hospitality and I handed in my resignation yesterday!!!! The pressure is on.

Life as a waitress 2.0

When I was complaining about my constantly chipped nails in a blog post a couple of months ago due to the fact that I work in hospitality, one of my colleagues came up to me and said - I thought you ware going to write about all the idiots we have to deal with on an everyday basis! (Hey Anna!) So I thought I'd do just that. Give you en exclusive view of how we deal with YOUR bullshit. And hopefully it will teach you a thing or two about how to act in public places. Here we go.

I am going to keep this as short and concise as I can as there are a lot of things that I would like to bring up in this text. I am going to complain and get a lot of things off my chest.

Snapping fingers at me at the bar - congratulations mate, I will now ignore you until eeeveryone else has been served. I will then serve your drink in a warm glass straight out the dishwasher and I will probably over charge you as well. Manners cost nothing and DO NOT underestimate my authority.

Eyeballing me slowly up and down before answering my hello (I had a specific name here earlier but someone from work told my boss and he had a word with me about it - thanks for calling me out dear colleague).

The garden is closed - finish your cigarettes - lights another one. GET IN!

The bar is closed - can we pleeeeease have just a small glass of wiiiiiiine? No.

The lights are on full blast and all chairs have been put up on the tables. A guy walks in - are you still open? Yeah buddy, of course we are.

Old man: top this pint up please. Oh all the way up to the rim? So that you can have an extra half a mouth full of beer in your body? Or so that you can spill the exact same amount on your way to your table?

Your bill in the dining room is £239.40 and you put down £240 cash. I bring you back the 40 pence in a TIPS IS NOT INCLUDED protest and you say 'keep the change!' while you look at me like I'm cinderella. Oh my god thank you SO much. What should I do after I've split this fortune with EIGHT other people?! The possibilities are endless.

Oh you ordered your steak Medium did you? And then you send it back because it's overcooked? And I can se with my own eyes that your steak is cooked Medium? I am so sorry let me fix that for you........ Blood. Is. Boiling.

Okay, flushing the toilet after having a pee is common fucking sense. And when I come in to the toilet seeing that there is un-flushed pee in the toilet but NO toilet paper used - that's your first strike. When I see that there is pee aaaaaaaall over the seat and you haven't bothered wiping it off after you clearly mis-judged the distance from your fiffi and the ring, that's strike no 2. When I see that there is an explosion of poo on the inside of the toilet (how the hell does it get that far up, honestly WHAT are you doing?!), that's me locking the toilet door, putting up an 'out of order - don't get in there' sign and thinking that I've officially given up on humanity.