South London Sightseeing

I've been adventuring again with the new camera...I do so love it. Last weekend the Boy came to visit, and we decided to save some cash and stay close to home.

On Saturday, our adventures took us first to Crystal Palace Park, where we marvelled at the dinosaurs, lamented the fact that the Palace itself burnt down at the Museum, and got excited about the proposed redevelopment (from 2015).

Towards the city

Juxtaposed with you

Crystal Palce Park

RAWRRRR!

After a great big naughty lunch at The Capitol, the Wetherspoons in Forest Hill (I said we were being cheap, didn't I, and who can turn down an enormous hot dog, with onion rings, chips and a pint for just £5.89?), we headed up to the Horniman Museum and Gardens, where we took a look around the free exhibitions and a quick stroll around the gardens, taking in the delights of the Horniman Farmer's Market, on every weekend.

Crystal Palace Station

Horniman Museum Gardens

Horniman Museum Gardens

Horniman Museum Gardens

We stopped off at The Dolphin in Sydenham for another relaxed pint and then headed home laden with shopping bags of food from Lidl, where we watched the finale of Breaking Bad at last, and devoured umpteen Favorina biscuits.

On Sunday we went for a local stroll, which took us first to Wells Park, which is right on my doorstep and utterly beautiful, then around the outskirts of Crystal Palace Park again to Penge where we ogled the Almshouses, ate in another Wetherspoons and trawled the charity shops.

Wells Park

Wells Park

Wells Park

Tree Bark

Wetherspoons chilli con carne....mmmmm

Penge Almshouses

St Bartholomews

Jews Walk

I love living in South East London, there's so much to see, plenty of leafy places to walk, and so many beautiful and incredibly old buildings. A satisfyingly cheap and chilled weekend, made even better by a lie-in on Monday morning due to train delays from the storm, and the fact that as Boy's trains were cancelled altogether, I got to keep him for an extra night.

TK Maxxing it for xxMas

The new TK Maxx store opened on Long Acre last week, and I was very excited about this - I love a good tkrummage. Here's the great unveil (excuse the dreadful pictures, I didn't have my fancy new camera with me).

I had a chance to have a good peek around the shop before it opened at the launch party, and was pleased with what I found -  boo to no homeware section - but thankfully there's the Charing Cross Road branch only 5 minutes walk away.

I took a few snaps of things that caught my eye, so here's a very quick gift guide for you all.

Scarves for mum

PJs for the baby sis, perhaps? I love those blue ones!

Gorgeous Patagonia exercise top for the yogini

Pepsi Tshirt for yourself - and why not? Christmas shopping is hard work

Christmas jumper for the day itself

Prada shoes from the Gold Label section for the fashionista

Gooey frosting for the foodie.

I popped back and got a couple of bits for the Boy yesterday, but those are a secret. The new store overall is impressive, spread over 3 floors, the Gold Label section is pretty big, and despite no proper homeware section there are still candles, books, stationery and food items and a great selection of toiletries and bags.

The website itself has some great gifts available to order online, something I didn't realise before that TK Maxx did....voila.

Dickins and Jones at House of Fraser

On a recent trip to Croydon, I happened upon the gorgeous collection by Dickins and Jones at House of Fraser, a stunning collection of grown-up ladieswear. Despite not knowing about the range at HoF, I thought the name sounded familiar. When I got home, I realised of course that D&J used to be an upmarket department store on Regent Street, right up until 2006 (where H&M now is).

Their range of clothing, which is exclusive to House of Fraser is "a wonderfully quintessential British fashion brand for women" with "a distinct heritage feel that has a timeless yet fashionable appeal." - this is from the blurb from the blurb on the website but it's certainly accurate.

I got this adorable top for just £18 (£20 on sale, with Boy's student discount).

Dickins and Jones Jersey Top

A cute weekend top, wearable with jeans or a skirt. It's available in a range of colours with different patterns on that sweet little pocket, I just love this bird print!

Looking at the website has got me lusting after these gorgeous pyjama bottoms, perfect for cosying up as the winter nights draw in!

Peacock pyjamas

Teacup pyjamas

Highgate Cemetery (playing with my new camera)

The time finally came that I was able to buy my new camera. I LOVE it. It's the Panasonic Lumix GF5 which I bought for the princely sum of £200 inc P&P from this Amazon seller. Miraculously, I only ordered it on Thursday and it arrived on Friday, just in time for the weekend. The low price was due to the box being unsealed and a bit tatty but everything was in there and brand new, so I can live with a tatty box (in all honesty the tattiness is barely perceptible).

This weekend I headed up to my bestie's pad, back in my old North London stomping ground, which was a complete mission as the Northern Line and the Overground were borked. We popped to Muswell Hill for a charity shop raid, collecting some fatty bum-bum snacks and nestled in for the night with When Harry Met Sally, Little Mermaid and Enchanted. Just what the doctor ordered.

This morning, after a bracing brunch at Le Pain Quotidien in Highgate, we headed to Waterlow Park and Highgate Cemetery armed with our cameras for some experimentation.

Converse

I'm a beginner to any kind of real photography, but now I have the tools, I am looking forward to taking much better pictures. I'm now trawling the internet for the nicest case and the best memory card for my shiny new toy. I'm loving this cutie from Etsy.

Etsy

Before heading North yesterday I popped in to look at couple of shops local to me in Sydenham, I came across Doorz, where I reserved an old table for £15, and so when I returned today, I popped around to pick it up. I've been desperate for a desk as I didn't want to use my sewing machine upstairs in the dining room and have to put it away each time I used it, or irritate my flatmate. The new addition is a bit scruffy and is basically a family dining table rather than a desk, but I think it's going to work for me.

Hello Vans

What happened to Converse? I had my first pair for almost 10 year. My second pair lasted a year. My third pair, four months. I noticed last week that one of the soles was falling out, which Isn't Good Enough, so I took them straight back to Office, who without quibble offered me a replacement. I decided to go to the other side, and got some Vans.

Converse, I'll be back when you up your game.

Vans

First Outing in new shoes

An Ode to Orla Kiely and Suzy Bishop

I absolutely adore Orla Kiely, so it's fitting that the one LFW show that I got to was hers. I loved the SS14 collection, it's incredible. You can watch the official show video here.

The SS14 collection is "inspired by girl guides, brownies and Suzy Bishop, the collection presents a contract of texture, embelishment and 70's inspired silouhettes fused with a modern twist.

I got zero decent photos from the actual show as I am still saving for a proper camera, but here's a handful from the LFW Site.

Source

The Huckleberry bag, based on a binocular case is my personal favourite item from the whole collection - you can see it in yellow in the middle photo.

If you haven't seen Moonrise Kingdom yet, watch it, immediately - trailer here, and learn the ways of the style icon that is Suzy Bishop. An homage to Wes Anderson's most stylish creation:

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Back on the subject of Orla, her new footwear collection in conjunction with Clarks was also showcased at the show on Saturday, "...A capsule collection of 6 styles....Incorporating colours iconic of her collections with green, mustard, navy and red colour ways, and a real sense of fun – the collection is representative both of Orla’s design heritage and Clarks’ passion for style and substance."

The "Mary" are my personal favourites.

Orla Kiely and Clarks, Mary

This fashion stuff is a crazy business though, it's September, the temperature is dropping, it's raining almost constantly, and yet were expected to think about clothing for summer? That will never make any sense to me. Here's a couple of my favourites from Orla's AW13 knitwear collection.

Animal Embroidery Cardigan

Squirrel Intarsia Cardigan

Happily, you can get free delivery on purchases through the website this week to celebrate London Fashion Week (and there's mugs and stationery on sale....you're welcome).