Sunday 31 October 2010

All Owls' Eve

I don't actually like Halloween very much so I'm going to do my annual sit-in-the-dark-and-watch-an-old-twenties-movie-while-the-parents-answer-the-door-to-trick-or-treaters.

And since I have been spending a lot of time around owls (and other birds) in the past few days for my art projects, I thought I would share a few pictures of owls I have done. Even though they're not scary, they're vaguely on theme.

A European Eagle Owl in watercolour.

A Barn Owl in chalk pastel.

A Great Horned Owl sewn on fabric with painted beads.

An African Spotted Eagle Owl in graphite.

A Barn Owl in watercolour.

Here's a part of poem by AA Milne that the last one reminds me of:

If you were a bird, and lived on high,
You'd lean on the wind when the wind came by,
You'd say to the wind when it took you away:
"That's where I wanted to go today!"

Where am I going? I don't quite know.
What does it matter where people go?
Down to the wood where the blue-bells grow --

Anywhere, anywhere. I don't know.

Picture from Google. Love for (that part of) that poem. It sounds best when read in an Austrain accent by Arnold Schwarzenegger like in Kindergarten Cop, one of my favourite movies. :)

Ps. Thank you to my new followers, you've made me very happy! And also some of my friends have started blogging (I like to think I inspired them) so woo, go them. Check out A's blog here and D's here.

Pps. Alright, because I feel like a Scrooge, here is a proper Halloween-y picture that I love.

Friday 29 October 2010

I'm a Twit- ahem I mean I'm a Tweeter

I just got Twitter for the blog, as suggested by N. I'm called @IFellFromLala (+Land was too long. Damn character restriction!) so follow me! Now I just have to figure out how to use Twitter... :)

I want to be a Russian tsarina



Touching Atlas' toe you get to make a wish. You can make loads of wishes in St Petersburg - touching Altas' toes, seeing 5 brides (we saw 12 in one day. 12!), puting locks on bridges, throwing coins into old boats... I'm sure the list goes on.


Wearing a random black leotard, my mum's old calf-length skirt which either her or my grandma made over green jeggings from Topshop, belt from Topshop, watch necklace from UO, old heart pendant, (fake) fur coat from Miss Selfridge, vintage scarf, pink leather gloves from Topshop, DM's and my favourite bag that I use for everything from Hoopers. That bag is one of the most travelled items I own.

My friend N and her DM's. Of about 30 people that went on the trip, I saw at least 8 people (including me) wearing Doc Marten's. Go DM's!

We saw looooads of Russian people dressed in uniform with fur hats. And loooooots of cadets. Also with fur hats.

Me and C jcin' outside St Isaac's. I can't remember (or see) what C's wearing but her lovely scarf is from Topshop.



Wearing my fantabuloussss full length bronze silk skirt my mom made for me the week before I went. I've been planning this skirt for aaaages and I'm so happy she managed to make it in time for me to take. Also wearing new boots from Zara which I think might just become my new DM's in the fact that I love them so much I will wear them constantly. Except they're too precious to wear that much, as is the skirt. Also wearing a stripy top from Topshop (which I don't think you can see), leggings from H&M and black satin elbow gloves from Claire's. And the reason I'm not wearing the skirt in the last picture is because I took it off to go bowling. Never tried bowling in a full length skirt but I imagine it would be.. interesting.





Wearing a vintage leather skirt, mom's blouse, leopard tights from Miss Selfridge (have wanted some for soooo long), socks from Topshop (they're actually over-the-knee's) and (fake) fur hat from Snow + Rock. The last three pictures were taken in a a palace where we had dinner then watched a folk show (pictures below).



Wearing a white shirt from H&M, trip hoodie, leggings from Topshop, sleeveless aviator jacket from Primark, scarf from River Island, socks from Tophsop (knee-highs), and skeleton earrings from Claire's.

Me and C being cool on the coach with our Russian (fake) fur hats. Even though mine was bought in England.. I really like the elbow ribbing on C's coat. Little details make things better.

Russian 'matryoshka' doll earrings I bought. Sadly they don't open.

A replica of one of Empress Elizabeth's dresses.


I would love to be one of those people who get to dress up and wander around St Petersburg. :)

Ps. Due to my stupidness of not taking spare memory cards, my camera memory filled up on the second day so I had to only take pictures of the essentials (although I still have about a hundred more pictures than I posted..) so I commandeered my friends' cameras. So there are more photos of me/that I took that I don't have at the moment but I'll post them as soon as I can steal them from Facebook.

Wednesday 27 October 2010

St Petersburg

Well... where to start? I've been in St. Petersburg (aka Leningrad) with C on a school trip for the last five days and it was absolutely AMAZING. Seriously, I now want to move there. I possibly love it more than Paris. And I love Paris. (Although I haven't been there in years so you know out of sight, out of mind.)

We also visited my official favourite church ever, but unfortunately I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT IT WAS CALLED OR WHAT THE OUTSIDE LOOKS LIKE!! (And we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. Grrr.)


It was snowing when we arrived! It didn't stick but still, SNOW! Everybody in England loves snow because we get it so rarely.



The Winter Palace which now houses the Hermitage museum:
























St Isaac's Catherdral, the biggest in the city and the fourth tallest in the world:




The Catherine (Summer) Palace in Pushkin, less than an hour from St Petersburg:





St Petersburg is a beautiful, beautiful city. I swear every second building there is a palace or a church with its own story. And I have never seen so many chandeliers! :)

Ps. Just because even the more dilapidated buildings are beautiful, especially in black and white.