The Sneaky Magpie

I had a great day today and yesterday, I have posted near to 30 items on ebay and they caused a stir! Fingers crossed all will sell which will give my wardrobe much needed breathing space. I have decided that if I haven’t worn something for a year or longer I will never wear it again and it must go. I have also revisited the boxes of designer treasures that are not such treasures now I look at them, no classics, time to go. My fashion investments will remain in the bag and shoe stock.

I have loaded a bag for charity shop and will deliver it to Oxfam with all the ebay failures.

You know all the tasks that get put away like mending your clothing, polishing shoes and sewing missing buttons on? They have been staring at me from the depths of my wardrobe for some time and yesterday I finally faced them all at the same time. Such a relief.

I have invested into a small catering business in Philippines on Kiva. I really hope these ladies do well.

I have purchased two nice belts from All Saints, in brown and black leather. They are my only sales hunts so far, unfortunately the other belt sold out so I don’t have a picture.

I have really cracked on with my book pile, I have managed to read:

High Raise the Roof Beam, Carpenters by J.D. Salinger

Seymour an Introduction by J.D. Salinger

Nine Stories by J.D.Salinger

I know it is a lot of Salinger but he is such a good writer, I also found out that he is still alive, 100 years old!

The Most Beautiful Woman in Town by Charles Bukowski

The Faithful River by Stefan Zeromski

I have decided to put away Ulysses and The Corporation, at least for now.

So the only remaining books left are Tropic of Capricorn and some Chekhov stories and plays. This means I will be able to move onto some brand new books very soon. Really looking forward to it.

I have watched the 2 new episodes of Cranford and am awaiting the DVD of the first series, I might even start reading the books. I am quite glad I have not discovered it earlier because I am in real need of a costume drama fix.

I have made it to Tate Britain today to see the wonderful Turner and the Masters show, they had some amazing Rembrandts and Canalettos. I also checked out the Turner Prize which is definitely better than last year’s and glimpsed at some beautiful sculptures in the hall. This reminds me of few more exhibitions I must see and the time is running out. Especially for Ed Ruscha at The Hayward (Friday 6.00-10.00pm two for one deal) on till the 10th of January, Maharaja at V&A till 17th January and Jacob Epstein, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Eric Gill at The Royal Academy till 24th January. I knew I left it too late and now will have to rush.

The Mill by Rembrandt

And tomorrow I will have to take it easy….

Feeling sorry for myself after a hard shoot I decided to reward myself with some shopping. Off I went to All Saints to purchase a shirt I really want and as usual there was a problem.

Shirt in hand, my size, looks great I am ready to pay and the first thing I hear is ‘I am sorry, our card machine is broken so you should go to ATM, get some cash out and come back’. I walked out of the shop empty handed, I simply could not be bothered with them anymore.

Why I got so annoyed is because there is always something wrong with All Saints, their staff are stroppy, moody, lazy and more interested in serving friends with their 50% staff discount than taking care of real customers.

Another things that really bothers me is the way they tag leather jackets right through the middle of the back with massive security tags leaving visible holes. So wasteful.

The shop in Market Place is continuing to surprise me with their ‘issues’. When I went there few weeks ago to purchase a pair of shorts they told me that they didn’t have the right de-tagging equipment and what I should do is pay, go across Oxford Street to Gap and ask them to remove the tag for me. I am not aware of Gap having any connection with All Saints and doing it would make me look like a thief. Besides the staff members didn’t even consider doing it themselves. With huge disbelief in my eyes I just shook my head and walked out.

I did want the shorts badly so I went back next day and they were able to remove the tag without any hassle.

I would just order the shirt online but with the postal strike causing havoc for weeks now I think it would not get here very fast and I am not a very patient person.

The biggest problem with All Saints is that some of their clothes and accessories are pretty nice so I can’t stay away.

I have been catching up on reading and films this weekend. Due to the postal strike magazines arrived late this month, same goes for DVD rentals. Pretty annoying. The strike is still going on and nobody knows when this will end.

Vogue and ELLE made me wish for even more pretty things. No matter how few things I really need there is always something new to wish for.

I also went to All Saints just to have a look and of course spotted things that would be very useful, especially this great hunting coat, perfect for rain, outdoor activities and cycling (same material as Barbour jackets but better cut). Skinny black jeans are always good,  fitted shirt would look good with these. And I really need a good belt.

After our visit to Petersham Nurseries I decided to expand my cook book selection to two Skye Gyngell books. I have just ordered A Year in My Kitchen which is all about seasonal cooking – it has been my cooking philosophy for years so I am sure I will enjoy exploring her recipes. If the book is a culinary success I will also get My Favorite Ingredients.

Speaking of seasonal food, I got some fresh figs yesterday and prepared them for my lunch. I love figs: fresh, roasted, baked in cakes; in savory and sweet dishes. It is such a wonderful and diverse autumnal fruit.

For my lunch I made roasted fig salad, this is the recipe:

4-5 figs

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp honey

1 buffalo mozzarella

handful of rocket

toasted pine nuts

few mint leaves

Quarter the figs and spread them on a baking sheet, pour a little bit of balsamic vinegar and honey, roast in  190-200 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Tear the mozzarella into chunks, place on a plate, mix with rocket leaves and pine nuts. Place roasted figs on top but let them cool first otherwise the cheese will melt and the leaves will wilt. Balsamic, honey and fig juice will create a lovely syrup which can be dripped over the salad. Sprinkle mint leaves on top.

Serve with good sourdough toast.

This has been inspired by Jamie Oliver’s fresh fig salad with parma ham aka the easiest sexiest salad in the world. You can find his version in Happy Days with the Naked Chef.

The whole afternoon was spent on reading Generation A which is yet another great book by Coupland. I only read two contemporary writers religiously, the other one is Dave Eggers.

Watched a couple of films:

Me and You and Everyone We Know – Funny, uplifting and quirky directorial debut by artist Miranda July. I also recommend her short stories No One Belongs Here More Than You. This girl is very talented.

Meantime by Mike Leigh – A very good English film that I can watch over and over again, Leigh captured the Thatcher era and life in the east end of London spotlessly and shot it beautifully. Amazing performances by absolutely everyone, especially by Tim Roth, Phil Daniels and Gary Oldman.

My weekend ended in Hoxton, had Vietnamese food at Cay Tre. Authentic tasty food, the summer spring rolls are super delicious.

Every holiday has got its casualty, this one ended the life of a couple of necklaces. First one to go was All Saints metal and jet necklace, few bits broke off but I can still wear it.

The more dramatic one was the Super Mandolini plane necklace which broke in the suitcase on my way back.

Hopefully this can be fixed, I love this necklace so much.

In the meantime I think I will be placing an order with Erica Weiner, her flapper chain and plane necklace are definitely more durable than perspex.

I am also contemplating some pieces from Kate Halfpenny, the hummingbirds are great!

The weekend has been tainted with some work related stress. All got solved in the end but my Sunday evening was pretty much ruined.

I did manage to get some stuff done though.

I reorganised my closet discovering a lot of summer dresses and skirts that are more than good to wear, ironed it all and now I feel like I have a brand new wardrobe that only needs a good pair of sandals.

Major part of ebay clothing has been photographed, waiting to be uploaded.

Finished watching series 1 of Mad Men and cannot wait to get my sticky fingers on series 2, I have seen few episodes on BBC but didn’t get into it properly. It’s not the same without the first part.

Watched Camera Buff – an excellent movie by Krzysztof Kieslowski, one of his first ones. It’s a story of a plant worker who buys a camera to film his new born daughter and ends up shooting documentaries for the plant subsequently becoming pretty successful. Unfortunately his success is not beneficial for everyone.

Kept reading Crimson Petal and already looking forward to The Apple however I am not allowing myself to buy it before I read the pile of books waiting by my bedside.

Discovered a new high street near my home – Northcote Road. Can’t believe it was there all this time! Planning to explore it properly on Saturday. It’s a little bit of a yummy mummy area and the shops are not very exciting but it’s a useful one. With places like Space NK, Neal’s Yard and Gail’s it’s a very handy place indeed.

Screamed for joy when I discovered sorrel at my farmers market, this place is improving! It was used in a tart and a salad. I love the lemony taste of sorrel. It reminded me of summer days in fields and meadows as a child, sorrel was a rare find and we would pick it up and eat it right there.

I am looking for a good leather satchel bag, big enough for all my bits but not too large so it sits nicely on my back while cycling. At the moment I saw great ones at All Saints and Comptoir des Cotonniers (can’t find a picture).

Sadly, I didn’t get to any exhibitions so I MUST do it this week!

My summer wardrobe is nicely coming together but where is the sun? After wonderful April we are being punished with pretty bad May. I do understand that we have TWO bank holiday weekend so the temperatures were bound to drop and some rain was necessary but come on, give us something!

This is my summer hit list. I have got the stripey skirt already, a Vivienne Westwood wondeful ebay hunt; I also have got the Anya Hindmarch canvas bag, such a great purchase. The next item has got to be the Toast sandals, I will go for brown ones not gold me thinks…. The leather jacket is All Saints, it’s called Daria, not my first choice which is Feathers but it seems to be sold out! The two tops are also All Saints. The blue dress is APC and I truely love it, the other dress is See by Chloe. Little basket is from Toast and would be perfect for farmers market. The military jacket is from Jigsaw and pretty pricey, not sure whether I should risk it and wait till sales. Jewellery is by Zoe&Morgan. Add some basic tees, converse trainers and H&M boyfriend jeans and I am prepared…well till I see another object of desire.

To improve my mood I will start the self tanning process and make some summer food like the sea bass recipe by Nigel Slater. Sigh.

*EDIT the clothes came out all stretched upwards once uploaded, weird.