My Night at the BAFTAs!

Last Saturday, I was fortunate enough to be invited to the BAFTA Television Awards 2013 at the Southbank Centre! It really was one of the most genuinely fabulous nights of my life. We were picked up in a swanky Audi A8 from my house in Hampshire and driven to London. The whole evening was ridiculously extravagant, and I felt very smug indeed.

I was also very lucky that Motel Rocks kindly provided me with a lovely dress to wear! This was very important, as I was going to be walking down the red carpet with many cool celebrities, and I wanted to blend in with the glitz…

Thanks to my lovely sister and mama for doing my make up!

We first arrived at the Corinthia Hotel in Whitehall Place, where we were greeted with unbelievably delicious champagne and canapés. I was just devouring my fifth watermelon and tuna thing on a stick, when I happened to notice Matt LeBlanc, Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan across the room! Clearly we have the same taste in champagne.

We then popped into our Audis again to be driven to the Southbank Centre for the awards. Upon arrival, we tottered down the red carpet on the Riverside Terrace, amidst the likes of Millie Mackintosh, Hugh Bonneville and a couple of Daleks. We then entered the building and were drenched in more champagne. By this point I was finding everything hilarious.

The award ceremony in the Auditorium was splendid, and we were provided with free chocolates called ‘Tiddly BAFTAs’ and a bottle of water with which to survive until dinner.

Olivia Coleman won two BAFTAs for ‘Best Female in a Comedy’ (in Twenty Twelve) and ‘Supporting Actress’ (in Accused). I was jolly pleased for her, because she was fantastic in Broadchurch with David Tennant, and she’s just a brilliant actress. The lovely Ben Whishaw also won ‘Best Actor’ for his role as Richard II in Hollow Crown - I managed to talk to him about it later on…

Sources: Heart and RADA

After the awards, we filtered into the Clore Ballroom for an incredible dinner. I just can’t explain how delicious this food was.

The first course was a garden salad; amidst the usual spring greens was sprinkled some kind of mysterious, earthy substance. I assumed it was shaved truffles, before reading the menu and realising it was ‘edible soil’. It was bizarre and delicious. Following this, we ate a sumptuous plate of duck confit with butternut squash purée. Then arrived a voluptuous dessert of fizzy berries, jelly, cream and meringue. I can’t remember the precise pudding structure. It was all just so champagne-drenched and mesmerising.

For the after party we moved back over to the Riverside Terrace. I found Ben Whishaw and congratulated him on his award! Then we discussed how awful it was that The Hour had been cancelled – I didn’t think anyone could be as devastated as me. He was a lovely chap, as were the silly boys from Made in Chelsea. I won’t pretend I don’t watch it; it’s fab. I had a little chat with Jamie, Francis and Spencer, who really was remarkably tanned. We also congratulated Clare Balding for winning the ‘BAFTA Special Award’, and thanked her for being such an inspirational journalist. Lastly, just before we left the party at 2am for our Audi-driven journey back to Hampshire, I met the extremely tall Greg Davies, who was very pleasant!

Thank you to my wonderful, wonderful friend James, with whom I had a fantastic time! Thank you also to Audi and Motel Rocks!

A Little Blogger Swap…

I recently took part in a beauty blogger swap with realrebelx.blogspot.co.uk! I don’t usually do beauty blogging. I wear make up and all that jazz, but I just never really find anything to write about with it. However, I thought I’d do a swap just because it helps build relationships with other bloggers, and that’s jolly fun.

Thanks to Hannah at hannahmariebeauty.blogspot.co.uk for arranging the swap, and to Holly-Joy for my lovely items! They were all fab and very well suited to me. I particularly loved the Circus Fantasy body souffle, hair dye and dry shampoo – I need this so much for my little bit of travelling this summer!

Blogger of the Month! May 2013

I have now embarked upon a new journey in my blog, which I hope will mean I can be even more involved in blogging communities. I have started a Blogger of the Month feature! I’ve found so many cool blogs over the last few months, and I wanted to celebrate my favourite ones.

My first Blogger of the Month for May 2013 is Miss Imogen Smith, who is a craft, illustration and lifestyle blogger. She is a Graphic Design student from Shropshire, and her blog is full of vintage fashion, lovely illustrations and photography of her life. I particularly like the look of her pony Benji. (That sounds like I’m going to steal it. I’m not.) She’s currently making a patchwork cushion, and updating her blog as she goes along with her progress. It’s jolly good.

She also has a shop, where she sells her own illustrated stationery. Lovely stuff.

Please take a look at her blog at missimogensmith.blogspot.co.uk
Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/MissImogenSmith
Or, follow her on Bloglovin at www.bloglovin.com/en/blog/4052921

I literally love her blog, and I recommend it to anyone! Here is one of her wonderful illustrations:

© All images copyright missimogensmith.blogspot.co.uk

If you’d like to be featured as June 2013′s Blogger of the Month, I’d love you to send me your blog links! Whether you’re a fashion, beauty or lifestyle blogger, or even interested in politics, literature or culture, I’ll always have a read of what you have to say. My only condition is that you’re not an angry, miserable blogger who hates the world. That’s just dull.

Joules Spring Wishlist

I’ve just received my last student loan payment (ever!), and with it I have now paid off my overdraft, holiday payments and all my little debts to friends. I’m free!

It has, however, left me incredibly poor, so I must be content with windowshopping for now. I’ve just discovered the Joules Spring/Summer collection, and absolutely fallen in love with these pieces. I don’t buy much from Joules because I can’t really afford it on a student budget, but I use it as inspiration. I love country attire and British heritage fashion, and I always look to the Joules equestrian range when I’m thinking about high-quality, durable clothing for riding.

My favourite is the Toad Green Austine Tweed Jacket, which I would kill or maim to own.

All items found at http://www.joules.com.

Review: Serene Hearts

I was recently contacted by a quirky online homeware shop called Serene Hearts. They seem to offer a cheaper alternative to lovely home decorations that can often be extremely overpriced, so I do recommend for fellow students. They sell lovely gifts and trinkets for decorating the home, and they kindly offered to send me a surprise parcel of gifts for me to try out. Such a treat during my dissertation blues!

Sylvester Owl Door Stop £8.49
This little owlet looks handmade (and I think it might be!), and has been crafted using various pieces of floral fabric. He comes flat-packed so that you can feed him with rice or chickpeas, and then you simply prop him up and watch him hoot…
I am yet to name him.

Vintage Wire Jewellery Mannequin £6.49
I absolutely LOVED this when it arrived. I have wanted a jewellery stand for a long time, and this spindly but sturdy cream stand is perfect. I’ve already popped my rings and bangles on it, and settled it in next to my nail varnishes.

Pocket Mirror Pink Swallow £2.99
This tiny mirror is a perfect addition to my bag. I am bored of trying to use my compact mirror, and this has a tiny matching case so it looks perfect amongst my many other bits and bobs.

Live Each Day Sign £3.99
This is definitely the perfect trinket to cheer me up during coursework. I’m graduating soon, and I’m trying hard to grasp opportunities for writing and internships. A lovely addition to my bedroom wall!

I was really pleased with the items, and genuinely thought they were high-quality and very pretty. If you fancy a look at their other products, go to www.serenehearts.co.uk

* These items were kindly gifted to me, but this does not affect the honesty of my review.

Giveaway! Inspired by Marilyn Monroe…

Welcome to my first giveaway!

I have loved Marilyn Monroe for many years, and this giveaway is inspired by some of her most captivating photographic portraits. I have chosen these items because they are something I would love, and because I think they embody the beauty, femininity and merriment of Marilyn’s iconic photographs:

Lip Colour in Carver by Stila
Stila has never failed me. This lipstick is one of my favourite shades and lasts for hours. Bound to get you noticed..

Hand Printed Bicycle Letterpress Notecards by Little Red Press
These beautiful cards were hand printed by Little Red Press, an etsy shop that I have fallen in love with. I make a special effort to write letters instead of emails – there is nothing better than receiving something in the post that isn’t takeaway vouchers.

Ten Poems about Tea by Candlestick Press
I love anything to do with Sophie Dahl, and this wonderful little book features her own introduction. These poems have been collected by Candlestick Press, who make poetry books for small gifts.

I hope you like this little collection, and it makes this dreadful, rainy Spring slightly jollier. I’m afraid I can’t ship to international bloggers, but this giveaway is open to all UK bloggers! The winner will be announced on the 15th May, because that is my last exam and I will be feeling fabulously finished with my degree. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, I will pick a new one.

Please click on the link below. Unfortunately WordPress is not compatible with Rafflecopter, but it will work if you click the link. If you don’t have a Rafflecopter account, I recommend signing up FREE as it is used on lots of other blogs and giveaways.

Good luck! Click here to enter: Marilyn Monroe Giveaway on Rafflecopter!

Review: Not On The High Street

I have always loved Not on the High Street, so when they asked me to review their delicious products I was rather pleased! They sell a variety of handmade, unique and customised products that simply aren’t available in your everyday high street shop. Here are the products I chose!

As the products came from individual sellers, each one was hand-wrapped in a different way. This is why they make great presents…

Checked Wool Blanket by Delightful Living £22

I chose this recycled wool throw because I am a student, and I cannot afford much central heating. I often do work very late in the evening, and sitting down for hours in the cold is not pleasant. I was really pleased with this throw, because it uses recycled wool and I like the environment! This also means that each one is unique, because it is woven using completely random colours.

Rabbit and Cabbage Notebook by Thornback & Peel £4.50

I love writing, so obviously I chose a notebook. I have always liked Thornback & Peel for their rustic designs, so I picked up this little book to jot down ideas. They hand print all their stationery, which is rather cool.

Hangover Rescue Balm and Exam/Interview Rescue Balm by Apply Me £4.95 per pot

I’ve always preferred natural cosmetics, ever since my housemate pointed out that my Superdrug shower gel was the same colour as a highlighter. I found this Revive Me! range, and chose the Hangover and Exam/Interview pots, both of which I thought were rather appropriate for a student nearing gloomy graduation. They smell lovely, and are very refreshing.

Wild in the Country Mug by Graduate Collection £10

I chose this mug because I love tea, and I love collecting mugs so I can drink more tea. Good logic, yes? You can choose from rabbits, squirrels, waterfowl or badgers, all of which are painted in this lovely watercolour style. I chose the badgers because I am rather passionate about the badger culling problem at the moment (I believe in vaccinations, not culling), and because I was studying The Wind in the Willows at the time. The best thing about it is the size. It’s just slightly fatter than a normal mug, so you can fill it with more tea! Hooray!

You can find Not On The High Street here: www.notonthehighstreet.com

* These items were kindly gifted to me, but this does not affect the honesty of my review.

A Story of Shipwreck from My Family Tree…

My great-uncle has recently been investigating a fabulous family heirloom, dating back 168 years to the 19th century.

It is a letter from my great-great-great-great-uncle William Smith, who relates to his mother the story of an adventurous shipwreck that led to his desertion on an island of cannibals for over five years…

A swashbuckling adventure story indeed! However, when my great-uncle examined the letter a little closer, something did not seem right. By consulting historical records, he discovered that ‘Milanther Island’ did not exist, and the geographical details of the ship’s journey were impossible. So where had he been?

After much rummaging through reports, censuses and legal records, he uncovered the truth. William Smith had not travelled to Milanther Island on the ‘Friendship’ schooner, nor had he experienced a shipwreck.

He was sent to Sydney on a convict ship in April 1831, arrested for breaking into a warehouse and stealing goods. He spent the next ten years in the custody of the authorities in Sydney, after which he was released on parole for four years. When he had served his sentence, he wrote this letter to his mother, in an effort to explain his long absence from England and to protect his family from shame.

My great-uncle sent his findings to my mama with this message:

‘His amazing story was told to cover his long absence from England and protect his family from any shame. I am proud to say he was an ancestor of mine. I am also full of admiration for his tenacity in enduring his period of capitivity and his wonderful imagination and story telling abilities.’

I, too, am very proud of my great-great-great-great-uncle, and I believe it is a story worth sharing. I hope his wonderful gift of storytelling has been passed down to me, and I will one day make someone else smile with a story like his!

Here is his splendid letter*…

July 3rd 1845
Singleton
New South Wales

My Dear Mother,

I hope you will excuse my not writing to you, as I never expected to write to you again, which you will find related under. Twenty nine of us stout, able men set sail in the ‘Friendship’ schooner on the 2nd of February to trade in the South Sea Islands and on the Coast of Japan. After calling and trading at New Zealand and the Cape of Good Hope, we put into the island of Sierraleone on the Coast of Africa. After trading with the natives of the African Coast we set sail for Stewards Island. From thence we traded with different islands in the South Seas.

On bearing up for the Milanther Island we experienced a most dreadful storm for 8 days. We had to cut away the masts fore and aft the bulwarks and comings washed away. On the fourth day we had to heave everything overboard to lighten the vessel, expecting every moment to go to the bottom. The gale increasing with dreadful fury, on the 5th day the ‘Friendship’ sprang a leak. After overhauling her we found 9 feet of water in her hold. A dreadful sea, running all hands to the pumps in spite of all our exertions and cheering one another up, the water still gaining on us we kept the pumps at work night and day.

On the 7th day the storm became more furious. The men exhausted, our situation now became dreadful, some praying, expecting every moment to be the last. On the 8th day the storm abated so that with great danger we could lower a boat. On overhauling the vessel we found it dreadfully damaged, all hands being summoned up on deck to consult of the best way to be done as it was impossible to save the vessel. On the ninth day the sun appearing and was taken at 12 o’clock. It was found we were about 70 leagues from the Milanther Island.

On the 10th day, finding our vessel so much shattered and unable to live one day more, most of the men refusing to work at the pump, others trying to save the vessel, finding it impossible as she was now sinking fast. On the 11th day, about 8 in the morning, we manned the boats and saw the vessel go to the bottom. The sea getting calm, we now set sail for the Milanther Island, the largest island on the South Sea, and the most horrid cannibals of natives in the known world. On the third day after losing the vessel we came in sight of the island about sundown in the evening.

We thought the best thing to lay to until morning, knowing the natives to be very wild, and was agreed on thinking we could come on terms with them and barter. The wind now blowing very hard, we tried to put into some bay near land for shelter. The natives, seeing our situation, surrounded us with one hundred canoes. We put on to the island, when to our utmost dismay the Captain and 8 of our crew were murdered instantly. We finding no way of escaping, as we were surrounded by water and land by those cannibals, as soon as some of our boat crew jumped on shore they met the same fate.

Then one of the chief’s daughters jumped into the boat, threw her arms around my body. Not knowing what it meant, she was joined by her father who threw a cloak made of skins over my body. That was a sign my life was to be spared. After seeing my companions, 28 in number, all murdered I was now escorted about ten miles from the beach by the woman that saved my life and two hundred natives, not knowing what my fate was to be when arriving at my destination, stripped of everything, the young woman taking me to her hut, giving me a large cloak made of skins. I was made to partake of yams, cocoa nuts, fish and other produce of the island. In the course of a few days, I found the woman who saved my life was to be my wife, she never leaving me night or day.

Not knowing what had become of my companions in the boats, I could not make it out what had become of the bodies until after being two years on the island, I found they had been eaten by the natives. I found one of the boats dry on the beach after repairing her as well as circumstances would allow, making sails of skins, getting what provisions I could. I was determined to make my escape from this scene of despair sailing my frail boat to find some thousands of miles across the ocean. After seven weeks sail making on the island, leaving two children behind me, I arrived in Sydney after being 5 years, 14 days from that port.

For want of space I must now conclude, my dear mother, in good health, your most affectionate, loving son William Smith.

Give my love to my brother and his family. Direct for me to the care of Mr Samuel Ellwell-Maitland, iron-founder, New South Wales. I hope you will write as soon as possible, as I intend to leave for England by the return of post.

*I have rearranged the letter into paragraphs for easier reading, and added a few commas for the same reason. Some words were difficult to read, but have been copied as accurately as possible.

Aztec-Print Frivolity

Recently I purchased a naughty treat from ASOS.

ASOS is my best friend and my deadly foe. Countless hours I have wasted, scrolling through items I do not need, dreadfully aware that I already have four very similar denim shirts, and a fifth would be absurd. Then, just as I feel strong enough to pull away, they’ll hit me with the 25% student discount – 48 hours only!, and I’m doomed. Away float my dissertation plans like a friendless balloon.

But let’s not dwell on the past. Recently I purchased a naughty treat from ASOS:

It’s hardly a choice for the Oscars, but I love it. Faded black cotton, Aztec print front and sleeves. £20. It’s perfect for my current lifestyle, which mainly involves crawling from lectures to editorial meetings to rehearsals.

Today, I wore it to a very long rehearsal for the play I’m in: Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of being Earnest. These rehearsals require comfortable attire, and so I teamed this tee with black leggings (the only thing I ever wear) and converse. I felt pretty cool, but later on when I was running back from filling up my water bottle, I realised I looked like an enthusiastic jogger from the 80s. Such is life.

An Elephant in Paris

I’ve been terribly neglectful over the past few months. Dissertation is just miserable. Apologies!
Yesterday was World Poetry Day, and I couldn’t let this pass without a post…
Here is one of my own poems, which was recently included in UWE English Society’s literary magazine, Cellar Door (you can read it here). I am the Editor, so I hope you approve! The next issue will be out in April.
I was lucky enough to have my poem illustrated by Ana Monkevic, an illustration student from Bristol, so I thought I would include my page from Cellar Door, complete with illustrations!
Let me know what you think, blog friends.

An Elephant in Paris

Pigalle, Pigalle,
Quel un quartier royal!
I went to Paris as the months darkened.
We drank coffee and walked to Montmartre
With browned skin still, from swimming
In the sea, in Nice.
We ate mussels there.

Paris bloomed with brighter fruits
In the streets of Pigalle,
A ruby theatre with a windmill astride it.
I saw one similar in Amsterdam, but I think the red
Stood for something else.

There once lived a Parisian elephant
From the world trade fair,
The Exposition Universelle
(Come and see the wonders of France and the
New world!)

An elephant in Paris, who slept under the stars
And the bars
Of La Tour Eiffel, until he was smuggled away
By the Moulin Rouge.

He sat in the garden
While men carved a hole in his belly,
And filled it with opium.
They painted gold his tusks.
Stairs rose in a tight spiral inside his leg,
And strange men with forgotten lives
And forgotten wives
Sat in his belly and stopped
And forgot.

All for a good price, of course.

Pigalle, Pigalle,
Quel un quartier royal!
Years passed,
And at last the windmill spun its last.
The elephant died
And turned to rust,
But nobody found his golden tusks.