Sunday, March 27, 2011

march 20 to march 27

Figured out how to take the bus to Ikea... (bus = no extra charge for crossing zones)

Local parakeets outside our street...



Did you have a pound puppy? I loved mine! Check my personal flickr for more toys from the 80's including He-Man, Jem, Game Boy...

the Food Glorious Food exhibit... see the box of Allsorts in the middle?

The Vintage Furniture Flea has been one of the best vintage markets I have been to. Check out their website for dates and locations. Some things were a bit on the pricier side considering everything has been hand picked and brought to the City of London. I did pick up some goodies such as a vintage kitten drawing, a library catalogue drawer (single), a Kit Kat pencil case (probably not vintage, but still love it) and Robert picked up a cool keychain (with key!) from a Travelodge motel in San Diego (which apparently still exists). Will take pics soon! If you are looking for furniture, I would recommend paying the extra £1 for early admission. It was packed!



Wednesday, March 23, 2011

nom nom nom

Lunch. March 22nd, 2011.

Homemade caesar dressing and veggie patties. Recipe courtesy of everybodylikessandwiches.com found on Poppytalk.

Verdict = yum.

Monday, March 21, 2011

brick lane to columbia flower market


Journey from Bethnal Green Station to Brick Lane to Columbia Flower Market to Geffrye Museum to home. A day of wandering... checking out antiques... 

buying bagels (love this place and for 25p a bagel you can't get better than this!)...


kitten watching...

maneuvering through crowds (typical Sunday at the market)...

 checking out new shops...


melting over miniature food! ...


and discovering a row of 8 to 10 Vietnamese restaurants (not pictured)! Definitely headed back with empty stomachs. 

Found out last night that a friend from high school is in London visiting her brother. Hopefully, we can meet up!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

march 14 to march 19


Today was filled with meeting new friends, coffee and croissants, picking up fabric remnants from Sew Fantastic and exploring Essex Road and Camden Passage Islington and a quick pop into the Make Lounge. Some images below from the past week...

(lunch at Hungs)

(Cleo enjoying the sun and the great outdoors aka roof terrace)

(hair clip order off to Bird on a Wire Creations)

(homemade yorkshire pudding)

(terrace looking down to the back yard <- belongs to downstairs neighbour)

Sunday, March 13, 2011

london :: bus route 88




Bus route 88 from Oxford Circus to Clapham Common. Instagram tilt shift feature. The amount of people in picture #1? Just a regular Sunday.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

house tour :: bathroom + 2nd bed


After receiving a gentle push from a friend * smile * on facebook to speed up the house tour, I figured I better finish up my picture taking.


I love my showers hot and for some reason, we can't get it hot enough to my liking. The boiler is on full and the water from the taps can get to a 'burn yourself' temperature, but the shower is kind of meh. That being said, it seems to be a warm and then fluctuate to the point where the flow dies down and then when it comes back, it's hot! hot! hot! for less than a minute. Chalk it up to it being an old house? Ideally, they should have placed the boiler closer to the bathroom and the kitchen and not at the top of the house next to the bedroom.

My plans is to make a curtain with the circle fabric pictured above to cover the shelf.


I can't believe I am even posting this picture, but here is the disaster area known as the second bedroom. We've been piling all the furniture that the landlord needs to pick up in here and then closing our eyes. Oy! 

Well, that's our new place. So who wants to come visit?!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

house tour :: reception room


The first three pictures are the 'before' and the remaining pictures are the 'after'. The coffee table is going back to the landlord as well as the pictures on the wall. I am still waiting for the 'official ok', so that we can start hanging our pictures on the wall. We signed an agreement to stay here for one to three years, so I can't understand why somebody would say no to putting up additional shelving in the kitchen and pictures on the wall? There are hooks all over the place already (not the most ideal places though) and it looks like past renters had filled up previous holes in a few places.


Not to sound whiny, but we have been here exactly one month. The stove seems to be working fine again (apparently, water had got into the gas stove and we had to ignite it from the bottom which meant removing a drawer and reaching in each time), but it took 28 days for him to finally come over and look at it. We still haven't received our inventory list (when you move in, they charge you £100 or so for a person to come in and inventory the goods that are currently in the house - it's mandatory). As I mentioned, we are still waiting to hear about hanging things and removing the old furniture. * sigh *


We have unpacked all of our goods. The craft room and the bedroom still needs a bit more organizing, but the reception is looking good. I must have been tired at this point, because I forgot to take before pictures of the back corner. 


I'm looking for something like this desk to fit in the back corner. In the meantime, that chair signifies where my workspace will be. I'm also hoping to do this to the sofa and grab some pillows from the pauhaus in May. Yes, Cleo loves warming herself by the radiator. They have these cat beds that hook over the radiator, may need to get one for her upcoming birthday in May!


The stand for the catalogue is temporary. Hopefully, we can raise it higher and find some cool armchairs to go on either side. The coffee table is being returned to the landlord, so thinking of something a bit less chunky and maybe replacing the mirror with a starburst one


We found the tv in the attic. It picks up 5 channels, so it will do for now, but we found a new 32" one for a good price. Unfortunately, they are currently out of stock. Shelves are looking a bit empty as well, but I'm sure we'll find lots as soon as we start hitting the car boot sales. I also have a series of thrifted books I found for my Indie I Do display that would look great up there.


If we had extra money and think that we are staying for awhile, I would like to replace the curtains. Curtains don't come cheap though, so we will see. I will redo the bench seat. My plans are to pick up some foam and sew up a cover using this fabric.

Ok! Downstairs bathroom next!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

move in


Well, it wasn't exactly move in day, but our boxes from Vancouver arrived yesterday. I have been wearing the same 3 pairs of shoes since the first week of January and I can not explain to you how fantastic it feels to now have a choice!



We lost one mason jar (it was a good one too - huge with a glass lid) and the top piece of a library catalogue drawer snapped, but that should be fixable with some wood glue. Rob was carrying the catalogue from the kitchen into the reception room and one of the drawers shot out. Of course, the cat was hanging out on the stairs, so imagine the drawer sliding down while the cat is busy running up and trying to dodge it. It looked like one of those Japanese game shows! Other than that, it looks like everything made it. We still have things in Vancouver that we would like to eventually bring over, but we will figure that out in May. 




We are still waiting for the management company to contact the landlord and get the official 'ok' that we are able to paint and put up some shelving. I can live with the colour, but I really want to put up some shelving to display my pyrex, etc. We are also waiting to hear back regarding when the landlord will be removing her furniture from the flat. It will be pretty empty for awhile, but hoping to make friends with a big vehicle soon. Boot sale road trip!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

portobello road









May need to head back there for a vintage cookbook that caught my eye, but not sure if I can stomach those crowds again. Better set the alarm and go early! MmMMMM... paella!
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