Summertime

What a week it has been, my feet have hardly touched the ground.

Both Mark and I were completely zonked out after last weekend but thankfully managed to grab a reasonably restful Monday before charging full steam ahead into Tuesday.

We still try to squeeze in our daily jaunt to the park cause it lifts the spirit and is a great energy booster.

Fabulous 70s block print maxi frock, 80s sunnies & platform Hawaianas.

After a smashing Sunday at the Dandy pop-up market, I decided to treat myself to something I've been after for ages...

When my mum went to Morocco in the late 70s she brought back one of these fabulous robes and I remember playing dress-up in it as a kid. Sadly it disappeared in one of our many moves and I've been hankering for another one ever since. It is totally trippy hippie and I can't wait to wear it.

Whilst on the subject of hippies, I've decided to go with a "Far Out" theme for my rail at The Sunday Mini Festival next month. I am currently going hole punch bonkers making one-offs to bring along on the day.

Here's a fringe waistcoat that I made from a 90s suede dress...

I met up with Mike who is organizing The Sunday Mini Festival last Wednesday at the Biddle Bros pub in Lower Clapton for an evening of  beer & fabulous singer-songwriter performances by Allegra Shock , Jaime Wyatt , (fellow Swede) Emil Lager and Meg Cavanaugh. Meg is also one of the acts at The Mini Festi  :)

Then on Thursday I had another delightful visit from Jo. She came to try on some frocks for a friend in The States. I'd primed my rail with floaty creations and hippie style dresses galore. I even let Jo try on my favourite ever maxi that I was sent by Helga some years ago, she was smitten :)

I still have another meet-up with Jo before she heads back to the US. We are going for a spot of lunch tomorrow and afterwards Jo is taking me to a "secret location"...I'm very intrigued & excited:)

This was the beautiful view outside my home office window on Thursday evening...

On Friday I took some pictures of the geese. This is The Grey family, look how big Baby Grey is now...

There are two pairs of Canada geese, both with two young ones each. The goslings are loosing their down now and two of them are starting to look more like the adults. They are still adorably cute though...

Friday was also Summer Solstice or Midsummer as it is more commonly referred to in Sweden. It is much more of a big deal over in Scandinavia and people like to really celebrate it. I marked the day by wearing this very colourful and summery frock that I wore to my sixth form college graduation back in '92.

It had been raining in the morning and there were lots of snails that had been and still were trailing across the graveled path. I saved a couple by airlifting them to safety and putting them down in the high grass ;)

Happy Midsummer :)

Barbara our friend from Berlin came back from her shiatsu course in Wales and we had a lovely night in with veggie fajitas, red wine & a bunch of old photographs :)

The midsummer moon was magical...

Then along came Saturday and another eagerly anticipated colab with Tangled Wigs.
Sam has just launched her fabulous new Happy Feelin's Collection and a new issue of Tangled Magazine is in the making. Sam brought along four absolutely stunning wigs and I'd put together four festival inspired outfits for the photo shoot. Beautiful Natasha did a grand job modelling  and Sam & I shared the camera responsibility. The pics came out brilliantly and I can't wait to see them in the magazine. I had a wonderful time and I absolutely adore working with these fabulous gals :)

After waving Barbara off, I spent the afternoon editing pics. Mark had a boys night out planned with two of his best friends and headed out late afternoon. The three of them came back to the house around 9pm, laden with pizza and beer. We stuffed our faces before heading to the local watering hole for a quick one and then ended the evening by having a wee drinking session in the house before crashing.

I was incredibly happy that unlike last Sunday we could just kick back in the house all day and that is exactly what we've been doing. Mark and I perched ourselves on the sofa, "watched" a couple of DVDs and lazed the day away, blooming marvelous :)

So tomorrow I'm meeting up with lovely Jo and then I have to crack on with preparing my rail for the forthcoming Dandy Lion Market and organizing & promoting the vintage market for The Mini Festival...no rest for those who want things to be wicked ;)

To sing us out here's Janis, enjoy ;)

Hope you are all doing grand?!

loads of love,

Jennie

xXx

The Chandette

After we went to the Hunterian Museum last Saturday we popped for a quick pint at The Chandos in St Martins Lane. 

It is a Samuel Smith Brewery owned establishment that only stock Samuel Smith products.

Back in 1998 Mark and I spent seven months working there as a live-in bar couple, it was my first ever job in London and I have some fond memories of that time.

When we worked there you could get a pint for less than £2 but our round on Saturday (two pints) came to £8.50, how times change.
I wonder if the wages have followed suit?
N'ah!

These pics where snapped outside the pub. 

I remember getting black fingers from shining that bloody brass behind me every morning.

The pub is slap bang in the middle of the West End near Covent Garden, Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square.

It's a real shame that the beer prices have shot through the roof cause it's a fab place for a lengthy drinking session.

Vintage 70s floral print maxi dress, 90s teddy faux-fur jacket, repro Victorian lace-up boots, mohair hat, gloves & Frocktasia earrings.

Here we have 'The Chandos' class of '98 having a wee swalley on a Saturday night which incidentally was  both pay & beer line cleaning day, loads of free booze, happy days ;)

I'm the one draped on the sofa (no surprise there) & the dude sitting next to me is Matt, who is my brother-in -law.

Other news...

The lovely Sacramento bought a vintage shirt from me the other week and here she is ROCKING IT in one of her fab outfits :)

 Raven haired sauce goddess Sarah put her photoshoppin' skills to good use last Friday and grafted the heads of some of my favourite bloggers onto the glowing orange, trashy clad bodies of retro catalogue models. 

At long last my dreams of walking in the footsteps of Samantha Fox have been realized, thank you Sarah ;)

My fellow models are Tamera, Helga & Vix.

The original catalogue scans are from an awesome blog called Retrospace. 

If you haven't heard of it, I can highly recommend adding it to your fave blogs, it's one of my daily doses of unadulterated vintage & retro fun and inspiration.

Today's tune is 'The Model' by Kraftwerk, enjoy :)

Loads of love,

Jennie

xXx

One Thousand and One Outfits (not really)

Hope you've all had a splendiferous weekend.

I've finally finished sorting through all the holiday pics, huzzah!

 As I mentioned in an earlier installment I would do a 'random holiday outfits' post as well, so here it is.

First off is a caftan that I bought from a car boot sale two months ago...

This stunning turquoise caftan is perfect for throwing over a bikini when going for lunch or just as a cover-up when doing a spot of beachcombing.

******
I brought a few pairs of lightweight trousers with me cause I read that it can get pretty nippy out in the desert at night.
 These ones I bought several years ago from an Indian clothing shop, they are double-layered with a stunning cream jacquard fabric and sheer black chiffon...

This quirky top was another car boot sale buy and I've teamed it with one of my Indian choli tops that I won on eBay last year.

******
These are the trousers that I for some obscure reason deemed suitable to travel in.
Wide-leg trousers are possibly the worse thing to wear when traversing the London Underground during crush hour and especially when you are loaded up with heaps of luggage.
My foot got caught in the swishy trouser leg but luckily I have cat-like reflexes and I managed to grab onto something instead of loosing my two front teeth, phew!
I do love these trousers though, just not to travel in.

Emporio Armani top teamed with another one of my Indian choli tops.

******
I got this wine red mesh top from the car boot sale the week before we went away.
The design is really quirky and its even got a hood.

Harem jumpsuit, tribal mirror & coin belt, Topshop hammered brass disc necklace that I scored from the car boot sale for a quid.

 ******
We went to Luxor for an outing and visited the very impressive Karnak temple complex, The Valley of the Kings & Hatshepsut's Temple.
It was a real whistle stop outing and we even managed to cram in a short boat trip on the Nile.

Those double-layered trousers got another outing,  I teamed them with a rose print silk blouse by Diane Von Furstenberg and my trusty vintage jazz dance trainers.

******
I brought my harem jumpsuit & two pairs of harem pants, I'm still in love with this roomy trouser style...

Indian silk harem pants, tassel-tastico hippie top and in the last picture my beloved vintage 70s suede vest/waistcoat.

******
The second pair of harem pants have more glitz than you can shake a stick at...

Bronze harlequin diamond patterned harem pants teamed with a sequin embellished mesh top and low-slung leather belt.

Shake your tail feather! OMG, I think I've just attracted a randy ostrich ;)

Here I've added an embroidered chiffon top and my funky sequin elephant cap.

PIMP MY CRIB!

******
 We also went for an awesome day out to the stunning Sataya reef where you are sometimes lucky enough to swim with dolphins.
Unfortunately the dolphins stayed away until we were on our way back home, so we saw them from the boat, however we did get to swim with a huge-ass Napoleon fish and we also managed to do some pretty spectacular freediving.

Those Indian silk harem trousers again,  this time teamed with a cut-out butterfly Tee, turban fashioned from a sarong and my bestest fashion accessory ever...my hubby of course!

Early morning at divers paradise Tondoba Bay, chilling before scuba ;)

As we spent most of the day on the beach or in the sea I was sporting a bikini or my wetsuit most of the time...

I brought two bikinis and one tankini. The fabulously colourful one was a gift from the divine Helga.

Hubby scored this Mares wetsuit on eBay...what a kind, clever and awesome man I am blessed with.

Snorkeling, freediving  and scuba...I absolutely LOVE IT! The Red Sea is awesome and I couldn't recomend Egypt and Marsa Alam highly enough.

Last but by no means least my underwater kit...Mares fins, Scubapro snorkel and Cressi mask all purchased off eBay.

That's it folks...now you've seen all my holiday get-ups.
Now I'll have to put my thinking cap on to figure out what to blog about next, any requests?
Have a fantastic week!
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx