Impractical shoes

As you can perhaps tell from the marvellous bags under my eyes, I'm still recovering somewhat from the weekend. I partied hard on Saturday. And, as a result, suffered somewhat yesterday. Sometimes you need to really blow off some steam though and what better than a night on the dance floor for doing it, eh? Plus, I totally won a dance off with a dude dressed as Lady Gaga - you should know that I OWN any given dance floor. When I really get going, I bust moves you'd think I had not the flexibility, strength or dexterity to pull off. It's quite incredible.

And so to Monday. I'm not gonna lie. I still don't feel 100%. I think the hangover passed but the sleep pattern messery, along with not enough fluid has taken its toll so here I am at home (instead of hitting the gym - oh dear) writing this and drinking chamomile tea. And necking Easter treats. However, this morning, in the interests of putting on a sunny face, I decided it was a day for wearing something awesome and cracking out the impractical shoes. I had a bit of a sore foot around Christmas/New Year and have been in flats and trainers a lot more than usual since then. Today, I went for towering Charlotte Olympias...

They're so epic and they haven't been out for so long! I'm sure they feel neglected. Poor things. Speaking of things that haven't been worn for so long, I got a diamanté encrusted jersey pencil skirt in Topshop late last year and, so far, I've only worn it out once: dancing one night. Today, diamanté encrustment just felt work appropriate.

Who doesn't love a dazzling bum, after all? To keep it from being too OTT, I added a cosy jumper.

Jumper: H&M, skirt: Topshop, shoes: Charlotte Olympia, necklace: Suzywan Deluxe

And a serious face! I had a banging sore head when I took the pics (don't you dare say I don't love you). Now that I've chewed some pills and had some dinner, it seems to have abated. Hopefully that's it over with cause I plan to go for a quick run tomorrow evening. When I say quick, I mean not long in duration, as opposed to running in a speedy fashion. I dare say I shall slowly schlep. Run. Pah!

Have a swell week everyone. This is my ONLY full working week in April - I have coming up this month a weekend away at my pal's caravan, a long weekend in Amsterdam AND a long weekend in Berlin! I'm so flash!

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Dr. Martens and diamantes...

I'm sure I don't need to ask, but is anyone fed up of this perpetual winter yet?! I mean, I'm lucky: we've had a few hairy days but nothing at all compared to the poor folk on Arran and in Western Scotland and North West England who lost their power and everything. That must have been so miserable. However, to return to the utterly superficial (oh, come on, this is a fashion blog), sartorially, all the snow means one thing: it's back to the Dr. Martens!

Dr. Martens boots from schuh

They're cosy, they keep my feet dry and they're a sticky, grippy treat on the ice and snow!

The sunshine in this ensemble comes courtesy of my bargain sale dress from River Island. I love the sunset graphic on it. It should be all wrong - it emphasises my widest parts, both in imagery and cling  but who cares, eh? I hope to sweat it out in it in the clubs of Ibiza this summer, having watched the glorious sunset there, mere hours before! On the beach, with a bottle of wine, ideally.

And how better to further cheer things up than with a splash of diamanté  If ever it's a toss up between the classy and the trashy, I'll always opt for a dash of the latter. It's just more fun.

Diamanté shoulder jumper - Topshop

 And why limit the shimmer to the shoulder, when you can fire on a twinkly necklace too? This necklace was a cheeky wee Primark bargain but, as is so often the case, I see it on someone's neck most days now. Ah well, it still looks good!

Have an ace Easter weekend, whatever you're up to!

A walk, a burger and signs of spring

Mr Llara and I both totally caned it on the exercise front this weekend (I'm talking I did back to back RPM and Combat both Saturday and Sunday morning - insert smug face here) so, on Sunday afternoon, we felt it only appropriate to stretch our legs with a wee walk and feed our bellies with big burgers!

Mt gym trainers smell heavily of feet...

It chucked it down when we first went out (literally, I had a soggy bum-cheek by the time we got to the pub) but had cheered up super loads by the time we came home, so I stopped for a quick snap of a snowdrop. A sure sign that Spring's trying to, well, spring!

My feet in my EPIC leopard hi tops.

His feet in his perfectly acceptable (but soggy) trainers.

So, when we arrived at the pub, I was most happy to get the soggy coat off and leave it by the radiator to dry. The one bonus of the giant sack-like parka that I was wearing is that it does dry really quickly. I had to make do with parking my damp arse on a seat and hoping it'd dry out...Anyway, all wet bum concerns were forgotten when a nice wee glass of red wine and a H-U-G-E pulled pork burger arrived!

Look at that - what a beast! There was so much meat and the seeded bun was nicely toasted on the inside. Plus, the chips were just the right side of not-quite-burnt-yet and were light and fluffy inside. And look at his burger - two burgers in one bun - and that's just their standard! Both were super tasty. His gherkin got rejected though...

It looks like a slug! Ew! Finally, as we were at Lebowski's bar and they have an extensive White Russian menu, we decided it would be rude not to finish with one each. I went with an amaretto twist...

Well, when at Lebowski's, one really should do as the dude does, shouldn't one?

Up London town

Well, I guess it's about time I actually put something up here, eh? My time of late has mainly been taken up by selling my worldly belongings (AKA a shit load of shoes) on eBay and, last week, a wee trip down to London. For a mini holiday, NOT work - yay! And hereby, I shareth the experience with you by way of phone photos. Proper good.

We stayed at the Easy Hotel on Old Street. I stayed at one last summer and it was the smallest darn room I've ever been in (and fully bright orange). This time, I went posh and got a 'standard' room'. And look how much space there is! I can't even touch the walls! Granted there's still only ONE hook by way of ANY storage and your feet are in the shower when you pee, but when you plan to spend almost no time in the room and aren't fussy about being a bit rumpled, these things matter not!

jumper: vintage, bag: Cambridge Satchel, necklace: Hannah Zakari

Look at the EPIC Nike this dude in the lobby was wearing. I want them SO bad.

 We were going to see Sigur Ros in the evening and Mr Llara wanted to go to a particular restaurant (more in a mo') near Nottinghill, so we headed up that way and took a potter down Portobello Road.

I want a rainbow house!

I love Scrabble! And, er, international coaches.

I had the faithful New Balance from schuh on my feet the whole time!

Did I mention that I'd like a rainbow coloured house?

I loves me a blossom tree.

This shop had millions of vintage jewels. I wanted the giant Gaultier leopard cuff but didn't dare ask the price.

A blue house would do...

And so to the restaurant. It was the oddest place: The Churchill arms. It was a right old man pub full of random Churchill memorabilia and it claimed it was where Churchill gave his addresses during the war... 

And then you went through a wee archway and came out in the attached Thai restaurant. And it was like some kind of plant filled, fountain adorned, butterfly strewn Nirvana!

And, it had this tremendous picture of the 'woman of the century', the Queen Mum. What a ledge.

The woman of last century being pointed at by the woman of this century. Natch.

Sigur Ros were good. They're more his cup of tea than mine and he loved the gig. So I was happy about that. I'll tell you this though: if you're a single chick, you wanna get yourself along to a Sigur Ros gig cause it was a giant man fest (ok, ok, I called it a sausage fest, when I relayed the info to my pals)! As in a fest of many men, not a fest of giant men - they were all sizes. There was a queue for the boys loos and not the girls. Madness!

The queue outside

I also ate some epicly yummy breakfasts at the Breakfast Club, an ace kitschy, hipster (but nice) diner in Hoxton. One of my favourite bits of it (apart from the food) is the loos - there's a tiny vestibule on the way in with a sign that says "toilets. And world smallest disco" and the lights are down and the music cranked up to ten. I always make a point of making sure no-one's about and stopping for a tiny dance. Then the toilet cubicles themselves are completely wallpapered in kids' TV show wallpaper - He-Man, Fraggle Rock and Strawberry Shortcake - it's like going back and peeing in childhood! I love them!

Pancakes with berries, vanilla cream and maple syrup and a side of bacon. I didn't eat again until about 7pm that day...

Oh deer. Put Llara in a diner with props and she WILL have a good time...

Smoked Salmon and scrambled eggs on thin crusty granary toast - SO good!

Let's round up with some more touristy snaps...

Shoes over a wire over a street in East London!

AWESOME cocktail at Happiness Forgets at Hoxton Square

Either I shrank or that bike is GIANT.

OK, so this is only in Niketown but it made me chortle!

Roll on the next holiday!

Mary Katrantzou, I love you

Simply, this post is a pictorial ode to that which I lust after but cannot afford. I've been a fan of Mary Katrantzou's work for ages: I love that, when it would be so easy to rest on the stunning print work, her designs are breath-catchingly beautiful but also structurally really interesting. Her new collection is no exception. With a muted palette of monochromes with hints of aquas and metallics, it feel really cohesive. And I'm unendingly impressed by her ability to make each new collection, though all centred around print, feel fresh and new. Her AW13 presentation feels almost haunting. So, let this just be a feast for your eyes, rather than an incessant ramble from me. You can make up your own minds...

Pics from ElleUK.com.