Another miserable rainy day. What happened to the summer....

Feeling a bit angsty at work again. Really really don't want to be here. Why is it so hard to maintain that more manageable, if fragile, feeling of vague contentment. Some days are truly ok. I think those are the days when I'm busiest, that's when there's no time to think about anything and days slip by more easily. But on a slow day, on a slow grey day like today, all this feels like a massive waste of hours in my life. No-one seems to be in a particularly good mood today. Even the usually up-beat Steve is looking sombre and is visibly struggling with trying to sound cheery on the phone to the endless barrage of advertisers at the other end of his forever-ringing phone. I don't fancy his job much either...

I'm constantly keeping an eye out for something better. But what is something better? Is there such a thing? Won't it just be the same thing but in different surroundings? Are there really people out there who love their jobs and don't do it just in order to pay the rent? If there are, I would hazard a guess that at least 80% of those are working for themselves. But where do you get the courage and determination to go it alone, when at the same time you're trying to save for a deposit on a house or are wondering how you could live without the safety net of a monthly paycheck, pension policy and the possibility of paid maternity leave? It's really hard to overcome that primal need for safety. And yet, the happiest people in life seem to be the risk-takers. Figure that one out then...

Oh yay but Riina is coming over tonight. She's in London for the opening of her exhibition, and needed a place to crash. Seems like ages since I've seen her last, can't wait! Oh look, even the sun winked from behind the cloud at that! :D

Labels: my life

Got absolutely soaked on the way home. Now of course it's bright sunshine!

Blue smock top: eBay
Pink cami: H&M
Jeans & earrings: dp
Cardi: New Look
Scarf: Topshop
Bangles: H&M / Torrid
Soaking wet shoes: Gola via eBay (the cutest trainers ever!)

Labels: wardrobe

My train was delayed, the Jubilee line was suspended and I had to walk to work from Waterloo in the pouring rain. Not an ideal start to the week. Even though the weekend was nice enough, all the traveling back and forth from Waterloo on both days made it feel a bit like I didn't get any break from the commuting. Next weekend I definitely won't be going anywhere.

It's no wonder people are so obsessed with the weather here, it certainly has a huge impact on your general mood. On a lovely sunny morning the walk from Waterloo for example is almost a joy, but on a miserable windy and rainy morning like today, it makes you wish you could just disappear. The greyness is a bit overwhelming today.

I'm thoroughly fed up with the internet regulation here at the office. How is reading a few blogs on quiet moments going to affect the way I do my job? Probably in a positive way actually, as feeling more content and connected to the rest of the world would make me feel better about being in the office in the first place, thus resulting in better work morale. Currently I'm just sitting here feeling a bit depressed, typing out moan-y blog entries which I'll have to publish by email (oh by the way, if anyone knows how to add tags/labels to a post when publishing via email on blogger, do let me know!), and trying to avoid any sort of work whatsoever.

Talking about jobs, Stu accepted a new job offer last week. :D He gave his notice on Friday and will start at the new company on 18th of August. The offices are in Reading and he's already dreading about his commute getting longer. Well, it's probably hard to go from a 20-minute drive to over an hour… Possibly as difficult as it was going from no commute at all to over an hour – so I feel for him there. But at least he gets to sit in the comfort of his car and not on an overpacked train! :P Anyways, I hope the new job will be a good move and that he'll be happy there. At least that would make one of us!

I signed up with Technorati, mainly in order to try to get some (non-finnish) action to DIVA Look Book. I was very annoyed when I realised the nick 'mnoo' was already taken and grudgingly went with another nick, only to realise today that hey, actually, I was the one who had already signed up with 'mnoo' sometime last year. Erm. Well, how are you supposed to remember everything?? Anyways, in case you wanted to add this blog to your favs you can as well, although I'm not that bothered, as long as you add the Look Book! :D Thanksplease.

Busy making other plans: DIVA Look Book:

Labels: internet, my life

Phew. While it's nice to be able to fit more videos onto the card, it sure means a lot more work to get them all converted and uploaded! Anyways, here you go, Rufus Wainwright at Kenwood House. :)


~Vibrate~


~Nobody's Off the Hook~


~King of the Road~
(with Teddy Thompson)


~Going to a Town~


~Gay Messiah~


~Not Ready to Love~


~Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk~

Labels: music, video

A lesson learned: when attending a 'picnic concert', wear enough clothes. I'm not quite sure what we were thinking (or not, as the case may be), but we certainly were very much under-dressed for the chilly wind that blew straight through our deckchairs. But hey, at least it didn't rain! Still, it was a shame about the weather as on a warm evening the experience would have been a thousand times more enjoyable. Still, apart from the cold, it was all good. Kenwood house was beautiful and the whole atmosphere of the venue, with people spread around having their picnics was lovely. There was also a lot of celebrity spotting to be done, as people like Derren Brown, Alan Carr and Helena Bonham-Carter, to name but a few, were also in attendance. And Rufus himself, of course, was most entertaining.



















More pictures on Flickr. And there's videos to follow once I get them uploaded...

Labels: music, photoblog

Headband: dp
Cardi: New Look
Dress: Simply Be
Leggins: eBay
Shoes: Evans
Bangle: Torrid

Two miracles at once! I took a WR picture, and am posting it, before work + I'm wearing a dress! :D It's Antonia's leaving do after work so I thought I'd make a bit of an effort...

Labels: wardrobe

Finally a photo shoot which didn't get cancelled! Even my tummy bug co-operated by curing itself yesterday. Ayse was stunning, and a great model, despite her lack of experience. Funnily enough I've been really enjoying the editing as well, it's just sooo nice being able to go through some new shots, it's been a while! Having said that, I can't decide which shots to put together for the Duality pair. I'll put the finished piece up on my website once I've made my mind up. There are some more of these extra shots on Flickr as well.

Labels: photoblog, photography

Labels: food, photoblog

For those of you who've been biting your nails over what's been happening with our back door, some news at last. Not sure if they're what would be considered as 'good' news, but I suppose all progress is a case of one step forward two steps back, right? Let's see, the door was screwed shut on the 9th of June and we were told they'd be back to change the door in a 'couple of days'. It's nice that we finally learned the true meaning of the term a 'couple of days', it seems it's exactly 16 days. Live and learn eh! So on Wednesday, S was on overseeing-workmen-duty as I had a press day. When I got to work I got a phone call from the man who was (once again) lost outside somewhere in the vicinity of our flat. I phoned S to go outside and grab him. About an hour later I got a frantic call from S because he couldn't find a tape measure. 'Doesn't the workman have a tape measure?' I innocently asked, only to be told off for not being co-operative. Eventually the elusive tape measure was found and things could move forward. Next phone call from S: 'He took the door and the frame off and now he's done his back in and can't move'. I wasn't quite sure whether to laugh or cry at this point. A new man was then called in from Southampton (apparently very inconvenient for him indeed), who then took over from the injured one. All plain sailing from there on right? Well, not so much.

When I got home the state of the kitchen was something else. Mud and dirt everywhere, all plaster having been ripped off from the wall, with a lovely gaping hole at the bottom corner of the door to boot. The bloke was very pleased with himself though as, the way he put it himself: 'it looks like a door dunnit'. Well, yeah. Apart from the fact that we're not supposed to touch it because it's not tacked to the wall. However, our man was in a hurry to get somewhere else and said that he'd come to finish the job the next day. Or maybe the one after that. 'So that's secure now then?' I asked. 'Yeah yeah, just don't, like, use it'. Umm. I'm pretty sure anyone could just come and lift the door off, with the whole wall probably following. Needless to say no-one has yet been to 'finish the job'.



In other news, the nasty stomach cramps have turned out to be a tummy bug of some sort and I didn't make it to work today.

Labels: my life

Top & shoes: Evans
Jeans: Union Blues
Necklace: Monsoon

This top so requires long hair. Grow already damnit.

Weird, that smiley posey business. Certainly didn't, and don't, feel this jolly at all today, hence the comfy potato sack of a top.

Labels: wardrobe

It's the second day now that I've been suffering from a really achy tummy. Bleugh. Horrible painful cramps. No idea what gives. It's kind of dampening my joy over the sunny weather, being hot doesn't really help with the painful uncomfortable feeling.

Photographing curvy ladies for DLB is turning out to be more difficult than anticipated. It's hard to judge who would be comfortable enough in themselves not be offended for being photographed for a 'plus size' blog (especially since I don't want it to be a marginal thing but for everyone over size 12), and also, it turns out it's not THAT easy to find bigger girls who dress inspiringly... Which is a shame, and something I hope projects like DLB will change. Also, for some reason the whole exercise seems to make me dissolve into nervous babble, which isn't so good when you're trying to get someone to agree to do something. Erm. Oh well, I suppose it'll get better with time. Also, lunch breaks around where I work are probably not the best hunting ground for fashionable curvy girls. Must go to a proper high street with clothes shops one weekend to people watch.

Really really could do with a sauna right about now. Humph.

Labels: my life

Erm, just to clarify, I do actually own (and wear) clothes that aren't pink... Maybe the pinkness just makes me more likely to take a pic for WR??

Top: Fashion World
Jeans: eBay
Shoes: Wrangler
Beads: H&M
Bangles: Torrid
Horrible hair: courtesy of train commute

Labels: wardrobe

Aren't these just the prettiest trainers you've ever seen?? Thank you eBay! <3




I'm using the joy of the pretty new trainers as an attempt to distract myself from the frustration over the stupidity of my office's new policy to block just about anything you could do online. No more flickr, no more facebook, no more Jaiku, not even personal blogs! Pfft. Moronic. Some would say fascist even. This will seriously hamper my plans to take over the world.

There was one nice thing that happened today though (since I got the trainers on Saturday already they don't really qualify for today's nice things) and that was having lunch with the lovely Anne. It was quite relaxing to get a bit of a 'Finnish break' in the middle of a frustrating work day. :D

Labels: my life, people, photoblog, shopping