JIMMY'S POP UP | THE LODGE

It's is always the best feeling towards the end of the year where you can get in the festive spirit of Christmas. The phase in between longing for summer and getting festive for Christmas can be the worst. You feel utterly lost and slightly confused with which way the weather is turning. Autumnal fashion may be the best, but only because everyone else's minds are now freed up from holidays but not ready to start thinking about the Christmas chaos, so they turn to Fashion! Jumpers and sunglasses with that all too familier over the shoulder jacket and a peep of ankle. Love it!

Then in Winter, things start to change. Everything is starting run down and in fact your body starts to feel as though it is slowly giving up and we're all just craving for that 1 week off. in Autumn we longed for the early nights snuggled up with a blanket, Christmas movie and hot chocolate in the run up to Christmas but every year it fails and something or someone interrupts that perfectly planned yet so simple night of NOTHINGNESS. You await the first day of advent and the day the Christmas trees goes up at work for that Christmas spirit to just automatically bounce into place, but it doesn't always work like that... Until now! I am past the winter wonderland phase, and almost over the typical Christmas market..I said almost! Now its all about the ski lodge.  There are always lots of things going on in and around London to get into the all too cliche Christmas spirit. 

This year I have so so man chalet slash Lodge type pop ups and food festivals creeping up around the city filled with stalls, hot chocolate, mulled cider, Fondue and just that more natural Aspen type welcome to Christmas than the garish Americanised blow up santa type of thing.

I travelled the full northern line from Edgware to Clapham to visit Jimmy's pop up, The Lodge. Last year it was recreated as a secret garden, this year its another Chalet about the Clapham North pub. As you walk in, it hits you. Not because of the freezing cold temperatures, but more so the other way round with the heat and the feeling of being in a small space with hot food with lots of people - just perfect. 

To describe it, unfortunately cute is the best word that comes to mind - awful I know! Dark and woody, warm and festive are the main vibes and then there's the foooooood. Nothing better that getting the little piece of bread lost in a phat bowel of cheese *drooool* = Fondue, sipping on my mulled cider! 

There are so many more I am hearing about daily, the updated Dinerama, The Nighttales, York and Albany, The South Pole Saloon...

NOTTING HILL | EGG BREAK

I’ve seen a rise in cute little eggy cafes popping up around the city and eggs have just become a bigger deal in people’s lives since its health benefits have been re-exposed. Being a vegetable it can be hard to get in enough protein required per day, so I rely on eggs as my main source. As we all know, over eating of same foods can lead to a semi-permanent rejection from your mind and stomach. I am well and truly over my microwavable eggs (only because I needed to eat them at work) and my 3 boiled eggs with avo and pesto from my local café (sorry I don’t come in any more L). So, going to a place like my new found fave Egg Break in Notting hill was a breath of fresh 9slightly eggy) air! With such a cute, quirky and raw design and an amazing menu I can hardly fault it. Hidden away on the back streets of NottingHill in a space that seems like it used to be a basic Thai restaurant has been converted into a little gem! Would I go back 100%. The folded egg with sweetcorn, salsa, red cabbage and sour cream all in a brioche bun was one of my faves, along with the egg, avocado, radish, beetroot, feta & sorral Pesto (obviously if you are vegetarian). 

MONKFEET | WRITING WORKSHOP

Once in a while we have to learn to step out of our comfort zone and into the world of the fearful unknown.  For me at school it used to be the moment when the teacher asked you to read a chapter of a book. At university it was that whole public speaking slash presentation giving we were forced into doing. Now, for me writing seems to be my next nightmare.  Whether it is 140 characters on twitter, an email negotiating prices or a blog posts as I am doing now. It honestly implants a sort of block in my brain, making me procrastinate till I have no choice and question each and every word. And for anyone that is a regular in receiving my wonderful texts, you know how awful my typing and spelling is. I call it the decoding game...

So, with knowledge of my new found fear, I have risen to the challenge of overcoming it - as any empowering, confident and success driven individual would do - yes, that is me, so I keep telling myself. I decided to take the plunge and sign up for a writing workshop with Monkfeet, who host some great workshops and classes for start-ups or for individuals looking to better their skill in areas such as marketing, gaining investors or coding courses.

The space my workshop was hosted in was great as you can see from the images above, a really collaborative and creative environment! I am all work collaborative spaces and work stations that support entrepreneurs, not that I can say I am one of them, but it is always nice to know I am making a change in myself, you know?

So, I cam away maybe not learning as much as I would of liked but I absorbed a lot of information and it made me more aware of the power of words. Whether anything has changed for me, I highly doubt it - but this is the start! 

NOTTINGHAM | CALL ME THE LECTURER

You know when you imagine what life would be like jetting around from country to country, city to city & ideally from New York to Paris during fashion week - gahh the dream. You think how much you want to be that person looking super sleek and put together all the time and how gratifying it would be. Well my reality just came to a head. Not in the form of travelling between beautiful cities and countries as I might imagine my self doing, but more so running for a train from Kings Cross St Pancras to catch the next train to Nottingham at 6:30 in the morning and back again the same night arriving at the house at 10:30pm ready to eat, unpack and prepare for the next day – a different job, different city, in London. Soooo, not as glamorous as one would imagine, but then again could it ever be with that journey to the East Midlands – no offence.  

What am I doing you may ask?? Basically, I am assisting in a module of Fashion Marketing and Branding with second year students at Nottingham Trent University (the university and course I did, in case you didn’t know) on their marketing strategy module.

Ok, so I make it sound bloody horrendous, but aside from that awful feeling of arriving at Kings Cross knowing the trip is over and still having to get home with that suitcase, laptop & unpack everything, and then be chirpy the next day at work is my lowest of low. The Job itself is pretty rewarding though. Spending time with dedicated students, with that youthful buzz to succeed after graduating. That was me 3 years ago... and I love it! 

Not only that, but luckily the past two sessions I have had in Nottingham have been over two days, meaning an overnight hotel stay and lots of exploring of the city I once knew. Oh and let's not forget the lonely dinners for one *monkey covering eyes emoji*. 

That said, I am not going to complain about my amazing breakfasts at The Pudding Pantry topped by the best cheeky white chocolate mocha to start my day right! I am always tempted by the fluffy pancakes, but haven't quite plucked up the courage to let myself have them. Although, I say that but only last week I found out that my so called 'healthy' 'clean' breakfast of scrambled eggs tasted so damn good because of the added cream! Now that I wasn't expecting.

Over the last few weeks I have spotted a few more spots I wanted to check out but my new find and ultimate cheat spot is Annie's Burger Shack. THE most insane menu and crazies of burgers I have ever seen ( I say as a vegetarian but i am pretty sure anyone would agree). My go to coffee shop has always been and I think will continue to be Lee Rosy's Tea. The raw yet homely designed tea house in the middle of the Lace Market or Rough Trade and the yummiest bagels! Either way everyone needs a mid day pick me up so coffee and tea houses are seriously important.

On top of all that, last week I treated myself to a cheeky deep tissue massage at The Beauty  Temple and they really do live up too that royal service they promise. It was a much much needed treat after the hours I have spent on trains and upright in that L position working on my desk, so this was exactly what I needed! 

So that has been my life this past month and I still have another two weeks to go! 

THE DEPARTMENT STORE OF THE FUTURE | TOM DIXON X WALLPAPER MAG @ SELFRIDGES

In search of the weird and wonderful as always, I finally got the time to visit the much anticipated Tom Dixon's Multiplex in partnership with Wallpaper magazine and welcomed by Selfridges at the Old Selfridges Hotel. For a long-standing department store, Selfridges really does know how to nail a campaign and with that, a collaboration. 

They take the idea of a campaign to its fullest, with the a multi-sensory experience, encompassing a range of online and offline communication and best of all, the events, workshops and talks by industry leaders. They then recreate a concept store holding an exclusive range of products relating to the campaign idea. Previously, they have toyed with the idea of beauty with 'The Beauty Project', showed their support to women and reclaiming lunch breaks with the 'Work It' campaign and even created the Festival of Imagination, inviting a whole world of highly techy designs and concepts.

This Autumn, Tom Dixon, contemporary lighting designer and Wallpaper magazine have joined forces to create the mother of all department stores, The Multiplex. Named the 'department store of tomorrow', the floor plan is divided by fashion, art, beauty, interiors etc but as you can see in the photos above each section within the space has been conceptualised to really appreciate and enjoy the product on display. 

I have got to say, the product selection hit the mark, especially with a broad range of Clerkenwell merch which I love anyway, featuring my new favourite handbag designer Olive Cooper. The quality, design and materials of each product on offer seems to have undergone some tight quality control and specifications, that make them all very much suited to a certain audience - me included.

Just for the pleasantries of the experience it is worth a look at and to see what our future John Lewis or Selfridges could look like too. If you are in the mood for a little down time from the manic rush of Oxford Street, there is a cute little Abigail's cafe and an independent Gelato stand within the space than you can munch on one of the most amazing tripple chocolate cookies and a cwaaffee over a spot of blogging.

Has anyone else been to the Multiplex?