Thanks 2010

2010 has been a really, really good year for me. It’s been pretty busy though and, so I don’t forget what I’ve done, I wrote a little round-up. (It's probably very dull for anyone who isn't me).

Misty fjords in Iceland

I took Jedward shopping on Oxford Street, watched Yoko Ono switch on the Imagine Peace Tower on a tiny island in Iceland and got trapped between Katy Perry and Rihanna on an LA red carpet.

In the summer, I took a deep breath and left a stifling job to go freelance. As it got hotter and hotter, I worked for a few magazines I'd always idolised (*cough* Conde Nast *cough*) and realised that I’d fallen out of love with traditional journalism for good.

Even scarier than going freelance was sharing a really personal story at Let Me Tell You All About Me. I began running a regular Nineties film club at Anna and Carly’s Christmas jumble sale  and dug out a script I wrote five years ago that I'm going to rewrite next year.

Maiden - where Yes Brian held their Xmas jumble 

I got very lucky, travel-wise, and went to New York, Morocco, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Reyjavik, Montreal…

Beautiful graffiti in Barcelona

Dream Jobs came and went and I worked for some brilliant companies. 

My banal tweets got me quoted in the Boston Globe and the Telegraph on Franzen, England and success, and photographed by Chris Floyd for his Great Twitter Portrait Project.

@isabelleoc, me and @carolineno for Chris Floyd

Between work and blogging, I met too many brilliant people to mention. Those with the best blogs include Fiona, Isabelle, Alan, Caroline, Rachel, Frankie, Jean, and every single one of the Domestic Sluttery gang.

And (obviously), I read a lot of blogs, bought a lot of dresses, listened to a lot of bands, read a lot of books and saw a lot of films.

A big thank you for taking the time to check out my little place online - you've made my year.

I'm ending 2010 with a fractured elbow and a big smile. Hello, 2011. Hope you're nice. 

Whoops

So apparently I'm powerless in the face of sales shopping. This is news to me, as I'm meant to hate sales shopping (5am queues for Next? No thanks).

Exhibit A: Whistles skater dress with lightning bolt print

Exhibit B: Silence + Noise at Urban Outfitters navy/velvet riding jacket

Exhibit C: Vaudeville and Burlesque at Urban Outfitters floral babydoll dress

I'm so besotted with all three that I might even do an outfit post...

You + Me = Awesome

This print came all the way from Brooklyn months ago, but I couldn't post about it before because it was a present. I have a habit of exclaiming 'awesome!' when I like something, which is very annoying indeed, so I just had to buy this. Soppy, no?

It's by Nick Schmitz, who has a whole website full of wall-worthy prints.

Yeah Yeah Xmas

I'm in the country at my parents, so it's time for a blanket and a bucket of wine. 

And, of course, for some more lo-fi takes on Christmas songs.



Like the band say, happy holidays!

Collared

A few months ago, my friend Jennifer, who designs Ruby Browning jewellery, told me she was having a hard time writing the copy for an application.

I spent the night slaving away and this little beauty was my reward. Well, not so little, because the bright orange box is pleasingly enormous.

And inside, a butter soft ink blue collar necklace that reminds me of the strange landscapes in Iceland.

Oversize, a little intergalactic, cute and weird and nice.

In 2011, I want to swap more words for things. Perhaps I can even persuade one of my photographer friends to swap me some camera lessons...?

Snow Newington

Today was supposed to be my day of Christmas activities, after last night's birthday hoe down at an extremely retro social club, where the tunes and dancing direction were provided by Cutta Shine.

But then I slipped on the way there and fractured my elbow, and woke up today to see my hometown turned into Snow Newington.

Even the ticket machines became homes for tiny snowmen.

There was nothing for it but to struggle to the Fox Reformed on Church Street and settle in with mulled wine and a board game...

Untitled Space

Local shops for local people. I'm not sure that Tubbs and Edward from The League of Gentlemen are the main inspiration for Untitled Space, but that's what popped into my head first. Untitled Space are Nick and my ex-housemate Andy, and they're working to turn disused spaces into temporary installations that provoke thought and serve the community.

Their first project (in collaboration with the Make Do collective) opens tonight in a former dry cleaning shop at 52 Pheonix Road, Somers Town, and it's an exhibition of art work by local and less established artists. Everything will be sold off by auction with prices capped at £75 - which is great for someone like me who likes art but finds the prices and whole world a little elitist.

Local art at local prices. Simple. Find out more about Untitled Space here. 

ASOS make my Christmas

I'm half way into the inevitable slide into Christmas. I haven't finished present shopping, ice skated, compiled a blog wishlist, drank (much) mulled wine or done any of the things that make me look forward to the festive season, but I did just buy a nice party dress. And that's what Christmas is all about, right?

My ASOS beaded collar dress is winging it's way to my door, and I have doubt it will make me look just like this. Mostly.

Bowlie 2: even more All Tomorrow's Parties

We got home very late, or very early, this morning and I've been at work all day, so I'm too tired for a proper post, but here's a little snapshot of Bowlie 2 - this winter's All Tomorrow's Parties, curated by Belle and Sebastian, just like the very first ATP (Bowlie) was in 1999.

There were bands (The Vaselines, Dirty Projectors, Galaxie 500's Dean Wareham...) and there was fun, and we woke up yesterday morning after a long night of drinking and dancing to find that somebody had had an even later night and chalked this outside our chalet.

I'm not sure I agree with the sentiment, but I do love the idea of someone carrying around hazard tape just in case the intellectual chalk graffiti urge strikes. Only at ATP.

Suede

Whims come and go (for me at least) but true crushes last forever. Like Suede, one of the first bands I ever went mad for. I saw them on Tuesday at the O2 (my least favourite venue), and they may be cheesy and uncool in some people's eyes but I loved it. All my favourite songs, seen with one of my favourite people, and we danced all night.

Here's a few of my favourite Suede songs, complete with videos of variable quality (the greasy fringes! the gender-bendy posturing) to remind us how silly we all were in the Nineties:

Sometimes I'm just such a loafer

Often I forget that this blog is, y'know, on the internet. I had to meet someone important for work a few months back and she told me that she had checked it out and 'it's all just photos of your feet'. A few of my favourite blogs, like Niotillfem and The Cherry Blossom Girl, frequently post their outfits, but it's not me. I don't have the camera skills, outfits or inclination. So, because of that, and because I'm a grown-up now and I can do what I like, here's another picture of my feet.

I've been looking for a pair of spinster shoes for ages but, as a size 7, I needed the gods of vintage to shine on me. Last Sunday was one of those days - big breakfast, old friends, walking round the Barbican's misty old streets, then scooping these up from Blondie. I felt pretty smug, as I'd been looking for a pair of specifically navy tasselled loafers. The next day, when I put them on, I discovered that one tassel was missing (this was speed scooping, you understand) and I was a grown-up in lopsided shoes. 

Then I realised I was totally one of those people who posts pictures of their feet on the internet. Sigh. 

Sofia Coppola's Somewhere

'I am a Californian by birth and also, I've recently discovered, by nature... the dazzle of my fictive childhood - full of swimming pools and orange groves and dissolute, charming show-biz parents - has all but eclipsed the drab original.'

These few lines, from one of my favourite books, Donna Tartt's The Secret History, were one of the first thing I ever read about California. That was in perhaps 1997, and I didn't make it out there until 2007. Ten years is a long time to build up ideas about a place but, luckily, LA didn't let me down.

The Chateau Marmont was just everything I wanted it to be: full of faded glamour, nowhere near as smart as some places in LA, and stuffed with gin cocktails, gossip and people who might or might not be famous. It's one of those rare places where anything seems possible, and you could take whole years out to work on that novel or barfly your life away.

Sofia Coppola's new film, Somewhere, is partly set in the Marmont and, even though I found Marie Antoinette as vapid and superficial as all those cream cakes, I have high hopes.



Stylist shots? Tick.

French soundtrack? Tick.

Good looking types staring off into the distance and being all thoughtful? Tick.

Don't let me down, Sofia.

Summer Camp's Christmas

I've barely started on the month-long binge of merrymaking that includes several of the best birthdays, Christmas and New Year's Eve, and already I'm feeling festive.

About this time every year, I get my Phil Spector and Low Christmas albums out. They're pretty classic, so I was very excited when I saw that Moshi Moshi (home of wonderful types like Lykke Li and Slow Club) have a Christmas compilation out...

Image: pitchfork.com/summer camp

...and even more excited when I saw that Summer Camp have covered the tackiest Christmas song ever, Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses.

Click here to download it on Pitchfork.

The tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth

I don't normally care for lookalikes (a natural consequence of spending a few years trying to source high street options for outfits worn by teenage celebrities) but I happened to come across these two twins recently.

First, Pamela Love's savage, gorgeous deer tooth necklace, $240. I love Ms Love, and she's finally getting the huge amounts of press she deserves. I just wish that I had the spare income to buy reams of her stuff...

Sweeter and cuter still is this Lazy Oaf tooth necklace....

...which both hangs higher and sells cheaper, for a mere £14.

For once in my life, I think I might prefer the cheaper option. What about you?