Getting Crafty at the Art Workers' Guild.

The Art Workers' Guild in London is an organisation that brings together all kinds of craftsmen. Founded by a group of architects in 1884, the guild is still an important place for those that work in the applied arts, and tonight it celebrated its centenary. In 1912 they moved into a Georgian house in Bloomsbury, and a hundred years ago they built a huge meeting hall that is still used today. To celebrate the work of their members, there were showcases and demonstrations of various crafts, including lino prints and wood carving. From a bindery company, we learnt to print gold on to leather, and came away with these handsome little initials.

Rainy Bank Holiday.

Everyone knows bank holidays are great but where do you go when you can't sit in a sunny park all day? Luckily London has plenty of museums to wander round when the rain comes. The Geffrye Museum sits along the Kingsland Road, an unlikely place for a museum perhaps, but its high walls keep it away from the hustle and bustle. Dedicated to a history of the home, the museum is great if you like a good nose around other people's houses. They have an exhibition of living rooms through the ages, offering some great inspiration for decorating your own home. They also have fantastic gardens, but as the rain carried on I decided it was best to save them for a brighter day. Pay them a visit here. 

Traveling in Style

Forget the tube, everyone knows the best way to get around in London is by boat - provided you want to go somewhere along the river. The Thames Clipper is a fantastic way to see the city, and is way more exciting than an open top bus tour. As if the boat's not cool enough, if you end up at Greenwich you can hop over the river on the cable car. The views look great at sunset as the evening light fades behind the O2. Far cooler than getting the bus home.

Throwback Thursday: Down on the Farm

There was a time when I was very much an indoors person. Despite growing up in the countryside, I was never very interested in outdoor activities. PE lessons were spent painting my nails and eating biscuits, and anything that involved too much movement was a no go. One day, that changed when my friend asked me to go with her and work on a farm. I swapped my books and computer for fields and tractors, and headed off for two weeks of hard, manual labour. 

It was brilliant. We started off in the barns, working with noisy, heavy machinery. After a couple of days it was clear we were not cut out for this. The farmer took us off on his buggy, and drove us down to the fields, despite being told 'girls don't work in the fields'. Hopefully we proved them wrong. We were dragged along by a tractor as we pulled the long vines of hops into the trailer. They were then shipped off back to the barns and we'd begin the next row. The work was hard; the vines are sharp, so full body clothing must be worn, even in the blazing sunshine. And farmers can't wait for the rain to pass - they just give you charming yellow waterproof suits. 

Getting out of my comfort zone was totally worth it. My face was covered in scratches, my nails were completely chipped and I was absolutely exhausted. But it is great to spend some proper time outside, and work hard to get things done. And, hops make beer, so all those pints are now completely justified. 

Pajama pants.

It's a well known fact amongst my friends that the clothes I wear are generally plain and black. I've made many attempts to work colour into my style but most often these clothes get lost at the back of the wardrobe as I return to my trusty dark shades. 

Something I've discovered that I do love, however, are pajama style trousers - so far so that my housemates repeatedly have to check if the clothes I am wearing are really made to be worn in public. Admittedly, this pair is still dark, and the white blouse doesn't exactly scream bold, but wearing a pattern and a pale colour is certainly a step in the right direction for me.

This pair is quite old now, found in last year's Topshop sale when everyone else had already bought their jazzy trousers, and animal patterns were fading fast. But they're so comfy it's just too hard not to turn to them when wearing plain black just feels a little too dull.

Thanks to the lovely Emma for the photos

New.

A very long time has passed since my last blog post. In my last post, I'd just moved back to the North East after living in France for a year. I was enjoying the summer at home before going back to uni in Birmingham. Fast forward eighteen months and I've finished uni, had a little bit of time working at home, and then took the plunge and moved to the big smoke. I've been in London about five months now and have decided to reboot this blog in an attempt to get me writing again, and to give me some kind of focus for the fifty thousand photos I take on most outings. It's also a fun way of showing the people back at home what I'm up to. Reading through some of my older posts, I did things in France that I can barely remember these days, and it's a nice way of looking back and remembering the good times. So here I go again, and hopefully I'll keep it up this time!