earth hour & striped pajamas

saturday night james and i for an hour switched off all our lights to participate in the global event--earth hour. we lit loads of candles, turned off the t.v. and enjoyed the quiet as well as the chance to catch up on talking with each other. funny enough i think everyone should try doing this once a week---not only is it environmentally friendly but a bit of simplicity and quiet is very good food for the soul.

here are awesome pictures of london bridge on the night:

london bridge-before

london bridge-after

pictures are from the earth hour flickr group here, where you can see loads of major landmarks across the globe including the pyramids!

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after earth hour, we both watched on dvd probably one of the most moving movies i've seen in a long time: the boy in the striped pajamas (pg-13, us/12 uk). both james and i feel like we were both deeply changed by seeing this film. i would highly highly recommend it:

pigs and the city

who would have thought there was an entire farmyard of animals, 15 minutes by light train from our house? james and i went to mudchute park and farm today and saw cows, horses, pigs, chickens, sheep, baby goats (who loved having their heads rubbed), turkeys, etc. we managed to find the nature trail and it felt and looked like we were in the english countryside. it was fantastic to enjoy this so close to our home. there was even garden allotments that people could use to plant vegetables and assorted plants. we hope to look into renting one of these allotments in future so we can grow some of our own food!

sheep with canary wharf in the background

red piggy

chicken in hiding


oh danny boy

country paths

toast*

ok, call me crazy but i love getting clothes catalogues in the mail. i love daydreaming about outfits that i secretly wish would somehow appear in my closet--bypassing the worry of how its going to fit or how i'm going to pay for it. the funny thing is i've never considered myself a girly girl---exactly opposite. i have no darn idea what goes with what fashion wise and i haven't owned a skirt in like 5 years. just throw some mud on my face, add some facial hair and i'd fit right in with the rest of the blokes.

so when my toast (a little shop here in the UK) catalogue came, i threw out the ole' tomboy christine for an afternoon and feasted my eyes on pure glorious girly fun. i enjoyed escaping through the pictures that reminded me of quiet sunday walks through the side streets of italy and paris. i felt like i was flipping through someone's holiday photos instead of a 'catalogue' which to me is time well spent:

double click on the pics to see them better.

all images via s.s. catalog 09, toast.co.uk

change of scenery

i've 'simplified' my blog today. decided to get rid of the ads (although they were great) until more people start reading, or whenever. i also updated to beta blogger finally to make things easier.

i'll probably be playing around with the look a bit in the next few weeks, but i thought i'd really focus on trying to do a lot better content---better pictures, better writing as well.

simple, but good is better don't you think?

my recent life in polaroids

painting purple ceramic pigs @ biscuit

wandering through local markets

and enjoying the start of spring!!

52Q-Wk 9 & 10

wk 09.- what was the last brave thing i did?

wk. 10- 5 movies inspire me creatively

london from above

ok, i've got a few pictures i still need to download that i took last week--but in the mean time my cousin sent me this link (check out this one too) with amazing pics of my little city london from above:

picture by Jason Hawkes

(Double Click to see better)

real life: greenwich & morning tea

days 3 & 4: double click to see them better

greenwich at night

view of canary wharf, the thames

morning tea

52Q- Week 8

wk 8

real life photo project: days 1 & 2

i've got a lot of creative projects going at the moment to nourish my artsy spirit: 52Q, writing w/marta and now for the next week playing along w/the real life photo project. the idea came from emily (of course) and her friend vicky. basically for 7 days you take photos of what you've been up to or what's been your 'real life'. fancy or not its a chance to chronicle your life in its messy, crazy glory! so here's my real life so far....

day 1:

our coffee table on friday. usually full of what we've been thinking about or working on over the past week. this week--travel brochures, french cd's, financial papers, books, clothes catalogues, journals and of course organic corn chips have made the cut.

day 2:

washing up





trafalgar square: james planned a surprise date on sat. we ended up going to a picasso exhibition at the national gallery.

spring??---i have high hopes for spring coming soon when i saw this on the way home from central london on saturday.