Gloves worn by the lovely Sandra of 5inchandup.

I like the layering here.

If anyone knows who this bag is by, let me know!

Neon accents abounded at London Fashion Week.

What do you never leave home without?

These are my own shoes, sent to me by a fan from my Amazon wishlist.  They’re by Aldo.

Wedges seem to be very in right now.

SO sexy don’t you think?

The next installment of London Fashion Week Street Style will be coming soon!

Which are your favourite pair?

While Ive edited them down somewhat, there are still a whole load Id love to share with you but because its 3am and will take me a while to upload them all into a post on here, Im leaving you with my highlights of the day in the meantime…

This is my favourite photo of the day.  This woman’s curly flame red hair went so beautifully with her deep teal coat and the lighting just made it all pop.

This is my first ever time taking street style photos, Im still figuring out which way the exposure needs to go when the light changes and need to switch over to shooting in RAW for cleaner images too.

I loved the freedom to shoot people up close without them thinking it was strange.  Fashionistas expect photographers to love their style and I sure did my best to capture as much cool and quirky style as I could in the 3 hours I was there.

These beautiful gloves are being worn by the lovely Sandra of 5inchandup who is one of my favourite fashion bloggs.  She was kind enough to chat to me and let me take a couple shots of her gorgeous gloves even though I was a total stranger.  She is just as stunning in person as she is in her photos, even more so actually as she is so sweet and not at all stuck up.

I literally ran after this girl when I spotted her.  No one else seemed interested in her and I was on the other side of the entrance so I am so glad that I got to snap this shot.

I found that I was shooting a lot of people no one else seems to want to shoot.  Everyone was waiting for the fashion famous, none of which I recognised.

This lady’s style really grabbed me, it’s edgy and feminine and I love her hair!

So, that’s all you’re getting for the moment, I will be sleeping most of the day and then working on a more in-depth post from Day 1 of London Fashion Week before heading out to dance the night away with my friends.

Instead, we found ourselves inside Le Comptoir – Lebanais just round the corner from the museum.  It was a bitterly cold evening and the place was packed full of people.  We were greeted by friendly staff and seated immediately as we were lucky enough to get the last table available.  Comptoir Lebanais means Lebanese counter and this restaurant chain has been voted one of BBC’s top 10 healthiest restaurants.

Their menu offers a unique selection of lemonades and we chose the pomegranate and orange blossom flavour.  It was SO refreshing, just the kind of drink you want in a hot mediterranean country which this restaurant was themed on.  There was a flavour in the drink, however, that we just couldnt place, very unusual and yet delicious!  I really liked that they had something so different and interesting on the menu.

We opted for a tagine each, mine being the aubergine and tomato and my mom got the lamb and chickpea, both on a bed of perfectly light and fluffy couscous.  Our tagines were served in clay bowls and arrived almost immediately which was wonderful since we were starving after a couple hours staring at museum items.

On the restaurant walls between beautiful and colourful artwork, were shelves displaying gorgeous embroidered baskets from Marrakech and kaftans for sale and behind the service bar were silver jugs for sale.  I also noticed down the back of the restaurant a sort of pantry with all kinds of bottled Mediterranean goodies to take home with you.

Our bill came to less than £25 and we would definitely visit again to sample more of their exciting menu!  They have branches at Westfield Shopping Centre, Stratford, Wigmore Street and South Kensington.

Visit their website here to find out more about this great place.

I absolutely LOVE markets.  I love the mixture of interesting things, things made by hand, other things salvaged, vintage things and especially things for eating!

Im really hoping and praying for some warmer weather though because I lose feeling in my fingers trying to shoot with my camera in this cold!

Camden Market

When the weather IS warmer, I will definitely be visiting again to sit outside and eat Moroccan food while smoking a Shisha!  I am also IN LOVE with those stained glass lamps, I wanted to buy each and every one!

Covent Garden Market

Do you have a favourite market in London you can recommend I visit?  What about in your own city, what do you love about your favourite market?

Do you know what your Chinese birth sign is? Find out here.  Im the year of the Goat!

I was harassed by a man on a bicycle, at dusk, in a retail park on my way to the train station. (Last week I was followed while in the city).  I had my headphones on and was walking fast as I didnt want to be late for my dance class. I didnt hear him, but I could feel someone was trying to get in my way, I manouvered myself and then noticed this guy, real close, saying hello to me. I was in such a hurry that I ended up shouting very loudly “LIKE I WANT TO BE FUCKING HARRASSED!?” before running towards the train station.

I highlight this incident because a lot of men do not understand what its like to be a woman. In the future, should I be harassed on the street again, I will make it very loud and clear to the idiot how it is NOT OK to give women unwanted attention.

Women RARELY feel safe outside of their homes and unfortunately for some, not even in their homes. We get unwanted attention EVERY SINGLE DAY. Now to men, the kind of attention we get, they would love to receive, because theyre wired that way, but since it is more common for women to get sexually assaulted and treated like a product to be used for pleasure, women dont like the kind of attention we get. We see how you look at us, we know what youre thinking, we hear what you mumble under your breath, we know youre staring at our ass once we have walked passed you. We are never allowed to forget that we are prey.

Im writing this so that more men can realise what it is like for women and start standing up for us and protecting us should they see a woman getting unwanted attention, regardless of wether or not they think they will be rewarded for such behaviour, but do it because they believe women have a right to go about their business without being harassed.

Im writing this so more women can feel like they have every damn right to be able to walk in the street without being harassed and because of this they will stand up for themselves and make it very loud and clear that they will NOT stand for unwanted attention.

People will treat you how you let them treat you, if you dont like how someone is approaching you, SAY something or DO something.

If a strange male should come near me again, I have no qualms about putting both my hands up and pushing him very hard and with great intent on his chest till he falls back or falls over while shouting NO. And then whatever else I need to do to get the message into his thick skull that women are not commodities and not put on this earth for the pleasure of the male like a can of beer or a sports game.

Hello again!

I’ve not disappeared I promise!  I have just done a complete about turn in my life and have been busy finding my bearings.  So, a quick update on where I am at:-

I moved back to London.  London is over-crowded, over-priced and smelly.  Many people have lost their humanity here and it’s very consumerist.  But, my experience is what I perceive it to be, so I soldier on.

I have started taking dancing classes, Jazz and Contemporary, as well as Screen Acting classes (my first was tonight) in an attempt to find out what Im truly talented at and because I would like to have a career as a Performing artist. (As well as all the other things I get up to!).

Acting class was fun! Its held at the Finsbury Town Hall and Im new to Finsbury so I had a wonder down Exmouth Market and popped into Morito for a red wine and a tapas plate of lamb chops that were absolutely oozing and dripping all over me and yes I devoured the fat because I can! (Thankfully the lemon juice seasoning and a glass of red wine prevented me from feeling sick from all the richness of the perfectly cooked lamb chops)

The staff were lovely hipster looking guys, one with a turned up ended mustache and the other with some geometric tattoos. The place was PACKED and the music they played could have been from one of my playlists.

I am broke but I decided to treat myself to practice feeling good and the way I want to feel every day of my life.

I stumbled across this blog today The Londoner and got spanked by Inspiration so hard I’ve been furiously writing affirmations in my notebook that I take with me everywhere! Rosie, the girl who writes the blog may be rich and skinny, but I definitely want to upgrade my life as much as possible.

I may have been born in the gutter but I don’t have to spend my life there. I have every right to want the best life and currently living in an absolute shit-hole (think unkept dormitory) is putting a serious fire under my ass to make things happen and live the life I desire.

So, in the very near future you will see the following from me:
- more blogging here, and an overhaul to the site to look professional and sleek
- photography of street fashion and food and unusual/interesting places in London
- interviews with people who have unconventional careers

And in the future (i.e. by the end of the year) you will see that I have:
- learned aerial hoop to the point that I can perform on it in a professional show
- become proficient in pole dancing also to professional performance level
- internet and tv presenting
- travel features

I intend to be paid to be my magnificent, inspiring self. I intend to be paid to do the things I am passionate about experiencing. I intend to live a life of beauty, passion and inspiration and bring those same things to the lives of others.

This year, I will shine.

I really think it’s a universal thing.  I feel like the world is getting shaken up in a major way and people are starting to wake up to themselves and to each other. We have spent so long on the grind, “doing jobs we hate to buy things we don’t need to impress people we don’t like”.

I’ve started reading a book by Jungian analyst Marian Woodman and she talks about the “birth canal” in terms of it being painful going through changes in our lives.  I think this is why I had such a break down earlier this month, I had to lose everything to realise what I really, truly wanted.

And so I am happy to update you on what is happening with me:

I am moving back to London into a creative’s community right next door to where my best friend lives.

I put myself on a couple casting websites last week and now have an audition class and casting on the 28th and have been asked to send in a head shot for a feature film by Ron Howard.

I have aerial hoop classes, dance classes and pole classes lined up for when I hit London and have started doing work out DVDs to get myself into some sort of shape for when they start!

I am feeling good about life!  It feels Iike I’m coming out the other end of the birth canal.  I know where I’m going and what I want to do – be a performer. This has always been my dream and unfortunately I strayed from the path for quite a few years,  but it’s better that I do this now than never.

I also plan on taking some acting courses and finding out what sort of singing voice (if at all) I have at some singing classes.

If you’re a creative living in London and want to meet up and even possibly be featured on my website, email me!  Speaking of which, there will be a lot more interviews of people doing their own thing up on my site in the coming months so make sure you’re subscribed!

I’m excited and motivated!  I LOVE performing, especially in dance.  I am completely without professional training and utterly out of shape, but that’s even more exciting to me because my goal is to go from this to being trained and in perfect dancer shape to be able to apply to agencies and of course, be booked for shows!

I’m also excited to finally start working on the three burlesque performances that have been dancing around in my head for years.

By the end of this year, I want to be with a few agencies, regularly booked doing dance shows and at least be able to do some sort of acting if I feel its something I still want to do after Ive had some training.  TBH, I have no idea how I’m supposed to remember my lines!

Are any of you going through a disruptive period at the moment?  Lost and don’t know what to do next?  How are you coping?

(Please click images for source)

While it has been tears and tantrums (I smashed the screen of my MacBook and am now painstakingly tapping this out on my iPad) I felt I was ready for this. If I am ever to get better I have to deal with my demons and I felt now was the time to do that. The meds helped me get to a good place and now I want to be in a good place without them.

There is a lot of rage in me. I’m angry at myself, my parents, men and the world – all for being failures and failing me and the things I care about.

Then there is guilt for feeling angry at all those things and shame for all the mistakes I made, for the lies I’ve told myself just to get by.

I am stripped bare in the storm of my ignored emotions and I have to ride this storm to the calm. I know there is calm and peace.

This has to happen for me to become a truer me. I’ve done so much work on myself my entire life, once I stopped playing parent to my parents. I then became the self-healer but now I feel I no longer know how to deal with the issues that are left to heal.

I KNOW there is a magnificent me waiting inside, she’s just buried under the rubble of so many past wounds and attacks.

I hope you will all still be here when I feel full enough to write positively for this site.

All my love
Lisa