upset without a bicycle

because I live in England I do not have my bicycle yet. That's the only reason for it as their customer service is SOOOO BAD that I ordered a bike on 18 April and still have yet to see it. In fact I called today to find out that actually it won't arrive until 11 July because no one placed the bike to me.

Excuse me? I ordered it eight weeks ago through AN APPROVED cyclescheme partner.

(I have a feeling that there was probably an order in mid april but they sold the bike that was supposed to be mine). I just want to ride with my basket to work during the summer. Apparently that was too much to ask. Clearly upset but nothing I can do.... (until I have my bike that is...)

The above is my one day dream bike - A pashley princess. It was supposed to be a reality in three weeks.......... Image via

I wish I had my bicycle

I'm still waiting for my beautiful bicycle to whisk me around town. With the tube strike for the past 24 hours (another 24 to go) - getting to work was horrendous. Traffic, angry tube commuters on my bus and the 'extra services' system fell flat on its face.

So time to put a smile on mine.. with this lovely diagram about the benefits of cycling (found through frolic!)

classically brit

Emma watson (from another british staple - Harry Potter) has recently signed on to be the new face of burberry. good call as she looks amazing.. and I actually am tempted to buy a classically brit bag.. (but I want the trench coat below more)

Images via Lainey Gossip and net-a-porter.

from american to french

The French have an easy elegance about the way they dress - that's really no surprise. But I thought that Hende showed how to go from North American to French perfectly through just two pictures on her etsy store.

Photo 1 - See her fancy shoes, her skinny jeans and her tank. They are all nice, they are all in fashion but there's just something missing - a 'je ne sais quoi'

Photo 2 - oh wait - it's a perfectly subtly matching scarf, an amazing belt - it's apparently the accessories that make a french woman.

by the way - Hende's store is adorable and many clothing filled with birds and leaves and a suggested tranquility.....

must I wait 500 days?

I'm sure I've moaned about this before but a negative about living abroad is losing touch on pop/American/Canadian culture. And one major thing I miss is indie movies that seem to have a hard time making their way across the Atlantic. For example, Lars and the Real girl took almost a year and a half before showing in theatres….

Must I wait another 500 days for this gem…500 days of Summer with my girl crush Zooey Deschanel…


Or the new Dave Eggers/Sam Mendes/John Krasinki /Vendela Vidi film – Away we go.. I so desperately want to see you --- please be a huge hit and get traction in Europe asap!

stateside trips...

With Cameron's house from Ferris Bueller's day off house up for sale, I'm dreaming of Chicago today. I went a couple years back with L2 and loved this American city. It wasn't rash, the people were unbelievably friendly and it had many things that NY offered (like good music scene, good museums, free art and a whole lot of American history in one city). ….. I'd live in Chicago if I could live there....

Note: want to read a good book on Chicago (historical fiction style..) check this book out…

FB house image via - Chicago images - L2's.

mandatory in england

I'm a list person. I love making list, rejigging lists, reorganising lists, making lists off lists… and now I've started making the mandatory lists before we return to Canada.
We still are unsure about when we'll return but I like to be prepared and therefore here are the musts (and musts for most people travelling in England) that we haven't seen yet in the country... Preferably in a VW van....

1. Isle of Man
2. Edinburgh -
3. Isle of Wight
4. York
5. Lake District
6. Brecon Beacons, Wales
7. Lyme Regis and/or the Jurassic Coast
8. Yorkshire Moors
9. Pemberley (in the Peak district outside Manchester)
10. Liverpool

east london on a rooftop

Shoreditch never fails to disappoint me on a weekend. And now a friend has introduced me to a non-members rooftop restaurant at the top of Shoreditch. Good drinks (like Sangria or reasonably priced ciders) and amazing view, it was a perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

It would also be a perfect way to spend a weekday evening this summer.

Image via - Shoreditch town hall

your local pool

it's a beautiful day in London... sunny, 25 and not a cloud in sight. It has me dreaming of summer, sun and lazy days...

And swimming.

There's a lido about half an hour by bike from my house and I'm desperate to get into a routine of biking to the lido, swimming outside and then biking home... (at least on the weekends). But what I really wish.. is that it was this beautiful Sydney pool. Imagine having this as your local.... and in a country that doesn't really get cold....

Image via Been-Seen (and a good article too)

another day, another saatchi exhibit

today marks the start of a new saatchi exhibit. It's so new that the gallery still hasn't updated their website yet!!

L2 and I have been super good with Saatchi and attended all the exhibits. 1. It's free, 2. it's interesting, 3. it's the perfect balance of art and time. Often you feel overwhelmed in museums or galleries (at least I do) about if you can do it all and what you'll be missing. However, you can get around Saatchi in about an hour and feel completely cultured.

The summer exhibit is on the americas (previously had one on China and the Middle East). When we go, I'll blog more about what craziness it's decided to exhibit this season.

Wales, United Kingdom

at the beginning of the month, L2 and I went to Wales. Again determined to see more of the country where we live, we visited Cardiff and did a few hours of the national trial. The city was a lot smaller than I thought but a good jumping base to see the sea or Breacon Beacon or to bike the national trail. Also the civic buildings are stunning!

a long weekend in London?!

After three weeks of travelling on the weekends, L2 and I decided that we wanted to stay in London for this May long weekend. I've never stayed in the city for a bank holiday and was in desperate need of a 'break'.

It was amazing. I'm sure the weekend was really helped because it was about 23 degrees and sunny all three days... It was a weekend of picnics, friends, the Camden market (where I picked up my fascinator for ascot!), parks and a little bit of organisation to keep me going for the next few weeks. Oh and Tate modern to visit the slightly disappointing playground. But it did something that museums have a hard time doing.... it was filled to the rafters when L2 and I first went in!

We also looked at scooters again (finally!) and came up with the one we want and found about L2's much needed lessons.

I know that we are probably not going to do this again (as long weekends are perfect for travel) but I'll hold this weekend dear to my heart.

Cornwall, UK (return)

l2 and i headed with a few friends to the english coast in early may. Again we went for the sun - but this time it came out ten-fold. We went surfing and boogie boarding, played on a mountain 'skateboard' and were generally merry. However, I thought I could jump a ravine (I'm very unathletic) and failed miserably. Three weeks later I'm still recovering with a bruise on my heel.

We stayed in the cottage to the right of the tree. It was the perfect cottage - loads of beds and a big kitchen (and a coal fire!).

Aran Islands, Ireland

oh how i loved the aran islands..... and yet hated being wet. It was one of those trips that stories get made. It was great fun but there were definitely some 'hardships'.

We got to the island on early saturday afternoon and got our bikes immediately. After easily finding the grocery store and almost never finding our hostel, we set off to explore the islands. 1. The islands are not as small as they first appear. 2. The island is not flat (which was why we thought it would be shorter distances). When in doubt we also took the longest way possible. 3. We got caught in a rain storm - not any rain storm, the one that pours down so heavily that you get soaked in like 5 minutes. I had a heavy canvas coat (which is normally pretty good in the light rain) and by the end was so drenched that I couldn't believe that there was a waterfall down my back.

But we were able to warm up (not in our hostel which had no heat...) but at the local pub that had a fire. We dried out our shoes and I had wished we brought all our clothes....

It's definitely a friendly island but I am still not sure why anyone settled there. What about it screamed (as it is just rock...) this would be a great farm for my family....

finally - my store in london

Anthro is finally coming to London. You can order Anthropologie in the UK but there are no stores, no sources of inspiration, no sighs where everybody can hear you in this city.

It's silly and finally they are changing it. Anthropologie is opening two stores in London. 1 - Regents Street (end of 2009) and 2. so much closer to me on King's Road in an old textiles factory....... (early 2010).

I'd buy these if they were open now....... Images via the always wonderful Anthropologie

kate is back

When the Kate Moss collection for Topshop comes out for the season, I normally like (and buy) about one thing. But this high summer collection blew me away and resulted in coveting so many pieces.... Another may long weekend is approaching and we're not going away... Splurging on a few of these pieces instead?

Images via Topshop

back from sabbatical

I debated continuing the blog. I'm feeling lackluster in my posts and thinking there's only so much I can talk about me. But then I realised this was a great outlet for me and really that's all that mattered. So I'm back, but I'm going back to my initial blogging idea of only two times (maybe three) a week. Anything else was getting too much and making me feel guilty that I wasn't continuously blogging.

Hope you don't mind. But thankfully posts on Cornwall, Wales and the Aran Islands will make an appearance over the next week. Travelling england has been very rewarding (oh and Ireland too.)

taking high tea

It's high tea across London today. A Visit London initative, people across the capital are taking tea in memorable sights including the rooftop of westminister abbey. I'd go for the cucumber sandwiches.

image via

Cardiff, Wales, UK

getting away from the city for the first of two may long weekends. while we're only headed up to wales for a few days, I'm excited to get out of the city and visit another section of england.

I've really taken to exploring more of england. it's really the time to do it properly and we don't normally get to do whole countries! Now we really need that scooter.

can I say I'm an aunt?

Congratulations to L2's sister who gave birth to this little guy - Emile Oscar - on Sunday. I'm not sure if I'm technically a bonafide aunt-in-law when L2 and I are just partners but I'm still super proud!

I couldn't be prepared?!

so L2 and I are horrible about booking trips in advance and often get caught spending more money than we should on flights/hotels/practical things. Last year, we decided and booked going to Romania two weeks before.

So this year, we were so on-board when we found that easy jet was having a super sale (25% off all flights) and booked our week trip to Italy for September. Flying into Rome and out of Pisa. Hopefully going to Cinque Terre in there too! I've never been to Italy (which is surprising) so I can't wait!!

Image of Tuscany via

escape to the continent?

to commemorate the eurostar 6th anniversary and to increase the tourism onto the continent, eurostar is offering £59 return tickets to Paris. I'm thinking it's a perfect escape for L2 and I on my birthday weekend in August! Two hours and perfectly wonderful city sounds like a good summer weekend. And maybe Brugges in July?

More dragon than st.george

Happy St. George's day! In the spirit of the day, here's a list of some movies that include dragons either as the main character or an add-on.

• Reign of Fire
• The sword and the stone
• Sleeping Beauty
• Shrek
• Dragonheart
• Dungeons and dragons (yes they made that into a movie)
• Pete's dragon
• Mulan
• The Neverending story

Or you could just go and visit some Komodo dragons… please stay a safe distance! Image via

Chamonix and Lyon, France

France was amazing, as it always is. I thought I'd let the images do most of the talking but the downlow of the trip was as follows:

• Wednesday - flew into Geneva and thought we were going to spend the day there until I messaged a friend that they were doing the trip with and she got the bus driver to go into the airport with her and pick us up so we could go straight to Chamonix.
• Thursday - First day skiing at Chamonix, getting just enough sun, wondering where my ski legs went and drinking and food apres ski.
• Friday - attempted Valle Blanche only to have the Italian side got socked in and having to climb the 200 metres (that we barely made down) back up in a very high altitude. Went skiing the rest of the day in attempt to cheer us up and have tartiflette. Little did I know, I got frostbite in my cheeks that day. Plagues me until three days ago.
• Saturday - head to Lyon. Well actually, catch the wrong train and start heading to Paris. Nice attendant informs us of this fact and we hop off the train at the last stop before it was going straight to Paris. Spend time in Bourg en Bresse (cute!) and then head to Lyon for good food and a load of walking.
• Sunday - head to Ambrieu to visit a local french family that was a friend of a friend's sibling. Eat extremely well (including escaragot), drink copious amounts and find out that people are just too charitable for words. Visit a medieval village - Perouges.
• Monday - head home and be lazy.

I highly recommend our Chamonix hostel (Gitte la Vagabond). €44 a night for a four bed dorm room with high quality sheets and good fleece that has all clearly been washed, an amazing dinner every night and breakfast in the most touristy village ever.

Images: Glacier in Chamonix, L2 at the top of Valle Blanche looking very scraggly, Lyon, Tina on the Seine River (yes it goes through both Paris and Lyon), Roman ruins at the top of the hill, Perouges and finally another mountain shot.

I heart reality? or just a scottish woman?

I'm not one for reality TV. I like my entertainment scripted. I'm a bit behind, but recently this woman has taken the internet and the British people's hearts by storm. I saw this after the BBC chatted about the incident about 15 times and I don't like not knowing what everyone is talking about. I'll admit I too have a very soft spot for Miss Susan Boyle after watching her audition. The CBC has a wonderful article about it here (watch the video first!)....

Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent
by dwarthy

return from frog country

yes, I'm getting horrible at consistently blogging. I blame a lack of photos from our France trip. Hopefully as it's supposed to pour all weekend that will be remedied. Until then, I'm back - full, content and desperately want to live in France.

Two issues: I can barely speak french and I have a job here (oh and the french economy is horrible so getting a job there is near impossible even if I could speak french).

A girl can dream though...

Isle of Sicily, Amsterdam

On this day - the 350 year war between the Isle of Scilly (not Sicily) and the Netherlands ended. Apparently they forget to sign a peace agreement many years before as not a single shot had been fired for 335 years. Technically fighting was from 1651 to 1986. Seriously people - that's why you pay diplomats.

Image - Amsterdam via me.

and away we go

Work, life, everything has been a bit busy recently as I adjust to getting back to travelling and working. Thankfully, traveling is gaining priority as L2, a friend and me are headed to Chamonix and Lyon on Wednesday. I won't be back till next Monday but promise to be a bit more dutiful to about posting pictures!

Image: L2's - when we were in Paris in May 2008.

shout out for slow club

l2 introduced me to this great little UK band - Slow Club - this weekend. Oddly enough, we were listening to a few of their tracks on the saturday and decided to take a look to see when they were playing in London. The best part - they were playing on Sunday so we headed up to Angel to watch their set.

They did not disappoint and it was my first time listening to a band on myspace and actually going to hear them live. With such a quick turnaround, it was easy to do.

While they were great, the woman after needed to learn more words than 'unrequited love unrequited'

in hundreds of years

Will this still be standing?

Stonehenge can still be viewed from the highway. Because highway expansion is needed (it's the main road into Cornwall and the few mile stretch gets bottlenecked) they are going to build the highway underground. That stretch also has the highest rate of accidents as everyone slows down to look. I don't blame them - it is surprisingly cool.

When my parents came in the 70s, you could still walk amongst the stones.

fish and chips over pasties

Last week L2's parents come for 10 days for their first visit to England. I say first, as I do hope there will be several more (hint hint!). The best part of the trip though was Cornwall.

1. Cornwall is stunning and I know understand why it was and is the place to holiday in England.
2. Going in March meant far less crowds.
3. Rent a car - it meant that we got to stay in this fab B&B for a steal and we had a living room and dining room to ourselves as well.
4. The Eden project is crazy. It's alien, informative and on a cold day soooo warm.
5. I still detest cornish pasties. Cornwall did not change that despite the fact that they would clearly make the best ones.
6. While Rick Stein's makes a mean fish and chips, I don't think I'm ever going to have that again either.
7. If in Cornwall, go to Padstow and walk along the head to Trevone. It's an amazing, windy and beautiful walk.
8. There are such things as 'wild' ponies. No one is pulling your leg if they tell you that.
9. L2 became more obsessed with sheep. - actually it was the lambs.
10. Taking the long way to cornwall means a 7+ hour drive, the short way 4 and a bit hours. I like the short way.

the beast of Bodmin

so Cornwall apparently has its own 'Sasquatch' or 'big foot'. I once talked about Harrods selling animals (like lions, tigers and most likely bears). Well, it's an old legend that a baby puma or cougar was bought from Harrods and sent down to some wealthy crazy person in the middle of Cornwall. Unfortunately, as the animal got larger and larger the owner couldn't keep him anymore and instead of calling animal control or not buying a ridiculous pet in the first place - he released it into the wild. And now the Bodmin moors are 'haunted' by the beast who looks for food in an 'unnatural' environment.

Once and a while someone claims to see it - but there have been no pictures.

It's a balloon

It's actually a dolphin. Apparently albino dolphins are pink. You have to wonder if this is a hoax? If not, I wonder how long this little guy will last as being pink doesn't really protect him from predators (human or sharks). More information and image via

The first day of spring

It's the first day of Spring. It's sunny, warm (14 degrees) and beautiful out in the capital. Today is one of those days that I'm glad I live in London. Flowers are blooming and market shopping is mandatory this weekend.

topshop fix

I'm a good london gal (if I can call myself a Londoner?!) and do love Topshop. Preferably at like 10 a.m. on a weekday morning though where you don't have to wait in line or listen to about 10 different and very thrilling 16 year old girl conversations. However, Topshop has recently gone on a day-glo kick - one that I can't get on board with. However, they are also doing loads of florals and as I'm more of a sweet girly dresser than hard rock machine... I'd like these for a few picnics.