long lost tumblr

I'm not sure what train of thought led me there but yesterday, I suddenly remembered: many moons ago I started a tumblr. A tumblr which, as soon as set up, was promptly abandoned. Logging back into my account, it all came flooding back to me, why I'd decided to start it in the first place. It was to be a place to post/store/collect all things beard related so as not to overwhelm you all on here with my love for beards and (most) things which relate to them.

So here we are - 14 months later and I've breathed some life back into the old girl. It's had a bit of a makeover and I've added some new stuff! I'm feeling pretty motivated to keep it updated so do stop by (especially if you like beards - if you're not a fan of actual facial hair, there are other beard related goodies such as home ware, illustrations and the like - I realise a bearded ryan gosling is not everyone's cup of tea - but he should be).

All you need now is the link! Here it is: b-t-g-t.tumblr.com 

markets and country shows

This weekend thousands of people made their way to Brockwell Park for this year's Lambeth Country Show, I think it's normally held around June/July but what with the Olympics throughout the summer it was moved to September - not that you'd know, the weather (particularly on the saturday) was glorious!

There were a couple of stages for the live music, numerous places to get all sorts of grub, a fair with carnival-type rides, stalls selling craft and art, there was even a jousting tournament, featuring armoured knights on horseback, taking place at the top of the hill (pictured) which Mitch and I caught the end of. It was pretty fun but our favourite section of the show was the farm zone. Are you surprised? There was a petting zoo, an owlery and plenty of opportunities to meet and speak to local growers and find out about their community growing schemes. We enjoyed some very nice herb tea whilst talking to a lady who, along with 40 other Lambeth locals had just brewed (thanks to a v.local brewer) their first pale ale, all made from hops grown in and around Brixton! Needless to say, Mitch and I felt hugely inspired and signed up to (hopefully) grow and contribute some hops too!

The highlight of the day was watching the sheep shearing show (also in the farm zone). Billy, a sheep shearing veteran who once sheared over 420 sheep in 7 hours (that's about 33 secs per sheep), dispensed his knowledge about the history of shearing before giving a demonstration on a v.chilled and well behaved sheep. It was really interesting and made me think a lot about sheep - they give us milk, meat, wool AND (I only found out this weekend) provide an integral ingredient to make hand and face creams! Sheep. are. cool.

Also over the weekend Mitch and I took a stroll down Brixton's market where I spied this glorious hand-opperated sewing machine. It was only £15 quid but looked in need of repair so I let it be. Mitch, however, found a working 8mm camera for a fiver - now all we need is some film!

I felt regretful about walking away from the beautiful machine but my practical side took over - "where would we keep it?" There's barely room in the flat for my current machine! Thankfully my harsh but realistic decision was rewarded shortly afterward when we came across Auntie Aviator's stall. 

She had an amazing collection of vintage and modern frames - some of which had never been worn! 

To cut a long story short, I got myself a pair, and even better yet, she's going to put my prescription lenses in them! If you too fancy some unique face furniture you can find Auntie Aviator at Greenwich Market every Friday, sometimes at Spitalfields and once a month in Brixton!

Here are the frames I'm getting - cannot wait to collect them!

To top off this super weekend here is a beard update -

<3 this man

on the outside looking in - Stratford

The Olympics and Paralympics are fast approaching - kicking off in about 6 weeks - and as I don't have a ticket to any of the events it seemed like a good idea to go down to Stratford to see the Olympic park while they add the finishing touches. The park obviously wasn't open so we went to snoop from afar.

The red structure on the left is The Orbit designed by Anish Kapoor, to the right is the equestrian centre and between the two is the Olympic Stadium. 

I rarely, if ever, travel out as far as Stratford, the furthest east I tend to go is shoreditch or hackney and the site of the Olympic Park couldn't be more different with it's numerous new builds - modern flats, bridges, the gargantuan shopping centre Westfield, public sculptures and art pieces and of course the Stadium itself and it's accompaniments - the Orbit, equestrian centre, international train station, water polo building, basketball arena and the Olympic Village. The work that's been completed is simply vast! It sounds silly but I really had no idea how big the Olympic Park was going to be - the scale of the construction is insane! But then again, it's got to hold however many millions of visitors between the end of July and beginning of September.

View from outside Stratford Station -Titanium sculpture and the Stratford Centre

As we were in the area we stopped by Westfield for lunch. I've not been to either of the Westfields in London before and the one at Stratford is absolutely huge - it's quite overwhelming how much choice there is and not just in the World Food Court. It's like Oxford Street over three floors! Whilst in the biggest shopping centre I've ever been to I was of course super tempted to buy stuff. Being v.restrained I came away I giant ball of yarn in order to start my first ever knitting project and one of the vests Orla Kiely has designed for Uniqlo :)

And, so you really can appreciate how big the yarn ball is...with a beardy update for good measure.

twenty-five

There was nothing blue about my Monday this week because it was in fact my birthday! (Monday birthdays are particularly awesome as they tend, in my case anyway, to elongate your celebrations by encompassing the previous Saturday & Sunday, or, depending on how you look at it, the monday birthday gives you a three day weekend!) The long birthday weekend evolved as follows...

Saturday: House warming/birthday gathering at the flat. The celebratory event also meant people could gaze upon our lovely shelves as well as nosey about the place. Mitch made a rum based punch which went down rather well and I made some cupcakes. Despite the v.wintery conditions and snowfall through the night (and a distinct lack of victoria line) my lovely friends made it to Brixton and we all got a bit pissed! :)

Sunday: After a lie-in and a quick clear up I journeyed to my parents' house. On route to the station I made a slight detour through snow-covered Brockwell park (v.jealous of all the kids with their sledges, for those who don't know the park it's very hilly). Back in Whitton my brilliant mum made a roast dinner with coffee and walnut cake to follow! And as if that wasn't enough I was also showered with birthday gifts from mum, dad, sis and my nan :)

Monday: As I am now officially mid-twenties I, like a supposable adult, went to work in the morning but the afternoon was my own. Met Mitch at Baker Street for a poke around The Sherlock Holmes Museum. It's quite a bizarre experience. The house is laid out as if the fictitious detective had actually lived there (with Dr Watson and Mrs Hudson) in the late 19th Century. There's lots of artifacts and props (deerstalker hats, magnifying glasses and the like) as well as costumed individuals and extremely enthusiastic tourists. At the very top of the house it gets a little too Madame Tussauds for my liking (the collection of life-size models representing various characters and villains in Arthur Conan Doyle's stories is a little creepy). However, also at the top of the house is a book for visitors to flick through, a book full of letters to Sherlock Holmes. Most of the letters are written by school kids but from all over the world and some are awesome. My fav one was from a very ernest child wanting to warn Sherlock that Moriarty was alive, spotted on the child's route to school every morning on the number 154 bus. Inland Revenue were also in the book, wanting to know who was occupying 221 Baker Street if Mr. Holmes had indeed moved on (haha)!

A couple of hot chocolates and a game of travel scrabble (:D), followed by a burger and a moose beer, rounded off with a quick visit to Gosh comics on Berwick Street (and a purchase or two) rounded off my perfect 25th birthday!

That's a rather beardy Sherlock Holmes...

A stroll down the Goldhawk Road

Finally, after many bus journeys passing straight through and much talk and recommendations from friends and my boss, I went to the Goldhawk Road. Why, you might ask. Because it's basically a street of fabric shops. And because they are all practically on top of each other, competition is tough which means good prices and plenty of choice. Although there are numerous fabric shops along the length of the road the largest concentration can be found at the Shepherds Bush end, to the right of the bridge when you exit Goldhawk Road tube station. They range from the tiny, higgledy-piggledy stores overflowing with fabric rolls (massively lacking in floor space to move about in) to larger establishments over two floors with neat and orderly stock, some also offer other haberdashery bits and pieces. One thing that can be said of all the shops we went to, everyone is very friendly and helpful. Purchases included 2 metres of brush cotton in a check...I'm thinking it'd be perfect for some lovely soft pj bottoms...watch this space.

Here's a little sneaky peak at what's in store for February's project...

And here is a beard update :)

long-awaited beard update

I don't know about 'long-awaited' but it's been a few months since the last beard status update so if you're curious here it is. Pretty modest at present.

Front to the Back: LOVEBOX

Last weekend was the musical feast and all round festival extravaganza that is Lovebox. We like thousands of others flocked to east London's leafy Victoria Park for three days of dancing,boozing, random-stall persuing, muching and general merriment. (Although Lovebox was over three days, we only attended the Friday and Saturday instalments but I'm guessing from theline-up that Sunday was just as fabulous.)

 Lovebox started in 2002 as Groove Armada's club residency and has been growing ever since. Although it was originally a dance based festival the variety of live music has also expanded with several stages and a couple of smaller pop-up musical outlets/tents, not to mention the stalls selling clothes,crafts,jewellery,even recycled bits turned into festival essentials (thanks to Scrap Dragon for my Juliper beer top earing, it's a fitting souvenir) and of course food. So. Much. Choice.

Friday's highlights: it was super hot on the first day and not as busy as it would get during the rest of the weekend. NYC Downlow  - a life size ruin of a nyc housing block with amazing music happening inside. We managed to catch the end of Photek Live (awesome). Metronomy - v.much liking their newer stuff but was I particulary happy to hear 'you could easily have me' and 'thing for me'. Beatboxing Champs - in the tent next to the Gaymers bar and stage we witnessed some rather impressive beatboxing. The sound the guys can produce is pretty cool, especially when three of them were improvising at the same time - crazy! We ended the night in the garage tent (the wombats were closing/headlining, which was a bit of a disappointment in my opinion, are they really that big/good? The crowd seemed to think so at least).

Saturday's highlights: it rained a lot in the early afternoon and the park was a bit of a muddy bog but with wellies and anorak on the weather didn't stop me. Santogold on the main stage - easily the best performance over the two days. She put on an excellent show (I love her voice/attitude - the whole ensemble) The crowd got her awesome tunes from the first album, the appearance of a pantomime horse and the chance (some 8 or so lucky people) to get up on stage and dance (mostly badly but who cares) to a drum pounding rendition of 'Creator'. Lykke Li - a new album heavy performance (not a bad thing in the slightest) but she did sing 'Little Bit' (my fav) and 'Dance, dance, dance'. And of course, Snoop Dogg and the gang. We were left in some suspense waiting for Snoop to come out on stage and, aside from him actually arriving and performing lots of old school stuff, the best bit was the short little films that played as a precursor to each song. Snoop is a man of many talents.

Oh yeah, beard update: it's coming along nicely.

Beside the Beautiful Sea

As you may or may not know, my Summer is jam-packed with weddings, the first of which took place on Wednesday by the coast not far from Plymouth. The happy couple: my cousin and her long-term boyfriend (they met at Hull Uni over a decade ago). That's right, my cousin, making it my first family wedding (I can't count my auntie's, although I was a flower girl being only three I don't remember much and probably fell asleep before the party started).

After a slightly cramped 4 hour drive we arrived in Kingsand, our home for two nights. The village of Kingsand (and it's close neighbour Cawsand), is full of colourful and unique buildings each with it's own name, winding narrow streets and plenty of steep hills leading up from the stoney and sandy beaches to the numerous forts dotted around the coast line. Our own cottage, we had one to ourselves, was called Margery Hill Cottage which boasted two sitting areas, a spacious kitchen and of course beautiful views of the sea.

The wedding ceremony itself took place in a tiny little church on top of a hill, and, aside from the vicar being a bit of a grumpy sort, it went very smoothly. But it was the location of the reception afterwards which made the day. Polhawn Fort. Originally built during the 1860s to form part of the coastal defence against Napoleon's invasion, however, the fort never saw any action. It's an awesome stone structure with walls several feet thick, a roof garden, turreted stairs leading to an open plan floor and several bedrooms beneath. The interiors create a sense of occasion but upon going outside you see why it's become a bit of a hotspot for weddings, the views from the  expansive garden are stunning. We were a little exposed to the elements (my hair resembled straw by the time I went inside) but it was worth it for glorious sunshine, champagne and canapes on the lawn, sitting amongst the pretty wild flowers and taking the overgrown and rugged path down to the beach - the definition of picturesque.

After v.good food, three types of pudding (win!), a few peach bellinis and quite a lot of wine it was time to dance the night away. The newly weds also, as the party continued into the morning, presented us guests with a brilliant surprise - a silent disco (this was not in concern for the neighbours, the fort is pretty much isolated, rather for the very young guests and those who'd passed out early) - genius.

Beard also in attendance.

First Class

Wednesday, or more specifically Orange Wednesday, I went to the cinema. Film of choice: the new x-men movie. Verdict: Awesome and very well balanced in the sense that there was enough back-story to each of the characters so you don't think 'this is all about the action sequences', and the special effects are large scale and a quite a thing to behold incase you do perhaps get a little tired of the all the teary-eyed bits (but there aren't many - fear not). The cast is superb and full of faces you'll recognize. The highlights for me were Michael Fassbender as Erik (might have developed some sort of crush there, also I'm a little intrigued as to how he will fare as Rochester in the new Jane Eyre remake...); Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique (she's an oscar nominee, she's been in an x-men movie and she's not even 21 yet - sigh); James McAvoy who brings out a more charming (and slightly drunken) side to young Professor X which we don't really get to see in the previous films; and finally Kevin Bacon. I, because I'm terribly unobservant, failed to notice the Bacon in any of the posters or trailers so when he appeared on screen as the twisted Sebastian Shaw, I was shocked and delighted - he really is a great baddie. I was a little confused at Take That providing the theme song but hey ho it's a crazy world.

Also this week I attended the Visions Festival at Hertfordshire University. Why, you ask. Well, my sister has just completed her degree in Film and TV Production and her film was put forward, along with the other top 12 films in her year, for the mini festival. The students' finished work was screened for all to see and from these 13 short pieces 4 were picked to receive specific awards for being the best in the different categories. It was an interesting afternoon and an epic treat to see my sister's film on the big screen. And the day got even better, turns out that Space Detective ticked all the right the boxes for those on the judging panel and my sister was awarded the Stanley Kubrick Award for Fiction. So very proud.

And here she is being presented with her award by Jan Harlan (a producer on a number of Kubrick's films). 

Beard Status: At present there's a slight unbalance in the hair to beard ratio. Personally I'm not a huge fan but I guess it works if you're playing a bad guy in a movie. The three below are all sporting the two extremes (very beardy and completely baldie). As much as I love Jeff and Bruce (not you though John) they are not looking at their best.

Mitch however seems to be working it. Beard most certainly approved.

my last 40 quid

That felt like the longest wait for pay day ever, I even had to use my emergency £40 (stashed away two years ago incase I ever had a particularly poor month - hello May 2011). So this is how that money was spent over the last four days with (v.gratefully) a lot of help from Mitch.

Saturday was Surbiton's Farmers Market. I'm fairly new to the occasion but it happens every third Saturday of the month and there are lots of very tasty things to be had whilst chatting to the lovely people who run the stalls (particularly the lady at the olive stand).

On Sunday I took a trip to Essex. After a bit of rummaging at a car-boot-sale where couple of bargains were unearthed (A Jamie Oliver cookbook for 50p!), we went for lunch at a very cute little village pub. The steak and mushroom pie was delicious.

Monday: To Brixton to see Attack the Block at the Ritzy (probably my favourite cinema experience along with the Curzon in Soho). Prior to the film we went for some Japanese cuisine at a restaurant which is fast becoming a regular haunt. A giant bowl of pad thai and a very tasty beer later we settled down to watch Joe Cornish's latest creation. Verdict: It's brilliant. The script is funny and well delivered by a convincing set of characters (you'll want to talk like the young cast upon leaving the cinema - I didn't believe my friend when he said that but it's true - brrrap). It's jumpy and, in some places, pretty grim. Cornish is not afraid to kill people off and show you how! Highly recommend.

In truth my emergency 40 quid ran out fairly quickly over the three days and most of the things wouldn't have been possible without Mitch (don't worry I'll take him for dinner and a film, hopefully X-Men First Class)... And lastly, as it's been quite some time, here's a beard update.

Competitive Beards

Last Sunday saw the 10th World Beard and Moustache Championships. A glorious event celebrating beards, moustaches and the amount of skill and caft needed to create and maintain some truely amazing facial hair!

It's a biennial competition (giving those taking part enough time to grow something special...) in which men from all over the world compete for several titles within various catergories including: Imperial (Moustache), Sideburns Freestyle (Partial Beard), Musketeer (Partial Beard) and Garibaldi (Full Beard). And it isn't just about the beards, competitors go the whole way with elaborate costumes and outfits to match their spectacular grooming efforts (from full musketeer get-up to old school cricket gear and very fancy suits/embelished waistcoats).

The 2011 event was hosted by Trondheim, Norway but this is a travelling show that's taken place in various locations in previous years - Ystad (Sweden), Berlin, Carson City (Nevada) and Brighton.

Above is this year's Best in Show (and also Freestyle Full Beard Winner) - Elmar Weisser from Germany. Yes, that is a reindeer made from his own beard. Previous champ David Traver from Alaska won by fashioning his beard to resemble an Alaskan snowshoe.

Want to see more beards, or think your beard is worthy of such a competition? There is a smorgasbord of beardy delights and links to your country's beard teams on the website: http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/

As you can see there is no update from our own beard grower, the above is a little intimidating.

Something Borrowed

Anyone who knows me might also know that I am quite terrible at returning things after I've borrowed them. CDs, DVDs, items of clothing, screwdrivers - you name it I've probably taken ages to return it. I've had my friend's copy of 'Audition' for the best part of a year now (I just can't bring myself to watch it because I know it's going to be grim). I borrowed a book from another friend - Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (a very good read by the way - worth getting your own copy...or borrowing) - he wasn't sure if I was ever going to give it back so he bought a new one and let me keep the original. On the plus side I do like lending things out. My Nana said: "Never lend your man or your toothbrush". Wise words which mean that pretty much anything else is up for grabs. However, my DVD collection is quite meager, I never own the latest album of anything and my clothes are alright - nothing fancy, so I mostly lend books, like a little library.

Some people collect boxsets (my sister), video games (Mitch), teapots (my mum) but I love my books. The majority of my library is in storage (and has been for over a year) waiting for a bigger room and a big old bookshelf. Ultimately I'm aiming for a Disney Beauty and the Beast style library, floor to ceiling books with a sliding ladder thrown in.

Baking & Beard update:

Reading & Seeing

On the left is the beardless face of J D Salinger. My friend gave me a copy of The Catcher in the Rye because, shocking though it is (even more so as I'm an English and American Literature graduate), I've never read it, until now. What did I think? Well I'll tell you but I'm not going to get all David Copperfield and that crap about it. I found the narrative quite annyoing. I know it's the protagonist's thought processes but I'm just saying is all. The colloquialisms and the general pessimistic attitude were not my cup of tea. I realise that, in terms of when it was written, The Catcher in the Rye is a piece of ground-breaking fiction, but this doesn't detract from the fact that I didn't like Holden Caulfield, and when he is the only voice you hear it begins to grate, a lot. He makes some amusing observations but on the whole he's a moany character (everyone else is a 'phony') who I just can't sympathise with. After talking to others who've read it, it's mostly boys who rate it highly...not sure if that means anything. I think I probably would have enjoyed and appreciated the book a little more if I had studied it - taking it apart and analysing it - as that's what we literature students do best.

On the right is the bearded face of Duncan Jones. This week I finally watched Source Code and, like most people, I thought it was pretty cool. The concept is awesome - quite cruel but mind-bending in true sci-fi style. The twist at the end is a nice surprise, perhaps a little sentimental but at the same time it opens up a whole load of other questions and possibilities. I would definitely reccomend this and Moon (incase you haven't seen it yet - where have you been?!) Rather excited about what's next for Duncan Jones (and his impressive beard).

Beard Status: looking good!