the times they are a-changing

A few months ago Mitch and I made a tough decision: to leave Brixton.

We're leaving Brixton to, temporarily, move in with my parents. Yup, I'm moving back into my old bedroom from when I was 18. I'm not going to lie, it's taken me quite awhile to come to terms with it and I have, just about.

The reason why is pretty simple: we'd like to start putting our money towards a home that's ours.

Over the last 6 months or so we've been talking about our future together (I think the proposal had a big part to play in this) - what we want to do, what we want to see and of course where we want to live. We don't really have a definitive answer for that last one but I know, pouring our money into a hole - a leaking, mouldy hole with broken windows (we've had some amazing times in our flat but it certainly hasn't blossomed in the last 2 and a half years) - isn't going to help. I'd like to put my hard-earned cash towards something that's ours, that we have a say in, that we can make into a home. Perhaps I am looking at this through rose-tinted glasses. I know, from experience, that there are many benefits to renting, but for us, the time is right to try something new.

So why move back to my parents'? I love Brixton and I love living in South London, but a combination of my average salary and eyebrow-raising rent prices means that, if we continued to rent our flat until we had a big enough deposit to buy somewhere, it would take approximately a 1000 years. My parents saw our predicament and offered to take us in until we have saved a deposit-sized amount. I have no idea what kind of state I'd be in without them and I'm so unbelievably lucky that they are letting us stay. That said, it's going to be a bit of a test, for all of us. I moved out four years ago and my parents' probably thought they'd seen the last of me - sorry ma and pa. We've all got certain ways of doing things (I'm quite messy - much to my mum's amusement and my sister's horror) and Mitch will be entirely new to all of them (apart from own habits of course). Similarly, my parents and my sister will have to get used to Mitch and his laid-back-ness (they don't believe me when I say he's messier than me - they're in for a shock). Oh, and Moriarty is coming too (obvs), so although my parents have had him to stay, will it be different when he's living there full time? Who knows. Truthfully, I'm quite excited to see how this year will pan out for us - that sense of heading into the relative unknown is disconcerting but rather exhilarating at the same time.

I can honestly say, with hand on heart, that Mitch and I got a hell of a lot out of Brixton - we soaked it all up, tried lots of new things and met new people. Yes, we're sad to leave but thankfully, with a fair wind (read: trains running smoothly) it takes 35 mins to get from my parents' house to Brixton. Plus, a huge number of my friends are all Brixton-based now so I've got plenty of excuses to visit (not that I'd need an excuse) and, potentially, a choice of couches to crash on after large nights out.

Ordinarily, I'm not a fan of change but I'm feeling a lot more positive about this move compared to a few months ago (living in a flat that is literally crumbling to pieces around you really puts things into perspective). You'll have to forgive me the odd "au-reviour brixton" post over the next month. They won't be mushy, more along the lines of my favourite places and some of the things I want to do before we leave. So stick with me, we've got six and a half weeks left and I fully intend to make the most of it :)

half way

A little update on my crochet blanket - I'm halfway there!

After a rather raucous friday and saturday, about all I could really manage on sunday was to sit around in my pjs, watch come dine with me and crochet. And, thanks to that boozy weekend, I have now joined 120 granny squares. It really has become a labour of love, one which started last spring, but I'm slowly getting there. The end is most definitely in sight. 

So, today is supposedly "Blue Monday" - the most depressing day of the year. Thankfully for me, this monday feels like every other monday but in case you're feeling a little blue, have this gif of a v.happy alpaca.

Friday's Jams!

Just a couple of tunes that are getting me in the mood for the weekend. I was alone in the office earlier for about an hour and these were on, perhaps a little louder than is neighbourly.

It's looking like a busy weekend - tonight it's dinner, drinks and a catch-up with some friends I've not seen in aaages, my last wedding dress appointment before I need to make a decision and a friends birthday tomorrow, and on Sunday I think I might pay a visit to the work in progress show at the royal college of art.

Happy Friday!

art & too much wine: a tuesday night at the hay hill gallery

A colleague at work v.kindly invited Mitch and I to the private viewing of her partner's show at the Hay Hill Gallery on Baker Street. Not having been to a private viewing (nor the gallery) before, curiosity and the wish to show support meant that I RSVP: Oui!

It's a lovely gallery, a 5 minute walk from the tube station with floor to ceiling windows encouraging you step inside. Once we ditched our coats and were given some wine, we took a wander around the gallery.

The title of the 14 piece collection was: "The Financial Crisis Show: Art as a Derivative". Which did sound a little dry on paper but on canvas they were great! As you may know, I'm a sucker for colourful geometric shapes, lines, repeating patterns etc - so these certainly appealed to me from a distance (and especially as a collective). But, once I got close enough to read some of the 1,500 or so words on each painting, I realised that they also appealed to my love of a good quote. Yes, these were quotes relating to finance, wall street, bad loans and the like, but they were poignant and some were rather amusing ("Mr Perkins is an extreme risk to the market when he is drunk" - was a favourite).

After listening to the artist give a succinct and interesting speech about his work (whilst quaffing our third glass of wine) we decided to explore the lower floor of the gallery where this painting caught my eye. It was completely made out of wax - crazy eh?

Also downstairs we saw this painting and, egged on by another gallery-goer, decided to take some pictures with it. I sincerely hope the artist wasn't in the room.

Clearly we were in need of some dinner to soak up the booze. With hurried goodbyes and a short walk down Blandford Street, we found ourselves outside Pieds Nus. A teeny tiny little place with a tasty sounding menu and stripped back decor. On offer: a varied selection of small, tapas like dishes, but, as we soon discovered, the flavours (and ingredients) were very big indeed. We opted for the bread selection (avec hummus) to start, followed by the salt baked artichoke, wild mushrooms and truffle supplement (I'm still not entirely sure what that is but this dish was divine). Next we had the scallops followed by the spiced lamb neck with aubergine purée - ohmygod it was amazing. Melt-in-your-mouth, drooling-about-it-now (two days later) amazing. Can you guess it was my favourite of all the dishes that night (in spite of my guilt at eating lamb - something I haven't done for over a year)? To round off the dinner we shared the Tart Tatin which was v.nice up until I crunched down on a big star anise. It was pretty gross, particularly as I hate the taste of liquorice.

source

It was expensive, or what I would deem expensive, but the flavours (save for the star anise) were insanely good. I looked it up when we got home and it turns out that Pieds Nus is actually a pop-up from the owner of two michelin starred restaurants!

So Tuesday turned out to be a rather fancy affair. I do love it when a lack of planning leads to fun new things :)

Hope you're all having a good week!

nice things in the post #2

Some lovely things have been posted through the letter box recently so I thought I'd share them with you. 

Simplicity pattern - Katie's dress has seriously inspired me to have a go at making one of these

Floral fabric from The Village Haberdashery - after I've done a trial with some plain fabric, I'll be using this to make the simplicity dress.

Dress and socks - bought in the ASOS sale.

This rather excellent haul was courtesy of various xmas cheques (thanks famille!) and is a v.welcome break in the constant stream of rubbish (no Orange, I do not want another phone from you) that comes through the door. 

Received anything nice lately?