Wednesday 12 June 2013

"If you're not living life on the edge you're taking up too much space"

 - Jim Whittaker, first American to summit Mt Everest


This is a great clip of a paraplegic mum Duct tape Surfing 
with her friend on the South Australian West Coast - Inspiring .

Monday 24 September 2012

Sniff Sniff

                                                                                         




I can tell you it's official , my Summer has ended , I spritzed the last of my Lovely bottle of Antonia's Flowers perfume , which Mr Double U bought me whilst on a Business trip to New York early  this year . It's an amazing heady scent of freesia , made in East Hampton , Long Island , and I first wore it when I was about 22 years old , so I was a little concerned when I received the gift that I may have  "outgrown" it like I have with so many of the perfumes I used to wear . Thankfully this was not the case ,it was like being re-united with an old friend that you've missed and love . Anyways now it's turned all wintry on me I've returned to my usual "Pot-Pourri" by Santa Maria Novella which I'm addicted to . Another smell I can't get enough of is Bamford's Jasmine Pebble Soap ,I only wish they did a full range of products to go with it . Well now you know what I smell like !

  

Earlier this week I took Miss Double U to see the opening of the Documentary " Diana Vreerland : The Eye Has To Travel "  at the Curzon cinema in Mayfair .
It was just at the end of London Fashion Week so quite a few "faces " were there , Justine Picardie the new Editor of Harpers Bazaar was hosting the Q&A after the screening , talking to Lisa Immordino Vreerland the maker of the film and Diana's grand-daughter-in-law . Miss Double U 's face was a picture when she realised the gentleman in the audience making a comment during the Q&A was actually Manolo Blahnik - one of her heroes , in true Carrie Bradshaw fashion ! The film was great and truly gave a sense of the woman and her enormous personality and energy, quite inspirational .                           



I had the pleasure of going to see another Style Icon , Kevin Rowland , playing with his band the Dexys [ nee - Midnight Runners] at the Barbican last weekend . It was a surprise Birthday treat for Mr Double U and we had an amazing time. Rowland is Legendary , an amazing performer who has managed to retain the anger and verve of his youth and delivers  it to his audience on stage with a lot of style . We agreed  it was more like going to see musical theatre than a concert . Go See !


m.m.w



Sunday 23 September 2012

Ciao bella



During our Summer visit to New York , Miss Double U and myself 
visited a cinema in Williamsburg Brooklyn  called Nitehawk which has an interesting concept - they serve drinks and food to complement the movie you're watching - neat idea eh ! We watched Woody Allen's new film ,"To Rome with Love " and they ran some great Italian commercials before the main feature ,including the above Lambretta advertisement which I Love ! We had made plans to dine after the movie but they were serving some great Antipasti and Prosecco . We both thought the movie was pretty good and definitely put us in the mood for an Italian trip ! 



                    m.m.w

Erin Gra Mo Chroi [ Ireland of My Heart ]

About 4 weeks ago I woke up on a Sunday morning with great pangs of 'Irishness',it was like a thirst I needed to quench ,but how could I ? I couldn't just up-sticks and catch the ' Boat train ' like I used to in my younger days , no , the closest I could get was to tune in on RTE i-player and catch the latest 'Late Late Show' which is an institution of a program in Ireland , but I was a week too early , they were still on their Summer break . However , what I did discover and watch that morning transported me not only to Ireland but to a different era of my life -1987- it was a special edition of the L,L,S when Gay Byrne - the master of ceremonies  himself - used to host it and it was celebrating 25 years of the Dubliners , an amazing Irish folk band . There were plenty of special guests like Christy Moore , The Furey brothers , U2 and the Pogues - all of them looking so young - so I thought I'd give you all a little taste of my Irish medicine .


                   m.m.w

Friday 24 August 2012

Words and Pictures

   Hows about this then ?!  Miss Double U was feeling very gracious and generous with her time and  'PATIENTLY ' helped me download these photos for a pictorial trip around some of the things I did this Summer[though God Help Me if I want to download some more -I daren't ask her again !!]


The Wedding

 

These are our lovely friends Amy and Simon getting married in the beautiful tiny church of St John Lateran at Hengrave Hall ,Bury St Edmonds , Suffolk . It was such an amazing day , the most gorgeous wedding I've been to ! After the ceremony we all sat out on the lawn with Champagne and canapes  and I felt like I had fallen into the back pages of Tatler !




                                                     
                                                       Ah! Mr & Mrs Double U xx

             

   Miss Double U on the Croquet Lawn [ being watched in the background by Mr Double U - trying to put her off play I dare say - competitive dad  syndrome ! ]
     

                     Soaking up the history of the place - Queen Elizabeth I  
                       once stayed here !

Congratulations to the Happy Couple !


Biarritz



                                                                   Me at sunset 

           Is it true that you get drunk quicker if you drink it 
          through a straw ? ! 


                    Miss Double U looking pretty as a picture at sunset


This is the great indoor food market at Biarritz . They also have a cool outdoor bit with stalls selling a mixture of vintage and crafts - I picked up a vintage YSL two piece ladies skirt suit for a bargain [ with a bit of bartering ].I will do a post of my recent vintage finds soon - photo down loading ability permitting !! 


                 Miss Double U looking good in her Rodarte swimsuit , 
      vintage overalls and Amazing flower bedecked sun shades

         Yes I think it's true , you do get drunk a whole lot quicker when you drink through a straw !



  •   Ah Yes! And here we have exhibit A . See this outfit I'm wearing ?  You will never see me in it ever again !

   The T Shirt I've had for years , it's a comme des garcon . The skirt I got in American Rag - a great vintage shop in L A . It's white cotton pique with little strawberries embroidered all over it , a bit miu miu  I thought at time of purchase . For a while I've felt like taking a more feminine approach to my dressing . Normally I'm more Tomboy style ,so I thought a mini trip away was a good place to experiment with a couple of new ensembles-pffff !  Whilst we were in Biarritz it was Festival time and ALOT of people , mostly young folk , were  dressed in the Basque National costume which is ' Red and White ' - getting the picture ? God ! I couldn't wait to get back to the hotel that day and get changed   


Williamsburg - Brooklyn &  
 The Catskills - UpState New York

       
      Mr Double U  enjoying granola in some hip Breakfast place .



 Wet 'N Wild , Miss Double U having fun with our great friend Duffy in the Catskills .


 Me sipping iced coffee at the before mentioned hip breakfast         place - I like a straw don't I 
                     

  All hands on deck ! The inflatable deflated - whoopsie !




Master C Double U getting a great cut from our mate Russel at Tommy Guns in Brooklyn.
They also have a salon on Ludlow St in Manhattan . The interior of both are amazing ,using original 1870's Drugstore cabinets    
to create a truly authentic 'step back in time' experience.
So authentic in fact that Russel and his shop were used in an episode of Boardwalk Empire .





Cool !



   This was at Lucy and Duffy's place in the Catskills , we made s'mores and lay back to watch the amazing meteor showers and shooting stars , it was a pretty magical evening !



    These pictures were taken at a beautiful waterfall which Duffy directed us to - I doubt we would have found it otherwise . 
 I was informed by all that the water was icy cold - I was too chicken to try !




                                         Shootin the breeze at Lucy and Duff's


  The lovely Lucy cooking up a feast for us in her amazing              
  converted barn . Here's a great video that The Selby made of Lucy for the fashion store Zara .It shows her and Duffy in their Brooklyn apartment and then Lucy driving to their barn in the Catskills.I love it , such a cool couple !




           
                                                       The Boys get involved too



    This as far as I got  - if I can't see the bottom and there's no hand rail to grasp onto when I get splashed I aint going in !


This is the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn where we stayed whilst we were in town . The views from our room of Manhattan across the  river were stunning . In the Catskills we stayed at the Lazy Lodge which is owned by Kate's Lazy Meadow - Kate being Kate Pierson from the B-52's - a really great log cabin with wonderful interior and a stream running outside the back door , a wonderful place to escape the madness and heat of the city . 






Yoko ono at the Serpentine 

   
           I enjoyed 'To the Light' by Yoko Ono but no picture taking was allowed inside . This shot is of the wishing trees outside . I thought the large perspex structure 'AMAZE' was interesting because you were allowed to enter into it and try to find the centre of the maze, become part of the sculpture . I'm not a fan of confined spaces but seeing as the walls were see through I didn't thing it would be so bad -
Yeh right ! At first I kept my cool but then started to think - what if I get to the middle but can't remember the way back out and I start to panic and hyper - ventilate and everyone is watching and they have to come and save me - so I swiftly backtracked my steps and exited looking as unfazed as possible 




       Some ducks taking a dip in the 2012 Serpentine Gallery Pavillion designed by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei .



                       Home Grown



I took these photos out of wonderment because nothing ever grows for me - probably because I forget to water them - but the excessive rain fall we had did me a favour  

            I love this Horse tail grass ,it's really growing fast now 



      Milo getting close to nature and wondering if it's good to eat





                                               Newquay , Cornwall




                 Here's our friend John and his amazing hot rod car at a vintage surf and skate board show we went to earlier this Summer in Newquay .









                                       picnic on the quay at Padstow




  A few pics of our place in Newquay which we don't get to visit enough but love it when we can .
  










Souvenir from Biarritz from a great little coffee bar by the market .   



                                    mmw