LONDON: DOs and DONTs

It was about a month ago, that the money I had saved was urgently calling my name to spend it. As I am a sucker for shopping, I agreed. London was waiting for me. And especially when christmas is in sight, there is something about (no, not Mary) London. Why? Maybe because christmas lights are draped above the streets. Maybe because I cannot reject christmas sales such as Boxing Day. Or maybe, because the christmas-department in Harrods is so big, I walked three rounds looking for the exit and I was eventually brought outside by a security guy.

DOs
- Old Spitalfields market: Brick lane East London. Second hand Shakespeare and Dickens, homemade english sponge cakes, fur, up and coming designer clothes; need I say more?

- Portobello Road: Notting Hill. Walk in the beatles' footsteps, eat a red velvet cupcake at hummingbird bakery, visit the bookstore from the movie Notting Hill (warning: it is now a shoeshop, unfortunately), and the market on sunday is great!

- Topshop Brompton Road: one that is pretty quiet compared to others (like oxford street)

- exhibitions at Victoria & Albert museum (south kensington): very inspiring, is all I can say (see a gorilla made out of NEEDLES,below). It is my favourite museum in London, but of course Tate Modern, the design museum, British museum, the tower of london, etc. are also quite fascinating!

- the Seven Dial streets; just like the nine streets in amsterdam, except there are seven. Very cute lunchcafes and boutiques. Try: SNOG, a trendy yoghurt and topping place. And there is a candy store that has EVERY sort of candy you like. Makes me feel like I am seven again. Candy cakes is filled with cakes, pies and cupcakesl if you are a sweet tooth like me of course.

- Camden town: northern London. I can't seem to find words to describe this part of london. A lot of vintage, mixed with punk, markets and tourists. A whole lot of everything actually, but it is definetely somewhere you can spend your afternoon.

- Harrods: you cannot leave London without having seen harrods.
- Lay back, eat scones, drink tea: have a high tea at Dean Street Townhouse 69 (dean street, 15 pond pp). Quite fancy, but I guess that's what high tea is all about.
- Yauatscha dimsum&sushi: broadwickstreet Soho. You might bump into someone famous while picking up their famous cookies or having dinner. Very, very nice (not sounding like Borad)

- DO a night of theatre: but DONT be as stupid as I am by thinking you'll do that on sunday, because all shows are all week except sunday!

AWKWARD.

If you weren't convinced already: this is the part where you are. It seems a typically American MTV show, but I think there's more to it than that. Jenna Hamilton, the main character of the show, often finds herself in painfully AWKWARD situations. The whole show revolves around a misunderstandig Jenna's entire highschool seems to know about: everyone thinks she tried to kill herself. While she struggles to lose her image as 'that girl', two guys fall in love with Jenna and her no nonsense way of living. It is very funny sometimes and for me, words such as Queen Bee-atches are enough. The show won me over.

WISDOM IN THE WOOL (KNITTED BY GRANNIES)

Grannies Inc.
Talk about cute: you design your own woolly jumper,hat, scarf,etc. : and actual grannies knit them for you. Not only you're helping the elderly; there is also 'wisdom in the wool'. Visit there website and do!:

http://www.granniesinc.co.uk/

NAILSINC. MAGNETIC NAILPOLISH

This is something I just added to my chrismas wishlist. You simply apply the nailpolish to your nails (purple, silver or gold), and you immediately hold the magnet (located in the cap of the bottle) above each nail. The pieces metal in the nailpolish react on the magnet by making some sort of 'stripes'. Well, all I can say is: try!!! It is the coolest nailpolish alive. For now.

Versace for H&M

Not only Stella McCartney, Karl Lagerfield, Roberto Cavalli and Matthew Williamson have designed clothing for H&M; now the skinny, scary-looking Donatella Versace is going to design a line as well. The amount of shimmering, shining studs and sparkles, deep cut-outs and elegance will probably be too much to comprehend, but still: it is definetely something to be excited about.
In stores November 17th. Here are some preview pics.