Want

Pic from Garance Doré

I need hair like this, if you please.

Nostalgia-fest: updated

This is Pebbles.

The last time we went to Cornwall, she was barely more than a puppy.*

This time around, she was 16. Her back legs are a bit wobbly, and the deaf/blind combo she's rocking has led to an endearing habit of bashing her nose gently against your knee every few minutes, just to check you're where she thinks you should be.

But she made it back to south Cornwall, even if she left the longer walks to younger dogs.

We stayed in a super cute cottage on the main street in Polruan, and we spent our days going on those long walks, eating way too much and exploring some old haunts, and our evenings drinking Cornish cider and playing rummy and board games.

Lack of internet access meant the longest enforced period away from work emails and work stress I've had in a looong time. I finished three books, took a nap pretty much every afternoon - basically it was a perfect break.

Wouldn't you want to hang out here for a while?

* Fun fact: On that last trip, I took Pebbles for a walk along the cliff path, and she disappeared. I freaked out, thinking she'd fallen over the edge. Eventually she came back, dragging something behind her. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a half-defrosted oven-ready chicken she must have stolen from someone's house. I had to throw the carcass over the cliffs to dispose of the evidence.... My innocent-looking dog is a reformed career criminal.

Obsessed

I didn't go to Coachella - instead, I went back to Suffolk and to Cornwall, and spent all my excess cash on pasties, cream teas and multiple potential wedding-guest dresses that remain, unworn, at the back of my wardrobe.

I harbour few regrets. Certainly none about prioritising friends and family over hanging out with scantily-clad hipsters in the desert.

But I do wish I'd seen St. Vincent in action.

It's entirely possible that I've listened to this song more times than I can count on both hands in the last few days.

Oops.

Welcome Back!

Pretty, right? I'm all about the nature.

What do you mean you’ve been right here, patiently waiting while I’ve been AWOL for the past month?

Shit. How did that happen?

For your general delectation, here’s a brief list of my recent occupations/preoccupations:

-        Raging at malfunctioning computery tecchy stuff I don’t really understand

-        Sitting up until 3.30am waiting for said computer to do its thing. Very. Slowly. In the name of work.

-        Utilising that unwonted extra time to paint my nails (gold on my fingernails, coral on my toes, since you ask)

-        Eating considerable amounts of cheese, in lump form. Because waiting for the computer to do its thing is hungry work, dontchaknow.

-        Googling otters that look like Benedict Cumberbatch

-        Stroking/sniffing my newest possession, aka the love of my life, aka my very fancy new camera.*

OK. That’s actually just last night - Saturday night in LA, people. It's exciting stuff.

Since last we spoke I've also hosted a visitor (my friend B, who was a most excellent house guest), paid a little visit to San Diego, briefly feared I was going to get stuck in Mexico after an unfortunate border mix-up, and spent some time back in jolly (jolly cold) England.

More details shall - eventually - follow. Unless I fall off the face of the blogosphere without warning again...

But for now.

OTTERS THAT LOOK LIKE BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH.

You're welcome.

* It smells a bit like new car. Maybe that's what all expensive things smell like? I wouldn't know - this is basically the first time I've ever bought anything worth more than the change I could find down the back of the sofa...

Dress dilemma - solved?

So. I haven't abandoned the pink possibilities for next month's wedding. I still have two dresses that have serious potential.

But...

I impulse purchased.

And then I went back the next day and impulse purchased a jacket to match.

This was the end result:

The dress and the jacket are both Forever 21 bargains. The shoes I bought last year for a potential wedding, and then never wore, and the bag is just Accessorize.

Do we like?

Nostalgia-fest 2012

When I go back to Engerland in a few weeks' time, as well as going to my amazing friend J's wedding, I'm going to be spending a few days in one of my favourite old stomping grounds.

Lantic Bay - image from here

Every year, from when I was eight to 13, my family shipped out, overfilled the car and headed to the south coast of Cornwall for a week. We always stayed in the same cottage, in the teeny seaside village of Polruan.

This year, we're upgrading the cottage a little bit (the old one was '70's-tastic in its decor, and boasted hundreds of slightly damp old comics and annuals from the 1950s and '60s in a cupboard in my bedroom. This one is a lot more shabby chic, as opposed to, well, shabby). But we're going to be in the same village, and I have some nostalgia-inducing plans to:

 - Walk along the cliffs to Lantic Bay, clamber down the super-steep path to the beach, and eat a picnic

 - Catch the tiny ferry across the estuary from Polruan to Fowey, where I'm going to go to the gemstone shop (it's possible I might have outgrown my love for some semi-precious metals, but definitely not fool's gold)

 - Eat fish and chips one-handed, while fending off vicious feral seagulls with the other hand

 - Head to the local pub and eat a banana split. With a sparkler in it. What do you mean, they stopped serving banana splits in restaurants when the '90s ceased to be? Not in Cornwall! At least I hope not...

 - Re-read my Daphne du Maurier stash - Rebecca and The Loving Spirit in particular. This is du Maurier country, dontchaknow.

The only downside is that le famille will be incomplete - baby bro is touring a Spanish town with his university hockey team that week, carousing and competing and doing god knows what else.

This makes me sad, as I have very clear memories of said baby bro getting up at 6am to press his little snub nose to the window of our holiday cottage, shouting 'boat!', 'boat!', 'boat!' repeatedly, in the days when he was in actual fact my baby bro, and not a hulking great 20-year-old hockey playing student.

But still, fun times ahead - I'm just praying for good weather!

Dress dilemma

In precisely one month two of my loveliest friends are getting hitched - and I'm going to be there!

Which is, clearly, awesome news of the awesomest variety. To say I'm excited would be something of an understatement. There's just one thing - I don't have anything to wear...

Usually the hunt for a dress for these things begins months in advance (actually I'm not sure that's the best idea, I seem to end up buying three different dresses, or still end up frantically scouring the high street for accessories the day before the wedding) but this time around I booked my flights and decided to fly back at pretty short notice.

So. I adopted an equally foolish strategy - start the outfit with a bag. Not just any bag, a very lovely birthday present bag.

Isn't she purdy? From Accessorize

I don't wear cream or nude (it makes me look all pink and blotchy, plus it's a wedding, white is kinda off the table!). Black is no fun. And the bridesmaids at this gorgeous spring wedding are going to be in yellow. So that leaves either pink or a kind of dusky lilac.

Weather-wise, early April in Eastern England could mean pretty much anything, so I need a dress that can be worn with or without tights.

Without further ado, let me introduce you to the options:

Option A. A big fat rip-off of one of my favourite Topshop dresses of the past year or so - Topshop did not oblige me by having any pink versions in stock (how selfish), but I'm hoping this could have potential, as long as the colour isn't too candy pink.

Coral shift dress, Missguided

Option B: Looks just fine on the skinny, leggy, model person - we shall see how it works on me. But I like the colour a lot. And I could imagine it working well with a chunky statement necklace.

Mini tulip dress, ASOS

Option C: Doesn't necessarily look like much in the photo, but I've seen other pics of actual, real-life, non-6ft tall people wearing it, and the angles of the shoulder and neckline, and the simple shape looked pretty cool.

Straight-cut dress, Mango

Anyone have a favourite? Or any better options? I can't, in all honesty, say I'm 100% sold on any of these yet, but A and B are on order, so I'll see how they fit when they get here...