diana does france.

I faced my fear and used film. I not only used film, I used film in a highly unreliable 50 year old camera. I not only used film in a highly unreliable 50 year old camera, I used film in a highly unreliable 50 year old camera and didn't use anything else. No digital SLR, no camera phone. Just film. (apart from that time I pinched my father in law's point and shoot thingy because I thought my HU50YOC looked pretty cool against the yellow table in the restaurant by the canal.) So, I have no photos of France to show you yet. In fact I may never have photos of France to show you, given the Highly Unreliable nature of my HU50YOC. Whatever. I'll just tell you that it was good, really good. Even if we didn't get our dirty weekend by the sea and it was Too Damn Hot and I had to work and mosquitoes BIT MY BOOBS. Even then, it was good. Wine + cheese + bread + coffee + shorts + naked babies chasing a ball kind of good. 

my ladies.

My ladies what are amazing and what inspire me and what I love and what live toofuckingfaraway. 

1.Celia:

C has opened a vintage clothes shop, not just any vintage clothes shop, a beautiful vintage clothes shop. In fact (if I may make a confession) I don't actually like vintage clothes (I know, bad blogger) They smell funny and are usually made of fabric that will catch fire faster than you can say "naked flame". BUT, I kind of want C's whole, beautiful, colour coordinated shop, especially this and this and this, lady has beautiful taste, knows her shit and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't let me wear something that would cause third degree burns. 

2. L------  (aka ESB) 

ESB finally went public what some of us have known for ages, she's a real person (srsly), her name is L------ and she makes films. I honestly don't know if I'm prouder of her for making a film (a real, actual film) or for coming out. All Ages premièred at the Vancouver Film Festival on Friday and it's showing again on Thursday at 1.30pm. If you're lucky enough to be in the area you should definitely go and see it. I would, in a heartbeat. I'd also probably cry, which she wouldn't like at all. 

3. Jamie

So I have this daydream. N and I aren't married yet. So we take our babies, we buy some stripy dresses,  killer heels and a suit that fits and we hop on a plane to Vegas. We get married by Johnny Cash. Celia and esb are the witnesses, Amanda and Meg hold the babies and Jamie takes the photos. I know it's not cool to fantasise about repeating your wedding but this daydream is the best, so sue me. Anyway, there's a point to this. While my Vegas wedding isn't going to happen (unless..... no), Jamie is teaming up with her lady Michelle to shoot a wedding. FOR FREE. Seriously, two amazing photographers, for free. So if you're getting married sometime between now and mid-2012 have a look here and do your best to get yourself some of this awesome. Extra points for weddings that involve twins, stripes, Johnny Cash and more bloggers than you can shake a stick at. 

flop.

Summer was a total flop so we're trying again. In a different country.  

Tomorrow the babies get on their first plane. Their parents get on their first plane since they swore they'd never get on a plane again. They are also taking their first holiday with his family since they said they'd never do that again either. This time the girl can drink though and the wine is 3 euros a bottle and truly exceptional. So it will be fine.  

I'm actually looking forward to it more than you can possibly imagine. Even if I have to take 8 weddings with me and work in the basement for almost the whole trip. Even then.  

See you on the other side lovebugs.  

pinning

Do you pin? I pin. I pin like Madeleine Albright (to quote the inimitable Kidchamp.) I've even added a little Pinterest linky button whatsit over on the right there. (look! It's a pinboard! It's clever AND pretty.)

I know I'm a bit late to this party but I'm still hearing an awful lot of 'I don't really get pinterest' which sounds an awful lot like 'I don't really get my VCR.' In other words Dudes! IT'S NOT COMPLICATED. Pinterest is a place for keeping track of things you like and things you find weird and things you think other people might like. Or it's an enormous black hole of things other people like, which is mostly grotesquely sickening recipes (white chocolate salted caramel cupcake,cookie dough truffles anyone?) and diet 'inspiration' (read: Starvation Motivation).

It's both a place for you to keep virtual pinboards of things you like and a place for you to browse things that other people like. Which is both wonderful and awful. Wonderful because there are people out there with very good taste (and some with TOTALLY insane taste, which is amusing), awful because there are a lot of people out there with very good taste and one can lose hours, days weeks lost in that shit.

I try to avoid too much browsing of other people's pins and keep it as a place to save pictures and gubbins that I like. Which becomes interesting when one looks back on one's pins after a few weeks and discovers what it is that one likes.

It seems that I mostly like:

tattoos 

stripes

things with boats on

peculiarities

sexy men with babies. 

 reassurances

and rabbits

Surprise! 

There are rules though. When you pin something it links to the page that you found it on. If that page is the front page of someone's blog then that link is not going to stay very useful when that someone updates their blog. SO. Either take 3 seconds to open the actual blog post that the thing is in or even better, if it's not that blog's original content then click through to whoever made it and pin it from there. Then when other people click on your pins they are taken to a link that is actually useful and credit is given where credit is due. Okay? Okay.  

Credits: 

1. Tattoo, 2. Stripes,  3. Boat Blanket, 4. Coffee Dog,  5. Sexy Man With Baby, 6. Absurd. 7. Rabbit,

remembering.

I don't have words. I don't believe that anyone does.  

Pictures don't do it either.  Trust me, I've looked. 

I do have memories though.  

I also have love. Love for friends who were there and friends who weren't. Love for people I don't know and won't ever meet. For New York and its throbbing, wounded, but irrepressible heart. 

* Photograph by Leonard Freed, copyright Leonard Freed/Magnum Photos.  

Decorating discord

There's been a lot of trying top make our house pretty recently, with not a lot of success.  First we were trying to make it pretty to sell it (pretty, but no danger of being described as interesting) and now we're trying to make it pretty so that we will enjoy being trapped  living here. 

The problem is we're slobs. We also threw out almost everything when we thought we would be moving into a shoe box in London. Also we never really had many things we loved in the first place, just weird hand-me-downs and assorted crap that we seem to attract like magnets. We also have no money (hello giant roof bill) to buy things we do love. But mostly we're slobs.  Which means our house will never look like Zoe's. Which makes me sad. 

Of course I'm also hampered by N's allergy to (in no particular order and not exclusively) knick knacks, collections of knick knacks, collections of anything, Cath Kidston fabrics, chairs that look good but aren't "comfortable", typographic art work (he's dyslexic, they make his head hurt) and objects that suggest the 1970s. Or 60s. 

He's not keen on the 50s either. 

He does however let me keep the rabbit indoors and will cycle to asda for ginger beer when I NEED a Jamaican Mule.  So I think I'll keep him.

*photos of Zoe's home by Zoe and via her blog, Conversation Pieces and The Seventy Tree.  

* and you've seen her wedding to the super-sweet Neil, who doesn't have allergies to nice things, right?