This Bell Will Ring.

Here's a photo of the sunrise from last week.
Saturday's shopping trip wasn't all bad. Even though I didn't have any fancy clothes that took my eye and pretty much ended up huffing and puffing in and out of each shop, I didn't go away completely empty handed.

It's so nice to finally be able to treat myself to things I've wanted for a long time. I've been after this vase since I first saw it in Feather and Fern, months and months ago! I'm a huge fan of Rob Ryan anyway, but his 'Bells' collection is my favourite, it makes my heart melt. I just need some pretty flowers to put in it now, I kind of picked the wrong season to snatch it up.

I got this from John Lewis but I'm a little gutted that our John Lewis in Newbury doesn't stock Rob Ryan anymore. Still, this is a fine addition to my tiny collection, I think his Hello Egg Cups are next.

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Babel, baby.

I was thinking about Tuesday Tabs but I haven't got a lot to show you in that sense and it seems like a bit of a cop-out considering I haven't posted in a little while. I guess I have a fair bit to talk to you about this week, or certainly a lot of photos to show you anyway. I thought I'd start off by giving the album that saw me through work most of last week a mention, and on it's week and a day anniversary, that album is 'Babel' by Mumford & Sons, and it's wonderful.



Having heard a lot of Mumford & Sons' new material over the last three years since 'Sigh No More' from seeing them at Glastonbury, I wasn't in much doubt that the new album would be good, but it's so much more than that.

On the surface of things, it seems as though the South London quartet have provided us with more of the same, but in reality they've demonstrated a whole heap of growth. Perhaps this isn't as obvious musically, although they've done a good job of tricking us into thinking that they're more 'upbeat' now. This change is most noticeable in terms of lyrical content, they're much tighter, and concise. 'Sigh No More' has been an album I've consistently listened to since it's release so I don't think it would be honest of me to criticise it but anything that demonstrated less experience on their previous album has been blown out of the water by three years work with 'Babel'.



My stand-out tracks are 'Lover of the Light' and 'Ghosts That We Knew', but I enjoy the whole album thoroughly. They've cemented themselves more firmly than before as one of my favourite bands and it will be great to see them in a gig-setting again in November. The leap they've made is fantastic, from the tiny weepy band I saw supporting The Maccabees back in 2009 to world famous musicians playing arenas and cracking the USA, it's incredible and I feel weirdly proud of them.

It's no wonder that they cracked the number one album spot last week, or that it was one of the biggest selling debut albums ever. Not bad for four guys from Wimbledon.

The physical album is so pretty, filled with whimsical images and 'on the road' snapshots. I pre-ordered the deluxe version and received a limited edition 'Babel' print - I got 340/1500! - and will go great alongside Moon's Frightened Rabbit 'State Hospital' print in our bedroom, as that's the next part of the flat we're planning on putting our stamp on. I was worried that they might have copped out on this but the quality is lovely and has one of my favourite animals on it so I can't wait to pop it in a frame.


Have you had a listen of Mumford & Sons new album? Will you be seeing them on tour in November, I definitely think it's been well worth the wait!

Moon wrote a review on the site that he writes for, and it's a little better than mine, I recommend that you check it out! ♥

To cure your soul.

If you're a regular reader then you'll know I'm a big fan of Rob Ryan, he's easily one of my favourite artists and he lifts my spirits.
When I heard about his collaboration with Alphabet Bags, it was an opportunity to good to miss.

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I've been a bit strapped for cash in terms of picking up the Rob Ryan pieces that I really want, and this was a much more accessible route to go down. I must admit that I was a little skeptical that £16 would be a little much for a tote bag, despite following Alphabet Bags for a little while and seeing other peoples. However, as usual, I'm eating my own words because it's one of the sturdiest tote bags I've ever seen, it seems a lot thicker than others I have in my collection. It will definitely come in handy for tomorrow's car-boot rummage, as well as other bits and bobs, I plan to use it all time! I think it's fairly obvious why I got an 'R', but in all honesty, I could have gone for all of them because they all have cute little accents to make them different from one another, something I really like.




Delivery was super-quick too, I only ordered it on Thursday afternoon and it arrived with the post this morning, it certainly was great to come back from work to. As well as receiving the bag in good time, they also included a cute alphabet postcard featuring all the designs, perfect. As if I didn't have enough Rob Ryan artwork already, I can now add this to my collection. As Moon clumsily broke the frame of my most recent Rob Ryan purchase, it makes a pretty replacement, although I hope to get another frame and put the 'bells' card somewhere else soon.

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As well as the tote bag, I also ordered a copy of the summer 2012 edition of 'S.P.Q.R' (Sentanus Populsque Ryantown), Rob Ryan's quarterly newspaper for his shop 'Ryantown'. I kind of forgot about it, but it was pretty nice that both items arrived at the same time. This issue is all about why Rob Ryan got into ceramics and all the cool things he's producing. It's so beautiful, even for a newspaper, filled with lovely text and pretty pictures, I'd definitely buy it again. I particularly liked this issue for the exposure of the ceramic cats and dogs he does and the different ways he's painted them, makes me wish I could get my hands on a pair.






I'd definitely say these purchases were a great success and I'm so pleased. Expect to see a lot more of my Rob Ryan tote, thank you Hayley and Lucas ♥.
If you fancy one yourself, you can have a peak at the lookbook here, it's a lovely, simple shoot, I like it. There is currently free worldwide shipping on Rob Ryan Alphabet bags until 27th July.

Also, because it was too good: ♥

Happy (day after) Valentine's Day!

So, I missed out on sharing things from the Internet with you this week, but I didn't have much so I'll just post a bit more next week. Did you have a lovely Valentine's Day, I did.

In fact, Moon and I spread Valentine's out a bit this year, in a bid to avoid crowds mainly. Although people-watching is brilliant, waiting an unnecessarily long time for food is not.
I put a bit of thought into how I was going to go about things this year, and even got Moon a gift, although it's kind of a gift for both of us.

I've spent so much time this week just day-dreaming, I've actually been feeling a bit down in the dumps recently. I think the long-distance thing is getting to me and the lack of money/job is incredibly frustrating - I've had three rejections this week, THREE! It was wonderful to spend some time together though and go out to dinner, which we can't really do at the moment so it truly was a novelty. So maybe we did go out because it was Valentine's Day so we were those kind of people but it was a good excuse to do something nice.

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I saw these sitting at the front of Inspitalfields when I was in Shoreditch on Saturday and I thought they would make a really nice Valentine's gift, kind of to myself but also to Moon, because I'm a bit of a sop like that. I was a bit gutted later when I 'Amazonned' some Rob Ryan stuff when I got home and found they were a lot cheaper there, but another part of me was pleased that I'd picked them up from Inspitalfields anyway. I wanted to keep the lady one and have Moon have the other, but they're now sitting in their box back over at his house...

Body Glitter Gel, £2.99 each, Oxford Circus Topshop

I picked these up on a whim, but I think they'll last ages, and they're so pretty. I was a bit unsure about the heart one due to the arguably limited occasions I could wear it, but you know what, I'll probably just wear it when I want, I even wore the other one into work today.

Heart-shaped ring, £4, Topshop

I picked these up at Urban Ears, Boxpark and I think they're so cute. My favourite is the brown one. A pair of Urban Ears have made it to my list, but I think it should be a while until I can get some.

I was so pleased to finally get some tea lights for my tea light holders. Not only do they smell like clean linen, but they're also teal, thank you Wilkinsons.

I picked up this beaut from Oxford Circus Topshop too, did you guess I was into teal? It's such a nice polish too, goes on with no bubbles even if it's a bit thick; really encourages me to put more Topshop nail varnishes to the test.

I think one of the big things I miss so far about living away from home is baking. I hardly bake anymore, but yet again V-Day came up as a great excuse.

So, this was my 13th February make up. I hope I didn't look too weird.

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For our day-early Valentine's meal we went to a little place in Brockham called The Grumpy Mole, which used to be The Duke's Head. The food was so tasty from starter to dessert and I had my first 'wellington'. If you don't like food, just look at that mole's face.

Moon's main course — Red Thai Curry


The crème brûlée lived up the the Amélie test. Nomz ♥

I wish Moon had taken a few of me, because I'm not going to lie, my hair was pretty great. But I got these neat snaps of him so I care a bit less.

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Moon's card to me, he was sad that there were too many fluffy soppy cards, what a boy.



So, I bought this and we had a lovely, simple lunch. ♥






We rounded off Valentine's afternoon with a screening of The Muppets, which was a lot more of a musical than I expected, but I don't even care, it was great and worth the wait.

I'll be finishing up this evening with some personal admin before getting a big sleep in preparation for tomorrow's early start, some how February is passing me by...