Cohen's Diary

It's always odd to receive an email with instructions not to tweet about its contents, but Barri-Jayne was quite strict about this. This was Jazmine's twentieth, and it was a surprise.

 Sitting in suspense in a Clapham bar with Olivia, Dina, Lucy, Kristabel, and Reena, we discussed various methods of greeting Ms. Rocks. A mexican wave was considered, but instead a chorus of "happy birthday!"s was sung, as a rather shocked Jazmine made her way to our table. The Little Black Dress dress code was perfect for someone who adores Audrey Hepburn as much as the birthday girl (although, who doesn't?), and the evening was spent in some of the best company I could ever have wished for.

To think, it was just over two years ago I first found out about Jazmine's blog through Jill's post on Street Style London (I haven't even told Jazz this!), and now I'm lucky enough to consider her a friend. Blogging may be a funny old world, but I sure am glad I'm part of it.

xxx

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It's not like I believe in everlasting love

1. New Year's Eve

2. Cambridge's deceptive sunshine

3. Tea, somewhere near Goodge Street, trumping fashion week

4. Tequila smiles and cowboys to celebrate Amy's fifth birthday

5. I own the weirdest things. Model: MJBT

6. Olympics themed social

7. Cheesecake in the grounds of the cathedral

I haven't posted any photos from my disposable cameras for a ridiculously long time, the first is all the way back to New Year's Eve (just past the stroke of midnight, clutching champagne, not aware that people intended to stay awake for another nine hours, start as you mean to go on, and all that...). The last was taken by Jazzy when we met up a week ago for sweet potato fries and unflattering photos.

Unaware of the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool's two football teams, I found myself on the most packed train ever (second only to the one I got to Sheffield to see Arctic Monkeys. Last June everyone was wearing band t-shirts, this time it was football strips), but I'm back in the North now, and have no excuses not to do my essays. Apart from writing a blog post, of course. It is lovely to be back. I had my moments last year (massive understatement) which involved me seriously considering dropping out, but, right this second, I am so glad I've stayed. Liverpool is a beautiful city, which I've grown to love in the year and a half I've lived here, and I've met some rad people in the process. Although I understand neither the football obsession nor the scouse brow, I know that I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. And, for some reason, tea tastes nicer here.

xxx

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Orla Kiely Girls on Film

I've written about Orla Kiely before, and her classic prints have always featured in my "one day!" lists. I was delighted to return home - at well past midnight, thanks to Greater Anglia - to an envelope containing my ticket to an Afternoon Tea Dance the next day. It was the highlight of my day at LFW, to sit round one of the lace-clothed tables under a glitter ball with mini Victoria sponges and be serenaded by the jazz band while the girls twirled round the dancefloor. Michelle, Elodie, Hannah, Ashley, and I all fell in love with the first dress' sequinned collar. I was rather partial to the glittery ankle socks; I already have a few pairs in my wardrobe in preparation for any future tea parties! I wish I knew who the models were; the girl in the last photo was so lovely, and I'm rather upset at how badly the photo has turned out, but you can't guarantee anything with film photography (although that is half the fun!).


Obviously I acted like a fangirl completely cool when I noticed that Leith Clark, editor of Lula, was there. I know it's an awful photo, but I'm still so, so happy to have met her, as Lula's the one magazine I search up and down the country for. Literally.


Life has been distinctly less glam recently, just been curled up under my duvet with tea (I'm running out) and novels ("Caleb Williams" and "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater" are the most recent). I hope you've all been up to more exciting things than that!


xxx

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Liverpool Meet-Up

To say missing #ldnlunch upset me is a slight understatement, so I mentioned on twitter the idea of doing a (smaller scale!) Liverpool version, and a few people seemed interested. After talking with Emma, we thought that Saturday 28th April would be a good date, i.e. before exams and long enough away for people to get time off work, if necessary.


This is just me trying to find out how many people are interested.
If you are, please leave a comment stating your name, blog address (if you have one), twitter (same), email address, and your preference as to whether we'd go for lunch or dinner.


Please spread the word, and I hope to see you all soon!


xxx

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Her fav'rite midnight haunts

 

Striped top: £30, Aubin and Wills. Corduroy skirt: £15, American Apparel via ebay. Socks: Internatçionale. Patent loafers: £15, Russell and Bromley via ebay.

Despite barely having a moment to myself (which means to just sit and catch up on Gossip Girl with a hot chocolate) it kind of feels like I've done hardly anything recently. Since my last post I've finished exams (Victorian literature did not go well. It probably didn't help that about thirty people left to go to the toilet, seriously??), got back the marks of last semester's assessed essays (they were much better), and went to Cambridge for the weekend. But now I'm back in Liverpool and am officially halfway through my degree; this thought has resulted in many a breakdown and existential crisis, so nothing too dramatic.

These photos were taken by Jazzy during a cute lunch date when I was home over Christmas. Making the suburban look rad is our day job.

xxx

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Alice in Wonderland at Tate Liverpool

Although I'm currently reading English ("books. You read english... books" I always think of that An Education joke) at university in Liverpool, I studied Art until A Level and I still can't resist a gallery every once in a while.

The Tate Liverpool has had its Alice in Wonderland exhibition since November but a lethal combination of essays, exams (one left!), and going home for Christmas has meant I haven't been able to go... until yesterday. I know, a blogger~ liking Alice in Wonderland is hardly surprising, but knowing there would be some Pre-Raphaelite works there (Rossetti! Hunt! Millais!) gave me a more substantial need to visit and part with £5.40 (Worth. It. It's a massive exhibition too). I thought you might like to see the sketches I did while I was there (Millais, Penrose, and Rackham. Further proof I still can't draw hands. Click through to see it bigger, if you fancy), and a photo of me taken last term standing on the kitchen surface and "proving" I'm tall by touching the ceiling. Maybe it was something labelled "drink me".

And in regards to the Coachella stuff I wrote in my last post, I was going to go, but my friend pulled out due to an internship and I didn't fancy going all that way with people I don't know so well. Thank you for letting me know about your experiences though! To compensate, I've been spending too much time window shopping on the Mulberry website and dreaming of Paris next year.

xxx

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..___ _____ .____ .____

1. Skulking round Bloomsbury, February. 

2. Regressing in the Raz's toilets, March. 

3. Well..., June. 

4. L'Oréal advert in Hooga, August. 

5. Oh, memories!, August. 

6. Discovering it's 85p for a single to Stratford from Hampstead Heath, September. 

7. With Sian, Char, Hayley, Eloise, Michelle and Emma at the Brimingham Christmas markets, November. 

8. End of film madness with Josh and Amy at our old school's reunion dinner, December.

You know people make YouTube videos of all the stuff they bought that week and call it a "haul"? Well, this is my haul of 2011, so sorry for the massive overload of photos, but it was so, so difficult to narrow it down to these eight.
I've written about ten drafts of text to accompany this post, yet everything I write is so sentimental that it ends up sounding insincere. So, in its simplest form, I'd just like to thank everyone who reads whatever rubbish I write here. It truly does mean a lot to read through comments, have ridiculous conversations on Twitter, and even meet up with you lovely lot. I hope you all have a fantastic NYE, can't wait to read all about it!
My resolutions for 2011 were to "stop acting like a dick and wear more glitter", might have to carry those ones over to 2012...


xxx


ps, pixel cookie for whoever can work out what the title of this post means.

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The Hand That (Motel) Rocks the Cradle

Do I win the "last to blog about it" prize?


1. Dina at Whistles.
2. I can never resist a red velvet. You can tell by my face...
3. Me, Elosie and cocktail umbrellas.
4. With Jazmine (I need to stop putting my hair behind my ears).
5. Appreciating cupcakes with Dina! Thanks to Elosie for the photo


Three weeks ago (ha) during my reading week I went to London to meet up with some lovely people. I met Elosie and Dina at Euston and headed directly (for we did not get lost) to the Whistles SS12 press day. Bright colours, stripes, lace... Let's be honest, Whistles haven't ever got it wrong. I felt kiiind of uncomfortable after reading the guestbook (companies included Vogue and InStyle, that I can remember), so we headed off to to the Motel bloggers evening. There were so many people I knew. Probably definitely came across like a stalker, but it was lovely to finally meet people I've "known" for what felt like forever over mojitos prepared by Motel Student Ambassadors (of which I am one too, my first post can be found here) and Lola's cupcakes provided by GlossyBox.
Thank you to Selina for the invite, and as a bonus she's given me a discount code for 15% off to pass on to readers of this humble blog, just type in TOPBLOG15 at the checkout. I picked a dress for my Christmas Ball next Monday, which is doubling up as my birthday dress (twenty on Tuesday, oh jeeze), so I'll "unveil" it when the event (read: hangover) is a mere memory...


xxx

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