LESPIRIT DE LESCALIER

LESPIRIT DE LESCALIER

-thinking of the perfect retort just a moment too late.

A few gorgeous pictures, that make me more excited about 2013; spring, summer, stories, fashion, memories. All pictures are courtesy of Tumblr and Pinterest, apart from a couple which I took over the last few months here and there.

'Absence makes the heart grow fonder'

My blog has been looking rather empty over the last few months. Coming back to uni after summer I became drawn into the social life, occasionally the work and my role in Fashion Soc, putting on a huge Charity Fashion Show in November of last year. It all took over a little bit and I barely had a moment to myself, let alone to blog!

Having been home and recuperated, I thought it was about time that I resumed the blogging. Its also a fabulous way to procrastinate from the exam revision that I should be doing right now! #studentlife

I thought I'd give you a little taster of the months that I've been away; firstly, August when I moved into my perfect Brighton house and which I have continued to make pretty since then! its still very 'studenty' but its getting there.  Next, it was a holiday to the Yorkshire Dales with school friends to stay in a gorgeous house, filled with long drawn out suppers, too much wine, eprfect walks in the countryside and overdue catch ups. In September I became an auntie to a beautiful baby girl - Ona Sophia - who I was instantly besotted with and can't spend enough time with! Next, the fashion show. It was huge, 1920s inspired with a little bit of a modern twist and took place in a big church in Hove. We featured collections from American Apparel, cult vintage store Beyond Retro, incredible jewellery from Union, as well as local designers and couture boutiques including wedding dresses and suits! It was a fabulous night and I loved every minute of it but it was absolutely exhausting and could have been a full time job rather than being done alongside a degree! There have been launch parties and photoshoots, beauty shoots for the Fashion Soc's bi-annual magazine, Promenade, which is being launched at the end of the month, plenty of nights out and many a hazy memory! Then, finally, it was time to head home for Christmas holidays, to catch up with friends and sit by the fire with family, Prosecco and cocktails.

I'm just about to begin my second term of second year at Sussex and as I approach internship applications, exams and the production of the publicity magazine for Brighton Fashion Week I'm excited for what is to come. I'm sure that 2013 will be filled with as many adventures and dramas as the last, as well as more incredible memories.

How to lure your friends to the country

I love Tatler and today ysterday they posted the best article. Anyoen that is based in the country will have had problems in getting friends to come to you. 'A backwater' is how my boyfriend describes my house on the Essex/Suffolk border (the Suffolk part is VERY important in that statement!) and he wouldn't be the only one!

 

Growing up in the middle of nowhere - you had to learn to drive or else become a hermit - I love the countryside and rent a big big house in the country with my school friends every summer, making an effort to spend more time in the fields rather than in the city.

Tatler really does sum in up though and hopefully those of you that can relate will find it as entertaining as I did! 

                                   

2^nd January 2013

Tatler

How do you make diehard townies pack their bags and leave the M25 for the countryside? You lure them in with flowery descriptions, name-dropping and house parties, says Violet Hudson...

So you live in the middle of Lower Back-Of-Beyond, Nowhereshire, and it takes 17 hours and costs hundreds of pounds to get there. (It's actually a cottage in Somerset, but that's what it feels like sometimes). You don't even like it that much. So how on earth do you get your friends to come and stay? Why on earth would they when, in town, they can take in an avant-garde show, drink a soya latte at 3am and have gold leaf stroked onto their skin by way of a facial?

 

The key to making your friends want to visit lies in the word 'country'. For many townies, the word sums up images from the Graham and Green catalogue (little do they know), so be sure to pepper your invitation with plenty of flowery descriptions. Don't be afraid of speaking in a way that wouldn't be out of place on the side of an Innocent Smoothie bottle. 'We can go for a really lovely country walk and there's this lovely little country pub we can go to and we can have crumpets by the lovely country fireplace.'

 

You may also be rewarded by playing a long game. Six months before you want friends to come and stay, stop complaining about the cold and the ever-present animal crap and the catty village gossip. Drop names of social trail-blazers who have previously visited, or, better yet, live locally. Post pictures on Facebook of guests happily toasting marshmallows over a bonfire. Send out copies of Cider With Rosie or any book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Pretend you live in a smarter county than you do -Gloucestershire is better than Worcestershire, for example, as Herefordshire is better than Shropshire and Norfolk better than Suffolk, and a lot better than Lincolnshire. Once they're beyond the M25, townies may not notice where they are.

 

You could try dangling other impressive potential guests in from of them. All social life, frankly, is a chance to get off with people, literally or figuratively. Casually mention that the only way to really get to know someone is over a weekend house party in the country. It's basically a microcosm of a relationship as you run the gamut of experiences: lunch in the pub, long, leisurely walk, smart supper, raucous late-night drinking, a chance to roll in the hay-bales...

 

For resistant diehard townies, you may as well cave in and demonstrate just how sophisticated rural life has become. There was a time when you had to shop on Bond Street or Sloane Square to look like you were on a grouse moor. Now (imagine!) there are helpful branches of Brora and Toast in all corners of rural locations. There's no need to confine yourself to the Daylesford in Westbourne Grove and Pimlico because guess where else there's one... Daylesford! You can get the exact same organic butternut squash salad in Gloucestershire as you can in W11. Heck, you can even have the same massage.

 

Article link: http://www.tatler.com/news/articles/january-2013/how-to-lure-your-friends-to-the-country