Canalway Cavalcade 2014 ... Little Venice

On the 3rd of this month I went to Canalway Cavalcade festival in Little Venice, London, W2. I think it was probably the first weekend in a while where the sun was shining and there were no signs of dreaded rain clouds.

The festival is on every year and it's just a short walk up from Warwick Avenue underground station. It's set alongside the canal near Little Venice and is full of pretty canal boats and decorated with lots of bunting. There's lots going on with an array of food options such as Caribbean and mixed grill. We chose the Mexican option and got a huge mixed bean wrap with all the trimmings, all washed down with a pint of sangria (A PINT OF SANGRIA!). The guy serving it up even informed us that he had made it himself with extra rum! There was also a tent for afternoon tea including gluten free cakes for those in need.

There were lots of cute stalls selling jewellery, hand made soaps and pretty kimonos as well as a band playing on an island in the middle of the water.

Gluten Free Afternoon Tea

Canal Boat Accessories

Homemade Jams and Chutney from Made in Maida Vale

Pretty Jewellery from one of the stalls

This was the first time I've been to this little gem but will definitely head back next year if the sun is out to play again!

Hope you're all looking forward to a fun and sunny extended weekend. I'm off to spend it in a luxury lodge for my best friend's hen party! xx

Elephant @ Bethnal Green Working Men's Club

I'm always up for discovering some new music. With an hour long commute to work every morning and partial to sticking on the iPod morning, noon and night I have plenty of time to fill listening to new sounds. A friend recently recommended a few bands to me based on the kind of things I like and one of them was the band Elephant.

Elephant have been around for a couple of years but have just released their debut album 'Sky Swimming'. Made up of Amelie Rivas and Christian Pinchbeck their songs are a mixture of dreamy and haunting vocals about broken love. Apparently the pair used to be in a relationship but are now just coupling up to make some music (so Twitter tells me). Don't you just love it when a song has a bit of history behind it!

I went to see them play last week at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club. There was another guy alongside the duo although I'm not sure if they have recruited a third member or if this was a one off.

Bethnal Green Working Men's Club is a great venue for a low key, understated gig. It has a great retro, trashy glam feel to it with the large light up heart back drop, exactly what you would expect to see from a working men's club in East London!

The guys sounded great and despite having some technical difficulties - gave a great show. Their songs were even better than those I have heard from the EP so of course I am now an owner of their album! Unfortunately as mentioned they had to stop short because of the sound system and didn't get to play all their songs but they handled it well. I've added a link to my favourite track from the night below. Enjoy!

                 
                                                              Elephant – Shipwrecked

If you have any musical recommendations then I'm always happy to hear them! xx

The Low down on HD Brows!

For a while now I've been hearing about this new craze for "HD" eyebrows and then recently I saw a photo of Stephanie Pratt on Twitter sporting a seriously good eyebrow game and the caption stated that she had just received the HD treatment.

I'm not really one for beauty treatments, I enjoy being pampered as must as the rest but I don't have a regular salon or beautician that I go to and I don't go very regularly but with my best friend's hen party around the corner and my brows in a bit of a sorry state I decided to treat myself and give this a whirl.

The cost is around £40 in most salons which sounds pretty steep for an eyebrow treatment when you compare to the usual thread/tint combo so as I was going to spend this much I wanted to make sure I went to a good salon where I could feel confident that I was in safe hands.

Time Out has a list of the top ten eyebrow bars in London here. I decided to go with iBrows etc as they were listed as offering the HD brows service and are located just behind Marble Arch station so are really easy to get to. Booking was quite simple, it can be all done online through their website and you need to pay a deposit of £10. Because of the dye that they use there is a requirement that you have a patch test done before your appointment to check for any allergic reactions. This can be a bit of a pain but they offer to post out the test to you or you can pop in to the salon before the appointment to have it done. I tint my eyebrows myself at home so I signed a waiver to say that I was happy not to have a patch test done (and accept all responsibility!)

iBrows etc sent me a text before the day reminding me of my appointment date and time which is really handy when you have lots on and as I've also booked in for eye lash extensions (going all out!) it saved me getting everything mixed up.

The salon itself is really nice, decor was lovely and classy looking and it looked very clean. The lady on reception was very friendly and all in all I had a good impression of iBrows etc.

The website states that the treatment lasts for 45 mins but it probably took around 30 mins in total. I laid back in a reclining chair and the Stylist asked me what is was that I was hoping to achieve, I explained that I needed them shaped up and wanted to have my eyebrows stand out more. I was also asked what colour I would like them and how dark and then the tint was applied. Following this the Stylist then waxed my brows, threaded them and plucked them. Now I have quite fair and sparse brows anyway so all this waxing, threading and plucking that was going on was starting to make me nervous that I would have any hair left by the time she had finished but when she was done I was given a mirror to have a peak at them and they were looking much thicker, groomed and shaped. The Stylist then pointed out areas which needed a bit more growth and advised me to leave these areas to thicken up and also pointed out areas that needed some shading in with an eyebrow pencil and then proceeded to do that for me to complete the look.

Overall I was happy with my new HD brows. At £40 a time I don't think it will be something I start to do regularly but over time my eyebrows can get a bit unruly and I end up plucking them in to all sorts of shapes, I think it's good to have a professional take charge and get them back in shape so you can start over with a bit of guidance. Oh, and they email you before and after photos as well so you know your money was well spent!

The Salon - iBrows etc

My eyebrows before the HD treatment

  

HD ready!

One night (day) in Paris! Ooh La La

I must be one of the only gals in town who has never graced the streets of Paris... until last month that is!

Yes, you can imagine my delight when I was confronted with the opportunity to visit Paris for the day with my work colleagues. There had been a few changes in teams and some upheaval, which I won't bore you with, but the upshot was that it was felt we needed a team away day and so off to Kings Cross St Pancras to catch the Eurostar into the city of love. 

As I have never been to Paris and let's face it, most people have, it became one of those things where all my visions and expectations had been built up on films and TV programmes (mainly Moulin Rouge if I'm honest). I had also reserved my first trip to be for a 30th birthday or my future hen party or some other grand event but here I was on some idle Wednesday with a group of work friends hopping off the train and in to the Parisian sun. 

As we were in a large group we had a bit of an itinerary going to prevent the aimless wandering. So first stop we went to the Louvre for a spot of building admiration. Although you can go in and see the Mona Lisa of course, we decided against it due to queues and time constraints. I am also not a fan of submerging myself in groups of tourists and instead tend to enjoy absorbing the sights in a degree of solitude / personal space. The building is fantastic though with pretty carved detailed on the walls and roofs.

From there we headed to the Love Lock Bridge which is an absolute must see, if for no other reason than it's Paris and should involve a whole lot of lovin'. When stood at one end of the bridge looking down it was as if the bridge was made of gold when all the padlocks shone from the reflection of the sunlight. 

Love Lock Bridge

Then we took a little stroll through the streets and along the river, we passed quite a few stalls that were selling french style posters and old photos of Paris. I probably could have browsed all day which is why it was best I had a plan to stick to otherwise I would never have seen anything. On the way we passed a couple of guys sitting against a wall, they could have easily passed for students although they were sitting behind a cup and sign asking for money for beer and weed... only in Paris ay!

Parisian essentials?

We got to Notre Dame for some more architectural delights, however we did go in this time and there was a service on. I'm not sure if they have services daily or we were just lucky but the Cathedral was alive with burning candles and incense which made it all the more pretty...

Notre Dame

Now I think one of my favourite parts of Paris and probably of any city or place that I have never been to or that I'm visiting, is strolling the streets and just taking in the atmosphere and array of new sights. Paris is full of pretty cafes and streets which meant that I was in my element. 

Pretty Cafes in Paris

They even manage to make run down street signs look chic...

French signs

After a short stop to recharge, with a glass of wine no less, we headed back on the metro and up to Champs Elysees for some macaroons from Laduree. Now I can't quite decide which I like best; the way they look or they way they taste. They are not the cheapest of macaroons and the queue was rather large but they came with a fuchsia Nina Ricci box and when in Paris...

Pre dinner and coming towards the end of our trip we headed over to the Eiffel Tower. On the way there we stopped on a raised patch of grass near the Shangri La hotel which gave us a beautiful view of the tower, much better than anything you can see when stood underneath it. If you had time, I would recommend sitting on that patch of grass with a blanket, book, bottle of champagne? If such things are allowed in Paris of course, and just soaking up the view for a bit as it was rather pretty.

And last but not least, my brief rendezvous with Paris would not be complete without a visit to the Moulin Rogue. Unfortunately I was unable to go in (time constraints again) and would love to see a show there just as it's an experience I'd like to tick off my "things to do before I die" list. Perhaps a little less spandangled than the film would have you believe but nevertheless it is iconic and rounded off my trip perfectly.

So there you have it, my day in Paris. Let's make this a to be continued...

Can I say I cook now?

So, this post would have been better had I posted it on Sunday but I was tres busy that evening drinking mulled wine in bed... can you see a common theme starting here?!

However, I did have a lovely Sunday afternoon lunching and chasing ducks in the park...

Followed by my first attempt at a simple Chickpea Curry dish. And as I am still new to all this, I thought I would use it as the basis for my next blog post. After all, practice makes perfect right!?

I got this recipe off the BBC website so nothing too fancy, nice and easy for those of us to whom cooking does not come naturally. It is meat free and dairy free which suits me to the ground for my Monday-Friday diet. You can get the recipe here Spinach, Aubergine and Chickpea Curry.

I used the recommended amount of spinach but when boiled and then blended it amounts to very little so if you're looking to give your diet a little kick with the leafy veg then I would advise using more.

In order to make the coriander "ground" I dug out a festive rolling pin and rolled out the seeds on a chopping board. Be prepared to lose a few as they PING around the kitchen.

Once it was all cooked up it lasted me for around four lunches which I think is great and helps in saving a heap of time preparing stuff in the evening! Sadly, the dish itself felt like it was lacking in depth of flavour. I would be interested to know if anyone else has had a similar problem and how they were able to jazz things up a bit especially when it comes to vegetarian/ vegan things so if anyone has any suggestions I'm ready to get experimenting :).