my funny eye

Outtakes XVI

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000Z

I'm going to cheat it again... I'm sure you don't mind. I found this folder on the desktop all ready to go, but I guess I never got round to posting it at the time - which if memory serves me right would have been nearly two years ago. And yes; I don't keep a particularly tidy desktop - hence there are folders two years old just sitting there... Nevermind! Hope you have a mighty fine weekend y'all!

Little Mo pic of the week XIV

2012-01-26T06:00:00.000Z

Little Mo is 16 years old today - which is 81 in cat years... eeeeeeek! You'd never know it by looking at her. Somewhere in the attic there's must be a painting of her looking all decrepit, haha.

Out out out

2012-01-24T14:26:00.000Z

Oomoo was a bit poorly last week so we didn't get up to much, but by the weekend we were all going stir-crazy and had to get out of our 'hood. We headed down to the Natural History Museum first, but quickly moved on to the Science Museum next door, as it was very crowded at the former. I love the Science Museum; there are so many great things to explore, and every time we go we look at something different. Both me and the hubby sighed at the sight of the model workshop in the last picture - the details were amazing (you don't really get the sense of it in my picture, but it's I think it's at a scale of 1:44). I might go back and steal it. Don't you go and tell on me now!

Outtakes XV

2012-01-20T06:00:00.000Z

I guess you could say I broke the law taking last picture :) Happy weekend!

Outtakes XIV

2012-01-19T15:27:00.001Z

It's been well over a year since I last put together an outtakes post. Well, guess what?! This week there'll be two of them, haha! I don't feel particularly inspired at the moment, so a dip into the archives will have to do. I don't know about you, but I'm craving something new in my life. I just haven't decided what yet... I'm thinking along the lines of learning a new language or perhaps taking up piano lessons again. We shall see.

Shadows, silhouettes and strange trees

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000Z

It's the weekend yo

2012-01-13T06:00:00.000Z

What are your plans for the weekend then? We have none whatsoever. Although I must say that there's no difference between weekdays and weekends in our house... Hope you have a good one!

Boxfresh!

2012-01-12T06:00:00.000Z

Bargains

2012-01-10T16:44:00.001Z

I always get sale-fatigue the day the sales start; I just can't be bothered. But I bagged two bargains in the past week, a shirt from Monki and a pair of shoes from F-Troupe. By the looks of it, I'm into panelling at the moment!

Insta Alps

2012-01-09T10:36:00.000Z

My Instagrams from the mountains came out much nicer than the Ixus ones :) Happy Monday!

Full board

2012-01-06T06:00:00.000Z

We went on our first proper holiday in three years the week before xmas - eight days of snowboarding in La Plagne, France. The week before we arrived the slopes were still covered in grass, but luckily the weather turned wintry just as we got there. In fact, it hardly stopped snowing at all; it fell well over 150cms whilst we were there. It was really hard work going down the slopes as visibility was sometimes to just 20 odd metres or so - most days we were hurtling through proper snowstorms. It was exhilarating and it did wonders for my technique; I was snowboarding blindly and had to trust the board completely. I so wish that I had 'found' the mountains in my 20's, although ironically I'm probably fitter now than I was back then! To make up for lost time I'm going to make sure I'll be a snowboarding grandma :)

Snapshots from Christmas Day

2012-01-03T09:52:00.000Z

Hello everybody peeps! How was your holidays? Ours was nice but I'm glad it's all over; I don't particularly enjoy the sluggishness that grips a hold of you as everything slows down for a week or so. Christmas Day itself was a relaxed affair at the in-laws' and Oomoo had a ball. We got to enjoy some culinary twists thanks to my brother-in-law, who cooked poussins with all the trimmings instead of turkey, and salted caramel popcorn ice-cream sandwiches for afters (I'm not a fan of traditional christmas puddings at all). Well, that was that and now it's a new year... Happy 2012 to all of you - let's make it a good one!

Greetings!

2011-12-23T16:56:00.000Z

A week ago we were in the mountains, in deep blankets of snow, hurtling down the pistes of the French Alps. I had all the intentions of blogging pictures from the trip once we got back, but whaddyaknow, time was not on my side... So, I wish you all a festive and relaxing time whatever you're doing over the next week or so, and as Arnie would say: "I'll be back!"

Just a little bit more

2011-12-05T06:00:00.000Z

Apologies for the radio silence over here. Once again I find myself with no time on my hands, and an intermittent internet connection ain't exactly helping things. I'll try to post one more post before I take a blog-break later this week; in the mean time, here are some more XA2 film shots. Happy Monday!

A little of bit red on film

2011-11-29T06:00:00.000Z

I treated myself to a new old camera a few weeks ago; an Olympus XA2 to be precise. Charlyn had one with her when I met up with her, and I was intrigued by it, so I had nosey around eBay and picked one up for next to nothing. It's very similar to the Lomo LC-A, and I really enjoyed shooting with it, but it leaves me slightly confused... When the focus is right it's quite a bit sharper than the LC-A, but I prefer the vignetting you get with the Lomo. Anyway, I've decided that I'm going to alternate rolls between the two from now on and see how it goes. Oh, and how's about that giant cupcake in the last pic?! Lemme tell you... it was goooood! More XA2 shots to come.

Stuck on repeat

2011-11-25T06:00:00.000Z

One of the drawbacks of either carrying more than one camera or Instagramming all the time, is that I get a lot of doubles. Why I still feel that I have to back my film shots on something digital is a mystery. Anyway, here are the last ones from the my most recent Lomo LC-A roll. Have a great weekend folks!

Backlit

2011-11-23T06:00:00.000Z

1. One boiling hot day in October
2. One freezing cold evening in November

Miaow!

2011-11-22T08:30:00.000Z

What my Lomo saw at Tate Modern

2011-11-17T06:00:00.000Z

Two

2011-11-15T19:33:00.001Z

A certain young man turned two yesterday and to celebrate we took him down to the London Aquarium. It was a freezing cold and foggy November day (which I loved - as the Swedes say: "There's no bad weather, only bad clothes"), so it was quite a contrast to be wandering around there, looking at sharks and giant sea turtles. Oomoo loved it and we carried on for a bite to eat before heading home and opening pressies; amongst them a book from his favourite author/illustrator - yay! Man, I can't believe he's two already... can whoever's holding down the fast forward button please stop it??!!

A forest

2011-11-11T06:30:00.000Z

A few weeks ago we went to the in-laws' house in the Cotswolds, and as per usual we went for our regular walk in the nearby woods. Looking these pics, I wish I could go back there right this instant. Trees rock! And speaking of which, here's one of my favourite songs ever - hence the title of this post. Happy Friday y'all!

A Sunday morning kind of light

2011-11-10T06:00:00.000Z

Catch up

2011-11-08T15:24:00.000Z

Right then, let's clear the backlog, shall we?! These three are from three weeks ago when it was +20c and we were freaking out over the unseasonal weather. Today it's +11c and one of those dark, grey days where you have to have the lights on indoors in the daytime to see anything. Hope November is treating you guys well!

Getting together

2011-11-02T06:00:00.000Z

Last Saturday I had my monthly catch-up with my ex-work mates. We usually grab something to eat and then take in an exhibition, and this time was no different. We had brunch at St. ALi (where I had the best French Toast EVER) and then walked over to Tate Modern to see the Gerard Richter exhibition (which none of us particularly liked - oh well!). Aaaanyway, I'm hoping that I'll have more time to post more here next week; I still haven't managed to make/find another me :)

Wishful thinking

2011-10-26T09:38:00.000+01:00

Right now I wish there were two of me. Or that there were 28 hours in a day.

Flickr clickers

2011-10-24T06:00:00.000+01:00

Last week I met up with my flickr friend Charlyn who was in town visiting from Canada. We'd never met before but we, haha, "clicked" instantly. We spent a couple of days together and wandered around Tate Modern and checked out the new Turbine Hall installation amongst other things, had baked goodies at Nordic Bakery, checked out the Hunterian Museum (which Charlyn actually took me to and where sadly no photography was allowed) and the Power of Making exhibition at the V&A (ditto). Oh, and see that Kånken backpack that Charlyn carries? She had four cameras in there. Respect!

Art Park

2011-10-21T17:43:00.000+01:00

Oh the irony. After having had a bit of a dry spell with my picture taking, I've since got the bug back but not had any time to sit down and blog. So I gots a bit of a backlog to get through innit. Last Sunday we went to Regent's Park to check out the Frieze Art Sculpture Park. We didn't make it to the actual art fair itself, but hopefully we'll manage next year. Hope you folks have a great weekend!

Peekaboo!

2011-10-18T06:00:00.000+01:00

Yesterday

2011-10-14T06:00:00.000+01:00

When the weather's dark and gloomy, go and see a friend; have an indoor picnic, let the children play, and get your camera out. I very rarely manage to take pictures when I meet up with Kerry as our boys always run riot! These pictures might look cosy and calm, but believe me, whilst I was taking these there was unfortunately an awful lot of hair pulling, pushing and snatching going on, mainly from the Oomster. The terrible twos are here, and then some...

Pigeon post

2011-10-12T10:24:00.002+01:00

Literally :)

Just before bath time

2011-10-11T06:00:00.000+01:00

The double life

2011-10-06T06:00:00.000+01:00

One of perks of the Diana Mini is that you can take double exposures. I only took three on this roll but on the next one there shall be many more! I wasn't sure how they would come out exposure wise, but I don't think I need to worry too much about it. This is a camera to have fun with and not take too seriously. I love how the last pic is an overlap between two frames. You don't get crazy shit like that with a digital (unless you cheat in Photoshop)! Can't wait to see what the next roll brings...

Square eyes

2011-10-05T06:00:00.000+01:00

Since getting into Instagram I've been craving shooting medium format. I've already got a Diana F +, but as there's only one place in London that will do prints, it's been collecting dust on the shelf. However, when I found out that the Diana Mini uses conventional 35mm, well hey, it was pretty obvious what I wanted for my last birthday (let's face it, unless there's a lottery win in the household a Hasselblad won't be coming my way any time soon). These are from the first test roll and I'm pretty happy with the result. They might not be very sharp but that's part of the charm I think. Double exposures from the same roll coming up in the next post!

Where she's been enjoying the heat wave

2011-10-03T06:00:00.000+01:00

Summer's last hurrah

2011-09-29T12:06:00.000+01:00

"It's just a warm spell" is what the meteorologists called it on the radio this morning. Apparently an Indian summer is only called so if it happens in mid-October/November. I don't care what you calls it, I'm just going to enjoy it while it lasts. As the meteorologists went on to say; "Make the most of it, it'll be six months before we can expect weather like this again". Word.

A Sunday walk

2011-09-27T06:00:00.000+01:00

We escaped to the countryside this weekend and it was goooooood. Although it's sad when friends move away, it's bloody brilliant to go and visit them :)

Monday morning blues

2011-09-26T06:00:00.000+01:00

An afternoon with

2011-09-23T10:07:00.000+01:00

Why hello there! I've finally managed to shake of my weird cold (felt really dizzy for over a week!). Thank you for your well-wishes innit. Yesterday I spent a lovely afternoon with Claire who's in town for a few days, and we went to check out the Serpentine Pavillion in Hyde Park. It was such a peaceful place to sit and catch up. Hope you folks have great weekend!

Tiny little tiles

2011-09-13T06:00:00.000+01:00

Thank you so much for your comments on the previous post - you guys are so nice! I'm down with a cold (here we go again) and not really taking pictures, so here are a couple of old ones from the summer. Hope you have a good week!

I'm a Lomo sapien

2011-09-09T06:00:00.000+01:00

Man, I loves that camera. It's got bits of duct tape holding it together in one corner and the inside seal is going bald, but it's been a brilliant companion for the past 14 years. Sure, there's usually only a handful of good pictures on each roll, but that's part of the charm; the randomness of it all. I must use it more... Hope you peeps have a lovely weekend!

A little bit of Lomo magic

2011-09-08T06:00:00.000+01:00

Day off

2011-09-07T06:00:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the house of fun

2011-09-06T12:36:00.001+01:00

When the weather is pants (like today) museums are a good place to take cover. We took Oomoo to the Museum of Childhood a couple of weeks ago and he had a whale of a time. If only I could think of something fun for us to do today too!

Seven sunsets

2011-09-01T06:00:00.007+01:00

22/8 8.20pm

23/8 8.42pm

24/8 8.20pm

25/8 8.30pm

26/8 8.18pm

27/8 8.17pm

29/8 8.23pm

The sun and Oomoo go down around the same time these days, so I took a picture of the sky every day last week once the boy had fallen asleep. My fave is sunset number five :)

Birthday walk

2011-08-30T13:00:00.006+01:00

After our slap-up birthday meal we went our walk on Hampstead Heath. It had been a pretty grey and miserable week, so I was really chuffed that the sun found it's way back for the day. I can honestly say that it was one of my favourite birthdays ever; I'll take good food and company over a party every time!

A sweet day

2011-08-30T06:00:00.006+01:00

Thank you so much for your birthday wishes! I had such a lovely day and to my surprise I didn't feel like cake in the end... Instead me and the hubby shared a blueberry cheesecake sundae and some salt caramel truffles. Yummmmmm!

Hello 36, Goodbye 35!

2011-08-24T06:00:00.006+01:00

Me in '76

Holy Guacamole, how did I get to 36 already?!! Time flies when you're having fun I guess... Today, I'm planning on having nice food and most certainly some cake, and weather permitting, a nice ambling walk on Hampstead Heath. Cheers!

They call me mellow yellow

2011-08-23T11:12:00.003+01:00

It's a grey and very wet day here today, so I'm going back in time by a couple of weeks when it was anything but.

The song

My type of Sunday

2011-08-22T13:17:00.004+01:00

Recent likes:

An afternoon with

everydayrainbow

Dual function

2011-08-19T06:00:00.004+01:00

A camera bag/pillow?! Now that's a good idea! Happy Weekend amigos :)

Outside/Inside

2011-08-18T08:28:00.004+01:00

Old news

2011-08-17T06:00:00.001+01:00

A couple of weekends ago we went to down to Vintage at Southbank. I found it all a bit ridiculous and contrived, but each to their own and all that jazz.

Group hug

2011-08-16T06:00:00.003+01:00

Monday morning

2011-08-15T13:43:00.004+01:00

Hullo... I didn't mean to go all quiet over here, but last week's events made me feel shocked and depressed and blogging was the last thing I felt like doing. I can't help thinking how ironic that my last post was all about where I felt at home, and then something crazy like that happens and suddenly Britain feels very alien. Hopefully things will change for the better. Thanks to all of you who left comments on the previous post; it seems I'm not on my own with how I feel!

Swedish pick 'n' mix

2011-08-04T08:50:00.006+01:00

The last pictures from Stockholm... I can't feel very excited about these posts from the city I grew up in. This trip more than ever made it clear that London is now my hometown (which is not so strange considering I've lived here all my adult life). It's a strange transition from feeling Swedish to feeling English. I naively thought your past is a huge part of who you are, but I realise now that the present actually is more so. Does that make sense? I'd love to hear how fellow ex-pats feel about where they grew up and where they live now; where is home for you?

And on a completely different note; Ok Go have released a new video and it's just as awesome as the others. I can only watch the bog standard youTube version, but if you're on Google Chrome have a look at it here.

A bit of orange

2011-08-02T08:46:00.007+01:00

Keeping it cool (yesterday)

2011-08-01T18:58:00.003+01:00

It's hot in the city right now and I don't feel like blogging, but I'll try and finish posting the Stockholm pix this week. I'm off to have some ice-cream now. Laters!

Look up more

2011-07-28T10:03:00.010+01:00

Home away from home

2011-07-27T06:00:00.005+01:00

Hej! How are you? We came back from a week away in Stockholm a few days ago; it was great to see my family again and for Oomoo to reacquaint himself with everyone. I took such random pictures whilst we were there and I'm not really sure how I'll group them... Anyway, I thought I'd start with these. They're little details from my godfather's flat which is crammed full of weird and wonderful things. See that orange porcelain cat? When I was a kid there was a neighbour in the apartment block opposite who had a cat, and I'd pretend the orange cat was a real cat by holding it in my arms and stroking it. Somehow I don't think I fooled anyone.

Cousins at play

2011-07-13T09:39:00.003+01:00

One afternoon at the zoo

2011-07-11T07:53:00.002+01:00

Like father like son

2011-07-08T06:00:00.001+01:00

Fairground Attraction

2011-07-06T11:28:00.009+01:00

The steam fair came to our 'hood last weekend, and boy was it good looking. Me and Kerry took the kids down as soon as it opened, but there wasn't much we could do but wander round with our toddlers in tow. Like the camera nerd I am, I went down the day after to take some more pictures. The arcade was my favourite part, but stupidly I didn't have a go on any of the machines or go on a ride. Sometimes that damn camera stops you from part-taking!

If you're in London over the next month there's one exhibition you can't miss: Vivian Maier at the German Gymnasium. We're going down next week and I can't wait to see it.

That's science!

2011-07-01T08:50:00.005+01:00

We took Oomoo down to the Science Museum a few weeks ago; one of many excursions we've been on lately. As a kid I loved days out and now I get to do it all over again - score! Have a great weekend kids!

Bubbles rule

2011-06-28T11:59:00.003+01:00

It takes Kew to make a thing go right

2011-06-27T13:22:00.006+01:00

London is sweltering at the moment and yesterday we went for a picnic Kew Gardens, where I took these. We had a wander on the swaying treetop walk - not for the faint hearted! Happy Monday!

Went to a wedding this weekend

2011-06-20T11:31:00.005+01:00

Friday Flashback II

2011-06-17T06:00:00.004+01:00

How did it get to be Friday already?! So, here's another blast from my past, and whaddyaknow, it's another b&w picture - of another sister! I took this in 1991 in the south of France, where said sister and my mum lived at the time. I would go and visit them for a couple of months every summer as a teenager, and enjoy long hot summers - the kind that just don't exist here. We would spend our days by/in the pool (what a life, eh?!) and on this particular day my sis saved some butterflies who'd gone for a swim, but then couldn't get out. I wish I could have filmed what happened after I took this picture; once they'd dried their wings, resting on her hands, they took off, circled around her a few times (saying thank you?) and then flew off. Such a great moment... sigh. Hope you have a lovely weekend mes amies!

It was summer here two weeks ago

2011-06-14T06:00:00.003+01:00

Yellow fever

2011-06-13T06:00:00.005+01:00

Some more Pentax pics; see what I mean about the yellow? Anyway, we had our good friend Z come and visit us for a few days when I shot these and amongst all the good food (sorry, no food pics - too hungry at the time!) we went to see the Taryn Simon exhibition at Tate Modern (see middle pic). If you're in town and feel very alert (it's a lot to take in) you must go and see it. Impressive stuff.

Pentax to the max

2011-06-09T12:41:00.009+01:00

I don't know about you guys, but when it comes to xmas shopping I always end up getting myself something too. Well, last xmas I started checking eBay for a Pentax MX (seeing Sandra's film pics I knew I had to get my hands on one) and eventually won an auction (oh the adrenaline!). However, one of the drawbacks of having several cameras is that it's easy to let one sit on the shelf collecting dust - even if you've just got it. So when I couldn't shoot digi last week (see previous post) I knew what had to be done. I used a roll of Ferrania Solaris 200 which came out really yellow (lab's fault? the camera's? expired film? I didn't have the box for it) which I think is a shame. Anyway, these shots are from Busaba Eathai, Tate Modern and the Rose Garden in Regent's Park. I didn't mean to catch the couple in the first picture in such a private moment but they just happened to kiss when I got the focus and the exposure right :)

Whoops

2011-06-08T15:51:00.004+01:00

And just like that, almost two weeks have passed since my last post. My hard drive was full so I couldn't download anything off my digis, hence the quiet here. The good news is that as a result I took my Pentax MX out for a spin instead, so I'll have some film pics to share soon. Hope you're all well!

Friday Flashback I

2011-05-27T11:52:00.002+01:00

Stockholm 1992

I thought I'd start a series of Friday Flashbacks where I go through my archives (but I won't corner myself into making it a weekly thing, I'll do it on a Friday here and there). This here is my half-sister H and I took this back in 1992. I think I've only ever shot about six rolls of black & white ever; I see the world in colour and it's just not my bag, baby! So what can I remember from this time... well, I was 16, I had left school and was working as a music journalist and I already took a lot of pictures. From this pic I can see that I still had the same bed I'd had since I was eight, that the James Dean posters were no longer on my walls and that my half-sister had a wicked afro. Have a great weekend friends!

Not so recent randoms

2011-05-26T11:07:00.003+01:00

I don't seem to use my digital compact that much any more; these are from January and onwards - I only downloaded them the other day! I guess sometimes newer isn't better; I think I prefer my old Ixus 70 to the Ixus 980. What's that? You've fallen asleep reading this? Well, maybe this ad will make up for it; I giggle everytime I see it (and yes - it's very creepy). Laters!

Looking to the West

2011-05-24T09:01:00.005+01:00

Half-way through brushing my teeth last night I had to go grab my camera; I think the volcanic ash cloud over Iceland might have helped making the sunset something extra special.

In bloom

2011-05-21T12:44:00.004+01:00

The rose garden in Regent's Park is in full bloom and boy is it beautiful... Have a great weekend!

SE1

2011-05-18T12:42:00.006+01:00

Spent Saturday down at Southbank with the Oomster, my sis and my camera. As you can see we had a really nice (and tasty) time... Happy Wednesday!

18

2011-05-14T08:15:00.004+01:00

He's 18 months today and he loves (in no particular order) looking out the window, chicken noodles, his dada, his cousin, Little Mo, cars and buses, the playground, playing with my hair, Sagan om den lilla lilla gumman by Elsa Beskow, Free At Last by Al Green and me.

Les flaneurs

2011-05-13T18:43:00.004+01:00

Gaaaah! Blogger has been playing up for the past 24 hours and as a result this post got deleted (not by me!). Sadly your comments were deleted too :(

I can't remember exactly what I wrote here yesterday, but it was something along the lines of: Went for a walk around Kenwood the other day with my boys. In the days before Oomoo I struggled to get the hubby to come with me, but now it's part of our daily routine :)

A few lines

2011-05-06T08:58:00.006+01:00

Without knowing it I've been collecting lines over the past few weeks. Happy Friday!

Two blogs I like:

Mint, Mustard and Melange

RTIF

Rejects

2011-05-05T13:19:00.005+01:00

A random mix from the archives today - all from different trips in 2008; Stockholm, the Dolomites and Gothenburg (that's Sandra in the last picture). It's grey and drizzly in London today - after the April we've just had it feels very unfamiliar!

Delayed

2011-05-03T12:00:00.005+01:00

I meant to post these last week; I was half-way through sorting them out when Oomoo woke up from his nap, and before I knew it four days had passed! Jeez. Anyway, these are Instagrams from that same weekend away in Wiltshire. I'm finding that I'm not taking as many Instagrams as I used to, the novelty has worn off a bit I guess. Unfortunately I'm not really taking pictures with any of my cameras either at the moment, so I don't have much to blog :(

Village type

2011-04-28T11:43:00.006+01:00

You know me... always on the lookout for some nice type! Here's some from the village we were staying in. I felt like such a tourist walking around taking pictures, but then again I was one :)

Talking about type; if you're in London and into typography you must check out the Wim Crouwel exhibition at the Design Museum - it's type heaven I tell you!

Friday/Saturday

2011-04-27T09:46:00.004+01:00

Some randoms from our weekend away visiting friends in Wiltshire. The weather was amazing and it was great to get out of London for a couple of days. I must make sure we get out of the city more often... Happy Wednesday!

Bring it!

2011-04-19T11:16:00.006+01:00

It's summer here in London! In April! Make the most of it! Not much time for the computer in other words, but I thought I'd say hello. Now then... where are my summer clothes?!

Last week

2011-04-15T11:30:00.003+01:00

Going by your comments on the previous post (thank you!!) I'm guessing you won't mind too much if I post these here. As a rule I don't like posting things twice (not counting flickr), but if I didn't I wouldn't really have anything to put here right now! These are all from last week when we had a great spell of weather, in fact on Sunday we went to our first barbecue of the year and that's the nephew having a little post-dinner lie-down in the fourth picture. Hope you have a great weekend peeps!

Meanwhile over on Instagram

2011-04-14T06:00:00.005+01:00

Some pictures from the past couple of weeks as seen through my phone. I'm completely in love with the square format, it's like getting a new set of eyes! Thank you so much for your film recommendations, I shall try some of your suggestions out soon... once I stop being so addicted to Instagram :)

Alphabet Street

2011-04-11T11:10:00.011+01:00

Some more shots from my Yashica T5. It wasn't a terribly exciting roll I must say, so these will be the last ones from it. I took these around Old Street just after I met up with Melanie for the first time (see how time slows with film...). She shoots a lot of her stuff with a Yashica T4, so I dusted my T5 off to see what it could do (I think I last used ten years ago). Anyway, on Melanie's recommendation I used a 400 ISO roll of Lomography film which in my view makes regular film almost look cross-processed. I must get more different kinds of film to experiment with, it's such fun to see the differences. What's your favourite film to shoot with?

400 ISO

2011-04-08T14:00:00.001+01:00

Whoops! I forgot I'd half-prepared this post last night so please excuse the minimal text that was on here (although if you're reading this you never saw it, haha!). Anyway, I have to rush out as it's another lovely day, so all I'll say is that these two are from a recent film I loaded into my Yashica T5 (the bottom pic cracks me up). I'll be back on Monday with some more pics from that roll; in the mean time have yourselves a great weekend!

Bad blogger

2011-04-07T06:00:00.004+01:00

Oh dear. My grand plans of taking lots of pictures last week didn't quite happen. Or I guess they did, but I took most of them on my phone and then uploaded them on Instagram. I've never really understood why people take pictures with their phones (not high res quality enough and no manual controls! Oh wait, they might like not having to lug a camera around all the time!) and now I'm that person! I must see to it that I don't forget about this space; in fact sitting down and typing this right now I'm really happy to be here again. I'll be back, I promise!

Instant love

2011-03-30T06:00:00.003+01:00

If only blogging was as easy and quick as Instagram! Sandra got me hooked on it properly over the weekend; I never got the point of Twitter or Facebook, but this is right up my street. I've got a very dear friend staying with us this week so I won't have time for regular posts, but if you have an iPhone you can follow me on Instagram (search for famapa) where I dare say I'll be posting some more pics. Hope you guys have a great week - I'm certainly looking forward to the rest of it and all the photos I'll be taking :)

About a cat

2011-03-24T10:19:00.004Z

Claire over on Lola is Beauty started a sweet little series a few weeks ago, where readers can find out a bit more about the feline friends of bloggers across the world. Well, yesterday it was Little Mo's turn, so head on over if you want to find out more about the fourth member in our household. Also, thank you for your lovely comments on the previous post; my back is pretty much back (ha!) to normal - phew. Happy Friday amigos!

Re-start

2011-03-22T15:47:00.006Z

Hello again! I didn't mean to go AWOL; I did my back in quite badly a couple of weeks ago and I've been struggling to get back into blogging mode since then. I've hardly taken any pictures either, but here's a few recent randoms. In my absence the blog turned 3, so I want to take this opportunity to thank you friends, commenters and lurkers who stop by here regularly - I hope the past three years in this space have been as much fun for you as they have been for me :)

Seeing red & orange

2011-03-08T09:29:00.005Z

The Barbican has become a favourite hangout spot on the weekends; there's lots of room for Oomoo to run around in and it's indoors (although I must admit we're having clear blue skies right now - yay!). When we went on Sunday it was more hectic than usual when they were staging the Barbican Weekender and as you can see, at one point the little man decided to have a lie-down :) And see the seven? Yup... I'm holding hands with cold no. 7 as I write this. Ridiculous!

Everyday Thursday

2011-03-04T06:00:00.005Z

This is what parts of my Thursday looked like. It feels like I've hardly taken any pictures over the past few weeks and I miss the daily challenge/joy of seeing things. This is going to sound stupid, but I only figured out the other day that being a mum is proper full-time job (duuuuuh!). Totting up the hours I realised that I do 14-hour days, so it's really no wonder that I don't have time to blog more often than I do! I ain't complaining though, it's the best and most important "job" I've ever done in my life and I wouldn't trade it for the world. Happy Friday y'all!

{600}

2011-03-02T06:00:00.002Z

And just like that I have reached post number 600! Best to celebrate with some delicious and good looking chocolate from Brussels, eh?! The hubby had a work trip there over the weekend and I requested that he bring me back some Belgian chocolate. He brought back two squares! Only joking, he brought back four boxes of the stuff - score!

A winter walk in Wiltshire

2011-02-28T18:38:00.005Z

I'm a bit behind with my posting again... Last weekend we headed out west to see dear friends who've recently made the move from London to the countryside. It didn't matter that the weather wasn't great; we were so happy walking in the muddy fields and enjoying the change of scenery. We're going back in April and I can't wait - we might be lucky and get some sunshine then!

In the dark

2011-02-25T12:24:00.003Z

So here you have it - a new sofa and two new old armchairs (his & hers - haha) and a cosier wall colour. I'm a bit surprised at how it all came together; I had felt that the living room needed an overhaul for a while, but didn't dare mention it to the hubby (after all there was nothing wrong with the room as it was, it's just that it had been like that for years). Imagine my surprise when a couple months ago he said that maybe it was time to get rid of our old sofas and start over again. Luckily our tastes have blended together over the years so there were no headaches over what we wanted. Initially I thought it would be nice to find two matching vintage armchairs but I'm now very happy that we didn't - too matchy matchy can be a bit boring. Anyway, we're very pleased with the result (and all the seating is so much more comfortable!) and I've just realised that we moved into this house six years ago today! Not a bad way to celebrate if you ask me :)

You can see what the room looked like before (although the pics are quite old) here, here and here.

Have a great weekend folks!

Sneak peek

2011-02-22T16:25:00.001Z

1. The new living room colour.

2. Little Mo's new favourite chair.

9 days ago

2011-02-21T10:42:00.006Z

Last Saturday me and the hubby had our first day to ourselves in 15 months (crazy huh?!), so we went and checked out the North London Vintage Market, had some lunch in one of our favourite restaurants and went on to look at some vintage furniture. We have completely re-furnished our living room and our kitchen recently (bye bye Ikea stuff!) and today the hubby is making a start on painting the walls. I'll show you pictures when it's all done. Happy Monday!

P.S. Thank you for your well wishes, I feel much better now - hope it lasts :)